Interface

There really isn’t an interface for Newsstands. The “application” is simply a shelf that displays all of the subscriptions that you are subscribed to. Once the application is selected, the shelf appears. Next to the “Newsstand” label, there is a selection for “Store”. This is the section that allows you to download subscriptions.

How Does It Work?

So, how exactly do you download a subscription. It’s very easy. Once you select “Store”, you will then be presented with Apple’s modest but quality subscription selection. From Bloomberg Businessweek to The Daily, the pickings include some very popular names. When you choose a subscription you are interested in, you will be presented with a page that is quite identical to that of when you purchase an application. You can gather more information, view a couple screenshots, and more. When you finally made the decision to download, all you have to do is click the “Free” button.

Don’t be fooled by the “FREE” button though. The app might be free, but the subscription isn’t. The subscription’s page gives you a read out on costs in the “Top In-App Purchases” section. Depending on the subscription, you can renew billing per day, month, or yearly.

Subscriptions Available on Newsstand

At this moment, Newsstands for iOS doesn’t have a lot of choices in terms of subscriptions. Users looking for a cumulative news application will enjoy subscriptions from The Daily or NY Times. If technology is your piece of cake, you have choices from Mac Life to .net, and even How It Works publishing on Newsstand. The more athletic and health conscious will enjoy the subscription to Clean Eating, Health & Fitness, and much more.

In-Subscription Features

Once you have downloaded your subscription, you can set to have them come in automatically. If you do so, Newsstand will give you a notification when a new issue is available. This is recommended and a great way to make use of your subscription. The features and interface is different per subscription dealer. For example, The Daily focuses more on the news, for a lack of a better word, that day. Whereas Mac Life, a more monthly and special issue publication, allows you to check out the news per magazine with some from even November 2011 available at a cost. When you select an issue to view with Mac Life, it slides and navigates just like an eBook. If you want to navigate from, say page 7 to page 77, this is made easier with the “drawer” icon, allowing you to get a better view of each page. See an issue that you like? The “printer” icon allows you to make use of AirPrint.

How To Get Rid of Newsstand

There’s just a big possibility that subscriptions just aren’t for you with an iPhone. The small screen may make it an un-enjoyable experience, or maybe you just can’t afford to support a subscription. Whatever the reason, you can’t remove the Newsstand app just like any other app, but you can hid it from your iPhone. To do this, it’s easier said than done. You must create a folder by dragging one application over another. As the new folder is created, you must quickly drag the Newsstand application in. It’s difficult and takes more than one time to do. If you are too lazy to do this, simply make a special page just for the hidden icon (or just embrace the icon).

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The spiffy interface is itself a relief to the eye as compared to the dull Paypal interface. In addition, the tool also offers a nice interactive way to browse through your PayPal transactions. The reports are categorized in a considerable manner so that you can sort your transaction in all possible ways you might need to. There are 5 types of filters you can choose from to look out for transactions you wish to find:

1. Type of transaction: Here you get to choose from various types of transaction you have carried out through your PayPal account. Options are bills, currency conversion, payment, recurring payment etc.
2. Status of Payment: The payment status is an useful feature to check on pending transactions.
3. Currency: Intelligent way to track currency conversion rates to your country currency used by Paypal for different transactions.
4. Time period: A monthly or quarterly report can be generated with this time span feature.
5. Additional filter: You can type in a keyword or a payee name to accurately search any transaction.

All the transactions are neatly tabulated with key attributes which include timestamp, type, email, name, transaction ID, currency, status, amount, fee and net payment. Clicking on the transaction ID opens up a popup with details of the element. You can also sort the transaction based on all the aforementioned attributes by clicking any of them. There is also an option to download your PayPal account history in CSV format which is useful for having better insights on your business by creating better charts with the data.

When it’s money or data, security is a major concern. And being online means you will do everything to protect your online money transactions. So you might be a little concerned if SlowPal is reliable or not. The tool is completely built on PayPal API and all your data on PayPal is imported using SSL. You can rest assured your data will be in safe hands. Nevertheless you can always revoke the permission from Paypal (My Account -> Profile -> My Account Settings -> More account settings -> Service providers -> Click remove beside the service you wish to stop authorizing). SlowPal is for companies or individuals with a lot of transactions to monitor. However, I would recommend general PayPal user to use the in-built account history manager as long as you don’t desperately in need of a faster way to browse through your transaction history.

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Installation

Since Ubuntu 10.10, GeoGebra is in the official repositories. Therefore, you can install it via your favorite command line:

if you are using Gnome,

sudo apt-get install geogebra geogebra-gnome

or for KDE,

sudo apt-get install geogebra-kde

If you are under an older version of Ubuntu, or not using Ubuntu, I invite you to search for an additional repository, or take a look at the official download page for Linux.

First Steps

As I said earlier, GeoGebra is very complete at multiple levels. What I will try to do now is give you a little introduction to all of these levels. The first one is the most obvious use of the program: to draw geometric figures as if you were using the traditional compass and ruler. It becomes possible to draw a square with mathematical rigor, based on a circle, parallel and perpendicular lines only.

The objects that you can use are easy to access; you can select the option that you want from well-organized groups. For example, creating a perpendicular line is in the same category as the parallel ones. On the other hand, you can choose between a line and a segment from the same button.

A second level is the possibility to graph functions. It can become very handy to be able to trace a curve from a formula, and make a point move along it. For that, you can simply enter an equation like “y=2x” in the bottom text field, and the line will appear.

It then becomes possible to add a point on that curve as a linked object: even if you change the formula, the point will follow and stay on the curve. And opposite, you can modify the point’s properties via a dialog window.

You will also find a simple spreadsheet system within the program, with some basic functionality that a program of that type can offer. You can use formula, sort, and add data together. There is even a probability computation option.

Finally, GeoGebra integrates a certain level of scripting and user interaction. You can add an object like a cursor on the sheet. Moving it will affect a variable that you can name and use in other formulas. I made a basic example of that, I linked the cursor to a line defined by the equation y=2x+b. Moving the cursor along will change the value of b and therefore define the y-intercept of the line.

You can of course do some more interesting things with such system, and it is even possible for the experts to use some JavaScript or HTML5 to interact with GeoGebra.

Conclusion

If you want to go further in learning about the advanced functions of GeoGebra, you can go and take a look at the wiki. However, I think that the program is so well designed that you can solve most of your problems by inspection all by yourself. It is quite rare to find a program that is so complete on different level of usage and yet remains simple and well organized. As an alternative, I can also propose you software like Kig, Dr Geo, Geonext, CaRMetal.

