If you're using a computer at your workplace, decent typing speed is must for better productivity. Sometimes, we have all the necessary technical skills but lag behind due to poor keyboard skills. You don't need to be an expert typing champion to excel in your work, but a fairly good speed does makes things easy. Fortunately, there's an easy solution to that.
Goodtyping is an excellent online service for enhancing your typing skills that too for free. Unlike other courses, you don't need to install any software or application on your desktop to get started. Simply, sign up for the course, which is entirely web-based comprised of 27 detailed and step-by-step tutorials that make the learning process a cakewalk.
Before you start your first lesson, you need to choose the keyboard layout prevalent in your region/country. This course lets you choose from 20 popular keyboard layouts that ensure that no matter where you reside on the globe, you'll find your favorite keyboard layout that goes well with your local language. If you're hesitant for registering for the course, you can try out the first lesson directly without any sign-up process to get the feel and depth of the course.
This course is also available in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. The course content, layout and interface for all these languages are same as the default English language course.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
How To Learn Typing Online In Easy Steps
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
How To Listen To Countless Radio Music And Talk Stations For Free
Listening online music is one the favorite hobbies of daily net users. Although, there are several online services to listen radio channels, I've found TuneIn very user-friendly with large database of channels for you to choose from. The interface is very intuitive and easy to use. The sucess of any online radio listening service depends on the usability of the web site. The visitors of such site are geeks as well as old grannies with little computer skills. 
TuneIn gives you access to over 50,000 radio channels and talk shows with diverse range of topics and categories. A powerful search box can help you in finding your favorite album or music star without any need to browse through list of radio stations.
The intelligent location detection feature gives you access you local radio stations at a click of a button. Although, you can directly listen to radio stations on the web site, you can also download the recommended WMP Firefox plugin for better and richer experience.
And if you're on the go, TuneIn have free apps for all major mobile devices that includes iPhone/iPod/iPad, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Samsung Bada & Windows Phone. Simply install it and enjoy seamless crisp and clear music from your favorite radio channels. And if you create a TuneIn account, you can sync, preset and preserve your preference and history across different devices.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tooltipsy : A Flexible And Powerful jQuery Tooltip Plugin
There are dozens of methodologies to create tool tips for web content. Either you can hard code it inline within web pages or use a library or plugin to achieve the desired results. The former requires expertise in web programming, but the latter method is not only powerful and flexible, but also is very easy to implement even by novice users.
Tooltipsy is one such powerful tool tip plugin that makes the whole process extremely easy. All you need is hosting the tiny JavaScript file on your server and simply call the appropriate function. Tooltipsy plugin lets you customize the CSS and well as control the alignment, animation, appearance and behavior of your tool tip in easy steps.
Unlike other plugins who only change the tool tip attributes through library function calls, this plugin lets you integrate custom CSS classes for maximum flexibility and control. The animation effects that can be achieved through this plugin are amazing and very easy to implement. Whether it's sidways slide-in or top fall-down, you name it and Tooltipsy will create that tool tip animation for you.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
How To Add A Real-Time Chat Panel To Any Web Page
Have you tried to integrate a real-time chat service with a web page? Generally, it requires you to copy-paste some code in your web page. But how about clicking a button and getting real-time chat panel on your desired web page? That's what Chattp is all about.
All it requires is entering the url of the web page on which you want to integrate a real-time chat panel and press the 'Chattify' button. Instantly, you'll get a unique link that enables a real-time chat panel on a specific page. Each link is totally unique and multiple users can chat with the same link.
This is really beneficial for places where email and chat accounts are blocked by system administrators. Make sure you refresh the web page, once you're chat friends are connected via the same link. All messages are in real-time and at the same time you can continue browsing the site along with your chat session.
Friday, June 24, 2011
How To Surf Web Together In Real Time
Sometimes you may feel the need to visit a web page together with your friend, spouse or business partner sitting far in a different country. Of course, you both can open the same web page together on your PC, but you cannot co-relate or understand what you both are browsing on that page. Fortunately, there's an easy solution that enables two users who are geographically apart browse the same web page together in real time.
