Monday, May 20, 2013

Best Tips To Shop Safely Online

Shopping online is becoming increasingly popular with consumers of all ages. With fast shipping and websites selling virtually everything, online shopping is an attractive alternative to the hassle of visiting multiple stores.

However, eCommerce safety is a huge issue, and many shoppers are unaware of how to ensure that their online transactions are safe, secure and private. Fortunately, there are a number of simple signs to look out for and changes you can implement to make purchasing items on the Web considerably safer.

The most common methods used by hackers to steal consumer information are phishing sites and emails. Hackers may set up websites that look similar to other branded sites and send emails to potential customers of those companies urging them to shop through special links. By gaining consumer trust through having a similar appearance to the original company’s website, hackers make consumers feel more comfortable about entering their details into such sites, including credit card information.

Avoiding phishing emails and websites is simple. Any time a shopper receives an email from a company asking them to shop or navigate to a website, they should carefully check the domain the email is being sent from or the URLs of the links they land on. All email addresses and URLs should contain the company’s official domain.

Having updated antivirus and firewall software is also necessary. Also, one must ensure that he or she is using the latest version of the web browser of their choice. Most modern web browsers have inbuilt mechanisms to detect spoofed websites.
safely shop online

A common trick to watch out for is a minor misspelling in the domain name that may be hard to pick up without careful attention. Additionally, some hackers may place the company’s name before the @ symbol in the email address, rather than after, which is where it should be.

All pages, including login pages, asking for consumer details, such as billing/shipping addresses and payment information, should have URLs that begin with “https://” rather than the more commonly used “http://.” The “s” denotes a secured connection and provides encrypted communication between a shopper’s computer and the receiving company’s servers.

Preferably, the site will also have a verifiable certification showing that the site can be trusted and that the installed security suites are up to date. Many sites display a security certification image link or privacy seal, making it easy to verify their status.

People who decide to shop on websites they’ve never heard of should ensure that these sites are legitimate. This can be done by searching for online reviews and confirming that the site is listed as a secure site with a trusted online security company.

One must be extra cautious while shopping on shared computers and always remember to not save login information in the web browser. Logging out and clearing cookies once you are done is also recommended.

Shopping with certain methods of payment and opting for tracked shipments can also provide enhanced protection. Payment services, such as Paypal, allow buyers to dispute charges and other issues they may have with sellers. Many credit cards offer similar protection, and since they aren’t linked directly to a bank account, hackers can’t drain a shopper’s finances. Finally, trackable shipping allows shoppers to find out exactly where their packages are, providing added confidence in the legitimacy of any seller's services. All tracking information should originate from the shipping service and be trackable within 24 hours of receiving the tracking number.

How To Recover Deleted files, Undelete Files in Windows with Free Tools

Have you ever deleted a file that you did not wish to and wanted to recover it but did not find it in the recycle bin? You probably deleted it permanently with Shift+Delete or emptied the Recycle Bin. Now what? Don't worry, you may still have a chance to get it back. This article lists some free software that can recover deleted files from your hard drive or any other storage device instantly.

But how do the software mentioned below undelete deleted files?
recover deleted files

When files are deleted, Windows does not delete them from your hard disk. It marks the storage space as empty for new data to be written and deletes the index entry that tells the location of those files. Unless, new files are written on that space, the deleted files are still recoverable. That's what allows these software to recover deleted files. They just modify the data attached by Windows to deleted files to say these are 'regular' files.

There are many free software that allow users to do this. Some of them are given below:-

1) Pandora Recovery
recover deleted files in Windows

Pandora Recovery is a free software that offers a wizard based interface for recovering files. It allows you to browse a drive's individual folders to look for deleted files. It also allows you search for a deleted file based on its name, file size, creation date and last access time. Its deep scan allows you to recover files that other software might have missed. Although deep scan does not return a file's original name and location, it still is effective to recover data from drives with corrupted file tables and drives that were recently formatted. It can even recover data from CD's and DVD's.

2) TOKIWA DataRecovery
undelete files in Windows

At just over 200KB, TOKIWA DataRecovery is the smallest file recovery program in the market. It supports undeletion from FAT 12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file systems. It also supports recovering NTFS compressed and EFS encrypted files. This software supports Windows and is portable as well. It also has a file shredder that allows you to wipe out files in a manner that they cannot be recovered again.

