Getting this code spread to and from the rest of your peers is where it can become difficult. Sending through popular communication methods such as e-mail or instant messaging can lead to missing code, and doesn’t recognize proper syntax of all the various code types. Fortunately these days, there seems to be a solution for everything, and programming of course is no different.

I have put together three different internet based ‘clipboards’, that allow for easy sharing for not only programmers, but for those just looking for a quick text snippet to share with your friends and family.

TextSnip

TextSnip is very similar to URL shortening services, such as TinyUrl, in that it allows you to paste your desired text into the format of your choice and then creates a permanent link to that text. It can then be accessed by anyone of your choosing.

It supports a wide variety of coding formats, including formatting style to text, html, css, xml, javascript, php, sql, ruby, python and more. Along with automatic URL generation, it does have ‘custom snips’ as well, which allow for user customization of the URL.

One of the nicer things about TextSnip is that it does not require any type of registration, but with a registered account you can access your stored ’snips’.

Cl1p

Cl1p is another non-registration required web based clipboard and only requires your own input to create a link. You simply add your own ending to Cl1p.net, such as http://cl1p.net/makeuseof and you then have free reign on your own personal clipboard.

Of course someone else can make that URL as well and that’s where registering your own account may be necessary. This will allow you to share private clipboards to those whom you’d like.

Cl1p may also be used as a storage facility as well. For files up to 30MB in size.

Paste Bin

Pastebin works just a little differently than the previously mentioned products, in that after entering your desired name and expiration for your text, everything is stored according to username in list format.

You can have multiple pasted clipboards with set expiration that users can copy and paste themselves, print, or download in a text format. The URL is automatically generated as well, but it is based upon the entered name.

Once again, the internet doesn’t disappoint. Using methods such as what I’ve described above is much quicker and much easier then many of the notebook tools out there as well. Proper formatting is big in programming and having an easy way to share it can be a big help. Try each of them out and see how you like them.

Give us your feedback along with some other options that might help out as well. Are you aware of any better internet clipboard to share share code snippets or other text online?

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Marketed as a research tool, it is actually a tiny miracle.  Not only can it be used to bookmark information, but it also permits its user to highlight or add sticky notes to pages.  Furthermore, it sports an impressive search capability, just as Google Notebook has done.

Fortunately, Zotero also allows users to drag and drop highlighted information directly into a note, eliminating the need to press a “clip” or “paste” button.  For this reason, Zotero is an excellent program to use if you desire to put together a mailing list.

Download Zotero

Zotero is a free & handy piece of software that is easy to install. Equipped with a portable bookmarking tool, the Zotero application provides space for you to deposit information you discover on the internet. Doing so is easy.  Once downloaded, Zotero’s extension can be opened from the bottom corner of your screen (just like Google’s soon defunct Notebook extension). Once opened, it will expand to fill a third of the screen.

To get started with a new notebook, you will only need to press an icon titled “New Standalone Note” and begin to type into a blank page in the 3rd column of the Zotero pane. Next, highlight any information from the internet that is of particular interest to you, just as you would do if you were preparing to copy & paste it into a document . However, instead of needing to worry about opening up a Word document, you can simply drag the info directly into the notebook. Here, it can be modified, and can later be exported by being dragged outside of the notebook to a desired spot.

In addition to this convenient drag & drop feature, Zotero also permits users to simply record a page’s URL, as well as record a screenshot of the page.

Research Your Prospects

Plenty of information exists online to suit the needs of a wide range of aspiring entrepreneurs. When useful email addresses are collected in one place, they can be worth a pretty penny. Instead of worrying about needing to purchase this information from data gathering experts, why not just gather it yourself?

Since Zotero’s extension does not require repeated users to enter user IDs and passwords, it is an easy place to store useful information about potential business prospects. In fact, getting in and out of Zotero is even easier than logging onto the internet.

Open & Title a New Standalone Note

While Zotero permits you to tag items with the URL code from which they originate, the easiest way to save email addresses is to simply drop them one by one into a standalone note. Should you later have questions about the email address you’ve saved, you can always Google the email address in question and you’ll most likely get a list of results that includes the site from which you extracted the address.

Conveniently, Zotero automatically saves your work, just as Google’s Notebook & Google Docs does. This can be a lifesaver if you’re called away by an instant message, by a co-worker, or by a family member.

Send Your Mail Via Gmail

I recommend Gmail over Hotmail because, of the two, Zotero proved to be more compatible with Gmail when I performed a side-by-side comparison.  A chunk of email addresses can be pulled out of your Zotero notebook and dropped directly into the BCC line of an email.  Although Standard Edition Google accounts permit users to send 500 emails per day to external recipients, Google itself recommends to users to bypass this restriction by creating multiple email accounts.

