PDFmyURL – Make PDFs of Webpages Instantly!

I found a nice resource called PDFmyURL.com. It’s an easy way to create PDFs of webpages you want to save, send, or attach. It’s best use for public websites — websites that do no require passwords or IP-restricted. There’s also a bookmarklet that you can drag into your Firefox toolbar.

To use it, simply put in the URL of the website into the textbox. Hit the go icon, and save the file. Pretty simple!

Special thanks to Phil Bradley for tweeting about it!

Popularity: 1% [?]

CES 2010: AlgebraPrep iPhone Apps

Learning math has never been easier! Pearson and Modality have teamed up to create the AlgebraPrep iPhone/iPod Touch app series that provide algebra help anytime with practice tests along with video solutions. Now you can have your own 24/7 Algebra Tutor, anytime, anywhere!

Elayn Martin-Gay, award-winning instructor, firmly believes that every student can succeed in mathematics, and this is reinforced in her new AlgebraPrep Apps.

What I really love most about these apps is the way they teach you by example how equations and problems are solved. You have the option of taking a practice or mini test. In a practice test, you get multiple chances to pick the correct answer. If you answer correctly, you can move on to the next question. If you answer incorrectly, the app will give you a hint on what you need to do. After you finish a practice test, you’re ready for the mini test which are designed to be taken in 10 minutes or less.

These apps are simple yet sophisicated for students in middle and high school. I’d highly recommend them for students learning math.

AlgebraPrep Apps are available for the following topics:

• Factoring
• Exponents
• Real Numbers
• Rationals
• Equations
• Roots/Radicals
• Graphing
• Systems
• Quadratic Equations
• Practice Mid-Term
• Practice Final Exam

All apps are $2.99, except for the Practice Final Exam, which is $6.99. Find AlgebraPrep in the iTunes App Store.

For more information, see Pearson AlgebraPrep official website.

Popularity: 2% [?]

iPhone App Review: Qik Live

Name: Qik Live (iTunes)
Written By: Qik.com
Category: Photography
Price: Free

Size: 3.3 MB
Requirements: iPhone
Version: 4.40
Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

It’s been a long wait, but now it’s finally available in the iTunes app store! Qik Live debuted on December 24th, 2009 – just in time to capture those special holiday moments! Qik Live is a live video streaming app that allows you to share pieces of everyday life experiences with your friends and family as they happen via your cellphone / iPhone.

Creating a video is quite easy. If you’re a first time Qik user, a short registration page will show up when you launch the app. It’ll ask you to create a new username, password, and if you want your location to show when you stream. The latter option can be changed when you start streaming or in the settings options.

Once you fill out the form, you’re ready to start streaming live video! Click on the red button at the bottom and your video is live! You can also record an offline video if you like. And the video will be uploaded when your toggle the online button. The Qik app has two parts to it. The top display is what’s being recorded in your video. The bottom display is where your live audience can chat with you.

To change the video options, tap on the video display. Options include Mute, Toggle chat, Set permissions (Public or Private video), Edit video details, Share Video, and Send email.

In the “Share Video” option, you can post your video onto various social networks including Facebook, Twitter, 12seconds.tv, Brightcove, YouTube, Tumblr, or your contacts. To activate these social networks, you must first log onto Qik.com and add in the credentials. The newest share option is the ability to “add contact.” You can select contacts from your addressbook and an email will be sent to your friends/families telling them where the link to your Qik video is.

More options are available when you log into the Qik.com website. You can update your settings and add additional social network options to your account. For example, you can set your account to send an automatic tweet when you start streaming, or have your video uploaded to 12seconds, or YouTube by default.

The user interface is beautifully done and the app is very user-friendly. The are a few minor improvements that I’d like to see on the Qik Live iPhone app though. I would love a landscape mode where the chat overlays the video and the record button is on the side. Holding the iPhone sideways seems more natural to me because it’s similar to holding a camera.

