Google Tests Instant Site Search

Google used to show a search box below the top search result, especially for navigational queries like [nytimes], [yahoo] or [newegg]. The search box allowed you to type a new query and restrict the results to that site. Obviously, you can still use the site: operator, but most people don't know about it.



Now Google tests a similar feature as part of Google Instant. After typing a query that has a dominant search result, Google shows a new option: "search within [your query]". Select that option and Google lets you type a new query and restrict the results to that site. It's somewhat similar to Chrome's "tab to search" feature, except that you use Google, not the site's search engine.

It's interesting to notice that Google shows suggestion when you search within a site. If you use the site: operator, Google doesn't show suggestions and the results aren't displayed as you type.

{ via Tecno-Net }

Download Boot Camp Windows 8 Drivers

CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL POST



Four months after the release of Windows 8, Apple has finally updated Boot Camp Assistant to add support for Windows 8. Yes, Boot Camp 5.0.5033 includes drivers for Windows 7 as well as Windows 8. Mac users who would like to install and enjoy Windows 8 on Mac machines without going through driver issues can [...]

WizTree Can Help You Find What Is Hogging Your Disk Space [Windows]

I’ve put out several posts in the past relating to the subject of comparing, analyzing, and visualizing disk space on a Windows machine. There is an extremely wide range of options when it comes to this category of software, and that’s because each caters to a specific need of the end-user.

Some users prefer visuals and need charts and graphs, or others need as much numerical data as possible, and then some of us just want the information on our screen as fast as we can get it. This post applies to those of you who prefer the latter! I’m not a big fan of having my time wasted, and you shouldn’t be either. Let’s take a look at one of the fastest disk space analysis tools out there. That software is WizTree.

Download WizTree

WizTree works on both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, and 8. As every application should by now, it comes with a portable version. No hard installation is required, but that’s all up to you.

WizTree interface design is pretty straightforward and doesn’t allow the user to get confused or intimidated by settings that stray too far outside of the norm. You can see that before even completing a scan, your local drive space is shown. I’m using over 90% of my available disk space and I’d never recommend that to anyone, by the way. Luckily, this application can give me everything I need to free up some of that.

Select a NTFS (this is important) drive and click the Scan button to begin analyzing that disk.

In just a matter of seconds, my hard drive (which is pretty large) has been completely analyzed and the most space-hogging folders are files are listed in order. You can feel free to click through folders to then see the contents of that folder listed in the same order.

This alone acts as the core functionality of WizTree and it does an excellent job of making such a task easy on the user. It’s not all that WizTree can do, however. My favorite feature of the application lies within the next tab, where you can view the 1000 largest single files on your entire system.

This is extremely useful. In this tab alone, I can make several decisions right away that could save me over 20 GB of disk space. Just cleaning my Dropbox folder and clearing some old patch files from Diablo III and a few other games would relieve a huge chunk of space, and it wouldn’t cross my mind without WizTree.

Running this tool and deleting unnecessary, fat files and folders before any disk management scan, like a defrag or error check, could cut off a huge fraction of the time it would take to complete the operation.

In the Options menu, you’re able to enable the Windows Explorer context menu that will allow you to delete, copy, and perform other basic operations on files from directly within the application. Other options allow you to change the way data is measured on your hard drive.

WizTree is a portable application that I’ve added to my collection and I plan for it to stay there. While the features seem very narrow and limited, the speed and effectiveness at which it performs is really something to be appreciated. Other applications that have the responsibility of crawling through your entire hard drive have taken much longer in my experiences, and I’m very glad I’ve discovered this one.

Xinorbis is a very well-known alternative that offers more information, and lets you analyze your disk space at a different angle. It’s a much more technical application that can generate full reports on the status of your hard drive. Where I’d consider WizTree to be the perfect application for finding space-hogging folders and files, Xinorbis fits a broader analysis of the hard drive. It’ll tell you practically everything you need to know.

Scanner is another alternative that takes your disk space and allows you to visualize it through sunburst charts. I’ve found it to be much slower than WizTree, and the way you have to navigate through folders using Scanner just isn’t as effective as WizTree (in my opinion). Again, it’s a good piece of software but it approaches the situation differently and perhaps even complicates things.

What do you think of WizTree’s speed and features, and how it compares to its alternatives? Let me know in the comments!

The post WizTree Can Help You Find What Is Hogging Your Disk Space [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Find the Best Translation and Improve Google Translate

Google Translate shows a new message at the bottom of the page: "Would you mind answering some questions to help improve translation quality?" It's not a boring survey, it's actually a great way to test your foreign language skills by picking the best translation.

Here's the link, just in case you can't find it. The URL parameters are only for English to French translations, but you can replace "fr" with "es", "de", "it" or other language code.



