Core Digest » Softwares

Listen to a Song on YouTube, without all the hassles

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:10:44 +0000

Let’s say you are working on something (like a Word document) and would also like to play one of your favorite songs in the background. You don’t have that song in your local iTunes library but it’s most definitely available on YouTube.
So how do you play that song on your desktop?

One option is that you launch your web browser, open the site YouTube.com, type the title of the song in the search box and then click on one of the search results to play that song.
The other hassle-free alternative that you may find more handy is Quisple.
Quisple is a compact Windows utility that lets you play music from YouTube directly on your desktop without even having to launch the browser. Just type the song name in the Quisple player and it will instantly stream the corresponding song from YouTube.
Internally, Quisple uses the Google APIs to search for that song on YouTube and automatically plays the first search result. It doesn’t convert the YouTube video to an audio file but only hides the video portion during playback.
Pavel Kounitsky, the developer of Quisple, says that a new version should be available soon. I really like the simplicity of this app though I wish there were an option to play songs in a loop as well as support for video playlists.

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Listen to a Song on YouTube, without all the hassles originally appeared on Core Digest on November 16, 2010.

More popular Antivirus Software downloads

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:28:24 +0000

AVG Free provides the bare necessities when it comes to security, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. You’ll get a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, LinkScanner, and e-mail scanning. AVG Free 9 introduces a few new features, with improvements focused on performance, including claims of faster scan and boot times. One new feature is the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Only for users in the United States, ITRU is a business partnership with Identity Guard which provides “consumer identity theft solutions,” accessible only from the AVG toolbar in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The interface is nearly unchanged from the last version, and generally it’s easy to use. From the main window, though, you must double-click to get further information on any feature, whether virus scanning, LinkScanner settings, or updating. Streamlining this to one click would be helpful. A scheduling utility automates both scans and updates, while the upgrade ad at the screen’s bottom can be easily hidden using the Hide Notification button. When starting a scan, a slider makes it easy to jump between Slow, Automatic, and Fast scans: the faster the scan, the less comprehensive it is, so users should take advantage of the scan optimization that is recommended during installation to speed up that first scan. A progress meter for regular scans would’ve been useful, though. Should a virus create serious problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode.

The LinkScanner feature protects you from third-party code exploits before they load in your browser and for ranking search results. Annoyingly, when you install its optional toolbar, it commandeers your new-tab page, decidedly inappropriate behavior. The program doesn’t obviously tax your system when scanning or when running in the background, although CNET Labs determined that it will significantly slow down your system’s boot time, and slightly delay shutting down. AVG also detected some image files as threats, when two other scans decided they weren’t–we decided these were false positives. AVG might not be the fastest or the most effective free security option, but it still gets the job done and you’re better off with it.

Publisher’s description
From AVG Technologies USA :

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is an anti-virus protection tool available free of charge to home users. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability.
The new 9.0 edition is faster, safer and easier to use. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition gives you free rock solid protection for your basic security needs. The combined anti-virus/anti-spyware scanner in AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition runs up to 50% faster than earlier versions and doesn’t get in your way. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition also delivers new anti-phishing detection techniques, which can quickly and accurately determine whether or not a web page is hosting a phishing attack. Additionally, version 9.0 comes with basic anti-rootkit protection to ensure protection against sophisticated hidden threats.

CNET Editor’s Note:

The Download Now link will download a small installer file to your desktop. Remain online and double-click the installer to proceed with the actual download.

To learn more about AVG products and to ask questions and receive answers from AVG company representatives, please visit CNET’s dedicated AVG Forum.

What’s new in this version:
Version 9.0 runs and installs faster, delivers new anti-phishing detection techniques and introduces the AVG LinkScanner to proactively screen the Web pages you haven’t even visited yet. For added peace of mind, you also get safety ratings for your Google, Yahoo! and Bing/MSN search results

More popular Antivirus Software downloads

1. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

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More popular Antivirus Software downloads originally appeared on Core Digest on December 12, 2009.

Everything you need to know about HTML5

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:05:24 +0000

What’s new in HTML5 and what happened to XHTML2

Is XHTML dead? In July, the XHTML2 working group announced it would be dropping the spec and closing the book on XHTML2. That’s XHTML with a 2. Not XHTML.

XHTML is alive and well Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it’s just not getting the overhaul that was intended with XHTML2. If you’re a developer or designer who writes markup, then you’re possibly already using XHTML 1.0 or 1.1, strict, transitional or otherwise.

I’d also be willing to bet that if you’re using it, you’re using it to make use of stricter validation rules: lowercase tags, double quoted attributes, self-closing tags (like
) and so on Ã¢â‚¬â€œ right?

Equally, if you’re that type of designer or developer, you’re probably also not serving it as true XHTML. Quite simply because Internet Explorer doesn’t accept the application/ xhtml+xml mime type at all, which is a requirement for XHTML. This is old news, though.

The new news is that XHTML2 is dead. The idealist recommendation for the web didn’t make it. Possibly because of the lack of backward compatibility, possibly for lots of reasons Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the web was hot with discussion on the loss of the spec; the why, who and “whoh!”.

However, there is hope. If you’re the type of person who likes the strict rules of markup design that runs everything carefully through a validator then you’ll be over the moon to know two things:

Firstly, HTML5 supports all the lowercase, self-closing tags, double quoted attributes Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the works. And if you don’t like these things, it supports that too!

Secondly, if you absolutely have to have XHTML in your bag of tricks, XHTML5 will satisfy your thirst. XHTML5 is quite simply HTML5 + XML, ie all the normal rules of XHTML, like no document. write allowed.

* Google plumps for HTML 5 over Gears successor

For it to be XHTML5, though, you must serve it as application/xml or application/ xhtml+xml (which isn’t currently supported in IE). So HTML5 with lovely XHTML-style markup is the way I’ll be going.

Before we dive into what’s in HTML5 and what we have to do to get it going, though, I want to address the future: 2022. Aside from it being the year Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee (assuming she’s still around), it’s the date that’s been inappropriately linked with HTML5 in the minds of many in our community. It’s wrong.

In fact, HTML5 is ready to use today. So why the confusion? In an interview by Tech Republic, Ian Hickson, the editor of the HTML5 working draft, was asked to give a timeline of the HTML5 recommendation.

One date should have come out of that interview, but another, much further away did instead: 2022 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the date of the final proposed recommendation, which actually translates to: require at least two browsers to completely pass HTML5 test suites.

