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- Cool Websites and Tools [December 12]
- 6 Cool & Silly Christmas Theme Items To Spruce Up Your Desktop
- 3 Apps to Turn Your Webcam Into An IP Phone
- MouseExtender – A Cool Program Launcher For Your Mouse
- Deal Of The Day: 65% Off JBuds J3 Micro Atomic Earphones
- Haunted By Repetitive Tasks? Then DoItAgain Is The Perfect Tool For You!
| Cool Websites and Tools [December 12] Posted: 12 Dec 2009 07:00 PM PST
(1) AppventCalendar - Holiday-themed website from by Black Smith Games. It provides a free iPhone game every day from December 1 to December 22. The idea behind Appvent Calendar follows the traditional advent calendars used to count and celebrate the days leading to Christmas. Read more: AppventCalendar – Download Free iPhone Games till Christmas
(2) InstantJury – Arguments with your friends can be hard to settle sometimes, since rarely does one mediate for both sides. Instant Jury is a website that allows you to resolve such disputes by letting other people become jurors to your case. Furthermore, you also get a chance to take the role of the jury by judging other people's disagreements. Read more: InstantJury - Settle Arguments Online (3) StuVu – User contributed website that aggregates college reviews by students. Students can share their reviews, videos and photos of their respective colleges to help out prospective students. You can search for a college by name, or browse by Program/Major, type of School or even location. Read more: StuVu – College Reviews By Students (4) Online-HTML-Editor - Free online WYSIWYG editor that lets you easily edit HTML pages online. It includes most common features of an offline HTML editor such as Word-like rich text editing and formatting, inserting images, media files and much more. Read more: Online-HTML-Editor – A Free Online WYSIWYG Editor (5) Vidque – We all know that YouTube is the one-stop-shop for videos on the Internet. But there are several other sites (YouTube, Vimeo, TED and BlipTv) that often feature cool web video content which doesn't make it to YouTube. Well Vidque is a site which combines all the main user-generated video services on the Internet into one. Read more: Vidque – Gathers Cool Web Videos From Major Video Sharing Sites
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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| 6 Cool & Silly Christmas Theme Items To Spruce Up Your Desktop Posted: 12 Dec 2009 05:01 PM PST
Stores stocked up on Christmas treats as early as September, and meanwhile the matching decorations followed throughout town. It seems like every corner of our environment is blinking and shining in Christmas colors. Every corner? Maybe not yet! Do you have a Christmas theme desktop yet? Here is your chance! I found wallpapers, screensavers, Christmas trees, lights, critters, and a Windows Christmas theme for you. All free and 100% Christmas originals. Dig in! Christmas WallpapersA Christmas wallpaper is a must! WallpaperStock has a great selection of images in resolutions up to 2560×1920 pixel.
Christmas ScreensaversGiveaway of the Day offers some great seasonal screensavers for free. I fell in love with this 3D Christmas fireside. It’s an animated screensaver with lovely fire and bell sounds.
You will find many more holiday screensavers at the bottom of the page. Naturally, these are promotional free downloads. So be sure not to install software you don’t really want (screensaver managers) or subscribe to newsletters you won’t need. Animated Christmas TreeDrive Software offers animated desktop Christmas trees in seven different designs. You can download each executable Christmas tree in a zip file. They all come with blinking lights, some with more, others with less bling. As seen in the screenshot below, you can control transparency, keep the tree on top of all applications, run it on startup, or add an additional copy of the same type of tree to your desktop.
The files eat between 4.500 to 6.500K RAM. So while they are a nice gimmick and fun for the kids, you should use them sparingly. Animated Christmas LightsIf you have a desktop Christmas tree, you have to get some Christmas lights for your desktop, too! Spencer from “ID on Desktop Customization” created a neat set of lights. It comes with minimal options, including opacity, shadow settings, hue shift, and accessibility from taskbar, systray or none.
You can run multiple copies of the animated Christmas lights to cover your screen. However, each one costs around 4.500 K RAM. Desktop CrittersBillyBear4Kids offers free holiday desktop pals. Next to elf, santa, and snowman you will find a Christmas tree and wreath, advent candles, and Christmas lights. They are not only animated, but also play different midis when clicked on different spots. Quite fun for the kids.
Due to the animations and midis, the little critters consume around 10.500 K of RAM. Christmas CountdownHere is another Christmas tool from the same guy who created the Christmas lights above. It also has the same menu. The Christmas countdown displays Santa in his sleigh and two reindeers.
Rudolph’s blinking red nose is adorable! Stardock’s Christmas TimeAre you still with me? OK. In that case you may be ready for this incredible transformation! Stardock’s Christmas Time is a little more than some harmless Christmas lights blinking above a forest of Christmas trees. It will transform your Windows desktop into a Christmas winter wonderland. It’s actually a free theme for Stardock’s My Colors (for Windows XP only), which I have introduced previously in this article: Give your Desktop a Fresh Look with MyColors.
The theme will decorate your entire Windows system, including windows, menus, taskbar, and desktop. My colors also adds a calendar and a clock.
