Review: AlbumPlayer really lets the music play

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

AlbumPlayer is not trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, this audio software focuses its attention solely on music playback, on being jukebox software for music aficionados, and it succeeds. Its tabs let you switch between viewing all of your music, to sorting by artist, genre, composer, moods, and more. You also can create custom collections of your favorite tunes for easier access, though I found it unfortunate that you had to do so in a separate menu, rather than right in AlbumPlayer's main window. AlbumPlayer costs 30 Euros ($39 on 2/26/13) and has a free, playtime-limited demo.

The first time you run AlbumPlayer, it asks you about your input device. AlbumPlayer is designed to work with touch screen controls as well as the more standard mouse and keyboard combination. After you make your choice, the software loads, and you'll see that it includes a few music samples. The developer says he put these samples (which are very small snippets of tunes) in there so you can see how AlbumPlayer will look when content is loaded. To add your own content, you have to point AlbumPlayer in the direction of your music collection. It located and added tunes quickly, but it balked at adding much of the content from my iTunes library before I downloaded and installed a dll that it suggested. (AlbumPlayer says that this step is necessary because of licensing restrictions.)

AlbumPlayer's interface is attractive, and it makes it easy to play back your favorite tunes.

Once your music is added, you can use AlbumPlayer's slick controls to browse your collection. AlbumPlayer will allow you to rip CDs, but not burn them, nor will it sync with any portable devices (although you can copy music to a memory card). This is not an oversight, the developer says: AlbumPlayer is designed solely as a music organization and playback tool. And in that it succeeds: its slick interface lets you search through album covers, almost as if you were using a real jukebox. I tested AlbumPlayer using a mouse and keyboard and was impressed by the experience; I imagine it would be even more impressive using a touch screen.

AlbumPlayer would make an excellent addition to a party, as you could create custom collections of music and allow party guests to do the same. It includes a Party Mode, which allows guests to select songs and create playlists, but uses a password to prevent them from editing your actual music collection or messing with the contents of your PC.

Another cool party trick: if you have an iOS or Android device, you can take advantage of the TunesRemote version of AlbumPlayer. It's a 15 Euro upgrade over the Personal License, though you can purchase them as a package for 39.50 Euros ($52.89 as of 2/10). That's pricey for a music player, but it does give you the cool option of controlling the jukebox software remotely, from your mobile device.

AlbumPlayer lets you create collections of music, akin to playlists, but unfortunately, you have to do so using menus that are less attractive than the app's main interface.

Still, the bottom line is this: even the most basic version of AlbumPlayer is quite expensive at 30 Euros, which is close to $40. The demo is limited to 15 minutes of continuous play. And if you'd like to use it in a commercial setting, such as a restaurant, you'll have to pay 53 Euros for the commercial license. With that price—and its limited feature set—AlbumPlayer isn't for everyone.

Note:The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.

View the original article here

Review: Postbox is a slick, affordable desktop email client that plays nice with Gmail

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

If you're after a desktop email client that isn't Outlook, you may discover you don't have very many options. Mozilla Thunderbird is no longer actively developed; Eudora is a distant memory; The Bat! is still around, but costs $35 (or $45 for the Professional edition). One of the more appealing options available is Postbox, a slick, modern-looking desktop email client that plays nice with Gmail and will set you back just $10 after the 30-day free trial.

With all panes shown, the Postbox interface feels powerful almost to the point of being overwhelming.

Postbox v3.0.7 is actually based on Thunderbird: If you go to Tools > Options, you'll find a very familiar looking Options dialog. The rest of the interface, however, looks different. Gone is the traditional horizontally-split layout, replaced by a vertical split that puts your message headers on the left, with the message body on the right, much like the Gmail Offline Chrome extension. You can still bring the Classic View back, though.

By default, the leftmost part of the window is populated by a nested list of folders based on your Gmail labels. Almost all of my labels synced correctly, except for one: the Bulk label, which I automatically filter incoming "gray mail" into. That label never made it all the way to Postbox due to a configuration error on my Gmail account: I had to make it available via IMAP (as all other labels were set), after which it synced to Postbox without a hitch.

