Yesterday while browsing through my RSS Subscriptions I chanced upon TeuxDeux thanks to John Gruber(Daring Fireball) who described it as Clever, simple, date-based online to-do app. I immediately signed up and I’ve been hooked to it ever since.

As you can see from the Screenshot the interface of TeuxDeux is very clean, minimal and simple. Its the kind of UI that most of us normal users need, rather than the complex UI’s of other GTD apps.

The best thing that I like about TeuxDeux is the fact that it kinda resembles your personal diary, in which you jot down stuff you need to do.

How Does it Work?

To add a task, you just need to type into the textbox. It’ll be automatically be added to the todo list. To remove a task hover over the task and click the cross button. And the best thing, if you don’t complete a task today it will automatically be added to tomorrow’s tasks. Tasks can be drag dropped from different days, which makes it flexible.

The Days that are already past are in light faded Gray, while Today is in Red, and the future dates in the deep black. A simple but clever presentation idea.

Here’s a demo video that shows how TeuxDeux works :

So if you are finding it difficult to keep your life in order, and need to remember things to do, you must try out TeuxDeux.

TeuxDeux (A Swissmiss and FictiveKin Product) | Photo Credit : tracitodd

Browser security has become a raging debate these days, with the myriad of plugins and extensions you can install on your computer to customize your internet experience. However plugins like Java, Silverlight, Flash etc. are powerful stuff that if found vulnerable can give hackers multiple attack points targeting a huge audience.

So what Mozilla is trying to do is trying to make plugin management as easy as managing extensions in Firefox is. Though the plugin check page is limited by what it can do at the moment, it will be fully utilized starting Firefox 3.6 to update plugins just like extensions do so now.

For now the scripts on the page will check for installed plugins and compare the version of the installed plugin with the latest version that is available. At the moment some of the plugins supported are (among others) Apple Quicktime, Shockwave Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Java, Silverlight, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player plugins.

The Plugin Check page will show you a Green “Up To Date” button if you are running the latest version of the plugin, a yellow “Update” button if a new version button is available, and a red “Update Now” button if you are running a version that has a critical security exploit fixed in the latest version.

It is hearty to see Mozilla taking these steps to ensure a safe browsing experience for all of us. Looks like Firefox 3.6 will be an awesome release! Looking forward to it

Mozilla Plugin Check

But the one thing that I didn’t like about Connectify is its interface. It just doesn’t blend with the interface of Windows7. Have a look at the screenshot below that shows Connectify in action :

What Connectify does is create a Virtual WiFi connection that anyone can connect to, just as it were a access point. Today I came across another app called Virtual Router that does the same job, but albeit in a much more intuitive way.

To start just install the app and fire it up. Enter the name for the network, a password and choose the connection you want to share and just hit start Virtual Router. And moments later you should have an active Wireless network you can share.

Virtual Router is Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 only, because only they have the new built in Wireless Hosted Network(a.k.a Virtual WiFi) technology. It uses WPA2 Encryption for ensuring security and this encryption cannot be turned off.

How is Virtual WiFi different from Ad-Hoc? Ad-Hoc is best suitable if you are connecting two computers and can be used to share files, while tools such as Connectify and Virtual Router allow you to share the internet connection with multiple number of computers.

Sidenote : Mac OS.X has had this feature built in for many years now.

Download Virtual Router [Microsoft CodePlex] | Image Credit : Roger Bits

Version 1.x released a few months back just does the basic Email notifications thing, but the upcoming 2.0 version will see Notify do a lot more. Features like viewing messages from multiple accounts (not restricted to GMail and Google Maps only), inline replies of emails, support for deleting mails and marking them as read etc.

Setting up Notify

Getting Notify up and running is quick and easy. Visit Vibealicious’s website and download the latest version. Once download simply drag the application bundle into your Applications folder and open it. Notify will now appear in your menu bar.

When you first open the application, you are greeting with what’s shown in the screenshot above.. Click Sure! to go ahead and add your first GMail account into Notify.

