Friday, June 29, 2007

A Single Desktop Upload Tool for YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and more

Do you have an account on Flickr, Google Picasa Albums, YouTube, Facebook or Box.net ? If yes, get this free Universal Uploader without a second thought - you'll love it. Fire Universal Uploader is a Firefox extension that lets you upload and also download videos, pictures, documents and other files to the above websites from a common interface. Getting started is simple - click the dropbox icon in the Firefox status bar, select one of service where you wish to upload the file(s) and then drag-n-drop...

Pick your Favorite Media Player Software for Playing Audio and Video

Here are some of most popular media player software along with a quick description of their features. They help you play audio/video files, organize your digital media collection, rip or burn CDs, play videos in full screen and much much more. Take the Poll Which one of these media player is your favorite ? Please tell us through this quick 10 second poll. (If your personal favorite is missing in this list, do mention the name in the "Others" category).Windows Media Player - This popular digital media player from Microsoft can play most common audio-video formats, audio CDs and DVDs....

iPhone Books, Training DVDs and Accessories on Amazon Store

Just hours before the iPhone launch, dozens of iPhone books, training DVDs and accessories like LCD screen protector, iPhone car chargers, iPhone Leather pouch, etc have gone for sale at the Amazon Online store. David Pogue's missing iPhone manual is very likely to rule the market. iPhone: The Missing Manual - Written by New York Times columnist David Pogue, this book teaches you how to extend iPhone's usefulness by exploiting its links to the Web as well as its connection to Macs or PCs;...

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Upload PDF Documents to Scribd with a Simple Right Click

Scribd, as most of us know is a hugely popular service for uploading and sharing Microsoft Office documents or PDF ebook online. Scribd can also convert documents to Flash files which can then be embedded in web pages. The other good point about Scribd is that you don't require an account in order to upload or convert documents into other formats like PDF, Flash Paper or MP3. To upload documents to Scribd, you can either use their browser based uploader tool but what about documents that are...

Bypass Censorship, Unblock All Restricted Websites With Opera Simulator

Internet filters are active everywhere - Flickr is banned in Iran & UAE, BBC & Wikipedia are blocked in China, Blogspot blogs are banned in Pakistan, YouTube & Photobucket are prohibited for US army overseas while social sites like Bebo, MySpace or Facebook may be banned in your office.  Some companies even block access to mail websites like Yahoo or GMail under the pretext of security. Click To Play In the past, we have discussed atleast a dozen methods to help...

Google Suggests Absence When You're Looking for Adsense

See what happens when you make a search for "adsense" on MIT website. Surprising because the MIT search engine is internally powered by Google web search....

Creative Photo Effects, Text Captions for your Pictures

Graphita Live Studio is a fun way of decorating your digital photographs with Photoshop style brushes, speech bubbles, post-it notes, Devil horns, sparkling tooth and much much more. Upload your picture to the web-based Graphita studio editor and drag-drop the doodles from the object palette over the photograph. Every object can be rotated or resized to fit the size of your picture. [Press the Shift key while resizing objects to maintain the aspect ratio] Pretty neat application to make...

Want to buy Unlocked iPhones ? Indian Dealers Promise to Unlock iPhone for ~$25

If you are among the millions of souls who live outside the US but crazy after the new touch screen Apple iPhone, here's something interesting - you could get an unlocked iPhone in the grey market of India and other Asian countries very very soon that will work with your existing GSM SIM card. iPhone is a quad-band GSM mobile phone so it will working internationally in countries outside the US though you'll have to ask AT&T to turn on international roaming on the iPhone and that the...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

MIT TechTV - YouTube Like Portal for Science and Tech Videos

MIT School of Engineering have launched a video sharing website called "MIT Tech TV" for showcasing lecture recordings, student presentations and other video content particularly about science, engineering and technology. While the MIT TechTV videos can be viewed by anyone on the web, only members with an @mit.edu email address - students, faculty, MIT staff or even the alumni - can upload videos on the MIT TechTV portal. MIT TechTV website, which looks the same as Blip.TV with...

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Maybe It's OK to Remove the Blogger NavBar - Unwritten Policy

If you have ever been to a blogspot blog, you would have definitely noticed the 40-pixels wide Navbar that appears by default at the top of every Blogger-powered blog. This navbar is like Google's own version of StumbleUpon where visitors can search existing blog or discover new Blogger blogs just by clicking the NextBlog link. And if you are logged-in to your Google account, the navbar turns into a personal dashboard toolbar similar to what you have seen on Wordpress.com blogs. Though Google...

How to Use Google Analytics ? What Reports are Most Important ?

You will get answers to all these and more in Beth Kanter's excellent video tutorial on web analytics software with main focus on Google Analytics. Other than learning about Analytics, this video gives you an idea about the usefulness of screencasts if they are properly scripted and produced right....

