Month: February 2008

Transfer data from paper to your PC

No more sore fingersOne of the worst jobs I ever had was one where I had to type information from piles of order forms into a computer. After two weeks working there I had to quit because I was going cross-eyed and my fingers had started to wear away. If you have a similarly mind-numbing job or if you have to transfer data from a paper document to your PC for any reason then you don’t have to suffer like I do. You simply need to scan the docs and install an optical character recognition (OCR) software on your PC and the whole task can be done automatically.

As Wikipedia puts it, OCR is the process of “translating images of hand-written or typewritten data into machine-editable text.” In the past, OCR systems were a little crude and unreliable but today’s software is advanced enough to do the job with minimal mistakes.

If you have a printed document you want to transfer to your PC for editing or importing into a database then you may want to plump for Omni Page. It’s one of the most powerful OCR tools out there, boasting precision OCR analysis, advanced layout detection and logical form recognition technology. You can download a free trial of the software, although the full version will set you back a hefty $500. If this is too much for you then you could try a free, no-frills alternative such as Softi FreeOCR, but you’ll have to accept that the recognition is not so accurate.

If you want to import a paper document but don’t have a scanner in your house then give TopOCR a try. The OCR system in this one is specfically designed for digital cameras, allowing you to simply snap a picture of your document and transfer it to your PC. What if the paper-based data you have is handwritten rather than typed? Then you simply install EverNote, which lets you store and quickly scan, store and access handwritten notes and documents.

Act out Oscar-winning movies on your PC

Reinact classic Oscar-winning moviesSo, the Oscars are over for another year, after an action-packed awards show last night. If you didn’t pick up an Academy award this year (and last face it, that’s probably most of us) then don’t worry because there is a way to help you at least pretend that you’re in an Oscar-winning film. I’ve picked out some of my favourites from past winners and come up with ideas of games to play that will help you reinact the action from the movies.

  • Platoon (1985) – Oliver Stone’s moving portrayl of the war in Vietnam certainly paints an impression of what it must have been like to fight in it. If you really want to relive the horrors of the conflict yourself then check out The Hell in Vietnam, where you assume the role of a US Officer who must lead a platoon of men through eight treacherous expeditions.
  • Driving Miss Daisy (1989) – One of my all-time favourites in which Morgan Freeman must chauffeur round the crabby Jessica Tandy. Step into Freeman’s world by installing Super Taxi Driver on your PC. You’ll need driving skills as well as a whole lot of patience as you strive to get your passengers to their destinations in time.
  • Unforgiven (1992) – The excellent Morgan Freeman again shines, this time alongside Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman in a gun-slinging tale. Want to know what it feels like to be a rootin’-tootin’ outlaw? Get hold of the demo of Desperados 2 and you’ll find out. You can take on the role of one of six heroes as you shoot your way through an engrossing storyline.
  • Titanic (1997) – I wasn’t so sure about this film but I’ve always been intriuged by the story so I love playing Hidden Expedition: Titanic. As part of the Hidden Expedition Adventure League, it is your job to explore the wreckage of this once-majestic ship and collect antique artifacts for the Titanic Museum. There are an incredible 17 diving missions on 17 locations on the liner.
  • A Beautiful Mind (2001) -If you want to put yourself in the shoes of troubled mathematical genius John Forbes Nash (played by Russell Crowe in the movie) then download Math Ninja. You must complete a series of numerical challenges based around multiplication, addition, subtraction and division. I’m sure Nash would even struggle with some of the later levels.

Will Adobe AIR change the way we use the web?

Adobe AIRAlthough it is true that more and more services are going to be web-based, giving you the benefit of having access to them from any device connected to the Internet, it is also true that users are still fond of double-clicking an icon on their desktop. This is probably because it’s still not very easy to stay online wherever you go (in fact, most areas don’t have free access to the Internet). I have the feeling that people still like working on their computer, with locally installed applications. So, what to do? Step up, Adobe Air….

Adobe Air is a free, cross-platform and open-source technology which allows web-applications to be used offline. It is aimed at bringing the same functionality of rich Internet applications built using technologies such as Adobe Flash and Flex Builder to the desktop. Developers of web services can now offer the possibility to download their services for offline use. The benefits are clear: users will be able to work with any service they need while offline, and upload their changes as soon as an internet connection becomes available. Adobe AIR’s competitors are Microsoft with Silverlight and Google with Gears which differ for type of technologies supported (like .NET framework rather than Flash) and for type of service they point at.

