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- Cool Websites and Tools [November 30]
- TCPMP – The Best 3GP Player For Windows Mobile
- How to Actually Make Money Selling eBooks
- Five Sites To Find Safe and Festive Holiday Downloads
- WhatsApp – The Perfect iPhone Messenger App
- Two Simple Yet Useful Firefox Add-Ons You Should Have
- How to Establish Simple Remote Desktop Access Between Ubuntu and Windows
- 4 Cool Ways To Make Use Of Twitter Lists
| Cool Websites and Tools [November 30] Posted: 30 Nov 2009 04:00 PM PST
(1) 5Sub – If you want to find the latest subtitles for your favorite movies or TV shows, then you should bookmark 5sub. It is a fast and simple movie subtitle search engine. All you need to do is enter the movie or TV show in the search box and select a preferred subtitle language. Read more: 5Sub – Movie Subtitle Search Engine
(2) GourmetLibrary – This is an online gourmet food store which offers huge selection of fine foods from all around the world. The foods are divided up into over a dozen categories such as cheese, cakes, teas, coffees, salts, spices, pastas, grain, chocolate and sauces. Read more: GourmetLibrary – Online Gourmet Food Store. (3) Justpaste.it – Very simple online text editing and sharing tool with a clean user interface. You can paste text from anywhere, be it an offline word processor or a web page. There are various text formatting options like changing the font color, adding bullet points, adding links and images, and more. Read more: Justpaste.it – Simple Online Text Editing & Sharing (4) Waze – User-contributed mobile application (iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and other mobile systems) that provides turn-by-turn navigation based on the real-time conditions of the road. Using it you can avoid traffic jams, and at the same time help other drivers (by sharing your driving data). Read more: Waze – Get Real-Time Traffic Maps on Your Mobile (5) CouponCraze – Website where you can find thousands of coupons and discounts for a wide variety of products and services. The categories range from clothing, electronics, sports and even for occasions like Christmas. When you click on "Redeem Coupon" for a listing, it automatically copies the code and takes you to the merchant site where you need to paste it while checking out. Read more: CouponCraze – Lists Thousands Of Coupons & Discounts
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! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| TCPMP – The Best 3GP Player For Windows Mobile Posted: 30 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST
My go-to application for Windows Mobile is hands down TCPMP. TCPMP has been discontinued but it still does everything that it needs to and it is free. And by everything I mean it literally plays every file type on your Windows Mobile including 3GP. How could you beat that? Well quite simply, you cannot! And for those of you who don't know — 3GP is a file type commonly found on a camera or mobile phone. You can grab the download for this 3GP player for Windows Mobile from here. Go ahead and download the latest release .72 rc1 as either a file that can be installed via Activesync or as a cab file that can be installed over the air or copying it to the storage card and installing directly on the device. Once it is installed you will see an icon on the start menu that looks like mine in the lower left hand side like so.
Launch the app, then hit File->Open and you will see your 3GP files and select it to open it. You also can see it works in landscape view like so as well.
You see, you have loads of options for videos: video speed, orientation, pixel aspect ratio, audio, view, repeat and more from the main options menu. The File menu gives you playlists, open file dialogue, next or previous video, media info and benchmark tools.
Once you open the video you will see it and if you click the screen it will go to fullscreen mode removing the bars at the top and bottom.
Creating a playlist is as simple as choosing Playlist and then hitting the plus button to add items.
Next up let's explore the settings menu. The first screen shows you the language of the system, the platform and Operating System. It shows the OEM information and the clock speed of the processor. This is where you can change the applications language if English isn’t your primary language.
In the File menu, you can also set the file associations on your device so you can have specific file types open with TCPMP automatically like 3GP or AVI. This comes in very handy; you can just launch a video file and it will open your video application of choice – TCPMP.
Just check the file types you want TCPMP to handle automatically like play lists files .pls or FLAC files – which is not supported by many apps but TCPMP does!
