MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [February 20th]” plus 4 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [February 20th]
- How To Upgrade To Windows Mobile 6 Without Destroying Your Phone
- How To Access Your Facebook Profile On My Yahoo
- How To Play Old Arcade Games On Your PC
- BetterMe – Self Improvement With the Help of Anonymous Feedback
| Cool Websites and Tools [February 20th] Posted: 20 Feb 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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| How To Upgrade To Windows Mobile 6 Without Destroying Your Phone Posted: 20 Feb 2010 05:31 PM PST
The first thing to do is to check for real upgrades from your service provider. For instance I have a T-Mobile Dash that I used to use on AT&T. It is running Windows Mobile 5 but T-Mobile has released a upgrade to Windows Mobile 6. I could not find it on their site. I assume it is no longer available from them or without contacting customer support. But I found it with a little Google-Fu:
That first site has a copy of the upgrade files I need to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1. The files can be downloaded from here. Maybe you don't trust the site or you were unable to locate an upgrade file for your device. Remember – these are for the DASH only and you will need to find your ROM for your device. ROM upgrades are device-specific. If you do not understand this statement DO NOT UPGRADE! If you cannot find what you need from a reputable source, like your ISP, what you need to do is go to the XDA-Developers Forum and locate your device like so (they only have HTC devices and 9 out of 10 Windows Mobile devices are HTC):
Click on your device. You can locate it using the Control-F feature on your browser. Once you are in the forums you will need to locate a ROM – you can use Control-F or their search feature to find a ROM. The ROM below is actually Windows Mobile 6.5 FTW! You can see this enclosed in brackets in the title. Open the post.
This is a custom WM 6.5 ROM just for this device. The author includes instructions and what to do in case something goes wrong. Let's take a look at it: Flashing instructions: ** note ** : your phone must be application unlocked. If it is not, please run SDA Application Unlock.exe via Activesync.
In case something goes wrong:
See my full “unbricking” guide here. These directions will be different for each device but the bulk of it will be the same. Download your ROM, USB connect your device and run their applications. For normal updates you do the same thing but connect the device via Activesync and then run the update. But all in all nowadays you really cannot brick your device as there are methods for undoing almost anything you can do! When you are finished you will have a brand new device! Check out these shots of a Dash running Windows Mobile 6.5!
If you need device-specific advice, hit me with an email or leave a comment! em>Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers! Related posts
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| How To Access Your Facebook Profile On My Yahoo Posted: 20 Feb 2010 02:31 PM PST
A number of modules are listed on the left side that can be personalized the way you like. By default, if you are not logged in, the page guesses your location and presents information that may be relevant to you. In India, it shows Cricket and Bollywood news up top in addition to other useful links.
Let’s see how you can configure it to suit you and add your Facebook and other social networks on Yahoo. Yahoo! realizes that Facebook is the most popular social network and makes things easy for you by providing a module for you to use Facebook on Yahoo. Hover over it and you can configure it to work with your Facebook account. My Yahoo would then pull in the required feeds from Facebook and also allows you to interact with it. To add Facebook on Yahoo:
Next time you hover on the Facebook link on your Yahoo page, you will be shown updates from your Facebook. This is the view that you will see:
You can now check status updates of your Facebook friends, comment on their statuses, update your own status and do almost all those cheeky things you do on Facebook. Removing Facebook From Yahoo!What goes up shall come down. This is especially important (though not apparent at first) when deciding to use a web application. You might love the way the Yahoo! webpage looks and works today, however you cannot be certain that it will always stay the same way. So you should always plan your escape route first before committing personal information to anybody on the web. You don’t want to be locked down into using a product just because you have all your data/personal information with them. If a site seems like it functions this way, you should seriously reconsider what you are committing to. In our present scenario though, both Yahoo! and Facebook provide a way to dust off your hands and walk away (you might want to read the Privacy Policies for more details though). To remove Facebook from My Yahoo! you can either click on Options > Settings from the Facebook overview on the Yahoo page.
Or you can unauthorize Yahoo! from accessing your Facebook data from within Facebook. In fact this works with all the applications you use in Facebook or any third party tools that you may be using to interact with Facebook.
To do so, click on Account and then on Application Settings. You will then see applications that you have used with your account. You can then Edit Settings for each application which controls the permissions granted to the application. Or you can click on the cross sign next to the application to remove it from accessing your account altogether.
In addition to Facebook there are many other modules that you can configure and use on the Yahoo homepage. It displays the default modules according to your location but you can find additional modules not listed there in by clicking on the “Add +” button. What are your favorite applications for Facebook? What different modules do you use on your My Yahoo page? Share them with us in the comments. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| How To Play Old Arcade Games On Your PC Posted: 20 Feb 2010 11:31 AM PST
The legacy of the arcade has become a romanticized vision left only in the minds of those who lived it and preserved in movies and music from the heyday of such places. Songs like “PacMan Fever” remind us of how much arcades meant to their patrons.
Diligent programmers would not be hindered by such things though. There is a free, open source emulator for old arcade games available called the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, commonly shortened to MAME. You can get MAME here. Just click on "Latest Releases" then download the Windows binary for your system, either 64 bit or 32 bit. After the download completes, start the executable and select the directory where you want the files to be extracted. The prompt should look like this.
When that completes, you're ready to start using MAME, but first, you need to download some ROMs to play. There an many places to get ROMs, my favorite is ROM World. After you have gone through the list of games they have there and have downloaded your favorites, move them into the "roms" folder in your MAME extraction like so.