Notify in its current incarnation is nothing more than a EMail Notifier… It might look like a waste on your desktop, but the upcoming Notifier 2 will make it a compelling choice for anyone who wishes to manage their email like an expert.

Notify 2.0

Currently under beta testing, Notify 2.0 brings a lot more of new features to the table.. Here’s a preview of some of them.

The biggest new feature is full in-app message and reply creation. Something that I sorely missed in the first incarnation of Notify.

In Notify 1.x we had to click through to see and read any email bigger than 200 characters. With 2.0 it is now fixed with a Quicklook type UI. You can easily view full HTML messages.

Final Words

At the moment Notify is a solid application that seamlessly fits into the Mac Experience. Notify 2.0 will bring a lot more to this already beautiful app and help us manage email better rather than depending on complex applications like Mail.app etc.

Download Notify | Images via Notify Blog

XP Quick Fix Plus is a tiny portable application that provides fixes to 40 common Windows XP problems. Its Portable, small and fast, and is a must have on every computer.

The essential thing to be noted here is that the application is all about registry fixes since on Windows majority of the problems arise in the registry. However I suggest you create a system restore point before you proceed with any of the fixes.

What if there is no way for you to run XP Quick Fix Plus from Windows or if you need to run the fix from a batch file or script? There’s a small (~38KB) batch script that provides some of the most common fixes like :

• QFC /t – quick enable the Task Manager
• QFC /r – quick enable the Rgistry Editor
• QFC /f – quick enable the Folder Options
• QFC /e – quick restore the Run Dialog
• QFC /p – quick restore My Computer Properties
• QFC /x – Quick fix Windows can’t run exe files

So essentially XP Quick Fix Plus is a tiny and portable application that does its job perfectly well. A must have for any Windows XP user.

Download XP Quick Fix Plus | Via Download Squad | Image Credit : gui.tavares

I’ve been using Quiet Read for the past few hours, and what I really like about it is, its minimal implementation. Since it sits there in the menu bar all the time, its as simple as just drag and drop the page you want to read later onto Quiet Read in the menu bar. The display on the icon keeps track of how many URL’s you’ve collected and a neat drop-down lets your browse the saved articles for easy read at any time.

Of course there are other applications like Instapaper and Evernote, that let you do a lot more, like saving the articles, internet based sharing, I feel that Quiet Read has done a good job of doing the basic thing just right.

What I’d like to see in the future versions of Quiet Read :

• Ability to save screenshots of the URL, and some sort of Coverflow View for fast browsing (Or Hover based actions).
• Sync saved pages with Delicious bookmarks.
• Ability to categorize or label the saved URL’s (for eg. Work, Personal, Fun etc..)

But Quiet Read hasn’t set out to do everything in the world.. If you’re looking for a simple and intuitive way to read saved articles later (and you’re running Snow Leopard), Quiet Read could be the solution you are looking for.

Download Quiet Read | Via TUAW

With Twitter working on its own implementation of ReTweet it is only going to more harder for us to keep track of our conversations in the coming future. Twitter has never really had any easy to manage your conversations and this is where Bettween comes into the scene. Replete with its own chat like interface it makes it a grandma’s play to follow interesting conversations on Twitter.

Like most other apps based on the Twitter API, Bettween is simple and straightforward to use. No complications and very neat way of tracking conversations I must say. And what’s more the service not only makes it easy for you to keep track of conversations, but also share them.

Each conversation comes with its own Dedicated URL à la http://bettween.com/coolkarthik88/froZENwell so it should be a breeze for you to share interesting conversations.

P.S. I love the messages that Bettween shows when it first indexes your tweets, and also the Hot Conversations feature.

Image Credit : Kris Hoet | Visit Bettween

Though it borrows some cues from OS X, am a big fan of the new taskbar, and feel that Microsoft finally has the best solution to managing multiple windows on a clutter free taskbar.

However there are people who wish to tweak this taskbar according to their own wish and desires.. If you are one of those, then 7 Taskbar Tweaker is worth a look.

