Bixit.net may go for a spell without any updates. This is due to several events taking place in my life. Since I am the only publisher for this domain, there may not be any updates whatsoever until I return. I seriously hope this is not the case, but what can I do?

Please email me suggestions for posts, requests for reviews, tutorials, screenshots, anything you want. I’ll make it happen before I go. You can email me via david@asoldier.net or mdavid@asoldier.net (mobile email)

Thanks for all of your support. I shall return.

Windows Mobile “WiMo” is becoming very powerful. Many people never tap into the full potential of their WiMo enabled devices, and this tends to produce a technology downfall. So, you want to get the most out of your gadgets, right? Here’s a few apps that will empower your experience.

1. Fring

A near-complete all-in-one IM solution, and VOiP solution for WiMo (as well as other OS enabled) devices.

Fring has a flexible UI adapting to varying resolutions (screen sizes) and supports I.M. protocols gTalk, MSN Live Messenger, Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ;  as well as VOIP including Skype and SIP networks. (Save a few bucks with your SkypeOut minutes).

Fring also includes a Facebook and Twitter app. (NO support for Facebook IM, yet.)

Fring relies solely on your data plan, and defies the need for standard SMS text messaging.  If you have a smartphone or Pocket PC, Fring will be essential in minimizing your need for a large text messaging package.

2. Waze

If you don’t need it, you want it. If you don’t want it, it would probably help anyway. GPS navigation is becoming more and more essential, especially when navigating congested urban areas or isolated rural locales.Waze is a full-featured GPS Navigation app that gives you turn-by-turn directions, a 2D or 3D view, and incorporates some social features as well. You can view or report various events such as police traps (speed traps), traffic standstills, accidents, construction, etc. You also get incentives (a points system) for travel to or through certain areas.

Waze allows you to search for a route via your data connection, and will automatically recalculate your route if you stray off course. Voice directions make finding your turns a breeze; as well as visual instructions including the direction of your next turn, and the distance in miles and feet.

Waze also has an automated error reporting system which resumes the last route you searched/selected prior to the app failing or an error occurring; an instantaneous log and report sent to to Waze; and a polite apology.

3. My Mobiler

My Mobiler is a downright simple app to operate. Once installed it works via your bluetooth or USB connection and quite simply enables direct access to your WiMo device via your PC. Once you’ve connected, you can control your phone directly from your computer, including navigation, text input, copy and paste, etc. You can also record video and take screenshots of your activities on your WiMo device. This app has a very light footprint on your machine. It’s definitely worth it if you have a lot to do on your phone, and you’re tired of thumb cramps. I consider this to be a hidden tool for Getting Things Done (GTD).

4. Evernote

Everyone forgets… Whether it’s one of your zillion passwords for your various online accounts or social networks, or that email address from your coworker, everyone at some point forgets something important to them or someone else. Stop forgetting, start Evernoting.

Evernote instantly saves whatever you write, type, or record. You can capture video, audio, text, and handwriting using Evernote for WiMo as well as for your PC. Anything you enter is securely synced to your account online. As soon as you install the app for your PC or WiMo and log in, everything on your account will show up, and will download once you select a notebook.

5. oMarket

I never liked spending days trying to find software for my WiMo phone, even when I upgraded to the awesome HTC Tilt 2. What bugged me worse is most of the “freeware” out there, was just shareware waiting for its trial to run out so it could scam you into paying for a license when it should be free.

oMarket brings you a mass of freeware, free of charge (pending your data plan of course) and allows you to manage your freeware right from your fingertips. Direct .cab downloads, and it even notifies you of outdated versions.

The only requirement for this handy app is that you register an online account. No worries, it’s free and you can do it right on the spot. After that you have full access to all of the freeware, and you can leave your mark by posting reviews and ratings of software you’ve tried out.

Apps are sorted by category, but if you’re looking for something in particular, you can search for it.