What do you think about GeoGebra? Do you use it? Do you prefer and alternative? Or do you have a script that you would like to share? Please, let us know in the comments.

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WinX Blu-ray Decrypter is developed by Digiarty and provides a great solution to decrypt and copy your Blu-ray disc for personal backup.

Like all Digiarty’s software, the Blu-ray Decryter is easy to use. Simply run the application, load your Blu-ray disc, select the destination and click Run. Note that for this software to work, you need to have a Blu-ray ROM to read the Blu-ray disc.

Some features of the Blu-ray Decrypter include:

• Decrypt and clone Blu-ray to hard drive with original video audio quality.
• Support Title Mode copy with selected title and Full Disc backup with entire movie content.
• Decrypt Blu-ray Disc to Blu-ray folder or M2TS video. Transform 3D Blu-ray to 2D video.
• Make Blu-ray copy within 25 minutes or so. Remove all known Blu-ray copy protections.

Here’s what you need to do to obtain the free copy:

1. Go to http://www.winxdvd.com/giveaway/ and click the “Get License” button.

2. From the popup window, there is a link for you to download the software and the license key.

3. Install the application and enter the license key on the first run.

That’s it.

Note:
1. This giveaway ends on 25th May 2012

2. The software need to be activated (with the license key) before 27th May 2012.

Download and enjoy!

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Skype-wrapper is a plugin that integrates Skype with Unity. It adds the Skype icon to the messaging menu and quicklist items to the launcher. It also uses the Unity notification style to notify you of incoming calls/messages.

Installation

Open a terminal and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install skype-wrapper

The above commands assume that you have already installed Skype in your system.

Running Skype-wrapper

Once you installed Skype and Skype-wrapper, you will find that there are two instances of Skype in your computer. You need to identify which is which and run only Skype-wrapper, and not Skype.

1. Open Nautilus File Manager and navigate to “usr/share/applications”. Scroll down the application list till you see two Skype icons.

2. To identify which one is which, right click on the Skype icon and select Properties. The one that shows the “skype-wrapper” in the Command field is the one that you want. Drag this icon to the Unity Launcher.

3. Click on the icon to launch Skype. A popup will appear to prompt you to grant access to the skype-wrapper app. Check “Remember this selection” and click “Yes”.

Once it is authorized, you should see the Skype entry in the messaging menu and any incoming notification will follow the Unity style.

Right clicking the Skype icon on the launcher also show the quicklist items. You can View Incoming Message and Add Contacts.

Skype-wrapper also comes with a Settings option that allows you to configure its behavior. From the dash, search for skype-wrapper and you should see the “Skype-Wrapper Settings” app. In the Settings, you can configure the events to show notification and whether the file transfer progress should appear in the launcher.

Removing Skype icon from the systray

After the unity integration, there is one thing left that you need to get rid of. If you can’t stand the green Skype icon that didn’t go well with the Unity theme, you can remove it by uninstalling the “sni-qt” package. Note that a few other application, such as Dropbox, depend on the “sni-qt” package to display icon in the systray, and removing this package will affect these apps as well. Here’s what you need to do:

sudo apt-get remove sni-qt

The next time you launch Skype-wrapper, the green Skype icon won’t be around anymore.

Uninstalling Skype-wrapper

To completely remove Skype-wrapper from your computer, first open up your Skype option and go to “Public API” (the last option in the left sidebar). Select “Skype4Py” and click Remove.

Next, uninstall skype-wrapper from your computer:

sudo apt-get autoremove skype-wrapper

That’s it.

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Q: How do I change the home page that Google Chrome opens up when I summon a new tab?

A: If you’re not infected by malware, this is rather easy. Click the wrench icon on the top right hand corner when in Google Chrome. Click “Settings” and select what you want on the “On startup” section, like so:

Close the tab and start a new one. You should see what you’ve chosen. If you aren’t getting what you want, you are probably infected by malware that keeps on hijacks your browser to show another page on every new tab. For this, you’ll have to get an anti-virus solution and scan your computer, eliminating any threats you find.

Q: My installation of Windows 7 is missing Windows Media Center. How can I correct this?

A: You probably have installed Windows 7 N or Windows 7 KN. Both of these are versions of Windows 7 that don’t include Windows Media Center or Internet Explorer, allowing you to choose what to install. If you would like to have this product on your computer, you’ll have to download it from Microsoft. Follow this link to get the Microsoft Media Feature Pack for Windows 7.

Oh, and one more thing: If you’re confused about which one of the two packages to install, get the “x64″ version if you have a 64-bit version of Windows and the “x86″ version for 32-bit. To find out what bit rate you installed Windows at, press “Win+Pause/Break” on your keyboard. Under “System,” you’ll see the bit rate next to “System type.” It will either tell you “64-bit operating system” or “32-bit operating system,” like so:

Q: My thumbnails are not showing in Explorer. The only way to see an image preview is to actually open the image. How do I enable the thumbnails?

A: If you’re not seeing your thumbnails, you’ll have to go into folder options to rectify the issue. To do this, click the “Organize” button on the top left corner of Windows Explorer and click “Folder and search options.” Click the “View” tab and make sure the checkbox next to “Always show icons, never thumbnails” is cleared, like so:

Once you do that, refresh the folder. Its icons should show up. If they don’t, try restarting your computer. If you continue to have problems, come back in the comments section and we’ll help you out.

Q: Invoices and Estimates Pro is not compatible with Windows 7. What can I use to send PDF invoices like I did with this program?

A: Based on our research, it seems like your program is made to work only with 32-bit versions of Windows 7. It also seems like many people are complaining about how it works even with the 32-bit version. A good number of people use FreshBooks for sending invoices, and you probably would benefit from their platform, as it automatically reminds recipients of payments due. Try it out. There are many online solutions for this that don’t require you to run a certain operating system. You can use Invoice Machine or FreeAgent, as well. Truthfully, these solutions are always better than offline programs which go obsolete after a while. Tell us if you want to find an offline application in the comments section and we’ll recommend a few.

Q: How can I remove icons of games that don’t exist anymore from the “Games” menu?

A: When you enter the Games menu in Windows 7, it sometimes will show you shortcuts to games that aren’t present in your system anymore. While this is an annoying phenomenon, Windows allows you to hide these dead shortcuts by right-clicking the game in question and clicking “Hide this game.” If you don’t find this option or have any further problems related to this question, please leave a comment below.

Q: I get the following warning when trying to create a partition on one of my drives where there is unallocated space: The operation you selected will convert the selected basic disk(s) to dynamic disk(s). How do I stop this error?

