Latest Tips from MakeUseOf.com |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [December 15th]
- Did You Know: 5 Illegal Website Ideas For The United States
- 6 Tips On How To Unblock A Web Page From Behind A Firewall
- A Writer’s Guide To Free Apps For Inspiration & Organization
- The Three Best MP3 Players For Portable USB Drives
- Deal Of The Day: Logitech MX 1100 Cordless Laser Mouse – $39.99 (Shipping Included)
- Clip & Convert Your Video Faster With Quicktime X & The New Handbrake 64-bit [Mac]
- How To Set Up & Run Mouse Shortcuts With StrokeIt Mouse Gestures
- Memory Fox Helps Tame Memory Usage in Firefox
| Cool Websites and Tools [December 15th] Posted: 15 Dec 2009 07:31 PM PST
(1) BuildItWithMe – This website basically helps you find designers and developers who are looking for potential partners to develop apps, be it for an iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android, or any other app. After signing up, complete your profile to introduce yourself to potential partners and post your ideas for others to see. Read more: BuildItWithMe: Connect Developers & Designers To Build Apps
(2) DragonDictate – This is a mobile speech-to-text app for the iPhone. It is mainly used to aid iPhone users to input information with their voice. This app is especially useful for hands-free multi-tasking. Read more: DragonDictate: Speech To Text App For The iPhone (3) GrossOut – Would you like to turn your picture into a piece of ugly art? Then you should try Gross Out. This fun website "enhances" your photo by adding in heinous and scary photo effects such as crazy eyes, gnawing teeth, eye patches, bat wings, bloody knives and axes, open gash and wounds, masks, and many many more. Read more: GrossOut: Add Fun Scary Photo Effects To Images (4) Keitor – is an interesting site that offers a useful way to type and search Google in your native language. The homepage of the site lets you activate virtual keyboards for different languages around the world. The list is big and includes languages like Mongolian, Slovenian, Greek etc apart from the other widely spoken languages. Read more: Keitor: Lets You Type & Search Google In Your Language (5) Ruba – is a nice website for travelers that features tour reviews complete with nicely shot photographs of the location. Whether you are looking for the best restaurants in Dubai, best places for antique shopping in London, or a review of the Union Square Cafe in New York, you are likely to find the corresponding visual guide/review on the site. Read more: Ruba: Photo Rich Tour Reviews & Travel Guides 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. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Related posts
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| Did You Know: 5 Illegal Website Ideas For The United States Posted: 15 Dec 2009 05:31 PM PST
The Internet is freedom of speech’s ultimate incarnation – a place where anyone can start their own website and say whatever they want. It stands to reason then that Americans should be able to do whatever they like on the Internet…right? Not entirely. There are limits to what you can do on the Internet, and even to what you can say. Here’s is a list of illegal websites that Americans are not allowed to found and operate.
