Tag Archive | "Services"

Test Your New Year Resolutions With These 5 Email In The Future Services

Posted on 12 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , ,

email in the futureThere’s always a tragic story behind our New Year resolutions and goal setting endeavors. Reams have been written on how to stick to resolutions. So, let me try to add a few pages here with a slightly different take on email in the future services. Emailing yourself in the future could serve as reminders to alert you about sticking to the path.

You can also use these future emails to create tiny time capsules. For e.g. if you have losing weight as a goal, you can post a photo of your current girth and then open it as a future date to see whether you shed the weight or the goal. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the service will stick around in a year’s time, but suddenly being reminded of your goals sometimes helps to jolt that laziness off your bones.

Lettermelater

email in the future

Lettermelater is a rich tool that allows you to create HTML emails, add attachments (photos), and even send it from within your default email account. The service allows you to set a future date, down to the last minute, when the letter will get delivered. You can also specify CC and BCC recipients; helpful if you are part of a group that’s mentoring each other towards a goal. But the feature I like is Lettermelater gives you the option to set up multiple recurring emails by selecting a range and interval, or selecting the dates individually.

FutureMe

email in the future to self

With FutureMe, you don’t have to log-in before sending out an email into the future. You can choose to go anonymous and put your emails into public view. The collection of public FutureMe emails is an interesting read. The mail interface lacks a rich text editor, but you can include pictures (webcam snaps or from the desktop) with your emails. Maybe, you can just ask yourself if you are still alive after December 2012. Keeping yourself alive inspite of the foreboding predictions of the Mayans could be a nice New Year resolution.

Eternity Message

email in the future to self

The About Me page says something about the original intention of the site – We had originally written the application to capture our thoughts, experiences, and life lessons so those could be shared with our children.

The service uses a secure protocol and the servers store the future messages – they are not sent out as emails. Recipients receive a notification to view the future message on the site itself. An early warning notification is also sent to the sender 3 days prior to the actual delivery. Eternity Message comes in two versions – a paid one which allows you to send messages 60 years into the future and a free Lite version that allows you to send the email up to 1 year in the future and to a single person. The message has to stay within 1000 characters – that should be enough for a New Year resolution.

Email Future

email in the future to self

Schedule a goals-to-achieve email in the future with this text only service and pat yourself in one year’s time when you can tick off a few from your 2012 New Year resolution’s list. You can also send it to four other addresses if you want to gloat about your achievements one year down the line. Of course, there’s a high chance that you could also have four eggs on your face. Email Future allows you to set a private or public (anonymous) permission.

Mail Freezr

email in the future

Put your future emails in ice-cold storage and bring them back to live on January 1st, next year. You can freely freeze your emails for any period between 1 – 100 years, so you are probably safe if you put down your resolutions for the year and check them out next year.

2012 will be soon over. The future will come soon enough. List out your goals using these services and when you get the mail from the past in your inbox, you can either gloat or regret that you let another year pass by without ticking off a few from your goals list. Are you using a geeky way to set your New Year resolutions? Or are they already lying in the waste basket?

Image Credit: Shutterstock



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Google Fun – Go Inside Search & Explore Google Services In A Whole New Way At The Playground

Posted on 12 September 2011. Tags: , , , , , ,

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google.jpg" alt="google playground" />You wouldn’t use words like snazzy, flashily stylish, or even showy with Google’s almost barebones effectiveness. Recent changes though have helped to dress up Google and readied it for the Web 2.0 party. We have seen that Google and its interlinked maze of products can be whole lot of fun. You can check out the links on our site, but right now let’s click on a link that will take us inside Google Search and into the href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/fun.html">Playground.

The Inside Search Playground is a slight detour in the maze of Google services. But it’s here that you can – feed your curiosity, test your search skills and explore topics in a whole new way – as Google itself says. It’s difficult to exactly define what it is, except to say that it’s packed with features that give you several new ways to play around with Google Search. Oh yes, it is ‘flashily stylish’ too.

 

href="http://www.wdyl.com/">Find Out What Do You Love

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services01.jpg" alt="google playground" width="580" height="299" />

What Do You Love is a search engine in itself, but it’s like a meta-search engine which brings in results from most of Google’s web services, from news to mobile search, to answer your search query. What you get is your own Google mini-portal for a particular search. All that’s left for you to do is to dive in and start feeding on the information that’s out there.

href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/doodles.html">A Doodle Timeline

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services02.jpg" alt="learn google search" width="580" height="325" />

We have talked about Doodles href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-sites-to-spread-the-love-for-google-doodle-picture/">before, but around here you get to use a cool timeline slider to browse through the Doodle gallery. You can also mouse-over the dots to see a preview of a Doodle. This one is lot more fun than the earlier simple webpage gallery.

href="http://www.agoogleaday.com/">Take a Stab at Google Trivia

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services03.jpg" alt="learn google search" width="580" height="333" />

I have the most fun here. A Google a Day is a trivia game, and a tough one at that. You are asked a trivia question and you can ‘cheat’ by using any of the Google services. If you think it’s easy, it’s not as you have to go against the clock. If you are a slowpoke, then play normally. But it’s the best way I know of learning how to search Google using the advanced search operators (check the Tips & Tricks section).

href="http://www.demoslam.com/">Choose a Champ at Demo Slam

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services04.jpg" alt="learn google search" width="580" height="254" />

Demo Slam is like a head-to-head between Google projects. Sounds boring? Nah…just try it out! Google white coats submit most of the demo projects, but you, me, and Irene can join in too and vie to become the champs. Browse through the site and tell us your favorite demo project. Mine is the href="http://youtu.be/PTeCqnBuDdU">Road Trip on Route 66. You can click on the gallery too and see the whole lineup. Tech demos are fun again.

href="http://www.googleinsidesearch.com/underthehood.html#globe">Look at a Day’s Worth of Google Searches around the World

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services05.jpg" alt="learn google search engine" width="531" height="366" />

You are not the only one who is searching on Google. What does the world look like with all those people tapping away at their keyboards – the cool Search Globe shows you. You can also scroll down and look at the very interesting Life of a Query which reveals interesting facts about how Google Search operates. Keep scrolling down for few more tidbits rendered appealingly. For instance, you can go href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/underthehood.html">under the hood and learn how Google conducts its experiments. Each factoid is presented as you splash the ‘chemicals’ on the page.

The Google Globe wasn’t rendering for me at that precise moment. It could be a temporary glitch. I used the image from the href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/world-of-curiosity-peek-at-searches.html">Official Google Blog.

href="http://www.teachparentstech.org/">Help Your Parents Be Friends with Google

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services06.jpg" alt="learn google search engine" width="580" height="348" />

Are you the resident tech expert? If family, friends, and the dog are turning you into the local professor, just point them to the how-to videos hosted here. The beautifully organized site handholds them through the basics to an advanced stage where they can even create a FAT32 hard-drive partition. You can send the videos packaged as like a ‘gift’.

href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/stories.html">Make Your Own Search Stories

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services07.jpg" alt="learn google search engine" width="580" height="437" />

Make Your Own Search Stories is a fun video creation tool that lets you go all wild, crazy, and imaginative with your Google searches and stitch them together into a story backed up with music. href="http://youtu.be/nnsSUqgkDwU">Parisian Love is one of the well-known ones. Watch it and many more to get your own ideas.

href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/underthehood.html">Is This The Google Search Engine We Know?

