Many people want to learn computer science, but not many can afford to do so at the best institutions.  Fortunately many of the best institutions in the world are opening up their courses so you can take a course from Stanford, MIT or Harvard simply by going online and learning at your own pace.  Here are 8 ways you can take advantage of this.

Introductory Courses (Little Or No Experience Required)

MIT’s Introduction To Computer Science For A Good Overview Of The Science

MIT’s Introduction To Computer Science is a free course that sounds like it tries to keep the students engaged. Rather than focusing on a bunch of broad topics in an un-centered manner, it talks about a topic, and then applies that concept to an example that will get techies excited about learning computer science. (The description specifically references the Roomba, that robot that cleans your floors for you, and has recently been overtaken by the superior Mint robot.)

Harvard’s Intensive Introduction To Computer Science: For Those Who Are Committed

Harvard’s Introduction To Computer Science Course is what you’d expect from a basic course, except harder. Why? Because this is Harvard, and they make all of their science classes extremely hardcore. So, you’ll be focusing on algorithms, software development, multiple programming languages, and more. If you’re really looking to get deep into learning computer science, then this is definitely your course.

Learn Binary Numbers In 60 Seconds From A YouTube Video And Increase Your Geek Cred

This video that teaches you binary numbers in 60 seconds is less of a course and more of a quick learn for anyone who likes to call themselves a geek or a tech guy. If you don’t know binary numbers, then you’re not a true geek. Fix that now by taking a minute of your time to learn something new – who knows, you might even kindle an interest in computer science! 0110011101100101011001010110101101110011 (Geeks)

University of Washington’s Basic Computer Science Course on HTML For Those With No Knowledge Of HTML

The University of Washington has put out a very simple starter course on HTML – this is really for people with no prior experience in HTML. Just from blogging and doing an odd website creation here and there, I got a 100% on their post-course quiz, so this can’t be that hard of a course. But, I also am versed in HTML, so if you don’t know if an H3 tag is bigger than an H2 tag, this class is for you.

Connexions’ Introduction To Computer Science Course: Programming In The C Language

The Hanoi University of Technology has posted a basic course for learning to program using C, the older version of C++ that some programmers still prefer. (The two are very similar, so don’t feel like you’re learning something completely outdated.) This is great for those with little or no programming knowledge in the C language. If you’re an expert, this course isn’t really for you.

Intermediate and Advanced Courses (Programming Experience Required)

Udacity’s Online Computer Science Courses On Various Topics

Udacity could really be placed into both categories, since it has both basic and advanced free computer science courses, but it offers a greater of number of advanced lectures, so I felt that it would be wise to place it in this section so that no newbies find themselves in deep waters. This is a site that really has a ton of different free courses, from programming a robotic car to applied cryptography. (Some pretty hard stuff.)

Stanford’s Machine Learning Online Computer Science Course

When some people think of machine learning, they think of robots. This is not entirely true – machine learning is really more up the alley of autonomous cars, speech recognition, and many other types of atypical non-robotic activities. (Google’s software engineers do a lot of machine learning.) You should have a solid programming background before you dive into this course!

Coursera’s Introduction To Databases Course

For the Introduction To Databases Course, you will need some programming knowledge in order to grasp the more advanced material about structuring databases. Basically every type of relevant software has something to do with databases, so this is definitely a great course for all aspiring programmers to take!

This post was compiled by Jack Kiefer

Make money by giving ideas

1. PickyDomains.com 

Founded in 2007, PickyDomains is a crowdsourcing site of well over 50,000 contributors from all over the world. Clients looking to find catchy domain names, business names and slogans specify what exactly they need. A contributor then starts making suggestions. Depending on the order type and the contributor’s ranking, the moment a contributor’s suggestion gets picked and registered by a client, he gets 40% to 60% commission, averaging around $25 to $75 per order. For most, this definitely is not a way to get rich off the Internet, but the site’s most successful contributors – those with a knack for names and words – make hundreds to thousands each month. Payment is through PayPal.

2. IdeaBounty.com

IdeaBounty is a site that allows clients to hire thousands of creative minds but only pay for the ideas they choose to use. It used to be that when a company needed ideas, they paid creative experts to come up with an end product. And that’s not even knowing how much time these experts need to finally provide a solution to a problem. With IdeaBounty, clients are exposed to thousands of different ideas, and creatives get to pitch on several different briefs. Bounty (reward) for a winning idea can go as high as $3,500.

Make money doing small tasks

3. oDesk.com

oDesk is an online employment platform that serves as meeting place for clients and freelancers. Clients post jobs, and contractors apply to them. There are two forms of jobs at oDesk: fixed price and hourly. Hourly work when logged into the oDesk time system is guaranteed payment. Fixed-priced jobs, on the other hand, should be treated with caution because there is a possibility of non-payment from unscrupulous clients. Earnings can be withdrawn through PayPal, local fund transfer, wire transfer, Payoneer and MoneyBookers.

4. iStockPhoto.com

If photography is your thing, selling stock photos is not a bad idea. Stock photos, according to Webopedia, are royalty-free photos that can be used and reused for commercial purposes. Or better yet, if you have a hard drive full of photos and don’t know what to do with them, sell the best ones. With the proper title and description, somebody in another part of the world just might like them. And when you’re ready to start clicking here and there for future upload to the site, it pays to study which types of photos sell well. Top earners at iStockPhoto make around $500 to $1,000 per month. Others even more.

5. CloudCrowd.com 

At CloudCrowd, projects are broken down into small tasks and then reviewed by a peer for accuracy. Tasks are completed via your Facebook work application. When completed tasks are approved, you typically receive payment on the same business day through PayPal. Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent, a freelance professional or a college student with free time, the site offers a steady stream of tasks ranging from online profile verifications, copywriting to editing that fit your educational background and lifestyle preference. You can also refer your friends to the program. And once they sign up and complete tasks, you earn a referral bonus.

6. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk – Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, or mTurk, is an online marketplace where humans perform tasks computers are unable to do. Tasks are generally simple and may take just about a few minutes to complete. On average, most people earn $0.15 per HIT (human intelligence task). Some HITs, however, pay around $2 to $10. mTurk is most probably not going to make you rich, but it’s definitely good avenue to fill in time gaps. mTurk workers in the U.S. and India are the only ones with the option to disburse their earnings to their local bank accounts. All others can have them disbursed as Amazon.com gift certificate. As has always been said time and time again, never put your eggs in one basket. Sometimes, to maximize your earning potential, diversity is key.

