Techerator

Busy people, rejoice.  Gmail, the primary electronic mail client offered by the giant Google, is getting a simple add-on sometime in the near future (it’s actually rolling out right now, but it will be a week before everybody has it). What does it entail, one might ask?  Well, its a filter.  Not a new spam filter (Gmail already has one of those), but a new new filter that tells you, the u...

Ever have an idea that you’re sure is going to make you rich, only to have forgotten it by the time you get home? Or how about the time you spent all week making a list of things you need the next time you go shopping, only to forget where you put it when the time finally came?  With Simplenote for iPhone (and other iOS devices like the iPod Touch), that’s all in the past. Simplenote ...

So you’ve got a sweet idea for a web application—great, let’s get to work! You’ll need a basic GUI, some sort of user registration, a templating system, logic processing, error handlers, form verification, AJAX processing, and… woah, this is adding up in a hurry. At what point do you get to start making the app itself? What you need is a framework that will accelerate your app developmen...

With school starting for many of our readers (myself included), what better way to celebrate than with another edition of Friday Fun? After all, Flash games are the ultimate procrastination tool! Liferaft: Zero is a devious blend of the setting from Portal, the acrobatics of N, and the frustrating difficulty of Jumper. You play the role of a series of clones, hopping through obstacle courses under...

Never before has a website been so blatantly obvious and honest in it’s function.  HowSecureIsMyPassword.net asks that very simple question;  it’s response is something more or less dramatic, depending on what you type in.  The capital letters are kind of goofy, but it definitely works with the site’s straight-forward approach to telling you how secure (or insecure) your passw...

One of my favorite features in Windows 7 is Aero Snap, which automatically resizes and snaps applications to the sides of your screen when you drag them near.  If you’ve got several windows open on one screen, this is a great way to manage your space (and I’ve learned it’s even more useful when working on large screens). My favorite way to use Aero Snap is with the keyboard R...

What, no bean dip? So its time to plan a party.  The chips and dip are out, the chilled beverages are chilling, the mood lighting is set to “groovy,” and the music is…wait. You forgot to consider the music, didn’t you?  That is a big mistake. Music can make or break a party; everyone knows that.  So what do you do?  It’s too late to call a DJ, and being the great host that you are, y...

I’m probably a little over-paranoid, but I always get a slight wave of anxiety before I send an important email.  Questions like “Did I say the right things?”, “Did I address it to the correct person?”, and “Did I refrain from speaking like a pirate?” all rush through my head before I click that ominous little Send button. As a relief to me, Gmail release...

I swear, the rain and traffic simultaneously cleared up just when I was going to take this picture. As I write this article, rain falls from the sky, the earth rotates around the sun, and I’m sitting in the passenger seat of a Jeep making its way out of city traffic.  Using my Android phone and the free-with-limitations EasyTether application, I can browse the internet on my netbook anywhe...

Picasa is a free application from Google that lets you easily edit and manage your entire photo collection.  Picasa offers many useful features like geotagging, web albums, and powerful-yet-simple photo editing (I love the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button). One problem with large photo collections is that it can become extremely difficult to find pictures of specific people.  If I wa...