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5 Things CEOs Will Love About the iPhone 4S

2011-10-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

While Apple's newest iPhone, iPhone 4S, is an incremental upgrade, business users will like the new features - and will be glad Apple left one feature out.

The iconic Apple iPhone got an internal makeover but not much else this week—no radical redesign, no iPhone 5 name change. Fashion-conscious consumers weren't very happy, but iPhone-toting CEOs should be pleased with the iPhone 4S. They might even cheer Apple for leaving out a flashy upgrade.

As you've probably heard by now, the iPhone 4S is Apple's newest iPhone unveiled on Tuesday with much fanfare. On the hardware side, the iPhone 4S touts a much-improved camera and wireless system, a faster A4 chip (the same one that's in the iPad 2), and dual GSM and CDMA support. On the software side, the iPhone 4S comes with a voice-controlled artificial intelligence assistant, called Siri.

Perhaps the most compelling feature is the price tag. The 16GB version costs $199, a 32GB model costs $299, and the 64GB edition costs $399, each with a two-year contract. The iPhone 4S ships October 14.

There's no question Apple aggressively priced the iPhone 4S to compete with cheaper Android phones. Apple and Google are in a pitched battle in the smartphone market, as Android phones have collectively outsold iPhones in the past few quarters.

But business executives should be happy that Apple didn't fall into the trap of doing iPhone upgrades solely because of competition with Android. For business users, real-world necessities trump marketing positioning driven by hype and perception. And there are a lot of iPhone business users: Apple claims 93 percent of the Fortune 500 are testing or deploying the iPhone.

All of this leads us to the first of five reasons why the iPhone 4S will be a powerful business tool. "What's in it for business users? Surprisingly, quite a bit," says Aaron Freimark, IT director at services firm Tekserve, which helps Fortune 1000 companies adopt iPhones and iPads.

Reason 1: Avoiding the 4G Facade

Since some Android phones support super-fast 4G LTE networks, tech analyst Rob Enderle and others figured Apple's newest iPhone would have to support 4G as well. "Another 3G phone would be a problem given the heavy push into 4G and would likely give iPhone 4G competitors an unusual advantage," Enderle told me in a discussion about the pros and cons of 4G prior to the iPhone launch.

Never mind that immature 4G chipsets drain battery life like a sieve or that LTE coverage remains spotty as wireless carriers begin their rollout of the network. "It's the chipsets and faster wireless protocols that are really the battery hogs," says Kyle Wiens of iFixit. "Look at the battery life of every new 4G phone; it's not acceptable."

Needless to say, business users prefer battery life and coverage over a 4G marketing ploy. By not going with 4G, Apple has improved the battery life of the iPhone 4S: Eight hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of video.

Reason 2: The Need for Speed

What about data transfer speed? Apple apparently hasn't lost much, claiming that the iPhone 4S running on 3G networks including HSPA+, which AT&T claims delivers 4G speeds, doubles the iPhone 4 download speed to 14.4 Mbps and uploads at 5.8 Mbps.

Aaron Freimark of Tekserve

"This is an amazing download speed, and we'll have to see it to believe it," Freimark says. "If they can engineer their way to 4G speed out of a 3G connection, it's going to be pretty remarkable."

While everyone loves faster download speed, business users have the most to gain. They are often downloading business intelligence reports with iPhone apps such as Roambi. Also, more and more data-heavy critical business information is becoming available on the iPhone in the form of podcasts and video.

Related to this, the added processing power of the new A5 dual-core chip in the iPhone 4S should boost performance of graphics-intensive apps like Roambi. For IT departments that want flashy graphics, as well as to improve performance of virtual private networks and on-the-fly encryption on the iPhone, Freimark says, "the new chip effectively raises the bar."

Reason 3: The "S" in iPhone 4S Is for Siri

For super-busy executives, virtual personal assistant Siri should be a godsend.

Apple showed off Siri at the iPhone 4S launch, whereby Siri was able to understand and connect spoken words such as rain and raincoat, read text messages, take dictation, access apps such as alarms and calendars, and even create geo-fences that will, for instance, remind you to pick up some milk after leaving the office. For a CEO, this functionality could be invaluable.

While Siri sounds like something out of Star Trek, one big question remains: How will Siri perform in the real-world? It's a wait-and-see game, of course.

But Freimark thinks Apple will deliver on the capabilities of the technology. Apple's existing iPhone voice-recognition technology—a feature turned on by holding down the home button—is already pretty good, he says. Apple also spent millions last year to acquire Siri, an iPhone app that made CIO.com's list of 15 best iPhone apps for busy CEOs.

The Siri app hasn't been updated for a year, which probably means Siri and Apple engineers have been working together on this for a while. "There's a good possibility that the right minds are coming together and living up to the promise," says Freimark, adding that it could be the killer app on the iPhone.

(Freimark rightly notes that Siri won't be an "app," rather a feature built into iOS and running across apps. When I fired up Siri on my iPhone 3GS, the app indicated that it will be "going home soon" and presumably won't be available in the future as a standalone app.)

Reason 4: An iPhone for the Global Economy

As expected, Apple unified its CDMA and GSM iPhones into a single world phone. This, of course, benefits all globetrotters but especially business executives competing in the emerging global economy.

For instance, one of Tekserve's customers has an executive who carries two iPhones: a CDMA Verizon iPhone for the United States and an unlocked GSM iPhone for overseas. Now he's going to be able to trade in his two iPhone 4s for one iPhone 4S.

Reason 5: Airplay for Business

The iPhone 4S supports Airplay, or wireless mirroring to the iPhone. Consumers will be happy that they'll be able to hook up their iPhone 4S wirelessly to the hockey puck-sized Apple TV and watch movies. For business users, though, Airplay on the iPhone can play a critical role in presentations, says Freimark.

That is, an executive carrying an iPhone and an Apple TV can make a presentation on the fly.

"If you take an Apple TV, which is a little bigger than a deck of cards, that has an HDMI port on it and does Wi-Fi, and you plug it in and connect it to your iPhone 4S, you can do a live presentation anytime you want," Freimark explains. "It's a really impressive thing."

Create a Follow Me on Google Plus, Twitter, or Facebook Button

2011-10-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

Follow me on Twitter, Google +, and Facebook buttons are highly popular ways to gain a following on your favorite social networks. By creating a button, you can leverage traffic to your social accounts. In today’s tutorial, we will guide you through the process of creating a button for Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, or any other website.

The process of creating a follow me button is similar, but also a bit different, depending on which social network you are referencing. Here are some guides to creating a follow me button on three of the web’s most popular social networks: Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook.

Twitter

To get started, jump to the official Twitter resources page for creating follow buttons.

From here, the process is fairly self explanatory, but we will still guide you through the process. The first step is to enter your Twitter user name.

Next up, you will need to choose from either a light or dark background for your follow button.
Note: The preview pane, located on the right side of the screen, will provide a live preview of your follow me button, as it is being created.

The final step for creating a follow me on Twitter button is to select Yes or No to Show Follower Count, and select a language for the Follow button.

Once you have completed the simple three step process, the HTML code to the right of the screen will render a follow button, whenever you paste it into a HTML enabled web page, form, or other document.
Now, for a quick HTML lesson. If you want to center your Twitter button, it can be done using some very basic HTML coding:
Center

<div align=”center”>
YOUR GENERATED TWITTER CODE HERE
</div>

Left

<div align=”left”>
YOUR GENERATED TWITTER CODE HERE
</div>

Right

<div align=”center”>
YOUR GENERATED TWITTER CODE HERE
</div>

Facebook

To get started, open a web browser and navigate to Facebook.com. Login to your Facebook account. Once you are logged in to the site, open this url:
http://www.facebook.com/badges/
You will notice that there are several types of badges that you can create using Facebook. Select the option Profile Badge.

On the next screen, click the Edit this badge link.

This page allows you to customize the layout and items to be included on the badge. You can customize the badge anyway that you’d like, but for a simple Facebook badge, select Layout: Vertical and only check Name: for Items:. Once you have finished creating your Facebook badge, click the Save button.

This will return you to the previous screen. Now, select a website that you would like to add your follow me on Facebook button to. If you don’t use Blogger or TypePad, click the Other button.

A HTML code for your Facebook profile will be instantly generated once you click on one of the Choose where to add the badge: buttons.

From here, simply copy and paste the generated HTML into the webpage or other HTML compatible web form. If you want to align the button left, center, or right on the page, refer to the above HTML guide in this article.

Google Plus + and Other Websites

Google Plus has several options for creating +1 buttons. To create those, refer to this guide.
The previous link provides an excellent guide for creating +1 buttons. However, you may want to create a Follow Me on Google + button instead, which is a bit different. Creating a follow me on Google button, or a button for any social network, can be achieved by using basic HTML that you would use to link any image to a website.
The following, is the method that most professional websites use to create follow me buttons; which is why, you see all of those cool, customized buttons on different websites.
First, you need to either design or find a Follow Me on Google + image and save it to your computer. Tony Gines designed a nice button that you can find here. Alternatively, a Google Image Search with the term “follow me on Google button” will likely turn up some images that you can use too.

Once you have found a button image, save it to your computer. Next, you need to upload the image to the web so that it has its own URL. This can be done using a quick uploading service such as Imgur, or even a Photo hosting service such as Picasa or Photobucket.
You now need to get the URL for your Google + account and copy and paste it into Notepad or Text Edit.
From here, you can use the image URL (hosted at Imgur, Picasa, etc…), your Google + profile URL, and some HTML to create the button.

