MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [March 9th]” plus 11 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [March 9th]
- What Is the Digital Media Copyright Act?
- 4 Awesome Websites To Find Guitar Chords For Songs
- How To Automatically Insert Photo Captions When You Upload To Facebook
- PDF-XChange Viewer – Give This Free PDF Reader A Second Look
- Pixelpipe For Android & iPhone Posts Updates To Over 100 Networks
- MakeUseOf Must-Have Mac Apps Giveaway Day #8 – Tweetie
- WAYN: Social Networking For The International Adventurers
- Mac Giveaway LaunchBar Winners!
- 4 Free WiFi Sites That Show Hotspot Locations Near You
- Mac Giveaway CoverSutra Winners!
- The Best Free Software To Trick Out Your Blackberry
| Cool Websites and Tools [March 9th] Posted: 09 Mar 2010 07:31 PM PST
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. em>Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers! Related posts
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| What Is the Digital Media Copyright Act? Posted: 09 Mar 2010 05:31 PM PST
Since that time, the DMCA has been implemented in many notable court cases and heavily criticized by society. It is essentially the law that made it illegal to download copyrighted digital media such as music, movies, and software, and is what the RIAA and MPAA have used to combat piracy in the courts.
So What Is the Digital Media Copyright Act?The DMCA is comprised of five titles and implements two treaties signed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Geneva conference in 1996. The five titles are as follows:
Now that's a lot of legal wordiness and doesn't really explain the key points of this document. Allow me to translate this for you. I will list the important points made in this law doctrine and cite examples of how they have influenced activity on the Web. CircumventionThe DMCA restricts the ability to make, sell, or distribute devices which circumvent (or get around) copyright protection. This means you are not allowed to make or use programs that allow users to get by any technical measures that control access to a copyrighted work. "It is illegal to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in a device or service which is primarily intended to circumvent copyright protection." Under this Act, it is illegal for you to 'crack' commercial software, sell or distribute any software used for cracking commercial software, or make unauthorized copies of copyrighted DVDs and CDs. File SharingThe illegal file-sharing of copyrighted materials is probably the most widely known and openly discussed effect of the Digital Media Copyright Act. It is illegal to host, share, or download copyrighted works, including music, movies, books, software, etc.
We have seen a lot of programs/websites over the years fall in the courts under violation of the DMCA (or its backings), most notably Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire. There is still an ongoing debate over whether or not 'linking' to—that is, not hosting yourself—infringing content is illegal. This is primarily the case with torrent websites. We have seen websites like The Pirate Bay, ISOHunt, and Mininova lose in court because they provide links to infringing material and make file-sharing very easy for peer-to-peer (P2P) users. Although none of the copyright infringing material is physically on their websites, it's pretty much an aiding and abetting mentality. Safe HarborTitle II of the DMCA creates a safe harbor for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) against copyright liability if they meet the guidelines and block access to—or remove—allegedly infringing material after receiving notification from the copyright holder.
A safe harbor is a legal term that means as long as the ISPs comply with the copyright holder's request (and take down the material) then they will not be held legally accountable for the infringing material. We've seen this on YouTube. Have you ever come across a video that has been "removed at the request of the copyright holder"? Most recently, we've had to witness the death (and rebirth!) of the 'Rick Roll' on YouTube. This provision of the DMCA has been openly criticized for making it too easy for copyright owners to take down infringing content and links, alleging that often times the material that is removed might not actually be infringing in the first place. ConclusionIn summary, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays the groundwork for all Internet-related copyright law and is the basis that a lot of court cases and online activities are carried out on. The document does have other miscellaneous provisions and sections attached to it, like the modified section in Title III, which states that those repairing computers are allowed to make certain, temporary copies of materials while working, but the three things covered in this article (circumvention, file-sharing, and safe harbor) are the primary effects of this Act and constitute the majority of actions and criticisms that this law has undertaken. What do you think of the DMCA? How has it affected your actions online? Do you pay for digital music and movies or download them for free? Are you a pirate? Leave your comments below! Image Credit: Horia Varlan, everyskyline, mkwilbur Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| 4 Awesome Websites To Find Guitar Chords For Songs Posted: 09 Mar 2010 03:31 PM PST
I remembered playing around with my mother’s old guitar when I was a kid, and realized that I’ve always wanted to learn how to play guitar. My daughter was already taking piano lessons from a local older couple who give lessons, so I decided to take guitar lessons while waiting for my daughter to finish her piano lessons.
