Ning. http://www.ning.com/
Social networking is currently very popular. Ning takes it to the next level. It permits you create your very own social network. You can design your own profile questionnaire, choose what modules to include, and a template for your social network. Ning is a great website for organizing a group of people.
Widget Box. http://www.widgetbox.com/
Widgetbox allows people to create, distribute, and most importantly, to find and install widgets on their favorite start pages, websites, blogs or social networks. The Widget Gallery database includes over thirty thousand widgets that you can take and use on your blog or social networking profile. They are grouped by category, from Blidgets, which are blogs made into widgets, to fun and games to communication widgets and informational widgets.

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Even if this gadget is very small (you can use it as a key ring) it will still give you precise results. It has a special sensor (just like the one used on the police devices) capable to detect between .01 and 12% BAC. As we said, you can attach it to your keys or simply put it in your pocket and use it every time you need.

-Custom Animation controls the exit of elements, emphasis and entrance

- transition is animated in a variety of ways. These are the movements between slides.

- in order to create small story board, custom animation can be used by animating pictures to move, exit or enter

A computer desktop background is an image used as a background on a PC display / PC screen. Background is a fine decoration for a PC.

Nowadays, it is possible to download many free desktop background and use it on any personal computer with any operation system (MS Windows, Linux or Apple MacOS).

Whether it’s a texture pattern or an abstract  art, getting the correct theme makes more interesting the entire work. There are various cool powerpoint backgrounds on different themes such as: planes, animals, buildings, cars, computers, celebrities , games, holidays, nature, sports, world and many others.

The cool powerpoint backgrounds have played a great role, maybe some might not have noticed this. For instance, some product graphic advertisements uses light subtle background to help create focus point also websites and desktops need nice backdrops too.

The classic screen resolutions are proportional in a 4:3 ratio, so an image scaled to fit in a different-sized screen will still be the correct shape, although that scaling may impact quality.

The backgrounds resolutions are connected to common desktop resolutions: 1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1024×768 and 800×600.

Users with widescreen (16:9 or 16:10) monitors have different aspect ratio requirements for backgrounds, although images designed for standard (4:3) monitors can often be cropped or scaled to the correct shape without undue loss of quality.

If any background doesn’t fit your screen, you can use OS display properties to adjust it. The last possibility is to edit the background in a bitmap editor (MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP etc.).

Desktop backgrounds are not a desktop pattern or at least it should not be. Desktop patterns create backgrounds using repeating patters. Desktop backgrounds are unique, there are no repeating patterns.

The principal problem when enlarging an background image to match the desktop resolution is the quality loss that appears during the resize process and the distorted image that appear when aspect ratio of the background is different than the aspect ratio of the desktop. If the image is used in smaller proportion, by default, will begin to repeat if it is too small.

When tiled most images look horrible and this should be avoided. By using any photo editing, an image can be resistant. You can notice the loss in quality when you stretch a picture and you may decide not to use that picture at all. However, there are applications that can automatically establish if an image is better to be displayed tiled, resized or using its original resolution.

If we make an incursion into computer backgrounds, we can say that this begins in Renaissance and to be more specific the first computer desktop background was appears in the mid 70’s in an experimental office system, Officetalk, developed in 1975 at Xerox PARC on the Alto.

Previously to that, the white backgrounds to overlapping windows could be difficult to distinguish from window interiors. Officetalk used a pattern that produced a 25% gray, using dots two pixels high to avoid flicker on the Alto’s interlaced screen. Xerox Star adopted the same pattern.

Apple used for their Lisa and Macintosh a similar gray background. On the other hand, it was possible to use a less noticeable background pattern since these machines had non-interlaced screens, gave a 50 percent gray from a simple 2×2 repeating pattern . Once the color monitors for personal computers were introduced, this led arbitrary backgrounds non-patterned, single-color backgrounds .. There was a way to obtain a desktop picture on versions of the Mac OS before Mac OS 7. Today, the possibility to change your desktop background is a must in any operation system.

In personal use backgrounds usually fall into one of the following categories: automobiles, models and celebrities, scenery, abstract art, movies, pets, family, symmetry, and personal photos.Comics and drawings backgrounds are considered cool backgrounds among teenagers.

