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A Quick Guide To Developing Android Apps With Google App Inventor

Posted on 05 January 2011. Tags: Android, Apps, Developing, Google, Guide, Inventor, Quick

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/androidrobot.png" alt="developing android apps" width="232" height="270" />Ever since I first received my Droid, I’ve been very curious about how people produce some of those amazing applications on and off the Android market. I’m a programmer, but not a gifted hacker by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve mastered Visual Basic and Coldfusion, but when it comes to writing an application from scratch that would work on a mobile device, I was certain that was well beyond the scope of my abilities.

When it comes to writing mobile apps, the closest we’ve come at MUO is Beth’s article on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/develop-simple-iphone-app-submit-itunes/">how to develop an iPhone app. Even with the iPhone approach, you need to learn Objective-C. In other words – you’ve got to learn how to become a coder. Well, for those of you that appreciate visual-based programming like me, then you will be very happy to learn that Android has made it possible for anyone with even the most basic programming experience to create their very own high-quality and highly functional Android applications. The secret weapon to developing Android apps? It’s called the class="vt-p" href="http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/">Google App Inventor and it’s offered at Google Labs.

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Setting Up Google App Inventor

The App Inventor consists of three parts. There’s the design tool, the blocks editor, and finally configuring your phone.

The first thing you have to do is set up your phone. Go into Settings -> Applications and make sure that “Unknown sources” is selected. This allows the Blocks Editor to install itself and communicate with your phone for testing purposes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designerA.jpg" alt="developing android apps" width="281" height="500" />

Then, click on “Development” and make sure that you’ve enabled both “USB debugging” and “Stay awake.”

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designerB.jpg" alt="how to build android apps" width="281" height="500" />

Guess what – that’s all you have to do to configure your phone to work with the programming tools.

When you first sign up to use the App Inventor, you’re going to need to install the Block Editor as one of the steps. This is a Java application that installs onto your computer, and it gives you the ability to modify the behavior of the “blocks” that you’ve created in design mode, and it communicates directly with your phone.

Once you’ve signed up and you’re in the design tool, just select “New” and name your first project. In this example, I’m going to get started on a matching game for my kids where they need to match images of cats on a 3 x 4 grid.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62195" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer1.jpg" alt="how to build android apps" width="424" height="338" />

The design tool is set up a lot like Visual Basic and Visual C++, where the objects that you can use are on the left, and the design area, or “form” is in the center. In this case the form is the individual screen, and you can have multiple screens per app (just remember to include navigation).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62196" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer2.jpg" alt="how to build android apps" width="575" height="427" />

Once you click and drag a component onto the screen, it shows up on the right side of the design app under Components. Under “Properties” you can view and modify the initial display properties of that component.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62197" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer3.jpg" alt="how to make android apps" width="442" height="439" />

Now below I’ve basically created a screen with a 3×4 table (you can find this under “Screen Arrangement“) and then I added 12 buttons with individual cat images for each “image” property of the buttons.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer4.jpg" alt="how to make android apps" width="571" height="440" />

Once you start using the Blocks editor, all of these design properties can be modified. As you can see below, I defined the image of button 1 as a blank image (which I loaded in design mode as a grey image called “Image1″).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer5.jpg" alt="how to make android apps" width="520" height="375" />

As you can see, everything is visual – there’s no coding here. Under “My Blocks” I chose the “Screen1″ component and dragged the “Initialize” event to the center program area. You need to tell an event what to do when it takes place, so I dragged the Button1.Image property into the box, and then told it to make that property use “Image1″.

After about an hour of playing around – I finished programming the initialization of all of the buttons when my app first loads, as well as what to do when the user clicks on the first button.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer6.jpg" alt="" width="529" height="476" />

As you can see, even an application like a matching game can require that you carefully consider every possibility. You can program for all possibilities by defining and programming component events. The example above can get complicated, so if you’re just getting started, stick with something simple like the example Google provides when you first sign up. You can graduate from there when you’re comfortable with the programming and testing process.

As you can see in the left navbar in the design tool, you have access to just about everything your Android can do – sensors, contact list, video players and much more.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62201" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer7.jpg" alt="" width="478" height="438" />

So – here’s my work of art, programmed, tested and then finally installed onto my phone in about an hour. I still need to program the rest of the buttons as well.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/designer10.jpg" alt="developing android apps" width="478" height="566" />

Needless to say, the fact that I could even get anything to run on my phone with about an hour’s worth of effort is impressive. I thought it would be nearly impossible.

So, sign up to become a developer and try out the Google App Developer yourself. You may be surprised, you may find yourself creating some of the coolest applications imaginable. All it takes is a little bit of patience and some time to play around with the development tools.

Let us know if you were able to succeed in developing your own Android apps and what you think of the design and block editor tools in the comments section below!

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The Comprehensive Guide to YouTube Player Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted on 28 December 2010. Tags: Comprehensive, Guide, Keyboard, Player, Shortcuts, YouTube

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/youtube-shortcuts.jpg" alt="youtube keyboard shortcuts"/>If you love online video, you should be often on href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/youtube">YouTube browsing through recently popular video clips, embedding and sharing some of them on your website, commenting, etc. I have shared some fun YouTube tips and resources in the past including href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-youtube-tools-create-easy-leanback-tv-experience/">tools to enjoy a YouTube lean-back experience as well as href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-websites-enjoy-youtube-instant-experience/">YouTube “Instant” search engines.

This post is about making your Youtube video watching more productive: it shares the complete (I hope) guide to Youtube player keyboard shortcuts.

Have you been aware that you can take the full control over the YouTube player with only the keyboard? If not, you may find the following collection of tips useful. If you are familiar with some YouTube keyboard shortcuts, chances are you’ll discover new ones. Let’s see!

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Tab key to select the needed section

The Tab key allows the user to jump from section to section in the following order:

Play / pause button;
Seek bar
Volume;
Resolution;
Pop-up video;
Expand

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/youtube-shortcuts-01.jpg" alt="youtube keyboard shortcuts" width="550" height="537" />

Note: the Tab key will loop on the video player part, so if you normally use the key to switch between the page links, be prepared that once the video is focused, the key will only control the player. With embedded videos, you will need to focus the video to make the Tab key work as on the screenshot.

Once any of the player sections is highlighted, you can use other keys to control it. More often than not, that will be Enter or Escape to activate / disable the feature, for example:

Tab to “Expand” section, click Enter to toggle expanded view (not to be confused with full-screen mode) and Esc to shrink the player;
Tab to “play” a section and use Enter to play or pause the video, etc.

Exceptions:

“Volume” section is controlled with up / down arrow keys;
“Resolution” section uses the up / down arrow keys to navigate to the selected resolution;
“Seek bar” section uses the variety of keys, all of which are described in the below section:

Youtube Player Seekbar Keyboard Shortcuts

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Keyboard shortcut Action (the seekbar should be selected) Left / Right arrow Jump back / ahead 5 seconds in the current video Home / End Seek to the beginning / last seconds of the video Spacebar Play / Pause Numbers 1 to 9 Seek to the 10% to 90% of the video Number 0 Seek to the beginning of the video

Notes:

To make the above shortcuts work, make sure that the seek bar is highlighted. Or at least the seek bar should have focus: the video has to be the most recent thing you’ve clicked on.
Only the number keys on the top row of your keyboard function (the numeric pad won’t work);
Numbered shortcuts won’t work in full-screen mode (the rest of the shortcuts seem to work there just fine).

