Wallpapr – Find free photo wallpapers on Flickr

Looking to update your desktop wallpaper? Having trouble finding anything good. Ask Wallpapr to find something for you. It’s a nice, simple Ajax app that will spit out a bunch of photo wallpapers from Flickr’s Wallpapers pool on command. Just enter a tag (e.g. clouds, skyline, food, whatever you’re into) and click on 20, 40, or 100 to get that many thumbnails, or leave the tag field blank and get a nice variety. Every photo in the pool is at least 1024×768, and clicking on a thumbnail will take you straight to the photo download page. Excellent!

source [downloadsquad]

Sudoku Slam – Today’s Time Waster

I’ve fallen more or less out of my Sudoku obsession, but Sudoku Slam brings something new to the table. Sudoku Slam is a free web-based version of Sudoku, and has a “Traditional” mode that acts like most web-based Sudoku games. But it also has a “Sumo” mode that, for jaded, impatient Sudoku players like me, takes some of the tedium out of the game. Sudoku purists might call it cheating, but what Sumo mode does is automatically fill in all the “candidate” numbers at the beginning of the game and automatically eliminate candidates as you solve the puzzle. Sudoku Slam also has some other welcome features, like the ability to undo any mistakes you might have made, full keyboard control, and the ability to save and load games, as well as print them out. There’s also a Smart Hint option in case you get stumped, and four different difficulty levels. Definitely worth checking out if other Sudoku sites have fallen short of your expectations.

source [downloadsquad]

Linux XP

Linux XP is a Linux distro that aims to make computing better with the muscle and security of Linux, but tries to look like Windows so it is easier for Windows users to get used to it. The international English edition just launched, but it was initially the most popular distro in Russia. It is based on Fedora Core and really does mimic Windows XP’s look and functionality well. Linux XP is also “tightly integrated” with Microsoft technologies, such as Active Directory, remote Windows server login, read/write FAT16/32 and read NTFS file-systems. Microsoft VPN can also be used with Linux XP, can your Red Hat do that? nVidia and ATI graphics drivers also play nice with Linux XP as well, with good support for OpenGL. Linux XP has an easy update feature and add-on installer to help Linux noobs get started and expand their crispy new Linux XP systems. It is an interesting distro that looks strangely familiar.

Control Panel on Linux XP.

Linux XP desktop (in Russian)

 

source [downloadsquad]

uTorrent’s WebUI

Awhile back the brilliant folks behind uTorrent made it known that they were working on bringing a web-based interface to the free, lightweight Windows BitTorrent client. This week they released a new beta version of uTorrent that includes the new WebUI, and I am happy to report that it’s fantastic. So, what use is a web-based interface for a desktop program? Well, the WebUI allows you to access most of uTorrent’s from anywhere in the world, whether it be another computer on your home network or on another continent. Now, I’ve seen desktop programs with auxiliary web-based interfaces before, and while useful, they’re not always pretty. That is not the case with uTorrent’s WebUI. The WebUI looks and acts like a desktop application. It’s snappy and responsive and looks great. It doesn’t clone all of uTorrent’s features, of course, but pretty much all of the features you need on a day-to-day basis, and a lot you don’t, are there. You can add torrents from files or URLs, change file priorities, manage labels, use the integrated search, and even access most of uTorrent’s settings. All the while your downloads keep ticking away via the wonder that is Ajax. This is all backed by a password-protected login, but the uTorrent team is planning to add an optional guest account feature.

One potential caveat is that Internet Explorer 6 is not supported by the uTorrent WebUI, and, to quote the developers, “NEVER WILL BE.” They are, however, working on a mobile version of the WebUI, which may work with IE6. Oh, and in case you’re worried that the WebUI will add bloat to the traditionally slim uTorrent, fret not: The main uTorrent executable is still just 174kb, and the optional WebUI package adds just 57kb on top of that, and will as likely as not slim down even more by the final release.

source [downloadsquad]

