Barcodes are machine readable codes which contain data (usually about other products).  If you want to quickly come up with a barcode or a more advanced QR code, here are 5 free online barcode generators you can try out.

1. How to create a basic barcode

Barcodes Inc. provides a free service that can be used to generate individual barcodes or called via URL’s to include inline PNG or JPEG images directly into your documents.  You’ll also be able to embed links of the barcode into your website or forum.

2. How to generate QR codes

QR codes are 2D barcodes which can hold much more data than a normal barcode.  While there are many QR generators out there, Delivr QR Code Generator is one of the better ones with a lot of customized features available, like a built-in URL shortener, and the ability to generate really nice PDF flyers with your QR code on it as well.

3. How to generate specialized barcodes like ISBNs

With the ability to produce ISBNs, UPCs, and EANs and any other barcode you can think of, the Terry Burton Online Barcode Generator is one of the most extensive barcode generators when it comes to variety.  Not exactly the most user friendly or pretty looking website but it really gets the job done especially with specialized barcodes like ISBNs for books.

4. How to generate multi-colored barcodes

Barcodes Generator allows you to tweak certain aesthetics when you create your barcodes like font sizes and color.  Not exactly very functional, but certainly makes for a better looking barcode.

5. How to batch generate QR codes for Wikipedia

Semapedia.org is a non-profit project whose goal is to connect the physical world with relevant knowledge from Wikipedia.  What they do is to create a redirection to Wikipedia to provide a mobile version of your requested article.  Here you can easily create PDF flyers of these URLs and you can even process them 8 at a go.  All for the sake of bringing together education on the mobile phone – and the real world.

Do you use barcodes?  Tell us about it in the comments :)

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Whether you’re doing research on any given topic, or just want to discover new websites which are similar to your favorite one – here are 5 free and useful ways to find and discover related websites.

1. How to find websites which Google thinks are alike

If you add “related:” to your search term, Google will return sites which are related to your query.  For example, “related:friedbeef.com” would return sites which are similiar to friedbeef.com.  Note there can be no space between the "related:" and the web page url.

2. How to find related sites based on what other people visit

Alexa, the service which provides free website information works through a toolbar which tracks all your browser traffic. 

By tracking users across websites, Alexa is able to come up with a list of related sites fairly accurately, as they can deduce relationships between Web sites based on visit patterns.  All you need to do is search for any website and click on the ‘related links’ tab.

3. How to find related sites based on community votes

Siteslike is a service which provides you related sites, and also allows you to vote and determine how similar those sites really are, so you can help others in the future. 

4. How to use Google trends to determine related sites

Just like Alexa, Google Trends for websites also tracks web browsing patterns and can determine what sites are related based on what people have visited.  The advantage here is that you can also filter results by country and get a more granulated result.

5. The most convenient way to find related websites

Among all the items described in this post, Similar Site Search provided the best and most relevant results during testing. 

Not only does it give the most accurate results, it also gives each site a score citing how relevant it is.  For convenience it also comes with a firefox extension and a bookmarklet as well, so all similar site searches can be done on the fly.  Highly recommended.

Do you search for related websites?  Tell us about it in the comments :)

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Getting a good night’s sleep can be incredibly elusive for many people out there.  While you’ve probably read many articles on how to sleep better, here are several free tools you can try out, which will help you get a good rest.

1. How to automatically adjust the brightness of your screen to help you sleep better

Without going too much into medical jargon, it’s well known fact that melatonin helps you get sleepy, and is production is inhibited by light.  That’s why many articles out there discourage the use of the computer just before you sleep because of the brightness of the screen.

F.lux is an amazing free tool which sits in the background (with a very tiny memory footprint) which plays with your screen settings to match the time of the day.  It will make your computer screen look like the room you’re in, all the time.

When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.  Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.  Highly recommended.

2. How to track your sleeping patterns easily

Yawnlog is a cool website where you can set targets and track your sleep so you understand your sleeping patterns and relevant activity.  If you keep up with it for a few weeks, you may just understand what type of activities cause you sleeping problems, and how much sleep you’re missing from it as a result. 

It also has a social element which allows you to share your sleep and track how other people are sleeping. 

3. How to use white noise to help you sleep

If you took all of the tones and frequencies that a human could hear and combined them together, you would have white noise.  The result is simple static sound which in many cases aids sleep because the brain can tune it out quite easily as background noise, and it masks other sounds.

My favorite place to get white noise is SimplyNoise, a cool online tool which allows you to choose the type and intensity of white noise.  On top of that, it lets you download free MP3s as well so you can enjoy gapless playback offline or on your iPod .

