Google Timer

Google Search has a cool feature: search for [set timer for 5 minutes] and you'll see this interactive timer box. You can stop the timer, reset it and Google even has a notification sound you can disable.

Obviously, you can search for [set timer for 30 seconds], [set timer for 10 minutes and 10 seconds], [set timer for an hour and a half] or any other time. If you close the search page, Google shows a warning: "Leaving this page will stop your timer".

{ via Search Engine Roundtable }

Cool Websites and Tools – August 4th – Hotel Room Guests, Medical Images and Windmaps

Today in Cool Websites and Tools, we take a look at 5 cool websites, including saving some money by sharing your hotel room with a fellow traveller, a crowdsourced medical library, a wind map of the US, a fitness app that gives you real-time updating information and customized screenshots of smartphone images. Read on below! Easynest – Hotels charge per room which means that if you are a solo traveller, you pay the same price as a couple would. Easynest offers a simple proposal. Sign up on their site and when you next stay in a hotel alone, share your...

Read the full article: Cool Websites and Tools – August 4th – Hotel Room Guests, Medical Images and Windmaps

How To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With Calibre

In the past, an extensive library required lots of shelf space and — if you were traveling — a seriously heavy suitcase. With eReaders, most of that is gone. Although there are still aesthetic pleasures to be had from a good old-fashioned library, hundreds of books on your eReader requires just as much physical space as half a dozen. Traveling light is no longer an issue. You can take that half dozen or few hundred books with you, on the train or abroad. It’s a special kind of freedom that tastes particularly sweet. But an eReader is not all fun...

Read the full article: How To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With Calibre

How To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With Calibre

In the past, an extensive library required lots of shelf space and — if you were traveling — a seriously heavy suitcase. With eReaders, most of that is gone. Although there are still aesthetic pleasures to be had from a good old-fashioned library, hundreds of books on your eReader requires just as much physical space as half a dozen. Traveling light is no longer an issue. You can take that half dozen or few hundred books with you, on the train or abroad. It’s a special kind of freedom that tastes particularly sweet. But an eReader is not all fun...

Read the full article: How To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With Calibre

App Ops: Android's Hidden Permission Manager

App Ops is a hidden system application in Android 4.3 that lets you manage the permissions used by apps. It was found by Android Police and there's a Google Play app that launches the permission manager (no root required).



I tested App Ops Starter on my Nexus 7 (2012) and it works. There are 4 permission groups: location, personal (contacts, calendar, call logs), messaging (read/write/send SMS) and device (notifications, camera). Each tab shows a list of applications sorted by the time when they last used one of the permissions. App Ops also shows the permissions used by each app.

You can disable permissions for each app you've installed and even for system apps. Sometimes disabling permissions didn't have any effect, other times it worked. For example, I disabled the "read clipboard" permission of the Google+ app and the application no longer suggested the link I copied to the clipboard. I disabled the "location" permission of Google Maps, but the app could still detect my location (I had to disable the Play Services "location" permission to prevent Google Maps from finding my location, but this affects other apps). For now, Android apps aren't optimized for the permission manager and disabling permissions could have unexpected effects: the apps might crash.



Android's permission system encourages developers to add as many permissions as possible, even if they don't currently need them. Maybe they'll use them in the future, so it's better to add them and make sure that the app updates automatically. Android's permissions are all-or-nothing, few bother to read them, even fewer understand them. Google should have done a better job here: encourage developers to use permissions sparingly, allow users to revoke permissions, add opt-in permissions like in iOS. Maybe App Ops will fix some of these issues when it will be officially available, probably in Android 5.0.

Nexus 7 Facts

Nexus 7 is:



- the first Nexus tablet



- the cheapestmost affordable Nexus device



- the first device shipped with Android Jelly Bean



- the first Android tablet that made a significant number of developers to optimize their apps for tablets



- the most popular Nexus device ever sold (7 million tablets sold in one year)



- the Nexus device with the biggest market share (10% of all the Android tablets)



- the most popular Asus tablet



- the best-value Android tablet: you won't find a tablet that costs less than $230 and offers a high-quality screen, powerful SoC, access to the Google Play Store and the latest OS updates



- the first Nexus device that has the same name as the predecessor



- the Android tablet with the highest-density display (the new Nexus 7 - 322 PPI)



- the first 7-inch 1920x1200 tablet (the new Nexus 7).

20 Things to Do Using YouTube's Embedded Player

Here are some things you can do from an embedded YouTube player:

1. like/unlike the video: use the thumbs up/down buttons from the top-right corner (you need to be logged in).



2. find the video's URL: right-click the video and click "copy video URL". You can also "copy video URL at current time".



3. find the embedding code: right-click the video and click "copy embed code".



4. share the video: use the share button from the top-right corner and click Facebook, Twitter or Google+.



5. read the video's description: click the "i" button from the top-right corner.



6. subscribe to the video's channel: click the "i" button from the top-right corner and then click the "subscribe" button.



7. find the number of views: click the "i" button from the top-right corner.



8. add the video to the "watch later" playlist: click the "clock" button next to the YouTube logo.



