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I love little OSX utilities that are 1) coded elegantly 2) actually do something useful and 3) are free or cost pennies. Irradiated Software has produced just one app that does all of the above.

SizeUp is a tiny utility (hardly a footprint on ur OSX resources) and does what you wish Spaces did, meaning it allows you to manage windows without a lot of craziness. Just use some easy to remember (or custom) keystrokes and Voila, u can place and size windows across multiple monitors as easy as you can click the mouse and press a key.

Below is a screencap of resized windows in the upper left/right and lower left/right and a 150px margin set to the right (SizeUp automatically adds a margin for the menubar and OSX dock). You have options to make the formost app fullscreen (or put it anywhere with a keystroke) and even send it to another monitor and “snap it back when needed.



The app costs $2.99 or "name your price" (suggested price = $9.99), and there is even a free light version if that seems like too much to shell out. But as a simple-to-use replacement for Spaces, I would have paid twice that much. Well-done Irradiated!

I blog a lot about freebees these days; they are constantly on my mind as the US Dollar rises against the Nepali Rupee like David rose against Goliath. We are taking a pounding here in Nepal, so anything that saves a pound is worth looking at.

The free Zotero add-on for Firefox, along with it’s free MS Word/Open Office Integration is just that: a pound saver and super useful tool for anyone doing research on the internet and then using Word or Open Office to compile the output to create reports and papers and whatnot. As formal documents like these need citations and bibliographies, and the construction and management of them is just a pain in the butt, Zotero really shines as a free-bird star.

This is where Zotero plugs into the research process. You collect and manage your research using the Firefox plug-in:


And then when you are ready to write, you use the provided and auto-magically installed scripts to add/edit citations and create bibliographies in the required format (and some folks are so fussy about those formats it makes you want to smack them). So no more worries there. Here is what it looks like in MS Word 2008 on a Mac:

It’s simple, requires no manual, has a great support site, and best of all - it’s absolutely FREE!

On my last trip to Bangkok I was in the equivalent of a Dollar Store at the IT Mall in Pran Tip Plaza, but I guess it was called the Forty Baht Store although I can't read those signs so I'm not real sure, and I stumbled across a little gizmo that I love - and only cost a dollar! It's the Asaki 9000 SD/MMr/RS-MMC USB 2.0 card reader. Short form: usb flash drive, with removable storage. It was only a buck, or 40 baht, depending on the state of the Thai economy, and came in cute colors, so I bought a half-dozen. (Memory chip not included.)



I load them up with all the free SD chips that Adore-a-rama and camera mfgs give away with digital cameras these days, as it accepts anything from 32 megs to 16 gigs. I leave them lying around and whenever I need to transfer a file to a non-net computer, I just grab one of those. It's great for folks who want to borrow a flash drive but you know they are never going to return it. They get the 32 meg version.



But what I like the most about this gizmo is that it's useful, comes in bright colors so my aging eyeballs can find it in dim light (btw, it actually lights up when reading/writing), reminds me of those plastic easter eggs filled with candy, and did I mention, it only costs a dollar! Now that's my kinda gizmo for the global depression.

Ps. If I get back to BKK in time for Easter, I plan on buying baskets full of these and giving away as gifts, and using in the annual Nepali Easter Egg Hunt.