Tuesday, March 16, 2010

MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [March 15th]” plus 9 more

MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [March 15th]” plus 9 more

Link to MakeUseOf.com

Cool Websites and Tools [March 15th]

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:31 PM PDT

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.

List Your Website Here!

 

Try2StopMe – No one likes living behind a restrictive firewall. Be it run by your government to keep you from questioning their authority or run by your employee to keep you from slacking off. Enter Try2StopMe a web tool that lets you bypass these restrictive firewalls and get to the web the way it should be: unfiltered. Read more: Try2StopMe: Bypass Restrictive Firewalls at Work & School.

 

xMinutesAt – When you start browsing websites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, hours go by before you realize you have wasted a lot of time. xMinutesAt is a handy tool to help avoid wasting time online. It is a small online timer that you can set before browsing any website, and it will remind you once the timer counts down to zero. Read more: xMinutesAt: Avoid wasting time by setting timer on any website.

 

 

Canvastic – Microsoft Paint is undoubtedly one of the most basic household drawing applications for most people. Canvastic dot NET is a free online version of the freehand drawing tool Canvastic which functions almost exactly like MS Paint. Read more: Canvastic: Fun Online Paint App.

 

 

ChurchRater – With different churches belonging to different ideologies, it is not easy to find the church that fits in a new place. ChurchRater is a web service that lets you find churches by church name, state or denomination. When the results are displayed, you can click on any church to give it a rating or post comments. Read more: ChurchRater: Find and Rate Churches Online.

 

 

MenuBuilder – Navigation menus are an important part of any website's design but with so much HTML, CSS and graphics involved, they are not always easy to create. Enter MenuBuilder, it is a navigation menu generator that takes the complexity out of it by letting you generate menus online without writing a single line of code. Read more: MenuBuilder: Online Navigation Menus Generator.

 

List Your Website Here!

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.

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

Related posts


3 Cool Wordpress Plugins To Make Blogging Life Easier

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 06:30 PM PDT

Wordpress is the best all round blogging platform. You can use it for a simple online journal or to power huge websites such as our very own MakeUseOf.

I guess thats why so many bloggers trust it to get the job done on an everyday basis, as well as keep their site looking great with themes and widgets.

That being said, there are times when we need specific features and that’s where plugins come in. Many of us will use plugins to make our blog comparable with another service such as a social network or to improve server response time, but today I want to take a look at three cool Wordpress plugins I use which just make blogging easier and more enjoyable.

Theme My LogIn

The WP login page hasn’t changed much since the platform was first released so it’s cool to be able to jazz it up with this plugin.

cool Wordpress plugins

What it does is simple: it transforms your login page into a page of your blog when wp-admin redirects you to the login page. The login area is displayed where your post would normally be with the rest of your blog being the same. You can still use the normal login page by going directly to wp-login.php.

While this doesn’t make blogging any easier per se, it does give you a little bit of individuality and fun.

Future Calandar

This plugin will be of great benefit to those who post on their blogs every few days or so and like to keep their posting pattern regular. Obviously, if you own a bigger blog then some of the point is lost because all of the days will be highlighted but it might still be useful to you to decide which day a post would be best suited to.

cool Wordpress plugins

It’s a basic plugin but one of my favorites. A small calandar will appear once the plugin is installed, to the right of your posting area. The days when you have post scheduled for the remainder of the month will be highlighted in green as seen above. The current day is highlighted and bolded.

I find this really handy when posting as I just have to glance at the calandar to check my frequency and to decide what day/date would be the best for the post to go live.

Photo Dropper

A picture is worth a thousand words and like most bloggers, I like to start off an article with a big, high-quality picture that really captures the theme of the article. The trouble is that when posting creative commons images you have to source the picture on a separate website such as Flickr and post an attribution link.

cool Wordpress plugins

Photodropper however, creates a small icon in the post editor as shown. When clicked a search bar will appear. This enables you to search Flickr for CC images. When you click on one of the results and select the appropriate size (the largest being 500px), the image is placed in the post and an attractive link along with the Creative Commons logo is placed below.

I think this makes the post look very professional and also saves you a lot of hassle.

So there you have it. Three cool Wordpress plugins to make your blogging life a little easier. Do you use any interesting plugin which helps you blog or just to liven things up?

