Website For You

Add background photos to Gmail inbox

2011-04-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Gmail just got more fun and colorful with new feature that allow you to create custom Gmail theme with specific background image (s). Using ‘create your own theme’ option you can upload and display any (personal) photo as background image of your Gmail inbox. You can select upto two photos, one each for the main background area and other for the footer area at the bottom. Following are easy steps to for any photo(s) to show as background image in Gmail as and when you login to check emails.

Custom background image on Gmail inbox theme

1. After Gmail login, click icon at top right and then click Mail Settings option.

2. Then click Themes tab on the Gmail Settings webpage.

3. Scroll down to bottom and click on ‘create your own theme’ option. A new pop-up window should open with theme editor.

4. Then click to select top left part and then click select button next to background image option to add background image to main area. Select Background Image pop-up box should appear.

5. You can select any photo from your Picasa web album to display as Gmail account background image.

6. Alternatively, click Upload Photos option and then select to upload any photo from your computer. Please note, uploaded photo will appear in your Picasa Web album (so, be careful and make sure you check on its privacy settings).

7. To add background image to the footer area, click on that part in the theme editor window. Then click select button to upload image. You can also chose on the uploaded image alignment in the footer area as left or right. [via Gmailblog ]

This for sure is welcome feature addition to Gmail for more personalized look and feel of your Gmail inbox. Checking email is more colorful, fun and personalized (atleast look wise) – what say?

How to Transfer Google videos to Youtube automatically

2011-04-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

Google Video service allows you to upload, share and playback long videos with generous time limit and size. However, this cool free video hosting service is closing very soon. From April 29, 2011 videos uploaded to Google Video will no longer be available for playback. So, it is important that you download your Google videos and upload them best Google Video alternative like Youtube, DailyMotion.

Google Videos shutdown: more information

Google has added download button on your uploaded videos webpage. You can simply click it to download your uploaded Google videos. Please note, this download button for saving Google videos will be disabled by May 13, 2011.

If you do not intend to download your uploaded Google videos, you do not need to do anything and let your Google videos vanish as Google Video service closes down.

Automatic Google video to Youtube transfer

Google has added new option for automatic transfer of existing video in your Google videos account to Youtube account. Just open the video status webpage and click ‘upload videos to Youtube’ button.

As pointed by Youtube blog, make sure videos being migrated confirm to Youtube terms of services. This automatic option will bring your Google videos alive on Youtube.

Manual Google Videos download & Youtube upload

Youtube is best alternative to Google Videos even though it bring limitations of 15min video duration and 2GB video file size. Besides automatic transfer, you can also explore following method of manual download of Google videos and upload to Youtube.

1. Open video status webpage and login into your Google account.

2. To download a video to your computer, click the Download Video link located on the right side of each of your videos in the Actions column.

Once a video has been downloaded, “Already Downloaded” will appear next to the Download Video link. Now you can simply upload downloaded videos to your Youtube account.

1. Goto Youtube.com and login into your account.

2. Then click Upload button and click browse to select video file that you want to upload.

3. As the video file uploads, you can add information about video being uploaded including: Title, Description, Tags, and Category.

4. Click Save changes button and your uploaded video should be available for playback and sharing in quick time.

Besides Youtube, you can also explore Dailymotion.com to upload and share your downloaded Google Videos collection.

Change Windows 7 look to Windows 8

2011-04-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

Windows7 has amazed users with glitzy looks and user interface. Expectations from next version ‘Windows 8′ are high, specially with regard to user interface design. While there is still time for Microsoft to release official download links of Windows 8 (beta and stable), you can get feel of Windows 8 on your Windows 7 computer using “Windows 8 Transformation Kit”. This free program addon allows you to transform looks of Windows 7 to that of Windows 8 operating system..

Download Windows 8 Transformation Kit

CAUTION: Before you proceed to download and install Windows 8 Transformation Kit, please note: this may crash your Window 7 operating system. So, use discretion while installing and using Windows 8 Transformation Kit to mimic looks of Windows 8 on Windows 7 PC.

As seen in screenshots, this transformation pack results in different user interface (as compared to default Windows 7 user interface). It changes number of elements of Windows 7 UI including: Taskbar UserTile, login screen background and content style of dialog boxes.

Windows 8 Transformation Kit add features of Windows 8 including: Aero Lite, Windows 8 Aero Theme and Aura Beta 2. Download Windows 8 Transformation Kit from deviantart [via blogsdna] and enjoy new look of Windows 8 on Windows 7 computer.

iTunes : easily change media folder location and automatically copy all media files to new folder location

2011-04-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

iTunes application program is all about managing and accessing media files. You browse, organize and playback audio and videos files easily using iTunes program. With media files taking lot of hard drive space, you may want to relocate them to a different drive or partition folder location on your computer. For example: if your primary C: hard drive has less free space – you may move and transfer iTunes media folder (& files) to different hard drive parition for better usage of free space available on different drive partition. Fortunately, iTunes provide option to easily change media folder location and automatically copy all media files to new folder location.

Movie iTunes media folder to new folder location

1. Open iTunes program. Then goto Edit > Preferences from the top menu bar. You can also use Ctr + , shortcut to open Preferenced window.

2. In the opened window, click Advanced tab to access options we need to change iTunes media folder location.

3. Click to check “Keep iTunes media folder organized” option and click OK button at the bottom. Then open Preferences window again and click Advanced tab option (repeat steps 1 and 2 as above).

4. Now click Change button next to ‘iTunes media folder location’ option. This will open ‘change iTunes medis folder location’ dialog box.

5. Browse to folder that you want to select for iTunes media files and then click ‘Select folder’ button at bottom right part. Click OK to close Advanced preference dialog box.

6. Now goto File > Library > File Library in Tunes program. User with older version of iTunes should goto File > Library. This will open Organize Library dialog box.

7. Click to check option ‘Consolidate Files’ - this will make copy of iTunes media folder files at new selected folder location in iTunes setting. After copy, it will still leave original files in the older media files folder. Then click OK to begin consolidation of media files to new folder location.

8. After this, you may delete previous media folder (with still contain original copy of media files). Locate that folder (should be at: C:UsersusernameMusiciTunesiTunes Media), make sure you replace username with your actual usersname on Windows PC.

9. Then close iTunes application and open it again. Now iTunes will use files contained in new media folder. If you get any error, try recreating new folder using above steps. Alternatively, you can restore original media folder from recycle bin trash.

Pamela Anderson shows off her Bollywood dance moves as she settles in on Indian Big Brother

2011-04-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

She’s the only Westerner in the house, but Pamela Anderson did her best to fit in on Indian Big Brother last night.

2011-03-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tips Jitu Membasmi Anti Virus palsuSeluk-beluk Antivirus PalsuJam palsu, kalau dipakai, masih menarik dan banyak orang yang mau memakainya, tetapi kalau antivirus palsu? Hm, berdoalah agar komputer Anda jangans ampai ter-install antivirus palsu.Scammer, pencuri identitas, dan hacker semakin hari semakin canggih. Tidak hanya menciptakan malware, kini mereka juga menciptakan software yang bukannya membasmi virus, tetapi malah membawa virus. Ya, itulah antivirus palsu karena pada kenyataannya software antivirus buatan mereka tidak bekerja membasmi malware, tetapi justru menginfeksi komputer dengan malware.

Informations diverses sur des chutes d'eau du monde entire

2010-04-24T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hauteur, largeur et d'affectation des chutes

Avez-vous déjà joué à l'emplacement de la tournée cascade? Sinon, essayez de temps en temps pour y arriver. Des centaines de mètres cubes d'eau qui tombe de la fracture de la rivière crée une atmosphère, et très beau panorama. Outre vert, habituellement l'emplacement des chutes d'eau de l'air frais parce que les éclaboussures d'eau chaude contraignant.

Lorsque vous incluez une manie cascade qui veulent une variété d'informations sur la cascade, il ya une bonne idée d'ouvrir un site Web World Waterfall Database

Ce site répertorie toutes les chutes d'eau dans le monde, a enregistré la hauteur et la largeur de la cascade, et comprend également une cascade photo emplacement. Ce site est fait pour les livres gratuits ne contiennent généralement pas d'informations sur des chutes d'eau sont fidèlement et de manière cohérente.

Les informations présentées ici comprennent le nom, la taille, l'ampleur, les valeurs esthétiques, ainsi que l'emplacement de la cascade. Pour compléter sa base de données, ce site offre des possibilités pour les amateurs de cascade de partager de l'information ici.

Diverse informatie over watervallen uit de hele wereld

2010-04-24T03:21:00.001-07:00

Hoogte, breedte en Toewijzing van de watervallen

Heb je ooit spelen om de locatie van de waterval tour? Zo niet, probeer eens in de zoveel tijd om er te komen. Honderden kubieke meters water dat valt uit de breuk van de rivier creëert een sfeer, en zeer mooi panorama. Naast het groen, doorgaans de locatie van de watervallen koele lucht, omdat het hete water spatten bindend.

Wanneer u een waterval manie die willen een verscheidenheid aan informatie over de waterval, is er een goed idee om een website te openen World Waterfall Database

Deze website bevat alle watervallen in de wereld, opgenomen de hoogte en breedte van de waterval, en omvat ook een locatie foto waterval. Deze website is gemaakt voor de gratis boeken meestal geen informatie bevatten over de watervallen zijn accuraat en consistent.

De informatie die hier onder de naam, hoogte, omvang, esthetische waarden, evenals de locatie van de waterval. Ter aanvulling van haar databank, deze website biedt mogelijkheden voor liefhebbers waterval om informatie te delen hier.

Diverse informatie over watervallen uit de hele wereld

2010-04-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

Juegos Freestyle Soccer (Fútbol estilo libre)

2010-04-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Presentó una gran variedad de trucos interesantes

Arte de expresarse con el fútbol, un jugador en este proceso de la ronda de la piel con cada parte de su cuerpo. Debido a que la libertad, la regla de que usted tiene en este deporte es más suave en comparación con el partido de fútbol en general.

Sin embargo, el fútbol supuestamente Freestyle o en el idioma indonesio conocido como el fútbol freestyle, crecen y se desarrollan a partir de los jugadores de fútbol muy conocido, a saber, Pelé y Maradona.

Las similitudes con el estilo de fútbol que hacen de este deporte es practicado por muchas personas alrededor del mundo. Esto, al parecer, invitó a la atención de uno de los desarrolladores del juego, a saber: Novel Games Limited. Hacen juegos para Freestyle Soccer, con un fútbol Freestyle 1.1.0

Este juego requiere de un ratón en el control de control de patear el balón, mantener el balón en el aire, y presentó una variedad de trucos interesantes. Pero para jugar, tendrá que completar el sistema operativo de su equipo con .NET Framework 2.0 (23, 8 MB). Si ya está instalado, por favor deh disfrutar del espectáculo interesante que este juego

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows2000, WinXP, Windows2003, Windows Vista, Windows Vista x64.
Tamaño del archivo: 341 KB
Nombre del archivo: fssoccer.exe
Nombre del fabricante: Juegos Novela Limitada
Deschargar : Novelgames.com

Descarga juegos gratis de Alice in Wonderland

2010-04-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

de clave secreta para resolver

Como sabemos, dos hermanos Walter Elias Disney y Roy Disney Oliver fue la fuente del éxito, ideas creativas y la buena gestión en una de las más grandes del mundo de dibujos animados, Walt Disney.

Así que muchos cómics son liberados de la película de animación de Disney ha sido traducido a decenas de idiomas en el mundo. En este caso no es la excepción con una de las mejores obras de Walt Disney, que es Alicia en el país de las maravillas.

Una novela escrita por Charles Lutwidge de Inglaterra en 1865, habla de una chica llamada Alice, cayó en el agujero acompañada de un mundo de fantasía con la liebre. También ocurrió en el juego de Alice in Wonderland v1.0.1.5-TE.

Sin embargo, aquí tienen la tarea de explorar un nuevo mundo y encontrar pistas sobre alice libres, y determinar el destino de las Maravillas. Así que, con una clave secreta que usted tiene maravillas, también será responsable de resolver un rompecabezas intrigantes escondidos durante su viaje en la realización de este juego.

Precio: Gratuito.
Sistema operativo: XP / Vista
Capacidad de datos: 110.182 KB
Descargar: Rapidshare.com

Juego: una de las batallas clave en la Segunda Guerra Mundial Historia II

2010-04-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 Parche 1.2.4

Gendre juego con estrategia en tiempo real su nombre deriva de la pertempuan más decisivo durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial desde 1939 hasta 1945. Este juego permitirá a los jugadores el control de los ejércitos de una nación. En la secuela de este juego, simulación realista presentes en el juego se centra en la batalla de Kursk, la histórica batalla que duró 49 días. Del 5 de julio hasta el 23 de agosto 1943. Esta batalla es uno de los conflictos más importantes de la segunda guerra mundial.

Desde la primera batalla segundo hasta el último momento, los jugadores podrán estar en el lado que han elegido. Por lo tanto, los jugadores deben planificar cuidadosamente todos los conflictos y una buena coordinación en la preparación de la estrategia, tanto en tácticas o estratégicas.

Este juego tiene 20 misiones memfiturkan equipadas historia interesante, y su comandante militar que fue sacado de las cifras originales históricos, como el mayor general Walter Hoeleint y Liunternant general Ivan Chistyakov. También recibirá una armadura bastante completo. Habrá 40 tipos de armas de guerra que están disponibles, entre ellos los lanzadores de misiles, mortal, el arma de defensa antiaérea, etc

Precio: Gratuito
Especificaciones Mínimas: Windows XP, Pentium 4@3.0 GHz, 1 GB de RAM, GeForce o ATI Radeon 64 MB de RAM
Tamaño del archivo: 33,70 MB
Nombre del fabricante: Battlefront
Info: Future games.cz
Descargar: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.
Fuente: Fullfree-movies blogspot.com

Juego: La construcción de una televisión de éxito estaciones

2010-04-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

Historia de línea y Sandbox

Este juego único es una simulación para construir una estación de televisión de éxito. Su papel es como un gerente y tiene controles para el control de todos son, desde el alquiler de una televisión, y cómo el canal de televisión, para llegar a los espectadores. Este juego tiene dos modos, la primera misión basada en donde se puede seguir la historia, y el modo de recinto en el que hay que arreglar todo usted mismo.

Para construir una estación de televisión, el primer paso necesario es el personal. Usted debe tener un escritor que produce el contenido, los actores para cubrir el evento, y el secretario mantener todo el equipo de acuerdo al plan. Entonces usted tiene que crear espacio para oficinas, que se inicia por primera vez sólo una pequeña área única.

Cuando los trabajadores de reclutamiento, preste atención a sus estadísticas personales para saber cómo usarlos. Si alguien tiene un alto nivel de fiabilidad con el ego, entonces sería más adecuado como directores. Mientras que el escritor términos es muy creativo.

Especificaciones Mínimas: Windows XP / Vista, Pentium 4@2.0 GHz o equivalente, 512 MB de RAM, 128 MB de memoria de vídeo, tarjeta de sonido compatible con DirectX.
Precio: Gratuito
Género: Simulación
Nombre del fabricante: Kalypso Media
Tamaño de datos: 318 MB
Info: Mud-TV.com
Ver: Softpedia.com

Crear el diseño de su casa de ensueño

2010-03-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

Planos y dibujos con el sueño de la casa de varios tipos y estilos de

New restaurant near to mountain Fuji

Domicilio o residencia es una necesidad humana básica. En tiempos prehistóricos, los humanos vivían en cuevas. Además, en la era de nómadas, las personas construyen tiendas de campaña o casas de los no permanentes. Sólo cuando los seres humanos comenzaron a cultivar ya establecerse, comenzaron a construir viviendas permanentes, como ahora.

Como un lugar para vivir, una casa debe ofrecer seguridad y comodidad para el penghubinya. Tener un hogar cómodo sería ideal para todos. Esta casa de sus sueños no suele ser fácil de encontrar. La única manera de conseguir una casa de sus sueños es construir por sí mismos. Si usted está planeando construir sus propias casas, y requiere que el plan para añadir una idea, pruebe a mirar el Great House Design sitio web

Este sitio web proporciona planes de la casa de varios tipos. Usted acaba de elegir el estilo deseado del edificio, entró en el tamaño de la casa, número de dormitorios y baños, a continuación, pulse el botón de búsqueda para obtener los planos y dibujos que coinciden con la casa.

De grabar un video sin cámaras

2010-03-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Rarezas
.

Life on the Moon

¿Ha encontrado un dispositivo de grabación de imagen? Por supuesto que sí! Y la herramienta que se llama una cámara de vídeo. Sin embargo, para esta muy diferente. Donde usted puede grabar una imagen sin una sola cámara. Así que, ¿ya funciona?

Esta herramienta es un software llamado Studio Cam 20. Este software puede ayudar en la grabación de todas sus actividades relacionadas con la pantalla del ordenador. La cámara también es la pantalla del ordenador, y también puede hacer que el tamaño de la cámara que si se estima conveniente.

Aquí voy a explicar cómo trabajar para grabar una imagen en un equipo sin una cámara:

1. Haga clic para seleccionar los formatos de archivo de vídeo que se almacenan, SWF o AVI.
2. Para determinar el tamaño de estas cintas de vídeo de pantalla, por favor haga clic en el menú de "región", y seleccione un tamaño de pantalla que desee, región, región determinada, o pantalla completa.
Haga clic en el menú "Opciones", seleccione y configure uno de la propiedad que desea.
Usted puede hacer la compresión, aumento / disminución de sus instalaciones de vídeo, cambiando los elementos de las opciones de vídeo.
3. Si no desea grabar el sonido, seleccione el audio de "no registro", o si desea grabar sonido desde un micrófono o altavoces. Bueno, usted acaba de elegir "grabar audio desde el micrófono", como un ejemplo.
4. Puede configurar el audio en las opciones de "audio para micrófono '.
Conecte el micrófono a la computadora. Ago. . . . . . !
5. Haga clic en el botón rojo "para empezar a grabar un vídeo
6. Cuando termine de grabar el video, por favor haga clic en botón "Caja Azul" para descartar, dar el nombre del archivo de vídeo, y se almacena

Precio: Gratis
Tamaño del archivo: 1334 KB
Descarga: Cam Studio

Cómo hacer una caricatura de una foto con unos pocos clics

2010-03-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Be Funky

The house of the Italian photographer

Cuando el dibujo que alguien está utilizando aplicaciones de gráficos por ordenador, que espera crear la mejor imagen posible exactamente igual que el objeto original.

