Posted 03/11/10 at 12:09:43 PM by David Murphy

Oh, Cisco. What a tease you are!  The company's been pumping up the general Internet crowd for a game-changing announcement, one that would--and I quote--"forever change the Internet."  I was honestly hoping that said unveiled device would be like, a super-crazy consumer router that would... well. I'm not really sure what it would do. Gigabit speeds are more than sufficient for anyone's home networking needs right now (when I'm looking for this column on a terabit connection in five years, I'll have a hearty laugh.)  And it's not like we have a new wireless draft on the way any time soon.

It would have been nice and revolutionary for Cisco to embrace--you guessed it--a more open-source platform for its hardware devices. One, it's what I write about and, two, we're kind of in a hardware lull, don't you think?  When it comes to consumer routing and switching devices, there's only so much one can do. Aside from adding on new antennas, shifting antennas around in new ways, or adding more ports to the back of a device, what's really propelling router technology forward nowadays?

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Posted 03/09/10 at 05:31:08 PM by David Murphy

Alright, geeks--this week's feature Chrome extension is calling out your name.  While most net-savvy individuals can always surf on over to Google to run most any calculations they need to run (quick: 12 cups is how much of a gallon!), there's an easier way to go about solving the answers to life's tougher mathematical issues.  In fact, you can do it straight from your Chrome browser without having to surf on over to a secondary page. 

The genius behind this functionality is a little extension called Chromey Calculator. Don't let the cute alliteration fool you--this little wonder is akin to packing Einstein's brain into a tiny little button next to your address bar.  Clicking on said button pulls up a little pop-up window with a simple, console-style prompt.  Type in a common equation you need solved (1+1), and the extension will spit out an answer in a running field that keeps track of the last few commands you've entered.  Not only does this beat the one-equation, one-answer style of Windows' default calculator program, but Chromey Calculator also taps into the power of the Web to fuel more complex commands.

Click the jump to get the gritty, super-user details!

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Posted 03/09/10 at 10:02:51 AM by David Murphy

For the longest time, Xmarks has been my Firefox bookmark synchronization tool of choice.  I've been using it forever, and I can't recall the last time it's presented me with any kind of problem--that's because it never has.  Simply put, Xmarks is an amazing tool for keeping your bookmarks in check across multiple installations of the Firefox browser.

But this post isn't about Xmarks.  Mozilla itself has released its own synchronization tool dubbed "Weave Browser Sync," and it offers up even more possibilities than the trusty ol' Xmarks add-on.  So why am I not fawning over this extension outright and declaring it to be the greatest browser synchronization tool since the sliced bread, er, synchronization utility?  Well, a few stability issues reported by other Firefox users have left me a bit cautious to suggest that Weave is the answer to all of your dreams.  It's certainly worth trying out, just don't put all your eggs in your woven basket should it not ultimately work on your browser--or worse, accidentally nuke your bookmarks.

Click the jump to find out just how tangled a web Weave has woven!

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Posted 03/08/10 at 10:01:01 AM by David Murphy

Listening to the Maximum PC podcast #131 this past week (I'm behind) brought back some fond memories.  Not only was there a little glint in my eye because I was actually mentioned on said podcast, but I was also tearing up a bit at the realization that the very art of podcasting could serve as an excellent Freeware Files roundup.

Thus, here we are!  Podcasting is a huge topic in itself, so I'm trying to bridge a bunch of different worlds in this week's list of awesome applications.  Just interested in listening to podcasts?  Don't worry--I've got you covered.  Looking to make a Maximum PC (or Freeware Files) fan podcast of your own?  You'll find a fun trick or two within the bits and bytes of this week's post.  Tired of all the same-ol', same-ol' podcasting programs that you read about on all the other tech sites (like iTunes, cough cough?)  Well, I'll do my best to surprise you with a new app or two!

Even if, like me, you think that 99-percent of all podcasts are lame and not really worth your time, you can also use some of the enclosed apps and utilities to exert some editing influence over existing audio files.  As well, you'll even find an awesome player for video and music files that even comes with a built-in Bittorrent download capability.

As always, slap on your favorite pair of headphones and click the jump--it's podcasting time!

