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Do You “Like” the New Facebook!

Google+ from day one had a better layout, better way to manage sharing and better privacy controls than Facebook. Facebook probably knew they had a real competitor out there. Facebook is probably a little nervous and its evidence are the sheer number of changes it has rolled out over the past 2 months.

It started with the tie-up with Skype for video chatting, then allowing much-needed tag approval feature, allowing bigger and faster photos, changing sharing options, introducing new smart lists where friends are added automatically and finally becoming more like Google+ and Twitter by allowing anyone to view publicly shared posts with ‘Facebook Subscriptions’.

Yesterday, Facebook made so many changes to its layout, that it was a little hard to really keep up with them. 🙂

The New Facebook!

  1. Sticky Bar at the top: This is borrowed from Google+. The new bar at the top stays even when you scroll down. This makes it a lot easier to navigate and I like this change.
  2. Change in Profile Options: The privacy options and other account settings options are neatly hidden under a drop down next to the Home tab. This might make it a bit difficult for some non-regular Facebook users to quickly find privacy options.
  3. The Update Ticker: The real-time updates by friends on Facebook can be a big distraction. I do not like continuous updates filling up. It reminds me too much of my Twitter timeline. 😉
  4. Home Update: The main updates from feeds are shown with a blue triangle at the top. You can mark it as ‘Top Story”, so it becomes more prominent when you visit your Facebook account next.
  5. Lists and Updates: This is the best new change about Facebook. The Lists, groups, events, pages are all shown differently in a categorised way. This makes it very easy to share things with people you really want to.
Sometimes too many changes can upset some people, and Facebook has changed drastically. It is hardly recognizable since lets say 2 months ago.
One thing that happens with competition, is that companies stop taking their customers for granted. Facebook has stopped taking its users for granted.
What are your views on the new Facebook features and layout change? Do drop in your comments.
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Send E-mails to yourself with ease using Cc:to me

Currently there are plenty of note takers available for free, from Simplenote to Evernote, but if you’re a Email junkie or someone who doesn’t like to signup for a webapp for every small thing, then you should checkout Cc:to me.

Cc:to me uses a very simple approach to note taking, simpler than Simplenote (which I use).

  • If you spend a lot of time checking your Email, then it’s a good idea to convert it into a note taker, Cc:to me does this.
  • After you signup to Cc:to me , you can install their bookmarklet which automates the process of note taking.
  • Just hit the bookmarklet, select and drag text, images etc. into the window and click send. I tried it with Gmail and the formatting doesn’t get destroyed, although I’m not sure about Hotmail and others.
  • The author of the app suggests to make filters in Gmail based on the hashtags which you can use while taking notes, just like you tag notes in Evernote. This makes note taking more organized.
  • As it’s based on a bookmarklet, it’s universal, works on all platforms. To make a new note, you can also text your notes to the phone number given on the account page.

Try Cc:to me and shout out your opinions in the comments.

Link: cc:to me

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Create Facebook Lists with Google+ Circle Interface – Circle Hack

 

Update: This post is about Circle Hack which is a service that has been discontinued.

One particular feature of Facebook, that has stood out like a sore thumb after Google+ was introduced. It was the way people used ‘Lists’ on Facebook and the way ‘Circles’ were created on Google+.

It is probably this reason, that Facebook has introduced new Friend Lists. Organizing friends on Facebook is still a cumbersome process.

But some very resourceful developers have created an online application which allows you to create Facebook friend lists using an interface of Google+ Circles.

Circle Hack Features

  • Just visit the website and allow it to access your Facebook details.
  • It will load a user-interface which resembles Google+ Circles but actually has Facebook Lists.
  • Create lists and simply drag and drop Facebook friends.
  • Contacts can also be moved from one circle to another.

I am definitely going to use Circle Hack until Facebook comes up with a better way to manage Lists. Do drop in your comments.

Link: circlehack.com/

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Download And Try Out Windows 8 Developer Preview

Steven Sinofsky gave us a preview of Windows 8 in yesterday’s keynote in the BUILD event. Going by what has been shown yesterday, Windows 8 surely has a great future.

If you’re a developer or anyone who want to get their hands on Windows 8 soon, here’s a great news. You can now download Developer Preview (Pre-Beta) of Windows 8 from the Microsoft site itself, for free.

Before you Download Windows 8 Dev Preview

  • If you’re planning to install WIndows 8 Dev Preview (without developer tools) and running a Windows 7/Vista machine then all your files, settings and accounts will be safe, they won’t be deleted.
  • If you’re running a XP machine, you can only keep the accounts and files.

Just go to the Windows Dev Center, if you’re on X32 (32 bit) architecture, then download the .iso file from the link given.

Link: Windows Dev Center

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Collaborate and Create Mind Maps for Instant Brain Storming Sessions – Bubbl.us

Brain storming sessions can be quite useful yet very unorganized. Great ideas are floated around but not all of them are executed or sometimes even remembered. This is where simple chart or mind-mapping tools are very useful.

These tools get even better when a full team can collaborate in the creation of such mind-maps.

Bubbl.us Features

  • Create an account and start creating your mind map. Invite others with an account to edit and add to the map you are creating.
  • If you only want to share a read only version, just share the URL of the map and share it with your friends via email.
  • We can also create a HTML-embed code to share it directly on your website/blog.

Do use Bubbl.us and drop in your comments.