In addition to the mobile app on various mobile platforms, Qik also comes to the desktop called Qik-in-Touch. Qik-in-Touch is a desktop air app that will notify people of when live videos happen. It’s very fun to see what your family and friends are up to, the moment it happens, right on your desktop!

Although Qik Live is new to the iTunes App Store, it has been supported on various phones. See the supported phones page for more information.

Some things to remember before using Qik are:

1. Recording videos with the app uses up a lot of battery power.
2. Set your privacy settings accordingly.
3. You can connect with your audience and talk to them over Qik.
4. There are multiple ways of using Qik – have fun, be creative, and enjoy!

Overall, Qik is a great app that lets you experience what your friends and family are doing no matter where you are. That way you never miss an important moment again. Qik Live for the iPhone is freely available in the iTunes App Store.

Screenshots

Popularity: 2% [?]

iPhone App Review: Coolibah

Name: Coolibah [itunes link="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coolibah-digital-scrapbooking/id325079858?mt=8&uo=4" title="Coolibah_Partners-Coolibah_-_Digital_Scrapbooking"]
Written By: Coolibah.me
Category: Lifestyle
Price: $4.99 FREE

Size: 16.5 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch
Version: 1.0
Rate: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

If you love scrapbooking, you’ll definitely love the iPhone/iPod touch app called Coolibah. It’s a premium digital scrapbooking app for all your iPhone and iPod Touch photos.

Creating a new scrapbook is very simple and only takes seconds! There’s a free kit that’s pre-installed when you purchase the app. Start a new page by picking a background for your layout. Then add a photo, a few embellishments, and maybe some text. Then viola, you’re done creating your first digital iPhone scrapbook page! Now repeat the steps by adding another page to it and another, and before you know it, you’ll have an entire book documenting your vacation or subject!

Once you’re done, export the book and the pages will be added into your Photo roll. If you like, these can be easily used to print great 4×6 prints as well, or be uploaded to various social networks.

To me, browsing the gallery is one of my favorite things to do in the app. The gallery includes beautiful kits with embellishments created by premium designers. Kits are free or costs about 99 cents each. This is denoted by a gift icon (free) or a dollar sign. You can even browse the elements in the kits before purchasing them.

Some editing features include adding one or more photos to pages, resizing, rotating, and adding shadow to embellishments, as well as sending elements to the foreground or background. There is also the undo, redo, and delete options. When selecting an element to edit, it will be highlighted in yellow. Use one finger to move it on the page, two-finger pinch to resize it, and three fingers to rotate the embellishment. You can personalize your page even further by adding text in a variety of fonts and colors.

Some features I’d like to see in future builds would be:

• Ability to view new kits in the gallery on any type of connection (currently viewable on only wifi)
• Ability to reorder the pages in a scrapbook
• Ability to combine pages indifferent scrapbooks

Overall, this app is a fabulous solution on how to organize and dress up your iPhone photos, or fill in that scrapbooking itch while on the road! It’s a lot of fun, especially when you’re on vacation. It only takes a few seconds to create a fun postcard to email or post! For more tips, tutorials, and information, see the official website or the App Store.

Screenshots

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone App Review: I Am T-Pain

Written by: Al Morita

I’m a big fan when it comes to music apps, especially ones that let you be creative. “I am T-Pain” has two modes – one lets you sing like T-Pain on his songs and a freestyle mode that is worth the $2.99 alone. When connected to a speaker, the freestyle mode lets you use the app like an auto-tune machine. You have the option to have the auto-tune setting set to T-Pain or you can customize the tuning to major, minor, and even chromatic scales. This app works great for non-singers and singers alike as it automatically adjusts your voice to the nearest note in real-time.

