Sunday, May 29, 2011

MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th]” plus 16 more

MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th]” plus 16 more

Link to MakeUseOf

Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th]

Posted: 28 May 2011 08:31 PM PDT

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 here.

Add Your Website Here!

 

GhostMouse – Repeating the same mouse and keyboard actions can quickly become boring and tiresome. Here to record and repeat those mouse and keyboard actions for you is an app called GhostMouse. Once the program is installed, you can click on the red recording button to have the app record your mouse and keyboard actions. Read more: GhostMouse: An App To Record & Repeat Your Mouse And Keyboard Actions

 

GoAssign – Web service that helps you create schedules and rosters for employees. It offers an impressive array of features that include maintaining a team of people, assigning your team members tasks, sending notifications via email and SMS messages, and letting members exchange assignments. Read more: GoAssign: Easily Create & Manage Employee Rosters & Schedules (15 Free Accounts)

 

 

PhraseUp – We all get stuck sometimes while writing or saying a phrase because we cannot remember that one word. PhraseUp is a tool that ends your frustration by completing sentences and phrases for you. Simply enter the words you remember and put an asterisk * sign for each missing word. PhraseUp will then show you a number of words that completes your sentence. Read more: PhraseUp: Find Words To Complete Sentences & Phrases

 

 

Sign Me Out Lite – At times people leave their email or networking account signed in after using the account on a public computer. To ensure this never happens to you, you should start using a tool called Sign Me Out Lite, a free iOS application. Sized at only 1.4MB, the app offers a much needed function: it shows you if you have left your Gmail or Facebook account signed in at any location. Read more: Sign Me Out Lite: See If You Accidentally Left Your Gmail or Facebook Account Logged In Anywhere [iOS]

 

 

Android Screencast – Sometimes, operating your mobile phone is inconvenient when using the phone's small display. To help you with this problem, numerous applications have been created to let you control your phone through your computer. One of these useful applications is called Android Screencast, a simple Java-based application that lets you control your Android phone from your computer. Read more: Android Screencast: Control Android Phone From A Computer

 

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.


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3 Firefox Addons To Improve YouTube Search Results

Posted: 28 May 2011 06:31 PM PDT

YouTube is an amazing resource. It has something for everyone provided you know how to search it and find what you need. YouTube has huge educational value, it is a great discovery tool for music lovers, it can be used for fun and to kill time (here are a few tools providing an easy lean-back experience with YouTube). The video platform has lots of possible applications. It all comes down to how you search it. I can spend hours going through search results, trying various YouTube search operators as well as playing with available filtering and sorting options.

I must say, default YouTube search results page has terrible usability: you can’t preview videos, you have zero understanding if each video might be what you need and you have to scroll down again and again to scan through results.  So I’ve been searching for some browser addons to improve results and I am pretty much excited with what I was able to find. Here are my 3 best finds (tested on FireFox 4).

1. YouPop

YouPop is a Firefox addon that lets you preview or watch YouTube videos on mouse-over on any website (as well as on YouTube itself) in a popup. The popup can be dragged across the screen and resized.

Youpop

The fun features of the addon include:

  • “Stick” the popup (to make it permanent on a page no matter where your cursor goes): press the space bar (to close the stuck video preview, click the X icon in its top-right corner)
  • Turn off the lights and move the popup to the center of the page: Press ‘L’ (or hit a little bulb icon in the top-right corner of the video preview pop-up)

Youpop

2. GridTube

GridTube displays search result video thumbs in grid format arranged in a 2D array (which means much less scrolling through results). This, in combination with the above addon, lets you go through search results much quicker.

The extension adds three icons on the top right of the screen which help to select the appropriate display mode:

  • Grid mode with 5 videos per row,
  • Grid mode with 4 videos per row,
  • Plain list mode.

GridTube

If you have the YouPop addon installed, you are unlikely to need to click through to the actual video pages (unless you want to comment or rate it). If you do, the videos will open in a new tab by default (you can customize that behavior via the addon options).

3. YouTube User Likes/Dislikes In Search Results

Would you like to never start watching offensive or low-quality videos on YouTube? You may try using user likes and dislikes ratio information to get an idea of how dangerous the content is. Weirdly, YouTube won’t allow users to access this information from search results (it becomes visible only after you click through to the video page and start watching).

This userscript (tested on FireFox 4) lets you see user ratings right within search results. What’s more, it is compatible with the above two addons, so you can view user ratings in grid! With the userscript installed, just hover over any video in the search results and then mouse over a tiny “Rating” icon.

Youtube Likes / Dislikes

Any other tips to tweak default YouTube results? Please let us know!

Image Credit: seosmarty


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Hot Tech Deals – Dell Inspiron 15R Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 15.6in Laptop for $624.99 + more

Posted: 28 May 2011 01:30 PM PDT

Today’s featured deal is the Dell Inspiron 15R Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 15.6in laptop which is going for $624.99 — $200 off it’s market price. It sports a 15.6″ 1366×768 LED screen, the new Intel Core i5-2410M Dual-Core [Sandy Bridge] 2.3GHz processor, 4 GB of memory, a 500 GB hard drive, a 720p webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium, the works.

For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.

