MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [February 1]” plus 6 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [February 1]
- MakeUseOf February Giveaway – 3 Copies Of McAfee Total Protection 2010
- 3 Great Examples of Using Gmail Filters for Productivity
- How to Bookmark Videos To Resume Where You Left Off
- Autobahn Accelerator – Faster Streaming Video and Downloads for Free?
- Pauker – An Easy-To-Use Freeware Java Flash Card Program
- Build An Impressive Free Resume Online In 15 Minutes With JobSpice
| Cool Websites and Tools [February 1] Posted: 01 Feb 2010 07:20 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! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| MakeUseOf February Giveaway – 3 Copies Of McAfee Total Protection 2010 Posted: 01 Feb 2010 05:30 PM PST
This month, we’re giving away 3 copies of McAfee Total Protection 2010 (1-year subscription) which normally retails for $79.99 each. Each copy is able to secure up to three PCs; which is a great tool for families with multiple computers. It’s worth mentioning at this point, that McAfee scored third in a test by ArsTechnica; detecting up to 98.9% of potential malware and beating other popular security applications by companies like Kaspersky, Symantec and Sophos. How do you get your hands on a copy? It couldn’t be simpler.
We will randomly select 3 winners on Friday. You will be notified via Twitter DM or Facebook message, so keep an eye on your social inboxes! The winners will receive a physical version of Total Protection 2010 shipped to their doorsteps from Amazon! Click here for more information about McAfee Total Protection. In the event of product unavailability, MakeUseOf reserves the right to replace the giveaway item with another product of similar value. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| 3 Great Examples of Using Gmail Filters for Productivity Posted: 01 Feb 2010 11:30 AM PST
One of the best Gmail features is the ability to create and use customized Gmail filters. We’ve seen a lot of possible uses of Gmail filters already including creating an automatic email response and setting up Gmail SMS alerts. But most often, filters are used to enhance productivity and here are three examples to show you how.
1. Maintain To-Do ListsYou can send yourself email messages and store them in a separate folder until the task is completed: Step 1: Create a label to store the task reminders.
Step 2: Create a filter for these messages:
Now whenever you want to remember to do anything, send yourself a message with the task details and don’t forget to include “TO DO” in the email subject:
2. Send Reminders to OthersThis one is particularly useful if you have a few people (freelancers, partners, writers, etc) you manage. You can send reminders all of them automatically. There are two possible options to do that: Option #1
(Note: you will have to create a separate filter for each person you manage, there is no way to list two or more recipient addresses in that step as far as I know):
Option #2
3. Filter Google Calendar EventsYou can organize your Google Calendar reminders more effectively by setting them up to go straight to your EVENTS folder. Step 1: Create a label to store your events:
Step 2: Create a filter to organize your events: set up all messages from “calendar-notification@google.com” to you to go straight to your EVENTS folder:
More Gmail Productivity Tips and Tricks
Useful Tips for Email Productivity in General:
And how do you get organized using email filters and rules? Do you have any tips to share? 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 Bookmark Videos To Resume Where You Left Off Posted: 01 Feb 2010 10:30 AM PST
I think I have friends out there who are often faced with the same problem. Of course, the fast forward or skip button or the slider can be easily moved to the position where it was left off. But heck, aren't we movie junkies a lazy bunch. We want one touch solutions to bookmark video.
MyMediaBookmarks – A Windows Media Player Plugin to Bookmark VideoMyMediaBookmarks is a Windows Media Player (WMP) plug-in. The automatic bit behind its working is dead simple – while watching a film, the video bookmark is created at the exact frame (or time) where you decide to close the media player. When you launch the video file again, it resumes playing from that spot. MyMediaBookmarks can be accessed from WMP – Tools – Plugins. From here, it can also be unchecked and disabled.
The Plugins tab under Windows Media Player's Options takes us into the features of MyMediaBookmarks. As a simple application, it is not feature rich but it does give us some control over the media types we choose to bookmark. The General tab gives you the choices of auto-resuming video and audio files. If you think that you won’t need it for audio files, choose to disable it. Also, use the same tab to set the auto-resume time difference between the startup and the spot bookmarked. The default of 5 seconds is good enough. As you move through your videos, you can choose to clear all your bookmarks with a click on Clear all bookmarks.
The File Types tab lets you include or remove the different video/audio file formats that Windows Media Player handles. Note the support for newer formats like M4B and MKV.
