Tech Pages

How to add more than one connection between two raphael rectangles by modifying graffle.js

2014-04-22T04:50:00.002-07:00

Brief history of this code:

Hi, friends i am learning Raphael js and creating an application in it. i needed to create a mechanism which would allow more than one connections between two Raphael rectangles and i was having alot of i mean tons of issues and thoughts on how to do it and it kept me busy a lot. i was so tired that i had to make stackoverflow account and ask help about it, but the help i got added one more thought to me. At last i am able to create a mechanism which will not only allow more than one connection but also renders it on moving the rectangle. yes i know it still has issues but this is the basic code to help any other who need this and can use it and don't have struggle as much as i did.

Lets get started:

create and HTML document and use the following code:

 <!doctype html>  
 <html>  
 <body>  
      <div id="canvas"></div>  
      <script type="text/javascript" src="js/Raphael.js"></script>  
      <script type="text/javascript" src="js/app.js"></script>  
 </body>  
 </html>

in the app.js use the following code:

 function lineDistance( point1, point2 )  
 {  
  var xs = 0;  
  var ys = 0;  
  xs = point2.x - point1.x;  
  xs = xs * xs;  
  ys = point2.y - point1.y;  
  ys = ys * ys;  
  return Math.sqrt( xs + ys );  
 }  
 Raphael.fn.connection = function (objFrom, objTo, line, bg) {  
   if (objFrom.line && objFrom.from && objFrom.to) {  
     line = objFrom;  
     objFrom = line.from;  
     objTo = line.to;  
   }  
   var bb1 = objFrom.getBBox(),  
     bb2 = objTo.getBBox();  
     var obj1freeNodes = objFrom.data('freeNodes');  
     var obj2freeNodes = objTo.data('freeNodes');  
     var p = [];  
     obj1freeNodes.forEach(function (el) {  
     p.push(el);  
    })  
     obj2freeNodes.forEach(function (el) {  
     p.push(el);  
    })  
     var distance = [], d = {};  
     for (var i = 0; i <obj1freeNodes.length; i++) {  
     for (var j = obj1freeNodes.length; j <p.length; j++) {  
        var point1 = {x:p[i].x, y: p[i].y};  
        var point2 = {x:p[j].x, y: p[j].y};  
       if ((i == j - 4) || (((i != 3 && j != 6) || p[i].x < p[j].x) && ((i != 2 && j != 7) || p[i].x > p[j].x) && ((i != 0 && j != 5) || p[i].y > p[j].y) && ((i != 1 && j != 4) || p[i].y < p[j].y))) {  
         distance.push(lineDistance(point1, point2));  
        d[distance[distance.length - 1]] = [i, j];  
       }  
     }  
   }  
     if (distance.length == 0) {  
      var res = [0, obj1freeNodes.length];  
    } else {  
      res = d[Math.min.apply(Math, distance)];  
    }  
    var x1 = p[res[0]].x,  
      y1 = p[res[0]].y,  
      x4 = p[res[1]].x,  
      y4 = p[res[1]].y;  
    //remove to connecting point  
    for(var i=0;i<obj1freeNodes.length; i++){  
    if(i== res[0]){  
      obj1freeNodes.splice(i,1);   
     }  
    }  
    for(var i=0;i<obj2freeNodes.length; i++){  
    if(i == (res[1]-obj1freeNodes.length-1)){  
      obj2freeNodes.splice(i,1);   
     }  
    }  
   objFrom.data('freeNodes', obj1freeNodes);  
   objTo.data('freeNodes', obj2freeNodes);  
   p = [];  
     var path = ["M", x1.toFixed(3), y1.toFixed(3), "L", /*x2, y2, x3, y3,*/ x4.toFixed(3), y4.toFixed(3)].join(",");  
   if (line && line.line) {  
     line.bg && line.bg.attr({path: path});  
     line.line.attr({path: path});  
   } else {  
     var color = typeof line == "string" ? line : "#000";  
           var conLine = this.path(path).attr({  
          stroke: color,  
          fill: "none",  
          "arrow-end": "block-wide-long",  
          "stroke-width": 3,  
          });  
           pathObj = {  
        bg: bg && bg.split && this.path(path).attr({  
          stroke: bg.split("|")[0],  
          fill: "none",  
          "stroke-width": bg.split("|")[1] || 3  
        }),  
        line: conLine,  
        from: objFrom,  
        to: objTo,  
      };  
      return pathObj;  
   }  
 };  
 Raphael.el.getNodes = function()  
   {  
    //calculate the element nodes and return them  
    var obj = this.getBBox();  
    var objX = parseInt(obj.x);  
    var objY = parseInt(obj.y);  
    var objWidth = parseInt(obj.width);  
    var objHeight = parseInt(obj.height);  
    var maxCons = 8;  
    var scaleCut = 10;  
    var topPositions = [], rightPositions = [], bottomPositions = [], leftPositions = [];  
    //get all possible connectors based on maxCons and scaleCut  
   var objCons = [];  
   for(var i= 0; i<maxCons; i++){  
     topPositions.push({x: (objX + ((objWidth-scaleCut)/maxCons)*i)+i*2, y: objY-1});  
     rightPositions.push({x: objX + objWidth + 1, y: (objY + ((objHeight-scaleCut)/maxCons)*i)+i*2});  
     bottomPositions.push({x: ((objX+3) + ((objWidth-(scaleCut-2))/maxCons)*i)+i*2, y: objY + objHeight +1});  
     leftPositions.push({x: objX - 1, y: ((objY+4) + ((objHeight-(scaleCut+1))/maxCons)*i)+i*2});    
    }  
    // push all positions to objCons array   
   pushArryToArray(topPositions, objCons);  
   pushArryToArray(rightPositions, objCons);  
   pushArryToArray(bottomPositions, objCons);  
   pushArryToArray(leftPositions, objCons);  
   //this.data('freeNodes',objCons);  
    return objCons;  
   }  
 //pushes one array contents to another array  
 var pushArryToArray = function(sourceArr, targetArr){  
  for(var i=0; i<sourceArr.length;i++){  
    // draw connecting points  
    // R.circle(sourceArr[i].x,sourceArr[i].y,2).attr({'fill':'red', 'stroke':'none'});  
    targetArr.push(sourceArr[i]);  
   }  
 }  
 var R = Raphael("canvas","400","400");  
 //window.onload = function() {  
 start = function() {  
     this.ox = this.attr("x");  
     this.oy = this.attr("y");  
     this.animate({  
       opacity: .75  
     }, 500, ">");  
 }  
 move = function(dx, dy) {  
  this.attr({  
      x: this.ox + dx,  
      y: this.oy + dy  
     });  
   //on moving events reintializing free nodes of all events   
   for(var i = 0; i<arrAllEvents.length; i++){  
      arrAllEvents[i].data('freeNodes', arrAllEvents[i].getNodes());  
     }  
   //rendering connections on event move  
   for (var i = connections.length; i--;) {  
     R.connection(connections[i]);  
   }  
    R.safari();  
 }  
 up = function() {  
 }  
 var eventOne = R.rect(10,10,100, 100).attr({  
       fill: Raphael.getColor(),  
       stroke: "none",  
       cursor: "move"  
     });  
 var eventTwo = R.rect(220,10,100, 100).attr({  
       fill: Raphael.getColor(),  
       stroke: "none",  
       cursor: "move"  
     });  
 var eventThree = R.rect(220,220,100, 100).attr({  
       fill: Raphael.getColor(),  
       stroke: "none",  
       cursor: "move"  
     });  
 //intializing free connecting nodes 1st time  
 eventOne.data('freeNodes', eventOne.getNodes());  
 eventTwo.data('freeNodes', eventTwo.getNodes());  
 eventThree.data('freeNodes', eventThree.getNodes());  
 //storing all events in array  
 var arrAllEvents = []  
 arrAllEvents.push(eventOne);  
 arrAllEvents.push(eventTwo);  
 arrAllEvents.push(eventThree);  
 //to draw the connections b/w events  
 var connections = [];  
 connections.push(R.connection(eventOne, eventTwo, Raphael.getColor()));  
 connections.push(R.connection(eventOne, eventTwo, Raphael.getColor()));  
 connections.push(R.connection(eventOne, eventTwo, Raphael.getColor()));  
 connections.push(R.connection(eventOne, eventThree, Raphael.getColor()));  
 connections.push(R.connection(eventOne, eventThree, Raphael.getColor()));  
 //dragging events  
 for(var i = 0; i<arrAllEvents.length; i++){  
      arrAllEvents[i].drag(move, start, up);  
     }  
 //}