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google-services08.jpg" alt="google playground" width="580" height="256" />

Here, you get a different looking search engine which takes you through the paces of a search by scrolling with the arrows or clicking on the little colored dots. It’s a neat tool to explore all the facets of Google Search quickly without looking at any help file.

The Playground is a fun place to be if you are new to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google/">Google or just don’t about all its power yet. Heck, I am a veteran, but I still found the trivia and demo slam rounds to be fun. It helped me know my favorite search engine a bit better. What about you? Does the slew of pages here make you appreciate that it’s a whole lot more than juts typing in a search? Tell us…



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How To Hide Google Plus Message Count Icon From All Google Services

Posted on 30 August 2011. Tags: , , , , , , ,

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel.jpg" alt="google plus hide comments" width="300" height="300" />We tend to sceptically greet any new features of the sites we are used to. We are never happy to discover new (potentially annoying) tweaks to very familiar interfaces.

However things still change. And the tools we love and have been using for ages are always being further developed and changed.

Google has been introducing new and new features for ages and it has started changing actively especially recently.

Furthermore, Google is well-known for pushing their new features too hard. And the worst thing about that is that Google never makes it easy to opt out of its new features. For example, there is no good way to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/permanently-disable-google-instant-google-suggest/">disable Google Instant and there is no way at all to opt out of search suggestions (which do interfere with our search behavior).

We can like new features or we can resent them – that’s our choice – but it’s always a good thing to have that choice.

The same goes about the actively promoted href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google-plus/">Google Plus platform. Once you opt in, you start seeing their “New message” notifier icon everywhere: when searching Google, when checking new messages on Gmail, when working with spreadsheets, etc.

It does draw us into Google Plus to check new updates from our contacts but it can be remarkably distracting interrupting our work flow.

So how do we get rid of it (especially when we do not need it?)

1. How Google Lets Us Hide It

The first obvious way to use Google services without being constantly drawn to Google Plus is to sign out of Google:

Signed-in view:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-01.jpg" alt="google plus hide comments" width="550" height="154" />

When you sign out:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-02.jpg" alt="hide google plus comments" width="550" height="83" />

However, you will certainly not be able to access most of Google services that way like Gmail and Google spreadsheets. You will only use distraction-free search.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any more options within Google Plus “Account Settings” that would allow me to get rid of the new message notifier the “legal” and official way.

Luckily, there are a few easy third-party tools to help:

2. Try a User Script

If you don’t mind playing with user scripts, you will be happy to discover href="http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/106622">this little script that removes the tiny “new update” count from the Google Plus panel.

Before:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-01.jpg" alt="hide google plus comments" width="550" height="154" />

With the script installed:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-03.jpg" alt="hide google plus comments" width="550" height="168" />

The script has proved to be working on Firefox 6 (with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/greasemonkey/">Greasemonkey) and Google Chrome.

3. Try a User Style

href="http://userstyles.org/styles/50447/hide-google-notifications-on-all-google-except-g">This user style is another interesting option for href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/">Stylish FireFox add-on fans. With it, you can handle the new update count icon in two ways:

  • Hide it completely;
  • Hide it until you hover over the place where it used to be.

With the latest version of FireFox you can also choose to:

  • Hide on all Google sites except Google+
  • Hide on all Google sites.

I tried using the first option (hide the icon on all services except Google plus) and found that it also enabled the icon on generic Google search page (which was not my intention). So I hid the icon on all Google pages.

Before:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-01.jpg" alt="google plus count" width="550" height="154" />

With the style installed:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-04.jpg" alt="google plus count" width="550" height="159" />

With the style installed on hover over:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hide-google-plus-panel-05.jpg" alt="google plus hide comments" width="550" height="167" />

Are there any other ways to get rid of Google Plus new update count? Please share them in the comments.



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4 Great Uses For Amazon’s S3 Web Services

Posted on 01 April 2011. Tags: , , ,

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/aws.png" alt="amazon s3 web services" />Despite Amazon being most well known for their retail services, they actually also offer a host of class="vt-p" href="http://aws.amazon.com/">web services for developers and home users that take advantage of Amazon’s experience and scalability with massive amounts of data warehousing. One of those services is called class="vt-p" href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">S3, which stands for “Simple Storage Service“.

Here are 3 ways in which you can make use of Amazon S3 web services today.

Introduction & Amazon S3 Costs

S3 operates on a basis of paying only for what you use, with separate fees for storage, data transfer and data requests. Ignoring data request fees because the cost is minimal, the fees break down as follows:

Storage

5GB free, then $0.15/GB per month (100GB = $15)

Data Transfer (Upload)

$0.10/GB

Data Transfer (Download)

$0.15/GB

As an example then – if you used it to store 100GB of data – it would cost you $10 to upload it all, $15 per month to store it, and a further $15 when you decided to download it all again.

So what can you do with all that cloud storage?

Backup Your Computer Files

The most obvious use is for cloud-backup of your important files. While I don’t suggest you spend the next 6 months uploading your entire 4TB video collection to S3, they do claim to achieve 99.999999999% file durability, which means anything you upload will most certainly not get destroyed. For critical files you couldn’t stand to lose, it is the most cost effective and secure way of ensuring you have a solid backup.

To make the backup process simple, you’ll need some software to automate the process. class="vt-p" href="http://www.haystacksoftware.com/arq/">Arq is the best option, but the price tag of $30 may be off-putting for some. However it does offer some fantastic features like being able to set a monthly backup budget. class="vt-p" href="https://www.jungledisk.com/personal/desktop/screenshots/">JungleDisk is a pay-monthly reseller ($3/month) that provides similar software. On the free side, class="vt-p" href="http://www.s3backupsystem.com/?r=download">S3BackupSystem is a capable utility for Windows.

Check out this site for class="vt-p" href="http://www.aboutonlinetips.com/amazon-s3-tools/">35+ more S3 backup and sync tools.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/arq.png" alt="amazon s3 web services" width="580" height="398" />

If you want to back up large amounts of data (more than 40GB), class="vt-p" href="http://mozy.co.uk/home/">Mozy may be a more cost effective solution with their unlimited plans. However many users say that the speed is much slower than Amazon.

Backup Your Online Life

With the recent news class="vt-p" href="http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2010/12/whats-next-for-delicious.html">of the possible demise of the Delicious bookmarking service, many of us realised that social feeds and online personas are something we might want to back up – but how do you back up your data when it’s stored in an online service? The answer is with Backupify and S3. class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/backupify-backup-your-online-accounts-easily/">Backupify, which offers a free 2GB/5 account plan, takes the data out of various social networks and online services, and stores it on an S3 account. If the thought of losing your Twitter feed makes you wince, it might be worth a look.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/backupify.png" alt="amazon s3 web server" width="580" height="188" />

Store Large Downloads For Your Site

If you have large files that users can download from a website, like a podcast or videos, it works out cheaper to host them on Amazon s3 which means less stress on your server. In case you didn’t know, all of our class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/guides/">fantastic free MakeUseOf guides are hosted on S3.

The class="vt-p" href="http://tantannoodles.com/toolkit/wordpress-s3/">Amazon s3 WordPress Plugin makes it super-easy to upload the files and make links from within the standard WordPress editor.

