MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [December 5th]” plus 8 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [December 5th]
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends!
- Where Do You Buy Your MP3s? [MakeUseOf Poll]
- A First Look At The iOS 4.2 On The iPad
- 10 Free MP3 Albums To Download [Sound Sunday]
- OCZ Vertez 2 SSD and TranslateIt! Giveaway Winners
- Print Files From Your Mobile Phone Using DropBox [Windows & Mac]
- Google Releases Chrome 8 With 800+ Improvements Including Native PDF Support [News]
| Cool Websites and Tools [December 5th] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 07:31 PM PST
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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| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 05:12 PM PST
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. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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| Thank You To MakeUseOf Friends! Posted: 05 Dec 2010 04:31 PM PST
Thank you, guys! Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| Where Do You Buy Your MP3s? [MakeUseOf Poll] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 03:30 PM PST
From the 674 votes counted, we’ve got the following breakdown: 34% people think Facebook is evil; 28% voters suffer Facebook’s evil because they enjoy the benefits; 14% aren’t entirely sure what they think of Facebook; 14% readers actually like Facebook; 7% think Facebook is great; while 2% voters claim to have never heard of Facebook before. Full results and this week's poll after the jump.
This week's poll question is: Where Do You Buy Your MP3s? This poll question was devised by Tina Sieber. It will most likely result in a grand showdown between Amazon and iTunes, but it will also be interesting to see where else MakeUseOf readers buy MP3s. Bring it on! All the big places are listed in the poll, but obviously not all independent or smaller stores could make the list. If you know of other great places to buy MP3s, please let us know in the comments! Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| A First Look At The iOS 4.2 On The iPad Posted: 05 Dec 2010 02:31 PM PST
We’ve put together a rundown of the most important features, to give you an idea of what you’ll get with the update, although there are already rumours flying around that OS 4.3 will be out as soon as December. Of course, 4.2 took its sweet time to arrive, so we won’t be holding our breath. FoldersIf you have a hundred and one apps on your iPad, the appearance of folders is probably more than welcome. To create a folder, drag one app on top of the other, adding a maximum of 20 apps per folder.
To make life easier, we would suggest organising your iPad when it’s hooked up to iTunes. It will be less time consuming as you can select multiple apps by clicking the CMD/CTRL button. When you download a new app on your computer, when syncing your iPad, you can add it to the desired folder straight away before it’s even on your iPad.
Find My iPadIn the past, it required a paid MobileMe account to benefit from this feature but with 4.2, iPads and other iOS devices can be remotely located and controlled if lost. The service, available when you download the free app, Find My iPhone, will allow you to locate your iPad on a map, display a message of your choice on the screen, set a passcode lock and even wipe all of your personal data from the device. Bakari recently looked further into this really useful service here.
MultitaskingMultitasking has been a thorn in the side of Apple fanboys, and while it’s now available on OS 4.2 it isn’t exactly perfect. First, not all apps support multitasking so don’t expect to listen to music using just any radio or music app and leave it running in the background. For those apps that do support multitasking, click the home button twice in succession to bring up a menu of currently open apps. Closing an app uses a similar process as deleting an app from your screen, hold the icon down until the delete icon appears on each app, and close the apps that you don’t need. Don’t forget to do this on a regular basis otherwise you’ll be leaving apps open in the background left and right.
It seems Apple can’t find a middle ground. Either no multitasking at all, or leave all of your apps open unless they are manually closed. For example, if you’re listening to a music app that supports multitasking, be sure to use the mulitasking menu to close it as hitting the home button alone will not stop the music. Mail RevampThe native Mail app has had a small but significant makeover. You can now view all of your email in a unified inbox, as well as read threaded conversations a la Gmail, making for a much more streamlined email experience.
AirPrintApple might want to make a big deal over the ability to print wirelessly from your iPad, but the truth of the matter is that it only works with specific HP printers.
It’s not clear whether the service will be available to use with other printers, but in the meantime other iPad users can give these options a try. If you’re on the go, check out Ryan’s tips on how to print no matter where you are, a few of which should work with the iPad. Parental ControlsWith newly added parental controls, you can stop your kids from buying half of the iTunes app store, whether inadvertently or on purpose. You can also disable access to YouTube, iTunes and even Safari as well as disabling in-app purchases.