3) Recuva
undelete files

Another great freeware, Recuva offers a wizard based interface to unerase files. Recuva offers scanning deleted files based on their type (music, pictures, videos etc.). It also allows deep scanning in case a file you deleted is unrecoverable via normal search. Like TOKIWA DataRecovery, Recuva also offers securely deleting files. Recuva also has a portable version that you can keep in your flash drive.

All of these recovery software support recovery from memory sticks, digital camera cards and MP3 players. They support undeleting all types of pictures, software, movies and documents from both FAT and NTFS formatted drives . They work on Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Free File Recovery Software

Some important tips to increase the chances of getting your deleted files back:-

1) When a file is deleted accidentally on a storage device, make sure that you don't do anything on it as doing that would increase the chances of new data being written over your deleted files; which would make file recovery impossible.

2) If you have deleted files on your main computer (the one you are using right now), do not browse the internet, download new software or shut it down. Keep it running and go to another computer, download one of the software mentioned above that is portable and save it on a flash drive. Then plugin the flash drive in your current system and perform file recovery. Regardless of whether you accidentally delete files a lot or not, make sure to always have that software in your flash drive in case you accidentally delete important files.

3) If one software fails to recover your deleted file, it does not mean that another one wouldn't recover it too.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

How To Connect a Laptop or Desktop Computer to a TV Easily

Suppose you wish to watch a movie or share a slide-show of pictures with your family on your PC but have a screen that leaves much to be desired. In such a situation, you can connect your computer to a television screen to allow your entire family to enjoy comfortably.

Connect Laptop Computer to Television

There are many ways in which you can connect your laptop/ computer to a television. However, the overall video quality will be different for different methods. You can choose which one to use based on the quality or the availability of hardware. The first step is to know what type of ports and connections your TV and computer have. If you already know the type of ports and connections available on your hardware, you can directly jump to Step 2. If not, then the different types of ports are explained in detail below:-










Connect PC or Laptop to TV
Different types of PC to TV connection ports


1) RCA/Composite: The oldest and the lowest quality connection available. They are the Yellow, Red and White connections most of us are familiar with. Yellow is used for composite video, white for left analog audio and red for right analog audio.

2) S-Video: S-Video or Super Video offers slightly better quality than Composite connections. As it is one of the oldest type of connections available, most televisions and computers have it. There are two types of S-Video ports, one containing 4 pins and the other containing 7 pins. This type of connection is used only for video. So you will need to connect an audio cable from your computer's headphone jack to the red and white audio inputs on your TV if you want audio to work.

3) VGA(Video Graphics Array): Most computers and televisions have a VGA port. It offers much better quality than S-Video and should be preferred if you have a HDTV. Older CRT TVs however, will not have a VGA port and will require a PC to Television converter. Just like S-Video, VGA also does not support audio and will require an additional audio cable.










Laptop Computer to TV
Different types of connecting cables to connect computers to TVs


4) DVI: Digital Video Interface offers much better quality than VGA connections. Most laptop computers and HD TVs will have these connections. Just as the name suggest, this type of connection can be used only with digital TVs. Also like the previous two, DVI connections also require the use of an audio cable for audio to work.

5) HDMI: The highest quality connections available. Most HD TVs will have this connection, however, chances are that your computer would not. If your computer happens to have a HDMI connection port, this should be preferably used. If your computer doesn't, you can use an HDMI to DVI adapter to convert HDMI to DVI.
connect laptop to tv

Step 2: Once a common type of port between the two devices is recognized, you will need the right connector cable to physically connect them. The different types of connector cables are pictured above. If you do not find two matching types of connection ports, you will need an adapter to make the connections type match.

Step 3: After connecting the two devices, on your TV, select the external input with which your TV is connected to the computer. It may be HDMI1 or AV1 depending on how you have made the connection. This is much similar to how you select input from your DVD player.

If you have followed the steps correctly, your TV should now be displaying your computer's screen.

Important: If your computer is not recognizing the external display, you must connect the TV before starting your computer. If the picture appears distorted, you will need to change the screen resolution of your TV by altering the display settings from your computer. Most older TVs will support only one display resolution while newer TVs will support plenty of them.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

How to Access Blocked Websites, View Restricted Sites

Most of us find ourselves in situations where a website we wish to visit is blocked by a software or by our ISP (Internet Service Provider). So the question arises, how can we access blocked websites? The answer to this is simple: Proxy websites. Before going into details, let us know a bit about these proxy websites. 

