The latest iteration of online communication may indeed be social media, but it seems that the most popular avenue is still the old-fashioned internet forum. It remains today as an excellent way to structure a community on the web. While social media can be somewhat amorphous at times, forums provide order and a sense of home.

I believe that forums will never die out, but forums will evolve and adapt to advancements in web technology. Please join me as I take a look at a few forum software systems that are so innovative that they’ll transform the concept of the forum forever.

Moot

Moot (Beta) is a very interesting project in my eyes because there’s a bit of tension in its design philosophy: it wants to take a step back into the past and recover the lost relevance of meaningful discussion (which they claim have died with social media) while incorporating features of the future (clean and responsive interface).

But more importantly, Moot is entirely embeddable, meaning you don’t need to download a package and upload it to your own web host. Instead, all of the data and control is done through your Moot account and your forum theme; forum content are embedded directly into your site wherever you want it to go. It has been designed from the ground up for complete and easy integration.

Other notable features that Moot is pushing:

• Both forums and comments. Moot is a full-fledged forum embed system AND a comment embed system. Unlike other forum systems where comments are just normal forum threads with their post data molded and displayed differently, Moot lets you embed unique comment threads onto pages using one line of HTML. Each comment thread is unique, dynamic, and separate from your forums.
• No content deletion. Moot is taking a hard stance: deleting posts and comments disrupts the natural progression of a discussion, resulting in an incomplete thread that’s harder to follow. Therefore, once content is older than 2.7 minutes, it cannot be deleted. Also, if a post or comment has received any replies or likes, it can’t be deleted.
• Complete control. Even though Moot is a third-party service that you have to embed onto your site, you will have full control over it. You can alter the design using CSS. You can also alter the behavior and extend Moot functionality using an API that will be released in the near future.

Discourse

The mentality spurring the Discourse team is the desire to “raise the standard of discussion on the web through better forum software.” Core to their actions is the belief that forums are an integral aspect of proper web communities, yet most forum designs are stuck in the 1990s. With Discourse, they want to make forum hosting easy, flexible, and appealing to the 21st Century.

The Discourse interface takes a lot of inspiration from social media: just-in-time loading of content, flat and sleek aesthetics that are indicative of social media design, @replying to users, logging in with social media accounts, real-time stream updates, and more. But unlike Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and the others, Discourse remains faithful to big blocks of text for deeper, more meaningful conversation.

Other notable features that Discourse is pushing:

• Notifications. One big problem with legacy forum systems is the lack of convenient notifications. Up until a few years ago, the best we ever got was clunky email notifications, then we had RSS subscriptions, but both of those had their limits. Discourse will regularly notify you on the site when someone mentions you, replies to you, quotes you, or anything else that involves you.
• Forked conversations. Instead of having a linear thread where users reply to multiple users in a single post (often using ugly blocks of quotes to establish context), Discourse allows discussions to fork by letting you reply to individual posts and branch off.
• Smart interactions. One awesome feature of Discourse is that you can begin writing your reply even before you’ve finished reading the thread. The reply box will follow you no matter where you are on the page, which means you can reply while you read. Also, when you prematurely leave a thread (maybe you had to go somewhere), Discourse will remember your place and start you there the next time you come back.
• Dynamic moderation. As users participate on your Discourse forum, they gain something called trust. Users that have trust can help with forum moderation by culling spammers, flamers, and trolls before they get too big.

We took a detailed look at Discourse when it emerged on the scene.

Vanilla

Moot and Discourse are relative newcomers to the forum scene, but Vanilla has been innovating the forum concept for years already. Honestly, ask anyone (who has forum experience, obviously) which forum software is the most non-traditional and I’m willing to bet that most would say Vanilla.

Vanilla has gained a lot of traction over the years. Big name sites, like Penny Arcade, are starting to turn to it for their discussion needs because of its cutting edge design. This is a free, open source project that really is revolutionizing the forum landscape.

Other notable features that Vanilla is pushing:

• Scalability. One major issue in many free forum systems – and some paid systems too – is that they buckle under too much traffic. When it takes over 10 seconds for a thread to load, users are too frustrated to continue a discussion. Vanilla is built for speed and can handle millions of users right out of the box.
• User reactions. With Vanilla, you can set various “reactions” that users can have to content: like, dislike, spam, off topic, insightful, funny, or whatever else you can come up with. These reactions have actions associated with them (e.g. add score to the post). The result of the user reactions system is that users can decide on and promote valuable content.
• Built-in gamification. Gamification describes the addition of game elements in a non-game context for the purpose of engaging users. By participating, users can earn badges (achievements) and reputation (score) which lead to user promotions and access to more features if you choose to set it up that way.

Conclusion

On paper, these systems may not seem like a huge deviation from the usual forum platforms that we typically see. However, paper can be deceiving. Take one look at each of the solutions above and you’ll notice a landslide difference in the end user experience. And in my humble opinion, all three systems are doing a heck of a job in refreshing the boring realm of forums.

Do you use forums? Know of any other forum systems that are revolutionizing the field? Please share with us in the comments!

Image Credits: Chat Bubbles Via Shutterstock

The post Internet Forums Reimagined: The Future Of Online Discussions appeared first on MakeUseOf.

I’ll be honest: I’m really not one to do a lot of photo editing. I rarely do anything related to photos, whether it’s taking them, touching them up, or even looking at them. But even for someone like me, Photo Commander 11 was a breeze to operate. For those of you who actually like photo editing, this program will serve you well.

Photo Commander 11 is available for USD $49.99 on Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. But for you, we’ve got a great offer that you just won’t be able to pass up: we’re giving away 10 copies of Photo Commander 11 worth a total of $500 for free! Keep reading to see how you can take advantage of this awesome offer.

Photo Commander 11 Review

When you first start up the program, you’ll be met with a quick setup wizard. This wizard allows you to choose file associations, languages, interface layouts, and a few other simple settings that’ll help you get started. It’s not the most helpful introduction, but it’s something.

Photo Commander 11 opens up to a clean workstation layout with pleasant aesthetics. I chose the photo editing layout as opposed to the photo manager layout (I don’t have many photos to manage) or the film strip layout (didn’t really appeal to me). I admit that I felt overwhelmed at first, but it all started to make sense after a few minutes of exploration.

The main aspect you really need to become familiar with is the top bar – not the usual menu options that you’d see in any other program, but the special blue navigation bar that holds all of the actions and options that you can play around with. It’s similar to Microsoft’s ribbon interface except not so wieldy.

• Quick Fix: This section of the bar is where you’ll find a bunch of one-click photo fixers like cropping, contrast & brightness, color correction, red eye removal, tilt shifting, visual effects, and more.
• Objects: This section of the bar lets you edit the photo by drawing some boxes and circles if you please, or maybe some speech bubbles or image stamps if that’s what you prefer. It’s not as feature-rich as Photoshop by any means.
• Create: Despite the name, this section of the bar is less about creating photos and more about organizing them. There are buttons to create slideshows, albums, collages, panoramas, and other containers along those lines.
• Organize: Again, despite the name, this section is less about organization and more about utility. Rename a bunch of photos at once. Find duplicate images on your hard drive. Burn images to a CD or DVD. Rotate and optimize JPG files. Lots of miscellaneous actions that don’t fit under the other sections.

Visual effects are one of the most elementary operations you can perform on a photo, but they’re just so awesome and Photo Commander makes them so easy. It really is a one-click action and you can stack multiple effects on a single photo in case you really want to touch up an otherwise subpar picture.

