According to Wikipedia:  A software port (usually just called a ‘port’) is a virtual/logical data connection that can be used by programs to exchange data directly, instead of going through a file or other temporary storage location. The most common of these are TCP and UDP ports, which are used to exchange data between computers on the Internet.

Most people know what FTP is. FTP is the File Transfer Protocol. It is designated to run on port 21.

Now let’s think about this. If you want to have a FTP server on your computer that is accessible to the outside world you will need to open port 21 on your router or firewall.   Bittorrent Client Azerus uses inbound and outbound ports 6881-6889 below is how I opened them on my Dlink router.

To open a port on your network you would log into your router or firewall.  You will need this IP address and username/password to connect. Once you are in, you would look for the firewall portion of your interface. If this is over your head, go to Port Forward and they will walk you through it. All you need is your router’s make and model. Your firewall or router might call it Applications, Rules , Virtual Servers or Firewall rules.

Over the years more and more applications function over the Internet or network. About 7 years ago I needed to open ports on my Linksys router and it was not easy. It was confusing to me and at the time I was opening ports left and right on Cisco PIX firewalls and manually creating incoming and outgoing rules. To see all computers that are connected to your computer and the ports they are connected to go to the command prompt and type Netstat -a.

The third and forth columns are what we are looking at. The third column has the address of the machine that is connected to your machine then there is a colon and the port number this machine has connected or is trying to connect on. The last column states either Listening or Established. Listening means the port is open and waiting and Established means that the machine is connected.

The reason that the manufacturers made it so difficult to open ports was security concerns. By opening ports on your router you are essentially unlocking a window or door to your home. The bad guys might not know it is unlocked but by trying it, they might figure it out.

To give you an example of how opening ports can harm you, I will share with you my first time I got hacked. It was not a proud moment. It was humbling and an eye opener. I came home from work to check why I could not get to my FTP on my home computer from work. My machine was on and it looked like the hard drive was going crazy. Once I logged on to the machine I saw that my free space was at less than 1% and my machine was crawling due to no free space issues.

Apparently someone used my open port 21 to gain access to my IIS based FTP server and upload crap loads of porn. I quickly took my machine offline and checking the log files, was going in and out of the machine all day and night with a new user set up.

By opening port 21 there was a way into my machine and using some exploit they took it over. I saw that the hackers were connecting from specific IP addresses -  I blocked those in my router and then I modified my rules.

All my rules now have source IP addresses, No longer will I open a port to everyone – I will add my office IP address and work around that. Another nifty tip is to use different port numbers than the usual ports. When I say usual ports I mean port 80 is normally used to access the web but you can change the port your webserver uses to 8888 via IIS. They you would need to type in http://www.yoururl.com:8888 if the user did not know the port they could not find the website.

I used 3737 for FTP for a while. The reason this helps is that hackers scan networks for open ports. Port scanning takes time and so they scan for ports like 21,22,80,8080 and other commonly used ports. If you are able to change your ports do so. In this instance I then accessed my FTP site using my IP and the port like so:

ftp://172.23.33.211:3737 (that is a fake IP address for you hackers out there!)

Most FTP clients allow you to change the port your client connects with as well. You can use a free port scanner from an outside computer like this one or you can use a service like Can You See Me to scan individual ports.

The external website is a better test as it shows what is open from the outside in.

One you confirm that you have ports open that you want to close you will need to go to your router and find the rules and delete them or you can turn on your Windows Firewall from your services manager. For total control download Zone Alarm’s free offering. The firewall will provide you with protection from threats inside and outside your network.

How do you safely open ports and protect yourself from threats? Share your opinions with us in the comments!

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Almost every website will have a different policy for dead account holders, so I will discuss what popular websites such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo email accounts, MySpace and Facebook social networking websites do in the event of a death of one of their users.

Gmail

If you have a Gmail account and you pass away, your next of kin will be allowed to access your emails. The account will stay open forever, but as the next of kin, you are able to request it to be deleted. To get access to the email account, you will need to supply the following information by fax or mail to Google to be granted account access of the deceased user account.

• Your full name (next of kin), your contact information and a verifiable email address
• The Gmail email address of the deceased person
• An email containing the full headers of an email message that the deceased person has emailed you with the entire contents of the email
• Proof of death
• Documentation to prove that you are the lawfully allowed to access their email (if the deceased is over 18). If deceased person is under 18 of age, you must provide a birth certificate

After you’ve compiled the information, Google will verify it and grant you access to the user account.

More information about accessing a deceased person’s mail can be found in Google’s Support Page.

So if you have private information that you don’t want people to look at when you are dead, don’t use Gmail (use Yahoo instead).

If you are trying to access a deceased person’s email account, you may first want to try to reset the user’s password.

Hotmail

If Hotmail accounts are left inactive for a period of time, the email account along with all the information will be eventually deleted (within the year) and therefore, you will not be able to access it. If you die, your next of kin will be granted access to your account provided they supply supporting documents such as a death certificate (similar to what Google needs). Hotmail will not reset the password for the deceased person, but you have to fax or mail information to gain access to the account such as:

• Your email address
• Your shipping address (as they send you a package in the mail
• Documents to state your are the benefactor or you have power of attorney
• Your photocopied driver’s license
• A photocopy of the death certificate
• Information about the account holder such as first and last name, date of birth, city, state, zip, approximate date of the account creation and the approximate date of last sign in.

If you require more information, you can get it at Windows Live Help.

Yahoo

Yahoo has a much stricter policy over who can get access to your account. And that is no one. If you want to ensure no one has access to your emails when you die, you would want to choose Yahoo. Yahoo will not grant permission to anyone to access a deceased user’s account. The only permission Yahoo grants is for the account to be deleted. Therefore, Yahoo does not allow anyone to access your emails. The only way someone can do this is if they reset your account password.

Facebook

Facebook will not grant anyone access to a deceased user account, but if the user of the account is deceased, their page will be turned into a memorial page once reqested. By filling out the form to turn an deceased users page into a memorial page, Facebook will remove sensitive information on the account like status updates and will only allow current friends to access the page. Family members will then be allowed to customise the page of the deceased user.

MySpace

MySpace deceased user policy is a bit vague, but they state that if you are the next of kin, they will not grant you access to edit, or delete any of the content or settings on the account yourself, but you can request it to be removed if you deem appropriate. You can simply email accountcare@support.myspace.com and attach appropriate documentation such as a death certificate. However, if you have access to their email account, MySpace recommends that you reset the user password.

In the end…

If you die, your accounts will most likely stay active unless the site automatically deletes the account due to inactivity, or your family has requested the account to be closed. Most sites allow access to your personal data by your next of kin, but to gain this right, they will need to mail proof to the website. Even though you may have died, if you use one password for all these sites, your family members might be able to use that password, or even guess your secret question. But then again, when you die, would you even care what people find in your email inbox or social networking sites?

If you are trying to access a deceased person’s email, try resetting their email, look to see if they have stored the password in a file, or see if they have written it down on paper.

