Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.

List Your Website Here!

AirBnB – Hotels are great but they lack that human element. If you are more of a people person and don’t like staying at hotels, AirBnB has something unique to offer. It is a website where you can rent rooms from actual people in their house. Simply choose your city, your stay dates and AirBnB will show you a list of private rental homes and rooms available. Read more: AirBnB: Private Rental Homes & Rooms From Actual People.

		Yummly – When it comes to browsing and searching for recipes, Yummly is quite intuitive. You can not only search recipes by titles but also by typing the name of any ingredient. With over 50,000 recipes indexed from sites like Epicurus and RecipeZaar, and a very smart recipe search engine, Yummly is a great tool to check out for food lovers. Read more: Yummly: Very Smart Search Engine For Recipes.
		VidMe – YouTube is the most popular online video sharing network but it does not offer the privacy many of us would prefer. In order to better control who gets to see your videos, log on to VidMe. The difference between YouTube and VidMe is that videos shared using VidMe work only for the intended recipient and cannot be forwarded, downloaded, or made viral without the video owner’s approval. Read more: VidMe: Private & Secure Video Sharing With Selected Contacts.
		SafetyWeb – While the internet has many merits, there’s no dearth of problems associated with it either. Especially for kids. This is what SafetyWeb aims to address. It’s a new tool that aims to help parents monitor their kids’ online activities, what they are doing and who they are talking to. Read more: SafetyWeb: Monitor Your Kids Online & Keep Them Safe.
		Gapminder – is a free web service that provides various data and statistics related to different interesting topics and global issues. Gapminder was built to present a picture of the world using a unique approach to reading data. This website also aims to promote global development with the purpose of accomplishing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Read more: Gapminder: View Interesting Statistics Of The World Development & Global Issues.

List Your Website Here!

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• makeuseof extra #27 (171 comments)
• Finally Stick To Your Resolutions With StickK (107 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 9] (51 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 7] (62 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 6] (72 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 5] (4 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 30] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 29] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 28] (5 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 27] (7 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Flash galleries allow you to show off a little with your work, and why not? Functional loading bars, crisp animations and a clean interface means Flash ticks a lot of boxes for many looking to exhibit their work on the web.

If you’re searching for a lightning fast Flash gallery generator with all the above, then SimpleViewer is all you need. It’s free, and works with a myriad of imaging applications including Photoshop, Picasa and iPhoto.

If you’ve not got any of the above (or would rather use a lightweight solution), fear not for there is a dedicated GUI for SimpleViewer called Porta. This software will allow you to input the parameters you desire to customize your gallery without the need for trawling through an XML file and fiddling with code.

For the benefit of this demonstration, I will be using Porta. If like me you’ve got hundreds of ready-to-go processed images, then this is a speedy solution that “just works”. You can download the Windows version here, and Linux (and possibly Mac) users who are interested will be pleased to know that the generator will work with the aid of Wine. You won’t need to download SimpleViewer seperately if you are using Porta, all you need to get started is included.

SimpleViewer works by creating a folder containing your images, thumbnails, script files and an index page. When you visit this URL within a web browser (e.g. mydomain.com/holiday2010/) the gallery will be loaded in its entirety, making SimpleViewer ideal for quick sharing solutions.

Creating A Gallery With Porta

Once you’ve downloaded and installed Porta, locate it in the Start Menu and open it up. You should be prompted straight away to select a folder to use for your gallery. The images within this folder will be added automatically to the list of images in your gallery, though you can re-arrange and remove images later if you wish.

Select a folder in the dialog box that appears, you may want to take some time collating your images first. Once you’ve chosen your desired images, Porta will return you to its default state and provide a couple of options to fiddle with.

First of all name your gallery and customise the footer if you want.

Change the destination of your eventual Flash masterpiece by clicking change and specifying a location (it will default to a folder called album in the location you previously chose). The Edit Album… button allows you to decide on the order of your images, as well as captions and micro-captions.

Drag and drop your images in the left pane to rearrange, and clicking each one will give you the option to add captions. The gallery generator also allows you to pull EXIF data as captions with the Extract Captions button.

Once you’re done arranging, click Close to be taken back to Porta’s default menu and click Options. Here you can tweak your gallery so that it appears exactly as you want it.

Ensure that Use SimpleViewer as primary album viewer is checked, else you’ll generate a basic HTML gallery instead of the fancy Flash one you desire. The rest of the settings are entirely subjective based on your requirements from the gallery, and image size and quality will depend on bandwidth and space limitations.

Before hitting OK click on Options next to the SimpleViewer check box, and choose your colour scheme and appearance options.

Once you’re set, hit OK to return to the main menu and then Start to generate your gallery. SimpleViewer won’t hang around long, and your gallery will soon be generated. Hit Show Gallery to check out your creation, not forgetting to gasp in awe at the sexy interface in front of you.

You can now upload the folder directly to your webspace, or pick apart the HTML and integrate into a webpage of your choosing.

Using SimpleViewer With Other Applications

The full list of compatible SimpleViewer applications extends way beyond Photoshop, Picasa and iPhoto. Adobe Lightroom 2.0 and Apple Aperture are supported as well as RapidWeaver for the Mac and SimpleViewerExport on Linux.

Each application package contains the relevant scripts to generate galleries, though some require manual tweaking of the galleries.xml file to set parameters such as thumbnail size and scaling options.

There is a full list of compatible programs on the SimpleViewer website, as well as download links to scripts and detailed instructions on how to use each one in conjunction with your existing software.

Conclusion

For a lightning quick solution to putting your favourite shots on the web using Flash, SimpleViewer leads the class. If you’re after professional results, and don’t fancy going down the JavaScript route then give it a whirl. Porta’s all you need for a test-drive, and it won’t cost you a penny.

Have you tried SimpleViewer? Do you prefer it to JavaScript-based solutions? Let us know in the comments.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• What Photo Sharing Website Do You Use? [Poll] (30 comments)
• Update To Google Picasa 3.6 With Photo Geotagging (10 comments)
• Update To Google Picasa 3.6 With Face Recognition (10 comments)
• Send Your Photos To Your Picasa Web Album With An Email (17 comments)
• Panraven – Online Media Rich Storytelling In 5 Easy Steps (4 comments)
• Masher– Mix Photos, Videos and Effects into Video Slideshows (2 comments)
• Manage your iPhoto with these plugins (17 comments)
• How To Use Facial Recognition in Picasa Web Albums (10 comments)
• How To Email Photos To Your Free 25GB Windows Live SkyDrive (10 comments)
• FotoTagger – Easily Tag Your Desktop Photos (Win XP) (7 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

If you’re in the market for a new computer, laptop, mobile phone, games and other accessories; don’t waste your time searching online. We’ve taken the liberty of locating the best tech deals and unifying them into a single post for your convenience.

For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.

