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- Cool Websites and Tools [September 2]
- How To Easily Share Links You Like On Twitter With TBUZZ
- 12 Solid Tips To Enhance Your Twitter Reputation
- How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID
- How To Make A Video Tribute With Animoto
- Use The Places Utility To Customize Your Open File Locations In Windows
| Cool Websites and Tools [September 2] Posted: 02 Sep 2009 06:01 PM PDT
(1) GoBYO – Cool online service that helps you search for restaurants which allow you to bring your own wine (BYO). It provides a lot of search options. You can search by name or part-name of the restaurant, by distance from your place, by the type of cuisine you are looking for and more. Read more: GoBYO – Find Restaurants Where You May Bring Your Own Wine
(2) Official Seal Generator – Online seal generator using which you can create cool custom seals, download and use them as you like. The site lists variety of seal templates (Circular, Oval, Vesica, Convex, Pentagon, Square, Triangle, Claddagh, etc. and customization options. Read more: Official Seal Generator – Online Seal Generator (3) Movement – If you have too many apps on your iPhone it can be difficult to keep them organized, especially if your iPhone or SpringBord crashes reorganizing all your app settings and you have to organize them all over again. Movement is a free desktop tool for Mac OS X that offers a simple way to organize and rearrange apps on your iPhone or iPod Touch. (Note: Jailbrocken iPhone required ) Read more: Movement – Easy Way To Organize iPhone Apps (4) Rentoni – There are times when you completely forget a DVD or a book you've lent out to a friend and recall it only when you need that stuff urgently. Rentoni is a new web app which would help you avoid such situations by helping you remember the things you lend and borrow. It sends alerts 2 days before the date set, reminding you to return or get back your stuff. Read more: Rentoni – Keep Track Of Things You Lend And Borrow (5) Spartx – Web service that allows you to create your own virtual business card that you can share online or print out and use as a regular card. Created card is fully customizable and looks just like a regular business card. Read more: Spartx – Make Yourself a Virtual Business Card
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 Easily Share Links You Like On Twitter With TBUZZ Posted: 02 Sep 2009 03:01 PM PDT
I know, “need to know” is rather relative. There are those out there who think the whole world needs to know when they’re eating a taco, sitting on the couch in their PJs, or, even scarier, DRIVING to work (wait until you’re stopped to tweet, PLEASE!). But I think we’ve all been there – is there an easier way to share links on Twitter? The long way around is to highlight and copy the URL, go to your favorite URL shortening service, paste it in, grab the shortened URL, go to your favorite Twitter client (or Twitter directly) and paste the URL with a quote or phrase. For a veteran computer user, this process doesn’t take ALL that long, but the process CAN be automated and we ALL like that, don’t we?
and click it when you’re visiting a site you want to tweet about. It is that easy, however the wonderfullness does not stop there. Here are three tricks that TBUZZ does that makes when you want to share links on Twitter SO much easier. 1) Shortening the URL is taken care of automatically.
Don’t want to take that extra step to make sure the URL is shortened? When you hit the bookmarklet to tweet the post, TBUZZ automatically hooks you up with a bit.ly link making it so that the website’s address doesn’t take up the whole 140 character tweet. Did I say, AUTOMATICALLY? There’s no copying the address, visiting the bit.ly site, pasting the address, and grabbing the shortened URL. It’s all done for you! 2) Quoting a portion of the site is taken care of easily.
When tweeting about a new link you’ve found, sharing what’s going on on the web, sharing just some shortened URL doesn’t help much, does it? No one’s interest would be peeked and if someone DOES wonder, who wants to click a link that they know nothing about what to expect? That’s no fun and I’m sure not safe. The best thing to do is to give a blurb about the link, but, better yet, give a short quotation from the page. If you do both, you’re on your way to tweeting proficiency! Again, TBUZZ saves the day, and some much needed energy and time. All you have to do is highlight the portion you want to quote before clicking the bookmarklet, and you’re given a nifty popup with the shortened URL, the quotation in… you’ll never guess… quotation marks, AND the opportunity to add your own blurb! PERFECT! 3) Checking out what others are saying about the link is done for you automatically.
