Here is what the multi-monitor taskbar looks like in Windows XP with the Blue theme. The Windows Taskbar is on the left and the DisplayFusion Taskbar is on the right. As you can see, all of the taskbar windows are being shown on both taskbars.

In the second screenshot you can see DisplayFusion is only showing the windows that are on each screen in the DisplayFusion Taskbar. There are still a number of options that need to be finalized, but I want to start testing now to get as much feedback as I can from other people’s desktop configurations. If you are interested in trying this out please contact me and I’ll send you the download link.

Update: When you contact me please send the email address you used to register DisplayFusion, or your DisplayFusion Pro license key so I can verify your Pro status. Thanks!

• Resized some windows to allow them to work properly at 800×600
• Fixed an issue that prevented DisplayFusion from starting when using certain locales (ex: Turkish)
• Fixed some of the “jerky mouse movement” issues in rare situations
• Fixed some windows failing to drag maximized or snap properly (ex: Windows Live Messenger)

If you would like to see the full list of changes, head over to the DisplayFusion change log. I would encourage everyone to update as soon as they can. If you are using DisplayFusion Pro then you should be prompted to upgrade and DisplayFusion will take care of downloading and installing this update. For everyone using the free version you will be notified of the new version but you will need to download and install the update manually from the DisplayFusion website.

As always, if you encounter any issues please be sure to check out the DisplayFusion Support Forum or you can contact me directly. Thanks everyone!

• Added an “Open with Other Application” context menu option for selected files
• Added an “Open Containing Folder” context menu option for selected files
• Added a “Case sensitive query” option

Check out the full change log for more details on these changes. Also changed in this release is the addition of an advertisement in the Settings window for one of my other applications, DisplayFusion. This is just a hard-coded image, and will never, ever connect to the internet to download new ads. This isn’t some sleazy spyware stuff, this is just a link to one of my applications. This is the first application that I have tried this with, and I would be very interested to hear any feedback on this in the FileSeek Support Forum, or just contact me directly.

A big thanks to everyone who helped with this release. Thanks everyone!

Logitech G5 Mouse

First, let me just say that this should be a fantastic mouse. It is well constructed, has lots of buttons and looks pretty cool. The G5 is also one of the few mice that allow you to adjust the weight by adding or removing little round weights into a slot in the bottom. However, I found that any weights at all made it too heavy and aggravated my wrist, so I stuck with no weights to make it as light as possible. Also, the mouse is asymmetrical and tips to the right side. I’m not sure if this is supposed to make it more ergonomic but it bugs the heck out of my wrist. I have no problems using my daughter’s regular old Logitech cheapy mouse, but as soon as I start using the G5 again my wrist aches. Not good. My last issue is with the scroll-wheel clicking to the left and right. I’m sure this has some purpose, but I have never used any software where I have needed this. What I have found is that when I try to middle-click on a link in Firefox to open a new tab, the scroll wheel frequently clicks to the left or right instead of straight down. I find that I have to be very precise when clicking the scroll-wheel, very annoying.

Pros:
- Well constructed
- Adjustable weight
- Lots of buttons

Cons:
- Tilted angle bugs my wrist
- Scroll-wheel left/right clicking is annoying

Verdict:
This mouse isn’t my cup of tea at all. Between the scroll-wheel left/right clicking and the tilted mouse angle I constantly feel like I’m fighting with the mouse to get things done. I’m going to be replacing this mouse in the very near future.

