Foobar2000 has long been a favorite free alternative audio jukebox for the hardcore customization enthusiast, noted for its odd name and utilitarian interface. The program has graduated from garage band status with version 1, which includes some nifty new features that make it more competitive.

The most obvious change is the new context menu structure. It looks far more user-friendly than before, but it's also less customizable. There's also a color-code system for the status bar and playlist view by default, to help them stand out in the default interface, and album art support has come much closer to the competition.

Other changes occurred under the hood. CD ripping enhancements include on-the-fly database checking and the ability to rip selected tracks, as opposed to an entire CD, in the "Rip Audio CD" dialog. There's also new built-in support for Windows Media and RTSP streaming, eliminating the need for those plug-ins. The "edit" menu works on the current selection as opposed to the active playlist, and the Preferences sees the introduction of the basic but necessary OK/Cancel/Apply buttons and new menu layouts. Multimedia keyboards should work better with the new Foobar2000, and the portable version--which comes from the same installer as the full version--will retain library folder paths relative to the install folder.

Foobar2000 uses tabs and panels to help the user navigate its plain, but functional, user interface. You can customize the interface using several layout options. Menu options and recognizable command buttons reside at the top of the window. Two panels, each with tabbed menus, reside on the left side of the window. From there, you can view the album list and the properties of a selected artist or song. You'll also find tabs for viewing a spectrogram, a spectrum, and VU meter of music currently being played. The largest panel displays track lists. Using the menu options, we were able to successfully pull music files from a CD, load them into the player, play them without issues, and save them as MP3s or WAVs. You can also display album art, and synchronize with portable players including iPods.

The jukebox supports a massive number of add-on components, including advanced decoders, track taggers, and even entirely new interfaces.

Both novice and advanced users will appreciate this program's easy navigation and straightforward style. Although many people might prefer a jukebox that looks more like iTunes, Foobar2000 is highly recommend.

Have you been lusting over Google's free URL-shortening service but unwilling to install Google's browser toolbar to use it from non-Google sites?

You're not alone, and the good news is that there are now a handful of alternatives, my favorite being Googl Lite, a free Firefox add-on that shortens the URL of any page you're on through Googl, then copies that link into your system's clipboard.

The button, just a little more than 20 pixels wide, can be placed anywhere within your browser. And if you're not fond of downloads, you can use a software-free bookmarklet that will create a shortened link for any page you're on. However, unlike the add-on, the bookmarklet does not copy the link it creates to your clipboard, which can be a time saver, if you intended to stick it into a tweet, instant message, or e-mail.

Chrome users can also install this extension, which also copies the Googl URL to your clipboard, while giving you a shortcut to add it to a tweet.

As mentioned when we first covered Googl, there's not a whole lot of incentive to use it over more advanced link-shortening services like Bitly--at least not yet. In the near future, Google could quite easily build it into its analytics service and better index these links within its search results, making Googl a top choice for publishers and other businesses.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

Do they give awards for "Most Inventive Re-Imagining of a Classic Paper Game"? If so, I nominate Hanged for iPhone (which should also be in the running for "Best Stop-Motion Love Story" and "Game Most Likely to Make You Pull Out Your iPhone and Tell Friends, 'You Gotta See This!'")

If that sounds like a lot of gushing for what is essentially Hangman: Extreme Makeover Edition, it's because Hanged is such a clever and pleasant surprise.

The game has no menus, no instructions--it is just Hangman, after all. I don't want to spoil the experience by describing specific details, but I will say you're in for a visually breathtaking treat.

And an emotional one. Hanged manages to weave a dramatic (if brief) love story into the unlikeliest of scenarios, one that plays out via stop-motion claymation. You really have to admire the creativity behind it.

And that's Hanged in a nutshell: a creative twist on Hangman and a valentine to the classic paper game. It's the best 99 cents you can spend on a game (this week).

I'd love to see what the developer can do with Dots.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Mozilla has released its first release candidate, RC1, for Firefox 3.6 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The new version includes Personas, which lets people customize the browser's appearance; blocks third-party software from encroaching on its file system turf to increase stability; and perhaps most significantly given the competitive threat from Google Chrome, shortens start-up time and improves responsiveness and JavaScript performance.

