MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [January 31]” plus 6 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [January 31]
- Geeky Fun: Latest Hilarious Picks
- What Type of Mobile Phone Do You Use? [MakeUseOf Poll]
- How Can You Find Out Who Is Googling You?
- Top 5 Sites to Download Weather Widgets For Your Blog or Website
- 5 Computer Hardware Review Sites For The PC Enthusiast
- Print From Your Android Phone With PrinterShare
| Cool Websites and Tools [January 31] Posted: 31 Jan 2010 07:40 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: 31 Jan 2010 07:00 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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| What Type of Mobile Phone Do You Use? [MakeUseOf Poll] Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:00 PM PST
It is time for another MakeUseOf poll! I hope you are all ready and excited – it has been a while after all. Today's poll is going to be about mobile phones — what do you use? (if any!). Wondering which is most popular? A mobile device says a lot about its user. I'm sure you all have your opinions of people using iPhones or Droids. And I am sure most of you feel that your devices are the best hands down. Is it? We would like you to answer the following question to see how we can can better address the majority of readers. If you use more than one type, please choose the one that you use the most. If you feel that your option is missing, choose other and let us know which phone you use in the comments. Note: We are not looking for models like the Tilt2 or iPhone 3GS, just the general platform. Along with your vote, feel free to leave a comment if you want us to cover something specific related to the mobile you’re currently using now or you have an idea for a future MakeUseOf poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Related posts
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| How Can You Find Out Who Is Googling You? Posted: 31 Jan 2010 05:30 PM PST
Using Google AdWords, you may find out the global monthly search volume for your name or relevant keywords that are being searched together with your name. However, it doesn’t tell you anything about the person Googling you. And how do you know whether it’s really you they are looking for?
All of these sites work by placing your profile high up in search engine results. So your respective profile will be one of the first hits people will see when searching for your name. And once someone clicks through, you will receive an eMail alert. Their IP address will reveal where the search originated from and the search term they used may tell you who they are or why they are looking for you. ZiggsAt Ziggs, you can set up a full profile and market yourself. You can share your biography, write about your background, and upload your resume. After some time, your profile will be indexed by search engines and people will find you.
Once someone clicks the link to your profile, you will receive an eMail alert. The eMail will tell you when your profile was searched, where the search originated from (based on IP address), and which keywords were used to find you. Another page quite similar to LinkedIn and Ziggs, which will alert you when your profile is being viewed, is Naymz. WikiWorldBookWikiWorldBook works very similar to Ziggs. The difference is that it’s really just an online address book. You can choose to hide all your contact details and let them contact you through WikiWorldBook only. People searching for you can still get in touch with you very easily, without signing up.
You can enter an array of contact information, social links, and a few details about yourself. You can also fetch a contact button from their site and place it onto your website or social profile. If someone sends you a message through WikiWorldBook, it will be forwarded to your eMail address. Here is a short video demonstrating how it works: Academia.eduThis site is targeted towards people who work in research and/or academia. It not only allows you to find people with similar research interests and keep track of the latest developments in your research area, you can also set up your own profile and be notified once someone views it.
Besides writing about yourself and defining your research interests, you can upload your publications, review papers or books you have read, and update your status. A category called Keywords lists all the search queries that were used to find your profile.
So, did you Google your name and find weird results? Don’t feel safe just because you only found someone who carries your name. They could still ruin your reputation. Also, if a potential employer cannot find you on Google at all, it may not be to your advantage! If you’re worried about your online reputation, do something about it. The following two articles will show you how: John McClain showed How To Control Search Engine Top Rankings for Your Name and I explained How To Maintain a Professional Profile Online. What are your biggest online sins that Google may reveal? Image credit: cobrasoft Related posts
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| Top 5 Sites to Download Weather Widgets For Your Blog or Website Posted: 31 Jan 2010 02:30 PM PST
You can display live updates of the current conditions from where you’re blogging from or basically any other place in the world. There’re a lot of these widgets out there to choose from, but which ones look and perform the best? Let’s get right to it and find out. Here are the top 5 sites to download weather widgets for your blog or website.
AccuWeatherAccuWeather offers some of the most complete weather widgets available on the Web. Specifically designed for your site, blog, or MySpace page, its netWeather service is easy to set up.