Some shortcuts didn’t work for me. However, I’ve seen a lot of recent comments that they are working for many people. So I am listing them here in case they will work for you:

F key to switch to full-screen view;
CTRL + left arrow and CTRL + right arrow to seek backward / forward 10 seconds

Disable Keyboard Shortcuts for Embedded Videos

In case you don’t want your visitors to use the shortcuts when viewing the video you embed, you can disable the following ones:

Spacebar: Play / Pause
Arrow Left / Right: Jump back / ahead 10% in the current video
Arrow Up / Down: Volume up / down

by adding href="http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html#disablekb">&disablekb=1 to your embed code:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/youtube-shortcuts-02.jpg" alt="youtube keyboard shortcuts" width="550" height="121" />

Note: this will still let them use the Tab key to click through the player sections.

Have I missed any Youtube keyboard shortcuts? Please share your tips in the comments! />
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The AWESOME Automation Guide For Mac Users [PDF]

Posted on 14 December 2010. Tags: Automation, Awesome, Guide, Users

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/macautomation.png" />Work smart, not hard. That’s the idea behind Mac Automation, a technology built into Apple’s OS X but frequently underutilized.

Whether its sorting your email, searching your documents or building a playlist, you’d be amazed how many tasks can be done automatic instead of manually–if only you knew how to get started.

Lucky for you, MakeUseOf is offering a free ebook covering just that: The Awesome Automation Guide for Macs. This guide explains everything you need to stop clicking your mouse so often and start letting your computer do the boring stuff for you, no programming skills required. Take full advantage of the most powerful operating system on the planet and save yourself from time.

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style="text-align: center;"> href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Mac_Automation.pdf">DOWNLOAD The Awesome Automation Guide for Macs
style="text-align: center;">or
style="text-align: center;"> href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/44364910/">Read online now on Scribd

style="text-align: center;"> href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Mac_Automation.pdf"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-60085" title="macautomation3page" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/macautomation3page1.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="300" />

Every Mac user should read this guide, which is made up of easy-to-understand demonstrations and screenshots. Among other things you’ll learn how to:

Use smart folders to manage your files and folders
Using iTunes’ smart playlists to organize your music
Find the photo your looking for with iPhoto
Sort your email without any effort, using Mail.app’s smart filters and folders
Using Automator to script without any programming knowledge

Like all our manuals, this one is free. Please share this with all of your friends!

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The Complete Guide To Watching Videos On Your iPad

Posted on 31 October 2010. Tags: COMPLETE, Guide, iPad, Videos, Watching

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ipad.jpg" alt="watching videos on ipad" width="225" height="223" />With the iPad’s large screen and light weight, it makes it the ideal device for watching movies and TV shows lying in bed, on the go, or pretty much anywhere you want to. That said, Apple’s embargo on flash makes it difficult to find a lot of content to stream online.

We’ve put together a comprehensive list of some of the major websites and apps you can use to watch TV shows, movies, documentaries, and much much more.

Some of the sites can only be accessed from their country of origin, so unfortunately not everyone can watch the latest network TV video on their iPad.

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TV

ABC (USA only)

ABC is one of the few network channels that has a dedicated class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-player/id364191819?mt=8">app [iTunes link] where you can watch full episodes on your iPad. ABC’s show list includes popular shows like Modern Family, Cougar Town and Grey’s Anatomy. They also have a separate class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-news-for-ipad/id380520716?mt=8">app [iTunes link] for news buffs who like to get the latest news from CBS.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ABC.jpg" border="0" alt="watching videos on ipad" width="580" height="435" />

Bravo (USA only)

Bravo’s iPad class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bravo-now/id383925190?mt=8">app [iTunes link] allows you to watch clips from their shows. The clips aren’t very long at 30 seconds, but if you’re a fan of Bravo’s reality shows you might like to watch short videos when you have a little bit of time to kill. Unfortunately, if you want to watch full episodes on your iPad, you’ll have to pay.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Bravo.jpg" border="0" alt="video on ipad" width="580" height="435" />

TBS (USA Only)

The class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tbs/id385618916?mt=8#">TBS iPad app [iTunes link] has the same limitations as the Bravo app – you can only watch short clips from each show. But with shows like The Office and Family Guy, we’ll take what we can get, even if the app hasn’t really been optimised for the iPad’s larger screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/TBS.jpg" border="0" alt="video on ipad" width="580" height="773" />

The Ellen Show

If you’re a fan of class="vt-p" href="http://ellen.warnerbros.com/">The Ellen Show, you can watch clips from the latest episodes on the official website or by downloading the class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ellen/id349051443?mt=8#">free app [iTunes link]. The iTunes app while compatible with the iPad has not been optimised for the larger screen. Of course this does not affect video playback.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ellen.jpg" alt="video on ipad" width="580" height="435" />

NBC

The class="vt-p" href="http://m.nbc.com/">NBC mobile website leaves a lot to be desired, but if you’re a fan of their shows, you can at least watch short clips on your iPad. The size of the screen is not optimised for the iPad, but this does not affect the videos themselves.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/nbc.jpg" border="0" alt="watch ipad video" width="580" height="435" />

TVCatchup (UK Only)

class="vt-p" href="http://ipad.tvcatchup.com/">TVCatchup is one of the best websites for UK residents to watch TV shows live as they are aired. With BBC, ITV, Sky and much more, their iPad optimised site makes it easy to find what you want to watch. If you’d rather watch your favourite BBC shows at any time, you can use the class="vt-p" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/tv">BBC’s iPlayer.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/TVCatchup.jpg" border="0" alt="watch ipad video" width="580" height="435" />

Documentaries

The History Channel

class="vt-p" href="http://www.history.com/videos">The History Channel is another of the few channels that allows you to watch full episodes of a large selection of their shows on their website. They even have a large selection of Halloween related videos on their front page at the moment.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/HC.jpg" border="0" alt="watch ipad video" width="580" height="435" />

National Geographic

Watch clips of up to 10 minutes in length on the class="vt-p" href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com">National Geographic website on your iPad. Topics are varied from videos about animals, environmental issues, news, and kid-friendly videos, and much more.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/NG.jpg" border="0" alt="NG.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Sports

Sports fans can watch news and game clips from all the latest in sporting events on the class="vt-p" href="http://espn.go.com/video">ESPN and the class="vt-p" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video">Sports Illustrated websites.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/SI.jpg" border="0" alt="SI.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

News

There is no limit to the sites that allow you to watch video clips to keep up with news from around the world, including class="vt-p" href="http://cnn.com/video">CNN, class="vt-p" href="http://reuters.com/news/video">Reuters, class="vt-p" href="http://time.com/time/video">Time Magazine, and class="vt-p" href="http://video.foxnews.com">Fox News.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/CNN.jpg" border="0" alt="CNN.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Movies

class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/muviez-independent-movies-hd/id343604459?mt=8">Muviez [iTunes link] is a free iPad app that allows you to stream a small selection of independent shorts using your WiFi connection, and you can even download the videos to watch when you don’t have an internet connection. The only drawback to the app is that the longer documentaries and movies require a paid subscription – with no obvious way how to sign up for the subscription on the iPad.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/muviez.jpg" border="0" alt="muviez.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Channels

NFB Films

class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nfb-films-for-ipad/id378813687?mt=8">NFB Films [iTunes link] brings over 1,000 Canadian films and shows to iPad users for free. Their channels include short films, classics, animated films and documentaries, amongst many others.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/NFB.jpg" border="0" alt="NFB.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Tap TV

TapTV is another impressive app with a large library of public domain movies, children’s shows, documentaries, and even audio books.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/tap.jpg" border="0" alt="tap.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Education

