Download this pattern here (Brusheezy link).

One piece of advice, maybe: please don’t use this as the general background for your web designs, unless it’s toned down somehow. Moderation usually bodes well .

I’d like to share the excellent free background textures I used for alex.manarpies.com. It was created by DeviantArt user ‘Princess-of-Shadows and was compiled from scans of actual materials.

Find the original page here.

The image pack features 5 distinct textures with varying degrees of grunginess. You can use them as-is, or bestow some Photoshop wizardry upon them to cook up some custom coloring and effects. I went for the latter approach:

Here’s how I achieved this effect:

1. Set the texture layer to black and white.
2. Set the texture layer’s blend mode to Overlay.
3. Set the texture layer’s opacity to 70%.
4. Create a new layer under the texture layer and fill it with a color, perhaps a shade of pale blue.

It may have come to your attention that the textures won’t repeat especially well when used as a background. However, as they are pretty hi-res, you could give the backgrounds a fixed background position. For instance (CSS):

Code block

background-color: #d2e0dd;
background-image: url(bg_site_blue.jpg);
background-attachment: fixed;

Grungy background patterns seem to be in vogue lately, and there’s a lot to be had of them on the net – too.
But, please, don’t kill the effect by mere overzealousness. Moderation in everything, my friend.

Have fun with them and report back with your creation .

Additionally, command line is supported in order to enable automation.

If you insert a used re-writeable disc, it will automatically be erased (Quick Erase). Secure erasing is also possible using the free Active@ CD/DVD Eraser. ‘Secure’ in the sense that every sector on the surface will be overwritten with a neutral pattern, whereas ‘Quick Erase’ only modifies to file table to make whole disc seem empty (the actual data remains).

[rating:5]

Get both freeware applications at NTFS.com.

• Download Taskbar Shuffle
  For Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/98/95

After this gizmo’s installed, all you need to do to order the buttons differently is click and drag. It’s as simple as that. System tray icons can also be dragged around, if you hold the CTRL-button whilst doing so.

A great little tool for the frenzied computer user.

You can seamlessly synchronize your Google Calendar and Contacts with a free service called NuevaSync, as discussed by me in this article. Google has also recently implemented its own version of OTA sync by licensing Microsoft ActiveSync technology. I’ll have a writeup on this soon. OggSync is still a viable alternative though, if you already incorporate MS Outlook in your workflow and don’t  mind the limitations this application causes.

• Native syncing with NuevaSync << Ace on Tech.com

Continued…

Synchronize multiple (primary and secondary) Google Calendars to Outlook and your iPhone/iPod Touch for free with OggSync.

• Download OggSync 3.22 for Outlook (direct link)
• www.oggsync.com

The iPhone and iPod Touch don’t support calendaring very well out of the box. Apple provides some rudimentary implementation for Microsoft Outlook on the Windows side (the majority of the user base is Windows-users – after all). And that’s pretty much where it stops. Most likely, when the iPhone SDK makes its debut the tables will turn once the third-party developers get their foot behind the door, but for now we’re stuck with Outlook.

The only way to get your Google Calendar(s) onto the iPhone* (i.e. without hacking) is to go through Microsoft Outlook. This means you’ll have to subsequently synchronize your calendars with Outlook and then with the iPhone. Furthermore, the latest version of the ‘Home & Student’ edition of Office [2007] doesn’t come equipped with Outlook anymore, like previous iterations used to. If you’re a Windows user and want calendaring on the iPhone, you’ll have to acquire Outlook first.

Lame, I know.

The secondary calendars dilemma

The problem with Google’s own syncing app for Outlook is that it only supports 1 calendar, the primary calendar. If you like a certain structure in your events, like I do, this will rapidly become a problem. If you want, it is possible to merge all your calendars into one. In that case, you can go ahead and sync to Outlook with Google’s own app.

In order to accomplish a merged primary calendar, you can:

• Move the events to your primary calendar, or
• Export your entire secondary calendar and import them into your primary calendar

(Google promises to make the multi-calendar feature available in the future, but doesn’t specify a date)

OggSync (Google-Outlook Sync) to the rescue

For those who refuse to make such a sacrifice (hell, I do) there’s a free app out there called OggSync. It’s an Outlook Add-In that supports primary and secondary calendars seamlessly and best of all, it’s free. It docks right into the standard Calendar view as a toolbar and provides you with a few options. Once you’re set, all you need to do is hit the ‘Sync’-button. Magically, GCal events will start to trickle into your Outlook Calendar…

After that, plug in your iPhone and sync away.

Pros:

• Full support for all your calendars
• Support for both Outlook 2003 AND 2007
• Pro version available, but optional
• Free!

Cons:

• A bit of a hassle, but heck, it’s better than nothing, no?
• No calendar coloring support [yet] in Outlook 2007
• An occasional freeze, but they don’t usually linger for long

Download OggSync 3.22 for Outlook (direct link)

Notes

*: You can also access your Google Calendars via the Safari browser on the iPhone. However, this is a static view and means you cannot add or edit events. Furthermore, you will need WiFi availability in order for this work. Experience has shown you don’t usually have wireless around when you need that desperate peek at your calendar.

FileZilla is a free application and gets the job done just as its commercial siblings do. It’s UI’s simplicity is familiar, powerful and feature-complete.

• All major protocols supported (FTP, FTPS, SFTP)
• Multi-lingual
• Pause/Resume, also for large files (>4GB)
• Site Manager to save frequently used FTP-sites
• Drag & Drop
• Speed Limits are configurable
• Filename filtering
• Wizards

FileZilla is multi-platform with builds for Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Linux and Mac OS X (PPC G4 & Intel).
Recommended.

• FileZilla Project Homepage
• Download Page

Many talented graphics artists alike are producing sleek icons without wanting a dime back for them. All you need to do is use them gracefully and give the creator some well-deserved credit.

NX06 is a slightly older set of Windows icons which could nicely do for web design as well. It’s prominently black and would perfectly fit designs that feature a lot of blacks or grays. It was inspired by Longhorn (Windows Vista’s codename) and OS X.

PNG format, size 192*192 px.

• Click here for NX06 at DeviantArt
• Direct download link (DeviantArt)
• Artist’s DeviantArt Profile

This artist has not published usage guidelines for this work. Use respectfully and give credit to the rightful owner of the work.

It supports everything you’d expect from a well-seasoned code editor, amongst other features:

• Syntax Highlighting & Syntax Folding
• User Defined Syntax Highlighting
• Code Auto-completion
• Regular Expression Search/Replace
• Zooming
• Brace & Indent Highlighting
• Macros
• Integration into the shell

You should see Notepad++ as an all-round replacement for Windows’ built-in Notepad and a lot more. It supports a vast array of programming languages, yet is specialized enough to be used for web authoring, too: it’ll recognize nested languages effortlessly, e.g. XHTML, CSS, PHP and Javascript in one page.

Notepad++ is completely free of charge and subject to the GPL license.

• Hop over to Sourceforge and download Notepad++ for free.
• Visit this project’s homepage.

Windows Vista has the option to make selections using checkboxes familiar from webpages alike. This feature isn’t enabled by default, but is reachable in just 2 steps. Here’s how to:

• Open an Explorer Window, it doesn’t matter which, and click through
  Organize > Folder and Search Options
  
• Click the View-tab and look for
  ‘Use check boxes to select items’
  
• That’s it!