There are dozens of keyboard application launchers for Windows. Most let you launch a program by pulling up a text input screen and typing the first few letters of the application name, whether it's Firefox, Office, or the system control panel. It's often a lot faster than locating the correct shortcut with a mouse and the Windows Start Menu.

ControlPad also lets you launch applications using keyboard shortcuts. But this utility takes a different approach. Instead of typing the name of the program you want to run, you enter a numeric code to launch an application, action, or web site. For instance, you can enter one code to open your web browser; enter another to open a web page; a third code would activate the browser's back button; and a fourth code would close the browser altogether.

On the one hand, you'll have to memorize all of those codes in order to effectively use ControlPad. But there's a reason for using numbers instead of letters. The program is designed to be used from the numeric keypad on your keyboard. If you're the sort of person who types at 20 words a minute but can crunch numbers at blazing fast speeds using the keypad, ControlPad might be for you.

There's also a laptop mode for computers that don't have a numeric keypad. Basically, this lets you launch the utility using the F12 key instead of the * key. But ControlPad is a lot less useful on computers that don' t have numeric keypads.

Once the program is running, it's easy to create or edit codes either by entering a URL, choosing from a list of possible commands, or browsing for an application you want to associate with a code.

You can either download and install ControlPad or grab a portable version which you can unzip to a USB flash drive or any other folder and run without installing.

[via gHacks]

Sometimes a really interesting piece of software slips through the cracks here at Download Squad head office, and we miss covering it when it was first released. Sometimes when that happens, it's worth going back and pointing out what we missed. Though it was released back in February, we have somehow up until now neglected to mention the experimental New York Times Article Skimmer, and for that we feel shame.

Silliness aside, the Article Skimmer is an alternative way to experience the New York Times' content online, and in my opinion it is a better analog for reading a physical newspaper than most news websites are offering. Since you can't reasonably display the same amount of information on a web page as you can on a physical page of newsprint, the only way to make scanning for stories more efficient is to optimize the display for that purpose, and that's exactly what the Article Skimmer does.

The interface gives you a simple five-by-four grid that fills the page showing headlines and very short summaries for the top stories in the section that you select. Thumbnail images accompany many stories, and if there are more stories than fit on the page, you can quickly flip forward and back between pages. There are also keyboard shortcuts like the obvious arrow keys that will navigate you up and down through the different sections of the paper, and a couple of less obvious shortcut keys. Holding down the 's' key (for section) will show numbers beside each section -- type the number of the section you'd like to view, and press Enter all while still holding the 's' key to jump straight to that section. Hold the 'a' key (for article) and use the arrow keys to navigate the highlight to the article you'd like to view, then press Enter while still holding 'a'. As always, you'll need a free account with the New York Times to view most of the articles.

The announcement for the Article Skimmer notes that it doesn't yet have an official name, but that its purpose was to try to replicate the feeling of spreading out the Sunday times on a table while maybe eating brunch and skimming through the stories. I think this might be the closest we'll get to the tangible feeling of having a huge amount of articles right at our fingertips only a few inches away from each other.

Gmail Mobile just received a couple of updates that bring it even closer to the full Gmail experience: keyboard shortcuts and faster autocompletion for contacts. When Google says "keyboard shortcuts," the emphasis is on the "keyboard" part. You'll need to have an Android phone with a physical keyboard, like the G1, to use them. If you do, Gmail on your phone now supports all the same shortcuts you can use in desktop Gmail, so you can navigate your mailboxes or jump to the next message with a single keypress.

Faster autocompletion can be used by Android and iPhone users alike. Autocompletion has been reported on some blogs as a new feature, but Google's own blog post suggests that addresses just complete faster now, thanks to caching of results from previous address book searches. This means that possible addresses should now come up as you type, making it even quicker than before to send a message from Gmail Mobile.

Since your computer is your newest appendage, it makes sense to learn all those keyboard shortcuts so you can save time, and also avoid repetitive stress syndrome (think carpel tunnel) which could really lead to down time from your favorite computer activities.

Shortcutguide.com is a nice all-in-one list of keyboard shortcuts for most popular applications such as Google (mail, docs, spreadsheets, video, maps, reader) , Firefox 2, Windows XP, Linux 9, Yahoo Mail, Opera 9, and Adobe Reader 7. Although some Apple apps are listed such as iDVD, iMovie HD 6, iTunes 7, and i photo 06, shortcuts for Mac OS X are not listed nor are they for Windows Vista.

Still, this is a nice all-in-one resource to help you navigate different applications without using your mouse. And you gotta love the nice keyboard interface that lets you hover over keys to see different shortcuts in the feature pane. Of course, in this instance you have to use your mouse, but it's all in the name of a future reward, so to speak.

Tell us your favorite keyboard shortcut guides you've found on the web, and we'll compile them into a new big grandaddy list.

Cant figure out a faster way to get around your most used applications? Or maybe you are diving into a new application and want to learn some keyboard shortcuts, forget about user manuals and check out Keyxl.com

KeyXL is one of the largest online databases of keyboard shortcuts around. Search by software, operating system, Windows, Macintosh, Linux and browser based application, this database has it all. From IE 4, Adobe CS3, Gmail, Eudora and Garageband, KeyXL takes a comprehensive look at cutting corners. If they don't have your application listed, submit your own, or request them to add it to their list.