Windows only: Advanced audio editing tool Free Audio Editor handles your music and sound editing with an attractive, streamlined, and easy-to-use interface. The application handles common audio formats (from MP3 and WMA to WAV and OGG) and boasts a rich set of features: Batch processing, recording, CD ripping/burning, and text-to-speech make this application worth a look for anybody that needs to do some quick audio editing without paying for a commercial application. Of course, no audio editing post would be complete without mentioning the also-free, cross-platform, and open-source Audacity, useful for such odd tasks as removing vocals.
Free Audio Editor is a free download for Windows only.
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Keep your menubar and its drop-down options accessible but out of sight with the handy little Hide Menubar Firefox extension. If want to keep the menubar around but don’t want to have to go through the hassle of right clicking and activating it every time you need it, Hide Menubar is a great compromise. Until you press the ALT key, the menubar stays hidden giving you that sliver of screen real estate back. When you need one of the menus, it’s a keystroke away. If you have your own trick or favoured extension for stealing back your pixel space, share it in the comments. Hide Menubar [via Firefox Facts]
Firefox with Greasemonkey: The AddTo Google Reader script adds web pages to your shared items in Google Reader, so you can bookmark and share non-feed items easily. Once you’ve installed the script, bookmarking pages in Google Reader is as simple as hitting the F4 key, entering optional comments or tags, and using the Post Item button. If the F4 key doesn’t suit your fancy and you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves for some minor script editing, you can change the if(e.keyCode != 115) line to use a different keycode. I’ve found this script incredibly useful for quickly saving bookmarks to read later from one consolidated location—though previously mentioned ReadItLater is a whiz at that sort of thing if you prefer a different approach. AddTo Google Reader is a free download, requires Firefox with Greasemonkey. Readers using other browsers can get the same functionality in a bookmarklet.
AddTo Google Reader [Userscripts.org]Lovely Charts is a free web-based tool for creating flow charts, site maps, network diagrams, and other visualisations with a drag-and-drop interface and a look somewhat upscale from black-line boxes and polygonal boxes. You’ll be zipping through charts after a few minutes familiarising yourself with the layout of the tools—I made the basic network diagram above within the first minute I was on the site. You can customise nearly everything: icon size, labels, the size and shape of the connections between the icons, and so on. One feature that’s missing, but in the works, is the ability to upload your own icons and artwork. Good thing, too, since my network map won’t be complete until I can add a little Xbox icon. You can export your charts as JPEG or PNG files at the size you specify. Lovely Charts has free and professional accounts, the primary difference between the two being that free accounts are restricted to saving a single chart. You can create and export as many charts as you want, but are restricted to saving one chart for future editing. If you need the ability to edit and save multiple charts but would like to avoid paying for a service, take a look at previously reviewed open-source application Dia.
Lovely Charts [via Tech Crunch]The official Windows 7 Team Blog reminds us that availability for the Windows 7 Beta ends on Thursday (US time, but you might as well work to that scale). Maybe more importantly, though, if you have not already started your download as of today, you’re out of luck (at least if you consider the official download to be your only avenue): Microsoft has already pulled the plug on new beta signups and downloads. For those of you still working on your download, you’ve got until 9am PST on Thursday to finish. [via Gizmodo]
Windows/Mac: Postbox is an email client that helps you re-discover all the photos, attachments, and links buried in your email, as well as organize newer mail. Think of it as Thunderbird with a file-managing fixation. In fact, Postbox is based on at least a good chunk of Thunderbird‘s code, and most of its company’s founders and lead developers worked on Thunderbird or other email apps at Netscape or Mozilla. If you’re already a user of the open-source bird, Postbox should be strikingly familiar, but Postbox can also be picked up pretty easily by any new user. Let’s take a look around:
