Transfer files directly between computers for free

          FilesOverMiles.com provides free online service for transferring files between computers.

Features of FilesOverMiles service:
  1. No registration is required to avail the service.
  2. No installation of any software or plug-in.
  3. Faster file transfer than any IM client (like GTalk) as it uses no intermediate server for transferring files. Files are sent the shortest way - directly between the sender and recipient.
  4. Password authentication for identifying intended recipient of file.
  5. Shows recipient's IP address to detect fraud.
Requirements:
How to use service:
  1. Open http://www.filesovermiles.com

  2.           Click on 'Browse' to locate the file on the hard disk.

  3.           FilesOverMiles.com generates a Unique URL for referencing the file. You can enter password for authentication purpose.
  4. Pass on this URL and password to intended recipient of the file.

  5.           If the file is password protected, it asks for password. Enter the password and click download.

  6.           In this process, sender computer acts as a file server. Multiple recipients can download file at a time. FilesOverMiles.com shows recipients' IP addresses for detecting unauthenticated access to your file. You can ask your friend about his computer's external IP address and confirm it with one shown on your screen. Currently, your computer's external IP address is
  7. Downloaded file on client side is saved in RAM. After downloading entire file, it asks for saving file.
Limitations of service:
  1. File size restriction: A sender may upload only those files that are smaller than the memory available on his/her computer. In turn, a recipient may download only those files that are smaller than half of the memory available on his/her computer.
  2. No resume supported: Once sender closes browser window for FilesOverMiles.com, receiver has to download entire file if it is not downloaded completely. File transfer resume is not yet supported.
Future perspectives of FilesOverMiles.com:
  1. No file size restriction: File restriction in FilesOverMiles.com service is due to it's dependency on Adobe Flash player. Future releases of Adobe flash player may remove this restriction so we can transfer file of any size.
  2. Resuming file transfer process: FilesOverMiles.com currently does not support resumption of file transfer. Once browser is closed by sender, receiver has to download entire file again if file transfer is not complete.
  3. Peer to Peer algorithm implementaion like BitTorrent: As told earlier, FilesOverMiles.com allows multiple recipient to download file. But these receivers download file from original sender like conventional file server. FilesOverMiles.com is is working on implementing Peer to Peer algorithm like BitTorrent so that each client will download as well as upload data which he/she has downloaded.
References:
Click here to post comment


Bookmarklets, useful javascript programs

          Each bookmarklet is a tiny program (a JavaScript application) contained in a bookmark (the URL is a "javascript:" URL) which can be saved and used the same way you use normal bookmarks. They add one-click functionality to a browser or web page. They are different from extensions installed in a web browser. The idea was suggested in the Netscape JavaScript Guide.

Bookmarklets are free:
          There is a limited amount of room in a bookmark URL field. Most of the famous browsers allow URL size less than 2000 characters. They may produce error after that. Read more about URL size limit here. This means that each bookmarklet is much simpler than a traditional program. They are usually two or three lines of code.

Are bookmarklets safe?
          Bookmarklets are safer than traditional software for the following reasons:
  1. They are less error prone to syntax and logical mistakes as they are very small.
  2. No separate software installation is required to run them.
  3. Your hard drive is protected by JavaScript security restrictions imposed on bookmarklets.
  4. If something goes wrong (e.g. Using a Netscape-only bookmarklet on Internet Explorer) the worst thing that is likely to happen is to get a JavaScript error message.
Browser requirement for running bookmarklet:
          Bookmarklets require Netscape 3, Explorer 4, Mozilla Firefox 2 (or later versions of these browsers) with JavaScript enabled. Any other browser supporting java script will also do.

Usage of bookmarklet:

