Around The Web with Hargopal

Reviews of some of the best websites, software, and technologies around the Web

Free iPhone SMS Forwarding – Step by Step

WeToolIf you were to do a Google search to look for a solution to forward SMS messages on your iPhone, you will see a whole bunch of different software designed to do this task. Some of these include SMSD, iSMS and WeTool. Some of them cost money while others are free.

This post is intended to focus on WeTool, a simple straightforward application designed to forward SMS messages on the iPhone plus other great features. Best of all, its FREE. This post will walk you through how to install this free iPhone SMS forwarding application on your iPhone, step-by-step.

WeTool is designed and developed by Aaron Jang, over at www.weiphone.com. If you go to this page, however, chances are you will not be able to make anything out as its written in the Chinese character set. This fact alone may scare some people away, wondering whether WeTool is really compatible with their iPhone. But the good news is, while it may not be easy to locate the software on WEIphone.com, it is really simple to install it, and yes, the interface is completely in English.

Some of the features of WeTool is as follows:

  • Forwarding of SMS messages
  • Sending SMS to multiple recipients
  • Deleting individual SMS messages
  • Deleting individual call entries (recieved, made, missed)
  • 18 cool screen transition effects

At the time of writing, the latest version is 0.3.7.1 .The installation procedure is very simple, as follows:

  1. Launch Installer on your iPhone
  2. Tap sources, then edit, then add
  3. Type in http://app.weiphone.com/installer/ in the prompt
  4. Tap OK, the Installer Sources will refresh
  5. Tap Install, then tap All Packages
  6. Look for WeTool 0.3.7.1 (or a later version)
  7. Tap Install

Once it downloads and installs, you will have a new program called WeTool which you can then use either as your primary SMS application or use it in conjunction with the default iPhone SMS application.

Bullzip – Free PDF Creator

Adobe PDF is perhaps one of the most ubiquitous file formats on the Internet today. It allows users with the Adobe Reader (or other PDF compliant reader software) to view and print (if allowed) PDF documents. The beauty of the PDF format is that it can be created from any originating file format, be it Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, vector images, PowerPoint slideshows, Websites. Anything at all that can be printed out by your computer, can be converted into a PDF document. The best part of the conversion is that the layout of the original document, along with its fonts is retained so your readers get to see your content exactly the way you created it, without having to have the originating software.

While viewing PDF documents is free with the Adobe Reader, Adobe charges big money for its Adobe Acrobat software which is their solution to creating PDF documents. But we don’t want to have to pay to create PDF documents, do we? So I scoured the web and discovered that there are in fact a few free PDF creation tools available for FREE!

BullZip is perhaps the best of the lot, and is downloadable free of charge from here : http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php. It works just like Adobe Acrobat, since installs as a printer driver. The generated PDFs do not contain any kind of advertising or popups which is a major plus point for this program. The only limitation is that its FREE for personal and commercial use for up to 10 users. In most cases, this is not a limitation anyway.

BullZip’s features include :

  • Print to PDF from almost any Windows program
  • Runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/2003/2003 x64/Vista/Vista x64/2008
  • Supports 64-bit operating systems
  • Direct output to the same file each time or prompt for destination
  • Control if the printer should ask if you want to see the resulting PDF document
  • Control output and prompts programmatically
  • Setup can run unattended
  • Graphical user interface
  • Password protect PDF documents
  • 128/40 bit encryption
  • Quality settings (screen, printer, ebook, prepress)
  • Set document properties, Watermark text, size, rotation, and transparency.
  • Superimpose/background documents.
  • Appending/prepending documents.
  • User interface control.
  • Command line interface to all settings.
  • COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control.
  • Support for Citrix MetaFrame
  • Support for Windows Terminal Server
  • Multiple output types supported: BMP, JPEG, PCX, PDF, PNG, and TIFF.

So, if you are looking for the perfect solution to being able to create PDF documents from any Windows program for FREE and without any hassle or limitations, go get BullZip. You will thank yourself you did.

