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- Cool Websites and Tools [July 5]
- How to Recover Deleted Pictures from a Digicam Memory Card
- Students: Free Apps To Help You Excel at School [Mac only]
- 4 Cool Fake Viruses to Make Your Friends Freak Out
- The 4 Retro Gaming Classics & Their Modern Counterparts
- How To Access Hotmail Email Messages from Your Gmail Account
| Cool Websites and Tools [July 5] Posted: 05 Jul 2009 04:00 PM PDT
(1) DoStuffForMoney - New online service from eBay-owned PayPal that has a simple purpose — it allows anyone to ask someone to get something done for money. For example, it is your turn to clean the room and you do not feel like doing it, you may simply log in to DoStuffForMoney and send an offer (via email or Facebook) to your roommate saying something like "Clean room for me and I will pay you 20$". He may accept the offer and get instantly paid via PayPal. Read more: DoStuffForMoney: Offer Someone Money to Get Your Job Done (2) DeckDesigner - Free web-based tool that lets you design a deck online. It has an interactive interface that guides you through the process of customizing the deck size, shape, wood color, stairs, benches etc. Once your design is ready, it will give you a comprehensive report that contains a 3D model of your deck, list of all the materials you will need to build that deck, detailed installation guidelines and tips. Read more: DeckDesigner: Design A Deck Online For Free (3) Flippa - Website that acts as an online marketplace for buying and selling entire websites. The site is not new, it is actually redesigned and renamed version of a well known website auction section on a SitePoint.com. You have to be registered before you can buy or sell websites. While buying, searching and browsing website listings are open to everyone, fees apply to selling websites. Read more: Flippa: Marketplace For Buying And Selling Webites (4) MotorTopia - Online portal where motor vehicle (bike, boat, plane and car) enthusiasts can meet and discuss their passion. It has everything from cool photos of classic cars, to blogs about the auto industry. Users can get updated on latest news, upcoming events, read opinions of others, join specific groups and participate in challenges. Read more: MotorTopia: Social Network For Bike, Boat & Car Enthusiasts (5) Trazzler - Travel destination recommendation service that suggests you unique trips based on your location, your travel mood (e.g. romantic, shopping, history) and favorite activities (whale watching, museums, fine dining etc.). The site lets you browse trips by regions (Europe, Africa, Caribbean etc.), by specific tags and search by keywords. Read more: Trazzler: Get Unique Travel Destination Recommendations
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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| How to Recover Deleted Pictures from a Digicam Memory Card Posted: 05 Jul 2009 02:00 PM PDT
Well, I am not getting into the criminal underbelly, but just jabbering about a long existing software that makes it possible to recover deleted files from a memory card used on digital cameras. PC Inspector Smart Recovery (v4.5) is a free, Windows only software that does one job (actually two… as we shall see) and does it well. Primary job: PC Inspector Smart Recovery is a freeware data recovery program from CONVAR for Flash Card/USB Flash Drive, Smart Media, SONY Memory Stick, IBM Micro Drive, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card or any other data carrier for digital cameras. Secondary job: While it goes about its first job, it also offers a way to check the memory type for any errors. I call PC Inspector Smart Recovery a 'doomsday' software. This one and others of its ilk help us to recover from our errors or those committed by our digital devices. If you think that the chances of losing some precious photo or video among the thousands we shoot with our digital cameras is one in thousands then give this software a miss. Otherwise, let's give it a rip…
The download size of PC Inspector Smart Recovery is fairly compact at 6.1MB. The software is compatible with Windows XP (not tested for Vista). These are the formats and digital camera types supported by PC Inspector Smart Recovery: JPG, AMR, TIF, BMP, GIF, AVI, MOV, WAV, DSS, MP4, Canon (.crw) , Fuji (.raf) , RICOH (.raw), Olympus E-XX (.orf), Olympus C5050 (.orf), Nokia (3gp), Kodak (.dcr), Minolta (.mrw), Nikon D1H/D1X (.nef), Nikon D2H/D2X (.nef), Nikon E5000/E5700 (.nef), Konica Minolta, Sigma - Foveon (.x3f). Installation is a no-brainer. And so is the use - in five simple steps.
Change the search mode…The Settings menu lets you change the way the recovery is done. The Fast Mode is the default mode. The Intensive Mode scans more thoroughly and takes longer to complete. The recoverable file size can be limited optionally.
Check Media found under Menu – Function is a way to check the memory device for errors. Once started, the progress is reported by the software under the Media Check section. Any read errors like a 'Not Available' alert could indicate problems in the memory device, the card reader or the driver.
