In my humble and cautious opinion, there are two things that you should never put automated software in control of when you’re using a Windows system: your drivers and your registry. Now, there are a whole slew of solutions for you if you’d like to go down that route, but if you’re an experienced user then I’d simply not recommend it. It can lead to system instability and some major problems. I’ve experienced it firsthand and it’s not fun.

Hunting for device drivers isn’t such a task anymore, anyway. Most of your Windows drivers will never need to be touched right out of the box. Your video card is in its own sacred territory though. Video card drivers are updated more frequently than, for example, your network card’s drivers. Updating your video card drivers can show a huge performance boost across your system, as well. Keeping these drivers up to date is quite essential if you’re a gamer.

If you’re buying a new Windows PC today, your graphics card will manufactured by one of two companies: NVIDIA or AMD. Having such a limited choice really lends toward making updating the drivers a very painless experience. So painless that both websites happen to have automated resources that will (probably) allow you to make updating your video card drivers as simple as a few clicks.

Finding Your Video Card Card Model

Step one is actually figuring out what we’re looking for. Let’s start by going to your Control Panel and then to Device Manager.

From there, you’d going to want to click on the Display adapters header to expand the tree.

From here, it should be easy to see what your video card is. As you can see, I have the ATI Radeon HD 3200, ATI being owned by AMD.

Let’s just call this next step a shortcut. Right click on the name of your video card and click Update Driver Software…. It should bring up the following.

The first option, displayed there, is what you want to click to automatically search online for driver updates. If it finds updated, awesome. Go ahead and follow through to install them. If not, you’ll get the following message.

However, in respect to that note about not trusting automated software earlier, we aren’t going to listen to Windows. Windows could be wrong. So, now that we’ve figured out what kind of video card you have, let’s proceed on our quest.

NVIDIA Cards

NVIDIAers can simply click this link: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

You’ll then see the following near the bottom.

Option 2 is what you’ll want to go for here. I’d recommend using Internet Explorer while running this automated check because it tends to handle ActiveX and browser plugins a little better than most browsers (surprisingly). It may prompt you to install an ActiveX control or bring up a software installation prompt. Go through with it. It’s safe. Afterwards, you’ll either be presented with a screen telling you that you need updated drivers or that your drivers are up to date, or that the automated check failed.

If the automated check failed, I strongly recommend you go back and wade through Option 1, manually selecting your card to update.

AMD Cards

If you’re using an AMD/ATI GPU, you want to go here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

From there, you want to try to Automatically Detect and Install (to the right side). Again, be on Internet Explorer while you do this. Feel safe to install and run any prompts that come up during the process because browser plugins are required to know what card you’re using. If it is successful, you’ll be told your card is up to date or that it needs updated, otherwise it’ll tell you that the scan could not be completed.

In the event that the scan fails, go back and follow their five-step process to pinpoint your exact video card drivers. This is the safest way to go about the update.

One thing I’ll never recommend is that you go about using automated software like SlimDrivers or Driver Magician. Even in the best of faith, these programs don’t know your system as well as you do. In worse cases, these programs are filled with spyware and adware that can really damage your system.
I’d like to recommend that you not just Google updates for your drivers either. Get them directly from the manufacturer as I’ve laid out for you. It’s not smart to trust updates from that-one-official-driver-site.com, you know?

Good luck in refreshing the visuals of your system and if you encounter any issues, shoot me a comment here.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boxee-logo-300x300.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />If you are a user of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/boxee/">Boxee on your home computer, I have some good news and some bad news. I will start with the good news, after all, we all enjoy the happy stuff. They have issued a major overhaul to the service with their latest update. It changes nearly everything about the user interface. The home screen is new, the main menu is new, they added rotten tomatoes ratings, and so much more. If you want a complete rundown on everything that is changed, check out the href="http://boxee.zendesk.com/entries/20793886-release-notes-for-1-5-desktop-client">official release notes. For href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/boxee/">Boxee users, this update is awesome.

Now, while this update is great, I also mentioned bad news which is that this will be the last update for the computer based href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/boxee/">Boxee. They believe that the set-top box is the future, and they are going to abandon their desktop interface. This update is great, but as issues arise in the future, there won’t be much that can be done.

“People will continue to watch a lot of video on their computer, but it is more likely to be a laptop than a home-theater PC and probably through a browser rather than downloaded software” the developer explained.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boxee1.png?323f2c" alt="" width="563" height="247" />

They plan to host the new version on their website through January. After that, you will have to seek other mirrors to download the application.

What do you think?  Is the set-top box the way of the future and is Boxee right to abandon the desktop interface?  Or are they making a big mistake?  Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: href="http://www.techspot.com/news/46798-boxee-15-improves-user-interface-is-the-last-version-for-pc.html" rel="nofollow">TechSpot

id="similar-stuff">
class="content-header">

Similar Stuff

class="stuff-list">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-download-audio-from-bbc-iplayer-broadcasts/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/iPlayer-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="iPlayer" title="iPlayer" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">How To Download Audio From BBC’s iPlayer Broadcasts

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/boxee-beta-an-app-that-will-change-how-you-think-about-television/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/boxee-logo-150x150.png?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="boxee-logo" title="boxee-logo" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Boxee Beta – The Best Media Center App for Your TV

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-sources-watch-fifa-world-cup-2010-online/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="117" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/FIFA-World-Cup01-150x141.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="FIFA-World-Cup01" title="FIFA-World-Cup01" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">10 Sources To Watch The FIFA World Cup 2010 Online

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/featured-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-6.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox dashboard" />The latest update to the Xbox system has been released, bringing tighter integration with Kinect and voice control, a shiny new Metro look, and a slew of new media capabilities (with more promised in the coming months). Read on for a full and honest review of everything it brings to the table.

The New Dashboard

The dashboard layout has gone all Metro, and I’ll be the first admit it’s quite nice. While I’m not a fan of the style for a general computing experience, it does look beautiful on a 50″ HDTV. The previous incarnation of confusing and hidden layers has been broken down into clear sections that you can switch through effortlessly. Additional functionality is provided by apps.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/homescreen-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox dashboard" width="580" height="337" />

Kinect

Voice control is now across the board without needing to jump into a separate Kinect area. Say “Xbox” and speak whatever’s on-screen, or jump to a specific tab. I found it works well – it’s responsive and accurate. It stays in a listening state for a while, so you needn’t preface everything you say with “Xbox”.

The cross-media Bing voice search also seemed to work pretty well, pulling up a liberal torrent of content from all areas of the system – the Zune marketplace, live TV, movie contents, game tie-ins, videos – they’ve really worked on getting the Kinect stuff down and done well.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bong-christmas-searchxbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-2.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox live dashboard update" width="580" height="314" />

Gesture control is very much as it was before – clunky in my opinion – and unless you’ve got your Kinect set up in just such a way, you will find that your gestures will bounce all over the place making fine control for any kind of useful selection almost impossible. That’s obviously specific to my setup too – but I prefer voice control anyway.

