Do you want to Print a YouTube Video?

The other day I came across a web app that allowed users to print GIF animations as flipbooks. The site – gifprint.com – isn’t working anymore but the idea is nonetheless interesting. The app extracts all the image frames of an animated GIF, arranges the individual frames in sequence and then creates a PDF file ready to be sent to the printer.
We can do something similar for YouTube videos as well. See sample.
When you are watching any video on the YouTube website, the storyboard for that video is automatically downloaded in the background. Our Print YouTube bookmarklet stitches all these storyboard frames as one large poster as shown in the video demo.
Print YouTube Video To get started, drag the above bookmarklet to your bookmarks toolbar. Then open any video on YouTube, click the bookmarklet link and it should instantly generate a storyboard for that video which you can either print or save as PDF.
These storyboards offer a visual summary of videos and you can generate them for short videos as well as full-length movies on YouTube. ↓

Tech Blog » Internet » Bookmarklet » Print » Do you want to Print a YouTube Video?

Drag and Drop to Quickly Share Files from your Desktop

CloudUp is a simple but useful utility for Windows and Mac that lets you quickly share pictures, documents, pictures, music and other files.
You can drag one or more files from the desktop to the CloudUp icon sitting in the Windows Taskbar, or the menubar of your Mac, and they are instantly sent to the cloud. And not just files, you can drag-and-drop entire folders to the CloudUp icon and it will upload all the included files in one go.
A link to the uploaded files is automatically copied to the clipboard that you can share over email, IM chats, text messages or the social web. CloudUp generates the URL even while your files are getting uploaded in the background so there’s no waiting time.
The files that you upload to CloudUp have a secret but public URL and anyone who knows that URL can see your files and download them. You however do have an option to password-protect your shared files for added privacy.
CloudUp isn’t the only app that offers simple drag-n-drop style file sharing. There’s Droplr (available for both Windows and Mac) and CloudApp (Mac only). These apps offer similar functionality but there are restrictions on how much data you can share with free accounts.
CloudApp lets you share up to 10 files a day and the maximum size of a file can be 25 MB. Droplr offers 1 GB of storage and the limit is 25 MB per upload. CloudUp is more generous – you can upload up to 1,000 files and the maximum size of files can be up to 100 MB each.
CloudUp is slowly opening up to new users but use this special link in case you wish to jump the waiting list.

Tech Blog » Software » Mac » Windows » Drag and Drop to Quickly Share Files from your Desktop

Google Maps’ revamped interface now available to all

Image Source: www.engadget.com

Tech giant Google that came up with certain updates for its Maps service earlier during the Google I/O now has made its Google Map’s revamped interface available to all.
Since the Google I/O, the company started the closed invite-only beta for its new Maps. But now, it has made the Google Maps preview version available. Now, when you would open the Google Maps on your web browser, you will be presented with the option of trying out the new Maps interface. You can also take a browsing look at the newly added features and some of the existing features that have succeeded to make it to the new interface of Google Maps. A video is also available that you can watch to get introduced with new Google Maps.
While the beauty of Google maps has been compromised, as it does not looks attractive or pretty, but it is only the preview and seems to be to some extent feature-incomplete. The search giant has still not added support and shore up for multi-level maps, the ability to add any new destinations while using route-planning and indoor maps. The earlier feature, that is, the find me button could also not make it to the new version of Maps. This feature was used for focusing on the area around us. However, like the recent update to the mobile version of Google maps, this new desktop version will have greater emphasis on reviews and ratings, and will offer a cleaner & tidier interface.
Google Maps utility has also been released for its tech rival Apple’s product iPads. The Google maps for the tablets also has the same interface which has been introduced in the newer update launched recently. However, the Google maps version for iPads is packed with some interesting features like Explore Option.

Google gets an Eiffel

Image Source: www.sites.duke.edu

The search giant Google has scaled France’s world famous Eiffel tower. Google very well knows how to invade and this is what it did. Google unlike the early time invaders did not send any armies but it did send some of its technicians on the Eiffel Tower for recording the sensations that more tha 7 million  visitors experience every year on it. The results of this trek can be seen on Google.
In one of his blog posts Mark Yoshitake of Google, mentioned about this veritable travelogue while exposing the details pertaining to their trek towards sky through the Eiffel tower. Actually, the Eiffel Tower company collaborated with one the Google’s institute, known as Google Cultural Institute for creating an exhibition on of its kind, that will cover the places where only a handful of high school field tours have gone before. Thus, Google on this request made its journey to the Eiffel Tower.
The company’s operatives on the way lead by some street view trolleys captured some eye-catching and striking images which have been placed with the other archival material for dignified levels of edification and tutoring. Google introduced a full 360 degree street view imagery of the Paris’s Eiffel tower’s all the main floors.
A few weeks ago Google captured similar images from the world’s tallest building Burf khalifa of Dubai and released street view imagery of that as well. Google made people go mesmerize by the panoramic footage  that was collected from atop the Burf Khalifa and now Google came up with a whole new imagery from the Eiffel Tower.
What can be said apart that Google has been become quite used to scaling newer heights these days.  Google has reached the sky and one can only hope for some new and exciting imageries to come from the other parts of the world.

