Simple Tech Today

The 10 Firefox Add-ons I Can’t Live Without

Ellen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:23:40 +0000

I suppose that I am still a PC girl at heart because one of the first pieces of software I loaded on my MacBook Pro was Firefox. Safari may be a great browser but there are Firefox add-ons I use that I feel I can’t live without for my daily web browsing. In order of importance those add-ons are

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

feedly – A magazine-like start page that pulls information from Google Reader and Twitter. I hate using Goggle Reader now, I love opening Firefox to feedly where I can see in a quick glimpse what is going on in the world of technology, gadgets and general news I follow. Then I go into my Shopping section and look at everything that is on sale today. I can browse by section or my all my feeds in a Digest view. If you are looking for a different way to deal with reading news feeds on a daily basis I suggest giving feedly a try.
Enter Selects – A very simple add-on that when you start typing in a web address in the “AwesomeBar” you don’t need to scroll down to the first item in the list to select it, just press enter and the first item is selected. Neat!
keyconfig – I am left-handed and it is easier for me to use the keys on the left to move back and forth between browser windows rather than using Command-arrow back and forward on the right side of the keyboard. keyconfig lets me rebind the keys in Firefox so I can use Command-z to go back and Command-x to go forward. Normally Command-x is used to cut but in Firefox I don’t find a need for that combination so I used keyconfig to rebind it. EDIT: I just learned that three-finger swiping back and forth on track pad will go back and forth browsing. Now I can rebind those keys to do somthing else!
Easy DragToGo – I use this add-on all the time. I’ll be browsing a page and come across a term I want to search in Google and I highlight the term and drag it up and it opens Google in a new tab with the search. If it is a link I click on it, drag it and it opens in a new tab. If I want to read an item later I click on the link and drag down and the tab opens in the background. Same for images. I rely on this add-on constantly.
Site Launcher – This add-on lets me quickly open websites that I use often with a combination of keys. I go to Amazon a lot and all I need to do is press Shift-Control-a and Amazon opens in a new screen. Site Launcher comes with websites already pre-programmed for sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and more but those sites are easily changed as well as the hotkey to launch the application.
LastPass – This add-on goes with LastPass, a password manager program for storing all your Internet passwords (read my post here). What’s nice about this add-on is that it doubles for me as a bookmark manager too for any site that needs a password since I can organize into folders like Finance, Forums, Blogs and so on.
Linkification – Converts text links into clickable links. Nothing more needs to be said except that I always have clickable links on a webpage. Sweet!
Download Statusbar – Replaces the download window in Firefox with a status bar on the bottom of the window. Very easy to open and clear downloads.
ScribeFire – Since switching over to my MacBook I have been trying to find something like Windows Live Writer for writing my blog posts. So far I haven’t found a stand-alone application that I like but the ScribeFire Blog Editor that is a Firefox add-on works fine. I still miss the ease of WLW but I can live with ScribeFire, it is what I am using to write this post.
FireFTP – Last but certainly not least is a FTP client that is accessed through Firefox, easy to configure and a breeze when I am uploading a new blog theme or want to make an easy change to a website.

If I could get Safari to work with Feedly, had a function like Easy DragToGo, be able to rebind my keys so I can have left-handed control over going back and forth in my browser and had something like ScribeFire I could see myself giving Safari a try but as of now I am Forever Firefox!

Which web browser do you use on your computer(s)? Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera or something else? Why?

10 Free Software Programs I Put On My Mac

Ellen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:00:10 +0000

My treat this year is my new MacBook Pro that I got on Tuesday. it’s funny, it feels like I’ve had the computer longer while Christmas seems like it was weeks ago! Anyway, buying my MacBook has made me computer poor and while there is plenty of software I would like to buy and probably will in time, I needed to find some free software to replace the common software I have on my Windows machines like Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

In my quest for free software I came across some gems and also programs that I currently have on my Windows computers that I sync with my MacBook. So, this is what is installed on my MacBook.

