Blip.fm is a Fun Social Way to Share Music

Blip.fm is a Fun Social Way to Share Music: "

Looking for a way to discover new music online in a Twitter style format? Today we take a look at Blip.fm which lets you share and discover music and socialize with other users who enjoy similar artists and groups.

Blip.fm is a music discovery and social network which could be described as a cross between Twitter, Last.fm, and the late Muxtape as it contains elements of elements of all three. A “blip” on Blip.fm is a way to share a song and accompany a short message under 150 characters, like a tweet in Twitter. You can also create your own playlist and listen to other user’s playlists as well.

Using Blip.fm

After creating an account, on the main page enter in an artist, band, or song you want to listen to then search. You can then preview the songs and if you like it then “blip” it.

When you blip a song you can choose to add a short message to it much in the same way you would “tweet” someone.

Add songs that you enjoy to your playlist.

After blipping a song you will be shown other users who enjoy the same or similar music and can check out their playlists.

Periodically you will also be shown a link to where you can purchase a song or entire album from an artist.

While playing a song or video you they have some easy to use keyboard shortcuts you can use to navigate the tracks, control volume, and playback.

There is also a toolbar at the bottom of the page you can use to navigate your playlist.

It will update what your listening to on other social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Last.FM etc.

Of course there area also other personal settings you can control in your profile.

Conslusion

Blip.fm isn’t perfect yet, there are still a lot of features that could be included, and sometimes the song selections are limited, but it is still a ton of fun and a great concept. Check them out at the link below and if you enjoy rock and metal like yours truly, hook up with me on blip.

Blip.fm

Week in Geek: The Fun with Brain-Teasing Puzzle Games Edition

The Fun with Brain-Teasing Puzzle Games Edition: "

Only a few weeks have passed since I learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube for the first time, and now I’ve become completely addicted to puzzle games. It’s time to find a new puzzle.

I’ve spent so much time practicing with my Rubik’s cube that I started to get bored, and started figuring out how to do other tricks with the cube. The other night I tried to make a message for the girlfriend:

My accomplishment was quickly dismissed by Jeff, however, as he pointed out…

real nerd love is spelled out in 5×5 rubik’s cubes, my friend

And he’s right. The 3×3 Rubik’s cube is loads of fun, but it’s time to learn to solve the ultimate Rubik’s challenge: the 5×5 professor cube. Once I’ve learned to solve it (from memory, of course), I’ll have loads of pixels to work with when writing dorky love messages to my future wife. Yeah, I’m just that silly.

Rubik’s Professor Cube 5×5

What About Life Beyond the Rubik’s Cube? The Tetris Cube, of Course!

Learning to solve the Rubik’s cube has shown me that I simply LOVE solving puzzles, and I should really spend more time doing so. It’s not only a lot of fun, but it’s good exercise for your brain, and it’s a great way to take a break from work while still doing something useful, rather than the alternative… you know, watching Lost re-runs for the 4th time.

So I’ve resolved to acquire and learn to solve as many puzzles as I can possibly find, starting with the 5×5 cube, but after that… I’m going to learn to solve the Tetris Cube, which has 9839 different solutions.

If you are anything like me, you have probably logged hundreds or thousands of hours on Tetris, and being able to play it in “real life” is just going to be awesome. They’ve even got a Mini Tetris Cube to save space, or something.

The Gordian’s Knot

The Gordians Knot looks like a lot of fun, and would probably make a great addition to your coffee table—It doesn’t have the re-playability factor of a Rubik’s cube, but whenever guests come over you can show them how it works and see if they can do it.

The Rubik’s Twist

This snake-like puzzle toy can be twisted and turned into any number of different shapes. It’s not really all that tough to figure out, especially since there’s no real goal… it’s just loads of fun to mess with. Another great toy to have on your desk, or sitting on the coffee table for your guests to fiddle with.

The Rubik’s Magic

This one is a folding puzzle that can be twisted and folded different ways, and while it’s not as good as the old one from the 80s, it’s still a ton of fun to learn to solve. And yeah, you can grab your own Rubiks Magic over on Amazon, or probably at your local toy store.

The Sudoku Cube? Seriously?

My friend Steve has one of these, and I’ve made this my mission to solve. From what I’ve read, the key is to learn to solve the original Rubik’s cube, and then the Sudoku Cube is a lot simpler… although still insanely hard.

If you don’t know how Sudoku works… you have to make sure that the numbers 1-9 are on each side only once.

What’s Next?