4. How to get relaxing zen ambient loops to help you sleep

Zendesk FM3 Buddha Machine Wall is a web based tool which provides some extremely relaxing ambient sounds.  You can even combine together to make the perfect relaxation zen loop for you to relax.  Think of it as a web version of the extremely successful transistor radio toy launched in 2005

5. Where to read some supertips on how to sleep better

Here are some extremely good reading blogposts how to sleep better.  Tech tools are good, but works even better when supplemented with these techniques.

• Top 10 Ways to Sleep Smarter and Better
• 10 Tips For A Good Night’s Sleep Without Pills
• 10 Foolproof Tips for Better Sleep

6. How to use your iPhone to help you sleep better

Well, it goes without saying that there’s an app for this problem :)  Custom Sounds of Nature Lite is a soothing free iPhone app which allows you to listen to some ambient noise to help you sleep.

7. How to generate ambient sounds using a Mac to help you sleep better

dlooch is a free Mac OSX dashboard app which generates evolving ambient sounds.  This means that you won’t be looping the same sounds over and over again, but instead have them sound as natural as possible.

Do you have any sleeping tips?  Share them with us in the comments :)

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If you have a whole bunch of photos to share, it may be easier or even more fun to pull them altogether into a neat little collage.  Here are 3 online tools which work directly from your browser, all free – which will help you do just that.

1. How to make collages with the photos on your PC

Photovisi is a free online service which allows you to pick one of many collage template and then launches an in-browser interface where you can quickly add pictures. 

My favorite part about this service is that it you don’t need to upload entire photos (which can take very long if your photos are high-res) in order to make it work.  It is intelligent enough to create and use thumbnails from your pictures on-the-fly so that adding pictures from your computer is incredibly speedy.  No installation or registration needed.

2. How to make collages with photos already online

Shape Collage takes photos found on any webpage and instantly turns it into a collage.  The beauty of this is that it you don’t need to point it to Flickr or particular photo site for it to work.  Just point it to ANY site, and it will crawl the page and make use of the pictures.  Plus, you get to make all kinds of interesting shapes for collages.

There’s also a free desktop edition which allows you to play with your pictures offline.

3. How to edit photos and make simple collages online

Picture2Life is a free service which allows you to make simple edits to your photos before you collage them.  Available on multiple platforms, it has a facebook as well as a made for iPhone interface, and a Firefox extension so you can collage from wherever you feel most comfortable.

Do you create photo collages online?  Tell us about it in the comments

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It is estimated that unwanted electronics represents 1.9 to 2.2 million tons in the US alone. The majority of these products, about 1.5 to 1.9 million tons, were discarded in landfills with only 345,000 to 379,000 tons recycled. The end result isn’t pretty. E-waste is toxic and 40% of heavy metals – such as lead, mercury, cadmium – in our landfills comes from the disposal of electronic equipment. 

Here are 9 cool web services which pay you for trading in your phone (or other old gadgets) you have lying around.  In order to help you pick one, we did a head to head acid test by picking 3 phones and comparing payouts from trading in each phone, from each site.

The Acid Test

• 1 high end: iPhone 3G (2nd Gen) 16GB
• 1 mid range: Blackberry Curve 8310
• 1 low end: Nokia 1110

All slightly used but good working condition.  All carrier unlocked.  All with the box and everything that comes with it (chargers, manuals, cables etc)

1. How to get the best trade-in deals quickly: BuyMyTronics

BuyMyTronics first started of as BuyMyBrokeniPod.com several years ago when we first wrote about them a couple of years ago.  Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength and have expanded to cover all forms of consumer electronics and they have one the highest payouts around. 

It has a brilliant search-as-you-type interface which makes it absolutely a breeze to find whatever you’re looking for and the payout rates are among the best.  I guess a good testament to how their service is, is that if you go back to that old post we did 2 years ago, all the other services we wrote about have shut down, while BuyMyTronics now turns over a million dollars in revenue, and have expanded into multiple categories (all that while being 100% windmill powered too). 

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD206
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD65
• Nokia 1110 USD0

2. How to come together as a group to combat e-waste: RecyclingFundraiser

RecyclingFundraiser is a service which also takes in all kinds of electronics, and even accepts jewelry for trade-in!  What I really like about them is the fact that they mainly promote community recycling.  In fact they have a whole resource library for running your own recycling fundraiser, so now you can help the environment, raise awareness about e-waste and trade in for cash to help another good cause at the same time.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD75
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD25
• Nokia 1110 USD3

3. How to get store credit with your old gadgets : C.Exchange

This service has pretty decent payouts, and also ties into a large selection of retailers including Radioshack and CompUSA for store credit.  Just a note that when I tested, I noticed you in many cases, you get a better payout opting for cash rather than store credit.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD191.74
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD57.39
• Nokia 1110 : NA

