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If you are having issues running Digg Alerter then I highly recommend that you download this new version. Digg recently made a few small changes to their API which prevented Digg Alerter from working properly. This new version fixes those issues.
Download the latest version » (1,470kb)
A special thanks to those who brought these issues to my attention.
Feature Requests
Over the coming months I will be working on a new and improved version of Digg Alerter. So tell me what features you would like to see - and who knows, maybe it will make the cut!
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Twitter has proved to be an informative and entertaining place to find out all the news and happenings in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In particular, if you're an Aussie, you should be following AussieOlympics tweets. In most cases he is providing better commentary than the official presenters.
So, I wanted to bring AussieOlympics comments directly to my desktop. While I'm working throughout the day I wanted his comments to appear on my screen to keep me informed with Australian Olympic efforts.
Introducing AussieOlympics Alerter
AussieOlympics Alerter is a small program that sits in your system tray (at the bottom right of your screen near the clock) and keeps you updated with all the new posts by AussieOlympics on Twitter.
- Easy to install
- Track all of AussieOlympics posts
- Get alerts when Australians take out Gold, Silver or Bronze
- Find out when Australians are participating in events
- But best of all, it's free!
A big thankyou to AussieOlympics for making this program possible and putting his time and effort into keeping us all informed.
This is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. It's free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware, free from malicious code, but best of all: it's free!
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I like the functionality of Vista's sidebar, although I'm not too keen on it's memory consumption. But after recently reverting back to XP I have found myself missing some of the basic functionality of the sidebar, including the built-in memory monitor widget.
So I set out to make a new program. A light-weight application that monitors your RAM without the need for the Vista sidebar. It's perfect for those like me who have downgraded to XP or have turned off the sidebar in Vista.
Introducing RamTray
RamTray is a simple program that sits in your system tray (at the bottom right of your screen near the clock) and lets you know how much memory your computer is currently using.
At a glance you are able to see just how much RAM is being used. Move your mouse over the icon to display the amount of memory used as a percentage and in megabytes.
- Easy to install
- Starts with Windows
- Small program that sits in the system tray
- Visually displays amount of memory used
- Displays memory usage as percentage and in MB's
- But best of all, it's free!
The software comes with a built-in self updater. Every so often it will connect to our blog to check for new versions of itself. No personally identifiable information is exchanged.
RamTray is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. It's free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware, free from malicious code, but best of all: it's free!
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A new version of StumbleUpon Alerter has been released for those that were having problems with the version released yesterday. This patch fixes some of the issues pointed out over the last 24 hours.
Usually I don't release software under beta, but I have done so with StumbleUpon Alerter. This is mainly because StumbleUpon does not have any API for developers to use (which probably explains the lack of tools available for the site). But I hope to have these issues fixed over time.
Click here to download version 1.2 beta (1,727kb)
Note: Make sure you close StumbleUpon Alerter before installing the new version.
What's New?
- Newly found discoveries are displayed immediately - no need to restart (thanks kdfrawg)
- Fixed a few problems that occurred once you reach your maximum discoveries
- Changing the username no longer requires a restart (thanks nowsourcing)
I have been getting a lot of questions regarding the software, so I thought it would be good to have a FAQ section:
Q: When I install StumbleUpon Alerter on Vista I receive the error "Component MSWINSCK.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered", what do I do?
1Only and liamvictor have pointed out that the program must run in Administrator mode to be installed correctly. Right click the program and click "Run as Administrator".
Q: When I start the program it doesn't show the number of discoveries I specified, why?
Due to the lack of any API from StumbleUpon the program downloads a listing of your likes and discoveries from the RSS feed. The program goes through the RSS feed and only picks out the discoveries, leaving the "likes" behind. Over time it will display your maximum number of discoveries.
Q: Can you show me who has given my discoveries a thumbs down?
StumbleUpon Alerter is limited to the same information that you see when visiting the StumbleUpon site. This means there is no way to see who has thumbed down your articles unless they leave a review.
Q: It's not showing all of the reviews / thumbs, why?
Once again due to the lack of an API, StumbleUpon Alerter watches your discoveries when it is running. When you start the program it should be able to download many of the reviews / thumbs but is not guaranteed to grab all.
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If you are new around here I recommend checking out some of the tools, screensavers and applications that I have made over the past few months. These are programs that have become instant "must haves" for quite a number of people.
