14 May 2013

MakeUseOf Hangouts: When Geeks Talk Turkey



Last week I invited you to a MakeUseOf Hangout. This past Friday, six loyal readers joined me and contributed to a great conversation around MakeUseOf and technology in general. We received a lot of valuable feedback from this chat. Moreover, participants seemed to really enjoy to talk tech with fellow-minded people, which was also reflected in their comments after the Hangout was finished.


This actually wasn’t our first meet & greet with readers on Google Hangouts. Several months ago Jackson ran a spontaneous and open-to-all Hangout on which James and I joined him. It was a very good learning experience and really helped me in preparing this second attempt.


The Invitation Process


My public invitation contained a brief form, based on which I chose participants. Given the short notice and the specific time zone, the response was not overwhelming, but I still couldn’t invite everyone who responded to the form. I picked nine readers who seemed enthusiastic to join and most of whom I had seen commenting on MakeUseOf before.



In my personal invitation to the Hangout, I was very clear about expectations. My intention was to avoid people talking over each other, being rude, or trying to control the conversation. The trick with these expectations is that you should never mention what you don’t want people to do because you risk planting an idea in their head, which might have an undesired impact. Just try not to think of pink elephants for a moment. So instead of making a list of rules, I shared with them how I envisioned our get together. Now I have to admit that I don’t know whether this actually worked or whether we just have the most awesome readers on this planet; I will leave that up to your own judgement.



The Participants


Unfortunately, not everyone could make it in the end. However, the smaller size of the group allowed everyone to participate more and we could cover a broader range of topics.


The readers who joined me were (left to right in image below):



  • Alex from the US, college student majoring in web design.

  • Kay from Germany, working in the test department of a European mobile operator.

  • Nazim from France, high school student, music composer, and writer for the French website Fandroid.

  • Paul from the US, retired Marine and self-employed in IT support.

  • Rajaa from India, freelance IT consultant.

  • Siddhant from Singapore, middle school student.



We had quite a range in terms of age, origin, and professions, which made for interesting conversations.


When & How Did You Discover MakeUseOf?


One of the things I am really interested in is how people discover MakeUseOf. With five loyal readers being my guests, I made this my kick-off question. Kay was the first one to take the chance and share his story.


Kay’s employer was looking to do more innovative stuff and while looking for resources online, Kay found MakeUseOf. With time, it became his first stop for inspiration.



If you surround yourself with innovative stuff – software, hardware, whatever – you will be much better in creating your stuff, it’s very inspiring. – Kay



Nazim found MakeUseOf two years ago while searching for Windows application reviews. He read a few articles and found the website so attractive that he subscribed to our RSS feed.



Actually I’m now reading [the feed] every day. In the two years, I read every article of MakeUseOf. – Nazim



Nazim appreciates the diversity of articles and the comprehensive nature of each of our articles.


Alex discovered MakeUseOf in 2008 and has been visiting it on a daily basis since.


Rajaa doesn’t remember how he came across MakeUseOf, but probably through Facebook about a year and a half ago. What attracted him was the variety, ranging from Windows to mobile environment. What really got him hooked was the Q&A section, where he has been an active volunteer in answering questions.



It gives a lot of satisfaction if you can help someone. – Rajaa



When I ask them what they feel is missing, Rajaa brings up MakeUseOf’s lack of a mobile app, a question that has come up occasionally on MakeUseOf Answers. Rajaa recommends us to look into this environment to make it easier for people to follow feeds. Alternatively, he says we could plug our feeds into Pulse.


What Gadgets Do You Have?


Alex, Nazim, and Kay show off their gadget collection. Alex uses one of the first Nook eReaders and Nazim recommends the Nexus 4 as one of the best Android phones. Kay loves his Samsung Galaxy Notes II phablet because his hands are quite big. Rajaa has an entry level Android with a QWERTY keyboard, which he prefers over touch input. Kay and Alex chime in that they prefer keyboards too, and Kay wishes that a new Android with a keyboard would come out. Alex says his last two phones had a QWERTY keyboard and points out that if you really need a keyboard, you can just attach a Bluetooth keyboard. He refers to one of his favorite MakeUseOf articles, which was about turning your smartphone into a desktop replacement.



Who Are Your Favorite Writers?


