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Top 5 Tools To Check The Speed Of Your USB Flash Drive

2011-07-10T15:24:00.000+05:30

How do we go about checking the speed of USB flash drives? Maybe the following light and free software can lend a hand ?

Check Flash

The Check Flash website is in Cyrillic (there is an English option too) but it shouldn’t stop anyone from downloading this light and free USB flash drive speed testing and error checking software.

With Check Flash you can test, manage and format your USB flash drive. You can also run a read-write cycle on your USB flash drive, which returns not only the speed but also any errors (read/write or physical) in your USB drive. The software does not rectify the problem but merely reports it.

Check Flash v1.07 runs as an 812KB sized executable and does not require an installation.

HD Speed

HD_Speed is a pint sized software that can be used to gauge the speed of data transfer on your hard disks, CD/DVD ROMS and USB flash drives. This program is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista only, though it supports both FAT and NTFS volumes.

The 80KB utility does not require installation and runs with a click. Select the drive and hit start. The read/write results show up as a graph and also as real values.

Crystal Disk Mark

Crystal Disk Mark is another disk benchmarking tool that can double up as a USB flash drive speed tester. The screen is simple and gives readouts according to the type of tests performed.

Crystal Disk Mark can carry out sequential read/write tests (i.e. read/write data in order) or random 4KB/512KB reads/writes or text copy. The speed test results are displayed as large numerical in MB/s.The 396KB software runs as a standalone executable straight from the box and is compatible with Windows Vista/2003/XP.

Flash Memory Toolkit

Flash Memory Toolkit is advertised as a collection of utilities for flash memory devices. The toolkit includes options to get detailed device information, erase files and recover files lost after a format, hardware failure or an accidental deletion. Backup and restore functions along with our benchmarking task of measuring the read/write performance of the flash drive is available.

Unfortunately, the free standard version gives us only the ability to judge the Read speeds. To calculate both read/write speeds one has to upgrade to the Pro version. Even with this handicap, the ability to measure read speeds along with the File Benchmark feature (which calculates the time it will take to read or write files of various sizes to the device and returns the results as comparative graphs) is a nice help too.The 766KB software (v1.20) is installable on Windows 2000, XP, XP 64-bit, 2003 Server and Vista.

HD Tune

Similar to the aforementioned software, HD Tune also comes in the free and paid flavors. And again, the free version allows for only read speed testing of our USB Flash drives. It also gives a detailed disk information option along with an error scan.

For more advanced aspects one need to dole out for the pro version. If you disregard the missing features in the free version, it is a handy utility to have around because it gives us a lot of benchmarking information like the maximum, minimum and the average transfer rates (i.e. the read speed) along with access time, burst rate (defined as the highest speed at which data can be transferred from the drive to the OS).HD Tune v2.55 is available for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and Windows Vista.

USB 2.0 has a cutting edge data rate of 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than the now archaic, USB 1.1, which peaked at 12Mbps. Flash drives are catching up with most now hovering around the 30-40 MB/s mark.

Top 10 Way To Check Your Internet Speed

2011-07-10T15:23:00.002+05:30

The top 10 resources to check your internet speed connection.

1 Speed.io : Speed.io is a modern DSL speed-test to analyze your broadband internet access

2 2Wire Speed Test : No need to enter any detail just open the link and it will start bandwidth test.

3 McAfee Speed test : Speed test from popular Anti-virus website McAfee.

4 Intel Speed Test : Speedtest from official intel website.

5 SpeedTest : Easy to remember domain name, and nice interface.

6 Bandwidth Place : Click on start and you are good to go with your bandwidth test.

7 SpeakEasy : Option to choose from the different server list to get accurate result.

8 Kify Internet Speed Test :The Kify.com Bandwidth Meter speed test will check the bandwidth of your Internet connection against top DSL, cable modem, and other broadband services.

9 CNET Bansdwidth meter :The CNET Bandwidth Meter speed is one of the fastest and reliable method to check your internet speed.

10 Airtel broadband : Bandwidth test from india top internet provider which also analyze your speed
and connection quality.

100 Tools And Tips To Get Free Cable TV

2011-07-10T15:22:00.002+05:30

With the availability of TV online these days, there’s almost no reason to subscribe to cable TV. You can take advantage of players, network channels, download sites and more to see all of the TV you want online, and even transfer it to your TV. Read on to discover tips and resources for getting free cable TV.

Tips

Follow these tips to create a fun and easy free cable experience.

Get DVR on your computer: Download one of the many apps out there to record TV on your computer.
Buy a USB flash drive: Get a USB flash drive, and you can keep cable TV shows in your pocket.
Get a DVD player that can handle it all: Buy a DVD player that has a USB input and other features, and you’ll find that watching free cable TV is much easier.
Start getting set up early for live shows: Sometimes links are faulty and feeds go down, so if you want to watch a live show, get started early.
Get Netflix: Wait for the DVD to come out, and watch the shows on your own time.
Use a broadband connection: Getting TV online is pretty much impossible without a good connection.
Get DVDs at your library: Although it’s certainly not immediate gratification, you can check out DVDs of cable TV shows at your local library.
Always download encrypted: Get encrypted streams to make sure no one can see exactly what you’re downloading.
Specify an IP address: Protect your privacy by specifying a fake address in uTorrent and any other download clients with that option.

Articles & How To

Find all the information you need to get free cable TV in these articles.

How to Get Free Cable TV: Find out how to get free, legal cable in this how-to.
3 quick ways to watch TV shows for FREE: In this article, you’ll get some quick advice for finding cable TV free online.
How to speed up video playback: Watch your videos faster by following the advice in this article.
Public vs Private-BitTorrent download sites explored: This article takes a look at the pros and cons of both public and private BitTorrent download sites.
A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent: Get a crash course in torrents from this guide.
How to Watch NFL Games for Free: Find out how you can watch NFL games with this article.
Ditch Your Cable Company with Free, Legal Alternatives: In this article, you’ll find advice and tools for getting free cable TV.
Turn Your Windows PC into a Media Center Powerhouse on the Cheap: This article explains the details of using your computer as a media center.
How to Watch Satellite & Cable TV on your PC FREE: Follow this tutorial to find out how you can watch online for free.
Top 10 P2P Friendly Colleges: Check out this list to find out if your college is OK with you downloading TV.
How to Get Free Cable TV: This article explains how to get more than 3,000 cable channels.
35 Ways to Watch Television Without Cable or Satellite: Here you’ll learn about the many ways to find TV without paying for cable.
How to Watch Video Files from Your Computer on Your TV: Follow these simple instructions to learn how to put your computer’s videos on your TV.

Viewing Sites

Check out these sites to watch cable TV over the Internet.

Hulu: Hulu has lots of really popular shows available.
NeepTV: On the NeepTV site, you’ll find almost 3,000 different live and on-demand channels.
YouTube: You can often find clips of shows you’ve missed on this incredibly popular video site.
Fancast: Find some of your favorite shows here and discover even more.
Medinalia: Medinalia offers access to TV from all over the world.
Google Video: This site is full of everything, although you may have to dig deep to find full episodes.

Search

With these search engines, you can find cable TV streaming and on demand.

TVgush: Check out this search engine to find exactly what you’re looking for.
SingingFish: With the help of filtering options, you can find shows on SingingFish.
LocateTV: Use this search site to find out where and when you can find your favorite shows.
Yahoo! Video Search: Use Yahoo!’s advanced video search to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Live TV

Watch streaming TV channels with these sites.

FreeTube: FreeTube streams live TV for news, sports, and more.
4TV: 4TV offers more than 250 channels of live TV.
Channel King: Channel King has streams of cartoon, entertainment, music and more channels.
ChannelChooser: Get online live TV with ChannelChooser.
ChooseAndWatch: ChooseAndWatch has hundreds of different channels for watching TV.

Aggregators

Visit these aggregators to get links to the best TV sources.

TV Links: Check out TV Links to find lots of shows fast.
World Wide Internet Television: This portal offers access to more than 2,600 live and on-demand TV channels.
Streamick: Streamick is a huge directory of places to watch free broadcast TV online.
No Subscription Required: This site plays host to free-to-watch sites.
Watch on Broadband: Check out this site to find more than 1,700 internet TV stations.
MyEasyTV: This aggregator makes finding TV online easy.
Joox: Joox has links to DivX TV and movies.
5 TVs: This Internet TV directory is a great way to find the shows and channels you’re looking for.
Peekvid: Peekvid offers access to hundreds of shows and even live TV.
Sidereel: Make your hunt for TV easier with this aggregator.
OMGFreeTV: Get excited about this aggregator that has links to news, sports, music, and other channels.
tvDuck: With tvDuck, you can find TV shows from today and yesterday, and even ask for shows you’d like to see.

Torrent

With these torrent sites and tools, you’ll be able to download all the free cable TV you want.

Torrent Episode Downloader: This program is like an RSS utility for downloading torrents.
The Pirate Bay: Track and download torrent files on this incredibly large bittorrent site.
BitTyrant: This BitTorrent client offers extremely fast downloads.
mininova: Find all of the torrents you want on this large listing site.
Vuze: Formerly known as Azureus, Vuze is a very popular BitTorrent client.
isoHunt: This BitTorrent search engine will help you find what you’re looking for.
Junk Nova: This BitTorrent tracker offers great information, like screen shots, descriptions, and other important details.
uTorrent: This small and simple BitTorrent client will get the job done.
Videora: Videora uses BitTorrent and RSS to automatically download shows for you.
TorrentSpy: TorrentSpy offers a popular torrent search engine.
Lilx: Get an organized calendar and download torrents from this site.

Players

Use these players to watch and manage your TV online.

TVU Player: With TVU, you can get free P2P streaming of many cable TV channels.
Miro: Miro is an open source internet TV player that has thousands of channels.
Joost: The Joost player opens up access to lots of selected cable TV shows.
TV Tonic: Get hundreds of Internet TV channels with TV Tonic.

Community Sites

Visit these communities for online TV with a social aspect.

TIOTI: Check out this TV social aggregator that shows what’s popular in TV now.
FreeTVonline: Find and discuss your favorite shows in this TV community.
NewzBin: This site has great content, but is closed to new members, so you’ll have to score an invitation through an existing member.
shareTV: With this online TV community, you can share, track, and discuss your favorite TV shows.
viewmy.tv: Find channels, vote on your favorites, and discuss TV in the forums.

Channels

Check out these channels to watch clips and full episodes from cable TV.

VH1: VH1 offers full episodes, music videos, and more.
Adult Swim: Check out grown-up cartoons on Adult Swim’s site.
Cartoon Network: Get clips and behind-the-scenes looks at Cartoon Network’s shows.
CMT: CMT Loaded has videos, shows and clips.
Comedy Central: Hit the Motherload with these clips from popular Comedy Central TV shows.
Turbo Nick: Kids will find both clips and full episodes from Nickelodeon’s site.
RTE: Check out RTE for news from Ireland.
MTV: MTV regularly features pieces that aired on the channel.
Court TV: Court TV’s site has clips of testimony, sentencing and more.
G4TV: Check out clips from this gaming and popular technology channel.
ESPN360: Here you’ll find the latest in sports online.
E! The Vine: Stay on top of entertainment news with this channel.
BBC: You can catch BBC London news here.
Sci-Fi: Check out Sci-Fi’s The Pulse, where you can catch clips and full episodes.
TV Land: Go back in time with this channel’s programming.
C-SPAN: Find out what’s going on in the world of politics on this channel.
Food Network: Learn how to make delicious meals with Food Network.
Fox News: Watch video clips and more on the Fox News site.
Discovery Channel: Check out the Discovery Channel for shows like Dirty Jobs and FlipThatHouse.
HGTV: See what you can do to your home on this channel.
Speed TV: Check out cars, trucks and motorcycles on this channel.
CNN: Get the latest news from CNN’s free news clips.
BET: BET’s On Blast has music videos and clips from TV.
Lifetime: Go behind the scenes of Lifetime programming on this channel’s site.
The History Channel: See videos, speeches, and more on The History Channel.

Miscellaneous Tips, Tools and Hacks

Get even more resources for free cable TV here.

Cable modem owners hack for free cable TV: Hackers use a splitter to splice TV lines from their cable modem.
Add subtitles: If you have someone with hearing problems in your household, add subtitles with Open Subtitles.
TVFreeload: TV Freeload makes it easy to download episodes from more than 1,000 TV shows.
Hack Attack: Build your own DVR: Follow this hack to create a DVR on your computer.
My Episodes: Stay on top of the episodes you’ve downloaded and watched with this tool.
Broadband users cut into cable: This article explains how cable modem owners cut into lines to get free cable.

Php Programming Resources

2011-07-10T15:21:00.003+05:30

List of useful PHP Programming sites.

PHP Cheat Sheet

The PHP cheat sheet is designed to be printed on an A4 sheet of paper and live by a developers desk, to make life a bit easier. A description of what is on the cheat sheet follows, or if you are impatient, you can go straight to the full size PHP cheat sheet.

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Good PHP Tutorials.com

PHP tutorials for programmers of all levels.

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Clean URLs with PHP

An article on using .htaccess’ URL rewriting capabilities to create clean, easy to understand links.

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10 Things You Didn’t Know

A list of ten little known features of PHP.

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Fast PHP

An article on coding fast PHP web sites.

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PHP Manual

This site is the official PHP manual and documentation, covering all aspects of the official and current distribution of PHP.

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10 Tips That Every PHP Newbie Should Know

10 Tips for people new to PHP programming.

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Top 25 PHP template engines

Website that describes the top 25 PHP template engines.

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XAJAX PHP Class Library

Homepage for the XAjax PHP class library, made for enabling Ajax usage on PHP based sites.

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Top 10 Security Vulnerabilities

An article on avoiding the top ten security vulnerabilities in PHP websites.

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Creating a Secure PHP Login Script

how to create a secure PHP login script that will allow safe authentication. Features remember-me function to prevent session stealing.

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CakePHP

The definitive PHP framework. Ruby on Rails style development with a PHP twist. CakePHP makes development a piece of cake.

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PHP 101

Features tutorials for the beginner using PHP. Extended for PHP 5 and those who have already used PHP 4. Suitable for entry level users.

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A Tutorial on PHP Regular Expressions

A rather technical tutorial on writing regular expressions in PHP.

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MySQL connection managmen

A tutorial on MySQL connection management in PHP

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Code Igniter

Website of Code Igniter, an open source PHP framework designed to make it easier on developers to program powerful web applications.

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Upload Progress Meter

This is an Ajax upload progress meter for PHP.

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PHPBuddy

Learn PHP the easy way. Php resources and tutorials for beginners.

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PHP Freaks

Site has list of links to the material provided by this site – including site navigation and reference material.

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PEAR

Site to download reusable PHB components in the form of packages

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PHP Login System with Admin Features

This article is intended primarily for intermediate to advanced users of PHP, as it is not exactly a tutorial, but a description of the implementation of an advanced Login System. Beginners who are looking to learn about user session and cookies in PHP are advised to read the above mentioned tutorial before reading this article.

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Smarty Template Engine

The official site of the Smarty PHP template engine.

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Backup MySQL with PHP

A nice description of how to backup your database with PHP.

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Google Webservices with PHP

An article on using Google’s webservices with PHP.