So far, among the big names developing desktop versions of their online products there are: eBay, AOL and Yahoo!. The BBC is also building prototype applications with AIR. According to eBay’s frequent users for example, the desktop application is really useful as it is designed to do everything in the quickest possible way by pre-organising the activity of selling and buying in customizable ways.

Continue reading “Will Adobe AIR change the way we use the web?”

How to: Copy specific songs to your iPhone

Copy selected=In January 2007 the iPhone was presented in society for the first time. A few months and two firmware updates later, the Apple device has already jumped overseas and European iPhone owners are gradually discovering the little wonders of this excellent piece of technology.

Now, being also an iPod, the iPhone can be connected to iTunes and used as a portable music player with which you can synchronize your whole library. But what if you only want to copy certain selected songs? iTunes doesn’t feature this option and you can’t just drag and drop songs as you did with older iPods. However, there’s a very simple trick you can use as a way around this apparent limitation.

Here it is: create a new playlist in iTunes and name it, for example, “iPhone Sync”. Then start adding new song you this playlist as you would normally do with any other playlist. You may use the Smart playlist feature here to filter your library by artist, genre or star rating.

Copy selected=

Once your playlist is done, to the iPhone summary page (the one with the iPhone picture) and click on the Music tab. Here, enable the Sync Music option and then select the “iPhone Sync” playlist you just created.

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There you go: your favorite songs will be transferred to the iPhone. The good thing about this trick is that the iPhone playlist can be edited any way you want by removing songs or adding new ones, even if your iPhone is not plugged in at the moment. Any changes you make will be automatically updated on the iPhone as soon as you sync it again with iTunes.

Send a url in a flash from Safari

applescriptWhen a Safari user finds an interesting link that he wants to share with his buddies, what he most likely does is select the ‘Mail Link to this Page’ function in the Safari menu. This normally opens up a new message from the Mac Mail.app and pastes the URL into it. All you have to do is then set a subject and select the email adresses of the people you want to send the URL to.

There are quicker ways by which to send URLs in Safari. One is the keyboard combination of Command Shift + I. This won’t send the email automatically though. Even better, you can install an applescript to make copying and sending a URL a one step process. First, find and open up the AppleScript Utility in Applications. Then copy and paste the following line of code:

tell application "Safari"
set thisPage to URL of document 1
set theSubject to name of document 1
end tell
tell application "Mail"
set theAddress to "Friends@mac.com"
set theBody to "Hey, I thought you would be interested in this link:
" & thisPage
tell application "Mail"
set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:theSubject, content:theBody & return & return}
set message signature of newMessage to signature "Cheers" -- Cheers being the name of an existing signature already set up in Mail...
tell newMessage
set visible to false
set sender to "yourFromMailAddress@mac.com"
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:theAddress}
send
end tell
end tell
end tell

Save it, then use a program like FastScripts or Keyboard Maestro to add a hotkey to the AppleScript. Activating it will take the URL in your Safari browser, open up Mail.app, copy it in the message, add a body text and signature. You can always change the body text, signature and email addresses in the AppleScript. Once set up, sharing URLs with friends will only take the click of a key.

[Via: macosxhints]

Tools to create comics

There are many ways to use your computer skills in a creative way: making a special CD with your favorite songs, creating a calendar with your photos or designing personal greeting cards are just some basic examples. But if you feel the urge to unleash your inner artist, you can take a step forward and start by creating your own comics. There are plenty of software tools to assist you – even if you’re hopeless at drawing.

Tools to create comicsComic Life
Probably the most popular comic app out there. It enables you to create comics from scratch or start off with any of its featured templates. Each element can be extensively customized, including image filters and text fonts. You can even use you webcam to take a snapshot and add it to your comic right away.

Tools to create comicsComic Book Creator
Though not as well-known as Comic Life, this program lets you create professional-looking comics by using any of its 500 layout and design templates. Comics can then be printed or published to your website, blog or social profile.

Tools to create comicsManga Studio
As its name states, Manga Studio is specially designed to create manga, the Japanese style comics. The program includes all the drawing tools you need, plus a bunch of ready-to-use templates, characters, balloons, background elements and more.

Toosl to create comicsComiqs
This online comic app allows you to use photos uploaded from your PC or from a photo-sharing website like Flickr. Tools include many varied speech bubbles, frames and fonts. The interface can be tested without registering and supports drag and drop so you’ll be creating comics in no time and embedding them on other sites.

Toosl to create comicsStripGenerator
In StripGenerator, another online tool, you can create occasional strips without registering. But if you want to use special features such as user comments, ratings and even a strip blog, you need to register – no big deal, it’s free. Strips are created with black and white pre-designed characters.

