Digitizd Tech Blog: Internet, Gadgets, Apps, Websites, & More

Take Your Business Phone on the Go With SendHub’s iPhone App

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Adam Thompson Adam Thompson | 1 Comment
If you’re like most of American business people, your business phone is either a second cell phone that your company gives you, or a landline sitting on your desk near your computer, and immobile by default.

SendHub has a better option. They believe that you shouldn’t have to carry two cell phones on your hip all the time, or be forced to stay at your desk to take work calls. You can have two phone lines: one for personal use, one for work, and all from a single device.

Their intuitive iOS app makes calling, texting and sending group messages to your colleagues or customers as simple as using your iPhone. Keep your personal cell number private, but also centralize all of your business communications to your primary mobile device.

SendHub’s App Offers the Following Free Features:
- Free Phone Number in any Area Code
- Free Texts & Calls
- Free Voicemail
- Group Texting for your team & customers
- Share Contact Groups With Colleagues
- Works on the Web too!
Interested in SendHub, but don’t have an iPhone? No problem. Sendhub works on any mobile device and all right from your web browser. Looking for additional features and a bit more horsepower? Check out SendHub’s Paid Plans starting at just $10 a month!

Editor’s note: This is a post from SendHub, a great company that sponsors Digitizd.
Posted in Sponsors | Tagged sendhub | 1 Reply
New Acer Aspire Video – Megan Fox Communicating With Dolphins?

Posted on November 19, 2012 by rypm rypm | NO COMMENTS

Acer has teamed up with actress Megan Fox to create a video promoting the new Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook (which I hear may offer 9-12 hours of battery life). The plot? The Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook helps Megan follow her passion for marine biology and work with scientists to communicate with dolphins.

Watch The Video:

Software That Will Let You Talk With Dolphins?
The video is humorous, but the technology actually isn’t made-up. Scientists are in fact working on hardware and software they hope will allow them to communicate with dolphins. Scientists don’t actually know whether dolphins have a language of “words”, but I for one will be very interested to hear about whatever they do discover.

Choose One
Another interesting thought – if you could spend 1 hour talking with Megan Fox, or a dolphin, which would you choose?

Posted in Sponsors | Leave a reply
How To Secure A Wireless Network (Stop Others From Using Your Connection Or Accessing Your Files)

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Mike Longo Mike Longo | NO COMMENTS
With tablets, wireless printers, laptops, netbooks, and more internet-enabled devices every day, one of the most common ways to connect to the internet is to setup a wireless home network with a router. Wireless offers so many benefits over wired connections, but you do need to take some extra security steps.

Yellow (!) = unsecured wireless network.

Maybe on occasion when traveling you connect to a nearby unsecured wireless network to access the web for free. I don’t know about you but I’m definitely guilty of doing this many times. There always seems to be at least one unsecured wireless network within range (see image to right if you don’t believe me).

If you don’t want to provide internet to the entire neighborhood (and potentially allow others to access files on your computer) if you use a router to power your wireless network, it’s essential that you secure your network with a strong password to prevent intruders.

Luckily, it’s pretty simple to setup a password to secure your wireless home network. Here’s how to secure a wireless network, the right way.

Find Your Router’s Configuration Page

The first step is to access the configuration page for your router. Each router model is slightly different and therefore the configuration page will vary. Typically you can get to the router configuration page by typing in the default gateway ip address for your home network in the address bar of a web browser.

Note: You need to remain connected to the router you’d like to secure in order for the router configuration page to load!

Below are the most common default gateway address’s to access the router configuration page (type the address into the address bar in a web browser without “http://” or “www” before the numbers).
To find out the exact default gateway address for your home network using the Windows operating system, you can navigate to the command window by searching for “cmd” in the start menu or by typing in “cmd” in the “Run..” window (Win key + R). In the command window type “ipconfig/all” and look for the default gateway address listed under the type of connection you’re using.

Login To Your Router’s Configuration Page

Now that you know the gateway address for your router, go ahead and type it in the address bar of your web browser. This should load the router configuration page. If not, the ip address you entered is incorrect or you’re not connected to your home network.

You may be prompted to enter in a username and password to access the router configuration page. If you don’t know the login credentials you can try contacting your router company, you can reset the router, or even search the web for the default username and password for your specific router model.

Assign a new password to secure your wireless network.

Setup Security Options

Once you’ve opened the router configuration page, search in the navigation menus for the wireless security settings. Each router make and model may have a different configuration page, but for the most part the options will be very similar. There may be a help link on the page to help you navigate the specific interface your router offers.