When you want to create a photo container – like an album, a slideshow, a collage, etc. – Photo Commander again makes it easy thanks to the various wizards that come as part of the program. No matter what you want to do, all you have to do is fill out a few fields and check (or uncheck) a few checkboxes, and voila! You’re done.

Photo Commander 11 lets you take command of your photos without requiring you to have any prior photo manipulation experience. Here are some more great features that you’ll find here:

• Automatic photo backups as you work and easy restore.
• MiniMap live preview of the photo you’re editing.
• Fullscreen editing mode to cut away all other distractions.
• Comparison mode where you can compare before and after image modifications.
• Image conversion between multiple supported formats.
• Share your photos through email, Facebook, Picasa, or even YouTube.

Again, we’re giving away 11 free copies to all of our loyal and beloved MakeUseOf fans and readers. As a reminder, Photo Commander 11 only runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8.

How can I win a copy of Photo Commander 11?

We have a new giveaway procedure in place, which will hopefully make participating much easier. You may enter using your Facebook credentials (which will require you to sign into Facebook) or by submitting your name and email address. You’ll receive one entry simply by doing so.

After that, you’ll also be offered various methods to earn additional entries. They range from sharing a link to this giveaway on social networks; to commenting or visiting a specific page. The more you participate, the higher your chances of winning!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, May 24th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

The post Touch Up Your Photos With A Single Click Using Photo Commander 11 [Giveaway] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

This list will cover remixes for Chrono Trigger, one of my favorite RPG games of all time, but one thing to keep in mind is that you can enjoy this music without ever having played the game. Maybe you’ve never even heard of it. That’s fine. Music is music, right? And even though these songs are based on video game tracks, that doesn’t mean they sound like video game music. Trust me on that.

“Subterranean Opus” [Creeping Through the Sewers]

I wasn’t sure whether to sort this list in best-first or best-last order, but I’m so excited to write about this song that I think I need to start with the best. “Subterranean Opus” is a track that caught me completely off guard. I have a playlist of many OCRemix songs that I listen to on a somewhat regular basis, but before today I’d never heard of this song. Boy, I was really missing out.

“Subterranean Opus” was composed by Zircon, who just happens to be one of my favorite electronic composers. I had no idea that he started his career remixing video game songs but, looking back, it makes sense. You have to listen to this song and get at least to the 1:25 mark. That’s when things start to bump and sway with a beautiful mixture of hybrid orchestra touched with a Spanish flavor.

This song sits at the top of my list – not only for Chrono Trigger but all OCRemixes in general – for the high quality sound and the skillful rearrangement that injects many different musical styles while maintaining the heart of the original.

“Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” [Yearnings of the Wind]

Here’s another song that elevates an original track up into the heavens by revitalizing it with the soul of a new genre. Based on “Yearnings of the Wind,” which you might also know as “600 A.D. Wind Scene”, “Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” is one of those tracks that brims full of emotion, passion, and energy – even though the song itself is quite soft and mellow. It just feels alive.

It just goes to show that you don’t need an orchestra of instruments to create beautiful renditions. “Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” is just one man on one piano creating sophisticated music using nothing more than creativity, hard work, and love. He was able to infuse the original wind song with a jazzy feel that warms the heart and relaxes the muscles.

“Dream of Zeal” [Corridor of Time]

Every good video game – just like every good movie – has that one tune that always pops into your head when you think of it. Most of the time, it’s the theme song. If I were to mention Harry Potter, I think we all know which song you’d be thinking about. Similarly, when it comes to Chrono Trigger, “Corridor of Time” (which you may know as the “Theme of Zeal”) beats out all other tracks as the iconic theme.

There are dozens of “Corridor of Time” remixes available on OCRemix and many of them deserve high praise. But in the interest of not flooding this article with more than one remix of the same track, I chose “Dream of Zeal” to represent.

It captures the essence of the original while adding a new layer of life on top. The sound samples may not be the best, but you have to consider that this remix was released nearly four years ago. Even still, it’s held up to time well and remains as one of my favorite Zeal remixes.

“Far Away Memories” [Outskirts of Time]

This remix of “Outskirts of Time” has such a homey, comforting quality about it. The choice of samples and the actual rhythm-melody combination evoke some real imagery – as if I’m strolling through a sunset countryside on a long, empty road. “Far Away Memories” is aptly named and I applaud the composer for creating such a fresh take on the original track.

“Behind the Sealed Door” [Sealed Door]

When you name a song “Behind the Sealed Door,” you inherently charge the composition with an aura of mystery. Smartly, the composer allows this mysterious feeling to pervade this remix and I think he did a great job in maintaining the original track’s soul while taking it in a whole new direction (compare it to the original “Sealed Door” and you’ll see what I mean).

There’s a dark and haunting quality to this song that I love and it’s balanced with a strong rhythm that keeps it from delving too deeply into somber territory. The piano is both light and gloomy – an interesting paradox – which provides further balance. Around the 1:30 mark, there’s a transition that incorporates a notably bright Final Fantasy melody, but it eases back into the eerie around 3:17.

Conclusion

Music is inherently subjective so there’s no doubt that some of you will read this and disagree with me. That’s fine with me. If I had the time and space, I’d expand this list to ten, fifteen, or even more songs because there are just so many Chrono Trigger remixes on the OCRemix site and they’re all lovely.

If there’s a Chrono Trigger remix that you think belongs in the top five, please share them in the comments! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The post Looking For New Music? Here Are 5 Of The Best Chrono Trigger OCRemixes appeared first on MakeUseOf.

A few months ago, I wrote about Firefox encryption addons aimed to keep your outgoing browser data as safe from prying eyes as possible. Encryption is great but there are other considerations you need to make if you want to be as safe as you can be. The Internet can be an annoying – or even dangerous – place if you don’t watch yourself.

BetterPrivacy

A few years ago, something known as the “Flash cookie” came onto the scene (AKA “super cookie” or “long-term cookie” or “local shared object”) and still exists today. Basically, it’s a Flash-based cookie that never expires and can’t be deleted through conventional means, which allows the advertising industry to track you pretty much anywhere you go.

Browsers aren’t yet fully aware of these Flash cookies so they can’t do much against them. That’s why BetterPrivacy exists. It allows you to manage Flash cookies on your system with ease. You can even set it to automatically delete Flash cookies on startup, shutdown, or on a schedule.

Note: Not all Flash cookies are bad. Some browser-based games use them to store game settings, some interactive sites use them to store login data, etc. If you automatically delete your Flash cookies, make sure to set important Flash cookies as exempt.

Ghostery

Ghostery is a comprehensive web privacy addon for Firefox that lets you see who’s trying to track you and subsequently block them if you don’t trust them. Ghostery can detect much of the invisible web activity going on behind the scenes – especially the trackers deployed by ad agencies and web publishers.

When you have trackers on you, Ghostery presents you with the tracking company’s privacy policy and any opt-out actions you can take. If you don’t trust the company at all, you can flat-out block them – scripts, Flash cookies, and even images.

NoScript

NoScript is a strict security addon that only allows whitelisted sites from running scripts and executable content on your browser – Java, JavaScript, etc. It’s a preemptive safety method that minimizes the threat of accidentally stumbling upon a malicious website and having them do something shady on your computer.

