03 October 2013

Google Starts Analytics Academy To Teach People About Google Analytics



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If you are a website owner, you know that understanding who has been visiting your site, where they are from, and what pages they looked at (and for how long) is absolutely essential if you are to have any hope of growing and developing your online presence. If you have no idea who your site visitors are, then you are walking blindfolded. The tool that most people turn to, in order to achieve this knowledge, is Google Analytics. But I can attest from personal experience that Google Analytics is not the easiest site to understand and navigate. If you are...


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How To Spell Check A Document Without A Word Processor



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Still copying text into Word so you can check your spelling? Stop. It’s 2013, and spell check is built into everything from browsers to PDF readers. Old habits die hard, and when it comes to computers, it might mean you’re working harder than you need to. For a long time word processors like Word were the only programs on a computer to feature built-in spell check, meaning copying text to and from them was the quickest way to check for obvious mistakes. That’s been over for a while, however. Here’s how to check your spelling in your browser, PDF files...


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Google Buys Flutter, Gesture Recognition App



Google acquired Flutter, a startup that built a software that lets you control music and movies with gestures. The desktop software uses your computer's webcam to detect your gestures. "Just put your hand up to stop the media playback, point your thumb right for 'next' and left for 'previous'," reports ArsTechnica.






You can still download the apps for Windows and Mac OS X. The software supports media players like iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, Spotify, VLC, but also sites like YouTube, Netflix and Pandora using a Chrome extension.






Gestures are intuitive, but detection didn't work that well for me.






Flutter's comic-style site asks users to join "the fight against unnatural user interfaces".






"When we started three years ago, our dream to build a ubiquitous and power-efficient gesture recognition technology was considered by many as just 'a dream', not a real possibility. Since then, we have strived to build the best machine vision algorithms and a delightful user experience. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google's passion for 10x thinking, and we're excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey," wrote Navneet Dalal, Flutter's CEO.



From touch interfaces, voice-driven user interfaces to gesture recognition, object recognition, facial recognition and biometric scanning, it looks like computers will change dramatically and natural user interfaces will make computers disappear into the background. Xbox Kinect, Google Glass, smartwatches and other wearable computers, flexible screens are probably just the beginning.

How To Upgrade Windows XP To Windows 8.1 By Keeping Personal Files



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While Windows 8.1 is a free update for existing Windows 8 users and one can upgrade Windows 8 installation to Windows 8.1 without losing installed apps, PC users who’re running an older version of Windows can’t directly upgrade to Windows 8.1 update. Even though Windows 7 users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8.1 […]

You Don’t Know It All: 10 Amazing Tech Hacks You Can Find On Reddit



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Recently, we showed you 10 amazing technology ideas you could find on Pinterest. But over the past couple of years, Reddit has become the go-to place to share life hacks, whether it’s on the LifeProTips subreddit, the LifeHacks subreddit or other topics where such cool posts pop up. Among those, the ones to do with technology can get lost in a sea of constant updates, comments, and posts. We scoured through the site to come up with 10 amazing tech hacks you probably didn’t know about. Make an autocorrect shortcut on your phone for your email address Lots of mobile...


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Using VBA To Automate Internet Explorer Sessions From An Excel Spreadsheet



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Its integration with Windows allows control of Internet Explorer in a number of surprising ways using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) script from any application that supports it, such as Word, Outlook or Excel. VBA automation – especially directly automating a browser like IE as you’ll see in this article – is exactly the sort of thing that elevates VBA from a convenient programming script into a powerful automation language. What makes it so awesome is the fact that many applications with controls or objects are created simply for the purpose of allowing you to integrate into it using the...


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Scribd And HarperCollins Launch All-You-Can-Read Book Subscription Service For $8.99/m



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Popular document sharing and embedding service Scribd is getting into the digital book distribution market with the launch of a new subscription service. The company has teamed up with one of the five biggest publishers in the world, HarperCollins Publishers, which will be offering a significant amount of its catalogue to subscribers. Scribd — the new service and the original web app have the same name — costs $8.99 per month and can be accessed on iPhone, iPad, Android and Web browsers. This has been tested for the past 9 months through a beta program, but is now being launched...


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Fruumo Is The Minimalistic New Tab Page You’ve Been Looking For



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New tab page extensions, can you ever get enough of them? The only problem with these new tab page extensions, especially on Chrome, is that there are tons of them, and many of them are actually really good. As a user, you need to find the one that’s perfect for you, and once you do, you’re free to enjoy the best new tab page you can possibly imagine. How do you find that perfect match in the vast sea of opportunities? You read about it on MakeUseOf, of course! I told you about a great one called OneFeed just a...


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Desktop Gadgets Reviver: Awesome Gadget Pack For Windows 8.1 With Close To 1000 Gadgets



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Microsoft has discontinued Desktop Gadgets feature in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 releases due to some serious vulnerably in Windows desktop sidebar platform. In Windows 8 and 8.1 versions, gadgets like Calendar and Weather have been replaced with built-in apps that show information on the Start screen in real-time. Users who aren’t very serious about […]

Restrict Chrome's Omibox Suggestions to Web Searches



What to do if you only want to see web search suggestions in Chrome's omnibox, not suggestions from Google's top results, your bookmarks, your browsing history or previously typed URLs. Type ? in the omnibox and then start typing your query. You can also use these keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+K or Ctrl+E for Windows and Linux, ⌘-Option-F for Mac.









Chrome will still show suggestions from your previous searches. If you use this trick in the incognito mode, Chrome will only show suggestions from your search history.

Add a Keyboard Shortcut for Chrome's App Launcher



I'm not sure why Chrome's app launcher doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, but it's pretty easy to add one. If you use Windows 7 or 8, press Shift while right-clicking the colorful grid icon from the taskbar, select "Properties", go to the "Shortcut key" field and enter a keyboard shortcut. I picked Ctrl+Shift+A.






Now I can just press Ctrl+Shift+A and the launcher will show up. I can type a Google query, the first letters from a Chrome app or just use the arrow keys to pick an app.






Google now even shows suggestions from the Chrome Web Store, so you can quickly install apps without visiting the store. I wouldn't recommend doing that, unless you really trust the app. For example, you can search for "gmail" and quickly install Gmail Offline.

Who Should Replace Steve Ballmer As Microsoft CEO? [We Ask You]




Within the next 12 months Steve Ballmer is going to retire as CEO of Microsoft and likely to be never seen again. I doubt he’ll do a Bill Gates and use his money and fame to do good deeds, but stranger things have happened. Having already asked how do you feel about Ballmer’s departure and where should Microsoft head next, it’s time to get down to real business. Ballmer has already bid a fond farewell to the Microsoft faithfuls, his tearful goodbye being captured forever on the Weird & Wonderful Web. After a Goodbye often comes a Hello, and someone...


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4 Windows Media Player Alternatives for Windows 8



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Windows Media Player is outdated on Windows 8. Oh sure, it’s still there, but it’s only available on the desktop and hasn’t seen any meaningful updates. Windows Media Player is also missing in action on Windows RT, even though most other desktop programs that come with Windows are included. If you have a Windows 8 tablet, you’ll want to use a Modern app from the Windows Store instead of Windows Media Player. If you want to watch video files, be sure they’re located in the Videos library — or another library — on your Windows 8 system. Modern apps won’t...


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