This guest post was written by Maria Rivera

Simpler straight to the point tools (Beginner)

Google Developers Page Speed Test – What Google thinks of your site and check your mobile version

What’s great about the Google Developers Page Speed Test is that this useful online tool comes straight from Google, and these are the guys you’re trying to impress, are they not? This web speed checker is also amazing because it puts your problems into specific categories and orders them by importance: high priority, medium priority, low priority, and already done. If you fix some of these high priority issues that come up when you’re analyzing your site, you can be assured that your website will be faster and Google will appreciate your effort.  They also evaluate your mobile version if you click on the ‘mobile report’ link which comes up after your desktop results are generated

iWebTool Speed Test – Check multiple websites at once

The iWebTool Speed Test is different from other tools that you can use to check how fast your website loads in that it gives simple data and allows you to test up to ten websites at the same time. If you’re looking to just quickly get a couple of pieces of data in terms of how fast your site is, and are not hoping to see things like data waterfalls and tips to improve your site’s speed, then the iWebTool Speed Test is for you! This is a free service, but it only allows you to make ten requests per hour. This seemed like a reasonable restriction to me, so I felt comfortable sharing it with you all. This website speed checker is not great at in-depth analysis, it just gives you loading times, but is perfect for quick comparisons and to identify if you have a problem at all in terms of loading speed.

Neustar Web Performance – Keep tabs of your website speed history as you tweak it

The Neustar Web Perfomance tool from Browser Mob is great because it keeps a running history of the sites that you’ve looked up – for instance, I looked at this website’s speed yesterday when I prepared this post, and its data still showed up today when I visited the site. Like Pingdom, the design of this tool is wonderful, and it gives some simple-to-understand statistics. In addition to this, Neustar also provides a waterfall and data from four different locations around the world!

WhichLoadsFaster – Side by side comparisons

WhichLoadsFaster is really a great way to compare your site to others in your niche while actually having a bit of fun! Since you’re tired of staring at waterfalls and looking at different metrics, it’s time to get down to business fun. Just type in two different websites, and then watch them load! Sounds boring, but once they’ve both loaded you can see which one is faster and by how much! Geeks, it’s better than it sounds – you’ll just have to check it out if you don’t believe me.

Stats heavy tools (Advanced)

WebPageTest

WebPageTest is for those techies who run websites and actually know what they’re doing. By that, I mean that they understand what first byte time, static caching, and are interested in seeing which individual pieces are taking a long time to load. If all of these things sound foreign to you, WebPageTest’s extensively detailed Waterfall will probably be of no use to you. If you’re comfortable with Waterfalls, you can really get some great information from the WebPageTest website speed checker! For people who just want the basics, this site also gives your URL a score out of one hundred and a couple of sub-section grades for quick analysis.

Pingdom Tools Website Speed Checker

Pingdom Tools is one of my favorite website speed checkers if only because it is laid out professionally and in a way that makes it easy to navigate between your site’s different statistics. I personally like their Perfomance Grade tab which labels several subsections and gives them a rating out of one hundred – things rated very poorly are aspects of your site that you might want to take a look at at some point. The fact that Pingdom also tells you how your site compares to all of the other sites tested on the web is helpful, but make sure to do more than one run for this, as results can vary.

GTmetrix

GTmetrix is a web speed checker that is divided into two main components: website speed and YSlow grade. Your site gets a letter grade for both of these areas, and clicking on a tab helps you to see why you got this grade and what you can do to fix it.

This post was written by Jack Kieffer

When you’re sitting at your computer, there’s always that danger of getting sucked into the abyss of doing nothing. There’s YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, and all sorts of other time-wasting things you could be doing. (While you’re supposed to be working.) A great way to make sure that you don’t waste too much time is to use these 12 geeky online clocks and timers! Some of them are fun and some of them are solely functional, but all of them keep the time! (To be honest, there are a couple that will probably make you waste more time than before, but whatever.)

GEEKLY AND USEFUL

Timer For Your iPad No App Required

When you’re on the go, and you need a timer, you can just use your iPad! iPad Stopwatch is a timer that, unlike some others, does not use Flash. It is also sized so that it will show up nicely on the iPad’s display, and has large, tappable plus and minus buttons for adjusting the time.  Why use this?  Because you don’t have to install another app on your iPad.  Just bookmark this site and visit it when you need a stopwatch.

Pomodoro Timer: Productivity Booster

Many of you have probably heard of the Pomodoro technique for time management, and it has probably helped some of you. The Focus Booster is basically an online Pomodoro timer that isn’t really good for anything else – it is set at 25 minutes, and you couldn’t change it if you wanted to. If you don’t know what the Pomodoro technique is, then its a great way to maintain focus throughout the day, and is definitely worth reading up on.

Online Meditation Timer: Relaxation

If you’re a fan of meditation, which, contrary to popular belief, is not the same as sleeping, then the Online Meditation Timer is for you! You can set preparation and sitting times as well as quickly add or subtract five minutes from the time during your period of meditation. "You mean sleeping?" No, I don’t. "Well then I must be doing it wrong." You are.

The Poker Clock: Online Poker Timer

The Poker Clock is for those guys who just want to hang out with their friends a play a few card games – specifically the games which involve you losing money to your more-skilled friends. You can set the round time for the game and choose blinds by using this timer! It’s helpful to keep the games moving, and to help with remembering blinds.

Collection of timers and countdowns

Online-Stopwatch is a collection of countdowns and stopwatches meant for all kinds of purposes, chess games, boiling eggs, and even metronomes.  If you need to keep time of something, this website is a great place to start.

Rubik’s CubeTimer: For Whiz Kids

If you’re one of the lucky ones who can solve a Rubik’s Cube, then the CubeTimer is for you! This online timer lets you hit the spacebar to begin timing your solve, and allows you to stop the time by hitting the spacebar again. It even records your previous times on the sidebar for you so you can see if you’re progressing! Of course, you could always just use this as a regular upwards counting timer, but it is meant to be used for Rubik’s Cube solving.

Makeshift Alarm Clock : Kuku Klok

The Kuku Klok is an online alarm clock (Yes you have to keep the browser window open).  You can choose from five different sounds and use the plus and minus buttons to set the time on this alarm clock.  Probably not the best for everyday use, but incredibly useful to have up your sleeve if you are travelling and don’t have a working alarm clock or phone.

