TechZilo

Al Image: free tool to convert and resize images

Sumesh P — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:31:10 +0000

Al Image Converter is a tiny utility (setup file of just 49 KB) to convert and resize images. It can convert to most of the popular formats and supports resizing to various sizes.

click to enlarge

Features of Al Image Converter/Resizer

Convert to commonly used formats (GIF, JPG, PNG, TIFF)
Resize images to small, medium or large thumbnail sizes
Resize images to all available sizes at once
Batch resize and create thumbnails by drag-dropping all files you need, choosing the appropriate sizes and formats and hitting “Create”

Perhaps the only feature that I miss in Al Image Converter is a lack of support for resizing to custom sizes. I usually use Al Image to resize images when I’m writing tutorials which require large-size images for each step.

Download Al Image Converter

Do you use any other free image converter/resizer with all these features? Recommend them in comments below.

Al Image: free tool to convert and resize images

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Transfer music from iPod / iPhone to Windows

Sumesh P — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:05:27 +0000

Apple, as impressive as their products are, have an annoying habit: of locking customers to their devices as they see fit. iPod and iPhone owners cannot transfer music from iPod / iPhone to another device. DRM is to blame for this, but we have a solution for it.

Much like the previously featured Pod to Mac software for Mac OS X users, Pod to PC is a small freeware application for Windows that lets you pull music from your iPod to your Windows-based PC.

iPods and iPhones which have been undergone jailbreak can also be used with Pod to PC – such compatibility was added recently.

Pod to PC works with iPod, iPod Touch and iPhone. It has search features, and you can also set it to transfer all files at once.

Download Pod to Mac

Transfer music from iPod / iPhone to Windows

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Free TV torrents RSS feed: ShowRSS

Sumesh P — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:25:57 +0000

ShowRSS is a new website that provides RSS feeds for BitTorrent links of television shows.

ShowRSS is developed by a Spanish torrent enthusiast. Apparently, the owner does not intend to make money from the site – there are no any ads on the site as of writing. Filesharing, and more specifically torrent websites, for non-commercial purposes is legal in Spain (several sites were ruled legal by courts in Spain), because of which the owner is confident that the site will not be taken down by anti-piracy organizations.

The steps to start using Show RSS are best described by the following image:

The steps are fairly easy, and requires very little action from the user once the initial setup is complete. ShowRSS does requires a registration, but it is just about the easiest. You do not need even an email address – all it takes is to type in a user name, password and image CAPTCHA for anti-spam purposes. The account helps the site save preferences and such.

In an interview, the site owner said that all user information on the site are encrypted for safety. In any case, the information isn’t likely to be very useful if they are ever broken into.

Visit ShowRSS

Free TV torrents RSS feed: ShowRSS

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Cleano: delete Windows temporary files

Sumesh P — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:24:19 +0000

Cleano is a tiny (~180 KB) freeware that removes Windows temporary files. If it is unable to remove temporary files, you can choose to let Cleano delete the files during startup.

Cleano: Remove temporary files

Cleano removes

user’s temporary files.
user’s recent items.
user’s Internet Explorer temporary files.
user’s Desktop Run history.
Windows prefetch files.
Windows temporary files.
user’s custom folders.
user’s NetHood items.

Cleano is portable and does not require installation. This makes it possible to carry Cleano in a USB drive and clean up multiple computers if you are the tech guy for your family/friends/office.

Download Cleano

Cleano: delete Windows temporary files

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Add post title as subject in FeedBurner email subscriptions

Sumesh P — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:37:51 +0000

FeedBurner is a popular RSS feed management service, acquired by Google in 2007. While FeedBurner was developed actively and new features were announced, one feature they have always sorely missed is the ability to customize the email subscription subject line.

All emails reach the subscriber with the subject line filled with the title of the name. What subscribers would ideally like is the post title and perhaps some other information being filled into the subject line, so that they can glance at the list of emails and find out which email contains which article.

It is a trivial tweak for a web application so developed and backed by the might of Google, yet somehow the feature was not included for a long time.

FeedBurner has added the feature finally – you can customize the subscription mails using some parameters.

If you are an email subscriber, you would see the title of this post as a subject line already.

Customize FeedBurner email subscription

To add post title into subject line, login to FeedBurner. Go to Publicize > Email Subscriptions > Email Branding. There are helpful tips on the page regarding what parameters to use.

You can also see the settings I used – fairly easy to configure.

Add post title as subject in FeedBurner email subscriptions

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J Downloader: Free MediaFire download manager

Sumesh P — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:20:39 +0000

Media Fire is one of the more popular free file hosting services. Rapidshare is the most dominant in this category, but Mediafire has its share of fans.

I have already written how to use Rapidshare premium link generators for unrestricted access, and Raptor, a free Rapidshare download manager.

J Downloader is a free Mediafire download manager. It is cross-platform (works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) and runs on Java Runtime Environment (JRE). It integrates with Firefox.

