Websites for the Week - Oct 7

This is the list of websites i have found interesting while i do the 'random" browsing everyday.


There is no excuse now if you wanted to learn something on the web and time has flown . This has been the inspiration for Xuan Li  , the curator for this awesome website http://www.noexcuselist.com/index.html .
All the open course ware links are brought under one roof. Learn Music, learn cooking , learn a new language and what not.And all the links are FREE and not some tutor sites .

If u miss having a HD tv at home with an music channel on it. This http://grapevinyl.com website substitutes you for this . Wonderful songs with an HD format and can play randomly . Yea, you can do this on youtube as well with some effort by yourself . But if someone takes care of curation of content, are we not happy a little bit more :)

Well, the perfect address for  edutainment, inspiration and most awesome talks is the TED. http://blog.ted.com/2012/08/21/the-20-most-watched-ted-talks-to-date/ gives the best TED talks , rather the most watched TED talks of all time. I completed this bucket list and you should also give it a try.

Ever wonder, how awesome your office can be . http://www.officesnapshots.com/ is the link you should be browsing . Well, i am not responsible if your management doesnt agree to the changes you suggest to office landscape after seeing this link .:)

This one is for techies and the guys who want to START. http://whattouse.com/toolkit/web-site-launch-toolkit gives a list of things you need to take care when your website is being started.

And this one is for Indian history, political buffs like me . http://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2012/01/jammu-and-kashmir-injustices-and-myths.html illustrates brilliantly about the notions we have about Jammu and Kashmir .


PS: Hoping to run such series every sunday :) 

IFTTT– IF This Then That

One of the most awesome things i came across the internet is IFTTT. 

Put the internet to work for you. Seriously, automate everything what you do on internet.

For example, If u want to send out a tweet whenever u upload a video on youtube , that can be done.

Do you want to add ur favourite tweets which contain links  to the instapaper to read later , that can be done.

If you want an SMS to be sent whenever some stock raises , that can be done.

If you want all your instagram pics to be saved into dropbox, that can be done.

The total permutations and combinations one can do with all the services listed here is huge.

One such example is

 

The thing in background is pretty simple, take api of one service and poll it for every interval and if found, trigger another service.

Such an awesome idea you see. Add to that the awesomest interface to work on.

 

PS- Iam still exploring all these things.

Right now , iam using this for whenever i favourite a tweet with a link, it adds to up to my instapaper read later list.

whenever i add  a favorite to my readability list, it gets bookmarked to delicious.

Whenever i star an item in Google Reader, a tweet is sent.

Alternatives to Snaptu Twitter client

Snaptu is by far the best mobile app for low end mobile phones. I have a s40 nokia 5130 express music mobile.

Its my favourite timepass while in long journeys, the best twitter app i have seen, which also supports multiple accounts and such more awesome things.

 

Recently, Facebook has acquired Snaptu .

The snaptu facebook mobile app is now replacing or becoming the facebook app. And they have decided to not support whole lot of apps present in snapstore. Twitter was one of them and was removed starting 11/11/11.

 

So, Now currently searching for alternatives to snaptu.(or a awesome twitter client for s40) .

Looked at some of the alternatives like Gravity,socially Tweets60 etc. But nothing works on s40.

Dabr seems to be a better alternative for  its mobile browser version. Twitter mobile browsing version is also good.

 

BUT, nothing is comparable to the awesomeness of SNAPTU twitter client.

If you can find something, pls let me know.

Make Browsing Simpler

Browsing has become too complex with the advent of social media like Twitter and Facebook. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We got lot of links to watch videos , recommendations for articles shared by friends and fellow tweeple.But how to cope with all these. This is what i have been trying to do and hope it helps for all.

Three main bookmarklets to be added to your browser are Google bookmarks,Instapaper and radbox.





Google Bookmarks - Adding a new bookmark when you come across an interesting website is as easy as adding a bookmark in you browser.So far, the best bookmarking tool for me is google bookmarks.


Instapaper (Read Later bookmarklet) - This can be mainly used for articles which you find interesting and want to read later in the day.The bookmarked can be easily found at http://www.instapaper.com/u.

Radbox - This is the best for viewing the youtube videos at a later time. Whenever, you are playing a outube video file , one can bookmark that video like the above and watch them later.One can actually save it in watch later playlist, the youtube provided one. However with radbox, the videos can be viewed rom radbox website itself and can eliminate the clutter of youtube comments and recommended/related videos thereby saving the valuable previous time.

Hope these are helpful.:)

7 years of Orkut

Can somebody remember Orkut ? Yes, the social networking site by Google which actually popularised social networking in India but later lost the battle and is probably on the list of google products to be shelved.

I am really surprised why google is not concentrating on Orkut to improvise and make it stand apart from the other Social networking sites.

The new version of orkut didnt go well with the users and it just began building the coffin.

In my view , orkut still can rock.The emphasis should have been on features rather than just changing the interface.


1)Orkut communities are the best and a treasure of knowledge and memories.I visit orkut only to have a look at my favourite communities.Orkut can introduce sticky threads option.The threads can be made sticky by the moderators and the user must also be allowed to choose his favourite threads as sticky.

2) Orkut can allow sending notification mails when you recieve messages in orkut.But here it needs to be tackle spam.The notification mails can be from friends,owners or moderators of the community only to eradicate spam.

3) It is very irritating for me to enter a captcha for every third posting i do in communities. Also allow the users to rate/like the posts in Communities.

4) Sticking to the old interface could actually prove productive.That was way better . Allow the features of commenting on status updates and other things as they are currently present.

5) Develop "Share to Orkut" plugins and allow users to post videos from Youtube and etc.I dont want to explain further why they are required.

6) Allow Orkut profile pages to be googlable.

7) Make a movie with story of Orkut buyokotten on how he got this idea. This one would be a great romantic story :P

PS: When i login to facebook, its like i come out of a window to see the outside world.But when i login to orkut, its like i entered a dark room with some antiques.

Can you do nothing for 2 minutes ?

Are you ready to accept to not do anything while sitting before computer and do nothing for 2 minutes.If so, take this test . Listen to the relaxing waves .

http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/
Dont touch the mouse or keyboard for 2 minutes.

Tip : Dont close the window after u finish the test.Enjoy the relaxing sound of waves in the background.

Website of the Day - Rainymood.com

Ambiance and Surroundings play a important role while you are working and there are some websites which provides you with super background songs .
One such is rainymood.com


Listen to a soothing rain sound while working and increase productivity.

Listen it with your favourite music and relieve your stress.

Listen to the sound of nature and sleep happily.

All these can be done at rainymood.com

Also, follow the comments by fellow users and listen with the combos they suggest.:)

Quick Edit:
Other websites which offer such relaxing background sounds are
http://www.iserenity.com/environments/

http://moodturn.com/night/
PS: Website of the Day is not a sponsored activity.