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!Freedom of speech is not absolute in America – there are certain limits, perhaps the most famous of which is yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. This idea, first penned in Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the opinion for Schenck v. United States means that free speech does not give people the right to cause panic amongst the public for no good reason. So if you want to start a website that regularly claims a terrorist is going to take out, say, Omaha Nebraska, expect to be arrested. This limit to free speech has already been tested online: in 2006 a 20-year-old grocer living with his parents claimed he was going to blow up various football stadiums with dirty bombs. He was arrested, even though the FBI quickly found out he had no capability to carry out the actions in question. So one thing you cannot do on the Internet is cause a widespread panic with a groundless threat. Piracy Is WrongThis one’s obvious enough, right? United States intellectual property law makes it illegal for Americans to host websites that offer access to intellectual property without permission from the copyright owners. If you’ve ever used Bittorrent to download materials illegally – and I certainly haven’t, because I’m a law abiding American patriot who loves the flag and baseball and apple pie and Jesus – you probably noticed most of the public Bittorrent trackers are based overseas. There’s a good reason for this: American copyright law means any American-based torrent tracker can be sued by media and software companies. So if you want to start a Bittorrent tracker – or any kind of file sharing site – in the United States of America, make sure everything being shared there complies with US copyright law. This doesn’t mean you can’t share cool stuff: Linux distributions and some public domain music, movies and books can all be distributed within the law. But expect to be shut down quickly if your users upload illegal content and you do nothing about it. But from what I hear – and I have no way to confirm this personally because of my aforementioned love of the flag and baseball and apple pie and Jesus – there are lots of good Bittorrent trackers for the less-than-legal stuff hosted overseas but fully accessible to Americans. Which brings us to an interesting point: the law of one country does not apply to content hosted in other countries. This is a common Internet loophole used to circumvent American law. Gambling Is Only Moral Offline – In Certain Places.There’s nothing illegal about gambling in the privacy of your own home with a few friends. If you want to run an online gambling business that pulls in millions of dollars weekly, however, expect to face some legal scrutiny. Betting on sports on the Internet is banned nationwide, thanks to a United States Court of Appeals ruling back in 2002. Other sorts of online gambling are not banned federally, but most states have laws in place declaring such activities illegal in one way or another. In the physical world gambling is only legal in certain areas from state to state. Native American reservations are frequently the sites of casinos because they are considered sovereign and as such exempt from state laws. Additionally, some states will allow gambling in certain areas – Las Vegas, Nevada is perhaps the most famous example of this, but many states have similar areas. Online gambling is more complicated to regulate than in-person gambling, however, because while the website’s server may be in a region where gambling is legal the site’s patrons probably are not. It’s for this reason that such sites are usually shut down. As with piracy, however, online gambling isn’t necessarily illegal overseas, and people in countries with differing laws are more than willing to capitalize. The Caymen Islands famously has no prohibition on online gambling, and a number of sites frequented (illegally) by Americans call that country home. Child PornographyIn the United States any website that hosts child pornography is illegal and is liable to be shut down. Quickly. Sex with minors being an offense nationwide (not to mention completely disgusting), it’s easy to understand why documentation of such an act is illegal as well. I’m not going to delve into this further, because it is very unpleasant, but it’s an example of the sort of behavior not tolerated on the Internet. Plotting ViolenceAs we mentioned above, threatening to plot violence without the means to do so is illegal in America because it’s not right to cause an undue panic. It shouldn’t be too surprising then to find out that it’s also illegal to threaten violence on the Internet if you actually do have the means to follow through. That’s right: you’re not allowed to start your own Internet-based terrorist network. Sorry if I just ruined your plans for the holiday season. ConclusionThere you have it: a short list of illegal websites that you can not start in the United States of America. While I’m certain few of you were planning on starting a website that hosted empty threats against America, gave access to copywritten material, allows people to gamble across state lines or build a terrorist network, it is very interesting to see the limits of freedoms online. Do you think such limits are just, or should the Internet become a digital zone of anarchy? Let us know your views in the comments! Image Credit : Hop-Frog, Juanjo Seixa Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| 6 Tips On How To Unblock A Web Page From Behind A Firewall Posted: 15 Dec 2009 03:31 PM PST
Another reason for a website not working is that the website’s firewall may be preventing you from accessing it. If you are unsure what a firewall is and how it works, have a read of Wikipedia's explanation and if you’re looking for a firewall recommendation, have a look to see what the MakeUseOf readers use. If “Down For Everyone Or Just Me” says the site is down for just you, and you have asked your friends if they can access the site, which they can, here are a few tips on how to unblock a web page from behind a firewall.