Let’s put this in context of another spec that’s taken a very long time: CSS2.1. CSS2.1 is CSS that I’m certain you’re familiar with. I’m certain you use it day to day, without any thought as to whether it’s a completed spec. Well, it’s been in development for over 10 years, and it has only just become a candidate recommendation (23 April 2009).

Even then, it still doesn’t have two browsers completely supporting it. Only Internet Explorer 8 supports the full CSS2.1 spec. Did that stop you from using CSS2.1? I suspect not. Will that stop us from using HTML5? It certainly shouldn’t.

HTML5 is available and ready to use today. In fact, the really important HTML5 date is October 2009. This is the last call for the HTML5 working draft. That means that issues with the spec, enhancements, bugs, anything Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it all needs to be in and submitted and written into the spec for October (although it can go through reiterations, this is the main deadline).

The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) is completely open for anyone to contribute their ideas and suggestions.

At the site, you can sign up to the mailing lists. You can communicate directly using IRC. And there’s even a complete log of all the IRC history. It’s all available from whatwg.org.

HTML5 in five seconds

So how do you get your markup to validate as HTML5? It’s super easy: you change your DOCTYPE from whatever it is now to this:

That’s it. It doesn’t require anything more than that.

Google is doing it already. Check out its homepage, written all in one line:

HTML5 – Google Search</ title><script> Ironically, Google's search page and listings don't validate because of their use of invalid tags Ã¢â‚¬â€œ font element for instance Ã¢â‚¬â€œ and a number of other errors. But that doesn't matter, because they can take advantage of the HTML5 parsing rules with that doctype (for example: no type attribute on the script element). Although that's all you need for HTML5 to be triggered, there's a lot more to HTML5 for you to play with. If you want something a little fuller, here's a typical boilerplate for HTML5, which includes the IE shiv (which I'll discuss later) and default HTML5 block styles: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset=utf-8 />  <style> article, aside, figure, footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, section { display: block; } </style> </head> <body> Hello World </body> </html> A note about the style and script elements in HTML5: these both no longer need the type attribute as they default to text/css and text/ javascript respectively, which just helps to remove a little more cruft from our markup <h2>The new HTML5 elements</h2> More markup Way back when we were laying pages out using the table element, we probably weren't aware of semantics and standards. Nowadays, we're using divs left right and centre. The situation isn't terrible, because most of us are using semantic classes and ID naming conventions to describe what the function of the div is. Wouldn't it just be better if we had a header and footer element instead? HTML5 gives us exactly that. One of the biggest assets to us authors of HTML5 is the new semantic markup. There's an arsenal of new elements that has been added to HTML5, and because of the 'pave the cowpaths' approach, these can be used by the browsers today (although some might need a little bit of prodding from JavaScript). Here's a non-exclusive list of the new HTML5 elements that are available: 1) Block structure article represents a component of a page that consists of a self-contained composition in a document, page, application, or site and that is intended to be independently distributable or reusable. This could be a forum post, blog post, newspaper article, a user comment, or any other independent item of content. aside is used to represent a section of content that is related to the content around the aside element, eg a pull quote or a sidebar. footer is the footer to a section. This is not restricted to one use at the bottom of the page. You can also use the footer to mark up the footer of a blog post in addition to the footer of the entire document. header represents a group of navigational aids, and is used to construct the document outline. You are also not restricted to using header only once; you could use this to mark up the author's name and the time of a comment placed on a blog post, for example. nav is used to wrap major navigation blocks, such as table of contents, pagination links and breadcrumbs. Note that the nav element should be used for links that navigate around site, ie inappropriate for a list of sponsor links. section is a generic document or application section. However, this isn't a replacement for the div element. A section is only appropriate if the element's contents would be listed explicitly in the document's outline. 2) Inline semantics details is used to include additional info that the user can obtain on demand. An open attribute on the element determines whether its contents can be seen, and it can be toggled by the user or by JavaScript. figure is used to annotate illustrations, photos, listings etc that, if moved away from the primary content, would not affect the flow of the document. mark highlights a run of text, eg to mark the terms the user was searching for. time is intended to encode modern dates and times in a machine-readable way. The datetime attribute on this element gives the machine readable time, whereas the contents is human readable. 3) Interactive elements The following elements include DOM interface methods that allow them to function correctly. So if the browser hasn't implemented these elements specifically, they won't work. However, they all support fallbacks using nested elements within the tag to degrade down to a working solution. audio and video are both types of media elements. They enable you to embed audio and video directly into the browser without any need for plug-ins. However, where support is lacking in the browser, best practice suggests that you should fall back to Flash plug-ins. You can either let the browser render the chrome for the element, or take control via JavaScript to create a bespoke interface. source is a child element to audio and video. It enables you to specify multiple alternative sources for the media element. For example, Firefox doesn't support the WAV audio format, so you can specify an alternative source in Ogg Theora format. canvas is a 2D drawing element that can be accessed using JavaScript to render graphics on the fly Ã¢â‚¬â€œ for example, for games, graphs or animations. 4) Compatibility Where the new elements aren't relying on a new DOM interface to be available to the browser, the element is available to you right now. The media elements audio and video have a new DOM interface, so only those browsers that have specifically implemented these media elements will be able to offer native audio or video. However, this shouldn't hold you back from using these elements. If you use the video element and it's not supported in the browser, its contents will be rendered. For example, for my video element, I'll first provide an Ogg Theroa-encoded video, then QuickTime, then finally degrade down to Flash if the video element isn't supported: However, there are a couple of browsers that do have trouble seeing the new elements natively. In particular, all versions of Internet Explorer can't see the elements by default, and as such they can't be styled without the help of a bit of JavaScript. Firefox 2 and Camino 1 have a bug in the Gecko rendering engine that causes the DOM to render incorrectly. However, Firefox 2 had its <a href="http://redirectingat.com/?id=92X363&url=http%3A%2F%2Fyuiblog.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2F02%2Fgbs-update-20090702%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fyuiblog.