Have you ever gone through something like this? What did you do to secure the deceased user account? Your experience could help easy the transition for others. Share them in the comments.

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It was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization.

But in plain English, Bluetooth is a protocol that allows you to remotely access and use devices on a computer or phone without the use of wires. Originally it was used for connecting headsets to a mobile phone. Then Bluetooth started being used to connect headsets to a regular computer and then progressed on to making printers wireless as well as being able to connect to a Bluetooth network. Bluetooth signals travel through walls, windows, doors and can get great reach depending on what is in your way. In my home I can leave my phone upstairs and still use my headset all around the house thanks to our porous walls!

Today I used Bluetooth on my Windows Mobile device to connect to the internet on my netbook via internet sharing. All in all Bluetooth is AWESOME! Let’s take a look at how to connect bluetooth devices – such as Windows Mobile Devices or your Bluetooth headset.

First we should make sure Bluetooth is running. You should see an icon for it in your system tray. If you do not, hit up the control panel and turn it on. It will be under the Bluetooth Control Panel. This is the same on XP and Vista (and presumably Windows 7)

It depends on what you want to connect but go to Bluetooth Devices under the control panel and click on the add button.  This will start the wizard.

Next up is the passkey window. Devices like headsets have passkeys associated with them so you will not get hacked. Who wants to listen to someone else’s conversations or worse!

So when setting up a Bluetooth headset make sure you use the passkey that came with the device. Otherwise you are free to use and set up your own options. Once the wizard is complete it will prompt you to choose what roles you want the device to play. They will list items like stereo headset, a2dp and others. Choose all of them if you do not know what they do and experiment.

Once the headset is connected to your machine – it will use that as the default stereo device outputting all sound to your head set. Very cool!

Setting up Bluetooth on your mobile phone is usually very easy and can be set up in 2-3 steps. Consult your owners manual for specific information.

• Turn on Bluetooth
• Pair a device.
• Enjoy using your device!

It is that easy! The pairing process on the phone will also use a passkey so make sure you refer to the owners manual.

All in all I love Bluetooth and use it when ever I can. I have not had wires on my headphones since the late 90’s! How do you use Bluetooth? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

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When reading RSS feeds, do you prefer to see the full post inside your RSS reader or do you just want to see an excerpt?   Why is one better than the other?

Let us know in the comments what you prefer!

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So now, I have to earn 1.65 cents for every penny spent just to break even. Whew! That’s a lot of work. Before you check my math and compare it to tax laws in your jurisdiction, just take it as a fact that a penny saved is MORE than a penny earned. Math comments will be ignored – just ask my grade 12 math teacher.

It seems that convenience has become a way of life for many. What frugality we do practice usually amounts to the odd coupon here and there, maybe recycling one or two things, if it’s fashionable, or buying a few more cans of spaghetti sauce if it happens to be on sale. There is oh-so-much more we can do! I think after you’ve spent a few hours or days on these sites, you might catch the frugal bug and enjoy a much lower cost of living by watching your savings grow while your lifestyle remains relatively unchanged.

Creative Frugality

You won’t find any fancy web design or whizbang gizmos here. What you will find are time-tested ways of living a frugal lifestyle that is still fun and exciting. Nancy Twigg started this site quite some time ago. I recall visiting it around 2001 or so. The ideas and tips are timeless, easy to put in to use, and guarantee that you will save money! Creative Frugality also has a sister site called Counting the Cost. Here, you’ll find a newsletter that you can sign up for to receive regular frugal tips and inspiration.

Nancy Twigg and her husband are inspired by their Christian faith. It may not be the same faith that you share, however it has resulted in this treasure trove that anyone can benefit from. Really, you should go.

Festival of Frugality

Honestly, lowering your cost of living is FAR more colourful than these last two logos would suggest. Would it hurt to add a little pizazz? Wordpress templates are usually free, folks!

Design issues aside, the Festival of Frugality is another great resources for money-saving tips. What they do here is act somewhat as an aggregator of articles from other sites as well as adding their own content. I particularly liked the article, If You Must, Do It Smart. Simple, you and your sweetie order a value meal at your local burger in a bag joint. Just buy an extra burger and share the fries and cola! You’re still eating out, but spending less money and consuming less empty calories. It’s a win-win folks!

The publisher of this site also hosts a few other sites along the same lines, such as Carnival of Personal Finance, Carnival of Debt Reduction, Carnival of Money Hacks, and my personal favourite for use of a big word, Carnival of Pecuniary Delights.

Wise Bread

Alright! Finally some colour other than shades of grey!

Even more excellent is that this site was founded by three high-school students in 2006. What did you do in high-school? I can’t remember and I won’t incriminate myself.

The site is part-blog, part-community, part-economic movement, all fun business. The tips here aren’t all one-size-fits all. They talk about more than just saving on groceries and back-to-school supplies. You’ll find people sharing tips on less expensive ways to get designer clothes, inexpensive passport photo’s, and contrarian tips like buying your halloween costume now for next year.

This site is fast becoming a favourite of mine, because of its extensive frugality tips, and because it has other large sections on Career and Income, Personal Finance, Life Hacks and Deals and Coupons.

There they are, three of the top sites that can help you lower your cost of living. It isn’t too late to do so and it will help you weather out this economic storm. If you have some favourite money saving tips or websites, please share them in the comments. It helps us all!

Photo Credits: HouseOfSims, ozmafan

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The only other strategy that you have when you’re at home is to buy a few text books, a pocket-sized dictionary and begin wading through a river of despair and hopelessness. Or is it the only other strategy?

Recently I resumed learning French. I was never any good at it in school – mostly because the above strategy was applied. But only a few months into my new endeavour, I’m currently halfway through a classic French novel called ‘La Guerre des Boutons’. How? I took the geeky way out i.e. I immersed myself in an environment filled with French – it’s called the Internet (you may have heard about it). Here are my top three tips to help you with learning a second language online.

Using Popular Websites in That Language

Allow me to explain this one. I don’t mean use every single website in French/Spanish/ Polish etc. What I do mean is to use large sites in the foreign language you’re trying to learn. Make a list of the five largest websites you use regularly. I’m willing to bet that Google is in there. EBay is likely to have made the cut. Maybe even Amazon? Basically just jot down your favourite sites and start using them in a foreign language. The reason I’m telling you to do this is not to have you utterly confused but to teach you.

You see, these large websites generally use simple sentences and popular words. Take EBay; it doesn’t have many long rambling paragraphs, rather just plain words and phrases. All of the different categories will undoubtedly be useful words and what’s more they’re often associated with pictures. You can also get a bargain on expensive products on native language sites where demand is lower.

Using sites such as Google and Yahoo can give you some more basic words as well as seeing some of the French news headlines. This is not an intensive way of learning a language. In fact, it’s fairly passive and doesn’t require too much effort.

Word a Day Tweet

Twitter has escalated in popularity over the last year or so and it’s the perfect platform for a Word a Day regime. You probably tweet multiple times a day (and if not, where have you been for the past year?) so why not make a few of those tweets count for something.

