Enginerve's Blog

The 20 Best iPod Utilities

With a new generation of iPods on the market this holiday season, your
reliable old iPod may not seem as shiny as it once did. But with the
help of third party applications and utilities, you can unlock tons of
useful functionality you never knew was there and revive that aging
iPod so it doesn’t look quite so bad next to its successors. Whether
new or old, the following 20 iPod utilities can help you get the most
from your iPod.

Transfer (and Play) Music to and from Your iPod

While syncing music to
your iPod has always been a breeze, pulling music off your iPod isn’t
quite at easy—unless you’re using one of these handy apps, that is.

• Ditch iTunes with Floola (Windows/Mac/Linux):
  Floola is a freeware, cross-platform application that makes it easy to
  copy music and videos to and from your iPod from and to any computer.
  In all, Floola can actually work as a full-on iTunes replacement that
  can run from your iPod’s hard drive. And because it’s cross
  platform, Floola makes for an excellent all-around iTunes replacement
  if you’re not a fan of iTunes. For another cross-platform solutions,
  you might give YamiPod a try. (Read more about a self-sustaining iPod)
• Recover Your Library or Transfer New Songs to iTunes with Senuti (Mac):
  The freeware, Mac OS X only Senuti integrates tightly with your iTunes
  library to extract music from your iPod to your iTunes library and
  works particularly well for importing music that isn’t
  already in your iTunes library. Of course it’s also a godsend if you’ve
  had a hard drive failure and your only music backup is your iPod, but
  its playlist support and ability to scan your existing library so you
  avoid importing duplicate songs. (Read more)
• Dead Simple iTunes Library Recovery with iPod -> Folder (Windows/Mac):
  If all you want to do is recover your music library from your iPod back
  to your computer, iPod -> Folder is probably the simplest way to do
  it. Just fire it up, point it to your iPod, point it to a folder on
  your computer, and let it rip. It even has a “Include MP3 files only”
  option in case you’re borrowing tunes from a friend’s iPod and you
  don’t want their DRM-infected files. (Read more)
• Sync Podcasts to Your iPod from Any Computer with myPodder (Windows/Mac/Linux):
  Whether you’re a lover of podcasts who can’t wait to get to your home
  computer before getting your latest podcast fix or you just know you’ll
  need a few new podcasts to listen to for the commute home, myPodder can
  automatically download, manage, and sync any podcast to your iPod no
  matter whose computer you’re using. (Read more)

Converters: Video and Audiobook

Yes, you could purchase TV shows and movies from iTunes, but if you’ve
already got the DVD or you’ve downloaded a video that happens to be in
the wrong format, why should you shell out more cash to
Apple—especially when you can easily convert them for your iPod using
free apps?

• Rip DVDs for Your iPod with HandBrake (Windows/Mac/Linux):
  The cross-platform freeware application HandBrake is the go-to
  application when you want to rip a DVD for your iPod or iPhone (or PSP
  or PS3 or AppleTV…). Just pop in your DVD, pick what you want for
  your iPod, and start ripping. (Read more)
• Convert Videos for Your iPod with Videora iPod Converter (Windows):
  If you’ve got a video file on your computer that your iPod doesn’t
  support, fear not. Just plug it into Videora and let it do the heavy
  lifting for you. It even transcodes YouTube videos—all you need to do
  is give it the URL. (Read more)
• Convert Videos for Your iPod with iSquint (Mac):
  Make any video iPod-compatible with iSquint. Just drag the videos you
  want to convert into the iSquint queue, choose the encoding quality
  (which will also determine file size and time required to encode), and
  let it rip. You can even tell iSquint to automatically add the video to
  your iTunes library once it’s done encoding. (Read more)
• Convert YouTube Videos for Your iPod with Zamzar:
  Web site Zamzar is probably best known for converting pretty much any
  file format to any other file format (and it can be used for pretty
  much any iPod video conversion if you prefer it), but you may not have
  known that it also provides a simple method for converting any YouTube
  video for your iPod. Just enter the URL of the video, choose to convert
  it for your iPod, and it’ll email the finished product to you once it
  complete the conversion. (Read more)
• Monitor Folders and Automatically Convert Videos with iPodifier (Windows):
  iPodifier transcodes files just like Videora and iSquint, but if you’re
  a frequent video downloader or you’re rolling your own DVR, iPodifier
  can be set to monitor a folder for new videos—like your BitTorrent
  downloads folder, for example—and automatically transcode them for your
  iPod. (Read more)
• MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter (Windows):
  If you love a good audiobook but your book isn’t in the right format
  for your iPod, this handy little app will convert your MP3s to the iPod
  audiobook format (M4B) so you get all of the audiobook features like
  playback speed adjustment and “start from last position” functionality
  without the tedium of doing it yourself. (Read more)

