Category: Web Apps (page 8 of 16)

February 23, 2011

30 Days of Roc (and Some Free iTunes Gift Cards, Besides)

Late last spring, we talked about a tool that allowed you to make music right in your browser. Roc was in alpha back then, and was still ironing out the kinks, but Aviary has been hard at work making their online music creator one of the easiest ways to knock out a loop. There are currently (as of this writing) 167,843 saved music creations on Aviary.com, and people have been using the tool to create everything from ringtones to full, multilayer tracks by combining Roc with Aviary’s audio editor (also free and online), Myna.

Aviary has decided to kick off 2011 with a bang, and are in the middle of what they are calling 30 Days of Roc, where they will release a new instrument pack every weekday for 30 days, adding 50 new instruments to their already expansive library. As with all of the instruments in Roc, the new sounds will be licensed under Creative Commons attribution, which means that they can be used even in commercial projects without costing the user a dime. Don’t you just love free stuff? Yeah? Well, then you’ll like the contests that they’re running alongside the instrument releases too!

Image from Aviary Blog

Aviary’s sister site, Worth1000.com, is offering up challenges related to new instrument releases. Generally, the task is to create the best new track (in a specific timeframe) for the instrument of the day, meeting specific criteria. Winners get an iTunes gift card, usually in the $10-$20 range. Don’t worry if you’re not some super-talented beat-maker or composer; Roc is ridiculously easy to use — just point and click and see what you come up with. If you need help, check out the Roc Tutorial video at the bottom of this post.

The new instruments that Aviary has released for Roc so far are surprisingly good (and fun) for sounds that you don’t have to pay for. The first day of the 30 (February 4, 2010) saw a set of five Human Beatbox instruments, and subsequent days have brought about bells, chimes, vocal FX and jazz sounds, singing vowels, tabla bols and konokol, animals and birds, sounds around the house, body sounds (it’s not what you’re thinking…), a thumb piano, and more — just to name a few. And they are only on release #14 as of this writing.

If you are even halfway interested in creating your own ringtone or mucking about with loops and beats, you should dive in and take another look at Aviary’s online music creator. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover you’re the next Kanye West or Dr. Dre.

It could happen…

Really.

Roc Tutorial

February 5, 2011

Fend Off Tracking Cookies, Keep Functionality With Disconnect [Google Chrome]

Cookies. We have a love hate relationship with them. They track what we do and report all kinds of information back to the site that generated them — and to third parties as well, in many cases. But they also often provide a better user experience, keeping track of our preferences and removing small annoyances like having to sign in to a website every single time we open it up. Unfortunately, as is the case with most things on the internet regarding your privacy and security, the only completely effective way to protect yourself is to simply turn the potential problem off. The only problem with this course of action is that turning off cookies also has the effect of making a huge part of the web practically unusable.

So what to do about it? Well, if you use Google Chrome, try out Disconnect.

Disconnect, which was created by a former Google employee, is a Google Chrome Extension that helps you to keep your personal data safe while still maintaining the ability to work effectively with sites like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and others. You may run into a few issues now and again, but overall, the experience is fairly seamless. All you need to do is install the Disconnect extension in your Google Chrome browser, make sure the extension is turned on, then watch as the tally of daily attempted intrusions upon your privacy climbs. The basic functionality, and much of the more advanced uses, of the webapps should work without problems, helping you to do what you like, and search for what you like, without passing along any personally identifiable data. If you have need to unblock a service, say to do something like play Facebook games, it’s a simple matter of a click on the extension’s dropdown menu (which includes Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Yahoo, and Google).

Disconnect is open source software. Download it for Google Chrome here.

Disconnect for Chrome Disables Third-Party Tracking While Keeping Webapps Operational [Lifehacker]

February 3, 2011

Springpad Gets Even Better — Again

Less than two months after our last update on Springpad — one of our hottest topics on 40Tech — the tool to save and organize pretty much anything has sent out another press release full of updated goodness. Goodness to the tune of more than 250,000 new users in the month of January alone, 4 million new bookmarks via the Delicious bookmark importer, new saved-search filters, delete and archive support, and an overhaul to what was already one of the better Google Chrome extensions out there.

From the press release:

Faster Ways to Get Organized with Springpad on the Web

New Filters: Springpad structures the data you save to make it easy for you to search and filter through your items. Search through your recipes or restaurants by cuisine; filter your movies by actor or genre. Once you’ve created your filters, you can easily save them to make the next search faster than ever.
Delete and Archive Support: Springpad now has a “trash” button on the home screen so you can quickly recover an item you may have archived or inadvertently deleted.

Enhanced Springpad Extension

Springpad’s upgraded Chrome Browser Extension makes it fast and easy to add a note, create a task or look up something without leaving the site you’re browsing. When you use the extension to clip content, the new item is automatically categorized (recipe, movie, restaurant, book, etc.) and you can create or select a notebook for more efficient organization. To install the extension, click here.

Springpad has been moving in leaps and bounds lately, and its progress is impressive. If you’re looking for a tool to help you organize your life on the web, you should check it out. You can get a feel for the product here, check out their massive overhaul update here (with promo video, if you don’t feel like reading), and get all kinds of tips on how best to use Springpad from the Springpad Blog.

How are you liking the new Springpad?

