The PC had got slow again so it was time to format and re-install. What a difference. Applications now start quickly, disk usage dramatically reduced - feels like a fresh machine. It’s a pity Windows requires this type of start again approach and something that hopefully Vista will resolve. For the mac users out there - as time goes on does the mac O/S start to slow down? Anyway - new (old) desktop to celebrate.
Trying to keep to ‘core’ apps only so no Yahoo Widgets, no Objectdock, only MSN Messenger installed etc etc. Highly recommend XP users to format the disk (once you’ve backed up key data) and start again. Go on - you know you want to.
If your into mind maps then FreeMind is well worth a look. Java based, nice featureset and some great export options. Did I mention it’s free?
The IE7 Beta 2 Preview is now available to the masses - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/ie7/ie7betaredirect.mspx. While many of the new features have been available for the last 2 or 3 years in Firefox or Opera it’s good to see the Windows O/S default browser catching up and becoming a much better tool for the average user who would never think of changing from IE.
So - whats new? The list below are the main features (links to Flickr piccies where possible)
- Tabbed browsing is the biggie. Browse the web in a much more efficient manner. Easy to open new tabs and there’s a nice Quicktabs button that shows all tabs as small screens allowing you to easily pick the one you want.
- Rendering - much improved. Support for png’s and better css standardisation. My site is looking pretty OK considering it’s IE. Binary Bonsai which has always struggled in IE is looking not too shabby. Pity MSN UK’s website looks shabby - a bit embarrassing.
- Phishing filter. Will highlight a dubious website and also allows you to check against a list of known phishing sites. Should improve security alongside a pop-up blocker and also a nice tool for checking which add-ons are currently running in IE. This will make it easier for users to remove spurious search toolbars that they have installed over the years.
- RSS support. Using the now adopted RSS standard icon you can add feeds to IE and then check via a feed view. Great to have this as built into IE instead of having to add a separate program although it’s fairly light on features.
- Search engine selection. You can now add various search engines - Google, Yahoo, AOL as well as Amazon, EBay and others. Nothing special but good to see Microsoft opening out their software away from MSN defaults.
- Cleaner interface. Makes for a bigger browsing window.
These features alone should have been added to IE a long time ago. It’s only thanks to the in-roads that Firefox has made that has forced Microsoft to release an updated browser. Thank heavens for competition especially as it’s the majority of users not in the ‘know’ that will benefit most from the final IE7 release.
Windows Live Messenger
Been using this for the past 3 days - this is the new name and new version of MSN Messenger. Interface is much the same as before with a bit more polish and easier to use features. You can search from within Messenger to including one option to search ‘Near Me’. Enter Games and a search window for Glasgow (which is near me) will launch showing a map and addresses for Game related stores near me - hello CA Games. You can also search your desktop from here - maybe time to switch back to MSN Desktop Search as having the search box in Messenger makes more sense than on the toolbar especially as I always have Messenger running.
There are also extra options to be had when chatting. One is Music Mix which allows you to share a music playlist with whoever you are chatting with. Sounds OK but in practise was slow to download my currently playing track and also made the Messenger app pretty unresponsive. Another allows you to share a map search, another allows you to watch a video together from MSN. All tat in my book.
One feature I did like was Sharing Folders. Turn this on between you and a contact and a folder will be kept in sync on each contacts PC. Drag a file onto your contacts name and the file will be synchronised into yours and theirs folder. Makes file transfer so much easier and you no longer need to wait for the contact to say yes to the file.
Newsvine
Think of Digg with less geeks and more general news and you’ve got Web 2.0 (blah) app Newsvine. Three main activities - Read, Write and Seed. Read articles and comment on them to your hearts content but also control the content - the community keep alive the stories they like by voting on them.
You can also Write your own articles and they will appear like other news stories so users can comment and vote on their favourites. Seeding articles is basically linking articles from the web. They will appear within Newsvine as well and be subject to the same voting and commenting as the previous two. The main difference from other sites is that authoring and seeding can earn you money. If you add value to the Newsvine site then you earn some dollars. Interesting concept - open up journalism to the masses but surely it will end in tears as wannabe journalists write up misspelled articles in the quest for fame?
A video from CBC that can be grabbed via bit-torrent shows the very same online mechanism in South Korea - it’s amazing the amount of money an amateur can generate but South Korea is the most connected place on the planet. Still - shows the potential that this model has. I’ve been pretty impressed so far with the content and the news that I’ve found.
The above apps are still in Beta but I do have invites left for both of them - if your interested leave a comment and I’ll drop you an invite.
