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Stop YouTube Videos at a Specified Time

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YouTube gives users the ability to easily start video playback at a specific time using the start parameter, a trick I’m sure you must be aware of. Today, Google added a new parameter that allows users to stop video playback at a specific time as well.

The end parameter is a positive integer whose value specifies the time, measured in seconds from the start of the video, when the player should stop playing the video. Note that the time is measured from the beginning of the video and not from either the value of the start player parameter or the startSeconds parameter.

The end parameter works both for videos playing on YouTube’s website as well as on an embedded player.

Example:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nc9xq-TVyHI?start=110&end=119" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Windows XP to Windows 8 Upgrade Possible

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There is some good news for users who have been thinking about moving from their current Windows operating system to the soon-to-be-released Windows 8, particularly those who are running the ancient Windows XP OS: yes, there is an upgrade path available for you guys. Three years ago, when Windows 7 was released Microsoft didn’t have an upgrade option for Windows XP, which was pretty odd since Windows XP was the most used operating system then. Although XP no longer holds the title it still holds an imposing one-forth market share, and Microsoft isn’t going to leave them behind this time.

Only those machines running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 will be able to upgrade to Windows 8, but only personal files/data only will be maintained and not personalized settings. One cannot jump from Windows XP to Windows 8 and expect to keep all their programs and settings, since there is little common between the two operating system. That fact that Windows XP users won’t have to back their personal files before Windows 8 installation is good enough.

windows8laptop

For the rest, the upgrade is expected to be smooth. According to details published on ZDnet:

  • Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 (the name of the entry-level consumer version of the operating system) from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
  • Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
  • Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Enterprise (available to volume licensees with Software Assurance contracts only) from Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
  • Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows Vista (without SP1 installed) but only personal files (meaning data only) will be maintained. If upgrading from Vista with SP1, personal data and system settings will be maintained.
  • Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows XP with Service Pack 3 or higher but only personal files/data only will be maintained.

Users won’t be able to upgrade or keep their Windows settings, files or applications if doing a cross-language installation. However, users will be able to keep personal files/data during a cross-language install by using Windows 8 Setup. Cross-architecture upgrades — i.e., 32-bit to 64-bit or vice versa is not possible. These users won’t be able to keep their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications or data.

Microsoft had earlier announced an attractive Windows 8 upgrade offer, via which users who purchase Windows 7 PCs between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99.

VarieDrop: Convert, Resize Images into Multiple Outputs in One Operation

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VarieDrop is a multiple-size, multiple-format image resizer and converter from the developers of SendTo-Convert that allows you to resize and convert images into multiple dimension and formats in a single operation. Just like SendTo-Convert, VarieDrop can be added to Windows Explorer’s Send-To menu for quick and convenient operation.

VarieDrop’s program window has 4 separate drag and drop areas. Each area can be configured to perform a different image manipulation operation when an image or multiple images are dropped into the area. These include image conversion between any of the supported formats (BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF and TIFF) and image resizing. For resizing images you can specify the width and height of the output image, specify output sub-folder and for JPEG conversion you can choose the compression quality and sampling ratio.

variedrop

A fifth drag and drop area performs operation of multiple drag and drop areas together as selected by the user. When using the VarieDrop option from the Explorer send-to menu, the operation defined in the 5th area is executed.

For example, you can have area 1 generate thumbnail sized images and area 2 generate a larger JPEG image. In the drag and drop area 5, check the boxes next to area 1 and area 2 and uncheck area 3 and are 4 since they are unused. Now whenever you need to generate two versions of an image for your website, send it to VarieDrop via the explorer context menu and you are done.

Another usage scenario for VarieDrop is when you need to resize wallpapers for multiple monitor sizes.

SendTo-Convert: Convert, Resize Images via Send-to Menu

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SendTo-Convert is an image file converter that enables you to quickly convert images from Windows Explorer via the Send to menu. All you have to do is right-click on the image you want to convert and then from the Send-to menu click the SendTo-Convert option. This will pop open a small window asking you to choose the target image format. Click the appropriate button and you are done.

SendTo-Convert doesn’t automatically add the Send-to shell extension, even though I did ask the installer to do so during setup. If it fails to install the shell extension, just manually select the option from the program settings window.

sendto-convert2

Here you can decide what happens when you click the SendTo-Convert item on the Send–to menu. If you choose the Output format as “Selectable”, which is by default, the program will ask you to choose the output format every time you send an mage to SendTo-Convert for conversion. Alternatively, you can specify an output format from among BMP, PNG, GIF, JPEG and JPEG lossless. Doing so will automatically convert the image to the pre-defined format.

For JPEG conversion, you can choose the compression quality and sampling ration between 4:1 and 1:1. You can also specify a maximum file size for JPEG compression.

sendto-convert

Aside from file conversion, it is also possible to resize images. You set the maximum width or maximum height or the maximum length of the longer side and the program will resize the image accordingly while keeping the aspect ratio intact.

What’s more? SendTo-Convert supports batch file conversion. Select as many images as you want before clicking on the Send-to menu. The program supports drag-and-drop conversion too.

Offline Google Maps Now Available For Android

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A new updated Google Maps app for Android has just been released on Google Play that brings support for downloading and saving of maps for online use. Previously, it was not possible to use Google Maps without an Internet connection. Those who wanted their maps to be available offline had to download them using a computer and transfer the downloaded maps to their Android device. These maps can then be opened in alternative mapping apps like MapDroid and RMaps.

With the new Google Maps app, this isn’t necessary. Simply open the app and find the area that you wish to download. Then click the Menu/Options button on your phone and from the menu select “Make available offline”.

google-maps-offline (3) google-maps-offline (1)

A rectangular square will appear over the map marking the area that will be downloaded. Below the map, you’ll see an estimate of the size of the download so you know how much space it will take on your device. Resize the map so that everything you want fits within the square and click the “Done” button.

Once the download is completed, you can access your offline maps from under the “My Places” section in Google Maps. If you have GPS enabled on the device, the blue dot will still work without a data connection so you know where you are, and if your device has a compass you can orient yourself without 3G or WiFi connectivity.

The app supports more than 150 countries for offline line and you can save up to six large metro areas (e.g., Greater London, Paris, or New York City and surrounding area).

[via Google Lat Long Blog]

RetroShare: Anonymous, Decentralized and Encrypted File-Sharing Network

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The recent crackdown on the file sharing network MegaUpload and the subsequent voluntary closure of several cyber lockers have significantly boosted the popularity of a hitherto unknown file sharing network that might be impossible to censor.

RetroShare is a open source cross-platform, private and encrypted, decentralized communication platform that aside from sharing files can also be used to securely communicate and chat with your friends and family. For users to start sharing files, they have to generate PGP certificates and exchange it with only those users they trust. The transfer is encrypted using OpenSSL and all searches, messages and files downloaded from strangers must go through a trusted friend. However, the friends with whom you are connected directly and via which the data is passed, cannot see the files that you are downloading or forwarding.

