The jQuery sIFR plugin is fully configurable and can choose how little or how much you want to customize the display of the sIFRed text. It uses jQuery’s native functionality to eliminate the otherwise code redundancy in SWFObject, meaning you get a much smaller filesize and even faster loading.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://jquery.thewikies.com/sifr/
License: GPL, MIT License

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• QtWui, allowing AJAX-enabled web applications in C++, including a built-in web server, developed by Eric Alber; reward: Neo FreeRunner
• Quartica, a plugin based communications application which allows rich media sharing with a beautiful user interface, developed by Matteo Bertozzi; reward: FreeRunner
• Inter-Proc-Sig-Prop, which "frees the signal and slot mechanism from both the process and the actual computer", developed by Bhooshan Ashok Supe; reward: Greenphone
• WebIssues Client, a Qt-based client for a PHP-based issues tracker, developed by Michał Męciński; reward: iPod
• xVidSerTh, an application for downloading Flash movies from YouTube and similar sites and for converting them to other, more usable formats, developed by Xesc; reward: MacBook

While at MAX, I learned about the 'Tour de Flex' website. I'm excited about the resources that are offered at Flex.org, but the Tour de Flex tool is especially focused and useful.

First, the site allows you to download the Tour de Flex AIR app. This is a tool similar to the Adobe Flex 3 Component Explorer. The Tour de Flex version is expanded, with 200 component examples, covering core components, data access, data visualization, mapping. and many others. Because it is an AIR app, the tool can also demo components and language features only available in AIR. There is also a listing of custom components, effects, skins, and other content created by the community.

One of the features I'm most excited about is the listing of Cloud APIs

A few clicks brings up example code for a bunch of online APIs. Viewing how to get started with Ebay, Amazon, or Google Maps is a great way to help an idea get off the ground. Even better, there's examples for some of the services that Adobe offers, like Acrobat.com and Photoshop.com. Way cool.

The tool also includes a download option, which creates a zip of the source code for the example you choose to download.

Another great feature is the Tour de Flex plugin for Eclipse. With this installed, you can browse the 200 examples from within your IDE. Having an example to look at often makes it easier to implement a component you haven't used before, or one you haven't used in a while. With this, there's no need to go looking around on the web for example code.

Check out the Tour de Flex page for more detail.

When you integrate Disqus (pronounced “discuss”) with your WordPress blog, you create a new Disqus community that mirrors the post/comment activity on the blog. The blog post becomes the start of a new discussion and the comments are the subsequent thread. Members can also post to the community that you create. This is a great way for readers of your blog to start discussions with you and all of your readers.

As a Disqus user, all the comments you post to other Disqus-enabled blogs will appear on your profile page (you don’t need a blog to have a Disqus account). This is a nice way for others to see all your words of wisdom that you have shared on other blogs. It is also a good method for finding other users and communities you may be interested in following.

Disqus also plays nice with the built-in WordPress commenting system. Existing comments will be imported into Disqus and when comments are posted onto Disqus they are kept in sync with your WordPress blog. If you change your mind later and you no longer want to use Disqus, you can simply uninstall it. You don’t have to worry about losing comments that were posted through Disqus.

To install Disqus on your Wordpress blog:

• Create an account on Disqus.
• Download the Disqus for Wordpress plugin.
• Place the contents of the archive in your WordPress plugins directory.
• Activate the plugin and navigate to Comments > DISQUS.

  

• Enter your Disqus login credentials and proceed with the installation process.

  

• If you would like to import your existing WordPress comments into Disqus, select Advanced Options and click Import.

  

For further installation details, you can visit the Disqus integration page and view the Disqus documentation for WordPress.

When a blog is converted to use Disqus, individuals that commented on the blog prior to the conversion can claim their imported comments. When users claim comments, verification links are sent to the email addresses used to post the comments. The Disqus users can click the verification links to associate comments on the converted blog with their profiles.

