So, I have been using Joost for a little while now and I have to say that it is pretty cool. It doesn’t quite replace regular TV for me yet, but it does offer a unique alternative to specialized programming. The interface is something to see for sure as it is also quite unique. I am not sure that I am in love with it, but it is “slick”!

Anyhow, I have been given free invites to offer to friends, so I thought I would just post them here and see if anyone wants them. If so, just post in the comments and I will dole them out as I get them.

Lone Voice Against Racism

Today I got a glimpse of Mississippi 40 years ago. In the small peaceful town of Poplarville, a city is brought back to a time that it would rather forget. Over twenty hooded White Knights descended upon the courthouse building in the center of town. Even though it was pouring rain they persisted in bringing their message and distributing their pamphlets.

It was a surreal scene and one that I hope to never see again, honestly. I was and still am in awe. My wife and I drove away and barely spoke a word, just dumbfounded by what we had seen. Mississippi has worked very hard to remove the stereotypes and correct the image most people have of this great state. Unfortunately events such as this bring Mississippi crashing backwards.

View more photos in the photo gallery.

UPDATE: Due to abuse I’ve taken the comments for this topic offline. Thank you.

MapuSoft Old Site

The most recent site I’ve been working on has gone live today. I proudly present to you the new corporate site for MapuSoft Technologies.

This was a complete re-design of their existing site that they’ve been using for several years. They needed a more modern site with the capability to easily make updates and additions themselves. They wanted a design that was sophisticated yet still easily navigatable. They also wanted to create focus and highlight their OS Changer®, OS PAL® and OS Abstractor® products.

I created a modern architecture based on standard xhtml and css practices while implementing WordPress as a CMS on the backend. The site is completely CMS driven and offers the ability to upload and maintain the content on the site easily and with little or no knowledge of web programming. The site is built with accessibility and search engine optimization in mind, while still offering an appealing graphical nature to the site.

Of course there are still areas on the site that are not finished (is anything on the web ever finished?), but the site is at a good starting point for them and with some minor tweaks and additions they should be on their way to web stardom!

I am what many would consider a power mac user. Not one that uses a Powermac, but one who uses Macs religiously and tends to know a lot about them. I have been using Macs since the beginning, in fact, before they were even called Macs. I started on an Apple II and actually began my graphics and web career on an Apple Lisa.

In all that time I have used thousands of different types of software. I’ve used everything from 3-D software to Photoshop and the Terminal. One of my favorite catgories of software is called “Free” software. I like it because it is FREE! This differs a bit from other types of Free Software that is more like free speech than just free as in free beer.

Today, I will be listing some of the Free Software that I have found and use and that in most cases beats out non-free software for just being best in the field. Some of these applications I have used for a long time, while others I have just recently discovered but quickly grown to love.

WhatSize

Download WhatSize

The first application I am going to highlight is called “WhatSize” and it is one of my favorites. WhatSize is an application designed to one thing and it does it flawlessly. From the developer’s own description: WhatSize is a simple tool that allows the user to quickly measure the size in bytes of a given folder and all subfolders and files within it. You would be surprised at how many useless files might be laying around on your hard disks. The files and folders are automatically sorted by size, with the biggest sizes first.

This application is nearly identical to the non-free software called Omni DiskSweeper except that the price is much better; Free! I can’t say enough about this simple program – it just works. It is helpful to find hidden files on your system that are needlessly taking up valuable space.

RSS Menu

Download RSS Menu

This is one that I use on a daily basis and I love it for its simplicity as well. I have tried almost all the RSS feed reader programs available today and while some of them are wonderfully overstuffed with features and whiz-bangs, they lacked what I was looking for: a simple, menubar based RSS reader. RSS menu delivers just that. It has everything I need, all in one small compact menubar item or menuling. The developer seems to keep it very updated and the program is super lightweight and takes up very little resources. It’s also running all the time, so I don’t have to worry about checking for news, it just gets it for me.

Serverskine

Download Serverskine

This is a newer application in my list but one that I am quickly finding hard to live without. It is developed by a fellow web development team and is designed for web developers who need to keep track of lots of information regarding servers, customer login information, and other daily details that can often overwhelm. There are tons of PIM programs out there, but very few that are as well-done and thought out from a web developers point-of-view.

Gawker

Download Gawker

Gawker is one of those applications that bears out of necessity but then shines showing that software doesn’t have to cost a lot in order for it to be valuable. I started using Gawker to access my iSight camera and record movies. I have been having trouble with my puppy (or so I thought) and I wanted to record the times that I am away from home to see what is happening and by whom. Apple requires Quicktime Pro in order to be able to capture movies with the iSight camera. This is just dumb and another reason why I think Apple needs to do away with the whole “Pro” registration racket that it uses, but this is material for another post, another time.

Gawker also offers something that is absolutely vital to what I needed, which was time elapsed videography. Who wants to sit and scan through hours of video watching to see what dog does what and when. Gawker lets me record every 5, 10, 30 seconds or any time value I wish. It also displays a timeclock onscreen which really helps a lot. Overall, Gawker is almost so good, that it really should be distributed with iSight to begin with, although it works with other cameras too.

There you have it, four applications that are free, yet immensly valuable. Hope you enjoy them and if you do, reward the developer by sending them a free beer or by donating to them through Paypal.