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Filed under: Text, Freeware, Open Source, Web

SimpleText.ws is a dead-simple online text editor

SimpleText.wsKeeping notes, todo lists, or just anything you are writing synchronized between computers can be a hassle. Some solutions, like using DropBox, require you to install software on computers that you regularly use. If your needs aren't that heavy, but you'd like a free way to keep your text available wherever you are, check out SimpleText.ws.

SimpleText.ws is an open-source, very light text editing environment that allows you to create and manage documents in a web service, and access them anywhere. It uses Google for authentication, so if you already have a Google account, signing in is as simple as clicking the Sign In link.

The fact that SimpleText.ws is open source means that if you're not comfortable hosting your text on someone else's server, you can grab the server code and host it yourself.

There is also a public API available for SimpleText.ws, which means that developers can write applications that synchronize with it. Currently there is only one, but it's a good one: Hog Bay Software's WriteRoom for iPhone.

How do you keep your text files available no matter what computer you're working on?

Filed under: Text, Productivity, iPhone

WriteRoom for iPhone: distraction-free writing, easy sync

If you're familiar with the excellent WriteRoom app for OS X, you might also love the iPhone version of the app. WriteRoom is a full-screen, distraction-free writing environment that whisks away the toolbars, icons, buttons and other attention-stealers so you can be alone with your writing work. The iPhone version does the same thing, and it also syncs automatically to Writeroom.ws, where it can be edited later on your iPhone or via a browser on your computer.

In the fullscreen writing environment of Writeroom.iPhone, you can change the text size using the zoom gesture. You can also share your document with another machine via WiFi. The iPhone app is 5 bucks, but a purchase will get you $5 off WriteRoom for Mac, or the organizational app TaskPaper. If you were planning on buying either one, you might as well grab the iPhone app while you're at it.

Filed under: Business, Internet, Text, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, E-mail, Office, Productivity, Web services, Freeware

Writer - Dark Room / WriteRoom for the web

WriterFirst there was WriteRoom, which gave Mac users a very simple black interface in which to write. No distractions, just a black screen with glowing green letters, which probably appeals particularly to people that have been working with computers long enough to remember monochromatic terminals.

And it was a very cool idea, but there was nothing similar for Windows. Until Dark Room came along. Dark Room basically emulates WriteRoom's functionality on Windows.

So what's missing? A web-based version, of course.

Now, normally I'd say that doing a web-based version of a text editor when very strong versions offering identical functionality already exist on both Windows and Mac would not be worthwhile. But as much as Writer, the web based version, is simply replicated the functionality of these other applications, it still stands on its own merits.

Two things about it make it worth having in your bookmarks. The first is that you can use it anywhere. No memory key to carry around, no worrying about what OS you're using. It just works, wherever you are. The second is that if you create an account, all of your documents also follow you around.

So if you like the look and feel of Dark Room or WriteRoom, check out Writer.

Filed under: Windows, Office, Productivity, Freeware

Dark Room: WriteRoom for Windows

Dark RoomOn Friday I linked to a little app for OS X called WriteRoom, which is a minimalist word processor for writers. A few of the commenters didn't quite "get" it (sorry, folks, but maximizing Word and changing the colors isn't remotely equivalent to a distraction-free writing environment*), but a lot of writers certainly do, including one developer who missed it so much when he had to use Windows that he just built a Windows version. Dark Room is a WriteRoom clone for Windows that's just as minimal and just as free.

*Though one commenter suggested installing Word 5.5 for DOS, which is closer.

[Thanks, Sam!]

Filed under: Macintosh, Office, Productivity, Freeware

WriteRoom: Write without the distractions

WriteRoomAs someone who usually has nine or ten Firefox tabs open in addition to Trillian in the corner and occasional Gmail Notifier pop-ups, I'm probably not the kind of writer WriteRoom is made for. WriteRoom is "a full screen, distraction free, writing environment" for Mac OS X. It takes simplicity to the extreme, presenting you with essentially nothing but what you've written, and allowing you to do little else but write. WriteRoom auto-saves as you write so you don't even have to worry about that. WriteRoom is a free download from Hog Bay Software.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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