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2F02%2Fgbs-update-20090702%2F">A-grade support dropped</a> earlier this year, and Firefox has a very solid upgrade path (hence why they've been dropped from A-grade support in the first place) <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=570" rel="attachment wp-att-570"></a> Camino has version 2 in beta, but it hasn't been released just yet (and arguably, it's not an A-grade browser). However, there are a few ways to fix Firefox 2 and Camino 1 and you can <a href="http://redirectingat.com/?id=92X363&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhtml5doctor.com%2Fhow-to-get-html5-working-in-ie-and-firefox-2%2F">read about them</a> here <h2>Fixing Internet Explorer</h2> Fixing Internet Explorer So, Internet Explorer is problematic. What's new, right? The fix is actually incredibly simple, and if you're using any of the new DOM APIs or HTML5 JavaScript APIs, the requirement for JavaScript is justified. Sjoerd Visscher first posted about this solution whereby Internet Explorer is able to style any element so long as you run the following code: document.createElement('myelement'); Now myelement can be styled using CSS in Internet Explorer. We also have an HTML5 shiv to enable all the HTML5 elements for Internet Explorer. So long as this script is included in the head element, then you'll be able to style the document correctly:  If JavaScript isn't enabled, the document will be displayed as if CSS hadn't been applied to the document, which (given that we're used to writing semantic standards-based markup) means all the content is accessible and readable regardless. Default HTML5 styles As with any browser, all the default styles for all elements are part of the browser. Since the browsers don't really know about these new elements by default, we need to give the block elements their initial default styles. This is fixed by including the following CSS in your style sheet: header, nav, section, article, figure, aside, footer { display: block; } But wait: it's more than just markup. HTML5 is much, much more than just markup changes. There's also the Web Forms 2.0 spec in HTML5 which means we don't have to use JavaScript to do the basic form validation that we've all repeated time and time again. You've also seen how the audio and video elements can be interactive. They expose a DOM interface that JavaScript can interact with. Included in the HTML5 spec is a host of JavaScript APIs, along with a bunch of JavaScript APIs that used to be in the spec and have since been moved out to their own specs. New HTML5 JavaScript APIs include: Drag and Drop Ã¢â‚¬â€œ native JavaScript dragging, which also works across browser windows. Currently available in IE8, Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4. Inline editing Ã¢â‚¬â€œ enabling the user to edit content visibly on the page without an editor; the changes can then be used as the input to a CMS. History API Ã¢â‚¬â€œ to support Ajax-based applications and saving states in the history to move back and forth between. Cross-domain messaging Ã¢â‚¬â€œ allowing messages to be communicated across different domains. This is available in IE8, Firefox 3.5, Safari 4 and Opera 10. Offline applications Ã¢â‚¬â€œ enabling users to continue to use your web application even without a web connection. Available in Safari 4 (and iPhone Safari) and Firefox 3.5. The specs are changing all the time, leading up to the last call (in October 2009). Some of the other interesting JavaScript APIs include: Local storage Ã¢â‚¬â€œ two types of storage, key/value pair and SQL based to store data associated with your application. Web workers Ã¢â‚¬â€œ basically threading for JavaScript. Geolocation Ã¢â‚¬â€œ an API to retrieve the latitude and longitude. New selector API Ã¢â‚¬â€œ document. querySelectorAll uses CSS syntax to find elements in the DOM. Web sockets Ã¢â‚¬â€œ for TCP/IP type socket communication. HTML5 is here to stay. The semantic elements are ready to be used today, and a decent amount of the JavaScript APIs are available in the latest browsers to be played with and integrated into your cutting edge applications. So go play! <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Everything+you+need+to+know+about+HTML5+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D568" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Everything+you+need+to+know+about+HTML5+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D568" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/code-snippets/embed-youtube-videos-in-both-flash-and-html5/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Embed YouTube Videos in both Flash and HTML5'>Embed YouTube Videos in both Flash and HTML5</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/google/html5-support-in-popular-web-browsers/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: HTML5 Support in Popular Web Browsers'>HTML5 Support in Popular Web Browsers</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/technology/everything-you-need-to-know-about-html5/" rel="bookmark">Everything you need to know about HTML5</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 11, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Download Microsoft Office 2010 Beta</h1> admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:36:38 +0000 Youve seen all the new features of Office 2010 and now its time to try them on your own computer. The first public beta of Microsoft Office 2010 is now available as a free download on <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx">microsoft.com/office</a>. And other then Office, you can also download<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/evalcenter/ee390821.aspx"> Visio 2010</a> beta and<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/evalcenter/ee404758(en-us).aspx"> Project 2010 beta</a> for your Windows computer. <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=538" rel="attachment wp-att-538"></a> This is the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 edition so you get to experience Publisher and Infopath 2010 as well in addition to the regular Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook applications. The Office installer weighs around 700 MB in size but you need around 3 GB of free space on your hard drive for the installation. You can either upgrade your current version of Microsoft Office to Office 2010 Beta or select the Customize option during installation and set your current version of Microsoft Office to coexist with Office 2010 Beta. All products require online activation after installation. In case of Office 2010, you can enter the serial number inside Word 2010 and it will automatically activate all other Office applications. Project and Visio will require separate activation since they use a different set of keys. The beta version of Office 2010 will expire in October 2010. And other than English, Office 2010 is available for download in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. <del datetime="2009-12-11T05:32:48+00:00">Download Microsoft Office 2010 Beta</del> <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Download+Microsoft+Office+2010+Beta+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D537" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Download+Microsoft+Office+2010+Beta+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D537" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/download-microsoft-office-for-free/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Download Microsoft Office for Free'>Download Microsoft Office for Free</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/what%e2%80%99s-new-inside-microsoft-office-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What’s New Inside Microsoft Office 2010'>What’s New Inside Microsoft Office 2010</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/edit-google-documents-directly-in-microsoft-office-save-your-changes-online/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Edit Google Documents Directly in Microsoft Office & Save Your Changes Online'>Edit Google Documents Directly in Microsoft Office & Save Your Changes Online</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/download-microsoft-office-2010-beta/" rel="bookmark">Download Microsoft Office 2010 Beta</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Microsoft Visio 2010 Video</h1> admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:31:25 +0000 This video explains the new features of Microsoft Visio 2010 including data-driven diagrams and how you can share Visio diagrams in almost real-time with your co-workers. <del datetime="2009-12-11T05:29:33+00:00"> Microsoft Visio 2010 Video</del> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pBVPOZkiNxo&rel=0&color1=0xd6d6d6&color2=0xf0f0f0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param></object> <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Microsoft+Visio+2010+Video+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D535" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Microsoft+Visio+2010+Video+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D535" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/download-microsoft-office-2010-beta/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Download Microsoft Office 2010 Beta'>Download Microsoft Office 2010 Beta</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/take-a-video-tour-of-microsoft-office-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Take a Video Tour of Microsoft Office 2010'>Take a Video Tour of Microsoft Office 