Social Fixer (formerly Better Facebook)

Social Fixer (socialfixer.com), formerly called Better Facebook, is exactly that: a way to streamline Facebook to take out the annoying features, and tweak the ones you want to keep, to create a better Facebook experience.

It's free, and will automatically discover what browser you are using and provides the appropriate add-in.  Once added, it will take you through a Wizard to show you to use the most commonly used features of Social Fixer.  A small icon will then appear in the upper right corner to give you access to all the tools available in Social Fixer.

You should definitely click the icon to see all the options allowed (the screenshot below is just one of fourteen tabs of options).  The Wizard will take you through the most basic options, but clicking the icon and seeing all the options available is really where Social Fixer begins to shine.  You can change the width of the display (or go full width of your browser window), add and remove features in the side columns, force the most recent stories to display first (as opposed to Facebook deciding what you want to see), get rid of sponsored posts, change color themes, even write your own CSS for your Facebook page.

Because of the sheer number of available options, it takes some tweaking to get things just right, turning off some features after you've tried them, turning some features back on.  But after getting a sense of how Social Fixer works, you can customize Facebook to make it a much more useful and enjoyable experience.

Free Photoshop Express App

The desktop version of Photoshop is a pretty pricey program, so it is surprising that the Photoshop Express app is free (there is a $9.99 version as well, Photoshop Touch, which is more robust).  Admittedly, the online message boards are alight with dissatisfied users who preferred the previous version of Photoshop Express, but personally I found it easy and fun to use, with an intuitive interface and useful, if limited, set of tools. It is available for both Apple and Android devices, and both tablet and phone.

There are more tools available on the tablet version (screenshot at right) than there are the phone version (screenshot at left).  Both allow you to do basic cropping/rotating/straightening and color correction.  Both have a variety of special effects and borders from which to choose.  Available (and free!) at the iTunes Store and Google Play.

Evernote Clearly

Evernote Clearly (http://evernote.com/clearly/) is an add-in for Chrome, Firefox and Opera that allows you to strip away the menus, ads and other extraneous content and only keep text and pictures.  The goal is to allow you to send a stripped down version of the page to Evernote for storage (I have a previously posted about Evernote, an app I become more enthusiastic about as I add content to it).

And while that alone makes Clearly a very useful tool, what makes it even more useful is that you don't even need to use it in the context of Evernote, but can simply use it to strip away all the distractions and advertisements and only focus on content.

Here's a random example.  Before...

 

And after...

 To launch Clearly, click the lamp icon (see screenshot at left) in the upper right of your browser (the elephant icon is used to send the webpage directly to Evernote).  In addition to the icon, there is a slide out menu (see screenshot at right) that allows you to highlight, print, change text size, and send to Evernote. Clearly is an excellent companion to an already remarkably useful tool.
 


      

Tabs for Microsoft Office

If you use tabbed browsing while working online to shift quickly between webpages, it can be frustrating to work in Microsoft Office products and have to open one document at a time, and use the taskbar or Alt+Tab to move between documents.


ExtendOffice (http://www.extendoffice.com/download/office-tab.html) is a free add-in for Microsoft Office that adds tab functions to Word, PowerPoint and Excel (the paid version also adds them to Publisher, Access and Visio).  This allows you to move quickly between documents, particularly useful if you are comparing documents or copy-and-pasting sections of content from one document to the other.  The screenshot at the upper right shows the tabs of two presentations pulled up in PowerPoint 2010, so the two presentations can be accessed more quickly, simply by clicking the tab.

The tabs are very customizable, and different settings can be used for different Microsoft programs (tab options for Word are shown at left).  It is compatible with Office 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013.

Saving PowerPoints as Video

A weird little feature new to the latest version of PowerPoint is that you can save your PowerPoint as a .wmv (Windows Media) video.  Who knew?

The command is somewhat hidden, but if you go to the File menu, choose Save & Send, then Create a Video (a screenshot is at left).  You be given options to choose a screen resolution, choose existing slide timings and narration, set new timings and narration, or give each slide a predetermined amount of time (e.g. 5 seconds).  Click the Create Video button and you're done.  Be aware that long or complex PowerPoints will take some time to render.

If you have a video embedded within your PowerPoint it will automatically play when the presentation gets to that slide.

Below is a very short PowerPoint on Password Protection rendered into a video, with 5 seconds per slide.  

Linking to Specific Spots on a YouTube Video

Most of you know how to link to a YouTube video. You go to the YouTube page and copy the link in the address bar (or, alternately, click Share below the video and copy the link).

What you may not know (and I didn't know til last week) is that you can easily change the link so a video will start at a certain point in the middle of the video. Just click Share, then Options on a video page. The screenshot at left shows the YouTube dialogue box.

You can also simply add #t= and the number of minutes and seconds at the end of the URL. For example, if you wanted to start at 4 minutes and 7 seconds, add #t=4m7s to the end of the URL and you're done!

 In the example link below, I added #t=0m13s to the end of the URL, which will start the video 13 seconds into it, or right before the rocket launches.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/m6nTibKZLFA#t=0m13s

Thanks to Darrin Goodman for the tip.

