Appatic

*Not a kind of post that you would normally see at Appatic. But sometimes exceptions have to be made. But don’t worry, it will not be a common sight*

No doubt about it. Samsung has just out-done ASUS with this new offering. The Samsung Series 7 Slate is the true heir of what the always-sold-out ASUS Eee Slate (EP121) brought to the market; A very good Windows 7 based Slate device.

The most important differences are that this comes with

• - A 11.6" screen size
• - Dual-Cameras
• - 3G support
• - up to 8 hrs of Battery life
• - and a Tuned Windows 7 installation with touch designed assistive UI-UX (TouchWiz derived) by Samsung that will be familiar for anyone that has seen a Galaxy S Android Smartphone or Slate.
  

Otherwise it is pretty much exactly like the Asus Eee Slate as it also comes with:

• - 1366x768 resolution
• - 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
• - micro HDMI out
• - Core i5 CPU
• - 64gb SSD
• - 4gb of DDR3 RAM
• - IPS (clear, bright and multi-angle view) Screen
• - Windows 7 Home Premium
• - Wacom certified Active Digitizer

Other differences about it are that the accessories just look a lot better than the ones from the ASUS Eee Slate. And that Samsung has also added different configurations for those wanting to spec it up to the max. As you can choose having it with a 128gb SSD and Windows 7 Pro.

The Prices for this start at $1099 (64gb, W7-HP and NO accessories) and can go up to $1499 (128gb, W7-PRO with Accessories). My only wish would have been that the starting price had been $999. Other than that it is pretty damn good as it is already.

NOW, before even thinking of comparing this with a ipad 2. Just remember that the 64gb version of the iPad 2 3G starts at $829 and that in the case of the Samsung Series 7 Slate. The latter is also a full-on Mini all-in-one PC that can stand alone and do everything a laptop can do. So when seen from that perspective, That should really mark how good this new offering from Samsung actually is.

Personally i don't need it having a 128gb SSD with W7-Pro. Meaning that in my case i will be going with the $1199 configuration of this Windows 7 Slate.

Finally, is very important to know that once Windows 8 comes out. You will be able to upgrade this Slate, making it fully future proof

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MyCalManager  is a Free Calories Intake Manager .NET 4.0 based Desktop App from Codeplex by Nicusasch.

MyCalManager allows you to quickly sum up the calories intake day by day using the Weight Watchers Points System, to effectively manage your calories intake.

In order  for you to be able to use the App you need to have both .NET 4.0  and SQL Server Compact 4.0 already installed before you install MyCalManager. If you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista, then your Windows OS version should also be at least XP SP3 and Vista SP2 respectively, prior to having .NET 4.0 and SQL Server Compact 4.0 already installed. 

Linkage

MyCalManager                                                   <— Homepage 

MyCalManager 3.0                                          <— Direct Download Link

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Originally a Google Plus post note the very day the news happened. Then a re-edited guest post (Later re-edited yet again) at Betanews.com. All about the news over a week ago of HP saying they wanted to spin off their  40 Billion PC business, Become another kind of company all together and Announcing they would be discontinuing  WebOS devices. Which they did in what turned to be one of the craziest bargain hunting fire sales days in the history of gadgets.

So, give it a look if you please.  

http://betanews.com/2011/08/25/how-could-hp-be-so-stupid/

In the comments at this post I said I would be writing a continuation of it. If that continuation post don’t gets approved for Betanews. Then expect to see it here in Appatic instead.

At the time I wrote the original post. I remember thinking I was been harsh yet at the same time holding myself back. You know who didn’t held back and pretty much also said what I said while extending on it in scope?

Al Lewis at The Wall Street Journal, who did a piece called H-P’s One-Year Plan:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576535211589514334.html

Now, THAT is harsh and not holding back. I salute you Al, I really do.

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In terms of personal productivity and the Getting Things Done mantra, It is said that the Pomodoro Timer Technique can yield very good results for many.  Making it a GTD productivity technique well worth a try.

Pomodoro Timer For The Windows 7 Taskbar brings the concept of the Pomodoro Technique to your Windows Desktop, as a Portable (Folder Contained)  .NET 4.0  based app from CodePlex, Made by Johan Danforth. 