The “I am T-Pain” app includes 14 songs to sing along with. Five of them are instrumental versions of T-Pain songs including the hits “Bartender” and “Dreamgirl.” Three are Christmas karaoke songs, and the other six are T-Pain beats you can freestyle with. You can also purchase additional T-Pain songs in the app for $0.99 – $1.99. None of the songs are installed by default, so you might spend some time downloading the songs if you have a slow connection. I found the karaoke interface to be very good with easy-to-read lyrics on the screen. If you mess up, you can easily restart the song. By default, all your songs are recorded onto your device so you can listen to them later. You can also upload your audio track to the Smule server and also add an audio player with your songs to MySpace and Facebook. They also updated the app so you can sing along to any song in your iTunes library, which is a cool feature. The only limitation in this mode is that you can’t upload it to the server.

This app has many hours worth of entertainment with the auto-tune feature and a good list of songs to sing along with. I applaud Smule for updating the app with new features and songs. They made an excellent product even better. The possibilities are endless, who knows – you might see someone using the “I am T-Pain” app at your next karaoke party. I know I will.

Pros:

• Excellent auto-tune feature in real-time
• Good selection of songs with app
• Share your songs via the upload feature
• Ability to sing to any song in your iTunes library
• Solid karaoke mode
• Good recording quality

Cons:

• Needs vocal recording level option

Learn more about the I Am T-Pain app in the App Store

Popularity: 2% [?]

Screencasting Tools

I attended a “How-to Screencast” session at the library, and here were the free tools demonstrated in the workshop.

The screencast software that were demonstrated were:

• Screencast-o-matic
• Windows Media Encoder
• Jing

Read more

Popularity: 1% [?]

More Google Wave Invites!

December is finally here. Happy Holidays! I thought I’d start off the month by giving away a few more Google Wave invites! I’ve been giving them away on a first comment, first serve basis, so I thought I’d change it up this time around.

If you would like a Google Wave invite, please answer the questions below. I will send invites to the most creative answers! Hint: longer answers help!

The reason why I do this is 1) I don’t want to give accounts to spammers and 2) I like to get to know my readers and 3) because it’s fun!

Note: Please leave your gmail account in the email field below (or another way for me to contact you!)

1. How are you going to spend your holiday season?
2. What is your favorite book, movie, or song?
3. What is your favorite internet web show?
4. What is your social media tool(s) of choice?
5. What is one thing you know about me?
6. What would you like to know more about me?

Good luck! I will start sending out the invites this weekend, and continue to while supplies last!

Books on Google Wave

• The Complete Guide to Google Wave by Gina Trapani — only $6 eBook
• Google Wave: Up and Running – On sale for $19.79

Popularity: 1% [?]

Geeky Gifts for Your Holiday Shopping List

Trying to find the perfect gift for a particular geek? Lucky you, I hand-picked a few geeky items to help you with your holiday shopping list. Good luck this holiday season!

Book Geek

Kindle Wireless Reading Device
Perfect for the bookworm friend. They can carry their library with the – up to 1,500 books! This is actually something I’m saving up for. It’d be nice to be able to carry my library right in my purse. The built-in PDF Reader is perfect for my documents as well.

The Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7″ Display) is also available in the US Only.

Some of my favorite books are also available in Kindle edition:

• The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
• Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie Tie-in Edition (rack) (Narnia)
• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Gadget Geek

Flip Ultra Camcorder 2nd Generation, 120 Minutes (White)
Perfect for capturing the most memorable holiday moments. Currently on sale for $99, was $149.

iHome iP27BR Portable Travel Alarm Clock For ipod (Black)
I own this iPhone travel alarm clock / charger / speaker gadget and I absolutely love it! It charges my iPhone when I’m asleep and the big display of the clock is perfect when I wake up. Not to mention, my music sounds great on it. There’s a small remote to control what’s playing.

Geek Gamer

The Beatles: Rock Band (for Wii / PS3 / Xbox 360)
Geek gamers and music geeks alike would love this. It’s the perfect entertainment for any party!

Wii Gaming Console
This is my favorite gaming console! I especially love it because of Wii Sports and Wii Fit! And I can’t wait for my Wii Fit Plus to arrive!

