Tag Status, Comments in Facebook with Shorter Firstname or Lastname

Facebook recently updated their tagging feature to include short names, which means you can just tag them with only friends’ firstname or lastname or whichever is shorter. Even middle names will work.
This is an great implementation as previously tagging people with long names made the comment look cluttered, now you can choose the shortest part of your friend’s name and also make the comment look less formal.

Tag Friends on Facebook Easily, By their Shortest Name  

Not only this after the recent update you don’t need to use the @ symbol to tag someone anymore. Simply type in the name with starting with capitals, like Amitinstead of amit while writing your status message or a comment.
To use short names (either the firstname, lastname or middlename), first tag the person and then use the mouse cursor and delete/backspace to remove tag on the part of the name you want to remove the tag from. Watch the clip below to understand.

As you can see from above, I chose the parts names I wanted to keep as tagged. You can remove rest part of the name that you don’t want to keep in the comment or status and keep only part of the name which you think will work for you.
For people with only Firstname and Lastname you can use any one for tagging. But for people with middle names you can tag any one of the part of that friend’s name.
I think this a great feature that many will appreciate since long names sometime makes the comment replies not only ugly but it also makes it look formal. With this new short names tagging you have more control over how you tag people in your facebook comments and status.

Make Your Computer Speak, Tell Date & Time On Startup After PC Boots

Few months back we posted about how to create a script to make windows narrator speak any text you want and also add it to startup so that it will narrate a welcome message when you boot into your desktop.
Here is a modified version of that same trick that will make your computer speak and tell you the current date and time. Obviously the best way to implement this trick is to add the narration script to your windows startup so that whenever you log into your desktop your PC will automatically speak and tell you the date and time of the day.

Using Windows Narrator to Automatically Announce the Day’s Time, Date on Startup

Open Notepad and create a VB script file using the code below… and save it as "<name>.vbs"(.vbs extension)

The Code : Click Here for the Code. | Else Download the VBscript.

Once done, double-click on this file to check if its working. Now all you need to do is to make sure it runs automatically on startup.
To do so open your windows Startup folder, Go to Start > All Programs > Startup and right-click to select Open.

Once this Startup opens, simple place the .vbs file there. You must be doing this from an Admin account. Confirm the security prompt and thats all. You can also set it up using theWindows Task Scheduler ^[+].
From now on every time you boot and log into your PC, windows will welcome you back and narrate the current time and date which I think is quite useful considering the fact there isn’t any default option in windows that let you do this unlike Mac OS.

There are many free apps that tells you the time on windows like this Talking Clock gadget for your Windows 7 sidebar and applications like SaytheTime.

Top 5 Interesting, Popular Google Labs Application You Must Use

Guest Post by Sally M : Google Labs is a multivariate testing ground for Google applications before they are formally released to the public. While these applications are still in testing phase, Google allows the public to come to the site to test them out. Of those applications still being tested, the following are the top 5 must-have Google Labs applications.

Best Google Labs Applications

Google Body

Google Body offers us a remarkable 3D model of the human body. The program peels off layers of the body allowing us to view muscles, vital organs, blood vessels, and nerve cells. The 3D control allows us to magnify and rotate the body to view it from almost any perspective. Plus, we can find the location of any part on the body by typing in a search term in the search box or by simply clicking on a body part.

Because of the interactive nature of the application, most of us would probably think that the program is designed using Flash or maybe Java. None of those technologies are used though. The program uses WebGL, an API based on OpenGL. This means that we need a WebGL supported browser to view Google Body. So, to use the program, this means that we can only use version 4 or higher of Firefox, or version 9 or higher of Chrome.

Page Speed Online

This Google application analyzes web pages for web developers and then generates suggestions on how to speed up the page load. The suggestions contain a numerical value that represents the Page Speed Score for that page. The maximum value is 100, which means no improvement can be made.

A lower score means that there is room to improve the page speed. If improvements can be made, the application lists the improvements in terms of three priorities: high, medium, and low priority. The default testing environment for the program is for desktop browsers. Alternatively, web developers can use the application to analyze page speed for mobile devices as well.

Books Ngram Viewer

For those of us curious about phrases and their appearance in books, this application shows us the percentage that a phrase has appeared in a collection of books over a selected number of years. One of the main uses of the application is to help track cultural trends. With the application, we can use it to note the usage trend of words such as "slavery", which had its peak usage in the mid 1800′s.

Even though laypeople can learn a lot from the program, the application is most valuable for those conducting academic research. The application also allows you to search different collections of books, which are divided into English, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Hebrew. Collectively, there are 5.2 million books that are searched, which, according to Google, are approximately 4% of the books ever published.