Search Current PageThis feature is actually a little hard to find, but with 4.2 you can now search for specific text on any webpage. Using the Google search bar at the top of the browser, enter the text you want to search for, and it will tell you how many times the word appears on the page.
Other changes to the iOS include the ability to reply to calendar invitations, iTunes TV show rentals and access to the gaming platform already available on other iOS devices, Game Center. You can also now benefit from AirPlay, which allows you to stream digital media to your Apple TV or AirPlay enabled speakers from your iPad. Another iOS native app to get a facelift is Notes. Apple are finally gives you a choice of 3 fonts, Chalkboard, Helvetica and Marker Felt, and it’s about time, because let’s face it, the original Marker Felt font was pretty juvenile.
What feature are you happy to finally have on your iPad? Let us know in the comments. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| 10 Free MP3 Albums To Download [Sound Sunday] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 11:30 AM PST
This is also the season of giving. If you discover an album you love, please donate a few dollars to reward the hard work that has gone into making the music available to you. It will be much appreciated! Brett Detar – Bird In The TangleGenre: americana, roots music, country
Singer / songwriter Brett Detar is chronically under the influence of something, including coffee, sleep deprivation, bourbon, or music. It certainly doesn’t hurt his music. New York isn’t home, but it’s where he works as songwriter, producer, and lyricist for film and pop music. It’s a living, which funds his true passion: americana and roots music. You can preview three songs from Bird In The Tangle above. Download the entire 11 track album from Brett’s Homepage. Brett Detar MySpace and Homepage. Girl Talk – All DayGenre: pop
Girl Talk MySpace and Record Label. The Animal Upstairs – Is Anybody Upstairs?Genre: experimental, rock, acoustic, crunk Is Anybody Upstairs? is a debut for Andy Mrotek, who started with four songs and soon became addicted to creating his own music. In his ANI-MAL-NIFESTO he writes that free music, real music, gets paid in goosebumps, not in dollars. As long as it’s worth it… Get the album free from Bandcamp. The Animal Upstairs MySpace and Homepage. Cubic Zirconia – The RemixesGenre: disco house, emotronic, tropical, hip hop
Cubic Zirconia MySpace and Homepage. ETCETRA – Trog•lo•dyteGenre: indie, electronic, experimental, dark gaze, hip hop Solpics – One Of A Hundred is a group of underground hip hop and rap artists from Los Angeles, California. ETCETRA is one of many, but the music is all unique. Trog•lo•dyte is a free download from Bandcamp. Rock Now! – Underground UnitedGenre: rock, heavy metal, thrash metal
Rock Now! MySpace and Homepage. BRONZE – selftitledGenre: indie, rock, punk rock, post rock Blood brothers Charlie H. Davis III and Ian Menard founded BRONZE after the breakup of their previous band Detachment Kit. Jess Birch and Ian MacDermut complete the Brooklyn quartet. Their music is described as “boisterous rock anthems with spot on percussion and heavy hip-shaking beats.” Agreed! Download the selftitled album free from Bandcamp. Severed Fifth – Nightmares By DesignGenre: heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal
Severed Fifth MySpace and Homepage. GARDEN – Golden SailsGenre: indie, experimental, shoegaze GARDEN is an independent shoegaze collective from Dayton, Ohio. Stephen from Indie Vision Music reviews the album as follows: “Golden Sails is a fictional side-narrative to the Exodus of the Israelites from captivity. The music flows from one track to another similar to a concept album. (…) There is a tremendous amount of talent with the solos, vocals, instrumentals and heartfelt lyrics. If you are into experimental indie grunge music and are looking for a new type of listening experience check out GARDEN.” Preview and download the album from Noise Trade below. GARDEN MySpace. Jonathan Class – Connect The DotsGenre: electronic, instrumental Jonathan Class from Indianapolis, Indiana runs no MySpace profile or Homepage to promote his music. On his Facebook profile he writes that he makes music mostly for himself, with no intent of making money. The world needs more idealistic and highly talented people like this! Preview and download Connect The Dots from Noise Trade above. Jonathan Class on Facebook. Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here. Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material or suggestions and feedback you don't want to post in the comments below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| OCZ Vertez 2 SSD and TranslateIt! Giveaway Winners Posted: 05 Dec 2010 10:30 AM PST
For now, let’s take a look at the giveaway winners. The 10 lucky MakeUseOf readers who will each be receiving a free one-year license for TranslateIt! are:
And the winner of the OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 120GB is George M. Smith. We’ve sent you an email, please respond to it as soon as possible. Congratulations, everyone! MakeUseOf would like to thank OCZ Technology and TranslateIt! 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.
