Download Squad

Download Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/media/feedlogo.gifDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comen-usCopyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/She's a Brick.....Smith - Lego Modeling for your Machttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/shes-a-brick-smith-lego-modeling-for-your-mac/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/shes-a-brick-smith-lego-modeling-for-your-mac/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/shes-a-brick-smith-lego-modeling-for-your-mac/#commentsFiled under: Design, Fun, Games, Macintosh, Apple

Bricksmith

Who doesn't like Legos?

Bricksmith brings Lego building to your Mac. And in a big way. Sorry PC folks, Mac only.

When we say a big way, we mean this isn't just a drag and drop of lego parts, this is full modeling. You don't have to have a degree to do it, but you definitely have to have some time on your hands....but the payoff could be awesomesauce.

This sucker is like Photoshop for lego designs.

You have thousands of parts to choose from, some of which we've never seen in our lego pails.

There's a full color palette, copy/paste/undo, drag and drop modeling and more.

Best part is, you don't have to step on them in your bare feet in the middle of the night!

We used it for 5 minutes and it hurt our heads, but we bet you can come up with something great. Take a screenshot and put the link to it in the comments.

[via chris pirillo]

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]]>bricksmithdesignlegosmodelingDrew Olanoff2008-07-08T16:30:00+00:00Cabos is Limewire for Minimalistshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/cabos-gnutella-client-limewire-for-minimalists/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/cabos-gnutella-client-limewire-for-minimalists/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/cabos-gnutella-client-limewire-for-minimalists/#commentsFiled under: Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, P2P

We've tried plenty of Gnutella clients that just aren't any good, and usually end up back with Frostwire or Limewire by default. Thankfully, Cabos has an excellent alternative for Windows and Mac users.

Cabos doesn't support torrents, and it doesn't have a built in media player, but who needs that anyway? Most of us have favorite apps for handling those files anyways, and Limewire probably isn't either of them. It simply searches the Gnutella network, displays your results, lets you filter and sort them six ways from Sunday, and downloads them quickly. It even offers basic iTunes integration.

There's no lime green splashed around the UI, just a tranquil, muted gray, and 21 languages are supported. It's totally ad-free and there are no nags - Cabos just does what you want it to and doesn't get in the way.

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]]>filesharinggnutellalimewirep2ppeer to peerPeerToPeerLee Mathews2008-07-08T12:00:00+00:00What's keeping you? What's keeping me?http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/whats-keeping-you-whats-keeping-me/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/whats-keeping-you-whats-keeping-me/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/whats-keeping-you-whats-keeping-me/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Macintosh, Freeware

It's no secret that we install a lot of programs here at Download Squad to review. And when the review is over most of them get un-installed. For the our Mac apps, it's just a matter of dragging the application to the trash as well as the associated preference files. But some of the programs we review are utilities that run in the background so when it comes time to emptying the trash, we'll get an dialog box warning us that the file is currently in use. So we'll have to track down the file and make sure that it is no longer running before we can completely delete it. Tracking down these files is time consuming but programs like What's Keeping Me help to make it as painless as possible.

Simply put, when you're given the warning that a file can not be deleted enter the name in What's Keeping Me and it will search your computer for the file/application. Once it does you'll have 1 of 3 options to chose from: Quit, Relaunch or Kill. Since we're more interested in deleting the file, the Kill button will do just nicely freeing up the file so that it can be properly deleted.

While you can certainly use Activity Monitor to kill the offending application as well, those not familiar with it or those just wanting a more streamlined way of killing the application for deletion may find What's Keeping Me more helpful.

What's keeping me is a universal binary application and works on both PPC and Intel based Macs running OS X 10.4 or higher.

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]]>osxtask managementTaskManagementJoey Celis2008-07-08T11:00:00+00:00Facebook on your Mac desktop? It's Facilehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/facebook-on-your-mac-desktop-its-facile/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/facebook-on-your-mac-desktop-its-facile/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/facebook-on-your-mac-desktop-its-facile/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Macintosh, Social Software

Facile is a Facebook desktop app for Mac, modestly described by the developer as "like Twitterrific for Facebook, but uglier." We don't think it's particularly ugly, actually, and it's a neat way to track friends' status updates. It even supports Growl notifications.

