Slife, a software download that tracks what applications you use, has released a full version 2.0 for Windows. Originally only offered for the Macintosh, the Windows version has been in beta since January. Now fully functional, if you’re a Windows user who’s been looking to get a handle on what and how much you use particular applications now might be the time to take the plunge. Especially since both the Mac and Windows versions are now free to try. [via Download Squad]
Spice up your videos, games, applications or just make system alerts a little more hilarious by downloading sound effects from Soundsnap. Whether you’re an electronic musician using Ableton Live or a budding YouTube auteur looking to flesh out the audio on a Final Cut Pro project, libraries of free sound effects, loops and samples are like mana (I’m a longtime fan of The Freesound Project). All the sound effects at Soundsnap are uploaded by creators, so if you’ve already done some foley work or futzed around with a Moog to produce sci-fi ambience, help out others by contributing. There are already many thousands of audio clips already available. If you’re a multimedia maker, what sound effects sources do you use?
Soundsnap [via Echoplex Park]Internet Explorer 6 has just been launched for Windows Mobile devices, with fixes including enhanced AJAX support, Flash Lite 3.1 and gesture support. (Despite the numbering, this isn’t a replica of the desktop IE6 experience of so many years ago.) You’ll have to wait for device support to actually play with the browser on a handset, but you can install the mobile emulator to get a taste of the experience.
[via Windows Mobile Team Blog]A security and stability update to Firefox—version 3.0.4—is now available. Hit the Help menu’s “Check for Updates…” item to install it now, or get prepared to see the notification on your next restart. [via Mozilla Links]
He might not be too keen on Facebook, but our Prime Minister clearly didn’t want opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull to steal an advantage from being the most visible Australian politician on Twitter. Kevin Rudd has launched his own Twitter account, though so far there’s been no posts of substance. I’m sure he’d appreciate a direct message or two!
Kevin Rudd PM [via ZDNet]Windows only: If you’re looking for help managing a mess of windows on Windows, it might be worth your time to check out DeskAngel. With 16 features (with two bonus features for Windows 2000 users), DeskAngel can do anything from changing a window’s transparency by clicking Control+Alt and scrolling to letting you reassign a middle mouse button. I produced the screenshot above with the click-and-drag to grab an area of the screen and dump it in the clipboard that DeskAngel enabled. Configure the application by editing the settings.ini file. Otherwise, DeskAngel runs quietly in the background, is available from the system tray, and only takes up 2.5MB of your precious memory. DeskAngel is a free download for Windows only.
DeskAngel [via gHacks]A Northern California hosting provider apparently involved in sending 75% of spam email every day was shut down, and now spam volumes have dropped two-thirds as a result, the Washington Post reports. Sadly, once these spam operations move to a new provider, levels will probably resume their former numbers. Are you seeing a drop in spam volume since Tuesday because of this shutdown? Let us know in the comments. [via Waxy]
Windows/Linux only: If you’re looking to collaborate in real-time on a writing or programming project, then check out MoonEdit. It’s a tiny download that, when installed, will allow you to host sessions with other MoonEdit users. Each user is giving a nickname and a colour, and cursors and highlights appear for all. The finished files can be output in the native ME format to preserve meta-data like who edited what, standard TXT format or an HTML file that will display the text for non-MoonEdit users which includes the colours and other notes. You can change options through drop-down menus or through a command line editor. It’s not as tricked out for coders with syntax highlighting and line numbers like similar tool Gobby, but it will evaluate mathematical statements you’ve typed out after hitting Control+Enter, including produce random numbers (if, say, you wanted to play some Dungeons and Dragons with friends). And there is also a neat tool for sequencing music directly within the interface! MoonEdit is a free download for Windows and Linux.Thanks pennstatephil!
MoonEditWindows/Linux: Free application Go-oo is a fork of the popular Microsoft Office alternative OpenOffice.org focusing on speed and greater compatibility. If you’ve ever used OpenOffice.org, Go-oo’s load speed may blow your mind the first time you launch it, and it maintains a relatively small footprint while you’re using it. The actual look and feel of Go-oo is the same as OpenOffice.org because it’s essentially the same application (it’s even still called OpenOffice.org). It is, however, stripped of some of the new features available in OO.org 3.0. Go-oo is free, Windows and Linux only. If you’re a frequent OO.org user and you give it a try, let’s hear how it compares in the comments.
Go-oo [via OStatic]If you have a web site with an RSS feed, like a blog, you can quickly create an iPhone-ized version with Intersquash. Simply input the RSS feed URL and a title for your site, upload a 57×57 thumbnail if you like, and then copy the automatically generated Javascript code. The code detects the user agent string from your iPhone’s browser, and redirects visitors to a version hosted by Intersquash. (You can preview the output in any browser with the URL included — for instance, you can check out my home page as reformatted by Intersquash in any old browser). The thumbnail ends up as the icon if a user bookmarks your site by hitting the + button on their iPhone. After the jump, a quick demonstration video explains the process step-by-step.
