MakeUseOf.com: “Crumpler’s Moderate Embarrassment Laptop Messenger Bag [Mini Giveaway]” plus 7 more |  |
- Crumpler’s Moderate Embarrassment Laptop Messenger Bag [Mini Giveaway]
- Cool Websites and Tools [October 2nd]
- Search For Similar Images Online Using Images Rather Than Keywords
- Awardspace Hosting Giveaway Winners
- Hot Tech Deals [Oct 2nd]
- Use Adblock To Block Online Ads and Malware
- Create Music Playlists For Every Situation With Playlistnow.fm
- Introducing Google’s WebP, A Faster Web Alternative To JPEG [News]
| Crumpler’s Moderate Embarrassment Laptop Messenger Bag [Mini Giveaway] Posted: 03 Oct 2010 05:25 AM PDT
At MakeUseOf, we recognise the necessity for quality bags — we’ve given away a Crumpler Western Lawn messenger bag because it’s just so darn awesome. Today, we’ll be providing you with a chance to win a Crumpler Moderate Embarrassment laptop messenger bag worth $95; no strings attached!
The Moderate Embarrassment’s outer and inner flaps are made out of ripstop nylon (which is the same kind of fabric used to make yacht sails) and provides excellent waterproof protection.
The outer flap folds over the bag and fastens with the help of velcro and compression straps on each side for added security. All Embarrassment laptop messenger bags feature a dedicated laptop compartment, which is lined with foam to protect your precious computer from bumps. In addition to that, there is also another velcro fastener to help keep it in place.
As advertised, the Moderate Embarrassment houses a 13″ laptop. Unfortunately — as hard as I tried – I couldn’t get my 13″ MacBook to fit. Maybe it’s because the MacBook is actually 13.3 inches? Nevertheless, if you’re planning to get one for your 13″ MacBook, I’d suggest the Considerable Embarrassment. Pictured below is an iPad in the bag’s laptop compartment to give you an idea of small it is.
Of the many things I like about the Moderate Embarrassment is the fact that it has loads of other compartments and pockets to store random items like keys, chargers, USB drives, cablers, etc. There are about 2 large (one zipped, one velcro-protected) compartments at the front of the bag, 2 medium-sized pockets in the middle, and a couple more small cargo spaces which will be able to fit a mobile phone and music player.
Overall, I love the make and utilitarian design of the bag. Not to mention Crumpler’s strive for quality and their lifetime warranty against defective materials or workmanship. And lucky for you, we’re giving one away! How do I enter?It’s simple, just follow the instructions. STEP 1Join our Facebook page by liking us. If you’re already following us, you may skip this step. If you can’t see the fanbox, click on this link. STEP 2Here’s our giveaway form. Please fill it in accurately. Be sure to enter your real email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form. STEP 3You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to LIKE the post. This step is optional but why not spread the love? And that’s it! You’re done! Giveaway eligibility You must be a fan of our Facebook page to enter; Individuals who are over the age of 18. If you are under 18, get your parents to participate on your behalf; Individuals who reside in a country embargoed by the United States; Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India are not permitted to enter. This giveaway begins now and ends after 300 submissions. The winner will be selected at random and announced via email. Spread the word to your friends and have fun!
If you’re looking for the ultimate iPad carrying case, check out the Fug and Herbas combo.
The Fug is a quality neoprene sleeve that fits the iPad like a glove, and is made to slip neatly into the Herbas. Fashioned from one piece of material, the Herbas is a tidy bag, featuring one front pocket for cables and chargers, and another smaller coin pocket. A single oversized clip holds this clever one piece construction in place.
It’s a neat and simple package. Just what the iPad needs. The Fug & the Herbas will be available for your portable pleasure from Crumpler stores and its website. The Fug is priced at $45 while the Herbas is $65. Or get the two as a bundled pair for $100.
Let us know if you’re interested and we’ll probably give it away next. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
    
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| Cool Websites and Tools [October 2nd] Posted: 02 Oct 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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| Search For Similar Images Online Using Images Rather Than Keywords Posted: 02 Oct 2010 06:31 PM PDT
Of course we already have a plethora of color-based image search engines as well as other fun search tools we have been reviewing from time to time, but most of them have one thing in common: the keyword comes first: we use words to search. This post is about another type of search: where an image comes first.