Google Goggles

With this Google application, we may never have to type text in order to conduct a search again. However, this Google Lab application is designed specifically for smartphones. Once the application is loaded onto a phone, we simply need to take a picture of whatever we want to search and Google Goggles returns information related to the image.
The application allows us to search a wide variety of things. For instance, we can take a picture of a landmark, logo, artwork, or a book, and the application will return information related to any of those images. Also, if we take a picture of text in a foreign language, the application can return the translation. However, to run the application, we need to have either an Android OS phone or an iPhone.

Squared Labs

Google Squared Labs is a nifty little application that presents search information in spreadsheet formation, similar to an Excel document. Each column presents unique information related to each returned item. The last column on a row allows us the option to select more columns of data if more information about the item is available.

The unique presentation of the returned data makes it easy for us to compare the listed items. A search, for example, of endangered species returns a structured listing of related information about the species instead of a page full of links to articles. In fact, this type of organized search result is ideal for anything that may fit into a list. 

Transform, Convert Photos to Cartoon Like Caricatures, Vector Images

Have you seen movies like Waking Life and Waltz with Bashir ? In Waking Life the entire movie is cartoonized, ie, it was originally shot like a normal movie but during post production the movie content was made to look like cartoons or hand drawn animations.
You too can create the same effect for your photos and images and make them look like cartoons, caricatures so you can use them as clip arts, profile avatar, greetings, posters etc.

Photo to Cartoon: Free Online Tool to Create Vector Images, Cartoon Illustrations

The online tool at  lets you caricaturesoft.com converts photos into cartoons in one click. It’s free and easy. Just click Open Photo to upload your photo and drag the slider to manage the intensity of carbonization.
But you must also try their desktop application (download) which has better controls for customizing your photos into cartoons plus it converts, raster images and photographs into high quality vector art.

They also have a Movie Cartoonizer which converts movies into cartoonized animation and cartoons with various automated options, settings and manual tools. Perfect for making movies like the Waking Life and Waltz with Bashir etc.
There is a similar tool online tool cartoon.pho.to and convert2ctn which produces similar good enough results.
For the desktop IntoCartoon is a freeware tool designed for conversion of photos into cartoon-like pictures or other graphic representations like pencil sketches.

Using Photoscape to Convert Photos into Cartoon, Paintings Easily

We have mentioned Photoscape earlier, which is a fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos and many features, here’s one that lets you convert photos into cartoons, clip arts and paintings.
Step 1 : Once installed open Photoscape and load the image from the explorer on the left.
Step 2 : Click on [Filter ▼] button and select Noise Reduction (Clear Skin) and set it to High to reduce grainy parts in the image. You can also use Clear Blur is some cases.

Step 3 : The click [Filter ▼] button again and select Pictorialization > Oil Painting to add a cartoon, painting effect on the photo. you can increase the amount to add more cartoon effect. Similarly try other effects like Water Painting for similar effects or whichever is better.
This is the type of result you can expect…

 And if you are a newbie photoshoper then you can read this tutorial. And if you’re looking for a professional service try cartoonme.com where professionals create cartoon versions of your portrait photos, pets etc for cheap.

Scan & Check Database Files, CSV, List to Find Invalid Fake Email IDScan & Check Database Files, CSV, List to Find Invalid Fake Email ID

If you manage student, college applications or manage customer service or the database admin for any ecommerce site or a shop etc, then you might find many non-existent email addresses and fake email ids or some with spelling mistakes. Sometimes its useful to keep your email lists as clean as possible from fake, non-existing emails and also to notify a customer without a valid email address.
Scan Mail Checker verifies if email addresses of your list are valid. The program eliminates repeated addresses, checks if they are written correctly, and if these email addresses actually exist.

Once installed, the program imports lists of email addresses from text files, Excel and OpenOffice spreadsheets, any database (Access, MySQL, MSSQL Server, Oracle, Firebird, etc.), CSV files, Scan Mail projects, etc. Features of Scan Mail Checker are :

• Finds repeated email addresses
• Checks the syntax of addresses for obvious errors
• Checks if the email domain is currently available.
• Checks if the email address exists on its mail server.

A very handy tool to check your list of emails for reducing failed delivery reports can stay aware if any customer misses your newsletter or offer, news etc for some syntax error, spelling mistake.

# Get Scan Mail Checker <Download> 

Once that’s done you can read this tip on how to get email delivery reports to know if the person you’re sending the email to has actually read the email and when.

Disable Create, Rename Function For Files Folders Inside a DirectoryDisable Create, Rename Function For Files Folders Inside a Directory

Want to disallow users from creating folders, file or renaming existing items in a directory in windows ?  This way you can make sure no one can misuse a public computer by creating useless directories or dump files on your PC without your permission. 

PathLock is a freeware app that let’s you edit file permissions on any path on the windows file system. After loading the program you can assign inside which directories users can rename files and folders or create files and folders, so that you can protect your data from damage or unwanted actions.