4. How to get money even when your friends trade in old gadgets: EZTradein

EZTradein is like a typical trade-in site, but it also has an affiliate program which offers 3% of all sales made to the center coming from your affiliate link.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD106
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD48.78
• Nokia 1110 : NA

5. How to get the best trade-in deals and help plant a tree: Flipswap

Flipswap or Greenphone offers some of the best trade-in prices as well.  They also have a separate program which ties up with retailers and plants a tree for every transaction made with their instore program.  This is expected to result in 250,000 trees planted in 2009.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD230.75
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD49
• Nokia 1110 USD USD5.60

6. How to recycle gadgets and help a good cause: YouRenew

Aside from the typical trade-ins, YouRenew will also donate towards a Renewable Energy Certificate, or plant a tree on top of paying you for your goods. 

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD179
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD55
• Nokia 1110 : NA

7. How to sell in bulk: Gazelle

On top of the usual gadget trade-ins Gazelle also caters to volume selling so if you’re an organization, school or business, you may be able to get a better bulk deal there.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD196
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD48
• Nokia 1110 : USD0

Other online recycle centers:

8. MyBoneYard

A basic recycling site.  Average payouts.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD148
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD51
• Nokia 1110 : USD0

9. ecoNew

Econew ties into a few retailers but it’s not as flexible as some of the other services here.

Acid Test Results:  What you get for trading in…

• iPhone 3G 16GB USD85
• Blackberry Curve 8310 USD51
• Nokia 1110 USD0

VERDICT:

Bottom line:

The top two choices based on payout seem to be BuyMyTronics and Flipswap, both which give the best trade-in rates based on our acid test. 

However, do check out the other services as well because most of them offer their own unique spin.  No matter what you pick however, give yourself a pat on the back for keeping one more gadget out of the landfill.

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Have you ever come across websites which seem to take…for..e..ver….to load? They can be an annoyance, right? And with the way the Internet highway is designed, slow websites with smashing artwork and attractive bling often drive away more people than simple, and clean websites attract.

1. How to Optimize Style: Use CSS as often as you can, and tone down on Javascript

Javascript can add a lot of flair to your website, but more often than not we tend to borrow lines of code from other fellow developers rather than reinvent the wheel. Sounds logical, right? Well, the problem with using other people’s JS is that they usually contain lots of code which we ourselves don’t need. Borrowing CSS, however, doesn’t present that problem as much. So if you want your website to display smoothly on dial-up lines, try switching styles a little.

Also check out this excellent post on 53 CSS-Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without

2. How to Optimize Images: Focus your Format

GIF? PNG? JPG? …JPEG? One drawback of the widespread availability of the Internet is that practically anybody can contribute to its development. This leads to overchoice, which consequently is good, but not so good at the same time, and image optimization is no exception. Knowing what type of format to use for your digital images can save you a lot of hard drive estate. Use GIF for flat-tone colors, JPG for bright snazzy photographs with millions of colors, and alternate between either GIF and JPG for PNG when you feel it’ll give you better quality. Basically, different formats handle different images better, so you can expect a sizable difference in image size when you use the correct type. Also, be sure to use the “Save for Web” options in image editors.

Also check out this excellent post on 4 free tools to optimize and compress PNG images without losing quality

3. How to Minimize Latency: Group Files Together – United We Stand

When you write your website, do you write it page by page starting from the bottom up, or with a bird’s eye view? In most cases, the latter method is better, as you’ll get to save time and space when you code. For instance, CSS and JavaScript both allow you the option to save standalone files for reference by your other pages. This allows you to write a single CSS batch file and share it two to a million webpages, instead of having to rewrite the code every time you start a new page. Can you imagine how much space Google saves by having just one CSS reference file?

4. How to Squeeze the Sponge Dry: Extra Tips to counter Time-Lag

There are a certain number of things you can do to reduce the waiting time your website’s visitors have to endure; some which still not many may know of. Make sure to add a slash to the end of your links: “www.myname.com/about/”, as opposed to “www.myname.com/about”. This tells the server that it’s reached the end of the road, so it doesn’t have to waste (milli)seconds detouring when you click on a link. It may not be landing on the moon, but well, you take what you can get.

5. How to optimize your cache for Wordpress sites: Use super-cache

SuperCache is a free Wordpress plugin that caches your page as a static html file. When your visitors arrive at your site, they will be served the static page instead of the actual page.  This usually makes it much faster for your visitors, and more importantly it creates less strain and burden for your servers.

This article was written by Aaron Pek & James Yeang.  Contact me if you wish to become a writer for this blog.

