If you are a fan of custom wallpapers, you must’ve noticed that most wallpapers do not match the aspect ratio of current resolution. Sometimes, the favorite part of your wallpaper gets cut from the background. A while back, we covered an application called BackGrounder, which allows you to easily scale and trim images, enabling you to create custom wallpapers. Today, we have another application , namely Aligner that lets you align the wallpaper on your desktop according to your preferences. You can use this application to choose the part of wallpaper you want to keep in the center of the screen. Moreover, it lets you move the wallpaper anywhere on the desktop, in Top, Bottom, Left and Right direction.

The application has a very simple interface. You can change the alignment of the wallpaper using two methods; it lets you specify the exact number of pixels that are to be used to move the wallpaper, or use sliders to change the position of the wallpaper. Aligner also provides you with a real-time preview of the changes being made to the position of the wallpaper. Once you’ve changed the position of the wallpaper, click OK to apply the changes.

The application works flawlessly, but we feel that it can be improved by introducing some simple functions, such as resizing the wallpaper, showing the complete wallpaper in the preview pane, and a selection box to select which part to show on the desktop. Aligner works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Aligner

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I’m sure that everyone who uses the internet knows about, and has visited, YouTube a lot of times. Founded in 2005, it became a lot famous in quite a short amount of time, allowing billions of users to view, as well as share, videos with a global audience. Other than the widely used entertainment purposes, YouTube is also used for showcasing products, launching music videos and educating people. The application can only be accessed through a browser and does not have an official desktop application out yet. YTubePlayer is a third party application for YouTube that provides you with a desktop tool to easily access and manage YouTube. More on YTubePlayer after the break.

YTubePlayer lets you search and play videos directly from your desktop, listen to your favorite YouTube steams, directly play feeds, allows you to use your multimedia keyboard for changing videos just as you would with a normal music or video player, lets you create and manage multiple playlists, share playlists by sending them to other YTubePlayer users, etc.

When the application starts for the first time, it asks you to create an account with the service. Having an account helps you to create and manage playlists. Enter a Nickname and Password to complete the registration.

The interface of the application is really simple, with the playback, search and playlist controls on the top, Playlists and Feeds on the right, while the video plays between them.

The Search button at the top allows you to search videos for playing. You can also add videos to playlists directly from the search module without having to open them. Either click the video to play it, or select Add To Playlist button to add it to a user created playlist.

Playlists can also be shared with other users of YTubePlayer from the Share Playlist button at the top. To share one, select a playlist, enter the name and click Share. The playlists shared by other users appear in the YTube Inbox accessible from the top of the main interface.

The application supports both Window and Full screen mode for viewing videos. When in full screen mode, the video resolution can be changed from the top right corner.

YTubePlayer is a bit of a memory hog and consumes around 152 MB. It works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download YTubePlayer

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We’ve covered several apps in the past that let you take screenshots. Each one had its own special features, but what you rarely come across, is an app that is meant to facilitate taking better screenshots. Screenshot Helper is a free Mac app that does not capture screenshots itself, but is actually meant to help you take better screenshots by covering the desktop with either a solid color or an image, hiding all icons on your desktop and hiding the menu bar and Dock. All windows remain visible, and can be minimized as per your preferences. Once you’ve cleared out your desktop, use your favorite screenshot app and capture as many snapshots as you like.

Launch the app and choose how you want to cover the desktop. You can cover it using a solid color or use a picture. To set a solid color, select the Background color option and click the color box to open the color selector. Alternatively, select Desktop picture and browse and select an image to cover the desktop.

You can choose to cover the screen, or move the background image around to cover only the desired part of the desktop. Select Cover the desktop icons only to ensure that icons are automatically hidden.

To toggle the visibility of icons on the desktop, use the Command + D short cut. Menu Bar can be hidden, along with the Dock, using Command + B hot key combination.

Remember that this app isn’t meant for taking screenshots; once you have a clean desktop, you can use any app or Mac’s built-in screenshot tool to capture the screen, or any area of it.

Get Screenshot Helper From Mac App Store

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Previously, we have covered some very good desktop management applications, such as Desktop Panorama, WindowSlider and mDesktop. All of these desktop managers have their own strengths and weaknesses, some provide you with unlimited side ways scroll capability, while other allow you to preview all the virtual desktops to locate and manage the position of every running application. Today, we have another, very comprehensive, desktop management application for you, which allows you to have more than just multiple virtual desktops on your system. Blacksmith is a portable GUI extension tool and virtual desktop manager for Windows that provides you with the feel of Windows, Android and Mac OS X Lion operating systems. More on Blacksmith after the break.

The application brings the transition styles of Android and Mac OS X Lion into Windows, giving you a beautiful GUI to work with. It comes with support for up to 6 virtual work spaces, and allows you to switch between them with mouse, as well as keyboard hot keys.

After installation, the application has 4 desktops selected by default. To switch between desktops, click the middle mouse button, hold and drag the mouse to the right and left to switch to the corresponding desktop. The application lets you choose desktop screen switching transitions from Android style and Mac OS X Lion style, or just turn them off.

Dragging the middle mouse button down will minimize all the applications, while dragging it up will open the Cockpit view, displaying a preview of all the available desktops.

Just middle-clicking on the desktop opens up the AppView, which allows you to view and access all the installed applications on your computer, the current date and day, as well as the current temperature and weather position of the specified city.

Select and window, right-click the system tray icon of Blacksmith and choose to set it semitransparent or as the topmost window. You can also switch between the virtual desktops using this menu.

Select Configure from the right-click menu to access the Blacksmith Configuration window. You can set the number of desktops, specify hot keys, and select AppView, DeskSweep, Cockpit and Switcher Styles. Click OK when all settings are done.

Click the system tray icon, bring the grape icon on top of any window and click again to change its transparency, set it as the top most window or send it to another desktop.

The application works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Blacksmith (Original Link)

Download Blacksmith (Translated Link)

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Yesterday, we covered Plastiliq PixelPicker, an application that allows you to view color codes in 10 different formats, such as RGB, ARM, HTML, CMYK, HEX etc. It can detect the color of items on your desktop and lets you view its view in a lot of formats, which can be quiet useful during web designing projects. Plastiliq PixelPicker has its own interface and a memory footprint of around 31 MB, but if you are looking for something lighter, you can check out Instant Eyedropper. It is a system tray based application with a memory foot print of only around 1.2 MB, which allows you to view color values and automatically copy the values to clipboard in multiple formats, without having to access any interface. More on Instant Eyedropper after the break.