Toosl to create comicsToonDoo
This last online tool also enables you to create comic strips, though in a quite different style. Your work is bases on predefined elements as well – characters, objects, backgrounds and the likes – but they follow a more colorful, cartoonish style. You need to register in order to use the editor.

Create your own family tree

No, this is not my family treeGenealogy is an exciting science that can get you really hooked on. Though it sounds complicated at first sight – starting by that long, tricky name – genealogy can in fact become a hobby, that is, if you count with the right tools.

Family Tree Pilot is one of those handy tools with which you can build your own family tree in no time. It’s quite a basic one, but it’s also a great tool to take your first steps into the genealogy science. The program features a simple, clear interface with several tabs for the different areas in your genealogical study: people, families, children and even a drawn tree where you can easily arrange family photos in order to get a visual overview of your ancestors.

To create your family tree, simply start adding people: grandparents, parents, children, siblings and so on. Then, mark their relationships by creating families and assigning children to them. All family members will automatically added to the tree in the last tab, where you can then organize them any way you like. The tree can be printed or saved as an image. Time to show off your lineage!

Tips to avoid the Vista update fiasco

Vista logoJust when you thought Vista’s teething problems couldn’t get worse, Microsoft have warned of yet more mayhem for users. If you use BitDefender Antivirus, Trend Micro Internet Security and several other minor security applications, then you may find they don’t work when the next Vista service pack prompts you that it’s time for an update. Microsoft have taken the unusual step of warning such users that the forthcoming SP1 update for Vista may actually stop certain security programs from working properly.

The update will be available in mid-March and will affect the programs in one of three ways either blocking them completely, disabling certain parts or not allowing them to run properly. Whatsmore, Microsoft are warning that there could be many other programs affected and the full casualty list will not be known for some time. Most of the applications that are expected to be hit are either niche Asian market products or specialist security packages that most English home users won’t have. However, Softonic users that have installed BitDefender Antivirus and Trend Micro Internet Security will be affected. If you want to be on the safe side, there are many other alternatives available of which I would recommend Kaspersky Antivirus, Panda Antivirus or Avast!.

When the update is released, let us know if any of your programs are affected and we will do our best to suggest some useful or equivalent alternatives.

Top 5 GPS tools

GPS deviceGPS is surely one of the best things to happen to navigation in a long time. For map illiterates like me, the chance to just tap in a few coordinates and let a computer do the hard work is a dream come true. No more getting lost down dark alleys or wondering where the hell the A21 road turned into the A22 road. There are many useful little GPS add-ons that you can run in Windows that utilise GPS technology or extend the capabilities of your GPS device. These range from adding GPS functions to your photo collection to integrating your device with other navigational apps such as Google Earth. Here is a selection of 5 of the best:

EasyGPS – Backup, transfer and plot your navigation coordinates for your external GPS device

GPSBabel – Convert waypoints, tracks and routes from one format to another

RoboGEO – Map exactly when and where in the world your photos were taken

JetPhoto Studio – A more sophisticated GPS photo tool that includes organizational tools

geepeeeyes – Connect your GPS device to Google Earth for the ultimate navigational tool

Ways to watch the BBC on and offline

BBC logoFollowing hot on the heels of announcing the success of the BBC’s iPlayer, the British broadcaster has announced that its shows are to be made available for download via iTunes. The BBC claims that during the first 7 weeks of operation, around one million shows per week were downloaded via the iPlayer. Now the company could boost those figures into the stratosphere via iTunes, the most popular distributor of licensed multimedia content in the world. The latest move creates yet another medium through which BBC content can be watched and distributed. Here’s a guide to all the available ways that are now possible to watch the BBC online:

UK Only:

BBC iPlayer – Shows are available up to 7 days after the original broadcast

iTunes – Shows will be available one day after they have been released on the iPlayer for a fee

BBC Website – Some BBC programming can be watched on the BBC’s website

USB or PCI Card – Watch Freeview via your PC which includes BBC channels

YouTube – The BBC’s YouTube channel only for UK viewers featuring various content

Outside the UK:

LiveStation – Allows you to watch several news channels including BBC News 24

YouTube – The BBC has its own Worldwide YouTube channel where it releases clips of various shows

Stream TV – Shows BBC National news on a loop although it can be a delayed transmission

Sopcast – Occasionally streams BBC1 although there is no specific channel number because it depends whether a user is streaming it at any given time. If the BBC is showing live football, it’s often the most likely time you’ll find BBC 1 or 2 on Sopcast.