Mindjet is the one of the premier tools for mindmapping in the personal and corporate space. Recently, Thinking Space was acquired by Mindjet and combined into Mindjet for Android. The app which is available for free (unlike the earlier Thinking Space Pro and Mindjet’s very own desktop software) is clocking up a lot of downloads.

How handy is the mobile mindmapping solution? Do you prefer carrying it around in your pocket? Let’s count the ticks.

Mindjet for Android – Feature rich or basic?

My first impression of Mindjet for Android veers towards the latter. It is a basic mindmapping tool meant to pull you towards using mindmaps as a collaborative and productivity tool while you are on the go. After playing with the app, I think the Android brainstorming app fulfills its early promise.

Asking it to be as feature rich at information mapping as its desktop variant (Mind Manager Pro) would be a bit too much. It is not even as advanced as Freemind. For instance, you won’t get the variety of visual formats or the more advanced project and task management tools.

What you will get are the essential tools to get your mindmap up and running. Here are a five (among many) key features of Mindjet for Android:

Quickly create topics and subtopics

Mind maps are made up of topics and sub-topics. Mindjet gives you full screen support a vertical menu and a horizontal toolbar to build your map. The mapping and toolbar menu are pretty easy to grasp.

Creating topics and sub-topics is easy as tapping the icons and typing in the labels. To improve the map view, you can easily collapse (or expand) the topics branches. Mindjet also supports gesture inputs to edit your mindmaps.

Add Notes to better describe your topics and sub-topics.

A mindmap is about relationships

Mindjet comes with a few relationship styles. You can basically choose the colors and set the kind of end points you want to connect topics with. You can drag the curve to set its shape too.

Beautify your mindmap with colors and styles

Colors and styles can also be set for formatting topic color, topic shape, and sundry other things like text and background. For instance, you can tap a topic and set its shape and color as shown by the screen below. Also, to apply a topic shape or color to an entire branch, enable the Cascade mode. In this mode, the formatting is applied to the current topic and all its subtopics.

You can easily shave a few seconds from your work flow by selecting from the library of styles that the mobile mindmapping provides. Click the camera icon to save the style as a sort of preset.

Add images and hyperlinks

You can use an existing image in your phone’s image gallery and use it in your mindmap. The other option is to use the phone’s camera and directly insert the image.

The other way to highlight important topics and sub-topics is to use icon markers in your mindmap. Here’s a screen of the entire icon library available to you:

Hyperlinks are vital if you want to link your mindmap to files on your device. Of course, hyperlinks allows you to bring in other media files like sound recordings too. You can also link to other mindmaps on your Android.

Import and export your mindmaps

You can bring in maps from other mindmapping apps like Freemind and XMind. The AutoStyle option (get it from the Applications button on your device) helps you clear the formatting that might not be compatible with Mindjet even though it has basic compatibility with the two apps. I couldn’t find any Export option to send my mobile mindmaps to my PC or any other device, but you can attach it to your Gmail and also sync with your Dropbox account. Any changes you make to the mobile mindmap will get synced with your Dropbox version.

That just about rounds up the key features of Mindjet for Android. Mindjet gives you an easily accessible tool to take down your thoughts if you are on the go and need to get some brainstorming done. It’s free and completely ad-free. Come the opportunity, I would readily use recorded voice memos and align it with my mindmaps. How would you use it as a productivity tool? Tell us…

However, these free or bundled tools usually only offer the bare bones. If you’re looking for an all-in-one PDF reader, creator and editor, the latest release of Nitro PDF should provide you with all of the features that you need without breaking your budget on a product from Adobe.

With Nitro Pro 7 you can create a PDF from one or more different file types, convert PDFs to other file types, extract key data from documents, edit documents and apply secure access requirements PDFs. In the next two week, we’re giving away 50 free copies of Nitro Pro 7 worth a whopping $6000 in total!

