Most Mac OS X users probably use Safari, Firefox or Opera for their internet browsing. But every now and again it is nice to have a change of browser. Instead of using your regular browser, why not try Camino, Shiira or Sunrise ?
Camino is a browser that has been around for quite some time now and was first released way back in February 2002. Camino uses the Gecko rendering engine which is the same rendering engine as many fast popular browsers such as Firefox, Flock and SeaMonkey. So if you like the way that the rendering engine works for Firefox then you should definitely give Camino a try. The inferface for Camino is real simple and easy to navigate around making it very user friendly.
Amarok, Rhythmbox and Banshee are a few of the popular music players in Linux. They are great in features and have received plenty of good reviews. But what is unknown to many is that there are a lot of other music players for Linux which are also great in features, but are hidden in some corners of the world.
If you are willing to try something out of the box, here are 5 great alternative music players that you can use in your Linux desktop.
If you’re a stranger to Awaken, let me tell you what it does. Basically, Awaken is a simple application which sets alarms to either pause or play your iTunes. It’s extremely useful if you’d like to wake up to some funky songs in the morning; or to go bed with soothing music in the background, knowing that your Mac will turn itself off when the time is right. Sounds like a great application, doesn’t it? The only problem is: it costs $12.95. I’m not a cheap person but I’m still not willing pay $13 just to have some music played to me in the morning or before I go to bed.
Windows Explorer does do its job, but there is a lot left to be desired. Xplorer2 Lite gives you a more powerful alternative that makes browsing those folders quick and easy. Xplorer2 Lite is the free version of Xplorer2, but don’t let that worry you. The free version has a good feature set that still makes it a great option as your alternative to Windows Explorer.
Xplorer2 Lite isn’t a full replacement for Windows Explorer. What I mean by this is that if you click on a folder after Xplorer2 Lite is installed, it will still open with Windows Explorer. However, right clicking on a folder now gives you the option to open the folder in Xplorer2 Lite. This is a minor inconvenience, but it’s worth it. You’ll see.
Shiira is an open source browser for Mac OS X that is based off Web Kit and written in Cocoa so it runs at native speeds on a Mac. Shiira has been in development since 2004 so it has been in development for about 4 years. Because Shiira is based on Web Kit it uses the same rendering as Safari so when looking at web pages in Shiira and Safari they will look identical.
Shiira Mini is a slimmed down version of Shiira for the Dashboard which can come in useful if you’re wanting to do a little bit of searching when working on something without having to open an actual browser up.
Windows Task Manager is a bit of a tease. Sure it provides you with some usable information, but it falls far short of providing you with the information that you really need. It is most commonly used to display information on all processes running on your computer, as well as advising you of the CPU and memory usage stats for a given process. Additional selective information on running applications, performance, local area connection and on users is also available.
Most importantly, from within Task Manager you have the option of selectively killing processes. But how do you determine which processes are safe to kill based on the limited information Task Manager provides?
I have been looking for something like Revo Uninstaller for years. If you’ve ever used “Add or Remove Programs” on Windows, you know that it’s slow, uninformative, and sometimes not very good at its sole function: uninstalling things. Revo Uninstaller aims to correct those design flaws by being conversely fast, helpful and very effective at uninstalling just about anything you can throw at it.
The interface centers around the main uninstaller which is very easy to use. You can view your installed programs as either large icons or in a detailed list view. I prefer the list view because it lets you sort by name, size, installation date or company. Revo Uninstaller also displays the version number and the product’s website, if applicable.
While you’re busy editing your images with Photoshop, Gimp, or a photo-manager like Picasa, what kind of image viewer are you using? Most of the time when you are viewing an image you aren’t using an editor, especially bulky ones like those listed above. You’re using a lightweight program that primarily lets you view, zoom, flip, and save. Microsoft pre-installs Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, but like most pre-installed Windows apps, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Adobe Creative Suite is a collection of applications for people who are, lets see….creative? Yes. Its a whole suite of applications that can be used to edit, enhance, beautify photos, create vector art, create vector animation, desktop publishing, website design, video editing, DVD menu designs and so on.
Sounds like tasks you can or want to do? Go ahead, the Adobe Creative Suite is for you.
Did I hear you asking about the cost? Well it can be a couple of thousand dollars or so depending upon the version you choose.
Increasingly, more and more people are turning to internet-based solutions to consume their content. Many of them are switching to solutions that hook up to televisions. I find the best solution with the most control is a Media Center PC. Some people, however, do not turn to this option due to the lack of flexibility in the Windows Media Center software. I am going to tell you about some of the best FREE Windows Media Center alternatives that I have found.
MediaPortal – MediaPortal is an open source alternative to the Windows-based Media Center software.
While we have mentioned SharePod in our free iPod tools round-up before, I wanted to take a closer look at this free iPod manager program that is designed to sync and manage my iPod.
To install SharePod, visit the SharePod download site and download the .zip file. Once you unzip it, you can either drag and drop SharePod onto your iPod or run SharePod directly from your hard drive. Because it does not require any installation to your hard drive or “Programs” folder, you can also install it onto your USB or flash drive. This is great if you use different computers or want to get some music from a friend’s computer without using iTunes.
