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- Cool Websites and Tools [June 28]
- BOTS!! - Awesome Robot Battle Online Multiplayer Game
- How To Send Personalized Mass Emails in Outlook
- 4 Easy Ways to Burn CDs and DVDs for Free on Mac
- How to Stop Annoying “Restart” Prompt after Windows Updates
- Su.pr - An Extraordinary URL Shortener from StumbleUpon
- Cool Websites and Tools [June 27]
| Cool Websites and Tools [June 28] Posted: 28 Jun 2009 04:00 PM PDT
(1) AfterTheDeadline - Online spell and grammar checking site where you can paste the text you are working with and check for spelling errors, grammar mistakes or get style suggestions. There is no download or registration required. Read more: AfterTheDeadline: Ouick Grammar Checking Site (2) Ambiently - This search tool semantically connects web pages of similar or related meanings together and lets you discover related websites which have more information about the content of the web page you are browsing. You can get the Ambiently bookmarklet on your browser (only Firefox, Safari, Opera or Chrome) and click on it anytime you visit a site to get a list of related stuff. Read more: a href=”http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/ambiently-related-websites/”>Ambiently: Discover Related Websites In One Click (3) iCyte - Browser add-on that lets you highlight text on a web page and save only the highlighted portion, annotate it and add relevant tags. You may also organize these bookmarks into separate projects and share them with others. Read more: iCyte: Highlight Text On A Webpage & Save It Online (4) ProfileGreeting - Web service that allows you to record personal audio greetings and then add them to your blog, online profile or website. The application lets you record as many greetings as you like, however you can only have 3 audio recordings on your account at any given time. Read more: ProfileGreeting: Add Audio Greetings to Your Webpage (5) tgethr - Simple email collaboration tool which lets you easily collaborate with a group of people on projects via email. You basically set up projects and then send replies to emails. Read more: tgethr: Simple Email Collaboration Tool
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| BOTS!! - Awesome Robot Battle Online Multiplayer Game Posted: 28 Jun 2009 02:00 PM PDT
However, as cyberspace developed, the responsibility of the bots widened. They were now expected to fight of viruses and restore corrupt clusters. But the world of cyberspace got out of balance. With the vast and ever exponentially growing size, a pullulation of corrupt clusters was inevitable. The viruses mutated and took possession of the bots. To fight off these new treats, bots took themselves back to the drawing table. They fitted each other with new parts, and tried to actively evolve to be able to match the enemy viruses. Bots!!Bots!! is a massive multiplayer online (MMO, not in-browser) hack and slash game, created by Acclaim Games. In it, you can fight your way through storied levels with your own personalised robots, or fight against other players. In the game, you can not only choose your own robot from three different classes (read: factory lines), but you can also customize its body, head and even arms to create your unique metal friend. With the availability of a great many number of skills, you can further customize the strengths and characteristics of your bot.
By charging up their energy, bots can temporarily transform into bigger, humanoid robots. These transformations will lend you the strength that would normally require several bots, and allow you to come stronger and faster against enemies. The gameplay video above shows a good demonstration of this feature as well. Game ModesThere are three entirely different game modes; Player vs. Viruses, Player vs. Players and PvP Base Mode. In Player vs. Viruses - also know as Sector Battle - you play alone or in group against the A.I. virus bots. Instead of working a single map, players proceed in linear level parts, only moving on as the current bots lie defeated. At the end of the level, you face a Virus boss, with added experience. This mode can best be compared to the old progression-arcade fighters.
Player vs. Player (PvP) battles include deathmatch and team deathmatch on a roamable map. Either fight one on one or in separate teams and ultimately test your strengths. There’s only one rule: take as many other players with your in the grave.
In PvP Base Mode - also known as Base Battles - you play in team and must destroy the other team’s base. You must play both offensive and defensive to victor in this mode. Contrary to most other games like this, players only have a limited number of respawns, and will be positioned by the sidelines after that. So, what do you think? Do you feel like participating in these bot-fights yet, or do you prefer the standard FPS or MMORPG games? Let us know in the comments section below. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| How To Send Personalized Mass Emails in Outlook Posted: 28 Jun 2009 12:00 PM PDT
Before I leap ahead, mail merge is used when we want to create several documents that are basically the same but where each document contains unique details. For example, a set of letters where the content is the same but the name, address or even the subject bits are unique for each. The best use I have found – use it as a job hunting application with custom details for each employer. The mail merge feature uses two parts – a main constant document and the inconstant data source – and merges them. With Outlook being a part of the MS Office suite, one can use this feature to bulk send mail, each personalized for a different contact (it ain't spamming, although I guess mail merge is mass mailing by another name). So here's how to send mass emails in Outlook and make emails look personal:
Mail merge contacts The completed dialog box looks like this…
Compose the email in Word MS Word then does the job of automatically posting the emails in a flash. You can save the document you used for the mail merge, as it also saves the link with the data source i.e. the contacts. Once you get the hang of it, the whole process takes barely a few minutes from start to finish. In the same time I would have earlier composed an email for just a single person; now, I did so for a group. So here's how we managed to save on repetitive typing and save up on time. Any other way to send personalized mass emails in Outlook? Do you use mail merge for email? Or the more common fields of carbon copy (cc) and the 'anonymous' blind carbon copy (bcc)? So, what are your productivity tips for Outlook? Share with them with us! Image: ’smil Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| 4 Easy Ways to Burn CDs and DVDs for Free on Mac Posted: 28 Jun 2009 10:00 AM PDT
That’s why modern people can afford to lose their computers but not the data inside. That’s also why the necessity of backing up your data is unquestionable. Disc Burning in Mac OS XOne of today’s most popular and practical method of data back up is disc burning, and there are two popular disc formats used by the masses: CD (up to 700 MB worth of data) and DVD (up to 4.7 GB worth of data). Mac OS X comes with its own built-in disc burning feature and users have several ways to access it. I’ll show you how to use native Mac apps to burn CDs and DVDs for free without installing anything.