User Interface

The first launch of Nitro Pro 7 will display a “Getting Started” screen which highlights some of the application’s features. You can easily disable this via the Do not show at startup checkbox but it is worth spending a moment looking at the various tasks on offer.

Everything is organized using the familiar ribbon menu that you might find in Windows Explorer or the different Microsoft Office applications and as such the features on offer are sensibly presented. For instance if you wish to convert a PDF to another format you will find the buttons on the Home tab; editing a PDF is possible via the Edit tab and adding passwords and redactions is via the controls available in the Protect menu.

Meanwhile via the Forms tab you can create forms on your document that comprise of text fields, radio buttons and checkboxes, as well as export and import data to and from a form on a PDF.

Protecting Your PDF

As the PDF format has become more and more widely used so the requirements for protecting and validating the contents of such documents has become increasing paramount.

Accordingly, Nitro Pro 7 features effective password, certification and redaction tools that are suitable for use in all levels of business. Found on the Protect tab, the redaction tool can be used to highlight text that should be blocked out from unauthorized viewing, and removed completely using the Apply all Redactions option.

Meanwhile Digital IDs and Signatures can be applied to a document, useful for establishing trust between yourself and the recipient of a PDF document that you have created.

Elsewhere, the Password Security setting allows you to set various passwords and profiles for the document, each with different privileges; for instance you can set a PDF document as being read-only for a specific password and even block printing altogether.

Combining PDF Documents

It so happens that I have a pretty important PDF-related task which I need to resolve. I have three documents, all in PDF format but each with a different page format that I need to combine into a single document.

Can Nitro Pro 7 help me out?

As it happens, yes it can. Using the Combine button on the Create section of the Home menu, I was easily able to merge the three documents – plus a cover – into one.

The process is simple, requiring you to first browse for the PDF files (or indeed any other file type) and add them.

Following that, all you need to do is save the combined document – with a meaningful file name, of course!

The preview view above shows two of the combined files – you can see the differences in artwork between the strips. Note that you’re not restricted to PDF documents here as you can also combine other document types into a PDF. For instance, you might wish to combine a Word document with an Excel spreadsheet.

Editing a PDF

If you’ve ever found yourself having to recreate a PDF document from scratch because the source file was lost then you will know that this is often a long and drawn out process that pretty much requires you to type the document into a word processor and save or convert it to a PDF.

PDF editing tools have been available in the past but they can prove to be difficult to use and expensive. Fortunately Nitro Pro 7 features an easy-to-use editing tool which delivers good results. Available via the Edit tab, you can begin editing text by selecting the Edit button which opens the Text Tools Format view. Using this you can select sentences, append or amend, add and remove images and even watermark the document. If you have problems editing an OCR tool is provided to convert the text so that it can be edited.

As pictured above, right-clicking a block of text and selecting Edit Text will also allow you to edit the document’s contents.

Note also that pages can be deleted and inserted or even rotated – useful if you have a page-sized image that would look better oriented in a different way.

Document Conversion

While PDF is a popular format, it isn’t the only one suitable for e-books. Sadly it isn’t possible to accurately convert a PDF document to all current e-book formats, but fortunately Nitro Pro 7 features the ability to convert PDFs into a format that is more flexible in this respect: Microsoft Word’s DOCX format. In fact, documents can be converted and exported into plain text and rich text formats, as well as images.

The results of a conversion to DOCX – performed via the Convert section of the Home tab – can be seen above. When in this state, the document can be reformatted and then converted into a variety of formats depending on your requirements.

Conclusion

Nitro 7 Pro is certainly as good an option as any of the Adobe PDF creation applications and certainly among the best of this type of software. As you can see from the screenshots above the results of my own PDF editing project were extremely favourable; this software has enabled me to perform a task that has for a long-time proved difficult and time-consuming.

Additional features that allow text editing and password protecting documents is similarly accomplished, resulting in a PDF solution that is every bit as good – if not better – than anything Adobe has ever released. Download a fully-functional trial now and take it for a spin.