Channel.me is an excellent free service that lets you browse web together with your partner in real time. You both are connected through a secure channel and all activities done on that web page by both parties are synced in real time. You can even paste sticky notes and can initiate instant messaging session on that web page in real-time. It's ideal for web developers working on a project, spouses deciding their holiday destination and online buyers deciding for an expensive purchase.
The session can be initiated from either side, either through direct channel link sharing or sending an email (automated) containing the channel's link. There's no need to install any additional software on your system as everything is managed through web-based software within the browser. You can also embed a button on your blog or web site that enables visitors to surf your blog/website together without any need to leave your site. All you need is copy paste the JavaScript code at appropriate place in your theme.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
How To Create Your Own MP3 Streaming Server
If you're a music lover and want to share your collection with listeners across the world, you'll need an audio streaming server. Configuring and maintaining such server may sound a daunting task, but with Vibe Streamer, you can easily host your own MP3 streaming server and that too for free without any need to do complex configuration or coding. All you need is a normal home PC with ample storage and a fast broadband connection.
Although 'Vibe Streamer' runs on Windows platform, you can make it run on Linux through Wine software. It's lightweight and consumes very limited system resources that ensure you can use a general computer system as your server. With Vibe Streamer, there's no limit on the number of files and directories you can share with subscribers.
You can create groups and users with different access levels that gives you complete control over what to share with whom. Vibe streamer supports all popular browsers and have in-built SSL support for secure and encrypted data transfer. A scripting language and support for UPnP gives you the power to create flexible routing and rule based streaming giving a rich experience to the listeners.
With dozens of cool skins and capability to design your own skin gives it a vibrant look. I've tested this server on a Unbuntu and XP box with 1 GB RAM + 1 Mbps broadband and it was running smooth with no hassle for up to 1 week with 345 subscribers.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
10 Best Facebook Social Plugins For Bloggers
Since facebook has evolved as the most popular social media platform, millions of netizens have made it a part of their daily life. Almost every web site or blog directly or indirectly is connected with facebook either through direct integration of plugins or through indirect link sharing. In recent years, good numbers of facebook social plugins have evolved to tightly integrate facebook functionalities within a blog. Here are the best 10 facebook social plugins for you.
Like Button: It is the most popular and easy implementable plugin used by large number of bloggers. 'Like button' enables you to share content with your facebook friends. The shared content appears in news feed with a link to the original destination. There are two variants of 'Like button' (XFBML and Iframe). The former is more flexible with more features and customization, while the latter is simple and easy to implement. The latter option is easily configurable with different styles and all you need is copy pasting the code at appropriate place in your theme.
Send Button: It's yet another popular social plugin rapidly gaining popularity nowadays. 'Send button' enables you to share your content to selective friends either through email or through a facebook private message. You can also post it to facebook groups and selective wall tab on a facebook fan page. It's much more flexible than like button and enables you to share your content beyond the usual news feed wall. Generally, it is used to share content on fan pages and groups, which includes the images, title and description (short snippet) of the original content.
Comments: It is one of my favorite social plugins now used by large number of blogs including some very popular blogs. Instead of using the blog's native comment system, you can integrate this excellent facebook comment system to your blog, to let people comment through their facebook login. All comments posted appear on their wall and of course on their news feed as well with a link to the original post. You friends can post a comment directly within the news feed which is automatically updated on the original post. I highly recommend using this excellent social plugin on your blog. 
Activity Feed: This is an excellent plugin to showcase how people on facebook are sharing, liking and commenting on your content. If good number of facebook peeps engage with your content, this plugin is a good choice to let other people know how valuable is your content and how people are disseminating it across the entire facebook platform. This plugin also comes in two variants (XFBML and Iframe), and it's up to you which one you prefer to use. The best place to embed this plugin is sidebar or footer with multiple columns. You can customize it by modifying various attributes to fit your needs so that it can gel well with your blog.