Miscellaneous iPod Utilities

• Integrate Your iPod with Last.fm with iSproggler (Windows) and iScrobbler (Mac):
  If you’re a fan of the music recommendation service Last.fm and you
  happen to do most of your music listening on your iPod, you can
  automatically upload your iPod listening habits to the site with
  whichever application matches your operating system. Just install,
  enter your Last.fm username and password, and forget it. (Read more)
• Take Control of Your Shuffle with iPod Shuffle Database Builder (Windows/Mac/Linux):
  Add songs to your iPod shuffle by simply dragging them to your shuffle
  without touching iTunes—making it much more like a non-iPod MP3 player
  that lets you manage your music using your filesystem. (Read more)
• Backup Your Home Folder to Your iPod with iPodBackup (Mac):
  iPodBackup saves an encrypted image of your Mac’s home folder to your
  iPod with incremental, secure backups—great for those of you who iPod
  have several spare gigs of storage leftover even after you’ve synced
  your iTunes library. (Read more)

Upgrades for Older iPods

A number of third party applications and utilities exist to expand the
functionality of your existing iPod by modifying or installing new
software onto your iPod. For example:

• Upgrade Your iPod Video to an iPod classic (Windows): When Apple released the iPod classic, they gave it a simple visual refresh that one would think
  could easily be retrofitted to older iPods, but for whatever reason
  Apple’s not letting your run the fancy new interface on your older
  iPod. A replacement firmware for your video iPod brings the splitscreen
  interface of the updated iPod classic to your older video iPod. Read more)
• Put Wikipedia on Your iPod with Encyclopodia: (Windows/Mac/Linux)
  The open source Encyclopodia project brings the giant repository of
  knowledge that is Wikipedia to your iPod. Searching Wikipedia on the
  iPod is a bit of a chore (you have to type out your words with the
  clickwheel), but once you get used to it it feels pretty good to carry
  Wikipedia in your pocket. This one’s for decidedly older iPods, since
  it won’t work on 5G iPods or above, nanos, and, of course, shuffles. (Read more)



• Install Linux on Your iPod with iPod Linux: Had enough of the default iPod interface and want to jazz things up a little bit so you can do things like install and play games for free
  on your iPod? Replace the default iPod firmware with iPod Linux (or
  hell, use the graphical dual boot interface and run both). iPod Linux
  is supported on mostly older iPod generations. (Read more)
• Replace Your iPod Firmware with Rockbox:
  Supporting every iPod through the 5.5G video iPods, Rockbox is an open
  source firmware replacement for the iPod (and other MP3 players).
  Rockbox can sport everything from Last.fm support, album art, a port of
  the video game Doom, a Game Boy emulator, video player, and tons more. (Read more)

iPhone and iPod touch Only

Okay, so if you do happen to have one of the fancier new iPods, you do
have access to a few other fairly exciting third-party developments.

• Install Applications on an iPhone:
  This video demonstrates how to “jailbreak” your iPhone or iPod touch
  running the current firmware (1.1.2) so you can install third party
  applications (many of which are really impressive). If you’re still
  running 1.1.1, installing applications only takes one click.
• Wirelessly Stream Music from Your iPod touch or iPhone to Any iTunes Library:
  Assuming you can install apps on your iPhone/iPod touch (see above),
  you can also stream your ‘Pod’s music library wirelessly to any
  computer on the same network. That means next time you want your friend
  to listen to a new song on your iPod you can ditch the headphones and
  do it on a proper set of speakers.

Did we miss a favorite of yours? Let’s hear what iPod apps and add-ons make your iPod—new or old—sparkle.

Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who can’t leave well enough alone when it comes to iPods. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Make the Most of Your Dual Monitors

Now that you’ve added another monitor to your computer setup, you’ve
got double the screen real estate to get things done—but are you
putting all that space to good use? Whether you want to stretch your
desktop wallpaper or taskbar across two monitors or perfectly snap all
your windows into place every time, there are a few utilities that can
help you make the most of every last pixel of your dual monitors. Let’s
take a look.

The Basics

If you haven’t taken the plunge into doubling up on monitors, you
have a few options for doing so, from adding a second video card to
your computer, to replacing the old one with a dual card, or just
plugging a monitor into your laptop and using its screen as a second
monitor. Here’s a primer on how to set up dual monitors. If your boss won’t approve the purchase order for your second monitor at work? Tell her studies show it will increase your productivity.

Once
you’ve got the two screens hooked up, go to your system’s display
settings to configure their arrangement. One of the screens will be
your “primary” monitor (numbered 1) and then the secondary. Hit the
“Identify” button to throw up numbers on each screen letting you know
which is which. If one of your monitors is smaller than the other, drag
and drop it to align to the top or bottom of its comrade in the same
way the screens are physically aligned on your desk, to ensure the
smoothest window and mouse movement between the two. In my case, my
MacBook Pro is the primary monitor to the bottom right of my
widescreen, as pictured (click to enlarge).

Get Your Dual Monitor Wallpaper On

Out of the box, Mac OS X handles dual monitors better than Windows:
you can set screen-specific wallpaper images by default without any
extra software. Just choose “Set Desktop Background,” and a panel
appears on each screen to configure them separately.