Disqus also automatically subscribes commenters to any responses to their comments. They will receive the responses at the email address they provided with the comment. The best part of this feature is that they can respond via email! There’s no need to revisit the blog post and respond there, as it can all be done by replying to the email.

Disqus also allows non-Disqus members to post comments just as they would normally on any WordPress blog. Users just provide their name, email address, and post the comment. Responses to their comments are sent to their email address and they can reply by email just the same as Disqus users.  Comments by non-Disqus comments are basically treated the same as imported comments.  If non-Disqus commenters do eventually sign up for Disqus accounts, they can also claim their comments to associate them with their new account.

Unfortunately, WordPress is the only well-documented platform for Disqus at this time. The Disqus help page states that MovableType, Tumblr, Blogger, and TypePad are also supported, but the help links just go to a “coming soon” page.  They also have a JavaScript interface in the works (which would allow you to integrate with any platform), but again there is no documentation for it yet.

Fortunately, there is a well-documented Disqus API. That means that developers can integrate Disqus on other platforms that are not officially supported, which is good news for users (and potential users) on the following platforms:

• Drupal
• b2evolution
• Graffiti
• Joomla
• RubyGem

If your blog does not use one of these platforms or uses one of the undocumented platforms that Disqus claims to support, then IntenseDebate might be a better option for you. IntenseDebate can use JavaScript to display comments, so it can be easily integrated into any blog.

However, IntenseDebate does not have the community features and profile pages are only limited to the last 5 comments posted. Disqus makes all comments you’ve made available from your profile, not just the last five. If you’d like to see Disqus comments in action, here are a few blogs that implement them:

• louisgray.com
• VentureBeat
• obscurely famous
• The Eagle-Tribune

You might want to also check out some Disqus profile pages:

• Louis Gray
• Duncan Riley
• Daniel Ha

What do you think of Disqus and other commenting systems?   Which one do you prefer?  Do you use Disqus on your blog?

Jorge Sierra is a geek that enjoys working with Linux and other free software and operating systems. He also enjoys programming as a hobby and has developed several iGoogle Gadgets. By day, he works as a Six Sigma black belt and by night he occasionally blogs as GeekLad.

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What are some of your favorite Windows Mobile applications? Let us know in the comments!

Games

Death Drive - Who doesn’t love a little vehicular combat?  Death Drive brings Carmageddon like combat to your Windows Mobile powered device.

Kevtris - What is mobile gaming without at least one version of Tetris?

Pocket Heroes - Pocket Heroes is a Heroes of Might and Magic game clone for Pocket PC.  It may be a bit simple for some, but still a lot of fun.

Realms - A space based shooting game that might remind you a bit of the old Asteroids arcade game, but only in concept.  Multiple ships to choose from and numerous levels to explore.

Internet Tools

Fring - Fring brings their instant messaging services to more than just the iPhone and iPod Touch with a Windows Mobile version.  Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, SIP, Skype, Twitter and Yahoo.

Opera Mobile - The popular Opera browser comes to the mobile format with a full set of features.

Slick - Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo. Also has text messaging, emoticons, message history and more.

TwitToday - A plugin for your Today screen that allows you to post to your Twitter account.

Web Viewer - Web Viewer is an expansion to the web browsing ability with a tabbed browser that allows you to save open tabs and more.

Media Players

MPlayer for Windows Mobile - Part of the MPlayer suite for Linux, MPlayer for Windows Mobile will let you play Flash videos as well as videos in the RV40, RV30, R20, sipro, cook and atrac codecs.

RealPlayer - An official mobile release for the famous Real One Player.

The Core Pocket Media Player - TCPMP, as it is known, supports a dizzying array of video and audio formats from DivX to Ogg Vorbis.

YouTubePlayer - Just as the name implies, YouTubePlayer lets you to search YouTube for videos and then plays them in their native FLV format.

Phone Applications

Call Firewall - Call Firewall does exactly what you would think it might in that it helps you create blacklists and whitelists for your Windows Mobile powered cell phone.  One of the coolest features is that it will send an SMS to a blocked call telling them why they were blocked.

iDialer - iDialer, pictured above, gives you a new dialing interface that feels similar to another popular phone’s dialing system.  It does offer compatibility with popular Internet phone services such as Grand Central and JaJah.