Last but not least, once you click the bookmarklet, you’re given a list of tweets from other people who have also found, liked, and tweeted about the same link. From here you can, instead of tweeting the link, respond to other tweets about the link. It’s also really neat seeing the already going on conversation about the link. What are others saying? How popular is this link? Do some of these people have some of the same interests as I do? Very cool. There are many Twitter tools out there. TBUZZ is another quality contender I think you’ll have a hard time living without. However, if you have an easier way to share links on Twitter, we would love to hear about it 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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| 12 Solid Tips To Enhance Your Twitter Reputation Posted: 02 Sep 2009 11:01 AM PDT
What Is Your Twitter Reputation?Can your reputation be measured? Yes, there are many services that claim to do that using different methods. You can check your reputation on free Twitter tools like Twitterank, Twitter Grader, Twitterholic, Twinfluence, Twitalyzer, and Klout. There is no single model that defines Twitter reputation, and this guide tries to combine all the different approaches used by such tools and suggested by experts.
Convinced? Let's get started. 1. Your ProfileUse your real name, a (decent) profile picture, a meaningful bio, and a link to your website, blog, or social profile. If you have a custom background on your profile page, people are more likely to follow you back. 2. Follow Authentic PeopleDon't engage in any "get hundreds of followers quickly" schemes. Follow people you're already friends with on other social networks. Then grow your Twitterverse as you get comfortable. Use our previously covered 9 sites and 4 ways to find Twitter friends based on geography and common interests. I use the free Twitter tool Topify to get informative emails when someone follows me. It shows useful information like level of engagement, percentage of tweets containing links, and recent tweets to help decide whether to follow back.
3. Manage Your Followers and FriendsThe days of "higher the number of followers, higher your reputation" are becoming a thing of the past, thanks to paid services that allow buying followers. Think of your reputation if there were half-naked women showing up as your followers! Block suspicious accounts, spammers and bots from following you. I have recently started using Tweet Blocker to filter and clean my followers list and it works like a charm. Another service I find indispensable is Twerp Scan, which shows me a list of my contacts along with details of their number of follows, followers, ratio, etc. You can easily sort the list to weed out nasty spammers and indecent folks right within the app. 4. Get ReTweetedThe best way to increase your reach and influence on Twitter is to get retweeted. Statistical studies of retweets have found that links, quotes, trending topics, breaking news, questions, and creative/novel tweets are more likely to get retweeted. Shrink your tweet and reduce its length to around 100-110 characters so that it becomes easier for others to retweet without editing. 5. Mix Your Tweet TypesDo not restrict yourself to tweeting out informative links or indulging in pointless babble. Use a mix of tweets that are status updates, links, retweets, questions, and self-promotions for your blog posts. 6. Spread Your Tweets Over the DayServices such as Tweet Stats let you see how your tweets are distributed through the day. Don't send out a large number of tweets in short time spans and then disappear. Distribute your tweeting activity evenly through the day, using planned "Twitter-breaks" from your work. If you are going to be offline for a considerable amount of time, let your followers know.
7. Be Responsive and Engage in ConversationTools like Topify and Mr. Tweet now show your level of engagement. This influences whether people using such tools will follow you back. Reply to others' tweets using @Replies. Answer all @Replies and Direct Messages sent to you. Let people see that you don't use Twitter simply to promote your links. Try to answer people's questions and if you can't, be a helping hand by retweeting them. 8. Don't Misuse HashtagsA UK furniture firm suffered a huge blow to their reputation on Twitter as they sent out marketing messages using #hashtags that were meant for completely unrelated topics. The Twitter community uses #hashtags for tracking specific topics they are interested in, so stick to conventions. 9. Avoid Many Twitter IDs from a Single IP AddressSome experts have proposed that multiple Twitter IDs created from the same IP address should have a lower Twitter rank in searches. This is a counter measure against spammers and bots who abuse Twitter accounts. If for whatever reason, you need to create a large number of legitimate Twitter accounts, don't do it from the same computer. 10. Use DMs with DiscretionIf I get automated DMs after I follow someone, I unfollow them. The same with people who play mafia-style Twitter games and send me invites to play via DMs. Do not send Direct Messages to people you've recently started being friends with on Twitter. Most people consider DMs to be private messages that they share only with good friends. Use @Replies wherever possible, unless you want to discuss a sensitive issue that warrants a DM. 11 Use RecommendationsRecommendations are a great way to discover and be discovered. The most popular method on Twitter is the #FollowFriday hash tag. Like everything else in social media, the more you give, the more you get, so if you like this method, use it to give recommendations to others.