As a special treat to MakeUseOf readers, we’re giving away 50 copies of Nitro Pro 7 worth $6000 in total over the next two weeks. Here’s how you can score a copy for yourself.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

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

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

Interested in sponsoring a giveaway? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via the form at the bottom of this page.

In order to better your experience with Stickies, I’ve put together some shortcuts that you may have not actually tried out. Granted, if you use Stickies extensively anyway, you may actually know of them already.

Nab Some Text

First off, you may be wondering how exactly Stickies can go beyond the basic function that it has. Rather than proselytize about how great it is to be writing text on electronic Post-It notes, I’ll inform you of this function that’s incredibly practical. Let’s say you’re in a hypothetical situation where you need to remember three long-form URLs. How can you make this a little easier?

In order to remember a URL, simply highlight it in your browser, and then press Command + Shift + Y. After that, a sticky with all of the URL will automatically pop up on your screen. Do this a few more times, and you’re golden. In fact, this function works for any bit of highlighted text across all apps, and that’s pretty great.

Multi-Task

So how many of you actually slap physical sticky notes on your screen while working on your Mac? It seems like it can get kind of cluttered. In Stickies, you can mimic this real-world tool by simply pressing Command + Option + F. After this, Stickies will always appear over whatever application you happen to be using. However, you may be thinking that even this would clutter your desktop a little. Never fear, for you can simply press Command + Option + T, and the entire note will become translucent, allowing you to see what lies beneath.

This is ideal for working with major projects where you need to quickly jot down notes and refer to them. Perhaps you are working with code and want to copy and paste simple bits of it. Maybe you need to keep a checklist of a workflow. This is great for keeping that information in view while still working on your projects.

Incorporate Some Media

Albeit not being a keyboard shortcut, Stickies offers a drag-and-drop function that will allow you to pull all forms of media into any of your open notes. This means videos, pictures, music… anything. My suggestion for this ability is that you use it when working on projects that require you to look over video or pictures.

Granted, this applies mainly to an educational setting, but I’m sure those of you out of school could make use of it as well. Say that you are having to provide an analysis over a news clip or any other video. Simply pop it into Stickies, use the floating function, and you can write while you watch – simple as that.

Other Shortcuts

• Option + Tab: Create a list on your sticky
• Command + M: Collapse the sticky
• Command + W: Closes the sticky, but first allows you to save it in text form
• Command + ~: Simple, but useful. Allows you to rotate between stickies

Conclusion

Stickies is a relatively simple but powerful tool, and even if you don’t use the shortcuts provided, you should at least take a look at it. Besides, you never know when you’ll be bringing your Mac to the grocery store and need a list, right? (That’s a bit of a stretch.)

What other shortcuts do you know of on Stickies? Do you have any other tips or tricks that you could share with us?

Installing Chrome extensions is easy as a click and you don’t even have to hold your breath. But we shouldn’t forget that extensions are little programs that feed off our computer’s resources. And some can be real resource hogs. Also, too many extensions create a clutter that’s not so aesthetic when you want some clean real estate on your browser. Not surprisingly, the answer lies in another extension that manages its brethren with a remarkable discipline, and thus makes for a better browsing experience.

Say hello to Context, a Chrome extension that I consider to be a must-have in your army of Chrome extensions.

Create Chrome Extension Groups and Manage Them Better

Context organizes your extensions into ‘contextual’ groups. That is to say, if you are listening to music or watching movies, Context allows you to load only the extensions that relate to that. The remaining ones can be kept hidden. Here’s how you go about creating a few extension groupings using Context.

1. After installing Context, a brief tutorial shows how you can set up Context.

2. Go into the Options for the extension to set up your first group. Context neatly lists all the extensions that you have installed. You can also check the advanced options (as in the screenshot) to also include apps. Click on New Context.