Having trouble? Using Mac OS X? For more help, feel free to checkout my complete step-by-step guide on How To Secure A Wireless Network in just seconds.
Posted in Tips | Tagged how to secure a wireless network | Leave a reply
Election Night & Online News – A Few Interesting Stats

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Adam Thompson Adam Thompson | NO COMMENTS
For better or for worse, election night here in America is over. (Come to think of it, what could be worse about the end of attack ads and robo-calls for a few more years?)

Election night for media outlets is like Black Friday for retail stores – a high point of their year. A couple days ago, I got some stats showing how many users were on the Fox News and CNN websites on Election day. There are some interesting numbers:
- Foxnews.com delivered over 6 million video starts and 3,039,989 live video streams for Election Day 2012.
- Foxnews.com maintained over 1 million concurrent site visits for 4 consecutive hours (8PM-12AM/ET).
- The CNN Politics section and CNN Digital Election Center (combined) hit 101.5 million page views on Election Day.
- CNN.com (the entire site) hit 203 million page views (from over 23 million unique visitors) on Election Day.
Needless to say, election day is one day you don’t want to schedule server maintenance, if you’re an online news site!
Posted in Fun | Tagged election, Politics | Leave a reply
16 Fun And Semi-Educational Ways To Kill A Few Minutes Online

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Adam Thompson Adam Thompson | NO COMMENTS

A couple years ago, David wrote a post titled 20 Ways to Kill a Few Minutes Online, featuring some great ways to have some fun online and maybe learn something new in the process. Here’s my addendum to David’s list of ways “to learn something, be entertained, or just have a way to goof off” for a few minutes.

This was the National Geographic photo of the day for Nov 1, 2012.

1) Enjoy National Geographic’s Photo Of The Day. Daily photo of a nature or cultural scene from somewhere on this great planet.

2) Browse an interesting sub-reddit on Reddit.com. Good places to start include Funny, ListenToThis, UpliftingNews, and many more.

3) Peruse the stunning travel photos at TourTheWorld.

4) Watch some videos from YouTube’s Recommended For You section. I regularly use YouTube and find the recommendations usually include something I like.

5) Follow The Dark Lord (or one of the other numerous parody accounts) on Twitter. Not sure The Dark Lord is educational, but it’s one of my favorite twitter accounts, so…

6) Check out Wikipedia‘s daily featured article. I guarantee you’ll learn something new.

7) Find new bands and artists to listen to on TasteKid, or by using the Related Artists feature on Last.fm.

8) Visit Braingle and put your brain to work with their collection of brain teasers, trivia, games, and more.

9) Watch Mashable’s Viral Video Of The Day. Mashable highlights a notable YouTube video each day.

10) Create your own comic strip with Strip Generator, a super easy to use, 100% free comic strip builder.

11) Test your vocabulary skills at FreeRice.com – everytime you answer a question correctly, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.

The Traveler IQ Challenge game.

12) Play the point and click Traveler IQ Challenge. You’re given a location (city, attraction, etc.) and you have to click on the map where you think it is. You’re graded based on your speed and how many kilometers away from the actual location you click.

13) Check out NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, and (if you want to learn some cool facts) read the explanation of the photo, written by a professional astronomer.

Explore the Great Barrier Reef and other destinations on Google Street View.

14) Go sightseeing with Google Streetview. From museums to underwater reefs, Google Street View allows you to tour some of the world’s greatest attractions, right from your sofa. Start at Google’s Street View gallery.

15) Inflate your ego by reading about other peoples’ epic fails. Get started at Darwin Awards, FAILblog, Epic Fail, or another fail-focused site of your choice.

16) Build and conduct your own beat box or a capella vocal group with Incredibox.

There’s my list. What are your favorite (semi useful or educational) ways to kill a few minutes online?

Posted in Fun | Leave a reply
Enter To Win A Google Nexus 7 Tablet

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Adam Thompson Adam Thompson | 19 Comments
Digitizd is giving away a free Google Nexus 7 – a tablet that’s so cool, Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg called it “the best Android tablet I’ve used”!

Hello Digitizd readers! Have you had your eye on a sleek new tablet, but can’t figure out how to convince your significant other that buying an iPad or Android tablet really is an essential living expense?

Sounds like you need to enter our contest to win a Google Nexus 7 (16GB) tablet. If you win, we’ll ship a brand new Nexus tablet right to your door.