Image Attribution: Pantagrapher

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


The Commentor – A Visual Online Collaboration and Annotation Tool

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:30 PM PDT

There are several tools on the net for written online collaboration. For example, MUO recently published an article about TypeWith.me for writing collaboration. But for those working on and seeking feedback on visual media projects, The Commentor might be a useful online collaboration tool.

This site is useful for web designers, photographers, advertising agencies, and freelancers in general who work in the visual communication fields. Tools like The Commentor enable users to get beyond writing endless emails to provide feedback; and instead, it provides ways to give feedback on visual documents themselves.


The Commentor's free plan allows for 100MB of image uploads, two projects, and three collaborators. Other plans are a monthly fee, providing more storage space, collaborators, and projects. The free plan, however, is great for say, students and home users who might not need the month-to-month service. The site owners also point out that, "If you are using your free account regularly—there are no time limits. If your free account hasn’t been active for three months, it will be removed automatically after three notifications to your email."

After signing up for an account, you begin by adding a project folder. It works similarly to how you gather visual media together for a client or instructor, who in turn provides written comments, sticky notes, and other annotations to items in the project.

Add Sketch

After the project is created, you start adding "sketches," e.g. visual images, designs, art work, photos.

Annotation Tool

Once projects are uploaded, you can invite others to give you, well, comments. When you sign up for an account, you are given a custom URL so that others can link to your account. However, to add comments on projects, commentators must also join the site.

The heart of the site is the Projects page or module. It consists of a toolbar for making annotations and comments. It works similarly to the tools you find in say, Photoshop. It has tools for drawing squares and circles, for creating comment boxes, and a pen tool for freehand marks and sketches.

Annotations made on project items are non-destructive. The original files are always kept in tact. The purpose of these tools is to actually give feedback on the project pieces themselves. There's also a nifty zoom tool and ruler, very useful for designers.

The colors of the shape tools can be changed, but unfortunately, the font size in the comment box cannot be increased.

Although The Commentor is about making annotations and feedback on visual files, there still should be a place to provide written feedback beyond the comment boxes.

All project items can be downloaded or locked, and there's also a feature for approving projects items, which again is another cool feature.

Overall, The Commentor is a useful online collaboration tool and an online feedback tool. However, I think it could provide more as it grows and expands. It would be useful, for instance, to include a way for commentors or collaborators to give recorded audio feedback as part of projects. An audio recording too would another way of cutting down on back and forth written emails concerning project items.

I can’t any other sites like The Commentor, but I'm sure there a few others out there. Let us know what similar online tools you use or have tried.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


Vysr – A Contextual Browsing Plugin To Surf More Efficiently

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 02:30 PM PDT

Simply browsing the web doesn't cut the dice anymore. There's so much to do and parallel lives to lead with our coterie of friends in Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the 'websphere'. Then there's chat time with friends who are online. If there's any time left, it's taken up by watching or listening to net chatter via RSS feeds or news streams.

If the browser could feel, it would surely feel overwhelmed with the bytes that are thrown at it. To manage all the information salvos, a host of applications have offered their web services.

From plug-ins that make the browser the Jack-of-all trades to homepages like iGoogle that attempt to give us a 360 degree view of what's happening on the web.


Vysr has a similar agenda. Vysr aims to bring order to the internet chaos by making available a host of web services via its browser extension (for Firefox and IE). With its contextual integration with what we are browsing, Vysr gives back control to the user. Contextual search makes browsing for new information not only uninterrupted from one source to the other, but also makes it quicker.

With traditional browsing, we have to key in the source and then the query to get the results. With Vysr's implementation of contextual search, we don't have to leave the page. For instance, if I highlight 'Android' on a webpage, I can get all the dope on it from Vysr's collection of third party apps like Wikipedia, YouTube, Google News etc. There were some websites where Vysr did not activate, but it was pretty much on the go with most.

Double Header from Vysr – OpenBar and RoamAbout Tray

The browser extension of Vysr that lets us do all the contextual browsing is called RoamAbout. It is a small and free extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer. Here's how it looks after its install in the browser.

The horizontal bar at the bottom of the browser window is the OpenBar and the vertical one at right angles to it is called RoamAbout Tray.

