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In PDC ‘09, Microsoft unveiled a prototype called Pivot, created by Microsoft Live Labs that claims to revolutionize the way we search the web by introducing a new dimension called ‘visual search’. Redmond company explains that Pivot lets users experience the web in a more subtle and ‘visual’ way, instead of series of pages.

Powerful, informative and fun – this is what Pivot is, in it’s classical sense. The introductory paragraph of the official Pivot website reads, “We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web.”

Currently available to a handful of people, you can request for an invite in order to use Pivot. I was lucky enough to get an invite. Upon installation, I was represented with, what seemed like, a homepage:

Pivot can be used in two ways:

» As a regular browser to surf the web

» As a visual search tool to browse collections.

When used as a regular browser, Pivot is just a clone of Internet Explorer, only a bit less customizable. When it comes to rendering pages, it uses the same Trident layout engine used in IE.

The beauty of Pivot is in its ability to browse specially created collections which are infact massive information clusters. As of now, the Live Labs have offered sample Pivot collections to mingle with. Ofcourse users can create their own collections and share it with others. However, understanding the basic architecture and the three types of collections is a bit too nerdy. That is why, Microsoft has challenged developers to create custom collections based on existing web services.

Minimum requirements:

» Windows 7 / Windows Vista with ‘Aero’ enabled. (Pivot is not compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server Editions as of now.)

» Internet Explorer 8.

» .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

» 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.

» At least 256 MB of video memory.

Note: Pivot does not support Intel integrated video chipsets without additional acceleration hardware.

The road ahead...

Considering the strong foundation on which Pivot is built, one can expect it to be helpful in these scenarios:

» Create collections from data in existing online services.

» Use collections as a front end to desktop search.

» Display data sets from academical studies.

» To visualize stock market data.

» Using Pivot for personal photo galleries, or social networks.

Finally, here is a demonstration video of Microsoft Pivot in action.

Demo video:

Download Pivot / 28mb

Note: You are required to enter an installation code without which Pivot won’t install. You can either wait for your installation code or get one from me. I have 2 codes which are good for 19 more installations. Just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I shall give it to you.

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Google is known for continuously optimising the already simple services from time to time. First it was the image search, then the web search, now comes Google Translate. Google recently introduced some really useful features to Google Translate like real-time translation of the entered text into 51 languages that represent over 98% of internet users and the ability to play the sound-clip of the translation. The features of the revamped Google Translate can better be explained using a 3 pointer.

Real time translation: You can now translate between 2550 language pairs instantly as you type. No need to click the ‘Translate’ button. This really helps forming a sentence in other languages rather quickly. Moreover, it’s like a boon to the learners as it helps you understand the exact translation of every word as you type them.

Text-to-Speech feature: The new text to speech feature helps you pronounce the translated text. However, this feature currently works for English language only. Just click the ‘speaker icon’ to listen to the translation.

Romanization feature: Problem arises when you want to read text that’s written in a script you don’t know. For example, how do you read something that’s written in a Devnagri or Han script when you know only Roman script? That’s where ‘Romanization’ feature comes in. For all non-Roman languages (except Arabic, Hebrew and Persian), you can read the phonetically translated text in English.

Dictionary: Google Translate also offers a detailed dictionary too to assist you further.

Here’s a quick demo from Google Blog showing the new features of Google Translate:

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Sometime ago I showed a simple trick how you can minimize Windows Live Messenger to system tray in Windows 7. Based on the similar trick, I am going show you how you can set Windows Live Mail to always minimize to tray.

1) Right-click on the Windows Live Mail icon and then click ‘Properties’.

2) In the ‘Windows Live Mail Properties’ window, click the ‘Compatibility’ tab. Here, set the ‘Compatibility mode’ to Windows Vista. Click OK.

3) Run Windows Live Mail and you will see its icon in the notification area (system tray). Right-click its icon and choose ‘Hide window when minimized’.

Now whenever you minimize the Windows Live Mail window, it won’t appear in the super bar and you can make it appear again by double-clicking its icon in the system tray.

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I have seen many of my friends who recently switched to Windows 7 but have all the nostalgia and love for the aging Windows XP. They are not wrong. Windows XP did rule for quite a long time and I see no reason for someone not to get used to it. One of the many things people still crave for is the Classic Start Menu from the Windows 2000 and XP era. It was a minimalism norm back then. Even Windows Vista has it but Windows 7 doesn’t. So if you are the one using Windows 7 and missing those fly outs of the classic start menu then you might want to check out CSMenu.

CSMenu is a light weight application built specially for Windows 7 that acts like the classic start menu. It does nothing fancy. Just brings back the pure classiness which is favored by millions.

