Digital Streets

The BlackBerry is a handy little device to do a great deal of tasks when youíre on the go. By adding these ten applications, you can do even more.

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The Nokia internet tablet is a handy little device to do a great deal of tasks when you’re on the go.  By adding these seven applications, you can do even more.

Applications I’ve added to my internet tablet:

1. GPE-Calendar - a great little calendar app that helps me keep track of all my appointments.  By also using  Erminig, I can sync GPE-Calendar with my Google Calendar.

2. VNC Viewer - remote control software allowing you to view and interact with any computer running a VNC server.

3. Canola - This application turns your internet tablet into a mini media center for playing music, videos, podcasts, viewing photos, etc.

4. Maemo WordPy - a fully functional WordPress client for blogging.

5. Other Maemo Weather - Applet for your Home screen for displaying weather conditions.

6. Gnumeric Spreadsheet - GNOME spreadsheet app.

7. Pidgin - a multi-protocol IM client.  Definitely needed if you chat with protocols unsupported by the native client.

If you like the functionality of Windows XP but long for some of the eye candy that Mac OS X offers, then the FlyakiteOSX transformation pack is something you should definitely take a look at.  FlyakiteOSX works on Windows XP (both Home and Professional), Windows 2003, and Windows Media Center Edition (2003, 2004, and 2005).  By utilizing such 3rd party applications as Y’z Shadow, WinRoll, and Docks, plus the Tiger Visual Style (all of which are included in the transformation pack), your XP machine will be “aquafied”.

First you’ll need to download FlyakiteOSX (Click on the Normal Edition link).  Once the zip file has finished downloading, extract the contents and begin the installation by double-clicking on the executable.  When the Setup Wizard appears, click the Next button.  The next step is to choose what components you wish to install, it also provides the option to create a System Restore Point.  To take full advantage of the transformation pack, check all of the checkboxes to get all of the eye candy goodness that these components provide.  After you have selected the components, click the Install button.

Once the installation has completed, click the next button.  You will be prompted to reboot your system.  Make sure you have no other applications open, then click the finish button.  Your computer will go through the reboot process.

When mine came back up, I was greeted with this (kind of odd seeing Mac OS X right under “Welcome to Windows”):

After I logged in I noticed that my desktop had gone from this:

to this:

A rather significant change!  Here’s some other screenshots:

You can do some further customization by altering the settings and options of the 3rd party applications.  By right-clicking the icons for WinRoll and Y’z Shadow (in the notification area next to your clock), you can access their preference and options windows.

You can also right-click on the Dock bar to change it’s options as well.

If you ever decide that you no longer wish to look Macish, simply uninstall the transformation pack and you’ll be back to the XP look in no time.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 as your email client, you are but a download and an install away from making it your Twitter client as well.  TechHit.com, a maker of utilites and add-ons for Outlook, has produced OutTwit to perform your Twitter needs. 

First, download the OutTwit Setup executable from TechHit.com.  Install the add-on.

Now, open up Outlook and you will find a Twitter addition to your menu bar.  To configure the settings, click the OutTwit button and select Options.

Input your Twitter user name and password in the designated textboxes.   Then set how often you want to check for new Twitter messages.  Next, select the folder that you want the Tweets delivered to (I recommend that you create a new folder that is to be strictly used for your incoming tweets).  You can also assign an Outlook category to the tweets.  Click OK when you have finished.

Once your Twitter messages start arriving, they will show up in the same fashion as incoming email messages:

Opening the messages will display something like this:

When I was running Windows XP, I would use various applications for dealing with image files.  I never really became too attached to any of the ones I found.  When I moved to Vista, I decided to do some hunting to see what other applications were available.  I came across a free piece of software that makes the mounting and unmounting of CD and DVD images (iso, ccd, dvd, img, udf, and bin) a piece of cake.

Download  Virtual CloneDrive from Elaborate Bytes and install it on your Vista system.  Once installed, start up the application to select the number of virtual drives that you want to have at your disposal.  Under the Settings tab, use the Number of Drives dropdown and select the desired number of virtual drives you want to have.

Click OK and then go to computer to see the newly created drive(s):

Right-click the new virtual drive, go to Virtual CloneDrive, and select Mount.

Browse to the location of the CD or DVD image file and click OK.  The image file will then can be accessed as if it were an actual CD or DVD.