Apple launches new versions of Logic Pro & MainStage 3

Image source: www.automation-drive.com

The technology giant, Apple Inc, today has launched the much awaited Logic Pro X & MainStage 3. The software now incorporates latest interface, expanded collection of effect & instruments along with set of new creative tools.
Logic Pro X is Apple’s most recent version of digital audio workstation while MainStage 3 is the most recent version of Logic Pro X‘s live performance companion app from Apple. These new advancements in Logic Pro X have been equipped with new inspired tools, a new & unique interface along with expanded compilation of effects & instruments. On the other hand, the app, MainStage 3 has been re-defined with completely new & advanced interface. This new app is expected to be highly compatible & attuned with new Logic Pro X’s patches, plug-ins as well as its smart controls.
According to reports, Apple Inc has added not one or two but a total of 9 new advanced plug-ins in the latest update of its software. These new plug-ins include Bass Amp Designer, Retro Synth, Arpeggiator and Vintage Keyboards. Not only this, Apple has also announced initiation of Logic Remote that will facilitate the consumers to control their Logic Pro X from their iPads.
The Senior Vice President of Apple’s worldwide marketing, Mr. Philips Schiller has stated over the launch that Logic Pro X is so far the most advanced & powerful version Apple has launched till date. In words of  Mr. Philips, the company has tried its best to equip Logic Pro X with new & advanced tools along with an up to dated new interface that has been specially designed to rationalize the course of crafting professional superior quality music for users.
The price of Logic Pro X in India has been fixed 11,500 in Indian currency while for MainStage 3 it has been fixed 1,650 in Indian currency. Both of these are available to be purchased at the Mac Apple Store

Evernote makes big effort to sync up apps with Windows, Android and iOS updates

image source: www.evernote.com

Evernote updated its iOS app recently for including a multitude of some new premium and free features to its note-taking app. For those who happen to be tech savvy but do not use applications or smart phones, Evernote is an application which was launched few years ago and has dynamically taken the note-taking space by storm.
Today Evernote announced that it has added some more features in its offerings including the ability to add some shortcuts of your own on your iOS powered device and sync to access them from anywhere. These shortcuts are referred as Favourites and would essentially allow the user to easily access the most popular notebooks, tags or notes all of which are synced across your various iOS powered devices. Moreover, Skitch integration has been added to the apps iOS version which lets you to mark up notes, pdfs and images by using skitch button. But you would have to skitch app for using it with Evernote.
Along with these iOS updates, Evernote did not ignore the other prominent smart device operating systems like Android and windows. Evernote 5 was introduced first time on android while the windows phone users also received a  huge update from Evernote as Evernote 5 beta. It ultimately catches up the windows application to its MAC  counterpart with enhanced discovery and search along with a brand new interface.
These updates came together and proved cross-platform nature of Evernote once again. For Evernote its quite important to keep all its versions running on various platforms at the same level so that its users who are syncing or planning to sync across various devices don’t have to feel use the Evernote’s lesser recent version at any time. Evernote’s collective updates every time for all the platforms are what make it highly popular among users.

4G LTE connectivity deployed at Mount Everest base camp

image source: www.slashgear.com

The highest mountain peak of the world is boasting 4G network. Now the mountaineers climbing Mt. Everest can access 4G data services on its base camp.
As per a press statement of Huawei,  the Chinese equipment manufacturer and mobile operator have successfully set their4G LTE TDD network on the base camp of Mount Everest at an altitude of 5200 mt above the sea level. However, this was not the first attempt of this kind on this giant peak, earlier the two companies had deployed a GSM network on the same base camp in 2008. prior to this, a Nepalese telecom company NCell also had setup a 3G network at the base camp of Mount Everest. This network is still home to the highest mobile network tower of the world.
While talking about this recently launched service, David Wang, the president of Huawei Wireless Networks, mentioned that bringing 4G on Mount Everest is an imperative milestone in the global development of LTE TDD. We are quite excited about this achievement and look forward towards working with more telecom operators around the globe in order to bring high-speed mobile broadband services anywhere and anytime.
This newly installed  network  will offer high speed data coverage and  increased network connectivity to the mountaineers. It will significantly contribute in ensuring enhanced safety to the mountaineers. Also the 4D LTE TDD technology that has been offered at the base camp of Mt. Everest is quite different from the LTE FDD technology supporting the 4G services being offered in USA, Latin America, Japan and European countries.  LTE TDD is prevalent in Asian countries like India. China along with some European and African markets. Thus, the data cards, tablets, wireless modems and mobile handsets which are equipped with LTE FDD compatible chops will not function in this newly deployed network.

