The Productive Organizer

Found this off gHacks and its pretty splendid. I know alot of people buy national geographic magazines just so that they can admire the wonderfully taken pictures, but have you taught of where to find them and add them as wallpaper?

The National Geographic Wallpaper downloader is such a Windows application that downloads wallpapers from different magazines to your computer at different sizes.

The magazine wallpaper categories include wallpapers from the years 2007, 2008, 2009 as well as wallpapers from the International photography contests of 2009 and 2008.

The website wallpapers currently include the categories photography, animals, science, kids and environment. The developer has already promised to add more categories such as history, adventure, traveler or sea monsters to the next version of the National Geographic Wallpaper Downloader.

Do give it a try!

[Hat tip gHacks >>]

The jury as to whether to defrag your computer helps is still out but if you are on the camp that you should defrag, then this is good news for you.

O&O Defrag is one such tool which comes with good features, but this utility is not a free one. Generally the O&O Defrag costs around $50, but now you can get a full professional version for free, but the version is a bit older than the current one. You can now get the O&O Defrag Professional version 10 for free and this version was released back in 2007.

Register for Free O&O Defrag Version 10

[Hattip Life Rocks >>]

nuno here illustrates a good example of how he made use of the software The Hit List as his main electronic GTD application for planning

The Hit List is a great way of implement GTD on a Mac if, for you, GTD is much more than just to-do lists and projects.

With this system I’m basically implementing my runway and 10,000 feet levels. I’ll study the possibility of including the Areas of Focus in here also, but right now I prefer to use Circus Ponies NoteBook for that as it requires a bit more planning and sketching

There are lots of other features in THL which I didn’t cover here (time-tracking, iCal and Mail integration, iPod sync, etc etc). Do check the website to watch some nice screenshots and read about its features. You can also try it for free and register it later. 5 stars

[Read the review here @ his web log >>]

i mention in my previous article on a smashing template that you can use to create a paper iphone stand, well if yours is not an iphone fret not, there are many other ways too!

If you have an iPhone, bully for you—there are roughly 100 ways to elevate and charge it on your desk, many of them previously covered here. For every other phone out there, we present these nine DIY ideas.

Not that there’s anything wrong with owning an iPhone, or wanting to craft a neat little charging dock/station for it out of spare parts and household items. But those of us (ahem) without an Apple-powered cellular device can rest our headsets in style—sometimes very unique and personal style. Here’s our pick of nine brand-agnostic, DIY charging docks. Some were originally posted or crafted with an iPhone in mind, per the pictures, but can be adapted or reused as general purpose gadget docks.

The bent wire coat hanger

Definitely not the prettiest in the pack, but it works for just about any phone with a wide, flat plane, and it’s almost certainly the cheapest out of the bunch, since you don’t even need a tool beyond your hands to make it. (Original post)

The business card stand

Originally built for an iPhone, but given its basic support structure and width, this cheap and fast phone dock would work with any flat-screen phone that’s not too much heavier than an iPhone. When someone hands you an over-designed, high-falutin’ business card, now you can actually put it to real use. (Original post)

The non-slip bookend dock

Those cheap, black metal bookends used to keep volumes upright on a desk have to be good for something, right? Bend one or two of their pieces back quite a bit, wrap the exposed section in automotive non-slip mat, and you’ve got a universal charger that keeps your phone, iPod, or any device in place for charging or occasional time-checking. (Original post)

The K’NEX fold-up dock

Full disclosure: I’m totally making this thing as soon as I get my hands on some K’NEX, or start feeling theft-y around my youngest cousins. Not only can the versatile building block toys be crafted to accommodate just about any phone out there, the dock itself can fold up for storage when you’re not using it if you snap it together properly. This particular charge-friendly dock does utilize one intentionally broken piece, but it seems entirely worth the sacrifice to score both a great dock and notable geek cred.

Simple Lego-powered stand

Similar to the iPod dock we previously posted, this isn’t so much a concrete plan for a dock as a reminder that if you’ve got kids, or just a thing for Legos, you’ve got the ability to build pretty much any shape you want to hold your phone. Don’t like the multi-color look? Black Sharpies or spare paint can take care of that. Want a slot to fit in your charging cable? Pull out your grade school architecture skills and work a small, bridged gap into the design.

The paper cup stand

Everyone who looks at it will know that you cut a very crafty slit into a paper cup, (possibly) colored it, and are charging your phone through a cable running into the bottom. Whether this is a sad statement or great moment of pride depends on how you see things.

Padded charging cradle for any phone

The material that gel-stuffed keyboard wrist rests are made out of must be pretty appealing to your phone, which spends most of its life getting smacked around inside pockets, bags, and on top of counters. Cut a hole into a wrist rest big enough for your phone, horizontal or vertical, run your charging or synchronizing cable into it, and use your eye and knife skills to keep it from looking too rough. (Original post)

Gorillamobile (and its DIY equivalent)

We totally dig the Gorillapod, a three-legged, flexible tripod that you can take and set up anywhere. It stands to reason, then, that its similar, phone-focused cousin would serve anyone looking to stand any phone with enough back space for a suction cup very well. If $30 is too rich for your blood, you can likely craft your own DIY Gorillamobile with just a single trip to a hardware store. (Original post)

The power-saving “Greenbox”

[Hat Tip Lifehacker >>]

The folks at MindJet have finally put into place their powerful Mind Mapping Software for the iPhone and iTouch platform.

