So you've got a new version of a file that you need to upload to an FTP server. Sure, you could fire up a full-blown client like FileZilla, but why bother? DropUpLoad offers elegantly simply uploads in a tiny, portable package. It's a 114k download and only consumes 9mb of memory, and is very different from other FTP clients.

For example, there's no directory browsing: set up your remote server info (including destination directory) and it will appear in your list of FTP servers. Setting up a new site is child's play, and you can clone settings from an existing server - useful, since you'll have to set up multiple profiles if you upload to more than one folder on your server.

Select your target from the drop down, drag a file or folder from your Windows machine into the "drop box," and you're done.

Need to give a customer upload access to your FTP but don't want to give out passwords? Created a "locked" version of DropUpLoad, which limits connections to a single server and hides and encrypts login information inside the generated executable.

Give it a shot, FTP uploads don't get much easier!

[ via Softpedia ]

Alert Thingy to the rescue! If you use FriendFeed, and you've been looking for a faster way to read updates, you're in luck: a desktop version is here. Alert Thingy is an Adobe Air application, which gives it the advantage of being lightweight and cross-platform. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles to it, but it will display your feed and allow you post items directly to FriendFeed.

The location-based search market sure is heating up, what with our parent company AOL launching a new Local Search beta and Yahoo! putting Local Search in your car and all. Some interesting tricks not many of these services can claim, however, include being able to pinpoint your exact location based on your computer's IP address, and shaking hands with various web services such as Fnadango, Google Maps, Match.com and even gas price finders. Local search company Loki, however, does get to brag about these features and more, including a brand-spanking new Firefox extension for Mac OS X and a mobile phone client.

One problem, however, is that we can't get the shiny new Mac client to work just yet. Installing and re-installing in Firefox is yielding no results, and none of Loki's featured sites or channels are kicking into gear. Since Loki has a ton of other unique features like one-click SMSing your friends with your current location and GeoTagging your Flickr pics, we definitely tried to get it up and running for the Mac users in the crowd, but perhaps you'll have better luck.

Still, Loki's approach to local search is a unique one that we hope the larger players are paying attention to. Local search at a map site is great and all, but not having to manually tell other sites like Fandango, Match.com and the hordes of other location-specific sites where we are all the time is sweet music to our automation-tuned ears.

[via Webware]

So you use basecamp for project management or Google's apps, or something else, but how do you track your time on a project? basecamp offers time-tracking, but you have to pay a bit for that feature. Any cheapskates out there who like to get something for nothing, even if it means remembering yet another logon to yet another website? Many of us would jump at the chance, it isn't like any of us have a problem with web accounts, how many do you have again?

Toggl is an excellent solution, offered in a completely savvy web 2.0 interface that gets you where you want to go. The site tracks time and lets you hit a toggl (whoa, go figure) button to start and stop your "billable hours" timer. I was a bit wary at first that toggl wouldn't offer a way to change the time it had recorded, leave you stranded with pushing the button every 108 minutes until you got the right amount of time, but my worries were completely unfounded. I was ready for something much harder than clicking on the box and reentering my own length of time.

If you think pie is easy, toggl is easier. Complete with a reporting feature and multiple projects, toggl's goodness clocks in (pun somewhat intended) at the right price of free. As you know, our motto here is one more happy cheapskate, or wait, I don't think we actually have a motto. I'll have to get back to you on that. meanwhile check out toggl, and you will never wonder if you charged your client enough for the hours you spent on that killer project.

Add "toggl" to your spell-checker, jack, and you won't be disappointed.

I don't care if you dislike Second Life, think it is stupid, or whatever, the fact that they will open source their client is a bold and smart move. This means people can and will be able to create the system they want and make the kind of software they want it to be. Developers will be able to do infinitely more than they could before now that the Second Life client will be their to tinker with. If you want to breathe fire into your software, give it away and let the developer community loose on it. Second Life's creators think this move on their part will help the community grow faster than ever before. The main idea behind Second Life is a user-generated world, and now this paradigm extends to the client itself.

Social music site Last.fm has recently updated their OS X client to version 1.1.0. While the site is short on details for the new version, there are some fairly obvious UI changes that include new icons, font changes and button sizes. This beta version is only compatible with Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger).

I've been using it all day today, and I'm happy to report that it hasn't crashed yet. This is good news, as the previous version (1.0) would frequently decide to stop working on my MacBook Pro. As Last.fm user sandymcc points out, the ability to play multiple tags at the same time seems to have disappeared. For those of you who have updated, what changes have you discovered?

Reuters is reporting that Cingular is set to announce a new partnership with MySpace today, offering a paid Java-based client on their phones with access to the popular social networking site. An extra $2.99/month will bring photo sharing, email checking, blogging and friend searching to about 90 percent of Cingular's handsets in the coming weeks. Video, strangely, won't be featured at the service's launch (strange because of Cingular's big push into video services as of late), but is said to be on its way some time in 2007.

Given that plenty of other social networking sites like Facebook and Vox offer mobile access and even download clients for free, this venture rubs me the wrong way. On the upside, however, MySpace is where I spend roughly .3 percent of my time (hey I have an account for the same reasons as everyone else: marketing myself), so I'll be happy to hang on to my $2.99, thankyouverymuch.

Always innovating, and recently told to focus on products that are already in development, the Googleplex has recently leaked a copy of the so-called Platypus client for Gdrive, its service for viewing and storing files on the web. Philipp Lenssen scored a copy, and reports that the product looks like it's intended for Google employees to share and store files. This tool encourages Google employees to use Platypus to store office documents, photos, and notes, virtually everything, except for sensitive data, most likely since the application is still in a testing phase, and not secure enough. Philipp could not get past the login screen, but was able to check out the Help, and the configuration files that were attached to the installer which he has published on his website. Only time will tell if this service will be released for public consumption by Google, and is additional evidence that Google is always innovating.

Do you think that Google purposely sets out to release small details about new and upcoming products, and updates when testing? Or do you think that they are just careless with their testing environment?

Dan Lurie over at TUAW found a review of BitTorrent clients for Mac OS X a few days ago. Apparently, this inspired Clone Software, Ltd. to stop guarding their secret and release BitRocket (which TUAW promptly found) - an OSS torrent client (in beta) for the Mac that indeed rockets past the competition (zing!).


BitRocket excels because it is refreshingly Mac OS X friendly, right down to the UI and design of the app. On the left side is a list for RSS torrent feeds, and at the bottom of that list is a master up/download panel for keeping an eye on just how much is moving in each direction.

PC Magazine is running a solid round-up of four Windows BitTorrent clients: BitTorrent (the official client), Azureus, BitPump, and uTorrent. They all get high marks, but Azureus and my personal favorite uTorrent just barely outshow the competition. It's followed up with a (very) short Q&A with BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen. Worth a look if you're looking for a new BItTorrent client.

[Via Slashdot]

It's been a bit quiet on the new podcast apps front lately, but here's a new one: WinPodder is a podcast client for, yes, Windows. Details are scarce on the WinPodder web site, but it's free and supports audio, video, and, er, photo podcasts. It also supports Apple's "enhanced" podcast format.

Here's one for the minimalists: miniaim is an AIM client for Windows  written from scratch in under 75kb. It has a nice tabbed interface and all of the essential IM functions with the possible exception of file transfer. It's also installation-free and, I'm guessing, very fast. Furthermore, miniaim is under active development and the developer responds to feature requests in the forums in record time.