Crazy Little Fingers

Crazy Little Fingers is a great piece of software to keep those unwanted little fingers from messing up a document or presentation etc that you may be working on. What it is basically is a piece of software that locks your computer and runs like a kind of screen saver. If you happen to have young children around that are always trying to get at your computer. What will happen is that instead of them typing unwanted characters on your piece of work, while you are away from the computer. It will show a goat from example if they press the letter "G", and still leave the keyboard locked. Until you unlock it by pressing ctrl + alt + delete.

If you are downloading the software it offers two versions. One which is 64MB in size and comes with a complete library for all the keys on the key board, or the second version which is almost 400Kb in size (hell of a lot smaller), but the catch is that you have to put in all of the pictures for the different keys on the keyboard.

Overall Wantoks it is good little piece of software which will protect your work from the kids and keep them entertained at the same time.

New Years resolution tracking tool - Joe's Goal

As per my first post of the year this year I have decided to change a few things in my life for the better. So I needed a tool to track my New Year resolutions progress over 2009. Surfing the net I came across a free online tool called Joe's Goal. This tool is very simple to use to track you goals for 2009, all that it involves is creating a online account which takes less then a minute to do on its homepage. Then on the interface that is made up of a seven days of the week with goals on one side and days on the top. You mark the day if you reached your goal for the day. For example if you goal was to exercise and you did it today, you would have green tick in the box. On the other hand you can also record your bad habits as well for example if your goal was not to eat cake for today and you did eat cake then you mark it and it will appear with a red cross. At the bottom of the grid it will provide a telly for the day. There are also basic reports that you can run, and you can keep logs of all of your activities as well.

So Wantoks if you want to try and achieve your New Years resolutions but need a bit of extra help to get there try giving Joe's Goal a go.

BitTorrent power is now a add on in Firefox - Fire Torrent

It seems that BitTorrent has now leaped a huge gap in how it can be used. This was achieved by Firefox extension Fire Torrent. Basically what this extension does is let anyone using Firefox 3.0 or greater start downloading torrents from any source.Just like you would download a normal file, with out the use of separate BitTorrent software like FrostWire etc.

This Firefox add on is still in its alpha stage but I predict it will become one of the most popular Firefox extensions ever if it lives up to expectations. At the moment in Alpha testing it is invites only. But when it is released to the general public BitTorrent is going to take off in a big way. Thanks mainly to the global market pentration of Firefox.

If I was a big movie studio or music lable I would be very worried about the potential of such an Add On like Fire Torrent. The potential for it to be used to download copyrighted material is huge and big movie studios and music lables will stand to lose heaps. On the local scene record labels like CHM should be worried about this Firefox extension because of its ability to be used to trade copyright material. You may think in the sceme of things this is not something for CHM to worry about. But when you think about how easy it is going to be to trade copyright music etc, you will change your mind. For example now people won't need to have thrid party software to share files e.g. LimeWire, FrostWire, etc (except Fire Torrent). It is going to make file sharing a hell of a lot easier.

Look out Papua New Guinean music labels this is a sleeping Giant.

Free IBM open source office suite - Lotus Symphony

IBM Lotus Symphony is a freeware open source office suite which is based on the OpenOffice project. IBM Lotus Symphony offers three products Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. So Wantoks basically it is offering you a free alternative to Microsoft's Word, Excel, and Power Point. Lotus Symphony is a large download for the Wantoks that use dial up at 200MB. So you might want to consider requesting for a Free CD. All in all it is another good freeware product that can save you a few kina, instead of you having to buy Microsoft Office.

Software to hide data from prying eyes - HideMe

Recently my nephew came to me to seek some advice about how he could protect or hide his diary that he keeps on a shared computer with his sister. The solution I suggested to him was to use HideMe. HideMe is a freeware application that you can use to hide files in a picture. The data is hidden in the picture and can be extracted with 7Zip or any other Zip-Program like Winzip, etc. To the unsuspecting eye all it looks like is another picture, which in acutal fact it is not. Great little piece of software to hide sensitive data or if you just want to act like a sceret agent.

With the rate that laptops, etc are stolen in Papua New Guinea this may be an easy option to protect sensitive data in the event that you laptop is stolen.

Skype 4 beta 3 release - Windows only

All the Wantoks out there who use Skype will be pleased to know that Skype has released Skype 4 beta 3. It looks lots and feels very much like Skype 4 beta 2. But it does included a few new features:

• Bandwidth manger - used to improve call quality
• Full history feature which allows you to serach and browse past conversations and calls
• Abuse reporting feature that allows you to report users you block to Skype
• Microsoft Outlook contacts support
• Call quality feedback area

Open++ add items to your right click menu

Open++ is free software that lets you add a new sub menu to your right click context menu. It has advanced options for adding almost any function that you want. Basically what Open++ does is provide a utility to add your own functions, when you right click. It also allows you to launch applications, files, folders, etc. Currently it is a Windows only product. A great tool for the Wantoks that want to speed up their ability to access key applications, files, and folders quickly.