It should not be surprising that the system requirements list a minimum of 256MB RAM. How extreme do you go with Christmas decorations? Image credits: erwinbacik 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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| 3 Apps to Turn Your Webcam Into An IP Phone Posted: 12 Dec 2009 01:01 PM PST
I’ve covered ways you can have some fun with video, and how to use wi-fi webcams to configure a wireless security system. So what’s left? Well, one area I would like to cover is how to turn your webcam into an IP phone. Almost everyone has used some form of VoIP communication that makes use of some configuration of voice, video, PC-to-PC calling or PC-to-Landline calling. Depending what software you download, you may discover that it doesn’t always offer all of these features. You might be able to utilize video-chat in an IM app, but you can’t call a landline. You might be able to make PC-to-Landline calls, but there’s no option to video conference. Therefore, in this post I’d like to offer a roundup of both new and old applications that have one important thing in common – they incorporate your webcam for videoconferencing, and they allow you to use the software as an IP phone, making PC-to-Landline calls if you so wish. Skype Now Offers VideochatThe fastest way to turn your webcam into an IP phone is probably simply to upgrade whatever version of Skype you’re running to the latest version. One of the newest (relatively) features of Skype is the ability to now initiate a video call with other Skype users. I was using Skype for both text chat and landline phone calls for quite some time before one of my friends from the UK suggested that we have a video chat. The video feature was news to me, but after I upgraded Skype, sure enough there was the “Video Call” button right under his name!
The screen layout for video chat on Skype is really simple, and most users love the fact that Skype keeps this window within Skype itself (not a new pop-up window), which means you can very easily flip between your video chat and any text chats that you might have going on at the same time.
My buddy wasn’t online during my test call, but here you can see the layout. The caller’s video appears in the larger square at the center of the screen, and you can see what you look like in the smaller “caller” box at the lower left. Volume and video controls are along the bottom of the screen. Of course, Skype does have the landline calling feature as well (which you can even conference into the videochat if you like, so it makes the cut! SightSpeed – The Highest Quality Video Conferencing AvailableI had to add SightSpeed to this list after I read a fantastic review in PC Mag about the top video quality this app offers. While I wasn’t really convinced that anything could outperform Skype (I’m a longtime Skype fan), to my pleasant surprise SightSpeed did. First of all, this impressive software offers a larger view of your contact (as well as you – the caller), and the video quality is without a doubt superior to any other video chat application I’ve ever used.
The SightSpeed demo test call went swimmingly well. Get it…swimmingly….as in, it’s a fish tank… Ahem, so anyway, in addition to the webcam video chat feature, you can click on “Telephone” at the top menu and call a landline if you wish (at a low cost-per-minute, just like all of the others.)
This qualifies SightSpeed to our list of webcam IP phone apps. However, I also wanted to mention another very cool feature that I discovered about this software. If you click on the “Video Mail & Blogs” menu option, you can actually record a video message (limited length with the free version) that you can email to whoever you like, or you can ask for the embed code so that you can embed your video message right on your blog. Now that’s very convenient, and very cool. ooVoo Will Make You Go OooooooohThe last application I’d like to cover that features both high-quality video chat capability as well as landline phone access is ooVoo. One thing I do have to say about ooVoo is that the application interface is very slick. I love the black and grey design and buttons with glowing blue highlights. Also, the in-chat angled views of each participant is a very nice touch.
The coolest part of this app is that with your account, you’re provided with a free link that you can send folks via email (or place on your blog) that lets people call you through their web browser without having to install ooVoo on their PC. The beauty of it is that the web interface they see looks almost identical to the application interface itself.
This picture above is a call initiated to me directly from Firefox. The view doesn’t look a whole lot different than from within ooVoo itself does it? I love it when people can call me without the need to install additional software – just think how easy it would be for your parents or grandparents to use it. As long as they have a webcam that’s already enabled and working – all they have to do is click the link and they’re connected to you. Of course, ooVoo provides a dialing pad to call landlines (at affordable rates), but what I really wanted to point out is that just like SightSpeed, this app lets you record and send video messages to friends via email.
Unlike SightSpeed, there doesn’t appear to be any quick way to embed your message anywhere online. For more details on ooVoo, make sure to check out Wez’s detailed review of the app. No matter which of these three webcam apps with IP phone capability you choose, you’re sure to be pleased with both the quality of these apps and how easy they are to set up and use. While I personally have always preferred Skype, I’m seriously considering switching over to SightSound after testing it out. Do you have a favorite application that offers both video conferencing and VoIP in one package? Share your favorites in the comments section below. 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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| MouseExtender – A Cool Program Launcher For Your Mouse Posted: 12 Dec 2009 09:00 AM PST
One thing that is common with most launcher applications is that they let you launch programs using the keyboard. There is usually a combination of keys that you need to press and the appropriate application will be launched. This is great for keyboard ninjas, but a lot of new computer users prefer to use the mouse more than the keyboard.
Once it is running in the background, MouseExtender can be summoned using a configurable mouse button. The default is the middle click. You should avoid setting it to a simple left/right click for obvious reasons. The MouseExtender User Interface pops up right under the mouse pointer which allows you to perform various actions. By default, it shows you a button each for the Control Panel, Restart and Shutdown.
