18 December 2013

Google's Christmas Carols Easter Egg



Google has a new Easter Egg for Christmas, but this time it's only for mobile devices. Search for [let's go caroling] using an Android or iOS device or use voice search and say "let's go caroling" and you'll see a list of 5 carols you can play: "Jingle Bells", "Up on the House Top", "Deck the Halls", "O Christmas Tree" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Tap one of the carols and Google will start playing the karaoke version of the carol, while also displaying the lyrics.















Maybe this Easter Egg will actually be useful.

More About Gmail's Proxy



Last week, Google announced that Gmail will load external images using a proxy. I have the new feature in my Gmail account and it's easy to tell when it's enabled - Gmail will show this message:



"Loading images in Gmail is now safer, so you'll automatically see all images within a message when you open it. You can learn about images or change this option in Settings."






So what's new? You no longer have to click "Display images below" to see the images from a message. Until now, Gmail only displayed the images automatically for the people added to your address book (you had to send them a message at least once or manually add them to the address book). Now Gmail shows all the images, except for spam and other messages that are likely to be dangerous. "Gmail scans every message for suspicious content and if Gmail considers a sender or message potentially suspicious, images won't be displayed and you'll be asked whether you want to see the images."



Images are no longer loaded directly from external sites, they're loaded using a Google proxy. Here's an example of URL (I highlighted the original URL of the image):



https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/WuyGWXPxgKnQjRUiz1tva8I8DAdNvnURSGw8TD5KUHWka12vCEvPGpD5g0C0jPtY8a0JqxflQfH7DqTxcoA_qsEi8HsYbQ=s0-d-e1-ft#http://qsf.is.quoracdn.net/-b94cd3f312ea9653.png



Images are only loaded the first time when you open a message and they're cached. Google's requests include: "via ggpht.com GoogleImageProxy" and appear to be from Firefox 3.0.7.



The proxy feature can't be disabled. You can only go to Gmail's settings and enable "Ask before displaying external images", so you can manually enable images, but this doesn't disable the proxy.

Technophilia 93 Live From MakeUseOf [Including Waterproof iPod Giveaway]



technocover-live

This week: Facebook plans on putting autoplay video ads in your timeline. Will this be the last straw for Facebook users? No! But we’ll still complain. Twitter changes how blocking works, then changes its mind when users complain. Backpedaling on a policy because your users don’t like it? “That’s weird,” said a statement from Mark Zuckerberg. And, in what can only be called bad decision making, the people at Underwater Audio sent us a waterproof iPod. In the mail. We’re giving one away to a live listener, but only if they do part of our work for us. This week’s...


Read the full article: Technophilia 93 Live From MakeUseOf [Including Waterproof iPod Giveaway]



Catch An Aurora! 5 Of The Best Tools To Spot The Magical Polar Lights



Aurora Featured Image

This winter is one of the best times to see polar lights. The next best time is in about 10 years, so you better catch them now. To stand a good chance of a polar light sighting, you need to be in the right place at the right time. An understanding of how Aurorae work and forecasts can help. This article provides the resources for both. What Is An Aurora? An Aurora, also known as polar lights, is a natural phenomenon caused by electrically charged particles from the sun that enter Earth’s atmosphere. Aurorae are best visible close to the...


Read the full article: Catch An Aurora! 5 Of The Best Tools To Spot The Magical Polar Lights



Bing Adds TED Talks To Search Results



bing-ted-talks

Bing has just added TED talks and audio play to their search results page, plus a host of other useful pieces of information. In an effort to win over Google lovers, Bing is really lifting their game. In the face of such mighty competition, many search engines have withered over the years, but Bing refuses to be bowed. And to show it is not going anywhere anytime soon, they have added some more features to make the search engine even more useful, mostly to the “snapshot” area on the right of search results. One of the major new improvements is...


Read the full article: Bing Adds TED Talks To Search Results



Download WinSetupFromUSB For Windows 8.1



CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL POST



Those of you following us for a long time would know that this isn’t the first time we’re talking about multi-boot USB drives on IntoWindows. About three years ago (time flies!), we first introduced you to WinSetupFromUSB and showed you how to create a multi-boot USB containing Windows XP and Windows 7 with the help […]

3 Simple And Elegant Tricks To Stop Drowning In Your Own Bookmarks



bookmarks

If you need rescuing from the clutches of your bookmarks, this article is for you. With such great content available online, you get into the habit of saving every nice thing you come across, usually with the intention of reading or viewing it later. Somehow, you never get around to doing that because you’re busy bookmarking the next interesting article or cool video or quirky website that has caught your fancy. You often spend precious time sorting, tagging, and sharing links, many of which you’re are unlikely to revisit. Decluttering those links from time to time does not stop the...