          Bookmarklets are simple one click tools which add functionality to the browser. For example, they can:
  1. Modify font size, background color of web page
  2. Extract data from a web page (e.g., hyperlinks, images, text, etc.)
  3. Query a search engine.
  4. Submit the current page to a link validation service, or translation service.
  5. Set commonly chosen configuration options when the page itself provides no way to do this.
Sample bookmarklets:
  1. SideWiki bookmarklet: SideWiki is released by Google on . You can install Google toolbar with SideWiki from http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html. Browsers get updated regularly so you can not guarantee that SideWiki functionality in Google toolbar will work on updated beta version of your browser. Click here to see and write SideWikis for this page. You need to sign in your gmail account for writing a SideWiki. I have already written first SideWiki to demonstrate functionality.
  2. Rapidshare.com hack bookmarklet: Open your rapidshare.com .Then click on free user. As soon as timer start type javascript:alert(c=0) in adress bar and press enter. A pop up message will come. Click ok and start downloading file without waiting.
  3. See 0th link in a web page: javascript:alert(document.links[0].href). 0th link is the 1st link which a search engine bot finds while parsing that page. You can find 5th link on page by substituting 4 in place of 0 in booklet code.
  4. Simple Firefox Notepad: Notepad (default size: 450x350) and Notepad (default size: 550x700)
  5. Edit this web page: Edit this web page. Click at any point on web page and start editing (insert characters, delete characters etc.). After running above bookmarklet, text links become unclickable. Only flashes and hyper linked images can be clicked. You can always save edited page with 'Save As' option. This is very similar to writing a post for your website in Compose mode. Hit reload to get rid of the effect.
  6. Crazy images: Crazy images. This bookmarklet will scoop up all the images on the web page and have them start spiraling around. Again Hit refresh to stop images spiraling.
Get more bookmarklet:
          Following sites contain number of useful bookmarklets.
  1. http://www.marklets.com/bookmarklets
  2. https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets
  3. http://mozilla.gunnars.net/bookmarklets/trans-how-to.html
  4. http://www.7is7.com/software/bookmarklets/notepad.html
References:
Click here to post comment


EPUB creation tool, EPUB reader, EPUB converter, EPUB checker, kindle

          EPUB is an XML-based file format designed to reflow text according to screen size. on mobile devices.PDF is still the format of choice over EPUB for most people. But many publishers have already started to create ebooks with EPUB format so as to reduce creation and conversion cost of ebooks and they can bring more books to market within less time. Google book website also has started to offer ebooks in EPUB format at http://books.google.com. See list of publishers who are member of IDPF(International Digital Publishing Forum) and supporting reflowable text format standardization here. EPUB file format and its compression guarantee a fixed time to display any given page of the book.

Reflowable format:
          Publication file formats are separated into two categories.

  1. Fixed layout formats
  2. Reflowable formats
          Fixed layout formats are typically designed for printing, they include PostScript and Adobe PDF. The content of fixed layout files is displayed the same way things will appear once printed. Images, words, paragraphs, columns are positioned at fixed coordinates within a page. The size of the page is imposed.
          Reflowable formats are typically designed to be displayed on a screens for which the size is not known or imposed. HTML and plain text are reflowable formats. Read more about formats at here and here

Free .epub creation tool:
eCub - a simple .epub creation tool:
          eCub is a cross-platform tool for creating EPUB and MobiPocket books. eCub supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris x86. Download eCub 1.07 here.

Free EPUB readers:
  1. Adobe Digital Editions: It provides support for Sony® Reader. It support both PDF and EPUB format. Download Digital Editions 1.7.1 here
  2. calibre (Windows, Mac, Linux): calibre is a one stop solution to all your e-book needs. It is open source and cross-platform in design. calibre is meant to be a complete e-library solution and thus includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to ebook conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer. Download calibre-0.6.21 here
  3. Stanza: With Stanza, we can read eBooks on Mac or PC and share with iPhone, iPod Touch, & Kindle. We can organize library, browse online catalog, save place, find favorites and more. Download Stanza for Apple Macintosh, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch and Microsoft Windows here

Free EPUB to PDF converters:
  1. Calibre: Calibre can convert an ebook from EPUB to PDF. In addition, it can convert .lit format to .PDF & .EPUB and .PDF to .lit & .EPUB format. Download calibre-0.6.21 here
  2. doPDF: doPDF is a free PDF converter for both personal and commercial use and works on Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2008/2003/2000 Server (32 and 64-bit). It can convert Office documents, text, EPUB and many more formats to PDF. Download doPDF 6.3.309 (1.73 MB)(Release Date:14-September-2009)here

Free EPUB checker:
          EpubCheck is a tool to validate IDPF Epub files. It can detect many types of errors in Epub. OCF container structure, OPF and OPS mark-up, and internal reference consistency are checked. EpubCheck can be run as a standalone command-line tool, installed as a web application or used as a library. Download and read more about EPUB checker here

Kindle:
          Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com. It is a wireless device costs $259.00 (Global wireless) and $489.00 (U.S. Wireless). Some of the kindle features of kindle are listed here.
  1. Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines.
  2. Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
  3. Books in Under 60 Seconds
  4. 3G Wireless.
  5. Global Coverage.
  6. Paper-Like Display.
  7. Carry 1,500 books.
  8. Long Battery Life
  9. Text-to-Speech feature
  10. Free Book Samples.
          Read more about kindle here.

Related Posts:

Leave a comment


Excellent Webpage snapshot tool- Webkut

          WebKut is an 'Air' application that allows you to capture web pages or parts of them in a very simple way.