This Pomodoro Timer Taskbar App is as easy to use as its name is excessively self-explanatory.  What is worth to highlight and point out is that it supports and makes good use of all the app conventions in the Windows 7 Taskbar there to be used:

• Pinning
• Thumbnail Preview
• JumpList
• Taskbar Icon Notification Counter
• Taskbar Icon Flashing Notification
• Taksbar Icon Animated Notification

One "extra” feature in the app is that you can also change the standard 25 minutes countdown to whatever amount of minutes you need, effectively opting out of the Pomodoro Technique at your will.

Just open the app window and click “stop timer” once it is already running, Click in the countdown text, Erase the minute number and rewrite with the amount of minutes you wish the new countdown to be. Now press “start timer” and continue with the countdown of minutes you just set up.

Really simple and neat app from those in the look for new GTD apps and handy Portable .NET apps.

Also, as a test, I used the app to set up this post, write it and publish it. All within the standard 25 minutes and with 8 minutes to spare. I guess that means that the app worked very well for me. Now it is for you to try it out.

Linkage

Pomodoro Timer For The Windows 7 Taskbar

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The news of Google acquiring Motorola Mobility was a shocker for everyone covering or following Technology. Something evident also in my case as I even decided to cover that here in Appatic.  But there was another bit that made me do a double-take in disbelief. And that was Google’s “Quotes from Android partners” website page. Why? Because it was so full of sameness and canned quotes that read back as if a Google PR Algorithm Bot had wrote them.  I mean, Google now got all kinds of content related bots like that, so maybe they did one for Automatic PR responses?.

Still don’t believe me? Have a look at the site in question from the link in this post or just look at the screenshot below this sentence to see what I mean:

http://www.google.com/press/motorola/quotes/

Uncanny similarities right? But it is results that it was not a Google PR Bot that wrote this. Google gently  went above and beyond to inspire their esteemed Android Partners with a online Android Press Release Generator thoughtfully built*. That when you visit it, looks like in the screenshot below:

It don’t shows from the screenshot, but when you get to visit the website, it becomes very clear that it comes with many words options in it.  Is just that most of Google’s esteemed Android Partners went extremely lazy with it.  So it was NOT Google’s Fault as you will see, In any way. But  don’t take my word for it and visit the site so you can see it for yourselves.

Linkage

Google’s Android Press Release Generator

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*No, Google didn’t built it, someone did it as a joke to point out how canned and fake the android partners statement quotes looked at Google’s “Quotes from Android Partners” Page. I just played this as a sarcastically serious post because I think that makes it a bit funnier*

Just days ago the news were how deep in trouble Google was because of their court problems escalating, as they are getting closer to losing out against Oracle in court; And as both Microsoft and Apple had been going after Android OEM's hard.

In the case of Microsoft successfully convincing what rumors state as at least a dozen Android OEM's to pay for patent protection so far. And with the revelation that Apple was not just in a war with Samsung, but was about to start another one with Motorola.

This got to me to think "I guess this is it, Google is going to get slammed hard on all directions". Because factually the chances of Google being able to not get steamrolled were getting really slim.

Forward to today Monday 15 of August of 2011, and the news is that Google is willing to be paying 12.1 billion for Motorola Mobility. With the rumors that supposedly Microsoft was interested. Which after a little quick investigation is not at all true. Microsoft was interested in a whole other kind of deal altogether. One that meant they would be giving Motorola Mobility a unknown amount of money (anywhere from 1-2 billion at least) for access to Motorola patent portfolio,  to end hostilities between the two of them and assuring  that Motorola Mobility would add a WP7 device into their line.

A plan that had been in motion for a well while. Plan that Google could just not allow to go through. As Motorola Mobility was also getting closer to losing to Microsoft on court as observed by many specialists, including the now omnipresent in anything mobile patent related Florian Mueller . So why Google went and did this? What were the causes for they to do it?