Recommendations: A facebook user may recommend a piece of content on facebook which acts like a vote elevating the credibility and authority of a web site or blog. This plugin is the best way to show people's recommendations about your content on facebook. If a person is logged in, this plugin elevates recommendations by friends else recommendations from th entire facebook network are visible. Configuring and implementing this plugin is extremely easy. Needless to say, you can customize various options and appearance for this plugin as per your needs.
Like Box: Unlike it's cousin 'Like button' , this plugin displays a like box displaying recent posts from your page, the number of people who have already 'Like'ed your page and an option to like your page without any need to visit the page. If you have a facebook page with decent following (over 1000 likes), you must integrate this box to your blog to get more fans in quick time. You can customize it to your needs to display header, fans thumbnails and recent activity stream. Again sidebar is the best place to let people know about your page popularity. Implementing this plugin is easy and the results are awesome!
Login Button: This handy pugin displays the visitor's friends who have already signed up for a blog or web site on which currently visitor is engaged. A login button is also showed within the widget to let the visitor sign up as well. The widget also shows the profile picture thumbnails to make it more appealing to the visitor, which are entirely customizable (1 or 2 rows) as width of your blog's sidebar may not accommodate the default settings. I'll recommend this plugin for blogs who have already gained some user subscriptions else this widget will appear empty and may eat up your precious space for no use.
Registration: I like this plugin for it's flexibility. 'Registration' plugin lets visitors sign up for your blog or web site through their facebook account. If the user is already logged in, a pre-filled registration form appears to make the sign up process easy and fast. If the user is not logged in or does not have a facebook, this plugin presents them an alternative way to sign up for your site as some users may not want to use their facebook account to sign up for your site. Whatever is the case, this plugin is handy to gain some extra subscribers for your blog.
Facepile: Who doesn't love to show their facebook page popularity? 'Facepile' plugin showcase the thumbnails of facebook users who have liked your page or who have signed up for your page. This plugin comes in two versions. Either you can display thumbnails of users who have liked your page or you can display fans who have signed up for your blog or web site. You cannot mix both at a time and configuring this option is pretty easy while you customize this plugin. All it requires it giving the page URL or application ID associated with your facebook fan page. If your page has a decent following, this plugin is a must to let visitors know about it to gain some more fans.
Live Stream: As the name implies, this awesome plugin lets users share and comment in real time without any need to leave your blog or web site. If you're hosting a live event, webinar or a group chat, this plugin is an excellent option to let people on facebook participate in it in real time. Configuring this plugin requires to have your own application ID which can be easily obtained through facebook itself. This plugin is ideal for marketers, freelancers, coach and group of friends involved in a common event on facebook. An ordinary user may not require this plugin in general situation as it's mostly related to real time participation associated with an event.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Autodesk 123D : Free And Powerful 3D Modeling Software
Autodesk is known for it's extremely powerful and featured packed professional 3D modeling and engineering software suite AutoCAD. If you can't afford it, there's an excellent free alternative for students and enthusiasts. It's called Autodesk 123D. With 123D, you don't need to be an engineer or architect to design project models. This software is designed keeping in mind the user-base (students, hobbyists, enthusiasts) who's going to try their hands on it.
The smart tools within this software get you started in no time with basic objects. Gradually, you can apply attributes to them and can continue to create complex models. 123D also offers tons of free readymade models for you to assist in rapid prototyping. These free models are available both within the software as well as on the web.
If you have a budding engineer or designer in your home, this software is a must. You need a decent system (at least 1 GB RAM with 2+ Ghz processor) to run 123D, as it requires power to render complex 3D models. A dedicated community powered support forum ensures you can get the help whenever you want.
If you're really into making your project models fabricated into physical objects, 123D has partnered with professional fabricating services that can create a physical replica of your design at affordable rates.