  1. Lenovo IdeaPad S205 AMD Dual-Core E-350 (FUSION) 11.6in Laptop (4GB/500GB) $399.99 via code USPS29526 (Exp 6/2)
  2. PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 650W 80Plus Bronze Power Supply $59.99AR via code PCPower15FS (Exp 5/31) and rebate
  3. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 10.1MP 3.8X Digital Camera (f/2.0, 720p HD Recording) $384.99 via code MEMORIALDAY (Exp 5/31)
  4. Logitech Squeezebox Touch WiFi Betwork Music Player $239.99 Free Shipping via code logi_touch_52711 (Exp 5/30)
  5. Dell Inspiron 14R Intel Core i3-380M 2.53GHz 14in Laptop $449 (15.6in Model $449) via code HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)
  6. Dell Inspiron 15R Intel Core i3-2310M 2.1GHz Sandy Bridge 15.6in Laptop $499.99 via code HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)
  7. Dell Inspiron 14R Intel Core i3-2310M 2.1GHz Sandy Bridge 14n Laptop $549.99 via code HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)
  8. Dell Inspiron 15R Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 15.6in Laptop $624.99 via code 0CQ6F64K$ZCPV$ and HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)
  9. Dell Inspiron 14R Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 14in Laptop $624.99 via code 0CQ6F64K$ZCPV$ and HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)

 

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Try Out Some Awesome Unity Lenses [Ubuntu]

Posted: 28 May 2011 12:31 PM PDT

Quickly browse the latest news from Reddit, that particular book you’re looking for or answers to your Ubuntu problems. Ubuntu’s new Unity interface features Lenses, which can put a variety of different searches just a quick click or a keyboard shortcut away.

The “Lens” concept is new to Ubuntu’s Unity interface. By default Ubuntu includes two lenses, found in the launcher: one for applications and another for programs. These are both centered around locally installed content, which makes sense. That’s what people are used to searching for on their computer. A variety of third-party lenses, however, make searching certain elements of the web really fast. By the time Ubuntu 11.10 comes out there will probably be a collection of such lenses in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Reddit

Reddit; the voice of the Internet.

If you want to quickly scan the top headlines on Reddit, or search for things relevant to a particular topic, you should install the Reddit lens for Ubuntu.

In addition to the top headlines and the search functionality, this lens automatically shows you the latest headlines from the Ubuntu and Linux sub-reddits, as well as the famous IAmI subreddit.

You can find a .deb file for this lense over at Webpubupd8, so check it out. Once you’ve got everything installed and have restarted Unity, know that the new Reddit icon and the keyboard shortcut Super + R can launch the program.

Ask Ubuntu

Similar in many respects to our own MakeUseOf Answers, Ask Ubuntu is fast replacing the Ubuntu Forums as the place to find Ubuntu help (though the userbase seems to overlap quite a bit). The Ask Ubuntu lens makes finding answers to your Ubuntu questions faster than ever.

I’ve already found answers to three different Ubuntu questions I had with the tool; the instant search makes it easy.

You can find installation instructions, appropiately enough, over at MakeUseOf Answers. Basically you need to run these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:askubuntu-tools/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-place-askubuntu

Once you do, restart Unity. You can launch this lense with the new Ubuntu Answers icon in your launcher, or by pressing Super + U.

Google Books

Instantly find exactly the book you’re looking for:

This lens searches the web’s two major book repositories: Project Gutenberg and Google Books. If a given book can be downloaded for free, you’ll be taken to the Gutenberg page. If not, you can browse certain pages for free over at Google Books, or purchase the ebook if you’re so inclined.

Installation instructions for this lens can be found over at Ubuntu Answers. Basically, you need to run these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:davidc3/books-lens
sudo apt-get install unity-book-lense

Once you’ve instealled everything and restarted Unity, you can search for books by clicking the Book icon or pressing Super + B.

Web Sources

This one’s a little hard to explain. Basically, you can search for anything and see a list of sources of information on the topic.

A search for a band name,” says the project’s documentation, “might list MySpace, Wikipedia, Amazon and Last.fm as results, but not individual pages thereon.”

Click any of the results and you’ll be taken to that band’s page on all of those sites. Search for MakeUseOf and you’ll see this:

One link takes you to our site; the other to our Facebook page. It’s a great way to find a company or person online, quickly.

You can install this lens but adding the Web Sources Place PPA. Basically, you need to type these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cscarney/unity-web-place
sudo apt-get update & sudo apt-get install unity-place-websearch

Once you’ve installed the lens, restart Unity. Then you can launch it by clicking the icon in the launcher, or by pressing Super + K.

Gwibber

Love your social networks? You might want to install the Gwibber lens then. Built on top of Ubuntu’s default social app, this lens lets you quickly find out what any of your friends or contacts are talking about on Twitter, Facebook and more. Find installation instructions over at OMG Ubuntu.

Conclusion

I think this is neat. For years people have been using launchers like GnomeDo to add such functionality to Ubuntu, so it’s really cool to see such a functionality included in Ubuntu by default.

What about you? Do you like these lenses? Can you think of any other lenses that should exist? Leave your comments below, because we love them.


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6 Of The Best Free Time Killer Games In The Mac App Store

Posted: 28 May 2011 10:31 AM PDT

The Mac OS is certainly not known as a gaming platform. That said, it does have a significant advantage over other operating systems. Developers who create games for the iOS are also paying close attention to Snow Leopard, and as a result, there is no end to the number of games available for Mac users in the App Store.

From card games, to puzzles, to full out adventure games, the Mac App Store is chock full of games that are worth trying. The six games listed here are ideal time killers, and most of them are kid-friendly. The list includes physics based games, mini adventure games, puzzles and more.

Pocket Dinosaurs 2

Pocket Dinosaurs 2 [App Store link] is one of those addictive games which makes a perfect time killer. The game has one very simple goal – launch as many dinosaurs into a floating spaceship as you can in 60 seconds. The cute graphics and sound effects make it a great game for kids and adults alike. The incentive to keep playing the game as time passes will probably be to exceed your personal high score.

