Tech Trends . - News, Reviews and Trends in Technology, Internet, Computers

Resize Pictures in Batches Easily

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Resize My Photos is a light-weight application that helps you resize pictures effortlessly. It is quite effective when you have to resize pictures in batches.

It is quick and it is coming free. All you need to do is to download a small executable file (439 KB) which will install the light-weight application into your pc.

Once installed, the software adds a 'Resize Pictures' option to the right-click menu. So when you right-click on single or multiple photos, you can instantly resize those photos by selecting the ‘Resize Pictures’ in the right-click menu.

If you want to resize pictures in batches, launch the application and add the selected files or the whole directory. Users can change the options like resize method, image quality, and even output directory. After file selection, click start and you are done.

Download the free application from this link.

(Remember, this only works on Windows.)

Google Squared - View Search Results in Spreadsheet

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Google Labs has launched another way to search and find useful information from the web with Google Squared.

Say you are planning to buy a digital camera and you want to know the prices, its specs and details of the vendors. You want see all these information in one page listed like in the spreadsheet so that you can get a much broader view of the best deal that suits you. That will be the perfect search result page, right?

Is it possible? Well, it is. Try Google Squared.

This new feature just released by Google Labs, gathers information from various sites for a search term and lists them like in a spreadsheet. Editing is also made possible with the search result.

You can add another row or column to the spreadsheet and Google Squared will automatically attempt to fetch and fill in the relevant facts for you. Moreover, when you remove a row or a column, Google squared will suggest you new rows or columns to add so that you get a much better result. Once you finish with editing and if you are happy with the results, you can save it to your Google account so that you can access it on a later date.

But all is not well with this new feature and the results you see is far from perfect. I searched for iPhone and this is the message I got.

"Google Squared couldn't automatically build a Square about iphone.

But don't give up yet!
Start a Square by entering up to 5 example items below."

This simply means iPhone does not have a default square. But it is acceptable for the moment, since the feature is just been released. In over a period of time, I expect this feature to evolve and who knows, it might revolutionize the way we see the search results in the future.

So for the moment, it is just a new feature which you can hang around and spend some time. For more information see this video below.

Google's New Chrome Beta is Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0000

The new beta version of Chrome (v. 2.0.169.1) is faster.

Google had introduced the faster beta version of Chrome on March 27th and after trying it for more than two days, I can say that it is definitely faster than the earlier stable version.

According to Google Chrome blog, the new browser is “25 percent faster on our V8 benchmark and 35 percent faster on the Sunspider benchmark than the current stable channel version and almost twice as fast when compared to our original beta version.”

Some new features are also included in the new beta release. This includes form autofill, autoscroll and full page zoom (press F11). Tabs in Chrome have become more functional with this beta version. Users are allowed to drag-and-drop tabs on the desktop to get a side-by-side view of two pages (watch this video below).

Chrome has become now the fourth most popular browser, taking out Opera, that is according to Web metrics company Net Applications. This is significant for Chrome because Google launched its browser only in last September and the stand-alone version came only in December 2008.

So for the new Chrome beta, I would recommend thumps up and if you want to see your browser fly, download the new Chrome beta release from here.

Related:
Google Chrome Extensions by May 2009
New Browser From Google: Google Chrome - A Review

Copy Rip DVD Movies With Extra DVD Ripper

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Extra DVD Ripper Express is a versatile DVD ripper application, it is extremely easy to use, and it will help you to copy and convert DVD movies into any video format you like. You can also rip the DVD data so that you can carry your favourite movies in your pen drive.

Extra DVD Copy Ripper converts DVD to almost every format including AVI, MPEG, iPod(MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC), iPhone(MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC), FLV, Sony PSP, Sony PS3, BlackBerry(3GP, AVI, WMV, MP4, MP3, AAC, M4A, WMV), Zune(WMV, MP4, MP3, AAC), WMV, Pocket PC(WMV, AVI, FLV, MP4, 3GP), RM, RMVB, Mobile 3GP, Apple TV, Archos Player, Creative Zen Player, Disney Mix Max Player, xBox360, HP iPAQ Series, Audio(MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV) and many other formats with no quality loss.

So hurry up because you only have some 17 hours left to download the software for free. Check here.

Google Tip Jar Help You Save Money

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:32:00 +0000

Google has added an interesting new addition to its bouquet of online services. The latest one is called Tip Jar and it is going to save you money in your daily lives. The timing of the launch makes absolute sense since we are going through the worst financial crisis in the modern times.

