MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [March 21st]” plus 6 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [March 21st]
- Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends!
- How Did Twitter Affect Your Life? [MakeUseOf Poll]
- 3 Cool Ways To Use Sticky Notes Online
- 4 Generators To Come Up With Cool Screen Names
- KON-BOOT – A Computer Prank Password-Bypass Tool
- Find Your Perfect iPhone, Android and Blackberry Apps With appSpace
| Cool Websites and Tools [March 21st] Posted: 21 Mar 2010 08:31 PM PDT
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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| Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends! Posted: 21 Mar 2010 07:31 PM PDT
It's time to say thanks to MakeUseOf’s friends who, once in a while, tip us great story ideas, help out on different projects and in some cases offer their services at discounted prices. Thank you, guys! ShrinkTheWeb – Website Screenshot Thumbnail Service
Walyou – Cool Gadgets for Geeks
Pair – Reliable Web Hosting
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| How Did Twitter Affect Your Life? [MakeUseOf Poll] Posted: 21 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PDT
Last week, we asked you what is the best brand of laptop. 1180 of you responded. Apple was at the top of the list with 273 votes which made up 23% of the total votes. As some of you have pointed out in the comments, this does not mean Apple has the biggest share of fans. If we were to combine the PC votes together they would add up to 77%. Yes, Apple makes pretty equipment that some people love but it is horribly expensive. Dell came in second place with 17% with Levono/IBM and HP/Compaq close behind with 14% and 13% respectively. Very interesting, guys! And I learned that Toshiba has a very loyal following. It seems that people that have gone with them seem to say they are very well built and require little hardware servicing! You can view the complete poll results after the jump.
And now on to our current poll: Did Twitter Change Your Life or Make You More Busy? Choose an answer from the poll below. Feel free to add your comments as well. If you love Twitter and want to make some new friends, you can go ahead and list your Twitter ID in the comments for everyone to see. And personally, I LOVE Twitter. You can follow me (@KarlGechlik) using this link. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| 3 Cool Ways To Use Sticky Notes Online Posted: 21 Mar 2010 06:30 PM PDT
Several years later, Art Fry, a colleague of Dr. Silver, used the weak adhesive to stick a bookmark into his hymnbook. Subsequently, he went on to develop what we now know as Post-It notes. The product didn’t break through until the 1980s, but is probably 3M’s most popular item today. Meanwhile, the handy stickers have found their way onto computer desktops and into the world wide web. In this article, I will review three online tools that allow you to keep and share sticky notes online.
Listhings – collaborateOn Listhings you can create online canvases for your online sticky notes. They can be used to keep track of personal notes or you can share single canvases to work on a project with others. When you share a canvas, it appears in the list of canvases of your partner. Now, whenever you post a note to the shared canvas, it is instantly replicated on the canvas your partner is viewing. You can also drag and drop notes from one canvas to another. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to attach files to Listhings notes.
Within the settings, there is a hint that it will soon be possible to “take notes from outside Listhings”, i.e. send notes to Listhings. You can already define, which canvas those notes should be sent to per default. Postica – share filesPostica lets you attach files to your online sticky notes. You can even share the note and the attached file with a friend by sending the note to their sticky board. All you have to know is their eMail address.
While this may not be the best way to quickly share personal files, it’s a great way to backup documents online and add a note to them. I mean, how long can a file name be? It’s easier to tag a note to the document. The file size limit is 5MB. However, there doesn’t seem to be a total limit. Unfortunately, you can only add one file per note. Another cool feature of Postica is its integration with Twitter. You can add Postica as a friend and subsequently stick notes via Twitter direct messages. Stickr – comment websitesStickr is different from all the other tools because it’s almost like a social network. You can use it on any website, either to leave a note for yourself (private) or to share thoughts and ideas with the world (public). There is a 140 character limit for each sticker and you can hit a “Follow Me” button on each sticker, so you can follow the person who posted this sticker. After signing up, you have to extend your browser to work with Stickr. You can either install a plugin or drag and drop a bookmarklet into your browser’s Bookmarks toolbar. I decided for the bookmarklet.
