23 January 2014

Google Launches “Video Quality Report” To Benchmark ISPs With YouTube HD Streaming



youtube-video-quality

There are speed tests to compare bandwidths from ISP services, and then there’s the newly launched “Video Quality Report” from Google which subscribers and ISP providers can use to benchmark video streaming performance. It is only available in Canada for now, but expect it to be rolled out to the world gradually. The Google-powered yardstick uses YouTube HD playback to measure not only the speed of video delivery but also its quality. Google has servers around the world, and it usually picks the shortest route to deliver the YouTube video to a screen. The ISPs own network capacity is one...


Read the full article: Google Launches “Video Quality Report” To Benchmark ISPs With YouTube HD Streaming



Google Streamlines Search Options



Google removed a few specialized search options that were usually displayed in the "more" drop-down: recipes, patents, discussions, blogs, places. The list of links to services like Maps, Images, News, Flights, Shopping is reordered based on your query. This isn't a new idea, it was implemented a long time ago by Google, but now it's used more often.












{ Thanks, Rubén and Max. }

Make Gnome Shell Usable With These 12 Extensions



gnome_extensions_intro

With the creation of Gnome Shell, the Gnome team introduced a new paradigm to the desktop that was greeted with mixed reviews. While I agree that a new idea of what a desktop should be is necessary for innovation, what Gnome accomplished isn’t quite complete. But there’s a way to fix it. Gnome 3 came with an extension framework, which allows other developers to fix little usability issues users may have. After looking through the list of available extensions for Gnome Shell, I’ve found several that have made my Gnome desktop very nice to use – so much so that...


Read the full article: Make Gnome Shell Usable With These 12 Extensions



Beats Music Reviews, DoD BlackBerry Love, Winning Windows Phone [Tech News Digest]



beats-music-devices

Today in Tech News Digest, we compile a smattering of Beats Music reviews, Yahoo Search is made secure, the Department of Defense chooses BlackBerry, the saga of Banned Bluebook is revealed, Twitter expands its targeted ads, and Windows Phone is found to be beating the iPhone… in a handful of countries. Beats Music Reviews Beats Music has launched, with the maker of the overly expensive headphones and speakers now adding a music streaming service to its repertoire. Unlike its rivals Spotify and Rdio, Beats Music doesn’t have a free, ad-supported option. So, is the new kid on the block worth...


Read the full article: Beats Music Reviews, DoD BlackBerry Love, Winning Windows Phone [Tech News Digest]



Google's Info Cards for Sites



After a few months of experiments, Google's search pages now show the name of the site next to the URL. If you click the name, you'll see a small card with information from Wikipedia, including the logo, the owner, the year when it was founded and some awards.



"You'll see this extra information when a site is widely recognized as notable online, when there is enough information to show or when the content may be handy for you. The information you'll see is based on the Knowledge Graph, Google's interconnected understanding of the things that exist in the world. As we expand the Knowledge Graph, we expect to give you more information about more websites - making it easier for you to choose the right result," informs Google.












If your site, organization or company doesn't have a Wikipedia page, no info card will be displayed.

I’m Amit Agarwal, and This Is How I Work



I’m Amit Agarwal, and This Is How I Work


Amit Agarwal


The very-popular Lifehacker website did a little Q&A with me for their How-I-Work series.




This story, I’m Amit Agarwal, and This Is How I Work, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 23/01/2014 under Internet

How to Send Confirmation Emails with Google Forms



I maintain the India blogs directory and it accepts entries through a simple Google Form. The workflow is something like this – when someone submits the Google Form, an automatic confirmation email arrives in their inbox informing them that their details have been successfully submitted.


These are similar to canned responses in Gmail but for Google Forms. You may use the trick for sending welcome messages, acknowledge support requests, and more. Here’s a sample confirmation email generated and sent through Google Forms:


A sample auto confirmation email sent through Google Forms

A sample auto confirmation email sent through Google Forms



Send a Confirmation Email to the Form Submitter


The other day I got an email from N.Vamsi asking me how to setup these auto-responders using Google Forms?



Would you mind telling me how you have set up auto email updater for inputs taken from Google forms. I have seen your video tutorial on setting up Google forms and getting input values to an email address but auto email responder is something new! Do you have any tutorials for that as well?



This is easy and you can can add the auto-reply feature to your Google Forms in less than a minute. Here are the steps involved:



  1. Go to your Google Drive and create a new Google Form. Add any number of fields to the form but make sure you have a field called “Email Address” where the submitter will input their email address.

