MakeUseOf.com: “DOWNLOAD Stuff Happens: The Backup & Restore Guide” plus 9 more |  |
- DOWNLOAD Stuff Happens: The Backup & Restore Guide
- Cool Websites and Tools [April 19th]
- The 13 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers]
- 3 Cool Facebook Apps That Help You Make Use Of Your Photos
- Kings Quest III: Remade & Ready To Rock [Mac & Windows]
- Hot Tech Deals [Apr 19th]
- 5 Twitter Job Services For Some Real-Time Job Search
- Bring Instagram To The Web With The Help Of Extragram
- The 3 Best Clipboard Managers For Windows
- How To Get The Most Out Of The Android Marketplace
| DOWNLOAD Stuff Happens: The Backup & Restore Guide Posted: 20 Apr 2011 06:45 AM PDT
“Stuff Happens: The Backup and Restore Guide” outlines everything you need to regularly back up your PC. Author Tina Sieber outlines backup strategies, what to backup and what tools to use for the job. Backups are necessary because data has value. Whether this is sentimental, commercial, or legal value, a backup is a way of securing valuable information. The worst loss would be files of which we own the only copy in existence, such as personal documents or photos. Protect these priceless files. Back them up. This guide can teach you how.
This guide explains:
DOWNLOAD Stuff Happens: The Backup and Restore Guide or Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| Cool Websites and Tools [April 19th] Posted: 19 Apr 2011 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!
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| The 13 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] Posted: 19 Apr 2011 06:31 PM PDT
In our weekly contest the Best Answer of the Week is rewarded with $50 and two runners-up win $30 and $20, respectively. Every comment automatically enters the contest. Please share your expertise and help us with the following questions:
For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed. Need help? Ask A Question at MakeUseOf Answers. Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| 3 Cool Facebook Apps That Help You Make Use Of Your Photos Posted: 19 Apr 2011 04:31 PM PDT
With all of those photos, you’d think Facebook would have some really cool things you can do with them, besides just tagging your friends and commenting. Facebook recently altered the way we view our photos within the interface, which is an upgrade if you ask me, but where are all the cool apps? Cooliris PhotosThe first app I would like to show you is Cooliris Photos, which offers you a really interesting way of viewing your Facebook photos. Tiny snapshots of your photos are all shown on a 3D wall that you can rotate, scroll, and zoom as you please.
You can also make the application full screen and share your pictures on Facebook (again? Sure, why not?) and Twitter with the click of a button. Invite your friends to use Cooliris Photos and you will be able to view their photos in the same way. You can view a live demo of Cooliris Photos on the app’s Facebook page. Cooliris is also available for use on your desktop, so be sure to check that out as well. PicnikIf you’re into editing your photos, you may already be into using Google’s Picnik, but did you know you could use it right from within Facebook?
With Picnik for Facebook, you can edit your photos after you’ve uploaded them, which is a huge plus in that it saves you all the time it would take to delete, edit, and re-upload them if you had to do it that way. Besides, you might be able to get your photos back if you deleted them from Facebook, but you wouldn’t be able to get back the tags and comments that went with them. Picnik has over 3 million monthly active users on Facebook, so if you’re wondering just how good a service like this could possibly be, there’s your answer. FotolinkThe last Facebook app I’d like to introduce you to is Fotolink. Fotolink helps you upload and download photos using drag and drop from Facebook to your computer or to online photo services like Picasa, Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Smugmug, Webshots, and Shutterfly. Using the app, you can easily browse all of your friends’ photos in one place, and drag and drop as you please.
If you have a lot of photos in different places and you’re looking to organize them, Fotolink is about as useful a Facebook photo app as there is. ConclusionWith the three Facebook apps I’ve portrayed here, you should be able to edit, move, and view your photos as you please. Coincidentally, you can also get your friends involved with these apps through the sharing functions that they have which, let’s face it, is the real reason why Facebook photos are there in the first place. What do you think of the apps I’ve covered? Are you doing anything cool with your Facebook photos? Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
 More articles about: Facebook, photo albums, photo sharing, photos
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| Kings Quest III: Remade & Ready To Rock [Mac & Windows] Posted: 19 Apr 2011 02:31 PM PDT
AGD Interactive games have now brought Mac fans one of the best presents ever: Sierra’s “King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human” remade for Mac OS and Windows. Fans have had the pleasure of playing the original King’s Quest III adventure game since the Sierra days, but we can now enjoy the fun with improved graphics, game-play and vocal recordings. Let’s go for a nostalgic trip!
