Reality Upgrade

Maybe we haven’t quite made it to the technology of “Beam me up Scotty,” but we do carry around little computers in our pockets. Little computers with GPS pinpointing, wireless internet connectivity, and a computing capacity that would have filled a small warehouse twenty years ago.

But somehow, the software does not quite seem to keep up. I want my phone to sing and dance, dammit!

Well, I should say that the software has not kept up, until now. This great program for Android phones lets you really and truly automate your phone. It lets you customize your phone the way a phone should be freakin’ customized.

Check out a great article on the program here, from Lifehacker, or download the program here:

Keep in mind this is a pay program, but there is a 14 day trial, and it is totally worth the $6.

This may come a little late to help my housemate who just moved to Kurdistan, with a trip through Tanzania, but I wish I had found this before she left.

In case you happen to be planning a trip in the future, take a look at this great universal packing list. You enter your destination, and some details about the trip, and it generates a great packing list for you to check off. It even has a map feature, so you can click on the countries you are visiting.

Speaking of my former housemate, and her trip to Kurdistan, she has a new blog that will be chronicling her journey. She is a great writer, and has a host of interesting adventures, so check it out here, at ALilJourney.com.

Ever wonder just who your second cousin, twice removed is?

Maybe not, but if you are wondering just how you are related to your Cousin’s Cousin’s Niece’s Grandfather, Wolfram Alpha is your key to success.

Check it out here at the Wolfram Alpha Blog.

Now you can go to Aunt Merideth’s fifth wedding with no fear. Well, except that you might have to dance with Aunt Merideth.

Given the incredibly ubiquitous use of Google Maps nowadays, you would think everyone would already know how to use it.

Au Contraire.

Check out this article from my Very Favorite Website, Lifehacker, to learn ten great tips and tricks for getting Google Maps up to its full potential.

First off, let me be clear that what you do with this is your own business. Knowlege is power, and like any power, the knowledge of how to pick locks and hack into WEP wireless networks can be used for good, or for evil.

Muhahaha!

Ahem. (continue reading…)

If  you have, or want to have, multiple computer monitors, check out this great article by Lifehacker all about dual-screens. 

Also, as soon as you have multiple screens, or if you like to have more than one window open at a time, check out my article on WizMouse…

Google and I, well, we’re involved. 

Ok, not so much, but having everything I need in one place, for free, is pretty awesome, and now that Google Calendar has integrated a task feature, I may well never use outlook again.

Learn all about it on this article by Google Operating System.

When I first got a second monitor for my office workstation, I put up a dual-screen wallpaper of the earth, and almost got vertigo. It was awesome.

But the first time I had to read something on one monitor and write about it on the other, I ran into scrolling problems. Unfortunately, in my version of Windows at least, you have to click on a window to activate it before you can scroll. And then you have to click on the other window in order to type some more.

Incredibly frustrating.

But then I found this amazing program, Wizmouse, by Antibody Software. It is a free, tiny application that starts with windows and runs in the background. It only does one thing, but it does it very, very well.

It makes the mouse wheel scroll the window that the mouse is over, rather than the window that is selected.

Big difference. Huge!

Try it, you will see what I am talking about.