In display systems such as GNOME and Windows, backgrounds may be packaged along with desktop themes.

Some operating systems allow a number of different backgrounds to be used and changed from a set of selected images (either in order or shuffled) to display a different background at different times, these are called dynamic backgrounds.

Also, some programs such as Xplanet and EarthDesk use Internet connections and graphics calculations to change the background with real data, such as a shadowed view of the earth, the latest cloud or weather map, or various events.

People use cool powerpoint backgrounds to make their boring screen look more interesting.

Webcan is still used all over the world, because it enables us to see out interlocutor with a speed of 1 to 2 frames/second. The resolution is of 160 x 120 pixels or 320 x 240.

Another cool yahoo messenger tool is offline message . You can write a message to the chosen contact, although he/she is not signed in. The interoperability between Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Is very interesting. Since 2006 users can chat to each other without having to create an account on the other messenger but until now users don’t have the opportunity to use voice service. If you have Java you can challenge your contact to play games .

Unfortunately Yahoo! Messenger delivers viruses, spyware, trojans and worms to other users. Here are some methods in which hackers deliver viruses: delivering a message with a web address, sending an infected file or a crafted message. The most known viruses are created as a message that seems to come from someone you know. The message is written in a friendly way .

The problem of SPIM (unsolicited messages) is one that is not solved yet , although users continuously require solving this problem. To recover lost password for Yahoo Messenger you can use the tool Yahoo Messenger Password. Yahoo funny can be used to send funny images .

YMulti Messenger is the newest Yahoo Messenger and is perfect for those you use multiple IDs. You can read your messenger’s archive without log in. Another cool yahoo messenger tool is Messenger History Extractor which helps you to extract the messenger’s history in HTML, plain text, XML. You can choose the time period you are interested in or the contact. It is also available for other Internet Messengers such as: Miranda, ICQ, RQ.

Yahoo Messenger Spy allows you to block, record or monitor conversations. You can save messages and process them later. You can add more functions to Yahoo Messenger by using Messenger Plus. You can choose from a number of avatars, the avatar you want. Use Buddy Spy to find out what are your friends doing, even if they are invisible. Just by using YMSG protocol you can find out if your friends’ web cam is online, in what chat room they are in.

The Yahoo Messenger Monitor Sniffer is created to observe and capture conversations in a network. YTL Lite provides Yahoo Messenger with safe list, privacy, ignore bid, style and font , spam blocking. With  MSN Messenger 7 & 8 Poligamy you can use multiple MSN Messenger simultaneously. You can choose from 60 or 70 Yahoo Messenger Smiles. You just have to select  a smiley and the code will automatically be inserted .

Take advantage of the new buttons: the transparent button allows you to see another window besides the Yahoo Messenger, your desktop will be more attractive, with the stay-always on top button you can avoid the distractions , the ghost button works effective with the above mentioned buttons. ,Sent to button’’ is used when you don’t want to close your Yahoo Messenger window but you still want to check something out in, let’s say, Microsoft Word or Microsoft XL, minimize alternatively button will help you minimize the icon or you can minimize the entire Yahoo

Messenger into a small icon and place it on the desktop, ,,roll up’’ buttons will make your windows smaller but their title will be visible. Use ,,copy to clipboard’’ if you want to insert information.,, Move to monitor’’ button is useful if you want to place Yahoo Messenger on a monitor in the case when you have many monitors connected to the computer. As the name implies ,,resize’’ button will change the size of Yahoo Messenger .

Innovation is the key to success . Useful features had been implemented into MSN Messenger so this makes Yahoo Messenger be on top  leaving other services behind.

One of the coolest iPhone applications is Simplify Media and we’ll tell you exactly why. It’s an application that makes life much easier for those who have over 30 GB of music on their computer since the capacity of the iPhone is 8 or 16 GB. It’s going to be difficult to make a selection of the tracks you want to copy without wasting too much time. Simplify Media help you get the job done but you have to download it from www.simplifymedia.com to your computer if you want streaming from your PC. You also have to sign up to create your own account because the first time you launch this application on your iPhone, you will be required to type in a username and password. After that, the application will scan your library and put all the info into an interface which is very similar to that of the iPod. If you have more friends with an iPhone, get them to make their own Simplify Media account as well and you can now share music, stream tracks from one playlist to the other. We think this application is definitely something worth having on your iPhone.