Get Kings Quest III ReduxKings Quest III Redux is free to download from AGD Interactive. This release also features enhanced artwork with hand-painted backgrounds and character dialogue portraits. There’s some brand new side-quests and puzzles for you to try out, involving some brand new characters. The download is 320MB, so you might want to go grab a coffee while you wait for it. You’ll want it anyway, since you’ll be up all night playing the game. 10 Minutes Later…Game on.
It seems ADG Interactive have worked hard to remake King’s Quest III to smooth out annoyances from the original and make the game even better for players. The cumbersome spell creation process has been replaced, as have many time-based processes which used to leave the player idly waiting around. Some of the more frustrating puzzles have also been re-worked to create a more seamless game experience.
Although ADG Interactive have developed some of the characters and areas, they claim the original purpose and importance of each character has been retained in the remaking.
Although translation packs were available for the original game, they aren’t supported in the remake. Hotkeys & Useful Things to KnowWhen you get into the game, there’s a few useful commands and hotkeys that will get you rolling. There’s also a useful PDF included in your download, which could help you understand the game a little.
Game SynopsisIn Kings Quest III, you play the character of a slave called Gwydion who serves the evil Wizard Manannan. With a landmark birthday approaching and your usefulness to Manannan dwindling, you’re certain Manannan will try to kill you on your birthday. So it’s time to work out how to use the wizard’s spells, explore the world outside and challenge the wizard himself.
More GamesIf you’ve caught the game bug now, here’s some other great games for Mac lovers:
What do you think of King’s Quest III Redux? Is it just as addictive as the original or not? NEW: Download MakeUseOf App for Android. FREE!
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| Posted: 19 Apr 2011 01:30 PM PDT
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set Hey Facebookers, make sure to join MakeUseOf on Facebook and get access to some exclusve stuff. Over 70,000 fans already!
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| 5 Twitter Job Services For Some Real-Time Job Search Posted: 19 Apr 2011 12:31 PM PDT
In its overreaching popularity lies its job hunting prowess. Companies are increasingly using it spread their updates. Vacancies and recruitment’s are just one of them. Even if you do a simple search for a job lead on Twitter, you will be surprised at the number of links that total up. I am not even telling you to do an advanced Twitter search or develop industry specific social strategy. We are talking here of Twitter services that do the job of distilling relevant job tweets for you so that you can find jobs on Twitter. Here are five of them. Tweet My Jobs
Somehow the image on this Twitter job app says it all. It is probably the largest Twitter job board on the web. The About page says that they have 10,052 vertical job channels segmented by geography, job type, and industry. The service is used by people on both sides of the table, the recruiters as well as the job seekers. It is free for job seekers. As a job seeker, you can sign-up and subscribe to a channel of your interest. Any news jobs available are sent as instant notifications as a Twitter feed or on your mobile. Beyond this, you can use the service like a regular job site: post your resume to companies or forward jobs to friends. Using TweetMap, a Google Maps mashup, you can geographically target jobs of your interest. TwitJobSearch
This Twitter job search engine is another well designed and maintained service which could be the answer to your job search prayers. You can instantly sign-in with your Twitter account and start a hunt. The site allows you to save jobs to your account, have an online resume, and network. Creating a profile on this web service involves some fine-detailing as recruiters see what has been posted. You can also link the public LinkedIn URL or any other online CV you might have. The Advanced Search is just one way to trawl through Twitter job updates. For an industry specific browse, you can go to the directory which lists 'Job Accounts' for selected countries. Using the Job Map, you can visually see the jobs that have been tweeted about in the last 72 hours. The site also has a free iPhone app. Job Shouts
The easiest way to get the dope on the latest job postings collected by this site is via Twitter. JobShouts.com is a social search tool for jobs across many job boards that include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. All jobs are screened by the site, so the potential to hit the genuine ones is much higher for the job seeker. Tweetajob
Jobseekers can search for jobs related to their interests and like most Twitter services, you can target jobs by location. Think of Tweetajob as a job search engine powered by Twitter. You can choose to receive job tweets on your Twitter feed or as SMS alerts on your mobile phone. Start searching with your Twitter account and build your profile as it helps the service to send you more targeted job alerts. The site is limited to U.S job postings currently. Twitter JobCast
The site serves as a simple listing for jobs put out by employers. If you have a Twitter account, you can @reply and find out your suitability for the job. Because it is a simple listing with a #hiring hashtag, the quality may not be top-notch, so it falls upon the job seeker to do all the screening before applying for the job. The listing covers United States, Australia, Canada, UK, and India. There's probably nothing more real time than a job search. These five Twitter tools could just help you get ahead of the queue. Here are some more posts that you can pack in your arsenal: 8 Sites For Beating The Job Hunting Blues Do you know of any other search tools to find jobs on Twitter that we can add to the list? Also, do let us know if you have ever managed to bag a job with the help of Twitter. Image Credit: Shutterstock Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
 More articles about: employment, job search, job tips, Twitter, twitter search, twitter tips
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| Bring Instagram To The Web With The Help Of Extragram Posted: 19 Apr 2011 10:31 AM PDT
The most notable features of Instagram is its set of image filters. Users can quickly and easily transform their photos into retro-style images, like some old photos you would find inside a dusty shoebox in your grandma's attic. But there's something missing from this great app: a web interface. The Extra To The GramThe Instagram developer took a rather unusual way in answering the need for a website to expand the service. Instead of building their own site, they released their API and let others utilize it to create Instagram-friendly websites. Since the API release, there have already been several websites created. One of them is Extragram. This is a service that will extend your Instagram experience out of iOS into the virtual world.
