Upgrading to Windows 8? Get Settled In Faster with these Tips

If it’s about time you purchase a new computer, that computer is probably going to come with Windows 8 (unless you buy a Mac). Microsoft hasn’t included a tutorial with Windows 8 — aside from the cryptic “move your mouse into any corner” line — so you’ll need to do a bit of research to get up to speed with the latest version of Windows.

Ask anyone who uses Windows 8 on a standard laptop or desktop (not a tablet), and they’ll tell you the key to getting along with Windows 8 is ignoring as much of the new interface as possible. The standard desktop is still there under all that “Modern” interface.

Where’s the Desktop?

When you first log in to Windows 8, you’ll see the new full-screen Start screen. New “Modern” apps that you can install from the Windows Store only run in this full-screen environment.

We’ll get to that later, though. For now, the most important thing you need to know is that the traditional Windows desktop is still there and can still run all your old software. To get to the desktop, all you have to do is click the Desktop tile on your Start screen. You can also press Windows key + D to launch the desktop.

Note that, if you purchased a Windows RT device, the desktop can’t run all your old desktop software — but you probably purchased a Windows 8 device. Windows RT devices are very unpopular, with the exception of Microsoft’s Surface RT.

Where’s My Start Button?

Now you’re at the desktop, which should look very familiar. It’s the Windows 7 desktop, but with a variety of improvements like a better task manager, improved file copy dialog, and built-in time machine backup. However, you’ll notice that there’s no Start button anymore.

The Start button is actually present, but hidden. You can make it appear by moving your mouse to the bottom-left corner of the screen and clicking. This opens the Start screen you were at earlier. You can also easily launch the Start screen by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard.

To launch an application from the Start screen, click its shortcut like you normally would — desktop apps appear here, too. You can also start typing at the Start screen to search your installed applications, just like on the Windows 7 start menu. To view all your installed applications, right-click somewhere on the start screen (not on a tile), click All apps at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll see your installed programs.

The Start screen is essentially the successor to the Start menu — think of it as a full-screen start menu. Applications you install will gain shortcuts on your Start screen, so you can arrange these shortcuts as you like. You can also use the search feature to quickly launch apps.

To make things easier, you should pin applications you use to the desktop taskbar — when they’re running, right-click their taskbar icons and select the Pin option. You can then easily launch the applications from your taskbar without opening the full-screen Start screen and leaving your desktop.

How Do I Shut Down?

Note that the hidden Start button isn’t the only special “hot corner.” You can also move your mouse cursor to the top or bottom right corners of the screen and then move it towards the center edge of the screen to access the “charms.” For the most part, you shouldn’t need to access these charms unless you use Modern applications. However, the Shut Down and Restart options are located under the Settings charm.

Don’t worry — there are many other ways to shut down your Windows 8 computer, including with its physical power button.

Move your mouse cursor to the top-left corner of your screen and you’ll access an app switcher that only works for “Modern” apps, not desktop ones — you don’t need to use that unless you’re using the new, Modern-style apps.

Do I Have to Use All This New Stuff?

As far as the Start screen and Modern apps go, you only have to see the Start screen when you log in. You can then use your computer normally, avoiding it as much as possible and using desktop applications. Pin application shortcuts to your taskbar and you won’t need to use it for launching apps. Modern apps are more suited to tablets than typical desktops and laptops.

Microsoft doesn’t give us an option to boot to the desktop or use a traditional start menu, but you can do this anyway. Install a third-party Start menu like the popular Start8 and you’ll have a traditional desktop that appears when you log in. There will be a delay before your desktop appears, however. These Start menus can also easily disable the hot corners for you, allowing to have a more traditional-style desktop.

Windows 8 makes much more sense on a touch-enabled computer, but you probably haven’t purchased a touch-enabled machine as they’re much more expensive — most people are still buying computers without touch support. If you have a touch-enabled Windows 8 machine, check out our printable cheat sheet to Windows 8′s touch and mouse gestures.

For more in-depth information on getting to grips with Windows 8 — including how to use the new Modern environment with all those Windows Store apps — check out our free Windows 8 guide.