YouTube Video Editing

Following on the heels of my last post about image stabilization, here is another cool feature of YouTube: you can easily trim the start and end points of any video you upload to YouTube on the fly.

First step: upload the video to YouTube. After it has processed, bring the video up and click Edit. Click Enhancements.



Click Trim.



You'll then get a preview screen, and an area just below it where you can drag the Start and End bars to trim the beginning and end of your video (see below). Play the preview to see your video with the new edits, and fine-tune them until you are happy with the result. Click Done. And that's it. Because the entire video has been uploaded, you can go back and change these edit points, including adding cut portions back into your video, anytime you like.

YouTube Image Stablization

YouTube has added several new user-friendly editing features to its user interface lately, from automatic transcription to editing. Today's post deals with image stabilization.

You can have YouTube automatically stabilize a shaky video. First step: upload the video to YouTube. After it has processed, bring the video up and click Edit.



Next, choose Enhancements at the top of the page.



Click Stabilize. That's it! Be aware the stabilization process will take some time; in my test it took about 20 minutes.

Flickr Slideshow

Flickr Slideshow, at http://www.flickrslideshow.com/, makes it very easy to create a slideshow from your photoset at Flickr. You give them the URL of your photoset, the width and height of the slideshow, and the site returns the code you need to put the slideshow up at a website or blog (shown below).

The first step is to create a Flickr account. Go to http://www.flickr.com/, register for free, and upload your photos.

Next, go to Flickr Slideshow, at http://www.flickrslideshow.com/. Type in your photoset URL (generally http://www.flickr.com/photos/, followed by a long number specific to your account). Choose the size of your slideshow - the one below is 500 x 400 pixels. Click Create Slideshow, and then copy-and-paste the code the sir returns to you in your blog or webpage.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software

Let's end the year on a fun note: Lifehacker recently listed their "Best of 2011"
posts of the year, and among them was "Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software," available at lifehacker.com/384545/superior-alternatives-to-crappy-windows-software.

This post gives you free, fast, well-designed alternatives to bloated and frustrating Windows-based software such as Adobe Reader (use SumatraPDF), Windows Media Player (use VLC or Media Player Classic), Winzip (use 7-zip or J-zip) and much more.

It's a fun, and informative, article. Give it a read.

The entire year-end list of the "Best of 2011" Lifehacker posts is available at: lifehacker.com/5872033/this-is-the-best-of-lifehacker-2011

Happy 2012!

Pando

Pando, at www.pando.com, is a large file sharing service that allows you to send packages of files and folders up to 1 GB. It's free, and simple to use; just drag and drop the files and folder you want to send (Pando gives you a running tally of the overall package size so you can stay under 1 GB).

A variety of ways can be used to send the files. You can directly send the files via email. You can post them on the web using the provided embed code. Or you can post the files on Facebook.

A few caveats: there is a small download involved (though it is quite small, about 5 MB). The person receiving your files needs to have Pando as well. And, most importantly, you need to choose "No thanks and continue" when it asks to install the insidious and incredibly annoying Weatherbug (ALWAYS say no to Weatherbug).

A screenshot of the easy-to-use interface is shown below.


Thanks, Angie Asmus, for the tip.

Windows 7 Logon Image Changer

Most, if not all, of you know how to change the background image on your monitors, but it's a little tougher to personalize the initial Windows 7 logon screen image (shown below).



There is a complex and somewhat hazardous way of doing it, involving going directly into the registry and modifying it (instructions available here). Don't try this unless you know what you are doing!

A much easier method is to use the free Tweaks.com Logon Changer, available for download at http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon/. It's easy to use, doesn't require installation, and will automatically resize and recompress your images while leaving the original file untouched. You can preview any number of images before making your decision, or revert back to the original image with the click of a button. A screenshot of the Logon Changer in action is below; notice the easy-to-use 4 button tool panel at the bottom of the image. The only limitation is that the background you select needs to be smaller than 256KB.

Converting docx, pptx and xlsx Files

As most of you probably know, when Microsoft released Office 2007, the file formats of the documents it created changed: .doc (Word documents) became .docx, .ppt (PowerPoint documents) became .pptx, and .xls (Excel documents) became .xlsx. What this meant is that people with earlier versions of Microsoft Office were unable to open the new file formats.

There are many file format converters out there, but Microsoft probably created the easiest, most seamless one, with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, available for free download at: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3.

I like this converter (and use it on my personal laptop) because it converts the document all by itself. All you need to do is open the document in whatever version of MS Office you have, and the converter automatically recognizes the format as incompatible and converts and displays the document in a read-only version. You don't have to do a thing. The converted document can then be saved in an older file format (e.g. - .doc)

Some caveats: the compatability pack only converts Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents. And formatting choices that are not available in the older version of Office will be discarded. Overall, though, it is the easiest and cheapest way to convert Microsoft Office 07 and 2010 documents.