So, a hobby that I took on in order to get off of the computer and take a break from the Internet, ended up bringing me back to the Internet in search of guitar chords for songs that I really want to learn how to play. I’ve found a few excellent websites that do a tremendous job in cataloging the correct chords for the most popular traditional and contemporary songs. Today, I’d like to share those discoveries with other guitar players out there. Chordie – A Massive Library Of Accurate & Inaccurate ChordsI think Chordie has to be one of the largest collections of guitar chords and tabs that I’ve ever found. I’ve yet to think of a song that doesn’t have a corresponding Chordie listing. At Chordie, you can search for either song or artist listings that are organized in a long alphabetical collection. This way, if you don’t know the title of a song, you can search for the guitar chords by the artist name instead.
Chordie is actually a huge community of guitar players who love music so much that they spend time trying to figure out the chords to music, and then list their findings on Chordie. Most of the time, you’ll discover that the chords listed here are actually pretty accurate – and you’ll be playing the coolest songs in no time. If you can’t find guitar chords for songs that you’re looking for anywhere else, then I’d suggest going to Chordie as your last resort. Why as a last resort? Because at least half the time, you’ll also discover that members posted chords or lyrics that are just totally wrong.
For example, one of the first songs I tried to learn on my own was Losing My Religion, by R.E.M. I found that the chords seem correct, but the lyrics are completely messed up. Some sentences are completely wrong, and others are just plain silly. This is only representative of about a third of Chordie chord listings from members – most of them are pretty accurate. The best part of Chordie listings is that the chord is displayed at the upper right hand corner, so you don’t have to go flipping through your guitar book to remind yourself how to play an “F”. Ultimate Guitar – The Ultimate ResourceAlthough I started out using Chordie, I got frustrated looking for accurate contemporary songs, so I was very pleased to stumble across Ultimate Guitar. The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive is that the layout is very clean and very cool. There’s music news, reviews, articles and interviews. You’ll find a forum and a full community of guitar playing music lovers just like you.
This is seriously a huge community where you can not only discover the guitar chords for songs, but you can absolutely immerse yourself into the world of music as you’re learning to play new songs. My favorite section of the site is the Top 100, where you’ll discover some of the greatest songs that you hear on the radio and wish that you could learn how to play.
I was very happy to discover the song Hey There Delilah, by the Plain White T’s – it’s a song I really want to learn how to play. Unfortunately, this page brought the discovery that it requires both F minor and B minor – two chords I’ve yet to master yet. Maybe some day soon… Another thing I like about this site is that in most cases you’ll find both the chords and the tabs. Many self-taught guitar players like tabs because it shows which string and which fret to play for each strum. However, taking lessons I’ve learned the chords, so really prefer just the lyrics with the chord changes listed above. Luckily, at Ultimate Guitar you’ll find both. E-Chords – An Online Application For Learning Guitar ChordsWhile my favorite online sport for popular guitar chords is Ultimate Guitar, E-Chords is a very close second. I love how functional the site is. From the main page, you’ll discover that you can search for songs by artists, albums, composers, song titles and even using just part of the lyrics, which is very useful when you just can’t remember the title of a song.
This site isn’t so much as community as it is an awesome online application that helps you learn how to play any song using whatever format you’re most comfortable with. The coolest part of e-chords is how you can customize the display of the song and the associated chords with a click of the mouse.
The guitar chords for songs that you’ll find here are displayed exactly how I like them – the lyrics with the required chord listed above them. The menu bar on the left offers all kinds of cool features, including auto-scroll (really nice when you’re trying to play and need to scroll down for the lyrics!), increase or decrease the font size, hide chords, play simpler chords (if available) and even switch the chord display from the letter to the chord drawings (awesome for beginners). Overall, I’d have to say that guitar chords for songs that I want are at e-chords, then this is where I prefer playing them because it’s so convenient and easy to use. Heartwood Guitar Instruction – Chords For Learning GuitarWhile Heartwood Guitar isn’t a giant library of thousands of guitar chords for songs, it is a place that you’ll want to go for some amazing free resources to learn how to play the guitar – with a hundred or so great classic songs, including the chords you’ll need to know to play them. Major kudos to Rob Hampton of Seattle for creating this impressive and useful online resource. To find the chords, from his main site just click on Chord Charts. You’ll find hundreds of great songs listed alphabetically.
