Well, it looks like the browser wars are on again, ala 1994. Except this time the company with the better browser has enough cash and influence to fend off any corporate bully that comes its way. Google, god love’em, is going right after Microsoft with it’s rumored release of Chrome tomorrow. It’s my personal opinion that Microsoft deserves to lose a little market share to Google.  Where does my disenchantment with Microsoft come from you ask? One word…  Vista. Microsoft in 2008 is clearly a different company from the cutting edge entity that brought us Windows 2000, Office 2000 and Windows XP.  Anyways, back to Chrome, it’s made by Google so you know it will be quality software and although it’s not officially released yet, according to Techcrunch Chrome will be optimized for sites developed with AJAX and available for download Sept. 2nd at the URL below.

dixlinx: GOOGLE.COM/CHROME

Tags: Ajax, chrome, google, opensource, Web Browser

Looking for a program to edit your existing pictures or add a caption to your favorite photo?

The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a raster graphics editor that has many of the features of its high priced counterparts, like Adobe Photoshop. This software allows the user to edit photos, re-size images, and convert images to alternate formats(including JPG, GIF, BMP, PSD, etc.).

Features include:

• Create new images
• Edit existing images
• Re-size images
• Convert images
• Apply filters to images

This is an open source software that is maintained and updated by group of volunteers under the GNU Project. It is available for free under the terms of the GNU General Public license

dixlinx: GIMP.ORG

Tags: graphics, image editing, image manipulation

Speedtest.net is a flash based bandwith tester that seems to be very accurate. I like how it can detect ISP upload compression and how you can visually select multiple locations to test your bandwidth from. I have found the tool very accurate and the Flash animations make it fun to use.

dixlinx: SPEEDTEST.NET

Tags: bandwidth tester

Process Lasso is your introduction to BitSum Technologies. They make a whole bunch of really useful software and utilities. From their website:

Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically adjust the allocation of CPU cycles so that system responsiveness is improved in high-load situations. It does this by dynamically temporarily lowering the priorities of processes that are consuming too many CPU cycles, there-by giving other processes a chance to run if they are in need. This is useful for both single and multi-core processors. No longer will a single process be able to bring your system to a virtual stall.

dixlinx: BITSUM.COM

Tags: pc optimization, resource allocation, Utilities

MediaCoder is an opensource project hosted at Sourceforge.net. The software enables you to convert almost any media file to one of many media formats available. This is an excellent software for audio enthusiasts who need to quickly convert Flac to MP3 to Ogg to … you get the picture. From their website

MediaCoder is a free universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution. With a flexible and extendable architecture, new codecs and tools are added in constantly as well as supports for new devices. MediaCoder intends to be the swiss army knife for media transcoding in all time and at this moment, it already has millions of users from 170+ countries all over the planet.

dixlinx: MEDIACODER.SOURCEFORGE.NET

Tags: codecs, media converter, multimedia

Cryptainer LE is the freeware version of Cypherix’s Cryptainer product.  The software is very handy for encrypting sensitive data to send via email. You can also create a 25mb encrypted partition on your PC to store private documents like spreadsheets and .PDF’s . Cryptainer is very easy to use and I use it as a quick and dirty solution for encrypting email attachments.  I do this by renaming the self extracting exe’s to .zip and then changing the extension back once they need to be opened. This technique will bypass any email filters and enable a completely portable and encrypted document to be sent.

dixlinx: CYPHERIX.COM

Tags: Email, encryption, Security

 Ajax Whois is an easy to use website to aid in domain lookups and WhoIs information. You can specify a search of 7 of the most popular top level domains at one time. The site is based on Ajax programming which means all of  your queries are delivered in real-time as you type them out, this makes Domain Name and WhoIs lookups quick and easy. A nice little bonus is that Ajax WhoIs provides a list of current GoDaddy promo codes for saving some money on domain registration. A must have link in your favorites list!

dixlinx: AJAXWHOIS.COM

Tags: Ajax, dns, Web 2.0, website