Merlins Tower

My Love of Sudoku

Posted on November 15th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Firefox, Freeware, Game, Web Service.

I love the number logic game Sudoku - you know that game that you see in all the newspapers and see books of these little addicting puzzles at the grocery store checkout. If you don't know what I am talking about check out the WikiPedia Page on Sudoku.

A basic definition is this: known as Number Place or Nanpure, is a logic-based placement puzzle. The object is to fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3×3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid so that there is only one solution.

Now that you know what Sudoku is I am adicted to playing Sudoku on this wonderful free site called Sudoku Slam. It is using an Ajax interface making playing Sudoku easy and extreemly fun.

Here is what Sudoku Slam says about them selfs:Sudoku Slam makes solving Sudokus on your computer more fun than solving them on a piece of paper. For once. There are two basic solver modes. Traditional mode resembles other Sudoku websites (albeit with snazzy features lurking in the background). Sumo mode is the mode of choice: it unleashes the full power of Sudoku Slam and makes solving harder puzzles more fun.

Sorry if I get you hooked on this but I know I am. 

Well  I am off to another round of Sudoku Slam in Sumo Mode.

TAGS: Sudoku Slam game logic number puzzle ajax

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WebService: Jump2Mail - Read Multiple Accounts and More

Posted on October 10th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Communication, Computing, Freeware, Hack, Web Service.

Today I found an interesting site: Jump2Mail.

Jump2Mail as stated on their site is:

Jump2Mail is a free web-based email retrieval application, check all your email-box from one central place - completely free, from any computer, anywhere in the world. This multi account or multi pop webmail allows you to read all your mailboxes without limit.

Jump2Mail also Gives you the following:

The webmail jump2Mail also integrates the following functions :

- Planning/Diary.
- Reminder.
- Task Manager.
- Filtering Anti-Spam.
- Personnal rules.
- Contact management System.
- Bookmark manager (in Ajax).
- RSS Reader (in Ajax).
- RSS Feed of the new malls (in progress).
- Available in 7 different languages.
- 5 different graphic topics.

Again that was taken from their site - They said it better then I could have.

But I signed up and have been looking it over and it is quite robust and easy to work with. It really is nice having all my emails all in one location - I am not always at my main PC where I have my inbox working for me - This really is pretty quite useful to see my contacts, emails, RSS feeds, ect on one screen. Best of all this is FREE - Yes, Free to use.

I will not recommend anything that I don't use - and I will be using this quite a bit while out on the road. I like services that combine multiple uses in one like Meebo.com

This will be going into my links to use on the road - or even at home/office if in a hurry and don't want to run another program.

Tags: Web Service, Free, Email, Communication, GTD, Hack 

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3M Sortable Index Cards - Info and Free Sample

Posted on July 1st, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Freeware, GTD, Hack.

 I just picked up a stack of these cards at the store and they are pretty nice and useful. I love the fact that these cards have self stick ability (Post It Style) so for jobs I am working on I can just stick these to my white board and re organize my thoughts for the website I am creating. I don't believe these would be for everyone but if you check out 3M's Site - they are offering a free sample of these. Here is the info on from 3M's Site (Free Offer on Right Hand Column) about these cards:

Simple, yet powerful, these cards let you think in a dynamic, visual way that creates connections and possibilities.

They stick to vertical surfaces, not each other, so they’re just as easy to organize in your hand as they are to display. These sortable cards also easily sort and shuffle, so you can organize them in your hand and on the go!

Use the handy headers to categorize information by topic, difficulty, priority or deadline. And with several sizes and colors to choose from, Sortable Cards make it more convenient than ever to organize your important thoughts, lists and tasks. 

Enjoy and if you are Celebrating the Fourth of July "Happy Independence Day" - Merlin

Tags: analog, Blog, DIYPlanner, GTD, Hacks, HipsterPDA, Indexcard, IndexCards, Notecard, Organization, Organizer, paper,

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Great Stock Photos - FREE!

Posted on June 29th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Art, Computing, Craft, Freeware, Photography, Photoshop, Uncategorized, Web Service.