Such a private file sharing network is known by another name – Darknet, and RetroShare might be the first true Darknet in existence.

retroshare

RetroShare is a bit difficult to get started compared to other file sharing programs that you might be familiar with like Frostwire and Bittorrent. The learning curve, I’m afraid, is quite steep but if you can get over the hill you will be rewarded with anonymity. Initially, I was skeptical about the quality of files that I would find in a private network but I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty rich resource.

The biggest problem, however, is getting enough friends to download files. There are RetroShare Key Exchange forums and chat rooms where you can exchange your PGP keys with others. You can also try to find friends on Reddit. Once you can find enough friends (RetroShare recommends at least 10), you can start downloading files.

RetroShare can also be used among friends and family to privately communicate with each other, without relying on untrustworthy third party services like Gmail and Facebook. There are chat rooms, forums and email all accessible from within the software. In future we could see voicemail, videochat and VoIP implemented with RetroShare through plugins.

It might be surprising to learn that RetroShare has been around since 2006, but it was only recently that the software and network began to see large jumps in usage. In January, downloads tripled when interest in SOPA was at its peak. It more than doubled again in February, when file sharing services were disabled or shut down entirely.

It’s impossible to say what file-sharing will look like 5 years from now, but it can be safely assumed that anonymity will play a crucial role. In the future software such as RetroShare might find precedence over public networks like Bittorrent.

[via TorrentFreak]

TyperTask: Insert Frequently Used Phrases and Launch Programs with Keyboard Shortcuts

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Do you find yourself frequently typing the same phrases over and over again when drafting a letter, chatting on Facebook or leaving comments on message boards? Try TyperTask, a simple script driven keyboard automation utility that can insert pre-defined phrases instantly into any typing application like Word, Notepad, email etc. with just a few keystrokes. You can program TyperTask to automate chat conversations, website logins, programming code blocks, HTML tags, or just about anything. Aside from inserting text, TyperTask can open URLs and programs and files using shortcuts you define.

When you start TyperTask you might mistake the program window to be that of Notepad, especially since the Window title bar shows the path of a TXT file. The program is, in fact, a functional text editor of sort and is used to edit the typertask.txt file. This is the file which stores your custom phrases and by default, TyperTask opens this file for edition.

typertask

You need to edit this file and add your custom phrases and associate them with short strings or shortcuts. A few examples are already included to help you get started. For instance, the string "mysig" inserts “Best Regards” followed by the name “Bob Smith”.

Say, you want to have the string “brb” insert “Be right back!”. Then add:

brb=Be right back!

Similarly, you can open URLs or files and programs by defining hotkey combination which can contain multiple key presses including Control, Shift and Alt.

typertask-2

TyperTask will monitor your keystrokes and as soon as it detects the pattern you define it will replace the string with the appropriate phrase. Not only TyperTask saves you countless keystrokes, it actually makes your typing faster. You can use this with chat programs and have it convert SMS talks like LOL, GTG, into proper English phrases.

TyperTask is portable, so you can carry it along with you wherever you go.

Similar Program: PhaseExpress

Enable/Disable Chrome Extensions on Specific Websites

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Google Chrome extensions can be very powerful, but they can also be a resource hog. They load into memory and wait until you use them. While some extensions like FlashBlock or NoScript work universally, there are many that are useful only on certain websites, for example, the YouTube Ratings Preview is only useful on YouTube or Amazon extensions that work only on the shopping site. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could selectively disable them until you actually need them? Thanks to Extension Automation, you can.

This Chrome extension allows you to enable your installed extensions only on specific websites and thereby cut down memory consumption by the browser.

extension-automation3

Install Extension Automation and head directly to the settings page. From the drop-down menu select the extension you wish to disable and then under Filter type the URL of the website where you want the extension to work. For all other sites, the extension will remain disabled and unloaded from memory. You can type multiple URLs using commas to separate them. You can also enter keywords. When Extension Automation find those keywords in a page, it will automatically enable the chosen extension. 

You can test whether Extension Automation is working by using the built in Task Manager (Shift+Esc) to inspect which extensions are running. Just open the webpage where the extension(s) is filtered to run and check the Task Manager, then open any other page where the extension is not meant to run and check the Task Manager again. You will notice a drop in memory usage.

If you’ve installed plenty of Chrome extensions, Extension Automation is a must have.

Dialogues Too Quiet, Action Too Loud? Use VLC Media Player to Fix it

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An issue commonly faced when watching movies at home is the wildly fluctuating audio volume. Dialogues are often soft and barely audible, while action scenes are loud enough to blow out your ear drums. This usually occurs when you play a DVD or Blu-Ray with 5.1 sound through a 2.1 stereo system, or if your home theatre system is improperly calibrated. The audio in movies is designed for surround setups having conversation in a separate channel, usually the central speaker, and sound and music in other channels. With the right gear your home movies will sound very much like in a theatre. But on a 2.1 system, the experience is far from ideal. Thankfully, it is possible to mitigate the sound issue by using a technique know as Dynamic Range Compression.

Dynamic range compression, also called DRC, is a technique that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or compressing an audio signal's dynamic range. DRC is often used in broadcasting and music studios, and also commonly included on DVD-players and music players in cars.

While dynamic range compression is best achieved with hardware compressors, it is possible to digitally alter the range in software, just like digital equalizers in media players. Dynamic range compression is available in VLC Media Player. To get to it, click on the Tools menu and then click on Preferences. On the bottom left corner of the window, choose “Show all” settings. Then go to Audio > Filters > Compressor.

vlc-DRC

Here you will find a number of parameters which are explained below along with their ideal values as suggested by some Reddit users. But you may need to play around with the settings and test it with an actual video file.

  • Threshold: This sets the point at which the dynamic range compression kicks in. Below the threshold volume the compressor on VLC media player does nothing. When the amplitude of the audio exceeds the threshold the player will reduces the volume automatically to keep the signal from getting much louder. Threshold is set in dB, where a lower threshold means a larger portion of the signal will be treated compared to a higher threshold. Set this value to near –20dB.
  • Ratio: The Ratio controls by how much the loudness and quietness of the affected range will be reduced. A ratio of 4:1 means that if input level is 4 dB over the threshold, the output signal level will be 1 dB over the threshold. If you set it to a high level such as 20:1, sounds as loud as 20 dB over the threshold will be brought down to mere 1 dB over threshold effectively bringing down all loud sounds to a comfortable level.
  • Makeup gain: Since a compressor can only reduce the volume when the incoming signal is too high, fixed amount of makeup gain is added to the output so that low sounds can be brought up to an acceptable level. Set the makeup gain at 12 dB or higher depending on how quiet the dialogues are in the movie.

Leave the Attack and Release time at the default level. Finally, play a movie and test out the new settings. You will most certainly notice an improvement in the audio levels. You might have to go back and adjust the sliders a bit. The rule of thumb is to keep threshold low, ratio high and makeup gain at a medium range.