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PHP Mailer

Full featured email transfer class for PHP

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PHPBuilder.com

This site offers resources for PHP programmers interested in AJAX.

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RegEx Tester

Ajax tool to test regular expressions against text.

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Secure PHP Form Mailer

This script has a huge list of features: dynamic form generation system, multiple recipients, multiple file attachments, auto reply feature, captcha, numerous security features, and too many others

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FPDF Library

FPDF is a PHP class which allows to generate PDF files with pure PHP, that is to say without using the PDFlib library. F from FPDF stands for Free: you may use it for any kind of usage and modify it to suit your needs.

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MagpieRSS: RSS for PHP

RSS Parser in PHP

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PHP Builder

A technical site that provides web designers and afficianadoes with articles, fora, and information.

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Tutorialmix – PHP

Tutorialmix.com / Tutorial website with a list of PHP tutorials.

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Get Vanilla

Vanilla is an open source, standards compliant, multilingual, fully extensible discussion forum.

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My PHP Classes page

This is a repository of PHP scripts for doing many common activity. Broken down into categories for easier browsing.

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PHP/SWF Charts

A tool to create Flash web charts using data drawn from databases via PHP.

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Symfony Project

Symfony is an open-source, PHP webframework. It allows designers do develop PHP applications with ease and speed.

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The PHP Resource Index

Offers 4469 PHP resources in 285 categories…has information on web hosting for several different servers. Includes CGI related resources as a ‘special feature’.

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Creating sortable lists with PHP and AJAX

An article on how to create sortable lists using PHP and AJAX.

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Dataface

Framework for PHP / MySQL applications generating update and list pages automatically but with the flexibility to customize through ini files, templates and plug-ins.

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Image manipulation with PHP

Instructions on image manipulation using PHP and GD software with an abstract so you can find what you’re looking for easily

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Last RSS

Parse RSS with PHP

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PHP Object Generator

PHP Site that advertises open source PHP object generation code and its relative advantages.

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PHP Security Consortium

This website is organized by the PHP Consortium – a group of self declared PHP experts, who seek to promote secure programming practices within the PHP community. This website has a bunch of tools and articles to educate readers on this topic.

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PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

The official webpage of PHP.

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PHPAudit Licensing

PHPAudit is a full featured PHP Software Distribution Solution for ISVs and PHP Developers. PHPAudit automates the distribution of your code from new orders to product download & licensing.

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PHPDocumentor

The site is all about the phpDocumentor that helps document php code similar to javadocs for Java.

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Qcodo

Qcodo.com is a website for the popular PHP Framework, Qcodo. The frameworks goal is to free developers from unnecessary tedious, mundane coding.

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WASP for PHP 5

WASP is a web application framework built on PHP 5. Download ver. 1.2 and build great enterprise class applications with more fun and less code.

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Yahoo PHP Developer

PHP developer guide for Yahoo developers.

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ATK PHP Framework

Achievo ATK is an object oriented Web Application Framework, written in PHP.

Even 10 lines of code get you a working application, but everything generated for you, can be 100% customized.

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Prado

This website is a download launch pad for PRADO components to for event-driven framework for rapid Web programming in PHP 5

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Rails-inspired PHP frameworks

An article on PHP frameworks inspired by Rails.

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Simple Test for PHP

Simple unit test framework for PHP code.

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Taking a look at ten different PHP frameworks

Descriptions of ten different PHP frameworks.

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Veckd.com

A tutorial on how to create an upload form in PHP.

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ADOdb Database Abstractio

a database abstraction library for PHP.

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AjaxAC

This site features sample applications, articles, and information about AjaxAC, an open-source framework written in PHP.

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Basic PHP Script Security

Discusses security issues in the use of PHP script programming such as the prevention of SQL injections, XSS and CSRF attacks, and variable tampering.

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CakePHP

Cake is a rapid development framework for PHP which uses commonly known design patterns like ActiveRecord, Association Data Mapping, Front Controller and MVC.

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JasLabs PHP

Jaslabs is a software/consulting company that has been in business since 2003. They are located in Troy, MI and specialize in Mysql/PHP. This site is their blog.

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Lorelle on WordPress

A guide for tweak a WordPress theme or designing one, include resources about HTML, CSS and PHP

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Memcached

Allows dynamic pages to be cached as separate elements in memory, and then constructs them on the fly.

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PHP Apache Module

This is a good site and is all about installing a PHP module that is available for the Apache web server that is deliverd by Apple in a regular Mac OSX installation.

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PHP Editor Review

This site offers news related to php progamming and also resources for the programmers.

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PHP in contrast to Perl

Site disusses the differences between the programming languages PHP and Perl.

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PHP MVC Frameworks

Frameworks for implementing the Model View Controller pattern in PHP

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PHP Obfuscator

PHP obfuscator encodes and obfuscates PHP code to make the output difficult to reverse engineer. This allows for encoding of functions, variables and the removal of whitespace.

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PHP on TRAX

Site provides online resources for PHP programmers using the Php On Trax (formerly Php On Rails) web-application and persistance framework.

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PHP Presents

PHP Presents is a directory website fronting multiple slideshow presentations on various PHP-based technologies and also basic PHP usage.

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PHP Security Blunders

The top 7 PHP programming errors that can result in security holes.

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phpLens

This website gives information on how you can optimize PHP – a programming language. This site also has a forum where members can post questions, answers, issues, advice, etc.

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Simple Optimization for PHP and MySQL

Blog to teach coding for creating a database where users can log on and discuss shortcuts and various ways of simplfying the processes.

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Sparkline PHP Graphing

The project website for a PHP library that allows creation of graphs in the style of those seen in stock market trend displays.

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youngcoders

it’s premier community for the world’s next generation programmers.

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PHP MVC framework

How you can use PHP as-is, without additional complex external layers, to apply an MVC approach with clean and simple views and still have all the goodness of fancy Web 2.0 features.

Free Online Translation Resources

2011-07-10T15:21:00.000+05:30

Babelfish – provides you with a useful tool to communicate with your non-English speaking or bilingual customers. You can use this site to translate words, phrases, or entire web sites into 19 pairs of languages, including to and from English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. The site’s World Keyboard allows you to add accented or other special characters to your text for more accurate translations. Also by adding Babel Fish to your site, your customers can translate your site into their preferred language. There also is a limit on how much you can translate. Babel Fish is designed to translate up to about 800 words or two standard, double-spaced pages (about 5K of text) at a time. If you exceed the limit or if you attempt to translate a very long Web page (over 5K), the site translates up to the limit and then stops.

Free2ProfessionalTranslation – is one of the most popular websites of its kind, with in excess of 2 million visitors per week. FreeTranslation.com allows users to obtain free translations of both text and web pages. The translation is generated by a computer, displayed instantly and the user is dynamically shown the cost of having the same text professionally translated by Click2Translate Express. Translates text and web pages from and to: English, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Norwegian, Japanese.

WorldLingo – is a leading innovator and provider of translation and localization services and technology. World Lingo has grown into a global organization with offices in Europe, America, and Asia. Provides text and web page language translations in Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean.With context-sensitive option.

Google Lanquage Tools

Google Translate

ForeignWord - is an automated translation portal that offers links to virtually every translation dictionary on the Internet. Translate your texts simultaneously, compare the results and select the one that best suits your needs.

Reverso – is the free online translator offered by Softissimo. This service provides a free instant translation of short texts in various languages : French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, English… Its capabilities have been recognized by the best experts : PC Expert, Windows News, European IST Prize by the European Commission, as well as the most demanding clients: France Telecom, Renault, Nestl.

Systran – is a leader in providing language translation software products and solutions for the desktop, enterprise and Internet. With Systran products or solutions you can instantly translate and understand foreign language content in Word and PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Outlook email, Web pages in Internet Explorer or Firefox, as well as XML and other commonly used file formats, into and from 52 language pairs.

Word2Word – offers online dictionaries, language courses, translators, and resources for the novice language learner to the professional linguist or translator.

Imtranslator – is a tool that provides instant translation of messages and other texts in major European languages. With Im Translator you can chat with your friends on ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and other messenger services even if you don’t speak each other’s language. All you have to do is to select a message and with one keystroke you will get its translation. You can also translate your own messages and send them to your friends.

OnlineTranslator – is an online translation services for the most European languages. It provides text, Web site, E-mail, and WAP translation services. Online Translator is designed to translate up to 500 characters at a time.

JapaneseNameTranslation – allows to translate your own name or important names such as your family’s or loved-ones’ names translated to Japanese Kanji and Katakana.Your name will be translated into Japanese accurately with beautiful, meaningful Kanji by native Japanese speakers. Let’s rediscover the secrets behind the meaning of your name.

Poltran.com – offers online translation of English to Polish text and vice versa.

Mail2World – is a multi-functional language translation that can automatically convert both incoming and outgoing email messages in different languages, even those with completely different character sets, like Russian, Japanese or Arabic.

Translated – offers translation and localization services for a wide range of documents, including all Microsoft® products: technical manuals, company brochures and presentations, reports, technical information sheets, product catalogues, press releases, books, etc.

Rustran – provides translation of text between English and Russian.

LingvoZoneCom – is a online Turkish – English or English – Turkish dictionary. It is very useful as it gives multiple meanings in both languages and also gives extended and phrasal meanings together with idioms in both languages. The dictionary also serves many other languages besides Turkish which can be chosen by the user at any time during the web session.

Other translation tools:

18 Ways To Improve Your Body Language

2011-07-10T15:20:00.000+05:30

Improving your body language can make a big difference in your people skills, attractiveness and general mood.

There is no specific advice on how to use your body language. What you do might be interpreted in several ways, depending on the setting and who you are talking to. You’ll probably want to use your body language differently when talking to your boss compared to when you talk to a girl/guy you’re interested in. These are some common interpretations of body language and often more effective ways to communicate with your body.

First, to change your body language you must be aware of your body language. Notice how you sit, how you stand, how you use you hands and legs, what you do while talking to someone.

You might want to practice in front of a mirror. Yeah, it might seem silly but no one is watching you. This will give you good feedback on how you look to other people and give you an opportunity to practise a bit before going out into the world.

Another tip is to close your eyes and visualize how you would stand and sit to feel confident, open and relaxed or whatever you want to communicate. See yourself move like that version of yourself. Then try it out.

You might also want observe friends, role models, movie stars or other people you think has good body language. Observe what they do and you don’t. Take bits and pieces you like from different people. Try using what you can learn from them.

Some of these tips might seem like you are faking something. But fake it til you make it is a useful way to learn something new. And remember, feelings work backwards too. If you smile a bit more you will feel happier. If you sit up straight you will feel more energetic and in control. If you slow down your movements you’ll feel calmer. Your feelings will actually reinforce your new behaviours and feelings of weirdness will dissipate.

In the beginning easy it’s to exaggerate your body language. You might sit with your legs almost ridiculously far apart or sit up straight in a tense pose all the time. That’s ok. And people aren’t looking as much as you think, they are worrying about their own problems. Just play around a bit, practice and monitor yourself to find a comfortable balance.

1. Don’t cross your arms or legs – You have probably already heard you shouldn’t cross your arms as it might make you seem defensive or guarded. This goes for your legs too. Keep your arms and legs open.

2. Have eye contact, but don’t stare – If there are several people you are talking to, give them all some eye contact to create a better connection and see if they are listening. Keeping too much eye-contact might creep people out. Giving no eye-contact might make you seem insecure. If you are not used to keeping eye-contact it might feel a little hard or scary in the beginning but keep working on it and you’ll get used to it.

3. Don’t be afraid to take up some space – Taking up space by for example sitting or standing with your legs apart a bit signals self-confidence and that you are comfortable in your own skin.

4. Relax your shoulders – When you feel tense it’s easily winds up as tension in your shoulders. They might move up and forward a bit. Try to relax. Try to loosen up by shaking the shoulders a bit and move them back slightly.

5. Nod when they are talking – nod once in a while to signal that you are listening. But don’t overdo it and peck like Woody Woodpecker.

6. Don’t slouch, sit up straight – but in a relaxed way, not in a too tense manner.

7. Lean, but not too much – If you want to show that you are interested in what someone is saying, lean toward the person talking. If you want to show that you’re confident in yourself and relaxed lean back a bit. But don’t lean in too much or you might seem needy and desperate for some approval. Or lean back too much or you might seem arrogant and distant.

8. Smile and laugh – lighten up, don’t take yourself too seriously. Relax a bit, smile and laugh when someone says something funny. People will be a lot more inclined to listen to you if you seem to be a positive person. But don’t be the first to laugh at your own jokes, it makes you seem nervous and needy. Smile when you are introduced to someone but don’t keep a smile plastered on your face, you’ll seem insincere.

9. Don’t touch your face – it might make you seem nervous and can be distracting for the listeners or the people in the conversation.

10. Keep you head up – Don’t keep your eyes on the ground, it might make you seem insecure and a bit lost. Keep your head up straight and your eyes towards the horizon.

10 Simple Things To Improve Your Writing

2011-07-10T15:19:00.000+05:30

The good thing about following a few rules in your writing, even if some of them seem arbitrary or trivial, is that it frees you up to concentrate on what you’re trying to say instead of trying to figure out why something doesn’t sound right or worrying that it’s just plain wrong.

#1: Echoes

Bad practice: Repeated words or phrases set up an echo in the reader’s head or a “Didn’t I just read that?” glitch that can be distracting.

Example:

Several “but”s or “however”s or “for example”s in one paragraph (or in nearly every paragraph); a series of paragraphs that begin with “Next”
A favorite crutch word or phrase used throughout an article (”ensure that,” “as such”, “that said”)

Best practice: Vary the language to avoid annoying or distracting readers with repeated words. Even better, get rid of some of the repeated verbiage, which usually turns out to be overkill anyway.

#2: Nonparallel List Items

Bad practice: We often use an inconsistent structure for lists or headings.

Example:

We will cover these topics:

Backing up the registry
The Registry Editor is your friend
Using REG files
Use a GUI tool
Searching the registry
Take advantage of Favorites
Clean the registry

Best practice: Reword where necessary to make the items parallel.

#3: Agreement Problems

Bad practice: Sometimes we lose track of what the subject is, and our verb doesn’t match.

Examples:

Neither of the editors are very smart.
The dog, as well as the goat and chicken, are easy to parallel park.
One-third of the company are color blind.

Best practice: Scrutinize the subject to determine whether it’s singular or plural. It’s not always obvious.

#4: Referring To Companies, Organizations, Etc., As “They”

Bad practice: A company — or any collective group that’s being referred to as a single entity — is often treated as plural, but it shouldn’t be.

Examples:

I wish Wal-Mart would get their pot hole fixed.
Microsoft said they’ll look at the problem.

Best practice: Unless there’s some compelling exception, use “it.”

#5: Hyphenating “Ly” Adverbs

Bad practice: “ly” adverbs never take a hyphen, but they pop up a lot.

Examples:

We like to avoid commonly-used expressions.
Click here for a list or recently-added downloads.

Best practice: Don’t hyphenate ly adverbs. The “ly” says “I modify the word that comes next,” so there’s no need to tie them together with a hyphen.

#6: Using “Which” Instead Of “That”

Bad practice: We sometimes use “which” to set off an essential clause (instead of “that”).

Examples:

The meeting which was scheduled for 1:00 has been cancelled.
The option which controls this feature is disabled.

