With the school year closing and exams coming closer and closer, I have been bogged down with homework and had little time to get on the computer. But I have been able to play with some Adobe AIR apps. Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) is a relatively new product from Adobe that helps bridge the gap between desktop programs and web apps. Some of the more popular AIR apps are Twitter apps such as Twirl.
Since the release of FriendFeed, I have been looking for a good AIR app to replace Twirl as my AIR app of choice. Not too long after FriendFeed's release did I find Alert Thingy, which is now quickly surpassing Twirl, which I haven't used in a long time now. I also have tried MySocial, unsucessfully. It would not connect properly and I cannot seem to get it to work. I really enjoy Pandora internet radio, and I found a cool PandorAIR app that allows me to listen to Pandora without opening my browser (a godsend).
There has been a lot of talk about if desktop programs such as MS Office and the like are obsolete compared to online web apps, like Google Docs. I haven't really taken much of a side on this debate, but this is my opinion and feeling on the subject:
I cannot stand keeping a browser window open for all my online services like Google
Reader, Pandora, Twitter, FriendFeed, and the like. I have tried to find services such as
Pageflakes to keep everything in one place, unsucessfully. When I heard of AIR, I was
very excited to have this new product coming from Adobe. It has really impressed me,
and I hope that it will grow more mainstream so that there are more apps available.
My favorite aspect of AIR is that all the programs are super light and have an almost unnoticable footprint on your RAM and computer performance.
Are there any other great AIR apps that I have failed to mention?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
My Tech News Sources
My key to staying current with web2.0 and technology in general is subscribing to the right sources: popular tech blogs and tech news sites. I use Google Reader to subscribe to the following posts, then I go on Digg and Diigo to find other links, sometimes.
These are my sources:
You can see my shared posts on Googler Reader if you don't want to keep up with everything. Hope this list helps you keep current with web2.0 and tech if you aren't already doing so.
These are my sources:
2¢ Worth | ||
http: | ||
David Alison's Blog | ||
http: | ||
PC Magazine Office Tips and Solutions | ||
http: | ||
http: | ||
PCM Breaking News | ||
http: | ||
Skype Blogs | ||
http: | ||
TechCrunch | ||
http: | ||
http: | ||
ZDNet News - News Page One | ||
http: | ||
You can see my shared posts on Googler Reader if you don't want to keep up with everything. Hope this list helps you keep current with web2.0 and tech if you aren't already doing so.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Firefox 3 Beta 5
I have been testing the new Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 5 for about a week now, and I am very impressed. Typically, I wait until the final release to download and install, but after all the hype and good reviews it has been getting, I decided to try it out. Here is how I rated it:
Rating: 5/5, Excellent!
Favorite features/changes:
I really like how you can now go to the right end of the address bar and open up a small pop-up showing all bookmarking options, or just "star" it which does a quick bookmark of the page. The first bookmark on the "link bar" is now a folder called "Smart Bookmarks", and it shows you your most visited and recently bookmarked pages, and it updates automatically.
Overall, I think the biggest, most noticeable improvement is the bookmarking system and how it is incorporated into several places to make the feature more effective and easier to use. They also changed up the interface a little bit, but I am growing to like it.
For those who are familiar with Firefox 2, version 3 will be a must get once it is finalized (sometime this summer). For those feeling brave enough to try the last beta (beta 5), you can download Beta 5 here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html.
Rating: 5/5, Excellent!
Favorite features/changes:
I really like how you can now go to the right end of the address bar and open up a small pop-up showing all bookmarking options, or just "star" it which does a quick bookmark of the page. The first bookmark on the "link bar" is now a folder called "Smart Bookmarks", and it shows you your most visited and recently bookmarked pages, and it updates automatically.
Overall, I think the biggest, most noticeable improvement is the bookmarking system and how it is incorporated into several places to make the feature more effective and easier to use. They also changed up the interface a little bit, but I am growing to like it.
For those who are familiar with Firefox 2, version 3 will be a must get once it is finalized (sometime this summer). For those feeling brave enough to try the last beta (beta 5), you can download Beta 5 here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html.
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