Even though Extragram is aimed at Instagram users, and you will need your Instagram username and password to log in, those without an account can still enjoy the vast gallery of shared user photos. Just click the “Take a sneak-peek” link next to the “Sign In” button.
Sneak-peeking will only give you the ability to view pictures, while signing in will give you more features like commenting, searching, and following others. When you sign in for the first time, you will be asked to authorize Extragram to access your Instagram account.
Three Viewing ModesSimilar to Flickr, one of the great things about Instagram is its large community (and their shared photos). But I think there’s a main difference between these two services – almost all Instagram users upload their photos to show them off to others. Or in other words, most Instagram users only share their best shots. This collection of best shots is filtered further by user votes. The more “Likes” an image has, the higher that image will be in the “Popular” list. If you want to feast your eyes, Instagram’s popular list is the perfect place to do that. That’s why one of the main features offered by Extragram is the ability to view Instagram’s popular list. There are three viewing modes available. The first is the simplest: “Grid” view.
The second is: “Filmstrip” view. This viewing mode will put one picture as a focus and gives you the ability to view and add comments to the picture.
The “Map” view lets you browse through pictures based on geographical location.
This view also allows you to search for a place and browse images taken around that area. You can also find people who took those pictures.
A Few Other ThingsAnother Extragram feature is the ability to view your own Instagram pictures. They are all available under the “My Photos” link.
Next to “My Photos” is the “Search” link. This feature is useful when you want to find images or Instagram users using specific search strings.
As a bonus, the search feature will put a few random profiles under the search results and let you ‘discover’ other Instagram users.
Click one of those random profiles and you can see his/her pictures, and then ‘stalk’ him/her by clicking the “Follow” button.
After trying out Extragram for a while, I think that this service is a great way to extend your Instagram experience to the web. If you are an avid Instagram user, then Extragram is a must. However, Extragram is not the only Instagram extension out there. Check out our other article about Instagram-related web services. Are you an Instagram user? Have you tried Extragram? Do you know of any other similar web services? If so, please share using the comments below. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| The 3 Best Clipboard Managers For Windows Posted: 19 Apr 2011 09:31 AM PDT
A Windows clipboard manager can fill in the void and add much needed capacity and functionality to the Windows clipboard. Not only can it maintain a history of items you copied during your current or even multiple Windows sessions, it can also save text snippets you frequently use and make them easily accessible. The Can Do All: DittoDitto may seem unpretentious at first. However, it has a host of useful features hidden beneath its oversimplified interface. On the surface, it merely keeps track of the clipboard history.
However, when you right-click an item in the clipboard or open the > Options menu through the status bar menu, you are presented with the full depth of possibilities. The most notable features include searching entries, saving clips in groups for later use, and syncing clipboards across multiple computers.
Ditto can save up to 999 clipboard items and you can also let entries expire after a set number of days. Per default, duplicates are removed, you can set a hotkey to activate Ditto and one each for pasting the last ten items copied.
Ditto is open source and also runs as a portable application. Frankly, I found the options a little overwhelming, offering far more than I will ever need. The Happy Medium: Yankee Clipper IIIThe two essential elements of Yankee Clipper are the History and the Boilerplates tabs in the left hand menu. The history is everything you copied during the present Windows session, while in Boilerplates you can save items permanently. Within each tab, clipboard items are sorted by category: text, pictures, rich text, URLs and all formats.