Do you have any other questions? Feel free to ask! And in case you have already mastered Windows 8, share your own tips for upgrading to Windows 8. what was your greatest challenge?

The post Upgrading to Windows 8? Get Settled In Faster with these Tips appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Google Trends Charts

Google Trends has a new section that shows monthly popularity charts for topics like scientists, cars, movies, songs, people, animals, chemical elements and more. Charts are limited to the US for now and they show the most popular things, not the "movers and shakers". Google uses the Knowledge Graph to restrict the charts to real-world things and "measures interest in a broader topic, so it might also count different searches with the same meaning".



"Top Charts are lists of real-world people, places and things ranked by search interest. They show information similar to our Year-End Zeitgeist, but updated monthly and going back to 2004. To check them out, go to Google Trends and click 'Top Charts' on the left-hand side," informs Google.

Google Trends shows information from Wikipedia, links to Google+ or other top search results, the number of months in chart and the previous month's rank.

Google also added a Metro-inspired page that lets you visualize hot searches in full screen. Mouse over the top-left icon to show multiple searches at the same time and click the country name at the bottom of the page to switch to a different country.

{ via Google Blog }

Keep Boredom At Bay With Playable Google Doodles

The Google homepage is intentionally minimalist, with a distinct lack of pointless detritus that would only serve to divert people’s attention away from the main purpose of the page. Which is to provide a kicking off point for exploring the wider Web. There’s the Google logo, a search bar, and a couple of buttons, and that’s it… most of the time.

From 1998 onwards Google has been regularly changing the Google logo up, with the new iterations labeled Google Doodles. These doodles have been used to great effect to mark significant events, the birthdays of important people, and national holidays. They have also become a lot more involved over the years, with interactive elements being added.

We’ve already looked at the best Google Doodles in video form, now it’s time to list the best playable Google Doodles released to date. Good Guy Google doesn’t delete these games, so they remain playable long after they appear on the Google homepage. Which is great for all of us who spend far too long on the Web and who are in constant need of things to occupy our brains.

Zamboni

A Zamboni is an ice-resurfacer, named after its inventor Frank Zamboni. In the same way Hoover has become the generic name for all vacuum cleaners, so Zamboni has become the generic name for all ice resurfacers.

Google released a doodle in honor of Frank Zamboni in January 2013, to commemorate what would have been his 112th birthday. It takes the form of a game which sees you driving an ice resurfacer around an ice rink after skaters have scuffed up the ice.

This game is very simple. You use the arrow keys on your keyboard to control the vehicle, cleaning up all of the scuff marks as quickly as possible without running out of fuel. There are also power-ups and obstacles left behind on the ice.

Snake

Released in February 2013 this version of the classic mobile game Snake was released to commemorate Chinese New Year 2013. Why Snake? Because 2013 is the year of the snake. Clever ol’ Google.

You start playing by clicking the coin slot in the middle of the logo. Then you simply use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the snake left, right, up, and down. You don’t have to worry about hitting the edges of the playing area, instead you just need to collect the power-ups while avoiding the sticks of dynamite.

Pac-Man

This was the first playable Google Doodle, and it arguably remains the best one released so far. Pac-Man turned 30 in May 2010, and to celebrate Google released its own version of the arcade classic featuring a maze inspired by the Google lettering.

After clicking ‘Insert Coin’ you control Pac-Man with the arrow keys on your keyboard, eating the pills while avoiding the ghosts. The gameplay remains true to the original, which means it’s just as frustrating as it ever was.

If this puts you in the mood for more Pac-Man then you’ll love The World’s Biggest Pac-Man.

London 2012 Olympics

Google truly outdid itself to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic Games. As well as different static doodles for the opening and closing ceremonies, it released four playable Google Doodles for four of the sports included in the Olympics. All of these doodles are competitive, and you will be awarded up to three medals depending on your performance.

Slalom Canoe

In the Slalom Canoe Google Doodle game you need to guide your canoeist down the rapids, making sure he travels between each set of gates. The canoe is controlled by the left and right arrow keys, one for each of the two oars. You need to concentrate on getting into a fluid rhythm and hitting each gate in turn.

