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Making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows Vista and Windows 7 isn’t all that tricky, but it’s always nice to find an app that simplifies things. Not only does WinToFlash make the process about as easy as it can get, but it can also create Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 installers.
The default options make it easy to roll a silent Windows install, or you can flip the custom switch and specify the exact setup parameters you want to use.
The handy app also has one more trick up its sleeve: moving Windows Preinstall environments. PE discs can be extremely handy for troubleshooting and repairs, and being able to painlessly zap them over to a USB flash drive means not having to burn a new copy every time someone’s haggard old optical drive decides to chew up your CD.
WinToFlash is a free download and is totally portable. It’s an excellent tool to add to your USB-related utilities.

Last year, Gina switched to Yahoo for her search because she felt Google already had enough of her data. Over at our gadget-obsessed sibling site Gizmodo, blogger John Herrman discusses taking things a little further, ditching all of Google’s apps. He explains:

You don’t have to be ready to commit to a full overhaul of your online lifestyle to understand why someone might want to yank their data from Google’s servers, and hand it off to someone else: You’ve got Google’s CEO deafly rehashing fallacious arguments about privacy—"If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place"—and hesitating on a drawback; you’ve got contextual advertising that seems just a little too closely tuned to that sexxxy love letter your girlfriend sent you while you were on that business trip; you’ve got that violently insane ex husband who now knows where you are because of Google’s clumsy Buzz rollout. Most of all, you’ve got reasons, and you’re ready for change.

Herman walks through some of Google’s most popular offerings, then proposes switching to what he considers to be the best alternative to each. He suggests using Bing instead of Google search, Yahoo Mail instead of Gmail (he even details how to get all your email out of Gmail first), Windows Live Calendar rather than GCal, Flickr over Picasa, and Zoho instead of Google Docs. (That is, most of the runner-up favorites in each category.)

Hit up the full post for more details, then let us know whether you’d consider dropping Google to enjoy a little less data monopoly in the comments.

How to Go Google-Free on the Web – Privacy – Lifehacker

It’s been awhile since I last looked at Launchy, the open source application launcher for Windows. With this application, you use keyboard shortcuts to launch applications, files, folders, bookmarks and more with just a few keystrokes. Once installed, it hides in your system tray waiting for its next command. When you’re ready, you hit “Alt + Spacebar” to display the input window. Then you can just start typing what you want. Launchy finds it.

For users of Windows XP, this app has clear benefits. However, later versions of Windows offer a similar feature just by using the “Search” box in the Start Menu. Still, some Launchy enthusiasts prefer the app to the native functionality and, well, that’s the great thing about Windows – you can tweak away by installing alternative programs like this. 

Just recently, the developer released the next edition of this application – the Launchy 2.5 Beta. This version offers the following changes:

• Faster performance
• Icons displayed correctly
• Environment variables updated correctly when system changes
• Controly includes more items
• New shortcut keys
• New controls:
o Shift+tab or Shift+bkspc deletes previous tab
o Shift+Ctrl+Enter launches in elevated mode (Vista and Win7)
o Down arrow shows history (when there is no current search text)
• Default skin built into executable in case no other skin is found
• Down arrow
• Launchy now has an icon in the system tray
• Skins are simplified and easier to create

The executable is here. As with any beta software, the usual caveats apply. Install at your own risk. But this sounds like a good update to a pretty great program. Can’t wait to check it out!

New Beta of Launchy Arrives | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

  At PDFtoWord.com you can quickly and easily create editable DOC/RTF files, making it a cinch to re-use PDF content in applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, OpenOffice, and WordPerfect.
Best of all, it’s entirely free!

Convert PDF to Word (DOC) — 100% Free!

Have you wished that Windows had an App store that was as easy the iTunes App store?  Then You will love AllMyApps.

Allmyapps makes software installation a breeze. No matter how many applications you need, 1 click is all you need to have all your favorite applications installed on your PC.

Allmyapps also keeps your applications safe! Would you need to reinstall your system, Allmyapps takes care of reinstalling all your favorite applications in the blink of an eye.

Allmyapps – Application Store for Windows XP, Vista and Seven to find and install the best applications

Gizmo had a great roundup of free software. 

Cleanup & Tuning File Cleaning, Memory Optimizer, System Tune-Up and more…	Desktop & GUI File Manager, Program Launcher, Start Menu, Tray Icons and more…	Disk & File Tools Backup, Restore, Encryption, Synchro-nization and more…
Educational There is always something to learn…	Games Computer games, chess and other diversions.	Home & Office Office Suites, Finance, Project, Spell-Checker, PIM and more…
Image View & Edit Bitmap, Vector, HDR, Viewer, Photo Organizer and more…	Internet & eMail Browser, eMail, IM, Download, Parental Filter and more…	Linux Our Linux section with tips and software…
Multimedia Audio/Video Edit, Ripper, Burner, Online TV and more…	Networking FTP, SSH, Remote Access, BitTorrent and more…	Programming Editors, Binary Extraction, Search & Replace and more…
Lookup & Cataloging CD, DVD, File and Software Cataloging and more…	Security Anti Virus, Adware, Firewall, Intrusion Prevention and more…	System Info Disk, RAM, Memory, Down/Up, WiFi Finder and more…
System Tools Registry, Time, Vista Tweaks, Font Manager and more…	Website & Server New! Web scripts and server software…	Video Tutorials Watch how things are done…

Gizmo’s Freeware Reviews

Yes, it’s perfectly possible to watch Hulu from outside the United States if you know how to hide your location, but there are millions of people who don’t who would love to get access to the streaming service. For them, there’s now TVGorge, a recently launched Flash streaming site that’s still in ‘infant stages’ but has a lot to offer already.

