MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [January 10th]” plus 5 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [January 10th]
- Geeky Fun: Latest Hilarious Picks
- 6 Free Password Recovery Tools for Windows
- FoxIt Reader — A Great Alternative PDF Reader for Linux
- Improve Your Language Skills With Google Translate and Dictionary
- Crayon Physics Deluxe – Get It During The Limited ‘Pay What You Want’ Deal
| Cool Websites and Tools [January 10th] Posted: 10 Jan 2010 07:31 PM PST Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.
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!
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| Geeky Fun: Latest Hilarious Picks Posted: 10 Jan 2010 06:30 PM PST Check out the top picks from MakeUseOf Geeky Fun during the last week.
If you would like to keep up with all latest Geeky Fun additions, please subscribe to the Geeky Fun feed here. You can also subscribe and get the latest additions via email. 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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| 6 Free Password Recovery Tools for Windows Posted: 10 Jan 2010 05:30 PM PST
However, it’s much easier to simply recover the forgotten password, along with the username and other stored information. This article shows how you can recover passwords from you browser, instant messenger, eMail, and Word or Excel documents. It goes without saying that I have deleted my own user name and password information from the screenshots seen below. The password recovery tool, however, did work flawlessly. A known issue of many of the following password recovery tools is that antivirus programs detect them as a Trojan/Virus. This is a false alert. Disclaimer: The following tools are not meant to be used in any illegal way. You shall not recover or crack passwords from applications, profiles, or accounts that are not yours. Browser
Instant Messengers
Word / Excel
Simon introduced Ophcrack – A Password Hack Tool to Crack Almost Any Windows Password. Guy has previously revealed How To View Passwords Hidden Behind Asterisk Characters. Saikat showed you How To Recover Lost Gmail Password With A SMS Message. And in case you have forgotten your Windows Administrator password, there are several ways to recover or reset it. Karl shows you how to Recover Your Windows XP Administrator Password With The Installation Disk, T.J. found 3 Ways to Reset Forgotten Windows Administrator Password, and Jack has 5 Tips to Reset The Administrator Password in Windows XP. Finally, Varun explains How To Reset Any Linux Password. Do you need to recover passwords from applications not covered in this or former MakeUseOf articles? Please leave a request in the comments and we may reveal the possible solutions in a future article. Image credits: CDWaldi 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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| FoxIt Reader — A Great Alternative PDF Reader for Linux Posted: 10 Jan 2010 02:30 PM PST
Linux users probably aren’t family with Foxit, however, because most Linux distributions come with a lightweight PDF reader to begin with: Evince on Gnome-based systems and Okular on KDE ones. So I was quite surprised when I came across FoxIt Reader for Linux. Many people consider the fact that using open-source software deserves a badge of honor, and spurn software that isn’t. Given that FoxIt Reader is closed source and (gasp!) includes advertising in the program’s interface, why would any self-respecting Linux user install such software? With these questions in mind I installed FoxIt Reader for Linux. I’m a Gnome user, so I’ll be using Evince as my point of comparison. Using the ProgramAs you can see, FoxIt’s interface looks the way you expect a PDF reader to look. Gnome users will be happy to note the program is GTK-based, though most Linux users will probably be annoyed by the advertisement in the top-right corner of the program.
Most people don’t expect much from their PDF reader. They want to double-click a PDF file and have it open quickly. Beyond this, some users may want to see thumbnails every page, browse the table of contents or do some basic editing such as rotation. Evince and FoxIt both give the user to do these things quickly and easily, so there’s no real difference there. FoxIt does allow the user to customize the program’s primary toolbar–something Evince and other Gnome programs do not allow. This is great if you want to add single-click functionality to your PDF reading.
I, for example, frequently use my EEE PC as an ebook reader, and want to rotate what I’m reading so I can hold my tiny computer as though it were a book. So I added the “Rotate” button to my toolbar. Not essential but certainly a nice touch. Image qualityHere, ladies and gentlemen, is where FoxIt Reader really shines in comparison to Evince. Open a PDF made up of mainly text with both FoxIt and Evince and you’ll scarcely notice the difference. Open one with images and you’ll notice the difference immediately. Here’s Evince reading an image-heavy PDF:
And here’s what FoxIt does with the same file:
The difference is dramatic: Evince is hardly aliased at all, and as such looks pixelated. This can make text delivered as an image almost completely unreadable. This is a known bug in poppler, the library Evince uses to display graphics, which currently isn’t always anti-aliasing images. A fix is on the way, but as you can see FoxIt works beautifully right now. InstallationThere’s no FoxIt repository I know of for any distribution, but you’ll find .deb, .rpm and .tar.bz2 packages over at FoxIt’s web site. Ubuntu users can simply download the .deb file and double-click to install; your mileage may vary with other systems. If you’re not the sort of person who installs Linux packages you find on the Internet, good for you: that’s a great security habit to have. FoxIt provides no alternative, however, so you’ll have to stick to Evince or compromise in this instance. ConclusionI like Evince, and generally dislike running closed-source software on my computers. I particularly loathe software with advertisements built into the primary user interface. But I have to admit: I find Evince unusable in its current state. Anti-aliased graphics are key to readability, not to mention aesthetics. If image quality matters to you and Evince is making you cringe you’ll find that FoxIt is a great alternative PDF reader. I’ll be using FoxIt until Evince works the way it should. KDE users: it’s my understanding that Okular does not suffer from Evince’s graphical glitch. You’re obviously free to check out FoxIt if you want, but because FoxIt reader is GTK-based I’d recommend you stick with what you’ve got and keep on being awesome. Or kAwesome, if you prefer. Do you have any other alternative PDF reader you would like to recommend? 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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| Improve Your Language Skills With Google Translate and Dictionary Posted: 10 Jan 2010 11:30 AM PST
Now you could take up lessons to improve your language skills but I think it’s an excellent opportunity to work on your skills while you’re reading or writing something. There is a big gap between just learning and really mastering a language and this is one of the things that can help achieve great results. I actually used to have a Notepad file with some of the words that I have looked up over time, so I can review them once in a while. It’s a time-tested way of improving your language skills. I will show you how to use Google Translate and the new Google Dictionary for this. While this will help you understand foreign texts and therefore help you improve your language skills, the core of the system I’m proposing today is repetition. Review the words you didn’t know before. If you’re just going to see them once, you’re not going to know them well enough to use them yourself. This is where the new service Google Dictionary comes in. Dictionary used to be a part of Translate, but is now a stand-alone service. This is another one of those examples of Google giving away a service for free where other companies will charge you, show advertisements or both. Google Dictionary also very much puts the genre of dictionary websites upside down. We’ll probably benefit most as end-users so let’s welcome our new Google overlords in this.