Those were 5 simple tips to get started.  What other tips do you have for speeding up websites?  Tell us in the comments!

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People say Twitter is a time waster. I think it depends on how you use it. One awesome opportunity to turn this "time waster" into something really useful is to learn to save money on Twitter.

3 Ways to Find the Most Tweeted Deals

The following services work the way we are used to by now: the fresher the deal is and the more votes it gets, the more popular it becomes. Most popular deals end up hitting the front page – that’s the way Digg and Reddit as well as smaller social voting sites work.

CheapTweet, CouponTweet and TweetMeSavings work this way. People submit and up-vote the deals by Tweeting them. Deals are grouped by category and seller name. You can tweet any of them right from the service page.

2 Ways to Take Advantage of Twitter Money-Saving Bots

There are two Twitter bots I am aware of that allow to search and compare prices without even leaving Twitter. TinyMassive works like this: you tweet your product name and include @TinyMassive into the message. In a few seconds you get a public reply containing:

1. Your @Twitter-username;
2. The requested product name;
3. The minimum price found;
4. The link to product search results for more options.

Retrevoq is another similar twitter bot to consider.

3 Money-Saving Accounts You Should Follow

Many of coupon code directories and aggregators are on Twitter already, so keeping track of deals and coupons may be done the Twitter-way. I for one do it the following way:

1. I use Seesmic desktop Twitter app that allows to add and aggregate several Twitter accounts;
2. I create a separate account to follow all my money-saving accounts, and whenever there’s an update, I get a pop-up update: never miss a deal!

Here are a couple of recommended Twitter accounts that daily tweet coupons and deals:

• @CheapStingy (by CheapStingyBargains)
• @WiseBread (by WiseBread.com)
• @BabyCheapskate (by BabyCheapSkate.com)

5 Money-Saving Twitter Hashtags Your Should Track

A Twitter hashtag is the way to organize Tweets by topic. To monitor a hashtag, you can either use a desktop app (like Tweetdeck or Seesmic) or use web-based tools like "What the Hashtag?". The best money-saving hashtags to keep track of are:

• #bargains;
• #coupon;
• #coupons;
• #freebie;
• #freebie

What other interesting ways do you Twitter?  Tell us in the comments!

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There are however, people who embrace hardware limitations, make up for it with incredible composition, and tactful editing, resulting in some incredible shots which put many high end cameras to shame.  Here are 12 awesome iPhone photography resources.

Photo Blogs

These are blogs which take extremely good shots, and are the best examples of what a competent photographer can accomplish on the iPhone.  Check them out to get inspired.

1. iPhone as Art

2. The Mobile Frame

Lomography

These are sites dedicated to the shoot from the hip philosophy of lomography, which encourages lighthearted approaches to candid photography to document everyday life.

3. iPhoneLomo

4. LomoPhone

Awards

5. iPhone Photography Awards

The IPPA is an annual contest which aims to celebrate the creativity of the iPhone users.

6. Photocritic’s 100 Amazing iPhone Photos

This collection of the 100 photos remain one of the best testaments of the iPhone’s capability of producing first class photos.

Flickr Groups

7. Flickr: Photos Taken with an Apple iPhone

With the iPhone now the #1 most widely used device on Flickr, it’s not a surprise iPhone photos have a very strong following, with the aptly named ‘Photos taken with an Apple iPhone’ being the biggest group.

Interviews

The best way to understand iPhone photography is to talk to the people behind the lens, learn about their passion, and what makes them tick.

8. Interview with Ugur Kaner, from "Apple iPhone Photography – Street photography”

9. Interview with Gabriel Sucho from "Microbians – Dreams To Not Forget"

Free Apps

10. 30 Best Free iPhone 3G Photo & Video Applications

This is probably the definitive list of free iPhone photo and video apps currently on the web.

Photo Taking Tips

11. How to squeeze decent photos out of an iPhone by Meg Pickard

Everything from proper techniques to hold your iPhone to composition tips in a single post.

12. Taking fantastic photos with an iPhone : An conversation with Sion Fullana

Sion Fullana is a recognized iPhone photographer who loves street photography, and shoots mostly in New York, all taken by iPhone.

Shameless plug: Do also check out my own iPhone photo blog :)

What do you think of the iPhone camera?  Do you have more sites and tips to share?  Tell us in the comments!

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If you’re one of over 100 million people around the world who has had a delightful taste of the wonderful, magical world of Anime, you’d know it can be rather difficult to find legit media to satisfy our insatiable appetite for cute, cuddly characters with unrealistically large eyes.  This fact has been compounded with the legal clampdowns on previously reliable websites like AnimeSuki and Crunchyroll. As an avid otaku, yours truly has found some totally free ways to find manga (Japanese comics) for your reading pleasure.