Pero, cuando alguien tiene una fotografía digital tiene 100% el mismo que el objeto original, que tratará de hacer que parezca que el trabajo de pintura con las manos. Por eso, Cartoonizer (a veces llamado vectorizar o localización) de la imagen se convierte en una tendencia en el mundo de Internet. Hacer dibujos animados a partir de fotografías o imágenes que se asemejan a mambuat fotodari papel en blanco como difícil. Sin embargo, se han utilizado.

Ahora tienen muchos sitios web que ofrecen la creación de dibujos animados de imágenes en línea y automáticamente. Uno de ellos es el sitio web BeFunky. Friendster y los usuarios de Facebook son observadores, debe haber probado la eficacia de este sitio web como una aplicación que se integra en los dos sitios web de redes sociales más arriba. Para hacer una caricatura de una foto, puede cargar las fotos en cuestión a este sitio web.

A continuación, se le presentará al panel de control para cambiar la imagen que desee. Sólo unos pocos clics, puede convertir fotografías en dibujos animados, sin tener que hacer todos los esfuerzos para el seguimiento de la aplicación de imagen vectorial.

Hacer un juego sin un lenguaje de ordenador

2010-03-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Fácil y automática
.

Architecture of national traditions

Jugar juegos es algo que es costumbre asikkan. Sobre todo si somos capaces de hacerlo. En la era de las computadoras de hoy en día, muchos fabricantes de juegos, utilizando un lenguaje de computadora, o más específicamente, se utiliza la codificación en la fabricación de un juego.

¿Desea crear su propio juego? ¿Quieres hacer un juego sin necesidad de utilizar un lenguaje de ordenador? Game Maker 7.0 software proporciona todas las respuestas a sus preguntas.

Si desea crear sus propios juegos, este programa es la primera instalación que necesita para probar. Los fabricantes de juegos, se puede instalar fácilmente que automáticamente se pueden utilizar. Puede iniciar un nuevo proyecto con este software. Que proporcionan servicios tales como el fondo, sonidos, archivos de datos, la fecha límite, el objeto y el espacio, la información y selección de juegos, etc. Todo lo que se puede configurar libremente aquí.

En particular, esta aplicación ofrece un gran control, tales como baja, gira, hecho en parte transparente y en parte se mezcla con los colores, etc. Cada característica puede demostrar que usted cree un bagaimanan trabajo. Y para tener en cuenta, que se necesita es imaginación.

Precio: Gratis
Especificaciones mínimas: Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98
Tamaño del archivo: --
Descargar: Cnet.com o Kornet

Descargar juegos gratis ganó el Juego del Año

2010-03-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

Adiciones carpeta Babilonia

Die and become the hero!

Half Life 2 es una ciencia ficción fps juego, que fue lanzado en noviembre de 2004. Juego desarrollado por Valve Corporation en una secuela de Half Life, que ganó más de 50 premios para el Juego del año de diversos círculos.

No sólo las reacciones rápidas, y una táctica inteligente para ganar este juego, pero el sentido de la suspensión, desafió, y el sentido de la responsabilidad mezclado en uno. Cada jugador tendrá un impacto sobre el entorno, tanto físico como emocional impacto entre los amigos de compañeros, o enemigos.

Personaje del juego tiene más de 40 caras distintas, pese a experimentar un sentimiento de decepción, la tristeza, alegría, y otros. Las leyes de la física se aplican a este juego, así, que van desde una pequeña piedra caer en AIS, hasta un camión de carga tonelada, obedecer todas las leyes de la masa, fricción y gravedad.

De todas ellas, para asignar el juego puede seguir creciendo, ha presentado recientemente Electrec carpeta Guerrero en Babilonia. Esperemos que con la adición de esta carpeta, la creación, estrategia y tácticas para jugar a Half Life 2 puede ser mejorada.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows 98, procesador de 1,2 GHz, 256 MB de RAM, 1,4 GB de disco duro, tarjeta de vídeo DirectX 9.0c
Tamaño del archivo: 23 MB
Nombre del archivo: dm_babylon_sanctuary.zip
Creador: Electric Warrior
Descargar : Softpedia.com

Misión de proteger al Presidente de los Estados Unidos y México

2010-03-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

Advanced Warfighter Pack # 3

Universal dream in Mexico

Este juego es una serie de la tercera instalación de juego de disparos táctico Ghost Recon, publicado por Ubisoft. Originalmente, este juego será lanzado en 2004, pero aplazó hasta marzo de 2006, con una variedad de plataformas de consola para este juego. Intervalos de tres meses más tarde, subtitulado Advanced Warfighter introdujo finalmente.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter tiene lugar después del final del episodio de Ghost Recon 2. Los jugadores volverán a estar bajo el mando del Capitán Scott Mitchell de la unidad de elite Ghost. Misión, es decir, para proteger al Presidente de los Estados Unidos y México, para proteger la tecnología de los Estados Unidos y la guerra contra las fuerzas rebeldes en México.

A fin de reducir los jugadores aburrimiento, en los modos disponibles en un solo jugador y multijugador, los paquetes de sesiones adicional en libertad. Esta actualización presenta, es decir, añadiendo algún modo de emboscada y el modo de cooperación.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows 2000, procesador de 2,0 GHz, 1024 MB de RAM, 4,5 GB de disco duro, Tarjeta de vídeo 128 MB DirectX 9.0c
Tamaño del archivo: 280.3 MB
Nombre del archivo: ghost_recon_advanced_warfighter_1.30_mp_pack_3.exe
Fabricante: Ubisoft
Descargar: Paches Ubi.com

Juego gratis descargar el Sim de 3 Patch 1.8.25

2010-03-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

Creación de la vida del mundo

Valluga, 9000 feet,

Valluga is the highest peak at the St. Anton ski area, Austria

La diversidad de opciones se considera una vida humana única por los desarrolladores del juego para poder presentar un juego de simulación que permite a los jugadores crear a crear la vida esperada del mundo en su imaginación.

Uno de los juego interesante para probar es el Sim 3. No se puede garantizar un verdadero juego libre de errores, incluyendo el juego de La Sim 3.

No hace mucho tiempo, este juego también ha lanzado el último parche para la versión 1.8.25, que incluye muchas actualizaciones incluyen mejoras de aferrarse al cambiar las actuales del hogar, el error al crear una sala, los accidentes que se producen durante la instalación, y así sucesivamente, se puede ver completar el registro de cambios en el sitio web oficial.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows XP SP2, Pentium 4.2 GHz, 1 GB de RAM, GeForce FX 5900 128 MB.
Tamaño del archivo: 38.16 MB
Nombre del archivo: sims3_1.8.25.003001_from_1.7.9.002001.zip
Nombre Fabricante: Electronic Arts Inc.
Descargar: Strategy informer o games softpedia

Descarga gratuita de juegos La segunda guerra de Corea

2010-03-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

Raging Tiger 1:16
.

Birds on Rock Face in Spitzbergen

La historia comienza en el futuro, sobre los años de condena a partir de ahora. Uno de los último bastión de Corea del Norte estaba involucrado en negocios sucios, compra y venta de uranio de materiales nucleares. Este comercio se utiliza para la preparación de la guerra, con la esperanza de la unificación coreana de las dos partes resolvieron rápidamente.

Raging Tiger presenta una opción de multijugador completo, y puede cambiar el escenario para que pueda jugar de forma continua, aunque derrotados en la campaña una y otra vez. En algunas situaciones, un mando a distancia, cargar municiones no funcionaba bien, pero en este momento el parche fue corregido. Un cambio en la revisión total de la hoja existente, lo que los jugadores pueden distinguir el fondo liso con un grupo de guerra.

Para instalar esta revisión, no necesita el parche anterior, debido a este parche es un parche acumulativo de todas las versiones anteriores.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows 98
Tamaño del archivo: 12.4 MB
Nombre del archivo: rt_upg_116.zip
Creador: Shrapnel Games
Descargar: Soft Gamepedia

Descarga gratuita de Football Manager 2010

2010-03-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Reparaciones de Crash
.

Icebergs in Ililussat

El éxito de un equipo a pesar de no trabajar duro de un gerente profesional. Los aficionados al fútbol pueden tratar de convertirse en un gestor a través de un juego de simulación en 3D. Un juego que debe tratar, ya que tiene una ventaja comparativa en el otro juego es Football Manager 2010.

Esta versión del juego a las mejoras incorporadas en la versión anterior, es decir, 2009. No había de marfil que estaba roto, por lo que hizo este juego todavía tiene un déficit que necesita ser mejorado.

Recientemente, la revisión más reciente ha Hadi 10.2.0 versión que incluye varias mejoras importantes accidentes, incluidos accidentes en la final del Mundial, el consumo de memoria durante el juego progresa, el desplome de las tácticas durante el juego progresa, y la cuestión de los choques financieros en exhibición en Barcelona.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows XP, Pentium 4 1.4 Ghz, 512 MB de RAM, NVIDIA FX 5900 128 MB, 2 GB de disco duro.
Tamaño del archivo: 173.9 MB
Nombre del archivo: fm2010_v10.2.0_pc_patch.zip
Nombre del fabricante: Sports Interactive
Download: FM 2010 Retail or FM 2010 Digital

Descarga gratuita de juego de fútbol 2010 Patch PE 1:03

2010-03-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

PES 2010 Patch 1:03

Melting water streams from iceberg

Uno de los juego de simulación de fútbol que involucra directamente a los jugadores como los atletas es Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Partido de fútbol que era realista dadas en este juego, donde los jugadores pueden utilizar directamente las estrategias en el juego y la rapidez de acción, como en el estadio de fútbol.

En la versión de 1:03 de esta revisión, los cambios en el icono de estado de conexión situados a ambos lados, el jugador o los cambios de color de la oponente son grises para el control de la conexión, el verde para buenas condiciones, de color amarillo para la condición de ser, y rojo si el estado en cuestión.

Los jugadores ahora son capaces de almacenar todas las configuraciones, excepto para "Mark Configuración" en la elaboración del plan de juego.

Especificaciones mínimas: Windows XP SP2, Pentium 42,4 GHz, 1 GB de RAM, 8 GB de disco duro, GeForce FX VIDIA n
Tamaño del archivo: 14.15 MB
Nombre del archivo: pes2010patch103.zip
Nombre Fabricante: Konami
Download : Strategi Informer, PES 2010.exe, or PES 2010.zip

Mission to protect the President of United States and Mexico

2010-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

Adding siege strategy and co-op mode (in collaboration)
.

Harbour at Menemsha, Martha's Vineyard

This game is a series of the third installation by tactical shooting game of Ghost Recon, published by Ubisoft. Originally, this game will be released in 2004, but it’s game experiencing postponement until March of 2006, by variety of console platforms for this game. Intervals of three months later, subtitled Advanced Warfighter finally introduced.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter takes place after the end of the episode Ghost Recon 2. Players will once again be under the command of Captain Scott Mitchell of Ghost elite unit. Mission, namely protected the President of United States and Mexico, protecting America's technology and war against rebel forces in Mexico.

In order to reduce boredom players, in modes available for singleplayer and multiplayer, the third additional packages released. This update outlines, namely adding some ambush mode and cooperation mode.

Accordingly, this update has added a few attack mode and cooperation mode.

Minimum Specifications: Windows 2000, Processor 2.0 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, 4.5 GB hard drive, 128 MB Video Card DirectX 9.0c
File Size: 280.3 MB
File Name: ghost_recon_advanced_warfighter_1.30_mp_pack_3.exe
Manufacturer: Ubisoft
Download : Paches Ubi.com

Download Free Games The Second Korean War

2010-02-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

Changing method of transfer obstacle that too big
.

Highway Winding Through Mountains

The story begins in the future, about five years from now. One of the last fortress of North Korea was involved in dirty business, buying and selling uranium nuclear materials. This trade is used for preparation of war, with the hope of Korean two sides unification are quickly resolved.

Raging Tiger presents a comprehensive multiplayer features, and could be change the scenario in order that you can play continuously, although defeated in campaign over and over again. In some situations, ammunition upload didn’t work well, but at this time the patch was fixed. A change in the total revision of the existing map, in orther that players can distinguish the plain background with a group of war.

To install this patch, you don’t need previous patch, cause this patch is a cumulative patch of all previous versions.

Minimum Specifications: Windows 98
File Size: 12.4 MB
File Name: rt_upg_116.zip
Creator: Shrapnel Games
Download : Soft Gamepedia

Download free games who won “Game of the Year”

2010-02-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

Additions Babylon folder
.

World map made of paper clips

Half Life 2 is a science fiction game fps, which was released in November 2004. Game developed by Valve Corporation is a sequel from Half Life, which won more than 50 awards for Game of the year by various circles.

It’s not only the fast reactions, and a clever tactic to win this game, but the sense of suspension, challenged, and sense of responsibility blended into one united game. Each player will have an impact on the surroundings, both physical and emotional impact among fellow friends, or enemies.

Game character has more than 40 distinct faces, while showing a sense of disappointment, sadness, joy, and others. The laws of physics apply in this game well, ranging from a small stone falling into ais, up to a ton cargo truck, obey the laws of mass, friction, and gravity.

By of all these, map the game can continue to grow. Recently, Electrec Warrior presented folder in Babylon map. Hopefully, by the addition of this folder, creation, strategy, and tactics to play Half Life 2 can be improved.

Minimum Specifications: Windows 98, Processor 1.2 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 1.4 GB hard drive, Video Card DirectX 9.0c
File Size: 23 MB
File Name: dm_babylon_sanctuary.zip
Creator: Electric Warrior
Download : Softpedia.com

Download free Audio Additional Application for Winamp

2010-02-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

AC3 plugin update
.

Marmolada Glacier

These applications include audio Plugin for Winamp. Versions that support for operation of this plugin is Winamp 2.x, that can play file. Ac3. AC3 Winamp Plugin uses the same plugin with decorder library, which is used in AC3Filter. AC3 technology supports up to 6 channels of sound, with 5 channels for normal speakers (Right front, Center Left Front, Right Rear and Left Rear), and one channel for LFE or subwoofer.

Some of support that you can find on WinampAC3 plugin is support to connect S / PDIF, output multichannel, LFE, and the DRC (Dynamic Range Compression). In addition, this application has features that you can maximize, such as Decode MPEG2, PES, Scream, and control the gain level degree.

Information about bitstream, such channel format, bitrate, sample rate, coupling freq, and maximum frequency can also be found through this application, complete with equalizer function. If you want to make composition of songs in accordance by your wanted, click the Mixer tab, and make combination of audio to stereo multichannel, and DolbySurround? ProLogic / Prologic II.

Minimum Specifications: Windows 98, Winamp 2 x
File Size: 246 KB
File Name: winampac3_1_01a.zip
Creator: Alexander Vigovsky
Download : Softpedia, Winampac exe or Winampac zip

- - - - - - - - - - - -- - -

Plugin. A program usually have small size made to be integrated in parent application. Plugin function is to create additional functionality that’s not in application. For example language pack plugin in Winamp, which hva function to change language text on Winamp.

Decode. Change the coded information into information that can be read by an application or user.

Applying automation for routine activity of PC utilizing

2010-02-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

Provides time efficiency for PC activity

The Matterhorn

Currently, Automation have been applied to many routine activities for efficiency of time, including PC vertilizing by users, hardware or software. Assembling of automation in software typically use additional applications, and one of them is TimeComX.

Some of processes that provided byTimeComX, it can be selected by users, such : restart, shutdown, logoff, lock computer, hibernation & sleep – mode, wake up computer + alarm, running audio applications, and others executable files, including batch files. This application also has a useful feature for parents, such : lock facility by using a password, when the PC is left away.

Users can select mode transparency so that the interface of TimeComX can be seen to fade or hide in the background process that looks at the system tray icon. This application can be installed or used directly on removable media, such as USB stick.

Price: Free
File Size: 2.3 MB
Download : bit dreamers

Download free Football Manager 2010

2010-02-02T03:46:00.000-08:00

Improvement in Crash

Striker Filippo Inzaghi of AC Milan reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer

The success of a team doesn’t’ squeeze hardwork by a professional manager. Football fans can try to become a manager through a 3D simulation game. One of game that you should try cause it has a comparative advantage than other game is Football Manager 2010.

This version of the game is refinements embodied by the previous version, ie 2009. There was nothing ivory cann’t be cracked, so did this game, there’s still has a gap that needs to be improved.

Recently, there has been patched with the latest 10.2.0 version that includes several important improvements crashes, including crashes in World Cup final, memory consumption during the game progresses, the crash of tactics during the game progresses, and the issue of crashes on display in Barcelona financial.

Minimum Specifications: Windows XP, Pentium 4 1.4 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, nVIDIA FX 5900 128 MB, 2 GB hard drive.
File Size: 173.9 MB
File Name: fm2010_v10.2.0_pc_patch.zip
Manufacturer Name: Sports Interactive
Download : FM 2010 Retail atau FM 2010 Digital

Easily Transfer data by Bluetooth

2010-02-01T04:36:00.001-08:00

Installing the generic Windows Bluetooth driver
.

Alpine Road in Austrian Alps

Nowadays, transfer of Data can easily be done by using bluetooth. It’s not all devices support by default to using of Bluetooth, and therefore, it’ll needed sets of equipment addition. For example : on the PC known as a USB bluetooth adapter.

Each PC usually have equipped drivers by inherited from the manufacturer. However, on some operating systems have provided a standard or generic drivers, including Windows that often is known as the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack. The importance of generic drivers, it can replace a damaged driver. If you don’t have Windows generic driver, you can afford to install it. The driver that you would to install is known namely as Bluetooth Driver Installation.

Make sure you create a restore point, before doing the installation to anticipate unexpected changes. When these article has writing, Bluetooth Driver Installer has changed to version 1.0.0.3.1. So, version 1.0.0.25, it cann’t be used again.

Price: Free
File Size: 1.7 MB
Download : blue tooth installer

Download manager that special for free file hosting

2010-02-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

Supports many free hosting

Pearl Beach Resort on Bora-Bora

The existence of free file hosting, today has managed to attract the attention of user, until it’s can be a potential business opportunity. Free hosting is usually put banner ads or other offers in connection with their ministry.