Windows can’t set different wallpaper images on a per-screen basis
by default; when you choose your wallpaper it appears on both screens.
That wouldn’t be so bad, except for Windows’ inability to deal with
different sized monitors. If you choose the “stretch” option and you’ve
got two monitors of different sizes, Windows can’t stretch the image
properly to fill in each screen. (This was true on my test XP setup,
not sure how Vista handles this.) If you’ve installed a dual-monitor
video card, its drivers may give you the ability to configure each
screen individually, but that leaves us laptop second monitor types out
of luck—without the right software, that is.

One free utility which sets per-monitor wallpaper OR stretches one panoramic image across two screens is the previously posted DisplayFusion,
pictured to the right (click to enlarge). DisplayFusion has a nice
perk: the ability to search Flickr for wallpaper images built right in.
DisplayFusion requires the free .NET runtime, and it works on both XP
and Vista. For more on DisplayFusion, check out The How-to Geek’s tutorial.

(Speaking of wallpaper, if you’re looking for some new good images, check out our Top 10 free wallpaper, fonts and icon sources. A few great suggestions in the comments, especially on our Dual Screen Wallpapers listing.)

If you’re willing to plunk down some cash for superior wallpaper
management—along with per monitor screensavers, taskbar stretching and
lots more dual monitor control—you want UltraMon. A single license will set you back $40, but UltraMon includes all the multi-monitor features you want in one package.

Extend the Taskbar Across Monitors

It’s easy to move your Windows taskbar from one monitor to the
other: make sure it’s not locked (right-click and uncheck “Lock the
Taskbar”) and then just click and drag it to any side of either monitor
to make it stick. The problem is you don’t want to have to scoot your
mouse over to the place where the taskbar lives every time you need it.
(Especially now that it’s got all that way to travel.) Instead, a
couple of utilities can extend your taskbar across screens.

From the free downloads department, you can grab previously posted MultiMon taskbar.
This little utility adds a taskbar to your secondary monitor (including
a clock), and lists only the programs that are open on each screen in
their respective taskbars. MultiMon also adds buttons to each window
near the minimize button to move windows between monitors, and handy
keyboard shortcuts that do the same. (Try it: Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow and
Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow.) The taskbar MultiMon adds doesn’t necessarily
match your Windows theme, so it can look out of place, and I also had
trouble with its taskbar floating above the bottom of my screen instead
of sitting flush. MultiMon gets the job done, but a better taskbar
extension’s offered in UltraMon, the $40 utility mentioned above which
also handles wallpaper and screensavers. Take a look at the smooth
taskbar extension across two screens with UltraMon, courtesy of Adam
(click to enlarge):

Managing Windows

Now that you’ve got your wallpaper and taskbar sussed out, it’s time
to start taking advantage of all that screen real estate with the apps
you’re actually using all day. The biggest productivity gain you’ll get
from multiple monitors is the ability to have several windows open and
visible across that wide expanse of space, without the need to switch
windows, Alt-Tab or click.

On Windows you can tile windows
without any extra software. Just select as many open windows as you
want by Ctrl+clicking them on the taskbar, right-click and choose “Tile
Horizontally” (or Vertically).

If Windows built-in tiling doesn’t cut it, there are a few utilities
that do more. Easily resize and move windows into screen halves or
quadrants with freeware WinSplit Revolution,
which offers handy hotkeys for moving windows between screens as well
as to quadrants of the current monitor. Here’s a sampling of WinSplit’s
customizable keyboard shortcuts:

Alternately, a mature AutoHotkey script called WindowPad achieves
the same goal. Using the Windows key and your keyboard’s number pad
(similar to WinSplit’s default), you can move and arrange windows
across monitors with WindowPad. Here’s the AHK code which you can modify yourself; or just download the WindowPad.exe file, which I compiled. Thanks, LukeHolder!

To define custom screen areas and snap windows into them, check out the free GridMove.

Desktop Pinups and Overlays

Of course, you don’t have to fill your entire desktop with active
windows. Multiple monitors are also a nice way to keep “ambient”
information in your visual field without it being right in your face
all day. My laptop monitor is off to the side so I use it for secondary
applications (like IM, email, music player), but it also comes in handy
for to-do lists, system monitoring graphs, and even a calendar. My
favorite desktop overlay utilities are Samurize for Windows and GeekTool for Mac.
I use both to list my todo.txt and remind calendar on my desktop,
though both also support embedding images. You can also do things like embed Outlook’s calendar on your secondary monitor, as shown, or even use Windows Active Desktop to embed your Google Cal, too.

How do you make the most of your dual—or even triple—monitors? Tell us about it in the comments.

Powered by ScribeFire.

30+ Joomla Tools and Resources
30 Joomla Tools and Resources
October 22, 2007 — 02:14 AM PDT — by Sean P. Aune — Share This

Joomla

Joomla, formerly known as Mambo, is a popular open source Content Management System (CMS). As with most open source projects, there’s a ton of free tools out there for you to use. We’ve chosen over 30 useful extensions and other tools to make your Joomla life easier. Enjoy.