Is the web page you want to visit down?  Rather than constantly hitting the refresh button in vain, try Dingitsup - a free service which lets you know via email, twitter, or SMS when it gets back up again.  Now you can go about your daily life in peace knowing that you’ll be notified when you can access the website.

To top it off - you can monitor as many pages as you like, and you don’t even need to register for the service. Just tell it the page you want to track, and how you want to be notified and you’re done!

Dingitsup also tracks websites going down, so you can hook it up to your own blog/website to get instant notification when something goes wrong. 

What do you do when the site you want to visit is down?  Tell us in the comments!

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Miss a really important soccer game?  Do a quick search on YouTube and you’ll find that it’s really difficult to find quality highlight reels of specific games.  Either you’ll find an older game, or worse – fake videos which don’t display any highlights at all.

So where do you watch free soccer highlights?  SoTube is a blog that aggregates online videos of key matches according to timeline so the most recent matches appear on the front page.  This makes things really easy to find. 

Major games from the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, and Italian Serie A are covered on this blog, so most of your soccer / football needs would be well taken care of.

Do you watch sports highlights online?  Tell us where you do it in the comments!

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With so many good T-shirt sites on the net like Threadless and BustedTees, it can be hard to lay out your options when you want to buy a new T-shirt.  Teenormous is a free search engine which indexes the web for T-shirts, and allows you to search and filter down T-shirts by keyword, price, color, and gender.  All results come with a little picture preview of the item so you know what you’re getting.  Truly a geeky way to go shopping :)

Thanks for the tip MusingT

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With the huge holiday shopping period ahead of us, saving has become a particularly hot topic; and with looming economic crisis and undefined gas prices, shipping is the first thing you probably want to save on. So let’s look at some useful (and what’s more free!) online tools that can help you manage and save on shipping your holiday presents.

1. How to find retailers offering free shipping coupons

 FreeShipping.org lists all retailers offering free shipping coupons. You can browse coupons by category or by the retailer’s name and also spot soon-to-expire or newest codes. The site reports to have more than 850 retailers in various categories with some prominent retailers like Target and Toys R us.

2.  How to find cheap items to qualify for free shipping on Amazon

Certain items at Amazon.com qualify for free shipping, but sometimes purchase fall short of the minimum $25 needed to receive the free shipping. Just enter the amount you need to get free shipping on Filleritem, to see a list of products that will get you the free shipping.. The site also offers a FireFox extension or Greasemonkey script that "will add a link to filleritem from Amazon.com when you are short of the free shipping limit".

3. How to do online shopping with free shipping

Pricegrabber has a separate section for products with free shipping option. You can browse the site by category or just use the keyword-based search to find items that can be shipped for free. What’s more you can compare these product prices and thus save twice: by paying nothing for shipping and choosing a cheaper option. You can also browse through the product reviews and ratings, set the price alerts and add products to your list to manage your holiday purchases.

4. How to estimate shipping charges for delivery

 Shippingsidekick.com is a great web-based tool helping you avoid any shipping surprises. Fill in the online form: input "from" and "to" zip code, package size, declared value, etc and the site will estimate your shipping charges and compare them across various carriers. What’s more, the site offers some great informational resources, like shipping tips and advice, info on international shipping, etc.  Currently only works within the US.

5. How to compare different courier charges

ShipGooder.com is another shipping cost calculator that will help you choose the best shipping option. With it you can compare prices of express shipping, ground shipping by various services and based on the route you specify. What’s more, you can see the route on map, export all shipping options to Excel or bookmark the page for further reference.  Currently only works within the US.

6. How to let people bid for the the cheapest rates to ship for you

uShip is "an online shipping marketplace that connects customers with Transportation Service Providers to make shipping more affordable and efficient". Essentially, that’s a free (can be paid for urgent and featured listings) online auction where you create an account, post your shipment details, and let service providers bid for the privilege to ship your item. The listing takes no more than 10 minutes to post (if you are also creating an account); you can also choose bid-alerting methods (email message, phone call, text messages).