Generally, This software has download process who doesn’t different with other download manager. Carry out download files through any free hosting pages often have constraints, therefore, it’s process need required other downloader application role, and one that can be used for special free hosting is Mipony.

This application has a browser that’s integrated, and supports many free hosting, among of them such: Megaupload, Rapidshare, MediaFire, Depostifiles, FileFactory, Uploading, 4shared, and so on. Download using free or premium account was also supported by Mipony. This application also has been able to use CAPTCHAs and continue to download if interrupted.

Price: Free
File Size: 2.3 MB
Download : Mipone

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

CAPTCHA. Similar response testing to ensure the response that produced and it’s not generated by computer. Testing is done by a computer and asks user to complete a simple test. Generally, these tests include entering a row of letters or numbers that given effect. CAPTCHA term popularized by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford. The main purpose of CAPTCHA is to prevent automated software to doing action that could reduce the quality of a service. The Action such spamming or hammering.

Engineering calculator that have full-featured

2010-01-30T19:44:00.001-08:00

Features developed for your common requirements.
.

Stromboli Sunset

Along with the development of technology, calculator have current ability to be a software and have a greater potential to be integrated into other electronic devices, including PC devices and gadgets.

Features of the calculator participate to developed, by the result that it can be complement of user needed for using formula calculation until the variations. One of the calculator software that can be used for these categories is MhcFS2.

This application can be considered as engineering calculator with full features that can replace the standard Windows calculator. So, How many formula that can be calculated by these application, such as integral, sum, products, derivatives, LSE, ODE, LSDE, root, matrix, and interpolation.

Price : Free
File size : 575 KB
Download : Dmanx narod

Calculation of mathematical formulas with practically

2010-01-30T19:39:00.000-08:00

Calculation of root, integral, extreme values and so on.
.

Seascape with Cumulonimbus Cloud at Sunset

Currently, mathematical formulations have been developed, and used for other scientific fields, such : science, engineering, medical, and social science. Including economics and psychology.

Along with technological development, counting of mathematical formula can also have facilitated with a helping hand of mathematical applications. One of the mathematical applications specifically designed for the purpose of calculating equations or comparisons is 7math. Detailed features are supported by this application, such: counting the root, integral, local maximum / minimum, extreme value, and formation of the graph.

The output results from formula calculation can be saved in text format or html.

Firstly, Before using this application, make sure your operating system already installed. Net Framework 2.

Price : Free
File size : 230 KB
Download : Persian thought

Application for checking your music collection with ease

2010-01-24T02:48:00.000-08:00

The existence of album covers

Tasca d'Almerita winery in Capofaro Malvasia and Resort

For some users, organizing music collection is necessary, even much of them would to get perfect organize as possible. There’s many covers organization essential parts, and one of them is a cover album.

If you would to make it easier, user can use additional applications known as CovArt Ops. This application is capable to scanning user directories that you want to check about existence of an album cover image file, either by differently name ( "cover", "folder", "font") or different formats (jpg, png, bmp, gif).

This application also provides option for users to be able to export the list of album covers into .Csv file or to making program registery in Windows Explorer, until it’s making easier to use by users.

Price : Free
File size : 533KB
Download : Skwire

Produces an images from screenshots movie

2010-01-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

Manually or automatically
.

Marlborough sounds

Special to capture screenchot movie, cause Windows standard printscreen do not able to do this. So, there’s need requires other applications support. One that can be used is Scenegrabber.

This application is able to grab or capture by manually or automatically frames from a movie, and merge them into an image file format.jpg, along with additional information such as movie title, resolution, info, codecs, duration of the film, and time where screenshot is taken. Various file formats are supported by the film scenegrabber.net.

Users can use any codec installer for scenegrabber.net, but before, it’t recommended to use a codec pack such as "XP-Codecpack".

Before using this application, make sure your operating system already installed. Net Framework 2.

Price : Free
File size : 2,82 MB
Download : Scene Grabber

Browsing that pays you daily!

2009-12-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Only 5 minutes

Dark Clouds Above Gris Gris Beach

Imagine getting paid to browse your favorite sites! InterAdmedia.com, pays you as you browse the internet

Here are a few facilities that you can get by InterAdmedia.com

Users signup and get paid to search the internet via our partner site Yahoo! Browsers can sign up for a free account, simply perform genuine searches in our system as you would with any search provider and get paid $0.001 for every minute you search online.
Join for free today!
Advertise direct to browser for $0.01
Advertisers can sign up for a free account and start advertising within a few minutes. Advertisers can advertise either text or banner ads across the top of each user browsing screen. Banner ads must be 234x60 pixels only. You only pay for the actual impressions on your ad, that's right! Advertisers only pay for actual human viewers, our traffic is actual browsing users not computer generated traffic.

Here are a few important information about how to get money

You earn money by using the interADmedia browser to perform genuine searches for sites that you would do with any other search provider. We pay $0.001 for every minute you are actively searching online through our browser.

All earnings are subject to clearance and will remain as pending for 60 days. Once part of your earnings has gone over the 60 days pending period they will start to move into your confirmed balance.
All payments are made by Paypal. We do not offer any other form of payment so please do not ask.
You can make a cashout request once you have a minimum confirmed balance of $25 or more.

iTunes music library makes its way to the browser

2009-11-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

by Don Reisinger

Apple quietly launched a new preview service this week that makes it easier for users to view its iTunes music library from the browser.

Dubbed iTunes Preview, the new feature allows visitors to view iTunes content from their browser without being forced to launch iTunes. Previously, when a Web user received an iTunes link, they needed to open iTunes to view its content.

As part of the launch, Apple has updated links in iTunes to redirect to iTunes Preview. When a user copies a link in the software and pastes it into the browser, they will be brought to the song's individual listing on Apple's Web site. The feature is especially handy for those who don't use iTunes, since they can now view an individual song without being forced to download the software.

Aside from individual music listings, iTunes Preview also allows users to sift through artists and albums based on genre. Each individual listing displays all the songs in an album, the album art associated with it, its cost, and other content typically found in the iTunes store. The page also includes a link to the iTunes store in case the viewer wants to buy it. That said, there aren't any song previews in iTunes Preview; users will still need to go to iTunes to hear them.

For now, iTunes Preview features music. There's no telling if Apple will add more content over time. If you want to check it out, copy an iTunes link from within the software and paste it into your browser.

(Via AppleInsider)

NBA Basketball and a squishy driving game, iPhone apps of the week

2009-11-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

By Jason Parker

Like I've mentioned here several times before, I'm one of the people who is still using the iPhone 3G. Like many, I'm waiting for my two-year contract to be up so I can get whatever the next-gen iPhone is. It doesn't bother me too much (aside from a few app features that require 3GS), but I do long for the faster processing power and extra features found in the latest iPhone. Especially when it comes to (surprise!) games.

To give you an idea of the difference between the two iPhone processors and how they effect game performance, fellow CNET editor, Josh Lowensohn, put the two iPhone models to the test. In Joshhe offers up several side-by-side comparisons of many of the top iPhone games with analysis. If you're an iPhone-gaming fan or just want to see how the processing power matches up between the two models, check out his article.

This week's apps are both games, with the first complete basketball game for the iPhone and a fun sequel to one of the more unique games in the iTunes App Store.

NBA Live ($9.99) is the first fully licensed and complete basketball game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can play as any of the 30 NBA teams featuring the actual players and stats. You can play a quick exhibition game, play through an entire season, or just play through the playoffs up to the NBA Championship. The control system includes an onscreen joystick for movement and two buttons that take care of most basketball action (shooting, passing, etc.), but with a clever system for pulling off more advanced moves. The graphics are not on par with what you'll find in the current basketball games on consoles, but for an iPhone game, it looks fairly good and plays well enough to satisfy basketball game fans.

NBA Live packs a lot of features into the game using only a couple of buttons. Advanced moves like cross-over dribbles and hardcore dunks require you touch a button then flick in a direction. Holding down on the pass button brings up icons you can touch to pass to specific players. If you want to go deeper than just running and gunning, you can touch the clipboard icon to call a play and set up an open man for an easy shot. While I'm happy with NBA Live as an iPhone basketball game, I may be spoiled by the smooth experience on console versions. The graphics are pretty good, but not great and the movement can be a bit jerky. Overall, I think it's a pretty good basketball game, but it might be worth waiting a little while to see if it goes on sale. Hardcore fans should get this game.

Yahoo Messenger 10 waves bye to 'beta'

2009-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

By Jessica Dolcourt

Yahoo Messenger 10 beta is no more. At least not the "beta" part. This week, Yahoo gave the version 10 beta its stamp of approval, pulling away the "beta" marker and replacing Yahoo Messenger 9 with Yahoo Messenger 10 on Yahoo's download page.

For those using version 9 or below, Yahoo Messenger 10 adds a slew of design enhancements that draw out the chat app's social-networking side and video calls. If you're already using Yahoo Messenger 10 beta, you should be prompted to download a fresh version of Yahoo Messenger 10, but you won't see new goodies pop up since the beta was first introduced last August.

Check out screenshots of the Yahoo Messenger 10 features in this gallery before you download--the images are for the 10 beta, but they still apply. Pay close attention to our installation advice before you download; choose "Custom," not the default, if you'd rather avoid all of Yahoo's installation "perks," like the Yahoo Toolbar.

If you're not ready to make the jump, there's no hurry yet. Yahoo will currently continue to support Yahoo Messenger 9.

5 Web Sites to Read Free Best Sellers Books

2009-11-05T16:12:00.001-08:00

Hand Cupping Small Globe

Want to read great books ? Have you always intended to learn from the great works of history, philosophy, and science? If you know what you're looking for, the Internet and your home computer can be your own private library.Ã‚Â "Certainly the Internet has raised the profile of information and reading in society," says Wendy Newman, president of the 2,700-member Canadian Library Association. "Readers can read entire books online, get information about books and genres, and talk to other readers about books."

Books and excerpts onlineCreate a reading list for yourself or your family on your computer without having to leave the comforts of home. The following sites offer access to thousands of book listings.

The Online Books Page

This site offers a search engine that provides access to more than 18,000 listings of entire books freely available on the Internet (many of them older texts with expired copyrights). The site is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Library and maintained by a digital library planner and researcher.Ã‚Â These book lovers have also compiled several themed features including an outstanding compilation of major literary prize-winning books and a celebration of women writers.

Bartleby.com

The editors of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine named Bartleby.com the "Best Literary Resource" on the Web. This site offers free fiction and non-fiction books, short stories, poetry, and reference texts for research.

Project Gutenberg

This site aims to digitalize all books now in the public domain due to expired copyrights. Revisit the classics by William Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe or download a children's favorite like Alice in Wonderland.

Children's Books Online: the Rosetta Project

The Rosetta Project offers free access to 90 illustrated children's classics such as Peter Rabbit and The Three Bears. Parents can download an entire book as a compressed zip file to store on the computer or to print out for bedtime stories. The site also offers books in multiple languages.

DearReader.com

Chapter-a-Day delivers free book excerpts to your e-mail address on a daily basis. The site's purpose is to provide the "joy of reading" by giving you a taste of a new book each week. You can register to receive selections from the genre of your choice, and a new book is started each Monday

Selecting Notebook or Laptop Buying Guide

2009-11-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

Used to be the high streets

Businessmen shaking hands on map of globe

In days of yore the first stop for cheap laptop hunters used to be the high streets and malls, however this strategy is nigh on useless if you haven't already formed an opinion and researched the specs you really need.....Why? Because then you leave yourself open to one of the most dangerous predators in the laptop jungle - the oily sales assistant. These folks often display a remarkable talent for over-selling. Indeed, 3 minutes after sidling up to you and asking innocuously - "Can I help you sir/madam", you could be standing outside the store clutching a smoldering MasterCard, a Josh Groban DVD deal sweetener in your back pocket, and the latest 3-grand multimedia monster stuffed under your arm.

What Kind of Laptop User Are You?

That's fine if cheesy baritone crooners and cutting edge quad-core gaming are on your wish list, but useless if you were just looking to run Excel and play Manic Miner on a ZX Spectrum 48k emulator. That's not to say stores have no part to play in the deal hunting process, but in my humble opinion they're certainly not the first port of call. First visit sites like Laptopical.com - read up on reviews and guides and find out what you really need and what to look out for. Then it's off to do some comparison shopping to find the best laptop deals out there. Just for the sake of generalizing, Laptopical has put together a few guidelines depending on what you plan to do with your laptop.

Home User
Student
Ultraportable
Business User
Gamer

Home User

Most home users use their computer for all kinds of tasks - in addition to surfing the web, paying the bills and writing a few emails, the laptop will most likely be used for pure entertainment purposes; ripping CDs to beef up that iTunes library, playing some casual games, or hooking it up to a TV for watching movies might be some of the stuff you'll want to use it for. To simplify: You need a versatile laptop with plenty of hard drive space, a reasonably fast processor and a fair amount of RAM. If you're at all into gaming, a dedicated graphics card from Nvidia or ATI is a must.

Student

A tight budget doesn't rule out getting a laptop anymore. A few years ago you had to pay twice as much for a laptop as a similarly equipped desktop PC, but that has all changed. In all fairness, you still get more bang for your buck with a desktop, but it's not half as convenient. A small and cheap netbook like the Asus EEE could be an option, as they're easy to lug around between lectures and whatnot, but keep in mind that they're not suited for anything heavier than basic tasks like web surfing and word processing. Alternatively, you can get a budget mainstream laptop with more horsepower and skimp on the portability.

Ultraportable

Portability is one of the main reasons to get a laptop, but regardless they come in all shapes and sizes, including huge desktop replacement models. What defines an ultraportable laptop is of course its size and weight; the screen should be no larger than 13.3 inches and the weight no more than four pounds. Thin-and-light laptops are usually not as powerful as larger ones because of the cramped space and limited cooling options. However, if you travel a lot it's easily worth the tradeoff, and even the smallest laptops can handle most work-related tasks you need it for.

Business User

If your work only involves basic office tasks, such as editing spreadsheets and keeping up with the company correspondence, it's safe to say you don't need a super fast laptop with the latest gaming graphics card. There are lots of options for small and large businesses - from really cheap, low-end laptops with just the basics, up to powerful workstations with professional grade video cards. When you have assessed what you need, it's also important that the laptops have a solid and durable build quality and that the manufacturer provides the right amount of long-term support.

Gamer

The single most important requirement in a gaming laptop is the dedicated graphics card, and if you're really serious about gaming on your laptop it needs to be a powerful one. Because of the heat they generate, you normally only find these in larger, 15 or 17-inch laptops. Laptops dedicated to gaming are very powerful and tend to drain the battery fast and be very pricey, and it's quite a niche market because of it. Nevertheless, if you want to see your LAN party buddies green with envy, this is what you want.

Find luxury hotels at convenient prices

2009-11-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

Island of Sveti Nokola

A fast and easy way to find luxury hotels at convenient prices, this hotel website takes you directly to a major database where you can find the best rates and book your hotel room online with travel, lodging and accommodation information. With All-Hotels.com you will have one less thing to worry about when planning you next trip.

Find a property in the destination of your choice and book a room in advance at very convenient hotel room rates, from luxury hotels, discounted hotels, airport hotel rooms and much more. Within this engine you can also combine hotel bookings with flight reservations and several travel deals.

You can use either the hotel directory or specify your destination within US or Europe or even check featured hotels according to your needs and special interests, like golf hotels and ski hotels. Or perhaps you are planning a trip to Disneyland, if so this is the page you needed in order to find the most suitable hotel for you and your kids.

Photo Galleries For Bloggers

2009-11-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Laysan Albatross Carrying Bottle Cap

PictureSurf is a new Wordpress plugin that aims to make the process of adding photographs and images to blogs an effortless (or at least more direct) task. In principle, users upload photographs from their desktops, and these are resized and automatically arranged in standard CSS. When it comes to editing, no coding skills whatsoever are required – all the user has to do is drag and drop the desired pictures. After the images have been selected, a customization process will let him specify the gallery title, as well as choosing the gallery width itself.

The latter aspect is very important, as it lets users double the amount of ad impressions by displaying advertisements in separate pages.

In addition to sharing pictures in blogs, this service also accommodates the needs of MySpace users and those who are an active part of the Twitterverse. Message boards are accounted for as well.

Still, the basic aim of this service is to let pro bloggers make more money, and they are the ones that will put the service to the best possible use. If you are one, or if you aspire to become one, this site is perfect for you.

Distribute Your Content Online Easily

2009-11-03T14:17:00.000-08:00

Bald Eagle Flying over Water

One of the most common things you might do if you are the kind of person that needs to be updated with the latest news about any specific matter, is taking a look at different blogs and websites that are commonly visited by your friends and other people you know. Unfortunately, the internet is full of those sites and if you try to take a look at each one of them individually it would take you for ever to do it.

That is one of the main reasons why this service could a valuable option for you to bear in mind. In essence Arktan.com could be well defined as a free online service developed to give people the help they might need to be updated with blogs, news and photos, as well as videos and other kind of interesting material their friends might have added on a variety of social websites. For instance, if any of your friends have used sites like Blogspot, Flickr, YouTube or others, Arktan will be a valuable solution to be used when it comes to aggregating and "mix" this content.

After you do that the system will allow you to share the content with your friends or family, as well as colleagues by the use of different "channels" you can create. This will be like watching TV or videos while you take a look at the content your friends like. Now, the next time you want to watch any interesting photos or videos you just need to stop by Arktan.com to make use of an attractive and useful service you will enjoy.

Latest news about the Future of Fashion

2009-11-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

Supermodel Linda Evangelista wears a black-and-white

Style spy is dedicated to social trend and fashion spotting. It stands out for its particularly cool layout: items appear in modules on the screen and users click “yes” or “no” to say whether a piece of clothing, a gadget, a car or a new fashion accessory is cool. You can also find the newest, top rated and random items.

The Latest Rank of Gadgets

2009-11-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Hut on Pier in Raiatea

As you already know there are so many gadgets released that it is actually impossible to know about every single one. However, this might be your next destination when you try to find an online resource that supplies information about the most valuable and interesting gadgets in the market.