<a href = “putyourGoogle+profileURLhere.com”><img src = “yourimageURLgoeshere.png” border = “0″></a>

Once you have completed the above HTML, you can simply paste the edited code into any HTML enabled web forms or webpages.
That concludes our guide to creating follow me buttons. If you are having any troubles with the HTML, leave a comment and I will try to help. Enjoy!

iPhone 4S FAQs and Things You Should Know

2011-10-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Although the iPhone 4S doesn’t seem as much like a “new phone,” because the design hasn’t changed, there are still several things that you may want to take into consideration if you are planning on purchasing the 4S. In today’s post, we will cover some frequently asked questions regarding the 4S, and also list some things you should know, prior to purchasing the device.

Let’s start with some frequently asked questions regarding the Apple iPhone 4S.

FAQs

When will the iPhone 4S be available in stores?

The iPhone 4S will be available for sale on October 14, 2011 in Apple Retail Stores, Apple Online Store, and Cellular stores. Currently, the 4S is available for preorder on Apple.com.

What countries is the iPhone 4S available in?

The 4S will be available on the above date in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan. If you live in another country that is not listed, the iPhone still may be available in your area soon. Apple is expected to make the iPhone 4S available in over 70 countries by the end of 2011.

What is the iPhone 4S price and how many models are available.

The iPhone 4S will be available in either a black color or a white color. From there, there are three capacities to choose from, each priced accordingly.

There will also be an unlocked version of the iPhone 4S, that will retail for:

16GB – $649.00
32GB – $749.00
64GB – $849.00

The unlocked version of the 4S will be sold on Apple.com.

Do I have to start a new, or add on to an existing, 2-year contract with the iPhone 4S?

More than likely, yes. However, you can purchase a unlocked iPhone 4S (mentioned above). That would keep you out of a contract, because you would be paying full retail price. There is though, something that you should know about the unlocked iPhone 4S.

An unlocked version of the 4S will not be compatible with Verizon and Sprint in the United States, so to many people in the U.S., the unlocked version won’t even be an option. It will, though, work on T-Mobile, without the need to jailbreak.

The unlocked 4S is mainly intended for use in other countries, where you can simply use a foreign carrier SIM card with the iPhone.

If you don’t want to enter a contract, you can probably purchase the iPhone 4S at full retail price from your wireless provider, or try and find a new or used 4S online from a retailer.

How do I check to see if I am eligible for an upgrade so that I can get that iPhone 4S at upgrade price?

Each carrier is a bit different, so you can always contact your wireless carrier and ask them. If you want to check online, however, you can go this page at Apple and it should inform you to whether or not you can purchase the iPhone for the upgrade price.

If I travel abroad, will the iPhone 4S work in other countries.

Yes, the iPhone 4S is a world phone that supports both major cell phone technologies: CDMA and GSM. Thus, the 4S will work in most countries.

Are there any changes to the exterior of the 4S, from the regular iPhone 4?

Yes there are, but they are very minimal. The buttons on the side are very, very slightly redesigned. Also, the case markings on the back of the iPhone may be slightly different. The most drastic change to the exterior is that the new 4S has a SIM card slot on the right side of the phone, which is needed to make it a world phone.

What specific U.S. carriers will get the iPhone 4S?

Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon are all getting the iPhone 4S.

Since the iPhone 4 is CDMA and GSM, and also available from more carriers, can I transfer to another carrier with the iPhone 4S?

Possibly not, as many wireless providers will likely have a license agreement in place, which will prevent you from transferring the 4S to other carriers. The specific iPhone that you purchase from a carrier will also likely be locked, even though it is both CDMA and GSM compatible.

However, there will likely be an unlock available on the internet soon after the iPhone 4S’s release, which would allow you to unlock the phone. From there, you should be able to do with it what you want, it’s your phone.

Will iPhone 4 accessories work with the 4S?

The high majority of iPhone 4 accessories will work with the iPhone 4S, so don’t sell or disregard any existing iPhone 4 accessories that you own, yet. The exception to this rule is that some standard iPhone 4 cases that were manufactured for early versions of the original iPhone 4 (AT&T), may not be compatible with the new 4S.

The answers provided in this article are intended to add clarity to many frequently asked questions regarding the iPhone 4S. It is also recommended that you check out our post about choosing an iPhone, as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G will still be supported. Over at Switching To Mac, they posted an upgrade guide that can help existing iPhone owners decide whether to upgrade to the 4S.

If you have any additional questions about the iPhone 4S, leave a comment below and I will try and help. Thank you for stopping by the site for today’s posts!

Manage A Computer’s Assets and Inventory Using Free Software

2011-10-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

Purchased programs and applications and other software investments often times revolve around a serial number or activation code. After we install applications, we often times use the purchased serial number to activate the software, but then forget about it. Thus, when it comes reinstall time, or reactivation time, we don’t have the serial number, unless we jotted it down. With today’s free application, you can recover serial numbers and activation codes for the majority of your paid applications, view detailed system analytics about a PC, and much more.

The freeware application Belarc Advisor is a unique program that takes a digital inventory of most programs and applications in Windows. The cool thing about this program is, it works for other vendors as well, not just Windows and Microsoft products. Advisor is kind of a difficult app to explain, so let’s jump right in to the tutorial.

To get started, open up a web browser and navigate over to the Belarc homepage. Click the Free Download tab to get to the Belarc Advisor download page. Finally, click the button labeled CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF THE BELARC ADVISOR.

Save the installer file to your computer. Once the download finishes, double click the installer file to begin installation of Belarc Advisor. Proceed to install Belarc Advisor onto your PC, just as you would any other program.

Upon installation, Advisor should auto launch in your default browser, but if it doesn’t, open the path Start > All Programs > Belarc Advisor. The Belarc Analysis window will open and begin scanning your computer.

Once the scan completes, a browser window will open with the detailed results of the scan. Although the Belarc program uses the browser to display PC scan results, it does not connect to an external website. Instead, it creates a browser formatted local file.

The Advisor scans a variety of different system settings and programs on a PC. Some results being:

Operating System Detection
System Model
Processor
Motherboard
Drives
Memory
Hosted Virtual Machines
USB Storage
Local Drives
Network Drives
Users
Controllers
Display
Bus Adapters
Multimedia
Virus Protection
Group Policies
Communications
Other Devices
Network Map
Missing Microsoft Security Hotfixes
Software Licenses
Software Versions and Usage
and more…

Above, we mentioned that Belarc Advisor is a software that can find product keys. The Software Licenses and Software Versions and Usage sections of the Belarc Advisor scan results (browser page), should include detailed information about licenses.
That’s really all there is to it with Belarc Advisor. It’s not an overly complex application to use, but it does take into account the complexities of a PC, and lists them to help you monitor your computer more effectively.
Any other recommended programs similar to Belarc Advisor? Any Belarc Advisor users? Leave a comment!

Guide to Using Sticky Notes in Windows 7

2011-10-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

By now, many users have fallen in love with Sticky Notes. Users who used to depend upon piles of Notepad documents to keep up with quick notes, have now turned to Sticky Notes as you can open all notes at once, not to mention, they are far more aesthetically pleasing. Though some things may seem obvious when using Sticky Notes, there are a few tips and tricks that’ll make you love them even more, such as being able to back them up and formatting text. Below is list of some of the most useful tips and tricks for Sticky Notes.

Basic Use

Open and Close
You have two options when opening Sticky Notes. First, open the start menu, choose All Programs and select Sticky Notes. This brings up all your existing notes. Alternately, open the start menu and type sticky into the search box and press Enter.
You cannot close Sticky Notes by clicking the X in the corner of your note. In fact, this deletes your note. Instead, locate the Sticky Notes icon in the taskbar, right click it and choose Close Window. All notes are immediately closed.

Format Notes
You are not restricted to a certain size for your notes. Drag the note from the bottom right corner.

Right click your note at any time to change its color. You have several options to pick from besides the standard yellow. Changing color helps organize notes by type. For instance, all notes pertaining to a certain project may be blue, while projects related to household tasks may be green.

Add or Delete a Note
Create a new note at any point by pressing the + sign at the top left corner of any existing note. Delete any note by pressing the X at the top right corner. You’ll be asked if you want to delete the note or not. This just helps prevent accidental deletion.

Formatting Text

You’re not restricted to just basic text. You can format text in different ways, such as bold or italics. You can also add bulleted lists. Highlight the text you want to format or select your formatting before typing and use one of the following shortcut keys:
Ctrl + B = Bold Text
Ctrl + I = Italics Text
Ctrl + U = Underline Text
Ctrl + Shift + A = Capitalize Text
Ctrl + T = Strikethrough Text
Ctrl + Shift + L = Bulleted List (press L up to five times for different bullet options, such as bullets, letters or numerals.
Ctrl + L = Left Align
Ctrl + R = Right Align
Ctrl + E = Center Align
Ctrl + Shift + > = Increase text size
Ctrl + Shift + < = Decrease text size
Ctrl + 1 = Single line spacing
Ctrl + 2 = Double line spacing
Ctrl + 5 = 1.5 line spacing

Backup Sticky Notes

If you’ve tried to backup your notes in the past, you may have noticed the notes are not stored anywhere individually. You cannot choose where to save your notes and the location isn’t exactly broadcast by Windows 7. However, there is a way. All notes are saved in a single file. Please note that if you back up your notes and need to replace them, they must be placed in the original location or you will not be able to open your notes.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the following directory: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Sticky Notes\StickyNotes.snt
If Windows 7 is installed on a different drive, your drive letter will be different. UserName should be replaced with your Windows 7 user account name.
If you do not see AppData, you must first set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders. Select Organize and choose Folder and search options.