GEEKY AND FUN

How Fast Online Stopwatch

The How Fast Online Stopwatch is not helpful, and it is not a great timepiece. But, we can forgive it these flaws, because it’s super fun! Try to click the red button twice as fast as you can – start and stop the button in the least amount of time! It sounds dumb, but if you aren’t sitting at your computer trying to beat your last time, you’re unique indeed. Would have had this post done at least fifteen minutes earlier if I didn’t include this one on the list.

Timerrr Online Countdown: Old Fashioned Fun

The Timerrr Online Countdown is one of my favorite online timers, because it combines the old with the new. Remember those old, twist-to-set timers? Timerrr is one of those, except online. Pretty cool, if you ask me – retro is where it’s at.

The Human Clock: Different Scenes Of Time

The Human Clock is one of the coolest clocks on the web! This site does not give you a cool design, like many other applets do, but it instead displays pictures that show your current time. These pictures were taken by real people, often have real people in them, and can be switched out with other pictures by scrolling down and clicking on the links there. It’s a good idea to just keep this open in a different tab and check on it occasionally to see what cool image comes up next!

Anima Clock: Wonderful To Watch

The Anima Clock is one of those online clocks that I warned you about earlier; chances are, you’re going to be spending a lot of time watching this clock change the time. It’s difficult to describe, but as the seconds pass the numbers morph into other numbers, and the design of the numbers changes with time. This is a geeky online clock that is definitely cool to look at!

Industrious Clock: Hard Working

If clocks are too boring for you, and you’re looking for something more exciting, you should definitely check out the Industrious Clock. This site actually shows the day, month, year, and time, so you won’t be short on any information. Also, as things change, a hand with a pencil erases and rewrites the numbers! Fun to watch, and useful!

This post was written by Jack Kieffer.

Google Docs is a free service that allows members to create documents and presentations, send them, convert them to different formats, publish online, and much more. Now, you can use Google Docs with a handful of online fax services to create, send, and receive faxes in a much more streamlined manner.

When connected with your mobile, the ability to create and fax documents on the fly via Google Docs gets even easier.
There are still just a handful of fax services offering Google Docs support and/or full integration; however, the services that are offered make it easy and efficient to fax from just about anywhere, including a mobile device. Online fax services like the ones below are affordable, eliminate the need for machines and paper, and completely streamline your virtual office.

1. Ginza Fax

Ginza Fax is a Google App that when installed, turns your Google account into an inbound and outbound fax service, allowing you to seamlessly send and receive faxes. According to published information in the Google App Marketplace, Ginza Fax allows you to send and receive faxes from anywhere in the world, and offers a free trial, after which monthly plans start at $4.99 (USD).

How to Integrate with Google Docs: Ginza Fax published a brief, one minute video on YouTube to demonstrate how to use their faxing service with Google Docs.
Other features of Ginza Fax include that the service will log your fax activity right into your Google Calendar, and that you can simply attach a file to an email to fax it anywhere. You can also manage fax spam by blocking anonymous senders.

2. InterFax

InterFax is a similar service to Ginza Fax. Like Ginza Fax, you can use your Google Docs account to receive faxes. However, the main difference lies in the way in which faxes are sent. With InterFax, a bookmarklet is installed and when you open a file, you just click the “Fax This” button to send it.

How to Integrate with Google Docs: InterFax integration with Google Docs is simple, and involves only the activation of Google Docs within the InterFax account, and installing and using the Fax This bookmarklet. InterFax published a series of web pages on their website detailing how to use it with Google Docs.
Limitations with InterFax are that only documents created in or converted to Google Docs format, or documents that are in PDF format, are supported. InterFax services start at $10.00 (USD).

3. PamFax

PamFax is another online fax service that integrates with Google Docs, but has a simpler pricing model than the previous two. With PamFax, the first three faxes after sign-up are free, and then after that, fees are per fax. There is no advertising on any fax at any time.

How to Integrate with Google Docs: PamFax offers support for a handful of online storage systems, including Google Docs. When sending a fax, you will be prompted to select an online storage system, where you can find your document and then fax it. PamFax published a how-to in their online knowledge base.

PamFax also integrates with Skype, and can be used with an Android mobile device, and offers several add-ons, including Facebook. Along with its low rates and no contract obligation, PamFax is a good option for people who need to fax only casually as well as those who need a flexible faxing solution.

This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for a neon sign store that offers customized neon signs, and who also consults for a task management company.

After some time in invite only beta, Google+ has become one of the fastest growing web services ever. One of the features that really separate the new social network from the pack is their feature called Hangouts. Hangouts allow users to get together with a group of friends and colleagues on a web camera, and as the name implies, hang out.

The feature that Google+ Hangouts lacks at the moment is being able to record what happens.  This feature could be used to record web trainings, and meetings for future reference.

Since Google does not offer this on their own, users have to seek alternative third party recording solutions. Of course, being able to record by default would be great, but with the apps that follow, at least you can make it work, and make it work well.

1. ScreenCastle

ScreenCastle is a browser based recording solution. That means there is no need to download any software. It offers unlimited recording without having to spend a dime. It will record either the whole screen or just a selection of your choosing. It makes recording your Google+ Hangouts easy. Simply press record when you are ready to being, and stop when you are finished.
The application offers the ability to upload the video right to their site from the application for easy sharing. Once you are done recording and uploading the video to their site they give a direct link to watch your newly created video, an embed code and URL for the FLV video file.

2. Screenr

Screenr is another browser based recoding solution. The problem is it only allows for five minutes of recording. If you are looking to film some longer hangouts, you may want to look elsewhere, but if length is not a concern, this is a great solution. It starts recording almost instantly and could not be easier.

Once your recording is finished you simply add a brief description and log in with one of your Twitter, Facebook or YouTube accounts to share it automatically. They also provide you with a URL to share any way you want, and you can download the MP4 file directly to your computer.

3. Jing

Jing is a free piece of software that must be downloaded to your computer. Jing supports Windows and Mac operating systems. Once you install the software, it will run quietly in the background. You can set up a key board short cut to take a screen cast, or click on the Jing icon to start capturing. Once you start the process of capturing, simply draw a box around the area you want to record and click capture video.

Jing will begin place a big countdown from 3 on the screen to let you know it is going to begin recoding. Jing limits recordings to 5 minutes with the free version. Once your 5 minutes is up, the recoding will end automatically, or you can stop the recoding manually if you need less than 5 minutes. You can save the video locally, or share it online via the built in service called ScreenCast. Once it is on ScreenCast you can share the URL with whomever you wish.