Tip Jar is like a community or acts somewhat like a forum which gathers all the money-saving tips in one place and allow visitors to vote and rank them in order of usefulness. The most popular tips will rise to the top of the list. Users can also submit tips to the existing lists as well. These money-saving-tips are categorized into Finance, Eco, Health, Tech,

Shopping, Kids & Family, Cars & Transit, Food, Vacation, At Home, At Work and Misc.

According to Google blog, “There are lots of money-saving tips scattered across the web, but even if you found them, it would be hard to know which ones were worth trying. Tip Jar gathers tips in one place and invites people — i.e., you, me and everyone else — to rank them in order of usefulness and even add their own tips to the list. Over time, the best and most useful tips will rise to the top.”

I had a quick look at the Food section and the following are the three money-saving-tips that came up on top.

"Drink water. Often we drink lots of calories through sodas, coffee, alcohol, juices, tea, etc. And that costs a lot too. Drink water, save money, save calories. Here are some tips for forming the water habit."
"Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach or you may end up buying more than you need."
Drink more water. Not only does drinking plenty of water have great health benefits, water drinking has financial benefits, too. Drink a big glass of water before each meal, you won’t eat as much, saving on the ol’ food bill."

Most of the tips in the list might sounds familiar to you but I’m sure that if you have a hard look in the site, you might come up with some tips that might help you save few hundred dollars every month. In these testing times, as the saying goes, every bit helps. So if you want to save money, it won't be a bad idea to have a look at Google's Tip Jar.

MP3Search: Find Your MP3 and Download

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:07:00 +0000

MP3 Search is a site which helps you find your favorite mp3 song and download to your PC for later use. You can also listen to the song before you download it. The site has a clean music search interface, unlike the rest of the mp3 download sites.

You can search a song by artist, album or by the name of the song and you can download as many songs as you like.

Moreover, it's coming free! No registration is needed to download your favorite song.

Check out the service here: http://mp3search.doremixy.com/

ADrive Offers 50 GB Free Online Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Much before Microsoft came up with Windows Live SkyDrive, which offers users 25GB of free online storage, there was another service provider who was offering a much better deal. ADrive was offering and still offers a whopping 50GB of online memory, where users can back up almost all types of files for free.

ADrive allows users to upload their documents, photos or even their favorite music or movies if they want. ADrive also allows users to edit uploaded document files in the browser using Zoho. You can share your files with your friends by sending an email directly from your ADrive account and to share large files, ADrive provides you with a public URL, which is quite handy.

ADrive comes three storage options, Basic - free and only for individual use, Signature and Premium account for corporate users which offers a choice of 100GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB or 1TB costing anywhere between $13.95 to $131.95 per month.

Last week ADrive officially launched ADrive Desktop, a desktop application that allow customers to upload, download, and schedule jobs to backup files/folders from their computer to their ADrive account. This application gives paid account holders direct access to their ADrive account from their desktop.

(Via Download Squad)

Google Chrome Extensions by May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:31:00 +0000

According to this year's schedule for Google I/O Conference, there is a session titled "Developing extensions for Google Chrome", which strongly suggest that Google may be planning to launch extensions for its browser Chrome by May this year.

Google further adds "Learn how Google Chrome makes it easy to write extensions using the web technologies you already know. This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser."

So we can assume that Google Chrome will add support for extensions before May 27th, that’s when the convention begins.

Google officially opened up registration for Google I/O 2009, their third annual Developer’s Conference and is scheduled for May 27 - 28, 2009 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

(Source: Nick.Pro)

Related:
Google's New Chrome Beta is Faster
New Browser From Google: Google Chrome - A Review

Merge PDF Documents for Free Online

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:25:00 +0000

If you want to merge PDF documents and do not have the heavy-duty Adobe Acrobat or any other expensive PDF software, you are in trouble. Right? Well, not any more. A free online tool will do the job for you.

MergePDF will allow you to combine your multiple PDF files into a single file, that too for free. The service doesn't need any user registration.

But there are some limitations with MergePDF. The maximum number of PDF files to be merged is limited to 10 at one go and each file should be less than 5 MB.

After merging the PDF files, user can download the merged PDF document from their server and all the uploaded files will be removed once the merge process is finished. In our test, the whole merging process was complete under 1 minute, which we think is excellent since it doesn't cost a dime for a user.