Open Office – This is a great alternative to Microsoft Office and allows me to edit and create documents, spreadsheets, databases, graphics and presentations that are compatible with a variety of different programs including Microsoft Office.

Gimp – A graphics and photo manipulation program that rivals both Photoshop and Aperture.

Nvu – A web authoring alternative to Dreamweaver which is supposed to be easier to use. Truthfully, once I have the money I will be getting Dreamweaver but this is a great replacement for the time being if I need to do any quick website editing or creating.

Adium – This is a pretty full featured instant messaging application for the Mac. I use Trillian on Windows but really like Adium. It works with all the chat clients out there like AIM, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace and more.

Skitch – Nice screen capturing software with editing capabilities that also allows you to store and share images online.

Tweetie – A nice Twitter client. The free version inserts ads from time to time but that’s no big deal — hey, sometimes the ads have something I am interested in! I’ve been using Tweetie 2 on my iPhone so it just made sense for me to use Tweetie on my MacBook.

Evernote – A cross-platform note taking, saving application. Capture webpages, images, videos, audio or create note from scratch and sync them online, to different computer platforms and smartphones. I’ve been using Evernote for over a year now on my Windows machines and the last few months on my iPhone. It’s nice that I am able to use it on my MacBook and everything syncs wonderfully between machines and I can go online anywhere and see my notes. Recently I won a content with GearDiary so I now have the premium version which means I can add even more notes each month since the free version is limited to 40mb bandwidth a month and only certain file types. I will say that the free version was just fine for me but am happy to have the premium version for a year.

VLC – A multimedia player that is lean and clean and plays most every type of file.

Firefox – An alternative to using Safari. I am used to Firefox since I use it on my Windows computers so it was only natural that I download it onto my MacBook and add in the plugins that are essential to my optimal browsing experience.

Skype – I use Skype as a video chat client to communicate with a few friends and family.

Our House Is A Logitech Harmony Remote Zone

Ellen — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:24:20 +0000

I hate having to play with different remotes to watch television or a dvd, it’s a pain in the butt! My solution has come in the form of Logitech Harmony Remotes. I love these remotes. My house has 4 televisions, 4 Comcast DVR boxes, 3 Sony Playstations, 3 Laserdisc players (yes we have a collection of laserdiscs), 2 audio receivers, 2 DVD players and 1 VCR. That’s a lot of equipment to control and would be a lot of remotes if not for the line of Logitech Harmony Remotes to chose from.

The reason I like the Logitech Harmony Remotes is that I can easily set them up by connecting them to my computer via a USB cable (you need to be running Windows or Mac Ox, sorry Linux users). Logitech has a pretty comprehensive database of audio/visual components so that all I needed to do is enter the product number of my component and so far the device has been in the database, even the laserdisc players! After entering the components the setup wizard walked me through setting up the activities such as “Watch TV, “Watch Movie” and “Listen to Music.” I customized the buttons on the LCD screen for each activity and I was done.

The simplest setup was my living room with my Sony television, Comcast DVR box and a Sony DVD player. For this setup I have a Logitech Harmony 620 Advanced Remote (currently $100 on Amazon). This is a basic remote that controls up to 15 audio/visual components and has a nice layout for controlling my DVR box and DVD player. I did have to assign buttons for Pip Swap, Day Up and Day Down for my DVR box and the LCD screen buttons but that was it. The commands were all in the database so I just had to assign the buttons, not program them. The remote is also capable of learning commands if they are not in the data base or learning a new component.

I was up and running in less than 1/2 hour. That’s pretty good for programming a Harmony remote for the first time. The other remotes that I have set up, 2 Logitech Harmony 890 (currently $180 on Amazon), and 1 Logitech Harmony 880 (currently $125 on Amazon). The difference between these two remotes is that the 890 has an IR extender for components that are outside the line of sight like in a cabinet or behind walls. Both remotes have a rechargeable battery and charging station.

