Laugh Till You Burst With The Onion’s Video Content [Stuff to Watch]

The Onion is one of the longest-running satirical news organisations, and remains to this day a continuing source of ridiculous news, subtle comedy and political commentary. Founded in 1988 as a parodic newspaper and successfully making the jump to the current online format, The Onion now enjoys around 8 million unique visits per month.

In addition to well-written content and occasionally being mistaken for a real news source, the website has broadened its satirical horizons and since 2007 has been publishing video and audio content too. The Onion’s YouTube channel is full of references and parodies of online trends, 24/7 rolling news channels and dummy reports which quite literally make up some of the service’s finest content.

If you’ve not explored this side to America’s most popular satirical rag then you’ve been missing out.

Onion Talks

Over the last few years a trend for publishing discussions online has emerged in a big way. While organisations like TED have existed for a long time, the popularity of these materials has really taken off and made headlines, from TED itself to Google Tech Talks and whole courses provided by universities. Who better to parody this movement than The Onion?

There have been 12 Onion Talks so far, each poking fun at various traits shown by celebrated speakers. The series kicks off with “Compost-Fueled Cars: Wouldn’t That Be Great?” which mocks ideology without practical basis, and vastly exaggerates the egotism shown by a few speakers.

Also worthy of a mention is the incredible “Ducks Go Quack, Chickens Say Cluck” in which a so-called celebrated animal behaviouralist examines the wildly differing philosophies between two feathered egg-borne species. The deliveries in this one are absolutely spot-on.

Used and abused to the point of ridicule is the term “social media” and this is tackled in the talk entitled “Using Social Media To Cover For Lack Of Original Thought“. Some of the points raised are ridiculous to the extreme yet make complete sense. Scary and very, very clever.

Finally “Quit Whining And Put On A Goddamn Coat: My Journey” is a sweary parodic look at one, quiet woman’s triumphant journey toward raising her body temperature and should serve as an inspiration to anyone else out there feeling a bit chilly.

You can watch the whole playlist of talks by clicking play on the embedded video below.

Trouble Hacking

Trouble Hacking is a series of videos designed to help you conquer everyday problems, and is somewhat of a poke at sites like Lifehacker (and to an extent MakeUseOf) in general. That’s just fine because we should all be able to laugh at ourselves not to mention the ridiculous solutions brought about in these videos below.

First up is a problem affecting many iPhone owners – white mold covering the entirety of their smartphones. Time to hack it!

Sometimes websites offer up solutions to problems that don’t exist, an issue this next video addresses – how to opt out of the unlimited breadstick offer at the Olive Garden chain of restaurants.

Last up here’s a tip for anyone looking to lose weight: have you thought about weigh loss throat worms? Apparently these little critters set up home in your throat, absorbing food before it hits your stomach so you can eat whatever you want without piling on the pounds.

Check out the full playlist of Trouble Hacking videos embedded below.

Horrifying Planet

You know those Planet Earth-type shows that examine the incredible examples of evolution, geography and survival in nature? Horrifying Planet is The Onion’s very well executed take on that, complete with a voiceover that David Attenborough would be proud of.

Did you know that the humble robin, a common and often overlooked garden bird, is a cold blooded killer on a par with war criminals for the atrocities it commits on a daily basis? Find out why in the video below.

The desert, a barren wasteland where little can survive is an easy target for this Horrifying Planet video which takes a good hard look at “nature’s hospice”.

Unlike the aforementioned examples which subscribe to the Horrifying Planet mantra quite nicely, deer apparently break the mould. That is because deer are fine, existing everywhere and doing nothing out of the ordinary.

Once again you can watch this whole series in the embedded player below.

Today Now!

Daytime television is probably the worst kind of television, filled with vox pops, pretend news, awkward subject transitions and topical nonsense. Today Now! is all of those things embodied into a faux morning television show from The Onion, and it’s great.

Here’s some fine Internet satire – the discovery of the ruins of former social networking “civilization” called Friendster. According to the report, the site has been abandoned since 2005.

What would happen if an ill child exploited a loophole in the Make A Wish Foundation’s rules that would allow for unlimited wishes? They’d go bankrupt, of course. Poor taste? Probably. Funny? Definitely.

Imagine if this year’s must-have Christmas gift was Chinese paint. Actually don’t because it’s ridiculous and The Onion already went there.