So if you are in a position where you frequently merge PDF files, this free online tool is your best friend.

Check the service for yourself at MergePDF.

New Features & Improvements in Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:53:00 +0000

Windows 7 made waves in CES 2009.

Check out some of the new features we would see in the upcoming Microsoft OS, Windows 7.

There is an interesting video presentation from Channel 10, have a look here.

Look for some of the features like Jump List, the new task bar with previews, and other UI improvements.

Google Launches Picasa for Mac Users

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:48:00 +0000

Google has launched its popular picture manager application Picasa for Mac users. So from now millions of Mac OS X users can download the Picasa for Mac and try out the application.

According to Google, "Picasa for Mac looks and works much like Picasa on other platforms, and offers trademark Picasa features — such as non-destructive editing, and the ability to keep track of photos anywhere on your hard drive, then automatically account for new images as you add them."

Google have recommended that to run Picasa, users may need an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.4 or above.

You can also check out the video tour below.

Tweetree - Twitter Posts in Context and Tree Format

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Do you spend a lot of time tweetering around, then this website might be help to you.

Tweettree lets you put your Twitter messages in a tree format so that you can see what people's replays to other user's post.

Moreover, it also pulls in lots of external content like twitpic photos, youtube videos and more to give a better representation of the topic you are following.

In their words, "Tweetree puts your Twitter stream in a tree so you can see the posts people are replying to in context. It also pulls in lots of external content like twitpic photos, youtube videos and more, so that you can see them right in your stream without having to click through every link your friends post."

You can check the site here.

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Recover Keys 2.0.0.25 is Free Today

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:23:00 +0000

Recover Keys is an application that retrieve your lost software activation codes, product ID and other details so that you can make a backup to a text file or print a hard copy.

This piece of software will help you avoid a situation where you have the genuine software and doesn't remember the valid key.

“Recover Keys 2.0.0.25 ” retrieve activation keys from 783 installed software packages including such major products like Microsoft Windows and Adobe Photoshop.

This software is quite handy in case you have lots of software installed in your computer.

Remember this free offer is only for today, so hurry up. You can download the software from here.

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Apple's Large iPod Touch HD - iTablet in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:12:00 +0000

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch got this scoop of 2008. Apple is planning to launch a large iPod touch in the later half of 2009.

According to Mr. Arrington’s post, "expect a large screen iPod touch device to be released in the Fall of ‘09, with a 7 or 9 inch screen. Prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources, and Apple is talking to OEMs in Asia now about mass production."

Apple may like to called it iTablet but it is too early to talk of pricing of the device. But according to Mr. Arrington, since a 32 GB 3,5 inch iPod touch costs $399, he expects the new device to be significantly expensive.

Silicon Alley Insider puts the tag at around $600 to $700 but with more memory, which I think will be close to the actual product.

Windows 7 Beta ISO Available in Torrent

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:18:00 +0000

An ISO file that appears to contain Microsoft's new operating system Windows 7 is available in torrent sites.

DownloadSquad says it's Windows 7 M1 build (7000) with an improved memory usage and Microsoft have also made active a number of previously hidden features.

You can search for the file in your favourite torrent sites, and be careful as the ISO file could be tampered with.

Microsoft is hoping to ship Windows 7 beta by early January, 2009.

World's Internet Population - IGF 2008 Report

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:04:00 +0000

Internet Goverance Forum (IGF) – a United Nations arm which monitors internet – in its new report says that people having access to internet is growing rapidly, much faster than previously reported.

IGF 2008, which was held in Hyderabad, India in December, revealed that world’s Internet Population stands at an estimated 1,348,572,040 users or 1.34 billion people by the end of 2007. Just a decade before, in 1997 that figure was only 70 million or 1.7 percent of the world’s population.

Region-wise Asia top the list with 568.7 million people having access to internet, followed by the Americas with 377.9 million and Europe comes third with 335.9 million.

Country-wise the top 10 internet users are from:

United States - 220 million
China - 210 million
Japan - 88.1 million
India - 81 million
Brazil - 53.1 million
United Kingdom - 40.2 million
Germany - 39.1 million
Republic of Korea - 35.5 million
Italy - 32 million
France - 31.5 million

You can download the report in PDF from IGF website.

