Stuff You Shouldn't Miss

Open Office

2011-05-23T09:50:00.003+01:00

OpenOffice.org

Open Office is an open source "office software suite" for spreadsheets, word processing and more. It is basically like Microsoft Office but free and without the hassle. It stores everything in an easily readable international standard format. It is available in many languages and allows for easy migration of already created documents.

Open Office is very big on the fact that it is a community of people there to help each other out. No expensive phone calls, just one big happy friendly community. As it is open source you can manipulate and add to it any way you please.

Find out more on their "Why" page: Why Open Office

How to hide a folder using Notepad

2011-05-20T12:31:00.004+01:00

This is a clever little trick which has been around the web a bit, but probably not everyone has heard of it. Everyone has however, got something to hide on their computer, and bulking different methods together can do a very good job.

Paste the following code into a notepad file. Replace the XXXXXX with your desired password, and then save the file as a .bat

cls
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Private
if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Private goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure you want to lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p "cho=>"
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Private "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to unlock folder
set/p "pass=>"
if NOT %pass%== XXXXXX here goto FAIL
attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Private
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Private
echo Private created successfully
goto End
:End

Double click and the folder Private will appear, put stuff inside and then hide your folder. You can mess around the code to change what it says and stuff.. Have fun with it!

The Fast Lane to Millions

2011-05-17T11:30:00.002+01:00

The Fast Lane to Millions

The Fast Lane to Millions or The Fast Lane forum is a community of people aspiring to become millionaires. Like most of the websites I post it is relatively famous (I need to start with the big ones!), but it is famous for a reason. Carrying on the theme of money making with Flippa and Fiverr, we can put together enough material to make some serious money. Almost everybody wants money, and if you don't then I envy you.

Post in the forum, read articles or simply get inspired by people from all over the world. The forum has an extremely positive vibe and is a great place to browse when you're bored but still want to 'feel' productive. At least that's what I tell myself.

Apologies for the delay, I was very confused when blogger was down..

If you become a millionaire after reading this, I only want 10%. k?

Flippa

2011-05-12T11:50:00.001+01:00

Flippa.com

Flippa is the world's best known market place for buying and selling websites. It has a worldwide reputation and if you know what you're doing can be very profitable.

They are currently offering a free e-book when you sign up, which will show you how to:

* Find Websites to Buy
* Assess Sites for Investment
* Negotiate the Sale
* Adding Value to Websites
* Preparing Sites for Sale
* Getting the Best Price

Be careful when purchasing anything online and make sure you know what you're buying!

Academic Earth

2011-05-10T13:14:00.002+01:00

AcademicEarth.org

Like it or not, almost everyone has thought about attending one of the best universities in the world and gaining that coveted first class education. It's no secret however, that these places are extraordinarily difficult to gain admission to and they also come with a hefty price tag.

Academic Earth is a website which offers video lectures from professors at high ranking universities. From MIT to Stanford, from Science to English lectures, the website offers a wide variety of subjects from a selection of different places.

Get that Ivy Education without the Ivy cost!

Struggling to get up in the morning?

2011-05-09T09:26:00.004+01:00

I'm someone who likes to make a plan of action to get things done on my day off, or even on the weekend. I slowly collect ideas and build an ultimate to-do list which features everything I want to accomplish on that day. It's generally a long list, but I think that I can get it all done and it will be a success. Even if I only get half of it done I think to myself that I still would be productive. I go to bed thinking about how proud I will be of my very productive day.

So I wake up and it's like 12 midday and I realise what has happened... again. I've dismissed my alarm multiple times throughout the morning and I only figure this out during random blurred visions later that day. I go into a sulk, end up not doing anything on the list and spend the day watching TV and being grumpy.

Well that was before I was introduced to the world of better alarm clocks. They are often described as annoying by the masses, but I prefer effective.

We have the puzzle alarm clock:

Pretty self-explanatory.

We have Clocky:

Who rolls around your bedroom until you catch him and shut him up!

And we have the one I use, the helicopter alarm clock:

I use this simply because it was really cheap when I got it, and my bedroom is messy enough that it takes a while to find it.

So what do you guys use to wake you up in the morning? Would you ever consider a more extreme alarm clock?

SitesLike

2011-05-08T12:30:00.003+01:00

SitesLike.com

I first came across the site after I had watched my first 72 minutes of megavideo and couldn't be bothered to find a clever way to get around that. So I searched on google for video websites like the one I was using, and siteslike.com came up and I found an alternative and went on my way. I kept searching google and after a while I would find myself back at siteslike.com and it was from there that my problem was solved. So from then on I would just go to siteslike.com first and save myself the hassle.