Do you have another application that can play 3GP or FLAC videos on the Windows Mobile because I haven't seen another one that is free. Share your favorites with us 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 Actually Make Money Selling eBooks Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:00 PM PST
The first step is obviously writing an eBook. Don’t concern yourself too much with copyright. Thanks to the Digital Millenium Act of 1998, anything you generate and publish online is already legally copyrighted under your author name. However, it is true that enforcing that copyright could be somewhat difficult unless you do hold proof of copyright, so if you’re very concerned about someone stealing your work, then submit the claim electronically and pay the fee. If it sets your mind at ease, it’s well worth the cost. If you’re wondering what format you should write your eBook in, here at MakeUseOf, authors provided a number of excellent tools that can help you generate that first eBook. Saikat wrote about the PHP script converter at EbookHood to convert your eBook into iPod readable format. You’ve also probably read about the cool MyEbook eBook publishing platform, or my favorite one, Zinepal, which creates your PDF eBook in a format that most common readers can display. Another very good option is converting your Word document to PDF format, as Aibek described in his article on doPDF. Once you have your eBook in a format that you can sell, you’re ready to move on into marketing and selling your eBook. Make Money Selling eBooks Online Just Like Any Other ProductI’ve mentioned some of my own eBay history in my past articles on the auction site, and while my personal experiences as an eBay PowerSeller were not very easy, I do know that any product which you have an unlimited supply of and a high demand for do very well there.
With that said, the eBooks that aren’t very in demand really don’t do well at all. The key, when you choose what topics to write about, is to choose eBook topics in the same way you would choose an online article topic – based on the demand for that topic and the availability of it throughout the net. The smartest thing to do when you go with eBay is to set up a seller store and post your eBooks in a permanent listing for a regular fee. Another fantastic marketplace for eBooks is Craigslist.
This surprises many people, but the truth is that Craigslist has become a very large marketplace with a huge audience. Just like on eBay, if you’re writing on a topic that’s in demand, you’ll get interested buyers. Reaching the eBook AudienceThe very best way to achieve the highest sales for your eBook is to take advantage of those eBook directories that accept submissions from authors. While most major eBook sellers like Amazon or Barnes & Nobles only accept submissions from major book publishers, many of the smaller online firms will accept direct submissions from writers. Jack recently wrote a great article on how to publish your eBook in print using LuLu’s awesome publication service, but LuLu also offers eBook authors a fantastic resource to sell your book in electronic format as well.
Now, selling an eBook on LuLu is not free. The right to publish comes at a price tag that’s currently about $1.49. For me, that’s about the price of a cup of coffee, and considering the fact that LuLu takes care of integrating DRM copy protection and already has a huge audience for your book – it’s well worth it. If your book sells, LuLu takes only a $2.50 cut while you get $10 in revenue. I’m very impressed with LuLu’s rates and service and would recommend them to any potential author. However, if you really only want to use a service that’s absolutely free, there is another excellent option known as TradeBit.
At TradeBit, you can upload your eBooks where the TradeBit community can find it and buy it. For hosting and selling your eBook for you, TradeBit charges absolutely nothing upfront, and when it sells you get 75% of the revenue. Again, this is a very fair deal considering that TradeBit absorbs the costs for hosting, promoting and selling your eBook on their site and with their existing traffic. Host Your Own eBooks and Take 100% of the ProfitThere is, of course, always the self-hosting option. In this case, you would set up a blog or a website and provide your own eBooks for download through a payment system like Paypal and just offer your books in a simple format just like you would sell Amazon books on your own blog.