With NoScript, you’ll be guarded against cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (XSS), cross-zone DNS rebinding and CSRF attacks (router hacking), and clickjacking attempts.

Keylogger Beater

Keyloggers can be a big problem. They’re a form of malware that sits quietly on your computer and traces every key you press and every click you make, then sends that data to whoever created the keylogger allowing them to read what you type and maybe even steal a few account name + password combinations. There are a few ways to guard against keyloggers - Keylogger Beater is one.

Keylogger Beater brings up a scrambled text inputter that randomly reassigns your keys. There are pairs of “real keys” and “shadow keys” where pressing the shadow key will input the real key. This will jumble up any key output in case you have a hidden keylogger on your system. If you don’t want to press keys at all, you can just hover over a key with your mouse for one second and Keylogger Beater will read that as an input.

Flashblock

Flash-based content is some of the most prolific content in the world. There are Flash games, Flash ads, Flash video players, and more. Unfortunately, while Flash is powerful, it is also slow and can be used for nefarious purposes. Flashblock assumes that all Flash content is malicious and preemptively blocks them from loading.

With Flashblock, when you load up a page, every instance of Flash will be replaced with a placeholder element. If you click on that element, that particular Flash content will be downloaded and viewed. For your convenience, you can set certain sites and domains to be whitelisted.

Note: Flashblock does not work if you have JavaScript disabled OR if you have NoScript enabled.

ShareMeNot

You know those Facebook “Like” buttons and Twitter “Tweet This” buttons that you see all across the Internet? They may be intrusive and distracting when poorly implemented, but they’re ultimately harmless, right? You may want to guess again. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites that have embedded buttons can actually track you through those buttons even if you never click them.

One way to prevent button tracking is to prevent them from loading in the first place. ShareMeNot is an experimental Firefox addon that offers a different solution: it disables the tracking aspect of the button while loading it. If this is something that worries you, you should give ShareMeNot a run.

Conclusion

Security and privacy are important if you’re going to be involved in the Internet realm. You can stay safe with proper browsing habits and helpful web tools like Web of Trust, but once in a while you’re going to slip. When that happens, you’re going to wish you had a browser addon or two as a secondary layer of protection.

For maximum protection, use more than one of these addons simultaneously – as long as they are compatible, of course. If you know of any other great security and privacy addons for Firefox, please share them with us in the comments!

Image Credit: Social Media Signs Via Shutterstock

The post Everything You Need to Make Firefox Private & Secure appeared first on MakeUseOf.

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the most important element of the World Wide Web. It’s the language used to describe what a webpage should look like. However, HTML on its own is pretty boring because it can only deliver static pages; in order to meet the growing demand for more impressive web features, HTML has been coupled with plugins like CSS, Flash, Java, Silverlight, etc.

It has become something of a bloated mess and different browsers implement those features in their own ways. HTML5 is meant to solve HTML’s big problems for a cleaner and more efficient web.

HTML: An Overview

HTML as we know it today is called HTML4 and it was first published way back in 1997. Yes, that means we’ve been running on HTML4 for over 15 years now which is an eternity in tech time. Around 2000, a parallel markup language called XHTML started development and that’s been in use as well over the years, mostly due to the stricter standards that it imposes. In general, though, the two are pretty similar.

The problem with HTML4 is its limited functionality. It must be extended through plugins, like Flash, to provide more than simple text and images. Many video players, for example, were created and maintained on the Flash platform and embedded into HTML pages. Many web apps were developed using Java and embedded as well.

With all of these plugins, it becomes hard to maintain proper standards. Ideally, every browser should display every page on the web in the same way in order to deliver the same experience to every user. To display the same results on multiple browsers, web developers typically need to implement quick fixes and hacks in various portions of their site to accommodate different rendering processes. This gets cumbersome after a while.

On a more practical note, web pages that require plugins like Flash and Java end up using much more CPU and RAM. Ever wondered why your browser uses so much of your computer’s resources? A lot of it can be attributed to these HTML extensions. This is one reason why Apple has disabled Flash support on their mobile devices (to save on battery life).

What Exactly Is HTML5?

HTML4 has worked well, but it obviously has a number of flaws. The team behind HTML5 has a certain high-level plan for the next step in HTML, which means that HTML5 must be built on the following principles:

• Less dependence on plugins for functionality.
• Scripting should be replaced with markup whenever possible.
• Device independence (i.e., available on all devices and providing the same end experience).
• Public development process so people can see what’s going on.

More specifically, HTML5 adds a whole bunch of new markup tags:

• <header> and <footer> tags to help you isolate the tops and bottoms of content blocks. Can be used more than once on a single page.
• <article> tag which identifies a specific, singular piece of content, e.g., a blog post or a user comment.
• <nav> tag to specify which sections should be considered navigational blocks.
• <section> tag that lets you define a generic section of content; similar to the currently existing <div> tag.
• <audio> and <video> tags to mark the inclusion of audio or video content.
• <canvas> tag that lets you draw graphics using a separate scripting language.
• <embed> tag to embed external content or applications into the page.

HTML5 also deprecates some tags: <acronym>, <applet>, <font>, <frame>, <frameset>, <noframes>, and a handful of others.

The full standards specification for HTML5 is planned to be completed by 2014, but HTML5 has made lots of progress already and it can be used to implement site features even today. The full standards specification for HTML5.1 is planned to be completed by 2016.

Why HTML5 Matters For You

As a web user, you will benefit from HTML5 because it fixes the most glaring problems in HTML4. Web sites will have better web standards, which will result in more efficient content and improved performance. As HTML5 is adopted across the board, web pages should start to load faster, less bandwidth should be used, and battery life on mobile devices ought to last longer.

Plus, you won’t have to keep so many plugins like Flash and Java updated. I hate it when I constantly have to update so many addons and plugins across multiple browsers. And what happens when one of them is the wrong version? Sites stop working and frustration ensues. All of that should be dealt away with when HTML5 becomes the main standard.

If you’re just a regular web user and you have no intentions of coding or maintaining your own web site, then you don’t have to do anything to enjoy HTML5’s awesome features. All major browsers today support HTML5 to a large degree and you’ve probably been taking advantage of it already without knowing. Just keep your browser updated and you’ll be good to go.

And if you’re a web developer, HTML5 will make everything simpler and easier for you. If all goes well, you won’t have to deal with edge cases in web design since all browsers will need to adhere to the same standards.

Conclusion

HTML5 is the future of web browsing and it will surely revolutionize the way we surf the Internet. Even under the limited nature of HTML4, developers have created some mind-boggling web sites, so it’ll be interesting to see what sort of neat advancements they’ll make with the functionality of HTML5.

Hopefully now you can see HTML5 in a clearer light and see why it’s been hyped up as much as it has. You can further your learning on these ten websites too that show you what HTML5 is all about. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer you.

Image Credits: HTML5 Via Shutterstock, HTML Code Via Shutterstock, HTML5 Tag Cloud Via Shutterstock, Guy On Laptop Via Shutterstock

The post What Is HTML5, And How Does It Change The Way I Browse? [MakeUseOf Explains] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

GOM Audio is from the makers of GOM Video, a Windows media player that seems to have more clout over in Korea than in the West. Personally, the only reason I know GOM Video exists is because it has ties to competitive Starcraft 2 video streaming – or something like that – and GOM Video always felt clunky to me. But GOM Audio? Boy, they’ve done something right because this is a music player that could really catch on.

