Collection of Web Freebies

VITA - Free Tax Return Preparation

2012-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

If your income last year was slashed by economic downturn and unemployment, you may be able to get at least free tax return preparation assistance from the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) Program.

Trained community volunteers may help with special credits, such as Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled. In addition to free tax return preparation assistance, most sites also offer free electronic filing (e-filing). Individuals taking advantage of the e-file program will receive their refunds in half the time compared to returns filed on paper – even faster when tax refunds are deposited directly into one's bank account.

The VITA Program offers free tax help to low- to moderate-income (generally, $50,000 and below) people who cannot prepare their own tax returns. Certified volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to help prepare basic tax returns in communities across the country. VITA sites are generally located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations. Most locations also offer free electronic filing.

Form and Schedules covered by VITA

A VITA site prepares the following forms:

1040EZ
1040A with Schedules 1, 2, 3, and EIC
1040 with Schedules A, B, C-EZ, EIC, and R
Form 1040V (Payment Voucher)
Form 1040ES (Individual Estimated Tax Payment)
Form 2441 (Child and Dependent Care Credit)
Form 8863 (Educational Credits)
Form 8812 (Additional Child Tax Credit)
WI Form 1, 1A and WI-Z
WI Homestead Credit (household income must be less than $24,680)

A VITA site will not prepare the following forms and schedules:

Schedule C (Profit or Loss From a Business)
Schedule D (Complicated and Advanced D's)
Schedule E (Rental Income)
Form SS-5 (Request for a Social Security Number)
Form 2106 (Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses)
Form 3903 (Moving Expenses)
Form 8606 (Nondeductible IRA)
Form 8615 (Tax for Children Under 14 with Investment Income)

VITA sites do not prepare returns for married filing separate individuals, taxpayers with international income or military status.

Documentation to bring with you

When visiting VITA site, bring the following:

* Photo ID for Caller (and/or spouse, if filing jointly).
* If married filing jointly, both spouses must attend appointment.
* Social security cards for every member of the family (if a card is lost, the taxpayer must contact the social security administration to replace card prior to having taxes prepared).

* Birth dates for you, your spouse and dependents on the tax return.
* Wage and earning statement(s) Form W-2, W-2G, 1099-R, from all employers.

* Interest and dividend statements from banks (Forms 1099).

* A copy of last year’s federal and state returns, if available.
* A check from the taxpayer's checking account or a savings account number for direct deposit (NOTE: The taxpayer can open a bank account or cash card at the tax site for direct deposit if they do not have an existing account.)
* Interest statements from financial institutions (if applicable)
* Tuition and student loan information (if applicable)
* Total paid for daycare provider and the daycare provider's tax identifying number (the provider's Social Security Number or the provider's business Employer Identification Number).
* Any other income information or IRS notices received
* Copy of last years tax return

To locate the nearest VITA site, call 1-800-906-9887.Or, you can find it with online search: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/vita/search/index.aspx

Note: Some sites are by appointment only; some are walk in only. Check with your local office before visiting.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=107626,00.html

http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/pcs/vita.html

http://www.infoline.org/InformationLibrary/Documents/Tax%20Assistance%20pt.asp

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=219171,00.html

Listen your favorite songs with Android Smartphone through Google Music

2012-01-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

You want to be able to access your music collection anywhere anytime from your Android Smartphone without storing those files on your memory card? No problem. Google has a solution for you.

Google Music is a cloud-powered music player and storage service that lets you keep your music collection online so you can save space on your Android device.

* You can add up to 20,000 songs from your personal music collection on your computer for free to your online storage location.
* You can access your entire music library instantly with the Google Music app, and save your favorites for offline playback.

* All your music purchases from Android Market automatically will appear on Google Music, while not affecting your 20,000 songs limit.
* You can share a free full play of the songs you purchased from Android Market with your friends on Google+.
* Note that the option is available in the U.S. only.

To upload your music collection from your computer, you need to download and install the free desktop application Music Manager, allowing you to add your music to the cloud. Once you’ve added songs to Google Music, you can listen to your music anywhere that you have internet access.

From the Music Manager, you can:

Add music from your iTunes library, Windows Media Player library, My Music folder, or folders of your choosing to Google Music.
Choose to add songs automatically or completely manually
Adjust the bandwidth available for adding songs.
View the progress of songs you’re adding.

Developers’ website: https://music.google.com/

Music Manager can be downloaded from the same page. And, on your Android Smartphone, find Google Music App, and install it. You will be able to listen your clips immediately, even when the full library is not uploaded yet.

Tax Organizer for iPhone and Android

2012-01-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

While SnapTax, we have reviewed earlier, is probably the only application, which allows to actually filing your taxes with iPhone, this smart device can help you to make more efficient other activities, related to taxes.

Today, I would like to present the tax planning software for smart phones. This software will not help you for this filing season, but you might want to consider it for the next one. The software itself is free, but using it for longer than the trial period, will be covered with some fee. So, let’s say right away, that for individuals, who as limited eligibility for the tax deductible expenses, there probably not much use for this application is. However, if you have small business or little enterprise, and you do not have accountant who will track these expenses for you, the application may help you.

Instead of saving multiple paper receipts and storing all year paperwork in thick binder, you may just make a picture of them instantly with your iPhone or Droid and send them real-time to your online account.

As time comes, you can email all your records to your tax preparation professional for filing. There are several advantages you can consider:

You do not forget to file your expenses, which you put aside for later processing, as you can file it from anywhere anytime.
You save space in your office for multiple papers to be stored for years.
You save time for the taxes preparation, since you do not need to decode records, sometimes barely visible and hardly remembered.
Your records are safe, and cannot be damaged, destroyed, or simply lost.
If you have audit by IRS, you have all your records, conveniently arranged by date with attached receipts.

Screenshots (iPhone)

There are three plans, offered:

Basic Plan: (30-Day Free Trial)

Manage up to 3 businesses.
Includes FREE smart phone application. (iPhone, Android, Blackberry; under development)
Free comprehensive "TAX Deduction Check List."
Free invite to TAX Time Webinars for cutting edge strategies.
Free back up of picture receipts for 3 years. (active subscription required)
Export data in Excel or CSV formats FREE.
Audit Protection.
FREE Real Estate Investor / Agent TAX Organizer. Track up to 5 properties.
Cost: $14.95 per month or SAVE 10% when you pay for 12 months up front

Premium Plan: (30-Day Free Trial)

Manage up to 10 businesses.
Includes FREE smart phone application. (iPhone, Android, Blackberry)
Free comprehensive "TAX Deduction Check List."
Free invite to TAX Time Webinars for cutting edge strategies.
Free back up of picture receipts for 3 years. (active subscription required)
Export data in Excel or CSV formats FREE.
FREE 30 minute phone consultation to maximize your tax deductions.
Audit Protection.
FREE Real Estate Investor / Agent TAX Organizer. Track up to 15 properties.
Cost: $19.95 per month or SAVE 10% when you pay for 12 months up front

Audit Representation Plan:

NO free trial

Audit Representation for one person / entity by the one of nations leading TAX Attorney firms.
FREE TAX Organizer Account to manage all deductions related to person / entity
Includes FREE smart phone application. (iPhone, Android, Blackberry-under development)
Free comprehensive "TAX Deduction Check List."
Free invite to TAX Time Webinars for cutting edge strategies.
Free back up of picture receipts for 3 years. (active subscription required)
Export data in Excel or CSV formats FREE.
Audit Protection.
FREE Real Estate Investor / Agent TAX Organizer. Track up to 3 properties.
Cost: $59.95 per month or SAVE 10% when you pay for 12 months up front

Video

Developers’ website: https://www.taxorganizer.biz/

iTunes site (iPod): http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tax-organizer/id377221697

Android Market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.howesoftinc.taxorg&feature=search_result

How to File your Taxes with Smartphone?