OpenBar displays live content/updates like a ticker via apps for your favorite websites. The news sources are easily configurable. You can choose to have your Twitter and Facebook updates stream in or go with your personal RSS Feed. Or simply catch up with the current news on a favorite topic like Technology. If all this is distracting, a single click can closet the OpenBar.

Then again, shutting down the OpenBar won't be a good idea because it also lets you receive notifications of any email that's popping into your Gmail account. You can also get informed from Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

I will leave that choice to you while we take a look at what's the RoamAbout Tray all about.

Toggle it from view with a click on the blue 'R' icon. RoamAbout Tray is the contextual powerhouse of Vysr. Using it is as simple as highlighting text on any website and clicking on an app in RoamAbout Tray. What you get to see in a little pop-up box are results from that app related to the highlighted text. Take the instance as shown in the screenshot below.

But the RoamAbout Tray is not just the 9-10 apps you see arranged one on top of the other. Click on the green + icon and you get to select from a roll call of 46 apps arranged in all the categories you can think off. It will take you a while to go through all of them, but there are a few really cool ones. In the first run, I got myself a movie and a weather app, two little things I need quite frequently.

Vysr lets us take everything along with us while browsing

Vysr is another step towards a solution when everything can be done from within the browser. The OpenSocial framework of the applications on the sidebar, allow us to locate and share all sorts of information. Combining social sharing with browsing is becoming the rule rather than the exception. Vysr is just another handy tool that reminds us of that fact.

Do a turn of contextual browsing with Vysr and see if it's speedier that way or… would you prefer the traditional approach of opening multiple tabs and applications.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


Explore Interesting New Places with Gowalla

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 01:30 PM PDT

Over the summer, I picked up a new hobby: geocaching. As we’ve talked about before, geocaching is an awesome hobby that combines techie goodness with the great outdoors.

But, what if you don’t have time to hunt through the thickets to get that prized little smiley for the log?

What if you have just five minutes and feel like doing a little hunting and explore new places?  What if you have a car full of small children and it is raining outside?  Is there a hobby that plays nice with technology and is quick and easy?

Meet Gowalla!

Welcome Gowalla! Gowalla is a smartphone app that allows you to “log in” at many locations across the globe. Without hunting, you can simply use your iPhone [iTunes link] or Blackberry to find checkpoints near you, explore new places and then log in your visit. While you are there, you can drop off a little virtual swag like a watermelon or a guitar. You can find out who else has been there and how recently they visited.

Your Gowalla friends are automatically generated from Twitter and Facebook, and you get updates of the cool places they have been.

The part I love the most is that you can create, right on the spot, a new checkpoint. Some people establish themes like stopping at every Dunkin’ Donuts and creating a checkpoint or finding every statue within a town. More popular places like historical sites and graves of famous dead folks are listed, as well.

A Hit with the Kids

Gowalla is great for small children because every “outing” is a success. Sometimes it is hard to explain to my small kids why we spent 2 hours hiking up a mountain to come out with a “Did Not Find.” Gowalla makes every trip, even those uphill treks, a success for them.

Pre-readers can follow the easy to read icons. The “Featured Spots” menu helps you to pick out a few destinations near you. The icons are easy enough for my kids to ask about them, and we take the time to go learn about the different spots.

Going Global with Gowalla

I feel like Gowalla tries to do more globally. They seem focused on the international benefits of checkpointing, and I really love that concept.  The world opens up for me and my children when we look at the checkpoints placed in all corners of the earth. They also did a campaign for Haiti and a little ditty for the Olympics.  These posts help me explore new places and share the world from the hiking trail or in the car when it is raining.

Connecting with the World

We also love to check where our friends have been lately.  We kiddingly “checkpointed” the nearest drug store, and we’re excited to see friends of ours log in and take our watermelon.

We have also talked about places where we feel a checkpoint should be placed, and discussed whether or not we should also consider placing a geocache in the same location.

Another Awesome Checkpoint Program

There are other “checkpoint” programs like FourSquare that do the same sort of thing. They also allow you to track where you have been somewhere, and it is an equally robust and fun program (and I am geeky enough to log in with both programs). Foursquare seems to be geared more to the techie side of the hobby, and marketed to adults.

Geocaching and “checkpointing” are awesome tools to help children learn about the environment, community, or historical foundation of an area.

Hunting for treasure is a real hit in our house, but learning about those treasures that surround us help us all to be better global citizens.  We feel connected to our friends and to strangers we have never met, and we realize that we may all cross paths at some point.