Host An Entire Website On S3

As long as your website consists only of static files, it’s actually possibly to host the whole thing on Amazon. The speed class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/give-wordpress-blog-lightning-fast-speeds-w3-total-cache">will be relatively fast compared to a shared hosting, and you’ll never have to worry about downtime. As a cost estimate, a 20-page website with about 10MB of files with 200 visitors a day would work out at about $5 a month to host on Amazon, and you’ll need to do a class="vt-p" href="http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/index.html?WebsiteHosting.html">little editing of your domain name configuration to get it working. Unfortunately this won’t work for a dynamic database-driven website, such as a WordPress-based blog.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/amazon-dns.png" alt="amazon s3 web services" width="432" height="389" />

In terms of reliability, S3 offers perhaps the best uptime of any online service provider, no matter what you choose to use it for. The goal of Amazon S3 Web Services is not to offer a complete packaged product that you can just use though, but rather to offer the tools and services to build products on top of. It’s exciting to see what has been done so far, not just with S3 but with the entire range of services they offer that we will explore at a later date.

For now, let us know if you have other unique uses for S3 in the comments, or if you already make use of another cloud storage facility. />
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4 Web Services To Keep Track Of Earthquakes & Storms Around Us

Posted on 09 March 2011. Tags: , , , , ,

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Shutterstock-Storm.jpg" />The inconvenient truth is that we aren’t really above nature as we thought ourselves to be. Hurricanes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions…you name it, something seems to be always churning in some part of the world.

The least we can do is respect our planet and its fragile ecosystem. The prudent thing we can do is to follow any advisories and prepare for a forecasted threat. There are some natural phenomena you cannot do anything about, like earthquakes which strike suddenly. Then there are some like hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical storms which can be predicted with a fair amount of certainty.

id="more-66764"> /> Either way, it pays to be aware of what’s happening around our Earth. There’s the news and then there are online tracking services which keep you updated with the latest information and warnings. Let’s take a look at four tracking websites which try to catch our whimsical planet at its worst.

href="http://www.stormpulse.com/">Stormpulse

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map01.jpg" alt="keep track of earthquakes" width="580" height="312" />

Some countries like the US and those along the Atlantic coast have a hurricane season. Unlike the other seasons, this one is anything but pleasant. Let’s say you are planning a trip around the Caribbean, and you just wanted to know how the weather will spell out. Or you could be just a weather watcher or a hurricane hunter with an interest in developing storms. Stormpulse is the eye in the browser you could be searching for. The interactive map helps you track storms in the Atlantic and Pacific.

The map app collects information from satellites, buoys, and radars. Features like cloud cover, radar, buoy locations and labels can be toggled off with a click. You can track hurricanes by name and location to understand if it will wax or wane. You might like to check out the previous href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-storms-and-hurricans-with-stormpulse/">in-depth review we did on this weather app a few years back.

href="http://myhurricane.net/">MyHurricane

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map02.jpg" alt="track earthquakes" width="580" height="309" />

MyHurricane is a full screen interactive map on which you can track storms and hurricanes with their projected paths. You can search for hurricanes by name and get details like maximum wind speed, maximum gusts, and minimum pressure. Simple switches enable you to toggle the forecast options on the map. One of the more useful features (although in beta), is the storm alert you can sign up for with Twitter.

Also check out the official website of the href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml">National Hurricane Center.

href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/">U.S Geological Survey

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map03.jpg" alt="track earthquakes" width="580" height="306" />

The official website keeps an eagle eye on developing natural hazards. The site has a dedicated page on earthquakes with real-time data and Google Earth and KML files. You can subscribe to the RSS feed which gives you regular information on US specific and worldwide tremors and quakes. USGS covers nearly all imaginable natural threats with its “hazards” programs. Landslides, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes are backed up by real-time monitoring and interactive maps. The Earthquake Hazards program is probably the most feature rich with its Past, Present, and Future probability tools.

The USGS site also has a section for kids where they can learn all about quakes with the help of interactive study tools.

href="http://global.sismos.cl/">Worldwide Earthquake

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map04.jpg" alt="keep track of earthquakes" width="580" height="505" />

The site began as a personal project but it has since scaled up. It is basically a Chilean website but covers the planet using Google’s Maps as the platform. Unfortunately, it’s not well integrated with Google Earth in spite of the link on the site. Clicking on the map gives you an information bubble with numbers on the magnitude, time, location, depth, and the category.

I haven’t mentioned the many wonderful weather apps that dot the web and keep us informed on a daily basis. You can check out the lineup of some of the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/weather/">cool weather apps we have covered over the years. Hollywood movies have made us slightly paranoid about climate change and natural disasters. Though not as cataclysmic, natural disasters remain earthshaking as the New Zealand earthquake has again proved.

Though I am not a weather expert, maybe these web apps will help to educate us more about our fickle planet. What do you think?

Image Credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-4906567.html?src=7875210d37ca9cf740ffb19679834580-1-9">Shutterstock />
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4 Web Services To Keep Track Of Earthquakes & Storms Around Us

Posted on 09 March 2011. Tags: , ,

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Shutterstock-Storm.jpg" />The inconvenient truth is that we aren’t really above nature as we thought ourselves to be. Hurricanes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions…you name it, something seems to be always churning in some part of the world.

The least we can do is respect our planet and its fragile ecosystem. The prudent thing we can do is to follow any advisories and prepare for a forecasted threat. There are some natural phenomena you cannot do anything about, like earthquakes which strike suddenly. Then there are some like hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical storms which can be predicted with a fair amount of certainty.

id="more-66764"> /> Either way, it pays to be aware of what’s happening around our Earth. There’s the news and then there are online tracking services which keep you updated with the latest information and warnings. Let’s take a look at four tracking websites which try to catch our whimsical planet at its worst.

href="http://www.stormpulse.com/">Stormpulse

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map01.jpg" alt="keep track of earthquakes" width="580" height="312" />

Some countries like the US and those along the Atlantic coast have a hurricane season. Unlike the other seasons, this one is anything but pleasant. Let’s say you are planning a trip around the Caribbean, and you just wanted to know how the weather will spell out. Or you could be just a weather watcher or a hurricane hunter with an interest in developing storms. Stormpulse is the eye in the browser you could be searching for. The interactive map helps you track storms in the Atlantic and Pacific.

The map app collects information from satellites, buoys, and radars. Features like cloud cover, radar, buoy locations and labels can be toggled off with a click. You can track hurricanes by name and location to understand if it will wax or wane. You might like to check out the previous href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-storms-and-hurricans-with-stormpulse/">in-depth review we did on this weather app a few years back.

href="http://myhurricane.net/">MyHurricane

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map02.jpg" alt="track earthquakes" width="580" height="309" />

MyHurricane is a full screen interactive map on which you can track storms and hurricanes with their projected paths. You can search for hurricanes by name and get details like maximum wind speed, maximum gusts, and minimum pressure. Simple switches enable you to toggle the forecast options on the map. One of the more useful features (although in beta), is the storm alert you can sign up for with Twitter.

Also check out the official website of the href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml">National Hurricane Center.

href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/">U.S Geological Survey

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map03.jpg" alt="track earthquakes" width="580" height="306" />

The official website keeps an eagle eye on developing natural hazards. The site has a dedicated page on earthquakes with real-time data and Google Earth and KML files. You can subscribe to the RSS feed which gives you regular information on US specific and worldwide tremors and quakes. USGS covers nearly all imaginable natural threats with its “hazards” programs. Landslides, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes are backed up by real-time monitoring and interactive maps. The Earthquake Hazards program is probably the most feature rich with its Past, Present, and Future probability tools.