2012-01-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

Tax season is coming. There are still several months left before due date, April 15, but there are so many of the tax payers, who do not prepare the paperwork up to the last moment, due to the lack of time, desire, or necessary documentation. But, now, all the happy smartphone owners can do the trick even at the very last moment.

SnapTax, an app from Intuit, maker of TurboTax, allows you to snap a picture of your W-2. The information is loaded onto an electronic return; you add any other information that’s needed, and then click to file your taxes over your Apple iPhone or smartphone running Google’s Android system.

These are the good news, but the option does not apply to everyone, as it is suitable only for those who qualify for filing 1040EZ only:

Don’t own a home or have kids.
Only have W-2, interest, or unemployment income to report.
Earned less than $100K ($120K if married).

The filing process is fast, easy, straightforward, and guarantees maximum returns, as claim the software developers:

Download the app for FREE on your smart phone.
Snap a photo of your W-2 to import your info.

Answer a few simple questions.

Review, efile securely, and you are done!

SnapTax uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to streamline and simplify tax preparation and shows a running tally of the refund, or taxes owed, every step of the way.

You may use SnapTax without charge up to the point you decide to send it to print or electronically file your tax return. Printing or electronically filing your return reflects your satisfaction with SnapTax, at which time you will be required to pay or register for the product, which is $19.99 as of today, which includes one federal 1040EZ and one state tax return plus e-filing.

Developers’ website: http://turbotax.intuit.com/snaptax/mobile/

iTunes site (for iPhone): http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turbotax-snaptax/id486548194?ls=1&mt=8

Android Market site: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.intuit.instantreturn

Video Presentation:

3D Avatar Chat in Virtual Worlds

2011-12-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

With advance of the computer technologies, the games characters more and more remind those from the real world. The graphic quality and operational speed sometimes cause you to forget that it is your computer and not reality show.

Moove is offering capabilities for advanced chat, but chat, enhanced with almost real virtual representation. Actually, Moove gives you a key to a freely customizable 3D world. You have an unlimited number of 3D rooms that you can always create anew for private communication with full control access to these rooms and your privacy. You can easily paint your rooms, furnish them with usable furniture, and decorate them with your own pictures and graphics.

The unique Actor Studio allows you to easily create your very own 3D actors (avatars). The actors' gestures and movements are completely life-like and natural - the actors can laugh, kiss, hug, walk around, jump, pull faces, and execute many more interactions and actions. All members can visit each other, chat, show their rooms, and much more!

To do this all members will get the free revolutionary software “moove Roomancer”. Note that your 3D rooms (the 3D software "moove Roomancer") is not dependant on a server and is installed on your own computer, therefore your house can be used both online and offline.

Just click a name on the member list sorted by your interests and you are coming together instantly. You can chat, laugh, kiss, hug your friends, exchange files with them, show your own pictures, marry virtually. Use cam and voice to get to know your chat partner even better. Find friends from all over the world and fall in love - "Anything goes".

Some screenshots:

Website: http://www.moove.com/

Create Funny Images with Scrapface

2011-12-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Scrapface, in line with several other free online services, fills a very important niche on the Web. You are able to make personalized funny images from your pictures, using readily available templates. Scrapface offers also several animated templates, which can be used for various purposes, like B-day eCard, posts on Facebook or MySpace, or just be sent to your friends by email to introduce some funny moment to the busy day.

The site has several sections to make it easy to find a right solution for your photo-joke:

Section Effects allows adding seamlessly you image to the attractive theme. Some of the themes are similar to those on other competitive sites, other are completely unique. The loaded image should be in one of the following popular graphic formats as JPG, GIF, or PNG, and not to exceed the size of 4 Mb. After image uploading, you may choose the best area of the picture, resize, or crop. As ready, resulting image can be downloaded on your Hard Drive or shared directly online.

Section Tools offers more capabilities of enhancing your creative products. Among the tools are glitter stamps, glitter background, artistic frames, glitter or standard non-animated text, and other photo effects. The requirements for the input image are the same as in the previous section.
Section Magazines allows you to put your portrait, or portrait of your friend on the magazine cover.
Section Faces traditionally proposes to place your face inside the other body, while multiple fictional and real popular figures are available for your manipulations. To improve the smoothness of the transition, you can drag, resize, or rotate you photo. You can also adjust brightness, contrast, hue and saturation to make your results perfect. When you are happy with the result, click button "S" and download the image on your hard drive.

Ecards section devoted to the nice electronic greeting cards preparation. It is similar to the first section, but offers particularly romantic themes for your creation.

Site is accessible with several languages, including English and Ukrainian.

Web site: http://www.scrapface.com/index.php

If you like Scrapface, you may like the similar sites as well:

Books should be Free: Three Sources of Free Legal Audio Books

2011-12-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, I got hooked on Audio Books. While my commute to work is not very long, it might be quite unpleasant due to the occasional bad traffic. But now, in a company with good book, even light morning traffic jam is not so annoying. As you think in the evening about interesting book, waiting on the pillow, the same way you will be expecting to get in the car to continue the new audio book journey.

If you love to read books, but do not have time, audio books are the nice alternative. It may not replace the book, as the genre is slightly different, and the book perception is largely depends on the reader.

There are multiple resources on the Web offering you free and commercial opportunities to download all kinds of books recorded as audio files. Not all of them are strictly legal, so you if are law obedient citizen of the virtual world, you still may enjoy really free audio files from web sites, who offer classic and other recorded books whose copyrights have expired, including many works from popular writers as Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe, H.G. Wells, Ayn Rand and more.

In this post, I would like to present three featured web sites, offering free legal audio books for downloading:

Librophile (http://www.librophile.com/)

Librophile offers a simple interface for finding audio books and eBooks for further review and downloading. You can browse the latest books, search by keywords or choose more broadly by genre. You can often listen to chapters online, download a whole book, play a sample or subscribe using iTunes.

Books Should be Free (http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/)

Books Should be Free – website dedicated to offer its visitors free downloading of audio books from the public domain in mp3, iPod, or iTunes format. Public domain means that no one holds a copyright on these books and therefore anyone including BooksShouldBeFree.com is free to distribute them.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg makes audio eBooks available for some of the same great literature available in plain text. The listings are divided into two categories: Human-read (http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1) and computer-generated (http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/2) audio books. Definitely, the computer-generated voices used in these books are similar to those on automated systems used by the blind, as well as some telephone automation systems, and not as pleasant as human voices, but these books are still free… And there are no late fees…

22nd Edition: Free the Internet Blog Carnival

2011-12-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 22-nd, December 9, 2011, edition of the "Free the Internet" Blog Carnival. Some statistics: submitted articles - 88, published articles - 12. I want to thank all the authors contributing to the issue. Some articles were excluded from the review, since their topic of discussion did not match the main target of the carnival. I am sorry, that not all submissions were accepted, as some of the excluded articles carried a significant value. As one of the submitted articles carried a link to the potentially dangerous site, I want to ensure all the readers that all articles were tested and evaluated, and all the posted links are safe to visit.