Adsense Ads with Round Corners For People Who Love Borders

Google today introduced new Adsense ad formats that have rounded corners - the ads are available in two option - slightly rounded and very rounded (the former has a slighly lower corner radius that the latter). If you are displaying Adsense Ads with background color same as the border color (which is recommended for high CTR), this new format would be of little interest as the ads will essentially look the same. In terms of Adsense implement,  the following variable will be added to your...

Comparing the Relative Popularity of Technorati Top 100 Blogs

These blog popularity graphs are based on number of incoming links and number of members who have made them as favorites respectively. Notice the steep climb from position ten and above in both the figures where the slots are occupied by the who's who of blogging community. And it's almost flat from position 50 onwards implying how tough it is for blogs in that region to maintain their current position in the popularity charts. Pete Johnson, Chief Architect of HP.com, draws an interesting...

Convert Images, Documents to Adobe PDF via EMail Attachments

KoolWire is a new and wonderful email based file conversion service to help you convert your Microsoft Word (.doc), Powerpoint (.ppt), Excel Spreadsheets (.xls) or even pictures into Adobe PDF documents.  Just compose a new email message, attach document(s) that have to be converted into PDF and send the email to pdf@koolwire.com. The PDF file(s) should arrive in your inbox the next moment. The big advantage is that Koolwire PDF converter requires no software installation and, unlike Google...

Windows Live Writer with WordPress - Problems and Solutions

These are some of the most common problems faced by WordPress bloggers when they're using Windows Live Writer for uploading images, publishing new blog posts, posting drafts online or simply editing the existing blog posts. Problem with Template Detection: Windows Live Writer cannot detect and download the latest theme of your blog for Live Web Preview. Solution: Make sure the following snippets exists in your blog header (between the <head> tag) <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml"...

Monday, June 25, 2007

Protect Digital Camera from Water and Dust

Build a waterproof and dust resistant case for your Digital Camera - picture says it all. To protect your digital camera from water, humidity and dust - add a roll of cardboard around the lens, then slide the camera body inside a condom (non-lubricated), also slip a packet of silica-gel to absorb moisture and tie the knot. Best of all, you can still shoot pictures or video while it's inside the pouch though the quality may not be perfect. Underwater photography anyone ? More details...

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Microsoft Smiles as FM and ValleyWag Argue Over People Ready Ads

Nick Denton recently accused Fred Wilson, Om Malik, Mike Arrington, Richard MacManus and several other top tech bloggers of accepting money from Microsoft for endorsing their "People Ready" campaign. Though Om has withdrawn the Microsoft ad from his blog fearing that it compromises his editorial integrity, it's virtually impossible to digest that he or any of the other blogging elites would ever do this. Can you buy a quote from Fred Wilson for few thousand dollars ? Never. Fred earlier called...

FaceBook for Adults and Senior Citizens

If the current Web 2.0 generation continues to use Facebook for the next 40 years, here's how a Facebook profile page might look like. Brilliant. Thanks Scoble....

Which Adsense Format & Color Scheme Will Convert Best for You ?

Should I use the 300x250 Adsense Rectangle or the much wider 336x280 for maximizing clicks? What do I select - 4 or 5 ads per adlink unit ? Will text only ads perform better than text+image ads ? Should I hide the colored border ? These are some very common questions among web publishers especially those who have just gained admission to the University of Adsense. While the answer is to keep on experimenting, most Adsense experts employ a simple technique called "AB Split Testing" to optimize their...

How Do Popular Websites Look on Mobile Phone Screens

Vodafone UK has created a good interactive demo to help you understand how some of the most popular websites on the internet look like on your cell phones. The Vodafone commercial uses a Nokia N95 to simulate MySpace, YouTube, BBC, Google Maps, Amazon, Yahoo, Hotmail and eBay - you just have to move the mouse over various locations of the street and watch the website pages change on the N95 screen.  Mobile Internet Demo  Good for folks who haven't switched to an internet enabled...

Software Serial Numbers and CD Keys on Google

Software License details of Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, Microsoft Office, Windows XP and tons of other software can easily be located on Google by running this simple query: "Belarc Advisor Current Profile" "Software Licenses"  "Software Name"   key: These are actually real software inventory reports generated by Belarc Advisor, a popular tool often used to backup software licenses. The only problem is that innocent users have placed these HTML reports in public directories...

Friday, June 22, 2007

Incremental Backup for Blogger Blog Posts and Comments

Abhishek is looking for methods to help him download his entire blog archive offline. The good old option is to use website ripping software like wget or HTTrack to create a mirror copy of any blog with images on your hard disk. If that sounds too geeky, here's an excellent alternative - Greg Duncan has created a free blogger backup software that's extremely easy-to-use and gives lot of control over the backup process. [enlarge the screenshot] With Blogger Backup, you can backup your...