1.-Motorola Mobility was/is going to lose against Microsoft in court, sooner rather than later.
2.-Microsoft was making a palatable offer to Motorola Mobility  that would not only end Motorola's woes with Microsoft, but that would make it a stronger company. One that would have less to fear from Apple and one that would be able to have leverage over Google.
3.-Samsung is at a full on war with Apple. You can bet that they were pressuring Google to "fucking do something" to help already.
4.-HTC is on a war of their on with Apple. You can bet that they were pressuring Google to "fucking do something" to help already.
5.-A looming LG warming up to enter into the mobile wars was getting closer.
6.-Microsoft getting access to Motorola's patent treasure chest was effectively "Game Over' for all Android OEM’s against Microsoft. Which would had forced them to form a line and just pay up to Microsoft. No mistakes about it. Even with the likes of Samsung and LG.
7.- Google PR had effectively fucked up any chance for they to make a credible complaint to the powers that be, after the pwning they suffered at the hand of Microsoft via Brand Smith and Frank Shaw, just with a bunch of Tweets, nonetheless. And it was also announced recently that the Anti-Trust overview was going to include Android.
8.-Motorola CEO also had thrown out a threat to the ring of the Mobile Wars very recently, of they going into the collection of patent royalties. More than likely that this comment had to do or came up after their talks with Microsoft.

Really not much wiggle room for Google's Android right?

Meaning that if Google didn't either overpaid for the similar deal to the one Microsoft was proposing, they were better off just buying Motorola outright. But you can also bet that the Microsoft deal talks, was the reason why and how they were willing to pay a whooping 50%+ premium for Motorola. Something crazy enough to make anyone in tech to remember the Microsoft bid for Yahoo.

Now, what does this means for Android:

 
Pro's
1.-Potentially could make Microsoft to rethink how they will deal with Motorola Mobility and other Android OEM's now.
2.-IF Google is going to give Android Partners access to Motorola's Patent Chest, this could mean the end of Apple being able to win against Samsun and HTC. And also to stop them trying to go against Motorola. Of course that giving access to that patent chest means that OEM’s will have to do commitments to Android for the long term, as in years.

Con's
1.-Current Android OEM 's will have to mull over if they will continue to be partners with Google outright.
2.-Current Android OEM's could decide that maybe it is time for them to start talking more with Microsoft over WP7.
3.-Carriers may not like Google owning a OEM and could encourage OEM’s to have WP7 in their strategy.

What this deal of Google owning Motorola Mobility don't changes:

1.-Oracle vs Google is not affected by this. At most it could just accelerate a settlement. In Oracle's favor. I still put that at 1 billion dollars minimum.
2.-The new hurdle of Android OEM's having lost the right to redistribute Linux because of breaching of OSS licenses. Even if that is really "Meh" at this point.

For me, i think it was a inevitable decision. If Google didn't did this, Android was reaching a point were it would just die of out of taxation from Microsoft and Apple within a year.

Finally, as other interesting after effects from Google owning Motorola:

Google now can produce not only their own Smartphones and Slates. They can even produce their own Android Set TopBoxes or ChromeOS netbooks....Hell, if that is not interesting.
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There is no shortage of Free Anonymous/Disposable Email Inbox Providers. Just that in reality few are any good . Previously, I have posted about two really good ones like Shadymail  and dudmail. But as good as these two are. There were some advanced features that I wish they had. Features that Mailnesia got.

Mailnesia is a Free Anonymous/Disposable Email Inbox Provider. That allows you to receive email without needing an account registration. But that also offers some advanced features other services like it don’t have as Full HTML Email Support and Automatic Registration Link Clicking for Registration Confirmation Emails.

This means that with Mailnesia you can receive the same kind of emails you would be able to get in Hotmail or Gmail. And that it can also automatically click registration links in email received to confirm a registration in a web service or web app.  But that is not all, as it also got all the other features of other comparable services like dudmail.

Features

Automatically clicks on registration links!

If the message contains activation/registration links to other sites, they will be automatically visited in the background without any user action. This is most useful for registrations or subscriptions on websites where you must click on an activation link in the message to complete your registration. This will be done without any user intervention, even without you reading this message!

Alternate domain names!

Other domain names are available too, in addition to @mailnesia.com . One such name is vipmailonly.info. Of course the domain name has no effect on the delivery, only the mailbox name. So all mail sent to bob@mailnesia.com andbob@vipmailonly.info can be read in bob's inbox. Expect more names in the future.

You can use your own domain name too! Just point the MX record to mailnesia.com, or the MXE record to 64.62.205.226, setting MX PREF and TTL to something like 10 and 1800.