1. How to Read Free Manga Online

The easiest way to get a hold of your favourite manga is to read it straight from the Web. There are tons of sites which host manga pages, but only a handful of them provide reliable loading times during rush hours and a diverse library of enjoyable reads. My personal favourite is OneManga.com, which has a simple interface for short loading times and boasts high quality scans. On the off chance that it somehow fails your expectations, you can try MangaFox.com too. These two sites should be more than enough.

2. How to Download Manga to your Computer

If you desire to store an entire collection of manga, and have the disk space to do so, then you can download manga straight into your computer. You’ll want to look for sites which don’t require a registration to download, as you may want to flick back and forth to determine which has the better quality scan. Some useful places to keep in mind are NarutoChuushin.com, MangaShare.com and Bleach7.com. Their interface may take some getting used to, but be patient, it’s worth it.

3. How to Read Untranslated Manga Scans

RAW scans are original manga scans which haven’t been translated yet. If you know Japanese, you can consider these scans as they have the advantage of appearing sooner than translated copies.  Some places you can find RAW manga scans are MangaShare.com and VeryManga.com. Bleach7.com offers RAWs too, but only for Bleach.

4. How to Read Manga in Different Languages

Not a native speaker of English? Don’t understand Japanese? Well, don’t worry, as there is manga in just about any language you can think of! I’ve seen Bleach and Naruto in Spanish, German, Chinese and even Bahasa Malaysia, and who knows how many other languages there might be out there! Click here to see for yourself!

5. How to Use Youtube to Read Manga

Who knew that Youtube could be used for reading manga? The tremendously popular video-sharing site has even evolved to accommodate us manga fans! The quality for most of the scans is readable, and the loading time is pretty fast too considering they’re static pages. If you can’t keep up with the playing speed, just pause the video and drag the play bar to whatever page you want to read. For some unknown reason, these scans can sometimes appear earlier than their counterparts on well-known manga sites! Go figure!  Here are a few good channels to start you off with.

This post was written by Aaron Pek.  Want to write for this blog?  Just contact me!

How do you get your manga fix?  Tell us in the comments!

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Have you sometimes wondered how much longer conventional TV would be useful to us? It just dawned upon me 3 days ago that was the first time I switched on the TV in 2 months! Don’t get me wrong but I do watch TV shows and movies, it’s just that not on TV. In this era of media streaming and user created content, TV pales in comparison because of:

1. Fixed airtime. We don’t like missing any episodes or rushing somewhere where there is a TV just to watch a programme (although that can be fun but very impractical most of the time)
2. Loads of advertisements, regardless paid or free TV
3. Can’t watch on demand (we like freedom to watch anything anytime, don’t we? Anyone without Tivo or the likes will share this notion)
4. Fixed programming. We only get to watch what is being broadcasted.

I have been using the internet for my “TV watching” pleasure for a while now and I’d like to share with you where I go to watch and discover new shows.

1. How to watch South Park Online

SouthPark Studios has the best collection of Southpark on the web. The whole 13 seasons in full episodes are there. The episodes are uploaded promptly, a day after it’s official airtime in the US, if I’m not mistaken. There might be ads in the episodes but other times not.

The quality is overall very good although not HD. What makes this site special are the bonus materials, songs and clips downloads, as well as news and materials not available elsewhere.

2. How to watch Family Guy online

Familyguyx.net has the entire series online – season 1-7. The site doesn’t host any videos but is rather like a very nice directory of all the episodes of the show including the synopsis. Every episode has at least one working link so the streaming speed and quality depends heavily on where the video is hosted. If one is slow, try the other. I find the full collection of episodes very nice but it’s just that pop-ups and ads are hard to miss when visiting this site.

3. How to watch full-length shows on Youtube

Has made moves to tap into Hulu.com’s market, providing full-length episodes of professionally made TV shows. CBS has joined youtube in this direction. The drawback is that only old TV shows (which still have its charms) are available for viewing.

If you’re a big fan of Star Trek, Beverly Hill 90210 (the original) or MacGuyver, you’re in luck. It’s bummer that viewers from certain countries are unable to view the channel due to “copyright restrictions”. Fret not, simply download and install hotspotshield and you’ll see the channel in its full glory.

4. How to make a catalog of 2 million shows at your disposal

This is one of my favourites. It’s a big catalogue with links to good quality streaming hosts. SurfTheChannel doesn’t host any content but rather serves as a link to numerous hosts. Some videos even have links to purchase on iTunes. This site has almost 2 million links in its database. It’ll keep one busy for a while.