{ Thanks, Samuel and Camilo. }

Google Translate Phrasebook

As previously anticipated, Google Translate added a new feature called "phrasebook". It's just a fancy name for bookmarking translations and saving them to a list. You can display the "phrasebook" by clicking the "show phrasebook" button. The list of translations is searchable and can be grouped by language pair. The feature requires to sign in to Google Account so that Google can save the phrasebook.



"Phrasebook for Google Translate jumpstarts this slow learning process by allowing you to save the most useful phrases to you, for easy reference later on, exactly when you need them. By revisiting the useful phrases in your Phrasebook from time to time, you can turn any brief translation into lasting knowledge. It's easy to start using Phrasebook. Simply click the star under the translated text to save the translation in your Phrasebook," explains Google.

Unfortunately, this feature is not very useful to generate phrasebooks because Google Translate doesn't do a good job when it comes to translating short phrases. "You are welcome" is translated "Vous êtes les bienvenus" instead of "Je vous en prie", while "What is your name?" is translated "Quel est votre nom?" instead of the more common "Comment t'appelles-tu?" or "Comment vous appelez-vous?". Not to mention "Mon nom est" instead of "Je m'appelle". Maybe Google should have generated some phrasebooks with common phrases.



{ Thanks, Florian. }

Is Office 2013 For You?

I’ve been running the Microsoft Office 2013 trial on my new Windows 8 tablet lately, in order to get a good look at the finished product and decide whether to upgrade from Office 2010.

While researching the paid options, however, I noticed that there is a bit of a disparity between the various paid options and the free software offered as part of Microsoft Office Web Apps. In short, there is a good chance that many users could be suckered into purchasing a copy of Microsoft Office 2013 (or worse, an annual license to Office 365) when the features they need are available for free.

Yes, Microsoft already provides different options for different budgets, but do you need to spend money on a full suite when you’re only using Word for day-to-day word processing and Excel to manage your accounts? In short, no.

What You Can Expect From Office 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 ships with four core applications, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These are available across all of the versions (see below).

In addition, other applications are included depending upon your budget and versions. For instance, Outlook 2013 comes with the Office Home & Business release and Office Professional 2013, while the latter also includes Publisher and Access.

Only Office 365 offers Outlook, Publisher, Access and SkyDrive and Skype, along with the streamed version of the suite, Office on Demand. The expectation from Microsoft is that businesses will be using tools such as their own localised online versions of Office 365 and collaboration tools which is why these features are missing from the more expensive versions of the suite.

Different Versions For Different Budgets

Four versions of Microsoft Office 2013 are available:

• Office 365 – $99.99 (5 PCs or Macs, annual licence)


• Office Home & Student 2013 ($139.99, 1 PC for home use)


• Office Home & Business 2013 ($219.99, 1 PC for home or business use)


• Office Professional 2013 ($399.99, 1 PC for home or business use)

As you can see, these are all expensive options.

Don’t forget, of course, that Microsoft offer individual versions of their office applications. For instance, Microsoft Word 2013 can be purchased for $109.99.

Further details on Microsoft Office 2013 and the new features can be found in our guide, Microsoft Office 2013: Unofficial Guide.

But Hold On – Do I Need To Spend Money?

The $99 option might be ideal for a home or small business, but remember that this is an annual subscription; over the course of the product’s lifespan you’ll be paying around the same (or more) than for a copy of Office Professional 2013.

But then, do you even need to spend money to use Microsoft Office 2013?

To begin with, there are various free office applications around, from OpenOffice/LibreOffice to Google Docs. These are all excellent alternatives, but if you prefer to stick with Microsoft you can thanks to various free options that the company offers.

Microsoft’s Free Office Tools

You must, for instance, be familiar with Hotmail.com. Over the past few months this has morphed into a Gmail-like service called Outlook.com, and as its name suggests it is an online version of the Outlook mail app. Complete with calendar and contacts, Outlook.com is available to anyone with a Microsoft login (for instance, for Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Zune, Xbox Live).

Windows 8 users will also find that they can get a version of OneNote for free, optimized for use on tablet devices. Capable of matching most of the functions of the main OneNote 2013, OneNote for Windows 8 is available from the app store and can easily manage word processing and basic tables.

For a more complete Microsoft Office experience, meanwhile, you can rely on the various components of Microsoft Office Web Apps. Word, Excel and PowerPoint are all available free online in your browser (just as Google Docs is) and again these can be accessed with a Microsoft account. You’ll be able to save your documents to SkyDrive, or open them in a desktop version of the appropriate app.

Conclusion

Microsoft are promoting their new office suite as the ultimate answer to productivity, and for larger businesses and students of particular subjects this might be the case. However, Microsoft Office 2013’s cheaper options are not as cheap or comprehensive as you might expect.

It’s a simple task to compose a document in an online Office application and then tidy it up with a free application such as LibreOffice without spending a penny.

For most users, the free options provided by Microsoft should allow you to do whatever you need.