CameraBag is a must if you really are into taking photos of everything around you. This application will even make your photos look all vintage. When you load this app, you will see the layout is pretty basic and simple to use. On the bottom of the screen you will notice 3 options: snap a picture, save an image or load a picture from your existent photo library. At the top of the screen you will see a word written (probably ANSEL) which is actually the mane of the filter which was used the last time. If you tap that name, you will be shown a list of ten filter which specific names (even if some of them will only be understood by real photography lovers). I think the only way to really understand how this application works is to use until you have tried out all photo possibilities and combinations (that is going to take a while). You never know what cool photos with neat special effects you might get. Just for fun, try to take someone’s photo using the FISHEYE filter. The image will be distorted as if you are looking though a fisheye lens. You can use the 1974 effect to take pictures which have a yellow tinge as if they were really taken back in that year. Even if it sometimes freezes when you try to save a picture, this application is tons of fun to use. When you are travelling, it will give you the chance to take some of the coolest photos ever. You know, for you private collection.

Now, if I had an iPhone, the first program I would get for myself is the Dragon Dictator. It’s like having a personal assistant that fits in your pocket. It’s very simple, launch the application, press the record button, start speaking and the press the done button. The speech-to-text converter will render the output in no time and if you want accurate precision, just use words like “question mark” or “period”.  You can then send an e-mail or a text message with the words you just spoke. This is very useful if you need to send a text message or an urgent e-mail while you are driving and cannot type and keep on your eyes on the road at the same time. It’s also a cool application for people who are darn right lazy and want to send a message but they don’t feel like texting. Either way, this app rocks!

We know that all work and no play can make people very angry these days do the last application for today on our list is the Sims 3 iPhone application. This game is an addiction for a lot of people worldwide and we can only imagine what will happen now that they can play it anywhere they are. We were surprised to see that this game has a very rich content. The game starts pretty much the same as the PC version. You get to create your character from scratch, choose the hairstyle, the clothes and even the zodiac sign. Your character will also have goal to achieve, he can get jobs and work to improve his skills. You explore the town you live in and interact with people just like you do on the regular PC game. This is an application that will make Sims lovers all around the world happier than ever.

In this article, we have gathered for you the coolest software we could possibly find. These are applications which are a lot of fun to use and not to mention very useful.
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The first program of this kind is Table Genie. This is an application which is very easy to use and it helps create HTML tables really fast. With the latest software version you can create entire web sites that even get Google AdSense support.  You can play with the borders and color combinations; you can add all sorts of 3D shadows plus graphical and textual watermarks to the background. It is a great tool for people who are in need fast of a website and because it’s so easy to use and makes our life much simpler, we give it an A+.

Now here is something which is bound to be useful for most parents out there. Net Nanny Mobile is a piece of very intelligent security software which basically helps you control what your kids can and cannot see when they are surfing the internet. It will even offer control of the content of the kids’ smartphones. Parents can now monitor the child’s text and e-mail messages (even MMS), they can monitor the calls and track down their youngster with GPS, browse through the photos taken and even se the call log for all voice conversations. We know this may be considered like a violation of your child privacy but since they are under-aged and walking around on the streets every day in a world full of crime, you definitely want to know where your child is at times. It’s a good way to check on what your son or daughter is doing even if you are at work all day. This is an efficient method for parents that works long hours every day and cannot spend much time with their children.

Speak-A-Message is an audio recorder that helps you make and send voice messages through e-mail. Download it; it will then be available on your desktop. You can even choose the skin or customize it by adding a personal photo. It is useful for other things as well, like recording a voice narration for a presentation or adding audio comment to your text documents. You can even add some sound effects. This little program seems to make communicating much easier, just push a couple of buttons, speak up, push a couple more and send the message on your friend’s e-mail. No more unnecessary typing for you!

