Technology. Without Error

If Google mail revolutionized web mail, Reader changed the way a feed aggregator should be. So it’s not surprising that I spend a lot of time reading feeds on Google reader.

Google Reader has a user friendly interface which even makes desktop aggregators feel pale in comparison. But on a netbook, things are different, space is a premium, and the default interface has a lot of space left unused. The Sublime reader extension for chrome changes all that.  I’ve tried out a lot of minimal reader extensions and fe?w of them have been more impressive than Sublime. But I love the dark minimalistic interface. There are still a few rough edges. You still cannot read all items, your starred or shared items. But it makes up for all that with that stunning interface. Check it out below in action

Download Sublime Reader for Chrome.

Decided that wordmobi was taking too much space on the paltry space I had on my N97′s C drive. It turned out symbianguru was also in search of a blogging solution. I turned to the default Nokia browser and the wordpress backend which wasn’t too much to write about. It barely does the job and is almost next to being completely unusable.

I tried out wordpress on both the opera mini and the mobile and both of them wouldn’t let me type a single word.

Frustrated, I looked for help on Google and after a few stray results I got a wordpress plugin for the Iphone named the mobile admin, which unfortunately was unsupported with WP 2.5 and above.More searching around got me the Wphone plugin which allowed me to type the content until this point.

But it wouldn’t support images or links. And my search continued. Searching on google got me to this blog post on mobile applications I tried out a few java apps until I came across Wavelog from telewaving. Now wavelog had a really confusing interface and it wasn’t freeware. I downloaded the 30 day trial and got it to work with a little help from their help files.

The app works well on my symbian v5 device and supports v3 as well. I decided to go ahead and spend the $8.25 on the full version. Now thats the longest post I’ve made from my mobile phone. Now all I need are a few screenshots and this post is done. I think the search for a good mobile blogging solution is far from being complete. But then I don’t have an Iphone. Because we chose to be different.

Make Reading easier on your eyes.

One of the main reasons everything looks better on a Mac is because, Mac uses better font-smoothing technology as compared to a Windows. But, font smoothing is subjective and its more a matter of personal preference. (Scroll down to see the difference)
Mac uses a stronger form of font-smoothing which makes letters look more darker, clearer and less fuzzy. It’s the same technology which the Apple safari browser uses to render clear text. It might take sometime for you to get adjusted to an OSX’s font smoothing, but once you get used to it, its one of the most comfortable ways to read loads and loads of text (no wonder, the Mac is popular with designers, it makes everything seem good..) 
     Font hinting is the method preferred by Microsoft. Unhinted font is used on OS X and Linux. and you cannot disable font hinting in windows. GD++ is a tiny application which seeks to do this by changing the windows font smoothing during runtime. Simply download the GDI++ zip file, extract and run GDItray.exe.

The font smoothing might take sometime to get used to. But, like they say..once you’re used to a Mac..You’d never go back. I love reading Ebooks with strong font smoothing so the file is in my startup folder, just so that, it runs at every windows startup.

see the difference between the windows font smoothing and font smoothing with GDI++ enabled.

Windows font smoothing

GDI++ enabled

Read how to make your Windows look like OSX here.

via Estevão Mascarenhas

Even though face recognition is not as popular as other biometric means of security such as fingerprint recognition, it still is a powerful and easy to use way to increase your security. Banana screen lets you harness the facial recognition to login to your PC without typing in your password.

Being used to a biometric fingerprint scanner on both my work and home laptops, I was disappointed when I started using my ASUS netbook. I had to think of an alternate way to login without typing in passwords. Searching online gave me results on only one application, Banana screen from Banana Security. But even lifehacker’s links weren’t alive since Banana security’s website had nothing on it, let alone a download link. After a bit more googling, I found a link to a Banana screen download at Softpedia.

Banana screen requires that you enter the windows password before the first time you use it. After installation, you create a profile of yourself called a model. The Model is a webcam capture of your face which allows you to login. I would have liked BS to completely replace the windows login screen, but BS only creates an alternate windows lock screen (Alt + L). Every time it fails to recognize (the first few times, since it needs to adapt the model to different lighting environments) you’d have to enter your password to login. And it updates the model. It learns!!

One tip would be to set the camera timeout to a low value on the settings. That way the camera doesn’t stay on for long. To login, press shift to activate the camera, and lo, access granted!! If you enjoyed the application, leave a comment..

I got myself a new ASUS EEE PC Seashell netbook last week and have been busy setting it up, customizing it and getting software. Considering that a netbook is meant to run more as an secondary system rather than your only laptop, netbooks are not usually as powerful as laptop (why is why they’re called netbooks, duh..)

Even though they’re called netbooks , its not exactly possible to ensure that they’re always connected to the internet. What if the friendly neighborhood cafe did not have free wifi? And Netbooks without the power of the net are well, just books. Or so we have been lead to believe. Until the making this list that is. My list of perfect software had to make sure it fulfilled two primary needs. Firstly, to be able to run on a machine with limited processing abilities. Secondly, the capability to be used even when you did not have internet access.

Browser: Chrome

Chrome had to be the browser of choice. Light, fast and easy to load. I still am a fan of firefox on my laptop but for my netbook I chose the ultra light chrome with the power of Google Gears. That makes sure I can read my feeds offline, my mail offline, my blog and loads of other Gears compatible stuff offline.

Edited on July 17, 2009: Firefox takes over my netbook. Its impossible not to use firefox especially considering that the internet is the center of your netbook. Plus the font rendering on firefox is much more adaptable to netbooks, which means its much more comfortable to browse the web.

Mail: Thunderbird

I couldn’t find a better mail client than this so I had to surrender to the power of Mozilla. Handles multiple inboxes, junk/spam protection, easy to use. Just like all other good Mozilla products you get the power to use extensions just make sure that you are making an application heavier on a netbook. I just have the minimize to tray extension installed.

Chat: Pidgin

This open source chat agent had to take the cake when it came to chat. Lets me run multiple IM services, light and powerful. Though originally designed to run on linux, Pidgin is now available for windows as well. Pidgin is functional, has an interface that’s the least distracting and comes with a multitude of options to customize it. I use gtalk considering that its the lightest around, considering I do not need multiple IM support.

Office applications: Microsoft Works

I still am using the Microsoft works, but this section might update once I install the Open office. Still considering this section, so do leave your choices in the comments section.

Blogging: Blogdesk

For the first time, I’ve considered the use of an offline blogging tool and after trying quite a few of them, I’ve decided that Blogdesk, albeit its limitations is the winner. Blogdesk has support for most common blogging platforms. I would have recommended the use of Scribefire extension if I were using firefox, but since this is a list, Blogdesk is a blogging tool with a functional interface, but lets you write blogs offline, save them and post them later.

Antivirus: AVG

This is really easy. You would want to keep the resource usage to a minimum and still ensure protection. Stick to AVG . Does a good job and is light on the processor as well.

Desktop enhancements: Launchy

Well, just because its a netbook doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dress up your desktop. How about a OSX styled dock? Rocketdock is only of the fastest and lightest docks out there. I would recommend using Launchy , the keyboard based program launcher especially since it works wonders when the super fast chrome is your default browser.