Link: Bubbl.us

Related: 3 Free Online Mind Mapping Tools

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Ommwriter Dana – The Simplest Writing App for Windows

I use Windows Live Writer for blogging and for normal writing I basically use Notepad or Word. These apps are fully featured with no space left for inspiration, you actually get distracted due to too many features and UI.
Ommwriter Dana is one of the simplest writing apps available for Windows. It is something you haven’t experienced before.

  • Ommwriter is developed with two things in mind, one is focus and the another one is inspiration.
  • The interface is extremely simple, it basically runs in full screen mode with a drag-able text editor.
  • You don’t get bored while writing on Ommwriter, as there’s a slow pleasant background music playing, currently there are 3 sound tracks in it (each of them last for 15 minutes).
  • The background is customizable too, with 3 background patterns available.
  • Not at all feature rich, as I said it’s developed to be simple and it is.

For better concentration and focus you can put on head phones. Ommwriter is a must have for writers, bloggers, poets and everyone who has a brain which can think.

Do you like distraction free apps? Tell us in the comments.

Link: Ommwriter

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Game Booster 3.0 – Get The Best Gaming Experience out of Your Laptop

I’m not at all a fan of maintenance/clean up softwares like Tune up utilities, because I never found them effective, instead I found them increasing my PC’s boot time. Game Booster 3.0 by IObit which promises to optimize gaming experience doesn’t fall under this category.

What’s new in Game Booster 3.0 ?

  • Like the rest of IObit products, Game Booster 3.0 has got a translucent black interface.
  • It gave my PC a performance boost by 42%, it does this by stopping unnecessary services and processes.

  • Under the diagnose tab, you can get the complete specifications of your PC, so if a game doesn’t run on your system, you can post a question on forums with the given specifications.
  • If you play games which take up a lot of space on your hard disk, then you can try defragging them, as bulky files often get fragmented.
  • It can also update your system drivers for better performance of graphic card and all.
  • Another good feature is Gamebox, here you add all the shortcuts of the games you play regularly, so you can boost the PC every time you play a game.

If you’re installing Game Booster on a Alienware laptop and expecting wonders, then that’s completely wrong. Game Booster is designed to make most out of low graded systems like Netbooks.

If you’re a gamer or even if you play games occasionally, try out Game Booster and review it in the comments.

Link: Game Booster

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Apps & Oranges – An App Directory That You Can Edit

Being an app junkie, I like trying new apps, in fact I’m writing this using Live Writer even though I could use WordPress’ default editor, because I prefer desktop apps. Apps & Oranges is a new software directory which aims to best permanent destination of apps.

Features of Apps & Oranges

  • Apps & Oranges is basically a repository of apps related to all platforms, that includes Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and Web (sorry Linux!).
  • To get started, fill the blank in “ What are the best _________ apps in Windows” (or any other platform). If you need blogging apps, fill the blank with “Blogging”.
  • Next, you get a list of apps which are related to the question you’ve asked, you can vote the apps too.

  • Click on the app to get more information, you’ll be provided with a link to the developer site.  Apps & Oranges doesn’t host any apps.
  • Apart from voting, you can also add a review to the apps you’ve used.
  • If you’re interested in a topic, say blogging, then you can even follow the question “What are the best blogging apps for Windows” (or any platform) and you get an email, when a person posts a new app in that topic.
  • If there are none or fewer apps related to a topic, then you can add any of the apps you’ve used. Even the apps that are added by other members are editable, like Wikipedia.

Invitations!

Apps & Oranges is still in beta, so if you’re eager to try, we can give you some invitations for free! For invitation just retweet this post and drop in a comment with a URL of the Tweet.

RT @devils_workshop: Get invited to Apps & Oranges – An App Directory That You Can Edit http://bit.ly/r3OmRP

Try Apps & Oranges today and tell us how it works for you.

Link: Apps & Oranges

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Gmail in Offline Mode Returns as a Chrome App

My favourite feature with Gmail was its Offline mode. With Google Gears, it allowed people to compose and draft emails from the browser even if the user was offline and not connected to the internet. This was useful to people who connected online for a limited time or if they did not have very good connectivity.

As Google dropped support for Google Gears, Gmail in Offline mode was also not available with Chrome browser. Thankfully Offline Google Mail App for Chrome browser solves the problem.

How to Use Gmail in Offline Mode

  • Install the Offline App on your Chrome browser from here.
  • Start using Gmail in offline mode. It allows searching, editing mails along with composing emails.
  • Once connected to the net, it will download all your email and also send all outgoing emails.

Do try out Gmail Offline App if you are a Chrome user and drop in your comments.

Link: Offline Google Mail Chrome App

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[Online Tool] Simplest Way to Create Beautiful Posters!

Online posters are very popular online and often get become viral. Not everyone is a photoshop expert or even have expertise on how to go about creating posters with other image editing tools.

Posterini is a nice online tool, to quickly make professional looking posters within minutes.

Posterini Features

  • Just upload an image which you want to create the poster with.
  • Then choose several poster styles and apply it. This can range from cinematic styled posters to even magazine covers types.
  • Add the text as you want with your poster. The placement of the text can be customized by just dragging the text box around. Also the text can be customized for size and more importantly various fonts and colours.

Once you generate the poster it can be downloaded as an image or even shared on Facebook or Twitter. So next time you want to create a poster within minutes, try Posterini. Do drop in your comments.

Link: Posterini