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- Cool Websites and Tools [August 31]
- How To Conduct Video Interviews with Wetoku (Invites!)
- How To Find A Book Without Knowing The Title Or Author
- How To Start A Blog That Gets Instant Traffic
- 6 Subway Map Tools To Navigate Your Way Through NYC
- How To Set Up A Secure & Free Proxy Server
| Cool Websites and Tools [August 31] Posted: 31 Aug 2009 06:01 PM PDT
(1) Booster – New online MP3 finder that lets you search, stream and download almost any song you want. The site has simple and clean design without any annoying banners. To find a song, just type in the name of the artist or song and Booster will get you a list of results, along with an option to download and play each track. Read more: Booster – Online MP3 Finder
(2) Golden-Hour – Useful site for those who like taking beautiful outdoor pictures. It is actually a calculator which shows the time of Golden Hour for different areas. The term "Golden Hour" is used in photography to define the time of the day when sun position brings special quality of light that is great for taking beautiful photographs. Read more: Golden-Hour – Find out When to Shoot Beatiful Golden Hour Photos (3) Is-This-A-Scam – Next time you receive a home business proposition or some lottery prize email and unsure if it is a legit offer or a scam check it on Is-This-A-Scam. It's a Custom Search Engine where you can run a quick search across 100 major anti-scam and anti-fraud sites including forums and government agency websites. Read more: Is-This-A-Scam – Identify Internet Scams and Hoaxes (4) NoteFlight – The software for composing music and writing musical notes aren't cheap and not all musicians can afford them. Noteflight is a new online music composer and note editor which could serve as a nice alternative for such tools. Using it you can create, edit, display and play back music notations online. Read more: NoteFlight – Free Online Music Composer & Note Editor (5) The Real Live Search – This is a quick online search tool that brings search results (incl. image and video ) from Bing. It shows search suggestions and live results as you enter each character into a search box. This comes in very handy when searching for something specific as you can simultaneously see how search results change as you modify the query. Read more: The Real Live Search – Search Bing Quickly
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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| How To Conduct Video Interviews with Wetoku (Invites!) Posted: 31 Aug 2009 03:01 PM PDT
I’m a blogger, and as such, I am in need of a way to reach out to others while being interesting to readers. Wetoku can help! Wetoku offers a simple way to meet someone online, record the meeting (or interview) and then share it with others. You may use it for video chat, conduct online interviews, etc. Our Makeuseof authors have touched on several video chat type offerings that can help with online interviews (Tokbox, Eyejot, and Gmail’s video chat features). Well, wetoku makes meeting face to face with someone far away even easier. We’ll see how easy it is later in this article.
Wetoku takes simplicity to a whole new level. You login, set-up the interview, invite the interviewee, and hit the record button. It really is that easy!
Oh, and the simplicity doesn’t stop there! Sharing the video meetings/interviews with others involves all of just copying and pasting embedding code! Basically, you meet the person, hit record, hit stop, and the code pops right up! Copy and paste it like you would a YouTube video (or some other video sharing site) and there you go!
I would personally like to see some more options on the sharing end of things. I would like to see the ability to download the file for safe keeping AND for sharing on other social video sites like YouTube. They are still working on things, and from what I can tell, they seem to be listening to feedback, so there’s still hope! Setting up an account is really simple. Just sign up with the invitation code you were provided with (see the end of this article to get one). Once signed up and logged in, you’ll want to click the “start your interview” button and enter the information for the new online interview, including title, names and a description. Once that’s all set up, you’ll be faced with a cool invitation link which you promptly send to your interviewee anxiously awaiting the online interview:
You have to allow your camera to be detected, nothing new to web-based webcam operation. Once you and the interviewee are both on, the video will look similar to this (only with much prettier faces, I’m sure):
The round button is the record button. There is also a nifty little settings panel. I think that only pro accounts have the option of the higher quality videos (I tested the differences of quality and there is a difference). You can also change the volume of the microphone:
When you’re done recording, you can choose to redo it or publish it and you’re given the embed code. It’s that easy! When finished, you’ll have an online interview similar to this one conducted by wetoku Dave of Rick Calvert, CEO of Blogworld and New Media Expo: And that’s just about all there is to it. With wetoku you can compete with the other “talking heads” out there, talking and interviewing people from all over the world! Like I mentioned in the beginning, wetoku is a new company and they are still in private beta. They gave us 200 invites to share with you all! If you’re interested in an invite, just toss me an email timlenahan[at]makeuseof[dot]com with the EXACT phrase “wetoku invite” in the subject line (these emails will be filtered by the subject line so it must be exact or you may be overlooked) and I’ll email you an invitation code. First come first serve! Check them out! When you do, let us know your thoughts in comments. And in case you’re familiar with some other tools to conduct video interviews share them with us in 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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| How To Find A Book Without Knowing The Title Or Author Posted: 31 Aug 2009 11:01 AM PDT
In the good ol' days we could only depend on eureka moments, when the bulb flashed and we got the name right. Well these are better days because we need not wait for the bulb to light up anymore. We have instant recall in the form of the World Wide Web. The Internet is an information sponge that has even your local librarian beat. A visit to the local library isn't such a bad idea but if you can't wait for it open then plug into the web. It's open 24 hours a day. By the way, a lot of libraries now also have online catalogs.