PlayStation 3
Looking for a great Blu-Ray player? This one serves both gaming and movie viewing purposes! Adding this to my wishlist. :)

Nintendo DSi
Perfect gaming device when traveling with kids. Comes in a variety of colors. My favorite educational DS games are Brain Age and Big Brain.

Apple iPod touch 8 GB (3rd Generation)
Believe it or not, my iPhone and iPod Touch are my mobile gaming consoles! There are plenty of games in the iTunes store to keep anyone busy. There’s also productive and educational apps as well. :)

Movie & TV Geek

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy & BD-Live)
Know of a Harry Potter fan? Pre-order the latest movie for only $15.99.

Star Trek (Single-Disc Edition)
Who doesn’t love Star Trek?!

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
This show will have you laughing for hours! Happy geeks watch The Big Bang Theory. :)

Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]
Great movie for the whole family!

The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2
Great and funny show about a group of online gamers.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
A musical about heroes and blogging!

(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar (feat. Felicia Day)
Awesome song about online gaming.

Geek Traveler

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 10.5 Hour Battery Life

Know of a geek who’s always on the go? Why not make their luggage lighter with this netbook? It’s only 2.9 lbs, $335.56, and has a 1.3 MP webcam and 10.5 hours of battery life. It’s actually small enough to fit in a purse. ;) Available in black and blue.

Photo Geek

Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD
Canon Powershots are just amazing. I love the size and quality of photos taken from them. This one has a nice big viewing LCD and 3x optical zoom, and comes in a variety of colors. Available for $149! Also, for a limited time, the camera will come with a free 4 GB SD memory card!

XShot Camera Extender – Black (XS2379)
Perfect for taking pictures when no one is around. Also a great gift of the geek traveler.

Joby GP1-EPEN Gorillapod Flexible Tripod (Pink)
I absolutely LOVE my gorillapod. It’s perfect when I want to record videos (especially time lapsed ones) or take a timed photo. Get creative and put your camera on a bike or tree for different angles. It comes in a variety of colors.

Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card
Perfect for the super shutterfly! He/She will never run out of memory again! Just make sure their camera takes SD cards before buying!

Geek Wardrobe

Well, geeks need clothes too. Here are a few items that speaks their language!

OMG Pwnies Tee – my favorite ladies’ geek t-shirt.

There’s No Place Like 127.0.0.1 T-Shirt – because there is no place like home!

Geek Love Poem T-shirt – because you’re the CSS to my HTML!

SQL query – laughs.

Newbie – for the geeklings!

Creative and Artistic Geek

Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8-Inch Pen Tablet
Although there’s a higher model of the tablet, I think this model is great for the money. I personally use this model on a day-to-day basis and I love it. The Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet is also available for a bit more.

Cricut 29-0001 Personal Electronic Cutting Machine
This personal cutting machine is perfect for the paper crafters and scrapbookers. No computer is required for operating this.

Still can’t pick a gift? Why not get them an Amazon Gift Certificate and let them pick themselves! They’re perfect for purchasing mp3s, Kindle books, or anything on Amazon. iTunes Gift Certificates are awesome as well!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Black Friday App

Name: Black Friday App (iTunes Link)
Written By: DealNews.com
Category: News
Price: Free

Size: 0.3 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch
Version: 2.1
Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

Black Friday is just a few days away, and what better way to plan your shopping list than with the Black Friday App for the iPhone / iPod Touch? Browse ads from various stores, including Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club, Gamestop, Office Depot, Staples, Toys R Us, RadioShack, Target, Walmart, and more!

Simply select a store and browse its ads. If you find an item you like, click on the item and then click on the icon in the lower right. This will add the item to your shopping list.

Other features include:

• Links to stores’ websites, locations, and ads.
• Displays stores’ hours.
• Deals separated into categories
• Browse deals by stores
• Browse deals as they are posted on DealsNews.com
• Ads are marked as a rumor or confirmed deal as appropriate.
• Ads that are no longer valid will be removed from your shopping list.

You can add as many items as you like onto your list, however, there is no option to remove the items from your shopping list yet.