4. Screencast-O-Matic

Screencast-O-Matic is another great browser based screen recording solution. It is super easy to use, and gets the job done exactly as advertised. All you have to do is head over to their website and click the big “Start Recording” button. Then set the box to the size of the Google+ Hangout you wish to record and press the red button to get the recording going. Once finished, click on “Done” and your Google+ Hangout will be ready to show off.

Once you are finished you can download your newly created video clip right to your computer or upload it to the Screencast-O-Matic website. You even upload it to YouTube right away. One thing that sets this one apart is that you can choose to make your videos in FLV, AVI or MP4, while most other programs limit to one video format.
The free version limits to 15 minutes of recoding time and adds a little Screencast-O-Matic logo to the bottom of each video. You can upgrade to pro version for $12.00 a year to remove the time limit and get rid of the watermark.

5. Pixetell

Pixetell is an installed program similar to Jing. Once you go to the developer website and download the program, it sits on your screen as a little icon. This allows for quick access when you need to record something. The program is smart, so when you start recording it will automatically select the window to the front, but if this is not the window you want to record, you can easily change it.

As soon as you start recording Pixetell adds a big circle to the middle of the screen to control your recording. You can pause and stop your recording from this control wheel.
When you are finished, Pixetell offers direct uploading to YouTube. Pixetell also lets you download your videos in a slew of formats such as FLV, AVI, MOV, OGV and WMV.

Conclusion

With all of these free tools, you should have no problem making sure you never lose those Google+ Hangouts.  Now all your sessions on Hangouts can be stored away safely for future reference.

This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for a company that offers psd to xhtml conversion, and for a ma in security degree program at the Tel Aviv University.

If you’ve ever wanted to strike out on your own, here are some tech entrepreneur tips from Brett Mosley, CEO of BuyMyTronics, a company which buys old gadgets from the public, and gives them new life by recycling them. 

We’ve covered this company a few times in the past before because we’re a fan of they environmental impact and their business of keeping gadgets out of landfills.  If you’re in the market for a new iPad, you know where to send your old one :)

So we asked Brett, based on his experience as a CEO, what his most valuable lessons were starting up.  I hope you all you guys thinking of starting up something, get something out of this as well.

You have to outwork your competition

Period. It seems like that’s obvious but few are willing to work as hard as you need to to start a company. You can’t create something from nothing. I was doing everything for the first few years.

Most entrepreneurs don’t get that. I worked 80 hours a week, medical-school style to get going. I wouldn’t be here today if I had slept more.

Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself and your company

You need publicity and it doesn’t come without effort. Make friends with the media and be relentless with your relationship building. I got on msnbc and New York Times because I kept emailing and calling and I believe in what I am saying.

If you don’t have a good story, if you are lying to yourself, it’s not going to work. If you work the media and have that story, you will get noticed and the coverage will give you unparalleled exposure and an air of legitimacy. I still feel like I have a great story to tell, and I tell it a lot. Sometimes I’ll joke I’m the annoying guy, but you know what, I am the annoying guy who gets stories.

If you work with friends or loved ones remember your relationship first

Even if it goes south, always keep in mind you want to keep the non-business bond, and always put friendship over money.

Usually things will work out amicably if you do it this way. Just keep the initial spirit of how you started, and that will be the saving grace. Plus, don’t be afraid to lay out specific ground rules of how the business relationship will work and what will happen in cause a split is needed.

Don’t spend your way out of problems

Money is vital resource, and it’s better to hold on to it and think of creative solutions to problems that either don’t cost a thing or are significantly more affordable.

It took nearly four years before we were able to grow to budgets large enough to start spending on high-profile contractors, outside technology and solutions. Even now, we still keep that original mantra that creativity is better than overspending intact.

Bend over backwards for your customers and business partners

This is a cliche, but it’s one of the most important parts of being successful. I worked for several years recycling phones with an authorized Verizon wireless dealer with more than 80 stores across the country before our relationship turned into major component of our business. Now we provide all the company’s stores with a point-of-sale buyback program.

It just took us treating them with the respect they required, working with them as a true partner and doing whatever was possible to make the decision makers. We do the same with customers every day. Without that effort and the relationships we built with customers and clients, we’d still be working out of my apartment.

More about Brett and BuyMyTronics:

BuyMyTronics was founded in Denver, Co., USA in 2007 by Brett Mosley, a young entrepreneur who was tired of seeing countless electronic devices tossed into trash bins. Named to the 2011 Inc 500 list of fastest growing U.S. companies, BuyMyTronics offers a safe, effective and simple way for consumers to get paid to recycle more than 6,000 types of electronics.

Since inception, BuyMyTronics has saved more than 100,000 devices from landfills while paying out more than $2 million USD customers around the world.  It is also one of the fastest growing companies in the country with no outside funding and no debt.

Too much email?  Tired of unsubscribing to newsletters one at a time? 

Unroll.me is a service which brings some sanity into your inbox by scanning it and simplifying your email subscriptions by allowing you:

1. Unsubscribe from different email newsletters all at once using the Unroll.me interface
2. Rolling all of your chosen email subscriptions up into a single digest email

Either way, it means less unwanted email, less time unsubscribing to newsletters you don’t want, less time opening individual email and a more productive inbox.  Brilliant.

It currently only works for Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL mail, which covers most of the major webmail providers.

This service is in private beta at this point so if you’re interested – just drop me a comment below.  I’ll randomly pick 5 people to get the free invites.

UPDATE: WE HAVE WINNERS!

1. shiftey
2. betocreativo
3. hen_xuoi
4. cornz0r
5. myimmortalize

With today’s web services becoming more and more niche, web mashups (combining data from two or more services) provide a great way to get amazing things done online.  For example – Portwiture, a cool service which matches photography from Flickr and the content of you most recent Twitter updates – resulting in a visual representation of your Twitter profile.

Now, while mashups like this are very cool, you needed to have some level of web programming knowledge in order to pull something like this together.  Until now that is.

Enter, IFTT (If – this – then – that) – The roll-your-own mashup creator which is incredibly easy to set up – and will make the services you already love – even better!

IFTT combines the power of more than 40 different services to help you automate the web.  For example, if you want to have to backup all your facebook photos to dropbox, just create a task within a few clicks which simply states that IF there’s a new facebook photo, THEN upload it to Dropbox.  That’s it. 

Creating mashups is now as simple as eating cake if you follow the very basic instructions. 

If you want to see how other people have put this service to good use (433,065 good uses to be precise), just head on over to the recipes section where people share their own ways of how they’re using IFTT.

