class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image86.png?54167" alt="" />I have been professionally blogging about software for over two years now, and The Man With No Life is hands-down the best name for an app I’ve covered so far. It has absolutely nothing to do with what the application does, and couldn’t be farther than traditional SEO wisdom. In a nutshell, it’s a free YouTube downloader for Windows.

When you open the app, you’re greeted with a huge, intrusive banner and Facebook friends area:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image87.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="580" height="501" />

Fortunately, that can quickly be fixed simply by resizing the window (thanks for not disabling the option to resize the window, Man With No Life). After resizing the window, the interface looks much saner:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image88.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="580" height="346" />

That’s more like it. There isn’t even a scroll bar. Next, let’s switch over to the Search window. This is no more than an embedded browser with Google as its default search (yes, Google rather than YouTube, for some reason). You can also paste in the full URL for any video you wish to download:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image89.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="580" height="376" />

As soon as you see the title (“Did you hear a click?” in this case) in the top-left text box, you can click Download. You are then taken to the Transfers tab, where you can watch the video download:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image90.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="580" height="109" />

… or fail miserably, if the title happens to have a question mark or other strange characters. In that case, just drop the special characters and hope for the best. It worked for the video above, as you can see. Once the download is complete, you can switch over to the My Library tab so see your video. Sadly, the context menu is not very informative, and the file path is not listed.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image91.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="419" height="224" />

To see where your files actually get saved, you’ll need to switch over to the Settings tab.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image92.png?54167" border="0" alt="image" width="580" height="393" />

Here you can see the default path for the files, as well as the quality setting. This is a bit of a simplification, as YouTube offers MP4-compressed files in multiple resolutions, so saying MP4 is “Highest quality” is not completely accurate.

Alternatives

Is the Man With No Life the best way to download YouTube videos? Definitely not. To be honest, the main thing it’s got going for it is the name. The interface is simple, which is good, but novice users may have trouble figuring out where their download went. There are several other services you can use if you want to download videos off YouTube. My personal favorite is class="vt-p" href="http://jdownloader.org/">JDownloader, which is a Java-based solution so it’s quite heavy (but can do lots more other than download YouTube videos).

If JDownloader is a bit too heavy for you, you might be interested in an online alternative such as class="vt-p" href="http://keep-tube.com/">Keep Tube. It couldn’t be simpler to use: All you need to do is edit the URL for the video in your browser put the word keep right before youtube. So to download a video with a URL like class="vt-p" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRBcP6MmE8g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRBcP6MmE8g you would just need to change it to class="vt-p" href="http://www.keepyoutube.com/watch?v=cRBcP6MmE8g">http://www.keepyoutube.com/watch?v=cRBcP6MmE8g . Keep Tube also uses Java, but as a browser plug-in, and is very lean and fast. It doesn’t have a crazy name like The Man With No Life, but it’s very usable.

What’s your preferred way to download videos off YouTube? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/man-life-simple-free-download-youtube-videos/">The Man With No Life – A Simple & Free Way To Download YouTube Videos is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/0_extintro.jpg" alt="chrome extensions" />One of the things you may have learned about me from reading my articles in recent months is that I am a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/chrome/">Chrome user. I’m a big fan of how fast and clean Google Chrome is, and it has only continued to impress me since I made the switch from href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox/">Firefox. In the last few months I showed you href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/browse-privately-chrome-fully-incognito/">how to browse privately in Chrome without going fully incognito. I also showed you href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-chrome-instant-badass/">what Google Chrome Instant is and why it’s badass. Today, we’re talking Chrome extensions.

I recently uncovered a few extensions that I have found to be very useful, and I’d like to share them with you. One lets you browse in split screen mode, which I’ve constantly had a need for, and one lets you browse ‘up one level’ on websites. The third extension lets you run IE inside of Chrome, which is huge if you want to test the compatibility or formatting of something.

href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eachfleknamlcepmplpdghagngjfjkin?hl=en-GB">Split Screen

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/1_ext.jpg" alt="chrome extensions" width="573" height="351" />

I really like Chrome’s tab feature, but sometimes I need to refer to two windows at the same time when I’m recording/comparing data or–better yet–multitasking. Split Screen is a simple extension that lets you view two websites at the same time, side by side, without having to resize your windows.

