MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [May 6th]” plus 7 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [May 6th]
- Top 5 Resources To Get A Discounted Windows 7 Download
- How To Get The Functionality Of Firefox’s Live Bookmarks For Google Chrome
- BootTimer: Objectively Measure Your Windows XP Boot Time
- 3 Audacity Tips To Enhance Any Recorded Interview
- Top 5 Changes You Should Make On A Fresh Lucid Install [Linux]
- Optimize Your Mobile Browsing With The Opera Mini Browser
- Convert Video Files For Your iPad From Windows Using Free iPad Video Converter
| Cool Websites and Tools [May 6th] Posted: 06 May 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. NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Top 5 Resources To Get A Discounted Windows 7 Download Posted: 06 May 2010 06:31 PM PDT
Maybe you missed obtaining your free upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 at the end of February? Or perhaps you’re still on Windows XP and would like to upgrade on a budget? If you’re a student or working in academia, you may even qualify for a free Windows 7 download. Either way, there are cheap and legal alternatives to buying directly from Microsoft.
1. Microsoft.com: Upgrade From XP Or Vista To Windows 7If you’re running Windows XP or Windows Vista, you can purchase the Windows 7 Upgrade, which is slightly cheaper than the full version. Make sure the right country is selected at the top right.
Unfortunately, you still need to perform a clean installation in case you’re “upgrading” from Windows XP. Varun has written an article on How To Upgrade From XP To Windows 7 In 4 Easy Steps. 2. The Ultimate Steal: Get A Student DiscountIf you’re a student, you will most likely be able to purchase a discounted version of many Microsoft products, including Windows 7. Be sure to select your location from the top right country/region selector.
You can check whether you’re eligible on this website. Just enter your university or school email address.
3. MSDN Academic Alliance: Get A Free Copy Of Windows 7Those of you studying at university or working in academia may be able to obtain a free copy of Windows 7, besides countless other Microsoft products. Many schools have teamed up with MSDN AA and can provide the software to their employees and students free of charge. The above URL will take you to a form through which you can check whether your school is enrolled in the programme.
In case your school is part of the MSDN AA programme, the form will also show you where and how to receive the software.
So you’re neither a student, nor do you presently run Windows XP or Vista. Don’t despair! There are many more resources for discounted copies of Windows 7. Just use Google and common sense or check out two more options below. 4. NexTag: Search For Best OfferNo matter what you’re going to shop for online, you should make use of price search engines to find the best offer available. NexTag is just one of many.
For more resources on how to shop online and find the best price, check out the MakeUseOf Shopping Guide (PDF manual). 5. ShopArhive: 40% Discount On Windows 7 VersionsFor those of you who don’t need the shiny box and DVD, this offer from ShopArhive may be very attractive. They offer the full retail versions of Windows 7, including both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, as digital Windows 7 downloads. Moreover, their 40% discount is almost as cheap as the discounted version for students.
Not sure whether your computer is fit for Windows 7 in the first place? Check out my article on Upgrade To Windows 7: Requirements & Installation Tips. And before you start running into issues, check out Karl’s article on Three Windows 7 Upgrade Issues & How To Avoid Them. What do you think about Windows 7 so far? Is it worth it to upgrade? Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Do share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| How To Get The Functionality Of Firefox’s Live Bookmarks For Google Chrome Posted: 06 May 2010 04:31 PM PDT
But Firefox has been gaining great popularity and many people have chosen to switch to it. Now Google Chrome is on the scene and is doing a great job competing. So there is a war. Much of it comes down to personal preference. One of the questions someone has to ask themselves when considering switching browsers is whether or not you will have the same functionality you will need in the new browser.
Well, a quick search for “Live Bookmarks” in Chrome’s extensions page came up with two options for Google Chrome bookmarks. In this article I will be taking a look at the best choice for the task - RSS Live Links.
As the name indicates, this extension comes pretty close to offering something similar to Firefox’s Live Bookmarks. Let’s take a closer look at how this extension works. First off, installing extensions in Chrome is super simple (as mentioned in the article 2 New Reasons Google Chrome May Pull Ahead Of Mozilla Firefox). One of the cool features is its ability to find feeds within all open tabs. This is why upon installation you get this message:
What you think about Google knowing your browsing habits will determine what you think about this extension accessing website information and browsing history. This type of thing is common on the Internet and allowing access will make the extension work so think it over and then click install if you’re happy with it. Once installed, you’ll get the nifty RSS icon in your upper bar.
Clicking on it will bring a drop down menu allowing you to either see available feeds or access feeds you’re subscribed to.
Right clicking the RSS icon and then clicking “options” will bring you to an options page.