BONUS TIP 1: If you especially like Dropbox, you can try Dropbox Automator for an even more powerful experience.

BONUS TIP 2: Check out Pushing Social’s post on “Why IFTTT Could Be the Best Blogging Tool Ever’”.  Useful reading if you’re a blogger.

Once you’ve set out on a path, keeping yourself accountable is one of the key things you need to put in place.  It’s also one of the harder things to consistently track, mainly because we tend to put it off.

21habit is a free web service which allows you set a goal for yourself and it checks in with you daily via email.  All you have to do then is to say – Yes, you’ve done your goal for the day, or no you failed, and it will help you stay accountable. 

Here’s the twist.  

You put in USD$21 at the beginning of each task.  Every day, $1 is either refunded to you if you keep your goal, or donated to charity (all of it) if you break it.  So put it this way, at the end of the 21 day session, either you form a good habit, or people in need gets helped.  Either option is better than copping out of a New Year’s resolution because you’re too ‘lazy’.

There’s a free option as well for people who don’t want to invest the $21, but I say if you want to do this, just go all the way. 

Invest in yourself.  You’re worth it :)

Hard drives are such an essential part of our PCs, and with the rapid reduction in prices of hard drive disks over the years, it’s easy to take them for granted. But just like any machine, even hard drives need their timely dose of fine tuning to ensure that they perform at their optimum capabilities.

1. How To Recover Accidentally Deleted Data From Your Hard Drive

Anyone who’s ever accidentally deleted a portfolio of family vacation photos from your camera thinking that you’ve already backed them up to your computer, will know the pain of losing a treasure trove of precious, irreplaceable memories forever, never to be recovered. Thankfully, we’re not the only ones who’ve lost precious data before, and Restoration is here to change all that.

You see, when you’ve deleted a bunch of items from your Recycle Bin, that data isn’t actually deleted immediately. It still sits dormant in a corner of the hard drive, waiting to be overwritten over by another newer file when the time comes; but without the appropriate software to access it, it might as well be lost forever. Restoration changes that by providing a “bridge” to the dormant “deleted” data, allowing you to access it as long as not too much time has passed.

2. How To Significantly Improve Your System Speeds

Ever felt like your computer was running at speeds comparable to the glacial movements of ice sheets? Always feel like Microsoft Word takes way too long to load? That’s because Windows is an extremely large piece of software, and just like a house left unkempt, there’s bound to be digital dust and cobwebs stranded all over your PC. You could use Windows’ very own Disk Cleanup tool to try and keep things tidy, or you could use Advanced SystemCare Free 5.

Unlike Disk Cleanup or other “sweep” programs, which only targets rouge files and deletes them, Advanced SystemCare Free 5 acts like a Swiss knife with solutions like diving into your network configuration, fixing vulnerability exploits, and fine tuning areas with red flags, in addition to doing the aforementioned “sweep” task.

The differences in speed after performing a check is astounding, and its user interface is simple and welcoming enough, unlike many programs of its type. You’ll probably see the biggest gains on dated PCs which haven’t been reformatted in a long time, but even if you’re running a fairly new computer, you’re bound to see improvements.

3. How To Speed Up Your Windows Boot Time

Perhaps one of the oldest gripes about running a Windows PC which has continued to persist into the current day is the amount of time it takes to boot up Windows. WinPatrol presents a nice and tidy solution to reducing your boot times. It’s separated into multiple functions, but the 2 you really need to focus on are Startup Programs and Delayed Start.

Startup Programs identifies the programs which Windows automatically loads on boot, and if there are a significant number of programs listed in this pane, you might want to turn off those which you never really use anyway. Delayed Start is an alternative solution to turning off your non-essential startup programs (e.g. Windows Messenger); by delaying loading them until after a few minutes into startup, it allows you to begin your work more quickly than if you had to wait for them to finish loading first.

4. How To Remove Duplicate Files From Your Hard Drive

Duplicate files are the bane of existence of any photo or music enthusiast, or just about anybody who finds themselves constantly transferring Word files back and forth from a thumbdrive. Aside from the nagging experience of having multiple files with indecipherable names like “IMG_00129”, having a large double backlog of photos, videos and music files can eat up a sizeable amount of disk space.

With CloneSpy, you can quickly let your computer do the work of scanning for duplicate files for you. CloneSpy works not just by identifying files with the same names – it also compares the data within the files themselves for a thorough sweep through of duplicate files. If you’ve always been wondering if you may have duplicate photos tucked away in the recesses your photo album, you could give CloneSpy a try.

5. How To Nurture A Blissful Copy/Paste Experience

Copy and pasting are probably one of the most-used features of the average computer, and while Windows’ default copy and pasting system is pleasing, it still leaves a lot to be desired. As a remedy, UltraCopier brings with it faster copying times by running extra functions which optimize the copying process, and implements error and collision management methods to reduce copy times and instances which require user intervention.

Ultracopier also introduces a host of extra options, such as the ability to pause and resume copying at will, speed regulation – for times when you want to save system resources for other more important tasks, and a search feature for your copy list – in case you want to review what you may have or have not copied during a bulk file transfer.

This guest post was written by Aaron Pek

If there’s one great thing about switching to a Linux-based system, it is that the word ‘FREE’ is encoded deep in its DNA. Open-source, free software is how Linux was built, and most Linux distros (whether Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora or Debian) slip onto your computer, without coming anywhere near your wallet. 

Naturally enough, there’s a whole universe of free software, apps and programs out there, all jostling for your attention. But just because it’s free doesn’t make it fabulous. So, to help you sort the wheat from chaff, we’ve put together a list of the very best free software that no Linux desktop should be without. Enjoy.

GIMPshop – Linux alternative to Photoshop

First there was GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), the superb graphics package from the guys at GNU that upped the ante for image manipulation.

Now there is GIMPshop. This takes the rich graphical and image editing functionality of GIMP, and wraps it in an Adobe Photoshop-like front-end. This is a huge step forward, making GIMP much easier to use, and opening up Linux image editing to generation of Photoshop-familiar users. A must-have.

GnuCash – Linux alternative to Microsoft Money

If you’re looking to better manage your cash-flow, or even for a tool able to run small business accounting, then GNUCash could be the answer to your prayers. This software has been built from the ground up with professional bookkeeping in mind, so it has such top-end features as invoicing, stock-tracking, and double-entry accounting But is also very handy for day-to-day tracking of your personal finances, with its checkbook register.