So has it helped me avert my doomsdays?On my 4GB memory card with a sample of 160 pictures, I recovered all but six. Yes, the process was slow – about 160 minutes for an intensive scan. But the success ratio was great so I guess I can live with the slow speeds. Getting the lost pictures back at no cost is a definite deal maker for me. There are a few others which fall under the broad category of file recovery software. Check these out. They might save your day – 3 Remarkable File Recovery Tools So, what do you do when you unintentionally lose your Kodak moments (minus the teeth gnashing of course)? How do you recover deleted picture files from a memory card? Do you have your toolkit of 'doomsday' software? Related posts
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| Students: Free Apps To Help You Excel at School [Mac only] Posted: 05 Jul 2009 12:00 PM PDT
Luckily, in this digital age, everybody can turn to their computer for help. There are many applications dedicated to improve your study skills, as well as the overall school experience. And for those Mac-user students out there, here are five free tools to help you survive, and win. 1. SchoolhouseThe first thing to do to achieve a better academic grades is to organize everything into one easy-to-observe placeholder. Schoolhouse, which dubs itself as “The Homework Manager for The Mac“, is built to do just that. Developed by a student who still lives the life, you can expect this application to be as useful as it should be.
Then you gradually add your assignments, tasks and notes to it. You could choose to view all the items by list, week or month, iCal style.
Schoolhouse also has the ability to link documents and media to the assignments for quick reference, preview all your grades during the term to help you monitor your performance, and automatically publish the assignments to the web so that anyone can subscribe to them. If it sounds confusing, don’t worry — to help users getting started, this app come with a short PDF manual. Schoolhouse is like a GTD tool for students, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be useful for non-student users. I find that this app is very useful to manage my writing projects. 2. GeniusOne of the biggest traumas of school that still carved in my memory was studying for tests. I was always a “math kind of guy”, so memorizing too many facts and dates always scared me. I wish I’ve encountered Genius back then. This small app will help anybody with their study skills, particularly how to memorize things easier. You start with a new blank window. Then, by clicking the ‘+’ button, you can add a question. Insert the answer next to the question.
After all of the questions and answers have been inserted into the Genius window, you can save the window and start the learning process. Click the green “Study” button, and Genius will pop up a window with a question and the answer while dimming out the other parts of the screen. It will ask you to memorize them.
Genius then will ask the question again and you have to write the answer. It will alternate between new facts and questions. Genius organizes your information and carefully chooses questions using an intelligent “spaced repetition” method that’s based on your past performance. You can use Genius to study foreign language phrases, vocabulary words, historical events, legal definitions, formal speeches, marketing points, religious texts, or anything else you need to memorize. 3. ProVocIt’s always nice to learn a new language. But there’s one obstacle that usually stops almost everybody from learning any language: memorizing the vocabularies.
ProVoc is a free vocabulary trainer that makes learning a language easy. Just download the application and the vocabulary pack(s), and you are ready to go. There is a mountain of vocabulary packs available ranging from German to Dutch to Polish to Russian to Arabic. ProVoc has the ability to export to an iPod, so you can learn while on the road. You can also print flash cards, use the free Dashboard Widget, and listen to the audio pronunciation of the words. 4. BuddiThe word “student” is often being related to “starving”. This might be an indication that most students are not good in managing their finance.
To help with the monetary side, students (and everybody else) can rely on Buddi, a simple and free, open-source money management application. Buddi is Java-based so it can run on any operating system with Java environment installed. With the financial problem tackled with the help of Buddi, students can focus more on the study. 5. Carbon Copy Cloner“The dog ate my paper” is a classic excuse for not turning in your assignment. Of course, no teacher will buy it anymore. The modern alternative is “My hard drive crashed and ate everything inside, including my assignment.” But that is also not selling well anymore because we have backup utilities. Carbon Copy Cloner is one free and powerful alternatives. You can “clone” everything to an external hard drive.
6. Bonus tool: G.ho.stG.ho.st is one of the online alternatives for backing up your files. You will get 15 Gigabytes of free online storage on the system (and another additional 5GB for every friend who signs up from your invitation).
But G.ho.st is not just about file backup. It is a complete virtual, online operating system. So you will also get an office suite, games, browser and everything that you can expect from an operating system. Why will you need this? Simple — you can access your work and files from any place on earth with just a computer and an internet connection.
One of the new features that I like most is the ability to “side-load” files from web location directly to G.ho.st online storage, and the ability to share them with your friends.