9. turn off annotations: click the conversation icon at the bottom.



10. enable captions: click the "CC" button. To disable them, click the same button and then "turn captions off".



11. move captions: use drag&drop to change their position.



12. change caption size: use + or - keyboard shortcuts. You can also change the caption's foreground/background colors and the font: click the "CC" button and pick "caption settings". Click "background" to enable the caption background (there's also a keyboard shortcut: b). Your settings are saved and YouTube will used them for other videos.

13. translate captions: click the "CC" button, then "translate captions" and pick a language.



14. open the video in full screen mode: click the "full screen" icon next to the YouTube logo.



15. change video quality: click the wheel icon and choose from auto, 144p, 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p.



16. change the video's speed (only in the HTML5 player): click the wheel icon and choose from 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x.



17. check the stats: right-click the video and select "stats for nerds" to see the video's size, the number of frames per second, the number of dropped frames and other useful information.



18. open the video's YouTube page: click the title at the top of the player or the YouTube logo at the bottom.



19. use keyboard shortcuts (most shortcuts only work in the Flash player and they require that the video player has focus):



* k - pause/play the video

* m - mute/unmute the video

* f - full screen mode (Esc to exit)

* j or left arrow - seek backward 3 seconds

* l or right arrow - seek forward 3 seconds

* 0 - jump at the beginning of the video

* 1-9 - seek to the 10% to 90% of the video

* home/end - jump at the beginning/end of the video

* up/down arrows - increase/decrease volume by 5%



20. related videos: at the end of the video, you'll see a list of related videos and you can watch them in the embedded player. Mouse over the thumbnails to find more information about the videos.



Here's a video you can use to test these features:

YouTube Encourages Sharing Videos

When you watch a YouTube video until the end, YouTube thinks you might want to share it with other people and switches to the "share" tab automatically. The "share" tab has been recently redesigned and now shows more social services at a glance. You can also click "embed" and copy the embedding code.

If you'd like to link to a YouTube video and open the "share" tab by default, just add #action=share at the end of the URL. Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep3iIDDDlaM#action=share.



The embedded YouTube player already includes a lot of features: from the like/unlike buttons, to the share button and the information button that shows the video's description, the number of views and lets you subscribe to the associated channel.

YouTube's Channel Card Experiment

There's a new YouTube experiment that shows a channel card when you mouse over the link to a YouTube channel. The card shows the channel's images and description, a link to the Google+ page, a subscribe button, the number of subscribers and sometimes the most recent video from that channel.



This works for search results, comments, suggested videos, homepage videos, recommended channels and more. You can find more about a YouTube channel without having to open a new page.

Sometimes YouTube also shows a list of people from your Google+ circles that subscribed to the channel:

The experiment also includes the "I'm feeling lucky" play button I've mentioned here. This time, it's placed next to the upload button. The play button creates a playlist with recommended videos.

Here's how you can enable the experiment. 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/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=0xJL6SMMUyE; 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, André Zlatin. }

Advanced Linux Text Editors Compared: kate vs gedit

Any Linux user will tell you that a good text editor is a vital component of a computer system, no matter if you’re a new user or a seasoned pro. While using a Terminal text editor (like nano or vim) is equally important, you might as well make use of your graphical desktop environment whenever it’s available to you. kate, KDE‘s default text editor, and gedit, Gnome‘s default text editor, are powerful tools that can get the job done and then some. However, if you’re making the all-important decision of which desktop environment you want to use, taking a look...

Read the full article: Advanced Linux Text Editors Compared: kate vs gedit

Finally, A Way To Change Windows 8 Boot Screen

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Ever since we published customizing Windows 8 boot screen article, we are getting a lot of questions on Windows 8 boot: “Is it possible to change the default Windows 8 boot logo with a custom picture?” “Is there a software to change Windows 8 boot logo?” Of course not everyone is interested and dare to [...]

How To Embed YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, And Google Maps Responsively

One of the biggest buzzwords in the online design world in the past two or three years has to be ‘Responsive.’ With the advent of browsing on everything from a 4 inch smartphone screen to a 27 inch display, it can be difficult to make sure that your website or blog looks good no matter what. That’s why a responsive design is essential because it can automatically detect what device you’re using to access the site, and adjust it to fit the size of your screen. While you can design your entire website to be responsive, when you’re embedding external...

Read the full article: How To Embed YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, And Google Maps Responsively

YouTube's Title Shows if a Video Is Playing

Here's a very simple YouTube feature that's really useful. YouTube started to add a "play" Unicode character to the title of the YouTube page, but only when the video is playing. Pause the video and the "play" character disappears. It's a great way to find a "noisy" tab, especially if you open more than one YouTube video.



The "play" symbol is actually the black right-pointing triangle Unicode character. It's small, subtle and it's better than an animated favicon.



Here's an example: there are 2 YouTube tabs in the screenshot below. In the first tab there's a paused video, while in the second tab there's a video that's playing.

Google Play Music Offers Tag Suggestions

Google's online music service started to suggest better tag values for the songs you've uploaded. If you right-click a song or an album and select "edit info", you might see some suggested values for the album's name, the track number, genre or even the artwork. Click the suggested value to use it or click "use suggestions" to add all the suggested values, then click "save".