In the past, each email was its own little island of text. Modern clients such as Gmail changed this by showing threaded conversations, which cleverly group related emails into one cohesive view. Postbox uses the same concept, and adds a few desktop interface niceties such as being able to pop open the conversation and access a specific email directly from the list of message headers.

Postbox makes it easy to individually collapse every pane, so that you can end up with a minimalistic list of conversations if you prefer.

As much as Postbox strives to play nice with Gmail, some of the visual differences are disorienting: For example, the message list shows senders' names in bold, even for messages you've already read. The "unread" marker is a small blue dot, quite elegant, but not as obvious as bold/non-bold text. There is a way to change this, but only by manually editing the configuration (or switching to the Classic, horizontally-split, view). Another point that kept me from seriously using Postbox is the lack of support for RTL languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic. If you write even the occasional email in such a language, Postbox is out of the question.

One of the challenges of managing email is quickly getting to the messages you care about within a cluttered folder. Gmail lets you do this with blazing-fast searches and clever operators like "is:unread." Postbox offers a more visual way, in the form of the Focus Pane. This collapsible pane lets you quickly slice and dice the current folder: Show only unread messages, show only messages that have attachments, only messages from today, yesterday, the past week, or the past month, and more. Postbox even lets you assign "topics" to your emails, which are another layer of classification, distinct from labels. You can assign any email to a topic such as Work, Home, or Personal. The Focus Bar lets you quickly filter these, as well.

With the folder pane, the focus pane, the vertical conversations list, and the email preview pane, the Postbox interface feels busy. Fortunately, Postbox allows you to eliminate the folder pane by setting up a handful of favorite folders, which you can then access via a toolbar at the top of the window. You can also collapse and expand the focus pane with a single click, and even hide the email preview pane, so that you're left with just a minimalistic list of message headers.

Threaded conversations, familiar to every Gmail user, are fully supported in Postbox.

Postbox isn't perfect, but then again, the same can be said about email itself as a communication medium. Still, if you're not happy with Gmail's browser interface and yearn for the comfort of the desktop clients of yore, you would do well to try it out. Be sure to allow for an adjustment period. Slick as it may be, it's still an acquired taste.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

View the original article here

"Camping with K" go: how we quickly organized a 20-people travel in the SkyDrive Web Excel,

This week we continue to new features that we have available published recently in Excel Web for all users on SkyDrive. This post is brought to you by Lee Bizek, Program Manager on the Excel team.

My wife and I go Korrin tents each year with our closest friends. Since she is not a fan of camping without running water or electricity, we provide all amenities of the normal life the hike over at a friend's chalet, where we have the term "Camping with a K."

This variety of camping requires a bit more orchestration, so every year we must organize, who will do it, when people come and go, those who cook the meal is and what "camping necessities" are bringing people to the hut. Not everyone has an Outlook Live or Hotmail e-Mail account so have we had to file, e-Mail information collect, update our master copy and then send a final version before the weekend of camping.

With the announcement of easier collaboration on SkyDrivehave things a WHOLE LOT easier! Now we can link with all our friends, which share a file and you can edit the workbook, even simultaneously log on without using a Microsoft account!

Here is how we'll do it.

We must first upload or create the file on SkyDrive. If the file exists, we can we can access SkyDrive, Web-Excel or even desktop Excel, the sharing dialog box, if you edit the file, of SkyDrive.

By SkyDrive:

Locate the Datei.Aktivieren check box in the upper right corner of the tile file. in the top menu, select sharing.

Note: Herefor more information about the release in SkyDrive.

From the Web-Excel:

There are two ways to get the dialog box 'share'. Here is one way:

Click the tab Start on the share - button. Select share with people.

Here is the second option:

The backstage access from the file menu.Select stock.People, click share with .

In desktop Excel follow these steps:

The backstage access from the file menu.Select stock.

There are a number of options that we can use, share the workbook.

E-Mail: Can send an email directly from the dialog box. To do this, follow these steps:

In the to box , type the e-Mail addresses. Include an optional message. check the recipient can edit.Disable need everyone who report it accesses.

