There are plenty of utilities that will let you mount a disc image as a virtual drive, allowing you to browse the contents without actually burning the image to a disc. But Pismo File Mount is one of the easiest to use that we've seen -- and it has the added benefit of also being able to mount ZIP archives.
To install the free Windows utility you just need to download and run the PFM Audit Package found on the Pismo web site. Once the program is installed, you can mount a ZIP or ISO file by right-clicking on the file and selecting Mount or Quick Mount from the context menu. You can also launch Pismo File Mount first and then browse for the files you want to mount.
Once you map the archive to a virtual drive, you can should be able to view the contents in Windows Explorer. You can also decide whether or not you want read/write or read only access to the archived files.
Don't want to download a massive ZIP or RAR file just so you can extract one tiny file contained in the archive? ArchView is a Firefox add-on that will let you preview the contents of ZIP and RAR files posted online before you download them. And you can even download individual files from within the archive.
Archview hangs out in your status bar where you can click on it to enable or disable the plugin or change its settings. Future versions will add support for additional archive formats including ISO and 7z. Archview supports Firefox 2 and Firefox 3, but the version available at the official Firefox add-ons page claims that it isn't compatible with Firefox 3 beta 5 r Firefox 3 RC1. This isn't true, but you'll have to install the plugin from the developer's page if you're using anything newer than Firefox 3 beta 4.
If you shed a tear every time you have to delete a text message at the bottom of your inbox, or if you can't bring yourself to part with the latest ROTFLOL SMS sent by your best friend, then TreasureMyText is for you.
TreasureMyText is an online service that will store all of your text messages online: the good, the bad, the mundane, the unintelligible. Simply create an account and forward any text message to their standard rate numbers (available worldwide), and your message is forever immortalized.
True to web 2.0 standards, TreasureMyText also has a sharing feature called TextStream (which definitely reminds us of Twitter). You can choose to share your text messages with absolutely everyone (and you wonder why the internet is sagging under the weight of needless information?), or you can pick and choose friends and other members to share your messages with.
TreasureMyText also offers simple folders for organization, and an easy-to-use contacts list.
If you're wondering where the iPhone fits into all of this (since you can't forward text messages with the iPhone), the programmers at TreasureMyText have created a mobile client for your jailbroken iPhone that will allow you to archive your SMS over EDGE and WiFi. They have also stated their intention to create a more robust iPhone application with the release of the official iPhone SDK.
YemuZip is a free Mac application for creating zip files for use on a Mac or PC.
But wait, doesn't the Finder have its own built-in Archive (zip) function?
Yes, it does -- but oftentimes, when you create a zip file on a Mac and unzip the file on a PC, you'll get a lot of gobbledy-gook along with your unzipped files. That's because the PC doesn't know how to read the Mac-specific metadata. YemuZip will zip your files in either a Mac or a PC format so you can avoid the unnecessary information.
The application itself couldn't be easier to use. Simply drag and drop the files you wish to compress onto the YemuZip interface, choose whether you want a PC or Mac specific zip format, and away it goes, merrily compressing.
YemuZip is free for personal use, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Have no idea what an ACE file is? Got a few ISO files laying around but you have no idea what they are? Well peek inside using Freeware archival utility TUGZip. TUGZip opens every archive format you could possibly care about, and several more, you probably don't.
Disc image formats - BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and Nero's NRG
TUGZip can also create archives in most of these formats, Including self extracting archives. All the wile using a 3 pane explorer interface (or you can change it via options to a more standard one or two pane. TUGzip also includes an explorer context addon, so you can compress files into your favorite archive, without even having to open the program. All of this, and blazing fast too.
Have you ever lost your massive email database to a hard drive crash, inadvertent deletion, program failure, or monsoonal winds? Go on, it's okay to admit it; we're all friends here. Well now there's no need to let the failures of the past haunt you; now there's MailStore Home.
MailStore Home is a wonderful solution for people who have a need to backup their emails in a straightforward and simple fashion (read: everybody). Best of all, it's free. As in 100% free. It works with all POP3 and IMAP accounts (as in Gmail), as well as Thunderbird, Outlook, Exchange Server, Windows Mail, and many others.
MailStore Home offers a simple three step process for backing up your email accounts. Once you've downloaded and installed the free program (12 MB), open it up, click on import, enter the settings for your particular account, and double-click your newly created email profile. Wham! It's done. But unlike the 80's band of that same name, it won't wake you up before you go-go.