By following this service in the particular language you’re learning, you’ll be tweeted a word which you must use in a logical sentence in one of your own tweets that day. Again, this is a passive way of learning a language. By fitting it into your already existing routine you’re not climbing a whole new mountain.

BBC Languages

Part of the BBC’s website is devoted to teaching people how to speak different languages. This section is packed with interesting ways of learning a language rather than learning off boring verb sheets.

For example, they have videos of people in everyday situations such as in meeting people, dining in restaurants, going to bars, at work etc. These videos are accompanied by a transcript so you can read through the words and understand it fully.

There are are different difficulty settings depending on whether you’re starting fresh or have been learning the language for some time.

If you combine the BBC language course with the two passive learning methods above you’ll be on your way to speaking fluently in no time.

It also wouldn’t hurt to subscribe to a few blogs in your chosen language. See my post here on MUO about Reading Blogs On Your Cellphone With A Java RSS Reader. Also, you might want to check out Angie’s post if you’re looking for online resources to learn foreign languages: 18 Great Sites to Learn a New Language.

What’s your method of learning a new language. Do you have any self-taught tricks?

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This feature has been a part of most point-and-shoot cameras for quite some time, but many camera users don’t use the feature to its fullest extent. Also, in the last few years, Live View has been built into 35mm DSLR cameras. Latest models of both the Canon and Nikon 35mm cameras feature Live View.

How it Works

With traditional digital cameras, you look through the optical viewfinder at the top of the camera, and compose and take your shot. Then you look on the back of the LCD screen to see how the photo came out. But with Live View, you don’t use the small optical viewfinder. You use the actual LCD screen to frame your photo while at the same time getting a simulated preview of your exposure settings before you take the shot. Many users, however, basically use Live View as the viewfinder and but not for previewing exposure settings. That’s because many users don’t shoot beyond the automatic mode of their camera. The following tips for taking digital photography will guide you through the process of using Live View to it’s fullest capacity.

Live View on Non-35mm Cameras

Live View works best on point-and-shoot and compact cameras because there’s no mirror inside that needs to pop-up to reveal the sensor. So in Live View, if you change any of the exposure settings, including ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation or White Balance settings, you get a simulation of your settings on the LCD screen when you press the shutter halfway down. It works similar to automatic focus when you press the shutter halfway, you see the subject of your camera come into focus.

With larger monitors on the back of digital cameras, you can actually compose shots better using the screen as the viewfinder. The Canon Powershot series, especially the last three models (G9, G10, and G11) each sport a 3-inch screen that makes the traditional tiny viewfinder nearly useless. You can simply see more and compose better with the larger size screen.

The G9, for example, comes with the option to use Grid Guidelines that appears when you’re in live shooting mode. The grid is divided into 9 parts so you can use the traditional Rules of Thirds in photography to compose shots or just line up a subject.

Exposure Settings

Here are a few illustrations of Live View in action. In the first example, Live View mode is engaged and the shutter priority speed is 1/60 of a second, at f/2.8, which means there’s less light coming into the camera. In the second example, I changed the shutter priority to ⅙ of a second, and as you can see more light is allowed into the camera. Before the advent of Live View technology there as no way you could preview exposure in this way.

In another example, I’ve changed the White Balance settings to demonstrate another exposure simulation in Live View. With feature, you now can see if your White Balance is correct or what type of color cast you will have on the lighting before you take the photo. This takes a lot guessing on out the process, and makes for more accurate settings.

Live View on 35mm SLRs

Live View technology works best on point-and-shoot and compact cameras, but not as well on 35mm cameras.  Why is this? Well, Ben Long explains it best in his book, The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D Companion Book: “To create an image on LCD screen, the image sensor needs to be able to see out the lens. But in an SLR [35mm single reflection camera], there’s a shutter and mirror between the sensor and lens, so the sensor is effectively, blind. This means there’s no way for it…to show you an image on the LCD screen. The XS, though, provides a special feature called Live View that does let you use the LCD screen as the viewfinder.”

With Live View on 35mm cameras, the auto focus is slower and there’s a slight lag in the capture of the photo. Even Canon points out the disadvantages with Live View: “The disadvantage of the Quick Mode AF is that to perform it, the camera has to momentarily lower the mirror and Live Viewing will “black-out” for a moment, as you press the button to activate the AF. Once you remove your thumb from the button, when focusing is completed, Live Viewing instantly returns.”

I use Live View on my Canon 50D for difficult-to-reach shots such as at a dance recital, concert, or even sometimes for group photography photos using a tripod. On the Canon cameras, Live View also features silent mode shooting, which comes in handy in places like churches or wildlife photography.

Also, many Live View features include facial detection which helps improve image focus faces. Of course, this feature is best used for group portraits instead of candid shots where subjects are moving around or are not directly facing the camera.

Though Live View is being added to both consumer and top of the line professional 35mm cameras, I would strongly suggest not purchasing such a camera for that feature. If you want the full of advantage of Live View, you’re better off purchasing a compact camera with that feature.

Finally, I recommend Live View as an effective teaching tool for digital photography. I use the feature on my Canon Powershot G9 in workshops to show how exposure settings work in the camera. And because of the live simulation, students are able to grasp the concepts a little faster. The ability to view, compose, and evaluate exposure settings in the LCD monitor is another breakthrough piece technology that makes taking digital photos easier and better.

So is Live View a feature on your camera? Which camera do you use and how well does the feature work?

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What comes first in your day?   Having breakfast or checking emails / RSS feeds?

Are you someone who has their laptop / iPhone next to the bed to check online as soon as you wake up? Or do you prefer to have your cornflakes first?

Let us know in the comments!

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And here it is :

If you work online, what time do you normally start working?   Are you an early-to-rise kind of person or do you like to have your long lie in bed and start working in the afternoon?  What time do you do your best work?

Let’s light up the comments section below with your replies!

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It’s been such a success that we decided to roll this feature out to our readers as well.  We want to know what you think.

Around two or three times a week, we will be asking you a question on some internet & technology-related subject and we hope you will respond in our comments section and generate some good discussions.

So without further ado, here is the first question :

Have you ever had to explain the internet to your parents, older relatives or non-techie friends? If so, how did you explain it to them, were you successful, and how would you recommend others to explain it?

Tell us all your stories in the comments below.

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The following tips may be best understood if you take out your camera and its manual and try out the suggestions as you read this article. If you don’t have or can’t find your camera’s manual, you can go online and download a PDF copy of it from the manufacture’s site.

The illustrations used in this article are based on the Canon Powershot G9, but I will point out features that are typically found in most point-and-shoot and compact cameras.

Basic Settings

1. Setup Menu: First off, know how to find the setup menu on your camera. Most cameras come with default settings that you can customize for your particular needs or the way you shoot. Look in your manual to find out how to access your camera’s setup menu. Notice what kind of menu changes can be made with the control dials on your camera and the menu settings that you can bring up and select through your camera’s LCD screen. Some cameras, for example, will allow you to change the exposure mode of the camera with a dial on the top or on the back of the camera, while smaller pocket-size cameras will require you to open a menu setting to make those changes.

