Fences, put out by a Michigan company (down around Plymouth), called Stardock. They make Window Blinds, which they are probably best known for. (FWIW: I’m not a big fan of Window Blinds.)

Fences, however, is a simple and pretty excellent piece of software. It is free, which is usually a pretty cool thing (of course!). Fences works very efficiently to clean up a cluttered desktop. I’ve never really seen anything that does just what Fences does. And the fact it is free is just awesome.

It’s a simple download and install, and also uninstalls well if you don’t like they way it works.

Once you install Fences it will offer to clean up your desktop, which it does flawlessly (and is completely un-doable). All your clutter is then grouped, in a simple and easy to understand way.

I highly recommend this product. Give it a try. Find it here.

And a tip of the hat to the always reliable Lifehacker site.

…except it is minus Apple. I guess they want the charger to have some Apple “design flair”? That’s what’s missing in this world we live in, some design flair with phone and MP3 player chargers.

But it will be good for anyone not using an iPhone or an iPod. Won’t it be nice to have a single charger that will handle all your mobile stuff? Not to have to keep track of which charger goes to what will be very nice indeed, and long overdue.

I am for this one, and I hope it gets some traction.

Wired magazine online has an article here.

EDIT: An article from PC World about why the universal charger will not work. I am not sure I agree with this assessment, but the write makes some pretty good points. Short read. See it here.

This blog post has some easy too use detail on how to have multiple sigs for different Gmail accounts. If you use Gmail, you’ll likely want to check this one out.

It was on the MakeTechEasier blog. Find it here.

CNet’s David Carnoy got this conversation between Steve Jobs (Apple) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) about the Kindle…but how’d he ever get the conversation?

Of course, he didn’t. It’s a spoof, but a darn good one. Check it out.

One of the key characteristics of Web 2.0 is participation, collaboration and moderation through the use of web applications. Web 2.0 sites derive their power from the human connections and network effects from this characteristic that is made possible, and grow in effectiveness the more people use them.

• Read more at SB Informer…

For the past few months I’ve been using a variety of wireless, blue tooth headsets, with my cell phone. The latest head set I’m using does not have clear reception. Often times I can hear the person fine, but they can’t hear me so well.

I love technology, and in fact, the particular blue tooth headset I’m using is made by one of the premier brands.

• Read more at Small Biz IT…

The second generation Kindle looks like a pretty neat device. There is lots of both pro and con about it out there, but on balance, there is more pro.

The biggest negatives would have to be the $359 price tag and the fact that you still have to get everything through Amazon. For this device to have real value, it really needs to be a generic e-book reader. For example, you need to be able to load your own PDF e-book, and right now, that just isn’t easy. It can be done, but only through a slow and convoluted email-to-yourself scheme that looks to be pretty lame.

I have gathered some rundowns of the Kindle 2 below.

PC World

Computerworld 1

Computerworld 2

CNet 1

CNet 2

CNet 3: The Kindle 2 Launch (beware: Jeff Bezos is a pretty dry guy…)

Virus Attack: What to Do on Zero Day

As a kid I used to write messages with lemon juice and when the juice dried I had a secret message (or so I thought) that was viewable when held up to the light.

Of course these child hood secret messages only work in the mind of a child, but not the corporate shield of real business. For your communications between your employees, your partners or your clients you need to ensure that each email message that needs to be secure, is secure.

• Read more at Small Biz IT…

You, too? Is Google Latitude just a little too creepy? It sure is for me. Not a fan.

I dunno about this Google stuff on the “Internets”. Just a bit too big of a finger on everything. They’re starting to make Microsoft look as benign as the the local Farmer’s Market. Remember, Google’s overall motto is supposed to be “Don’t be evil” or something catchy like that. Hmmm….

This article from PC World really says it all – I am pretty much in agreement with all the points here.

Read it here.

EDIT: ComputerWorld has a well done main page article with the headline
Privacy group calls Google Latitude a ‘danger’ to security