Once the backup is created, you can leave it in MailStore, export it to .eml, or burn it to a CD or DVD. Or, like me, you can lean back in your chair, lock your hands behind your head, and feel pretty good about yourself for backing up what really are your most important files (regardless of that picture of you and the Prime Minister of Malaysia).
Those thousands of emails in your inbox might be worth something one day. No, you can't sell them for cash, but archaeologists of the future will be able to tell a lot about the 21st century by looking at our discourse.
The British Library and Microsoft are launching a project to archive millions of emails for future study. The idea is that email is the main form of written communication, replacing the letters sent in bygone days. Of course, the archive will consist of messages that people voluntarily send to the museum, so it might present a rather skewed look at 21st century communication.
Still, if you want to participate, forward an email from your inbox or sent messages to email@emailbritain.co.uk. It would appear that the museum's looking primarily for British emails. So if you're not in the UK but want to be included, now might be a good time to look up that old pen pal in London.
Many years ago, car manufacturers emphasized only new features to entice new buyers. Then some time in the early 90's car safety became important and car manufacturers put safety features top of the selling points for new model.
I feel that right now Web 2.0 service providers are operating like those car manufacturers before the shift to car safety.
Ever since the infant days of the internet, people have been putting more and more data online (emails, newsgroup posts and IRC conversations) without giving it any thought. But in the Web 2.0 age we are leaving behind a trail of data much more personal than ever before. We tell people about our lives, our thoughts, and where we've been with our photos (some even tagged with geo-data).
AboutUs is a wiki directory of websites aimed at creating a free and valuable internet resource. Its entries are for the most part automatically generated, and edits are made daily. Search for your web site and it will automatically generate a page for it if it's not currently in the system. It looks as though AboutUs rips through the site entered and displays the site title and descriptions, as well as the WHOIS information. It's pretty effective, but tends to mess up a bit for blogs and database sites. AboutUs looks like just another way to index the web in a wiki format, but is a great way to easily research websites, without the hassle of viewing source, or reading the sometimes confusing whois records.
A while ago I wrote about Yahoo's initiative to archive the current state of the web with writings, photos, videos, audio, and drawing submitted by users to teach future generations. Enter another kooky idea, projecting the images in New Mexico. Yahoo is planning on projecting the images from its time capsule project on the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico. Although permission was denied by the Teotihuacan archaeological site in fear that the projections could somehow damage the ruins, it looks like Yahoo will continue on rolling the 15 hours of materials. Dates for the projection are from October 25 to the 27th.
Google is opening up new worlds of search by launching an easier way to search and explore historical archives. Google News Archive Search creates timelines, and displays query results from time periods within the past 200 years. This is done by scanning archives of old newspapers, magazines and other publications that have never been scanned before, due to lack of spider ability of the particular databases. It was reported by Google that the New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and the Guardian Unlimited were all involved in this project.
Google has two search options within Archive Search, Search Archives, and Show Timelines. Search Archives searches archives by publications, and can be narrowed down by dates. The Show Timelines search lists all search queries by dated categories, making it easier to track and follow news events as they have unraveled.
This new Google Archive database is pulling in massive amounts of content like the recently launched Times archive of 4300 issues, and 300,000 articles, and is going to make researchers everywhere extremely happy.
Do you yearn for the days of AOL 2.0? Yeah, remember how it fit lovingly in just one little 3.5" disk? That's right, a disk, not a disc, as in CD. And they gave way their fair share of them, though not enough to make a chair. Anyway, now you can relive the magic of AOL 2.0, MSN Messenger 1.0, RealPlayer G2, Nero Burning Rom 3, and all the yummy Napster 2.0 betas you can eat. It's the appropriately-named OldVersion.com. Their slogan: "Because newer is not always better." I couldn't agree more. Except for that AOL 2.0. Nothing compares to 3.0, nothing. iTunes previous releases are currently unavailable, sorry OS 9 losers. Those of you running WindowsME in VMWare, rejoice!
There are plenty of utilities that will let you mount a disc image as a virtual drive, allowing you to browse the contents without actually burning the image to a disc. But Pismo File Mount is one of the easiest to use that we've seen -- and it has the added benefit of also being able to mount ZIP archives.
Do you yearn for the days of AOL 2.0? Yeah, remember how it fit lovingly in just one little 3.5" disk? That's right, a disk, not a disc, as in CD. And they gave way their fair share of them, though not enough to 