GOM Music Player Interface

After installing GOM Audio, this is the welcoming interface that you’ll see: the main player on the left and an introductory panel on the right. If you’re still wondering what GOM Audio does exactly, it tells you right there: a lightweight audio player designed to make it easy to listen to music on your computer. I can dig it.

A cursory glance at the GOM Audio welcome screen evokes in me one feeling: this audio player is clean. The interface design is minimal in the sense that it doesn’t use flashy gradients or rounded edges. Everything is a straight line, all of the colors are evenly toned, and the contrast is pleasant on the eyes.

This is an interface that has been designed well because I find myself wanting to look at it. Sure, the layout may be reminiscent of something like Winamp, but GOM Audio has captured an element that takes it to the next level.

Controls

Speaking of layouts, GOM Audio’s way of positioning interface elements is easy and intuitive. Things that immediately stick out to me: icons are extremely good at conveying their meaning, consistent interface design, and clear demarcation between sections. All of these things make for enjoyable music listening.

GOM Audio has a few tiny details that may not seem like big deals, but really improve on convenience. First, the playlist switching buttons – simple but effective. Second, the total playlist time length displayed at the bottom. Third, a mode changer for the top player portion so you can customize the way it looks.

As you might have guessed by now, GOM Audio is not a music library. It’s a music player. If you’re looking for something like iTunes, then you’ll need to look elsewhere. GOM Audio is more of a playlist manager.

Skinning

GOM Audio comes with three prepackaged skins: the brown-and-orange skin in the prior screenshots, this rounded white skin above, and a third compact skin that gets rid of everything but the actual player buttons. It’s not the greatest variety, but I really love the default one, so I don’t have much room to complain.

Though you can add new GOM Audio skins, and even though the skinning system is powerful, the problem is finding them. It’s not the most popular music player and it doesn’t have a central community, so skins are sprawled across the Internet in hard to reach places. The best I’ve found were in random blog posts and DeviantArt accounts.

Other Features

I’m not sure how many people still use software-based Internet streams, especially with the popularity of services like Pandora and Songza, but GOM Audio has a list of streaming radios in case your own playlists have grown stale or you want to discover some new music. Feel free to add your own Internet radio URLs if you have a few that aren’t included in the default list.

Other features of the GOM music player that you may like:

• Supports MP3, M4A, OGG, WMA, WAV, MID, FLAC formats and more.
• Alter audio playback speed from 0.1x to 2.0x.
• Apply audio effects like reverb and surround to live playback.
• Plugin system for feature extensibility.
• Timer for automatically shutting down, restarting, or sleeping your computer.

Verdict

As I near the end of this review, I’m struck by one truth: GOM Audio isn’t very distinctive from any other music player, but it just feels good. If you were to ask me why I like GOM Audio, I couldn’t give you any technical reasons – it doesn’t have any standout features – because I just like it. It melds into the background and never interferes. It plays your music for you and lets you do your own thing without being a distraction.

So if you’ve been like me, on the prowl for a clean music player that feels both fast and complete, then you should really give GOM Audio a try. It definitely gives other lightweight music players (e.g., Foobar2000, AIMP3, etc.) a run for their money.

The post Tired Of Big & Bloated Music Players? Try GOM Audio For Free! appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Prior to writing this article, I’d never heard of n7player. MakeUseOf reader, Nevzat, recommended it to me and, to my great pleasure, it surpassed all of my expectations. I’m the kind of guy who will put up with good-but-not-great free apps, but n7player has entered into my list of paid apps that I think are worth the purchase.

When you first open up n7player, the app lets you know immediately that this is a free trial version of a paid app. It’s not the first app to do this sort of thing but I find it tactful and considerate so I can close it and uninstall it right away if I don’t intend to spend any money. Thankfully for me, I stuck with it because the n7player Android music player is awesome.

As you tap the Next button, n7player takes you on an introductory tour of five slides that explains how to use the app to its fullest potential. Having to learn a new app’s interface – even if it’s something as generic as a music player – can be frustrating, so mini-tutorials like this are always great.

And at the end of the tour, n7player offers to search and download album art for all of the songs/albums that are currently on your device. Personally, I don’t really care about album art too much, but the option was so convenient that I went with it anyway.

n7player is a local music player that’s made up of all of the songs on your Android device. But unlike most music players, the interface uses a tag cloud layout instead of the traditional list after list after list. What does this mean? Yes, the artists are ordered alphabetically, but the size of their names is proportional to how many songs you have for that artist.

The music library also implements a pinch-and-zoom feature that causes the tag cloud interface to change into an album grid if you zoom in close enough. The grid view is nice but it’s really only useful if you can identify albums at a glance – a skill that I haven’t fully developed since I rarely bother with album art.

I love the way that n7player handles the actual music playback interface. Other Android music players have utilized drawer-based players in the past, but n7player is the first music app where I’ve felt that there is a high quality mixture of performance, aesthetics, and practicality.

First of all, the design of it all looks modern. The icons and buttons share a sort of minimalism that alleviates much of the potential for clutter. There’s just enough three-dimensionality to it so that it doesn’t fall flat but not so much that it becomes an eyesore. n7player’s interface is the best one I’ve seen yet.

n7player comes with a built-in equalizer that works exceptionally well. There are a dozen different presets that each produce a unique sound and you can even create some of your own presets if you’d like.

As for options and customization, n7player offers just enough settings so that I don’t feel like I’m stuck with an out-of-the-box setup and no means of personalization. However, most of the customization options are simple toggles, so there’s no real way to change themes, fonts, layouts, etc. Not a big deal to me but just something to keep in mind.

Other features that may entice you to give this bad boy a try:

• Built-in tag editor so you can organize your library with ease.
• Search your library and file system for songs.
• Lock screen interface with direct unlock support.
• Sleep timer that will automatically close n7player after a set period.
• Last.FM scrobbling.

I mentioned before that this was a free trial for the paid version of n7player. The free trial lasts 14 days from the time of installation and the full version costs $3.49 USD. There is a separate version of this android music player called n7player 1.0 that is fully free but hasn’t been updated since December 2012. Feel free to check that out if you don’t want to pay.

The post n7player: An Android Music Player That’s Worth Every Cent appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Both Android and iOS have a number of great chat messengers – like Kakao, WhatsApp, or even Viber – which are mostly used as text message replacements that can be used over WiFi without paying a cent. Yes, Phonon provides text chat functionality, but its main selling point is that it is also a voice messenger. Intrigued? You should be. Join me as I explore this awesome new messenger app.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Phonon is highly integrated with Facebook – so integrated, in fact, that you need an active Facebook account in order to use Phonon. Phonon is nothing without Facebook, so if you’re trying to avoid Facebook, then I’ll just tell you straight away that this isn’t the messenger you’re looking for.

Phonon will ask you to log in using your Facebook credentials, which you’ll have to confirm by a code that Facebook sends you (thank you, Facebook privacy). Then, Phonon will ask you for a username. Just pick one and you’ll be shown through a brief introductory slideshow tour describing all of its features and what each of the buttons mean. Honestly, it’s straightforward and that’s one reason why Phonon has a fair chance at success: it’s really easy to pick up.

So the main selling point of Phonon Voice Messenger is that it can leave messages for other users to read when it’s most convenient for them. The chat message feature is simple to figure out – it’s just like leaving a comment. You type up a message and they can read it at their leisure.