1. From the iLife SuiteMac users can burn their music, photo and movie collection directly from the respective iLife applications. There’s a “Burn Disc” button in iTunes, 2. From FinderYou can create a Burn Folder in Finder by choosing “File –> New Burn Folder” menu or by using “Command + Shift + B” key combination. After everything is in place, open the burn folder and click the “Burn” button on the top right corner of the window.
3. From Disk UtilityOpen Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app) and you can see that there’s the Burn button in the main window. Please note that Disk Utility can only burn from an image file. So, the first thing to do is to choose or create an image file. (You can create an image file by clicking the “New Image” button.)
The advantage of using Disk Utility is that you can create multisession disc. Just make sure you tick the “Leave Disc appendable” box before you start burning. 4. Burn Baby, Burn!Mac OS X built-in disc burning feature has some limitations. The main one is that users should use different apps to create different kind of discs, and the kinds of disc that can be created is limited. That’s why there are still so many users who use third party disc burning application. We mentioned some of them in the article about free alternatives to Nero CD / DVD burner. One good and free alternative of such app is Burn. This is an all-in-one, easy to use disc-burning software for Mac that has the ability to burn different kinds of discs with only a few clicks. To use Burn, choose the type of disc you want to create from one of the tabs on the upper part of the window. There are three main types of disc available: Data, Audio, Video, with an additional ability to Copy disc. The next step is to drag and drop the files you want to burn into the main window. Then, give the disc a name and click “Burn”. That’s it. No more complicated processes necessary. There’s a list of adjustable sub-types of disc next to the name field. Other settings can be changed from the Preferences menu.
To create a multisession disc, be sure to check to the “Allow more sessions” box. And if you use CD-RW or DVD-RW, there’s the option to erase the disc before burning.
Burn is by far the easiest disc burning software that I’ve come across. I also think that this one is better than most of the paid competitors. Have you tried Burn? Do you know other alternatives to burn CDs and DVDs for free? Share your burning experiences in the comment below. Related posts
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| How to Stop Annoying “Restart” Prompt after Windows Updates Posted: 28 Jun 2009 08:00 AM PDT Windows users can find many things to complain about, but in my opinion, the absolute worst "feature" of Windows XP is the Nagging Restart Dialog. In 2008, Mark showed you how to disable the Windows restart prompt temporarily. I’ll extend on that and make it even simpler for future use.
I'm sure you've had to deal with this; It pops up every ten minutes after a major system update. Fortunately, it can be turned off. I'm going to help you to create a shortcut that will turn this nag off when double-clicked. So, how to stop automatic updates from restarting your PCStep 1 Your first step is to open Notepad. (Start > Run > "Notepad" > OK)
In Notepad, just type the command "net stop wuauserv" (no quotes, as in above). Then close the window, and select "Yes" to save changes. Step 2
What we're doing is creating an executable batch file which will run a command when double-clicked, to stop the Windows Automatic Updates Service. Make sure that your "Save as type" is set to "All Files" so that you don't accidently create a text file. Save your file with an extension of ".bat" Step 3 This cute little batch file is what you're left with.
