About Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu is the Deputy Editor for Internet, Windows, Productivity, and Work & Career. After removing the grime of an MBA and a ten year long marketing career, he dabbled in web development, networking, and SAP. After joining MakeUseOf in 2008, he rose from the ranks and now manages four high-growth sections while stealing time to write. You will also find his contributions in web publications like GuidingTech, GoSkills, OnlineTechTips, and Lifewire.
Create Stunning Visuals With Hyperlapse Photography & Google Street View [Updates]
Want to create your own awesome hyper-lapse? Toronto based UX design firm Teehan+Lax is experimenting with hyper-lapse photography on Google Street View, giving us something pretty cool to play with. The Canadian firm designed an easy-to-use user interface around Google Street View that lets us create your own Street View hyper-lapse with a click. Hyper-lapse photography combines timelapse photography with stop-motion to render an immersive experience.
5 Unusual Uses of Google Image Search You Might Not Have Heard About
What’s your main use for Google Image Search? Do you use it to search similar images? Or do you put it to any of the uses I listed in my advanced Google Search for images article quite a while ago? All of them are still relevant by the way. Then there are some of the more unusual uses of Google Image Search…alternatives that takes it away from the beaten path.
Wish A Classic Film Could Have Been Better? These Fan Edit Websites Can Help
Better or not, every diehard fan has his own personal take on what his “favorite” movie should have been like. Especially, if it left a sour taste in the mouth, like Star Wars: Attack of The Clones for me. I definitely would have done the romantic scenes better and probably helped to preserve the “classic” tag that gets attached to Star Wars films for our generation.
How to Stop Flash From Loading Automatically With FlashControl [Chrome]
You can easily disable Flash in Chrome. But FlashControl gives you more hands-on control. FlashControl is a Chrome extension that uses blacklists and whitelists for selectively blocking and unblocking Flash content. As the extensions defines itself - the main feature is the ability to re-block Flash without refreshing webpages.
Have Better Social Conversations With Replies And More For Google+ [Chrome]
I will say that Google+ has moved out of the shadows and is a viable social network for a lot of specific purposes. The Google+ experience is growing on me. That’s why I really liked what the Chrome extension called Replies and More for Google+ brought to my social conversations. It is a recommended install from our Best Chrome Extensions page.
7 Best YouTube Workout Channels To Exercise at Home
Home gyms and personal trainers help the moneyed get up straight from their beds and hit the gym. We lesser mortals have to call on our powers of self-motivation and discipline to trudge the few miles to the gym. But it doesn’t have to be this way. With the help of free YouTube channels for home workouts, we can start our own exercise regimen exactly where our sleeping mattress ends.
Take A Better View Of Your Photos With Photo Zoom For Facebook [Chrome]
The small fact that Photo Zoom for Facebook is on our Best Chrome Extensions page was just the first nudge. The statistical fact that it has racked up 2 million plus downloads on the Chrome Web Store was the shove. Frankly, that’s quite a score for an extension that claims to be the best way to view photos on Facebook.
How To Add A Photo Slideshow To YouTube
Videos have become only easier to compile, combine, and compose. YouTube crossed over to 1 billion users just a few days ago and despite the presence of very good alternatives like Vimeo, it is the de-facto home for online videos. So, it makes sense to upload your first photo slideshow to YouTube.
10 Uses Of Google Translate To Cross The Great Language Divide
Language is such a cultural totem that its translation doesn’t cover all the corners. When we talk of machine translation, the name without surprises that comes to mind is of Google Translate. Perhaps, most of us don’t use the service so much because our comfort zone is English. But let’s realize that Google Translate can be put to many other interesting uses other than turning a love to an amour.
Meet Greatness: 4 Ways That You Can Talk To Amazing People Online
There are hardly any Greta Garbo’s anymore. Today, if a celebrity is using Twitter and Facebook to extend their fifteen minutes of fame, some are also using it to spread awareness about their pet causes with the rest of the world. And we can catch them while they are it. Here are 4 ways we can talk to amazing people online.