While geocaching will always be near and dear to my heart, I am loving the chance to share the world with my kids.

Do you geocache or checkpoint?  Which programs do you prefer?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


Top 6 Underground Search Engines You Never Knew About

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 12:30 PM PDT

I love Google, Bing and Yahoo just as much as the next Internet user, but sometimes you really want to dig down into a particular subject.

In order to do that, you really need access to those underground search engines that may not be quite as well known, but they dig much more deeply into specialized areas of the Internet than the general search engines are capable of.

In many cases, these search engines are tapped into what is currently termed the “invisible web,” which is the information available on the Internet that standard search engines don’t have access to, because they are buried behind query forms or directory requests.


The following 6 underground search engines that I chose are not porn sites, illegal piracy sites or anything else that could get you in trouble with the law, or with your significant other. Instead, I term the following as “underground search engines” for two reasons. First, because they are so specialized that, although they are extremely useful, these search engines remain hidden from the general Internet population.

Second, because they provide a search service to a select community of Internet users who are interested in the specific subject matter that the search engine covers. So, in this article I’ll be covering seven “topical” search engines that I consider that best in that topic area.

#1 – The Best Torrent Search Engine

If you are a Torrent enthusiast, and you find yourself pouring through the hundreds of search engines that are available online for shared torrent files, then search no longer. Torrent Finder is one of the most impressive meta-search engines for Torrent files around. It methodically searches through over 170 torrent sites to identify the results that pertain to what you’re looking for.

underground search engines

The available list of Torrent sites that are plugged into this meta-search is impressive, and even more impressive are the search results. Now, I did say that I would stick to underground search engines that are not illegal, and many Torrent searches are done for the purpose of downloading copyrighted software, but the truth is that there are thousands of legitimate and legal Torrent files available. Torrent Finder is clearly the king when it comes to accumulating and presenting an aggregate of search results.

underground search engines

Here is a search for “classical music,” with over 300 results. Some keywords searches turn up a thousand results or more. The nice thing about the results from Torrent Finder is that you get a view of positive and negative comments, so you can get a hint that a file may not be legitimate before you attempt a download.

#2 – Free Bargains and Deals

At MakeUseOf, you’ll find a lot of excellent resources for how to find awesome deals, such as coverage of the great bargain search engine FreshBargains. FreshBargains aggregates results from 15 top websites, which is excellent. However, another fantastic and barely known website to find freebies is called Prospector.

underground search engines

Prospector is based in the Czech Republic, but the list of free stuff that you can find here knows no borders. We’re talking stuff for the home, free computer software, free educational supplies and tons more. In all fairness, the site is more of a directory of content, but with over 3300 categorized and reviewed links to freebies – it’s a body of information that deserves greater recognition.

#3 – House Sales and Sales Foreclosures

Earlier, I wrote an article about the best websites to find foreclosed homes. Public government sources seemed to provide the most information without requiring a paid membership. However, somehow I missed AOL Foreclosures. This foreclosure search engine sifts through various sources of foreclosure listings from all across the country (U.S. only), and unlike the paid sites – it offers price, address, and as much information about the property as is available. AOL Foreclosures is one of the unsung heros of free foreclosure search engines.

underground internet search engines

An even better as-yet unknown search engine that also deserves mention is Trulia. Trulia is yet another young search engine that provides collected real estate information from various sources, and offers it to you, the homebuyer, completely free of charge. No longer is it only for those who are “rights” to the information. With Trulia, you can see the current asking price, the address (most paid sites will leave that out for free members), square footage, and even whether the price was recently reduced or increased, and by how much.

underground internet search engines

Most importantly, the site also shows recent sale prices – which is information previously very difficult for buyers to obtain without a realtor. When you’re searching for a house, knowledge is power, and the knowledge that the Trulia real estate sales search engine offers will give you that power.

#4 – Public Records Search Engines

Another very common sought-after search engine that isn’t always very easy to find are those that offer free public records information. Nine times out of ten, if you try to find such a search engine, you’ll end up with results from one of the major commercial companies trying to sell paid public records search results to you. However, the Public Record Center is different.

underground internet search engines

While it is more of an underground “portal” than a search engine, it is actually a portal to some of the most obscure, yet useful, public information search engines on the Internet. Starting at this one site, you can find the government search engines where you can search for court judgments and liens, conduct asset searches, and even look up copyright and trademark information. With so much demand on the web for free access to public records – this is the perfect centralized location where you can access virtually everything.

