Synergy vs PTHiTunesNotifier

So Lee asked what made Synergy worth $5 when PTHiTunesNotifier was free and did essentially the same thing. So I decided to run down a quick comparison of the two.

  • PTHiTunesNotifier offers more button choices for the button controls in the menu bar (though I prefer Synergy’s choices over PTHiTunesNotifier’s)
  • PTHiTunesNotifier offers more control over the layout of the track display window
  • Synergy has a few more hot key options for controlling iTunes
  • Synergy offers greater control over the menu bar buttons
  • Synergy includes recently played tracks in its drop-down menu; it is able to remember up to the last 50 songs played (set in the number in the prefs)
  • Synergy includes the Playlist and iTunes submenus (if you don’t want to use hot keys to control iTunes)
  • Synergy offers button spacing control (this can be important when you have tons of stuff in your menu bar, like I tend to)

So there you have it. If you’re already using PTHiTunesNotifier and you’re happy with it, or you’re just a cheapskate, then you’re not missing much with Synergy. To me, Synergy simply feels like the more well-polished app. I like its button choices and options better, and I consider it $5 well spent.

Freedom of, not freedom from

Jon Dougherty has an outstanding piece on the Supreme Court’s recent unconstitutional ruling of the Ten Commandments display case in Kentucky.

Synergy

Michael turned me on to Synergy, a menu-bar utility for controlling iTunes, and it freaking rocks! Well worth the $5 shareware fee. One feature is the transparent floater that pops up when tracks change. Click on the thumbnail below for detail, then cruise to Wincent’s site, download, and register!

Synergy screenshot thumb

Sorry, Winblows users, but you just don’t see stuff this wicked cool in Bill’s kingdom.

InDVDiana Jones

My gorgeous mother-to-be spouse points out that Lucasfilm is releasing the Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD! Slated for release on November 4th, this will be at the top of my birthday (Dec 3) wish list.

iLoo

I wish I was making this up. From the idiot savants at Microsoft UK. (Note that the emphasis is not on “savants.”)
(Thanks, Ricky.)

And they’re such a peaceful people…

You certainly can’t blame the Israelis for decimating the Palestinian female ranks:

Each year, dozens and probably hundreds of brutal “honor killings” of Palestinian women and girls–most of whom are virtually blameless–go unreported, according to an anthropologist’s recent study.

The story is scheduled for an issue of The World & I magazine.

Those incredibly intelligent, wonderfully sensitive celebrities

“I’m getting more famouser by the day.” –Avril Lavigne
“I quit flying five years ago. Personally, I don’t want to die with tourists.” –Billy Bob Thornton
As reported in the 5 May 2003 issue of Us Weekly.

Freedom is not free: a reminder

Retired USAF Major Brian Shul delivered an address at March AFB on Veteran’s Day 2001. Powerful stuff:

Yes, I believe God has blessed this nation in many ways, although sometimes we forget just how fortunate we really are…and now, after a horrific attack on our homeland, we find ourselves embattled in a war once again. And yet, there are many who seem unsure of the response we should take. Today, we honor so many who have given their lives, in defense of this country…row upon row of tombstones, silent vigils to their ultimate sacrifice. If the dead could speak today, they would tell you that all it takes for evil to succeed in the world if for good people to stand by and do nothing. They would emphatically declare to you that you negotiate with the enemy with your knee in his chest and your knife at his throat. And they would remind you that those who forget their history, are condemned to repeat it.
We are a nation guilty of forgetting these lessons. Had we learned them better, our cemeteries would be less full.
We fought a Cold War for so long, that perhaps we became weary and complacent, and when we won that war, we became soft. We indulged ourselves in the notion that the world was all-safe, and we thought a booming economy was ample substitute for a strong military. Did we really think electing self-serving politicians would make us stronger as a nation? Somehow we came to accept the notion that freedom was free. It never has been. The price of freedom has always been eternal vigilance. We need to understand that there are those in the world who would destroy us because our way of life threatens their quest for world domination.

iPod 1.3 software

While I’m very glad Apple provided us old iPod users with a way to sync and listen to AAC-encoded files, the one other feature I’m envious of, in the iPod 2.0 software on the new Pods, has to be the text notes. If I had that, my Palm handheld usage would likely drop off by fifty percent or more.
(Thanks to Lee for the link.)

I have an accent?

A couple of days ago I was talking to my little sister on the phone (okay, she’s 27, but she’ll always be my “little” sister), and she stated that I was picking up a Texas accent.
Seeing how I have long confounded people as to my origins by being pretty much accent-less, this is a trifle upsetting…