Soccer

In the Soccer Google Doodle game you play the part of the goalkeeper who needs to save as many shots from the striker as possible. The arrow keys move you left and right, and the spacebar makes you jump. The more shots you save the more difficult the game becomes… until you’ve let three goals in and it’s Game Over.

Hurdles

In the Hurdles Google Doodle game you need to both run fast and make it over each hurdle that is put in your way. It’s a tough combination to get right, with each hurdle you run into slowing you down and ensuring you get a poor time. The left and right arrow keys pressed in turn build speed, with the spacebar pressed to clear the hurdles.

Basketball

In the Basketball Google Doodle game you have 24 seconds to score as many basketballs as possible. All you need to do is hold down the spacebar to build up power, letting it go to release the ball. It’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially as your standing position moves back after so many balls are played.

Conclusions

These are the best playable Google Doodles I have ever seen, but I suspect there are many more out there waiting to be discovered. Google takes its doodles so seriously now that it features different sets for different countries, so it could be that there is a playable gem that is only available in your territory lurking away unseen by the masses.

If this is the case then please let us know so that we can build another list of playable Google Doodles in the future. After all, MakeUseOf is a global effort, both in terms of the writers and editors, and the readership.

Beyond that request, do you have a favorite amongst the playable Google Doodles featured here? Or any other thoughts to add to the article? If so please let us know in the comments section below. Otherwise read about different ways to explore Google Doodles on the Web.

The post Keep Boredom At Bay With Playable Google Doodles appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Google Drops Prices of Google Apps in India

Google has dropped prices of Google Apps in India making Google Email and their Office suite even more affordable for start-ups and small businesses in India.

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This story, Google Drops Prices of Google Apps in India, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 22/05/2013 under Google Apps, India.

How to Save Money While Shopping Online in India

Internet shopping is convenient and you often get discounts that offline retailers may find impossible to match. And if you put in some more effort, the online deals may get even sweeter.

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This story, How to Save Money While Shopping Online in India, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 22/05/2013 under Shopping, India.

Apple maintains the Domain Name in the Digital Music Industry

The well-known company NPD, author of many market researches in the field of digital music, released presently the collected data in a recent report, in which they wanted once again to examine the sales of digital songs in the United States. The results of the report, on the one hand, seem rather obvious, but, however they do reserve some surprises.

The company conducted a thorough market survey which revealed that Apple continues to hold 63% of the market share of digital music, news that does not arouse surprise given the well-known internet domain of the iTunes Store, you can now find the is the master in this field. What apple did was to change the hosted domain name of the Itunes from the centric server in order to get a higher bandwidth frequency. A lot of big websites take the same action around the world; even in the UK it happens with giant websites choosing to split that option in order to be more beneficial for the users. If you want to do for your business you can opt for a Domain registration with 1&1 since they were very relying and supportive in my case. Going back to Cupertino, despite generic the news it is not only that not only the company of Cupertino has lost 3% share in three years (it was at 66% in 2010) but that Amazon is increasingly growing.

Just Amazon, in fact, after entering aggressively the tablet market with its Kindle Fire, reached a market share of 22%. A truly admirable if you think that, just three years ago, it was "only" 13%.

In these three years, the number of Americans who bought at least one digital track in the course of a calendar year is equal to 44 million, given a constant throughout the considered period (the last three years, in fact).

"Since the launch of the iTunes Store from Apple, the digital music downloads have become a very important source of revenue for the recording industry and continues to be the iTunes online store that dominates the entire panorama of the online music. We believe, however, that many consumers do not have a need to purchase music because of the solutions of the playback streaming, which is much closer to the needs of users. "

These are the words of Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of NPD. In any case, only 38% of consumers stated that it is important to buy the music, while 41% of users who use Spotify or Pandora claimed to have purchased music have "discovered" through the use of these services.

International Conference Call provider Enhances Communication

Internet Forums Reimagined: The Future Of Online Discussions

Last year, I wrote about the history of online communication and how it has evolved all the way from online bulletin board systems to social media. But what does the future have in store for us in terms of communicating online?