1. Wait – And Wait Some MoreAfter a certain amount of time (depending on the server’s configuration) the firewall may automatically unblock your IP address. This may take anywhere from one hour, to one week, or indefinitely. So if you are still waiting after a couple of days, continue reading this post as you might want to try another option. But seriously, who would want to wait one week for Facebook's firewall to unblock you? 2. Use A ProxySo if a firewall is blocking you, you can use a proxy to see if you can access the website, because the firewall will most probably have blocked your IP address or an IP range. Have a read of my post How To Use a Fake IP Address & Mask Yourself Online for some proxies that you can use. If you managed to access the site, or at least view some of the homepage, you can say that your IP address was most likely blocked. So to unblock yourself, you may want to try step three (but this won't work for everyone). 3. Restart Your ModemRestarting your modem will only work if you have a Dynamic IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). By restarting your modem, it will reconnect to your Internet connection and your ISP will assign you with a different IP address. So if the firewall has blocked your IP address, by getting a new one, you should be unblocked from the website – unless of course that IP address is blocked as well. I should not have to explain how to restart your modem, but turning it off for 10 seconds and back on should do the trick. 4. Use Google CacheIf restarting your modem does not work, and you cannot access the site at all, you may want to use Google Cache. Google Cache is good for a site that does not get updated frequently, and you just want to view some information – for example doing some research. Google Cache is basically a backup of the site that Google has archived – so you won't be able to access Facebook properly with it. To access a cached website, simple do a Google search with site:domainname.com, then click on the cache link. 5. Try The IP Address Of The URLAnother thing you may want to try is to get the IP address of the website, and enter that into your web browser. To get the IP address of a website, visit the site SelfSEO and enter the website URL. You will then get the IP address of the website. Enter that number into a web browser to see if it works. If you still can't access a website, the problem may be at your end, so make sure your Internet is successfully connected and you can access other websites. But if you are positive that it is a firewall that is blocking you, the last resort is step 6. 6. Contact The Website Owner & Ask Them To Unblock YouIf all else fails, contact the website owner. You may be able to find contact information by doing a WhoIs Search on the domain and looking through the results for their contact details. If it is a company’s website, you may be able to do a search on their company name to find their contact details and then ask them why you cannot access their website. If you still can't access the website, the following MUO articles may be able to help you out as well.
Do you have any other tips on how to unblock a web page from behind a firewall? If so, share it with us in the comments. Image Credit : Wikipedia Commons Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Related posts
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| A Writer’s Guide To Free Apps For Inspiration & Organization Posted: 15 Dec 2009 01:31 PM PST
Get InspiredSometimes inspiration hits and you know exactly what your next story, poem, or dare I say it, novel, is going to be about. Other times, it's not that simple. Using online idea generators is a good way to get the creative juices flowing, if only as a writing exercise. And who knows – that writing exercise could turn into your first published novel. There's no limit to the number of online idea generators out there, but to get you started, here are a few good ones:
The website Archetype offers a variety of idea generators, depending on what you need help with. There's a Plot Generator , a Character Generator , and even a Problems generator, if you're stumped with coming up with an idea for conflict within your story. The Big Huge Thesaurus, a resource for looking up synonyms, antonyms and rhymes, is another place where writers can get free prompts. They also go so far as giving prompts for bloggers – but all of the ideas are for personal blogs more than anything else. A special mention also goes to McSweeney's for their Thirteen Writing Prompts feature. Start WritingNow that you have your idea, and want to get started on your story, it would be a good idea to use a distraction-free writing app like OmmWriter or a minimalist text editor. Stay OrganizedOnce you’re on the right track, you need to keep yourself organized. Sometimes ideas will come to you when you don’t have a pen and paper handy, or aren’t at your computer. A good way to save these ideas is to use basic features on your cell phone – whether it’s using a voice recorder or saving it as a text message. If you want a more elaborate method there’s UberNote, which allows you to save ideas in a variety of ways. You can save notes to your private UberNote account using email, IM, Twitter, accessing a mobile version of their website, and using browser tools such as add-ons and bookmarklets. At the moment, UberNote offers unlimited storage for your notes. You could also use MakeUseOf’s popular Gmail tip. Choose a custom address to email yourself your ideas, for example yourusername+ideas@gmail.com, create the appropriate filter, and all of your ideas can be saved under a specific label in your Gmail account. Mind maps are another popular app for writers to stay organized and to keep track of ideas. Again, there’s no limit to mind-mapping software and services out there, but the free version of Mind Meister is a popular option. You can save up to 3 maps at a time and it has a free iPhone app, browser add-ons, a variety of widgets, as well as email and SMS support.
