MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [May 21st]” plus 4 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [May 21st]
- 4 Ways To Easily Embed Part Of A YouTube Video
- Hot Tech Deals – Dell Laptop Deals + more
- Re-Add The Weather Indicator To Ubuntu 11.04′s Panel [Linux]
- 10+ New & Free Portfolio WordPress Themes For 2011
| Cool Websites and Tools [May 21st] Posted: 21 May 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. Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers! Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
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| 4 Ways To Easily Embed Part Of A YouTube Video Posted: 21 May 2011 06:31 PM PDT
While there’s really only one way to do that (the first one listed below), there are also a few well-used tools that can help you cut off a part of the video and embed it. This post is intended to shed some light on how these tools work and what they actually do. 1. Use the Embedded Player ParameterThe most straightforward way to embed a video while skipping the first XX seconds of it is to use the &start= parameter which works both for the “old-style” (“classic”) and iFrame player: Old-style player:
iFrame player:
Likewise, there’s also the &end= parameter that makes the video stop playing at a specified time. 2. Chop With TubeChopTubeChop (see our review here) offers a clean interface allowing you to easily cut any part of the video out. You just need to specify the time frame to chop either using the time controls or the pink slider. The tool also lets you add your own comments to embed with the video.
As a result, you get a new code to embed. The major drawback of using the tool is that your new embed code is based on the tubechop.com domain which might be less reliable than using the youtube-run code (I tend to think that TubeChop’s servers are much more likely to go down than YouTube’s servers which may mean that your embedded videos will be frequently inaccessible):
There is also no iFrame-based alternative for the embedded code (which is believed to be more mobile-friendly). 3. Slice With SplicdSplicd (see our review here) is another alternative online tool that lets you specify the time frame to play any YouTube video within. It also requires absolutely no extra effort (like registration or anything similar). All you need is to provide the direct link to your video page on YouTube.
The resulting code is youtube-run and contains a link back to splicd.com (the latter can be obviously easily removed if you want):
4. Snip With SnipSnipSnipSnip (see our review here) is a web-based tool that cuts a part of any video out and lets you easily share it using the shortened link:
The resulting code is YouTube-based and also contains a link back to the service. To Sum UpTo avoid any confusion, let’s sum up what you can do with any of the above methods and how they are different:
Which of the above methods would you prefer and why? Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers! Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
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| Hot Tech Deals – Dell Laptop Deals + more Posted: 21 May 2011 01:30 PM PDT
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Download videos from the sites like YouTube, Break.com etc. Convert videos to almost any format.  Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
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| Re-Add The Weather Indicator To Ubuntu 11.04′s Panel [Linux] Posted: 21 May 2011 12:31 PM PDT
Okay, we get it: most of our commenters don’t like Ubuntu’s new Unity interface. I still think it has huge potential, but any transition is going to cause some frustration. The lack of a customizable panel will doubtless be a problem to many, which is why I’m glad to see many developers are starting to design various indicator applets. OMG Ubuntu’s in-depth reporting on indicator applets is probably the best found anywhere on the web, if you want to find more applets right now. But by far the most useful thing I’ve seen is this indicator for the weather, probably because I spend as much time outside as I can. Being able to see the current temperature, along with an icon representing conditions, at a glance is awesome, but there’s more than that here. Using the Ubuntu Weather IndicatorUsing this application isn’t any more difficult than it needs to be. Like I said, you can see the current condition, represented by an icon, by default. Click this and you’ll get more information.