Check out the full playlist over more than 40 videos below.

Do you have any favourite Onion coverage? Any similarly over the top parodies? Share your thoughts in the comments, below this post.

The post Laugh Till You Burst With The Onion’s Video Content [Stuff to Watch] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Brief: The Simple RSS Feed Reader You Were Always Looking For [Firefox]

Recently, after using the Google RSS feed reader for years without second thought, I started looking around at other readers. It’s not that I’m not loyal or even that I don’t like Google Reader, but using only Google Reader has been like eating only vanilla ice cream for years, and let’s face it, who wants to eat only vanilla ice cream when there’s so much goodness to be had?

Last week, I found a simple RSS feed reader for Firefox called Bamboo Feed Reader. I instantly liked its simplicity, but it still wasn’t perfect. One of the things that makes Google’s products so popular is how easy they are to use and how little thought you have to put into them. Bamboo made me realize that I’m not in Mountain View any more, and that I might need to work a little bit if I want a good reader. It also made me realize that my search was not over – I still haven’t found the perfect reader for me.

So my quest continued, and the next reader I found was Brief. I found Brief on our Best of Firefox page, and according to its screenshots, it looks even simpler than Bamboo, which to me meant it might require less work to be perfect. So can it really be that coveted Google Reader replacement?

Setting Up Brief

Before you start, there’s one crucial thing to know about Brief: it integrates with your bookmark system. If you hate Firefox’s bookmark interface, or if you don’t want to use it for any other reason, Brief might not be the right solution for you. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for ways to use bookmarks more often, and like the idea of your feeds and your bookmarks intermingling, you’re going to love what Brief can do for you.

The first thing to do after installing Brief, is importing your feeds into it. This can be done either by exporting your feeds from your current reader and importing them into Brief, or, if you’re using Live Bookmarks, my pointing Brief to their location. To import your feeds into Brief, find the wrench and screwdriver icon on the top left, and on the feeds tab, choose “Import” or find your Live Bookmarks folder.

Before closing the options window, take a look at the Main tab to set up refresh times, storing options, and other behaviors. Take a look at the Shortcuts tab as well, to learn all the keyboard shortcuts you can use with Brief. Unlike Bamboo, Brief supports J and K for browsing articles, which is a huge relief for those coming off Google Reader.

Bookmarks Integration

Brief’s interface is pretty straight forward, with one major difference from most readers: your feeds are actually Live Bookmarks. When you import your feeds into brief, they automatically become Live Bookmarks, and you can find them in your regular bookmarks library under “Subscribed Feeds”. Any change you want to make, such as adding a feed, changing a feed’s position in the list, or adding tags to articles, is done through Firefox’s bookmark’s manager.

This also means that your feeds are actually stored as bookmarks, and you can keep them there indefinitely, or for as long as you set up in the options.

Any change you make to your Live Bookmarks is immediately reflected in Brief. Try adding tags, moving a feed or a folder around or deleting a feed, and see what happens in Brief.

Adding New Feeds

Considering the bookmarks integration mentioned above, how do you go about adding a new feed? Don’t look for any such button on Brief’s interface, you won’t find it. To add a new feed, you need to visit the blog or website you want to add, and from the Bookmarks menu, choose “Subscribe to This Page…“.

You will then have to choose how you want to subscribe, and here you need to choose Live Bookmarks. When you click on Subscribe Now, you’ll get the chance to add the feed to the rest of your feeds by adding it to the “Subscribed Feeds” folder, where you can later change its location by dragging it around, placing it in a folder, etc.

The Reading Experience

All in all, Brief is a simple RSS feed reader. For some, this simplicity would be welcome, while for others it will seem more like a lack of features. Truth be told, there aren’t too many options to play with when reading feeds. You can view your feeds in list view or full view, you can bookmark articles for easy access, you can mark items as unread or delete them, and view only unread items or all items. That’s about all you can do when it comes to articles.

Looking at whole feeds, you can update them, mark them as read, empty them, or delete them. You can also set sophisticated per-feed preferences such as update frequency, storing duration and more. This means you can have some feeds update every 2 minutes and store them forever, while other, less important feeds, are updated once every 2 hours and stored only for 30 days. This can help you set clear priorities in your feeds.

Brief doesn’t come with changeable themes, and there’s no control over font size, spacing, or anything like that. Don’t like the way it looks? You’re welcome to change it. If you know your CSS, that is.