Since we are on the topic of writers, I wonder whether they like anyone in particular. Alex is careful to say that he is not paying attention to the writers (obviously he isn’t!) and immediately adds that everyone has good articles, so nobody stands out.


Rajaa on the other hand openly confesses that he is biased towards Saikat because he is from India. He has also been enjoying articles from Kannon and, as he says, obviously James. Rajaa feels that James is our most technically sound writer, which is of course reflected in his articles.


Being our resident über geek and a routine podcast host, I asked James to stand by for emergency support in case things go awry. So I have him on GTalk and the moment Rajaa’s statement is aired, I receive a very happy comment from him.



Rajaa continues that he really enjoys the opinion polls and the We Ask You section hosted by Yaara and Dave Parrack. He bemoans that it has become harder to find those articles since we removed their dedicated URLs (category or tag).


Like Alex, Kay admits that he doesn’t follow authors, even though he has written articles himself for several magazines. Nazim explains his impression that everyone on the team has their niche.


So I ask them whether there is something that unites our writing and makes our articles recognizable as MakeUseOf articles.



I think it’s the whole group combined that gives [MakeUseOf] the power. I even think it’s better if no one stands out. – Kay



Like Nazim, Kay thinks everyone has their specialty. He compares it to his work of reviewing mobile phone features and says it would be awful if he started writing about topics he isn’t comfortable with.


On Gadgets & Technology


After receiving so much MakeUseOf related feedback, I switched to more general topics that I hope are close to our geeks’ hearts. Last year Ryan wrote an article on Why You Never Forget Your First Computer, which received a flood of engaged comments, so I ask them about their first computer and their favorite gadget.


Nabaztag


We also discuss the challenges of IT support.



I have to learn what they want and learn to get them what they want with their equipment, if it’s possible. – Paul



Paul recommends Soluto and we learn that he is an alpha tester for them, helping with developing the application. Erez has reviewed Soluto for MakeUseOf.


From IT support, we move on to discussing the future of operating systems, Cloud security, software licensing and subscription models, innovation at Apple, and much more. If you would like to see the whole conversation, you have the chance to watch it on YouTube.



Just a small correction. There was a misunderstanding on my part when Rajaa asked about hardware rewards. Unfortunately, hardware rewards are not available for all countries. However, we did change back our policy on Giveaway contests, which are open to participants worldwide.


Conclusion


It was incredibly rewarding and inspiring to host such a knowledgeable and geeky group of people. In review it would have been nice to have a co-host to take care of the chat and some technical details. Sometimes it was hard for me to focus on the conversation. For next time, I’m hoping our YouTube channel will be properly set up, that we will give readers more of a heads-up for participating. We will promote the event more beforehand and maybe take in live feedback from a bigger audience.


Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Alex, Kay, Nazim, Paul, Rajaa, and Siddhant for joining me. It was a pleasure to have all of you in this hangout! I very much appreciate your patience while I was prototyping what will hopefully become a regular event at MakeUseOf. Thank you very much!


The post MakeUseOf Hangouts: When Geeks Talk Turkey appeared first on MakeUseOf.



How To Install Apps On SD Card In Windows 8



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If you own a Windows 8 tablet or notebook and running out of storage space, you can utilize the microSD memory card slot on your tablet/notebook to add a microSD memory card and then configure Windows to install Modern (Metro) apps on it. While most of the desktop programs out there offer an option to [...]

Free Tools To Create Bootable USB From ISO File



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Quite a few free tools out there to help you create bootable USB drive from Windows ISO file. While using the native Command Prompt method remains to be the best method to prepare bootable USB thumb drive and install Windows from it, not all users are comfortable with command line and prefer using third-party software [...]

Google's Atari Breakout Easter Egg



Is this the first Google Image Search Easter Egg? Search for [atari breakout] and you can play Atari's Breakout game. It's an arcade game introduced in April 1976. The game has an interesting story that involves Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and it influenced Steve Wozniak's design for the Apple II computer.



"In the game, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen. A ball travels across the screen, bouncing off the top and side walls of the screen. When a brick is hit, the ball bounces away and the brick is destroyed. The player loses a turn when the ball touches the bottom of the screen. To prevent this from happening, the player has a movable paddle to bounce the ball upward, keeping it in play."






{ via TechCrunch, thanks Florian K. }


Black Menu: All-in-One Google



If you've ever wanted a Chrome extension that combines the most important Google services and lets you quickly switch between them, check Black Menu. It's based on the short-lived vertical menu launched by Google in 2011, but it offers more features than Google's menu.