Split Screen installs as a button next to the OmniBar. When you click on it, a new tab will open and you’ll be prompted for two URLs. Type in your destinations and two websites will load in the same window.

The URL bars cannot be used for searching in Google but the extension does come equipped with a notepad that saves whatever you type for the next time you use the extension, which can be great if you need to take notes.

href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eigojmmlmgigbldiclbpibmjnlbdpiaa?hl=en-GB">NavigUp

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2_ext.png" alt="google chrome extensions" width="514" height="273" />

Typically, whenever you want to go back to a previous page you were on, you hit your browser’s ‘back’ button. What browsers don’t have, however, is a ‘level up’ button, which lets you return to a previous level of a website.

If you install NavigUp, you will see a button in the Chrome OmniBar that–when clicked–will take you up one level in the URL. For instance, if you’re currently browsing http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/cool-webservices/ and you want to go up one level, just click the NavigUp button to be taken to http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/ and once more to be taken to http://www.makeuseof.com/, even if you hadn’t browsed either of those URLs previously.

href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gjgaiolkeejfnpjmjdgnngeibagbbkdo">Chrome IE

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/3_ext.jpg" alt="chrome extensions" width="484" height="309" />

Lots of people out there still use IE as their default browser, which means if you’re designing or building something for the web you need to take IE’s functionality into account.

Chrome IE installs as a button next to the OmniBar that lets you toggle between Chrome and IE mode. To search or open pages in IE from the OmniBar, type IE and enter keywords or the URL. The Chrome extension also lets you sign in to different Google accounts in each browser.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am still an avid Chrome user. Being able to view two websites at once in a single window is pretty great, and NavigUp proved extremely useful as well. Admittedly I won’t have much of a need for the Chrome IE extension, but I know a lot of others who will be uninstalling IE from their computers after hearing about this extension. Are you one of them? />
/> href="http://www.supertintin.com/">SuperTinTin – Skype Video Call Recorder /> Record and save your audio and video conversations on Skype or MSN. Easy to use.

/>

 

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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/Shutterstock-Diary.jpg" alt="free online journals" width="250" height="167" />In the digital world, the difference between a journal, a diary, and a blog is fuzzy. A blog is meant to be shared with those around you. An online or offline journal is more personal. You can of course, remove the padlock and share it with the world but I guess most would like to keep it closer to the chest. My two penny opinion says that the difference mainly boils down to the degree of laziness. A blog needs more upkeep; an online personal journal can be used to record random and disjointed thoughts. But let’s look at it this way, the web gives us so many ways to connect with others and also with ourselves.

Writing a journal is like having a conversation with one’s own self. Treat a journal like a ‘digital wall’ to vent your feelings on or just use it as a ‘digital cupboard’ to store memories. In both cases, a journal is a priceless companion. Here are seven free online journals for your thoughts.

id="more-60604">

class="vt-p" href="http://ohlife.com/b">OhLife

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Journal01.jpg" alt="free online journals" width="580" height="393" />

OhLife makes journal keeping dead easy by not asking you to come to their site every day. It simply sends you an email every night at 8pm asking you about your day. From the comfort of your inbox, you can type in your thoughts and send it forth like a regular email. That’s it! The easy-to-use and easy-to-keep philosophy tries to promote the habit of journal writing by dressing it up as an email activity.

You can choose to go to the site and read all your past entries when you feel like it. The posts get listed in chronological order and when it’s time for nostalgia, you can read them out to yourself.

I really like the minimalism of this free online journal and the ease with which I can keep up the journaling habit by not forcing myself to visit one more site at the end of a tiring day.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.memiary.com/">Memiary

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Journal02.jpg" alt="online journal" width="580" height="511" />

Memiary will make you believe that if you have had five interesting experiences the whole day, it has been a day worth recording for keeps. Memiary calls itself the weightless pocket diary. It is really that as all you have to is sign up and put down five thoughts for each day. You can even do it on the go if you have an iPhone. The five points a day really add up and you can keep them organized with tags (just add a #before any word and it turns into a tag).

