DimDim is a new open source web service which provides full featured web conferencing from within a Web browser. What makes it interesting is the fact that you can not only use it via their own servers, but also download and install your own open source version on your own servers, which takes web conferencing to a whole new place in terms of availability. Another remarkable thing about the service is the interface. The developers have actually made web conferencing easy…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: March 2009
16 Essential WordPress Plugins To Protect Your Blog From Hackers
Now listen up WordPress blog owners. According to a recent USA Today report, hackers are hammering websites with up to 450,000 SQL Injection attacks a day. A day! They do it to infect sites, which in turn infect their visitors to turn their computers into attack bots or virus drones. It’s getting nasty out there. WordPress is the number one blog software around and therefore the number one target for these and other types of attack. No-one is immune, regular Ferret…
Read MoreBooklet Creator – awesome way to make a booklet from any PDF document
Booklet Creator is an awesome free online application which creates booklets out of any PDF file. Just upload your file, wait a few seconds and download a freshly formatted version which has the page ordering all set for booklet printing. This is superb stuff. It’s fast and available with useful customisation features like specifying the size of booklet and number of pages. It won’t work with password protected files (of course). Bookmark! BookletCreator is a free online tool that allows you to create…
Read MoreAegis Mini Ultra portable HDD – 240Gb 1.8″ USB Hard Drive
I’ve always been fascinated by the term “ultra portable”. Surely something is either portable or it’s not? Whatever you think, this Aegis Mini 240Gb HDD from Apricorn (love that name) is absolutely portable. It’s the latest addition to the Aegis Mini line-up which includes 80Gb and 120Gb models. The Aegis uses a 4200rpm 1.8″ drive with a 16 point omni-directional shock mounting system which means it should be ok if it gets bumped around. It weighs about 110g and is…
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Ampedbike E-Bike Conversion Kit – turn your old bone shaker into an electric bike powerhouse
The AmpedBike E-Bike Conversion Kit comes with a front (or rear) wheel with integrated brushless electric motor, a smart charger, thumb throttle and speed controller and some clever brake cutoffs (which cuts power to the motor when you brake). Suddenly you can cycle further, feel stronger and generally do good all over your neighbourhood and beyond. $360.00, but don’t forget you’ll need some batteries too (from $78.00). Our electric instant start pedal assist e-bike kits can be installed on just about any bicycle…
Read MoreLe Bistro Portion Control Pet Feeder – robot feeder eliminates love handles on your pet
The Le Bistro Portion Control Pet Feeder features programmable meal dispensing for smaller pet types. So you can set the thing up to serve out set meal sizes from the hopper and never have to worry again about your precious animal getting fat related diseases. Just don’t try using it with your Great Dane OK? Unless you want the pooch to end up with a sheepish grin and bits of torn plastic between the teeth. $54.99. It is a programmable, automatic…
Read MoreBionic Books – small business accounting gets a slick Web 2.0 makeover
Bionic Books is designed to bring small business accounting into the modern age. It offers multi-national, secure online accounting functionality, all wrapped up in an easy to understand interface. The cool thing about the service is the fact that the devs have thrown in all the features you’d want as a small business, it’s not just an invoicing package, or only cash flow or whatever. It’s not easy to make fully featured applications easy to understand and use, but this…
Read MoreFusion IO Drive – blisteringly fast data storage at a price
Is the Fusion IO Drive a harbinger of doom for the humble hard disk? The product is based on what they call ‘ioMemory’ and apparently features some blisteringly fast performance figures. We’re talking orders of magnitude faster data throughput, folks. What with top end laptops now featuring solid state drives as standard and this level of technology offering incredible speed advantages of around 100x, all we’re really waiting for is the price efficiency curve to kick in and bingo, Winchester/Bernoulli tech…
Read MoreBritish Telecom Sucks – how not to do customer service Part II
OK, so here’s an update on the sorry state of my non-working BT landline as featured on the Ferret yesterday. Having done that blog post, I sat around for a while trying to work out how to get around Catch 22 and get someone to listen to my problem, and finally decided to resort to desperate measures. Here’s what happened: At around 5.30pm I decided to go direct to the top, did a Google search and came up with the CEO…
Read MorePhotoRazor – freeware resizes your photos for emailing in a snap
PhotoRazor is a freeware program for resizing those massive megapixel images we now get from modern digital cameras. The program saves the smaller images to a new folder and lets you resize whole folders of photos in one go, which is great for emailing them to friends and family. The interface is nice and easy, the options are useful and this one goes onto my list. Modern digital cameras take huge photos many megapixels in size – great for high…
Read MoreGoogle Mars – never get lost on the Red Planet again.
First there was the internet for space, now we have Google Mars. With all the activity on Mars these days, leave it to Google, to put it all together in one easy-to-search package. There is a complete map of Mars to study with a choice of an elevation relief map, a visible (black and white) map showing Mars as the satellites see it and an infrared map. I had a quick look around and found the “face on Mars” but…
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Accenda Voice Activated Alarm Clock – sit, beg, roll-over…staay…
This Accenda Voice Activated Alarm Clock also features an integrated recorder and television power on functionality. That’s right, you can record memos to yourself just before you retire for the night, and in the morning the alarm will play them back while simultaneously automatically turning on the television. And you don’t even have to pay for a butler’s salary, think of the savings. Gosh. $69.99. The alarm clock features the latest in speech recognition technology, actually listening for your voice…
Read MoreBuilding a Better Mousetrap with Peanuts and Flash Guns
I spotted this delightful Better Mouse Trap article over at the Strobist blog. The gist of the story is a pesky mouse had been busy tormenting the designer of a range of high-end remote flash gun triggers. Being of the engineering persuasion he sets out to a) test some equipment, b) snap some pics of the critter in the act and finally c) catch the critter. Best of all, unlike squirrel-a-pault it does have a happy ending. Imagine that you…
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Bushcraft Camouflage Cream – should we be worried yet…?
Should we be worried that this Bushcraft Camouflage Cream has transitioned from the dark depths of the survivalist shelves onto the pages of a lad’s gadget store? Is mainstream retailing trying to tell us something about the state of the world that we’re not hearing? Answers on a nightscope to… £1.95. This cream has infra-red reflecting ingredients that really help you to see in bright situations as it cuts down on the reflectivity of the light on your skin. It…
Read MoreTraveller’s Leg Massager – portable knee trembler saves lives
This Traveller’s Leg Massager promises to banish the perils of coach class air travel or a mega sedentary lifestyle in one shiny portable package. Ignore the incredulous stares of your fellow travellers and strap this puppy to your leg once underway. The bladder will thereupon expand and contract around your extremity to prevent deep vein thrombosis and other nasties. Two AA batteries provide up to 5 hours pump action. $149.95. This portable leg massager improves blood circulation for those who must sit…
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