Proxy Websites


A proxy website acts as an intermediate source between the user and server the site being contacted is hosted on. Users send requests to proxy websites which conveys them to the site's server. The reply received by the proxy website is then forwarded to the user's computer. This gives an impression to ISP's and blocking software that the user is visiting the proxy website but in reality, s/he is visiting the site which was blocked. Thus, proxy servers also provide extra security to users by hiding their online activities from their ISP's.
Acess Restricted Websites

 

Commonly Blocked Web Sites


The sites which are most commonly blocked at workplaces, schools and offices include websites like Facebook, Orkut, Blogger (blogspot), Google News, Typepad, eBay, MySpace, YouTube, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, Bebo, Google Talk, Gmail, Photobucket, AOL AIM, Flickr, Twitter etc. In some countries, social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit are also blocked. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China have even blocked access to mainstream media websites like The New York times. A proxy website can be used to easily access these blocked websites. As proxy websites hide a user's location, they can also be used to access popular websites which are restricted to particular countries and block users from other countries from visiting them.

Types of Proxies


There are two types of proxies. First, there are web proxies which have an interactive interface; and second, the proxy servers which work on the basis of IP Addresses and port numbers. Proxies can also be segregated on the basis of anonymity into Anonymous, Transparent and High Anonymous depending upon the amount of privacy they provide.

How to Find Proxy Websites and Proxy Servers


A simple Google search containing the word "proxy websites" is likely to return a lot of useful results. However, most of them are likely to be lists containing proxy servers which you can setup using their IP Address and Port Number. So, in order to find interactive proxy websites, you will have to search for something like "Facebook Proxy Server" or "Orkut Proxy Server". A search like this is most likely to return interactive proxy websites with which you can access your blocked website by simply entering the URL in URL field. If you want additional security and anonymity, you can opt for a paid proxy server.

If you do not want to search, here are few popular free proxy websites you can use:-

  1. http://www.hidemyass.com

  2. http://www.spysurfing.com/

  3. http://proxify.us/p/


 
How to access Blocked websites

 

How to Setup Proxy Servers using their IP Address


If you wish to visit your blocked website using a web proxy, you do not need any setup. However, if you wish to use a proxy server that can only be accessed by using its IP address and port number, you must configure your browser to use it. Follow the instructions given below to setup this type of proxy in your browser:-

Google Chrome and Internet Explorer Users


Google Chrome uses the same network settings as Internet Explorer. So, in order to configure Google Chrome to use a proxy server, you have to configure Internet Explorer. You can configure a proxy server in Internet Explorer by following the instructions given below:-

  1. Start Internet Explorer.

  2. Click on Tools, Internet Options.

  3. Click on Connections Tab, select your Network Connection and click on Settings.

  4. Check on Use a Proxy Server for this Connection.

  5. In the Address field, add the IP Address of your Proxy server. In the Port field, enter the Port Number.

  6. Click on OK and OK again.


 

Mozilla Firefox Users


Mozilla Firefox users can configure their browser to use a proxy by following the instructions given below:-

  1. Start Mozilla Firefox.

  2. Click on Tools, Options.

  3. Click on Advanced Tab.

  4. Click on Network tab.

  5. Click on Settings.

  6. Encircle Manual Proxy Configuration.

  7. Enter the IP Address and Port Number at the appropriate place. In most cases, it will be a HTTP server.  


After you have successfully configured your browser to use the proxy server, you will be able to access blocked websites whenever you browse the internet with your browser.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Introducing Video Slides

There’s a pretty interesting thread on Hacker News where people have shared links to their favorite technical talks. The thread includes dozens of links pointing to YouTube, Vimeo and other video websites.

It’s a treasure trove and I want to click on every single video that’s mentioned on that page but the problem is that I will then end up having at least two dozen new tabs in the browser. And this isn’t just about Hacker News, you can open any popular thread on sites like Quora or Reddit and you’ll be overwhelmed with links pointing to interesting stuff.

How do you deal with such a large collection of raw links? I have written an app called Video Slides that some may find handy here. The app will scan the text for video URLs and put them all in a single sideshow without cluttering your browser.

 

ou copy the text of the entire thread and paste it into Video Slides. The app will then extract all the Youtube and Vimeo URLs from your text and will create a slideshow putting one video per slide. You can use the arrow keys to navigate through the slides.

You may paste text from comment threads, HTML source of a web page or even email messages and there’s no need to use any special formats. You can even use the short youtu.be URLs. The app currently extracts Vimeo and YouTube URLs only but going forward, we should be able to use any web service that supports oEmbed.