Kate Croston presents 10 Epic Bluetooth Hacks and Why posted at Internet Service, saying, "Bluetooth technology has made the transition from techno-phenomenon to core functionality in just a few short years and hacking into Bluetooth probably began even before the general application was pervasive. One of the many reasons for the prevalence of Bluetooth hacking is the open nature of the system itself, which gave “mystical artists” and even journeyman hackers plenty of canvas to work on."

Coleen Torres presents 10 Ways a Computer Virus is Like the Flu posted at phonetvinternet.com, saying, "I was noticing, a while back, that my computer and I have some things in common. In particular, we are seriously similar in how we act when we get sick. Here are 10 ways that a computer virus is like the flu, or, if you like, 10 ways my computer with a virus is like me with the flu."

Caroline Miles presents 40 Fabulous Internet Marketing Job Sites posted at Masters in Internet Marketing, saying, "Most professionals know that finding and keeping a job can be difficult in this economy. If you have a degree in internet marketing or are currently pursuing one, you are in luck. With the help of these fabulous internet marketing job sites, you can get matched up with a great job to start your career."

Jane presents How to Promote Your Business Using Facebook Free Listings of Local UK Businesses from Hairdressers to Plumbers posted at Free Listings of Local UK Businesses, saying, "Facebook, or FB, is an active social networking site that was launched in February 2004. It is incredibly well-known, and today there are more than 750 million active users registered on it. In today’s era of social networking, it is thought that no business can afford to not have a presence on Facebook. This can be particularly true for small and local businesses who can benefit from being showcased on the site."

Michalis presents Send huge files over the internet » Michalis Nicolaides posted at Michalis Nicolaides.

Henrikk Edberg presents 20 Must-Have Apps to Turn Your iPhone Into Your Personal Computer posted at Online Masters, saying, "With an app for everything from expense tracking to virtual assistants, there are also many to help take the place of your PC or Mac. These incredible apps will help turn your iPhone into a computer substitute, offering all the apps you need and use on your personal computer."

Jenae Stimpson presents Social Media Remarkably Saves Earthquake Victims in Turkey | Hudson Horizons Blogs posted at Hudson Horizons Blogs, saying, "In an amazing display of how social media has transformed the world, earthquake victims in Turkey are literally being dug up and rescued by search teams- only found because of the incredible progression of social networking sites."

David Leonhardt presents Occupy Google (radio satire) posted at David Leonhardt’s SEO and Social Media Marketing, saying, "Google Doodles, beware! Today I will share with you an exclusive radio interview with Rankless Jones*, live at the scene of the “Occupy Google” protests. After all, why occupy just a street, when you can occupy an entire website?"

Michalis presents Ultra PDF Merger v1.0 - Bind your PDF files together posted at Michalis Nicolaides.

Laura Backes presents 10 Ways to Propose Marriage Using FaceBook posted at DSL Service Providers, saying, "Facebook is used for many different types of personal communication, both positive and negative. It would be interesting to know how many people have used facebook to propose marriage and what creative way they used to pop the question."

Theresa Torres presents Pros and Cons of Mobile Banking posted at Untwisted Vortex, saying, "When used in a proper way, mobile banking can be a convenient way to do business. Before you take the plunge, however, here are some tips to guide you."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of free the internet using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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4 Free Web-Based Weight Loss and Fitness Assistants

2011-11-30T23:03:00.001-08:00

1. Text Weight

For those who are trying to take care of the weight issue and strive for general health improvement through various means, TextWeight may be a good solution. It provides a simple way to track and monitor your weight. You get a text message to your mobile phone to remind you to weigh yourself. When you reply with your weight, the information is sent to a graph on your personal web page that you can view at any time. Your text response is acknowledged and you get some tips to help you overcome your biggest weight management challenge. As you move toward your personal goal, you'll receive motivational messages and unlock badges recognizing your accomplishments--these can be shared with your friends and family via Facebook and Twitter.

At any time convenient, you can logon to see a graph of your weight management progress. The site says a morning reminder gets the day started right, making you more resolute to tick to your diet, not skip exercising after work, and so forth.

Website: https://textweight.com/

2. My Fitness Pal

Study after study has confirmed the benefits of keeping track of the food you eat and the activity you do. It is simple - the more consistently you track your food intake, the more likely you are to lose weight. That's why every successful weight management program suggests that you keep a food diary and/or an activity log. But recording everything you eat without the right tools can be tedious at best or simply impossible at worst.

With a 100% FREE membership, MyFitnessPal.com provides a food diary, a searchable food database of over 1,200,000 items, free mobile apps for iPhone and Android, support groups, personalized diet profiles, and a system that can support any diet, such as Atkins, South Beach, and more.

Website: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

3. Fit Day

Fit Day services offer you a free online diet journal where you can start tracking your foods, exercises, weight loss, and goals. Main features:

Service is absolutely free
Track your Foods, Exercises, Weight and Goals
Daily Calorie Counts
Carbs, Fat, and Protein
Weight Loss and Goals
Detailed Nutrition for 1,000's of foods
Long Term Diet Analysis and much more

For those, who prefer the desktop application, linked to the online account with more enhanced reporting and capabilities, you can download the software as well, however, it is not free, but costs about $30.

Website: http://www.fitday.com/

Start Your Diet

Free online services from StartYourDiet offer elaborate and easy to use online planner for your diet management program.

Whether you are a calorie counter or you are watching your carbs, you can easily develop a daily meal plan that is right for you. Start by choosing a daily meal plan from the selection, then swap out the meals and snacks you don't like while monitoring your nutritional goals. Daily meals planning become really simple:

Plans are customized for you based on your nutritional goals.
Swap out the meals and snacks you don't like to customize your plan.
Sort meals and plans by calories, carbs and other nutritional data.
Print out your plan for shopping or to post on the fridge.
Mark your planned meals as tracked with a single click.
Start with a blank plan and build your own daily plan from scratch.
Filter out all meat selections if you are a vegetarian.
Construct you own meals as part of your plan.
Use 20,000+ item database, popular food lists and more.

Another useful option is assistance in diet planning. In about 10 minutes you'll be setup and ready for action! Answer a few questions regarding your eating habits and daily intake goals for each meal will be automatically generated. Then use the database and suggestion tools to quickly plan out your weekly meals, all on a single screen!

It is not enough just to setup your goals, you will be able to track the progress as well. Tracking calendar makes tracking your diet a snap. Simply click on a date to track your weight, water, meals and exercise. Click on a future date and plan your future meals and diet goals. Perhaps the best part is you plan and track your diet using real foods and exercises; no points, exotic equations or gimmicks.

Website: http://www.startyourdiet.com/index.htm

How to make professional movies with your pictures and music?

2011-11-24T22:21:00.001-08:00

What is better: video or photo? Quite a challenging question, where there is no one definite answer. Everything depends: depends on the occasion, purpose, and the way of sharing. For example, if you have digital images, and you want to share with them one entertainment kit, creating sled-show with musical track attached would be the most appropriate.

While there are multiple software utilities available to serve the purpose, you may not have them handy, or you do not up to spending time for the creative movie generation process. If that is a case, get onsite web service, which might help you to complete the task.

So, today we are presenting great services, offered by TrackingShot.com. You can create simple professionally looking slide shows from your online photos and share them online with your friends.

