As an amateur photographer, I’ve taken a lot of pictures that I’m quite proud of. So naturally, I like displaying them on my desktop. But I’ve gone through a few phases on how to do this…

In the “old” days, I used to use a random wallpaper switching program, but the problem with that was my wallpaper never had enough empty space for placing icons or widgets. So I opted to create a lot of my own wallpaper, but this was always a hassle because it meant saving different resolutions if I wanted to use the same wallpaper on different machines or for dual monitor setups.

Also when it comes to wallpaper, I’m a “minimalist” — I prefer simplicity and subtlety. So up until recently, I was using a Yahoo! Widget called OnePhoto that allowed me to stylishly display an image in one corner of my desktop. This widget had some neat customization options like frame styles and image rotation. People always did a “double take” when they saw photos “taped” to my screen.

But recently, I found this ultra cool and FREE program called PhotoJoy that easily turns your collection of photos into wallpaper collages and 3D screensavers. It even comes with neat PhotoToys like this Mobile that spins and swings like the real thing.

Hanging PhotoJoy PhotoToy

If you click on the pushpin and drag it around, it swings side-to-side! That is totally wicked!

Swinging PhotoJoy PhotoToy

If that doesn’t whet your fancy, take a look at some of the 3D screensavers.

PhotoJoy Screensaver - Photo Parade

PhotoJoy Screensaver - Reflection

Impressive! This definitely beats looking at the same wallpaper or photo all day long.

I got my first digital camera back in 1999, which was a Sony Mavica (MVC-FD83), where the FD stood for 3.5″ floppy disk!

Sony Mavica MVC FD83

Considering that megapixels, USB and memory cards weren’t available yet, being able to save photos to a floppy was actually convenient. Thankfully, today I have a 10-megapixel Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, which is like comparing a Porsche to a kid’s tricycle.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi

Although cameras have gotten a LOT better since then, the one thing that still annoys me is the file naming convention — files are usually prefixed with a letter identifier then they’re numbered sequentially from 0001 to 9999. So on my old Mavica, files looked like this “MVC_0001.JPG”. On my state-of-the-art digital SLR, it looks like this “IMG_0001.JPG”. Now, is that progress or what?! NOT!

Since I know that all cameras store metadata (like Date Picture Taken) in an EXIF format in the pictures themselves, why couldn’t cameras give me the option of specifying the file naming convention? Over time, a file like “IMG_0001.JPG” doesn’t really mean a whole lot, especially if you store all the files from different shoots in the same folder. At least, if it was named in a YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS format, I could quickly sort my photos chronologically. But I suppose this feature isn’t as sexy as marketing a 21-megapixel camera with an integrated cleaning system.

So until then, I can continue to manually rename my files or I can come up with a more automated solution. Considering that I took almost 800 photos on my last vacation, the manual option isn’t really an option — I don’t have that kind of time or patience. So I started writing a PHP script to extract the EXIF information from files and renaming them. This worked fairly well until I ran into photos that I had edited or re-saved as PNG. For some reason, some of the graphics programs that I used stripped some of the EXIF data or reset the dates. For my panoramic shots, where I stitched a bunch of files together to make one, it doesn’t re-save the EXIF data. So now I was back to manually renaming some files, which is painful.

As a programmer, I don’t like adding exceptions (special cases) to my code so I decided I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel because somebody else must have had the same problem. So after a few searches, I found a simple and flexible solution in a FREE program called ReNamer.

ReNamer

This program allows you to combine multiple renaming actions as a rule set, applying each action in a logical sequence, which can be saved, loaded, and managed within the program. In addition, it has the ability to rename folders, process regular expressions, is Unicode-capable, and supports a variety of meta tags like EXIF.