Mouse over each menu item and you'll get a gadget-like interface for a Google service. You can check your mail, compose new messages, create calendar events, add tasks, check your Google+ notifications, share pages to Google+, read the latest news, use Google Translate and Google Search, upload files to Google Drive, quickly search Google Drive and more.









Mouse over the links section and you'll see some useful links for the Google service you've selected. It's great for quickly checking your favorite YouTube videos or creating a Google contact.



You can rearrange menu items and add new ones from the "more" section. For example, you can add the URL shortener option to quickly create a short URL for the current page. Add the Chrome Apps menu item to get a Chrome launcher that includes the apps you've installed in Chrome.



Black Menu is like a simplified iGoogle for Google services. Actually, the extension uses some iGoogle gadgets, but they'll need to be replaced before iGoogle is gone.


5 Chrome Extensions To Superpower Twitter



chrome twitter extensionFor many of us, Twitter is fine just the way it is. Despite what you may think, I’m not going to say otherwise. Twitter truly is fine just the way it is. The thing is, and much like everything else, it can also be better, and making it better doesn’t necessarily involve using a third-party client.


If you’re the kind of person who prefers to leave things in the browser, certain Chrome Twitter extensions can help you get all sorts of fun and useful Twitter features without having to resort to out-of-the-browser clients. Whether you’re looking to save time when sharing webpages, save brain cells when reading your stream, or retweet the good old way from Twitter’s native interface, there are ways to do so without leaving your browser. Try the Chrome Twitter extensions below to find out!


PowerInbox


PowerInbox is a browser extension available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE, which takes your regular Twitter emails and makes them much more useful by turning them interactive. In fact, PowerInbox does its trick with many additional services besides Twitter, including Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Spotify, Pinterest, and others.


Focusing on Twitter, PowerInbox makes it so you can actually make use of those pesky email updates you keep getting from Twitter, such as “you have a new follower” or “Bla and BlaBla have tweets for you”. After installing the add-on and signing into your Twitter account, emails from Twitter will start looking something like this:


chrome twitter extension


As you can see, instead of getting a simple alert you can’t do much with, PowerInbox makes it so you can follow users from within the email, send tweets, and in other emails also view your stream, reply, retweet, and favorite tweets.


PowerInbox has an on/off button on top of every supported email, so if you don’t feel like viewing interactive content, you can simply turn it off and turn it back on when you’re ready for more.


Tareem Extender


Tareem Extender takes your good old Twitter interface, and powers it up with some new and useful features. While I couldn’t get every single feature listed to work, the extension still adds a considerable amount of them. Starting with features that actually work, Tareem Extender adds an old retweet button to every tweet, as well as a DM button and a quick translate button to translate tweets from English into dozens of languages.


chrome twitter app


You can also set the extension to highlight your mentions in the stream, and to show desktop notifications for your Twitter mentions.


So what didn’t work? Tareem Extender claims to include a built-in link shortener, which I couldn’t get to work, as well as a “speak to tweet” feature which was no where to be found. Considering Twitter’s ever changing API and interface, I’m assuming some features just stopped working over time, but where it counts, Tareem Extender provides the means to use Twitter’s native interface to much better results.


Tweet This Page


Most blogs and websites include a tweet button of some kind, but these are located in a different spot on every page, and might even look different from website to website. In addition, most of these buttons are just extensions of the twitter.com webpage, and as such don’t let you use your personal link shortener. Tweet This Page can change that.


chrome twitter app


Tweet This Page is a simple Chrome Twitter extension that makes it super easy to tweet a link to any page you’re on. Want to share a link on Twitter? Click the new Twitter button on the right side of Chrome’s address bar to create the tweet. You can set Tweet This Page to use your personal bit.ly account and to automatically use selected text as the tweet body, making it possible to click and tweet in seconds.


Silver Bird


Silver Bird is a fully-fledged Twitter client built into a Chrome extension. Behind a colorful bird icon hides a simple interface that nonetheless includes pretty much anything you could wish for in a Twitter client. And what’s more, it’s all completely customizable.


chrome twitter app


From the icon’s color at any given moment, to the interface’s font and color, to the compose area’s position, Silver Bird is like a mold you can shape as your own. With its built-in pop-up notifications, built-in link shortener, its ability to add images to tweets and its handy suspend option for when you really need to concentrate, you may never need to venture into twitter.com again.


