Windows only: Freeware application Adobe Reader SpeedUp selectively removes Reader plug-ins to speed up load times of the notoriously slow PDF application. Granted, most of us left Adobe Reader long ago in favor of Foxit Reader, or even the keyboard-navigator Sumatra, but for those of you who need Adobe Reader for whatever reason, Adobe Reader SpeedUp should go a long way toward a faster Reader. You can either choose one of SpeedUp’s suggested tweaks (like Fast or Turbo) or do some experimentation on your part as to what you can and can’t disable. Adobe Reader SpeedUp is freeware, Windows only.
Adobe Reader SpeedUp [via gHacks and gdunc]While online news junkies have pretty sophisticated newsreading tools at their disposal, if you’re interested in broadcast video news, you’re usually stuck with tiny video clips tacked onto the websites of the major broadcasters. But one new online news project has piqued my interest, both because of their “no advertising” credo, and because of the effort they’re putting into building an intelligent, interactive online news site. The Real News is a global online TV news network which is funded by viewers, taking no money from government or advertisers. They have a $US10/month subscriber model. They’re in beta mode now, looking to crank up to full steam with their coverage of the US election. Initially they’re broadcasting a one hour show each weekday at 10am American EST, which works out to midnight Australian EST. But if you’re not a midnight news junkie, all their news is available to view or download from the site. While the project is based in North America, it already has a very global flavour. I’ll be keen to see how much Australian news they’re able to provide. Phillip Adams (from the ABC and The Australian newspaper) has a brief soundbite in their introductory “This is our promise” video. They’ve built in loads of interactivity to the site – registered users can comment on stories, save favourite video items to a personalised “MyRealNews” page, and can skip the video donation messages which appear before videos play. They’ve also set up a user community at Ning called The Real News Junkies. While The Real News is using professional reporters, its refreshing to see that they’re also approaching citizen journalism with intelligence. Check out their page on “Be a citizen journalist“… They have a storyboard online, and it looks like people can volunteer translation, research or footage, as well as putting in story ideas. More »
If you’re already a fan of in-car GPS*, then you may be interested in a live update service for GPS – SUNA Traffic Channel. It will offer real-time traffic information for GPS navigation systems to help drivers avoid traffic snarls. Suna identifies traffic congestion levels using data from traffic light control systems, as well as probe vehicles in known congested areas, as well as good old human observation. It broadcasts in an encoded digital format via the FM frequency directly to compatible navigation devices. I have yet to see Suna in action, but the service was demo’d in Melbourne last week on Siemens VDO, Garmin and Mio devices. They’re aiming to tie up relationships with SatNav device companies so that around November time frame you can buy SatNat devices with the Suna service built in. Pricing will be set by the device retailers – at the demo last week the expected price being bandied around was the $200-$300 mark for a lifetime sub. But retailers may choose to offer it as a free addon to their device, or as a monthly subscription. SUNA is now being broadcast over 101.1FM in Melbourne. Test broadcasts have begun across 97.3FM in Brisbane and on 106.5FM in Sydney with a view to launching in mid-2008. Adelaide and Perth can expect the service in late 2008. They’ll also make an online, XML-based feed of the SUNA Traffic Channel available to developers and providers of internet-based traffic portals, smart phones and the logistics sector. SUNA is made by Intelematics Australia, but the silly duffers don’t seem to have sent their Suna Traffic Channel website live yet.
*If you’re not a fan of GPS, I’d love to know why. I’ve had the chance to see the Tom Tom in action a couple of times, and its ability to plan a route for you, show it onscreen, as well as talking you through the directions as you go (take the next left, etc) has won me over. Especially it’s ability to rejig your route if you get lost. (Not that I get lost that often. Really.) More »
MakeUseOf.com have done another roundup of tips for Gmail, including Firefox extensions, Greasemonkey scripts, desktop programs, web applications and all-purpose ‘HowTo’ guides.
Ultimate GMail Collection: over 80 Tools and Tips [via Geek-o-pedia] More »
Now you can stargaze using Google’s popular desktop mapping application Google Earth. In the latest version of Google Earth, hit the “Switch between Sky and Earth” button on the toolbar to get a map of the night sky from your current location. Several Sky layers are listed on the left-hand side, including Constellations, Backyard Astronomy, Hubble Showcase, The Moon, The Planets, User’s Guide to Galaxies and Life of a Star. The Sky layers are composed of over 1 million photographs from various scientific and academic sources. Looks like an incredible educational resource for anyone who wanted to be an astronaut when they grew up. Google Earth is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Google EarthIn Google Earth, a Service for Scanning the Heavens [NYT] Google Earth given celestial view [BBC]Need to type the symbol for copyright, trademark or Euro on your Mac? How about e acute or an em dash? Design blog liquidicity offers a complete Mac character key cheat sheet in jpg and PDF form for quick reference or printing out and tacking to your bulletin board. Oh, and the infinity sign? Get it using Alt+5.
Reference for EVERY Character Key on a Mac [liquidicity via OS X Hacker]Want to include a YouTube clip into your PowerPoint presentation that you’ll be giving offline? Hit this nine-minute video to see how. Use the Video Downloader to save the clip to your hard drive and the free SUPER to convert it for use in PowerPoint.
[via Daily Cup of Tech]Rather than syncing Google Calendar with Outlook, reader Seth uses the “homepage” feature of Outlook 2003 to access Google Calender. Here’s how:
1) Right-click on your calendar in Outlook and select Properties 2) On the homepage tab, enter http://www.google.com/calendar/render 3) Check “Show Home Page by Default” 4) In the Offline Web Page Settings, de-select downloading web page option.
Pressing CTRL + 2 (the keyboard shortcut to access the calendar in Outlook 2003) will bring you to Google Calendar. Thanks, Seth! More »
MIT researchers release software that detects visual clutter on a screen image like a web page. The software is free to download but written in MATLAB which we are too dim-witted to figure out. More »
