QUIX – The Command Line Bookmarker

January 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

quix

If you want to boost your productivity while browsing the web then you must definitely try Quix. Quix is a cool app that allows you to do many functions by typing simple commands. To install Quix on your browser head on to quixapp.com and drag the Quix App button to the bookmarks toolbar in your browser. Doing this will create a Quix button in your browser’s toolbar. Quix is supported in all major browsers. Once you have installed Quix you can click on the Quix button. Doing this will bring up a popup window with an input field where you can enter your command. For a list of quick features, enter the command “Help” in the input field.

Quix has many built-in commands that can be used to quickly access a web resource. For example, typing “w” will bring you the Wikipedia search page. Typing “Amazon” will take you to Amazon product search page. Typing “bitly” will invoke the bit.ly URL shortening service.

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Quix commands are grouped under the following categories:

  • Basic commands
  • Social commands
  • WordPress
  • SEO
  • Webmaster
  • Quix Commands
  • Analytics
  • URL Shortening
  • App Integration commands
  • Mac Integration commands

You can also use Quix to create your own custom bookmarking commands. Quix was created by Joost de Valk of yoast.com

Give Quix a try. You’ll love it!

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How to create PDF documents without buying any expensive PDF software

January 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ms_office_2007

As an online entrepreneur there is often a need to create documents for the web. For example, ebooks, brochures, flyers etc. The best format to publish this material in PDF format. PDF documents can be readily viewed from web browsers. The software to create and edit PDF documents are quite expensive. If you do not want to invest in a PDF editing software then do not worry. There is a free alternative for creating PDF documents.

Welcome to PrimoPDF

PrimoPDF is a free software that you can use to create PDF documents. PrimoPDF functions like a print driver. Once you have installed PrimoPDF on your computer a print driver is setup on your PC. You can submit any document (that is printable) to the PrimoPDF print driver. Instead of printing the document the PrimoPDF printer converts the document into PDF format. PrimoPDF is very versatile since you can convert any printable document such as Word Document, Excel Spread Sheet, MS Paint Diagram etc. into PDF format.

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007

Another way to create PDF documents is to use Microsoft Office 2007. The Home and Student Edition of Microsoft Office retails for a very low price (less than $80). This version of MS Office has nearly got all the features of the standard MS Office version used by businesses. Microsoft has provided a free Office Add-on that will allow you to save a Word document into PDF format. This add-on is called Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS and can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. The PDF documents created using MS Office really looks very sharp and professional. If you do not have a decent suite of office applications then the Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 is really worth the investment.

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WebKut – Capture Web Pages with Ease!

November 21, 2009 By 2 Comments

webkut

If you are creating a resource or list page, there might be a need to take screen shots of websites. For example, look at my post titled “17 Tools to Secure a Great Domain Name”, in this post I had to list a number of websites and provide a screen shot for each site. Taking all 17 screen shots using Print Screen and editing them in a program like GIMP or MS Paint will be a very tedious task.

To improve my productivity, I used an Adobe Air application called WebKut that really saved me a lot of time and effort in taking the screen shots. When you launch WebKut on your PC you will realize this application functions like a web browser and you can go to a web page by simply entering the URL. Once the webpage is loaded in WebKut you can take a screen shot of that page by simply pressing a button. You have the option to take a screen shot of the entire web page or the visible portion of that web page or a custom selected area in the web page. Once you take a screen shot of you web page you can save it to your local folder. The whole process of taking a screen shot and saving it as an image file can be achieved in few key strokes.

WebKut provides a settings panel where you can specify the image file type, the image quality and the default output directory where the image will be stored. I really like the default directory feature since I do not have to manually select the local folder each time to save an image.

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DropBox – An Easy Way to Sync and Share Files

September 30, 2009 By 2 Comments

drop_box

DropBox is a cool software that allows you to share files across multiple computers. In order to use DropBox you have to download it from www.getdropbox.com and install it on your computer. During the installation process you will be asked to create a DropBox user account.

In order to use DropBox on multiple computers the software has to be installed on each computer. For example, you might install DropBox on your home PC, your laptop and your work PC.

Lets assume you are a blogger and you are working on a blog post at home and would like to review it the next day during lunch time at your work.

To do this you will simply create your post document and store it in the DropBox folder on your computer. When you copy the document into your DropBox folder the software will automatically upload (and sync) your document to the secured DropBox server.

DropBox provides you with 2GB of storage space on the server. For more storage space you have to pay a service fee. Since most of the time you would be storing documents that you are currently working on, 2GB of storage space is ample for that purpose.

Once you store the document in the DropBox folder it will be available for use from any of your computers that has DropBox installed on it. The DropBbox folder can be opened by simply clicking on the DropBox icon on your Windows Task Bar.

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DropBox Folder

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DropBox Icon on Windows Task Bar

DropBox also supports the concept of Public folders. A file that is stored in the Public folder can be shared with anyone on the Internet. In order to access documents in the Public folder you do NOT need the DropBox software. To share a file in the Public Folder simply right click on the file and select DropBox –>  Copy Public Link. Now you can email this link to anyone who wants to access the document via a web browser.

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Sharing a Link in Action

DropBox provides a way to seamlessly share and edit document across multiple computers in a very intuitive and user friendly way.

Today TechCrunch.com reported that the DropBox application for iPhone has been approved by Apple. Soon you will be able to sync and share files on your iPhone using DropBox!

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Choosing a color theme for your website

May 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Color Jack

Four easy to use color tools to pick a color theme for your website

Choosing a color theme for your website or blog can be a challenging task especially when you are not familiar with graphical design concepts. Fortunately there are easy to use tools that can aide you in selecting a set of colors (a theme) for your website.

In this post I am providing links to 4 color tools to create a color theme. All 4 tools are web based and they save you the hassle of installing any software on your PC.

All of the following tools provide similar features. So picking the right tool is a matter of personal choice. My personal choice is Color Blender because I find it easy to use and very intuitive.

1. Color Blender

Color Blender has 3 equalizer style controls for the 3 primary colors (Red, Green & Blue). By dragging these 3 controls to the left or right, you can create set of matching colors (blend) that are automatically generated for you.

Once a blend is generated you can use the direct edit function to fine tune the color. You can also modify your blend using 7 different shades (know as variations).

Once you are satisfied with your theme, you can export the blend to Photoshop or Illustrator color files (palettes).

You also have an option to save the blend or email it to a friend.

If you need more inspiration, please check out Browse Blend section that displays blends created by previous users. Some of the blends created by other users are really cool.

Color Blender

2. Color Jack

The front page of color jack contains a number of themes (possibly created by previous users) and you can quickly view the colors in each theme by hovering your mouse over different themes.

Color jack provides 3 advanced tools to choose a theme. They include the following:

1. Color Galaxy
2. Color Sphere
3. Color Studio

3. Color Scheme Generator 2

Color Scheme Generator 2 provides a number of scheme types and variations to create your theme. It also has the ability to limit colors to web safe colors.

4. Color Wizard

Easy to use flash based color tool. Uses equalizer style controls for color selection. Has a randomize button to choose random colors.

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How to view image files in NEF format?

March 28, 2008 By 3 Comments

NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) is the format that Nikon digital cameras use to store images in raw form (as it is, without any compression or transformations applied). Not all graphics software can view this image format. If you own a Nikon camera it would have come with required conversion software to convert NEF files to other popular image formats such as JPG and BMP. In the absence of such conversion software, you can use Picasa image viewer from Google. Using Picasa you can view NEF images as well as save them in JPG format. Picasa image viewer can be downloaded as part of Google Pack.

Do you know any other software that can handle NEF images? Please share them in this page.

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