Foxit Reader - What Abobe Reader Should Have Been

Ever wonder why Adobe Reader takes so long to open? It seems like the software is loading everything possible on startup even when you are not opening any PDF files. I was very happy to find a software that is a self contain executable file that opens PDF files within a flash. It makes Adobe Reader look like a web page trying to open a 10MB file over a dialup connection. This time saving software is Foxit Reader. And as you may have guessed from reading my other blog entries, it's free. If you are unfamiliar with setting up an executable file, then download the Installer file rather than the Zip Package. Enjoy!

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader_2/down_reader.htm

Manage Disk Space with WinDirStat

The utility may not be pretty but it gets the job done. It shows a tree view on top and a graphical display on the bottom. Each file is represented as a rectangle with its size proportional to the size of the file. Clicking on the file shows the what file it is and its file size. This way, I can determine if I should delete the file or not. On top of that, it is a free utility. You can find this utility on SourceForge.net. See image and link below.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/windirstat/

Social Atlas Sites

What is a Social Atlas Site? Think of it as a place where you can map points of interests for you to either keep or share with others. It is a very interesting concepts and might be considered a new emerging media. There are several sites that offer you this service and all are currently free others may charge in the future. Of these, I have tried Platial and Wayfaring. Both of these are pretty good my opinion. Platial user interface for uploading pictures and associating it with the point of interest is a little more intuitive. Wayfaring, however, allows upload of video. I will have to play with both of these sites a little more before deciding which one to use.

Update 09/13/2006: Well it was pointed out to me from Deisnor of Platial.com that their system does allow video.  All you need to do is embed the video into the Description section of the place you are adding.  Thank you Deisnor for your information.

Platial Screenshot

via PCWorld Magazine: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126834/article.html

Yet Another NotePad Replacement

I use NotePad a whole lot. For viewing web page sources or as a temporary repository to store misc information. However, NotePad sometimes just doesn't seem enough. Well, stepping up to the plate is NotePad2. It is just another NotePad replacement like many others such as TextPad or UltraEdit. But it won me over for 3 very important reasons. First, it is small and simple yet robust enough to support syntax highlighting. It also have nice features like zooming in and out to see the text more clearly and it also supports search using regular expression. Second, it doesn't require an installation. You just place the executable file where convenient and double click on it to run the program. Third and most important, it is free.

http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

Free Light Weight Prompter for Podcasting

As I research more into the technology for podcasting, I realized it is not as easy as I thought. It requires quite a bit of preparation just like everything in the entertainment industry. Sure, you can just pic up a mic and start talking but without preparing you would not sound professional or structured. So I started looking around for tools that would help with podcasting. I found a simple small program that prompts the user much like a teleprompter.  It is called Prompt!.  Go to the following link to download Prompt!
http://www.movieclip.biz/prompt.html

Screenshots:
  

Wiki For You and Me

You probably have heard what a Wiki is. Most of you probably have played around with Wikis. But to personally have one for yourself whether at work or home, probably not so much. Well, I ran into something pretty cool and have been using it for several months now is a personal Wiki called TiddlyWiki. As the name implies, it is rather small and works best just on your personal computer. It behaves very similar to other Wikis except it opens everything within one window.
Go to here to see for yourself: http://www.tiddlywiki.com/
TiddlyWiki Tutorial: http://www.blogjones.com/TiddlyWikiTutorial.html

I am currently using it at work to be able to make entries and journals on a daily basis of important information. I also have all the important links for my work in easy access in an entry called "WorkLinks".  An entry in TiddlyWiki is called a "Tiddler". I then have a shortcut to this Tiddler on my main menu. With that, I can access all the links I need.

You do not need HTML knowledge to use TiddlyWiki but you will benefit greatly if you look at the tutorial because there's certain tricks and tips on how to use the Wiki to it's fullest extent. For example, if you would like to have a link in the entry and have it say "Click here" rather than the actual URL, then you will need to write it in a particular format.
Example: [[Click here|http://someurl.com]]