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This darling little application lets you quickly record and rate your day in six
categories. Its nifty journal feature and a customizable graphing function lets
you look at your own stats, as well as how your moods compare to the global Moodstats community. |
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xPad improves on TextEdit by using OS X's drawer to give you instant access to hundreds
of text files, so you don't have to hunt through multiple folders for them. I
keep xPad open all the time on my PowerBook. Its low memory requirements make
it possible for me to switch to it quickly to type notes, make quick lists, or
write a blog entry. |
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A sweet alternative to Photoshop and Illustrator, this free, open-source program
has matured into one of the most powerful image editors around. The
GIMP has
all the tools you'll need for creating and altering photos and graphics, including
channels, layers, masks, tabbed palettes, and editable text tools. |
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Like any good American, I root for the underdog—and this dog not only confronts
the power and might of Microsoft, it's also the best of breed. Firefox is fast, includes many truly useful features, is secure, and can be customized
with themes and extensions. |
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I use this program at work, and I bought a new home PC solely dedicated
to running RealRhapsody. It lets me listen to the Rolling Stones
one minute and Duran Duran the next. Rhapsody's collection of great
radio stations plays CD-quality audio. Best of all, Rhapsody users
can create incredible playlists and share them freely and legally. |
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My antispyware arsenal
is large and mighty, but perhaps the most critical tool is a little
freeware app called HijackThis.
Though it's not particularly user-friendly, HijackThis helps me eliminate
tenacious spyware infections other programs can't remove, by identifying
browser exploits and registry keys that might be vulnerable. |
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Much more than a world map, Keyhole brings almost the whole world to your desktop.
I can zoom in on detailed satellite photos of Southern California close enough
to see the color of the back deck on my mom's house. |
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Free lunches may not exist, but Skype offers something better—free long-distance
calls. Even while the water cooler is buzzing with terms like VoIP and Internet
telephony, most people haven't seen the technology put to use. Skype
will get you making calls over the Internet in no time. |
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I'm addicted to charts, and when it comes to creating eye-catching presentations, I've yet to find a better tool than Swiff
Chart from GlobFX. It produces animated and colorful charts in a variety of formats, including Flash, JPEG, and PNG. If you want to elicit some
oohs and ahhs in that upcoming meeting, give Swiff Chart a try. |
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