Supergeekblog

Lifehacker brings us a useful tool - for free.  I haven’t tested the latest version of their product, but ZoneAlarm is known for making a solid piece of software.

As [Lifehacker] mentioned yesterday, the normally $40 firewall and antivirus solution ZoneAlarm Pro is available for free today only, so if you’re interested in some free quality software, consider this your reminder to grab a copy.

Today it is free.  Sign up and in 48hrs you will get a link to the software along with a serial.

Technorati Tags: Zone Alarm, Free Software, supergeekblog

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I normally don’t plug (pun intended) too many Wordpress plugins, but this is the second one I have discovered this week that I installed right away.  This stats plugin impressed me with it’s layout immediately after installing.  It is called CyStats.

It integrates right into the WP-Admin section and starts recording data right away.  As a stats junky (my day job is reporting/business advisor/analyist/report development) I really like having this information at my fingertips.  Now I do use Feedburner, and there are some stats available there, but I like this built in site-wide stats viewing.  I encourage you to check it out and possibly install it yourself.  (Feel free to leave reviews or other recommendations.)

Technorati Tags: CyStats, Wordpress, Wordpress Plugins, Supergeekblog, Olorinpc, Jake Barnard

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From LifeHacker - Ashampoo’s Burning Studio.  This works like a lot of other burning applications.  I like the smooth feel of it.

Head over to LifeHacker and check it out!

Technorati Tags: supergeekblog, ashampoo, cd burning, burning studio

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From TechCrunch:

Switzerland-based deskNET is debuting the public beta version of Sobees today, an application that aims to bring the web to a personalized desktop environment. We first came across Sobees when they presented their project in the DemoPit at the TechCrunch50 conference.

I like the concept of this really… though would have to dig more into its functionality to judge. (As well as actually test it.) My main concern would be for the requirement of .NET 3.5 SP1. a)forced upgrade for most people b)example being it will be a long time before work pushes that update. That being said, a silverlight version or installing it at home should be possible.  However, that being said, for most of us on Windows machines that won’t be much of an issue.

First impressions… the install is fairly painless.  It takes a *while* to install .Net 3.5 SP1, but that is typical of all the .Net framework installations.  The Sobees install is 1.2mb, so the download doesn’t take long.  However the built in downloader for .Net 3.5 SP1 takes a while as it is 52mb.  Make sure you give it time to finish.  I recommend downloading and installing .Net 3.5 SP1  beforehand - you can monitor the install a little better that way.

***Huge Warning here***

If you use VMWare proceed with caution!!! After installing .NET 3.5 SP1 it crashed my install of XP.  I could no longer boot to the gui with an error on “vmgina.dll.”  After spending 2 hours working on it and doing an XP install over my existing one I was able to get back online.  I am still in the process of recovering.  I did however find a MS KB article on the issue.  Read this before going forward.  The gist of it is though that the 3rd party video driver that VMWare installs, somehow gets messed up by that install.

I will have to review the actual software in a follow up.

Technorati Tags: vmgina.dll, gina.dll, sobees, supergeekblog, olorinpc, sgbtech, vmware, troubleshooting, xp crash

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Mark over at the Geeks are Sexy has a nice writeup on how the German Government is warning people against Google Chrome.  It seems the big issue is having a single vendor with all of that information.  (Cal, email, search, and now web browser.)

Click here to read the GaS writeup.  (Great blog btw.)

Technorati Tags: google, chrome, firefox, Internet Explorer, Web Browser, SGB

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This really isn’t much of a shock, but has taken the net by storm.  Google has released it’s own browser.  Before getting into any specifics, I will give some first impressions.  I use IE6 at work (requirement), and Firefox3 with various extentions.  (FF being my browser of choice at the moment.)  That being said - Chrome is impressive.  I have seen massive speed improvements in my normal sites.  (Google Reader being the most impressive speed difference, though I should have expected that.)

There has been some dissention out there.  Chrome is too basic, doesn’t yet support Extentions, new version of Firefox (3.1) will make this pointless, the Default EUAL, etc.  Some of these have a valid point.  On the other hand - it is a rock solid beta application.  How many other betas have we gotten from MS that crashed repeatedly.  FF has been pretty good about this in its newer versions.

