Demo Girl

Friday has arrived, and not a moment too soon. I don’t want to bore you with complicated applications that will help you work better – I want to show you some tools that require very little brain function that you can use over the weekend. In this quickcast, I’ll show you 4 applications that do just that.

SuperLame gives you a super cool way to add caption balloons to your photos. The entire process is fast and really enjoyable. You can even choose to have the balloon outside of the original image.

SensibleUnits is a ridiculous application that shows you random items that are the same size of whatever measurement you type into the search box. For example, if you type in 25 feet, you may get results such as, 1.7 London buses stacked one on top of the other. Another interesting fact is that 500 lbs is also the same weight as 45 average domestic cats. Good to know.

Epicurious has a new “Seasonal Ingredient Map” that shows you exactly what’s currently in season in whatever state you live in. I just learned why lemons are so darn expensive in California right now – they’re in season in December. That just doesn’t seem right for some reason. What about all the poor kiddies and their summer jobs as lemonade stand owners?

Bradicon needs very little explanation because it only does one thing. It turns almost any image into an icon. The entire process is quick and the only thing you need to do is select the image from your computer. From there, Bradicon instantly turns it into an icon that you can download. [via Lifehacker]

To see these 4 applications in action, watch the screencast below:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m45s

Want this screencast on your site? Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

People like to browse the web in so many different ways, and that’s why it’s great that there are so many different types of Firefox Extensions to please just about everyone. With that said, these 4 Extensions may not be for everyone, but they could be just what someone out there needs to make their browsing experience more enjoyable.

Craigzilla allows you to view personalized craigslist ads, right in your browser window. After you install it, you just need to set up the preferences to match what you are looking for. You can set it up to auto alert you after a specified amount of time, displaying new ads that match your query. It’s a great tool if you’re looking for something specific on craigslist but don’t have the time to keep checking back to see if there are new ads.

FlagTab is a great tool for people who like to keep their tabs organized by color coding them. After installing FlagTab, you just need to double click on a tab and it will change colors. Every time you double click, the color will change again and again. You can customize the colors of the tabs and the font that appears in the tabs. I know it’s not for everyone, but some people really like to keep their sh!t organized .

Shrinkify is probably the most ridiculous Firefox Extension I’ll ever review on DemoGirl because it doesn’t really need a screencast. It does one thing, shrinks a long URL. The reason I chose to share it is because it does it so quickly and you literally don’t have to put forth any effort. Simply right click on any page with a long URL and it’s automatically copied to your clipboard. From there, you just need to paste it wherever you want to share it. Short and sweet.

Netopi allows anyone to leave and read reviews about any site on the web. Of course, you need to install it first but then any time you’re on a site that you’d like to make a comment on, just click on the Netopi icon and your sidebar will pop open. This is where you can leave your comment about the site and read what other Netopi users have said. You can also remain anonymous and not sign up for a Netopi account, which I really like. The site reviews are pretty minimal right now because not enough people are using Netopi but it could turn into a really nice way to see what people think of your site without forcing them to comment on a specific post. It could also turn out to be a great hangout for spammers. Only time will tell.

If you’d like to see all of these Extensions in action, click the link below to watch a 4 minute screencast:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m56s

Want this screencast on your site? Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

I’ll never forget how excited I was to receive my first Netflix movie in the mail.  Pulling apart the perforated edges was like unwrapping a gift I had already peeked at on Christmas morning – still excited as heck even though I knew what was inside.  Apparently I held quite a bit of affection for that little red envelope because I kept it in my possession for 3 weeks after watching the movie.  In all honesty, it sat on my desk because I have some sort of problem with “real” mailboxes.  Since then, I’ve tried to be better at remembering to send in my movies so I can get the most out of the membership that I pay for.  At least I thought I was getting better, but FeedFlix just showed me that I’m ripping myself off.