But the cooler option is to leave a voice message. By tapping one of the microphone buttons, the app enters into recording mode. In this mode, you can speak into your device like any other microphone and it’ll begin to record your message. The app lets you know how long you’ve been recording, and when you’re done all you have to do is hit the send arrow. Think of it as a voice comment. Unfortunately, there’s no way that I know of to listen to or alter your recording before submitting it.

Phonon has two other big features that are central to the app’s philosophy. First, birthday tracking. There’s a gift box icon along the top bar which has a number counter on it – the number of friends whose birthday is today. When you tap on it, a list of those friends will come up and you’ll be able to leave birthday messages for them. This is a nice touch since voice is more real and intimate than simple text.

The second feature is group messaging. Invite a bunch of your friends into a group chat and you can all leave chat and voice messages for each other. I think this is the coolest feature in this app, mostly because I don’t care all too much about Facebook status updates and photo albums. However, leaving behind voice messages for a group of friends? That’s something I could really get behind.

I have to say that I really like Phonon’s layout. It’s not the most polished or most beautiful interface I’ve ever seen, but it does do a lot of things well enough that it doesn’t feel clunky, sloppy, or cluttered. Sometimes not being bad is just as effective as being innovative.

The first big eye-catcher is the similarity of its layout to most Facebook apps on Android. There’s the traditional navigation bar at the top with Home, Contacts, and Inbox. Then you have the feed interface that shows the latest activity of your friends. The next eye-catcher is the relatively huge size of the buttons for leaving messages. I think it’s great that these buttons are so large because that’s the main focus of the app, after all. These messages can be left on status updates, photo albums, and privately user-to-user.

Phonon is available on Android as well as iOS. Yes, if your friends want to be able to read/listen to the messages you leave, they’ll need Phonon, but fortunately it’s pretty widely available. Give it a try and let us know what you think of it!

The post Phonon: A New Way to Chat on Facebook With Text and Voice [Android & iOS] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Sticky Password Pro 6.0 is an application that acts as a master database for all of your username/password combinations. It keeps all of them locked behind a master password, so you only need to memorize one super-strong password in order to secure a vast array of account credentials.

Sticky Password Pro 6.0 is available for USD $29.99 on Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8 as well as iOS 4 and higher. There is a free version with limited features — you’ll only be able to create 1 profile and it will only store up to 15 username/password combinations. But here’s the good news: this time, we’re giving away 25 copies of Sticky Password Pro 6.0 worth a total of $750 for FREE!

If you want a chance at winning a copy, all you have to do is read through this review and respond according to the instructions at the bottom of the post.

Review of Sticky Password Pro 6.0

When you first load up Sticky Password Pro after installation, it’ll ask you for a master password. This master password is crucial because it’s the one and only way for you to access all of your stored username/password details. The best piece of advice for the master password is to make it long, use letters and numbers and special characters, and make it unique.

If you suspect that you have a keylogger on your system or you’re just paranoid that someone may be able to track your keypresses, Sticky Password offers you a virtual keyboard where you can click the keys of your password for additional safety.

Not only does Sticky Password keep track of all of your different username/password combinations, it comes with a browser plugin that will automatically enter your username/password credentials on sites that you have saved. This is such a convenient feature that this feature itself might be worth the purchase.

Depending on how many times you find yourself filling in login details each day, you could end up saving a lot of time. In addition, since Sticky Password can automatically enter these details for you, you’ll be less likely to use the “Remember Me” option on account-based websites, offering an additional layer of security.

This is what the main Sticky Password dashboard looks like. It’s quite modern and well-designed – not too cluttered, not too minimal, not ugly or overly flashy. Everything is organized in a smart and intuitive way.

We’ve gone over the main features of Sticky Password in previous reviews, but for those of you who are just learning about Sticky Password for the first time, here’s a brief overview of what this great application can do:

• Individual Identities so you can have multiple users or profiles with different username/password combinations.
• Multiple Accounts where each account is tied to an application or a website.
• Imported passwords for easy password transfers from your browsers and programs to Sticky Password.
• Ignored and Trusted websites to which Sticky Password will react differently.
• Password generator that will create some of the strongest passwords for you.
• Database encryption (military-grade AES) so your passwords remain safe even when accessed.
• Phishing protection so that Sticky Password won’t send your sensitive details to imposter websites.
• Secure Memos to store other sensitive data: software licenses, credit cards, bank accounts, etc.

The latest version of Sticky Password implemented a few cool features that you may find useful:

• Portable version that lets you take Sticky Password with you on-the-go without the need to install. Combine it with the iOS app and you can keep your passwords sync’d with you no matter where you are.
• Account grouping allows you to keep your password accounts organized by sorting them under various categories that you create and control.

• Bluetooth unlocking allows you to set one of your own Bluetooth-enabled devices as the “switch” for gaining access to Sticky Password. Without that device nearby, the Sticky Password dashboard won’t open up.

Again, we’re giving away 25 free copies of Sticky Password Pro 6.0 to all of our beloved MakeUseOf fans and readers. Please be reminded that Sticky Password Pro 6.0 is only available for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8 as well as iOS 4 and higher.

How do I win a copy of Sticky Password Pro 6.0?

We have a new giveaway procedure in place, which will hopefully make participating much easier. You may enter using your Facebook credentials (which will require you to sign into Facebook) or by submitting your name and email address. You’ll receive one entry simply by doing so.

After that, you’ll also be offered various methods to earn additional entries. They range from sharing a link to this giveaway on social networks; to commenting or visiting a specific page. The more you participate, the higher your chances of winning!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, May 17th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

The post Sticky Password Pro 6.0: Keep Your Passwords Safe and Organized [Giveaway] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Discussion, that’s how. I know that when I finish reading a well-written book, I need to go out and tell somebody about it. I need to find someone else who’s read that same book so we can talk about it, maybe for hours if the book was that good. Reading may be an individual activity – nobody sits around in a circle and reads aloud, right? – but the social aspect afterwards is what truly completes the joy.

So, yes, reading is an intensely social experience. One way to partake in that experience is to join a local book club, but if you’re looking for more of a technological, modern medium for reading socially, then here are some great communities that you should consider joining.

Goodreads

It’s impossible to talk about “social reading” without mentioning Goodreads. Launched in 2007, Goodreads started off as a cataloging website that acted as a database for books, book reviews, and annotations. Within one year, Goodreads boasted over 650,000 members and 10 million books. Within five years, the member base increased to over 10 million and the database is constantly growing.

When you sign up on Goodreads, you can manage something called a “bookshelf”, which is just a collection of book titles that you’ve read, are currently reading, or plan to read one day. Once you’ve read a book, you can give it a rating and an optional review. The social networking aspect involves the ability to make friends with other readers so you can see each other’s bookshelves and discuss certain titles together.

Based on what you’ve read and liked, Goodreads helps you discover new books that fit into your interests. Personally, I’ve been using Goodreads for about two years and I’ve found dozens of great books that I never would’ve read if I hadn’t joined. Highly recommended, and not just by me: check out Erez’s article on why Goodreads is a must for readers!

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is like a less hip, more cerebral version of Goodreads. Even though it debuted nearly two years before Goodreads, their minimalistic interface and their refusal to catch up with the times has kept their community from blowing up. Depending on your viewpoint, that can be good or bad. Still, LibraryThing has over 1.6 million users and 78 million books.