2. Date and Time Stamp: Most cameras come with quick instructions for how to set the date and time stamp in your camera. If you haven’t already done so, be sure your camera is stamping the correct date and time on your image files. This bit of information (or what is called metadata in the digital photography world) can be very useful for archiving and managing your photos.

3. Review Time: One of the best features about digital photography is the ability to review photos after they are taken. The default time for reviewing an image may be only a couple of seconds, but you typically can change that time, making it longer or shorter. Look up the word “review” or “play menu” in your manual to find out how to change the review time. I have my photos display for 6-8 seconds. This gives me enough time to consider if I need to retake the shot.

4. Picture Count: If you never want to miss a good shot, you should know where to find the picture count for your camera. Typically it can be seen on your camera‘s LCD screen when you review the images stored on your image card. Based the size of your card and the resolution settings you’re shooting in, the camera will display the number of photos you have shot. When you set the camera to take a photo, the number of captures you have remaining that your media card can hold should be displayed on the LCD screen.

5. Format Your Media Card: When you fill up a media card, it’s best to reformat it instead of erasing the image files. Avoid filling up your card completely. Change the card when you only have 5-10 captures remaining that you can put on the card. Also, don’t allow your computer or software application to erase images for you. Reformat your card on the camera itself after you have securely imported and backed up your photos to your computer. Look up the word “format” in the index of your manual for specific instructions.

Advanced Tips

6. Turn the Flash On/Off: Most with cameras come with a built-in flash. Your camera‘s automatic features may cause your flash to fire when you don’t want it to; for example when you’re shooting in a shaded area. So learn how to manually shut off and turn on your camera built-in flash. If you’re shooting in Automatic mode, you most likely will not have the option to turn off the flash, and in that case you’ll need to choose another shooting mode (like Program, discussed later) in order to shut off the flash.

Likewise, if your photos are coming out a little blurred, it means that you may need the use the flash or increase the shutter speed on your camera. If you can’t do the latter, it’s best the turn on the flash for that will automatically increase your shutter speed to 1/60th of a second, which is a better speed for holding a camera than at say 1/10th of a second. (I will discuss flash later in a longer article in this series.)

7. Shooting Beyond A: Most beginning photographers shoot in automatic mode. There’s typically a dial on your camera with a green Auto icon indicating that mode of shooting. When you shoot in automatic mode you’re telling your camera to make all the decisions about exposure settings when you take pictures. Your camera will read the amount and type of light coming into the lens and hitting the sensor and it will make the best guess for setting the exposure.

But if you learn how to shoot beyond the automatic made, you can have more control about those settings. Even you don’t understand what aperture and shutter speed means, you can more easily learn how to use Program mode, which is discussed in the next step. But in order to do this, you need to know how to change the shooting modes of your camera.

8. Program Mode: The first step to getting beyond Automatic mode is to use Program or P mode. This mode is similar to automatic in that it sets the exposure settings for the picture you’re taking; however,  in this mode, you can control better how much light is allowed to enter the camera. If you shoot a photo in Automatic and then shoot the same subject in the same lighting condition in Program mode at their default settings, they should look pretty much alike. But in Program mode, you can use what is called Exposure Compensation to adjust for lighting. Look up in your camera’s manual how to change the shooting mode to P or program.

9. Exposure Compensation: Okay, here’s the hardest feature you’ll learn in this series of tips, but it can make a big difference in the quality of photos you take. If you noticed that some of your photos come out too dark or too light, or that they just seem flat, you can use exposure compensation to adjust for lighting. To adjust for lighting, you can use what is called Exposure Compensation. You can only use this feature in Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual Mode. It is typically deactivated in Automatic mode because, remember, you’re telling the camera to make all the decisions for you.

Look up the term, exposure compensation, in your manual and find out how to use it on your particular camera. It is typically a meter with a plus/minus scale for increasing and decreasing the amount of light coming into your camera.

In these two photos (both un-edited), the top one is shot in Automatic mode, and the bottom one in Program mode. In the first one, the image is slightly under exposed. With the second photo, using exposure compensation, I was able to allow more light in thus getting more detail on the subject (my daughter.)

Even if you don’t understand aperture and shutter speed, if you learn how to use exposure compensation then you can have more control over the lighting exposure of your camera. So right after you read this article, find a subject and practice with the exposure compensation feature. With digital photography, you’re not wasting film, so you can practice, practice, practice, and not have to spend a penny extra.

10. Self-Timer: Often times if you’re the main photographer in your family, you most likely don’t get yourself included in many of the photos you take. So learn to use the self-timer and a tripod so that you can take photos that include you, the photographer.

Also, the self-timer is a good way to shoot close-up shots of say, a flower or Ebay product shots. By using the self-timer and a tripod, you will get less camera shake in your macro shots and thus, less blurry photos.

In the next few articles on digital photography, I will share some advanced tips for taking pictures. But it will useful to hear back from readers what questions you have about using your camera and the art of taking photos. What problems do you encounter when taking photos?

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Today, I will continue with the article in a slightly different perspective and add four more entries to the list. Hopefully, they will prove to be of good use to bored teenagers with too much time on their hands. Again, these will all be things that can be done online.

5. Start a blog, Tumblelog or Twitter

In this time and age, I won’t be surprised if every teen has their personal blog or a Twitter account. If you don’t, sign up for one. Start a blog, Tumblelog or Twitter account and use it as an emotional and creative outlet. Start by jotting down how you feel, what you’ve done, what you’re looking forward to. Think of it as a diary for the world to read.

Personally, I prefer a Tumblr account to a Blogger or Wordpress blog. It’s much easier to set up and is perfectly suited for those with very short attention spans who couldn’t be bothered to compose full-length posts all the time. Tumblelogs allow its users to upload short blips of text, photos, links and quotes quickly and easily. However, don’t feel restricted — this doesn’t mean that you can’t try your hand at a short story or other works of the written word. Let your creativity flow. Who knows, blogging could just be your sally forth into professional writing or journalism.

6. Read

“The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.” — Benjamin Franklin.

Reading is, without a doubt, one of the most rewarding past times. Why waste a perfectly good chance to get some reading done? There are an abundance of sites which provide you access to free ebooks, both fictional and non-fictional. The most widely known one is probably Project Gutenberg – a collection of over 30,000 free ebooks in over 50 languages. They also serve up audiobooks (either human-read or computer generated) and loads of other stuff. Their site is massive and navigating around can get pretty messy. Start by checking out their Top 100 books or the ones which were most recently added.

Our next candidate spreads its wings over more than just fictional work. ibiblio is the fruit of collaborative efforts between two departments at the University of North Carolina. The result – one of the Internet’s largest collections of software, literature, music, art, science, politics, and cultural studies.