Notes are not visible until you click on the bookmarklet to launch the Stickr menu. The menu lets you select which stickers to view, for example popular ones (you can like or dislike stickers), your own notes, or the ones from people you follow. The menu also allows you to close all stickers or create a new one. On your Stickr homepage / profile you’ll see a list of stickers you have posted and some more statistics. Stickr also receives a thumbs up from me for supporting OpenID, as well as login via Google, Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed accounts. For desktop sticky notes, check out these articles:
So have you retired your post-it notes, yet? Image credits: nornir Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| 4 Generators To Come Up With Cool Screen Names Posted: 21 Mar 2010 03:30 PM PDT
So, what does it take to find the right screen name? Not much really. Simply leave all the thinking to a generator and you’re golden. Here’s four useful ones to help you come up with some cool screen names.
SpinXO
SpinXO is probably one of the best name generators out there. If you’re looking for a screen name with a little bit of your own personal touch to it, this is the place to go. First, some information about yourself is needed for the generator to come up with some good suggestions. Start out by typing in your name or nickname into the first text entry box. It’ll then ask you what you are like, so put in some of your characteristics. Next, type in your hobbies and things you like, followed by any words or numbers that are important to you.
Filling out all of the fields isn’t required. It just depends on how personal you want the screen names it generates to be. Once you have set all the details, simply hit the “Spin!” button and the list of 90 or so screen names it generated will be displayed below. Feel free to now pick a screen name that you like or edit the information to generate a new list of cool screen names to choose from. Generator Land
Generator Land takes a dead-simple approach to its screen name generator. All it takes is just a push of a button and with that, you can grab a unique name for yourself.
Just hit “Get a Screen Name” and a random name will be instantly displayed above. Don’t like it? Click on the button again for another one. It’s as simple as that. Name Generator
Name Generator gives you a little bit of freedom to express yourself with the names it comes up with. The website gives you the option of prepending and appending your name, allowing the generator to list random adjectives before, after, or in between. It’s all up to you as to how you would like to arrange the words.
Once you’re ready, start by hitting the “Generate Screen Names” button for it to display the various names it forms. As you sort through all the names, keep in mind that they’re all nicely saved below as a list. You can then simply click on the ones you like best to separate them into the “Favourite Names” column. Online Name GeneratorFinally, Online Name Generator has all kinds of generators to choose from. From fantasy ones that include elf and guild names to superheros and nicknames, the number of potential screen names you can find here is virtually endless.
Each generator is capable of making millions of unique names each. Just hit the “Generate” button to start sorting through all of them until you find a keeper. If you swing the Mac way of life, check out Jackson’s take on name generators — Create Cool Fantasy Nicknames with Ryder – A Macho Name Generator [Mac]. How are these generators working out for you? Do you know of any other sites to find cool screen names? Let us know in the comments. Image Credit: Rob Blatt Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| KON-BOOT – A Computer Prank Password-Bypass Tool Posted: 21 Mar 2010 12:30 PM PDT
Unfortunately, we all do not have the time or resources for such endeavors. Therefore, most people focus on small pranks between friends to get our fill of shenanigans. Computer pranks are the easiest and one of the most fun small scale pranks. Getting on someone’s computer and changing their background, messing with their desktop, or changing their homepage can lead to a good laugh, granted the person is a good sport.
Well, this problem can be solved with a small tool called KON-BOOT. Rather than cracking a Windows password, KON-BOOT bypasses it and lets you into the computer without typing one in. Then, when you restart, everything is back to normal, that is, everything you didn’t change for the computer prank. Editor’s note: MakeUseOf does not encourage using this tool for malicious purposes. To get KON-BOOT, go to their website here. Scroll down to the following for the download that will boot Windows.
Download either the CD ISO or floppy image. For most uses, the CD will be just fine. You will have to unzip the downloaded file and then burn the CD image or copy the floppy Image. After that is done, you are ready to start the pranking fun. Wait until a friend leaves his computer and make sure you have enough time to get the deed done. Pop in the CD and turn on the computer, making sure you boot from the CD. This may require you to hit F12 at the BIOS screen and choose to boot from the CD. You’ll know you’re there when you see the following.
At any time, hit Enter and you should see an ASCII art logo draw onto the screen and a few loading dialogs that should look something like this.