It takes just about ten seconds to jot down five thoughts and the tag organization should really help when you add up all the memories. (See class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/dir/memiary-online-diiary-keeping/">Directory mention)

class="vt-p" href="https://secure.motodiaryapp.com/">MotoDiary

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Journal03.jpg" alt="online journal" width="580" height="326" />

MotoDiary is another simple journaling tool without any frills. It uses some HTML5 features for storage so it’s still not compatible with Firefox. It runs on Chrome, Safari, and IE. As you can see from the screenshot above, the interface is only about your words. MotoDiary is a highly secure application. The FAQ says that the encrypted key is stored locally and not sent to the server. The app auto-saves entries to the hard disk and uploads it to the server when online.

MotoDiary displays the potential of HTML5 in a utilitarian interface. (See class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/motodiary-secure-online-journal/">Directory mention)

class="vt-p" href="https://tweetprivate.com/">TweetPrivate

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Journal04.jpg" alt="online journal" width="580" height="462" />

Some people consider Twitter to be the closest thing to an instant free online journal. Why not? Twitter has become the medium for channeling all your rants and raves. TweetPrivate takes your Twitter habit and turns it inside out. Log in with your Twitter account, log your thoughts in 140 characters or less, but instead of tweeting it out, store it here and keep it private. These tweets can include pictures too. Later, you might choose to release these tweets and post them to Twitter’s public stream. By using TweetPrivate as your personal diary, you can archive your tweets and search them by date.

TweetPrivate is a cool application if you have fallen prey to Twitter (or SMS) and evolved into using only 140 characters or less.

class="vt-p" href="https://penzu.com/">Penzu

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Journal05.jpg" alt="free online journals" width="580" height="425" />

Penzu comes with a few decorative features like an interface which resembles a lined notebook. The free account is limited but it serves its purpose adequately if you are not too into customization and tools. The free account gives you basic encryption with a password, photo uploads, plus sharing options with email and link. You can set up a notification to remind you to write every day.

The Penzu Pro account with all its features is appealing, but the free account is a quick fire journal tool that keeps things simple. You might grow to like the notebook style pages (see class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/penzu-journal-online/">Directory mention).

If you are looking for customization and editing options, then you will be disappointed with these apps. For that I will always recommend class="vt-p" href="http://www.livejournal.com/">Live Journal. But I believe when it comes to journaling or keeping an online class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/diary/">diary, it’s best to start simple, keep it about the words and move on. For the making of a habit, these five online journal apps serve as a minimalist starting point. Your thoughts?

Image: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-59334685/stock-photo-closeup-portrait-of-a-relaxed-young-girl-writing-diary-while-lying-on-the-bed.html">Shutterstock />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

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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/2010/09/laptopbenchmarkthumb.png" alt="laptop battery life" width="180" height="240" />The battery life of a laptop is an obviously important part of the laptop’s overall performance. If you run out of battery life you can’t do anything – so try not to run out, right?

While that rule seems simple enough, it isn’t always easy to follow. Laptop manufacturers have a tendency to overstate laptop battery life, and sometimes by no small margin. A manufacturer who claims ten hours of battery life rarely confesses that the stated battery life can only be achieved if you leave the laptop running at idle with the display a minimum brightness and WiFi off.

The only way to know what your laptop is really capable of is to benchmark it, and no program is better suited for this task than class="vt-p" href="http://www.batteryeater.com/news.html">Battery Eater, one of only two free battery benchmark programs currently available and updated.

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The Maximum Load (Default) Test

Once you’ve installed Battery Eater you’ll find it is very easy to use. Opening the program will display a main menu that shows your class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/two-replacements-for-the-windows-laptop-battery-icon/">current battery status. Hopefully the battery will show that it is fully charged and AC adapter is currently plugged in – after all, testing a half charged battery won’t provide very good results!