Select the View tab and select the radio button Show hidden files, folders and drives. Press OK.

The hidden folder AppData will now appear as a lighter colored version of the regular folders.

First Look At The New Delicious Bookmarking Site

2011-10-09T21:07:00.002-07:00

For those of you who do not know, Delicious Bookmarks was purchased from Yahoo. The group who purchased the long neglected bookmarking site were the founders of a site you may have heard about… YouTube. This purchase was a while ago, but the newly redesigned site is up and running now. Lets take a look at what changed for the good and bad.

The layout

The layout is much more modern. Before, the site was a little bland. The newer layout is much more graphical because of the new feature they have named Stacks.

There is also the classic look with featured links. As you can see, this view is pretty much the same as before the site was purchased.

Stacks

Stacks are what they are calling Playlists for the web. They are a cool way to group your findings on the web and easily share them with your friends. To start making a stack, make sure you are logged into Delicious. Click the Create a Stack button on the homepage.

On the next screen, you will be asked to name the stack and add a bit of info about it. If you are going to share the stack publicly, you will probably want to let people know what they are going to be looking at. Make a snappy title and give a decent explanation of the kinds of links you are adding.
You will need to add one link to the stack to be able to save it for editing or publishing later.

Now, whenever you are on the web and use the bookmarklet or other method to add a link to your Delicious bookmarks, you can add it to a stack you have created.

Select the stack you would like to add to from the drop-down or choose new stack. If you choose to create a new grouping, you will be taken to the screen where you fill in the title and intro information.

The rest of the site

The rest of Delicious was freshened up a bit with similar but different graphics. The operation didn’t change much. You can still use the bookmarklet, Firefox and Chrome add-ons and the IE buttons to add links to your account.
The look of the pop-up screen has been redesigned a little. You have the bar to add tags and a box for information about the link. The main difference is the stacks drop down.

Conclusion

The overall feel of Delicious is the same. The addition of a more visual grouping will probably give Delicious a more modern feel and revive the user base a bit. Hopefully the new ownership with put the social back into this great social bookmarking site.
Are you a Delicious Bookmarks user? If so, what are your thoughts on stacks?

How to Establish Authorship For Your Posts In WordPress

2011-10-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I show you how you can establish authorship for your site/content so that your Google profile picture will appear beneath the search results. However, in WordPress, it may not be as easy as it seems. WordPress is using a template system to display your content, so adding the rel=”author” tag will require some tweaking of the theme.
Here’s how you can establish authorship in WordPress.

Note: The following solution is just one of the many ways to establish the authorship of your content. If you have a better, easier way, feel free to use it.

For single author blog

1. Make sure you have an About page that describes who you are and what your blog is about. At the end of the content (of the About page), insert the following link:

<a href="http://your-google-profile-url" rel="me">Follow me on Google +</a>

Remember to replace the http://your-google-profile-url with your Google Profile URL.
Note: The Google Profile URL is of the format: https://plus.google.com/1234567890987654321.
Next, go to the theme editor and open your functions.php file. Insert the following code at the end of the file:

add_filter('the_content', 'add_author_link');
function add_author_link($content)
{	if(is_single())    	
		$content .= '<p>This article is written by <a href="http://link-to-your-about-page" rel="author">'.get_the_author_meta('display_name').'</a></p>';
 
	return $content;	
}

Save the changes.
What the above code does is to insert a sentence at the end of your article with a link to your About page.

For multi-authors blog

1. Get all your authors to update the Jabber/Google Talk field in the Profile section with their Google Profile URL.
2. Open the functions.php file and insert the following code:

add_filter('the_content', 'add_author_link');
function add_author_link($content)
{	if(is_single())    	
	{	$content .= '<p>Follow this author at <a href="'.get_the_author_meta('jabber').'" rel="author">Google+</a></p>';
	}
	return $content;	
}

The above code will grab the Google Profile URL from the author’s Jabber/Gtalk field and insert the link to the end of the content.
That’s it.
It will take 1-2 weeks for Google to show your profile picture in the search results. Meanwhile you can use the Rich Snippet Test Tool to see how your page looks like in the search results.

How to Get Google To Show Your Profile Picture In Search Results

2011-10-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

If you have noticed recently, when you perform a search in Google, some of the search results have a profile picture (of the author) displayed beneath the link. There are no special privilege for these authors, nor did they pay Google to do it. If you are a blogger or content creator, you can get your picture in the search result as well, for free. Here is how to do it.

Setup Google Profile

Obviously, if you want to display your Google Profile picture, you need to have a Google Profile. If you already have a Google account (or Gmail address), you already have a Google Profile. Log into your Google account and setup your Google Profile. Remember to upload a photo of you (not any other thing) as it will be used in the search result.

2. Before Google can display your profile picture, you need to establish authorship of your site. This is to let Google knows that you are the original author of your content. To do that, you just have to insert a link to your Google Profile with the parameter “?rel=author” in every single page of your site. For example, you can insert a link at the end of your content.

<a href="https://plus.google.com/1234567891234567?rel=author">Follow me at Google+</a>
<!--https://plus.google.com/1234567891234567 is your Google Profile URL-->

Or insert an empty link if you don’t want anything to show up.

<a href="https://plus.google.com/1234567891234567?rel=author"></a>
<!--https://plus.google.com/1234567891234567 is your Google Profile URL-->

To use Google+ image instead of text, go to this site and enter your Google Profile URL. Grab the generated code and embed it into your content.
3. Next, go to your Google Profile and click “Edit Profile”. At the About tab, click “Contributor to” and enter the name and URL of your website. Save the changes and click “Finished Editing”.

4. Lastly, complete this form so Google can contact you for any implementation issue.
That’s it.

By Maketecheasier

How to Switch to Desktop Mode For Your Browser In Honeycomb Tablet [Android]

2011-10-09T21:02:00.002-07:00

The tablet, while still unable to replace the functionality of a desktop PC, yet, is a great device for media consumption. You can use it as an ebook reader, movie player or even a dedicated device for browsing the web. If you own an Android tablet (running Honeycomb), when you open the browser app and surf the web, you will notice that some of the sites are still rendered in the mobile mode, despite the fact that the screen resolution is big enough to display the desktop version.
The good thing is, the rendering ability is dependent on the capabilities of the browser. All you have to do is to change the user-agent of the browser and you can easily switch between mobile and desktop mode. Here is how you do it.

Default Honeycomb browser

1. Open the browser app. Tap on the menu icon at the top right corner. Select “Settings”.

2. On the left pane, select “Advanced”. On the right pane, select “User Agents”.

3. Select “Desktop” in the pop-up window.

Done. Now press the Back button until you reach back the main screen. Continue your web surfing. All websites will be rendered in the desktop mode now.

Dolphin For Pad

Dolphin browser is one of the most popular browser in the Android market and the Dolphin For Pad is the version specially for Honeycomb tablet. If you are using it, here is how you can change its user agent.
1. Open the Dolphin for Pad app. Tap the Menu icon at the bottom panel (fourth icon from the left corner). Select “More -> Settings”.

2. Select the first option “User Agent”. Set it to “Desktop”.

That’s it.
I have tried several browsers from the Android market (Firefox beta, Opera, Maxthon, Miren) and all of them have similar ways to configure the user-agents. The only challenge is to find out where their settings page lie. In Opera, the Settings button is hidden under the “O” icon beside the address bar. In Firefox, there is no Settings. You have to go to the Preferences page. Once you locate the configuration page, you should have no problem changing the user-agent, regardless of the browser you are using.

Steve Jobs: 1955 – 2011

2011-10-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

Editor note: We don’t usually cover any news or memorial, but Steve Jobs had been a great influence to us. As a tribute to him and all those wonderful things that he had done, we decided to publish a summary of his life and his legacy.
In very sad news, Apple has reported that Steve Jobs passed away yesterday following his battle with cancer. In his all too brief life, Steve had a huge impact on each of his chosen fields and the entire technology world will be much poorer without his presence.

Early Life, Creating Apple

Steve Jobs was brought up as an adopted child in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Though a college dropout, he was a very intelligent and driven young man and following a stint working at Atari, where he co-created the classic game Breakout with Steve Wozniak, Jobs went on to co-found Apple Computers with Wozniak and fellow Atari employee Ronald Wayne (they were soon joined by Mike Markkula).
As the success of the Apple I and especially the Apple II computers gave Apple the chance to expand its workforce, the company took in more employees and Jobs famously enticed John Sculley to leave his post at Pepsi-Cola in order to serve as Apple’s CEO with the line “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”. Sculley, of course, joined and it was to be a fateful decision as the new CEO soon fired Jobs from the company he helped create.