2010</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/download-microsoft-office-for-free/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Download Microsoft Office for Free'>Download Microsoft Office for Free</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/microsoft-visio-2010-video/" rel="bookmark">Microsoft Visio 2010 Video</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users</h1> admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:12:19 +0000 You bought a brand new laptop computer for mom Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the Apple Macbook was too expensive so you settled for a Dell machine loaded with Windows Vista and a trial copy of Office 2007. Your mom is a great self-learner and knows all the basic stuff about computers but needs some help is in finding the right software tools that will help her do stuff more efficiently and as inexpensively as possible. <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=524" rel="attachment wp-att-524"></a> Dear Mom Ã¢â‚¬â€œ I hope you are enjoying the new Dell notebook. Now the first thing I want you to do is install <a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/">PC Decrapifier</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ this will detect and remove all the unwanted trial programs that came pre-installed with your machine. Next you should install <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/firefox/">Firefox</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it an Internet Explorer like web browser but slightly better. Instead of using browser bookmarks, try the delicious <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3615">add-on</a> to save the addresses of all your favorite websites. Another add-on that you should install is Iterasi Ã¢â‚¬â€œ web pages come and go but<a href="http://iterasi.net/"> Iterasi</a> will permanently archive your favorite web pages (like that eggless cake recipe). You should create two email accounts one <a href="http://www.gmail.com/">Gmail.com</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ share the primary email address with your friends and family but for everything else (like the newsletter and shopping deal alerts) always use the secondary email address. If you come across a site that requires registration, generate a temporary email address from <a href="http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/">10MinuteMail.com</a> and enter without sharing your main email. With so many websites around, youll soon find it very hard to remember all those passwords so get into the habit of putting down all the different passwords into<a href="http://keepass.info/"> KeepPass </a>from day one. If you plan to carry this laptop in public places (like the Library), get this<a href="http://www.syfer.nl/"> Laptop Alarm</a> software that will emit a loud sound if someone tries to shut down your computer or remove the power cable. Laptop thefts are not so uncommon after all. The trial version of Microsoft Office on your computer will expire after 60 days so you may completely uninstall that software and switch over to <a href="http://docs.google.com/">Google Docs</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it has all the basic feature you would need in an Office suite including templates for tracking expenses and utility bills. You can use your primary Gmail address to log into Google Docs. Sometimes your friends will send you documents, images or video clips that wont open on your computer Ã¢â‚¬â€œ that because you dont have the right viewer software on your machine. You can simply go to <a href="http://www.zamzar.com/">zamzar.com </a>and convert the file into some simple format (like avi for video, jpg for images, doc for documents, mp3 for songs, etc.) that you computer can play/open. If the computer contains too many programs that youll rarely or never use, get the <a href="http://www.revouninstaller.com/">Revo Uninstaller</a> to get rid of such programs permanently. To free up additional space on the hard drive, use<a href="http://windirstat.info/"> WinDirStat</a> to learn about file folders that are occupying the maximum space on your computer and delete the unnecessary files. Be very careful when deleting files on your computer but if you ever delete something important accidently, <a href="http://www.recuva.com/">Recuva</a> may help you recover all those erased files. It even works with the memory card of your digital camera. To download pictures from your digital camera onto the computer, get <a href="http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/photogallery">Windows Live</a> Photo Gallery. This software can also upload your photos to our common family<a href="http://www.flickr.com/"> Flickr</a> account so everyone gets to see your pictures even though we are several hundred miles away from you. If the computer is not able to play your huge collection of DVD movies, youre probably missing some codecs (dont worry about the term) – just download the <a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">VLC player </a>and the DVDs will play just fine. You should also get <a href="http://www.mesh.com/">Live Mesh</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it will allow us to share files and documents with each other privately plus you can use Mesh to backup important files onto the cloud (I mean the web). I am almost always available for chat on <a href="http://www.google.com/talk/">Google Talk</a> but if some of your online friends use other chat software (like Yahoo! Messenger or AOL), you can easily connect with them through <a href="http://www.miranda-im.org/">Miranda</a> or, if you dont want to install any software, use<a href="http://www.meebo.com/"> Meebo.</a> Another thing Ã¢â‚¬â€œ do open an account at <a href="http://www.paypal.com/">PayPal</a> and link it to your main credit card as this will make online shopping easier. If you ever have a problem with PayPal or something isnt clear, just call their toll-free 1-800 support number from your browser using <a href="http://www.gizmocall.com/">Gizmo</a>. If your current voice plan is too expensive, I suggest that you download <a href="http://www.skype.com/">Skype</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it lets you make calls from the computer to any landline or mobile phone at much cheaper rates. We can also use Skype to have video chats on weekends but if you dont find me online, just send me a video email with <a href="http://www.eyejot.com/">Eyejot.</a> If you have newspaper clippings, bill receipts and business cards lying in the closet, just take a picture of them separately using the camera of your mobile phone and transfer them to the computer with<a href="http://www.evernote.com/"> Evernote</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it will turn your “paper” documents into digital format that is always so easy to find and manage. When planning a movie or weekend dinner with friends, you can send all of them a quick reminder for the event via phone and SMS for free using <a href="http://www.notifu.com/">Notifu</a>. If youre inviting people at home for a party, head-over to sites like <a href="http://www.videojug.com/">VideoJug.com</a>, <a href="http://www.sutree.com/">SuTree</a> or <a href="http://www.5min.com/">5min.com</a> for new ideas about food, cocktails, party games, etc. If you ever need to fax a document somewhere, just go to <a href="http://www.faxzero.com/">FaxZero</a>, upload the document and fax it for free. FaxZero is only available for fax numbers of US or Canada but for international numbers, you may try <a href="http://www.efax.com/">eFax.