Do You Still Check Your Email While On Vacation? [MakeUseOf Poll]

Last week we asked you which major gaming platform you use the most. To be honest, I did not expect these results. Over 60% of you voted for the same platform. That’s not something we see a lot. Which was the one to get the popular vote? Out of 380 votes in total, 1% use a retro gaming system as their main platform, another 1% use a Nintendo Wii, 3% use a handheld console, 4% use their mobile phone, another 4% use their tablet, 8% use a Microsoft Xbox, 11% use a Sony Playstation, and a full 67% use their...

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Classic Google Maps URL

If you've switched to the new Google Maps desktop interface, you can quickly go back to the classic interface by clicking the gear icon and picking "Classic Maps" or by clicking "Help & Feedback" at the top of the page and picking "Return to classic Google Maps". You'll see a message that asks you if you want to permanently go back to the old interface or temporarily switch.



Another option is to bookmark this URL: Classic Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps?output=classic). It will always send you to the standard Maps interface and you won't have to open the new interface first.

Why would you switch to the old interface? Maybe you need to use the more advanced directions that let you add more than 2 destinations, maybe you like the terrain/photos/webcam layers or Maps Labs features like the distance measurement tools or the LatLng tooltip, maybe you miss the Pegman icon you could drag and drop to switch to Street View or you want to customize the printing format for directions.

New Google Image Search for Mobile

Google's image search engine has a new interface for smartphones and tablets. The new UI looks just like the desktop UI, but you can use swipes to navigate between the image results.



Here are some screenshots from my 2012 Nexus 7. When you tap an image result, a black box with a bigger version of the image will open. You can also find some additional information about the image.

Swipe left to see the next image result, swipe right to go to the previous result. Gestures work just like the left/right keyboard shortcuts in the desktop interface.

A similar interface is available for smartphones. Here's a screenshot from an iPhone running iOS7:

Google will probably say that it changed the interface to make it more consistent and provide an unified interface for both desktop and mobile devices. There are some other advantages: you can scroll down to see more results, you can scroll up and quickly change the query or switch to web search.

Bing Gets Prettier: Adds Pinterest Boards To Image Search

Bing has beefed up its image search by bringing Pinterest boards to its image search results. Go to Bing Image Search and type in your keyword. You will see the result in the form of Pinterest board collections appear on the right hand side of the regular Bing Image Search results. Clicking on any collection takes you to the next screen that displays all images on the pin board. Click on the image to enlarge and view it in a lightbox. As earlier, you can directly pin any image from Bing Image Search. Visual search has become richer and search...

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Windows 8 Transformation Pack Can Make Windows 7 Turn Modern

Is Windows 8 truly awesome or an utter failure? We have examined Windows 8 from various angles, including what it’s like in daily use, the impression from a Linux user’s perspective, or how to make Windows 8 suck less. The one thing most of us agree on, is that the Modern interface, formerly known as Metro, is pretty cool. I mean, it’s clean and so much better organized than a Windows 7 desktop. That, however, is not quite enough to provide motivation for a full upgrade or PC replacement. So, how do you keep everything you love about Windows 7,...

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WiiCan Turns Your WiiMote Into a Linux Gamepad, Mouse and More

Use your WiiMote as a gamepad, remote control or even a mouse for your Linux computer. If you’ve got Bluetooth, free application WiiCan is a great way to set up your WiiMote to do just about anything. You may not use your Wii as much as you used to, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep your WiiMotes in a dusty box somewhere. If you play games on your computer, you can use them for that. We showed you how to connect your WiiMote to your PC, use your WiiMote as a Mac gamepad and even connect it to...

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Create Beautiful Photo Collages With These Great Tools

A picture is worth a 1000 words. So how many words is a 4-image collage worth? Sometimes, a nice collage is the best way to share an experience quickly. It takes minutes to make, it’s easy to share, and rather than bombarding your friends with several photos, you can only send one that tells the whole story. The tools below will help you create beautiful collages from your images, no matter which platform you’re on. Picisto [Web] Picisto is a feature-rich collage maker that employs an interesting business model. It’s not completely free to use (although all basic features are),...

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Create Beautiful Photo Collages With These Great Tools

A picture is worth a 1000 words. So how many words is a 4-image collage worth? Sometimes, a nice collage is the best way to share an experience quickly. It takes minutes to make, it’s easy to share, and rather than bombarding your friends with several photos, you can only send one that tells the whole story. The tools below will help you create beautiful collages from your images, no matter which platform you’re on. Picisto [Web] Picisto is a feature-rich collage maker that employs an interesting business model. It’s not completely free to use (although all basic features are),...