5. How to watch MTV productions online

If you’re a music fan, you’ve got to love this site. Loads of music videos, photos, mobile downloads. What is interesting is also the fact that full episodes of MTV productions are also available online for viewing. You can even watch the 2009 Movie Awards including behind the scenes. I used to watch MTV on satellite, now I watch it free :)

6. How to watch Warner Bros TV series online

If you’re a fan of One Tree Hill, Friends, Gilmore Girls, Buffy, Angel among many others, this site is definitely for you. Full episodes are available for viewing but the episodes might be shuffled depending on series.  TheWB.com is currently only available for U.S. viewers (surprise!) but with Hotspot Shield , you’re good to go ;)

7. How to watch any random show when you feel like having a “lucky dip”

Once in a while, we get bored of our usual series and feel like something totally different but not quite sure what to watch.  Google videos claims to contain millions of videos and they’re all uncategorized. So you’ll never know what you’ll find (in a good way).

Unlike youtube, google videos has anything from short clips up to full length shows of longer than 1 hour. On top of that, it also features and recommends similar videos hosted by external sites – aha! I have watched video short clips up to full-length documentaries on that site. I also find the video quality better than youtube. Try your luck!

8. How to turn your computer into your PVR

If you are an internet and TV addict but don’t have a TiVo or any PVR (like me), you’d love what I’m going to tell you. Introducing Ted, which can be your PVR, utilizing Bit Torrent technology. It doesn’t download but rather works as a scheduler and a torrent hunter for your torrent client

You can even schedule download prior to an episode’s airtime, and Ted will search numerous sites to look for healthy torrents, checks out the information and airtime of new episodes or shows, then ask your torrent client to download it – automatically.

9. How to expand your knowledge without reading and still appears flawlessly knowledgeable

In case you’re into documentaries, also check out topdocumentaryfilms.com. This site contains commercially produced documentaries hosted mainly on google videos. What I like about this site is that it has properly-written introduction and synopsis about every film like an article, just to get your interest to grow. When you’re convinced to watch, he video plays in the middle of the article, which is kind of cool.

10. How to grow your love for conspiracy theories online

Freedocumentaries.org on the other hand, contains more controversial types of documentaries. The site has a good-sized catalog of various interests and well-written short description for every show. If you like the film well enough, there is also a link to buy the original DVD.  Unlike topdocumentaries.com, the videos are hosted on youtube, so they are broken in parts for every show, which I find very annoying. Well, we can’t have it all, can we?

This post was written by Jenny Kok who blogs about Mac related matters at Made On Mac.  Want to write for this blog?  Become a paid writer for Friedbeef’s Tech today!

What sites do you use to get your online TV fix?  Tell us in the comments!

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Twitter is already a social networking phenomena in its own right and every other person who has an active online presence also seems to be tweeting.  Rather than posting directly on twitter.com’s default web interface, here are 6 ways to become a quicker and more effective tweeter, just by tweaking your web browser.

1. How to tweet URLs and post to del.icio.us with one click

 Bigtweet allows you to share websites you visit by clicking a bookmarklet which automatically puts the URL which you’re currently browsing into your tweet and shortens it for you.  It also posts to del.icio.us and/or Ping.fm so you can even share the URL easily across other social networks.

2. How to tweet URLs and enter contests at the same time

Much like BigTweet, TwitThis also automatically puts the URL which you’re currently browsing into your tweet and shortens it for you.  The unique spin here is that you’re able to enter contests as well, which allow you to tweet and win cool prizes at the same time like iPhones and Kindles.

3. How to tweet even faster

With Twitlet, one can tweet just by hitting a bookmarklet on your browser.  No installation, no browser extensions, just a simple bookmark, and a window pops up where you put in your dose of 140 characters without having to load twitter.  It’s really one of the quickest ways to tweet from a browser.  No sign-up required.

4. How to tweet directly from the Firefox address bar

Twitterbar is a Firefox add-on that allows anyone to post tweets fright from the address bar! Just type in any text you want and press the tweet button. Also convenient for tweeting URLs, in which you just have to press the tweet button.

5. How to integrate Twitter into your Firefox sidebar

Self-proclaimed ‘best twitter addon for Firefox’, Twitbin allows users to do anything Twitter-related (send/receive updates, messages etc.) right from the Firefox sidebar. Pretty handy if you are sidebar junkie.

6. How to share links and track them on Twitter

If you use the Bit.ly sidebar to post links to Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail, you’ll also be able to see how popular the link is on bit.ly by being able to track the clicks it gets.  You’ll also be able to read all existing twitter and friendfeed conversations surrounding the link you’re sharing.

This post was jointly written by Chan Huey Hoong and James Yeang

What tips do you have for Twitter productivity? Tell us in the comments!