So the question is… once I’ve solved all of these puzzles, what else is out there to solve? If you’ve got a great idea, share it in the comments.

The Best Threads From Super User

We’ve already mentioned the great Super User geek site, and we’re going to start sharing some of the more interesting threads with you. Hopefully you’ve already spent some time over there, and have seen them already.

• What’s your favourite “super user” cartoon? – Super User
  
• How can I make my mom’s Windows PC bullet-proof?
  
• What can be done in Windows 7 that can’t be done in Windows XP?
  
• What applications, if any, benefit tangibly from more than 4GB of RAM?
  
• Move contents of old Gmail account to a new Gmail account
  
• Recommend a Digsby replacement
  
• How can I gently explain to non-techie friends they are the victim of a hoax
  
• Best screensaver for Windows
  
• Which Linux Install Should You Start With
  
• What super-calculator do you use?

Loads more fun comics on that first link…

Fun Stuff We Found This Week

Yeah, it’s been a while since the last Week in Geek, and we probably found way more than just these links. But this is all you get today, cause my fingers are tired.

• LEGO Mindstorms Sudoku Solver
  This video is amazing.


• Yearbook Yourself
  Silly, but kinda fun, especially for young people.


• SUSE Studio
  This is seriously awesome. More on this in a future article.


• XCube is a 3D cross-platform Rubik’s Cube sim
  Neat. Rubik’s Cube goodness!


• Get Futurama quotations from slashdot.org servers
  Being a geek is loads of fun. I wonder what is hidden in the HTG underground?


• What order should you install drivers in?
  The amazing Ed Bott figures out the order you should install drivers. Neat!


• Write Your Own Music Online with Noteflight
  Making music isn’t really my department. But this is pretty cool.

Lifehacker Posts That You Should Really Read (If you haven’t already)

Yep, I’m still writing over there on that Lifehacker site. And while I didn’t write all of these, you really should check them out.

	Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money
	Rainmeter 1.0 Brings the Enigma Desktop to Everyone
	Hack Your Wii for Homebrew without Twilight Princess
	Use The Same Gmail Account for Multiple Online Accounts
	How to Fix Annoying YouTube Jumpiness in Firefox

Reviews and Such!

In the very near future, we’ll be adding the reviews to the main RSS feed, so we won’t have to bother putting them into the roundup. For now, here’s a bunch of reviews that we’ve added.

	Blaze Media Player Pro
	ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4
	My Audio Studio
	AnyBizSoft PDF to Word 2.0
	BitDefender 2009
	Audio Dedupe
	Cheetah DVD
	Paragon Encrypted Disk 4.0

Weekly Editor’s Note

Yeah, I know. It’s been like 2 months since the last Week in Geek. What can I say? Busy, busy, busy! But now, things have calmed down a bit, and we’re back to getting things done.

How Well Do You Know the Google Logo?

How Well Do You Know the Google Logo?: "

You probably use Google search, Reader, Docs and other Google products all day so here’s a quick test to see how well you know the Google Logo that’s prominently displayed on almost every Google page.

Take a look at these variations and identify the one image that accurately represents the order of colors found in the original Google logo.

If you had trouble identifying which color goes with which alphabet in the Google logo, here’s a quick hint - BRYBGR.

Google Logo on ‘Who Want to be a Millionaire’

Now the more interesting part. A similar question was asked on the popular “Who wants to be a millionaire” game show and, as you can make out from this TV screen capture, the lady obviously confused.

The question displayed on the screen says - “Which of the following is a true statement about the letters in the standard Google logo?” - and the choices are:

A. Both “O”s are yellow B. Both “G”s are blue

C. The “L” is red D. The “E” is green

Just goes on to prove how ubiquitous Google has become.

10 ways to be a better thinker

Here are some principles of better thinking that you can apply to get more from your mind, every day.

1. Tap your emotions.

Our conscious thoughts are only a fraction of what's going on in our brains. At any given moment, the unconscious is taking in vast amounts of information that we're not even aware of and processing it all very quickly. Based on its conclusions, the brain generates emotions.

2. Don't think under pressure.

It was one of the worst moments of my life: I was 12, playing peewee basketball, and my team was trailing by a point. If I sank two free throws, we would win. I missed. Twice.

Instead of relying on the part of my unconscious that's like a trained autopilot (it had learned how to shoot baskets through years of backyard practice), I analyzed the details of my shots, using brain areas that had no idea how to get a ball through a hoop.