View it on Jsfiddle

Please let me know about my this effort, or to make it much more useful.

How to add Bootstrap in Yii Framework

2013-11-24T02:41:00.001-08:00

As bootstrap the most famous CSS framework in web designing and in the parallel side i-e web development the king of frameworks is Yii framework as it is fast and most secure one amongst others, anyone with the knowledge of both would surly like to combine the power of both in many projects but there are others which want to experiment or some are just the beginners in both, well you have came to right place. Enough talk lets roll it.

Requirements:

Yii Framework (Download Now)
Bootstrap Extension (Download Now)

i will be assuming that you have installed and configured the Yii framework, if not then let me know i will write a post on how to install/configure Yii and get started with it.

Step 1:

Extract all the files from the Bootstrap compressed file into your applications protected/extensions/bootstrap directory.

Step 2:

Open main.php from protected/config directory in any text editor like notepad++. in the very beginning of the file you will find this:

// uncomment the following to define a path alias
// Yii::setPathOfAlias('local','path/to/local-folder');

Type this under these lines:

Yii::setPathOfAlias('bootstrap', dirname(__FILE__).'/../extensions/bootstrap');

now scroll down and you will find

        // application components
	'components'=>array(
		'user'=>array(
			// enable cookie-based authentication
			'allowAutoLogin'=>true,
		),
.........

and in the components array add this:

'bootstrap'=>array(
			'class'=>'bootstrap.components.Bootstrap',
		   ),

like this:

        // application components
	'components'=>array(
		'user'=>array(
			// enable cookie-based authentication
			'allowAutoLogin'=>true,
		),
		'bootstrap'=>array(
			'class'=>'bootstrap.components.Bootstrap',
		   ),

Step 3:

Now the final Step, open the main.php located at protected/view/layouts and add the following line right before the closing head tag (</head>).

<?php Yii::app()->bootstrap->register(); ?>

Now you are good to go...

Example:

To use the Bootstrap fixed navbar in your project, open the main.php located at protected/view/layouts and find the main menu div which has id of "mainmenu" and replace its inner code with the following code. Voila! you have the Bootstrap fixed navigation menu now installed in your project.

