Filed under: Windows, Productivity, Freeware

No, it won’t really turn your folders gold, but Visual Subst does deserve a medal. It’s little more than a GUI frontend to the Windows prompt’s subst command, but if there’s one thing we like more than commands that save repetitious typing it’s pretty graphical systems to utilize them.

What subst does is create a symbolic link - assigning any folder on your system its own drive letter. Most of us aren’t even close to using up all 26 letters, so why not set up a few of them as ridiculously short routes to get at our commonly used folders?

Visual Subst makes the process ridiculously simple, just select an available drive letter, browse to your folder, and click the green plus. Just like that, your new virtual drive shows up in My Personal. Now getting at the temp folder is as easy as windows + r, t:, enter. Easy. Check the box at the bottom, and your new drives return after a reboot.

For a 110k application, Visual Subst is a no-brainer. You’ve got to have it, we swear!

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Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Launches, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Marketing and advertising, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA)

Billboard reported Thursday that MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) has launched a new campaign titled “Roots of Rock” that offers free downloads for cardholders from Universal Music Group. Apparently the free aspect of the campaign is limited and after 100,000 songs have been downloaded, MasterCard will start to charge $0.80 per track. Even after the credit card company begins charging for downloads, pricing for tracks is still lower than Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s MP3 Store ($0.89) or Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes Store ($0.99).

Cardholders who also make a purchase by August 31 will be “entered into a sweepstakes with a grand prize of having a meet and greet with Jon Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton or Kenny Chesney.” MasterCard executive Amy Fuller told Billboard with the new campaign, the company has “created unparalleled music experiences with three of the world’s most popular artists, providing consumers with an intimate perspective on these icons that few fans will ever have.” But those fans will have to win the sweepstakes.

MasterCard’s campaign to offer free downloads is like numerous other programs that are linked with music companies, but it offers to take the digital market to a more massive consumer base. Lowered prices (eventually) for the campaign mean that Universal Music Group will continue to hold on to the lead in music sales, if only because the music company is the only one on board with MasterCard. Consumers that might not have ever downloaded a track might be enticed to try out the campaign and the sweepstakes. This type of growth is what the music industry will need if digital sales are ever going to replace physical sales successfully and completely.

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Filed under: Good news, Rumors, Products and services, Marketing and advertising

Despite a 66% drop from first week sales of 721,000 duplicates, Coldplay’s fourth album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends retains the top spot on the Billboard 200, selling 249,000 duplicates in the album’s second week of release. Billboard reported the chart placement Wednesday and noted album sales are down 7.66% in the last week while dropping 13.2% behind the same week totals from one year ago.

The album was released in the United Kingdom three weeks ago tomorrow, while it has only been out in the United States for two weeks. It debuted big in the UK, selling 302,000 duplicates in the first three days it was out and selling 500,000 copies after ten days. Sales in the U.S. over seven days are obviously more massive than the UK figures, pointing to rumored hopes from the band’s music label EMI that the album would provide a significant boost for the company during the summer and possibly the year.

I’ve had the album since it was released, reporting that very day about the packaging of a vinyl and CD copy together that seemed to hint EMI was aware that consumers listen to music more frequently on MP3 players even if they prefer vinyl duplicates for nostalgia or the entire experience. Two weeks at number is impressive in today’s market and although sales dropped 66%, 249,000 copies is a nice figure for one week. If continued rumors are true that the band will release another album within a year and a half, the future of EMI may be more and more based on the success of one band.

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Filed under: Deals, Microsoft (MSFT), Time Warner (TWX), Marketing and advertising, News Corp’B’ (NWS)

One of Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) plays for showing that it does not need a deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is to find another massive partner for a merger or joint venture. It is becoming more likely that the partner may be either Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) AOL or News Corp (NYSE: NWS), which owns MySpace.

The structure of a deal with AOL might look very much like the one the firms discussed earlier in the year. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The two companies are speaking about a structure they began discussing several months ago — an arrangement whereby Time Warner would fold AOL into Yahoo and take a minority stake in the combined venture.”

A transaction with AOL would give Yahoo! three important advantages. First, it would nearly double the size of its user base, giving it by far the largest audience of any company in the US. Yahoo! would also get AOL’s Advertising.com network, the biggest display ad network in the nation. Finally, Yahoo! would get a substantial set of new customers for its search and search advertising businesses.

Wall Street wants to see Yahoo! sold. Any other alternative, including a deal with AOL, is likely to drive its shares down. But, if it wants any chance of staying independent, a transaction with Time Warner might be its only viable substitute.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: World wide web, Pic, Productivity, Social Software

Memeo’s new Share application is designed to make the process of sending high-resolution pics a little easier, by sending them directly to another users desktop or putting them in an RSS feed they can look at in iPhoto.

The application, which is currently in beta, isn’t meant to be a substitute for any pic sharing application you might currently be using, although photos shared using Memeo Share can also automatically upload pics to your Facebook account. Share is instead designed for sharing high-resolution photos and video with small groups or family and friends without having to send individual emails containing each item due to their size. Those who receive your pics can then decide what photos they want, and print out pictures they like at a quality resolution.

Memeo Share is offering a free lifetime use for the first 1,000 people to sign up for the beta with the public preview limited to 10,000 total sign ups. Get yours here.

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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

Have you ever been working somewhere and needed to focus on what you were doing, writing, saying, but there was too much ambient noise around you?

You know, peoples iPods crankin’ or chitter chatter chattin’.

