MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th]” plus 7 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th]
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- 10 Applications You Must Install On Ubuntu Lucid Lynx [Linux]
- Hot Tech Deals [April 24th]
- 20 Copies of iRewardChart’s iPhone App [MakeUseOf Giveaway]
- YoruFukurou – A Sleek Twitter Client For Mac Users [Mac]
- 6 Ways To Free Up Disk Space On Your Netbook
- Mozy Giveaway Winners
| Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th] Posted: 24 Apr 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. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Do share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 24 Apr 2010 07:31 PM PDT
If you would like to keep up with all latest Geeky Fun additions, please subscribe to the Geeky Fun feed here. You can also subscribe and get the latest additions via email.
Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 Applications You Must Install On Ubuntu Lucid Lynx [Linux] Posted: 24 Apr 2010 03:31 PM PDT
There are 3 reasons for doing it this way:
This time around Ubuntu 10.04 is touting some great UI and design changes. Moreover, this being an LTS release, there are all the more reasons to go with the fresh install route. So if you decide to do so, come the 29th, here are some of the Ubuntu applications that you might want to install on a fresh Lucid Lynx install. Ubuntu Restricted ExtrasWhile not strictly an application in the true sense, Ubuntu Restricted Extras takes care of a number of software and codecs that other Ubuntu applications may require and that cannot be shipped with Ubuntu for legal reasons. All you have to do is fire up a terminal and issue the following command sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras This will install Java, Flash, some proprietary fonts and a bunch of codecs, enabling you to view most video files and play your favorite audio formats and a lot more essential software that you may not use directly but is important all the same. Google ChromeYes, Ubuntu ships with Firefox and to some Firefox is good enough, but Google Chrome is definitely the faster of the two and a good choice for an alternate browser if not the primary browser. It is not uncommon to have more than one browser on a computer.
Installing Google Chrome is easy, head on over to the Google Chrome Page, click on the big Get Chrome button, choose the 32-bit or the 64-bit deb package depending upon your computer, when the download completes double click to install Chrome. Google quietly adds its repositories to software sources so that you can get automatic updates. The GIMPUbuntu no longer installs GIMP out of the box. They say the GIMP is aimed at intermediate to advanced users, and not everyone’s cup of tea. While that makes sense, I think it is too useful a software to not have on your computer. Installation of this Ubuntu application is easy – you can use the new Ubuntu Software Center (Applications > Ubuntu Software Center), search for The GIMP and click install or a quick sudo apt-get install gimp would suffice as well.
If using the Ubuntu Software Center you can also install additional GIMP plugins and brushes while you are at it. VLCOne of the best media players out there. Not only does it play a variety of file formats you can also do a lot more with it, as this Lifehacker post would no doubt show you. The this Ubuntu application is available via Ubuntu Software Center. Checkgmail
Ubuntu 10.04 includes what is called the MeMenu. Justin wrote about it a few days back. While it does an excellent job of integrating chat, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, it is nice to keep tabs with your Gmail account(s) as well. Sure you can configure evolution to sync with your Gmail account, however if all you need is a notification when a new mail arrives you can try Checkgmail. It supports multiple accounts and Google Apps accounts as well as labels within your Gmail. Available via Ubuntu Software Center or a simple sudo apt-get install checkgmail. Gnome Do / LaunchyGnome-do and Launchy are Ubuntu application launchers that can help you start applications without having to find your way around the menus. You hit a hot key, type in the first few characters of the name, hit enter and the application is there. In addition both of these can do additional work like calculations, Twitter updates etc via plugins. While Gnome-Do is available via the Ubuntu Software Center, you would have to download a deb package to install Launchy. Beagle
Beagle gives you desktop search on Ubuntu. It indexes your files and allows you to search within file contents as well. Beagle is also available in the Ubuntu Software Center. Once installed, give it some time to build up the index, then you can search. Cheese
Cheese is a software for your webcam. It allows you to use your webcam to record videos and take photos. What makes it interesting are the different types of effects that you can play with while clicking photos. It gives you live previews of the photo with the effect applied. Very cool. Dock
If you like a little eye candy you should get one of the many docks available for Ubuntu. Docky, which was originally available as a plugin for Gnome-do is our favorite and most feature rich. Other alternatives include AWN dock and Cairo dock. All of these – Docky, Cairo and AWN are available via the Ubuntu Software Center. There are even more options if you are interested. Compiz Settings Manager
If you have a relatively new computer you can take advantage of the eye-candy Compiz offers. While some of the effects are enabled by default and you can choose to use “extra” effects via System > Preferences > Appearance, you get real control using Compiz Config Settings manager. It is available via the Ubuntu Software Center (search for “ccsm”) or you can do a quick sudo apt-get install ccsm. Once installed you can tweak Compiz to your liking getting all the effects like you want. There are so many other Ubuntu applications that we can write about. We have tried to include the apps most users would like to have on their computers. You can definitely find tons of software for any niche you are interested in. I for one like to install VIM as soon as I can, while Eclipse, Inkscape, Conduit, Dropbox are some of the other favorite ones. Ubuntu tweak is also a great software that lets you tweak various aspects of Ubuntu. Make sure you check out our Linux section for other app suggestions and reviews. How about sharing some love and letting us know what you like to put on a fresh Ubuntu install? Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 24 Apr 2010 02:00 PM PDT
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
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| 20 Copies of iRewardChart’s iPhone App [MakeUseOf Giveaway] Posted: 24 Apr 2010 01:00 PM PDT
This app will help you keep track of your child's behaviour and reward them accordingly. For more information and to join in the giveaway, visit our Special Giveaway page. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf fan page on Facebook. Over 17,000 fans already!