Now, what good is an program launcher if you cannot launch your favorite applications in a breeze? MouseExtender thus lets you add commonly-accessed items to its user interface so you can launch them in a snap. MouseExtender lets you add any file (which means any program), any folder, any web address or any running program to the user interface as a launcher.
Things can quickly start getting out of hand if you have too many launchers inside MouseExtender. Perhaps for this reason, MouseExtender also lets you create tabs that allow you to sort the added launchers into different categories. However, grouping into tabs means that you would have to click an additional time – first to go to the tab that houses the launcher and then on the launcher to actually launch the application. So we suggest to add only the most commonly accessed items on MouseExtender.
MouseExtender offers a few simple settings that you can configure as you deem suitable. You can show/hide the 3 default buttons that let you restart and shutdown, you can configure how you want to summon MouseExtender, change the number of icons in a row, set it to auto start or use the compact mode. If you are up for it, you can also customize the launcher icons and pass additional parameters to the launched programs by right clicking on the program launcher icon that you want to edit.
MouseExtender is a great program launcher if you are biased towards the mouse. The one thing that irked me was that – it does require some initial configuration to add all the programs and folders that you want to launch with it. On the flip side, it stores all the settings and configurations in an XML file (found in the same folder as the MouseExtender executable) you can backup or take over to another computer to skip some of the configuration chores (provided the programs are installed in the same location, of course). Barring this minor complaint from a lazy me, the program looks and works great and helps you launch your favorite applications in a snap. Do you use application launchers? Are you a “keyboard” or a “mouse” person? 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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| Deal Of The Day: 65% Off JBuds J3 Micro Atomic Earphones Posted: 12 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST Here is another great deal! These are cool, quality, stylish earphones from JLab. Amazon.com currently offers JBuds J3 Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones for only $29.95 (incl. shipping). The retail price for them is $80! Definitely a bargain deal here!
This item will make the perfect gift as well. The product hasn't been available on Amazon for a long time, but has already scored 35 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.5/5 stars. Good!
* Available in black, blue, pink and titanium silver. * The earphones come with a stylish Travel Case. * Boasts amazingly comfortable in-ear fit (reviews confirm). * Includes 4 sizes of soft silicone ear buds for a comfortable, noise-isolating fit. * 3-D sound stage features unparalleled clarity and definition. * Deliver crystal clear highs, deep, punchy bass, and first-class noise isolation. * Rugged aluminum housing and components. * Gold plated 3.5 mm audio jack to ensure no-loss sound connection to your device. * Premium quality micro-braided anti-tangle cable. * Stainless steel mesh filters at the sound tube and baseport. * Durable rubber flex joints. * Ships in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging. The entire product is covered by JLab's no hassle one-year warranty. Oh, there is also an older model that’s going even cheaper, older model (JBuds J2). Check out JBuds J3 Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones on Amazon. 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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| Haunted By Repetitive Tasks? Then DoItAgain Is The Perfect Tool For You! Posted: 12 Dec 2009 07:00 AM PST
Start off by visiting this site and download DoItAgain for Windows XP, Vista or even Windows Seven. Once you download the MSI installer, run it and let it do its thing. When your installation is complete, go ahead and launch the program. You will see a screen that looks like the one I am showing below. Go ahead and hit that Create a New Task button to -– Create a new task. This is how you will teach the application to automate repetitive tasks.
Once you hit the magic button, everything you will do will be recorded. I named mine “Open MakeUseOf Wiki’. Then it appears in your list of tasks. You can see mine below.
To execute the task, simply double-click on it in your list. It will wait a few seconds and then magically the task you created will play out. I was amazed.
So next up, I created a task to backup my computer. I started recording and then I hit the start menu typed in “ntbackup”, hit Enter and followed the wizards prompts to backup my documents. When I was done, I had this:
Double clicking on my backup task does this:
The possibilities are endless and only limited by your own imagination and need. They do say necessity is the mother of all inventions! Let's take a look at the programs options:
See the set pause time length? That will make your tasks start without a pause or less of a pause. You can play with them and set it up optimally for your machine and tasks. Whereas I changed the end key to the actual End key instead of Scroll Lock. We would love to hear what you created with DoItAgain or another free Macro Maker. Please let us in on your macro magic so we can all benefit! Hit us up in the 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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Christmas is coming. There is no doubt about it.
Ever since I wrote the 
Program launchers have made the Start menu obsolete for me and I am sure for plenty of people out there. So much so that it feels tiring and cumbersome to go around looking for what you want to launch in the Start menu. There are plenty of program launcher applications available and 
If you are one of them, or you prefer to work more with the mouse there is this great application called 
I wear many hats throughout the day and have lots and lots of repetitive tasks that I do. Photoshop has it's own built in macro maker (or keyboard and mouse recorder and playback if you will). So for years, I have been recording macros and playing them back to do the same task over and over such as resizing a group of images for the web. I simply show it my actions and when I play it back it can do the same thing repeatedly. This helps me so I can walk away from my computer and do other things. I always said it would be great to have this ability to automate repetitive tasks inside windows so I can use it with any application or several applications at the same time.
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