Logitech G15 Keyboard

Let me start this review by saying that this is without a doubt the best keyboard I have ever used. The keys have the perfect amount of travel and resistance, and they’re not too noisy, but not perfectly quiet either. The layout is familiar, unlike some other Microsoft or Logitech keyboards. There is no F-Lock key (thank goodness) and there is still an insert key near the home key (unlike some other Logitech models). Now for the extra goodies. The keys are all backlit using orange light, and there are 3 levels of backlighting: low, high and off. There are 6 programmable buttons down the left-side of the keyboard, and 3 memory modes for a total of 18 programmable keys. I’ll be honest, I haven’t taken advantage of these yet, but if I was an avid PC gamer (like WoW) I’m sure they would be useful. The G15 even comes with an integrated LCD screen that can display just about anything. There are dozens of plugins available, one even written by yours truly. You can display the current time and date, your current iTunes song (and even control playback using the buttons) or just about anything else. An excellent example of a homemade plugin is one created for the racing game GTR which displays tire temperatures and other vitals on the mini-screen - I’ve used this plugin quite a bit. Lastly, for all the hardcore gamers out there, there is a button that toggles the Windows Start key on and off. There is nothing worse than being in a game, accidentally hitting the Start key and being dumped to your desktop. The only downside I can say about this keyboard is it’s price. It ranges anywhere from $60 to $120 depending on the store and whether it’s on sale. I would argue that it’s worth every penny, but I spend a lot of time parked in front of this keyboard.

Pros:
- Backlit keys
- Great key feel
- 18 programmable keys
- LCD screen
- Multimedia buttons
- 2 Integrated USB ports

Cons:
- Expensive

Verdict:
If you are in the market for a new keyboard and you have a few extra bucks to spend, I can’t recommend this keyboard highly enough. If you are an avid gamer (especially an MMORPG) there is no excuse not to own this keyboard.

Here are some of the major changes:

• You can now specify a time interval smaller than 1 minute for the image changer
• Added a ‘Remove unused temporary image files automatically’ option that will automatically delete any previously downloaded, unused Flickr images - Big space saver!
• Added a “Pause DisplayFusion when full screen application is running” option - previously it was always paused when a full screen application was running
• Fixed a bug that prevented wallpaper tiling from lining up correctly in certain situations

I would encourage anyone running an older version to update today to take advantage of the improvements and bug fixes. For the complete list of changes please check out the DisplayFusion Change Log.

I would like to send out a huge thanks to the people that helped with the German and Spanish translations. This release wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless contributions from these 4 people:

• Frank Epple (German translation)
• Ulrich Weinsdörfer (German translation)
• Andre Bertheola (Spanish translation)
• Fernando Angelico (Spanish translation)

Thanks guys!

Jon Tackabury, who created iTunes Sync—software that allows non-iPod MP3 players to synchronize with iTunes—said that only the tech-savvy knew what MP3 players were before the advent of the iPod. He believes the iPod made MP3 players cool enough to pique the interest of the general public.

And then there’s the cost. Tackabury said, “The iPod has a huge price premium. Even the nano is still pretty expensive considering the storage you get.”

As long as people crave on-the-go tunes and don’t care to shell out the price of an iPod or crave a feature Apple has not yet seen fit to add, the rest of the MP3 market will be there to sop up the iPod’s run-offs. For example, Tackabury owns an iPod, but he purchased the less-expensive Sansa ($30) for his children.

I never know what to say when people are asking questions. Hopefully I didn’t come across as too dorky, but I’m sure I did.

And now for the happy news. I started a new job this Monday with a company in Kanata (near Ottawa) in Canada. I have been training this week at the head office in New York city, so I apologize for the lack of forum posting and email responses. This new job is promising to be a fantastic opportunity, and I can’t wait to settle in and start contributing. On another happy front, we also sold our house in London and purchased one in Kanata. The whole Tackabury family is excited to be starting this new chapter in our lives, and hopefully things will get back to “normal” soon. Until we move at the end of October I’ll be living in Ottawa during the week and returning home on weekends so my kids don’t forget what I look like. I’m doing my best to keep up with all the forum posts and support emails, but I’m getting quite far behind. I apologize if you don’t get an immediate response, but next week when I’m back in Canada I’ll have much more time to sort everything out. Thanks everyone!

My quest for a job has also been going quite well. I have been interviewing with a number of companies over the last few weeks. One of the companies I have been interviewing with flew me to their head office in New York city for the day on Monday, and it was a great trip. I had never been to New York before, but didn’t really have much time to see anything. What a busy city though, there were people and cars everywhere. Next, I’ll be packing my bags in a few hours and heading back to Ottawa for a few days to interview with some different companies. I can’t wait for life to settle back down to a more normal, less chaotic pace and I’m sure my wife feels the same way.