The latest iteration of online communication may indeed be social media, but it seems that the most popular avenue is still the old-fashioned internet forum. It remains today as an excellent way to structure a community on the web. While social media can be somewhat amorphous at times, forums provide order and a sense of home.

I believe that forums will never die out, but forums will evolve and adapt to advancements in web technology. Please join me as I take a look at a few forum software systems that are so innovative that they’ll transform the concept of the forum forever.

Moot

Moot (Beta) is a very interesting project in my eyes because there’s a bit of tension in its design philosophy: it wants to take a step back into the past and recover the lost relevance of meaningful discussion (which they claim have died with social media) while incorporating features of the future (clean and responsive interface).

But more importantly, Moot is entirely embeddable, meaning you don’t need to download a package and upload it to your own web host. Instead, all of the data and control is done through your Moot account and your forum theme; forum content are embedded directly into your site wherever you want it to go. It has been designed from the ground up for complete and easy integration.

Other notable features that Moot is pushing:

• Both forums and comments. Moot is a full-fledged forum embed system AND a comment embed system. Unlike other forum systems where comments are just normal forum threads with their post data molded and displayed differently, Moot lets you embed unique comment threads onto pages using one line of HTML. Each comment thread is unique, dynamic, and separate from your forums.


• No content deletion. Moot is taking a hard stance: deleting posts and comments disrupts the natural progression of a discussion, resulting in an incomplete thread that’s harder to follow. Therefore, once content is older than 2.7 minutes, it cannot be deleted. Also, if a post or comment has received any replies or likes, it can’t be deleted.


• Complete control. Even though Moot is a third-party service that you have to embed onto your site, you will have full control over it. You can alter the design using CSS. You can also alter the behavior and extend Moot functionality using an API that will be released in the near future.

Discourse

The mentality spurring the Discourse team is the desire to “raise the standard of discussion on the web through better forum software.” Core to their actions is the belief that forums are an integral aspect of proper web communities, yet most forum designs are stuck in the 1990s. With Discourse, they want to make forum hosting easy, flexible, and appealing to the 21st Century.

The Discourse interface takes a lot of inspiration from social media: just-in-time loading of content, flat and sleek aesthetics that are indicative of social media design, @replying to users, logging in with social media accounts, real-time stream updates, and more. But unlike Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and the others, Discourse remains faithful to big blocks of text for deeper, more meaningful conversation.

Other notable features that Discourse is pushing:

• Notifications. One big problem with legacy forum systems is the lack of convenient notifications. Up until a few years ago, the best we ever got was clunky email notifications, then we had RSS subscriptions, but both of those had their limits. Discourse will regularly notify you on the site when someone mentions you, replies to you, quotes you, or anything else that involves you.


• Forked conversations. Instead of having a linear thread where users reply to multiple users in a single post (often using ugly blocks of quotes to establish context), Discourse allows discussions to fork by letting you reply to individual posts and branch off.


• Smart interactions. One awesome feature of Discourse is that you can begin writing your reply even before you’ve finished reading the thread. The reply box will follow you no matter where you are on the page, which means you can reply while you read. Also, when you prematurely leave a thread (maybe you had to go somewhere), Discourse will remember your place and start you there the next time you come back.


• Dynamic moderation. As users participate on your Discourse forum, they gain something called trust. Users that have trust can help with forum moderation by culling spammers, flamers, and trolls before they get too big.

We took a detailed look at Discourse when it emerged on the scene.

Vanilla

Moot and Discourse are relative newcomers to the forum scene, but Vanilla has been innovating the forum concept for years already. Honestly, ask anyone (who has forum experience, obviously) which forum software is the most non-traditional and I’m willing to bet that most would say Vanilla.

Vanilla has gained a lot of traction over the years. Big name sites, like Penny Arcade, are starting to turn to it for their discussion needs because of its cutting edge design. This is a free, open source project that really is revolutionizing the forum landscape.