6. ClearTemp

If you’ve ever used CCleaner for Windows, then you know that having a good “Crap Cleaner” is nearly a necessity. Unless you like spending your spare time trying to find every last cache of temporary file nonsense that’s bogging down your phone or PDA, I recommend getting ClearTemp.

It gets pretty much everything. You can select which folders you want affected individually, or hit “Select All” from the menu option, and it does the hard work for you. It’s free, so there isn’t much to knock.

The preview pretty much explains the function of the program. There are some pretty nifty auto-selectors under the “menu” though.  You can set a few custom folders (i.e. for your app download folders or your unsecured personal files you need to quickly delete in the case of an emergency… ex girlfriend EHEM) and uh…

7. BsB Tweaks

It’s a fairly thorough tweaking utility for getting the most out of your device. Think of it like Glary , but for WiMo.

With the right settings, you can speed up your device, get better quality from your graphics, save some juice (battery life), and generally get more bang for your “buck” (it’s free).

This app comes in handy when you don’t want to spend a bunch of valuable time scrounging around your settings menus trying to find those settings that either don’t exist, or are to darn hard to find to make it really worth it.

BSB Tweak allows you to adjust some settings which are either hidden, or extremely hard to find. It does everything but God Mode (we can only hope one day) like in Win 7. I’m sure someone’s working on it.

In the meantime be sure to take advantage of the thumb-friendly UI, and a  whole bunch of customized yummy time-saving settings.

8. pTasks

Syncing up your Outlook tasks is pretty simple. You connect your WiMo device and ActiveSync and your Device Center do the rest. What sucks is using Outlook for your To Do list. The bland and uninteresting interface is repulsive. Add the disregard for GTD with a sense of style, and a bit of jazz, and there you have it. pTasks helps out in this department.
Strip out the nonsense, and add a Manilla-style skin to it, and you’ve got pTasks. There’s a mass of sorting options, and it’s very touch-friendly. Oh and it’s free. Uses next-to nothing for resources. If you have a lot to do, and you wanted to use your WiMo device for your To Do list, here’s one more reason to.

It also helps to have text that’s easier to read, and a little softer to the “touch”. Tasks are automatically highlighted (and sorted if selected) by category/importance/date due etc. There’s quite a few features to this one, but be careful with the updates. This might turn into a retail app should the creator decided to release the next update as such. You can turn off the update checking ability in the menu, so that takes care of that (fingers crossed).

9. Klaxon

The alarm screen with WiMo 6.5 is pretty boring, and not so touch-friendly. Getting those little minute and hour hands to go just where you want them can be a real pain in the arse. Klaxon is a real remedy to the massive headache. Setting the time for your alarms is easy as a couple of taps or a finger-slide, and naming your new alarm. Not to mention the pretty nifty UI.

Aside from the obvious features, you can use any .mp3 file as an alarm. From personal experience, once an alarm is set, the app can be completely closed, and the alarm will still go off, repeatedly, until you get off your ass and turn it off.

It does its job pretty well. Not to mention you don’t have to pay a dime. If you’re willing to spend a little cash, you can always pick up g-alarm. Do you need it? Not really.

Image via CrunchBase

Using Windows Search can be tiresome, takes much longer than it should, and tends to bog down resources. Well kiss Windows Search goodbye, and say hello to Everything… quite literally.

If it’s on your computer, connected to your computer, and in some cases, near your computer, Search Everything will… search…. everything…yeah that’s about it.

No seriously…

When you type, your results appear automatically. It could be a folder, a file, on an external drive, a thumb drive, local, hidden, doesn’t matter. Everything will find it, index it, and the next time you search for something it’ll find it even faster.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

Download Everything

Everything Homepage

Everyone goes through it. Can’t find that program and it’s not on the Start menu; you’ve scoured the program folders, and you’ve even run a windows search for it. You know the name of it, but you just can’t seem to locate the darned thing. Did I overlook it? Did I uninstall it and forget? Launchy helps by finding all of your programs and shortcuts, and giving you real-time results as you type.