Click the “Begin test when disconnecting AC” checkbox and then unplug your laptop whenever you’re ready.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/laptopbenchmark3.png" alt="laptop battery life" width="433" height="290" />

Battery Eater will swing into action as soon as you’ve unplugged the AC adapter. The default benchmark is a simple 3D rendering of a battery that moves around your laptop’s display. This will task both your laptop’s CPU and GPU. As the Battery Eater test states, this benchmark is designed to give an indication of the minimum battery life that you can expect. If your laptop achieves three hours, for example, you’ll know that your laptop will last at least three hours no matter what kind of crazy task you throw at it.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/laptopbenchmark4.png" alt="battery life" width="500" height="391" />

The Reader’s Test

If you’re interested in how your class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/maintain-your-laptop-battery-better-with-batterycare-windows/">laptop battery might hold up during less intense use,  however, you can use the included Reader’s Test benchmark. This can be accessed by clicking on the Options button and then changing the Benchmark Mode to Reader’s Test.

Once that’s done, click on the Load Text button at the bottom of the window and select a text file. The Reader’s Test, once activated, will open the text file and automatically scroll through the file time and time again until your laptop’s battery gives out.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/laptopbenchmark5.png" alt="battery life" width="433" height="298" />

You can also test your laptop’s maximum battery life by using the Idle test, which is again accessed through the Options menu. The Idle test is exactly what you’d think – it just keeps tabs on your laptop battery life while the laptop remains at idle.

Viewing Results

Testing your laptop’s battery will, of course, cause it to run out of juice. When the battery does finally kick the bucket everything on your computer will be shut down and the laptop will automatically go into hibernation.

Battery Eater is one step ahead of your laptop, however. The program automatically generates a report once your computer’s laptop battery can endure no more.. This report is filed in your Battery Eater installation folder and is labeled with the date that you ran the benchmark.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/laptopbenchmark7.png" alt="laptop battery life" width="620" height="610" />

When you open the folder you will be greeted with a .beg file called discharge and a log. The Discharge file has the information you need, but you won’t be able to view it with Excel or any other program. To generate a readable version of the report you must  drag and drop the .beg file onto the Battery Eater executable file (called BEPro.exe.) The report will open automatically in your default web browser.

Conclusion

Battery Eater can be a sobering program to use. Laptops that are supposed to be capable of more than six hours of battery life often achieve less than four hours during the default Battery Eater test. I highly suggest that you run the default benchmark, Reader’s Test benchmark and Idle benchmark.

Yes, this will likely take a while – but remember, Battery Eater makes a report automatically when the laptop battery life gives out. You can turn Battery Eater on before hitting the sack and read the results the next morning. Just remember to modify your laptop’s settings so that it does not automatically sleep or turn off the display, as either function can skew or ruin your test results!

If you know of another way to benchmark your laptop, do let us know about it in the comments. />
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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/2010/08/Windows7.png" alt="windows 7 gadgets" width="240" height="240" />The term “gadget” nowadays indicates a tech lifestyle product that is definitely stylish and probably expensive; in other words an exclusive toy. While gadgets are  supposed to be entertaining, smart folks will pick gadgets that can do more than just pass the time.

This article shows you the best free Windows 7 gadgets to make your life a little easier. Use these desktop shortcuts to avoid jammed roads, quickly convert units or make simple translations, easily access programs, and generally save you some hassle and time.

id="more-52444">

class="vt-p" title="Launch Control" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=dabd90cc-d1c9-4425-9384-049ffbd5e43b&bt=1&pl=1">Launch Control

Launch Control provides quick access to documents, programs, or anything you choose.

To add new items, simply drag them into the desired group within the gadget. You can create new custom groups or edit existing ones. To edit an entry or a group, hold the [CTRL] button as you click it and a flyout window will open. Here you can also delete the item. Apps, Utilities, and Control are the default groups, which is a great way to start.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets06.png" alt="windows 7 gadgets" width="460" height="267" />

class="vt-p" title="Traffic Info" href="http://gadgetwe.com/2010/traffic-info-for-windows-gadget/">Traffic Info

Traffic Info is powered by Google Maps and provides information on the current road situation in most major cities. The preset list of this gadget contains a selection of cities in the USA, Canada, China, and some other selected cities. If your city isn’t listed, you can select World and manually zoom into your home region.