So if you have 1000’s of photos like me that you want to tame, you can add these 3 simple rules:

ReNamer - Add Rule - Delete

ReNamer - Add Rule - Insert

ReNamer - Add Rule - Case

With this rule set, we’re almost ready to clean up our file names. But I want my files in “yyyymmdd-hhnnss” format. By default, ReNamer uses a “yyyy-mm-dd hh-nn-ss” format. Fortunately, you can easily change this in the “Settings” under the “Meta Tags” tab:

ReNamer - Settings - Meta Tag

One last thing you’ll want to do is add a filter to only apply these changes to JPG files in case your directories also contain other files like PNG or GIF.

ReNamer - Filter Settings

Also, if you plan on using this tool again, now is a good time to save everything as a preset. I called mine EXIF, but you can call it something else.

ReNamer - Save Preset

Now, we’re ready to run this tool on our images. Just drag-and-drop your files into the window and click “Preview”. You should see something like this with new names that are a little more useful:

ReNamer - Preview

If the program didn’t encounter any problems (e.g., with duplicate new names), you can click “Rename” to make the changes permanent. If there are duplicates, just uncheck them so they don’t get renamed to blank file names. You can manually rename those files later or create another rule set to handle those special cases.

Hopefully, this makes your life easier so you can spend more time taking pictures.

If anyone is using a dock program like ObjectDock, RocketDock or RK Launcher then you have to check out this Docklet by Matías Moreno. It emulates the Stack feature that was introduced in Apple’s OS X Leopard.

Although a dock provides a great way to clean up the icons on your desktop, you’re limited to how many icons you can add — basically, the width of your screen. So if deleting icons is not an option then you do what big cities do … you build taller buildings. But this docklet does it in style — it springs open in an elegant arc and hides itself after you click on an icon.

ObjectDock with Stacks Docklet

Although there is no offical page for this docklet, you can download it from RocketDock’s Addons site. However, this version seems to be a bit older. So if you go to the author’s site, you can download a more recent “preview” version (1.0.0.134) here:

Since there’s not a lot of instructions on how to use it, here are some steps you can follow for ObjectDock:

1. Unzip the file to your docklets folder (e.g., C:\Program Files\Stardock\ObjectDock\Docklets).
2. Right-click on your dock, select “Add” then “New ‘Stack’ Docklet”. You should see a new icon (with a down arrow) on the end of your dock.
3. Right-click on the new icon and select “Dock Entry Properties…”
4. In the “Folder” section, click on the “…” button to select a folder (e.g., C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories).
5. In the “Icon” section, click on the “…” button to select a different icon.
6. Click “OK”.
7. Now hover over and click your new icon, you should see all your accessory icons appear in a nice fan.

How’s that for functional and cool?!

Of course, if you’re like me, you probably won’t be satisfied with the choice of icons since most icons are for specific programs. Ideally, what we need is a group or folder icon to depict what’s in it. Fortunately, I found a site full of great looking and free folder icons by a user named deleket.

Have fun!

If you read my earlier post on RocketDock, this is a related “rave” on ObjectDock (v. 1.90). Both programs try to bring the main feature of the Dock in Mac OS X to the Windows world.

Although I’m still a big fan of RocketDock, I wanted to customize the look and behavior of my dock. So I tried ObjectDock Plus and I was impressed! Besides being able to download over 1000 different skins and icons from the WinCustomize site, ObjectDock Plus also has Tabbed Docks and Docklets like weather info that fly out to display 5 day forecasts.

But the feature that made me switch was “auto hiding”. For example, if I maximize a window, the dock hides itself, but if I move the mouse to the edge of the screen or resize the window, the dock re-appears. This might not seem like much, but without it, I was constantly minimizing all my windows in RocketDock so that I could see the dock.

Anyways, here’s what my customized ObjectDock looks like:

In case you’re interested, I’m using the OS X Leopard Dock Pack, which you can download from WinCustomize.

As for the icons, I couldn’t find a consistent look so I created my own set with reflections. Since I’m not much of an artist, I used IcoFX to extract the icons from the program executables and saved them as transparent PNGs. Then I opened them in GIMP and used a plugin called gimp-reflection to create some cool looking icons to match the 3-D Leopard dock. I probably went a little overboard because I created over 120 icons from all the programs I have installed!