Or if you rather not spend $2.99 on an info domain for a year, there are also free DNS services like http://www.dyndns.com.

HTML support!

HTML formatted emails are fully supported, with a few exceptions like Javascript.

Multiple text encodings!

Many encodings are supported, like unicode (UTF-8), Western/Latin/Central European (ISO-8859-1/2), Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc.

Multipart messages (MIME multipart)!

Messages made of different parts (HTML, text, attachments) are supported, displaying all parts with their type noted, one after another. However, only text parts are used, any other type gets ignored (images, files etc.). Images linked from other servers will be displayed.

RSS channel for every mailbox!

If you would like to be informed when a new message arrives, click on the RSS button on the desired mailbox page. This way you can convert an email newsletter into an RSS feed! (email to RSS)

Assignable alias for every mailbox

If you don't want anybody reading your mail, set an alias for your mailbox. You hand out the alias, and accessing the messages is only possible from the original mailbox, not from the alias!

If you open a mailbox with no messages, you can assign an alias for that mailbox. You can set any name you want, as long as the alias is an empty mailbox too. This is because if you could use a non-empty mailbox as an alias, that would mean redirecting all mail from that mailbox to yours, thereby the original user losing his/her mailbox. Of course you cannot use a name which is already an assigned alias, and the naming restrictions also apply (see @ end of page).

For example let's say you assign the alias nudac6 to the mailbox magnic!

If somebody opens nudac6, there will be an error message stating this is an alias, sending mail here is redirected elsewhere, and no email messages can be viewed here. And at magnic will be a reminder saying the assigned alias is nudac6.

Changing an alias is not possible. However, empty mailboxes get their alias reset once a day, and a new alias assignment can be made.

Receive only

No email sending at this time.

Message size

The size of a message can be 250 kilobytes at most. Parts exceeding this value will not be accessible.

Deleting messages

Messages are automatically deleted in two months. There is currently no way to manually delete a message, but there may be such feature in the future.

Mailbox naming

The name of mailboxes (and aliases) cannot be longer than 30 characters, and can only contain letters [a-z], numbers [0-9], dash, dot, underscore and plus [-._+].

The only feature not present that Dudmail does have would be Full Email forwarding (Attachments), other than that Mailnesia got everything you could possibly want in a service like this. And if you don’t happen to need any Email Forwarding, then it would also be your best choice possible, that I had found of so far.

A really good service, all for free and without any ads so far.  Totally recommended.

Linkage

Mailnesia

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While Windows Vista was the Windows OS that finally brought in Windows Aero to the world. Windows 7 was the one that actually popularized it and made it mainstream. Thanks to the fact, that now more times than not, it is the default look of Windows 7 and also because of the out-of-the-box customization present in the OS.

Since in Windows 7 is actually quite easy to create your own personalized Windows 7 Theme with a custom Aero Color.  But one thing that Windows 7 certainly don’t does on its own, is adjusting the Aero Color every time you change a wallpaper. You have to do that yourself.

AeroBlend from Carthago is a super nifty and swift Windows 7 only app that automatically changes the Windows Aero Color to match the dominant color of your desktop wallpaper.  No more need of you doing it yourself, as AeroBlend will do it for you everytime.

Charthago describes its function like this:

AeroBlend uses a quick algorithm to obtain the average color of the wallpaper or icon or window content. Color Intensity can be customized, as well as other options.

To answer how that process looks like, The photo Gif in this post should suffice  to answer that handily.

Only requirements for this App is that you need Windows 7 and to have Windows Aero running before installing it, meaning that Windows Aero Mode has to be your default Windows OS graphic appearance for it to work.  Then you can enjoy seeing it do its thing along any Windows 7 Theme or manual Wallpaper change you do.  If you happen to change your Wallpaper on a daily basis or got a Wallpaper rotation (changing every hour or every amount of hrs), then it is very recommended to have it set to start with Windows 7.  Something you can set up as you first install it.  No need to worry about the memory consume of the app, As AeroBlend in my testing only consumed from 1mb to 3mb of ram while running. 