A: The most likely problem you’re facing is Windows’ 4-partition limit. This includes the “System Reserved” partition. So, this gives you three possible partitions to create. If you already have three, you’ll likely get an error to the tune of converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk. Do not attempt to circumvent the limit, as you might end up damaging your system or hard disk. Instead, simply extend the current partitions you have to cover the unallocated space.

Unfortunately, Microsoft was not very clear about this four-partition limit because the operating system fails to warn you about it when you try creating a fifth. The error it gives instead kind of throws off a lot of people. So, keep in mind: More than four partitions isn’t possible on a Windows 7 system.

Got any questions or ideas?

Here’s your moment to shine! The majority of questions we get in our inbox show up in here, and we’re ready to crunch more of them. If you want to submit a question, kindly follow the advice in the introduction of this article and click “Ask Our Experts Now!” on the right side of any page of this site. Please leave a comment if you have any problems following any steps explained in answers shown here. We’re listening to you and ready to answer anything! Have a nice day!

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Because I’m an Apple and iOS person through and through, it means the first thing I did was look for an app. I found an app available for both my iPhone and iPad. Opening that, I was presented with a choice of browsing existing chats, starting my own chat, or joining a chat. To join the chat with my son and his friend,  I could either type in the room name or accept an invite from Facebook or other similar social networks. The problem with trying to connect through the Facebook notification was that it sent me through the Internet instead of through the app. Safari can’t handle the TinyChat website because it’s most likely Flash. Because I was trying to go through the iOS app, I had to manually type in the name of the room.

It turns out because it’s a flash-enabled website, that much of the functions on TinyChat that make it so great to use weren’t available on the website. The only function that was available here was just the video chat. There was no texting, drawing, YouTube, or sound files I could view or listen to here. While I could have switched to a flash-enabled browser (I like Photon) and enjoyed all the functions, I decided to switch to my Mac to make it easier for review purposes.

I rejoined the chat this time from the web on my Mac. This time I had all the functions available to me, as I would have using a flash-enabled iOS browser. Opening it on the web, I could see the same three videos before of everyone talking, but I could also “see” if they were typing in text. It also notifies you when someone joins or leaves the room, just like other chat rooms.

One very unique feature of TinyChat is the Whiteboard. This is a board that anyone in the chat can draw on, even simultaneously. You can jot down notes for a job you’re discussing or just have a lot of fun on it with your friends. It has all the standard drawing tools on it – lines, text, pencil, eraser, etc. It opened up in a separate window, so instead of flipping back and forth, I moved the window out to a separate pane so that I could see it and my video chat at the same time.

Ever watch a YouTube that you just can’t wait to show your friends? Now instead of emailing or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter, you can watch it together on TinyChat. Search for a video from directly within Tinychat, and when it opens up, it does so so that everyone on the chat can see it. Laugh together! Songs can be opened up the same way to also be enjoyed together. Additional options are going full screen and taking a snapshot of the people in the chat.

There are just so many possibilities available with TinyChat. I can see using this during chats, especially with a larger group of people. It just isn’t the most iOS friendly because of the Flash video use, but it can still be used, with the right browser, or with limited function in the app.

Tinychat

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WinDataReflector is a free backup and synchronization solution which lets the users create backup and sync jobs and execute them with a click when needed. You can also schedule automatic backup and synchronization tasks. WinDataReflector also supports two way synchronization which means that the source and destination will always be kept identical. All the changes to source will be propagated to the destination and vise versa.

Although WinDataReflector is very easy to use, one needs to keep a close eye on each step of the backup and synchronization because some steps can be confusing. I will try to guide you in a step by step way on how to use WinDataReflector. The steps below are for backing up a folder and then enabling automatic scheduling. The synchronization, two way sync and restore operations are pretty similar and will be very easy once you go through the following steps.

When you start WinDataReflector for the first time, you will notice that it uses tabbed windows in order to create each backup and sync job. There are four main buttons in the toolbar.

1. Synchronization – create a new synchronization job
2. Backup – create a new backup job
3. Schedule – Create and manage schedules of all created backup and sync jobs
4. Options – program preferences whether you want to start WinDataReflector with Windows Startup and show it in system tray.

Since we are interested in backing up a folder, we need to click on the Backup button. This will open up a new window where we have to input the name of the backup (only to be used in WinDataReflector) and the type of the backup (normal or compressed to a ZIP file). The type of the backup doesn’t seem to be functional but we can configure this later in backup settings. So just leave this to Normal and press the OK button.

You will see a new tab in the main WinDataReflector window. Notice that the title of the tab did not change to the task name.

Now we have two fields labeled L and R. L field will contain the path of the source folder which we want to backup and R field will contain the destination folder where the backup has to be saved. You can select multiple folders in either fields. This means that you will be able to create multiple backups in multiple destinations. Just make sure that you click on the Add button after browsing and selecting the source or destination folder.

After filling in the L and R fields, click on the pencil icon next to the R field which will open up settings for the backup job.

In the settings window, you can configure different settings specific to the backup task. Here you can check the checkbox “Compress to ZIP file” which will create a single destination file in ZIP format. You can also copy the NTFS permissions along with the files to be backed up.

If you click on the Time menu from the left hand pane, you will be able to configure whether you want to run this backup task manually or automate the process by scheduling the backup. Please note that WinDataReflector needs to be running in order for this automation process to work correctly. You will need to start WinDataReflector with Windows Startup under options.

Clicking on the Process button will make the backup task ready to be executed. After clicking on the Process button, you will need to click on the Backup button in order to actually run the backup job.

The synchronization and restore jobs are created very similar to the backup job with some changes in the settings window.

You can create as many backup and synchronization jobs as you like and then schedule them as per your needs. I have been using WinDataReflector and the only problem I have had was the frequent crashes of the software. Otherwise, it does a good job of seamless automation of backup and sync job and make our lives easier.

What are your thoughts about WinDataReflector? Which backup and sync software do you use for backing up your data?

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1. WooBox

Woobox is  one of those really cool tools that does it all. The main feature of Woobox is to show your Pinterest boards and pins as a tab on your Facebook page. Creating Facebook Tabs is easy but this tool makes it one-click-easy to draw your Facebook fans over to your Pinterest page. Just click on the “Install Pinterest” tab in Woobox and allow the app access to your Facebook account.

Next, you will associate your account by entering your Pinterest Username. The Page Mode can be set to display “All Pinboards” or “Pins From A Selected Pin Board”. In the “FanGate” section, you can enable one of the features to require visitor’s to Like your page before they can view your Pinterest tab.