BookRevyoo: Social book reviews

BookRevyoo is a social book review community where books can be added and reviewed by members, and also rated. Books that users enter into the system are tagged with keywords relevant to the book, allowing easy categorization, and browsing. The built in RSS feature lets you keep track of user’s comments on the book you might be thinking about reading. I look forward to watching this online social book review site develop, since they are currently in beta, I expect there will be a few more features added.

source [downloadsquad]

How to create timelines in Excel

I can’t think of any app more frequently used for something other than its intended purpose. Today I learned how to make timelines in Excel, from Microsoft’s own Education site, of all places. It’s a very short tutorial, but in case you’ve ever needed to create a timeline, and fast, don’t overlook the flexibility of Excel.

source [downloadsquad]

CNet TV

I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but CNet TV is pretty cool. A lot of news, reviews, and video clips showcasing new hardware and software can be found there. It is of course ad-supported (by Geek Squad), but makes catching up on the new stuff quick, painless, and actually fun. If only Engadget could do something like this, it would be off the hook. CNet TV is still in beta, but hey it isn’t cool NOT to be in beta these days. I like the format and the coverage which I use to catch up on current news quickly (almost daily). It is a refreshing change from reading text-based news all the live long day.

source [downloadsquad]

SAP’s tools now feature RadRails and Eclipse

SAP’s new download includes a bunch of open-source tools including RadRails, Eclipse, PHP/Ruby/Python code generators, and SAP’s scripting tools. This shows the growing trend that large software companies are beginning to realize the huge value of free open-source frameworks and ideas. Eclipse and RadRails are excellent tools to use, even for the wizards at SAP so it only makes sense that they use these tools and bundle them for developers. I have always considered SAP to be somewhat forward thinking, but this proves they see the value in the tools already freely available to developers. They are only making life easier on themselves and keeping developers happy too. Sun, Microsoft, IBM, and others have shown signs of embracing open-source tools, though they haven’t quite brought their open-source offerings to their full potential. They haven’t quite reached critical mass, but they are on the way.

source [downloadsquad]

怒火中的慶典

怒火中的慶典 陳長文

令人感慨萬千的國慶日！一個國家元首在層層紅色的人民怒火包圍中，好整以暇地發表著已經沒有人聽得進去（包括他自己在內）的國慶演說，這是多麼荒謬的景象 啊。一方的人民，聲聲催促涉貪涉弊的總統下台；另一方的總統，卻一副正氣凜凜的模樣，說他要為國為民走這段「荊棘路」，還自我標榜成「仁君」，因為他沒有 武力伺候那些要他下台的民眾，比起威權政權不知好上幾百倍。

啊！這景象除了讓我想到歐威爾小說裡的那頭名叫拿破崙的豬，復讓我想到台灣詩人陳魚寫的「歲月老人中藥店」。這首詩中，歲月老人為滄狡的人 心捉了一帖藥，藥方上寫著：「自私半兩，諂媚七分，虛榮五錢，猜忌十克，貪婪足斤，妒嫉一塊，算計全用，狡猾不拘多少！」是的這人心裡最闇污的元素。陳水 扁總統，向歲月老人一次求來，全部吞下，為的就是保住他那時限也無多的權位。

無奈嗎？但我們不能無奈啊！因為，台灣是我們的家，感情所依所附的芳土。樂觀，是我們對家的義務，我們不能因為一個無恥的政客，向歲月老人 求得了最闇污的方箋，就任他擺布。這一切的弔詭、矛盾、荒謬，我們必須找出背後蘊涵的道理，必須找到一個讓光明來到的出路（即使無法立即來到）。

於是，在這個大家已不再許願的國慶之日，我想為我們的國家許下四願：

一願，我們能學得教訓，在未來選出清廉的總統，讓一位清廉的總統創造清廉的政治，為台灣衝出一條光明的生路。

二願，所有的政治公僕，能從陳水扁的身上習得教訓。他原應是台灣最幸運的人，因為歷史授給他一個造福人群的榮耀機會，但他卻陷台灣人民於痛 苦的深淵，讓曾經信任他、跟隨他的人破毀了希望，他還給歷史的是一個腐臭的污漬。就連他自以為殘苟權位而想逃避的法律制裁，也已在不遠處等著他，他總有卸 位之時，那也將是他枷鎖加身之日。而那些濫用檢察職權卻怠職縱貪的檢察官如許永欽、曾益盛等人，今日公輿之怒吼，人民不會因為時間而遺忘，歷史也會記住你 們的失職無能。