1. Logitech MK700 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse $49.99via code 3FRBKSHJKS2CTN
2. Lenovo ThinkPad L412 Intel Core i3-370 2.4GHz 14in Laptop (2GB/160GB/Win7) $584.10 via code USPTHINKBTS
3. Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 Intel Core i3-350M Dual-Core 2.26GHz 15.6in Laptop (4GB/500GB/Win7) $579 via code USPZ53A726
4. Samsung 2494LW 24in Widescreen LCD Monitor (1920×1080) $164.99 via code N9B9WPF6CWFTW6
5. Logitech G500 Wired Laser Gaming Mouse (Upgraded Remake of G5) $34.99 Free Shippingvia code EMCYVNN28
6. ASUS RT-N12 802.11n 300Mbps Wireless N Router (DD-WRT) $29.99 Free Shipping via code EMCYVNV42
7. Dell Studio One 19 Intel Dual-Core E5400 2.7GHz All-in-One Desktop w/ 19in Multi-Touch Display $584.24 via codes ?$QNC1?HSKNR9F and ?8CN$RJ?W5TQ0C

Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Watch Online Products for Price Drops with ShoppingNotes (11 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 9th] (74 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 8th] (59 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 7th] (34 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 6th] (29 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 5th] (40 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 11th] (51 comments)
• Top Deals of the Day [April 10th] (50 comments)
• Top 10 Sites To Find The Hot Selling Items On eBay (19 comments)
• The Top 10 Grocery Coupon Websites for Cheapskates (71 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

People love to personalize things that they own to make those items stand out among other similar items that other people have. We can see examples everywhere such as people painting their houses with different colors, styling their hair, using and customizing different themes for their blogs, putting their laptops into colorful cases, and customizing the ringtones for their phones.

If you own an iPhone and you want to use your favorite songs to personalize it, but you don’t want to pay another buck for each song that you already own to have those songs converted into ringtones; here’s a fun and free way to do it.

The Preparation

For those who love Garageband, you can use that amazing music maker to create ringtones. But for today’s discussion, we’ll use a small free program called MakeiPhoneRingtone.

This program can quickly turn your favorite songs into iPhone-compatible ringtones. However, there are limitations to this feature: you can only use AAC files, and the ringtone duration is limited to 40 seconds. A set of preparation steps is needed prior to the conversion process. But don’t be afraid as we can do everything using iTunes.

• The first step is to convert the songs from MP3 into AAC. Open “iTunes – Preferences” menu or use “Command + Comma“.

• Open the “General” tab and click the “Import Settings” button.

• Choose “AAC Encoder” from the “Import Using” field, and choose “iTunes Plus” quality from “Setting” for the best quality.

• Find the song(s) that you want to use as a ringtone, right click and choose “Create AAC” version from the pop up menu.

• You can also access this option from “Advanced – Create AAC Version” menu.

• The song(s) will be converted by iTunes into AAC, and the process will take about several seconds for every song. After that, right click on the converted song and choose “Get Info” from the pop up menu.

• Choose “Options” tab and set the Start and Stop Time to fit the 40 seconds duration. If you want to go the easy way, just choose 0:00 for the start time and 0:39 for the stop time.

But why go the easy way when you can go the fun way? You can set the start and stop time in the part of the song that you like the most. Play the song and notice the time of the beginning and end of your favorite part.

Even though you can adjust the precision to one-thousandth of a second to get the perfect timing if you want to, my experience has told me that one-tenth precision is enough. For example, you can set the time to 1:12.5 (one minute twelve point five seconds) or maybe 3:42.73 (three minutes forty-two point seventy-three seconds).

This might look tedious, but I personally find the process of determining the perfect beginning and ending of the ringtone fun and addictive. The 40 seconds limit just make the “estimating game” more challenging.

Then repeat the “Create AAC Version” process to the adjusted song, to get the less-than-40-second fragment.

The Making Of The Ringtones

• After getting the perfect slice of the song, right click on the item and choose “Show in Finder“.

• Open MakeiPhoneRingtone and drag that short AAC Version (with the “.m4a” extension) to the app.

• If the edited song is more than 40 seconds, you’ll get a warning (and an offer to try a paid audio editor by the same developer).

• If you do everything correctly, you’ll get your ringtone in iTunes’ “Ringtones” folder in just a blink of an eye.

• Repeat the process for other songs.

Syncing & Using Ringtones

• To make sure that your newly created ringtones find their way to your iPhone, go to the “Ringtones” tab and check the “Sync Ringtones” box before you synchronize your phone.

• Then click the Sync button.

• In iPhone, you can use different tones for different person. You can also use customized ringtones for your Alarm.

• To assign a ringtone to a contact, select a person and tap on the ringtone option. Choose one of the “Custom” tones and tap “Save“.

• The same thing goes for assigning custom ringtones to your alarms. Open one, tap “Edit” and slide right. Tap “Sound” and choose your preferred sound.

After using the method several times, I began to look at (or listen to?) my song collection differently. Now I always try to find parts of the songs that would make cool ringtones.

What about you? Do you personalize your contacts with different tones? Do you know other free methods to convert your favorite songs into ringtones?  If so, please share using the comments section below.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Make Unique Free Ringtones & Share Them With Friends (8 comments)
• iPhone Apps Hotlist: StartPages, cool Programs, HowTos, Reviews (12 comments)
• How To Create Your Own Unique iPhone Ringtones Using Garageband [Mac Only] (9 comments)
• How To Create a Ringtone For The iPhone In iTunes (8 comments)
• EncodeHD- Easily Convert Media Files for Any Devices (Windows) (5 comments)
• Create Custom iPhone Ringtones with iRinger [Windows] (3 comments)
• 10 Websites For Free Mobile Phone Ringtones & Other Mobile Downloads (61 comments)
• What is the Difference Between MP3 & MP4? [Technology Explained] (26 comments)
• What Are QR Codes? Digitize your World & Back Again (15 comments)
• vTap – Download videos on your mobile for FREE (16 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object. A lot of times–increasingly as of late–that object is your cell phone; and since your cell phone is attached to your hip (figuratively, of course), its geolocation can be a pretty accurate indicator of where you are.

Enter Foursquare, the most popular geolocation mobile social network app on the market. It allows you to “check in” to places you’ve been and work your way up to mayoral status at different venues. Since Foursquare’s popularity has grown, so too has the popularity of geolocation applications and mobile social networks.

In this article, I am going to take a look at the best alternatives to Foursquare. While this technology still has a ways to go, a lot can be said about the apps that have already risen to the top.

[Note]: If you would like to be able to check-in to multiple geolocation apps at one time, you should “check out” Check.in. A lot of the apps supported by Check.in are featured in this article. You can also find some great mobile social networks for finding your friends here.