These chord listings are nicely laid out with strum and rhythm information noted throughout in some spots. Now, while the chord listings are really fun to go through and play, I have to say that my favorite part of this website are the guitar lessons that Rob has written up and that he offers for absolutely free on his blog.
On his blog, he’ll show you tips and techniques on how to strum, tuning your guitar, fingerpicking and much more – often including images and always including detailed and clear instruction. It’s obvious that this is one instructor who is an excellent teacher, and that he really loves the art of guitar playing. Are you learning to play guitar, or are you an old pro on the strings? Do you have your own personal favorite online resources for finding accurate guitar chords for your favorite songs? Share your own resources 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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| How To Automatically Insert Photo Captions When You Upload To Facebook Posted: 09 Mar 2010 01:31 PM PST
The thing about photos is that the caption at the bottom is very helpful in seeing what the uploader was thinking when they uploaded the photo. The problem is that people don’t always take the time to add Facebook photo captions, especially if they’re uploading multiple photos at a time. If I wanted to upload several photos from the same event (or are somehow otherwise related), I would love to have the ability to automatically add the same caption to all of them at the time of the upload.
Facebook’s Upload via Email feature
If you upload photos via email, the subject line automatically becomes the caption. If you are emailing more than one photo, the subject line becomes the caption of all of the photos attached to that email. Very cool. Head to Facebook Mobile to find out the email address you should send updates and photos to. Don’t share this address with anyone because anyone who knows it can then post stuff to your profile and nobody wants that! Compose an email message attaching the photos and adding a subject line.
Check out your Facebook photo section to see the results.
The screenshot only shows one photo but they both ended up with the same caption. So using the email feature is one shortcut making adding Facebook photo captions automatic and easy. Desktop Application
Another way to easily add captions to multiple photos when uploading them to Facebook is to use a desktop application. I found one called Bloom. Bloom makes uploading multiple photos to Facebook easy. Just highlight the photos in their folder and drag and drop them into the Bloom application. It’s really that easy. Then you just add the album and photo information in fields in the right sidebar. You can either add separate photo captions by selecting them individually or you can Shift-click or Ctrl-click to highlight multiple photos and add the same caption to all selected photos. Bloom also has many other features but for the sake of this article I’ll only cover the bulk uploader. Picasa Uploader
There is also a Picasa plugin called Picasa Uploader that allows you to upload photos directly from your Picasa program to Facebook, captions and all. It’s as easy as installing Picasa (if you haven’t already), installing the plugin, allow access to your Facebook account, and upload. It even gives you the option to create a new album for each group of pictures you upload in bulk.
Facebook has its own upload function and it is quite easy to add captions after uploading, but these are a few ways to have the captions done in bulk and before the upload. As far as Picasa goes, you are saving yourself from doing the captions twice if you’ve already inserted them in Picasa. What are some of your tips to make adding captions to Facebook photos easier? Please 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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| PDF-XChange Viewer – Give This Free PDF Reader A Second Look Posted: 09 Mar 2010 11:31 AM PST
On second thoughts, the last sentence would be misplaced. Taking CNET's download figures for document management software, I see that it's behind Foxit and Adobe Reader. But the download numbers are really noteworthy.
We have featured it before, albeit briefly, in a post on 4 Really Light Alternatives to Adobe Reader and in 6 Ways To Convert A PDF To A JPG Image. But it's time to give PDF-XChange Viewer some limelight of all its own. The free version of PDF-XChange Viewer, which we are interested in, is a slim 18MB download. That makes it heavier than Foxit but lighter than Adobe Reader. You can get it in various installation packages including a portable version. The first thing you will notice with the first run is that the free PDF reader loads very fast. So let me load one of our own MakeUseOf eBooks and play around with the features that are there.
The first pleasing thing is it has a slick tabbed interface, letting me view more than one PDF file within one instance of the program. While choosing the components during the installation process, you will notice that PDF-XChange Viewer's Help file has a requirement of nearly 6MB. This translates into a comprehensive and detailed Help file for the guy who likes to know his software in and out.