Overall, if you’re looking for Black Friday deals, this is the best app for that. It’s simple, intuitive, and best of all, it’s free!

Related Links

• Get $3 in MP3s From Amazon!
• Get Amazon Gift Certificates
• Amazon BlackFriday Deals Week

Popularity: 2% [?]

Get $3 in MP3s From Amazon!

Love music? Get $3 in MP3s from Amazon! This offer is only valid until Nov. 30th, 2009 11:59pm PST, so hurry! Happy Thanksgiving! :)

More deals: BlackFriday Specials: $5 Music Albums!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Firefox for Mobile Devices

I’m really looking forward to trying out Firefox mobile when it’s released. Below is a video that highlights what Firefox mobile can do.

Swiping left and right to see the controls is a great idea since space is very limited. And the AwesomeBar sounds, well, awesome! I really like the idea of Weave Sync as well. This technology syncs your mobile, work desktop, home desktop, etc. for a seamless transition in web browsing. Location-Aware browsing sounds pretty amazing. It’s like having Yelp for topics you’re browsing on! Check out the video for more features.

Meet some of the members of the Mozilla Mobile Team as they give you a quick tour of the user interface and features of Firefox for mobile devices, including the Awesome Bar, Weave Sync, add-ons and tabbed browsing, to name a few.

Related Links

• More about Firefox hacking and coding

Popularity: 2% [?]

Google Wave Invites

Update: 11/13/2009, 10am PST – I’m so sorry, but I am out of Google invites at this time. When I get a new batch of invites, I will announce it on Twitter. Please follow @daynah for updates. Thank you for understanding.

Would you like a Google Wave invite? I have some to give out! All you have to do is leave a comment answering these three quick questions:

1. What are your favorite mobile games (games for iPhone, DS Lite, other smartphones, etc.)?
2. What’s something you know about me?
3. What would you use Google Wave for?

Be sure to leave your Gmail address somewhere also – either in the email field or comment — so I can send you the invite! This is on a first comment, first serve basis, so hurry before I run out of invites. ;)

For more tech news, giveaways, and updates, please follow my Twitter account @daynah. Google Wave ya later!

Note: Google Wave accounts are not activated right away. Activation may take up to a few days.

Related Links

• Books on Google Wave
• Tekzilla Explains Google Wave
• My First Look at Google Wave
• What is Google Wave?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Twitter Lists

I’m really enjoying Twitter Lists. I know there are a few services out there that do this already, but I like to keep my lists in one place on Twitter.

Twitter Lists are currently in beta, and have been released to a few testers. Note: Some links in this post may only work if you have lists added to your account.

Twitter Lists help you organize and discover new people with similar interests. And since list are created by real users, I’m sure you will find quality twitter accounts to follow.

Some Twitter Lists features include:

1. Ability to create up to 20 different lists of Twitter people
2. Ability to add people to lists, but not necessary follow them
3. Ability to follow other people’s lists

Useful Links:

1. Lists that I created and follow
2. lists that I’m a member of

Note: These links only work if you have Lists enabled in your Twitter account.
Read more

Popularity: 2% [?]

iPhone App Review: UC Map

Starting your first year of college? Feeling a little lost? Not to worry! There’s an app to help you find your way around campus! Logical Dimensions has developed a variety of iPhone applications that map out some of the popular college campuses.

The example app used in this review will be on the “UC Map” bundle. This app includes maps of all 10 campuses in the University of CA system. It’s perfect for college students, faculties, staff, or anyone who visits any of the UC campuses often. Also see the other campus map apps available.

The app was built with simplicity in mind. To use it, scroll and select the campus map you would like to see. Once you make your selection, click on “Buildings” at the bottom. Now, select the buildings you would like to find on the campus by tapping on them. Note, you may select more than one. Once you are done with your selection, tap on “Map” at the bottom. This will pull up Google Maps with pins on all the buildings you selected.