Once it’s set up, you’ll see it displayed as any other tab under your cover photo with the Pinterest logo.

To see the viewers perspective, click on the tab to open your boards. The first view will show all of your boards just like they are displayed in your Pinterest account. Each of those boards can be clicked and viewed independently so the boards and individual pins can be repined.

You can further analyze your Pinterest interactions by click on the “Stats” button.

It will display the current tally of Views, Visits and Likes. Once your app has been active to collect information, you can choose to Export The Stats From The Last 90 Days as a spreadsheet.

2. Pinzy

Pinzy isn’t a marketing tool but it can help you see what the competition is posting. It’s a handy Chrome extension that allows you to view the thumbnail images on Pinterest in full size just by hovering over them! No need to click through just to see the enlarged photo.

To use it, just hover over any pin and you’ll see the image enlarged. I love this tool because I don’t have to click through to see if it’s something of interest. I don’t use Chrome often so hopefully Pinterest will roll this feature out as part of their website soon!

3. PinAlerts

PinAlerts is a great tool if you use Pinterest for business. Within seconds of setting up your account, you’ll receive an email of the pins that were added from your site that day and be notified when anyone pins something from your website thereafter. Register and verify your email then enter the domain you want to receive alerts from. Select the interval you want to receive alerts and press “Create A PinAlert”.

You can add multiple domains to receive alerts on and manage all of them from within that dashboard. Use the alerts to thank the people who are repining your content and ask them to follow your other boards.

4. PinPuff

PinPuff calculates your “Pinfluence” measuring your popularity on Pinterest and the value of your pins. Simply register by entering your email address and Pinterest username and PinPuff does the rest! This could be very useful if you’re using an eCommerce site or planning to do some advertising as the first section gives you the “Pin Worth” and the “Cost Per Click” your content would generate.

The next few sections show the scores for your “Reach”, “Activity”, and “Virality Scores” along with some encouragement or suggestions to improve the scores.

A summary of all your board stats can be found at the bottom and your total Pinfluence Score along with your top boards in the right sidebar.

There are so many neat tools being developed everyday as Pinterest gains momentum and catches on around the world. Try these tools out and let us know what you think. We’d also love to know what tools you use and love! Leave a comment!

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Microsoft Responds to The Annoying Experience

Well, Microsoft just came up with a new concept, known as “Microsoft Signature,” which is a service that gives you “out of the box” personal computers with absolutely no extra software installed. The company now offers both a line of Microsoft Signature certified computers and a service to certify computers that you have already purchased. It seems like the company is serious about pushing forth a policy of cleanliness and respect for the people who purchase computers. Imagine a world where you buy a computer with Windows installed and you’re greeted with an interface that’s free of any garbage.

What Does Microsoft Signature Do?

Besides eliminating the initial bloatware/junkware, Microsoft claims that it optimizes PCs that it sells to you. Details are not so clear on how the company does this, but they do admit that they install some of their own hardware that runs optimally on the operating system they created. The software includes Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Live Essentials, Zune Software, and Internet Explorer with Bing as the default search engine.

In addition, Microsoft also offers a service for certifying your computer with Microsoft Signature. The Signature certification will mean that Microsoft actually had someone look at your computer, take apart its software, uninstall the unnecessary stuff you don’t need, and tweaked it to improve its performance.

How Does Microsoft Tweak The Computer?

I can only assume and speculate because, as previously mentioned, Microsoft didn’t provide many details about the situation and what they do to your computer to make it run better. The demo video shows you some insight:

According to this video, I could only assume that Microsoft makes tweaks on its software and operating system from within your computer to ensure that it’s up to spec, allowing you to have a better experience running Windows on your computer. Perhaps settings like visual effects and other things that affect performance would be changed according to how much physical memory, video memory, and CPU power you have. Coupled with the elimination of elements that would otherwise occupy your computer’s resources, this is a solution that will make your computer squeaky clean.

How Much Does Microsoft Signature Cost?

If you’re buying a computer from the Microsoft Store with Signature certification, the price will vary according to the computer’s own specifications. Microsoft doesn’t make the computers. The company simply tweaks and packages them. The computers come from their respective manufacturers, meaning that the price could be as low as a couple of hundred dollars or as high as a couple grand, just like with any other computer purchase.

If you already have a computer that you want to certify with Microsoft, their services for tweaking your computer cost $99. This might be a drawback, especially considering that many IT pros and enthusiasts can tweak their computers well enough without having to pay this fee. However, the company does have to cover the expense of labor in modifying your computer. They are not responsible for what was there in the first place, and this is their way of offering a hand. By the way, this is how a computer’s packaging looks like with MS Signature:

Should I Get Microsoft Signature?

If you’re the kind of person who has difficulty understanding online tutorials and cannot easily reach the settings necessary to tweak your computer, or you want Microsoft to have a hand at optimizing your computer’s speed, you should get this service. Otherwise, there’s no real viable reason to use a service that offers something you can just do yourself.

However, if you have multiple computers, this might actually save you some time. If you have a very fast hand at tweaking a computer, though, you’d lose more money than what you’d make up for in time you’d spend to perform the task. This is better suited for people who are new to computers and want to squeeze every bit of juice out of them. This isn’t the case with IT professionals who know their way around the registry.

The conclusion is that there are some people who could use Microsoft Signature and others who really don’t need it. Just do as you see fit.

If you want to learn how to tweak your Windows computer and enhance your experience with things Microsoft probably won’t add to your computer, we do provide tons of tutorials, tweaks, tips and tricks for Windows, for free.

Thoughts?

I’d really be intrigued to hear people’s thoughts on Signature, particularly opinions of other IT professionals and experts who work with Windows on a daily basis. Let’s start a dialogue! Leave a comment below and we can discuss Microsoft Signature.

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Geary is a simple and lightweight email client that supports email threading (some call it conversation mode). It is still in the early development stage, but it does show plenty of potential to become a great email client.

Being a simple and lightweight app, Geary has trimmed most, if not all, of the fat found in many other email clients. It is pretty simple in interface and features, and yes, it is also lacking some important functions like integrating with address book and connect to multiple email accounts.

Installation

Here’s the command to install Geary in ubuntu-based distro:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install geary

Running Geary

The first time you run Geary, it will prompt you to setup your email account. There are three options in the “Service” dropdown: Gmail, Yahoo and Other. If you have enabled IMAP in Gmail and Yahoo, all you need to do is to enter your username and password and it will do the rest. For the “Others” option, you will have to configure the IMAP settings manually.

Once your account is authenticated, you should see your mails appearing in the main window.