After installation, the application is available in the system tray. The way it works, is that, to view the code of any color, left-click on the system tray icon and drag your mouse on top of any item on your desktop to view its color. A small window will popup along side the cursor, displaying the code of color in real-time. The popup window also has a pixel magnifier to locate the exact color you want.

Right-click the system tray icon to change the format of color values. Instant Eyedropper supports HTML, Hex, Delphi Hex, VB Hex, RGB and HSB color codes.

Select Options from the right-click menu to change startup behavior, Resolution of the pixel magnifier to specify number of pixels to show in the popup window, and specify the format style of color codes.

Apart from being very lightweight, it is a very useful application. However, we encountered some issues while interacting with the application. The system tray icon did not respond the same way overtime as we clicked on it. Sometimes, we had to keep the icon clicked for a long time to enable the pixel magnifier. Other than that, it can use support for some more color formats to increase its utility, and we hope that the developer will include these suggestions in the next update. Instant Eyedropper works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Instant Eyedropper

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Earlier, we showed you how to prevent PC users from accessing Internet Connection Properties dialog, so that they can not change the DHCP settings and DNS server address. Using the built-in Microsoft Management Console snap-in called Local Group Policy Editor, you could define a wide range of system components’ usage constraints to limit users’ access to core system settings as well as visual configurations. Like previous Windows versions, Windows 7 lets you prevent PC users from tweaking the default or specified Desktop Personalization settings, including theme settings, screen saver, sounds, desktop background, and other visual styles. This post shows you a simple way of applying user access limits on Personalization and Visual Styles in order to prevent PC users from changing their settings.

The following steps requires logging into Windows 7 as an administrator. If you’re not logged in as administrator, then first log off and log back in to Windows via an administrator account. Once logged in, bring up Windows 7 Start Search and enter group policy or gpedit.msc to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.

The Local Group Policy Editor holds two categories, namely Computer Configuration and User Configuration. To change the default Personalization settings, expand User Configuration followed by Administrative Templates. Now, click Control Panel to select Personalization setting folder. This will open all the personalization-related settings in main window, allowing you change the default options and apply limits as per requirement.

The Personalization Setting page holds numerous desktop personalization objects’ settings including color scheme, theme, windows & buttons visual styles, screen saver, window color and appearance, desktop background, mouse pointers and more. If you for instance want to revoke access to Desktop Background dialog, just open the Prevent changing desktop background option, and select Enabled option to restrict user from changing desktop wallpaper.

Similarly, you can prevent standard User Account holders from changing the screensaver by disabling the Enable screen saver option. Moreover, if you want to enforce a specific screen saver for all user accounts, open Force specific screen saver, select Enabled, and then specify the screen saver file you want to use for user accounts. Apart from enforcing a specific visual style file across network, you have the option to load a specific theme, prevent users from changing mouse pointers, desktop icons, window color and appearance.

When a PC users open Personalization dialog to change the desktop background, default Windows sound etc., they will find these options greyed out. It’s worth mentioning here that, unlike other type of Windows access restrictions, the personalized options don’t prompt users to enter the Administrative password to proceed.

In case, you’ve enforced a specific screen saver, standard user account holder won’t be able to change the pre-defined screen saver. The following screenshot shows the greyed-out Screen saver drop-down menu.

The Personalization setting folder includes numerous desktop and visual personalization settings that you change, and apply limits on accessing personalization objects’ settings. If you want to prevent users from accessing Control Panel, check out how to do it here.

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If your desktop routinely looks like someone threw up icons on it, it might mean one of two things; you are either a bad organizer, or just too lazy to clean your desktop clutter. It can actually be both these things, but whatever it is that keeps you from cleaning up the mess on your screen, it needs a solution before you run out of places to click. Clean My Desktop is a Mac app that works wonders; it analyzes and sorts all files and icons on your desktop, categorizes them as Applications, Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music, Source Code, Folders and Aliases, and separates them into folders. All folders are created as sub-folder in any location of your choice.

When you first launch the app, you will see a long list of checked options. By default, the app cleans Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music and Source Code. You can check or uncheck options based on your needs, and exclude those items that you don’t wish to be affected. To enter a location for organizing the files and folders on your desktop, click Choose Folder, and either select an existing location, or create a new one. Click Clean My Desktop when you are finished.

Once you click the button, sit back and watch folders, applications, files, pictures etc, zoom across the desktop, as they are moved to the new destination folder. A window showing the destination folder will open, and you can see as additional folders are created within it.

When the app has finished cleaning up, a window will pop up, informing you the clean up has been successful. You can then quit the app, open the folder where all files were moved to, i.e., the folder you specified, or undo the operation.

For each subsequent clean up that you do and keep the same destination folder for, the app creates subfolders. Each subfolder is named by the date it was created on, i.e., when you performed the cleanup, and will have subfolders according to the nature of items you chose to clean. If you consistently manage to clutter up your desktop, this is one way to keep the clutter hidden and reasonably organized. What would have made this app even better, would have been the option to perform similar functions in the Downloads folder, which, too, tends to get cluttered.

Get Clean My Desktop From Mac App Store

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Some days ago, we covered a screen locking application named Smart PC Locker Pro. It let you lock your system with a hotkey, automatically shut down the PC after a specified number of wrong attempts, and allowed you to change the lock screen wallpaper. However, if you are looking for a simple lock screen application, try  ScreenBlur. It is a portable application that lets you simply lock your computer screen, and bars access to any item on your desktop. There is no dialogue box, and no need to go through tedious configurations – just set your password and secure your desktop!

The application runs quietly in the system tray. Right-click its icon to reveal options for locking screen, settings the password, configure auto lock, and enable/disable auto lock.

The Auto Lock option allows you to set the number of minutes before automatically activating the lock screen. You can use the slider to set the time from one to sixty minutes of inactivity.

To unlock the screen, you don’t need to open any console or dialogue box. Simply type your password when the lock screen is visible, and your desktop will be unlocked.

The application is flawless in doing what is advertised by the developer, but, in my opinion, it can be more useful if the developer adds hotkey support to lock the screen. ScreenBlur works on Windows XP (requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher), Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download ScreenBlur

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Tab Notifier, a Firefox add-on, displays desktop notifications when the title of a tab changes, or when you receive instant messages on various social networking sites, even when the tab is not focused. Tab Notifier notifies you with new desktop messages, and clicking on these simply opens the tab that triggered the message. Also, you may add filters to specify websites that will be ignored when sending desktop notifications. This add-on provides the utility of being instantly alerted when a new notification is received.

The desktop notification is represented in relation to the title of the page. For instance, if you have one Facebook notification, the notification will be (1) Facebook. This eliminates the need to repeatedly check your inbox or social networks for new messages and notifications.