After selecting the area to monitor the rest is very simple. You can get a better view of the area by expanding the map in the flyout window (arrow icon in bottom right) or opening the map in Google Maps (grid icon in bottom right).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-52448" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets04.png" alt="gadgets for windows 7" width="549" height="235" />

class="vt-p" title="Unit Converter" href="http://gadgetwe.com/2010/unit-converter-windows-gadget/">Unit Converter

This is by far the best and most stylish unit converter I have ever seen.

First of all it’s comprehensive. You can convert length, area, volume, mass / weight, time, speed, temperature, storage data, and lots more.

And despite all the features, it’s incredibly easy to use. You simply drag each of the three rolls into the desired position using your mouse and enter the value to be converted at the bottom. Et voilà!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-52449" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets05.png" alt="gadgets for windows 7" width="554" height="251" />

The flyout window shown in the screenshot above demonstrates how the tool works and explains how very large or very small numbers are displayed.

class="vt-p" title="I Forgot the Milk" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=55ccf415-af76-4a33-bad6-5bdaa370b214&bt=1&pl=1">I Forgot The Milk

Those of you using class="vt-p" href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/">Remember The Milk will love this gadget.

After installation, you must first activate the gadget. Click on the > Options icon next to the gadget and in the window that opens click the > Authenticate button. This will open Remember The Milk in your browser, where you need to log in and authorize the gadget to access your lists. Back in the gadget, click > Login and in case you don’t see your lists yet, click > Reload task lists.

Now you’re ready to add new tasks via the desktop gadget. Click the little > Menu icon in the top right to add a new task, refresh the gadget, go to the RTM website, or visit the forum.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-52447" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets03.png" alt="windows 7 sidebar gadgets" width="580" height="288" />

Per default, the gadget will only show tasks due within the next 7 days or tasks without a due date. To change these settings, go to the > Options window and switch to the > Others tab.

If you’re not already using Remember The Milk, there are two to do list alternatives: the three in one class="vt-p" title="Desk Essentials" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=9f4d59be-9529-40c6-9c7e-7a0fd6d11b70&bt=1&pl=1"> Desk Essentials gadget (To Do List, Notes, and Calculator) or the straight forward and very stylish (task list only) class="vt-p" title="PowerDo" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=8ddbe997-c831-4b35-b0b6-a07abbc904f6&bt=1&pl=1"> PowerDo.

class="vt-p" title="Auto Translator" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=ad7c9bb3-3484-4409-916c-b23143730fea&bt=1&pl=1">Auto Translator

For the occasional translation this translator is very helpful. It supports 20 of the most common languages. Unfortunately, it tends to fail when trying to translate simple sentences. Moreover, it’s not possible to switch between a formal or informal translation, e.g. ‘vous’ or ‘tu’ in French, ‘Sie’ or ‘Du’ in German etc.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets08.png" alt="windows 7 sidebar gadgets" width="301" height="359" />

I did test the equivalent translator powered by Google and it didn’t do any better.

class="vt-p" title="Toggle Hidden Files" href="http://windows7gadgets.net/gadgets/system/toggle-hidden-files-gadget/">Toggle Hidden Files

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: left;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets07.png" alt="windows 7 sidebar gadgets" width="128" height="71" />Toggle Hidden Files does just as it says for all folders and files in Windows Explorer.

You might have to refresh the respective folder to see the changes.

class="vt-p" title="Drag&Drop and Print" href="http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=d49323f5-90a0-435a-8d11-4fe26f3cf9b8&bt=1&pl=1">Drag&Drop and Print

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: left;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gadgets09.png" alt="windows 7 gadgets" width="133" height="136" />When you want to print a single document that’s already open, you can simply click [Ctrl] + [P]. But as soon as you want to print more than one document or a document you don’t really want to open first, this process becomes a hassle.

With Drag&Drop and Print you can simply drag any selection of documents onto the gadget, and it will open the printer menu for each one of them. The gadget does not require any setting up, only that your printer/s must be installed and ready to go.