And its pretty steep at USD7.99. Cheaper than Appigo Todo but nevertheless it should be worth the money.

MindJet have been creating a smashing Mind Mapping desktop client that integrates well with Microsoft Suite of products.

So how good was this? I didn’t manage to test it out but take a look at the video right below this post. It should give you a comprehensive look at what it is capable of.

What can this MindJet do?

• Attach notes to Topics – with hyperlinks to phone numbers, website, email addresses and other MindJet maps
• Wireless upload download
• Auto align and arrange topics relative to each other
• Zoom and Scroll
• Landscape and Portrait Mode
• Cut,copy and paste, move and merge topics
• Insert color and icones
• Change color
• Expand and collapse Topics

How do you Upload and Download Maps?

The way to upload is the same as GoodReader which i mentioned here. It should make use of WebDAV protocol and should be a breeze. Just click on Transfer in the MindJet iPhone software and a url to your iPhone Device will pop out.

Click on that link and you are able to upload and download Mind Maps

What format is supported?

Do note that it supports only uploading and downloading in .xmmap format, which is not the normal MindManager format. Its not so much of a problem as you can open up the map in your  Windows client and Save As xmmap format.

Other than that you can upload it in

• Mindjet Native (.itm) format, which is the native format for MindJet for iPhone
• Freemind format
• OPML format (RSS feeds?)

So does that mean my map on the iPhone can be edited on Windows,Mac clients?

Yes. According to the FAQ.

Can I save my map as an Image?

No you cannot. According to the FAQ

Does it have To Do list function?

Yes it does.

What can i Embed In the Notes?

• www. will auto generate web link
• http(s) will auto generate web lnk
• A stream of numbers will generate a phone no you can call
• SMS:nnnnnnn will generate and link to the SMS application
• [map name] will generate a link to another map (that includes the brackets as well)

How much it cost?

$7.99 for now.

Mindjet for iPhone from Mindjet on Vimeo.

Overall its a smashing new application on the App Store. This is really good offering to your normal GTD To Do list like OmniFocus, Things and Appigo ToDo in that you can really plan your Goals and see how they link up.

I should be buying this soon.

[Buy MindJet at the App Store >>]

Here’s what i found off Lifehacker. You can basically create a paper/cardboard stand from a paper stencil that enables you to layout vertical or horizontal.

Take a look at how its constructed:

Iphone Paper Dock / Stand from Dessine moi un objet on Vimeo.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

It looks like another faster Google Chrome release. Take a look at the performance benchmarks as well as new features such as themes. Damn i was waiting for plugins/extensions but oh well.

Notably, we’ve improved by more than 150% in Javascript performance since our very first beta, and by more than 25% since the most recent stable release.

The new Omnibox drop-down menu

Theme preview: Star Gazing

Yesterday i told you about this application that lets you sync your contacts to Google Contacts and Windows Live Contacts. The reason why you may wanna do that is because you wanna be able to backup and transfer your contacts, smses, and photo to another phone

What if its an Android phone. Thats where Sprite Migrate comes in. this software from the a company of 2 guys based in Symantec Ghost enables you to transfer:

• Contacts
• Call Logs
• SMS
• Bookmarks
• Photos

To your Android phone. How does it work? I have not tried this yet. But they are from the creators of Sprite Backup and from the looks of things they did with that and Ghost i believe they are the right people to come up with such an app.

Do try and let me know your experience.

[Sprite Backup Site >>]

Well this is a real surprise! LifeRocks brings this really good find of a software that enables you to backup and manage your GSM phones contact list.

When i say GSM phones, i think this will appeal to those handset that are not smartphones or do not have a strong network such as Windows Mobile, iPhone iPod Touch, Symbian and Android.

I haven’t really try it although i would love to but to interface with this software you need to at least have a bluetooth enable phone or serial cable, which i don’t on my super old samsung phone!

Anyway this is good if it works, cause it enables you to synchronize with Windows Live Contacts and Google Contacts. I view syncing to Google Contacts to be important since it is a relatively open standard and i am trying to make it my defecto contact list.

Other functionality are as follows:

• Works in any GSM phone with chip
• 100% with AT Commands
• Accepts and maintains data from several cell isolation
  • Custom configuration for each cell
• Synchronization
  • Windows Live Contacts
  • Google Contacts
• SMS Manager
• Simultaneous Transmission of SMS (text format)
• Delivery reports of SMS
• Monitoring
  • Battery
  • Signal Quality
  • phonebook in Telephone / Chip
  • SMS Received / Sent / Not Sent
  • Incoming Call
• Synchronization of Date / Time PC
• Backup and Restore the phonebook
• Alarm Management
• Call Console
• Registration of Carriers
• Installs in TrayIcon

Do give it a try and tell me if it works!

[Site for Phone Manager >>]

ghacks is by far one of the better software introduction sites that have sprung up this 2 years. Particularly, it has a very strong linux guide section in its site.

I never knew you can install Internet Explorer on your Linux platform. Well, now thanks to ghacks now i know.

Why would you need internet explorer? If you use linux as your main platform, there might be instances your company or certain website are highly tie in to Internet Explorer such that if you don’t have this you are screwed.

[Install IE on Linux with IEs4Linux @ghacks >>]