Best practice: The commonly-accepted (haha) convention in American English is to set off a nonessential clause with the word “which” and a comma. One good test is whether the information is extra — not essential to the meaning of the sentence. If the clause is essential, use “that.”

#7: Wordy Constructions; Deadwood Phrases

Nothing is worse for a reader than having to slog through a sea of unnecessary verbiage. Here are a few culprits to watch for in your own writing.

Has the ability to	can
At this point in time	now
Due to the fact that	because
In order to	to
In the event that	if
Prior to the start of	before

#8: Using “That” Instead Of “Who”

Bad practice: Some writers use “that” to refer to people.

Examples:

The bartender that took my money disappeared.
The end user that called this morning said he found my money.
The folks that attended the training said it was a waste of time.

Best practice: When you’re referring to people, use “who.”

#9: Inconsistent Use Of The Final Serial Comma

Bad practice: One convention says to use a comma to set off the final item in a series of three or more items; another (equally popular) convention says to leave it out. But some writers bounce between the two rules.

Examples:

Word, Excel, and Outlook are all installed. (OR: Word, Excel and Outlook are all installed.)
Open the dialog box, click on the Options tab, and select the Enable option. (OR: Open the dialog box, click on the Options tab and select the Enable option.)

Best practice: Decide on one convention and stick to it. Those who read what you’ve written will have an easier time following your sentence structure if you’re consistent.

#10: Using A Comma To Join Two Dependent Clauses

Bad practice: Commas are a great source of controversy and often the victim of misguided personal discretion. But there is this rule: Two dependent clauses don’t need one.

Examples:

I hid the ice cream, and then told my sister where to find it.
The user said he saved the file, but somehow deleted it.

Best practice: If the second clause can’t walk away and be its own sentence, don’t set it off with a comma

45 Rules For Creating A Great Logo Design

2011-07-10T15:17:00.002+05:30

Critical rules for creating a logo :

Do not use more than three colors.
Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.
Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.
The logo must be recognizable.
Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.
Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.
Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.
Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.
Do not use clipart under any circumstances.
The logo should look good in black and white.
Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.
Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized.
If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.
Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.
Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows, reflections, and light bursts).
Fit the logo into a square layout if possible, avoid obscure layouts.
Avoid intricate details.
Consider the different places and ways that the logo will be presented.
Invoke feelings of being bold and confident, never dull and weak.
Realize that you will not create a perfect logo.
Use sharp lines for sharp businesses, smooth lines for smooth businesses.
The logo must have some connection to what it is representing.
A photo does not make a logo.
You must surprise customers with presentation.
Do not use more than two fonts.
Each element of the logo needs to be aligned. Left, center, right, top, or bottom.
The logo should look solid, with no trailing elements.
Know who is going to be looking at the logo before you think of ideas for it.
Always choose function over innovation.
If the brand name is memorable, the brand name should be the logo.
The logo should be recognizable when mirrored.
Even large companies need small logos.
Everyone should like the logo design, not just the business that will use it.
Create variations. The more variations, the more likely you are to get it right.
The logo must look consistent across multiple platforms.
The logo must be easy to describe.
Do not use taglines in the logo.
Sketch out ideas using paper and pencil before working on a computer.
Keep the design simple.
Do not use any “swoosh” or “globe”symbols.
The logo should not be distracting.
It should be honest in its representation.
The logo should be balanced visually.
Avoid bright, neon colors and dark, dull colors.
The logo must not break any of the above rules.

Top 71 CSS Menu Navigation Resources

2011-07-10T15:16:00.003+05:30

Great CSS Menu nav-bar tutorials :

11 CSS navigation menus : at Exploding Boy
12 more CSS Navigation Menus. : at Exploding Boy
14 Free Vertical CSS Menus : at Exploding Boy
2-level horizontal navigation : demo at Duoh
Absolute Lists: Alternatives to Divs : An approach of using lists instead of divs at evolt
Accessible Image-Tab Rollovers : demo at Simplebits
ADxMenu : multiple menu examples at aPlus
A drop-down theme : at CSS Play
Bookend Lists: Using CSS to Float a Masthead : at WebSiteOptimization
Bulletproof Slants : demo at Simplebits
Centered Tabs with CSS : at 24ways
Clickable Link Backgrounds : A bulletproof unordered list of links, each with a unique (purely decorative) left-aligned icon that is referenced with CSS ; but that is also clickable.
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1 : lists of items made up of a title, short description, and thumbnail.
Creating Indented Navigation Lists : A multi-level indented list
Creating Multicolumn Lists : at Builder.com
cssMenus – 4 Level Deep List Menu : at SolarDreamStudios
CSS and Round Corners: Build Accessible Menu Tabs : at SitePoint
CSS-Based Tabbed Menu : a simple tabbed menu.
CSS-based Navigation : demo at Nundroo
CSS: Double Lists : A single list that appears in two columns
CSS Mini Tabs (the UN-tab, tab) : demo at Simplebits
CSS only dropdown menu : at CSS Play
CSS only flyout menus : at CSS Play
CSS only flyout/dropdown menu : at CSS Play
CSS only flyout menu with transparency : at CSS Play
CSS only vertical sliding menu : at CSS Play
CSS Swag: Multi-Column Lists : at A List Apart
CSS Tabs : tabs without any images
CSS Tabs : list of various tab solutions
CSS tabs with Submenus : at Kalsey.
dTree Navigation Menu : Javascripts Tree at Destroydrop
Definition lists – misused or misunderstood? : appropriate uses of definition lists
Do You Want To Do That With CSS? – Multiple Column Lists : multi-column lists.
Drop-Down Menus, Horizontal Style : at A List Apart
Float Mini tabs : at Web-Graphics
Flowing a List Across Multiple Columns : A table without using tables.
Free Menu Designs V 1.1 : ready-to-download block menusat e-lusion
FreeStyle Menus : XHTML compliant, CSS-formatted menu script at TwinHelix
Hidden tab menu : at CSS Play
How to Style a Definition List with CSS : at WebReference
How to Style an Unordered List with CSS : at WebReference
How to Use CSS to Position Horizontal Unordered Lists : at WebReference
Hybrid CSS Dropdowns : at a List Apart
Inline Mini Tabs : at Web-Graphics
Intelligent Menus : CSS and PHP menu at PhotoMatt.net
Inverted Sliding Doors Tabs : at 456BereaStreet
Light Weight Multi Level Menu : at CssCreator
List Display Problems In Explorer For Windows : list hack for IE
Listamatic : simple lists; various styles.
Listamatic2 : nexted lists; various styles
Menus galleries in CSS and XHTML : multiple examples and downloads at Alsacreations
Mini-Tab Shapes : demo at Simplebits
Mini-Tab Shapes 2 : demo at Simplebits
More than Just Bullets : at W3.org
Multiple Column Lists : at css-discuss
A Navbar Using Lists : A lightweight nav bar at WestCiv
Navigation Matrix Reloaded : at SuperfluousBanter
Remote Control CSS : examples of lists styled differently
Remote Control CSS Revisited – Caving in to peer pressure : multi-column remote control
Rounding Tab Corners : by Eric A. Meyer.
Simple CSS Tabs : at SilverOrange
Simplified CSS Tabs : demo at Simplebits
Sliding Doors : at A List Apart
Spruced-Up Site Maps : sitemaps as lists
Styling Nested List : at SimpleBits
Suckerfish Dropdowns : at HTMLDog
Tabtastic : Gavin Kistner.
Tabs Tutorial at BrainJar
Taming Lists : at A List Apart
Turning a List into a Navigation Bar : at 456BereaStreet
Ultimate css only dropdown menu : at CSS Play

50 Best CSS Web Design Resources For Webmasters

2011-07-10T15:16:00.000+05:30

With 50 Best Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Resources, the flexibility of CSS allows web developers to create websites that load faster and are easier to update.

CSS Tips And Techniques

- Push Your Web Design Into The Future With CSS3 [Smashing Magazine]

- CSS Typography: Contrast Techniques and Best Practices [Noupe]

- Powerful CSS Techniques for Effective Coding [Smashing Magazine]

- 4 Uber Cool CSS Techniques for Links [Css Globe]

- 10 Principles of the CSS Masters [NETTUTS]

- 12 Principles For Keeping Your Code Clean [Smashing Magazine]

- 101 CSS Techniques Of All Time – Part 1 [Noupe]

- Resetting Your Styles with CSS Reset [Six Revisions]

- 53 CSS Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without [Smashing Magazine]

- 101 CSS Techniques Of All Time – Part 2 [Noupe]

- Structural Naming Convention in CSS [Six Revisions]

- 10 Challenging but Awesome CSS Techniques [NETTUTS]

- Improving Code Readability With CSS Styleguides [Smashing Magazine]

- 8 Premium One Line Css Tips [Css Globe]

- 20+ Common CSS Bugs and Fixes [Noupe]

- 30+ CSS Cheat Sheets and Guides [All Web Design Resources]

- 5 Techniques to Acquaint You With CSS 3 [NETTUTS]

- 70 Expert Ideas for Better CSS Coding [Smashing Magazine]

CSS Templates And Layouts

- Free CSS Layouts and Templates [Smashing Magazine]

- CSS Layouts: 40+ Tutorials, Tips, Demos and Best Practices [Noupe]

- CSS Float Theory: Things You Should Know [Smashing Magazine]

- CSS Navigation Techniques (37 entries)

- 38 Free Elegant XHTML/CSS Website Templates [Hongkiat]

- Top 10 CSS Table Designs [Smashing Magazine]

- 50+ Nice Clean CSS Tab-Based Navigation Scripts [Hongkiat]

- CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions [Smashing Magazine]

CSS Tutorials

CSS Tutorials by W3Schools

- How to: CSS Large Background [Web Designer Wall]

- Cascading Style Sheets Basics

- Learn CSS Positioning in Ten Steps [BarelyFitz]

- Complete CSS Guide

- The Highly Extensible CSS Interface [Cameron Moll]

- Guide to Cascading Style Sheets

- Creating a CSS Layout from Scratch [Subcide]

- CSS Tutorials by HTML.net

CSS Showcases And Galleries

- 24 CSS Design Showcase Websites [Toxel]

- 120 Excellent Examples of CSS Horizantal Menu [CSS Tea]

- The CSS Gallery List

- 40 Beautiful Dark CSS Website Designs [Toxel]

- Best of CSS Design 2008 [Web Designer Wall]

CSS Resources

- Web Developer’s Handbook

- Dynamic Drive CSS Library

- SitePoint CSS Reference

- 101 CSS Resources [Jason Bartholme]

- 100 Freebie CSS Resources [Software Developer]

CSS Tools

- 50 Extremely Useful and Powerful CSS Tools [Smashing Magazine]

- CSS Validation Service

- 40+ CSS Generators, Creators, and Makers [All Web Design Resources]

- List of CSS Tools [Smashing Magazine]

- CSS Layout Generator [CSS Creator]

- CSS Editors Reviewed [Smashing Magazine]

101 Most Useful Websites

2011-07-10T15:15:00.000+05:30

There are tens of millions of sites to visit. Not forgetting iyiz.com, here are the only ones you actually need.101 most useful websites for you…

TECHNOLOGY

1 Google
www.google.com

The powerhouse of the internet and the only place many people go for information. But if you thought Google was a still a mere search engine, look again. Click on ‘more’ at the top of the homepage to discover the work of ‘GoogleLabs’ – more than 50 free tools and web pages that could change your internet life.

GoogleDocs lets you create documents, spreadsheets and presentations, store them online, share them with others and access them from wherever there’s an internet connection.

Googlemail is probably the best email program – it has virtually limitless capacity and you don’t need to change your email address to use it. The Google calendar is a powerful searchable diary that you can allow others to access, so family members can make appointments together.

SketchUp could be just the tool you are looking for to design that conservatory extension and see what it will look like once the builders have gone. Add to that databases for searching academic journals and books in the public domain, the powerful GoogleMaps, with its engaging satellite imagery, a finance page with live stock quotes and an easy-to-use online messaging system, and you can see why some people say Google is taking over the world – and, with GoogleMoon and GoogleMars, the rest of the galaxy, too.

2 Ruuh
www.ruuh.com

Surf the web without disclosing who or where you are.

3 iLounge
www.ilounge.com

Hints, tips and troubleshooting for your iPod and associated software.

4 Only2Clicks
www.only2clicks.com

If you use just a few websites, this lets you create a home page that has links to them all. Simple, free and practical.

5 Zoho
www.zoho.com

A suite of free business programs. From word processing and presentation software to tools for taking notes in meetings, planning projects and creating databases.

6 Backpack
www.backpackit.com

To-do lists, notes, ideas and calendar. Excellent for juggling projects and much more versatile than a ring folder.

7 GetNetWise
www.getnetwise.org

All you need to know about keeping the net safe – protecting children, preventing spam, avoiding viruses and stopping others accessing your personal details.

8 DaFont
www.dafont.com

More than 7,500 free fonts (for Mac and PC), so you can at last stop using Copperplate for your party invitations.

9 Pando
www.pando.com

The superfast way to send large files over the web. Don’t attach that family video to an email, Pando it instead.

10 FlipClips
www.flipclips.com

Turn your home videos into animated flip books. Much more appealing than another DVD.

ENTERTAINMENT

11 Digital Spy
www.digitalspy.co.uk

Entertainment, media and showbiz news. Plus, a surprisingly good forum for technology-related problems – a great place to sort out your broadband.

12 BBC iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

On-demand television and radio programmes from the BBC.

13 Whatsonwhen
www.whatsonwhen.com

Events, attractions, openings and exhibitions from around the world. Enter a location and dates and the site will show listings.

14 London Theatre Guide
www.londontheatre.co.uk

What’s coming on and what’s making an exit in London’s theatre world. Especially good for seating plans, so you can see where the box office staff are putting you.

15 The Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com

The world’s biggest (and still growing) reference for actors, directors, locations, plots…

16 Rotten Tomatoes
www.rottentomatoes.com

A round-up of what the critics thought of films on general release.

17 Screenonline
www.screenonline.org.uk

The British Film Institute’s definitive guide to the British film industry. Plots, features, statistics and news from the film world.

18 Good Reads
www.goodreads.com

Expand your reading. Catalogue your books online and others make recommendations based on what you seem to enjoy.

19 TV Guide
www.tvguide.co.uk

News, features and listings for Britain’s terrestrial and cable television. Customisable interface so your favourite channels are always at the top.

20 Football365
www.football365.com

The authentic (and often tangential) voice of the Britain’s ‘real’ football supporters.

21 CricInfo
www.cricinfo.com

Everything you want to know about the world of cricket.

22 Beijing Olympics
en.beijing2008.cn

The official Olympics site, with news, scheduling, features and a countdown to the games themselves.

23 Radio Locator
www.radio-locator.com

From shock jocks to orchestral baroque, thousands of internet radio stations to listen to on your computer.

24 Live Plasma
www.liveplasma.com

Expand your music and movie tastes. Enter the name of a song, band, movie, actor or director you like and Live Plasma will return some pretty intelligent recommendations for further investigation.

25 Blinkx
www.blinkx.com

A clever way of searching for video clips on the internet – from uploaded episodes of your favourite soap to comedy home-video moments.

26 Lulu
www.lulu.com

Self-publishing made smart again. Write, design and then print your own books – though you’ll still have to persuade others to buy them.