Something else you’re not going to find on Brief are sharing options. There are none of these to speak of. Want to share an article? Click through to the website and share from there.

Conclusion

If you know how to use bookmarks, you know how to use Brief. You have feeds, you read them, end of story. This is a great little reader that can work for anyone fed up with Google Reader, and even for those who find Google Reader too hard to manage.

Looking for an RSS feed reader that’s down-to-earth, simple, lightweight and manageable? You’re going to love Brief. Looking for something more? Keep looking, but don’t forget to tell me in the comments what you find!

The post Brief: The Simple RSS Feed Reader You Were Always Looking For [Firefox] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Create an Un-guessable Passcode for your iOS Devices

It is easy to type accented characters (like ä, the letter “a” with two dots placed over it) using the virtual keyboard of your iPhone and iPad. Just tap and hold a key and it will show you a list of related characters that have accent marks. →

Use accented characters as passcodes on your iPhone and iPad – like strâtégý

Strong Passcode for your iPhone & iPad

The passcode of your iPhone /iPad is generally made up of digits but if you would like to use a more strong and un-guessable passcode, consider using one or more of these accented characters. For instance, a word like Äpplë is much more difficult to guess than just Apple.

If you do not see the option to use alphanumeric characters as the passcode for your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock and turn off Simple Passcode.

Also see: Keyboard Shortcuts for iPhone & iPad

This is an iOS specific feature. Android devices support alphanumeric characters for screen passwords but accented characters aren’t allowed. And in the case of Windows Phone 8, you can only use digits to lock /unlock the screen.

The tip was originally shared by @ade494 on Reddit.

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This story, Create an Un-guessable Passcode for your iOS Devices, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/01/2013 under IPad, IPhone, Password, Software.

How to Continuously Monitor your Internet Connection

The internet connection has been flaky for the past few days. It works fine for 10-15 minutes, breaks for about a minute and the connection is then automatically restored. This erratic on/off cycle repeats itself throughout the day. →

It is most likely an ISP issue as the modem, the router, the DNS server, and the network connections seem perfect. Even power cycling the hardware failed to fix the problem.

While the ISP resolves the issue, I have to continuously monitor the Internet connection as certain actions – like submitting web forms – would fail if initiated while the computer is offline. Luckily, there isn’t a need to download another utility as the included ping command can itself help monitor the downtime.

Ping to Monitor your Internet Connection

Open your command prompt (Start -> Run -> type cmd). Now type “ping -t 8.8.8.8″ and hit Enter. The “-t” switch is important as it means that the ping command will run forever unless stopped manually by hitting Ctrl + C. (8.8.8.8 is Google’s DNS Server)

The output of the ping command, as illustrated in the above screenshot, shows the live status of your Internet connection. If the status reads as “reply from 8.8.8.8,” the machine is online and in all other cases, the Internet connection is down.

Read more ways to troubleshoot your Internet connection.

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This story, How to Continuously Monitor your Internet Connection, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/01/2013 under DOS, Networking, Internet.

Shareaholic Is A Must-Have Add-on For Social Media Addicts [Firefox]

If you’re a typical internet user, you’ve probably signed up for a handful of different social networks over the years. All of these social networks no doubt mean completely different things to you, as they each have a separate set of your friends subscribed, different uses and often hold unique interests at heart. In other words, the things you share with each social network are tailored individually to each network and audience.

Despite keeping these networks separate in your own head, the everyday browsing habits of internet users usually involve one main browser set-up, often with a bunch of extensions. But who wants to have a different extension for each social network you want to share to? Not me! Not when there’s a way of sharing to all your networks using the one extension, Shareaholic.

What Is Shareaholic?

Shareaholic is a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer. It’s also available as a bookmarklet for use in any other browser. We’re going to focus on the Firefox extension for now.

In addition to these browser tools, Shareaholic also offers blog sharing tools and analytics for publishers. So, take a closer look around if that interests you.

Share To Anywhere

There are 100+ popular social networks and tools supported by Shareaholic, and it’s possible for you to choose which of these to list and in what order they appear. Because of this, you should be able to share directly to almost any social network or tool you like, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, WordPress, LinkedIn, Evernote, Hootsuite, Tumblr, Delicious, Bit.ly, Pocket, Gmail and many more. Since it’s entirely up to you, you can make this the most powerful and productive browser tool you ever use.