With Facebook Chat being integrated into more desktop apps, there seems to be a demand for access to Facebook features without the website (and the ads). Facile makes Facebook status updates more meaningful and useful, because you can get them as they happen. If apps like this are widely adopted, we'll definitely think of keeping our Facebook status more current. Heck, with Twitter's current API limitations, maybe we'll just feed our tweets into Facebook and let Facile do the work.

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]]>desktopfacebookfacebook statusfacebookappsFacebookStatusFacileJay Hathaway2008-07-08T10:00:00+00:00Your very own personal assistanthttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/your-very-own-personal-assistant/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/your-very-own-personal-assistant/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/08/your-very-own-personal-assistant/#commentsFiled under: Macintosh, Productivity

Having a personal assistant is great. If you need a cup of tea, your dry cleaning done or someone to walk the dog simply send your personal assistant out to do those things. If you lack the finances to retain the services of a personal assistant you can get one for free from macscheduler.

Unfortunately, Scheduler for Mac will not get get you a cup of tea or any of the other stuff that a real live personal assistant would do because after all Scheduler for Mac is a program on a computer. But what it can do is automate.

Unlike other basic schedulers that just present you with a dialog box letting you know that you should start on those sales charts now, Scheduler for Mac will actually open up your spreadsheet application as well as the document ready for your review. Scheduler for Mac has incorporated a very easy to use automation process along side the standard scheduling options. When setting up a new task, select the file or application you want open and when the time comes Scheduler for Mac will handle the rest.

Aside from the usual office documents you can also schedule websites to open (think eBay), assign custom audio files to act as audio alerts and customize the visual aspect of the alerts as well.

So while Scheduler for Mac will never take the place of a real live personal assistant, at least your reports will be completed on time.

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]]>automationgetting things doneGettingThingsDonegtdproductivityJoey Celis2008-07-08T07:00:00+00:00TweetDeck: Desktop client for Twitter helps you organize the chaoshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/tweetdeck-desktop-client-for-twitter-helps-you-organize-the-cha/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/tweetdeck-desktop-client-for-twitter-helps-you-organize-the-cha/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/tweetdeck-desktop-client-for-twitter-helps-you-organize-the-cha/#commentsFiled under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Social Software, Beta

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a desktop client for Twitter build on Adobe AIR. Nothing new there. That sentence could have described Twhirl, Snitter, or Alert Thingy. But TweetDeck has a few features up its sleeve that other Twitter clients lack.

The most noticeable difference is that TweetDeck has a multi-column view. You can glance at all of the latest tweets from your contacts in one column, see replies in another, and direct messages in a third. Or you can create groups of contacts (for example, a group of all your favorite Download Squad bloggers on Twitter), and see just updates from those contacts in a column.

You can customize the display by adding up to 10 columns, or removing columns you don't need. The display is also resizable. There are no themes and no way to adjust the font yet. But the application is still in beta.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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]]>tweetdecktwitterBrad Linder2008-07-07T18:00:00+00:00Expose hidden OS X preferences with Secretshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/expose-hidden-os-x-preferences-with-secrets/#commentsFiled under: Developer, Utilities, Macintosh, Beta

There are tons of useful preferences in OS X and popular Mac apps that aren't part of the GUI, but you can tweak them by using the command-line. That Terminal stuff isn't for everyone, though, so it's a good thing there's Secrets. This little preference pane from Blacktree Software (the makers of Quicksilver) is worth a thousand mini-tutorials. It comes pre-loaded with preferences for the Finder, as well as for apps like Twitterrific, iTunes, Safari, and NetNewsWire.