An interesting thing about this site is the fact that it functions as a ranking. In general, you will get the top 100 gadgets related to anything you can imagine in the technological world. For instance, if you are looking for an audio gadget, you will certainly find it on this site. Other gadgets are specially developed for video, internet, audio and more.

Therefore, if you want to know more about the iPhone through comments about its 3GS features for video recording and voice control, as well as its 32GB of storage the site will let you know what the customers think about it because there is a section that was especially developed for that.

The site has different sections where you will find the products ordered by rank and you will be also able to suggest or dispute different gadgets like the Samsung's LN52B750 LCD HDTV or the revolutionary Palm Pre. There is another section that will be interesting for you to join a number of discussions on different products you will certainly enjoy. In essence there is not much more that could be said about this site. For more information about its many features and products you just need to give it a visit at Top100gadgets.com and inform yourself that way.

Makes the process of searching for information easier

2009-11-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

Heavy Surf off Cape Kiwanda on Oregon Coast

Portals and engines for searching the web are among the most interesting developments that we can come across. All eyes are on them, and when a new one materializes it never goes unheeded mainly because everybody is looking for “the new big thing”, and they are even partial to focus a lot of attention on the search capabilities of services like Twitter – that is, something that is not really a search engine to begin with but that plays out the role to the hilt if it wants to.

And now we have a new search engine to put through its paces. Named Zakta, it makes the process of searching for information easier by letting people manually edit and save their results, and then share them with their friends and colleagues. In this way, feedback and insight from the community can be obtained. The search result themselves are shared in what are termed “Zakta Guides” in the site’s parlance – collaborative documents that benefit from the live input that is provided.

The search process itself is a flexible and logical one, as results are split into categories, and related topics and subtopics are provided all the time to enrich the experience of the user. Besides, a set of tools that go by names such as Zakta ClipPad and Zakta SearchPacks are featured for the user to expand Zakta’s search capabilities. Of course, Zakta can be added to your browser’s toolbar effortlessly and searches be launched whenever you wish that way.

An Online Community Of Sports Lovers

2009-11-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Kessy waiting to serve

Many people all around the world have been looking for an assorted supply of precise information about diverse activities they can practice effortlessly in order to enjoy the gains of a more stimulating life.

You could try practicing a new sport or routines if you want to have an active life and you unquestionably need to have access to the right information to do that. That is why this site seems to be where you can receive the support you need to be in touch with like-minded people to share your sport experiences with them. Besides, you will be given the chance to find local or abroad sport events where you can get involved.

iSweat4 aims to be the correct source of information for you to be connected through a motivating and complete social network with data about a multiplicity of sports. The site is reasonably simple to use, being compound by different sections that were designed to make it easy for you to find information according to your needs.

One of the most remarkable things about this community is the fact that you will not be confined to your computer because you will be doing sports in the real world. On iSweat4 you are free to post any events no matter their size or complexity. All in all, this is the website where you will find a community of people waiting for you to join them and have a more active and enjoyable life.

Keeping your family’s stories safe and share with others

2009-11-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

View from Cadillac Mountain Overlooking Bar Harbor

Keeping your family’s stories safe and intact in order to share them with others is priceless. This site has been developed in order to give you an interesting service that will allow you to archive the stories of your family participating in a social network environment where you can share those stories with other relatives and close friends.

There are many important things happening in one’s life and you want to keep some specific information and photos safe to share them with your family later. The problem is: when you do this through a social network, does the information remain private? The answer is that Kidjot.com will keep it totally confidential and only viewable by invited friends.

In this way you are free to archive you most valuable memories for a long time to be revisited years later. Adults can also give their children "trophies" on the site as rewards (a good report card for example), to encourage good behavior.There is nothing in this world that is compelling to human beings as their children. This site gives parents a place where they can celebrate their kids and share them with friends and family who may be across town or across the continent. The system is focused on parents and kids, something no social networking site has yet embraced. In case you want to learn more about this simple, elegant and easy to use service, feel free to give this site a visit at Kidjot.com and you will not regret it.

How more easy for students and techers connect effectively

2009-11-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Teacher and Student Looking at Globe

If you ever want to pick any skill up, the WWW is always a good spot to focus your search. There are people from so many cultures right there that mathematically speaking you must find somebody who could teach you what you need. Besides, sites such as TeacherLane make it all the more easy for students and teachers connect effectively and start exchanging insight. Because it always works both ways.

This site enables you to specify exactly what it is you want to learn and provide the location where you are based, and then be presented with a list of matching tutors. Each teacher that you can come across the site has a reputation for you to be able to assess how suitable he or she might be.

Prospective students can use this system at no cost whatsoever. When it comes to teachers, there is a fee that has to be paid for listing their services online.

The site itself caters not only for professional and academic subjects but also for fun activities, so that if you have always wanted to learn how to play the xylophone this might be where it’s at for you.

3 Ways Google Can Show What Your Readers Want

2009-11-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Canoe outrigger in Piragoe

All bloggers secretly wish that their readers would just tell them what to write about. But selecting new topics is seldom so easy. Well, what if I told you that Google has devised a system that allows you to tap into your readers’ psyche and magically predict which topics will interest them the most?

In fact, nothing is better for Google than for you to produce the type of content that people want to read. Every time you do, their search results get a little better. So they have really worked hard to provide tools which help you understand what topics are the most sought-after within your niche. Below are three free tools from Google along with tips for using them to improve your site:

Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides a great starting point for generating new content, because it can tell you what people already like about your site. As you look through the keywords that people have used to find your site in the search, pay close attention to the ones you have never really written about. If someone searched for this piece of information and the best they could find was an article that didn’t really answer their question, then you have just found a question worth answering on your site!

Search Based Keyword Tool

The next step is to look at the Google Search-Based Keyword Tool. If you have an Adwords campaign promoting your site, you can get keyword suggestions based directly on the content of your site. But this tool is still extremely useful if you don’t use Adwords.
What you’ll do is simply take the keywords that you identified from Google Analytics as being good topics for new articles, and plug them into the Google Keyword Tool. Google will show you related terms that people are searching for. This can help you understand what questions people need answered the most, so that you can make your new article as useful as possible.

Google Insights

Another great way to find related keywords is through Google Insights. This tool works a little differently than the search-based keyword tool in that it shows you recent search trends related to your topic. This is a great way to see which areas of your topic are becoming more popular with searchers. Being the first blogger to answer an important question can give your readership a tremendous boost in organic traffic as well as RSS subscriptions.

Google Is Your New Best Friend

If you follow this process you will be able to attract more traffic naturally, because you will be creating articles that accurately reflect the needs of internet searchers. Google will be happy to send the traffic to you, because your new articles will answer the questions that people are looking to them for the answers to. They look good because you look good.

Free software to download anything video streaming

2009-10-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Description

Kayaker in Ensenada Grande Bay

After watching a video in a Web site, you may want to save the video file into your local disk for playing it offline in the future. If the video file is stored in your browser's cache, this utility can help you to extract the video file from the cache and save it for watching it in the future.

It automatically scans the entire cache of Internet Explorer and Mozilla-based Web browsers (Including Firefox) and finds all video files that are currently stored in it. It allows you to easily copy the cached video files into another folder for playing/watching them in the future. If you have a movie player that is configured to play flv files, it also allows you to play the video directly from your browser's cache.

Using VideoCacheView

VideoCacheView doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL files. In order to start using it, simply run the executable file (VideoCacheView.exe)
After running VideoCacheView, it scan the cache folders of your Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers, as well as the temporary folder of Windows. Wait 5 - 30 seconds until the scanning process is finished, and the main window of VideoCacheView should display all the video files that are currently in cache.

After the video list is displayed, you can use one of the following options, assuming that the video files are stored in the cache ('In Cache' = Yes):

Play Selected File: Allows you to play the video file directly from the cache, assuming that you have a video player that is configured to play .flv files.
Copy Selected Files To: Allows to copy the video files from the cache into another folder, so you will be able to play them in the future.

If you have a video file that is not stored in the cache ('In Cache' = No), you can use the 'Open Download URL In Browser' option (F8) in order to download the video file. You can also use the 'Copy Download URLs' option (Ctrl+U) to copy the download URLs to the clipboard, and then use then in your browser or in other download software.Be aware that some Web sites may not allow you to download a video file in this way.

Flash Video Files In Temporary Folder

Each time that a Web browser plays a Flash video file, the .flv file is saved into the temporary folder of Windows. Normally, you cannot copy this temporary file to another folder, because the flash player locks the file exclusively. Also the file is automatically deleted when you close the Web browser.

Starting from version 1.10, VideoCacheView displays the flash files in the temporary folder, and allows you to copy them into another folder. VideoCacheView can handle temporary flash files created by Internet Explorer, Mozilla/Firefox, Opera Web browser. Be aware that you must wait until the browser finish to download them. otherwise, the copied files will be corrupted.

Playing Video Files Directly From The Cache

Most Web sites today use Flash video files (.flv extension) for playing video inside the Web page.
VideoCacheView doesn't provide a build-in video player, but if you already have a video player that is configured to play .flv files, VideoCacheView will be able to use it for playing the video files directly from the Web browser's cache.

Price : Free
Size : 52 KB
Download : Nirsoft

Free Download Google Translate software for use on your computer

2009-10-11T02:52:00.000-07:00

Simple translation services

Two young Women Sunbathing by Coast

Translate is a typical job for the internet users. Google translate is a free translation service where the most visited by user.

Now, Google offers convenience for their users, which provides free software or applications that allow a user in translating the language as long as they wanted. Another convenience that you can feel in this software are: you no longer need to copy / paste at long day, you no longer need to visit the Google translate web site and you can use this application at any time during a connection to the Internet.

Bellow the following languages can you use on Google Translate software Client 3.1.83:

Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese

Price : Free
File size : 2.0 MB
Minimum specification : Windows (98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7)
Download : ziddu

Software to edit Flash Video (FLV) format for Free

2009-09-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

it will perfectly keep the original quality without any loss.

Fulmar in flight

Many streaming videos on internet are often encoded in Flash Video (FLV) format and therefore not compatible with Windows Movie Maker and other video editing software. Another problem with FLV video is that they won’t play on most mobile phones so you’ll first have to convert them into 3GP or some other popular format before transferring the clips to the phone.

FLV Editor Pro 3.1.13.0 has all the tools you need to edit an FLV clip. It supports input FLV encoded with H.263, Flash 8 and Flash 8 with alpha. With the program, you can edit the FLV files easily by trim, crop, watermark, merge, special effects, and so on. Personalize the FLV file fully. With the connection of YouTube FLV Downloader, users are able to download online FLV files easily for edit. Multiple output formats enables users to get not only FLV files, but also other files like AVI, WMV, 3GP, MP4, images and so on.

This FLV editor provides numerous editing functions. You can joint several FLV Files Together and output them into one recoded file or FLV without recoding. Crop and trim the video to get the wanted video size and length. Moreover, adding special effects makes your video different such as BlackAndWhite, Emboss, Purple, and so on. With the useful watermark function, you are able to add logos and subtitles to the video. Best Protect and personalize your video. If you like the still pictures during the video, you can Capture them or output image sequence to select a best one.

The program has the most flexible and user-friendly interface. You can stretch the program into the full screen or get it smaller for convenient use. Two preview panes let you clearly watch the source and real-time edited video. Apart from these, video sequence manager offers the properties to set for the files such as author, copyright, etc. Resource Manager enables you to arrange your files systematically. Especially you can create a project file to save the settings you made for later use. In the process of conversion, the program will show the video images, along with the process bar, to let you know how much to proceed.

The connected YouTube FLV Downloader will help you download videos off YouTube, Yahoo, Google, MySpace, Hulu, etc. and save them into your Personal Computer. Thus you can get source FLV files easily for edit. In a word, this editor will help you to become an FLV edit master.

Price : Free
Size : 7,81 MB
Download : Cnet.com or FLV Cnet.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

H.263 is a provisional ITU-T standard, it is due to be published sometime in 1995/1996. It was designed for low bitrate communication, early drafts specified datarates less than 64 Kbits/s, however this limitation has now been removed. It is expected that the standard will be used for a wide range of bitrates, not just low bitrate applications. It is expected that H.263 will replace H.261 in many applications.

3GP is the 3rd generation video standard for use on 3G cell phones. With 3G cell phones, people can take videos on the go and enjoy the moving pictures and music any where they want.

Software to Play FLV files stored in your computer ( Size : 1.388 KB )

2009-09-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

very easy and efficient

Wandering Albatross Gliding Low

Most people don't need anything more than a Web browser and a Macromedia plug-in to watch Flash videos. However, if you want a hair's breadth more control over your viewing, this open-source freeware program will do the trick.

FLV Player's exceedingly simple controls allow you to navigate backward and forward through videos and play them in a loop. You can also adjust the volume, mute it, and adjust the size of the player. The Settings menu provides some basic control over program behavior, such as opening a new player window when double-clicking on an FLV file and remembering previous settings. And that's about it.

Our only major complaint is that the display window doesn't automatically resize to the size of your movie frame. We hope this problem will be remedied in future versions. FLV Player isn't a must-have by any stretch, but it's a decent tool for penny-pinching Flash developers.

FLV Player Free 1.0

FLV Player Free is a very easy and efficient FLV Player which can play any FLV video stored in your computer. You can view your FLV video in full screen or normal screen or in a screen size of your choice. You can also play/pause, seek, increase/decrease volume, and also drag and drop files to play them.

To play FLV files you need to follow simple steps –

Click Open File.

Choose file to be played.

This is all, you are now playing your favorite video.

Instead of Open File, you can also drag and drop your favorite video to FLV Player Free to play it.

So if you want to play FLV video files stored in your computer, simply download FLV Player Free.

License: Freeware

Size: 1.34 MB

Platform: Windows All
Download : A software plus

Manage your image files into three-dimensional World

2009-09-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Each of the folders on different screens

Are you three-dimensional world fans? Do you Want to try new things about navigation view files? Unique application that you need to try is the Twins Visions. This application is an innovative 3D image management system (3DIMS) which allows you to navigate through your photos in a 3D (three dimensional) world.

“ You no longer need a different application every time to do these tasks, because everything has been replaced and complete in one place “

Price : Free
File size : 6,2 MB
Download : Twins Solutions

How to record video without camera

2009-09-03T16:49:00.001-07:00

High quality

Young Woman Fastening Bra

CamStudio can also add high-quality, anti-aliased (no jagged edges) screen captions to your recordings in seconds and with the unique Video Annotation feature you can even personalise your videos by including a webcam movie of yourself "picture-in-picture" over your desktop.

You have total control over the output of your video: you can choose to use custom cursors, to record the whole screen or just a section of it and can reduce or increase the quality of the recording depending on if you want smaller videos (for emailing to people, for instance) or you can have "best quality" ones for burning onto CD/DVD.

Price : Free
Size : 1.334 KB
Download : Cam Studio

Free download to Play FLV files stored in your computer

2009-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Very easy and efficient

Laysan Albatross in Flight at Hawaiian Islands

FLV Player Free is a very easy and efficient FLV Player which can play any FLV video stored in your computer. You can view your FLV video in full screen or normal screen or in a screen size of your choice. You can also play/pause, seek, increase/decrease volume, and also drag and drop files to play them.

License: Freeware

Size: 1.34 MB

Platform: Windows All
Download : A software plus

Top 10 Ways to Speed Up Your Web Browsing

2009-06-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

More Fast or More Slow

Even in a world where high-speed internet is just a tall house blend away, anyone can get stuck with a slow or uncertain connection at home, in the office, or at the worst possible time while traveling. There are, however, measures anyone can take to ensure they're getting the most information and functionality they can when crunched for time or pressed for bandwidth—or if you just don't like waiting for things while online. We're offering up today 10 tweaks, downloads, and work-arounds for slow connections, slow computers, or just fast-minded people. Read on for the tips that might just save your life some night when 4 Kb/s is all you can muster.

10. Use Google to read HTML copies of huge documents

Ah, Adobe Acrobat. It's free and universally used to view documents exactly as they'd print, but few things bottleneck a browsing session like an 8MB PDF file, especially if your browser crashes before showing it. But we can all benefit from Google's zeal to index everything on Earth. If you've got a Google Docs or Gmail account, uploading or emailing a PDF gives you an option to view its as an HTML, which is going to come through a lot faster. The same holds for PowerPoint presentations, Word 2007 .docx files, and nearly any document you can find in Google search. One of those work-arounds that's so simple, you'll be glad when you remember it when you're trying to jam through that presentation on a terrible hotel Wi-Fi connection.

9. Use TraceMonkey in Firefox 3.1

More and more developers and established web sites are moving their services online and using JavaScript to create interactive web pages these days. So when you're browsing Flickr, MySpace/Facebook, or nearly anything made by Google, as a few examples, the speed at which your browser runs all the developers' code can matter a lot. For more responsive pages, it's hard to beat the mind-blowing speed of TraceMonkey, the new JavaScript engine for Firefox 3.1. Mozilla offers nightly builds of TraceMonkey-enabled Firefox 3.1 (called "Minefield" when you run it, because it can be a bit, well, buggy), but Windows users can also test drive 3.1 without harming their existing Firefox. Of course, depending on who you ask (and which test you run), Google Chrome's V8 and the brand-new script engine in WebKit, the foundation of Safari, are potentially faster. In any case, your current browser probably isn't this fast, so taking these speed demons for a test drive can't hurt.

8. Use Safari or Opera

Look at nearly any web site's traffic statistics, and Apple's Safari and the Norse-made Opera browser are just a sliver compared to how many use Internet Explorer and Firefox. In our own browser speed tests, though, we found Opera and Safari to be the champs at loading web pages and rendering JavaScript and CSS templates, respectively. There are lots of reasons to use Firefox (extensions! theming! Greasemonkey!) and Internet Explorer (some sites only work with it!), but if your browser is mainly just a window on the web, consider keeping a copy of Safari, Opera, or the well-rounded Google Chrome on hand for speeding up your site visits.

7. Make Faster, Fool-Proof Downloads with Down Them All

Right-clicking a picture or link, selecting "Save Link As," choosing a download spot—it gets real old, real fast, especially if you try to do it on every picture in a Flickr set, every MP3 on a music blog, or anywhere else you do your downloading. Free Firefox extension DownThemAll, our readers' favorite download manager, makes it easy to do all those things, or set up smart filters and settings to make any page with tons of files easy to navigate. For a good guide on setting that up, try our tutorial on supercharging your Firefox downloads with DownThemAll.