        <?php $this->widget('bootstrap.widgets.TbNavbar',array(
            'type'=>'inverse',
            'items'=>array(
                array(
                    'class'=>'bootstrap.widgets.TbMenu',
                    'items'=>array(
                        array('label'=>'Home', 'url'=>array('/site/index')),
                        array('label'=>'Test', 'url'=>array('test/test')),
                        array('label'=>'About', 'url'=>array('/site/page', 'view'=>'about')),
                        array('label'=>'Contact', 'url'=>array('/site/contact')),
                    ),
                ),
                array(
                    'class'=>'bootstrap.widgets.TbMenu',
                    'htmlOptions'=>array('class'=>'pull-right'),    //  Bottons appears at the right side of the Navigation Bar.
                    'items'=>array(
                        array('label'=>'login', 'url'=>array('/site/login'), 'visible'=>Yii::app()->user->isGuest),
                        array('label'=>'Logout ('.Yii::app()->user->name.')', 'url'=>array('/site/logout'), 'visible'=>!Yii::app()->user->isGuest)
                    ),
                ),
            ),
            )); ?>

You can customize most of the elements in your Yii project with this extension. To get more into the Yii Bootstrap visit Yii-Bootstrap site to get the codes of more components and how to use them. You can use the Yii-Bootstrap discussion forum at Yii to get to know more and discuss any issues you might have with Yii-Bootstrap.

If you liked this post or this was helpful to you subscribe my blog to get more interesting topics.

GTA V XBOX 360 Leaked on torrent site ahead of official release

2013-09-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it the most anticipated game of 2013 GTA V is poping up on torrent sites ahead of its official release and by the comments and images posted by the downloaders (leachers) has confirmed that the copy is legit. the official release date for the GTA V is 17 september. Earlier today on the internet i stumbled upon a post in which one guy was claiming that a store at his town was willing to sell GTA V ahead of its release for about 90 Dollars.

the sites i have found the torrents on had shared some of the in game screen shots here check them out:

http://i.imgur.com/iRX73XZ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vYiu6Fl.jpg

Gameplay Videos:

4 hours long gameplay Video :

GTA V - German 09/15 by GameCreds

Apple iTablet concepts that are guaranteed to make you drool.

2009-09-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Robotics

2009-08-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Scientists, students and entire corporations from the entire world continue to work in the sphere of robot technology, constantly improving and refreshing the possibilities of robots, their interfaces and role in the society. Pilotless machines fly above the war zones, tele-robots create the effect of the presence of man, and robots -[gumanoidy] increasingly more are similar to the people, because of their more [usovershenstvovann ym] motions and answers.

In today's release the fresh photographs of the robots, utilized throughout the world, are assembled. But here it is possible to see the photographs of annual remoteness.1.

1. photograph of the robot of iCub, made on July 1, 2009 during the presentation in the research institute Of [bron] under Leon, who is the aspect of the European project â€œRobot Of cubâ€�. Robots of iCub by increase approximately from the three year child with the sufficiently rapid hands, the completely mobile eyes and the head. They know how to hear, to walk on all fours, to sit, and they also have â€œa feelingâ€� of touch. (FRED Of dUFOUR/AFP/Getty Of images)

2. Japanese of scientist- robot technology establish their service robot â€œOf eraserâ€� on June 30, 2009 on the eve of the competition â€œOf roboCupâ€�, the largest in the world event, dedicated to robots, in which participates 408 commands of 2 300 scientists and students, Graz city, Austria. Gerald [Shtaynbauer] , the organizer of event, says that his purpose - to do so that the engineers could create the command of the robots by 2050, which can win in champion of peace of the football acting on that moment.. (DIETER Of nAGL/AFP/Getty Of images)

3. Photograph is made on April 3 this year; this is the fin â€œof the tailâ€� of robot, whose actions are dictated by microprocessors, which are located in the plastic container, robot itself is located in the scientific laboratory of John Long into [Pafkipsi], state of New York. Long consists of the small group of researchers from the entire world, robots created, which can float in the water or climb to the coast in order to help in the study of questions of biology and evolution. Scientists assume that the technological improvements with each year make possible for robots increasingly more to imitate the actions of biological essences. (AP Of photo/Mike Of groll)

4..

4. American servicemen from the second sea expeditionary brigade they learn how to use robot in search of the improvised explosive objects during the training in the camp Of [lezernek] in the Afghan province Of [gilmend], on Tuesday June 9, 2009. (AP of David Guttenfelder' s Photo/)

5. Visitors were gathered around the woman- robot on the exhibition of science and technologies in Peking on May 20, 2009. China noticeably increases its investments into the region of studies and development of technologies, since the fund for Chinese [sponsorstva] increased by 18% in the last 5 years. (STR/AFP/Getty Of images)

6. The hand of robot is used for the production of silicone plate in the special illuminated and sterile room at the plant for the production of semiconductor tools in Texas, on Tuesday June 16, 2009. (Jason Of janik/Bloomberg Of news)

7. 20-year Brazilian student, who studies computer engineering, Gabriel [Franchishini] tune the robot, made for the game into the football before the competitions â€œRoboCupâ€� at the engineering university FEI into [Sao] of Bernardo to Campo, Brazil, on June 26, 2009. (MAURICIO Of lIMA/AFP/Getty Of images)

8. Beverly's hospital, the state of Massachusetts: doctor Timothy [Lishing] consults patient with the aid of the robot on June 29, 2009. Itself doctor [Lishing] prophesies from the clinic Of [lakhey] to [Burlingtone] , Massachusetts, in 32 km to the West from this place. (Suzanne Of kreiter/Globe of staff)

9. Visitor stands before the model of the heads of robots from different films on the exhibition â€œRobots - From Of motion to Of emotionâ€� (robots - from the motions to the emotions) in the museum â€œof fÃ¼r Of gestaltungâ€� (museum design) in Zurich, Switzerland, on June 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Arnd Of wiegmann)

10.