With LibraryThing, you can create and manage your own personal library of books: books you’ve read, books you’re reading, books you wish to read. You can tag, rate, and review books. Since everyone builds their own personal libraries, you can browse them and interact with other people through comments and forums. LibraryThing gets their book data from Amazon and over 700 libraries globally.

Most book-related social networks will let you read and write reviews and leave comments, which LibraryThing does, too. However, the big draw of LibraryThing, in my opinion, is their Talk forum section where you can have high quality book discussions. And let me tell you: their forums are extremely active.

One cool feature is their Early Reviewers program, where you can receive free books in exchange for well-written reviews. In addition, they have a version of their site that’s optimized for mobile devices so you can participate on the go.

BookLikes

BookLikes is a newer social network that focuses on allowing users to share their thoughts on books in their own space. In a way, you can think of it as MySpace for books: everyone can create a shelf of books that they’ve read/are reading/will read (nothing new here) but everyone also has a blog for expression. The networking aspect is that you can search and browse the blogs of other users.

Honestly, it’s a great concept when you want more substance than simple book reviews and forum threads. The blog format allows for deeper thoughts while giving users the freedom to follow whoever they’d like to follow. Being able to see the shelves of your friends is useful, too, especially when you want to start reading the favorites of someone who thinks like you.

The only downside is that they’ve currently limited registration. Instead of instantly creating an account, you have to request an account and wait for them to approve you. Perhaps they’re still developing some features behind the scene and will open the gates soon. If you don’t mind waiting a bit, go ahead and request an account now.

Online Book Club

Let’s say you want to be a social reader but you don’t like dealing with social networks. Sounds a bit contradictory but it’s entirely possible. If blogs and social networks aren’t your cup of tea, then what about good old-fashioned forums? Forums are great for digitally enacting the oldest form of social reading: book clubs.

And Online Book Club is aptly named. Their forums are quite active with daily threads that cover topics such as: book discussion, author discussion, reviews and recommendations, e-book discussions, books of the month, and there’s even a subsection for aspiring writers. You’ll find a lot of reading enthusiasts at the Online Book Club and it’s an entirely free community.

Conclusion

Reading is both an isolated and social activity. Sure, you can enjoy your book and lose yourself into the mind of a compelling protagonist, but who are you going to talk to when you’re done? Sharing in the experience of that book is just as important as reading it, so use the communities above to find like-minded readers with whom you can discuss stories.

Know of any other social reading websites that I missed? Please share them in the comments. I’d love to check them out and see what I’m missing out on.

Image Credit: Reading Girl Via Shutterstock

The post Can Reading Be A Social Experience? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

On top of the default search feature, there are a number of third-party tools that claim to be better and faster at searching your computer for relevant files and folders, and that raises a few questions. Is Windows desktop search slow? And if so, how much faster are the alternatives? I took a look at the best known Windows search tools and compared them – the results were surprising.

Note: I’m on a Windows 7 desktop so I’m testing these tools against the default search on that operating system. You can safely assume that Windows XP search speeds would be slower than Windows 7, but I don’t know how much more the Windows 8 search improves. So if you use Windows 8, just keep that in mind.

Windows Search

Interface: The Windows search integrates nicely into the actual operating system, so you’ll feel right at home using it. Open up any explorer window (basically, any folder) and the search bar will be up in the top right. You can also search Windows in the Start Menu if you prefer it that way.

Search Time: Average 3m 30s for unindexed search; average <1s for indexed search. If you enable Windows search indexing, your computer will constantly keep an index of all files and folders, which helps to improve search speeds.

Features: I don’t know about you, but I’ve always viewed the Windows search as a primitive function. That might be because I had some poor experiences as a child on Windows 98, ME, and even XP. However, rest assured that the latest iterations of the desktop search aren’t so bad. There are a few tricks to improve Windows 7 search that you can use.

Everything

Interface: Everything’s interface is as simplistic as they come. It’s just an empty window with a small search bar across the top. As you type, the search results show up in the list below. There really isn’t much else to say. Minimal and to the point – just how I like my tools to be.

Search Time: Instantaneous real-time. Everything is an impressive bit of windows desktop search technology due to how fast and responsive it is. Like Windows search, Everything works by indexing your entire computer’s file structure, which allows it to present immediate search results as you type your search query. Everything can index a fresh install of Windows 7 in just a few seconds.

Features: You’d think that such a fast search tool would come with a downside. Well, as far as I can tell, there are no downsides to Everything. It barely uses any resources – less than 5MB RAM and less than 1MB of hard drive space. It also monitors file system changes live, so your index is always up to date.

Listary

Interface: The Listary interface is fantastic in my opinion, but I can see how it might be cumbersome or annoying for some users. Essentially, Listary doesn’t have an interface of its own. As you browse around on your computer, all you have to do is start typing and Listary will know based on context whether you want to search or not.

Search Time: Average <1s for computer-wide search.

Features: Listary’s search is extremely flexible. The query matching isn’t verbatim, so you can just type multiple terms until you get the match that you were looking for. The search only performs in the current directory, though you can easily manipulate the search query to search in other locations if you want.

Pro Version: Though the Free version is feature complete and available forever, you can upgrade to the Pro version for $19.95 USD, which unlocks a few advanced features.

Conclusion

The absolute search times listed above have a lot of factors going into them, such as the size of my hard drives, how many files and folders I have, other programs running in the background that take up CPU resources, etc. However, just focus on the relative search speeds between each program and you’ll see that all of them are quite good at fast searches.

My winner? I prefer Everything. Listary offers the same “find as you type” instantaneous search results but the interface can sometimes be intrusive, especially when you accidentally bring it up. I like how Everything is both fast and compact and only shows up when I open it myself.

I tested out a few other Windows desktop search tools that didn’t make it onto this list. With indexing, Windows search is quite fast already. Everything and Listary were the only ones that could offer the same (or better) speed while adding extra features on top. Know of any other Windows search tools that are just as fast? Share them with us in the comments.

Image Credit: Magnifier Via Shutterstock

The post What Are the Fastest Tools for Windows Desktop Search? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

When used in a fundraising context, crowdsourcing is an online method where you set up a central location for your fundraising campaign and point people there, where they can make the choice to donate to your cause or not. It’s the inverse of traditional fundraising; instead of going to them, they come to you. In tandem with other tools like social networking and online marketing, crowdsourcing can be extremely effective at raising lots of money very quickly.

ChipIn used to be my fundraising widget of choice, but on February 4 they announced the discontinuation of their service and on March 7 they shut down completely. That sent me on a wild chase for viable alternatives to ChipIn and here are the 5 best alternatives that I’ve found.

PitchInBox

PitchInBox is eerily similar to ChipIn. The account creation process is the same, the widget looks almost identical in design, the feature sets are as close as can be, and the names even sound the same! Instead of chipping in, people can pitch in to help you with your fundraising. All you need is a website where you can embed the PitchInBox live widget.

Then again, none of that should be a real surprise since the developers of PitchInBox is meant to be a near-perfect substitute for ChipIn. As people make donations using your widget, the money will instantly be added to your PayPal account; there’s no need to meet a minimum goal before you receive your funds. It’s real-time and convenient.

PitchInBox only works with PayPal (no idea if they have plans to expand later) and you’ll incur PayPal-related fees on each donation, but otherwise PitchInBox is entirely free to use.