Movies

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/video-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-4.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox live dashboard update" width="580" height="335" />

In the UK, the streaming movie service is supplied only by href="http://lovefilm.com">Lovefilm, but I gather it’s basically the same thing as Netflix. After downloading the app, you enter your credentials and everything seamlessly integrates – voice control, Bing search, pulling content into the main dashboard – it’s nice, and best of all it doesn’t feel like an app – it just feels like part of the complete XBox dashboard experience.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/lovefilm-player-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-5.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox live dashboard update" width="580" height="342" />

I think with a little more choice in the way of apps and integrated services, this could really become the ultimate family media environment. As it is now, it’s a premium on top of your Xbox Live Gold membership (LoveFilm starts from about £8/month), but there are more free options like Crackle coming out soon also.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/apps-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-8.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox life dashboard" width="580" height="328" />

Unfortunately, there’s no full integration with media centers – it’s just running the same old tired Media Center Extender experience as before. Rumor has it that we may see some tighter integration with a Windows 8 Media Center, but that has yet to surface in the real world – and Microsoft has gone so far as to say that fewer than 6% of it’s customers even use title="The Best PVR: Windows Media Center!" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pvr-windows-media-center/">Media Center.

Live TV

I’m afraid I’m not able to test this in the UK as the only option is Sky TV – and that’s at least £20/month. If you’re able to test this out in either the UK or US, do leave a comment and let us know how it works out for you. We’ve been promised both BBC iPlayer later this month, and 4OnDemand next year, so hopefully this is one area that will really improve with time as more services come on board.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/livetv-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-3.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox life dashboard" width="580" height="348" />

Lack of Customization

As far as I can tell, the content displayed on the various tabs is not customizable at all. I am therefore destined to see Zune crap on the videos screen, despite the fact that I have deleted the app and would never pay to rent a movie when I have LoveFilm.

What I would like is for the LoveFilm app to give me multiple views on the video tab, one for a highlight movie, maybe one that suits my favourite genre, or trending this week – instead, the app is limited to one ‘tile’, and that one single tile will display whatever the LoveFilm developers want it to.

I can’t even access the LoveFilm app from the videos tab without saying the name of the highlighted movie – instead I have to go via Apps – LoveFilm. A minor irritation perhaps, but the lack of any real tile customization is very disappointing.

Advertising? Seriously?

On every single tab, in the bottom right, is a small video advertisement that rudely starts playing if you hover your selection there.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/advertising-xbox-dashboard-update-winter-2011-6.jpg?323f2c" alt="xbox dashboard" width="580" height="388" />

Frankly, I’m kind of disgusted that this is even here is the first place. Since when is it ok to randomly insert advertising onto my console? Remember – I’m already a paying XBox Live Gold Member. The live TV feature requires a paid Sky license; the Lovefilm service is paid too; everything on the Zune marketplace needs to be purchased; when they eventually add BBC iPlayer that’ll be paid for by my TV license money – so why the hell are you showing me advertisements Micro$oft? What additional content are you providing me with that warrants advertising on every screen?

Verdict

In summary – it’s a fantastic update that really demonstrates Kinect voice control done right, even if the gesture based controls are still sketchy. For accessing media content, I don’t think we could ask for more at this point and the choices will only improve with time.

Has it made me rethink my opinion that Metro UI sucks and will be removed from Windows 8 faster than you can say “desktop gadgets”? Not in the slightest – what works for my TV is very much not going to work for my personal computing experience.

I also think including advertising was really a low blow, considering that making use of all the functionality provided would already mean upwards of £50+ ($100) per month anyway for various services. And yes, I realise the Xbox already had advertising before, but it was fairly hidden away in the multitude of menus – now it’s on every damn screen.

Have you upgraded yet? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments, if you can pull yourself away from title="3 Reasons All Gamers Need To Play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [MUO Gaming]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-reasons-gamers-play-elder-scrolls-skyrim-muo-gaming/">Skyrim for long enough.

id="similar-stuff">
class="content-header">

Similar Stuff

class="stuff-list">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zune-40-stunning-media-management-application/" rel="bookmark"> class="title">Zune 4.0 – A Stunning Media Management Application

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-games-easy-xbox-360-achievements-muo-gaming/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gaming-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="static gaming" title="static gaming" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">4 Games For Easy Xbox 360 Achievements [MUO Gaming]

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/xbox-360-dashboard-update-brings-ui-features-galore-news/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/xbox_logo-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="xbox_logo" title="xbox_logo" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Brings New UI & Features Galore [News]

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/facebook-icon.jpg?323f2c" alt="facebook-icon" />Facebook has launched a major update for its href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5mYWNlYm9vay5rYXRhbmEiXQ..">Android app which improves on photo viewing, navigation, search and speed. The new update brings the app closer to the experience the iOS version provides – definitely good news for Android users, who have had to deal with an inferior version up till now.

The new version brings three major changes – faster and better photo viewing, access to notifications from the main screen, and a sidebar which provides access to all your friends, pages, groups, etc. You can also use it to access your Facebook apps and games on the go.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/facebook-app-1.jpg?323f2c" alt="facebook-app-1" width="535" height="431" border="0" />

According to Facebook, photos and albums are now twice as fast as they used to be. The interface has also changed completely, providing a nice black background for viewing, along with easier buttons for comments and likes, and tags on top of the photos.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2011-12-08-14h20_16.png?323f2c" alt="2011-12-08 14h20_16" width="277" height="464" border="0" />

The left sidebar resembles the one from Facebook’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-ipad-finally-features-news/">iPad app, and along with easier navigation also provides easier search through all your friends, statuses, pages, etc. The notification bar, which hasn’t actually changed, was simply added to the main news feed page, which makes it easier to view notifications and chat without losing your place in the news feed. According to Facebook, those of us with timeline profiles should also see their timelines integrated into the app, but I haven’t seen mine yet.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/facebook-app-3.jpg?323f2c" alt="facebook-app-3" width="265" height="442" border="0" />

So what do you think of the update? Too little too late, or is this exactly what Android users have been waiting for?

Get Facebook 1.8 for Android 1.5+ href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5mYWNlYm9vay5rYXRhbmEiXQ..">here.

Source: href="https://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150393505147131" rel="nofollow">Facebook Blog

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_logo.jpg" alt="grooveshark music" />Grooveshark has been a personal favourite music streamer for a few years now, particularly since Spotify took half their music offline to non-subscribers and nerfed the free membership. That’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-improve-grooveshark-music-experience/">not to say that Grooveshark is perfect- far from it. The interface has been in need of an update for a while, and finally the service has a new lease of life. Gone is the single, crammed page with umpteen scroll bars and at-times laggy response – Grooveshark just evolved! So is it any good?

Looking Good

The biggest change to Grooveshark is the multiple-page layout you’re now forced into using, which is definitely for your own good. Instead of having your music always to the left of what you’re listening to, it now appears on the My Music page. Friends and other users you follow now appear on the Community page, and Searchis fairly self-explanatory.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_navigation.png" alt="grooveshark music" width="424" height="204" />

The new Explore page is somewhat exciting, as it offers something Grooveshark has never really had before – a way of discovering new bands, artists and songs you may like (but more on that later). Each of these sections is easily accessible regardless of what you’re doing thanks to the new persistent navigation bar at the top of the page. It’s tremendously fast at switching sections even on the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-lightweight-linux-distributions-give-pc-lease-life/">ageing Linux laptopI’m using for this review. The main issue with the old Grooveshark interface was the clutter and by splitting these sections up the developers have made the website a nicer place to be and sped the whole experience up a notch.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_playlist_area.png" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="202" />

The playlist area appears rather untouched, and remains tricky to scroll using the mouse pointer alone (though obviously, it’s a cinch with a scrollwheel). I particularly like the fact that the playlist now collapses and snaps to a smaller version instead of forcing a square album-art view (though to be honest with you I might just never have noticed that feature before).