PD.jpg

Action Swing

Action Swing [App Store link] is not exactly a head turning game in the graphics department. It’s a simple game, which will offer a nice distraction if you need to take a break from your work or just need something to keep you busy for 5 minutes. Start out the game with 3 lives and see how many levels you can last, getting your little stick figure safely onto the moving base.

AS.png

Victory March

Not as kid friendly as Pocket Dinosaurs or Action Swing, Victory March [App Store link] is a mini adventure game that will definitely keep you coming back for more. Make your way through the six levels of the game as a Soviet or American soldier, avoiding obstacles and shooting at the enemy before they get you.

VM.jpg

A Monster Ate My Homework

A Monster Ate My Homework [App Store link] is another great physics game with 80 free levels. Lob a boll at the ‘monsters’ but make sure you don’t knock over any of your homework stacks, otherwise you’ll have to try again. You can choose to play the game full screen or windowed.

AMAMH.jpg

Archibald’s Adventures Lite

Unlike many free or lite versions of mini adventure games, Archibald’s Adventures Lite actually lets you play 40 levels for free, which really gives you a chance to give the harder, or more challenging levels a try. Each level has you trying to navigate Archibald through a maze on his skateboard, all the while watching out for deadly obstacles. With the cute graphics and with the game being relatively easy, Archibald’s Adventures is probably a great game for kids.

AAL.jpg

Gold Strike

Gold Strike [App Store link] is a great variation on the games in which you remove similar coloured or patterned blocks when there are at least two of them in a row. Since Gold Strike offers 5 different ways to play the game, it’s hard to imagine you’ll get bored with the addictive game very fast. Race against the clock, play a strategic game or try to get past as many levels as possible.

GS.jpg

For a few more suggestions for awesome Mac App Store games check out:

The 3 Best Free Games On The Mac App Store

If you don’t have Snow Leopard, and want to find some fun games to play on your Mac, check out:

11 Online Sources For The Best In Mac Freeware
The Best Online Sources For Free Mac Games

What’s your favourite Mac OS game you play to kill the time? Let us know in the comments.


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Cool Websites and Tools [May 27th]

Posted: 27 May 2011 08:31 PM PDT

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 here.

Add Your Website Here!

 

Kindlefish – If you own a Kindle device, there might have been times where you needed text to be translated to another language. However the most popular translation service, Google Translate, does not support the Kindle. To help solve this problem Kindlefish was created, a helpful tool that translates text on the Kindle using Google Translate. Read more: Kindlefish: Use Your Kindle To Translate Text Between 56 Languages

 

Follows – If you want to track popularity of your websites on all the social networks you are on, you would have to individually log into each network and then note your friends, followers, likes, readers, etc. With a smartphone application called Follows, you can check all of this from a single interface rather than jumping around multiple websites. It’s compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 4.0 or later. Read more: Follows: Track Popularity Of Your Websites On Social Networks From A Single Interface (iOS App)

 

 

Camscanner – Due to the clutter they create, handling many physical pages is not easy. One of the most common problems faced is forgetting where you placed a certain document. A solution to this is to convert all of your physical documents into electronic ones and then storing them on your computer or handheld device. This is precisely what CamScanner is for, a simple smartphone application for Android devices, running version 2.0 and later. Read more: CamScanner: Scan & Store Documents On Your Android

 

 

Placebook – While online social networks were unheard of a few years back, today Facebook has members in almost every corner of the world. Having a big impact on the Internet, Facebook is often used in various types of research. If you need such data, you can use PlaceBook to quickly get the number of Facebook users in different regions of the world. Read more: PlaceBook: Provides Detailed Facebook User Trends & Stats Worldwide

 

 

Scrubly – Having duplicate contacts in your address book can be rather inconvenient for people who prefer organization in everything. Individually looking for duplicate contacts and then removing them can be quite a tedious task. Here to automate the process is a web tool called Scrubly, a free to use web service that looks for duplicate contacts in your email address books. Read more: Scrubly: A Nifty Tool To Remove Duplicate Contacts From Gmail, Outlook & Mac Address Books

 

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.


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The 7 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers]

Posted: 27 May 2011 06:31 PM PDT

MakeUseOf AnswersEvery Friday, MakeUseOf Answers honors the Best Answer of the Week . Answering questions is not only your chance to help somebody, but you automatically qualify for the contest. This means you have a chance of winning some cash or an Amazon voucher.

This week the winners are:

Best Answer of the Week – FIDELIS

1st Runner Up – Gustavo Ibarguengoytia

2nd Runner Up – Cj2restore

Congratulations to the winners!

Not a tech geek, but care to learn something new? Then have a look at the best questions of the week:

MakeUseOf Answers can teach you a trick each day. Read, learn, and share by browsing the Latest Questions. For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed.

Need help? Ask A Question at MakeUseOf Answers.


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Problem Solved: Send URLs Between Mac Computers & iOS Devices

Posted: 27 May 2011 04:31 PM PDT

send url to iphoneI recently wrote an article about five highly useful extensions for the Safari web browser. A few days after that article ran, I stumbled upon another extension that I’ve been needing ever since I started using the iPhone (and now the iPad). I can’t count how many times I have downloaded a webpage on my iPad that I wanted to view on one of my Mac computers, and vice versa. In order to send a URL from my iOS device, I would literally have to email the URL to myself or save it to my Instapaper account for later viewing.