The above link will direct you to the G.ho.st page with me as the referrer. If you don’t feel like donating an additional 5 Gigabytes to me, you can go directly to their site. 7. Everything elseThere is still so many more applications that can help students to improve study skills and work better. MakeUseOf Directory profiled over 100 tools, covering everything from online dictionaries, chart makers and flash cards to sites for ordering food from take-aways located near the campus. Don’t forget to check out articles about online tools for students such as: - 10 Online Learning Tools We’ve also discussed other free file hosts for free online storage services that can be used by students to keep and share their files. If you could add more ideas to this short list, be sure to write it down using the comment below. 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 Cool Fake Viruses to Make Your Friends Freak Out Posted: 05 Jul 2009 09:30 AM PDT
Although the following fake viruses may seem malicious to the unsuspecting, they are non-destructive to your computer system. So you don’t have to worry about anything else and just enjoy the fun of making someone else panic! Mix it up a little, don’t forget to check out other “prank” posts on MakeUseOf like 4 Really Popular Prank Call Websites & How They Work and Two Great 'n Simple Nerdy Office Pranks to Play On Friends! Let’s get pranking, shall we? (1) Fake Virus Batch FileI got this prank from WikiHow. I love it because it looks the most like an actual attack. Copy and paste the following into an open Notepad window, then save the file with any name you choose and an extension of ".bat" Here’s the code:
Here’s how it will look like once it is launched:
Your victim's PC will display messages as in the above image, and then initiate a shutdown sequence which can be stopped by entering "shutdown –a" in the Run command box. It looks bad, but is otherwise completely harmless. (2) EICAR Test FileThis test file, while harmless, will set off any good virus scanner. It's a test file to make sure that your anti-virus is vigilant, and is great for sending in an email.
(3) Fake FormatI remember getting my brother once with a similar program. This cool fake virus perfectly simulates the Windows disk-format dialog, and cannot be closed or halted until it's ran its course. Once it's done, a message will be displayed informing the user that it was just a joke.
(4) Fake DeleteThis is my favorite because, like its formatting counterpart, Fake Delete mimics the Windows file-delete dialogs. It even goes as far as using your actual file list instead of generic filenames! This also has the “it-was-all-a-joke” screen after it’s done running.
When executing these pranks, please be considerate to whether your intended victim is mildly-panicky or really panicky, and whether your mark has some kind of panic disorder or heart problem. It's all fun and games until someone goes to the hospital. Otherwise, have fun! Are you familiar with any cool fake viruses? What are your favorite computer pranks? Give us some of your most evil, yet good-natured, ideas in the comments. Image credit: rmkoske 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 4 Retro Gaming Classics & Their Modern Counterparts Posted: 05 Jul 2009 08:00 AM PDT
This is one of the reasons we never let go of those classic retro gaming classics like Pong and Space Invaders. The fact that I’ve got an eleven year old sister who knows all about Pacman (way before her time) just confirms my theory. But even more interesting than solely reflecting on the past is to compare it with the future. I’m not talking about a Zelda versus inFamous comparison here, but about a comparison with the modern remakes of those classics we all hold so dear in our hearts. If you’re curious what people did with Pong (amateur acts of love, not corporate franchise milking) in the last 35 years, or with Breakout in the last 30, read on. (1) Pong
Pwong 2Pwong 2 is a flash game, created by JGames. You can play with a friend, or against the computer on several difficulty levels. And believe me, it gets difficult.
This Pong adaptation takes a different turn (pun intended) by putting multiple balls in the game, allowing you to shoot paddles sky high and introducing special upgrades like curved, bigger and sticky paddles. This classic game gives you everything, except a moment to catch your breath. (2) BreakoutBreakout is similar to a one-sided Pong game, trying to hit and break away all up-lying blocks. This game was the first game in color, even while they were still using black and white screens, as they’d overlayed the screens with colored strips of cellophane.
The game was considered to be one of the most influential arcade games ever, and rightly so. Even these days, it’s a game you’ll find on nearly every cellphone, and sometimes even on iPods. Uber Breakout IIWhat would you get when you bring Breakout back to the drawing table. Twice. Uber Breakout II! This game literally takes a whole other turn with the franchise. You control two dependant paddles on the edge of a circle, while trying to hit all of the bubbles inside.
