Afloat is a handy little plugin for your Mac that gives you more control over all the windows you've got open. Once installed, Afloat adds some new options to the Window menu in most applications, allowing you to do some neat tricks. Here's a rundown of the options, which almost all have keyboard shortcuts:

The keep afloat command assigns a window to stay on top of all others. Alternatively, you can pin windows to the bottom of the stack, at desktop level. Window transparency is adjustable using either a slider or keyboard shortcuts. Afloat allows moving and resizing from any part of a window if you hold down cmd+ctrl - just grab an edge to resize, or drag from anywhere to move.

If you use Spaces, you can use Afloat to make a window appear across all Spaces, so you won't lose it when you switch. There's also a neat overlay feature that makes your window transparent and unclickable, so you can use it as a guide while you work with whatever's underneath - I can think of some fun design applications for that one. Afloat also has a hotkey to locate the file associated with the current window, which is something the OS X Finder could probably use as a standard feature.

It's not that Afloat adds essential functionality to the OS. In fact, it's probably overkill for most people, but just about every Mac user should be able to find one feature to like in this handy little plugin.

So you got your party hat on and want to buy Windows 7 but don't feel like shelling out $119.99 - $319.99 for the various editions upgrade or full version? Well, we made life a little easier for you and your wallet. Below is a shopping site roundup of Win 7 deals and discounts. Check it out and see what deals you are eligible for.

Student - Microsoft is selling the student edition for $29.99 but you have to be enrolled in a college or university as they require a vailid college or university email. If you don't have one of those, you can scan in your student ID, proof of course payment (yes, I'm serious) or class list. Sheesh.

Home Premium Upgrade - $119.99. You need to be running a genuine copy of Windows XP or Vista to be eligible for this edition. (Sorry to say Microsoft had this on sale for $49.99 up until July 11th when it was sold as a pre order for Win7). Another option would be to buy the Family 3 pack for $149.99, however, Costco is currently selling this version for $134.99.

Well, not natively, but with the free FastPictureViewer codec pack you can now view your camera's high-resolution files within Windows 7's Explorer. All in all this codec pack has almost every camera type covered, from Canon's CR2 to Sony's SRF and Nikon's NRW -- and many others.

But how will this help me...? Well, if you're not a photographer, this is utterly insignificant. If you are a photographer though -- and I'd hazard a guess that most or all of us here have a digital camera -- it means that you no longer need to rely on manufacturer's own-brand image browser, or Adobe's Lightroom or Photoshop. You could now, in theory, manage your photography portfolio through Windows -- you can already tag and star-rate images, but with this codec pack there's absolutely no reason to use other tools.

And best of all it's free and devoid of any malware. It installs into the background and you'll never hear from it again. It's yet another good reason to install Windows 7...

P.S. Taken a little wind out of your sails, eh, Apple-centric photographers?

If you're searching for a free alternative for iTunes on Windows, DoubleTwist - the handy media player for Windows and OS X - just became even more attractive with today's launch of version 2.4 that includes support for iPhone and iPod touch syncing.

If you're not familiar with DoubleTwist, it's a company founded by 'DVD Jon' Lech Johansen - who reverse-engineered the encryption in DVDs and the iTunes store - that now offers a desktop media player for Mac and Windows.

DoubleTwist just recently announced their plans to add the Amazon MP3 store to their desktop software, and with today's announcement of iPhone & iPod touch support DoubleTwist is fast becoming a worthy - and highly competent - competitor to iTunes.

iTunes has long been an app we all love to hate. It looks like iPhone and iPod Touch users will now have a solid alternative that won't try to slip in a browser, codec, or who knows what else every time it updates.

[Via Lifehacker]

Update: We should also point out that, given Apple's cat-and-mouse game with Palm over the Pre syncing with iTunes, it's highly possible that Apple might break this functionality in a future update to the iPhone / iPod touch OS. Game on....

I got a message yesterday directing me to some groundbreaking post on Ars Technica, in which the long-winded and storied tale of an in-development 128 bit version of Windows unfolded like something out of a geek spy novel.

Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9.

Bullpuckey, I said. Shenanigans, I mumbled. "It must be fairy tale time over at Conde Nast", I thought to myself, and quickly moved on. I never in my wildest dreams would have figured this had legs. Surely I wasn't the only one to spot the giant hole in the middle of this story.

Today, I read it on Slashdot. So, before Windows 8 for IA-128 becomes the digital equivalent of Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster, I figured it was prudent to point out the itty, bitty, tiny little problem that's keeping this story from having any basis in reality.

There is no IA-128. The Abominable Snowman and the Easter Bunny could hold a press conference about the lost sex tapes of The Tooth Fairy and it would have more credibility than this rumor. In fact, calling it a rumor lends too much credence to the story. There may be a Robert Morgan, there certainly is a Windows 8, but there is no IA-128.

IA-64 was Intel's joint venture with HP to create a next generation 64 bit server processor. Finally released far behind schedule, the Itanium line has been beset with problems. Poor performance, a lagging upgrade path, and poor vendor uptake have all conspired to create what John Dvorak recently called, "one of the great fiascoes of the last 50 years""

So, while the editors at Ars are busy explaining to Emil Protalinski that there is no Santa Claus, it's probably the right moment to point out that you shouldn't believe everything you read on forums. Or, Slashdot. Or apparently Ars, for that matter.

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

While I haven't made the switch to Linux full time, I find myself spending more and more time experimenting of late. In particular, I'm enjoying projects like Moblin and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

If you're still using Windows for your primary OS there are tons of ways to get your feet wet like a true penguin without making any serious commitments. Here are ten ways to play with Linux painlessly -- if you have another to share, please post it in the comments!

