7 Really Free Things You Can Do On Amazon Without Spending A Single Dime

No, this is not an article about that gizmo or the book that has gone free. This is also not about grabbing goodies for cheap off Amazon.com’s digital racks. This is about diving into Amazon’s depths and coming up with useful free resources you can make use of. Amazon.com was named after Earth’s mightiest river. It also launched with the tagline — Earth’s biggest book store. Thirty years later, it is a gigantic “warehouse” that stocks anything you can think of. Like a personal tank, maybe. Amazon doesn’t seem to be straining under the load of being the world’s largest...

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Google Updater Needs Permissions to Control your Computer – Why?

If you are using any Google software on your Mac OS (Mavericks), you may seen this dialog box saying that “Google Software Update would like to control this computer using accessibility features.”

You can click the Deny button and the Google software installed on your Mac will continue to work without issues but why is the software updater asking for permission to control the computer?

I have been scanning the online forums and discovered a few threads that seem to explain the problem and what this Google’s Software Updater program is trying to achieve.

The short answer is that Google wants to auto-update any Google software installed on your Mac OS – stuff like Picasa, Google Earth, Google Drive, App Engine or Google Chrome. They want to install updates in the background without the user’s intervention and hence need this permission.

An engineer from the Google Chromium team says that it’s completely safe to Deny this dialog.

The Google Support website has instructions on how to uninstall the Google Software Updater program on your Mac using the terminal app but there’s a caveat. You have to uninstall the corresponding Google applications as well else the Google Software Update will be reinstalled after a few hours.

Manually run Google Software Update

Another option would be that you disable the Google Software Update program from automatically checking the Internet for updates and manually update any Google software on your Mac.

$ defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 0

Run the command above at the terminal to disable auto-check and open the CheckForUpdatesNow.command to run the checks manually.

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This story, Google Updater Needs Permissions to Control your Computer – Why?, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 14/02/2014 under Apple Mac, Google, Internet

Google+ Easter Egg for Valentine's Day

Google+ has a special Easter Egg for Valentine's Day. Mr. Jingles, the Google+ mascot, transformed into a heart. You can find the animation in the Google+ notification box: in Google+ for desktop, Google+ mobile apps and most Google services.

Here's the animation that's displayed when you click the icon. This is the "retina" double-sized version:

"I <3 you, people of Google+! You've made me feel like your Valentine many times over," says Mr. Jingles.



You can also check the costumes for New Year's party, Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, Halloween, 15 years of Google and 2 years of Google+.

openSUSE 13.1: A Solid Linux Release With Long Term Support

Ubuntu and Fedora aren’t the only major Linux distributions out there: there’s also openSUSE. This RPM-based distribution celebrated the release of version 13.1 on November 19th, and there’s a reason why this release is so important. OpenSUSE 13.1 is considered an “Evergreen” release, meaning that it’s going to be supported for 3 years – akin to Ubuntu’s LTS releases. Let’s take a look at what makes openSUSE 13.1 so great. Unique Features OpenSUSE has a lot of items in common with other distributions – KDE as the default desktop environment, Firefox as the default browser, and a good selection of...

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10 Tips To Work Smart When You Get Hit With A Slow Internet Connection

You think it’s the kind of thing that happens to other people, but sometimes, calamity befalls us. Sometimes, the gods are cruel and they take away your life force. Yes, one day, we will all have to deal with a slow internet connection. Drama aside, it’s not an uncommon scenario. You might be at a coffee shop with too many people logged onto the Wi-Fi and the limited bandwidth isn’t enough to keep everyone running. Or, like me, you might just live in India. But hey, with a little ingenuity, you can still get your work done and sneak in...

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Geeky Valentine, Android Licensing, Facebook Gender, Pandora Voting [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, geeky goodness for Valentine’s Day, Android licensing terms for OEMs, Windows 8 sales update, Facebook’s increased gender options, Pandora’s voting algorithm, and how to get yourself banned from the Internet. A Valentine’s Day Roundup Whether you have a special someone or not, remember Valentines Day is about celebrating LOVE itself. #ValentinesDay — Julian Camarena (@juliancamarena) February 14, 2014 Today is Valentine’s Day, at least for those who celebrate the most romantic date in the calendar. It’s a day set aside to show your love for your significant other, or to simply revel in that incredible...

Read the full article: Geeky Valentine, Android Licensing, Facebook Gender, Pandora Voting [Tech News Digest]

Geeky Valentine, Android Licensing, Facebook Gender, Pandora Voting [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, geeky goodness for Valentine’s Day, Android licensing terms for OEMs, Windows 8 sales update, Facebook’s increased gender options, Pandora’s voting algorithm, and how to get yourself banned from the Internet. A Valentine’s Day Roundup Whether you have a special someone or not, remember Valentines Day is about celebrating LOVE itself. #ValentinesDay — Julian Camarena (@juliancamarena) February 14, 2014 Today is Valentine’s Day, at least for those who celebrate the most romantic date in the calendar. It’s a day set aside to show your love for your significant other, or to simply revel in that incredible...