StumbleUpon Alerter
StumbleUpon Alerter is a small tool that sits in the system tray. It keeps an eye on all of your discoveries on StumbleUpon and plays a noise whenever someone reviews or gives your sites a thumbs up. Open the main window to view information about each discovery - including a list of people who have reviewed, thumbed up or thumbed down your sites. More details »
Digg Alerter
Used by some of the influential Digg users. Digg Alerter is a program that sits in your system tray and plays a little noise whenever your submissions are "Dugg". You can also click on a submission to view a list of people who have dugg and commented on your articles. Click here for more details »
SendTo Flickr
SendTo Flickr is a small program that, once installed, adds a "Flickr" item to the "Send To" menu when you right click files. So now you can start uploading your files to Flickr without even opening your internet browser. Click here for details »
Pong Clock Screensaver
A screensaver that looks and feels like a retro game of "Pong", complete with the old style "beeps" and "blops". A random game is played on your screen, the score actually reflects the current time. Every minute the paddle on the left loses, every hour the paddle on the right loses. Click here for details »
Google Reader Satellite
Install Google Reader Satellite to use your existing Google Reader account to get alerted whenever new RSS feeds are listed. An icon sits in the system tray and changes colour whenever a new feed is displayed. Click here for details »
40Twitter
40Twitter will remind you every 40 minutes to post a new entry on Twitter. This comes in handy for those who like to keep their Twitter feed updated but often forget to update their status throughout the day. Click here for details »
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StumbleUpon Alerter
StumbleUpon Alerter is a small tool that sits in the system tray. It keeps an eye on all of your discoveries on StumbleUpon and plays a noise whenever someone reviews or gives your sites a thumbs up. Open the main window to view information about each discovery - including a list of people who have reviewed, thumbed up or thumbed down your sites. More details »
Digg Alerter
Used by some of the influential Digg users. Digg Alerter is a program that sits in your system tray and plays a little noise whenever your submissions are "Dugg". You can also click on a submission to view a list of people who have dugg and commented on your articles. Click here for more details »
SendTo Flickr
SendTo Flickr is a small program that, once installed, adds a "Flickr" item to the "Send To" menu when you right click files. So now you can start uploading your files to Flickr without even opening your internet browser. Click here for details »
Pong Clock Screensaver
A screensaver that looks and feels like a retro game of "Pong", complete with the old style "beeps" and "blops". A random game is played on your screen, the score actually reflects the current time. Every minute the paddle on the left loses, every hour the paddle on the right loses. Click here for details »
Google Reader Satellite
Install Google Reader Satellite to use your existing Google Reader account to get alerted whenever new RSS feeds are listed. An icon sits in the system tray and changes colour whenever a new feed is displayed. Click here for details »
40Twitter
40Twitter will remind you every 40 minutes to post a new entry on Twitter. This comes in handy for those who like to keep their Twitter feed updated but often forget to update their status throughout the day. Click here for details »
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A few months ago I moved from Digg and focused my energy on StumbleUpon (click here to view my profile). To my surprise the site had a much friendlier community but lacked in some basic functionality.
As someone who actively searches for new content I like to keep track of my discoveries on social networks, something that StumbleUpon is lacking. So I set out to make StumbleUpon Alerter.
Introducing "StumbleUpon Alerter"
The Beta
Get alerted whenever your discovery on StumbleUpon is reviewed or given a thumbs up.
StumbleUpon Alerter is a small tool that sits in the system tray. It keeps an eye on all of your discoveries on StumbleUpon and plays a noise whenever someone reviews or gives your sites a thumbs up. Open the main window to view information about each discovery - including a list of people who have reviewed, thumbed up or thumbed down your sites.
- Plays a sound whenever a person reviews your discoveries
- Plays a sound when one of your discoveries is liked
- Displays a list of your discoveries on StumbleUpon
- Shows a list of people who have rated your sites
- Lists all of the reviews for your discoveries
- Ranks your friends in order of most reviews
- Made with the same interface as StumbleUpon
Use the above link to download the latest version of StumbleUpon Alerter. For more details about this version click here.
StumbleUpon Alerter is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. Free to download, free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware and free from anything else malicious.
Tracking your discoveries
A sound is played whenever newly discoveries are reviewed or given a thumbs up / thumbs down. Newly reviewed and thumbed items are highlighted in green and made bold.
For ease of use the number of thumbs up and reviews are displayed to the right hand side of the listing. To view more information simply click on the item listed.
