Apple Ping closes its door. Facebook takes its place

By Martin Brinkmann on September 13, 2012 - Tags:itunes

Remember the Ping network that Apple integrated into its iTunes software? No? Then you are not the only one. Introduced in iTunes 10 in 2010 Ping was Apple’s attempt to create a social network of their around around iTunes and Apple products. The product does not seem to have been overly successful, considering that Apple yesterday announced that Ping will be discontinued on September 30.

The replacement? Facebook of course with its like and share system. Apple iTunes users from October will notice a deep integration of the world’s most populated social networking site in their software. After linking a Facebook account to their iTunes account, users can start to share and like media in iTunes. If you ever wanted your Facebook friend’s to know that you are a huge fan of Justin Bieber, then your time has come to do that from within iTunes. It is not really clear how this will play out in detail, and if there will be options to proudly announce to your friends which music you play in iTunes.

If that is the case, it may certainly annoy part of the social networking sites user base. Then again, Facebook users are bombarded with likes and shares on a daily basis, and some more may not make that much of a different to them.

itunes ping

The move is beneficial for Apple and Facebook. Apple can tap right into Facebook’s near billion of users and potential to sell even more stuff to even more people. App developers and media companies too will benefit from this, as it gives them another source of traffic and promotion that just was not there before in concerns to iTunes.

Facebook on the other hand benefits from the integration as well. First through the creation of content on Facebook when users announce new likes and shares to the world, and then of course through advertisement.

Apple iPhone 4s or newer users get another feature exclusive to Apple: the option to update the Facebook status using Apple’s voice-powered assistant Siri.

Windows 8 Built-in File Backup

By Alan Buckingham on September 14, 2012 - Tags:Backup, synchronization, Windows 8

There is perhaps no more important thing for users to do than backup their files.  Hard drive crashes can happen unexpectedly and the risk of losing important and irreplaceable files like family pictures is just too great to ignore.  Unfortunately, in today’s busy world, many of us forget this important step, so the best solution is an automated one.  There are countless solutions on the market, but Windows 8 has a simple file backup built right into the operating system.  Sadly, it’s not readily obvious and isn’t on by default, so users need to enable it after they have set up their new computer, or upgraded the existing PC to the new Microsoft operating system.  It’s a simple process, but don’t expect a big feature set.

To access the backup and restore apps you will need to go to the Charms menu, click “Search” and type “Control Panel”.  From within the Control Panel select “System and Security”.

From here, you will spot an option called “File History” which has two sub-headings beneath it – “Save backup copies of your files with File History” and “Restore your files with File History”.  Since we’re just getting started we obviously want to choose the first option so we can backup our files.

Here’s where one of the key limitations comes into play.  You will need to have an external hard drive plugged into your computer.  That isn’t a problem for many desktop users, but if you are using a laptop then external drives aren’t generally attached.  You can however use a network share instead if the computer is connected to a network.

If you have an attached drive then you can click the “Turn on” button.  From here’ you will have the option to choose the files you wish to include in the backup.  All files are selected by default and you will need to go into “Exclude folders” to change this.  Users can also select how often a backup takes place by clicking “Advanced Settings”.

Conclusion

While having local backup is certainly recommended, it shouldn’t be anyone’s only source.  Everyone should consider keeping their files in at least three locations – original, local backup and cloud storage.  Many reasonably priced and reliable cloud backup services exist these days, such as Carbonite and CrashPlan to name just two.  For local backup, there are also plenty of free sync programs that have more features than this, but the built-in solution will certainly be enough for many users.

Google Chrome to get Do Not Track soon

By Martin Brinkmann on September 14, 2012 - Tags:privacy

An option to enable Do Not Track headers landed in today’s Chromium release which web users can make use of to notify servers, websites and scripts that they do not want to be tracked on the Internet. The main aim of Do Not Track is to provide Internet users with an option to opt-out of targeted advertising on the Internet.

