Digitophile

Merge PDF easily using PDF Merge Tool

2010-10-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

PDF Merge Tool by Darren Wurf is a no frill, simple, light, effective and portable tool for merging multiple PDF files into a single PDF document. It does what it is expected to do - merging PDF files - and it does the job in a very silent and effective manner.
This is how the main window of PDF Merge Tool looks like:

[click the image for enlarged view]

Click on the Add button to add PDF files; you can add multiple PDF files at once.
Set the order of the pages in the final PDF file using the "Move Up" and "Move Down" button.
Click on the "Merge" button to to merge the files. You will get a "Save As" dialog box.
Select a name of for your file and save it at desired location.
You are done!

[click the image for enlarged view]

PDF Merge Tool requires .NET framework v2 and the PDFSharp library.
Get the Portable version of PDF Merge Tool from Softpedia.com

New Image Upload Window at Blogger

2010-10-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

Blogger has redesigned the "Add Image" window. Now you can add images from your Picasa Web Albums or photos that you uploaded to your blog earlier. The option of uploading images from your computer or from an external URL is still there.

New Blogger Add Image Window

[Click image to view enlarged]

Create Multiple Folders Using File Names & Move File To Them

2010-10-01T02:49:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I wrote about how you can generate folders from file names using WinRAR.
However there is an even simpler way to accomplish this task - FoldMonkey.
Using FoldMonkey you can create folders from file names and copy or move your files to these new folders.

This is the FoldMonkey main screen: [click the image for enlarged view]

To create folders from the file names follow the following precedure:

1. Select (check) the "Archive File" option.
2. Select (check) the "Create Folder" option.
3. Select "Add Old File Name Without .Extension" from the drop down menu next to the entry box.
4. Uncheck the "Folder Path" option.
5. Select "Move File To The Above Created Folder".
6. Click the "Scan Once Only" button.

The folders will be created. [click the image for enlarged view]

Get FoldMonkey Now

Create Multiple Folders Using Filenames

2010-09-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

If you want to create multiple folders using filenames here is a simple way. You will however require WinRAR for this method. If you don't have WinRAR you can download a trial copy from here.
Here is how to do it:

I had 170 HTML files and I wanted to make folders having name of the files so that I can connect the HTML files to the data in the folders.
To solve the problem I used WinRAR. Here is the step-by-step procedure:

1. Select all the files; right click on any of them and go to the WinRAR menu.
2. Select "Add to archive..."
3. Now go to the 'Files' tab.

4. On the 'Files' tab select 'Put each files to separate archive' option.

5. Press Ok; You will get each file in separate folder.

6. Now select all the archives(zip or rar). Right click them and select 'Extract each archive to separate folder' from the context menu (shown below).

7. This will extract all the archives to separate folders having names of the original files.
8. But these folders will contain the original files (in my case there were .html files).
9. To get empty folders select all the folders and move (cut) them to a different directory (like Desktop). i will suggect you to make a 'New Folder' and paste all these folders in there.
10. Now in the parent directory Search for the file type you are having (I searched for *.html); put "*.ext" in the search box where ext is the file extension.
11. Delete the files in the result.
12. Now all the folders are empty.
13. Cut them again and paste in the original location. Done !

Play Synonym Game

2010-08-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

You can test your knowledge of Synonyms in the form of a game.
Sadlier-Oxford.com page provides a cool way to improve your word power.
You will be shown a word, it will remain fix on the screen. Other words will show and disappear. You will have to choose from them the word which you think is the closest in meaning of the 'fixed' word and click on the round button on the left side of thescreen. If your guess is right you will be awarded 200 points, else 100 points will be deducted. A green bar on the right will tell you how fast you were.

New Indian Railways Website

2010-07-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

If you have ever visited the Indian Railways website than you already know how frustrating it is; it throws a hundred pop-ups at the visitor and is damn! slow. Also it sometimes just hang and lacks information like route maps.
Here is a new Indian railways website - http://indiarailinfo.com/. This website is not affiliated to Indian railways. It provides information in a simple manner and doesn't show any pop-ups. Here are some screenshots to show what it actually looks like:

1. This is the home page - you can see there are no images, hence the page loads faster. To get information about any train use the text boxes.
Here I used the train number '2955' Mumbai Central-Jaipur Express as an example.