Wordle.Net – Beautiful Tag Clouds

We are all familiar with Tag Clouds on blogs… The more a particular topic gets written about in a blog, the larger its size is, relative to the size of other tags. Its really a clever representation of the metadata of a blog, a nice visual summary, if you like.

Wordle.net is a word cloud creation software written by Jonathan Feinberg. The basic idea behind this software is to key in a bunch of words, specify color, font and layout options and a visually appealing word cloud is generated. You are free to use the word cloud in any which way you desire. Looking at the default color and font themes, it is easy to guess that t-shirt designs was among the main uses Jonathan had in mind when creating this.

wordle-hargopal.com

There is also a Gallery section which allows people to showcase their beautiful creations on the website. Its a good idea to go through these to get ideas and to help you with your own creative process.

Interestingly, the use of this software has gone beyond the initial purpose the author had in mind. He has received numerous inquiries from teachers and those in the education field for permission to use this software as an educational tool. This naturally came with requests to have some form of censorship, as currently the content in the Gallery is not moderated. Quite unsurprisingly, this is not an easy to do task, since at the time of writing his software gets about 3 Wordle generation requests per minute.

If you do not have a bunch of text you can think of immediately, some of the things you could do is paste in an entire chapter of an ebook to see which are the words which are repeated more often (they will have a larger relative size). Or better still, Wordle supports RSS feeds, which means all you have to do is key in the path to the RSS feed your favorite blog and it will automagically generate a beautiful word cloud from the contents of that blog.

The fonts used in the system are not only pretty to look at, they also support international character sets. Therefore, its possible to use the system out of the box with other character sets such as Arabic, Devanagri and Hebrew.

So, what are you waiting for, head over to Wordle.net and unleash your creative genius!

PhotoFunia – Fun Photo Effects

PhotoFunia

Hey, I’m back after a long hiatus… This time I would like to share a nice fun-with-photos website aptly known as PhotoFunia! Its amazing how this has not become as ubiquitous as Facebook, but nonetheless, here is the URL : http://www.photofunia.com

Once you get there, there is little explanation needed. But in a nutshell, this website allows you to upload your own (or anyone elses) photograph and have it automagically transformed into one of many works of art, for FREE!. Its really amazing to see how breathtaking the final effect is. My personal favorite is the Pavement Drawing effect (third in the images below).

Please do note that your photo will be publicly viewable, unless you take care to place a checkmark on the ‘My photo should not be available to public’

Here are previews of a fraction of the awesome effects available for FREE!

PhotoFunia Armani Mania PhotoFunia Night City PhotoFunia Pavement Drawing PhotoFunia Vladimir Putin PhotoFunia Very Old Telly

Ok, now quick pose in front of your webcam, smile and head over to PhotoFunia to create your art masterpiece.

  • 6 Comments
  • Filed under: Tech Tips
  • Web design tips & Free Wordpress themes

    Tha SlayerToday I would like to share a website maintained by a fellow member at the Digital Point forums, thaslayer, at www.thaslayer.com. As the post title suggests, he is a commendable graphics and web designer and I found that his designs are very appealing. The website itself has been designed very well, with subtle shades used to make for easy reading and to direct the reader’s attention to the various sections on the website easily.

    At the time of writing there are 4 great themes offered for free download under the Free Themes section, namely Missile, Styleicious, Chameleon and Loveblog. Each theme is accompanied by a full feature list, a live demo site and of course the download link. Among these, Loveblog is my personal favorite, mainly due to the clean lines and easy to read layout.

    The Portfolio section is where the author shows off his ability in creating designs for various platforms including Wordpress, PHP Link Directory, Forums and General Websites. Just taking a peek at the cleverly made Wordpress design previews you can tell that thaslayer is indeed capable of churning out an entire range of designs and themes suited to the needs his clients.