From this page you will be able to change the settings that determine how the feeds will be displayed, change how the titles look, see all available feeds from open tabs and modify your feed subscription details. Overall, in my opinion, this Chrome extension makes keeping up with feeds simple and is perhaps even similar enough to Firefox’s Live Bookmarks to suit many Firefox users. As someone who is constantly looking for features I am used to on Firefox, I understand the search. At least this is one mountain conquered, right? Check out more MakeUseOf articles about Chrome extensions. In your opinion, does RSS Live Links fit the bill? What other functionality does Google Chrome need to get to get you to make the switch? Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| BootTimer: Objectively Measure Your Windows XP Boot Time Posted: 06 May 2010 02:31 PM PDT
You can run all these programs and you’ll probably notice the difference, but how can you be objectively sure they’re making a difference? For most people the general feel of quickness is enough to justify the effort, but if you’re looking for scientific evidence of speediness a lot of people like take a look at their measured boot times; that is, the time it takes from switching the computer on to having a usable desktop.
Note: this application does not work on Windows Vista or 7 at this time. The ProcessSo, first thing first: download BootTimer over at Planetsoft or if you prefer, at Download.com. You’ll have a single executable file to work with; BootTimer is a portable application and is perfect for throwing onto the thumb drive that contains your geeky arsenal. When you’re ready to restart your computer, go ahead and open BootTimer. You’ll see this message:
Click “Yes” and your computer will restart. Nothing unusual about that, right? When it gets into Windows you’ll be told not to touch your mouse or keyboard, so don’t; BootTimer is waiting until your desktop is usable to finish timing. When it is you’ll receive a notice like this, containing the information you’re looking for:
Wasn’t that easy? Be sure to write this time down. Self-CleaningWant to remove every trace that this program ever ran? No problem. Just click “OK” and the program will go about removing itself completely from your system. There’s one catch: BootTimer will open up its webpage and encourage you to click an ad. This is annoying, but considering how useful the program is and that it’s free I suppose it’s a harmless way to support the app. How It WorksBootTimer doesn’t install a stopwatch on your machine and time everything; rather it check the various logs the Windows system creates in order to judge when Windows started booting and when it finished. So why not use a standard stopwatch to determine your measured boot times? You could, but it wouldn’t necessarily be standardized in terms of when the time begins and end. Use this program and the results will be comparable. ConclusionHere’s how I suggest you use this program: before you go about speeding up your computer, run the program once. This will give you the slow rate to compare your end results with. Go ahead and do your usual speed-up routine. Once you’re done, go ahead and run a second test. This will give you empirical evidence that what you’re doing to speed up your machine is useful. What do you think? Is measuring your boot time useful at all, or is it just a useless measurement geeks use so they can brag about something? Could you see yourself using a tool like this? Or do you have an alternative tool to recommend? The Internet is in need of more content, so please do your part by speaking your mind below. Image Credit: Casey Marshall Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| 3 Audacity Tips To Enhance Any Recorded Interview Posted: 06 May 2010 11:31 AM PDT
Regardless what you intend to do with the interview, one thing that’s for certain is that you want to develop a reputation as a professional interviewer that produces high-quality, interesting conversations with fascinating people.
3 Tips To Enhance Your Interview Audio With AudacityI use the Audacity audio recording software to record and edit all of my interviews. My recording setup is about as simple as it gets – an Olympic earpiece that doubles as both a microphone and an earphone, so that I can hear the person on the phone while the microphone feeds the conversation into the laptop and Audacity. This works well, and produces high quality conversations, but like anything, there are flaws in the setup that produce less than optimum conditions. The beauty of Audacity is that you have the capability to “fix” those flaws. The three most common problems that I’m going to touch on in this post are removing background noise, amplifying voices, and integrating quality introduction with music.
Before we start doctoring the audio file with the Audacity audio recording software, let me first introduce the patient. Above is a snippet of an hour-long audio interview that I conducted last month. The two most common flaws are background noise, shown in the center of this clip, and low voice volume (my voice) as shown on the right. You can see that the amplitude when I was talking is about half of that of the voice on the phone – which is to be expected when recording with such an earpiece. How To Fix Quiet VoicesThe first tweak for the common interview issue of quiet voices is also the easiest. The volume of the voice is equivalent to “amplitude,” so all you have to do is use Audacity’s Amplify tool to increase the quiet voice just a little bit. To perform this task, just highlight the section of audio track with the quiet voice, and then select “Amplify” from the Effect menu option.
In the amplify tool, you’ll need to select an amplification that is just enough to increase the voice volume to a level that’s equivalent to the other person speaking. It may take some trial and error the first time, so just undo the change and try a new value until you get it right.