What are your thoughts on shipping?  Let us know in the comments!

This is a guest post by Ann Smarty, an Internet Marketer and SEO consultant.  Want to guest post or write for Friedbeef’s Tech?  Drop me a line :)

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When you delete a file, and clear out your desktop ‘recycle bin’, the data isn’t really gone - you essentially just ‘hide’ it, and tell the system that it’s OK to write over the data.  This of course means that it’s possible in many cases to retrieve the ‘permanently deleted’ data using a variety of free tools.  If you’re looking for a proper solution to wipe away those confidential files without hope of recovery, here are 8 FREE tools you can try. 

1. How to permanently delete files with a simple click

DeleteOnClick is a very simple to use program that securely deletes files so they cannot be undeleted or recovered. It’s implemented as a Windows Explorer extension so you just need to right-click on the files then choose Securely Delete to wipe the files.  DeleteOnClick completely deletes files in one click rather than sending the file to the recycle bin.

2. How to shred files on the Mac

Beginning with Mac OS 10.3, Apple enhanced its security by introducing the Secure Empty Trash feature, which follows the U.S. government’s pattern of overwriting data seven times.

Permanent Eraser provides an even stronger level of security by implementing the Gutmann Method. This utility overwrites your data thirty-five times, scrambles the original file name, and truncates the file size to nothing before Permanent Eraser finally unlinks it from the system. Once your data has been erased, it can no longer be read through traditional means.

3. How to wipe out data by overwriting it again and again

Heidi Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.  Think of it as a PC version of Permanent Eraser for the Mac.

4. How to shred files on Linux

If you’re using Linux, you have several command line options revolving around the ‘Shred’ command and Secure-Delete tools.  Check out this article for more details.

5. How to wipe out an entire hard disk

Darik’s Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.

6. How to wipe away your tracks on a PC

Web browsers can leave behind a telling trail. Delete History Free gets rid of everything from Internet browsing history, recent documents history, recycle bins, temp folders and more.

7. How to encrypt then destroy files

Secure Delete works by getting files removed in such a way that even if the file can be recovered, the content is nonsense, and cannot be decrypted.  It does so by allowing you to specify a directory in which all files should be deleted. When each file is deleted the contents of the file are filled with random data prior to deleting the file.

8. How to pick your shredding options

Want more options?  In File Shredder you can choose between 5 different shredding algorithms, all differing in speed and strength of shredding.

Which one is best?  This can be debatable, and even standards of security vary from country to country.  As a guideline, US Department of Defense standards require overwriting files at least 7 times before it’s deemed securely deleted.  I guess if it’s good enough for them to wipe out classified documents, it should in theory - be good enough for the rest of us.

Did I miss out your favorite digital shredder?  Tell us in the comments!

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Picking a right domain can make or break your blog, or online business (Yes, I realize the irony - This from a guy who has a tech blog called Friedbeef.com).  Here are several tools which will aid you in picking out the absolutely best domain names which are available for registration.

1. How to pick the best non-dotcom domain

A ‘dot-com’ is perhaps the top criteria on most people’s lists for picking a domain.  True, it often does make the most sense, but as site like del.icio.us will prove, breaking free from convention may sometimes be a good thing.  If you do want to go down this road, Domai.nr is the best free tool you can use to search through the world’s registrars to find a creative non-dotcom name.

2. How to let others pick your domain name

Pickydomains is a service which lets its community help you pick the perfect name.  Here is how it works.  You deposit $50 and give them your specifications.  Their contributors then start submitting their domain name suggestions, and when you see that perfect domain, you just register it. If none of their suggestions worked for you – you just get your money back. There is no risk involved. 

In many respects, Pickydomains operates on an honor system where it trusts a client not to get a refund, but still register the domain anyway.  Judging by some of the high quality domains which are prominently displayed on their front page, it certainly looks like a winner.

3. How to instantly look-up domains

Instant Domain Search helps you find domain names by searching and returning results for .com, .net and .org domain names as you type in real time.  A perfect time saver. 