 
 Found another little gem for my T-Mobile RAZR, EQO Mobile.  This application allows you free IM on all major networks (AIM, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo, and Jabber). 

While it does allow unlimited free calls to other online EQO Mobile users as well as free EQO Messaging to those members, I rely on the free IM, since it doesn’t matter if the party you are chatting with has EQO Mobile or not.

I use T-Mobile for my cellular service.  For a few months, T-Mobile was allowing the Gmail App to be utilized on it’s tzones internet package.  Long enough for me to become totally addicted to it.  The Gmail App for accessing your Gmail on your cell phone is a super application.  I guess too super, since T-Mobile is now blocking the ports that are required for the application to function.  I don’t understand the decision, since I can tether my cell phone to my laptop for internet access, which would be a lot more traffic than just email.  I could use my WAP browser, or better yet, my Opera Mini to access Gmail, but it just wasn’t the same.  Then I came across flurry. 

While it is by no means the Gmail App, it does fine in email access, but it does quite a bit more.  It allows you to check multiple email accounts on your phone, imports contacts, acts as a RSS feed reader, sends pictures from your phone, and even can send you a text message when you get new mail.  If you’re a T-Mobile user (and even if you’re not), it is definitely worth checking out.

Opera Mini is a great little browser for your cell phone. If you’re a T-Mobile user, you will have some problems since Opera Mini wants to access it’s proxy on port 80. T-Mobile’s WAP browser uses port 8080 and Web Sessions are closed on T-Mobile phones. Time for a little hacking to get things moving. First thing you’ll need to do is hop onto Google and download a copy of P2KTools and decompress it. After you have done that, follow these steps:

1. Connect your phone to your computer, and as the computer locates the new hardware, direct it to the drv directory in P2KTools for drivers.
2. Execute P2KTools.exe.
3. Click on the arrow next to Switch To and select P2K Mode.
4. Click Connect.
5. Select the Seem Editor tab.
6. Under the Seem section, look for seem and rec and make sure the seem reads 0032 and rec reads 0001.
7. Select Read From Phone.
8. Click on byte 2F.
9. Under the Bit operations section, under the 1, check the checkbox.
10. Select Write To Phone.
11. Click Restart to restart your phone.
12. On your phone, go to Office Tools and select Web Access.
13. Select Web Sessions.
14. Create a new web session with the following info:

Name: Custom
Homepage: http://wap.myvoicestream.com
Service Type 1: HTTP
Gateway IP 1: 216.155.165.50
Port 1: 8080
Domain 1:
Service Type 2: HTTP
Gateway IP 2: 216.155.165.50
Port 2: 8080
Domain 2:
DNS 1: 000.000.000.000
DNS 2: 000.000.000.000
Timeout: 15 minutes
CSD No 1:
User Name 1:
Password 1:
Speed (Bps) 1:
Line Type 1:
CSD No. 2:
User Name 2:
Password 2:
Speed (Bps) 2:
Line Type 2:
GPRS APN: wap.voicestream.com
User Name:
Password:

Set the new web session as your default and open Opera Mini to check if it is connecting to the internet. If your Opera Mini still doesn’t work, go back to the newly created Web Session and select Launch.

OutlookTools - Outlook Settings Tool - Download
OutlookTools is an advanced settings tool for Microsoft Outlook. It gives you easy access to Outlook settings and data folders and allows you to unblock attachments, clear the MRU lists, and extend the New Mail Alert past 30 seconds.  It works on Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002/XP, Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.

CCleaner - Privacy Tool - Download
CCleaner removes unused and temporary files from your system and also cleans  Internet and PC usage tracks like browser cache, recently used files, web sites visited and more. You can select the items that you want cleaned, and specify cookies that should not be deleted.

KeePass Password Safe - Password Manager - Download
KeePass Password Safe is a secure password manager that stores login information in an encrypted database. Standalone, no install needed.

avast! Home Edition - Anti-Virus Scanner - Download
avast! Home Edition is a complete anti-virus package, that is is free for registered home non-commercial users. You will download a 60 days demo, if you would like to continue free usage beyond that time, you register from the home page and get a free activation key by email.

LGX Report - Business Intelligence - Download
LGX Report is used to design and generate web-based reports and charts based on MySQL, Oracle, Access, or SQL Server databases. LGX Report is free to use, embed and distribute.