SimplyNoise is about to become your best friend.

At desk jobs (ewwww), they sometimes pump in “White noise” to push out sound and give you a bit more privacy, but you can’t control how much of it you get.

SimplyNoise works kind of like an air conditioner in that you can amp it up to as much as you need. SimplyNoise’s site says that white noise can help get you in a zen state, give you more privacy while on the phone, help you fall asleep, and even ease migraines.

Since we’re all writers, and some of us have annoying construction going on outside of their condo during the day, we’ll put it to the test and you should too.

Let us know in the comments if white noise is the right noise for you.

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Filed under: Text, Utilities, Linux, Productivity, Freeware, Unix

One of the longest ongoing debates in the productivity/Getting Things Done crowd is about which app works ideal for keeping tasks in order. Different factions support everything from power tools like OmniFocus to good old pen and paper. Apparently, though, some people miss classic command-line productivity apps like Lotus Agenda. If you’re running a Unix-like OS, and you need a solid GTD system, you might find Beeswax, a free, Agenda-inspired app, worth a look.

It’s a tiny tricky to explain how this works, so you might need to check it out for yourself, but we’ll do our best. Basically, you have to-do items, and you’ve categories. If you assign sub-items to an item — you know, something that takes multiple steps to do — it’s treated like a category. Items can be assigned to multiple categories, so everything is flexible. If you’re someone who hates anything that requires a mouse, this is right up your alley.

[via 43Folders]

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Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Productivity, Apple, Microsoft

One of the only features some of us here like about Windows is that you can alt-ctrl-del and look at the open tasks and programs running at any given time.

It’s nice to know what’s sucking up all of your memory (pr0n) and what’s bogging down your processor (DVD burning).

Sloth for Mac OS X shows us exactly what’s running, Windows style.

You can see which application is running which process, reveal the directory it’s running out of, and kill it off if you want. If you’re super geeky and/or bored you can even look at the IP and Unix sockets to see what application is connecting to the interwebs at any given time.

This is a really handy dandy tool, and the source is available too for monkeying…er, slothing around.

One of the superior parts about Sloth is that it’s a Cocoa app, and runs nice and slick on your Mac.

[via chris pirillo]

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Filed under: Press releases, Marketing and advertising, Clear Channel Commun (CCU), Media World, Politics

It’s no secret that Speak Radio host extraordinaire Rush Limbaugh has revolutionized the substitute media. With his new contract, it appears that Rush is once again on the cutting edge of societal evolution, and has once again laid down the gauntlet that he is light years ahead of his competition. What’s so incredible is that in an era when traditional media is having all kinds of problems, whether it’s declining newspaper sales, or declining ratings for the nightly news, the man who sits behind the golden EIB microphone is forging ahead as if nothing is happening.

According to a press release, Limbaugh has signed a long-term contract extension:

Advertiser and affiliate demand is at an all-time high for Mr. Limbaugh. President of Premiere Radio Networks Charlie Rahilly stated, “The Rush Limbaugh Show enjoys an unprecedented platform of radio affiliates. Plus, advertisers harness the intensity of listener engagement — no one’s ‘word of mouth’ about a product or service delivers more impact than Mr. Limbaugh does. The Premiere team is proud to partner with Mr. Limbaugh deep into the next decade.”

The Drudge Report is reporting that the contract will pay him in excess of a whopping $400 million!

Earnings now pace him ahead of the annual salaries for network news anchors: Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer - combined!

How this will effect the stock of Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) who, along with Premier radio syndicate Limbaugh’s show, is anyone’s guess. My hunch, though, is that it will do just fine. Clearly, for Clear Channel Rush is a money making machine. His popularity continues to surge, so it seems that while they are spending a whole lot of money, they’ll more than make it up in revenue that the show produces.

Love him or hate him, and I am in the love him camp, there’s no disputing the impact that Rush has ands continues to have on both politics and the media.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 7/2/08.

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), Marketing and advertising, Nokia Corp. (NOK)

Reuters reports this day that Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) has signed up Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) to its “Comes with Music” phone service and music store. Nokia is the world’s top phone manufacturer and will be making a direct challenge to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes Store, according to numerous reports. The “Comes with Music” service is the first from a phone manufacturer to “push heavily into content” and “differs from other packages on the market as users can keep all the music they’ve downloaded” while in yearly contracts with Nokia.

WMG executives granted the music company to join up with Nokia since the service “is the first global initiative to fundamentally align the interests of music companies with telecommunications companies.” Nokia already secured the support of fellow music companies Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment in April, and “Comes with Music” launches later this year. Reuters speculates that the agreements with three of the top four music companies (EMI Group has not signed up yet) will “help Nokia attract smaller music companies and challenge the dominant pay-per-track sales model for digital music.” Last year, download sales totaled $2.9 billion; if the 146 million Nokia phones had featured “Comes with Music”, those sales would have surpassed the digital market.

Record labels have consistently looked for new methods to challenge Apple’s grip on the music industry, and subscription models like “Comes with Music” may finally provide that challenge. Subscription models give the music industry more shares per download since users typically are not allowed to keep tracks downloaded during the subscription. “Comes with Music” is betting against that model since users will be granted to keep music downloaded, and Nokia and the record companies are no doubt hoping that dynamic will keep those consumers renewing contracts with the service. Reportedly, the subscription for “Comes with Music” will only cost $20 per phone, which on a yearly basis wouldn’t be too pricey for unlimited downloads.

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