Skype - The well known Skype service is available for Windows Mobile, enabling you to make Skype calls from your mobile, saving you a lot of money on calls.

Utilities

CapSure - You can capture your screen in BMP, GIF, JPG or PNG and then add captions, obscure sensitive information and more.

Dashwire - Allows you to sync your phone at all times including pictures, files, contacts, messages and more.  Cool feature that lets you see texts on your computer as they arrive at your phone.

GSync - As you can probably guess by the name, GSync allows you to synchronize your Google Calendar with your Windows Mobile powered phone.  The app is available in Dutch, English and Italian.

iContact - iContact changes your contact interface to more of an iPhone style system that allows you to browse through your contacts with just a flick of your finger.

Pocket RAR - An official version of the RAR archive manager that you can use on your mobile device.

SoftKey Manager - This app allows you to edit the soft keys on your Today screen.

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Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Google Search Now on Windows Mobiles, Too
Facebook Optimized for Windows Mobile
Plaxo Now Syncs With Windows Mobile
Adobe Photoshop Comes to Your (Windows) Mobile
7 Freeware Resources For Your Windows Mobile Device
Last.FM Available on Windows Mobile
Free iPhone Apps!

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For all those who are still not sure what Cooliris is, it is a browser plugin that enables you to surf the Web with a cinematic style. The wall on which it shows thumbnails of images, videos, news pulled from various sources and so on, allows you to be fully immersed in a 3D environment. You can easily surf the Web simply by dragging, sliding, clicking and selecting the thumbnails with your mouse.

On the iPhone, you will get a similar experience to that in your computer browser. There is the same 3D wall loaded with rows of picture thumbnails. What is different is that you are using your finger to slide, click and select rather than using the mouse.

To slide the 3D wall across the screen, you just need to do a ’swipe’ left or ’swipe’ right with your finger. Alternatively, if you are too lazy to use your finger, simply tilt iPhone up, down, left, right and you can see the wall move accordingly to the direction you tilt.

When you tap on a thumbnail, Cooliris will zoom the image and position it to the center of the screen. Description of the image and its URL will be loaded at the bottom of the screen. There is also an ‘email’ and ‘download’ icons so that you can easily share the image with your friends.

To checkout the image’s URL, simply tap on the URL and the mobile Safari will load within Cooliris. Once you are done, tap on the ‘Webview’ and it will bring you back to the Cooliris interface.

There are two main features in Cooliris for iPhone: ‘Discover’ and ‘Search’. The Shopping function that is found in the browser version is not available in this iPhone version.

In the Discover section, Cooliris can cleverly detect your location and serve you the information that is closely related to your locale. It is just like an image-based StumbleUpon for iPhone, except that it is more customized to your preferences. You can also select from the channels to get it to display interesting images/videos/news. Personally, I like to use the Wallpaper channel to discover and download new wallpaper for my iPhone.

The Search function allows you to search from a variety of sites, including Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Flickr, deviantArt and SmugMug. I do not have any success with the YouTube search. When I perform a search in YouTube, nothing loads up even after 5 minutes of waiting. I have no problem searching and playing video in the in-built YouTube app, so I guess this is one of the bugs on the Cooliris app. Other than this, the search on the rest of the search engine works perfectly fine.

Cooliris for iPhone has given a new definition to Web surfing on the iPhone. This is not just another app that you use to ‘wow’ your friends, but an app that truly maximizes the touch action and accelerometer of the iPhone and brings your Web surfing experience to the next level. This is definitely the app that I would recommend to everyone.

Cooliris for the iPhone is available for the iPhone/iPod Touch and can be downloaded for free in the iPhone App store.

(By) Damien Oh is an all-out technology geek who loves to tweak and hack various operating systems to make life easier. Check out his blog at MakeTechEasier.com where he shares all the tips, tricks and tutorials.

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