More

There is always more. MakeUseOf has previously covered Windows 7 desktop gadgets and there have been a few that might also make your life easier. Have a look at the couple of gadgets we introduced in more detail:

• class="vt-p" title="7 Best Windows 7 Gadgets" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-windows-7-gadgets/">The 7 Best Windows 7 Gadgets by Matt

  CPU meter, network monitor, drives monitor, Facebook and Twitter Explorer, SkypeGadget, and Doppler RadLoop.

• class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-7-coolest-windows-7-desktop-gadgets">Top 7 Coolest Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets style="font-size: 13px;">by Tina

  Clipboard manager, MiniTV, Ultimate Explorer, NASA TV, Weather Underground, Colour Picker, and Magic Folder.

Which Windows 7 gadget do you use most often? />
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There are many ways to keep up with the newest software for your computer. If you have Windows, they will gladly send you a weekly update on the newest downloads. They will keep you informed of free software as it becomes available. Their software is then rated for easy of use, compatibility and functionality. If free is one of your favorite terms, than add the newest software to your list.

Software seems to change on a minute-by-minute basis. You just got the newest software to meet your needs or wants and almost before it is installed there is a better product out or an update. When using free software the financial hit of this rapidly changing scenario is dampened. With the constant demands of work and family the last thing you need is to spend hours at the mall or on the web looking for the newest software. Keeping your electronic world functioning at high speed with great productivity requires learning about and using some of the newest software on the market.

One of the ways you can keep yourself informed of the newest software applicable to your life style and work is to be on the developers’ email list. Many times this is the best way to know if the newest software is actually the best for your use. Being on a software company or developers’ email list can give you an edge in getting the best software for your use. Check out the major software sites online and you will see the advertising of what is soon to be the newest software on the market.

Thoroughly tested and reliable are not overly used concepts in the newest software race. There are many times though, that the free software is the best. For more details go to www.software-index-website.com An individual or small group with little or no marketing skills may have developed the newest free software. There may have been a desire not to do the work of marketing but to sit back and enjoy the success of their work, as it becomes the standard in the industry. Some of the best software has been developed by freelancers and at home developers. Creating something that solves a problem for you or meets your personal needs adds an edge that just being competitive does not. For it to meet personal needs it must run well (without glitches) and be fast and efficient. These aren’t the standards for a person who just wants to make a buck or is counting hours. The personal touch really goes a long way in having a product with superb performance and minimal problems.

Free software can add delight to your day. If you are running a business (your home is one on a small scale) the bottom line is a very important thing. Anything that improves that, helps the overall structure. For more details go to www.scripts-to-sell.com If the newest software saves you time and aggravation, then it is defiantly worth putting hard earned money into. It is hard to stay on the cutting edge of industry if you are using last year’s technology. Be choosy–be creative when looking for the software to enhance your life.

Source: en.ce.cn

By Hu Hongjun

Founder Group’s laser scanning phototypesetting systems have been exported to such countries and regions as the United States and Great Britain; Evermore Software’s office software products have entered the market in Japan, North America, and Africa successfully; UFIDA Software Co., Ltd.’s enterprise management software has entered the market in Southeast Asia On the INT’L SOFT CHINA 2007 held recently, domestic software products with independent innovations and software brands drew close attention from people and became one of the highlights of the exhibition.

In recent years, China’s software industry has been growing rapidly in terms of scales and the average year-on-year growth rate of sales revenues has exceeded 40 percent. In 2006, revenues of the software industry amounted to RMB480 billion yuan while realizing exports worth US$6.06 billion. Various enterprises have boosted their strengths up evidently, there has accumulated 13,000 verified software enterprises, among which 35 enterprises realized their respective sales revenues of over RMB1 billion yuan with their software products. The software industry is becoming a new growth point for the national economy.

With the support of guiding funds from the government, enterprises and the society have been investing more in research and development. Breakthroughs have been made in succession in the dependent research and development of operating systems, database, middleware, Chinese Office software, and information security software.