Read the full article: 3 Simple And Elegant Tricks To Stop Drowning In Your Own Bookmarks



Why The Classic Desktop Version Trumps Skype For Windows 8



muo-w8-skype-review-featured

Want to make voice and video calls on your Windows 8 computer? A touchscreen version of Skype is available from Microsoft, but how does it compare to the desktop version? Skype for Windows 8 Modern: Why? One of the most surprising things about Windows 8 is that Skype isn’t pre-installed. Perhaps wary of previous decisions against them concerning the installation of browsers, Microsoft instead makes the touchscreen-friendly version of Skype available via the Windows Store. Interestingly, the Modern interface version of Skype can be installed on the same system as the “classic” desktop version. This can lead to problems; more...


Read the full article: Why The Classic Desktop Version Trumps Skype For Windows 8



Holiday Shopping List: For The Techy Outdoorsman



Technology and nature are rather conflicting areas of interest, but the lines between the two are blurring as technology advances into outdoor gear. First there was GPS, then waterproof cases for cameras, and soon after, waterproof cameras themselves. Now, we have a wide array of rugged tech gear from Bluetooth speakers to portable water purifying […]

Read the full article: Holiday Shopping List: For The Techy Outdoorsman



MakeUseOf Fails In 2013 [We Ask You Results]




We’ve had quite the year here at MakeUseOf, with thousands of articles published, dozens of hardware giveaways, a burgeoning collection of rewards for readers, a controversial makeover, new writers joining the team, and new columns increasing the range of content covered. We’re giving ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done, and were hoping you would do the same. We thought we’d had a big enough year that, when prompted to recommend an article from 2013 to a friend, the readers would respond in droves. We were wrong. OK, So We Suck, What Of It?! We asked...


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Stuck For Holiday Ideas? Let Wunderlist Help With Their Curated Lists



wunderlist-holiday-list

You can now use Wunderlist to create specially curated lists for things like Christmas wishlists and gift lists. The holidays is a bit of a stressful time for all of us, especially when it comes to buying gifts, and planning social events. So a lot of people view the approaching holiday period with a certain amount of dread, knowing that it will be tough to get through it all (especially if you have young excitable kids). But the free to-do list app, Wunderlist, is offering to help a bit by giving us specially curated lists that we can work from....


Read the full article: Stuck For Holiday Ideas? Let Wunderlist Help With Their Curated Lists



The Undiscovered Country: Getting To Grips With Tumblr Etiquette



Etiquette is more than simply being kind and polite. It's about learning the internal, unspoken rules of a community. Here are a few Tumblr guidelines to keep in mind.

Read the full article: The Undiscovered Country: Getting To Grips With Tumblr Etiquette



How to Add Custom-Sized AdSense Ads to your Website



Google AdSense, since its inception in 2003, has supported a dozen-odd ad units – from the 300×250 Rectangle to the 160×600 Skyscraper – that abide by the IAB guidelines. Premium AdSense publishers do have the flexibility of customizing the layout of text-only ads but not the image or rich-media ads.


Last week Google introduced custom-sized ad units in AdSense that blurs the line between Premium and regular publishers. Now all AdSense publishers are given an opportunity to create ad units of custom dimensions, tailor made for their own website. Let me explain.


Say your website has a sidebar that is 250 pixels wide. Previously, you could only choose between the regular skyscraper formats – 120×600 or 160×600 – even though none of these units would perfectly fit inside your sidebar. With custom-sized units now available in AdSense, you can create an ad unit that is exactly 250×600 in size thus taking all the available screen estate. Or if the sidebar is long, you can even choose to have a 250×1200 unit.


Custom-Sized Ad Units vs Regular AdSense Ads


An obvious advantage with custom-sized units is that they better fit the layout of your website. That said, Google algorithms may sometimes override your choice.


For instance, if you have created an ad unit that is 500×300 pixels, AdSense can still serve display ads in standard formats like the 300×250 or 336×280 for that unit. The smaller ad will be center-aligned and the remaining area is filled with whitespace.


Google may display small display ads inside custom-sized ad units.

Google may serve display ads of lesser dimensions inside custom-sized ad units.