And this is the least of what Zotero can do.  Although using Zotero takes a little work & ingenuity, it is a real lifesaver in the end. It frees up your energy to tackle complex projects without having to worry about getting overwhelmed.

Better Than Google Notebook?

Now it’s time for the big question:  Do you feel like Zotero is a worthy replacement to Google Notebook?  Let us know if you’ve tried Zotero yet.  If you have, how do you like it?  Do you have any tips for others about how to make the most of Zotero?

Photo Credit : Smil
Photo Credit : Crumj

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Wikis are great for collaboration and note taking. Web workers have been using it to collaborate, Ubuntu has been using it, we use it here at MakeUseOf. However if you don’t have a web server and can’t install Wiki online, the next best thing is to have a wiki on your desktop.

ZIM is one such package that helps you create a wiki on your desktop. Or in other words you can use it as an excellent note taking application.

ZIM is a WYSIWYG text editor which aims to bring the concept of a wiki to your desktop. So why would you need a wiki on your desktop?

Well, here are some things you can do with it :

• Create TODO lists
• Create a notebook to keep important ideas or a general scrap book to note down your thoughts.
• You may then export it in HTML format and view them in a browser just as you would view webpages.
• Any other creative non-traditional ideas?

So it’s a note taking application. Why ZIM then? Just have a look at some of the features of ZIM:

• Saving transparently as you type and finish.
• You can even have a revision control of your notes/pages
• You can embed images as well (I missed it badly in Tomboy). Just link to them from within the text file.
• You can use the wiki syntax and keybindings or the editor to style and manage your notes/lists.
• It also supports plugins to perform tasks like spell checking, export, calendar, todo list and more.

Here is a small screenshot tour to give you an idea of some of the capabilities:

Open or create a new notebook:

Type in the notes with all the formatting using either the wiki syntax or the toolbars or shortcut keys:

Manage Plugins:

Using the calendar and plugins:

Export to HTML or another format using a variety of options.

The notes are stored as text files with wiki markup. This means that you can edit them with other applications as well. With the keybindings and wiki syntax, ZIM has become my favorite and I seldom use Tomboy now. If you are using Ubuntu, ZIM is just a command away:

sudo apt-get install zim

If you are using another distribution then you might want to check out your package manager. Nevertheless, here is the download page.

ZIM can be used on Windows as well, only you require the gtk+, perl and gtk-perl bindings. Also check out the instructions for Windows Install. Try it and let us know how you liked it or do you use another note taking application? I know BasKet can do similar things but I am not a big KDE fan.

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The basics behind Penzu is that it aims to merge all the goodness of a real life diary, and all the usefulness an online format can offer. The first thing you’ll notice for example is that you are writing on “real paper”, a ruled, margined notepad, which resembles a real notebook, so you have the feel of writing in real life. At first I thought this would be a bit obtrusive, but I felt right at home after the first line and it looks quite cool too.

Writing with Penzu

Right now Penzu doesn’t offer all that much in customization and settings, but it’s on the way. In the settings section you will be able to change the font, the size and so on. It would be nice if you could even change paper type in the future, since the application’s main visual feature is this. I’m guessing it may be implemented soon.

The writing experience the application offers however is very rewarding, creating your first online diary page is just like doing it in real life. Of course you don’t have the freedom you would on a real piece of paper, but the ability to add images spices things up a bit. These images are inserted in thumbnail format on the margin and when you hover over them with the mouse you can see the large image and the caption. Again, this takes away from the freedom, but is a very unique approach and one that fits the format very nicely I think. It allows you to create highly organized pages.

Sharing is again implemented very well and goes very well with the notebook theme. Rather than inviting people to view your page or pages, you can send them the page via email. This means that the recipient gets a link to a page on Penzu’s site where they can view that page and that page only, without any connection to your other pages. I think this seems a bad move in today’s sharing web 2.0 world, but is a great solution for an application like Penzu. If you want to show someone a page in your diary you either show it personally or photocopy the page, you don’t send them your whole diary and tell them the page they should look at do you?

Managing your pages

You can manage all your pages by going to the ‘my entries’ tab. There are basic options available for renaming, selecting and deleting, but the main feature here is the search option. It is a ’search as you type’ box, so as you type something your results will pop up automatically. This is a great way to search through all your pages, especially if you actively use Penzu, which means 365 pages a year if you follow strict “diary guidelines”.