There's no magic "fix all my tags" button, so you need to manually fix the tags for each song or album. Google's suggestions aren't always great, so maybe it's better this way.

{ Merci, Alexandre Olliet. }

Partial YouTube Embeds

Let's say you want to embed a long YouTube video, but you only need a short excerpt from that video. The Nexus 7 & Chromecast Press Event video has 64 minutes, but you only want to embed the part about Android stats from 02:50 to 06:30.



Start with the standard embedding code:



<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GbXeZ16FoCY" width="560"></iframe>



Then add the start and end parameters. Both use seconds, so you'll need to convert minutes to seconds. For my example:



* 02:50 = 2 minutes and 50 seconds = 2*60+50 seconds = 170 seconds, so start=170

* 06:30 = 6 minutes and 30 seconds = 6*60+30 seconds = 390 seconds, so end=390.



Here's the final code. You only need to add the underlined text in red:



<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GbXeZ16FoCY?start=170&end=390" width="560"></iframe>



Here's the video embed:

When you click the play button, YouTube will only play the excerpt you've selected. Visitors can always use the seek bar and skip to other part of the video or continue to watch the video.

5 Tips To Research A Company Before You Sit Down For A Job Interview

If you’re looking for a job, the interview aspect is probably the most nerve-wracking aspect of the search. Bombing an interview means losing out on an opportunity that was within your grasp but slipped through your fingers at the last moment. And while most people focus on dressing well and being charismatic, the importance of pre-interview research is often overlooked. Companies aren’t just looking for another grunt worker to add to their team – they want someone who’s excited, motivated, and eager to contribute to said company’s mission. You aren’t the only one interviewing, so if it comes down to...

Read the full article: 5 Tips To Research A Company Before You Sit Down For A Job Interview

Managing Notifications in Windows 8

Windows 8′s new app platform provides an integrated notification system for Modern apps. Windows 8-style apps can use several different types of notifications — traditional toast notifications, lock screen notifications, and live tiles. All of these can be managed, whether you want to disable an app’s notifications, allow notifications only for certain email accounts, or temporarily silence notifications so they don’t bother you. Unfortunately, Windows 8 doesn’t include a notification center that allows you to view a history of your notifications in one place. Windows 8′s pop-up notifications are much more transient, while its live tiles and lock-screen apps display...

Read the full article: Managing Notifications in Windows 8

Automatically Bundle Your Browsing History With cottonTracks For Chrome

Are you sick of trawling through your browsing history to find that one article you saw last week and suddenly wanted to send to someone? Or have you been researching a particular topic only to wonder which of the many pages you viewed was the one you want to take another look at? Or do you just love seeing intuitive apps in action and want to see what this is about? Right, then cottonTracks is going to blow your socks off. cottonTracks is the latest and greatest Chrome extension for organising your browsing history. It automatically aggregates the sites you’ve...

Read the full article: Automatically Bundle Your Browsing History With cottonTracks For Chrome

Google Cast for Local Files

Who said that Google Cast is only for files stored online? Koushik Dutta, a CyanogenMod developer, wrote an Android app that lets you watch videos from your phone or tablet on your TV.



The application is not yet publicly available, but it's not difficult to guess that it uses a local web server. "It's heavily leveraging another project that I've been working on for the better part of 2 years," says the author. The project is probably AndroidAsync.



Here's a demo:

I'm sure we'll see Koushik's app or a similar app in the Google Play Store pretty soon. It will make Chromecast more useful. The next step would be to mirror the device, but that's a lot more complicated.



Right now, Chromecast is only available in the US, at least officially. If you're not in the US, you can try eBay and buy one for $45-$65.

Android Device Manager

It looks like Google really wants to close the gap between Android and iOS and add all the missing features. After Google Play Games and Google Cast, Google will add a feature that lets you find your lost phone. There are many third-party apps that offer this feature (some are even included by hardware manufacturers), but nothing beats a built-in feature like "Find my iPhone", especially when it's free and easy to use.



"If you ended up dropping your phone between those couch cushions, Android Device Manager lets you quickly ring your phone at maximum volume so you can find it, even it's been silenced. And in the event that your phone or tablet is out of earshot (say, at that restaurant you left it at last night), you can locate it on a map in real time. (...) If your phone can't be recovered, or has been stolen, you can quickly and securely erase all of the data on your device."

This service will be available later this month for all devices running Android 2.2 or later. It will integrate with your Google Account and you'll be able to install an app that lets you find and manage your devices.



If I were to guess, the service will be added to the next Play Services update. The app is updated automatically by Google Play Store and it requires Android 2.2 or later. Now it also has an icon: you can find it as Google Settings, which groups various settings related to Google+, Google Play Games, location, search, ads, app scanning.



What other standard iOS features would you like to see in Android? I really like "scroll to top", battery percentage in the status bar, changing permissions for each app (location, contacts, photos), "do not disturb" and the full iCloud backup. Some are available in CyanogenMod, TouchWiz, HTC Sense or in third-party apps.