The advantage to selling your own eBooks on your blog or website is that you set your own price and collect 100% of the profits. The disadvantage is that you’re starting at ground zero in attracting an audience and potential buyers. Over time, you’ll have a good traffic, a strong reputation, and a steady revenue stream – but getting there will take a bit longer if you opt for the self-hosting approach. The best option might be to start with one of the eBook sales sites in order to get people hooked on the eBooks that you write, and then switch to the self-hosted option once people recognize your name as a premium eBook author. Do you author your own eBooks? What approach or technique do you take to sell your books? Share your insight and advice 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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| Five Sites To Find Safe and Festive Holiday Downloads Posted: 30 Nov 2009 11:00 AM PST
What gets you in a festive spirit? What activities do you do that tune your mood to celebration and enjoyment of the Holidays? I’m sure your answers vary depending on which Holidays you choose to celebrate and which ones you don’t. If, like me, you are strapped to a desk this time of year working and laboring at your job, trying to tie up a thousand loose ends to close out the year for your company, you may not feel very festive. I have to spend hours in front of the computer, scheduling employee vacations, closing projects, and making plans for the coming year, all while planning my vacation and knowing I won’t be at work that much during the holidays. Sometimes the only glimpse of holiday cheer I get is a quick glimpse at my holiday-themed wallpaper or a festive MP3 playing in the background while I work! Let’s take a look at some safe sites where you can find free holiday downloads like free wallpaper and other gadgets for your computer to help you get in the festive holiday spirit. All of the sites herein have passed my browser’s Web of Trust and AVG security checks. I have downloaded content from all the sites and afterward scanned my computer for any unwanted intrusion and my inbox for slews of unsolicited email and they have all come through clean. Downloading items to dress up your computer can be dangerous and result in a lot of spyware, adware and craplets, so be sure to check out the sites’ reputations before you download! Let’s get started! Free Holiday Downloads – Wallpapers and Screen SaversBlue Mountain, an AGInteractive affiliate, hosts a website that specializes in eCards, but they have sections devoted to wallpaper and screen savers. AGInteractive is the online subsidiary of American Greetings, so both the Blue Mountain and the American Greeting sites are very similar, sharing many of the same wallpapers. The Blue Mountain site showcases specific artists whose work ranges from beautiful to cartoon-like, yet still cool. They state upfront that their free downloads are 100% Spyware and Adware free and as far as I can tell, this is 100% true. Within their free download section their categories include Seasonal and Holidays. The website is kept up to date with the American holiday calendar, with a click on "Seasonal" resulting in Thanksgiving and fall themed wallpapers and screen savers.
Once you select a wallpaper from a thumbnail, you are given choices of screen resolution sizes to download. If you are not sure of your current screen resolution, right-click on your desktop and look for a "properties" or "Graphics Properties" and click the "Display Settings" button or tab. This will vary slightly depending on your operating system.
Simply select your screen size and click "download now".
For these two sites, you need to go through a free and simple registration process. If you are not interested in receiving offers or updates from these companies, simply deselect the check box. They also offer screen savers and interactive desktop calendars which come with "wallpaper packs". Holiday Music Downloads | ||
| WhatsApp – The Perfect iPhone Messenger App Posted: 30 Nov 2009 10:00 AM PST
WhatsApp is an iPhone to iPhone messenger chat application. It can’t be considered instant messaging like MSN or AIM. It also doesn’t fall under Short Message Service (SMS). Rather, it’s somewhere in between. WhatsApp uses your existing internet connection (EDGE, 3G, Wifi) to send messages across networks, finally appearing on the recipient’s iPhone with the help of Push notification. It’s fairly painless to set up and very easy to use. Would you like to know how? I’m sure you would. First, what you need to do is download the application from here [iTunes link] and install it to your iPhone. Launch the app and follow the simple on-screen instructions. You’ll have to enter your phone number in International format because WhatsApp uses your phone number to register you in its database. Unfortunately, certain countries aren’t supported: Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India. If you reside in any one of these countries, the app won’t work for you. Otherwise, proceed by all means.
If none of your friends are using WhatsApp, it’s pretty easy to get them to join you. Tap on the chats tab then the “Tell a Friend” button. You’ll be presented with 2 options: send them an invitation via email or SMS. Choosing either will relay you over to your address book so you can choose who you’d like to invite. That person will receive a message along with a link to WhatsApp’s homepage to allow them to download the app.
There is no need to sign in or out because again, this isn’t instant messaging. The entire system works with Push notification. This means that if someone sends you a message, even if you’re not currently using the application, you’ll get a notification on your iPhone that looks something like a SMS. To permit this feature to work, you’ll have to enable Push Notifications via the Settings menu. Go to Settings->Notifications->WhatsApp and slide the toggles to enable the notifications you want to receive. Then make sure that ‘Notifications’ is also enabled. After you’ve done this, it’s essential to turn on Airplane mode for at least 30 seconds then disable it for the Push notification service to be recognized. Another interesting feature about WhatsApp is that it can submit your status over to Facebook, which is quite a nice touch. You can also get notifications every time a friend updates their status.
