Daily Bits

Software

Kiwi Joins the Desktop Twitter Client Craze

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Tired of your current Twitter desktop client? Maybe because it doesn’t let you style the main client interface? Well, here’s another entrant to the gradually getting crowded Twitter desktop client market – Kiwi.

Screen shot 2009-12-20 at 7.34.04 PM

Kiwi is a Twitter desktop client for Mac OS X that among

other things lets you use various colorful themes.  Kiwi’s standard features include:

  • supports multiple accounts
  • supports account combinations
  • supports various rules
  • multiple account grouping
  • mentions, hashtags and links
  • notifications
  • tweet badges

Kiwi supports Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard and Webkit. So if your Mac supports all of these, you can use Kiwi as your Twitter desktop client. You can try downloading a free “incomplete” copy which allows you to do pretty much some of the good stuff that you can do with other Twitter desktop client.

But if you feel like you need more features, you can also get the paid software which will cost you $15.

I’m currently checking out Kiwi and so far so good. The theme selection and theme API is definitely Kiwi’s stongest point. Other features are practically the same as other Twitter desktop client.

So, if you don’t mind buying a desktop client to do all your Twitter chores, you might want to consider getting Kiwi.

I’m going to test it some more and see if it is good enough to make me spend my precious $15.

Via

Originally posted on December 20, 2009 @ 11:38 am

Four iPhone apps for creative writers

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Want to get creative while on the move, or check up on how some of your writing buddies are getting on?

The iPhone’s virtual keyboard may not be best suited for cranking out paragraphs of prose, but sometimes you’ve just got to write, regardless of where you are.

Check out these four apps for the iPhone. Click on the title to go to the app on the iTunes Store.

my-writing-nook-iphoneMy Writing Nook

Write from anywhere and automatically synchronise with the My Writing Nook web application, so you can work from your laptop, iPhone, Internet café — anywhere.

Features autosave, word count, dictionary and thesaurus look ups, portrait and landscape modes.

£1.19 / $1.99


writers-block-buster-iphoneWriters Block Buster

Boasts over 300 thought-provoking questions to get those creative writing juices flowing again when the inspiration has dried up.

12 different categories including plot development and dialogue, with the ability to input your own content and characters.

£2.39 / $2.99


nanomojo-iphoneNaNoMojo

If you’re participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, this app will keep you in touch while on the move.

Keep up-to-date with how your writing buddies are doing, including word counts, avatars, and latest news from HQ.

£0.59 / $0.99


ipoems-101-iphoneiPoetry

Provides help and assistance for budding poets, including practice and suggestion for eight types of poem. The app can even generate its own poetry.

£1.19 / $1.99

Originally posted on November 3, 2009 @ 12:03 pm

Amazon to Bring e-Books to PC Users, Thanks to Competition

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Amazon is really gearing up for battle against Barnes and Noble’s Nook eReader and the other eReaders are threatening to stole Amazon’s success in the e-book market.  Aside from lowering the price of its Kindle International version to $259, Amazon just announced that it will soon be releasing the – “Kindle for PC” application. [Read more…] about Amazon to Bring e-Books to PC Users, Thanks to Competition

Originally posted on October 22, 2009 @ 8:19 pm

16 Calculators and Converter Widgets for Mac OS X

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Here are some of the more useful Mac OS X dashboard widgets for converting and calculating various things. Hopefully you’ll find at least two or three that are useful.

Click on any of the titles to visit the download page on Apple’s web site.

1. Basic Scientific Calculator

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When you need a bit more than a basic calculator but not a full-blown scientific calculator, this is for you.

2. Wave Length Calculator

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A bit specialist, perhaps, but if you’re an audio engineer it could well save your bacon in the recording studio.

3. Binary Watch

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Get a puzzling yet cool binary watch on your Mac’s dashboard.

4. BMI Calculator

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Calculate your Body Mass Index with this handy widget.

5. Calculator 1984

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Get nostalgic with this simple Mac calculator.

6. Countdown Calculator

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Find out how many days it is until… well… anything you like.

7. Hex Color

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Quickly calculate the hex color code. Very useful for web designers.

8. MD5 Hash

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Get the MD5 hash for any string of text you input.

9. Morse Code Translator

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Create morse code from a string of text.

10. Password Maker

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Create more secure but potentially memorable passwords based upon a word or phrase you enter.

11. Percentages

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Easily calculate percentages without the brain ache.

12. Sunset

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Find out sunrise and sunset times for any city.

13. URL Minimizer

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An absolute must for avid Twitter users: shorten that long URL so you can share it with others.

14. Word Counter

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Simply count the number of words in a chunk of text.

15. Unscrambler

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Unscrambles anagrams – great for Scrabble (not that you’d cheat, of course).

16. Unix Time Stamp Converter

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You know there’s always some moment when you need to know official (i.e. Unix) time.

If you have your own favourite calculator/conversion widgets, share in the comments below.

Originally posted on October 16, 2009 @ 11:24 am

The Best Free Photo Editing Software

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While browsing on the web I came across a very interesting article titled The 11 Best Free Photo Editing Programs. It basically lists 11 free programs that you can use to edit photos. Six of them are desktop applications, and five are online photo editors.

The cool thing is that apart from the description, each program comes with the “Best Selling Point,” the “Biggest Drawback” and a handy list of tutorials to get you started using the tool. Here is a quote from the first mention, Gimp:

Gimp takes the cake with this little competition. It fits all the criteria for the perfect image editor for college students. It’s free, compatible with all computers, and satisfies all your editing needs—from basics like cropping and red-eye correction to multiple layers, advanced filters, and GIF animation. The worst you can really say about this editor is that initially it can be a bit overwhelming. It has multiple windows and a wide range of options. But once you get the hang of it, photo editing becomes a breeze. For all but the most professional editors, Gimp even works as an adequate substitute for Photoshop, a $700-$1,000 program. Also, if you have a Mac, this is by far your best option and the only one that made our list.

Best Selling Point: Overall best functionality and compatible with all computers

Biggest Drawback: Overwhelming interface with a steep learning curve

Gimp is also probably the most well known software in the list. Most of the others were new to me, and they look promising. Whether you’re a professional photographer or a novice, this article gives some helpful insight to save time and money.

Originally posted on September 29, 2009 @ 6:12 pm

Cool Photo Morphing Software

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morphingIf you take many photos, then you will probably want to add some special effects to them sooner or later. Morphing is one cool thing that you can do. It basically merges two different photos in one. If you mix the right photos, can results will be funny. For example, you could mix a photo of yourself with your kid to see how he will look like later in life. Or you could mix two celebrities together, like in the photo below:

I researched about photo morphing software, and one that I did like was called Morpheus. It does all the morphings on the fly and it comes with some useful features, including:

  • The option to output morphings in Flash or animated GIFs
  • A morph wizard to guide you in the process
  • The option to upload your photos online
  • Previewing
  • Share functionality to send your photos to family and friends

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The software is a paid one, but there is also a free trial version if you want to test it out first. Check it out if you would like to start morphing your photos.

Originally posted on September 21, 2009 @ 9:14 am