This classic game not only asks you to be agile, but also requires you to have the reflexes of a cyborg. Because of the shape of the bubbles, the ball can fly nearly everywhere, so you better be ready. And then they introduce special bubbles. (3) Space Invaders
The concept was rather simple. Shoot down all the descending aliens, but don’t let them shoot you. It was one of the first games involving a computated enemy, and although there was no real artificial intelligence, those blocky alien guys were deemed creepy as hell. Space Mutants - From SpaceSpace Mutants - From Space keeps most of the original gameplay intact. When looking at the imaginary changelog, most notable are the increased fluency and the updated graphics of the game. However, this Space Mutants game also comes with an upgrading system to customize your little tank. With the points earned by shooting our alien friends out of the sky, you can reinforce your armor, increase your speed, and so on.
If you enjoyed Space Invaders back in the old days, you should certainly give this one a try. Even ported to current-day technology and with an integrated upgrading system, it’s still more than obvious whose grandson you’re playing with. (4) Asteroids
This highly entertaining game was released on arcade machines in the late seventies and was an instant hit. You can play the classic version of the game here. Asteroids Revenge IIIIn Asteroids Revenge III, you play with an asteroid who was living the quiet life - the interstellar dream - when spaceships arrived and started shooting down his friends and family. Powered by revenge, this asteroid will try to serve justice, and crash these evil spaceships.
Asteroids Revenge III certainly is an entertaining game, not the least because of the concept. When you proceed in the game, you’ll receive speed upgrades and will be able to control a whole bunch of asteroids. Good remakes, or do you prefer the originals? Tell us what you think in the comments. Also, to find out how to download flash games and how to play Kongregate games offline. 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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| How To Access Hotmail Email Messages from Your Gmail Account Posted: 05 Jul 2009 06:00 AM PDT
What I first did, was to download Mozilla Thunderbird. I set up of all my Hotmail and Gmail accounts and it worked very well. But if I was away from my desktop computer for a while, I found I was going back to my old ways. Thankfully, Gmail had a solution. To simplify the whole process, the answer was to make one of my Gmail accounts my main email account. Then, forward all my emails, including those in my Hotmail email account, to that Gmail account. This way I would be able to access hotmail email from Gmail. However, this is not a simple as opening Hotmail, go to options and click forward. The problem is, Hotmail only allows you to forward emails to the following domains: hotmail.com, msn.com, live.com, or a Windows Live Custom Domain.
Below, I am going to show you how to download Hotmail emails to Gmail. What you have to do then is go to Gmail –> Settings–> Accounts and there will be an option that allows you to download mail from other accounts.
Type your email address, and then click next. You will then be prompted to enter your username, password, select your POP server and choose some other options for your mail settings in Gmail.
Use these settings to add a Hotmail email account:
Once you are done, click on Add Account. If you want to send email from the account you just added, make sure you click 'Yes. I want to be able to send mail as…". This allows you select an email address from a drop-down box.
So now, all email received from your other email accounts will be downloaded to your Gmail Account. This allows you to access all your emails in one easy location. If you only have one Gmail Account and a lot of Hotmail accounts, I'd suggest to forward all your Hotmail account mail to one Hotmail Account as this forward is done almost instantly. The other advantage is if you have a lot of mail, downloading your mail to Gmail will be much quicker as it only has to connect to one account. So now we have solved the problem of accessing all your mail in one location. But how do we now access these emails offline? If all our emails are being forwarded to one account, how do we split them up? I'll cover this in my next post. Watch out for it. Want to learn to be a Gmail ninja and have all the skills necessary to manage your emails? Check out other MakeUseOf posts on Gmail. What do you use to aggregate your emails to one location? Any alternative ways to access Hotmail emails from Gmail. Do you use a web app that you can trust to access your email accounts or do you prefer a “hack” like this? Let us know in the comments! 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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We come from dust, we return to dust. Thankfully, it's for us living beings and not for digital data. A slew of software makes it possible to 
School can be one of the best things that ever happens in someone’s life. Or it can be the worst. There are always the teachers who think that their job is to make a student’s life miserable, the boring textbooks which are thicker than Harry Potter’s series, the never ending papers and assignments and pop quizzes and tests… You get the picture.
There's nothing wrong with a harmless prank, especially when the victim is anyone but you. If you want to have some fun with your friends (or enemies for that matter), drop these cool fake viruses into the folder located at "C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersStart MenuStartup", then watch 'em squirm.
People like the feeling of nostalgia, and that’s a fact. The fun of reliving old experiences is simply undeniable. Even when death arrives, people hope to see their past flash before their eyes.
Starting chronologically, 
In 
If you spend a lot of time on the web, either for leisure or work, you may find yourself having a lot of 
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