27 VideoJug
www.videojug.com

28 Wonder How To
www.wonderhowto.com

Two great sites full of short videos showing you how to do almost anything, from the incredibly useful (exercises for diabetes sufferers, tying a Windsor knot) to the revelatory (‘learn different kinds of kisses’), via the wonderfully obscure (‘make a moving jaw for your werewolf mask’).

29 Instructables
www.instructables.com

DIY projects from zombie make-up to LED balloons. Excellent selection of rainy-day projects for bored children (and adults) at home.

30 Flash games
www.k2xl.com

Addictive series of Flash games including the hypnotically soothing Boomshine.

31 GameSpot
www.gamespot.com

News, reviews, hints and tips for virtually every console game on the market. Essential if you are still up at 2am trying to find a way into the castle on Zelda.

32 Anagrammer
www.anagrammer.com

Online anagram machine for Scrabble players and crossword enthusiasts. Also solves Sudoku.

ADVICE AND INFORMATION

33 Newsmap
marumushi.com/apps/newsmap

A wonderfully graphical – and customisable – display of news stories from around the world. Click on an item to see the full story.

34 The Eggcorn Database
eggcorns.lascribe.net

Continually updated guide to modern-day Malapropisms, misunderstandings and other manglings of language. From ‘high dungeon’ to ‘wreckless driving’, Eggcorn names the culprits and nudges them in the right direction.

35 Arts and Letters Daily
www.aldaily.com

World-class articles from intellectual and influential journals around the world. Browse the day’s selections. Like The Week for eggheads.

36 Ask Philosophers
www.askphilosophers.org

The academy comes to cyberspace. A panel of mainly American and British philosophy scholars answers questions sent in by the public. Search the database, from Abortion to War, or send in a question of your own.

37 When Is
www.when-is.com

Shows you the dates of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and American holidays from now to 2010.

38 Rhyme Zone
www.rhymezone.com

For when the muse has gone, a rhyme and synonym generator to help you towards the perfect mot. You can also search for Shakespeare quotations, biblical references and other literary inspirations.

39 Nationmaster
www.nationmaster.com

Giant but easily searchable database of statistics, maps and profiles for every country in the world.

40 Digg
www.digg.com

The people’s approach to news and features, Digg brings together items from across the net, ranked according to how many people have felt them worth recommending. Sometimes a little techie-heavy, but excellent for discovering what the cyberworld is getting worked up about.

41 They Work For You
www.theyworkforyou.com

A powerful way of keeping tabs on MPs and peers: attendance records, voting patterns, recent statements and more.

42 Time Bank
www.timebank.org.uk

Volunteering opportunities for young people, sorted by region, interest, skills and need.

43 Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org

Controversial, democractic and sometimes error-strewn encyclopaedia that has brought Darwinism to the world of knowledge. Make it your first port of call for looking something up. Just be sure to check somewhere else that what you find makes sense.

44 Wiktionary
www.wiktionary.org

Wikipedia’s online multilingual dictionary. Immensely powerful and far less controversial than its encyclopaedic forebear.

45 Motley Fool
www.fool.co.uk

The original – and still the best – personal finance site on the web (the American version is at www.fool.com). For savers, borrowers, stock spotters and day traders, sound, independent advice that cuts through the jargon.

46 Martindale’s ‘The Reference Desk’
www.martindalecenter.com

From the arts, business, science and technology, a dry but authoritative conglomeration of data from around the world.

47 PubMed

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed

Free and authoritative database of more than 17 million medical research papers. Not always easy to understand if you are not a medic, but a far better place to look for information than the random sites that come up on Google.

48 About.com
www.about.com

The internet’s version of that clever uncle who always seems to know the answer to your questions. There are few subjects the site doesn’t tackle, though the coverage can be superficial. A good starting point for idle research.

49 NHS Direct
www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

Online information and advice about health and illness, run by Britain’s National Health Service. The site includes a useful self-diagnosis tool that can reassure you that your hangover is not in fact meningitis.

50 Legal Services Shop
www.freelawyer.co.uk

General legal advice relating to housing, family law, employment, motoring, consumer issues and personal injury, plus wills, conveyancing and divorce. Good starting point to see where you stand. Will also, for a fixed fee, answer questions and put you in touch with a solicitor.

51 How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com

Engaging encyclopaedia of the modern (and not so modern) world, with good illustrations and clear text. Can suffer sometimes from an ‘it’s amazing!’ tone of voice..

52 XE
www.xe.com

Currency converter covering every world currency. Azerbaijan new manats to Cayman Island dollars? Just a click away.

53 Advice Guide
www.adviceguide.org.uk

Find where you stand legally with the Citizens Advice Bureau’s online information resource.

54 Need2Know
www.need2know.co.uk

Advice and information for young people, including health and fitness, drugs, problems with bullying, how to study and applying for jobs.

55 Royal Horticultural Society
www.rhs.org.uk

Advice and suggestions from the world’s leading gardening organisation. A good ‘how-to’ section and seasonal tips for the time of year.

56 Babelfish
babelfish.altavista.com

Automatic translation to and from most European languages and Chinese. The results are sometimes a little strange, but you will usually get your message across.

57 eHow
www.ehow.com

How to do just about everything, from getting stains off curtains to buying a second-hand car.

58 Eat the Seasons
www.eattheseasons.co.uk

Updated weekly, information, tips and recipe ideas on British seasonal food.

59 Age Concern
www.ageconcern.org.uk

Website of Britain’s leading charity for the elderly, packed with advice about maintaining an active life.

60 Weather.com
www.weather.com

The queen of weather sites, with more information than you would possibly imagine you might need, from pollen counts to surf forecasts.

61 Uncyclopedia
uncyclopedia.org

Spoof Wikipedia-style encyclopaedia where nothing is true, but a good deal is very funny indeed. Idle away an afternoon or, even better, hone your comedy skills by making a contribution yourself.

62 Kiva
www.kiva.org

An easy way to lend small sums (from $25) to business projects in the developing world. Kiva keeps track of your investment, updates you on progress and repays your loan as the business grows.

63 Embarrassing problems
www.embarrassingproblems.co.uk

From bad breath and piles to cold sores and beyond, Dr Margaret Stearn dispenses invaluable advice.

HOUSE AND HOME

64 Noise Mapping England
www.noisemapping.org

Click on an area of the map to find out how noisy a street, or even a section of the street, is – handy for light sleepers planning a move. At the moment only London is mapped, but the rest of England will follow.

65 Prime Location
www.primelocation.com

One of the best sites for finding property. It is UK-based but has a good international presence.

66 Rated People
www.ratedpeople.com

User reviews on local tradesmen. You describe the job you need done and how quickly and suppliers contact you with quotes – with previous customers rating them.

67 Zoopla
www.zoopla.co.uk

Possibly the most dangerous site on this list, Zoopla gives sale prices of recently sold homes and – the tricky bit – estimates the value of the rest. We dare you not to look.

68 Money Saving Expert
www.moneysavingexpert.com

Subtitled ‘Consumer Revenge’, this is where you find the discounts, tricks and tips to save money. The weekly email is essential reading for canny consumers. It caters only for Britain, but every country should have one.

69 MetaEfficient
www.metaefficient.com

Practical guide to making your home more environmentally friendly, from low-flow showerheads to 12V lighting. US-based, but many of the products are available elsewhere.

70 Design My Room
www.DesignMyRoom.com

For budding Laurence Llewellyn-Bowens everywhere, it provides the ability to redecorate your home in cyberspace. Choose colours, furniture, accessories and finishes and then publish the results online.

71 Up My Street
www.upmystreet.com

Neighbourhood information based on postcode: schools, shopping and, juciest of all, how much the house down the road sold for recently.

72 Home For Exchange
www.homeforexchange.com

One of many sites where you can swap homes with someone else for a period. This is less cluttered than some of the others and has a good geographical spread.

73 SimplySwitch
www.simplyswitch.com

The fast way to compare utility suppliers and other services, from broadband to home insurance. Enter your postcode and the site comes back with the best deals.

74 101 Cookbooks

www.101cookbooks.com

Enchanting recipe and foodie blog from a Californian cook who believes in good food. Subscribe to the email alert service and transform your cooking repertoire.

SOCIAL

75 Facebook
www.facebook.com

The most grown-up (just) of the social-networking sites that are fast taking over the world. Excellent for staying in touch with far-flung friends, though pretty good too for re-establishing contact with those you hoped you had lost.

76 WordPress
www.wordpress.com

The quickest and easiest way to create a blog of your own.

77 Ringsurf
www.ringsurf.com

Like an online Mothers’ Union meeting (though sometimes a little more risqué), Ringsurf is a chatroom where people exchange ideas about anything from politics to relationships. The quality is not always high, but users have been known to discover new (real-life) friends with interests they thought no one would share. A tribute to the information-sharing capability of the net.

78 bubbl.us
www.bubbl.us

Organise your thoughts by creating mindmaps online and sharing them with others.

79 Technorati
www.technorati.com

An intelligent, intuitive and inspiring way to read entries from some of the millions of blogs that dot the internet. You can browse by subject or area of interest, read the postings that are catching the world’s attention and bookmark blogs that catch your attention. And if you want to join in…

80 Flickr
www.flickr.com

The website you graduate to once you’ve discovered how to put your holiday snaps on the net. Here, everyone’s photos are linked by using tags, such as ‘Spain’, ‘beach’ or ‘happy’, which sets you off on an exploration of others’ uploads.

81 BabyCentre
www.babycentre.co.uk

There are plenty of great parenting forums out there – Netmums, Mumsnet – but this is still the best source of considered, authoritative, often soothing advice on everything from colic to tax credits.

82 Friction TV
www.friction.tv

YouTube for debaters. Upload a short video about an issue close to your heart and others reply in kind or by text.

SHOPPING

83 GiftGen
www.giftgen.co.uk

Gift ideas for when you can’t think what to buy someone. You enter their age, sex and interests and how much you want to pay and it scours the net for ideas.

84 eBay
www.ebay.co.uk

Online shopping for (nearly) everything you might want to buy. The original auction formula is still going strong, but plenty more features have been added since it began. Take a look at non-UK sites, such as ebay.fr and ebay.de, too, for bargains others may have missed. The layout is the same even if you don’t speak the language.

85 Who What Wear Daily
www.whowhatweardaily.com

Fashion tips, advice and suggestions. Includes Ask a Stylist for those tricky co-ordination problems and a What Was She Wearing? inquiry service to help you track down your favourite celebrity’s fashion choice.

86 Gumtree
www.gumtree.com

Unabashedly straightforward classified ads site, for everything from new homes to online romance.

87 AbeBooks
www.abebooks.co.uk

The Amazon of the second-hand book world. More than 13,500 booksellers selling 110 million books. If it’s not here, it’s not worth looking for.

88 Kelkoo
www.kelkoo.co.uk

There are plenty of price-comparison sites on the web, but this one seems to get it right more often than most. Type in what you want to buy and Kelkoo will come back with the cheapest prices it can find.

89 Endgadget
www.engadget.com

A (digital) finger on the pulse of the technology world. All the newest developments, discoveries, gadgets and toys – before they hit the shops.

90 Cork’d
www.corkd.com

Discover more about wine by reviewing what you’ve enjoyed and receiving tips and suggestions from others.

91 I Love Jeans
www.ilovejeans.com

Find the right jeans for your fit before you even leave home. A cheeky but revealing ‘body type’ guide takes you straight to the brand you should be trying. Search by style, body type or brand. Women only.

TRAVEL

92 Sky Scanner
www.skyscanner.net

Monitors prices and destinations for all the low-cost airlines so you just type in where you want to go and when to find the best deal.

93 The Man in Seat 61
www.seat61.com

Routes, tickets, tips and advice – the only guide you need to travelling by train from Britain to Europe and the rest of the world.

94 Walk It
www.walkit.com

Online pedestrian routefinder for London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh that shows you the best route to walk from A to B. Includes calorie counter, CO2 savings and points of interest on the way. Other cities coming soon.

95 Transport for London Journey Planner
journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk

Indispensable and almost always spot-on guide to negotiating the capital’s public transport system. You enter your starting point and destination and it gives you the best bus, tube, cycle and even boat routes to get you across town.

96 ViaMichelin
www.viamichelin.com

A hi-tech hark-back to the days of leisurely motoring. ViaMichelin gives you maps, routes and directions throughout Britain and continental Europe with added panache. The maps have a pleasant printed quality about them and, naturally enough, your route is accompanied by gastronomic highlights to be found along the way. There’s also information about destinations.

97 Carbon Neutral
www.carbonneutral.com

Information on your carbon footprint and how to cut it down. Includes an online calculator to measure your effect on the world.

98 Expedia

www.expedia.com

Excellent all-round travel site. Use it for good prices on flights and holidays, but click on ‘Destinations’ for some well-researched and up-to-date travel guides.

99 SeatGuru
www.seatguru.com

Aircraft seating plans, showing you the prime seats, possible annoyances and seats you should avoid.

100 Airline Meals
www.airlinemeals.net

A consumer guide to what you can expect to eat on board. There are news and features from the airline catering world, but the best part is a gallery of photos of on-board meals sent in by passengers and listed by airline.

101 World Hum
www.worldhum.com

Travel writing with a twist. Click on the destination you have in mind and be prepared to be inspired. The site also offers tavelogues, news, books reviews, blogs and slideshows.

Top Free Games

2011-07-10T15:14:00.002+05:30

Free games list with descriptions :

Action:

Afterburner 3d – A remake of the classic Sega Arcade shooter.
Alien Breed Remake – A remake of the classic Amiga shooter.
America’s Army – Created for the US Army, multiplayer shooter.
Another World 2006 – A remake of Another World.
Babylon 5 – A free space combat simulator based on the original tv series.
Battlecruiser Millenium – A space simulation.
Beats of Rage – A Streets of Rage remake.
Box Runner – Remake of the classic Loderunner game.
Cave Story – Classic Japanese sidescroller.
Double Dragon Forever – Classic Beat’em up.
Fear Combat – The multiplayer part of the award winning Fear.
Grand Theft Auto 1 – A Rockstar game, enough said.
Grand Theft Auto 2 – Better graphics than 1, similar gameplay.
Gunz – A free online shooter with good graphics and gameplay.
Harmotion – Classic shooter.
Hidden and Dangerous Deluxe – Look still nice and plays great.
Kumawar – free FPS
Mono – one of the greatest addicting games I’ve ever played.
One Must Fall – A beat’em up.
Penumbra – A 3d horror game, like Silent Hill or Resident Evil.
Retro River Raid – Remake of the Atari 2600 classic.
Scorched Earth – artillery game in 3D.
Secret Maryo Chronicles – Mario Brothers Game like Super Mario Brothers.
Silver Wings – a classic shoot’em up.
SWIV – inofficial follow up of the Amiga game Silkworm.
Tremulous – standalone Quake 3 mod. Marines vs Alien spiders.
Tribes – Was a great multiplayer shooter.
Turrican 4 Funeral – Turrican was one of the top action games on the commodore amiga system.
Warrock – a free shooter that looks and plays like Battlefield 2.
Warsow – First Person Shooter.
Wild Metal – a 3d strategic combat game.
Wing Commander Privateer Remake – A great remake of privateer.
Wings of Fury – Another classic Amiga game. Play a US Pilot in the pacific war.
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory – A great online shooter, play either the german or allied side and choose a class to play.
Xenon 2000 – Xenon was a famous shoot’em up on the Amiga created by the famous Bitmap Brothers. They created a update to that classic game.