Read the full article: Create Beautiful Photo Collages With These Great Tools

Runnable Wants To Be The YouTube For Code With A Searchable Repository

Runnable aims to be a huge library of code anyone can search for code snippets and then reuse. For all practical purposes, they want to be the “YouTube of Code”. Searching for code has become a Web activity now for many developers as they look to fast track development with re-usable bits of code, instead of going through the process of doing it from scratch and wasting precious time. Runnable wants to make it easier to search for those bits of code and fit them together quickly in any developmental project. Runnable aggregates APIs, scripts, frontend objects, database calls, and...

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Tips for Google Bar's App Launcher

Google's new navigation menu is useful for visiting some of the most popular Google services, but did you know that you can still use it to find search results? This only works when you use your browser's search box. For example, you can search for [bogota], click the grid icon and select "YouTube". Instead of sending you to YouTube's homepage, Google's menu uses your query and sends you to YouTube's search results page.



Here's a list of services that show search results: YouTube, Play, Maps, Translate, Books, Shopping and Finance. You can middle-click or Ctrl-click the icons to open pages in a new tab.

Unfortunately, this feature is buggy: if you try another query, the links from the drop-down menu send you to the search results for the first query. That's because the feature doesn't work in the AJAX interface.



Useful tip: you can quickly open Google's list of "even more" services by middle-clicking the grid icon. You can also right-click it and select "open link in new tab".



Another tip: instead of clicking "more", you can scroll down.



Fun fact: Google's code includes icons for some other Google services. One of them is Google Reader. Other services: Google Groups, Google Video, Google Image Search, Google Contacts.

Speaking of Google service icons, you can find more icons here.

The Storage Used by Gmail and Google Drive

Now that Google offers unified storage that's shared between Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos, it's more difficult to tell how much storage is used by each service. You can always click "Manage" next to "X GB (Y%) of Z GB used" at the bottom of the page in Gmail and Google Drive, then mouse over the chart.

Google Drive has a new feature that shows more details about your storage without having to open a new page: just mouse over "X GB (Y%) of Z GB used" and you'll see something like this:

10 GB of Free Google Storage for Installing Quickoffice

If you've installed the Quickoffice app for Android or iOS 2 weeks ago, you'll now have 10 GB of free storage for 2 years. Check the Google Storage page, mouse over the chart and look for the "Quickoffice promotion".

You only had to install a free app. You didn't have to buy a Moto X phone (50 GB for 2 years), a regular Chromebook (100 GB for 2 years) or a Chromebook Pixel (1 TB for 3 years). Google Drive's offers for phones and Chromebooks have special pages.



It's funny to see that Google offered free storage for installing an app that used to cost $15-20.

Best Rated Android Apps for SEO and Analytics in Google Play

High quality websites with valuable content and bright features will be wasted if not completely competent in visibility approach to all search engines. This article focuses on mobile application with regards to effective tasks in SEOs and Analytics.

It appears that software applications adamantly propagate nowadays not only in PC’s but most especially in mobile devices. Without the eye of an expert, it is difficult to distinguish which one is useful and which one is not functional. Unfortunately, there are applications that are just too good to be true in ads but failed to live up with its so called good name. So which is which? SEO analytics utilizes various software applications to optimize existing websites and also to maximize its visibility in all search engines. The following are compiled Android application for SEO and Analytics advantage.

Top Android Apps for SEO and Analytics in Google Play:

WebRank SEO application

This application achieved high reviews from SEO analytics. This is free software that generates SEO data from Website Ranks- such as Google Pagerank, Alexa Rank and Compete Rank, Social media stat, Pages Indexed and Backlinks from popular search engines. SEO analytics will be delighted in exploring site’s keywords using this application.

SEO SERP Application

This application comes in free and Pro version. SEO SERP application is very functional for all SEO analytics in tracking website position, social media rank performance, as well as the website health status. It also features unlimited keywords for all SEOs. This is helpful in developing a well optimized site.

SECockpit Application

This is a keyword- search friendly application. A very much free application that is packed with SEO keyword tool that is perfect for SEO analytics. SECockpit Application generates fast- pace key- word finding for SEO analytics that needed speed and accuracy.

SEO Keyword Checker Application

This application is essential in web page analysis as well as tracking most keywords in web pages. SEO analytics needed an application like this to ensure a high visibility ranking site in all search engines.

mAnalytics Application

This is top rated software application which supports all Android devices. This is a handy tool for SEO analytic in managing their Google analytic account without the hassle of desktop computer. This is free software apps so need to squander.

AdSense Dashboard Application

This is a grab- and- get software application that helps SEO analytics view and manages their adSense account anywhere they wanted to. Updates and reviews will be easily viewed in this application.

HootSuite Application

This is a so much in demand application for Android devices. As we can see, social media overrides multiple top rated websites in all forms. HootSuite application consists of social media management tools that enables multiple social media account to sync up all at once. Very convenient for SEO analytics and a must have application.

