<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[David Hendler&#039;s Writing]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://freetaco.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[David Hendler]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://freetaco.wordpress.com/author/davidhendler/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[software: background switcher, project&nbsp;alternative]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Our friend Big Poppa E has a Mac notebook computer. And mostly, we do not covet it. Except one night, we spied that it changes the background on his desktop every once in a while. We tend to think that things like that are distracting, but still, it would be nice to do.</p>
<p>Enter <a href="http://www.johnsadventures.com/backend/BackgroundSwitcher/">John&#8217;s Background Switcher</a>, which does it for you, for free, on your Windows box. And it can poll from flickr, the web, or elsewhere on your computer. Neat!</p>
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<p>We cannot load up MS Project on our computer. We don&#8217;t know why, but we can&#8217;t. We have been using an open source project manager for a while, but it leaves much to be desired. But we found a nice free alternative, <a href="http://www.openworkbench.org/index.php?option=com_docman&amp;task=doc_download&amp;gid=10&amp;Itemid=26">Open Workbench</a>, that gives a lot of power and flexibility. Very nice.</p>
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<p>Bonus link: We work in a slightly-noise-but-not-so-horribly-noisy office. There is a dull background noise that varies just enough as to be noticeable. What&#8217;s a taco to do?</p>
<p>Pink Noise. Honestly, we thought pink noise was a joke we heard once on a Kleptone&#8217;s album. But it&#8217;s not. It&#8217;s not quite white noise. There is variance to it. And here comes the <a href="http://www.moshier.net/pink.html">pink noise generator</a>. These handly apps create a small section of pink noise that is easily looped. We prefer pink noise #1, which is 2 minutes long. The #3 loop is too long for us at 6 minutes.</p>
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