More and more programs these days are using tabs in one form or another, web browsers and Firefox and IE have had tabs for a long time. Most of these programs now also allow you to drag and drop the tabs to re-order them. The drag and drop feature lets you organize better and helps to increase your proficiency.

So if you’re anything like me, you’re wondering why hasn’t Microsoft added this feature to the taskbar of the Windows operating system. If you could re-order your open applications and windows you could group them together in order by the tasks your are working on.

There’s no reason to keep waiting for Microsoft, meet Taskbar Shuffle!

This little program is easy to install and works as advertised. Taskbar Shuffle runs in your system tray without slowing things down. Once installed you can begin dragging your taskbar items around and reordering them any way you like. Go ahead, give it a shot!

Technorati Tags: taskbar, shuffle, windows, drag-and-drop,

Photo By: XirannisX en Off”

No matter how large your music collection you’re probably getting tired of hearing the same songs over and over again? And this can’t be more true for those of us who’s collection is full of popular songs heard constantly on the radio. It’s time to Discover New Music!

The other day I ran across a blog post with 10 ways to discover new music. Two of the programs I’ve previously talked about in my “Calling All Music Lovers” post, Pandora.com and Last.fm. Both are large music discovery services with free personalized internet radio without audio advertisements and slightly different methods for recommending new music, last.fm also has the added bonus of a large social network.

If you’ve tried both of these be sure to check out “Top 10 Ways to Discover New Music” for 8 more unique tools. Skreemr, an MP3 search engine, and Musicovery, find music from a particular era and genre that fits your mood, are just two of the tools mentioned.

Out of these 10 tools I’m sure you’ll find something to help expand your collection beyond the over played radio hits. But don’t forget to check out Amie Street if you like independent music. Their unique pricing methods make it easy to discover popular independent artists of all genres.

Technorati Tags: discover, music, web tools

Think you are always aware of your surroundings? Think again! I ran across this little awareness test today and figured I would share it with you. I’ll admit that I failed and I consider myself to be more aware of my surroundings than most. Enjoy!

Take the Awareness test!

Technorati Tags: awarness-test, just-for-fun

Looking for a little fun on the web? Dig up a photo of yourself and check out MyHeritage’s Celebrity Facial Recognition software. After uploading your photo using their simple web form MyHeritage does two quick scans, one to locate the face and a second to detect facial features. The facial features are then compared to a database of  that it uses to compare to a database of celebrity photos.

The celebrity comparisons are based off of multiple photos of each celebrity to give higher quality results. The results are pretty accurate from the photos I’ve uploaded of myself and friends, you can quickly see the similarities. With each photo uploaded you’ll get multiple celebrity matches, each with a percentage showing just how close that match is.

Be forewarned, don’t submit your own photo if you can’t handle the reality of finding out you don’t look like Brad Pit or Angelina Jolie.

My top three closest matches were 74% Chad Michael Murray, 68% Adam Brody, and 68% Leslie Caran.

Technorati Tags: facial-recognition,, celebrities,, free

Adobe has launched it’s online version of Photoshop called Photoshop Express. It’s currently a public beta and open for anyone to sign up.

The online Photoshop Express is a nice little photo editor for some of your more basic editing needs but if you’re used to the advanced features of the full blown Photoshop then it’s not for you.

Photoshop Express features 17 editing tools including red-eye removal, crop & rotate, saturation and sharpening (see left). It’s not the greatest selection of edition tools but the ones they do give you are quite nice. It looks like they took a page from Microsoft Office 2007, most of the tools display a row of thumbnail images across the top of your photo, just hover over a thumbnail and you’ll see the effect applied instantly to your image. This is great if you’re not quite sure what a specific tool can do.

The undo capabilities are also great! You have your typical undo and redo arrows but you also have a nice little ribbon like feature that displays a series of thumbnail images with all of the edits you just made. Click on a thumbnail and revert back a that particular point. Unlike most photo editing tools, it’s also easy to remove any particular edit without loosing any of the changes you made after words. All you have to do is remove the little check mark next to the tool and that particular edit is removed, leaving all others in place.

