20 February 2013

Get an Email Alert (with Picture) When Someone Tries to Log into your Computer



You have a feeling that someone else used your computer (or at least made an attempt to login) while you were out for a quick coffee break. Maybe that colleague with whom you share the cubicle knows your password or he made a few guesses before finally giving up.


How do you get notified when such an attempt is made to intrude into your computer?


Computer Webcam Alert

Email alert with a webcam picture of the intruder.



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Digital Inspiration @labnol This story, Get an Email Alert (with Picture) When Someone Tries to Log into your Computer, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 20/02/2013 under Security, Webcam, Internet.



1,000 Free Music Albums Up for Grabs at Flipkart



Flyte, if you are new, is an online music store from Flipkart where you can download individual songs and music albums in MP3 format. The files are DRM-free meaning you can listen to your purchased music on any device without restrictions and using your favorite media player.


It’s been a year since Flyte launched and, to celebrate, Flipkart is giving away 100 music albums per day, across various genres, for the next 10 days.


Download Free Music from Flipkart

Download music albums in MP3 format from Flipkart for free for the next 10 days.



To get started, go to flyte.com, pick your favorite genre and hit that “green” download button to add a music album to your online MP3 library. You can buy /add the tracks in one go and download them anytime later.


The listed music albums will change daily until February 28 so do remember to check the site every single day.


There are no string attached to this offer – you neither have to make any purchases at Flipkart nor do you need to have any minimum balance in your Flipkart Wallet. All you need is an account at Flipkart and the music is all yours.


You can download music directly from the Flyte website and they also have discovery apps for Android and iOS devices. The only restriction is that you can download music only within the territory of India.


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Digital Inspiration @labnol This story, 1,000 Free Music Albums Up for Grabs at Flipkart, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 20/02/2013 under Music, Offers, India.



Find The Best GIFs On The Web With Giphy, A Dedicated Search Engine For Animated Images



search engine for animated gifsThe humble GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format , has been with us since 1987, meaning that it’s just over 25-years-old. While this is a format that can be used for still images, its most obvious use is in short animations. And by short we’re talking a few seconds at the most. Thus GIFs have become the staple of many websites which offer simple, easy-to-consume content.


GIFs are commonplace across the Web, but it’s sometimes hard to find the right one for the right situation. Thankfully a new dedicated animated image search engine just for GIFs has arrived. Its name is Giphy and it’s being touted as the place to “Search the best GIFs in the world.” But does it live up to the hype? Let’s “Search in a Giphy” to find out.


The Power Of GIFs


search engine for animated gifs


GIFs are now part of the lifeblood of the Web, being a stock source of memes across social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and especially the likes of Reddit (one of the seven wonders of the Web) and Tumblr. This is due to their ability to deliver instant gratification, providing entertainment value in a short space of time.


While videos are arguably more popular, particularly thanks to YouTube, GIFs deliver a succinct message in an instant without the need to even press ‘Play’. GIFs are, in essence, perfect for those of us with short attention spans. Which accounts for 90 percent (a complete guess not based on any form of scientific analyses) of the Internet population.


And so we come to Giphy.


Giphy


animated image search


Giphy is an animated image search engine just for finding GIFs online. This is its single purpose in life, the whole reason it was created. It features a simple, stripped-down interface which places GIFs front and center. It was put together by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke, who, according to Daily Dot, “couldn’t get over how cumbersome it still was to find and share GIFs.


The homepage presents you with a generous search bar above single GIFs representing tags which are currently proving popular. Below that is a selection of the most popular tags overall, presented without accompanying GIFs. Click on a suggested tag or search for one of your own and you’re presented with the first 25 GIFs featuring that tag.


None of the GIFs move until you move your cursor over them, at which point they spring to life. If you see one you want to explore further you can click on it to be shown it in its original size. You’re also then given the option to share the GIF with others, view details about its source, and see other tags associated with it.


A Start, Not An End


animated image search


It should be noted at this point that Giphy is far from perfect. There have been numerous complaints from users that they’re getting no results, a lack of results, or GIFs not really suited to the search terms. This is primarily because Giphy is sourcing GIFs from Tumblr, and organizing them by the tags assigned to each one. Unfortunately not everybody plays by the rules and tag images correctly, hence the spotty results.


However, this is a young site, and so it’s likely to improve over time. Giphy may currently be lumbered with a crude system for finding and sorting results, but a little extra work on the part of the people behind the site could see it turned from a nice short-term diversion to a must-bookmark repository for all things related to GIFs.