Incoming Links on YouTube Expose Hundreds of FTP Passwords

As these screenshots show, some incoming links on YouTube videos are found to contain username/passwords of FTP servers that could allow anyone to login into these servers.  If Google doesn't fix this immediately, it could possibly become a big security issue for FTP sites whose credentials are now available in Google cache. Earlier these YouTube links had revealed clicks on Adsense Gadgets ads. The latest issue was discovered by Rohan Pinto of konkan.tv/. To ensure that your FTP servers...

Write a Text Blog with Pen, Paper and a Digital Camera

Dislike typing on the computer keyboard or the tiny cell phone ? You can still write a beautiful text blog - just get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil to jot down your blog posts. These are called handwritten blogs - the paper note with your text is scanned using a digital camera or a scanner and posted on the web as a regular photograph.  Even PostSecret is an handwritten blog. There an entire Flickr group devoted to the community of handwritten bloggers. It would help if you have a...

Desktop Tower Defense 1.5 Leaves the Building

Techmeme will probably remain silent today as bloggers have just found a new reason to stay away from blogs - the addictive and much awaited new version of Desktop Tower Defense Flash game has finally rolled out Go waste your time play the game at handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/   For those new to the DTD game, here's how Rafe at CNet describes it: Our desk is under attack by invaders coming from both land and air. Your only solution? Defend it at all costs, using tiny turrets. Fight off waves...

Run Windows Vista, Office 2007 Together Without Installation

Too lazy to install the new Office 2007 or Windows Vista on your machine ? Worried that the new software might break existing stuff on your computer or may not work at all ? Here's something for you - Windows Vista cum Office 2007 inside Windows XP. Microsoft today released a free combo VHD edition of Windows Vista and Office 2007 Professional which includes Publisher, Excel, Outlook, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Word. You can download this all-in-one package from Microsoft Download...

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Build Interactive Photo and Video Presentations with Vuvox

Vuvox creates extremely impressive Flash presentations from your videos, photos, music like you've never seen before. To create your own Vuvox presentation, simply collect the media files into Vuvox from your hard drive or pull them direct from the web (Flickr, YouTube, PhotoBucket, etc), choose one of the 3D styles and publish. The final presentation will look stunning though it took only couple of minutes if not seconds to create it from scratch. In one of the styles, your pictures and videos appear on the branches and leaves of a tree and they grow as you add more media. Another...

Picture of Google Phone from LG - Coming this Month

Unlike the previous image, this is no Photoshop version of Google Phone - it's real picture released by LG. The Google phone will be released around the iPhone launch but in Europe, not North America. Dubbed LG-KU580, this CDMA phone provides one click access to GMail, Google Maps (the LG official says Google Earth?) and Google Web search. The design looks similar to LG "chocolate phone." This will be released in Europe this week with a price tag of somewhere between $300 and $400....

Picasa Templates for Beautiful Web Photo Albums, Slideshows

Google Picasa is more than just a simple photo editing and management software. You can create wall posters, screen savers, photo collages or even movies of your digital pictures with Picasa. There's another very impressive feature - it can convert your picture collection into professional looking web photo albums that you can either publish on websites, email them to friends as Zips or just save locally - No CSS, HTML or JavaScript knowledge required. Watch this YouTube video showing how an HTML photo gallery created inside Picasa looks like - took less than a minute to create the entire photo...

Put Your Social Bookmarking Icons in a CSS Dropdown Menu

AddThis [review] now offers a beautiful alternative to social bookmarking icons or those 16x16 pixel images that clutter the footer of almost every blog post on the web. With AddThis, you can easily put links to all popular social bookmarking websites in a two-column drop down that appears only when someone hovers the mouse over the Bookmark button - the icons and links stay hidden or invisible otherwise. If a visitor cannot find his/her favorite social bookmarking site in the AddThis menu,...

Add a "Save as PDF" Button to your Websites and Blog Pages

Want site visitors to print or download your blog posts as PDF documents ? PDF Online, the free PDF conversion service that helps you create PDF files of your Microsoft Office documents, has released a new online tool for converting HTML web pages to PDFs. Here's how the new service works - bloggers add a small Javascript snippet in the blog templates, visitors can click the "Save Page as PDF" button and the current web page will be rendered as a PDF document. Though the "SavePagesAsPDF"...