#5 -  A Legal Search Engine

Ever hear of a search engine that lets you dig up legal information from the web? Neither did I, until I discovered Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. This amazing little search engine digs through the Institutes extensive legal library and pulls out any information that you might need. This could include family law, criminal law, labor law and much more.

underground web search engines

For those of you who feel that you have what it takes to defend yourself in court, there’s also a very useful search engine where you can extract opinions from the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.

underground web search engines

There are similar search engines buried throughout this excellent legal resource. If you have any interest in law at all, take some time to check this one out – it’s a diamond in the rough.

#6 Paranormal Search Engine

Of course, if we want to go really underground, we’ve got to go paranormal. And there’s really no better underground paranormal search engine out there than UFO Seek. Don’t let the name fool you, this particular niche search engine isn’t just focused on UFOs and aliens.

underground web search engines

UFOSeek covers just about anything out there that’s paranormal, as well as new age, alternative health, science, the occult, ghosts and just about anything else that you might consider “fringe.” It’s one of my favorite search engines on the net.

Now that I’ve gone over a few of my favorite hardly-known, niche search engines, offer some of your own! What are your favorite underground search engines that you wish more people knew about? Share your insight in the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


How Does Cloud Computing Work? [Technology Explained]

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 11:30 AM PDT

how does cloud computing workCloud computing has been changing how most people use the web and how they store their files. It's the structure that runs sites like Facebook, Amazon and Twitter and the core that allows us to take advantage of services like Google Docs and Gmail. But how does it work?

Before we dig further into how does cloud computing work, first let's understand what the term "cloud" refers to.  The concept of the cloud has been around for a long time in many different incarnations in the business world. It mostly means a grid of computers serving as a service-oriented architecture to deliver software and data.


Most websites and server-based applications run on particular computers or servers. What differentiates the cloud from the way those are set up is that the cloud utilizes the resources from the computers as a collective virtual computer, where the applications can run independently from particular computer or server configurations. They are basically floating around in a "cloud of resources", making the hardware less important to how the applications work.

With broadband internet, the need to have the software run on your computer or on a company's site is becoming less and less essential. A lot of the software that people use nowadays are completely web-based. The cloud takes advantage of that to bring it to the next level.

For example, if you are hosting your website on a local server or from your PC, you must usually select a particular operating system (Windows/Linux/Mac), to determine what software you can run on that particular server. If your site is being hosted in the cloud, there is no need to do that. You can run Windows and Linux programs side by side.

How is that done?

To understand how does cloud computing work, imagine that the cloud consists of layers — mostly the back-end layers and the front-end or user-end layers. The front-end layers are the ones you see and interact with. When you access your email on Gmail for example, you are using software running on the front-end of a cloud. The same is true when you access your Facebook account. The back-end consists of the hardware and the software architecture that fuels the interface you see on the front end.

Because the computers are set up to work together, the applications can take advantage of all that computing power as if they were running on one particular machine. Cloud computing also allows for a lot of flexibility. Depending on the demand, you can increase how much of the cloud resources you use without the need for assigning specific hardware for the job, or just reduce the amount of resources assigned to you when they are not necessary.

how does cloud computing work

Will it change the way we use computers?

The transition from being very ‘personal hardware dependent’ to a world where resources are shared among the masses is creeping up on us slowly and unobtrusively. Very many people have already transitioned to using a cloud environment for most of their time in front of the computer without even realizing it.

Sure, most of us still use some version of Microsoft Office or Quickbooks that was installed on our computers, but even those kinds of software are now offering an online version that can be used instead. The possibility of being able to access your data and software wherever you need it makes this transition very appealing to most people.

Are there problems with this concept? Of course there are. If for some reason your internet goes down, your access to your data also disappears. There are security concerns with the data and the risk that companies will use proprietary formats for the files and that require that you pay for a certain service monthly or you may lose access to your own data permanently.

