How To: Recover, Restore All Deleted/Lost JPEG Files, Photos On Your Android Device

Ever wondered how to recover and restore all deleted/lost photos, JPEG files on your Android device? Well, good news!

The guys at Defiant Technologies, LLC have finally created a FREE Android app called DiskDigger that allows users to retrieve, recover all photo files that have been lost or removed due to deliberate or accidental deletion.

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DiskDigger is already a popular Windows app that lets you recover virtually all types of files on your PC. And with the availability of its Android app, you'll surely get a peace of mind with the lone fact that in the event of accidental file deletion, you can still recover all those precious photos and restore them back to your device's internal memory or memory card.

Free Android App To Recover, Restore Lost Photos, JPEG files

DiskDigger for Android (link) is all you need when you want to recover deleted photos and images from your Android device. Think of DiskDigger as a Recycle Bin, but for Android, which means you can still recover those photos, JPEG files that were accidentally deleted.

Using the app:

Note: DiskDigger only works on rooted Android devices, so you may need to root your device to enjoy this app.

Here's how to restore, recover deleted/lost photos with DiskDigger:

Step 1 Download and install DiskDigger for Android at Google Play Store.

Step 2 Launch the app. It should display all the system devices (including the memory card) that you can scan for lost files, as seen below:

For now, it will list them using their Linux device names (not very visually appealing, but this will be improved in the future). The memory card should appear as "/mnt/sdcard" or something similar.

Step 3 Select the device to scan (memory card in our case), and then press the "Scan device" button to proceed (you might see a Superuser request window; just press "Allow").

You will then see the main DiskDigger window, which shows you the progress of the scanning, as well as the recoverable files that have been found so far:

Step 4 You can press on any of the recoverable files, which will show you a preview of the file on the right, as shown below:

Step 5 And finally to recover the deleted files, just tick the recoverable files on checkbox and then hit "Save" or "Email".

That's it!

Filtering files:

You may also take advantage of the Filter function of the app. Just press the "Filter" button to filter the recoverable files based on file type, and file size. This is useful if you want to impose a minimum size on the files shown.

Diskdigger for Android is extremely useful for those looking for ways on how to recover deleted/lost photos  from their Android device. The app is currently on its beta stage and will only recover the .JPG and .PNG files of your device.

How To: Find, Delete Duplicate Media Files On Windows 7 (CopyTrans Method)

The seemingly endless disk spaces of gigabytes and terabytes in desktops, laptops, and now with external hard drives means that people today can have as much music in their files as the whole Library of Congress. It also means that some music files in our collection can become redundant. It makes no difference if you are listening to music using your desktop and a VLC player.

However, it will matter if duplicate tracks play on a portable USB thumb drive. Aside from two or three of the same songs playing, there is the matter of limited space in a portable player. In that sense, it would be better to completely remove redundant files to make more room in a limited 1 or 2 gig portable player.

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In this article we're going to walk you through how to remove duplicate media files on your PC. Using this tiny software called CopyTrans and iTunes, it will be easier to find those duplicate files and finally take those junks files out from your desktop or laptop.

Get Rid Of Duplicate Media Files On Your PC With CopyTrans + iTunes

Note: While you can always navigate to File > Display Duplicates on iTunes to display and delete those duplicate media files, physical files are not actually removed at all; iTunes will only take them out from the library.

Alright, here we go.

All you need to do is to download the free CopyTrans free app, extract, and then run the executable file. Before running the app, make sure that iTunes or any other media player is closed. The app tool is portable and does not require any kind of installation. When you run the tool, it automatically scans your iTunes library or entire Mp3 files and immediately shows the results categorized into different albums, like this:

After this, all you need to do is to click on the album and select the duplicate tracks for the cleanup. This is found at the left-hand side bar. Once the tracks are selected, a small blue screw icon will appear. If you click on this, the track will be deleted (see screenshot below).

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Instead of scanning your entire music collection manually, CopyTrans is the best way how to delete duplicate mp3 files.

Download CopyTrans HERE

How To: Create Stunning Timelapse Videos With Your iPhone And Android

By now, you would have seen one of those fantastic timelapse videos on Facebook or other social media sites. It's fantastic considering that only a few years ago videos of this type could only be done using pictures taken minutes apart and then spliced together using a video maker or other such special equipment and adjusting everything manually.