Firefox 3.6 RC1 is also available from Mozilla's download site.

People can notice skins and better performance, but there also are changes deeper under the hood that developers should know about. One is support for the File interface, which can help with tasks like uploading multiple photos and is part of the draft HTML5 standard effort. Another deeper change is running scripts asynchronously, which can help load a Web page faster by putting off some work until the high-priority chores are complete.

Mozilla had hoped to release the updated browser in 2009 as part of a higher-frequency release schedule, but gave itself a bit more time for Firefox 3.6 and 4.0.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Open any six Web pages at random and you'll get six different layouts and twice as many font styles and sizes.

The simplest way to make a page easier to read via the keyboard is to press Ctrl and the + (plus) and - (minus) keys to increase and decrease the size of text and usually images on the page. If you're browsing by mouse, press Ctrl and spin the scroll wheel up or down to change the size of a Web page's elements. You'll also find zoom-in and zoom-out options on the View menu in Firefox, IE, and Opera, and on Chrome's Tools menu.

(If you just want to maximize your view of the current page, move the browser's own components out of the way. In all four browsers, press F11 or click View > Full Screen to switch to full-screen mode. Press F11 again to return to the normal view. In Chrome, click the Tools icon in the top-right corner and choose Full screen.)

Put a finer point on your Web zooming
You don't have to stick with your browser's default zoom options. To create a custom-zoom setting in IE 8, click View > Zoom > Custom. You get a couple other zoom options in IE by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Advanced and looking in the Accessibility section. IE 8 also shows the current zoom percentage in the bottom right of the status bar and opens the zoom options when you click the button to the right of the number.

Internet Explorer users may have noticed a better zoom experience through IE 8's new Adaptive Zoom feature, which adjusts all the elements on a page so content doesn't flow off the screen to the right, for example. Saloni Mira Rai describes the technology on Microsoft's IEBlog. Even more detail about IE 8's improved zooming is available in an IEBlog post by Harel Williams.

Opera has used the same type of adaptive zoom for some time, but you can also customize the browser's zoom settings by clicking Tools > Preferences > Web Pages and adjusting the two options under "Choose image and zoom settings for new tabs."

Firefox's about:config options include settings for remembering the zoom level of specific sites and for changing the percentage zoom of each increment. Percy Cabello provides the details in "Tweak Firefox 3 full page zoom" on the Mozilla Link site.

Chrome doesn't let you customize its zoom options, but you can change the default font size and type by clicking the Tools icon, choosing Options > Under the Hood, scrolling to Web Content, and clicking Change Font and Language Settings.

Of course, you can also change the default fonts in Firefox (Tools > Options > Content), IE (Tools > Internet Options > General > Fonts), and Opera (Tools > Preferences > Web Pages). By default, these settings apply only to pages that don't specify fonts, and there aren't many of those around.

To override the page's font settings in IE, click Tools > Internet Options > Accessibility and check "Ignore font styles specified on Web pages" and "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages."

To override a page's preset fonts in Firefox, click Tools > Options > Content, select the Advanced button under Fonts & Colors, and uncheck "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above."

As far as I can tell, Opera and Chrome don't let you override the fonts specified by a site, but you can set the minimum font size in Opera by clicking Tools > Preferences > Advanced, choosing Fonts in the left pane, and changing the value of "Minimum font size (pixels)."

Firefox add-ons make zooming a breeze
Add zoom-in and zoom-out buttons to Firefox's status bar with the Zoom Page add-on. The simple utility also shows the current zoom percentage; right-click the number to zoom only text.

Get even more zoom options in Firefox with the NoSquint add-on developed by Jason Tackaberry. In addition to status-bar zoom-in/zoom-out buttons and zoom percentage, NoSquint lets you set the full and text zoom levels for specific sites, change the text and background colors, and disable backgrounds images altogether. You can also disable zooming with your mouse scroll wheel and change the default zoom from text and images to text only.

What I need is an add-on that monitors my level of eyestrain and adjusts the size of page elements accordingly. Even better, how about an add-on that automatically highlights the small nugget of information I'm actually looking for on the page? I'll zoom to that!

Originally posted at Workers' Edge