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| YoruFukurou – A Sleek Twitter Client For Mac Users [Mac] Posted: 24 Apr 2010 12:31 PM PDT
YoruFukurou, or as it’s known in English, NightOwl, is a Twitter client for Mac that allows users to save tabbed searches, customise the app’s toolbar, and has easy access buttons for sharing what you are currently listening to in iTunes or browsing in Safari.
You can also choose to display your tweets regularly, or you can use YoruFukurou’s Mini-View, where all tweets are collapsed until you select one to open.
The toolbar is also customisable, allowing you to add or remove buttons, giving you easy access to your preferred options. The buttons that can be added or removed include a Home button, which takes you the Twitter home page in your web browser, a refresh button, and a button that allows you to mark all tweets as read. Another set of buttons that you can choose to use are the filter buttons – which allow you to filter your timeline displaying either all tweets, tweets from one specific account, or all tweets from a specific conversation. Using the search button, you can search the tweets that appear in your timeline only.
While you can look up a user’s bio and display their latest tweet using the ‘Drawer’ button, the current release does not allow you to follow/unfollow them. This has been remedied in the Beta release that is also available for download.
The Beta release also includes support for Twitter lists, adds YFrog support for images, and allows you to edit your profile from within the client. You can view all tweets in five default tabs: Timeline, Mentions, Direct Messages, Favourites and a Search tab, that allows you to search all public tweets.
The Tabs can also be customized, in a manner similar to Tweetdeck’s columns.
You are able to create custom tabs for specific users, with the ability to add more than one user to a tab, or to create custom tabs using keywords.
When it comes to tweeting itself, YoruFukurou allows you to shorten URLs, with bit.ly, TinyURL, is.gd and j.mp support. You can also add images, but it should be mentioned that the process is slightly different from other clients. Rather than type the tweet, and then add the image, click on ‘Upload image,’ choose the image you want to share, and add the text in the ‘comment‘ section. Clicking upload will send the tweet to your timeline.
You can also easily share the URL and title from the page you are browsing in Safari, or share the iTunes song you are listening to.
You can reply to tweets or add them to your favourites with the easy-access buttons on each tweet. Bringing up the right-click menu gives you more options including reply to all, send DM, retweet, retweet with comment, amongst others. One interesting feature that YoruFukurou offers is the ability to ‘block’ specific users you are following without unfollowing them. If you’re following someone, and would rather not see their tweets, you can temporarily block them. There is a similar mute feature in the web client Brizzly, but YoruFukurou takes it one step further by allowing you to block certain keywords or expressions. This feature can be useful if you’re planning to watch a movie, or are following a popular TV show, and don’t want to read any spoilers on Twitter.
YoruFukurou features both growl and sound notifications which can be customised to include new tweets in your timeline, mentions, and DMs amongst others.
Have you tried out the YoruFukurou Twitter client for Mac? Let us know what you think of it in the comments. Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Ways To Free Up Disk Space On Your Netbook Posted: 24 Apr 2010 10:31 AM PDT
This isn’t a problem, though. Unlike with a desktop or a laptop, I have no expectation of being able to carry all my documents, music and videos with me on my netbook. The netbook is, first and foremost, for accessing the net (as its name cleverly implies.)
How do I manage this with such a small hard drive? Easily. Here are a few tricks I've picked up to free up Netbook disk space. Use Web AppsThese days everything’s on the cloud, and if you can find a desktop app to do something you can probably find a web app for it. I’ve been using Gmail for my email since it came out in 2004, but I don’t stop there. Google Calendar is my calendar, Working Point keeps track of my invoices for work and Meebo is my go-to instant messenger (check out Steven’s recent article on 8 reasons to use Meebo for more information on that particular web app.)