Follow some of the links above for more information, I will also be posting some resources links below.  I would encourage people out there to try it for themselves and form their own oppinion.  I for one am looking forward to seeing what it becomes, though not ready yet to make a full switch from Firefox.  (The process per tab works really well.)

Google Chrome Comic Book

Google Chrome Download

ArsTechnica Review of Chrome

Technorati Tags: google, chrome, firefox, Internet Explorer, Web Browser, SGB

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Check out Mark’s post on how to get your hands on XP. Officially it can’t be had anymore.

Windows XP has been retired but you can still get it

Mark has pointed out a source for us to try and get it. If you get a new machine with Vista on it, building a PC for mom, etc - might be worth the effort to try.

Technorati Tags: Winxp, vista, supergeekblog, olorinpc, geeksaresexy

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Ed Bott at ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft will soon make installation of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) mandatory. Not only will it become a mandatory install, if WGA isn’t installed within 30 days, the install of Windows will cease to operate.

If WGA becomes mandatory, would it mean that Microsoft could prevent Windows from working if it determines – possibly erroneously – that your copy isn’t “genuine”? That’s a chilling possibility, and Microsoft refuses an easy opportunity to deny that that option is in its plans.

Chilling indeed. Maybe it’s not such a bad time for Bill Gates to retire. If MS truly decides to make a “kill switch” out of WGA, it could be the boost for Apple X and Linux that they’ve both been waiting for. I’ve already had a few problems with WGA on my home PC and have seriously considered making the full time switch. Not because I want to, but WGA is annoying at best. I don’t like that it “phones home” either.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, MS, WGA, Windows Genuine Advantage, Apple, Linux, kill switch

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A big thanks to Steve Rubel for pointing this one out. YouOS is a “wayyyy alpha” web operating system programmed entirely in Javascript. Gizmodo linked it up so I’m unable to even go in to the demo side of things. There is the ability to sign up for a full account, but I’m also sure that they’re getting a bit of a rush at the moment.

From what Steve said and from putzing around on the YouOS site, it would appear that they’ve tried to make the user experience as close to an OS experience as possible. There are plenty of UI plugins so far that include such new standards as Flickr, Gmail, weather, etc… and even wallpapers if you want them.

If you’re into developing in Javascript, the ability is there to develop plugins for YouOS and possibly charge the users that use it. I would expect that most of the simpler ones would be free of charge, but that the more extravagant one could be priced somehow.

The team behind YouOS reads like a who’s who of tech schools. MIT, Stanford and CalTech. There’s plenty of info to be had on from their landing pages, with FAQ’s and such.

5. Why? We set out to answer the following questions:

• Wouldn’t it be sweet if open source development was more like a multiplayer game, complete with rankings and all?
• What are the implications of being able to share windows through a buddy list when we’re working?
• Is it even possible to build an OS that is built on sharing from the ground up? Like Kindergarten?
• What if the OS itself was the community? Discuss.

We’re still searching, and YouOS is the search engine. Well, it’s not a search engine, but you get the analogy, right?

Looks like it could turn into quite the tool. I’m signing up for a full account and will try and update with new information as I can.

Technorati Tags: youos, web operating system, webos, web os, You os

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TechCrunch announced the launch of “Super-Stealth” Ether.com tonight. A service that allows the private consultant in us all to have a mode for charging for our phone time. Sounds like a pretty cool idea. As Ben points out in techcrunches comments, it’s been tried before with keen.com and oddly enough, some of the elements of the ether.com website are actually hosted on the keen.com servers. Perhaps it is keen regurgitated and tweaked? Why not just make changes to the original? What value in a relaunch?

TDavid found a few errors in the sign-up system but notes that the 15% cut that they take isn’t as steep as similar services and Scoble seems to be overly ecstatic about the launch.

Keep an eye out for a ether box to appear on thatedeguy and possibly here as I signed up for the beta and I just might give it a try.

Technorati Tags: beta, ether, keen, consulting

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