The free app, class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brainpop-featured-movie/id364894352?mt=8">BrainPOP [iTunes link] is a great resource for educational videos for kids. With science, social studies, english, math, arts and music, health and tech and engineering, they haven’t left anything out. A new video is added every day.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brainpop.jpg" border="0" alt="brainpop.jpg" width="580" height="773" />

Vimeo & YouTube

Needless to say, if you want to watch user-generated content, the two best sites to go to are class="vt-p" href="www.vimeo.com">Vimeo and class="vt-p" href="http://youtube.com">YouTube. While Vimeo doesn’t have a dedicated app like YouTube, their website is iPad ready.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/vimeo.jpg" border="0" alt="vimeo.jpg" width="580" height="435" />

Trailers

If all you’re looking for is trailers, look no further than Apple’s very own class="vt-p" href="http://trailers.apple.com">website. class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fox-searchlight-pictures/id355736613?mt=8">Fox Searchlight [iTunes link] and class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hbo/id343753047?mt=8">HBO [iTunes link] have their own dedicated apps, but it’s much easier to fire up Safari and get all of the latest trailers regardless of who’s behind the films.

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How do you stream video on your iPad for free? Let us know in the comments. />
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The (Very) Unofficial Facebook Privacy Guide [DOWNLOAD]

Posted on 25 October 2010. Tags: download, Facebook, Guide, Privacy, Unofficial, Very

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/facebook-manual.jpg" />Like Facebook, but wish your information wasn’t so public? Time to lock your settings down. Facebook doesn’t make this easy, however; features are constantly added and the default for each new one seems to favor transparency instead of privacy.

The result: there are hundreds of little changes you need to make to truly control where your information goes.

Enter “The (Very) Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual”. This handy guide outlines everything you could ever want to know about locking down your privacy on Facebook, and a few things you probably didn’t even know you wanted to know.

If you use Facebook you should read this guide, if only to understand how public most of your information is.

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style="text-align: center;">Download: href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/FacebookPrivacy.pdf">The (Very) Unofficial Privacy Guide

style="text-align: center;">Or

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This amazing guide outlines a variety of things regarding Facebook privacy, including:

Making sure a comment meant for your friends isn’t seen by co-workers
Understanding what it means to upload content to Facebook
Control whether others can check you in to certain locations
Keeping your Facebook page off Google’s search results
Blocking unwanted users from seeing your page
Deleting your Facebook page completely, if it’s all just too much.

This manual, like every manual provided by MakeUseOf, is completely free. Share it with your friends!

style="text-align: center;">Download: href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/FacebookPrivacy.pdf">The (Very) Unofficial Privacy Guide

style="text-align: center;">Or

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Enjoy! />
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The Complete Beginners Guide To Joomla [PDF]

Posted on 14 September 2010. Tags: Beginner's, COMPLETE, Guide, Joomla

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/joomla.png" alt="joomla tutorial"/>Have you ever wanted to create your own website, but not confident that you have the skills to create one yourself?

MakeUseOf is proud to announce href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Joomla-Guide-Final.pdf">The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Joomla which is now available to download for free along with our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages">other PDF guides.

Thanks to this 40+ page guide, you can create your own, professional website within minutes. This guide will teach you how to use Joomla CMS and create your own websites.

id="more-52794"> /> Download: href="http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Joomla-Guide-Final.pdf" target="_blank">The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Joomla

This guide will walk you through:

What is CMS Software
What are the most popular CMS software you can use to create a website
Why choose Joomla to create a website
How to install Joomla on to your webserver
How to setup your new Joomla website
How to publish content to your Joomla website
How to design and customise your site to your likings

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By the end, you will know enough to be able to get your very own website up and running. If you are still not confident, help is always available at href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers">MakeUseOf Answers. />
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“adding Videos on Website” Tool

Posted on 24 August 2010. Tags: Adding, don't, Guide, Miss, Quick, This, Tool, Videos, Website

By using the right “Adding Videos On Website” Tool you can easily get more than just converting your video(s) into Web format – how about getting a lot more traffic? When you see how this technology works you quickly understand how effective and beneficial it is for almost any Website owner. Luckily generating streaming movie files has never been that easy – read more in the following article.

Quick overview

What does “Adding Videos On Website” Tool do? – It takes your videos and transforms them from their original format to a special and highly popular Web display format called .FLV. The converted Webvideos(s) are ready to be displayed once you update your html page(s) with a small code and then post the files onto the Webserver. The webvideos created in this process use streaming technology – they can be displayed immediately without having to wait till the entire file is downloaded.

Advantages

The solution described in this article enables us with the following:

* It is easier and faster than generating plain text.
* Enables you to download, convert, and play YouTube videos on your Website(s).
* Upload very small file size compared to other similar solutions.
* This Web-marketing solution is a fraction of the cost of TV commercials.
* Enables you to auto-redirect your visitors to an affiliate link & get a % of their purchases.

We could list many other important benefits provided by this advanced tool simply because it eliminates many technical difficulties involved with this encoding process.

Conclusions

Many Webmasters already recognize the fact that “Adding Videos On Website” Tool is a ‘must have’ tool simply due to the fact that plain text by itself just isn’t enough to promote an online business. Now that you know more about this technology it is advised to run it on your systems so you could explore the fascinating opportunities that it provides.

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A Practical Guide to Decrease Web Page Load Time

Posted on 23 August 2010. Tags: Decrease, Guide, Load, page, Practical, time

Why is it important for your pages to load fast you might ask. The answer is easy; if your pages load slowly you will loose sales. From a consumer perspective you have a fraction of a second to show activity. Your page doesn’t have to load completely but they certainly need to see some activity right away. Consumers are impatient and have been trained by the major sites that pages start displaying immediately. If you don’t have fast loading pages, most consumers will go to the next site. It’s not just consumers that value speed, major search engines have stated that it is important for pages to load fast if you want them indexed. The faster page loads, the more pages you will get indexed. Some search engines have come out and stated that they will even downgrade your paid search marketing if your pages load slowly. What can you do to increase page load speed? Below are the techniques I used to successfully decrease the time it takes to load web pages.

Web Server Optimization

SQL Server Optimization
The first thing to check is your disk using PerfMon (Windows Performance Monitor). Use this to determine if your physical disk is keeping up. Using PerfMon, select the PhysicalDisk object, Avg. Disk Queue Length counter, then the instance for the drive your SQL database is installed on. This indicator count will vary based on if the drive you are monitoring is part of an array but it’s best to keep the average below 1 if possible. See Microsoft’s documentation on this for more information especially when calculating for drive arrays. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/146005

Next you want to check SQL memory usage. By right clicking the server in Enterprise Manager and selecting properties you can view the Memory tab. Use this tab to give as much memory as you can afford to SQL. The more memory you give the SQL the more data it can cache, thus returning results faster. Does your server have more than 2GB memory? If so use this guide to configure your server to see all that available memory http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283037 then this guide http://support.microsoft.com/kb/274750 to configure SQL to see more available memory. To make sure SQL is using available memory don’t use task manager as it may report incorrectly. Instead use PerfMon Process Object, Working Set Counter, sqlservr Instance. Give your server time to build up its cache after restarting before checking this counter.