4. How to come up with the perfect Web 2.0 domain

Bustaname helps you pick domains by taking the keywords you give it, rearranging them, and giving you a list of available domains which match your keywords.  This by itself is useful, but it also has a whole range of customization you can throw in.  For example, you can include popular suffixes like ‘-ster’ ala famous sites like Friendster, Dogster, or Jobster, or drop the last vowel ala Flickr to push your site further in the web 2.0 direction. 

5. How to turn ideas into domains

Domainsbot is a free automated domain generation engine.  Like Bustaname, it generates domains based on the keywords you give it, but not just be rearranging them, but by incorporating keywords related to your own as well.  The result?  A list of domains which are based on the ideas your keywords inspire.

6. How to lookup domains from any web page

Ever read a phrase online and think: "that would make a great domain name"?  Domain Lookup is a free Firefox extension that helps you discover valuable generic domain names while surfing the web.

Just select the text you wish to check and hit the shortcut key.  The Domain Lookup extension checks then availability at your favorite registrar in a heartbeat.

7. How to quickly scan through the dictionary for available domains

Attainable.ws is a free service which scans through the entire dictionary to list available domains based on a keyword.  The powerful thing about this service is that it gives you access to single dictionary words which are available for registration - an increasingly scarce resource.

What domain name tips or experiences do you have?  Tell us in the comments!

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Planning to take a well deserved break anytime soon?  Check out these step-by step tips to make your holiday a better one.

1. How to decide where to go

Everyone travels for different reasons.  Tripbase, a free service will generate personalized recommendations on where to go based on what you like.  For example if you tell Tripbase you like nature a lot, but you still want to do some decent shopping, it will show you destinations which offer that mix.  It also gives you more details, travel articles and photos of the recommended cities so you can pick a city which best suits you.

2. How to find the best attractions

Once you’ve picked your destination, check out WikiTravel, the definitive travel Wiki, where you’ll be able to get free travel guides to your destination.  While this will equip you with some basic knowledge of a destination, you can pick out hidden gems of things to do and places to visit by going to travel social networks such as 43 places.  There you can find photos and read personal experiences of people traveled to your destination.  You can also ask questions, and they will be answered from members of the community which have visited the location you’re asking about.

3. How to best plan the trip

So many things to keep track off, and so little time.  With today’s myriad of travel sites, even the most experienced traveler has their hands full managing all the details of a typical trip. Booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and restaurants leaves you with lots of separate pieces of paper. Throw in maps, directions, things to do, and weather and the chaos multiplies.

TripIt turns chaos into order by making it easy for anyone to:

• Organize trip details into one master online itinerary — even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites
• Automatically include maps, directions and weather in their master itinerary
• Have the option to book restaurants, theatre tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary
• Safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary

The best part - you just forward the travel confirmation (transport/hotel/restaurant etc.) emails to TripIt, and if it’s from one hundreds of partner sites, it will handle the rest automatically!

4. How to get the best airline deals

There are plenty of airline sites out there which claim to be the best place to book your tickets online, whether it be Farecast which lets you predict prices, where you can find out if the lowest fare for a trip is rising or dropping over the next 7 days, or Kayak, which easily lets you compare prices and book easily. 

However, if you truly want a nugget of an airline planning resource, check out Probargainunter’s excellent post on how to buy cheap airline tickets detailing the best in travel search engines, online booking services, and travel deal sites.

5. How to get the best hotels

My favorite hotel review site has long been tripadvisor, where it houses a huge database of user reviews for just about any hotel you can think of, and help you find highly rated hotels within your price range. 

However, there are now a few sites like tvtrip, and tripr.tv which actually provide video reviews of hotels.  This prevents you from being deceived by unscrupulous hotels which put up a few well taken photos at nice angles, only to be unpleasantly surprised when you actually get there. 

Alternatively you could just forgo price altogether and just settle in the best geek hotels in the world :)

6. How to pick the best time to convert foreign currency

Pick the right time to convert your foreign currency and you could save a bundle.  Have a look at what the currency trends are like at forexrate so you can make an educated decision whether to wait, or convert foreign currency now.