3. Consider alternative points of view.

Professional poker players often use a simple trick when they suspect another player of bluffing: They think about how the player would act if he or she weren't bluffing. The brain naturally filters the world to confirm what it already believes. But this habit is limiting and dangerous; you could be fixating on the wrong answers.

4. Challenge your preferences.

Like presumptive beliefs (see no. 3), your supposed likes and dislikes can limit your mind. I used to be a bit of an expensive-wine snob. But then I did a blind taste test of wines from different price ranges and discovered what scientists have since confirmed: There is no correlation between the price of a bottle and how much you'll enjoy it.

By figuring out what you truly like -- be it cheap wine or fancy shoes -- you can enjoy life, not to mention spend more wisely.

5. Take long showers.

Studies show that moments of insight often arrive when you're not aware that you're thinking of the problem, such as during a warm shower or a long stroll. This is because insights are typically generated by a rush of high-frequency gamma-band neural activity in the brain's right hemisphere, and a mind is better able to tune in to that hemisphere when it is stress-free.

6. Be skeptical of your memories.

In recent years, scientists have demonstrated that human memories are surprisingly dishonest. The act of recalling an event (say, your eighth birthday party) changes the structure of that memory in the brain. Details are tweaked; the narrative is altered.

The more you think about it, the less accurate your recollection becomes, and the less reliable it is as a basis for making any kind of conclusion. (So maybe you shouldn't hire a clown for your kid's party after all.)

7. Don't expect to diet and finish the crossword.

It turns out that the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for willpower and cognitive thought, is a rather feeble bit of flesh and easily depleted.

In a telling study, people who were asked to remember a seven-digit number and then offered a snack were much more likely to choose chocolate cake over fruit salad than were those who were asked to remember a one-digit number. The first group's self-control "muscles" were exhausted!

It's important to realize that you can do everything -- just not all at once.

8. Study your mistakes.

One common trait of successful people is their willingness to focus on their fumbles. Even when they do well, they insist on looking at what they could have done better.

Such perfectionism might not be a recipe for happiness, but it's a vital component of learning, since brain cells figure out how to get things right by analyzing what they got wrong.

9. Go ahead and daydream.

Forget efficiency. Scientists have discovered that daydreaming is an important tool for creativity: It causes a rush of activity in a circuit known as the default network, which connects different parts of the brain and allows the mind to make new associations. The daydreaming brain is actually in overdrive.

10. Think about thinking.

Metacognition, as this is known, is a crucial skill. Many scientists argue that the best predictor of good judgment isn't intelligence or experience; it's the willingness to engage in introspection.

From: CNN.com/living

How To Convert Video Files to MP3 with VLC

How To Convert Video Files to MP3 with VLC: "

Sometimes you might want to convert a video file to an mp3 to take with on an iPod or to just listen to the audio without the video. Today we take a look at how to use the free program VLC to convert video formats to an mp3.

Note: For this article we are using VLC version 1.0 on Windows

Open up VLC and select Media and Convert / Save.

Now in the Open Media window click on the Add button and browse to the location of the video file you want to convert and after you have it click the Convert / Save button.

When the Convert window opens you should see the source of the video file you want to convert and you will need to browse for a destination for the MP3.

Explorer will open so you can choose a location and here is where you want to label the file with an mp3 extension and hit Save.

Now in the Convert window you should see the source file and destination path fields filled in. Now click on the Edit Selected Profile button.

Under the Encapsulation tab select WAV.

Now under the Audio Codec tab choose the MP3 codec, choose a Bitrate, amount of channels, Sample Rate, and then click the Save button.

Click on Start to begin the encoding process.

You will see a countdown timer on the main interface while the conversion is taking place.

You will find the converted file in the destination location you chose before and now you can play your MP3 on any compatible media player or portable device.

We successfully converted MOV, MPEG, and AVI video files to mp3. FLV files would convert but unfortunately had horrible sound quality. This is not a preferred method those who are discerning about audio quality, but hopefully it can help someone out in a pinch.

PicTreat - Free Automated Online Photo Retouching

PicTreat - Free Automated Online Photo Retouching: "

Free online photo retouching service PicTreat would probably the most easiest way to get your photos cleaned and touched automatically, all you need to do is to upload your image and PicTreat will take care of rest - removing unwanted skin flaws, red-eye, auto-correcting colors and applying its algorithm for making skin look smooth and shiny.

You can get your job done instantly without requiring to register, after processing you are provided with options to download high-resolution printable copy of the final image or share them on social networking sites.