The post Is Office 2013 For You? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

How To Use Skype As Your Main Home Phone Line

It’s 2013 – stop paying for a land line. If you’ve got broadband Internet you can set up Skype, pay for a subscription and and keep your total home phone bill under $5 a month – long distance to phones throughout North America included (rates vary for other countries).

Kannon showed you how to save hundreds on your mobile phone bill in three easy steps. It works, but if a pay-as-you go plan is stopping you from having longer conversations don’t worry, Skype can save the day with its cheap long-distance plans.

Most people know you can use Skype to make free calls to other Skype users, with or without video. What many people don’t realize, however, is that you can also use the service to call regular phones – and that doing so can save you a lot of money. There are two ways to use Skype as a home phone, the first being to buy Skype credit. This is the pay-as-you-go option, and works well if you very rarely make phone calls.

The second option is a subscription, which allows you to make unlimited calls to anyone in a particular country for one monthly rate. Combine this with a dedicated Skype phone – or an app on your smartphone, tablet or computer – and you’ll be able to make and receive calls anytime. Go ahead and sign up for an account at Skype.com, if you haven’t yet, then keep reading to learn how you can use this service to replace your main home phone line.

Note: Skype cannot be used to call emergency services, such as 911 in North America. In case of emergency use your mobile phone.

Step 1: Get A Subscription

Now that you’ve got Skype it’s time to pay for the ability to call actual phones.

How much using Skype to replace your phone will cost depends on which countries it is you’d like to call. Myself, I’m mainly interesting in the USA and Canada (the country where I live and the country I’m from, respectively). Happily for me there is a North American plan, and it only costs $2.99 a month as of this writing, but note that you can get discounts for paying up front.

Head to the Skype rates page and search for the countries you’re interested in calling. You can buy multiple subscriptions if you regularly call multiple countries. And remember: the country you’re calling to does not have anything to do with the country you’re physically in. If you want to call the USA from India you can do that – and pay no more for the privilege than someone in the USA.

Check the details closely before paying for a subscription, however. The North American plan includes landlines and cell phones, while the European plan includes only landlines. If calling mobile phones outside North America is important to you this might not be ideal.

Note that, alternatively, you can get Skype Premium for $4.99 or more a month – it offers unlimited calls to any single country. For me this is a worse deal – I get unlimited calls to two countries for $2.99 – but depending on which country you want to call regularly this might be the best option. It comes with group video calls, if that’s important to you.

Step 2: Get A Skype Phone Number

A subscription means you can call other people, but what if you want other people to be able to call you? Well, you can set Skype to show any number, free of charge. Log into Skype, head to “Manager features” then click “Caller ID”. People you call with Skype will think you’re calling from whatever number you set here, and call back at that number. This works well if you have a mobile phone people can call you at.

If you want people to be able to call Skype directly, however, you’re going to need to buy a Skype number. Head to the SkypeIn page and see if your country is listed.

If it isn’t, sorry, you can’t get a SkypeIn number at this point (more countries are supported than those pictured above). If it is, click through to pick your number and find out about pricing.

If you already have a Skype subscription you should get a discount on a Skype number. I, for example, get a 50 percent discount on my USA Skype number because of my North American subscription. Just be sure to buy your subscription before your number in order to get the best price.

Step 3: Set Up a Phone

With the default Skype client you can easily call phones from your computer. This works well when you’re calling out, but if you want to receive calls regularly you’re going to need to leave your computer on constantly. If this is a problem for you, there are dedicated Skype phones out there you can buy. There aren’t as many of these on the market as there used to be, so they can cost quite a bit at first glance – the lowest options that don’t require a computer cost around $70.

Note that some of the cheaper options require a computer in order to function. There are also adapters if you’d rather keep using your current phone – shop around.

Of course, if you’d rather not buy a dedicated device, you could simply install Skype for iOS or Skype for Android instead. Connected to your WiFi network, you can use your phone with Skype account to make and receive calls – perfect if your contract limits the amount of voice calls you can make in a month.

If you have an old smart phone that you’re not using anymore, why not connect that to your WiFi network and use it as a Skype phone? All you need to do is download the app.

Bonus Points: Google Voice

Skype supports voicemail, and with it you can send SMS messages. If you want a more robust voicemail service, free SMS from any device, and the ability to take calls on Skype or your mobile phone, you should really check out Google Voice. Set up the service to forward calls to both your Skype account and your mobile phone and both will ring at once, meaning you’ll only need to use your mobile to take a call when you’re away from Skype.

Sadly, Google Voice is US only. Sorry.

Conclusion

Of course, if even Skype’s low rates are too steep for you, you can make free calls from Gmail – Google expanded free calls through 2013, in North America only.

But for the rest of us Skype is a reasonable option. Will you be switching to Skype? Let us know in the comments below.

The post How To Use Skype As Your Main Home Phone Line appeared first on MakeUseOf.