All the information regarding the train will be shown. The departure time, number of halts, platform number, and route length in kilometers.
Apart from this general information you can also get the route map. Click on the 'Route Map/Live Status' tab.

This is the route map of the train - 2955. You may click the image for an enlarged view.

Click on the 'Fares and Seats' tab to get the information about fares and seat availability.
You will be shown the complete information for the train.

This website is far better than the Indian Railways website. The information is presented in a simple and easy to find manner. You don't have to click several times or wait for long to get any information.
I hope you will also find it useful. If you have something to say please feel free to comment.

How To Use Google Fonts in Blogger Title and Posts

2010-07-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Now you can add Google Custom Fonts to your Blogger titles and posts. Google fonts are available to everyone via the Google Fonts API. Follow these steps to add Google Fonts to your blog.

1. Go to the Google Fonts directory. You will find fonts like this:

2. Click the link next to the desired font 'Click to embed {Fontname}', where Fontname is the name of font of your choice.

3. You will be taken to the next screen, like this:

4. Go to the 'Get the Code' tab. You will be given code for the specified font like this:

5. Copy the code, it will look like this, here I am using the 'Lobster' font.

<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster'
rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>

Note that the last element has been changed from > to />. this way your CSS will be parsed correctly and will not give errors.

6. Now go to Blogger > Design > Edit HTML tab. Search for </head> tag.
7. Paste the code from Google API above the </head> code.
8. This way you have inserted Google fonts in your blog. But still you have to define which portion of CSS uses the custom fonts.
This is done by defining styles for each element of the blog like header title, post title etc.

Here are the main CSS elements that you should know to define the fonts styling.

Blog Header Title                                       #header h1 {font-family:FontName;}
Header description                                     .description {font-family:FontName;}
Sidebar Title                                               .sidebar h2 {font-family:FontName;}
Post Title                                                    .post h3 {font-family:FontName;}
Post Body Fonts                                         .post {font-family:FontName;}
Footer Title                                                 #footer h2 {font-family:FontName;}
Whole Template                                          body {font-family:FontName;}

Change the Fontname to your desired font . Thus you have installed Google fonts in your blog.

Google All The Way : List of All Google Websites

2010-07-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Google, we can't imagine our day without this word. Google is present in various online service businesses and delivering an unprecedented value to the users.
Here is list of all the Google websites:
Online services:

Google Books: Search for books, libraries and publishers.
Google Base: Renamed as Google Merchant. It was used to upload products.
BumpTop: 3D desktop service. It was bought by Google in May 2010. It supports gesture interface and multitouch. You can view a demo video here.
Google Code: Hosting for code/scripts by google. In a way its similar to SourceForge.net. The code is generally open source.
Google Docs: Online office suite by Google.
Google Dictionary: Online dictionary and translation service.
Google Earth: Provides satellite images of geographical locations. User has to download a software with the same name which connects him to a database of photos and 3D images.
Episodic: Video broadcasting service bought by Google in March 2010.
Google Reader: RSS feed aggregator
Google Sites: Site Creator which replaced Google Pages
Google Squared: Google search engine that presents results in squared or tabular form. e.g. if you will search for an animal it will show its class, family, genus and species in squared blocks.
Google Store: Google's own store; you can get accessories like ball pens and shirts marked with the Google logo and e-goods like YouTube videos.
Google Video: Google's video search engine.
YouTube: Video sharing website, originally created by former PayPal employees it was bought by Google in November 2006.

Google's blogs

Official Google Blog. Official blog of the company.
Analytics blog. News and information about Google's Web statistics service.
Adwords API. Information on the Adwords API.
Base Blog. Information Google Base.
Blogger Buzz. New features announcement in Blogger.
Chromium Blog. Information on the Chrome browser and its development.
Code Blog. Information on the code of applications from Google.
Enterprise. Information on the Google Apps and enterprise(s) in relation with Google.
Inside AdSense. Information about the AdSense program.
Inside AdWords. Information about the AdWords program.
Maps API Blog. Information on the Google Maps API.
Reader Blog. News and Information on the Reader.
Research Blog. Official Google research blog.
Google Talkabout. Official blog on GTalk and Instant Messaging.
Webmaster Central Blog. Official news on the search engine's indexing techniques.