What makes it doubly useful is that GNUCash is not an island unto itself – you can import from Quicken or Microsoft Money. Equally you can export your financial data to standard spreadsheet formats. Add in a flexible and powerful reporting tool, and you’ve got a free financial package that is hard to beat.

Chromium – Linux alternative to Internet Explorer

Google’s Chrome web browser has won plenty of plaudits, for its uncluttered interface, fast loading, synchronized bookmarks, and easy integration with Google’s growing stable of apps. But Chrome isn’t just freely available on Windows; it has an open-source, free-to-use cousin, called Chromium.

This open license means that many open software-based Linux distros now have Chrome in their base installations – including Ubuntu, one of the top Linux installations. So Chrome on Linux is well worth looking at – whether you’ve come from an Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox background. It is now fully featured, fast and stable – and real contender for the browser-of-choice for Linux systems.

Banshee – Linux alternative to iTunes

For music-lovers out there, Banshee is the program that ties all of the threads of the modern music player together. So, yes, it can play MP3 files (often a hassle with Linux distributions), as well as Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files. Yes, it can play and rip audio CDs. And yes, it has rich music library functionality, pulling play-lists and album art down for you on the fly. But Banshee does much more.

It also integrates with Amazon’s MP3 store, not mention Apple’s iTunes and Last.fm, fully interconnecting your audio multiverse. Oh, and did we say – and it can play videos too.

Ardour – Linux alternative to Garage Band (Yes I know Garage Band is Mac software)

Linux has always had a special place in the heart of music-makers, with a generous suite of open-source audio applications, developed over a number of years. Ardour builds on that tradition, offering a fully-fledged recording and mixing tool that wouldn’t look out of place in a studio.

While it is a little tricky to set up and use, it does allow you to hook up directly into your computers sound system. That ensures fast and professional sound recording. Ardour also allows you to edit soundtracks, apply filters, and mix them together; and it is indispensable for recording CDs, LPs and old-time tapes. Time to shift those old-time media into the online digital age?

LibreOffice – Linux alternative to Microsoft Office

One of the first things that ex-Windows users worry about with Linux is how they’ll cope without Microsoft Office. That turns out to be a non-issue, especially once you’ve taken a look at LibreOffice. Previously known as OpenOffice, this is a suite of productivity apps that matches MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint – and the rest – on everything except the price.

LibreOffice has a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool, which not only have similar functionality – they also share many of the menu layouts and shortcuts of the Office equivalents. They also save documents in standard open doc formats, and you have the option of reading (and creating) the typical MS DOC and XLS formats. In short, the move to LibreOffice is as painless as it is charge-free.

ClamAV – Linux alternative to McAfee Antivirus

Although Linux is often-touted as a much-more secure system than Windows, that’s not to say it’s invulnerable to viruses and malware threats. E-mail is a particular vulnerability, with the bad guys potentially being delivered through attachments. So it’s a good idea to get an anti-virus tool to lock the vaunted Linux security down that little bit tighter.

ClamAV is just such a tool, developed especially for scanning emails for malicious software. It automatically keeps itself up-to-date with the latest viruses. The one drawback is that it’s a command line tool – which some users may find scary. But once setup, ClamAV is pretty self-sufficient, and most importantly, it gets the job done.

WINE – Linux alternative to Windows

Finally, whatever the richness and breadth of free software coverage in the Linux world, there’s often a Windows tool, app or game which has no real equivalent. That’s where the WINdows Emulator (WINE) makes a very welcome addition to your Linux system. WINE has been under development for a number of years, and does an excellent job of creating a Windows ‘sandbox’ for all of those legacy Windows apps to play in. Get WINE and you’ll never have to moan about what’s missing from your Linux ever again.

This article is a guest post from Chee Seng, a blogger who writes about freeware reviews at BestFreeOnline.net/

This is MY smartphone

Yes, that’s an actual screenshot of my phone.  Juice defender is a battery management Android app which is so good that I swear by it, and it’s one of the first apps I recommend putting on your Android phone (sorry Apple folks).

So good that it typically doubles my battery life!

How it works:

In a nutshell all it does is turn off data when you don’t need it.

When my phone screen is on: All my data runs normally.

When my phone screen is off: It turns off ALL my data and turns it back on every 5 minutes for just to check if there’s incoming data like email or twitter notifications.

Now, because data is only turned on every 5 minutes, there is a chance your received messages will be 5 minutes late if your phone screen is off, so this is where you make your conscious trade off…I have to say though, through personal experience, that 5 minutes is really no big deal, and you hardly feel any sort of delay at all.  After all, If you’re expecting some urgent messages you can always turn Juice Defender off.

FriedBeef’s Verdict:

The basic version is free, but I’d recommend you pay for the ultimate version for maximum effect… After all it’s hard to argue with doubling your battery life :)

Guest blogging has gained in importance since Google increased the value of original content over time. Duplicate content went down in value, article directories went down, backlinks for the sake of backlinks went down. Useful, original content went up, and with it, the value of a guest blog post.

It’s a win-win-win situation: The blog owner wins because it helps bring in fresh new content. The blogger wins because it’s a quality backlink as well as exposure to a new audience. The audience wins by getting a different perspective on a favorite topic. If you’d like to use guest posting to expand your message and reach new audiences, there are a few common best-practices to keep in mind.

1. Write for the blog’s audience.
2. Send an original post that appears nowhere else on the web (unless the blog owner specifically tells you different).
3. Link to your own website in the resource box, and don’t use affiliate links anywhere in the article. Most bloggers accept informational links in the body of the article, but clear it with the blog owner.
4. Do your best work and correct grammar and spelling errors before you send it off.

That’s pretty much it. Different bloggers will have different instructions about how to contact them, how to get your blog post to them, the length and so forth. These rules are all to help you write a post that fits their blogs, and so take them as friendly advice from someone who really wants to be able to publish your post.

Here are 41 great blogs on a number of topics that invite accept guest posts. They’re not by any means the only guest blogging opportunities around, but if you want to get started in guest blogging, you can probably find a few candidates here that are looking for the kind of writing you do.

About the list:

Each of the items in the list includes the name of the blog and a link to the page detailing guest post submission guidelines. And then there is a brief description of the topics covered in the blog.

I also include Google’s PageRank and the Alexa rating for the comparative power of the blog. Google’s PageRank affects how high a site will appear in search engine results for a keyword it covers. Higher is better. The Alexa ranking is based on traffic in the home country, and "1" is the top. If a site has a ranking of 459, that means 458 sites get more traffic than it does in its country. The numbers are good for a general reading, but they can fluctuate wildly, and they’re always out of date. So if you see a site that is a really good fit, go for it. Don’t be dissuaded by the numbers.