The 880 and 890 remote:

Control your entire home entertainment system with just one button. Effortlessly switch between watching home theater and listening to music, by selecting a single activity button. Colorful icons accompany text on the LCD screen to allow for quick and easy command of home-entertainment equipment and household appliances that may be out of range for a traditional infrared remote (890 0nly).
Integrate up to 15 devices—including lighting and household appliances.
Save energy! Each time a new activity is selected, the remote establishes the proper state of all of the components needed for the current activity, and turns off the components that are not needed.
Set it up in a snap with an advanced setup wizard. The online setup also makes it easy to update a remote when upgrading your home-entertainment system. The Harmony setup wizard does the programming, so you don’t have to. Just connect your remote to your computer and answer a few questions about how you currently use your home theater. Logitech’s patented Smart State Technology® does the rest.
Don’t worry about using up batteries with the rechargeable lithium ion battery. Store the remote on the attractive charging station when not in use.
Easily view and select. Color display icons and 8 on-screen activity buttons make it easy.
Effortlessly switch between watching HDTV and listening to music, by selecting a single activity button.

One caveat for the remotes is that they don’t control the Sony Playstation because the remote needs to connect through bluetooth not IR. Logitech has come out with the Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 for around $50 which uses the bluetooth link and connects with any of their Harmony remotes, even the older ones that they don’t make anymore. For Christmas I got one for my Playstation and one for the Playstation in the great room. We still need one more but for now we have 3 complete home theater setups using only one remote and without a lot of headaches.

The Logitech website has an assortment of other remotes and a good support section. I would scope out on prices since they sell at retail.

What remote do you use for your home theater? How was the setup? Would you try a Harmony remote?

Random Posts

My Twisted Christmas Card To My Readers

Ellen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:21:30 +0000

I love using JibJab for ecards so much that I have an account with them. It’s great to be able to put myself once in a while in a card and here is my Christmas card for you, my readers.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Random Posts

Apple Is Taking Over My Life!

Ellen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:43:53 +0000

Me oh my, I never thought I would be a person who added money to Steve Jobs pockets, I’ve already given enough to Bill Gates over the years, but here I am at the end of 2009 with an iPhone in my pocket and a MacBook Pro on its way for Christmas. Not that I needed these gadgets mind you but I was tired of trying to make my Samsung Omnia work like an iPhone and I wanted a smaller computer than my 15.4″ Dell XPS laptop to bring to the coffee shop.

So, in October I got an iPhone and since I am trying to be a blogger started a new blog called Simply iPhone Now (check it out if you have an iPhone and please leave comments to help me move it along). I love my iPhone, it is like having a mini computer in my pocket. Plus, all the applications…I have over 140 applications right now, some free, many paid. Like others have referred to themselves as, I am an “appaholic!” This means that I left my beloved Verizon Wireless for the dreaded AT&T though in the long run my wireless access is mostly 3G and the biggest thing I gave up was free calling to my Verizon friends.

Today I decided to give Apple even more of my money and invested in a 13″ MacBook Pro. I was thinking of getting of getting a netbook but then saw that Apple had same as cash financing for a year and since I just finished paying off my Dell laptop (yes, I have given a lot of money to Michael Dell too), I thought it fitting to get a MacBook Pro to play around with and hopefully blog about, thus it will be a business expense. My biggest challenge will be finding cheap or free software for my new MacBook so that I don’t break the bank.

I still am a Windows user with my Dell desktop and laptop. Actually, I am a Windows 7 user for the last couple of months and a happy one at that having upgraded from Windows Vista.

So, do you think I will use my Dell laptop or my Apple MacBook Pro more? I think I know the answer to that question! If you own a Mac please share with me the software you prefer, especially any that is free or cheaper than the industry standard.

10 Free Software Programs I Put On My Mac

Windows Mobile: Twikini Is A Worthwhile Twitter Client

Ellen — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:16:31 +0000

As my readers know I have a Samsung Omnia which runs Windows Mobile so I can run applications just like on a computer. I’ve been looking for a Twitter client (for my post about Twitter go here) and have tried quite a few like ceTwit, Twobile, Pocketwit and Tiny Twitter. While I liked ceTwit the best I had problems with my virtual keyboard covering the input box at times and not be able to see my whole tweet. This happened with various Twitter clients and became bothersome.