But now a simple and highly useful Safari extension appropriately called SendTab is just the solution to this problem. Simply put, SendTab allows you to send a selected webpage to one or more computers on your network. When it arrives on the remote computer, it automatically downloads in your networked web browser. It happens within seconds.

The only downside to the extension is that you can only send URLs from iOS devices, but not to them. The extension works both ways using Chrome, but you can only, for some reason, send URLs from Firefox to Safari – not the other way around. In other words, this extension works best if you're a Safari or Chrome user.

SendTab Setup

Perhaps I misunderstood the instructions, but I initially had problems setting up the SendTab network on my computers, and I noticed a few other users complained as well. What I figured out is that after you download and install the SendTab extension, you need to create a Network account. The registration page ask for a “Network Name.” It sounds like a name that you need to locate on your computer, but it's not. It simply means a “sign-in” name – you can put whatever name you like and will remember, and then create a password.

send url to iphone

After you have logged into your account, sign in again on your other computer and/or iOS device.

send url to ipad

When you link to your network account, your computers – but not your iOS device – should be listed. Otherwise they will not receive the URLs you send to them. Basically your URLs are sent to your account and then forwarded over to your computers on your network.

send url to ipad

iOS Bookmarklet

To send URLs from your iPad or iPhone, you need to add a bookmarklet to the Safari web browser on your device. There are instructions for setting up the bookmarklet, but that might be a tad bit confusing as well. Here are the steps to install the bookmarklet on your iOS device:

  • In Safari on your iOS device, link to the SendTab page and click on the SendTab link on the left side of the page, right above the instructions.

send url to ipad

  • Save the SendTab bookmark in Bookmarks.
  • Now open the the Bookmarks page and tap the Edit button. Now tap on the SendTab bookmark to edit its existing URL.

send url to mobiles

  • Select the entire SendTab URL and paste in the bookmarklet code and javascript code, replacing the original URL.

send url to mobiles

  • Click the Done button and exit out of Bookmarks.
  • Copy all the javascript code in step 2 of the instructions on that page.
  • Tap the Export button on your iOS device and select “Add Bookmark”. (in the SendTab website instructions, it says “+” button, but I believe that refers to the older version of iOS.)

send url to iphone

Now you can send URLs from your iOS device to your designated computer(s) on your network. A SendTab box will appear after you tap the bookmarklet in your device. You may have to scroll up to the top of the selected webpage to tap the SendTab window.

SendTab works well for what it does, though it could use a few more features. Sent pages automatically open in the computer you send them to. If your remote computer is asleep when a URL is sent, it may take a few seconds for the webpage to download after the computer is awakened. It would be useful if a Growl notification would appear when URLs are sent and received by SendTab. Also, once a URL is sent, there's no option to keep it from being download in the remote computer it was sent to.

These are just minor issues with SendTab, an extension utility that quite frankly should be built into Safari itself, especially since many Mac users work between one or more computers.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com


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Find Your Next Book To Read With Goodreads [Android]

Posted: 27 May 2011 03:31 PM PDT

goodreads androidGoodreads is a large online community for book lovers. If you’re not familiar with the service and community, we’ve written up a great article showing what you can do with Goodreads. In this post, I will be covering Goodreads’ fairly recent foray into the mobile application space with Goodreads for Android.

As you launch Goodreads, you’re greeted with this startup screen:

goodreads android

Note the large, finger-friendly buttons. Also note the Sign In and Sign Up links: These are not buttons, and were definitely harder to tap. I’ve had to keep tapping and tapping away until finally the Sign In link worked.

Once I logged into my account, I tapped the My Books button, which took me to a screen called… My Shelves:

android books application

A bit of a consistency issue there, but nothing major. Note how gracefully the app shifts from landscape to portrait mode: the layout actually changes, and screen space is efficiently used in both layouts. Typography is rather on the large side.

Now let’s shift back to landscape mode, and tap the “read” link:

android books application

This is the list of all the books I’ve read (or rather, all the books I told Goodreads about). Note the handy sorting buttons on top. The “more…” button also lets you sort by number of pages, average ratings, and lots of other categories:

android books application

One thing you need to realize is that every operation you do takes time. A “Loading…” prompt appears whenever you access a book listing or a new section of the app. There’s even a “Sorting…” prompt when you sort the book list according to the less common criteria. Using the app is not a very fast experience.

Next, let’s look at the listing for an individual book:

android book search

This is just the beginning of the listing. It goes on to encompass lots of other functionality:

android book search

You can also tap into individual users’ reviews. You can do almost anything you can do on the site, using the mobile application. It’s very complete in terms of functionality.

Now let’s look at the profile page:

android book search

Again, you can drill down into any book listing, going to the book page and from there to individual full-length reviews.

While you’re on the go, you may want to search for your next read. Indeed, Goodreads has a built-in search screen which looks like this:

Image

I was disappointed to discover there is no way to sort the list of results. The same rich filtering functionality implemented in “My Shelves” would definitely come in handy for the search screen as well. I hope future versions will incorporate it.

Now let’s look at the listing for a book I haven’t read and isn’t on my shelves:

Image

As you can see, I can easily add the book onto one of my shelves, rate it or review it. I imagine reviews written using the mobile app would typically be shorter, unless you have a fantastic mobile keyboard.

The last screenshot I wanted to show you is another landscape screenshot showing user-generated reviews for a book. Note the efficient use of screen space:

goodreads android

At the end of the day, Goodreads for Android is a lovely mobile companion for the website. You may not be able to use it to find your next book, but if you routinely use the website, the app is a great way to update your profile on the go and let the world know what you’ve recently read or what you plan on reading.