Ad-ology Marketing Forecast Application

All SEO analytics must be on top and advance when it comes to online marketing strategies. This application is a perfect tool for market analysis. It features related topics, advance research and what is trending online.

Marketing Plan Application

To be successful in online marketing, it is necessary to seek help from the experts. Marketing Plan Application is a brilliant application for online marketers and SEOs. It features consultation from online professional marketers regarding market strategies and also advocates campaigns tutorials. This application aids in the marketing analysis for a more enhance site.

Google Drive Application

This application is perfect for all SEO analytics that works in different place and time. It allows them to work on a same file regardless of their location. Sharing documents here is easy. Google Drive Application contains user- friendly tools and formats that is accessible to all shared users.



Truly, it is always great to take advantage of free software. Besides, these applications are the mostly used software programs in all Android devices. Users worldwide assess the level of functionality of these apps. It is a common knowledge that it is impossible for a site to be on top of the search engines if not completely optimize. So, it is critical in web site development to become acquainted in all areas of keyword- search programs. The above applications are highly recommended and certainly won’t waste the time of any users.

About Guest Author :This awesome article was provided by Hammad Baig of http://www.covershub.net , who recently made Facebook Covers sharing site, where you are sure to enjoy thousands of quality cover photos for your timeline. Follow Covershub on Pinterest

10 Curiously Geeky Virtual Tours You Can Take On Google Street View

A geek is an explorer at heart. It could be the search for mysterious knowledge. It could be an expedition through the Internet. To quote St. Augustine — the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. Our collective heads may be buried in books or the computer, but what better way to set your bowlines free than to travel. And what could be better than going to some of the geekiest landmarks around the world? You probably won’t make it to all the places on your bucket list. Don’t worry, there’s a lifetime...

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How to Boost Your PC Startup Time With BootRacer and MSConfig

A slow-booting PC is enough to drive anyone completely up the wall. You’ve cleaned and scanned all of the nasty viruses and malware off your computer, but still the problem remains. You turn on your computer, and it feels like it isn’t until half an hour later when you can actually start using it. No viruses. No Malware. Yet, it runs as though it was built in 1995. What’s the deal? Why is your PC so….horribly….slow!? I’ve known people to get so completely frustrated with this problem that they’ve literally thrown out the computer, and gone out to buy a...

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What’s the Best Way to Calculate the Value of Your Website?

“Worth” is a difficult thing to define. My father often told me that something is only worth what someone else will actually pay for it – but if you’re trying to sell your website, what’s a reasonable figure to ask for or expect at auction? Right now, I’m fairly certain I could sell my little niche gaming blog for about $20k. How did I get to that figure? Now that’s the million dollar question. Let’s look at the options. The Easy, Useless Way: Online Tools Let’s start by doing this the wrong way: using sites that try to estimate a...

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What’s the Best Way to Calculate the Value of Your Website?

“Worth” is a difficult thing to define. My father often told me that something is only worth what someone else will actually pay for it – but if you’re trying to sell your website, what’s a reasonable figure to ask for or expect at auction? Right now, I’m fairly certain I could sell my little niche gaming blog for about $20k. How did I get to that figure? Now that’s the million dollar question. Let’s look at the options. The Easy, Useless Way: Online Tools Let’s start by doing this the wrong way: using sites that try to estimate a...

Read the full article: What’s the Best Way to Calculate the Value of Your Website?

These Are The Apps You Need After You Reinstall Windows

Just your luck: for some reason – maybe a virus infection, maybe a corrupted hard drive – you had to reinstall your operating system. In the process, you lost all of your data and your favorite programs and now you’re left with a blank slate. Instead of fretting over the situation, consider this an opportunity to start off on the right foot. Here are the essential apps that will take care of 99% of your computer activity and, best of all, they’re available for free. Anti-Malware: Malwarebytes Malware and virus infections can be a pain in the neck. Best case...

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Better Inline Previews for your Gmail

Gmail supports YouTube and a limited number of web services for inline previews but with you can now preview almost any web link, including regular web pages, right inside Gmail.

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This story, Better Inline Previews for your Gmail, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 04/10/2013 under GMail, Google Chrome, Internet

Are You Taking Friendly Fire? 3 Tips To Stop Spam From Friends

“Help this abused puppy! Every time someone shares this photo, the Humane Society will donate $1 to help this miserable puppy! Open your hearts! Sharing takes just one click!!!” Sounds familiar? We all get spam from time to time, it can’t be helped. But when it’s our own friends that send this spam our way, things can get sticky. Knowingly or unknowingly, much of the spam we receive (that does not get filtered out automatically) comes from people we know. People you can’t or don’t want to block, mark as spam, unfriend or unfollow. So what do you do to...

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