</a> You can also consider dropping those magazine subscriptions that are delivered by snail mail Ã¢â‚¬â€œ switch to <a href="http://www.zinio.com/">Zinio</a> instead that delivers the same magazine but in digital format. As far as I remember, youre currently using an unlimited data plan for the Internet but if that not true, get <a href="http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2">BitMeter </a>Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it will help you visually monitor your bandwidth usage so you never exceed the plan limit. You may also want to download <a href="http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm">FlashGet</a> for downloading big files from the Internet. If you notice carefully, some websites add an orange colored icon in the browser address bar (go to <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/">cnn.com</a> to see a live example) Ã¢â‚¬â€œ this icon means that you can get updates about new articles posted on that site automatically without having to visit the site again and again. If that the case, go to<a href="http://www.feedmyinbox.com/"> Feed My Inbox</a> and type the address of that website Ã¢â‚¬â€œ youll be notified automatically via email. When browsing the web, youll frequently come across photographs, web pages and videos that youll want to share with us (your family members) Ã¢â‚¬â€œ you could either send the link in a group mail or better still, simply create an account at <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr </a>and start saving all the “interesting” stuff there. And if you ever find yourself spending too much time on the computer, get <a href="http://www.rescuetime.com/">RescueTime</a> to know about websites where you spend most of your time. There are a few other things that I want to do on your computer like installing a hosts file and configuring <a href="http://www.opendns.com/">OpenDNS </a>so that sites load quickly on your machine. These however require some geeky knowledge so I will try configuring them from here itself via <a href="http://www.crossloop.com/">CrossLoop</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a remote desktop access tool. <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=The+Essential+Guide+to+Internet+%26+Software+for+First-Time+Computer+Users+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D523" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=The+Essential+Guide+to+Internet+%26+Software+for+First-Time+Computer+Users+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D523" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/google/manymoon-an-online-project-management-software-for-google-users/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Manymoon, an Online Project Management Software for Google Users'>Manymoon, an Online Project Management Software for Google Users</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/adobe-pdf-guide-how-to-do-everything-with-pdf-files/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Adobe PDF Guide: How to Do Everything with PDF Files'>Adobe PDF Guide: How to Do Everything with PDF Files</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/make-phone-calls-over-the-internet-voip-and-lower-your-phone-bills/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Make Phone Calls over the Internet (VoIP) and Lower your Phone Bills'>Make Phone Calls over the Internet (VoIP) and Lower your Phone Bills</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/the-essential-guide-to-internet-software-for-first-time-computer-users/" rel="bookmark">The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Most Useful Web Applications That Are Cool & Free</h1> admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:48:44 +0000 1. <a href="http://www.zamzar.com/">Zamzar</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Your cell phone records video in 3gp format but Windows Media Player cannot play these files. Your client has sent a document in Office 2007 format but you dont have the software to read it. What you therefore need is Zamzar, an online service that can convert images, videos, audio and documents from one format to another without downloading any software. 2.<a href="http://www.spypig.com/"> Spypig</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This is an email tracking service that will send you a notification as soon as someone opens your email. SpyPig works with web based email (like Gmail, Yahoo!) as well as desktop email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird. 3. <a href="http://www.photoshop.com/">Photoshop.com</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This is like a light version of Adobe Photoshop that both free and requires no installation. You also get 2GB of storage space for saving those editing photographs online plus there a mobile version of Photoshop.com available for Windows Mobile. 4. <a href="http://sumopaint.com/app/">Sumo Paint</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ While image editing apps like Photoshop Express or Picnik offer almost everything to edit your photographs online, a limitation with these tools is that you cannot use them to create new images from scratch. That where Sumo Paint enters the frame. 5. <a href="http://skydrive.live.com/">Skydrive</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This is an online storage service from Microsoft where you can store files, photos and documents forever for free. You get 25 GB of storage space and the size limit per file is 50 MB. 6. <a href="http://www.wakoopa.com/">Wakoopa</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ You have seen social networks for senior citizens, for women, for pets, for toddlers and so on but Wakoopa is different Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it a social network for software. The service tracks software and web apps that you frequently use and then recommends other software programs that are popular in your social circle. 7.<a href="http://www.screentoaster.com/"> Screen Toaster</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ You can record all your on-screen activity with Screen Toaster without downloading any software. When you hit the Stop button, the recorded video clip with auto-upload to the web and the quality is pretty good. See some more online screencasting apps. 8. <a href="http://www.posterous.com/">Posterous</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Posterous may look like another Tumblr style micro-blogging platform but it actually the best cross-publishing platform on the web. You can use the service to write blog posts, publish photos, uploaded video or even send tweets Ã¢â‚¬â€œ all through a simple email message. 9. <a href="http://www.truveo.com/">Truveo</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Not exactly a web app but this search engine from AOL lets you find and play videos from all over the web including YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Blip.tv and other video sharing sites. Truveo also indexes video clips from news and entertainment websites. 10.<a href="http://www.joongel.com/"> Joongel</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ If you cant find the information youre looking for on Google, use Joongel as it will help you search other web properties from one convenient interface. Joongel works with blogs, images, social websites and more. 11. <a href="http://www.iterasi.net/">Iterasi</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Web pages change frequently and some of your favorite websites may not even exist after few months. Iterasi will help you save an exact copy of web pages in a click so even if the original website goes down, youll still have all the stuff to read. 12. <a href="http://www.rescuetime.com/">RescueTime</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This will help you understand how you spend your time on the computer and the Internet. There no need for you to enter any data manually as all time tracking is done behind-the-scenes automatically. 13. <a href="http://ping.fm/">Ping.fm</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This service lets you interact with blogging sites and social networks through SMS, IM clients, desktop apps or the good old-email. Just send a message to ping.fm and your current status will be updated simultaneously across all the different social networks. 14. <a href="http://www.meebo.com/">Meebo</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ If you have friends using multiple IM clients, youll find Meebo pretty useful. This is a web based IM client that lets you connect with friends on Google Talk, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger and other popular IM clients from a central location without downloading anything. 15. <a href="http://www.animoto.com/">Animoto</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Slideshows are boring so Animoto turns your pictures into very interesting videos (or should I say movie trailers). The final video is produced in widescreen format and the quality is extremely impressive. 16. <a href="http://instacalc.com/">InstaCalc </a>Ã¢â‚¬â€œ This is an interesting mix of an calculator and a spreadsheet application much better than your default Windows calculator. Instacalc also supports unit conversion and you can embed the calculations in web pages while maintaining the interactivity. 17.<a href="http://www.mesh.com/"> Live Mesh </a>Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Mesh is a must-have service for people who work across multiple computers. Just add some folders to Mesh from one computer and access that content from anywhere else. Other than cloud storage, Mesh also offers remote desktop capabilities with copy-paste support. Also see comparison of Mesh with Live Sync. <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Most+Useful+Web+Applications+That+Are+Cool+%26+Free+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D521" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Most+Useful+Web+Applications+That+Are+Cool+%26+Free+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D521" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> No related posts.