The site interface is easy to understand and is attractive for the visitors, who may not even have any slight experience with the slide shows or video clips creation. After the files are uploaded, Tracking shot will be able to create a clip instantly, with minimum human interaction, by grouping photos into scenes and shots, creating transitions, synchronizing with the music, and more. However, you are still in power, and you can highlight, what is important for you and for your movie by selecting the pace, indicating important photos, interesting regions, putting photos into groups, and ordering photos. Then you can remix your movie and see the results.

Sounds interesting? Give it a try: http://www.trackingshot.com/

Picfull – Free Online Photo Editor

2011-11-16T22:56:00.001-08:00

Picfull is a free online pictures editor allowing you to upload photo from your computer or mobile device, edit it, and share with your friends. It really simple, fast, and does not require from you any web designer skills to make really artistic piece of art.

Picfull gives you visual assistance of the possible filtering effects, giving you various examples of how your photograph will look after you have used a filter or done a variation. The tool is very useful for those who find it difficult to use photo editing software, does not have it handy on the computer, or need to get fast outcomes for instant sharing. Each of the filters is highly customizable offering stronger or weaker appearance of the applied effects and flexible coloring exposure.

The good thing is that you are not required to sign up for the site to be able to use the services. You can instantly upload our picture and start working on it.

Once you have saved your photo and opened it, you can share it with your friends on Facebook, e-mail it to friends, or share it on Twitter, all with a single click.

Website access: http://www.picfull.com/

Picfull is rated 4 out of 5 on the Rateitall list. Feel free to browse the entire list of 67 free online image editors at the following link: http://www.rateitall.com/t-26415-online-image-editors-free-services.aspx

7 GB of Free Backup for your Media from MiMedia

2011-11-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

While I consider myself as quite advanced computer user, recently I almost lost all my pictures. My slave drive, where all pics were stored suddenly died after unexpected power outage with no signs of trouble or any warnings. Yes, I definitely has backup, but the backup drive appeared to be solid dead as well, when I tried to recover the valuable information. Statistical probability that both drives will die at the same time is quite low, but it exist as you see. Frankly, it took me several months and multiple data recovery tools to get all the pictures back, but I learned the lesson. You need to have double and triple backup for your valuable data. And, one of the components of the secure solution should be server, located remotely and is not physically present at your home. That will preserve the information in case of fire or any natural disasters.

In search for free, secure, and convenient backup solution, I stumbled upon the services offered by MiMedia. The free plan gives you one of the biggest complimentary online storage available among competitors – 7 GB of data. Yes, MiMedia will help you protect and enjoy up to 7 GB of your digital life - the files, media collections and important data that are invaluable to you - for free, forever, no strings attached.

Developers claim that the data is absolutely secure on their servers - their storage system is located in Tier 1, geo-redundant data centers, which mean they maintain multiple copies of your files in more than one secure location. Their enterprise-quality servers are also built on RAID architecture, one of the most sophisticated types of protection available.

You can use your online account to backup the data from multiple computers, and access the data from any devices, connected to the Internet as well.

While I was most concerned for my photos backup, you can use your account effectively for other purposes. MiMedia elegantly presents and logically organizes your files by media type, so you can listen to your music including your favorite playlists, watch your latest videos, and view any of your photo galleries all in one user friendly location. You can also easily share photos and videos with your friends and family.

One of the main features of the MiMedia services is instant backup. Your digital life is always expanding, which means more photos, more music, and more files. MiMedia backs up your files in real time. MiMedia's backup client runs behind the scenes and ensures that new files and changes to old ones are immediately secured in your online storage account. Every time you download a song, add a picture, or save a document you are working on, that file is encrypted and backed up over your broadband connection. No more scheduling backups. It just happens. The MiMedia desktop client also appears as a drive in your "My Computer" folder enabling you to view and access all of the files which are backed up right from your desktop. The (m:) drive is an online drive that follows you everywhere. No matter where you are, you always have a secure place to store and access your important files. You can upload files to your (m:) drive or download files stored in your (m:) drive from any computer.

Signing up for free plan is fast and easy. No credit card is required to establish your online account.

Website: http://bit.ly/rFcLg3

Make Funny Online Images for Free at FunnyCollage.com

2011-10-31T00:18:00.000-07:00

The name of the free funny images editor says it all. You can prepare funny collages from your own pictures to make yourself special or to prank your friends in various settings.

It is really easy, does not require any experience in the images editing, and takes a second because of the cutting-edge face recognition system and automatic color balance of uploaded pictures.

The online editor does very nice job indeed on automatic face recognition and planting in the available onsite templates. If you are not happy from the outcomes, you can play with it, moving your face in all direction, flipping it, or performing correction of the brightness, color balance, and contrast to make the integration smoother.

Try it now and have fun!

For your convenience, I tried several templates to show you output examples:

Website: http://funnycollage.com/

If you like FunnyCollage, you may like the similar sites as well:

Resumizer - free online instant resume creator

2011-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

You want to find your dream job? You want to find a better job to get you moving forward professionally? You want to find any job to cover your bills?

In any case, you need one, the most important document, which will sell your valuable skills, experience, and traits to prospective employees. When the economy is not in the best shape, getting a job is not easy. And the first step is to make your resume professional and appealing. You need to get a chance, you need an interview, and without good resume that would not be possible (unless you have strong protection or internal references).

As a hiring manager, I saw multiple resumes, and I can tell you, that more than 50% of submitters did not have a single case to advance to the interview step of the hiring process. I can also assure you that percent of instantly rejected resume in the typical HR departments is much higher. Take your time, create and polish your resume to the very small details, and your chance will be much higher that you will be chosen.

Today, I would like to present Resumizer - a free, online resume creator. You can write and print your resume in a few simple steps, with many styles, options, and tips to guide you. No fees, sign-ups, or memberships required.

The free resume creator offers several resume layout styles, with provisions for your educational and employment history, and sections to enter your skills and qualifications. Selections are available for your choice of typeface, text color, and accent color. Resumizer free resume creator allows you to preview your resume at any point in the creation process. Editing your free resume can be easily performed at any point in the creation process. Upon completion you can print your resume online or download it to print copies as needed later.

Aside from our free resume creator, you can get valuable help and tips that show how to write a resume, the use of action verbs, the proper format, and printing tips.

The best part of the Resumizer resume maker system is that you can return later to edit your resume should your information change or new information need to be added.

Main Features

No cost to use, no membership is required, there is no need to join, just come and use it whenever you wish.
There are many options available to you to customize your resume. Use the options you like; leave the others blank. See tips and suggestions on best practices of resume writing.
There are many popular layout styles to choose from, and you can choose one, which fit your expertise, line of business, and personal preferences.
The type face, text color, and accent colors can all be selected according to your taste.
Each section has extra space for you to add anything special that you require.
You can easily preview your resume as the creation process progresses.
The finished product can be printed immediately or downloaded and printed later.
Your cell phone number, email address, and webpage address can all be included if you desire.
You can return at any time and load your free resume into the system to be edited and updated as needed.

Website: http://resumizer.com/

BillGuard - Free Monitoring for your Credit Card Transactions

2011-10-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Growing amount of the financial transactions, people are doing online and through the phone with their credit cards is steadily growing. In parallel, goes up the volume of the financial fraud associated with this kind of activities. Since credit companies usually safeguard you, and mostly themselves from the money losses associated, the account monitoring is always enabled through the special professional groups. You get alert every time, when the suspicious transaction is noticed, and you have a chance to confirm or reject it promptly.