Keeping Things Neat

Since you only need one browser extension to share with multiple social networks, you can cut down on the total amount of extensions you have active in your browser. This will keep your toolbars neat and cut down on extension slowness.

How To Use Shareaholic

Shareaholic sits unobtrusively on your toolbar until you’re ready to share something. When you’re on a page worth sharing, simply click the Shareaholic button and choose the service you want to share to from the menu (which you will have already customized to show your favorite services). Shareaholic then pops up a window ready to share. Mostly, this window contains the correct page to share items directly to that service, with all the details of the page you were on filled in. This means that for any given service you can access all the bells and whistles available including delayed posting, choice of image, tagging and more.

Shareaholic Accounts

Registration is not required, but it is available as an option. For people who use multiple browsers, you’ll appreciate that you can sync your Shareaholic settings by signing up for an account. Any services added to Shareaholic via one browser extension (or the website) will be ready to use in other browsers immediately.

Recommended By Mozilla

The Shareaholic extension is loved by so many people that it now comes recommended by the Mozilla foundation itself.It was the Grand Prize Winner of Mozilla’s own Extend Firefox contest.

Also Read

If you’re a Chrome user and you want to give it a try, check out the Shareaholic review for Chrome. For Firefox users, check out the Best Firefox Add-ons for more great tools to try.

The post Shareaholic Is A Must-Have Add-on For Social Media Addicts [Firefox] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Enhance Google Services with These 5 Add-Ons

Most of us use at least one Google service each day – usually much more than just one. Search, Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Drive, Play, YouTube…. this is just a partial list of the services we use every day. And for good reason, too. Google’s services are not popular just because they have the name “Google” next to them – they’re actually very good, and constantly provide their competitors with inspiration and ideas.

Even Google isn’t perfect, though. In fact, it’s far from it. While Gmail, Reader and the rest are extremely useful, there’s always room for improvement, and thanks to some excellent browser add-ons, it’s easy to upgrade our favorite Google services and make them even slicker, more accessible, and, well, just better.

Google Redesigned [Firefox & Chrome]

Do you have a secret desire to have all your Google services look like this? Your dreams can come true with the help of a browser add-on called Google Redesigned. At first, I assumed Google Redesigned will let me control what my Google services look like, or at least offer several redesign options to choose from, but after seeing this new look on my Gmail, Reader, Calendar and Drive, I no longer wished for control.

If you’re a dark-theme buff, you’re going to love this redesign. If you’re a minimalist, you’re going to love this redesign. Actually, no matter who you are, you’re probably going to love it. Google Redesign can redesign Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader and Google Drive (which it still refers to as Docs). You can choose which of these services you want to redesign, and which you want to keep in the same old look by clicking on the add-on’s icon.

The only caveat: some services may be slightly less responsive, depending on the service, your browser, your computer, etc. Try it out to see for yourself.

Google Reader Mag [Chrome]

Google Reader Mag is powered by Feedly, and before you use if for the first time you’ll have to grant it access to your Google Reader. The add-on is different from the regular Feedly add-on – it automatically takes over your Google Reader and turns it into a Feedly-like experience. All your favorite feeds are already there, organized just the way you like them, and the only thing you need to do is start reading.

The interface is much nicer and cleaner than the native Google Reader, and you can choose to view your feeds in several visual ways such as magazine style, cards (seen above), mosaic, and more. When reading articles, you can easily share on Google+, Twitter or Facebook, save articles for later and add tags, and send articles to Instapaper, Pocket, Evernote, and others.

Google Shortcuts [Firefox & Chrome]

What better way to enhance your Google services than to access them easily? Google Shortcuts adds shortcut buttons to any Google service you can dream of, especially if you’re stuck sometime in 2010. Yes, the add-on is a little outdated, and includes services like Google Wave and the “Android Market”, but being completely customizable, you can add whatever service you see fit.

You can also choose between having buttons on the toolbar itself, as seen above, or in a configurable dropdown menu, as see below.

You can control the name, URL and position of each shortcut, as well as the browser’s tab behavior when a shortcut is clicked.

