Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on September 13, 2012 by CyberNet.

I hate junk mail regardless of whether I get it via an email or through the paper mail that arrives at my house each day. What’s bothered me for a long time is how efficient email filters have gotten at being able to filter out the spam/junk mail before it hits my Inbox, but that same luxury doesn’t apply to the mail that I get at my house.

A new mobile app called Paper Karma is trying to save trees… and your sanity. There are a couple of things I want to point out upfront about the app. First, it’s a free app that is available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7. Second, it will take a little effort on your behalf before you actually start to reap the benefits of what it has to offer, but it could be worth it.

To use Paper Karma you simply have to snap a photo on your mobile device of the junk mail you receive. They don’t need a picture of the whole thing… just enough info to recognize who sent it to you. In most cases that means a snapshot of a popular logo is sufficient, but they also recommend trying to get the companies name and address in the image as well. In my tests it took a couple hours for it to finish analyzing my snapshot, but it has correctly recognized every one that I’ve done.

I’m going to keep using this rather religiously in an attempt to battle the dozens of credit card offers and other junk I get in the mail every week. It will take some time before I know for sure whether it is actually working, but if I can save some trees by reducing the amount of mail I get then I find that to be a win-win situation.

Paper Karma Homepage

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on October 12, 2011 by CyberNet.

A couple weeks ago I was trying to configure a TV antenna to get some of my local television stations in the over-the-air HD quality they broadcasted in. The problem was that in trying to figure out the best direction to point the antenna I realized that there had to be an easy way to get the optimal direction for the antenna to face. That’s when I came across AntennaPoint.com.

This site lets you put in your city/state and it will tell you the exact number of degrees your antenna should be pointed at. It also provides a lot of other useful information including the band (UHF or VHF), channel (RF and virtual), and power output. All of this information is extremely useful, and thanks to the power output you could even get a pretty good idea as to whether a station may be able to reach your home. Plus you’ll be able to see which station are VHF which are notoriously harder for antennas to pickup.

Hopefully this will have a chance to help you as much as it was able to help me.

AntennaPoint.com Homepage

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on July 30, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

A few weeks ago we wrote about a Firefox extension that could post to Twitter right from the address bar, and it impressed me to say the least. One commenter, who goes by the name lilmoder, cleverly pointed out that you can do the same thing in Opera using its keyword search functionality. I was rather amazed with how the whole thing worked, and then I started to think about the possibilities it had.

Why this is Opera-only: Opera has “POST” capabilities for keyword searches, which Firefox isn’t capable of doing. For that reason the trick I’m about to show you only works in Opera.

After I found out about the trick I decided to see if I could update the status of multiple social networks simultaneously, and after a little digging I found just what I was looking for. Using a single keyword “search” in Opera I’ve managed to update Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Identica, Friendfeed, and several more social services simultaneously. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

So how do you do all of this? It’s actually simpler than you might think. We’re going to make use of a free service called HelloTxt that will do all of the dirty work for us. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Create and configure a free HelloTxt account. To configure your account go to the settings, and enter in your credentials for each of the services you want to update the status on. Part of the configuration screen should look something like this:
   
2. Pull up the mobile version of HelloTxt by visiting m.hellotxt.com. You must visit the mobile version in order for the trick to work. Make sure all of the services you want to use are checked. If they aren’t you may need to go back to the HelloTxt settings and configure your services.
   
3. Right-click in the text field where you would normally type your post, and choose the Create Search option.
   
4. Enter in a keyword that you want to use to post your messages. I’m going to use the keyword “post”, and you should take a look at the next step to see how the keywords work if you’re not familiar with them. I recommend going with a keyword that is 4 letters or less so that it is simple to use.
   
5. Now it’s time to enjoy the simultaneous posting to all of your favorite social networks. In Opera’s address bar type your keyword followed by your status update, and then press Enter to submit it to all of your social networks!
   
6. Look, it really worked:
   

So that’s how you can do some quick and easy posting to your favorite social networks right from the Opera address bar. One thing that you’ll probably notice is that every time you do post an update you’ll be taken to the HelloTxt page that tells you whether the posting was successful for each of your services. That might not be optimal for those of you wanting it to happen transparently, but it is nice knowing that each status update was done successfully.

–Adding/Removing Services–

If you ever decide that you want to add more services you’ll need to go through each of the steps (starting at step 2) again. This is because the submission URL changes depending on which services you have enabled at HelloTxt, and the easiest way to grab the updated URL is by recreating the keyword “search”. Before doing this you’ll need to delete the existing keyword search for HelloTxt by going to Tools -> Preferences -> Search, and then deleting the corresponding entry. I’m guessing you won’t be doing this too often because you probably won’t be adding/removing services all the time.

–Overview–

Opera might not be as extensible as Firefox is, but that doesn’t mean it falls short in functionality. After seeing this work in Opera I’m actually wishing that I could do the same thing in Firefox, but unfortunately Firefox’s keywords don’t have “POST” functionality with them.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on April 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

This article might seem familiar to some of you because we’ve covered shutdown utilities quite a bit in the past, but rest easy knowing that this is going to be different than anything you may or may not have read. We’re going to cover some of the best shutdown programs and tips out there since, as Ashley has pointed out, this coming Saturday is Shutdown Day.