While CSMenu is a freeware, there’s an advanced version too – The Classic Menu with Aero, a shareware. This version give a little eye candy by making the fly-outs transparent.

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Microsoft SyncToy needs no introduction. It is an excellent freeware utility that syncs files and folders and is mostly used for sharing multimedia and documents across computers and also used for backing up important data.

Microsoft has released its updated version, SyncToy 2.1, with some new features and improvements to meet the Windows 7 standards. The new SyncToy 2.1 has native 64bit support and is available for both (x86 and x64) architectures.

SyncToy 2.1’s help section enlists these new features:

» New Platform: SyncToy 2.1 uses the latest synchronization engine from Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0.

» Better Performance: File copy speed is significantly increased.

» Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.

» Improved Robustness: Instead of failing the whole synchronization session on an unknown single file error (including network issues), SyncToy 2.1 flags the error and continues with the remaining files.

Download Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 / 3.5mb

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Blogging is amazing when it is unrestricted and hassle-free. And to make blogging a smooth experience, there are many desktop blog-publishing applications available but most of them are ‘typical’ softwares that you need to install. Some might require you to download a suite in order to get a simple blog-publishing application. Here is something for those who love blogging on Blogger and hate installing a blog-publishing software – Blogger Buddy.

Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget that lets you create new posts and publish them to your Blogger blog. It also lets you preview the content before you publish.

Although a mere 120kb download, this small utility has full fledged text editor where you’ll find everything you need.

Features of Blogger Buddy:

» Unlike a typical blog publishing software, Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget.

» Just 120KB download size and low on resources.

» Rich text editor.

» Post previews are available before publishing to Blogger blog.

So, if you are a Blogger user out there, I would recommend you to use thisgadget for posting to your blog just because it is too hassle-free and has a footprint of an ant.

Download Blogger Buddy / 120kb

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There are many services out there on the web which are just ‘a violet by a mossy stone’. Hidden from the world, yet very useful. Google Pack is one such service where you can download software in, well you guessed it, packs. Though currently in beta, things are pretty neat.

What’s Google Pack?

It is a bunch of very useful software (especially for Windows 7 users) that includes a salad mixture of utilities like – Google Chrome browser, Firefox, Google Earth, Spyware Doctor, Picasa, Skype, Adobe Reader, Google Desktop, Google Talk, Google Apps like Calendar, Docs etc and Real Player – All packed in one suite called Google Pack.

So if you are too lazy to download all these utilities one by one, here is a blessing for you. Just head over to pack.google.com and select the programs you wish to download and click ‘Download now’.

Features of Google Pack:

As Google states it: Google pack is a bunch of free and ready-to-use software selected by Google. Adding to that, it saves time to download software from a one stop shop. Almost all software provided in the Google Pack are must-have for a Windows 7 user.

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I haven’t used offline mail clients to an extent that I could actually write a post about them. I never felt the need to have one because I am always connected to the internet and Gmail does the best job for me. Such was a scenario until yesterday when I had to use Outlook. While using it I felt the need to sync my Gmail contacts with Outlook and one of my friend suggested a really helpful piece of software that does this precise job – Go Contact Sync.

Go Contact Sync is a perfect synchronization tool to manage contacts between Gmail and Outlook. It’s a free, open-source tool that supports contact categories and their photos so that your address-book (contacts) look exactly the same on both. Finally I can get rid of entering the contact details again and again.

Features:

» Smooth synching of contacts between Gmail and Outlook.

» Multiple sync options, categories and contact photos are supported.

» Automatic synchronization feature.

» Choose one-way or two-way sync according to your preference.

You can also use Go Contact Sync to backup your contacts too.

Download Go Contact Sync / 1.1MB

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Google Docs, an online word processor, spreadsheets, presentations and forms creator just keeps getting better. The guys at Google Docs are frequently putting in new features may be because a similar service called Office Web Apps have been initiated by Microsoft.

Google Docs have added a new feature using which you can export your documents into a ZIP archive and download it on your computer for offline use. Till now, a 3rd party utility called GDoc Backup was used for the purpose. But now with the introduction of the ‘Export as ZIP Archive’ feature, you won’t be needing any 3rd party applications.

Here’s how you do it:

1) Login to Google Docs and select all files you want to download as ZIP archive.

2) In the menu above, click ‘More actions’ > ‘Export’

3) A new frame window will appear. If you notice it properly, there are options for file conversion before downloading. If you don’t want to convert files then simply click ‘Continue’.

4) After it finishes making the ZIP archive, you will be able to download it on your computer.

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