    So the next time you are in need of a custom designed Wordpress site or other web design, head over to thaslayer’s website and check out what he has to offer. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

  • 0 Comments
  • Filed under: Web Reviews
  • Step by Step : Downloading YouTube Videos

    YouTube LogoLots of people have asked me if its possible to download videos from YouTube and how to go about doing it. Yes, indeed its possible, in fact there are two ways of doing it. A) The free, but lengthy way; B) The cheap and quick way. Lets look at option A first (Click here to skip to the cheap and quick way)

    OPTION A) The free but lengthy way

    STEP 1 : Identifying the video

    Identify the full address of the video which you want to download including the YouTube address (eg : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk. You can get this from the address bar at the top of your browser window or by clicking on the More Info link at the right hand bar, from the URL box. Copy this address and have it ready to be used in the next step.

    STEP 2 : Preparing for download

    Open up a new browser window or tab and go to http://keepvid.com/. Here you will need to paste the address of the video you copied in STEP 1 into the box which says “URL”. Next click on the download button on the right hand side of the box DO NOT click on the Download, Convert and Play icons they are just advertisements.

    STEP 3 : Downloading the video

    Depending on the video you have chosen, you will be shown links which allow you to download the video file directly in a green box at the bottom of the page. Here you can choose to download either the low quality (FLV) format video or high quality (MPEG 4) format video by right clicking on the relevant link and choosing Save As. If you choose the Low Quality (FLV) option, you will have to rename the file from get_video to something else with an FLV extension, for example you may call the video “funny.flv”

    STEP 4 : Playing the video

    Depending on the video format you saved your file in Step 3, you will either need to have an FLV player to view the lower quality video file you downloaded in the FLV format, or an MPEG 4 player to view the high quality video file. FLV Player is a good player to use to view FLV video files. Apple Quicktime and many other video players are able to handle MPEG 4 videos without problems. Enjoy!

    Video PiggyOPTION B) The cheap and quick way

    STEP 1 : Download VideoPiggy

    If you do not want the hassle of performing the steps above each time you need to download a video from YouTube, and want a quick and easy way to get your YouTube videos, I recommend VideoPiggy, an excellent piece of software which will make it effortless to download videos from YouTube and to convert them into any format you choose for various applications (such as inserting into PowerPoint presentations). Video Piggy will also download videos from other video servers including Google Video, Metacafe and MySpaceTV!

    Click here to get VideoPiggy now!

  • 3 Comments
  • Filed under: Software, Utilities
  • 3000 TV Channels!

    iSoftwareTVMalaysians are greatly disadvantaged since we do not have free access to foreign media unless it goes through the censor board first. Freeview satellite tv is unheard of, and all we have is Astro which is a restricted commercial satellite tv service.

    The Internet has been responsible to liberate a lot of such constraints which have been imposed on Malaysians all this while, most notable is the easier access to uncensored local and foreign news on the the World Wide Web. But what about TV? We are still restricted as to what we can and cannot watch.

    iSoftwareTV is the perfect answer to this problem. Essentially, it is a piece of software which gives you access to over 3000 channels featuring Full DVD Quality Movies, International TV Shows, Music Videos and much more! This amazing piece of software has received acclaim from CNN, MSNBC, CNET and America Online. The best part is that since it is software, it will work wherever you are in the world! All you need is access to an Internet connection.

    Your Astro subscription easily sets you back RM 80- RM90 a month on average, and you get to watch reruns of the same shows again and again. If you are in the United States, traditional satellite TV and Cable services can cost easily in excess of $90/month. iSoftwareTV costs only $39.95 ONE TIME. There is no monthly recurring fee to be paid at all. Even if you convert that to Ringgit Malaysia, it comes up to about RM 120 which is what you are paying A MONTH if you subscribe to every channel on Astro (not including Box Office shows).

    So the next time you switch on your TV and start flipping channels looking for something worthwhile to watch, consider getting . It is simply liberating!