Remember not to unzip them, just leave them as they are. Next, double click on the "mameapp" for 32-bit or “vmame64” for 64-bit in the MAME extraction. The following dialog should pop up.
Note, if the lower part of the prompt is red when a game is highlighted, then there is a good chance that the ROM may not work because the developer has not finished it. If it is green, then you’re likely good to go. Go to the old arcade game you want to play and press enter. The game might take a second to start up because you are now emulating the cabinet’s hardware and it is acting as if it is starting for the first time or so. The screen may also flash with some strange messages or images, just let it do its thing until you get to the game's splash screen. Now you are ready to play. Press F5 to add a credit (like inserting a coin into a real machine) and press the 1 key for one player mode. The arrow keys will act as your joystick and LCtrl will be your button for simple old games that had just one button. For games with more than one, LAlt will be button two, and Space will be button three. Here I am playing Berzerk, one of my personal favorites.
You have the option to remap the buttons as you want so that you're most comfortable when you play. Instructions can be found here. You can even use a gamepad or a joystick to better simulate the arcade experience. MAME is a great program to get back to the video game's roots. Old arcade games are fun for a quick game to pick up and play. MAME makes enjoying them easy, simple, and free. Do you have any favorite arcade games or know of another arcade emulator? Let us know in the comments 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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| BetterMe – Self Improvement With the Help of Anonymous Feedback Posted: 20 Feb 2010 09:31 AM PST
Feedback that is constructive (or even if it isn't) is like a mirror. Some see through it like glass, but some who catch the reflection, use it as the first clues for some self-appraisal. A beta web service called BetterMe reminded me of an exercise I did during my college sophomore. A psychological tool called the Johari Window exercise helped us discover our 'blind spots'.
The grid system of Johari Window makes for very interesting reading. If you aren't aware of it, check it up here on Wikipedia. BetterMe is a communication platform that helps us take (and give) honest opinions. It takes a very basic question – “Why don’t people just say what they really think?”, and works it around as a web tool to get anonymous feedback. We don't say the truth because it might hurt, embarrass or anger the target of our comments. It's our human nature that doesn't want any light to fall on the blind spots. BetterMe takes the personal equator out by providing a platform that's totally anonymous and private. Accepting a positive or negative observation becomes far easier when we can't connect the feedback to a face. Very often, it can be unbiased too because the person making the comment doesn't have any fear of a counter-reaction. Understanding BetterMe As A Self-Improvement ToolThe first step to using it as a self improvement tool is to log-in and do a recce of its features. BetterMe gives us three ways to start with our self improvement plans.
Give Feedback:You can send anonymous feedback to a person who is not a BetterMe user. Your identity is protected making it impossible for anyone to trace it back to you. The Send Feedback message interface looks like this and is pretty self explanatory.
We can send feedback to multiple recipients by separating the addresses with a comma. The feedback is a word limit of 500 characters. So I guess we have to be brief and concise with our barbs and less gushy with our praise! The feedback lands in the Inbox of the recipient in this format.
Clicking on the link takes him/her to BetterMe where he has to log-in with an email ID and a password. Some of us might not like to create a login and prefer a temporary kind of thing where we can just see the feedback and that's that. But the log-in has a purpose (beyond increasing the number of users). It makes the recipient a part of BetterMe and gives him a chance to respond to the comment and rate it. The rating gets reflected in a usefulness scale for each giver. If you don't like the feedback, report it by reporting it as out of line.
Get Feedback:This is the Inbox for all your feedbacks. See what others around you are saying about you.
Ask For Feedback:This section of BetterMe is all about being a bit pro-active for the sake of self improvement. Fill in the blanks, in a company structure you can also use a template (there's just one). You can ask for and get anonymous feedback from anyone – inside or outside your BetterMe circle.
The response to your asking to get anonymous feedback follows the same route. Of course, the sender knows the people from whom he is asking for the feedback. With a one-to one query, the anonymity factor gets tossed aside. With a group or say within a company, the link in the email takes you directly to a BetterMe anonymous form where you can say what you feel like. A click on submit is followed by a signup request to complete the chain.
The DashboardThe Dashboard is the barometer of what the world thinks about you and what you think about the world. From the various pie-charts and graphs, you can pictorially make out where you stand. For instance, feedbacks broken down to the areas of your life can serve to show where you need to focus more.
Of course, all of this needs lots of feedback and all need to be honest about it. The anonymity channel of communication helps to remove lip service and make those around us speak their minds. Do you think BetterMe (beta) can help you discover your blind spot? Give us the feedback and you need not be anonymous about it. Image Credit: Karl Horton Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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So with the impending release of Windows Mobile 7, a lot of people are interested in upgrading. And I have been receiving a lot of questions from people still running variations of Windows Mobile 5 who want to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.
Yahoo has a very pretty and functional homepage since a few months now. The page features an improved interface and the ability to add and view custom sections making it suitable to be used as a start page.
Today, you can play games almost anywhere. At home, you can whip out an Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, or even game on a PC. On the go, you can be entertained by games on your phone or a hand held system. But many years ago, such a luxury could not be imagined by most. Back then, gamers congregated at the corner store or specially purposed arcades to play the latest releases from Atari, Williams Electronics, or Midway.
Who doesn't like honest feedback? Actually – everyone, especially if it is of the negative kind. But if we care to carefully sift through the debris of our bruised egos, we can find the seeds of self improvement.
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