Million dollar question is: is it legal?

According to its website, TVGorge using searching and indexing techniques to detect and gather content from third-party TV streaming websites around the world. The company says that its proprietary script is capable of detecting the best source for TV shows and automatically compile the information for its database. Each video is said to be manually screened to make sure it is of high quality and functioning properly.

TVGorge Lets You Stream 120+ Popular TV Shows, With No Geo-Restriction

Windows: Booting your computer up in the morning is one of the most tedious parts of starting your computer use for the day. What if you could gain the benefits of a reboot and still start quickly out of a hiberation?

The premise of Boot Snooze is that it takes less time to pull the computer from standby or hibernation mode than to do a full reboot, but rebooting a computer is necessary and sometimes beneficial. With Boot Snooze you shut down your computer, performing a full reboot, and then Boot Snooze puts it back into hibernation or standby mode.

You could obviously do this manually by rebooting your computer every night and then hibernating it immediately after it finished up the startup routines, but that would negate the time saving benefit of having Boot Snooze do it for you and leaving your computer fresh and ready to use in the morning without the down time of booting up.

Boot Snooze is freeware, Windows only. Have a favorite tool of your own for speeding up boot times or just helping you to spend less time waiting for your computer to do things? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Boot Snooze Reboots and Hibernates Your Computer for Faster Startup Time – saving time – Lifehacker

Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It’s huge! I know you don’t want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.

No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can’t listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can’t have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can’t have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.

No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can’t imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?

Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we’ve seen on other tablets, and unless you’re lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it’ll be awkward to use.

No HDMI Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you’d just buy an AppleTV already.

The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of ‘em!

No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that’s supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don’t care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.

Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god’s sake.

Update: Why stop at 8? Here are more things we are discovering that suck about the iPad.

It’s Not Widescreen
Widescreen movies look lousy on this thing thanks to its 4:3 screen, according to Blam, who checked out some of Star Trek on one. It’s like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!

Doesn’t Support T-Mobile 3G
Sure, it’s "unlocked." But it won’t work on T-Mobile, and it uses microSIMs that literally no one else uses.

A Closed App Ecosystem
The iPad only runs apps from the App Store. The same App Store that is notorious for banning apps for no real reason, such as Google Voice. Sure, netbooks might not have touchscreens, but you can install whatever software you’d like on them. Want to run a different browser on your iPad? Too bad!

8 Things That Suck About the iPad – apple ipad – Gizmodo

If you are like me, you love Pandora. My problem was that I would have 10 brewers open with 20 tabs each.  I would often close the browser that was playing my music.  Now Pandora One is a pay service, for 36 dollars a month, that comes with a great Adobe Air app, but I did not want a pay service.  Yes, Pandora One comes at a high bit rate, but regular Pandora sounds great.  I Binged and found OpenPandora. OpenPandora is an open source windows desktop application that exposes Pandora music discovery service.  It does every thing I want, without the pay service. 

Features

• Integration with Last.fm, Microsoft Messenger, Xfire and Skype
• Hide to tray and popup tray notification window with full info
• Full control from tray icon
• Control with multimedia keyboard and global shortcuts
• Support for Logitech G15 keyboard
• Control with Wiimote
• Lyrics
• more …

* Requires Internet Explorer 5.5 (or later) and .NET Framework 1.1

OpenPandora Home

Office Casual: Why Monster’s resume templates are easy

Now you can use and submit a resume template designed by Monster.com without leaving your Word program. Doug Thomas shows you Monster’s Easy Submit Resumes.

Office Casual: Why Monster’s resume templates are easy | Tina Wood | Channel 10

 You may remember seeing the Microsoft Research project Kodu for Xbox last year. The game allows programming novices to develop robust games on the Xbox and control interactions between the characters. Now the PC version is available in beta form which is great news as most schools don’t have Xbox 360’s.
With Kodu, the idea is to give kids a way to accomplish something they didn’t think they would be able to do while strengthening their design, math, and problem-solving skills. It was created as Matthew MacLaurin, director of Future Social Experiences Lab, watched his then three year old daughter interact with a computer. Realizing there was a disconnect between the passive experience she was having and the coding that went into applications, MacLaurin began the project. Kodu is now used in more than 60 educational institutions around the world including a pilot program across 26 schools in Victoria, Australia. You can download Kodu for PC and get started here.