Internally, Video Slides uses the Embed.ly API to extract the embed code for the video URLs while the presentations are generated through the awesome reveal.js library. Give it a try and your feedback will help shape up the next version.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

How To Get Photos For Your Business From Depositphotos.

Starting an online business is very easy nowadays. With a few dollars one can get his self -hosted website up and running within minutes. If one doesn’t want to spend even that much then there are many free options to choose from. So let’s say you have started a website and you are in for serious business. One of the most important things you need to run a website is quality photographs. Just imagine what would all the newspapers and magazines of the world look like if you detach them off of their images.

 
deposite


Hiring a photographer is getting old fashioned now because of the emergence of stock photo agencies. If you are working with a photographer then you have access to only a limited number of images while if you are going with a stock photo agency, where many photographers come together to share their work, you get access to literally thousands of images.

Our recommendation is that you go for Depositphotos.

Depositphotos was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Florida, USA. Their customers belong to varied parts of the world spreading to 192 countries. Depositphotos provides support in 14 different languages and allows people to buy and sell stock photos, vector images and videos.

As of writing of this article it had more than 13 million files, more than 900 thousand satisfied customers and a rating of 4.7 stars based upon the feedback of nearly 400 thousand people!
All the files stored on Depositphotos are “stock files” and “royalty free.”

By stock files I mean the photography and videos that are meant for the purpose of commercial or editorial usage such as advertisements, brochures, articles, and product packaging. Such files are most commonly used by graphic designers and artists.

By royalty free I mean that once you buy a file, you can use it lifelong for any purpose you choose as long as you abide by the terms and conditions imposed on you by the seller. You will have to pay only once and there will be no hidden monthly or annual fees.

Talking of payments there are two methods to buy files. One is to choose a subscription plan out of the four plans available and the other one is to purchase credits and use the pay-as-you-go offer. Click this link for details on the subscription plans and prices.

The main difference between the subscription plans and pay-as-you-go credits is that the former allows you to download only a limited amount of images per day and your subscription ends after your prescribed months are over while the latter allows you to download any number of images at any time for a period of one year.
Depending upon your chosen plan the price of an image can go as low as 0.36$.

See the screenshot below for details on plans and pricing.
price

Go and check out the website, they offer a free signup, and let me know what do you think in the comments below.

How To Edit Your Photographs Online

Most of us do not have access to photoshop or don't know how to use it for photo editing. I have made their life easy by this tutorial showing how to edit your photographs online.

I was a big fan of Picnik image editor until Google merged it with Google+ and the standalone editor was shut down. Since then I have switched to PicMonkey which is an equally awesome online photo editing tool though some of the image effects and photo touching tools are only available to premium customers.

web-image-editor

An impressive web-based image editing tool

Today I chanced upon another interesting web-based image editor that’s fast, the UI is beautiful with several useful features. It’s called Picozu.

While Picnik and PicMonkey are purely photo editing apps meaning you can use them to edit your existing images, Picozu lets you both edit and create new images from scratch. Picozu is written in pure HTML5 and CSS3 and requires no Flash or other plugins.

To get started, you can upload load images from your computer or you can directly import photos from your other cloud-based accounts like SkyDrive, Google Drive, Facebook or Dropbox. Alternatively, you may fire your webcam and capture images direclty inside Picozu.

The app offers a layer-based editing workflow seen in editing software like Photoshop or GIMP. There are dozens of filters and image-effects to give your photos a distinct look. Or you can use the regular tools and brushes to manually touch your photos.

Their Firefox add-on takes screen captures and imports them into Picozu for editing. There are also built-in tools for creating photo collages and posters.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

How To Browse the Web Faster on a Slow Internet Connection

If your current Internet speed is very slow and you are living in an area where broadband connections are still not available, here are some ideas to help you download web pages faster on your computer. You may use the same tips to  improve your web browsing experience on a sluggish USB modem.

Surf the Web Faster on Slow Internet


1. Turn off web images, the Adobe Flash plug-in, Java Applets and JavaScript from your browser settings as these files are often the bulkiest elements of any web page.

2. Increase the size of your browser cache. If the static parts of a site (like background graphics, CSS, etc) are stored in the local cache, your browser can safely skip downloading these files when you re-visit the site in future thus improving speed.

3. Sometimes the slow DNS server of your ISP can be a bottleneck so switch to OpenDNS as it can resolve website URLs into IP addresses more quickly. If you aren’t too happy about OpenDNS redirecting your Google queries, follow this simple hack.

