Google Pack, the collection of applications google recommends is now adding another new application to the family – StarOffice by Sun Microsystem. Questions arise after the announcement, mostly wondering why’s the decision of Google to include StarOffice but not OpenOffice which is build with StarOffice as foundation.

Folks at googlesystem says:

It will be interesting to see why Google didn’t choose to include OpenOffice.org, the primary difference between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org being that StarOffice includes some proprietary components like clip-art graphics, fonts, templates and tools for Microsoft Office migration.

However it doesn’t really matter I guess. StarOffice is actually a $70 bucks application, but with Google Pack it’s free. Make sure you are on a fast internet connection because StarOffice itself is more than 140Mb in file size.

AdesClrPicker is a light windows application that helps you to do color picking without the need of Photoshop all the times.

Why color picking?

We capture colors for all sort of reason, mostly to trace particular color codes for blending. Trying to blend contents to Google AdSense (or any contextual ads) is a very common routine if we are constantly experimenting with ad units of varies sizes and colors to see which give the best results. Let the focus be on choosing the ad unit analyzing, tedious color picking should be make simple and fast.

Using AdesClrPicker

I’m not going to discuss in details on How to use AdesClrPicker or what are its complete features because Abdylas has already provide some comprehensive ones. I’ll further discuss how I personally think about the application.

It’s Light

The application is only 1.04MB, it is definitely lighter to load compared to loading a Photoshop (18.6MB) just for color picking. AdesClrPicker can also be preload on Windows startup..

Region of color picking

Liimitation of Photoshop Eyedropper – you can only trace colors within a canvas region , anything outside you will have to print screen, paste in back in a Photoshop canvas.

AdesClrPicker let me trace any thing as long as it falls inside my monitor screen.

Speed Color picking

AdesClrPicker allows shortcut setting. You can set hotkeys for

• Activating / deactivation program
• Color capturing
• Displaying floating menu

I’m not really into using the hot keys for both Color Capturing and Floating Menu. Activating/deactivating the program does the trick most of the time. Here’s how I normally perform a color trace, quite fast though from my point of view:

1. Ctrl+Alt+A to launch
2. Left click on target to copy its color
3. Right click to close application (or ESC key)
4. Ctrl-V to paste it, Job’s done!

Bulk color picking

AdesClrPicker allows up to 10 color picking and have them stored accordingly for later use. That’s useful for experimenting colors during designing.

Verdict

This is a nice little application and definitely inside my Windows startup list as I’m going to use it very frequently. However Abdylas if you are reading this, a little small problem I encountered. Sometimes but not frequent, any colors I picked are all given as #FFFFFF (white).

As Digg.com become more and more successfully each day, concept followers also grew at constant rate. I noticed some actually succeed but some just fade off after a few “wow”. If you have faith for this submit-and-digg-content concept and would like to host it and give it a try, here’s a free script that can make your dream come true – Pligg. I’ve seen quite a number of sites using Pligg, fully modified and look pretty nice. For more details on installation, read the Pligg installation requirements.

I believe by being a little more specific in the niche and with good marketing strategy you still can succeed. No point reinventing the wheel. Just enhanced it. Find out more about Pligg in their official forum.

thanks Phalgun

Absolutely no catch, Giveaway of the Day is giving out free licensed software (not even trial), brand new software everyday. You don’t even need to register as member to download these free legal softwares. Visit Giveaway of the Day frequently or subscribe to their newsletter if you don’t wanna miss out cool giveaways. A bit too good to be true right? Its true. I’ve download couple of them myself.

If you are running Windows Vista or planning to install Windows Vista OS, here’s a good list to check if your current software are Vista compatible. IExbeta gives you a clean list of what software works, what works with minor problem and what software you software you need to avoid in Vista. Also check out the Windows Vista hardware compatible listing.

Remember the all time favorite screen saver? It is now back with few enhancement.

3D Aquarium Fish Screensaver features schools up to 100 Salt-water or Fresh-water fish swimming among bubbles within beautiful Underwater Backgrounds at the same time. Virtual Aquarium Screensaver allows you to choose among 3 beautiful Salt-water Fish Tanks, 3 Fresh-water Aquariums or you can turn them into sea bottom. Underwater Screen Saver displays the Digital clock with time in a 12/24-hour format and calendar. Enjoy the bubbles sound or waves sound this Fish Screen Saver emits. This Tropical Fish Screensaver allows you to choose from 5 salt-water fishes or 5 fresh-water fishes. You can set the number of fishes or bubbles, customize as fish swim their way around and change the underwater background with very soothing underwater effects. If you have multi-monitors, you can display 3D Aquarium Screensaver on them via settings of your virtual desktop. The screen saver does not include any third party software, spyware, adware or viruses.

Screensaver customization

You can download this from CNET Download