  • 0 Comments
  • Filed under: Software, Windows
  • Arcade Temple

    Arcade Temple

    For over a decade now Flash has greatly empowered the content we interact with on the Web. Initially Flash was designed to create animations and eventually evolved to becoming a fully interactive platform. The bulk of video content on the Internet including YouTube and other video servers is all based on Flash, a format known as FLV or Flash Video. Oringinally developed by Macromedia, the Flash platform now belongs to Adobe, after it bought over the former’s business.

    The slick animation ability, coupled with object-oriented programmability of the Flash platform has made it very appropriate for developing interactive games on the Internet. There are many commercial and free games available on the Internet, with genres ranging from Puzzles to Arcade and Board games.

    Arcade Temple is an excellent site which hosts thousands of quality interactive Flash games across various genres. Users are free to browse and play any game on the site, with the option to download the game to their desktop as well. Users can also opt to register as members of the site for free which comes with several benefits including being able to participate in the monthly $100 prize competitions.

    So the next time you have some free time on your hands, head over to Arcade Temple and immerse yourself in a world of online interactivity. 

  • 1 Comment
  • Filed under: Web Reviews
  • Bluetooth freedom in your car

    Clarion BLT 370The Clarion BLT370 Bluetooth® Receiver is perhaps the best option for anyone who is considering upgrading an upgrade to their car stereo. Essentially, it is a Bluetooth transceiver (transmitter-receiver) which connects to the Auxilliary input of your exsiting car stereo. It supports 3 Bluetooth profiles, namely Handset (or Handsfree), A2DP and AVRCP.

    The handsfree profile allows it to pair with your mobile phone so that you can make and receive calls wirelessly in your car. A built-in microphone picks up your voice, while the voice of the other party is played over your car speakers. At the same time, the BLT 370 can also pair with a music device which supports the high-quality Bluetooth audio protocol, A2DP. Many mobile phones today also support this which means you can use your mobile phone for phone calls and music streaming with the BLT 370. The AVRCP profile allows the device to intelligently pause your music and switch to Handsfree mode when you place or receive a call while listening to music.

    I have paired mine with my Motorola V3XX mobile phone and 4th generation Apple iPod Photo. I had to purchase a Sony Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for iPod dongle to allow my music to be streamed via Bluetooth from my iPod. While there are many Bluetooth dongles available the small size of the dongle appealed to me. Plus, it does not need to be charged separately as it draws what little power it needs from the iPod battery itself.

    If you are comfortable with messing with the electronics in your car, you can probably hook this device up yourself. I got mine installed from Quest Audio in Subang Jaya, for a mere RM 380 including installation. The sound quality is as good as what my in-dash 6-disc CD changer produces. Another plus point is that I can easily pass my iPod to a passenger sitting in the rear seat and they can wirelessly control the music in the car right from the iPod.

    So if you are thinking of upgrading your car sound system, give the Clarion BLT 370 a serious thought. You will be glad you did.

  • 0 Comments
  • Filed under: Gadgets
  • Megatraffix – Drive traffic to your site

    MegatraffixA fellow Digital Point forum member recently offered me the opportunity of testing out the traffic boosting services he offers at Megatraffix, and I am so impressed by the service that I have to share this with you. Essentially, the service promises you worldwide or targeted unique, real traffic to your website.

    There are several plans which you can choose, which differ in the number of visits delivered to your website as well as the source of the traffic. Naturally, the higher the amount of visits and the uniqueness of the location, the higher the plan is going to cost. That said, its worth mentioning that the plans are affordably priced, starting with only $7 for 5000 unique visitors.

    What is even more interesting is that you are provided with a control panel from which you can track the number of visitors which have been sent to your website. Also, you can ‘throttle’ the maximum number of visitors the service sends to your site on any given day. This allows you to maximise the traffic you buy over a longer period of time.

    So if you want to boost your web traffic, Google PR rating or Alexa ranking, head over to Megatraffix and you can literraly sit back and watch your visitor counter grow.

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