Linkage

AeroBlend Website                           

AeroBlend                                                 <—Direct Download Link

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In August 6 of 1991, a new way to access, browse and view the web was born and known as the World Wide Web. His inventor, Tim Berners-Lee (then  36)  had published the first website. A historic moment that happened at a CERN facility in the Swiss Alps.

And if you want to read a great recollection of that with a bit of history infused into it. You can read the GeekDad at Wired post called:

20 Years Ago Today: The First Website Is Published

Or if you want just the facts you can always hit the “WWW” Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web

In any case, you can also stay here at Appatic at the same time and read a bit of my ruminations on the WWW and the fact it is now 20 years old.

From Pre-WWW to a Mature WWW 1.0

I remember that the first time I read/heard/watched about The Internet was actually like in 1983 pre-WarGames movie. I was just a wee kid back then as I was born in 1978. But I actually got recollection of anything from 1980 to now, so I do remember.   As I grew up, the notion of connecting to The Internet being hard and a hassle was what I knew thanks to Popular Mechanics and other magazines from the time. And it was true. Then in 1990 the rumblings were about the coming of easier ways to connect to the internet. It would no longer take you a whole day (or more) to install and connect you. It would take just a few hours!! And there would be better programs to access content from The Internet!!. “Amazing and I cannot wait” was my reaction. But it still took until the news about this new thing called the “World Wide Web” in 1991, to really push me to start looking for a way to connect to The Internet. From the most embarrassing notions about what the World Wide Web was, is that it was “The Second Internet”. Which as we know is not the truth. Just that it was perceived like that.

But that was the notion, which confused me then as I thought “I guess that the first one was just not good enough, so they made a new one”. But then in 1993, the talk was that there was  this “new” thing called Internet Browser to better access it. The best option being something called “Mosaic”. A big program that you needed to install and configure apart from having to install the internet connection set up.  “How hard it can be? They said I could do it in just a few hours, years ago” I thought to myself.

Finally I had everything to be able to connect to The Internet and use the World Wide Web.  I set it up, installed everything (Win 3.1) and configured everything following a 10 pages guide I had printed from a computer shop from where they had sold me the browser.  And it only took like 90 minutes!! “Incredible!, they said hours and I did it in like 90 minutes! cool” thought in awe. 

I mean the whole thing is a bit of blurry now. But I know how ridiculously hard and time consuming the whole thing must read back to anyone less than 20.  I know, because I remember telling a version to this story to the teen son of a friend and he was like “Fuck!, It took you HOURS??? “ with a stare of disbelief, never mind if I said that it was around 90 minutes and the teen apparently don’t know that that is not equal to hours.  But anyways. That was the state of things back in late 1993.  When setting up a new PC, Installing the OS, configuring it and then installing and configuring your connection to The Internet could take you up to 9 hrs to do so in full and do it “right”.  Something that now takes 90 minutes if you happen to be of the few people that built their own PC’s, take them home and then insist in still installing their own wired network and configure their router. Otherwise for the common folk, it can just take no longer than 9 minutes if they don’t have to install or configure anything. Just taking out the PC from a box, setting it up, turning in on and registering the Wi-Fi connection. Yet people still fail to see how we indeed live in the future after all.

But for the first 10 years of the WWW, things could not have gone faster and smoother. With the big Boosts being the release of Windows  95, Windows 98 and of  course Windows XP. 

10 years is also what can be considered Web 1.0, that as wikipedia puts it:

Some design elements of a Web 1.0 site include:

• Static pages instead of dynamic user-generated content.^[4]
• The use of framesets^{[citation needed]}.
• The use of tables to position and align elements on a page. These were often used in combination with "spacer" GIFs (1x1 pixel transparent images in the GIF format.^{[citation needed]})
• Proprietary HTML extensions such as the <blink> and <marquee> tags introduced during the first browser war^{[citation needed]}.
• Online guestbooks^{[citation needed]}.
• GIF buttons, typically 88x31 pixels in size promoting web browsers and other products.^[5]
• HTML forms sent via email. A user would fill in a form, and upon clicking submit their email client would attempt to send an email containing the form's details

Which is about right in very broad terms.