Munseys is where you should go if you’re looking for a good read. Most of their 20,000 books are off-mainstream titles and are available in 10 different formats including PDF, Plucker, iSilo, Kindle and MS-reader.

7. Get an online job

Probably one of the best ways to spend your time online is to make some money while you’re at it. Be aware, there are currently a lot of scams going on that require you to sign up for a membership before given a chance to work. Personally, I’m very skeptical and prefer not to part with my money before I can earn any.

Thankfully, there are some safer job alternatives. If you have a good grasp of the English language, you can easily earn a buck working online. Ryan Dube shared some of his suggestions, which include working as a freelance writer and getting paid to review movies.

Or if you prefer (or think that you spend too much time online anyway), you could spend some time looking for a part-time job. Interacting with others in the workplace will teach you to harness the essential communication and public relations skills required after you graduate and step forth into the job market. Furthermore, work trains you to be responsible and to adopt proper time and money management.

Having several previous jobs listed in your CV with good references will certainly impress your future employer and provide you with an advantage among your potential colleagues.

If the idea of holding a job sounds attractive to you, we’ll go on step further and point you in the right direction. Charnita described 8 sites to hunt for the job you want, provided you already roughly know what you want to do. In another article, Ryan listed 10 more sites to help you with your job search. You shouldn’t have trouble looking for a job with all those resources!

Or, closer to home, MakeUseOf is always hiring.

8. Plan Your Career

Before graduating from high school, you should already have an idea about your job choices. If you still haven’t made up your mind about your future profession, you should start now. What exactly does an editor do? What qualifications are required to pursue a career in fashion? What makes a great CV?

There are several great websites that will guide you while you’re making these tough decisions.

CareerAdvice springs straight to mind. This UK-based website details everything you need to know when making career decisions i.e. what the job involves, what qualifications and experiences employers look for, working hours and of course, the expected salary. It’s a fantastic place for teens to spend their free time, researching on the types of work they’re interested in. It also shares valuable advice on nailing an interview and how to come up with an impressive CV.

Another great site is the Occupational Outlook Handbook by the US Department of Labor. The handbook is basically a collection of every known profession in the United States, with detailed descriptions about the job nature, work environment, required qualifications, earnings and employment rates.

The last career-related website that I’d like to feature is CareerOneStop. As the name implies, it is a one-stop resource for information about the different types of jobs in the US, sub-categorised by states. On top of offering CV and interview advice, the site also features the hottest jobs, jobs with the most openings as well as the highest paying jobs in the country.

That wraps up my post and the top 8 things for bored teenagers to do online. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the article and got an idea or two on how to spend your free time online. As a wise man once said, “Lost time is never found again.” Make full use of the time you have today!

Image credit: SAMAEL TRIP

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The evolution of this field of graphic design didn’t happen over a very long, extended period – but instead over a couple of decades. In fact, the rapid advancement of computer processing power is primarily what served as a catalyst for the explosion of CGI animation. But what is CGI animation, exactly?

If you’re a computer graphic design artist, this post may not be for you. However, for those of you out there who are curious about this fascinating form of animation – read on for a brief history of the world of animation, and how computers completely transformed the art form.

What Ever Happened to Plain Old Cartoons?

Most of you can likely name at least one or two of your favorite childhood cartoons. Maybe it was Scooby Doo, the Flintstones or even the Jetsons. Maybe you’re a bit younger (or not) and you still enjoy your Saturday morning cartoons.

However, most of the older folks out there probably started noticing that more and more cartoons look just a little bit different – just a little bit more real. What is it about CGI animation that gives the characters and the overall imagery more realism? The answer to that requires some history.

The history of animation is both nostalgic and sad. Many decades ago, animators were traditional artists who drew pictures by hand. Traditional animation consisted of a whole team of animators who would draw and color images on “cels” – transparent sheets that were placed on top of a background image to create a multi-layered frame.

In this way, segments of an image could change from frame to frame without the entire picture being redrawn. You can see an example of layers in the image to the left. The blue arrow points to the background, the green arrow to the layer with two characters, and a red arrow pointing to the third layer with an image of a flying paper airplane. By manipulating the drawings in each layer from frame to frame, animators would create what many adults today remember as the traditional cartoon.

Many movie fans may remember the hype surrounding the digital remastering of old films such as Star Wars, where computer animation was used to digitally enhance the film. The first stages of CGI animation included 2D animation. This simply involved computers doing what animators had been doing for decades – creating multiple frames of images each second in order to generate the visual effect of animation.

The difference in this case was that as the field of computer graphic design advanced, the images gradually became much more advanced than most cartoon animators could manage by hand. The simplest form of this type of animation can be seen in the animated GIF files that became wildly popular on the Internet throughout the late 1990’s.

These images were created by packaging together a series of static images switched from frame to frame by a time delay defined by a control script within the GIF file itself. The time delay on most animated GIFS are pretty long, so it doesn’t provide for very fluid motion, but the concept of “animation” is still there.

The picture below is an example of one such completed animated GIF.

Now, all of this is grade school level compared to the impressive level that 3D CGI animation technology is at today. How did we get from 1990’s computer animation to the sort of iMax 3D cartoons you love to watch? The simple answer is processing power. With today’s amazing CPU processing capabilities, computer animators are now able to create a 3 dimensional “model” to start with.

This model is only somewhat like it’s 2D counterpart, except now computers have the ability to not only modify large parts of a 2 dimensional image as “layers” – they can calculate and modify very small sections of an object within a 3D world. Because of the level of programming and processor power required, this sort of animation was available only to the largest movie production companies who could afford the computer systems.

However, today your own desktop computer can handle it – and there’s even free software like Blender, which Aibek covered in his article on 4 apps for a graphic designer on a budget, and Simon described one of the video games called Yo Frankie! which was created with the Blender engine. I installed the software on my own desktop and within 30 minutes the tutorial taught me how to create the start of a snowman character within a virtual 3D world.

The concept of today’s level of 3D CGI animation is an evolution from basic cartoon animation into a simulated world that seeks to represent realism as accurately as possible. It does this by slicing up the world into the smallest segments possible, and then controlling how those tiny parts of real world objects move, react and change based on the other objects and conditions within that 3D world.

I remember watching The Polar Express when it was first released and thinking to myself how dead the characters looked. When they spoke, their tongues lay still like dead fish and their eyes were often expressionless. I actually thought, at the time, that computers would never be able to realistically simulate the real world, or at least a real person. But, you know what, while researching this article I came across this video of “Emily,” a digitally recreated face of a real actress. I have to say, I was very impressed and I think you will be as well.

What is your take on the current state of the art for CGI animation? Do you think that it will eventually completely replace traditional animation? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

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Except me. I have to know how things work. No good reason for that. Sometimes I have to read a bunch of technical jargon, ask a lot of questions and then relate the information to something else I understand, before I can truly understand what’s going on. That makes me a slow, but tenacious, learner. And really annoying when Jeopardy! is on.

