I’ve meant to update the ol’ blog for quite some time, but I guess I haven’t had much to share. And I believe that if you don’t have something useful (or at least mildly humorous) to share, you really shouldn’t bother polluting the Web with your tripe.
This morning I stumbled across a nifty variation to Flip3D, the feature in Windows Vista that lets you cycle through your visible windows like a card stack. The real slickness is that window activity (for instance, a video in Windows Media Player) will continue to play within the preview.
Flip3D in Action
Flip3D was touted as Microsoft’s answer to
Exposé for the Mac, and it was supposed to be one of the real "gee whiz" features in Vista. Most people were entertained for about a minute and then moved on to the next curiosity.
Personally, I like Flip3D. I know it’s probably a resource hog, but it looks really nice, and it’s one of the few visuals in Vista that doesn’t look cobbled together from spare parts laying around Microsoft’s garage.
To use Flip3D:
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Hold ÿ (Windows) and press Tab.
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Press Tab to cycle through each visible window.
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When you reach the window you want to activate, release ÿ (Windows).
To my point: there’s an alternate way to use Flip3D. If you look closely at the Quick Launch toolbar, you’ll notice a small 
icon, which activates Flip3D. What’s unique about this variation is that Flip3D remains open, so that you can cycle through your open windows using the Arrows and Enter keys. If there’s a window way in the back of the stack, you can also click it to pull it to the front.
As you might have guessed, there’s a shortcut key for this alternate version of Flip3D: hold Ctrl and follow the steps listed above. Give it a try next time you have a few seconds to kill.
– Greg
gregsedwards 