Blogger Forums

• Blog Engage PR 4, Alexa 8,675 Blog Engage is a bloggers’ showcase, where members either post to the site or link to a post on their own site for other bloggers to rank it and give feedback. There are also occasional blogging contests with cash prizes.
• My Blog Guest PR 5, Alexa 4,977 My Blog Guest is a community of guest bloggers and bloggers who need guest columns. Put an article in the forum, and a site owner can come and use your post, giving you credit. Or site owners can tell bloggers what kind of post they’re looking for, and you can write to fit the bill. There is also a forum offering paid blogging opportunities.

Business

• Copyblogger PR 6; Alexa 2,972 This powerful media company started as humble blog. The blog provides some of the best copywriting and content marketing advice around. A guest post in Copyblogger puts you in the top tier of bloggers.
• Successful and Outstanding Bloggers PR 5; Alexa 86,828 Successful and Outstanding Bloggers wants success stories and information about small business, big brands, social media, writing and entrepreneurs.
• Phil Simon Systems PR 5; 680,495 The Phil Simon Systems blog focuses on technology, management, social media, publishing, consulting, Enterprise 2.0, and the like.
• Bigger Pockets PR 4; Alexa 14,428 Blog giving tips and news for real estate investors, homeowners, agents, mortgage lenders, other real estate professionals, real estate press and bloggers.
• MT Herald PR 3; Alexa 221,969 The MT Herald is a blog for medical transcriptionists and includes topics relating to the health information field, as well as personal investing and financial planning.
• One Woman Marketing PR 4; Alexa 292,792 One Woman Marketing provides marketing tips for solo preneurs and small business owners.
• Everyday EMS Tips PR 4; Alexa 1,923,074 Everyday EMS Tips is a blog supplying information for emergency medical servcies professionals and students. The site owners encourage guest bloggers who are EMS professionals or students. Those not in the industry who want to write for the site are asked to donate to the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride before submitting.
• Geek Business PR 5; Alexa 1,496,065 Geek Business describes itself as "detailed tips and information to webmasters on how to combine being a successful geek and successful business person simultaneously."
• Career Alley PR 4; Alexa 702,109 Career Alley focuses on career, job search advice, and job search site reviews.
• Small Business Trends PR 6; Alexa 9,250 Small Business Trends offers mostly marketing-related topics of interest to small business.
• Fresh Energy PR 5; Alexa 2,514,626 Fresh Energy is a site dedicated to "fresh energy issues," such as clean energy, energy efficiency, transportation and land use, and global warming.

Blogs about Blogging

• Blog Godown PR 4; Alexa 44,183 Blog Godown features tips for blogging and social media. Instead of emailing the post, you write it directly into their WordPress post box. The blog owner will review and publish it, if it’s a good fit.
• Problogger PR 6; Alexa 2,022 Get your site ready for an avalanche of traffic if you get accepted to this high-powered blog by Darren Rouse. The blog is mostly about how to make money blogging.
• Men with Pens PR 5; Alexa 74,125 Men with Pens is one of the top writers’ websites around. Don’t be fooled by the title, though. Although the target audience is "men with pens," women writers are welcome. In fact, the site owner is a woman who writes under the pseudonum of James Chartrand.
• Quick Online Tips PR 5; Alexa 5345 Quick Online Tips actively solicits guest bloggers to write about tech, advertising, marketing, computers, gadgets, blogging, WordPress, SEO, Google, tips, tricks, hacks, etc.
• Daily Blog Tips PR 5; Alexa 4,458 Daily Blog Tips gives how-to information on blogging and internet marketing.
• JayPee Online PR 4; Alexa 81,822 JayPee Online offers technology news, blogging news, WordPress news and updates, WordPress theme and plugin reviews, gadgets, free software, and tips and tricks.
• iBlogZone PR 3; Alexa 16, s667 iBlogZone gives simple techniques to improve earnings, find small business opportunities, increase traffic, improve conversions, search engine optimization and everything else related to online business or the social web.
• Famous Bloggers PR 4; Alexa 8,257 Famous Bloggers is a site that actively solicits guest bloggers, focusing on business, SEO, marketing, design, social networking, making money online, and blogging tips.
• Kikolani PR 4; Alexa 14,792 Kikolani publishes up-to-date news on blogging techniques and technology, making money blogging, and personal development for bloggers. She periodically closes guest post submissions and reopens when she’s cleared her backlog to keep the information fresh.

Home, Family and Lifestyle

• Money Saving Mom PR 5; Alexa 5,127 Money Saving Mom talks about coupons, deals and money-saving hints for families.
• Summer Tomato PR 5; Alexa 88,389 Summer Tomato gives actionable tips for healthy eating and healthy living. Note that for your guest post to be considered, you have to donate $10 to Charity Water.
• e-Patients PR 5; Alexa 457,411 E-Patients is the blog of the Society for Participatory Medicine, which aims to get patients informed and involved in their health care.
• "Cents"able Momma PR 2, Alexa 61,010 "Cents"able Momma offers money-saving tips and ways to earn extra money.
• Twenty-Something Travel PR 4; Alexa 58,788 Twenty-Something Travel is a guide to long-term world travel, exotic destinations and other travel matters for the the footloose and fancy-free.
• Simple Productivity Blog PR 5; Alexa 53, 6518 The Simple Productivity Blog presents ideas for productivity, simplicity, balance and life design.
• Frugal Living NW PR 4; Alexa 60,284 The Frugal Living NW blog focuses on frugal living and homemaking. It follows a series of themes that change every two months. See the editorial calendar for a listing of 2011-12 themes.
• End the Neglect PR 5; Alexa 2,719,232 End the Neglect is a blog dedicated to preventing and curing neglected tropical diseases and and focusing on other global health issues.

Personal Growth and Productivity

• Life Optimizer PR 5; Alexa 71,372 Life Optimizer focuses on personal growth and effectiveness.
• Procrastinating Writers Blog PR 4; Alexa 1,021,462 Procrastinating Writers Blog offers help for creative writers trying to overcome procrastination.
• Head Heart Health PR 2; Alexa 635,037 Head Heart Health focuses on healthy living, mind-body-spirit, and self-esteem for women.
• Real Men Real Style PR 4, Alexa 234,681 Real Men, Real Style teaches men to improve their wardrobe and lifestyle.
• Productive Flourishing PR 5; Alexa 77,105 The tagline of Productive Flourishing is "strategies for thriving in life and business." The blog aims to help people think more clearly, ask better questions, and do the things that will enable readers to flourish.