Other notable features that Vanilla is pushing:

• Scalability. One major issue in many free forum systems – and some paid systems too – is that they buckle under too much traffic. When it takes over 10 seconds for a thread to load, users are too frustrated to continue a discussion. Vanilla is built for speed and can handle millions of users right out of the box.


• User reactions. With Vanilla, you can set various “reactions” that users can have to content: like, dislike, spam, off topic, insightful, funny, or whatever else you can come up with. These reactions have actions associated with them (e.g. add score to the post). The result of the user reactions system is that users can decide on and promote valuable content.


• Built-in gamification. Gamification describes the addition of game elements in a non-game context for the purpose of engaging users. By participating, users can earn badges (achievements) and reputation (score) which lead to user promotions and access to more features if you choose to set it up that way.

Conclusion

On paper, these systems may not seem like a huge deviation from the usual forum platforms that we typically see. However, paper can be deceiving. Take one look at each of the solutions above and you’ll notice a landslide difference in the end user experience. And in my humble opinion, all three systems are doing a heck of a job in refreshing the boring realm of forums.

Do you use forums? Know of any other forum systems that are revolutionizing the field? Please share with us in the comments!

Image Credits: Chat Bubbles Via Shutterstock

The post Internet Forums Reimagined: The Future Of Online Discussions appeared first on MakeUseOf.

YouTube Search Experiments

YouTube experiments with some new search features. When you click a video from the list of YouTube search results, there's a red progress bar displayed at the top of the page until the video page loads. Here's the new feature in action:

The search box still includes your query when you watch the video. Another experimental feature shows a list of search suggestions when you watch a video and click the search box. The list of suggestions is probably generated based on the video's title.

Click the homepage search box and YouTube shows a list of recent searches.



Here's how you can try the new features (the red progress bar seems to be Chrome-only). 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 - 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 - 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=jyDR-4Ljl_I; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();



4. press Enter and close the console.



{ Thanks, Yu-Hsuan Lin. }

Create Google Now Reminders in Google Search

Reminders are a new feature in the latest version of the Google Search app for Android. You can create reminders using voice search and Google Now will show notifications.



Now you can also create reminders from the desktop Google Search. When you search for things like [when is bonnaroo 2013?], [when is the first day of summer?], [halloween day], Google shows a link that says: "Remind me on Google Now". Click that link and "Google Now will remind you 1 week before." For now, notifications are only available in Google Search for Android.

{ via Search Engine Roundtable }

Google Cross-Language Search, No Longer Available

Google removed yet another advanced search tool: cross-language search. It was available in the "Search tools" menu as "translated foreign pages" and it allowed you to find pages written in other languages.

Google automatically suggested a few languages for your query, but you could manually add other languages. Your query was translated into all these languages, Google performed multiple searches for the translations, compiled a list of results and translated titles and snippets into your language.



Here's a screenshot from 2009, when Google Search added this feature:

"If you're traveling and want to find hotels, restaurants, activities or reviews written from a local perspective, or if you're just curious to find what's being written about a company, product or topic in another language, give Translated search in the Search Options panel a try," suggested Google at that time.



The feature was first available in 2007 as part of Google Translate, but the initial version supported a single destination language. "Now, you can search for something in your own language (for example, English) and search the web in another language (for example, French). If you're looking for wine tasting events in Bordeaux while on vacation in France, just type 'wine tasting events in Bordeaux' into the search box on the 'Search results' tab on Google Translate. You'll then get French search results and a (machine) translation of these search results into English," informed Google.



It's sad to see this feature disappear because it was very powerful and difficult to replace. It integrated Google Translate and Google Search, so Google performed multiple translations and searches just to shows you 10 cross-language search results.



Why was it removed? "The translate foreign pages feature is no longer offered. Removing features always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. You can still translate entire pages in Chrome. Streamlining enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people's lives," explained Google. Most likely, not many people used this feature.



I assume that most "search tools" features are rarely used and the same thing is true for other features for power users: advanced search, operators. They're not obvious, they're difficult to use and few people need them. As Google focuses more on answering questions, I expect to see fewer and fewer advanced search features and that's disappointing.