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Create An Awesome Book Of ‘Social Memories’ With Your Facebook Data

Posted: 27 May 2011 02:31 PM PDT

facebook memoriesDid you ever stop and think about all of the data you have on Facebook?  Now I’m sure I’ve got you worried about privacy, but that wasn’t my intention. No, I mean just think about what your time on Facebook could tell you about your likes and interests and the friends you communicate with. Imagine how cool it would be to visualize all of that information in an infographic of some kind.

Well, now you can, with an app called Social Memories. Being a big proponent of infographics and social media data, I love the idea of viewing all of my Facebook ‘social memories’ in book form, and that’s exactly what this app lets you do.

What Is Social Memories?

Social Memories is a Facebook app that lets you create a book of your social activity. The app will search through your Facebook history from a chosen period of time and create great looking, infographic-like pages in a book that you can physically order or share on your wall in the form of a photo album.

To view Social Memories in action, just check out this short video:

How Do I Use Social Memories?

In order to see what Social Memories is capable of, the first thing you’re going to want to do is head over to the app’s Facebook page. Once there, you can click on Go to application to get started.

facebook memories

On the next screen, you will have to grant Social Memories permission to access your data so that it can gather information for your book. Being that the book is pretty in-depth, the app asks for a lot, so if you are uncomfortable with giving Social Memories that kind of permission, which you can always revoke later, then perhaps it’s best you stop right here.

saving facebook conversations

After you click Allow, as I have just done, you will be taken to your bookshelf. If you’ve used the app previously, the books you’ve created would appear here. To start a new project, just click Create a new book. From here you’ll be asked to select your timeline, so whether you would like to make your book about your previous year on Facebook or just a week or two you can make that designation.

saving facebook conversations

That’s basically it. Social Memories will gather all the information from your chosen time period and assemble your book for you in a matter of seconds. Once it’s done, you can browse your book to see all the data that’s been put together for you.

facebook memories

In the end, you’ll have the option of sharing your book as an album on your profile for free, or if you want, you can opt to order a physical copy of your book (not free). As a heads up, if you would like to do neither of these things, you can just click on the Social Memories logo in the top left to go back to your bookshelf.

Conclusion

The one thing I don’t really like about Social Memories is that it doesn’t allow you to view your created book in full-screen, or download it for that matter. That’s understandable though since you have the ability to get an actual book from Social Memories, and the ability to share your book in an album is nice, especially since you can download your Facebook photos.

What do you think of Social Memories? Good idea?


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Hot Tech Deals – Dell and HP deals + more

Posted: 27 May 2011 01:30 PM PDT

Dell and HP are both offering deals for Memorial Day weekend and it’s a good time if you’re looking to get a new laptop this time around.

For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.

  1. Dell XPS 15 Intel Core i7-2630 Quad-Core Sandy Bridge 15.6 1080p Laptop Blu-Ray $999 via code 0QZNX8B2J326BZ and HLSKSR06S9ZG0F (Exp Soon)
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  3. Dell XPS 17 Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Sandy Bridge 17.3in 1080p 3D Laptop $1199 via code 7WR1C2?HTTQQ11 and HLSKSR06S9ZG0F
  4. OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX Power Supply (Modular, Active PFC, 80PLUS) $39.99AR via code EMCKEHC57 (Exp 5/30)
  5. $350 off HP Touchsmart 610t All-in-One Desktops Coupon Code: DT5679
  6. $50 off HP Pavilion dm4x and dv6t Select Edition Laptops Coupon Code: NB1122
  7. 25% off HP ENVY 14 Laptops Coupon Code: NB3535
  8. 25% off HP Pavilion Laptops $999+ Coupon Code: MEMORIAL25


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How To Set Up & Use Chicken Of The VNC For Remote Access [Mac]

Posted: 27 May 2011 12:31 PM PDT

chicken of the vncIf you’ve ever needed to get remote access for a computer, you’ve probably realised that some solutions are far superior than others. Even as far as VNC (Virtual Network Computing) clients go, there are a few really good clients out there and there are many clients that just don’t cut it for some reason or other. Today we’ll introduce you to another great Mac VNC client you’ll love.

Chicken of the VNC (COTVNC) is easy to use, simple to set up and works like a charm. You can use Chicken of the VNC to connect to a Mac, Windows or Unix machine, so it’s really quite versatile.

Install Chicken Of The VNC

Download a free copy of Chicken of the VNC from Sourceforge here. It’s a small download of 1.2MB so it shouldn’t take too long.

Installation is standard Mac procedure: just open the disk image and drag the application into your Applications folder. Double-click Chicken of the VNC in Applications to open it.

Set Up Remote Computer For Chicken Of The VNC Access

To begin with, you’ll need to make sure the computer you wish to connect to is allowing VNC connections and that you know the IP address and password details for access to the computer.

To allow VNC connections on a Mac, go to System Preferences > Sharing. Check the box for “Remote Management” and check all the applicable boxes in the popup window, depending on how much access you want to give out. Then click on “Options” and check the box to allow VNC connections with a password. Choose a password. When you click “OK” you should see that Remote Management is on and which IP address to use.

Otherwise, to find the local IP address on a Mac, go to the airport symbol and choose “Open Network Preferences” (or go to System Preferences > Network). The IP address will be shown clearly on this screen.

chicken of the vnc

To allow VNC connections in Windows, the Windows machine will need to have a VNC client installed, such as the free RealVNC and configure it to use port 5900 and to use a password for access. To find the local IP address in Windows, open up a terminal (by going to Windows > Run and typing “cmd“) and then type “ipconfig“.