Technology

• Right Now in Tech PR 4; Alexa 593,325 Right Now in Tech features stories about technology and science.
• 40tech PR 2; Alexa 135,010 40tech’s owner describes the blog as being about "technology, gadgets, the internet, software, and video games for those over 40, but not over the hill."
• Regular Geek PR 4; Alexa 269,988 Regular Geek writes about software development, web development, programming.
• TechSling PR 3; Alexa 69,913 TechSling blog covers news in the computing, mobile, and gaming world.
• Tech Gyo.com PR3; Alexa 51860 Tech Gyo presents news about the internet, Twitter, computer, blogging, WordPress, social media, make money online, search engine optimization.

Placing Your Guest Post

These are 41 sites that present good opportunities to increase your traffic, get good backlinks and spread your message. It’s by no means all the opportunities you could find. For more sites, you can google the phrase "guest post* guidelines" + "YOUR KEYWORD" (filling in the actual keyword you’re looking for).

Alternatively, if you know of a blog you’d like to write for, the owner might accept your post even if there is no "guidelines" page. Simply outline a post that would be a good fit for the blog and email the blog owner, using the contact page information. Explain why you want to write for the blog and the idea you have for an article. If the blog owner sees it as a good fit, you might find a home for your post. The worst that can happen is that you look to place it somewhere else.

Guest posting has become a hot topic, and the practice is not going away. Put it to good use to build a bigger audience for your blog.

This post was written by Jan Bear.  By the way, this blog ALSO allows guest posting.  Just drop us a line if you’re interested.

Assignments, social circles, classes – so many things – so little time for the college student.  Thankfully, we have 5 tips here that are absolutely relevant (and useful!) to the techy student in all of us.

1. Connectify – because you want to share your wifi connection with other devices

Anyone who has lived on campus dormitories know that there are strict rules to abide by, and one of them tends to be a restriction on tampering with college property – even if its as simple as connecting your own wireless router to make your life easier. And without wireless access or an expensive data plan, mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch, Android tablets etc. harkens back to the days of featurephones in terms of usability.

Gratefully, and we mean this in the sincerest way, there’s Connectify. Connectify is a service which allows you to transform your laptop into a wireless hotspot; and there’s no messing around here – it’s an Apple-esque one-click process. Since it looks like just about any other program, you won’t need to worry about it being detected by any tracking software the college authorities may have mandatorily installed on your computer.

2. Google Chrome Portable – because computer labs don’t usually have the best browsers

College campuses usually provide students with the luxury of computer labs; but unless you’re attending a rather reputable school, you’ll most likely have to contend with sub-standard services beyond the bare necessities – for example: limited range of wireless access, imperfect air-conditioning which is either too hot or too cold, and… Internet Explorer 6. If you’re among those who are stuck with Internet browsers from the 90’s and whose college computer labs restrict the installation of third-party programs, take comfort in that there is a solution for you.

Google Chrome Portable takes the speed and efficiency of its desktop variant and crams it into the tight confines of a thumbdrive. Taking up barely 100 MB of disk space, it’s nary a problem for even those constricted by 2GB thumbdrives, and the portable version works just as well as the desktop version – the differences are hardly noticeable in all practical aspects. As an added bonus, Google Chrome Portable handles a large number of open tabs just fine, making it a boon for those in the midst of writing their thesis.

3. Dropbox – because all your work should be instantly backed up to the cloud

If you’re constantly forgetting to bring your USB drive to campus, then Dropbox will be a lifesaver for you. Dropbox works by automatically uploading the contents of an entire folder on your home computer to its cloud servers, of which you can proceed to download from www.dropbox.com – so as long as you have access to an Internet browser, you’ll have immediate access to all the files which were originally saved on your home computer.

If you live constantly in fear of losing the contents of your entire USB drive to a washing machine, Dropbox may become more to you than merely a way to quickly share files across multiple computers. What’s more, it also has offline saving features for its apps on all the major smartphone platforms, so if you want access to lecture notes on-the-go, Dropbox will be especially valuable to you.

4. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool – because you can’t afford to lose time reformatting a PC

Whether it’s your own computer or a friend’s, reformatting a Windows 7 computer can be a pain sometimes, especially when you have to search high and low for the installation CD after months of neglect. Fortunately, Windows has a nifty tool which helps you to reformat your Windows PC straight from a USB drive.

The Windows USB/DVD Download Tool handily creates a series of files which makes it bootable from the BIOS, and it has been tested to work even if you make a backup of those files and return them to your USB drive the next time you need to perform a fresh install. Best of all, since a USB drive has faster read/write speeds than a CD, your Windows 7 installation will be at least twice as fast, making reformatting your laptop a breeze.

5. KatMouse – because multi-tasking should be simpler on Windows

If you’ve done a proportionate amount of assignments on a Windows PC, you’d probably have started to realize that you can’t scroll in applications without first clicking on them. This makes it frustratingly difficult to do your research and type your assignment in Microsoft Word at the same time, because you’d have to click on the Internet browser to scroll through the website you’re researching, then click on the Word document to scroll through it, and rinse-and-repeat – even if you have both windows visible across your screen.

KatMouse does away with this little but noticeable irritation by allowing you to scroll up and down pages just by hovering your mouse cursor over them and moving the scroll wheel. This way, you can keep your Word document open as your main application, and still be able to scroll through the website you’re researching without having to click on it everytime you need to review something.

6. CopyTrans – because students love music

Ever performed a fresh install of Windows on your computer, only to realize that all your playlists in iTunes, which had been meticulously and painstakingly put together over a number of years, had been wiped clean? The endevour is made even more heartbreaking, by the fact that Apple has failed to acknowledge in iTunes the simple task of transferring the songs and playlists already residing on your iPhone or iPod back to your computer.

iTunes’s all-encompassing backup function has its advantages in simplicity, but if you’re just trying to copy your playlists over from your iPhone, tough luck. Well fret no more, as CopyTrans just does that. You can choose to backup your songs and playlist from your device straight into iTunes, so that things appear to have never changed at all. In addition, CopyTrans is also able to selectively backup your photo album, apps, contacts, messages and the like, so you’re actually capable of selectively backing up pretty much anything you wish.

This post was written by Aaron Pek