Month: July 2007

How to keep track of your carbon footprint online

MakeMeSustainable screenshotIt’s always nice to hear about new web projects that aim to help save the environment. MakeMeSustainable is one of the most exciting and has just been launched in the USA to help people keep an accurate track of the their carbon footprint. The aim to is to help citizens, business and communities more conscious of how much energy they might be wasting.

The website works by taking a profile of your daily lifestyle and then gives recommendations as to how you might be able to reduce excess carbon consumption. You can see how you compare with your friends and even register as a company or neighbourhood. The site is totally free and eventually hopes to become viable through environmentally minded vendors who advertise on the site.

After signing-up, you’ll be asked to enter information about how your home is heated, how big it is and where you are located. Unfortunately, at the moment it’s only aimed at those living in the USA but if successful, it will surely seek partners abroad. If it enjoys a big takeup, this could be a seriously useful tool for environmentalists and those studying human effects on the environment – governments take note!

Note that you can take a tour of MakeMeSustainable and the website also has a blog with commentary on environmental issues.

Guitar Hero clone to improve your typing

Up Beat gameDance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Ouendan, Frets on Fire… are just some examples of rhythm video games available on different platforms, which gives us an idea of the popularity this kind of entertainment is achieving among gamers of all ages. If you haven’t tried any of them yet, you may begin by Up Beat, an online Flash game that combines rhythm and typing.

This means basically that you have to not only follow the rhythm of the song correctly, but also make use of your best typing skills in order to succeed. The game includes several increasingly difficult stages, each one featuring a different song. Get your fingers ready if you want to enter the player ranking displayed at the end of the game!

Five alternatives to Microsoft Notepad

NotepadText editors are a pretty vital part of most IT workers’ kit… so it’s pretty surprising that Microsoft have never gotten around to updating Notepad, the Windows text tool. Benedict at Tech Corner has put together a list of his five favourite text editors (all of them freeware).

The list includes some very popular programs like Notepad++ and PSPad. I would like to have seen my favourite, evolvEd in there too: it’s free and includes loads of shortcuts for adding html tags, dozens of types of syntax recognised and even some templates for various coding languages. Check out the post and see if your favourite editor made the grade.

Enjoy the Mac OSX dock in Windows

ObjectDock logoDespite being a Windows user, there are a few features about Mac OSX that are simply too beautiful to ignore. One of them is the popular dock, that cool animated toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Now you can have it on your PC thanks to ObjectDock, a clone of the Mac OSX dock for Windows. Organize all your shortcuts in this beautiful, highly customizable standard toolbar replacement and enjoy its smooth animation effects even without a Mac.

Software arsenal for the ultimate gamer

Hardcore gamerGaming on a PC still pretty much equals the experience you get on a console, even on one of the next generation like the PS3 or XBox 360, thanks to all the software that you can use.

We won’t be talking about emulators here, even though PCs offer all sorts, from DOS classics to N64 or Playstation. Instead let’s see what kind of software can widen your gaming experience.

  • Game Optimizer – What’s the biggest worry of any serious gamer? If your PC can handle the requirements of your game. This application optimizes memory, game speed, frame rate and many others. You can also set hotkeys to bring up the optimizer any time.
  • Hamachi – Anybody who’s been to a LAN party knows how important it is to have a good, safe connection. Hamachi lets you configure a P2P connection between computers easily and securely.
  • mIRC – This chat client is prized by gamers because of its advanced scripting language. If you feel comfortable with it you can customize mIRC according to your needs. The downside to it is that, if you don’t know how to use it properly, it can open up your PC to malicious attacks.
  • Kquery – Browse through game servers to dig up gamers stats, rules, maps, settings and more. Can become quite addictive so you should really limit yourself to searching for information that you really need.
  • Fraps – Capture videos or screenshots of any game and perform benchmarks to measure the frame rate of your games. The tool of choice of any serious game tester.
  • The All-Seeing Eye – Search for all the best game servers online. Features an advanced filtering tool to only list the best servers and most popular online games.
  • GameSpy Arcade – A world of gaming of its own, this server based platform lets you connect with thousands of gamers to play hundreds of games online. If you can make with all the advertising and have enough CPU to handle it, GameSpy Arcade is a great way to make new friends and test out new games.
  • M.U.G.E.N – If you’re feeling adventurous, create your own video game with M.U.G.E.N. You’ll have to know DOS programming, but if you’re resilient, you could be the creator of the next biggest fighting game on PC!

Bet your country’s goods in Blackjack International

blackjack-international.jpgBlackjack International gives a new twist to the popular casino game, by allowing you to bet your country’s goods instead of money. Croissants for France, cigars for Cuba, bikini tops for Brazil…what you bet depends on the country you choose. It also has enough advanced settings, game tips and multiplayer possibilities to keep you hooked.