三願，青年朋友不要因上一代的失範，效而隨流，因為你們已是台灣未來唯一希望。表面上，那些為惡的人，今日看起來（在物質層面）非僅未受懲 罰，位極權傾的他們甚且受到獎賞。這也讓很多在學校任教的老師感到錯亂無措，有這些「負面示範」存在，要怎麼教育學生當個誠實正直的人呢？

但我要告訴大家，那是因為大家錯認了所謂善惡之報的本質，人生在世，最大的獎賞，就是行正坐穩，因為不論貧富，你一輩子都可俯仰無愧，這是上帝所能給人最大的恩澤！相對的，人生最大的懲罰，就是成為一個貪佞邪枉的惡徒，他身上的惡，除非改悔，就將是終生的詛咒。

我最後的一願，要送給在凱道上經歷風雨的民眾，以及因為反貪運動生活受到影響的民眾。謝謝凱道民眾，我不知道你們的堅持，最後能否讓貪腐總統提前下台，但那已無關緊要了，因為，不管台灣的政治再暗，因為你們堅持，我們仍看到了光明的希望。

期待下一個國慶，可以遠離貪腐陰霾，以歡欣的心情，慶祝國家的生日！

source [中國時報] 2006.10.11

剪卡容易核卡難 銀行謹慎發卡

現今使用信用卡是相當普遍的一種消費方式，根據金管會八月份發布的資料顯示，目前台灣46家發卡銀行的總發卡量接近4000萬張。而另一項田野調查也發現，一般成年人信用卡的持卡率高達94.8%，平均每一位持卡人就持有四張信用卡左右。可見信用卡早已成為消費者最重要的支付工具。

　　許多持卡人表示，平時消費習慣是按各種卡的屬性去刷卡，支付各種消費款項，並從中享受優惠與現金回饋，因此，對許多持卡人來說，信用卡不只是支付工具更是一種理財工具。

　 　不過隨著消費者皮夾中的信用卡越來越多，有些持卡人發現，那些只是為了辦卡贈品，或是刷卡優惠，而去申辦的信用卡，使用頻率卻往往很低。或是因信用卡太 多，導致不知不覺中造成負債過度的情形。因而萌生剪卡想法，甚至索性剪掉手中的信用卡。不過，持卡人需注意如果隨意剪卡，日後要再辦卡時，困難度可能會增 加。

　 　由於卡債風暴所帶來的影響，銀行對於發卡策略走向保守、嚴謹，不再像過去辦卡那麼簡單。現在發卡銀行核卡的標準不但比起從前嚴格許多，以卡辦卡更明文禁 止。就算卡友信用良好，也可能會面臨到核卡不通過的窘境。再者，如果持卡人個人無擔保負債比，已超過月收入二十二倍，或是持卡人是屬低消費族群，但身上已 擁有多張信用卡，以及在半年之內已經辦過太多張卡，這些因素都會導致卡友核卡不通過。

　 　因此，卡友在辦卡之前，應先確認此卡是否符合生活所需，而不是因辦卡首刷禮豐厚才去辦卡。卡友身上如囤積太多呆卡，或者半年才有一次小額消費，這些持卡 者都將造成銀行的負擔。因此，各家銀行在打消呆帳之餘，也開始在打消呆卡。銀行會針對客戶重新進行信用調查，甚至定期去檢視客戶的聯徵資料。所以，有些卡 友會接到不續卡的通知，甚至發生鉅額消費無法刷卡的窘境。

　　此外，在剪卡前，也需先謹慎衡量之，以免增加日後申辦信用卡的困難度。銀行為有效控管卡片、降低服務成本以及減少呆帳，對於核卡標準只會越來越嚴格，所以卡友不論在辦卡或是剪卡時都應仔細思考後再進行。

 

source [卡優新聞網]