Where Did You Shop This Black Friday? [MakeUseOf Poll]

Last week we asked you if your Facebook account ever got hacked. Whether it’s because you don’t use Facebook, never got hacked, or just don’t care, most of you couldn’t be persuaded to answer this poll, which left us with a small number of votes. Still, it’s surprising to see what percentage of Facebook account actually got hacked at least once. 136 readers voted, and revealed that 8% never owned a Facebook account, 23% got hacked at least once, and 69% never got hacked. Good for them! Full results and this week’s poll after the jump. Don’t forget to check...

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3 Ways To Download Videos From Facebook

Is your Internet connection unstable? Do you hate Facebook’s video interface? You don’t have to suffer. There are quick and easy ways to download videos from Facebook. You can then watch them on any interface you prefer, and most importantly, offline. Everyone knows how to download YouTube videos. You can do this easily whether you’re on Windows, on a Mac, or even if you want to download entire video playlists. But do you know how to download Facebook videos? By the end of this article, you will. Important note: Different Facebook videos have different privacy settings. You will only be...

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Use Map Your Representatives To Find Information On Your Legislators With A Click [U.S. Only]

A new U.S. specific web tool powered by Google works on one premise. It’s that public servants should be open to scrutiny and dialog with the people they serve. Map Your Representatives helps U.S. citizens with the first part of touching base with political representatives in their area. It answers the basic question – who represents me? Enter your address or ZIP code and Map Your Representatives will opens stylishly to display every relevant piece of social information it can find on the official. As the screenshot below shows you, it contains essentials like contact info and the official (or...

Read the full article: Use Map Your Representatives To Find Information On Your Legislators With A Click [U.S. Only]

Best Free Cloud Storage Sites that Provide 100GB Free Data(File Hosting)

Popularity of cloud storage service is increases day by day and now days almost every internet geek using cloud storage service. Cloud storage is a model of network enterprise storage where data is stored in virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties (from Wikipedia). In general Cloud storage services are used for backup data and store data or share data on the internet. There are so many free cloud storage services are available such as Google drive, Drop box, Sky drive and more but they offers less free space which is sufficient for sharing small files. But if you want to backup more data or want to share more files then the above services would not satisfy you. In this case you are trying to find some other provider which can give you more free cloud storage. If yes, then read this article, because today we are going to discussing about top free cloud storage provider which gives more free space to store your data.

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How to Change the Date of your Digital Photographs

John Q. Public has just finished importing the videos and pictures from the digital camera to his laptop but realizes that the media files are incorrectly time-stamped.

Maybe the date and time settings of his “point and shoot” camera were set incorrectly or maybe the digital camera was stamping the files with local time though the pictures were being shot in another country with a different time zone. He probably forgot to change the time stamp of the camera before going on vacation.

How does John change the data and time of his pictures?

Most image editing software, Picasa and iPhoto included, allow you corect the data and time of photographs imported from a digital camera or a smartphone. You can import your digital photos in the software and select the ones that need to be fixed.

In the case of Picasa, choose Tools -> Adjust Date & Time and select a new date for your photos. This will change the “Date Picture Taken” field in the EXIF data of you picturs. Similarly, iPhoto users can choose Photos -> Adjust Date & Time to set the selected photos to a particular date and time.

I however prefer a little-known command line utilitly called ExifTool for such operations since it is much more versatile. To get started, download the ExifTool executable and extract the zip file to your desktop. Now rename the exiftool(-k).exe utility to exiftool.exe and we are all set to adjust the date and time of our photographs.

Unlike the iPhoto or Picasa software that simply set the date and time of a photograph to another time stamp, Exif Tool can “shift” the data and time values associated with a picture. For instance, if your camera’s time was off by 2 hours 30 minutes at the time of capture, you can use ExifTool to shift the time stamp of all your pictures only by that “off” duration.

The sytax is:

exiftool.exe "-DateTimeOriginal+=Y:M:D h:m:s" filename.jpg

For instance, if wish to shift the time of photographs by 5 hours and 30 minutes, the command would be:

exiftool.exe "-DateTimeOriginal+=0:0:0 5:30:0" filename.jpg

And if you wish to perform a negative shift by 1 day, the command would be:

exiftool.exe "-DateTimeOriginal-=0:1:0 0:0:0" filename.jpg

Please refer to this document for the exact syntax and other examples.