Gowalla

Supports:

• iPhone/iPod/iPad
• Android
• Blackberry (Bold/Curve/Pearl)
• Palm (Pre Plus/Pixi Plus)

Gowalla is the top alternative to Foursquare. It’s so popular, in fact, that this could have easily been a ‘Top Alternatives to Gowalla’ article and I could have been talking about Foursquare right now. Maybe in a parallel universe, but I digress…

Beth did an excellent job covering Gowalla back in March, so I’ll just go over the key features here.

Like Foursquare, Gowalla allows you to check-in to various locations either by phone app or via their mobile site. There is currently no way of checking-in through the regular website, but check-ins can be pushed by linking accounts to Facebook and Twitter.

Gowalla features trips, which allow you to link up to 20 related spots, which you can then place into categories. Spots and trips can be featured, which gives a special status, icon, and highlight on the website. Landmarks tend to be featured spots while trips are picked by their uniqueness.

After you check-in, you can receive bonus items which you may swap with others or drop at spots. You can become the founder of a spot if you drop an item there. If you want to keep an item forever, simply place it in your vault.

Whrrl

Supports:

• iPhone/iPod
• Android (app coming soon)
• Blackberry (app coming soon)
• Mobile Web

Whrrl is a fast up-and-comer in the world of geolocation apps. You can use it by navigating to the mobile site on your phone.

With Whrrl, you can share recommendations of things to do based on your interests and places you like to visit. You can find others who share your common passions and interests in more than 400 different societies, or you can create your own society.

You can keep your check-ins private, share them with only trusted friends, all friends, the public, or share them on Facebook and Twitter. Also, you can join someone’s check-in to add your point of view and earn points and rewards for others completing your recommendations.

Brightkite

Supports:

• iPhone/iPod
• Android
• Blackberry
• Palm
• Nokia & others

Brightkite offers a “simple way to keep up with friends and places”. It’s a mobile social network that lets you see where all your friends are, discover places in your neighborhood, and meet other locals along the way.

Brightkite allows you to pick your friends. People can be your fan, but only you can decide if they are a friend. Friendships are one-way.

Brightkite has a rating feature that allows you to rate posts up or down. You can also decide to share posts with friends, everyone, or social networks like Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.

buzzd

Supports:

• iPhone/iPod
• Android
• Blackberry
• Mobile Web

If you’re looking for real-time ratings of places around you, buzzd is for you. Find the hottest spots using the “buzzdmeter”, share updates with your friends and earn rewards with this app. You can also use buzzd by navigating to their mobile site.

You can use buzzd to see the real-time buzz from social networks like Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp & more. Post a thumbs up (or down), comment, and view photos of any place from your phone. Broadcast ratings to your friends, Facebook, and Twitter.

The more places you rate, the more “influence” points you earn. Accumulate enough points and you can win some rewards, like gift cards, plane tickets, and concert tickets.

GyPSii

Supports:

• iPhone/iPod
• Android
• Blackberry
• Windows Mobile
• Nokia/Symbian OS

GyPSii (covered briefly here) is a location based mobile social network. Like the other apps on the list, GyPSii allows you to search for the people and places around you. You can edit maps with favorite places and comment/share them with friends or the whole community. Tag photos and videos to locations so others can see them as well.

GyPSii isn’t as well known as some of the other apps on this list, but I think it deserves some attention. I’d love to talk more about this app, but I think I’d rather show you:

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are some great geolocation apps out there building steam and becoming popular amongst the masses. As more and more people get better phones, you can expect to see more and more users of such apps. It will be interesting to see where these types of applications will take social networking. Twitter and Facebook are already very much in the game and are looking to integrate geolocation into their social websites.

What’s your favorite geolocation app? Do you use multiple apps or just stick with one? Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Map Your Adventures With a Free GPS Mobile Tracker for Android (13 comments)
• Top 5 Tools That Will Help You Locate Your Lost Cell Phone (16 comments)
• Mobile Defense – A Free Mobile Phone Tracking System [Android] (13 comments)
• Check.in To Multiple Your Location Tracker Apps At Once [Android, iPhone, iPad] (8 comments)
• Check In & Become Mayor Of Your Favorite Venues With Foursquare (4 comments)
• 2 Easy Ways to Recover A Lost or Stolen Android Phone (16 comments)
• What Is Geocaching And How To Have Fun With It (14 comments)
• Using An All-In-One PDA & GPS For Geocaching [Android] (24 comments)
• Use Google Maps Navigation For Turn-By-Turn GPS [Android] (19 comments)
• Update To Google Picasa 3.6 With Photo Geotagging (10 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

MakeUseOf Answers helps you get your question answered. At the same time we rely on your support in answering questions. To show our appreciation, we reward a cash prize of $50 each Friday in our Best Answer of the Week contest.

To participate in the contest, answer questions using your eMail address or Facebook account. We need this information solely to get in touch with you in case you win. Maybe you can get started by answering one of our toughest questions of the past week:

1. How can I get my MAC to boot after using Ophcrack?
2. Can you help me with URL rewrite directories?
3. How can I make icons for portable apps appear only once in the Windows 7 taskbar?
4. Why does my browser open this URL when I’m on Facebook?
5. How can I “unlock” my write protected pendrive?

There are plenty more tough questions that need answers! You can browse MakeUseOf Answers to your heart’s desire by Latest Questions, Unanswered Questions or Most Popular Questions. For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed.

If you ever need help, go ahead and Ask A Question at MakeUseOf Answers. No signup required.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (14 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (8 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (11 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (16 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (7 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (10 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (13 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (10 comments)
• The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] (8 comments)
• The 5 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers] (5 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.

List Your Website Here!

Asciimo – Creating ASCII art is nothing new, but doing it used to take hours. Asciimo changes that by converting provided text into awesome ASCII art. Using JavaScript, the tool displays ASCII text art as you type and allows you to choose from a variety of fonts. Read more: Asciimo: Create ASCII Text Art Online.

		BodyCounters – Lots of people claim that the amount of violence in movies has increased over time and it has a really bad influence on our society, especially kids. So how much violence is there exactly in each movie? Well, BodyCounters is a website that try to answer that question by counting the number of bodies that died in each movie. Read more: BodyCounters: Check Body Count in Movies.
		Retrevo User Manuals – After purchasing a product, many people start using it without keeping its box and manuals safe. As a result, when a problem arises they do not know how to tackle it since they do not have the product’s manual. If you find yourself in a similar situation, before you get worried, head on over to Retrevo User Manuals first. Read more: Retrevo User Manuals: Get Free Manuals For Electronics.
		Online-Converter – Online-Converter is a collection of all types of file converters. You might have come across individual online services that let you convert a specific type of file across various formats; but Online Converter will be your only stop for any file type conversion. Read more: Online-Converter: Convert Almost Any File Format Online.
		PearlTrees – The internet has expanded so much that many ideas of socialization and storing information have already been explored. This is precisely why unique ideas like Pearltrees are rare and a joy to find. Read more: PearlTrees: Store, Share & Organize Web Content Visually.

