Mac like windows? – Cinch
Posted by melting on Dec 19, 2010
I spend a lot of time complaining about Windows. One thing that was pleasantly surprising in Windows 7 though is its windows management features. If you haven’t used it, it is great. If you drag a window to the right/left it will resize to fill the right/left half of your monitor. There are also keyboard shortcuts to help you with that windows key + right/left/up/down arrow.
When I started using my Macbook on a more permanent basis I missed the maximize button. So in searching for a way to have a real maximize button I found Cinch. Cinch gives you much of the same windows 7 windows management features. It also has a much more configurable older brother in SizeUp. For $7 and $13 respectively it isn’t too bad to get some great usability.
I use this constantly for many reasons, but usually it is when I need to see a source and destination file simultaneously. Writing in one window and referencing another. Chatting in one browser, surfing in the other. There are thousands of uses, but I bet if you try it for a week, you won’t be able to live without it.
Fit to search…Bing
Posted by melting on May 28, 2009
In the last week search seems to be on peoples mind. Well in all honesty search is on almost every web traveler all day long. With the internet came gobs of data available to the masses. This data was fit to consume, if only you can find it. Thus the birth of the search engine.
In the beginning, they were bad…very bad. I would spend hours trying to find a specific nugget of information. Having the knack for coming up with that perfect search term made you are person worth knowing. That all changed when Google came around and made the world searchable.
Fast forward to today where Google has blown away all of the players and left only a few left to pick up the scraps. Enter Microsoft. Microsoft has branded its search in many ways over the years and are now branding it once again. Microsoft has announced Bing. To be fair this does seem to be a bit more than a rebrand. This even seems like something I would like to check out.
I will check it out for a couple reasons. One of the trends that people dub web 2.0 is a simplification. Making all the data that the internet has brought easier to use, manage, and interact with. Search seems to only have taken on the pastel colors and perhaps the dynamic suggestion bar. Bing seems to be embracing that some information isn’t worth clicking multiple times. Some of the ways Bing will try to do that is by bringing weather, directions, and travel all into the search window.
I think the concepts are sound, but as with anything that seeks to bring information in the user interface has to be impeccable. I will save my skepticism for a later post when I can actually use it.Until then I will see what other ways WolframAlpha can impress me.