So choose wisely when picking a service to use with your important data and make sure it can be downloaded if needed, but also enjoy the flexibility those services provide. The wave of the future is in the clouds…

What cloud services are currently part of your life?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


4 Sites To Find Cool Gifts For Dad

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 10:30 AM PDT

gifts for dadEvery year, there’s a last minute scramble around June for Father’s Day presents. Even though as of now, Father’s Day is quite far away, it’s never too early to keep an eye peeled for good deals on cool gifts for dad. Or, perhaps you’re looking for a birthday present.

Either way, I have the sites for you, whether they’re ones that carry amazing deals, but that you’ll need to check daily, or the ones where you can find truly unique presents for a truly unique individual.

ChronoShark

cool gifts for dad

If your dad is into gorgeous designer watches, Chronoshark is a great site to keep a watch on for that cool gift for dad. Although it only features one watch a day (a bit like Woot!), the deals are spectacular. For example, today’s offering is a Lucien Piccard Rally Sport Watch that retails for $600 in the Watch Group. However, ChronoShark has the same watch for an astounding $59.

Each watch is up for exactly a day only though, as you may be able to tell by the timer under the ‘Buy Now’ button, so if there really is no time to mull over the purchase. However, there is a 14 day return policy, so as long as you keep the watch in pristine condition, including all packaging and tags then you have an additional 2 weeks to determine whether or not you really made a smart purchase. Standard shipping is a lowly $5, so even if you do end up deciding not to keep the watch, you’d only be down 10 bucks.

ThinkGeek

cool gifts for dad

If your dad’s a bit more of a geek than a watch man, ThinkGeek has pretty much an endless supply of trinkets for your gift giving needs. As you can see in the screenshot above, I’ve picked out something decently masculine, just to give you a sample of what ThinkGeek has to offer.

They have everything from stuffed animals to Caffeine pills to a shirt with a playable guitar graphic on it, which means you have a very very good chance of finding something appropriate. Shipping costs differ by the item, but ThinkGeek has a 30-day return policy, so, once again, you can buy first, think later.

Etsy

cool gifts for dad

I cannot stop recommending Etsy, simply because the collection of items there are so unique, and so beautifully crafted. Granted, the selection of items is not as large, but the items are all handmade. I ran a search for ‘Father’ to see what came up, and I found cuff links with a hand drawn map of Brooklyn on them, a hand carved collectors Sherlock smoking pipe, and the awesome Man Cave sign pictured above and lots of other very cool gifts for dad. Prices, shipping policies, and return policies all vary by seller, but regardless of which artist you buy from, you’re guaranteed to get a one of a kind item.

TechBargains

gifts for dad

Now if you’re not feeling as adventurous, you could always just get the newest shiny tech toy for your (hopefully) technology inclined parent. TechBargains has an extensive selection of electronics, movies, and games, most at sizable discounts. Although this is another one of those hit or miss sites, when it comes to timing, you can at least rest assured knowing that, regardless of what you buy, you’re going to be getting a good deal. Since TechBargains is just a conglomeration of links to good deals on the internet, there’s no standard return or exchange policy, but as long as you do your homework and step cautiously, that should be no problem.

Now that I’ve shown you four great websites to browse for that perfect gift for your dad, there should be no excuse for any lame gifts ever again. You never know, if you start looking now, you might find a little something not JUST for your dear old papa, but for yourself as well. After all, with all those options, who could resist?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


How To Enable Mouse Gestures In Linux With Easystroke

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 09:30 AM PDT

We have shown you a number of mouse gesture recognition apps for Windows in the past. I am an avid user of mouse gestures. I like to stay with the mouse or the keyboard for as long as I can without switching over to the other. As you would assume, I am a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures. If you are a Linux user, you can try Easystroke for mouse gestures in Linux.

Easystroke is a gesture recognition application for Linux. Originally created to work with Tablet PCs, it can be used equally well with a mouse or even your fingers if you have a touch-sensitive screen and your Linux distro allows its use!

