Wallpaper Shifter is a little program that starts when you login to Windows and picks a random wallpaper from your list. Depending on the wallpaper width and height, it can automagically scale it for you to fit your desktop without deforming it's proportions. It does not remain running in the background so no system resources are used.

If you need a more complex wallpaper changer that will stay active during your Window session, check out John's Background Switcher. Wallpaper Shifter is freeware, Windows only.

1. Accountant

Unless you are an expert at something as important as your finances, I would recommend finding an expert. The graphic design career is not always the most financially stable one, especially if you are working freelance or running your own studio. Like most businesses their is often a constant battle to find new clients and actually get your clients to pay up. Having a professional accountant can help you make the most of the money you do have, help you save money and keep things organized you; saving you lots of time and money.

2. Lawyer

No one wants to have to hire a lawyer ( because that often means there’s a problem ), but having a lawyer on hand can is very important. Whether its about negotiating a contract or settling a dispute with clients, having a lawyer ready to go that you trust is very valuable. Start off by asking family and friends if they know anyone and make sure you know what the lawyer specializes in because most lawyers will only accept certain types of cases, so you may need to make contact with several different types of lawyers or a firm that can handle multiple types of issues.

3. Web Designer

Having both graphic and web design skills is great and something to work towards, but many graphic designer prefer to specialize in graphic design, don’t have the time to code websites or just dislike coding sites! If that’s the case then you should have at least two web designer contacts that you can outsource work to when needed. They can help you set up your portfolio site, code websites for clients and help ensure your website is optimized for search engine traffic, meaning more projects for you!

4. A Better Designer

Its always good to have a mentor or at least some one you consider a more experienced designer. Getting honest critiques by some one with a fresh eye is very important. Designers often miss errors and other details after looking at the same design for 10 hours so being able to show other designers your work and get some good feedback is priceless.

5. Another Person in the Industry

Actually, you should have as many contacts in the industry as humanly possible! Knowing people in the industry will help you stay up to date with the latest industry news, jobs openings and much more. be sure to make actual friends and stay in contact though because its rude to talk to some one once and then 3 years later ask for a huge favor! So be professional, respectful and helpful to all your contacts.

6. Photographer

Photography is another valuable skill set not all designers have time to pick up. A great photographer can help you create custom stock photos, textures and even shoot your own work. Showcasing your design projects in real life situations or even just printed and photographed with a nice background is a proven method of getting more clients. It makes viewers of your personal portfolio or studio website more comfortable knowing your work has actually been printed and displayed in public!

Who else should designers know? Let us know in the comments!

Lingerie connoisseurs will be happy to know that CBS has launched a multi-media, multi-platform Victoria’s Secret assault on all senses. That’s right: no longer will you have to search through the Internet’s wastelands to get your Victoria’s Secret fix; it’s all there on the official website and on your mobile.

Social Features

The new website will feature behind the scenes videos, interviews with models, photo galleries, model bios, and other original content. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be broadcast on December 3, and if you’re the chatting type, check out www.cbs.com/socialviewing during the show, as you’ll be able to chat with other viewers and discuss the show there.

If you’re unable to stay at home during that time, you’ll be able to follow a live simulcast at the time of the show on your mobile. CBS Mobile and MediaFLO have set up a 24/7 dedicated channel on FLO TV, the service that enables you to see live TV on your mobile.

Embracing New Media

You got to hand it to CBS, they’re really embracing (or trying to embrace) new media. They’ve bought Last.FM, they’ve set up a YouTube channel, and now they’re bringing an utterly non-geeky event to mobile phones everywhere. I don’t see too many people actually following a Victoria’s Secret even on their mobile, but that’s the beauty of new media: it’s there for the taking, whether you like it or not.

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Along with the RSS feed, have come several hundred readers, many promising different features and options, and many with several pros and cons. There is no doubt that Google Reader has become far and away the most popular of all of these readers, not only for its integration to your Google Account, but for its ease of use and excellent features as well. However, when it becomes overwhelmed with hundreds and thousands of articles, it becomes extremely cluttered and almost impossible to go through. That’s where Adobe Air’s Snackr RSS ticker solves this problem.

Snackr RSS Reader, is an incredibly handy, transparent ticker that continuously scrolls at the bottom, top, left or right part of your screen, delivering random items from all of your various RSS feeds. I’ve only been using it for a short time, and I am quickly finding out that it delivers many more items that I would probably glance over with a typical RSS reader.

The screenshot above only shows you a small portion of my screen. The ticker stretches across your entire screen, either horizontally or vertically, and is always scrolling at your preferred speed. It looks very similar to a sports or stock ticker from your preferred television news source. When you find an item you like, you simply click on it, and a small preview box appears with a link to the post or article itself.

The preferences are limited, but you pretty much get everything you need. You have the ability to speed up and slow it down as you please, move the ticker to your preferred location, remove items that have obtained a certain age, and also control if the ticker will remain in front of all windows.