The toolbar seems to be a bit cluttered. But that's because, by default, the software loads all the toolbars. You can set it up to your liking with a right click on the toolbar area and choosing Customize. A glance at the toolbar buttons gives you an idea of the features to expect. Features that are part of the paid Pro version are marked as such. The Key Features That Make Up PDF-XChange ViewerPDF-XChange Viewer makes navigation smooth with its Pan and Loupe tools located in the Zoom Toolbar. Zooming in and out with the slider is one way. Both the Loupe tool and the Pan and Zoom tool open up navigation windows and help to focus on specific areas of a PDF document.
PDF-XChange Viewer not only has a document search box but also a web search toolbar that's set first on Ask.com (more engines can be added from Preferences). Click the dropdown to choose from the other search providers. For searching within the document, you can also comb through added comments and bookmarks.
PDF-XChange Viewer can be used as a 'limited' document converter. PDF pages can be exported to a variety of image formats. The Export to Image dialog box is also rich in features as in the screenshot.
You can easily email a PDF document from within the reader itself. The title of the document is entered in the Subject line of the email. PDF-XChange Viewer shows the capability to handle interactive forms (AcroForms). The Form Data menu choice allows you to enter and retrieve data from Adobe Acrobat Forms. PDF-XChange Viewer has a few View options, for instance, View – Other Panes – Fields opens up a side pane with all the form fields. Along with form field highlighting, it makes the fields more obvious.
Commenting & Markup ToolsEvery PDF reader has its uniqueness. With PDF-XChange Viewer it could be its rich subset of commenting and markup tools. Here's a snapshot of the sub-menu accessed from Tools – Comment and Markup.
PDF-XChange Viewer gives you all the aids for elaborate markups with a variety of shape and line tools. And if you want to bump up the detail, there's the free form Pencil tool for some freehand rough sketches.
You can add comments and annotations to any PDF file. The Sticky Note tool adds a Sticky Note wherever you need one for commenting. Others can also add replies below the main text by clicking on Add Reply. The appearance of the text and the container box can be changed anytime.
The Callout Tool allows you to add a text box with an arrow pointing to a selected location on the page.
For some straight-cut text annotations, you can use the Typewriter or the Textbox Tool.
The Stamps sub-menu is for marking documents with your choice of stamps. You can add your own stamps, for instance, your scanned signature via the Stamps Palette.
For more of navigation between internal and external locations, the Link Tools are just two steps down. You can link to any internal point in the PDF document or to an external website.
More Below The SurfaceThe above lines highlight the more conspicuous features of PDF-XChange Viewer. Scratch the surface and there's more. Check out the Preferences and for customization options. For the paranoid, there's 40/128 bit RC4 and 128/256 bit AES Encryption and Password security support. Go into the Preferences and you can set a few memory usage and performance tuning options. Along with the extremely detailed Help file, you get an informative product page on their website with screenshots and how-to videos to guide you through the product. Downsides? Not many. Perhaps, the ability to add your own bookmarks in the free version would have helped. Hey, you can't win every round with a product that's absolutely free. PDF-XChange Viewer does win most of them. Take it around for a few rounds and compare it with your experience in either Foxit or the Adobe Reader. PDF-XChange Viewer (ver.2.0) is supported on Windows 2000 and all later versions. Related posts
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| Pixelpipe For Android & iPhone Posts Updates To Over 100 Networks Posted: 09 Mar 2010 10:31 AM PST
Yahoo! Meme has a similar story on display. Or hasn’t, rather. There is no official mobile app available yet. In these cases, we would turn to third-party (preferably) freeware. And we would be positively stunned. Reader, meet Pixelpipe.
Pixelpipe :: 100+ Sites SupportedPixelpipe is an application for your Android, iPhone, or Palm Pre that allows you to post to social network sites and blogs. So what? Pixelpipe currently supports far over 100 different ‘pipes’, including Wordpress, Blogger, Drupal, Facebook, Twitter, Meme, Flickr, and pretty much anything else that comes to mind. Here’s a list dating back five months, and it’ll still blow your mind. So that.
You can Twitter, blog, share family snapshots, and even upload to a batch of ‘pipes’ by using one predefined @tag. Amazingly, Pixelpipe manages to retain an overview of the horde. Prepare for dumping your old mobile applications. What work needs to be done for the switch, you ask? Just follow the steps below. Step 1 – Create a Pixelpipe AccountQuite obviously, you’re going to need a Pixelpipe account. Otherwise signing in would be one hell of a job. The basic sign up progress is hardly even a bother. Just enter your name, email address and password.