4. Finch can serve a light-weight version of any website in real-time that is free of all bells and whistles. For instance, the New York Times homepage with all external resources can weigh more than a MB but Finch trims down the size by 90% so the site loads more quickly on a slow web connection.

5. Flinch (mentioned at #4) is good for reading regular websites but if you just need to check the latest articles published on your favorite blogs, use BareSite. This service will automatically detect the associated feed of a website and render content quickly inside a minimalist interface.

6. The Google Transcoder service at google.com/gwt/n can split large web pages into smaller chunks that will download more quickly on your computer (or mobile phone).

7. Monitor your Internet speed to determine hours when you get the maximum download speed from the ISP. Maybe you can then change your surfing schedule a bit and browse more during these "off peak" hours.

8. You can use a text browser like Lynx or Elinks for even faster browsing. It downloads only the HTML version of web pages thus reducing the overall bandwidth required to render websites.

9. When searching for web pages on Google, you can click the "Cache" link to view the text version of a web page stored in the Google Cache. Alternatively, install this GM script as it adds a "cached text only" link near every "Cached" link on Google Search pages.

10. Move your web activities offline as far as possible. You can send & receive emails, write blogs and even read feeds in an offline environment. Also see: Save Web Pages for offline reading.

11.  You can interact with websites like Flickr, Google Docs, Slideshare, etc. using simple email messages. Uploading a new document to Google Docs via email would require less bandwidth than doing it in the browser because you are avoiding a trip to the Google Docs website.

12. Applying the same logic, you may also consider using tools like Web In Mail or Email The Web as they help you browse websites via email. Just put the URL of a page (e.g., cnn.com) in the subject field of your email message and these services will send you the actual page in the reply.

13. Bookmarklets are like shortcuts to your favorite web services. You neither have to open the Gmail Inbox for composing a new email message nor do you have to visit Google Translate for translating a paragraph of text. Add relevant bookmarklets to your browser bar and reduce the number of steps required to accomplish a task.

14. Use the netstat command to determine processes, other than web browsers, that may be secretly connecting to Internet in the background. Some of these processes could be consuming precious bandwidth but you can block them using the Firewall.

15. Use URL Snooper to determine non-essential host names that a website is trying to connect while downloading a web page. You may block them in future via the hosts file or use Adblock Plus to filter out advertising banners on web pages.

16. If you don’t want to spoil your web surfing experience by stripping images and other graphic elements from  a web page, get Opera Turbo. It will first fetch the requested web page on to its own server and then send it to your machine in a compressed format. Opera Turbo won’t change the layout of a web site but can lower the image resolution so that they load faster on slow Internet.

17. Change the user agent of your desktop browser to that of a mobile phone like Apple’s iPhone or Windows Mobile. This will help you browse certain web sites like Google News, WSJ, etc. much faster because they’ll serve you a light-weight and less cluttered mobile version of their sites thinking you’re on a mobile phone.

Get an Email Alert [ with Picture ] When Someone Tries to Log into your Computer

You have a feeling that someone else used your computer (or at least made an attempt to login) while you were out for a quick coffee break. Maybe that colleague with whom you share the cubicle knows your password or he made a few guesses before finally giving up.

How do you get notified when such an attempt is made to intrude into your computer?

computer-webcam-alert
Email alert with a webcam picture of the intruder.

A new website (made in Turkey) called MouseLock.co may have a simple solution here. They will send you an email alert as well as a picture of the intruder as soon as someone tries to use your computer.

Here’s how Mouse Lock works.

You sign-in with your Google Account (they’ll send the alert to your Gmail address) and then select a secret pin on the screen. Next, put your mouse cursor in a designated area on the Mouse Lock website and leave the machine.

Now when someone moves the mouse, they will also have to enter the original pin. If they fail to do that in the first few seconds, Mouse Lock will send you an email and, if the computer has a webcam, it will use that to also snap a picture of the intruder.

Mouse Lock won’t prevent the intrusion but will at least notify you the minute it happens. And best of all, this a web app and thus requires no installation.

Internally, the site uses jQuery (mouseLeaveEvent) to detect mouse movements while the webcam photographs are captured using the getUserMedia() API currently supported in Chrome and Firefox. The alerts, possibly due to a bug, are triggered even when any of the keys are pressed and that makes it a little less useful since there’s no way to lock the computer after setting up the monitor.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Transparent 3D computer debut

Transparent 3D computer unveiled


18729835.cms
A transparent computer that allows users to reach inside and touch digital content has been unveiled at the Technology, Education and Design (TED) conference in Los Angeles.