Get FeedbackOnce you’ve got something together, you might want to get feedback on your work. Two websites with a great community built around them are ABCTales and UKAuthors. You can submit any kind of fiction, or non-fiction, to both websites and get feedback in the form of comments. On ABCTales you can get more extensive feedback by requesting it in the forums. Both sites have editors who go through the submitted works, and single out the particularly good writing, distinguishing it from the rest. Protect YourselfIf you’re going to put excerpts of your writing in a public forum, there is the risk of being plagarised. In order to avoid that possibility, you can protect yourself against copyright infringement with the online app, MyOws. MyOws allows users to upload their original works (hence the name MyOws) to a password protected account. Once the file is uploaded, MyOws provides users with the necessary evidence in proving ownership of these works. Through MyOws, you are able to keep a record of all cases brought against copyright infringers who have used your work without permission by filling in the information using their easy step-by-step process. The site will then provide you with a standard template for a Cease and Desist letter which can be sent to the infringer in order to have the copyrighted material removed from their website. The site will also send proof of your ownership to any third parties at your request. While in beta testing, there is a 500MB limit on each user account, and your files will never be deleted, provided that the account remains active – meaning you have to access your account at least once every two months. It’s worth mentioning that MyOws is also handy for artists, photographers, programmers, or anyone who needs to copyright their original works. Submit Your WorkOnce you’re done, you’ll want to start submitting your work to publishers, magazines and websites, so it’s very important to keep track of what’s been submitted where. The Writer’s Database is a good option as it’s web-based, so anyone can use it regardless of platform, and it can be accessed from any place. At first, it takes a bit of effort on your part, feeding all the information into the database. The information is divided into two main categories. First comes the information on each publisher or magazine you’re submitting to, including their contact details, submission guidelines, pay rate, and response time. And second is the list of the titles that you will be submitting. The two are brought together in your submissions panel, where you can list where each title has been submitted, and record the responses. The app has a Dashboard widget for Mac users, as well as widgets for Google, Netvibes and Yahoo. If you prefer to have that information safely stored on your own computer, there are a few options out there for Windows users. Sonar 3 is a good example of a program that allows you to store all of this information locally. It has a very similar set up to the Writer’s Database, and again, you have to feed the information into the program. When adding your works, you can include the genre, number of words, and can also link to the document itself on your computer. When adding markets, you can include their contact details and submission guidelines. You can also generate a list of all works, markets or submissions, and print them out. Sonar 3 allows you to record and date responses, making note of payments, and whether or not the work has been published. If all else fails, you can record all of this information in a simple Excel sheet. Do you have any special tips or methods that you use to keep yourself inspired and organised? Let us know in the comments! Image credit: Marzie Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Related posts
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| The Three Best MP3 Players For Portable USB Drives Posted: 15 Dec 2009 11:31 AM PST
Accompanied with a portable audio application, you would be able to play your music anywhere, anytime; be it at home, at work, or even at your grandmother’s place. We already showed you how to do a custom portable Winamp install, making it fit for any portable storage device, but this time we’d like to focus on native MP3 players that are portable. That is, audio application that can be put on your USB stick without messing around. Some of these are adapted to run on portable media, others simply work.