The idea here is to provide users with an option in the browser to enable the Do Not Track header there. This has caused some controversy recently when Microsoft announced that it would enable DNT by default for all users of the Internet Explorer 10 browser as it goes against the idea of making DNT a user’s choice (in contrast to a browser developer’s choice for the user).

The browser will send the Do Not Track header with connection requests when the feature is enabled by the user. From there, it depends largely on the advertising companies as there is no legal requirement to accept the request. If it is honored by the advertiser, user tracking is disabled. This does not mean that ads won’t be displayed to the user. The advertisement displayed may however not be as personal as it would have been if the Do Not Track header would not have been included in the header.

Google Chrome is the only major browser that did not support Do Not Track until now. Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer 10 all support the feature. The feature is available under Privacy in the Chrome settings. The easiest way to get there is to enter chrome://chrome/settings/ in the address bar, scroll down, click on show advanced settings to reveal additional browser preferences including the Privacy section here.

To activate simply check the “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic box. Chrome from that moment on will include the DNT header with all requests that it makes. Expect the setting to go through all versions of Chrome in the coming weeks and months. (thanks Ilev)

Enable the Built-in PDF Reader in Firefox 15

By Alan Buckingham on September 8, 2012 - Tags:PDF

Mozilla recently rolled out Firefox 15, the latest version of the browser in their new rapid-release schedule.  With this new release there are quite a few new features, which have been outlined in the above linked post.  One interesting feature that bears a little more attention and some explanation is the new built-in PDF reader.

Building a PDF reader right into the browser is important for a couple of reasons – one is that it speeds up the execution of these files online, but the other is security.  Previously users have mostly plugged the Adobe PDF Reader into their browser because it’s well known and it’s also the first option that comes to mind for many.  However, the Adobe app is notorious for it’s security problems.  With the new Mozilla feature we will, hopefully, get a more stable and secure way to view these files online.

Before we get started you will need to make sure you are running Firefox 15 (or higher if you subscribe to the beta).  To do this you can simply click the “Help” option on the menu bar and choose “About Firefox”.  This will not only display the currently installed version, but also prompt you to update if you aren’t running the newest build.

Now, in the address bar, type “about:config” and hit “Enter”.  If this is the first time you have accessed these settings then you may be surprised by a pop-up message that will warn you about making any changes.  Don’t panic, just click “I’ll be careful, I promise!”

In the search bar type “pdfjs.disabled” and then right click this option.  In the context menu choose “Toggle” to change the setting from “True” to “False”. You can alternatively double-click the entry.

You have now enabled the the PDF reader in Firefox.  Browse to a site that has a “.PDF” extension and try it out.  We have high hopes that this will solve the previously mentioned security woes that came with Adobe and perhaps make the browsing experience a bit faster as well.

Modify the Google Bar with +You Gbar for Chrome

By Martin Brinkmann on September 9, 2012 - Tags:Google Chrome extensions

Google’s black bar that is displayed on nearly every Google property is highly inflexible as there is no option to remove or exchange products listed in the bar. What good is a link to Google Docs if you do not use the service?

That’s probably the main reason why extensions like Big G Black Bar Sorter for Google Chrome are fairly popular in the official Chrome web store as they allow you to change the product links that are displayed in the black bar. If you prefer white instead of black, you can do that as well with the userscript Google Light Navbar.

The Chrome extension +You Gbar for the Google Chrome browser adds a settings icon to Google’s black bar that you can click on to modify what is displayed to you on the screen. As you may know, Google products are either displayed directly in the black bar, under the more link, or the even more link.

This is reflected by the three columns that the extension displays to you. To move products around, you simply drag and drop them to a new location. If you do not use Google Plus you can move it to the even more group instead to hide it from the black bar that is always visible on Google pages.

Changes are reflected immediately on the screen so that you can adjust them if the need arises. Please note that you only see the settings icon on pages that display the Google bar. Just visit a Google property like Google Search to make the modifications.