TED fellow Jinha Lee has been working on the SpaceTop 3D desktop in collaboration with Microsoft.


Allowing people to interact with machines in the same way they do with solid objects could make computing much more intuitive, he told the BBC.


He can see the system coming into general use within a decade.


The system consists of a transparent LED display with built-in cameras, which track the user's gestures and eye movements.


The design was inspired by what he sees as a human need to interact with things.


"Spatial memory, where the body intuitively remembers where things are, is a very human skill," he said.


Translating this to the digital world will enable people to use computers more easily as well as complete more complex tasks.


"If you are working on a document you can pick it up and flip through it like a book," he said.


For more precise tasks, where hand gestures are not accurate, there is a touchpad. It will allow, for example architects to manipulate 3D models.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Top Must Have Free iPhone Apps Series [16-20]

16. Around Me


Around Me figures out where you are and lists local stuff - banks, bars, petrol stations and, er, Apple Retail Stores. The app's reliance on Google Maps info means there are gaps, but it's nonetheless handy to have installed when in unfamiliar surroundings, and the 'augmented reality' landscape mode is amusing, if flaky.

Around Me

17. Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus


Over two million definitions, synonyms and antonyms are available in the palm of your hand with this free, offline dictionary and thesaurus. The app is fast and efficient, includes phonetic and audio pronunciation of words, and its interface seems perfectly suited to the iPhone.

Dictionary

18. Air Video Free


Air Video Free can stream (and convert as necessary) video from any computer running the free Air Video Server. You only get access to a small number of items per folder or playlist, but some careful planning can get around that limitation.

Air Video Free

19. Adobe Photoshop Express


If you're looking for Photoshop-style power, Photoshop Express won't impress. However, if you're after a quick, free, highly usable tool for making edits to your iPhone photos, Adobe's app is ideal. Use it for cropping, straightening, exposure adjustments, colour effects, sharpening and more.

Photoshop

20. iHandy Level Free


One of the tools from the excellent iHandy Carpenter toolkit app, iHandy Level Free turns your iPhone into a spirit level. By default, it'll show just how wonky your device's accelerometer is, but tap the calibrate button and you get an accurate and great-looking level.

iHandy level free

 

 

Top Must Have Free iPhone Apps Series [11-15]

11. Twitter


The official Twitter app might lack some of the features found in the likes of Tweetbot, but it does provide a sleek and simple means of using the service. It also directly mirrors the latest navigational scheme on the Twitter website.

Twitter

12. Comics


In all honesty, Comics is a little awkward compared to using it on an iPad, but you won't find a better comics experience on an iPhone. The app is free, as are dozens of downloadable comics - and once you run out of those, many more are available to buy. Reading works on a frame-by-frame automated 'zoom' basis, and is surprisingly usable.

Comics

13. Wikipanion


The Wikipedia website works fine on iPhones, but a dedicated app is a better bet. Wikipanion is a freebie which gives you quick access to article sections, in-article search, viewing options, bookmarking, and the ability to tweet about whatever odd fact you've just unearthed. Also, wonderfully, there are no ads.

Wikipanion

14. Evernote


Clients to access the popular Evernote service for storing notes and ideas online are available for so many platforms that we half expect a ZX Spectrum app to be announced tomorrow. On the iPhone, Evernote is efficient and usable, enabling you to rapidly scan your notes and also create new ones.

Evernote

15. Kindle


With iBooks on the iPhone, you might wonder why you should bother with Amazon's Kindle. After all, the app's not as pretty as iBooks, nor is there an integrated store (you buy in Safari and sync purchases to the app). However, Kindle offers a massive selection of books compared to Apple's app and the reading experience is great.

Kindle

Top Must Have Free iPhone Apps Series [6-10]

6. National Rail Enquiries


For anyone commuting by train, National Rail Enquiries is a handy app to have installed. There's journey planning, timetables and a location-aware 'next train home' option, along with progress tracking, so you can see when a train's likely to show up. It's not as usable nor as pretty as UK Train Times, but it is broadly similar - and five quid cheaper.

National Rail Enquiries

7. Skype


FaceTime is a great alternative to standard voice calls, but it's no good if you're trying to contact someone without a Mac or compatible iOS device. Therefore, Skype remains an essential download. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and cheap calls to anywhere in the world. If you're on Pay and Go, this is particularly handy, but the app also enables iPod touch users to utilise their devices for calls.

