Oficina cibernética del Dr. Moisés Orengo-Avilés: October 2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CeeVee - quick

CeeVee - quick & painless résumé management

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Top 10 Cool Uses For Old Computers And Laptops

Top 10 Cool Uses For Old Computers And Laptops: "

So you finally bought a new computer and your old one sits in the corner and is collecting dust. That’s too bad because there are a number of good uses for old computers.

Whether it’s a desktop computer or a laptop, whether or not it’s broken, and no matter how old it is, it can still be useful to you or someone else.

So if you still don’t have any idea what to do with it, you might find some inspiration in this article.

1. Run a Geek Beamer

It’s an unlikely scenario, but say you had an excess TFT screen, maybe with a broken backlight so it remains black, you could still use it to build your own geeky projector. You will need a working overhead projector and a computer or laptop to run the movies or whatever else you want to watch with it. Here’s the how-to video:

Unfortunately, Tom’s Hardware Guide took down the complete guide.

2. Create a Digital Photo Frame

good uses for old computers If your old laptop screen is OK and if either the hard drive or CD/DVD drive are working, you can use it to build a cheap digital photo frame. With a working wireless connection you could even make it show your latest Flickr photos.

You’ll find detailed instructions all over the net. Repair4Laptop.org provides an extensive list of instructions sorted by laptop models. Unfortunately, some links are outdated. If you have a spare G4 Powerbook, try this article at Instructables, and for the digital photo frame connecting to Flickr, Mike from PopSci used an old IBM ThinkPad T21 and Slickr, as described here. Shuttertalk has instructions using a LCD monitor and laptop.

3. Create an External Hard Drive

good uses for old computers If parts of your laptop or desktop computer hardware are broken, you can salvage the working parts. So if the hard drive is still working, you can dismount it and transform it into an external and portable hard drive for your new computer. You’ll have to invest in a USB caddy, which can be acquired cheaply through eBay, Amazon or your local hardware dealer. Be sure to get the right format and connector for your hard drive. For a laptop hard drive, you’ll need a 2.5″ IDE or SATA caddy. For a regular hard drive, generally a 3.5″ IDE or SATA caddy is in order.

4. Make Money

good uses for old computers You can dismantle your entire broken computer or laptop and sell the working parts on eBay. Hard drive, RAM, A/C adapters, motherboards, graphics and audio cards, and even an intact case will return some cash.

It’s not a very unique use, but you may be able to save up some extra money to buy that cool tool you’ve been wanting to get.

To learn more about the inside of your computer, try Karl’s Own PC Building Guide, a free MakeUseOf free guide. To succeed on eBay, apply my 7 Tips for Private eBay Sellers.

5. Make Someone Happy

uses for old computers The next best way to use your still working old computer is to make someone else happy!

You could offer the computer on your local FreeCycle.org group or ask friends, family, and people in your community whether anyone needs a computer for simple tasks. Alternatively, you could donate your laptop or computer through an official organization, such as Computers with Causes.

Freecycle is mentioned in my post about 6 Amazing Web Communities for Exchanging Favors.

6. Donate CPU Time

uses for old computers If you would rather donate to something bigger, such as science, you could hook up the old computer to the internet, install a program such as SETI@home or Proteins@home, and run these programs all day and night.

The computer could sit in a dead corner of your house and would require a monitor only occasionally. You would invest as little as a bit of electricity and bandwidth.

Ryan has composed a great article about how 10 Ways To Donate Your CPU Time To Science.

7. Try Linux

uses for old computers If you’re a Windows user, having an extra computer to play with is your prime chance to get familiar with Linux. And you may just be surprised by how smoothly Linux runs on your old machine. The reason is that Linux demands much less power.

Stefan has written a Linux guide for Newbies, which will guide you through setting up Ubuntu and your first steps with it.

8. Use it as File or Print Server

Transform your old computer into a workhorse with only the essential software components, including Windows File and Printer sharing. Next, hook up all your external devices to it, such as an external hard drive or printer, and make them available to all other computers in the house.

9. Set up an external Firewall or Router

use of old computers Separating your firewall from the PC you are using, and running it on a standalone computer that sits between the internet and your actual operating system, is a powerful way to protect your data. With Linux as the firewall computer’s operating system it’s almost perfect.

Lockup has a guide on how to turn your old PC into a NAT firewall router. At Associated Content, you will find an article that explains how to use free software to set up a first class firewall. And finally, Instructables has a guide on how to build your own gateway firewall.

10. Turn it into a Media Station

use of old computers Load all your music and videos onto this computer, if necessary supply it with an external hard drive, set up your favorite media player, listen to Last.fm, install a TV tuner card and record movies, record music from radio stations, download MP3s, stream music throughout the house using wireless speakers etc.

There are many more options of how you can use an old computer for entertainment purposes, just be creative!

To help you set it all up, we have some material in store for you. Will wrote about the Top 5 Free Media Players For Windows. Ryan covered the Best Sites To Watch TV On Your Computer Over The Internet. Using a wireless connection, you could set up this additional “internet TV” in the kitchen or office. If you would like to record music, read my article about 3 Easy Tools to Record Streaming Music as MP3 Files. And I’m sure you’ll discover many more resources on MakeUseOf.