Photoshop Express isn’t just an editing tool though, you also get 2GB worth of storage for an online gallery you can share with friends and family. I have to admit, it’s nice to have 2GG for free, but I’m not all that fond of the gallery, it seems to be lacking in features a bit. You can organize your photos into albums and view the albums as a slide show but there really isn’t much more than that. The search feature is only helpful if you have commented or named each photo. The addition of tagging would make it much easier to keep organized.

Over all, Photoshop Express is a pretty nice little editing tool, especially since you can import directly from other services like flickr, photobucket and picasa. But if you’re and advanced user you’re probably better of with desktop software and if you’re looking for a place to store your images and show them off, I recommend using flickr.com, zooomr.com or picasa web albums, they have many more options when it comes to sharing.

Technorati Tags: Photoshop-Express, photography, adobe

Hulu launches to the public today which means anyone can join and you no longer need an invite!

Hulu is a joint venture by NBC Universal and News Corp to create a single location where you can watch “premium content” for free. (previous article here) This well-designed site is supported through periodic video advertisement breaks, however there is only one ad during each break as opposed to 4+ on regular TV, that means 75% less advertisements! The ads they do play are short and pretty unobtrusive, making for an enjoyable experience.

Check them out, it’s Free to join!

Technorati Tags: videos,, hulu,, fox,, nbc

Fox and NBC joined forces, a new venue for watching the hottest television shows opening to the public soon!

March 2007, News Corporation (FOX’s parent company) and NBC Universal joined together and began developing their own ‘YouTube‘. The difference, hulu will feature premium video content including TV shows, movies and short clips rather than the user generated content shown on YouTube.

Watch shows like Prison Break, The Office, Saturday Night Live, The Simpson and Heroes online, on-demand and as often as you like. You’ll also find shows and movies from many other cable channels like Bravo, FX, G4, National Geographic, Versus, Sony and E! Entertainment. hulu is free of charge and supported through advertisements, BUT with only 2 minutes of ads for every 22 minutes worth of content. The ads are also shown as single 15-30 second ads making them relatively unobtrusive.

The hulu player has some excellent features that make the viewing experience very comfortable. You can watch the videos in full screen mode or in a pop-out window allowing you to place the video anywhere on your screen and resize it to your liking. A “lower lights” feature mutes the white space of your browser window so it’s easier on your eyes. Here’s a quick view of the hulu player with the “lower lights” feature on, you can see the area above and below the video has a opaque gray overlay.

Hulu has also made it easy to embed the videos on your own website, You can even create embeddable clips from any portion of a video. Below is a sample clip created from an SNL Democratic Debate skit:

My first impressions of hulu have been great. The video quality is decent, the interface is easy to use and there is quite a lot of content available. The only thing that bugs me is you can’t view full length episodes for every season. The number of full length episodes and the number of seasons they go back is dependent on a show by show basis.For more hulu info check out the company profile from CrunchBase, read the recent Forbes article or check out the latest from TechCrunch.

At this time hulu is currently in private beta so you are not able to create an account without an invite. I do have 10 invites to give out if would like to get access early. Just drop me an email from the contact page and I’ll send you an invite.

Technorati Tags: hulu, videos, fox, nbc

Stop on over www.ComputersConfuseMe.com to see a new page created today called “Favorite Free Software“. This new section of ComputerConfuseMe.com lists some of my favorite free software applications of all kinds.

Firefox, Flock, Thunderbird, Gimp, Image Resizer, avast! antivirus and Tweak UI are just a few of my favorites listed on this page. This section will be updated regularly with the latest versions and new free software when I find great programs to share, so check back often.

Technorati Tags: free, software, ComputersConfuseMe

“How to Create a PDF File“, the latest How To on ComputersConfuseMe.com, gives you all the information you need to convert any document into a PDF file for free.

Converting your document into a PDF file ensures everyone from around the world will be able to read your document. The recipient doesn’t need to have the same application you used to create the file, all they need is to download a free reader program.

Check out the article to learn more about creating your own free PDF files.

Technorati Tags: PDF, free+PDF, free, ComputersConfuseMe

Fresh out of Google Labs comes the free GOOG-411 service. Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) into your phone from anywhere in the US, say your location and what you’re looking for and Google will connect you with the business you choose for free.

Check out the GOOG-411 homepage and watch their short video on how the service works. They also have a FAQ page with an easy description of how to use GOOG-411. Can’t beat a free 411 service.

Blogged with Flock

Technorati Tags: google, free+411, 411, free