Among many other tricks, Secrets can change the orientation and pinning of the Dock, set how often Mail refreshes RSS feeds, show all hidden files in the Finder, and switch Safari's loading animation to a circle instead of a bar. One of the cooler Secrets is turning Dashboard on or off with one click. Back in 2005, we reported on the struggle to get rid of Dashboard, including apps dedicated to the purpose. Well, this is 2008, so get Secrets. You'll be able to do that and lots more.

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]]>Dashboardhidden preferencesHiddenPreferencesMacOs XOsXprefpaneSecretsJay Hathaway2008-07-07T16:00:00+00:00Glubble and Kidzui - good kid browsers, silly names http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/glubble-vs-kidzui-kid-browser-wars/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/glubble-vs-kidzui-kid-browser-wars/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/glubble-vs-kidzui-kid-browser-wars/#commentsFiled under: Internet, Kids, Security, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Google, Mozilla, Browser Tips, Social Software, Search, Browsers

kids browsing

There is a battle for the hearts and ~~wallets~~ souls of our young surfing children on the interwebs. Parents are obviously concerned about the appropriateness of the world wide web being a kid's playground, so are looking for suitable controls to help them feel their children are protected online.

We looked at 2 kids browsers, Glubble and Kidzui, and gave them a test spin as well as subjected them to an unscientific kid focus group. Check out our results after the jump.

Continue reading Glubble and Kidzui - good kid browsers, silly names

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]]>childrens browserChildrensBrowserFirefoxGlubbles vs. KidzuiGlubblesVs.Kidzuikids browserKidsBrowserKidzuiparental controlsParentalControlssafe browsingSafeBrowsingDolores Parker2008-07-07T14:00:00+00:00Who Wants to Kill Some Zombies? We do! We do! - Time Wasterhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/who-wants-to-kill-some-zombies-we-do-we-do-time-waster/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/who-wants-to-kill-some-zombies-we-do-we-do-time-waster/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/07/who-wants-to-kill-some-zombies-we-do-we-do-time-waster/#commentsFiled under: Games, Windows, Macintosh, Open Source

Aw snap, someone get the holy water. Open Source Zombies!

Grab whatever you can - pitchfork, chainsaw, hatchet, or a shotgun for those of you who can't be bothered to "finesse" a zombie into submission. Your goal in this addictive little game is to save as many of the humans as you can from a horrible fate no doubt involving their brains being eaten.

It's set up kind of like a chessboard, with humans and zombies randomly placed. Set your difficulty and gore level, and go to it. Use the right and left arrows to turn your character around, then walk them with up and down (preferably over a weapon). Next to a zombie? Turn to face it, move towards it, and you automatically attack - you may miss, of course, so make it count. Grab a shotgun if you can, they've got phenomenal stopping power (read: one blast and you've got yourself a heaping pile of zombie slaw).

The graphics aren't great, but who cares? Zombies is ridiculously fun, only 7MB to download, doesn't require an install, and runs on Windows and Mac. Everybody wins! Linux users can play too, you've just got to compile the included RealBasic source code yourself.

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]]>gamegamesgamingzombiezombiesLee Mathews2008-07-07T11:00:00+00:00Truecrypt Updates to v6, Hides Your Subversive Plots Even Better!http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/06/truecrypt-encrypt-update-version-6/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/06/truecrypt-encrypt-update-version-6/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/06/truecrypt-encrypt-update-version-6/#commentsFiled under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Truecrypt has been a trusted name in on-the-fly encryption for ages (v5 arrived in February). What's new in version 6? Plenty.

One of the biggest advances is support for multiple processors, which provides a boost in the encryption/decryption speed equal to the number of processors/cores in use. Other tweaks have increased the overall speed by as much as 20% in some operations - on top of the parallel processing gains.

And - holy crap - how about being able to run a fully encrypted, hidden OS? Yeah, version 6 can do that, too. There's even a handy guide on Truecrypt's website. It'll also hide volumes, and on Vista and Windows 2008 you can even hide a system volume (not on XP, though).