Free Mediafire download manager

I tested J Downloader on Mac OS X. Upon starting the installation process, it asks you for the language, download directory of choice and gives you an option to integrate J Downloader with Firefox.

As you can note from the screenshots above, during installation, J Downloader’s interface is not spectacular, but once the install is done, the app inherits the native look of the OS used.

Download J Downloader

Here are direct links to J Downloader for all three OSes:
Windows, Linux and Mac.

If any of these links do not work, you can get more download links for J Downloader on its download page.

J Downloader: Free MediaFire download manager

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Batch resize images with Thumbs Up (Mac OS X)

Sumesh P — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:23:51 +0000

Thumbs Up is a free software for Mac OS X to create thumbnails of pictures and movies. It can also be used to batch-resize images.

Thumbs Up has a simple preferences window. To resize images, you can configure the various options in the preferences window, and then drag-drop the images to the Thumbs Up icon.

Resized images are created in the same folder as the original files. You can choose prefixes or suffixes to filenames, or let Thumbs Up create all the images to a folder (which will be within the folder that contains original files).

Resizing can be configured by percentage or maximum size. Formats supported include JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP and GIF. There are also options for antialiasing and sharpening. You can choose the level of compression to be applied while saving the image. ThumbsUp also supports PDF to image conversion, so you can use it to convert PDFs to other image formats.

Download Thumbs Up

I started using Thumbs Up to write tutorials on this site, which mostly requires resizing several images to fit the width of content column.

Windows users might like Al Image Converter, a free software for Windows, with similar features and functionality.

Batch resize images with Thumbs Up (Mac OS X)

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Run old extensions in Firefox 3.5

Sumesh P — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:13:49 +0000

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 was released today. While this is great news for users and web developers, not all addon authors have got round to updating the addons for the new version.

In many cases, the extensions and themes do not break, but simply need to be marked compatible with the specific version of Firefox. In such cases, you can use the simple about:config hack below to disable the extension compatibility check and use older addons without any problems.

Note that this presents the risk of crashes and problems, so make sure you either know that your favorite extensions and themes are compatible with Firefox, or you have proper backups of your data/settings/bookmarks/addons.

Hack to use older addons in Firefox 3.5

Here are the steps to disable extension compatibility check to use incompatible Firefox themes and addons:

Enter about:config in the address bar to bring up the about:config page.

Right-click anywhere, point to New and then to Boolean.

Enter the key extensions.checkCompatibility and hit OK.

Choose the value as false.

If you type the first few letters of extensions.checkCompatibility in the filter field, you can find the value set as false.

You have to restart Firefox for the hack to be in effect.

I found that the above hack worked in letting Firefox use the GrApple theme – which is still ages ahead of the default Firefox theme.

Run old extensions in Firefox 3.5

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How to install Windows Live Messenger 2009 offline

Sumesh P — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:40:34 +0000

Microsoft has joined an increasing number of companies (like Skype, Yahoo and Google) in providing only web installers for their instant messenger, Windows Live Messenger 2009. Web installer is a small file that, when you open, downloads the full setup file from internet and installs the program.

The reasons to provide web installers may be many – to collect statistics, to force-install other software etc. However, web installers are a maor irritant. This is especially true if you need to install Windows Live Messenger on multiple computers – you would have to download and install it on each computer, wasting bandwidth. Users on slower internet connection may also suffer network connection timeout.

Download Windows Live Messenger offline (standalone) installer

While Microsoft’s own site does not provide offline installers, you can get offline standalone setup files from other trusted websites. Hit the link below to download:

Download Windows Live Messenger 2009 standalone installer

How to install Windows Live Messenger 2009 offline

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u.nu: shortest URL shortener

Sumesh P — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:31:21 +0000

There are dozens of URL shortening services available, most of which are the same in terms of features. Some, like Bit.ly, differentiate themselves with stats and such, while some others do so with their size (no pun intended ).

u.nu is one such URL shortener – it has the shortest number of characters in URL possible. There are other services with three letter domains, but u.nu also has a convenient API etc. for use.

Usually, API is used by services that interact with the site, but u.nu API is simple. To create a new short URL, all you have to do is, use the URL http://u.nu/unu-api-simple?url= where YOUR URL is the original, longer URL. More details about the API are available here.

You can also drag the bookmarklet and place it on your bookmarks toolbar for easy access.

u.nu: shortest URL shortener

How to search inside zip files on Mac OS X

Sumesh P — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:23:14 +0000

Although Mac OS X natively supports zip format and has an excellent search and indexing tool in Spotlight, you cannot search within zip files using Spotlight.

However, Spotlight can be extended with plugins, and we can use Ziplight plugin to search within zip files. Installing Ziplight is slightly different from normal programs, as you are installing a plugin for an app.

Download Ziplight

Ziplight is available for free from Bartas Technologies- download it.
On double-clicking the downloaded .dmg file, you get a Ziplight.mdimporter file.

Install Ziplight

Drag and drop the file into Spotlight folder under Library – by clicking Macintosh HD, then Library and finally the Spotlight folder.