Of course you also have the ability to manage your feeds, including importing via OPML file.

With all of its perks, there are a few options it lacks.

All together, this RSS reader/ticker is an incredibly useful tool for finding several different articles and posts, that you wouldn’t normally find via Google or other RSS reader. It does require Adobe Air, and a incredibly simple installation, but once you get your feeds imported, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Do you use Snackr?   If so, what features would you like to see them include?

Written by T.J. Mininday - Techaholic, IT Field Engineer and Blogger for ConnectedInternet and TheWindowsFix.

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One option is to stay cash heavy to make it through the recession over the next year. The company can still spend some serious cash though, but probbly not enough to buy Facebook. The company currently has over $9 billion in cash and close to $12 billion in short-term investments. That means in a short period of time they could acquire either Facebook or Yahoo, and Steve Ballmer has already dismissed the latter.

If you were Microsoft would you take the plunge and try to acquire Facebook? Could Facebook become larger than Yahoo! in the near future? Mark Zuckerberg has stated that he isn’t looking to sell the company but it would be pretty hard to turn down $9 or $10 billion in cash. At this point it’s all speculation but I think the dire situation for Yahoo! puts Microsoft’s Facebook investment in perspective.

You use Twitter, email, IM and even your phone to stay in touch with your world. Maybe your office uses services like Yammer for internal communication. But once you are done tweeting, emailing and instant messaging, you have to do actual work.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could at least use those tools to help you get some of that work done? Xpenser, developed by Trastr Inc, allows for a number of different tools to be utilized to keep track of expenses. Here is how to use Twitter with Xpenser to track them:

Get Started!

Getting started is simple. Go to Xpenser, create a free account, and add your Twitter account (no password required). Then add Xpenser to your list of following, which will let you send direct messages to that account, e.g. D Xpn Taxi $15.00 #clienttrip. This automatically updates the expenses for the category clienttrip. The same can be achieved through the use of IM, email or SMS.

Track Multiple Clients and Expenses

If you are on a multi-leg, multi-client trip, you might want to ensure that the right client is billed the right expense. To do this you go to the “Reports” tab, enter the name for the new report – ClientABC, ClientXYZ, VegasConference, whatever you decide to name them. You can decide to make one of the reports the “default” report, which means that all new expenses that are untagged will go into this report.

Keep Track of Mileage

Xpenser has a conversion feature which enables you to keep track of your mileage. It can be accessed from the “Keywords” tab, where you can set a pre-determined rate of conversion. Imagine a realtor driving from appointment to appointment throughout the day. Now, instead of having to write their mileage down for each appointment and then get back to the office and calculate their mileage expense, they can simply use their smart phone and Direct Message Xpenser on Twitter with the number of miles for each appointment as they arrive: D Xpn 23 miles Jones house.

As long as the message includes either the word mileage or miles, Xpenser will convert the number of miles into a cost based on the preset conversion rate. It then enters it into the account that you specified, and if you don’t specify an account it will go into the default account.

Everywhere Else

If you’re not interested in using Twitter to create expense reports, Xpenser also supports instant messaging, email, text/sms, and voice. There is also an export to Freshbooks feature, and through partnerships with Jott and Dial2Do, voice recording is available in the US, Canada, and 17 other countries, allowing users to simply “call in” their expenses. In addition, the web interface allows you to edit previous entries or make new ones, export to excel, Quicken, MS Money, and Freshbooks.

So, would you manage your expense reports on Twitter?

Simon Salt is CEO of marketing communications company the IncSlingers. He writes daily at www.simonsalt.com and weekly at Chris Brogan’s parenting blog Dad-O-Matic, and is also an avid Twitter user. He is focused on dragging traditional marketers into Web 2.0 before the arrival of Web 3.0. He loves to help out and volunteers his time and knowledge whenever asked. He is Director of Technology for the Austin Chapter of the AMA and is currently working on a Twitter guide for all users.

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Traditional search, is, of course, link-based. The problem is, sites can be linked to places that people no longer are interested in, so the link stays in the search result for perhaps years where nobody is actually paying attention to it. Technically, though, it registers as popularity. And then you have OneRiot, whose search results are based on their current popularity among internet users. A novel idea? That’s what makes the world work. OneRiot’s search results are intrinsically fresh, relevant, and pulsing with the real-time energy of the Web, being that this is their actual criteria. Theory being, irrelevance no longer factors in to search. Google bombs become a thing of the past.

“When you search with OneRiot, you’re finding the pulse of the Web,” said Kimbal Musk, CEO of OneRiot. “The OneRiot community—a group of more than 2 million people—share what’s important to them as they surf. They help us find the freshest stuff to read or watch in relation to any search query.”

Users at OneRiot stay on top of information that is immediately relevant to today’s conversations and discussions. Traditional search will get you reliable authoritative results, OneRiot will get you the buzz, for ’tis the buzz that runs it.