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Posted 03/08/10 at 10:00:01 AM by David Murphy

A thousand pardons!  I got so caught up in various bits and pieces of the weekend that I completely forgot to grace Maximum PC with a Web App of the Week for last week!  It's a real shame too, as I was totally proud of (and wasted a lot of time playing with) last week's big selection.

I won't put off the details any more than necessary with my usual rambling introductions. The app's called Codeorgan and, like the name implies, it's an excellent fusion of raw geek Web construction with music--truly, my two passions.

So what is Codeorgan?  You'll find out pretty quickly as soon as you hit up the main Web site. In short, the Web app uses a fairly complicated algorithm to scan the behind-the-scenes HTML content  of any given Web page. It then takes this information and automatically crafts up a little synthpop-style piece of music that's somehow related to the coded mumbo-jumbo. Your results will vary (extremely). However, the beauty of the app isn't necessarily for the music it creates. Rather, it's just a great example of how data in one construct--Web creation--can be parsed out to a completely different form and function--music--with a touch of engineering prowess.

That, and Codeorgan will waste two to three hours of your day as you frantically leap about the Web trying to find the coolest automatic construction of a song that you can lay your hands on. I had great results with CNN one day, yet found the song lacking as the news updated throughout the next few hours. If you find a relatively static site that delivers a rocking beat, do be sure to leave it in the comments!

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Posted 03/04/10 at 05:35:42 PM by David Murphy

Listen up, Windows 7 aficionados: This one's for you.  You've no doubt noticed your operating system's lack of location-based functionality.  Unlike Apple's competing OSX, which can triangulate your system's position based on the geographical locations of nearby WiFi hotspots, you can't really... well.  You can't do any of that on Microsoft's platform.  While you might not need to know exactly where your desktop is (hint: your dwelling), it would sure be nice to have this feature for a more mobile system. 

And that's not even in the, "I'm lost in the wilderness and I see a bear help" sense.  Wouldn't it be great to automatically have the weather displayed for your current location on your Windows sidebar?  If you use Twitter (and yes, readers, I realize you hate Twitter), you could just as easily pull up a listing of messages centered around your particular location: "I just ate a great meal here," or "@bear2 There is a silly human wandering around here; I will eat him," et cetera.

Well, Microsoft hasn't come to your rescue on this one--a third-party developer has created an free application that allows you tap into the wonders of geolocation all by your lonesome.  Go fetch your laptop from the other room, then click the jump!

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Posted 03/03/10 at 01:31:38 PM by David Murphy

It doesn't happen that often, but sometimes, you just need an FTP.  Or, rather, the problem is more like this: You need to access an FTP and you don't have a suitable software client on-hand for whatever reason.  Sure, you can usually access an FTP via your Web browser, but that just offers the most rudimentary form of functionality (read: downloads only) that you can get.  And that's even assuming that you can get into the FTP site you're trying to access--I've tested good ol' Mozilla Firefox on a few FTP sites that definitely work in a software client, yet do absolutely nothing when the ftp.*.* address is typed into a browser.

What do you do?  If you're a fan of Mozilla Firefox, all you need is but one simple extension to bridge both worlds together.  That's right--an FTP browser inside your Internet browser, which you can pull up into its own separate tab as if it was a new Web page, even though it's not.

What wizardry is this?  Click the jump to find out!

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Posted 03/03/10 at 10:00:00 AM by David Murphy

Open-source is not about the money.

The software world has gotten this point pretty well by now.  Sure, you can wrap additional elements of a larger business plan around an open-source offering.  But even at its core, the concept of open-source isn't really designed around capitalistic ideals.  If anything, it's more communistic in its focus: everybody shares an equal stake in a project, and anybody is free to assert their individual ownership in a piece of work by advancing it toward a new direction as they see fit.

But these... these are just the tools of the revolution, as Marx might have said.  When it comes to actual content itself--the very bits and bytes of progress that open-source tools help create--the current crop of major content creators and distributors are behaving like dictators in an open world.  And it's costing both them and us rather greatly. Instead of reaping the success of a community-driven groundswell for their assets, these companies would rather lay down the hammer and stifle all innovation in an attempt to control their futures to a "T."

Two recent examples from Lawrence Lessig and the band OK Go really hit home the biggest elements that are wrong with our current system of open information distribution on the ‘net.  If it's not the owner of the content acting like an idiot, it's the system we've allowed to propagate that virtually criminalizes content sharers without a second thought.

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