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Do you spend too much time fighting spam on your blog, and not enough time writing meaningful content?  Here are 5 techniques which will help you in your effort to keep spammers at bay.

1. How to help literacy and fight spam at the same time

About 200 million CAPTCHAs are solved by humans around the world every day. In each case, roughly ten seconds of human time are being spent. Individually, that’s not a lot of time, but in aggregate these little puzzles consume more than 150,000 hours of work each day. What if we could make positive use of this human effort? reCAPTCHA does exactly that by channeling the effort spent solving CAPTCHAs online into "reading" books.

reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read correctly by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher.  If you sign up for free with reCAPTCHA, every time someone leaves a comment and deciphers a CAPTCHA, you’re helping to make a positive contribution towards literacy. 

2. How to protect your comments from spam

If you’re running Wordpress, Akismet is the spam filter which is installed by default, and I’m a pretty big fan of the service.  How it works is that when a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your site it is submitted to the Akismet web service which runs hundreds of tests on the comment to determine if it should automatically be flagged as spam. 

While a certain measure of spam still does manage to get through, it is constantly evolving and improving.  Also, you can argue that a bit of spam falling through the cracks is always better than false positives with legit comments being flagged as spam.  To date, more than 700,000 spam comments have been caught on my site alone. 

If you’re already using this, and want to try something else, good alternatives worth considering include Defensio and Bad Behavior. 

3. How to avoid email spam from your site’s contact form

Aptly named the ‘Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form’, this contact form has been widely touted as one of the most secure blog contact forms around.  Easy to style, simple to implement, and easy for readers to use, it offers 16 different countermeasures to help provide a secure experience for your readers.

4. How to detect if your content is being used for a splog

Splogs or spam blogs, and automated sites which scrape content from others and re-post the material as their own in order to earn money.  To fight this, run the ‘Digital Fingerprint’ Wordpress plugin, which will place a small digital fingerprint into blog posts. The fingerprint is only visible in the RSS feed, not on the website itself so it’s hardly noticeable.  From here, you’ll be able to track down where your stolen posts are popping up, and try to shut them down.

5. How to display your email address on your blog without exposing it to spammers

Openly display your email address and email harvesters will collect it, and place it on spam lists.  One easy way to avoid this, is to display your email ID as an image.  My preferred service is Nexodyne Email Icon Generator which generates a nice little image like this.

For more traditional looking images that blend in better with your site, you can try email2image, or emailcover which adds an extra layer of protection by displaying your email CAPTCHA style!

Do you take active steps to fight spam on your blog?  Tell us in the comments!

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Tired of boring daily work? Why not try some other (fun) ways to earn a little bit of money? You won’t need any special skills or resources: just a bit of free time to earn some cash daily. 

1. How to Earn Money from Your Pictures

ShareAPic pays you cash if you are good at sharing your pics uploaded to the service; the details:

• Get paid $0.22 per 1000 pic views;
• Pay out within 30 days
• Payments via PayPal
• Alternative prizes: gift certificates from Amazon and eLuxury

2. How to Earn Money With Your Knowledge

JustAnswer pays its experts for answers the provide to the random user.

• Earn 50% (25% if you are new) of what a customer is offering for an answer;
• Payout threshold: $20
• Payments via PayPal

3. How to Earn Money with Online Coupons

Buxr offers you the way to earn money by sharing online coupons and deals. If you found a great deal, share it on Buxr, create compelling title and description and hope the community will find it useful.

• Daily prizes: $10 and monthly prizes: over $100
• Alternative prizes: mugs.

4. How to Earn Money by Participating in Social Networks

MyLot is a social media community that pays its members for being active: participating in discussions, sharing photos, refer friends, etc.

• Payment threshold $10
• Payments via PayPal

5. How to Earn Money by Completing Simple Tasks

Amazon Mechanical Turk pays you money for completing "HITs" – Human Intelligence Tasks – simple tasks which are either impossible to do for a machine or work as a machine enhancer (a good example of such a task is Google image labeler which helps to improve Google image search).

Sample HITs: answer the question "Are these two products the same?" or complete the easy task: "Find the item number for the product in this image."

• Rates depend on hits;
• Payments via Amazon Payments account

This is a guest post by Ann Smarty, who does SEO and Internet Marketing when she’s not writing for blogs-named-after-food.  Want to write for Friedbeef’s Tech and share your tips with thousands of people?  Drop me a line.  We’re looking for paid regulars, as well as guest appearances.

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Philanthropy is a now common among the world’s super-rich, with big money being donated for many global causes. The rest of us that do not belong to the wealthy elite can also do a part in helping the world – by putting our idle CPU resources to good use!

