Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

I’ve used plenty of hotkey applications, but none is as visually appealing or simple to configure as QLiner.

Download and install QLiner, launch it, and then press win + z to open the main window (above). New hotkeys can be added by simply dragging a shortcut from your desktop onto a key - it even works with URLs from your browser.

More than just a launcher, QLiner first tries to match your hotkey with a running application. If it finds a match, it’ll bring that window to the front instead of spawning a new process. You can add runtime arguments to your hotkeys as well: for example, /auto on CCleaner to add a one-key system cleanup.

QLiner also has built-in layouts that are tailored for Sony, IBM, Toshiba, and Dell laptop keyboards. Dvorak keyboards are supported, and international users will be thrilled by the huge number of languages available.

Its 45mb memory footprint is a tad on the bulky side, but it’s simple to overlook because of QLiner’s ease-of-use and flexibility. QLiner is freeware, Windows only.

[ via Cybernet ]

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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Open Source, Social Software

About six years ago Mitch Kapor, the guy behind Lotus 1-2-3, started a new open source project called Chandler. The goal was easy enough: Create an personal information management tool that would allow users to store, share, and collaborate. It would have things like a calendar, address book, and to do list.

In other words, Chandler is a lot like Microsoft Outlook. But there are a few major differences:

1. Chandler is open source
2. Chandler works with Windows, Mac, and Linux and has a web interface
3. You can sync your Chandler tasks with an on the web server and share them with others

Overall the interface of the desktop and web clients is pretty, but not necessarily intuitive. For example, there’s a nice massive text entry box at the top of the application that you would think would be for searching. But it’s primary use is for entering new tasks. Type something into that box and a new task is created. If you want to use the text area as a search box, you need to type “/f” before entering your query.
Is Chandler kind of useful? Sure. Is it an Outlook killer? Maybe. Was it worth a six year wait? Maybe not. But now that it’s here, Kapor states it’s up to the open source community to continue developing the project. And I’ve learned never to understimate the open source community. If there’s a will, there’s a way, and this application could be the future of collaborative task management. On the other hand, it’s not entirely clear if there’s a will at the moment.

What do you think? Is Chandler the wave of the future, or should Kapor have given up on it years ago?

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