Then I came across a free trial of Twikini and fell in love with the application. It’s fast, customizable with themes, integrates with Twitpic and Windows Media Player (you can post song you are listening to), url shortening services and best of all post tweets with a full screen editor — that’s what I wanted. Twikini is compatible with Windows Mobile 5, 6, and 6.1

So, if you have Windows Mobile and use Twitter I suggest trying out Twikini for the 14 day trial. If you like it buy it $4.95 or if you are a blogger like me write about it and get it for free.

Do you have a favorite Windows Mobile Twitter client? Did you try out Twikini? What do you think about it?

FatWallet Introduces Select Daily Deals To An Already Useful Shopping Site

Ellen — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:04:39 +0000

I love FatWallet. What can I say, they offer cash back if you buy through their links for over 800 merchants, display deals and coupons for those merchants and have what I think are the best forums around for finding deals, freebies and coupons.

Now, Fat Wallet is using its staff to select daily deals they find their members will want to peruse and hopefully buy. Here is their press release.

FATWALLET.COM UNVEILS TODAY’S TOP DEALS

Rockton, IL, May 7, 2009—At 12:00 p.m. CST, FatWallet.com launches Today’s Top Deals, an at-a-glance listing of handpicked FatWallet.com deals.

A dedicated FatWallet.com deal hunting staff is delivering a selection of browsable deals to online consumers via Today’s Top Deals. The daily list of select deals from various shopping categories includes product images, pertinent coupon and purchase links, as well as staff quick reviews and links to corresponding forum community discussions. A sample of Today’s Top Deals welcomes consumers landing on the FatWallet.com homepage; and the full list of fifty-plus deals can be viewed at www.fatwallet.com/top-deals. This light and consumer-friendly page is one of many money saving resources available to consumers to experience the wealth of economical information to be found on FatWallet.com.

As the preferred shopping resource for over one million savvy consumers, FatWallet.com works closely with over 800 merchant partners like Dell, Travelocity, and Wal-Mart to publish exclusive offers, online coupons, and cash back rebates. The growing FatWallet.com forum represents the pulse of not only FatWallet.com but also an evolving online marketplace where consumers gather to share and learn. FatWallet.com ranks by Quantcast as one of the top 1,000 Internet properties, worldwide. www.fatwallet.com

For more information, please contact Laura Pagles of FatWallet.com, (815) 877-8992. marketing@fatwallet.com

So, go and check out their new feature and let me know what you think. I certainly will be subscribing to this feed to add to my dealnews and The Bargainist.

75 Deal and Coupon Site for the Bargain Hunter

Ellen — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:19:23 +0000

Here is a list of 75 sites that will help the shopping enthusiast or even sporadic shopper get the best price through deals and coupons. This list is far from complete but offers an array of sites that you may not have heard of before. I would love to keep this list growing so if you have a site that is not listed here please leave a comment with the website.