6. Bump up your cache size (and make other configuration tweaks)

Another set of revelations from living in dial-up land, the configuration options that you'd normally never touch are serious life-savers if you're on weak Wi-Fi, an older, slower system, or just tired of watching your mouse cursor do it's "waiting" animation over and over. Upping your cache size definitely speeds up your back button action and speeds up repetitive banners and graphics. Sites that really don't need graphics to work can be disabled with site-by-site exceptions in Firefox, and these days, any browser can open sites you might need to wait on in a new tab while you keep grooving in another. For getting something done on Google Docs or Zoho, reading feeds in Google Reader, or managing tasks in Remember the Milk, there's Google's Gears extension to work offline and connect only when you need to sync your data.

5. Throttle your home wireless network

Your home's wireless router doesn't have to be a neutral observer while watching your XBox, BitTorrent downloads, multiple laptops, and other web-connected apps and gear fight it out for a finite amount of bandwidth. Many routers let you negotiate connection rate treaties using Quality of Service settings—and those that don't can often be made to do so by installing DD-WRT or Tomato. The end result? You can let World of Warcraft run rampant in the evenings, set BitTorrent free in the dead of night, and keep your browser unthrottled during the day. Check out Adam's guide to ensuring a fast net connection when you need it for the geeky details.

4. Swap heavy sites for RSS feeds and mobile versions

Here's a not-so-secret tip about your Lifehacker editors—we couldn't possibly read the full version of every blog, news site, and aggregation site we pull our post material from every day. RSS feeds are this blog's bread and butter, and they're great for getting a lot of reading done in a short amount of time. We're split fairly evenly between the Google Reader webapp and NetNewsWire/NewsGator's desktop clients, but both are a great way to catch up on your regular web reading with a minimum of bandwidth, or no connection whatsoever. Along those lines, you can run any site that's chock full of text-y news through the Google Mobilizer for a version that's fast enough for a mobile phone, and very fast on a desktop.

3. Block Flash and/or JavaScript

Our side editor suggested this move after spending a week on a dial-up connection. Firefox users have it easy: Install the Adblock Plus and Flashblock extensions, and sites bogged down mostly by unnecessary Flash and huge display ads will come through a lot quicker. If you're cool with tweaking your router a bit, you can set up universal ad-blocking through it with the Tomato firmware, or use a solution specific to Chrome, on Internet Explorer through the Toggle Flash add-on or IE7Pro plug-in, and even on your iPhone or iPod touch. Lifehacker is, of course, an ad-supported site, and we'd ask that you use such tools only when bandwidth or time are at a serious premium, or for sites that bludgeon you over the head with lowering interest rates, free laptops, and the like.

2. Set up OpenDNS on your browser or router

If you're a customer of Time Warner, Verizon, or most any commercial internet provider, you'll occasionally end up at an ad-filled page whenever you typo your way to a non-existent page, and how quickly your browser knows where to find its data depends on their heavily-taxed servers. You can do a lot better with OpenDNS, a free service that can speed up your page connections, open pages from keyword shortcuts, serve as a parental filter, and avoid spam-y "no site here" pages. The service provides detailed how-to instructions for both individual computers and routers, so it's definitely worth at least a try.

1. Use Secure, Automatic Passwords

Auto-saving, auto-filling passwords have made their way into most every browser, but, by default, they're only as secure as your ability to keep someone away from your keyboard. If your browser offers a master password option, use it—in Firefox, it's the only barrier between you and a single button unveiling all your passwords to snoopy friends or nefarious interlopers. Of course, if you're using the same weak password across all your site logins, you're just asking to have somebody get into your email, private social messages, and other private data. Using a secure password system can fix that. If you're using multiple browsers across different systems, you can keep your time-saving password fillers synced with Dropbox, or take care of bookmarks as well with the (Firefox only) Foxmarks.

Whether you need to get your browsing done quick, or you're just a fan of streamlined web surfing, what do you use to get more out of your time online? Tell us your own tips and tricks in the comments.

Free Instant Wiki page

2009-06-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Disposable

Website DisposableWebPage provide for you. This Website provides instant wiki page that can edit, share-in, and even works together with your friends. Uniquely, this page can only be up to a maximum of 90 days.

You may ask, for what services, such as this? Althought service like this is already in Facebook, Frienster or memalui mailing list of your friends? In addition to the wiki page here is temporary, through this website you can invite your friends who joined some of the social networking website or mailing list that has not connection one to another.

Bonus Picture

Monitoring the development of Crime & Justice in the Virtual World

2009-06-21T16:17:00.001-07:00

Justice for CyberCrime

That is the uniqueness of cyber crime that provide new challenges for the upholder of justice to act. Blog CyberCime & Doing Time discusses about virtual world crime, ranging from piracy, the spread of malware, robbing information, until impairment and relation computer system to the world justice.

Bonus Photo

Science and Skepticism

2009-06-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

Science for Human Being

Blog Sciencebase present the answer for you.

There are pages that carry headlines from other resources such as Eurekalert and hopefully provide readers with even more timely news items. There are literally dozens publish every day. If you spot an interesting science news headline, read it and then they update frequently.

Sciencebase is hopefully for anyone with an interest in the world around them but specifically those who would like to understand it, as to who reads Sciencebase, everyone from high school students looking for ideas for their science fair projects to senior professors and Nobel laureates, as well as fellow science writers. The site gets quite decent traffic of several thousand visitors each day and an average newsfeed subscriberbase of about 3000 newsfeed subscribers.

So, don’t run from your chair. Let’s read this.

Bonus Photo

Business multimiliar dollars in the virtual world

2009-06-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Many people as possible to access your website

Search Engine Land comes with many actual information about current developments in the world. Here you can read news and opinions about marketing, industry search engine, and so issues about searching at this websearch.

Search Engine land is led by journalist Danny Sulliva, who has been covering search for the past 11 years. It is published by Third Door Media, which also produce the Search Marketing Expo conferen series and the Search Marketing Now webcast events.

Bonus Photo

7 News Sites That Keep You Dialed In Every Day

2009-05-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Daily at the site

Mixx gives you better control than Digg over the news you see daily at the site, while sites like Slate dish their own selection in a way that brings you up-to-date quickly.

With the advent of Web 2.0, news sites have changed, and stayed the same. "Social news" sites like Digg and Mixx let members aggregate their own favorite lists of stories, and vote stories up or down. Also included are some traditional news sites that deliver news faster, and in more compelling fashion than any newspaper ever could.

Mixx: Mixx is a social news site similar to Digg; users vote on stories, moving them up and down in the rankings. But Mixx splits the news into narrower categories than Digg does, so you can set up the site to display only news "voted up" by people who have interests similar to yours.

Techmeme: Techmeme aggregates the best articles from a sea of tech sites, focusing on new, clever or game-changing software, services, gear and gadgets. It's a fast and accurate way to get a read on the day's top tech stories.

Slate: In general, I find Slate to be a bit fresher and more plugged-in than Salon, though both have good collections of online news and views. But Slate has a killer section that I make a point of reading every day: Its "Today's Papers" section gives a clear and concise roundup of the news stories the major national newspapers are running on their front pages. You can have this sent to your e-mail inbox daily, with links to the full stories. (Now you have no excuse for sounding stupid at cocktail parties.)

NPR: If you like listening to your news, NPR's site is a great free resource. I usually check out the "Hourly News Summary" first -- it's updated throughout the day. The site includes sound files for a wide variety of commentary and special features on everything from Detroit's independent-music scene to U.S. foreign policy on China.

Free Republic: It's not the prettiest site you'll ever visit, but if your news tastes run to the conservative side of things, you may quickly get accustomed to Free Republic's sharp daily aggregation of news and commentary on all the hot-button conservative stories and issues of the day. You can post your opinions in the site's active forums, too.

Drudge Report: Drudge's right-leaning news aggregation site has found the formula for delivering online news, and millions of people hit the citizen journalist's site to get the latest stories each day.

BBC News: The view from across the pond can be very helpful for seeing U.S. news in a different light; and, of course, the BBC's coverage of international news is fast, comprehensive and first-rate.

6 Ways to Make Vista and XP Work Your Way

2009-05-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

Performance

Print directory folders, dump dopey Balloon Tips, save ornery files. Plus: I debunk a bogus performance trick.

Had enough of Windows' shenanigans? I'll show you how to print elegant folder lists, dispatch Balloon Tips and annoying icon wizards, and copy files that won't copy. Plus, I debunk a performance hoax that's making the rounds on the Net.

Disable customize notifications

The Hassle: In your last column, you explained how to hide and restore the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the System Tray. Easy for you to say -- the Customize option in the Taskbar tab of the Properties menu on my PC is grayed out.

The Fix: Leave it to Microsoft to make things confusing. Right-click the Taskbar and choose Properties -- "Hide Inactive Icons" is checked, right? Clear that check box, click Apply, and you're in business. And if you ever trash your system tray, grab a copy of the Taskbar Repair Tool: It's a miraculous freebie ($5 for the Pro version) that fixes dozens (36 to be exact) of taskbar, quick-launch and system-tray problems.

Battle balloons and icons

The Hassle: I bought a laptop with Windows Vista (I know, silly me). The OS keeps asking to remove desktop icons, and the Balloon Tips are driving me nuts. Have a solution?

The Fix: I agree -- Windows' Desktop Cleanup Wizard is ever so annoying. (Hey, Microsoft, I like my old, unused shortcuts!) In XP, you can disable the wizard with a VB script from Kelly Theriot. Grab the freebie from our Downloads library. It's safe, so ignore any security warnings. The process is easier in Vista: Right-click on the Desktop, choose Properties, Desktop, Customize Desktop, and clear the Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days check box. You can ditch Balloon Tips in XP with Doug Knox's VB script; in Vista this script can be a killer, so you'll want to read the instructions on the gHacks page about it.

Print any folder list

The Hassle: My friend asked for a printed list of all my MP3s. I spent an hour and still couldn't figure out how to do it.

The Fix: There's an easy way to do this, and a hard way. Me, I'm lazy (it's the genes), so I use Karen's Directory Printer. The free utility generates folder and subfolder listings in every way imaginable, including (or excluding) the file size, creation date and attributes. For you purists avoiding extra programs, Microsoft has a weekend project to print folders from your context menu in XP or Vista. Be aware, though, that it involves batch files, folder mods and Registry hacks.

Beware this speedup hoax

Not everything you read on the Internet is true. I spotted a tweak -- a modification of the Quality of Service (QoS) Packet Scheduler's settings -- that purportedly gives both XP Professional and Vista a 20 percent bandwidth boost. I wish. I tried it, as did a few buddies. Though some of us didn't see a thing, others, me included, perceived improved performance. Unfortunately, it was merely the power of suggestion -- Microsoft's experts say the tip is bogus, and I believe them. However, if you use Wi-Fi, tuning your router's QoS settings can help with some applications. Check out Becky Waring's "Optimize Wi-Fi for VoIP, Video and Gaming" and then read Preston Gralla's "Internet Boosters."

Tool of the Month

Copy stubborn files with HoboCopy: I watched a neat Flash streaming video on a Web site and wanted to keep it to view offline. I found the file sitting in the temp folder and tried copying it to another folder. No luck -- the error message "File in use" was the only thing I saw. None of my copying tricks worked; and when I closed the browser tab that was playing the video, the file was automatically deleted. But now I've outsmarted Windows with the help of HoboCopy, an obscure, slick utility that uses Volume Shadow Service to copy files (and folders) that are in use. Once you get the hang of this command-line tool, it's easy to work with. For help, read the How-To Geek's tutorial.

9 Sites to Help You Survive the Recession

2009-05-14T16:50:00.001-07:00

Proper and Bankrate

A growing number of good Web sites, like Prosper and Bankrate, are popping up, offering useful tools to help you manage and conserve your money.

You’ll found numerous sites that are full of good advice on how to save money and protect your financial interests. In a sour economy, sites like these are getting more attention (and site traffic) than ever before.

GasBuddy: GasBuddy is actually a network of local sites (such as sanfrangasprices.com for the San Francisco area), each of which allows consumers to find and report high or low gas prices around town.

Fuelly: Fuelly is a cool little Web tool that lets you track and keep a history of your vehicle's gas mileage and compare your results with those of other drivers.

RetailMeNot: Find coupons (about 85,000, the site says) for thousands of stores nationwide. Many of them are sent in by site users, for others to use. It's not the only online coupon community, but it's the biggest and probably the best.

BillShrink: A big chunk of your money probably goes to your wireless carrier every month. BillShrink asks you for your locale, wireless usage habits and current plan, then recommends other plans in your area that might be better deals for you. It's a small way to trim the fat, but every little bit counts.

Prosper: Prosper is like a dating site that brings people who want to borrow money together with people who want to lend it. Borrowers post their borrowing requests, and prospective lenders bid on the interest rate at which they're willing to loan part or all of the money.

Kiva: Kiva follows roughly the same business model as Prosper, but adds a philanthropy aspect. The site allows you to extend a loan to a person in the Third World who needs the money to get a small business off the ground, for example.

Bankrate: This is the largest and most complete aggregator of financial rate information that we've seen on the Web. The site constantly surveys 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states to provide real-time rates on around 300 financial instruments -- mortgages, credit cards, car loans, money market accounts and certificates of deposit -- so you can find the best rates and save money.

Pageonce: You've accumulated numerous online accounts -- everything from banking sites to Netflix to shopping sites to social networking -- and they all have separate logins. PageOnce brings all of your accounts together in one dashboard where they're easy to access. But it does much more than store passwords: Once the site is linked to the accounts, it notifies you of any changes at them -- from payment alerts to new-friend requests on Facebook.

AnnualCreditReport: Since 2003, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act has made it possible for individuals to obtain one free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies per year. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site that provides them without strings attached.

The Bottom 10: The Web's Most Useless Sites

2009-05-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

Takes and dedication

Finding great sites on the Web is easy. But it takes hard work and dedication to find the truly annoying and dazzlingly useless ones. Of course we didn't shrink from the task.

While locating the most useful sites on the Web, we felt it only fair to call out the some of the most useless, too. We found no shortage of sites that are poorly designed or boring, but we list here some of the sites that go that extra mile -- the dazzlingly ugly, the patently offensive and the mind-bogglingly pointless.

AOL AIM Dashboard: I'll admit that Dashboard already has two strikes against it just because it immediately gets right into my face every time AIM starts up, which means every time I fire up my PC. Once this lame site has your eyeballs, the site seems willing to do anything to keep them, if just for a few seconds, using eye-candy graphics and tabloidy headlines like "High School Love Triangle" and "My Nasty Texts Went to my Dad!" Strike Three.

HavenWorks: If a Web-design program got sick and threw up, it might look something like this site. My uncle from Santa Cruz says the first time he saw it he had an acid flashback.

Juicy Campus: Juicy Campus provides a public place where college kids can engage in gossipy smear-fests against fellow students, teachers or anybody else, with complete anonymity. The tenor and intelligence level of the posts are, well, what you might expect from people who spend most of their time pulling bong hits, playing "Madden 2000," beer-sliding and vomiting up Night Train.

Zombo: A Web site? Concept art? A prank gone horribly wrong? I honestly don't know. Open the page and you will hear: "This is Zombo.com. You can do anything at Zombo.com. The only limit is yourself. Anything can happen at Zombo.com." Well, in fact, nothing happens at Zombo.com.

Brill Publications: It's virtual! It's like being in the real world, except, uh, it's on the Net! On the InterWeb! Walk through the front door of Brill Publications. See the secretary. Take the elevator. Talk to Bob on the fifth floor. Wait, why am I here?

City Optix: Sorry to pick on this little local optometry franchise, but sites that immediately launch and force you to watch ridiculously long, loud and inane flash presentations -- and there are many of them -- drive me nuts. This one is one of the worst examples of site design I've seen.

Digg: OK, Digg isn't a horrible site, but it is one of the most depressing when you compare it to what it once was. Digg's top stories (as voted on by Digg users) used to be interesting and tech-oriented. But since Digg has grown so immensely popular, the top 10 Diggs usually consist of "lowest common denominator" stories: funny photos and videos, for the most part. It's a site cursed by its own popularity.

Weekly World News: "The world's only reliable news" site is chock full of news you can't do without. A recent lead feature investigates whether James Carville or Britney Spears (bald) looks more like "Bat Boy." Why isn't CNN all over this?

Meet an Inmate: Life not creepy enough for you? Now you can befriend and correspond with a lonely ex-meth-addict doing hard time in Leavenworth for aggravated assault.

Bermuda Triangle: Stunningly bad graphics and site design are mixed with really pointless content. It's a double threat.

5 Great Microsoft Web Services You Probably Don't Use

2009-05-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

Live

Microsoft is so often the behemoth everyone loves to hate that people overlook the stuff it does right. We tried its newer Web services and found five gems.

When you think of Web apps and services, Microsoft doesn't immediately come to mind. Lately, though, the company has been rolling out a slew of them, including several that match or beat competing offerings from Google, Yahoo and any number of startups you've never heard of.

Which of those Microsoft services are the best? We've tried them all, and we've selected five free hidden gems.

You'll notice that most of these services carry Microsoft's "Live" brand. If you're like most people, you're probably thoroughly confused by the Live lineup, and by what Live actually means -- especially since Microsoft has muddied the waters with the newer "Live Essentials" moniker. For the record, Windows Live is a central online location for accessing the Live services and applications. Windows Live Essentials is a subset of the Windows Live brand that houses downloadable applications, including Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Messenger and others.

Windows Live SkyDrive

How's this for a deal: Get 25GB of online storage, at no cost, with no strings attached. That's what Windows Live SkyDrive offers. Just create folders on the site and upload files to it. You can share any of your folders with colleagues, as well. The site's design is simple and straightforward.

That isn't to say SkyDrive is flawless. You can't use it as a virtual drive -- it won't appear on your PC as a drive, so you can't save files directly to it within a program like Microsoft Word. That's a minor point, though. You can't argue with 25GB of free storage, especially considering that neither Google nor Yahoo currently has this kind of service. While Google is rumored to be working on a similar service called GDrive, Yahoo's Briefcase provides only 25MB of space, and is shutting down at the end of March anyway. So right now Windows Live SkyDrive is as good as online storage gets.