List Your Website Here!

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• makeuseof extra #27 (171 comments)
• Finally Stick To Your Resolutions With StickK (107 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 9] (51 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 7] (62 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 6] (72 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 5] (4 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 30] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 29] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 28] (5 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 27] (7 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

I have to say that I’ve always grouped speed reading programs and applications up there with late night infomercials and real estate investment scams. So when I came across a free text reading application that touted itself as a “speed reading” application, it caught my interest.

I decided to seek out five of the most legitimate text speed reader apps. The way these work is that the human mind has to work across sentences from side to side. Your brain must focus, process and then comprehend. Then, you move on to the next word or group of words and the process starts all over.

What these special text reader apps promise to do is to remove the “refocus” part of that equation. MakeUseOf has covered a few speed reading apps before. Speed Reader is similar to the apps I’m going to cover, but not quite as advanced. We recently covered Quickreader for the iPhone as well.

Let’s take a look at the five latest speed reading text readers that will have you reading lightning fast.

Two Online Text Readers

The first two tools that I want to cover are actually online, flash-based apps. The Flash-Reading online application is offered for free by a speed reading website called “Speed Reading is Real.”  To test it, I pasted one of Aibek’s latest posts of MUO discoveries.

When you hit “Continue“, the application starts playing out the text in segments. You can adjust the speed (words per minute), the segment size (chunk size) and the font size of the text. Not only is this a great way to start speed reading through text, but it’s also a good tool for people who have a difficult time reading small text on the Internet.

I found that the tool worked really well, and it did actually seem like I was reading a lot faster than I normally would.

The other online app is located at Spreeder.  This free offering is an effort by the company to convince you about the effectiveness of this software so that you’ll buy the desktop version.

Just like on Flash-Reader, once you click “spreed!“, the application immediately starts playing out the text in single words. The default speed is 300 words per minute. If you’ve never tried this approach to reading text before, this will look insanely fast.

Believe it or not, you will get to the point where you can read that fast, but to start off I had to scroll the settings down much lower. You can set word count, chunk size in words, the size of the window, font size and even the color scheme.

The advanced settings place this online app at the front of the pack, allowing you to enable advanced variable speed settings where longer phrases receive more screen time, while shorter phrases go faster, as well as slight pauses at the end of sentences. These features make the reading experience feel more natural and intuitive.

Three Desktop Text Readers

As we enter into the realm of desktop speed-reader text apps, I’m going to start with my favorite. Dictator is an advanced text speed-reading app that has most of the features you would expect only the paid applications to have. It lets you view the text in any sized word chuck you like, and at any speed. There are also multiple display modes – full screen or split screen.

You can use the arrow keys to scroll through the text at your own speed, or press the space bar to have the text flow at the average words per minute in the settings. What makes this app stand out is that it naturally performs advanced features like shorter pauses for short phrases and words, and natural pauses where the grammar implies a pause. All of these things make for one of the most natural and smooth flowing reading experiences.

If you really want ultimate focus for the best speed, change to full-screen mode. Give this software a shot. I guarantee that you’ll surprise yourself when you see that you’re flying through text at two to three times your normal speed, with full comprehension.

The next app is simply called Speed-Reader. It seems that it was created for a college project, but the quality and features are advanced and almost as good as Dictator.

Settings are all easily accessed on the main display. You can paste in text or load a text file, and the color scheme and font sizes are fully customizable. This is another fantastic app that works well.

The next app is called RAM 4, written by Claude Pavur of Saint Louis University.  He labels it a “Tachistoscope”.

This application takes the same approach as the other apps, except it works by line rather than by word. The timing of each sentence depends on length and word count, but I found that this approach didn’t lead to much better reading time and defeats the purpose of trying to get the mind to focus on one spot. However, if you prefer a text reader that lets you see the context of words within the sentence, then you may choose this one rather than the others.

Have you ever used any of these speed reader apps? What do you think? Do you know of any better free speed reading text apps out there like these? Share your insights in the comments section below.

Image credit: Sanja Gjenero

Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Students: Free Apps To Help You Excel at School [Mac only] (32 comments)
• Pauker – An Easy-To-Use Freeware Java Flash Card Program (14 comments)
• Improve Your Memory With Free Flash Cards for Pocket PC (5 comments)
• How to Make Index Cards in Microsoft Word 2007 (16 comments)
• How To Add Quizzes To Wordpress Blog (10 comments)
• GradeGuru’s Top Ten Student Tools for 2010 (16 comments)
• CosmoLearning – A Free Education Experience For Teachers & Students (1 comments)
• Alice Teaches Object Oriented Computer Programming To Kids (21 comments)
• 7 Alternatives to SparkNotes & CliffsNotes for Book Summaries (7 comments)
• 6 Top Reference Sites to Write a Winning Research Paper (6 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Calling Wolfram Alpha a computational knowledge engine surely puts off a lot of people who are mathematically and statistically challenged. I am one of them, so it took me a fair amount of time to get around to using Wolfram Alpha and the way it takes a query and spits out factual data.

If you are still drunk on Google and other traditional ways of doing search, take a sober pill and give Wolfram Alpha a look.

Yes, Wolfram Alpha still doesn’t have a handle on the entire human knowledge, but it has its unique take on answering questions, comparing keywords, and projecting data.

After understanding the true power of Wolfram Alpha, you will appreciate it as one of the most powerful search engines out there. But is Wolfram Alpha too daunting for a layman? Looking at all the mathematical equations and statistical graphs that the search tool drums out, it seems so.

But even an Average Joe like me can sometimes throw everyday problems at it. And come out with answers easy enough to read. So here are ten of those search queries.

Which Website Is More Popular

Instead of individually looking up figures, you can do a quick comparison of websites to see which is more popular. Computational comparisons are a nifty feature of Wolfram Alpha. You can also lookup website data of any web address.

(Wolfram Alpha pulls in the data from Alexa.com’s database. Some SEO experts do have a problem with the way Alexa draws its data however).

My IP Is?

Wolfram Alpha comes with location awareness. So it can used just like an IP tracker. Type in ‘Where Am I?’ and you get your exact geo-located co-ordinates.

Alternatively, you can find the souls behind an IP number or an URL by putting it as a search string.

As The Crow Flies

You can get the direct travel times and the distance between two cities. Average figures are calculated for ships, cars, and airplanes. Other information like local times at both locations is also attached.

Get To Know Your Kissing Cousins

Wolfram Alpha has a Genealogy engine that can trace your family relationships. To make it easier, you also get a ‘tree’ diagram. Just the thing to find out the right introductions at family dos.

What We Speak & Write

Wolfram Alpha has a host of tools or ‘converters’ which are of real use. For instance, you can figure the number of words needed to fill up the right number of pages (and the typing time to finish a book).