If you’ve already got an account on Twitter or Ovi Share, you can even skip the signup progress, and link those accounts together by simply logging in. However, do note that in the future you will always need to sign in with that Twitter or Ovi Share account you used, so there’s an unnecessary online dependence. Step 2 – Add Your PipesOnce signed in, you’ll need to start adding ‘pipes’. These are simply blog or social network accounts that you can later use to throw some interesting content online. Apart from Facebook, Meme and Twitter, not all these accounts are so obvious. It takes some time, but I’d advise you to scan through the entire list. Know that you can also perform this step on your mobile phone. But repeatedly entering usernames and passwords goes a lot easier on your computer.
Perhaps you’re already sure what you want to use Pixelpipe for. In that case, you might only want to add a very specific branch of online accounts, and leave the rest for your desktop internet use. Luckily you can also filter the available ‘pipe’ accounts by their capabilities.
After authorizing Pixelpipe with the selected account, you’ll be asked to enter a few additional details as well. Noteworthy is the Routing tag. By embedding this tag in title or body, you can override the default pipes and have a message sent only to that service. Routing tags are also used when you post by email and MMS. Step 3 – Profit! (Mobile)And that’s pretty much all you need to do before you’re able to start using Pixelpipe for you mobile phone. If you log in with your Pixelpipe account now, you’re all set to go. Post text, pictures, and video to all of you’re favorite sites.
As you can see in the screenshot above, you can still select non-default pipes every time you post. Where supported, you can even include your Geo (graphical location). Know any mobile applications that top this? Be sure to let us know what mobile services you use, and why! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| MakeUseOf Must-Have Mac Apps Giveaway Day #8 – Tweetie Posted: 09 Mar 2010 09:59 AM PST
Tweetie’s straightforward and minimalist appearance makes it a breeze to use. Yet, it’s a looker and quite capable. It’s no wonder we’re giving away 10 copies of Tweetie worth $200 as one of the must-have commercial Mac apps! Think you’re lucky enough to grab one?
Navigating through your replies, messages and searches is made simple with the small vertical menu on the left hand side of the app.
When scrolling through your, or other users’ timelines, replies directed to you are highlighted in blue.
The icon in the menu bar turns blue when there are new tweets in your timeline, otherwise it remains grey. From the menu bar, you can quickly access your or other user’s profiles, and switch between your profiles if you have multiple Twitter accounts. From any given profile, you can access a user’s timeline, favourites, replies directed at them, and their profile info.
Tweetie has incorporated five URL shortening services: bit.ly, TinyURL, is.gd, tr.im and DiggBar, as well as six services for sharing your images: yFrog, TwitPic, Twitgoo, Posterous, Imag.ly and Pix.im. And it doesn’t end there. With Tweetie, you can record video directly from your Mac, using a webcam, and share it with your Twitter followers through yFrog. Images uploaded to these services, as well as profile pictures, will open in a slick HUD window.
One of the ways in which Tweetie truly excels is the way it handles conversations. Opening a reply, Tweetie will list all the tweets in that conversation, with the most recent at the top of the list.
For those of you who are fans of keyboard shortcuts, Tweetie has a shortcut for just about everything, from creating a new tweet, to quickly switching between your timeline, replies and direct messages. If you already use the iPhone app, or if you’ve been looking for a simple but powerful Twitter client to use when you’re at your Mac – Tweetie is perfect for you. Download the free, ad-supported version and take it for a spin. Ready to jump into Twitterverse just for this app? How do I win a copy?It’s simple. Just follow the steps.
This giveaway ends tomorrow, just before the next one starts. You may participate in as many giveaways as you want, even if you’ve previously won! Let the giveaway begin! Have fun! Want to know what else we’re giving away? Check out this post 15 Must-Have Free Apps For Your Mac & Giveaway. MakeUseOf would like to thank Loren from atebits for her generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. em>Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers! Related posts
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| WAYN: Social Networking For The International Adventurers Posted: 09 Mar 2010 09:31 AM PST
I’m sure that many people share the same passion for world traveling, visiting exquisite corners of the world and feasting the eyes with breathtaking views. But sightseeing is not the only form of adventure you can get from traveling. There are others who prefer exploring the darkness of caves, crawling on the harsh textures of rock faces, challenging the rush rivers, or simply enjoying a cocktail while watching the sunset on a pristine beach. These adventures will surely enrich one’s life. But everything will taste sweeter if you could share the stories to people with similar enthusiasm. People that you will find in WAYN (I guess it stands for: “Where Are You Now?”).