Eleven Years Away

Far from spending these years away from Apple in the wilderness, Jobs went on to prove that his success was not a fluke and bought the Graphics Group, renamed it Pixar Animation Studios and steered it to great success, producing many animated cinema classics such as the hugely successful Toy Story. Pixar was eventually sold to Disney, making Jobs a major shareholder in that company too.
In addition to Pixar, Jobs also created NeXT Computer and though the company saw limited commercial success, it contained some really great ideas -- many of which went on to be integrated into Mac OS X. It was a NeXT computer which served as the World Wide Web’s first server, created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN.

Dominant Force

Eleven years after his sacking from Apple, Jobs returned to a company in stagnation, written off by many of its rivals. However, following a period of readjustment (and with a couple of missteps on the way), Apple returned to profitability, capitalising on a brilliant ‘Think Different’ marketing campaign and producing one hit after another with the help of design wizard Jonathan Ive. Apple now began to release real modern technology masterpieces like the iMac and iBook. It was with the launch of the iPod however, that Apple became a truly huge global name.
In typical Apple fashion, the original iPod drew upon ideas and trends which existed in other products, but made them easy to use, elegant and ergonomic. The iPod introduced Apple to many new consumers, eventually grabbing an incredible market share so that over 70% of digital music players sold was an iPod. The iPod was combined with a switch to Intel processors and another huge leap in sales. By the time the iPhone was announced, Apple had proven themselves a very special company at the top of their game.

Legacy

Jobs had such an active professional life that it would be difficult to list all his incredible achievements in one article, however, it is fitting that we take a moment to pause on the man’s real greatness. One need not own an Apple product to understand the impact that Steve Jobs has had on the world of technology and animation. Jobs’ stubborn refusal to settle for anything less than perfection also pushed other companies to do the same and the end result is a win for the customer, whichever platform you use.
Perhaps Steve is best remembered here on this famous speech he gave at Stanford University, outlining his life, his thoughts and the driving force behind Apple.

Goodbye Steve and thanks.

How to Design Your Own House With Sweet Home 3D

2011-10-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

I am sure you don’t move house everyday, but when you do, one of the headache is to decide the layout of your new house. I have recently renovated my house and while everything is in a mess, I have to come up with the layout design of the house. I don’t have the luxury of moving my furniture around and do a trial and error. What I did is to make use of a software call Sweet Home 3D to design my house digitally.

Installation

Sweet Home 3D is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. There is also an online version that you can use directly from your browser. To install the desktop software, go to Sweet Home 3D site and download the version for your operating system.
In Ubuntu, you can easily install via the Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu Software Center or with the command:

sudo apt-get install sweethome3d

User Interface

When you open the application, all you will see is a blank window with four sections.

The top left section is a list of 3D model (furniture) that you can drag and drop to the design pane. The top right section is the design pane where you can drag, move, rotate and resize your furniture and arrange them in the preferences you want.
The bottom left section show the description and attributes of individual item and the bottom right section is the 3D preview of your house design. You can change the view by dragging and rotate it around.

Getting Started

The first thing you have to do is to create the layout of your house. If you already have a digital copy of the layout plan, you can import it at “Plan -> Import background image“. Alternatively, you can start from scratch by going to “Plan -> Create Walls“.

Once you have created your layout, you can start to drag and drop the furnitures from the top left section and move them around in the layout. When dealing with the furniture, you can use the corner actions to change its appearance:

Top left corner – rotate
Top right – change elevation
Bottom left – change height
Bottom right – resize

At any point of time, you can drag your cursor to change the viewing angle at the Preview pane. You can also use the scroll wheel to zoom in/out of your layout.

3D Models

The furniture library is rather limited in the desktop version. What you can do is to import (Furniture -> Import Furniture Library) the extra library of 3D models from here.
Once you have finished your design, you can either save it for future editing (with .sh3d extension), print it or save as PDF. The layout that you created can also be exported to SVG format.

Conclusion

If you need a simple home design software that doesn’t require any technical background to use, Sweet Home 3D is a good choice.
Note: Sweet Home 3D is built with java and require java to be installed in your machine before you can use it.
Image credit: BigStockPhoto

By Maketecheasier

Dealing With Duplicate Apple’s Software In Your Mac

2011-10-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

One of the best aspects of being an Apple product user is the ease of use. All of their products, be it computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads, or even software, is always user-friendly and so much easier to use than other products out there. However, sometimes in their efforts to make everything as easy as possible, they inadvertently make it a little harder. This comes into play with the Apple software that is now available in the Apple Store, such as the products in the iWork and iLife line.

Apple keeps making changes to these products, as now some of the software is available on their mobile devices as well. After reading about the new changes made to Pages and iPhoto, two apps that I use fairly frequently, I wanted to make sure I was up-to-date with the software. What made it difficult, though, was that when I have updated the software in earlier updates, instead of replacing the old applications with the new, the system added additional applications with the same name. I had to eliminate the duplicate applications before I could update anything.

Fixing the duplicate applications problem

Fixing the duplicate Pages application was easily solved. I simply did a search for “Pages” and looked in the applications section of the results to find the two separate versions of the software. I used Get Info under the File Menu to find which version was the most recent.

It turns out that one of them was in the Applications folder, and the other was in a separate folder I had made to keep my writing apps together. With Lion, of course, it’s no longer necessary to make folders like that, as they can be organized together under Launchpad. Once I deleted the older app, I was able to determine that the version I had was indeed the most recent.
Fixing the situation with iPhoto proved to be more difficult. When I searched for the app by name, it was only finding one application. Yet, when I went to the App Store, it didn’t say “Installed,” and looked like it was available for a download to me. I assumed I didn’t have a new enough version, and that I would have to buy it. When I tried to purchase it, I was told I would have to update through the Software Update function, yet when I tried that, I was told all my apps were up to date.

I looked again for a separate application. It didn’t show up in Launchpad. However, when I looked through my application folder “the old-fashioned” way, I found an additional iPhoto application, one that was non-functional when I tried to open it. It seemed to be a partial download. I figured this was an easy enough fix and deleted the extra application.
This didn’t fix the problem, though. When I tried to update the application through the App Store and Software Update, I got the same messages as before. When I tried to open the application, I received a new message telling me there was something wrong and that I should contact support. It should be noted that in all this time of using the application, even though there was a non-functioning duplicate in the system as well, I never had any error messages.

I knew that this version of iPhoto had become corrupted as well. It had to be deleted, but I was afraid of losing the two years worth of pictures of and videos I had stored within iPhoto. I checked around on my hard drive and found the iPhoto Library stored separately, and I knew then it would be okay to delete the app, as my photo library would remain.
Once I deleted the corrupted app, I visited the App Store and tried to buy it again. This time I was told I already previously bought iPhoto, so I would be able to update it through Software Update. Sure enough, once I opened Software Update, iPhoto now showed up as available for updating.

The changes Apple makes to its system and applications are fascinating and indeed make things easier, but sometimes it adds up to additional snafus that create more trouble. Hopefully, as Apple continues to make changes to their updating system through Software Update, the App Store and iCloud, it will eliminate these the problems once and for all.

By maketechter

How to Sell Your Old iPhone

2011-10-09T20:48:00.001-07:00

With the increasing news of the new iPhone 5 (or 4S depending on who you ask), there are many customers with older models that are interested in finally making the upgrade. However, new iPhone 4 customers added with new 3GS customers (the device had a recent price drop, increasing interested customers), there aren’t a lot of people who have a freed contract to make the switch. The Apple’s annual tradition of a new iPhone isn’t very upgrade friendly to the average consumer. This means that many customers will have to pay $200 more than the AT&T subsidized price. Today, we’ll give you a couple of tips on how to sell your old iPhone to have extra money for the iPhone 5.

To Sell or Not to Sell

Now that you have made the decision to get the new iPhone model, you are faced with the decision of whether you should sell or not. To some people, it may seem quite logical to go through with the sell. However, many others may not find it necessary. For example, if your contract has ended or will end sometime in October, a sell may be unnecessary because the phone price will be subsidized. In addition, you may find having a backup iPhone to be a good decision in the chance that the new iPhone is recalled, broken, or has some production mishap. Plus, with the holiday season around the corner, you may find giving your old device to a family or friend to be the perfect present. Think hard before selling your iPhone online.

Find the Right Platform

By now, you have made up your mind that you will sell your iPhone online. Good choice, almost all sellers usually get back what they paid for or even double that when selling online. This means that, if the device is in good shape, you could cover a majority or even all of your upgrade expenses. This all depends on where you sell the iPhone. You are faced with many options, however from experience I find selling your iPhone on websites like eBay or Craigslist to give you the biggest bang for your buck. While I find the trade in options to be nice and convenient, they are also for the lazy. I got an estimate from one well known company that I would get $60 back for my like new iPhone 3GS, that’s six times less than what eBay is selling it for. When considering where to sell, make sure to do your research before posting.

Getting your iPhone Sell-Ready

After a long search, you have finally found your retailer match for selling your iPhone. Now, let’s move toward how to get your iPhone picture ready. You have to remember, you aren’t selling the iPhone, and the iPhone must sell itself from the listing you have created. A good listing is the difference between an offer made and a back arrow click to the search results. First, you must clean your iPhone both internally and externally. No, please don’t try finding your nearest screwdriver to pry it open, I mean cleaning it internally by wiping off your personal data. This can be done easily on your iPhone by going to: Settings -> Reset -> Erase all Content and Settings. Make sure to back up your iPhone in iTunes before doing so.