3. Name the group and choose from the available icons.

4. Creating a Context group is as easy as dragging the extension tile into the grouping. Drag the extensions from the list above to the Context group below to populate the relevant group. You can drag the same extension to all groups if you want to include it in more than one group. You can click on the cross icon if you go wrong. You can change the order of the extensions within a group. You can also drag the groups to change the order of preference as it would appear in the Context dropdown. Click on the Save button.

5. The Context icon itself appears as a white jigsaw piece on the Chrome toolbar. Click on the icon to reveal the dropdown. You can click on one group to load extensions belonging to that while hiding all the rest. Clicking on All extensions brings back the entire lineup of course.

6. When a new extension is installed Context brings up a small notification pop-up that lets you you assign it to appropriate groups via the notification window. You do not need to open the configuration page.

Switch between Extensions and Boost up Your Browsing

Context is not only for de-cluttering your browser toolbar by hiding extensions you do not need immediately. By loading only those extensions that you need right now, Context also frees up memory which otherwise would have been utilized by all the extensions you have installed.

Consider these two screenshots for a comparison:

Context and its one-click switching is a productivity booster. Do you think it can be a claimant to a tiny corner of the Best Chrome Extensions to have in your browser? What do you think?

OnTopReplica

OnTopReplica uses the DWM Desktop Composition found in Windows Vista and Windows 7 to clone a window and run it in a small thumbnail that always stays on top. This is perfect for keeping only the video frame of a video player on top. OnTopReplica requires .NET Framework 2.0 and a Windows Aero theme.

When you launch OnTopReplica, you will see an empty grey window on your screen. Right-click the frame and select the window you want to clone.

Next, right-click the frame again, pick select region to define the region of the screen you want to clone. Finally, enjoy the result!

Note that the original window cannot be minimized and if you choose to replicate a browser window, you cannot switch the tabs. Also see this article for a more thorough review of the tool: Two Ways To Sneak A Peek At Videos While You’re Working

4t Tray Minimizer

4t Tray Minimizer adds several additional buttons to the title bar of your windows. One of them, the pin icon, will fix the respective window on top of everything else, until clicked again. A very simple and easy solution.

Besides keeping our windows on top, 4t Tray Minimizer allows you to manage open windows in many different ways. Besides the new title bar buttons, the options are also available via the top level system menu. 4t Tray Minimizer was previously mentioned in this article: 3 Best Strategies & Tools For Open Window Management In Windows 7

PowerMenu

This tool adds additional menu options to all top level system menus without compromising the standard options. Apart from making a window stay Always On Top, you can also minimize it to the tray or change its transparency. It offers some of the same options as 4t Tray Minimizer, but it does not add the extra buttons to the title bar.

See a full review of PowerMenu here: Keep Windows on Top & Minimize To Tray with PowerMenu

DeskPins

DeskPins lives in your system tray. When clicked, your cursor turns into a pin and whichever window you click next, will be pinned to the top of your screen. Clicking the red pin in the title bar of the respective window, will unpin it. Very neat one task app that doesn’t add any extra clutter to your windows or menus.

DeskPins was also reviewed in this article: How To Pin Any Application Window To The Top

AquaSnap

Like the previously mentioned tools, AquaSnap offers a host of features. One of them is shaking a window to at once make it stay on top and change its opacity. The shake detection sensitivity, speed, and duration can be customized.

See this article for a full review of AquaSnap: How To Enhance Your Windows Experience With AquaSnap (Not Only in Windows 7!)

For even more useful tools to manage your windows, have a look at these articles:

• 3 Simple Programs That Can Help You Manage Multiple Windows
• 3 Programs That Help You Snap Windows Like a Win 7 User
• 3 Useful Programs That Help Manage Multiple Monitors

Do you still need to manage several applications on one screen or have you dedicated a second or third screen to parking your videos or other must watch items on?

Image credits: Tatiana Popova

The following are a list of the favorite ways I work within the Finder. A few tips are borrowed from Keir Thomas’s Mac Kung Fu: Over 300 Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks for OS X Lion.