A better recommendation engine is Mr. Tweet, which is getting popular. It gives me decent recommendations since I joined, along with useful statistics. 12. Monitor Your BrandIf you own a brand name, create a search to monitor for all mentions of your brand. Most popular Twitter clients let you create saved searches, some like Seesmic Web even let you sync your saved searches with those on Twitter's website. Will these techniques help you enhance your Twitter reputation? Have any other suggestions? Do 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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| How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID Posted: 02 Sep 2009 09:01 AM PDT
Rule No.2: Be prudent and keep a backup copy close by. Rule No. 3: If you lose your driver files, know where to download it from again. Congratulations! If you have flouted at least two of the above rules, then this post might serve as deliverance from the three cardinal sins. I am a fellow sinner. But, the third rule has often bailed me out and it's thanks to a little postscript to the third rule that has washed away my need for penance. Device Manager is the place where all drivers are displayed. An unknown device gets a yellow question mark against it in Device Manager. The causes could be one or a few – You could have installed the wrong device driver which the OS does not recognize. Or the hardware itself could be faulty. All such cases lead a device driver to be classified as an unknown device. The easiest way to resolve an unknown status is to find and download device drivers from the manufacturer's website. The respective websites usually have drill down menus to take you to the right driver for your OS. But what if you can't recollect the make or brand of the device? To err is human; to fix it is divine duty. Thankfully, ways exist that makes correcting unknown device status as easy as a prayer.
The Manual Way from the Device ManagerEvery device driver comes with two identity numbers – the Vendor ID and the Device ID. These two numbers can be used to track down the manufacturer and the specific device driver. The Device ID is the most unique identifier for a device. Hardware ID's can be less specific. Device ID is what gets accessed first during setup.
With the numbers identified, a few resources can be tapped to get the vendors behind these numbers. It is a reputedly the largest centralized database of PCI device IDs to find your device driver. Using the search box, you can search vendors and devices by IDs. Either one of the searches gives you the clue about the origins of this device. Further information can be obtained from the vendor's website or a Google search.
The Software Way Using Unknown DevicesA small free standalone software aptly named Unknown Devices offers a quick way to get to the anonymous device drivers. The 630 KB sized software (beta ver.1.4.20) runs directly without an installation. The database used by the software comes in 3 text files located in the same folder.
The beta version (1.4.20) extends support to Vista. The info obtained using the above two methods, does not guarantee a solution. In some cases, the information will take us into a blind alley because the device driver itself is not available. But the two ways do help to unmask the unidentified devices and make them accessible with a few more details. With the devices identified, we are in a better position to query the manufacture or hunt around on the web for the right device driver. Let me point you to some resources to find device drivers as a starter… With 400,000 drivers, it is very nearly king of the heap. The free membership comes with a few limitations like access to all 100,000+ member uploaded drivers but limited access to the site’s own 300,000+ uploaded drivers. But free entry into its huge company database list and community forum makes this site a great hub. As it allows user submitted drivers, you can put in a request for an obsolete driver. Nearly 30,000 drivers are indexed by company name and driver type. Read more about it here. It offers a downloadable driver scanner. The site is well laid out with a database of 120,000 drivers listed by manufacturer and device type. Let us know how you deal with an unknown device driver and make it a bit more recognizable. Image credit: viagallery 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 Make A Video Tribute With Animoto Posted: 02 Sep 2009 07:01 AM PDT
Video tributes are also common in parties, or family reunions as icebreakers and for your relatives go "aaawww" with those sentimental pictures. If you are asked to make a video tribute on short notice, here is how to make a really good video tribute in less than ten minutes with Animoto.
Why Animoto?Animoto's backend for effects and transition rendering is the best among current web applications. Their patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence analyzes the pictures and the music that you input and decide on the proper effects and transitions. I noticed that Animoto not only makes effects and transitions which go well with the beat of the music, but also makes timely transitions depending on how photos are arranged. The end result is a compelling video that rivals what an experienced human video editor could come up with. You can also check out MUO’s Top 5 Online Tools to Make a Movie Online For Free for more web apps that can also help you make a video tribute. Add Your Content – Images and Video ClipsThe most critical element in making a video tribute is not the software that creates the effects or syncs the audio to the clips, but the content that you put in it. Compile all images, scanned photos and video clips that you need for the project and upload them using Animoto's simple upload tool. You can also select images and video clips from their collection to fill space if you lack pictures.
Animoto gives you access to accounts in Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa so that you can retrieve your photos for the video tribute. You can also get photos from Istockphoto, stock.xchng, and stockphoto to enhance your content. Also check out John’s Top 5 Free Websites for Quality Copyright Free Photographs. When taking photos from Picasa or Flickr, I recommend creating a separate album or photoset and put all the images that you want to use there. This way, you can use Picasa and Flickr's organization and reorder tools to arrange photos before you import them to Animoto. Although Animoto lets you rearrange images and clips, Picasa and Flickr's reordering tools are easier to use especially when sifting through hundreds of photos.