Related: Things you didn’t know VLC media player can do

Automatically and Silently Copy Files From USB Drive to Hard Disk

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Back in 2010, I wrote about a nifty trick by which you can secretly copy files and folders from preconfigured locations on the target computer to a USB drive without the owner knowing - a trick Bradley Manning would have been proud of. Understandably, there is quite a buzz of activity in the comments following the article. Some of the commenters wanted to know if the direction of flow of data could be reversed while maintaining the same level of secrecy.

It might be possible to accomplish this using a simple file backup program that periodically checks the USB drive for new files, and if found, copies it to a directory on your hard drive. But it’s not foolproof. Today, I discovered a better solution – using a free program called USB Spy.

USB Spy is a spying program that automatically and silently copies the content of a USB Flash drive to the hard disk when it attached to the computer. The file copying begins soon after the Flash drive is inserted. No further coaxing or button click or any user interaction is required. There is also no notification of any kind when the copying operation starts and completes. The entire thing is stealthy and very sneaky.

usbspy

To make this work, you have to make sure that USB Spy is running before the thumb/pen drive is inserted, and that you have specified where you want the contents to be copied in your hard drive.

You can then hide your program which will remove the program icon from the taskbar. You can still see it running using Task Manager or any other process viewer. There is also a hotkey combination to bring up the program window but I didn’t have any luck with that one.

The contents of the USB drives are copied to the target directory and neatly organized into folders with date and size stamp. Here is the how the target directory might appear after 4 different thumb drives were connected at different times.

usbspy2

One Year Ago: 7Tokens Manager, Filler Image Generators, and VLC Player Tricks

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Storing Passwords in Plaintext: Websites’ Hall of Shame

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signinRecently, at a security breach at LinkedIn, the hashed passwords of more than six million accounts were stolen and circulated on the web. Even though no harm came to pass as the passwords were hashed and not associated with corresponding email logins, it was a serious lapse in security. The breach at Microsoft India’s online store, early this year, produced a different story. When the site was hacked in February, the hackers stumbled upon passwords of users stored in plain text. Several sites have been caught in the past storing passwords in a form that could be recovered. The Sony PlayStation site hack of last year was among one of the most notorious, and the kind that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Storing passwords in plaintext is inexcusable. Sadly, this practice is very common particularly among small websites. According to the hacker who broke into RockYou.com some years ago and stole 32 million passwords, 30% of websites store plain text passwords. The usual line of thinking is that their website is too small and obscure for anybody to hack, or that their users are unimportant and low-value. But they totally ignore the fact that users often reuse passwords. Even if a website’s user accounts have no value in the context of the information they hold, the user’s login credentials are valuable. And the hackers know it, which is precisely why they target small, obscure websites because their developers think exactly that. Small sites follow poor security practices and consequently when they get hacked and the password database stolen, the attacker gets away not just with the users’ logins on the site but logins on Facebook, GMail, Paypal and their bank accounts.

password-plaintext

password-plaintext3

While you can't control how a website stores your password, you can control what services you sign up for. Stay away from websites that stores your password in plain text. A better practice will be to use a different username-password combination for every website you sign up on. Remembering so many passwords is hard, and this is where password manager like KeepPass and LastPass comes in.

A good way to find out if a website stores your password in plaintext is to click the "forgot password" link. If the website sends you your password in an email, it means that they are storing the password itself and not the hash.

At PlainTextOffenders.com, you can browse hundreds upon hundreds of websites that exhibit a complete lack of regard for customer password security. Of course, the collection represents only a small fraction of websites that follow sloppy password security.

We’re tired of websites abusing our trust and storing our passwords in plain text, exposing us to danger. Here we put websites we believe to be practicing this to shame.

Regrettably, plaintextoffenders.com is not easy to browse. The website has a search function but it’s broken. The site itself is a simple Tumblr blog that hosts user submitted screenshots of password-reset email they received from the service with their passwords in plain sight. A better implementation of the same idea is at PasswordFail.com. They even have a Chrome extension that warn users when they visit a website that stores password in clear text. But their database is small.

If you happen to come across a service that emails you the password in clear text, take a screenshot, redact your personal information and submit it to the Plain Text Offender’s Hall of Shame. I encourage you to contribute to passwordfail.com as well. And don’t forget to notify the webmaster about their poor password security.

Photo credit: Big Stock Photo

[via Krebsonsecurity]

Vimium Adds Plenty of New Keyboard Shortcuts to Chrome

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Vimium is an extension for Google Chrome that provides around 40 new keyboard shortcuts that allows navigation around a web page from the comforts of the keyboard. Of course, keyboard or mouse is a personal choice and whether or not the user considers the keyboard a comfortable replacement for the mouse depends solely on the user. But for people who have grown accustomed to the keyboard, such as programmers and Unix/Linux users, Vimium is a big improvement for Chrome. The extension was developed in the “spirit of Vim”, the most keyboard efficient text editor in existence.

Vimium adds the following keyboard shortcuts to Google Chrome.

Navigating the current page:

?       show the help dialog for a list of all available keys
h       scroll left
j       scroll down
k       scroll up
l       scroll right
gg      scroll to top of the page
G       scroll to bottom of the page
d       scroll down half a page
u       scroll up half a page
f       open a link in the current tab
F       open a link in a new tab
r       reload
gs      view source
i       enter insert mode -- all commands will be ignored until you hit esc to exit
yy      copy the current url to the clipboard
yf      copy a link url to the clipboard
gf      cycle forward to the next frame

Using find:

/       enter find mode -- type your search query and hit enter to search or esc to cancel
n       cycle forward to the next find match
N       cycle backward to the previous find match

Navigating your history:

H       go back in history
L       go forward in history

Manipulating tabs:

J, gT      go one tab left
K, gt      go one tab right
g0         go to the first tab
g$         go to the last tab
t          create tab
x          close current tab
X          restore closed tab (i.e. unwind the 'x' command)

Additional advanced browsing commands:

]]      Follow the link labeled 'next' or '>'. Helpful for browsing paginated sites.
[[      Follow the link labeled 'previous' or '<'. Helpful for browsing paginated sites.
<a-f>   open multiple links in a new tab
gi      focus the first (or n-th) text input box on the page
gu      go up one level in the URL hierarchy
zH      scroll all the way left
zL      scroll all the way right

Vimium also supports command repetition. For example, hitting '5t' will open 5 tabs in rapid succession. ESC (or <c-[>) will clear any partial commands in the queue and will also exit insert and find modes.

vimium

Vimium provides ways to remap or unmap any of the default key bindings, as well as override Chrome’s default keyboard shortcut. For this, open Vimium’s options page and expand the "Advanced Options" section.

Enter one of the following key mapping commands per line:

  • map key command: This maps a key to a Vimium command. For example: map <c-d> scrollPageDown will map ctrl+d to scrolling the page down. Chrome's default behavior of bringing up a bookmark dialog is suppressed.
  • unmap key: This Unmaps a key and restores Chrome's default behavior. Example: unmap <c-d>
  • unmapAll: Unmaps all bindings. This is useful if you want to completely wipe Vimium's defaults and start from scratch with your own setup.