The underlying technology of the digital camera is a light sensor and  a program. The light sensor is most often a Charge Coupled Device  (CCD) and the program is firmware that is embedded right into the circuit board of the camera. Kind of like the programs that help make your microwave oven or iPod work.

I’ll focus on the CCD first. Yes, there is another kind of light sensor that can be used and that’s the Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) type. The mechanics of how they do what they do differ, but the principles are the same.

Think of the CCD as being a grid of millions of little squares, each one kind of like a solar cell. You know that a solar cell takes light energy and converts it to electrical energy right? And you probably figured that the more light there is the more energy it makes and vice versa right? So you can see where we’re going with this whole CCD thing.

Each of those little squares on the CCD takes light energy and converts it to electrical energy. Each condition of the light – like brightness and intensity – generates a very specific electrical charge. Those charges for each little square are then transported through an array of electronics to where it can be interpreted by the firmware. The firmware knows what each specific charge means and translates it to information that includes the colour and other qualities of the light that the CCD picked up.

This process is done for each of the squares in the grid of the CCD – so now you can see the miracle that it really is! Now picture (pun intended) a million little squares, each one different as though they were puzzle pieces. The firmware puts those puzzle pieces together to form an image that is recognizable to the human eye.

The process of putting it together is very much akin to what happens with your television or monitor. It does this using pixels. Each pixel is comprised of three basic colours – red, green and blue. By varying the intensity of each colour within a pixel, the variety of colours that can be produced is amazing indeed. This is known as a Bayer filter.

Get up close with your monitor – to the point where you can see the pixels individually. Don’t worry, that whole thing about going blind from sitting too close to the TV is an old wives’ tale. Except when it comes to my kids.  You might need a magnifying glass. Neat, huh? Did you see how there were more green pixels than red or blue? That’s because somebody figured out that the eye is not as sensitive to green as it is to red or blue.

I digressed. The next step is for the firmware to record the information it saw into digital code. That code can be used to accurately reproduce the picture time and time again. Call it a recipe for that specific moment in time that you captured. Now, that code can be passed to the view screen on the camera, or to a monitor or printer to be reproduced.

And now you know how that all works. Hopefully taking the mystery away hasn’t ruined the experience for you. I hope you enjoyed this high level overview of how these things work.

Are you a digital photo enthusiast? Did this article help you to understand the process better? Share your questions with us in the comments, and I’ll try to answer them.

Photo Credit: ralphbijker

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So what would you do if you’re a teen and you’re bored? I was once there myself. I’m not someone you’d consider physically active so most of my free time was spent at a desk, staring at a monitor. To tell you the truth, even I got bored sometimes, not knowing what else to surf for. So I’ve come up with a list of things that bored teens can resort to, in order to save them from the misery.

It is ridiculously easy to be enveloped by the rubbish that’s online. So if you’re a parent, you’d want to read through these suggestions and pass them on to your teenage child. If you’re a teenager, I’m sure you’ll find these sites utterly entertaining.

1. Watch Videos

Let’s start with the most enjoyed leisurely activity. I’ve spent countless hours watching videos, either entertaining or educational. Time well spent. Here are some resources.

1. YouTube — Undoubtably the world leader in online videos, YouTube is the place to go for entertainment. There are also a couple of educational videos there as well. If you have no idea what to watch, check out what others are watching or their most viewed videos.

   

2. Veoh — An alternative source for online videos, Veoh features short clips as well as full-length movies which may not be found over at YouTube.

   

3. Metacafe — Probably better for watching offbeat and less mainstream videos. Metacafe hosts lots of funny clips and weirdly, magic tricks.

   

4. Dailymotion — Like everything else online, there isn’t an ultimate repository for something. In this case, YouTube can’t possibly host every video on earth. For the rest, there’s Dailymotion.

   

5. CollegeHumor — Is probably targeted at the more mature viewers, yet their videos don’t exactly feature explicit content, merely tantalizing. Encircling the “funny” genre, CollegeHumor has tons of comedic and absurd videos.

   

6. SouthParkStudios — This site doesn’t require a description. Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

   

2. Play Games

Alright, if the videos didn’t tickle your fancy, don’t sweat it. Perhaps a couple of hours of online gaming will cure your boredom. Contrary to what most parents believe, not all online games will render you a stoner. Some games really make you think and test your reflexes.

1. Pogo — Has lots of popular games namely Boggle, Battleship, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Mini Golf, Pool, card games like Poker, Blackjack and more.

   

2. Miniclip — Hinted by the name of the site, Miniclip packs lots of small, fun, addictive games which span from tennis, golf, sports, girly games, shooting games, soccer, 5-minute games and brain trainers.

   

3. Kongregate– One of the largest sites for online flash gaming with well over 25,000 games, they are elaborate and well-designed. If you’re looking for a way to download and play Kongregate games offline, Jason wrote a tutorial that will show you how.

   

4. Newgrounds — This site has a lot of great puzzle games that will take up quite a bit of your spare time. The games are not mainstream but the ideas are simply innovative.

   

3. Read The News

As a teenager, you should start to understand and be aware of the current affairs of the world. Plus, news isn’t just about politicians or murder. News report on inventions, sports, advancements in science, social affairs and of course, celebrities and their lifestyles. There are just too many news websites for me to list and if they may very well be different from your personal favourite, especially if it’s about sports. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Let me give you a few examples of some of the websites that I visit frequently, maybe that will point you in the right direction.

For technology news:

1. Engadget — These gearheads review just about anything under the sun that is powered by electricity or run on batteries.

   

2. Gizmodo — My second favourite gadget news site. These guys have a real sense of humor and review the most outrageous stuff.

   

3. T3 — From the popular and ubiquitous tech magazine, this is its online love child. They do great reviews so if you’re ever thinking of buying electronics, check this site out first.

   

For health news:

1. WebMD — This health website is dedicated to providing medical and health information to the layperson in simple, easily-digestible nuggets. What is Pneumonia? What is vertigo? Do you have ADHD? No, the last one is not a band. If you are ever curious about the human body and everything that relates to it, WebMD can deliver it to you.
2. The New York Times Health News — The NYT definitely provides more in-depth health news. They’ve also got great articles with tips to help you keep your disease at bay. If you suffer from a disease, it’s always better to learn more about it so that you’re able to differentiate myth from the truth.
3. That’s Fit — is a health news sites that’s a little lighter on the details and medical terms. It’s generally for everyone to enjoy, with great tips on how to stay slim, lose weight, eat healthily, maintain your youth, and some valuable information for girls: the types of dieting and whether or not they work.
4. Men’s Health — Okay, this isn’t exactly a health news site but since this article is targeted at teenagers who are, let’s face it — experiencing some biological changes, they do need some guidance during the transition. My mantra is “Better to know than not”. So let your curiosity run wild and find out as much as you can about being a man. Weirdly, understanding women is key to being a better man. Don’t be let down by the fact that you have to know more about the opposite sex in order to be more masculine.
5. Women’s Health — I’m assuming that there may be at least some female readers so I not taking any chances. Women need to know myth from fact as well as men. Do cucumbers really remove dark circles under your eyes? Does shaving make your hair grow thicker? This website has the answers.