Springpad Ends Record-Breaking Month with Over 250,000 New Subscribers [CEO Jeff Janer’s Springpad]

January 26, 2011

AirDropper: An Easy Way to Request Files — and Have Them Sent Straight to Your Dropbox

AirDropper: An Easy Way to Request Files -- and Have Them Sent Straight to Your Dropbox | 40Tech

Recently, we talked a bit about Ge.tt, an extraordinarily easy way to send files to people without having to talk them through how to receive them. But what if you are the one who needs a file sent to you, and you want to make it as easy as possible to get that request taken care of? You could explain Ge.tt to people (it really is easy), or you could be a bit more direct and use the tool that one of our readers brought to our attention: AirDropper. After all, when you need something from someone, the best way to get it is to require the fewest steps possible — and to sweeten the deal, AirDropper uses your Dropbox folder, so you will be able to access the file(s) from anywhere.

Getting set up with AirDropper is pretty straightforward. You head to www.airdropper.com and click START. You will then be redirected to Dropbox to authenticate the AirDropper service, which will add an AirDropper folder in your Dropbox folder. Once that’s done, you will head back to AirDropper, and will be presented with a form that allows you to send an email (from your email address of choice) to multiple recipients to request files. The email contains your message, and a large, friendly button that says Upload and brings the user to an even friendlier ADD FILES interface. The file or files — AirDropper has supported multiple file sends since about September of 2010 — will then be sent directly to your Dropbox with no fuss, no muss, and not a worry except for your storage limit.

Note: If you are sending sensitive files, be sure to have a look over the AirDropper terms of service first.

AirDropper is free while in beta, but will likely charge for some of their service in the future, which will likely include tiered pricing for things like the size of the transfer(s), etc. Either way, it is definitely a useful tool!

Thanks to Martin for bringing it to our attention!

January 14, 2011

What Next-Gen Tech, Gadgets Are You Most Looking Forward To?

What Next-Gen Tech, Gadgets Are You Most Looking Forward To In 2011 | 40Tech

CES 2011 wrapped up about a week past, and from the the look of things, there is some pretty sweet new tech on the horizon. There are tablets, smartphone/laptop combos, tablet/netbook combos, concept cars/bikes, connected TVs, WiFi-connected refrigerators, unifying cloud storage services, and much much more.

After the jump, I’ve listed three of the things I’m most looking forward to, as well as links to a few articles from folks who were at the event. Have a read, be tantalized and amazed — and let us know what you are most excited about in the world of tech and gadgets this year!

Motorola Xoom

There’s a reason this year is being heralded as the year of the tablet — and there’s a reason that this tablet stole the entire show. Motorola’s Xoom tablet was the only one at the show using the new, optimized-for-tablets Android Honeycomb. It’s packing a 10.1 inch display, 1280×800 resolution, 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, and front and rear cameras. It’s ridiculously fast, can take 720p video, and will have 4G capability in the second quarter of the year.

Motorloa Xoom, Android Honeycomb, Best of CES 2011 | 40Tech

There’s no word on the price of this beauty, but it ought to give the iPad — possibly even the iPad 2 — a serious run for its money. Just the fact that it has all that power, supports Flash, and is on a network other than AT&T (Verizon) might be enough to sway some users. It is unknown whether there will be a WiFi-only version or not, or if anyone outside of Verizon will get a hold of it — but I hope that Motorola would be smart enough not to limit themselves.

Motorola Atrix 4G

Motorola came to win at CES this year, and their smartphone offering is, in a word, awesome! I own an iPhone and an iPad, and I thoroughly enjoy them both, but the geek in me is loving what companies like this are doing with Android. The phone itself is beefy (the dual-core Tegra 2 chip and 1GB of ram make playing 1080p video and Flash a breeze), but the coolest thing about it is the dock — which turns it into a laptop.

Seriously.

The phone just plugs into the back of the 2.4 pound laptop dock, and voila! You get an 11.6 inch screen with a compressed keyboard, a trackpad, and webtop software that lets you surf the full-sized web, even picking up where you left off on the phone. You can also access the phone’s interface, and run its apps in full screen. According to LaptopMag, you can even run Citrix Receiver, which allows you to basically run full Windows right there on the machine.

Very cool!

Motorola-Atrix-4G-With-Laptop-Dock

Real Networks Unifi: One Cloud Service to Rule Them All

Real Networks is coming out with a cloud service to combine all cloud services. Unifi will allow you to aggregate your multimedia files — or whatever files — that are on multiple devices and online services. This would allow you to keep just one central online media and file library to organize, manage, and access all of your stuff. Its incredibly convenient, especially as we are moving more and more to the cloud. The interface looks pretty good, too.

Real Networks Unifi | One Cloud Service to Rule Them All | 40Tech

Apparently, Unifi will be open for public beta in a couple of months, and Real Networks plans to offer the standard freemium model: 2GB of storage for free, with paid plans that climb up to 100GB. iOS and Android apps should be available around the same time as the beta lanch, with Windows Mobile 7 and Blackberry apps to follow. It ought to be useful for Google Chrome OS when it finally goes live, as well.

So those are the things that really stood out to me in CES 2011, but there were many, many more — good, bad, and weird. Here are a few links:

cNet: http://ces.cnet.com/best-of-ces/

LaptopMag: http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/best-of-ces-2011.aspx#axzz1B4NBYH9c

enGadget: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/11/best-of-ces-2011/

What tech are you most looking forward to? Anything you definitely did not like?

Category: Web Apps (page 8 of 16)

30 Days of Roc (and Some Free iTunes Gift Cards, Besides)

Fend Off Tracking Cookies, Keep Functionality With Disconnect [Google Chrome]

Springpad Gets Even Better — Again

From the press release:

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