Reboot or logout and login to your Mac to start using Ziplight plugin. It takes a few minutes for Ziplight to index all the zip files on your Mac – usually 10 to 30 minutes depending on the number of zip files on your system.

In an effort to be fast and easy to use, Ziplight searches only names of files within a zip folder. This should be enough for most purposes.

How to search inside zip files on Mac OS X

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GPlus: Smileys and other useful features in Google Talk

Sumesh P — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:05:34 +0000

Google Talk is a paradox in software: a minimalist, clean application, which unfortunately suffers from excess of those very qualities. Google has likely not given Talk much priority, hence it has always lacked features that other IMs like Yahoo, MSN etc. have. Common features like smileys, chat logging, video chat etc. are missing even today.

Get smileys and other features in Google Talk

Gplus is a Google Talk addon which brings functionality that is found in most other IMs (but lacking in G Talk).

GPlus Features

Emoticons
Emotisounds
Chat Logging (in HTML)
RTF (Rich Text Formatting
Text filters to filter abusive words from conversations

GPlus official website is offline but you can download GPlus [Download.com]

GPlus: Smileys and other useful features in Google Talk

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View Wimbledon tennis: live online video streams

Sumesh P — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:55:02 +0000

Wimbledon is one of the four major Grand Slams in tennis, and arguably the most aesthetically pleasing. It is at Wimbledon that players like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer won it several times in a row to become the most dominant grass-courters of their generation.

Wimbledon tennis online video streams

If you live in a place where Wimbledon matches are not available live on TV, or for some other reason, cannot watch it, here are some ways to watch the Wimbledon matches online. There are several sources, some of which use Flash to deliver videos, and others that use VLC or similar players, though some of them may not be very reliable. So, you may have to test more than one online live feed before choosing one.

If you are a soccer fan, you may also want to see our guides on watching Champions League football and English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Premiera Liga etc. live online.

NBC Wimbledon live videos

Unlike previous years, when NBC Sports charged a fee (around $25) for online video streams, they have opened up the streams for free this year. That’s right, you can watch live videos of Wimbledon for free, legally. If you look at the screenshot above, you can see links to videos.

Click here to visit NBC Sports for online streams of WImbledon.

Note: NBC live video streams are available only to visitors from USA. If you are not from USA, you may want to read on, or use some proxy (which will be slower, so I recommend using the sources listed below).

Ustream.tv – Wimbledon live online channels

Popular live online video streaming site Ustream.tv has a channel dedicated to tennis videos, from which you can click through to Wimbledon live videos (will be named accordingly).

Click here to visit Ustream for WImbledon tennis strems channel.

Justin.tv live streams

Justin.tv is another live video streaming site, and a competitor to Ustream.tv. They also have a channel for tennis videos. Wimbledon live video streams are among the links listed.

Click here to Justin.tv Wimbledon online videos channel.

MyP2P.eu – Sopcast links for Wimbledon streams

MyP2P.eu is a popular destination for live videos of all sports, not just restricted to tennis. You can get the required software first, then visit the Tennis page to view videos.

Wimbledon finals – the last few years

Roger Federer had won five times at Wimbledon from 2003 to 2007. Last year, Federer, then ranked world number 1, lost a thrilling, mammoth Wimbledon final that lasted nearly five hours and five sets, with Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who subsequently replaced him as the top ranked player.

This year, everyone expected an eager rematch of Federer and Nadal, who have played thrice in the final, but unfortunately, the world number 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew due to injury. The stage now looks set for a sixth Wimbledon title for Federer, although there are some potential road blocks in the form of French Open finalist Robin Soderling and former Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic.

View Wimbledon tennis: live online video streams

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Backup / restore your system drivers with Driver Backup

Sumesh P — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:57:52 +0000

One of the headaches when reinstalling Windows is installing all the drivers correctly. You can use any of the freeware tools to backup your system drivers.

Driver Backup is one such free, open-source tool to backup your drivers. Driver Backup can backup, restore and remove drivers. It also has command line options, although that feature is not likely to be used a lot

Driver Backup also supports automatic driver restoration from discs.

Get Driver Backup

Backup / restore your system drivers with Driver Backup

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Windows Live skin for Winamp free download

Sumesh P — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:02:06 +0000

Winamp is one of the most popular ~~media~~ audio players for Windows. I like it because of its functionality, but am also a fan of plugins and skins available for it.

If you like the modern Windows look, you might want to download this Windows Live skin for Winamp. I am personally not a big fan of gloss and Live style in general, but we all have our choices, don’t we?

Windows Live Winamp skin

Download Windows Live skin for Winamp

This Winamp skin misses some minor UI elements like the volume and equalizer elements. However, these can be accessed using keyboard shortcuts. Up/down arrows control volume. For equalizer, the shortcuts below should work:

1 – 0 : Increase EQ bands 1-10
Q – P : Decrease EQ bands 1-10
N : Toggle EQ Enabled
S : Open Presets Menu

You can find a list of Winamp shortcuts on the official Winamp blog.

Windows Live skin for Winamp free download

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