7. How to pack well

Personally, I have a list of basic items to bring on a trip which I store on my PC.  Whenever I need to go somewhere, I just open it up, add to it if I need to, and print it out.  That way I can pack everything I need in mere minutes.  The list also doubles as a checklist to ensure I don’t leave anything behind in the hotel. 

There are also some people who have taken packing to an art.  OneBag and Travelite are perhaps some of the packing resources out there covering everything from packing techniques to luggage lightening suggestions.

Also available is the Universal Packing List which helps you automate your packing list based on your trip details.

8. How to get the best seats on the plane

Just because you’re in the economy section, doesn’t mean you have to settle for a bad seat.  Check out SeatGuru or SeatExpert which will give you the lowdown on which seats to pick and which seats to avoid on any airline.  You’ll also get an idea of what to expect in terms of amenities on the plane from power, entertainment, seat width and how far you an lean back. 

9. How to use Airport Wifi with more piece of mind.

Public wifi may not be the safest thing you could use.  Here’s a great tip on how to ensure your Gmail session is secure. 

10. How to stay healthy on the plane

There are quite a number of steps you can take  to make sure you stay healthy on your trip.  For example:

• Wear shoes that can loosen should your feet swell during your trip
• Anti-histamines and decongestants can add to the dehydration you experience with air travel. Make sure you increase your water intake if you are taking these medications.
• Eating will keep your energy up, your blood sugar normalized and you won’t be fighting a growling stomach to sleep

Check out WikiHow’s full list on how to stay healthy on a plane

11. How to ensure your laptop travels well

Laptops are not the most.  Check out Chris Pirillo’s top tips to keep your notebook safe while traveling.  Here are some of my favorites from that list:

• Document Identifying Information: In case your laptop does end up lost or stolen, you should be able to provide detailed information about the make, model, serial number and any other identifying information. You may need the information to file a claim with the airline or your insurance company, or to provide law enforcement.
• Use a BIOS Password: Protecting your laptop with an operating system login and password is a good idea, but there are ways to circumvent that protection and gain access to the data still. For better protection, you should enable password protection at the BIOS level so that the laptop can not even be turned on without the correct password.
• Use Portable Storage: To make sure you have the business critical PowerPoint presentation or Excel spreadsheet that you need to show your business partners in order to seal the multi-million dollar deal (or whatever other important files and documents might be on your laptp) you should carry a copy on a USB thumb drive or some other type of portable storage that you can carry separate from the laptop in case it becomes lost or stolen.

12. How to read your Gmail and RSS feeds on the plane

Why rely on In-flight entertainment, when you can bring your own?  Google Gears allows you offline access to your Gmail and Google RSS reader articles, any re-syncs it when you get online again.  Perfect for getting things done on a plane.

13. How to put public transport information on your phone

Metro is a free guide to public transport systems worldwide which can be put on smartphones for easy reference.  It currently covers over 400 cities and supports all major smartphones (Symbian, PocketPC, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone etc).  This awesome piece of freeware also calculates routes and estimates time of arrival so you can plan your routes to perfection.

14. How to locate any ATM in the world

Being in need of cash in a foreign country can be very daunting.  Visa’s ATM locator does a great job of giving you all the locations of ATM machines from anywhere in the world.  Just type in your city, and it will give you a list to choose from.  You can also filter the list by 24 hour ATMs just in case you’re in need of the cash at odd hours.

15. How to quickly pick up a foreign language

Spending a few minutes to learn a few keywords in another language can make all the difference in the world.  Most cultures appreciate that you try to speak their language, so swing by Fodor’s free language guides and print out a few cheat sheets to bring with you on your trip.  

16. How to make the most of your iPhone on a trip

Have an iPhone?  Make the most of it by trying out some of the free made for travel apps being offered.  This covers everything from currency calculators, maps, and language lessons. 

17. How to share your trip once you return

Once you’re back, here’s how you can share your trip.  TripnTale allows you to upload unlimited photos and videos so you can share them with your friends.  It also allows you to import videos from YouTube and photos from Facebook and Flickr so you can assemble your entire trip in one location.