Today, professionals and beginners alike are trying out their hand at timelapse videos.

Viddy — The Instagram for Videos — Lets You Create Visually Stunning 15-Second Slices Of Your Life

If you are serious about creating timelapse videos, you can now create your own timelapse videos while shooting them at the same time. There is the free Timelapse Pro (link) for iPhone and iPod Touch and Lapse It Time-Lapse (link) free Android software for timelapse video creation.

Time-lapse videos, even those created by amateurs, look like a magical time warp. They capture a relatively slow process developing over a long period of time. For example, capturing the time lapse of a sunset, the blossoming of a flower, or an airline window video travelling from one place to another. Watching it all happen in a few minutes can have a magical and wondrous effect on us.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could time-lapse video without the need for any special equipment? With Timelapse Pro and Lapse It, you can easily shoot your own time-lapse videos. Time lapse videos are then saved directly as .mov files on your iPhone or Android device, and may be uploaded to YouTube or played back with VLC media player.

AfterFocus Lets You Create DSLR-Like Blurred Effects On Your Android & iPhone

Timelapse Pro is the best iPhone app to make timelapse movies, and also create stopmotion movies. You can even add music to your timelapse or stopmotion video straight from your iPod song library.

Lapse It is a free Android app to create timelapse videos and an Android application made for those who use smartphones. Lapse It also features lapse clips capturing for timed picture or image capturing.

How To: Temporarily Block, Restrict Access to Unwanted Websites and Increase Productivity

Here’s the situation. You have a lot of work to do. Perhaps you have a deadline at work to submit a report. Perhaps you’re catching up with your school term paper deadline. Perhaps you’re working as a home based web developer and your client has set a deadline.

But, the temptations are numerous. You end up watching the latest Linkin Park videos on YouTube, or you keep commenting and uploading on Facebook, or you can’t seem to stop the latest downloads of “Game of Thrones.”

Split Screen: Splits Your Web Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows

This doesn’t sound good for productivity. It can get you fired, or you end up with a failing grade, or worse, you lose your client.

It really boils down to personal self-discipline. However, there’s an app that can help you with your self-discipline issues and to help you get the real work done.

Save Yourself from Time Sinks & Be Productive Online With LeechBlock (link)

Image Courtesy of Techifire

Introducing an extension called Leechblock. It works perfectly well with Firefox. This may sound almost impossible, but, the extension app does work.

All you need to do is download Leechblock, install it, then restart your browser. Now comes your honesty and discipline factor. Select the site or sites that make you unproductive and block them on the browser’s tool menu.

But, it doesn’t stop there. You can set the time periods that these sites should be blocked. That’s right; you’re not depriving yourself completely. It’s just a discipline thing. You can even set the number of minutes or hours you can allow yourself to visit the selected sites per hour or per day.

Block, Restrict Access To Unwanted Websites - No Additional Software Needed

Lastly, you can select the days of the week Leechblock should block these sites. You can also set an optional “custom name” for the selected sites such as “The Force Balances Time between Work and Play” or other funny or not so funny file names. Putting up custom file names allows you to categorize what sites you’re blocking.

You can add sites anytime to the block lists on Leechblock. Can you undo the blocked sites? Here’s where the discipline factor comes in. Of course, you can unblock anything, but, Leechblock will make it difficult for you.

So, stop wasting your time and get back to work. But, before you do, download Leechblock first.

For Chrome, you may want to check out Nanny, yet another productivity add-on similar to LeechBlock that allows you to be more productive and less distracted by blocking sites.

Find Your Stolen Photos Online With This Forensic Firefox Extension

Don’t you hate it when people copy or steal your photos or images then use them on other web sites or content without your permission? Problem is, how do you search millions of websites for copyright infringement?

Now, you can find out if your photos or internet images are being used by others in violation of copyright infringement laws. A new and innovative forensics Firefox extension makes discovering copyright infringement easy.

"Datum Search By Image" Makes It Easy To Find Stolen Photos Online (link)

If you're wondering about how to find your stolen photos online, then, you've got to check out "Datum Search By Image". Created by the Datum Company,  this Firefox extension allows you to search and track those images you think are being copied and used illegally. Datum Search utilizes the power of Google and TinEye, thus, allowing you to search for duplicate image use. Simply download, install, and restart your Firefox. The function is then automatically added to the right click menu.