The interface is pretty minimal. There are three columns that show the folders, email list and actual email content respectively.

At the top is a row of toolbar that allows you to reply, forward, compose and archive your emails and that are about all you have for Geary.

The best thing about Geary is the threaded conversation that makes the interface more compact and each email message easier to follow. The thread count is displayed in the email list and the conversation is threaded, just like the way Gmail does.

There are also several other Gmail-like style, like the labels, starred, archive etc.

When it comes to composing email, it is pretty basic and lacking at the same time. You can compose in rich-text format, but you won’t be able to attach any file to the email. It doesn’t integrate with your contacts as well, so you have to manually type in the email address of the recipients. I wonder how many people actually remember all the email address of their friends.

Removal of email account

As of this post, there is no easy way for you to remove the email account you have setup in Geary. The only way I can come up with is to go to the “~/.local/share/geary/” folder and remove the folder with your email address. This will effectively remove the email account in Geary.

Conclusion

The advantage of Geary lies in its simplicity. Being a lightweight application with Gmail-like interface (labels, starred, threaded conversation) makes it easy and pleasant to use, but the lacking of several features such as contacts support and file attachment etc have severely crippled the app. Noting that this is still a product in its early development stage, hopefully these important and necessary features will be integrated into the app. By then, it could become the default Gmail desktop app, much like the way Sparrow does for Mac.

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• Using NTP to Sync Your Clock on Linux
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Bodega is a Mac app store that gives just a different experience than what you’re used to with the standard Mac Store. It offers much the same apps, and even works with the apps you have already downloaded from the Mac Store. It also includes a few extra options that I didn’t even know I wanted in the Mac Store until I found them on Bodega.

First and foremost, the app isn’t available in the Mac Store, for obvious reasons, so you’ll nee to download it direct from the website. Opening up the Bodega app, you’re greeted by the bright yellow awning, not to mention the rest of the very colorful interface, a stark difference to the Mac Store. The focus here is obviously on making the app look like a “store” and giving you that total experience. Similar to the Mac Store, it features the New Releases on the main page, along with “Shopkeeper’s Picks,” Top Free Apps, and Top Paid Apps.

A worthwhile addition to the front page of this store is the news area. It features the most prominent tech news at the current time, along with a section of apps in the news. This is great if you’re looking to download the apps that are hot and that everyone else is talking about. If you’re just browsing for a new app and don’t have anything particular in mind, it’s a great place to start.

Another great feature, and different from the Mac Store, is the short summaries of each app that are visible in the app listings. As they sit on their shelves, if you click once on the app, it gives you a short summary of what the app is all about. In the Mac Store you have to open every app listing to see what it entails, but with Bodega, you are shown the price, a short summary, and options to download it right away, if you wish.

If you double tap on the apps, you’re taken to even more information. Provided here is a more in-depth explanation of the app, as well as detailed version history. Sometimes apps in the Mac Store tend to give you too much information in their quest to sell themselves to you. It can be hard to find the information you really need. This solves that by only telling you what you need to know. As with the Mac Store, reviews by other users are included. Bodega also includes any published press about the app.

Despite the fact that the apps I have on my Mac were either from a website or from the Mac, they show up here in Bodega in an easy-to-access Applications list. If the apps have updates available, that information is not only available, but they can be updated directly through this list. Mac Store doesn’t have any listing of the sort.

I saw the sub-heading “Wishlist” in the left-hand margin of Bodega. That sounded great, but I couldn’t figure out how to add apps to my Wishlist. It turns out I was trying to make it much harder than it needed to be. While I thought there might be a button in each app listing to add it to Facebook, that wasn’t the case. I perused the menu bar and everything else, and finally I realized it was much more simple than that. I simply had to drag the desired apps into the Wishlist.

Because Bodega doesn’t include Apple apps, it can’t completely replace the Mac Store. However, it’s still a great way to look for new apps, as well as managing your apps to see which ones need to be updated. The next obvious step is for them to release a similar app for iOS.

What do you think? Can Bodega be a great alternative to Mac’s App Store?

Related Posts:

• How to Try Mac App Store Applications for Free
• Mastering The Mac App Store, And Its Alternatives
• 4 Photography Apps For Busy Photographers [Mac]
• A Comprehensive Guide to iTunes U [iOS]

ScribeFire Next 4.0

ScribeFire is an extension that lets you post a blog from within the Firefox browser. Upon installation, you’ll notice a notepad icon on the bottom right corner of the window. Click on this icon and the bottom half of the browser opens ScribeFire. Add your blog credentials by clicking on Add a New Blog, and you can start blogging from the built-in text editor.

Download ScribeFire 4.0

After The Deadline 1.51

After the Deadline is a handy spelling and grammar checking tool similar to that of Microsoft Word. To activate the proofreading feature, press F4 and it highlights possible errors and provides suggestions. Language and customized grammar styles can be tweaked in the Options menu of the extension.

Download After the Deadline

Zemanta 1.0

Zemanta is an extension for suggesting photos, links and other related articles based on the blog post you’re working on. Once activated, you’ll notice a sidebar on your dashboard’s screen. This shows you a selection of photos and related articles for your post. You can click on a photo and it automatically appears where the cursor is on your blog post window. You can also add your own blog links and images (from Flickr) by clicking on the My Sources tab.

Download Zemanta 1.0

 SEO Blogger 1.0.8

If you’re serious about your blog’s SEO status, then this extension is a must-have. SEO Blogger is a search tool within Firefox that lets you look for the right keywords you can use to optimize your post. Just click on the W icon on the bottom right corner of the browser to pull up the extension’s interface.

Download SEO Blogger

The Ultimate Free Stock Photo Search Addon

Searching for quality, royalty-free images for a blog post can be tedious. With the numerous resources in the Internet, one simply can get overwhelmed. With this extension, you don’t have to look at multiple stock photography sites. This add-on aggregates up to 200 sources of free stock photos for your convenience. Click on the add-on’s icon on the top right corner and choose the sites you want to search. You then need to type a keyword on the search bar and click on Search/Browse Checked Sites. Be warned, though, that each photo website will open a new tab within your active Firefox browser to show the search results.

Download Ultimate Free Stock Photo Search Addon

Conclusion

Blogging should not be a stressful experience for anyone – in fact, some people blog to take a break and relax. These extensions are sure to make you blog more efficiently with less difficulties. With features mentioned above, using these extensions can help you focus more on writing great blog posts.