Read the full article: Geeky Valentine, Android Licensing, Facebook Gender, Pandora Voting [Tech News Digest]

Send Gmail Attachments to your Google Drive

The Send to Google Drive program automatically saves attachments from your Gmail messages to a folder in your Google Drive. It can save file attachments from all your Gmail messages or you specify a Gmail label, say GoogleDrive, and attachments of all messages marked with that label will get downloaded to a folder in your Google Drive.

You neither have to install any browser extensions (the program uses Google Scripts) nor do you have to grant access to your Gmail or Google Drive accounts to a third-party. And since Google Drive synchronizes with your mobile device and desktop, the saved email attachments will instantly become available on all your other devices.

How to Send Gmail Attachments to Google Drive

Here’s a step by step guide on how you can setup the Send to Google Drive program for your Gmail account:

1. Click here to create a copy of the Google sheet in your Google Drive.


2. Open the sheet and you should see a new Gmail Attachments menu at the top. Choose Authorize and grant the necessary permissions. This is an open-source Google Script) that runs in your own Google account and no one else will have access to any of your data.


3. Click the same menu again and select Run. Close the Google sheet and the script will start downloading Gmail attachments to your Google Drive in the background.

The Google sheet will monitor any particular label in your Gmail mailbox in the background (every five minutes) and as soon as it finds a message that has attachments, it will automatically save all the attachments to the Gmail Files folder on your Google Drive. If you wish to download Gmail attachments in a different folder, change the value of cell D5 in the sheet.

Once the attachments have been saved, a new label is applied to the Gmail message indicating that the message has been processed. The default label is AttSaved but you can specify a different label in cell D6.

And if you would like to stop the script from running in the background, open the Google Sheet and choose Uninstall from the Gmail Attachments menu.

Send to Google Drive – Premium Version

The premium version supports even more features:

1. Nested Gmail Labels – It can monitor Gmail messages that belong to a nested Gmail folder.


2. Monitor Multiple Labels – While the free version only supports one label, the premium version can help you extract attachments from one or more Gmail labels


3. Google Drive Organized – The free version dumps all Gmail attachments to one Google Drive fodler while the premium version organizes them in sub-folders thus keeping your Drive cleaner and more organized.

With the premium version, you also have the option for email and phone support (PDF Manual).

Google Script + Installation Manual $29.99 USD
Google Script + Email Support $49.99 USD
Google Script + Phone Support $99.99 USD

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This story, Send Gmail Attachments to your Google Drive, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 01/02/2014 under GMail, Google Drive, Internet

Google's Timer is Back

Remember the timer feature that was available for a few days last year and then quickly removed by Google? It's back now: it only works in the desktop Google search interface and it now has a full screen option.



Here are some examples of searches you can use: [set timer for 30 seconds], [set timer for 10 minutes and 10 seconds], [set timer for an hour and a half], [timer for 30 seconds], [timer 30 seconds], [timer 30 sec], [timer 23 hours 59 min 59 sec].

{ Thanks, Jonah. }

Definite Articles in Google Translate

This is pretty useful. When you translate a noun, Google Translate now shows the proper definite article. For example, when you translate "person" into Portuguese, Google displays multiple translations: "a pessoa", "o homem", "a mulher" and more. Google actually translates "the person".

When there are too many translations, Google collapses the list.

{ Thanks, Camilo. }

My Location in the New Google Maps

The new Google Maps for desktop brings back the "show my location" feature. Just click the button next to zoom in/out and Google Maps will show your location. You'll probably see a dialog that asks for your permission to send your location to Google.



"If you're unable to activate My Location, you may have previously denied permission for Google Maps to use your location. Or, your browser may have experienced an error in determining your location. To have My Location work, you must first grant permission then let Maps get your location," informs Google.

In other related news, the new Google Maps will replace the classic Google Maps in the near future. Here's a message displayed by Google: "Search, navigate, and explore with the new Google Maps, coming to your desktop soon."

{ Thanks, Jérôme. }

Chrome Windows, Virgin Network, Candy Crushed, iPhone 6 Queue [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Windows is coming to Chrome OS, new Apple TV hardware is teased, Virgin America launches its own social network, the Candy Crush Saga trademark war bags another victim, IMO adds voice chat and video chat, Kik adds a Web browser, and the queue for the iPhone 6 has already begun. Windows Comes To Chrome OS Chrome OS users can access a Windows desktop and apps – Google is slowly but surely undermining Microsoft. http://t.co/7DEWrwIbRT — Michael Wiebrands (@morfaine) February 13, 2014 Microsoft Windows is coming to Chrome OS, with a deal between Google and VMware...