Share The ActionOne glance at the front page of this social network for adventure travelers, and you can already guess what WAYN is all about. A high adrenalin background image and a small blue “f” logo in the corner shows that this is definitely not a site for those who spend their leisure time with Ruby on Rails.
Now let’s dig in a little bit deeper. The registration step is a little bit different from the usual because you need to provide data of your location.
If you choose to take the Facebook route, the service will attach itself to your virtual social life. WAYN will fetch information from your Facebook account and send your WAYN content to your wall.
But of course the exchange won’t happen unless you give the permission first.
Start The Adventure After logging in you will arrive at an “overwhelming” place. Literally. There are so many things here to explore and customize that one might not know where to start. Let’s take it one step at a time. On the upper left there’s the main menu consisting of links to other main pages such as: Homepage, Calendar, Trips, and Activities.
But before you explore any further, the first thing you need to do is to write down the answer to “what would you love to do?”
Then complete your profile by uploading a photo. To encourage members to upload their picture, there’s an incentive of 1 point given to every member who do so. The points that you earn can be used for further enhancing your social status in WAYN. Then you can add activities that you want to do and places that you want to visit.
Enrich your adventures by adding your friends to your circle. You can do a name search filtered by countries, or you can also do an email search if you know your friend’s email address. Another way to add friends is by interacting with people around you. In the WAYN context, this means those whose location is geographically near you.
Then you can start checking out news from other WAYN members, and try to find people with similar passions.
But maybe the most interesting thing about WAYN is the ability to plan a trip. Start by clicking the “Add” button from the “Add Locations” box. Then add other information about the trip, including the description, name of the place and the date of the trip.
The you can enrich the trip log by adding photos, videos, notes and sharing it with your friends. A general trip map (powered by Google Maps) is automatically drawn there.
So, do you love adventures? Have you traveled to the other side of the world? Do you know of other social networks for travelers like WAYN? Please share using the comments below. Image credit: EduardoZ Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Mac Giveaway LaunchBar Winners! Posted: 09 Mar 2010 09:00 AM PST
Are you doing more already? License information will be sent via email. Thank you for participating. Have you won anything yet? MakeUseOf would like to thank Norbert and Objective Development for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. em>Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers! Related posts
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| 4 Free WiFi Sites That Show Hotspot Locations Near You Posted: 09 Mar 2010 08:31 AM PST
This scenario is becoming increasingly real. Many people work in jobs that don’t rely on their physical presence since they can complete and submit their work electronically. Thus, they are free to work wherever they want. An essential ingredient for this freedom is wireless LAN or WiFi. Besides, having access to the internet from anywhere is nice to have, even if you don’t need it for work. This article covers free WiFi sites that allow you to find hotspot locations near you.
Wi-Fi Hotspot DirectoryThis directory lists over 30,000 hotspots worldwide. The most prominent locations are Europe and North America with over 10,000 hotspots each. Not all of the listed hotspots are free. To locate free WiFi locations near you, use the search form, where you can select your country and enter your state, city, or ZIP code. You can also specify an operator and the type of place you’re looking for, i.e. park or internet cafe. To find only free wifi hotspot sites and locations, be sure to tick the respective box!
The search form also provides a link through which you can browse all cities. LaptopFriendlyCafesDo you crave for a cafe that serves delicious coffee, offers free WiFi, and a power plugin for your laptop? Then you need to have a look at LaptopFriendlyCafes.com. Here you will find a list of places that offer the full service.
So far, their collection contains over 300 cafes, with most being situated in the cities London, New York, and Sydney. If you know another one anywhere in the world, please go ahead and submit it. Do you have an iPhone? Get their iPhone app to spot cafes close to where you currently are. WaiFiThis is a very easy to use WiFi hotspot finder that integrates Google Maps to show you exactly where to find a free wireless access point. Simply enter your location and check the Google map for WaiFi flags. A click on the flag will bring up details, i.e. the category, location, and carrier.