Bookmark Files In Safari

Websites and pages are not the only items that can be bookmarked in Safari or other web browsers. You can bookmark files located in your Finder. You simply select a file and drag it to your browser. It will open and be linked to where you have it located in the Finder. You can actually make a folder of linked files that you might want to open up in Safari.

When you delete or move the file from its location, the link of course will be broken.

Put Files & Folders In The Toolbar

You can drag files, folders, and applications to the toolbar of any Finder window so that it can be quickly accessed and opened. When you drag them, a little green button with a + sign in the middle will appear, which lets you know you can drop it in the toolbar.

Folders In The Sidebar

Similarly, you can also drag any folder into the sidebar of any window for quick access.

Quickly Rename Files

When you want to rename any file on the desktop or in the Finder, you can simply select it and hit the return key. The word, the existing name, such as “Untitled” will be selected, and you can start typing and rename the file.

Files In A New Folder

In Mac OS X Lion, you can now quickly put files in a new folder, anywhere in the Finder, by first selecting them, then right- or Control-click, and selecting “New Folder with Selection.”

Lock Files

If you have a file that you want to make sure never gets changed or deleted, simply lock it. To do this, select the file, and press Command+I. In the Info window click the Locked box.

Delete Folders From Time Machine

If you use Time Machine, an OS X feature that maintains incremental backups of the contents of your hard drive, you can go into Time Machine and select to have backups of a selected file or folder deleted.

Simply right- or Control-click on the file or folder when inside Time Machine, and select “Delete All Backups…”

An Instant Link To Public Dropbox

If you’re a Dropbox user, you will know that you can drop a file in the Public folder of your account, right- or Control-click on it and have Dropbox create a URL link to that file. Pretty easy, but with a little application called Bloodrop you can set it up so that when you drop a file onto the application, it will automatically add the file to your Public Dropbox folder and  create a link which will be posted to your Mac’s clipboard.

Be sure to read the instructions about where to find your Dropbox user ID in order to set up Bloodrop.

Create A New Folder

You can create a new folder anywhere in the Finder–Desktop, open Window, File Open dialog box–by typing Shift+Command+ N.

ZIP Lock Files

Got a lot of files you need to email or post for download, such as in Dropbox? The best way to do so is to select them,  right- or Control-click, and select Compress…Items.

This will create a Zip file that most computers should be able to decompress and open.

For other ideas on files and folders, start with these articles:

• How do I change the folder icon images on Mac OS X Lion?
• How to Hide Folders Using 7 Free Apps
• Using Automator to Batch Rename Files and Folder
• How To Use Automator To Batch Rename Images on Mac

Let us know what you think of these tips. Do you have any of your own to share?

We have previously reviewed OmmWriter for Mac. It has since been updated with additional features and versions for Windows and the iPad have been released. This review focuses on the Dana I version of Omm Writer, as seen in Windows 7. A donation-based upgrade to Dana II is available, which comes with additional audio and visual effects.

Writing Environment

OmmWriter takes over your entire screen and fills it with a serene background image and matching ambient music. A text box area accompanied by a simple menu is your writing space. As you start writing, you will hear typing sounds, adding to the serene atmosphere.

After a while, the bar on the right-hand side and the text box with the menu will disappear, leaving you with only a canvas for your words. This is perfect bliss for creative writing.

When you move the mouse, the surrounding structure comes back on. You can minimize or close OmmWriter by clicking the respective item in the top right of the bar on the right-hand side. Minimizing the application immediately fades out the music and you’re mercilessly returned to the bleak reality of your desktop.

Features

The whole point of OmmWriter is that it has almost no features. Nevertheless, there are some options that are nice to have and good to know about. So let’s have a look at what they are.