In my case, I found that an increase of 5 dB did the trick. Once you know the right value, the only tedious part of this fix is that you’ll need to find every place in the track where the quiet voice shows up, and do the highlight/amplify routine to fix it. How To Remove Background Noise With AudacityThe second most common flaw in an interview audio file is background noise. Maybe you left a fan on in the other room, or there are cars going by just outside the open window, and you realize once you listen to the audio that the sound is terribly annoying and distracting. The first step in this technique is to identify an area in your file that features nothing but the background noise alone. When you find such an area, highlight that section of the audio track, and then go into the “Noise Removal” tool in the Effects menu option.
Once you’re there, click on “Get Noise Profile“. Doing this captures a snapshot of the background noise itself. The software uses this to “erase” that sound profile from a section (or all) of the audio file. The next step is just to highlight the area where you want to remove the noise (most of the time you’ll just select the entire track), and then go back into this window and select “Remove Noise“.
As you can see, Audacity does an amazing job at cleaning up the noise. There is one caveat, and it is this – carefully gauge the amount of noise that you want to remove. Removing too little won’t do much good, and removing too much will make the audio sound over-digitized or artificially quiet. One thing I noticed is that the middle to lower middle setting is usually ideal. Integrating A Musical Or Voice IntroductionHave you ever heard those cool podcasts with a great musical introduction? Well, believe it or not, you can do the same exact thing in Audacity in just a few simple steps. The first step, obviously, is importing the music file that you would like to use (make sure you don’t infringe on any licensing issues).
The next step is just highlight the block of music you’d like to use as your introduction (select the correct number of seconds) and then do a simple Copy. Then place the cursor at the start of your audio file, and select Paste. The copied music clip will get inserted into your track, pushing the entire interview to the right. While this is cool, it’ll sound weird because at the end of the clip, your music will just end abruptly. Instead, you want to taper off the music as you enter into the interview itself. You can do this by highlighting the very last part of your music clip and selecting Effect -> Fade Out from the Menu.
You’ll see the amplitude of the music clip taper off as it approaches the end of the clip, and in effect producing a very nice fade into the interview itself. By using these three simple tips, you’ve just equalized voice volume, removed background noise, and embedded a professional music introduction into your audio interview. With just these few simple changes, you’ll transform amateur sounding interviews into well produced, professional sounding conversations. Do you perform audio interviews? Do you have any editing tips or tricks of your own? Share your own insights in the comments section below. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Top 5 Changes You Should Make On A Fresh Lucid Install [Linux] Posted: 06 May 2010 10:31 AM PDT
The other day we told you about some applications that you might want to install on a fresh Lucid Lynx install. Today let’s have a look at some of the tweaks and changes you can apply to Lucid.
Move The Window Control Buttons To The Right SideA lot of fuss was created when it was decided that Lucid will have the window controls on the left side. The decision has been enforced and Lucid now ships with window controls on the left side of the title bar. Although you get used to it, it definitely is a nuisance for the first few days. You tend to move the mouse to the top right corner almost instinctively. If that is too big a change for you, you can always switch them back to the right side. Here is how:
Configure Broadcast Accounts
Lucid features the new “Me Menu”. One of the things you can do with the Me Menu is broadcast your status across multiple social networks. You can also consolidate all your email and chat accounts and access them easily from the Me Menu. Set Up Ubuntu One
Ubuntu One, as you might be aware, is Canonical’s offering similar to Dropbox. It offers 2GB of storage and you can sync your files and folders across multiple computers. You might ask, why would you want to use it over Dropbox? The answer is because Ubuntu One integrates more tightly with Ubuntu than Dropbox does. What this means is that while you have to set up syncs and folders with Dropbox manually, Ubuntu One can sync your contacts and music purchases on the Ubuntu Music store automatically without much set up involved. These might not be killer features, but you can expect more integration in future releases of the operating system. Setting up Ubuntu One is easy. Just head over to System > Preferences > Ubuntu One. A new webpage asking you to log in or to create a new account opens up. Click on “New Account” to create a new Ubuntu One account or provide details of an existing account to link your computer with it. Configure Software Repositories & Download Server
We showed you the ins and outs of packages and software repositories a while back. After a fresh install all the changes you made to “Software Sources” are lost. So you might want to dive into System > Administration > Software Sources and enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories. And while you are here, take some time to set up the server that would be used to download updates and software that you choose to install in the future. Set Up Windows File & Printer Sharing
Sharing files and printers with Windows machines requires you to have Samba on your computer. You can install it right away if you know you will need it in the future. Or else, Ubuntu prompts you to install Samba the first time you try to share a file. These are the ones from our side. We are sure you guys have your own picks as well. How about sharing them in the comments? We NEED Your Comments!!! Please do share your thoughts in article comments. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Optimize Your Mobile Browsing With The Opera Mini Browser Posted: 06 May 2010 09:31 AM PDT
We’ve discussed mobile browser alternatives before, and Opera Mini browser download – the mobile version of the brand – is one of them. But it has evolved so much since then. It even has an iPhone version to stand alongside Safari. Now let’s see several things that you can do to optimize your mobile browsing experience by downloading the Opera Mini browser.