CoolPlayer+ PortableThis one is, if we may, a ‘real’ portable application. Based on the original CoolPlayer, PortableApps has modified the application and repackaged it as a portable app. With 1.5 MB and over 2 million downloads to date, CoolPlayer+ Portable has proven itself both a lightweight and a fit candidate. Apart from audio playback, CoolPlayer+ Portable supports MP3 to WAV conversion, internet audio streaming, and even regular Winamp plug-ins. With CoolPlayer+ Portable, you’ve got slick looking music playback, but also a whole team’s worth of extra horsepower if, and when you need it. 1by1Who said we don’t listen to our readers? This application was recommended in the comments section of the portable Winamp article. 1by1 is an audio directory player. This means that instead of keeping a music library, 1by1 just browses your music folders. On the left side of the screen, you’re able to browse through the different folders on your USB stick. For the sake of usability, it’s best to drop all your MP3’s in one folder,or otherwise arrange by artist. No overly fancy cacophony and useless tools, 1by1 is still an incredibly light application and will occupy near to no memory resources. Nevertheless, it’s as versatile as one might hope for. Add the retro, high contrast look, and we’re all set to go. Songbird PortableSongbird is an audio player by Mozilla, the guys that have been entertaining us with Firefox. Although deemed buggy in some its earlier releases, Songbird has evolved to an incredible media player. Like its browser counterpart, Songbird also has great extendability. With numerous add-ons available online, you can adapt Songbird to your every need. You won’t meet a more personalized audio player soon. Like the first application mentioned, Songbird Portable is also modified and repackaged by PortableApps. Unlike CoolPlayer+ Portable however, Songbird takes up a noteworthy amount of space; up to 65MB on your USB stick. With smaller thumb drives, this is something you might want to avoid. In the end, you’ll have to decide what you’re looking for. If you want an extensive media management suite with lots of bells and whistles, you might deem it worth the extra space. These are only three applications and perhaps we missed your favorite one. Do you ever use portable audio apps? Tell us which ones in the comments section below! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Deal Of The Day: Logitech MX 1100 Cordless Laser Mouse – $39.99 (Shipping Included) Posted: 15 Dec 2009 10:30 AM PST We got another great Amazon deal for you guys! How about a Logitech MX 1100 Cordless Laser Mouse for $39.99? Plus free shipping. In this deal the mouse normally goes for $49.99, but you also get a mail-in rebate form which gets you $10 back.
Some of its features include:
* Hyper-fast frictionless scrolling wheel for flying through documents and webpages. * Long battery life time (up to 9 months). * 10 programmable buttons that can be assigned to anything you want. * Adjustable dpi laser engine (up to 1600 dpi) for customizable precision. Check out Logitech MX 1100 Cordless Laser Mouse Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Related posts
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| Clip & Convert Your Video Faster With Quicktime X & The New Handbrake 64-bit [Mac] Posted: 15 Dec 2009 09:31 AM PST
Mr. Jobs is well known for his great presentations which are often used as references. I have several Apple Keynotes videos. For my friend, I decided to choose the one that introduced MacBook Air – the one that never fails to deliver the wow effect to the non-techie audience. It’s a part of January 2008 Macworld Keynote. First step: The CuttingTo get only a specific part of the Keynote, I clipped the 1+ hour video into about 20 minutes using Quicktime X (which comes with Snow Leopard). I opened the movie using Quicktime X and chose Trim from the Edit menu (Command + T).