They've really done it right this time. If you don't have Truecrypt, get it. We've all got some data on our PC that deserves a little extra privacy and protection. Mac and Linux versions are also available, so everyone's invited to the Truecrypt party.

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]]>encryptencryptionprivacysecurityLee Mathews2008-07-06T17:00:00+00:00Opera turns 9.51http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/03/opera-turns-9-51/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/03/opera-turns-9-51/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/03/opera-turns-9-51/#commentsFiled under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Browsers

Opera 9.5.1

Hot on the heels of Opera 9.5, the Opera team has released version 9.5.1 of their desktop web browser. The new version includes some recommended security and stability updates. But there are also some other handy changes. Here are a few highlights:

Fine-tuned the new default skin
Saved images no longer recorded in the file transfer window
Fixed an issue that could be used to display arbitrary code
Fixed a stability issue with Yahoo! Mail
64 bit Linux package now available

Overall you won't notice a ton of changes to the interface. But if you're currently using Opera 9.5, we'd recommend updating for the security enhancements alone.

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]]>operaopera-9.5.1security-updateBrad Linder2008-07-03T19:00:00+00:00Make your own Mario masterpiece with Mario Paint Composerhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/make-your-own-mario-masterpiece-with-mario-paint-composer/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/make-your-own-mario-masterpiece-with-mario-paint-composer/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/make-your-own-mario-masterpiece-with-mario-paint-composer/#commentsFiled under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh

Mario Paint Composer

Mario Paint Composer lets you do what you know you've wanted to do all of your life...compose music in the key of Super Mario. You'll remember this from the Super NES days, but everything is way more fun on the computer.

This baby is free and it's available for Windows AND Mac and it comes from unFun games. Yay.

Don't have any music writing chops? No problem, neither do we. It makes fun noises and has cool Mario icons. 'Nuff said.

The default song when you load up Mario Paint Composer is a jazzy version of your favorite video game theme song ever. But it's up to you to write the next masterpiece.

And not just any masterpiece, you get to use pigs and cats and hearts.

Best part is that when the app is loaded, everywhere you click on your computer, the sounds follow. I like hearing a nice Yoshi sound when I click on an email or on iChat.

unFun built an interface for you to lo in and download all the songs you want, for your personal listening and partytime enjoyment, but it took forever to log into the system, so we wouldn't hang our hats on that feature.

[via chris pirillo]

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]]>applemario composerMarioComposermusicnintendosuper mario brothersSuperMarioBrotherswindowsDrew Olanoff2008-07-02T19:00:00+00:00Rember the memory checkerhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/rember-the-memory-checker/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/rember-the-memory-checker/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/rember-the-memory-checker/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Macintosh, Freeware

Contrary to marketing hype, Macs do crash and when they do you'll need to do some basic troubleshooting to determine the reason why.

If it appears to be a hardware problem, one thing you may want to remember is, well, Rember.

Rember is a front end GUI for Memtest and while you can certainly run Memtest in Terminal, Rember's GUI version makes it much easier to use.

The interface is broken up into 3 main parts:

How much memory you want tested
The number of times you want to run the test
Preferences

Once you decided on the amount of ram and the number of loops let Rember do the rest. Once completed, review the logs to determine if your RAM is the reason why your Mac is crashing.

Keep in mind that Rember is a GUI app that runs on top of your OS so some of your RAM will be in use and will not be available for testing. Think of it has a small trade off for not having to deal with the Memtest switches.

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]]>macintoshtoolsutilitiesJoey Celis2008-07-02T18:00:00+00:00Sloth loves Chunk, and we love Sloth for Machttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/sloth-loves-chunk-and-we-love-sloth-for-mac/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/sloth-loves-chunk-and-we-love-sloth-for-mac/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/02/sloth-loves-chunk-and-we-love-sloth-for-mac/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Macintosh, Productivity, Apple, Microsoft

Sloth

One of the only features some of us here like about Windows is that you can alt-ctrl-del and look at the open tasks and programs running at any given time.