With MyMediaBookmarks, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on the number of files you can bookmark. The slight hitch when the plugin starts with WMP is the one thing one has to accept. Or maybe it was so in my individual case, as I have quite a few plugins installed. There is only one way to bookmark your files…by closing WMP. There is no other way you can manually bookmark video without closing the application. MyMediaBookmarks (ver.1.5) plug-in for Windows Media Player is a 2.19MB download. KMPlayer – Bookmark Videos Simply and SmoothlyKMPlayer is relatively unheralded but is one of the best media players out there. KMPlayer and VLC Player often get talked about in the same breath as very powerful and free media players. For the purpose of bookmarking videos, I found KMPlayer easier to configure as compared to VLC Player. For an explanation on how to save bookmarks in VLC, go to VideoLAN Wiki. There are two ways to resume watching a video from where you left off in KMPlayer. From the right click menu, go to Playback and check Remember Played Position. The next time you play the movie, it resumes from where you left off.
From the right click menu, go to Bookmarks/Chapters – Add to Bookmarks.
The precise time frame gets added to the context menu. You can also use the bookmark editor window (Edit Bookmarks) to add a title or delete bookmarks.
KMPlayer offers the distinct advantage of also letting us bookmark multiple points in the same film. Using this, you can pinpoint all key scenes in a single movie. KMPlayer (ver.2.9.4) is a 14.2MB free download for Win2000/XP/2003/Vista/7. A plugin with Microsoft's default media player or a slick third party free application like KMPlayer – take your pick. For the absolute smoothness and ease of the operation, I usually would go for KMPlayer. What about you? Do you use video bookmarking? Which media player do you have installed and does it handle video bookmarking? Image credit: Okko Pyykkö Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Autobahn Accelerator – Faster Streaming Video and Downloads for Free? Posted: 01 Feb 2010 09:30 AM PST
In the past, I wrote about how to tweak Vista to improve Internet speeds, and Mahendra wrote about finding the fastest DNS to optimize your Internet speed. Everyone is looking for ways to get a little bit more out of their bandwidth these days. And as more and more people watch streaming video for free, and stream music and movies, download speed becomes more of an issue. However, as many commentators on those articles pointed out, you only have so much download speed, and unfortunately you can’t exceed your ISP’s speed limit.
My Internet Speed BaselineThe first order of business is to check what my current baseline speed is before installing or tweaking anything. I decided to run tests from my house to various points across the country. Since a lot can depend upon what you’re doing at the time that you run the tests, various points would offer a better baseline to start from. Any improvement to overall Internet speed should improve the throughput on all of them. First, I tested my connection speed to Washington, DC.
Then, my connection speed to New York City.
And finally, my normal connection speed to Los Angeles, all the way across the United States.
Now, these values give me something solid for comparison after installing the software. So our starting Internet speed values are: Washington DC (7187 Kb/s download, 249 Kb/s upload), New York (8025 Kb/s download, 404 Kb/s upload) and Los Angeles (5998 Kb/s download and 392 Kb/s upload). Installing the SoftwareInstalling Autobahn is crazy simple. You visit the website, click install, and it’ll walk you through the install procedure.
All you have to do is click the big green “Go!” button. I’ve highlighted the claim that I want to test. If the actual Internet connection itself is optimized, then I should see better throughput overall. Throughout the install, you never have to leave the Autobahn web page. Once it’s installed, the site recognizes a successful install and informs you of such as shown here.
Now that I have Autobahn optimizing my system, let’s see what this baby can do. Kicking open the DSLReports page, I run the same three tests as earlier. First, Washington DC.
Then my new connection speed to New York.
And finally, my new connection speed across the U.S. to Los Angeles.
So now, my new Internet speed rates are Washington DC (7459 Kb/s download, 471 Kb/s upload), New York (7756 Kb/s download, 411 Kb/s upload) and Los Angeles, CA (5474 Kb/s download, 335 Kb/s upload). So, overall results of Internet speed caused by installing Autobahn appear to be an increase of 272 Kb/s download and 222 Kb/s upload from here to Washington, DC, a decrease of 269 Kb/s download and increase of 7 Kb/s upload from here to New York, and a decrease of 524 Kb/s download and 57 Kb/s upload from here to Los Angeles. Since transfer speed can pretty much vary to this degree on it’s own, depending on what other activities you’re doing on your PC, these values reflect no substantial overall gain or loss of speed due to Autobahn. Testing Streaming VideoThese results don’t mean that the software doesn’t work, it just means that it doesn’t accomplish greater streaming quality or speed through an optimized overall Internet connection. As readers noted in the comment area of my Vista tweak article linked at the start of this article, streaming video can be optimized when you configure the system to give it higher priority on your connection. It could be possible that the Autobahn software simply optimizes the stream – providing faster/better downloads and streaming quality. I decided to test the download speed at YouTube before and after installing Autobahn. For my test, I used the new Apple iPod YouTube advertisement that’s about 8 minutes long. I started the video at 2:00:23 and the full video was downloaded and buffered by 2:06:30 – almost 6 full minutes to receive the full 8 minute video.