WhatsApp is free for a limited time and will work on all legitimately activated iPhones running 3.0 and above with an internet connection (EDGE, 3G, Wifi). What do you think of this application? I think it’s pretty handy to bypass international messaging costs. Do you have a better alternative? I’d love to hear about it. Heck, that’s how I got to know this application! 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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| Two Simple Yet Useful Firefox Add-Ons You Should Have Posted: 30 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST
Firefox Add-on #1: OpenDownload and RunDownloadDo you ever find yourself resorting to Internet Explorer when you need to download a file, because you would rather simply “run” or “open” the file instead of having to save it to your hard drive? The “run” option is a feature many ex-IE users miss, and no one seems to know why Firefox (and even Chrome) still haven’t added the option. It becomes very annoying to have to take that additional step to clean out the downloaded files, or even just having them in your “Downloads” folder to begin with. Firefox Add-On developers Tuxman and Josh Wenham have come to our rescue, though, with their handy OpenDownload and RunDownload add-ons, respectively. They both do the same thing – insert a “run” button in the “Save File” dialog box when downloading files. If you choose the “Run” option, the file is saved into a temporary directory, and is then opened using the appropriate or assigned program specified for that file type, the same way Internet Explorer does. It’s that simple!
It’s also important to note that as of now, both add-ons are still “experimental,” which simply means you have to click the “Let me install this experimental add-on” check box before Firefox will allow you to install it. For me, it’s worth it just to have my “Downloads” directory cleaned up and free of every single file I’ve been able to “run” instead! Firefox Add-on #2: Webmail Ad BlockerAmong the pet peeves of many users are those pesky text ads found on the right hand side of their email programs. Webmail Ad Blocker is a great Firefox add-on that was created precisely for this common annoyance. Although AdBlock Plus does block most ads, Webmail Ad Blocker is sure to take out anything AdBlock Plus might have missed. As a result, it also expands your screen space, to allow more room for reading and composing emails.
This add-on works with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, and it allows you to tweak the settings to fit your needs. You can even use it to block other information, such as left-hand folders (Spam, Starred, etc.), footer information (like account information, copyright info, etc.), action buttons, stars, and even the mouseover highlight features in Gmail, and that’s only a few of the things you have the power to remove. It’s proven to be a great addition to AdBlock Plus, and a definite must-have for those who don’t use AdBlock at all. For more useful Firefox add-ons, check out: Do you know of some other similar add-ons, or add-ons you think everyone should know about? Tell us all about them 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 Establish Simple Remote Desktop Access Between Ubuntu and Windows Posted: 30 Nov 2009 06:00 AM PST
So let’s get started right away. Adept Ubuntu users would already be thinking about the System > Preferences > Remote Desktop menu entry. Of course we will use that. However, it lets you configure your computer to allow/disallow remote desktop access. It doesn’t let you connect to a remote computer. Extra software is required for that, which we now look into. Allow Remote Desktop ConnectionsFirst off, you would need to enable remote desktop on the Linux computer that you want to access via remote desktop. Doing so is easy by using the System > Preferences > Remote Desktop option. In the dialog that shows up – check “Allow other users to view your desktop”. You can also configure additional options like requiring password for remote access and notification icons. It is advisable to use a password for remote access, so that only trusted users may be able to establish a connection.
With all that set up, its time to connect to it from another computer. Two possible scenarios arise: you can connect using another Linux machine, or you might want to connect using a Windows PC. Both require slightly different approaches. Here’s how.
Connecting From Another Linux MachineUbuntu uses Virtual Networking Connections for remote desktop. Your best bet would be to use a VNC viewer to access the remote desktop. Use the command sudo apt-get install xvnc4viewer to install VNC viewer. Now all you have to do is to issue the vncviewer <hostname/ip> command. You will be asked for a password (if it is configured on the remote machine) and you can then view and interact with the remote desktop.
Connecting From A Windows PCIf you would to connect from a Windows computer, you can use TightVNC or uVNC (There is also a seemingly portable version available that would run off your USB drive without installing, however it stores entries in the registry). Specify the IP address and the port number (default is 5900 and is not required to be mentioned explicitly), specify bandwidth that is available to you, hit Connect and you can access the desktop of the remote machine easily.