10. Japanese company ZMP presents platforms for automobile studies on a scale 1 to 10, and also development by the name â€œRoboCar Zâ€� during the press conference in Tokyo on June 9, 2009. Small machines with the set of sensors were made for study and development of autonomous driving, safety and technologies, which economize energy, and also for the instruction of engineers. (TORU Of yAMANAKA/AFP/ Getty Of images)

11.

11. The group of students -[robotekhnikov] establishes â€œfootballâ€� robot on June 30, 2009 on the eve of the largest event, dedicated to robots, the competitions â€œOf roboCupâ€� in the Austrian city Graz. (DIETER Of nAGL/AFP/Getty Of images)

12..

12. Robot- cook â€œOkonomiyaki Of robotâ€� spills ingredients for [okonomiyaki] (Japanese variety of pastry) to the incandescent frying pan during the demonstration on the international exhibition of technologies and mechanical robot- cooks in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday June 9, 2009. Robot -[okonomiyaki] , developed by the specialist of company â€œToyo Of riki Co. â€�, it can demonstrate entire process of the preparation of [okonomiyaki] : to mix ingredients in the basin, to pour out them to the frying pan, to overturn with the aid of the blade and tax on the plate, and to also ask you, with what sauce or other additives you would want your portion. (AP Of photo/Koji Of sasahara)

13.

13. Participants in the competition and their robots -[gumanoidy] are prepared at the beginning football match on the competitions â€œOf roboCup 2009â€� in the Austrian city Graz, on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Of foeger)

14.

14. Robots -[gumanoidy] compete in the football match during the championship â€œRoboCup 2009â€� on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Of foeger)

15.

15. Working- rescuers govern the robot â€œof T -53 Of enryuâ€�, developed by Japanese company â€œTmsukâ€� for the selection of fragments, during the demonstration of robot in [Kitakyushu] city on the prefecture Of [fukuoka], western Japan, on July 3, 2009. Fire department [Kitakyushu] accepted in its numbers of robot into 2 meters as height and weighing 3 tons, which it is possible to govern by hand from within, and it is also remote in order to raise heavy objects by two hands. (STR/AFP/Getty Of images)

16.

16. the Robot- field engineer of American army approaches the improvised explosive object on the road not far from the military post Of [konlon] in the mountains of the Afghan province Of [vardak], on July 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Of zhumatov)

17.

17. Robots before beginning football match during the championship â€œOf roboCup 2009â€� in the Austrian city Graz, on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Of foeger)

18.

18. Prototype â€œX -47b Navy Of unmanned Of combat Of air Of systemâ€� (pilotless Airforce system OF THE X -47b) on the exhibition at the Naval station Of [pakkh] Of [river] Webster into [Seynt] Of [inigos], Maryland, on August 10, 2009. X -47b, created by corporation Northrop Of grumman, was built for the demonstration of the first landings and returns of aircraft on the air base. (JIM Of wATSON/AFP/Getty Of images)

19.

19. The robot -[gumanoid] â€œOF KOBIANâ€� expresses surprise during the demonstration at the university Of [vaseda] in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday June 23, 2009. â€œKOBIANâ€�, which can express 7 programmed emotions with the aid of entire body, including the expressions of face, was developed by the researchers of the elder school of science and engineering with the institute Of [vaseda] headed by [Atsuo] [Takanashi] and by the company â€œTmsukâ€�, whose headquarters is located into [Kitakyushu] , South Japan. (AP Of photo/Shizuo Of kambayashi)

20.

20. Adolescents prepare their robots for the idea during the championship â€œRoboCup 2009â€� on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Of foeger)

21.

21. In this photograph, made on July 28, 2009, a participant in the largest on-line festival of the electronic entertainments Of campus Of party checks his robot. Valencia, Spain. (DIEGO Of tUSON/AFP/Getty Of images)

23.

23. The robot -[gumanoid] HRP-4C â€œOf miimâ€� represents wedding dress from the Japanese designer By [yumi] Of [katsura] during the [feshn]- show â€œcollection Paris grandee 2009â€� from By [yumi] Of [katsury] in osaka, western Japan, on July 22, 2009. (REUTERS/Toru Of hanai)

24.

24. Iraqi soldier passes by robot- field engineer on the remote control in the military camp [Besmaya] in the outskirts of the capital Baghdad on July 5, 2009. The Iraqi school of field engineers trains about 900 technicians per year. (AHMAD Al -RUBAYE/AFP/ Getty Of images)

25.

25. Below in this photograph on the blue platform is located the head of silkworm together with the brain and by antenna, the electrodes are supplied to the brain, connecting it with the machine during the experiment in the laboratory of Tokyo on June 9, 2009. Japanese scientists in the research center of the Tokyo university of the moved sciences and technologies revealed that the commands of motor, sent to machine in response to the pulses of smell can be transferred into the signals for control of machine in the real time, this discovery was made during the experiment on the creation of the hybrid of insect and machine. In the future, possibly, the technicians will succeed in letting out the flock of the robot- gnats, that will be capable are capable of sensing narcotics at a distance. (YOSHIKAZU Of tSUNO/AFP/Getty Of images)

26.

26. Visitors are enraptured by multifunctional robot- intelligence officer, controlled remotely, on the exhibition of science and technology in Peking on May 20, 2009. (STR/AFP/Getty Of images)

27.