How To BackUp Your SmartPhone Data
As the technology is evolving, large chunk of important data is stored on our smartphones. Sometimes, it also includes very sensitive information that may cost us big money. If you're using mobile anti-virus and firewalls, it's a smart move to preemptively work towards guarding our precious data. But accidental deletion of data or a similar accident can create havoc? Backing up your mobile data is the best solution in such cases. Here's a list of five best backup software for all popular smartphones.
iPhone Backup Software - It's one of the most reliable and flexible backup solution for iPhone, iPod and iTouch models. It's smart auto-search and indexing system keeps your critical data synced between your phone and storage device (PC or iTunes).
Android Sprite Backup - This excellent backup software is a must for every android user who cares about important data stored on their mobile device. You can backup just about everything through Sprite backup. It also supports Dropbox and box.net integration with auto-sync feature.
BlackBerry Desktop Software - It's intuitive interface and seamless performance makes it one of the best backup solutions for Blackberry smartphones. It's available both for PC and Mac. It's auto-sync system needs no intervention and gives you peace of mind.
Windows Phone PIM Backup - This small application can perform big tasks. With PIM backup, you can store and restore you critical data on Windows smartphones. The application is light and easy to use. Simply, select the data you want to backup and get an export file with all your sensitive data.
Nokia Ovi Suite - It's a comprehensive suite for Nokia smartphone users. A smart auto-sync feature keeps your mobile device data safe and secure on your desktop. It's attractive interface and one-click syncing feature makes it favorite backup solution for Nokia users.
Friday, June 17, 2011
How To Use Custom Short Domain Through BitLy Pro
Since twitter has started their url shortening service (t.co) for users using web interface, other major players have announced their strategy to retain their user-base. Bit.ly is one of the major url shortening services used by millions of users across popular social media services. I also use their service for its reliability and good analytics insights.
Now you can use custom short links through Bitly Pro and it's free for every user. Configuring this service requires you to own a domain with full control over it. To configure your custom short link, login to your account and choose the custom link option as shown in the image below.
You'll be presented with a field to type in your custom short url. Feel free to experiment with your short url, as you can start over as many times as you want.
There's a max limit of 15 characters for your custom short link. Once you are satisfied with your choice of custom link, you have to set up a DNS record for your domain.
Simply, add a DNS A Record to make your custom short link point to 168.143.174.97. In case you're using a sub-domain for your custom short link, make sure you add a CNAME Record that points your custom short link to cname.bitly.com
So don't wait and grab your own custom short link before it is taken by anyone else.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
How To Listen And Manage Your Podcast Subscriptions With Ease
Podcasting is quite popular nowadays and large numbers of people subscribe to podcasting channels and services. Podcasting is known to have more loyal fans that the textual content, as human voice tends to make more strong and personal bond with the listeners. Generally, users listen to a podcast either online within a browser or prefer to listen through a desktop application.
The advantage of desktop applications is that you can save and listen to podcasts in offline mode too. Managing multiple podcasts streams is also much easier in desktop-based applications. Juice is once such cross-platform podcast receiver that lets you manage your podcasts with ease. It is a free and open source (GPL license) application and is quite flexible in managing podcasts.
It supports up to 15 languages, so no matter where you live, you'll definitely find at least one language in the list that is well known by you. Needless to say, every podcasting application should have good support of installed media players on any PC. Juice is not behind and supports all popular media players installed on your system. It easily switches between different media players as per your choice.
The in-built podcast database, allows you to search your favorite topic feeds to subscribe. This greatly reduces search time and helps you build the right subscription list with minimum efforts. It also supports auto-clean up function to save your disk space and is secure enough to authenticate various podcast feed subscriptions that require login credentials. It's light with intuitive interface and is easy to manage even by a layman.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
3 Best And Free Blog Comment Systems
Whether you are on Wordpress, Google blogger or any other blogging platform, comments are one of the most essential parts of a blog that keeps your blog visitors engaged with you. Although all blogging systems have their own comment system, but generally it is pretty much basic without any additional capabilities. How about adding some spice to it with advanced moderation controls, custom design and themes and tighter social integration of popular social media services?