Kodu Now Available for PC | Larry Larsen | Channel 10

If you need a good launcher for apps, files, folders or URLs and would like the option to organize your files and shortcuts into tabs then check this one out. FLS Launcher is a free, tabbed launcher activated by clicking on the top left corner of the screen with the mouse. It supports the dragging and dropping of icons into the interface and allows for a range of useability customizations.

Another nice launcher. I’ve been using this one for a few days and am very pleased with it. I like that it can easily be used as an organizing tool; for example, you can easily organize your desktop icons into tabs you create in FSL Launcher and get rid of desktop clutter. I also like that it automatically reconciles shortcuts you drag to it and links to the original icon (you can, for example, drag a shortcut on the desktop to FSL Launcher and then delete that shortcut, the icon in FSL Launcher will still work).

FLS Launcher

FSL Launcher: a tabbed, mouse-activated launcher | freewaregenius.com

What do David Allen, Dwight Eisenhower and Stephen Covey have in common? Apart from believing in the ‘time as a virtue’ maxim, and practicing it, I can’t think of anything else. It turns out that all three are gurus of time management (or task management) theories. All three (and some more) of their time management ideas find a place in the free personal productivity application called TimeGT.

The thing about time or task management apps is that there’s no “one size fits all” (thus TimeGT also might not be the final solution you are looking for). We all have our own foibles and like to see them accommodated in the solutions offered to us. Perhaps this see-saw of human nature gets mirrored in the numerous ‘get things done’ theories that are propounded, and by extension in the web or desktop apps that spring up.

My own confusion has seen me try out quite a few, keep some and discard some more. The strange thing is that we all think that there’s something better around the corner that can help with personal productivity. If you have yet to turn the corner, try out the posts we have covered on GTD and time management in the past. If you are beyond those and are looking for another one, then let’s head for TimeGT.

TimeGT is a personal task management desktop client for Windows, Mac and Linux. It comes in two favors – Rabbit (the free one) and Hedgehog (the paid version).

The paid version that’s called Hedgehog comes with online server backup features and gives the user some say in adding new features. Otherwise, both the versions are exactly the same. It is on the Rabbit we will focus on for now. So, let’s pull the rabbit out of the hat and see how it helps us with our personal productivity.

TimeGT can be installed using the 51MB sized Windows installer which also includes Java runtimes. As I have Java already running in my machine, I opted for the more ‘portable’ 19MB zipped version. I can run this without an install straight from its unpacked folder. The latter zipped version is also multi-platform.

Even for the free version, a TimeGT account needs to be created. That done, you can log into the app and create some projects for your life. TimeGT follows David Allen’s GTD workflow and that’s apparent from the interface. It also puts in some additions from other theories.

Projects are what take more than one step to complete. Think of them as major areas of life that can be further drilled down to as many levels as possible.

Each project has individual tasks and tasks in turn need some actions to move it towards completion. The middle panel shows how each task can be organized. The Inbox is the dump for all your tasks in each project. There are three actions you can perform on a task and organize it – you can do it right now (Next Action), you can delay it for some time (Waiting For) or you can defer it altogether (Someday/Maybe).

Completed tasks can be moved away from sight into a separate area. Each task can be assigned a status like Completed or set a priority like In Progress, Important or Urgent. The most urgent ones move to the top, to be done in a top to bottom sequence. The Horizon slider on top also helps to review all your tasks in one go. Drag it around and see which tasks need action according to the time periods.

The right click menu gives you all the commands in a trice.

You can describe a task, add Notes and give it a time horizon using the start and due dates on the Task Details panel.

When you have a lot of tasks Tags help to keep them organized. Tags also help as a one touch filter.

It’s also easy to add tasks on the fly. TimeGT can be kept minimized in the System Tray. You can add tasks with a right click on the little icon. These tasks get dumped into the Inbox and can be organized later.

Reviewing It All

Did I get my share of stress free personal productivity? To a certain extent, yes because TimeGT makes it easy to dump my tasks into it. It also helped me to move the tasks around and organize it in context. What I liked about it was the ease of arranging our life areas into projects and the prioritization of tasks that come under it.

But it is also not perfect. A calendar view of how my month is panning out also would have been nice. That’s there in the paid version which allows sync with Google Calendar. What’s missing is a dedicated help file. Newbie’s will have to play around with it a bit. To get a hang of it though, you can watch a screencast at the site

Some More GTD & Personal Productivity With TimeGT

Well, it looks like Microsoft still has a bit more stuff in store for CES that didn’t slip out ahead of its big keynote, with it now announcing its new Arc Keyboard that will exclusive to Best Buy (at least initially). Like its Arc Mouse, this one is slim and high on style, and relatively light on any extraneous features, although you will get a 2.4GHz wireless receiver that can be tucked away in the keyboard, and at least a few extra function keys. Look for this one to be available February 21st for $59.95

Microsoft debuts Arc Keyboard, exclusive to Best Buy — Engadget