18. How to remove unwanted tourists from photos

Tourist Remover removes unwanted objects from your photos such as tourists or passing cars. Take multiple photos from the same scene and the ‘Tourist Remover’ blends them into a composite photo without any interfering elements.

Share your own travel tips!  Let us know in the comments!

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Links

Wonderful as they may be, one thing about Apple products is that they come up with new revisions of them so quickly, that any purchase you make would probably be obsolete before you know it.  Once that happened, the warm fuzzy feeling of owning a sleek elegant device from the Apple Store would fade away.  Fortunately MacRumors has put together a constantly updated buying guide which you absolutely must check out before deciding on a purchase.

What it does is it shows you all the release dates of previous iterations of the product so you can sort of predict its life cycle, collates all the rumors surrounding the product, and provides a recommendation on whether to buy the item - or wait.

I certainly wish I had discovered this sooner.  Take it from someone who bought an iPod Mini 3 months before the Nano came out, and an iPod Touch 2 months before the new model was released… when it comes to buying Apple products, you have to do your homework :)

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How to Backup ANY Browser - 5 Tips for Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera

Shortening URLs is a great way to handle long URLs which sometimes break in email, are harder to verbalize in a conversation, and they are difficult, or in some cases near impossible to remember.  While shortening a URL is useful, short URL services like TinyURL have long been used for cloaking links to spam and malware that could harm your system.  Here are 4 easy ways to decode that short URL and make sense of it.

1. How to automatically redirect a TinyURL to a preview page

TinyURL perhaps the most famous of all URL shorters, has an inbuilt feature you can turn on which puts a cookie on your browser telling it to automatically redirect you to a preview page which reveals the true source of any TinyURL link you click on.  Note that while this is useful, if you use multiple browsers, or for some reason remove your cookies, there’s still a chance you may accidentally click on something bad.

2. How to magically turn TinyURL links to original links on any webpage

Embiggen is a cool bookmarklet which you can drag and drop on your browser toolbar.  Anytime you see a page with a TinyURL link, all you need to do is click the bookmarklet and it will transform the TinyURL link to the real link right there and then on the page. 

3. How to check short URLs from TinyURL as well as other URL Shorteners

LongURL is a free service which decodes URLs shortened by tinyurl.com, is.gd, ping.fm, ur1.ca, bit.ly, snipurl.com, tweetburner.com, metamark.net, url.ie, x.se, 6url.com, yep.it, piurl.com, and more!  If you like it, it’s also available as a Firefox extension, and a Greasmonkey script.

4. How to get a visual check on a TinyURL

While the other services above simply provides you the source URL to a TinyURL, PrevURL takes it one step further by actually combining the functionality of LongURL, and adding a thumbnail of the source page as well.  Not only do you get to see the link, you now know what the page looks like before you click on the link.

What do you think of TinyURL?  Let us know in the comments!

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How to Watch Real Media without Installing Real Media Player

YouTube is slow.

Once I hit the ‘play’ button on a YouTube video, I typically have to wait a pretty long time for the video to load up and play smoothly. 

Here’s a quick fix for this.  Using the same simultaneous download principles which we’ve seen for other browser download accelerators, Speedbit Videoaccelerator  speeds up YouTube so your online video experience is a much smoother one. 

The free version not only handle’s YouTube but also caters for over 100 other sites.

They also offer a premium version which speeds up acceleration of iTunes downloads, but you can always use other free options for that feature. 

Note: Speedbit claims that it is 100% spyware/adware free, but Videoaccelerator will install the Ask.com searchbar (which you can remove) as part of the install set.  Not the best way to package software, but it still looks to be the fastest way to load up YouTube videos.

Is your current YouTube experience a smooth one?  Tell us in the comments!