You want to make sure your CPU can keep up. Caution this counter can be misleading. Although you may be recording sustained high CPU utilization this may not mean you need a faster CPU, the lack of adequate disk speed and memory may be artificially increasing CPU utilization. If CPU utilization is averaging over 80% for an extended period of time and you have already ruled out memory and disk as an issue you may need to upgrade your CPU(s). Use PerfMon to track CPU utilization using the Processor Object, % Processor Time Counter, and applicable instance if you have more than one CPU. If your server has more than one CPU and you can afford to let SQL use more than one, right click on the server in Enterprise Manager, select Properties, and then the Processor tab. This will allow you to select multiple or all CPUs for SQL utilization.

Bandwidth is a little more obvious but still needs to be mentioned. If you have sustained high bandwidth utilization this will become a bottleneck causing slowdowns. Bandwidth utilization can be a bit harder to check. If you are using a hosting company they should be able to tell you (typically with some type of real time monitor that you can log into) what you are averaging with bandwidth as well as spikes in bandwidth. You will want to make sure you have plenty of available bandwidth from your hosting company especially during the busy part of your day. If your hosting company cannot provide these reports you can utilize a hardware or software sniffer to determine bandwidth usage. The key is to make sure your connection can handle much more than you typically use. If you are averaging 80% utilization you should consider upgrading your connection.

Now that you have checked the major hardware bottlenecks put your DBA hat on and make sure your indexes are up to date. If you’re not an experienced DBA that knows the best way to manage your indexes, use SQL Profiler (Tools, SQL Profiler from Enterprise Manager). Create a new trace and select the SQLProfilerTuning template. Make sure the time you record is long enough to collect data on regular activity. Additionally if you can generate additional traffic (especially traffic that causes slowdowns) you will want to do as much of this as possible while collecting data. Once you have finished collecting data, click Tools, Index Tuning Wizard. Use the profile you just created and make sure to select the database in question. When finished running apply any changes suggested. You may need to run this multiple times until there are not recommended changes. Additionally as you make changes to your database such as adding new fields you will want to run this entire process again to find and apply new recommendations. I like to run this process on the regular basis just make sure everything is running smooth. As a side note, make sure every table in your database has a primary key.

Once you have optimized your indexes run SQL Profiler again to check what kind of activity you are having on your SQL server. Do you have long running queries that could be changed to run more efficiently? Do you have queries that are being run over and over that you could cache inside your website application? As you make upgrades and additions to your web pages you many times will add extra queries to your database. Go through your pages and find out if you can combine queries to return information with one query instead of two. If you have to make multiple queries, try to make one connection to the database, and then use that same connection for all the queries. This way you are not making repetitive connections to the database one after the other. Making a database connection can be time consuming and resource intensive.

The way you partition your database across drives on your SQL server can help if you are suffering from high disk utilization. The following configuration has worked well for me note that each partition is on a separate physical drive:
C: Operating System and SQL executables
D: Database File – RAID 5
E: SQL Log Files
F: Temp Database
G: Backups

Using RAID 5 on the D drive allows very fast reads because multiple drives can respond to the request. Additionally requests do not have to wait for writes to the Log Files or Temp database. Because the D drive is for read data, SQL can more effectively use memory to cache frequent requests. There are a lot of write requests to the SQL log files and temp database so giving them they’re own separate drive reduces contention. It goes without saying that using drives with higher RPM, more throughput, and a larger cache will assist your SQL server to run faster.

Web Server Optimization
Since almost every page the typical Internet retailer website has will make some type of database connection, your bottleneck will probably be retrieving data from SQL. If this is the case you probably won’t need to do much optimization for your web server. Generally speaking you will want to make sure the server has plenty of CPU, memory, and disk resources available to your web server. Increasing memory to allow more web page caching (see caching section of this article) is one area you can really boost page load time. Additionally if you find your disk having problems keeping up try some of the following:
1 Add memory and increase caching
2 If you have logging enabled, move the log file locations to another drive.
3 Make sure your web pages are being loaded from a RAID 5 partition.

Database Backups
I won’t go into all the specifics of database backups as that requires an article of its own. From a question of performance you will want to schedule your backup to run when you have the most available resources. If you are backing up to another server, consider backing up to a local drive first, and then backing up across the LAN. This can help complete the backup faster because it’s done locally, then when transferring the backup to another server you won’t need to be concerned with how long it takes to transfer to another server. Another option is to setup a separate server that you mirror data to, then you can simply backup the mirrored server instead of the primary. This mirrored server can also be utilized as a fail over server in the case the primary server fails.

Load Balancing/Multiple Servers
If you are still having problems after you have optimized your web server, database server, web pages, and server hardware you can consider adding servers and load balancing these servers. Since every situation is different it’s impossible to list every possible configuration. Below are some examples but it’s important for you to do in depth research to determine exactly what resources are lacking and what is utilizing those resources so you can make the best decisions on what type of servers to put up and how to load balance.

If you currently run a single server, determine what resources are lacking, probably disk or memory, maybe CPU and what is using these resources. Typically when moving from a single server to multiple servers you will put in a new server and only put your database on that new server.

Next I’ll show you a configuration with three servers that has worked out exceedingly well for me:
Each server has SQL and IIS installed. We have one master server and two slave servers. The master server has our entire database on it, the websites can write orders to this database and our staff can process orders using this database and we keep vendor inventory records up to date on this server. The master server is the only server that gets backed up. The two slave servers are setup so that only the parts of the websites and database that are needed for the public to use our websites are replicated. Therefore any change that is made to the master server is replicated to the slave servers within 15 min. of the change. Because the public websites write back to the master server the slave servers can run in a “read only” mode which allows them to process an enormous number of requests very fast. Because our master server only receives writes from the public websites when orders are being taken, it only has to handle a small amount of our public traffic. As our traffic grows we simply add more read only servers. In our case we have enough websites that we simply split them up between servers. If however you have a single website, you can still load balance using a DNS round robin or in more extreme situations an appliance like F5 Big IP http://www.f5.com/products/big-ip/ which can perform smart load balancing based on current server load.

Another popular method is to setup multiple SQL servers (assuming this is the main bottleneck) with separate data. For instance if you keep your images in SQL, you may want to move them to they’re own server then make a connection to one server for some of your data and to the other server for retrieving images.

Web Page Design

Java Script and CSS Files
Putting Java Script and CSS in files instead of inline allows your browser to cache them instead of reading them each time. Since your browser has to download each file separately, do your best to keep all your Java Script in a single file and do the same with CSS

Image Optimization
Optimizing images is very important in page load time. Convert your images to PNG. Don’t use HTML to resize your images, resize and optimize them prior to uploading. Try to keep your larger images to a file size under 30K if possible. There are some advanced optimizations that can be done with inline images, sprites, and image maps but I am not experienced with them for the most part and in many instances management of this can be a nightmare. Additionally there may be browser support issues.

Caching
Caching is one way to drastically reduce page load time, especially for popular pages. Even if your page is dynamic, you may be able to cache it for 4 hours or at least 15 min.

You can enable browser caching by using the HTML Expires heading for any pages that can cache. This type of caching tells the visitors browser that if it returns to this exact page it’s doesn’t need to go back to the web server and retrieve the page again. This will help when people are browsing your site and come back to the same page multiple times. If the page is more static, like an article page for instance, you may be able to set it to cache for 30 days. This will allow the same person to go to that page different days without having to hit your server. The downfall of this caching is that it only helps if people visit your page more than once within the caching time.