To see available Vimium commands click on the "Show Available Commands" link near the key mapping box. The command name appears to the right of the description in parenthesis.

Additional options include, the ability to exclude URLs where you do not want Vimium’s shortcuts to work, for instance, Google Reader which has it’s own keyboard shortcuts; and the ability to define previous/next page patterns in web pages.

[via Chrome Story]

Easily Change Icons of EXE files With QIcon Changer

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QIcon Changer is perhaps the easiest way to change the icons of programs and EXE files. This tiny tool allow you to patch the icon of any Windows application by overwriting the previous icon resource with the new one you chose.

Previously, icon changing was possible with resource hacking tools such as Resource Hacker. But QIcon Changer is much more convenient. All you have to drag the EXE file of the application and drop it into the application placeholder, then drag an icon (.ICO) file and drop it into the icon placeholder. Click Apply and that’s it.

qicon-changer qicon-changer2

Depending on the size of the .ICO file, you will see the new icon in Windows Explorer and on any file manager. The higher the resolution of the .ICO file the better. If you choose a low resolution icon file such 32x32, the new icon will appear only in Small Icons view mode in Explorer. In higher viewing mode such as Medium or Large Icon, the program will appear with its original icon. An icon file of 128x128 should be sufficient.

QIcon Changer works only with EXE and SCR files. Also if the target application is compressed or packed it will not be able to patch the icon because most packer will make make resource format invalid.

3 Free Exciting Sound Effects Generators

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3 Free Exciting Sound Effects Generators

Sound effects generators are software programs that lets you create old school electronic sounds and effects – plop, thud, splat and boom - to use in games, videos and other projects. While free to use sound clips are abundant on the web, if you want your project to be unique you would create your own sounds. And if you are particularly weak with keyboards (the instrument), take a look at these synthetic sound effects generators.

sfxr

sfxr is a pioneering little program created with the purpose of providing a simple means to get basic sound effects into a game for those people who work hard to get their entries done within a deadline and doesn’t have time to spend looking for suitable ways of doing this.
sfxr
By hitting just a few buttons in this application you can get some largely randomized effects. Basic usage involves hitting the randomize button or any of the other buttons on the left if you need a specific standard sound like explosion, jump, shoot etc. Listen to the generated sound and if you decide you like it, then export it to a .WAV file and you are done. And if you want to get your hands dirty, there are dozens of parameters that you can tweak manually to fine tune the sound. Sometimes even a small change produces unexpected results. Just keep trying and trying and trying.

Bfxr

bfxr
Bfxr is a remake of sfxr with many more exciting features. It can be run inside the browser or as standalone tool downloaded to your computer. Bfxr contains all the button you will find in sfxr and some new things as well:
  • 5 new waveforms : triangle, breaker, tan, whistle, and pink noise.
  • 3 new filters : compression, harmonics, and bitcrusher.
  • Ability to lock parameters during mutation/randomization.
  • Expanded pitch-jumping abilities - good for arpeggiation effects.
  • Waveform visualisation
  • Mixer where you can mix two or more sound to produce new sound effects.
  • Keeps a history of sounds and mixes generated in persistent lists.
  • Can reverse synths

LabChirp

This is another gem of an app. Using only some basic parameters such as frequency, waveform, frequency modulation, volume modulation and envelope, LabChirp can produce an infinite number of varying sound effects. You can even graphically draw the envelope of the waveform which is real handy when you want to produce effects of varying tones and magnitudes like a crescendo. LabChirp also supports up to 8 audio channels.
labchirp
There is also a randomizer for automatic sound generation. There are different presets to generate sound effects for in-game events like footsteps, jump, ouch, explosions and so on. Each click on the Randomize button produces a new sound.
Once you have produced a satisfactory sound use the File > Save As menu to export the sound as a WAV file. You won’t find the .WAV extension for selection in the Save as dialog box, but don’t worry, LabChirp actually saves the file as WAV even though it says LabChirp's own LCH format.

Custom Themes for Gmail: Add Your Own Images as Background

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Here is a heads up for those who love using themes on Gmail, particularly those HD themes with a high quality image behind the Gmail interface. It’s now possible to use a custom image as a background, thus giving your inbox a personal touch. In the showcase video (embedded below), a number of personalized themes are shown in quick succession, and I have to admit it does look dandy.

Simply click on gear icon on the right and from the menu select Themes. Custom themes are available in two options, Light and Dark. You can upload your own images from the computer, select one from your Google+ photos or simply paste any image URL. If you don't have a particular image in mind, Google provides a rich, searchable gallery of photos to choose from. Try searching for ‘hdr scenery’ or ‘bokeh wallpaper' in the Featured tab.

Custom Themes will be rolled out to all users over the next couple of days.

[via Gmail blog]

Tunlr DNS: Watch Hulu, Pandora, Netflix and Others Without VPN

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Tunlr DNS: Watch Hulu, Pandora, Netflix and Others Without VPN

Many services based on the entertainment industry, viz. the music and movies, are geographically restricted because of licensing issues. The video streaming service Hulu, movies on demand service NetFlix and Internet radio service Pandora, for example, are available only within the United States. Similarly, BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 are only for the U.K. audience. But the global Internet population couldn’t be easily kept away from such treasures. Many Internet users are getting around the geo-location block using proxy, and VPN services in particular.

A large number of VPN providers have sprung up in a short period of time to meet demands. Unfortunately, they are all paid services and for students and for those without a regular paycheck, even $5 a month is expensive. Besides, they're are already paying for Internet connectivity. Free VPN services are available but they are always subject to abuse because of which they either become slow, restrictive or shut down entirely.
hulu-south-park
Recently, a new free service called Tunlr has emerged that allows users to access services blocked outside the United States. But Tunlr does not provide VPN service. It is a DNS unblocking service that uses a combination of a DNS server and a collection of proxies in various countries to go around the geographical block. The user simply change their DNS servers to those provided by Tunlr. After doing this, they are able to bypass the block and access Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and any of the supported services.
Unlike VPN, where the content is routed through the VPN servers, with Tunlr users are able to stream directly from the blocked service with no intermediary servers in between. Besides, Tunlr is free.
Tunlr can unblock the following services:
  • US video streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, MTV, theWB, CW TV, Crackle, NBC, Fox, TV.com, PBS, Vevo, History, Lifetime TV,
  • US audio streaming services: Pandora, Last.fm, Turntable.fm, Mog.com, iHeartRadio,
  • Non-US services: BBC iPlayer (UK), Channel4 4oD (UK), iTV Player (UK), and Zattoo (Germany).

How Does Tunlr Work?

