It’s Ground Hog Day!

Edit: According to Punxsutawney Phil there are going to be 6 more weeks of winter.

The popular Linux based OS, BackTrack, has just released version 4. BackTrack has everything you want for any kind of computer security work.

Without further ado here is my take on the Craftsman Folding box cutter.

For the last year or so I have used a craftsman folding Box cutter as a daily carry knife. I purchased it for around nine dollars after I somehow lost my Böker knife.

The real benefit of a folding box cutter is the ability to cut anything on anything, without having to worry about the blade. If the blade gets dull all you need to do is put a new razor blade in or flip the blade around to the other side. Compared to a traditional razor blade the folding variety is superior because it locks into place and is more compact. The downside to this razor is that it still isn’t as small as a pocket knife, it has a small blade, and the thumb screw is useless. In my opinion it is a good knife for on the job but isn’t the best as a daily carrying knife.

Free Art Technology (or FAT) released .GML an XML file format created specifically for recording and sharing graffiti tags. The Graffiti Markup Language allows artists to share and create tags effectively bring the graffiti artist into the 21st century.

I had to see what .GML was all about, so I put together a small graffiti analysis rig. It was really easy, it requires only a piece of glass, cardboard, a computer, a laser pointer, and a web cam. Those materials are so common that it is easy for anyone to build. Once You have created a tag you can upload it to #000000book.com (that’s hex code for Black book).You can see a result of my work below.

Here is a complete list of programs supporting .GML.

The applications for .GML are endless and we can look to the future for some really cool projects with it . Here is one such project.

Everyone,

Yesterday we switched servers from wordpress.com to a justhost.com server. WordPress.com just wasn’t cutting it in my opinion and was holding the site back from its true potential. Look for improvements in the days ahead, so if it looks different from day-to-day don’t be alarmed.

-Tom

P.S. If you see something you like or want to see something let us know in the comments.

Do you like old tools?  Are You in Austin?  Well then I have a treat for you!  Dowd’s Vintage & Antique Tools will be in Austin for a special showing of old hand tools at the Ginger Man on Saturday, January 23. From woodworkers to craftsmen in general there is something for everyone at this sale.  Collectible and quality user hand tools including but not limited to planes, hand saws, edged tools, marking and measuring tools, gadgets and whatsits straight from Texas shops and tool boxes.  I’m going to try to stop by I hope to see you there.

Saturday, January 23rd, 1:00 til 6:00 p.m. at the Ginger Man Pub – 301 Lavaca – Downtown Austin – http://www.aus.gingermanpub.com

For more info contact:

Dowd’s Vintage & Antique Tools
dowdstools@tx.rr.com or 972-271-8665
Website: http://www.dowdstools.com

If you find this interesting you should also check out the Lee Nielsen tool Event, Jan 8-9 at Fine lumber and Plywood in Austin.

Feeling a bit under the weather today so I decided now was a good time to go through my tool box. I organize them and clean out the toolbox. I surprises me how much dust was in it. Anyways decided to lay out all the tools and see what I had and take inventory. Here are the photos:

More…

I was in home depot yesterday when I spotted a set of monster zip ties. They were 48″ long! Anyone ever used that long of a zip tie before? At that length you might as well go buy a couple feet of rope.

Well with the new year just around the corner it seems like everybody is producing a list of something. So instead of posting something useless like the top 10 biggest developments in sporting equipment in the last 10 years, I decided I would put together a list of my top 10 most useful PC applications. If  you were looking for a list on sports equipment sorry to disappoint.

1. Firefox – No really? Yes it about explains it’s self
2. Songbird – Built on the same base as Firefox, Songbird destroys iTunes. What about the lack of a store? Well if you are still buying music from iTunes you need to listen up, I get higher fidelity used CDs for around $6 and that includes album art. Additionally Songbird has native APIs that allow anyone to open a store through songbird. One of the best features however are the extensions. They really let you tailor song bird to your exact needs and wants, just like Firefox. If you can’t tell I’m a super fan, I have T-shirt and everything.
3. VLC – I really don’t know what I did with out this. It is a no-nonsense video player that is powerful enough to practically do/play anything. I laugh inside every time I see someone fire up cyberDVD only to be frustrated and unsatisfied. As a result I carry it on my usb thumb drive because it is one of those things you never know when you will need.
4. Sun Virtual Box – This really isn’t that obscure of an application but it is amazing how few people know of it. It is great for test driving things, but I primarily use it for running XP x32 because my host OS is vista x64 which doesn’t support the bad 16 bit Spanish program I  have for school. Besides that I have maybe 3 visualizations that I use to play around with. For example I have hosted Servers on Linux Guests while I tried out the interface and tested code.
5. Revo Uninstaller – A program that actually uninstalls things unlike windows add and remove programs. It even sifts through the registry looking for left and forgotten entries. It’s only short coming is that officially it does not support 64-bit OSes but that doesn’t stop me from using it on my 64 bit computer, it simply means that it can only uninstall 32 bit programs. Apparently the premium edition supports x64 fully to bad I am so cheap.
6. Foxit PDF -  In comparison to Adobe Reader it is awesome, it make Adobe’s feel even more like something made by a 10 year old. It is not a perfect program, it has a few bugs, but the benefits out weigh those many times over. It features the likes of a tabbed UI, Directory searching, and saves your last reading spot.
7. Rainmeter 1.1 – First off, woohoo 1.1 Rainmeter is the best program for doing intensive desktop customization. While it has been out for a while version 1.1 offerrs a much needed overhaul. If you can imagine it on your desktop you can build it with Rainmeter.
8. Restorator 2007 – Extremely obscure and also in the desktop customization crowd. What sets it apart from anything else I have ever seen is it’s ability to edit .dll, .exe, .res, .rc, and .dc. Which means you can use it to edit custom windows themes and programs easily. I used it to replace a crummy email program’s error messages and make the start menu less drab, but the possibilities are endless.
9. The Gimp – What can I say it is free, not to difficult, and open source just to name a few benefits. It is a superb if not the best alternative to Photoshop.
10. DVDShrink – Free your movies, you own them after all. DVDShrink allows to back up your dvds on to your computer. If something ever happens to your disk you aren’t left out in the cold.

Jan. 8-9 Lee-Nielsen will be on site at Fine lumber and plywood. There will be demos and of course sales. I am going to try to go Saturday.  Here is the official page.

If you find this interesting you should also check out the Dowd’s Vintage & Antique Tools at the Ginger Man in Austin on Saturday, January 23.