Let's start with our friendly normal search engineWhen we don't remember (and even if we do) the name of book, author, or the characters in it, the search engine is usually the first port of call. What is true for any generic search is true to finding a book without knowing the name and the author too – it's called keywords.
In case of a forgotten title or author, we have to remember and go back to anything we can use from the book. It could be the name of a character, a line of dialog he said, or any opening lines. More specific the phrase, the better would be the result. All rules of a normal search apply (for instance, for exact searches put it in quotes). Let's move on to Google Book SearchGoogle Books has scanned and indexed entire books (7 million till November 2008) using OCR in its database and now presents it for online viewing. The Advanced Search Page is a powerful tool to get to an obscure title. From keyword search to using filters like subject, publisher, language, publication date, ISBN and ISSN numbers (you aren't going to remember these two!), the ways are many. With the search, you will get results with the keywords. Click on the on the link or thumbnail to access an entire copy or a limited preview.
Even if you do not get the book, you might come across a reference which may lead you to the answer. Other search engines of noteWorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. You can search the database of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. You can search for a book and then locate it at a nearby library. Membership of the library allows you to check out the item online. BookFinder : try the advanced search engine of this website which indexes 150 million new, old, rare and out of print books. The advanced search options have a search by keyword field. A9: the Amazon powered search engine has an open search and an A9 Product Search which queries the thousands of products available with Amazon worldwide. Also, A9.com powers the search behind Amazon’s ground-breaking Search Inside! book service. To find an obscure book, Amazon is a good place to head for. Rummage around in AmazonNot exactly…you don't have to search haphazardly as Amazon has a basic search and an advanced search which can give you the book you are looking for. After all, if the world's largest online retailer doesn't sell it then who else will? The basic search is actually not basic. Amazon calls it Search Inside! ™. Search Inside! returns results by comparing the query with the inside text of each and every book in its database. Search Inside! results are combined with results that match the title and/or author of the book. It works pretty much similar to a phrase search we use with search engines. Type in your remembered clue and click Go.
For each match, Amazon displays the page number and a selection where it has struck your search phrase. Click this page number link to view the actual pages where the result occurs using the Amazon Online Reader (a sign-in is required to use the reader). To dig deeper you can use the Search Inside This Book field box.
Amazon's Advanced Search is similar to Google's advanced book search. But you get a lot more additional filters like Reader Age and Publication Date.