Google Dictionary supports 12 languages with a dictionary and 16 more languages which can only be translated. Now just start looking up any word of which you’re not sure what it means. Even when you think you know what a word means, but not what the translation is exactly, look it up. Google Dictionary makes it easy to save (or as Google calls it “star“) any word you have looked up.
Then review the words you have saved periodically, maybe once a week or every month. The words are first displayed without their meaning so you honestly check whether you know the meaning of the word. When you find that you have memorized the meaning properly, you can remove the word from the list.
As soon as you have trained yourself to look up any word you don’t exactly know by heart, you are starting to improve your language skills. This principle of continuous improvement, which the Japanese call “Kaizen“, can be the basis of great change. It belongs to the same category as the drop that hollows out a stone over time or a great journey that is made step by step. Are you trying to master another language than your native one? Please share your best technique and resources with us. Let us know what works best for you. Image credit: sxc.hu 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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| Crayon Physics Deluxe – Get It During The Limited ‘Pay What You Want’ Deal Posted: 10 Jan 2010 09:30 AM PST
Then Crayon Physics Deluxe was announced – a sequel that sought to extend and perfect the game. News and screenshots have been flying around for a while, but earlier this month it was finally released in full glory. Yes, the game is retail, normally selling at around 20 bucks a pop. But for the occasion, a special ‘birthday deal’ was announced. Counting on the good of your heart, you can pick your own price for the game. That is, until 15 January (closing in fast). Crayon Physics DeluxeThe concept of the game is rather simple; collect the stars with a little red ball. You can’t control the ball itself, but you can manipulate the level environments. With a digital crayon in hand, you can set off to solve the puzzles. There’s nothing more entrancing than seeing your drawings come to life. The interesting part of Crayon Physics Deluxe is that there are countless ways to solve each puzzle. There is no ‘right way’ to beat it, there are dozens! The only thing you need to complete this game is a vast and lively imagination. In Crayon Physics Deluxe, there are over 70 ‘original’ levels. Add to that a level designer, so in a way, the fun never has to stop. Complete with relaxing music, Crayon Physics Deluxe is an instant classic for puzzlers and physics enthusiasts alike. Pay What You Want (’till 15 January)With the game’s launch fresh in memory, the developer has set up a special ‘birthday deal’. Normally costing around twenty bucks, you can now purchase the game for whatever amount you feel like paying. Look into your heart (and your wallet), and pick the price yourself! Other developers have tried it in the past, including 2DBoy with the much famed World of Goo. Even a number of musicians managed to pull it off with success.
Do note that this limited deal is only applicable until the 15th of January. That puts quite the time pressure on you. So go to the site, and download the demo. Fiddle around a bit before you decide how much you want to spend. Cool! So I can practically get it for free?No. I mean, yes, you ‘can’, but you won’t. Here’s why. When you buy a game from EA, Ubisoft, or another big game producer, a big part of the money is lost to the middleman. The part that actually reaches the developer(s) is often quite small. But there is no big firm behind Crayon Physics. Not even a team. The game is produced by one guy only; Petri Purho, a long-haired dude from Finland.
You see, Petri Purho worked two years to complete this game, and although the choice is yours, I’m sure you agree he deserves a little credit. Paying $1 (like many do) is not ’smart’, it’s just disrespectful. I’m not saying you can’t profit from the sale, that’s the enticement of the whole deal! Just make your choice wisely. Crayon Physics Deluxe runs on Windows only. What do you personally think of the pay model? What about the game itself? You can spout all your enthusiasm 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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Have you forgotten a password or username that you have stored in an application a long time ago? If you need this very information for another application, browser or for use on a different computer; you have to find a way to either reset or change it first.
Windows users are familar with FoxIt Reader; we mentioned it when we talked about 
My native language is Dutch. I do write and read mostly in English for my work (you’re looking at it), hobby (my personal blog and news addiction) and studies. Of course, I like to improve my English proficiency all the time.
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