Another type of caching is server side page caching. This allows you to cache a page on the server instead of the browser, therefore when defining the caching time, anyone that requests the page inside of the cache time will receive the cached page. Server side caching will allow your web server to cache the page in memory (given there are enough memory resources available) which means it does not have to go to the disk to retrieve the page or query the database. Let’s say for example the front page of your website has a tree view menu that makes multiple database queries to build the page. If this page is requested many times an hour it will generate a lot of resource strain on your servers. If you set this page to cache for 15 min. you now only create that resource strain once every 15 min. allowing your server to respond better to other requests and your page will display much faster. Of all the things you can do to make your site faster, this may have the biggest impact.

Similar to server side page caching is partial page caching. This is a little more complicated but allows you to cache parts of your page. Let’s use the example above again but this time the criteria mandates that we can’t cache everything in the page. In this case we may want to just cache the menu as the menu is relatively static and is a large resource drain on the servers and slows down page delivery.

Separate Domains
Some browsers will open multiple connections to download files simultaneously but will have a limit to how many per domain it will concurrently download. To get around this you could move files like Images, CSS, and Java Script to separate domains thus allowing the browser to download more files simultaneously.

Progressive Rendering
Progressive rendering is when you visit a page and you start seeing parts of the page display right away instead of displaying the entire page at once. This process gives the user feedback right away and they know more is coming. If your page takes a second or so before it renders to the browser, the user may thing there is a problem and instead of waiting will move to a different page. Progressive rendering can also give the illusion that the page is loading faster even though it takes the same amount of time to completely render the entire page. To progressive render your page you may need to tell your back end programming language to pass parts of your page as they render. Additionally with components like an ASP.NET Gridview you cannot progressively render that component, instead it will render than entire object all at once. From an HTML perspective you will want to make sure style sheets are loaded in the page head and Java Script is loaded at the end of the page. Not doing this can prevent your entire page from progressively rendering.

Large Classes
One of the benefits ASP.NET is using extremely rich classes like the grid view. You could dedicate a complete book (and I’m sure someone has) to explore the features and inner workings of the grid view. It’s extremely flexible and easy to use. With a couple simple queries you can define a simple editable grid view. One cost of using the grid view is that because of all that’s built in it carries a heavy payload. Many times this is not an issue but you will notice a speed increase for simple display grid views if you generate the HTML and render it in a table or some other rudimentary display manner.

Compression
Remove excessive white space in your rendered code will reduce the size of the data being transferred, thus speeding up the page load time. Additionally configurations can be made to most web servers to support GZIP (a GNU Compression Utility) http://www.gzip.org/ this can easily cut the size of what you are transferring in half or more. This involves extra CPU cycles on the server to compress and on the browser to decompress but unless your server is running sustained high CPU utilization you shouldn’t see much of a CPU hit or slowdown because of this. On a side note, utilizing this compression could cut the bandwidth portion of your hosting bill in half or at least free up extra bandwidth.

Website Errors
Errors will slow everything down, not to mention annoying your customers. Every time your back end code or web server has to engage error processing it takes extra resources away from your server. Capture coding errors using error control is the first step. As a common practice I have all errors emailed to me so I am forced to see them and mentally acknowledge them. This also helps me judge the frequency of the errors. Because I am always seeing them it’s usually on the top of my list to get them fixed. Over time coding in fixes for all the possible errors will prevent error control from having to engage as often thus increasing overall performance. The other errors you will want to keep track of are the web server errors such as 404 (Page Not Found). You can track the occurrence of these errors in your server web logs. If for instance, there is an old link to a page that no longer exists, instead of letting the web server generate a 404 error, place a file (same name and location of the missing one) with a friendly “does not exist” message or a script to redirect to another page on your website.

There are certainly many additional things you can do that don’t fit the scope of this article. This is meant as a practical guide for the small to mid size Internet retailer. I hope you have found this informative and at lease consider each one of these techniques before exploring more in-depth or expensive solutions. Here is a free Web Page Load Time Tracker that you can use to monitor the speed at which your pages load over time. This resource is unique in that it uses an actual web browser to render the page including downloading and displaying CSS, Images, and JavaScript. Set this up now on all your different pages so you have data to chart against when you make changes to your site.

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A Computer Hardware Maintenance Guide

Posted on 23 August 2010. Tags: Computer, Guide, Hardware, Maintenance

There are several things you need to know about computer, starting from the parts up to the maintenance tips. What should you do? In this case, keeping the great work of you computer is not a trivial matter at all, even more important than providing the best place to put it. The following explanation will tell you more about the best maintenance tips, especially in dealing with the hardware. You cannot consider it as an easy thing, since hardware becomes the important aspect in computer operation. What about anti virus? The following explanation will tell you more about anti virus maintenance.

There are many different anti viruses available out there on the market. They claim as the best choice for customers. In fact, some of them even cannot perform the good work at all. What do you think about it? Recently, keeping the computers free of viruses and malware becomes certain problems due to the difficulty to determine the real best anti virus to help us protecting the computer either at home, at office and everywhere. The quite expensive price makes them feel disappointed of finding the anti viruses cannot work properly on their computer. There are many viruses attack the computer system. So, providing the best protection is a must thing.

How can you protect the hardware? The first thing you can do is to purchase or download the reputable anti virus. It will be better for your computer. In fact, some companies provide/run the online virus scans for free. Some of the examples are such as Kaspersky and also Trend-Micro Housecalls. The important thing is about updating the anti virus. It is true that anti virus is created in such a way to guard your computers from the virus invasion. The anti virus companies update their software in a regular way. Please remember that the threats on the internet are really awful. You should never let your computer at home or everywhere are driven by Trojans, worms and even hacks. To get the maximum protection and benefits, updating the software every two days is highly recommended.

The next thing you can do to protect your hardware is to do the frequent scan by using your most reputable anti virus. There are two basic operations of anti virus, which are the standard and deep scan. Which one should you choose? The deep scan should be run when the software is installed for the first time. You should repeat this action at least once in a month. Actually, you do not need to wait until one month to re-scan your computer. If you find the computer works slower than usual, it is the indication that for you must run the deep scan to protect your computer.

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Kitchen And Bath Hardware Buying Guide

Posted on 20 August 2010. Tags: Bath, Buying, Guide, Hardware, Kitchen

Kitchen and bath hardware requires careful selection in order to be in long-lasting use. One of the hardest-working fixtures in your house is the sink. While shopping for sinks, you will want to find ones that are durable and easy to clean, as well as pleasing to the eye. Sinks are composed of a variety of materials and are available in a vast selection of colors and shades, textures and patterns at a great price range. Appropriate choice of faucets is equally essential. It is worth scanning the options for sinks and faucets that perfectly fit your lifestyle and your design scheme.

Bathroom sinks selection has expanded along with the number and type of bathrooms in the average home. They range from tiny wall-hung versions for the smallest of powder rooms to elaborate dual-basin models for luxurious master baths.

Traditional baths are made of enameled cast iron or vitreous china, more contemporary styles use metal, glass, crystal, stone or solid-surface resins. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to make a design statement or prefer durability of less sophisticated materials.

Deck-mounted models, which can be set into or on top of a vanity or a freestanding frame, allow for storage, unlike pedestal or wall-mounted sink styles. Console sinks offer an expanded deck space for sundries. Some bathroom sinks come with predrilled faucet holes.

Kitchen sinks are the most heavily used every day; therefore the material a sink is made of is essential. Stainless steel is very practical (the heavier the gauge, the better); enameled cast iron is elegant, easy to clean and available in a variety of colors. The most durable of the choices is quartz composite; some prefer old-fashioned soapstone, some – new-style concrete.