247malls.com – quality merchants & special savings Online Coupons, Deals and Special Discounts for over 1.000 stores!
Airfarewatchdog - Compare airfares that are not always part of the bigger travel sites like Southwest and Jetblue. Includes smaller airlines as well. Sign up for free airfare alerts from your local airport.
AntiRebate.com Great Deals, Coupon Codes, Free Stuff, Price Breaks, Save Money, No Rebate Hassles! A source for buying various products at discount prices without the hassles and problems of mail-in rebates. Links to great deals, coupon codes, instant rebates, price breaks, free stuff and other money saving ideas.
BaeBo A shopping site that lets you compare Amazon, eBay and Yahoo all in one place! Monitor Amazon product prices via RSS Feeds! Amazon + eBay + Yahoo + RSS = The best shopping feed EVER!
Ben’s Bargains Lowdown deals!
Booking Buddy Comparison search engine for travel sites. Compare airfare, cruises, hotels, car rentals and vacations from the top travel sites.
Boddit Makes it simple for you to discover deals for what you want by aggregating deals from a huge selection of bargain hunting websites. Searches online for all the latest deals from bargain hunting websites.
Bountii Comparison shopping site showing you the best prices.
Bradsdeals – published by Brad Wilson, finds and filters online shopping deals, online coupons and codes and in-store printable coupons.
Brand Name Coupons A web deals site that combs the Internet to find the best coupons, discounts, and clearances. Has a great Amazon Deal finder tool.
Buxr Shop and save, share and earn.
CheapStingyBargains Your top resource for Dell Coupons, HP Coupons, Coupons, Deals and Freebies.
Combyo Combines hot deals & coupons from top deal sites like Fatwallet, Slickdeals etc. and presents them with real-time price comparison side by side. In case you don’t have the time to look for deals everyday, tell us what you are looking for and the price you are looking for.
Coupon Chief Find and share coupon codes.
Couponmom Blog Nice blog that has deals and coupons, mostly drugstores.
Daves Hot Deals at Daily Tool.com This site posts 2-10 daily deals on cool stuff. Most of these deals and coupons expire quickly. On Fridays this site posts one deal every hour.
DealArmy Aggregates coupons and deals from a variety of sites.
DealBundle Social Shopping for Deal Fanatics! A social shopping community supported by its members. Users submit deals for review then the community rates those deals on quality and popularity which promote them to the main site.
DealCatcher Free Online Coupons Dell, Amazon, Best Buy, Overstock. An online community that helps shoppers save money and make educated purchases. On the site you will find online coupons, products, sales, reviews, and rebates.
Dealhack Deals, Specials, Rebates, Coupons
Dealigg – A social bargain hunting site. A web2.0 community where members find and vote for the latest deals. Popular deals have received seven or more votes.
DealMine.com Save money and time when you shop online! Search stores for discounts, miles, points and other rewards. Compare prices of millions of products at thousands of stores.
dealnews.com Find the lowest prices and coupons on computer hardware, software, digital cameras, iPods, MP3 players, plasma TVs. Great email newsletter sent out daily.
deanNshop Hot deals, freebies, & online coupons for sites like Amazon, Staples, Best Buy and Buy.com.
DealsofAmerica Online deals, coupons, promotions, special offers & deals from popular US stores.
Dealio Online Coupon Codes, Discount Coupons & Online Deals.
dealplumber Find the best deals and coupons & save! A social network for deal savvy consumers to find, save and share deals online.
dealspl.us Hot Deals, Bargains, Coupons, Lowest Prices and Shopping. A great bargain/coupon site to check out
DealPocket Provide the deals and coupons found on internet. Post coupons, discount offers everyday which will help shoppers pocket smiling.
Dealsea Coupon codes and deals.
DealStop They search for truly exceptional deals and bargains each and every day and publish them as soon as they find them. Also, list coupons for popular stores. They write brief stories and reviews about new or lesser known ways to save money.
Deals.com Uncovering the Best Discounts & Deals. User submitted deals and coupons. Community votes on best deals which end up on the front page. Digg-like interface.
DealsVista.com Helps you figure out what is best to buy, why it’s best, and where to buy it at a good price. They sort through all the information and hype on products, and clearly and concisely recommend the best for what you need.
DealTuner Hot deals and listings from deal sites such as FatWallet, SlickDeals, Ben’s Bargains and Deal Catcher. Deals are shown by date posted and categories.
Dealyzer.com Helping you find great deals on the Internet! A search engine that searches many of the popular deal sites on the internet to help you find the best deals. Give it a try.
Digital Deals The Internet source for bargains
eDealinfo Daily deals discount site with coupons.
flippid – Post what you want Flippid lets you name your price for the stuff you’re looking for. Sellers on flippid like it because it doesn’t cost them a thing to see what buyers want. Sellers will even compete with each other just to sell to you!
FatWallet Freeonline coupons, online bargain shopping, price comparison, and forum community. Also offers cashback on purchases made from merchants through their site.
FreeShipping.org Free Shipping Coupons to 1478 Stores.
Frucall An online comparison shopping website for mobile shoppers. Use your mobile phone to find out online prices for items while shopping in stores. Very handy.
GasBuddy.com Find the lowest gas prices in your city.
