DropBox: free tool you should install

I finally installed the free DropBox tool.

DropBox is a little tool which sits on your computer (Mac, Windows, Linux, Iphone, iPad, Android and with which you can create a local directory on your machine that syncs with the dropbox server.

So what?

It means that:
- your data is safe in that folder (you get up to 8 GB for free), very secure
- your data is versioned, so if you screw up and want an older version you can get that older version, so its also a versioning system.

You can also Share folders in your dropbox, so:

- you can share certain directories with specific friends
- share photos, urls, music, movies and whatever other data for free
- you don’t need the carry around that usb stick anymore to share files
- use this instead of finding workarounds for sending gigantic mails.

You can also install Dropbox on multiple computers / pda /phones so that you always have that exact folder available on any machine. Super handy for e.g. … bookmarks or any other files you otherwise carry around with a usb stick. I use it now for todo files, some important documents, my urls and some truecrypted files. I feel much safer now.

And those are just the basic ideas. Around the world people have written zillions of cool ideas how to use it e.g. to remotely control your homecomputer by placing script commands in it and so on.

And if you develop: yes there is even an API.

Did I need the space? No I have terabytes of data available online. Did I look the easyness of it? yes. And besides that … it’s free.

So… download it and try it and you will probably get some more ideas on what to do with it.

I will write some additional blogposts on it further on to explain on more cool things todo with it e.g. also nice ofcourse for all the portable apps.

AGS – Adventure Game Studio

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AGS – Adventure Game Studio
Amazing free game software with many complete adventures in “Sierra Style” to download and play.

Wordle reinvents Tag Clouds

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An alternative look on my interests by Wordle (created by Johathan Feinberg, who works at IBM research)

Ziggy Stardust Remixed – Free Download incl. cover

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So uhm here: http://www.ziggyremixed.com/, drag it directly into your iTunes, don’t forget to mark the mp3’s as "collection” so they fall under the folder “collection”.

Free hosting at Dreamhost: only 8464 spots left

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Dreamhost has opened up for 10000 8464 people for FREE hosting incl. : a weblog (wordpress), a wiki (mediawiki), a forum (phpbb), another cms/weblog (drupal), all google apps (calender, docs, sites, start) and your gmail under your own domain.

So… if you are very quick drive to here (or get FULL dreamhost hosting (incl. ftp, unlimited space and bandwidth here)

Eds links for 2008-06-30: The Mutopia Project

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The Mutopia Project
The Mutopia Project offers sheet music editions of classical music for free download.

I Love Win2VNC

With Win2VNC you can control 2 computers via 1 keyboard and mouse. Meaning: if you move your mouse cursor off the right part of your screen it enters on the other computer on the left part.

It’s super great when you have 2 laptops next to each other and you want to control the two screens as if they were one.

Yes, it has been around for years and years but tonight I installed it again and had this "wow" experience once again.

The utility has been made by Fredrik Hubinette.

p.s. too bad that it still doesn’t support CTRL-ALT-DEL sequences.

But for that purpose you can choose any of these.

Eds links for 2008-05-14: What mood are you in? – YouLicense – The Online Music Licensing Marketplace

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What mood are you in? – YouLicense – The Online Music Licensing Marketplace

Return to the Stone (now FREE!!) (supertip)

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I just want to warn you that if you read this weblogposting you might get addicted in a very bad way. You will find the most addictive mind game in here that will keep you busy for weeks per puzzle and years to solve them all. I have been doing it since august 2001. However, solving a puzzle will make you feel better than any drug out there can do. This could well become part of your regular life. It took until august 2007 until 1 player finally solved all puzzles!

Many many years ago, in 2001, I bought, in a shop in the Netherlands, a little box named "the stone".

the physical stone - Inside it was "a stone" of which only 2 were made. If you would find the other stone containing the same symbols you would find your stone soul mate. You could check it online and although I checked during a long period, I think noone has bought my other half of the stone.

The website - Inside it was also an access code to give you entrance to the stone website, which was filled with extremely hard "mind-puzzles", ordered in a particular 3d shape that consisted of just 1 images and some words or little clues. Puzzles were named like "stained glass" or "the unknown". For insider each of these names are legendary. I solved my first on 5 august 2001.