CARROT: A To-Do App Gamifying Productivity or a Sadistic Robot With a Sense of Humor [iOS]
The universe of GTD (Getting Things Done) and productivity has seen all kinds. Let me recommend CARROT. The best way to describe this iOS app would be to call it a productivity app with a quirky sense of humor. It is definitely a fresh take on the way we look at the things to do and our weaknesses that makes us look to an external application to motivate us towards that end.
What’s The Good Word: Here Are 6 Ways To Use Google As An Instant Dictionary
We Google for stuff anyway, and perhaps it has almost become a sub-conscious habit to Google for a word meaning as well. Google certainly makes it easy with the different ways it gives us to look up words. Google actually had a Dictionary service earlier but it was later integrated into Google Search and other services. Now, it works behind the scenes but gives the same sort of results.
Learn Photography: Connect With Top Photographers On Google+ Communities
Finding inspiration for photography is never a problem on the web. But even when we are taking in all we can, we shouldn’t forget the real-timeliness of social media and its natural give and take interactivity. Your first leanings could be towards Facebook. But in my opinion and social runs, Google+ is quite a few steps ahead when it comes to being an online training school for photographers.
Tips & Techniques For Preventing Online Plagiarism
Modern technology is making it easier to catch plagiarists, but it’s an irony that technology is also making it easier for plagiarists to evade being caught. The latter phenomenon is for another day as today we focus on the positive and look at the tips and techniques for preventing online plagiarism.
Top 10 Creative Uses For Dropbox Or Other Cloud Storage
The agility, flexibility, and low-cost scale ups turn cloud storage options into more than an online vault to back up your documents and files. But cloud storage is more than these important but mundane uses. As users across the world prove, cloud storage gives us so many creative uses to try out. What’s also attractive is cloud services like Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Sugar Sync etc. come with free options.
Amateur Astronomy Fun: What It’s Like to Look Into Space With These Free Online Space Telescopes
Buying a really good telescope remains a distant possibility. Magnification is a lesser problem; an always polluted sky is the greater one. But thanks to the handshake of the modern web with cutting edge imaging technologies, we have the next best thing – “telescopes in the browser”. Virtual or online telescopes don’t need complicated set-ups. All you need is a browser.
Build Your City In Triple Town - A Casual Game With Lots Of Strategic Depth [iOS]
Triple Town is sort of a city-building game with elements of tile-matching. The overarching puzzle to crack is how to build a large city quickly enough. The larger the city, the more points you pick up. Triple Town is available on multiple platforms and has been lauded in all. Including our Best iPhone Games page. But what’s the reason? Let’s find out.
Simple Brick Breaker: The Old Classic Game Remains As Addictive As It Was Before [iPhone]
Brick breaker games were very popular arcade games. You have layers of colored bricks and a tossed up ball with which to break the layers. Controlling the momentum of the ball (usually a white ball) is a paddle which you have to maneuver from side to side. The complexity of the brick layers and the speed of the ball increases as you go up the levels.
Generate Better Ideas With These Android Mind Mapping Apps
Brainstorming is sometimes a spur-of-the-moment activity. Arguably, the best tool for generating ideas remains the humble pen and paper. Again arguably, the second best tools are mobile phones and tablets. After all who carries paper anymore? And phones are “smart” these days aren’t they. What makes a brainstorming process like mindmapping a perfect fit for the mobile devices of today is that there is very little typing involved.
Beat Your Office Frustrations By Aiming For The Waste Basket On Paper Toss 2.0 [iOS]
Ever since man has started to suit up for a day at the office, aiming for the waste basket has been a cure for frustration, and sometimes a fun office game. Somebody had to come along and turn it into a casual game. Backflip Studios came up with Paper Toss for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad. Many favorable ratings and reviews later, Paper Toss can be qualified as a success.