Windows Live Sync

If you have more than one PC and you want to keep files and folders on them synchronized, you need this service. After you download and run a small piece of software on each PC, head to the Windows Live Sync Web site and tell it which folders on which PCs should stay in sync.

You can synchronize your personal folders as well as your shared ones. Whenever any of your PCs are connected to the Internet, they will automatically sync the specified folders with one another. In addition, you can connect to any synced computer from any other computer to browse through the remote system's entire hard disk and to download files.

Note that unlike some of the fee-based sync services we looked at last year, Live Sync does not keep copies of your files in the cloud: It merely serves as a conduit between PCs. Since it involves no online storage, however, it puts no limit on the amount of data you can sync. And, of course, it's free.

Live Mesh

Here's a free Microsoft service for people who do want to keep their files in the cloud. Though Live Mesh is more powerful than Windows Live Sync, it's also a bit more complicated.

Rather than synchronize files and folders from PC to PC, you create folders in Live Mesh and then have all of your PCs synchronize with those folders. With this arrangement, you can access the files and folders from any Internet-connected computer. You have an exceptional amount of control over the synchronization, too -- for example, you can choose to synchronize only the files modified in the last 30 days, or those under 500MB. Live Mesh supports remote control of any PC in your mesh, as well. So far, Microsoft has announced no plans to charge for storage -- or to limit the amount of data you can store.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Office Live Workspace will help anyone with a small business or in a work group who needs a simple way to collaborate on projects. With this service you can create and share documents, schedules, to-do lists and more.

You start by creating a shared "workspace." You can choose from 11 pre-built ones -- such as a Project Workspace, a Meeting Workspace or a Travel Workspace -- or you can create your own from scratch. Each workspace has templates already created for it, including PowerPoint presentations, Excel worksheets and Word documents. Group members can work on the documents and save them for colleagues to see and edit. To edit the Office documents, you'll need to install a free Office add-in, although anyone can view them without the add-in or Office.

Why use this rather than Google Docs or Zoho? One big, exclusive benefit is its direct integration with Microsoft Office -- right within the Office suite, you can save files to your workspace, and you can use the Office programs to edit files in your workspace. On top of that, the template-driven approach to creating documents and workspaces is superior to anything you'll find in Google Docs or Zoho.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D

OK, this one isn't a Web service, strictly speaking -- it's a desktop app that works with a Web service. But it's a good one: Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D.

Because Google Earth is so predominant in this arena, not many people bother with Microsoft's product, and that's a shame. This downloadable application works in concert with Windows Live Maps to give you dramatic and compelling 3-D views of places around the world. Using simple controls, you can fly in and out of cities in full 3-D. You can also go on guided tours that other people create, and you can make tours of your own. You can save your tours for future visits, too, or share them with other users.

The views are richer and more compelling than what Google has to offer, so if you're looking for great 3-D mapping, this is the service to try.

To use Virtual Earth 3D in concert with Microsoft's Live Maps service, you must download the Virtual Earth 3D software, from either Windows Live Maps or Microsoft's general downloads site.

Microsoft says that the software will work with a 1GHz processor and 256MB of RAM, but recommends a 2.8GHz or faster CPU and 1GB of RAM. Go with the recommended specs or better, or else you'll find the app very slow going.

Test Your PC With 10 (Mostly) Free Sites and Tools

2009-05-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

Practically everything

Is your PC healthy? Don't be too sure. Think back to when you heard a kerklunk sound coming from the hard drive. Or maybe you remember the last time your Internet connection was down (and I don't mean just a little depressed).

The best way to find out what's wrong is to take a proactive approach: Check under your PC's hood with the following mostly free diagnostic tools, and see if anything is amiss -- before disaster strikes.

Hard drive health
Hard drives are about as stable as the stock market. The more you know about your drive -- the brand-specific idiosyncrasies and the diagnostic sounds that drives produce -- the better prepared you are for the inevitable crash. Here are a couple of helpful services and programs.

Hard Drive Inspector: This utility is always on guard, monitoring all your drives for spin rate, seek time and almost 20 other potential problem spots. Hard Drive Inspector gives you technical data, including the drive model, firmware version and serial number, all things you'll need to know when calling for warranty support.

It displays the hard drive's temperature in the system tray. If the drive gets too toasty (I have mine set for 120 degrees Fahrenheit), the program can send you an e-mail alert -- or, better, automatically put the computer in Standby mode.

You can view a summary health report, which typically has enough information for most users; the S.M.A.R.T. report has the details. The program costs $30, but you can download a 15-day trial version of Hard Drive Inspector to get a feel for the tool.

DataCent's Hard Drive Sounds: You shouldn't hear more than a low hum from your hard drive. But drives don't know the rules, and they often make weird sounds, emitting thuds, screeches, knocks or whining. Determining whether one of the sounds means trouble can be, well, troublesome.

The data-recovery company DataCent has an extraordinarily helpful site that plays the actual sounds of bad or unstable drive heads, stuck spindles, wobbly bearings and media with bad spots, to name a few. You can hear your specific drive brand.

The company also offers another valuable tool that lists typical hard-drive failures by manufacturer.

Broadband speed tests
Does your broadband Internet connection feel more like a sluggish dial-up link? Put it to the test by recording your connection speed every 30 minutes or so for a couple of days. Keep a log, and if the speed is nowhere near advertised rates, send the results to your ISP -- and raise a ruckus

If you complain vigorously yet politely, chances are good that the provider will have you back at full speed ahead in short order. With all of the following tests, resist the temptation to check e-mail or browse the Web while testing, so as not to alter the results.

Quick tip: If any of these online tests don't work, give me a call for help. Just kidding -- instead, make sure you have the current version of the Flash Player; if not, download and install it.

DSLReports: The granddaddy of online testing, DSLReports gives you a stack of tests to try. The Speed Test has a cool interface that looks like a car dashboard and that watches your upload and download speeds. You can test your speed by using any of six servers in different locations. You'll obtain a good average by testing with two; try one close to home and another across the country.

If you're worried about your connection while gaming, use the site's Line Quality test to look for packet loss and excessive latency. Make sure to register and log in when testing -- that way you can compare results months apart.

Speedtest.net: You'll see pretty much the same results from broadband speed testing at Speedtest.net. But this site is quicker to get to than DSLReports, and it has an oh-so-nifty interface, the kind you want to show off when friends are in your office.

Internet connection quality
In addition to running overall speed tests, you can use other tools and tricks to improve your online experience.

VoIP Speed Test: If you're making phone calls over the Internet, make sure you have the bandwidth -- as well as the quality of service -- to get decent VoIP sound, using the VoIP Speed Test.

The bandwidth analysis tells you the percentage of VoIP service quality to expect from your connection, as well as the number of concurrent VoIP lines your connection can support.

Down for Everyone or Just Me: You head for a Web site, but you get an error. I know you've said it: "Is the site down, or is it my problem?"

Now there's a way to find out. Type a Web site's URL into Down for Everyone or Just Me? (a smartly named site, no?), and it will give you the scoop. Very handy -- using it keeps you from bothering co-workers or members of your buddy list.

Fixes for Wi-Fi woes: If you use Wi-Fi, turning your router's Quality of Service (QoS) settings on will definitely help with some applications. For more, see our story "Optimize Wi-Fi for VoIP, Video and Gaming," which has tips for tweaking the data transmission speeds of your wireless network.

More Internet advice: To give your Internet connection a goose, see "Internet Boosters." And to prepare for the times when your connection gives up the ghost, check out "5 Quick Fixes for Internet Connection Hang-Ups."

Inside your PC
Not everyone can recite the MAC address of their PC's network card or the driver version for their graphics board (not even me). If your computer is hiccuping, knowing exactly what hardware and system software you have inside your PC is invaluable.

For troubleshooting, being armed with such details is ideal: You can pass them along to tech support, to your computer guru (no, definitely not me), or to an online help forum.

PC Pitstop: If you want to visit just one site to test your PC, I'd recommend PC Pitstop's Full Test. This comprehensive tool not only gives you an unbeatable hardware report but also alerts you to various potential problems that could be harming performance.

After I used it recently on my machine, PC Pitstop recommended 11 fixes, gave me a 35-count list of system specs, provided an even longer list of installed hardware, told me what drivers I needed to upgrade, tallied almost 40 performance results, and -- get this -- compared my PC's ratings with those of all the other computers that PC Pitstop has tested.

If you create a free account, you can save the reports and refer to them. One warning: If you have a pop-up or ad blocker, disable it before starting the tests.

Belarc Advisor: You can put your PC on the couch and run the free Belarc Advisor to obtain an inventory of your system's hardware. But that alone is no big deal. Where Belarc shines is in its comprehensive analysis of the software installed on your PC, including the version numbers.

Equally useful is the report of Microsoft security hot fixes that are missing from your system, as well as the list of software licenses. After you run the scan, save the HTML page in a safe spot so that you can refer to it if the worst happens.

SIW -- System Information for Windows: You can ask the SIW tool anything about your PC -- it'll give you a list of regional settings or scheduled tasks, or which DLLs are loaded and which are shared. How about which video and audio codecs you have installed, or details about your network or open ports? SIW has everything, offering lists that you can easily access from toolbar shortcuts or from a panel with a hierarchy list.

By the way, because SIW is a stand-alone utility that you don't need to install, it'll run directly from a USB flash drive, a floppy (if you still have one), a burned rescue CD or a network drive.

Be careful: Unless you uncheck the Add Crawler Toolbar to IE and Firefox box during the installation, SIW will automatically install that toolbar and make it your default search provider. Not a cool thing for such a useful tool to do.

17 Tools to Make Your PC a Multimedia Powerhouse

2009-05-04T02:43:00.000-07:00

Greatest Entertainment Device

Enjoy your video and audio collections to the fullest with the help of these free and low-cost downloads.

Your PC has become the greatest entertainment device ever created, but you wouldn't know that judging by the software that ships with the machine. Bundled media players, and related software for playing and managing audio and video, tend to be underwhelming at best.

I've assembled 15 of our favorite video and audio applications, all of which can handle just about any job you can throw at them. The vast majority of these downloads are completely free, and the others offer no-cost trials.

They'll help you download YouTube videos to your PC, or convert videos to formats that you can view on handheld devices. They'll play any audio and video formats you can find. They'll make you into a DJ and allow you to create your own customized mixes, too. So if you want to get the most out of the entertainment device on your desk, read on -- and start downloading.

# 01. Video

Want to download YouTube videos to your computer, convert video files to formats that you can view on portable players, find the best videos online or watch TV from around the world? We have software that does all that and a lot more.

# 02. TubeMe

# 03. FLV Player

# 04. Any Video Converter free version

# 05. VLC Media Player

# 06. BearFlix Basic

# 07. GOM Media Player

# 08. DivX for Windows

# 09. Online TV Player Basic

# 10. Audio

Your PC's bundled audio player has plenty of limitations. For starters, it can't help you create your own music or turn you into a DJ, and it likely can't play a large variety of music formats. The following downloads will fill all of those gaps, and they can do more than a few other tricks, too.

# 11. Audacity

# 12. VirtualDJ

# 13. FoxyTunes

# 14. Zune Media Player

# 15. Foobar2000

# 16. WinAmp Full

# 17. Ashampoo Burning Studio 8

9 Sites to Let You Store, Share, Create and Publish Content

2009-05-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

Popping up Everywhere

Sites like Drop.io and eSnips give you a neutral space to store, access and share your documents, while sites like Photosynth help you create and publish your own content.

With better broadband speeds and advances in server center technology, sites that are willing to host large amounts of your data are popping up everywhere, and some are free. Other sites take your photos or other content and help you turn them into something fun to watch and listen to. We rate these sites on how secure and inexpensive they are, how much data they will store for you, and the quality of the product that results from working with your content at the site.

Storing and sharing content

Drop.io: Here, you can dump up to 100MB of pictures, video, audio, documents or whatever into a personal folder, and then share the URL (it would look something like 'drop.io/yourname1') with family or friends. It's super easy to use, and my favorite hosting and sharing site.

eSnips: At this center for social file sharing, you can store cool content, from documents to music tracks, online, and then easily access your "snips" at a later date and share the content with other users. But what makes eSnips different is that it's really a social network that provides users ample opportunity to discuss the things they're storing and sharing.

Publish your stuff

But storing and sharing is just one piece of it. A new breed of sites is making available to users some powerful tools that allow you to transform your content into cool new forms, like multimedia presentations, and then provide a platform on which you can publish the stuff to your Facebook page or your own Web site.

Picasa Web Albums: Flickr is so 2007. Google's Picasa Web Albums does the same kind of stuff (that is, organizing and sharing your photos), with a smarter and friendlier interface.

Lulu: You're a genius, and your book is brilliant -- the world just doesn't know it yet. Go to Lulu, which will help you self-publish hard copies of your masterpiece at reasonable rates. Its services range from design to marketing.

Animoto: Animoto takes your still photos and stitches them together into a little animated film using cool effects, and then adds music. It's free and easy to use, and the result is well-worth the small effort.

Photosynth: If you really want someone to experience what it's like to visit a place you've been to (a foreign city, an art gallery, a local pub, whatever) this site -- developed by Microsoft's Live Labs research arm -- assembles your digital photos to create a high-resolution 3-D walk-through that people can enjoy via a Web browser.

Capzles: Here you can make digital slide shows on steroids. Capzles creates highly controllable and information-rich slide shows of your photos, complete with background images and music.

Vimeo: Vimeo is arguably the best video sharing and hosting site right now because of its generous file-size allowances, as well as its focus on professional-grade filmmaking from people who live and breathe it. Worth checking out.

Sprout: Sprout is the easiest way to assemble your own Flash-style widgets, which you can then embed in your site or blog.

15 Specialty Sites You Should Know About

2009-05-04T02:09:00.001-07:00

Good Information

Learn to rumba at Ballroomdancers.com, find out what "fampooling" means at WordSpy, master thrilling guitar solos at Vanderbilly or write e-mail in Arabic with Babel Fish.

The Web is far too various to fit into neat categories. It's filled with sites, like the ones below, that provide good information on how to accomplish a specific tasks -- things you don't need to do every day. Keep them in mind for that special day you need to learn to foxtrot (ballroomdancers.com), or make a wallet out of duct tape (wikihow.com).

Your teen loves video games but won't touch a book. Solution: Find some great titles for young adults at this site: teensreadtoo.com

Tonight's the night you'll finally learn how to play the "Stairway to Heaven" guitar solo. http://www.vanderbilly.com/

Watch cheeky videos that help you discover the differences among dry German Riesling wines. tv.winelibrary.com

"I've seen people do it on TV, and I really want to photocopy my buttocks on the Xerox machine at work. Is this considered appropriate?" http://www.emilypost.com/

Darn it all, you want to learn to rumba. But not in public. From the foxtrot to the cha-cha, this site will teach you all the great dances in the privacy of your own home. http://www.ballroomdancers.com/

They all sound the same! Whom should you vote for in '08? ABC's and USA Today's Match-o-Matic can help.

What did eBay's home page look like on May 14, 1997? Hop in the Wayback Machine to find out. http://www.archive.org/

You'd like to donate to charities just by clicking around the Internet as you always do. GoodSearch is a search engine that splits its advertising revenues 50-50 with charities and schools. http://www.goodsearch.com/

Want clear instructions on how to throw a wicked curve with a Wiffle ball? What about steps to make a duct tape wallet? http://www.wikihow.com/

So you want to learn "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish. Babel Fish translates whole paragraphs of text into and out of English. babelfish.yahoo.com

You want to read James Joyce's notoriously difficult "Ulysses" or "Finnegans Wake," but you're afraid, very afraid, and you need someone to help you through it. http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce

You want to hurl insults just as the Bard did, as in “Thou mammering swag-bellied yard ape...” Zing! To learn, visit the Shakespearean Insulter .

Just want to turn on some Pink Floyd and gaze far out into the universe? See it though the lens of the Hubble Telescope (Pink Floyd not included). http://www.hubblesite.org/

"I need to get the real story on the mysterious Chupacabra (goat-sucker). And why are they still covering up what happened at Area 51? Homeland Security is not returning my calls." http://www.occultopedia.com/

You heard someone in the lunch room say "murketing." Then, just a couple of hours later, someone explained how he's started "fampooling." You need to know what these fresh entrants into the lexicon mean. http://www.wordspy.com/

Put multiple videos in a list, and download them all at once

2009-05-04T02:07:00.001-07:00

TubeMe

How many times have you watched a YouTube video and wished that you could save it to your hard drive for future viewing? With this free software, you can save YouTube videos as .flv files; afterward, you can watch the videos in any multimedia software that supports the .flv format (such as FLV Player or VLC Media Player, both discussed below). Before downloading the videos, you get a full description of them, as well.

Be aware that using this program can be a bit confusing. Make sure to click the Download path button, at the bottom of the screen, to tell the program where to download your videos. And to download the video, you'll have to copy and paste the YouTube URL into the program. After that, click the icon with a small plus sign; it looks grayed-out, as if it were nonfunctional, but it does work. Once you've added the link, you can download the video. You can also put multiple videos in a list, and download them all at once.

Download TubeMe
Price: Free

Collected other files in the flv format

2009-05-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

FLV Player

If you've downloaded YouTube videos using TubeMe or another downloader, or if you've collected other files in the .flv format, you may run into a problem: Many media players, including Windows Media Player, can't handle them. FLV Player is a straightforward media player designed to play .flv files exclusively. To access a video, press Ctrl-O, browse to the file and open it, or else double-click the .flv file from inside Windows Explorer. You can also drag and drop files into the player. The software even handles multiple .flv files: Simply drag several files to the program, and the app plays each video in its own window.

You can control video playback through the usual controls, or with a variety of keyboard shortcuts. You can also toggle between full-screen mode and normal mode. Note that you may run into problems installing the software on Windows Vista. If that happens to you, right-click the installation file and choose Run as Administrator. That should solve the problem.

Download FLV Player
Price: Free

Free application to convert files from and many different formats

2009-05-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

Any Video Converter free version

Playing video these days is no longer confined to your PC -- countless other devices can play video as well, including handheld devices and music players, mobile phones and the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The problem, though, is that if you've downloaded videos to your PC, they might not be in the formats your devices require.