Image Courtesy of Mozilla.org

The technology of searching for copyright infringement from Google and TinEye has been available for some time now. What the Datum Company has done is to combine these two into more practical use for a more efficient approach to internet image forensics.

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The forensic Firefox extension thus, uses these two highly rated reverse image engines and takes advantage of the unique methods of discovery offered by both engines. This ensures the best quality results for all forensic searches and leads to discovering if your image content has been stolen.

Datum Search is so far the most user-friendly and the fastest method to finding image copyright infringement online. Get it HERE.

Split Screen: Splits Your Web Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows

Here’s the thing, you’re doing research on the net and you need to take notes. What you’re doing is you’re either switching screens continuously from the website to your notes or you just minimize Microsoft Office Word or Notepad to take notes, which can be very tedious and annoying.

Now, there’s a simpler way to facilitate research work and learning. Google Chrome introduces Split Screen, a Chrome extension for convenient note taking.

Split Your Chrome Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows With Split Screen (link)

Split Screen is a free add-on for Google Chrome. It simply splits the screens on your PC browser into multiple re-sizable windows. Its default feature is its two windows, the left window opening up as a notepad for taking notes.

Another feature of Split Screen is that it can be set so that two websites open side by side. This is useful if you need to do multiple sources research or site comparisons. The user can even split the screen horizontally, another great option feature. If the user decides to split two notepads with one website, it can be done.

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Split Screen is easily customized. All you need to do is select from the “Options” or just type the appropriate command into the address bar of a window.

Installation of the Google Chrome extension is fast and easy. It just gives another good reason to stick with, and use, Google Chrome.

YouTube-Powered VeedList Lets You Create Custom YouTube Playlists

Previously on this blog we have talked about Loudlee, yet another YouTube-powered web service that provides a whole new option to discover and listen to your favorite music online. Loudlee works by allowing you to search existing playlists on YouTube, and play them on a custom Loudlee player.

Loudlee is already impressive. But here's the problem: you've got to add tracks by batch, and there's no way for you to save your custom playlist, which apparently is a kind of trouble when you decide to leave the site.

Download YouTube Video As Audio MP3 (No Software Needed)

Thankfully, there's such a good new web app called VeedList that seemed to fill the void of Loudlee.

VeedList: Make Your Own Custom YouTube Playlist (link)

VeedList is a free web service that provides you the quickest and the easiest way to create a custom playlist from your favorite videos on YouTube. As with LoudLee, VeedList harnesses the power of YouTube so users can better personalize their YouTube video streaming experience.

With the custom YouTube Player you can start buffering your next video, edit the start and end time of your videos and popout the player on your second screen or your TV. Invite friends, add them as contributors and make collaborative playlists.

Top 5 Best Pandora, Spotify Alternatives For Streaming Music Online

You will receive a notification for every video they add to your custom playlist. Also with the VeedList explorer you can search for playlists made by other users, watch them and share them on your favorite social network.

So, go check it out!

New App Makes It Easy To Push Data From Web Browser To Your iPhone, Android Device

In a nutshell, Sleipnir consists of a desktop browser, which allows you to initiate actions for your mobile phone from your desktop thru push notification, and a smartphone app linker.

Sleipnir in itself is a very capable desktop browser as it's using the same WebKit rendering engine as Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. Sleipnir also supports tabulated browsing like the others, but the best part here is that it is presented in a thumbnail format just like the one on your phone and tablet.

New Android App Lets You Sniff Internet Sessions, Hack Facebook Account

That’s basically about the browser, but the real cream of the crop here is its ability to send links, address or call a phone number over-the-air from your browser to your iOS, Android device. Here’s a basic scenario that can explain how Sleipnir can simplify things for you.

You are browsing the web for a party venue, you found their website containing their phone number and address. Using the Sleipnir browser on your computer, click on the phone number and the browser will send the phone number to your phone thru push notification to call them and book an appointment. You have agreed on a schedule for viewing, you can now send their address to your phone, still using the browser, and your map application will show you the way.

Getting started with Sleipner

First, you need to download and install Sleipnir on your computer from their website. And then get and install Sleipnir Linker for your Android device HERE (iPhone version is in the works). And finally, follow their Smartphone App Linker Setup to fully enjoy this awesome solution.