To increase the precision, I moved the edges little by little using the left and right arrow buttons. Then I clicked “Save As” from the File menu (Command + Shift + S) To know more about Quicktime X, also check out our article on using it to do quick screencasting. Second Step: The ConversionIn the computer world, the name Handbrake is identical with video converting. This open source application is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. In late November 2009, Handbrake just released its latest version: 0.94 with several new features and changes. To me, the most notable change is the speed. This is because the latest Handbrake is already supporting 64-bit while the old ones are still in 32-bit. This allows the 64-bit build to utilize the real power of Intel Core 2 Duo, even if your Mac is still under Leopard. Please note that this speed-up applies only to the Mac and Linux versions. Windows users are still stuck with the old 32-bit for some more time. To convert the video file, I selected the clipped presentation video file by clicking “Source” and browsed to the location. To speed up the process, you could use the search feature. I, and I’m sure many other users also, don’t know (and don’t want to know) the exact settings of video files which will play along well with the iPod. Handbrake understands this and give its users several pre-configured presets available from the side window. Just choose iPod from the options and everything will be adjusted accordingly. If you know what you are doing, you can add more presets to the list by clicking the Plus (+) button on the lower part of the side window. You could also do several conversions one after another by putting the configured video file to the queue and clicking “Source” to add others. And after everything is set, click the start button and make yourself a cup of coffee. In my 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook, Handbrake needed a little more than 8 minutes (probably faster because Handbrake’s seconds ticked faster than the menubar’s clock) to convert 140.3MB of .mov file to 113.3MB of iPod compatible mp4. After the conversion was done, I opened the file using iTunes. It will be synchronized with my iPod the next time I plug it in. I also passed a copy to my friend. A Little ExperimentI was curious. I felt that the 64-bit build is faster. But is it really faster? I wanted to compare both the 32-bit and 64-bit builds head to head. Fortunately, I still keep an older version of Handbrake. For the sake of comparison, I reinstalled version 0.93 (the 32-bit build) and did the exact same conversion of the same movie file on the same machine. On a smaller size movie file, the difference is not really notable. But with larger files, the 64-bit build is clearly faster. These are the comparisons I did using one and a half hours of .avi movie: 32-bit – about 20 minutes (because the ETA counter moved up and down) 64-bit – about 15 minutes or less (because the ETA counter moved down faster than the real clock) Aside from the speed, there are more features hidden underneath this new version. You can refer to the official site for more information and if you haven’t upgraded your version of Handbrake, now is the perfect time to do it. Don’t forget to check out our older article about using Handbrake to convert a DVD for the iPod. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| How To Set Up & Run Mouse Shortcuts With StrokeIt Mouse Gestures Posted: 15 Dec 2009 08:31 AM PST
So in case you prefer to use the mouse for speed and precision, how about teaching your mouse some tricks? You can affiliate mouse movements, i.e. mouse gestures with specific actions, which together becomes a mouse shortcut. Unfortunately, this is not a default Windows feature. You will need a tool and I recommend StrokeIt. StrokeIt comes with 80 default mouse gestures and you can add many more.
The mouse gestures are sorted into categories, for example global actions that work in all programs and gestures for specific areas, including the Windows desktop, chat programs, Google Chrome, Firefox, Photoshop, Winamp, and more. When you open a category, you’ll see an overview of shortcuts, the gesture you have to draw and which keyboard shortcut it will execute. Drawing a U for example will trigger the shortcut [Ctrl] + [Z], which will undo your last action. To assist you in training all mouse gestures, StrokeIt comes with a study tool. Go to > Edit and select > Learn Gestures from the menu. Now you can randomly draw gestures you memorized and see whether StrokeIt recognizes them correctly. You can also teach the program your individual “mousewriting”. To teach StrokeIt new gestures, go to > File and select > New Action. For my example I created a new Firefox shortcut. The default shortcut for closing a tab in Firefox is [\ Up], i.e. drawing a backslash upwards. The shortcut I created is undo close tab. I selected the gesture [/ Up] from the dropdown menu. Then I clicked > Add Gesture to confirm my selection and it appeared in the list of gestures. Next I associated a command with the mouse gesture. I right-clicked on the action and selected > New Command. The Firefox command to undo closing a tab is [Ctrl] + [SHIFT] + [T] and it’s a hotkey. So first of all I needed to pick > Keys – Hotkey from the pulldown menu. Then I could click into the > Hotkey box and type the command. Finally I closed the program and tested whether my new shortcut would work. Fortunately, it did. In the same way you can teach StrokeIt many more shortcuts, either to hotkeys, or to open applications, folders etc.