Well, here are 3 best and free advanced blog comment system that will liven up conversations on your blog. Setting them up is pretty easy. All you need is sign up and copy pasting the code in your blog footer.
DISQUS - It's my favorite blog comment system that I'm using on this blog too. It's very easy to use with great themes and custom CSS support. Advanced moderation controls let you control the incoming comment stream with ease. I highly recommend using this system.
IntenseDebate - This is yet another popular blog comment system with large user base. Similar to Disqus, it has advanced moderation controls with lots of unique features like RSS tracking and plugins API. You can also use fancy widgets with this system to attract more commentators. 
LiveFyre - Relatively new than Disqus and IntenseDebate, this powerful blog comment system is growing at rapid pace. Its unique custom domain API gives you many advanced options unique to LiveFyre. Support for advanced moderation controls and rich integration of popular social media services makes it one of the popular comment systems among bloggers.
All these 3 blog comment systems support threaded comments and are very easy to implement. You don't need to program or code anything within your theme. Either you can copy paste the JavaScript code in your blog's footer or you can install the comment plugin to get started. Nowadays large number of blogs including some very popular blogs is using these advanced blog commenting systems to get more than what the native comment system can't provide.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
How To Use Online Timer Within Your Browser
Whether you are a web designer, blogger or an online entrepreneur, we all need timers at some point to calculate the time needed to complete a specific job. Either you can use wrist watch or your smart phone having such facility or you can use an application on your PC. How about getting the same facility right within the browser? Well, there's a handy timer facility that lets you use different level of timers right within your web browser.
Online Minute Timer is a free service that provides different types of timers according to your needs. The time range starts from 5 seconds and spans up to 60 minutes, which is enough for almost all types of users.
There are two types of configuration for timers. One type of timers cannot be stopped (though they can be switched off altogether) in between. While second type, which are more flexible have the facility of pausing or resetting them any time. The interface is minimal with almost no distractions, which is a prerequisite for any timer application. I find it very handy for calculating page load speed times on a local development server.
This timer facility provides you four sizes for every timer. Size ranging from small, medium, large and extra large timers ensures that people will weak eyesight can also use it well. Generally, the medium size is good enough for an average user.
Monday, June 13, 2011
How To Send Cool Animated Messages To Facebook Friends
If you're on facebook with cool gang of friends and if you love to gossip, an application called Gabble can spice up your message exchange with your facebook friends. Generally we send plain text messages to facebook friends that are sometimes ignored and simply deleted. How you can make sure that your facebook friends read your every direct message. For that, use Gabble to grab attention of your pals on facebook.
Gabble adds cool animations and images to your message making them more readable. You can use series of animations, images and symbols to state your mood. The application presents you with suggestions of related animations and images as you type your message in the box. You can select/deselect the images to be associated with your message.
The message itself is made of cool handwriting font and associated animations make it really irresistible. But make sure, when using this application do not spam your facebook list by overwhelming their inbox with too many Gabbles. I've tried it with my close friends and got excellent results. Now they do read my every message and respond immediately.
Friday, June 10, 2011
How To Optimize Your PC And Web Browser
There are countless PC optimization applications that claims to clean and optimize your computer system. Some of them are really effective, while others only bring additional unwanted software and malware with them during installation process. System optimization process includes much more than cleaning registry and junk files. The goal should be to make the system fast by identifying resource hoggers.
Soluto (also known as Anti-Frustration Software) is one such free program that intelligently scans your system and presents you with meaningful data to lighten the load on your PC. It has 3 modules that enable you to optimize your computer in easy steps through a gorgeous interface.
Chop boot module - Soluto monitors your entire boot process on first reboot after installation and identifies each and every application boot time, resources utilized and their importance. Thereafter, you can easily delete, pause or delay key applications that are making your boot process sluggish.
Lighten web browser module - This is my favorite module. The application scans your default browser and identifies all the plugins and add-ons integrated with the browser. It also identifies all those plugins that are not used for long time. You can delete all those extensions, which are taking too many resources or are not useful. To associate you in taking these decisions, Soluto presents you with enough details about each plugin installed with your browser.
