Monthly Archives: March 2008

Bookmark This! March 20, 2008 posted by

Diagram Designer – freeware graphics editor for charts and stuff…

Diagram Designer is a freeware program for creating ‘flowcharts, diagrams and slide shows’. I suppose it could also be used for more exotic stuff like wireframing and the like. It’s Open Source, so the full source code is available if anyone fancies tweaking, forking or generally messing around.  Customizable template object palette. # Spellchecker (see below about dictionaries). # Import/export WMF, EMF, BMP, JPEG, PNG, MNG, ICO, GIF and PCX images. # Slide show viewer. # Simple graph plotter to…

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Bookmark This! March 20, 2008 posted by

Time Banks – spreading the community service love, one hour at a time…

Time Banks is a community site which is part of the international ‘social change movement’.  The idea is to help people exchange their community work with others so as to build up a network of committed volunteers doing good stuff everywhere.  For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one Time Dollar. Then you have a Time Dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It’s that simple. Yet it also has profound effects….

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Gadgets March 19, 2008 posted by

Getac PS535E Rugged GPS PDA – find you way home no matter what’s up

Getac PS535E Rugged GPS PDA. Windows Mobile 5.0, with Bluetooth, an SD slot, WiFi and 2 GB internal memory storage will survive in conditions from -20C to +70C (158 F), as well as being dropped, kicked and otherwise beaten to within an inch of its miserable little life. Comforting thoughts when you’re stuck on an ice floe somewhere south of Polar Bear Pass.  A tough and reliable industrial PDA that has been built to survive, as well as work hard,…

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Gadgets March 19, 2008 posted by

Ion U-Record – interface your ancient turntable or tape deck to your PC via USB

Ion U-Record. Attach this puppy to your computer USB port, join some cables from your turntable or tape deck to the audio inputs and start converting your vinyl or tape material to MP3. The box has its own preamp and the package comes with EZ Vinyl Converter and Audacity to make those pops, crackles and hisses disappear. Stop being a retro has-been and move into the glorious digital future promised to us in all the prophesies. $49.99.  The U Record USB music…

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cool tech March 19, 2008 posted by

Waterbuoy – keychain balloon retrieves your keys and devices if they fall into the ocean

Waterbuoy. Interesting little keychain product contains a self-inflating balloon which pops open and floats your chattels gently to the surface if you suffer a sudden immersion situation in, say, the nearest ocean or lake. It’s a one time use product only, but since it can support up to a kilogram for over 24 hours, and has a high intensity LED beacon to make location easier, it could be a majorly sensible investment for sailors and landlubbers alike. £14.95.  This clever little device contains a high-strength rubber balloon that…

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Bookmark This! March 19, 2008 posted by

AppleTV – Flash version of the AppleTV interface makes its way to the desktop browser

My that Paul Yanez has been busy. Not content with just replicating the Joost interface in Flash as we reported a while back, he’s now added a bunch of other multimedia interfaces into the pot, including a very cool Flash AppleTV interface which showcases video from all over the Web, including places like Break.com, Heavy and Digg as well as the usual suspects. Of course, the video still suffers from the usual poor quality when expanded full screen, but it’s…

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Bookmark This! March 19, 2008 posted by

Secunia PSI – excellent freeware program scans, locates and patches potential security risks in your applications

Secunia PSI. Excellent freeware package scans your computer and locates old and vulnerable programs which should be updated and if necessary patches them for you automatically. The program will also flag end-of-life products which may contain security vulnerabilities so you can decide whether to keep or delete them from your hard drive. This is a superb tool for tracking potential security problems on your machine if, like me, you install a lot of different software programs, so this immediately goes into my full-time toolbox.  …

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Bookmark This! March 19, 2008 posted by

Taaz – online makeover tools get Web 2.0…er…makeover

Taaz. A new women’s makeover application which lets you upload a photo and tweak hairstyles, makeup and stuff. It’s not a new idea, but this one comes with all the shiny Web 2.0 stuff, including mandatory shiny black interface, a voting gallery with user comments and lots of beauty hints and tips. The controls are very easy to use, and surprisingly flexible, unlike some which only allow a limited range of changes. You really can fiddle with your look and…

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Gadgets March 18, 2008 posted by

vCard – the digital business card that thinks it’s a video player

vCard. Er…this is a business card. Yes, yes, it looks like a media player, but it’s not. It’s actually a ‘complete interaction information player’ is what. I think the idea is you hand it over instead of your business card and it goes off and plays lots of video at your target victim and they fall in love with your company and call you up and place orders for a gazillion widgets and you cash the money and go and…

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Gadgets March 18, 2008 posted by

USB Lightshow Stick – wave hello to your friends with a light touch

USB LightShow Stick. What has 32 LED bulbs, plugs into your USB port for programming and can display messages for your family and friends just by waving frantically in the air? That’s right, George Clooney’s toothbrush. But apart from that, apparently this puppy does the same thing. So be surprised. $22.00.  Hard to say the words? Make them appear in the air. Customize your messages like “I Love U”, “Sorry!”, or images in JPG/BMP format, install them in the 32-LED…

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Gadgets March 18, 2008 posted by

HTC Touch Cruise vs Nokia 6110 Navigator

HTC Touch Cruise GPS Phone vs Nokia 6110 Navigator. Just been playing around with an HTC Cruise GPS handset over the past few days, and here’s some quick impressions for you in comparison with the Nokia 6110 Navigator. They’re both GPS of course, and have fairly similar specifications although the HTC comes with a 3 megapixel camera (vs 2 mp on the Nokia) and a 2.8 inch screen instead of the 2.2 of the Navigator. Oh and of course the…

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diy March 18, 2008 posted by

DIY LED Bulbs – how to make your own super bright LED lamps

 How to make your own LED bulbs. This tutorial on making LED bulb arrays is a little old, but pretty cool nonetheless. You’ll need some glue, solder and a fair amount of patience. Oh along with some electrical smarts. Then you’re good to go.  After many attempts to make all sorts of LED-conversions I finnaly found one solution that is simple and efficient. Of course, you do need a great amount of patience in making this but when you consider the countless hours…

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Bookmark This! March 18, 2008 posted by

Checkser – the to-do list wiki that lets you find and build online checklists

Checkser is an intriguing new take on the whole online to-do list concept. It’s basically a super fast, no registration application that lets you create checklists and to-do lists. It’s still too early to say how useful this will be, but judging from a few of the offerings up there, it could turn out to be extremely cool for some types of needs. The fact that it’s based around a wiki model means that anyone can edit or improve checklists,…

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Bizarre March 18, 2008 posted by

ALife4Sale – buy this guy’s life, if you don’t have one of your own

Ian Usher is auctioning his life to all-comers on 22nd June on eBay. The lot. His house in Perth Australia, car, jet-ski, everything. He’ll walk away with just his passport and the clothes on his back. Full details can be found on his site at www.alife4sale.com. The Internet sure is a weird place, huh? [Via Metafilter] One thing I found really interesting was his video on driving one of those really HUGE trucks in the open cast gold mines in…

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Gadgets March 17, 2008 posted by

Sardine Can Survival Kit – 25 items to help you survive the worst and smile

This Sardine Can Survival Kit contains 25 items to help you survive an emergency situation without losing your cool. You can probably guess the type of thing, fishing line, compass, ointment, matches, razor blade etc. It’s waterproof and airtight, so you can stash it in your vehicle and forget it, hopefully for ever. $12.99.  Since being well prepared is half the challenge, you’ll have a good head start with this kit. Put one in your car, boat, motorcycle, fishing vest,…

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