By shutting down your computer you can save a lot of energy, which is merely money in the bank for you! If you’re one of those who leave your computer on 24-hours a day then think about the money you could save by shutting down your computer overnight. It’s estimated that 25% of people leave their computers on at the end of the day (whether it be at work or home), and so a simple shutdown would be very much welcomed. Heck, we’ve already seen how much money Vista saves because of its various power schemes.

Alright, let’s jump into the different ways to shutdown your Windows computer…

–Shutdown After BitTorrent Downloads Finish–

I’m sure many of you have left your computer running overnight to download something from the BitTorrent network. That’s definitely understandable considering how long it can take somethings, such as Linux DVD’s, to finish downloading especially when you don’t have a fast Internet connection.

One of the most popular BitTorrent clients, uTorrent, has a feature buried within the Options menu that you may not have seen before called Auto Shutdown. Check it out… you can have uTorrent shutdown your computer when the downloads complete:

–Schedule and Shutdown From Anywhere–

I have a server that I like to shutdown at night before I head off to bed, but one of the problems is that it’s not connected to a monitor or anything. So what I end up doing is remotely shutdown the computer from a web interface using Shutter, and thanks to a little port forwarding on my router it’s actually accessible from outside of my network. Don’t worry, you can specify a username and password so that some joe schmo from your local cafe isn’t rebooting your computer every 10 minutes. 😉

(Click to Enlarge)

To setup web access beyond the computer you’re on you’ll need to pull up the options, and there is a tab called Web Interface that you’ll need to jump to. You’ll want to change the Listen IP from the 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of the computer, and it’s probably easiest if you leave the port set to 80.

Tip: There’s also a Screenshot option that you can select on the web interface which is really nice. It will show you a screenshot of your desktop at that moment, which is handy when you don’t have a monitor hooked up!

–Shutdown After Firefox Downloads Finish–

Maybe it’s not a BitTorrent file that you’re downloading? No problem. If you’re using Firefox you can have it shutdown your computer after all downloads in the browser finish. All you’ll need is the Auto ShutDown extension.

Once installed the extension will place a “Shutdown” checkbox in the download window, which essentially gives the browser permission to shutdown the computer once the downloads complete.

If you really get into using this you may want to checkout the options it has to offer. You can change around how it works quite a bit, but the default settings will be fine for most people.

–Bulk Shutdown Computers–

Have too many computers that you need to shutdown? PowerOff Beta has an option available where you can specify multiple computers that you would like to shutdown according to IP address, name, or by browsing for them. Naturally you’ll need to know any usernames and passwords for the computers you want to shutdown… otherwise we would all be having too much fun randomly shutting down people’s computers. 😉

(Click to Enlarge)

–Shutdown Shortcut–

Looking for a blazingly fast way to shutdown your computer? What’s faster than creating a shortcut that you merely have to double-click? There are a lot of different options available when shutting down your computer via a shortcut, and so I’m just going to point you in the direction of our fairly comprehensive article on creating the shutdown shortcuts.

–Overview–

So I think you’re all set for Shutdown Day on Saturday, May 3rd! Shutdown your computer, get some fresh air, and then come Sunday you can stop hyperventilating from the severe withdrawals you went through.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on April 27, 2012 by CyberNet.

When you first get rolling with XBMC out-of-the-box, you may not be overly enthusiastic about the appearance. By default XBMC 11 ships with the Confluence skin that, while it looks clean, can easily be replaced by one of the other user-made skins. The most impressive one that I found is the Aeon MQ 3 skin which sports a very modern look that is sure to impress anyone that sets eyes on it. I can only imagine the amount of time that’s been spent on the skin given how polished it is.

So how do you get an awesome skin like Aeon MQ 3 installed? For some of the skins they are offered directly through the official XBMC repository (Settings -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> XBMC.org Add-ons -> Skin), and there are a couple of skins in there that are worth checking out. One of my favorites is probably Transparency, but I still prefer Aeon MQ 3.

For Aeon MQ 3, the process is a bit different. For this particular one you’ll either need to download the skin manually or you can set up the developer’s repository. I’m going to show you how to set up the repository and install the skin that way because that means you’ll be able to get future updates a lot easier. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Download the “Skin Aeon MQ 3 – Repository” file
2. In XBMC navigate to Settings -> Add-ons
3. Select the option to Install From ZIP File
4. Browse for the repository file you downloaded and add it
5. You should be automatically returned back to the Add-ons screen. From there go to Get Add-ons -> Repo Aeon MQ 3 -> Skin -> Aeon MQ 3. You should now see the Install button to install the theme.
6. When the download finishes you should get a prompt asking if you want to switch to the new skin. Choose Yes.
7. When you go back to the XBMC home screen you’ll be prompted with a short wizard that walks you through a couple of the basic configuration steps. You’ll also be able to choose how complex/customizable you want the skin to be. For myself I went with the Normal option, but don’t fret too much over any of the options you choose because you can always go back and change them in the skin settings.

