Tubufy can search and stream videos for entire playlists or for one song at a time. Simply enter the URI for a song or a playlist from Spotify client and hit the ‘Gimme’ button. All songs from your playlist will be listed in a panel on the left; you can scroll through different songs, jump to another track or shuffle songs.
You can also post comments to any song or playlist using Open ID, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus ID. The service is free and requires no signup or login.
It appears as a Tomato icon in you system tray. Clicking the icon opens a small pop-up with a button to start a pomodoro.
Once started, you can interrupt, restart or take either a small or long break. To set the time interval, right click the icon in the system tray and select options. You can set the time period, the theme of the timer and what sound is played when the designated time is over.
The app works on two simple rules, one it divides time making time management easier and the timer itself is much like an axe hanging over your head reminding you that you’ve got a job to finish. It also gives the option to take a break once a time interval runs its course or to start a new pomodoro.
If you’re looking for more options, however, you’ll need a third-party SMS app. Fortunately, there are several great alternatives to the stock messaging app available, and best of all, they’re free.
If you’re looking for a simple, quick SMS app that can replace the default app, chompSMS may be your best bet. This app in default form comes bare-bones, lacking even the portraits of the people you’re texting (the app does fully support this, but it’s not turned on by default). The result is a quick SMS experience that should work well on most Android phones.
Some of chompSMS’s most interesting features include support for sending SMS via what is called “SMS credits” which can be purchased through the app. This makes it possible to buy additional text messaging beyond what your carrier’s plan allows. The app also has integrated support for a service called TextFreak, which sends texts using your data plan instead of counting them against your plan’s text message allotment.
My main gripe with chompSMS is the very obvious ad support. While I have nothing against developers getting paid, it is rather distracting considering the nature of the app. I also would like to see security via PIN – right now, it only offers security via a touch pattern.
chompSMS requires Android 1.5 or newer.
Despite the Pro name, which usually indicates a paid app, Go SMS Pro is entirely free and is one of the best looking SMS apps available anywhere. This is thanks to clear, easy to use theming support that is paired with customization that offers a live preview (this feature is also found on chompSMS and Handcent, to be fair). While you can trick out the other apps here, Go SMS Pro is the one I found easiest to customize. Within a few minutes I had downloaded a cool theme that looks great.
There’s plenty of features to be found here, including a message scheduler, a Facebook chat plugin and security via both PIN and pattern input. I also found the ability to swipe between different messaging screens – the folders, messages and plugins sections – refreshing. Why don’t more SMS apps do this?
Clarity is the only problem I found with Go SMS Pro. The interface buttons at the bottom aren’t self-explanatory and a bit small. The menu options are also clunky and confusing. These issues are minor, however – overall, Go SMS Pro is a good choice.
Go SMS Pro requires Android 1.6 or newer.
I’ve saved what is, in my opinion, the best for last. That’s not to say everyone will prefer Handcent, but it is the SMS app I’ve chosen to use on my own Android phone.
The interface of Handcent provides an excellent compromise between beauty and simplicity. Although the basic theme is based off the iPhone, it’s not exactly identical, and it does a good job of walking the line between performance and functionality. The menu options, when displayed, are sensible and easy to navigate. There are interface buttons on the messaging menu, but I found them more intuitive, and they’re slightly larger which makes them easier to use.
Handcent also has a lot of features including built-in skins, security via PIN or pattern, and a great message scheduler. In addition to this, it’s possible to access “Handcent services” – special features including e-cards, group SMS and an online inbox to which you can save messages.
Handcent requires Android 1.5 or newer.
All of these SMS apps are quite popular and will serve users well. Generally speaking, I’ve found them to be better than the default apps that come with most Android phones. As usual, feel free to weigh in if you have a favorite app that’s not listed here!
The good news is that short breaks of relaxing and stretching can do wonders for your health and well being. And who doesn’t like to take breaks during work? In this article I will show you tools you can integrate into your workday to remind you that you need to take a break.
EVO is a website helper which runs your selection of a default or custom timer that will remind you of a 5 or 10 minute break. The setup is simplistic and not intrusive. During the screen, EVO can black out your screen and count down the time of your break.
EVO also provides instructions for eye gymnastics that you can go through during your break.
The creators of EVO have also launched a website that has information about the Computer Vision Syndrome.
Big Stretch Reminder is a reminder app designed to remind you to do regular stretches during your work day. It comes with a variety of options, including custom settings. You can select the time between breaks from a list of predefined options or create a custom setting.