Google Releases Picasa 3.1 Now in 38 Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:55:00 +0000

Google has announced today that Picasa is now available in 38 languages. Naming it Picasa 3.1, Google have added new photo sharing features for your Picasa Web Albums.

With this new release, users will have better control over their web albums and can share their albums with specific users.

Google says, the software is not yet ready for auto-update from your existing version, so if you want to download the latest Picasa 3.1, you should manually download from picasa.google.com.

Microsoft New OS Windows 7 - Updates, Screenshots

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:25:00 +0000

One of the star attraction of this year's Professional Developers Conference (PDC 2008) was Windows 7, Microsoft's much talked about next generation OS which is going to replace not-so-good Vista.

Is this going to be a major release from the software giant or just an improved Windows Vista?

Not really, if you want Microsoft executives to be believed. They did an impressive demo early this week listing all the new and improved features that comes with the new OS, which they plan to launch by 2010.

I have some screenshots here.

If you want to see more screenshots, check this flickr link.

Some Features

The User Interface looks better than the Vista. There is a big taskbar where users can drag-and-drop various application icons for one click launch. So no quick launch functionality anymore.

The Windows Sidebar Gadgets are replaced with Desktop Gadgets, meaning users can place their Gadgets any where on the desktop, not just in the sidebar.

Windows 7 have improved Wi-Fi networking features, which will light up a wireless icon when a wi-fi is available and users are just one click away from their favorite wi-fi network.

These are some of the features that are coming with Windows 7. If you are interested and wants to read more about Windows 7, check these following links.

New Windows 7 Features Leaked
Windows 7 News Blog - Screenshots, Rumors, Videos

Google AdSense Earnings Now Within Analytics

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:27:00 +0000

So the news is out. Google in its press release has said that users are now allowed to integrate their AdSense account with Google Analytics. That’s good news for you and me. The regret is, at the moment this new feature is by invitation only.

Google will be gradually rolling out this functionality to all publishers, and you and I will see an invitation link at the top of our 'Overview' and 'Advanced Reports' pages when it's been enabled for our account.

Google says, “By integrating your AdSense account with a new or existing Analytics account, you’ll have access to in-depth reports about user activity on your site. In addition to the wealth of metrics already available in Analytics such as unique visitors and visitor language, you'll now have access to granular reports that break down AdSense performance both by page and by referring site.”

This YouTube video explains it further.

IE Browser Plugin For File Conversion

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:03:00 +0000

One of my favorite online file conversion service, Zamzar, is offering a browser plug-in for IE which will allow users to convert files on a website to any format you want. It also allows you to download those converted files to your desktop so that you can keep it for later use.

What is interesting is it even allows you to convert videos from various video sharing sites.

Say you are watching a video in YouTube or Google Video and you want to download the video in a different format, all you have to do is click the Zamzar Button to convert, select the video file and the format you want and save. You got your file. Simple.

Setting up Zamzar Button

For setting up the Zamzar Button first you need to add a new bookmark to your Bookmarks Toolbar. Make sure your Bookmarks Bar is visible by choosing "Show Bookmarks Bar" in the Browser. Simply drag the button "Convert It" button on this page onto your "Bookmarks Bar". Done.

So next time when you are on a site that contains files, just click on the Zamzar Button in your browser and it will auto-detect all the files on that page. You can choose the files you want and what format you want them in and save to your local disk.

You can see the video of the button in action here.

Google's All New Chrome Browser

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:56:00 +0000

You may be sick of reading about Google Chrome by now. There are hundreds or probably even thousands of blog posts about Chrome all over the place. Technology blogs are running a never ending commentary on Chrome and how it is going to “affect” Microsoft, Firefox, Safari and what not.

This blog did not cover Chrome launch from Googleplex nor had any post reviewing the much hyped browser. I have nothing against Google, but thought I will sit back and see how far this craze can go on.

I downloaded Chrome yesterday and after using it for almost 2 days, I can say that I like the new browser from Google. I am impressed. It is fast - faster than Firefox 3 and Safari (sorry I don’t use IE), much reliable, don’t have any flashy buttons or icons. It is just a simple, elegant looking browser, which is quite functional in every sense.

Out of those tens of thousands blog posts about Chrome, I am listing here my favorites, which is worth spending your time. Ignore the rest in the blogosphere and spend that extra time with your kids.