Now this is something I would have loved to come across a few months earlier when I my job required me to call people in different countries all around the globe. It may be difficult to find the appropriate time to call your friends from abroad (especially if you have lots of friends in different countrie, then you have to remember the time difference for each particular zone). The Timetranslator will immediately show the local time in the country where you are calling each time you dial the country code on your cell phone. You definitely won’t find yourself in the embarrassing situation of having called to early in the morning or late at night.

This is definitely one of the coolest software pieces we have ever come across. The Object Desktop is an award-winning tool that work together with Windows to make your desktop fully customizable. It includes of series of programs that do just that. WindowBlinds will let you apply new skins for Windows. DeskScapes will work only for Vista and you can have animated wallpapers. IconPackager help you change the Windows icons and apply them to packages. SkinStudio is an editor that will let you edit the WindowBlinds skins and you can even create brand new ones. IconDeveloper helps you change the appearance of your icons. You can import images which you have designed with the help of other programs and then turn them into icons. There are two versions of this program, the Object Desktop 2008 ($50) and the Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate ($70).

Here is something that pizza lovers are going to simply adore. Domino’s pizza has come up with online software which actually helps you track down your delivery. On their website you will find out exactly what phase is your pizza going through (order placed, preparation, baking, box and delivery) and you will know exactly when it leaves the store. This will stop you from constantly wonder what you pizza is doing now, how long will it take for the delivery guy to get here.

Have you ever imagined that you can download free clips from the internet and store them on your computer… legally? BBC has launched an online video service that allows you to download some TV programs for free. The programs you download and store to your computer are coordinated by the BBC iPlayer Library and after you watch a certain show, it will be automatically deleted. The program will also erase the videos that you haven’t viewed and have been stored on your computer for 30 days.  This is an application only for Windows XP users and it is only compatible with internet Explorer and Windows Media Player 10.

This is only a small glimpse of all the cool software which is out there. The truth is, these programs make out computing life much easier and much more fun.

Hypertext Markup Language, or as it is more commonly known, HTML, is the computer language at the heart of the World Wide Web. When you create a Web site, you can use cool HTML codes to put the text, pictures, animations, and perhaps video and sound onto the individual Web pages that make up the site. In addition, HTML lets you insert hypertext links and interactive buttons that connect your Web pages to other pages on your Web site and on other Web sites around the world. Web design is a creative process, and HTML is simply one of the tools (the page description language) you use to produce Web pages.
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HTML is a text markup and not a programming language. In theory, a Web page you create using HTML should be viewable by anyone with a computer, any Web browser, and access to the Internet. In reality, the ability to view all the content on a Web page depends on the capabilities of your Web browser. Web browsers are programs that interpret the HTML in Web page documents and display text, pictures, and animations on the visitor’s computer screen. Either alone or with the help of other installed programs, browsers also play back any video and sound files you use HTML to insert on a Web page. The latest versions of the two most popular Web browsers, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, can display just about anything you can use HTML to put onto a Web page. For visitors to access Web pages on your Web site, they must first connect to the Internet and start a Web browser. After the Web server sends a Web page to the visitor’s computer, the Web browser interprets the HTML in the Web page file and displays the file’s contents as text and graphics images in the browser’s application window.

When you design a Web page, keep in mind that not all your site visitors will be using the latest version of Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Stick with the basic HTML for the majority of the content you place on your Web pages. Then, use some of HTML’s more advanced features to add pizzazz and keep site visitors coming back for another look. By combining basic and advanced cool HTML codes capabilities on the same page, you make it possible for everyone to access the important information you want to publish and for those with the latest browsers to have a truly memorable experience.

A Web page consists of a series of HTML instructions that you can enter into a file using any text editor. As mentioned previously, Web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer follow the instructions in the text document you create to display the Web page content onscreen. (Web page content is the text, graphics, and other things [such as video and sound] that you use HTML to place on a Web page.)