# Download: PathLock v.1.0 (Portable)

Just make sure not to tamper file permissions on System Directories which might create problems.
Otherwise this is a very handy portable tool that lets you avoid users from creating or renaming files and folders.

Surf 2 Webpages Together Side by Side in Chrome Browser, Widescreen

A easy multitasking tip to improve your productivity while working online is being able to access multiple webpages at the same time to compare data, do some analysis etc. Although professionals prefer multiple monitors, here a 2 basic tips to surf 2 websites side by side together on you widescreen monitor.
Here are 2 simple ways to view 2 websites simultaneously together…

Split Screen – Chrome Extension Allows to Open 2 URLs in the same Tab

Split Screen Extension <Install>

This is a cool extension that lets you open 2 websites side by side under one tab in chrome browser. Once installed click the button and it prompts the user for two URL addresses and then displays both in one tab.

Great for cross-referencing, studying and surfing the web in general! Watch a youtube video, (or wait for it to buffer) while you surf another webpage. Its also has a default notepad which saves whatever you write for the next time you use the extension.

Using Windows 7 to Dock, Align Two Windows Side by Side

In Window 7 if you press + [right] or [left] it aligns the window half width across the desktop towards the right or left. So if you open 2 instances of your browser, simply align them both half way through the screen, one on the left, the other on the right to view them together.

Note: To open a tab as a new window, drag the tab down towards the taskbar or right click a link and select Open link in new window. Also, watch this video to understand the windows 7 right to left docking feature.
Hope this helps, and if you are looking for better solution you might consider splitting your desktop, monitor screen into two separate workspaces which is ideal for working simultaneously on multiple stuff easily.

Download Specific Parts of Youtube, Online Videos in Many Formats

There are many ways to download youtube videos, but in case of a scenario where you want to download portion of a youtube video and not the full length video, here is a simple tip while helps you avoid downloading the whole video (like a speech, new cover etc) and get only part of the online video in any format you need.

Download Only Parts, Portion of Online Videos (Youtube, Vimeo, Dailymotion etc)

Clip Converter is a very cool online video conversion tool, which lets you to convert nearly any audio or video from a URL (YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, MySpace, Veoh…) to any known popular media formats.

# Go to www.clipconverter.cc

Simply enter the URL from your video page, and the web application will try to detect the video file. Afterwards Clip Converter grabs the media file to their server. From there its converted to the chosen format and then after completing the conversion you can download the media file.

The best feature it provides is that there are few settings you can make prior to the conversion, like specifying a portion of the video to be downloaded, sound and video quality etc. You can also upload the video files for conversion.
If you are looking forward to embed videos on a website page etc then there online services which lets you customize youtube player by adding advanced playback controls on youtube videos for letting features slow-fast play, zoom, annotations etc.

5 Ways to Protect Facebook Account Against Clickjacking, Hacking

Facebook teamed up with internet safety browsing company Web of Trust in early May in an effort to beef up the social networking site’s security settings and to prevent spamming and clickjacking—a malicious hacker technique that "tricks" web users to revealing sensitive information such as passwords and social security numbers whenever they "click" on a attractive and misleading link, such as "click here to win a free iPad2."

While the social networking site will soon require users to confirm before posting comments and will mandate that users enter a special code before accessing the site from an unrecognized computer, the security modifications are still receiving harsh criticisms since the changes only "warn" users of potential threats, it doesn’t get rid of them.
While at the very least the amped security settings should help users be more cautious when using the site, there are other simple ways Facebook users can protect their information from getting into the wrong hands. To learn the 5 ways to prevent against Facebook clickjacking, continue reading below.

5. Install a Spam & Virus Firewall

By far the easiest way to safe-guard your computer from clickjacking, spam and viruses is to install anti-spyware and virus software. You should never browse the internet without proper protection; you should especially never browse heavy traffic sites like Facebook—a scammer’s playground—if you are not protected. If your anti-spyware and virus software is outdated, renew it. If you are depleted of funds, there are plenty of organizations that offer limited protection entirely for free, like AVG free antivirus.

4. Log-out, Always

There are particular web sites that allow users to remain logged-in for extended periods, like Facebook. While constantly being logged-in may be convenient, especially if you use those sites on your phone, you are actually making yourself extremely vulnerable to hackers—they can forge requests via clickjacking with more ease. So always make sure you log-out.

3. Secure Web Chanel

One of the easiest ways to increase security settings is to make sure that you are browsing Facebook using HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). To check whether you are using a secure browsing site, simply check the address bar. It should say, "https://www.facebook.com/" not "http://www.facebook.com." If it does not say this, go to Account > Account Settings > Account Security (click change) and check the box that says Secure browsing (https).