Post on Facebook or other social network: we do not use this option in our example do we link on certain people to send, because this option posts, so that the workbook anonymously edited all of your Facebook friends can be a link to the file on Facebook. Other social networks, like Twitter, are available via the drop down options for theServices Add.

Get a link / display and edit:Can you create a view and edit, which you can copy and paste in any form of communication, such as email, instant messaging or Word document.

By using the option send e-Mail , the e-Mail message is to look our friends:

Anonymous edit links take you to view mode by default. To edit the document, click Edit IN BROWSER.

 

Note: The user who has clicked on the link not logged in and will work as a guest.

We are really looking forward to our camping trip this year especially now that it is easier to organize our trip!

If you, our file to be used as template for planning your own trip would with friends we have added it post this for you to download.

Learn more about the sharing, of SkyDrive here.

Happy to share!

--Lee Bizek, Excel program manager

View the original article here

Review: Get software directly from the vendor with a single click with DDownloads

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Setting up a new PC can be a daunting task. Getting it out of the box and plugged in is the easy part. The challenge comes from tracking down all those little patches, utilities, and other minor software that you accumulated through the years on your old PC. Free utility DDownloads (free) helps you out by giving you easy access to hundreds of popular applications, tools, and utilities, directly from official sources.

The Home screen gives you quick access to all the main features.

It is tempting to compare DDownloads to Ninite, an online service that streamlines the installation of nearly 100 apps. What sets DDownloads apart is that has a larger selection of software (500 vs Ninite's 94), and it gives you far more control over the installation because, by default, it does not automate app installation. This can be especially important if your PC has an SSD drive, in which case you may prefer to install applications somewhere other than the default location.

The application opens to a home screen that gives you quick access to basic features, such as the various software categories, and advanced features such as silent installation and batch installation. The Windows Starter Kit provides you with a list of links for very common apps and utilities such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Microsoft .NET and Silverlight, Oracle Java runtimes, and so on.

When browsing the application databases, clicking the name of an application will show the URL for the download page in the bottom-right corner. Some applications do not allow direct links to the download, so instead DDownloads sends the URL to your Web browser, and your browser will then download the file. If you are the suspicious type, you can right-click the application name and select "Copy Download Link to Clipboard" and manually paste it into your Web browser. If the link is dead, you can use the handy "Copy App Name to Clipboard" function to try to track the app down the old-fashioned way.

DDownloads offers several advanced features as well. While it primarily lists software from a list provided by DDownloads.net, you can also add your own favorites to the list. If an application allows silent installation, DDownloads makes it very simple to do so. Technicians will be pleased to find a list of free testing apps, such as Memtest86+ and WireShark.

The organization of the apps in DDownloads can be a little confusing, and the sparse documentation doesn't help. However, after consulting with the author, I received some clarification.

This screenshot shows a portion of the software categories available in DDownloads.

There are three major download lists: "Get Apps," "Portable Apps," and "Slim Apps." Apps in the "Get Apps" section are general-audience applications. Installers are linked when available, but some apps don't have installers so an archive file (like ZIP) is linked instead. Apps in the "Portable Apps" section are self-contained apps meant to be run directly off a USB thumb drive without needing an installer of any kind. Lastly, apps in the "Slim Apps" section are apps that are not ad-supported in any way, and do not install third-party toolbars.

Besides the sparse documentation, the only other complaint I have is that the advanced features are not very easy to use. As an example, suppose you want to perform a silent install of Exact Audio Copy, a free and easy-to-use CD ripping tool. First, you download the app, which arrives with a filename eac-1.0beta3.exe. Then you move that file to the DInstalls folder in the DDownloads directory. Next you have to rename it to "Exact Audio Copy.exe," and then you can use DDownloads to perform the silent install automatically. These instructions are found in a readme.txt file included with DDownloads, but otherwise are not provided anywhere else. In a recent update, an autodetect feature was added to the Install Manager that eliminates the need to rename the installer filename, but it still has to be done manually.

