The software is based around the SonicShack T-shirt designer, which lets you automatically e-mail or save your finished product. You can then add your finished design to your cart, and have SonicShack print them for you. When your final design has been uploaded, you get multiple options on how to have your t-shirt printed.

The design interface is fairly easy to operate. You can insert any number of images into your design, use layers and transparent images, and flip images either vertically or horizontally. By no means are the design tools as powerful as other graphics packages, such as Photoshop, but it does what it needs to do. Those looking for more intricate designs still have the option of importing in an already processed image.

The software also allows you to save a completed t-shirt, both back and front, as a complete design, so you can work on it again later. Designs are saved to the SonicShack website, where you will eventually have your t-shirt printed and delivered to your door. You can also have t-shirts sent to friends and family, making it a unique and fun way to send a gift. I can imagine using this software if I had forgotten an important date, such as a birthday. I could quickly use this program to design a witty slogan along with some appropriate image, and have it sent directly. Much better than sending a belated greetings card.

There are many different types of t-shirt available, different sizes and fabrics. You can also have multiple t-shirts printed from one design, so if you’re organizing a show or other event, these might be a quick way to produce t-shirts for your workforce.

The software does have a few niggles. On two occasions it wouldn’t allow me to flip an image, meaning I had to abandon my design and restart the software. Once restarted it allowed me to do everything I wanted. Also, when adding text, the resize function doesn’t always work. I got around this by writing my text in another program and importing it as an image. I would have been nice if I could have added the text directly. Lastly, you have to use the upload function to save your completed design to the maker’s website. There are no options that allow you to print out the designs yourself. Mind you, having messed around with t-shirt printing paper in the past, and then trying to iron the design onto the fabric, I think I would rather have it done professionally anyway. Even so, it would have been a nice feature to add.

All in all, I liked Desktop T-shirt Creator, despite the few problems. 6/10 anyway.

The software basically opens the horizontal borders so that it is possible to place windows or desktop icons on that space.

The free edition, which I review here, is limited to expanding the desktop horizontally. There are paid versions of the program that add more options, like allowing vertical movements as well.

Back to the free version. The program needs to be installed. Installation should not pose a problem though. Once you start the program, you activate the program’s functionality automatically.

When you move the mouse to the right or left screen border, you will notice that you scroll to the left or right of the desktop beyond the usually visible desktop space.

You can place windows there which are only visible when you move the mouse into that area, just like a virtual desktop but without the necessary clicks or keyboard shortcuts to switch.

Some maximized windows do not scroll, which means that they stay at the exact same location when you scroll the desktop space to the left or right. You can change their size to move them. There might be windows however that won’t move regardless of that. I have tested the feature with popular software such as Firefox, VLC, Thunderbird, Steam and Google Chrome, and they all supported the program’s functionality.

The scroll lock key on the keyboard locks the current screen position, so that it is no longer possible to scroll left or right. This is handy if you do not need the functionality right now or want to work with a fullscreen application.

You can exit the program at any time from the system tray. Just right-click the icon there and select Exit. The context menu has a second option, to collect all windows. This is helpful if you have lost the overview and want all windows to show up on the current desktop position.

Here is a video demonstrating the functionality.

You can download the free version of the program from the developer website. I have tested it under a 64-bit edition of Windows 7. It is compatible with other versions of Windows as well. (via)

In many applications the desktop software allows you to take advantage of more than one function at a time on your computer screen. Instead of only having ‘one’ display for a spreadsheet or a document, you can open them in smaller windows that ‘overlap’ your other windows programs and can be viewed at the same time in separate windows on the monitor.

From this point, you can arrange your work just like you would if you were working on an actual desktop. The convenience is fantastic. You no longer have the need to reload programs or reformat any of your data. It doesn’t mean that these programs don’t encounter any problems though.

Say you were using your desktop software and had a spreadsheet application open separately on your screen. By having it displayed in a smaller window, you’re dealing with a much smaller portion of the spreadsheet than you would be if you were using it as a full screen size display. But this is remedied by the software, as it allows you to zoom in to one certain window while it ‘hides’ the others until you choose to leave it.

The whole purpose behind the desktop software is to take that limited screen area and expand it and give the user a better viewing capability and much more functionality. It’s designed to help you do a better job of putting information together.

To understand it further, let’s look at your context. The software is about helping you to retain it. You can be in the middle of a document, and find you have need of an online calculator, or some information at another site. Without the ability to use more than one window at a time, you have to open another screen page, find your information, then come back to the original screen. But while you view your new information, the original information is gone, or hidden. You can lose your place or forget something you needed from the original, and have to go back and consult it by bringing it back up. You want the original to ‘follow’ you to the new information source.

Working on a basis of ‘interrupt’ is how we as humans work. We start our work, then have the need to interrupt it and grab something from somewhere else. With these desktop applications this can be a smooth experience. And in today’s computer world, there are many different types of desktop software becoming available, and each with some unique functions designed for specific types of uses.

Whether your type of desktop software is for contacting your computer from a remote location, or used to sync with Blackberry programs, or for integrating multiple applications and being able to move data between them, there’s surely a desktop software available to suit your needs.

A complex activity on the other hand adds due dates, reminders, tags, context, additional users and contents to the basic information. Each activity can be made up of sub-activities.

Contacts can be invited from various sources including Konolive accounts but also external sources like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN or Plaxo. Keep in mind that the login credentials have to be supplied to be able to do so.

KonoLive can be an interesting alternative to other GTD software programs if the users do not mind the use of Adobe Air. The software has been designed with ease and mind and it is indeed easy and comfortable to work with other users in KonoLive.

Update: KonoLive has been updated in the meantime. A free KonoLive 2Go version for the web and a desktop version called KonoLive Pro.

You can find out more about KonoLive Pro here on the project page, and here about KonoLive 2 Go. KonoLive 2 Go is an Internet application that users can run from a web browser.

It is a software that can produce a variety of desktop effects and even comes with an editor to create new effects. The default application comes with about 15 desktop effects that range from snow to stars and more unique effects like northern lights, an aquarium or beer.

The effects take place on part or all of the screen and several additional visual effects can be added to make them more interesting. Three main effects can be added: Water Drops, Pixelate and Inverse.

All three effects will add effects directly to open windows which will stick for as long as the application is running. There are options to apply the effects in screensaver mode or rest mode. Screensaver mode acts like a normal screensaver while rest mode will start the effect after a given time.

This Desktop Snow application interacts with everything. If you have your browser window open you will soon notice that the snow is covering all of the icons and bars on the top slowly making its way to the bottom. It can happen that that all menus are covered in snow which looks really interesting.

Moving the mouse over an area will remove the snow there so that the menus can be accessed again. The snow on the other hand will continue to fall just like in winter.

The tiny portable application is using no more than 1.5 Megabytes of computer memory while running. Just click the link below to Desktop Snow right away.