IG Web Media Blogspot

I know that there are a plethora of search engines out there, some good, some quickly forgettable, so here's another one to add to the cocktail! I know it sounds like the 'Flinstones' meet the 'Google boys' but Wabbadabba is a new engine that gives you a chance to win prizes every time you use it to search. It awards up to 15 prizes a day at random, with prizes ranging from Amazon Vouchers to TVs. You can also invite friends to use the search engine and if anyone you invited wins a prize, then so do you. It's all a bit of fun, so good luck....

Is your PC taking too long to boot up? We all need to get the best performance from our PC's so defragmenting the hard disk is a must on a regular basis. Files on the hard disk get scattered all over the place which soon hurts the performance and start up speed of your machine. You can click Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter to run the standard Windows utility although I favour using Disk Defrag by Auslogics. This free program is a much faster alternative and defragments more thoroughly, creating a report and letting you know how much faster your PC now is. Take a look you won't be disappointed! I'm just waiting for the version that I can plug my brain into...

The other day I investigated 'webtops', not to be confused with 'muffin tops', as I had heard good things on the grapejuice. There are a quite a selection of alternatives out there but my favourite was Desktoptwo which uses the well established OpenOffice.org software at it's core. This lets you read and create a combination of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and it can be accessed on any web-connected PC. You have the joy of your programs, files and even your favourite wallpaper being there when ever you sign in. It currently offers 1GB of free storage with several options for uploading files plus a bunch of handy utilities, including an RSS reader, instant messenger and calendar. There's always room for improvement but i was impressed with the access to a wide range of quality programs wherever you happen to be.

As a media designer I'm always on the look out for new ways to display images and give them a cool visual effect. I've come across Lightbox 2 by Lokesh Dhakar which achieve's this admirably. It's a combination of a Javascript, CSS plus some images and is a real doddle to setup and it also works with all modern browsers. Follow the setup instructions to the letter and you won't be disappointed. Let me know what you think and if you've got your own favourites!