But, if are still paranoid on the possible negative consequences, or you want to be absolutely in charge of what is going on your credit cards accounts activities, you can add an additional level of security on top of the one, credit companies are already providing. This additional level of security can be spelled as BillGuard.

BillGuard is a free personal finance security service that alerts you to unwanted and unauthorized transactions on your credit card and debit card bills. Here's how it works.

You part is simple and straightforward. You register all your credit cards on the site, and let service to monitor them real time.

BillGuard scans your card activity daily for hidden charges, billing errors, forgotten subscriptions, scams and fraud, and alerts you via email when your attention is required. Each new transaction is analyzed by over 100 automated tests. BillGuard also scours the web for complaints posted by others about similar charges and merchants that appear on your bills.

A scan report is emailed to you monthly, providing a quick overview of BillGuard's findings and an indication of how clean your cards are. Alerts are emailed immediately, giving you the peace of mind to use your cards freely. Reviewing and verifying questionable transactions makes BillGuard smarter
and better at protecting you and everyone else.

The advantage of having the BillGuard online account is not limited to the monitoring for fraud and illegal transactions, but that will also keep your financial activities all together, helping to located legitimate, but unneeded charges, you may not be noticing, like for 24-hours Fitness you stopped attending, or subscription for American Baby Magazine, started when your teenager son has just been born.

But you want to ask how secure is your data at BillGuard? You do not want to add one more leak source for the private financial information, in any case. BillGuard assures that your data privacy and security is our #1 priority for the service activities, and always will be. BillGuard has been engineered from the ground up to comply with and even exceed the industry's highest security standards for financial data. BillGuard makes money by providing card protection services to banks, so I guess, it is reasonably safe to assume that your data will be safe there.

BillGuard utilizes bank-level AES 256bit encryption for all communications and all data processing is performed on servers isolated from direct access to the Internet. The systems are monitored by our own security staff 24/7 and audited daily by Verisign and McAfee HackerSafe. Regular penetration testing is performed by Security-Art.

Also, when you register a card with BillGuard, you provide site servers read-only access to your credit/debit card statements online. This is required for BillGuard to monitor and protect your card activity daily. Even in the unlikely event that someone would hack into your BillGuard account, they would not be able to transfer money or make any changes to your financial accounts.

BillGuard does not store your credit/debit card account login credentials or ask for any personally identifiable information beyond an email address (for alerts) and your zip code.

Experts agree on the site reliability and safety. Just recently BillGuard got Best of Show at Finovate 2011!

Website: http://www.billguard.com/

12 URL Expanders to View and Investigate Shortened Links

2011-10-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I have posted the presentation devoted to the URL shorteners, and offered there some examples of when and how they can be potentially useful for the Internet users. However, there are opposite cases, when you get short URL might hide spam link or direct you to the fishing sites in order to capture personal information, or even worse, can redirect you to malicious web sites containing dangerous malware, which is unhealthy to your computer.

If you are not sure, what can be hiding behind the short URL, and you want to expand it to the real URL address, which will allow you to make more informative decision, if you want to go there, as usual you can get help from the free Web services. These services will uncover the original links, when you submit the questionable shortened URL.

This is a short list, selected by the platform.

Web-based Services

LongURL.
URL X-ray.
Find Hidden URL. Besides simple expansion, the site offering WOT (Web of Trust) analysis. Now even if you don't know the website, you can depend on WOT to ease your decision.
Sucuri.
Clybs.
Where does this link go.

Firefox Plugins

Google Chrome Plugins

Tactical URL Expander.
ChromeMUSE. This plugin presents the possibility to expend the short URL, or shorten the real URL, working both ways.
Miniscurl Universal URL Shortener/Expander. The same as previous service, can offer both links shortening and expansion.

Android Smart Phones

Long URL Expander.

21st Edition: Free the Internet Blog Carnival

2011-09-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 21-th, September 23, 2011, edition of the "Free the Internet" Blog Carnival. Some statistics: submitted articles - 224, published articles - 19. I want to thank all the authors contributing to the issue. Some articles were excluded from the review, since their topic of discussion did not match the main target of the carnival. I am sorry, that not all submissions were accepted, as some of the excluded articles carried a significant value. As one of the submitted articles carried a link to the potentially dangerous site, I want to ensure all the readers that all articles were tested and evaluated, and all the posted links are safe to visit.

Kate Croston presents 10 Ways to Use the Internet to Be Even Lazier posted at Internet Service.

Pamela Ashley presents Top 10 Computer Repair Forums and Message Boards posted at Computer Technician.

Victoria Kennedy presents Top 50 Up and Coming IT Blogs posted at PhD in IT, saying, "As technology advances, so does the IT field. Whether you're a beginner or hold a PhD in IT, there is always more to learn about this growing field. These top 50 blogs offer information about different areas of technology, the latest news, and offer places to find others who share your interest."

Christine Kane presents What Age Should Parents Allow Their Kids to Join FaceBook and Why? posted at Internet Service Providers.

Christine Kane presents 10 Things That Are Frustrating About Search Engines posted at Internet Service Providers.

Josephine Chadwick presents Secrets of ISP?s: 7 Ways They Charge You Extra posted at Cheap Internet Deals Blog.

Gloria Nilson presents 10 Reasons to Immediately Leave a Website posted at Dial Up.

Stella Anokam presents The Best Legally Free Premium WordPress Themes – Download Direct From These Theme Developers posted at Free Internet Marketing Tips Simplified |Start Your Own Online Business.

Coleen Torres presents 10 Traditional Newspapers that Successfully Moved Online posted at phonetvinternet.com.

Jonathan presents 10 Best iPad Apps for Bloggers posted at Blogging Your Passion.

Mr. Cheap Stuff presents Top 10 Free Stuff Online posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff.

Ankita baby presents 33 Must-Read e-Books for Law Students posted at Online Law Degrees.

Edward presents Nostradamus Predictions for 2012 posted at Morten St. George Blog.

Mary Casey presents How to Update Your Facebook Account Settings | Hudson Horizons Blogs posted at Hudson Horizons Blogs.

Ian Richardson presents Spy On Who Is Sending You An Email In Gmail posted at Ask Ian Richardson.

Jonny presents 42 Internet terms you should know posted at Smart blog.

Christine Kane presents 8 Reasons Why Pirating Hurts Everyone posted at Internet Service Providers.

Sabrina Jackson presents 7 Public Online Databases & Techniques to Make Sure Your Blind Date Isn?t A Creep posted at Best Free Dating Sites.

Melanie Slaugh presents 10 Ways to Use the Internet to Shop for a New Car posted at Internet Service Providers.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of free the internet using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Technorati tags: free the internet, blog carnival.

Difference between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows OS

2011-09-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

The industrial software application, running the operation for the complicated piece of equipment, I support on a daily basis, Optical Surface Analyzer, is based on the Windows XP 32-bit Operating System. The application is extremely memory consuming, requiring saving huge amounts of data in one process and guaranteeing smooth operation of the automatic robotic laser-based tool. Sufficient memory is essential for that, but developers reached the limit of the memory limitations of the Windows for a single process (which is 2 GB), and even sophisticated manual rebase of the drivers to free the virtual memory interval does not help. Customers are curious how this limit can be pushed forward to expand the tool capabilities. Multiple tests proved that no logical steps in the current framework, like increasing RAM or managing better the virtual memory, can help.