You can also select some photos then click "spotlight" to highlight them in the video. Animoto just recently allowed users to upload video clips. Just upload a clip from an old video, camera, phone, or retrieve video footage from Getty Images into Animoto. Add Your MusicUpload your choice soundtrack from your computer or browse through their Music Lounge to select a song. Music categories include Top 40/Pop, Indie Rock, Hip Hop, Classical, Country, and Gospel to name a few.
The length of the video will depend on the length of the song that you chose. You can add only one song per video, although the ability to add more songs might be included in future versions. For now, you can use audio editing software such as Audacity to stitch multiple songs in one track before uploading to Animoto. Final TouchesCustomize your video by selecting the video length, image pacing, and video cover screen. The Animoto Short is a free version but only produces 30 second clips, while the full-length version is worth $3. Although the 30 second version might be good enough for your needs, the full-length version is a steal considering that you can edit and rehash the video to make an entirely new video. Click 'Continue' and wait for the video to finish rendering. You can close the window and wait for an email with a link to the finished video.
Once the video is finished, you can edit the video with Animoto's 1-click Remix, or go back to the drawing board to add, remove, and arrange images, text and video clips. Each remix will give you an entirely different set of transitions and effects so you can create an unlimited number of videos until you are satisfied.
You can improve your video tribute by adding interviews and messages from friends as video clips, or enhancing images in Photoshop or Picasa before uploading them. You can even make a video tribute with only text and music and it will still work nicely with Animoto. As a "producer" of the video tribute, your real work is finding the key elements (picture, video clips, and text) that will capture what you want your video to be. Animoto just provides the timing and effects, so you are not really boxed in with what you can do with this app. What do you use to produce your video tributes? 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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| Use The Places Utility To Customize Your Open File Locations In Windows Posted: 02 Sep 2009 05:01 AM PDT
Yeah I know Windows will do that to you <Insert Switch To Apple or Linux Joke Here>. There has been one little thing that has been bugging me since I started writing for MakeUseOf way back when. I take an insanely large amount of screenshots and manage images for my posts on a daily basis. <BeginRant> So when I open my file open dialogue box it always tends to show me the same open file locations on the left bar. Some times it remembers the last place I browsed it over to and some times it doesn’t. There is no good rhyme or reason to why it does what it does. Some programs like Outlook open the file box to a suitable folder – so why don’t they all? </EndRant> But what if I want to replace the links on the left with my most common folders? Yeah there is a piece of software for that. Let's help you make use of it. You can download the small 623kb file from here. It is compatible with Windows 2000 upwards, so that means XP, Vista and Seven friendly!
Now that I have Simpli Software's Places Utility v1.0 installed I launch it from my start menu and get to customizing. At first glance this is what the GUI looks like. I pulled down the options next to the choices in the center of the screen. They had a crap load of options but the last one was what I was looking for.
I don't need all sorts of pre-defined folders to open up. I want my MUO folder and my ATA folder to be on my folder list for open file locations. Is that so hard? Actually it is not. It was very easy. As easy as pulling down those menus and choosing custom. I select the path and I was on my way.
After adding the custom folders or picking some of the predefined ones like My Music, the Users folder or My Pictures you will see each of your new icons appear on the left where they belong. This is exactly how your left bar will look from now on – on all file open dialogue boxes that use this interface.
After setting your options hit the Save key. If you quit without saving you will not have your items show up in the open file locations when you hit File – Open. You can also restore back to default by hitting Restore Defaults and the Test button will bring up a file open dialogue box. This is what I see now after I hit test:
Awesome that is going to save me a lot of typing and clicking! Do you have a favorite little known utility? If so share it with us 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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While browsing the web, have you ever come across a cool new site, web tool or article that made you say to yourself “man, my Twitter followers really need to know about this!”?
Whether you are a freelancer, employee, professional, or a business, it is becoming increasingly important to manage your Twitter reputation. In this article, let us see what is meant by reputation in the world of Twitter, and how you can use free Twitter tools manage and enhance your reputation.
Rule No.1: Never lose your device driver CDs.
Video tributes are nothing new – you will always find fans creating tributes of their favorite artists and uploading them to YouTube, or people creating one as a gift.
Why is it that I always feel that my machine is plotting against me?
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