Here’s how it works – you enter to win using one (or more) of the three methods listed below, and on November 28th, we’ll randomly select a winner. If you’re the winner, we will contact you via email or Twitter to obtain your shipping address, and a few days later, you’ll be holding a brand new tablet.

Three easy ways to enter to win:
1. Tweet a link to this contest page.
2. Go to our Facebook page and enter to win.
3. Make a post on your blog about this contest.
Feel free to enter using all 3 methods to increase your chances of winning!

Enter To Win Here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Posted in Fun | 19 Replies
How To Share A Contact List Across Your Team/Organization And Keep It Automatically Up-to-date

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Adam Thompson Adam Thompson | NO COMMENTS
No matter what type of group you’re involved in (business, charity, community organization, school, etc.), SendHub’s new Shared Groups feature makes it easy for everyone in your organization to have instant access to an up-to-date contact list.

Once a contact is added to a Shared Group, any change made to the contact record will be instantly available to any user who has permissions to view that group/contact. (There are simple permission controls so you can control who can see a contact.)

A few ways this feature could be used:
- Schools can use the feature to ensure teachers and admin staff always have the most up to date contact info for each student and parent.
- Businesses can use Shared Groups to ensure all employees have current contact details for vendors, partners, employees, clients, etc.
- Community organizations can allow each member to easily access other members’ current contact details.
Learn more – go to Send Hub’s blog posts “Introducing Shared Groups!”

Editor’s note: SendHub is a service that provides free phone calls and texting, with added features for businesses, schools, and other organizations. We’ve previously covered SendHub on Digitizd, and we’re very pleased to have them as a site sponsor. Please support Digitizd by clicking here to check out our sponsor, SendHub.
Posted in Sponsors | Leave a reply
Customizing Your Desktop: Turn Your Computer Into A Tropical Paradise (Or Whatever You Choose)

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

I’m lucky enough to have a real tropical paradise right outside my window; if I want to see palm trees and sunshine all I have to do is look up. You may not be fortunate enough to live in the tropics or the beach may hold nothing for you but bad memories of sand in the wrong places and stepping on a man-o-war.

Whatever your preference, whether it’s sand and surf or mountains, meadows and majestic forests your PC screen can become a window on that world no matter where your desk or office might be physically located. Any city, any country, any time of year there are now, literally, a world of choices available for your computer.

Wallpaper Image Slideshow

In the beginning you could change the desktop color, later you could select a picture to be your desktop background and, for a long time, that was good. Today there’s no need to be limited to just a single picture, you can set your background to rotate through several images.

This functionality is built-in for Mac and if you’re a Linux user you can try Crebs.

Screensavers

Screensavers started out as a way to images from burning an image on the phosphor behind the screen. Even though modern monitors don’t have phosphor or an electron gun, screensavers can add both security and a touch of visual panache for your PC.

Screensaver.com has a huge selection of screensavers, many of which are free, some cost a few dollars. One of the more popular screensavers is the Living Marine Aquarium.

Do be aware that some office networks will not allow custom screensavers, although it’s usually possible to negotiate a compromise. A few are vehicles for spyware or pop up ads, so be careful where you shop.

Video Screensavers

Now you can take any video clip and turn it into a screensaver. Point to the screensaver to a folder of videos and you can have them play either randomly or in sequential order.

If you have an older version of Windows there’s a video screensaver from Microsoft or if you have Windows 7 just right click on the desktop and select Personalize > Screen Saver > Windows Live Photo Gallery and under the Settings tab point it to a folder with images and video.

You can also find applications that will let you use YouTube videos as screensavers.

So there’s no need to feel trapped at the office or a long way from travel adventure. With screensavers, wallpaper and custom themes for your browser you can pretend your PC is a window to anywhere.

Posted in Apps, Tips | Tagged rotating wallpapers, Screensavers, video screensavers, youtube screensavers | Leave a reply
Organize Your Digital Life – ToDo Apps

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

When GPS first came out for your car I resented them a little because the last thing I needed was something else in my life telling me what to do. But the utility outweighed the annoyance, particularly after I discovered the MUTE AUDIO option.

For the same reasons, I hesitated a long time before taking advantage of electronic ToDo lists, particularly those which allow other users to add items to my list. But a life well lived is a full one and that means meetings, events, friends, relatives, travel, adventure and activities. The more events and people in your life, the more there is to remember and details to track.