Exif Tool is free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

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This story, How to Change the Date of your Digital Photographs, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 29/11/2013 under Image Editing, Software

Use Your Computer, Don’t Let It Use You: Five “U”s For Reduced Stress Online

Remember when getting an email was exciting? Or when seeing a particular post on Facebook was an event? It feels so long ago, but it wasn’t. In the past few years the amount of information in our various inboxes has exploded, and we all feel overwhelmed as a result. And when I say “inboxes”, I’m not just talking about email. At this point you probably have several “inboxes” that consistently require your attention. There’s your email, but there’s also probably some combination of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and maybe an RSS reader demanding your attention. Really, any place where you don’t...

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Microsoft Updates OneNote With OCR, Camera Scan, Share Charm

Microsoft’s OneNote is great for research, especially when used with Windows 8 and 8.1’s SkyDrive integration. And the popular note-taking app has now had a major update on the desktop OS that brings some cool new functions, including ‘Camera Scan’ for smart scanning and the ability to read and search scanned items. Camera Scan lets you capture important data like what’s written on the whiteboard in a meeting or that crucial document you don’t want to lose. Train your device’s camera at it, use OneNote’s Camera Scan and it will automatically crop, rotate, straighten, remove shadows and sharpen the image...

Read the full article: Microsoft Updates OneNote With OCR, Camera Scan, Share Charm

What’s Trending? Find Out With These Real-Time Data Websites

Tired of always being out of the loop? It’s amazing how quickly information can spread from person to person these days thanks to the Internet and social media. New ideas, websites, videos, and all manner of content can be seen by millions of people overnight, which mean that trends are being appearing and disappearing faster than ever before. Is it possible to keep up? The short answer is yes — with a catch. If you consume web media for hours per day, sure, it’s easy to stay on top of the latest trends and memes. But what if you don’t...

Read the full article: What’s Trending? Find Out With These Real-Time Data Websites

How to Make the New Google Maps Embeds Responsive

Responsive Google Maps – The maps automatically resize based on the screen size.

The new Google Maps now offer you can option to embed maps in your web pages. While you are on the Google Maps website, zoom-in to an area that you wish to embed, click the Gear icon in the lower left corner and choose the Embed Maps option from the menu.

This web page contains a sample map embedded using the default embed code provided by Google Maps. The embedded map is non-responsive. What it means is if you open the page on a device other than your desktop computer, the Google Map won’t fit the screen and you’ll have to scroll the page horizontally to see the complete map.

Here’s another web page that contains the same Google Map but now the map has been embedded responsively. Thus, if you resize the browser or view the page on a small device, the embedded map would adjust its size automatically based on your screen size.

How to Embed Google Maps Responsively

This is the default embed code for the new Google Maps:

<!-- Height=450px; Width=600px -->
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m12!1m3!1d7098.94326104394!2d78.0430654485247!3d27.172909818538997!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!5e0!3m2!1sen!2s!4v1385710909804" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0"></iframe>

As specified in the height and width parameters of the embed code, the default height for medium embeds is 450px or 75% of the default width (600px).

If you wish to transform this static sized Google Map into one that is responsive, all you have to do is add a few CSS rules to your web page and wrap the embed IFRAME inside these rules.

The new embed code with responsive style will be something like this. You can change the value of padding-bottom (line #4) from 75% to something for a different aspect ratio.

<style>
    .google-maps {
        position: relative;
        padding-bottom: 75%; // This is the aspect ratio
        height: 0;
        overflow: hidden;
    }
    .google-maps iframe {
        position: absolute;
        top: 0;
        left: 0;
        width: 100% !important;
        height: 100% !important;
    }
</style>

<div class="google-maps">
    <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m12!1m3!1d7098.94326104394!2d78.0430654485247!3d27.172909818538997!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!5e0!3m2!1sen!2s!4v1385710909804" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0"></iframe>
</div>

A similar technique can be used to embed Instagram videos and photos responsively.