Some users prefer not to receive notifications for certain websites. Such users can access the Tab Notifier settings to specify websites that will be ignored when their titles are changed. However, this feature is not functional at the moment, so you might not be able to add filters.

Tab Notifier is quite a useful extension, as it lets you keep track of new messages on all your social networks without having to visit these websites regularly.

Install Tab Notifier Add-On For Firefox

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If you need a feature-rich image editor, or a really great app to edit and mash up videos, you wouldn’t normally go scourging for small apps, and you’d very likely be paying for what you need. For the bigger things you want to do on your Mac, there is a whole store full of them, but for smaller desktop managing needs, here are three apps that you might find useful. Secondbar lets you add a second menu bar to your Mac display, and you can extend it as a separate bar to a second monitor. The  bar can be dragged to any part of the screen, mirroring the original system menu bar in behavior. Desktop Icon Manager is a simple app that will memorize where you’ve positioned your icons, and will restore them to that point for you. Change Desktop is an app that lets you select several folders on your system, and display all images in them as wallpaper. The app expertly handles smaller photographs by complimenting the extra space with a color that brings the images out. More on these three after the break.

Secondbar

Secondbar is a simple app that you won’t need unless your display is extended to two monitors, but in the event that you are working with multiple displays, this app will add a second system menu bar to the top. You can control the menu bar’s opacity, make it draggable and have it launch automatically, even if only a single display is detected from the app’s preferences.

Desktop Icon Manager

Desktop Icon Manager is useful if you often group the icons on your desktop to keep them organized. They may start out neatly at the beginning of the day, and later turn into a clutter, or you might have to change the way they are grouped. The app simply memorizes how the icons on your desktop are currently grouped; launch the app and click Memorize Icon Positions and then proceed to work normally. When you want to restore the icons to their previous position, click Restore Icon Position.

Change Desktop

Many might question the usefulness of this app, since you can define a folder and have the images within displayed turn by turn on your desktop, but the utility of this app is more for pictures that aren’t big enough to cover your entire screen. The app doesn’t just pick images from folders and display them on your desktop, but also picks out a suitable color from within the images, and uses it to cover any and all blank spaces. The app also lets you set the same wallpaper across all desktops.

Go to the app’s preferences and add a folder from Collections by clicking the plus sign in the lower left corner, select a folder and click Add Sources to add all images to that collection. From the Main Displays option, select which folder the app should show images from, how frequently the images should change, and how they should transition from one image to the other.

While these apps are somewhat trivial in their functionality, they aren’t useless and might definitely be something you could put to good use.

Get Secondbar For Mac

Get Desktop Icon Manager For Mac

Get Change Desktop For Mac

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Unlike previous versions of Windows where you are taken to desktop at system startup, Windows 8 welcomes you with Metro Start Screen, providing quick access to applications and system shortcuts, pinned programs, and so on. Apparently, Windows 8 doesn’t allow users to bring the classic Windows Startup behavior back. If you don’t want to click the Desktop metro tile every time after logging into Windows, here’s how to bypass Metro Start Screen and jump to desktop directly.

The first method of bypassing Start Screen at Windows 8 startup requires creating a Show Desktop shortcut in Startup folder. First off, open the Startup folder.

C:\Users\<User Profile>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Now, select Shortcut option from New right-click context menu and enter the following Show Desktop shortcut command.

C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}

Once done, give shortcut an appropriate name and click Finish to end the wizard. Now all you need is to restart or log off your PC to check if it takes you directly to the desktop at startup. This shortcut method is a bit slow, as Windows runs scripts, shortcuts, applications etc., in Startup folder after loading all user and system components. If you want to speed up the process, you can bind the Show Desktop script with Windows Logon event in order to run the script as soon as you log into Windows. You could use the Group Local Policy editor to create a Logon script or Event Viewer to manually associate the Show Desktop script with Windows Logon event. To get started, copy the aforementioned Show Desktop command, open Search sidebar from Start Orb hover menu and click Settings. Now enter event viewer in search bar to open View event logs dialog.

In Event Viewer, expand Windows Logs list from main navigation bar and then select Application. Now select Winlogon from Source column in main window, and right-click it to select Attach Task To This Event option.

In Create Basic Task Wizard, move to Action tab by clicking Next. The Action tab lets you start a program, send an email or display a message when the associated event occurs. Just select Start a program and hit Next. Now paste the Show Desktop command to add both main executable file (explorer.exe) and command argument.

Once done, close the wizard and open Task Scheduler from Search sidebar to verify the trigger and action associated with winlogon event. Now when Windows 8 starts up, it will take you directly to Desktop instead of showing the Metro Start Screen.

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Over the years, we have seen quite a lot of utilities surface for the Android OS, with the majority of them being mobile based, and a select few, desktop based. Developed by Roman Nurik, Android Design Preview is a handy tool for Android, that lets you mirror a portion of your desktop screen onto your mobile device over a USB connection. While we’ve had apps in the past that let you stream your desktop onto an Android device (the likes of Teamviewer), this app’s purpose is much simpler. It is actually meant for developers who want a quick way to see how their apps or themes look on their mobile devices. A beta of the tool is out, and you can check it out, provided you have Java Runtime Environment installed.

Not being able to mirror over Wi-Fi is a definite drawback. That said, the tool is actually made to the point and is more useful for users wanting to take a picture of a portion of their desktop and transferring it to their mobile devices. With this tool, you can simply take a screenshot on your device and you’ll have a picture of your desktop. This can prove to be handy particularly when, as mentioned earlier, you’re developing themes, for instance, and want to see how those would look on a mobile device.

To get started, make sure you have the Java Runtime Environment set up (links to the tool and JRE given at the end of the post). As for your Android device, you need to have ADB installed on your system (see our guide on ADB). Once you have all of this set up, make sure to enable USB Debugging on your device, then connect it to your computer via a USB cable.

Run the downloaded JAR file, and you will see a dialogue box as shown on the right. Wait for a few seconds as the application initializes, and once it does, you will immediately see a portion of your desktop on the mobile device. This means that the connection has been successfully established. As for moving the view to another portion of the screen, simply hit the Select Mirror Region.

Doing so will bring up a window that indicates the area that would be mirrored to your mobile device. The viewing area has the typical 480 x 800 resolution that the screens of most modern day Android devices have. To change the portion you want to mirror, simply click anywhere inside the window and drag it around. Hit Escape or double click to hide the window. The screenshot below shows you how the mirrored portion appears on the screen of the mobile device (when the windows isn’t hidden).