Discovery & Sharing

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-free-ways-discover-music-online/">Music discovery has been properly introduced in this version of Grooveshark, and it’s a great relief to finally see it implemented. Much of my previous Grooveshark use would revolve around me already knowing exactly what I wanted to listen to before visiting the service, and the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-online-radio-stations-to-get-your-music-fix/">radio servicenever really did it for me. In essence developers have added a whole new reason to visit the website and use their service – and this is most definitely a good thing.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_explore.jpg" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="274" />

The Explore page is split into three sections – Featured, Popular and Stations. The latter two aren’t too interesting, with Popular listing the most popular tracks and artists on Grooveshark right now and Stations being a portal to the radio feature which plays randomly from a genre. The Featuredpage lists both artists and new releases that the Grooveshark staff have deemed worthy of being in the spotlight. Hovering one of these new releases displays that enticing “play” logo and clicking adds the release to your playlist without moving you around the website. This is progress, as it takes only a few minutes of clicking before you’ve got hours of new music to listen to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_explore_full.jpg" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="346" />

Once you’ve found something you like you’ve now got the option of pinning it to your pinboard, as well as the usual href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/groovylists-itunes-playlists-to-grooveshark/">add to playlist/library options you know and love. The pinboard appears on the My Musicpage and provides quick access to subscriptions, radio channels and of course anything else you fancy pinning there. Aside from this small addition, your music library won’t look much different from what you remember, and it works – so that’s a good thing.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_my_music_page.png" alt="download from grooveshark" width="580" height="278" />

Last but certainly not least there is now a faster way of sharing the music you love with friends and social networks. By clicking on a song and dragging it to the right a new menu appears with options for adding that song to your music, favourites, a playlist or a selection of social channels including Twitter and Facebook. It’s not going to change the world but it works fairly well (so does right-click).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_hover_to_share.jpg" alt="download from grooveshark" width="409" height="441" />

The Problem With Grooveshark…

I never expected a simple interface update to solve what I consider to be the main issue with the Grooveshark service: the mess. I won’t dwell on it too much but I’m referring to dud music listings, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-ultimate-guide-to-fixing-your-music-collection/">bad metadataand incomplete albums or EPs. Artists appear multiple times, with multiple spellings. Some albums have repeat tracks or are missing most of the listings and the search often suggests “helpful” phrases which lead you to aforementioned erroneous results.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_bad_metadata.png" alt="grooveshark music" width="474" height="288" />

This should be the next phase for Grooveshark – the cleanup. The service is free, granted, but Grooveshark do actually charge a fee for access to Grooveshark Anywhere (the only way to ‘shark on the go) and Grooveshark Plus (ad-free) – neither of which I would consider with the library in its current state.

Conclusion

Grooveshark’s new interface and features are very much welcomed but you’re going to have to contend with the usual mislabeled messy collection whilst using the service. It’s not a dire affair, and once you’ve started to build up a music collection it becomes less of an issue. It is very nice to finally have a proper discovery section thanks to the Explore page, and overall the interface is smoother and far less claustrophobic so well done Grooveshark. What do you think of the new Grooveshark interface and features? Does the library bother you? Anything you’d like to see added to the service in future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_logo.jpg" alt="grooveshark music" />Grooveshark has been a personal favourite music streamer for a few years now, particularly since Spotify took half their music offline to non-subscribers and nerfed the free membership. That’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-improve-grooveshark-music-experience/">not to say that Grooveshark is perfect- far from it. The interface has been in need of an update for a while, and finally the service has a new lease of life. Gone is the single, crammed page with umpteen scroll bars and at-times laggy response – Grooveshark just evolved! So is it any good?

Looking Good

The biggest change to Grooveshark is the multiple-page layout you’re now forced into using, which is definitely for your own good. Instead of having your music always to the left of what you’re listening to, it now appears on the My Music page. Friends and other users you follow now appear on the Community page, and Searchis fairly self-explanatory.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_navigation.png" alt="grooveshark music" width="424" height="204" />

The new Explore page is somewhat exciting, as it offers something Grooveshark has never really had before – a way of discovering new bands, artists and songs you may like (but more on that later). Each of these sections is easily accessible regardless of what you’re doing thanks to the new persistent navigation bar at the top of the page. It’s tremendously fast at switching sections even on the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-lightweight-linux-distributions-give-pc-lease-life/">ageing Linux laptopI’m using for this review. The main issue with the old Grooveshark interface was the clutter and by splitting these sections up the developers have made the website a nicer place to be and sped the whole experience up a notch.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_playlist_area.png" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="202" />

The playlist area appears rather untouched, and remains tricky to scroll using the mouse pointer alone (though obviously, it’s a cinch with a scrollwheel). I particularly like the fact that the playlist now collapses and snaps to a smaller version instead of forcing a square album-art view (though to be honest with you I might just never have noticed that feature before).

Discovery & Sharing

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-free-ways-discover-music-online/">Music discovery has been properly introduced in this version of Grooveshark, and it’s a great relief to finally see it implemented. Much of my previous Grooveshark use would revolve around me already knowing exactly what I wanted to listen to before visiting the service, and the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-online-radio-stations-to-get-your-music-fix/">radio servicenever really did it for me. In essence developers have added a whole new reason to visit the website and use their service – and this is most definitely a good thing.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_explore.jpg" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="274" />

The Explore page is split into three sections – Featured, Popular and Stations. The latter two aren’t too interesting, with Popular listing the most popular tracks and artists on Grooveshark right now and Stations being a portal to the radio feature which plays randomly from a genre. The Featuredpage lists both artists and new releases that the Grooveshark staff have deemed worthy of being in the spotlight. Hovering one of these new releases displays that enticing “play” logo and clicking adds the release to your playlist without moving you around the website. This is progress, as it takes only a few minutes of clicking before you’ve got hours of new music to listen to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_explore_full.jpg" alt="listen grooveshark" width="580" height="346" />

Once you’ve found something you like you’ve now got the option of pinning it to your pinboard, as well as the usual href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/groovylists-itunes-playlists-to-grooveshark/">add to playlist/library options you know and love. The pinboard appears on the My Musicpage and provides quick access to subscriptions, radio channels and of course anything else you fancy pinning there. Aside from this small addition, your music library won’t look much different from what you remember, and it works – so that’s a good thing.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_my_music_page.png" alt="download from grooveshark" width="580" height="278" />

Last but certainly not least there is now a faster way of sharing the music you love with friends and social networks. By clicking on a song and dragging it to the right a new menu appears with options for adding that song to your music, favourites, a playlist or a selection of social channels including Twitter and Facebook. It’s not going to change the world but it works fairly well (so does right-click).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_hover_to_share.jpg" alt="download from grooveshark" width="409" height="441" />

The Problem With Grooveshark…

I never expected a simple interface update to solve what I consider to be the main issue with the Grooveshark service: the mess. I won’t dwell on it too much but I’m referring to dud music listings, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-ultimate-guide-to-fixing-your-music-collection/">bad metadataand incomplete albums or EPs. Artists appear multiple times, with multiple spellings. Some albums have repeat tracks or are missing most of the listings and the search often suggests “helpful” phrases which lead you to aforementioned erroneous results.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/grooveshark_bad_metadata.png" alt="grooveshark music" width="474" height="288" />

This should be the next phase for Grooveshark – the cleanup. The service is free, granted, but Grooveshark do actually charge a fee for access to Grooveshark Anywhere (the only way to ‘shark on the go) and Grooveshark Plus (ad-free) – neither of which I would consider with the library in its current state.