The USGS site also has a section for kids where they can learn all about quakes with the help of interactive study tools.

href="http://global.sismos.cl/">Worldwide Earthquake

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Storm-Map04.jpg" alt="keep track of earthquakes" width="580" height="505" />

The site began as a personal project but it has since scaled up. It is basically a Chilean website but covers the planet using Google’s Maps as the platform. Unfortunately, it’s not well integrated with Google Earth in spite of the link on the site. Clicking on the map gives you an information bubble with numbers on the magnitude, time, location, depth, and the category.

I haven’t mentioned the many wonderful weather apps that dot the web and keep us informed on a daily basis. You can check out the lineup of some of the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/weather/">cool weather apps we have covered over the years. Hollywood movies have made us slightly paranoid about climate change and natural disasters. Though not as cataclysmic, natural disasters remain earthshaking as the New Zealand earthquake has again proved.

Though I am not a weather expert, maybe these web apps will help to educate us more about our fickle planet. What do you think?

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2 Free VPN Services For Secure Browsing On Your iOS Device

Posted on 13 February 2011. Tags: , , , ,

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/2011/02/shutterstock_2193032.jpg" border="0" alt="vpn services" width="270" height="203" />We recently published an article explaining what href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-private-network-work-technology-explained">a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is, along with a list of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-completely-free-vpn-services-protect-privacy">free VPN services that allow you to anonymise the Internet browsing experience on your computers. If you want to do the same on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touches, there are a couple of free options that are worth looking into.

The reason for using a free VPN service on your phone is exactly the same as using them on your computer. For example, you may want to access websites or apps that have been blocked by your ISP or are not available in your country, or you may want to encrypt all inbound and outbound data. It has to be said that, as with any free service, there are certain concessions you may have to accept such as limited bandwidth, while also bearing in mind the risk involved in using a free service when accessing sensitive information.

id="more-65102">

VPN Express

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vpn-express/id375584677?mt=8#">VPN Express [iTunes link] is a free iPhone/iPad app that gives you 100MB of free, encrypted browsing on your iOS device.

After installing the app on your device, the first thing you will need to do is register for a free account within the app, which requires only your email address and a password. If a VPN Express member referred you, you can also enter their email address, resulting in each of you earning additional free bandwidth.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/registration.png" border="0" alt="vpn services iphone" width="580" height="435" />

After confirming your email address you can then manually configure your iOS device’s VPN setting. To do so, go to Settings > General > Network > VPN > Add New VPN Configuration.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Add.png" border="0" alt="vpn services reviewed" width="580" height="347" />

From there you can enter the settings by selecting the L2TP or PPTP tab and filling in the fields as follows:

Description: VPNVIP /> Server: us.vpnvip.com OR vpn.vpnvip.com /> Account: Enter the email address you used when registering with VPN Express /> RSA SecurID: Off /> Password: Enter your password /> Encryption Level: Auto /> Secret: vpnvip /> Send all Traffic: On /> Proxy: Off

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/VPNConfig.png" border="0" alt="vpn services reviewed" width="535" height="563" />

Once you’re settings are all in place, a new VPN selection will appear in the settings menu, where you can easily toggle the VPN service on and off.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/button.png" border="0" alt="vpn services reviewed mobile" width="297" height="392" />

When turned on, a small VPN icon will appear in the status bar.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/VPN.png" border="0" alt="free vpn services" width="294" height="60" />

The advantage of using an app like VPN Express on your iOS device is that the app displays all of your usage statistics, as well as displaying your remaining bandwidth on the account tab, so that you can keep track of it while you’re on the go.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/usage.png" border="0" alt="free vpn services" width="580" height="435" />

If 100MB isn’t enough, VPN Express offers extremely competitive subscriptions and quotas, starting at $0.99 for 30 days and a quota of 2GB data transfer, or $.0.99 for a 1GB data plan.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/packages.png" border="0" alt="free vpn services" width="580" height="435" />

Hotspot Shield

It is also possible to use Hotspot Shield, one of the 7 free services href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-completely-free-vpn-services-protect-privacy">recommended on MakeUseOf before, on your iOS device.

Unlike VPN Express, you don’t have to install anything on your iPhone or iPad. First, in order to generate an account ID and password, go to the HotSpot Shield href="http://hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/get_started.php">website and click on Get Account ID.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/accountID.png" border="0" alt="accountID.png" width="371" height="463" />

Make sure that your WiFi connection is turned off, and once again, navigate to Settings > General > Network > VPN > Add New VPN Configuration.

Select the IPSec tab and fill in the fields as follows:

Description: Hotspot Shield /> Server: 68.68.107.101 /> Account: Enter the account ID generated in the previous step /> Password: Enter the password generated in the previous step /> Use Certificate: Off /> Group Name: hss /> Password: hss /> Proxy: Off

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/HSConfig.png" border="0" alt="vpn services" width="526" height="580" />

Turn your WiFi connection back on, and as with VPN Express, turn on the VPN and when the icon appears in the status bar, you can browse the Internet safely and securely.

If you have more than one VPN configuration on your iOS device, the VPN button in the settings menu will navigate to the VPN settings page allowing you to choose which configuration you wish to use.

If you want to be absolutely sure that everything is working as it should be, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/whatismyipaddress-find-out-your-ip-address/">look up your IP address in Safari and make sure that your location has been changed.

Which VPN service do you use on your iOS device? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2193032/stock-photo-secure-internet-browser.html">Shutterstock />
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    7 Completely Free VPN Services To Protect Your Privacy

    Posted on 11 November 2010. Tags: , , , ,

    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/vpnintro.jpg" alt="free vpn" width="250" height="190" />Privacy is a bit of an internet buzzword these days. Average users are now becoming more aware that the data they transfer across the big bad internet is less secure than they first thought.

    There’s class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-security-tools-you-absolutely-must-have/">a few measures you can take to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/public-computers-made-safe-security-tools-and-tips/">increase security on your end, such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-top-firewall-programs-computers-security/">installing a firewall and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/protect-your-privacy-on-p2p-with-peer-guardian-2/">blocking known intrusive IP addresses that might be spying on your browsing habits.

    The next step for anyone looking to take security to the next level is by using a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all inbound and outbound data.

    id="more-57555">

    What Is A Virtual Private Network?

    A VPN allows you to connect your machine to a virtual network which in turn class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/encrypted-folders-truecrypt-7/">encrypts the data you send, hiding everything from the public domain. A good VPN will keep no records of your browsing history, meaning you’re essentially an anonymous user.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/vpnoverview.png" alt="free vpn" width="580" height="410" />

    Many VPNs are established for office use, to allow users to log into their workplace network and gain access to services therein. Seeing as you’re reading an article about free VPN services, you’re probably class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-browser-security-tests-prevent-exploit-attacks/">more concerned about security and how you can benefit from using one.

    Despite the stigma involved with taking such a hardline approach to security, you don’t necessarily need to be using the internet for illegal purposes to benefit. Much like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-online-proxy-server-minutes/">using a proxy, a VPN can also help you access websites that may not already be available in your region.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/editvpn.png" alt="vpn server" width="349" height="459" />

    An excellent example of this would be Hulu, and we’ve got a guide about doing it class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-watch-movies-and-shows-on-hulu-sling-from-abroad/">right here. Many VPN services require payment, but there’s a fair few decent free efforts out there too. Here’s a selection to get you started.