Everything you see on your computer’s browser is now only a click away to your phone.

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Slide.ly: Turn Your Instagram, Flickr & Facebook Photos Into Stunning Video Slideshows

Back in the good ‘ol days, Scribd and Slideshare allowed you to host your PowerPoint photo presentations. These sites were very popular at that time. The problem is, you can’t use these sites to create new slideshows from the beginning.

There is also Prezi, Zoho, Microsoft Office web apps, and even Google Docs that are advanced resources you can utilize to create online presentations. However, none of these allows you to create simple slideshows as quickly and easily.

Create Video Slideshows From Facebook, Instagram Photos With Slidely (link)

Now, meet Slide.ly, it's a new web app that makes it easy to create photo slideshows from Picassa web albums, Instagram photos, Google Images, Flickr photos, and Facebook albums. Slide.ly also allows you to upload pictures from your own desktop and puts them together into a musical slideshow of your own production and making. You can simply pull images and photos from shared multiple social sites you share with others and just pick out the specific photos you like to create your very own photo album or photo slideshow.

Slide.ly can even be used for office or class presentations so long as there’s an internet connection available.

Prezi: Create Visually Engaging, Rich Media Presentations, Slideshows Online FREE

Using Slide.ly is a snap. First you need login using your Slide.ly or Facebook account HERE. Once logged in, Slide.ly should bring you this:

Here you can select an album and individually select those photos you want to be added in your Slide.ly. You may also remove and re-arrange the selected photos, and instruct Slide.ly to randomly select the photos to be displayed by simply toggling the "Shuffle" button, as seen below:

Now, hit "Preview and Save Slidely" button, until Slide.ly bring you this:

From here you can select a track as music background for your Slide.ly. You can pick up from YouTube, SoundCloud, and you can even upload your own track. You can even choose from the thousands of free tracks from Slide.ly itself for your gallery, theme, or audio background.

Now it's time to add some effects. Just select any of the nine transition effects found in the upper right, as seen  here:

One unique feature of Slide.ly is that you can add pictures from any of your friend’s Facebook albums. Just make sure the privacy settings of the album or specific pictures are set to public or have been shared to you in the past.

Here's a Slide.ly presentation I created for the legendary Filipino rock band "Eraserheads":

DokRemote: Remotely Control Your iPhone, iPod Music Player Via Web Browser

More likely than not, you are reading this article on your pc, laptop, or tablet connected to your wireless network while you iPod/iPhone is playing music on the desk thru speakers. You’re in a very comfortable position on your bed and the tracks playing don’t suit your taste. Stand up no more!

DokRemote is an iPhone/iPod music player remote control application built with your comfort in mind. As long as you’re on a device with a web browser that’s connected on the same wireless network as you iPod/iPhone is, you’re only a few clicks away from controlling the songs on your iPod/iPhone.

DokRemote Lets You Control Your iPhone's Music Thru Web Browser

DokRemote allows you to play or pause your music, skip backward or forward, control the volume and browse your entire music collection.

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DokRemote is snap to use. On the main view, the application displays a URL, which you’ll enter on your browser to control iPhone/iPod’s music player remotely via a web browser. Yes, it's that easy!

Get DokRemote on iTunes now ($0.99).

How To: Create, Add Links To Already Uploaded Videos On YouTube

So you have a good collection of videos on YouTube, and realized that a link must be added to every single video uploaded on YouTube (as part of your promotion effort) so users can quickly head over to your site right after or during video playback.

Well, there are a couple of ways on how to accomplish this. But of course, we won't go through the same old process of editing your video and upload it back to YouTube again.

Here, we're going to show you a simple workaround on how to add hyperlinks to already uploaded videos on YouTube. Without even logging in to your YouTube account, you'll be able to add a tiny button or link to already uploaded videos on YouTube.

LinkedTube: Add Links To Already Uploaded YouTube Video Without Logging In

LinkedTube is the way to go when it comes to embedding links to already uploaded videos on YouTube. With LinkedTube, you can add links and sharing options within the video, thus, transforming any YouTube video into a useful viral promotion tool.