These rough edges, while potentially frustrating, are pretty common with any new software, and DDownloads is just getting started. The application list grows as more users contribute their suggestions, and the developer is very responsive when it comes to fixing issues. As the project continues to mature, I expect the documentation to improve and the advanced features to become smoother to use; but even in its current state, DDownloads is an excellent tool.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Nathanael is a freelance writer who lives with his family in Caldwell, Idaho. Besides writing about software, he also specializes in eBook conversions.
More by Nathanael Strong

View the original article here

Review: CloudMagic's personalized Web search service grows up

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

CloudMagic is growing up. This super-speedy search service debuted a few years ago and over time has evolved to offer some very useful features, including Facebook and Twitter search. Now, though, CloudMagic is making some of its biggest changes yet, including the ability to integrate your personal search results with Google's global Web results. And the company is no longer offering unlimited searches for free, a move that may alienate some users. However, 50 free searches a month will suffice for many; the unlimited searches of the Pro subscription costs $5 a month.

CloudMagic's core search tools work the same as always: you sign up for an account, and link the services you'd like it to search. It supports a huge range of services, including AOL, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Gmail, Google Apps, Google Talk, GMX, Hotmail, iCloud, Mail.com, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Microsoft Office 365, MSN, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Twitter, Windows Live, and Yahoo.

Once access has been granted, CloudMagic then begins indexing your accounts, which can take some time if your accounts are sizable. It took several hours to index a Gmail account containing thousands of messages, but only a few minutes to index a newer Twitter account. You can begin searching right away, but waiting until the indexing process is complete will deliver more accurate results.

CloudMagic displays your own personal results in an unobtrusive box that appears alongside Google's Web results.

The service is still available as it has been in the past, as a browser extension for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, an add-on for Internet Explorer, and a mobile app for the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices.  The browser extensions and add-ons appear as simple search box on any relevant Web pages; if you surf to a page that doesn't support CloudMagic, you don't see the box. You can move the search box around the page if it's in your way, and you can minimize it to a corner, too.

You enter your keywords in the search box, and CloudMagic goes to work, instantly (and I do mean instantly) displaying results as you type. The results appear in a column that appears below the CloudMagic search box as soon as you begin typing. Results are organized by source; if you enter a search string while on your Gmail page, you'll see results from there, but you also can scroll down to see results from your other accounts, like Facebook and Twitter. In CloudMagic's latest iteration, the results are as accurate as speedy as they have always been.

What's new about CloudMagic is how you can access its search results. It  is no longer limited to displaying results in its own search box. CloudMagic now lets you see your personal CloudMagic results when conducting Google searches. This feature, which is available using Chrome, Firefox, and Safari with the browser extension installed (except Internet Explorer) works whenever you enter a search query in Google. CloudMagic displays your personal results—from any accounts you've indexed—alongside your Google search results. If you search for a local restaurant on the Web, CloudMagic could, for example, display any tweets or Facebook status messages your friends may have posted about it. It's a handy way to mix personal and global Web search together. Results are displayed right on Google's results pages, in a box that appears to the right side of Google's results. You can see messages, tweets, Google docs, and more, all of which are organized by source, just like any other CloudMagic results.  They don't interfere with your Google results, as they sit off to the side, but when a relevant result is returned, it's easily accessible.

While all users will appreciate CloudMagic's new search tools, some may not appreciate the new price tag that comes along with using them too frequently. CloudMagic is still offering a free version, but it's not unlimited, as it was in the past. The free version of CloudMagic is for users who need less than 50 "previews" a month; anyone needing more will have to pay $5 a month for its Pro account. CloudMagic considers a preview the action you take after getting the search result, in which you click the result that seems relevant and you're shown a quick preview of the content it returned.

In all of the time that I've been using CloudMagic, I've never used more than 50 previews per month, but if I needed to search more often, I'd be willing to pay for CloudMagic Pro. $5 a month is a small price to pay for one of the best search services around.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

View the original article here

Create your online brand with a combination of SharePoint-2013 and the Web technologies you already know

He is een kréa opgetreden bij het deserialiseren van de text in het antwoordbericht voor bewerking translate. Het quotum voor de maximumlengte van tekenreeksinhoud (8192) is overschreden bij het lezen van XML gegevens. Dit kan quotum been verhoogd door de MaxStringContentLength eigenschap op het XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object te wijzigen dat gebruikt wordt bij het maken van de XML-lezer. Rule 1, positie 8793.