7 Taskbar Tweaker, allows you to tweak the various aspects of the Windows7 Taskbar, in a simple and effective way. Some of the features of this small and useful tool is :

• Show standard window menu on right click instead of jump list.
• Close or focus a window on middle click instead of running a new instance.
• Disable grouping of windows by file path or application id.
• Cycle through windows of a grouped button on left click instead of showing a thumbnails preview.
• Open with while dropping a file on a taskbar button instead of pinning.
• Disable thumbnail previews.

Go ahead, and download 7 Taskbar Tweaker if you wish to tweak the tiny details of your Windows7 Taskbar.

Photo Credit : Steve Punter | Download 7 Taskbar Tweaker

RSS Feeds seem to be everywhere these days. With growing popularity and the sheer number of websites offering RSS Feeds, the search for good RSS Feed readers gains significance.

Before you tell more about Headline, I’d like to ask you which feed reader you use and what are the things that you like/dislike about it the most? I for one use Google reader as my primary feed reader and I am happy with it.

Ever since RSS has started to make attention into the mainstream the need for more functional RSS feed readers with a much more intuitive UI has arised and Headline aims to exactly fill that void.

Simply put Headline is a revolution in feed reading. It combines a sleek, clean interface with a powerful user experience.

Yes Headlines is one of the most stunning looking RSS feed readers I’ve ever seen. Its not only about its stunning looks but it also offers a range of features that you find in almost feed readers plus some more that you won’t find elsewhere.

Let me just rundown through the important features of Headline.

• Easy Filtering

Headline allows you to easily filter out contents switching from Today, This Week, This Month, All, Unread or Favorites items.

• Sharing

Headline can easily share articles to friends over iChat and Mail. No need to manually find, copy and send links to friends, Headline do it for you.

• Media Player

Headline has built in support for Audio and Video player. You can easily listen audio or watch video podcasts on the fly with out downloading any files.

• Core Animation

Headline starts with a revolutionary interface and then gets better. Core Animation provides smooth effects between views and articles.

• Beautiful Preview

Headline can easily preview any article, mimics Quick Look, without opening the default browser or an external application for that.

• Growl Notification

Headline can automatically notify you when there are new articles available via Growl Notifications. It allows you to see when there are new articles while using other applications.

Quite an impressive feature set I must say. I just wonder why doesn’t windows see such beautiful functional softwares. Here are some screenshots of Headline for you to drool over.

On the Mac I know many users swear by NetNewsWire, but to all those hardcore fans of NetNewsWire I suggest you give Headline a try.

Headline comes in at 19.95$ for a single user licence and is also available for 34.95$ for a Family Pack Licence.

With WordPress 2.5 to be scheduled to be released today (I’m not sure if it will make it today or not) the whole blogosphere is going to go crazy with reviews of the latest version of WordPress. Many users would invariably encounter problems while upgrading, so here’s a check list by Lorelle Van Fossen to make sure that the upgrading to WordPress 2.5 goes off smoothly.

Let me cut out all the stuff and just list out the points here for a quick scan. You can read the full list over here.

• Check Plugin and Theme Compatibilities
• Update Themes and Plugins
• Do a PreFlight Test
• Disable and/or Remove Old Plugins
• Backup your Database
• Relax and Read (The finer print is what matters)

Whether WordPress 2.5 will be released today or not is still unknown. According to the chatter on the mailing list it looks like it still isn’t ready yet. Matt apparently mentioned a beta2 but the latest SVN tag mentions beta1 so I’m not sure if we will see WordPress 2.5 today.

In my opinion Matt and co is better off by delaying the release than to ship a buggy one. I won’t be upgrading to WordPress 2.5 for atleast two weeks as the new UI just doesn’t cut if for me. I feel that the latest UI is a step backwards in Admin design, but anyways that’s just my opinion.

I’m also testing out Habari at the moment, and I will publish my thoughts on it soon, so stay tuned for that. What are your plans for WordPress 2.5? Do you plan to upgrade as soon as it comes out or play the waiting game and upgrade later?