Tech Ramblings

New Location

2006-04-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

Hello faithful readers:I have moved my blog to the new developer blogs at PortableApps.com. This will be the permanent location of my blog. I have switched gears there and review mostly Web 2.0 stuff and apps that run from the browser such as Meebo and AjaxWrite (I have posts on both of those in the blog). Please continue to read my blog here-Justin

Psi

2006-03-25T17:51:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will discuss a Jabber client that I use every day, Psi.Psi is a full-featured Jabber client. It has support for Gmail accounts and can sign on multiple accounts at one time (good for people like me who have more than one and use all of them). I has emoticons, support for groupchats, and an easy-to-use interface. The only complaint that I have is that it appears to have no way to

Portable NSIS

2006-03-15T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hey all, sorry for the recent lapse in posts, I have been busy. In this post, I will discuss a portable app made by me!Portable NSIS is a portable version of the NSIS programming language, which is used for installers, but we in the PortableApps community use for making such apps. The launcher is created using this language. I packed everything with UPX and then, with the help of Deuce from

Steganos LockNote

2006-03-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will review a secure notepad called LockNote.This little wonder has really impressed me over the last few days. It is basically a password-protected notepad. It uses 256-bit AES encryption so you can be sure that people will have a tough time getting to your secure info. This program does act in an interesting way though. The PortableFreeware write-up says it best I think:LockNote

SciTE

2006-02-24T18:09:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will discuss the programming text editor, SciTE.This great little program does every programming language you could possibly need. I use it frequently for my NSIS programming and it works great. It is also portable. I have been using it for a while now and I don't have any complaints. If you program or just need a good text editor, then SciTE is for you.Verdict: **** 1/2 (4 1/2

Portable Gmail Notifier

2006-02-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will discuss a portable app made by yours truly.I made a PortableGmailNotifier earlier this week and thought that some of you guys might want to use it. I put a post in the PortableApps forums, and there was a definite response to release it. So I did. It is basically Google's official Gmail Notifier and a launcher, but without the "gnotify" EXE. I am not allowed to include that

Google Talk in Gmail

2006-02-17T15:39:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will discuss the new integration of Google Talk with Google Gmail.As some of you may have noticed, Google has integrated Google Talk with Gmail. Now, you have a "Quick Contacts" window above the Labels box for quick mailing or chatting with someone when they are online. This is just a basic chat though. You can talk instantly to another person that is online and that is about it.

Firefox vs. IE7 beta 2

2006-02-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

This is something that I don't do often, a straight up op-ed post.As you all know, Microsoft is readying its new version of its bloated piece of software, Internet Explorer. I have seen the beta and have perused its features. This is what I have come up with:It has stolen Firefox's RSS feed icon (showing Microsoft's "if you can't beat 'em, steal their ideas" philosophy.It still is as bloated as

OffByOne Web Browser

2006-02-10T18:53:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will review a simple web browser called the OffByOne Web Browser.The OffByOne browser is definitely simplistic in nature. It has no support for Java, Flash, or JavaScript. It also displays pages in a very simple way. It shows almost no web page styling. The only protocol that you probably use that it supports is SSL, but you have to make sure that you download the version with SSL

WINE

2006-02-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

Well here it is ladies and gentlemen, the great WINE review!For those of you that don't know, WINE is a Windows emulator for Linux. Though some hardcore Linux users would scorn me for even supporting this application, I will review it anyway. Most of them would tell you that Windows is worthless and also include some ideas as to what you can do with your proprietary piece of crap. As most of you

VLC Media Player

2006-02-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about VLC Media player, a great alternative to bloatware such as RealPlayer.As far as I can tell, it plays all media files (that includes music and video) that I have heard of and some that I haven't. It plays DVDs and CDs too. It has a nice, easy to use interface that doesn't clutter the screen. What makes it even better is the fact that it is open-source. John Haller

Miranda IM

2006-01-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about the small instant messaging client, Miranda.Miranda is a very small (about 2 MB uncompressed), yet it still does multiple instant messaging protocols. It does AIM/ICQ, IRC, MSN, YAHOO, and Jabber. It has support for most of the features you would want in an IM client, including its plugin architecture. Unfortunately, you cannot disable logging of IMs, but you can

Opera Mini

2006-01-24T17:39:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will discuss the new browser for mobile phones, Opera Mini.Opera has long been in this business of offering a free web browser. In fact, earlier this year, they released an ad-less version for free on their website. Now, they have tried to get in the mobile browser market by offering Opera Mini. It seems to be a nice browser. It has full HTML support, which is impressive by mobile

Mozilla Sunbird

2006-01-21T09:06:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about the open-source calendar, Sunbird.This program has been Mozilla's calendar project for a while now, and I have been using it since its 0.2 release. It has almost everything you would need to keep track of appointments and other tasks. It is a lot smaller that Outlook as well. I can find no problems with it so far. Another plus-it is cross-platform, so you can get

CoolPlayer

2006-01-19T07:03:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about a small, but functional audio player called CoolPlayer.CoolPlayer is an extremely small <1 MB audio player that supports mp3, Ogg Vorbis and some others "out of the box". However, it is extendable via plugins, so it can support almost any type of music file. It has a small, but clean interface that won't clutter up a desktop. I would also like to point out that it

AbiWord

2006-01-18T06:55:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about the open-source word processor, AbiWord.AbiWord is a lightweight, but feature-filled program. It has all of the things that you probably use every day in Word, but it is exponentially smaller that its proprietary cousin. It even has a mail merge feature. All this will run on 16 MB of RAM! AbiWord works on all systems Windows 95 and above. It works on Mac OSX and

QJot

2006-01-16T15:11:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about a good "lite" word processor called QJot.This word processor is one of what I would consider "lite". It lacks major features, but it is extremely small. The site says:QJot is is a relatively small, completely USB compatible, alternative rich text editor that saves .doc files, inserts images and more. It is basically meant to serve as a good WordPad replacement. It

miniaim

2006-01-16T09:37:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about the great chat program, miniaim.Miniaim is a chat program that only does AIM, but it weighs in at a miniscule 75.5 KB! It has a very nice user interface and still does user profiles! The only thing that I can find lacking in this program is graphical smileys. Another plus-it runs seamlessly from a portable device, as it saves all its settings to an INI file in the

Bombshell!!!

2006-01-15T18:08:00.000-05:00

I was just listening to Steve Gibson's "Security Now" podcast, and he described how he investigated the WMF (Windows Metafile) Vulnerability. He had examined the code that allows any person that crafts a WMF just right to execute any code on a person's machine that views it. He came to the conclusion that it was a backdoor put in by Microsoft to use at a later date! Steve found that if you tell a

Portable Freeware

2006-01-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will talk about another site where you can find applications that run from a USB drive.At PortableFreeware.com, there is a ton of applications that run portably "out of the box", or can be made portable easily. This site differs from PortableApps.com because this site is just a list of all apps that take almost no work to make portable. There is alot more apps on this site, and

PortableApps.com

2006-01-15T12:56:00.000-05:00

In this post, I will review the website PortableApps.com.This website, created by John Haller, houses apps that he made to run from a USB device. He took programs such as Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice and compressed them using UPX and 7-Zip. He then created launchers and modified paths so that the programs left no trace on the host computer. The apps he has are as follows: PortableAbiWord

Inaugural Post!!!

2006-01-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hi all, with a special hello to those from PortableApps.com!.In my first post, I would like to talk about what I will do ever so often here. I will mostly review programs and software here. I will sometimes talk about tech news and things such as that. I like to keep it simple here, so you will see more software reviewed and less pictures.