Category: software

In checking my logs, I realize that quite a few people are following links that no longer exist based on search refers from google and yahoo. I think my problem is that I imported then nuked and re-imported posts from my previous host and MT remembered the numbering scheme from the first install. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope that once this site is fully indexed that the links will once again be correct.

The new view combines titles and descriptions—it’s sort of like a web page, actually, except that you can navigate via arrow keys and the space bar and you can expand and collapse descriptions.

And you can get it from the beta page.

Well worth the usual risk associated with beta software… The new combined view makes scanning the headlines much much faster. In general performance seems to be improved as well.

Microsoft sends a cease-and-desist letter to a shareware firm started by former employees, claiming their home-networking application violates a non-compete agreement. [CNET News.com]

Microsoft claims that Schnazzle–which allows PCs on a home network to share music, photos and other media–is similar to planned Microsoft technology and therefore violates the non-compete clause of the employment agreements Rao and Doise signed when they began working for Microsoft. The company’s standard employment contract prohibits ex-employees from using knowledge they gained at Microsoft to work on competing products for one year after they leave the software giant.

While I am unfortunatley accustomed to certain sites not working in certain browsers, I found myself completely blocked today trying to set-up an account on UPS. I tried Safari, Mozilla Firebird and finally Internet Explorer and all ended up getting stuck at the same point. What’s up with that? I was only clicking on a submit button and nothing happened — in any browser!

Iambic updated their flagship PIM replacement for Palm, Action Names to version 6.1. There is now a split between standard and professional so you have to pick what your needs are when/if you choose to upgrade. I checked out Pro quickly but determined that it is essentially just a bundling of their Iambic Mail app rather than anything that significant to the main app. One nice feature is the use of high res icons finally for the drop down menus that actually pop up if you tap and hold on items. You can see the comparison chart here…

For me SnapperMail is just too good not to use for email, though the free update to Action Names 6.1 standard is well worth the minimal effort.

Criminny! There’s a new RSS reader in town, and boy does it look shiny. OSX people! check out Shrook. first impressions: oooooooh baby! NetNewsWire is not the only fruit, it seems.[Content Syndication with XML and RSS]

While it is nice, posting directly from Shrook is a bit tough. I figured out that you can use the Services menu and keyboard shortcut to Post via Kung Log. Occasional beach balls while “thinking” occurs, but certainly worth a look. One thing that makes that very easy is an import from NetNewsWire – all your subscriptions even as groups come right over. I don’t think I’ll be switching (at least not now) as I am very comfortable with what has been done in NetNewsWire…

Winamp and Gnutella author Justin Frankel says corporate control is killing his freedom of expression, after AOL Time Warner pulls his latest program from the Web. [CNET News.com]

A media-player overhaul is at the forefront of features to be tested for a new version of AOL’s proprietary software, due out this fall. [CNET News.com Entertainment & Media]

MacSpeech Inc., the Mac-only speech recognition company, has updated iListen to version 1.6. iListen has “TalkAnywhere” technology, which lets you dictate into a variety of Mac applications. It translates speech to typed text and characters anywhere you would normally type. iListen is speaker dependent, meaning you have to spend some time “training” iListen to the unique cadence and timbre of your voice. However, it can handle multiple users, each with their own speech files. [MacCentral]

This is a fantastic application for those users needing dictation for any purpose. I used it extensively when my arm was in a cast (twice) and found it made things infinitely more productive. In my experience, this is a better solution than ViaVoice, having used both.

The software giant is phasing out standalone versions of its Internet Explorer Web browser, according to statements attributed to IE’s program manager on its Web site. [CNET News.com Entertainment & Media]

I wonder what this really means… The browser will become part of the OS officially now, I guess and anything else will probably feel bolted on compared with what develops from within. What about the Mac? I know the MSN browser is technically IE 6 for Mac (since that is how it says hello) but it is not yet available alone and I can’t see that being the reason to subscribe to MSN when you have browser options that are at least as good, if not better.