If you’re an Android techie, you should definitely give this awesome tool a try. Feel free to add a few more examples of the tool’s practicality in the comments below.

Download Java

Download Android Design Preview

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Have tired, sore and watery eyes after working for long hours on the computer? You may even develop a temporary condition known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) if you work on the computer without taking breaks.  ProtectYourVision, a web app, automatically alerts you and sends you desktop notifications when it’s time for you to take a break and to give your eyes some rest. It also provides you with some nice eye gymnastics that you can practice in order to reduce the tension in your eyes. Set a reminder on EVO whenever you start working on your computer. ProtectYourVision comes with three different themes and two modes for reminders. Furthermore, it also offers desktop notifications for Chrome and Firefox browsers.

The website has five basic options, namely Choose theme, Modes, Eyes gymnastics, About and Contact. You can set three different themes, which include Minimal, Sunny and Space. In addition to that, there are three different modes you can choose from, ranging from 20-20 to 60-5 to custom.

For 20-20, EVO sets your break time after every 20 minutes, whereby you can close your eyes for 20 seconds. 60-5 is the mode that reminds you to take a break after every one hour and you can take a break of up to five minutes. Custom mode is the easiest as it lets you set your own break duration and frequency.

This web app also offers its users with gymnastics. These are eye exercises, important for those who spend a lot of time working on the computer. Eye gymnastics comes with three different types of exercises that allow you to release the tension from your eyes and prevent CVS.

This is a user-friendly web app for all the users who spend a lot of time staring at screens/working on the computer. Visit the link below and get reminded of much-needed breaks.

Visit ProtectYourVision

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There are many favorite websites that one visits more frequently than any other. Normally, we type the URL of these websites, or retrieve their links from bookmarks. However, another quicker way of launching favorite websites is by creating desktop shortcuts for them. In this tip, we will tell you how to create desktop shortcuts for your favorite websites in Ubuntu 11.10.

Since the Create Launcher option is no longer present in newer Ubuntu versions, therefore, to create a launcher, you can use the following command.

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

A window will pop-up, where you need to specify the website’s name, followed by the command that contains the browser’s name, and URL of your favorite website. Once you have entered the required information, click OK. (see screenshot below for help)

This will create a desktop shortcut for your favorite website. You can create a number of shortcuts on the desktop to launch your most commonly visited websites with convenience.

You can even change the icons of your website shortcuts. To do this, right-click the shortcut, and select Properties. Select the default browser icon from shortcut properties, and select an alternative image.

Below is an example of how an alternative icon can be used to customize the look of your website shortcuts.

Did you find this tip useful? Want to add more to it? Drop us a comment and let us know.

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Before Windows Vista, there was an option in Windows to add folders as toolbars to your desktop. When Microsoft introduced Jump lists with Windows Vista, they removed the toolbar feature. If you miss having custom toolbars for folders on your desktop, check out OldBar. This program lets you add multiple folder toolbars to your desktop, attach them either to a side, or place them anywhere on the desktop. The position of the folders’ contents can also be changed within a toolbar by moving them up and down the list. Button height & width is adjustable, and the toolbar can be set to stay always on top, hide automatically, animated etc.

To enable the toolbar, run the application, right-click the toolbar and select Choose toolbar folder from the Toolbar folder. All the contents of the selected folder, including files and subfolders, will be displayed.

The Attach option enables you to attach the toolbar On top, On bottom, On left, On right and Unlock to let if float anywhere on your desktop.

Click Buttons Layout to move the folder contents up and down within the toolbar by using their respective buttons. You can also delete the shortcut of any item from the list.

The Settings menu has three tabs; Interfaccia, Buttons and Panel. Interfaccia allows you to change the GUI language and enable Run at Windows Startup. Buttons has options including Autosize buttons, Buttons height, Buttons Width, Show text, Flat buttons and Small Icons. Panel contains the toolbar options Always on Top, Hide Automatically, Show bevel, Fixed Border and Animated.

OldBar works on all versions of Windows, and testing was done on Windows 7 64-bit version.

Download OldBar

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The way we listen to music has changed in the last few years. Gone are the days when people used to store large music libraries in their hard drives and compact disks. More and more people are turning towards online music platforms including Grooveshark, Spotify and Last.fm, which provide massive databases of every genre of music. CloudTune is a audio stream player that lets you play and organize online music from your desktop. You can create playlists, search music, add tracks to favorites and share music on Facebook and Twitter. CloudTune stores your library, playlists and favorites in its repository, so that they can be accessed from anywhere. Other features include importing music from Last.fm and VKontakte, finding music videos on YouTube and searching lyrics of tracks.

The main interface consists of playback and navigation controls at the top, allowing you to Go to previous track, Play/Pause, Go to next track, Repeat Playlist, Repeat current track, Shuffle playlist and control volume. The Library, Favorites, Most Played, Popular, Recommended and New Playlist tabs present at the left, while the Track List can be accessed from right side. From navigation bar, you can share a track, find videos and lyrics for a track and access CloudTune Settings. The Search function is hidden under blue double quaver on the top-left corner.

When you start CloudTune for the first time, it requires you to create an account; just enter your email, password and click Let’s go!. The application will give you the option to import music from Last.fm and VKontakte.

When you play a track, it  automatically adds the track to Library, which can be accessed even when you’re offline. In the Track List, you will find options to add track to favorites & playlists and delete tracks from library.

From left bottom corner, you can share a track on Facebook, Twitter and VKontakte, search for music videos on YouTube, find lyrics and access the CloudTune Settings.

The Settings provides you with Account and Proxy settings, as well as, option to enable/disable the miniplayer, clear Cache and Import Favorites from last.fm and VKontakte.

The Search can be accessed by clicking the large blue double quaver. It lets you search tracks by artist, album name, track tile and genre.

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, provided you have .NET Framework installed.

Download CloudTune

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If you’ve recently taken a vacation or just like to take a lot of pictures then it is likely you know how difficult it is to organize images taken either from your digital camera or phone camera since they are all saved with the same name prefix with a number appended after it. Renaming these files can be a pain because you have no choice but to rename each one individually. While this may occur most commonly with image files, you might need to rename a number of other types of files too. Name Dropper is a desktop application that allows you to rename files and attach an incremental number to each one by dragging & dropping the name on to each file.

The application allows you to rename any kind of file; image, multimedia, document etc. To rename files, drag & drop them on to the application’s interface. The application allows you to view the files in several layouts, to remove a file right-click it and select Remove selected files or Folders. You can reorder the files by dragging & dropping them.

