Handy .Net tool for you

The dev. team at FishCodeLib have put together a handly little app (less than 700kb install and less than 6MB of memory usage), called Capture.Net that offers you a calendar, ruler, screen capture, colour picker, font viewer, alarm clock and note taker, privacy tool, and file format converter, all in one. You can even measure angles 🙂

I’m not a graphic designer, I’m a software developer, but building websites and web applications every now and again you need to capture something, or pick a colour and find out what it would be in hex, to use in your stylesheets. This is the tool for me, quicker than firing up a bulky graphics package. 

Note, however, that you need the .Net framework installed (but it’s compatible with all versions).

It’s free, so go and get your copy and try it out for yourself.  [via Lifehacker]

Happy Holidays

Just had too much to eat with family at home today (and still lots of left overs) so I wanted to quickly post a note wishing everyone happy holidays and all the best for the new year. May 2009 be the year for you. As Obama said, Change, yes we can! It’s what you make of it. Be merry, be safe, and see you all on the other side! 

Deems

VOTD: Mac vs PC – the movie

I’m sure you’ve seen those Mac vs PC short clips, well here comes the movie. Inspired by transformers with a terminator theme, giving you a glimpse into the real world of computers – awesome. [via Sean]

Fore more info about Nick Greenlee, creator of the video, check out his website and portfolio. 

The Big Picture: 2008 the year that was [part 3]

And here’s your last installment of the 2008 the year that was posts.

2008 has been an eventful year to say the least – it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I’ve done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008 in photographs. It’s not the story of 2008, it’s certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Look for part 1 and part 2 earlier. (40 photos total)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves to the crowd at a rally in the rain at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Big Picture: 2008 the year that was [part 2]

As promised, here’s part 2 of The Big Picture – 2008 the year that was posts.

2008 has been an eventful year to say the least – it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I’ve done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008 in photographs. It’s not the story of 2008, it’s certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Look for part 1 from yesterday and part 3 tomorrow. (40 photos total)

View of the Large hadron Collider's CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) in the cleaning room. The CMS is one of two general-purpose LHC experiments designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of 21st-century particle physics. The Large Hadron Collider was scheduled to be up and running by the end of 2008, but electrical difficulties have set the date back to summer of 2009. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)

 

POTD: Flowchart of should you make a flowchart

To follow on from yesterday’s post on understanding flowcharts, here’s another. [via BoingBoing]

The Big Picture: 2008 the year that was [part 1]

Well, with less than two weeks left of 2008 (where did it go so fast?), The Big Picture team at Boston.com have put together a three part collection of photographs that somewhat sum-up the year 2008.  From natural disasters to wars to record breaking attempts, all captured and importalised on film. 

2008 has been an eventful year to say the least – it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I’ve done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008 in photographs. It’s not the story of 2008, it’s certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Watch for part 2 and part 3 tomorrow and the next day. (40 photos total)

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3!

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. (REUTERS/Carlos Gutierrez)

 

POTD: Tech twins

[via Tony]

POTD: Understanding flow charts

[via XKCD]

Kick YouTube to download videos

I’ve mentioned before the top 10 YouTube hacks and how to get videos to your desktop. Here’s probably the simplest of them all.

Simply pick your favourite YouTube video you’ve just viewed or want to view, but would rather download, and then all you need to do is insert the word kick infront of the URL. Now press enter to browse to the site and you’ll be presented with a toolbar at the top with download format options, pick the one you want, click go, and you’ll get it delivered to your browser in that format – it couldn’t be simpler.

What they’ve basically done is taken the same content that’s presented by YouTube and inserted their toolbar at the top of the page. For the bandwidth conscious types you might not like it, since it streams the video in the player window at the same time – so in effect you’re downloading two streams – but if bandwidth isn’t an issue and you jus want it in a different format – go ahead and try it out.

If you just visit www.kickyoutube.com you’ll be presented with an instructional video of how to use the site. [via Lifehacker]