Uncomplicating the complicated, making life easier
There are some new QR code looking barcodes popping up that your average QR code reader will not read. They are Microsoft tags. They are popping up more in magazines like Sports Illustrated.
So why did they go and mess up a good thing and create a new kind of barcode? Well, who knows. But the reality of it is the Microsoft Tags are a bit more customizable and your regular barcode reader won’t read them. So this will be walk through on how to create and use a Microsoft Tag.
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With all the excitement over iCloud and the Notification Center, it’s easy to forget about some of the other improvements to iOS 5. One of those is the improved usability and performance of Safari. Included now are some of the functions that made third party browsers so desirable, lessening the need for those.
The biggest change to the Safari app is tabbed browsing, but it’s only available on the iPad where it has the landscape to pull lit off. This very much emulates the same tabbed browsing that you’ll find in the Mac version of Safari. Instead of having to flip back and forth through websites that you currently have open, they can now be left open in tabs. New tabs can be initiated by touching the plus sign next to the current tab. For anyone that does a lot of browsing, it’s a a definite advantage. With the iPhone version, however, you still need to flip back and forth between open sites.
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Trees all over the world should be rejoicing with all the technological advances. Books, magazines, and newspapers no longer have to be read on paper. They can be read via various electronic methods. One popular method is reading via a Kindle device, but iPads and iPhones also function as readers, specifically for magazines and newspapers. There are several free apps that are available to read periodicals. Here’s a look at a small sampling of them:
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Has there ever been a site you really liked, and you really wanted to subscribe, but there’s no sign of a feed anywhere? Or maybe an old favorite reorganized their site layout, and now that you want to subscribe, you can’t find the button. Perhaps you just want more sources of news for a particular topic. It’s happened to me plenty of times, and apparently I’m not the only one, as there’s a new service out there at CtrlQ.org that aims to let you ferret out those hidden or hard-to-find feed links. It’s simple, surprisingly powerful, and a lifesaver for feed addicts such as myself.
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When Flipboard first released for the iPad, it appeared to be the ultimate solution to turn iPad into an interactive newspaper. Unfortunately, upon further use, it just did not have the content integration to make it a viable solution.
That was in the past. After numerous updates, it has improved by leaps and bounds and has replaced many sources of news outlets for its users, and went as far as to win Apple’s iPad App of the Year for 2010. Read on to see how it gives your news and more importantly, why people are loving it.
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If you a web user and don’t already love RSS/Atom type feeds, you’re missing out. Not only can you have all your favorite news sites and blogs pipe into one location for easy browsing, you can even get updates on discounted shopping, or be notified when a new Simpsons episode lands on Hulu. Feeds are among the best features of the modern web, and many tools and sites have sprung up to give you incredible control over how you can access all this information. Here at MTE we’ve already covered some useful desktop feed readers for Windows and Mac, so now seems like a good time to check out what Linux has to offer.
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There’s an old saying that goes: “Books are the windows to the world.“ Even though that in this digital age the leading role is taken by the internet, books still play their part as openings to the vast knowledge out there.
But modern technology also brings changes to the book world. Aside from the words printed on dead tree, now we also have digital version of books or better known as ebooks which can (and supposed to) be read on any digital devices with ebook reader applications installed.
If you are constantly on the move, love reading and want to bring a “library” inside your pocket, here are several free ebook readers that you can install in your mobile devices.
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The Internet has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, so you know you want to read it. Of course, you realize that going to every single website on the internet is a really inefficient way to actually attempt to read the whole thing, that’s why the RSS protocol was invented to make reading the web easier.
I have been an avid user of Google Reader as I really enjoyed the sharing functions that Google has built into the product. The one thing I did not enjoy about Google Reader, it may seem a small thing to some, was the aesthetic choices of the design time. I find the interface to be downright ugly.
So, I began to look for a Desktop Application that would fit the gap, and that is where I found NetNewsWire. NetNewsWire is made by NewsGator. They have a fancy pay version, which I am certain has a couple extra bells and whistles hooked into the app, but the free version is just fine by me. The Ads in the free version are hardly intrusive at all, you might not even really notice them.
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Like many of you, I use Google Reader to keep track of new content from my favorite news sites and blogs. As a feed reader, it does a great job of storing and organizing information from countless sources. My friends can share their favorite Reader items with me, and I can with them. One thing that Reader has never had, until now, is a way to browse for interesting content without having to subscribe to individual feeds. We all run out of unread items eventually, and sometimes you just want to browse. Enter Reader Play, a new way to discover web content through Reader. It’s kind of a mix between Digg and StumbleUpon, but with a little of that Google flavor. In this guide we’ll cover how to get started with Play, and some of the features that help you get the most out of it.
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While the dust is still settling from Chrome OS, Wave, Android, and the Nexus One, Google drops another big announcement with Google Buzz, a new social networking platform. Some of you may be thinking “they’ve already tried that“. That’s true, but there are a few things that make Buzz particularly interesting. Namely, it’s integrated with Gmail and Reader, making things like Gmail status messages a part of sharing with Buzz. Today, we’ll take a look at Buzz and see how it stacks up against the most obvious rival: Facebook.
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