Conclusion

Grooveshark’s new interface and features are very much welcomed but you’re going to have to contend with the usual mislabeled messy collection whilst using the service. It’s not a dire affair, and once you’ve started to build up a music collection it becomes less of an issue. It is very nice to finally have a proper discovery section thanks to the Explore page, and overall the interface is smoother and far less claustrophobic so well done Grooveshark. What do you think of the new Grooveshark interface and features? Does the library bother you? Anything you’d like to see added to the service in future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0_siritxt.jpg" alt="update twitter with iphone" />Did you get your fancy new href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/iphone/">iPhone 4S yet? I sure did. If you or someone you know recently got one, you’ve undoubtedly been playing around with the voice command system, otherwise known as Siri.

Siri can do some pretty incredible things, like find the highest rated Chinese restaurant near you or set your alarm for 6:45am, but do you know what Siri can’t do? She can’t post a status update to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook or send a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/">tweet for you. Imagine being able to update your social channels without having to type out your update. Well in this article, I’m going to show you how to trick Siri into updating your Facebook and Twitter statuses for you. Just be sure not to tell Siri about this, okay?

Updating Twitter & Facebook Text Updates

The easiest way to work around Siri’s refusal to update Facebook and Twitter on your behalf is to enable text updates on both of those services. Why? Because Siri can text message numbers from your contact list on your behalf. See where I’m going with this?

You see, both Facebook and Twitter can be linked to your phone, because both services give you the ability to update them via text message. And, luckily for us, enabling this feature on your phone is really simple for both services. Let’s take a look at how this process works.

Twitter

On Twitter, just text the word “Start” to 40404 (if you’re in the US – you can find other countries’ short codes href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/14226-how-to-find-your-twitter-short-code-or-long-code">here). You will receive a text back asking for your username and password.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/1_siritxt.jpg" alt="update twitter with iphone" width="300" height="450" />

If you’ve linked your Twitter account to your phone previously, you will receive a message letting you know that this is the case.

At any rate, once you complete the process, just add the short code (40404 in this example) as a new contact in your list. Feel free to name it whatever you want, but I’ve just named it “Twitter” in my list.

Facebook

The process for Facebook is nearly identical to Twitter. Just text “Hello” to 32665 (again, this is the US short code – you can find other countries’ short codes href="https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=130694300342171#What-code-do-I-use-to-activate-mobile-texts?">here) and you will receive a link to open in your mobile browser.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2_siritxt.png" alt="iphone twitter updates" width="467" height="260" />

Facebook seems to take a little while to get back to you once you text the short code, at least in my experience. If you text “Hello” and don’t get a reply within 5 minutes, try visiting href="https://www.facebook.com/mobile/">Facebook’s mobile page for more assistance. You can also visit your settings to investigate this.

After you complete the process of connecting your phone to your Facebook account, just add the short code to your contact list as “Facebook”.

Involving Siri

Once you have Facebook and Twitter listed in your contacts, you can have Siri text message them just like any of your other friends.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/3_siritxt.png" alt="update twitter with iphone" width="270" height="405" />

Just activate Siri by long-pressing the Home button on your iPhone and tell her to “Send a text to Twitter” with your tweet, or “Send a text to Facebook” with your status update. Once you confirm your message, your update/tweet will be posted, without you having to type anything.

What’s your favorite thing to do with Siri?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/logo.jpg" alt="" />The world’s most advanced mobile operating system just got better, or so they say – and I’m inclined to agree. Apple’s latest href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/ios">iOS release finally brings some much-requested features to the iDevice line-up, with even the original iPad and iPhone 3GS benefiting from the update. Whether you’ve got a new iPhone 4GS or an old iPod Touch 3G there are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wwdc-2011-apple-introduces-ios-5-200-features-beta-today-news/">over 200 improvements, additional security precautions and that silky smooth interface we’re oh-so-used to on our smartphones these days.

Here’s a quick checklist for those of you who have updated recently.

iCloud

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/icloud-mac/">you’ll have heard of iCloud, a smart new way to access your files from multiple devices. In order to use iCloud you’ll first need to sign in from your device, and you can do this under iCloud in Settings.

iCloud includes an href="about:blank">@me.com email address which you’ll need to register in order to proceed. Once you have registered your account and linked it to an Apple ID you’ll see something similar to the screenshot below, which controls what is backed up. Remember, you only have 5GB of free storage to start with – though you can buy more in the Storage & Backup menu below these settings.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/icloudios.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

With your iCloud set-up either href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/extensive-guide-upgrading-osx-lion-making-installation-disks-mac/">update Mac OS X which includes iCloud integration, or grab the href="http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/pc.html">Windows iCloud Control Panel from Apple. With this installed, ensure iCloud Backup is enabled on your device and your pictures, contacts, notes and anything else you specified will appear on your PC after each daily backup (when the phone is plugged in, locked and connected to Wi-Fi).

Twitter

This latest update brings deep Twitter integration into iOS, meaning you can Tweet from nearly anywhere on your phone. This also means that you only need to log into Twitter once and each app that requests access to your account you will only require one-time authorization.

You can find Twitter under Settings, where you can log into multiple accounts. Here is also where you control which applications have access to your credentials, so you can quickly disable anything that’s misbehaving. Once you’ve logged in you’ll still need to download the Twitter app from the App Store, grant it access to your account and you’re set to tweet.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

Oh and see that Update Contacts button? That will pull information from your contacts and try to determine whether they’re using Twitter, adding relevant information and pictures. Handy.

Notifications

Finally! iOS users have proper, non-intrusive notifications and a lovely new Notification Center to store them. No longer will you miss a tweet, email or Game Center notification as they’re all accessed by swiping from the top of the screen vertically down.

You can set up your notifications on a per-app basis in Settings then Notifications. Note there are three options for most apps – None which shows up nothing on-screen but plays a sound, Banners which displays a small reminder at the top of the screen without interrupting your Angry Birds session and Alerts which are the notifications seen in iOS 4.3 and below.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/notifications.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

I had quite a task setting up Twitter notifications, mainly because the app did not ask me for permission on first boot. If you can’t find Twitter under Notifications and would like to add it to your Notification Centre, reboot your phone and re-launch the app. You should be prompted to allow push notifications, and afterwards you can return to Notifications and add it much like your other apps.