    Free VPN Services

    It is worth noting that despite the services listed below being completely free to use, many impose restrictions on free VPN accounts. Hopefully this list will at least give you an idea of how VPN works, and how it can benefit you. If you really like the service then many offer competitive rates as well as referral schemes and paid accounts in exchange for class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/placing-ad-free-affiliate-programs-work/">advertising space.

    class="vt-p" href="http://proxpn.com/">ProXPN

    class="vt-p" href="http://proxpn.com/">A free VPN service designed for use with Windows and Mac computers. ProXPN works by downloading a small free application from which to connect. The service is also compatible with class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/iphone-tools-apps-howtos-reviews/">the iPhone and other mobile phones that support VPN.

    Interestingly you can use the class="vt-p" href="http://proxpn.com/iphone.php">iPhone setup instructions to make a connection from your PC, useful if you’re a Linux user.

    class="vt-p" href="http://gpass1.com/gpass/">GPass

    The GPass service provides free VPN access as well as an impressive fast web proxy to use directly in your browser. The service is very popular in China where class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remove-censorship-and-browse-anonymously-with-xerobank/">internet censorship is commonplace.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/gpass.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="257" />

    The service seems very hot on security (good job, really), and even goes as far as to recommend an class="vt-p" href="http://gpass1.com/help-en/index.html?page=html/integrity_check.htm">integrity check after you’ve downloaded the software (before installing). GPass is compatible with Windows only, and does not require registration.

    class="vt-p" href="http://cyberghostvpn.com/en/surf-anonym.html">CyberGhost

    Offering 1GB of encypted traffic per month on the free package, CyberGhost is another Windows-only VPN client. In order to use the service you are required to register for a free account which unfortunately does not allow you to pick and choose your servers.

    Ideal for web surfing, but not a dedicated file sharing solution.

    class="vt-p" href="http://hotspotshield.com/">AnchorFree Hotspot Shield

    Offering a free VPN solution for Windows, Mac and iPhone (and possibly other systems using the class="vt-p" href="http://hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/get_started.php">iPhone login information) Hotspot Shield boasts “unlimited bandwidth” to those who need it.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hotspot.jpg" alt="vpn server" width="580" height="311" />

    The service supports itself by providing advertising within web pages viewed using the service, as stated in the class="vt-p" href="http://hotspotshield.com/terms/">terms. A little bird tells me that if you’re a Firefox user you can use the class="vt-p" href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722/">NoScript extension to hide these, although I’ve not tried it myself.

    class="vt-p" href="http://itshidden.com/">Its Hidden

    Originally established as a safeguard for filesharers, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/itshidden-use-bittorrent-anonymously/">Its Hidden offers a competitive free service as well as paid solutions offering better contention (less users per server), professional support and dedicated IP addresses.

    Registration is required, and once you’ve signed up you can connect to the service directly through your operating system by following class="vt-p" href="http://itshidden.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=41">the set-up guide, with no additional software required. The service is compatible with any operating system you happen to be using that supports VPN.

    class="vt-p" href="http://www.securitykiss.com/">SecurityKiss

    The free package provided by SecurityKiss brings you 300MB of data transfer per day, but provides an uncapped line with plenty of speed. You’ll need the SecurityKiss software to access the service, and this is only compatible with Windows.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/securitykiss.png" alt="free vpn" width="580" height="319" />

    Despite not offering a whole lot of bandwidth, SecurityKiss will suffice in unblocking web services like Skype and YouTube you might otherwise be unable to access.

    class="vt-p" href="http://www.bestfreevpn.com/">Best Free VPN Service

    Solely for use through your existing OS, mobile or VPN application, Best Free VPN changes its password every 12 to 24 hours to help maintain fairness for users. It’s not the speediest service around, offering only 512Kbit/s down and 256Kbit/s up.

    The service doesn’t allow class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/oneswarm-makes-p2p-private-and-personal/">P2P services (no class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/bittorrent-etiquette-avoid-banned-private-trackers/">BitTorrent then) but it should suffice if you need to do any covert surfing.

    Conclusion

    Free things are great, but they’re also subject to a lot of use by the community. If you’re encountering problems with any of the above then you’re just better off moving on and trying another.

    If you’re really serious about security (and accessing your home PCs from anywhere) then you’ll probably want to invest in a paid VPN service.

    Do you use VPN? Had any luck with free services, or have you gone paid? Let us know in the comments.

    Image Credits: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-50766109/stock-photo-virtual-private-network-connection.html?src=31c43b76872aad86f4601f437f99549f-1-4">Intro, class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virtual_Private_Network_overview.svg">VPN Overview

     

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    Your Top 3 Online Music Streaming Services [MakeUseOf Poll]

    Posted on 13 September 2010. Tags: , , , , ,

    style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/poll2.png" />Last week, we asked you all to tell us href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whats-favourite-tech-blogsite-makeuseof-poll/">your favourite tech blog. Of course, many readers mentioned that you like reading MakeUseOf – Thanks!

    It seems that generally when MakeUseOf readers aren’t getting their tech fix here, they’re off reading Lifehacker. Out of 1121 votes, 27% readers love reading Lifehacker, 24% list MakeUseOf as a favourite, 9% read Engadget, 8% read Gizmodo and 5% love How To Geek. Honourable mentions which gained between 2-5% of votes include: Tech Crunch, Wired, Mashable, Download Squad and Ars Technica.

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

    id="more-53515"> /> It’s also worth checking href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whats-favourite-tech-blogsite-makeuseof-poll/">last week’s comments for more great tech sites.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/What’s-Your-Favourite-Tech-Blog.png" />

    This week’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/polls/">poll question is: List your top 3 online music streaming services you can’t live without

    Let’s find out which online music services we think are serving up the best music.

    align="center"> />

    And, by all means, let us know in the comments of any other awesome online music streaming services – we can’t get enough! />
    /> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

    />

     

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    Chart Your Business Success With Software Outsourcing Services

    Posted on 06 September 2010. Tags: , , , , ,

    Most established businesses need software services and there is no dearth of software outsourcing firms today. An intelligent team of software experts are involved in testing, development solutions and validation of tests. For various reasons, companies are seeking the help of software outsourcing services for plan and execution of vital projects. What are the advantages or disadvantages of hiring a outsource software consultancy firm? Read on and resolve your doubts on the effectiveness of outsourced software services.
    The software industry is developing at a rapid pace and companies are increasingly feeling the need to hire qualified professionals who can offer them the requisite support. The option of software outsourcing firms is gaining huge popularity to help satiate large establishments and their rising software related requirements. Not just big businesses, even small businesses can benefit from the assistance of outsourced software services to cut costs. In fact outsourcing software requirements to establishments effectively monetizes spending of business players.

    Consider this, 40% of the Fortune 500 companies including Motorola, Microsoft, GE, Oracle, Lucent are taking advantage of outsourcing today and the list of companies is steadily growing, with software outsourcing being the lead area. The objective for this move is to ensure maximum ROI while reducing costs and an effort to ensure that the company remains a leading player in the industry. Companies stand to save anywhere between 40%-70% by adopting offshore software outsourcing.

    However, software outsourcing requires proper synchronization between teams to help the company attain its goals. Every year an increasing number of software engineers emerge from Indian universities. Knowledge of English and a tendency to update their knowledge according to requirements makes Indians a popular option for foreign companies to hire them for software projects, as and when required. 