In a similar way you can use the advanced search functions of most online book sites. Another one worth a look is Barnes & Noble, Biblio or W.H Smith. Ask and Answers WebsitesThis is a great way to tap into the collective memory of the large internet population. Most well intentioned book sites have forums or book clubs. Apart from getting recommendations, one can use this to jog each other's brain cells about a forgotten title. Askville
We return to another Amazon service, a community site where one can ask and get answers in discussion boards centered around lots of topics. Books, are of course one. And if you are there, please help out others with similar points and garner some experience points. If you want to ask or answer a question, you will need to register (for free) or use your Amazon login. Bookclubs from Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble has a comprehensive community board centered on books. One particular community is on Lost Books. Create a free account and fire away your query. Yahoo Answers
As of 2008, the Q&A service has nearly 135 million users and 500 million answers worldwide and it's growing at a rate of 11 million new answers per month just in the U.S. There's a category on Books & Authors. The process is – login with your Yahoo ID – Click on Ask to frame your question – Categorize your question from the suggestions – Preview your question and submit. For an answer notification, you can select Email me when I receive a new answer or Add this question to my messenger status. In a similar way you can use other community knowledge sharing websites. Try out Answerbag, or Answers, if the above three fail. There are of course many other ways to search for a book without a title or author. We can try out social media search. Even do a Twitter search. The good thing is book lovers abound everywhere and the fraternity is amazingly co-operative. We can always find them closeted together in some group or community. Facebook alone has over 500 groups within the common interest groups for books. Will's post on 4 Great Sites to Do a Book Search by Plot or Subject is also worth a bookmark for the four book recommendation sites he mentions. With due apologies to the authors, sometimes we do forget their names or even the titles. But it's a credit to these wordsmiths that we remember some snippets. Memories may dull but the web is there to sharpen it for us again. And usually discovering a long lost book is sometimes like recovering a lost treasure. Do you have such hair tearing moments when the book's title or author escapes you? How do you get what’s lost in memory back? Image Credit: Ninha Morandini 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 Start A Blog That Gets Instant Traffic Posted: 31 Aug 2009 09:01 AM PDT
With millions upon millions of websites on the Internet, and with potentially hundreds of thousands focused on the same subject or niche that you are – developing an audience can feel even more overwhelming than trying to start a blog from scratch in the first place. I’ve been working on the Internet long before it became wildly popular in the 1990s, and in the process of watching the evolution of the Internet I’ve come to realize and appreciate something amazing about the current incarnation of the Internet, known as Web 2.0. That something is this; If you know the rules of the game, then it is possible to start a blog that gets instant traffic from day one – and maintains that traffic into the future. Today I’d like to share 3 powerful techniques you can use to accomplish this.
Tip #1 – Write Optimized Content The First Day You Start A BlogMany people who start a blog do so because they love writing. That’s one of the reasons I started several blogs (horribly neglected) of my own. The problem is that most writers enjoy writing for the love of the process – not for the purpose of “optimizing” the content for search engines. The process of optimizing makes writers feel stifled, non-creative and cheap. Sort of like not wanting to go to Wal-Mart to save money even though you know that things are a heck of a lot cheaper there. Writers know that optimizing is important to gather search engine traffic, but they either really understand the rules – or they simply don’t care. Optimizing can take years to learn how to do effectively. Many bloggers suffer low blog traffic because they believe if they simply write amazing content – people will love it so much they’ll keep coming back for more. This may be true – but it’ll take you years to accomplish, versus months if you use SEO effectively. Abhijeet offered a fantastic list of SEO tools that you can use to come up with high-value keywords for your posts. One of those tools that I would highly recommend to all bloggers is the Google Adwords tool. Using this tool the right way, you’ll be able to start writing your very first blog posts that target exactly what people are searching for online.
What’s the “right way” to use Google Adwords? It’s very simple, just brainstorm general topics that you want to write about and enter those, one at a time, into the “Descriptive words or phrases field.” When you click “Get keyword ideas,” you’ll see a very long list of keywords and statistics appear at the bottom. Next, click on the blue column header “Global Monthly Search Volume” to sort the results by how many searches occur for each term every month. If you find your keyword doesn’t have a lot of traffic, scroll down to the section titled, “Additional Keywords to Consider.”
Here’s the basic SEO rule #1 that I’m going to share with MUO readers. Most bloggers see a keyword with very high search traffic and think, “oooh, a goldmine!” They then proceed to expend tremendous effort writing up a brilliant post using that phrase, only to end up on page 25 or 30 of Google results for that search term. Why? Because the secret of success when choosing keywords where your new blog (or even professional blog) can compete is choosing keywords with very low competition (that cool-looking blue bar graph on the left). Choosing keywords with very high search traffic each month and very low competition will bring traffic to your site the moment Google next crawls your blog. Speaking of which, did you take Karl’s advice and submit your site to Bing and Google yet? Tip #2 – Engage The Blogosphere Every Single DayIf you want to get a lot of traffic to your new blog from day one, you’ve got to give people who are interested in the topics you write about a good reason to visit your blog. One of the first things that I noticed when I started using Facebook is that it’s human nature for people to check out your wall if you take the time to post on theirs. The same is very true about the world of blogging, but on a much larger scale. When you post a thoughtful comment on someone else’s blog, not only will the blogger probably check you out, but so will readers who like your comment. To do this effectively, you should use a tool like Ratingburner or Technorati to find the most popular blogs on the net within the niche that you write about. Using Technorati to find similar blogs to my own blog FreeWritingCenter, I discovered one high-authority blog, AListApart, with fresh content just waiting to receive a good comment. You may need to sift down the list for blogs that are relevant to yours (I did).