This post is an introduction to how you can easily use the Design Manager alongside the web design tool you're most comfortable with to define your company's online brand using the strong content management capabilities system that is SharePoint 2013.

With SharePoint 2013, you can brand your SharePoint publishing site using the web technologies you know, the tools you like, and the devices you want, making it easier than ever before to get started as a SharePoint designer or developer. And for current SharePoint pros, don't worry. The work you've put in learning SharePoint thus far is still very applicable and your knowledge of the SharePoint publishing page model is still incredibly useful.

This post provides on overview of how you can easily use the SharePoint 2013 Design Manager and device channels alongside the web design tool you're most comfortable with to define your company's brand online. While keeping the same page rendering infrastructure, we've made three major enhancements to how you brand a SharePoint publishing site.

SharePoint still maintains its master pages and page layouts in ASP.NET but now you can also design your master pages and page layouts in HTML, including using HTML markup of SharePoint controls. In the background, SharePoint creates the corresponding ASP.NET file that it wants but that you get to ignore.

In the past, you could use CSS and JavaScript to style your site, but now those are fully integrated into your SharePoint web development experience. We did a lot of work with HTML previewing so you can style the HTML directly rather than having to use the server to see it and if you do preview on the server, you can do so in the context of any SharePoint page of your choice!

Working in the web technologies you know doesn't stop at the page layout level. The content query Web to design in XSLT is still part that required you around, but the new content search Web part is an important building block for creating search-driven experiences in SharePoint of 2013?? making sure that there was a great designer experience to go along with it was very important for US, so it is customizable with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Because we aren't assuming any SharePoint knowledge on your part, we have the Design Manager to help walk you through the of your publishing site branding. This design Manager provides a wizard-like experience to give you SharePoint development guidance side-by-side with entry points for you to view and work with your design files. Each of the steps also has its own documentation article on MSDN:

Customizing the design of your site is more than converting HTML into ASP.NET. To help you be successful in creating your site, popular placeholders are ready and waiting for your content. When it comes to page layout, we inserted all the page fields that are unique to the content type you choose-- this way, creating your SharePoint design files turns into a matter of editing and tweaking rather than creating.

With the snippet Gallery, you have a good starting point for adding SharePoint functionality to your site. For those of you familiar with previous versions of SharePoint, think of this as the set of controls that you'd access from SharePoint Designer-but a bit more than that. The snippet Gallery provides HTML version (including, in many cases, a static preview to show you what you're working with while you edit your file in something like Dreamweaver split view) components-of a set of common - including all Web part from the Web Part gallery. For each LCC, you get to tweak its properties and simply copy it into your HTML master page or page layout, and in the background, SharePoint turns it into the ASP.NET control it requires.

Figure 1. At the top of the page of the snippet Gallery is a ribbon of all the snippets. The body of the page has the snippet's description, properties and HTML code, plus a live preview. Every master page has the same snippet gallery, which is slightly different from that of page layout- and the snippet gallery of a page layout content type depends on its (because the page fields change).

People are no longer simply accessing your site with their mouse on their desktop or laptop. It is a multi-device world out there: tablets, phones, and surfaces, oh my! How do you create an experience for your users so that their screen size is best utilized? Optimized for touch-based devices? SharePoint 2013, device channels help you present your site in the way best suited to whatever device a visitor is browsing from. As the designer, you get to think about what the experience of your site should be on all different form factors, differentiated by user agent substring assigned to up to 10 different channels.

Each channel can target multiple devices. For example, you can have one channel for both Windows phones and iPhones because they are of similar screen size, and a separate channel for the iPad. You can use a different master page and CSS per channel, and you can also target content to particular channels, all while having the exact same URL (which is great for usability and search engine optimization).

