Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 10, 2008 by CyberNet.

There have been several changes at eBay over the last week that haven’t made their users happy. First there was the announcement that they were lowing their listing fees but raising the final value fee, and then there was the announcement that sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback. As a result, there’s a group of people who are working on organizing a boycott of eBay for the week of February 18th through the 25th. They say that it means absolutely no buying, selling, or searching. With this boycott and the simple fact that people are upset over the changes, users are looking for eBay alternatives. A few days ago, CyberNet Reader Michael Dobrofsky asked about alternatives and we mentioned eCRATER. It’s one alternative worth taking a look at, and today we’ll be briefly explaining what they’re all about.

So what is eCRATER? Well, they describe themselves as a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. They say that sellers can create their own online store in a short time for free while buyers can shop for all kinds of products. Additionally, they’ve teamed with Google as an eCommerce partner to allow buyers and sellers to use Google Checkout for payments. They’ve been around since late 2004 and have been growing since then. Certainly they’re not as big as eBay, but that’s to their advantage. They’re definitely one of the places buyers and sellers turn to when they eventually determine they’ve had enough with eBay and their constant rising fees.

I haven’t used the site yet, but I just did several searches for different products and their selection seems to be good. The overall main theme I noticed on the site is simplicity. Everything is simple from setting up a store to a listing.  Searching for “Apple iPhone” yielded 202 different results which isn’t bad at all.  Of course I did come across a few fraudulent appearing listings (one said they only took Money Gram as a form of payment, big red flag there!), but I don’t think you’ll be able to stay away from fraud no matter where you go.

If you’re a seller on eBay and you’ve just about had enough, why don’t you checkout eCRATER and other sites like it? And for buyers, the next time you need something, instead of going to eBay right away, why don’t you checkout alternatives like eCRATER. There are options out there, it’s just a matter of finding and using them. Like I said, I haven’t used the site yet to vouch for it, but it is definitely a site I will be checking in the future when I need something. If you’ve used them, be sure to let us know how your experience was.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on October 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Many of you with your own web sites know that getting your site to look “Web 2.0ish” can be tricky.  Rounded corners are in, as are rounded tabs, striped backgrounds, and Ajax. Today we’re going to take a look at four different web sites that offer image generators to help web developers create the perfect Web 2.0 look.  I think you’ll find that they’re also huge time savers because each site offers a service that is very simple to use. Let’s take a look…

–Rounded Corner Generator–

Rounded corners are in these days, and so it helps to have a tool like RoundedCornr.com to generate a box with round corners for you. This particular site is great because it provides you with with the HTML and CSS code that you’d need to put rounded corners around content on your site. They also provide you with a link to download the rounded corners as image files.

When you go to the site, you’ll notice three different options for creating rounded corners.  You can do a RoundedCornr with a color gradient, a Rounded Cornr with a border, or a single RoundedCornr Image. For each of the different options for creating rounded corners, you can specify things like the corner radius size, the gradient height, a border color, etc. Below are two examples of what you can do.  The top image shows the rounded corner with a gradient while the other shows you what a rounded corner with a border looks like.

Visit RoundedCornr

–Stripe Generator–

You’ve probably noticed that many sites these days use some type of stripe design in the background whether it’s a thick strip size, or a thin strip size. If you’re wanting some type of striped design for your site, I recommend using www.stripegenerator.com.  Just like the RoundedCornr service, there are so many different options that you can tweak so that your stripe pattern will look exactly like you want it to.

Options you have include:

• strip size
• spacing
• stripe colors
• background style
• shadow
• background colors
• stripe orientation

Another great feature on this site is that there are “shared stripes” that you can get the code for. This stripe generator is perfect for when you want a seamless stripe texture. Of course you could create your own, but this is quick and easy. To boot, it’s got a great interface.

Visit Stripe Generator 2.0 – The Ultimate Tool for Web 2.0 Designers

–Tab Generator–

Brought to you by the same people that created Stripe Generator, Tab Generator is the simple and easy way to create great looking tabs for your site.  Much like the stripe generator, there are plenty of options to choose from so that you can create the perfect tab.

Options include:

• height
• width
• border size
• corner radius
• background
• fill style
• fill colors
• border color
• orientation

Once you’ve specified how you’d like your tab to look, you can download the code and then it’ll be ready to use on your site. This is one of the simplest ways I know of to create perfect tabs.