27. The command of Italian field engineer- policemen prepares robot not far from the center of the press- accreditation of summit G8 on July 7, 2009 in [L]'[Akvila] city, Italy. About 15 000 soldiers and policemen were hired for the protection of region [L]'[Akvila] , where on July 8, 2009 was passed summit G8. (JOE Of kLAMAR/AFP/Getty Of images)

28.

28. The company Of honda demonstrates its new machine- reasonable interface, and, for control of the robot ASIMO of the sufficiently only thoughts of subject. (Business Of wire)

29.

29. At the annual conference â€œOf [roboBiznes]â€� in the convention center Of [gins] of Christopher [Dellin] - the engineer -[robotekhnik] of company â€œBarrett Of technologyâ€� - it demonstrates the hands of the robot WAM Of arm on April 16, 2009. (Debee Of tlumacki/Boston Of globe)

30.

30. Modular moved armed system- robot (Modular Of advanced Of armed Of robotic Of system) - the transformed armed robot - passes checking after the walls of firm â€œQinetiQ of Miller's Foster North Of americaâ€� in [Uolteme], Massachusetts, on April 8, 2009. (Essdras M Of suarez/Globe Of staff)

31.

31. Hand- robot, created by Japanese company for the development of the robots â€œOf squseâ€�, raises the piece of land during the demonstration on the international exhibition of technologies and robot- cooks in Tokyo on June 10, 2009. (YOSHIKAZU Of tSUNO/AFP/Getty Of images)

32.

32. The Chinese militarized policemen control the made in China robot, controlled remotely, which is capable to recognize engines, on the exhibition of police and anti-terrorist technologies and equipment, conducted in Peking, on Wednesday May 20, 2009. (AP Of photo/Andy Of wong)

33.

33. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany and vice chancellor Frank- Walter [Shtaynmayer] sits next to â€œEddie's robotâ€� in the technical university in Munich, on August 5, 2009. (OLIVER Of lANG/AFP/Getty Of images)

34.

34. Model holds robot by the name â€œBi- robotâ€� on the international exhibition of robots in [Taybee], Taiwan, on August 5, 2009. â€œBi- robotâ€� is developed and made in Taiwan, it 9 cm by height it knows how to walk, to kick ball and to wring out. It costs 12 000 new Taiwan dollars (366 American) and at the given moment it waits the approval of the Guinness book of records as the smallest robot -[gumanoid], after displacing from this post of its predecessor, whose increase was 15 cm. (REUTERS/Pichi Of chuang)

35.

35. Technician tunes robot during the exhibition of robots in the center of international trade Of [nankan] into [Taybee], Taiwan, on August 5, 2009. In this four-day exhibition participates by 321 exhibition copy of 91 domains of existence, which include the parts of the robots, controllers, and also robots in the sphere of formation, robot- cleaners and robot- guards. (SAM Of yEH/AFP/Getty Of images)

36.

36. Technician brings into order the head of robot during the exhibition of robots in the center of international trade Of [nankan] in [Taybee] on August 5, 2009. (SAM Of yEH/AFP/Getty Of images)

Create quick animation with stick figures – Pivot

2009-08-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Animation is a great way to express almost anything. Be it fun or be it a serious message and the best part of it is that people notice animations better.

Pivot is one free tool which can let you create professional looking animation which can be converted into GIF image to be used any where you want.

Animation creator

If you have used any flash based animator, this is similar to those tools. You can create frame by frame recording of all the movements of characters and then play it. All stick figures will be flexible to draw and movements can be twisted as much you need them. Download Pivot

Zip Repair lets you extract files from corrupted or incomplete downloaded zip files

2009-08-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Getting a Error while extracting a zip file is probably one of the most common error anybody would have faced when trying to extract a zip file after downloading it from Internet. This happens because of couple of reasons like incomplete download or even when file integrity is lost i.e. you don’t have the exact copy of the same file as on server.

In situations like these software like Zip Repair can help you in extracting files which gives you an error of corrupt header or when you cannot even open a file of which download had failed.

Unlike standard extracting applications, ZIP repair doesn’t got for file integrity test and hence go ahead with extraction process. Though checking for file integrity is a very good option but at times you just need to open up the file.

Extract from corrupted zip files

Once it bypasses the check and opens the zip file, you would get the list of files it can extract along with the status of the file. You might not get all the files in good state but many of them would be definitely recoverable. Download Zip Repair

Convert You tube video into High quality MP3 songs

2009-08-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Youtube is one stop place weather you are looking for any recent videos or all time hit pop songs, however the only problem that surfs around is the amount of bandwidth required for watching the videos all the time.

Instead if you are interested to download you tube videos as MP3 songs with ID3 tag support, Dirpy Studio is an excellent service which can do this job for you.

This online tools accepts a you tube url and then asks you to configure and edit some of the options which is required to convert and added with the MP3 songs which you would download.

Dirpy studio youtube to mp3

Also you can opt to select part of you tube video to be converted into mp3 songs instead of complete one. This helps in trimming down extra part of the you tube video which you can skip. Check out Dirpy Studio

Backup & restore Everything of any browser

2009-08-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

I am a person who uses all the browser and each for different reasons. Some for just mails and some for just browsing and stumbling. This practice also leads to scattered bookmarking which has to be retained but never need to come at one place.

So when I do restore things back or sync between computers, I need a way to backup all my browsers settings, favorites, history, bookmarks etc which is little tough when you use 3-4 browsers.

Keeping this situation in mind, Fav Backup tool must have got built which lets you do a backup of any browser you had been using. You can opt for restore or backup on the launch screen and then move ahead for saving or locating files.