Skype

8. Movies by Flixter


Although some aspects of cinema listings app Movies by Flixter are disappointingly US-centric (notably regarding details on upcoming movies and DVDs), it succeeds where it matters. Select a film and the app figures out where you're located, lists nearby cinemas, and displays times your chosen film is showing. Efficiency can be further increased by pinning favourite cinemas to the top of the list.

Movies

9. TonePad


Virtual pianos and guitars are all very well, but purely digital musical toys are more suited to Apple handhelds. TonePad is the best of them, using a grid-based interface that enables you to turn notes on and off and compose pleasing and harmonious loops; your creations can be edited, saved and uploaded to share with other users.

Tonepad

10. Thomson Reuters News Pro


There are many free news apps, but Reuters News Pro offers a breadth of coverage that makes it a winner. Preferences enable you to tailor the app's output to the UK, and the toolbar provides swift access to news, pictures, videos and stock markets coverage.

Reuters

Top Must Have Free iPhone Apps Series [1-5]

There are now hundreds of thousands of apps available for your iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPod touch and iPad, and, surprisingly, many of the best are free.

The following list showcases our pick of the 70 best free iPhone apps, and includes iPhone applications for social networking, travel, news, photography, productivity and more.

Most of these apps are also suitable for the iPod touch.

If your top free iPhone apps aren't covered, tell us all about them in the comments.

You can also take a look through the top 10 free iPhone apps with our nifty video.

1. Facebook


The world's biggest social network brings a tightly honed experience to the iPhone and iPod touch, but nonetheless still enables you to access your contacts, feeds and other important information. This sense of focus makes it in many ways superior to using Facebook in a desktop browser.

Facebook

2. PhotoSynth


We did a bit of a double-take on seeing Microsoft's name attached to this, not least given the lack of a price-tag. But PhotoSynth is a really great panorama app; it's user-friendly and fun to use, especially when watching your panoramas take shape while you capture them.

Photosynth

3. RunKeeper


The prospect of Nike+ but better and for free might sound unlikely, but that's what RunKeeper provides. Previously split into 'pro' and 'free' versions, the developer now generously includes all the features in one free app.

That means you can spend no money, yet use your iPhone's GPS capabilities to track your jogging and cycling routes, and examine mapping and details of your pace and calories burned. Activities can be shared online, and treadmill runs and other exercise details can be entered manually.

Runkeeper

 

4. Pulse


RSS has a reputation for being a rather dry technology, feeding you dull lists of headlines. Pulse flips RSS on its head, providing streams of feeds that grab your eye with photographs. It's perhaps not for the hardcore RSS crowd, but if you follow a small number of feeds, it's a great choice.

Pulse

5. Dropbox


Plenty of apps exist for transferring content between your computer and your device, but Dropbox is free and easier to use than most of its contemporaries. Dump files you want to sync in a folder on your computer and Dropbox for your device will enable you to access them, download them for offline viewing, and, in many cases, view them.

Dropbox

 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Share Direction And Bookmark Location with Pin Drop

Have you ever been to a place where you think you will visit the place again? Or you’re looking for a simple solution to share a direction/location with friends without directing them via phone call?

Pin Drop

We know that we can bookmark a webpage so we can re-visit the page again. As for a location, we can try Pin Drop iPhone/iPad app to drop a pin on current location as a bookmark in a map.

In short, Pin Drop allows you to bookmark a place with a pin on a map so you can refer it back when you want to re-visit the place. Furthermore, it also allows location sharing in between friends or anyone. It is definitely your second brain for places.

Pin Drop can be used via:

Use Pin Drop as iPhone/iPad App


Using Pin Drop as an app is straight and simple. First of all you have to install Pin Drop app from iTunes. After that, create a free account with Pin Drop so you can backup all your pins to cloud.

Pin Drop iPhone/iPad App

You’re allowed to add categories for your pins, such as restaurant, bar, coffee house and etc for easy search.

To drop a pin, tap on "Drop Pin" button on bottom. Your current location will be displayed and you may tap on "Set Pin Location" to bookmark it. After that, insert details for the bookmarked location with name, category and description.

Pin Drop iPhone/iPad App

To refer back bookmarked pins, tap on "Pins" or "Categories".

The best part of Pin Drop is it supports driving and walking directions from current location to a particular bookmarked pin. You may use it as GPS device.

Use Pin Drop as Web Application


Web app version of Pin Drop supports more features than iOS app. If you think the screen on iPhone is too small, you can always use the web version and sync them afterwards.