Who likes your discoveries?
(And who doesn't?)
StumbleUpon Alerter makes it easy to watch who likes or dislikes your discoveries. Simply click on the discovery in the main list to view a listing of people who have given your submission a thumbs up or thumbs down.
To the right hand side of their name you can also see, at a glance, how many times the person has liked your other discoveries.
At the bottom of the StumbleUpon window you can view what people are saying about your discoveries. Reviews are displayed in 1 line and show the thumbs up or thumbs down logo.
Analyse your friends
For the first time ever, you can now analyse your friends on StumbleUpon. Within moments you can learn who is reviewing your submissions the most. Clicking on a persons name will display a list of submissions they liked or disliked along with any review they posted.
I envision that this list will get quite large over time. So I have added a "Filter" box at the bottom of the window. Simply type in the first few letters of anyones name to easily find the person you are looking for.
See which domains perform the best
This is a trial feature of StumbleUpon Alerter. It allows you to easily see which domain names are attracting the most attention. This could come in handy for people who want to offer more content to their social network from sources that attract the most attention.
It is worth noting that this product is not endorsed or supported by the founders or developers of StumbleUpon. Adamant Solutions is not associated in any way with the development, design or the running of the StumbleUpon service. If there is any confusion please contact us.
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Logo Orange sums up the latest trends in the logos that we see on highways, on consumer goods, on the Web and in the institutions and organizations we support. The trends can be summed up in 10 ways:
1. Organic 3D
Here's something new for 2008: we will be seeing 3d effects in logo design that will reach different places and stimulate different viewers who are craving for a new, fresh look! Polish those lenses and see 3D escalate to a higher level!
2. Waves - The New Swoosh
That's it - no more swooshes! After years of being number one, swooshes have now been replaced by the so-called waves. Do you see these waves in the above logos? Top graphic designers use them to inject more flexibility and flow into the design. To highlight the idea of movement, logo designers execute a fade technique from one colour to another for this type of logo design
3. Web 2.0 Logos
Designers often hear the term "web 2.0" from their customers who ask for this specific type of logo. The term Web 2.0 actually refers to certain technologies (Ajax, Ruby, etc). The thing is, can we really say that there's a new trend in graphic design, the web 2.0 design?
4. Transparency in logo design
We'll say this right away: transparency has always been fashionable. Designers often use transparency, thanks to the notion of elegance that it communicates. Transparency allows the combination of different design elements offering the viewer a special image. With the help of transparency you can create perspectives, suggest the ideas of growth, development, combination and connection.
5. "Underground" Typography - Minimal Fonts
Examine the logos above. Have you seen similar ones before? These are logos that we have often found on the sites of Typographic Artists over the last few years. Who would have thought, however, that they would become mainstream by the year 2007?
6. New Rainbow / Colour Scale
We've seen a thousand rainbows in our lifetime. Yet, each time we see one, we can't help but stare admiringly at the sky even for just a few seconds. We feel that sentiment of wanting to "chase rainbows" as the lyrics of a song go.
7. Sci-Fi Fonts
In logo design the font frequently serves to strengthen the message as conveyed by the image. But what about the typographic logos? In this particular case, choosing the right font is crucial. Many of these logos can be memorable. With the development of the number of personal computers per capita, we are now witnessing the rise of a new category of logos , using what the industry refers to as Sci-Fi fonts.
8. Leaves Logo
No matter which logo design collection you browse through, you will notice that they have all been "invaded" by leaves over the last few years. Leaves here and there, leaves everywhere! You sit and wonder why. Could this be the result of a common concern for the environment and the harmful effects of pollution? Is it because green is trendy? Or are humans aching for nature because they sit all day in their office cubicles facing their computer screens making them crave for the natural outdoors?
9. The "Ugly" 80's
Take a look at the logo designs above. What's your first reaction? They bowl you over and leave you speechless - and somewhat confused don't they?
10. The New Crest
New Crest logos have been around in the last few years. The year 2008 though will sound out the trumpets - New Crests go Mainstream!! With the clever combination of medieval symbolism and urban culture graphic elements, the New Crest logos appealed to the youth when they first appeared. Eventually, they were also adopted and embraced by the extreme sports and boarding communities everywhere. At the same time they were used by well known graphic designers for big clients like MTV etc.
Courtesy of Logo Orange
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1. Organic 3D
Here's something new for 2008: we will be seeing 3d effects in logo design that will reach different places and stimulate different viewers who are craving for a new, fresh look! Polish those lenses and see 3D escalate to a higher level!