Blogging and Social Networking

Blogger: Free blogging platform originally created by Pyra Labs and bought by Google in 2003. Blogs are hosted with .blogspot.com subdomain name. Users can use their Google accounts for logging in the Blogging accounts.
Orkut: Started in 2004 by a Google employee of the same name. Currently more than 51% of the traffic comes from Brazil followed by India (21%). In August Google announced that Orkut would be operated from Brazil.
Knol: Wikipedia's competitor. It was opened for the public in July 2008.

Web design and development

Experiments: Started by Google in 2009 to test Javascript compatibility of various browsers to test their speed.
HTML5Rocks: Tutorials, documentation and inforation about HTML5.

How To Generate 'UnCrackable' Passwords

2010-07-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

Since we are now spending more time online and logging in on several sites it has become necessary to have such strong passwords that cannot be cracked. Passwords must be really difficult to guess but easy to remember by the user.
A little insight and HowSecureIsMyPassword.net can help us a lot in this matter. HowSecureIsMyPassword.net can tell you how secure your password is and how long it will take to crack it.
Using this website's data I calculated the time required to crack some (standard) passwords. The result is shown in the table:

s. no.	password	time to crack
1	abcdefgh	~ 5 Hours
2	abcdefghij	~ 163 days
3	ABCDEFGHIJ	~ 163 days
4	Abcdefghij	~ 458 Years
5	Abcdefgh12	~ 2000 Years
6	Abcde@1234	~ 17000 Years

The conclusion is :

1. Password strength increases with increase in number of characters.
2. Password strength remains same if the same letters are used in UPPERCASE or lower case.
3. Notice that the addition of a single capital letter 'A' increased the password strength from 163 days to 458 years.
4. In the fifth case two alphabets were replaced by two numerals which resulted in increase of password strength by nearly 5 times.
5 Adding only one special character increased the password strength 8 times.

A password with 10 characters having a mix of numerals, alphabets and special characters will take 17000 years to be cracked.
Taking in account all these factors we can say that a really strong (and nearly uncrackable-assuming that human life is shorter than 17000 years ) password is one which has:

1. at least 10 characters
2. a mix of lower case and CAPITAL letters, numerals and special characters.
3. it should not have a complete word-a random mix of word is the best.
4. a replacement of word with numerals like small case L with numeral '1' or zero (0) with alphabet (o) may increase the password strength several folds.
5. it must be easy to remember but difficult to guess.

How To Convert PDF to PPT - Online and Free

2010-06-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

ConvertPDFtoPowerpoint.com is a nice free online service which can convert your PDFs to PowerPoint slides. The service is totally free and does not require any sign up.
Just upload your PDF and your email address. The download link of the PPT file will be sent to your email.
The file will remain on the servers for 24 hours-make sure you download your file before that.

Overall I really liked this service. As a trial I uploaded a 20 page PDF having pages in portrait format.
The resultant PPT was just like the original PDF.
I would suggest that you should format your page size, according to how you want in the final PPT file.
As for the benefits their home page says more of it:

New Share buttons in Blogger

2010-06-28T03:26:00.000-07:00

Blogger has introduced new share buttons for - . You can add these share buttons below Blogger post.

To do this go to the Design section » Page Element tab. You will notice new buttons as shown in screenshot below:

Check the box against "Show Share Buttons" and Save.
You will see the Share Buttons on your blog.

How To Insert HTML in Blogger

2010-06-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

If you try to insert HTML in Blogger, either you will get some jumbled text ot nothing at all.
This can be solved by inserting the corresponding ASCII code of the HTML test. To get the ASCII code you can either use a HTML editor or go to any one of the website which provide ASCII code for HTML.

I have discussed both these options here.

1. Use a HTML editor: Here I have used Microsoft FrontPage. You can use any HTML editor which shows the code view and the browser preview. I will suggest NVU , its free.

In Microsoft FrontPage while you are on the Design view type the HTML text you want to use in Blogger. Now go to the Code view. You will notice that Microsoft FrontPage has replaced the HTML with its ASCII code. Screenshots shown below will explain more:

This is what you will get in the CODE view

Copy this code for use in your blog.

2. Another method is to go to any one of these sites and find the ASCII code the HTML text you want.

Yellowpipe Internet Services

ASCII.cl

Here is what you will get on this website

Next Step:

Go to Blogger Post where you want to insert this HTML text/ASCII code.
Switch to the 'Edit HTML' tab.
Paste the required code wherever required.
Preview and if its what you required, Save the post.
Note that the Compose mode will still show the ASCII code, you will notice the changes in the Preview window.