To rename a file, you will have to drag & drop the new file name either from your browser or a text editor (notepad does not work). Type in the file name you want to give to a file, select it and drop it on to the file’s tile or thumbnail in Name Dropper. To append an incremental number and add the same name for different files, use the syntax File name <#>. The hash sign will add an incremental number at the end of the file name so you have files named as File name1, file name2, file name3, and so on.

If you would like to add text to the file name, i.e. you have a series of image files named image1, Image2, Image3, etc and you want to name them to File Name Image1, File Name Image2 etc., use the syntax File Name <0>.

Type whatever you want to rename a file to and use the appropriate syntax. Type in your browser’s URL bar or even the search field on Google, select it and drag your cursor on to the application’s interface and on the file you want to rename. While you will have to drag & drop the file name on to each file individually, it is, nevertheless easier than renaming them the conventional way.

Download Name Dropper

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There are multiple ways of taking and editing screenshots; whether you choose to use the  Windows Snipping tool or some other application like Greenshot, or Shotty, these applications have one thing in common, they are all triggered by keyboards controls. Most screen capturing tools are triggered primarily by the Print Screen key (or in combination with the Ctrl or Alt keys), SnapInstall is a desktop tool for taking screenshots that is triggered by the mouse, more specifically, the middle mouse button/ mouse wheel. The tool automatically saves the images and adds them all to a single PDF file to create a manual or installation instruction.

With so many popular tools for taking screenshots (some even have their own Wikipedia page) you probably have a favorite tool and no amount of picture taking precision could make you to stop using it so why use SnapInstall? This tool isn’t for those ordinary every day screenshots you need to take, it’s more suited for individuals who are tasked with creating lengthy procedural documents which include multiple screenshots e.g., installation guides. For those needing to outline an installation procedure, taking periodic screenshots fast is more important. Run the tool, start off by entering a name for your procedural document, the name of the author and a logo if you like.

You do not have to tweak any key/ mouse button settings, the tool will take a full screenshot of whatever area you click on your screen and save it automatically when you click the middle mouse button.

Once you’ve taken as many screenshots as you want, visit the folder (by default created at C:\snaps\User Name\…\Session1) and you can view the screenshots the tool has taken. Right-click the icon in the system tray and select Create PDF And Exit.This will add all screenshots to a single PDF file. The PDF file captions each screenshot with its name and which application it is running in, and where you clicked to take the screenshot. This makes it easier for anyone reading the file to understand the process you’re explaining.

The tool doesn’t let you change which mouse button will trigger the screenshot so it’s likely not going to become your everyday screen capturing tool but, as mentioned before, it is good for taking screenshots when you want to give step-by-step demonstration of how an application or software works. The screenshots are taken unobtrusively, only a notification in the taskbar appears and you can immediately move on to the next shot without having to stop and save the previous one first.

Download SnapInstall

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Flickr is one of the biggest sources of images online, rivaled only by Picasa. There are plenty of third party desktop applications that let you upload pictures to your Flickr account but there isn’t an official desktop application from Flickr itself like there is for Picasa. TheGOOD Uploadr is another third party Adobe Air based application that allows you to upload pictures directly to your Flickr Stream or to one of the existing sets. The application lets you add a caption and description to all images, or to one image at a time. You can add tags and edit privacy settings for the image from within the application’s interface, open them from their source (where they’re saved on your system) and rotate them. It supports multiple accounts allowing you to easily switch between different Flickr accounts and upload images to either one.

The application has a drag & drop interface, but you can also use the old fashion file browser to upload images. The first time you use the application, you will have to authorize it to connect with your Flickr account. To add images, select them from their destination folder and drag & drop them on the application window. Alternatively, use the browse button below the Drag Images Here area to browse for images.

Once you’ve added all the images you want to upload, select them to add a caption and description. To add the same caption and description to all images, select all images and add a single caption and description in the right hand text area. Click Upload and wait for the images to upload. When typing in a description, the application will check it for spelling mistakes, right-click a misspelled word and choose the correct spelling from the context menu. You can add bold, italic, underline or cross-out attributes to the text. To add tags, click the Tags button below the description box and start adding them.

To upload images to an existing set, click the Sets button, the application will list all sets you’ve created. You can select any one or multiple sets and click the Upload button to upload the image to each of the selected sets.

To rotate an image click the rotate icon (two looped arrows), to view an image in the application, click the window like icon on the image. Bear in mind that the application is only for uploading images and not for downloading them from your account. You can only view and edit images that you upload, and that too only as long as you don’t clear them all. Right-click an image to copy its title, the set(s) it’s been added to and its privacy settings by choosing the option from the menu.

For each image you upload, you can select who can view the picture and whether or not it should appear in search.

To connect additional accounts and include EXIF data, click the Preferences button below the image drag & drop area. Click Add new user to add a new account. Once you’ve added more accounts, use the Profile dropdown menu to select which profile you want to upload images to. You can add a default signature that will be added with each image you upload. To include EXIF data check the Add EXIF box, to tweet the link of images as you upload them, check the Tweet box and authorize the app to connect with your Twitter account.

What’s lacking in the application is the ability to create sets. If images are uploaded without selecting any sets, they appear in your stream as unsorted images.

Download TheGOOD Uploadr

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A good mind map is a good way to get started on any project, it serves as a great way for always staying on track but mind maps too go through changes as a project progresses and requirements change. What gets frustrating is when you’ve already started a project based on a mind map, specified tasks and have to go back, change the map and reallocate tasks. The problem arises mainly because mind mapping and tasking are jobs kept in isolation from each other. Mind On Track is a desktop application for Windows and Linux that combines both these jobs in to one. As you create a mind map, different ideas are automatically turned in to tasks that can be tagged and given due dates.

The desktop application follows a somewhat excel like flow, you can create workbooks and sheets within workbooks. A workbook is created when you add a new mind map and is saved with the central idea of the mind map. The application lets you create brainstorming charts, meetings, Organization charts, Reading Journals and personal management maps. A single project, i.e., a chart can have several worksheets in it. To rename a worksheet or delete it, click the worksheet tab in the bottom left of the application window. The chart name is displayed on top while sheet names at the bottom.

To get started, click New from the menu bar and choose what kind of map you want to create. Based on what kind of map you choose, you will be presented with a template for the map. You can edit any of the elements in the map template.

To start modifying your map, right-click the central element and from the Insert sub-menu, add a topic or a sub topic. Topics can be added before or after an element from the right-click menu. Images and attachments can be added, different topics can be linked together from Relationships.

In addition to adding topics to your mind map, you can add tags that will help you identify the nature of the task. To add tags, go to View > Tags. From the side window, click the arrow next to Others and drag & drop an icon on a topic. Each topic you add automatically becomes a task, the mind map becomes a project.The icons you drag & drop on to a topic appear as text next to a task in the task view.