P2P freeware software - FrostWire

For those wantoks out there that use the peer to peer software Limewire I would suggest you take a look at Frostwire. Frostwire is a peer to peer file sharing software on the Guntella network and uses BitTorrent protocols as well. It is writtern in Java, and comes under the GNU licence and is a free software. It has all the features that Limewire Pro has and the best thing about it for people that use file sharing software is that it connects to BitTorrent. So basically don't pay for Limewire when you can get Frostwire for free and it connects up to BitTorrent.

The features that Frostwire offers are:

• Completely free & open source
• No spyware or adware
  
• itune intergration
• BittTorent Support
• Connects to more sources then Limewire & Limewire Pro
• Junk result filters
• Community Chat rooms
• Proxy support
• Firewall to Firewall transfers

The Frostwire GUI is looks the same as Limewire and opperates the same as Limewire. With a fee add bouns of having a section where you can connect up to BitTorrent. To be honest while trialing Frostwire over the last week to do this post, and you would not go back to using Limewire or Limewire Pro. So file sharing wantoks save a few kina and use a free and more superior product then Limewire. If you are going to do Peer to Peer file sharing use Frostwire.

Fedora 10 released - free linux operating system

Just the other day I was over at Tuuans & Dukduks and was posting a comment regarding freeware operating system Ubuntu. Well the Fedora project has just released the latest version of Fedora 10. Fedora 10 is a free Linux based operating system which is sponsored by Red Hat.

The latest release is around 682Mb in size so sorry for all the wantoks out there with dial up connections but it is going to take forever and a day if you were going to attempt to download such a big ISO file. But never fear there are other options out there for wantoks with dial up connections. If you want you can purchase a copy of Fedora 10 online or you can order a copy of Fedora for free online (click here for free ordering of Fedora).

For more information on Fedora I suggest you visit the Fedora website by clicking on the link above.

What does this mean for my wantoks in Papua New Guinea well it is a free operating system. So you don't have to spend money on paying for a operating system for your computer which can set you back well over K800 at Datec, etc. Not only does it save you on spending money on an operating system, it also comes with open office so you don't have to buy programs like Microsoft Office, etc.

How to track your bandwidth usage for free - bitmeter

For six months when I was using Daltron's (ISP) wireless service at the end of the month I would see the bill and wounder if I really did use the amount of data that they were charging me for. I know that Daltron does offer a page where you can see how much data you have used. But how do I know that their data is correct. Well this post is going to introduce you to a tool that I have recently discovered that that allows Windows users to see how much data they are chewing through. The tool is called bitmeter which is offered free from download.com.

What bitmeter does is that it allows you to visually monitor your Internet connection by showing a scrolling graph that shows your download and upload speed over a period of time. The features of bitmeter are:

• Graphical and numerical displays of historical data,
  
• Web interface,
  
• alerts,
  
• stopwatch,
  
• calculator,
  
• transparent/float/click-through modes,
  
• help file,
  
• audio notifications,
  
• configurable color-schemes

Follow these instructions to set up the monitoring notification to let you know once you have hit your monthly megabytes limit.

1. Download & Install bitmeter from download.com
2. Once bitmeter is installed and running click on the bitmeter icon in your windows task bar to see a graphical view of your data usage.
3. To access bitmeter's features right click on the bitmeter icon and it will show you a list of options. The one that we are looking for is called ISP restrictions. Now select it.
4. Make sure that you select ISP restrictions apply check box.
5. Select what day of the month your new billing period starts.
   
6. Then you need to put in your monthly down load limit.
   
7. Then select when bitmeter should alert you that you are getting towards the end of your limit.
8. click Apply

Microsoft to release free anti virus software

According to the APC website Microsoft is in the process of releasing it's own free security software in the second half of 2009. Due to an anti trust ruling that prevents Microsoft from building virus protection in to Windows. The new software code named "Morro" is not going to be a direct replacement of OneCare, instead it is going to be a stripped down version of OneCare. Morro is going to be aimed at defending against viruses, malware, trojans, etc.

