February 10, 2012
Macs are great, with their neat UI and a Unix back-end. Sometimes you get the feeling you can do just about anything with them. Until one day you’re trying to do something simple and you realise what you need is just not available natively. In this case, I’m talking about wget, an incredibly useful command-line tool to download whole webpages, including media and as much link depth as you require.
January 9, 2012
For many computer users, Dropbox is the quintessential online storage and file sharing service for accessing files between computer devices. If you’re heavy user of Dropbox like I am, you might be interested in a new online service, Dropbox Automator, that can automatically perform all sorts of tasks when you add files to your designated Dropbox folders.
December 17, 2011
With If This Then That (ifttt) and SMS I can teach my dumb phone all kinds of smart tricks, from updating social networks to adding events to my calendar. What makes ifttt so good at educating your dumb phone is SMS messaging. Here are a few ways you can use it to your advantage from your dumb phone.
December 15, 2011
We’ve covered a lot of backup solutions here at MUO, and all of these solutions are great, but if you’re working in an environment that is wary about free 3rd party software packages, or companies that want to stick with Microsoft products only, then you may find yourself without a good solution. Enter SyncToy and VB Script.
November 9, 2011
Far too many PC users fail to properly back up their systems and their data. Because of that, I’ve often found myself in the position of having to tell family and friends that all of the family photos and financial information they’ve stored on their computer is completely lost. There are so many free and inexpensive ways to set up regular backups, that there is really no excuse.
November 5, 2011
We’ve already introduced you to ifttt in a previous post and there have been several improvements made and new channels added to the web application since then. Automation and synchronization are two points that have to be stressed if you’re very involved in social web and GTD. To save you even more time and effort, I’ve assembled a list of 10 of the best Recipes that are currently available.
November 4, 2011
Writing a script to automate various tasks on your system that you would normally have to do manually is something that I’ve become infatuated with recently. Maybe it’s the automation engineer in me, but the idea of having a computer intelligently do what I don’t have time to do is very appealing. That is why I’ve recently started offering some tips on how you can automate your own computer.
October 26, 2011
Computer maintenance isn’t exactly something that most people remember to do. For the general user that isn’t exactly tech savvy, when a computer doesn’t work, they either call for help or simply buy a new computer. If you have family members or friends that are always calling you for help with a slow computer, I’m going to offer you a solution that you can use to stop those phone calls right now.
October 13, 2011
Writing batch jobs and more recently Windows scripts is an activity that really makes up the bulk of how the large majority of network and system administrators do their jobs faster, and simplify what would otherwise be time-consuming, complex tasks. Using batch jobs, you can automate installing and uninstalling applications and a multitude of other queries and jobs.
September 22, 2011
Connect any two of your favorite web apps in creative ways. A sort of “digital duct tape” according to Linden Tibbets, the app’s creator, If This Then That (ifttt) lets you find new uses for web apps you’re already using by making it easy for you to combine them. The vision is to make the digital world, where programs exist in isolation, more like the physical world.