<a href="http://www.coredigest.com/technology/most-useful-web-applications-that-are-cool-free/" rel="bookmark">Most Useful Web Applications That Are Cool & Free</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Adobe PDF Guide: How to Do Everything with PDF Files</h1> admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:36:59 +0000 Adobe PDF is the best format for sharing documents because they are compact, the formatting is preserved and most computers / mobile devices / ebook readers can easily handle PDF files. Here youll learn how to do just about everything with PDF documents without buying Adobe Acrobat. You can edit PDF files, combine multiple files as one, add signature images to PDF pages, fill PDF forms online, add clickable hyperlinks to existing PDF documents and so much more. <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=518" rel="attachment wp-att-518"></a> Adobe PDF Guide and Tutorial Q: First things first Ã¢â‚¬â€œ How do I create PDF documents on my computer without Adobe Acrobat? A: Get a copy of <a href="http://dopdf.com/">DoPDF</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it installs as a virtual printer driver on your desktop just like Acrobat and lets you print PDF files from any Windows application including images, documents, emails, websites, etc. Q: I dont want to install software just for converting a bunch of documents to PDF. Do you know of any alternative? A: Upload your documents to<a href="http://docs.google.com/"> Google Docs</a> via the browser and then export them as PDF files. Simple. Q: A client just sent me a PowerPoint presentation by email. Since I am travelling without the laptop and my mobile phone cannot read PPT files, what should I do? A: Forward that email message (with the PPT attachment) to pdf@koolwire.com Ã¢â‚¬â€œ theyll convert the presentation to PDF and email it back to you immediately. Most smartphones and web enabled mobile phones can read PDF files. Q: How do I directly save a web page as PDF without having to save that page as an HTML file first? A: Go to<a href="http://online.primopdf.com/"> PrimoPDF</a>, type the URL of the web page and theyll send you a PDF version of that page via email. Q: How can I convert PDF files into other formats like Word documents, images, HTML web pages, etc. A: You can upload the PDF document to <a href="http://www.zamzar.com/">Zamzar</a> and convert it any formats like doc, html, png, txt or rtf (rich text format). Alternatively, you can convert PDF to HTML using Gmail. Q: How do I create a single PDF package by merging files of different formats. A: Try <a href="http://www.drawloop.com/solutions/documenttools/looppdf/">Loop PDF</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it a free service that lets you combine multiple documents, images and even web pages into a single PDF file. Q: How do I merge two or more PDF files into one? Can I also change the page order? A: You can grab <a href="http://www.download.com/PDFill-PDF-Tools-Free/3000-2075_4-10435051.html">PDF Fill</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it a versatility PDF editing tool that lets you combine PDFs from the desktop. PDF Fill can also help you rearrange pages in any order or for rotating pages inside a PDF. Q: I want to extract some text from a PDF and use it in my Word document. What is the best option? A: Go to <a href="http://pdftextonline.com/">PDFTextOnline</a> and upload your PDF Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it will extract text from the first 10 pages of your PDF document (to start) and will also show the PDF bookmarks, document properties, and form data (if available). Q: I cant get the above trick to work since I have a scanned PDF. A: You can extract text from scanned PDF documents with Google Search. It not an instant process but probably the only free solution we know of. Q: I have some restricted PDF documents on my computer in the sense that they neither allow printing nor can you select text with the mouse. A: Get the <a href="http://www.freewarefiles.com/Freeware-PDF-Unlocker-V_program_27137.html">PDF Unlocker </a>Ã¢â‚¬â€œ its a free Windows utility that will remove all common restrictions around a PDF file without requiring any passwords. Alternatively, you may use the online service at<a href="http://www.ensode.net/pdf-crack.jsf"> ensode.net</a> that will remove all the printing or copying/pasting related restrictions from your PDF. Q: Some PDF files on our company intranet are protected by a password that no one can remember anymore. Can we still open them? A: yes we can Open Password Protected PDF Q: I am looking for a service that would let visitors download my articles as PDF files. A: Add the <a href="http://www.pdfonline.com/web2pdf/index.asp">Web2PDF</a> button anywhere in your website Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it converts web pages to PDF files on demand and also keeps a track of all PDF conversion related activities on your website. Q: Someone sent me a PDF document in Chinese but I can read only English? A: You can easily translate PDF files using Google Translate and Zoho Viewer. Q: How can I add annotations or text notes to some of my PDF documents? A: Get the <a href="http://www.pdfxviewer.com/home/prod_user/PDF-XChange_Tools/pdfx_viewer/">PDF-X Viewer</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it like Adobe Reader but with some extra features. You can add comments, annotations or even paste images to your PDF pages. You can also add annotations, call-outs and text to your PDFs online with <a href="http://www.pdfescape.com/">PDF Escape</a>. Q: How do I read PDF files online without desktop software? A: You can open PDF documents in the browser with<a href="http://www.pdfmenot.com/"> PDFMeNot</a> without requiring any software. Q: Can I fill PDF forms online without Acrobat Reader? A: Sure, go to <a href="http://www.pdffiller.com/">PDF Filler</a>, upload the PDF form and start typing. PDF typewriter works by converting PDF forms into images and allowing the user to type right on top of the images. Q: How can I add watermarks or even my (real) signature to a PDF document? A: First draw your signature in Paint (or other photo editing tool) and save it as an image. Make sure you crop all the blank portion that lies outside the signature. Now open the PDF document inside <a href="http://www.pdfxviewer.com/home/prod_user/PDF-XChange_Tools/pdfx_viewer/">PDF-X Viewer </a>and copy-paste that watermark / signature image. Simple. Q: I have a PDF book that contains some 200 pages. Is there a way to extract selected pages from that book and save it as another PDF. A: You can either <a href="http://pdfmerge.sourceforge.net/">PDF Merge</a> or <a href="http://www.pdfsam.org/">PDF SAM </a>(split and merge) to extract pages from a PDF document. Q: How can I protect my PDF documents with a password? A: Upload your PDF file to <a href="http://www.pdfhammer.com/startproject.php">PDF Hammer</a>, set a security password and export it as PDF again. Q: A PDF document has lot of links but I cant click them as they are in plain text. How do I make them clickable? A: Go to<a href="http://www.pdfescape.com/"> PDF Escape</a>, upload the PDF and then place hyperlinks anywhere on the page. Q: Which online service(s) would you recommend for uploading PDF files on the web? A: My favorite is <a href="http://issuu.com/">Issuu </a>Ã¢â‚¬â€œ they have built an excellent PDF viewer inside a beautiful interface. You can also use Issuu to embed PDF files in your own website. Next recommendation is <a href="http://scribd.com/">Scribd</a> Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it a more popular service so your PDF document would get more eye balls. <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Adobe+PDF+Guide%3A+How+to+Do+Everything+with+PDF+Files+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D517" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Adobe+PDF+Guide%3A+How+to+Do+Everything+with+PDF+Files+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D517" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/the-essential-guide-to-internet-software-for-first-time-computer-users/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users'>The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/firefox/the-firefox-manual-%e2%80%93-a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Firefox Manual A Beginner’s Guide'>The Firefox Manual A Beginner’s Guide</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/how-to/adobe-introduces-acrobat-com-presentations-%e2%80%93-create-impressive-slides-online/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Adobe