    Employees of software outsourcing firms benefit from special tax benefits and even the ability to switch jobs according to the pay offered and convenience. However, employees shifting to jobs which offer greater remuneration might not work well for the employers of software outsourcing services. For the software engineer, the fear of a project closure would result in serious health problems and even monetary woes. Time difference between countries could also spell problems for companies opting to outsource software services. 

    In today’s scenario most businesses have technology in their hands, require delivery in possible least time, less skilled personnel available, discrete communication and inefficient management of various modules within a large enterprise – it appears that outsourcing software services is surely a safe bet in these circumstances.

    Offshore software outsourcing can be difficult to implement, controversial and confusing. There is no dearth of information resources available online to help you choose the ideal outsourced software consultancy for your needs. For enthusiastic individuals who want to set up a software outsourcing consultancy at home, remember, you need to have the ability and time to manage the product requirements of a large or small establishment. You need to understand the premise of the project before you undertake it and cater to the changing demands and requirements of the market.

    Tlisoftware is an offshore web development company india,india software development services

    Posted in UtilitiesComments (0)

    You Can Use Right Software Development Services Provider!

    Posted on 28 August 2010. Tags: , , , ,

    Selecting a right software development company is really a tough job. The manager needs to check various aspects before finalizing the software development service provider to handover the project to them.

    Prior to approach a software company to develop software, you need to work on some basic things like Identifying exact requirement, analyzing the requirement as per end user point of view, Design a basic architecture or workflow. To After doing the basic analysis, you could approach some reputed software development companies with your specific requirements.

    What things you should check with every software solutions provider?

    You could choose a right software development company by analyzing the following factors.

    a. Technology Expertise: Technology is the most changing factor in software industry. So selecting the suitable technology for the software application is also important. Therefore check out that in which technologies the company has expertise.

    b. Timely Delivery: Timing is very important in software industry because you must launch your software product or service before your competitors. It will help you to achieve the big share in the market. So make sure that your software product / application will complete within the estimated time frame.

    c. Quality of Service:
    Error-free software creates the good image in the market. So test your software from user point of view to check the quality of software before putting it into market.

    d. Support: Post software development support is the integral part of smooth functioning of the software application. Ensure that the company provides the proper software support system.

    e. Past Experience: You should ask the software development work they have done before for other clients. Then you would be able to find out the strengths and  weaknesses of particular Software Development Company and whether the company is able to fulfill your Software requirements or not.

    Where should I get quality software development services?
    There are many software development companies in market, but as per my information Tandoninfo is one of the best Software Services Provider Company based in India having branches in USA too.

    Many of them provide complete custom software development solutions, project management as well as application development, Quality testing and Quality assurance services to various kind of business areas. TISPL also offer web-marketing services such as Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Management, Link Building, etc. It will help you to get top keyword ranking and maximum traffic through major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

    TISPL have professional expertise in all latest Software areas like C, C++, Java, VB, VB.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, SAP, RDBMS, Linux and many more. The consultants in TIS are skilled in multiple platforms, languages and applications and receive continual cross training in world-class development facilities to ensure that TISPL stays at the leading edge of technology.

    SAP Business One Software Solutions:
    If you are looking for integrated software services to manage your business functions efficiently then you can find Tandoninfo, which offers advanced SAP Business One Software Services at affordable cost. They are expert in SAP Business One Customization, Implementation, Integration and Support as well.

    Posted in UtilitiesComments (1)

    How To Be More Productive With The Help Of Services [Mac]

    Posted on 25 August 2010. Tags: , , ,

    style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/00-services-logo.png" alt="mac services"/>One of the most overlooked great features of Mac OS X is probably “Services“. There are people who have used Mac for years and still don’t have slightest idea about this feature. Maybe it’s because this feature is “hidden” within the menu.

    Services can unleash the potential power within Mac OS X and help any Mac users to be more productive. For example, one can quickly rotate images, rename files, or even convert video for iPod without the need to open any application. So let’s get acquainted with this feature and learn more about it.

    id="more-51553">

    A Little Bit About It

    Finding the right words to explain about Services is not easy. So I’ll just tell you Apple’s definition, quoted from Automator:

    Services are contextual workflows available throughout Mac OS X. They accept text or files from the current application or the Finder. Services appear in the Services menu.

    From what I understand, Services allow users to access features of one application from within another application. For example, you can select text from a website in Safari and create and send an email message using the selected text.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/00-Services-Definition.jpg" alt="mac services"/>

    The term “contextual” means that only a specific kind of Services will appear from within specific file types or applications. PDF-related services will only accessible from PDF files or applications which support PDF. So, even though there are literary hundreds of Services available, the Services menu won’t be cluttered with unused items.

    You can access Services items via the application’s menu or via the pop-up right click menu. To access Services which are related to a specific file type, right click on the file from Finder, or select the file and click the task button.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/01-Right-Click-Menu-1.jpg" alt="mac services menu"/>

    Enabling, Disabling And Customizing

    Applications that come with Mac OS X have services items related to their features. Most third party applications add their own services to enhance usage. Users can also create their own customized services if they want to. All of these services items can easily be enabled/disabled and customized according to your needs.

    Open “System Preferences” and navigate to “Keyboard“.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02-System-Preferences-Keyboard.jpg" alt="mac services menu"/>

    From within Keyboard Preferences, go to “Keyboard Shortcuts” and choose “Services” from the left pane.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02b-Keyboard-Services.jpg" alt="mac services menu"/>

    You will have the list of all available services items. To enable an item, check the box next to it. To disable, do the opposite.

    The “Plus (+)” button is useful to add shortcuts to application’s menu. But that’s the topic of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-secrets-of-mac-shortcuts/">another discussion.

    You can add shortcuts to Services items that you use a lot and save yourself several clicks to access them. To do that, select an item, press “Return“, and key in the combination that you like.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02d-Add-Shortcuts.jpg" />

    After enabling and assigning shortcut to an item, it will appear on the Services menu. As an example, I enabled the ability to turn selected text into spoken audio track. The result is a track called “Text to Speech” spoken by the chosen href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/having-a-conversation-with-your-mac-computer/">System Voice.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02e-Example-Add-to-iTunes-1.jpg" />

    Now, every time I come across articles that I want to save and listen to from my iPod while I’m on the road, I just highlight the text and press the shortcut combination (Command + Option + T). I’m sure you can duplicate the method for other Services that useful for you.

    Adding More Services

    As mentioned above, Mac users can create their own customized services. But we would need a little help from href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-automator-applications-create-5-minutes-mac/">an automation friend to achieve that.

    Open Automator, and choose “Service“.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/03a-Automator-Create-Service.jpg" />

    Decide what kind of input should the service that you are building receive. Also choose what application should this Service related to. Then drag and drop actions to build your Service.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/03b-Creating-Movie-Convert-Service.jpg" alt="mac services"/>

    Don’t forget to save your work after the building process is done.

    Another way to add more services is by using pre-made services. You can use search engine to find services scattered around the net. One of the site that you can visit to get more ready to use services is href="http://www.macosxautomation.com/services/download/index.html">Mac OS X Automation. The site also has nice tutorials on building Services.

    Now that we are more familiar with Services, we can integrate more Services to our daily Mac usage. Hopefully Services can help us become more productive.