In specific terms in hard to explain how Web 1.0 was because it was just damn weird, scary and equally exciting and new. As things were slow and everything in the web was unfiltered, unranked and uncensored.  By 1995, being online was already a daily thing for me and I measured everything by browsing sessions and computing sessions. I dedicated a minimum average of 90 minutes to each one, almost every day.  90 minutes of browsing then and what you could see during those 90 minutes today would take you 15 minutes. But that was what made it such a focused endeavor compared to now.

Browsing the web was an activity that required to be focused, knowing what you wanted in advance and then go looking for it by going to a portal, link-hopping or directly writing the addresses one by one and bookmarking them for later. It was only later on that you could search on stuff. But doing so also meant you were willing to read up NO LESS than the first 10 results, and then deciding which ones you would launch. Remember, there were no browser tabs and having over 10 browser windows open was sometimes not wise as you would then be in risk of running out of virtual memory or slowing down you computer if you have other apps open. It was better to just have up to 5 browser windows and then close up windows as you went on. 

Leaving a big comment or forum post often required you to wait up to 10 seconds until you were sure it was posted and then checking if it was posted, double-checking everything you did while browsing was the usual good way of browsing the web.

You could not upload anything directly to a website from a browser at first and the idea of downloading anything substantial beyond a photo or a midi file was preposterous unless you planned to do something else and come back 30 minutes later. And that is how it was back in 1995 and during pretty much the first 5 years of the WWW, mind boggling stuff right?

From Web 2.0 to Now

2003 and on what would be known as Web 2.0, started to really flourish to finally explode in 2005. 

Wikipedia (as put by Andrew McFee) points these as some of the most relevant Web 2.0  concepts:

Search - Finding information through keyword search.

Links  - Connects information together into a meaningful information ecosystem using the model of the Web, and provides low-barrier social tools.

Authoring  -The ability to create and update content leads to the collaborative work of many rather than just a few web authors. In wikis, users may extend, undo and redo each other's work. In blogs, posts and the comments of individuals build up over time.

Tags  - Categorization of content by users adding "tags"—short, usually one-word descriptions—to facilitate searching, without dependence on pre-made categories. Collections of tags created by many users within a single system may be referred to as "folksonomies" (i.e., folk taxonomies).

Extensions  Software that makes the Web an application platform as well as a document server. These include software like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash player, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, Oracle Java, Quicktime, Windows Media, etc.

Signals  The use of syndication technology such as RSS to notify users of content changes.

And from these concepts for Web 2.0, it then can be sectioned as having 3 elemental components:

• Rich Internet application (RIA) — defines the experience brought from desktop to browser whether it is from a graphical point of view or usability point of view. Some buzzwords related to RIA are Ajax, Flash or Flex and Silverlight.
• Service-oriented architecture (SOA) — is a key piece in Web 2.0 which defines how Web 2.0 applications expose their functionality so that other applications can leverage and integrate the functionality providing a set of much richer applications (Examples are: Feeds, RSS, Web Services, Mash-ups)
• Social Web — defines how Web 2.0 tends to interact much more with the end user and make the end-user an integral part.

That all together simply means that the web you know now and enjoy everyday, be it in your smartphone, slate or PC. Just didn’t existed just  8 years ago and had not popularized and spread out, just 5 years ago. This is not meant to be taken as if I was implying some of you were not around back then. But would you be shocked to now than more than half of current internet users were not around 7 years ago? Well, now you know.

Back then in the early 2000, the truly big changes were video embeds going mainstream with RealPlayer, Windows Media Video and Quicktime.  As so there were then the first animated embed elements from Macromedia (later bought by Adobe and turned in the Flash of today). Ditto for more and more powerful java applets that let you do all kind of things directly in the browser.  All kinds of things that by the time the Web 2.0 exploded in 2005 were starting to go away and be fully  replaced thanks to the rise of Widgets and RIA’s from 2007 and on, Just a Social Media was about explode thanks to the build up of all those things.

From The WWW of Now To The WWW of the Future.

Now in 2011, what happened just 5 years ago is already old history.  As from early 2010 and on people re now wondering where is Web 3.0? It is not supposed to be here already?

With the answer that being; It is already here and I see Web 3.0 as the full Appification of the web and web content and the use of Web Stack Only to develop apps . A web that lives within apps beyond a browser, in Apps that have completely blurred the lines of desktop, mobile and browser.  A web that can still exist within a RIA solution. A Web that also has not just transcended platforms, but that is mature and advanced enough to have an acceptable amount of fidelity not just cross-platform, but also cross-device and cross-medium. 