Although topics will automatically become tasks, you cannot add due dates to them in the mind mapping mode. To add a start and due date, go to the Today view (from the left hand panel) and double click the calendar icon next to a task. A side window called Properties will open. Use the Task dropdown to set a date for the task, use the Recurrence dropdown to the set the frequency of the task, i.e. how frequently it must be done.

All mind maps that you create are automatically added to the Waiting For, Someday and Reference view. These tags can’t be removed from a project, however, you can add or remove them from single tasks/topics by selecting and deleting them in the mind mapping view. If you’re either faint hearted or easily frustrated, then this might not be the best task management or mind mapping application for you for the simple reason that it’s a bit difficult to figure out even if the concept in itself is very good.

Download Mind On Track

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Although Windows 8 Developer Build includes features and tools necessary for third-party developers to develop and test new applications in order to address compatibility issues, it comes with a host of user interface elements and other improvements that will you will see in first stable version of Windows 8. Amongst all the UI related improvements, native utilities and features, Windows 8 Desktop, Start Menu and Windows 8 Search are the most significant, as these elements have been totally revamped with new metro look, accompanied by some new and interesting features. In this post, we will excavate deep into features that these major Windows 8 elements have to offer.

This guide is a part of our series on detailed coverage of Windows 8 New Features and Improvements.

1. How To Install Windows 8 On VirtualBox
2. What’s New In Windows 8 Desktop, Start Search, And Start Menu (Currently Viewing)
3. The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Explorer, New Ribbon Tools And Options
4. The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Task Manager, New Features And Options
5. The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Metro Control Panel
6. How To Refresh Or Reset Your Windows 8 PC [Complete Guide]
7. All About Windows 8 FileName Collisions And Copy/Move Dialog Box
8. The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Startup Menu
9. Sync Windows 8 User Settings Between PCs & Tablets via Windows Live ID
10. Quick Overview Of Windows Lock Screen 
11. The Complete Guide To Windows 8 File History Backup 

Windows 8 Desktop

In contrast to Windows 7, which loads desktop after booting the system or shows login screen (if enabled), Windows 8 greets users with the newly designed Start Menu. Inspired from Windows Phone 7 Metro UI, the Windows 8 Star Menu displays a list of default and custom metro tiles, which act as a shortcuts to Desktop, Control Panel, Windows Explorer, Weather app, RSS, Windows App Store, Internet Explorer, and other installed applications. To launch the desktop, click the Desktop tile, present underneath Windows Explorer and Control Panel tiles.

One thing which you will immediately notice when Windows 8 desktop launches is Start Orb. The Start Orb button doesn’t work like Windows 7 Start button; when you hover mouse pointer over it, it shows the time and date tile with system notification icons over notification area, along with Search, Share, Devices, and Settings options over Start Orb button.

Clicking the Start Orb itself will take you back to Start Menu which contains default and custom apps, utilities and  and widgets tiles. Windows 8 Desktop has a lot of hidden UI elements, which can only be seen with their associated application and functions. For instance, when you plug-in an external storage device, you will see a revamped, new storage device found, metro-based auto-run pop-menu over system notification area. It lets you open the folder, use the device to speed up the system via ReadyBoost, or configure drive for backup.

Windows 8 Settings pane, which appears from right sidebar, contains not only power button options, such as, Shutdown, Restart, Sleep etc, but many other system related options as well. This includes, Network, Volume, Notifications, Power, and other system notification icons.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Windows 8 Desktop is left sidebar, which is by default hidden but when you hover mouse pointer over left side bar, it shows active application thumbnail preview. This lets you quickly view and switch between currently active applications.

Windows 8 Start Search

Like Windows 8 Desktop Settings pane, Start Search also appears from right side of the screen, containing some pre-defined categories like, Apps, Settings, and Files, along with list of installed applications, which help users quickly find and launch an application.

Unlike Windows 7 search, which shows results in Windows Explorer when Enter key is pressed, Windows 8 Search extends the Search pane to whole screen area, allowing you to view filtered search items from pre-defined and custom search categories. Apart from opening files/folders, and launching application, you can use the Advanced button in bottom-right corner to run the application as administrator, open location of selected items, and Pin to Taskbar. The Pin button present next to Advanced pins the selected item to Windows 8 Start Menu.

In order to perform online search, you need to sign in with Microsoft supported accounts, such as, MSN, Live, Hotmail, prior to initiate search. Just enter the keywords you want to search and hit Enter key to let Windows Search fetch results from online sources.

Windows 8 Start Menu

If you were to pick and bring together all the important Windows 8 system components along with Windows Explorer, Desktop, Installed application, Task Manager, widgets, etc, under unified interface, you’d end up having Windows 8 Start Menu in front of you. Windows 8 Start Menu is  designed keeping the need to access your PCs different elements without having to open multiple Windows Explorer windows. By default, it contains Internet Explorer, Desktop, Windows Explorer, built-in full screen application shortcuts, Task Manager, Computer, and other numerous widgets, you can pin as many applications, folders, shortcuts, custom widgets as you want in Windows 8 Start Menu.

Like Windows Phone 7 native application launcher, it lets you change position of application tiles. Just hold the tile which is to be repositioned,and then drag and drop it to required area of the screen. The scroll bar present at the bottom will help you navigate through the Windows 8 Start Menu interface. When you click User Tile, it will let you log off, lock the screen, add new user and change the user tile from personalization window, where you can change picture, change color, and apply other  customizations.

That’s it for now. The features and options related to Windows 8 Desktop, Start Search, and Start Menu are limited to Developer build. There is surely a lot to come in upcoming iterations of Windows 8; we will keep this post updated with the latest improvements in Windows 8 Desktop, Start Menu and Start Search.

If you haven’t tried Windows 8 Developer Build yet, read about it here.

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PlexyDesk is an open source desktop extension for Windows, Mac and Linux based operating systems which transforms the look of the desktop and allows adding QML based widgets. It is not to be mistaken for a desktop environment like KDE or Gnome. Instead, it renders the desktop workspace and allows you to organize it. Currently, it provides a clock widget, photo frame, and file browser on the main sand allows adding extra widgets via drag and drop, which can further change the look and feel of your desktop.

