Cool browser extensions that you've gotta have!

I remember the days when Firefox was pretty much the only browser that had this thing called "extensions" only about 4 years ago. But now it seems like every browser out there -- Chrome, Safari, IE, Opera (the list goes on), all of them have extensions. So I decided that I should write a post about the cool addons I've found for many of the browsers out there that save time and make web browsing a cooler experience. Here are the top extensions that I currently use on my browsers (Note: I haven't provided a link to download the extensions since they'll differ from browser to browser, but a quick search would help with that):

1. Mouse Gestures: If you don't have this installed then you should certainly give this a try. I only use it to right click on my mouse and swipe backwards. It already saves me a ton of time by not having to right click and click again to go back! I also use it to reload the page and switch tabs. You might think that not moving your mouse to the back button is lazy, but trust me, you'll love the efficiency you'll get.

2. A password manager: There are billions of websites out there and it seems like 98% of those websites require to register just so that you can view their "about us" page! If I'd generate a new password for these websites every time, I honestly wouldn't remember them all. Okay, may be I would, but I'd rather not bother myself with remembering unnecessary passwords. The solution: LastPass. While I would most certainly recommend that you don't store any "precious" passwords on there, it works like a charm for forums and other websites that often require to register.

3. Session saver: While most browsers automatically save your browser session when they crash, sometimes you may just want to save a session intentionally so that you can go back to it later. I usually do this when I'm doing research and want to get back to the 786 tabs I opened after a system update. On Safari you can go to Windows > Reopen windows from last session and it'll restore the windows from the previous session, but it's only good for one session, so you're better off with a browser that has an extension which ca save multiple sessions.

4. FlashBlock - While many savvy users may use things like AdBlock Plus to disable every single ad out there on the internet, I think this is a bad idea because some of the ads out there may actually be relevant. However, more often than not, the flash ads are just annoying. So what I usually do is disable the flash ads, and keep the other text-based/image ads on.

5. A tasks plugin - Many who will be reading this (that's you!) most certainly will be spending a lot of time in a browser (admit it!), so why not have a tasks list that will remind you what you actually need to do, may be you'll stop wasting your time browsing youtube and facebook?

6. A dictionary/Spell check - No matter which browser you are using, you should certainly enable spell check. Or esle teh wrods mya get a litttle mesed up. Many browsers also have a dictionary add-on that you can use to find the right word (particularly if you're on Windows where you don't have the advantage of a dictionary application like Mac and GNU/Linux users do)

7. Email count checker - While Chrome actually has a email notifier for Gmail, having a little icon that'll tell you your email count is always handy on any browser. If you use a mail client though, this may not be particularly helpful. But I know many people who exclusively use webmail for all email communications.

That's all I have for now, but I'm sure this list will grow as people create more cool extensions for their favourite browsers! What extensions do you use on a regular basis?

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Unlock your Galaxy S Phone for free?

Warning: Check with your service provider and manufacturer before you unlock your phone. Unlocking your phone will most certainly void your warranty, and may lead to connection problems with your original service provider or your new service provider.

Note: Sometimes, asking your cell phone provider for an unlock code may work as well, so you should certainly look this up and see what your provider tells you.

With that said, if you're out of warranty, or want a quick way to unlock (and relock too!) your Samsung Galaxy S (has to be a Galaxy S phone (so it'll work on Captivate, Vibrant and so on)... as I've not tried this on any other phone. Chances are good that it may not work), here's what you can do:

First, root your phone. Here's an app: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682 to do so if you haven't already. Follow the instructions on the page, and you should be able to root your phone in a few clicks. Again, this will void your warranty, may kill your phone etc.

Second, install the Galaxy S Unlock App from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=906255. And try to follow the instructions (first try Step 1, then Step 2 etc.) on the Unlock Tab (namely Step 2, where a configuration file gets overwritten to disable network lock..) to unlock your phone. Note that if you do step 2, the phone may appear to be unresponsive for quite a few seconds before it reboots to freedom.

That was easy. And free too (you should definitely donate to those people though!).

If you're having any trouble, don't post comments here (no one will likely read them). Head on over to the XDA forums linked above, and try searching for answers. If that doesn't work then make a quick post there and someone will definitely reply.

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How to find the biggest files on Mac or Windows

After a large amount of time, chances are that your hard drive will be cluttered with large files that you don't really need or use anymore. Or, it may just be the case that you need some extra hard/ss (solid state) drive space. Often times people use applications to find out which files are taking up the most space on your computer so that you can delete them. However, here are some tricks that you can use on the fly (sort of) to find the biggest files that are taking up the most space on your computer and delete them.

How to find big files on a Mac:

The trick on a mac is to use the command line application called find, in conjunction with the sort application to sort the largest files on your hard drive.

1. First, open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
2. Type in the following command (note, change 10 to the number of largest files you wish to see, changing it to a smaller number may give faster results depending on how much stuff you have on your hard/ssd drive)
find . -type f -exec du {} \; | sort -nr | head -10
3. Wait for a few minutes while your Mac scours your hard drive for large files

After a while, the terminal window will display the largest files on your mac.

On Windows, the trick that you can use is to search (Start Butt for files that are of a large size in your personal folders (My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and so on). Just select the size option to search for the largest files on your computer like so:

Hope this helps!

