Public Release of Pownce Brings New Features

Pownce was opened to the public as of midnight. I wasn’t able to stay awake when this happened, but when I woke up this morning I wanted to see what new features Pownce brought. There are a few features that I have been waiting for.

Read replies and reply directly from the Pownce desktop client. In previous versions this wasn’t possible. The biggest complaint I’ve seen so far (myself included) is not being able to minimize to the tray. A tray icon was added for Pownce, but its only function is to tell you when there are new messages. Pownce still minimizes to the taskbar. Hopefully there will be a fix for this in the next version. Until then, check out PownceTray.

You may notice that if you use PownceTray with the newer version of the client, that there will be two icons in the system tray. If you hide Pownce’s icon in the notification settings, only PownceTray’s icon will be displayed. This is a temporary fix.

Finding old and new friends is now easier. Choose to import your friends from other network sites and e-mail accounts, such as Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo and more. You can also search for people or look through the Featured Powncers list and find some worthy Powncers.

Others that are talking about the public release of Pownce:

• Pownce Opens to Public Tonight at Midnight; Early Screen Shots of New Features
• Pownce Opened Up
• Pownce Pounces on the Public at Midnight Tonight
• File Sharing/Micro-Blogging Site Pownce Now in Public Beta

What features do you like the most and what features would you like to see?

Write or Draw on Your Desktop Using Your Cursor

I was just thinking how great it could be, instead of having a Vista note gadget on my desktop, if I could just write on the desktop with the cursor. I had never heard of any application that allowed this, so I tried searching in Google and came across two of them. They aren’t exactly what I’m looking for.

The first one is called Desk Marker and it’s not that easy to use because in order to draw on the desktop, you have to use hotkeys and while holding the hotkeys you move the cursor. In order to make separate lines, you would have to release the hotkeys, move the cursor where you want it and then hold the hotkeys down while moving the cursor again. It’s more of a pain, but not too bad if you just want to leave short notes. The note also disappears after opening other programs. Not sure if this is a bug or if it’s a bug since I’m not sure about the compatibility with Vista.

The other one is called Virtual Board and is much easier to use except that the notes on the desktop disappear when you hide the Virtual Board’s toolbar and reappear when you show the toolbar again. I really don’t like the toolbar because it’s really big and I don’t need something taking up more space than a note gadget does. But, Virtual Board has more options than Desk Marker does.

In the image, you will not see the toolbar as it didn’t seem to capture it in the screenshot.

If anyone knows of an application that does what I would like, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. I just want something like a transparent application that covers the entire desktop so I can still see the wallpaper and gadgets, but allows me to write small notes anywhere on the wallpaper using the cursor, without the need for hotkeys (unless it’s sticky). Also, it should have an eraser that only erases what I want to erase from the desktop, not everything.

Note: Both Desk Marker and Virtual Board are free for private use.

Minimize Pownce to the Tray

I don’t know if anyone else is annoyed by always open applications sitting in the taskbar, but I like using the system tray. I don’t like filling up the taskbar with applications that I don’t always use, but like to keep open.

Pownce is one of those applications that just sits open with nowhere to go. I’m sure with a newer version, the feature might be added like it is with Snitter (for Twitter), but until then, I wanted a solution now.

I didn’t know there was a way to minimize Pownce, but I looked through Google and came across one solution. It’s a tiny little app called PownceTray that you have to run in order to minimize Pownce to the system tray. It places the Pownce icon in the tray. Double-click to reopen and minimize to send it to the tray again.

One feature I think Pownce needs is notification of new messages like how Snitter has. Even a flashing icon in the tray would do. For now, I’m happy that I can minimize Pownce to the tray!

Four Free Useful Tools

MailStore

This first one is probably the most useful of the four. I found out about MailStore over at MakeUseOf. Because of my recent switch to Gmail IMAP, all of my e-mails are stored in one location and I have thousands of e-mails that I view from Thunderbird, but can’t be sure that they are all downloaded in full.

MailStore allows me to backup all of my e-mails and search through them. I can also still use them from where ever I backup from. Taken from the site, it archives mail from:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Outlook Express
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• Mozilla SeaMonkey
• AVM KEN! Server
• IMAP and POP3
• e.g. Google Mail and AOL Mail
• PST, EML and other files

MailStore also provides you with a way to backup to a CD. This is the first thing I am doing after archiving all of my e-mails. Please note, if you have a lot of e-mails, archiving can take a lot of time. You can customize which folders you want archived and if you want MailStore to delete e-mails after archiving.

