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What does your TweetCloud say about you?

This morning, it seems like everyone on my Twitter contacts list is talking about TweetClouds. It's an application that uses the microblogging service's API to create a "cloud" of the most frequently used words used in a given Twitter member's feed of "tweets."

It only works with Twitter accounts that are publicly accessible--some members keep their updates friends-only--and it takes a while for the app to munch through all the "tweets" and form a cloud. And like many small Twitter applications that get unexpected viral buzz, the server sometimes crashes. But … Read more

USB slide show for your computer's vitals

Who needs those boring family photos anyway? The bona fide geek will find a way to highlight true objects of affection on a digital frame--such as CPU and RAM usage.

Those are just a couple of options apparently available for this handy USB device, which has a small LCD that can display your beloved computer's vitals and other information to maintain optimum desktop health, according to Everything USB. Its estimated 2-inch screen isn't exactly up to control-room standards, but it's a lot easier to read than those tiny taskbar icons. Depending on "inventory" of slides, … Read more

Photobucket stats show Democrats like to search more

One of my favorite things to get in my e-mail each week is the data report from News Corp-owned Photobucket. Think of it like the Google Zeitgeist, but for people's searches on the popular photo hosting site. While the report doesn't offer up every statistic, the creators pick a few interesting or pertinent things that make good reading. This week's tidbit? Politics.

The Democratic and the Republican presidential nominees (Edwards now obviously excluded from that list) are represented with several thousand search hits each. So what do the numbers show?

Democrats: 1. Hillary Clinton (25,400) 2. Barack Obama (24,736) 3. John Edwards (1,829) Republicans: 1. Ron Paul (10,589) 2. Mike Huckabee (2,064) 3. John McCain (1,986) 4. Mitt Romney (1,785)

Clearly the Dems like to search. Despite getting more love from the media, Huckabee, McCain, and Romney combined don't come close in searches to Ron Paul. Take that for what it's worth. However, it could mean that people are trying to figure out what the guy looks like.

I would like to see other popular social sites release weekly or even daily stats. The very nature of site stats are similar to Digg, Delicious, and others, in providing entertainment and a window into the habits of other users.

The rest of the report is posted after the break.

Best Mac software of 2007

The year 2007 might be one of the biggest years for Apple in recent memory. Certainly a lot of great products have been released over the years, but none had the anticipation or the media fervor as did the iPhone. The new iPod Touch, the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and the funny Mac vs. PC ads we're seeing these days only added to the hype with more people starting to "Think different" than ever before. With Macworld just around the corner and promises of new Mac hardware on the horizon, the future of … Read more

Google Analytics adding search sorting, outbound link checking

Earlier today Google unveiled some new and upcoming features being added to their Analytics service at the eMetrics Summit in Washington, D.C. Site owners will soon be getting a way to see what their users are searching for within the site, potentially making it easier for them to reorganize, or prioritize the what's on the page. Users will also have their choice of several third-party search tools that work with the new search analytics, along with Google Custom Search, Google Mini, and Google's enterprise search appliance.

The service is also rolling out a new "Events Tracking&… Read more

WinDirStat knows what's eating your memory

Over the weekend, I found myself on a digital precipice. My laptop's hard drive had maxed out its 90GB, there were less than 5 to go. My external hard drive, The Tank, was about to get tanked: Out of the 250GB it could hold, I was down to less than 4. I still needed to upload a bunch of RAW format photos, with each image closing in on 10MB. What to do?

I remembered a recent article we ran about good system utilities and identifying where your precious gigabytes are going. Sure enough, WinDirStat came up. I was hoping that there was some unknown cache taking up all my space, or at least enough to be able to save without fear of outrunning the hard drive's limits.

Figure out your gas burn with MyMileMarker

Short of keeping a pen, paper, and notebook in your glove compartment, there's not really an easy way to track your driving habits between gas fill-ups. Enter MyMileMarker, a simple and useful solution for figuring out how much driving is costing you in gas, and how many miles you're likely to put on your vehicle in the course of a year. Best of all, you can upload your data to the service for free on the Web, or using your mobile phone.

Setting up your vehicle with MyMileMarker is about as simple as it gets--just put in the … Read more

Optimize your hard drive in three easy steps

I admit I'm a digital pack rat. I have a directory of images on my local drive devoted to LOLcats. I have gigabytes of FLAC files from live concert recordings and MP3 files from music sites such as CNET Download.com Music.

I'm good at regularly backing up my information to DVD and moving some files permanently to backups, but my 160GB hard drive is usually pushing full capacity. To keep my machine running at a speed I like (and deserve!), I have to perform regular maintenance. While there are lots of ways to optimize your hard drive, my basic method requires only three steps.… Read more

Google Analytics gets a face-lift

Google Analytics relaunched today, adding several new visualization tools and ways to share data with others. The tool gives Web site owners a free and relatively easy system to keep track of how people are accessing content on their site, including ways to track which content is getting the most views, how much time each user is spending on the site, and the number of visits by time of day. There's also a handy map overlay which will show you where your users are, right down to the city they live in.

One of the updated features is the Analytics dashboard, which is now completely customizable and has simplified data. Users can relocate, add, and remove the various data widgets, in a similar fashion to that of iGoogle. Also new is the option to e-mail or export reports as PDFs, which can now be scheduled to be sent out automatically every day, week, month or quarter using a built-in calendar. Previously you were only able to export it as a non-human-friendly XML file.

The service is mainly an extension of Google's AdWords program, which lets site owners purchase words that link to various parts of their site via contextual ads that show up on Google or partnered search engine results. But even if you're not interested in making money it's a free Analytics solution that requires no software, just a line of code on any page you want to keep track of. If you're a WordPress user, there's even a plug-in to automatically add it to your site. Blogger users are also able to add it by tweaking their blog template.

There's more information about the update on the Google Analytics Blog post. For more screenshots of the new dashboard, keep reading. … Read more

'Medical iPod' could save your life

If you have any doctor or nurse friends who doubt the importance of digitizing medical records, show them this.

The "CAREt System," which Medgadget says is being called the "medical iPod," is one more device that could help save lives thanks to digital databases and other updated technologies. IntelliDot, its manfacturer, describes it this way: "By simply scanning a patient wristband, the CAREt handheld device guides the nurse through all required medication administration and documentation tasks that have accumulated for a patient. Information is clear, organized and delivered right into the caregiver's hand, right … Read more