Visit the other blogs, and if you aren’t already a subscriber then become one. Your new blog will not take off unless you’re ready and willing to engage the blogging community and contribute to other blogs as much as you want other people to contribute to yours. When you post a comment – don’t do it without reading the post you’re commenting on. Don’t be one of those annoying spammers – you’re trying to engage a community, not get free marketing for yourself.
The general rule of thumb here is to only post on blogs that allow you to include your URL, be positive and always compliment the blogger, and finally always reference one or two important points in the blogger’s post – this proves that you actually read the article and found it interesting. A well written comment can go a very long way toward immediately attracting interested readers (and fellow bloggers) to your own blog. Tip #3 – Becoming an Active Member of the Forum CommunityThe third most effective way to get instant traffic to your blog is to engage forum communities filled with folks who share an interest in the topic that your blog covers. Either generate a new thread, or comment on an existing thread that covers something you wrote about. Finding a forum based on the topic of your blog is usually as simple as typing it into Google as something like, “writing forums.” Although, I would highly recommend taking Darko’s advice and use forum search engines which are often far more effective since they specifically target forums. Using BoardReader, I found a great webmaster forum post about writing at the V7 Network. When you register, don’t forget to include your URL in your forum profile (most forums have a field for this).
Forum etiquette is to avoid posting your own URL in the very first few posts. Simply engage in a conversation with forum members. Once you prove to the forum administrators that your goal in engaging the forum community is to have a conversation and not just advertise yourself, they’ll be far more willing to let you quote (and link) from your own blog every now and then. But the first step at any forum is just to get engaged in a quality conversation with other folks.
Forums can help in a lot of ways. Readers who find your comment interesting may click on your profile to check out who you are – and there, they’ll find the URL to your blog. Additionally, many forums (such as the one above), allow you to post a link in your signature after you’ve made a certain number of forum posts. This assures the forum administrators that you’re not only there to market yourself, and it eventually allows you to have a link back to your blog on every single post you make – which is a very powerful way to get a lot of traffic to your blog. Forget about all of the silly instant marketing gimmicks that you find online from “SEO experts” that claim they can get you thousands of visitors a day. The unfortunate fact is that these are typically scams that use spamming techniques that’ll get you penalized by Google in the end. The most effective way to “grow” your blog in a very organic and long-lasting way is to make sure all of your content is optimized, and then start spending an hour or so a day just engaging the online community that shares your interests. Do you have your own unique techniques to draw instant traffic to a new blog? Share them with other MUO readers in the comments section below. Image Credit : Mike Licht 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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| 6 Subway Map Tools To Navigate Your Way Through NYC Posted: 31 Aug 2009 07:01 AM PDT
Buses add an additional layer of transportation goodness that allows one to see buildings and parks without walking long distances on crowded sidewalks or deal with the oppressive heat of NYC summers. Here are 6 great tools with NYC subway maps to help you navigate your way around NYC using the web and free applications.
The NYC version offers directions to and from over 700 stations, tourist attractions and every subway line. It is also available in multiple languages, which makes it a great choice for international travelers. HopStop is a great free website with accurate and comprehensive directions throughout the New York region. Need to use the subways but want to minimize the walking time to your destination? Then HopStop is for you. It offers the ability to select whether you want more street walking over transfers, subway only, bus and subway directions, no regional rail and more. The features HopStop’s search algorithms offer make it worth visiting the site. You can also get a free HopStop app for your iPhone, use HopStop via SMS or access the HopStop website from your Blackberry or PDA.
MTA Mobile is a text-only version of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s website, which gives you access to NYC subway maps, service notices and schedules from your smartphone or web-enabled device. All you have to do to access the site is go to MTA.Info from a mobile device. The site will automatically format itself for your device. Trips123 looks a lot like HopStop on the surface, but it has some cool features that HopStop lacks – such as live traffic updates. I also like the Planned Events page, which makes it easy to find out about directions and service diversions for scheduled events at the Meadowlands, Yankee Stadium and other destinations within the region. Their links section is really second to none, with links to every transit provider in the region, so you can stay up to date with schedules and service offerings. Are you curious to know what traffic is like on a Saturday afternoon on 5th Avenue and 23rd Street? Pull up Trips123’s live traffic cameras and check out the speeding taxis, walking pedestrians and buses as they get to their destinations!