Backup restore any browser

Backup restore browser option

Backup restore browser files

However the only drawback of this software is that it doesn’t automate the process and also you need to take backup of each browser one by one. It would have been lot better if this software can do some batch processing for both restore and backup. In my experience this will be a great boon for computers which are fresh installed.

As of now it supports :

Internet Explorer 8, 7 and 6
Firefox 3.5, 3 and2
Opera 9
Safari 4 and 3
Google Chrome 3, 2 and 1.

Download Fav Backup Via Life Rocks

Shortcut world: Find keyboard shortcuts for common applications

2009-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

it allows you to browse through categories. Categories are designed on the basis of application names, i.e. Chrome, Excel, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Office, Outlook, Photoshop, PowerPoint, Ubuntu Desktop, VLC Media Player, Winamp, Windows, Windows Media Player, etc.

Keyboard Shortcuts for almost all the often used apps can be found here, I hope it gets richer with time in terms of the number of applications for which the keyboard shortcuts are mentioned here.

Try shortcut world, hope you like it.

Find sound for anything : Sound Search Engine

2009-08-24T21:00:00.002-07:00

We look into the world wide web for everything right from music to images to text but have you ever searched for sounds ? No No, Not music I am talking about sounds i.e. Ever searched for a sound file which can play for you on “How alligators sound ?”

Welcome to Find Sounds, A search engine dedicated to find a sound file for the word which you are searching which you can download or listen and tell your kids, this is how this animal would sound like.

Find sounds for any text

Well this might not become a regular search but then when you need it this place can work better than any search engine, as this is more dedicated and works like dictionary of sound files which relates to text.

This can also be useful in increasing your vacab and pronunciations and exploring new ways of saying things. Try Find Sounds

Find your misplaced cell phone by making it ring (US and Canada only)

2009-08-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

Consider those scenarios, like you are sitting in your bed, watching your favorite show on the TV and somehow you get reminded to make a call, you start searching for your cell phone, or maybe you just returned from office and while entering your house you casually through your phone on the couch in the living room and later you start hunting for it as you don’t have any idea where have you kept it.

There could be several such scenarios when you feel so helpless, and it takes a worse face when you don’t have another phone so that you can simply make your misplaced phone ring to locate it.

‘Where’s My Cell Phone’ is a service which is damn helpful if you have misplaced your cell phone. All you have to do is, simply key in your number and click on ‘Make it Ring’, as shown below.

As soon as you click on ‘Make it Ring’ your cell phone starts ringing, and so this way you can easily get it.

Later you can Tweet about it as well if you want.

Try Where’s My Cell Phone

Puny PNG : Reduce Image size up to 35%

2009-08-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today we found another tools called as Puny PNG which uses a dirty transparency trick to remove additional layers which are useless.

Using the service is pretty is very simple. You can use the service to upload all the files and then download all of them as one zip files.

You can use this service to reduce file size to greater extent, specially very large image files. Check out Puny PNG

you convert it: Download online videos, convert and send files, unit conversion etc.

2009-08-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

‘you convert it’ is an awesome online tool which comes with a handful of tools. Using this tool you can convert files from one format to another, download online videos or convert them to desired format before downloading, it also allows you to send files to specific email addresses and unit conversions can also be done.

As soon as you reach on the ‘you convert it’ page you come across an interface where you first need to make a choice, i.e. what do you want to use it for, as shown below.

Features of ‘you convert it’ –

You can convert up to 5 files in one go, and the converted files can be downloaded using the download link delivered to your email address.
Several file formats are available under the categories, Audio, Video, Document, Archive and Image. List of available file formats is long enough, with some unheard file formats.
‘Convert Online Video’ tab allows you to download/convert/convert to audio or other video format and then download.
‘Send File(s)’ lets you upload a file up to 1000MBs and email its download link to others.
‘Convert Units’, several unit conversions can be done under this section, simple and easy.
No sig-up required, simply access the page and go.

I tried ‘you convert it’ using some small files and results were satisfactory, go ahead and bookmark this multi-utility combo.

Do share with us your views about it.

Try you convert it

Favorites Town: A visual tool to manage your favorites

2009-08-24T20:57:00.002-07:00

Managing favorites and bookmarks is an important task and also headache for regular computer and internet users. The major issue is with saving bookmarks is many people don’t know how to manage the bookmarks, they end up stacking the bookmarks at one place and finally when they need to access a page they came across a couple of months ago, it almost becomes unsearchable from the huge list.

Making folders to categorize the bookmarks is probably the best thing to handle and keep your bookmarks sorted, so that the list can be easily browsed and searched when needed.

Well, here is a nice application which can be used your favorites organizer, Favoritestown. This is probably the first tool of its kind. It gives you a window which shows a toy town like interface, as shown below.

Bookmark town

Now, all the buildings shown here are the ones which almost every town has, like a Railway Station, a Florist, a Shopping Mall, a Library, a Bank, your Home, your Garage, your Business place etc.

How does this town help me organizing my favorites?

The idea is simple, you move around your mouse cursor and the description on brown colored board at the bottom right of the window can be seen, which tells you what is every building shown on the town, there you also get to see what type of favorite (either a webpage, a file or folder on your computer) can be saved there.

For example –

Visual Bookmarking

Here when the mouse cursor is hovered on this building, it read ‘This is MY HOUSE. In here I can watch TV or a Movie. I can play music or read a newspaper, magazine or book or look at my favorite photographs’. That means you can save your favorites (both online and offline favorites i.e. webpage, file, folder etc.) which have movies, newspapers, music, photos etc.