Integrated Google Calendar [Firefox]

Google Calendar really is a useful little service, but for some reason, it never felt truly accessible to me. This is not something I can explain logically, but to me, a calendar needs to be right there whenever I want to use it, and Google Calendar is always too many clicks away. Not anymore. Integrated Google Calendar is a simple little add-on that takes Google Calendar out of.. well, wherever it usually is, and brings it right to your Firefox toolbar. Want to see your calendar? Click the toolbar icon or use your designated keyboard shortcut, and voila, there it is!

You can change the window’s size, move it around and pin it so it stays always on top. You can even set it to delay its load when starting Firefox, so as to now slow anything down more than necessary.

+You Google Bar [Firefox & Chrome]

The Google bar went through several iterations in the past year, but for now, it seems that we’re settled on the thin black bar with its More and Even More options. The current Google bar is nice and unobtrusive, but it also decides for you which Google services are the most accessible. By default, you get links to search, images, maps, Google Play, and the rest you can see below.

But what if you don’t need a link to Google Search staring at you on every Google service? What if you’d rather have a quick link to Google Reader, or Google Translate? Google doesn’t ask you what you want or don’t want, but this add-on does. after installation (note that you’ll probably have to restart your browser to get it to work), you’ll find a new cog icon on the left side of your Google bar. Use this cog menu to start rearranging your Google services.

Note that you don’t drag items onto the bar itself. Use the cog menu to arrange the items as you see fit, and watch them change on the bar itself as you go. It’s a little unintuitive at first, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it.

So how do you make your Google services even better? Any favorite add-ons or plugins? Share them in the comments!

Image credit: shiny image via Shutterstock

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7 Most Important Websites We Can’t Live Without

The World Wide Web (now more commonly known simply as the Web) has been with us for over 20 years now, and in that relatively short space of time it has unequivocally changed the world. For better or worse. The architects of the Web could not have foreseen what a huge impact their creation was going to have, but over the course of two decades and counting the Web has evolved into a sprawling mass of websites and pages that number in the billions.

MakeUseOf deals with a mix of new and old sites, often comparing those of a similar nature to each other. We’re mainly focused on the fresh, the new, the undiscovered, but just occasionally it’s worth reminding ourselves of the websites that we’d be lost without. The ones which, if they didn’t exist, could bring the Web grinding to a halt.

What follows are what I consider to be the seven wonders of the Web, at least as it stands in 2013. There are many more missing that were considered for inclusion, but for me the websites included are the linchpins around which the rest of the Web operates. The list is also made up of websites that, were the rest of the Web to disappear, I could use to survive. If I were you I’d bookmark each and every one of the following, if you haven’t done so already.

Google

Google is arguably the glue that keeps the Web together. Certainly the Google homepage, with its minimalist design and constantly changing Google Doodles, is the first port of call many people make when they open their Web browser. From the Google homepage you can also access Gmail, Play, Maps, News, and a host of other services provided by the company.

The Google homepage is the tipping off point for various trawls around the Web. It’s certainly telling that “Google” quickly became a verb, with people Googling websites, names, and places. In many ways Google helped turn the Web from a geeky collection of disparate websites into a mainstream phenomenon for the masses. All of which assures its place on this list.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the free online encyclopedia that is the website most people turn to when they need to source extra information about a particular person, place, or product. At the time of writing it contains 24 million entries, 4 million of which are written in English. This is a vast collection of data about every subject under the sun. And a few more besides.

Wikipedia had a poor reputation for many years thanks to untruths, misquotes, and the vandalization of entries. But those issues have mostly been resolved thanks to a dedicated team of editors who check every crowd-sourced revision. It’s a truly invaluable resource, and it’s completely free and funded by donation, meaning you don’t even have to put up with adverts.

YouTube

YouTube is the premier video-sharing site on the Web, with a vast collection of videos of all descriptions being uploaded every day, all of which are added to the growing repository. When YouTube was launched in 2005 it was good, now, thanks to a strong guiding hand from Google, which acquired the site in 2006, it’s phenomenal.

While some people may not explore past the music videos and clips of animals doing funny things, YouTube is home to a lot more than that. Not only are movies, concerts, sporting events, and original programming available on the site, there are channels dedicated to subjects of particular interest to MakeUseOf readers, including science and technology.

Facebook

Facebook is by far the largest social networking site in the world, with more than 1 billion people registered for an account. Strangely, a good proportion of those users don’t particularly like the site, or at least Facebook’s often-clumsy attempts at opening up user data to a wider audience or introducing new, unwanted features. Still, Facebook makes this list because its power cannot be disputed.