But, there is solution – transition to the 64-bit Windows OS. What is absolute necessity for the industrial professional applications, might not be so critical for the computer home users, unless you also use the heavy memory consuming programs, like games, graphic utilities, or video editing applications. In any case, Windows 64-bit slowly but steadily makes it way to the consumer market.

So, let’s review what the difference is, and how you can benefit from using this next generation OS in in brief questions and answers session:

What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows?

The terms 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system.

How can be the difference explained a simple way?

Think of your computer as a series of tubes that can either be 32 or 64 bits wide. When you have the smaller 32-bit size, there is more potential for bottlenecks to occur. Bottlenecks slow down your system because one process has to wait for another to finish before it can begin. But if you want to have 64-bit wide tubes, your computer needs to be thinking in 64-bit so your software and hardware all need to support 64-bit.

What is the difference in terms of the memory management?

On a 32-bit operating system, you are restricted to a maximum of 4 gigabytes of RAM. On a 64-bit operating system, you really do not have a limit. Normally when you exhaust your physical RAM on a 32-bit system, it has to use virtual memory or hard disk space to pick up the slack. On a 64-bit system, you can install as much RAM as you can to cover your overhead.

What are the main advantages of the 64-bit Windows?

• More RAM. 64-bit versions are theoretically capable of supporting a little over 17 billion GBs of RAM due to the spacious register system. Realistically, Windows 7 64-bit Home editions are limited (because of licensing issues, not physical limitations) to 16GB of RAM and the Professional and Ultimate editions can be extended up to 192GB of RAM.

• Increased efficiency. Not only can you install more RAM in your system (as much as your motherboard can support) you will also use your installed RAM with greater efficiency. Because of the nature of the 64-bit address system in the register and how Windows 64-bit allocates memory you’ll see less of your system memory consumed by secondary systems (like your video card).

• Virtual memory allocation. Your computer will be able to allocate significantly more virtual memory per process. Under 32-bit architecture Windows is limited to assigning 2GB of memory to an application. Modern games, video and photo editing applications, and other memory consuming applications like virtual machines, need a lot of memory each. Under 64-bit systems they can have theoretically up to 8TB of virtual memory. On top of the more efficient use and allocation of memory, applications optimized for 64-bit operating systems, such as Photoshop and Virtualbox, are super fast and take full advantage of the spaciousness of the processor and memory afforded to them.

• Advanced security features. Windows 64-bit with a modern 64-bit processor enjoys additional protections not available to 32-bit users. These protections include the hardware D.E.P., as well as Kernel Patch Protection that protects you against kernel exploits, and device drivers must be digitally signed which cuts down on the incident of driver-related infections.

What are the main disadvantages of the 64-bit Windows?

• Need dedicated 64-bit drivers. You may not be able to find 64-bit drivers for older but critical devices on your system. For small things that are easily replaced or need to be upgraded anyway, this isn’t a big deal. For mission critical and expensive hardware it is. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the upgrade cost and tradeoffs are worth it.

• May need a new Motherboard. You may have a motherboard, which will not support 64-bit processor, or will support an early 64-bit processor but not support more than 4GB of RAM. In this case you’ll still get some of the benefits of a 64-bit processor but you won’t get the benefit that most people crave: access to more memory.

• Old software issues. Some older software, developed for 34-bit, cannot be easily used on 64-bit. Also, unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 64-bit has no support at all for 16-bit applications. If by some chance you’re still using a really old legacy application for something you’ll need to either virtualize it or forgo an upgrade. Also, just because an application itself is 64-bit, it doesn’t mean that all plugins and extensions for it are 64-bit as well.

64-bit Windows looks really good, isn’t it? But that does not mean that you need to scrap or upgrade your existing computer immediately. Frankly, it all depends on what are you using this computer for. For general day-to-day applications, your hardware and software fill your needs perfectly well. However, if you are computer user, suffering from the memory deficiency, there is solution, and this solution is Windows 7 64-bit.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/difference-32-bit-64-bit-windows/

http://www.howtogeek.com/56701/htg-explains-whats-the-difference-between-32-bit-and-64-bit-windows-7/

http://www.guidingtech.com/1746/difference-between-32-bit-and-64-bit-windows/

http://lifehacker.com/5431284/the-lifehacker-guide-to-64+bit-vs-32+bit-operating-systems

Symmetrical Face: Funny Online Images Generator

2011-09-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

You want to investigate on how symmetrical is your face? Or you just want to have some image fun with no substantial time and thoughts investment? Come to PicHacks and give a try.

The idea is quite simple and straightforward. Simply upload any digital image and PicHacks splits the photo in two pieces and joins the halves for a "Chimera" creation, duplicating the right part, making symmetrical image, and then left part, making one more symmetrical image. So, from scientific point of view, you can see exactly how symmetrical your face is. From pure fun perspectives, you can get quite unusually funny creations. Operations do not require registrations and login, and take less than a minute of your time.

If you want to see how symmetrical your face is, use a forward facing picture with your head held perfectly straight. When placing the midline try to position it directly in the middle of the nose. If you want funny results, experiment with different angles, tilted heads, and placing the midline in different places. Play around with it and have fun.

For purpose of illustrating the service performance, I have located face picture of Angelina Jolie. An original image and two aftermath images are provided below.

Website: http://www.pichacks.com/create.php

If you like PicHacks, you may like the similar sites as well:

How to prevent Repetitive Stress Injury while working on computer long hours?

2011-08-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last year, I posted an article on this blog How to keep your eyes healthy while working on computer long hours?, which drew much attention from the blog readers. Per one of the visitors’ request, I am would like to continue investigation the topic of the proper ergonomic arrangement, while working on the computer. Impact on your eyes is just one of the negative factors, you are experiencing, while working on your PC for long hours. How to minimize it and make your work environment as safe as it can be?

Overview

Average computer user performs 50,000 to 200,000 keystrokes a day. Making so many repetitive movements can contribute to the related health issues, and even lead to the significant health impairment in some cases. Uncomfortable seating and awkward wrist movements can also add to overuse injuries. These injuries take time to develop, and extensive computer use can hasten them. Symptoms may include numbness, soreness, pain, fatigue, discomfort and eyestrain.

What is Repetitive Stress Injury?

Repetitive Stress Injury is a kind of catch all phrase for many conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tenosynovitis / DeQuervain's Syndrome, Tendonitis, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Trigger Finger, Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Chronic Sprain / Strain are some of the actual diagnosis that be diagnosed among computer users.

All of these conditions are serious and in many cases can cause great pain, permanent disability and sometimes loss of employment.

Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) occur from repetitive movements involving a specific set of muscles and joints. RSI injuries are the result of an accumulation of stress and strain that causes irritation, inflammation, and eventually pain or other disability. Initially, RSI affects the soft tissues of the involved joint(s). Soft tissues include muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons. However, if left untreated for long periods of time, the involved joint can become arthritic and form bone spurs resulting in permanent damage to the joint.

The constant demand of keyboarding and mousing combined with the postural stress of confinement in an office chair with one's neck and back held in prolonged fixed positions has resulted in an epidemic of injuries that includes hand pain, wrist pain, arm pain, neck pain, back pain and shoulder pain.