As the technology is still in its infancy, various developers are working on specific kinds of practical applications for this type of search. The three services that I think currently put the concept to its best uses are: 1. BYO Image Search LabThe BYO Image Search Lab was one of the earliest image-based search engines to appear online. Users can:
The engine than produces a batch of relatively similar pictures based primarily on the color similarity, though it does have some success when it comes to prioritizing results that match or contain similar elements (form and theme similarity).
2. GazopaFollowing hot on the heels of BYO comes Gazopa (find the MUO Gazopa review here) which, like its rival, is a tool for matching images with similar ones. Like with BYO, user’s can either upload a picture or get one from the Internet to initiate the search. However, it seems that by basing its results more on shape outlines than color, the results shown are a lot more like the original image searched for (as compared to the above tool):
3. TinEyeTinEye (find the MUO TinEye review here) is a tool being developed by the same company behind BYO (Idée). It is available as an addon for the four major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari), which, when installed, allows users to search for images on the web that exactly match the image used to start the search. TinEye seems to be focused on exact matches (looking for images that look exactly the same). TinEye can tell if pictures at a different resolution still match the initial query, which makes it a really great piece of software for keeping track of any copyrighted or personal (potentially embarrassing) images of yours that may be circulating around the web.
So how can you actually use these tools? The opportunities are plenty:
Have you come across any image-based search tools that are more advanced than the ones I’ve mentioned here ? Let me know if you have. Post image source: Flickr Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| Awardspace Hosting Giveaway Winners Posted: 02 Oct 2010 03:30 PM PDT
Each of them will be receiving 12 months of free hosting and 2 free domain names for life! Find out if you’re one of them after the jump.
Congratulations, winners! We’ve sent you an email to help you get set up. Please check your inboxes. MakeUseOf would like to thank David from Awardspace for his generosity and sponsoring this contest. 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!
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| Posted: 02 Oct 2010 01:15 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 Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Use Adblock To Block Online Ads and Malware Posted: 02 Oct 2010 12:31 PM PDT
If you’ve never used AdBlock before don’t worry: it’s easy to use and currently available for Firefox, Chrome and even Safari. If you use Internet Explorer, stop. Download Chrome or Firefox and you’ll be much happier. If you use Opera, odds are you don’t need to block malware. Your browser, being sentient and all-powerful, protects you in accordance with its divine will. Getting StartedFirst things first: you need to install Adblock. Here’s where to find it: AdBlock Plus for Firefox Installing extensions works the same here as with any browser extension, so you know what to do. Note that you may need to restart your browser for the installation to complete, particularly if you use Firefox. By default, AdBlock blocks ads (makes sense). If you want to turn this extension into a security tool, then you’ll need to add the Malware Domains subscription. Head over to AdBlock’s official subscriptions page and scroll to the bottom. You’ll find the malware list at the bottom, under Miscellaneous:
Click that and you’ll be subscribed to the new list. Confirm everything is working by heading to your Adblock configuration page, which you’ll find in your browser’s extensions menu. The “Filter List” tab is the one you’re looking for, and if the list was installed properly it should see it checked and ready:
If you want to see the list in its entirety, just click here. Just don’t visit any of the listed sites! It’s impressive just how many sites around the web are serving up malware, and it certainly feels good knowing they’re all blocked. Bonus Block: Rickroll Blocking
Here’s a fun hack: use AdBlock to protect yourself from RickRolls. All you need to do is subscribe to the RickRoll Database and you’ll never have to hear that stupid song ever again. Sure, this meme may be old but that doesn’t mean it’s not annoying. Check this out if you’ve been fooled too many times. ConclusionWhy bother with such a list if you already have antivirus protection? Good question. The main thing to remember is that this can give you an additional layer of protection, and a preventive one at that. No security suite is perfect, so adding this shield to your defences can only help. Naturally, this isn’t a replacement for anti-virus software. I highly recommend checking out our ten best free antivirus programs to make sure you’re completely protected. Or, of course, you can keep on using whatever protection you have and love. Tell us about it below! I love finding alternative uses for software like this. Do you know of any other unique uses for AdBlock? Or do you know of another cool way to protect yourself from malware? Share that in the comments below too. NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!
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| Create Music Playlists For Every Situation With Playlistnow.fm Posted: 02 Oct 2010 10:31 AM PDT
Rather than listen to music based on your mood, or based on your favourite genre, Playlistnow.fm is all about listening to music according to your situation.
Playlistnow.fm does not have a registration page, but rather allows you to connect either your Facebook, Twitter or Google account to access the site. It is worth mentioning though, that while they provide a method to revoke permission for access to your account – it doesn't work. If you change your mind about using Playlistnow.fm – you will have to revoke permission directly through the account you connected to the site.