There are some interesting plugins for Launchy, as well as a wide selection of skins thanks to DeviantArt and similar communities. Launchy will also launch websites simply by typing the URL. No need to find your browser’s shortcut, and wait for it to load.

The best part? Launchy is freeware.

Download Launchy

Launchy Homepage

Image via CrunchBase

There’s a growing need for organization in our complicated lives. Without it, we waste time, lose productivity, and become unhappy soon thereafter. In order to combat the chaos we need friends, skills, knowledge, and power tools to help us cope, and take advantage of the mess. One tool that lets us do this is RememberTheMilk.com. ?

One of the awesome things about RTM (RememberTheMilk) is that it’s not just a bare bones to do list. It’s lets you know when you have appointments coming up via email or a plethora of other services… you can sync it between your phone, home computer, and of-course the web, and you can integrate most facets of your life without expending much more than a few minutes a day. And did I mention, it’s completely FREE?

Say you want to add a new task…

That’s simple enough right? Well there’s a lot more you can do. You can make tasks repeat, send emails, connect to links, and tons more. I haven’t even started on the 3rd party services available.

• Supercharge Remember the Milk task manager with browser plugins (pheedcontent.com)
• A Bit Better RTM Enhances Remember The Milk for Google Chrome [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)

Don’t forget that you can enhance RememberTheMilk with Google Gears, which means you can run it offline, even as a Chrome desktop app, and ultra-fast to boot!

If you find something better, let us know. I mean for this price (free)…

So everyone is oh-so-familiar with the Mac’s beautiful icon dock featured here. Unfortunately Windows never came with anything as remotely fascinating. There is the Quick Launch bar which serves its purpose with astounding limitations. Matter of fact, more limitations are imposed on Vista and Windows 7′s version than XP’s icon toolbars. You could slap a toolbar on top, either side, or the bottom on top of the task bar, or within it. Now, you’re limited to the Quick Launch bar, and all of it’s limited glory.

Stardock came up with Object Dock quite some time ago and ever since we’ve been striving to find a freeware alternative. No one wants to pay that ridiculous amount for a simple drag and drop dock. So, here’s an alternative. (One of many to come).

Krento

Krento offers a clean GUI based off of Rocket Dock skins and opens up some possibilities for a GTD mindset. It’s easily skinned, and customized. Krento sits peacefully on your desktop, or hides silently in the background until summoned either via a system tray icon, or the confounding Pulsar widget (the red-eyed eyeball object). When it comes to adding your shortcuts to Krento, dragging and dropping gets it done.

Visit Krento

The awesome folks at WebWorkerDaily.com have brought together 10 Must Have Google-Chrome Extensions.

I’ve been stumbling with this one for a minute.  Fortunately the awesome people at ThemeShaper.com have posted this delightful tutorial series titled “How To Create a WordPress Theme: The Ultimate WordPress Theme Tutorial” Fortunately just in-time for one of my other ventures “Frag League” to spin up. Check it out at FragLeague.com.

If you’re looking for a better tutorial, with the right steps, without shelling out the cheese, check this tutorial out.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Jacques van Heerden posted a priceless article on his star blog CreativeOverflow.net with the magnetic title “10 Ways A Designer Can Make some Extra Money“. The article introduces you a list of websites that allow you to take something you’re already good at(photography, design, art etc.) and turn it into some $$$ I think that’s awesome. However, I think we could add a couple…

Cafe Press

CafePress.com offers a plethora of products to append your designs to. Whether it’s word art, vector, abstract, concept, or anything else, you can get it printed on CafePress. CafePress does charge a royalty, but they make it clear how much they get, and give you the power to set up your own store, advertise how you like, and potentially make a killing from your skill/style.

You can customize everything from t-shirts to mouse pads. Literally hundreds of options. You’re pretty much limited by your creativity by this one.