For access via the Internet, it’s a little more complicated. You will need to know the IP address you’re using in the real world, so head to WhatIsMyIP to get it. You may also need to set up port forwarding on the router to ensure the port 5900 is sent to the VNC server on the IP of the Windows computer.

If you want to use VNC to help a relative with tech support, for instance, you might need to set this up in advance and perhaps talk them through the steps to get the new IP address to ensure you can log into their system.

Set Up Chicken Of The VNC

For every computer you remotely connect to with Chicken of the VNC, you’ll need to set up a new connection. From the previous steps, you should now have the details you need ready for use.

chicken of the vnc review

Click the + button to add a new connection and give it a name. In the host field, write the IP address followed by a colon and the port number. Put the password in and click connect. You should see a window pop up automatically where you can control the machine.

chicken of the vnc

As you can see, the main trick to setting up a VNC connection is in ensuring the computer you wish to connect to is willing to accept the connection. Chicken of the VNC itself is pretty straightforward and just gets the job done.

What do you think of Chicken of the VNC? What’s your favourite free VNC client for the Mac? Let us know in the comments!


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SnapShoter: A Screen Capture Tool & Clipboard Manager Rolled Into One [Windows]

Posted: 27 May 2011 11:31 AM PDT

Screenshot tools are a large tribe and an ever growing one. From the industrial standard SnagIt to even little browser add-ons that reside in our browser, you can have your pick. Screen capture software tools are essential tools for bloggers and it pays to have them tucked away within easy reach. But why bloggers alone; if you live in any of the social networks like Twitter or Facebook and want to send a quick screenshot to your friends, a fast quick launching screen capture app is just what's required.

Fast, lightweight, and portable are three adjectives that fit SnapShoter (ver1.4.9b) to the T. You can throw in 'free' too and you have a winner among the portable app ranks. SnapShoter also brings a smile to your face if you are a rapid fire screen-shooter. It is also a clipboard manager that can hold multiple images and manipulate them around. So, without further ado, let's check out some key features.

A Lightweight Portable Download

screen capture software

A 973KB size for screen capture software with a clipboard manager and image manipulation is a nice thing in a small package. Unzip the download and put it in its own folder as that's where the captures and app preferences will also get saved. Clicking the EXE file launches SnapShoter as a sidebar on the right side of your screen. You can shift it to the left and also minimize it. Not so cool so far? Let's snap some shots.

The Screen Capture

free screen capture

SnapShot gives you three image capture modes – you can capture the whole screen/desktop, use the crosshairs to select an area, or use the timer with a 5 (can be set in Preferences) second delay. All screen captures end up in the app's clipboard as a stack of images waiting for further treatment. You can capture and store as many as you want. You can even drag 'n drop other images on your computer into the stack and order them around. You can also see them saved in a folder marked 'captures'. Delete the images from the sidebar with a right-click or use the Kill button to 'kill' all of them in one go.

SnapShot's Compose Mode

free screen capture

The Compose window is your playground where you can do a lot more with your captured images. It is like an image editor. You can drag your images from the Clipboard stack to the compose window. The toolbar at the top gives you all the one-click functions. You have to experiment a bit as there are no tooltips and the tools aren't marked out in any other way.

The Compose mode allows you to work with Layers. You can also create as many layers as you want. The four buttons from the right let you change the order, select, and delete layers.

free screen capture

Select your color from the palette a use the buttons next to it to draw shapes and lines on the canvas.

screen capture program

You can select any image and change the transparency of the layer on which it is placed. Another button allows you to change the contrast of the image by small factors. You can also place text on a layer.

The five buttons on the left can help you to setup a collage of pictures by changing the size and orientation of the images.

screen capture program

When you are done with your collage just save it all as a JPEG with a click.

Watermarking Your Images

screen capture software

Go into the Preferences window and enable watermarking your images with a custom text. You can also finetune the transparency and the font size. This window also has the snapshot timer custom control.

Summing It All Up

It took me some time to learn the controls as the software does not have a help manual yet. That's one thing that can put of a newbie.

SnapShoter's presence in your toolbox will depend on the kind of screen shot buff you are. If you are a heavy screen-shooter and like to have a rapid editor close-by then, this light software is worth a try. SnapShoter does not allow you to capture scrolling web pages or just the active screens. So, its use as a full fledged screen capture software is just a bit hindered. But what it gives you is an unlimited clipboard for stacking many images.

Use SnapShoter for a while and shoot us a few comments with your raves or rants.


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Amazon Opens Mac Download Store, Undercuts App Store Pricing [News]

Posted: 27 May 2011 11:07 AM PDT

Eager as always to compete in the realm of digital content, Amazon today opened a Mac Download Store that will compete with the Mac App Store. Like Apple's solution, this new storefront streamlines the process of downloading and installing software so that users must take minimal action once they've purchased software.

The new section of Amazon's website lists a wide variety of productivity software and games. There are a total of 252 products available as of the store's launch including Office For Mac and QuickBooks, two popular titles that are not available on the Mac App Store. Unlike the App Store, the Mac Download Store does not place restrictions on developers, which means that software rejected there can still be sold on Amazon's website.

Amazon is deploying the new store with its favorite tactic – undercutting the competition's pricing. Most of the titles on the Download Store are less expensive than those found on the App Store, sometimes by a large margin. Borderlands, a popular action game, is $49.99 on the App Store but $36.92 on Amazon. Another example is the classic shooter Call of Duty 4, which is $39.99 on the App Store but $24.95 on Amazon. This is not including the $5 promotional discount that will be available until June 1st.