I don't think it requires a huge explanation, and check out the popular bookmarks if you're feeling... stressed out?

Fiverr

2011-05-07T12:27:00.003+01:00

Fiverr.com

Fiverr.com is a very useful site if you are trying to make money online. It is a community where you pay somebody $5 and they do something for you. Obviously you can also sell your talent's for a fiver, if you are a gifted graphic artist or voice over artist etc. The site is potentially very useful if you know how to use it, and that $5 investment may make you much more profitable in the long run.

I will be honest that the site does have a lot of people selling their pointless talents, but the lengths people are willing to go to for $5 is amazing.

Sporcle

2011-05-06T13:42:00.003+01:00

Sporcle.com

This site probably isn't technically useful, but it is fun. We had a massive Sporcle fad at school over the last couple of years, where almost every PC had somebody on it. The school didn't ban it for so long because it isn't a gaming website, in fact, it's more of a knowledge website. Teacher's would even start playing it with us in class.

The site is all about filling in lists. The most popular are name the 50 US states, you are given a time limit and off you go. Their are thousands of different ones to chose from and it is incredibly addictive. From characters of TV shows to countries of the world. If you complete countries of the world, you are a God by the way. Don't forget Micronesia!

If you're bored, check it out, and think of it as being productive.. you're using your brain and learning stuff.

MyP2P

2011-05-05T09:40:00.006+01:00

MyP2P.eu

MyP2P is the best place I have found to watch sport online. It doesn't host any of the video's itself, but is more of an index. I was first told about it by a friend when I didn't have SKY Sports and had to listen to the football (soccer) on the radio. But the site carries more sports than just that. I still use the site regularly to watch my favourite teams from around the world play in different sports, and I use it a lot if say, I'm in the USA and desperately want to watch the Champions League match but can't find anywhere with the Fox Soccer Channel.

The site is easy to navigate and I recommend changing the time zone to match yours. The streams may not be listed until perhaps an hour before kick off in order to stop the powers that be from taking them down. For a big champions league match, you can see about 50 different streams whereas watching a lowly SPL game, you may only see one or two. Many of the streams require programs to run them, such as Sopcast or a plugin for Veetle TV, but many are just links to sites like justin.tv. Generally the higher the bitrate the higher the quality.

If anyone has any other good sites for watching sports online, let me know!

LonelyPlanet

2011-05-04T08:33:00.001+01:00

LonelyPlanet.com

I don't know if everyone else is as much of an avid traveller as I am, but if you are this site is very useful. It helps you find flights, accomodation and possibly travel insurance. It also offers a lot of special deals. Now I haven't been able to look at every different offer on the site or every possible place to travel, so I don't know if it will always be cheaper.

The main purpose of the site is actually it's guidebooks and online guides. Trying to show you how far your money will get you whilst travelling. A few people have claimed that lonelyplanet's guides have got them into trouble, asking for cheaper prices at foreign hotels, but prices change throughout time and their guides generally seem to be in the right ballpark.

The site's guides have many more positive reviews than negative reviews and it has personally served me very well. I especially like reading the online articles about places and even using it for inspiration on where I might like to travel next.

Browsing the site will make you want to travel the world!

Dropbox

2011-05-02T13:46:00.000+01:00

Dropbox.com

Dropbox.com's slogan is simplify your life, and whilst this may be pushing it a bit, there is certainly some truth to it. As quoted from their website, "Any file you save to Dropbox also instantly saves to your computers, phones, and the Dropbox website."

Dropbox allows you to have your files everywhere, and be able to edit thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifm from anywhere, whether online or not. A free user can store files up to 2GB and for $9.99/month you can save up to 50GB and $19.99 you can save up to 100GB.

The site boasts how easy it is to use and how safe your files will be. For a full list of features visit, Dropbox Features.

First Blog, First Post.

2011-04-17T16:05:00.002+01:00

The original opening post:

"This is my first ever blog, and my first ever post. The blog's name rather gives away the blog's aims. The aim is to show people things, on or offline, that you shouldn't be missing out on. Things to make your life more efficient and enjoyable.

I consider my self a semi-perfectionist (Yes, I know that doesn't make sense) where I don't like missing things. I like to get 100% on a game to consider it complete, and I get annoyed if I concede needlessly on Football Manager, or throw a stupid pick on Madden. I often wish life could be saved and reloaded if I screw up, and I think that is a reason why I don't take as many risks as I wish I could. I spend a lot of time when online, just randomly surfing the web in search of that software, product or website which will change my life. I'm not hoping for a save and reload option in real life as I think even that is a stretch for modern day Science.

Hopefully if anybody reads the blog, it can become more interactive and a lot of the posts can include websites and products recommended by you."