Once I was finished, I re-installed Autobahn and ran the same streaming video. The download of the video stream started at 2:12:06 and completed at 2:18:04. About a six minute buffer/download time and essentially the same exact throughput. Video streaming quality was essentially unchanged. On the Autobahn website, I noticed that MLB TV was noted as one site that’s affiliated with Autobahn, so maybe Autobahn is especially efficient for that particular site. So I tried the same test as above at MLB TV. Without the software installed, I started downloading a video of game highlights at 2:30:12, and the full video completed loading by 2:32:02, about a 2 minute load.
After reinstalling Autobahn, I refreshed my cache, cleared my history and tried the download again. This time the start was 2:34:40 and the finish time was 2:36:35. Again, about a 2 minute load time and essentially unchanged by the installation of Autobahn. Not to be deterred by these results, I wanted to try one last test. I’ve heard that Autobahn can significantly improve downloading on iTunes. So, I uninstalled the software and fired up iTunes. I found an old L.L. Cool J song I used to love as a kid that was just over 5 minutes long. I purchased the song and watched the download speed closely – the start was 2:55:00 and the finish was 2:55:18 – about 18 seconds. After reinstalling Autobahn, clearing my cache and attempting the same download again, I had a start time of 2:58:05 and a complete of 2:58:18 – about 13 seconds, and a 5 second improvement. My ResultsAccording to the website, the FAQ explains that Autobahn “optimizes your incoming bandwidth” for better downloads and streaming. It reports that it doesn’t use the peer-to-peer transfer or upstream “stealing” that other software uses. While this seems to be true, it also appears that at least if your system is already running at fairly well-optimized speeds, the software can’t do much to improve your existing video streaming quality, or the speed of your downloads. Have you ever tried Autobahn or any other Internet speed “accelerator” software? How well did it work for you? Share your results and experiences 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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| Pauker – An Easy-To-Use Freeware Java Flash Card Program Posted: 01 Feb 2010 08:30 AM PST
Flash cards have been used to learn foreign languages, improve vocabulary or learn just about anything that can be written in a question and answer form. Using physical flash cards, you have to create cards; manage them and then keep track of which ones you have learnt and which ones are yet to be learnt. Using a computer-based freeware flash card program, you can leave all that to the software and concentrate on the learning. Pauker is one such Java-based flash card software.
Being a Java application you can run it on Windows, Linux and Mac. Pauker can be found here. The Pauker site recommends that you use Pauker via Java webstart. However, you can also download and run the freeware flash card program. Pauker doesn’t require installation and works as it is. Of course you would need Java on your computer.
On the first run, the application looks like above. You would first need to create flash cards to use with the application. Enter a description for the lesson and click Add new cards. You can now create new cards. The dialog that opens lets you enter the contents of the flash card and allows for basic formatting as well.
If typing the content seems tedious, you can also import cards into Pauker. Pauker can import from CSV or Pauker XML files. To import existing cards; click on Open, choose the appropriate format and then browse to the required CSV or XML file. Pauker will import the flash cards contained in the file and create a new lesson for you. You can also download ready-made flash cards from the site if they fit your need. If you can do without formatting to aid your learning, there is quicker way to create flash cards. Choose Text import from under the file menu and type or paste the text that you want to convert to flash cards. The front and reverse text of the cards should be present on separate lines for the cards to be created correctly. So much for creating flash cards. Next up is the all-important task of learning and then mastering the cards. Choose one of the lessons you created above and then click Learn new cards. A new window opens which looks the one shown below. This is how it works: Two timers are displayed at the bottom of the window. One is aimed at Ultra-short term memory, while the other is aimed at short term memory. While the first timer is active, try to go through as many cards as possible. Just a quick read and move to next, don’t worry if you don’t get everything. When the first timer is up, Pauker activates the short term memory timer. Here, the same cards are flashed but the reverse side is hidden. You have to recall the reverse side and interact with the application. If you remember the reverse side, seeing it again will further strengthen it in your memory. If you don’t remember, you should take a few seconds and try to commit the reverse side to memory.
After the second timer expires, Pauker begins with the real test. If you answer a card correctly now, it is moved to completed state meaning that you have memorized it. For the ones that you answer incorrectly, the above process is repeated untill you have learnt them all. At any time, your progress is represented in the form of bar graphs which displays the number of cards which are not learnt, committed to ultra short term memory, committed to short term memory and number of cards that have been learnt.