As a side note, Amazon's decision to call the new service a “Download Store” rather than a “App Store” is significant. Apple has previously stated that “App Store” is trademarked, so it seems the legal threats from Cupertino have not fallen on deaf ears. Using the term in this case would be particularly risky, as unlike the Android App Store, this is a direct competitor to Apple.

Source: Lifehacker


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How To Control Your Windows PC With Kinect

Posted: 27 May 2011 10:31 AM PDT

control pc with kinectLast time, I introduced you to Kinect hacking on the PC and the drivers involved, as well as a basic zombie survival game demo. While killing zombies is awesome, it’s time we moved onto doing something actually useful. So I’d like to show you the Kinemote application, as well as how to use it to control both your mouse for general Windows tasks, and Xbox Media Center. This would make a fantastic addition to the perfect Plex-based media center I set up last week.

Start Fresh

If you followed along with the tutorial last time, you’ll already have a bunch of drivers installed. Unfortunately Kinemote is quite specific in the versions it can play nicely with, so it’s best if we go ahead and uninstall any OpenNi and PrimeSense drivers using the regular Windows uninstall.

control pc with kinect

Downloads & Installs

First off, Kinemote requires a quick registration on the forum before you can download it, so go ahead and do that now from this link.

The software required can all be downloaded from this thread at kinemote.net.

The thread outlines which versions of various drivers you need to download and install on that thread to, but here are direct links. You will need to register on the forum to get the actual Kinemote software though (if you are registered and logged in, this link should work for you).

The first three are straight up easy installs (no need to edit config files as we did before). The last file you download should be extracted somewhere familiar, like your desktop. We need to use this to replace the Kinect motor drivers that should now be installed if you ran the first three already.

To do this, open up Device Manager and locate the Primesense section. There should be three devices listed. Right-click on the one for Kinect Motor and select update driver software.

kinect as remote control

Choose to browse manually and point the selection to the folder you just extracted called “Kinect nui motor and LED driver“. Windows should then go ahead and replace the driver with something different, like this:

kinect as remote control

Kinemote

OK, if you haven’t already, you should go ahead and install the Kinemote app from the forum I mentioned earlier. It comes as an executable install inside a zip file. Launch the app from your Start menu:

kinect as remote control

Open the options screen first, and let’s adjust a few things until you get acquainted with it. First, change the uppermost selection to wrist-wave. This will activate when you wave, which should be more familiar for regular Kinect users. Next, set the control style to virtual mouse to start with as it’s the simplest to grasp. From the general settings screen, I find it’s useful to turn on the video feedback too, just so you know when it’s watching and if it’s seeing you correctly. You can always deactivate when you’re comfortable.

Close the options panel, and that should be it! Wave your hand to activate tracking, and you can click by quickly pushing your hand backwards and forwards. It’s not perfect as pushing your hand forwards usually results in the cursor moving first, so fine control is difficult. However, I found a mouse in one hand just to click (or iPhone remote control) can remedy that.

The other option is to use it to control games using a custom set of keystrokes, for simple games and such. Try this out before moving on to media center control, as it helps you to grasp the control of back and mid planes. In modes other than virtual mouse, you have two layers of controls basically. Switch to custom keys to try it out. Move your hand forward or backward, and the video preview window will display red for backplane or green for midplane, as well as notifying you with a beep when you move between the two. Play around a bit, then switch to XBMC (or Boxee) mode when you have the hang of it.

Refer to the diagram below for media center control (from the KinEmote manual, also available on the forums).

control pc with kinect

It can be fiddly to get used to and you may find yourself flailling around for a bit, but I had pretty good control after 5 minutes of practicing.

What do you think? Easily the coolest remote control for your media center (and possibly the most expensive), ever! I’ll look into a Mac equivalent and report back next time if I find one.


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Identity Finder – Cleanse Your Computer Of Sensitive Personal Information [Windows & Mac]

Posted: 27 May 2011 09:31 AM PDT

personal information protectionAt one point or another, you’re bound to have your privacy breached. It might be a stolen credit card number, a hacked account password or a keylogger infection. When it happens, you end up feeling violated, angry and frustrated that using the computer and the Internet can’t be something you can just enjoy in peace without scammers and hackers trying to mess things up for everyone.

Alas, this is the world we live in. So, the best you can do is install virus software, anti-malware and anti-adware. Each of these software solutions protect you by trying to filter out all of the incoming threats that attempt to infiltrate your computer to access your sensitive personal information.

Most people are familiar with these software tools, but did you know that there is one additional line of personal information protection you can set up to guard yourself from identity theft? It’s a line of defense built on the premise that it isn’t much good for a burglar to break into your home if you store all of your valuables in a lock-box at the bank. This additional line of defense is called Identity Finder.

Running An Identity Finder Scan

The free version of Identity Finder will perform a full system scan, and it will attempt to find sensitive identity information that may be stored on your computer without you realizing it. It attempts to do a deep search that is as good or better (hopefully) than any spyware may be.  The goal is to identify the sensitive information on your computer so that you can decide what to do with it so that it isn’t accessible should your computer get infected.

