Ethan Dickerson

Member since: Aug 10th, 2007

Ethan Dickerson's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Download Squad	10 Comments

Recent Comments:

Foxit Reader 2.2 released: Now with improved text select (Download Squad)

Oct 3rd 2007 5:23AM I use the Xchange .pdf viewer and am impressed with the ability it has to edit .pdf documents. It's freeware, fast, and works really well. You can also put sticky notes on the .pdf pages. Of course, the other person doesn't need this viewer to see your notes or edits. You can download the free version here:
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http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/pdfx_viewer/
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Protect your browsing session with Sandboxie (Download Squad)

Oct 3rd 2007 4:39AM I downloaded and ran Sandboxie for a while to test it out. It's a snap to install and it puts an icon in your tray. Your applications (IE browser) look the same to you. It just creates a temp directory between yourself and the internet where everything runs. I'm not having that many problems with security so I don't need to run it but if you are worried about the internet downloading things onto your PC then it might be a good idea to run it through sandboxie.
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Buy a new iPod, pay to download the games you already own (Download Squad)

Sep 21st 2007 5:56AM Those of us who are old enough remember when Apple first started. They had a real surge of business when the first Mac came out. I lived in the silicon valley at the time and went to some of their Friday afternoon parties where no extravagance was spared. At that time Apple seemed untouchable and destine to ride the same wave of America's interest in computing as Microsoft did. Unfortunately the company wasn't keeping up with customer service and their new products were not hot enough to support their cavalier attitude when it came to helping customers who had invested in their platform. They came close to loosing it all. It is good to see they are so flush with cash again that they don't need to worry about their customer's perception of them. Apple has some of the smartest design and manufacturing teams in the world. I just wish the other departments would catch up and join the rest of the world in our understanding of customer value. Customers are fickle, especially when they don't feel like they've been treated fairly. Maybe they'll avoid another down spike in business like they had in the late 80's and early 90's but they are going to have to keep pulling rabbits out of their hat because their business model doesn't build customer loyalty.
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Firefox hits 400 million downloads (Download Squad)

Sep 11th 2007 10:03AM I'm working to put together a blog of the best freeware for Windows. My list includes Firefox Add-ons (extensions) so you can check out my pics on my Blog. Basically, I've given you links to the suite of Ff extensions I use and continually run with so you get extensions that you know will all work together and you know you are getting the 'best of breed' or the best possible extension in each category. Check it out and if you don't agree, let me know and I'll check out whatever you recommend...
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Add an up button to Windows Explorer in Vista (Download Squad)

Sep 11th 2007 9:26AM It seems odd to me that so many people still use Internet Explorer. You would think that if someone is willing to spend some money, go through and go through a pretty sophisticated install, all to get the latest and greatest visual environment (I'm not factoring in the 64 bit architecture) then they would use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. It does so much more and makes my browsing time so much more productive. The only reason that I can think of to stay with Internet Explorer is because users are nervous about downloading and installing something from the internet and apparently that is the case for something like 70% of the browser users in the world. I just don't get it... why work so hard and go through all these steps to customize Internet Explorer when it is so easy in Firefox and there is so much more available...
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Pfizer computers sending Viagra spam? (Download Squad)

Sep 8th 2007 11:04AM The facts in this article are unbelievable and intolerable. Their stock should nose dive in response to the public finding out about their illegal internal marketing policies. If this is true, the evidence sounds very strong, the major media channels should really pick it up. If I had Phizer stock I would be rushing to sell. It is absurd and totally unprofessional for a well known and reputable pharmaceutical company to have a coordinated spam campaign. Do they also conspire to fake prescriptions? What do these spam messages say? I've never got an viagra spam email that says 'contact a reputable physician to get your prescription today'. They have to be involved in prescription fraud if this is true and that is another problem. This is completely unthinkable.
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Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

No more NBC shows on iTunes (Download Squad)

Sep 2nd 2007 7:39AM NBC should be careful about yanking content because the audience is fickle and has a lot to choose from. I don't watch much TV anyway. Everything I need is on the PC now... News, Sports, and Entertainment and I think the days of large and syndicated broadcasting companies are numbered. Especially when they fight the flow of the market that is pushing them toward availability and convenience.

Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Mozilla to release Firefox Campus Edition (Download Squad)

Aug 23rd 2007 3:31AM I run a blog where I'm working to put together the best suite of freeware for Windows. I've got a lot of Firefox extensions listed in it. In fact, I've nearly completed that section of my site. So the college kids can come by, click on my 'extension' label and get my pick of the best Firefox extensions. I'm always working to identify new stuff and improve my selection but I've already built a great list of the best freeware on the Internet. Check out my blog for quick spam free value and the fastest path to the download page!

Sincerely,
Ethan Dickenson, Editor, reporter, janitor, 'Today's Best of Breed', The best suite of freeware for Windows.

http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

ps - sorry this sounds kind of like an ad... It's not, I'm just having fun... I sell nothing.

Schedule online radio recordings with RaimaRadio (Download Squad)

Aug 19th 2007 1:20AM This radio is the BOMB! You can download songs and some of the stations store them in mp3 format, they're digital, clear, perfect, and you can select to watch for songs at a later time. I really like this product or service or how do these guys make money anyway? I'm worried because I don't want them to go away! I've written about this product on my blog. This is the best way I've found to get free music, other than the peer to peer stuff but this is nice for a change because I always have trouble thinking of songs I want to download.

You can read more about this radio on my blog:
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

Send a Fax over Skype with PamFax (Download Squad)

Aug 10th 2007 2:29PM Sooner or later someone is going to come out with a free fax service and it will be a huge success because the ones that are currently out there don't work very well. I don't understand why some smart people have not seen that opportunity in the market. I've tried to use the fax pay sites that have deals where you can fax a page or two for free but their primary business is a fee based service but I've never had the faxes actually go through. Today users can easily create their own pdf documents on their desktop with freeware so I can't understand why it is so hard for someone to create an outgoing fax service and pay for it with advertising. Faxing is the only existing niche in the market that hasn't benefited from the web2.0 movement (that I know of). I just wanted to point out that the market is there and so is the business opportunity. I wish I had the money, time, and skills needed to go after this juicy slice of the Internet market! Hopefully someone out there will read this, go after the opportunity, and be the next big success story!

I maintain a blog that reviews freeware. I'm continually working to identify a 'best of breed' freeware solution for the Windows NT platform. Check out my blog at:

http://mightyjoesfree.blogspot.com/