MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [August 22nd]” plus 6 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [August 22nd]
- Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends!
- Which Multi-Purpose Login Service Do You Use? [MakeUseOf Poll]
- Process Lasso Makes Windows Performance Optimization An Easy Task
- Hot Tech Deals [Aug 22nd]
- 10 Free MP3 Albums & An Exclusive Song To Download [Sound Sunday]
- How To Use A PlayStation Guitar Hero Controller On A PC Or Mac
| Cool Websites and Tools [August 22nd] Posted: 22 Aug 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. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
    
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| Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends! Posted: 22 Aug 2010 07:31 PM PDT
Thank you, guys! Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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| Which Multi-Purpose Login Service Do You Use? [MakeUseOf Poll] Posted: 22 Aug 2010 06:31 PM PDT
The largest represented group (30%) were people who had printed something “sometime this week”, followed by 21% who had used a printer “sometime today” and 18% “sometime this month”. Full results and this week's poll after the jump.
This week's poll question is: When given a choice, which multi-purpose login service do you use? Let’s see which of the login giants has the most power over us. If you’ve had any problems with multi-purpose logins then let us know in the comments. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Process Lasso Makes Windows Performance Optimization An Easy Task Posted: 22 Aug 2010 03:31 PM PDT
Process Lasso is an app that can replace WTM altogether and is aimed solely at Windows optimization by keeping bloated processes in check. The good thing about Process Lasso is its ability to nitpick each & every process and bind them to the rules you set. Installation & Set Up
Process Lasso comes as a small 1.5 MB exe file and the installation is pretty straight forward without any sneaky toolbar bundles. Once the installation is done, we are given core engine and Management Console startup options for all the users.
As the name implies, core engine is responsible for running the process rules we set for the PC and Management console is the GUI. If you don't want certain users to have their sessions optimized or to control & set the process rules, change the settings here. Not sure which options to select for the best Windows optimization? Just click Next and Process Lasso will run just fine. Process ManagementAfter installation Process Lasso launches automatically (by default the option to launch after installation is checked in the installation wizard) and we get to see the process monitor. The user interface resembles that of a Windows task manager on steroids. The UI is divided into three sections with the first one depicting the responsiveness, memory load and processor use graphically.
All the running processes (background and otherwise), along with their system resource usage information are listed in the Processes section. You can toggle to the active processes tab to see only the list of apps running in the foreground. And finally we have the log section which keeps tracks of actions performed. ProBalanceProcess Balance a.k.a. ProBalance technology, ensures that resource hungry & unresponsive processes won't put a strain on the responsiveness of your PC. Priorities of such programs are altered automatically based on the rules you set. With an assortment of Windows optimization options like disallowing certain programs from running, automatically restarting programs, limiting the number of instances of a program, logging all programs and more, Process Lasso allows you to take full control of the resource allocation process of your CPU.
If a program, say Flash, seems to hamper your work, you can set a low priority for the process or you can throttle the CPU resource allocation in entirety. I loved the option in Process Lasso which allows to keep the PC from not going into the sleep mode when certain processes are running. The "Start process for all users on login" will come in handy when using the fast user switch feature. Gaming mode allows easy process priority optimization thereby enhancing the gameplay experience. Not sure which program a particular process is associated to and are highly suspicious? You can right click on it and use the "Search for process on Internet" option to perform a Google search of the process in question. Process Lasso allows us to terminate processes abruptly or to restart them without having to exit & relaunch the program. ConclusionProcess Lasso is an all-in-one automated Windows process tuner. Even though it is a shareware, most of the options available for free are more than enough for most users. During my evaluation, I was impressed by Process Lasso's actions log. Not only were they comprehensive but were also logged in a manner human beings could actually read & comprehend! What do you think of Process Lasso? Do you use any other resource Windows optimization app to run your PC smoothly? Leave a comment below! NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!