Adventures:

Beneath a Steel Sky – What a great adventure, link to the free cd version. By Revolution who created the famous Broken Sword Adventures as well.
Flight of the Amazon Queen – Looks and plays like Lucasarts classic adventures.
Head over Heels – Classic Adventure Game from 1987.
King’s Quest 1 – King’s Quest 1 VGA remake.
King’s Quest 2 – King’s Quest 2 in VGA, great remake.
King’s Quest 3 – A remade VGA version of King’s Quest 3.
Lure of the Temptress – old adventure but still great to play.
Maniac Mansion Deluxe – Well, Maniac Mansion, the first Lucasarts adventure, do I have to say more.
Space Quest Chapter 0 – Uses the same interface as Space Quest 1 and 2.
Zak MC Kracken 2 – part 2 of the classic Lucasarts Adventure.

Roleplaying:

Betrayal at Krondor – A rpg taking place in the worlds of Raymond E. Feist.
The Elder Scrolls Arena – I loved that game. It was terribly buggy but I still loved it when it first came out. Oblivion is the latest part in this series from Bethesda.
Ultima IV – It’s Ultima !
Zelda Classic – A classic remake of Zelda by Nintendo.

Sports and Cars:

Trackmania Nations – A free multiplayer racing game.
Winigolf – A minigolf game.

Strategy:

1848 – A strategy game about the Austrian-Hungarian War from 1848
Advanced Strategic Command – Like Battle Isle.
Battle For Wesnoth – A game like Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics. Great !
Castle Combat – Build a fortress and destroy the enemies one with your cannons.
Civ Evolution – A free Civilization clone.
FreeCiv – Just like Civ Evolution a free Civilization clone.
FreeRails – Railroad Tycoon Remake.
L General – A Panzer General Clone.
Sim City – Sim City was a unique game when it came out. The first real city simulation.
Settlers 3d – A 3d adaption of the boardgame Settlers of Catan.
Steel Panthers Battle Tank – Turn based strategy game like Panzer General.
Steel Panthers World at War – Another Steel Panthers game.
Swine – A classic RTS game.

Top 5 Tools To Password Proctect Your Secret Files

2011-07-10T15:13:00.002+05:30

Who wants to protect her/his own private files ? These files may be diaries, stories or even files contain passwords or credit card information. The security software usually doesn’t help us to protect these, we have to do it by ourselves. This is a list of ways and applications which can be used to protect our secret files.

7-Zip

Using 7-Zip or other compressors may be the simplest way to password protect files. Although this way is quite simple, it is pretty easy and efficient to password protect a file or folder. Just compress what you want with a password, then delete the source files so that when you want to open that file, you must enter a right password in order to use. You may use the password compressed file to send your friends without any worries that someone can open it. Of course, the recipient must have the right password to open it. If you are afraid that there is no compressor already installed on the recipient’s computer, instead of compressing to the usual format, you should use the self-extract type which can be run on any computers.

Androsa FileProtector

Androsa FileProtector is a free and exclusive for password protecting files. The usage is quite easy and straightforward. You just simply add files or folder using its file manager, then set a password and the algorithm to protect them. The algorithm may be DES 64 bits to Rijdael (AES) 256 bits (the longer, the better). Androsa FileProtector will then encrypt and change the extension of selected files to .afp. Once you open these files, you must enter a right password in order to open them. This feature is only available on computers which have already installed Androsa FileProtector. So when you send the afp files to others and are not sure whether the software has been installed on their computers, you may use the Self-Decrypting archive instead of the .afp.

Empathy

Empathy is an ideal utility to password protect executable files from being run by others. Once you set a password to protect, the executable file would ask for a right password to be able to run. Empathy is free, portable, simple and straightforward utility. However, there’s a weird thing that you just can set password with a letter in unregistered version. To remove this limitation, you must send the author a postcard includes your email, and then he’ll send you the registration code.

My Lockbox

My Lockbox is a free and small utility to password protect your folders in Windows. This is handy and useful when you just want to hide files and folders from others. The protected folder will be hidden from any user and application of your system, including Administrator and System itself. However, the protected folder will be easily caught by folks who boot your computer from a Live Linux CD.

PixelCryptor

Not like others, PixelCryptor uses an image as the key to encrypt and decrypt secret package. PixelCryptorlets you choose a picture and use it combine your files into a package. All we know that images are always easier to remember than a bunch of letters of a password. The usage is quite easy although there are more steps than others. In the main window, simply add files or folders you want to password protect, next add an image as the key for encryption. You do the same to decrypt the package, just enter the path of your image instead of a password and click Next to decrypt.

10 Security Tips To Protect Yourself In IM

2011-07-10T15:12:00.003+05:30

Most of us will agree that we are paranoid about email security and hack attacks. We should equally be concerned about the other popular connection device we use – the humble instant messenger. It is also open to some of the privacy risks we associate with emails.

10 Tips for protect your-self in chat.

Don’t give out your identity

Braniac

Saikat

Don’t chat with people not on your contact list
Don’t click on spam linksThis is probably what you will be bombarded with first. A link tempts you to click it just for the lark. A lot of these links take you to websites which can install spyware stealthily on your computer. For e.g. Viruses and worms with colorful names such as W32.Yalove or W32/Spybot-MQ are potential threats to Yahoo users.
Ignore them.
Don’t share files with your chat partner
Don’t let potential hackers reach you
Don’t Neglect Encryption
Don’t use an older version of IM – Update

Help – About

Don’t download third party plug-ins from unverified sources
Don’t forget to log-out completely

[X]

Remember My Password

Ignore user

Report as spam

Block

Don’t forget the value of a good browser, a good firewall and an even better anti-virus

Top 10 Tips To Protect Your Personal Email

2011-07-10T15:12:00.000+05:30

E-mail and instant messaging (IM) are terrific forms of communication for keeping in touch with family, friends, and business associates. However, using them unwisely may make you and your computer susceptible to spam, phishing scams, viruses, and other online threats. Here are some tips to avoid these problems:

1. Obtain comprehensive security software. Be sure that the security software you select is like McAfee Internet Security and protects you and your PC from viruses, worms, Trojans, unwanted e-mail (spam), phishing scams, and other malicious software. It should also have a firewall like McAfee’s products, which can monitor your Internet connection and stop unwanted traffic to and from your PC. Be sure to keep your security software up-to-date. Ideally, you want it to be like McAfee’s Internet Security Suite that has automatic updates and upgrades.

2. Share your e-mail address with only trusted sources. Only your family, friends, and trusted business contacts should have your personal e-mail address. Do not post your e-mail address on Web sites, forums, or in chat rooms. If you post your e-mail address, you are vulnerable to receiving spam or having your e-mail passed on to others. If you would like to subscribe to a newsletter or Web site and receive confirmation e-mail for online transactions, consider using a generic e-mail address that is not linked to any of your personal information. An example of a generic e-mail address is giraffe@samplee-mail.com.

3. Be careful when opening attachments and downloading files from friends and family or accepting unknown e-mails. You can obtain a virus, worm, or Trojan simply by opening e-mail and attachments, and by accepting files from your friends, family, or others. If you choose to download files, make sure your security software is enabled and pay close attention to any warnings provided.

4. Be smart when using IM programs. If you use an IM program to communicate with friends and family, be careful when sending any personal information. Protect yourself by using a nickname for your IM screen name. Never accept strangers into your IM groups. Be smart about how you use your personal IM at work because your employer may monitor and view your personal messages.

5. Watch out for phishing scams. Phishing scams use fraudulent e-mails and fake Web sites, masquerading as legitimate businesses, to lure unsuspecting users into revealing private account or login information. To be safe, if you receive an e-mail from a business that includes a link to a Web site, make certain that the Web site you visit is legitimate. Instead of clicking through to the Web site from within the e-mail, open a separate Web browser and visit the business’ Web site directly to perform the necessary actions. You can also verify that an e-mail is in fact from a legitimate business by calling the business or agency directly.

6. Use e-mail wisely. E-mail is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, and as a tool to conduct business. Even if you have good security software on your PC, your friends and family might not have the same protection. Be careful about what information you submit via e-mail. Never send your credit-card information, Social Security number, or other private information via e-mail.

7. Do not reply to spam e-mail. If you don’t recognize the sender, don’t respond. Even replying to spam mail to unsubscribe could set you up for more spam.
8. Create a complex e-mail address. With a complex e-mail address, it makes it more difficult for hackers to auto-generate your e-mail, send spam e-mail, or target your e-mail for other types of attacks. Make sure you come up with an e-mail address that you can easily remember. Try to use letters, numbers, and other characters in a unique combination. Substitute numbers for letters when you can. A sample complex e-mail is: Tracy3Socc3r2@samplee-mail.com.

9. Create smart and strong passwords. Make it difficult for hackers to crack your password. You can create a smart password by incorporating capital letters, numbers, special characters and using more than six characters. An example of a strong password is: Go1dM!n3.

10. Never enter your personal information into a pop-up screen. Sometimes a phisher will direct you to a real organization’s Web site, but then an unauthorized pop-up screen created by the scammer will appear, with blanks in which to provide your personal information. If you fill it in, your information will go to the phisher. Install pop-up blocking software to help prevent this type of phishing attack.

5 Free Conference Calling And Video Services

2011-07-10T15:11:00.002+05:30

5 Free Conference Calling and Video Services to keep you in the global communication big leagues:

The Basement Ventures

Their on-demand, free conference calling is available anytime—no advance notice or conference call details are required. This is a free conference calling service you can use from anywhere, anytime, featuring a 250-person capacity and up to six hours of conference time for each call.

If the caller is using a cell phone, most VOIP services or a nationwide long-distance plan, the conference call will likely cost them nothing. Basement Ventures also makes it easy to manage the call online and provides free conference call recording

Arranging free conference calls is simple—just provide each caller with the date and time of your call as well as the dial-in number and bridge code. Once your callers enter the appropriate code, they are connected on one conference call.

FreeConferenceCall.com

Your teleconferencing line is available to you 24/7. There is no need to schedule a meeting or make reservations. Each free teleconferencing account accommodates 96 callers on an unlimited number of 6 hour conference calls. Long distance charges may apply, but there are no additional charges from FreeConferenceCall.com.

FreeConferenceCall accounts also come with FREE conference call recording. So not only is the recording service free, it’s accessible by phone or computer, with no additional charges for downloading. You can distribute, archive or even send recordings to your listeners via RSS and podcast – for FREE.

This free teleconferencing service is simple to use, requiring only a name and an email address to receive an instant account. FreeConferenceCall will provide you with a dedicated dial-in number and an access code for your free teleconferencing services, which are ready for immediate use.

Skype

Skype is a free VOIP (voice over IP – which means you talk through the internet) service when calls are from one Skype user to another. It is free to join Skype, download their software onto your computer, and invite others to join. Skype also provides low-cost unlimited calling plans to landlines and cell phones around the world.

Skype allows you to call through you computer, send documents to your contacts while on a call, conference call with 9 other people, group chat with up to 100 people, and one on one video conferencing.

Userplane and SeeToo also allow up to two people in the video chat.

Pal Talk

Paltalk is a real-time, video-based chat community. With more than 4 million members and thousands of chat rooms to choose from, on virtually every subject. Members interact with each other through real-time voice, text and video chat. You can start groups in this chat community. Groups include a chat room, photo/video sharing, a message board, and a members list. Paltalk is split into two products/services the online Paltalk Express and the downloadable PC based Paltalk Scene.

Paltalk Scene SuperIM^TM allows you to make free video calls with up to 10 friends on Paltalk, AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger.

Paltalk Express Basic is free, but limits your viewing of an individual’s webcam to just 10 seconds per chat session (at 5 frames per second). After that, you can still hear but not see the person. The two fee-based plans take away that restriction and provide colored nicknames. Plus members, who pay $8.95 per month, can stream up to six of their own webcams at a time, and view videos at 5 fps. Extreme members pay $14.95 monthly and can stream as many cams as they want, viewing each at a respectable 15 fps. For $60 annually, though, you get all the benefits of Extreme (including the frame rate), saving a fortune over the month-to-month plans. All versions of Express are completely banner free (Paltalk Scene isn’t).

Tokbox

Free video conferencing, no downloads or account setup necessary, only the party that initiates the video conference call is required to have a Tokbox account. You can send the URL by IM or email to the parties you would like to participate. If you would like to start a video conference from your contact list, you can do that too.

Participants that do not have a webcam can choose to listen in only. 20 to 25 people on the video conferencing is recommended. While you can squeeze in more, things like ambient noise and screen size do come into play. Simply make sure you’re working off of a recent version of Adobe Flash for best performance.

33 Ways To Sex Up Your Cell Phone

2011-07-10T15:10:00.000+05:30

Want to enhance your mobile experience? Here are thirty-three ways to have a whole lot more fun with phones.

(1) Upgrade to a diamond-encrusted, million-dollar GoldVish phone. Conspicuous consumerism at its best. GoldVish is a must-have for all you multi-millionaires out there. Over 100 carats in diamonds and white gold throughout. Wow. That’s hot. If Paris Hilton doesn’t already have this phone, I guarantee she will by the winter. If you can’t afford a GoldVish, go for the much more affordable Vertu (though it’s no cheapie with a base price of $800). What’s that you say, your long-term cell contract is the only thing keeping you from buying one of these babies? Celltradeusa.com offers a get out of your cellphone contract free card…for a small fee. But if you’re rich enough to afford either the GoldVish or Vertu phones, you probably don’t care anyway.

(2) Go full screen. Nokia is developing a ridiculously sexy new phone called the “aeon” which uses a full touch screen over the entire surface of the phone. [Engadget via Mobility Site] Basically the entire surface of the phone turns into a touch screen when in use, and then back to generic looking plastic when not. It’s ingenious.

(3) Find yourself. Get GPS. It’s expected that the number of cell phone subscribers with GPS services will reach 315 million by 2011. Here’s an example of a Nokia handset with GPS. GPS is this year’s in-phone MP3 service, or last year’s camera phone technology. Expect almost every phone manufacturer to include some form of GPS in their newest phones in 2007. In fact, the competition for having the best GPS technology among phone companies has already begun as Nokia recently signed a deal with GPS giant Trimble.

(4) Grab your 15 seconds of fame. Enter a cameraphone art contest. Keep in mind that Andy Warhol actually said, very cynically, that everyone will have their 15 seconds of fame, not 15 minutes.

(5) Project yourself. This could be taken two ways: get a screen projector for your cell phone, or a phone with 3D images. The projector idea won’t be useful for most people, especially for $400. But if you’re really into gadgets, there’s no better way to make a statement at a party than with a projection screen shooting out from your cell. By contrast, the 3D images I’m digging. I predict that everyone is going to want this technology; unfortunately they aren’t exactly available yet.

