LibriumArcana.Games

I'm starting this because I'm seeing lots of interesting or useful stuff on some of the sites I haunt sometimes (e.g. lifehacker, gismodo, etc.). If you find something useful, by all means post it here as well.

Today's entries:
* Prism HUD (Freeware, Windows-only)

A very lightweight system monitor that only appears when there are changes to the loads on the monitors you setup, including utilization/free/remaining stats for memory, CPU, and disk stats for your PC. When it appears and disappears can be preset as well.

* ShowMeWhatsWrong.com (website (demo), free to use)

I swear this is a genius idea. I've used Webex before to remote some people's computers to help them fix their issues, but this website takes a much more equal and concise approach to the whole problem, allowing the user to record up to 5 minutes, including voice if they have a mic, to go over all the problems they may have. You have seven days to view the video before it expires.

Now, this doesn't allow remote control that I can see (then again, I just found this - I haven't had the chance to test it yet), but at least it allows the user to actually SHOW a tech what's wrong without trying to use (fairly amusing) terminology to describe it.

* TotalFinder
(Freeware, Mac OS X)

Ok, whether or not you're a Mac zealot, you must admit that if you come from a *nix (or even Windows, if you're a power-user) background, you usually want more from the Finder than what it offers. So, since Snow Leopart opened up the SDK a bit, this program tweaks the Finder to have tabs (fucking finally), among other useful enhancements.

* Top 10 Kitchen Repurposing tricks (website, info)

This post had some real interesting stuff, and considering the number of people who cook (and those who cook well) on these forums, it seemed to be a winner.

Make your old router awesome

This Lifehacker article discusses the open-source router firmware called Tomato, and how awesome it actually is. Nine times out of ten, the difference between a $60 router and a $600 router is the firmware it runs - Tomato has many powerful features, including WiFi Signal Boosting, and many good security settings.

If your router's getting a little old, you may want to try loading Tomato onto it before tossing it in favor of a new one.

Google Maps Star Viewer

Not actually done by Google, but uses their Maps interface for stargazing. I found this endlessly fascinating.

Ordinarily I'd recommend Meebo as a free, web-based IM client that handles multiple protocols (ICQ, AIM, YIM, and GTalk in my case), but as I've mentioned elsewhere, Meebo right now sucks, refusing even to load the login window on their site.

As a close second, KoolIM appears to be reasonable second place.