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How to Get More Out of Firefox

Aside from ’search’, Gmail is arguably Google’s most successful home-grown product out there.   Gmail may be smaller than Yahoo! Mail and MSN Live Mail (Hotmail), but it’s certainly growing faster (doubling its share in the last 1 year), and it’s definitely a more polished product.  Now, the Google Labs website has long been an experimental haven for Google where the general public could mess around and play with Google’s latest web services.  The much newer Gmail labs hopes to tap into that same vein of experimentation and so far - it has accomplished that goal.  There are currently 24 features you can play with, but here are 7 of my favorite experimental features you can try in Gmail.

1. Get to where you want with ‘Quick Links’

Adds a box to the left column that gives you 1-click access to any bookmarkable URL in Gmail. You can use it for saving frequent searches, important individual messages, and more.

2. There’s more than one way to ’star’ your messages with ‘Superstars’

Adds additional star icons. After enabling this feature:
(1) Go to the "General" Settings page to choose which superstars you wish to use.
(2) Use either the keyboard shortcut (’s’) or click to rotate through your selected superstars.
(3) Use the search operator "has:" to find all messages with your superstar (e.g. "has:red-bang", "has:blue-star"). Learn the name of a superstar by hovering over its image in the "General" Settings page.

If you enable both the ‘Quick Lists’ and ‘Superstars’ features, you have the ability to setup an awesome to-do list with this tutorial.

3. ‘Mail Goggles’ helps stop you from sending email which you will regret

Mail you send late night on the weekends may be useful but you may regret it the next morning.  Solve some simple math problems to prove that you’re sober and alert, and you’re good to go. Otherwise, get a good night’s sleep and try again in the morning.  Not as fail-safe as my Outlook tip on how to embargo your emails for 2 minutes, but it’s still a step in the right direction from Gmail.

4. ‘Custom keyboard shortcuts’ and you won’t need to use a mouse

Don’t like GMail’s default keyboard shortcuts?  This feature lets you customize keyboard shortcut mappings.

5. ‘Quote selected text’ easily

Quote the text you have selected when you reply to a message. This works best if you use keyboard shortcuts.

6. ‘Forgot attachment’?  Never again

Prevents you from accidentally sending messages without the relevant attachments. Prompts you if you mention attaching a file, but forgot to do so.

7. ‘Vacation Time’ helps you manage your out-of-office message

Lets you specify starting and ending dates for the vacation autoresponder so you never have to worry about forgetting to turn it on - or off.

How to enter and enable the lab: Look in your Gmail settings, and there should be a ‘labs’ tab.  Click on that tab to visit the Gmail labs, and enable the features you want.

Which email service do you use and why?  Let us know in the comments!

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With more than a million registered users bookmarking and tagging their favorite sites, del.icio.us has long been one of the best sites to patronize if you’re looking to check out what’s hot on the web for any given topic.  Here are 3 hand-picked tools which will make your del.icio.us experience a more tasty one!

1. The best way to search through your del.icio.us account

Even with tagging, there’s only so much you can do to properly describe all your bookmarks, so you can find them again some time in the future.  Delizzy is a free service which addresses that issue by searching through all the actual bookmarked pages (not just its description) thus helping you make perfect sense of your online bookmarks.

2. How to send yourself bookmarks in the future

Tag any del.icio.us bookmark with "tagmindr" as well as a date, then you’ll get a reminder via RSS.  What could you use it for?  Well, for example - if you come across any pages with nice gifts for a birthday for instance, you could just bookmark it and get yourself reminded about that site closer to the date.  All brought to you for free by Tagmindr.

3. How to stream bookmarks live to your browser

Del.icio.us is a very dynamic site where activity is constantly happening.  Del.icio.us spy is a free service which gives you a glimse of the live activity by giving a constant live stream of whatever people are bookmarking.  Not only that, you can also filter the live stream to selected topics, and play a notification sound to alert you when a particular topic gets bookmarked, so you can basically run this in the background and only refer to it when you need to.

What are your favorite del.icio.us tools?  Tell us in the comments!

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Most people rarely read manuals when I buy a piece of equipment (who does?), so very often, manuals just get tossed aside and forgotten. 

That of course is usually the point in time when you suddenly discover that you need to refer to the manual - and of course you can’t find it.