(6) Get mobile VoIP service. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a new form of telephony where a call is carried over the Internet. With PDA cellphones coming into the mainstream, millions of people already have broadband Internet access via their phones. So taking the next step to using your cell to make free VoIP calls is already possible, and its only a matter of time before it goes mainstream. In fact, if you have a cellular data plan, you might already have access to mobile VoIP (although not all providers allow it). Mobile VoIP is relatively new, but depending on your phone and provider, some of your choices are Mino Wireless, EQO Mobile, iSkoot, Fring, SoonR, and Skype for PocketPC (specific handsets). There are also a few more technologies like Talkster, that are still being developed. If you’re a tech-junkie, you’ll want to follow VoIP and cell-phone integration for the next few months, because when this hits the mainstream, its going to be huge.

(7) Get mobile TV service. It’s not for everyone, but the number of people subscribing to TV broadcasts over their mobile phone/ PDA is increasing. That’s because reviews consistently say that the quality is excellent and at $9.95 per month it is within almost everyone’s price range.

(8) Get mobile radio. There are new mobile radio services forming, including Motorola iRadio, which features 600+ channels of National Public Radio music programming. CD quality at that. I expect this to be really popular in cities where commuters rely on public transit, because people will be able to get the daily news without having to carry an extra pocket radio.

(9) Unlimited cellular data plan. If you’re planning on browsing the Internet with your cell phone, listening to streaming music, or using mobile VoIP or mobile TV (see above), then you need not only need a cellular data plan (aka cellular wireless), but an “unlimited” monthly bandwidth account. Just make sure that “unlimited” means unlimited, as some providers cap monthly data bandwidth at 250 Megabytes, others at 10 Gigabytes. To get an idea, a video might be 50 Mb. So 250 Mb doesn’t take you very far. In case you’re interested, almost every provider is offering these unlimited plans, and they will typically run you about $60-$80 per month.

(10) Add a Wi-Fi card. Some smart phones and PDAs have a slot where you can insert memory or other modules. If you don’t want to get an expensive cellular data plan, you can access the Internet on your phone using Wi-Fi as long as you are near a Wi-Fi network. In fact, Motorola recently introduced a model where the wifi connectivity was actually built in to the phone.

(11) Setup a Bluetooth headset or earpiece (or sunglasses!). These are great if you tend to move around in a room a lot. You can also tuck your cell phone in your pocket and answer your calls through the headset. If you’re out in public and feel silly wearing a headset, try an earpiece, which tucks into and around your ear. Bluetooth headsets/ earpieces are also great for using VoIP on your desktop or laptop computer, provided that they are Bluetooth-enabled. If you feel like splurging, there’s the Motorola Razrwire Bluetooth-enabled sunglasses from Oakley, for roughly $200-300. A great accessory for someone on the go, particularly athletes.

(12) Get/make a ringtone. Ringtones are a multi-billion dollar market today. Individually, they’re pretty expensive considering that you’re rarely getting a full song. So if you’re the DIY sort, make your own ringtones. If you use Audacity to record, the software is free and easy to use. So scour through your collection of music and create your own custom tones. Just make sure you don’t try to sell them if you didn’t write the songs yourself, else you may have to call home. Hello Dad? I’m in jail. Just kidding.

(13) Buy and sell your own ringtones through your mobile. If you’re more of a leader than a follower, especially if you have a geeky bone or two in your body, you’ve probably already made your own ringtones (see above), phone wallpaper, and other mobile content. If not, MyNuMo provides web-based tools to do that very thing. What’s sexy about that? You can sell your creations on your own NumoMedia site, or via SMS, with MyNuMo handling all the distribution and transactions for your little company. Imagine your tones, papers and videos on your friends phones, their friends’ phones… the mind – and wallet – boggles.

(14) Make your cell phone squeal. After all the investment you’ve put into your phone to sexy it up, the last thing you want is for it to be stolen. So get your hands on Remote XT, an application that makes your phone scream if it’s stolen. It stores all your crucial data online, and if the phone is stolen, RemoteXT wipes the databank clean so that the thief can’t use it. When you recover the phone (or switch to a new one), you can restore all your contacts and other data.

(15) Pay with your cell phone. A number of newer phones are being tested in various parts of the world, including sports stadiums, which use a technology called contactless payment. Contactless payment comes in several forms including smart cards, key fobs, and now cell phones. Basically, you wave the phone near a special reader, and the appropriate amount of money is transferred from your account. Contactless payment uses a technology known as RFID, or Radio Frequency IDentification, which is at the cutting-edge of Mobile technology. This technology is just coming on to the market, but RFID contactless pay looks like it could be the next big thing.

(16) Pay with your cell phone, part 2. Paypal, an online payments processor, lets you send payment to people via your cell phone. After registering for a free account at Paypal, you can activate the mobile payment option. To get money into or out of your account, you can “add” either or both of a bank account or credit card. (You can also get paid from Paypal by check.) When you want to make a payment with Paypal on your mobile, you can send an SMS text message to Paypal, specifying the person who is being paid, either by their Paypal account name (email) or their phone number. They will have to be registered with Paypal as well.
(17) Go green. Use your mobile in an environmentally friendly way. Cellphones (and many other electronic devices) are generally manufactured with toxic chemicals which create disposal issues. If you want to do your part to ensure that there will be a next generation, you should consider joining the efforts of companies and organizations who are developing cell-phone disposal options that will help make the next generation of mobile technology more “green.” The consortium isn’t just a paper tiger; Nokia’s phones, for instance, have not contained polyvinyl chloride (PVC) “for the past year”, and the company expects to fully stop using components with brominated flame retardants (its motherboards are now BFR-free) “by early next year.” Want to make a difference now? Unplug your charger after using it; your planet will thank you.
(18) Go batteryless. Go green, part 2. The Aimulet LA is a new type of communication device that is made of bamboo and has no battery. Instead, they phone is powered by spherical solar cells, which are are ecologically-friendly and activated by light.
(19) Make a custom skin. There are tons of vinyl, stick-on skins offered by Skinit.com. But even with all the categories and designs they offer, the company knows that the ultimate in personalization is… personal. Photo-upload capability is provided, meaning that you can create your own one-of-a-kind skins from your own digital or scanned photographs. The skins — whether chosen from the many graphic designs or whether designed from your photo — cost $14.95. For your techie friends, think about customized skins as a gift idea; the site sells PIN card codes (one code = one skin) you can give to friends and family, and let them design their own style. If skin isn’t your thing, how about fur? Fun Friends uses “cutting edge plush technology” to bring you cute cat, dog, monkey, mouse — and a host of other — covers for both bar-type and flip-style phones. These furry covers usually cost under 10 dollars each, and they can be combined with a matching $2.99 keychain/ backpack accessory for the full look.
(20) Fix unsightly blemishes. If your phone’s display looks like an icerink after a hockey game or two, you may be interested in Displex Display Polish, an inexpensive product which removes scratches.
(21) Surf the web, even with an old, cheap phone. Don’t let not having a smartphone or PDA prevent you from Internet content surfing. Opera Mini, the software of the Opera web browser has been developed for all WAP-enabled phones, is now in its second release. Version 2.0 enables browser skins, “speed-dial” bookmarks, and rich-content (such as MP3s) downloading. What will it look like (and how will it work) when you’ve installed it? Check out the simulator on the Opera Mini website. Find out more about the mobile web, and the .mobi domain.
(22) Create an IM-like away message for callers and texters. Jaiku lets your friends know where you’re at, and whether you can respond to their calls and text messages. Very much still in beta, the application publishes your

… IM-style away line, your phone profile (ring volume, vibrate), location (country, city/region, neighborhood), Bluetooth devices around, upcoming calendar events, and the amount of time your phone has been idle.” (from the Jaiku blog)

Certainly worth investigating, the service currently works only on Symbian-enabled Nokia Series 60 Second Edition phones, and moves a lot of data. If your carrier charges data traffic by the kilobyte, you may wish to pass on this.
(23) Chase teens away without bugging the adults around you. The discovery that an irritating, high-pitched sound that kids and teens can hear but cannot be heard by adults has led to interesting applications. Used by adults via loudspeakers to disperse unruly packs of teenagers from malls, the ‘Mosquito’ sound has been adapted by teens into ‘Teen Buzz’ – a ringtone adults can’t hear. With students’ texting alerts set to Teen Buzz, teachers will need eagle eyes to catch cheaters. If you’re a parent, the sound can be used to de-child the TV room prior to mature programming. With the spread of the ringtone into mobile phones, the technology is certain to find other mobile applications such as a chemical free bug repellant that emanates from your phone.
(24) Gambling through your mobile. Imagine if all the time you spend waiting – waiting for dates, buses, and airplanes, could be spent doing something fun. Something like playing games and winning cash for instance. Mobile gambling has been around for a few years now, and its spreading quickly. As noted by Impact Lab — if you’re a UK-based mobile phone user between 20 and 35, there’s a 50 per cent chance you’ve already tried mobile gambling. Established poker sites like PokerRoom.com provide real mobile poker play for mobiles. Just make sure you don’t lose your online poker bankroll and that online gambling is legal in your country.
(25) Upload videos to YouTube. If you’re not into cameraphone art contests (see item #4 above), maybe you want to share your video masterpiece with the world at YouTube (now owned by Google). YouTube allows mobile uploads which means that you can touch up your videos and pictures without having to start up the computer.
(26) Connect your laptop to the Internet with your cell. If you have a cellular wireless plan (see item #9 above) for your cell phone, you can use your wireless plan to hook up your laptop (or desktop) to the Internet. This is usually called “dial-up networking” and there are a couple of ways you can do it, depending on your phone: either with a special USB cable or using Bluetooth. Engadget tells you how to connect a Pocket PC phone, but the process is similar for most phones.
(27) Watch time-shifting mobile TV. If you don’t want to pay for expensive mobile TV broadcasts (see item #7 above), you can also watch content that you’ve recorded onto your hard drive. One option is TivoToGo Mobile, another is Orb. Your ability to use either service may vary by where you live, but assuming you can use the service, you can watch your fave shows on the go. Orb also lets you access your photos, audios, and other video content download from elsewhere. Orb is free, TivoToGo Mobile requires specific equipment.
(28) Boost your call signal. Stop dropped calls by boosting your cell signal through a personal amplifier. A antenna setup for a single cell phone will run you only $200, whereas an antenna for all the calls made in your house or car will cost you closer to $400. Either way, this is a great way to eliminate once and for all the ‘dead spots’ in your home, car, or any other building.
(29) Blog from your phone. Have a weblog and want to post to it on the go? TypePad Mobile and other web services let you do this. TypePad Mobile works with Palm OS 5, Windows Mobile 5, and Symbian Series 60 phones/ PDAs (at the time of this writing).
(30) Add some input. If you are planning to blog from your phone/ PDA, typing up stuff is much easier with a fold-out portable keyboard. Almost every smartphone and PDA has a compatible keyboard available.
(31) Mess with NoMess. A fun yet challenging game is NoMess (or PalmGear), which is sort of a combination of othello, go/ gomoku, and chess. It’s super-addictive, and will make any long airport or traffic delay pass really quickly. It can actually function as a stress-reliever but the game requires patience and forethought. Unfortunately, it’s only for the Palm OS platform (any PalmOS-based phone/ PDA, not just Palm devices).
(32) Play Quake. You’ll need a Nokia N93 phone, but with it, you can actually play Quake online. Yes, that means actually playing with and against other players around the world, all from your cell phone. Pretty awesome.
(33) Get a Mobal world phone. Anyone who travels around the world knows what a pain it is to try to call home. Mobal solves all of this by offering a mobile that works anywhere in the world. This is a great gift for the world traveler, whether that’s you or a friend or family member. There are two packages, including the 140-countries and 160-countries plans. The latter includes US service. Both packages include a lifetime phone number that works in all of the countries where you have service.

20 Tips To Increase Laptop’s Battery Life

2011-07-10T15:09:00.000+05:30

Falling just short of carrying an extra pack of batteries in the back-pack, are several ways to keep the juice flowing through the batteries.

1. Ship Shape With A Defrag

Regular defragmentation helps to arrange data more efficiently thus making the hard drive work less to access the data. The quicker the moving hard drive works lesser is the load placed on the battery. Thus, your batter can last longer. The effect is minimal, but this efficiency goes hand in glove with hard drive maintenance.

2. Kill The Resource Gobblers

End the background processes that are not vital. Monitor the resource usage through a ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del’ which brings up the Windows Task Manager (in Windows). If you’re not on the internet, it is safe to shut down the immediate non-essential programs running in the taskbar like the antivirus and the firewall. Weed out unnecessary programs running as start-ups by launching the System Configuration Utility from Run – Msconfig – Tab: Startup. Uncheck the programs which you don’t want to launch and reboot the computer once.

3. Pause The Scheduled Tasks

It may be a defrag or a virus scan, but make sure it is scheduled for a time when you are near a power outlet. If not then nix them for the moment.

4. Unplug External Devices

USB devices are the biggest drainers of battery power. Unplug all external devices like an external mouse, PC cards, Wi-Fi, external speakers, Bluetooth and even an attached iPod.

5. Empty The CD/DVD Drives

Even if you don’t intend to use it, don’t leave any CD/DVDs as leftovers in the drives. A spinning drive sucks battery power like a sponge.

6. Go Local

Desist using the DVD/external drives while running on batteries. Shift the content to the hard drive or run using (free) virtual drives like Pismo File Mount or even Microsoft’s Virtual CD ROM Control Panel.

7. Lower The Lights

The LCD screen of a laptop is another huge power sink. Calibrate the brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate using the Function key toggles or using the Display Settings applet in the Control Panel.

8. Kill The Sounds

Mute the speakers and try avoiding the use of multimedia software to maximize the battery life. Installed sound schemes also drain a battery perceptibly.

9. Rid The Screensaver

To maximize battery life by a little, switch off the screensaver.

10. Visit Power Options

Get familiar with power management through the ‘Power Options’ applet in the Control Panel. Both XP and Vista come with advanced power management features which shut off components like the monitor and/or the hard drive after specified intervals. This again depends on the chosen ‘Power Schemes’ (for XP) in the same applet. For instance in XP, ‘Max Battery’ under Power Schemes can be selected for maximum battery optimization.

11. Turn Off The Looks

Today’s OS’s like Windows Vista come with features like ‘Aero Glass’ which are resource guzzlers. One can turn it off and go for the ‘Classic’ appearance which consumes less power. In Vista, click on Desktop – Preferences – View Colour – Appearance – Classic Appearance and Windows Basic graphical interface. In XP it’s – Display Properties – Theme – Windows Classic.

Linux and even Macintosh are better optimized for longer battery life.

12. Hibernate Is Better Than Sleep

In the Stand By mode (or sleep mode), the computer turns of the hard drive and the display but memory remains active while the CPU slows down. This draws on the battery. In contrast, hibernation mode is better because the computer saves the current state and shuts itself down completely thus saving power.

13. Get The Most…Work On The Least

Working on too many programs while on the battery is a sure fire power drainer. Keep use of graphic intensive applications to a minimum. Working on a spreadsheet consumes much less than playing your favourite game. To increase the life of the battery open just one or two programs concurrently.

14. Ram In More RAM

Adequate RAM reduces the load on Virtual memory which by default resides on the hard drive. Though every extra bit of RAM uses up more power, it increases overall savings by short cutting access to the power hungry hard drive.

15. Keep It Clean

A laptop with blocked air vents will generate more heat thus reducing the life of the battery. Clean the air vents regularly to keep operating temperatures low. Allow for open space around the vents for air to circulate freely. Keep the area around the laptop clean to avoid entry of dust.