The computer should then boot Windows and, if everything worked, you shouldn’t be prompted for a password. Now you’re ready to do your computer prank. For good-hearted jokes, I’d advise not doing anything devastating like messing with the system registry or files. My favorite is to do a screen shot of the desktop (Justin also had it listed in his article Four Funny Ways To Prank Your Parents With The Family Computer). Open Paint, paste the screenshot, save it, and set it as the desktop background. Then hide the task bar and icons. An unsuspecting victim will think their computer has frozen. You could also set the desktop background to a blue screen while hiding the taskbar and icons. Both of these usually freak out the victim, but are easily reversible, so no harm is done. After you’ve finished your dirty deeds, you can just take out your disk and reboot the computer. It will boot as normal, with your playful changes waiting to be discovered. KON-BOOT is a powerful tool and should be used with discretion. Clearly, it could be used for malicious purposes, but no one like a malicious person. A computer prank like the one described above though can lead to a good laugh. If your victim is a good sport, hopefully you’ll both be laughing about it! I should mention that KON-BOOT also works with some Linux distributions, but the process is a little more involved than with Windows. To find those steps, refer to the KON-BOOT website. Go off, trick your friend, have fun, and stay out of trouble! Know any other good cyber-prank tools? 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Find Your Perfect iPhone, Android and Blackberry Apps With appSpace Posted: 21 Mar 2010 10:30 AM PDT
Finding applications that matter to you is hard, especially in stores that are strongly controlled by Google or Apple. You see the applications favored by those companies, or those that have proven most popular. It’s not a quick chore to hook your smartphone up with a few personalized application choices. Until recently, the only option was to browse entire categories, thousands of pages to find a score of free mobile apps. With the fear of sounding cheesy, here comes. No more!
The video above gives a pretty good idea to the goals of appSpace. By eyeing your previous, current and future application choices, appSpace will gradually get to know you better than your own mother. Before you know, you’ll receive suggestions of new applications to take for a spin. Sign-upSigning up for an appSpace account is as easy as it gets, save for two particular issues. You don’t even need to wait for the classic confirmation mail to arrive. Watch out with the device selection. Any error, be it an empty field or email typo, will revert this back to the default option: iPhone. Although you can change this later on, there’s a particular bug that will keep you from getting new recommendations.
Secondly, you need to provide your postal code. Another typical assumption that everybody lives in the US. Just fill something in here, it shouldn’t greatly influence your recommendations. App Browsing & RecommendationsThere are two ways to browse interesting applications. Default is by using the recommendation engine. As soon as you sign up, appSpace will suggest up to 100 applications deemed interesting. You can tweak the algorithm by letting know your choices, but more on this later.
Second, and luckily not left out, is the typical category browsing mode. It’s not too obvious, but you can find the option in the top right corner. Using categorical browsing of course offers a much wider range of apps, and might be most interesting if you’re looking for something very specific, but it also comes with a bulk of superfluous apps. Both the recommendation and categoric view can be slimmed down by using the filters at the right hand side of the screen. This allows you to filter by category, sort the results, and limit the search to paid or free mobile apps.
In said lists, you can hit the application title for a longer description and the occasional review. Without switching pages, you can bookmark or mark an application as owned or favorite. Bookmarking is especially handy in a read-it-later way, allowing you to check back on interesting ones later. Improving RecommendationsAt the top left side of the screen, you’ll see your discovery strength percentage. This is the efficacy estimated by appSpace, and tracks back to the number of applications you’ve already added and rated. In the options, you’ll find a more detailed overview of the algorithm; including a pie chart showing your personal influences, like ratings, friends, and demographic information. It isn’t too hard to improve your recommendations. There are a number of things you can do.
Most importantly, and quite obvious, is to rate applications. Try to add most (if not all) of your favorite applications to your profile and rate them. This will give appSpace some standing ground to ‘calculate’ your likes and dislikes. If you’re using an iPhone and iTunes, be sure to check out the appScanner below.
In your profile, you can specify very specific topics you’re interested in, including subcategories of arts/history, music, regional and sports. Also in the settings, you can mark your interest in the default application categories (as specified by the Android and iPhone app stores).
If you’re an iPhone junkie, you needn’t add all of your applications manually. On the website, appSpace offers a cross-platform Adobe Air app that will scan your iTunes library, and synchronize with your appSpace profile. Happy hunting! Do you know any other ways to find interesting Android and iPhone applications? Tell us your personal picks in the comments section below. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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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 
Back in the 1960s Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M, accidentally developed a weak adhesive instead of a super glue. Rather than writing it off as a failure, he promoted his invention as a “low-tack, reusable pressure sensitive adhesive.”
Looking for a cool screen name? Nobody wants a boring handle of course, especially when it comes to your personal online identity. The name you choose to associate yourself with on the Web should be unique and maybe say a thing or two about who you are, wouldn’t you say so?
At the time of writing, there are 18,335 apps for the Android, and 160,531 apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
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