December 2008 - Page 5 of 10 - The Red Ferret JournalThe Red Ferret Journal

Mobile Tech December 17, 2008 posted by Dan

Emoze – push email for people without fruity phones

If your current phone isn’t made by a fruit company chances are it doesn’t have push-email. Emoze can probably help. Emoze is a free push email service for Symbian 60 and Windows Mobile smart phones. First install the client on your handset, it’s preconfigured to play nicely with Microsoft Outlook, POP3, Lotus Domino and Groupwise and it plays nicely with Gmail, Yahoo! and Facebook straight out of the box. Enter your details and you’re all set. New emails will pop…

Bookmark This! December 16, 2008 posted by Dan

iSpring – PowerPoint to Flash converter

Moving a PowerPoint presentation from one computer to another is fraught with danger, especially if it’s got multimedia or hyperlinked content. iSpring Free is a PowerPoint to Flash conversion program that bundles everything up and sticks it into Flash player for easy portability or to display presentations on the web. Retain the use of your hyperlinks and actions buttons, animations, audio and narration, embedded video and Flash movies. Best of all, it’s free. Works with PowerPoint 2000, xp, 2003 and…

Gadgets December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Cordless Heated Car Screen Scraper – this ice be gone deals with those cold brrr mornings

This Cordless Heated Car Screen Scraper sounds perfect for banishing the tedium of those sub-zero mornings, scrape scrape scraping like some mindless polar bear in a suit. It recharges from the cigarette lighter socket, so you’ll get rid of the frost and snow double quick only to be faced with a dud battery. Heh, just kidding. Ooh, and it comes with a tiny LED light so you can see your miserable task’s progress in the dark too. £24.99. Heated element in…

Gadgets December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Cell Phone DVR – motion sensing mobile phone grabs the footage you need

The Cell Phone DVR records anything in range of its pinhole camera and saves the footage onto an internal microSD card. Video is recorded at VGA and 30 fps which should be enough for most purposes, and the motion sensing feature means it won’t waste time shooting dark empty motel room walls. You’d better just hope that no-one tries to make a call. £631.27. The phone conceals a high resolution/low lux pinhole CCD camera that is undetectable to the naked…

Free Software December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Extensoft Free Video Converter – flexible, functional and competent

Extensoft’s Free Video Converter is a nice example of the genre. There are a load of these programs on the market, but I like the interface and speed of this one in particular. I also like the fact that you can combine multiple clips together in a rudimentary fashion (e.g. no transitions etc) and make a longer length movie out of clips. Great for your different digital camera footage bits. Oh, and it also creates nice web Flash video code…

Awesome December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Artisteer – the ultimate WordPress theme creator

We’ve tested a fair few web design services and programs in the past, but I’ve got to say that this new Artisteer package has taken the genre to a completely new level. On the face of it it looks like any other DIY page designer, but what makes this one absolutely terrific is the kind of design help you get from the options available on the menu. Spend no more than a couple of minutes hitting the Suggest Design button and…

cool tech December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Soft Solar Battery – clever solar battery rolls up into your battery compartment

This concept Soft Solar Battery is all kinds of clever. It charges up via the sun of course, but once rolled up fits neatly into a conventional AA type battery compartment to power up your gizmo. A fabulous idea, which really deserves to reach production. [Via] Using renewable energy from the sun, Solar Soft Battery provides an environmentally friendly means of collecting solar energy and actively converting it into stored electrical energy. Designed as a soft strip, the battery is…

Bookmark This! December 16, 2008 posted by Nigel

Windows Vista Woes – tip of the day

Another quickie Windows Vista tip. The other day I suddenly started getting ‘Windows Explorer has stopped Working’ errors on boot up, which were a mystery and annoying. After digging a bit discovered it was Adobe Shockwave causing the problem. Uninstalled Shockwave, problem went away. I seriously cannot remember having this much trouble with Windows 95 even. From what I have seen so far we believe shockwave player software is causing windows defender to be removed which in turn is causing…

Gadgets December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

Shock Safe – keep your family away from your valuables. Permanently

The Shock Safe is a piggy-bank with a difference. Yep, it will administer a shock to anyone trying to tamper with your valuables while you’re out and about. Now far be it from us to cast judgements, but we’re not sure that causing family members pain and distress is going to improve your chances of attracting love and additional donations. But what do we know? £19.99. Program this shock safe with your 4 digit code, shut the door & your…

Fun & Games December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

Spyfire RC Blaster – take aim, make enemies, goof off…

The Spyfire R/C Blaster is there to help you make friends. After all, what better way is there to ingratiate yourself with your work colleagues than to stalk them through the corridors in handheld mode or set unprovoked ambushes by the coffee machine? A few shots between the eyes and they’ll invite you to every party and social event on the company calendar. Oh yes they will. $29.99. The SpyFire is a unique blaster. Not only is it a powerful,…

Gadgets December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

Angler’s Belt Watch – complete with more accessories than a Spanish cop

This Angler’s Belt Watch comes with a compass, thermometer, fish hook sharpener (!), and LED flashlight for hunting bears in the dark. Or something. Oh and did we mention the snips. Definitely not a tool for couch potatoes. $98.00. The only timepiece an outdoors enthusiast will ever need. With carabiner, hook sharpener, compass, thermometer, and stainless–steel snips. Water–resistant, solid aluminum case with mineral glass crystal, luminescent hands and markers, analog/digital movement, alarm, stopwatch, date, moon–glow luminescence, and LED microlight. Watch…

Bookmark This! December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

Recuva – freeware restores deleted files on your PC or memory card

Recuva is a freeware program which locates and restores deleted files on your Windows computer. If you’ve ever accidentally removed stuff from your Recycle bin, deleted a file in haste or lost images on a digital camera memory card, then this is something you’re going to want to add to your digital tool box. Recuva (pronounced “recover”) is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle…

Bookmark This! December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

GooSync – synchronize Google Calendar with your PDA or mobile phone

GooSync lets you synchronize Google Calendar in real time with your mobile phone or PDA using SyncML. The cool thing is it’s bi-directional and instant, so you can keep a live calendar going between you and your base running permanently. A great app for execs who are on the road a lot or for those who are preternaturally disorganised. The free version offers synching of calendars up to 30 days in advance, for a longer timeline and contacts and tasks…

Bookmark This! December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

The Plagiarism Checker – fast and simple check for student cheating

Cut and paste some student text into The Plagiarism Checker and find out whether the little brat has been Googling his education. OK, so that’s unkind, of course the little angels would never do anything like that. Would they? Mmm…a search for term papers on Google turns up 110 million results, all very similar to this one. Methinks cheating is a big big business out there. Cut & paste your students paper or homework assignment into the box below, and click the…

announcement December 15, 2008 posted by Nigel

New Red Ferret Design – heralds the dawn of an historic new era for polecats everywhere

Ta-Da. So we bit the bullet, took the plunge, jumped the tortoise and launched a brand new Red Ferret design last night. We hope you like it. Some of the greatest personalities of the 20th century helped pull it together, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes (thanks for the wooly mittens, Ran!), Sir Paul McCartney for the colour scheme, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for the loud exclamations at important moments and last but not least, Mrs Miggins next door for the lovely meat pies….

Monthly Archives: December 2008