2. Waves - The New Swoosh
That's it - no more swooshes! After years of being number one, swooshes have now been replaced by the so-called waves. Do you see these waves in the above logos? Top graphic designers use them to inject more flexibility and flow into the design. To highlight the idea of movement, logo designers execute a fade technique from one colour to another for this type of logo design
3. Web 2.0 Logos
Designers often hear the term "web 2.0" from their customers who ask for this specific type of logo. The term Web 2.0 actually refers to certain technologies (Ajax, Ruby, etc). The thing is, can we really say that there's a new trend in graphic design, the web 2.0 design?
4. Transparency in logo design
We'll say this right away: transparency has always been fashionable. Designers often use transparency, thanks to the notion of elegance that it communicates. Transparency allows the combination of different design elements offering the viewer a special image. With the help of transparency you can create perspectives, suggest the ideas of growth, development, combination and connection.
5. "Underground" Typography - Minimal Fonts
Examine the logos above. Have you seen similar ones before? These are logos that we have often found on the sites of Typographic Artists over the last few years. Who would have thought, however, that they would become mainstream by the year 2007?
6. New Rainbow / Colour Scale
We've seen a thousand rainbows in our lifetime. Yet, each time we see one, we can't help but stare admiringly at the sky even for just a few seconds. We feel that sentiment of wanting to "chase rainbows" as the lyrics of a song go.
7. Sci-Fi Fonts
In logo design the font frequently serves to strengthen the message as conveyed by the image. But what about the typographic logos? In this particular case, choosing the right font is crucial. Many of these logos can be memorable. With the development of the number of personal computers per capita, we are now witnessing the rise of a new category of logos , using what the industry refers to as Sci-Fi fonts.
8. Leaves Logo
No matter which logo design collection you browse through, you will notice that they have all been "invaded" by leaves over the last few years. Leaves here and there, leaves everywhere! You sit and wonder why. Could this be the result of a common concern for the environment and the harmful effects of pollution? Is it because green is trendy? Or are humans aching for nature because they sit all day in their office cubicles facing their computer screens making them crave for the natural outdoors?
9. The "Ugly" 80's
Take a look at the logo designs above. What's your first reaction? They bowl you over and leave you speechless - and somewhat confused don't they?
10. The New Crest
New Crest logos have been around in the last few years. The year 2008 though will sound out the trumpets - New Crests go Mainstream!! With the clever combination of medieval symbolism and urban culture graphic elements, the New Crest logos appealed to the youth when they first appeared. Eventually, they were also adopted and embraced by the extreme sports and boarding communities everywhere. At the same time they were used by well known graphic designers for big clients like MTV etc.
Courtesy of Logo Orange
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Australian domain names (.com.au's) are regulated by a set of terms and conditions outlined by auDA, a self-regulatory body that has authority over the domain industry in Australia.
There are certain guidelines and requirements that one must follow in order to register a domain. Failing to do so could result in the loss of the name and any valuable time and effort put into the branding and marketing of the name.
Why all the regulations?
The restrictions and regulations seem to be put into place to prevent some of the "cyber-squatting" that you see with .com domain names. The rules help to ensure that the owner of the domain name also owns the rights to a related business name, trademark, etc.
.COM.AU Registration Requirements
In order to protect your domain name you need to make sure it passes the requirements set out by the auDA. The general idea is that your domain name must meet one of the following requirements:
- The domain name must be an exact match, acronym or abbreviation of the name of the registrant's company or trading name, organisation or association name or trademark.
- Or the domain name must be a close representation of a product, service , event, activity or venue and must be registered accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I register the domain fishandchips.com.au?
Not unless you are the legal owner of the fish and chips trademark or have a related business name.
- Can I register the domain fishandchips.com?
Yes, there are no such restrictions on .com domain names.
- What is stopping me from registering a competitors domain name?
Apart from being unethical, you could be potentially infringing a trademark or business name. If this is the case you have no legal right to the domain name, as such you cannot register it.
- What happens if I register a domain that doesn't follow the guidelines?
There is nothing stopping you from doing so. In fact the domain will work just as any other name. However, if the name is disputed in the future it will legally be the property of the business with a the related business name or trademark.
- Does my business name or trademark need to contain .com.au?
No it doesn't, but if you really want to register your business name or trademark as a .com.au that's your choice.
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