Then the search engine extends a ‘cheating’ hand with its puzzle solvers along with the usual dictionary help. Here’s what the Words & Linguistics features can do:

The Time In Timbuktu

You can get the time information of any place, compare local times of several places, and also convert a time in any city to your time.

Following the Date & Time calculations, you can do a host of things like printing out calendars, find out how many days till Christmas, or get the dates of holidays for a given year. The results are as per your location.

Switch On The Weather Channel

Wolfram Alpha can be your personal weather search engine. It covers a host of ways to get specific weather information and forecasts for your city or one of your choice.

Watch What You Are Eating

Wolfram Alpha can be used as an online calorie counter. You can not only get nutritional information on a food, you can also get it for those that end up as packaged brands on our kitchen shelves. Yes, some of the information goes into the actual mineral and molecular composition, but you can pick out the calorie information for the serving and the percentage of daily intake. And export is all as a PDF.

Again, let’s put a food (or beverage) through a comparison. It tells me that drinking vodka would be the quicker way to get the beer belly.

Hit The Gym…Or Climb The Stairs

You know how many calories you are picking up. So use the same search box to find out how many you can burn with a specific activity. There are a few ways you can compute the physical exercises needed to burn the fat.

When you do this calculation, also scroll down and check out the Equivalent Activities section. Mine tells me that I can repair an airplane for two hours or conduct an orchestra for three to burn the same amount of calories.

Color Swatch From A Search Box

We know ‘bittersweet’ as a feeling, but do you know what it looks like? Wolfram Alpha tells us that it’s a color that’s a shade closer to salmon and Indian red. Complementary colors are also given which tell us which colors can be matched. If you are looking for a three color scheme, pick up the swatch on the color triad. Designers can also quickly pick up the hexadecimal and RGB color codes.

From top to bottom, Wolfram Alpha is a search engine. Just like any other search engine, it depends on third party sources for the information and its accuracy. Also, results will hit the target or miss the spot depending on the search query you feed it. It is not a magic oracle but a work in progress. But the work done so far is impressive.

Let us know if and how you are thinking of using Wolfram Alpha every day.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Top 7 Semantic Search Engines As An Alternative To Google (43 comments)
• The 5 Most Advanced Search Engines On The Web (29 comments)
• A Quick Guide To Google’s New Search Features (23 comments)
• 6 Sites To Search For Images Shared On Twitter (13 comments)
• 5 Ways To Do A Site-Specific Search Using Search Engines (18 comments)
• 4 Awesome Visual Search Engines to Transform Your Search (12 comments)
• 3 Unique Bing Search Operators You Will Definitely Love (5 comments)
• 10 Web Tools To Try Out Sentiment Search & Feel the Pulse (11 comments)
• Why Google Won’t Show You What You Want & How To Fix That (19 comments)
• What Is A Meta Search Engine & How It Works? [Technology Explained] (5 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Buying a smartphone can be a big deal. No longer responsible for the mere task of making phone calls, today’s smartphones are essentially pocket-sized computers. Laying down the money for a smartphone – never mind the cost of the associated contract – can be a bit nerve racking. What if it doesn’t do what you want? Returning a smartphone isn’t necessarily impossible, but cell phone carriers don’t like to take products back without a hassle.

If you’re considering an Android phone you can take off some of the pressure by taking a tour of Android on your PC. This won’t give you perfect emulation, but it will give you a good idea of how Android’s interface works and what you can do with Android based devices.

Installing The Android SDK

In order to run Android on your PC you will need to first install the Android SDK. This is a tool targeted at Android app developers, and as a result it isn’t the most user friendly program in the world. Follow these instructions carefully and you should have no problems.

After you have downloaded the Android SDK zip file, unzip the android-sdk-windows folder. Open the folder and then open SDK Setup.exe. The Android SDK does not come with any version of the Android OS available, so you will be prompted by a window that scans Google’s servers to find out what is available.

You will probably run into the error message displayed above. If you do, close the window. In the main Android SDK window click on the Settings option. Two check boxes will appear near the bottom of the window, one of which is labeled “Force http:// … sources to be fetched using http:// …” Click on that checkbox. The Refresh Sources window will appear again for a moment and then disappear.

Now a new window will appear asking what packages you would like to install. You will see a list of various Android OS versions that are available. You can install them all, or you can simply chose to install the Android OS that comes with the phone you’re interested in. Either way, pressing Install will  start the download of the Android OS version(s) you selected.

If for some reason you cancel the process before you selected and installed an Android OS you can bring this window back by going to Installed Packages and then clicking Update All.

Emulating An Android Phone

Now that you’ve downloaded the Android OS you want to mess with you need to emulate a phone using that OS. To start, go to the Virtual Devices section of the Android SDK and then click New. This will open up the below window, which contains several options.

First, name your phone. It doesn’t matter what the name is – this is just a means of identifying the emulated phone so you can select it later.

Next, click the Target drop down box and select an operating system from the list. Again, you’re best off choosing the Android OS that will be installed on the smartphone you’re curious about.

Now you need to input a size into the field under the SD Card section. The size that you select really does not matter for the purposes of this experiment. I suggest a nice, round number like 512 or 1024. Next, you need to select a display from the Built-In drop-down menu in the Skin section. Again, this doesn’t really matter for evaluation purposes. The default (HVGA) will be fine.

When you’re done, click Create AVD. The following prompt will appear.

Now your emulated phone will appear in the Virtual Devices menu.

Select the emulated phone and then click on Start. A prompt will appear asking if you want to scale the display. I don’t recommend messing with these settings – just click Launch.

Once you do so the emulated Android phone will appear. To the left you will simply see a black screen with Android spelled out in gray letters. You are going to have to let it sit for a few minutes while the emulation loads. Eventually the Android boot animation will appear, and then the OS will appear.

The emulation will let you do most of the things you could normally do with an actual Android smartphone. You can use the web browser, change phone settings, send or receive emails, and add contacts. These features are, for the most part, fully functional – you actually can check your real email using your real email address and you can browse the Internet at your leisure.

There are some things that won’t work. Opening the camera caused my emulated Android phone to crash every time. You can type in phone numbers and press the call button, but no actual call takes place. The music player won’t have any music to play. Perhaps most importantly, there is also no Android Marketplace, although you can still install apps that are available through the web browser.

Conclusion

Emulating an Android phone with the SDK won’t give you a perfect representation, but it will help you understand the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of the phone and provide you with another tool that can be used to make sure you spend your money wisely. Now, if only you could emulate iOS for a comparison!

Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Using An All-In-One PDA & GPS For Geocaching [Android] (24 comments)
• Use Google Maps Navigation For Turn-By-Turn GPS [Android] (18 comments)
• Turn Your Mac Into Sync-Central with SyncMate [MakeUseOf Giveaway] (30 comments)
• Turn Your Android Phone Into A Real Star Trek Tricorder (21 comments)
• Top 5 Sites to Help You Find Apps for Your Android Phone (8 comments)
• Top 2 Sites To Play Old Nintendo Games Online (17 comments)
• The 5 Games You Should Be Installing On Your Android Mobile Phone (15 comments)
• The 5 Coolest Voice Apps For Your Android Phone (4 comments)
• The 4 Must Have Android Phone Applications for Students (7 comments)
• Stickybits – Using Barcode Messages To Connect Real Life and Social Media (8 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Photoshop is a wonderful tool. Expensive, but wonderful. With it you can smooth out Gran’s chin, hide your ex or bring shame upon a local politician. Photoshop’s forte however is fixing photos.

As a generation of photographers, we’ve accepted Photoshop as an “always there” resource for salvaging shaky shots but to really improve as a photographer, it’s important to look at mistakes and learn how to take good photos.

Try and cut down on your Photoshop habit with these Adobe-busting tips on what to look out for.

Read Your Histogram

The histogram is a graph-like visual representation of light within an image, and an important aspect of digital photography to master. Digital SLRs, bridge cameras and some compacts will offer a histogram view after an image has been taken. A nicely balanced histogram will look something like this:

All the colours within the image are correctly exposed, there is no clipping (loss of detail) and the histogram resembles a centralised curve. If I had overexposed the same image then the histogram would read:

Much of the recorded data has been blown out of exposure and now appears on the right (light side) of the histogram. Underexposed images follow the opposite pattern:

Reading your histogram in the field will give you a much better idea of whether your exposure is correctly balanced, and whether you have lost any detail. Unfortunately reviewing your images on the small LCD just isn’t enough – especially in bright conditions.

Use Filters

There are an array of filters that come in all shapes and sizes to help your camera capture that perfect image. A simple UV filter will not only protect the lens, but will help cut through hazy conditions for shots with greater clarity.

Graduated neutral density filters are perfect for landscapes, and are used to reduce the brightness of the sky within the photo. This provides balanced exposures, with a high range of detail that Photoshop’s Graduated Filter tool can struggle with (especially if the sky is badly overexposed). For deep blue skies and reflection-free waterways then a circular polarising filter is a must.

Watch The Horizon

Don’t forget to check that horizon before pressing the shutter. A slightly wobbly horizon can ruin a good shot, and if you’re not prepared to mess about in Photoshop then it’s probably worth investing in a tripod. Many come with spirit levels built into the head to indicate whether the camera support is straight or not, allowing you to tweak and fiddle to your heart’s content before hitting the shutter.

Delaying the exposure with the camera’s timer (or using a remote trigger) will ensure there’s no wobble when the shutter opens, giving you a blur-free shot.

Use A Custom White Balance

Using a piece of white or grey card it is possible to take a custom white balance, meaning your whites will be white for as long as you’re shooting in those conditions. This is key to nailing skin tones first time, a fine-tuning process that can be very time consuming if you’re using Photoshop.

If your camera supports it, then you’ll need to consult the manual to find out exactly how to do this. Generally, the process involves positioning your chosen card beneath a well-lit area, selecting a custom white balance and photographing the card. The camera will use your sample as a base for all other shades.

Preventing Red-Eye

Red-eye is the bane of many photos, and despite being a quick fix is still a problem many of us would rather avoid altogether.

When shooting with a flash, first ask yourself if you really need it. Many compact cameras default to an “auto” mode which is all-too-happy to fill the room with strobes, so try turning it off. If the room is fairly light or you are outside then it may be worth asking your subject to remain still and practicing your steadiest hand.

Digital SLR users with bounce flashes should use them to their full potential and bounce light onto their subject, which will deliver a softer overall exposure as well as reducing the likelihood of red-eye.

If all else fails, there’s a great online alternative to Photoshop for fixing red eye.

Know Your Lenses

I’ve got a couple of zoom lenses I find will always provide a pesky black ring around the edges of my photos at their widest angles, known as a vignette. Taking note of what your equipment can realistically achieve will reduce your processing time and avoid disappointment. So if you discover that trusty old 18-55mm vignettes at its widest point (as mine does), stop short of the mark.

Don’t forget having filters and lens hoods on your glass may cause this to happen more frequently, so removing these extras will reduce your need for Photoshop’s vignette fixer.

Conclusion

Don’t be content with the few shots you’ve already got, if you spot something worth the effort then keep that trigger finger itchy. It sounds like an obvious point to make, but digital photography (once you’ve bought your camera) is essentially free. Therefore use every byte on your memory card, you’ll be amazed how sometimes you get about 10 good shots from the 200 on your card.

Remember Photoshop isn’t a sin, it’s just time consuming. Hopefully by paying a little more attention to the very basics of how to take good photos you will be able to spend more time on the web reading articles like these and less time cursing the straighten tool for crashing Camera Raw yet again.

Be sure to check out our downloadable ultimate guide to Photoshop if you’ve not already, it’s all you need to become a Photoshop guru. Also, take a look at our Essential Guide to Digital Photography for some great photography tips. And of course, any other tips you can offer us in the comments section below would be greatly appreciated.

Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Tips For Taking Digital Photography Using Live View (30 comments)
• The Basics Of Photo Cropping That You Should Understand (2 comments)
• The Basics of How to Properly Resize Images in Photoshop (2 comments)
• Photoshop Tips For Black & White Photography (9 comments)
• How to Recover Deleted Pictures from a Digicam Memory Card (6 comments)
• How To Make A Cool Collage Using Photoshop (15 comments)
• How To Lighten Dark Photos In Photoshop (4 comments)
• How To Easily Manage Photos from Multiple Cameras [Mac] (5 comments)
• How To Create An Awesome Soft Focus Effect In Photoshop (8 comments)
• How To Change The Background Of A Photo In Photoshop (13 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.

List Your Website Here!

Notepad.cc – When it comes to simplicity, nothing beats good old Notepad. However, the lack of portability and sharing features in the Windows based Notepad often make people look for alternatives. A great such alternative is Notepad.cc, a minimalist cloud based text editor that gives you a distraction-free writing experience. Read more: NotePad.cc: A Simple Cloud Based NotePad Alternative.

		HowSecureIsMyPassword – Today hackers and malware have considerably advanced and can take down your strong defenses. If you have ever wondered about the strength of any one of your passwords, then HowSecureIsMyPassword has been made precisely for you. Read more: HowSecureIsMyPassword: Password Strength Checker.
		MyeCoverMaker – eCovers have widespread applications. You could use one for an application you created, your website’s introduction page, or an eBook which you’ve written. While creating an eCover, don’t hire a professional designer. Instead of paying big bucks to him, consult My eCover Maker first. Read more: MyeCoverMaker: 3D eCover Creator Software Online.
		Browize – Developers often wonder how their site will look on their visitor’s screen resolutions. To know this, they have to test different resolution sizes to put themselves in their site visitor’s shoes. But thanks to Browize, they will no longer have to shift back and forth from multiple screen settings. Read more: Browize: Easily Test Different Resolution Sizes Online.
		FuelMileage – as the name indicates, lets vehicle owners track fuel mileage and then help them improve it by suggesting various methods. You can register on their site and then add your vehicle details. Multiple vehicles can be added to the dashboard. Read more: FuelMileage.com: Easily Track Fuel Mileage.