When you first set up Identity Finder, you’ll need to set up a very secure password that you can use to run scans and store scan logs.

personal information protection

Once you’re logged in, you have three choices – run an immediate scan on your system, use the search wizard (this is more useful in the paid version of the software) or skip the scan and open the advanced interface.

personal information search

When you launch the scan, you’ll see just how thorough this software is. A scan will take some time – between 10 to 20 minutes depending on the size of your hard drive. I thought my system was pretty clean of any personal information, so I was pretty shocked to see that the Identity Finder had discovered 27 records revealing my passwords, and a surprising 5 records revealing my credit card numbers – and the scan was only half done!

personal information search

Once the scan is finished, you’ll see a brief summary, and four choices. You’ll want to click on the “Advanced” button to access the results information that lists all of the records with your sensitive information.

personal information search

It appeared that, in my case, the majority of password security concerns were related to the fact that I’d started using the Firefox password feature. However I had never got around to creating a master password. So, any application that gets installed on my computer could conceivably access those passwords (after all, Identity Finder did!)

remove personal information from computer

At the bottom, I saw that the credit card information was the complete credit card numbers stored in the Firefox Saved Forms. This was an oversight on my part, and it could have led to catastrophe had I ever got hacked. The great thing about Identity Finder is that it helps you eliminate risks completely by eliminating the sensitive data completely.

remove personal information from computer

Fixing the issue with the saved passwords was easy. Identity Finder recognizes the issue, and provides the option under the “Secure” button, to create a master “Profile Password” for you. This way, even though an app gets installed onto my computer, it can’t access the password or saved form details because it doesn’t have the master password.

When you discover that there’s information on your computer that you really don’t want to be there – like stored credit card information, Identity Finder offers the option to “Shred” the information.

remove personal information from computer

While not quite as thorough as a “Scrub”, which is featured on the paid version of the software, Shred is a feature that deletes the files according to the “Department of Defense deletion standard.” I suppose if it’s good enough for the Department of Defense, then it’s good enough for me!

After your scan is done, you can also explore individual groups of information by browsing through the menu items at the top of the window. Click on “Identities” to see what type of identity information was found, such as credit card or passwords. Click on “Locations” to see the areas of the computer where your sensitive information was uncovered.

personal information protection

Identity Finder is a clever security solution, because instead of worrying so much about trying to prevent bad guys from breaking into your computer, you’re simply removing anything valuable from your computer that these bad guys may want to get. This won’t prevent virus infections, but it’ll certainly protect your identity.

Give Identity Finder a try and see what it uncovers on your computer. Are you as secure as you thought you were? Share your results and your reactions in the comments section below.


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Switchable Graphics 101: The Best Of Both Worlds [Technology Explained]

Posted: 27 May 2011 08:31 AM PDT

what are switchable graphicsGraphics performance had traditionally been one of the great tradeoffs of any laptop. Finding a laptop with the hardware necessary to play HD video and 3D games hasn't been an issue for years, but that same hardware was typically capable of chewing through even the largest battery in less than two hours.

Over the past year, however, there's been a proliferation of a technology called switchable graphics. This tech makes it possible to completely turn off a discrete GPU when it isn't needed, leaving the PC to run on its far less power hungry IGP. Now this technology looks set to make the leap to desktops later in the year – but what are switchable graphics, and how does it benefit you?

The Basics Of Switchable Graphics

what are switchable graphics

The problem with discrete GPUs is the fact that they draw a lot of power even when only a fraction of their full potential is being used. This is a problem shared by all high-performance chips, and it happens because transistors leak power all of the time, even when not in use. A powerful discrete GPU has several billion transistors, so there's a lot of leakage going on.

The only way to get around that is to switch the chip off entirely, but that has its own issues, particularly when you're talking about a GPU. What you see on your laptop's display is brought to you via a memory buffer, but a discrete GPU and an IGP will each have its own memory. This makes switching non-trivial, and it's the reason why early switchable graphics implementations forced users to reboot whenever they wanted to switch.

However, seamless switching is possible with the proper drivers, and today is available on chips from Nvidia and AMD.

Nvidia & AMD's Solutions

how switchable graphics

While both Nvidia and AMD have switchable graphics technology available, only Nvidia has been aggressive about marketing it. The green team has given the technology its own brand name, Optimus, and has stuck with that for some time now. Today, switchable graphics technology is all but standard among laptops with mid-range Nvidia GPUs.

AMD has been far less organized in its approach to switchable graphics. If you visit the company website you'll be told that a wide variety of Radeon products support the feature, but “support” is a tricky word, because it only means that switchable graphics is an option, not that it's enabled by default. You'll have to carefully investigate a particular laptop's feature set to find out if switchable graphics actually functions.

As both Nvidia and AMD's solutions are heavily reliant on driver support, switchable graphics works on a limited number of operating systems. Optimus is only supported on Windows 7. AMD supports Windows 7 and Linux, but Linux users have to switch between the GPU and IGP manually.

Bringing Switchable Graphics To The Desktop

what are switchable graphics

The ability to turn off a discrete GPU is obviously of great benefit to laptop computers because it no longer forces users to choose between a laptop with respectable graphics performance and a laptop with reasonable battery life. It's little surprise that the technology was pioneered on mobile PCs.

Now that it's matured however, there's no reason that desktops can’t get in on the action as well. Although desktops don't have to worry about battery life, they still draw power, and that power costs users money. In addition to this, discrete GPUs on desktop computers can be a bit loud because of the large cooling fans used to exhaust excess heat. Nvidia wants to solve these problems, and is expected to bring switchable graphics to its desktop video cards this summer under the name of Synergy.

If you don't feel like waiting, however, you can buy a current motherboard featuring the LucidLogix Virtu chip, which makes it possible to switch between an Intel IGP and a video card from Nvidia or AMD. However, only a few motherboards are currently shipping with this feature.

Conclusion

Switchable graphics is a technology that will become the norm within the next few years. Eventually, we'll have trouble remembering a time when computers didn't come with this feature by default. If you have any questions about switchable graphics, feel free to post them in the comments.


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