These distributed computing projects simulate supercomputers by harnessing the combined processing power of PCs worldwide, in order to crunch huge amounts of data.  They don’t have any impact on performance either as they only run when the computer is idle.

1. How to help detect intelligent life outside earth

SETI@home stands for the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence – a project that attempts to detect intelligent life forms in outer space by means of analyzing radio signals. Intelligent life-forms are presumed to use radio waves as a means of communication, and detection of these weak signals coming from outer space may signify the existence of such entities.

2. How to help discover a cure for AIDS

FightAids@home is a distributed computing project that aims to increase understanding of AIDS and HIV. CPU resources are used to calculate the millions of protein structures for a possible AIDS cure, as well as advancing knowledge in the structural biology of AIDS.

3. How to help predict climate changes

Climateprediction.net utilizes the power of individual home computers to help fine tune and reduce uncertainties in current climate prediction models. You may help make climate prediction more accurate by being part of this project!

4. How to help physicists understand the origins of the universe

LHC@home is a newly-formed project to help process the raw data collected at the Large Hadron Collider. The calculations done will help scientists and physicists figure out what goes on in a particle accelerator and ultimately leading to true understanding of our universe’s creation.

5. How to help advance the field of artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence System seeks to advance development in artificial intelligence by increasing the understanding of our brain. Using combined computing powers, the system simulates the billions of neurons in a human brain, and uses these data to come up with sophisticated artificial intelligence models.

6. How to help create better rice

Nutritious Rice for The World aims to help farmers breed better rice with pest-resistant and high yield properties. By simulating the protein strains of rice, it is hoped that better rice breeds can be produced to help undeveloped or food-deprived nations.

7. How to help develop a cleaner energy source

The Clean Energy Project simulates millions of molecule structures in order to come up with new materials that may play important roles in developing alternative energy sources. From organic photovoltaic to conducting polymers, every distributed computer plays a role in finding the molecular structures of these materials.

8. How to help render 3D animations

3D renderings take up considerable computing resources – and BURP, short for Big and Ugly Rendering Project, aims to create a network of computers to aid in rendering of sophisticated 3D animations. Who knows, you might be helping in the creation of the next Shrek.

9. How to help discover the next Armageddon

Orbit@home monitors the impact hazard that may be caused by near-earth objects. Be the first to know of any asteroids or objects that might hit Earth!

Which one of the above projects do you feel most strongly about?  Tell us in the comments!

The author of this post, Chan Huey Hoong is a regular writer at Friedbeef’s Tech, check out his artistic endeavors on his blog.

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The rates of rainforest destruction are 2.4 acres per second, 149 acres per minute, 214,000 acres per day and 78 million acres per year.  Just to put things in perspective, as you read this sentence, an area the size of 78 Olympic sized swimming pools would have been cut down.

To solve the problem of deforestation, we need to do all we can and here are 6 easy ways you can get involved as every little bit helps.

1. How to plant trees by searching the web

Imagine searching the web and saving the planet at the same time.  Ecocho is a free service, and it’s one of the easiest ways people can change everyday behaviour to make a positive impact on the environment.  For every 1000 searches that users make on ecocho.com, five trees will be grown to offset carbon pollution emissions.  Switching to ecocho.com doesn’t alter or slow your search as search results directly from Yahoo!

2. How to plant trees for $1

Part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), plantabillion.org is a website which seeks to make funding for tree planting as easy as possible.  Simply put, every dollar you put into the site results in a single tree being planted. 

3. How to turn deserts into forests

Tree-Nation is planting trees in the desert to combat desertification and land degradation. This process will have many positive environmental and humanitarian effects.  This site allows you to sponsor a tree, where not only will your tree be planted, but it will benefit the local community from its produce (gum, fruits, alimentation, medicines, etc).  You’ll also be able to follow your tree as it grows through photos on the site.

4. How to plant trees by playing quiz games

JogoGreen is fun and easy way for people to learn more about being environmentally friendly, and actually make a difference at the same time.  When you answer 10 questions correctly, they have enough advertising revenue to plant one tree!  This movement has so far resulted in more than 100,000 trees being planted.

5. How to plant trees – in real life

If you’re looking for online resources on tree planting, look no further than WikiHow’s incredibly comprehensive guide.  This has everything you can imagine to support your tree planting exploits including many photos and videos to make things clearer.

6. How to cut down less trees

There are two ways you can take on deforestation.  Plant more trees, and reduce usage of paper.  If you’re looking to save paper, do check out this post on 3 eco-friendly ways to save ink and paper.  The more effective your printing becomes, the less tress you affect.

Would you help plant a tree?  Tell us in the comments!

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