16. Temperature Is A Silent Killer

Undue heat kills off a battery slowly but surely. Avoid leaving the laptop under direct sunlight or inside a closed car.

17. Avoid The Memory Effect

A problem more for the older Ni-MH batteries than for Li-Ion batteries on which most modern laptops run. Memory effect relates to the loss of battery charge when they are repeatedly recharged after being only partially discharged. It can be prevented by discharging the battery fully and then completely recharging it. Li-Ion batteries on the other hand have no problems with partial discharges and re-charges and complete discharge is never recommended for this type.

18. Update Software And Drivers

This sounds a bit incongruous but then newer drivers and software are often designed to be more efficient (and hopefully less resource hungry).

19. Use The Right Adapter

Ensure that the adapter you use to charge the laptop battery is an original one or one with the correct specifications. A mismatch in the wattage could cause an overload thus damaging the laptop and the battery.

20. Pack It Up

If you don’t plan to use the laptop on batteries for quite some time, ensure that the charge is nearly 40 percent – remove the batteries and store it in a cool place.

A typical lithium ion battery has an overall average life of 2-3 years. With some care and caution, its mortality can be delayed.

Have you found your own way to increase battery life of your laptop? Share the ‘life giving’ tips with us in the comments.

Top 3 Tools To Back Up And Restore Installed Windows Drivers

2011-07-10T15:07:00.002+05:30

Top 3 freeware softwares that help you to view all the drivers installed on your computer and allows you to backup, restore, all drivers according to your choice.

DriverMax

DriverMax is a freeware utility that allows you backup and restore the drivers installed on your Windows computer more over a it has a option to download and check for latest driver updates for your computer hardwares.All you need to use DriverMax is a free account that DriverMax will ask you to create and mail you the activation code

DOWNLOAD : DriverMax

Double Driver

Double Driver is simple free software that allows you to analyzes your system and lists the most important driver details such as version, date, provider, etc and offers the latest version updates. All drivers that are found can easily be backed up the application and easily restored at a later point in one go.

DOWNLOAD : Double Driver

Driverbackup 2

Driverbackup 2 is another free software created by Giuseppe Greco to backup and restore installed drives on windows Os .It requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.Driverbackup 2 is available in three languages English , Spanish , Italiano and lack the option to check for updated version of Drivers . However Driverbackup 2 is quite simple to use .

DOWNLOAD : Driverbackup 2

13 Free Backup Programs For Windows, Mac, And Linux

2011-07-10T15:06:00.003+05:30

Making sure you’ve got a reliable backup solution is a must for any user – and more so for an administrator. Why? Well, mostly because your users probably aren’t very good at remembering to back up their own files. And so it falls to you to provide the right software for the job!

Backup software is a difficult category to tackle nowadays as the distinction between backup and synchronization apps has become a little blurred. Prices being what they are, my personal choice is to use external or removable hard drives for my backup chores – my current favorites are Bonkey and Cobian.

To make sure you’ve got plenty of options to choose from, I’ve split this list into three different categories so that you can choose from the options that are best suited to your environment.

Integrated Burning

Comodo Backup [win]
They do make than a great firewall. Comodo Backup is an excellent free solution. It has extremely flexible scheduling and notification options, supports FTP destinations, can burn multisession DVDs, and has a synchronization mode for quick realtime backups.

DFIncBackup [win]
As is the case with most backup applications, there’s a free and paid version. The free one still handles CD/DVD backups, and it also does incremental .zip jobs as well – only backing up files that have changed or weren’t present in your previous job.

SE Backup [win]
Sports a very simple interface, does CD and DVD burning and compression, and is available as a portable application. Scheduling isn’t built in, but it supports command line launching with parameters which works very well with Windows’ own Task Scheduler.

File Copy

Abakt [win]
Though it’s no longer developed, Abakt is still a great choice. It’s got a great file filtering system, supports 7zip and zip compression, file splitting, password protection, and does differential and incremental backups.

Areca [win]
Free, open source, and wicked powerful. Areca is loaded with features: compression, encryption, simulation, merging, transaction commit/rollback, filtering, and more. It’s command line interface provides excellent automation options and Areca also supports scripting of post-job actions.

Bonkey [win] [mac]
The “Backup Monkey.” If I was giving points for best mascot, this one would be a clear winner.

Bonkey runs on both Windows and Mac, and has a lot of great features. It supports email, FTP, and Amazon S3, compression, encryption, scheduling, and synchronization. It’ll even back up MS SQL server databases.

Cobian Backup [win]
Apart from being a great application, Cobian’s developer has an excellent tutorial online to help you get started. Though it is no longer open source, you may still download the last version that was (v8). There’s also a portable version.

One of my favorite features of Cobian is its ability to handle pre- and post- job events. I use it to issue net stop and net start commands to ensure safe backups of our horrible, horrible point-of-sale system. Cobian also has the ability to control and monitor all its instances on your network from your own workstation.

JaBack [win] [mac]
Allows backup to FTP and email (as well as any drive on your computer or network), and sports a flexible scheduler. It also has a file monitor function that will perform backup operations whenever changes are detected.

Mathusalem [mac]
Offers FTP/SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDav, and SMB support for backups on OSX. Mathusalem can compress to zip and dmg, will resume failed uploads, and supports scheduling and command line launching. It’s also open source.

Server-Based

Bacula [win] [mac] [linux]
Bacula is an enterprise grade network backup solution that runs on just about every platform imagineable. It’s a much more complex system than the other options I’ve mentioned, but is extremely powerful and well-suited to a medium or large scale network.

BackupPC [win] [linux]
A Linux-based, client-free enterprise solution for backing up Windows and Linux machines. BackupPC uses SMB, tar, and rsync to extract backup data from client computers. It ‘s got a powerful web-based interface for administrators and users, and will even email reminders to users that have been remiss in performing backups.

It’s a very flexible solution, and is open source.

NasBackup [win] [linux]
Uses a simple Windows GUI and rsync to perform backups from client machines to a central server. It’ll do incremental backups, scheduling, compression, encryption, and the server offers useful per-client controls like limiting the number of versions to store and expiration dates. It also provides daily summaries via email.

Restore [win] [mac] [linux]
The self-proclaimed “reason backup was invented.” It’s definitely a great product, and full of terrific features. Its web interface is very easy to understand and use – and makes it easy for the mobile admin to monitor and control Restore from anywhere.

Restore supports FTP, WebDav, SSH/SFTP, and multiple revisions. It also provides powerful admin tools, making it easy to create and control users, groups, jobs, and scheduling.

30 Web-Based Image Editing Applications

2011-07-10T15:05:00.000+05:30

Today it’s possible to use free, web-based image editing applications to change your photos into works of art. You don’t have to pay a dime; you usually don’t even have to download anything to your computer. You simply sign in, upload the photos that you want to play with to the image-editing app of your choice and make magic.For the budding photographer who wants to step up his game (or the individual who wants to increase his chances of getting a date by doing some basic editing to the photos he’s putting on online dating sites), these are the best image-editing applications available online for free.

Splashup: This free, web-based image-editing application (formerly called Fauxto) is the one which is most similar to Photoshop. It’s one of the few applications out there that uses the layering process of editing that Photoshop uses. For those people who are familiar with Photoshop but don’t actually have a copy (including people who know Photoshop from work or people who want to be able to use Photoshop features from any computer that can get on the Internet instead of just their home computer), this is the best application out there. If you’re looking for something simpler to learn than Photoshop, this probably isn’t your best bet.
Phoenix by Aviary: This is another layer-based, complex image-editing application specifically geared towards artists who want to be able to use the advanced features of a product like Photoshop. It is one application out of a suite that the company is developing. It is currently in beta and free to use but may eventually cost some money once it’s gotten going; getting in on the ground floor could get you hooked up with a good image-editing program.
Adobe Photoshop Express: Of course, if you like Photoshop then you might want to go with a Photoshop program. This is the free web-based version of their software. It obviously doesn’t have all of the perks but it does have quality. It also has a social networking / sharing aspect to the site which might interest people who want to not only edit their photos but also meet others who are editing and sharing their work.
Picnik: People who are looking for a program that is compatible with all of their online photo storage and photo sharing sites (such as Flickr, Picasa Web, and Photobucket) will find that Picnik is a good web-based imaging application to go with. You can import photos from these locations (or upload them from your computer), edit them and then send them directly back to these sites (or to social networking sites like Facebook). It’s image-editing for the Web 2.0 obsessed individual.
FotoFlexer: This application claims to be ‘the world’s most advanced online image editor’. It has many of the same features as Picnik, particularly the ability to share photos with all of your other major photo websites, but it also has some additional features that make it preferable to people who want an image-editing application that can do it all. For example, it lets you edit a live image from your webcam which can certainly make things interesting.
Picture2Life: This website takes the features of sites like Pincik and FotoFlexer and turns them up a notch by making the site itself a social networking site. You can make friends and join groups like you would on any networking site, sharing the images that you’ve edited directly through the site itself. It also lets you share through other sites if you’d prefer and has some neat collage and animation effects that might interest some users.
Flauntr: This is one of the newer image-editing sites out there and one that incorporates the same features as many of the other sites but takes things a step further. In addition to interacting well with your other social networking sites, Flauntr makes it easy to export edited images to your blog. Additionally, it has features to let you easily print photos, create slideshows and do other advanced imaging projects.
72 Photos: This is another website that serves as not only a place to edit photos but also a place to store your photos. All basic editing tools are available (resizing, rotating, etc.) and can be shared within the community on the site or through other Web 2.0 sites.
Preloadr: If the only site that you want to export to is Flickr then you should use this web-based imaging application which is designed specifically for use in conjunction with the Flickr website. It’s got all of the basic editing features of other sites but export is limited to the Flickr platform.
MyImager.com: This is another web-based photo imaging application that makes it easy to share your images with people on other Web 2.0 sites. The interface on this one differs a lot from sites like Picnik which are geared towards the social networking guru; it’s got a more professional office-like appearance to it. There are some limitations on file sizes and there isn’t any photo storage allowed on the site itself so it’s not preferred by everyone but it’s a good tool for the working professional who needs to edit images and share them around the web.
VicImager: An image-editing application that looks a lot like MyImager but has more features to it is VicImager. It lets you do everything from cartoon effects to vintage effects along with more professional features like adding text and logos to your images.
Wiredness: This image-editing application is similar in interface design to MyImager and VicImager. It’s user-friendly but it’s really simple in appearance and is more likely to appeal to the professional in a cubicle than the graphic designer or Web 2.0 aficionado.
Phixr: Many people who don’t want to use Photoshop tend to use programs like Paint that come with their computer. This application is intended to be the web-based version of a program like Paint which may have a few less features than Photoshop but will get the job done for most editing jobs. They’ve recently added Facebook support and increased their speeds in order to be able to compete with newer image-editing applications like Picnik and FotoFlexer.
Snipshot: This is one of the web-based image-editing tools which has been around the longest (you might know it from its previous name: Pixoh). It’s got an easy-to-use interface and a lot of the basic features that you’d want from your image-editing program. The big benefit here is that the pro version (an ad-free version which most of these programs offer) is less than $10 / month so upgrades are possible without costing a pretty penny.
Online Photo Tool: This website lets you do all the basics (sharpening, changing contrast, rotating) along with a few more advanced features (changing edges, etc.) It’s not the best application out there but there’s not much wrong with it either.
Online Image Editor: This is a good web-based image-editing application that lets you easily manipulate your photos using a bunch of different features. The drawback is that this is an ad-heavy site in comparison with the others that are available.
LookWow: Maybe the reason that you’re looking for image-editing software is a really simple one: you want to improve the way that you look in your photos before they go online. People in this position tend to like the way that Photoshop can make their photos look a little bit more airbrushed but they don’t want to pay for the program. LookWow is a web-based tool designed specifically to let you manipulate photo features such as removing zits from your skin and making your lips look fuller and more kissable.
MyPictr: This is another website that is specifically designed to let you improve your face pics although it’s geared towards those people who are seeking to improve their social networking profile photos as opposed to those people who are using their pictures just to supplement their dating.
Perception Lab’s Face Transformer: On the other hand, maybe you have a bunch of photos of an ex and you want to destroy the way that they look. This web-based image-editing application lets you upload a face photo and to change the age, gender and even species of the individual. It’s the kind of application that you won’t use often but it sure is fun to play around with now and then.
Face Filter: A web-based image editing application that does some of the same things as Face Transformer but takes a friendlier approach is FaceFilter. It lets you upload a face picture and change it to make it thinner or to express different emotions like confidence or sadness. If you want to play around with how people look, this is a fun site to visit.
PikiPimp: Another image-editing tool that’s fun to use even though it won’t be your primary application is PikiPimp which lets you ‘pimp out’ your photos with bling and glitter. It’s intended for a youth audience, obviously, but might appeal to adults who have had a little bit too much to drink.
DVD Smiles: Not everyone is looking for a complex program that will let them do a zillion different things with their photos. Some people are just looking for a really simple converter program that will allow them to upload photos and easily change their size and format. If that sounds like you then this is a great web-based application that lets you easily alter the format, quality and size of the image in a really simple three-step process.
PhotoMajig: This is another simple online converter that lets you easily resize and reformat your photos without cluttering things up with a bunch of other features that you aren’t going to use.
PiccyFix: Maybe the idea of a simple converter sounds good but you think that you’d also like to try out some other editing techniques. PiccyFix is a good application because you can choose to do just resizing or just reformatting but you can also choose to use the program’s photo-editing wizard to improve the appearance and effects of your photos. The person who wants edited images but doesn’t want to do the work will find this to be the best application.
FixPicture: With a name that’s strikingly similar to PiccyFix, it’s of little surprise that this image-editing application has the same basic premise. It’s primarily intended for resizing and reformatting photos but lets you do some basic editing. The difference here is that PiccyFix uses a wizard and FixPicture lets you do it yourself.
Annotate: This is a niche image-editing application designed specifically for people who are creating scientific or academic presentations that include images which need to be edited and/or annotated.
Fluxify: This is a really unique image-editing program that has only one purpose – to resize your photos and then email them for you straight from your browser. If you’re having trouble getting images to send through traditional email and you don’t want to take the time to figure out the problem, this simple size-editing tool could be useful for you.
Instantizer: This is another image-editing program that has a single purpose but in this case that’s to take your traditional photos and to frame them so they look like Polaroid photos. This isn’t going to be your primary photo-editing tool but it’s a fun one to bookmark for use alongside your preferred image-editing applications.
Pic2Color: One of the more interesting single-purpose image-editing programs out there is Pic2Color which is based around the idea that you can manipulate the color scheme of your pictures to create truly stunning art-quality images. If you’re interested in digital photography as an art form, this is a great tool to get you started learning about color.
Improve Your Images: This is another image-editing program that’s based around color but it’s a lot simpler in concept than Pic2Color is. It lets you easily restore original lighting, change color temperatures and adjust for poor lighting using one-click features.

40 Networking Tools For Freelancers

2011-07-10T15:04:00.000+05:30

Finding Support

These networking tools will help you find support and assistance within the freelancing community.