Self-rimming sinks sit on the countertop, they are easy to install but can also collect dirt at the seams. Under mount sinks attached to the underside of the counter, stay cleaner but are more difficult to seat. Kitchen sinks generally come with four holes used for mounting faucets and sprayers, plus dispensers for liquid soap, hot water, and purified water.

Faucets are one more important piece of kitchen and bathroom hardware. You turn faucets on and off repeatedly, day after day, for many years. So, obviously you need one that not only looks great, but is convenient and safe and will provide durable service for a long time.

The right type depends upon your sink a lot. Before you buy a certain faucet you have to know the sink or countertop’s hole configuration unless you are able to drill the countertop to suit a particular faucet. Kitchen sinks are usually designed for single-handle faucets (these are centersets where hot and cold are controlled by one lever or knob that’s often part of the spout). Bathroom vanity and pedestal sinks are designed for widespread faucets (with separately mounted hot- and cold-water valves and spout), single-lever and centersets (single-handle or double-handle types). Single-control faucets are probably more handy both for bathroom and kitchen.

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Byers Guide to Parental Control Software

Posted on 17 August 2010. Tags: Byers, Control, Guide, Parental, Software

Parents want to guide and watch their children but at the same time know they cannot be there all the time sitting with them when they are online. So even though parents are aware of the danger of the internet, talk to their kids and monitor them at home, parents know it is not possible to be the one that keep them safe all the time on the internet. They also know even if they trust them well, there are accidental search that can lead to harmful and material even they are not looking for it. So deciding on buying parental control software is considered a logical and responsible step more parents are taking.

Buying parental control software could be something you just take few minutes in doing. You sit down in front of the computer, “Google” some right words for it, press a link and buy a product. At the same time there is not certain that best software’s are those that will appear in top ten of Google search and you might be want to consider thinking what do I want my parental control software be able to do for me?

You could start buy asking other parents what they are using and asking for their experience. You could also try to browse around test look at their sites and read about that software; even send email to the sales apartment. You should check if the software has a 15 days trial period so you can test the software. Check for things like is the software being updated, which is very important in this day by day changing online world were dangers of the internet is always changing and software that the parental control software needs to work with is also updating and changing.

The biggest question you need to ask yourself when deciding on buying parental control software is the function of it. What do you want the parental software to do for you? Parental control software do not all have the same features and possibilities and you should therefore spend some time on thinking “what kind of parental control software do I need” Most of them will do different things for you and you may need different things for best safe surfing in your family. The possibilities are enormous. Let’s go over few things parental control software may have in their toolbox, so for you to use it in your buying guide you can look for those things you want to have when browsing through parental control website doing your own parental control software review.

Filtering: Does the software have filtering option? Most software will filter (pornographic filter, hate site filters, making bomb filter, violence filter etc. sites for you, but you may want to think how and how much control you have over the filtering system. 1. Does the parental control software have a database of blocked and family friendly sites? 2. Does the software allow you to create additional filtering list of sites you want to block? 3. Does the software have ability for you to only allow certain sites you choose and filter all other sites? 4. Does the software have a allow list have the ability to allow sites permanently and therefore overriding all other filtering system. 5. Does the software have dynamic content filter that block sites based on the content on each site you open?

Blocking software: You may also want to know if the parental control software is also blocking software, allowing you to block software’s you may think is harmful.

1. Does the software Block p2P file sharing like e.g. torrent software that are often used to download illegal software, music, movies, games and adult material?

2. Does it block chat programs?

3. Does the software block games that are considered more addictive e.g. MMORPG games?

4. Does the software allow you to choose additional software from the computer and block it?

Monitoring Software: You may want to check if the parental control software allows you to monitor the overall use of the computer and give you a good report on what has been happening. Does the software monitor all keystrokes that will enable you to read what has been written on the computer based on the software the words were written in? You may also want to have a screen shots recording in the software to able you to see how what has been happening in a form of picture of the screen. The screen shots recording is also good as a proof if something bad happens, e.g. Predator harassing the child, or some other child bullying the child on chat application. With screen shots you have a proof of what has happened after these incidents. Some software also has email monitoring of incoming and outgoing emails. Last option you may want to check for if the software monitors all cut and paste-ing on the computer both picture and text.

Time control software: This is a feature that can be extremely important in avoiding the computer will take too much time from school work, friends, sports and possibly preventing internet addiction. You may want to look closely into if the software allows you to specify how many hours a month, week and per day. You may want to control differently at what time of day and different between weekdays and weekends. At last the possibility of controlling some specific behavior such as applications or watching movies could be an option you want to check for

Protecting Privacy: The internet is a dangerous place for kids with predators lurking in chat rooms the importance of protecting privacy is important factor in buying a safe surfing tool as parental control software. Therefore a software that allow you to block user for sending out private information as address or phone number and/or take screen shots and notify you when private information are being sent from the home computer.

Alerts and Reports: Parental control software is not as useful if it never tell you what is happening. Good report system is important to go over the computer use and good alert system that notify you in an email or SMS can be extremely important to be able to get alert as soon as something bad things happen.

There are many other factors to look for, how easy to use the software is, is it doing what it is supposed to do, what kind of support can I a get and does the website provide me with some other useful tools or information’s. There are of course other things as well to look for as does the software provides me with specific tool for specific things I am aiming to avoid or control. These specific things could be related to e.g. all the emerging internet addiction, that is gaming addiction prevention, gambling addiction prevention, pornographic and cybersex addiction prevention. Are there some helpful tools for younger children or older children .

You may also want to look at how sure am I of being able to control the computer and my kid’s not just get around the software. You want to choose a software that is password protected, can be set in stealth mode and stop others from changing anything in the computer control panel.

Most important thing is to take your time searching, reading, asking, testing and in the end when you are happy choosing the right parental control software.

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How To Remove Avira Anti Virus ? ? Rogue Avira Anti Virus Removal Guide!

Posted on 13 August 2010. Tags: Anti, Avira, Guide, Removal, Remove, Rogue, Virus

Avira Anti Virus is a rogue anti-virus application that reports fake or exaggerated computer alerts. What Avira Anti Virus attempts to do first, is to scare you into believing that computer is infected with viruses or spyware. Once Avira Anti Virus is installed, you computer may present to be much slower, and programs or files on the system no longer execute normally but may have been totally destroyed. So, take care of Avira Anti Virus!

Usually, Avira Anti Virus simulates system scans, shows a list of infections, and requires you to buy its full version in order to remove viruses detected, but the fake Avira Anti Virus won’t do as it claims after your purchase. You will be totally at sea without any help from it. This is nothing more but a scam. Therefore, if you find that you have fake Avira Anti Virus on your computer, you are highly recommended to remove it as soon as possible.

How to Remove Avira Anti Virus Immediately and completely?

The best solution to remove Avira Anti Virus is to use real Antispyware software that is powerful and reliable to secure your computer security.

Step1: Before you run the Antispyware software to remove Avira Anti Virus, go to the Task Manager to check and end the Avira Anti Virus process first. By pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete you can reach the Task Manager.

Step2: Remember to update your Antispyware software to its latest spyware signature database. This is essential as the most up to date security software always provides a most thorough and improved spyware detection and removal utility.

Step3: Then, please run the Antispyware software to start a full scan over your system. This will help detect Avira Anti Virus and any other potential viruses immediately. Simply click Remove to get rid of all the malicious threats found on your computer.

Best Solution to Secure Your PC Here – Running Spyware Cease!

To free from Avira Anti Virus and any hidden viruses, spyware or malware, we sincerely suggest you free download Spyware Cease and run a scan on your computer right now. You will find that this amazing security program can bring you much more than you can imagine.

