Using multiple computers, in my case my desktop at home and a higly mobile tablet by FSC, becomes a breeze with this surprisingle easy-to-use program. Installed, properly set up and started on both computers, it let’s me use one mouse and keyboard with both computers in a very intuitive way, I can just “move the mouse from one screen to the other” by sliding it over. Mouse and keyboard inputs are instantly switched via local network to the other computer. Sliding back again is just as easy.

All computers need to be on the same local area network, the configuration is then done by establishing simple rules like which screen is to left/right of which other screen, that’s all.

Copying and pasting from one computer to another works with text and images, but not with files, but that can be worked around fixed by setting up a shared folder. Synergy can stitch together machines on all commonly used operating systems.

If you work with more than one machine at home or at work regularly and you want to give your productivity a boost, take a look at synergy.

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Being an avid Tablet user myself (I use a FSC Stylistic st5010) this is what could get me to finally switch to a Mac.

While in no way suggesting sturdiness, yann’s design’s most prominent feature is the device’s thinness. I have not seen a tablet in the shelves that is that thin, but I guess you could still use it with the stylus while balancing on your knees, for me the most commen way to use my tablet (the st5010 is a slate). The only way I use a keyboard with it is when I chuck it into it’s docking station at my table, and I would love to have that ultra-thin keyboard le Coroller has designed there. If the response from the keys are to my liking, that is, I’m kind of peculiar there. I’ve gotten some weird looks from guys that work in electronics stores when I was hacking away on unplugged keyboards, just to see how they feel.

Yann’s vision of a tablet comes with a hinge, that can be used as a deskstand and the keyboard serves as a transport protection when attached through hinges and magnets. The former is a quite unique idea, I hated the idea of having to pay an additional 50€ for some plastic deskstand, the latter is not really unique, the keyboard covering the screen is after all what the the notebook or convertible tablet format already has, but if yann’s idea of magnetic attachment could be done, that would be great. A magnet doesn’t break, and aren’t those pesky little thingys that close your laptop always the first things that come off?

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I’ve used the iTunes music store for that purpose so far, and a new way to go about that buisness is really welcome.

Musicmesh has an ayout is sweet on the eyes. In a surevy of the site, the developers called it “floating CD’s”. The right hand site of the site instantly (i could not agree with some of the comments on Lifehacker about musicmesh having long loading times) offers the selected album’s tracklist, user ratings, the artists wiki, a link to the album at amazon and integrated YouTube videos of selected tracks. The main div shows an animated network of albums that are supposed to be similar to whatever you have selected. All navigable.

The user ratings appear to be from amazon, and I suppose that’s where the album covers come from, too. It eludes me, however, where they get the information about the meshup structure. A first clue, that it’s from amazon, too, could not be verified, but then I really didn’t get into that much detail.

While I really like the quick navigation from album to album, I miss the user ratings of single tracks. iTunes lets me see, what other users liked best in any album, that’s very handy, because I hardly have the patience to browse through all tracks of an album. Also, information on where the network structure comes from would be nice, I’m not entirely sure that some connection are based on irrelevant information like “published the same year”, or something similar. Comments on LifeHacker claim, that certain musical genres are underrepresented. It’s a beta tryout, after all.

Still, it’s nice to find new stuff without having to sort through iMixes, which are useless to me, sometimes.

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The client has an interesting feel to it. It doesn’t look like a normal Windows program, it lacks a menu bar, standard window controls, etc. The background is basically the stream you’re watching at any time, and when you’re not watching anything, waiting for a stream to buffer, it shows an animation.

The controls appears at the bottom, the sides, and the top of the “window” when you move the mouse. They are pretty straightforward, and you don’t have to set up a whole bunch of technical details, but I’d like to get a little more information on whatever the program is doing. Sometimes the streams don’t start for a long time, or not at all because I got tired waiting, and that’s when a progress bar or something similar would come in handy.

The offered channels appear to emphasize music as a topic, but I might not have gotten the complete picture yet. Being a series buff, I went for the science fiction channel immediately and watched an episode of Earth-final conflict. What really caught my intention was a fitness channel that featured very detailed training tips from professional bodybuilders. From what I saw, serious information. Very useful.

The viewing was flawless, once I got the stream to start. (it didn’t at first, no idea why). Picture quality was good, hardly any stop and go. Occasionally, the stream is interrupter by a commercial. That occurs about as often as I’m used to from german private tv channels, so it’s not that big a deal. The commercials I saw appear to be from the sponsors of the channels and I sort of liked them, compared to what is shown on tv here.

I’d say it’s worth a look. Let’s hope they get some more series (comedy).

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About a month ago I went to a concert of local cover band “Ryan Eden“. Actually, I was sort of dragged there by there ex-bassman who I’m happy to call friend. Maybe “concert” is a bit much, it was a gig at some villages’s inn. I’d say there were about 150 people in the room (pretty much all younger than me), and I guess the guys considered it a smaller gig.

What wasn’t small at all was their performance. They really hit the mark with their selection of songs. Bon Jovi, Queen, Metallica, and many others I can’t remember right now.

While this is a cover band, they have a selection of own creations available on their CD “get hypnotized“. I got the CD as a present for a buddy and listened to some of the tracks without too much expectations, after all, local rock bands are… well … usually disappointing and really learned a lesson. I have the tracks on my trusty nano almost without exception and the playlist can be used for pretty much any occasion that requires a soundtrack.

I’ve never been at a life concert, but the 90 minutes I got to listen to those guys really blew me away. I don’t even mind that my ears really hurt and that my car’s emblem got stolen. Be sure to check out their homepage, especially the track excerpts and if You get a chance to see them life, go for it.

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