    Do you use Services? Have you tried to build one tailored to your need? Share your experiences using the comment below. />
    /> Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/">MakeUseOf Answers!

    />

     

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    Compare Services And Reduce Your Bills With BillShrink

    Posted on 13 August 2010. Tags: , , , ,

    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/2010/08/0-billshrink-intro.png" alt="compare wireless phone services" />It happens to all of us. You sign up for a service – like cable or a cell phone – and you use it for months and months, only to find later on that you could have got a better deal. One of the easiest ways to save extra money is to cut down on your bills, but that usually means calling different carriers or researching online to find the best rates.

    Back when we first covered href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/billshrink-deal-save-money-phone-bill/">BillShrink in our directory, it was solely for comparing phone plans. Even then we knew it was a very href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-useful-comparison-sites/">useful comparison site that could href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-comparison-websites-that-will-save-you-money/">reduce bills and save you money. Well now you can save even more because BillShrink offers comparisons of not only cell phones, but credit cards, gas stations, CD rates, and even television.

    id="more-50553"> /> In this article, I am going to cover all of BillShrink’s features, showcasing the various ways you can reduce your bills and save money with the service. Even if you’re locked into a plan or don’t currently want to switch, BillShrink has something you’ll find useful. Besides, it is always a good idea to know where you stand, as well as what the competition is when negotiating rates.

    href="http://www.billshrink.com">BillShrink – A Free Way To Save Money

    BillShrink is an unbiased, independent company that allows you to compare different services and plans. It enables you to see how much you will save in real-time and provides you with links to various retailers so you can go and sign up for your new services quickly. You can also setup BillShrink to monitor plans and alert you when there are any new ways to save.

    For an excellent overview of how BillShrink works, watch this Howcast video:

    id="howcastplayer" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="359" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> name="flashVars" value="&fs=true" /> name="src" value="http://www.howcast.com/flash/howcast_player.swf?file=396648&theme=red" /> name="flashvars" value="&fs=true" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> id="howcastplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="359" src="http://www.howcast.com/flash/howcast_player.swf?file=396648&theme=red" flashvars="&fs=true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

    You can also check out BillShrink’s href="http://www.facebook.com/BillShrink">Facebook page for more information. They have a very nice href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/customize-facebook-fan-page-welcome-tab/">welcome tab, I must say.

    Wireless Service

    BillShrink has always incorporated wireless service into its features since – let’s be honest – wireless bills are where people tend to get screwed over the most. Pricing plans fluctuate so much between different plans and services, and a lot of the time you’re confused as to what you are actually paying for. It is especially tough when you consider that a lot of plans lock you into a 2 year deal.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1-billshrink-wireless.jpg" alt="compare wireless phone services" width="580" height="362" />

    On BillShrink, just select the Wireless service tab, fill out your information (current carrier, current cost), and hit Go>>. BillShrink will then ask you for your usage information, which – in most cases – you can sign into your service provider and grant BillShrink access to the statistics.

    After BillShrink has all the necessary information, you can begin viewing potential savings. You can enter your email address so the service remembers your settings, also.

    Credit Cards

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2-billshrink-credit.jpg" alt="compare bank services" width="580" height="417" />

    For credit cards its the same thing. Just select the information pertaining to your credit usage and hit Go>>. Then you will have to fill out a little more information to narrow down what you’re looking to accomplish with the service. Whether you’re looking to get a new credit card or are attempting to get your very first one, BillShrink can accommodate you.

    Savings & CDs

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/3-billshrink-savings.jpg" alt="compare bank services" width="580" height="391" />

    BillShrink can also find you the best rates on Savings and CDs. After you fill out how much you could afford to save each month, BillShrink will search through hundreds of savings accounts, finding and matching you with the ones that best fit your saving profile. It also computes the amount you will earn in interest per year, minus fees.

    Gas Stations

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4-billshrink-gas.jpg" alt="compare bank services" width="580" height="401" />

    Finding the cheapest gas stations is something everyone should be able to take advantage of immediately. Enter in your most frequent destinations (i.e. home, work) and make/model of your car and BillShrink will find and display all of the cheapest gas stations in your area using Google maps.

    Television Service

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/5-billshrink-tv.png" alt="reduce bills" width="580" height="329" />

    The television service feature on BillShrink is listed as beta, but there’s really nothing beta about it. To compare cable and satellite bills, enter in your address, current provider, and how much you currently pay to see how much you could be saving with an alternate service. BillShrink makes sure to only list the services available in your area, which I thought was pretty cool.

    Conclusion

    If you use BillShrink properly, you can potentially reduce your bills and save yourself a lot of money. It’s a pretty straight forward service and is generally very easy to use and navigate. BillShrink is definitely one of the sites I will be incorporating into my money-saving arsenal (along with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mint-budget-spending-online/">Mint).

    What do you think of BillShrink? Do you use any other online services to save money? Leave a comment below!

     

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    5 Simple Ways To Fix Low Audio Quality on Skype (or other VoIP services)

    Posted on 08 August 2010. Tags: , , , , , ,

    voip audio qualityVoIP, or voice over IP, can save you a lot of money. Services like Skype offer free calls overseas to other computers and really cheap rates to overseas phones.

    That’s all well and good, but frequently using such services results in complaints on the other end about poor VoIP audio quality. If you find yourself in this situation, don’t panic: in all likelihood this is a problem you can solve easily. You just need to tweak your home network, and your computer, to use VoIP to its fullest potential.

    Again, don’t panic; it’s easier than it sounds. Take a deep breath and we’ll go over a few things you can try.

    Change Your P2P Settings

    Most ISPs provide a much better rate for downloading than they do for uploading. This is important, because when you’re having a conversation on Skype or any other VoIP service you’re depending on your uploading capabilities quite a bit.

    If you like downloading things from peer to peer networks such as bittorrent, you’re also uploading quite a bit. High upload rates on such services could be hogging bandwidth you need to ensure high VoIP audio quality, causing delays in your conversation or even distortion.

    voip audio quality

    As such, anyone who makes use of both P2P and VoIP should seriously consider capping their upload rate in their file-sharing application of choice; you’ll find the option to do so in the network settings panel of most peer to peer programs.

    I myself cap uploads at 30 kb/s, and find this leaves my calls sounding great without comprising my commitment to seeding one to one. Your sweet spot might be different, depending on the speed of your Internet access, so experiment (and post your findings below!)

    Check Your Wireless Networks For Conflicts

    You might not be getting all you possibly could out of your wireless network. If not, the VoIP audio quality of conversations made using that network will certainly be compromised.

    One common problem with WiFi setups, particularly in urban areas, is using a saturated channel. WiFi uses radio waves, and too many networks on the same frequency can lead to a slow connection…and lag in VoIP conversations.

    voip audio issues

    Free web app WiFi Stumbler can show you how many networks are on a given channel, meaning it’s the perfect way to find out if this problem is affecting you. If your channel is crowded simply access your router’s configuration tools and change the setting to an empty one. Not only will your VoIP work better…your Internet will be faster in general.

    Secure Your Wireless Network

    voip audio issues

    Speaking of your wireless network: is it secured? If not your neighbours could be using up all your uploading capability without you even realizing it. It’s admirable to want to share your Internet access with the community, but if you want to make high-quality phone calls over your internet connection it might be time to raise your shields.

    Access your router’s configuration tools and enable WPA encryption. For more detailed information check out Aibek’s article How To Secure Your Wireless Network.