So if you’re looking for the next step up from RocketDock, check out ObjectDock — there’s a free version and a Plus version for $19.95.

I’m probably going to make myself sound like a dinosaur with this post, but do you remember the old days when DOS was king? Well, I do and I miss being able to copy an entire program like WordPerfect 5.1 to a floppy disk and copying it on to another machine. Back in those days, entire programs resided in a single directory and weren’t dependent on Windows and DLLs. That was portable!

Nowadays with software getting more bloated while mobile computing increases, software maintenance is becoming a nightmare. On a daily basis, I use 3 different machines — a desktop and a laptop at home, and a desktop at work. So whenever there is a security update to my OS, I have to download and install them 3 times! Not only is that a waste of my time, but also bandwidth.

Thankfully, USB flash drives have come a long way and are more than just replacements for floppy disks. With the introduction of U3 technology by SanDisk, applications can be executed directly from your flash drive so you don’t need to install programs to your hard drive anymore. Even better, most flash drives have a pre-installed launchpad like the Windows Start menu so you can easily access your programs.

Unfortunately, U3 is a closed platform and has a few problems:

• U3 applications are not updated as often.
• It uses 2 drive letters to get around AutoPlay issues — one to simulate a CD drive to start the launcher and the other for the drive itself.
• Another thing that bugs me is U3 applications are installed to a hidden ’system’ folder, where the program folders have cryptic names like ‘3C9F7B3F-D55C-42cd-8537-B878518B73AF‘. What’s wrong with naming it ‘Firefox’?!

Luckily, I stumbled across PortableApps.com, which is an Open Source and completely free alternative to U3.

The base edition includes a launcher, a backup utility, custom icons, and it supports Autorun (using only one drive letter). If you visit the site, you can (currently) download 50 applications, which are up to date with the “regular” versions.

Like PortableApps, all these applications are also Open Source and it looks like they were hand-picked. Almost everything you could possibly need is here — OpenOffice, GIMP, Firefox, Thunderbird, FileZilla, Pidgin, VLC Media Player, ClamWin antivirus, etc. If something isn’t here that you need, you can put in a request in their forum. Better yet, they even have a development guide so you can create your own portable app. I can definitely see myself doing this. Even if you’re not inclined to create your own app, this is way cool! They even let you name the folder when you install an app.
So if you use more than one computer, this is a great way of carrying your programs with all their settings (that you spent hours configuring) and your data. I installed 19 apps and it only took up 198 MB, which still leaves me a lot of room on my 1 GB stick.

Check it out … I think you’ll be glad that you did.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

Now, said the professor as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things — your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions — and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else — the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, I’m glad you asked.

The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

I consider myself a desktop fanatic when it comes to a clean desktop — I don’t like icons on my desktop and I like my windows to be neatly arranged. So when someone resizes or moves one of my windows, I wince at the thought of knowing I’m going to have to fix it later.

Sure, I can right-click on the task bar and select “Show Windows Side by Side” (in Vista) or “Tile Windows Vertically” (in XP) to restore some things like my Windows Explorer, but for other things like my Notepad or Calculator, which I like in the corner, it’s a manual process to drag it over, and yes for me, I need to be precise to 1 pixel.

Years ago, when I switched over to Linux and used Gnome, I was amazed at how your windows automatically “snapped” to the screen edge or to other windows. So for the times that I need to be in Windows, I really miss that feature. Well, thanks to a little utility called allSnap (v. 1.33), I can make Windows feel more like Linux.
allSnap is a small system tray app that makes all top level windows automatically align like they do in programs such as Winamp or Photoshop.

Here’s some more screenshots:

But another positive side-effect I found from this utility was for the GIMP. If you’ve ever used the GIMP, you know what I’m talking about — everyone has complained about it’s multi-window interface being too cluttered. Well, with allSnap, you can easily snap the windows so they’re nice and neat then in the GIMP’s Preferences, save the window positions.

It’s a small thing, but every little bit makes a difference.