Registration isn’t needed. Just choose your units (English or metric), language, location, and you’re good to go. The widgets are highly customizable. There’s a total of 9 sizes to choose from, along with different themes for the background image. The actual weather information is as good as it gets here. Depending on the size you picked, there’s the current temperature and conditions, an extended forecast, and even radar or precipitation maps. WeatherBugWeatherBug’s web widgets are pretty straightforward, but still good looking. Start by selecting a style for your widget; there are six sizes. All the widgets display the current temperature and wind speed/direction, as well as links to radar and live cams. The larger sizes also feature the forecast for tomorrow.
Next, you’ll have to register, but all the website requires is your email address. Put in your location, select your city and weather station, and you’re all set to paste the code onto your site or blog. The Weather ChannelThe Weather Channel (TWC) has its own widgets for you to use online. First, choose a location by entering in a ZIP code or city and select either standard or metric units. The downside with TWC’s widgets is that there are only two sizes to choose from, so keep that in mind. There are also various themes you can pick, but I’d stick with the default look as the others don’t appeal to me.
Click on “Get the Code” and paste it into your site’s HTML code. Weather Forecast MapWeather Forecast provides plenty of different weather widgets for you to choose from. There are a dozen styles available, ranging from the simple current conditions and forecast to animated eye-catchers.
Just enter in a city and the site will display the collection of widgets with the code readily available below. Show My WeatherFor weather in the United States and Canada only, Show My Weather offers a simple widget without any of the annoying branding that others sport. Type in your city, email address, and you’re all set to customize your widget to what you want it to display.
There’s even an advanced options section for you to edit just about anything on the widget, including the width, background color, font, and more. Do you know of any other good weather widgets for a website or blog? Let us know in the comments. Image Credit: ViaMoi Related posts
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| 5 Computer Hardware Review Sites For The PC Enthusiast Posted: 31 Jan 2010 11:30 AM PST
A few things must be considered when looking at computer hardware review sites. First, quality. Are the reviews useful and balanced? Second, quantity. How much of the current hardware does the site review? Third, method. Does the review give evidence like benchmarks and comparisons, or does the reviewer go on their feelings?
Let’s get to it. Tom’s Hardware ReviewsTom’s Hardware Reviews is a UK-based review site. I have relied on them many times to get good, honest reviews. Their site is offered in a bunch of languages, making it a great resource for non-English speakers.
The reviews are thorough and give a good feel for the hardware. Reviews provide technical specs, benchmarks, and nice comparisons with alternatives.
On top of what you’d expect, Tom’s Hardware Reviews also has a number of features useful to someone just starting out looking at hardware. Some examples are monthly looks at best values in several areas including CPUs and Graphics Cards.
Overall, Tom’s site is nice, but does have some shortcomings. Although everything is nicely organized on the site, it is sometimes difficult to find exactly what you are looking for. A search doesn’t always bring up an exact component and a little digging is required. I find this to be an uncommon issue, but felt it should be mentioned. Overclockers ClubOverclockers Club is another great resource. Like Tom’s, the site provides reviews of all sorts of computer hardware, but also has some nice guides for a beginner overclocker. You can access the guides by clicking “Guides” in the top navigation bar.
Overclockers Club is laid out in a very fluid way, making finding an article easy as pie. If you just click “Reviews” at the top, you are given a list of reviews in chronological order.
If you are looking for a particular piece of hardware, you can just search for it and it comes right up with what you’re looking for. The reviews are quite good. They provide a lot benchmarks and explain them in context.
They give a nice feel for all aspects of a component, even down to how they look and feel physically.
Overclockers Club does not suffer from the issue I found with Tom’s. Searches always seem to return just what I am looking for. HardOCP
HardOCP is another great computer hardware review site. What I like about this site is it’s overall layout. Instead of a traditional navigation bar, the site has a drop down menu with the links to the other sections of the site.
This helps keep the page nice looking and uncluttered. The reviews on the site are well done, providing great information on all sorts of computer hardware, including harder to find things like water cooling systems. They even have a very goofy “Miscellaneous” section which provides reviews of anything from solid state drives to eyeglasses.
Another nice feature of the articles is a good level of humor that keeps you entertained while reading what could quickly become a very dry topic.