In the same way you can add favorites in very building, however to keep things simple, you can view these buildings as folders which help you to categorize you favorites so that searching is easy.

How do I save my favorites in these buildings?

Simply click on any building to enter it, let us try entering ‘MY HOUSE’

Saving bookmarks and favorites

Here you get the options to add and delete a favorite, clicking on any of them takes you to a self descriptive procedure, which allows you to add any kind of Favorites you want.

Favoritestown needs to be running on your system, so that you can use it as a launcher for your favorites at any point of time.

Try it out; I am sure it is going to have a huge fan following, organizing favorites using a visual tool sounds good, isn’t it?

Download Favoritestown

Create your own comic strip with Strip Generator

2009-08-24T20:57:00.001-07:00

Want to generate a comic strip like that ? You can and stripgenerator lets you create a custom comic strip with available characters like those which you can use. Apart from this you can also use different objects, text bubble etc to enhance your comic story.

Strip generator comes with small set of editing tools which will help you in zooming, rotating, adding more frames and even print the comic strip if you would like to make a personalized comic book for your kid. If you want to use it on your web site, it generates an embed code which you can use directly.

Overall Strip Generator is an excellent tool which can help you create humor on your site and also in your personal life. Try Strip generator

Add Windows to get Free Download of 1000 MP3 Songs

2009-08-24T20:55:00.002-07:00

People have now one good reason to go to MySpace and its windows. Reverberation and Microsoft are giving out 1000 MP3 songs for free if you add Windows as your friend on MySpace.

Add windows in myspace

Like DS Says the songs look good to me also. Not bad and if something is free and it doesnt hurt to download and its music what else we do most of the time even if you are at work.

Free music giveaway reverbnation

I see songs which are from genere which are commonly heard All Alternative Electronica/Dance Hip Hop Jazz Latin Pop Rock. You might also see ( I also do see the same ) that artists are not so common but if you play to get preview they sound good.

You can also download songs in m4A format or just listen to them online. So all you need to do is add Windows on Myspace and follow the instructions on Reverbnation. Go get it.

Light weight, Full Featured Word Processor: AbiWord

2009-08-24T20:55:00.001-07:00

AbiWord is a very light weight word processor, it has almost all the features which are often expected in any Word Processor and pretty useful if you are looking for an alternate word processor.

Setup for this application is less than 6MBs in size, and the AbiWord works fine on old PCs as well.

Reasons to choose AbiWord as your default Word Processor –

Supports multiple file formats as shown below.

It has all the options to fully customize your document, like Fonts, Indent, Alignment, Inserting header, footer etc.

Supports multiple languages.

It also supports several Plugins and dictionaries; you can install them manually on your AbiWord from the download page of the AbiWord.

There are several other features in it, but as I said, expected in every Word Processor, so probably no point discussing them beyond this point.

Well, the questions is, there are several powerful Word Processors available already, then why AbiWord?

Answer is, it’s Free, it’s Small to download, its very light weight. :

For example, I have seen several people installing MS Office full version, and they end up using MS Word only and that too without exploiting its full capabilities.

So, if this is the case, where you just need something like MS Word, where you can type you drafts or any document and don’t need some very high end capabilities, you can use AbiWord.

Moreover, if you have some old PC which has small RAM or may be your C drive doesn’t have a lot of space, AbiWord is and advisable app. It is Compatible with all Windows OS.

Download AbiWord

Free tool to merge / split PDF Files

2009-08-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

Merging PDF files is not so common because when we create PDF files we generally do it from one single source of file. However sometimes when while surfing on net you find set of related PDF documents which you would like to combine into one file, ArduoPdfMerger Is a good option.

Also this pdf tool can split files which I see as more usable feature, Specially when we want to show only a part of PDF to anybody hiding rest of the pages.

This software lets you select any number of PDF files and then combine into one or split the files into any number of files according to page numbers.

Merge pdf files

We brute tested it with 50MB of PDF Files and the result was

It takes some time on pre processing the document. But thats probably required so as to speed up the best way to split up.
Merging Files was pretty easy

However the splitting did not work fine. It comes as on option when you pick a pdf file but then nothing happened. Any body else want to try ? Via Nirmal

Split pdf files

Watch “How to” videos on Almost Anything

2009-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Often we come across scenarios when we want to get educated about how to do a particular thing, this ‘how to’ could be anything like ‘how to French kiss’, ‘how to Access blocked websites’, ‘how to Connect Coaxial Cable Connectors’ etc.

Now what to you do, when you come across such a scenario, Google it out!, that is probably the first solution, or maybe you will try YouTube hoping to get a ‘How to’ or DIY video.

Here is an online resource which can be looked at as the first option while searching for any ‘how to’ stuff.

This resource named as Wonder How To, has thousands of ‘how to’ videos, you can browse through categories or search for any particular ‘how to’ video very easily.

It has a huge category list on the right of the page; if you click and enter a category you can later browse though sub-categories.

I loved browsing through the videos, there are several videos and they have been shot very nicely, delivering exactly what they are meant to deliver.

Go ahead and watch some videos, I am sure you will love them. Visit Wonder How To

How to restore the deleted files from your Computer

2009-08-24T20:52:00.002-07:00

There are several tools to restore the files which were mistakenly deleted. I just found this tool, RESTORATION, which can restore the deleted files. RESTORATION is a free utility, and not a new one, but I found it pretty impressive, have a look at the features, listed below.