The Science of the Sell

Now that your iPhone is clean and ready, it’s now time to post. When posting, remember to give your customer the world, for a reasonable price, only available for a short amount of time. When remembering these three rules, you’ll have a great sale. When listing, make sure to make it look as new as possible. eBay listings with original boxes will automatically give you an edge. When you add in accessories, your customer will find it a listing they can’t refuse. Another sales tactic is to sell iPhones unlocked. A vast majority (5/6) iPhones on eBay is unlocked. This does come with risks, but you can expect an increase of nearly $100-200 just by having it unlocked.

More Selling Tips…

The next part of the rule is to have it available for only a short time. Consumers love deals that they feel someone else wouldn’t be able to have if they waited. This is why you should sell your iPhone in terms of days rather than weeks. One-day listings garner more instant revenue. The customers won’t have to search for you, but the listing will search for the customer. The last rule is to have it for a reasonable price. If you know what you want, sell it with a Buy it Now option. If you want to play the ropes and possibly get more out of it, then use the auction feature. Selling your iPhone with a low start price will grab people’s attention. However, if you can’t pass up the Buy it Now option, here are some recommended prices per device as of (9/25/2011):

iPhone (Original): $100 – $190

iPhone 3G: $190 – $250

iPhone 3GS: $250 – $390

iPhone 4: No Less than $500 (Regardless of Usable Condition)

Shipping it off

Now your iPhone is finally sold, congratulations, you are now one step closer to your new iPhone upgrade. You must now use some of your earnings and pay for shipping. The easiest way to do this goes without saying, bring your customer’s address with you and go to your local postal office. Check out their best options for shipping economically and utilize them, pay the fees and go on your way. You want shipping that is still inexpensive but will protect your shipment at the same time.

Between the Sell and the Release

You are sitting down and wondering to yourself the age old question “So, what now?” This is the time when you should weigh your options even more. If you had the iPhone 3GS or another later model, you may wonder if it’s better economically to go with an iPhone 4 upgrade than going straight to the iPhone 5. When a model is behind the newest, they usually sell $200 less (unsubsidized) than when they were the newest models out there. Since most news points to an iPhone 5 that won’t be much different from the iPhone 4, it may seem better all around to just get the iPhone 4 than the iPhone 5.
Image credit: Yutaka Tsutano

How To Integrate Google Calendar Into Gnome Shell

2011-10-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

The most distinct feature in Gnome Shell is the Time/Date applet at the top center of the screen. When clicked, it will popup a window and show you the calendar and all your events. However, if you mostly use Google Calendar to manage your events and tasks, you won’t have much use for this time/date applet. What you can do is to integrate your Google Calendar into Gnome Shell so all your events/appointments/tasks show up in the time/date applet.
Here’s how you do so:

We will be using the gnome-shell-google-calendar script to fetch events from your Google Calendar.
1. Go to Gnome Shell Google Calendar github page and download the tar file.

2. Extract the file to your home folder. Rename the folder to gnome-shell-google-calendar.
3. Install the dependencies. Open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install python-gtk2 python-dbus python-gdata python-iso8601 python-gnomekeyring

4. Lastly, run the gnome-shell-google-calendar script.

cd gnome-shell-google-calendar
./gnome-shell-google-calendar.py

It will prompt you to enter your Gmail address and password:

Once authenticated, it will import in your events/appointments/tasks from Google Calendar and display in the Gnome Shell time/date applet.

Note:
1. The script does not save your Google Calendar events locally. It merely grab the events and display it on your system. You will have to run the script everytime (you log in to your computer) to view the events. To set it to run everytime, go to Startup Application and add a new entry:

2. The script only allows you to view your Google Calendar events. It does not allows you to sync locally created events back to Google Calendar.

By maketecheasier

Google Enables Offline Mode for Google Docs and Calendar, Here’s How It Works

2011-10-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Google is slowly rolling out the beta phase of offline versions of Google Docs and Calendar. Google released a Gmail offline app for Chrome that allows you to have full access to your Gmail whether you are connected to the Internet or not. They are now working on developing new features and allowing users to begin seeing them in action before releasing them to everyone.
If you have opted in for the testing for either of these services, you will be able to choose offline mode by clicking on settings in Google Docs or Calendar. We will break down what you can do with each now so you do not have to wait to get a look at their offline modes

How to get started with Google Calendar offline

You should first download the app for Google Calendars for Chrome in the App Store. From there, you will be able to start using offline mode. Once installed, you want to login to your calendar. Click on the gear and select “Offline” from the drop down menu.

You will then be prompted to set up offline mode. Click “Get Started” to continue.
Now, you will be asked to enable the service. This gives you a brief heads up that Google will download your calendar to your computer. If you are using a shared or public computer, you do not want to enable Google Calendar offline as anybody could have access to your schedule. Click “Enable” to move forward.

Google Calendar will now sync itself to your computer. Depending on how much you use its calendar, it may take a few minutes for this process to complete.

Once completed, if you click on the gear icon again and you will see a green check icon near the Offline entry. This indicates you are offline.
It is important to note that as of now, you cannot make any changes, add events or work with any of the real settings behind Google Calendar. When you use it in offline mode, you simply have access to it and nothing more. For some users, this will be enough. For others, you may have to add to your calendar when you get back online.
If you click on “Offline,” you will be giving a tiny menu to either work with the settings for offline mode or to go back online.

Click on “Offline settings.”
The only real settings you have to work with are what calendars under that login you will have access to offline. Make sure the ones you want to work with are checked, then click “Save” to exit.

If you want to go back online with Google Calendar, simply click the gear. Then, “Offline” and finally “Disable offline calendar.”

How to start using Google Docs offline

If you want to start using Google Docs offline, you want to make sure install the Chrome app for the web store first. Then, you can login to your Google Docs account.
Click on the gear icon to access your settings. You want to click on “Set up Docs offline.”

A message will pop up asking you to do two things: Allow offline apps and Install the Docs Chrome web app. Since you already installed the app, you simply have to click “Allow offline docs” to get started.

Again, if you are using a shared or public computer, you want to avoid using any of Google’s offline services otherwise your information could be accessed by whoever else uses that computer.
Keep in mind that you will only be able to view documents with Google Docs offline. You will essentially be in read-only mode when using it. Also, if documents are not synced properly during the process of going offline and you are disconnected from the Internet, you will not be able to retrieve them until you get back online.
Another message will pop up alerting you that Google Docs is syncing with your computer.

Once the process is finished, you can click on the gear icon again. Now, click on “View offline Docs.”

You will then be directed to the offline Google Docs portion of the service. From there, you can read anything you have uploaded that is synced.

Pros of Google Calendar and Docs offline:

Gives you full access to your Calendar and Docs when disconnected from the Internet.
Sync process does not take very long, even on large Calendars and Docs.
Not available to all Google users, yet.

Cons of Google Calendar and Docs offline:

Cannot create any new entries or edit anything synced to your computer.
No real functions to interact with either service.
Limited to rollouts amongst Google users for the time being.

What can we expect for Google Docs and Calendar offline?

Since Google released an all-inclusive version of Gmail that lets users actually interact with their e-mail, it stands to reason that eventually they will develop more friendly versions of Google Docs and Calendar for offline users. For now, if you need to know your schedule or want to read over documents but cannot connect to the Internet, utilizing the offline modes of Google Docs and Calendar can be beneficial.
Since both are in limited modes for now, Google will most likely roll out more features and functionality in time to make them on par with Gmail offline. Are you using Google Docs or Calendar in offline mode, yet? If so, let us know what you think Google should to make it better. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Start Your Own Online Store Using WordPress with WooCommerce From WooThemes

2011-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

I don’t pretend to be an expert web developer. Sure I’ve dabbled in the past, but like the millions of others out there, I probably couldn’t build my own e-commerce site from the ground up. Should that mean I couldn’t run my own e-commerce site?
For many years now services such as WordPress have allowed almost complete amateurs to run their own personal blogs and basic sites, yet as soon as selling becomes an issue, the added complexity takes it beyond the realms of possibility for most people. Well now there’s WooCommerce from WooThemes, that might make the job a little easier for you, me, and anyone else who would like to makes sales through the Internet.

What is WooCommerce?

Essentially, WooCommerce is the name given by the developers to a collection of custom WordPress themes. What’s unique about these themes, however, is that they work in conjunction with various custom plugins to allow operation of the website is an online store.
With a WooCommerce theme, you as the owner of the site, can login to the WordPress backend exactly as I am doing now with little or no web-development background, and manage the items for sale on your website, by adding them in a very similar fashion to how one would add a blog entry.

How it Can Help You

The Internet is a powerful platform for retailers in the 21st century, but only if you’re applied correctly to it. What you get by employing WordPress rather than build a bespoke site from the ground up, is a host of optimisation and management tools at your disposal to give you a better chance of creating a sizeable impression on the world wide web.

Not only that, these themes are ready made for you to populate with your products, therefore setup time will be minimal and the end result can be visually quite stunning, with a feature set that allows for not only cataloguing all of your products, but also beautifully showcasing them in a dedicated section at the top.
It could be potentially vital for your business to gain a presence online, and these themes can make that process of getting online a whole lot simpler, and the effort required to remain operational online even more so. The design work is done for you, the backend work is done for you, yet WordPress allows for great customisation so if you do wish to do so, you can make your store your own.