Introduces Acrobat.com Presentations Create Impressive Slides Online'>Adobe Introduces Acrobat.com Presentations Create Impressive Slides Online</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/adobe-pdf-guide-how-to-do-everything-with-pdf-files/" rel="bookmark">Adobe PDF Guide: How to Do Everything with PDF Files</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code</h1> admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:38:39 +0000 <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=481" rel="attachment wp-att-481"></a> You’ve always wanted to learn how to build software yourselfÃ¢â‚¬â€or just whip up an occasional scriptÃ¢â‚¬â€but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time. Since the invention of the internet, programmers have been using it to discuss software development techniques, publish tutorials, and share code samples for others to learn from and use online. If you’re curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources. First Things First: Don’t Get Hung Up on Choosing a Language <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=482" rel="attachment wp-att-482"></a> A common pitfall for beginners is getting stuck figuring out which programming language is best to learn first. There are a lot of opinions out there, but there’s no one “best” language. Here’s the thing: In the end, language doesn’t matter THAT much. Understanding data and control structures and design patterns does matter very much. Every languageÃ¢â‚¬â€even a simple scripting languageÃ¢â‚¬â€will have elements that you’ll use in other languages as well and will help you learn. In classes I took to get my degree in Computer Science, I programmed in Pascal, Assembly, and CÃ¢â‚¬â€languages I never actually got paid to program in professionally. I taught myself every language I’ve used in my career, reusing concepts I already knew, and referring to documentation and books to learn its syntax. So, don’t get hung up on what language to learn first. Pick the kind of development you want to do, and just get started using one that works. There are several different kinds of software development you can do for various platforms, from the web to your desktop to your smartphone to a command line. In this article, we’ll outline some of our favorite starter tutorials and resources for teaching yourself how to program for each major platform. We’re going to assume you’re a savvy user, but a newb when it comes to wrangling code snippets, so we’ll keep things at the beginner level. Even just following through a beginner programming tutorial, you’ll be happy to see how far you can get. Desktop Scripting The easiest way to try your hand at programming for your Windows or Mac desktop is to start with a scripting or macro program like AutoHotkey (for Windows) or Automator (for Mac). Right now hardcore coders throughout the Lifehacker readership are yelling at their monitors, saying that AHK or AppleScript are not “real” programming. That may be trueÃ¢â‚¬â€technically these types of tools just do high-level scripting. But for those new to programming who just want to get their feet wet, automating actions on their desktop, these free tools are a fantastic way to startÃ¢â‚¬â€and you’d be surprised at how much you can do with them. <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=483" rel="attachment wp-att-483"></a> For example, Adam developed the standalone Windows application we all know and love, Texter, using AutoHotkey, so this scripting language is capable of far more than just small-scale automation projects. To get started with AutoHotkey, check out Adam’s tutorial on how to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut using AutoHotkey. (Then, check out the source code for Texter to see the innards of a full-fledged AHK-based Windows application.) Web Development Instead of being bound to specific programming languages and the look and feel of a particular operating system, you can put your killer application in the browser and run it in the cloud, as a webapp. Welcome to the wonderful world of web development. HTML and CSS: The first thing you need to know to build any web site is HTML (the page markup that makes up web pages) and CSS (the style information that makes that markup look pretty). HTML and CSS are not true programming languagesÃ¢â‚¬â€they’re just page structure and style information. However, you should be able to author simple HTML and CSS by hand before you begin building web applications, because a web page is the frontend to every webapp. This HTML tutorial is a good place to start. JavaScript: Now that you can lay out a static web page with HTML and CSS, things get funÃ¢â‚¬â€because it’s time to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is the programming language of the web browser, the magic that makes dynamic in-page effects go. JavaScript is also the stuff of bookmarklets, Greasemonkey user scripts, and Ajax, so it’s the key to making all sorts of web goodies. Start learning JavaScript here. Server-side scripting: Once you’re good at making things happen inside a web page, you’re going to need to put some dynamic server action behind itÃ¢â‚¬â€and for that, you’ll need to move into a server-side scripting language, like PHP, Python, Perl, or Ruby. For example, to make a web-based contact form that sends an email somewhere based on what a user entered, a server-side script is required. Scripting languages like PHP can talk to a database on your web server as well, so if you want to make a site where users can log in and store information, that’s the way to go. Excellent web development site <a href="http://webmonkey.com/">Webmonkey</a> is full of tutorials for various web programming languages. See their<a href="http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/PHP_Tutorial_for_Beginners"> PHP Tutorial</a> for <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=484" rel="attachment wp-att-484"></a> Beginners. When you’re ready, check out how to use PHP to talk to a database in WebMonkey’s PHP and <a href="http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/PHP_and_MySQL_Tutorial_-_Lesson_1">MySQL tutoria</a>l. PHP’s online documentation and function reference is the best on the web. Each entry (like this one on the strlen function) includes user comments at the bottom which are often as helpful as the documentation itself. (I happen to be partial to PHP, but there are plenty of other server-side scripting languages you might decide to go with instead.) Web frameworks: Over the years, web developers have had to solve and resolve the same problems and rewrite similar code to build dynamic web sites. To avoid making everyone reinvent the wheel for every new web development project, some programmers have come up with development frameworks that do some repetitive work for you. The popular <a href="http://rubyonrails.org/">Ruby on Rails framework</a>, for example, takes the Ruby programming language and offers a web-specific structure for getting common web application tasks done. In fact, Adam used Rails to build his first serious (and impressive!) web application, <a href="http://mixtape.me/">MixTape.me</a>. Here’s <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5336113/how-to-build-a-web-site-from-scratch-with-no-experience">his take on how to build a web site from scratch with no experience</a>. Other popular web development frameworks include CakePHP (for PHP programmers), <a href="http://www.djangoproject.com/">Django</a> (for Python programmers), and<a href="http://jquery.com/"> jQuery </a>(for JavaScript). Web APIs: An <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API">API (Application programming interface) </a>is a programmatic way for different pieces of software to talk to one another. For example, if you want to put a dynamic map on your web site, you want to use a Google Map instead of building your own custom map. The <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/maps/">Google Maps API</a> makes it easy to programmatically include a map in a page with JavaScript. Almost every modern web service you know and love has an API that lets you include data and widgets from it in your application, like Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, Google Maps, and the list goes on. Integrating other webapps into your web application via API’s is the final frontier of rich web development. Every good, major web service API offers thorough documentation and some sort of quick start guide to try it out (here’s <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/">Twitter’s,</a> for example). Go crazy. Command Line Scripting If you want to write a program that takes textual or file input and outputs something useful, the command line is the right place to do it. While the command line isn’t as sexy or good-looking as a webapp or desktop app, for rapid development of quick scripts that automate processes, you can’t beat it. Several scripting languages that work on a Linux-based web server also work at the command line, like Perl, Python, and PHPÃ¢â‚¬â€so learning one of those baddies makes you conversant in two contexts. My path never took me too far down the Perl road, but I taught myself Python using the excellent and free online book, <a href="http://diveintopython.org/">Dive into Python.