Pin Drop Website

Here, you can drop pins on the map, or search for a place or address. You’re allowed to create unlimited numbers of colour coded categories to keep your pins organised. Filter by category, distance and time since the pin was dropped.

Pin Drop Website

You can also create a curated list and share pins with friends by email, text, Facebook or Twitter.

Create Photo Collage/Grid-View Of Your Facebook Friends

You can create Photo collage of your facebook friends. Click here to visit the site that lets you to do so. then Click on Friends tab. Proceed to More tab. From “Choose an option” dropdown, choose any of the dashes “” . Your Facebook friends collage is right on your computer screen.

fb-photo-collage

How to Schedule Facebook Messages

Sendible lets you schedule Facebook messages ahead of time so you can send messages to your friends, customers or colleagues in the future.

Here is a screenshot describing it in detail.

sendible

 

How To Host webpages on Google Drive

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

20 Facebook Tips/Tricks You Might Not Know



  1. How to Update Facebook without Using Facebook


    hellotxt and Ping.fm both introduced features that let Facebook administrators update Facebook Pages.

    hellotxt


  2. How to Schedule Facebook Messages


    Sendible lets you schedule Facebook messages ahead of time so you can send messages to your friends, customers or colleagues in the future.

    sendible


  3. How to "Friend" Someone on Facebook & Hide It From Your Status Updates


    A short tutorial on Makeuseof to guide you how to hide Facebook status updates and keep that fact confined to your closer friends.



  4. How to Create a Photo Collage Using Pictures of Your Facebook Friends


    Click on Friends tab. Proceed to More tab. From "Choose an option" dropdown, choose any of the dashes "" . Your Facebook friends collage is right on your computer screen.

    photo_collage


  5. How to Know When Facebook Friends Secretly Delete or Block You


    This service has been discontinued. X-Friends is a unique tool for tracking friends that disappear from Facebook.

    X-friends


  6. How to Display Selected Pictures Only on your Facebook Profile Page


    A little-known feature in Facebook that lets you decide who shows up in that Friends box. Click that "edit" pencil in your Friends box and type the names of your best friends in the box that says "Always show these friends"

    friend_photos


  7. How to Remove Facebook Advertisements


    This Greasemonkey script – Facebook: Cleaner removes many of the annoying ads and updates that unavoidably appear on your Facebook pages.

    ads


  8. How to Syncs Photos of Facebook Friends with Contacts in Microsoft Outlook


    OutSync is a free Windows application that syncs photos of your Facebook friends with matching contacts in Microsoft Outlook. It allows you to select which contacts are updated. So you can update all contacts at once or just a few at a time.

    outsync


  9. How to Display Facebook Statuses on WordPress Blog


    The following method make use of Facebook status feed and WordPress RSS widget to display Facebook Statuses on WordPress blog.. It will also work for self-host WordPress blogs.

    statuses


  10. How to Post Your Blog Posts to Your Facebook Wall Automatically


    Wordbook allows you to cross-post your blog posts to your Facebook Wall. Your Facebook “Boxes” tab will show your most recent blog posts.

    wordbook


  11. How to Access Facebook Chat on Desktop


    Gabtastik and digsby let you keep Facebook chat sessions open on your Windows desktop outside of your regular web browser, using minimal screen real estate and system memory.



  12. How to Create Quiz on Facebook Easily


    LOLapps provides quiz creator that can be employed to conjure up these popular personality quizzes that are so widespread in Facebook.

    lolapps


  13. How to Hide Your Online Status on Facebook Chat from Select Contacts


    Facebook has integrated friends list with Chat and you can also choose which of these list members get to see you online.

    hide


  14. How to Get Facebook Updates on Email


    NutshellMail consolidates your Facebook accounts through the inbox you use the most.

    nutshellmail


  15. How to Update Facebook Status from Firefox


    FireStatus is a status update utility for multiple social networks, including FaceBook.

    firestatus


  16. How to Get Facebook on Your Desktop


    Seesmic Desktop, Facebooker, Xobni, Facebook Sidebar Gadget, Scrapboy and Facebook AIR application are desktop applications that allows you interact with your stream just as you would on Facebook, but without the browser.



  17. How to Delete, Cancel and Terminate Facebook Account and Profile


    A simple guide to terminate, delete or cancel Facebook account, together with the Facebook profile easily.

    terminate










Kay is a tech-savvy and regular writer at Hongkiat.com. He also maintains K-Director, a technology blog. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.