Why would you want to have Open Source software on your computer? Let’s consider a few reasons:
| (1) First reason that every one thinks of is that Open Source software is free of cost, well it certainly is about 95% of the time but it can be paid too although the license will be less restrictive. Nevertheless it can save you hundreds of dollars. |
(2) Another often overlooked aspect is that you can have full access to the source code of the software. This is a great blessing for someone who needs the ultimate customization.
Running across QuickTime or Real Player content around the net is not hard to do. We all find ourselves occasionally trying to access a .mov file or any of the many Real Player file formats. Either way, you’ve usually got to end up installing QuickTime or Real Player. Here at Make Use Of, we really don’t have a problem with either of these services, they just seem a little bloated for our very limited usage of them.
In comes a great site called CodecGuide.com with two great alternatives for these two aggravating applications.
A label originally introduced in Great Britain to mark foreign products thought to be of inferior quality when compared to British products, Made in Germany has now become one of the most popular labels. Today it stands for reliability and quality.
Each of you is using German technology and tools. Most of you will know that, among many other things, the automobile, the Aspirin, the computer and the mp3 were invented (at least in part) by German engineers.
| So you’re an aspiring graphic designer but you don’t have the resources, or willingness, to spend hundreds of dollars on your needed software. Well, below is a list of five great alternatives to commercial software for graphic design. |
(1) Image Manipulation
GIMP – Alternative for Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paint Shop Pro
GIMP, short for “GNU Image Manipulation Program”, has been written about several times before on this site. However, I felt it was worth another mention because of its versatility as a Photoshop alternative.
Voicemail for cell phones has basically been the same since it was first released. Someone calls you and if you don’t answer or your phone is not available on the network, the call is forwarded to voicemail. A signal is then sent to your cell phone that there is one or more messages waiting and you dial in to pick up those messages.
What a 20th century solution!
Wouldn’t it be great if you could have your voice mail e-mailed to you or otherwise retrieve it without having to call back in to your number?
I have now made a switch - I am a full time Ubuntu user and I love every minute of it. Ubuntu is one of the best Linux releases in my opinion, although I’ve only tried 3-4 other Linux distros. I know that hardcore Linux people may argue, but Ubuntu is the only OS that enabled my sound card and my wireless internet connection without as much as a sweat.
Ditching your cable company has never been more viable than it is today. The rise of online, streaming TV shows allows you to save on one of the most expensive household bills if you are willing to sacrifice a bit of the convenience of having either a cable box or DVR. The main question you will need to ask yourself is what shows you actually enjoy watching. Several name brand shows are now available online in free, ad supported formats; if your particular shows are not available then you may be stuck with your cable company, at least for now. More and more shows are always coming online, so keep checking back to see if your favorite show is available.
We have already covered how to make XP look like Vista or any other popular Operating System. This time, we want to focus only on Windows Start Menu and present a number of better Start Menu alternatives.
(1) Vista Start Menu
The name might sound strange, but this one works in most versions of Windows, not just Vista. Vista Start Menu might take you aback when you use it for the first time, but it’s worth it once you get used to it. It simply replaces your current start menu (even on Vista) with a more functional, feature rich and customizable menu.
Nero is one of the best piece of softwares available in the market for CD/DVD Burning Purposes, but it’s quite expensive. It’s bulky and comes with a lot of programs that you’ll never really use.
Why not try some freeware CD DVD Burning Apps applications that can serve as an alternative to Nero Burning ROM for your Windows PC?
1. CDBurnerXP
This is by far the most popular free alternative to the expensive Nero Software. Works on Vista as well, and here’s a features-highlight from CDBurnerXP:
Photographs are little gems and just like with shaping a rough diamond it requires a lot of work as well as skill to reveal the true and full beauty of a simple snapshot. And there are a thousand different ways to get there. Here are ten image editing programs that may come in handy one way or the other.
1. GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a powerful and free piece of software that can handle all basic image editing tasks and much more beyond that. The fact that it’s open source and available for UNIX platforms, Mac and Windows makes it extremely flexible.
As a big fan of Firefox, I am always interested in any other projects that Mozilla might be dabbling in. Yesterday I began testing Songbird which is Mozilla’s open-source version of Apple’s iTunes music player.
Songbird has the same basic design as iTunes but it’s black (default skin) and with added functionality. As with iTunes, you can import your music, subscribe to podcasts, create playlists, rate each song, synchronise your playlists with your computer files and so on.
But let’s take a look at what makes Songbird different from iTunes.
Being a writer that pumps out at least half a dozen articles a day, I have gradually developed a fondness for the Editor / Notepad application in Windows XP. In fact I prefer it a lot more than Microsoft Word due to the fact that a) it opens virtually instantaneously and b) it is easy to use. You just open it and start typing right away. It’s also perfect for making lists and writing simple HTML. But although I enjoy Notepad’s no-frills approach, there are times when I wish there were at least some other features available.