Heal crashes module - This module uses monitor and learn technique to identify frequently crashing programs that decreases your productivity. To get the real power of this module you may have to give it enough time (30-40 days) to monitor your system for crashes and hang states. Once it has enough databases, it's like a goldmine for you. You can identify culprit programs and can identify why they are crashing though useful information provided by Soluto.
And last but not the least, Soluto comes power packed with stunning and very intuitive interface.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
WebMatrix : Free Web Development Tool For Windows
There are many popular miniature web server packages that are ideal for development on a local server. However they lack some things. None of them brings the power of web server, database management system and complete web development programming interface tightly integrated together in a single package. Although some packages do provide this facility but again they do not have built-in support for developing sites for popular content management systems like WordPress and Joomla.
WebMatrix is a free and powerful web development tool from Microsoft that combines the power of web server, robust database management system and in-built support of developing web sites through WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and many more.
With a unified interface, WebMatrix makes it very easy to configure web server, do routine database management tasks and facilitates installing and development of blog or web site built on WordPress and other popular platforms. From within the software, you can choose a reliable hosting solution and can directly publish your blog/web site in no time.
It also has built-in support of FTP and FTPS protocols that makes it all-in-one web development solution. The SEO report module lessen your burden by suggesting vital changes that can make your site rank better in search engine results. Did I mentioned, it has a stunning interface that will keep you glued to your desktop.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
5 Best Test Plugins For WordPress
Blogging enthusiasts and savvy users like to test their blog framework before making it live to the general public. In early days of WordPress, this entire process was manual with each individual devising his own method to test his theme, plugins and landing pages. Now there are several good plugins that greatly reduces this burden and lets you test your WordPress site with minimum efforts. Here are the five best test plugins for WordPress.
Theme Test Drive - Developed by famous WordPress enthusiast Vladimir Prelovac, this is one of the best test plugins. This plugin allows you to test any theme thoroughly behind the scenes on a live blog. Your visitors won't even get a hint what's going on in the backend.
Plugin Test Drive - This yet another useful plugin to test other plugins. You can set the option of either testing the target plugin within the admin dashboard or on a live site. Through this plugin you can easily test several plugins offering similar features and can select the best one giving you the desired results.
Theme-Check - This plugin is ideal for theme developers. Once activated, it runs a series of test on your theme to check whether it passes all the theme review tests and is WordPress standard complaint. The results are instantly displayed within the admin dashboard where you can analyze them and can make necessary changes in the theme.
WordPress Beta Tester - This plugin is for adventurous daredevils. If you're actively following WordPress development cycle, this plugin switches your blog installation to the latest beta or release candidate version. It is not recommended for general users as it may break your theme and your traffic may suffer the consequences.
ShrimpTest - This is a very powerful plugin and is highly recommended for professional bloggers and internet marketers. This is a A/B testing framework that helps you improve your content, layout and landing pages through data-driven split testing. If you're really obsessed with your conversion rates, I highly recommend using this plugin to improve your landing pages.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
XWindows Dock : A Powerful And Flexible Dock Bar
A dock bar not only facilitates easy access to frequently used programs, but also add spice to your desktop. Although there are several docking applications available for Windows platform but some of them are resource hoggers and while others are difficult to configure with lots of bugs. A dock bar must have a stunning interface yet it should be light and responsive with enough customization options.
XWindows Dock is a powerful and free dock bar and application launcher with very useful features.
Stunning interface - It's unique rendering engine displays awesome animation, shadow and reflection effects of icons present in the dock.
Developer API - XWindows Dock has a powerful API for coders to develop add-on plugins to further enhance the capabilities of this powerful dock. Notification, alerts and reminders within the dock icons through API make it one of the advanced docks available on the web.
Skins - Apart from the default skin, XWindows Dock gives you the power to create your own skins. You don't need any programming skills to create these skins.