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This story, How to Make the New Google Maps Embeds Responsive, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 29/11/2013 under Embed, Google Maps, Internet

Keyboard Shortcuts for Google+ Notifications

The Google+ notifications box has a few keyboard shortcuts you might find helpful. Here are some of them:



* up/down arrow keys help you select a notification from the list. Notice the blue line, which shows the currently selected notification. After opening a notification, use the same arrow keys to scroll.



* Enter (Return for Mac) opens the notification you've selected. You can also use o



* press the down arrow key after the last notification and then press Enter to open the list of previously read notifications



* right/left arrow keys let you go to the next/previous notification. You can also use j/k



* u - go back to the list of notifications or to the main screen



* d - mark as read the notification you've selected



* Esc closes the notifications box.



Unfortunately, there's no shortcut that opens the Google+ Notifications box, so you still need to click the bell icon. How to quickly read your notifications? Press the down arrow key, then press Enter and go to the next notification using the right arrow key.



Sometimes Page Up/Page Down and Space/Shift+Space work, but only after you use the arrow keys. If you find other keyboard shortcuts, please let me know in the comments.



Google+ also has a list of keyboard shortcuts.

Fascinating Earth: 5 Citizen Science Projects For Our Natural World

Quite frankly, I didn’t have the brain matter or the perseverance to be a scientist. But today, thanks to the power of the Internet, you don’t have to be a boffin with double PhDs to contribute to the sciences. If you are interested in the world we live in, natural sciences could be your calling. Like me, easy to join citizen science projects should help you take that interest further, and call yourself a “citizen scientist” if not a true blue scientist. Do you share a love for the natural world? Then, be a part of the crowd and join...

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NSA Porn, CyanogenMod Ban, Jolla Smartphone, Microsoft Sexism [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, the NSA watches porn, Bitcoin is now valued at $1,000, Google Street View comes to airports and train stations, the CyanagenMod Installer is banned from Google Play, F-Secure KEY is launched to help you manage your passwords, the new Jolla smartphone arrives, Twitter ups its level of security, and Microsoft is accused of being sexist when it comes to the Xbox One. The NSA Watches Porn "We only spy on terrorists. Well, all foreigners, really. OK, just basically anyone we want.": http://t.co/LUpbf7h6PV — Casey Muratori (@cmuratori) November 27, 2013 The NSA has tracked which pornographic...

Read the full article: NSA Porn, CyanogenMod Ban, Jolla Smartphone, Microsoft Sexism [Tech News Digest]

Google's Festive Decorations

Google shows a lot of festive doodles, Easter Eggs and special decoration. Here are some of them:



- The Thanksgiving doodle is actually a video

Here's the video:

"Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year."



- Mr. Jingles is hungry

Here's the animation:

- Hanukkah search results

"Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday."



- Festivus search results include the aluminum Festivus pole

"Festivus, a well-celebrated parody, has become a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 which serves as an alternative to participating in the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas and holiday season. Originally a family tradition of a scriptwriter working on the American sitcom Seinfeld, the holiday entered popular culture after it was made the focus of a 1997 episode of the program."



As Google says, "it's all about Thanksgivukkah in 2013. This overlap of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah won't happen again for another 70,000+ years, making it a once-in-a-lifetime event".



Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays!



{ Thanks, Mukil and Emanuele. }

Google Health Cards

When you search for [causes of multiple sclerosis], [causes of hiccups], [symptoms of the flu], [how to treat iron deficiency] and other similar health-related queries, Google shows snippets from authoritative sites like WebMD and MayoClinic. Sometimes Google also shows instant answers, but they're not always accurate.

{ Thanks, Sunite. }

YouTube Tweaks Experimental Center-Aligned UI

YouTube continues to tweak the center-aligned UI experiment. The latest version includes a new upload button, a refined guide sidebar with new icons and "more" drop-downs for playlists and subscriptions, a list of recommended channels and probably other features.

The "guide" sidebar is displayed by default only if there's enough room. If there isn't, the sidebar is hidden and you need to click "guide" to see your playlists, subscriptions, video history and more.

The layout still uses cards and it's center-aligned.