Features of RESTORATION –

Standalone application.
Very small .zip download is required (164 KBs).
Works pretty fast, it took around 63 seconds to scan a 50GBs partition, which produced a list of 18018 deleted files (on Windows 7, 3GB RAM and Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz processor).

User interface is pretty simple, as shown above, you just have to select the drive you want to scan, using a dropdown menu, specify the filename or part of it (not necessary though), check/uncheck the parameters, click on ‘Search Deleted Files’, if found the file you are hunting for, simply click on ‘Restore by Copying’.
I tried recovering some PDF and image files and it worked fine.
Works fine on all version of Windows (even with Windows 7).

To read more about RESTORATION you can try the download page

However there is no guarantee when it comes to restoring a file using any application, the time span between deletion and restoration process, and the size of file, both these parameters are inversely proportional to the probability of getting a file restored.

Give it a try if you need a utility to recover deleted files.

Download RESTORATION

Wave map synthesizer : Time Waster

2009-08-24T20:52:00.001-07:00

If you are music lover and specifically look for online tools which can help you getting new ideas for music you definitely going to love this simple sine wave synthesizer- Tone Matrix.

This is ordinary 16 X 16 matrix sheet on which any block can be turned on or off. Turning it on starts music tone which sends out waves. When this wave hits another block which is on it creates a Wave Map.

Tone matrix online synthesizer

The more the block you select together, stronger the wave is and better the rhythm. This does not mean you select all but keep variations which will make the music beat sound good. In fact this tool is so addictive that you can keep on trying new pattern and see how it goes. Try Tone Matrix

Best tool to create your own music mix

2009-08-24T20:51:00.002-07:00

Looks like a musical day for me. Here is another tool, DubStep, which will not waste time but rather let you create your own music like with features like ring tone creation, video mixing capabilities and integration and it is cross platform ( Use it on MAC or PC ).

This is how it works. You can open lot of music track and stack them one on other. Then you can strip of section of the music from wherever you want. That is all. Next is just run it and see how parts of music mix together when they all get played together or when the turn comes.

Apart from above said things it also features:

Multi-channel mixing (up to 32 channels)
Advanced multi-channel presets
MP3 sampling / triggering / remixing
Complete load/save/vote functionality
Audio recording capabilities (client-side)
Sequencing / song composing
Output audio to WAV/MP3 files
Video mixing capabilities and integration
Multiuser, collaborative music environments
Stereo-effects processing
Drum and rhythm pattern machine
MP3 mixing / crossfading
Widget playback and distribution

Check out DubStep

Quickly Switch between proxies in browsers

2009-08-24T20:51:00.001-07:00

Its a common scenario that we switch from one network to another many a times. At home, then we move to work and then again we move to friends network. And if you have different proxy for each of the network, it is a big time issue of changing your proxy configuration every time.

I was lucky enough to find solution for this and on tops I was able to find it for IE, Firefox and also Opera this time. For Chrome there is a different and partial solution.

All of the proxy switchers work in the same way. They allow you to predefined proxy settings and you can give them a nice name i.e. Home Proxy, Matts Proxy or Office Proxy. DOne with this it lets you change the proxy right from the browser either through menu or drop down.

Switching Proxy in IE : IE Proxy manager @ Codeplex is a small setup which sits in your tray and depending on predefined configuration switches proxy you can switch. Make sure to run it under Vista or Even XP compatible mode.

Switching Proxy in Firefox : Switch Proxy By Jeremy is another excellent addon which I found the most easiest to us. After predefining it you get a drop down and also managing or editing the proxies right there.

Switching Proxy in Opera : There is no addon here but I was able to find a tutorial which was discussed within Opera community. This tutorial lets you edit the Opera Configuration file and add more proxy in it which is reflected in the browser itself. Read the complete tutorial

Google Chrome Proxy : Chrome uses windows proxy settings by default i.e. it shares the same proxy connection which is set by IE. If you want not to use proxy you can do it by adding –proxy-server= to chrome.exe in order to forcibly disable Google Chrome proxy server settings. I would suggest you to check out the comments @ Walkernews to get into more details. Some people have even suggested to to go for this :

“C:\Documents and Settings\YOURID\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” “–proxy-server=000.000.000.000:1025″

These extension are pretty useful and if you are on the move and always behind proxies you need them. Try them out.

How to find if downloaded files are not corrupt

2009-08-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Many a times when you start using a downloaded file it fails. Generally the error messages which are cited are “File corrupt” , Cannot open header corrupt etc. This happens because the file which was downloaded, did not get downloaded correctly i.e. may be some bit messed up.

Though you cannot avoid this type of error but there is away to make sure what you have downloaded is not broken when you use it in future. Its called as File Integrity test. These tests make sure you had exactly the same bits of file what you created on server and downloaded on your machine.

There are couple of algorithms like sum, md5sum, sha1sum, and sfv which generate a unique hash code, if you can test it after download and see if hashcode matches, this means you have a file which exactly was on server.

Exact File is one such application to check file integrity and it supports Algorithms like Adler32, MD2, SHA1, RIPEMD128, TIGER128, CRC32, MD4, SHA256, RIPEMD160, TIGER160, MD5, SHA384, TIGER192,GOST and SHA512.

Exact file checksum

This way you an now check the downloaded file and match the checksum which is generally given on many sites.

It can also create checksum for your files which you would like others to download. This way you can publis the check sum so if the person tries download it, he will know that.

Other features of Exact Files :

Multi threaded application
Accepts Unicode file names.
Supports big files and folders / subfolders
Both GUI and Command like interface is available free of cost.

Download Exact Files