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1. iPhoto for Mac

iPhoto is the photo management application that we all know and love. iPhoto comes with all Macs, or $14.99 if you purchase it from the Mac App Store. iPhoto for Mac is more than enough of a photo management and editing application for the average user. You can organize your photos by date, location, individuals, and more. iPhoto for Mac also allows you to do color correction with the “Enhance” tool, add filters like Sepia and Black and White, as well as your run of the mill cropping tools.

For professional photographers, iPhoto for Mac is more useful as a photo management app rather than a photo editing app. Personally, I use it for personal photos and when I need a nice database of all of my imported photos.

iPhoto for Mac ($14.99)

2. Aperture For Mac

If you enjoy the feel of iPhoto, but need to take advantage of more professional features to get any use out of it, then Aperture is for you. You can still organize your photos into folders, providing a great home for them once imported. You can also edit the photos, like found on iPhoto. On top of that, Aperture allows you to make use of brushes for making light touchups and even more for making heavy changes. If you are unfamiliar with the setup at first, Aperture comes with professional preset effects so you can learn while you use it. If you feel like going on the wild side, you can even create some yourself. Once the photos are complete, you can find them available on your iPhone and other iOS devices and Macs through Photostream. With RAW importing support, advanced search tools, and the ability to adjust white balance and more, Aperture is the step up for Apple photographers just growing out of iPhoto, but not experienced enough for Photoshop just yet.

Aperture For Mac ($79.99)

3. Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

Now we are at the point where you can navigate through iPhoto with your eyes closed and can probably help someone else out with their Aperture for Mac needs. If this is you, then it’s time to upgrade your applications to Adobe Photoshop and/or Photoshop Elements. Let’s look a bit into both of them. First, we have the household name photography software – Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is the ultimate photography application that allows you to add 3D effects, process your photo, and even share within Photoshop with a support of a ton of file types. The features that Photoshop has are endless. It is (almost) the industry standard for professional photo-editing and the latest version (CS6) makes it even better.

Along with Photoshop, there is also the Photoshop Elements which is more appealing to the average consumer. If you feel the need to compare, Photoshop is like to Apple Aperture as iPhoto is to Photoshop Elements. They are the elements, the basics, of what Photoshop is. Photoshop Elements allows you to make subtle changes to your photos, share the photos on various social networking websites, and more. Photoshop Elements, unlike iPhoto, will cost all users money because it doesn’t come shipped on any desktop.

Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

4. DoubleTake

Panorama photos allow you to get the full landscape of the subject you want to shoot to fit all in one photo. These images are perfect because they don’t require any special file types, meaning there can be JPEG, PNG, or even GIF landscape photos, the only difference is that the aspect ratio is usually the length being double the width. DoubleTake allows you to make panorama photos easier to not exactly take, but to match together into one photo. DoubleTake can even be useful outside of photography. If you have a large document you want to make easier to read, DoubleTake makes this possible. If you want to make a book easier to create, DoubleTake makes this a possibility.

DoubleTake ($24.95)

This is definitely not a conclusive list of the photo apps for Mac. Let us know which photo apps is your favorite, in the comments.

Image credit: By raruschel

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The following guide only applies to the Windows version, but setup on OSX is very similar. Note that you need a valid Usenet account to use this software. Easynews is what I use, but there are many others to choose from.

Installation Guide

To begin, download the appropriate version for your operating system here.

Step 1. Download and run the installer, clicking next until you see the section where you can select the tickbox for “NZB file association”. Select it and click next to finish installing.

Step 2. Once it has installed, a web browser will open with a list of languages for you to select from. Select your language and click “Start Wizard”.

Step 3. The first thing you need to enter are server details, which will be provided by your Usenet provider. I have filled them out with the Easynews server details below. Click “Test server” once you’ve filled these out. After a few seconds it should say “Connection successful!”. If it doesn’t, then you may need to recheck your server settings. Click Next.

Step 4. You can select whether or not you wish to be able to access SABnzbd from another PC on your network. The choice is up to you. You can also password protect it. Click Next.

Step 5. This next section allows you to enter your account details from various newsgroup indexing sites. This is for automation and best fiddled with once you get your head around the basics of SABnzbd. Click Next.

Step 6. SABnzbd will tell you that it is restarting and a few seconds later you should be presented with the following page, which is the download management area.

Step 7. Just a couple more things you probably want to set before you set SABnzbd loose. Click Config in the top left hand corner, then click Folders in the menu on the left. Changing the Temporary download folder and Completed download folder to locations of your preference. If you want you can also specify a “Watched” folder, where NZB files that are downloaded will automatically be queued up by SABnzbd for processing.

Step 8. Test it out! You need to feed it a NZB file to test out the download functionality. I’ll leave this part up to you – there are a wealth of resources from which to grab NZB files (e.g. nzbmatrix, newzbin2.es, binsearch.info etc). Some are paid and some are free.

For the purposes of this guide I used binsearch.info and searched for “trailer”. I found a Mass Effect 2 trailer in the search results, ticked the checkbox next to it and clicked “Create NZB”. This generated a NZB file that Google Chrome automatically downloaded to my Downloads folder. As I had set my downloads folder to be the watched folder in SABnzbd, it found the file and started grabbing it from Usenet. As you can see in the screenshot below, the trailer downloaded at a healthy ~3mb/sec.

Once the file finished downloading SABnzbd automatically extracted it. I could then find it in my completed folder and play it with VLC, as per the screenshot below.

Conclusion

There is obviously much more to SABnzbd, and not all of it can be covered in this article. Briefly, some additional things that may be useful are noted in the image below. If you have any questions, please ask!

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What Is Partitioning?

Partitioning is the practice of dividing your drive into multiple segments, much like sections of a library. They belong to the same library, but different types of books are stored in each section. You have one section for fiction, one section for science, and another for history, as well as others for different subjects. Partitioning a hard disk creates different areas in which you can store data, much like a directory.

The main difference, and main advantage, is that you can access each partition as an individual hard disk on your computer. When you click “Computer” from the Start menu in Windows 7, you’ll see each partition with its own drive letter.

Why Partition?

Your hard drive is simply a collection of plates that store data by means of magnetic read/write heads that run around the disk. Look at the image below for an example:

The background of the image is a piece of the surface of the drive platter, on which all your data is stored. It’s difficult to imagine how, in that space, there are tens of thousands – if not millions – of bits of data stored. If you can imagine that, you can realize just how fragile the drive itself is, and how it can easily be corrupt. Are you willing to take such a risk?

If you’re willing to risk data loss because you believe your hard drive is durable, you probably don’t know how a hard drive works, or believe that the data you’re protecting isn’t worth the resources you would put into new storage.

