Mac OS X only: Have you ever been busy getting something done when the dock icon starts bouncing up and down? The Switching To Mac blog writes up the process of completely disabling that effect.
Windows only: Looking for a different kind of application launcher for your Windows desktop? SliderDock puts your app icons in an easy-sliding ring instead of a bottom-hugging dock, and can be customised to fit any theme.
Windows only: If the application dock on your friend’s Mac fills you with envy, you might want to check out XWindows Dock, a full-featured OSX dock clone. XWindows Dock certainly isn’t the first dock bar for Windows we’ve featured—RocketDock and ObjectDock are two popular options covered in the past. Although much newer to the scene than the aforementioned options, XWindowsDock has an eye-pleasing array of features. The visual appearance is easily customisable with settings covering opacity and blue, spacing, icon size, and many more aspects. If you’re not interested in tweaking settings, the default is more than serviceable, and the application is skin-able to take advantage of other peoples’ design chops. You can minimise applications to the dock, save folders to it, and even preview images and video on it. One small oversight is the lack of support for dragging applications to the dock to create shortcuts. Application shortcuts are added by searching from the dock for the executable. Not a deal breaker for most people, but if you’re a frequent dock re-arranger you may miss the convenience. Also as you can see in the screenshot above, some of the default icons for applications come out a bit fuzzy—grabbing icons from the icon sets we shared last week would be a definite improvement.For more features and screenshots, check out the site below. XWindows Dock is freeware, Windows only.
XWindows Dock [Download Squad]Reader Painkilla05′s stylish desktop was inspired from a Microsoft research video showing what computer interfaces might look like in the year 2019.
The crafty bloggers at the Geeky Gadgets web site don’t want to pay an extra $35 for an iPhone 3G dock, so they fashioned one out of cardboard—and are now offering the cut-out template as a free downloadable PDF. You’ll need a printer, some adhesive, a craft knife, and some light cardboard to cut this out and fold on your own. Check out a video clip of the construction.
If you’re tired of hearing about Windows 7′s upcoming features while you sit and stare at your aging XP or Vista desktop, take solace in a few free apps and themes that can give you a taste right now. While it’s true that Windows 7 isn’t much different from Windows Vista (inside and out), a few neat features are worth trying out, and you can do it without installing the Windows 7 Preview. Here are a few free apps and alternatives that simulate Windows 7′s built-in features.
Mac OS X only: Free application Dock Dodger removes any running application from your Dock, decluttering your Dock for apps that you want to keep there and ditching the rest. When might something like Dock Dodger come in handy? Let’s say, for example, you downloaded the very cool system monitoring application XRG when we mentioned it recently. The app’s great, but it has a useless Dock icon. To get rid of its icon, just drag XRG to the Dock Dodger window; next time you restart the app, its icon is nowhere to be found. If you decide you want an icon back in the Dock later, just rinse and repeat the same process. Dock Dodger is donationware, Mac OS X only. Dock Dodger [via MakeUseOf]
Windows only: Free application CircleDock automatically puts files, folders, and shortcuts within a few pixels of your mouse when you invoke it for quick action. CircleDock is completely customisable, from the skin and hotkey to the items you place in the dock. You can rotate the items in the circular dock with your scrollwheel, which is cool despite its questionable usefulness. The app is portable, so you can toss it on your thumb drive and take it with you. CircleDock is free and open source, requires .NET 3.5. A more attractive and improved update is expected within the month. If you give it a try, let’s hear what you think in the comments.
CircleDock [via CyberNet]Reader pr0vid3nc3 didn’t feel like spending $50 on a dock for his iPod touch, so he converted his iPod touch box into a DIY dock, Moleskine stand, and headphone holder. There’s not much to the setup apart from affixing the parts together with some sort of adhesive, and—though you may not be able to tell from the photo—a lot of thought went into this portable GTD station. Now everything I take with me every day is in place: iPod touch, Moleskine for offline GTD, Shure in-ears (in the black case), and plug power adaptor from my MacBook Pro.
If you’re looking for a more traditional setup for a DIY using the same materials, check out our previously posted DIY iPod touch dock. Naturally, either should work for iPhones, too. 0€ DIY iPod Touch Dock and Moleskine Stand [Flickr]
Mac only: When you want to keep your Desktop clear but still get easy access to disks and network drives, you want Volumizer. This simple utility adds your Mac’s hard drive and other drives—disk images or external drives—to the Dock and/or your menubar. That way if you want to hide the Hard Drive icon from the Desktop, you can still get to your disks in one click. Volumizer is a free download for Mac only. Thanks, AlaskaJack! Volumizer [via Ars Technica]
