Do your tunes have varying levels of volume? One year ago, you normalised the volume of your MP3s using an application called MP3Gain.
Webapp Orchestr8 creates widgets for your iGoogle, Netvibes, and Pageflakes start page—or to embed on a web site—from any web page with a simple point-and-click. Similar to the new web clip feature in Leopard (which does the same thing but puts the widget in Dashboard), just point Orchestr8 to the page containing the content you want to clip, find the content you want, click it, and the select Grab it. It’s not perfect, but it does offer a simple way to create widgets for your start page for content that doesn’t offer an easy-to-snag RSS feed.
Orchestr8Mac OS X only: One very annoying aspect of status update applications—from Twitter to Facebook to IM—is that there are so many places to update your status, and if you’re not diligent you’ll end up “out to lunch” for weeks on end. Freeware application MoodBlast updates your status on chat apps, Facebook, Twitter, and more through one universal interface. That means you can enter “back from lunch” in one place and update the status on nearly every application capable of displaying status updates. MoodBlast is accessible through a universal hotkey, can display the music you’re currently listening to in iTunes, your current weather, or whatever individual status you feel like setting. MoodBlast is freeware, Mac OS X only.
MoodBlast [via MacApper]Windows only: The free AnyTV streaming video player gives you access to dozens of internet media streams (television, radio, and other video) from one interface for easy viewing at your computer. AnyTV isn’t quite as slick as our favorite Joost, but for TV junkies, it does offer an eclectic collection of streams from around the world. I had trouble getting some channels to play in AnyTV, but did wind up watching a bit of Eyewitness News while testing. After the jump, see a full screenshot of AnyTV in action.
TAFE and Uni students can buy a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for $75 (or $25 for a one year license) from Microsoft’s It’s Not Cheating anti-piracy website. The offer runs until May 15. The Microsoft Office-compatible free office suite OpenOffice is always free, of course, and is available here. I’m just sayin’. More »
Our telcos are a pretty city-centric bunch, so it’s nice to hear via our pals at Gizmodo AU that Virgin Broadband is expanding its broadband at home and mobile broadband offerings to include Wollongong, Newcastle and Ballarat. More »
Avoid the waste of plastic grocery bags with the heavy-duty reusable ACME Workhorse Bags. The same size as your basic plastic grocery bag, the Workhorse Bag boasts a carrying capacity of up to 25 pounds but collapses into a very small pouch you can easily fit in your go-bag. A set of four bags will set you back $24 at ReusableBags.com, but hopefully in time the tear-proof Workhorse Bags will pay for themselves.
ACME Workhorse Bags [Cool Tools]With unemployment rates rising, the market going nuts, and big internet companies planning layoffs, it’s hard not to worry about a recession here in the States, if not a full on tech bust. The Web Worker Daily blog and career coach Penelope Trunk both list ways you can bolster your career in the face of possible layoffs (and job search), like creating an impressive online persona and doing something great at your current job to add to your resume. You getting the recession jitters? What are you doing to protect your career? Tell us about it in the comments. Photo by texas_mustang.
5 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Career [Web Worker Daily] Maybe there will be a recession. Here’s what to do just in case [Brazen Careerist]We love to see musicians and artists embracing the internet rather than trying to lock down and control their music, so it’s cool to see Paul Kelly offering free downloads from his “A-Z” concert series from his website. Registration is required.The “A-Z” concerts feature his favourite live versions of 100 of his songs in alphabetical order, and the site will offer one letter a month – so January will feature all the songs beginning with A. So I’ll only need to wait until next month to get my favourite track, Before Too Long. :)You can find more Paul Kelly music on his MySpace page, or if you like live recordings his work is also available from LiveBand, a live-gig-to-CD service we told you about previously.If you know of other places to source free music (Australian or other) please share in comments.
Paul Kelly’s A-Z download page [via The Freebies Blog] More »