What effect will this have on the average Papua New Guinean wantok? I believe that it is going to have a positive effect because if Microsoft releases a free anti virus program. Anti Virus vendors like Symantec, McAfee, etc will be forced to release free versions as well. I believe they will have to base their business modules on AVG's (by the way is a great anti virus software). Where a free version is offered but the Grisoft (Company that produces AVG) recommends that you purchase the premium verison because it also does x amount of extra things that are not offered in the free version. To cut a long story short in long run if Microsoft does something link release free virus software it is going to increase compertition and choice. Which we have seen in Papua New Guinea in recent times is a good thing e.g. Digicel Vs B Mobile, Airline PNG Vs Air Nuiguni. Due to compertition bring down prices and improving customer service.

Firefox extension - Video DownloadHelper

Do you ever run into the problem when you are surfing the web while killing time before you have to do something and you run into a video that you would really like to watch? But due to time constraints you are not able to watch the video. Well if this is you here is a Firefox extension that can solve this problem for you. The extension is called Video DownloadHelper.

Video DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. The purpose of this Firefox extension is to capture video and images from websites. It works by detecting if there is any video images content on a particular webpage that it is able to download. If there is and you have the Video DownloadHelper icon on your tool bar the icon will change from being Grey in colour to Red, Yellow, and Blue. It works on all types of sites like YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, etc.

From version 3.1 onwards Video DownloadHelper is able to convert downloaded movies to your preffered video extension automatically.

A great tool for all the Wantok's out there that want to download a video and watch it later when they have time. Also another benefit of Video Downloader is that it downloads video's one at a time. So for those Papua New Guinean's that like to multitask and do a number of different things at the same time. It will free up bandwidth for you to keep on surfing the web, using Skype, etc.

Skype - free calls from Papua New Guinea

Since the start of November 2008 I have being able to make free calls to Australia land line telepones and 29 other countries through Skype. Currently Skype is running a promotion where for the next 30 days you will be able to make free calls to a number of selected countries around the world. When I say free I am not taking into account the megabytes that are used for the calls. So there is some cost by it is an ISP that is making money instead of say Telikom or Digicel.

I personally have being using Skype for well over 2 years now to ring friends and family overseas which uses VoIP. I have found that this has dramatically decreased my phone bill. For example if you were to ring from your Digicel mobile in Papua New Guinea to a telephone land line in Australia it would cost you 99 toea per minute using Digicel. Normally when there are no Skype promotions on and you are ringing from Papua New Guine to Australia it would cost almost 3 australian cents. Which when converted at todays exchange rate of around 0.54 Aus$ to 1Kina it would cost you all most 6 toea per minute to call an Australian land line. You don't have to be a Uinversity of PNG accounting student to work out that you are saving 93 toea per minute by using Skype.

There is a large potential business use for this technology in Papua New Guinea. For starters companies can use Skype to call overseas to reduce their phone bills. They can also set up overseas numbers that are linked to there Skype account so when people from overseas want to call them they can dial a local number in the country that they are in, so that the call cost will be for a local call instead of an international call. Better yet people can do Skype to Skype calls so it will only cost you the megabytes that you are using. You can also do video conferences, instant messaging, send text messages to mobile phones, transfer files, etc.

Only real draw back of using Skype in PNG for the wantok on the street apart from an internet connection would be the ability to have access to a credit card. But now with the introduction of Bank of South Pacific's Visa debt card it would make it more viable for wantok's to pay for top ups of their Skype accounts.

I know as a fact that some of the large mining companies in Papua New Guinea are already using Skype to communicate. For example one of the mines that has a very remote site uses Skype to communicate the weather details so that helicopters that fly in and out of their site are aware of the weather forecasts in the area.

LogMeIn - Remote desktop software

LogMeIn has made my IT support role a lot easier. Recently I have started using log in to work remotely from home. I am now kicking myself for not using LogMeIn earlier. For starters it saves me in fuel costs and the environment. Because every time something goes wrong at work and I need to do something on a server etc. Before LogMeIn I would have to drive back to work to fix things. Now a days it is simply a matter of me connecting to the internet and logging in to the computer/system that I need to attend to.

What LogMeIn is a remote desktop software that is web based. You do need to install some software on the machine that you wish to control. But after that is done you can control that computer from any computer that has a connection to the internet, which will allow you to log on to the log me in website (please note that you do need a decent amount of bandwidth, otherwise it can become a bit like watching paint dry).

What does that mean for Papua New Guinean's well instead of paying an arm and a leg to get a VPN set up to access your network from home or from work to home. You can now use log me in to do the connection for you. Provide that you are able to install the LogMeIn software on the computer that you wish to control.

Well wantoks instead of giving your hard earned Kina to Datec or Daltron etc, if you need a cheap fast solution for a remote desktop/VPN give LogMeIn a go.

Traim LogMeIn