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I’d like to introduce you to the latest creation from Snowmoon Software, FreezBeat. It’s an indispensable little utility that keeps you from missing a beat of your favorite music, a scene from the latest movie, or a word from that podcast. Just how does it do that? Read on!

First, a little background. I work in an office — a noisy one. Music and headphones are essential to getting any work done at all. The workstation I was using had a nice multimedia keyboard with playback controls. With just a touch, I could play, pause, and even adjust the volume right from the keyboard without having to hunt for Windows Media Player or iTunes. Sadly, that didn’t last too long. My next workstation didn’t have a multimedia keyboard; I had to hunt for the player window whenever I left the computer, or someone came by to ask a question. That gets a little annoying when you have as many windows open as I usually do!

Over the next two weeks in my spare time, I wrote what was to become FreezBeat. It went through a  few name changes… Sonic Presence, Caesura were just two of the incarnations. I shared FreezBeat with a couple of friends and they loved it. It quickly became one of those apps that you don’t really notice when it works, but when it’s not running, you miss it… quickly!

So what does FreezBeat do? It manages your audio playback for you, automatically. Ok, that’s what it does but what does that mean? Imagine you’re at work, listening to music and have to go get a fresh cup of coffee, or go to a meeting. You lock your workstation (Windows Key+L from the keyboard) and FreezBeat pauses playback. When you return you sit down, unlock the computer and get back to work.  Wait, the music’s playing again! That’s because FreezBeat knows you’re back and automatically resumed playback and you didn’t miss a beat!

What if you need to pause playback because your phone rang? FreezBeat can help you here too. Click on FreezBeat’s tray icon to pause, click again to resume. If you’re a keyboarder like me, you can assign a special key combination (called a hotkey) to pause and resume too. Just right-click on  FreezBeat’s tray icon and pick the hot key option from the popup menu. My favorite hotkey is Control+Keypad 0; it’s an easy two-handed keypress without having to move too far from the home row.

FreezBeat can also pause playback when the screensaver starts, and resume when the screensaver stops running. FreezBeat supports Windows Media Player, iTunes, and WinAMP and runs on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 2008.

Buy a copy today, or download a free 30 day trial at freezbeat.com. Please note that you have to enter a little bit of information to get a trial license before you download FreezBeat; this information is used only to generate your license.

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I’ve been busy over the past few months, working on various web sites and applications. Not only am I working on a redesign of Snowmoon Software, I’ve launched the following sites:

Nicky’s Fight - Meet Nicky, a wonderful young boy with Neuroblastoma. Please consider donating something to his cause.

Handmade Soap – Brenda L. makes a cold process soap that is made from Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Castor oil and Wheat Germ oil, Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter. Then they are carefully scented with natural Essential oils. She adds no synthetic fragrances or additives.

FreezBeat – We’re very proud to announce the release of FreezBeat, a media playback utility for Windows. With support for iTunes, Windows Media Player, and WinAMP, FreezBeat adds a feature missing in these players…YOU! The concept is simple; why should your music keep playing when you’re not listening? FreezBeat bridges that gap. When you’re not at your computer, it pauses your music or podcast. When you come back, FreezBeat notices and resumes playback from where you left off. You’ll never miss a beat again.

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Over at the Start Up Manager Brian wrote:

So how can such a noble endeavor go wrong? There are lots of reasons, but the most challenging to control is the effect that occurs when the QA department sits in the shadow of Development.

There is sometime a perception that the QA engineers are inferior technically to the developers. If this is the understanding in your organization, then QA will occupy a lesser position in the social structure. This mindset sets up an environment where development has a greater influence over the solitary QA engineer than is advisable.

There’s another variation on this trap that I’ve seen and that is when QA is over developmen — whether in actual reporting structure or pure political power within the organization. When this happens, QA is effectively driving the development process. Their schedule is imposed on the developers.

QA needs a build first thing Monday morning! Well, what if dev isn’t ready to give QA a build? Without equality between the departments or a capable arbiter, dev will be forced to overextend their resources (ie, work late hours or the weekends, resulting in lower morale and quality) or pass along an incomplete or buggy build to QA, thus wasting valuable time and possibly jeopardizing the schedule.

Another risk of having QA-over-Dev is that the development schedule may bloat to accommodate QA’s demands. When the schedule needs to be pulled in, management will be forced to cut features or testing time, neither of which results in a good, quality product.

The takeaway:

QA/QE and Development must be equals within the organization, preferably with a slight adversarial relationship.

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