Virtualization

Moba LiveCD
Moba uses QEMU to boot LiveCD and LiveUSB images right from your Windows desktop. It works as a portable app and also offers context menu integration so you can right-click to launch fresh images.

Portable Ubuntu
Using Colinux, Pulseaudio for Windows, and the Xming X server, this package allows you to boot a fully-working Ubuntu environment inside Windows right from your usb flash drive. The bigger the better, obviously. I'd recommend an 8GB or 16GB if you plan on using it regularly.

Here at Download Squad, we like saving money. We love finding freebies, and we're certainly not ashamed to walk up to the cash register with a fistful of coupons. Since the announcement of the Windows 7 pricing scheme, we've been looking for ways to cut the costs to make the move.

We've compiled a list of seven ways you can get that Windows 7 goodness without shelling out quite as many bucks. Read on for savings!

A new version of Total Commander for Windows is available - version 7.50.

Total Commander is a file manager / windows explorer replacement that is positively packed to the rafters with features such as side-by-side windows, compression and decompression of most popular (and unpopular formats), a fully featured ftp client, file and folder comparison, parallel port linking (remember that?), directory synchronisation and much more.

In Beta / Release Candidate since April, the updated version adds a host of new functionality including full Unicode support, an enhanced help file, improved 64 bit support, improved synchronisation and a powerful search function. The user interface has also been improved with subtle yet effective tweaks.

You can view the full feature list and a massive, massive changelog on the Ghisler site but I think it's fair to say it's a pretty complete toolkit for power Windows users.

Total Commander is available in 64 and 32 bit versions, a historical 16 bit version (hey, I don't doubt there's SOMEONE out there who still needs to use Windows 3.1 for something) and even a pocket version for Windows Mobile devices.
First made available in 1993, it's easy to dismiss Total Commander for its slightly 'old school' user interface, but behind that interface lies a seriously powerful piece of software with a huge following.

Total Commander is shareware with a 30 day trial, after which a licence is priced at $38.

Hat tip to Remo for the heads up!

Postbox - the e-mail application for Windows and Mac OS that we first mentioned back in February has exited it's long Beta period and reached a 1.0 release.

Postbox pitches itself as being 'smarter than your average e-mail client'. Built on a Mozilla core, the application works behind the scenes to catalog everything in your mail. Text, contacts, addresses, links, pictures, attachments - all of them are indexed, providing a very powerful search experience and a useful e-mail view that abstracts potentially interesting content from the body of the e-mail itself.

If, like me, you use GMail, you will have become accustomed to the conversation based message view and this is a perspective that Postbox retains, making migration from the web interface to the Postbox application a painless process. Postbox is compatible with a wide range of e-mail services (Gmail via IMAP and POP3, MobileMe, AOL Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail Plus as well as any generic IMAP or POP3 account) and includes excellent integration with the most popular services. One such example is the integration between Postbox's powerful 'To Do' flagging function and GMail's own 'Star' system.

The feature list is really too extensive to list here, but includes RSS support, Newsgroups support, Facebook / Friendfeed / Twitter integration, emoticons, draft auto-saving, password protection, spam filtering, return receipts, add-ons and much more.

Postbox retails for $39.95 with discounts available for 'Family Pack' purchases. A 'Lifetime Upgrade' option is also available.

By far the best way to experience Postbox's powerful search facility and unique content abstraction is by trying it - and thankfully a free trial is available from the Postbox site.

The only question is... is there still a place for desktop e-mail clients in today's online e-mail environment?

Mac users love Growl, a global alert system that displays notifications from your favorite apps for various events (like a new email message or a completed download). Now Windows users can get in on the fun, with Snarl. While Snarl isn't a straight-up Growl clone, it provides a lot of the same features, like customizable notification styles.

Snarl isn't completely new, but the last time Download Squad covered it (in 2007), it wasn't ready for the bigtime. The only notifications available were for iTunes and a clock app. Now it works on apps like Firefox, Pidgin, iTunes, and Windows Live Messenger. Some of the available notification styles are also quite nice, rivaling even Growl's selection.

[via InstantFundas]

Less than a week ago, I spotted the early stages of bookmark sync in the Chromium nightly builds and source. Tonight, Google pushed the functionality in a new update to the dev channel for Google Chrome.

If you're running it already, just head to the wrench menu and click about. Once Chrome checks for and finds the update, install it and you're ready to sync. You'll still need to append --enable-sync to your shortcut for the option to appear when you restart. Once you sign in with your Google account, Chrome will keep syncing unless you go to your Personal Stuff options and tell it to take five.

Don't check your Google Bookmarks for your links. They'll actually be synced to a folder in your Google Docs unsurprisingly labeled Google Chrome.

Run a sync from a second (or third or seventeenth) computer and Chrome will prompt you to merge and sync or cancel. It's a nice step, since it gives you time to clean up your bookmarks before committing them to your Google docs store.

Since the Chrome dev page is still pushing v 3.0.198.1 for Linux, you won't be able to use sync just yet. The updated build is likely not far behind (if you've got it working in your distro, please tell us in the comments - I had no luck with Chrome or with Chromium via Launchpad).

For those of you who want to make the switch to the dev channel now to give sync a try, you can download it from this Google page or use the Chrome Channel Changer to switch the build the built-in updater checks.

Need to sync files across machines? Need to access those files on your mobile devices? SugarSync to the rescue. There are currently SugarSync clients for WinMo, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mac and Windows, and starting today, Android phones (Android netbooks too, if they ever appear).

The apps are free, but you pay for storage, starting at $4.99 a month. You can try it free for 30 days, or keep it free with a mere 2GB of storage. You get 30GB for the $4.99 price. SugarSync hasn't yet replaced my current favorite, DropBox, but in light of Apple's iDisk app release, it seems there are more options for syncing files than ever. Here's to choice!