Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Youtube Disco

Find, Mix and Watch. That is the slogan of Youtube’s newest addition Youtube Disco. The new feature is basically a music exploration service. It begins by entering an artist, band or song in the search form on the start page. Youtube will then crawl its vast database and display a results page that consists of a music playlist of songs by that artist, related artists, artist information (if available) as well as two additional playlists.

The first playlist mixes the original artist with related artists while the second displays only related artists and their songs.

Songs from all three playlists can be mixed together and viewed on the same page.

Youtube Disco can obviously be used to either play only songs from one artist or songs from that artist and related artists. The latter seems to be the main use of the service as the other option is also possible directly on Youtube.

The music videos that are selected in the playlists are not necessarily high quality videos as they can also contain live or fan made videos.

The music discovery service is without doubt one of the core features of Youtube Disco. It is easy to use and seems to yield good results most of the time.

Youtube Disco is an official Youtube service

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Internet Explorer Commercial Remover

Every web browser offers some form of blocking advertisements or commercials from being shown when loading websites. Firefox users have adblock plus or Noscript, Opera users have a built in option to block elements or BlockIt, Google Chrome users have also the choice between multiple ad blockers and Internet Explorer users can either use a plugin like Adblock IE or make use of the restricted zones to block specific hosts on the computer.

The last solution is being used by the small application IE Commercial Remover which adds known advertising hosts to the restricted zone so that connection attempts to those hosts will be rejected by the web browser. This in return means that the ads that should be displayed on the website will not be displayed due to that.

The portable software program displays a simple interface upon startup. Its three buttons can be used to add the filters to the restricted zone in Internet Explorer, remove the filters again and to close the application.

The program will add a total of seven different ad serving hosts to the restricted zone in the web browser. That’s not much considering that usual ad blocking lists contain hundreds of hosts. The method itself however is less intrusive than installing a plugin or third party software to handle ad blocking.

IE commercial Remover can be downloaded from the developer’s website. The developer does not provide compatibility information. It worked flawlessly on a Windows 7 Professional test system.

Google Buzz Introduction

Google Buzz Introduction: "

It feels like there is not a day where Google is not updating or publishing a new service. Google Buzz is the latest service that is being rolled out from today on to all Gmail users.

It is a social networking service to share updates, photos, videos and more with contacts. If you think Twitter, MySpace or Facebook then you got the general idea what Google Buzz is about.

Gmail users who have already been invited to the service by Google will see a notification the next time they log into Gmail.

If they chose to use Google Buzz they are redirected to a Gmail website that looks still pretty much like Gmail but comes with a few changes.

The left sidebar has been extended as it now contains a Buzz link which leads to the Google Buzz page in Gmail.

The Buzz page contains buzz posted by the owner of the account and by the followed users. This resembles Twitter. Google will automatically pick a few contacts that will be followed automatically and will post Google Reader shared items, Picasa Web public albums, and Google Chat status messages automatically on that page.

It is furthermore possible to connect additional sites to the Buzz account. This includes websites that have been added to webmaster tools, additional Google services like Youtube or Blogger as well as Twitter and Flickr. All those services and websites can be added so that updates are posted automatically in Google Buzz.

It is possible to add buzz messages which can be compared to Twitter messages sans the 140 char limit. Links and photos can be posted in the buzz message. A link will automatically be resolved and added with the website’s description while photos need to be uploaded. They will be displayed as a thumbnail directly in the message.

Some links will also be displayed directly including Youtube urls that can be played directly in the message.

Messages can either be private or public. Private messages are only accessible to specific users while public messages are visible for everyone (meaning they will be indexed and accessible by all users, not just the contacts).

Messages that have been posted can be commented on. Other social features include emailing messages, “liking” them (yes you can like your own posts).

The messages that have been posted to Buzz are accessible in Google Profiles, a service that can also be indexed in the Google search engine.

Google Buzz will be a successful service. It is linked to Gmail and all Gmail users see the notification upon login. That’s a guarantee that it will quickly reach a critical mass of users.

The real question is if it can compete with Twitter or Facebook on the same level. The answer to this has to be no unless Google has an ace up their sleeve and plans to add more functions to Google Buzz.

Have you already had a chance to test Google Buzz? What’s your opinion?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

DéjàClick Lets You Record and Automate Browsing Activities [Downloads]

DéjàClick Lets You Record and Automate Browsing Activities [Downloads]: "

Firefox: If you've ever been annoyed by having to do repetitive actions on a web site with no way to automate them, DéjàClick can help. Record and playback browser-based actions with DéjàClick and skip tedious future clicks.

DéjàClick is a Firefox extension offered by AlertSite a company that specializes in software designed to monitor web sites and alert the site owners if specified processes are not occurring properly—essentially using automated script "robots" to go test out things like the search function and the checkout process. DéjàClick is their free offering for non-commercial use to allow users to record their own browsing and play it back to automate processes later on.

Any time there is an instance where you have to actually interact with the browser—as oppose to using a bookmark to jump somewhere in a site or a login tool—you can use DéjàClick to record yourself performing the actions and store that recording as a script. Every time you visit that site or interface again you can execute that script and save yourself the hassle. Check out the company site here or visit the link below to grab the extension.

DéjàClick [via MakeUseOf]

Turn a Laptop with a Broken Hinge into an All-in-One Desktop Computer [DIY]

Turn a Laptop with a Broken Hinge into an All-in-One Desktop Computer [DIY]: "

A frequent point of failure on laptops is the hinges—we've seen more than our fair share of wobbly, broken, and glued together ones. This clever but simple hack turns your broken laptop into an all-in-one desktop machine.

Josh had a nice laptop that was just freshly out of warranty when the hinges broke. Seeing it as an opportunity to experiment he decided to turn the broken laptop into an all-in-one desktop machine. He undid the broken hinge completely, rotated the display, and then sandwiched the whole thing between two sheets of plexiglass. The back piece of the plexiglass is longer than the front sheet and the protrusion slides into an angled slot carved into the base.

The best part about this hack is that side from being careful with the rotation of the laptop lid and when adding the plexiglass there isn't anything complicated to it. You won't have to solder anything, do any fancy case modding, or invest in a machine shop. Check out the link below for pictures of the finished product from different angles and additional information from Josh. Have your own clever hack for squeezing life out of an old or damaged computer? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Resurrection of a Broken Laptop [via Hack A Day]

Thursday, January 21, 2010

40 Seriously Funny Print Ads

40 Seriously Funny Print Ads: "

Print adverts need to get a message across with a single image and without the recourse of interactivity that we find today on the Internet.

As interactive media expands, attention spans are getting shorter and shorter every day.

For any company trying to get their product or service out in print format, the task is ever more challenging and difficult.

Humorous ads remain one of the few effective ways to engage an audience in a very saturated advertising market. This is an area where the audience is far more receptive and still willing to pay attention.

In this post, we’ve gathered 40 hilarious and really creative ads for your enjoyment…