Here are two amazing tools I’m not sure how it took me so long to find.

The first is a Java application called ‘Sloppy‘ that helps you deliberately slow down your browsing to see how pages (and perhaps most helpfully Flash) load. With a variety of connection speeds from 9.6k (ugh) to 3Mb (as if you get that in the first place) to choose from you can be sure your applications run at their best no matter the connection. And from my tests today on a Flash preloader it appears to update the connection speed in realtime, when I went from 56k up to 256k there was a noticeable increase in the loading speed. Very cool! That site has a few other gems, however, so go check out the main site at www.dallaway.com as well.

The second tool is a Flash & javascript application called SWFUpload. This nifty script provides you with advanced browser upload control in a sleek and unassuming package. Perhaps the best feature is the ability to select multiple files to upload and they all run one at a time until the whole queue is complete. This could be an amazing feature for a photography website or for companies with digital asset management systems with users that find themselves uploading folders of content at a time. Be sure to check out the demos while you’re at it, there’s several there to play around with.

I need to quit slacking on this blog, sorry folks for the long delay… those of you that stuck around this quiet place at least.