Kickstarter

I’m not sure Kickstarter even needs an introduction, but those of you who still haven’t heard about this awesome website should pay attention. Kickstarter is probably the most well-known fundraising platform in the world. Launched in 2009, Kickstarter has helped raise over $500 million for over 90,000 creative projects.

Here’s how it works. After you create your project on Kickstarter and set your final goal, users can pledge any amount of money to help you out. However, you only receive your money if the amount of pledges you receive meets your final goal. You can also set certain rewards depending on how much a user pledges. In the end, this system is great motivation for project leaders to work hard while keeping users safe from (most) snatch-and-run scams.

We have a series here on MakeUseOf where we look over various Kickstarter projects with cool concepts and executions. Some of them succeed and some of them fail, but Kickstarter has proven to be a wonderful tool when it comes to crowdsourcing funds.

ImRaising

Like ChipIn, ImRaising provides users with a live donation widget that collects donations and tracks progress on the fly. It’s fast, it’s free, and it’s new (launched in early March of this year), so you can expect nothing but improvements over the next few months. Even though it’s such a recent startup, ImRaising has helped raise over $70,000 already. It works.

At the time of writing this article, there are two widget types available: a Live Bar widget that displays custom donation stats as well as the default ImRaising widget which shows goal information and current progress. In the future, ImRaising will release two more widgets: one for the latest donor comments and one for displaying the top/latest donations made.

ImRaising has a slight fee for private ventures but it’s entirely free for non-profits. Widget appearances are customizable, donation payments are made in real-time, and the widgets work flawlessly on mobile devices. In addition, ImRaising provides you with a donation landing page and provides analytics/reports for your fundraising campaigns.

GoFundMe

GoFundMe is a really nice platform that lets you create your own campaign page for collecting donations. While most donation platforms will be either real-time donation campaigns OR all-or-nothing campaigns, GoFundMe lets you choose which type of campaign you want to run. Plus, there’s a “charity campaign” option where all proceeds are immediately forwarded to a charity of your choice. That’s pretty awesome in my book.

In terms of features, GoFundMe is spectacular. The setup process is extremely easy and you can have it ready to go in less than 5 minutes. The website makes it painless to share your campaign through Facebook and Twitter. And if you’re wary of GoFundMe’s efficacy, there are tons of success stories and testimonials for you to check out.

There is a fee associated with GoFundMe, though: they deduct a 5% fee from every incoming donation. This fee is on top of any fees incurred by your money handler, whether it be WePay or PayPal or whatever else. If you’re a US customer, GoFundMe automatically creates a WePay account for your donation campaign. International customers can use PayPal. I tried to use PayPal as a US customer but I couldn’t figure it out; maybe it’s not possible. And, unfortunately, there’s no live widget option.

PayPal Widget

If you don’t need all of the bells and whistles of a donation platform (like a campaign page), then maybe the official PayPal Widget is the best fit for you. As long as you have a PayPal account, you can easily set up one of these widgets for your website. There are no fees except for the standard PayPal transaction fees so there’s really no reason NOT to use it.

The widget itself has a pleasant design, which is something I find important. After all, nobody likes an ugly widget that detracts from their site aesthetics. The widget makes it easy for your website users to make a donation, which may even increase the number of people willing to chip in for your cause.

If you’re just looking to run a campaign through Facebook or MySpace, you’re in luck. PayPal offers two specific widgets that work specifically for Facebook and MySpace. They’re just as easy to use as the original widget, but if your users are mostly social networkers, then those widgets might be more effective in the long run.

Conclusion

Fundraising is a difficult task, but you can make it much easier and much smoother by utilizing a donation aid. ChipIn may be gone but there are many viable alternatives to ChipIn that can fill the void that’s been left behind. Between the 5 services described above, you should be able to find the perfect solution for your needs.

The post Need Help Fundraising? Here Are 5 Alternatives To The ChipIn Widget appeared first on MakeUseOf.

What is FTP? It stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it’s what you use to transfer files between your computer and another computer, most typically your web host’s server. Since most web development is now done in the browser using tools like FireBug, it’s even more convenient to have your FTP client right in the browser, too.

FireFTP doesn’t skimp on its feature set, which makes it a strong and viable alternative to other clients like WinSCP and FileZilla.

I’ve tried a number of FTP clients over the years (what can I say, I love testing out a bunch of competitors and seeing which ones stick out) and they all seem to have a similar, if not identical, interface. There’s usually a split-pane running down the center that separates your local file system (i.e., your computer) from the remote file system (i.e., the destination computer).

But hey, it’s been the standard interface for a long time now and it works so there’s no real reason for FireFTP to innovate here. However, FireFTP does earn a few points from me due to its slick and minimal layout. It may not seem like it in the screenshot, but there’s actually very little to distract you, and that means optimized screen estate. I love it.

For example, in the center split-pane, there are two buttons: one for download (which goes from right to left) and one for upload (which goes left to right). Easy, simple, and that’s it. In most other FTP clients, there are dozens and dozens of buttons, keys, menus, and clutter all over the place. Thumbs up, FireFTP.

Even though FireFTP is a Firefox FTP addon, it feels like a standalone client. Maybe that’s because I run it in a maximized window, but even so, it has an air of completed quality about it and that makes me feel reassured when using it.

To go along with that notion of completion, FireFTP has a number of settings and options that you can tweak to customize your file-transferring experience. Nothing revolutionary, mind you, but enough so you can disable certain quirks that you might not like – such as what happens when you double-click a file.

If you have a weak network, then you can do some fiddling with the Connection and Downloads/Uploads settings. This should help alleviate some of the pressure off of your tight bandwidth.

Again, FireFTP leans more towards the barebones-yet-robust side of the spectrum than the flashy-and-bloated side. The screenshot above is what you’ll see when you want to create a new FTP connection. It goes straight to the point and doesn’t confuse you with lots of advanced options, which is absolutely useful for newer users.

I maintain a few hobby websites of my own and I find myself connecting with FTP somewhat frequently – anywhere from once every few days to multiple times in one day. One thing that I miss from FireFTP is the ability to run multiple FTP connections to multiple servers at one time, but at least FireFTP has an easy-to-use account switcher. That makes up for it a bit.

Other features in FireFTP Firefox FTP tool that you may like:

• Easy drag-and-drop from your desktop.
• SSL/TLS encryption support for improved security.
• Automatic reconnection and resuming of dropped transfers.
• Integrity check to make sure transfer was successful (XMD5, XSHA1).
• Remote editing so you can edit remote files without transferring them locally.
• Folder comparison so you can see the differences in content between folders.
• Proxy connection support.
• Supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
• Available in over 20 languages.

FireFTP works on any system that supports Firefox, so that’s pretty much all of them: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Just visit the FireFTP addon page and installation will be one click away. And best of all, it’s entirely FREE.

What do you think of the FireFTP Firefox FTP addon? Have you used it before? Or maybe you used to use it and moved on to another FTP client? Whatever the case, please share your thoughts with us in the comments.

The post FireFTP is a Powerful Firefox FTP Client You Can Use in Your Browser appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Making your own time-lapse video can seem daunting, especially because you need to record a long length of video before you can cut it down into an actual lapse. However, as long as you can spare the time to record for a while, the actual process of lapsing the resulting video is made really easy with a handful of tools that you can grab for free.

In this article, we’ll take a look at time-lapse apps and programs that you can find and use on various platforms, so you’ll have no excuse not to make one of these cool videos of your own.