To install PlexyDesk in Ubuntu 11.04, enter the following PPA in Software Sources and head over to the Ubuntu Software Center to install it.

ppa:plexydesk/plexydesk-dailybuild

Once installed, launch PlexyDesk from the Unity Dash. It sits in the system tray and instantly changes the look of your desktop (as long as it is active). You can drag and drop the clock, picture frame and getting started guide widget anywhere on the desktop to suit your needs. Whereas, the compact file browser provides the convenience of managing your files and folders within a small auto aligning file browser. Extra QML based widgets can also be added by simply dragging them onto the desktop.

Similarly, you can drag and drop images on to the desktop to set them as the background wallpaper or the picture frame. The Getting Started Guide provides information about adding and removing desktop widgets and the background wallpaper, along with a link to the Wiki page of PlexyDesk.

Unfortunately, there is currently no easy way of installing PlexyDesk on Windows and you will require compiling the source package for which you can find instructions here. Having said that, PlexyDesk is currently under heavy development and it is likely that more features will be added soon. You can suggest features to the developer and download PlexyDesk package for your operating system version from the developers website. PlexyDesk works on Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux and Meego.

Download PlexyDesk

[via OMG Ubuntu]

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RSS is a simple way of monitoring a website for changes but would you add just about any site to your feed? For sites that don’t have RSS or any other way to keep up with updates, you have to manually check for new content. To monitor single pages or to monitor a page for a particular update, NotiPage is a better solution. Instead of cluttering your feed reader, this desktop application lets you create alerts for a particular page. You can monitor a page for updates or for new content related to a particular topic by entering keywords.

Once installed, create your first alert. It’s worth mentioning here that the application will not be able to monitor pages that are only accessible by logging in to a site or service. Public forums and threads can easily be monitored, however, your Facebook profile cannot.

To add an alert, go to Alerts and select New Alert. Give the alert a name, no two alerts can have the same name but you can set up different alerts for the same URL. Enter the URL of the page you want to track changes for. Select what you want to monitor the web page for; when the page has been updated (regardless of what the update is) or if a particular word or word(s) have been mentioned in an update. Additionally, you can monitor instances when you don’t have access to a particular website. A specific interval can be defined for how frequently a website should be checked for updates or changes.

When the application detects a change as per an alert that you’ve set up, it notifies you of it and loads the page.

The application has the built-in feature to open web pages that are being monitored. You can use it to view the changes but its functionality shouldn’t be confused with that of a web browser. If you prefer to, you can open the web page in a browser but the application opens links in Internet Explorer (regardless if it is your default browser or not) and there isn’t any way to change it.

To edit or delete an alert, select it from the list in the main window. Right-click and choose Properties of this Alert to edit it or select Delete this Alert to delete an alert. You can choose to enable or disable alerts selectively any time. The application is non

Download NotiPage

[via TechDows]

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Email attachments sizes are limited from the best services to the worst. While Gmail allows you to attach files of 25MB, you cannot send them to to any other account except to a Gmail one. With restrictions like these and the fact that file sizes are now only getting bigger, Kicksend offers you a viable solution. Kicksend is a web service that comes with an Adobe air based desktop application for Windows and Mac. The service can be used to send files of up to 150MB but the desktop application lets you send files of any size you want. You can add contacts or import them from Gmail. Files that you send as attachments are uploaded to the service, a link to the file is sent in the email for the recipient to download from. All files that you upload are deleted automatically after two weeks. The desktop application only allows you to send or download files, to add contacts you will have to use the web interface.

Create an account or connect to the service with Facebook, Download the desktop application and use your Kicksend account to log in. You can start sending files immediately; simply drag & drop them, enter the recipient’s email address, a message and click Send Files.

The files are sent automatically when they have uploaded and the application gives you a desktop notification. The application syncs your contacts so that you don’t have to enter email addresses repeatedly. Just start typing in an address and the dropdown will list all matches.

You  can send multiple files and your recipient will be emailed a link where they can download the file within two weeks.

The web interface of the service is similar to the desktop application with the addition that all files sent to you by a contact using this service will appear in your inbox.

To invite friends or add them as contacts, click the Add button next to Friends in the left panel or the Invite button on the top bar. You can invite friends by entering their email address, or by pulling their contact details from Facebook or Twitter. Anyone that you email using this service is automatically added as a contact.

Visit Kicksend

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One thing which becomes quite hard to manage for Mac users is the desktop, as Mac OS X doesn’t provide an option to quickly organize and unclutter the desktop. You may sometimes want to hide all desktop items to take clear and wide-screen screenshots and record screencasts, etc, so that required screen area can be easily captured without having to adjust desktop items at edges of the screen. Desktop Curtain is developed for users who want to hide clutter on the desktop to keep their focus on important tasks and capture screenshots by hiding the desktop items.

It will come extremely useful for teachers, CBT creators, writers, developers, presenters, etc., as it quickly clears the desktop area to create a distraction free work environment and drops curtain on the screen to take great screenshots of their respective project work.

What makes it different from applications which hide desktop items is the set of options it has to offer. You can choose to set its default wallpaper emulating drapes style as desktop wallpaper or pick any shade from solid color palettes.

Furthermore, you can change the curtain level from Covering all items on the desktop to Behind items on the Desktops and Apply normal window ordering.  This feature lets you easily toggle desktop item hide/show. When you for instance want to show icon on the desktop while Desktop Curtain is running, choose Behind Items on the Desktop from Curtain level pull-down menu to show all desktop items.

The Affected Screens and Spaces options allow you to choose whether all screens and spaces are to be affected or not. Desktop Curtain is probably best replacement of various tools/scripts you use on Mac to hide all desktop items for recording screencasts, rehearsing presentations, taking screenshots, etc. Desktop Curtain Classic is a stripped down version of Desktop Curtain Pro version. You can download the free version from product page, whereas the Pro version costs $1.99 and can only be downloaded from Mac App Store. The App Store version offers some extra features as well, such as, custom curtain background, choose images via standard Open dialog, work as menu bar app and so on.

Download Desktop Curtain

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The default Windows calendar located in the system tray is quite handy for viewing current month and navigating between months and years, but doesn’t provide other options to set reminders, create and schedule events, etc. DesktopCal is a desktop calendar application which lets you add custom shortcuts, events, and reminders.  It completely blends in with your wallpaper and enables adding quick notes (when you double-click on a specific date). DesktopCal can use your current wallpaper as its background or loop through images from a specified directory to update the desktop background periodically. By default, it takes less than half of your screen size which is sufficient for viewing purposes. In case you find the default size to be undesirable, you can resize it according to your screen dimensions. It supports adding files, folders and shortcuts to date boxes along with small notes, which makes it easier to remember important tasks.