For example (I love these-they’re so illustrative) a search for “Obama” on a traditional search engine is likely to bring up a Wikipedia page, or the official Democrat Party Web site - they are the most linked-to on the web. The same search on OneRiot is likely to bring up a YouTube video from a speech he gave this morning, or a blog post that commentators are buzzing about right now. When you search on OneRiot, you’re not searching for general information. You’re searching for what is generating excitement about the topic you are searching for.

“We’ve had millions of people download our popular toolbars and sidebars for Firefox and IE…As OneRiot, we can allow all internet users – even those who haven’t downloaded our software – to find the pulse of the Web on any topic.” These are the words of Tobias Peggs, VP of Product and Marketing of OneRiot. OneRiot his name and see what the buzz is!

This just occurred to me: With OneRiot you are “surfing” the web even more literally, because the alt will give you the crest of the wave to ride, the interest, the energy, not the links. Now that’s poetic.

Here’s how it works: I’ll start with a question, and the first person answers my question, and then asks a different question for the next person in the same comment. Tanya’s questions are usually the cocktail-party variety, which is cool, but here, I want to stay on topic! The geeky twist for the Office Tweaks Mid-Week Socializing Game is that your questions in the comments should be about the various Office products, tips, tricks and those burning office questions you’ve got but haven’t found the answer to yet.

So, here we go:

What is the most useful tool you’ve found in Office, be it obvious or hidden? 

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The trial turned EPOXI into one of 10 nodes in a test network (the other nine were on Earth), to verify the reliability and robustness of the new networking architecture.

This new networking system, an outgrowth of Cerf's Interplanetary Net project, can be layered on top of TCP/IP, the protocol that today's Internet uses. But although DTN is designed for a different environment than Earth, ultimately the technology may find its way back here, to improve communication back home.

How to network in space
JPL's Adrian Hooke, team lead and manager of space-networking architecture for NASA, explained the limitations of TCP/IP-based Internet to me. Although we tend to think of the Internet as routing around faults, he said, it is "not actually tolerant of disconnection between two machines." If you lose a link between relay stations (routers), he explained, "the routers start dumping packets on the floor after a few milliseconds."

Out in the solar system, where distance means that point-to-point communication time of a single bit can take minutes or hours, and where there is no system of interconnected routers, relay stations need to be smarter and more robust. Dropping packets doesn't work. "In space, it's very rare that you have an end-to-end path," Hooke said.

Disruption-Tolerant Networking devices don't just send off packets to the next device in the communications chain, as routers do. Instead, they hold on to packets until they expect that they will be received, and after they send them, they keep holding on to them until they receive an acknowledgment. Only once the packets are acknowledged do they release "custody" of the data to the next link in the communications chain.

It's a network. In space.

(Credit: NASA/JPL)

DTN networks need more smarts and storage than typical routers. They need to know which devices they can send to, and when, since planets and space vehicles don't stay put. And they need enough storage to hang on to packets that are coming in even when there may not be a receiver onto which they can offload them.

These concepts are not new. E-mail routers use store-and-forward architectures to transfer information, and mesh networks are opportunistic with their connections. But getting the DTN protocols certified for space operations requires a lengthy development cycle. Hooke told me that NASA hopes to have DTN ready to be built into spacecraft and ground-based radios in 2011, but that it will be four or five years after that before the technology will then make it into space. In 2015 or 2016, he said, "an interesting cluster of missions to the moon" will be launching, and he hopes to see DTN on them.

He also expects DTN to be part of the communications protocol for the Mars Sample Return mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2020 (but will probably be more like 2025). In that mission, a "full fleet of spacecraft" from several countries will all need to interoperate, and DTN should make the communications more reliable, and easier to build, than a patchwork of point-to-point radios. But first NASA and other space agencies need to know it works.

Meanwhile, back on Earth
DTN concepts are being applied to similarly flaky networks back home. Not surprisingly for a DARPA-funded project, the US military (the Marine Corps, to be specific) is experimenting with DTN for "stressed tactical military communications." On a battlefield, as in space, there's rarely an existing communications infrastructure a device can drop in to, so data radios need to be more tolerant of poor networks and opportunistically take advantage of communications links when they are available. Likewise, the Navy is looking at DTN to help submarines send and receive data in bursts when they surface or come close to a relay buoy.

DTN can integrate with existing TCP/IP networks, Hooke told me. "Bundle agents" can sit on the Internet and handle the store-and-forward protocols as well as the transfer of data from occasionally-connected devices to the main Internet.

And not all applications are military. A team in Sweden is using DTN to track reindeer movement (via geolocators tagged to animals), for example. Intel is looking at DTN to build out networks in developing countries with no communications grid. And in our own backyard, cellular equipment manufacturers are thinking about DTN for devices at the edges of expanding networks.