As with all indicator applets, the information is presented in a clean manner. Wind speed, humidity and sunrise/sunset times are all provided for you. There’s also a forecast, but you have to click to bring it up. When you do you’ll see a simple rundown:
A rare rainy week in Boulder. I’m looking forward to it. Configuring The ProgramYou can configure the program by clicking “preferences”, of course. There are three tabs of options: General, Units and Locations. Units and Locations, of course, are self-explanatory: you can change the units of measurement used to present information. Under General there are a few things you might want to change. For example, I highly recommend adding the temperature to the panel with this checkbox:
You can also decide whether or not you want to have notifications, which is useful if you need to be reminded that there’s weather outside. I turned this off. InstallationWant to install this indicator applet? Time to add a PPA! Run the following code in the Terminal:
Not using Ubuntu 11.04 yet, or using a different Linux distro? Weather Indicator will only work on desktops that support indicator applets, but you can head over to the project’s home page to potentially find installation instructions. Source code is all that’s offered, so you might need to compile this; sorry about that! ConclusionI really do prefer indicator applets to Gnome’s old panel applets. They’re better integrated – move your mouse from side to side to switch the applet you’re using – and they bring a polished feel to Ubuntu that it was lacking. As time goes on, more quality indicator applets like this will make Unity increasingly useful for home users. I’m looking forward to writing up a list of other indicator applets in the week to come, so stay tuned. For now, feel free to recommend your favorite indicator applets below, or to comment on the value of the weather one. Also feel free to talk about how you personally dislike Unity, and why this means Ubuntu is now crap. That’s a very productive thing to add. Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers! Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
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| 10+ New & Free Portfolio WordPress Themes For 2011 Posted: 21 May 2011 10:31 AM PDT
The flexible appearance combined with an easy-to-use backend, and plugins to add just about any feature you can think of, WordPress offers photographers a great way to put together a portfolio. If you’ve been looking for a theme, and aren’t sure where to start, check out this list of some of the latest, professional looking portfolios available for download for free. Also be sure to check out our previous posts featuring some great free WordPress portfolio themes. Revolt ThemeIdeal for graphic or web designers, Revolt is a fun and quirky theme which allows you to showcase your best work. If you use the theme on your website, you can also get yourself featured in the community section of the website.
View the demo or download the theme. ImbalanceImbalance is a clean, grid-like theme which puts all of the focus on the images. If you want to accompany your photos with some text, it is displayed when you hover the cursor over the images. Imbalance is suitable for anyone looking for a fresh theme to showcase their work.
View the demo or download the theme. PortfoliumFrom the same designers as Imbalance comes Portfolium, another clean, grid-like theme, but this time with a darker background. Portfolium is suitable for photographers, designers and artists.
View the Demo or download the theme. MansionGraph Paper Press is a great source for impressive themes for free. Mansion is another grid-based theme, which takes up all of the screen real estate with your photos. Mansion also makes it easier to manage a photoblog with a great backend where you can upload, resize, and crop your images all in one place.
View the demo or download the theme. Big SquareBig Square is the ideal theme if you want to feature a set of photos in each post. This can be a great tool for featuring series of photos or all the photos from one specific shoot.
View the demo or download the theme. FotofolioFrom the same designer as Big Square, comes Fotofolio, a great theme for photographers or designers who are using their site as a means of attracting new clients. The theme has a professional landing page, space for a portfolio, blog and testimonials.
View the demo or download the theme. Pure IIPure II is a good theme for a photographer or designer who finds blogging just as important. The theme which focuses primarily on the blogging side of things also comes with a custom page template for a portfolio.
View the demo or download the theme. PraseodymiumicPraseodymiumic is a free theme with a small slideshow, space for a testimonial and grid-based portfolio all on the homepage. The theme makes it easy to throw together a professional looking site in no time.
View the demo or download the theme. VideoIf you’re looking for a free WordPress portfolio theme to showcase videos, look no further than Templatic’s succinctly named Video. The homepage features a video slideshow, as well as thumbnails of various video categories.
View the demo or download the theme. DessignDesign have several impressive free themes for the typography buff, but they are all quite similar, making it even harder to choose which one you might use. The slight variations between each theme include colours, background and various ways of putting the grid-based theme to good use. Modern is a minimalist black and white, grid-based theme with a sidebar.
View the demo or download the theme. Contemporary brings in a dash of yellow the theme, along with a graph-paper like background.
View the demo or download the theme. Studio is less traditional and more quirky in its layout. The black and white theme is great for the innovative and creative designer.
View the demo or download the theme. Minimal, the last of Dessign’s theme, is also black and white theme which lives up to its name. The theme comes with a custom page template for a portfolio, a blog, and a homepage with incorporates both.
View the demo or download the theme. Do you have a favourite, free WordPress portfolio theme? Let us know in the comments. Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers! Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool website round-ups delivered to your daily email, subscribe 
We have shared quite a few useful YouTube-related tips so far. Here are 
The Dell laptop deals are back and today’s featured deal is the Dell Inspiron 17R Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 17.3in laptop which is going for $674.99 using the coupon codes in this post — that’s $200 below the retail price.
Put the current weather where it belongs: in Ubuntu’s panel. If Unity’s left you without your favorite weather panel applet, worry not: you can install an indicator applet that’s just as good, and in some ways better, to the antiquated Gnome weather applet of old.
We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again. One of 
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