Lapse It [Android]

Lapse It is a fantastic time-lapse video app for Android. Not only is it easy to learn and easy to use, and not only is it free, but it comes with a handy little video that explains how time-lapsing works and how you can achieve the time-lapse effect with the app. Don’t have the time to watch it? Basically, Lapse It takes a single snapshot every so often, then combines all of those images to play back at 30 frames-per-second. Done.

The Lapse It interface is both intuitive and responsive. It’s really fast and well-designed, which means you can focus on making the time-lapse instead of figuring out what does what. Some really cool features you can find here:

• Customize the capture speed and the frame rate.
• Stop Motion mode which lets you create – you guessed it – stop motion videos.
• Add various video effects to the final video.
• Insert soundtracks into the final video.
• Export the final video to MOV, MP4 and FLV formats.
• Upload the result directly to Youtube, Facebook, Google+, and more.

Lapse It has a Pro version for $1.99 USD that unlocks the front-facing camera on your device (if you have one) and lets you capture stunning images using the camera full sensor.

Timelapse [iPhone]

Timelapse is an iPhone app that lets you create professional-quality time-lapse sequences right on your iPhone. The app comes with two functions: Timelapse Classic, where you can snap individual photos that you will use later for professional post-production, or Timelapse Express, which handles all of the video creation right on the device.

To use Timelapse Express, all you have to do is set the shoot duration, the length of the final video, select an audio track that you want to use in the result, set up the device to frame your shot, then let it do its thing. By the end, Timelapse Express will have created a complete HD video that you can share with your friends.

Unfortunately, the free version is limited to 59 snapshots and 20 seconds in the final video. To remove those limitations, you’ll need to upgrade to Timelapse Unlimited for £1.99.

Timelapse [Windows Phone]

Now, Windows Phone isn’t exactly the most popular mobile device brand out on the market, but I know there are those of you out there who use it. It’s actually been making its presence known over the past few years, so if you’re using a Windows Phone and want to make a time-lapse video, give this app a try.

Timelapse is a simple app that does the following: set a time interval between shots, then let it go do its thing. You can enable or disable flash and focus and you can change the snapshot resolutions if you want. The video linked above was created using Timelapse.

Chronolapse [Windows]

Time-lapse videos on mobile devices are great and all, but a desktop time-lapse program can do so much more for you depending on what sort of videos you plan on making. If you want to record nature then go ahead and use your phone, but if you want to create tutorials or workflow videos, then you’ll need a time-lapser on your computer.

Chronolapse is the perfect tool for this. Check out the video above to see what it can do (Ludum Dare is a 48-hour game coding contest). With Chronolapse, you can define a specific time interval and the program will take snapshots regularly, then process them into a video file when you’re done. The best part? It can do screenshots, webcam shots, or both simultaneously.

Some other features that might pull your fancy:

• Support for dual monitor screenshots.
• Support for picture-in-picture snapshots.
• Support for scheduled captures, even when you aren’t there.
• Uses the MEncoder interface for encoding the final video.
• Add audio tracks to the final video if you want.

Conclusion

So there you have it: tools that will help you to take and create time-lapse videos. It’s a photography technique that’s rather simple in terms of technological difficulty, but it can produce some really awesome clips and effects. Give the apps above a run and tell us how they worked out for you in the comments!

Image Credit: Starry Night Via Shutterstock

The post 4 Ways To Take Time-Lapse Videos appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Buffering isn’t just a problem for YouTube; services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO GO all have to buffer their on-demand content. But YouTube is, without a doubt, the largest video streaming site in the world – it’s hard to imagine a person who has Internet access yet hasn’t ever heard of it – which means there are a lot of people out there who complain about slow YouTube buffers.

The following tips may help you out if your YouTube experience has slowed down so much as to become an inconvenience.

Warning: These suggestions to speed up YouTube should only be pursued at your own discretion. I would never suggest something so dangerous or risky that I would never do it, but MakeUseOf claims no responsibility if you mess up your computer or Internet connection in any way after reading this article.

Join YouTube Feather Beta

Even though I’ve been an avid YouTube user for many years, I was surprised to learn about a hidden program called YouTube Feather. As far as I know, it was never really pushed to users in a public way; instead, it’s an “opt-in” feature that claims that it might be able to speed up your YouTube buffering. It’s an official YouTube program so there’s some real promise in it.

How does it work to speed up YouTube? By stripping away nearly every extraneous feature and implementing some advanced web techniques, YouTube reduces the amount of information being sent to you every time you view a video. This means that there’s more bandwidth allocated for actual video buffering. It’s basically a lightweight version of the service, hence the name YouTube Feather.

When you enable YouTube Feather, you: lose the ability to view and write comments; lose the ability to like or dislike videos; only see five related videos per page. I think that’s a pretty good trade for faster buffering. However, be aware that YouTube Feather is a work-in-progress so it may not work for all videos.

Bypass ISP Throttling

A few months ago, a guy named Mitch Ribar posted an interesting network tweak for Windows that makes some esoteric changes to the firewall which blocks a big range of IP addresses. I’ve seen this tip circulating around the Internet so I took a deeper look at it and, from what I can see, it should work for most users.

The technology behind it works like this. In an effort to preserve bandwidth, some ISPs will throttle bandwidth and download speeds on connections to servers that deliver cached video content, e.g., YouTube. The following command blocks IP addresses on this content delivering network, which forces YouTube to push the actual video straight to you (not the cached version) without any ISP throttling.

• Click Start, type cmd, right click on the icon and Run as Administrator to open the command prompt.
• If you see a UAC prompt, click Yes.
• Copy this command: netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”YoutubeBufferTrick” dir=in action=block remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 enable=yes
• Right click in the command prompt and select Paste.
• Hit Enter.

If you ever want to remove this alteration from your network, do the same thing except use this command instead:

• netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=”YoutubeBufferTrick”

Since this trick blocks a wide range of IP addresses, you may run into a site every once in a while that’s blocked by this trick. Use at your own discretion!

Routing Through a Different DNS

You may be able to speed up YouTube downloads by hooking up your Internet connection to a different DNS, like OpenDNS or Google Public DNS. There’s a lot that can be said on DNS optimization – far more than would fit in this article – so just know that it’s possible (not guaranteed) that changing DNS could improve your YouTube buffering speed.

Google claims that using its Public DNS service can actually enhance your Internet browsing speed by optimizing the traffic routes between you and your destination servers. But, they offer this caveat:

Note, however, that because nameservers geolocate according to the resolver’s IP address rather than the user’s, Google Public DNS has the same limitations as other open DNS services: that is, the server to which a user is referred might be farther away than one to which a local DNS provider would have referred. This could cause a slower browsing experience for certain sites.

The bottom line: this trick to speed up TouTube may or may not work for you. There’s no real way to know without going ahead and giving it a try.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, one truth remains: your YouTube buffering speed will always be capped by your actual Internet speed. If you have a lousy Basic Package from your ISP and your download rate is limited to snail speeds, you won’t be able to buffer faster than that. In other words, the only surefire way to improve your YouTube buffering speed is to upgrade your Internet plan.

But assuming you have a fast Internet connection already yet still suffer from poor buffering, you may be able to gain something from the tricks outlined above. Give them a try and report back to us to share your experience!

Image Credit: Network Routes Via Shutterstock

The post Tired Of Buffering? 3 Ways To Speed Up YouTube appeared first on MakeUseOf.