SafeManuals/Diplodocs is a huge resource of authorized manuals with more than 1.2 million manuals uploaded for almost everything you can think of with a manual - from domestic appliances, TV & Audio equipment, phones, to computers, cars, watches and digital cameras. 

What I really liked aside from the huge choice manuals:

• The ability to preview the 1st 3 pages of any manual before downloading to confirm it’s the manual you want
• Multi-language manuals (English manuals are of course predominant within the site)
• Links to manuals related to the product automatically displayed - Some products have more than one manual insert in the box (For example: Full manual & quick start guides), so you can pick what you need

Never fret about lost manuals again!

Do you read manuals?  Tell us in the poll and comments!

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Too many songs in iTunes not tagged properly

Two weeks ago, I had 8000+ songs, and most of it was quite a mess in iTunes.  Many of them had missing album names, and artist names.  Some had wrong track titles, and most did not have any album art.  Attempting a cleanup of that scale would take weeks of painstaking work, so I never really got around to it.  Today however, every single track is perfectly clean.

How to clean it up fast

The TuneUp iTunes plug-in is perhaps the single, easiest way to clean up all the patchy information in your iTunes.  All I did was to drag and drop songs into TuneUp, and that’s it.

How does it work?  Every piece of music whatever the source has a certain audio signature.  TuneUp will compare that signature with the online music database Gracenote, and retrieves all the information and album art about the song and puts it in iTunes.  Say goodbye to "Track 01". No more "Unknown Artist". No more "Notorious B.I.G" vs. "Biggie Smalls". No more "Beatles" vs. "The Beatles" and missing cover art in one smooth step.

I’ve tried other free solutions like ‘Musicbrainz’, but integration with music already added in iTunes is patchy, and it’s about 10 times harder to use.  TuneUp is without a doubt the best option for this job by a mile. 

Get a lifetime subscription for FREE

The free version of TuneUp will allow you to clean 500 songs at no cost.  They also offer a 1 year unlimited song cleanup subscription at USD11.95, and a lifetime subscription for USD19.95 (limited offer).

The good folks at TuneUp however have agreed to give away FIVE LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTIONS for FREE!  Now you can have clean tracks on your iTunes forever!

Contest entry steps:

1. Download, Install, and Register TuneUp
2. Send an email to friedbeef@tuneupmedia.com from the email address that you registered with, asking for a subscription.  Brownie points given to those who include something to make them laugh.
3. Sit back and cross your fingers.

The contest deadline is until 4th September - so enter now - even if you don’t win - you’ll at least get to clean up 500 songs for free :)

Congratulations to the winners:

Madeleine Bowling : Who also wins a Tune Up Tshirt and bag on top of a lifetime subscription to TuneUp.
Sonia Balaram
Darren Klashovski
Richard Leake
Lhan Gannon

…All of which win a lifetime subscription to TuneUp.

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If you’ve got a 3G enabled S60 Symbian phone (Nokia N-series & E-Series, Samsung i550 & G810) - It’s now possible to instantly transform it into a WiFi hotspot so you can hook up other devices to ride on your mobile 3G connection.

JoikuSpot Light is an awesome piece of freeware which allows you to do just that.  Simple to set up, and easy to use - It also comes with some great features like:

• Encryption support - WEP including 128bit key generator for your security
• Battery threshold - shuts down program when battery level is too low
• Multiple connections - so you can share your bandwidth with others

A premium edition is also available if you need added features.  While JoikuSpot Light supports HTTP and HTTPS protocols,  JoikuSpot Premium supports ALL protocols allowing user to use Outlook, YouTube, Web radios, FTP, VPNs, Skype and other programs requiring specific protocols.

Anyhow, you can do a lot more than hook up laptops to your phone’s 3G connection…

What I did for myself was to wirelessly hook up my iPod touch to my phone, so I’ve now got a device which gives me the Internet experience of an iPhone 3G… at 1/3 the price :)

How do you usually get your WiFi connection when you’re on the road?  Tell us in the comments!

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