The menu has six different items: font, font size, background image, music, typing sound, and saving your document. Each comes with very few options. More precisely, you can choose between four different fonts, four different font sizes, three different background images, three different music loops (or off), three different typing sounds (or off), and you can save, save as or open files as .omm or .txt documents.

In addition, there is a word count in the bottom center of the text field.

Of course you can resize the text field to almost any size you like, as demonstrated below. Once your text exceeds the available space, the bar on the right-hand side will offer a scroll wheel.

And after all, some additional features are hidden in a traditional Windows menu that is uncovered at the very top when you hover in that area. The menu structure is dissected below. It contains some additional options, such as exporting your document to PDF, opening a new document, finding text, or transforming text.

Missing Features

Personally, I miss the option to personalize the background and the music. Also, for the darker background image, it would be nice to choose a lighter font color. It would also be nice to do some more formatting options to make the PDF export option worthwhile. To me that includes changing the font size only for highlighted text or making highlighted text bold, underlined, or italic. Without being able to format text, I don’t see much sense in exporting the document to PDF. That said, any additional feature would take away from the simplistic experience it offers, so maybe it’s just perfect the way it is.

Conclusion

OmmWriter is a great application to find serenity and peace for creative writing. It offers a very calm and relaxing, yet inspiring atmosphere. Features are stripped down to the minimum, preventing the writer to play around with options instead of focusing on the text. I would highly recommend OmmWriter to anyone who is easily distracted and needs a clean desktop environment to write well.

If OmmWriter doesn’t quite cut it for you, have a look at these applications:

• Reduce Distractions and Achieve Writing Goals with FocusWriter [Mac, Windows, Linux]
• Four Free Creative Writing Applications For The Mac
• Two Minimalist Linux Text Editors That Make Writing Easy

Also if you’re struggling with writer’s block, be inspired by the following pieces:

• 5 Websites For Writers To Cure Writer’s Block With Freewriting Exercises
• 10 More Websites That Help Cure Writer’s Block With Writing Prompts
• A Writer’s Guide To Free Apps For Inspiration & Organization

What is your preferred writing environment and how do you get rid of distractions?

In other words, people who multitask are much more easily distracted. The implications are that multitasking makes you become less efficient and less productive. In this article I will show you ways to eliminate distractions and gain back your focus when working on the computer. The applications listed here are compatible with Windows, unless stated otherwise. If you are on a Mac, please see these articles for similar tools: Focus On Quality By Doing Less On Your Mac and 6 Apps To Help You Focus & Be Productive.

Focus On Only One Active Window

A great way to increase focus when you have multiple windows open, is to maximize the window you are presently working, while making the Windows taskbar auto-hide. This eliminates many distractions originating from running software. To go even further, turn off notifications for emails and IMs, e.g. set Skype to Do Not Disturb.

Assuming you all know how to maximize a window, let me show you how to auto-hide the taskbar in Windows 7. Right-click the taskbar and select > Properties. A window will open. In the > Taskbar tab, check > Auto-hide the taskbar.

An alternative to maximizing your active window is to darken inactive windows. This can be achieved using a tool called Jedi-Concentrate, which was previously profiled in our Directory. Unfortunately, it was developed for Windows XP and doesn’t work properly in Windows 7. You should give it a try nonetheless.

Execute the app, click the window you want to work in, followed by either one of these keyboard shortcuts and click the same shortcut to return to normal view:

• F12
• [WINDOWS] + [J]
• [CTRL] + [/]

The last keyboard shortcut didn’t work for me, the second one was bumpy, triggering various behaviors, occasionally also including the intended one, and the first one is a shortcut also used in Google Chrome. Generally, I recommend to stick with F12, unless you work in Chrome. Sometimes the app stopped darkening the windows, but still darkened the wallpaper. In that case, just re-execute it.

If you are using AutoHotKey, an alternative for you would be Ghoster.

