How To Find Someone’s Real Email Address With Gmail

Need to email someone but don’t have their address? Whether you’re a disgruntled customer looking to lodge a complaint with someone in charge, a reporter trying to get in touch with the right person, or just attempting to get in touch with a long-lost friend, you may not have the recipient’s email id. We have told you how to verify if an email address exists, but to find one you don’t know requires a little ingenuity. Guy has previously suggested a few ways to find someone’s email address, but I have some more solutions. All you need is a Gmail...

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Missing Media Tools in Windows 8? Easily Burn Audio and View DVDs

Windows 8 makes it hard to burn audio and watch video DVDs thanks to hidden apps and missing licences. This is all part of the move away from optical media – fortunately, we can show you how to work around this. Times are changing, and not all Windows 8 computers ship with a DVD drive. But even if you have an external optical drive or have upgraded an old PC, burning an audio disc or watching a video DVD can be tough (data DVDs can be read regardless). Finding the software you need to perform these tasks is relatively simple,...

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From the New Tab Page to the Google Homepage

Chrome will replace the new tab page with a simplified version of the Google homepage. Sure, it doesn't have the search button and the footer, but it's the Google homepage. You'll see the app launcher grid, which replaces the black bar, you'll see the Google+ notification and share buttons, you'll see Google doodles.



Most of the features of the new tab page have been removed and replaced by a huge Google logo. Chrome apps are in the app launcher, recent tabs are in the Chrome menu.



I've never liked browser homepages, but Chrome's new tab page was really useful. It loaded quickly and had a lot of links to pages you were likely to open. Now it only shows 8 of your frequently visited pages and a fake search box that sends you to the omnibox.

When Google shows an animated doodle, the new tab page shows same the animation and you're forced to see it each and every time you open a new tab. Sometimes the doodle uses a lot of resources:

There are some great extensions that replace the new tab page, but you shouldn't have to use an extension for this. The new tab page should be fast, simple and useful.



Here's a quote from Chromium's site:



"The new tab page is the default starting point for all tabs - it is designed to get the user where they want to go, and is not meant to be an information resource like the user's home page; that is, the new tab page is not intended to be a destination, but rather a jumping-off point to other destinations - we strongly want to avoid cognitive load and distractions for the user, especially those creating new tabs for other purposes."



So it shouldn't include distractions. That's exactly what the Google homepage does and the new tab shouldn't do. Animated doodles, Google+ notifications - all of them are distractions that don't belong in a page you open so often.



For now, I'll switch to the empty new tab page.

YouTube Tests Improved Center-Aligned Interface

Now that many of the YouTube experiments are publicly available, it's time for something new. YouTube tests a new version of the center-aligned layout. The sidebar looks better, but it's still hidden by default. The YouTube homepage has two tabs for "What to watch" and "My subscriptions", while the header is now persistent.

Here's a video:

Here's how you can enable the experimental feature. 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



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



* Safari - check this article



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



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



document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=Gapj9bz_H8M; 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, Sushubh and Rubén. }

Fargo Makes Outlining On The Web Clean And Easy

One of the best ways to get started with any type of project is to either brainstorm and outline ideas, or use some sort of mapping technique. For outlining, a new HTML5 web application written in JavaScript called Fargo, just might be one of the best tools for creating, storing, and collaborating on outline documents. Saikat has shared five outlining tools for writers and artists, and while they are very good, Fargo offers a few unique features that users may find useful. As an online application there’s no need to install the application on your computer. As a user, the...

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Google Wallet for Android - Widely Available, Still Limited

Google Wallet's Android app was available in the Play Store, but not many people could install it. The app was limited to Sprint and a few small US carriers, Nexus devices and a few other phones. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile blocked the app because they work on a competing payment system called Isis.



Google announced that the app is now available for any Android device in the US running Gingerbread or a more recent Android version. "The updated app helps you easily send money on the go, store all your loyalty cards, save money through offers, and view all your Google Wallet activity - all in one place."



The Google Wallet added the feature that was available in Gmail: sending money to other people in the US using their email addresses. The Gmail feature is gradually rolling out, but you can manually enable it by using the Wallet app to send money. You can also add your loyalty cards by scanning the barcode or by entering the card number.

While you can install the app on any Android 2.3+ device in the US, you need an eligible device that supports NFC to tap and pay in of the many Wallet-enabled US stores. There are only 29 devices that support this feature and they're still limited to Sprint and small carriers like MetroPCS, US Cellular, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile.



So not much has changed: the main functionality of the app is not available if you use 3 of the biggest US carriers, but there are some new features that don't require NFC and work on any device.



This will probably increase Google Wallet's adoption. Until now, the app has been installed less than 10 million times.

In A Nutshell, How Would You Describe MakeUseOf To A Friend? [You Told Us]

MakeUseOf is changing, as you may have noticed from the recent redesign. We’re still offering content covering the Internet, Windows, iOS, Hardware, and Social Media, to name just a few of the topics in our remit, but we’re evolving to better serve you, the loyal MakeUseOf readership. As part of this process of trying to understand what you want from the site and what we can do better as a result, we thought it would be fun to find out how you (would) recommend us to your friends. We obviously hope you have already told your friends and family of...

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YouTube Music Cards

A few weeks ago, I posted about a YouTube experiment that adds bigger cards for music artists. Search for Röyksopp, Daft Punk or any other popular artist and you'll see a Knowledge Graph-like sidebar with a list of top tracks, albums and related artists. Click any track and you'll start a playlist with a lot of other songs from the same artist. Click an album and you'll be able to listen to all the songs from the album.

What else is there? You can also click "top tracks" to start the playlist automatically generated by YouTube. Click the artist's name to visit the topic channel created by YouTube (there's no topic channel for Röyksopp, but there's one for Daft Punk).