You should now be sporting a refreshed XBMC look and feel, but to really take advantage of it you’ll need to dive into some of the skin’s settings (Settings -> Skin). If you went with the Aeon MQ 3 theme you may want to enable some of the alternate views for your videos:

1. In XBMC go to Settings -> Skin -> ViewTypes and browse through the different views that are available. Turn on any of the views you think you might want to use, but note that some of the views require other add-ons since they use artwork that the built-in TV/movie scraper doesn’t grab. This is what the view selection looks like:
   
2. Navigate back to one of your media folders in XBMC, and you should be able to either press the up/down or left/right arrow to make the view menu appear along the left side of the screen. From there you can switch between any of the views you just enabled as well as tweak certain aspects of each of the views.
   

CyberNet’s XBMC Guides:

• XBMC: Introduction to Our Upcoming Guides
  Our introduction provides some of the deciding factors for switching from Windows Media Center to XBMC.
• XBMC: Build Your Own HTPC
  Our extensive guide on the hardware we chose for our home theater PCs (HTPCs), the cost, and some tips on choosing the hardware for your own HTPC.
• XBMC: Prepare and Optimize Windows 7
  A helpful list of tips to optimize the performance of Windows 7 so that the system is able to offer as many resources to XBMC as it can.
• XBMC: IR Receiver and Remote (Harmony, Xbox 360, and More)
  If you want your HTPC to operate like a set-top box you’ll definitely want to get a remote control configured, and for me this was a critical step so that I wouldn’t have to be concerned about less tech-savvy users trying to use my TV.
• XBMC: Share and Sync Media/Settings Between Multiple XBMC Installs
  Configuring XBMC to share settings between multiple instances means you’ll be able to stop a show in one room, and seamlessly pick up where you left off in another room.
• XBMC: Fit the Picture to Your TV with Overscan
  If XBMC doesn’t fit your TV screen perfectly there are a couple of steps you can take to get it just right.
• XBMC: Installing Skins
  How to tweak the appearance of XBMC so that it looks the way you want it to.
• XBMC: Custom Home Screen Menu Backgrounds
  Make the backgrounds of your chosen skin/theme a little more interesting by having it flip through artwork from your favorite TV shows and movies.
• XBMC: Dynamic Weather Backgrounds
  If you’re using the Aeon MQ 3 theme you can have it use dynamic wallpapers that change based on the time of day and current weather conditions.
• XBMC: SMB on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
  I use a Mac to serve up files to my XBMC instances running on Windows, and so my preferred protocol for sharing files is SMB. This guide explains how you can get a XBMC-compatible version of SMB running on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
• XBMC: Adding Media Sources
  Learn how to add your media to XBMC and turn on the appropriate content scrapers.
• XBMC: Troubleshoot Buffering Issues
  Trying to troubleshoot buffer issues in XBMC can be quite a pain, and so I lay out some of the most common culprits.
• XBMC: Test Your HTPC with High Bitrate Sample Videos
  Want to see how well your HTPC performs? Throw some of these high bitrate 1080p sample videos at it.
• XBMC: More Advanced Settings
  Configure some of the settings that you won’t find anywhere in the GUI.
• XBMC: Stream Hulu, Food Network, and More
  Thanks to add-ons you can stream videos from some of your favorite sources including Hulu, Food Network, HGTV, TWiT, and more.
• XBMC: AirPlay on Windows
  Send videos from your iOS device to any XBMC instance with very little configuration.
• XBMC: Web Interface and Chrome Extension
  As long as you are on the same network as your XBMC box you can control it from any browser using the built-in web interface, or you can install a Chrome extension to make it even easier.
• XBMC: iPhone and iPad Remote
  If you own an iPhone or iPad you can enjoy one of the best XBMC remote control experiences I’ve seen, and it will only cost you a few bucks.
• XBMC: A List of Our Guides, Plus Helpful Wiki and Forum Posts
  A recap of all the guides we’ve written as well as useful wiki and forum post from the official XBMC.org site.
• XBMC: Free and Official iOS Remote for XBMC Released
  This is the free and official XBMC remote control iOS app (optimized for both the iPhone and iPad). It will let you easily control all of the XBMC instances in your house as long as they are all on the same network.
• XBMC: Running XBMC on Startup in Windows 8
  Learn how you can make XBMC start automatically when Windows 8 boots.
• XBMC: Send YouTube Videos From Chrome to XBMC
  Send YouTube videos from your PC to any XBMC instance in a single click.
• XBMC: Aeon MQ 4 Skin
  If you’re looking for one of the best and most popular XBMC skins the Aeon MQ 4 is a great choice.
• XBMC: Android Widget Remote Control
  Control multiple instances of XBMC without ever having to open an app on your Android device!

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com