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4 Ways to Collaborate Online on Group Documents

One of the great things about writing group documents today, as opposed to writing group documents 5 years ago is the advent of online "colloborative editing environments". Instead of sending files back and forth through email, here are few services you can take advantage of to make collaboration with your team on written documents much easier.
1. Google Docs

If you haven't heard of Google Docs yet, then you've probably been living under a rock for the last few years. But if you have heard of google docs and still resort to using email to send files back and forth, then you should really think about using a better system. Simply create a document on Google docs and share it with all your friends. 

Some great features that Google Docs offers are:

1. True colloborative editing - Multiple people can edit the file at the same time
2. Version control - You can view multiple versions of the document
3. Works for Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents, but doesn't really support things like captions, references and so on.
4. No registration required if you make the document public.

Some disadvantages:

1. No support for editing documents offline
2. Support for .docx/.xlsx/.pptx files is sketchy and features such as table of contents, captions and bibliographies are not available
3. Doesn't have as many features as Microsoft Office, or even iWork and some other competitors like SlideRocket

2. Microsoft Office Live Sky Drive

This alternative is great if you are planning on using Microsoft Word to write up your report or document. While Sky Drive acts as a great way to store you're documents to avoid emailing it every time there is an update, it doesn't work so well for collaborating in real time.
Advantages:

1. Can upload .docx type newer file formats, and save features such as references, table captions and so on.
2. Can do some basic editing in browser, but open it up in Word/Excel/PowerPoint to do more editing
3. Supports versioning and ability to share files

Disadvantages:

1. Need to have a windows live account to use the service
2. Can't edit the document at the same time. In fact, only one person can edit the document at the same time, so if one of your team members have the document open, you'll have to tell them to close the document.

3. Git

While Git is really meant for programmers, I think that it works great if you plan on using it to keep track of text based documents like LaTeX documents or plain old text files. While getting used to Git may take a while as it is built mostly for programmers who deal with tons of code and like to stare at terminal windows, it should provide a great way of keeping track of progress and merging changes to text based documents.

4. Dropbox

While Dropbox may not be the best alternative if a lot of editing is required, it can be a great way to share files between teams as long as only one person works on the file at one time. If two people upload changes to the same file, Dropbox will just create two versions of the file, which will then have to be merged manually. Nevertheless, Dropbox has some great versioning features, is easy to use and provides quite a bit of storage for free. Plus, it's great for sharing files that won't be edited like pictures and videos, and syncs with the latest versions of the folders automatically instead of you having to get the content yourself.

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Watch Cricket Online for Free

So if you live in any country that is not a test-cricket playing nation, chances are good that international cricket games are not shown on your local sports channel. But fear not, thanks to the advent of the internet, there seem to be plenty of places where you can watch cricket online, for free that too!

Here's a list of three websites that seem to be working for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that seems to be going on now:

1. Cric365.info and Cric365.us -- Seems like this website has several channels so you can watch the same game on different channels and watch it on one that you prefer. I find the ads on this website a little annoying, especially since it often refreshes the page so it starts showing the ads again.
2. Cricvid.com -- This seems to be the best site to watch a particular game, since it only shows one game at a time as far as I know. But the ads on it are far less annoying than the ones on cric365
3. ESPNStar site -- Doesn't seem to work in North America though,  but if you're elsewhere (in a test cricket playing nation) then it may probably work

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How to Stop Yourself From Getting Distracted/Procrastination

For me, procrastination often occurs as a result of distraction. Although, the distraction is often a byproduct of the difficulty of a task (such as homework/projects), distraction is still the main reason why a lot of work is often left undone. If you're like me and need a little help to keep yourself away from lifesucking websites such as digg.com, xkcd.com and so on... you'll love these little apps which I'm about to mention here. What they do is fairly basic: block the internet. Of course, you could just disable your internet connection yourself, but who has the will power to do that?


Selfcontrol (free; Mac only, Linux alternative here): This app pretty much only does one thing. Prevent you from accessing the internet for a set period of time without allowing you to overrider the disconnect. Essentially, if you have to reconnect before the timer runs out you'll have to change around some system config files. While I've only tried this a handful of times, I'm surprised to say that it does work... but it takes a lot of willpower to click on the start button. Also, it might be a good idea to turn off the iPhone/BlackBerry/other Smart Phone as well, incase you get tempted to use that instead.

Freedom ($10; Mac and Windows): Like Selfcontrol Freedom offers similar abilities of being able to disconnect yourself without an option to reconnect before the timer is done.

While I think that these applications alone may not help you get rid of your habit of browsing youtube videos or checking Facebook videos, they may prove to be helpful when you're really under a deadline and can't afford getting side tracked even for a few minutes.

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Using Google Squared to shop online

Google squared is a service that has been online for the past few years. The service allows you to compare several different alternatives for a particular product by showing you the prices and details for a particular product or a range of products.


I find this service to be quite helpful when searching for a particular class of products.  For instance, if I want to check out the latest Android phones all I need to do is visit the site and search for Android phones. Like so: http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=android+phone

Google Squared showing a list of 3 android phones.

The site then shows options for three different phones and allows you to search for more phones that are similar.  You can also add different criteria to the colums and Google would try to find the information for you. For example you can add carriers, or colours or other attributes of the phones you would like to compare like battery life.

While the search feature is not perfect, it serves as a great starting point to get an idea of the different alternatives available to you. Next time you're in the market for new product, particularly a technological product, I suggest you try out Google Squared and see if it can you with helpful information.

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