These are just a few examples, of course. There are thousands of web apps out there that can help free up Netbook disk space, and if you're looking for one the MakeUseOf Directory is a great place to start. Want your web apps to feel more like desktop apps? Prism, from Mozilla, can do this for you easily – check out Travis’s article about running web apps on your desktop with Prism. If you’re more of a Chrome person than a Mozilla person, don’t worry: Chrome’s got you covered by default. Just click the page icon, then click "Create Application Shortcuts" and you've got it. Avoid Large ProgramsSoftware can fill your hard drive up quicker than you might imagine, which is why it’s generally a good idea to avoid programs larger than is strictly necessary. For example, I never carry a word processer or a spreadsheet program with me on my netbook. Such programs, be they the Microsoft or Open Office versions, offer more functionality than are needed on a netbook – which I only use for quickly writing on the go – and take up a ton of space in order to offer this functionality. I use a simple text editor in order to write on my netbook, and open .doc and .xls files with Google Docs when absolutely necessary.
If your netbook is running out of space, take a look at the programs you have on it. Are all of them really necessary? Could you do without them? If the answer is yes, uninstall them. Don’t Be a Pack RatThe era of the cheap gigabyte drive means many of us never put any thought into whether or not to keep data around. As such, deleting files is becominng increasingly rare. You can’t operate this way on your netbook. Installation files, music and documents you aren’t currently working on are worth saving, but your netbook is not the place to save them. Keep them on your desktop computer, if you have one, or else invest in an external hard drive. Your netbook should only have files on it that you’re currently working on. Use Dropbox MagicThe easiest way to do this? Some Dropbox magic, of course. Here’s what I suggest you do: use your Dropbox as your “currently working on” folder. Thanks to Dropbox’s key feature – namely syncing files across all your computers – all of your current projects will always be on both our machines. Once you’re done with something, you can hop onto your desktop and remove the completed project to a folder outside your desktop, automatically deleting it from your netbook. You’ll never lose any data, and never have anything more on your netbook than you absolutely need.
I use this same strategy for all my work, including the stuff I write here at MakeUseOf. I love having the mobility of a netbook combined with the power of a desktop, and being able to seamlessly jump from one to the other as I’m working on something. For more killer uses of this ultimate syncing software, check out my article on unique ways to use Dropbox. Switch To A Netbook-Centric OS
Most desktop operating systems – including Windows, Ubuntu and OSX – contain features you’ll never realistically need on your netbook. You can try manually stripping them out of your OS, but why bother when there’s an exceptional netbook operating system available for free? It’s called Jolicloud, and it is built from the ground up for netbooks. For more information, read my article about Jolicloud being the perfect netbook operating system. Still Not Enough? Get An SD CardAlmost every netbook on the market has an SD card slot, and SD cards are getting cheaper all the time. If after all these tricks you still need space you can always pick up an SD card. If you can’t free up enough Netbook disk space, this is great way to supplement your storage space without the expense of buying a bigger hard drive and installing it. ConclusionI love my netbook, but it’s really easy to fill up its hard drive. By combining all the strategies I’ve discussed here, however, I’ve got to a point where I hardly even notice I’ve only got 4 gigs of space. Do you have any space-saving strategies you use to free up space on your netbook? Are you upset I didn’t mention every file-syncing program on the planet? Or do you just think netbooks are pretty? I can’t say promising will bring you good luck and happiness, but it can’t hurt. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Do share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 24 Apr 2010 10:00 AM PDT
Congratulations! Watch your email inbox for more information on how to claim your prizes. Thank you for joining! Watch out for our next giveaway starting Monday! We’ll be giving away free copies of Postbox. In the meantime, check out our ongoing giveaway on the Special Giveaway page. MakeUseOf would like to thank Devin and Mozy 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. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 
Check out the top picks from MakeUseOf 
Ubuntu 10.04 is on its way as you can surely see in the accompanying image. Normally when a new release comes out, a lot of people (myself included) like to start over with a fresh install.
If you’re in the market for a new computer, laptop, mobile phone, games and other accessories; don’t waste your time searching online. We’ve taken the liberty of locating the best deals tech deals and unifying them into a single post for your convenience.
We have another last-minute giveaway entry! 
There is no shortage of free Twitter clients for all platforms, but YoruFukurou, a Mac-only client, offers a couple of interesting features not found in some of the more popular apps. Its clean, minimalist interface, along with its highly customizable appearance should make it a popular option amongst Mac users.
If you thought cheap gigabyte hard drives meant no one is concerned about space on their computers anymore, think again. There are plenty of netbook owners out there who, because they opted for a solid state drive instead of a conventional one, have as little as 16, 8 or even 4 gigs of hard drive space. Count me among them: my EEE PC came with only 4 gigs of internal space.
This marks the end of the Mozy giveaway! We managed to spice things up by allowing the 100th commenter to be one of the confirmed winners. What about the rest of the winners? Well, find out now! | You are subscribed to email updates from MakeUseOf.com To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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