That’s all for now, but if anyone has any questions or comments please let me know.

My wife and I have been tossing around the idea of moving to a new city, one that has a stronger IT job scene. After looking at the London (Canada) job boards it looks like it’s a real ghost-town for C# developers. So, with no jobs in sight, it looks like the decision to move has been made for us. We brainstormed possible cities that we might enjoy living in, and then narrowed it down to a short-list of just 4 locations. I won’t talk anymore about the locations until I’m back from my trip though… my wife and I still need more time to think things over.

DisplayFusion has been selling quite well since version 2 was released in February, but not well enough to support my family and I. Now that I have been given this opportunity I want to see if that can change. I need to support my family while the job hunting and house moving takes place, so why not do it with something I love. This means that I’ll finally have some time to put some serious effort into getting DisplayFusion v2.1 out the door. This new version has some long-needed features added, and includes multi-language support. I have decided to adjust the price to better reflect the time and effort it takes to create and maintain this large collection of software I have. Don’t worry, it will still cost less than half as much as nearest competition. Starting September 1st the price will be changed to $15 CAD, which works out to be roughly $14.50 USD, £7.50 GBP or €9.50 Euros. I decided not to adjust the price immediately so that people who are currently trying DisplayFusion can purchase it for the current price, $10 CAD. If you have any questions or comments about the upcoming changes I would love to hear them. You can contact me directly, respond to this post or post in the DisplayFusion Support Forum.

Last year, I took a trip to England and Scotland with my good friend Steve. I loved it so much (and talked about it so much) that this year my wife and I decided to spend our yearly vacation there. Jen and I will be touring around England, visiting as many places as we can in the short time we will be there. We’ll be visiting London, Reading, Bristol, the Lake District, Newcastle, Cambridge and Norwich, along with some smaller stops in between. The best part about the trip is that my parents have offered to watch our 2 lovely girls while we’re away, so we’ll be completely free to go at our own pace for the entire time. We’re both extremely excited - it’s hard to believe that it’s only 1 week away. If anyone has any recommendations on things we should see, we would love to hear about them.

On a more important note, can anyone recommend any places to get a great pint while we’re there?

I apologize for the poor quality picture, I’m not a professional photographer. If you have a Logitech G15 keyboard why not give G15 SpeedFan a try? It’s completely free, easy to setup and very useful once it’s running.

The Nerdy Details

If you’re still reading this I’m going to assume you’re a nerd like me, or are at least familiar with computer programming. When I looked at developing this plugin I had a couple different frameworks to choose from. I could write a C++ plugin for Logitech’s GamePanel Manager, or I could create something using LCD Studio. LCD Studio is more of a drag-and-drop designer, not really what I was looking for. Also, it had to be running all the time, much like the Logitech GamePanel Manager, but the logitech application takes up much less memory. So I decided on the Logitech software. Logitech provides an excellent C++ SDK for the keyboard, complete with example programs and something they call the “LCDUI” framework. It is a framework written to work exclusively with the G15 keyboards and provides functionality like writing images, animations and text to the LCD screen. It is extremely simple to work with, and everything is object oriented. For example, to write text to the screen you just create a Text object, set it up and add it to the screen manager.

Done! Now, we just setup some sort of program loop that gets the SpeedFan data every second and then just call SetText again to set the value. To draw the textbox to the LCD screen it’s just 2 lines of code.

Voila! If you have any questions about how to use the SDK, or anything else, I’d love to discuss it in the Support Forum. In the meantime, why not give G15 SpeedFan a try for yourself.

Warning: This game is super addictive and may will cause extreme productivity loss.

msiexec /a "C:\Files.msi" /qb TARGETDIR="C:\FilesExtracted"

Substitute your own MSI filename and extraction path, and voila, you’re good to go. If you want to see what the installer is doing while it is extracting just take out the “/qb” argument.