Grab Some Apps

It comes as no surprise that Apple also produce apps for their mobile OS, and a few new ones were released in conjunction with iOS 5. Amongst them is href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/find-my-friends/id466122094?mt=8">Find My Friends, an app which allows iOS users to locate each other using on-request location detection. It might href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-boost-cell-phone-battery-life-iphone-android-smartphones/">run your battery down a bit faster than normal use but it’s both fun and useful, especially if you’re a concerned parent or some kind of stalker.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/findmyfriends.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

In one giant leap forward for mobile security, href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8">Find My iPhone is another addition that’s completely free to use. Once iCloud has been set-up, visit href="http://icloud.com/">iCloud.com and click Find My iPhone. After supplying a password Apple will attempt to locate your phone provided you haven’t turned off location services in Settings.

For those of you with multiple devices there is an app available for download to help you keep track of your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone from anywhere in the world, allowing you to wipe, lock or send messages to it should it go missing. Lastly href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8">iBooks is a handy Apple-engineered eReader and PDF wallet that’s ideal for keeping bus timetables and classic literature to hand.

Finally…

Now that you’ve updated to iOS 5 you no longer require iTunes in order to update your device. Those of you who only ever installed iTunes in order to update can now boldly remove iTunes from your Windows PC or simply forget it exists on a Mac. It’s worth mentioning that if you’re interested in syncing your device with a computer wirelessly you’ll still need it (at least for the time being anyway).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/newsstand.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

I’ve read a lot of complaints about Newsstand, and how it cannot be hidden in a folder somewhere. Unfortunately Newsstand is a folder and thus will have to be hidden on your final page of apps if you don’t intend on using it.

Conclusion

Of course there are a lot more features and improvements, amongst them incredibly fast page rendering times within mobile Safari and iMessage, a service that’s set to cause a headache for both carriers and BlackBerry, I’m sure. Last but not least you can finally take a picture with the volume up button – now that’s progress.

What are your favourite features of iOS 5? Anything else you’d recommend? Do you like the improvements? Have your say in the comments below.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/instapaper-300x300.png" alt="" />Yet again, another iOS application pushes out a game changing update to go along with the release of Apple’s latest software version, iOS 5. The changes to this version of href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper are pretty extensive, and it is clear that Instapaper takes browsing your articles on iOS very seriously. The layout of the app has completely changed on iPad. Now it uses a grid instead of a list. Also, the layout has been cleaned up on the iPhone, though not as drastically.

In addition to improving the layout, many articles now feature the author’s name, as well as the website name and date, as long as it can extract that information. They also made some improvements to the scroll bar. Tapping and holding down on the article enables quick scroll. They also added brightness controls, so depending on the lighting conditions where you are reading, you can fine tune your experience.

They also made it easier to read footnotes in any article. Simply tap the screen. For most articles, the footnote will appear as a pop up, saving you from have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen.

iOS 5 added an OS wide dictionary, and if you prefer to use it, you can set up href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper to use it instead of their own in-app dictionary.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mzl.esiijnrj.320x480-75.jpg" alt="" width="334" height="480" />

Lastly, you can now set up the app to pull in any links you like on Facebook, post to Twitter, or share on Tumblr.

For href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper diehards, this is a must-own.

Source: href="http://www.macworld.com/article/163068/2011/10/instapaper_4_sports_a_new_look_and_new_features.html#lsrc.rss_main" rel="nofollow">MacWorld

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/instapaper-huge-update-ios-devices-news/">Instapaper Gets A Huge Update On iOS Devices [News] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/New-Application-Icons-300x300.png" alt="" />When you upgraded to Snow Leopard most things probably got a whole lot better: more hard disc space, quicker performance and some other cool features. But occasionally you might stumble across something that doesn’t suit you and you want to change it back. It’s about this point that you might also realise that things don’t work quite how they used to.

One of these little annoyances is changing the application icons. Once upon a time, you used to be able to copy and paste your preferred icons straight into “Get Info” in order to change them to a new icon. But in Snow Leopard things are a little different. But don’t worry, we’ll get this fixed in no time.

Creating Or Finding New Icons

There are plenty of great tools to create .icns files, such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.img2icnsapp.com/">Img2Icns. These tools are described in more detail in class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-change-mac-icons-quickly-easily/">this post. You can also find free icons using sites like class="vt-p" href="http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/">InterFaceLift.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Download-Icons.png" alt="" />

Method 1: How To Change Application Icons (With Backup)

What we’re going to need to do is quit Finder and relaunch as the root user. This will give us the permissions to change the icon in the “Get Info” detail of the application.

Personally, I’m not too keen on plain icons, so that’s what I’ll change to demonstrate.

Add a Quit Finder Option To Finder

The best way to quit the Finder is to use Terminal to add a “Quit Finder” option to Finder. To open Terminal go to Applications > Utilities. Then type in the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 1

This will add a “Quit Finder” option to your Finder menu after you relaunch Finder.

Relaunch Finder

To relaunch Finder, you can use the Force Quit dialogue. Access this dialogue by going to the Apple menu and choosing “Force Quit” or by pressing Command-Option-Escape.

You could also relaunch Finder by using Terminal and typing the following command:

killall Finder

Quit Finder

Now in Finder you should be able to go to Finder > Quit Finder in order to exit Finder.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Quit-Finder.png" alt="" />

Run Finder As Root User

While you’re still in Terminal you can launch Finder as the root user. To do this, you’ll need to use the sudo command. Type in the following:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder

You’ll then need to give your administrator password. When Finder opens it will be running as the root user, meaning you’ll have access to the properties of many more files than a regular user. Make the icon changes as quickly as possible and then relaunch Finder.

Changing Icon Files Manually

This way to changing the icons involves getting into the package and replacing the .icns file with another .icns file. This method allows you the option of backing up the original icon by renaming it.

• Go to the application for which you wish to change the icon, then right click and choose “Show Package Contents“.
• Then go to Contents > Resources and rename the .icns file for backup. Remember what the original name was! Copy the .icns file you wish to use into this folder and rename it to the same name of the original icon in this folder.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Show-Package-Contents.png" alt="" />

These changes should show up instantly in Applications, but you will need to restart your Mac before it will show up in the Dock.

Method 2: How To Change Application Icons (Without Backup)

This is using the copy-and paste method of changing icons, which doesn’t give you a chance to backup the original icon. You can use the previous method for obtaining file permissions or the following method.

Change Application Permissions Individually

This method of changing application permissions is simple when it works, but often the permissions can be a bit of a headache. Each application file needs the permissions to be changed individually and changed back individually afterwards.

• Right-click on the application you wish to change and choose “Get Info“.
• Click into the Permissions area and click on the padlock in order to make changes. You will be asked for your administrator password.
• Change user type “Everyone” to “Read & Write” access.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Preview-Read-Write-Access.png" alt="" />

• style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Access the “Get Info” information of both the application image file you wish to use and the application you wish to change.
• style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Click on the icon in the top left corner of the image you want so that it is highlighted.
• style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Copy this file using CMD-C, then click on the icon in the top left of the destination application so that it is highlighted. Paste using CMD-V.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Application-Icon.png" alt="" />

This process can also be achieved by opening a file in Preview, then selecting the entire picture and copying, then pasting into the icon detail of “Get Info“.

Again, the dock won’t reflect changes until the computer is restarted.

Did one of the two above methods work for you?  Which one was easiest?  If you are having any problems updating your application icons, let us know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to help.