Read the full article: Chrome Windows, Virgin Network, Candy Crushed, iPhone 6 Queue [Tech News Digest]

Chrome Windows, Virgin Network, Candy Crushed, iPhone 6 Queue [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Windows is coming to Chrome OS, new Apple TV hardware is teased, Virgin America launches its own social network, the Candy Crush Saga trademark war bags another victim, IMO adds voice chat and video chat, Kik adds a Web browser, and the queue for the iPhone 6 has already begun. Windows Comes To Chrome OS Chrome OS users can access a Windows desktop and apps – Google is slowly but surely undermining Microsoft. http://t.co/7DEWrwIbRT — Michael Wiebrands (@morfaine) February 13, 2014 Microsoft Windows is coming to Chrome OS, with a deal between Google and VMware...

Read the full article: Chrome Windows, Virgin Network, Candy Crushed, iPhone 6 Queue [Tech News Digest]

Microsoft Makes Office 365 Cloud Secure With Multi-Factor Authentication

Microsoft has finally given users some peace of mind by introducing optional multi-factor authentication in Office 365. In the same announcement, the company said the feature will arrive in Office 2013 this year. The feature is a no-cost “update” and covers all Office 365 variants and subscriptions — Office 365 to Office 365 Midsize Business, Enterprise plans, Academic plans, Nonprofit plans, and standalone Office 365 plans. Multi-factor authentication adds another layer of security to the login by requiring a second validation after the initial password. It establishes the user is genuine with a phone call, text message, or an app...

Read the full article: Microsoft Makes Office 365 Cloud Secure With Multi-Factor Authentication

Microsoft Makes Office 365 Cloud Secure With Multi-Factor Authentication

Microsoft has finally given users some peace of mind by introducing optional multi-factor authentication in Office 365. In the same announcement, the company said the feature will arrive in Office 2013 this year. The feature is a no-cost “update” and covers all Office 365 variants and subscriptions — Office 365 to Office 365 Midsize Business, Enterprise plans, Academic plans, Nonprofit plans, and standalone Office 365 plans. Multi-factor authentication adds another layer of security to the login by requiring a second validation after the initial password. It establishes the user is genuine with a phone call, text message, or an app...

Read the full article: Microsoft Makes Office 365 Cloud Secure With Multi-Factor Authentication

Apple Introduces iTunes Radio To Their Australian Customers

With the launch of iOS 7 last year came iTunes Radio, but at that time, there was one major hiccup – it was only available in the United States, due to licensing issues. But now iTunes Radio has gone down under to the land of kangaroos and hats with corks. Yes, that’s right. The many Bruce’s of Australia can now use iTunes Radio. The service runs on iPads, iPhones, iPods running iOS 7, the Apple TV, and on iTunes 11 on the Mac or PC. You can choose from over 100 stations, and music from the iTunes store. It takes...

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Here’s A Quick Way To Jazz Up Your Android Home Screen

Getting a custom home screen for your Android device is a great idea. But if you don’t have enough time to spend on that right now, you can give the existing home screen a mini makeover with a fresh wallpaper and a new icon set to match. We recently posted an in-depth tutorial on how to create a gorgeous Android home screen for yourself. If you want to save that process for another day, but still want to brighten up your home screen, the following method can work as an excellent stopgap solution. What’s more, it’s quick and easy. All...

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Streamus Is The Easiest, Coolest Way To Play Music From YouTube In Chrome

More teens listen to music through YouTube than any other source, a Nielsen study found. So it only makes sense that there should be ways to make it easier to listen to YouTube through your browser. And that’s what Streamus does for Google Chrome. Chrome already has YouTube Options to make your overall YouTube experience better, but Streamus is solely about the music. It has one mission: a mini music player based on YouTube, sitting pretty in your Chrome toolbar. Seek And You Shall Find Tap the Streamus icon and you get a dropdown tooltip which has two panes: the...

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Test Bootable ISO File Without Burning Using QEMU Simple Boot

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There are times when you may need to test a bootable USB drive or an ISO file. Maybe you have just downloaded Windows ISO file from Microsoft and want to test it before burning it to a DVD; or maybe you have created a bootable USB drive and want to test if it works perfectly, […]

Long Live Windows XP! [We Ask You Results]

Microsoft wants Windows XP to die, but the general public clearly doesn’t. With XP enjoying a 30 percent market share for all versions of Windows, this outdated operating system released in 2001 isn’t going to go away quietly. We assumed the MakeUseOf readership would be geeks determined to look to the future rather than the past, but we were wrong. Because luddites. We Love You, Windows XP We asked you, Do You Agree That Windows XP Needs To Die? The majority of people who commented rejected the statement, electing instead to argue why Windows XP should stick around for the...

Read the full article: Long Live Windows XP! [We Ask You Results]