FeedFlix allows you to view your Netflix habits on a chart and shows you how much money you’re actually spending based on how many movies you receive each month.  Since I suck at returning my movies, I pay $5.00 a movie even though my membership would allow me to have as many movies as I want for $9.00 a month.  Besides just showing you how well you use your membership, FeedFlix also pulls all of your viewing history and reviews onto one page that you can share with your friends.  All you need to do is enter in your personal RSS feed from your Netflix account into FeedFlix.  From there, FeedFlix grabs the data and gives you a personal URL that you can share.  This may not sound that interesting, but if your friends don’t have a Netflix account they can’t see what you’re watching or read reviews you’ve written.  So if they’re trying to figure out a movie to rent they can check out what you’ve been watching and read your opinion, if you’ve written a review.  It could be a really fun way to decide what you want to watch next.  Here’s my screencast tour of FeedFlix:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 1m53s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Update: The CEO of Orgoo was nice enough to post this link, where you may find some more invites.

Orgoo is aiming to be your one stop shop for email and IM, and they’re doing a pretty good job so far. Getting started was a lot easier than I thought it would be, so right from the get go I was a happy camper. Adding your email accounts is as simple as entering in your account details from all the big name sites like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! except, as of now, you can only access Yahoo! and Hotmail email from paid Yahoo! Plus accounts and Hotmail Plus accounts. You can also add other POP or IMAP email accounts as well. After you’ve added all of your email accounts you can just as easily add all of the different IM services you use. You can also easily send video messages, create video chat rooms with friends and they don’t even need to sign up for anything in order to join in, and send SMS messages in reply to emails and IM’s. If any of your online buddies have sent you emails, you can also merge chats with those emails. How great is it that you can pull an email you’re chatting about with someone, right into a chat?

With that said, there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out. My buddies from various IM accounts only show up half the time and I’m still waiting for one of my email accounts to load mail into Orgoo. It’s still in private beta, so there’s no reason to think these issues won’t be worked out. If you want to try Orgoo out, I have 5 invites for the first five requests in the comments. Just make sure you leave a valid email address in the email line of the comment form. Here’s my screencast tour of Orgoo:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m39s

Want this screencast on your site? Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

I have this weird obsession with needing to have a perfectly organized, clean, clutter-free desktop at all times. I almost find it hard to work sometimes knowing that behind my browser window there may lurk a disorderly mess of shortcut icons and unorganized files. I assure you this has nothing to do with the way I live the rest of my life because I think I define the word disorganized, but I digress…

Launchy is a great application and program launcher that not only allows you to quickly access items on your computer without going to your start menu or needing quick-start icons, but it’s also pretty much invisible until you summon it. Once installed, all you need to do to access your programs is hit alt + space bar and the Launchy window will appear. Just start typing in the name of whatever you’re looking for and Launchy will find it as well as auto suggest other possible matches. You can change the skin of Launchy and tell it what directories and file types you would like included in your results. There are also a bunch of skins and plug-ins that you can download here. If you want to quickly access a website from Launchy, you can do that too – you just need to add it in the catalog of websites in the plug-in, Weby. It’s a handy little tool that I’ve known about for a while but just never got around to trying out. Here’s my screencast tour of Launchy:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m36s

Want this screencast on your site? Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

The official 1st day of summer is quickly approaching, which usually means that it’s time to bust out….the dreaded swimsuit. It doesn’t have to be dreadful though, especially if you’ve been good all winter and kept up with a proper diet and exercise program. If you did happen to put on a few pounds of “natural winter warmer” then these two applications may help get you the information and motivation you need to get you back on track.

The first application, Gyminee, has all sorts of tools to help you find a diet and fitness plan that works for you. There are detailed exercise programs that you can subscribe to and you can even create your own for others to use. There is a food journal where you can log every scrap of food you consume and you can set goals to help with the motivation. There’s also a social aspect to the site allowing you to join and create groups and add buddies, which is great when you need moral support. There are two types of memberships – free and pro, with the free version giving you all the tools you need for a basic program and pro giving you access to professional trainer workouts, calenders, and advanced nutritional information. Even if you’re just looking for a new workout to incorporate into your regular routine, I’d definitely give Gyminee a look. Here’s my screencast tour of Gyminee:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m52s