Many other sites and services now connect to Facebook or let you use your Facebook credentials in place of their own. In other words, Facebook has its tentacles spread far and wide across the Web, and is hard to ignore as a result. It’s important to remember Facebook’s primary function is for keeping in touch with family and friends, and as long as you stay on top of your profile, it doesn’t have to be a painful experience.

Twitter

Twitter is a different beast than Facebook, with its 140-character limit on updates and a much weaker bond between the contacts and connections made. If Facebook is for friends and family to communicate, Twitter is for strangers to do the same. You can follow individuals you admire and find out what they’re up to, or become the conduit for your own broadcasts, telling the rest of the world whatever it is you want them to hear.

This, however, isn’t the reason Twitter makes the list. Instead it’s the capacity for Twitter to be used as an organ for breaking news that makes it one of the wonders of the Web. There are countless examples of big, important news stories having first broken on the micro-blogging social network. The only problem is sorting the real news stories from the fakes.

eBay

eBay may not be the force it once was, but it’s still the first port of call for many people looking to buy and sell new and used items online to others. You could literally buy and sell all your worldly possessions on eBay multiple times over, and that’s justification enough for its inclusion on this list.

If you have a need or desire to pick up an item that isn’t available in bricks-and-mortar stores (for reasons of age or availability) then eBay is the obvious solution. The reverse is also true; if you have an item you no longer want but think will be of worth to someone else, then eBay is the place to go. If you have spare cash and a desire for unnecessary material possessions then browsing eBay also makes for an entertaining evening.

Reddit

Reddit is the dark horse on this list, the one most likely to elicit furrowed brows from some readers. But bear with me for a second. Although there are many websites offering similar compendiums of awesomeness, Reddit is the daddy of them all. Partly thanks to the scale and scope of content available on the site, and partly because of the number of users now getting involved on a regular basis.

Reddit calls itself “the front page of the Internet,” and that description seems more apt with every passing day. While there is a need to sort the wheat from the chaff on Reddit, the quality of content that makes it to the front page is improving rapidly. With Reddit it’s a definite case of the more you put in, the more you get out, and I suspect its popularity is only going to grow from this point on.

Conclusions

As mentioned in the opening paragraphs I considered many, many more websites for inclusion in this list, but in the end these seven won out over the countless others vying for attention. The reasons each one was included have, I hope, been explained to the satisfaction of most. If not then feel free to leave a comment below questioning the inclusion of any of the above or exclusion of your pick.

Think of this as a starting point. If you think another website should have made the list then link to it in the comments section and explain why it should be considered an absolute must for all Internet users. Readers stumbling upon this article in years to come can then read on past this paragraph and gain more insight from the MakeUseOf readership.

Image Credit: Hobvias Sudoneighm

The post 7 Most Important Websites We Can’t Live Without appeared first on MakeUseOf.

It’s Raining Deals: Turbo-Charge Your Shopping And Save Money With Booly [Firefox]

We, at MakeUseOf.com believe in the idea of saving. Usually, it is time and effort as we give you tips and tales of the best technology offerings out there. But sometimes, we try to save you some hard green bucks too. That’s when we come across a cool application that helps you to win at online shopping or passing the message about real world sales tactics.

There are dime a dozen tools that watch out for the next price drop or a bargain grab. From price notifications to deal hunting, browser extensions and add-ons have been a favorite for long. In this brief article, we will take a look at a handy Firefox add-on called Booly which could qualify for a try out as shopping accessory.

Turn Your Search Engine into a Shopping Basket

You can think of Booly as a search enhancer or a search augmenter. The Booly browser add-on intelligently watches over your search and boosts it up with real time price comparisons, latest coupon codes and money saving deals. Booly tracks your shopping search across search engines like Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Bing and Blekko.

You can expect to get the best real-time price gathering and deal finding updates from top retailers in the U.S. and U.K. (Yes, shopping info is limited to these countries only for now. Australia and Europe will be covered soon), and across thousands of product categories. Booly has its own database on retailers and it has also tied-in with retail intelligence companies like Shopzilla and Shopping.com for price comparisons (with coupons and deal alerts).

Going Shopping With Booly

Booly is available as a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. We are focusing on the Firefox add-on for the purpose here, but all of them work in the same manner. The manner of Booly’s working is easily understood by the walkthrough of the deal-hunting process Booly puts us through after the add-on is installed.