Use Text Editors Without Distractions

Writing is an activity that does not mix well with distractions. Common text editors are riddled with colorful buttons and interesting features. But what if all you have to do is get your thoughts down on the screen? There is a multitude of minimalist text editors out there that eliminate all of these distractions.

One of them is OmmWriter. Not only does it create a serene writing atmosphere on your screen, it also plays calming music, which will help you focus and get into the writing mood.

OmmWriter comes in two versions: Dana I and Dana II. “Dana II has additional audio and visual experience and is available for purchase.” Jackson previously wrote an article about OmmWriter for the Mac. It is now available for Windows. Also have a look at the following articles for other alternatives:

• FocusWriter – Minimalist, Distraction-Free & Beautiful Text Editor
• Eliminate Writing Distractions with JDarkRoom
• Battle of the Minimalist Text Editors
• Penzen: Conveniently Type In Distraction-Free Writing Environment

Most distractions can be found when you browse the Internet. If you have to use your browser, you can at least block some distracting content using the Decreased Productivity addon for Google Chrome. We have profiled this addon in our Directory.

Limit Or Block Distracting Websites

If you are naturally drawn to your Facebook profile or Google Mail account, simply block these websites for a limited amount of time. There are dozens of apps that can do this. One that works with multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari is Focal Filter. You can add any website to your block list and block block sites for as long as you wish. Note that the program requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.

We have profiled FocalFilter in the MakeUseOf Directory. Also have a look at these similar tools: ColdTurkey, xMinutesAt, BinarySwtichEclipse, and ToVisitOrNot.

More suitable tools with one solution for any browser or operating system can be found in Yaara’s article Addicted To Google Plus? Here Are 4 Ways To Block Addictive Websites & Get Back To Work. (KeepMeOut, MinutesPlease, StayFocusd, LeechBlock)

Do you wonder how much time you lose to distractions on a daily basis? Check out 5 Tools to Track How Much Time you Waste while Online.

Do you consider yourself a chronic multitasker? What are some of your best tricks to stay focused?

Image credits: mmaxer

Even now, we still use the keyboard to communicate from computer to computer – websites, forums, chatrooms, instant messengers, email – and typing grows ever more important, especially with the recent boom in the usage of smartphones and mobile devices, which have replicated the keyboard in touchscreen variants. At one time, phrases like “typing speed” and “words per minute” were reserved for secretaries and data entry clerks, but not so anymore. Typing is everywhere, and information is traveling at faster rates. This means you’ll do well to keep up – your typing speed, that is.

Improving your WPM doesn’t have to be a drag, though. While there are plenty of typing games designed to improve your skills, here are three great typing-based games that you can play against your friends in real-time. Not only will you be sharpening your fingers, but you’ll have a blast all the while!

#3 – Typeracing

Typeracing is an online typing game that aims to help you improve your rate of typing. The great part of Typeracing is that it does not require you to register. All you have to do is enter a nickname and you can start playing right away.

One of the perks of playing on Typeracing is that as you race in more and more games, you’ll build up points. When you reach a certain number of points, you’ll increase in level, which will unlock different car models for you to drive. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not particularly amazing, but it’s a fun way to customize your typing experience.

All in all, Typeracing is nothing more than a simple platform for typing fun. The website has a section for testing your words-per-minute rate, as well as a single player mode for practice. For a multiplayer experience, you can set up a game and race against your friend or join a public game and race against strangers.

#2 – TypeRacer

When it comes to multiplayer typing games, TypeRacer is definitely the most popular. After launching in 2008, TypeRacer has won awards and been featured in publications, including CNet, Kotaku, and NY Magazine.

Though you can race as an anonymous guest, you can choose to register an account. By doing so, TypeRacer will track your progress and records, which serve to help you improve continually.

One of the best features of TypeRacer is that the words you type are often quotes and passages from books, movies, and songs. When you play, not only are you building up your typing speed, but you’re also being cultured.

Another great feature of TypeRacer is the ability to create private games, so you can race against your friends anytime you want.