This free application will convert files from and to many different formats, including just about any that you find online. It even handles .flv files, so you could, for example, download YouTube videos using TubeMe and then convert them to a format suitable for your portable device.

Converting files is simple: Just select the videos you want to convert (you can do it en masse), choose the format you want and then click the Encode button.

Download Any Video Converter Free Version
Price: Free

Great free piece video Media Player of open-source software

2009-05-04T02:03:00.001-07:00

VLC Media Player

Looking for a media player that will take on every audio and video format you've ever encountered, and many you've probably never seen -- and that gives you plenty of extras as well? Then you'll want to grab this great free piece of open-source software. With some media players (such as Windows Media Player), if you want to play files in certain formats, you have to download a specific codec. In many other instances, you can't play particular formats at all. But VLC will handle just about any format you can throw at it.

It presents a simple, stripped-down interface, but offers advanced features if you dig deeply enough. When you're playing a video, for example, you can adjust the image in many ways. Similarly, a nice graphic equalizer lets you tweak audio effects. Even so, the extras don't interfere with the application's clean looks. And unlike many other multimedia players, VLC won't hog RAM or system resources.

Download VLC Media Player
Price: Free

Manage your video with this software

2009-05-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

BearFlix Basic

If you're fond of discovering videos online, downloading and playing them, and sharing them with others, you'll appreciate this simple-to-use file-sharing client that works on the Gnutella sharing network. It looks much like the popular BearShare, and with good reason -- they were created by the same company.

Searching for a video is simple. Type in your search term or terms, peruse the results and then decide which ones you want to download. You can manage and queue downloads, pause them, resume them and so on. The program looks and works much like many other file-sharing clients.

The Theater feature, which lets you view the downloaded videos, is convenient. However, you may want to use it primarily to preview your videos (to make sure you've downloaded the ones you want), and then use your favorite video player for the actual viewing.

If you're a parent, be careful with this program. As with all file-sharing software, the files you find may have adult content. Also, when you install the software, it will ask whether you want to make BearFlix your Web home page. Unless you agree to that, be sure to click the Decline button.

Download BearFlix Basic
Price: Free

Free media player is particularly well-suited for playing videos

2009-05-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

GOM Media Player

This excellent, free media player is particularly well-suited for playing videos, because it supports a wide range of formats. It plays all the usual suspects, plus many other formats that media players often can't handle, such as DivX, .flv, XviD and others. In addition, it sports some nifty features for video viewing, including the ability to change the brightness, contrast and saturation. It has an audio equalizer for improving sound, too.

One particularly nice touch is that during installation the program asks you to indicate how you'll use it: for general-purpose viewing, for high-quality displays (if you own a powerful graphics card and a high-resolution monitor) or with TV output (if you plan to connect your PC to a television and use it there). Most people will choose the normal mode.

Note that the installation program will install the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer unless you instruct it not to, so during installation make sure to uncheck the box if you don't want that addition.

Download GOM Media Player
Price: Free

Compress video a significant amount and reduce the size of the files

2009-05-04T01:59:00.001-07:00

DivX for Windows

If you've downloaded videos from the Internet, you may have come across the DivX format, which has become popular because it can compress video a significant amount and reduce the size of the files, yet retain high visual quality. That format has one problem, though: Popular media players (such as Windows Media Player) don't support it, and as a result you may have difficulty playing DivX videos.

This free player handles DivX videos, and gives you all the controls you expect in a video player, including pause, resume, forward, back and full-screen toggle. You can also manage your video library and burn videos to disc. Included as well is a Web DivX player for running videos inside a browser.

Note that when the program installs, it asks whether to install the Yahoo Toolbar, so be sure to uncheck the box if you don't want that add-on. A for-pay version of the software offers extra capabilities, such as enhanced audio and video and the ability to convert other video formats to DivX.

Download DivX for Windows
Price: Free

Great freebie lists hundreds of TV stations

2009-05-04T01:57:00.000-07:00

Online TV Player Basic

Wonder what's playing on TV right now in Albania? How about in Indonesia, Italy, Peru or just about anywhere else? This great freebie lists hundreds of TV stations -- from Afghanistan to Vietnam -- that broadcast online, and it lets you watch them for free. Simply run the software, browse the list of TV stations around the world, double-click one and it starts playing. The application tunes in radio stations around the world as well.

Keep in mind that not all of the TV stations listed as available are actually live; on occasion you may come across one that isn't broadcasting. But that's a small quibble. This is a terrific program for connecting to TV stations almost everywhere.

Download Online TV Player Basic
Price: Free

Record your music and then edit it

2009-05-04T01:56:00.001-07:00

Audacity

Tired of merely listening to music, and itching to create it as well? This free, open-source software is both a sound recorder and a sound editor, so you can record your music and then edit it.

The editing tools are exceedingly sophisticated -- in fact, they're probably more sophisticated than you need. You can add any of several dozen sound effects, use a powerful mixer and more. The app handles MP3, .wav, AIFF and Ogg Vorbis file formats; you can also use the software to convert files between formats.

Through the powerful editing features you can cut, copy, paste and delete portions of a recording; use fades; and mix an unlimited number of tracks. You can also generate special sounds and mix them, and create your own "soundscapes." Most people won't need all of Audacity's capabilities, but it's good to know that they're there.

Download Audacity
Price: Free

Create your own music mixes, Here . . . . . . !

2009-05-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

VirtualDJ

If you're looking to create your own music mixes, normal media players can't help. Instead, you need a program like VirtualDJ, which will let you mix and "scratch" audio files and create remixes. It offers numerous effects and music samples, and employs a turntable-like visual metaphor to do all of your work.

Near each virtual turntable you can see your samples, effects and other tools for assembling your mix. Since the interface has two turntables, you can easily combine and mix two pieces of music. The program will also rip music and burn your mixes to CDs. You can create your own customized video mixes, too.

This software comes in two versions, VirtualDJ HomeEdition and VirtualDJ Pro. Most people will want the less-expensive HomeEdition; it offers all the features of the Pro edition, except that it can't interface with external hardware such as a mixer or a turntable.

Download VirtualDJ
Price: $49 HomeEdition, $299 Pro; free demo

Control your music player directly from your browser

2009-05-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

FoxyTunes

If you listen to music while you use your PC and browse the Web, and you're tired of switching between your browser and your music player, you'll want the free FoxyTunes. It lets you control your music player directly from your browser (whether Firefox or Internet Explorer) via a small, discreet toolbar at the lower-right part of your screen.

It has all the controls you'd expect, within easy reach. A nice touch is that if your music player clutters your screen, you can tell FoxyTunes to hide the player; you'll still be able to control it through FoxyTunes. The tool also displays the name of the currently playing song, along with album pictures from the Web, if available.

One nifty extra: The software works with the Web-based Yahoo Media Player to play music found on a Web page, as a playlist. In addition, it integrates with the FoxyTunes Planet site -- when you click an icon, you see a page that displays information about the song currently playing, including the lyrics.

Download FoxyTunes
Price: Free

Secret Media Player from Microsoft

2009-05-04T01:51:00.001-07:00

Zune Media Player

All the world seems to be hooked on iPods and iTunes, but here's a secret: Microsoft has a very good media player as well. And you don't need to own and use a Zune device if you want to use the Zune Media Player, which -- like iTunes -- handles audio and video files.

It has everything you'd expect in a full-featured media player, including multiple ways to manage your library, as well as the capability to create playlists and rip and burn music. Most interesting, though, are some of its more advanced features. For example, you can participate in what's called the Zune Social Community, and get in touch with other users of the Zune device and Zune Media Player. You'll be able to recommend music and videos, and get other folks' suggestions as well.

The software is free. If you like, though, you can pay $15 per month to download and stream unlimited songs from the Zune Marketplace, an associated online music and video store.

Download Zune Media Player
Price: Free

Great audio program for people who like their players lightweight

2009-05-04T01:50:00.001-07:00

Foobar2000

It won't take up much RAM or system resources, and it won't muck up your screen with frills. But it does a fantastic job of playing audio. For one thing, it handles a wide array of audio formats (including those that many other popular media players don't support), namely MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC/Ogg FLAC, WavPack, .wav, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA and WMA. If you come across an audio file that Foobar2000 won't play, you can download components that will play additional file formats.

The application offers a lot more as well, including an equalizer and the ability to rip CDs. You can convert files between audio formats, too, and the app also does a nice job of handling tags for files.
Anyone who gets audio files from assorted sources will welcome one of its better features, ReplayGain. Files from different sources often have varying volume levels, which means you often have to adjust the volume whenever a new file starts playing. ReplayGain automatically normalizes them, playing them all back at a similar volume.

Downloads can give you even more advanced features, such as the ability to do a binary comparison between two files to see whether they are identical. Even so, Foobar2000 is missing one thing: the ability to burn CDs. So if you're hunting for disc-burning software, look elsewhere.

Download Foobar2000
Price: Free

Make your WinAmp Search as your default search engine

2009-05-04T01:48:00.000-07:00

WinAmp Full

Yes, we know, this software has been around from here to forever. But there's good reason for that -- it's a great audio player. Unlike some other jukebox software, it doesn't take up much hard-drive space, and it's simply designed and straightforward to use.

You get plenty of skins to customize its looks, plus a podcast directory for easily tracking and managing the podcasts you download. It plays videos as well as music, and users who like to be entertained while they listen to music can enjoy the visualizations. Also very useful is its ability to play AOL's Shoutcast radio stations.

The program is lacking some functionality, however. You can't rip CDs to MP3 files, for example, and you can burn audio CDs with it only eight times. You'll have to pay $20 for the pro version to get around those problems.

Be aware that when you install this software it will set WinAmp Search as your default search engine, and it will sign you up for a free trial in the eMusic music service, so make sure to uncheck the boxes next to those options if you don't want them.

Download WinAmp Full
Price: Free

Program stuffed with extra features

2009-05-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

Ashampoo Burning Studio 8

If you want to rip or burn music or videos, and you're willing to pay for powerful features, give this software a try. It'll do just about everything you need, including burning audio, data and video CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs; copying CDs and DVDs; and burning movies and photos. It will also create covers, labels and booklets, and it's great for creating data discs (including for backups).

If all you want to do is burn ordinary CDs and DVDs, you don't care about extras such as designing and printing disc labels and covers for jewel cases, and you don't need to create animated DVD slide shows with music, you don't need this software -- your bundled, free burning software will do just fine. But if you're seeking a program stuffed with extra features, this is a good one to get.

Download Ashampoo Burning Studio 8
Price: $50; free trial

40 Networking Tools for Frelancers

2009-04-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Vendors

Being a freelancer definitely has its perks — having the freedom to pick and choose projects, clients and schedules to name a few– but it can be a lonely profession. Many deals are struck through emails or even IMs, and close, personal relationships don’t often exist. If you’re a freelancer, there’s no need to get discouraged, however; this list of 40+ networking tools will connect you to a new world of both solidarity and professionalism, where you can find jobs, vendors and other freelancing friends.

Finding Support

These networking tools will help you find support and assistance within the freelancing community.

Writers-Editors Network: This community connects writers and editors with special tools for finding inspiration, mentors, jobs and more.
All Freelance Work: All Freelance Work provides freelancers with articles and messages boards about creating a marketable portfolio, pursuing work-from-home assignments, starting your own business and finding gigs.
Freelance UK: Freelancers based in the UK use this network to learn about the business, get tax and insurance advice and meet up with other freelancers through the site’s forum.
Freelance Mom: Freelance Mom sponsors “a support network for women working from home.” Get tips on finding a job and marketing your business or link up with the Freelance Mom Network to promote your work and meet other moms through blogging.
FreelanceSwitch: This go-to website provides a wealth of resources for active freelancers. Visit the job board to search jobs, read and comment on blog posts to get great advice from the pros, or network on the site’s inclusive forum.
Freelance Folder: Become a part of this freelance and entrepreneur community by linking up with its blogroll or contributing blog posts of your own. You’ll also find tons of articles about dealing with clients, setting up a home office and networking.
Freelancers Union: Becoming a member of the Freelancers Union grants you access to insurance deals, new jobs, and plenty of community support.
Canadian Freelance Union: Empower yourself as an independent Canadian writer against large media corporations by joining the Canadian Freelance Union.
The Society of Professional Journalists: The SPJ provides all kinds of support and resources for journalists, including freelance journalists. Discussion boards, blogs, special events, mentor programs and other networking opportunities abound.
Media Bistro: This online community welcomes all kinds of media professionals who want to learn how to improve their craft, sign up for classes, meet other professionals or search for jobs.
Breaking Out of Solitary Confinement: Networking Tips for Freelancers: The Washington D.C., chapter of the Society for Technical Communication has put together this podcast that shares valuable networking tips for lonely freelancers.
Write From Home: This “freelance writing community for parents” shares tips for finding jobs, finding a work-life balance, and managing a career and parenting schedule while working from home.
National Writers Union: All kinds of writers are eligible to become members of the NWU, and payment plans are available. Members enjoy access to a job hotline, various seminars, copyright guides, grievance assistance and more.

Getting Hired

Search for jobs by visiting these sites and connecting with other professionals.

Guru.com: This popular site lets freelancers search for projects, post resumes, place bids on interesting projects, and get paid safely and securely.
Elance: Elance is “the world’s largest professional services marketplace.” Post your resume and bid on projects to meet new employers.
iFreelance: This professional network of freelancers and employers caters to both the job searcher and the headhunter. Create and post a project or resume to find your next gig.
Sologig: Find freelance, contract and consulting jobs with the help of this networking website.
Freelance Marketplace: UK-based freelancers can check out Freelance Marketplace online to help them search for jobs and connect with new clients, vendors and other freelancers.
Freelance India: India-based workers seeking part-time projects can network and post resumes on Freelance India.
Contracted Work: Professionals in the Web design, software, writing and graphics industries can find jobs and employers with the help of ContractedNetwork.com.
HireGeeks.com: This site encourages companies to “hire geeks” to obtain “freelance support from technical to tutoring.” Freelancers can get together on the forums, catch up on industry news and culture on the blog and set up a personal geek account to safely store funds.
Xchangeteam: This site not only connects freelancers with new jobs, it also supports a solid community of freelancers that includes an annual Freelancer of the Year Award, flexible benefits package, expert advice and more.
TheWorkNet: TheWorkNet is a “marketplace for skilled contractors, freelancers” and other independent workers to meet and find quality jobs.
GoFreelance: This “freelance work exchange” helps freelancers in many industries find work.
Freelance Job News: Use the job bank to search specific postings, or visit the “For Writers Only” page to find publications that are currently accepting submissions from freelancers.
Freelancers.net: This site helps British freelancers find jobs, but freelancers everywhere can benefit from the active forum community.

General Networking Tools

These articles and websites are designed to help independent professionals link up to find support and improve their businesses.

Weekend Writers Cafe: This weekly discussion group sponsored by the Grow Your Writing Business Blog brings freelance writers together for a chance to inspire each other, rant about projects and clients and learn how to improve their businesses.
Networking: How to Network Offline and In Person: Stop hiding behind your computer and get out in the real world! This post shares ideas for networking offline.
Diva Networking: This blog hosts a networking group one hour each month. Work-at-home professionals can connect, communicate, and even market their projects to amp up their business.
Talkfreelance: Join in the discussions on Talkfreelance’s many different posts. Over 12,000 members in the Web design, SEO, programming and hosting industries visit to network and share support.
Network Freelance: This British site sponsors a tight freelance, PR and marketing community, provides links and articles about industry news and allows members access to open contracts up for bidding.
Networking for Freelance Writers: Check out this resource for help mapping out a networking strategy that will help you meet more people, land more jobs and become a more confident, in-demand writer.
How to Successfully Network Online: This article gives lots of tips for freelancers who want to increase their networking presence online.
The Fast Track to Freelance Success Includes Networking and a Strong Portfolio: This article from Associated Content explains how and why freelancers can improve their networking skills to augment their careers.
LinkedIn: This popular networking tool maintains that “relationships matter.” Meet up with others in your industry to find support or search for new jobs.
ecademy: This online business network brings together professionals who want to further their careers by meeting new people all over the world. Join clubs, sponsor networking meetings or events and get marketing tips from other experts online.
Meetup: Meetup is the “world’s largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups.” Join an existing group or search for clubs in your city to organize activities and events for freelancers like you.
Ryze: This free networking community assists forward-thinking professionals “make quality contacts…re-connect with friends” and find jobs.
Ziggs: Ziggs is a popular site “that organizes the Internet around your people, your work, and your life.” Join for free to manage a profile and control the way others view your business and “online identity,” as one user testifies.
hi5: Create a personal Web page on hi5 to advertise your business for free. Freelancers can network freely to share information about jobs, marketing strategies and more.

Who said the life of a freelancer is a lonely one? Now that online communities are cropping up all over the Web, freelancers can network to achieve solidarity, find jobs and market their businesses.

7 New And Useful Free Sites With Unique File Hosting Features

2009-04-30T15:00:00.001-07:00

Remote Widgets

To find a free file hosting is not a problem at all but to find a great high speed website that can help you to send or recieve your large files in an easier way is not that easy.

Some file hosting sites are really handy and make sharing data even simpler than sending a file via email. This is a list of 7 New And Useful Free Sites With Unique File Hosting Features.

Easy Share is the easiest way to upload your files. You can upload files from your PC or from a remote server. Upload via ftp, http, software or web embedded widgets.

Gazup is the leading website for social file mirroring online. By using this service you’ll be able to upload files to multiple file hosts in one go thus saving you time and bandwidth. Simply upload a file to Gazup service and their servers utilizing gigabit speeds will rapidly mirror your file to 8 hosts, including RapidShare, MegaUpload, FileFactory, zShare and many more.

rarhost is a unique new file hosting site, only for winrar .rar archives. They offer much more than just basic file hosting, their system has advanced information about each rar file, therefore they have decided to specialize in .rar files, for example you can see what the archive contains before you download, ensuring it contains the files you want.

upit.to is an easy file hosting service that you can use in just one click to host your files. This service is absolutely free and you can upload your files upto 5 GB.

DepositFiles offers free storage of your files on their servers for any period of time. The largest possible size of stored file is 2Gb and the total size of the stored files is unlimited. You can also send free emails with downloading link for your file to all your addressees.