Save With the Help of Booly’s Price Bar

As soon as you do your search, the blue bar pops up after a second or two and tells you if the product you are shopping for is cheaper elsewhere, or this is the best price you can expect to get. In some cases, you can also view similar items and also search for more products by clicking the green search button. You can retract the blue price notification bar to the extreme right of the browser and keep it unobtrusive till you need it again.

The shopping window displays all the prices, relevant savings, deals and coupons if any, and of course a direct button to the sites where you can grab all of these. The same shopping window also gives you a study in price comparison across popular retailers. Thus, you can make a more informed choice.

Bargain Hunting With Your Favorite Search Engine

Search for a product on your shopping list using regulars like Google or Bing. Booly powers up the search with the help of colored Booly icons to indicate potential savings. As the screen above shows, you might get coupon information related to the product right on top of the search result. You can click on it to reveal a few more details.

You can also get to the deals by clicking on the green icon next to the search results. Remember, a Green tag indicates that only deals and coupons have been found. A Red tag casts a wider net and could mean that Boo.ly has found favorable price comparisons for the product, possibly with related deals and coupons for that merchant. A red tag is obviously better because it gives you a few more price options.

Bargain Hunting With Friends

I would advise you to keep the news about a potential saving to yourself…you never know, there might be limited stocks available. But if you are the unselfish kind and want to crow about the bargain, make the social sharing buttons work for you. There’s nothing like a deal or a sale to make the world a happier place.

So, Is It A Good Deal?

Booly is fairly unobtrusive. I don’t have to feed it extra data, and it does not feed on mine except what I am searching for. You don’t have to change your search behavior, but just look for the red or green tag for the price info. Booly of course does not succeed every time and there are instances when it will not get you a price comparison or a bargain even on a shopping site like Amazon and for a common product like a leather folio tablet case. That is a bit frustrating because you would want instantaneous results from a search engine add-on always. This is one area where Booly really has to smoothen things out. As a shopper you don’t want to be kept waiting – online or offline. Though, when it does, it goes a long way in helping you make certain that you aren’t getting ripped off.

I couldn’t gather the entire list of online retailers Booly pings for price comparisons, but from what I could get, it does seem that it is dominated by the bigger players. Smaller niche retailers are given a miss.

I would also wish it to have a shopping list feature that would allow me to save the results for a later time. Booly is real-time while you may want some time to deliberate and come back to your shopping later.

So, what did the first run with Booly and an item on your wish list tell you? Do you think there’s money to be saved out there with some smart shopping? Is Booly one of the better decision support applications when it comes to shopping and deal-hunting? Thumbs up for Booly put it on our Best Firefox Add-ons page. There are specialized shopping tools especially for Amazon. So, does it deserve a place there or is there a comparison engine that’s better than Booly?

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A New, Completely Redesigned MySpace Is Now Open To The Public [Updates]

Remember MySpace? It’s back, and it has Justin Timberlake all over it. The new version of MySpace, or the “New MySpace“, is a completely re-imagined version of the pioneer social network, and it’s now officially open to the public. Anyone who’s up for a second round of MySpace can create an account, or log in using the old MySpace account, Facebook or Twitter.

After creating the account, you’ll get the chance to choose your artistic profession, upload a photo, write a short bio, and you’re ready to go. You can use the New MySpace to discover new artists, songs, albums, mixes, and even radio stations. You can easily listen to music, “connect” with songs or artists, and watch trending videos. MySpace’s new interface is barely recognizable compared to the old version, and it’s so wide it was actually cut off at the side even on my 19″ monitor.

The New MySpace was first announced back in July, and in September we got a first visual glimpse on a preview video. The video was promoted by Justin Timberlake, one of site’s biggest investors, whose face is now all over the New MySpace’s landing page, advertising the release of his new single. After a being invite-only since the initial announcement, the New MySpace now opens its gates to a new generation of budding artists, fans, and the generally curious.

If you’ve had music in the old version of MySpace, you can import it to the new version using what they call the “classic MySpace” login option. Even if you’ve never had a MySpace account before, it’s worth taking a look, if only to see how a website can turn 180 degrees and make a complete change.

What do you think of the New MySpace? Will you use it, or is it this effort doomed from the start?

Source: MySpace via The Verge

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