Ironically, StrokeIt doesn’t come with default gestures for itself. But maybe you can teach it. MakeUseOf has previously covered mouse gestures. Karl introduced Portable Mouse Gestures with Mazzick and Varun explained How To Run Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Using Your Mouse on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Do you prefer to use the keyboard or the mouse and why? Image credits: waterlamd Related posts
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| Memory Fox Helps Tame Memory Usage in Firefox Posted: 15 Dec 2009 07:31 AM PST
So what do you do? Do you stop using Firefox? Absolutely not! Will you use Internet Explorer? It is just as big of a resource hog and it causes system crashes as well (well it depends on what version you are using). I have found a much needed extension to control memory usage in Firefox called Memory Fox. You can grab the installer over here. So to start, I took a look at my 4 open tabs in Firefox. They are using 256 Megs of memory. No big deal right. But a few hours from now that can balloon up to 4 times what it is. You can see my task manager open below with the Firefox process at the top hogging up my resources.
And that is on a good day! What about my Vista machine at home that ONLY runs Firefox? Take a look at the 1.4 gigs of used memory below. Sheeesh! Apps should not be allowed to do that!! So head on over and install Memory Fox from the above link. You will need to check the checkbox next to the big green button that says Let me install this experimental add on. Once you click this checkbox you will be able to click on the big green button and download the extension. You will be prompted to restart your browser as usual. When your browser comes back up go to the tools menu and you will see a new entry towards the bottom for Memory Fox. You will have one option to activate Memory Fox or deactivate Memory Fox. I think those options are pretty self explanatory right? So what did I do? I think I did what any other IT dude would do – I opened 25 tabs in FireFox with a whopping 1.2 gigabytes of memory in use right off the bat. Then I activated Memory Fox like so… and presto changeo – memory usage in Firefox dropped down to under 10 megs. It did jump back up to around 90 megs but the process from Memory Fox kicked in and dropped it back down to about 40 megs. And this is where we have been all day. I have not seen any other negative effects and it has indeed speeded up my web browsing. Other tasks on my computer also have more resources due to FireFox being tamed. For those of you wondering what is behind this magic let us look to the author’s website:
I was unable to find my preset option but I know that it is 50 megs because that is when Memory Fox kicks in and reduces the memory utilization. All in all this is an amazing free utility and should be built into Firefox for sure! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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Nothing’s more American than speaking your mind, which is probably why freedom of speech has been enshrined throughout the nation’s history. This right to free speech is something almost all Americas agree on, regardless of political affiliation.
Sometimes you might find yourself not being able to access a particular website, and you may be wondering why. One reason for not being able to access the site is that the site may just be down – check out 
Any creative writer should have three main aims: write, stay organized and get published. The following list of free websites and apps for writers aims to help you do just that.
When writing something as extensive as a novel, you also need to keep your writing itself organized, which is where 
Last week we talked about the advantages of carrying your music with you on the go – not on an MP3 player, but on an ordinary USB stick.
Recently a friend of mine asked for my help to find a video of a good presentation to be shown to one of his classes. He also requested for it to be iPod friendly as he would also distribute the video to his students. Three things came to my mind: Steve Jobs, Quicktime and 
Shortcut keys are very useful if you handle touch-typing well and you don’t need to look at your keyboard to hit the right keys. That, however, may not be your strength.
After installing StrokeIt, you’ll find a little cursor icon in your taskbar. When the cursor is white, the tool is active. A mouse gesture can be drawn while holding down the right mouse button. To view a list of default gestures, left-click the taskbar symbol.
If you would like to temporarily disable StrokeIt, right-click on the taskbar icon and the cursor symbol will turn red.
Do you use Firefox? Most of our readers do and we all know that 10 open tabs can be highly problematic for our system memory. There have been times I have seen my Firefox get close to 1.5 gigs of memory. That is just unacceptable!
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