YouShare enables you to upload up to 500 MB at a time without any registration. If you want to upload 1024 MB at a time and organize your files, you can register for free. You can add your friends and give them permission to upload to your albums.

Senduit is one of the great file hosting service. This is a free service that allows you to upload up to 100MB files and then send a link to your friends or relative to have them download it.

Clever Free Ways to Connect via Phone and Web

2009-04-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Innovative Services

Looking to improve how you communicate? Check out these six great options in free e-mail and phone services.

You'll find ways to delay the sending of an e-mail, easily set your favorite e-mail service as the default for Windows to use, improve your free PC phone calls and find the real phone number behind annoying blocked calls.

BEST BET: Gmail Labs: Google's popular e-mail application releases its best new features in Gmail Labs, so make sure to keep tabs on the Labs option in your Gmail settings for access to cool features such as Offline Gmail and Gmail tasks. It is compatible only with Internet Explorer 7.0 or newer; Firefox 2.0 or newer; Google Chrome; and Safari 3.0 or newer.

The Affixa download bridges the gap between your desktop and services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, setting your Web-based e-mail application as the Windows default for quick and easy handling of mailto: links and file attachments.

So you finished the big report at 3 a.m. but you don't want your boss to know how late you stayed up? Keep up the appearance of professional cool by using

DeferredSender (registration required), a service that delivers e-mail messages exactly when you want them sent.

If your inbox is packed with attachments, try Postbox, a downloadable desktop e-mail application that's chock-full of awesome tools for organizing messages and attachments alike.

While you're on business trips, you can see and talk with loved ones easily using the recently updated VoIP download Skype 4.0, which boasts seriously improved video and sound quality.

The simple but effective service TrapCall (registration required) unmasks the phone number behind virtually any call whose number doesn't display on your phone.

Online Video Editing Tools

2009-04-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

Most Popular

These video editing sites are generally characterized by a great ease of use, which makes it a breeze to do both basic and advanced editing even for the non experts. Most of them allow users to publish their edited videos on any web page, embedded in a video player; however, only few of them let users save their edited videos on their computer.

In this mini-guide I have collected for you the most popular sites that allow users to edit videos online. Characterizing traits that I have taken in consideration while reviewing them are:

Input file formats: which are the supported file formats of the video that can be edited online.
Output file formats: in which file formats can be saved the videos edited online.
Embedding support: the possibility to post the edited video on any webpage.
Upload from HD, Mobile or URL: whether the videos can be uploaded from the hard disk, mobile phone or URL.
Max video size: the maximum size of the video that can be uploaded.
Transition effects: the capability to add transition effects to separate different video clips.
Audio dubbing: the option to edit audio, reduce noise and add special effects to it.
Titling: the possibility to add titles and captions within the video.
Special video effects: the availability of special video effects that can be applied to the video.
Save video to desktop: the capability to save the edited video on the computer.
Price: information about the cost of the service.

Please note that this mini-guide is only a collection of the online video editing tools available in the Web and in no ways intends to represent a complete resource.

Online Video Editing Tools :

Eyespot

Input file formats: .avi, .mpeg, .mov, DivX, .wmv, .mp3
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD, Mobile or URL: HD and mobile
Max video size: You can upload up to seven items at a time, with a 100 Mb file size limit.
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: YES
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: YES (both Windows and Mac)
Price: free

Eyespot is an online video mixer that makes it easy to upload, organize and share video, photos, and music. It allows you to apply special effect and add transitions to any videos; audio dubbing is supported too. You can also send your cell phone videos to your account via MMS. Eyespot organizes all your videos in albums and lets you embed them in any webpage. Eyespot works on any platform and within any browser.

Link: http://eyespot.com/

Jumpcut

Input file formats: .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .rm, 3GP.
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD, Mobile or URL: HD and mobile
Max video size: 100MB
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: YES
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: NO
Price: free

Jumpcut is an online video editing and remixing tool that lets you edit your videos, create slideshows and post them on any webpage. You can easily add and arrange content in your movie by dragging and dropping thumbnails, select the best parts of your video clips, change duration for your images, add your music or sound effects, choose transitions, add titles and special effects.

Link: http://www.jumpcut.com/

Motionbox

Input file formats: .avi, .mov, .dv, .mpg, .mp4, .wmv, .asf, and .qt.
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD or URL: HD
Max video size: 100MB per file.
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: NO
Titling: YES
Special video effects: NO
Save video to desktop: NO
Price: free

Motionbox is a web-based video editing service that features the ability to link to a very specific point or “segment” within the clip itself. The integrated video sharing support gives users the power to select any number of highlights in their online videos, assign them with tags, and share them with friends, giving Motionbox a temporary space under the spotlight. Motionbox works on the most popular browsers, both with Windows and Mac.

Link: http://www.motionbox.com/

Photobucket

Input file formats: .avi, .mov, .dv, .mpg, .mp4, .wmv, .asf.
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD or URL: HD
Max video size: Max 10 minutes.
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: NO
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: NO
Price: free

Photobucket enables video editing within a browser using Flash and lets users remix their photos and home videos with other elements, such as music, video captions, and transitions. Photobucket also provides a simple service that enables you to store, share and publish your visual digital content online. Images and videos can be directly linked from Photobucket to any site.

Link: http://photobucket.com/

StashSpace

Input file formats: .avi .mov .wmv
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD, mobile or URL: HD
Max video size: Not relevant
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: NO
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: NO
Price: free with 5 Hours of Video / 500 photos. The Nickel Stash plans costs $5/month or $50/year with10 hours of video / 1,000 photos. The Dime Stash plan costs $10/month or $100/year with 25 Hours of Video / 2,500 photos.

StarterStash is a web-based service that allows you upload, store and edit your videos online. You can also record directly from your camcorder or digital camera with StashPad to create a library of video that you can organize on your local computer and sync with your online StashSpace. You can mash together scenes from any video in your stash to create new movies on the fly.

Link: http://stashspace.com/

Cuts

Input file formats: .flv
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD or URL: URL
Max video size: Not relevant
Transition effects: NO
Audio dubbing: NO
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: NO
Price: free

Cuts is a service that makes it easy to create and share your take of any online video. With Cut it’s only a few clicks to insert sound effects, add captions, loop the best parts and in minutes you can share your creation by embedding it on any webpage and blog, or emailing it to your friends. All you need is the page URL of your favorite video. Cuts works on any platform and within any browser.

Link: http://www.cuts.com/

VideoEgg

Input file formats: .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .rm, 3GP.
Output file formats: .flv
Embedding support: YES
Upload from HD, Mobile or URL: HD
Max video size: N/A
Transition effects: YES
Audio dubbing: N/A
Titling: YES
Special video effects: YES
Save video to desktop: N/A
Price: To be discussed with VideoEgg

If you want to build a video community, VideoEgg is a video editing platform that you can add to create a social network and offers opportunities for monetization. Users can take any file format, from anywhere (their hard drive, web cam, camcorder, etc.) drag it into the editing platform and then create a movie. And thanks to the publishing platform, users are able to edit, add effects, make slide shows, create mash-ups, etc- all within the context of your site.

Link: http://www.videoegg.com/

78 Ways for your Small Business to Save Money in this Economy

2009-04-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

Live is not fear

With the economy struggling, every business is trying to cut costs to make ends meet. Small businesses, which have fewer resources, especially feel the burn.

Not to fear. I’ve come up with a mega-list of ways to trim the fat off your enterprise so you don’t become a casualty of the latest economic downturn.

Technology

1. Go green! Energy-efficient technology will save you money over the life span of your computers, phone systems and other tech tools. There are often tax benefits to green technology, too. Not to mention it’ll help out the environment.
2. Switch to open-source software. An open-source solution isn’t the scary, “You’re on your own!” proposition that larger software providers lead you to believe. Open-source software costs a fraction of the price as commercial products while still offering all, if not more, of the features.
3. Consider a smaller ISP. If you don’t have a big-business budget, smaller ISPs offer good value for their cost. Check out The List to compare prices.
4. Check out VoIP. VOIP is basically a phone service that uses the Internet. Many small businesses are opting for this cheaper alternative that can save them up to 60% over their traditional telecom costs.
5. Get a cheaper business phone service. Try a hosted PBX system, like Virtual PBX. Unlike a standard PBX, there is no hardware or software to buy or maintain, so costs start low and stay low.
6. Switch from a merchant account to an online payment service like Paypal. Say goodbye to statement fees and monthly fees. These services, however, do have a higher “per transaction” cost, so do some number crunching to see if making a switch will really save you money.
7. Reduce the number of phone lines. You could accomplish this simply by configuring office PCs to send and receive faxes. The Windows XP operating system and Small Business Server both make it easy to set up fax services.
8. Look for cheap or free web hosting. Check out this list of free Web space or read the reviews of hosts at Web Hosting Unleashed to see which providers have saved businesses money.
9. Buy recycled printer cartridges. Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. Much of it is margin, so find low-cost sources.
10. Reassess your phone plan. Even if you don’t switch to VoIP, you can get service for cents per minute depending on your call volume.
11. Eliminate unnecessary lighting. Install motion detectors to control lighting in frequently unoccupied areas, such as restrooms and copy rooms.
12. Turn off equipment when it’s not being used. This can reduce energy consumption by 25 percent; turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent.
13. Lighten up. Dark walls require more power to produce the same amount of light.If possible, repaint your walls or lighten up your office space with wall hangings to reduce the amount of energy you use.
14. Time yourself. Install timers on outdoor lighting systems so they only operate from dusk to dawn.
15. If appropriate, use laptop computers. These portable computing machines consume 90 percent less energy than standard desktop computers.
16. Stop paying for software. Visit sites like Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and limited versions. Also check manufacturers’ Web sites for free trial downloads.
17. Do it online. Do all of your sales calls need to be in person? Internet-based technologies like Web conferencing and tools like Microsoft Office Live Meeting let you make online presentations to customers.
18. Share printers. If you purchase and maintain multiple printers at your office, you could save money by setting up a network that allows employees to share devices. Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 is an easy-to-use and easy-to-operate server solution that allows you to share printers and create a more secure and productive computing environment.

Overhead

19. Reduce your variable expenses. Variable expenses change depending on your consumption of a good or service. They can add up, so see where you can regulate or scrap spending all together.
20. Do house cleaning on your weekly unneeded expenses. If you’re spending $50 a week on pizza for the office, you might want to consider brown bagging it.
21. Get a freelancer. Don’t let Larry in accounting eat up your electricity as he checks his fantasy football league stats. Hire freelancers, consultants or contractors to work for you from home.
22. Keep a close watch on energy consumption. Set your thermostats to a lower temperature, turn off all appliances when they’re not in-use and encourage staff to shut down their computers when they’re out of the office.
23. Sublet office space. You’ll always need to pay rent, regardless of the economy. But try to avoid any additional bills and contracts that will come with having your own office. Subletting is a great way to accomplish this.
24. Keep it in the family. Got kids? Hire them! You’ll get cheap help, your kid will learn responsibility and you may get some tax breaks, too.
25. Hire college students or interns for credit. An internship program is a win-win situation for your business. You get bright, young and ambitious employees to do your dirty work for little or no pay.

Office Items and Office Space

26. Take advantage of member rewards. Maximize your rewards points by double-dipping on programs for many of your office and electronics purchases. You can get points from your credit card provider as well as stores like Best Buy.
27. Plan shipping or mailings. You can schedule your shipping, mailings or deliveries to take advantage of bulk transactions.
28. Don’t pay retail. Get purchase orders at trade shows, buy wholesale or even check out the local offerings on Craigslist to save big bucks on office essentials.
29. Eliminate unnecessary paper waste. Implement paper-reducing strategies such as double-sided printing and reusing paper. You’ll save some trees, too!
30. Barter. Thought the days of trade were over? Think again. You can now exchange countless number of goods and services online on sites like Barter.net.
31. Free form it. Don’t waste time and resources finding writers to produce forms for your business. Search online for free forms you can download and print. Entrepreneur.com specifically has ones for small businesses.
32. Buy used equipment. One person’s trash is another guy’s treasure, right? Sites like Capasset.com sell used computer equipment and copiers.
33. Check out going-out-of-business sales. You’re business isn’t going to tank because you’re reading this article. But other companies are bound to fail during this recession. Update your business’s digs by capitalizing on the misfortune of others.
34. Get creative and recycle. Refurbish old treasures with ideas from sites like Suite 101.com.
35. Opt for industrial space over commercial office space. True, you won’t be in the trendiest neighborhood in town, but you’ll save a wad of cash each month.
36. Clean up your mailing list. The U.S. Postal Service will clean up your mailing list for free, correcting addresses, noting incomplete addresses and adding ZIP+4 numbers so you’ll be eligible for bar-code discounts.
37. Use online coupons. Scour the Internet for coupons and promotion codes hardware, software and electronic equipment.

Advertising

38. Word-of-mouth marketing works. Use your associates to get referrals.
39. Create an e-newsletter. It’s much cheaper to market to previously acquired customers than creating new direct-marketing collateral.
40. Use YouTube. YouTube is a great free way for you to get the word out on your business.
41. Place an ad on local television stations. If you’re not into YouTube, or want to reach additional audiences, local shows are amazingly easy venue to access. Advertising rates for local TV stations are much more negotiable than what you’d expect.
42. Communicate on online forums and message boards. You’ll interact with potential clients and customers — for free.
43. Start a blog. You can advertise, review your offerings and give free tips as often as you’d like without worrying about running up your budget.
44. Use email. Similar to the newsletter, email marketing campaigns will let you interact with specific customers about new products that might interest them.
45. Get to know your neighbor businesses. They might be up for splitting local advertising and promotion costs, such as sidewalk sales and mailing lists.
46. Get your clients to advertise for you. Ask them to write a testimonial on your Web site or tell their colleagues about your products or services.
47. Be a guest speaker. Speak at a community meeting or teach a business course to reach new potential customers.
48. Join trade associations. You’ll get industry-specific information, advice, sales opportunities and other member benefits.
49. Prune your mailing list. Direct Marketing Association offers this checklist of cost-cutting ideas. Eliminate nonresponders and marginal prospects; print “Address Correction Requested” on your mail; investigate comingling your mail with that of other small businesses to take advantage of discounts available to large mailers; and stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.
50. Be an early bird. Send mail early in the day, and you can usually expect to get one- to two-day delivery for the price of a first-class stamp.
51. Shop around for an overnight courier. Overnight delivery rates for the major couriers are competitive; however, if you’re willing to wait a few hours — or even an extra day — you could save.
52. Piggyback your advertising. Include advertising material in mailings such as invoices and sneak announcements or coupons into newsletters and other promotional fliers.

Insurance and Finances

53. Re-evaluate your insurance coverage and policy costs. Ask your provider about an umbrella policy, which can be cheaper.
54. Consider a four-day work week. Who’s going to object to a three-day weekend?
55. Bank on an early deposit. Make bank deposits early in the day so you get credit (and start earning interest) that day.
56. Consider outsourcing your HR, benefits and payroll to an external provider. Handing over administrative responsibilities to another company will save you time and money.
57. Order your checks from a printing company. Printing companies often charge less than banks.
58. Consider raising your deductibles. Assess your risk against cash flow benefits by reviewing your insurance deductibles.
59. Ask about cash management or sweep accounts. Visit Bankrate.com’s Small Business account search for a comparison of corporate checking accounts.
60. Take a stand on property taxes. If your business is new in the neighborhood, you may be at a higher tax rate than those who have been there longer. “Go to city hall to determine what your neighbors are paying, and use this to negotiate a better rate,” advised Pete Collins of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “Expanding businesses can often negotiate with community authorities, who want them to stay in town rather than move and take jobs elsewhere.”
61. Check up on your medical insurance. Before choosing a medical insurance carrier, ask for information on past claims and the loss ratio of paid claims to premiums.
62. Consider a PEO (Professional Employer Organization). PEOs take over the administrative and legal responsibilities of managing your employees, effectively becoming “employers of record.” This translates into lower HR costs, better benefits packages and reduced legal liability for your company.
63. Try to bargin. The professionals with whom you work regularly are often amenable to bargaining, thanks to the rapport you’ve developed with them. Ask your insurance agent, accountant or attorney how you can cut back on their costs. You’d be surprised at their suggestions on ways to cut your premiums, reduce billable hours or avoid huge retainers. You might also barter your services as a substitute for payment.
64. Time your payments. Ask suppliers if they give discounts for early payment. If not, it’s to your advantage to pay your bills — including utilities, taxes and suppliers — as late as possible without incurring a fee.
65. Seek at least three bids on everything. Even mundane purchases merit shopping around. If you quote a competitor’s lower price, a supplier or vendor will often match that price to win your business.
66. Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you’re hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers’ sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive and often equally effective.
67. Form a buying alliance. Join with another business or a trade association for bulk purchasing discounts.
68. Don’t overlook crucial tax deductions. In addition to being able to deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage interest and utilities as business expenses, you can also deduct a percentage of various home-maintenance expenses, along with a portion of the cost of services such as house cleaning and lawn care. Check out the IRS (Internal Revenue Service)’s Web site, or check with a knowledgeable tax adviser for more information.
69. Save by association. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.
70. Temp it out. Rather than paying for employees who sit idle when business is slow, consider hiring temporary employees to handle surges in activity.
71. Get the best business credit-card deal. Whether it’s cash back or travel rewards, the right business credit card can yield big dividends.

Travel

72. Shop for discounted fares online. Scour popular travel Internet sites for specials on major air carriers. Don’t forget about regional and budget airlines, however
73. Get your rental car through a discount broker. Companies like Rent-A-Wreck of America offer reduced rates as compared to mainstream rental-car businesses.
74. Sharing is saving. Employees should share hotel rooms and rental cars as much as possible when traveling together.
75. Go dutch. On the executive end of the spectrum, many private jet legs are empty or can be split with other business travelers.
76. Don’t eat where you sleep. Hotel restaurants are usually more expensive than other nearby options.

Think Outside the Box

77. Get an “executive suite.” You don’t have to run your office full-time from an executive suite to benefit from its services. Many home-based entrepreneurs find executive suites meet a range of needs, including access to a private mailbox and a receptionist to answer or forward calls to your home office.
78. Don’t scrimp on disaster-recovery planning. It’s cheaper to bend than break.