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| Print Files From Your Mobile Phone Using DropBox [Windows & Mac] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 09:30 AM PST
We’ve covered a number of mobile printing solutions in the past, but they were often less than ideal. Today, with the use of some simple, free tools we often use and love, we’ll show you to create an automated mobile printing queue. Best of all? It costs nothing, except for your your carrier’s internet costs. 1. Install Dropbox on your ComputerYou’ve probably heard all about Dropbox by now. If you haven’t, it’s about time. Dropbox can be best described as a folder in the cloud. This means you can access this same folder on your desktop computer, your laptop and your cellphone. It’s a great way to share documents and photos across computers. If you want to learn more about Dropbox, MakeUseOf recently published The First Unofficial Guide to Dropbox, by Matt Smith.
Dropbox plays a central part in this mobile printing tutorial. Make sure to install it on a computer that’s connected to your printer. If you’re using Mac OS X, create a folder called Print in your Dropbox folder, with two sub-folders PrintQueue and Log. Folders like these will be created automatically using the Windows routine. 2a. Set Up a Printing Queue on WindowsThis is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. You can download this zip file containing a VBA script from Digital Inspiration. Double-clicking this file will put the aforementioned PrintQueue and Log files directly in your Dropbox folder and set up a printing queue. You can skip ahead to step three. 2b. Set Up a Printing Queue on Mac OS XIf you’re using Mac OS X, it takes a bit more effort on your side. We have Bbedell to thank for this workaround, which was originally posted in the comment section at Lifehacker. Fire up the Automator application and choose to create a Folder Action. Type “printer” in the search field and drag “Print Finder Items” to the main window pane. Type “Trash” in the search field and drag the “Move Finder Items to Trash” to the main window pane. Alternatively, if you want to keep the files after they’re printed, use the “Move Finder Items” workflow, to Dropbox -> Print -> Logs.
Finally, make sure to set Folder Action receives files and folders added to the PrintQueue folder you created earlier on. Save the workflow and give it a name. That’s all! 3. Move Mobile Files to DropboxTo print a file, all you need to do is move a file on your phone to the PrintQueue folder. If your computer is turned on and connected to a printer, it’ll finish the job. On newer smartphone models, you can use the native Dropbox application, available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Palm.
Even on older phones, you can print a file via email by using a mail-to-Dropbox service like Habilis. And if your phone doesn’t have email functionality, you probably don’t have anything that needs printing. What do you think of mobile printing? How do you do it? Let us know in the comments!
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| Google Releases Chrome 8 With 800+ Improvements Including Native PDF Support [News] Posted: 05 Dec 2010 08:00 AM PST
Only a few weeks after Adobe’s announcement of Acrobat Reader X (which added a sandbox mode, for safer PDF viewing) Google have announced their own support for PDF documents within the browser. Chrome 8 (build 8.0.552.215) supports the viewing of PDFs natively, without the need for plugins or additional software. The development team announced that much like Adobe’s latest offering, PDF support in Chrome would run within a sandbox environment for added security. This latest release also adds support for the Chrome Web Store, Google’s answer to the distribution of web-based applications.
Google’s next release (version 9) is already available for preview on the Chrome developer channel, with in-built support for Flash (running in a sandbox) for the Windows version. Google are currently striving to provide a secure solution, stating in a blog post: ”This initial Flash Player sandbox is an important milestone in making Chrome even safer. In particular, users of Windows XP will see a major security benefit, as Chrome is currently the only browser on the XP platform that runs Flash Player in a sandbox.” The team are still improving support before rolling out Mac and Linux versions: “We're working to improve protection against additional attack vectors, and will be using this initial effort to provide fully sandboxed implementations of the Flash Player on all platforms.” Anyone interested in accessing the latest developer builds can follow Google’s full instructions. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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