Optimized For The Small ScreenThe first thing is installation. To quickly acquire Opera Mini for your mobile device, point your default phone browser to m.opera.com or get.opera.com and your phone type will be detected and the download link to a compatible version will appear. Opera Mini is available for most modern mobile phones. But if your phone isn’t supported, you will get the link to download the previous version. After installation, open the browser to start browsing the web. You will see that, beyond the simplicity, Opera Mobile’s interface is indeed designed for the small screen.
You will see nine boxes on the Start Page. Opera calls them speed dial. The purpose is to give users quick customizable access to their most visited sites. Users can press one of the “dial” buttons to quickly go to a site. So the first thing that you can do to optimize your mobile browsing experience is to add your favorite sites to the speed dial. Just click one of the empty grey boxes with the plus sign inside and you can type in the address of the site(s) that you want to add to the speed dial.
Ordinary browsing is similar to what you normally do on the ordinary browser: just type in the site URL, and click “Go“.
On the lower part of the screen, there are the usual browser buttons: back and forward (the left and right arrows), refresh (circular arrow), tabs, and tools.
Opera Mini is capable of opening several tabs at once. All you have to do is to click the tab button; and after the tab bar is opened, click the plus button to add a new address.
But please bear in mind that opening several tabs at once will drain your phone’s memory and might slow down (or even crash) your phone. The Tools Of The TradeThe tool button contains several common browser tools: Bookmarks, History, Start Page, Saved Pages, Downloads, Settings, Find in Page, Help,
And Exit at the very bottom of the screen.
Some of these buttons are so common that they need no further explanation. But there are also some that are a little bit special like the “Start Page” button. This is the button that you need to click to customize the start page that we mentioned before. “Settings” is the place to customize several things on Opera Mini to better suit your tastes and need. For example, if you prefer to have every inch of your phone’s screen property for the webpage, turn on the “Fullscreen” option.
You can also choose the size of the font used in the browser’s display. A larger font size means better readability, but – in my humble opinion – an uglier look of the page.
The “Privacy” settings deal with things like passwords, cookies and history. Those who really concern about safety would want to tinker with these options a little bit further.
“Help” might be the least visited place for most users, but there’s a sweet surprise waiting inside.
You can find a list of shortcuts inside Help that you can use to quickly access Opera Mini’s functions, including the sites in speed dial. These shortcuts are nice time savers, especially for those who uses phones with physical buttons.
So, have you tried Opera Mini? Do you have any quick tips to use this cool phone browser? Please share using the comments below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf fan page on Facebook. Over 17,000 fans already!
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| Convert Video Files For Your iPad From Windows Using Free iPad Video Converter Posted: 06 May 2010 08:31 AM PDT
So what do you do, as a PC user, to get your videos to play on your new iPad? Well for starters we can download a little free application called Free iPad Video Converter.
You should have a screen that looks exactly like the one you see below.
To start converting you can first select the type of video you want to convert to. The options under the iPad section are limited to the files supported on the iPad. That happens to be only .MP4 files. You do have three options of how you want them converted. Those choices are H.264, HD Video and MPEG-4. If you do not know what you need simply leave it on iPad HD videos and let's continue.
After selecting the profile we will click on the New Task button in the center of the screen. It has a green plus sign on it which you can see here:
You will see this sub menu when you click on new task.
In this instance I want to convert one file. The file is a TV rip of a recent House episode. It is AVI format and XVID was used to convert it.
Hit the open button and that will take us back to the main user interface. Our file will now be listed there. We will be able to see the video's length, size and total numbers of videos. You can also split the video using the drop down box near the left side of the screen. This is useful for breaking huge videos down into more manageable pieces. The built in options are for DVDs and Blu-Ray disks but you can just as easily choose custom and pick whatever size you want. The output folder is where your files will be saved to. You can also check the check box to merge multiple files into one file. That file will also be save to the same folder.
Go ahead and click the convert button and the application will start to convert your video. When it is complete you will have an .mp4 version of your video for your iPad! You can find the file in the output folder:
Do you have a favorite iPad video converter? Let us know in the comments! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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