Make your iPod a little faster by defragging it
Submitted on November 18th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Portables and Windows
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Here’s a quick iPod tip for you; as most of you know, the iPod contains a hard drive inside it, and like any hard drive, the information can get placed all over the drive, so like on your home PC, once in a while it may be a good idea to go ahead and defragment the iPod. Defragmenting a hard drive will basically rearranged the information on a hard drive and put it closer together, making it faster for the device to access information. The same is true with your iPod, and really any other device which uses a hard drive. To defragment it, simply plug your iPod into your computer and make sure it’s in Disk Mode (you can do this via the Preferences menu), then using the Disk Defragmenter tool, defragment away!
[Via iPodHacks]
Quitura web search, now free
Submitted on November 17th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Productivity and Windows
No. of comments (3)
Quintura, recently acquired by Yahoo! if my mind serves me correctly, offers a fantastic desktop search application for Windows which is now free. Unlike other desktop search applications, which seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays, Quintura offers related tags for each search you perform which can really help you filter out what you want and don’t want (other applications do offer similar filters, but I like Quintura’s interface is more graphical IMO). I haven’t had a chance to play with it extensively, but the searches do seem rather quick unlike some other solutions (except for maybe Microsoft’s desktop search which is rather speedy). If you’re looking to try out a desktop search application, Quintura may not be the most feature filled, but it does one thing, and does it very, very well.
[Via 25th Dimension. Thanks, Klim]
The Ultimate Guide to Google Services
Submitted on November 17th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Email and Productivity and Books and Shopping and Storage and Browsers and Graphics and Software and Services and Audio and Resources and Video
No. of comments (161)
Anyone who has ever used the internet probably knows about Google’s web search, but did you know that Google does a lot more? We’ve discussed many Google services on TipMonkies before, but there are some which some of you may not be aware of. Read the full article to get the giant list of Google services and what each does. We’ll try to keep this list up-to-date as Google begins rolling out more services (because you know they will).
Foldershare, now free
Submitted on November 15th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Services
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Back in September, I wrote about Foldershare, which is a fantastic way to share files with friends and colleagues by creating a sort of private P2P network between you. It’s also quite useful and easy way to transfer files between multiple computers you might own. Microsoft recently acquired the company Foldershare and it’s now available completely free! If you haven’t given Foldershare a shot, now is the best time to do it.
Free online backups with Mozy
Submitted on November 10th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Services and Windows
No. of comments (5)
As we move more and more into using web-based services, one type of service which is becoming popular is the ability to back up your files to the internet. Those of us who have access to FTP servers or a web host have, of course, been doing this for years, but most people do not have access to web servers or may find doing this too troublesome. There are a few services available which offer easy online storage, but most of them cost a pretty penny (unless you use your GMail account, of course). A couple of days ago, I came upon Mozy which offers 2GB of storage at the low, low price of free.
Mozy lets you upload files from your computer to their servers with a freely downloadable application for Windows XP (no other platforms are supported yet, but they are in the works). Your information is kept safe through Blowfish and SSL encryption which isn’t the best encryption available but should be good enough if you’re not keeping top secret government documents on your account (and if you are, I don’t want to know). There are no hidden costs, and your information will never be shown or sold to anyone, but in return for the free service, you might get an e-mail or two from Mozy with products they think you might enjoy (i.e. spam). Aside from this, it seems to work great and who doesn’t love free, right?
Free podcast hosting with Shockpod
Submitted on November 10th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Podcasting and Storage and Services
No. of comments (4)
Looking for somewhere to host your podcast or videocast? There are many options available nowadays, but if you’re looking for something else, check out a new service called Shockpod. Shockpod offers both free and paid services with different tiers of hosting. If you select the free account, you will receive 90MB of free hosting with podcast sizes up to 30MB allowed. The free account is supported by audio ads which subscribers can download if they wish. The paid account ($4 USD/month) has no ads and gives you 750MB of storage with no restrictions on individual podcast file size. Bandwidth seems to be unlimited but I couldn’t find enough information on this. Shockpod seems worth a look though if you’re not fond of other similar services.
Mapping a drive to your FTP server
Submitted on October 26th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Networking and Windows
No. of comments (4)
Most people that run websites tend to use FTP clients to upload and download files and images, and while these tools are great (I use them myself, of course), it would make a lot more sense to be able to do all the work straight from Windows Explorer; after all, you’re already used to viewing and moving files around with it, so why not use it to manage your website as well, right? Engadget has put together a pretty nice guide on how to do this using a tool from Novell called NetDrive which you can get right here.
[Via Engadget]
Automatically create torrents for your podcast
Submitted on October 26th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Audio and Services and Software and Video
No. of comments (2)
Those of you who do weekly (or sparse for us lately) podcasts, know how much of a toll audio or video content can take on your bandwidth for your site. Fortunately, there is now a tool which will automatically check your RSS feeds and create a torrent for any media content you add to your site. All you have to do then, is give your readers the new link and they can download a torrent of the content, saving you precious bandwidth and probably money.
The tool is the freely available Prodigem tool/hosting service, and you can find instructions on how to do it over at Torrentocracy. The application checks your site’s RSS feed once an hour for the latest 5 posts, and if it finds an enclosure, will create a torrent. It couldn’t get much easier.
[Via Boing Boing]
Backing up DVDs on a Mac
Submitted on October 25th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and The Mac Side and Video
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Own a Mac and looking for a way to back up your DVD collection? Using some free (and almost free) tools, you can do it easily. All you need is MacTheRipper (freeware) and DVD2OneX (shareware, 49.95 Euro), it couldn’t get much easier. Download the video with full instructions over at DiveIntoMark’s how-to page.
Tools for Yahoo! My Web 2.0
Submitted on October 25th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Storage and Bookmarking and Services
No. of comments (1)
So yesterday, I mentioned PC Magazine’s roundup of social bookmarking sites, and since Yahoo!’s My Web 2.0 had the best reviews in that article, I figured at least some of you have gone to check it out and might be looking to find some useful tools for the service. Fortunately, Yahoo! has already put together a nice list of tools for My Web 2.0. There are the usual culprits like Firefox and Internet Explorer bookmarklets, a button you can place on your website, as well as instructions on how to import bookmarks from your browser, an RSS feed or a del.icio.us account. Additionally, you can always bookmark pages straight from the Yahoo! Toolbar if you have that installed. For you developers out there, Yahoo! has made the API available to allow for various types of searches including by URL or tag. While not my favorite, Yahoo!’s My Web 2.0 is quite useful so with these tools, it’s worth giving a shot.