List Your Website Here!

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• makeuseof extra #27 (171 comments)
• Finally Stick To Your Resolutions With StickK (107 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 9] (51 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 7] (62 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 6] (72 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 5] (4 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 30] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 29] (3 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 28] (5 comments)
• Cool Websites and Tools [September 27] (7 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Back in May, MakeUseOf published 10 Tips to Take Better Digital Pictures With Your Phone’s Camera.

In this article, I will address some particular common cell phone problems that users run into when taking photos with a cell phone camera; and we all know, there are plenty.

The problems addressed in these article will apply to most any cell phone camera, though I use the iPhone 3G camera for illustration.

Blurry Images

The easiest and probably most common cell phone problem with cell phone photos is they end up blurry. This occurs for a couple of reasons.

• Cell phone cameras need to be properly held. You always want to hold the camera steady with both hands. The tricky part is clicking the shutter button after holding and composing a shot. So one thing to remember is that typically the shutter of the camera does not activate until the button is released. That means you can first push and hold down the button, frame your shot, and then release the button to release the shutter. Avoid trying to frame the shot while you push down the button.

  

  Also try to rest part of your phone on one of your fingers or in the palm of your hand to get a firm grip.

• You might also try bracing your camera against a wall or on a table to help you steady a shot. Even setting up a tripod for your cell phone camera is a useful idea for portrait and group shots.
• The less ambient light you’re shooting in, the more likely you’re going to get blurry photos. Because you can’t increase the shutter speed or open the aperture wider on a cell phone camera, you need to shoot in the brightest area possible, or use a flash if your camera has one.
• If the shot is not blurry but still not as sharp as it needs to be, you can try using an image editor to sharpen the images — but this is less than ideal.

Shooting Moving Subjects

Because cell phone cameras have slow shutter speeds, it’s nearly impossible to capture moving subjects. To address this problem, you might try using an iPhone camera application that delivers multiple shots (or what is called burst mode) after the shutter is pressed. Check out this article for a couple of great iPhone photography apps: The Best Free Alternatives To Top Commercial iPhone Photography Apps

Furthermore, to shoot moving subjects like children you definitely want to shoot in the brightest possible light to compensate for the slower shutter speed. The photo below is an example of the type of moving subjects that are nearly impossible to freeze capture using a cell phone camera.

Photos Lack Contrast

As with most digital photography, photos typically lack good contrast especially when shot in low light settings. The best solution for this is using an image editor and processing photos after they are taken.

Image editors such as the free iPhone app, Photoshop Mobile, have automatic brightness/contrast tools that can make the colors in your photos pop.

Subject Looks Too Small

There’s an easy solution to this one. Shoot close. You need to zoom in with your feet, even if you camera has a digital zoom. Fill the frame with the subject of the image. This is something that you do no matter what you’re using. In an image editor, you can also crop your images to make the subjects closer; however, because cell phone cameras have lower resolution than many point-and-shoot cameras, cropping too much may result in increased pixilation, especially when photos are printed. So zoom with your feet, instead of the lens, to get the best close-up you can. Experiment with shooting from different angles to get a better shot.

Images Are Dark

The obvious problem with dark photos is that there was not enough light when you took the shot. If your camera does not have a flash and you’re shooting in a low light area without a flash, there’s really nothing you can do to address this problem except get more light on the subject. Indoor lights at night are typically not enough light for cell phone cameras. You will need a flash.

Backlight

Also, watch for what is called backlighting. That is, when there’s more light in the back of the subject than there is facing the subject. So make sure the light is coming from behind you and is facing the subject.

In my experience, camera apps like the free and pro version of Camera Plus for the iPhone address some the problems described above. While cell phone cameras may never be a good replacement for point-and-shoot cameras, the portability of mobile cameras make learning how to use them more effectively worth the effort.

Let us know how you fix particular common cell phone camera problems. Have you found an application or two that is helpful for your camera photography?

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• 3 Apps to Turn Your Webcam Into An IP Phone (11 comments)
• 10 Tips To Take Better Digital Pictures With Your Phone’s Camera (12 comments)
• What Type of Mobile Phone Do You Use? [Poll] (34 comments)
• What is Digital Photography? [Technology Explained] (16 comments)
• What Is Bluetooth? [Technology Explained] (10 comments)
• What Are QR Codes? Digitize your World & Back Again (15 comments)
• VZOChat – How To Videoconference with Your Cameraphone Webcam (17 comments)
• Turn Your Mac Into Sync-Central with SyncMate [MakeUseOf Giveaway] (30 comments)
• Turn Your Cellphone Into A Copy Machine (8 comments)
• Top 7 Apple iPhone Complaints & Simple Solutions (50 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

When most apps in the iTunes store cost from $0.99 to $2.99, you don’t really think twice about purchasing a few apps every now and then. But when you actually watch the figures accumulate, you could be surprised to see just how much money you’re spending.

The list below includes a variety of completely legitimate ways to get your hands on some paid iPhone apps for free. None of these methods require that you jailbreak your phone – but some of them do require a little bit of patience. From websites that send you notifications when an app’s price has dropped, to websites which feature one free app a day, you’ll find a few tips and tricks on how to get all your favourite paid iPhone apps for free, without spending a cent.

Free App Alert

FreeAppAlert is a great website that you can visit on a daily basis, or better yet, receive a daily email listing all the newly free iPhone apps for that day. The email contains links to view the app on the FreeAppAlert website, or on iTunes. Each app listing is accompanied by the information you would read about the app on iTunes.

AppMiner

If you’re on the go and would prefer a convenient way to keep up with price changes in the app store, AppMiner [iTunes link] is a great way to do just that. Browse apps by category, or by the top rated apps. In each category you can view either the apps that have dropped in price but are still paid, or by those that have become free.

Each app is accompanied by the description and screenshots from iTunes. From there you can launch the App Store on your iPhone to download the app by clicking Get it. You can also see what other people have said about the app by searching for it with the Buzz button, share the link via email, watch the app for price changes or see more apps by the same developer. One way in which AppMiner sets itself apart from other apps of this kind is the use of push notification. You can search the app store for any paid app you like and add it to your watch list. If any changes occur to the app’s price, you will be instantly notified.

AppShopper

AppShopper lists all the changes in prices in the app store, including those that have gone from paid to free iPhone apps. You can narrow your results by iPhone/iPad apps and by categories.