LinkedTube is straightforward to use. As you can see in the screenshot above, you only need to specify the YouTube Video ID, button text, URL, hover text and title. Then, hit "Save & Get Code " to get the embed code. It's that easy!

Here's a video from the awesome Piano guys:

Turn Your Phone's Screen On/Off By Simply Waving Your Hand In The Air

How do you like if you can put off and on your phone's display by just simply waving your hand in the air?

Well, this is exactly how the new gesture recognition Android app of DDeleted will do for you: translate your hand gestures into computer instructions so you can quickly turn off and on your phone's display.

Smart Screen ON: The Best Hand Gesture Recognition Android App As Yet

Dubbed as Smart Screen ON, this utility app transforms your Android's proximity sensor into a substitute power button so you can turn on/off your Android's screen with a simple wave of your hand.

Smart Screen ON is particularly useful especially if you're in a meeting and want to see push notifications without grabbing your phone. Instead of picking your phone, just wave your hand over it to turn the display on.

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If you enjoy the convenience of touch and voice-aware mobile applications today, you’ll also enjoy this amazing app of DDelted -- the same guy who made the widely popular Smart Screen OFF that puts your screen off when you place your hand over the proximity sensor.

Smart Screen On comes in two variants, the free Lite version and the $2 Pro version, both are available now at Google Play.

So, go check it out!

How To: Stream, Play MP3 & Video Files Embedded On Non-HTML5 Websites From Your Mobile Browser

You must have already aware of HTML5. It'a next-generation web technology that provides a standard for playing audio and video files. Advanced mobile browsers such as the built-in browser on your Android/iPhone and third-party apps like Opera Mobile and SkyFire support HTML5.

But here's the problem:

Not all websites are built with HTML5. Which means whenever you play any media files embedded on  non-HTML5 sites, they'll prompt you to download it.

Play, Stream All Music Files, MP3 Saved From Your DropBox

While you can always download the media file on your phone for later streaming (a podcast perhaps), why not play it right away? Doing the latter will not only save you time but also disk space.

Play Audio, Video Files On Non-HTML5 Websites Straight From Your iPhone/Android

You might want to enjoy a podcast before you finally drift off to bed, so here I'm going to share you a simple workaround on how to play MP3 and video files embedded on a website straight from your Android/iPhone browser -- no need to download.

Here's how:

Step 1 On your mobile browser, obtain the direct link of the file. In Opera Mobile we usually do it by opening the link in a new tab, until a download dialog pops up, as seen below (notice the download link):

With the above example, our direct link is: http://pbstatic.s3.amazonaws.com/introduction-to-monetizing-blogs.mp3. Copy it.

Step 2 Using your HTML5 browser (we recommend Opera Mobile), head to W3school Audio TryIt site. For video, point your browser here.

On your mobile browser, you should see something like this:

Step 3 In the <source> tag, replace the src attribute with the direct link of the file. Once you've done that, hit "Edit & Click Me" button.

And voila, you should be able to play the MP3 file directly on your mobile browser — no need to download boatloads of audio/video files!

Remotely Set Alarm Clock By SMS — Send SMS Text Message To Set Alarm Clock

Wouldn't it be cool if you can just send an SMS text message to your friends, and with just a simple hit of "Accept" button, your friend's phone will then automatically fire an alarm based on the timestamp you sent?

Well, this is exactly how the new Android app will do for you: it lets you set an alarm clock by simply sending a specially-formatted SMS to a specific (or group) of phone numbers at once.

Smart isn't it?

Flying Alarm Clock: Remotely Set Alarm Clock By SMS (Android)

You can surely save anyone from any morning disaster with this mind-blowing app called Flying Alarm Clock, a clever Android app that allows you to set an alarm clock by simply sending an SMS text message. This is sort of sending a reminder, with complete alarm date and time, to any phone number.

Flying Alarm Clock must be installed on your friend or kid's Android phone (Get it HERE).

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Unlike the built-in calendar app for Android which is also capable of sending reminders, Flying Alarm Clock doesn't require you to own a hi-end phone just to remotely set your friend's alarm clock. The sweetest part about this FREE Android app is that you can use a monologue phone or even a web-based SMS facility to remind your friends to wake up at particular date/time.