By using the device channel infrastructure, you get the opportunity to use device channel Panel, which is a great asset for content targeting. Content that you put inside one of these panels is rendered only on the channels you specify based on server-side logic, which decreases the page load time and the number of bytes sent over the wire. Combining these panels with a responsive CSS design makes for a faster and more streamlined user experience. Rather than having different channels based on screen size as in the previous example, you could have an "iOS" substring-based channel that captures iPads, iPhones and iPad minis and sends a single master page that loads different CSS based on what screen resolution the device is. For example, if you were the Windows phone team, you could target iOS devices and create a panel to advertise Windows phone.

Figure 2 and Figure 3. Side-by-side design mockups of the browser and mobile experiences for a news site based on the cross-site collection publishing feature, using responsive CSS, device channel panels, and a display template that changes the appearance of content search Web part results based on device channels.

This post which at introduction to how you can easily define your company's online brand using the tools you're most comfortable with and SharePoint 2013's strong content-management system. To learn more, go check out all the content our documentation writers have written for you on MSDN. The articles build sites for SharePoint 2013, Overview of Design Manager in SharePoint 2013, and develop the site design in SharePoint 2013 are some great starting places. Happy designing!

-Alyssa Levitz, SharePoint Program Manager

View the original article here

Review: Songbird Desktop is much more than just a media player

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Songbird Desktop is a media player that's not chained to your desktop, despite its name. Although this free application for PC and Mac will organize you collection and playback audio and video files from your computer, it's also a tool for discovering new music, learning more about your favorite artists, and connecting with friends.

Songbird installs quickly and easily, but getting your music into the program is entirely up to you. You have to add files manually, by pointing Songbird in the direction of your media collection. Once your songs and videos are added to Songbird, you can take advantage of its basic media playback functions. You can play songs, rip CDs (but not burn them), create playlists, and more. Songbird does play videos, but you may have to download some video codecs to play back all files, as Songbird doesn't include some that would require it to pay a royalty.

Songbird includes a Web browser that lets you discover info about your favorite artists.

Songbird will sync with Android mobile devices and smartphones, but not Apple's products. While iPhone and iPod owners are out of luck, Android users will appreciate that Songbird syncs with their devices. I had to download an add-on from Songbird's library in order to get the application to recognize my Motorola Droid Bionic, but once I made it through that somewhat confusing process, Songbird worked seamlessly with my phone.

In fact, Songbird's extensive library of add-ons is just one of the factors that make this application so interesting. In there, you can find add-ons that will do everything from adding lyrics to songs as they play to displaying album art from Last.fm. If you're willing to spend some time poking around the add-on collection, you can find plenty of tools for customizing everything from the look of Songbird to the experience of using its Web browser, which displays right in the main window of the application. This  allows you to find out more about your favorite artists. It also allows you to connect with other users, and lets you connect via Facebook to find out what artists your friends like, too.

Songbird's interface is a bit bland, but you can customize it with skins to get a new look.

And that's not all: Songbird also works as a media server, streaming your media collection to UPnP or DLNA devices on the same local network. It's also available as a Web app and an Android app that sync with the desktop version. In short, there's not a lot Songbird can't do.  It may all be too much for the casual user who simply wants to listen to a few tunes, and if you want to sync them to your iPhone, you're out of luck. But adventurous music fans looking for a player that they can customize will find a lot to sing about in Songbird.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software appropriate to your system.

View the original article here

Join us on Tuesday's Webinar: what you need to know about PowerPoint slide masters

It is true that you can create PowerPoint presentations without slide masters or even to know what they are, but they save so much time and effort that we think you like about it know. We demonstrate this week Webinar, how the slide master-an integrated tool to master, which controls the look of your PowerPoint presentation and keeps them over constant. We start our office 15-minute Webinar to follow Pacific time, with a Q & A 09:15. Click on the link below or go to http://aka.ms/offweb more information about the connect from the series.

https://join.Microsoft.com/meet/dougt/F274WBQZ

There are two ways, you can join: you use the free download of the Lync participants to full video and sound, or use your Web browser and call audio get: Pamet.MP3 320. 3585, Conference ID: 84172528.

A video of the webinar will be posted shortly after the webinar.