You can also choose to list only the popular apps. Signing up for a free account gives you the added benefit of listing which apps you’ve already bought, and those on your wishlist. This gives you an easy way to keep track of the apps you want to snag for free, and you will receive notifications when their prices drops.

You can also browse the Top 200 iPhone apps, which can be further narrowed down by category or by paid/free apps. Each App listing is accompanied by all the information that you would read about the app on iTunes. Other sites that deserves a mention offering a similar service are Apptism and 148Apps.

FuelMyApp

FuelMyApp offers a slightly different method for getting paid apps for free. The catch is that you have to actually buy the app first. You will then be given 72 hours to review it on iTunes, after which you will receive a refund through Paypal. In order for FuelMyApp to work, however, it needs several elements – the most important of which is developers who are willing to add their apps to the site. Currently, the selection is quite limited. The site also enters a slightly grey area where it may seem that the reviews are being bought, although in theory, whether you give a positive or negative review, you should be refunded.

OpenFeint & FreeAppADay

There are also several sites that offer one free app a day, so check back with them on a daily basis to get iPhone apps for free. OpenFeint offers one free game a day.

FreeAppADay also promotes one app a day, some of which are free for just that one day.

Giveaways

Another way to get paid apps for free is to keep on the lookout for giveaways. We have all sorts of giveaways right here on MakeUseOf, which have included iPhone apps in the past.

AppSafari has ongoing daily giveaway competitions which you can enter by following their Twitter account and tweeting about the daily free app.

They also have a list of promo codes for various apps, which is updated every few days.

Another way to get promo codes is by leaving a comment on the latest giveaways at AppGiveaway, and get yourself in the running for some free apps.

If you’re looking for some free iPhone apps that are just as good as their paid counterparts check out the following articles:

• The Best Free Alternatives To Top Commercial iPhone Photography Apps
• 5 More Free Alternatives to Top iPhone Photography Apps
• 8 iPhone Games You Won’t Believe Are Free

Do you have any tips on how to get paid iPhone apps for free?

Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• The Top 5 iPhone Applications For Killing Time (11 comments)
• How To Play Console Games On The iPhone (19 comments)
• Aurora Feint (iPhone App) Brings Role Play to Bejeweled (11 comments)
• 8 iPhone Games You Won’t Believe Are Free (8 comments)
• Two Useful iPhone Apps To Copy / Paste Text (10 comments)
• Twizzle – The Latest and One of the Best in iPhone Twitter Apps (22 comments)
• Top 8 Great Alternatives To Mobile Safari [iPhone / iPod] (13 comments)
• Top 4 Best iPhone Twitter Apps That Host Your Media on Posterous (12 comments)
• The Top 10 Free Apps For Jailbroken iPhone [Cydia] (25 comments)
• The Best iPhone Tower Defense Games 2009 + Giveaway (36 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

If you’re looking for an easy way to share and manage status updates and blog posts on Facebook and Twitter, Sendible is probably one of the best (and the easiest) way to help you accomplish just that. Take a look at what they have to offer.

Here are the 5 winners who will each receive a complimentary one-year Sendible Marketeer subscription to completely make use of the advantages of social networking.

Congratulations! An email has been sent to your inbox. If you haven’t received it, please check your spam folder.

MakeUseOf would like to thank Gavin Hammar from Sendible for his generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• TriDefense Giveaway Winners (1 comments)
• Tonido Giveaway Winners (36 comments)
• SyncMate Giveaway Winners (14 comments)
• Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual Giveaway Winners (12 comments)
• Sewell Minideck Giveaway Winners (9 comments)
• Postbox Giveaway Winners (15 comments)
• Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual Giveaway Winners (13 comments)
• Paragon Drive Copy 10 Winners (16 comments)
• Mozy Giveaway Winners (9 comments)
• Mac Giveaway Tweetie Winners! (14 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Last week’s poll invited the dreamers of you to answer this question: Where would you live if you could freelance online from anywhere? The poll answers were strictly divided into certain types of areas, but the comments led to some very interesting specific locations and reasons for your choices.

The results clearly tell us that if MakeUseOf readers had online freelance work and wi-fi wherever it’s needed, most of you would hit the beach or an island. That’s 35% of MUO responders heading straight for the sun and sand. Sounds lovely, but I’m not sure you’ll get much work done there! Almost with a perfect draw for second place came two very different locations: ‘Mountains’ on 20% and ‘Busy City’ on 19%. This tells us that MUO readers are pretty equally divided when it comes to the sociable and the introverted: Half of you want to live it up and the other half want to get away from it all. ‘Remote Village’ on 10% was slightly more popular than the 6% of votes for ‘Tropical/Forest’ area. However, after reading the comments, this seems like it’s because few people believe they’ll get good internet access in a forest. Love the priorities, MakeUseOf readers!

Full results and this week’s poll after the jump.

As you can see, all those cafés in beach towns had better start improving their wi-fi access for the influx of freelancer workers coming their way!

Now, enough with the dreaming and on to something a tad more serious.

This week’s poll question is: Do you share passwords with your spouse/partner?

Please note: I’d normally just say “partner”, but I didn’t want anyone getting confused with business partners. By saying spouse/partner I intend to cover all manner of serious romantic relationships where both parties love and trust each other completely.

Sharing passwords is a pretty serious security issue. I doubt that any security specialist would ever recommend sharing any passwords for any reason, yet so many couples do it anyway. The consequences of shared passwords (even without considering a potential break-up) are numerous and in some cases quite dire. But somehow, when you’ve come to trust someone so much, it seems far less important to keep these things secret.

So, let’s see what the general attitude is among MakeUseOf readers. I’d be very surprised if many of you are as open with passwords as the general public are.

Have you shared your most important passwords? Just a few? Which passwords are most important to you? Or, are you of the “I love you, but not THAT much” security-cautious variety? Do tell!

When considering your answers to this poll, if you are single or with someone you don’t entirely trust, please consider what your stance would be if you did have a partner you trusted completely. Would you share passwords then?

Feel free to elaborate on your answer a little in the comments – we realise a complicated question can never be answered completely by a simple poll choice.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Securely Manage Your Passwords Online With Mitto (18 comments)
• Protect And Track Your Laptop In Case Of Theft (21 comments)
• Ophcrack – A Password Hack Tool to Crack Almost Any Windows Password (38 comments)
• Keeping Under the Radar and Securing Your PC Files (25 comments)
• How to Make Your Hotmail Sign In More Secure (9 comments)
• How To Lock Windows Folders With MyLockbox (17 comments)
• How To Keep Your Paypal Account Safe From Hackers (24 comments)
• How To Do Encryption, Decryption & Signing Easily With Seahorse [Linux] (4 comments)
• How To Create A Good Password That You Will Not Forget (45 comments)
• Hide & Protect Your Files with Easy File Locker [Windows] (21 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com