Writers-Editors Network: This community connects writers and editors with special tools for finding inspiration, mentors, jobs and more.
All Freelance Work: All Freelance Work provides freelancers with articles and messages boards about creating a marketable portfolio, pursuing work-from-home assignments, starting your own business and finding gigs.
Freelance UK: Freelancers based in the UK use this network to learn about the business, get tax and insurance advice and meet up with other freelancers through the site’s forum.
Freelance Mom: Freelance Mom sponsors “a support network for women working from home.” Get tips on finding a job and marketing your business or link up with the Freelance Mom Network to promote your work and meet other moms through blogging.
FreelanceSwitch: This go-to website provides a wealth of resources for active freelancers. Visit the job board to search jobs, read and comment on blog posts to get great advice from the pros, or network on the site’s inclusive forum.
Freelance Folder: Become a part of this freelance and entrepreneur community by linking up with its blogroll or contributing blog posts of your own. You’ll also find tons of articles about dealing with clients, setting up a home office and networking.
Freelancers Union: Becoming a member of the Freelancers Union grants you access to insurance deals, new jobs, and plenty of community support.
Canadian Freelance Union: Empower yourself as an independent Canadian writer against large media corporations by joining the Canadian Freelance Union.
The Society of Professional Journalists: The SPJ provides all kinds of support and resources for journalists, including freelance journalists. Discussion boards, blogs, special events, mentor programs and other networking opportunities abound.
Media Bistro: This online community welcomes all kinds of media professionals who want to learn how to improve their craft, sign up for classes, meet other professionals or search for jobs.
Breaking Out of Solitary Confinement: Networking Tips for Freelancers: The Washington D.C., chapter of the Society for Technical Communication has put together this podcast that shares valuable networking tips for lonely freelancers.
Write From Home: This “freelance writing community for parents” shares tips for finding jobs, finding a work-life balance, and managing a career and parenting schedule while working from home.
National Writers Union: All kinds of writers are eligible to become members of the NWU, and payment plans are available. Members enjoy access to a job hotline, various seminars, copyright guides, grievance assistance and more.

Getting Hired

Search for jobs by visiting these sites and connecting with other professionals.

Guru.com: This popular site lets freelancers search for projects, post resumes, place bids on interesting projects, and get paid safely and securely.
Elance: Elance is “the world’s largest professional services marketplace.” Post your resume and bid on projects to meet new employers.
iFreelance: This professional network of freelancers and employers caters to both the job searcher and the headhunter. Create and post a project or resume to find your next gig.
Sologig: Find freelance, contract and consulting jobs with the help of this networking website.
Freelance Marketplace: UK-based freelancers can check out Freelance Marketplace online to help them search for jobs and connect with new clients, vendors and other freelancers.
Freelance India: India-based workers seeking part-time projects can network and post resumes on Freelance India.
Contracted Work: Professionals in the Web design, software, writing and graphics industries can find jobs and employers with the help of ContractedNetwork.com.
HireGeeks.com: This site encourages companies to “hire geeks” to obtain “freelance support from technical to tutoring.” Freelancers can get together on the forums, catch up on industry news and culture on the blog and set up a personal geek account to safely store funds.
Xchangeteam: This site not only connects freelancers with new jobs, it also supports a solid community of freelancers that includes an annual Freelancer of the Year Award, flexible benefits package, expert advice and more.
TheWorkNet: TheWorkNet is a “marketplace for skilled contractors, freelancers” and other independent workers to meet and find quality jobs.
GoFreelance: This “freelance work exchange” helps freelancers in many industries find work.
Freelance Job News: Use the job bank to search specific postings, or visit the “For Writers Only” page to find publications that are currently accepting submissions from freelancers.
Freelancers.net: This site helps British freelancers find jobs, but freelancers everywhere can benefit from the active forum community.

General Networking Tools

These articles and websites are designed to help independent professionals link up to find support and improve their businesses.

Weekend Writers Cafe: This weekly discussion group sponsored by the Grow Your Writing Business Blog brings freelance writers together for a chance to inspire each other, rant about projects and clients and learn how to improve their businesses.
Networking: How to Network Offline and In Person: Stop hiding behind your computer and get out in the real world! This post shares ideas for networking offline.
Diva Networking: This blog hosts a networking group one hour each month. Work-at-home professionals can connect, communicate, and even market their projects to amp up their business.
Talkfreelance: Join in the discussions on Talkfreelance’s many different posts. Over 12,000 members in the Web design, SEO, programming and hosting industries visit to network and share support.
Network Freelance: This British site sponsors a tight freelance, PR and marketing community, provides links and articles about industry news and allows members access to open contracts up for bidding.
Networking for Freelance Writers: Check out this resource for help mapping out a networking strategy that will help you meet more people, land more jobs and become a more confident, in-demand writer.
How to Successfully Network Online: This article gives lots of tips for freelancers who want to increase their networking presence online.
The Fast Track to Freelance Success Includes Networking and a Strong Portfolio: This article from Associated Content explains how and why freelancers can improve their networking skills to augment their careers.
LinkedIn: This popular networking tool maintains that “relationships matter.” Meet up with others in your industry to find support or search for new jobs.
ecademy: This online business network brings together professionals who want to further their careers by meeting new people all over the world. Join clubs, sponsor networking meetings or events and get marketing tips from other experts online.
Meetup: Meetup is the “world’s largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups.” Join an existing group or search for clubs in your city to organize activities and events for freelancers like you.
Ryze: This free networking community assists forward-thinking professionals “make quality contacts…re-connect with friends” and find jobs.
Ziggs: Ziggs is a popular site “that organizes the Internet around your people, your work, and your life.” Join for free to manage a profile and control the way others view your business and “online identity,” as one user testifies.
hi5: Create a personal Web page on hi5 to advertise your business for free. Freelancers can network freely to share information about jobs, marketing strategies and more.

13 Ways To Improve Your Career With Social Media

2011-07-10T15:03:00.002+05:30

Job Hunting

1. Expand your network – Social networks like LinkedIN, Facebook and even Twitter are a fantastic way to get to ‘know’ people in your industry but it goes beyond that. Search out their blogs. Find relevant forums. Comment on their work and get to know them. Create your own high-quality, regular content and they will come to you, too.

2. Obtain references – More and more companies nowadays look online when recruiting. If your co-workers, clients or partners are on LinkedIN, ask them to write a recommendation for you. It reflects well on you and, if the recommendation matches the person, it reflects well on them too.

3. Own your online brand – Your homepage may be what Google says it is, and so is your personal brand. I went as far as re-locating this site from a different URL in order to reclaim the top spot when you search for “dave fleet.” What does that matter? Well, when a client recently Googled me when we proposed some social media work for them, they came back saying “you know your stuff” rather than “what do you know?”

4. Find jobs – Most jobs aren’t advertised – they’re filled through networking and recommendations. My job certainly wasn’t advertised – I got to know the team here at Thornley Fallis through social media tools and related events. When the time came for me to move, I already had that connection. Without that, I would likely not be in this job now.

5. Build thought leadership – By creating your own content, you can (over time) develop yourself as a thought leader in your space. (This one could fall under ‘job hunting’ or ‘job performance)

Job Performance

6. Stay on top of industry trends – If you haven’t already, get yourself a Google Reader account and search out the places where people are discussing your industry online. Subscribe to them and read voraciously. My number one tip for agency newbies was to “be a sponge” but that really applies to everyone.

7. Stay on top of breaking news – You can do more than just stay on top of your own job or industry through social media. Pretty much all of the major news outlets have RSS feeds; subscribe to them and set aside time to skim through the latest news each day. Read what’s relevant; discard the rest – the ability to filter out the noise is one of social media’s big benefits. On Twitter, subscribe to feeds like @breakingnewson and any media feeds that you like to stay on top of news by the minute

8. Demonstrate you’re on the leading edge – Whether it’s internally with your boss, co-workers and internal clients, or externally with suppliers, clients and stakeholders, knowing what’s going on will go a long way to improving your reputation. Staying plugged-in helps you get there.

9. Improve your productivity - I subscribe to a couple of hundred sites; I read about 40 on a daily basis (although a couple of them are aggregators). To go to each site individually and search for new content would take most of my day, and catching new posts as they come up throughout the day would be impossible. My RSS reader lets me get through it in a few minutes before work, during the day and in the evening. It’s a huge productivity boost for me.

10. Learn from others – One of the best parts of writing this blog, posting on Twitter, listening to podcasts and all of the other tools out there is that I get to benefit from other peoples’ experience and knowledge. If I’m not sure of an idea I’ll throw it out there for input. When I have an opinion, I let other people challenge it. In the end, I’m that much more sure of what I do and think because of the input of the social media community

11. Improve your writing – When it comes to writing, practice makes perfect. I’m told my writing has improved immeasurably since I started this site (although I still have a way to go). You simply can’t beat the benefit you get from editing your thoughts down to 140 characters for Twitter, or constantly structuring and re-structuring your thoughts as you write blog posts.

12. Become a better editor – In order to have good writing you generally require good editing. With social media, you rarely have someone else to do that for you so you’re forced to teach yourself.

13. Clarify your thoughts – Putting my thoughts, opinions and approaches to problems down on ‘paper,’ as it were, forces you to get your head around them. As a result, you’re more effective when confronted by those issues in your work.

30 Ways To Improve Follower Number On Twitter

2011-07-10T15:02:00.003+05:30

Start by following these 30 tips to improve follower number in twitter.com :

1. Remember Why People Follow You- This is the first thing you have to figure out. Unless they’re just desperate for more friends, people usually have a specific reason for following you. If your Twitter account is for professional networking, they most likely want to hear your thoughts on relevant industry topics. In other words, they don’t want to read about you clipping your toenails or getting in a fight with your significant other.

2. Determine Why People Quit You- It’s a sad fact of Twitter life, but people will unfollow you at some point. You need to figure out why they’re doing it. One handy tool for doing this is Qwitter. This will send you an alert letting you know the exact moment someone stops following you. It will show your most recent Tweet with the hopes that will shed some light on the situation. If that doesn’t help, ask yourself if you’re living up to your expectations from tip #1.

3. Interact with Your Followers- Twitter is a social tool. So, you need to be social. Don’t just send one-way Tweets. Interact with the people you’re following. Someone is much less likely to drop you if you engage with them on a regular basis. Remember, social networking is about building connections. The only to build strong connections is to chat it up.

4. Don’t Over Tweet- Maybe I’m being anal, but one of the things that leads me to unfollow someone is when they drop 50 Tweets in the span of a few short minutes. It’s like the guy at the conference who tries to take over the show by asking 10,000 questions. Let everyone share the floor. Tweet your heart out, but just be careful not to overdo it.

5. Don’t Under Tweet Either- If you don’t give your Twitter account any attention, you’re begging to be wiped away when someone starts trimming their following list. It goes back to tip#3—if people don’t know you, they’ll have little problem dropping you like a bad habit. Keep your visibility up by making at least a few quality posts each day.

6. Keep Self-Promotion to a Minimum- Is there anything more disappointing than following a new user only to find that every one of their updates is a link to some crappy blog post they wrote? Even worse is when they constantly Tweet about how great their company is or why you should do business with them. Look, a little self-promotion is expected. But keep it at a minimum. It’s not an infomercial; it’s Twitter.

7. Lend a Helping Hand- Instead of constantly promoting yourself, lend a helping hand to some of your connections on Twitter. If you see somebody wrote a good post, do them the favor of Retweeting it. They’ll be appreciative, and it shows others you aren’t just in it for yourself.

8. Be a Resource- If you really want people to continue following you, make it impossible for them to leave by making high quality updates. Whether this is linking out to a great tool or article or simply giving a thoughtful opinion in a discussion, people won’t stop following someone who’s a great resource.

9. Stop Whining- Here’s a surefire way to start losing followers—constantly complain about your life. One of the best things about working from home is I don’t have to listen to people gripe all day about inconsequential things. No one cares if McDonalds messed up your order or if your boss is a jerk; stop whining!

10. Be Yourself- Yes, this sounds like something out of a cheesy motivational video, but it’s true. People follow you because they care what you think. Just be yourself, and people will respect that. It’s the only way you’ll truly stand out from the masses.

11. Don’t obsessively study guides to using Twitter. (There are a lot.) You’ll drive yourself crazy and waste valuable tweeting time

12. Don’t edit out your tweets about the weather. I talk about the weather a lot. It’s not deliberate, maybe it’s because I live somewhere wild and wet, but it’s a great ice breaker and way to get to know people in other parts of the world

13. Don’t edit out your tweets about what you’re eating. You’re sure to find someone who’s interested in or revolted by your food choice, or needs a translation. (Haggis, neeps and tatties anyone?)

14. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You don’t need to know it all on Twitter. Ask good questions and you’ll get a flood of witty, helpful responses in return

15. Don’t stick to one time of day. Your Twitter stream will vary according to time zone, who’s awake, what kind of mood they’re in. You too. Experiment and see what suits you best

16. Don’t go so fast you miss your @ replies (replies sent to you). Invest in replying to those who reply to you and you’ll start to make friends, not just pick up followers

17. Don’t follow people you think you ’should’ follow. It’s pretty dull following a whole lot of social media A listers. Twitter’s full of interesting, quirky people. Leave room in your stream for people who aren’t ‘anyone’, just someone.

18. Don’t forget to share pictures. People enjoy clicking on a link to a picture. It’s quick, easy and doesn’t require any mental effort to read another blog post. Plus it’s a great way to share another part of your world.

19. Don’t stick to talking about your core brand. Share something of yourself. Talk about things you’re interested in. You never know where it might lead. Apparently I’m to lead a Twitter class on beginner’s Gaelic. What does this have to with this blog, with Confident Writing, with my professional reputation? Not a lot. With me? Mucho.

20. Don’t worry about the numbers. And don’t tweet about your numbers: it’s really not that interesting to anyone else. Focus on the conversation.

21. Don’t worry about unfollowing people. So what if they’re clocking your clicks with Qwitter? We’re all following and unfollowing all the time. It’s one of the reasons I like it: the realisation that there’s no such thing as Twitter because everyone is enjoying a different conversation with a different pattern of people

22. Don’t worry about leaving Twitter for weeks at a time. ‘Twitter’ won’t care because Twitter doesn’t exist. Most of the 100s of people following you won’t notice either way. Your friends will – and will be glad to see you back.

23. Don’t forget to be yourself, whatever that means

24. Don’t think about the fact that the world can read your Twitter stream. (You have remembered it’s open to all to read haven’t you?) It might just cramp your style

25. Don’t thank your followers for following. I mean really: how much effort does it take me to click a link on your name? I don’t expect thanks for following. And I don’t expect you to mind if I click away later.

26. Don’t reread your own Twitter stream: it might scare you

27. Don’t post your Twitter stream to your blog. Unless you’re stuck in broadcasting mode your stream will make no sense to readers of your blog. It might just make sense to people following your stream, but it really makes no sense at all out of context.

28. Don’t try and follow all the links you find in your stream. It’ll make your head explode. (Apparently Twitter serves up a new post every 2 seconds.)

29. Don’t broadcast all the time. (It’ll sound like you’re not listening.) Or reply all the time. (It’ll baffle the people who follow you.) Or try and find the perfect balance between the two. (You never will.)

30. Don’t follow my rules – or anyone els’es. But you might want to set some of your own. (Mine are: Don’t talk about clients in an identifiable way. Ever. Don’t drink and tweet. Don’t DM anything I couldn’t cope with others reading if something scary happened to the system. Don’t be unkind.)

sweetloveis

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