launcher

Skype types take note

Do you use more than one Skype account? One developer grew frustrated with the limitations of trying to use his multiple Skype accounts on one machine in one session, so he wrote Skype Launcher, a simple piece of freeware that automatically signs in to multiple Skype accounts with a single click. It automatically detects accounts that are already signed in to Skype and only launches offline accounts.

Skype Launcher opened with the Skype Launcher Configuration utility, to which we added our Skype accounts by entering each account's name and password in a pop-up. A check box let us choose … Read more

Customize your Android OS with LauncherPro

LauncherPro is a free Android app that lets you strip down and customize your Android interface without any rooting, hacking, or coding. Set the number of home screens, customize your dock, or modify the appearance of your Android OS by way of an exhaustive menu of Preferences.

After installing, press Home, and choose to "Complete action using" LauncherPro instead of your device's stock interface (e.g. HTC Sense for HTC EVO owners). Then, press Menu, and go to Preferences (not Settings) to start exploring the world of customization possibilities. You can set your number of home screens … Read more

In case you run into a Gorn, here's what to do

"Star Trek" aficionados may recall the episode in which Captain Kirk gets transported down to a planet by super-powerful aliens to do hand-to-hand combat against the Gorn. Without giving away the plot--in case you were deprived as a child and never saw the show--Kirk used his wits to defeat the lizard monster by assembling a primitive cannon from elements he found lying about.

Now comes Dylan Hacker (I'm assuming he goes by his "stage" name), who runs a San Francisco production company called Household Hacker. This morning we stumbled across his highly entertaining video recipe for putting together a "Superman hand cannon"--basically an enhanced tennis launcher, assembled from bits and pieces of junk that probably are lying around your basement--just in time for the summer. Definitely worth a look-see. (It's amazing how far duct tape will take you, especially on the odd chance that you, too, run into a Gorn somewhere down the road.)

This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com.… Read more

Work faster with LaunchBar

LaunchBar is a popular and long-lived productivity-enhancing app that can literally change the way you use your Mac--and that change can come gradually, as you learn the app's many tricks and secrets, bit by bit. At its most basic, LaunchBar is a completely keyboard-based way to find and open anything on your Mac with a few quick keystrokes. But its functionality goes far beyond that, letting you use keystrokes to manipulate files, send e-mails, search Web sites, and control apps like iTunes.

LaunchBar has an almost invisible interface, and you invoke it with--of course--a keystroke, which by default is … Read more

Manage calls on your Mac

Dialectic is a scriptable dialing utility for telephone power users that can save you time making and managing calls, whether via a landline, Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, or VoIP. Dialectic integrates with Address Book and other similar apps, including Microsoft Entourage and Now Contact, as well as Marketcircle Daylite, FileMaker Pro, launcher apps like LaunchBar and Quicksilver, and many others. Thanks to recent updates, Dialectic also supports Exchange, CardDAV, and LDAP accounts configured in Address Book.

This high-powered utility gives you system-wide dialing using contextual menus (and system-wide "speed dial"), voice-activated dialing, and auto-redial and incoming call detection, even … Read more

Start My Day runs all of your stuff

Start My Day is a desktop application that launches your favorite applications simultaneously. This is a useful tool for people who tend to use many different applications, files, and Web pages at the same time. Being able to open this application and starting all of your programs with one click is useful; however, Start My Day has many bugs that need to be fixed.

The app is supposed to work with an alarm start-up. Under the settings menu, there is an alarm option where you can set the time that Start My Day begins to run. There is also an … Read more

Start My Day lets you be lazy, but needs to stop slacking

If you are like me, you have trouble pouring a cup of water in the morning, let alone hastily navigating through what seems like an endless stream of computer programs and sites. Start My Day is a desktop application that is supposed to clear your computer's morning fog by opening your selected favorite programs, Web sites, and music simultaneously. Though its main function is useful, the program has multiple bugs that make it less than satisfactory.

Once SMD is open, two messages will pop up before the application is visible. The first states that the "publisher cannot be … Read more

Jeremy Clarkson meets the rocket-enhanced Porsche 944 Turbo

On Wednesday, we had a snippet of Jeremy Clarkson (of BBC's "Top Gear") blazing through the Swiss Alps in a Maserati GT. This clip is a part of his "Thriller" DVD, in which Jeremy tries to find the ultimate thriller automobile. Clarkson seemed underwhelmed by the Maserati but what else did he find during his search for the true king of thrill rides? Well, Jeremy stumbled upon this Porsche 944 Turbo, a pretty cool car in its own right. But this particular Porsche has a little something extra that makes it even more righteous: this … Read more

Launch control

Micro-Sys Launcher is a cool little bit of freeware that lets you quickly open stuff--files, folders, apps, and such--from the system tray. You can keep shortcuts to all the programs and files you use most often in one easy-to-access location, and launch them with a click. You can group your shortcuts by hierarchy in a tree view or by program association, keeping more frequently used items together. You can even create shortcuts to quickly launch several items at once.

Launcher boasts a drag-and-drop interface that makes creating a quick-launch shortcut as easy as dragging an icon from, for example, the … Read more

An extra Dock...with extras

Like LaunchBar, Fruitmenu, and Default Folder, this popular and well-tested shareware GUI-enhancer has become an indispensable addition to OS X for many users. DragThing exists to make getting to things on your Mac--files, folders, apps, disks, URLs, and windows--quick and easy. Inveterate interface tweakers love DragThing because you can create multiple docks (like the OS X Dock) that can be almost infinitely configured to suit your specific situation. Plus, you can save snippets, define tons of hot keys, and perform quite a few neat OS tricks (like putting a Trash back on your desktop).

If you don't like bells … Read more