Since Google is likely to display the highest performing ad – which could either be a custom-sized unit (that you’ve requested) or a regular unit – it may be a good idea to use custom-sized units in place of regular units as, with the former, you get the best of both worlds.


Convert Existing AdSense Ad Units to Custom-Sized Ads


Google recommends that you create a new ad unit in your AdSense dashboard and choose the option “Custom Ad Size” for creating a new custom-sized ad unit. You can however use your existing Ad units and convert them into a custom sized units.


All you have to do is adjust the width and height values in your existing ad code and regular unit will be automatically converted into a custom sized unit. Just make sure that both height and width values are less than 1200 pixels and that only one of these values is greater than 300 pixels.


Custom-Sized Ads vs Responsive Google Ads


Earlier this year, Google introduced Responsive AdSense ads where the size (read width) of the ad is dynamically specified based on the screen size of the device where that ad is being served. With responsive ads, you can serve a 336×280 large rectangle on the desktop and the same ad slot may serve a 320×100 ad when the page is viewed on a mobile device.


Now that custom-sized ad units are available, should you make the switch to these new units or continue to use the Responsive Ad units.


Google’s official recommendation is:



Custom-sized ad units are fixed sized ad units, i.e., they don’t dynamically change their size or respond to changes in screen orientation. If your site uses responsive design, we recommend that you use a responsive ad unit instead.



You can however still make your custom-sized ad units responsive such that their suggested size changes based on the device size or orientation. In Responsive Ads, you serve ads of a fixed width based on the screen size while in custom-sized ads you specify the maximum width that the ad can occupy. If you can dynamically specify this “maximum” width, your custom-sized ad unit will be responsive as well.


How to Make Custom-sized AdSense Ads Responsive


The AdSense ad units on this website are custom-sized units but they are responsive too. Here’s how you can implement such a thing on your own website or blog:



<div id="google-ads-1"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">

/* Replace ca-pub-XXX with your AdSense Publisher ID */
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-XXX";

/* Replace YYY with the AdSense Ad Slot ID */
google_ad_slot = "YYY";

/* Replace ZZZ with the custom height of your Ad Unit */
google_ad_height = ZZZ;

ad = document.getElementById('google-ads-1');

if (ad.getBoundingClientRect().width) {
google_ad_width = ad.getBoundingClientRect().width;
} else {
google_ad_width = ad.offsetWidth; // for old IE
}

/* The width of an Ad unit should be between 120-1200 pixels */
if (google_ad_width>1200) {
google_ad_width = 1200;
} else if (google_ad_width<120) {
google_ad_width = 120;
}

/* The height of an Ad unit should be between 50-1200 pixels */
if (google_ad_height>1200) {
google_ad_height = 1200;
} else if (google_ad_height<50) {
google_ad_height = 50;
}

/* Both height or width cannot be more than 300 pixels */
if ((google_ad_width>300) && (google_ad_height>300)) {
google_ad_height = 300;
}

document.write (
'<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:'
+ google_ad_width + 'px;height:'
+ google_ad_height + 'px" data-ad-client="'
+ google_ad_client + '" data-ad-slot="'
+ google_ad_slot + '"></ins>'
);

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script>

<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

Go to your AdSense dashboard and create a new Ad unit with the type as “Custom Ad Unit.” You can specify the dimensions as, say, 300×1200 pixels (either the height or width should be 300 pixels or less) and choose a default color and font scheme for the ad unit. Click the “Save and Get code” button to generate the ad code.


Note your AdSense publisher ID, Ad Slot ID and replace those values in the above block of code (line #6 & #9). You should also change the default height (line #12) of your custom sized unit (the width is automatically determined by JavaScript). Copy-paste the modified code anywhere in your web template and the custom-sized ads will fill the available width while being responsive.


The technique will work on both responsive and regular (non-responsive) websites.




This story, How to Add Custom-Sized AdSense Ads to your Website, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 17/12/2013 under Google AdSense, Internet

Don’t Poke Me! How Internet Slang Words Have Transformed Language



language

Srsly, did you really just twerk while taking a selfie? OMG what a n00b. Epic Fail. What’s crazy about the sentences above is that they are no longer just strange artifacts of the Internet. Sure, the “selfie”, as Dave Parrack described, is forever a part of the Oxford Dictionary. Quite honestly though, there are many words that have crossed over from the community of the Internet into everyday life. James even took some time to explain what a bunch of those odd Internet words mean. It didn’t start with the selfie for sure. There were different areas of technology that...


Read the full article: Don’t Poke Me! How Internet Slang Words Have Transformed Language