More interesting features are hidden behind the menu icons. From left to right you can hide Yankee Clipper, print the current item, make the window stay always on top, open the configuration dialog, paste with a delay of 3-4 seconds, and exit. History can be saved between sessions and the tool comes with a great tutorial that will not leave any questions open. The Minimalist: xNeat Clipboard ManagerIf you don’t fancy setting up commonly used phrases and would prefer a tool that exclusively manages your clipboard history, try the xNeat Clipboard Manager. The options are concise: maximum clipboard history size (up to 99 items), start automatically with Windows, and change the keyboard shortcut to launch the paste options.
When you paste using the xNeat Clipboard Manager key combination, you will be presented with the list of items in your clipboard history. This way you can copy multiple items in a row and then go ahead and paste them in one go.
If you’re running Windows 7, do check out the comprehensive Clipboard Manager desktop gadget, which I briefly reviewed in the article Top 7 Coolest Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets You Have To Use. For more alternative clipboard managers have a look at the following articles:
What is your experience with clipboard managers? Userful tools or overrated? Image credits: Valeriy Lebedev Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| How To Get The Most Out Of The Android Marketplace Posted: 19 Apr 2011 08:31 AM PDT
There are more places to find apps, and that's great. But that also makes using the Android Marketplace – or rather, marketplaces – more confusing. While you can get by with what Android offers by default, you really should take extra steps if you want to get the most out of your smartphone. Build A Market PortfolioAll Android phones ship with the Android Market, the only official outlet for Android Apps. It works fairly well if you want to search for a specific kind of app or you already know an app's name. It lacks a recommendation system, however, and the information provided by user reviews isn't as detailed as it could be. Fortunately, there are other markets besides the Android Marketplace.
AppBrain is a popular market app that runs on top of the default Android Market. What AppBrain does is enhance the experience by providing better filtering and sorting capability and a "Recommended Apps" utility that offers app download suggestions. When you make a selection, however, you're sent to the Android Market to download the app.
A new contender you may have heard of is the Amazon App Store. The Amazon App Store isn't found on the Android Market, but instead downloaded from Amazon directly. You can also buy apps on the Amazon website rather than on your phone. The Android Market allows this as well, but Amazon's online store is easier to navigate. Amazon is offering a paid app for free every day, so you should at least check it out for the free stuff. Installing an alternative or supplement to the Android Market may seem a strange way to get the most out of the Android Market, but that's what happens with an operating system that is open. I think it’s essential that everyone at least give AppBrain a whirl, as it really enhances what you can do with the Android Market. The Amazon App Store, on the other hand, fragments the market. But hey, free apps are free apps – and you might decide you like the Amazon App Store better. Managing & Updating AppsI know what you're thinking. “Great. Now I have to use Android Market to search apps, but use AppBrain for recommendations and filtering, and Amazon's App Store for my daily free app. How am I going to manage all of this stuff?”
In my opinion, AppBrain offers the best solution with its Manage and Sync feature. You open this by starting the AppBrain market and then clicking the Manage and Sync button. A list of your installed apps will be populated, and apps that require updates will be listed at the top. But you don't even need to open AppBrain to start updating, as the program comes with a sync widget that can be placed on your desktop. Click it, and the process will begin. Unfortunately, AppBrain can’t do it all. There so far isn't any way to update apps purchased from the Amazon app store because you have not purchased them from the Android Market, which AppBrain is linked to. If you want to update an App purchased from Amazon you have to use the Amazon AppStore, open the menu, and then open My Apps.
You can also manage your applications using a third-party app like Android App Manager. These apps do a great job of displaying all of your apps and often offer update capability. But Amazon remains left out – I've yet to find one that offers compatibility with apps from Amazon. I’m sure apps will offer Amazon compatibility in the future, but Amazon’s App Store is quite new, and I’m sure most developers will want to see if it catches on before taking time to make it a part of their app. Conclusion
Fragmentation is the word that's been buzzing around Android's head recently. This post highlights why. Obtaining Android apps can be a simple matter of opening the official Android Marketplace, but to find the best apps and manage them your best bet is to use third-party market apps in addition to the default one. This may be confusing compared to the monolithic App Store found on iOS devices. But this is what Android is about; choices. Alternatives aren’t as simple, but they also offer more options. What do you think? Do you find the fragmentation annoying? Or do you know another app that makes obtaining apps even easier? Let us know in the comments. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
 More articles about: google android, How-To Articles, Mobile Apps, smartphones
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Disasters happen. Unless you’re okay with losing all of your data, you need a good backup system. If you know this but haven’t got around to setting up backup on your PC, this is the guide to read.
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