Category: Tech Miscellaneous

Super Charge the Start Menu in Vista: Start++

New tool for Vista: Start++

This is an interesting tool for all you Vista folks, it allows you to launch programs and what not from the search or cmd prompt. For instance, w bob dole, will go to the wikipedia article about Bob Dole, should you want to read about him. You can also launch a program as administrator by sudo cmd, or look up stuff on google by, g stuff. Another function about this I like is the play command, just do something like, play winger, and BAM!

Great start for something that can be quite useful. It is a little rough right now with the occasional bug, and the configuration screen is not exactly the most intuitive thing, but it is an excellent start.

[tag]Chaos[/tag]
[tag]Tech News[/tag]
[tag]Internet Related[/tag]
[tag]Software[/tag]
[tag]Windows Modding[/tag]
[tag]File System Modding[/tag]

Do you Twitter?

The title speaks for itself… I definitely Twitter after the recommendation of a friend. It’s an interesting example of micropublishing. I am not using this site for its intended purpose which is to stalk keeping track of your friends so you can find out where they are and such …but it’s useful for a kind of “flight of ideas”. One interesting aspect is that you can update your status via the website (which is boring), over IM, or by cell phone (what? no email option?). Wonderful…another site, another login, and another toy to waste my time play with.

Full Resolution Images from Flickr

Have you ever found an image on Flickr and looked for a higher resolution copy of the image to use as a wallpaper only to find that the author has decided not to offer anything larger than the small teaser copy of the image?
Well you’re in luck (most of the time).
It turns out that with a little bit of exploring you can easily get a full resolution copy of any image that is displayed on Flickr. Two notes: 1. I do not condone stealing someone else’s work. I only use this hack to acquire a high resolution copy of an image for my personal use as a wallpaper. 2. This hack only works if the person uploaded the original high resolution copy of the image (which is pretty often).
Here is how to hack Flickr to get full resolution images:
Let’s use this image as an example… see how he only offers this small image?
Step 1: Right Click on the page, View Source (IE is a little different)
Step 2: Control + F … Search for ”JavaScript-enabled” (without the quotes)
Step 3: When you find that inside the source, look for a link that looks like this: “http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/253376175_e4e532e1dc_t.jpg”
Step 4: Copy that link and paste it into your browser
Step 5: You now have a t (t = thumbnail)of the image …replace t with o (o = original)
Step 6: Enjoy your full sized image.
[Update] Apparently this post has rubbed a few people the wrong way. I guess we’ll see what happens, but keep in mind…by no means did I discover this hack. I read about something similar nearly 6 months ago and just took it in a different direction. Don’t shoot the messenger, but feel free to keep sending me angsty emails, I am ok with those.

Adobe Icons: Icon’t

Talking about application icons definitely falls under that banner; as a crime against humanity, it ranks somewhere around the level of accidentally using 1% milk instead of skim in someone’s coffee. There are indeed more important things to worry about in this world. A lot of them. That said… what in the world led them down this path? Paint chips! For an entire suite of application icons!

Icon’t
New Adobe Icons and Branding
What a Mess
Well it’s official, Adobe has lost it. Adobe recently showcased the icons for the upcoming Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3). If you take a look at the actual icons you might figure out what all the fuss is about. View the icons here. Yep, they are hideous (pardon Adobe’s pathetic attempt at luring artists with the pretty little color wheel). These must be the single ugliest collection of icons currently available on either the Windows or Mac OS platforms. The scary thing is that Adobe spent all kinds of time and a painful amount of effort to make them look like this. Their idea is that these icons will grab people’s attention because they are so ass ugly different. So my question is, what the hell makes Adobe Acrobat so special that its icon stays white? See what I am talking about here:
image
Adobe CS3 – Adobe Acrobat
At least be consistently ugly. Needless to say, it’s an icon, who cares, yada yada yada. It’s quite easy to replace the icon with something that won’t make you gag quite like the default icon will. Way to go Adobe! All kinds of R&D completely wasted.

[tag]Chaos[/tag]
[tag]Tech News[/tag]
[tag]Internet Related[/tag]
[tag]Software[/tag]
[tag]Windows Modding[/tag]
[tag]Icons/Wallpapers/Etc[/tag]

Windows Vista Build 5472.winmain_idx01.060713-1900


An interim build of Vista has been released to testers early this morning. The full build string for this is: 5472.winmain_idx01.060713-1900
My gallery of screenshots can be found here.
Most obvious new things include:

1. Aero Assessment after installation – This displays changing information about key features of Windows Vista.
2. The Task Manager now links to the Resource Monitor, where you’ll find that on the peformance tab you get a button for a more comprehensive resource monitor.
3. Sidebar updates – The ‘Add Gadgets’ window has been updated slightly since the last interim and this build includes a few new gadgets, not to mention updated versions of the ones you’ve grown accustom to know. Below is a list of the gadgets you will find in this build:
* Calculator Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456.
* Calendar Gadget – This gadget is new, although it is more than likely broken in this build. *UPDATE: Just as I had expected, this gadget is broken.
* Clock Gadget – Slightly updated since 5456. Now has different looking text for each clock, rather than bold text.
* Contacts Gadget – This is a new gadget which allows you to view and search through your Windows Mail, and Outlook, contacts.
* CPU Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456.
* Currency Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456.
* Notes Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456.
* Picture Puzzle Gadget – This gadget has been Slightly updated since 5456. The only change I truely see is the border of the gadget has changed to a wood finish.
* Recycle Bin Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456. It is also quite doubtful that you will be seeing this gadget for very long…
* RSS Feeds Gadget – This gadget has changed quite a bit since 5456, but don’t get that acquainted with it for this iteration is already out of date.
* Slide Show Gadget – This gadget appears to be identical to the one included in 5456.
* Stocks Gadget – This gadget has changed the most drastically since 5456. It allows you to see up to 3 symbols at a time while it is on the sidebar itself and it also allows you to move the symbol’s around within itself. While on the desktop, you can see 3 values at a time and scroll down to see other values that you have added to your list via the ‘Add a stock symbol’ search box. The major change is the GUI for this gadget.

Source: Utakz’ Blog

Exclusive: Windows Vista 5361 Screenshots and Wallpapers


Vista 5361 Screenshots
Vista 5361 Wallpapers
Not much information about this new build is available yet, but here is the release information:

Heading Weekly Build-v.5361
Date 2006/4/12
Size 22,682.44 MB
Version 5361
This package includes the following :
(Please Note : These builds require a new Produce Key for Builds 5320 and up)
5361 Client Downloads
Vista_5361_32bitFRE_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN.iso = Build 5361 Client, 32 bit wars, Unstaged
Vista_5361_64bitFRE_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN.iso = Build 5361 Client, 64 bit wars, Unstaged
————-
5361 Server Downloads
LH_5361_32bitFRE_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN.iso = Build 5361 Server, 32 bit wars, Unstaged
LH_5361_64bitFRE_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN.iso = Build 5361 Server, 64 bit wars, Unstaged
LH_5361_IA64bitFRE_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN.iso = Build 5361 Server, I64 bit DVD, Unstaged

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