Some reviews do not provide as many benchmarks as I would like to see. For this reason, I wouldn’t rely on just HardOCP for my reviews, but definitely use it as a great supplement. Legion Hardware
Yet another great review site, Legion Hardware should be a stop on the path of anyone looking into computer hardware. This site has a lot going for it, including the best organization style of any site I have seen as of yet. First, when you click “Hardware” at the top, you are brought to a page that lists the different sections very clearly.
Then, when you navigate to the type of hardware your looking for; all of the reviews are listed in such a way so that finding a particular card is extremely simple.
The articles can be sorted in a bunch of different ways, making it even easier to get to the particular article you are looking for.
The reviews on Legion Hardware are of superb quality, providing a good number of benchmarks and describing all aspects of a piece of hardware. Also, they have a good database of articles, so it should not be hard to find what you are looking for on their site. Hardware Canucks
The last review site I will list is Hardware Canucks, a Canadian-based site. This site has a large number of review sections, even including things like consumer electronics.
The reviews are quite good, providing a lot of benchmarks, which are always good when looking to buy hardware.
The search feature works very well, bringing up exactly what you are looking for without any hassle. A built in “Price Compare” feature is also good and helps differentiate Hardware Canucks from other review sites. Of course, these are not the be-all-end-all of review sites. Everyone has their personal favorite website for one reason or another. All of these sites are great both for a beginner, just getting into hardware, or a seasoned veteran trying to keep up with the latest technology. Know any other great review sites? Let us know in the comments below. computer hardware review Related posts
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| Print From Your Android Phone With PrinterShare Posted: 31 Jan 2010 09:30 AM PST
With calendar synchronization and text processors, handheld devices like the iPhone or Android have grown invaluable. And yet there’s one thing still missing from the business setup: a printing utility.
With PrinterShare, this is possible. Not only to print at home, but from anywhere in the world. PrintershareKarl Gechlik already tackled PrinterShare in February 2009, with his article on How To Share a Printer Over The Internet. Most of that is still applicable, but today we’re taking on the mobile side of business.
The supporting desktop application is available for both Windows and Mac OS X. In this article, we’ll tell you how to get it running on the Android OS, but note that there’s also an iPhone version available. UnpleasantriesBefore you read the rest of this article, let’s start of with the downsides. Albeit heavily outnumbered by the positivities, it’s nice to know that…
Although the premium has dropped in price from a monthly 20 USD to a mere 9.95 USD since our last article, the free version will perform well enough for most people. Step 1: Installing PrinterShare on Your PC/MacFirst of all, we’re going to install the supporting application on your home computer. When you print a page from your Android, the job will be re-routed through the PrinterShare servers, and executed by the application. You can find downloads for Mac and PC on the site.
Somewhere during the installation, you’ll be asked to register or enter your account details. It’s a quick registration that needs nothing but your email address. Your user ID and password will be mailed to you. After the installation, launch the application to choose which printers you want to share. Note that only people with your user ID and password (i.e. you) will be able to print through it, even though it is handled by a third-party service. Step 2: Installing PrinterShare on Your Android PhoneTo install PrinterShare on your Android phone, just search for it in the Android Market. It’s a quick and clean install and needs nothing else from you. Step 3: Printing From The PrinterShare ApplicationWith the application installed on your Android, there’s really little work left to be done. Start by launching the application. You’ll see the possibility to print pictures, web pages, contacts, calendars and call logs. Pick any of those to mark a more specific selection.
Now, before you’ll be able to print, you need to link your Android app to your desktop computer at home. By pressing the menu button on your phone, you’ll be able to pick a printer, either by scanning the area for wireless devices or by entering your account info – on a free account, you’ve only the latter choice. After entering the information received by email, you’re done and the printing job will be sent over the net. Do you know any cool alternatives to PrinterShare? We’d love to hear them! Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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Have you ever Googled a coworker or yourself? Wouldn’t you love to know who is Googling you? Or be notified as it happens? Unfortunately, Google doesn’t reveal this type of information.
Looking to add 
Whether you are looking into building a new computer or just like to keep up with the latest in computer hardware, the internet provides a whole smörgåsbord of options when it comes to computer hardware reviews. Here, you will see some of the better, more reliable sites on the internet.
More and more, our mobile devices are becoming tools to manage our business. No need to carry that big laptop everywhere, you can just check your email on your mobile phone!
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