What do you learn in Tuesday's Webinar:

Stop cut-and-paste in a slide master DoesWays PowerPointWhat, India MastersA quick way to your file shrink process

References for this Webinar:

--Doug Thomas

View the original article here

"Camping with K" go: how we quickly organized a 20-people travel in the SkyDrive Web Excel,

This week we continue to new features that we have available published recently in Excel Web for all users on SkyDrive. This post is brought to you by Lee Bizek, Program Manager on the Excel team.

My wife and I go Korrin tents each year with our closest friends. Since she is not a fan of camping without running water or electricity, we provide all amenities of the normal life the hike over at a friend's chalet, where we have the term "Camping with a K."

This variety of camping requires a bit more orchestration, so every year we must organize, who will do it, when people come and go, those who cook the meal is and what "camping necessities" are bringing people to the hut. Not everyone has an Outlook Live or Hotmail e-Mail account so have we had to file, e-Mail information collect, update our master copy and then send a final version before the weekend of camping.

With the announcement of easier collaboration on SkyDrivehave things a WHOLE LOT easier! Now we can link with all our friends, which share a file and you can edit the workbook, even simultaneously log on without using a Microsoft account!

Here is how we'll do it.

We must first upload or create the file on SkyDrive. If the file exists, we can we can access SkyDrive, Web-Excel or even desktop Excel, the sharing dialog box, if you edit the file, of SkyDrive.

By SkyDrive:

Locate the Datei.Aktivieren check box in the upper right corner of the tile file. in the top menu, select sharing.

Note: Herefor more information about the release in SkyDrive.

From the Web-Excel:

There are two ways to get the dialog box 'share'. Here is one way:

Click the tab Start on the share - button. Select share with people.

Here is the second option:

The backstage access from the file menu.Select stock.People, click share with .

In desktop Excel follow these steps:

The backstage access from the file menu.Select stock.

There are a number of options that we can use, share the workbook.

E-Mail: Can send an email directly from the dialog box. To do this, follow these steps:

In the to box , type the e-Mail addresses. Include an optional message. check the recipient can edit.Disable need everyone who report it accesses.

Post on Facebook or other social network: we do not use this option in our example do we link on certain people to send, because this option posts, so that the workbook anonymously edited all of your Facebook friends can be a link to the file on Facebook. Other social networks, like Twitter, are available via the drop down options for theServices Add.

Get a link / display and edit:Can you create a view and edit, which you can copy and paste in any form of communication, such as email, instant messaging or Word document.

By using the option send e-Mail , the e-Mail message is to look our friends:

Anonymous edit links take you to view mode by default. To start editing the document, click Edit WORKBOOK and the Edit in Excel Web app.

Note: The user who has clicked on the link not logged in and will work as a guest.

We are really looking forward to our camping trip this year especially now that it is easier to organize our trip!

If you, our file to be used as template for planning your own trip would with friends we have added it post this for you to download.

Learn more about the sharing, of SkyDrive here.

Happy to share!

--Lee Bizek, Excel program manager

View the original article here

Review: Dexpot virtual desktop makes feel like a native part of the Windows

Large desktop workstations have often more than enough screen: one or two 24-inch monitors to provide plenty of space for a mission-critical application, as well as multiple chat or email window next to. But if you have a Squeak with a 15-inch monitor (or maybe something even smaller), may be the next best thing to a virtual desktop laptop users additional monitor. Dexpot (25 euros, which is $33 on the 21.02.12; free for personal use) is a great way to get yourself a. Or five.

Dexpot taskbar plugin, you can use virtual desktops to control, without a special window.

I had to Dexpot in one word to describe, I would choose "customizable.". I can give me a single aspect of Dexpot you can not adjust: the animation (or lack thereof) used to switch between virtual desktops toggle number of desktops, hotkeys and active corners for desktops using keyboard and mouse, only one, are whether a virtual desktop runs all your monitors and the list goes on.

An application chooses total customization, is typically inflate the result. Dexpot tried to let you eat your cake and have it, too, through features in plugins break down you can enable or disable you prefer. Disable the plug ins animations, and sure enough, the animations go away - and do the options for them to control this. So not only you can customize the options according to your needs you can customize whether the options are also there from early on.