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How To Remove Anti Virus Best ? ? Rogue Anti Virus Best Removal Guide!

Posted on 12 August 2010. Tags: Anti, Best, Guide, Removal, Remove, Rogue, Virus

Anti Virus Best is a rogue anti-virus application that reports fake or exaggerated computer alerts. What Anti Virus Best attempts to do first, is to scare you into believing that computer is infected with viruses or spyware. Once Anti Virus Best is installed, you computer may present to be much slower, and programs or files on the system no longer execute normally but may have been totally destroyed. So, take care of Anti Virus Best!

Usually, Anti Virus Best simulates system scans, shows a list of infections, and requires you to buy its full version in order to remove viruses detected, but the fake Anti Virus Best won’t do as it claims after your purchase. You will be totally at sea without any help from it. This is nothing more but a scam. Therefore, if you find that you have fake Anti Virus Best on your computer, you are highly recommended to remove it as soon as possible.

How to Remove Anti Virus Best Immediately and completely?

The best solution to remove Anti Virus Best is to use real Antispyware software that is powerful and reliable to secure your computer security.

Step1: Before you run the Antispyware software to remove Anti Virus Best, go to the Task Manager to check and end the Anti Virus Best process first. By pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete you can reach the Task Manager.

Step3: Then, please run the Antispyware software to start a full scan over your system. This will help detect Anti Virus Best and any other potential viruses immediately. Simply click Remove to get rid of all the malicious threats found on your computer.

Best Solution to Secure Your PC Here – Running Spyware Cease!

To free from Anti Virus Best and any hidden viruses, spyware or malware, we sincerely suggest you free download Spyware Cease and run a scan on your computer right now. You will find that this amazing security program can bring you much more than you can imagine.

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“adding Videos on Website” Tool

Posted on 07 August 2010. Tags: Adding, don't, Guide, Miss, Quick, This, Tool, Videos, Website

Quick overview

Advantages

The solution described in this article enables us with the following:

We could list many other important benefits provided by this advanced tool simply because it eliminates many technical difficulties involved with this encoding process.

Conclusions

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A Guide to Software Selection

Posted on 05 August 2010. Tags: Guide, Selection, Software

Introduction

What to Buy – That is the Question

Buying decisions are the essence of life in the commerce-driven 21st century. From everyday decisions like selecting lunch from a restaurant menu, to getting a new car, to major company acquisitions, much of our time is spent “buying”. And these choices are anything but simple. Each marketer professes to be the sole champion of our consumer rights and pummels us with enticing advertising messages, about how their wares are “the best”. Seductive as these messages are, no product or service is quite the same. The difference may be glaring – that of “better vs. worse”, or a subtle tradeoff between price, quality, feature set, customer service, or durability. It is therefore important to keep our wits about & develop a systematic approach to the buying decision. Our view should be broad & farsighted, rather than buying based only on what immediately meets the eye. Hasty decisions leave us with flashy features never used, or hefty repair bills of products that came cheap. A good example of a systematic approach is when you buy a car. A myriad of factors are considered & weighed, which impact the owner for the next decade. This includes brand, performance vs. style, price, safety, terms of finance, mileage, maintenance, resale value & so many other factors.

Selecting Software

In our new “wired” modern reality, software is no less important than products & services in our everyday lives. Whether it’s a personal email program, chat software for instant connection, collaboration software to organize scattered employees, or an ERP implementation to manage company processes – there’s no surviving without them! But we’re somewhat more used to buying products & services than software, which is a relatively recent phenomenon. In many ways, selecting software is no different from selecting a product or service. Although intangible, software, also address a very real need, on which personal & professional success often depends. Naturally, some of the same purchase factors apply – brand, service, & maintenance costs. In spite of the patronizing obviousness of the above, software selection is a grey zone; an underdeveloped arena. This accounts for the high incidence of “shelfware” – software that are bought with grand intentions, but end up on dusty shelves. This is because unlike products & services, it is not so intuitively evident that software have “life cycles” & need to be “maintained”, “updated”, & “repaired”. Therefore, purchases are made based on what immediately meets the eye – technical features. This mistake is understandable, because technical features are well documented & advertised, & easy for the buyer to use as decision criteria. But with this approach, factors that are just as pertinent, but not so immediately obvious, get left out. Some research & serious thinking is needed to gauge these “hidden” factors.

Key Factors for Buying Software

1) Company History & Experience

The vendor needs to be sized up before we even go on to consider the software itself. Company background is essential because, unlike traditional companies, software companies are often small, & often beyond national boundaries. Since these companies would likely be handling our sensitive data, we need to do a background check. Some related questions are: How Long Have They Been Around? As in most cases, we can reasonably assume that past record is a good indicator of future performance. Important questions are – How long have they been around? How long have they been in the field? If they’re offering online collaboration software, have they been in this industry long enough? Even if the software is new, do they have experience developing related software? What is Their Niche? Does the company know your niche well enough to know your needs? If you are a small/mid sized business, a company mainly serving the Fortune 500 is not for you. If you work from home, it is unlikely a solution serving large offices will meet your needs. The Ultimate Testament – The Customer The ultimate judge of software is its users. To get a true picture, it is important to look at how customers are using the software & what their comments are. Does their site include a client’s list or page? Check out what customers say under testimonials, or you could even get in touch with the customers yourself for comments. Dangers There are certain things about the software industry that a buyer should be wary of. Software startups have shorter life spans than traditional companies & ride high on a success wave, but go “pop” when the industry bubble bursts. This was exemplified by the “dot com burst” of 2000. Whether the current spate of “Web 2.0” companies constitutes another expanding bubble which will inevitably burst is debatable, but it makes sense to be wary & bet your money on dependable companies with proven track records.

2) Cost

There’s no denying the importance of cost effectiveness in buying decisions across the board. Yet costs should be seen in a broad perspective, because low entry costs may well result in higher total costs along the product’s life. Features vs. Price A cost-benefit analysis makes sense, & costs need to be compared with the software’s range of features & functionalities. A document management system may not be the cheapest, but it may allow you to also set up a virtual office. Going for loads of features also constitutes a trap, because users never get around to using half of them. Needs vs. Price Another question is whether there is an overlap between features & needs at all. Many features may not relate to needs sought to be addressed. You should clearly define your needs, & classify features as “needed features” & “features not needed”. Another possible scheme of classifying features could be “must have”, “nice to have”, & “future requirements”.