OSSwin: Open Source for Windows

The OSSwin Project, at http://osswin.sourceforge.net/, is essentially a very long list of links to free, open-source tools available to Windows users.

All of the most popular open source tools are here: GIMP (image editing), Audacity (audio recording and editing), Filezilla (file transfer, or FTP), Firefox (browser), Thunderbird (email), and Open Office (a office tools suite, similar to Microsoft Office). But there are more esoteric tools here too, from CAD software and zip compression to firewalls and anti-virus tools. All free, all open source. Take a look!

VideoLAN Media Player

The VideoLAN media player (http://www.videolan.org/)is a free, open-source, cross-platform video and audio player that I've been using for close to a year now. It will play most DVDs, virtually all audio CDs, as well as web-friendly formats like Flash and the Windows .wmv format (a complete list is available at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html). It has, in fact, played almost every media file format I've thrown at it, without requiring me to go online and find the applicable codec.

It's fast, and simple. It plays on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. It's a great alternative to Windows Media player, and I've made it my default media player for video and audio on both my personal and work computers.

Give it a try! You can download it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/.

Windows Snipping Tool

Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a neat little gizmo hidden in the Accessories menu: the Snipping Tool. This very handy little tool allows you to take quick screenshots of any area of your monitor. The New menu pulldown (screenshot at left) allows you to take screenshots of your entire screen or a specific window of your screen. Yyou can also define the screenshot area yourself, creating either a rectanglar screenshot or a "freeform" screenshot that allows you to draw an irregular shape and take a screenshot of whatever is inside it.

To use the tool, go to All Programs, choose Accessories, and then choose Snipping Tool. Click the pulldown menu and choose either Free-form, Rectangular, Window, or Full-screen, and then define your screenshot area. Use the File menu to save the result as a .png, a .gif, a .jpg, or even an .html file.

Thanks to Ruth Willson for the tip!

Podbean

Podbean (http://www.podbean.com/)is a free podcast hosting service that does for audio what Youtube does for video: it hosts the sound file, so you don't need to store it on your own server; it gives you embed code so your sound file can easily be embedded on a blog or webpage, and it gives you a slick looking playing for the end-user to use to play the file.

The process is pretty simple.  Register for Podbean with an email and password.  Record your podcast, upload it to Podbean, and then use their embed code to put the podcast on your website.

The free version of Podbean limits sound files to 100 mb total.

Joanne Littlefield and I co-hosted a Connect session on organizing and creating podcasts and using Podbean, available at http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/comptrain/co.shtml.  In addition, there are several video tutorials on sound file formats, recording podcasts and using Podbean available at the video tutorial page, at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/vid_tutorials/index.html#pod.   

Jotform

JotForm (http://www.jotform.com/) is a form builder that allows you to quickly create customized forms using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) form editor so you can see the results visually as you create the form.  A screenshot of a form in progress is below.

You can use standard Form Tools section to access tools like radio buttons, checkboxes and text boxes, use the Quick Tools for preformatted phone number and address fields, use the Survey Tools for matrices, scales, and "sliders" (see screenshot at left).  You can even incorporate Payment Tools such as Paypal, Google Checkout, or Purchase orders.

The forms can also be configured to send both notification emails to you, and confirmation emails to the end-user.  You can also send them to a confirmation page (or any URL you wish) after they've submitted the form.

Once you've created your form, use the Embed and Source Code options (see screenshot at right) to embed your form into a webpage or blog.  The only limitation is that the free version allows 100 submissions a month, and 10 payments a month.  For $10/month, you can receive 1000 submissions and payments per month.

Much thanks to Joy Bauder for discovering this easy to use tool. 

NoSquint

This Firefox Add-on, available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nosquint/, allows you to customize the text zoom level for every site you visit, and it remembers those zoom levels the next time you visit the site.

I LOVE this Firefox Add-0n. My eyesight has declined to the point where I now wear reading glasses, and I was having to continually change the zoom level on pages I was reading using Ctrl and + or -.

NoSquint remembers the zoom settings for every web page you visit. Set the zoom level (using whatever method you like, the Ctrl and + or -, your mousewheel, or the NoSquint zoom in and out icons, seen at left), and from then on, whenever you visit the page, NoSquint remembers your previous zoom level. So, in essence, you have a customized zoom level for every site you visit. For someone like me, who is continually losing his reading glasses, this saves time and hassles.

It has other cool features as well, like allowing you to choose your own font, link and background colors that override existing webpage defaults. Try it!

IconFinder.com

Looking for a well-designed icon for your website or blog to help with navigation, links to social media, email, or applications?

IconFinder.com (http://www.iconfinder.com/) has an extensive collection (over 155,000) of icons for use by web developers and designers. You can search for individual icons, or matched icon sets that fit the design of your website. Most are free, though some are restricted to non-commercial use, and some ask that you credit the designer.

You don't even need to register. Just type what you are looking for into the site search engine, and once you find what you are looking for, download it. Again, be sure and respect the terms of the license.

Below is a screenshot of the results of the term "RSS feed." This shows only 6 of the over 700 RSS feed icons available at the site

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