First of all, hard drives aren’t as durable as you may believe. Read/write heads on hard drives are so close to their platters (less than the thickness of a hair on your head) that you’d be amazed at how it manages not to ever touch the surface. Actually, there’s an ultra-thin lubricant (much like teflon) on every platter, and read/write heads tend to skid off when they do that. Sometimes, though, the read/write head touches the drive platter at such an angle in which the lubricant really won’t have much of an effect and will scratch the drive.

Then there’s another problem. Did you know that ambient air cannot enter a hard drive? Even the smallest speck of dust will likely corrupt data on your drive and scratch the platter so one entire sector of it will turn bad and refuse to run. This kind of thing happens every day to unsuspecting users of any device that has a hard disk. You see, the hard disk does allow for a small amount of air to enter it, so it can equalize with the atmospheric pressure. The drive has a filter around it to ensure that no particles get trapped inside. After a while, this filter isn’t going to be as efficient as it used to be.

To get an idea of what kind of damage could happen to your disk, let’s have a look at this image:

Take note that the entire surface has to be homogeneous. That stripe on the surface is a scratch that was made in a split second, rendering a chunk of the drive unreadable. With a partition closer to the center of the drive, some of the data is still recoverable. Partitions like that sit at the “end” of the drive.

Windows functions like this: It treats each partition as its own volume of data.

Let’s say you have a disk with two partitions and the system partition is no longer accessible. If you install the hard drive on another computer with Windows, it will read the unaffected partition perfectly, allowing you to take some, if not all, of that data out. If you had all of your disk on one partition, you’ve pretty much arrived at a dead end.

Aren’t You Supposed to Plan a Partition Scheme Before Installing Windows 7?

You’re in luck! Windows Vista and 7 both have the ability to create partitions on the fly while still maintaining drive integrity. For this, you should always back up your drive into another one before you start. You never know if you’d end up losing data that’s valuable to you. Install a drive cloning utility and back up the drive if you want to. If you don’t have that kind of money, you won’t have to worry. Partitioning usually doesn’t result in data loss.

In Windows Vista and 7, you can shrink a partition to make room for another one. Go ahead and check it out in the disk management utility. Type “Disk Management” in your Start menu’s search box and you’ll find it. When you right-click a partition, click “Shrink Volume.”

Another Useful Tool In Case of a Drive Apocalypse

Ever heard of Symform? It’s a Cloud-based storage platform that safely puts your data into several redundant arrays spread across the world by people like you! You can get up to 200 GB of storage for free, as long as you contribute that much of your drive space to the service. The costs of getting a new 200 GB drive for this kind of thing is much less than the price you’d pay for traditional Cloud storage. They use a RAID-96 array to ensure that your files are securely stored within another contributor’s computer. Give it a shot!

You get 10 GB of storage, initially, without any contribution. As long as you contribute 20 GB or more, you’re set for a higher amount of data storage. This is more than enough to store all your important personal files. No one will have a peek at them, since only small encrypted fragments of each file are placed in one computer at any given time.

Got Any Suggestions?

Help us add to this by submitting your own ideas and experiences in the comments section below!

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The Q&As

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q:How can I create screenshot from my Android while I visit websites?

A: While most of the screen capture programs are for rooted devices, there is a paid application that works very well on non-rooted devices. The application I use is Screenshot It. You will pay $4.99 USD for it but I have had no issues with it and use it all the time on my tablet and several phones.

There is a shake to take a screenshot, a delay, you can edit the images and choose how they save. If you have a rooted device there are a lot of other choices. All of the screenshot apps will take some action on your part for each capture.

Alternatively, get a phone that is running Android 4.0 as it comes with a native screen capture feature.

Q: I installed Skype and checked SET AS DEFAULT.  Now all of the calls are going through Skype.  How can I deselect this?

A: You should be able to eliminate Skype being the default application for calling by following this “Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Skype -> Clear Defaults”. What this should do is remove Skype as the default application for calls or anything else.

Q: How to I connect two Android  devices together?

A: Because there are differences in the Android OS on an HTC vs a LG or any other 2 manufacturers, there isn’t a direct way to connect them. Your best bet for keeping files synced is to use Dropbox. When you use Dropbox and DropSpace, your files will be the most current no matter where you edit them.

Q: How do I change the look of a bookmark icon on my home screen?

A: You have a couple of options to change your browser bookmark icons. The first way is to add the bookmark as a shortcut. Many times this will do what you are asking. To add a bookmark as a shortcut on your homescreen, you will want to press and hold an empty spot on your screen or press the menu button and click Add. You should see an option for Shortcut somewhere in this menu. Find Bookmark and choose the site you’d like quick access to.

The other easy way is to use GO Launcher EX. Any icon from any application can be changed to whatever picture you’d like. Press and hold the icon once you have the shortcut created following the steps listed above. There is an option to change Replace. When you choose Custom Icon, you can add any picture you’d like.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

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Do You Make The Twitter Grade?

Tweet Grader is a free tool by HubSpot that gives you the opportunity to check the power of your Twitter profile compared to other Twitter users. Your score is based on an algorithm of certain criteria predetermined by Hubspot. To see your TweetGrade, just enter your Twitter name and press Grade to see your score.

You will see your Twitter Rank, Follower Count, who you Follow, and your Grade along with a short bio of your account. If your score is low, take this opportunity to check these things for accuracy and make some adjustments until your score is in a more comfortable range.

Under your bio, you’ll see your Follower History. If you click the link there, it will show you a chart of your Follow and Following history.

Use the “Tools” tab for more neat features like seeing a list of you top Tweeters!

What’s Your TweetEffect?

TweetEffect is a neat tool to tell you which Twitter updates made people follow or leave you. All you have to do is enter your Twitter username and select “Tell Me About My Effects”.

When it’s done retrieving your results from Twitter, you’ll see a short summary of your activity.

How Far Do Your Tweets Reach?

TweetReach- shows how many people have viewed your tweets, how many have retweeted, and who your highest exposure is from. Just like the other tools, simply enter your Twitter username and Search.

The report will generate a tally of how many accounts your last Tweet reached. The bottom half of that report will show a week in review chart of your Tweet History, over how many days and how many contributors. The pie chart is a handy visual that displays how many replies and retweets you received form what you shared.

If you scroll down a little, you’ll see the report for your “Top Contributors”, “Most Retweeted Tweets”, all Contributors, and your Tweet Timeline. This report will allow you to see where you fall short and thank those who are contributing to your Twitter success. I can see that my report could use some diversity so I’ll be working on getting my content shared by more contributors.

What Do Your Twitter Analytics Tell You?