Powerful window controls - If you're using Vista or Windows 7 you can take advantage of this powerful feature. Simply press and hold the key on any icon and it will display all open instances of that application in a streamlined arrangement with mind-blowing interface.
Position anywhere - If can dock your XWindows Dock bar any where on the screen (top, bottom, left and right), and above all it also supports multi-monitor systems. So for each monitor you can apply different docking arrangement.
I've tested this dock bar on XP and Windows 7 and found it very useful and efficient. If you're on Vista, I'll be very eager to know the how it performs on it.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Tor Browser Bundle : Encrypt And Secure Your Traffic From Hackers
With the advent of new technologies, security breach cases have also increased at alarming rate. Anti-virus software and firewalls do protect your data on your desktop, but what about tons of information passing through the web containing your sensitive information? Any expert hacker can easily sniff your IP stream through freely available packet sniffers. Fortunately, there's an easy solution to this.
Tor Browser Bundle is an excellent software package tightly integrated with your favorite browser that relays your encrypted traffic through multiple networks run by countless tor volunteers, making it extremely hard for anyone to track and sniff your sensitive data.
Although Tor can be installed as a standalone software, but 'Tor Browser Bundle' comes integrated with the browser itself and requires no separate installation. Once activated, it seamlessly anonymizes and encrypts all the traffic passing through tor network. This greatly reduces the chances of any hacking attempt and keeps your browsing activity anonymous as well as safe.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
6 Tips To Create Strong Passwords For Your Online Accounts
An average web surfer maintains several email and social media accounts making it really difficult to remember all the passwords. Nowadays web is evolving at a much faster pace than it was a decade back. New and useful services are popping up every month enticing users to sign up for use. This has considerably increased the number of accounts an average netizen maintains. Do you struggle to keep track of all your passwords? Here's a handy guide to create strong passwords yet maintaining them with ease.
Avoid creating common passwords - Interestingly, large number of web surfers use the most common passwords for their sensitive accounts. The first and the most important step is to understand the need of a strong password. Unless you don't realize the damage that can be inflicted in the event of account hacking, you cannot persuade yourself to create a strong password.
Use at least 8 characters - The shorter your password is, the easier it is to crack. A good password should be at least 8 characters long and can be as long as 14-15 characters. Making longer than that is not recommended as it may create problems in remembering and entering it every time you login.
Mix numbers, special characters and letter cases - Generally, passwords are case sensitive. Liberally mix uppercase and lowercase letters intermixed with digits and special characters (e.g @ $ % &). This greatly increases the complexity of password and makes it harder to crack.
Do not backup your passwords online - Sometimes users create good passwords but store all of them in a file online. This is a disastrous step that puts all your passwords at risk in the event of account hack. Either memorize them or scribble them on a paper and keep it with you.
Change passwords every 3 to 6 months - You should apply this rule only to very sensitive accounts that can cost you money. It's a very good practice to change your passwords every 3 to 6 months. In case someone is sniffing or continuously trying to hack your account, this can make his work more difficult and can strengthen the security of your account.
Use https wherever possible - Nowadays all popular services either by default use secure http (https) protocol or gives you the option to use it. Always use https protocol for sensitive accounts to encrypt your login credentials so that they can be transmitted securely over web greatly reducing the chances of anyone sniffing the password.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
How To Change Your Voice Over Skype In Real-Time
Skype is used by millions of people across the globe. There are several add-ons and plugins available for skype like a call recorder, game applications and much more. How about doing some fun with your friends by changing your voice in real-time over a live skype call? The application integrates as a plugin with your existing skype installation and lets you change your voice at your will. 
Skype Voice Changer uses NAudio, Skype4COM and MEF libraries to change the microphone input pitch and many other effects during a live conversation. Simply download the source code of this application and compile it in Visual Studio 2008. The generated executable file can be integrated with your Skype instance as a plugin.
Now on the fly you can add various effects to your voice making it a real fun surprising the person on the other side of the call. Remember, this project is still under development and requires you the basic knowledge of compiling the source code to generate an executable file.