Read comments: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/#disqus_thread">Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here …

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/&title=How To Update Application Icons In Snow Leopard [Mac]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-application-icons-snow-leopard-mac/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/customize/" title="customize" rel="tag">customize, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/desktop-enhancements/" title="desktop enhancements" rel="tag">desktop enhancements, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/icons/" title="icons" rel="tag">icons, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mac-hacks/" title="mac hacks" rel="tag">mac hacks, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/snow-leopard/" title="Snow Leopard" rel="tag">Snow Leopard />

Similar articles:

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-change-mac-icons-quickly-easily/" title="How To Create & Change Mac Icons Quickly & Easily (November 19, 2009)">How To Create & Change Mac Icons Quickly & Easily (4 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/seven-tricks-to-tweak-the-dock-mac/" title="The 7 Simple & Great Tricks to Tweak Your Dock on Mac OS X (August 2, 2009)">The 7 Simple & Great Tricks to Tweak Your Dock on Mac OS X (8 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-os-modifications-deeper-mac/" title="Seven Cool OS X Modifications You Can Make With Deeper [Mac] (October 12, 2010)">Seven Cool OS X Modifications You Can Make With Deeper [Mac] (22 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-customize-your-linux-desktop-with-gnomeart-ng/" title="How To Customize Your Linux Desktop With GnomeART-NG (July 23, 2009)">How To Customize Your Linux Desktop With GnomeART-NG (13 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/customize-computer-cool-icons-windows-xp/" title="Customize Your Computer with Cool Icons in Windows XP (March 28, 2010)">Customize Your Computer with Cool Icons in Windows XP (1 comments …)

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Mail-Attachment.png" />As you may know, we have a page that’s populated with only the best Windows software. We simply call it href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software">The Best Of: Windows Software page. After some more thorough research, we’ve updated it to include an additional 12 new apps.

1. Threatfire – under Malware/Spyware Removal
2. FreeFileSync – under Backup
3. PDF Xchange viewer – under Documents
4. Nitro PDF Reader – under Documents
5. Send to Toys – under Productivity
6. Dexpot – under Productivity
7. Exact Audio Copy – under CD/DVD Tools
8. DVD Flick – under CD/DVD Tools
9. PeerBlock – under Downloads
10. Sticky Password – under Others
11. TeamViewer – under Others

We’ve also added a new category called Files/Drives and populated it with:

1. FileMenu Tools
2. FreeCommander
3. TeraCopy
4. EASEUS Partition Master (originally from Others)
5. Unlocker (originally from Others)

Go ahead, head over to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software">The Best Of: Windows Software page and check the new apps out! />
/> Hey Facebookers, make sure to join href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof" target="_blank">MakeUseOf on Facebook and get access to some exclusve stuff. Over 70,000 fans already!

/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/&title=The Best Of: Windows Software [Update]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-software-update/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/downloads/" title="downloads" rel="tag">downloads, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/software-pack/" title="software pack" rel="tag">software pack />

View full post on MakeUseOf

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/FT.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="250" height="115" />If you’re active on both href="http://facebook.com">Facebook and href="http://twitter.com">Twitter it can be a hassle updating both social networks at the same time. There are several apps that make it easy to automatically post your latest tweets to your Facebook wall. While clearly not as popular, there are also some options on how to post your Facebook status updates to your Twitter feed, whether from your Facebook page or personal profile. A third option yet is to post to both networks simultaneously using a third party application.

Some Facebook and Twitter users argue that the two should not be combined, and it’s unwise to flood your followers and friends with the same content. On the flip side, there is often a lot of content that is of interest to both your Facebook and Twitter friends, and finding a way to easily share that information across social networks can be a timesaver.

id="more-66497">

Post Twitter Updates To Facebook

If you want to get your tweets on your Facebook wall, the following three apps are a good place to start. It’s worth noting that if you’re tweets are protected, none of these apps will work.

Selective Twitter

href="http://apps.facebook.com/selectivetwitter/">Selective Twitter is an app which allows you to selectively post your tweets to your Facebook wall. To configure the app to post tweets to your Facbeook profile, enter your Twitter username, and grant it access to your Facebook profile.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTwitter.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="363" height="301" />

In addition to posting Twitter updates to your Facebook profile, you can also configure the app to update your Facebook pages with your latest tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="454" height="73" />

What sets Selective Twitter apart from other similar services is that you choose which tweets are sent to your Facebook wall by including the hashtag #fb. This is useful for people who don’t want to flood their Facebook friends with all of their tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets2.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="527" height="188" />

Twitter App

The official href="http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/">Twitter app for Facebook allows you to post all of your Twitter updates to your Facebook wall. After granting the app permission to access your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’re ready to share your tweets with your Facebook friends.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter1.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="580" height="257" />

Unlike Selective Tweets, all of your tweets will be posted, with the exception of @ replies and direct messages.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter2.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="560" height="258" />

An advantage that the Twitter App has over Selective Tweets is that it includes a direct link to your Twitter account.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TwitterApp.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="468" height="93" />

Smart Twitter

To use href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=135488932982">Smart Twitter, you must first grant the application access to both your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter1.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="580" height="281" />

You can then decide which tweets will be posted to your Facebook wall. One way in which Smart Tweets sets itself apart is it allows you to choose to include @ replies, retweets and hashtags.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter2.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter2.png" width="580" height="292" />

Like Selective Tweets, there is no direct link to your Twitter account on each of your status updates.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter3.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter3.png" width="419" height="94" />

Post Facebook Updates to Twitter

It’s not as simple if you want to update Twitter from within Facebook, but there are a couple of options available. You can easily update your Twitter account from your Facebook fan page, but to do so from your personal profile will take a little bit more effort.

Twitterfeed

In order to post your Facebook status updates to Twitter, you will need to find your status update RSS feed. To do this, go to your notifications page by clicking See All Notifications.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed1.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed1.png" width="580" height="180" />

Right click Via RSS and click Copy Link Address.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed2.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed2.png" width="580" height="373" />

You’re going to slightly alter the link – the part of the link that reads ‘notifications.php’ should be replaced to ‘status.php’ while the rest remains the same. In href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/get-your-favorite-rss-feeds-twittered-to-you/">TwitterFeed click on Create a new feed and use the altered RSS feed from Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed3.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed3.png" width="580" height="196" />

In the advanced settings, for Post Content, select ‘title only‘ and for Update Frequency, ‘Post up to 1 new update at a time,’ and make sure that ‘Post Link‘ is unchecked.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed4.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed4.png" width="580" height="205" />

Authenticate your Twitter account and all status updates will now be automatically pushed from Facebook to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed5.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed5.png" width="580" height="216" />

The tweet will also include your Facebook name which is less than ideal, but may be a small price to pay for the automated service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed6.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed6.png" width="528" height="203" />

Facebook Pages

If you run a Facebook fan page, Facebook makes it easy to share all of your Facebook updates directly on Twitter, by href="http://www.facebook.com/twitter/">linking your page to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage1.png" border="0" alt="FBPage1.png" width="566" height="238" />

You can share everything published on your Facebook page, or selectively choose from status updates, links, photos, notes and events.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage2.png" border="0" alt="FBPage2.png" width="569" height="288" />

All updates show on Twitter as being updated via Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage3.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="575" height="197" />

Post to Both Facebook and Twitter Simultaneously

If you’re equally active on Facebook and Twitter and want to update them at the same time, there are several applications to consider.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-all-your-social-status-messages-with-pingfm/">Ping.fm and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/hellotxt/">HelloTxt allow you to simultaneously update both Facebook and Twitter, amongst other social media and blogging services including Tumblr and LinkedIn. Third party apps like href="http://hootsuite.com/">HootSuite, href="http://www.seesmic.com/">Seesmic and href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">TweetDeck feature Facebook and Twitter integration, amongst other services, allowing you to update your status using just one application.