Only for the iPod, Nano and iPods that feature video, Zsubway is a free set of photos of the entire NYC subway system map. You can easily upload the photos to your iPod using iTunes and use them where ever you go. I like Zsubway because it isn’t as obvious that I’m lost as if I was using a paper map, and I can use it underground, where cell phone signals don’t work. Sorted by line, you can quickly find your way using this handy map system.
Using the familiar interface of Google Maps, Google Transit makes it easy to find transit directions in NYC. Type in your origination and destination addresses and press ‘Get Directions‘. You’ll get 3 proposed sets of directions, along with a Google map, so you can use Google Streetview to make sure you know what the subway station and your destination will look like. The map is easy to print and read if you are accustomed to Google Maps for driving directions.
Any suggestions? Let’s hear it 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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| How To Set Up A Secure & Free Proxy Server Posted: 31 Aug 2009 05:01 AM PDT
Proxy servers can also be configured to store (cache) webpages which the client machines frequently request. So when a client requests a webpage for the first time, the proxy downloads and caches the webpage and when a second request comes for the same page,the proxy serves it up from its cache instead of downloading it from the Internet, thus saving the user a hefty download bill and the agonizing wait. Such servers are called caching proxies. Proxy servers also serve another very important purpose – they act as the first line of defense between the bad guys on the other side and the client machines. The threat becomes even greater when you replace the network on the other side with the Internet and the client machines with a couple of non-technical home users. Broadband connections and multiple computers accessing the Internet in every home have only increased the threat. Setting up a secure caching proxy server for free is an easy way to mitigate the threat and also save some money in the process. I'll be using a popular windows based software, Win Proxy, to tell you how you can setup your very own free caching proxy server.
The setup program for Win Proxy is one of the simplest that I’ve seen and I’m sure you won’t have a problem getting Win Proxy installed on your computer. When the setup completes, run Win Proxy from the Programs menu and your server is all set. Congratulations. You’ve just setup your first free proxy server.
Win Proxy comes, by default, all set up to start acting as a proxy for your network. To take advantage of its caching capabilities though, you'll have to instruct your browser to use it as a proxy. If you use Firefox, go to the Tools menu and click on the Options link. Now, Under the Advanced options, select the Network tab and click on Settings.
Enter the IP address or hostname of the machine where you installed Win Proxy in the HTTP Proxy text field and set the port to 3128. That's all. Firefox is now set up to access the Internet through Win Proxy. The default set of options that Win Proxy installs with are good enough for most users but if you want to tweak it for even more performance, launch your browser from any computer on the network and point it to http://PROXY_MACHINE:3129, where PROXY_MACHINE is the IP address of the machine running the proxy server. This will bring up the web based configuration panel for Win Proxy. Most users will never need to use it, but it's there if you want to.
You can also configure Win Proxy to give access to only a few websites and/or restrict access to a couple of individuals by creating accounts for each user. The MUO Network manual also talks about Internet connection sharing which is the name given to the simple proxy functionality built in to Windows. 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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I came across 
As an avid book lover, this is a problem I have been beset with more often than I can care to remember. Devouring books by the dozen, since my wonder years, has alas filled up the memory chip in my brain. I have to really wrack my brain sometimes to remember a book or to cite a quote from some book I had read. Believe me, it's one of the tip of the tongue moments I hate.
Starting a new blog can feel like an overwhelming task. Not only does it involve either developing your own template (or finding a free one), creating interesting content that people will want to read, and making the blog SEO optimized, but once you’re finished developing that amazing new blog, you need to somehow get people to start visiting.
I love living in New York City. Its constant action and celebrity sightings make it a great place to live – or visit. The best thing about NYC is its subway and bus system. Built in the early 1900s, the subway system gets New Yorkers and visitors to the places they need to go quickly and efficiently.
Have a Windows Mobile phone? Try 
A proxy server is a kind of server/software that sits between a network and another client machine and handles communication between the two. That one function is the primary use of a free proxy server – to act as a proxy for a client machine.
As you can see, Win Proxy has a number of advanced features built in that you can configure through the admin panel. For example, if you connect to the Internet using a dial-up account, you can configure Win Proxy to dial up your ISP automatically every time it receives a request from a client for a webpage which is not present in its cache.| You are subscribed to email updates from MakeUseOf.com To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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