All in all, TypeRacer is the go-to online typing game for most competitive typers. It’s popular enough that you shouldn’t have any trouble finding an opponent to race against.

#1 – Nitro Type

Nitro Type is an online typing game that takes “speed typing” to the next level. Decked out in numerous features that other typing games sorely lack, Nitro Type is clearly the most involved multiplayer typing game on the web, and the best part is that it’s FREE.

The game is currently in Beta phase, which means that you may encounter a few bugs here and there. I’ve played it a few times and have yet to run into any bugs, so it’s not bad at all in terms of stability.

You can play Nitro Type as an anonymous guest, which means you don’t need to sign up. However, by signing up, you gain access to a bunch of cool features. If you really enjoy typing races, then registration is recommended.

The coolest part of Nitro Type is that the game is more than racing with words – you get to manage a garage of cars, accessories, achievements, and more.

Every race nets you money and experience, which can be spent to purchase newer, flashier cars. Achievements give you something to work towards, the proverbial carrot-on-a-stick to spur you towards improving your typing skills.

The racing interface is the best I’ve ever seen in a multiplayer typing game. Granted, there aren’t many of these games floating around, but it does look nice. It’s like I’m really racing!

The only downside is that I haven’t been able to figure out how to run a private race. If you want to race against a friend, you’ll need to queue up at the same time. This can be a pain if you happen to get unlucky and end up in separate games.

All in all, Nitro Type takes the cake here as the best multiplayer typing game.

Do you know of any fun typing games that I missed? Share them with us in the comments!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Well now, 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.

The developers at Wappwolf.com have created an online application that automatically performs tasks on files added to a Dropbox folder, such as converting text files to PDF (or PDF to text), emailing a file to a designated recipient, renaming or encrypting/decrypting files, or sending information to your Twitter or Facebook timeline. (See entire list below.)

These types of folder automations are typically done with applications like Apple’s AppleScript, Automator, or Hazel, but now they can be performed with Dropbox online, without any knowledge or use of computer coding. It takes several minutes to set up, but you gain all that back when it begins performing actions for you.

Setting Up Dropbox Automations

To get started with Dropbox Automator, click this link to go over to the site and login into your Dropbox account. Dropbox Automator will of course need to access your account in order to do it’s thing on folders you designate.

Next, select a folder (or create a new folder in your Dropbox account) to attach an action to.

If the number of folders in your Dropbox account is like mine, you will need to scroll down to the end of the page to click the “Next” button, which will take you to the “Choose an action” page of the  application. This is where you select one of a few dozen actions to attach to your selected folder. This is the entire list:

So for example, you may choose the email action which when set up will automatically send a file you drop in your designated folder to the email box of your preselected recipient.

Another useful automation is Downscale, which automatically resizes any picture file, say to 640×480 for web posting.

After you add an automation, scroll to top of the page and select “finished?” or select to add another action to attach to the folder. When you’re finished, Dropbox Automator will confirm the automation you have set up on your designated folder.

When Dropbox Automator runs an action, it typically creates two folders in the designated folder–a “processed” folder for the files that actions were performed upon, and a “result” folder for processed copies of the original files.

Dropbox Automator Account

You can also sign up and create an account on Wappwolf.com to view all its free and paid actions. You can select actions as favorites, view a history of the actions performed on your designated Dropbox folder(s), as well upload files directly to your account to have them processed.

So far, all the listed actions are free except the “Send postcard with your photo” action, which requires the purchase of credits to use.

With Dropbox Automator account, you can perform actions from other sources, including direct upload, your Google Docs account, and other websites.

Wappwolf App

Wappwolf also has its own iPhone and iPad app for file and document handling, from your Dropbox account or other sources.

I tried several Dropbox Automator actions and most worked as described; however, the send to the Twitter action never seemed to work for me.

Let us know how well Dropbox Automator works for you. And for other Dropbox related hacks and tutorials, check our list of articles here.