Do you think it’s a good idea to update Facebook and Twitter at the same time? Do you have any tips on how to update both social media networks simultaneously? Let us know in the comments. />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/&title=10 Ways To Update Facebook & Twitter Simultaneously&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

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/FT.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="250" height="115" />If you’re active on both href="http://facebook.com">Facebook and href="http://twitter.com">Twitter it can be a hassle updating both social networks at the same time. There are several apps that make it easy to automatically post your latest tweets to your Facebook wall. While clearly not as popular, there are also some options on how to post your Facebook status updates to your Twitter feed, whether from your Facebook page or personal profile. A third option yet is to post to both networks simultaneously using a third party application.

Some Facebook and Twitter users argue that the two should not be combined, and it’s unwise to flood your followers and friends with the same content. On the flip side, there is often a lot of content that is of interest to both your Facebook and Twitter friends, and finding a way to easily share that information across social networks can be a timesaver.

id="more-66497">

Post Twitter Updates To Facebook

If you want to get your tweets on your Facebook wall, the following three apps are a good place to start. It’s worth noting that if you’re tweets are protected, none of these apps will work.

Selective Twitter

href="http://apps.facebook.com/selectivetwitter/">Selective Twitter is an app which allows you to selectively post your tweets to your Facebook wall. To configure the app to post tweets to your Facbeook profile, enter your Twitter username, and grant it access to your Facebook profile.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTwitter.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="363" height="301" />

In addition to posting Twitter updates to your Facebook profile, you can also configure the app to update your Facebook pages with your latest tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="454" height="73" />

What sets Selective Twitter apart from other similar services is that you choose which tweets are sent to your Facebook wall by including the hashtag #fb. This is useful for people who don’t want to flood their Facebook friends with all of their tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets2.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="527" height="188" />

Twitter App

The official href="http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/">Twitter app for Facebook allows you to post all of your Twitter updates to your Facebook wall. After granting the app permission to access your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’re ready to share your tweets with your Facebook friends.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter1.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="580" height="257" />

Unlike Selective Tweets, all of your tweets will be posted, with the exception of @ replies and direct messages.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter2.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="560" height="258" />

An advantage that the Twitter App has over Selective Tweets is that it includes a direct link to your Twitter account.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TwitterApp.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="468" height="93" />

Smart Twitter

To use href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=135488932982">Smart Twitter, you must first grant the application access to both your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter1.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="580" height="281" />

You can then decide which tweets will be posted to your Facebook wall. One way in which Smart Tweets sets itself apart is it allows you to choose to include @ replies, retweets and hashtags.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter2.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter2.png" width="580" height="292" />

Like Selective Tweets, there is no direct link to your Twitter account on each of your status updates.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter3.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter3.png" width="419" height="94" />

Post Facebook Updates to Twitter

It’s not as simple if you want to update Twitter from within Facebook, but there are a couple of options available. You can easily update your Twitter account from your Facebook fan page, but to do so from your personal profile will take a little bit more effort.

Twitterfeed

In order to post your Facebook status updates to Twitter, you will need to find your status update RSS feed. To do this, go to your notifications page by clicking See All Notifications.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed1.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed1.png" width="580" height="180" />

Right click Via RSS and click Copy Link Address.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed2.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed2.png" width="580" height="373" />

You’re going to slightly alter the link – the part of the link that reads ‘notifications.php’ should be replaced to ‘status.php’ while the rest remains the same. In href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/get-your-favorite-rss-feeds-twittered-to-you/">TwitterFeed click on Create a new feed and use the altered RSS feed from Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed3.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed3.png" width="580" height="196" />

In the advanced settings, for Post Content, select ‘title only‘ and for Update Frequency, ‘Post up to 1 new update at a time,’ and make sure that ‘Post Link‘ is unchecked.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed4.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed4.png" width="580" height="205" />

Authenticate your Twitter account and all status updates will now be automatically pushed from Facebook to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed5.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed5.png" width="580" height="216" />

The tweet will also include your Facebook name which is less than ideal, but may be a small price to pay for the automated service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed6.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed6.png" width="528" height="203" />

Facebook Pages

If you run a Facebook fan page, Facebook makes it easy to share all of your Facebook updates directly on Twitter, by href="http://www.facebook.com/twitter/">linking your page to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage1.png" border="0" alt="FBPage1.png" width="566" height="238" />

You can share everything published on your Facebook page, or selectively choose from status updates, links, photos, notes and events.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage2.png" border="0" alt="FBPage2.png" width="569" height="288" />

All updates show on Twitter as being updated via Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage3.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="575" height="197" />

Post to Both Facebook and Twitter Simultaneously

If you’re equally active on Facebook and Twitter and want to update them at the same time, there are several applications to consider.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-all-your-social-status-messages-with-pingfm/">Ping.fm and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/hellotxt/">HelloTxt allow you to simultaneously update both Facebook and Twitter, amongst other social media and blogging services including Tumblr and LinkedIn. Third party apps like href="http://hootsuite.com/">HootSuite, href="http://www.seesmic.com/">Seesmic and href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">TweetDeck feature Facebook and Twitter integration, amongst other services, allowing you to update your status using just one application.

Do you think it’s a good idea to update Facebook and Twitter at the same time? Do you have any tips on how to update both social media networks simultaneously? Let us know in the comments. />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/&title=10 Ways To Update Facebook & Twitter Simultaneously&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

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/FT.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="250" height="115" />If you’re active on both href="http://facebook.com">Facebook and href="http://twitter.com">Twitter it can be a hassle updating both social networks at the same time. There are several apps that make it easy to automatically post your latest tweets to your Facebook wall. While clearly not as popular, there are also some options on how to post your Facebook status updates to your Twitter feed, whether from your Facebook page or personal profile. A third option yet is to post to both networks simultaneously using a third party application.

Some Facebook and Twitter users argue that the two should not be combined, and it’s unwise to flood your followers and friends with the same content. On the flip side, there is often a lot of content that is of interest to both your Facebook and Twitter friends, and finding a way to easily share that information across social networks can be a timesaver.

id="more-66497">

Post Twitter Updates To Facebook

If you want to get your tweets on your Facebook wall, the following three apps are a good place to start. It’s worth noting that if you’re tweets are protected, none of these apps will work.