Gilt Groupe An invitation only site (leave a comment and I will send you invite) that features sales on designers clothes, accessories and home goods.
GottaDeal.com Today’s hottest deals from online forum threads.
Information About Hot Deals: Deals Aggregator Pulls together deals from leading deal and merchant sites. Sites included slickdeals, techbargains, bensbargains, dealsea, dealslist, buy.com, newegg, tigerdirect, amazon and other sites. Deals are updated every hour.
Jellyfish.com Get cash back while shopping online. Also has Smack Shopping which is like a reverse auction. Check it out.
Kaboodle Share and find shopping deals with friends.
mobsaver – SMS price comparison tool Use your cell phone to send text message to get price comparisons while out shopping. checks against amazon and ebay.
my Holiday Shopping List Your online personal shopper, searching the web around the clock to find the best prices available. You’ll receive regular emails with your shopping results, and you’ll be just a click away from the items you want, at the prices you want, directly from t
myTriggers.com All Items. All The Time. A “persistant” shopping search engine where you enter an item you are looking for and the maximum amount you are willing to pay and the application searches over a million merchants, including eBay, and returns relevent results.
NetHaggler A shopping companion toolbar to help you get the best prices. Tag an item at a price you desire. Nag the merchant for a lower price. Haggle as a group for bargain rates.
Passwird Deals and bargains on a variety of items including electronics, gadgets, computers and accessories.
PlanetBargains Find discount clothing, cheap shoes, and deals on dining.
PopDeal The latest tech deals and bargains from around the web. One page aggregator of the latest tech deals on the web including feeds from DealNews, Buy.com, TechBargains, Deal Catcher, ResellerRatings, Ben’s Bargains, XP Bargains, AntiRebate, Woot, SlickDeals, FatWallet and GotApex.
Price Comparisons A web mashup based on Yahoo Shopping, Shopping.com, Amazon, and eBay for comparison shopping. It offers tagging, custom feeds, custom product grouping and pricing history.
Price Protectr – Get your money back! Find the item you bought online, enter the url and your email. If the price drops within the price protection period you will receive an email. Works for Amazon, Backcountry.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Future Shop, Jenson USA, Office Max, Sears.
Printable Coupons – Printable coupons for a variety of stores.
redtagcrazy They sell one hot item from one sought-after label at a time, casual and designer, at deep discounts of 50-80%. Quantities are limited, time is limited, and their attention span is limited – so stay awake.
RetailMeNot Coupon codes and discounts for over 30,000 stores.
SecretPrices.com Deals, Coupons, and Price Comparison Shopping. Unheard of Prices. Primary focus is finding the lowest prices for you. This includes any coupons, rebates, discounts or combination of them. Other shopping comparison sites lack important deal, rebate and co
ShopBIG A comparison shopping search engine providing aggregated user reviews from merchant sites and price alerts.
Shop It To Me: Your free personal shopper for sales on clothing and accessories This site sends you clothing that matches your size and brand preferences as soon as it goes on sale. Select your favorite apparel brands and sizes and you will receive an email with a daily or weekly summary of which new items go on sale in your size.
SlickDeals.net – Your Daily Source for the BEST Deals on the Net!! Find the some of the best deals and coupons for today’s top internet retailers! They also have a comprehensive list of coupons for you to use at online shops.
SmarterTravel.com Free online consumer community helping people save time and money on travel. Offers travel advice, blogs, travel tools, articles on specialty travel and travel deals and bargains.
Snoopr you can find, share, rate, and discuss the hottest deals on the web. You need to participate to get the most out of snoopr.net, so register now (it’s free).
Spoofee Coupons and Deals Find daily deals and coupons. Consumers are informed with the best deals. Users can submit deals on the discussion boards.
sylenotes sister site to dealnews focusing on discounts and coupons on Women’s clothing, apparel, jewelry, accessories and home decor.
TechBargains Bargains, for discounted computer sales, cheap laptops, and cheap digital cameras.
Techdeals.net A guide to technology deals and more.
The Bargainist | Deals, Sales & Coupons Finds the best deals around on just about everything. From gadgets to home furnishings, you’ll always read about the hottest bargains, sales, coupons, and freebies right here.
TheFind.com – Shopping Search Reinvented – What can we find for you? A product search engine that crawls over 500,000 online stores and 150 million products web-wide and ranks results by leading products, brands, stores and styles giving you the most relevent results up front.
Trezr.com: The best sale and discount items, coupon codes, and money-saving tips Links to the best sale and discounted items on the web each day: designer shoes, digital cameras, cashmere sweaters, travel deals and more. You’ll also find coupon codes to stores all over the web and helpful tips for saving money.
Woot : One Day, One Deal An online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. One deal a day is offered until it is sold out. Fun to see what the deal of the day is and whether the price is worth it.
wowcoupons Source for free printable discount coupons for retail and grocery stores, restaurants and travel rebates.
Yugster Daily deals plus as a member special deals are shown. Prices are very good.

