Open Share Add to Any Buttons
Filed in Blogs, General, Noteworthy, Technology, WordPress on July 6, 2008 at 11:20 pmAbout eight months ago, Alex King released the first version of the Share This plugin, featuring his now famous Share Icon inspired by the now standard Feed Icon. Unfortunately, Alex sold both the plugin and icon a few months ago to the entity which now owns and operates ShareThis. While ShareThis claims that the icon is still free for all to use, the ShareThis has slowly been taking on a more commercial feel and the usage of the icon has begun to show some restrictions. The icon, which was previously conceived as a standard for all sharing services, is now offered with the strong recommendation that you use it with the services provided by ShareThis, and some organizations which have sought to adapt it to use with their services have received take-down requests from ShareThis.
Fortunately, The Open Share Icon was created to provide a freely usable and distributable icon for the rest of us, and to challenge the Share Icon as a potential standard for all sharing services. Due to ShareThis’ increasing commercial feel, I have decided to leave it behind for Add to Any, which provides buttons to easily share URLs or subscribe to feeds, and nothing more. The Open Share Icon has not been widely adopted yet, so I have modified two of Add to Any’s popular buttons (a practice strongly encouraged by Add to Any’s creator) by adding the Open Share Icon. Feel free to use them on your sites.
As a possible note of interest, these are the first buttons that I have created with Pixelmator. At first, I was hesitant to replace Photoshop with Pixelmator, but I can now say with confidence that Pixelmator does exactly what I need it to do for $590 and 1.9GB less than Photoshop.
Favored Freeware Updates: June 2008
Filed in Freeware, Technology on July 1, 2008 at 12:46 amThe following Favored Freeware applications have been updated since the beginning of June 2008:
- Delivery Status v4.3 (review)
- iStat menus v1.3 (review)
- Mactracker v5.0.3 (review)
- VLC Media Player v0.8.6h (review)
Favored Freeware: Skitch
Filed in Freeware on June 26, 2008 at 6:25 pmSkitch is a refreshingly simple application that lets you easily resize your photos, jot down a quick sketch, take a lightning fast screen capture and share images online.
Pros: Skitch simplifies photo markup with a unique and intuitive interface. It’s great for adding visual directions to a map or pointing out objects of interest in a photo or screen capture. Once you’re done tweaking your photo, you can easily save it, email it, or upload it to your server, .Mac, Flickr or Skitch.com. Like Skitch, Skitch.com simplifies photo sharing with an intuitive layout which allows you to easily share, embed or display your photo almost anywhere with less clicks than it takes to read your email.
Cons: Skitch is currently available as a public beta and each beta release has a built-in expiration date. An updated version is always released before the current beta expires, but further updates may no longer be free once the application leaves the beta stage of its development.
Yasu 2.5.5 Public Beta
Jim is getting ready to release Yasu 2.5.5, but he’s looking for some quality feedback on the public beta first. If you’re a fan of Yasu and you enjoy testing betas, download the public beta of Yasu 2.5.5 now and start sending your feedback to Jim.
Favored Freeware Updates: May 2008
Filed in Freeware, Technology on May 31, 2008 at 9:17 pmThe following Favored Freeware applications have been updated since the beginning of May 2008:
I Won Today’s NextZOT!
Filed in General, Technology on May 27, 2008 at 11:44 pmWell, as you can see, I won today’s NextZOT! I hate to brag, but this is the first time that I have ever won a large drawing like this.
Thanks to macZOT, I won a copy of MoneyWell, a really cool and easy to use budgeting application worth $39.99. It was being offered by macZOT for 50% off at $19.99, but it looks like I got the best deal of the day. Thanks, macZOT!
In a few days (or perhaps weeks), I’ll post more on my experiences with using MoneyWell to manage my complex budget.
Tom Joins RedMonk
Filed in Blogs, Technology on May 24, 2008 at 3:28 pmAfter months of painful job searching, Tom has achieved what most people would consider to be a pipe dream. The job of his dreams practically walked up and asked him to take it. As far as I can tell, there was no searching involved with this one, just what appears to have been a kind-hearted request and probably an emphatic “Yes!” Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be “chosen” by our dream jobs like that?
Commentary aside, Tom has joined RedMonk where he will be “an industry analyst covering Greentech, cleantech, Energy Demand Management and sustainability,” and it looks like he’ll be playing a big part in the future of GreenMonk.
When I first read this, I thought, “Wow, that’s the perfect job for anyone trying to live the difficult ‘popular Irish blogger and family man moving to Spain’ lifestyle!” I’m sure that he’s thinking the same thing. Congratulations, Tom!
Favored Freeware Updates: April 2008
Filed in Freeware, Technology on May 1, 2008 at 12:07 amThe following Favored Freeware applications have been updated since the beginning of April 2008:
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