This is a very cool little application that will allow you to very easily install and run Internet Explorer 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6 and 7. It's especially nice to be able to test pages in IE 6 and 7 on the same machine during development...

http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

I've found some helpful tools, cheeseball humor, jobs and other random information about freelancing on this site:

http://freelanceswitch.com/

Every now and then, there is an idea executed on the internet so well, it could make almost any concept look wonderful. But what if the concept was great to begin with AND was executed flawlessly? This is rare, but a friend of mine turned me onto such a case: Grooveshark.

Grooveshark allows you to search for and stream basically any song in the world. How this is legal, I don't know, but it works wonderfully. The interface has animation and smoothness not seen in many desktop, let alone web, apps. And its usability rivals iTunes.

I have a feeling this website could replace many iPods at work, having a phenomenal selection with no setup, installation, or signup required. Just logon and start listening.

So Adobe finally released their online version of Photoshop. It is a Flex based RIA called Photoshop Express. While the tool is a very nice tool, it only slightly similar to the desktop version, and IMO doesn't really deserve the "Photoshop" name. The Express version seems like more of an online photo manager repository type thing. Maybe I'm not seeing the big picture? Maybe Adobe is planning to integrate the online tool very closely with the desktop tool, which might justify the name. Either way, the app itself is pretty slick.

Check it out here: Adobe Photoshop Express

Apparently there's this thing called Google, and you can just type in what you're looking for and it finds it.

Amazing, eh?

Hence, I found another tool. It's called Pixel Ruler. Take a guess what it does.

I just found a tool we all will probably find valuable. It's called Virtual Magnifying Glass. It basically allows you to bind a hotkey to transform your mouse into a magnifying glass. If you're like me, you're constantly squinting to assess some tiny graphic flaw, and then you may end up taking a screenshot into Photoshop and zooming in several times to be sure. This tool eliminates the need for that.

Finding that perfect color combination can sometimes be a tough nut to crack. I find that for me, it's all about inspiration, so here are 5 great resources for "color-block." And of course they're presented in a list... because everyone loves lists.

5 - COLORJACK
http://www.colorjack.com
Extremely useful online utility that allows you to create color palettes by experimenting and tweaking a whole slew of options. When you're done, you have the option of exporting your swatches to Illustrator or Photoshop.

4 - COLORZILLA
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271
Sometimes inspiration comes from other sites or random images floating around on the WWW. So instead of hitting the ole' "print screen," I use ColorZilla. It's one among a plethora of useful plugins for FireFox. Basically once installed, you're able to sample any color displayed within your browser in all its hexadecimal glory.

3 - BEHR COLORSMART
http://www.behr.com/behrx/workbook/index.jsp
Behr has a fun application for choosing paint colors for your home, and I find that it's a great resource for finding interesting palettes for design work. One advantage that I see in the site is that you get to see what's hot and trendy in interior design.

2 - KULER
http://kuler.adobe.com/
Kuler, from Adobe Labs, is by far the sexiest of the five resources listed here. It has a slick interface and intuitive usability. The "create" feature is clean and fast, and the social, community aspect is great.

1 - COLOURLOVERS
http://www.colourlovers.com
...the queen mother of color sites. Although Kuler has a better "mixer" tool, COLOURlovers has a superior online community full of people who are passionate about color. The blog posts are interesting, and they truly seem to have their fingers on the pulse of color trends. And as an added bonus - the site is beautifully designed.