What sites do you visit for deals and coupons?

Understanding Torrents: The Big Book of BitTorrent

Ellen — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:33:13 +0000

In my last post I said I had trouble explaining what Twitter was. Well, if Twitter is difficult to explain then torrents are even more difficult to describe. Basically, torrents are a faster way of sharing files with other people. In the Big Book Of BitTorent, put out by the Make Use of Blog, Saikat Basu explains that torrents says,

“Most of us are more familiar with more conventional forms of file sharing such as email and
FTP. BitTorrent is just another file sharing protocol (a set of rules on how to do things) we
can use. Email and FTP rely on one computer hosting the file and transmitting it to another
connected computer. BitTorrent introduces a major difference – the hosting and the
downloading is spread out over many computers using a technology called Peer-to-Peer. We
can use BitTorrent to share or download any type of files – .exe, mp3, AVI, Jpeg, and Doc
etc…

Hey, stop the muddles before they come on…it‟s not terribly complicated. Here‟s a likeness
of how BitTorrent works…
There is a book I want to read but I have only one chapter with me. I look around and find a
friend who has a few more chapters. It still isn‟t a complete book, so we search for few more
guys around the block who might have the remaining pages. We find a bunch of guys and
though nobody has the complete book, we share the chapters amongst each other till all of
us get a copy of the complete book one by one.
On the internet the “book‟ becomes our file, which is broken up into little pieces or bits. Each
of us has at least one and we download and share these “bits‟ till we have the entire file.
Each piece one of us downloads is available to all the others for upload. Thus we all share
rather than placing the onus on one computer to host the file and distribute it.”

By sharing files this way the download of a large file becomes quick rather than waiting hours for it to download. BitTorrent can be used for all kinds of files including music and video files. Basu talks about the legality of some torrents like the ability to find the latest movies in the theater on the internet. It’s up to you whether you want to download something you know is illegal or not. I am not sure of the copyright laws regarding television shows but I look at is as a friend taping the show for me to watch on my DVD player later.

The Big Book Of BitTorrent covers many topics to help you understand thoroughly choosing a BitTorrent client, finding torrents, downloading torrents, torrent etiquette and creating your own torrents. The book is in PDF format so give it some time to load.

I use uTorrent as my BitTorrent client. I love it. I also use a few torrent sites to find files to download. I use BTJunkie as a torrent search engine, Mininova, Demonoid (now has open registration, otherwise by invite only) and a site that has British television and radio shows called TheBox which is invite only and I have invites to if you like British television.