Up till now, the Linux operating systems of such enterprises as Red Flag Software Co., Ltd. and China Standard Software Co., Ltd. have been applied in fields of e-government and industrial informationization; the performance of such Chinese word processing software as Kingsoft’s WPS, Evermore’s Office software, Founder’s typesetting system has reached the internationally leading level. The middleware of enterprises like TongTech, CVIC Software Engineering Co., Ltd. (CVIC SE), Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited, and Primeton and the enterprise management software products of UFIDA Software Co., Ltd., Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited, Digital China Holdings Limited, FAW Qiming Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Newgrand Software Co., Ltd are all provided with remarked advantages in market competitions in respective key application fields. A batch of security software products with independent intellectual property rights, including Rising, Kingsoft, TOPSEC, VenusTech, and 30wish, have taken up the leading place in the domestic market.

Statistics from the market also show such a point. Up till now, domestic operating systems account for over 25 percent in the software purchase of governments at the provincial level while domestic office software (kits) seizes 60 percent of shares in the market; domestic security software seizes 97 percent of shares in the market. Such a fact has greatly improved domestic software’s confidence in development and users’ credit degree.

To make substantial breakthroughs, the key for China’s software industry is to cultivate a batch of internationally competitive self-owned brands. Statistics show that in 2006, there were about 80 domestic software enterprises that had employed over 1,000 staff members; the number of enterprises achieving a total sales revenue of RMB1 billion yuan from software increased from 12 in 2002 to 35 in 2006; and enterprises achieving a total sales revenue of RMB100 million yuan from software amounted to 396.

Domestic software enterprises are getting increasingly internationalized. Software and information services outsourcing industry has been developing fairly quickly and become a new growth point for the development of software and information service industry. In 2006, the scale of China’s software exports amounted to over US$6 billion and revenues from the outsourcing of software and information service amounted to about US$2 billion. A batch of enterprises focusing on exports and outsourcing business, including Neusoft Group Ltd., SinoCom Software Group Limited, Chinasoft International Ltd., iSoftStone Information Service Corporation (iSoftStone) and CompuPacific International are growing up rapidly and the level of their outsourcing services has been improved continually.

At the same time, exports of software products with independent intellectual property rights continue to increase while the profit margin has also been somehow improved.

The rapid rise of domestic software manufacturers has also attracted the attention for international software magnates. In this June, IBM set up a relation of close cooperation with Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited after it began its strategic cooperation with UFIDA Software Co., Ltd. Microsoft has also developed 6 strategic cooperating partners in China, including Inspur Group, Chinasoft International Ltd., and Digital China Holdings Limited, and the scope for the cooperation between Software and domestic enterprises gets aggravated continuously.

According to the development plan, sales for China’s software and information service industry in the domestic market will continue to grow at the rate of 30 percent or so during the Eleventh Five-Year Period and break through RMB1 trillion yuan, a great target, with the exports amounting to over US$10 billion; a number of backbone software enterprises with a respective annual sale of over RMB5 billion yuan will come into being, and more famous software brands will be cultivated; breakthroughs will be made on key products and core technologies for domestic fundamental software, thus making it possible for China’s capacity in the research and development as well as services of software products and systems to basically satisfy the requirements on the development of the national economy and the informatization of the society.

As to the capacity to make independent innovations, China will play an active role in promoting the research and development as well as the applications of various embedded software products, take the chance of implementing national key scientific and technological special projects and converge energies to make breakthroughs on such core technologies as operating systems, database management systems, and middleware software and cultivate a batch of famous software brands and backbone software enterprises with independent intellectual property rights.

As to the development pattern, the Ministry of Information Industry is exerting all its strength to encourage the development of the industry by adopting the software, intensify the amalgamation and development of software and hardware, guide and facilitate software enterprises to have close combination with the transformation of traditional industries and develop application products and systems that can meet the demands of enterprise informatization. In China’s key projects like e-government, modern long-distance education, informatization in rural areas, digital television and digital Olympic, the implementation of demonstrative projects for the software industry will be organized.

As far as the construction of bases is concerned, governments at various levels will fully play the functions of bases as incubators and platforms, guide the formation of a system and a perfect industrial chain for the software industry that get integrated research and development, production, services, and applications, accelerate the formation of scale advantage, cost advantage, and technological advantages, and make great efforts to promote the cluster development of the software industry.