3) Ease of Use/Adoption

An adoption & learning curve is involved with every new software purchase. It needs to be integrated with current systems & software, & the end users have to be brought up to speed using it. If the software is chunky & too complex, adoption resistance can occur. Ease of Use The software should have an intuitive interface, & use of features should be pretty much self evident. The shorter the learning curve training a new user, the better. The software should also have the ability to easily fit into the existing systems with which it will have to communicate. For example, a collaboration software might allow you to use some features from your Outlook itself or even share Outlook data. Adoption To get a measure of “shelfware”, i.e., software that is purchased but never used, some studies peg the number of shelved content management solutions at 20-25%. At a million dollars per implementation, that’s pretty expensive shelfware! According to another study in the US, 22% of purchased enterprise portal (ERP) licenses are never used. No doubt, “Shelfware” is a result of ill thought out purchase decisions. These studies clearly underline the importance of making an educated purchase. One possible way to protect against shelfware is the new concept of “software as a service” (SAAS) hosted software. The software is hosted by its developer, & buyers have to pay a monthly subscription, which they can opt out of anytime.Support No matter how good a software is, there are bound to be times when one can’t find out how to work a particular feature or a glitch crops up. Some software solutions may require you to hire dedicated support staff of your own, while others may be easy to use, and no specialized staff may be needed, and still others may offer free support. The cost of hiring support staff needs to be factored into the buying decision. Provider support may be in the form of live human support, or automated help engines. In case of human help, the quality of solutions, availability & conduct of support executives matter. Support can also be in the form of an extensively documented help engine, or extensive help information on the company site. This form of support is often more prompt & efficient than human help. Training Training is another form of support which deserves special mention. Free training seminars or their new avatar – webinars (online seminars) – greatly help in getting up to speed with the software at no extra cost. In some cases the company might offer paid training, which may be essential, & hence this cost needs to be factored into the purchase decision. Maintenance Maintenance costs & efforts have a major impact on the performance & adoptability of software, & hence form important criteria of the buying decision. In case the software is hosted at the company’s end, it is of utmost importance that the software be available online at all times, or the “uptime”. Uptimes are covered under the “service level agreement” & range from 98% to 99.99%. A minimum uptime of 99% is what one must look for. The company’s upkeep is also important. Efforts to constantly improve upon the software underline a commitment to providing quality service. Are bugs fixed promptly & on an ongoing basis? Are they just releasing software & not updating it? One should develop a habit of keeping up with the company newsletter, release notes or the “what’s new” section on their site. Periodic newsletters & a “what’s new” section are indicative of a dynamic company.

4) Familiarity

The “feel” of the software is another important criterion. The software should keep with the basic layout & navigation schemes we are used to. This makes for quicker transition. One good way is to compare with the OS in which we would use the software. Does it have the same basic schema as the OS environment? A software with Mac schema on Windows wouldn’t sit that well. Or we could compare it with other software which we are used to. If you are switching to a low priced solution from an expensive one, choosing software with a similar “feel” would make sense. Does it retain most of the main features you are used to?

5) Security

Security is a top consideration because he software company will likely be handling information critical to us – business, financial or personal. We need to be well assured of our data’s security & there are no risks of it being compromised. This needs research, & the extensiveness of which depends on the sensitivity of our data. What safety features does the provider have?

Encryption, or coding of information, is used by most companies to protect the integrity of their clients’ information. There are different types of encryption, each of which is associated with a different level of security. DAS is one, once popular but now known to have loopholes. SSL 128-bit encryption is associated with top notch security. Password protection is another important facet. Is the software equipped to withstand manual & automated attempts to hack your password? The ability of the system to detect a hacking attempt & lock up in time is important. Data Backup In extreme cases of system breakdown caused by a facility fire, natural disaster or technical glitch etc, it is important that your data is frequently & adequately backed up. Data backup should be frequent & adequate. Certain factors are to be considered in backup practices. The first is the frequency of backups. If there is a long gap, there is a possibility of data being lost in intermittent periods. Secondly, what are the security arrangements at the facilities where your data resides? Is it manned & guarded by security personnel? What other safeguards are in place? Is there a good firewall? What is the protection against virus attacks? What procedures are in place for disaster management? Track Record As with company background, a little research on the security track record makes sense. Has the company ever been vulnerable to attacks before? What were the losses? How did the company react? How many years has the company had a good record? New companies will have a clean record, but that isn’t necessarily indicative of good security. The Server System The server system where the sensitive data actually lies is very important. Is it state-of-the-art? The server infrastructure could be owned by the software provider themselves or outsourced to a dedicated company providing hosting solutions. Outsourced hosting is a good thing because hosting companies have extensive expertise & infrastructure for security, & this frees up the software provider to concentrate on the software itself. The company might not have an elaborate setup at all, running the software & processing data through computers set up in the garage somewhere acting as servers. This should get your alarm bells ringing!

Conclusion – A Systematic Selection Approach

Now that we have discussed all the relevant factors in detail & have a better perspective of the subject, it is important to develop a systematic approach to analyzing these factors. What factors are important to me? Although all of the above factors are relevant, their relative importance may differ from customer to customer. For a company with deep pockets, price comes lower in the list. For a company using collaboration software to process business information, security is high priority. Again if a solution forms an important part of a company’s business, it is important that it integrates well with existing systems. For dynamic industries like real estate, short training times are important. Know Thy Software By this step you would have selected software. But that is still not the end. For all our theorizing & researching, the software still has to pass its toughest test. Most software allows you a free trial period. It would be a good idea to seriously use this period to analyze the software. It is important to stay focused during this testing period because the impact is going to be long lasting. Follow systematic planning. Identify objectives & needs, develop a testing plan, lay out the timelines and designate people from different departments to try out different features. Set responsibilities & goals so that testers take their job seriously.

THE DECISION!

Don’t hesitate to put the burden onto the company to prove itself. Let the company prove to you the features that seem important to you. For example, if security is of prime importance, ask the company to display how their solution scores high on security. Don’t hesitate to call them if you have questions. Test their service levels to see if it lives up to their promises. If you submit a ticket, is it promptly responded to? Is a good solution provided? If the problem requires live help, do you get it fast enough? When you call in with a problem, is it a live person or an automated message you converse with? This is as extensively as you can analyze software. You’re educated enough to make a choice which will most likely not fail you. You shall surely not be disappointed in your decision.

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MP3 Player Speakers Buying Guide

Posted on 02 August 2010. Tags: Buying, Guide, Player, speakers

MP3 players are great for taking your music wherever you go for private listening. But sometimes you might want to share your music outloud with others. This is where MP3 Player Speakers come in. Whether you’re at home or at the basketball courts, you can listen to your music straight from your MP3 player outloud.

As with most technology, it can be hard to find the right speakers for your personal situation. In an effort to help assist you in finding the right docking station for your mp3 player, a list of things our product specialists recommend our customers to think about before buying MP3 Player Speakers has been compiled below.

Compatibility: First and foremost, you need to make sure that the speakers are compatible with your MP3 player. Some MP3 Speakers are designed specifically for certain types of MP3 Players, such as the iPod. On the other hand, many speakers are created to connect to almost any MP3 player with a 3.5mm jack. If your MP3 player has a 3.5mm jack (which is the standard jack for headphones), and you’re not too sure if your compatible, then you should get a universal type of MP3 player speakers just incase.

Size: Depending on what you plan to use the speakers for, the size of the system may be of importance. If you plan on taking it around, make sure that the system is small and lightweight making it portable. If you plan on just keeping it at home, then your only limited to the size of the table you plan to place it on.

Amplified Speakers: If you want louder and better sounding music, then getting a pair of speakers that feature a built-in amplifier would be a good choice. Otherwise, you should be just fine with a pair of normal speakers.

Controls: Take a look at how the control configuration is. Will it be easy for you to use the system? There’s no point in getting speakers that frustrate you to a point where you don’t want to use them.

Battery Life: What good are speakers that run out of battery after you play just a few songs? You should consider the battery life of the speakers. If you get a great deal on a pair of speakers but they have a low battery life, you may just end up paying more in additional batteries. Note that some MP3 Player Speakers can connect directly to your wall socket, so if you plan to use the speakers primarily when a wall socket is available, battery life will not be as an important a factor when determining what speakers are best for you.

Included Accessories: Check to see if the speakers come with all the necessary accessories. These can include things such as a 3.5mm male-to-male cable (in order to connect to your MP3 player to the speakers), Batteries, an AC adapter, Travel Case, Remote, etc.

Definitions:

Docking Station: An MP3 docking station has speakers built into it, which allows you to play songs off your MP3 player to be heard throughout the room.

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