How To leave the title field blank of HTML Javascript widget in Blogger

2010-06-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

Recently bloggers at Blogger are facing a problem - the title field of HTML Javascript widget is asking for text, else it will show error.

Earlier user could leave this field empty. This is especially problematic if you want to use a invisible tracking widget or want to show some ads without the title field. However there is simple solution for this problem. Paste any of the following code in the title field.

#1. <!-->

or

#2. <h2></h2>

I got the second tip (#2) from Rilwansaeed's blog.
Thanks to him.

Sharepost : Simple Sharing Widget for Websites and Blogs

2010-06-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

f you want your visitors to share your blog post or website content Sharepost can help you.
Sharepost let you create a bookmark widget linking to all the major bookmarking services.

How To Get It?
Go to Sharepost.com, sign up for an account, go to your account Dashboard which will look somewhat like this:

To get the widget go to "Create Widget" option.

Fill in the 'Basic' and 'Advanced' settings.
Choose your blogging platform; here I chose 'Blogger'(Sharepost works with Blogger, TypePad, Wordpress and in general any website).
After filling the form press 'Get Code' button.

How To Use It?

Copy the code.
Log in to Blogger.
Go to 'Design' section.
Choose the "Edit HTML" tab.
Check the "Expand Widget Templates" box.
Search for <div class='post-footer'>
Paste the widget code right below this line.
Save the Template.

Blogger incorporated Template Designer and Changed Edit Area

2010-06-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Till now Template Designer feature was available Blogger Draft only, but now Blogger has incorporated it in the Blogger. Now when you will log into you Blogger account you will see 'Design' instead of 'Layout'.

When you go to the Design tab you will see a that the earlier options of 'Fonts & Colors' and 'Pick New Template' are gone and a new option of 'Template Designer' is there.

What's new:

Background Images: You can add background images from iStockPhoto. Blogger has collaborated with iStockPhoto to provide it's users a whole new range of photos.

New layout: You can choose your own layout - you can set number of sidebars, width of sidebars can adjusted using sliders.

Changes in Edit Area:

I was waiting for this for a long time; now you view a full page preview of your blogger post. Earlier it was shown only a small pop-up window.

Earlier

New Edit Area: 'Preview' at the bottom.

Thanks Blogger team.

How To Resolve Drive Opening Problem

2010-05-24T04:15:00.000-07:00

Are you facing the 'Drive Opening Problem' meaning you double-clicked any drive on your PC but instead of opening the drive the explorer opened the 'Open With List'. Here is the simplest solution.

Download this file. This file contains simple batch commands for the specific drive corresponding to its name. If you want to look at or edit the batch commands just Right-click the file and select 'Edit'. The file will open in your default text editor.You may need this if your drive letter is other than what is given.

How To Use : 1. Extract the zip file
2. Run the .bat file corresponding to the drive letter.
3. Done !

Download Link ( 1 kb )

How To Protect Your USB Drive from Autorun.inf Virus

2010-05-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

The Autorun.inf virus is a big headache if you are using USB drive and even more if you are using it on other's computers. It creates executable files of the folder name in which it resides and may even corrupt your Hard Disk(s). Here are a few simple ways to protect your USB drive from this virus.

1. You have to create a folder named "Autorun.inf " and make it write protected. This you can do by changing it's properties to 'Read Only' : right-click the folder, go to Properties and check the box 'Read Only', Press Apply and OK.

2. If above trick doesn't work, here is another one (bit lengthy) : create a folder with name Autorun.inf . Compress it with the 'compressed zipped folder' windows utility( Right-click > Send To > Compressed zipped folder). Open the zipped Autorun.inf folder with 'compressed zipped folder' . Go to the file menu and 'Add Password'.Now Extract the folder in another place. The folder thus created will be a 'Write Protected Folder'.

3. Another trick is to use a special program to lock file like FolderMage Pro.Use it to make your Autorun.inf folder Read Only and lock it.

How To Rectify 'Active Desktop Recovery' Error

2010-05-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Something bad happened to your desktop and you can't see your favorite wallpaper; all you can see is a button 'Active Desktop Recovery' Error.
Here is the simplest solution to this problem.