</a> <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=485" rel="attachment wp-att-485"></a> If becoming a Unix ninja is one of your programmer goals, you absolutely must get good at shell scripting with bash. Bash is the command line scripting language of a *nix environment, and it can do everything from help you set up automated backups of your database and files to building out a full-fledged application with user interaction. Without any experience writing bash scripts beyond a dozen lines, I wound up developing a full-on personal to-do list manager in bash, <a href="http://todotxt.com/">Todo.txt CLI.</a> Add-ons Nowadays, modern webapps and browsers are extensible with with bits of software that bolt onto them and add features. Add-on development is gaining in popularity as more developers look at existing software, like Firefox or WordPress, and think “But if only it could do THIS…” You can do a whole lot in any web browser with just a mastery of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Bookmarklets, <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748">Greasemonkey</a> user scripts, and <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108">Stylish</a> user styles are created with the same bits of code that make regular web pages, so they’re worth learning even if you just want to tweak an existing site with a small snippet of code. More advanced browser add-ons, like Firefox extensions, let you do more. Developing Firefox extensions, for example, requires that you’re conversant in JavaScript and XML (markup that’s similar to HTML, but way more strict in format). Back in 2007 I ran down <a href="http://lifehacker.com/264490/how-to-build-a-firefox-extension">how to build a Firefox extension,</a> a skill I picked up after I stumbled upon a free tutorial. Many free and well-loved web applications offer an extension framework as well, like WordPress and MediaWiki. Both of those apps are written in PHP, so comfort with PHP is a prerequisite for getting started. Here’s<a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_a_Plugin"> how to write a plug-in for WordPress.</a> Developers who want to ride the cutting edge of Google Wave can get started writing gadgets and bots in HTML, JavaScript, Java, and Python. I wrote my first Wave bot following this <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/wave/extensions/robots/python-tutorial.html">quick start tutorial in one afternoon.</a> Web Development for the Desktop The best part about getting started programming in one context is when you can take those skills and apply them elsewhere. Learning web development first is a great way to start because now there are ways to put those skills to work on desktop applications, too. For example, Adobe AIR is a cross-platform run-time environment that lets you build your app once and release it to run on the desktop for every operating system AIR runs on. AIR apps are written in HTML, Flash, or Flex, so it lets you apply your web development skills in a desktop context. AIR is a great option for deploying desktop apps like one of our <a href="http://lifehacker.com/396393/top-10-apps-worth-installing-adobe-air-for">top 10 apps worth installing Adobe AIR for</a>. Mobile App Development Mobile applications like the ones you run on your iPhone or Android smartphone are all the rage right now, so you may have dreams of striking it rich in the iTunes App Store with the next killer app. However, for the new coder, diving headfirst into mobile development can be a rough learning curve, since it requires comfort with advanced programming languages like Java and Objective C. However, it’s worth checking out what iPhone and Android development looks like. Check out this<a href="http://www.cimgf.com/2008/10/01/cocoa-touch-tutorial-iphone-application-example/"> simple iPhone application development example</a> to get a taste of what iPhone developers do. Android apps are written in Java, and here’s a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ObTqIiYfE">friendly video tutorial of what building a “Hello Android” application workflow looks like.</a> Patience, Elbow Grease, Trial and Error Good coders are a special breed of persistent problem-solvers who are addicted to the small victories that come along a long path of trial and error. Learning how to program is very rewarding, but it can also be a frustrating and solitary experience. If you can, get a buddy to work with you along the way. Getting really good at programming, like anything else, is a matter of sticking with it, trying things out, and getting experience as you go <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Programmer+101%3A+Teach+Yourself+How+to+Code+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D479" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Programmer+101%3A+Teach+Yourself+How+to+Code+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D479" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/tools/hackers-brew-self-destruct-code-to-counter-police-forensics/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Hackers Brew Self-Destruct Code to Counter Police Forensics'>Hackers Brew Self-Destruct Code to Counter Police Forensics</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/google/google-go-gets-going-w-video/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Google Go gets going (w/ Video)'>Google Go gets going (w/ Video)</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/softwares/programmer-101-teach-yourself-how-to-code/" rel="bookmark">Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> <article> <h1>Windows Live Messenger 3D Emoticons Pack</h1> admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:11:14 +0000 First instant messengers that came out were very simple, and users were quite content with what they had i.e an interface to chat online. Soon, designers came out with emoticons, a graphical representation of our mood, expression and feelings during chatting. They were just small static images, then they got bigger and now you can even have them in 3D! <a href="http://www.coredigest.com/?attachment_id=462" rel="attachment wp-att-462"></a> Windows Live Messenger team in France created some cool looking 3D emoticons for Windows Live Messenger a few days ago. You can download them from the official site, which is only in French. Use the download link below, and wait for the page to load (contains Flash content). Once the page is opened, click on Ã¢â‚¬Ëœinstallez gratuitement to download 3D emotions for Windows Live Messenger 2009. <a href="http://www.ilovemessenger.fr/emoticones/emoticones-3d.aspx">Download Windows Live Messenger 3D Emoticons Pack</a> <div class="tweetthis" style="text-align:left;"> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Windows+Live+Messenger+3D+Emoticons+Pack+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D461" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Windows+Live+Messenger+3D+Emoticons+Pack+http%3A%2F%2Fcoredigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D461" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a></div> Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/windows-7-family-pack-supplies-running-low/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Windows 7 Family Pack Supplies Running Low'>Windows 7 Family Pack Supplies Running Low</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/windows-live-movie-maker-%e2%80%93-video-tutorials/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Windows Live Movie Maker Video Tutorials'>Windows Live Movie Maker Video Tutorials</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.coredigest.com/tools/sharp-ip-getter-find-yahoo-messenger-internet-protocol/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Sharp IP Getter Find Yahoo Messenger Internet Protocol'>Sharp IP Getter Find Yahoo Messenger Internet Protocol</a></li> </ol><a href="http://www.coredigest.com/microsoft/windows-live-messenger-3d-emoticons-pack/" rel="bookmark">Windows Live Messenger 3D Emoticons Pack</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.coredigest.com">Core Digest</a> on December 10, 2009. </article> </main></body></html>