Extensions

As well as the six themes featuring WooCommerce functionality, WooThemes has created nine extensions that you can opt to deploy onto your website:

PayPal Pro
Table Rate Shipping
EU VAT Exemption
Sale Flash Pro
Per Product Shipping
Payson Form
Web Cash
Product to Media Link
2Checkout Form

The vast majority of these concern the addition of functionality allowing for your customers to make the transactions online via services such as PayPal, Payson or 2Checkout.
These extensions don’t come cheap, however, as they can set you back anywhere between $30 and $50 each, however if you’re comparing this method with creating your own site from scratch with this built in, you’re talking hours saved. We’re assuming here that you won’t have the wherewithal to entirely create a functional site alone, so adding in $50 is a great deal cheaper than employing a web designer to build it for you, as I’d assume you’d otherwise have to.
Other extensions, meanwhile, are rather self explanatory, such as ‘Per Product Shipping’, which allows you to calculate different shipping costs per item sold, rather than a standard rate across the board. This is great if you’re looking to sell things that vary in size a great deal, such as artwork perhaps, rather than t-shirts and clothing.

Themes

The six themes currently available that offer WooCommerce are the following:

Wootique
Coquette
WooStore
Statua
Simplicity
Canvas

Now that probably doesn’t mean a lot to you right now, as they’re just names. But it’s worth noting that while each of these themes maintains its own style and layout, there are elements that can be changed before purchase of the theme, such as the colour scheme. Each theme comes with a host of different options on that front, a varying quantity from theme to theme.
If you want to try out the themes for yourself before you decide to take the plunge and grab one for your online storefront, you can do so here at the official site, and from there you can peek at all the themes in action by choosing from the drop down lists at the top of the page, and the colour schemes next to that.

The themes do vary in price quite drastically too, with Wootique being completely free, but minimal, and Coquette setting you back up to $150 for the developer pack. There are a trio of what they call ‘child themes’ in Statua, Simplicity and Canvas, which whilst basic, go for $20 each representing good value considering what you’re getting for that.

Final Thoughts

You might be thinking there’s some great compromise to be made with WooCommerce compared to a bespoke site, and the only thing that could be considered such is the reduced flexibility you have. However with six themes all in various colour schemes, there should be something that catches your eye.
If you’re thinking of starting up your own e-commerce site, then WooCommerce can save you time, money and effort by putting it all on a plate for you from the word go, leaving you with the simple task of adding in all of your products, and taking them away as required.
WooCommerce gives you a variety of tools as standard, with the obvious additions noted above as extensions, allowing you to create and maintain a fully operational and professional site where you can sell your products, and as we all well know by now, the Internet is a goldmine just waiting to be tapped into.

Check out WooCommerce

Bo.lt Lets You Radically Remix and Share Web Pages Without Any HTML Editing

2011-10-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Most people do not know how to work with HTML code. Most people like to share web pages, but do not know how to make modifications to those pages when they share them. Does this sound like you?
Bo.lt might be just what you need. Using Bo.lt to share copies of an interesting webpage is easy and the service lets you modify the page to show what you want to show and add useful effects to the page. Taking out the unimportant parts lets the viewer focus on the reason you shared the page in the first place.

Getting Started with BO.LT

You have the option to use Bo.lt with out signing up if you want to test it out. However, there are benefits to creating an account.

Custom URL

When you create an account you have the option to choose a custom URL. Yours will be something like this.

You can also rename the link to be more descriptive of what you are sharing.

By having an account you can keep track of how many people are clicking on your links. If you are using more descriptive URLs, you can test the wording you use to see what people respond to.

Modifying web pages

This is the most unique feature of Bo.lt. To start, you will need to add a link to the copy bar and press the red Copy it button.

For simplicity the Google homepage was used. As you mouse around on the page, you will see red boxes around the elements you can eliminate or replace.

When you have something highlighted and want to delete or replace it, Right-click on the area. You will see a box with options pop up. There will be an option to delete something, add a link to that part of the page, change the background of that section or replace the image. The BG image option changes the background image.

Here is the Google homepage with everything but the logo removed. If you make a mistake as you are eliminating or changing objects on the page, there is an Undo button that takes you back one step at a time.

Or the Google homepage with green beans replacing the background.

Sharing your creation

When you are all finished and want to share your creation with the world, you can share it easily on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to share it elsewhere, you can use the link provided.

If you are really proud of your masterpiece, you can also download it and print it.

Conclusion

Bo.lt could be a very good tool for sharing your ideas. Making spoof web pages is a snap. You can take out or replace pictures on a page. Change the background to something really off the wall. There are a lot of imaginative uses for a web app that can let you effortlessly modify web pages with no coding knowledge. It can be a really fun service to use to share stuff on Social Networking sites in your friend circle.
What ways do you have to use modified webpages? Share with us in the comments.

How To Find if the Email You Sent was Opened and Read by the Recipient

2011-10-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

How may times have you sent an email to your friend, but they claim they haven’t received it? Probably more than once. Other times you just want to know if the email you sent was opened by the recipient.
Desktop email clients like Outlook have the feature to get a read-receipt, but online webmail providers do not give this option. Using SpyPig can help take the mystery out of whether your friend read your email or not.

How SpyPig works

To use SpyPig, you will place a tracking image into the email you send. When the recipient opens the email, you will receive a notification email letting you know they have looked at your email.
There isn’t much effort you need to put into using SpyPig, which is why it is so handy. You can use it with any email account you can paste a picture into the body of the email… which is pretty much all of them.

Possible uses

Invites to a party
Time sensitive emails
Replies to a job posting
Request for help from family or friends

How to use SpyPig

SpyPig does not require you to sign up for an account (for basic usage), which is nice. All they ask is that you tell your friends about their service. You want to make sure you are composing an HTML email and the person receiving the email can view and HTML email. On some mobile devices or if they have a slow internet connection, they may view emails as plain or rich-text.
When you are on the SpyPig homepage, you will see a lot of text and information. What you are looking for is the form to fill in some information. It should look something like this.

Email subject

In the message title, they suggest you use a title like: To Mr. Bond: Lets meet for lunch so it will be easy to identify in the notification email. This kind of title may seem a bit Spammy though.

If you title the email in a way that explains what the email is about, you will probably know what the notification email is referring to.

The tracking image

The tracking image is the key to the whole process. You have a few options for the tracking image. There is a blank image, various sizes of the SpyPig logo, the option to upload your own image or the comical I know you read my email image.

If you want to be all James Bond about it, you can upload your own picture and use it as a tracking image.

To upload your own image, you will need a to sign up for a free account. This is just an email and a password of your choice. The image you upload can’t be bigger than 300×200 pixels. The file size needs to be less than 3 MB. Having a less obvious picture in the email may raise less of a question than having the SpyPig logo.
Once the image is uploaded, you will need to copy and paste it into the email you are about to send.

Depending on the browser or email program you are using, the process may be a bit different. With Firefox, you can drag the image directly into the email. Chrome will let you right-click, copy and paste the image into the email.

There was a change in how Gmail users need to apply the image to an email. Here is how they are asking you to do it.

For Gmail users: It seems Gmail has changed the way it handles image copy & paste. If your SpyPig tracking is not working anymore, please try the following copy & paste technique:

Highlight the SpyPig tracking image by dragging the mouse pointer across the image until it is highlighted

Press Control+C to copy it

Press Control+V to paste it into your email message

The notification

Once you send the email, you will receive an email from SpyPig when the email is opened. The email will look a little something like this.

NOTE: You might get an email notification as soon as you send your Gmail email out. That’s because Gmail downloads the tracking image once again when you click the Send button, triggering the “email open” alert. Just ignore this notification.

Conclusion

SpyPig can be a pretty useful tool for checking to see if someone is ignoring you or not. However, keep in mind that nothing is 100% accurate. Please don’t get in a fight with your mom or favorite cousin because it doesn’t look like they opened your email with all the pictures of babies and cats making funny faces with half-witted captions.

Ways to Get 3G/4G on a Wi-Fi Only iPad or Tablet

2011-10-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Android tablets, iPads, and other devices are more and more becoming available in different variations. Thus, often times you can choose whether to purchase a device that is simply Wi-Fi enabled, or Wi-Fi and 3G/4G enabled. For people that travel a lot, the 3G/4G option is the obvious choice, but many consumers choose the Wi-Fi only model, simply because they are almost always within range of a Wi-Fi network. If you have a device that is Wi-Fi only, there are still several ways to connect to 3G/4G networks and get internet anywhere.

Alternatively, some devices, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire, are Wi-Fi only, at least for the time being. So, how do we use devices such as the Fire or Wi-Fi only iPad in those situations where internet connectivity is needed, but no Wi-Fi networks are in range, such as when on a road trip? There are three major ways to accomplish this.

Tether to Smartphone

Free Method

If you have a jail broken Android phone, iPhone, or other smartphone, then it can be tethered for free, using one of many available apps. If you do not have a jail broken smartphone, but would like to learn how to jailbreak your particular phone, a basic Google search for your specific phone with the term “jailbreak” should turn up plenty of results and tutorials for jail breaking.
Once you jailbreak a smartphone, iPhone for example, you can activate certain features such as Mobile Hotspot, which will turn your phone into a wireless network, which other devices can connect to in order to share the internet. Thus, a Wi-Fi only tablet or device can be tethered to a jail broken smartphone.
Paid Method

If you prefer not to jailbreak your mobile phone, which is understandable, you can always pay for the tethering service through your wireless provider. With an added monthly fee, wireless providers will unlock/activate the tethering function for smartphones. For example, iPhones ship with the function Mobile Hotspot installed and included, but wireless providers prevent you from using the function, unless you are willing to pay extra for it. This is another method that you can use to connect a Wi-Fi only device to a 3G/4G network.