US spent $630,000 to ‘buy’ Facebook fans

Image Source: www.bulklikes.com

Recent reports have heated up the environment of the global market with the news that USA has allegedly spent total $630,000 in a period of just last two years. But the object US has spent this money is the thing that has actually created a chaos. The State Department of US has spent this money to buy ‘Facebook fans’.
The reports were out on Wednesday that US government has spent a huge $630,000 in last 2 years time just to win a big amount (in millions) of fans & “likes” on the pages of its Facebook accounts. The critics are taking it as a negative thing especially in times of such relentless government sternness measures.
This mocking news came out as a result of report provided by none other than the associate of Inspector General Office who provided information that 2 advertising & promotional campaigns which were launched in the year 2011 & 2012 had cost nearly $630,000. They have also said in the reports that these campaigns were initiated with an objective of outreaching world platforms to get engaged with global audiences. This was to be fulfilled by mounting the amount of fans of Facebook page of government.
The report which has created a big chaos came last month officially. According the report, majority of the bureau has been criticizing this step of making a purchase of fans and doing such a big investment especially in such hard times of less economic growth. Jen Psaki, the spokeswoman of State Department has said that this report will be taken seriously. According to announcement majority of report’s recommendations are likely to get implemented by October 2014.
According to the report, by end of mid March Bureau of International Information Programs has managed to attract fans (approximately 2.5 million) for the four thematic Facebook pages. But only 2% have been actually & enthusiastically engaged with these pages.

Leap Motion to be finally launched on 22nd July

Image Source: www.theverge.com

One of the newest innovations in the technology, Leap Motion is all ready for a launch on 22^nd July this year. The launch has already been delayed twice and the fans all over the world have been waiting for the end product since last so many months. But the company officials have announced its final launch on the above mentioned date.
Leap Motion is a product of Leap Inc, a technology development based company from California, USA. The company and the product belong to David Holz and Michael Buckwald. Leap Motion is the hardware they have produced along with its own software version and apps that can provide the users with a hand free gesture control to their laptops and desktops.
Leap Motion has been a huge hit ever since its information was out in the market. The biggest plus factor behind the huge success of Leap device is the fact that a user, with a mere lift of finger or a wave of the hand can control & use their systems. This control will be accurately same as one do with their system’s mouse but there will be no need of holding any pointing device. It is not any kind of touch based technology either. It is totally hand free gesture control and makes use of just a small (almost 3 inch) hardware device that will come up with its drivers for users from 22^nd July after launch.
This is the company’s third attempt of launch. Earlier it was 13^th May but the launch was postponed to 22^nd July due to the delayed Beta tests and high demand of pre-orders which were not fulfilled by May. Before May the launch was also postponed but company officials said that this is the final date for launch now and the Leap device will be available to users from 22^nd July since they will start their shipping from this date.

Use Google as a Proxy Server to Bypass Paywalls, Download Files

If you have trouble accessing a web page either because the website is blocked at your workplace, or because that page happens to be behind a paywall, there are a couple of undocumented Google proxy servers that may help you read that page.

When you access any page via one of these Google proxies, the content of that page gets downloaded on Google servers and then served to you. The lesser-known gmodules.com proxy, discussed later, will even allow you to download documents, videos and other web files that are otherwise blocked.

1. Google Translate as a Proxy

To use Google Translate as a proxy, set the destination language as the actual language of the page and the source language as anything but the destination language.
For instance, if you are to access a page written in English, set the destination language (tl) in the translate URL as “en” and the source language (sl) as “ja” for Japanese. (example)

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://example.com/

Google Translate Proxy (bookmarklet) Advantage: This is the most popular Google proxy and the download web pages looks exactly like the original provided the domains serving the images and CSS aren’t blocked at your place.

2. Google Mobilizer as a Proxy

Next in the list is Google’s Mobilizer service. Google has discontinued the main mobilizer service on google.com (secure) but you can still access it through any country-specific Google domain like google.co.in or google.ie. The URL would be:

http://www.google.ie/gwt/x?u=http://example.com/ (example)

Google Mobilizer Proxy (bookmarklet) Advantage: The presentation (CSS) isn’t retained but this mode is perfect for reading text-heavy pages and do have the option of disabling inline images for faster loading.

3. Google Modules as a Proxy

The gmodules.com domain is part of the Google personalized homepage service and is primarily used for hosting gadgets that are available for the Google homepage.

http://www.gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http://example.com/ (example)

Google Modules Proxy (bookmarklet) Advantage: This is the only Google proxy that will let you download files (like PDFs, .MP4 videos, etc) in addition to viewing regular web pages.
Finally, if none of the above proxies work, you can always check the Google Cache or create your proxy server using either this Google Script or the more advanced Google App Engine.