  2. Assuming that you are saving your Google Form responses in a separate spreadsheet, open that sheet and choose the Script Editor option under the Tools menu.

  3. Copy-paste the following script into the script editor and hit the floppy icon to save the script.

  4. Inside the Script Editor, choose Run – Initialize and authorize the script to send emails on your behalf.


That’s it. When anyone submits the form, they’ll get an automatic confirmation email in HTML. You will be included in the CC.


Google Script – Send Mail to Form Submitter



/* Send Confirmation Email with Google Forms */

function Initialize() {

var triggers = ScriptApp.getScriptTriggers();

for (var i in triggers) {
ScriptApp.deleteTrigger(triggers[i]);
}

ScriptApp.newTrigger("SendConfirmationMail")
.forSpreadsheet(SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet())
.onFormSubmit()
.create();

}

function SendConfirmationMail(e) {

try {

var ss, cc, sendername, subject, headers;
var message, value, textbody, sender;

// This is your email address and you will be in the CC
cc = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();

// This will show up as the sender's name
sendername = "Your Name Goes Here";

// Optional but change the following variable
// to have a custom subject for Google Docs emails
subject = "Google Form Successfully Submitted";

// This is the body of the auto-reply
message = "We have received your details.<br>Thanks!<br><br>";

ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
headers = ss.getRange(1, 1, 1, ss.getLastColumn()).getValues()[0];

// This is the submitter's email address
sender = e.namedValues["Email Address"].toString();

for (var i in headers) {

value = e.namedValues[headers[i]].toString();

// Do not send the timestamp and blank fields
if ((i !== "0") && (value !== "")) {
message += headers[i] + ' :: ' + value + "<br>";
}
}

textbody = message.replace("<br>", "\n");

GmailApp.sendEmail(sender, subject, textbody,
{cc: cc, name: sendername, htmlBody: message});

} catch (e) {
Logger.log(e.toString());
}

}



This story, How to Send Confirmation Emails with Google Forms, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 22/01/2014 under Google Forms, Internet

What Do You Do When The Internet Goes Down? [We Ask You]



we-ask-you-logo

The Internet is a key ingredient in the lives of many people. This series of tubes is so pervasive that the MakeUseOf readership would rather give up alcohol, caffeine, and assorted body parts before they gave up access to the Web. That’s commitment for you. The problem is, however much a person loves the Internet, a solid connection can never be guaranteed. The Internet does, on occasion, go down, at which time everyone affected by the outage screams at whoever is in earshot in frustration and longing. And then… The Internet Is Down! What Now? We want to know, What...


Read the full article: What Do You Do When The Internet Goes Down? [We Ask You]



eCampus: Easily Rent or Buy Affordable Textbooks, And Sell Them Back



ecampus

Another outrageously-priced textbook? You’ve got to be kidding! How much of this are you going to take? You know there’s a better option than getting ripped off by your university bookstore, right? There are several reputable websites for saving students money on textbooks, eCampus being one of the very best. Did you know you can rent textbooks, instead of purchasing them? Or perhaps you have a pile of textbooks you no longer need, eCampus will buy them from you. Whether you want to buy, rent or sell your textbooks, eCampus is one way to beat college on a budget. Setting...


Read the full article: eCampus: Easily Rent or Buy Affordable Textbooks, And Sell Them Back



Make Room For A Relaxed Weekend — 5 Simple Tips To Beat Deadlines



deadline

Nothing can be more stressful than the threat of a deadline looming large. But, it does not have to be so. With just a few adjustments you can get your work done ahead of time. An ever-increasing number of people have jobs related to digital media, so much so that we have seen several new job titles in that arena. Global connectivity through the Web means that many jobs don’t resemble the old 9-to-5 routines. The weekday-weekend barriers have also been blurred to such an extent that working on weekends no longer raises any eyebrows. When this is the scenario,...


Read the full article: Make Room For A Relaxed Weekend — 5 Simple Tips To Beat Deadlines



How To Stop Your Windows Computer From Randomly Waking Up



windows-sleep

Waking up in the middle of the night is annoying, and it’s a problem that doesn’t just affect humans. Computers can have restless nights, too, tossing and turning as they turn on for no apparent reason, then go back to sleep after a set period of time. Besides wasting power, this constant on-off cycle can be a real annoyance (if you sleep near the PC) and can cause problems for both hardware and software. Fortunately, conquering your computer’s sleepless nights is probably easier than you think. Finding The Problem With The Command Line Before you start changing settings, it’s a...


Read the full article: How To Stop Your Windows Computer From Randomly Waking Up