Selective Twitter

href="http://apps.facebook.com/selectivetwitter/">Selective Twitter is an app which allows you to selectively post your tweets to your Facebook wall. To configure the app to post tweets to your Facbeook profile, enter your Twitter username, and grant it access to your Facebook profile.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTwitter.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="363" height="301" />

In addition to posting Twitter updates to your Facebook profile, you can also configure the app to update your Facebook pages with your latest tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="454" height="73" />

What sets Selective Twitter apart from other similar services is that you choose which tweets are sent to your Facebook wall by including the hashtag #fb. This is useful for people who don’t want to flood their Facebook friends with all of their tweets.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SelectiveTweets2.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="527" height="188" />

Twitter App

The official href="http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/">Twitter app for Facebook allows you to post all of your Twitter updates to your Facebook wall. After granting the app permission to access your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’re ready to share your tweets with your Facebook friends.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter1.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter simultaneously" width="580" height="257" />

Unlike Selective Tweets, all of your tweets will be posted, with the exception of @ replies and direct messages.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Twitter2.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="560" height="258" />

An advantage that the Twitter App has over Selective Tweets is that it includes a direct link to your Twitter account.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TwitterApp.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="468" height="93" />

Smart Twitter

To use href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=135488932982">Smart Twitter, you must first grant the application access to both your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter1.png" border="0" alt="update twitter and facebook at the same time" width="580" height="281" />

You can then decide which tweets will be posted to your Facebook wall. One way in which Smart Tweets sets itself apart is it allows you to choose to include @ replies, retweets and hashtags.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter2.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter2.png" width="580" height="292" />

Like Selective Tweets, there is no direct link to your Twitter account on each of your status updates.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SmartTwitter3.png" border="0" alt="SmartTwitter3.png" width="419" height="94" />

Post Facebook Updates to Twitter

It’s not as simple if you want to update Twitter from within Facebook, but there are a couple of options available. You can easily update your Twitter account from your Facebook fan page, but to do so from your personal profile will take a little bit more effort.

Twitterfeed

In order to post your Facebook status updates to Twitter, you will need to find your status update RSS feed. To do this, go to your notifications page by clicking See All Notifications.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed1.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed1.png" width="580" height="180" />

Right click Via RSS and click Copy Link Address.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed2.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed2.png" width="580" height="373" />

You’re going to slightly alter the link – the part of the link that reads ‘notifications.php’ should be replaced to ‘status.php’ while the rest remains the same. In href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/get-your-favorite-rss-feeds-twittered-to-you/">TwitterFeed click on Create a new feed and use the altered RSS feed from Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed3.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed3.png" width="580" height="196" />

In the advanced settings, for Post Content, select ‘title only‘ and for Update Frequency, ‘Post up to 1 new update at a time,’ and make sure that ‘Post Link‘ is unchecked.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed4.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed4.png" width="580" height="205" />

Authenticate your Twitter account and all status updates will now be automatically pushed from Facebook to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed5.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed5.png" width="580" height="216" />

The tweet will also include your Facebook name which is less than ideal, but may be a small price to pay for the automated service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§TwitterFeed6.png" border="0" alt="TwitterFeed6.png" width="528" height="203" />

Facebook Pages

If you run a Facebook fan page, Facebook makes it easy to share all of your Facebook updates directly on Twitter, by href="http://www.facebook.com/twitter/">linking your page to Twitter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage1.png" border="0" alt="FBPage1.png" width="566" height="238" />

You can share everything published on your Facebook page, or selectively choose from status updates, links, photos, notes and events.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage2.png" border="0" alt="FBPage2.png" width="569" height="288" />

All updates show on Twitter as being updated via Facebook.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/§FBPage3.png" border="0" alt="update facebook and twitter at the same time" width="575" height="197" />

Post to Both Facebook and Twitter Simultaneously

If you’re equally active on Facebook and Twitter and want to update them at the same time, there are several applications to consider.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/update-all-your-social-status-messages-with-pingfm/">Ping.fm and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/hellotxt/">HelloTxt allow you to simultaneously update both Facebook and Twitter, amongst other social media and blogging services including Tumblr and LinkedIn. Third party apps like href="http://hootsuite.com/">HootSuite, href="http://www.seesmic.com/">Seesmic and href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">TweetDeck feature Facebook and Twitter integration, amongst other services, allowing you to update your status using just one application.

Do you think it’s a good idea to update Facebook and Twitter at the same time? Do you have any tips on how to update both social media networks simultaneously? Let us know in the comments. />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/&title=10 Ways To Update Facebook & Twitter Simultaneously&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-update-facebook-twitter-simultaneously/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

All too often this becomes a very disappointing process as incorrect drivers are downloaded and installed and in worse case scenarios viruses are installed or the drivers are only trial versions with a limited time attached to them. Luckily there is a brand new software that can put frustrations associated with downloading drivers to rest and its called driver update software.

Everyday hundreds of thousand of computer users scour the Internet in hopes of finding downloads to update their hardware drivers. All too often this becomes a very disappointing process as incorrect drivers are downloaded and installed and in worse case scenarios viruses are installed or the drivers are only trial versions with a limited time attached to them. Luckily there is a brand new software that can put frustrations associated with downloading drivers to rest and its called driver update software.

The first step is to download and install the driver updater software on your computer. Once this is complete it is pretty much a three click process to updating all your devices. Your first click is on the scan button. The software automatically scans your entire computer and identifies the crucial driver updates you require. You then press the download button and the software automatically downloads the driver updates required that were identified in the scan. Finally, once the driver download is complete, all you need to do is press install and the software automatically installs the drivers for you.

Driver updater software is unique in that it does all the work of searching, downloading and installing updates for you. Using this software means that you will never search for another update again. It is also very efficient and in most cases entire computers drivers can be updated in minutes.

One of the reasons that you need to have a video card driver update is the simple fact that most video cards do not perform as they should, and this is because of the fact that there are so many combinations of software and hardware out there, and that one set of drivers might not work on a whole range of systems. This is what you need to know about when you are thinking about how you are going to best make the video card experience a good one for you.

When looking at the range of video cards that you have on the market, you would need to know that each of them has a different hardware architecture, and this is because of the fact that they are designed in a different ways and that they have different functions as well, and this is what you need to know about when thinking about how you are going to ensure that your graphics are in top order. For one thing, you need to be able to ensure that the Windows can optimally use these drivers, and this is based on the fact that drivers unlock different functions on the video card, and some video cards have a separate GPU or graphics processing unit, and these might need specific drivers that you would need to be able to unlock and optimise these functions.

One of the things is that there could be conflicts with the whole system, and universally, what you need to be able to do is to ensure that these functions can perform to the best of their ability. Also, speed is also an option here, and this is more for the gamers, or for those who use graphic sensitive applications on their computer. Speed is borne from two things, one from the hardware function of the graphics card and the other of course, is the software function, which a lot of which plays with the drivers that you have.

If you have drivers which are outdated or drivers which do not match the system that you have, one thing you need to do is to either get the force ware universal drivers that can work with all sub systems, that might which lock some of the more bespoke functions of board makers, or of course, the other thing that you can do is to download the newest drivers on the web. These are some of the things that you need to do to be able to get a video card driver update.

While there may be some programmes out there that can help you to do this, what you need to get is a syndicated programme that can help you to download and point you in the right direction when it comes to getting the most updated drivers. Of course there are more reasons that you might need to know about when thinking about how to get a video card update and why you need new drivers in the first place.

To download Driver Scan for free and instantly get your . Logan Albright is an authority on troubleshooting drivers issues at Driverscan.org and has helped many to optimize their computers for peak performance.