Even slow-adopters like me eventually will cave to the necessity of electronic assistance in managing a busy schedule and, in many ways, it can be wonderfully liberating. There are some new ToDo and Task managers that are really handy. You can not only track your schedule, but integrate across all the devices in your life and the software you’re using now. Here are my picks for the best digital Task and ToDo managers.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist gets my top pick for several reasons, but primarily because it’s one of the few that is platform independent. It will run on any of the major operating systems including Linux, Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry, Windows Phone or even a web browser.

As for features Wunderlist does it all. You can set reminders on any device and sync it with the rest of your digital life through their cloud connector or send lists to others via email.

Wunderlist also pays attention to user feedback and loops those suggestions back into development. The one feature that would make it a home run, being able to add tasks to someone else’s list, is currently under development and should be available soon.

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk has been around forever is one of the more mature task managers available. Add notes to tasks, which is very handy, and sync them with Google Calendar.

The option for email and SMS options is another plus for Remember The Milk, along with working offline and sharing task lists.

ToDo

ToDo 5 is a bit Apple-centric but makes the list because it incorporates elements from project management and syncs with Outlook.

ToodleDo

ToodleDo makes the list for multi-platform support, customizable alarms, filters that can mask some less important tasks, and online synchronization. ToodleDo also analyzes your work patterns and can assist with scheduling and if you have two hours free, ToodleDo can suggest task items to fill the time you have available.

ToodleDo’s automation pushes the envelope in time management and also gets an award for having the best name.

Any of these apps will help you keep up with the modern pace of life and all have unique features that separate them functionally. The one that’s right for you is the one with the features you need and matches your needs. For me that’s Wunderlist because I prefer apps that run on any OS, but most of the others have online components that skirt the OS issue to a greater or lesser degree.

Posted in Apps | Tagged best time management programs, email alerts, SMS alerts, task list managers, ToDo lists | 1 Reply
Using 1Password To Organize Your Digital Life

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

When it comes to paid software, I’ll admit to being tight with a buck. It’s one of the reasons I’ve used GIMP for so many years instead of springing for Photoshop. Sometimes I’ll loosen up the wallet, but only for a particularly good piece of software or to support continued development of a product like Corel AfterShot Pro (which is one of the few professional photo products that is available for Windows, Mac and Linux).

Another class of software products that get my money are the ones that save me time, because at the pace business moves today, time really is money. If the time I get back is worth the investment the developer gets my money, which brings us to 1Password by AgileBits.

1Password is more than just a password manager

1Password is one of those applications that you marvel has not been developed before now, as it goes beyond password applications and fills a unique role as an online identity manager. One of the biggest bonuses is integration between your desktop, laptop and mobile devices.

The biggest handicap for most people using secure passwords is remembering them. A password like SD1798$z33A#CC98!13 is a fairly secure, but most people could not remember it without writing it down. Even if you could remember it, imagine trying to use a different but similarly secure password at every website you visit!

With 1Password, security and convenience combine into one application that lets you generate and use unique, secure passwords and store them in an encrypted wallet that integrates with your browser. But the real bonus with 1Password is the integration between your desktop, laptop and mobile devices. You can pass the encrypted password container between any Windows, iOS or Android device.

If that was all it did 1Password would be a winner, but the functionality doesn’t stop there. It also securely stores your credit card numbers and bank account data. On top of that it integrates secure notes about each site. So, if you’re like me and keep forgetting the answers to your secret questions, you can make notes in 1Password and be confident those notes are safe from prying eyes.

1Password will organize your online identities, site logins and software licenses in one place. In the newest version, 1Pasword3, is a feature called PasswordAnywhere, that lets you access your password and login information securely from any web browser on any OS.

For tech administrators who may access a wide variety of accounts on customer machines, an application like 1Password can be a lifesaver. No more unencrypted spreadsheets loaded with sensitive customer data or group passwords used by everyone in the company! You can even set up separate business and personal logins on individual sites and set up secure notes to yourself about customer systems.

Once you get used to 1Password you quickly start wondering how the world got by without an application like this for so long. It’s one of those gems in the software world that’s way overdue and well worth the money.

My only ding is they don’t have a Linux version and no plans to develop one, though you can use the PasswordAnywhere feature with any operating system. Still, it is convenience combined with security, and that alone makes it worth a look.

Posted in Apps, Reviews | Tagged 1Password, multi-platform password application, secure password storage | Leave a reply

« Previous
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
…
131
Next »

Enter To Win Here:

Screensavers

Video Screensavers