Spot on: SysMetrix
"SysMetrix is a skinnable clock and metering application. Its purpose is to provide system metrics in a variety of interesting, useful, and cool ways." Beta, but the list of things it can monitor and the several ways to have this technically and graphically displayed, make this a must-see at once!
Rainmeter Revived
Rainmeter, after being abandoned for quite some time, has been brought back to life. Rainy, maker of the popular calendar app Rainlender, has brought on some help and restarted development as a Google code project. There is a forum and a IRC channel too.
For those unfamiliar with the app, Rainmeter is a skinnable system resource monitor for windows. It can give you a readout on just about anything on your computer (and then some). It was the first really flexible app of its kind, blowing old Sysmeter 2 out of the water. Even in its dormant state, dedicated users continued to skin it. It's one of those old school apps I love to see returning to the scene.
This may be very good news to another app: LiteStep. One of the unique features of Rainmeter is was that it could run as a LS module (plug-in). It could be completely integrated into your desktop experience. Hopefully the new guard will hold true to this ideal.
Special thanks to DragonMage for keeping me in the loop and his dedication to the app.
Links:
• Site
• Forum
IRC:
irc://irc.freenode.net/rainmeter
CutTheRedWire : 1st May 2009
LBreakout2 2.5.1.1
This one is a DX-Ball clone game... which is a breakout clone... which is pong on acid. Anyway, follow the bouncing ball, mash the bricks, and make you own levels. You can download or make your own skins. It's a fun game to mess around with, and has a kid mode that is great for little nephews and those who suck at video games. There also is a portable version for your flash drive.
LBreakout2
Portable
Themes
CutTheRedWire : 22nd November 2008
ColorPad v2.5 Released
ColorPad, after a long period of dormancy, has had an unexpectedly fast code revamp and release. CodePad has a newer alpha uploaded too.
ColorPad is a popular skinnable color picking program; one that's been around for years. This latest release "add(s) support for floating point number format ... commonly used by OpenGL and Direct X". Release notes are in the download (way down in colorpad.txt). The author thought is would take much longer to complete the new version. He only began work on revamping the code in the past few days. Revived activity in an old favorite like this one is more than welcomed.
In other news, CodePad has newer alpha (v0.15) uploaded. CodePad is a free-form, skinnable text editor aiming to handle syntax highlighting for HTML and possibly other languages. Bugs will be obvious if you view HTML in it, but it does have basic functionality. You can open and edit text files, which is more than the last alpha I had could do. Still, the author has a renewed interest in the program and plans on improving it.
Link
CutTheRedWire : 21st November 2008
ColorPad Site Back On-Line
Good news, the home site for one of the most skinned programs is back: ColorPad!
Tonight I got an e-mail from the original author that the site for ColorPad was back on-line. I checked the link, tested the download, and sure enough it was back. Now, this isn't a new version, but hearing from a long lost coder is never a bad sign. My hope is that Val will continue development, and think I speak for the community when I say that.
For those wondering: "Why did he contact this guy out of the blue?" It just was so that I could update the archive at skinnables.org, which has long provided a mirror for the app. A warm "thank you" was extended to skinnables.org, and we appreciate the app and the gratitude.
Home Page
CutTheRedWire : 18th November 2008