You can theoretically use the extension to remove all product links but the more link from the Google bar. If you prefer to remove the Google bar completely, you can instead use a userscript like this to do so.

The Chrome extension can be useful for Google users who want to customize the product links of the black bar. (via Caschy)

How to ignore #hashtags on Google+

By Martin Brinkmann on September 9, 2012 - Tags:Google Chrome extensions, Google Plus

Users of the Google+ social networking site can add hashtags to their posts to categorize and describe posts. The search on the site supports hashtags so that searches can include one or multiple hashtags, or only hash tags to find only specific contents. To search for hashtags on Google+ simply enter #example in the search bar. This displays a list of all posts on Google+ sorted by “best of” that have been tagged with the selected tag.

There is currently no option to block certain hashtags from appearing in your news feed. This can be a frustrating experience if some people or brands that you follow post contents on Google+ that you are not interested in. Then again, the majority of people that I follow on Google+ do not seem to use #hashtags yet.

G+ Hashtags is a Google Chrome extension that you can use to ignore certain hashtags on Google so that they do not appear in your news feed. You will notice a new Hash Tags listing located on the right sidebar when you open Google Plus after installation of the extension. You need to reload the page if Google+ has already been open in a browser tab.

The extension lists the top 15 hashtags here and an option to display them all with a click on the more link. You can now hover over an hashtag to mute it, which automatically removes it from your feed regardless of the other tags that may have been used to describe it by its author.

To ignore a hashtag hover over it and select mute from the options that appear. The other option that is displayed on hover is view, which opens an overlay on the same page that highlights all posts in your news feed that have been tagged with the hashtag. A click on the actual tag opens a search page displaying all public posts on Google+ that have been tagged with it.

You can reset all tags or individual tags at any time. The extension is obviously only useful if several of the Google+ users that you follow make use of them. Options are not available at this point in time: options to add words to a list that are not currently used in the stream would be a nice addition, as would be a word filter to filter out posts containing certain words or phrases even if no hash tags are used. (via Caschy)

Share the Windows 8 startpage with the classic desktop

By Martin Brinkmann on September 10, 2012 - Tags:Portable software, startup, Windows 8,Windows software

The two interfaces that Microsoft has implemented into Windows 8 are a major change from previous versions of the operating system. Instead of just having to work with the classic desktop, users now have to cope with the newly added startpage that Microsoft is pushing and the classic desktop. While it is certainly easy to bypass the startpage using various methods and tools, like our current favorite Start8, there are other options to get used to the situation.

If you are working on a PC connected to multiple monitors, you can for instance display the startpage on one monitor and the classic desktop on the other.Another option is to snap an app or the desktop to the left or right side of the screen to make it available there.

Start Screen Modifier introduces another possibility, which may be useful for Windows 8 users who only have one computer monitor at their disposal. The program makes available the startpage interface on the desktop.

When you run the program you have options to make the startpage available at the top or bottom of the screen. Either option displays the startpage here when you switch to it. So, pressing the Windows key will not open the startpage interface in fullscreen anymore, but at the top or bottom of the classic desktop.

The core benefit of this is that you do not switch between different interfaces all the time, but can work with both interfaces on the desktop. You can use all the features that the start page makes available to you right from here. Search is for instance working directly when you start to type. Apps that you load are however loaded in fullscreen on the system just like before, so that search and access to live tile information are without doubt the two reasons why you’d like to use the program in the first place.

Start Screen Modifier supports hotkeys which you can use to switch between the fullscreen startpage and the startpage / desktop mix.

The program lacks an option to customize the height of the startpage bar that is displayed on the classic desktop. Options to customize it and to place the startpage vertically would be really useful.

Windows 8 users can download the latest program version from this location. It is working fine under the final version of the operating system.

The program demonstrates that it is possible to merge the startpage with the traditional desktop in Windows 8, something that I wish Microsoft would have done to avoid the two interface issue. (via Into Windows)