Tunlr uses two main components - a DNS server and a collection of proxies located in different countries. When your computer sends a DNS query for a blocked website, for example, hulu.com, instead Hulu’s real IP address, the Tunlr DNS server returns the IP addresses of a proxy server operated by Tunlr in the US.
When your connection is received by Tunlr’s proxy in the correct country, it is forwarded to the service provider e.g. Hulu. For Hulu, you appear to be in the correct country because it sees the IP address of the proxy server located in the US.
Once the IP address check is passed, and your connection established, Tunlr re-introduces your true IP address into the data stream so that the video content is streamed directly to your computer and not through Tunlr’s proxy server.
In order not to overwhelm their DNS servers with request, Tunlr strongly recommends that you switch to their DNS servers only when required to access the blocked services. You can do this easily using tools such as Public DNS Server Tool or DNS Changer. If you are using an alternative router firmware such as DD-WRT and Tomato, it is also possible to use Tunlr DNS for only the supported sites and use ISP’s for all other sites.
Unfortunately, many people are using their DNS servers in a permanent fashion, which forced Tunlr to introduce restrictive measures. Tunlr wrote in their blog.
Since too many users are using our DNS servers in a permanent fashion, we have to introduce some form of traffic shaping in order to make the permanent use of our DNS servers less attractive with the ultimate goal to keep Tunlr a free service. We’re going to implement artificial response delays and tighten the existing request rate-limiters on our DNS servers. This is going to slow down internet surfing a lot (!) for anyone who’s permanently using Tunlr’s DNS servers.
And from their FAQ:
We’re not aiming to provide a professional 24/7 service. Tunlr is up when it’s up, and is down when it’s down.
If you want to use Tunlr, please pay heed to their request otherwise you are going to kill an amazing free service.
[via Raymond]

Tab Stacking Comes to Firefox, Brings Better Tabs Overflow Handling

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Firefox has a peculiar way of handling tabs overflow that occurs when users open too many tabs for the tab bar to display properly. By default, Firefox pushes the extra tabs off the screen as new ones get spawned; the tab bar acting as a conveyor belt of sort. Arrows appear on both edges of the tab bar that allows the user to horizontally scroll the tab bar and access the out-of-screen tabs. Personally, I find this behavior disorienting.

It seems the accepted rule for handling tabs overflow, as followed by Opera, Chrome, Internet Explorer and the majority of browsers, is to resize them to accommodate new tabs. So I use the Noverflow add-on (now called Prevent Tab Overflow) to get this behavior in Firefox. This might not be the best way to handle tabs overflow but definitely better than the way Firefox does.

Another way to tackle tabs overflow is to use stacks, the concept introduced by Opera in version 11, where you manually drag and drop tabs over each other to create stacks. Chrome followed suit and added an experimental automatic tab stacking feature. Now tab stacking is available in Firefox through the Tab Stacking add-on.

Tab Stacking automatically stacks tabs on top of each other when the tab bar in Firefox becomes crowded. The add-on does this dynamically by stacking tabs on either far side of the active tab. The tabs goes in and out of the stack as the user changes focus from one tab to the next. There is no permanent stack of tabs. The image below will give you an idea of how this tab stacking works.

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The active tab and the three tabs around it are in an expanded state. The tabs immediately next to them are collapsed in a stack. As you can see, there are two stacks on both end of the tab bar. When you change focus to a new tab, the stack changes.

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The user can control the minimum width, which is the width of the active tabs and those immediately around it, and the width of the stacked tabs. There is another option to set the maximum width of the stacked tabs.

SNAG-0051

Tab Stacking is a proof-of-concept add-on in alpha version and may contain several bugs.

Related: 10 Best Tab Management Extensions for Chrome

Backup Profile of all Web Browsers With Hekasoft Backup & Restore

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With competition among web browser makers so fierce, you cannot afford to ignore a particular browser because if you do, you are definitely going to miss out on lots of interesting technology. Just the other day, Opera released version 12 with tons of new features, while Firefox is perpetually releasing new features one after the other. Even Internet Explorer isn’t far behind. So instead of sticking to a single browser, we are pretty much coerced into using every browser. Now if you are serious about any browser, you are likely to have customized it to your taste – custom buttons, custom toolbar arrangement, imported your bookmarks and even setup synchronization. But what happens when you have to reinstall Windows, or move to a new computer?

Hekasoft Backup & Restore is a freeware program that offers a one-click solution to browser backup and restore. The utility allows you to backup the user profile folder of all your browsers which contain all your settings, customization, bookmarks and pretty much everything that you have configured on your browser.

hekasoft

Simply run the tool, select your browser – one at a time – choose the backup option and click Start. Hekasoft Backup & Restore will create a backup file and save it to a user defined location as a .backup file. The .backup file is actually nothing more than a renamed ZIP file. It’s possible to open the .backup file using any file archiving program and the content of the file inspected.

To restore the browser’s user profile, open the same tool, select the browser and this time choose the restore function. You will be asked to locate the previously saved backup file. That being done, your user profile will be restore back to the chosen browser.

Aside from browsers, the program can backup user profiles of an interesting mix of programs that includes the FTP program FileZilla, email program Mozilla Thunderbird, calendar program Mozilla Sunbird and VoIP program Skype.

Hekasoft Backup & Restore currently supports:

  • Avant browser
  • Comodo Dragon
  • FileZilla
  • Google Chrome
  • Maxthon 3
  • Mozilla Calendar/Sunbird
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Opera
  • Pale Moon
  • Rockmelt
  • Safari
  • SeaMonkey
  • Skype
  • SRWare Iron

I have a feeling, there is more to come.

How to Download RTMP Video Streams

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RTMP is a video streaming protocol used to stream audio and video over the Internet, between a Flash player running inside the browser on the user’s PC and a web server from where the video content is streamed. RTMP is different from regular HTTP streaming used by YouTube and many other sites. Unlike HTTP, RTMP can do live streaming where people can watch videos while it is being recorded. Videos delivered over RTMP are also harder to steal or download than videos delivered over regular HTTP. Because of these advantages, RTMP is one of the most popular protocols used to deliver protected streaming for both live and on demand video. Websites that use RTMP to stream videos include Hulu and Justin.tv.

If you are unable to download RTMP streams using regular video sniffing programs such as Orbit Downloader and Stream Transport, then try this method devised by Nir Sofer (of Nirsoft.com)

Nir Sofer has written a small utility called RTMPDumpHelper that helps you to easily download RTMP video/audio streams by combing it with another open source utility and proxy server called RTMPDump toolkit. By running RTMPDumpHelper, you can simply open a Web page containing a RTMP video stream in your favorite Web browser, and while you are watching the video, it'll be automatically saved to your disk as a .flv or .mp4 file.

How to Use

  • Download RTMPDumpHelper and extract all files into a new folder.
  • Download the Windows build of RTMPDump toolkit, and extract the rtmpsuck.exe executable into the same folder you created for RTMPDumpHelper.
  • Run the RTMPDumpHelper.exe executable. This will also execute rtmpsuck.exe executable, and you'll see it as black console window.

rtmpdumphelper

  • Run your Web browser, if it's not already running. When RTMPDumpHelper detects your Web browser, you should see 'Attached To Web Browser' message in the main window of RTMPDumpHelper. If your Web browser is not detected by RTMPDumpHelper, you should press F8 and manually choose your Web browser.
  • Open a Web page containing a RTMP stream. At the moment your Web browser start playing the video/audio stream, you should see "Captured RTMP connection" message inside the main window of RTMPDumpHelper and the proxy server of RTMPDump toolkit will start downloading the stream into your disk.

rtmpdumphelper2

  • The video/audio file will be downloaded into the same folder where rtmpsuck.exe is located.