It's nice to know what's sucking up all of your memory (pr0n) and what's bogging down your processor (DVD burning).

Sloth for Mac OS X shows us exactly what's running, Windows style.

You can see which application is running which process, reveal the directory it's running out of, and kill it off if you want. If you're super geeky and/or bored you can even look at the IP and Unix sockets to see what application is connecting to the interwebs at any given time.

This is a really handy dandy tool, and the source is available too for monkeying...er, slothing around.

One of the better parts about Sloth is that it's a Cocoa app, and runs nice and slick on your Mac.

[via chris pirillo]

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]]>ipmacosxprogramsslothunixwindowsDrew Olanoff2008-07-02T13:30:00+00:00It's Cosmic man...it's on my Mac...whoah.http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/its-cosmic-man-its-on-my-mac-whoah/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/its-cosmic-man-its-on-my-mac-whoah/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/01/its-cosmic-man-its-on-my-mac-whoah/#commentsFiled under: Fun, Games, Macintosh

CosmicPainter

Do you know those cool art spinning booths at festivals and carnivals? Of course you do, they're awesomesauce aren't they?

Well now thanks to CosmicPainter from garageCube you can bring that to your Mac OSX desktop, minus the carnies and smell of funnel cake (booooo).

CosmicPainter lets you make designs from different pre-set shapes and colors, as well as from other images you already have on your computer. You can really dig in with the shading and depth choices on the pallette and make some really rad shapes and designs.

Why would you want to use this? Because it's hella fun and free.

We sat in front of this thing for hours and got completely lost. But Chris Pirillo, the tipster who sent this in to us, warned us that we'd get sucked in...and we're pretty sure you will too.

[via chris pirillo]

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]]>artcosmicpaintermacosxpaintDrew Olanoff2008-07-01T15:00:00+00:00Cocoalicious: Browser for Del.icio.us bookmarkshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/30/cocoalicious-browser-for-del-icio-us-bookmarks/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/30/cocoalicious-browser-for-del-icio-us-bookmarks/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/30/cocoalicious-browser-for-del-icio-us-bookmarks/#commentsFiled under: Internet, Utilities, Macintosh, Freeware, Social Software, web 2.0

Cocoalicious is a really slick -- but, unfortunately, Mac-only -- dedicated browser for your Del.icio.us bookmarks. If you're a bookmarking junkie, and you have way more sites saved to Del.icio.us than you could ever hope to keep track of, this could be an ideal solution for you. It's laid out a bit like Apple Mail, with your tags running down the left side, your bookmarks on top, and a browser pane at the bottom.

You can put bookmarks directly into Cocoalicious -- it syncs with your Del.icio.us account -- or use the bookmarklet to add stuff to Cocoalicious straight from your browser. This way you can take advantage of autocompletion, tagging by dragging, and other features that make Del.icio.us easier. Cocoalicious also supports Spotlight, so you can search for your bookmarks straight from the Finder!

[via Lifehacker]

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]]>bookmarksCocoaliciousdel.icio.usdeliciousfolksonomyos xOsXtaggingJay Hathaway2008-06-30T14:00:00+00:00Evernote launches into open beta, introduces premium accountshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/evernote-launches-into-open-beta-introduces-premium-accounts/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/evernote-launches-into-open-beta-introduces-premium-accounts/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/evernote-launches-into-open-beta-introduces-premium-accounts/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Windows Mobile, Productivity, Web services, Social Software, iPhone

If you're not one of the 125,000 people who got a chance to try out the cross-platform note capture app Evernote during its private beta, don't despair. Evernote has launched an open beta, so now everyone can give it a try. If you were already in the beta, does this change anything for you? Yes, indeed it does: there are now two types of Evernote accounts, free and premium.