What About Google Images?


search engine for animated gifs


You’ve probably reached this point of the article with the question, What about Google Images? running through your head. And it’s a fair point. Google already offers the ability to search the Web for GIFs, and only for GIFs. It’s as simple as clicking on ‘Advanced Settings’ and then narrowing your results by file type to ‘GIF’.


In some cases this method is superior to Giphy, with Google often throwing up older and better GIFs. But even Google isn’t perfect. For starters not all of the GIFs found through Google Images are animated ones, which is what most people are really after. You also have to actively click on the image to watch it, whereas Giphy sets it playing when the cursor is merely moved across the image.


Conclusions


Giphy can only be considered a work in progress right now, but I for one am glad it exists. There are several other GIF search engines out there, but they’re nowhere near as refined as Giphy already is. If Giphy is given the love and attention it deserves, with its search methodology refined and database grown, then it could become an essential part of the Web.


What do you think of Giphy? Or of the popularity of animated GIFs as a whole? As always you’re invited to let us know your thoughts and views in the comments section below.


Image Credit: Gareth Saunders


The post Find The Best GIFs On The Web With Giphy, A Dedicated Search Engine For Animated Images appeared first on MakeUseOf.



Cool Things To Search For With Graph Search [Weekly Facebook Tips]



graph search facebookFacebook Graph Search recently made a huge splash on the search scene, allowing all Facebook users to mine data that is either public or visible to them via their friends. The result is that regular users now have access to all sorts of information about friends and strangers. Some of that information can be quite interesting or useful, while some of it can be downright scary.


It’s worth noting that graph search has the power to divulge your personal information quite rapidly to friends or strangers, so please do re-check your Facebook privacy specifically for this. Regardless of what you think of Facebook Graph Search, it seems here to stay. So, here’s a bunch of interesting things to search for that could make your life easier, a little bit stranger or just make you more enlightened.


Get Graph Search


For starters, if you don’t already have Facebook Graph Search enabled, you can sign up for it here. You may need to wait a little while before it’s enabled. Soon though, it will be rolled out for everyone.


Use Facebook As A Dating Site


Facebook’s graph search makes it really easy to search for single people near you. Most importantly, you can narrow that down to friends-of-friends who have similar interests to you. So, the next time you go to a party and see that particular person, you already know of at least one common interest – and that they’re single! This means that life for single people on Facebook just got a whole lot easier and creepier, depending on how you look at it.


graph search facebook


Find Out Really Creepy Things About Your Friends


If you didn’t think searches like this could get really creepy and invasive, try searching for “My friends who are married and like prostitutes” or something equally crass. Luckily, my friends are either squeaky-clean or not silly enough to put that sort of information on Facebook.


graph search facebook technology


Stalk High-Profile People


Have you ever wanted to know the sorts of things Mark Zuckerberg likes? I mean, it’s only fair that we take a look. Similarly, we could be searching for pages, places or more.


graph search facebook technology


Since I don’t know any of Mark’s friends personally, all of these photos must be public ones. However, it’s still pretty interesting to take a peek. Flip that on its head, though, and you have a creepy way of stalking your friends and their friends – especially when you consider places check-ins. If that cute single person you found earlier has publicly shared their check-ins, you might easily learn their favourite coffee place, clubs and other haunts.


graph search facebook technology


Research Your Travel Destinations


If you’re heading off for a holiday, why not check out which places your friends visited in those cities? You’ll get a quick overview of the must-see places, plus if you narrow it down to restaurants or clubs you might find some great places to spend some leisure time while you’re there.


graph facebook search


Find Out About Your Workmates


If you’re struggling to find common topics to chat about around the water cooler, why not check out what the people you work with like to watch on TV? Or you could find out about movies they like, books, restaurants, hobbies, or whatever else takes your fancy. Perhaps if you’re preparing for a job interview you could do something similar with the new company.


graph facebook search


Find Out More About Your Customers


There are dozens of useful searches you can do to check out what your customers like. For starters, why not see what other pages are liked by fans of your company’s page? And which pages are liked by people who like the top pages of that search?


graph facebook search


But all that is very business-like. Why not check something fun instead? What movies do your fans like? What hobbies do they like? Just for interest, MakeUseOf fans seem to like photography, travelling and reading.


graph search facebook


As you can see, with Facebook Graph Search it is now really important to ensure your privacy settings are set precisely as you wish. Please do take the time to read more on how to limit your exposure on Facebook.


Have you tried Facebook Graph Search yet? What are your favourite searches so far? Have you found a great way to make use of it?


The post Cool Things To Search For With Graph Search [Weekly Facebook Tips] appeared first on MakeUseOf.