Related: Save Images and Videos From Online Flash Galleries by Monitoring HTTP Requests

iSpy Turns Your Webcam Into a Security Camera With Motion and Sound Detection

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iSpy is an open source webcam monitoring software that converts an ordinary webcam and microphone pair into an automatic surveillance system with motion and sound detection. iSpy can do pretty much any kind of surveillance such as watching home for burglars, surveying activity of office staff, monitoring pets left at home, bird watching and even scanning the skies for supernovas and UFOs. The best thing about iSpy is that it’s open source, and aside from a few advanced functions like email and SMS alerts, and remote access, iSpy is a free software.

A single instance of iSpy can monitor any number of webcams, IP cams and microphones. For instance, you can setup multiple webcams pointing at different directions to cover every corner of the room. Or you can have one webcam in each room and connect it to a central computer running iSpy. When motion or sound is detected, iSpy will alert you by sounding a beep, playing an MP3 file or by executing a program of your choice. If you are not at home you have the option to remotely monitor the webcams over the Internet through their web based management interface called iSpyConnect. You can also have iSpy send alerts to you via Email or SMS. These extra services are available with a subscription starting from around $8 a month.

ispy1

Using iSpy is very simple: first you add your webcams and microphones and then configure motion detection and alerts. iSpy lets you connect to a vast array of hardware and will walk you through the process step by step. Just click on the Add menu and choose the type of camera you want to add - Local Camera, IP camera etc.

Once you have selected a video source iSpy will show you the main configuration screen. You can get back to these settings at any time by right clicking the camera on the iSpy Surface and clicking "Edit". Here you can setup motion detection using one of the several detection type. The most commonly used detector is "Two Frames" where iSpy compares the last frame with the current frame and calculates the difference to detect movement. Other detectors include "Background Modelling" where iSpy takes a custom frame but adjusts it over time to morph it towards the current frame. This is good when you have something in your scene that is constantly moving. Using "Background Modelling" iSpy learns to ignore repetitive movement and will only record when something unusual happens.

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There is also a HSL (Hue, Saturation and Luminosity) Filtering function. This feature tells iSpy to ignore certain colour or luminosity ranges when looking for motion. These are useful in cases such as smoke detection and fire detection, or tracking objects of a specific colour.

The Alerts and Webservices tabs can do whatever you like - play an mp3 file, send you an email with a framegrab attached, send you an SMS or send you an MMS. You can also tell iSpy to execute batch files so that you can interface the alerts with home automation. For example, see movement outside and turn the lights on or, see someone on your porch and play the sound of dogs barking. You can even setup alert when the motion detector stops detecting motion. This is useful for monitoring machinery, for example.

As far as free access goes, this is pretty much it. Paid subscribers get a range of additional features such as remote web access, mobile access, remote commands to start, stop camera etc, upload videos to YouTube, and stream videos to any device.

iSpy is available in multiple languages and works on Windows XP through Windows 8.

Similar Software: Vitamin D and UGOlog

Change Default Drag and Drop Behavior in Windows Explorer

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Drag-and-drop functions in Windows are handled differently in different situations, and some people seems to have trouble predicting what will happen when they drag a file. Will a drag-and-drop result in a move or copy? Although the behavior might seem random, it’s not.

When you drag a file between two location and both locations are on the same drive, then the operation results is a move. When you drag a file between two locations and both locations are on different drives, then the operation results in a copy. The behavior is easy to understand: if the source and destination are on the same drive, you are probably rearranging files and so Windows moves the file. If the source and destination are on the different drives, Windows assumes you want to make copies of the file.

But sometimes Windows makes the wrong guess, and so it provides ways by which the user can override the default drag and drop behavior.

Method 1

The default behavior can be overridden by pressing a hotkey during the drag and drop operation.

If Shift key is held down, then the operation results in a move irrespective of the location of the source and destination. If Ctrl is held down, then the operation results is a copy and if both Ctrl and Shift are held down, then the operation creates a shortcut of the dragged files.

Method 2

There is another way to change the default behavior. Instead of using the left mouse button to drag files, use the right mouse button. When you release the button, a context menu will appear asking you to choose what happens to the dragged file. This way you don’t have to remember to press any keys.

drag-n-drop-menu

Method 3

If you want to make drag and drop always result in a particular operation, you can do so via a simple utility called Drag'n'Drop Editor. Run the executable file and choose the operation you want to associate with drag and drop. This will add the appropriate keys to the registry.

drag-n-drop-editor

This will not affect keyboard modifiers for drag-n-drop, but changes keyboard-free action. To restore the default Windows behavior, click on the “Uninstall explorer tweaks” button.

Opera 12 Released

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After nearly a year in development, the final build of Opera 12 has just been released with numerous changes focusing mostly on performance, stability and faster browsing. To improve performance, several steps were taken such as plugins are now handled as separate processes, which means even if a plugin such as Flash behaves errantly, it won’t take the whole browser down. Underused features such as Unite and Voice are removed. Opera 12 also received a significant speed boost with faster page loading, faster start up and faster HTML5 rendering, hardware acceleration and a new skinning engine similar to Google Chrome and Firefox persona.

In brief here are the new features in Opera 12.

Support for hardware acceleration has been implemented, which means you can use the computer’s graphics processor to render pages, animations and even the UI of the browser itself, faster and more smoothly. Hardware acceleration is disabled by default, however. You can enable this feature by setting opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableHardwareAcceleration to 1, then saving and restarting Opera.

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Web-GL support: Opera 12 allows users to switch to WebGL engine instead of Opera’s default Presto rendering engine. This means that pages that doesn’t play well with Opera but renders correctly in Chrome will now open without problems in Opera 12. This optional WebGL is also disabled by default and can be enabled by setting opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableWebGL to 1, then saving and restarting Opera.

opera12-webgl

Separate process for plugins: The other important change in Opera 12 is that plug-ins like Flash and QuickTime now run in separate process. As already explained, this improves browser stability.

New Themes: Opera 12 brings a new theming engine to the browser, offering a simple way to change the look and feel of the software. Traditional Opera skins are still supported.

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Webcam support: Opera 12 now supports capturing webcam images directly through the browser using HTML5. Several photo applications like Photo Booth, Polaroid and Facekat has been integrated within the browser for hilarity and awesomeness.

64-bit Opera: Opera 12 also debuts 64-bit version of the browser for Mac and Windows.

Opera 12 also added support for five new languages - Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew and Kazakh — now bringing the total number to 60 for the browser. The ability to add right-to-left reading for Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hebrew throws the door open for potentially millions of Internet users.

Unfortunately, Opera did let go two add-on platforms Widgets and Unite in favor of Extensions. Also phased out were speech recognition, text-to-speech and VoiceXML. This is disappointing for those users who have grown used to these tools.