Twitalyzer is a probably the most important tool in this article. It’s designed to give you insight on your Twitter Ananlytics that are easy to read and follow. To get started, just enter your Twitter username and Twitalyze!

The first page you will see is an overview of your activity with some metrics giving you an idea of where you fall in the Twitter world of users. I’m a fairly recent Twitter user so my scores will likely be much lower than yours if you have been using Twitter ongoing.

If you click on “Check Out Our Metrics Dashboard”, you’ll see a dashboard full of different metrics that will help you determine where you need to focus more energy and allows you to see what’s working well.

As you can see in the image below, the dashboard metrics are showing me what the Potential Reach is and the number of people I am Effectively Reaching as well as my Klout scores. Those will give me a guideline to where I could focus more energy and time.

With these 4 tools, you are sure to be TwitterTastic in no time! Don’t just put information out in cyberspace, track where it goes, who sees it and is anyone even listening to what you’re saying? If so, great! Use the Twitalyzer tool to help you gauge your progress and if not, use the tools to help you improve in areas that are scoring low and one day you’ll be glad you did!

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What is iTunes U?

iTunes U is one of the many components that Apple added to their education initiative last fall. iTunes U allows you to not only watch lectures from acclaimed universities worldwide, you can also follow along by being provided the course’s syllabus, assignments, and more. That means, the only difference between you and the students learning is person is that they are actually physically there to ask questions directly to the professor. It depends on the university how detailed the materials are, however, Stanford’s lectures are quite detailed and identical to the courses in person. This, in the end, allows anyone from the curious high school student senior, to senior citizens to learn more about subjects they are interested in.

Necessary Materials

Technically, you only need an iOS device and Mac to take full advantage of iTunes U. However, to get the full college experience, there are a couple of other materials you should take advantage of. First, like any student, you should have a set notebook and writing utensil. This will make the classes feel more established for you, instead of just self-study by watching a couple of videos. This will allow you to keep track of what you are learning, have materials to look back on when studying, and more. Additionally, some courses, especially the more technological ones, may require additional software to download. Stanford’s Programming Methodology, an introduction to Computer Science, for example requires you to download their programming software Eclipse. This should be something to consider when you sign up. Additionally, some may also recommend you to purchase books, because they may be repeatedly referred to in the lessons. If you are serious about your studies on iTunes U, you may want to look into purchasing these books or checking them out at your local library. Amazon’s used marketplace also has very inexpensive books on sale as well.

Who’s Teaching?

iTunes U features close to 200 well known schools from across the world. However, only a few are very well known and distinguished. Some of the best colleges featured on iTunes U are the ones that have made an effort for including iTunes U in with the class. Stanford, the university I used during my review of iTunes U, had some professors that acknowledged the distant learners when recording the lectures, knowing that they have special circumstances that may prevent them from seeking a course teacher etc. This made them feel more included. Along with Stanford’s well planning for iTunes U, many other universities including Massachusetts Institute for Technology, University of California at Berkeley, and even Yale. It is essential to check out each of the courses that these universities offer because you’d be surprised what you can learn, from Autism Theory and Technology to a course on Death.

Finding and Preparing For Courses

Finding the courses you want to learn is easy to do. The best way to do this is by searching on an iOS device. iTunes U for iOS has a more organized UI that makes searching easier to do. To search for courses on your iOS device, click Browse to search by school. If you want to search according to subject, click Featured, then Categories. To search on Mac, activate the iTunes for Mac application, then go to iTunes Store, and click iTunes U. Once you find the course you want to learn, you can begin learning right away by clicking “Subscribe Free”. From there, You can click on a video to begin a lecture, check out documents to get a background on what is ahead of you, and check out the assignments after your first lecture.

Applying iTunes U To Your Real Life

So how can iTunes U help in your real life? After all, you can’t earn a degree for learning on iTunes U. This means that your learning on iTunes U is a personal experience, where you must find the courage within yourself to keep learning. You must also choose interesting subjects that you will want to go back to again and again. Additionally, iTunes U can be beneficial for many individuals, from a range of topics. From personal experience, I know of one high school student who checked out a Calculus course on iTunes U before having to learn it their junior year in school. iTunes U allowed him to know the basics and to accelerate in their classes that year. What can you take away from iTunes U? Let us know in the comments below!

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Configuration

First of all, you will need the “ntp” package on your computer. On most distributions, it is installed by default, but you may want to check that you have it or its equivalent. To check, try the command

ntpq

And if it is not found, you know that you don’t have the appropriate package.

Now that this is done, the entire configuration is going to be made with the file “/etc/ntp.conf.” All you have to do for an instant result is to modify these lines which are the default ones:

 server 0.pool.ntp.org
 server 1.pool.ntp.org
 server 2.pool.ntp.org
 server 3.pool.ntp.org

Instead, there are two things you need to do:
Find the addresses of the time servers closest to you on pool.ntp.org and copy-paste them instead of the default ones. As an example, the addresses for the U.S. are

server 0.us.pool.ntp.org
server 1.us.pool.ntp.org
server 2.us.pool.ntp.org
server 3.us.pool.ntp.org

Add “iburst” at the end of each server lines. This option will send a “burst” of packets in case the initial connection with the server fails.

So, in the end, if you are in the U.S., your addresses should look like that:

server 0.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 1.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 2.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 3.us.pool.ntp.org iburst

Synchronization

Now that the servers are correctly setup, you can launch the synchronization process. You may want to first test that the connections are working and that the servers are up. For that, use the command

 ntpq -p

If you see something like this, then you’re fine. 

Then, the easiest way to synchronize is to add ntp as a daemon. Edit your “/etc/rc.conf” file (or the equivalent, depending on your distribution) to add “ntpd” after your Internet connection daemon. In this case, you will have to blacklist the hwclock daemon. So your rc.conf file should contain something like:

 DAEMONS=(...[Internet connection like wicd]...!hwclock ntpd...)

An alternative if you don’t want it as a daemon is to launch the command

 sudo ntpd -qg

And then update your system clock with

 sudo hwclock -w

Note that in some circumstances, your clock should already be broadly at the right time, but off by a few minutes. The synchronization may not work if your time differs by a couple of hours from the servers’ time.

Conclusion

With this, your clock should always indicate the right time. Overall, I find the configuration and the synchronization to be pretty straightforward. It’s still more complex than it is with Ubuntu, but it is the price that those who want more control must pay. Alternatively, systems like Chrony and OpenNTPD offer the same service, and work generally in the same way.

Do you use ntpd? Or do you prefer some other service? And which method do you use for your synchronization? Please let us know in the comments.

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