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| Posted: 22 Aug 2010 01:30 PM PDT
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated. Keep reading to find out today’s Hot Tech Deals.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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| 10 Free MP3 Albums & An Exclusive Song To Download [Sound Sunday] Posted: 22 Aug 2010 12:31 PM PDT
This week the focus is on pop and rock in all its variations. From acoustic, gospel, and folk to ambient and electronic, this selection covers a wide spectrum. We hope your ears will be pleased. Please be generous and share with your friends. Also let us know if we can improve Sound Sunday. Feel free to post your feedback and requests in the comments. Thank you. Searchlights – New JobGenre: alternative, folk rock
Searchlights Homepage. Chris Baron MySpace and Homepage. Huge Sally Homepage. Cloudmachine – Hum Of LifeGenre: acoustic, indie, rock
Cloudmachine MySpace and Homepage. Fono – Too Broken To BreakGenre: alternative, rock
David James Graham – You Are Everything & Now Its’ MineGenre: alternative, acoustic, rock, grunge
David James Graham MySpace and Facebook. Five Smooth Stones – Life From DustGenre: rock, gospel, christian
Five Smooth Stones MySpace and Homepage. Toupé – DuninadéGenre: indie, pop
Ciudad – Brooklyn SessionsGenre: alternative, rock, indie
Ultimate Fakebook – Daydream Radio Is Smiling StaticGenre: pop, indie, rock
Ultimate Fakebook MySpace and Homepage. Inch Chua – WallflowerGenre: acoustic, pop, electronica
Inch Chua PureVolume and Homepage. Enhues – You Aren’t YouGenre: indie, electronic, rock
Enhues Homepage. I Heart Noise – Gone In 60 SecondsGenre: ambient, indie, rock, mixed
I Heart Noise Homepage. Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here. Would you like to see your free download featured in an upcoming article? Please get in touch with me (tina at makeuseof dot com). The comments are open for critique and praise. We appreciate your contribution. What is your favorite album this Sunday? Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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| How To Use A PlayStation Guitar Hero Controller On A PC Or Mac Posted: 22 Aug 2010 10:31 AM PDT
But however great these games are, it’s easy to get cramped when you’re using your keyboard (even if you hold it like an actual guitar, as suggested by both games). However, it’s easy to use your Guitar Hero Playstation 2 or 3 Guitar Hero controllers on your PC – and it’s a lot cheaper! Read on for the full tutorial. For PS2 ControllersYou might have noticed there’s no way to insert a PlayStation 2 controller into your PC. This is easily solved by buying a PlayStation 2 to USB converter. This little piece of hardware is easy to find both on eBay and in your local hardware store.
For only a couple of dollars, it’s a far better alternative than buying a new (USB) Guitar Hero controller – which often retails for around $50. On Your Windows PCFor Windows, we’re going to use a little application called Xpadder. The current release isn’t available for free, but you can find a two year old version on FileForum that fits our needs. It’s an archive that unzips on your desktop. If you’re on Windows 7, the application will draw a blank. To fix this, right-click on the unzipped Xpadder.exe, go to Properties -> Compatibility, and tick off the Compatibility mode checkbox for Windows XP or Windows Vista.
On your first launch, Xpadder will ask you from which directory you want to run the application and where to save the files. There’s no explicit reason for not running it off your desktop, but you can do here as you please. xPadder will take a while to start up and detect third-party controllers. When it’s done, click on the tiny controller icon in the top left corner, and select New. If any of the following steps don’t work, select a different square (controller) in the top ribbon, and try again.
In the Controller Settings, open the Buttons tab. You can now press those colored buttons on your Guitar Hero one at a time, and they will show on the screen. Notice that the button names and order are probably messed up. Drag and drop the buttons in the right order, and rename them. This will make the rest of the process a lot easier.
Switch to the DPad tab, and tick off the ‘enabled‘ checkbox. When the application prompts you to press the up and down buttons, respectively strum up and down. Click cancel if it prompts you for left and right.
Go to the Finish tab, and press close. The above specified buttons will remain visible. You can click either of these, and select the corresponding key from an on-screen keyboard. You’ll want to use the default keys in JamLegend and Frets on Fire. You’re probably safe by using the same combination as me below; numbered keys do not require shift.
Again, press on the little top left controller and save as a file on your desktop. You’ll need to open this configurations file whenever you want to use your Guitar Hero controller. Enjoy! On Your MacControllerMate is a similar, but more advanced application for Mac OS X. The free version is limited to 10 simultaneous action/output building blocks, but we’re only going to need 7 of them. It’ll also deactivate if you keep it in the background for more than 20 minutes, but if you open the screen every 2 or 3 songs, you’ll be fine. If you’re going to use a PS3 controller, you’ll also need to install Ps3Controller. With your Guitar Hero controller plugged in, fire up the application. You’ll be able to find it in the Palette window, as a USB controller. If you press the colored buttons on your controller, you’ll be able to see the corresponding virtual buttons light up on your screen. Open a new ‘page’ from the left hand side pane, and drag the buttons into it. You’ll need to order and possibly rename them yourself.
Switch the palette window to Outputs, and drag Keystrokes onto the page, one for each button. For each one, select it and press ‘start recording‘. Press the correct key on your keyboard that needs to be linked with the button, and press ‘stop recording‘. Now drag the lower, light-grey button to the right hand field, ‘When turned OFF’.
Change the Palette to Calculations, and find the Value Selector. Drag it in between the Y-Axis button (strum) and the corresponding keypress. There are three important values associated with your strum – neutral, up and down. You can read each one off the button on your screen. In my case neutral is 127, and up and down are 0 and 255. Select the values you see on your screen in the inspector. Now drag a relationship between each button and keypress, by dragging the green tabs on top of each other. With your Y-Axis, drag the input on the Value Selector, and the Value Selector output on the keypress.
All that’s left to do is ticking off ‘Master Enable‘ and the correct page at the left hand side of the screen, and you’re good to go.
Don’t forget to check back at least every 20 minutes, or your page will become inactive. It’s only a slight bother if it enables you to use your Guitar Hero controller. Any other (controller) tips for JamLegend or Frets on Fire gamers? Let us know you own tips and experiences in the comments below! Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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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 
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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 tech deals and unifying them into a single post for your convenience.
The wait is over, here is a fresh edition of Sound Sunday!
There are some amazing, free rhythm games available online, and we’ve covered the best of them.
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