Mac users can also use their favorite VNC client (like Chicken of the VNC) and you should be able to remotely access the desktop of the said Linux machine. Keep in mind that none of these clients support encryption and you have only established an unencrypted connection up until now. Teamviewer and LogMeIn encrypt the the data flow between the two computer. You can use a SSH tunnel to encrypt the flow of data. Here are the steps in brief:
While this a lot of work compared to the one-click solution offered by Teamviewer or LogMeIn, it is certainly more configurable and caters to a wide variety of needs. Moreover, you only need to do the configuration once and you can also establish a VNC connection with a headless server (with some more configuration though!). If you use a simpler or still better – a one-click solution, we will be happy to know about it. Tell us about it in comments. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| 4 Cool Ways To Make Use Of Twitter Lists Posted: 30 Nov 2009 04:00 AM PST
Lazy to build a List? You can auto-create a Twitter List of people you converse with. If you are an avid RSS feed reader, wouldn't you like to import Twitter Lists into Google Reader? How about embedding a List Widget on your blog? Finally, some fun stuff to show what your Twitter Lists say about you! #1: Auto Create a "Conversation List"A "Conversation List" is an automatically generated Twitter List of people you talk to and mention on Twitter. The list is updated daily, and contains a maximum of 25 people. If you stop talking to someone, they automatically drop off the list.
Go to Conversationlist.com, and click the highlighted text to authorize it to access your Twitter account. You will get four options to further personalize your Conversation List:
If you ever want to discontinue using this List, simply delete it from Twitter. Conversation Lists can become a great discovery tool, as others can find out who you converse with on Twitter. In this way, by building a Conversation List, you are helping your followers discover people you find interesting to talk to or mention.
#2: Use Twitter Lists Widget On Your BlogA great place to show off your Twitter Lists is your blog. Twitter now has a widget especially for Twitter Lists. Go to the Twitter Goodies Widgets section on the site, click My Website, and then List Widget.
Here you can select the List, customize it's settings, appearance, and dimensions. Click Finish & Grab Code after you're done to get the script that you can embed on your blog or website. It looks cool on blog sidebars. #3: Read Twitter Lists in Google ReaderIf you prefer RSS feed readers to Twitter, you can make use of Twitter Lists just like you do with Google Reader bundles. For importing Twitter Lists into Google Reader, you need an RSS feed for the list, which Twitter doesn't provide. Google Reader enthusiast Alex Kessinger has come to the rescue by creating a nifty Twitter Lists to RSS application. On the Twitter Lists to RSS webpage, enter the URL of your Twitter List, and it will generate an RSS feed for you.
There are other things you can do with RSS besides reading in Google Reader. If you are blogging on Wordpress.com, you can't use the Twitter List widget described above. Using RSS, you can use the RSS feed widget on your Wordpress.com blog. If you are a power user, you can setup a FriendFeed Group of Twitter Lists enabling the powerful FriendFeed search for Twitter Lists. #4: What Do Twitter Lists Say About You?This is fun stuff. Assuming you've been added to a bunch of Twitter Lists as I am, all these lists have names given by people. MustExist List Tags is a cool app that automatically creates a tag cloud of words based on the names of the Twitter Lists that you are part of. This can be representative of how you are perceived on Twitter by those who have included you in their Lists.
Go to MustExist List Tags, and enter any Twitter username to get a list tag cloud. On the right of the tag cloud, you will see the top lists that you are part of, based on the number of followers of each list. This is the best and quickest way to check out the most popular lists that a user is part of, since Twitter doesn't let you sort list memberships in any way. Do you use Twitter Lists and how are you making the best out of it? Any interesting Twitter Lists you’d like to share? We do! Follow our “MakeUseOf staff” Twitter List to see what our writers are tweeting about! Related posts
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As you all know from some of my recent Windows Mobile articles (
I get very frustrated whenever I’m looking for legitimate ways to generate additional streams of income, and I come across those horrid get-rich-quick sales pages. You know the ones – where the author can’t seem to decide 
"The Holidays are right around the corner!" Depending on where you live, what your background is, and what comprises your belief system, this can mean many things. Here in the U.S., where I live, we are about to embark on the "Holiday Season". This time of year includes many holidays not only for folks in the U.S., but for people throughout the world. Thanksgiving (U.S. only – sorry, 
If you are interested in Christmas music, 
What are your favorite holiday songs and who are your favorite seasonal performers? You might also want to check out Tina’s recent post on the 
I have to be honest here. This find cannot be credited to me. I was merely informed about it. The App Store is very clustered and filled so many apps that I don’t even know where to begin. I guess the time has come for us to rely on word of mouth or reviews to get introduced to apps like these. Nevertheless, despite the unorthodox route which I got to this app from, WhatsApp proved to be an app worth talking about.
As of October 2009, nearly half of all internet users are choosing 
Earlier, we saw how to 
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