USB Image Tool

usb-image-toolSay you got a brand new advanced MP3 player for Christmas, one of those with a USB interface..  Lets say you wanted to play around with it, but still wanted to be able to return it to how it looked when you got it!?  Possible?  Why yes indeed :-)   You can create an image of a usb device (possibly not all types of devices) using – USB Image Tool 

Cool :-)

Time Conversion – Time Confusion

timezone_mapAs I work in an international company I often have to contact people in different timezones, and its not always easy keeping track of what the time is where.

Especially annoying is it when you have to inform about maintenance and (because you are just a tad service minded) try to write all the local times as well as local time.

Anyhow, I got a few pointers this morning;

The quick way to get local time anywhere is;
http://www.timeticker.com/

If you are planning meetings etc;
http://www.timeanddate.com
The latter site has some useful features, meeting planner and national holiday information.

IPTOOLS.DK

If you are living in Denmark and would like to know which SMTP server to use (and can´t seem to find this on your ISP’s web-site), then try www.iptools.dk and click “SMTP servers” – from your IP these guys seem to be able to determine most popular ISP’s smtp servers.

Besides the SMTP feature there are a bunch of other cool tools on the site, so give it a spin if you are from these parts of the world.

iptools

Retrobright project

Refurbish your old worn Commodore 64, your old favorite keyboard, your old matrix printer or whatever old geeky stuff you have lying in your basement because it has turned yellow and ugly..

If you ever had one of the older white keyboards, an old printer or an old C64 lying around you may have noticed that the color turned grown/yellowish in time.  No matter how much you rubbed with cleaning agents the color remained, some said it was caused by smoking (but if you as I am a non smoker it seemed unlikely) others claimed sunlight.

No matter what the problem was, someone now claim to have found the solution to it.  A gel “Retrobright” that can make your old device look like new once again.

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

You can make the gel yourself from household items;
1 pint (500ml) Hydrogen Peroxide, 10 to 15% strength (40 vol) (available from hairdressers’ supplies, e.g. the ‘Sally Beauty’ franchise in the UK)
2 heaped tablespoonfuls of Xanthan Gum (available from health food shops or online)
1 level teaspoonful of Glycerine (available from pharmacies)
1/4 teaspoonful of “Oxy” laundry booster

SpyMe – say what?

Well the name of this software could lead to some confusion, SpyMe?  Now why would I want to Spy myself, there is enough of a hassle with Spyware as it is..

Well this is different, this software is actually ‘your spy’ against other software.  Let’s say you are installing a new piece of software, but actually really would like to know what exactly this software does – what files it installs – what registry changes it does, etc etc etc.  Well this software will, much like the utilities used for making software packages .msi etc, create a before and after snapshot and you can thus see exactly what was done.  As I read it it also offers real time viewing of all activities..

It all sounds nice, and as its FREEWARE you’ll not be ruined ;-)

I still would advocate for “Sandbox-IE” as it also offers an undo function, but still – should you just want to keep a short leach on some software installed on your pc this just might be what you are looking for.

http://www.lcibrossolutions.com/spyme_tools.htm