SpreadShirt

Spreadshirt does what CafePress does, only it’s all shirts… well there’s a few other bits too, but mostly t-shirts. In some ways, they do it better too.. but it’s all a matter of opinion.

Threadless

Threadless offers what SpreadShirt does, but they seem to have a much more active community. There’s a bunch of contests, challenges and such. You can win free tees, sometimes money. Heck you could even score a job if you’re lucky.

There’s a few others, but don’t spread yourself out too much. Your best bet is to build your portfolio up on one site at a time. Once you’ve reached your potential, don’t sit around and wait for results, continue building on another site. Consider creating multiple accounts as well, and focus one account on a particular type of art or design. This way you can gear your customers/visitors towards you, and you won’t have to gear yourself towards them. Now spread your wings and fly.

Every penny counts, whether you’re a lever puller on an assembly line, or a corporate exec. Pinching pennies isn’t necessary. In-fact, often spending less on something can have the opposite result you might want.

Buying smart: When you shop around for things for the office or workplace, consider doing a double-take on the item(s) you’re about to purchase. Just because the store you’re at has everything you need at one go, it may be prudent to whip out your phone, and call a couple of other stores who might have the same item, but for less.

For example: You need an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier (maybe a fax too) as well as paper, a thermal laminate press, and a few other smaller items. First, call Wal-Mart and ask for the Electronics department. Find out how much the items you need cost. Put them on hold (if they’re good employees, they’ll wait) and call Office Depot or another franchise that might have the product you need. Once you hear the price from each store, then quickly pull up Mapquest (which you can also do on your phone) and easily determine the distance and time you will need to purchase the item(s) you need.

If the price difference between the two stores is $10.00 or less, pick the closer store. By the time you’ve arrived you will probably have spend more on gas than the price difference between the two printers.

The Green life: Consider going green. Okay sure it’s not cheap. The light switches, the bulbs, the insulation etc… but it adds up in your favor.  For one, the energy saver bulbs tend to last longer, burn brighter, and use much less energy than your standard bulb.

That also comes in handy when you’re running on battery backup during an outage, or storm.  The motion-detection light switches help reduce hassle when entering a room. The oh-so-common bathroom warcry “Where’s the damn switch!?” no longer exists. The light turns itself on when you enter it’s field, and turns off after a selected time of inactivity. This means you save money for all the times you forget to turn off the light in the shed, latrine, hallway, garage, etc. It adds up, trust me.

There’s some really cool insulation for cold winters. Basically it’s a foam sheet sandwiched between a cool aluminum film on either side that keeps the elements out meaning summers stay cooler, and winters stay warmer. Perfect for the office.

Quick tip: Consider blocking the vents in your bathroom(s) and extra bedroom(s) since you rarely spend more than an hour at a time, you will barely notice a temperature difference. Keep the door closed, and give your AC a break. Taking an entire room out of the equation means you can heat/cool the entire place much easier, and cheaper.

Battle of the peeves: Your pet peeves can cause serious discomfort for people around you, and they can also cost you money. Getting your nails done, getting a pro-salon haircut, and paying to get your car detailed all cost money, and tend to be entirely unnecessary. Of-course time isn’t what it used to be, there’s less of it every day(so it seems) but consider that by the time you’re done waiting in line to get prettied up, you could have done the job yourself, or gone somewhere less  expensive, and may even get a better job done.

Last one: Don’t forget… start writing things down instead of relying on your handy dandy devices 100% of the time. This will help increase your short-term memory and actually will increase your overall productivity. Productivity means getting more done in a given amount of time, and time is money.

There are other interesting ways to boost your memory skills. Crossword puzzles, word games, association games, or even memorizing a book can help your mind become more malleable, meaning you can absorb more with less effort, making you a valuable asset to any employer.

Oh, and don’t forget to brush your teeth… actually that’s just for my co-workers. I hope they read it.