This is basically how you compose a text message to remotely set an alarm clock by SMS:

In the text above, I'm instructing John's phone to set an alarm at 8:50 a.m. in 12th of June, 2012 with an optional message of "Hey John, class this 9".

By the time John receives the message, his Android should prompt like this:

Flying Alarm Clock is truly a brilliant app. Imagine you only have to send an SMS to set your kid or friend's alarm clock?

Learn How To Remotely Spy, Monitor SMS, Text Messages

I've got a suggestion to the developer though. I hope in the next release, no more "Accept" prompts by the time the alarm SMS notification is received. Rather an alarm is automatically set as soon as the message is received. That's definitely a complete automation.

SortMyBox Is The Email Filters For DropBox — Organizes Your DropBox Files Based On Your Rules

You probably have tons of files stored on your DropBox account. And admit it: managing these files this big is a daunting task, and it only gets harder when you start dumping more files across your DropBox account over time.

Whether you are an occasional or heavy DropBox user, getting your DropBox files organized isn't exactly something that should stress you out. SortMyBox is a fantastic tool that you should check out if you want to automate the sorting and organization of your Dropbox files.

SortMyBox Lets You Organize, Sort DropBox Files Based On Your Rules

SortMyBox is a free and easy-to-use file management app for DropBox that automatically sorts DropBox files/folder based on the rules you setup. SortMyBox uses the popular "when this, do that" format, similar to Gmails' filters. That is, when certain file name or extension is detected, SortMyBox will then move those files to the folder you want, based on the sorting rules you setup.

Play, Stream All Music Files Saved From Your DropBox Account (No Need To Download)

Getting Started With SortMyBox

SortMyBox is pretty straightforward to use. First you need to point your browser to SortMyBox's website (link). From here you should be able to login and connect through your Dropbox account.

Note: A folder named "SortMyBox" will be automatically created inside your Dropbox account. This will be the folder in which you drop your files for sorting.

Now it’s time for you to create your first rule. There are basically three types of rules, as seen in the screenshot below:

(a) Filter files by extension (or a comma-separated list of extension). You can instruct SortMyBox to automatically move files to specific DropBox folders when a certain file comes with a file extension that matches to that of your rule.

(b) Sort by a word in the name. If you want to automatically move all files containing the word "img" to /Photos/ directory, then, this filter is ideally right for you.

(c) Filter by name pattern. Allows you to create a pattern in the name to filter by, with or without an extension (e.g. "The Carpenters *.mp3").

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To wrap it up, you can setup rules that identify a file’s extension, name contents or a name pattern. And files get sorted every 15 minutes. Yes, it's that sweet. So go, check it out HERE.

How To: Stop, Prevent Yahoo & Other Social Reader Apps From Posting On Your Behalf On Facebook

I really find it annoying for social reader apps like Yahoo! to post something on my behalf on my Facebook Wall without me knowing. Every time I read an article on Yahoo!, an update is automatically posted on my Feeds, telling my friends what I just read.

The update made by these social readers usually contains items such as "Freddie just read an article" plus the article link. And this is no cool as you're exactly telling the world your reading habits.

So, how can you prevent social reader apps like Yahoo! from posting on your behalf? Mike Klawrence has this neat solution: Unsocialize, a link unsocializer for Firefox & Chrome.

Stop, Prevent Yahoo! and Other Websites From Automatic Posting On Your Timeline

Unsocialize is a Chrome and Firefox extension that allows you to open articles in a new tab without getting redirected to third-party apps and having to grant them access to your Facebook information. The extension provides a right-click menu item "Unsocialize", which essentially bypasses the install request and any other tracking metrics.

Normally, when you click social reader links especially that of Yahoo!, Facebook takes you to the install app request page, requiring you to give permission to third-party apps. The screenshot below shows an example of what the page looks like.

But with Unsocialize, you can bypass this authorization process, thus preventing social reader apps from posting on your behalf. All you have to do is to right-click on any social reader links, then hit "Unsocialize" (see screenshot below).

Unsocialize is definitely useful especially if you don't want your reading habits to be traced.

Download Unsocialize: The Link Unsocializer For Google Chrome
Download Unsocialize: The Link Unsocializer Add-on For Firefox

Top 5 Best Pandora, Spotify Alternatives For Streaming Music Online

As a non-US citizen, I also have a fair share of frustration with Pandora. And while Spotify is available with greater country support than Pandora, still I live in country where neither of the two streaming services was ever supported. So there's no way for me to enjoy really good music like that of Pandora and Spotify.