When Windows starts nagging you to restart, just double click this to run it and stop the service. You won't be bothered again. The service will restart when you reboot, which is needed to install the updates in the first place. Is there anything that Windows does that annoys you? Maybe we can find a fix for it. Are yu awrae of any easier way to stop automatic updates from restarting your Windows. Please give us some ideas in the comments. Think it’s time to update your PC? Varun will teach you 5 Ways To Update Your Windows Operating System. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| Su.pr - An Extraordinary URL Shortener from StumbleUpon Posted: 28 Jun 2009 06:00 AM PDT
Su.pr is currently in private Beta mode. If you like to test drive the service, you must first have a StumbleUpon account, then follow the official SU twitter account and wait for them to release the beta code. I was lucky to receive the beta code the moment I followed SU, but I have seen others waited 5 days for the code. Your waiting time could vary. Once you obtained the beta code, simply enter into the input field at the Su.pr homepage. At the homepage, you can see a textbox where you can enter your text message and link. Just like Twitter, you are only allowed 140 characters and all links within the text will be shorten with the Su.pr prefix. From here, you have several options. You can either:
Is that all about Su.pr?You bet! That is only the tip of the iceberg. Every post message or link that you submit (or create) via Su.pr will be tracked and recorded. You can view real time analytic result of your posted items and see how popular it gets. Statistics that you can view include the number of retweets, number of StumbleUpon reviews, number of click through and even traffic source. You can view stats for the past 12 hours, past 7 days, or even past 30 days.
More surprisesSuggested posting timeBased on your submission on Su.pr and the statistics, Su.pr will analyze your data and suggest the best time to post your stuff. This should help you to gain more exposure for your submissions.
Promoting your websiteIf you are looking to gain more traffic for your site, here is a good way to promote your site. By submitting your websites (you can enter up to 3 websites) in the Promote Website field in the Settings page, Su.pr will analyze your site(s) for the most popular content and promote them via StumbleUpon. Su.pr bookmarkletSu.pr is not yet integrated in the StumbleUpon toolbar. Users who wish to have quick access to Su.pr services can drag the bookmarklets (located at the bottom of Su.pr homepage) onto your bookmark bar. Launching of API keyStumbeUpon has released the API for developers, so we should be able to see more third party apps that integrate with Su.pr in the near future. How does StumbleUpon play a part?Until now, it seems that everything is about Su.pr and there is no mention of StumbleUpon playing a part in the process. So how does SU play a part in Su.pr? This is where SU comes in. When your readers/visitors/followers click on your link to reach the destination page, a StumbleUpon toolbar will show up on top of the page. If the page is not yet submitted to SU, a Discover button will be available for the user to submit to SU, else a thumb up/down button will show. This is very similar to the Digg bar, except that it is more user-friendly and maintains the usual high standard of the SU toolbar.
What Su.pr is lacking at the moment?There are several functions that are clearly missing in Su.pr right now. The inability to post tweet to multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, inability to edit scheduled post (except for deletion), inability to post to Facebook page/group, not integrating Su.pr into StumbleUpon toolbar are some of the features that are missing and are highly requested by the community. Noting that this is still a beta version, I am confident that the StumbleUpon team will get all this ironed out in the final release. Meanwhile, if you have not tried Su.pr, do follow Stumbleupon (on Twitter) and grab the invitation code now. So what do you think? Thumbs up or down? Let us know in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Cool Websites and Tools [June 27] Posted: 27 Jun 2009 07:00 PM PDT
(1) GoogleGuide - Tutorial site that can show you how to really use Google. It provides tips, tricks and tutorials on making Google search easier and effective for novices, experts and everyone else. All guides are properly categorized under the headings “Query Input”, “Understanding Results”, “Search Tools”, “Services” and “Developing a Website”. Read more: GoogleGuide: Learn How To Really Use Google (2) Netalyzr - Free online applet that can analyze internet connections for all sorts of problems including blocking of important services, HTTP caching behavior, DNS settings, bandwidth measurements and more. It prints its findings in a detailed report. Read more: Netalyzr: Analyze Internet Connection For Problems (3) PenCake - Web application that allows you easily draw and send out personal eCards. You can add any color to your eCard, insert shapes and text, change the thickness of the brush and do much more. Read more: PenCake: Draw And Send eCards (4) WebAnti-Malware - Blacklist monitoring tool that lets you check if your site is blacklisted by one of the search engines or security companies. The application regularly scans your site against Google, Firefox, Chrome and Norton blacklists and alerts via email if it appears blacklisted. This way you are able to react quickly and do something about it. Read more: WebAnti-Malware: Check If Your Site Is Blacklisted (5) Resizem - Basic image editor to which you can upload an image (JPG, PNG or GIF) and quickly perform a number of simple tasks like resizing, cropping and rotating. You can also apply a different effects like gray scale, sepia, pencil, embossing and more. The application probably has the simplest and cleanest user interface among all such other apps. Read more: Resizem: Basic Image Editor
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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The bots (or computer robots) were created together with cyberspace. They were designed to perform simple, routine tasks in the computer systems, operating behind the scenes.
I could have also titled this – Mail merge from Outlook. Because that's exactly what this process is about. Mail merge is a powerful productivity feature of 
These days, almost every aspect of our life could be digitized and stored as data. From 
The “Share –> Burn” menu in 
And the burn button in iDVD.
Give name to the folder and then drag and drop the files and folders that you want to backup.
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