    Check Volume Levels

    voip audio quality

    Still having trouble? The problem might not be your Internet connection. Check your computer’s volume levels and ensure your microphone is loud enough. It may seem obvious, but you’d be amazing how many times I heard complaints about being hard to hear only to realize my mic settings were too low. It never hurts to check!

    Get A Better Microphone

    Still have problems? Your microphone might not be ideal for what you’re trying to do. Many microphones built into laptops, for example, pick up not only those sitting directly in front of the computer but also a lot of background noise as well. White noise you don’t even notice may be interfering with your call, making you hard to understand.

    The best fix for this is to get a better microphone. Headsets tend to work quite nicely at not picking up white noise, and can be easily found at any electronics store.

    Conclusion

    VoIP can be a very cheap alternative to a traditional phone line, particularly if you tend to make a lot of long-distance calls. Ensuring that you sound good can take some tweaking, but it’s typically worth it.

    Do you have any tips to share with frustrated VoIPers? Type them in the comments below and help reduce any suffering that might be out there. Also feel free to chime in if you have any questions; the MakeUseOf community is a helpful one.

    Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

     

     


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    Check Out the Craze for Online PC Repair Services

    Posted on 06 August 2010. Tags: , , , ,

    Any interruption in smooth going work on computer can be a cause of irritation for anyone. Well! Your computer is also machinery like any other. It can also witness a breakdown. The responsibility to keep it in working condition lies with you as you are its master. Just installing antivirus or PC security products will do no good. Your computer needs care and regular dose of services like PC Repair , PC optimization and PC health check up.

    There are many online resources available to help you determine what, if anything is wrong when you think there may be a problem with your computer. They work 24×7 and have call centers where technicians offer support through live chat, telephone or email and remote assistance. Your computer can lead to default working and face technical errors over time, due to routine usage or human error or your negligence. However, you can get any of such computer problems resolved; it just depends on time and budget.

    These computer repair resources offer you the best of services at the most competitive prices. Here, you have an access to experts and save your money at the same time. Whether your computer is suffering from PC errors or needs to tune performance or needs antivirus protection, online computer repair resources serve as one stop shop for you.

    With online PC repair resources, you don’t have to worry about hauling your Pc to any office store and then wait for weeks to get it back. These shops offer you instant help which ensure you to get your PC fixed within an hour. The process through which they access your computer is known as remote desktop connection. Some people may consider it unsafe but you being the computer owner can control the actions taken on your system in case you feel security violation.

    On the other hand, companies offering remote technical support render their customers a chance to get acquainted with the intricacies of their computer system. Since you can watch each and every step the technician takes to solve your problem, you can also perform the same steps in case the same error bothers you again.

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    10 Google Services That Don’t Get the Limelight

    Posted on 04 August 2010. Tags: , , ,

    google servicesIt’s an irony that Google hides behind its simple page, a gargantuan network of subsidiary web services. The one textbox page of Google Search is like a little door that leads inside to a labyrinth. The way we navigate through Google could make it our Aladdin’s Cave or our personal la-la land.

    A couple of years ago a poll asked our readers about the “other” Google Services that they used. Minus Google Search, the results brought forward the usual suspects. That’s the idea behind compiling this list on the uncommon Google services that we might not be going to or may not have the need for. Also, sometimes these services are so well integrated in the usual search results that they don’t get that attention.


    We have covered some of these places singly before, or through lists like 10 Google Services That Get No Love. The commonplace is sometimes boring, so let’s hop off the beaten path for once. After visiting these ten web places, we can always come back to the usual.

    Search Stories

    google services

    A fun site that mixes storytelling with the topic of search we do on Google. Take the help of the Search Stories Video Creator, enter seven search queries across Google’s search tools, choose a background song and upload automatically on YouTube if you wish. It could be great for offbeat messages. For more inspiration check out the videos on the site.

    Movie Showtimes

    google apps

    Usually we type in the movie name with the city or zip code to get the list. Google Search lists three films with a link to more. The movie search is also a standalone page in itself that asks for a second glance. For instance, you can check out ratings and reviews, plus the locations on Google Maps. You can sort the results by movies, theatre, day, and genre. Sure beats flipping the newspaper.

    3D Warehouse

    google apps

    If you don’t have a thing for lines and curves (of the design kind), you can give Google SketchUp’s library a miss. But it is an excellent 3D model website and a must visit if you are the creative sort. For instance, check out the ‘spaceship’ results as in the screenshot. 3D Warehouse models are also reusable in your own SketchUp projects.

    Panoramio

    google apps

    We see it in geotagged photos on Google Maps or Google Earth. You can sign in with your Google account and upload your geo-located photos (up to 2GB). Photos uploaded here are viewable in activated layers in the two Google apps.

    Like other photo-sharing websites, users can restrict access-sharing or provide it under a Creative Commons license. You can directly search by location from the site itself. The photos are displayed alongside a Google Map.

    Mark did a post last year on this very subject.   Check it out here.

    Aardvark

    google resources

    Aardvark is the social question and answer service that was acquired by Google early this year. Aardvark attempts to connect your queries to the right people with firsthand knowledge. Aardvark looks at the questions to see what they’re about and then pairs the question to people with the knowledge to give you an answer.

    Aardvark taps into the network using mediums like IM or email as well as syncs with Facebook. Aardvark claims that ‘most questions are answered within 5 minutes, and the vast majority is answered within 10 minutes’ (depending on the nature of the question).

    David did an article on Aardvark last year.

    Google Sidewiki

    google resources

    I took a pretty detailed look at Google Sidewiki last year. Sidewiki is like a sideswiping toolbar in your browser that allows you to add comments and insight on any webpage. It is very similar to adding web notes or annotating webpages you find worthy (or unworthy). Sidewiki adds extra bits to the content you already see and it may further lead you to more resources contributed by others. You can also share your comments via Twitter and Facebook.

    Google Code Search

    google resources

    Google Code Search is a very useful tool for software developers as it gives them a shortcut to speed up product development. It is also a great learning tool for newbie programmers. Google Code Search refers to publicly available code which is usually a part of Open Source software development. For instance, a basic use could be to find good coding examples for a particular language.

    Google News Archive

    We are quite familiar with Google News. While it aggregates current news from around the world, the Google News Archive Search page is an easy way to search and explore historical archives. The timeline is a useful tool as it tells you when some particular news was ‘hot’. If you are into research, clicking on the peaking blue areas on the timeline could lead you to a motherlode of information.

    The archive can of course, be accessed from the regular Google News page too with a couple of clicks.

    Google Fast Flip

    Google Fast Flip is a news reader with a difference. The Google Labs project gives you online news reading with an offline touch. You can flip through the thumbnails of your favorite Google News sources. The flip through is meant to also speed up scanning or reading when we have to go through a lot of news. More than the browser version, I feel that the mobile site of Google Fast Flip (for iPhone and Android) is better suited for what this Google service is trying to do.

    Google Sites

    google services

    With the lion’s share going to Blogger (a Google service), WordPress and other content management platforms, Google Sites is almost like the ugly duckling no one talks about. But as Ryan’s recent post shows it’s a very simple way of making your own free multipurpose webpage or a family site. As the free website building tool is free and quick to build, you can also use it to plan out any content layout.

    We have come to expect the unexpected from Google. What is that obscure Google service you think we should use, but don’t?

     

     


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