Once installed, DesktopCal acts as an overlying calendar for your current wallpaper. DesktopCal provides a two month simultaneous display and separates the months with a clean empty line to help you focus on the dates of each moth in a convenient way. You can change this layout for a more compact look by increasing or reducing the number of rows, months and weeks to be displayed simultaneously.

To add a note, click date box and enter the text. Unfortunately, the reminder notes do not provide prompts or alarms for scheduling notes.

The Administrative Options can be accessed from system tray menu. Since it is not a sticky application, you can quit the calendar anytime from the system tray.

The Display tab in administrative option dialog allows changing the number of rows,  transparency, cell and background color of  calendar. Using these options, you can completely change the default layout of the calendar to suite your needs (such as displaying fewer or more months and weeks).

From  Pictures tab, pick the desktop wallpaper you want to replace with current wallpaper. The Loop selected pictures drop-down menu lets you select a folder and set schedule time for rotating the wallpaper. These wallpapers will only remain effective as long as DesktopCalc is running, means that when you quit it, your default desktop wallpaper will be restored. If you would like to use the default desktop background, enable Capture from desktop option or simply switch to a solid color background from No Picture, background color inst option.

To quickly switch between dates, months, and wallpapers, and to set max rows, right-click floating button located on top of the calendar.

DesktopCal works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download DesktopCalc

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If you don’t want to use Mac Terminal for performing tiny system tasks, such as, hide desktop items, toggle file visibility, etc., and need an application that can provide one-click access to such commands, DesktopUtiltiy may help you in performing numerous system tasks quickly without having to learn Terminal commands. It is a menu bar application for Mac developed to provide some unique system tasks which are not natively supported by Mac or require entering commands in Terminal everytime you need to perform them. DesktopUtiltiy lets you easily hide/show Invisible files and user Library (for Mac Lion), forcibly empty Trash, and hide desktop items with a single click.

The application sits in system menu bar letting you access all provided functions. The Hide Desktop feature is quite different from one provided in Finder Preferences which allows hiding only Hard disks, External disks, CDs, DVDs, and iPods, and other connected servers. When you select Hide Desktop, it re-launches desktop without showing any type of items on it. Similarly, the Show Invisisble files lets you view all user/system hidden files, such as, .DS_Store files, on disk.

The Hide User Library options works on Mac Lion only. If you’ve upgraded to Mac 10.6.6 or higher to Lion and don’t want to show Library folder in User location, this option will allow you to hide it instantly. The Force Empty Trash will attempt to forcibly delete all the files in Trash. DesktopUtility doesn’t have any configuration console; from Preferences, you can only enable launch DesktopUtiltiy at Login option. It works on Mac 10.6.6 or higher.

Download DesktopUtility (3rd tool from top)

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Multi-Tabber is a Windows application which adds additional virtual desktops. Handy for people who require running many applications and often find their taskbar to be cluttered with multiple items. Multi-tabber allows having upto 10 different virtual desktops which can be easily switched by small buttons which appear just above the taskbar. The virtual desktops are intangible and can be easily removed by exiting the application from the system tray. You can also change tab colors and select the number of screens to view simultaneously. This can give your Windows PC a Ubuntu style work space-switching functionality.

Once Multi-Tabber is installed, it displays different virtual desktop buttons above the taskbar. You can click on any of the virtual desktop buttons to switch to them.

To add more workspaces or to change virtual desktop settings, go to Options from the system tray.

Here, you can change the virtual desktop indicator button colors, change the number of virtual desktops to view simultaneously and change virtual desktop indicator button position (Top, Left, Center, Right and Bottom of the desktop).

The focus of Multi-Tabber, as explained by the developer, is to help reduce taskbar clutter and allow opening windows separately in different virtual desktops for easy sorting.

Multi-Tabber is developed for Windows 7.

Download Multi-Tabber

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Email, Facebook and Twitter have become such an important part of our lives that it sometimes seems like a shame to bundle them together with all our other tabs in a browser window. MultiMi is a desktop application cum browser that lets you view your email from any email service provider, connect your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts and stream all updates from them in one place. The desktop application lets you connect all accounts and view messages, images, attachments from either one of them. The application also lets you open and edit documents from your hard drive, view and download photos from Picasa and Facebook, send out a Tweet and post status updates and reply to Facebook comments. You can also use it to browse websites but the browsing is snail slow if you compare it with Chrome and Firefox so it isn’t likely to break the bond you have with your browser any time soon.

To start using the application, add an account on the start up screen, it can be either an email account or just your Twitter account. The main dashboard is divided into five sections; Messages (all email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn messages) Photos (from Facebook, Picasa and email attachments), Contacts (people you frequently converse with or email), Events (upcoming events as per Google Calendar and Facebook events) and Social (news updates from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). Of course the main panel can be a clutter to sort through so it’s best to use the left panel to go through a feed or messages.

To view all messages received; click on Messages from the left panel, the center panel will populate with all messages from all accounts that you’ve added. Messages will open in the right panel. To view messages from a single account, select it from the expanding list below Messages. To view events, feeds photos, select the respective section from the left panel and filter out accounts by selecting an account from the expanding list.

To compose a message, click the Share button on the top and select Compose Message. Select the account you want to send it from and add contacts. The app syncs contacts from all accounts that you’ve added.To post a status update to an account select Update Status, to upload images or files to an account click Upload.

The app also supports Gtalk and Facebook chat. You can add more accounts or manage them from the settings spanner icon in the top right corner. To open a web page, click New Tab in the left panel but be warned that browsing is slow. It uses the AVG cloud antivirus to ensure safe browsing. You can also use it to view files on your system. The application is currently available for Windows platform only.

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There are multiple online and desktop image editors available for free but they support mostly common effects like adding sepia, emboss or sketch effects to an image. TiltShiftGenerator is a desktop application that lets you add the hard-to-come-by tilt shift effect to any photo. The app lets you add both a radial and linear tilt to an image, lets you control the degree of the tilt, place the central point of the tilt anywhere on the image, adjust the level of vignette and increase or decrease image brightness, contrast and saturation. All images are saved as JPEG.

To load an image from your computer, click the Open button in the lower left hand corner. Choose if you want a radial or linear tilt effect from the two buttons on the top of the left panel. To position the central point of the tilt effect, click the spot on the image where you want to place it. The central point is repositioned wherever you click on the image. To increase or decrease the area in the tilt focus, you can either hold and drag the white knob handle  that appears when you mouse over the image outwards or adjust it from the Center Radius bar in the left panel. To change the angle in linear tilt, hold the knob and drag it over the image to get the desired angle.

Click Save to save the image in JPEG. If you set certain preferences for one image and open a new one after saving it, the new image will be loaded with the same effects applied to it.

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