If you think creating a Web page document is easy, you are right. In fact, Web site creation began with the simplest of intentions. The original HTML standard described an uncomplicated, easy-to-learn language that let you create text-only documents, which were viewable by anyone who had access to the Internet. Although the HTML standards committee, the World Wide Web Consortium (or W3C), has added many new instructions (called tags and attributes) to the HTML language, you can still create even the most feature-rich Web page by typing simple HTML commands into a document you create with a text editor (such as Windows Notepad). You can visit the W3C’s Web site at http://www.w3.org/ for a complete description of various Internet technologies including HTTP, HTML, Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and so on.

Essentially, a Web page is a text file that contains instructions in the form of HTML codes (called tags) and attributes. The tags are the commands the Web browser later follows to format the text and insert the graphics images you want on the Web page. Some, but not all, HTML commands require both a start and an end tag. Those that do are called container tags, because the instruction in the start tag applies to everything the Web page contains between the start tag and the end tag. Each HTML command (that is, each HTML tag) starts with a less-than sign (<) followed by the tag’s name and any attributes, and ends with a greater-than sign (>). To create an end tag for a start tag, you insert a forward slash (/) in front of the tag’s name. Thus, a start tag has the form and an end tag has the form . The tag’s name tells the Web browser the tag’s purpose; the attributes (if any) that follow the tagname give the Web browser additional information the browser needs to carry out the tag’s instructions. For example, the following code illustrates how the start and end paragraph tags ( ) enclose, or contain, a section of text. In this example, the tag instructs the Web browser to display the text up to the tag using the default formatting rules:

This is an example of paragraph text.

If you want the browser to display the paragraph text using a specific font and color, you would add attributes that specified such things as the color, typeface, size, and so on to a tag that follows the tag and precedes the text whose look you want to specify.

To organize the various parts of the cool HTMLcodes that describes a Web page, you use a set of section tags. The types of HTML tags in each section of the Web page definition have a specific purpose:

• <html> html> These occur at the start and end of an HTML document. As such, start and end HTML tags enclose all the other HTML tags you use to describe the Web page.
• <head> head> Start and end header tags immediately follow the start HTML tags () and denote the Web page header. You can use tags in the Web page header to include such information as the name of the author and the date the author created the page. In addition, you insert tags with information that describes your page so that Web search engines can add references to your page to their search indexes. Of the HTML tags and information you place in the header section, the visitor’s browser displays only the Web page title. You insert the Web page title in the header section between start and end title tags (), as shown in the code sample that follows this list of section tags.
• <body> body> Start and end body tags immediately follow the Web page header section and denote the Web page body. The body section of the Web page contains the tags that tell the Web browser what to display onscreen and how you want it to look.

The following code illustrates the correct placement of the HTML section tags:

Note that you can write HTML tags as all uppercase, all lowercase, or a combination of the two, because Web browsers are currently case-insensitive. However, standards such as the XHTML and XML specification require that you use lowercase tags-even if Web browsers continue to support both lower and uppercase tags for a time. As such, write all your HTML tags and attributes in lowercase. That way, as Web browsers force Web designers to comply with newer standards, the Web browsers will still render correctly the Web pages you create now.

Ok, I have convinced her that computer isn’t just for messenger and my knowledge made her wish to get used with computer based applications and then starting to search for new ones. As she is a perseverant person, she asked me what applications should she get from internet and use them.

I will tell you about the top 10 coolest software for Windows that are not allowed to miss from your computer. They are not applications for let’s because this material should help Windows beginners by giving them a clue of what their computer might do.

Most of the applications are free and you don’t need to pay or register somewhere for having them.

1)      Winamp

In order to play some music on your computer, you should have installed on it a music player. The easiest and most popular music player is Winamp. It supports several extensions and you can play even videos on this player.

2)      IrfanView

This is an application that can help you visualize pictures of any extension like .gif, .jpg/jpeg, .bmp and others. It is also acting like a picture editor, allowing you to make certain modifications on picture like resize, color corrections adding effects and so on.

3)      WinRar

WinRAR is an application that allows you to archive files or unarchive the archived files downloaded or got from others. It has also a nice function, function that allows you to compress files when you are creating an archive, so your whole archive will be less sizeable and easier to send.

4) Acrobat Reader

Acrobat Reader is a must if you have some documents with the extension .PDF. If you don’t install it, you cannot open the file.

