Windows only: If you frequently open NFO files—those pesky little text files that often contain scrambled ANSI art—NFOPad is a small Windows Notepad clone designed to display them properly. NFOPad selects the font style based on the file extension, so you can freely switch between basic text files and NFO files without the hassle of changing settings. In the screenshot above, the same file has been opened in both Notepad and NFOPad. The white text on the left is the ANSI text that Notepad is having trouble displaying. Even when the Terminal font is selected in Notepad to properly display the characters there is usually alignment and spacing issues that make any special formatting nearly unreadable.The same text when displayed in NFOPad reveals that the beginning of the file contains ANSI artwork. For more notepad alternatives check out the results of the Hive Five Best Text Editors. NFOPad is freeware, Windows only.
NFOPad [via Freeware Home]Got some iTunes gift cash sitting in your account, waiting for the perfect iPhone/iPod game? AppTheater is a great place to search and sort video previews of your next airport time-killer. [via Ars Technica]
Search site IceRocket gives near-real-time results from the web, blogs, Twitter, news sites, images, and videos (phew), but its Big Buzz feature conveniently mashes it all onto one page. For those “What’s going on?” moments—such as when, say, a plane crashes into the Hudson River—it’s a great spot to get a quick scan of what’s going on, and what’s being said, on one page. IceRocket’s advanced preferences open up some results-cropping tools. For those looking for a serious bathing in information, you can also grab an RSS feed from your search results. IceRocket is free to use. IceRocket Big Buzz [via Micro Persuasion]
You can fill out your “Google Profile” with all your contact information, but it’s shared only with groups of selected people. In other words, your Google-savvy friends won’t ever get an address-change blast-mail again. More »
Windows Vista only: Microsoft’s Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) tool, offered as a free public beta, creates a low-profile virtual machine that runs XP/2000 apps in their own environment, right on your desktop. It’s not an app you can just install and fire away with, and you’ll have to fill out a short survey at Microsoft’s “Connect” area to get to the download (and, with a light sigh, install their File Transfer Manager to grab it), but once you’re up and running, MED-V runs as a background app that launches XP/2000 applications from their own folder in your Start menu. It’s a free beta right now, and the first full release is expected to drop in 1.0 form in the first half of 2009. We tried running MED-V on the Windows 7 beta at Lifehacker East, but it’s pretty strict on launching only from Vista with SP1 installed. To get a better feel for what MED-V does and runs like, check out Microsoft’s introductory video or demonstration. MED-V is a free download for Windows Vista systems with SP1 installed only. If you gave it a try with some of your Vista-resistant apps, tell us how it performed in the comments. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization V1 [via All About Microsoft]
Whether next week is bringing Linux goodness in Tasmania, the dreaded return to work or yet another round of “haven’t the school holidays ended yet?”, get a sense of accomplishment by catching up with these tips from the last week:
Make sure your computer doesn’t catch fire in the summer heat Test out YouTube TV on your Wii or PS3 Log into that old Hotmail account and set it up for POP3 access Try out the Windows 7 beta on your Mac and see how the other 90% will soon live Set up some nifty multi-monitor wallpaperBig Pond Health is everything you’d expect from a Telstra-backed medical information site — it’s glossy, it’s loaded with multimedia content that doesn’t count against caps for Big Pond customers, and it’s even more loaded with disclaimers pointing out that “we do not give advice on your individual medical condition”. But while it’s easy to bring the snark, it’s good to have an Australian-centric health information site (run in conjunction with the slightly creepy-sounding Virtual Medical Centre), given that the vast majority of information out there is aimed squarely at pill-popping Yanks. Indeed, much of the content seems designed for doctors, but that makes it seem more authoritative than the musings of Amber from Alabama. Big Pond Health
No matter what OS you use, keyboard shortcuts are a one-way ticket to enhanced productivity (plus you look awesome to friends and colleagues); Windows 7 has more cool new shortcuts than you can shake a stick at.
It’s tough being a technology enthusiast and also trying to get your budget to balance, for one simple reason: there’s rarely any financial reward in being an early adopter. That’s certainly the case when it comes to the Dell Inspiron Mini/Vodafone 3G broadband bundling deal.
I’m personally no fan of the touch screen BlackBerry Storm, but if you have invested in one, then keeping the screen from being damaged is likely to be a major preoccupation. The Otterbox BlackBerry Storm Defender case, which I checked out in prototype form at Showstoppers during CES in the US recently, offers one big advantage over most similar cases: you can keep using the phone while the device is inside. As the picture above shows, the case itself can get pretty scratched, so there’s no telling how long your screen will last without protection. The Defender is due for release “shortly” according to Otterbox, with a list price of around $US50. OtterBox