The site is powered by users. You can add WiFi hotspots easily by clicking the button at the bottom left of the map, which will bring up a WaiFi flag. Drag the flag to the exact location and fill in the details.
FREE-hotspotA site similar to WaiFi is FREE-hotspot.com. It’s a little more convenient to use, albeit not as stylish. It also uses Google Maps and provides lots of useful information for WiFi beginners.
One very convenient feature is an indicator of whether or not a listed hotspot is currently active (green or red flag). Additionally, the list of all currently displayed WiFi locations is displayed in a menu on the left-hand side. An interactive filter menu pulls out from the top of the map on mouse-over and can be used to find specific hotspots. Unfortunately, FREE-hotspot.com appears to cover fewer locations than WaiFi, at least for the places in North America, Europe, and Australia I checked. Last year, David introduced 5 Wi-Fi Hotspot Finders To Find Free Wi-Fi Spots Near You. In this article he also covered WiFi-friendly chains and airports and linked to the following sites:
Do you own a PSP? Simon explained How To Use Your PSP WiFi Scanner To Find A Wireless Internet Hotspot. Before you go out hunting for a free WiFi hotspot, however, make sure you’re all prepared. Karl reminds you of Things To Know When Using a WiFi Hotspot Or a Public PC and Ryan showed you 4 Free WiFi Software Downloads to Get Most of Wireless Networks. Both articles contain important security-relevant information. Finally, if you’re wondering how wireless works in the first place, read Guy’s Technology Explained article on How Does Wireless Internet Work?. What is your favorite location to make use of free public WiFi? Image credits: duchessa Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Mac Giveaway CoverSutra Winners! Posted: 09 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PST
We even had to extend the giveaway since CoverSutra is such a great app, everyone should have a chance to grab a free copy. Here are the lucky winners of our CoverSutra giveaway! Congratulations! Get that groove on!
License information will be sent via email. Thank you for participating. Have you won anything yet? MakeUseOf would like to thank Sophia from Sophiestication Software for her generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. em>Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers! Related posts
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| The Best Free Software To Trick Out Your Blackberry Posted: 09 Mar 2010 07:31 AM PST
Well we felt that we were missing out on showing our Blackberry users a little love. So here, without further ado, is a list of 6 free Blackberry software applications to download and install that will essentially trick out your mobile phone and make it do what you want it to do.
The first application we will cover is the free Blackberry Kindle software. The free Kindle application can be downloaded first to your computer or over the air on your Blackberry via this link. You will be able to link to your Amazon account and any eBooks you have already purchased as well as being able to buy paid and free books via Amazon as well. This is a nifty feature to add to your Blackberry, essentially making it a eBook reader. Nice!
Next up is an application called StockView and as you can guess it displays NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and NASDAQ quotes. There are loads of stock applications for the Blackberry but most of them are either charging $29.99 for the application or a monthly fee. This application is totally free (at least for now). The site lists it as a trial but it will work indefinitely.
Now let’s make your Blackberry into a powerful money sending/accepting machine. Paypal has provided an application via the Blackberry Appworld Store that allows you to log into your Paypal account and view your balance, check your history and send money. This is very cool stuff! Check if that payment came in right on the spot before you continue working…
You can download it via this link. And of course if you have full access to your PayPal account why not your eBay account as well? Well from the eBay App for the Blackberry you can pretty much do anything you can do directly on eBay's website without having to be in front of a computer! No more waiting around for that auction to end and you can search auctions on the go!
Now how about having the power of Directory Assistance without having to make a phone call? The application is called Beyond411 and can be downloaded from here. I first saw this on the iPhone and it looked great. Beyond411 is a service for information that goes one step beyond basic 411 information. It allows you to drill down and find what you are looking for. You set your location so it returns local stuff and it goes on to provide, in addition to the directory searching on Yellow Pages, support for maps, driving directions and white pages.
The last application, and certainly not least worthy, is a program called WorldMate Live. WorldMate Live has a free and a paid version. The free version allows you to view and modify your travel itinerary, see world clocks, weather forecasts and there is even a currency converter in there.
Consider this a traveler’s best friend or assistant. It will hold your information down so you don't lose or misplace it. You can go Gold (paid) to have flight alerts and status automatically updated on the go. All in all, after using this application, I don't know how to travel without it. Did I leave out your favorite free Blackberry application? Well than hit us up in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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