This next tool is dieting software for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Cron-o-Meter breaks down the nutritional value of everything you eat and drink – right down to the vitamins and minerals. After you download it you just need to tell it everything you want to know about your food and how much of each thing you’d like to consume. For example, you can set up your profile to place you on a diet with a minimum of 1,200 calories and a maximum of 1,900. You can do the same for every bit of nutritional information. You can also have this data created for you by simply filling out a brief physical profile. Cron-o-Meter has an extensive catalog of foods already available, including fast food, that you can quickly enter in every time you eat something. The nutritional value is broken down on an easy to read chart, so every time you enter something in, you’ll see how many more calories, proteins, or carbs you have left to consume throughout the day. There are multiple charts showing you even more information such as how many of your daily vitamins you’re actually consuming (I was shocked). Each day you can also enter in your weight, blood pressure, body temperature, and blood glucose, and over time you’ll see a chart mapping out your data from day to day. If you have multiple people sharing a computer in your household, you can create multiple accounts so that each person can keep track of their dietary habits. Even if you’re not dieting, I recommend checking this out just to see if you’re really eating as healthy as you think you are. Here’s my screencast tour of Cron-o-Meter:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m52s

[via Lifehacker]

Summize calls itself “conversational search” and that’s because it does a pretty good job of searching for specific information in Twitter conversations.  When you type in your query, you’re given real time results of anyone on Twitter who’s tweeting about whatever you searched for.  You’ll also see entire conversations going on that somehow include your search.  You can search through different languages and then translate your results.  The advanced features are what really makes Summize stand out because they allow you to search by specific word, phrase, person, and even location.  Summize isn’t the only Twitter search tool out there, but as of now it seems to deliver the best results.  Here’s my screencast tour of Summize:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m11s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

Cubescape is a site designed to make you the least productive person at work today. Seriously, it will. That is unless you have my job, in which case playing with sites like Cubescape is required. In a nutshell,  Cubescape lets you create 3-D art by simply dropping cubes onto a canvas. You can even blow cubes up, which can be more fun than dropping them. You can replay the entire construction of your masterpiece and save it in the Cubescape gallery. In all seriousness, Cubescape would be a great tool for anyone in the creative field that needs help getting those creative juices flowing. Here’s my screencast tour of Cubescape:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m46s

Want this screencast on your site? Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via Lifehacker]

I have to say, whoever came up with the idea to hold a contest for the best screencasts for Firefox support, deserves a big, fat, raise.  It’s really an interesting idea and it gets people who love Firefox a chance to have their work out there to help other Firefox users.  Why do I think the brains behind this operation deserves a raise?  Well, because they just saved their company a bunch of time and money.  To top it all off, contestants have to use Firefox 3, so they just got that many more people to download the newest version of Firefox.

As for the contest details, there are few requirements.  You need to use Firefox 3, it must be flash based, and you can’t include audio.  They have a list of the top 100 support articles that you need to choose from, and from there you just need to be creative and stay on topic.   The top submissions will win a T-shirt designed especially for this contest (I want one) and the grand prize winner will receive a shiny new flip video camera.  So bust out your favorite screencasting software and start making those screencasts!

Penzu is a great tool for anyone who really likes to write, but doesn’t necessarily want to blog about their romantic vacation with the entire world.  It gives you a way to keep an online journal that actually resembles a journal, right down to a plain white piece of paper.  Each entry has its own page and you can easily go back and make changes or delete them.  You can add photos to your entries, although placement of the photos needs a little work.  Another great feature is that you can share your journal entries right from Penzu.  Just click “share” on the current entry you want to share and enter in an email address.  You can choose to show your name or remain anonymous.

I know what you’re thinking, why wouldn’t you just create a blog and choose to keep the entries private?  Well, for one thing, that requires a lot more work than just typing on a blank piece of paper, which is really what a journal should be about.  With Penzu, all you need to deal with are your thoughts and getting them down while they’re still in your head.

As of now, Penzu is missing some features like being able to share entries with multiple email addresses and the ability to arrange your photos freely on a journal entry.  A couple of links on the site say “coming soon” so I can only assume that Penzu will have more to offer in the future.  Here’s my screencast tour of Penzu:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m55s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via Go2WEB20 blog]