2. Upgrade Browser

To increase your level of protection, all you may simply need to do is upgrade your web browser to the latest version. This is because recent updates to Google Chrome, Mozilla Fire Fox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 are designed to help fight and prevent clickjacking and spamming. Don’t automatically assume because you download the new version of the web browser of your choice that you are immune to clickjacking however. It’s important that you still take precaution at all times.

1. Install Browser Add-Ons

Some web browsers provide free add-ons that are specifically designed to increase protection and are tailored to help block clickjacking, NoScript for Mozilla Firefox and Not Scripts available for Google Chrome users. Both add-ons work the same way: they stop Flash movies from automatically loading and playing when you visit a site. Granted, you can view the videos if you wish, all you need to do is click on the empty section where the movie would normally be.

Disable, Prevent Mouse From Waking Up your PC, Computer from Sleep

If you keep your PC in sleep mode a lot, then you might want to stop your mouse from waking up your computer when it gets an accidental bump from your pet or children.


Whether at home or office this feature that wakes up pc from sleep mode when there is any mouse movement can be quite annoying since even the slightest touch on the mouse can wake-up your computer from its well deserved beauty sleep.

Avoid, Stop Mouse from Waking Up Computer from Sleep Mode in Windows 7

Follow the steps below to disable your mouse from waking up your pc from sleep mode…

Step 1 : Go to Start > Control Panel and search for "mouse" and click on "Change mouse settings" from the results.

Step 2 : It opens the "Mouse Properties" window. Click on the Hardware tab and click on "Properties". 

 

Step 3 : From the Properties window go to the "Power Management" tab and uncheck the option "Allow this device to wake the computer" and click OK

You can do the same for your Keyboard, which means you can wake up the computer only by pressing the power button. The same works for windows vista.
Windows 7 added these useful power management options controlled by hardware actions, for example you can configure your laptop’s lid settings to perform specific power options when its closed like putting it to sleep mode (default) or do nothing at all.
But, in case you might want to disable or lock keyboard and mouse during cleaning them or protect them from your kids, pets while you are away from your desk.

Save Any Online File, Image Directly to Dropbox, Google Docs, FlickrSave Any Online File, Image Directly to Dropbox, Google Docs, Flickr

Basically I like backing up most of the important documents I download by uploading them to my Dropbox. Also some times I upload them to Google Docs for editing etc. For image I mostly upload them to Picasaweb or Flickr and share the funny ones on Facebook.

But what I mostly have to do is download them first then re-upload them again especially the images, photos. A better and productive solution would be to save the files directly into my online cloud accounts.

Cloud Save is a useful chrome browser plugin which lets you save any file url link directly into your cloud accounts like Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, SugarSync, Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Min.us, Twitpic and more (see screenshot above).

► Install Cloud Save <Webstore Link>

After installing this extension in your browser, right-click on any element of a web page (file, document, photo, video, etc.) and new context menu item appears in which you can select any of the list of online storage services available and save that file directly into your account. Nice and easy.

I have seen a similar kind of feature in FluffyApp, which is an easy tray app. to upload files via drag drop, that uploads images and files when you drag and drop them from your web browser into the tray icon, which then uploads them your Cloudapp account.

Another tip I’d like to share is, if you cloud account application creates a synced local folder on your computer (just like dropbox does), you can drag and drop images from a webpage into this folder to directly upload them.

Also check out this desktop app. Joukuu which lets you manage all your cloud based files from your desktop across multiple type of cloud accounts like dropbox, google docs, box etc.

Test New Mosaic Style, Tiled Windows 8 Interface on your Desktop PC

Microsoft awed the world with the new Windows 8 multitouch user interface (GUI) which might change way we use a Windows PC. The most notable feature being  a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a full-screen view of customizable apps. display with live tiles with notifications, showing up-to-date data from your active applications.

Preview the New Window 8 Metro UI Right from for Win7 Desktop

Mosaic is a cool application that makes your desktop resemble Microsoft’s new Metro IU running on the Windows 8 platform. It acts like set of widgets that shows some live content from the web like facebook, gmail, rss etc or from your PC apps.
It supports HTML5 widgets and uses IE9 engine if it installed. HTML widgets are visible only in full screen only. Some widgets are links to some of the useful stuff or locations (video or desktop or control panel) but in the future they could get more functions.

Acc. to the developer, Mosaic is in alpha stage and is unstable sometimes…

To open the Mosaic menu move mouse cursor to the right border of screen and click. Might not work if your taskbar already exists there or you have multiple monitors. You add or remove widgets by clicking on the widget icon.
Though I found it very buggy and it hangs sometimes, but its a great experience to try it out to have a feel of the new Windows 8 interface that is coming soon on your desktop.

 ► Download Mosiac :<Link>