Download this file and run it. Your desktop will be recovered.
Before downloading and using this file please read the Terms and Conditions of Use

THIS FILE IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS".
NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.
YOU USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
THE AUTHOR [OF THIS BLOG] WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, DAMAGES,
LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHILE USING
OR MISUSING THIS FILE.
Downloading and using this file signifies acceptance of these terms and conditions of use.
If you do not agree with the terms and conditions you must remove this file from your storage devices and cease to use it.

Download Link

How To Hide Formulas in Excel

2010-05-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

If you don't want your users to look at what formulas you have used in your Excel sheet, here is how to do it.

Right-Click the cell which contains your formula.
Go to Format Cells, go to the Protection Tab
Check the 'Hidden' check box, Press OK
Now got to Tools » Protection » Protect Sheet. Give a password, again Press Ok
Select the cell which contains your formula - You will observe that the formula is not displayed in the address bar

Here is what happens before and after this procedure

PhoneSpell.org : Generate Mnemonics using any number

2010-05-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

PhoneSpell.org let you generate mnemonics using any number, you can use your mobile number to generate something that is memorable.

I tried with a random number 9123456789 and got this :

JotYou.com : Track Your Friends

2010-05-21T03:51:00.000-07:00

JotYou.com can help you track your friends when they are in a particular location. When you will send a message to your friends it will be delivered when they will pass through an area specified by you. You can also send a message to yourself to remind something.

The JotYou.com HowItWorks page quotes:

JotYou™ is location based messaging. Send a message to your friends so they get it when they arrive at school or the ballpark or the mall. Make up geo-games. Track a foot race or bicycle race. Stage a road rally with virtual checkpoints, and feed the directions as participants progress. Ever plan to pick up the milk on the way home from work, but drive right by the store and forget? Use JotYou™ to remind yourself as you pass by specified locations. The possibilities are endless.

DisplayWars : Choose Your Display with Ease

2010-05-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Are you thinking about buying a new monitor or a TV but can't decide which will be the best display size for you. DisplayWars may help you.

DisplayWars presents various sizes which you can compare. It generates the on screen comparison and other stats to help you decide which size to got for.

Keybr : Check Your Typing Speed Online

2010-05-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

Do you want to check your typing speed and that too online? Keybr may help you.
Keybr is a free online service in a game format. Here you will be given some typing tests against which you can check your speed.
It also has a High scorer's list so that you can know where you stand.

Text and Levels:
Keybr will not give you any random text; it will give you meaningful words in your native language which is more natural.You will be given lessons in various levels which will become difficult once you pass one level.
You can choose your level and the type of text you wsh to type.

Performance Measure:
Keybr keeps track of all your mistakes and can even generate graphs of your performance.

Personal Comment:
Overall I was satisfied with Keybr. Its a nice little and free service to help you and may help you improve your typing speed.

BeFunky : Turn Your Photos Into Cartoonised Paintings

2010-05-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

beFunky.com lets you create cartoonised images or paintings of your digital photos. You can use this website if you are a designer or if you work on images.

The site took a bit to load, but worked fine after loaded.

Features:

You can upload photos directly from PC or via WebCam, Web URL or even from Social Networks like MySpace, FaceBook, Bibo, Flickr, Photobucket and Picasa.
There are more than 20 Photo effects that you can apply to your photos.
Then there are Goodies - Cartoon effects for your photos.

The service is free but it will put a Watermark on your photos.
There is Pro service which does not put Watermark, gives faster service, full support, priority service, allows multiple file uploads, photo sharing and is without advertisements.You can also sell your creations if you are using Pro service.
The Pro service starts at $4.95 per month

How To Create a New List in Excel

2010-05-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

By default the following five lists are available in Microsoft Excel

1. Days of week(short)
2. Days of week (Long)
3. Months (short)
4. Months (Long)
5. Direction

But if you want to add more lists you have to do it manually. Here is how:

Go to Tools » Options, go to Custom Lists Tab(second last in first row).
Make sure that NEW LIST is selected under Custom Lists. Now start typing your entries in the List Entries box. Type one-by-one and after each entry Press ENTER.

Here I have typed 'new item 1' etc. to show what you have to do exactly.

Click on the ADD button to add your 'New List'

You can also add new List using the Import button given at bottom. Locate the entries using Browse(the square button with a red arrow mark) button. Click Import and all the entries will be imported to your New List.

The following image will make it more clear