Here's how you can enable the experimental interface. If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer 8+:



1. open youtube.com in a new tab



2. load your browser's developer console:



* Chrome or Opera 15+ - press Ctrl+Shift+J for Windows/Linux/ChromeOS or Command-Option-J for Mac



* Firefox - press Ctrl+Shift+K for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-K for Mac



* Internet Explorer 8+ - press F12 and select the "Console" tab



* Safari 6 - if you haven't enabled the Develop menu, open Preferences from the Safari menu, go to the Advanced tab and check "Show Develop menu in menu bar". Close Preferences and then press Command-Option-C to show the console.



* Opera 12 - press Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-I for Mac, then click "Console".



3. paste the following code which changes a YouTube cookie:



document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=rkZGzYxfbLQ; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();



4. press Enter and close the console.



To go back to the regular interface, use the same instructions, but replace the code from step 3 with this one:



document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();



{ Thanks, Florian K. }

YouTube's Player, Back to Simple Buttons?

Back in September, YouTube's player grouped controls for annotations, player size and video quality. A few weeks ago, the "large player" button has been removed from the drop-down and brought back to its original position, next to the "full screen" button.

If the video doesn't have annotations and you use the Flash player, you'll even see the video quality drop-down without an additional click:

Preview International Airports And Train Stations Before You Travel On Google Street View

Google Street View already gives us enough reasons to travel. Now, a new Google Maps feature adds a touch of practicality to those virtual dreams. Google Maps will let you preview global transit locations, including 16 international airports, and over 50 train and subway stations. Even a cable car station in Hong Kong is thrown in for good measure. An interactive map shows you the spots that have been selected so far. Google Maps definitely will be adding more. This is Tokyo International Airport… It’s not just visual chutzpah on the part of Google either, as mapping transit locations makes...

Read the full article: Preview International Airports And Train Stations Before You Travel On Google Street View

Chromecast Button in Google Play Store

Sometimes you have to go back to basics, create something simple that works and constantly improve it. That's how Google Search, Gmail, Chrome and other Google products became successful. Google TV tried to solve too many problems and ended up with complicated remote controls, buggy software, browsers with blocked content, unhappy partners and disappointed users.



Google Cast and Chromecast try to solve fewer problems and are much more limited. Apps live on your phone or tablet, the remote control is your phone or tablet and Chromecast is just a way to play content on your TV.



The number of apps that support Google Cast is still very small, but they're some of the most popular apps in their category: YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies, Netflix, Pandora, Hulu Plus, HBO Go. This is about to change when Google releases the official Cast SDK and allows any app or site to integrate with Chromecast.



For now, Google continues to promote Chromecast. "For a limited time we're giving you an HD movie rental from Google Play with every purchase of a Chromecast device. It's the perfect treat to add to that special someone's stocking. At just $35 each, why not pick one up for both of you?" suggests Google Play's site. The promotion is actually "valid for any movie rental or other content on Google Play valued at $6 or less".



Sterling Alvarez noticed a Chromecast button in the Google Play Store app (landscape mode). It only lists the apps that support Google Chromecast, but it's interesting to notice that the link is prominently placed in the default Play Store section for apps.

{ Thanks, Sterling. }

Where To Study: Navigating The Free Online Education World

If you are interested in free education online, you’ve probably heard the big names: Coursera, Khan Academy, MIT, etc. But now that these learning avenues are commonplace, it also is bit of a nightmare to choose between them and decide which learning systems to use. Top Universities Offering Free Education Online Many universities offer access to their lectures publicly now, as it is a great way to showcase their courses and their generosity. MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, and Berkeley all offer a lot of great content online. However, due to many great partnerships with MOOC (Massively Open...

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You Can Have It All: Enlightenment Is A Light Linux Desktop Environment That Looks Good

Ever since the development team behind GNOME went ahead with their plans for GNOME 3, people have been scrambling to find the new favorite desktop environment. Although there are plenty of choices available (such as other GNOME-based ones, KDE, Xfce, and LXDE), you might still be looking for something else that is easy to use, relatively lightweight, powerful, and good looking. If none of those previously mentioned desktop environments tickle your fancy, then you may be interested in a unique desktop environment named Enlightenment. About Enlightenment Enlightenment, or simply “E”, is a desktop environment that has actually been around since...

Read the full article: You Can Have It All: Enlightenment Is A Light Linux Desktop Environment That Looks Good