Can you think of even better ways to use an old computer or laptop? Let’s hear!

Image credits: ryas, dolar, svilen001, ilco

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Monday, October 26, 2009

How to Create Free Websites Instantly to Share Information Fast

How to Create Free Websites Instantly to Share Information Fast: "

160305794_99090d7888 Have you ever felt envious of bloggers for having the platform to share whatever is on their mind? Well, nowadays there is no need to maintain a fully fledged blog in order to share cool things you find, interesting email you get and other things that require setting up a web page.

You can easily create free websites instantly in order to share content with the world. Here are some web applications that will allow you to share files and emails, create anonymous web pages and annotate links you share.

Note that all the applications presented here are registration-free and only require one or two mouse clicks to get going. Another advantage is that they save the time of opening attached files or reading text offsite. After you set them up you can easily share them via Twitter, email, Facebook and so on.

Transform an email into a webpage

Moomeo is a nifty little web service that transforms an email into a public webpage. Just forward any email to post@moomeo.com and within a minute you’ll get back a link you to a webpage you can share.

The webpage contains exactly the email you sent, with the attachments displayed in a sidebar, along with some sharing options (Twitter, Facebook and more). At the bottom of the page people can comment. See a screenshot below or visit a live example.

moomeo‎

Go ahead and try it right away! Send an email to post@moomeo.com.

File to webpage

file2.ws is a great tool for sharing files by using them to create free websites instantly. It can handle numerous kinds of files, including images, audio, documents, programming source code, web documents, and archive.

To set up a file based webpage, click ‘Choose file‘, browser for a file on your computer (up to 15 MB), and click ‘Start conversion‘.

file2.ws ‎2

Once uploading is done, you’ll see a link to the webpage. People with whom you share it will be able to see the file without downloading or opening it. If they do wish to save the file to their computer – there is a direct link at the bottom of the page.

Here is an example of an Excel file I’ve shared.

Start from scratch

Several services will let you create a standalone webpage from scratch. Copytaste, Dinkypage, and Pastehtml will all do the work, each with its own special features. The services vary in the ability to comment, adding or not adding advertisements and so on. All work within a single click and allow you to edit the HTML or just write plain text.

Annotate any webpage

Pagetweet is designed to let you annotate webpages before you share them. You can add a 140-character comment at the top of any webpage.

Pagetweet

After you enter the page’s URL and add the comment, you’ll get a link to the exact same page, with the comment at the top of it. People who visit this link will see the webpage along with your comment. If they forward it – other people will see your comments as well, so it is better than just sharing a link via Twitter or email.

See below how an annotated webpage looks like. Visit the actual page here.

Pagetweet2

Do you know other cool ways to share content online? Share it with us in the comments!

Image Credit : Immagina

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

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Gantter.com - web-based project management alternative

Gantter.com - web-based project management alternative

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Ninite – Easily Install All Your Favorite Free Apps In One Go

Ninite – Easily Install All Your Favorite Free Apps In One Go: "

niniteHead So when you get a new machine or you do a reformat what is the first thing you do? If you are not imaging your system, chances are you will need to install the pieces of software that enable your machine to be a tool instead of a big paper weight.

I find myself downloading Putty, VLC, Firefox and a multitude of other applications each time I install. The ones I downloaded the last time around are easily outdated.

It is important to grab the latest and greatest versions to protect against bugs or other issues with the software. So you have a list of 10 items you need to download and install. Wouldn’t it be MUCH easier if we could select these applications from a list or website and have IT download and install my applications?

It sure would be! And now we will show you how you can do just that! Head on over to Ninite and once you are there it will be a breeze to get the applications you want on your system with a limited amount of clicking. (Note: Ninite currently works only on Windows PCs)

Once you hit the installer app site you will see a screen that looks like this:

ninite- installer app

Under the instructions you will see applications and check boxes. You can install from a vast array of applications ranging from Skype to Firefox, Dropbox to Google Earth and back to Putty and Notepad ++. You will see the applications broken up into categories that include Web Browsers, Messaging, Imaging, Documents, Anti Virus, File Sharing, utilities, compression, tools and other items. The list is quite extensive but if something is not there you can suggest it!

installer app

Let’s run through the list and check the check box next to each item you want to download. If you want FoxIt reader installed simply click the box next to it – it is that simple. When you are done selecting the items you want in your installer app, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen.

ninite3

You will see directly under the entry for Eclipse there is a grey button that says – Get Installer. All you need to do is hit this button and a custom installer app will be created for you on the fly so you can install all of these packages with ease. I selected 3 items and hit Get Installer.

ninite4

The screen changed and told me the download would start shortly – I can only imagine they are compiling your download at this point. And sure enough in about 1 minute another window popped up.

ninite5

My new installer app was ready to be downloaded and installed. I clicked Save File and Firefox saved the file to my normal download folder. I navigated through the jungle that is my hard drive and double clicked on the executable. The file’s name has all of the applications listed that you selected. That’s nifty!

ninite6