These basic features suffice, the only thing I would add is tags and categories. This is a feature which helps you categorize and group pages, it would be nice to be able to list pages where your mood was sad, or happy, or neutral, where you talk about books, movies or your love life.

Should you use Penzu?

My overall impression of it was very good. The application is obviously at its early stages of development so I wouldn’t necessarily say that lack of features is a huge problem. For the target audience the already implemented features are 70% enough I would say. The only things I would need badly are tags, categories and some design change options. I am confident these will happen, since the framework is actually very good. There is an option to save a note, but they are saved about every 10 seconds seamlessly as you type. The search function is awesome too and the site design is just as it should be, a great job in all respects.

There are limitations however, as this application is not meant (and never will be) for people to share their stuff widely. If you need a personal diary application though you will find Penzu very helpful and easy to use, but if you need collaborative power and awesome arrays of advanced features you should look elsewhere. I have only seen a few other diary applications so if you know a different cool one please let us know and I’ll take a look at them.

“Daniel changes his signature lines all the time because although he has a blog about organization, Hack Your Day, he can be a bit all over the place at times. He also has a Blog management service called Blogtastique which helps newbie and pro bloggers in anything they need.”

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Frankly, I hate to share my own, private laptop, however for a long time it was inevitable. Over that time people lost respect and thought it was OK to use my computer, just to look something up real quick.

It annoyed me to no end, so I unconsciously developed a few strategies to make it very unattractive to use my laptop. Let me share…
1) No Desktop Icons

You wouldn’t believe how many people are stunned by an empty desktop. They’ll rather leave it alone than mess with the start button or some funny looking menus.

2) Different Interface
Even an alternative Windows theme is unsettling for the standard user. Macs are not commonly used around here, and I found that transformation packs can do wonders. People seriously believe my computer is a Mac, which makes it seem very complicated to use, and thus unattractive. Let me say the laptop case looks nothing like a Mac and the keyboard gives it away with the infamous Windows key. Yet all they see is the interface and it stops them dead in their tracks. I installed FlyakiteOSX for the slightly different look, but there are a few alternatives..

3) No Taskbar

Now that’s a killer! Something must be seriously wrong with this machine and I’d say it deters close to 90% of people. Unsolicited users that keep their hand firm on the mouse in hopes of uncovering a hidden secret must be very curious. Those that have the bright idea to use the Windows key, are true pros.
I hide my taskbar with XNeat Windows manager. Actually the taskbar is not hidden, it’s just transparent and lights up on mouse-over. It’s also a good way to hide open windows. If you want to be super smart, don’t keep the taskbar in its default location or replace it entirely with something else, for example a dock program.

4) Unusual Icons
Personally, I love to use unique icons for most folders on my computer. Before I used transformation packs I discovered that even using some of the not so commonly seen default Windows icons, makes people be wary of using my laptop, since they don’t understand what they see, if they see anything at all.

Right-click any folder, select >properties, switch to the >Customize tab, and click the >Change Icon… button, then pick an icon from the SHELL32.dll list and enjoy.

If you’re tired of the same old Windows icons, try Free Icons Download, CrystalXP.net or the Icon Archive for something fresh. Note that you will need .ico files to replace folder icons, but many icons actually come as .png files. There is an ingenious little tool called AveIconifier which can instantly transform dozens of .png files to .ico and vice versa.

5) Ultimate Protection

You can simply log yourself out when you leave your desk and use a Kensington lock at all times. However, for those times when a lock is not practicable or when you just want to go that one step further to keep obtrusive people away and efficiently protect your computer from theft, get your hands on a free copy of Laptop Alarm. It’s a small exe tool, no installation required, just download and run. You can activate up to four different actions that will trigger a very loud alarm. They are loss of AC power, shutdown or log off, unplugging of the USB mouse, and mouse movement. In Options you can set an unlock password and the sensitivity for the mouse movement detection. Unfortunately, the SMS alarm service signup is not working. Once your computer is locked with Laptop Alarm, it’s safe unless the password is hacked or both AC and battery power are removed. The tool also works on desktop computers.

Constant change has been the greatest success factor in keeping my laptop to myself. From the start all desktop shortcuts have been gone, one day the interface looks like Vista, the other like a Mac, then the wallpaper keeps changing, now there’s this funny menu, the other day there was some weird second menu, as of late the taskbar is gone and what’s next, is the damn thing going to speak to me?
In the meantime we have a separate laptop for presentations and the like at work. Mission completed.

Are you in a similar situation? Do you proudly share your computer? If not, how do you preserve your digital privacy? Please share!

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

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