Dedicated 3G/4G Devices

Most major wireless providers sell devices that act as a portable router and wireless access point. An example of this would be AT&T’s MiFi Mobile Hotspot.

These devices are standalone and require their own dedicated plan. However, because they are engineered specifically for one purpose, which is to provide 3G/4G wireless hotspots, they are the simplest and most effective way to add 3G/4G connectivity to a Wi-Fi only device.

Tethering to Laptop

While this solution may not be the most practical for everyone, it is a way to connect to 3G/4G networks on a strictly Wi-Fi device. If you have a laptop with 3G/4G capabilities, usually through an add-on 3G/4G card, you can turn your laptop into a wireless access point, and then connect your iPad or other tablet to the access point. The main con of this method is, you must take your laptop with you whenever you want to use the 3G/4G service.
Thus, you would be commuting with a laptop and a tablet, which many people would not prefer. Using one of the other methods is probably a better recommendation, but this should not be left out as an option, as it does work.

Hotspots

All three of the above ways to connect a Wi-Fi only device to 3G/4G networks revolves around the same basic concept, which is hotspots. You must have another device that is capable of creating a 3G/4G mobile hotspot, which your Wi-Fi only device can connect to. For most people, smartphone tethering is probably the most practical option, because you already carry your phone with you when you go places.
With this method, you would not have to add another device, such as a dedicated 3G/4G device or laptop, to carry with you. Any other recommendations or anything we missed? Do you use tethering or a dedicated mobile hotspot device? Leave a comment!

View RAR and Zip File Contents in Google Docs

2011-10-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Zip and RAR files are notorious for hiding viruses. For an anti-virus program to scan compressed files, it must first unpack them, which often means downloading the file to your hard drive before scanning it.
With the recent addition of Zip and RAR support in Google Docs, Chrome users no longer need to download a Zip file to see its contents. To add this functionality to your Chrome browser, all you need is a small extension from the Chrome Web Store.

From the Open Zip and RAR with GDocs page in the Chrome Web Store, click Add to Chrome.

A popup will appear asking if you want to install the extension. Click Install.

For best results, exit your Chrome browser and restart it. Some users complain that this extension does not play nice with other extensions directly after installation, but restarting the browser after installation fixes the problem.
Now, find a Zip file online somewhere, like in your Gmail. Right-click the file name and choose Open with Google Docs.

The contents of the Zip file displays as a list in Google Docs. Click any file, then choose to either download it or save it to Google Docs. You can also save the entire contents to Google Docs by clicking the Save in Google Docs button at the top right of the window.

This is one of the most useful extensions so far for the Chrome browser. Avid Google Docs users will appreciate the ease of sending files straight to Google Docs from a Zip file, but even those of us who prefer our traditional word processors can see the value of this extension. In our test, we had no extension conflicts whatsoever, and were impressed by the simplicity of opening a zip file with a simple right-click.

Download Full Websites to Hard Drive for Offline Viewing

2011-10-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

In some cases, it is crucial that you have access to certain files at all times. This means whether or not your internet is working, or whether or not you are within WiFi range of a wireless network, you can still access the files you need. If your resources are web based, you can download the full website, which will extract the content of the website to your hard drive.

There are a couple of programs out there that can download entire websites, but for this demo, we will be using the free software HTTrack. So to get started, navigate over to the HTTrack downloads page. The website copier is available for all three major operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux, so make sure that you select the correct download for your particular OS. Also, notice that there are 64-bit versions available. We will be using Windows 64-bit for this particular demo. Once downloaded, proceed to install the the HTTrack application onto the computer.

WinHTTrack downloads quickly and installs quickly, and before you know it, it’s ready to use. Here is the home screen for the Windows version:

This program is very simple to use. On the first screen, simply click the Next button to start a new project.

The following screen allows you to set a name and category for your project. We will call the demo project “Online-Tech-Tips” and Categorize it as “Tech Websites.” Also, we will simply leave the base path as the default C: Enter the details for your project and click the Next button.

The next page gives you more options to choose from, but pay special attention to Action, as this controls the level and amount of webpages to be downloaded. All of the selectable Actions are fairly self explanatory. For this demo, we will use the standard Download web site(s) option. You will of course, need to add the URL for the website that you want to download. Use the Add URL button, type in the URL for the website, and click the OK button.

If you would like, you can set advanced download options using the Set options… button. Although, most set options are not needed. Once you have your options and preferences selected, click the Next button.

The final screen is basically a prompt screen where you can confirm that you want to begin the download and set up some actions. For now, just leave these settings as is and click the Finish button.

From here, HTTrack will begin scanning, archiving, and downloading the web content for offline viewing.

Downloading a website is not fast… Once the website download completes, HTTrack will have created and restructured the website at the path C: > My Websites for Windows users.

The specific website should have a designated folder, for this demo, that folder is Online-Tech-Tips. Double click to open the folder for your downloaded website. Next, find any webpage formatted file that will open in a browser. For our example, index is a Firefox Document.

Double clicking the file should open the webpage, which you can navigate using your existing web browser. Check the URL to make sure that the website is offline.

HTTrack is a quality program for being free. Even ads download and render correctly. Once the website has completely downloaded, and you have opened a webpage, all links should work and the full website will be navigable for offline viewing.

Disable Google Chrome’s Search/Prediction Services

2011-10-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

If you’ve grown annoyed with how Google Chrome tries to rush ahead of you in trying to figure out where you might be trying to go when you type something directly into its address bar, you can turn it off if you’d like, here’s how.
Open Google Chrome, then click on Wrench

On the dropdown menu, click on Options…

…then, on the Options screen, click Under the Hood, to get this screen:

Under the privacy section, there is an option called “Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar. By default, there is a check in that box, to make Google Chrome stop using this service, simply uncheck the box.
You’d think that would be it, unfortunately, it’s not, in order to get Chrome to stop offering suggestion, you also need to clean out your history file, which might be something you’d rather not do.
At any rate, if you’re not yet familiar with how to get rid of your history with Chrome, click the Wrench again, but this time, click on History:

Then, click where it says Edit items… on the fright right side of the screen:

…then click on Clear all browsing data…

…doing so will bring up this popup:

Choose your timeframe from the dropdown menu (the beginning of time is best to get rid of anything that might popup when you’re typing in your web page) and which things you’d like to have cleaned out, and then click the Clear browsing data button at the bottom.
Note: In order to prevent Chrome from showing you what it has in the address window when you try to type in an address, you need to check Clear browsing history on the popup menu.
To see the difference in enabling/disabling the prediction service, here is what we get when we type in the world “president” with enabling turned on:

And here is what we get after we turn it off and clear our history:

If you’d like to learn more about how the prediction suggestion service with Chrome works, you can click on the Learn More link, on the Under the Hood option, to get this screen:

And then again where it says, Learn more about the address bar prediction service.

If you read all this stuff you’ll find yet another reason you might want to disable the prediction service, and that is because it helps Google keep track of your destination sites, something you might not want Google doing.

Getting The Most Out Of Your MacBook Air

2011-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

The latest iteration of MacBook Air has proven to be very popular indeed, showing off incredible speed and beautifully engineered aluminium design. However, with the price of SSD drives still prohibitively high and the MacBook Air’s form not allowing a Superdrive, some who recently bought a MacBook Air may find themselves missing the ability to play DVD’s or store GB’s of media.
Below, we walk through the steps needed to get over these two hurdles and some more tips too.

Move Your iTunes Library To An External HDD

If you can get by with just a minimal iTunes Library and supplement it with options like Spotifty, Rdio or Last.fm then that’s great, but if you’re unwilling to part with a larger repository of local media, Apple make it quite easy to place your iTunes Library on an external hard drive, providing instructions for doing so here. Begin by making sure iTunes is not running and navigate to:
[User Name] > Music
Here you should see a folder named “iTunes” – just drag and drop the iTunes folder into a safe place on your external hard drive and let it copy. Once this has completed, launch iTunes, bring up “Preferences” and within the “Advanced” pane, you should be able to select your library’s new location.
Once you’re sure that all is working correctly and providing you have a full backup in place, you can now delete the iTunes folder off your Mac.

Share An Optical Drive

As we become less reliant on physical formats for media such as movies or music, the MacBook Air’s lack of Superdrive is not such a compromise than it was when Apple introduced the super-thin notebook. Still, some may find that they like the option there, just in case.
With a MacBook Air (or any recent Mac running OS X 10.4.10 or later), it’s easy to share another computer’s CD/DVD drive which is on the same local network. For instructions on setting up optical drive sharing on a Mac or Windows, head here.