Goto PicTreat >>

uTorrent 2.0 Beta Brings Fixes and Improvements, Adds UDP Support [Downloads]

uTorrent 2.0 Beta Brings Fixes and Improvements, Adds UDP Support [Downloads]: "

Windows only: uTorrent, the most popular BitTorrent client on the planet, has released a new 2.0 beta complete with bug fixes and new features, including UDP tracker support.

UD-wha? As all-things-BitTorrent weblog TorrentFreak explains, UDP trackers are much less resource intensive than HTTP trackers, and most torrent sites out there support UDP—meaning that if uTorrent, the most popular torrent client, were to support it, that's great news for all the torrent trackers out there. On the surface that might not seem like the most exciting news, but it will likely mean browsing your favorite torrent site in a browser could be significantly speedier now that your BitTorrent client isn't slowing down the tracker with all those HTTP requests. Hit up the uTorrent forum for a list of all the changes and fixes in the beta if you're ready to try it out.

uTorrent 2.0 Beta is freeware, Windows only.

Zoho Rock Google Docs

It has a better UI than Google Docs it's Zoho Docs

While Google still works on completing its online office suite by adding a presentation app and integrating JotSpot, an Indian company called AdventNet already has one and it includes everything from word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, notebooks to wikis, online databases, project management. It's called Zoho and it keeps getting better every day.


Zoho opted for a more familiar look, so most of their products are inspired from Microsoft Office. Unlike Google Docs & Spreadsheets that has a start page which lists all your files, Zoho uses a sidebar that shows the files created using the active application. Zoho's word processor has a tabbed interface, so you never have to leave the current page to switch to a new document. While many options work like in Google Docs, Zoho pushes the boundaries and lets you save templates and even share them in a public template library. It's also able to import bigger files than Google Docs: I managed to upload a 2.8 MB document and I couldn't find a precise number for the maximum size of a document. Unfortunately, the application is barely responsive when you edit a big document.

Zoho Writer lets you publicize a document, post it to a blog or collaborate with your contacts. But collaboration is Zoho Writer's weakest point because it doesn't happen in real-time and you don't see the changes made by your collaborators unless you refresh the page and that's not very cool.


The integration between Zoho's apps is not very visible, so if you want to switch from Zoho Writer to Zoho Sheet, you'll have to type the URL in the address bar or use your bookmarks. Zoho Sheet doesn't have tabs, but it's much buggier than Zoho Writer. A simple spreadsheet that loaded just fine in Google Spreadsheets managed to make my browser completely unresponsive for minutes. I particularly like the way they handled formulas and how easy is to add new functions from the list. In Zoho Sheet, the collaboration is in real-time, but Zoho has a strange of handling conflicts that manages to produce different spreadsheets for each collaborator. And some of the copies are really broken.

The funny thing about Zoho Show, the presentation app from Zoho's suite, is that when you import a presentation, it recommends to make it read-only. In this case, this would be just a PPT viewer, like the one available in Gmail. Once you import your presentation, there's a magical link at the top of the window that lets you actually view, but you'll have to guess it. The application is very simple and doesn't go beyond inserting some text, shapes and arrows. The rendering of the presentation is worse than Gmail's and the slide show looks even worse.


Zoho Creator is something that Google doesn't have and it actually works great. It's the online version of Microsoft Access and it lets you create and manage database applications. The nice thing about the app is that you can easily build forms that can be embedded in your site and populate your database. You can create contact forms or more complex things like a CRM application. There's a big list of templates, a simple way to build scripts for your forms, you have email notifications. The application only needs better reports, some SQL support and an API.

Speaking of which, Zoho has some APIs that enable other services to list your files hosted at Zoso, to import/export files and also to edit remote documents. There's nothing like Google Spreadsheets API that lets you interact with a spreadsheet more granularly, but Zoho's purpose was probably to make it easy to integrate with storage services that lack document editing features.

While Google Docs lacks many features already available in Zoho's office suite (and even entire apps) and the existing features are more limited, Google's applications are much more stable and work better if you share your files with other people. Zoho offers a lot of tools, including a plugin for Microsoft Office that lets you work on your files online and saves them to Zoho from Microsoft Word and Excel. Their integration with Microsoft products and the impressive size of the portfolio certainly makes Zoho a candidate for a Microsoft acquisition.

Zoho's future plans are to integrate their products and to provide a proper replacement for Microsoft Outlook: email, calendar, contacts and task management. Zoho Mail is not yet ready for prime time, but you can see a demo here.