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Cross Promote Your RSS Feed with Blog Widgets

Widgets (aka Gadgets) are now found everywhere on the web - people use them for cross promoting their blogs, running picture slide-shows in the sidebar, sharing favorite music or video clips, displaying Amazon Shopping wish-list and more. Two of my favorite blog widget providers are YourMinis and Widgetbox - both offer detailed stats and an option to embed widgets in your Blogger, MySpace, FaceBook, Netvibes, Google IG, PageFlakes or other accounts automatically. Let's look at them more closely: WidgetBox Blidget - Type in your blog address and you instantly get a blog widget...

Adsense Publishers Report Massive Dip in Earnings and CTR

Google's decision to shut down Made-for-Adsense websites and Adsense Arbitragers could be affecting the earnings of regular Adsense publishers. Several members of Adsense forums at WebMasterWorld and DigitalPoint have reported significant drop in CPM and CTR values in the current month (June 2007). Here are some Adsense CPM / CTR figures reported by members in the discussions: 1. Page views with Adsense: unchanged, EPC: down 25%, CTR: down 15%, Revenue: significantly down....

Preview the New CNN.com Website That Includes Widescreen Video

Starting next month, CNN.com website will sport a refreshing new design. The new site will offer wider (575x325) video clips and they'll will be fetching related blog posts for every article using Sphere blog search engine. [expect some traffic if you cite a CNN story] If you would like to preview the new US edition of CNN.com, visit beta.cnn.com. The international edition of CNN.com will however be unveiled only on July 1st. Like all other video sharing websites, CNN too has moved from...

Blogging Slogans and Badges for Blog Addicts

   More blogging taglines for T-Shirts on PrintPerfection and CafePress....

Monday, June 18, 2007

When Web Celebrities Quit Current Jobs To Join A Startup

If you are a startup company planning to hire some web celebrity (like a high-profile blogger), make sure your web servers are capable of handling the web traffic - it could be equivalent to getting Digged, Slashdotted, GigaOmed, Scobleized and TechCrunched simultaneously. The following Alexa graph depicts the traffic at Podtech.net (maroon) and Zillow.com (blue) - look at the spike in traffic when Scoble resigned from Microsoft to join the podcasting startup. In case of Zillow, traffic peaked...

Know What Your Favorite Blogs Have Written About a Web Page

Long ago, Google released the Web Comments extension that shows which blog posts are linking to a web page that we are currently reading in Firefox - an extremely neat idea but not always helpful because it shows only the latest posts linking to the current web page - there's no option to sort results by blog authority or to filter spam blogs. Imagine if you were able to instruct Blogger Web Comments to show commentary only from certain blogs / bloggers that you trust - that's where BlogRovR comes...

Capture a Web Page Screenshot in Safari 3 Quickly

Do you know that Apple Safari browser has an in-built screen capture feature - it's not for taking snapshots of wide or long scrolling web pages but a perfect tool for grabbing the visible portions of the web page as an image (very similar to Print Screen key with auto-save). Apple never told you about their secret screen capture tool because they use it for getting bug reports from Safari Users. Goto Help, Report Bugs to Apple and select "Send screen shot of current web page" - As you...

iPhone vs Nokia N95, BlackBerry Curve, Treo, Samsung BlackJack

Just ten days ahead of the much-hyped iPhone launch, Apple has released a smartphone matrix comparing the physical dimensions, talk time and battery life of some of the most popular smartphones that are available in the market today. As per the matrix, Apple iPhone is the thinnest smartphone (half the thickness of N95 or Treo 750) with the largest screensize and Wi-Fi capabilities. [pdf] While there's no option to swap the drained battery of an iPhone with a full recharged one, the promised...

Those Who Search for GOOG Are Filthy Rich, Seeking Luxury Homes

Try googling "GOOG" (the stock ticker symbol of Google) and you are likely to see the following ads: Filthy rich? We'll help - Throw away your newfound cash at Woot. You're welcome. LuxurySiliconValley.com - $3 Million+ homes and condos for sale in the Silicon Valley Surprisingly, Google currently has no ads for people googling for BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway Inc.) - this stock trades at 7x the stock price of Google For MSFT (Microsoft) and YHOO (Yahoo) - the ads are related...

Single Sign-On for YouTube and Google Account

Good news YouTube fans - you have one less username / password combination to remember since you can now move your YouTube data to Google account. And if you have never signed-up for YouTube before, you can now create a new YouTube account with your existing Google Account. [you'll still need to supply an additional YouTube username though which is kind of strange] Everything remains the same except that a new YouTube icon will show up in your Google Account Services page. What's a Google...

Cheerleader Girls Wearing T-Shirts with your Message

Click To Play [this post contains a video which may not be visible in your newsreader] Philips created this Cheerleading Girls Generator for the FIFA World cup 2006 - just type in some text message and click "Cheer Up". Time waster but fun. Links: Cheer Up Generator | Sample Vi...

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