A learned skill is productive with virtual desktops. Because it is a paradox: a GUI assumes being able to see your applications. Hide in an imaginary desktop and you could also forget to come back later to them. To work around this issue, includes Dexpot Visual cues keep the virtual desktops and applications that contain them in the view. Food aid, Dexpot offers several features, ranging from a tiny indicator in the taskbar with the number which you are on the desktop, through a compact desktop switcher in the Windows taskbar until to an exposé-similar function, the screen shots with scaled-down versions of all window tiles you want all desktops so that you can easily click, without thinking what desk, built-in, it is (you can't learn it by entering its title, though). There is also a full screen preview mode, Division of the screen in separate desktop, you then Windows between can pull.

The preview screen shrinks, so can all virtual desktops on a physical screen and move to Windows.

When downs, some users prefer have a window with a different virtual desktop from the ALT-tab task switcher and taskbar disappear; others prefer it to stay there. Dexpot is to you, so that it is easy to experiment.

The Windows Catalog is similar to exposé on Mac, putting thumbnails of all Windows on the screen at once.

Dexpot staggering array of plug-in the and means fine-grained configuration options, the application you use only agree with the basic premise of virtual desktops, can be a useful thing. The rest is negotiable and can be flexibly adjusted.

You have a keyboard shortcut obsession, like commit Dexpot, your every desire.

Knowing how means everything must adjust to experiment with Dexpot for some time, until a combination of settings hit, which could be useful for you. But if you take the time to do this, you might realize that a 15-inch monitor is finally not so small.

Note: The download button on the product information page will download the software on your system.

Endless tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, is Erez of freelance writer on a mission, the easiest and coolest most effective software and websites to discover, make happen this morning.
More by Erez Zukerman

View the original article here

Review: MP3 rocket makes YouTube videos in MP3s

YouTube videos to your ears win much of the eyeballs, but probably much enjoyment of its contents, to get. And if you would like to transform these videos to audio files and save, MP3 rocket (free of charge) it makes it about as easy as it could be.

MP3 rocket referred to himself as an "MP3 video converter" - and it does, actually convert YouTube videos into MP3 files or your own video files. You can certain songs or videos YouTube (you can search by artist name, song title or keywords) wanted, and proved to be quite capable of accurately very quickly deliver results. Results in a new tab, which shows presented the name of the file, source, file type and popularity rating and includes options for streaming audio to check it or download it as an MP3. If you want to download the file, can you choose the location and decide, add it to your iTunes library. MP3 rocket says that it downloads songs in "High quality mode with a bit rate of at least 256 KBS." In my ears were all downloads on a par with CDs that I had burned in my iTunes library. MP3 rocket Pro, a $30-version provides downloads to a higher bitrate of 320 KBS and promises faster downloads - even though the free version took only a few minutes to get the job done.

MP3 rocket displays the search results in a clean, organized list.

MP3 rocket includes many additional features, simple file conversion. It contains an own media player so you can hear the files that you have downloaded. And it offers also video conversion tool. Can hear a file on your computer of find and convert it to a different video format for display on another device or to an audio file for that. MP3 rocket also contains a 'watch TV' feature, you can YouTube videos from within the application, an Internet radio stream and access to some games.

If you convert a video to MP3, the software can select the location and name of the file.

If you think that MP3 rocket sounds like a good way to get lots of copyright-protected content stored for free on your PC, should heed tell its terms & conditions, the user that the application should not be used, "the purpose of copyright infringement." It says that all download are done for the purposes of time-shifting, and need for "personal, private and non-commercial use only." And despite the option, which include files in your iTunes library in the EULA: "you confirm that you do not share, distribute, or transfer all files downloaded with the software in any way. "You agree to keep the recording is longer than reasonably necessary to listen to or watch the show at a more favourable time."

Let the lawyers who these conditions to think, but otherwise MP3 rocket is a clever solution for YouTube overcrowding problem. It provides an easy way to create a collection of your favorite YouTube videos for later listening.

Note: The download button on the product information page, reach the website of the manufacturer, where you can download the latest version of the software.

View the original article here