Common Symptoms

The brief list of the common symptoms, associated with RSI, caused from computer use:

Tightness, discomfort, stiffness, soreness or burning in the hands, wrists, fingers, forearms, or elbows
Tingling, coldness, night pain or numbness in the hands, especially around the base of the thumb
Clumsiness or loss of strength in the hands
Pain in the neck, shoulders, wrists, hands or back that is associated with using the computer

Computer Ergonomics

The work place is often seen as the place with the lowest risk of injury; as opposed to injuries from outdoor activities like basketball, tennis, skydiving etc. This could not be further from the truth. Musculoskeletal disorders that cause great discomfort can develop if the proper ergonomic guidelines are not taken into consideration.

Desktop Ergonomics

If you use a desktop, these are the computer ergonomics factors to consider such as visibility, chair, monitor, desk, keyboard, mouse, for maximum ergonomic benefit.

Visibility

1. Incandescent light is preferred over fluorescent lighting (less strain on the eyes)

2. Glare on the screen and the rest of the environment is not recommended

3. Task lighting is not recommended for computer use.

Chair

The most suitable chair is the one that allows the user to adjust to his/her ergonomic sweet spot. Ensure the following,

1. Backrest or ergonomic back supports provides support for your lower back (lumbar area).

2. Seat width and depth accommodate the specific user (seat pan not too big/small).

3. Seat front does not press against the back of your knees and lower legs (seat pan not too long).

4. Seat has cushioning and is rounded with a "waterfall" front (no sharp edge).

5. Ergonomic-Arm-rests, if used, support both forearms while you perform computer tasks and they do not interfere with movement.

6. Thighs have sufficient clearance space between the top of the thighs and your computer table/keyboard platform (thighs are not trapped).

7. Legs and feet have sufficient clearance space under the work surface so you are able to get close enough to the keyboard/input device.

8. A Footstool is used if your feet are not touching the floor, when your knees at a somewhat right angle

Monitor

1. Top of the screen is at or below eye level so you can read it without bending your head or neck down/back. Place the center of the screen at a 15 degree down angle from your eyes

2. User with bifocals/trifocals can read the screen without bending the head or neck backward.

3. Monitor distance as far away as possible but still allows you to read the screen without leaning your head, neck or trunk forward/backward.

4. Monitor position is directly in front of you so you don't have to twist your head or neck.

5. Glare (for example, from windows, lights) is not reflected on your screen which can cause you to assume an awkward posture to clearly see information on your screen. Position the monitor to minimize glare by placing it at a right angle to light sources or windows.

6. Set the refresh rate at a minimum of 70 Hz to limit flicker.

Desk

Sufficient space is allowed to easily read hardcopy material close to you while working with the computer.

Keyboard

1. Keyboard/input device platform(s) is stable and large enough to hold a keyboard and an input device.

2. Wrists and hands do not rest on sharp or hard edges.

3. The keyboard should be positioned at or below the elbow to keep the wrist aligned with the forearm or at a slightly negative angle. Keyboard tray is recommended for such purposes.

4. Keep your fingers relaxed while typing. Use a soft touch on the keyboard instead of pounding keys with unnecessary force. Relax your fingers and hands between bursts of typing.

5. Familiarize yourself with keyboard shortcuts for applications you regularly use (to avoid overusing the mouse).

Mouse

1. Input device (mouse or trackball) is located right next to your keyboard so it can be operated without reaching and at the same level as the keyboard.

2. Input device is easy to activate and the shape/size fits your hand (not too big/small).

3. Wrists and hands do not rest on sharp or hard edges.

When the mouse is being operated at a distance that makes the operator reach, the shoulder extends forward and the shoulder blade abducts (rotates forward). This position stretches the muscle groups that connect the medial portion of your shoulder blade to your spine and the superior portion of your shoulder blade to your neck. In the short term, this stretch aggravates the affected muscle groups causing spasm, fatigue, headaches and stiffness in the neck and shoulder. In the long term, this position creates a condition called a "stretch weakness" resulting in muscular imbalance, trigger points and chronic variations of the conditions listed in the prior sentence.

Placing the mouse too far away, too low, or too much on one side can cause shoulder, wrist, elbow, and forearm discomfort. When the operator is forced to reach for the mouse, his / her body weight shifts forward and ultimately results in weight bearing stress on the extended arm. Spending prolonged periods of time leaning on an extended arm is an unnatural and destructive posture that will eventually lead to the development of a repetitive stress syndrome; likely resulting disorders would include tendonitis of the wrist, elbow or shoulder.

Computer Posture

Get a suitable, height adjustable, chair.

Sit far back in with your back touching the back support.
Adjust the height of your chair by its function such that when you 'type' your elbows are at a right angle.
Check your feet. Make a right angle with your knees. Are your feet touching the ground? If not, get a foot stool to adjust your foot rest until your knees make a right angle like your elbows.
Look straight and your computer monitor screen should be at eye level or slightly under eye level to prevent neck strain.
Adjust your monitor's height.
Practice good posture; do not slump in your seat.

Frequent Rest Breaks

The body is not designed to sit still, even in correct position, for long periods of time. Some individuals find that using a computer extensively can cause discomfort, so regular pauses are not a waste of time. Change your seated position occasionally, stand up or stretch whenever you start to feel tired. Depending upon your work and environment, you may want to take breaks. It is generally recommended regular breaks from working at your computer for a few minutes at least once an hour.

Basic stretching exercises can help keep limber the joints and muscles you use when you sit at a computer. Some examples:

General: Stand up and stretch your arms over your head.
Neck: Tilt your head to one side (ear to shoulder); hold; relax; repeat on other side.
Shoulders: Slowly bring shoulders up to the ears and hold briefly.
Wrist: Hold arm straight out in front of you; pull hand backwards with other hand, then pull downward; hold; relax; repeat with other hand.

Sources and Additional Information:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/331613-the-correct-posture-for-working-on-the-computer/

http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/computer-mouse-injuries.htm

http://www.ergonomics-info.com/computer-ergonomics.html

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00261

http://ictknowledgebase.org.uk/healthandsafety

http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/oh/DisplayScreen.pdf

Free Online Service for Spell, Grammar, and Style Checking and Correction

2011-08-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

The name After the Deadline is inspired by the NY Times after Deadline blog, and the service is suppose to benefit everyone, who needs to create well-written text documents online, with no text editing software available. Besides the Web interface, the developers offer additional plugins and bookmarklets for various platforms. The list of these plugins can be reviewed on the developer downloading page: http://www.afterthedeadline.com/download.slp

Main Features

Checks Spelling

After the Deadline's spell checker recommends the correct word 9/10 times. It looks at submitted context and uses artificial intelligence to make smart recommendations.

Detects Misused Words

A common error is writing one word when you mean another. Most spell checkers assume any word in their dictionary is correct regardless of context. This means all misused word errors go unnoticed. The online database includes 1,500 commonly misused words. It checks automatically each use of these words for a better fitting word. If such a word is found, the misused word is marked as misspelled and the correct alternative word spelling is promptly suggested. Note that no other web based writing improvement solution has this feature.

Checks Style

After the Deadline helps you write clearly and concisely. The style checker has thousands of rules and uses context to choose the best suggestions. The rules come from a style known as Plain English.

The style checker allows to:

Find complex phrases and suggests simple ones.
Locate passive voice.
Root out hidden verbs (also called abstract nouns, nominalizations).
Search for redundant phrases and suggests what to eliminate.
Find cliches and bias-language.

Checks Grammar

The grammar checker in After the Deadline protects you from common writing errors. It has a database of rules that look at entire phrases and parts-of-speech to find errors. After the Deadline uses statistics to automatically find exceptions to its grammar rules, making it one of the smartest grammar checkers around.