For the reminder mode you can choose between a non-intrusive balloon mode or an intrusive popup mode. The third option, the micro-break mode, is of the intrusive popup type. The message that is shown along with your break reminder can be a random tip or customized.
If you’re a workaholic who has no trouble getting lost in work and forgetting the time, then you should try Breaker. It’s a simple software that lets you set up breaks individually in a loop or pattern.
The app runs in the system tray and when you hover over it you can see the countdown to your next break. Once the time has run out, a quiet alarm and a little window in the bottom right of the screen reminds you that it’s time for a break or to get back to work.
Since Breaker allows the creation of custom patterns, it is also a great tool to easily remind yourself of meetings or appointments scattered throughout the day.
You can find more reminder apps here. For things to do during your breaks, check out the following articles:
MakeUseOf’s Web Developer James Bruce recently switched from a sitting to a standing desk - Take A Look At James’ Home Setup [Show & Tell]
What is your desk setup? Do you have experience working at a standing desk or could you imagine doing it?
Enter Forecaster. Forecaster is a weather application for Windows (if you’re a Mac user, you may want to check out our previous coverage of Meteo) that is portable, lightweight, and simply tells you the weather. Really, that’s all it does. It doesn’t affect my computer’s performance and it doesn’t stick any eye-sores on my desktop. In fact, unless I look at my tray icons, I don’t even know it exists.
Forecaster places a small (yet cute) icon in the tray which reveals the current weather at a glance. So far I’ve seen a sun, a raindrop and a cloud, but it has several more in stock. Hovering over the icon reveals a tooltip with the current conditions in my hometown. Very quick, very simple.
Clicking on the icon reveals a small window which shows me the current weather conditions and the forecast for the next four days. I love the balance between graphics and text in this window. It’s not boring – in fact, it’s pretty nice to look at – but it’s also not cluttered with unnecessary graphics.
If you click on the “Change weather settings…” link at the bottom, you get to play with the very few options Forecaster offers. In the “Local Forecast” tab, you can change your current location and tell Forecaster to notify you when current conditions change (and how often). It also reveals that the source of the information is World Weather Online. This is not a website I was using regularly before, but so far the information has been pretty accurate (as much as a weather forecast can be).
The other two tabs offer between them three more things you can play with, and that’s it. If you’re looking for something you can configure to death, this isn’t it.
When you change or add locations, you can either type in a name of a place or a zip code. Typing in either “Hamilton, Ontario” or my zip code both worked fine, except that when entering a zip code, it’s the zip code the was displayed in the window and not the actual name of the town. I am assured by the developer that this issue will be fixed in the next version. The zip code option did not work at all when I tried it with an Israeli zip code, so there might be some more limitations to the zip code option.
The feature that really hit the nail on the head for me is the option to add more locations. The free version of Forecaster allows you to add one additional location. For me, this is enough, but the premium version is offered for just a $2 donation, so if you need more than two locations, that might be the way to go. Adding a location is quick and easy, again, by entering a name or a zip code.
As I mentioned earlier, Forecaster boasts a “Settings” tab with all of two things you can actually change. You can have Forecaster automatically load at startup, and you can change the temperature units. If you get the premium version, this is also where you activate it. Very bare-bones, but this is exactly what I find so appealing.
Another small glitch I’ve noticed is the lack of a moon tray icon. This means I get a sun icon in my tray in the middle of the night (notice the time in the screenshot). It’s not the end of the world, as I don’t really need a tray icon to tell me it’s night, and this is another issue which is supposed to be fixed in the next version.
So I now have the weather for all these locations at my fingertips. Clicking on the little grey square switches from location to location so I can view all of them. Keep in mind that the last location you leave it on will be the one to be featured in your tray.
Forecaster is a fairly new application and, as you can gather, it is under constant development. Its website reveals it has been updated 3 times in the last two weeks and some of these were major updates. The developer is very active on the website, answers questions quickly and accepts fixes and feature requests, so even if you find a bug I didn’t encounter, chances are it will be fixed rather quickly.
All in all, Forecaster definitely delivers what it set out to – a no-frills weather forecast. Let us know in the comments if you know of something even better!
North Korea is a fascinating country as we know so very little about how the population of around 24 million people (2009 estimate) conducts its daily life. Over the years, more and more information has trickled out of North Korea, both from official government channels and defectors who have fled the country.
Why not start with the horse’s mouth? Korea-DPR.com is the official website of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. Despite seeing fairly regular news updates, much of it is the recycled happenings of 60 years ago or renewed promises from The Great Leader.
You can also find information regarding delegate visits to the country (more on that later) as well as photo galleries of foreign visitors enjoying a taste of kimchi and communism. Interestingly the Korean Friendship Association “forum area“ has received a WordPress revamp since the last time I visited, which makes it a blog and certainly not a forum.