For celebrity news:
This is a topic that I’m 100% sure to be outdated. However, I’m willing to risk it and suggest a couple websites for celebrity news.

1. Perez Hilton — It doesn’t really help that this Hollywood queen’s website is pink. But if it’s celebrity news and gossip that you want, I don’t think there’s anywhere better.

   

2. TMZ — May be less provocative than Perez Hilton but it’s also one of the top celebrity news sites.

   

This could take a while, so I’m going to skip the rest of the news sites. I do have one final suggestion, that’s Alltop.com. It basically aggregates all the top stories from most of the top sites online and gathers them into this great webpage. You can then configure and personalize your own Alltop homepage with the news that you care about. Alltop was co-founded by Guy Kawasaki, an Apple evangelist.

4. Learn Something

We’ve arrived at my favourite part of this article. There’s so much to learn from the Internet. Especially when you’re a teenager and have so much free time, it’s a great opportunity to learn something new. Not only that, teenage guys love to make and fix things, processes which involve their hands. Perhaps mastering a magic trick or a guitar solo to impress girls.

Ladies, on the other hand, may be interested in the finer arts like cooking, crochet, fashion, etc. For this reason, I’ve separated this section. One for guys, the other for girls.

Pour les hommes

Let’s start with the sites that teach you how to use your hands. Instructables is the go-to site for everything DIY. This website teaches you everything from making your own lightsaber to fixing a leaky faucet. They’ve also got tutorials that teach you how to conduct your very own science experiments.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is another one of my favourite websites. They’ve got some weird and crazy, out-of-this-world inventions, like this Larson Scanner Kit for Halloween. Everything listed here come with their how-to tutorial so that you can follow in their evil, mad footsteps.

The last site that I’d like to feature is Makezine, specifically their Projects page where you can find lots of cool DIY urm, projects to work your hands with.

Pour les femmes

If you (or your daughter) are into crafts: making your own jewelry, sewing, knitting, embroidery, making your own accessories, paper crafts; then I’ve got two sites for you to spend your time on. The first is CraftStylish. It has a huge directory on craft-making and their tutorials are easy to follow with photos for each step.

The second is the feminine version of Makezine — Craftzine. Like the boys’ site, Craftzine is a sea of craft-inspired projects that circles around fashion accessories, home design and making your own apparel. Pretty cool stuff.

If you’re into cooking, then I recommend these very fine cookery websites. My personal favourite is Jamie Oliver, a UK-based chef. His recipes are mind-numbingly simple (provided you have the right ingredients) and mind-blowingly delicious.

Another great website for foodies is Allrecipes, a community-driven website that’s rich in content, photos and reviews. It has recipes for every cuisine including Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Indian and Middle Eastern food.

If you were vigilant enough, you will have noticed that I’ve only listed 4 things for bored teenagers to do online. And they were in increasing order of usefulness and difficulty. Sorry folks, but the next 4 tips will have to come in the second part of this article. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this post and now have a few more things to do when you or your teen child is bored. If you have any suggestions for part 2, please feel free to voice them out in the comments.

Image credit: SAMAEL TRIP

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The new options help to refine your search to show results in various types and sources (video, blogs, forums, reviews); narrow the time range to show results published within the last few seconds (i.e. real time) or longer time periods; exclude or include pages you’ve already visited; and play around with the way the results are display to show images, more text, plot them on a timeline, and more.

Get started

To see the new Google search options, click ‘show options‘ under the Google logo.

A sidebar, called the option panel will open up next to the result. Let’s see what it offers.

Filter by type

The first group of options lets you refine the search results to show only certain types and sources of results.

Videos: The Videos filter returns only video results. Alongside each result there’s a preview thumbnail. The option panel changes to display video related options, such duration, publication date, quality, and only closed caption (i.e. with subtitles).

Blogs: choosing blogs will return only blog posts. At the bottom of each search result there is a link to other posts by the same blog (not necessarily related to your search) and a link to pages that link back to the search result page, if such exists.

Forums: Next, you can get only results from discussion groups by choosing Forums. This will be handy when you have a specific question, because you can ask for further elaboration form the people who’ve already related to the subject.

Reviews: This filter will show results from reviews sites. In addition to the usual results display, you’ll see other aspects of the review, such as rating or a quote of the review about the product or service.

Time frame and previously visited sites

The next option group lets you set the time frame for the results. You can choose recent results, which will return real time results. Longer predefined time ranges are also available – one hour, 24 hours, a week, and one year. You can also choose a specific date range.

Below that group you can choose whether to get back only Visited pages or Not yet visited pages.

Refine and extend your search

The third group enables you to expand your search or narrow it down by offering related search terms or using alternate displays for the search terms and search results.

Related searches: Adds keywords and search terms that can help you refine your query. These show up as links above the search results.

Wonder wheel: This might be the most extraordinary new feature. The Wonder wheel is an actual wheel that shows up next to the search results. It helps you to extend your search by displaying associated search terms. When you click a term, it immediately suggests more related terms and display related results.

Timeline: The Timeline view adds a graph that illustrates the results over time. This view also groups the results by date. Use it to find information about an event or other historical venue or person in which the time aspect is important.

Images, shopping and more text

Finally, you can alter how the results look like and choose whether to get more or less shopping sites.

Images from the page: This display is helpful to understand the search results with a single glance. It displays an image or two from each page, allowing you to visually comprehend the results without having to read each of them.

Fewer shopping sites/More shopping sites: According to your underlying purpose, you can choose whether to get more or less results from shopping sites. If you choose more shopping sites, Google will display items and prices directly in the search result page.

More text: In the standard mode, Google returns 130 characters of description for each search result (about 20-30 words). Choosing More text overrides this limitation and returns much more text for every search result, making it easier to find the right one.

What do you think of Googles new search features? Are they useful?

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Like a lot of other phones, the iPhone has a multitude of keypresses and combinations that perform cool and funky stuff like take screenshots and automatically launching the camera all the way from the 11th home screen.

Not only that, users have found and documented ways to bypass certain, how shall I put it — shortcomings, that the iPhone has. These tips make the iPhone even more functional than it is documented to be. I’ll be listing 6 of my favorite top tips, those that I find most useful in everyday life. Let’s hope that there’s something new and interesting you can learn. If not, feel free to share them in the comments.

Starting off at number 6.

Send Full Resolution Photos Through Email

If you wanted to email photos taken with your iPhone, you’d hit the “Share” button on the lower left corner and press the “Email Photo” button. The photo will then be automatically added into a new email. Press Send and off it goes. Right? What Apple isn’t telling you is: the photo that you’ve just emailed isn’t at its highest resolution — it’s scaled down.

To send full resolution photos via email, open the photo in your iPhone’s camera roll, tap on it and hold until the “Copy” button appears.