What is an Air application?
          AIR applications behave just like any other normal installed application. So it is not mandatory to read this section in order to get your application running.
          Adobe AIR(Adobe Integrated Runtime) is a cross-operating system runtime that lets developers combine HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex technologies to deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. AIR allows developers to use familiar tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Flex Builder 3, Flash CS3 Professional, or any text editor to build their applications and easily deliver a single application installer that works across operating systems. As desktop applications, RIAs can take advantage of additional features such as access to the file system, control over application windows, and support for drag and drop as well as everything they could when played in the browser. RIAs built for the runtime will not have to bear all of the basic, redundant application weight that they would otherwise have to include in order run by themselves. Instead, all of the common application data (which, in this case, is mostly the Flash Player and the Webkit web browser) is installed with the runtime once and not necessary for individual applications keeping them small and lightweight. AIR files are basically ZIP files which can be opened using any uncompressor. Further, AIR files are not encrypted so are less protected. Read more about AIR files at http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/air/

Requirements of Webkut:

  1. Adobe AIR 1.5.2.8870(15.11MB) [Latest version: Adobe Air 2.0.0.10760 Beta(7.63MB) See change Log]
  2. Webkut 1.2.2(521 KB)
          First install Adobe AIR. Then install Webkut 1.2.2. Now you can proceed to take snapshots of web pages.

Features:
  1. Option for capturing entire web page, visible portion and selection.
  2. Supported output format: JPG, GIF, PNG and PDF.
  3. Change image ratio(Less ratio, smaller dimension output) and quality of output(Less quality, smaller size output).
  4. Choose output directory.

How to capture webpage?
          Open Webkut. Enter the desired web page URL in provided field and press enter. Choose a Webkut option. It will take a snapshot. It will take sometime depending upon page size and may freeze during process. After completion of snapshot (Snapshot of Compupodia blog's Header is shown below), it asks for File name for saving it. From here, you can discard the snapshot, see preview and upload it to flickr.

Snapshot of Compupodia blog's Header

Limitations:
  1. PDF document and some Flash animations in web pages will be replaced by blank spaces.
  2. The maximum dimension for an image is 2880 pixels.

References:
Leave a comment


Get Orkut friends' birthday notification by SMS

          I know it really hurts when someone special around you, doesn't remember your birthday. So here is a little procedure which would keep you notified when someone special around you has his/her birthday so they would not feel what you have felt.
          Today, orkut is the biggest social networking site. It not strange that nearly all you know have an orkut account. They also share their birthday on orkut. So why not to use orkut's this feature to get notified about your friends' birthday before 2 days so that you can plan something exciting for the occasion.

You can accomplish this with 4 steps.

  1. Add orkut friends' birthdays calender in Google Calender
  2. Mobile setup in Google Calender to add your mobile number
  3. Set SMS Event Reminder in Google Calender
  4. Copy Contacts from Orkut Calender to Default Calender
Add orkut friends' birthdays calender in Google Calender:
          Sign in to your orkut account. It has 'Upcomping Birthdays' section as shown below.


          Click on 'view your friends' birthdays in Google Calendar'. It opens your Google Calender and Prompts with message 'Would you like to add calendar: orkut friends' birthdays?' as below. Click 'Yes, add this calender'.

Confirmation

          Now orkut friends' birthdays calender is added to your Google Calender. You can see it in 'Other Calenders' section as shown below.

Other Calenders section

Mobile setup in Google Calender to add your mobile number:
          Click on Settings under 'My calendars' section. It will take you to 'Calenders' tab of 'Calender Settings'. Click 'Mobile Setup' tab. Select your country from drop down menu, enter mobile number and click 'Send Verification Code'. Once you receive verification code, enter it in 'Verification code' field and click 'Finish setup'. Now you can proceed to set SMS Event Reminder.

Set SMS Event Reminder in Google Calender:
          Go to 'Calendars' tab again. Click 'Notifications' link in front of your account name. It will take you to 'Notifications' tab of 'yourid@gmail.com Details' section. In 'Event reminders', select 'SMS' from drop down list, in next box type 2 and select days. Now you will get a SMS reminder before 2 days of event.

Copy Contacts from Orkut Calender to Default Calender:
          SMS notification facility is only available for default calender. So we need to copy entries from orkut birthday calender to drfault calender. Left click upcoming birthday from orkut calender. Click Copy and copy it to default Calender. You can copy 20-30 birthdays from orkut birthday calender to default calender periodically. Now you will get a birthday SMS reminder before 2 days of event.

Leave a comment