So Is Chrome The Fastest Or What? – TechCrunch
Just Say It Google: Chrome is a Modern OS – All Things Digital
Google Chrome Vulnerable to Carpet Bombing Flaw – ZDNet Blog
Google Mule – Aviv Raff, Internet Security Expert
Lets Talk Speed, Chrome, and WebKit – Zimbra
Confirmed: Chrome Is Coming To Android – ReadWriteWeb

Google Chrome Tips and Tweaks
You must check this out. (Source: Digital Inspiration)
Google Chrome Features That We Miss in Other Web Browsers
Create Separate User Profiles and Extra Safe Browsing with Google Chrome

This is from where all the people are searching for Google Chrome

(Source: Google Insights)

And finally, to close or crash your Chrome window just type “:%” in the address bar. Have fun. (Source)

Cuil Search Engine Bot Twiceler Brings Sites Down

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:19:00 +0000

Cuil, the so-called Google beater is going through a pretty dry run since its launch in late July. They got a huge press for their official launch, but all for the wrong reasons. PCMag said The New Cuil Search Engine Sucks in their review.

Cuil is a text book case study for PR guys who are looking for what all can go wrong in a product launch.

After all the noises surrounding their launch now it is Cuil’s crawler that is getting all the attention, again for the wrong reasons. Now webmasters are complaining that Cuil’s crawler Twiceler is bringing down their websites. The reason, it is taking too much of bandwidth. One user went on to say that the bot “leeched enormous amounts of bandwidth — nearly 2GB this month until it was blocked. It visited nearly 70,000 times!”

But some users were less fortunate. Another user had “So much, that it completely brings the site down. We’re 24 hours into this “index” of the site, and I’ve had to restrict traffic to the site down to 2 packets per second, while discarding the rest, or otherwise it makes the site unusable.”

Some of the hosting services have even started banning the bot from indexing their sites. A post in this forum confirms it. “As of now all know Twiceler IPs have been banned across our server farm. This ban will remain in place until I see proof that this bot is legitimate and does something other than bring down our customer sites.”

These are some of the press Cuil is getting in blogosphere.

Twiceler Is A Rude, Misbehaving, And Rogue Robot
How to stop? 64.62.136.194 Twiceler www.cuill.com
Cuil’s Twiceler Bot is a Bad Apple

For those ex-Googlers, Cuil was never a dream launch. However they still have a chance to fight back, but they have to act fast before it gets too late.

Summer Games 2008 in Google Maps

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:08:00 +0000

Time is ticking for the Beijing Olympics 2008 opening ceremony. It is a going to be proud moment for every Chinese, a sweet way to tell the rest of the world that they have arrived on the world stage.

The Communist regime has put a whopping $40 billion, by-far the largest in Olympic history, to build the infrastructure for the event. They want to market the Beijing Games as the best ever and are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that everything is progressing according to Government Plan, even at the cost of freedom.

Oh...sorry, no politics!

Google have some interesting information about the Games on Google Maps. Users can explore stadiums in 3D, track medal counts, and view live sport results here.

Here's a video tour of the Olympics Village in 3D:

If you want to see the Games from your desktop, you can download the Google Earth KML that highlights similar information and provides a unique virtual experience.

Google Translate to Speak 10 More Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:39:00 +0000

Google Translate, a free service provided by Google Inc. to translate a section of text or a webpage, is adding 10 more languages bringing the total to 23 languages.

The newly featured languages include Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian and Swedish.

A post in the Google blog says, "In addition, you can now translate text and web pages as well as perform cross-language searches between any two languages that we offer. For example, we now support Chinese translation to/from any of our languages (e.g., Chinese to French). So for those of you who will be following or attending the Olympics in Beijing this fall, you'll be able to more easily find and access content from local sources."

Google have also added a "Detect Language" option to help you automatically identify the language of the text you're trying to translate. And according to Google, the longer the text, the more accurate it will be.

HBO To Be Available on iTunes

noreply@blogger.com (Biju Ayyappan) — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:25:00 +0000

Portfolio.com is reporting that HBO shows and movies are going to be available on iTunes very soon.

According to sources involved in the process, Apple is close to announcing it has signed a deal to sell HBO programs and movies on iTunes website.

If rumors are to be believed, HBO programming will have a higher retail price than the flat $1.99 fee Apple currently charges for other video contents.

The HBO insiders said that the new service would be launched and announced simultaneously, most likely in a week or two.