Many of these “forum” posts have comments disabled, though make sure you read the FAQ, which answers many burning questions – including the obvious: where can I get a signed photograph of Kim Jong-Il?
At the KFA shop of course.
For anyone who has ever fantasized about actually visiting North Korea there’s Koryo Tours. What better way to learn about this fascinating country than by going there? This won’t be like any holiday you’ve ever taken before. You’ll be accompanied everywhere you go by guides and restricted to your hotel once your arranged activities are over. No exploring!
Koryo Tours aren’t the only company that offer trips, but they’ve been successfully taking groups to the country since 1989. One thing you’ll find on the Koryo Tours website that you’re unlikely to see the last time you booked a fortnight abroad are these rules, which urge you to bow in the presence of statues and leave your chewing gum at home.
If you don’t think you’ll be making it over there any time soon then be sure to take a look at this fantastic gallery from The Big Picture which features some stunning photographs of a country with gargantuan highways and very few cars.
Believe it or not The Lonely Planet also have a section dedicated to the country and North Korea has theme parks.
If you enjoy a good Wikipedia article then there are some exhaustive efforts available to you on the topic of North Korea. Here’s a selection of the best:
Despite not receiving the updates it once did, NKNews is the place for archived North Korean propaganda in text form. Check out the hall of fame for some of the best stories over the last few years.
The California Literary Review hosts a decent collection of North Korea propaganda posters as well as commentary and insight into the motives behind the messages and art style. If your Korean is up to scratch then you might find the official North Korean news agency’s uriminzokkiri.com interesting, but the English version doesn’t seem to work too well. There’s always the Korean Central News Agency, which speaks to the people on behalf of the Korean Workers Party (this is essentially “the news” in DPRK).
North Korea (much like the rest of the world) has embraced a few other outlets – notably YouTube and Flickr. The news agency’s YouTube account tries as hard as possible to depict North Korea as a normal, happy and prosperous country (though it’s not that hard to see through the cracks).
Uriminzokkiri’s Flickr account does little more than to confirm that Photoshop (actually, make that GIMP) has landed in North Korea – and they’re not afraid to use it.
It seems odd to mix the two, but a website called North Korean Economy Watch has done just that with up to date, detailed analysis of the economic situation in DPRK and a Google Maps project. As well as news relating to construction projects, foreign investment and the controversial topic of private trade in the country, the editor Curtis Melvin has previously visited in 2004 and 2005.
Also hosted on Melvin’s site is North Korea Uncovered, a Google Maps project that has been featured in the Wall Street Journal for its extensive mapping of North Korea’s economic, cultural, political and military infrastructures. This is apparently the most comprehensive map of its kind, though you’re going to need Google Earth to view it.
Hopefully these resources will help expand your knowledge of this mysterious country, and though the resources are limited there is still a considerable amount of information surrounding North Korea online. There are also some great documentaries on the subject. If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy learning about shortwave numbers stations, another mysterious topic that’s been covered well online.
Are you interested in North Korea? Have you ever visited the country? Do you have any other North Korea-related links that we might be interested in looking at? Post your thoughts and links in the comments.
Apart from brining multi-tabbed MDI based interface to Office applications, including Excel, Word, and Powerpoint, it allows you to tinker around with Office application’s Style and Color settings as well. Moreover, in contrast to Office Tab, it contains a great a deal of tab font, position, and behavior specific settings to customize the way you want tabs to act, such as, drag/drop tab, show warning before closing multiple tabs, double-click tab bar to open a new tab, etc.
After installation, it will prompt you to configure tab color, appearance, positioning, shortcuts, and style. The main window shows configurations for Excel. Before you start, enable Tabs for Excel option and then start customizing the tabs settings.
Under Tabs for Word and Tabs for Powerpoint, you will see Style and Color window alongside General & Position Windows to enable tabs for respective application. Once you’re done with tabs settings, click OK to save the customizations.
When launching Word, Excel, or PowerPoint next time, you will see tabbed interface enabled. From tab right-click context menu, you can open Office Tabs settings window for current MS office application, rename the tab, and access File menu options.
Office Tab version is a stripped down version of Office Tab Standard, which costs $45. The Standard version has extra tab related functions, such as, close other tabs, change tab length, show/hide tabs, lock documents, etc. However, if you want to bring these tab functionality in MS Project and Visio too, you can anytime upgrade to Office Tab Enterprise version, which costs $83.
It supports Office 2003, Office 2007, and Office 2010.