5) Microsoft Office

Even though it is not freeware, Microsoft Office gives you some trial time to try it until you get a code registration. It is a service pack providing services like Word (document editor), PowerPoint (with it you can make slideshows and many presentations), Excel (using spreadsheets in which performs calculations, analyses informations and manages lists), FrontPage (it is a web editor providing several tools for creating website pages) and many other features.

6)Nero

It is a CD-ripper which provides many features like Copying audio CDs, Erasing Discs, creating DVD/CD discs and others. It is helpful also when you are trying to copy on your computer an original CD.

7) Mozilla Firefox

Definitely if you have an internet connection you should have also an internet browser like Mozilla Firefox. Because of its internet client function, you can surf on the web and through it you can download also files from internet.

Yahoo Messenger

This is an Instant messenger client, helpful for chatting and if you have an Internet connection on your computer, you have no other way than having it installed because many of your friends may use it, and if you’re use it too you can make conversations with them, share pictures, videos, make conferences and using many other features.

9)      BSPlayer

This is a video player designated especially for watching movies through it. It can support many video extensions, and when watching movies you can browse for subtitles, play with the size of subtitles, changing their language and many other features.

10)  AVG

Of course if you are having an internet connection on your computer, you have no other way to protect it from online viruses and threats than using an antivirus program which can protect you for dangerous sites, alerts you when files are infected and deletes them and with a role of firewall can avoid hackers.

These were some basic applications for your PC, but if you want to discover more, just Google it.

According to Retrovo, a major online shopping site, there are many Netbook users who are less than enamored by Microsoft’s latest operating system. The problem lies in the fact that Windows 7 starter edition was never meant to be a savior for the Netbook anyway.

“I think most users will feel angry with having to pay the $80 for an upgrade to get those features,” said Andrew Eisner, a director with Retrovo. Latest reports are predicting that Linux Netbooks could grab over 30 percent of the share of netbook sales in this year alone and that isn’t good news for Microsoft.

Read more at Geekwithlaptop.com

Oh, well, in our modern time we use lot of times Web 2.0. Web 2.0 it’s a developed version of Web 1.0 which provides several features like blogs, wikis, networking options RSS feeds and many other features. Actually these features Web 2.0 provides us can serve as web 2.0 tools for education. How? I will give you some examples of cool web 2.0 tools for education by naming them and giving brief descriptions to help you understand why they are so necessary.

Web 2.0 tools are divided in two main categories: Tools and Office Applications, but more specific into categories like Organizers, Grade books, Research Tools, Document Managers and others.

Organizers

Stu.dicio.us: It is an organizer for students and servers also as notetaking tool through which students can create schedules, create a “to do list”, store files from classes and they are also allowed to write public notes to share them with others.

Chalksite ( for teachers): Chalksite is a kind of networking site, where teachers can create their own accounts and then they have as friends the students and of course the students’ parents who can stay in touch with marks and their children situation from school. Teachers can also use the website to send missing classes when they were sick or just missed some class.

Gradebooks

Teacher! (for teachers): The website “Teacher”, is an online tool that teachers uses to create and share classes, add students to their classes and they can also give student grades for the classes assignments and homework as well as the possibility to give them online tests.

MynoteIT: Students that owns an account on mynoteIT website, they can logon and after they are logged in, they can access their classes and also they have a grade section where they can add all the grades received.

Learning and Research

EasyBib: It is an “automatic bibliography composer” in the meaning that a student just enters its references by simply filling a form and it generates a nice styled bibliography. That’s helpful when you have an important paper and you have to pay attention at every detail, even at the bibliography.

Nuvvo:  Nuvvo is a service that provides students many courses from which they have to choose one, when searching for something. The courses are grouped on topics and you can view them only is you get an account on the website. The courses can be either free or paid.

Wikipedia: Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia using a Wiki platform. The content of the website is written by volunteers and it’s free to use it for everyone. Everyone that uses the encyclopedia can alter the content if it’s something wrong with it, or even can post articles on the site. It is the most known and largest encyclopedia from Internet.

So, as you understood, these tools can be tools for education and I think the education made through advanced technology is the best we can have in a modern Era.