Visit Tabs Generator

–Ajax Loading Generator–

Ajax has become a staple of many Web 2.0 sites.  A site called Ajaxload.info will help you come up with the perfect Ajax loader icon for your site.  All you have to do is select the type of indicator that you want (there are over 30 different types of indicators), select the background color you’d want, and then enter the foreground color that you want.  From there you just click generate and then you’ll see a preview of what your loading indicator will look like.  If it looks good, just click “Download it” and it’ll be ready to use.

Visit Ajax Loading Generator

If you know of other tools that will help out web designers, let us know!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on July 13, 2009 by CyberNet.

When Google made the announcement of Chrome OS last week we knew that Microsoft had something planned for toady, and they did. At the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WDC) they unveiled Office 2010 along with a web-based solution that offers a lot of basic editing capabilities for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote files.

The thing that I was the most interested in was browser compatibility. I didn’t see anything about it in their press release, but then I came across the video that I embedded below. In the video they say that the Web Apps work in IE, Firefox, and Safari.

Now what about hosting? Here’s what their press release says in regards to that:

Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.

Right now Office 2010 is only available to select testers, but all of this will be released in the first half of 2010. Below I’ve embedded the video (a little boring) that Microsoft published in regards to the Web Apps as well as some screenshots I grabbed from the video.

Microsoft Word 2010 Web:

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Web:

Microsoft Excel 2010 Web:

Microsoft OneNote 2010 Web:

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on April 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Everyone was skeptical that The Pirate Bay would find a new home to circumvent their legal woes, but North Korea appears to be their new hiding spot. The Pirate Bay Blog had this to say about their upcoming move:

Today we announce that we’re moving some of our servers to the North-Korean Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.

After lenghty discussions with the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Il we have decided to start a cooperation.

Some of the reasons are the extremely good bandwidth agreement we get – redundant fibre links, redundant power with diesel to last for four years makes the colocation a very good deal for us.

We are also promised immunity against foreign copyright holders and all of the crew will get North Korean citizenships.

“One of the reasons that we’re doing the move is also that the Swedish King still haven’t granted us a visit with his daughter. This ignorance towards the cultural benefits of having a site like The Pirate Bay can not be ignored.” says Tiamo, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay.

We would like to thank Kim Jong-Il for the opportunity and we would like all of our users to review their current feelings towards this great nation!

The move is quite surprising given that three weeks ago they gave a diploma to the King of Sweden (where they are currently located) for helping make “Sweden famous globally when it comes to technology and culture.”

Thanks to Richard in the CyberNet Forum for the tip!

Stay tuned as we feature a wide array of April Fools Jokes throughout the day!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 19, 2008 by CyberNet.

I’m sure some of you are truly music addicts with thousands of songs being lugged around on your music player. You might even have a few hundred CD’s, or maybe you’ve broken into the thousands by now. I hate to burst your bubble, but you don’t have the world’s largest collection.

All hope is not lost for you though! The largest collection of records and CD’s is currently up for bid on eBay starting at a mere $3 million. Come on, you’re friends are sure to laugh at admire you with this:

From Thomas Edison to American Idol, this is the complete history of the music that shaped and defined five generations. 3 million records and 300,000 CDs containing more than 6 million song titles. It’s the undisputed largest collection of recorded music in the world. About half of the recordings are new and never played, and every genre of 20th century music is represented. There are countless rare recordings worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars each on the collectibles market. Organized and cataloged, the collection is meticulously maintained and housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. The estimated value of this amazing collection is more than $50 million.

The collection of music is definitely a site to see:

(Click to Enlarge)
  

The owner will not sell this to just anyone either. According to the website they will only make it available to a suitable home:

We’re seeking a buyer who will guarantee to keep the collection intact (other than to sell duplicate copies, if so desired) and to keep the music alive for the enjoyment and music lovers, now and for years to come.

If you represent a museum, library, university, or charitable foundation, or you’re a philanthropist interested in purchasing the collection and donating it, please contact the owner’s representatives for more information, pricing and a personal on-site inspection.

Aside from the music collection the winner of the auction will also receive:

• The rights to Spin-Clean, the owner’s patented vinyl record cleaning system, considered the best on the market by audiophiles the world over
• The rights to Discmist CD cleaner
• CD Saver 2-part archival CD storage sleeves
• Yellow Jacket 45 RPM acid-free archival storage sleeves
• Ownership of the owner’s six publishing companies and eight independent record labels
• More than $100,000 worth of antique recording and listening devices and other music memorabilia currently on loan to a museum

By now I would hope that you have already placed your bid since it has less than 2 days remaining! Oh, but don’t forget, you’ll have to fork out the money for the packing and shipping costs. That was the deal killer for me.

eBay Auction [via Ghacks]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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