What to expect of the World Wide Web for the future? Just that it will be there as it has been there now: Free, Open and Accessible.  Anything else I will gladly like to live it as it comes and goes. 

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Because having new options for free music streaming or free music downloading are always a good thing.  I present you yet another one.  And in this case it can both stream and download songs.

GinoPlayer is a very simple music streamer and downloader for your desktop. With it, you can search for a  song, and then stream it or download it with the click of a button, just 1 second after you found it.  All for free.

If that sounds just too good to be true is because it is. There is 3 big catches about this tool:

1.- Don’t Expect to find everything you search for.

2.-Don’t expect that all songs will be available to stream or to download.

3.-There is no support for the app. As it is offered as it is.

While GinoPlayer don’t offers any explanations or actual promises. It does advertises as having 40 million tracks. Which is true, just that it also counts duplicated source for a song.  That translates to unknown number of unique songs, other than knowing that it must be over 2 million out of common sense. 

How can it be free?

Because of the way it works. What GinoPlayer does is actually using a custom Google (more than likely) search engine that has a way to do a advance queries for content on across the internet + whatever domains they have specifically added themselves, based on you just using common song/band queries.

Once a hit is made the app fishes the file source link. with it, is how you then can click a button a play or download the song.  

It is also a free app because it of how the app is distributed and because the installer contains ads.

It is legal?

Yes, unless proved otherwise.

What does that mean? well, because of the way it works being obfuscated  to the user and the sources also being a question mark. Who knows in what terms the actual file you are streaming was or was not licensed? Exactly.

Conclusion

One of the simplest, non browser dependent ways to stream music with the option to download for free you can use. Comes with a few caveats, but since it is free and the app experience don’t includes ads. There is really much to complain. Making it a matter on if you like to use the app or not. Something that will require of you to try it and decide for yourself.  In my opinion, it is worth a try to find if it works for you.

Works in XP, Vista and 7.

Linkage

GinoPlayer                                                              <—Homepage

Download GinoPlayer                                <—Direct Download Link

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There a huge lot of free online ICO converters out there. The problem is that most no longer work or work horribly.

ICOconverter.com is a online image to .ICO (Favicon) converter that does work.  You just load the site, fill the form, click convert and you are done. One second or three after you click “Convert” it will bring up a download file dialog for your .ICO file.

Unfortunately, because it uses this “execute & prompt” process. It will not work with IE8 or IE9 as it blocks that, resulting in a redirection that does not get you the converted file.  At least I tried it out in XP and 7 on both IE8 and IE9 and it just didn’t worked in either.  But I can confirm that it indeed worked in Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari in both XP and 7.  So, if you use IE as you main browser (as half of Appatic.com readers seem to do), then you will need to use your secondary browser for it.  If you on the other hand use other browser, then continue as usual.

Linkage

ICO converter

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Disposable Online Post Notes are not a new concept at all, as I remember services like these going back as far as 1995.  Back then they were more like disposable journals or bulletins, as the options you had to share them and the people around to see them were limited.  Now on the other hand, things are completely different on that regard.

Notevee is a  service for instantly shareable disposable online post notes that you can use for polls, discussions or simply to put your thoughts online. The Notevee post notes work just the page in a Blog works.  They got clear urls (notevee.com/yournote), they have share buttons (twitter, facebook, G+ and linkedin) And people can easily and freely comments on them.

To add a new post note, you only need to first add a title and then some tags to mark what your note is about.  Then it is up you put your post note content that can be composed of text plus links and photos. After that, a simple click and your post note is up at the site ready to be seen and be shared. 

But more importantly, is that you can use Notevee without an account or you can connect a post note with your Twitter or Facebook account. It is up to you.  Same for whoever that comments in a post note. They  can comment anonymously or they can link their comments to their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Notevee is actually a cool service, one that states is in Beta. Personally hoping that means that the design of the site is also in Beta, as the only real negatives are that it is plain and boring as hell in its design and look.  Other than that, it is a really nice niche service. And you can use it without hesitation.

Linkage

Notevee

*Update* Site seems to be dead now

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