In any case, you can use it with a simple 2-button mouse just as easily. Let’s get started and install the application so you can start using mouse gestures in Linux.

mouse gestures linux

You can add Easystroke PPA to your software sources and then install using apt. Now simply issue “sudo apt-get install easystroke” and the rest will be done for you. Once installed, you can find Easystroke listed under Applications > Universal Access. Fire it up and let’s see what it can do.

mouse gestures linux

I would suggest that you hop over to the preferences tab straight away. Here, you can customize which keystrokes and mouse button you want to use for drawing gestures. You should add a modifier key such as Shift, Ctrl, etc. to prevent normal mouse drags from being mistaken as a gesture and control when exactly to perform a gesture.

mouse gestures linux

Other preferences include stroke color/width, ability to auto-start Easystroke at login, displaying the tray icon and showing the last gesture performed in the tray. Additionally, you can also specify certain windows as “exceptions” and the mouse movements will not be recognized as gestures when working within those windows. Specifying an exception is easy, all you have to do is click on “Add Exception” and then on the window. It will then be added to the exception list.

Next up, you need to create gestures and configure them to run custom commands. Go to the “Actions” tab, click on Add Action, provide your gesture with a name, click on type. You can then choose from amongst the different actions that you can perform with the gesture. You can run a command, send a keystroke, scroll a page and more. Then provide the detail for the type you chose. Click on “Record Stroke” and using the keys and mouse button you created above draw the stroke on the screen. That’s it you are done. The next time you draw a similar stroke again with Easystroke running the configured action will be executed automatically.

Mouse gestures can be configured to launch your favorite applications, send in some text, click a button to create a totally automated experience. Add to this the fact that you can run custom scripts via the command line and you have a truly indispensable tool at your hands.

Do you guys use mouse gestures in Linux to perform your tasks quicker? What are your favorite applications?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Related posts


Personalise Business Cards With All Business Cards [MakeUseOf Giveaway]

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:30 AM PDT

A recent survey showed that around 70% of people still carry business cards as a form of introduction. Even in this digital age, the business card is still a very convincing networking and communicating tool. It is, after all, the most convenient form of handing out your personal and contact information.

In this week’s giveaway, we’re featuring All Business Cards — a simple online solution to help you design and print your own business cards. 15 lucky winners will each receive a set of 1000 business cards worth $135, personalised to suit your taste and needs.


For MakeUseOf readers and this giveaway, All Business Cards revealed a secret special offers page equipped with a professional design tool and printable products at heavily discounted prices.

All Business Cards also offers a wide selection of other products like bookmarks, magnets, stickers, letterheads and envelopes; just to mention a few. At this moment, we’re interested in their business cards.

Start designing your business card with their simple yet powerful online design tool. As you can see in the toolbar, you may upload your very own background or any image you wish to use.

In this example, I uploaded an illustration and by using the editing tools, I quickly resized and positioned the image.

If you aren’t in the mood to create your own background, All Business Cards has a huge selection of carefully categorised, pre-designed backgrounds at your disposal. Simply pick one to activate it.

And what about text? Well, you can enter your own text, change its font and size, then place it wherever you want. Or you can choose from the predefined layouts. Don’t worry, even if you pick a layout you don’t need to commit to it. The layout panel allows you to quickly fill in your details: name, company, address, telephone number, email, etc.

Once the text are placed on the card, you can still move them around, resize them, change the font, pick a different colour or skew the line of text.

Here’s a preview of the final result.

Wasn’t that painless?

The Specifics

In this giveaway, All Business Cards is offering a set of 1000 business cards to 15 winners from around the world*.

Choose from:

  1. Matte finish on 16pt stock cards
  2. Glossy finish on 16pt stock cards
  3. Uncoated on 14pt stock cards
  4. Single or double sided cards

*Free shipping for US and Canadian customers only. For other countries, UPS shipping charges will incur.

How do I become a winner?

It’s simple. Just follow the steps.


STEP 1
Join our Facebook page by clicking on the Become a Fan button on the left. If you can’t see the fanbox, click on this link.

If you’re already a fan, skip this step.


STEP 2
Share Share this post with your friends by clicking on the Share button on the left.

STEP 3
In the comments section below, fill in your name, email address, paste the link to your Facebook profile in the URL field and tell us why you’d like to win.

Make sure to enter your real email address so that we can contact you if you win!


This AllBusinessCards giveaway begins now and will end on Friday at 2100hrs PST. The winners will be selected at random and announced the following day.

Do remember to take advantage of the discounts provided by AllBusinessCards on their special offers page. Even if you’re not looking for new business cards, they have a wide array of services.

MakeUseOf would like to thank Jeremy from All Business Cards for his generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

Got Tech Questions? Ask Them on MakeUseOf Answers!

Related posts


No comments:

Post a Comment