Free users keep all the features of the closed beta, with the caveat that you're now limited to 40mb a month of uploaded notes. If you're a power-user, or someone who's really sold on the Evernote lifestyle, go premium for 5 bucks a month or $45/year and get rid of that cap. Premium also comes with the option of SSL for all your uploads (for all those pictures of the enemy base, we guess) and priority access to the queue for Evernote's text-recognition features.

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]]>captureEvernoteGTDmobilenoteOS XOsXpublic betaPublicBetaWindowsJay Hathaway2008-06-24T19:00:00+00:00Tofu makes on-screen reading actually bearablehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/tofu-makes-on-screen-reading-actually-bearable/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/tofu-makes-on-screen-reading-actually-bearable/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/24/tofu-makes-on-screen-reading-actually-bearable/#commentsFiled under: Utilities, Macintosh, Productivity

If you're like us, you have to read long blocks of text on a monitor all the time, and it's kind of a pain for your eyes. E-books and long PDF articles would be great if they could somehow get diced into neat, readable columns. Hey, it works for newspapers. Well, Tofu brings that pleasant reading experience to the Mac.

In a nutshell, Tofu cuts up what you're reading -- whether it's a PDF, a doc, or a chunk of text you've selected -- into columns. This is a good, because monitors are wider than the human eye is really comfortable with, and columns fit the text into your optimal scanning area for easy reading. Tofu's full screen mode and adjustable text size and colors are crucial, too. This app is good enough that we'll think twice before printing out something we can just read in Tofu.

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]]>documentsos xOsXPDFreadertextTofuJay Hathaway2008-06-24T16:00:00+00:00aTunes: Cross platform, open source media playerhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/atunes-cross-platform-open-source-media-player/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/atunes-cross-platform-open-source-media-player/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/23/atunes-cross-platform-open-source-media-player/#commentsFiled under: Audio, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Open Source

aTunes

Looking for an iTunes/Winamp/Amarok killer? No matter whether you're a Windows, Linux, or OS X user, you might want to check out aTunes. This media player uses the open source MPlayer engine and is built on Java, which means you can run it on pretty much any devices that supports Java. There's also a Windows installer which makes running aTunes on Windows a snap.

The program has all the features you'd expect from a modern media player, including the ability to play MP3, ogg, WMA, WAV, FLAC, MP4, RA, and RM files. You can also listen to internet radio streams. There's no support for DRM though, so if you've got restricted music files on your desktop, this might not be the player for you.

One of the niftiest features in aTunes is Last.fm integration. While you can't use the software to play music from Last.fm, you can sign into your account and submit your played song list to Last.fm. aTunes also takes advantage of Last.fm's audioscrobbling service, which means you can see a list of artists that are similar to the one you're listening to in real-time. When available, aTunes will also automatically display album art and song lyrics.

Update: It appears the web site is down, but you can still download aTunes from SourceForge.

Continue reading aTunes: Cross platform, open source media player

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]]>atunesmedia-playerBrad Linder2008-06-23T09:00:00+00:00Mixed in what key?!?!http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/22/mixed-in-what-key/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/22/mixed-in-what-key/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/22/mixed-in-what-key/#commentsFiled under: Audio, Windows, Macintosh, Commercial

If you've ever played a musical instrument the concept of playing in key is nothing new. But what about DJs? Are there lessons out there that go over majors, minors or even basic chord progressions? Having 2 songs mixed in key gives the impression that the songs were made for each other.

MixedInKey has developed a software for DJs that will analyze your songs to determine what key they are in. That way when you are building your set you can select songs that where performed in the same key or a complementary key.

In order to have your mp3s analyzed add them to MixedInKey. From there, the software will determine its key and display them according to their Camelot Sound keycode. Add songs according to their keycode using your favorite mixing software and start mixing.

We had our reservations about this program, fearing that all your mixes will be in the same key leading to one boring set. But the system itself, teaches you musical concepts and if you follow the system you can move from one key to the next to add chord progressions to your mix.

MixedInKey is available for both Windows and Mac and cost $58.

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]]>audiocamelotdjmixingmp3Joey Celis2008-06-22T16:00:00+00:00