CSCatchALL is a nifty Exchange Server DLL by Christensen Software, used to harvest emails sent to accounts which don’t really exist on your Exchange Server. Let me explain how we rely on it for our development process.

During application testing, our team likes to create fake accounts, ex: bubba.gump@imulus.com, joe.smith@imulus.com and in most situations the testing team needs to actually receive emails at these accounts to test that the web application is working as designed. Rather then setting up individual accounts for all these fake users, CSCatchALL allows us to create a “basket” account to drop all fake addresses into. This way the testing team doesn’t clutter up their working INBOX with testing emails.

The software can also be used to setup to collect SPAM messages sent to anyone@companyname.com, thereby reducing unwanted messages.

I just got done reviewing SnapPages and my initial impression is WOW! It appears that much thought was given to the user-interface and features that go into SnapPages. SnapPages users aggregate pictures, messages “gabs” and events all under one application. The developers were looking to design a web application for entry level web users, and I think they have succeeded.

SnapPages is one of the nicer Flash RIA websites I’ve seen and I think it will do well with the entry level web-user if the company can market to that audience effectively.

Personally, I don’t see myself using this application since I would rather use the combination of iCal, iPhoto / Gallery2 and straight email to accomplish my daily tasks. I’m also missing the revenue model for SnapPages.

Kudos to the developers for building such a nice app and offering it for free!

For the longest time I’ve been trying to find an web-based answer to managing my 10,000 + photo collection. I’ve had very specific criteria in mind for the ultimate photo management solution:

• It must auto-generate thumbnails, mid-sized images and link to the full resolution version
• The application should be easy to manage and update.
• The management must allow me to upload pictures from several computers, rather then just one machine, al la iPhoto / .Mac.
• Storage cannot be a limitation.

My search led me to several programs before finally selecting Gallery. First off, it’s Free, which is always a good thing. After installing MySQL and PHP5 on my OSX machine, I had Gallery up and running in no time. The install process is very friendly and if you have a rudimentary understanding of Apache you should be good to go.

The next step is to integrate it with Drupal and turn this puppy live.