There have been so many times I’ve lost e-mail due to data corruption or a client not importing correctly and so the e-mail is lost. Once MailStore archives my e-mails, I can read them directly from MailStore.

Windows Live Writer

This one can be useful if you don’t always have access to the Internet. I usually take for granted that I have an Internet connection that is always there and available, except when the power goes out or for maintenance. Lately, I’ve been thinking about this and realized that if I wanted to write a post and had no Internet connection, I’d probably have to use Notepad or Word, which neither of them would be really that great.

I had tried using Windows Live Writer before, but wasn’t able to really get into it because all of my drafts were stored on my blog and Writer doesn’t import them. Since it’s been so long since I’ve gone through those drafts, I will just start fresh with Writer.

I like some of the features it provides for inserting images. Adding borders to images can sometimes make images look nicer; for example, a drop shadow. It also allows me to change the dimensions of the image, instead of opening Photoshop and deciding what the dimensions should be and then having to go back into Photoshop again because it didn’t look right.

Because I have the newest post set to show an image on the home page, I can’t really use Windows Live Writer to publish. I would have to save as a draft on the blog and then go to the blog and publish from there after adding the finishing touches to the post. This is where “Post Draft and Edit Online” comes in under File in the menu. I learned about that through Chris Kasten from Solo Technology.

Check out these tips for image formatting at TechnoSpot. My favorite is the one for centering images. For whatever reason, you can’t center just an image, you need text as well. So, if you center the image with some text, then you can select just the text and align it to the left. It’s one extra step that is time consuming, but it works. Note: When using the “Post Draft and Edit Online” feature, the images are not centered when editing in WordPress.

Prism

I’ve talked about Prism here before and my love for it. I still use it, especially for opening up Gmail. Prism will help keep online apps from becoming just another bookmark in a browser. Because it allows you to create shortcuts and opens a separate instance of Prism for each one, it makes it possible for you to just close it out and come back to it later when you need it. No need to keep online apps stored in tabs.

One feature I’d like to see with Prism is the ability to use an online app’s favicon or allow you to add a custom one. This would help distinguish shortcuts from each other and allow you to find one quickly without having to read the name. Because Prism is missing this feature, every shortcut is saved with a blue globe. So, storing each one in Quick Launch would not be very efficient.

Prism isn’t a complete browser in that some things may not work correctly. I’ve run into videos without sound (they used to work). Using the Rich Editor in Gmail prevents you from tabbing into the message field to type out an e-mail message.

If you are interested in more of what I’ve said about Prism, read my post: 13 Uses for Prism.

eBay Desktop

I don’t use eBay very often unless I’m looking to save money. I try to use eBay as a last resort only because of the risk of not receiving an item that is paid for. Almost had that happen one time.

eBay Desktop looks like a great way to search and bid for items without leaving the desktop. No longer do you need to refresh either. After searching, on the right side of each result is the time remaining in real time. It counts down until it reaches 0 and displays “Ended”.

When you click on the item you want to look at, the results shrinks to the left side of the window and on the right side is where the information is displayed. This includes the price, time remaining, seller, payment information and the description of the item. eBay Desktop gives a much friendlier way for bidding on items. And, because you don’t need to refresh, you can make sure you make your last bid before time runs out.

This is one application that will stay installed until I no longer use eBay. I do think it could look a little better. Some of the text is hard to read because of the font that is used. It’s still beta, so maybe there will be improvements in a future version.

Please leave comment if there is a useful tool you use to get things done.

Ultra Games Bundle II Interactive DVD for iPhone and iPod Touch

Many have fallen in love with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Playing games on them is a nice feature. This Ultra Games Bundle is an interactive DVD which includes 40 games and even software to allow you to create your own iPhone and iPod Touch games and widgets. It also includes parental controls to keep children from playing any games that may not be appropriate.

Plenty of people who own an iPhone or iPod Touch probably wished they could create better games to play than the ones that are currently available. You don’t need to write any code to create games with the software. The software makes it easy for you to design your own games.

Games for iPhone/ iPod Touch are limited, but with this bundle, you can turn limited into unlimited by creating your own! Thumbs up! A revolution in mobile gaming. The games that are included in the bundle look really good, but create your own games and impress your friends.

I have always wanted to create my own games since I was little and hearing about this software makes it sound easy to do at an affordable price.

Sponsored by igiki