Everyone needs some stock photos on their website or presentation or even school report. Well A Digital Dreamer has some very nice high resolution photo files that can be used. They ask to link to them if possible. They have 12 different albums with over 400 photos ranging from 1200 x 900 to 1600 x 1200. And yes these really are ROYALTY FREE. Some of the albums they have are as follows: Photographic Textures, Animals and Insects, Technology Stock, Landscapes and Scenery Stock, Flowers Stock, Trees and Plants Stock Photography, Cloud Stock and more…..

These would can be used as a great resource for your desktop wallpaper, backdrops in presentations, or as some graphics for websites.

Enjoy as I did - I used the one of the technology shots on the cover of my Hipster PDA.

Tags: FREE, STOCK, PHOTOGRAPHY, PHOTO, STOCK+PHOTO, SCREENSAVER, DESKTOP, WALLPAPER, FREEWARE

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The Perfect Thesaurus and Dictionary- Online Search

Posted on May 16th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Communication, Freeware, Journaling, Web Service.

Today, for some work I was doing I was needing to find another word for something I was writing. I needed a Thesaurus - I know there are several online. Some are a Pay for use service like Visual Thesaurus - I really love (adore, worship, passion, fond of) this service. Honestly I don’t like the idea of paying a monthy fee to use something like this. I might buy the CD version as I could use it anywhere and it doesn’t require a internet connection. (I would rather buy the Book Version like I did with the Merriam-Websters Dictionary which included the CD and 1 Year to the online Version.)

As for the Visual Thesaurus I did find a version that works fairly well - Called the Lightweight Visual Thesaurus by A Word Like. Plus it is Free. It only works in Firefox 1.5 or better. Those two cover the basic Visual thesauri.

I then came across the basic online additions at Merriam-Websters and one of the best online reference resources at References at Yahoo under the Education Category.

M-W - Give you access to their Dictionary and Thesaurus for free. You need to pay to have access to their newer Collegiate or Unabridged Versions. (Free with Purchase of there hardback edition)

Yahoo Education Reference - Give you access to several books online. Such as the American Heritage Dictionary 4th edition, American Heritage Spanish Dictionary 2nd Edition, Roget’s II: the New Thesaurus, Columbian Encyclopedia, Columbia World of Quotations, Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body, World Factbook and finally the Conversion Calculator. All in all each has their good points and bad points.

To help sort this info out - Check out the Gale - Reference Reviews. They review and test all the different online Thesaurus and Dictionary sites and tell you which ones had the best words and features.

Tags: Thesaurus, Dictionary, Reference, Online Reference, Education, GTD

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BlogDesk - Free Windows Blogger Software

Posted on May 7th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Freeware, Journaling, Web Service.

Well - I went and did it - I just downloaded another program for my pc and yes it is another freeware program. It is called BlogDesk - an Offline Weblog Client:

Here is a quote from their site:

As an offline weblog client, BlogDesk lets you comfortably write and effortlessly publish new entries to
your blog.

No need to use those annoying HTML Tags in the WYSIWYG editor. Images can be directly inserted and are automatically
uploaded. Even publishing simultaneously to multiple blogs is a matter of a click.

With the ImageWizard you can not only insert images to your posts - it’s possible to edit them as well (crop,
resize, rotate, shadow etc., see Examples). Even Thumbnails
can be created - the preview will be shown in the blog and a click on the image will open it in its original size
(just like here in the right column). Linking and uploading those images is automatically done by BlogDesk.

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All In One Codec Pack - Freeware

Posted on January 25th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Computing, Consulting, DIVX, Freeware, MP3, Movies.

Ok - I recently got a call asking for help playing a DIVX music video they got from a bands website. While searching for a good codec source I ran across this freeware All in One Codec Pack that was just updated. Listed below are a few of the types of videos and music it will allow your computer to play.

A collection of codecs for playing DivX movies. All you need to see
DivX movies: DivX, XviD, AC3…
This codec pack includes:
- DivX 6.1.1
- XviD Codec Koepi’s 1.1
- DivX, XviD - FFDShow 17.02.2005 Alpha
- MPEG2 2.0.0.0
- Subtitles G400 2.83
- Subtitles DVobSub (Win9x, Win2k and WinXP) 2.23, 2.33
- OGG Vorbis 0.9.9.5
- AC3 1.01a RC5
- Morgan Multimedia Stream Switcher 0.99

Codec Packs - Free Download

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