Tap on a pin and you will get options for “Walking Direction,” “Driving direction,” and “Public Transit.” Upon your selection, Google Maps app will open up, show your route, directions, and estimated time of arrival from your current location to the selected building. This will surely help you on your first week of classes. Note, the GPS coordination are not always exact, so be sure to use it only as a guidance.

To test out this app, you can download the UCD Map for free. All other individual campus map apps are 99 cents, and only the UC Map Bundle is $1.99 (but includes all 10 UC campuses).

See all of the Logical Dimension Apps here.

This article was originally published in iProng Magazine.

Popularity: 2% [?]

AppShopper: Find Apps for your iPhone/iPod Touch

AppShopper.com is my favorite website for finding new and interesting apps. It’s updated frequently as new apps are added/update in the iTunes App Store. And now they just made it really easy for me to share my list of favorite iPhone apps! I’ll be updating this list as I find some cool apps to play with. You can sign up for an account and make your own list as well. I also have a wishlist of iPhone apps that I may purchase in the future once their price drops a bit. Yes.. all I want for Christmas are iTunes gift certificates. :)

Here are some tips on how to use the website:

• There are many ways to sort apps on the website. Use them all! :)
• If you’re looking for free bargains, select “Free” and “Price Changes”. This way, you will get see all the free apps that recently reduced their prices.
• See an app you like but don’t want to pay full price for it yet? Add it to your wishlist and select “Notify me of price drops by e-mail.
• There are a ton of apps in the iTunes App store. Create a list and share the apps you think are worth using. This will help you and others discover new apps as you contribute to the community.

If you have an AppShopper iPhone apps list, please share them in the comment box below!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Google Chrome Themes

I’ve never really noticed the new Google Chrome Themes until I saw that cute corner fold at the bottom of the page today.

Why stick with this default theme:

Read more

Popularity: 5% [?]

gdgt Launched!

There’s one thing that you need to know about me if you don’t already — I LOVE GADGETS. I’m a total gadget geek and I’m sure a lot of you are as well. I had two friends call me “Mary Poppins” recently because I was pulling all sorts of random gadgets out of my purse. I’ll take it as a compliment since she’s quite a lovely lady. :)

So what can make me more happier than having a new shiny toy to play with? Joining a social network built around a community of shiny gadgets of course! I joined gdgt today and absolutely love the concept and community. The website is run by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas — two amazing gadget gurus, along with with the rest of the gdgt team!

So how does it work? My friend Veronica will tell you how!

Read more

Popularity: 4% [?]

First Look at Google Wave

This is my first look at Google Wave. My account was activated today, and I’m quite thrilled to try it out. I’ll post more as figure out things. For now, this is my first screenshot.

(Bigger Version)

First impression, it looks like an email client, but it’s not. I wanted to change my profile photo, so I clicked on the blank square in the “Contacts” section and it gave me a link to change my photo. This link takes me to my sandbox gmail settings. After more clicking, it takes me to my sandbox Gmail account. It looks like email isn’t integrated into Google Wave interface (yet?) besides having the two accounts linked up.

Read more

Popularity: 20% [?]

Web Design Volume 4

I was at Costco and glanced at their magazine selection. My eyes quickly passed by all the celebrity gossip magazines and when I saw Web Design Volume 4 I quickly jumped for joy. I browsed through a few pages, and knew I definitely had to have it. There’s lots of great tips on web design and awesome step-by-step tutorials. I highly recommend getting this. I’m really enjoying the section that talks about WordPress and its history. It just brought back so many memories of my early blogging/web designing days. Michel V and b2 were mentioned in this article. Yup, that’s how WordPress all started. ;)

This bookazine is $29.99, but with a Costco membership, it’s $21.99. Enjoy!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Loving AllTop.com

I really love AllTop.com. What is it you should ask? It’s an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. Tell them what you’re interested in, and they’ll bring you stories from the best websites and blogs on the topic. All the topics, all the time.

So far, my favorite topics are Scrapbooking, Geeks, Egos, Food, Travel, iPhone, and Tech! I’m sure I’ll find more favorites as I keep diving in it.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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