AppAholic TechRant

I frequently read about people complaining about various aspects of the Windows operating system. Usually I agree with them. However, I did find a neat little trick that Windows can pull out of it’s rear end which is rather useful. Mac users and Windows skiners may be familiar with this concept…

A DOCK!

If you don’t know what I’m on about, it is a little bar of icons at the bottom (or other side) of the screen where you can launch your frequently used applications from.

Yes Windows does have one build in. OK, so it isn’t anywhere near as good as Apple’s glorious creation. Neither does it compare to the similar applications for Windows. BUT – it is very simple to do, and requires no installation, thus absolutely minimal impact on your system performance.

So how, I hear you cry, does one atchieve this feat? Here’s how…

1. Make sure your taskbar is not locked (Righ click on it, make sure the checkbox isn’t ticked)
2. Drag your taskbar up so that it is twice as high as normal
3. Create a folder somewhere, say in My Documents, and call it something like ‘Shortcuts’
4. Create a new toolbar in the taskbar (Right click, toolbars, new toolbar…)
5. Find your ‘Shortcuts’ folder
6. Drag the little handle on the side of your toolbar so that you can move it to the bottom
7. Your toolbar will now be at the bottom of the screen
8. Right click your toolbar and untick the option for ‘Show Text’
9. Do the same for ‘Show Title’
10. Finally, right click and change the ‘View’ to ‘Large Icons’
11. Remember to lock the taskbar again after.

Yes, I know that it looks nothing like the dock on a Mac, but it is jut as useful.

What is nice about this feature is that you can drag and drop icons for anything (program shortcuts, folders, files, URLs etc) onto it, and they pop right up. Simple, easy, and it fits in with whatever Windows theme you decide to use.

Jetpacks!

Swiss man crossed the English channel in under 10 minutes. 22 miles from calais to dover. 49 years old this guy was! An ex fighter pilot, granted, but even so, 125 mph is rather fast flying in the air.

He did win £1,000 from the Daily Mail, 100 years after they started the competition, although I doubt this was his initial target,as I guessing it cost a lot more than that to put on.

It started with a 8,200 feet climb in a light aircraft (sort of cheating really), and then jumped out and flew using the jet pack with wings. The wing span is 8.2 feet, weighing in at a total of 121 lb. The actual decent took another 3 minuets, making a total of 13 minuets from flight to ground.

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Ever wondered if a pigeon can play Tap Tap? Neither have I! But hey, this video answers that question. This is a pet pigeon, however why you would want a pigeon as a pet, is something I cannot fathom. Even if I DID have one, the last thing on my pet pigeon to-do list would be let it play on my shiny new iPhone. Oh well. Continue reading for link.

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