The grammar checker allows finding:

Confused words (a/an, it/it's, there/their, to/too, you/you're, etc.).
Repeated Words.
Auxiliary Verb Agreement Errors.
Determiner Agreement Errors.
Wrong Verb in Infinitive Phrases.

Explains Errors

After the Deadline will make you a better writer as you use it. The misused word detector, grammar checker, and style checker explain the mistakes and suggestions to you. You can click an error and choose the "Explain ..." option.

Screenshot

Website: http://www.polishmywriting.com/

Make Funny Collages Online with FancyPix

2011-07-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

I am occasionally checking the popularity of my posts to understand what is drawing the biggest public interest on this blog. One topic, which has the obvious leadership in amount of the unique visitors, is the funny online image editors. When I need to prepare fast fresh collage or greeting card, I am frequently use these service myself, so I can share this fascination of what can you do with your own picture with no slight experience with graphic editing, and in matter of minutes. Developed technology helps to improve the quality and speed of picture rendering, and multiple competing sites drive the developers’ efforts to offer fresh insight and new backgrounds.

Today, I would like to present FancyPix, one of the sites, offering you funny collage making opportunities. Authors present about 100 standard templates you can use for the picture modification, including animated themes; several advanced tools, like butterfly on the picture or animated text; section, featuring magazine covers; and about 50 face recognition templates.

While the variety of the standard templates is not outstanding, the picture operation is simple and gives several features, not available on some other sites: you can easily crop, rotate, and resize the image to choose the suitable scene to be inserted. Two examples:

The face recognition section also offers some nice opportunities for the original image manipulation: you can drag, resize, and rotate you photo. You can also adjust brightness, contrast, hue and saturation to make your photo look more authentic. Here are two examples. They are not perfect, but I did not spend more than one minute for each of these experiments.

You may want to register for the site to save your creations online, but that is totally optional, since you can always save the resulting images to your Hard Drive. One more good thing, I can say about the service – when you load your picture, it will be preserved in site memory, so you can try multiple effects without its reloading, which saves time significantly.

Website: http://www.fancypix.com/

If you like FancyPix, you may like the similar sites as well:

Free 20 GB of storage with multi-sites downloading option

2011-07-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

With fast internet spreading around the World, downloading music, movies, books, and other useful files became a normal activity for many users. The problem is locating the needed files fast and allocating space on your drive for storage.

But what if you do not want to clog your hard drive, which is especially important with low storage devices as tablet PCs or light netbooks? If somebody will offer you the free space on remote server to store these files there with easy way to access them anytime? Sounds good?

Fetch.io is extremely useful service which lets you download files from multiple locations to your private storage space, associated with your Fetch.io account. The good thing is that Fetch.io supports torrents, Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire and all the major third party download servers, so you save search time and consolidate files in one place.

Techie buzz tested the service and offered a brief overview for users’ convenience. After adding a file to your Fetch.io account, hit “Fetch” and forget about it. Fetch.io will download the file on its remote server and will send you an email notification when they your file is parsed and ready. Next, you can either download the file directly from your Fetch.io account or grab the URL and share with anyone who might want to download the same file.

Fetch.io works just like a cloud download manager which downloads files to your Fetch.io account instead of the local computer you are using. Many download servers have limitations on file downloads and in some bizarre cases, you may find that the file you have bookmarked has either expired or has been removed from the server. So instead of bookmarking files, movies, videos or torrents which you want to download later, you can use Fetch.io and save them to a remote server which you control.

Once Fetch.io has downloaded that file to your remote server, it’s saved on your Fetch.io account. This service is a lifesaver for users who use multiple computers at work or need to download a really large file but have doubt whether the file will be available at a later point of time.

The service is in closed beta right now, so a desktop application and smartphone support is a work in progress. Currently, Fetch.io provides a hefty 20 GB of free storage to all users, so you can store a lot of files like movies, videos and so on. One downside is that files that are protected by Captchas can’t be added to your Fetch.io download queue. Otherwise, the service does a nice job aggregating files from different download servers at one place and lets you download them when it’s convenient to you.

Registration is fast and easy. Enter your email address and password, and you are good to go. So, visit Fetch.io and give it a try.

How to create your own Internet Radio Station?

2011-06-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Who needs the Internet Radio Station?

Artists, who would like to promote their audio tracks among their friends and general public.
Website and blog owners, who would like to publish the favorite songs, related to the particular posts.
Music fans, who want to have instant access to their music library and be able to share it with their friends.

If you belong to one of these categories, you might be interesting in promising free service, called Radionomy. Radionomy is a web platform hosting personal internet radios with no charges.

Radionomy provides individuals and organizations with the tools, infrastructure, and content libraries to create real radio stations broadcasted on the web and accessible anywhere. It's now the biggest webradio network in Europe, with more than 3000 internet radio stations spreading over all kinds of music genres and cultures.

The name Radionomy comes from two concepts: Radio + Autonomy.

The developers believe that today’s Internet users should be completely free to create their own radio stations. Freedom of choice: they provide track libraries and lots of audio content. Freedom of expression: the ability to add content at will. Financial freedom: they pay for everything including royalties and broadcast fees.

Developing your own station is fast and easy. You need to create an account and register the new station name. When you create a radio, it will automatically be registered on your portal of radios with the address www.radionomy.com/yourradioname. Then you download the free software to manage your audio tracks library.

After your station is published, all visitors of the Radionomy website will be able to listen to the Radios proposed by the creators of radios by connecting directly to the radio address, by searching for a radio using multiple criteria or by following the selections proposed by the Radionomy team (top-ranking radios, new ones, etc.). You can send the URL created by Radionomy to your friends, or embed it to your website or blog with provided code.

Note that Radionomy broadcasts radio in streaming. The auditors can listen to a radio but without being able to download all or part of what is being broadcast.

Try it at http://www.radionomy.com/en#

ICANN supports unlimited imagination in choosing Top-Level Domains

2011-06-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Board of ICANN, which controls top-level domains and Internet connectivity, has voted to allow for expansion of new top-level domains (TLDs) to include an almost unlimited number of broad, unlimited strings as new dots, including "almost any word in any language" and even using Facebook Emoticons like musical notes.

That is going to versify enormously the web addresses structure, as currently there are only 22 TLDs, giving amazing chance to improve branding opportunities. But… not for everyone!

A factsheet released by ICANN says the evaluation fee is approximately $185,000 and applicants will have to pay a $5,000 deposit per requested application slot when registering. ICANN says the fee is set to recover costs associated with the program to ensure it is fully funded and revenue neutral. According to the application guidebook, "this deposit amount will be credited against the evaluation fee for each application. The deposit requirement is in place to help reduce the risk of frivolous access to the online application system."

Also, the application form will be quite complicated and is expected to be 360 pages long.

So brands like Coca-Cola could ask to create “.cola” or “.coke” and Intel might request “.intel” TLD. That would be almost personal domain, but the biggest interest might be in getting attractive generic TLDs, like “.cafe”, “.bank”, or “.store”.

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination," Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer of ICANN said in a statement. "Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind."

Just reminding to all blog readers, that three months ago, ICANN approved new specific top-level domain “. XXX” for sites with pornographic content after long, full of controversy, debates.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.rev2.org/2011/06/20/icann-aproves-new-top-level-domains/

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/062011_ICANN_Approves_Decision_to_Create_New_gTLDs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/20/icann-domains-expansion-annnounced