I've been using this as my preferred PDF editor for years now.  I've always been surprised by how little I hear around the web about this program.  So, yesterday, while talking to a support staff member, I asked why so little is heard about it.  Basically, they don't do any advertising and rely on word of mouth.  And they do fine like that, so they're happy.  Also, he said the application initially was geared towards the architectural industry needs (CAD drawings, designs, etc.).  However, that was a long time ago.  I think the program is fantastic for any kind of serious editing of pdf's.

I've tried many Acrobat Pro alternatives, but Bluebeam is the best by far.  First of all, it's on version 7 now, and it's VERY polished.  They're really ironed out any rough edges over the years.  It's not that it can do anything than Acrobat can't, it's just that it does it far easier, and everything is accessible a lot more intuitively.  I'm in love with this program.

But it is kind of expensive, like Acrobat.  So a lot of individual users would find it out of their price range.  I'm very thankful my company continues to upgrade the licensing...I actually think it gets charged automatically without them knowing because i think I'm the only one using it!  Everyone is using Acrobat 9 here now.  But I'm not saying anything because i don't want them thinking they're spending a lot of money on two redundant applications.  Then i'd have to convince them to keep Bluebeam, but I'd be the only one, blah blah.

Anyway, for anybody that spends a lot of time editing pdfs, importing/exporting, creating pdfs, it's really the best application I've seen for that.

http://www.bluebeam.com/

Martin has been messing around with the Twitter API and created a fun little game where you must find a person's Twitter profile picture in a sea of faces.

There are 10 levels in total, and the images become smaller and more abundant with each level.

http://wally.tweetdoc.org

http://www.pcmag.com...,2817,2347795,00.asp

"......What is Google Wave? Think of an open-source version of Gmail constructed via instant messaging. To start a wave, two users start what is essentially an instant-message session, which can be archived as a conversation. Other users can then be invited to join each wave or conversation, and there's even a "playback" feature to track the process of the conversation. Google also said it intends Wave to be a platform as well as a protocol, with the appropriate tools and extensions for each.

In fact, it might not even be accurate to call it a reinvention of e-mail. Google executives tied the instant-message/e-mail model to real-time document collaboration, even search, and extended it to the Web and to blogs.  ................."

http://bits.blogs.ny...-collaboration-tool/

App Name	AntispamSniper For The Bat!
App URL	http://www.antispamsniper.com
App Version Reviewed	3.2.0.6
Test System Specs	Windows 7
Supported OSes	Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista x86/x64
Support Methods	Forum, Email
Upgrade Policy	Free Lifetime Upgrades
Trial Version Available?	Commercial Version: 30-Day Trial
Pricing Scheme	$19.95 Per License
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	None, other than being a customer

...

Many on this forum swear by the powerful email program known as The Bat!. It can keep track of literally tens of thousands of emails with nary a slow-down in performance while sorting and displaying your messages in almost any way possible. One may argue, though, that its true glaring weakness in email management is its utter lack of any practical way to deal with spam out of the box. Fortunately, there are many different choices for spam management available both as stand-alone programs and more specialized applications that make use of The Bat!'s plugin system. This review is is an analysis of one tool that can help stem the tide of useless crap into one's inbox.

Today I am going to be reviewing one of those specialized plugins called AntispamSniper for The Bat! by Good Vein Software. The author also offers versions of AntispamSniper for Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail, but this review will be focused on the version for The Bat! The flavor of AntispamSniper written for The Bat! differs from the versions for the other email clients in that it is the only one to offer both commercial and free versions of the plugin. The other email clients only have commercial versions.

While this review is going to be discussing the commercial version of the plugin most features discussed are available in the free version. I'll outline the differences later.

...

Another nice blog article on tips for people who work at home, to help create some structure and tips for the way you spend your time for maximum efficiency and satisfaction.

Working from home sounds like a very simple concept. But there are a lot of built-in structures and boundaries inherent in a going-to-the-office job that we often take for granted.  Recreating those boundaries when our home and work is one and the same is a crucial part of achieving a work-life balance... One common trap of working from home is allowing your personal life to bleed into your work. A lack of discipline and motivation as well as a myriad of temptations lurking in every corner of your home can affect your productivity big time.

http://www.jonathanf...a-work-life-balance/

FlightAware is a truly amazing website.

Ars Technica has a writeup including some behind the scenes technical information from the developers.

Link to article: http://arstechnica.c...plane-in-the-air.ars

FlightAware is an incredible mashup of radar data, air traffic controller records, flight plans, and maps. Like any great mashup, it provides the public with a new window into an opaque room, and usage has exploded—often in surprising ways. But this is no ordinary mashup; FlightAware sucks in more than 1GB of new data every day, tracking almost every commercial flight in the US almost in real-time, and maintaining a historical database that now tops 60 million flights.

Link to FlightAware: http://flightaware.com/