I have built and released the latest version of DisplayFusion, version 1.3. This updated release contains a few quick fixes, and adds some extra functionality:

• Added: New hotkey to centre the window and size it to 100% (basically maximized without actually maximizing it)
• Added: Option to watch if any other programs (or computer policies) change your wallpaper, then prompt you to restore it
• Added: Option to search Flickr images by Group name/description as well, not just by a Person's name
• Changed: Moved the folder that web images get saved to from AppData to the "My Pictures" folder for easier access
• Changed: Changed the default filenames of web images from random IDs to the image's title for easier access

For the complete list change of changes take a look at the Change Log.

Check out DisplayFusion today!

What a joke. Seriously, common Microsoft. On the weekend I had to activate my Vista installation, which I have already activated many times before while testing. It informed me that I could no longer use my computer until I activated it, but it was unable to activate over the internet. It gave me a helpful phone number to call to activate. So I call this phone number and read their automated phone system my 54 digit activation number. Yeah, 54 digits. WTF. And, of course, it says it can't do it automatically so it transfers me to a person. Then I have to read my 54 digit number again. Hurray! Then he reads me back another 54 digit number for me to type in, and voila, activated. What a serious pain in the ass. Does this really stop piracy? Nope. If I was going to use Vista illegitimately it would have been MUCH easier for me to just jump onto the internet and just get an activation crack. So the only people that software activation actually hurts are the people that have actually paid money for their software. Way to go Microsoft, treat us all like criminals.

I am a real stickler about having my computer protected with both anti-virus software and a personal firewall. As a result I have been running the Trend Internet Security product for a couple of years now. It is quite affordable, configurable and has been very reliable up until recently. When I decided to upgrade to Windows Vista, Trend was a royal pain to setup, and their support was utterly useless. More recently, I started having problems with Trend, because apparently I had too many application rules. However, removing rules didn't seem to fix the problem and their support was dreadful. Dreadful to the point that I started investigating other options. My Trend subscription is up for renewal in a couple of months and I've had enough. After much research and testing I decided upon Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0. It received extremely high ratings from every review I read, and passed all standard anti-virus tests with the greatest of ease.

I always had a suspicion that the Trend software was really degrading my computer's performance, and now I had the perfect chance to test that theory. So I timed my boot sequence from the power button until I was at my desktop and ready to roll. Here are the average test results after a couple of boots with each setup:

Trend: 2:30
Nothing: 1:20
Kaspersky: 1:30

Yes, you read that right. I shaved 60 seconds off my boot time, and I get a product that works properly on Windows Vista. Trend, you seem to be driving down the same road that Norton is... Suck Street. Goodbye forever Trend, hello my new friend, Kaspersky!

iTunes Sync v1.5 has just been released onto that wild party known as the internet... and it's the biggest release to date. It includes a whole heap of changes, including some exciting new additions. Let's jump right in and starting chatting about the biggest change of all: localization. With some fantastic help from 6 fearless volunteers we have localized iTunes Sync into these 3 languages:

•   Deutsch: Georg Madler, Jurgen Hardt, Philipp Klingler, Thiemo Scherle
•   English
•   Espanol: Hugo Gomez Mac Gregor, Nicolas Pierri

Also included in the Change Log are these exciting additions:

• 3 new File Extensions: wma, wmv and asf
• 4 new Folder Structures that include the Playlist name as a prefix
• Proxy settings for connecting to the internet (auto-updating)
• Reduced the memory usage
• Better handling of duplicate playlists - it now shows you which playlist names are duplicated

This is only about half of all the changes, fixes and additions. If you want to see everything that has changed please check out the complete Change Log.

Check out the latest version of iTunes Sync today!

I have released a quick update to DisplayFusion tonight that corrects a couple of smalls bugs. The first fix helps people who had their wallpaper offset incorrectly, causing gaps in the wallpaper. The second was something I forgot to include in the initial release, proxy settings for internet access (auto-update, Flickr images... etc). Well, you can now configure a proxy server in the "Settings" window.

Check out the latest version of DisplayFusion today!

What a journey it has been localizing iTunes Sync for different languages. It was originally built with only English in mind, but with the intent of eventually supporting other languages. What a surprise I got when I received the resource files for Spanish and German. Many of the words and phrases were longer than the English equivalents and the interface could no longer fit many of the labels or buttons. As a result, I was forced to change the layout quite considerably on many of the windows, including the Sync and Confirm Sync windows. I think the new layout is more concise and much easier to follow, so it has worked out for the best. I have learned quite a bit while localizing iTunes Sync, things I never could have learned from a book or in a classroom. It has been an excellent learning experience and I can't wait to get iTunes Sync v1.5 out the door so that everyone can benefit. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who has helped so far with the translations, and what better way then with the new "About" screen.

iTunes Sync v1.5 is coming very soon...

This weekend my dad and I attended our annual IHRA drag racing event at Toronto Motorsport Park near Cayuga, Ontario (Canada). What a blast! For anyone that hasn't attended a drag race before and has even a faint interest in cars... you need to go! It's car heaven, trust me. I'm a huge Formula 1 fan, but nothing gets you as close to the cars as drag racing. You are allowed to walk right up to any of the cars, talk to the drivers and the crew, even touch the cars, stick your head in the windows... basically, the only way you could get any closer would be to hop in and go for a ride. Despite a rain out on the last day we still saw tons of sportsman class cars and 3 pro rounds. Well worth the $100 for the 3 day event. Without further ado, here are some glorious pictures.

If you love cars, racing and sitting in the sun for 3 days then I expect to see you there next September!

I'm very happy to announce the release of DisplayFusion v1.2 today! This new version fixes some significant bugs, including one related to people with quad monitors (or more). A huge thanks to Moshe from the forums for helping me squish this bug. Some other notable fixes include a fix for Office 2007 maximized window dragging and a few fixes and speed-ups for the Flickr image integration.

You can find the complete change log here if you want more details. Anyone currently using DisplayFusion is encouraged to upgrade to the latest version, and new people are invited to take it for a test drive.

Check it out today!

I'm excited to announce the release of DisplayFusion v1.1! This new version fixes a few bugs, and introduces a cool new feature as well: integrated Flickr searching! When you are selecting an image to apply to each monitor as your wallpaper, just click the "Load from Flickr" button, and you have access to every image on Flickr, right at your fingertips. Just search using keywords, or list all images from a specific person if you know their name or email address.

Check out DisplayFusion today!

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member in the Binary Fortress family, DisplayFusion. DisplayFusion is a fantastic (and free) new application that can make your dual monitor (or triple monitor or more) life much, much easier! From allowing you to use a different wallpaper on each monitor, to providing hotkeys for managing your application windows. Here are just a few of the things you can do with DisplayFusion:

• Use a different wallpaper on each of your monitors
• Use one wallpaper that spans all of your monitors
• Drag maximized windows between monitors
• Move windows to the next monitor
• Move windows to the next monitor and maximize them
• Move windows to centre of the monitor
• Tile windows along the top, bottom, left or right side
• And many more things...

I'd like to give a big thanks to Chris Ysebert and Keith Lammers for their help with testing, tweaking and general polishing.

And, of course, DisplayFusion v1.0 is free, just like all of my software. I invite you to check out DisplayFusion today!