So, beginning august 2001, you can see me working my way, and blogging about it, of slowly unlocking puzzles, giving you access to even more puzzles. During the years I only managed to solve a little part of the Enigma but others have conquered it all, as can be read on selective weblogs.

Back then I think I infected quite some people with this stone virus. Some days I went to work with a printed out version of a puzzle (just 1 image) to "keep it alive in my head" and discussing options with others.

I went away for some while and today I discovered that the stone has closed. Which was unfortunate because I was looking for another puzzle. However I also discovered that the complete website is now open to everyone for FREE (…) on http://www.thestonemonument.com, just register and you can log in immediately!!! Read Wikipedia on the Stone to find out it closed august 2008.

Ofcourse, since it is now free, I want you all share my experiences with the game and "feel it". This is now a unique opportunity possible since it’s free. If you are a LOST fan than you will get about the same experience from the Stone site, however now you can solve it!

Do not think of these puzzles are "regular" "difficult" puzzles. These puzzles work differently. I think I can only explain this to you by giving you an example, but for that I will have to give you much extreme clues about the solution to this puzzle.

EXAMPLE WITH SCREENSHOTS

So only read on if you want the clues about one of the specific puzzles!!! I am only posting this because I think giving you an example is the only way to "explain" what it is and get real excited about it.

As soon as you log in you will see this:

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At the bottom you see different icons.

image The first icon is "The Unkown", this is actually a very small mini version of the large game with only a little set of puzzles.

Click on that icon to start the "demo" and to give you a feel for the games.

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You will now see a little cube with 9 dots in it. Each dot represent 1 puzzle, when you mouse over it, you will see the name of the puzzle.

 

 

 

 

When you click on the puzzle "Gravity". You will see your first puzzle. It took about 3 minutes to solve this one on august 5, 2001. So remembers, these are only the 9 demo puzzles and are all much easier than the real puzzles (which are now all free, wow). Gravity looks like this:

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Now what you see is an apple falling, 6+6 and 32-1. Furthermore the puzzle is titles "gravity". I think your mind is now already making some associations and this is exactly what this game is about.

So let’s see, 6+6=12 and 32-1 = 31. Which makes 12.31, maybe a year or a time or something else? Or should we treat the numbers as characters? So 66 and 321?

The apple and gravity ofcourse reminds us of Newton under the tree, discovering Gravity. Let’s try to enter "newton" although we don’t have a clue about the numbers:

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So the system tells us that this is not true. Probably everyone enters this the first. Apparently it’s an event.

Hmmm… an event mostly has a date. Let’s Google on "1230" and "newton" and "apple" and "gravity" …. that brings us nowhere.

Hmmm… that apple looks quite BIG, like a "big apple" (your mind has to make this snap), and the numbers could be turned around like "31/12" (your mind must be capable to make this other snap).

What does that mean, what event are we looking for, 31 december (in the big apple)?

Exactly!

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You have now solved your first puzzle in the stone. The numbers could have probably led you to the solution, but as often in this game you can get extra mind-hints to direct your thinking.

The other 8 demo puzzles in "the unknown" are challenging each in its own, they all have their little twists. When you have solved them, it’s time to enter the real deal, the immediate:

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As you can see you have access to 12 puzzles to start with, solving each on of them will give you access to more, eventually bringing you to …

Good luck! Let me now how you liked it and on which puzzle you are working on.

Eds links for 2008-04-29: FontStruct | Build, Share, Download Fonts

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FontStruct | Build, Share, Download Fonts
pretty neat tool for building your own fonts

Free Nikon D60 Pen Brush

image I ran into this while stumbling, click here for a free Nikon Goodie: a brush/pen to clean your camera (scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page).

I don’t know how long the free goodie offer will last so you will have to hurry.

Win a Sieger Tie

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The designerduo Christian and Michael Sieger have created a new interesting design for the Gentlemen’s collection: a collection of elegant handmade silk ties, pochettes, smoking accessoires and cumberbunds in 36 different colors with names like “honeybee”, “chocolat” and polar bear”.

The magazine Flying Dutchman (the KLM magazine which I read today, I thought I would blog it) is giving away 10 Sieger Ties. Just send your your request to klmfdmagazine@hemels.com with your name, address and other contactinfo.