Pauker offers learning by typing and learning by remembering modes. You have to type the answer in the former. In the latter however, you have to tell Pauker whether you remembered the reverse side or not. You can customize the time for both the timers and learning strategies which govern how expired and forgotten cards are presented to you again.
Pauker does majority of heavy lifting when using flash cards. You can also find MiniPauker which is Pauker for mobile devices which support Java applications. Do you use computer-based flash cards for committing things to memory? What are your favorite freeware flash card programs? Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Build An Impressive Free Resume Online In 15 Minutes With JobSpice Posted: 01 Feb 2010 07:30 AM PST
If you’re uploading a resume that you created the painful way through Microsoft Word, you’ll also have to go through the hassle of converting your resume to PDF in order to prevent the potential employer from seeing the squiggly red lines in your resume indicating that your last name or your most recent employer's isn't grammatically recognized, among other formatting risks. Save yourself all the trouble (and time!) and let Y Combinator-funded JobSpice help you build a free resume online in 15-20 minutes!
What to Include When You Build a Free Resume OnlineLike we said before, once you hop onto JobSpice.com, you can literally get started right away because it shows you four placeholders so you can begin typing your basic contact information. Alternatively, you could try adding the resume sections first and then typing away.
By clicking on Add new section on the left sidebar, you can pick from any of the existing sections (Contact Info, Objective, Education, Coursework, Experience, Achievements, Clubs and Affiliations, Skills, Publications) or add your own (Custom Section). Reorder any of the sections with ease.
Fill the Sections OutAfter you’ve chosen your sections, plug in your bits of information. To add multiple entries, click on the green (+) icon; to remove them, click on the red (-) icon instead. Even if you accidentally clicked on the other tabs in JobSpice (e.g. Preview or Styles), your work is saved even if you don’t have a JobSpice account (which only takes about 5 seconds to create since you only need an username and a password; no activation email needed). Preview in Select Templates (”Styles”)
There’s about a dozen Styles in which you can dress up your resume – see yours in a new style instantly in the Preview tab or browse the rest in the Styles tab. If you’re well-versed in HTML and CSS, press on the blue sticker in Styles to make your own or customize a style for an unique look! Export As PDF or Save Online to Share with Others/Access Resume From Any Computer
To have your freshly composed resume in your machine, JobSpice will deliver the goodies to you in .PDF format when you press on either Print or PDF, while you can also use Save (for which you’ll need an account that you can create by just providing an username and password) if you want to have a copy online in case you want to send your resume from your non-primary computer. The Share function to create your own shareable link (e.g. jobspice.com/anynameyouwant) or add new link names for different resumes. Whoever gets your link will be able to view and download your resume in PDF format. Manage Your Links and Change Background Color of Your Resume PageNow that you have an account, you’ll have the ability to view your resume from any computer and manage your links to different resumes, which you can create in Share, so you’ll have customized resumes for different recipients. Say, you’re applying to a job for which you think a nicely elaborated Objective would enhance your chances, but you don’t regularly include that section. You can store all of your current and past sections (e.g. Objective, Skills, etc.) with the Show/Hide function.
As JobSpice offers many customization options, you will also have the ability to change the background color of the resume you are sending to others. On the Manage tab you’ll see when you’re logged in, click on the Background Color palette and see the instant change when you click on the link above the palette. Here is a quick demo of the results. If you’re having any trouble or have questions on any functions, try tweeting your question to @jobspice. When I expressed a problem that I had with one of the new features i.e. changing the background color, JobSpice staff fixed my problem within 10 minutes. As you can see here, JobSpice makes the process of building a free resume online a lot more fun and makes a great update to other resume-hosting websites, and template-gifting sites. Let us know in the comments if you have tried or plan to use the service! Related posts
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We decided to reward our readers with even more benefits and this is what we’ve come up with. Every month, we’ll feature a cool product to give away. It could be an application, a subscription to a web service, a cool gadget; the sky’s the limit!
If you (like most of MUO readers, I suppose) receive and send quite a few emails daily, you should be using Gmail for two simple reasons: it’s free and feature-rich.
I don't think my problem is a unique one. I usually don't watch a video in one sitting, although I might hear a song from start to finish. Sometimes, it takes about three sittings to finish off a movie! It's not the popcorn calories I get worried about, but the hassle of resuming a movie from where I left of. I also need to remember the position of the movie and continue from there without missing a frame.
When I came across 
As you might be aware, 
While popular services such as 
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