Update Freezer: Manage Automatic Updates of the Most Annoying Software

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Let me be honest. Even though I wrote extensively about software updates monitoring utilities and how it’s convenient to have your applications automatically updated, I detest auto-updates. In fact, the first thing I do after I install any software is to turn off auto-updates. It makes me uncomfortable when programs have the free pass to download anything from the Internet without my consent.

Part of the reason why I don’t allow automatic updates is because new versions are not necessarily better. For instance, I’m still using Foxit Reader 2.3 because the newer versions are loaded with adware. I use NotePad++ 5.9.8 instead of version 6.1 because the TextFX plugins I use do not work in the latest build.

I prefer updates when they are on-demand; I install them only if I perceive the newer version is better than the one I’m using. Another reason why one may want to turn off auto-updates is when the Internet connection is very slow and expensive. Automatic updates may cause significant additional traffic.

UpdateFreezer

Update Freezer is a portable tool that lets you see and control the status of the software update settings of several popular software programs. At present, the list is not very impressive, but it does include some of the most annoying software - Windows, Adobe, Google, Java, Firefox and Skype.

When you run Update Freezer you can see which programs have auto-updates enabled or disabled. With a the click of a button you can toggle the state. Of course, these settings are accessible from the individual programs, but Update Freezer makes the process a little more convenient by presenting the update settings for several applications in a single place.

Skype Introduces Ads During Calls

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Skype for Windows has announced a new feature called Conversation Ads, which displays advertisement within the calling window during Skype-to-Skype audio call. The ads will only appear for users who do not have Skype Credit or subscriptions, which means the majority of free Skype users. Fortunately, the company says that the ads will be silent, non-expanding and will run after the connection has been established and the program has completed the regular detailed quality checks on the connection.

Apparently Microsoft is attempting to recoup some of the cost that went into acquiring Skype. Microsoft paid $8.5 billion to get Skype last year, and the acquisition is yet to produce fruit. Although advertisement seems to be the easiest way to bring in revenues, the decision is likely to anger a large number of users who are fed up with Skype’s continues downward spiral regarding quality.

skype-ads

Thankfully, the ads are unobtrusive and banner-type which adds little distraction to the conversation particularly since users don’t stare at the program window when audio calling. Things, however, could turn for worse if Microsoft-Skype decides to introduce audio ads in-between calls or if it starts showing overlay ads in video calls. That could alienate users.

Skype is attempting to present the news as an improvement saying the ads “could spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users and highlight unique and local brand experiences.”

“Ultimately, we believe this will help make Skype a more engaging and useful place to have your conversations each and every day”, the blog post of the announcement read.

In order to target ads, the system may use non-personally identifiable demographic information (e.g. location, gender and age). Skype does provide an option to opt-out of allowing Skype to use some of this non-personally identifiable information from the Privacy menu in Tools -> Options of Skype for Windows. If the user opts-out, they will still receive advertisements relevant to their location, but Skype will not use other demographic information for this purpose.

[via The Verge]

Bing Adds Interactive Presentations to Search Results Called Qwiki

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Today search engine Bing started adding interactive multimedia presentations called Qwiki to their search results page. Qwikis combine images, videos and maps complete with narration, that are embedded into Bing results and can be played directly inside the search page. Qwikis will initially appear for Wikipedia search results, but the plan is to expand the integration to other websites as well.

What are Qwikis? Qwikis are interactive presentations combining images, videos, maps and spoken narration. In other words, Qwikis are a gateway for further exploration that offer a unique, visual experience to help you quickly get information and do more. With features like snapshot, which we introduced with the recent Bing redesign, we made it easier to takeaction directly from the results page. With Qwikis and other visual elements in Bing, we’re helping people decide what they want to do by creatively exposing them to information that might otherwise take them awhile to find.

When the search result page has links to Wikipedia, you will find the Qwiki play button underneath. Not all Wikipedia results carry Qwiki though. You can expect to find Qwikis for popular search terms, places, events, famous personalities etc.

qwiki

Users can cycle through the presentation, pause the video, and click on the images. Clickable items within the presentation either launch a new search or takes the users to the source of the embedded content.

You can watch a video demonstration of Qwiki here but the best way to experience Qwiki is to try it out yourself.

JogoBox: Download, Organize and Play Thousands of Free Games

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If you love playing casual, arcade-style games, you must be familiar with sites like Kongregate and Newgrounds. And if you love these gaming portals, you will also love JogoBox. But unlike Kongregate and others, JogoBox is not a website – it’s a desktop program that gives you access to thousands of games that are typically found online and played in browsers. The difference being, with JogoBox, you can download these games to your computer, organize and play them offline whenever you want. Aside from casual games, JogoBox also offers several PC-based freeware games such as America’s Army, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Super Mario, Command and Conquer, UFO: Alien Invasion and more.

The initial download of JogoBox is 363KB, but this is only the pre-installer, which further downloads some 55MB of additional files when launched. After the installation you will be taken to the main program.

jobobox

JogoBox’s main screen appears very much like a game portal. There is a “Featured games” section at the top, which I’m sure, will be updated every once in a while. There is another “New games” and “Popular games” section underneath. At the top left there is a navigation bar that takes you to a curated list of games organized by game genre such as Adventure, Brain, Fighting, Girls, Racing, PC Games, Skills and Sports. The nomenclature is a little offbeat and out-of-way from the traditional Action/Strategy/Puzzle type of categorization you are familiar with, but they are easy to identity and even intuitive in some cases. For example, if you want Cake Mania type games out of your list, you can totally avoid the Girls section.

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You can also utilize the Search tool to quickly find games you want to play.

When you select a game JogoBox shows you a short description, a few screenshots and gameplay controls, along with system requirements. To play the game, click the Play Now button, This will start downloading the game. You can see the download size only after the game begins to download. I would have preferred to see it before downloading, but the download can be cancelled if it appears too big, for instance.

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All games are downloaded and saved within JogoBox’s installation directory, but you can change the location of the download from the application setting. As soon the game finishes downloading you are ready to play. JogoBox keeps track of all downloaded games which you can access from the “My Games” section. You can even create shortcut to the game and place it in your desktop so that you can play them without opening JogoBox first.

JogoBox is fantastic game organizer that can easily replace Windows 7’s default game manager. Besides, it works on Windows XP and Vista, apart from Windows 7.

Other Game Dowloading Tools: Tiggit and Games Downloader

Artha: Best Open Source Offline Thesaurus and Dictionary

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Artha is a cross-platform and open source thesaurus and dictionary based on WordNet that works completely off-line. Artha can define not only English word, but even proper nouns i.e. famous personalities, places, events, phrases, acronyms, slangs - to list a few. Artha also lists its various relatives like Synonyms, Antonyms, Attributes, Derivatives, Entails, Causes, Kinds, is Kind of, Member of, Members, Substance of, Substances, Parts, is Part of, Topics, Topical Terms, Region, Regional Terms, Usages, Usage Terms and Similar terms.