Squeeze Out Each Moment Of Battery Life

The MacBook Air has very good battery life for a notebook computer but if you’re a road warrior and constantly away from home, you’ll want to maximise your productive time and there’s a few things you can do to achieve this:
Airport Settings

Navigate to your Network Preferences and untick the box marked “Ask to join networks” to prevent your Mac from scanning for new wireless points. In addition, if you do not need them, deactivate Bluetooth and Ethernet.
Backlit Keyboard
The backlit keyboard seen on the new model MacBook Air is great and doesn’t use all that much power but since we’re hoping to squeeze every last moment of battery life, head over to your Keyboard settings (located in System Preferences) and be sure to turn the backlight timer down to 5 seconds.
Energy Saver Settings
Make sure your MacBook Air’s screen brightness is set to the lowest you feel comfortable with and ensure that it sleeps within a couple of minutes of non-use.
Calibrate Battery
Apple recommends that you occasionally calibrate your battery in order to maximise its life. Click here for full instructions.

Setup Spaces or Mission Control

Whether you chose an 11 or 13 inch MacBook Air, your machine will be more than capable of getting serious work done. However, if you’ve got several applications open at once, that small screen can begin to feel a little crowded. Setting up a Desktop space for each class of application (word processor, web browser) will help give the impression of using a much larger monitor. OS X Lion and OS X Snow Leopard have different ways of handling spaces, so we’ll cover both below:
Snow Leopard

In order to manage Spaces effectively on Snow Leopard, open System Preferences and click on the “Expose & Spaces” preference pane, then make sure you are working under the “Spaces” menu. As you can see in the screenshot above, clicking on the small + will add an application to the list, from which you can then select the desired space. The user can also move between Desktops with a keyboard shortcut and set the number of Spaces to make available.
Lion

OS X Lion brings in a new style of handling spaces and it is one which may not be as intuitive on first use for Mac users used to older versions of OS X.
Navigate to System Preferences, then Mission Control to bring up the screenshot shown above. In order to keep more complete (and predictable) control over your Spaces, untick the “Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use” box. This done, your applications can be manually assigned a space by either placing them into your Dock or having them currently running.
To set which Desktop your Mac should launch individual applications, right-click the app in question and locate the “Assign To This Desktop” preference under “Options”. Since the application must be in your Dock to set this up, it can be a somewhat laborious process, though is very useful once complete.

Conclusion

There are a lot of other things you can do to maximise your MacBook Air’s usefulness, such as purchase a larger monitor, keyboard and mouse to transform it into a desktop machine, or use applications like Dropbox and Evernote to keep your files in sync – ensuring that a MacBook Air is more than competent to serve as your main computer, whether it’s needed for work or general web browsing.

A Complete Guide to Facebook Timeline

2011-10-04T08:10:00.001-07:00

Unless you were away for the past couple of weeks, you must have heard about Facebook launching its latest enhancement to the standard profile view, the Timeline. In short, Timeline, if you allow it, will be the new default view of your profile, allowing other users easy access to your past activity on Facebook. Once Facebook launches it to the public the only thing they will see when they navigate to your profile page is the Facebook Timeline view. There are a number of major changes that the new view brings to your profile. In this article, I will highlight some of them.

How To Activate Timeline Right Now

Facebook has stated that they intend to launch Timeline to the general public in a few weeks, however if you are eager, TechCrunch has outlined a (slightly complicated) method of activating Timeline right now. Although their method is not strictly a hack as it uses Facebook’s own developer tools, it is a risky process and bugs are expected. Having said that I have not experienced any issues after following their method.

Overview of Timeline – Top Half

Unlike the current profile, the Timeline view is separated into two distinct halves, top and bottom.

The top half features the following items:

Your current profile picture which does not change
A new “Cover image” which takes up the majority of the top half. This image is intended to serve as a sort of “cover” for the viewers of the your profile.
The Timeline scrollbar allows you to jump to any point since you started using Facebook. As my scrollbar indicates, my earliest contact with Facebook was in 2006.
The basic personal information remains the same.
A collage of all your friends
The most recent photo in which you have been tagged
Your current location
Your “likes”

The top half also features a customisable “favourite apps” section just below the items 5 to 8. Here you can dump whatever apps you wish to have quick access to.

Overview of Timeline – Bottom Half

The bottom half is a two-column interface dedicated to your activity on Facebook with top photos, status updates, wall posts from friends and basically everything you get up to on Facebook.

This half has the following sections:
1. The status update section has been revamped. In addition to adding a status, a photo, or a location, you can also identify the significance of the status itself by clicking on one of the five status indicators: work and education, family and relationships, living, health and wellness, and milestones and experiences. The idea is that in the future you can jump to significant milestones in your life if you indicate them. For example, when I originally set up my profile, I indicated that I had completed my high school in 2006. Scrolling down to 2006, there is a space for me to add a photo of my graduation.

Facebook has done a lot of work to ensure its algorithms pick up on these milestones. In fact, it looks like Facebook intends to become more like a scrapbook collecting your thoughts rather than simply a place for your friends to share wall posts and photos.
2. The recent activity feed shows what you have been up to by tracking everything that you do including the music you listen to, the articles you read, and the videos you watch.
3. Lastly, the main portion of your profile features all your status updates, your friends wall posts, links shared, and photos taken.

Timeline Views

In addition to displaying all the content mentioned above the Timeline also groups together your most important updates.
Events

Friends

Likes

Photo Album

Photos

Other Miscellaneous Features

In addition to the updated profile view, the new Timeline also brings with it a number of new features. These can all be accessed by clicking on one of the shortcuts (including items 5-8) in the top half of the page.

Activity Log

Clicking on the “View Activity” button on the main page takes you to the Activity Log page.

This page features a comprehensive list of everything you have done on Facebook. This list is completely private and not visible to the public or your Friends.
The main feature of the Activity Log, aside from being able to view all your activity, is the ability to tweak whether a particular item is viewable on the Timeline or not. To make this change simply select the drop-down arrow on the right of the corresponding activity.

You can either hide or allow the item or you can “feature” the item on the Timeline. When you “feature” an item on the Timeline it takes prominence by removing the two-column view and displaying only that item.

Update Info

To change your personal information, simply hit “Update Info” on the main page.
Your information stays the same, however it is much easier to amend it as it is all viewable on one single page.

Friends’ List

The friends’ list has been completely revamped to display a never-ending scrollable list of all your friends.

Photos and Videos

The photos and videos page functions the same as before but looks completely different. The extraneous whitespace from the earlier profile view has been removed and it is now much faster to scroll through all your photos and videos as it is all on one page.

Map

The map is an interesting feature that displays a geographical history of all the places you have visited. So, whenever you tag a status or photo with a geographical indicator, it will show up on the map. If you use this feature a lot, the map will eventually fill up and show you all the places you have visited throughout your life (or at least since you started using Facebook).

Notes

Like the other updated pages, the new notes page is a single scrollable list of notes with an index of all your notes on the right side.

Likes

The “Likes” page displays icons of all the different pages you like, categorised according to the type of things they are (e.g. music, books, movies, television, games, etc).
The “Likes” page also displays the pages you have liked on a yearly basis:

Subscribers

The new Facebook subscribe feature allows an asynchronous method of following users who do not “friend you”. Essentially, your public posts are viewable by anyone who “subscribes” to them, there is no need for you to approve these subscribers.

Conclusion

Facebook has updated a lot of its features but two things really stand out. Firstly, the Timeline view is probably the biggest change to the profile since Facebook originally launched. The view is much more dynamic and it acts like a time capsule all the way back to when you first joined. The second major change is that a lot of the pages which were cumbersome to navigate have been streamlined into long scrollable lists making it much easier to view your content.
What’s your views on the Facebook’s Timeline?

How to Tile Your Tabs Easily in Firefox

2011-10-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of cool extension in the Firefox add-on library. Many are wildly useful, but come in under the radar and don’t gain popularity. Tile tab is one of these add-ons. Simply put, Tile Tab lets you fit multiple tabs onto your screen without multiple instances of your browser being open.

How it works

When you have several tabs open in Firefox, you can use one of the menu options to start the action. Here is a before and after of 4 tabs open pressing Grid option under Tile all tabs.

Before

After

See how much easier it is to see all of the tabs?

Settings

There are some options you can modify when you first start. These will let you add tile more quickly and make Tile Tabs easier to use.

F Keys

By default, the F2, F8 and F9 buttons are set to basic functions.

F2 – expand tiles
F8 – Sync scrolling
F9 – View normally

You can also choose change the F key to active a function or to replace any of the functions to something more useful to you.

It is a good idea to add a modifier key so you can keep this extension separate from other global hotkeys you may already have set up.

Add Shift or Crtl to make it a keyboard combination to activate the Firefox add-on.

Using the tiles

While having several tiles open, there are options to change the configuration, scrolling and other neat tricks. The more you know about the add-on, the more productive it can be when you are using it.

Simultaneous scrolling

This instantly stood out to me. By pressing the F8 button (default) when you have the tabs tiled, the option to scroll all of the tiled windows at the same time. That was a great feature to add.

Tile configuration menu

There are multiple ways to access the tile configuration options. All of which bring you to the same options.

From the menu bar.

The navigation toolbar.

And the right click menu.

More than one option at a time

You are not limited to just Grid or horizontal tiles. you can combine, mix and match the different options. Here is an example of different combinations used in the same window.

As you close the tabs, the grid or the separations disappear. If you want to focus on one tile, you can choose the F9 option to see just the one window. Think of how amazing this could be on a really large monitor.

Final thoughts

If you are sick of having too many tabs or windows open and you aren’t really sure what is on them until you click on it, this Tile Tab wants to be your new best friend. If you get into the habit if using Tile Tab to manage several tabs, I am pretty sure you will find them much easier to manage.

What add-ons do you use to manage tabs?