I want to thank the people at Make Use Of for offering this book for free (this is a great blog to and I suggest reading it or subscribing to it and Saikat Basu for writing such a clear document that helps the novice understand bittorrents.

So, if you want an invite to TheBox let me know, I have 8 of them please leave a comment and I will send one off to you.

Did the book help you understand BitTorrent? Do you use torrents to download files? Do you have a favorite BitTorrent client? Site or search engine? Please share to let others know.

Random Posts

What is Twitter and the 10 Ways That I Use It

Ellen — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:48:12 +0000

If you watch television news you have probably heard newscasters talk about Twitter or show a Twitter stream of people responding instantly to a question being asks by a newscaster or pundit. Even Oprah has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.

So, what is Twitter? To tell you the truth I have a hard time explaining it. It is known to be a microblogging service where you have 140 characters to type in “What are you doing?” This information is then shared with your followers on Twitter. When a follower leaves what is called a “tweet” you see it in your timeline. The more followers and people you are following the more interactive Twitter becomes, for some it becomes almost an addiction.

Wikipedia’s definition is:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website.

When you first join Twitter you have no one you are following or who is following you back. How do you get people to follow you? You first follow them. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/infomaniac. Then you can look at my timeline and see who my followers are, the “tweets” they leave and whether you want to follow them. Usually when you follow a person they will follow you back unless they are a big celebrity like Oprah or Larry King … http://twitter.com/oprah and http://twitter.com/kingthings.

You can use Twitter to keep up with friends, just have them sign up for Twitter, follow each other, and you can share what you are doing, where you are and so forth. You can protect your timeline so only people who you approve see your updates. That’s how it becomes a social networking tool for you and your friends.

Or, you can be like me and follow lots of people and have many followers sharing all kinds of information. You can reply to followers in the public timeline or send direct messages that no one else sees except the follower you are communicating with.

The ways I use Twitter are

Share “What are you doing?” updates like getting up in the morning or doing work and being bored to not feeling well that day. People respond either with good morning or concern if I’m not feeling well.
Share links with other followers about new software applications, news and interesting blog posts.
Share photos and videos I have taken, mostly of my cat Jack.
Find links from my followers that lead me to interesting stories, web applications, photos, videos and such. It’s fun to check out other people’s links.
Ask questions to my followers, like what kind of smart phone do you use and do you like it. People respond pretty quickly when you have lots of followers.
Answer questions that people ask, that’s if I have the answer of course.
A couple of times I have had problems with my Comcast service and Comcast monitors “tweets” and responds so quickly it can be daunting. You can also follow http://twitter.com/comcastcares if you are a Comcast subscriber you can opt for that but like I say they monitor anyone talking about Comcast and respond. I am sure there are other companies out there that do the same thing.
Keep up with recent news, either through other follower’s “tweets” or followers like http://twitter.com/foxnews.
Follow interesting people like Oprah and Larry King to see what kind of things they tweet.
I follow http://twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn and watch his show. I never have responded with a tweet but I like to see what people are saying on Twitter.

Another fun thing to do is to watch the full Twitter stream of all the people all Twitter. You might find someone who shares information you like or your kind of opinions.

The only way to find out if Twitter is for you and what it is all about is to go to the site and start playing around. Do you use Twitter? Share your Twitter address in the comments and I will follow you.

Simple Tech Today

The 10 Firefox Add-ons I Can’t Live Without

Related Posts

10 Free Software Programs I Put On My Mac

Related Posts

Our House Is A Logitech Harmony Remote Zone

Random Posts

My Twisted Christmas Card To My Readers

Random Posts

Apple Is Taking Over My Life!

Related Posts

Windows Mobile: Twikini Is A Worthwhile Twitter Client

Related Posts

FatWallet Introduces Select Daily Deals To An Already Useful Shopping Site

Related Posts

75 Deal and Coupon Site for the Bargain Hunter

Related Posts

Understanding Torrents: The Big Book of BitTorrent

Random Posts

What is Twitter and the 10 Ways That I Use It

Related Posts