Artha’s many capabilities comes from the incredible WordNet database upon which Artha is based on. WordNet superficially resembles a thesaurus, in that it groups words together based on their meanings. However, there are some important distinctions. First, WordNet interlinks not just word forms but specific senses of words. As a result, words that are found in close proximity to one another in the network are semantically linked. Second, WordNet labels the semantic relations among words, whereas the groupings of words in a thesaurus does not follow any explicit pattern other than meaning similarity.

artha-animated

Related: 5 Free offline dictionaries for Windows

One of the most important feature of Artha is the quick hotkey lookup feature. When you are reading an article in the browser or a document, or composing a mail on a mail client, you can select a term in it and press the pre-set hot key combination assigned to Artha. This will pop open the program with the definitions of the selected term. Artha can also show passive notifications in balloon tips instead of the application's window popping up, so that you can continue what you were doing, uninterrupted.

Artha supports regular expressions search. When a word is vaguely known or the user is unclear of its spelling, the user can use wildcards (*), jokers (?), range, limits and other advanced search parameters. Artha can also correct misspelled queries and offer near-match suggestions.

Another distinctive feature of Artha, as already said, is Relatives. For every word you look up, Artha shows several relatives which includes:

  • Synonyms: Words that infer the same meaning
  • Antonyms: Words that expresses the opposite meaning
  • Derivatives: Terms that have the same root form and are semantically related to the given word. E.g. clear and clarity.
  • Pertainyms: Related nouns or verbs. E.g. culinary's pertainyms are cuisine, cooking, cookery.
  • Attributes: Noun for which adjectives express values. E.g. weight has attributes heavy and light.
  • Similar Terms: Terms which are not exactly synonyms but they convey a similar meaning. E.g. Similar terms to clear are permit, remove, disappear.
  • Domain Terms: Terms that are specific to a subject. E.g.. contrast, underdeveloped, overexposed, etc. are domain terms of the topic photography.
  • Causes: Terms that denote what a verb causes in doing it. E.g. kill causes to die.
  • Hypernyms: Generic terms used to designate a whole class of specific instances. E.g. water is a kind of liquid. Hence liquid is a hypernym of water.
  • Hyponyms: The opposite of hypernym. E.g. water is a hyponym of liquid.

Artha is one of the most comprehensive offline dictionary you can get hold of, and that too, free of charge.

Auto Hide Desktop Icons and Taskbar When Not in Use

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Is the clutter on your desktop ruining the aesthetic wallpaper you have on the background? Try AutoHideDesktopIcons, a free utility that lets you enjoy your wallpaper without getting rid of the desktop icons by displaying your icons only when you need them, and keeping them hidden the rest of the time.

AutoHideDesktopIcons hides all icons on the desktop and optionally the taskbar. To bring them up, you simply click on the desktop. A timer lets users set the length of time between 3 and 100 seconds for which the desktop icons stay visible before hiding them again. This is the period of inactivity. If you start interacting with the desktop icons, even if it’s nothing more than hovering above an icon, the timer stays suspended. You can also specify whether you want to use the left, middle, or right mouse button to display the desktop icons.

AutoHideDesktopIcons

To close AutoHideDesktopIcons, tick the “Disable” checkbox and close the application. AutoHideDesktopIcons is portable and works on all version of Windows.

AutoUP: Another Software Updates Monitor and Downloader

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Last week I made a detailed comparison of several software updates monitoring tool. Here is another one.

AutoUP is capable of detecting updates for 68 popular applications that includes both freeware and commercial software. Although, this isn’t a very impressive list, AutoUP’s saving factor is that it can automatically download the latest version of the supported programs as soon as it becomes available.

autoup

When you launch AutoUP, it will display any supported programs it finds on your system along with the current version number. Choose the programs you are interested in by checking the boxes next to it and click the Scan button. AutoUP will then display the latest update that is currently available for download and whether it is a regular version or a beta. At the backend, AutoUP uses Filehippo.com for checking on updates.

Choose any updates you’d like to install, click Download, and the program will grab the installer and save it to the folder of your choice. Unlike Patch My PC or Secunia, AutoUP won’t install these for you.

The program can be configured to automatically download updates when detected. There is no option for scheduled scan, but the program can be made to launch at Windows startup and commence scanning as soon as it has loaded.

UsenetStorm: Free Usenet Provider With in-Browser Downloading

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Usenet is a vast, globally distributed system of discussion and file sharing groups known as “newsgroups”. Users read and post messages called articles or news to one or more newsgroups which are then broadcast to other newsgroups interconnected via a wide variety of networks. Individual users with access to a Usenet server may then read messages from and post messages to, download files etc., using a Usenet client software called Newsreader. 

Today, the importance of Usenet is diminishing, losing out to mainstream Internet services such as email, discussion board, web access and mainly Torrents, but there is no denying the fact there are certain decisive advantages of Usenet over Torrents. Top of the list for many will be security and speed.

Usenet is anonymous. Unlike Bittorrent where you broadcast to the world every bit of data you download, Usenet downloads are completely secure and private. Nobody can snoop on what you download from or upload to a newsgroup. BitTorrent's speed depends largely on how many seeders there are distributing the files. In Usenet, the complete file is present in the Usenet server just waiting to be downloaded. On Usenet, your download speed is limited by the speed of your home connection.

However, unlike BitTorrent, Usenet is not free, which is a deal-breaker for those without a credit card.

In the past, ISPs used to operate Usenet servers for their users, but because of the large amount of data involved, and small customer base, many ISPs have discontinued Usenet access. Free Usenet providers doesn’t exist anymore, and even if they do, they probably server a small community of enthusiast well hidden from the rest of Internet.

Today, TorrentFreak introduced a new Usenet provider called UsenetStorm that’s offering free entry-level service. Furthermore, UsenetStorm reduces the complexity of Usenet downloading by providing access to binary content through a standard web-browser.

usenetstorm

UsenetStorm offers Usenet binary files download over HTTP, through a process similar to the one employed by services that offer Torrents-over-HTTP download. Using a free Usenet search engine such as NZBIndex.nl or Binsearch.info, users download the NZB file and then uploads the same to UsenetStorm. They can also supply the URL to the NZB file instead of downloading to their computer and uploading. The NZB is small –  a couple of Megabytes at most.

Once you upload the NZB file, UsenetStorm will grab the files you want from Usenet, wrap it up in a single ZIP file and store it on its own servers. When the file is ready to download, you will be taken to the download page from where you can download the ZIP file to your hard drive.

Free users are limited to 500MB per NZB file and download speeds are capped at 5mbit, which means you cannot download any file larger than 500MB. But you can download any number of files smaller than 500MB and any number of times. Usage is unlimited to everyone without registration.

UsenetStorm is a great service for anyone who wants to get a taste of Usenet but shying away because of the cost and lack of understanding and rumors of steep learning curve.

Read: Automatically Download Movie Torrents/NZB Of Preferred Quality With CouchPotato

 

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