Copy the photo, then compose a new email. Press and hold somewhere within the content section, let go and the contextual menu will appear. Press Paste to insert your full resolution photo.

To send multiple full resolution photos, get to the camera roll on your iPhone and hit the “Share” button on the lower left corner.

You’ll then be able to select multiple photos. When you’re done, hit “Copy”. Compose a new email and paste in your photos.

Unlearn words

The iPhone has the capability to learn new words if they are used often. But somehow, something went wrong somewhere — whenever I try to type “the”, my iPhone auto-corrects it to “Tge” instead.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to unlearn particular words. The dictionary can only be reset back to factory settings — it will wipe all learnt words and start from scratch. I figured that’s not as bad as getting “Tge” every time. Here’s how to do it:

1. Enter Settings
2. Hit General
3. Scroll down and tap on Reset
4. Tap “Reset Keyboard Dictionary”

   

5. A warning will pop up to confirm the procedure. Hit “Reset Dictionary” if you’re sure.

   

Sleep The iPod After A Certain Period Of Time

If you frequently listen to music on your iPhone before going to sleep, this is a pretty cool tip. You can set the iPod function to sleep after a desired period of time.

To set the sleep timer, launch the Clock. Select the Timer function. Set the amount of time you’d like to listen to your music before the iPod goes to sleep.

Tap on the “When Timer Ends” menu and you’ll be brought to a page where you’re able to select a particular alarm that is played when the timer ends. Scroll up and tap on “Sleep iPod”.

Open Link In New Page

There have been a lot of tips regarding Safari. A popular tip, if you didn’t already know, is tapping on the top of the screen to bring you back up to the beginning of a webpage. Another time-saving tip is to tap and hold a link then tap on “Open in New Page” to browse the link in a separate browser page.

When you’re done reading, just close it and you’ll be brought back to the main webpage. I find this tip very useful when reading blogs with multiple entries — I avoid pressing on the Back button and the need to reload the page each time.

Forget About .com Domain Extension

Here are some tips to use when typing in webpage address in Safari. If the webpage’s URL ends in “.com”, you can actually leave out the whole “http://www.” and “.com” bits. Just enter “makeuseof” to go to “http://www.makeuseof.com” or “tuaw” for “http://www.tuaw.com”.

If the webpage’s URL doesn’t end in “.com” this trick doesn’t work. However, you can easily type “.net”, “.org” and “.edu” by pressing and holding on the “.com” button until the other domain name extensions appear. Slide to the one you need and let go to insert it into the URL.

Create Silent Ringtones

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t like to announce that you’re getting a call, you’d have your iPhone on silent most of the time — I know I do. Sometimes, I do forget to flip the switch and my iPhone starts ringing notoriously in the middle of a lecture. Here’s how you can go one step further and make sure that it never rings — create a silent ringtone.

This is basically an empty AAC file that has been converted into an iPhone ringtone. I’ve made one that’s 20 seconds of pure silence. Download it here and double-click on the file to add it into iTunes. Sync it to your iPhone and enable it — boom, no more noisy ringtones.

Miscellaneous Tips

The rest of these tips may probably be widely known by most iPhone users but I’d like to share them anyway. Even if you think you may know everything there is to know about the iPhone, read on — you may be pleasantly surprised.

• To force-quit an application: OS 3.0 introduced a new way to force-quit applications. Press and hold the Sleep button (on top) until the “Slide to power off” slider appears. Then press the Home button until you reach the Home screen.
• To take a screenshot: Press the Sleep and Home buttons simultaneously. The screen will flash to indicate that a screenshot has been taken and saved in the camera roll.
• Enable Airplane mode while syncing: If a call comes through while your iPhone is syncing, the synchronization will be cancelled and you’ll have to start all over again. Enabling Airplane mode while syncing will prevent calls from interrupting the sync.
• Call timers: Added in OS 3.0, you can now find out how long you’ve been talking. Launch the Phone application, tap on the Recent call list and tap on the blue right arrow next to any contact to view the call length.
• Delete individual messages: In the SMS application, tap on a message thread then the Edit button on the upper right corner. Tap on the circle next to a message to mark it for deletion. When you’re done, press Delete at the bottom.
• Enable the scientific calculator: Launch the Calculator application and rotate it sideways to bring up the scientific calculator.
• Maneuver between home screens: Usually done by swiping left or right across the screen, you can also tap in the area left or right of the home screen indicators.
• Silent/Reject a call: To silent a call, press the Sleep button once. It will continue to ring without any indications (no ringtone, no vibration) until you answer or the caller hangs up. To reject a call, press the Sleep button twice.
• Customized Home shortcut: You can preconfigure double-clicking the Home button to quickly launch the camera, iPod, favorite contacts or Spotlight. Go to Settings -> General -> Home and set what you’d like the Home button to launch.
• Quickly return to the main home screen: If you’re at the 11th home screen, there’s no need to swipe through all the other home screens to get to the main one. Press the Home button to quickly be brought back to the first home screen.
• Caps lock: If enabled in the settings, double-tapping the Shift button will turn it blue, indicating that Caps Lock is turned on. Tap on it again to disable.

As always with these long list of tips, there will always be missing entries. If one of your favorite tips isn’t on this list, please do share them in the comments.

Finally, make sure to download The Underground Guide To The iPhone that we released last month. This concise document full of excellent tricks for the iPhone.

Image credit: Johan Larsson

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In order for a computer to connect to more than one other computer, you need a router or a hub. Two very different pieces of equipment that perform somewhat similar jobs. We’ll focus on the router since you very well may have one in your house.

Let me take a moment to explain to the more technically inclined that I understand that there are such things as token ring networks that don’t require a router or a hub. Yet, our average Internet user isn’t going to employ a token ring, so leave that alone, please.

Many of you will have wireless routers, a few of you may have wired routers. How the information gets to and from the router isn’t that important to this discussion. What is important is how does a router work – what happens inside the router with all that data coursing through it. To keep it simple, I’m going to use a 3 computer network to explain the routing principles.

So, let’s say you have three computers in your home and a connection to the Internet. This will give us a network that looks like such:

In the middle of that, is the wireless router. I know you knew that, but it had to be said. Wirelessly attached to it are a laptop, a PC, and a Mac (just for you Jackson!). Actually, the Mac is in there to show that the computers don’t necessarily need to be the same kind or platform. One might be sending up a file to work, one might be downloading something from YouTube and one is reading MakeUseOf.com – of course. All this information is coming down from, and up to, the Internet.

Believe it or not, the router can only talk to one of these things at a time! The process I’m about to talk about just happens so fast that it seems to happen all at once.

Let’s say that the Mac is uploading a file to work, the laptop is watching YouTube and the PC is surfing MakeUseOf.com.

Each communication happens in small packets of data. You might recall this from the How the Internet Works article I did awhile back. The IP address in that article was the important thing that allowed packets to find their way to your computer. Here’s a packet:

The important parts, for this article, are the Source Address and the Destination Address. These will be Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.