Read a full review of Silver Bird.


Larry Filter for Twitter


Twitter too noisy? Larry Filter can make it a quieter place with the help of some well-placed filters. This handy extension lets you set keywords and hashtags you’re not interested in, and either hide them completely, or increase opacity on tweets that include them.


chrome twitter extension


While this is not the only way to filter tweets, I love Larry Filter for its simplicity, and for its ability to only half hide the culprit tweets. This way, I can make sure I’m not missing anything important, and still have a quieter Twitter feed. It’s like having my cake and eating it too!


For more ways to filter tweets and make Twitter a generally quieter place, check out these ways to filter annoyances on Twitter, and some additional ways to help you swim and not drown in your Twitter stream.


More?


As always, we’d also love to hear some of your recommendations. Are there any Chrome twitter extension you find invaluable? What makes your Twitter life easier? Share your favorites in the comments.


The post 5 Chrome Extensions To Superpower Twitter appeared first on MakeUseOf.



Shared Storage for Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos



Until now, Gmail offered 10GB of free storage and Google Drive/Google+ Photos only 5GB of free storage. Offering more storage for email than for storing files doesn't make a lot of sense. That's probably the reason why Google decided to share the storage for Gmail and Google Drive, so that you have a single free storage limit: 15 GB.



"With this new combined storage space, you won't have to worry about how much you're storing and where. For example, maybe you're a heavy Gmail user but light on photos, or perhaps you were bumping up against your Drive storage limit but were only using 2 GB in Gmail. Now it doesn't matter, because you can use your storage the way you want," explains Google.



There's also a new interface for the Google Storage page:






But what if you've purchased additional Drive storage? That storage is now shared between Google Drive, Google+ Photos and Gmail, but you get 25 GB of storage only for Gmail. It's confusing. Google should include the extra Gmail storage in the unified storage.



Why not store all Gmail attachments in Google Drive and offer free storage for Gmail messages (text-only)?



{ Thanks, Herin. }


Sundar Pichai on Android and Chrome (OS)



Wired publishes an interview with Sundar Pichai, Google's Senior Vice President for Chrome, Apps and now Android. Back in March, Larry Page announced that "Andy [Rubin] decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google". Now Sundar Pichai is in charge of Android and many people wondered if Android and Chrome OS will merge.



"Android and Chrome are both large, open platforms, growing very fast. I think that they will play a strong role, not merely exist. I see this as part of friendly innovation and choice for both users and developers. (...) So in the short run, nothing changes. In the long run, computing itself will dictate the changes. We're living through a pivotal moment. It's a world of multiple screens, smart displays, with tons of low-cost computing, with big sensors built into devices. At Google we ask how to bring together something seamless and beautiful and intuitive across all these screens. The picture may look different a year or two from from now, but in the short term, we have Android and we have Chrome, and we are not changing course," Sundar says.



He compares Android and Chrome OS with iOS and Mac OSX, which are different, but have a lot of things in common. "We want to do the right things at each stage, for users and developers. We are trying to find commonalities. On the browser layer, we share a lot of stuff. We will increasingly do more things like that. And maybe there's a more synergistic answer down the line."



That explains features like Cloud Messaging for Chrome, launched one year after Cloud Messaging for Android. Chrome also experimented with intents, but this feature is no longer supported.



It's interesting to note that Sundar's biggest Android challenge is to "improve the whole world's end-user experience without changing the open nature of Android". That's difficult to do, considering that most Android devices run old Android versions and some are rarely updated, not to mention that the most popular Android devices run custom operating systems based on Android, with custom interfaces, frameworks and different built-in apps.



For now, both Android and Chrome OS will continue to exist. Chrome's new packaged apps will also be available on mobile devices and it will be interesting to see if they look like native apps. Android tries to fight fragmentation by introducing new APIs using Google Play Services. For now, native apps make more sense on a mobile device than on a desktop computer, but this could change. Chrome OS could follow Firefox OS and run on smartphones and tablets.



Whether your laptop runs Windows, Android or Chrome OS, whether your phone or tablet runs Android, iOS, Chrome OS or Firefox OS, Google's goal is to "bring together something seamless and beautiful and intuitive across all these screens". I call it Google Operating System and it's not Android or Chrome OS.