Moreover, as far as internationalization is concerned, studies are being conducted in China on the development of policies and measures that encourage software outsourcing; a system for exploring services in the overseas markets is being established from such aspects as export finance and promoting cooperation between enterprises so that software enterprises’ outsourcing capacity will be improved and domestic enterprises will receive helps in their exploration in the market. In addition, multinationals are encouraged to set up production and R&D institutions in China so as to drive China’s software enterprises to develop in a favorable and rapid manner.

Who hasn’t dropped by a webcam or two to waste some time?  I’m not sure what is so fascinating about them but people just like webcams.  Maybe it’s the real-time aspect of it all.

There are a lot of free online webcams out there that are good at being interesting.  For instance, check out the article about the best free webcams to watch when you are bored.  As you can see, many webcams are very interesting to watch, for some reason.

On the other side of the equation, some webcams just make us stop and wonder what people were thinking of when they set them up.  Check out some of them most boring webcams on the net.

Watch Paint Peel

Watch paint peel?  Like I said, sometimes I don’t know what people are thinking.  People watch it though.  I wonder how long someone has to watch this one before they get some kind of on screen action.  As for me and my house, we will keep the peeling to ourselves.

Watch Grass Grow

Seriously?  People actually go through the bother to set up cameras to watch their grass grow?  And they expect people to watch?  I know we’ve all had days when we didn’t feel up to doing much more than watching grass grow but come on!  From the person who mows the grass around this house, let’s find a cam where we can watch grass NOT grow.  Now that would be a feat.

Watch The Traffic

Did you know that you can actually log on and watch traffic cameras?  I can look out my window if I want to watch traffic – and the frame rate is even better.  On this site you have a map marking off all of the traffic cams you can look at.  Many hours of joyous fun can be spent here, I’m sure of it.

Watch Cheese

OK, the cheddarvision makes watching paint peel interesting.  Normally watching food would make me hungry but for some reason not in this case.  The only redeeming part to this is that they have also recorded a 12-month time lapse video of the whole thing.  I guess that makes it all OK.

Watch A Garden

What can be more interesting than watching grass grow?  Watching a whole garden grow, of course.  The frame rate is good and the plants look nice, but what’s the point?  Sure, it’s fun watching the plants flowing in the breeze but I can do that in my own back yard.

One cool part is that you can make their bubble machine blow bubbles.  Not sure why you’d want to but have fun with it.

OK, so you’d have to be pretty bored to want to check some of these free online webcams out.  I don’t know, maybe it’s the level of boring-ness that makes them irresistible to take a peek at.  Check them out, tell us what you think and share some more boring webcams in the comments.

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This documentary primarily covers the psychological profiles and exploits of three particular serial killers (Albert Fish, Andrei Chikatilo, and Jeffrey Dahmer), and features various psychologists, authors, pioneering FBI profiler Robert Ressler, and the prosecuting and defense attorneys of the Jeffrey Dahmer trial discussing their thoughts on the events. Also given a look are the factors, conditions, and motivations that might lead someone to become a serial killer. And, as suggested by the show’s title, the most infamous fictional serial killer Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter is discussed, compared and contrasted to his real-life counterparts.

HyperSpace is an instant-on, secure computing environment that runs independently, alongside a primary operating system (OS) such as Windows Vista. HyperSpace allows users to immediately access the Web and many applications without waiting for the OS to boot. With HyperSpace, as soon as they turn on their PCs, theyll be able to surf the Web, check e-mail, watch YouTube videos and communicate with instant messaging. Users can use their notebooks much like they would their smartphones. HyperSpace automatically connects to the best available network with the Network Connection Manager. It will switch from wire to wireless to 3G (when available) automatically so users don’t have to configure their notebooks when they roam. HyperSpace also conserves notebook battery life. When users perform their Web-based tasks in HyperSpace, Windows can be shut down or put to sleep mode to conserve power. Users can access Windows by either toggling over in real time with the press of a single key, or they have the option to choose which environment theyd like to work in HyperSpace or Windows when they boot. www.HyperSpace.com

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