I I have always hated the way Windows XP manages open and save dialog boxes, it gives me choices on the left of the dialog, but those are not the places that I need, I frequently save, and load files from/to:

Quicksilver is a nice quicklaunch utility for Mac OSX. Currently available from QSApp at no cost, Quicksilver is what OS X’s dashboard feature was meant to be. Quicksilver allows easy access to a variety of information sources via a hotkey and is infinitely configurable. A variety of plugins extend Quicksilver’s feature-set and make the program more useful.

Quicksilver’s many uses extend beyond basic application launching. For example; one can type the name of someone in your Address Book application, hit tab when the correct person is selected, and initiate an IM or email message; Or you could simply edit the contacts information. Quicksilver is a rapidly evolving application that fits in very well the usage patterns of many keyboard bound users. This application comes highly recommended and should be an integral part of any Mac geek’s Applications folder.

A new search facility has recently been created by Google Labs. The facility is specifically targeted at computer programmers and enables them to search through an immense archive of freely available programming source code on the Internet. The facility has been named “Google Codesearch” and can be found at: Google Codesearch

Useful features:

• Results can be found by entering regular expressions as well as the usual freeform text. Regular Expressions are familiar to most experienced programmers and offer a very powerful mechanism for searching text.
• The results can be filtered by programming language; limiting the returned results to the preferred programming language.
• The search results provide a detailed snippet of the source code, along with a link to the original application code and a link to the license that the source code is released under (GPL license, MIT license, BSD license, etc.)All in all, Codesearch is a useful tool in any computer programmer’s arsenal. Saving time and making you more productive, enabling you to find existing code easily rather than spending time writing it from scratch.

MP3 Trim is a neat little (free) program for clipping mp3s down to size and length. There’s no installation as it runs straight from the executable, and you can add fade effects to make the trim less harsh. Great for small projects like maybe a music quiz, or to make sample clips for a garage band’s album?

Download MP3 Trim at MP3 Trim

Getting video to your PSP Portable music is old school. Ever since Apple added a video screen to its IPods, portable video is the craze. Arguably the best portable solution has to be the PSP. With a screen resolution of 320/240 (TV format) or 368×208 (widescreen), the PSP is unchallenged for portable solutions. The question is:Hhow best to get those video clips, or even entire movies to your PSP screen? Arguably the most versatile though easy to use solution is PSP Video9. PSP Video9 offers two simple steps for basic use.

First, convert, which allows selection of the original video-file (which can be any of multiple formats including VOB, AVI, MPEG, QuickTime and more). Select the filename as it will appear on the PSP, and the conversion quality. This last setting is important, as it defines a trade-off between high quality and low filesize. As such, choosing the correct resolution and bitrate is all important. As a rough guideline, if your PSP has firmware 2.00 or higher, AVC is the better choice, older firmware’s are bound to SP. Further, higher bitrates always produce bigger files. Luckily, Video9 supports an estimation in the ‘setup’ screen, which gives a good indication of the resulting filesize based on resolution settings and video-duration. With this, a correct setting can usually be found.

After the actual conversion, it is on to the second available step offered by PSP Video9: Copy. This step basically offers a rudimentary file-management system that automatically can detect your PSP when connected to your PC, and offers copy, remove, and playback facilities. So, that’s it. Two simple steps can get you to take your videos on the road, only limited by the free space on your PSP’s memory card. For advanced users, PSP Video9 offers quite some more facilities, making this tool the most obvious choice for both beginners and more advanced users.

For more video conversion software visit our Video Conversion section.

MySQL is advertised as the world’s most popular open source database, and is used by big names like Yahoo!, NASA and Reuters. Available on all major platforms, easy to install and administer, MySQL is ideal for small to medium companies looking for a high quality database system without the high price tag!

The latest stable version of MySQL (5.0) comes with all the features you’d expect from an enterprise grade database system (ACID compliance, views, triggers, stored procedures, full-text indexes, master-slave replication) whilst avoiding feeling bloated or awkward. Connectors are available for most major programming languages, giving you the freedom to choose which technology suits your project best. The software is available in two forms – a free ‘community edition’ and a paid-for ‘enterprise edition’. There’s very little difference between the two, other than the ‘enterprise’ edition comes with different levels of ‘enterprise grade’ support at the expense of some features (those which MySQL AB cannot absolutely certify and remove in the interest of stability.) MySQL AB also offers training and certification for their software, allowing both DBAs and employers alike to have confidence in the ability to run a stable and well maintained database.