Once you've signed in, you will be prompted to fill in your name, email address and location. If any of your friends from the service you connected are on Playlistnow.fm, you can follow them, and if you want, follow some suggested members including Playlistnow.fm staff members and popular users. Playlistnow.fm focuses heavily on the social network side of things, with collaborative playlists, allowing you to add songs to other people’s playlists. Another social network feature is a feed of your and your friends' recent activities on the site. Other users can comment on and 'like' each other's activity on the site.
There are two ways to search for songs on the site. If you use the search bar at the top of the page, the search results are accompanied by a wealth of information.
Song search results are accompanied by the audio track, similar songs, and a list of the playlists the song has been added to. You can 'like' the song, comment on it, or add it to your playlist. Artist search results are similar, accompanied by similar artists, a bio, and the available songs from that artist on Playlistnow.fm. If the song you want isn't on the list, you can expand the search results to include YouTube songs. You can also preview a song before adding it to your list, share the song via email, Facebook or Twitter. If you don't feel like creating a situation-related playlist you can add the song to your 'tiny playlist,' a public list of your favourite songs, by clicking the heart icon.
To create a playlist, click on the 'Create a playlist' button at the top of the page and fill in the fields – the situation, tags, and the category.
On the playlist page, you can then search for songs to add to your playlist. These search results are not accompanied by the information included using the first search method, allowing you only to preview and add songs to the playlist.
If you'd rather browse other people's playlists, there are several ways to do so. You can browse playlists by tag, by categories, or even through the entire list until you find something that appeals to you.
Playback is controlled by a player at the bottom of the browser screen. Through the player, you can skip and pause songs, set the playlist to play on shuffle or repeat, or share what you're listening to on Twitter or Facebook, watch the video, or add the song to your tiny playlist.
If there is one major criticism to be made of Playlistnow.fm, it's that you won't always find the song or singer that you're looking for. If your taste in music is less than mainstream, you will struggle to find songs to create your music playlists, despite the fact that the music is partly powered by YouTube videos. If the artist does not have a page on Playlistnow.fm, their YouTube songs won't show up in search results. Have you tried out Playlistnow.fm? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments.
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| Introducing Google’s WebP, A Faster Web Alternative To JPEG [News] Posted: 02 Oct 2010 07:13 AM PDT
“Most of the common image formats on the web today were established over a decade ago and are based on technology from around that time“, stated the article. It was this that caused some of the engineers at Google to try to come up with a way to further compress lossy images (like an alternative to JPEG) without losing quality of resolution.
What Is WebP & How Does It Work?WebP (pronounced “weppy”) is a method of lossy compression that can be used on images. “A WebP file consists of VP8 image data, and a container based on RIFF.” It uses predictive coding to encode your images, meaning that it uses the values in neighboring blocks of pixels to predict values in a block, and then encodes only the difference between the prediction and actual values. Since residuals contain a lot of zero values, this allows for much more effective compression. The degree of compression is adjustable so a user can choose the trade-off between file size and image quality. Does It Really Work?To showcase and compare WebP’s performance with other image formats, Google has shared some open-source images (along with file size) so you can see for yourself.
Google is also releasing a conversion tool that you can use to convert images to the WebP format. Native support for WebP is also expected in an upcoming release of the Google Chrome browser. What are your thoughts on this subject? Will WebP be good for the Web? Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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In this day and age, almost everyone has got a personal computing device. Just ask around. They will either have a laptop, some sort of tablet like the iPad, or a maybe a Kindle. Personally, I use MacBook and I thank God that Apple doesn’t provide that awful, black, faux-leather laptop carrying bag and almost every 1 in 3 people will undeniably have owned at some point in time. However, that poses another problem: a need for a proper laptop bag arises.
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 
The ways we search for information online are constantly evolving. One of the most interesting (comparatively) new methods currently being developed by companies around the web revolves around the idea of using images as a basis for search queries.
Looks like we have a couple of future webmasters among us. Here are the winners of the Awardspace giveaway!
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.
Adblock can do more than just block advertisements. It can block content from any website or any list of websites. Malware, being hosted on a finite number of sites around the web, is therefore blockable. Combine AdBlock with 
There is no shortage of ways to listen to music online, whether it's by creating your own playlists on popular websites like 
Google has taken it upon themselves to make the Web faster. In a 
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