If you ask anyone I work with you’d know that I’m a big Dragon NaturallySpeaking fan. And I like using tools like this to be more productive. You can’t beat speaking and then seeing the words appear on the screen.

And back in March I was discussing using TTS [text to speech] to help with doing compositions and proof reading documents & emails for you, but in that article I was was referring to a program that handled the process of actually reading the text; that was a Shareware option.

I’ve found a new option, a outstanding option, it’s freeware and it’s got plenty of options. It’s called Balabolka…

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Larry Henry General, How to, Software, Software Reviews Amp, Compositions, Current Technology, Dragon, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Freeware Program, New Option, New Voice, Pronunciation, Proof Reading, Reading Documents, Source Word, Tabs, Text Speech, text to speech, those voices, Tts, Using Tools, Windows operating system

There’s never been a product from Microsoft that I would use to manage my photos or documents. Microsoft has always been too rigged on how they want to do stuff, it never flowed well enough to use on a regular basis.

There’s a funny thing about Microsoft; when they’re considered the underdog, they really start putting effort back in to their products to bring them back up, and you can this in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Microsoft has apparently been paying attention [recently] to the new Internet and how social and how digital media is important; viewing it, editing, posting…

There’s some good improvements in the Windows Live Photo Gallery…

Here’s what I found…

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Larry Henry General, Internet, Movies/Movie Reviews, Phone, Software Reviews, graphics Beta, cameras, Column Frame, Flexibility, Folders, Funny Thing, Home Tab, Images Gallery, Import Option, Importation, Improvements, initial view, Left Hand Column, Microsoft, Paying Attention, Photo Gallery, Photo Organizer, Tabs, Underdog, Windows Microsoft

The Windows Live team recently released the beta version of the Windows Live Essentials. I’m trying to go through and mine out/examine as much as I can on the best parts of the application and show the improvements in the latest version.

And as much as some people will hate to hear this, this release of Windows Live Movie Maker [WLMM] is outstanding.

They’ve improved a few things and changed things around with the GUI interface. My opinion of the ribbon interface is beyond distain, but with this application, it’s bearable. And my over all experience with the beta is really optimistic.

I plan on using it a lot more now.

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Larry Henry General, Hardware, Internet, Movies/Movie Reviews, Music, Phone, Programming, Software, Software Reviews, graphics Application Functionality, Audience, Beta Version, Distain, gui interface, Handicap, Home Tab, Home Windows, Improvements, Live Wave, Long Time, Movie Maker, Movie Production, Movie Wave, Moving, Old Version, Responsiveness, ribbon, Tabs, Transitions, Windows Beta

As your going about your daily life, there’s lots of thing you wish you had to keep track of it all and this was my problem about 4 years ago and then I found MyNotesKeeper. I posted an article about it last year, but it’s getting better, the author has been [within the last few months] actively pushing updates and new features.

One of the things I really like about MyNotesKeeper is the responses from the author; you don’t get it much with other developers, but with MyNotesKeeper he’s been listening to his users and adding the small thing they’re requesting. It really puts a polish on a great program.

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Larry Henry General, How to, Internet, Software blog, Blogging, developers, drag and drop, editor, emailing, Freeware Shareware, html book, html format, html target, image size, images, Improvements, jumpdrive, Lot, Microsoft, MyNotesKeeper, neat stuff, new, New Features, offline, one of my favorites, Personal Information Manager, Personal Manager, resizing images, Screenshot Program, Share Information, size ratios, softpedia, surprise entry, Tabs, tree structure, update, web folder, year one

I was thinking the other day about Windows Live Writer and the fact it’s a great program and it’s surprisingly from Microsoft.

It’s interesting though as you’re making a decision about offline blogging programs you almost always have to download and install the program to see what’s actually being offered and this is [to me] a hassle; it should be easier than that.

So as a favor to you offline bloggers, I’m offering a tour of all the features of Windows Live Writer without having to install it.

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Larry Henry General, How to, Internet, Software, graphics 2009, bottom width, Composition, Computer Skills, Form 160, Format Options, Formatting, free, hassle, Image Options, images, Install Windows, Menus, Microsoft, Plug Ins, Screenshot, screenshots, Simplistic Interface, Spell Check, Surprises, Tabs, tour, Windows Live Writer, Windows Toolbar

I’ve been reporting on the progression of Thunderbird and they’ve released another beta.

These are some things I noticed about the latest beta from Mozilla.

I think that Mozilla is making improvements; they seem to be subtle and I still think it’s missing a social factor with not trying to connect with more social networking sites, making the connection of people more personal and enjoyable.

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Larry Henry General, Internet, News, Software, Software Reviews Activity Monitor, address book, background processes, Beta, Facebook, Faces, feature function, Folders, image style, img, Impressions, Improvements, Inbox, Left Hand Side, Mozilla, Personable, png, social networking sites, Tabs, target, Thunderbird, title image, transparency

Here’s some stuff I’ve been looking at…

	Just one more day to be a home owner again. I’ve say in the couch, bed & my desk… everything else is my wife’s projects. Ah pretty colors. [#]
	Reading: New FCC chief draws a line in the sand on net neutrality | Tech Policy & Law News – Betanews http://tinyurl.com/nbn729 [#]
	Reading: Geo-engineering: Fake trees, algae tubes and white roofs among engineers’ ideas to tackle UK carbon emissions | Environment | T … [#]
	Reading: ASUS to launch Eee-book reader this year? http://tinyurl.com/m78mlr [#]
	Reading: Half Dome Screen Wraps Games and Movies Around You – Projector dome – Gizmodo http://tinyurl.com/m34rns [#]
	Reading: OfficeTab Adds Tabs to Microsoft Office – Featured Windows Download – Lifehacker http://tinyurl.com/ln7tha [#]
	Shared OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 Final
	Shared CCleaner Slim (No Toolbar) 2.23.993
	Shared 3CX VOIP Phone 4.0
	Shared WinToFlash 0.4.0008 Beta
	Shared GnuCash 2.3.4
	Shared TeamViewer 4.1.6597
	Shared DriverMax 5.3
	Shared NEW – FreeFileSync v2.2
	Shared Wireshark
	Shared LicenseCrawler
	If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the things you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results. [#]

Thanks for reading!
Enjoy.

Larry Henry General Algae, Amp, Carbon Emissions, Couch Bed, Desk, Dome Screen, Fake Trees, FCC, Fcc Chief, Law News, Line In The Sand, Microsoft Office, Net Neutrality, Openoffice, Pretty Colors, Projector, Roofs, Tabs, Tubes, Wraps

I download’d the latest beta from Mozilla for Thunderbird. I’m a big fan of Thunderbird and have been for many years. With each release it just keeps getting better. Even with the release of Google Wave, I’m still of the mindset that Thunderbird is the number one freeware email client.

I download’d the latest version to take it for a test drive and here’s some things I noticed right off the bat, plus a few extra comments.

Here’s what I saw… and what I thought.

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Larry Henry General, News, Security, Software Reviews Actuality, Angel, Arrow, B3, Bcc, Beta, Composition Window, Fonts, Formatting, Glance, Google, Huge List, Inbox, Input Methods, Interface Options, Mindset, Mozilla Thunderbird, New Stuff, Tabs, Test Drive