Luckily, there are few good online music streaming services that offer almost the same feature sets at no cost. And here we're going to share a short list of top 5 FREE online radio services that we think are the best.

Top 5 Best Pandora & Spotify Alternatives

Below is a quick rundown of top 5 best Pandora and Spotify alternatives that will sure quench your music thirst.

8Tracks.com (link)

The number 8 is the minimum number of tracks you must add to create your own mix. You can either create one of your own taste, or browse through the playlists others created, I’m pretty sure there’s one just right for you, if not, you can always create your own. With their mobile app for android and iPhone, you’ll never be separated from your music. The stream also plays uninterrupted, so it will play just like a radio would.

Grooveshark.com (link)

Grooveshark has a good amount of song library for you too choose from and also features releases from rising bands. When you find new songs that you like and would like to share to a loved one or a friend, you can easily do so because of its excellent social media integration like Twitter and Facebook.

We Are Hunted (link)

When someone hears the word “indie” in band or song, there’s a stereotype that it’s mediocre. Think again. With We Are Hunted, you’ll be able to discover new emerging bands and also see what other people say about the song. You can also share your newfound favorites on Facebook and Twitter.

Google Music (link)

Google Music offers services with the likes of iTunes store and Amazon mp3. Google Music also allows you to purchase music with an extra feature of uploading your purchased mp3s up to 20,000 songs from your home drive and listening to it on your android mobile and on another Mac or PC via web. It also gives recommendation of songs based on your frequently listened tracks. It also features instant mix, like Genius mix on your iTunes.

ex.fm (link)

exfm is a music library with a twist of social media. If other social networks allows you to discover and rediscover friend, exfm allows you to discover and rediscover music. One of the features I love most is the TasteMaker. There are times that you just can't decide what song to listen to. With the help of TasteMaker, it presents you a pool of selection by people with great taste for music.

YouTube-Powered LoudLee Lets You Create Personalized Online Radio, Listen To Music Online

There you go. These are just some of the services out there. Take your pick and choose what's best for you.

About the author:

Griffith Boniel is a photographer, Nikon user, and a Nokia fan who's also passionate about social media, mobile and web technology. You can follow @gboniel on Twitter.

Get A Consolidated View Of All Email Attachments In Gmail — View All Gmail Attachments All At Once

Here's another good reason why Gmail is still the best email service as yet:

You can now get a consolidated view of all email attachments sent to your Gmail account.

Being able to view and manage all email attachments in single manageable place basically means convenience. You don't want to waste your time searching through your inbox for email attachments, right?

Access, Manage All Files Stored Across Multiple Cloud Accounts All At Once

Well, the consolidation of email attachments is not at all a built-in feature of Gmail. Rather it is made possible by another web services called Attachments.me and DropBox. And Griffith, one of my readers here, shares you the gist on how get it up and running.

Very few simple steps and you should be able to see all Gmail attachments in one manageable place.

Access, Manage All Email Attachments In One Manageable Place (Gmail)

Note: Before you do the setup, make sure you're logged in to both DropBox and Gmail accounts. And to make the setup short, use Google Chrome browser.

Getting started with Attachments.me

Attachments.me is quite snap to use. First you need to download/install Attachments.me Chrome extensions from its website (link). Once installation is complete, you should be taken back to your Gmail's account. This time, you may need to authorize the app to connect to your Gmail account.

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Once Attachments.me and Gmail are connected, you'll now get introduced on how to make it work. An on-screen instruction should be displayed straight on your inbox, hinting you to do some basic actions such as connecting Attachments.me and DropBox (or Box) account, saving your first email attachment to your cloud storage account (in this case, DropBox), and specifying DropBox directory where email attachment gets saved.

The on-screen instruction will also introduce you to "filters", which allows you automatically send, save all email attachments to your DropBox/Box account when certain criterion meets. This is really handy when you want to put all work-related files sent as email attachments in one manageable size.

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Now, as soon as DropBox authorization/setup is complete, you should  be able to view and manage all your email attachments from your DropBox account. Or you can access, manage all email attachments straight from your Attachments.me account (we recommend this).