CyberNet Classics - All Articles

Easily Retrieve Those Pesky Songs Off Your iPod

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:31:18 -0600

This article was written on November 02, 2006 by CyberNet.

One thing that Apple doesn’t allow you to do with the iTunes software is retrieve the songs from your iPod. That doesn’t matter to most people until you reformat your computer and forget to backup your songs. Don’t worry though, iDump is here to save the day!

iDump is an awesome freeware application that lets you retrieve music off of your iPod without any troubles. It also has the ability to handle your playlists and will let you select certain songs only from those lists if you choose. Here are the rest of the features that it has:

Output formatting
This gives you the option to select an output directory and the way the songs will be transferred.
Unattended Transfer
If you have the pleasure of owning one of the larger iPod’s then this option is for you, Simply set the options for this feature and it will deal with common errors like what to do if a song already exist on the destination drive etc.
Search
This does what most searches do, it searches!.
Playlists
If you use playlists on your iPod then this gives you the option to select any of the playlists and display the song within the selected list only.
Export Playlists
This option will export all of your playlists in to the standard .m3u format.

Download iDump

Related Posts:

World’s Largest iPod

iPod U2 Back for an Encore!

iPod Shuffle Hack – A Great Gift For Joggers

New iPod Updater Has Been Released

Soundflavor: Free iTunes DJ

Windows Updates In Vista Handled Differently

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:18:32 -0600

This article was written on November 10, 2006 by CyberNet.

Microsoft has made Windows Updates in Vista 1000 times better than they previously were. The first thing that many of you probably know about is that Windows Updates no longer use Internet Explorer. They are done through the Control Panel and it is a lot more convenient for those of us who don’t prefer to use Internet Explorer:

That isn’t nearly the best thing though. One of the biggest irritations about installing updates in Windows XP was the annoying prompt that you would receive every 10-minutes to restart your computer (if you didn’t restart right away). There was a registry hack to adjust the reminder time but it was still completely unnecessary for that low of a frequency to be set by default.

In the screenshot above you can see the reminder that I just received today after I installed a few updates for Vista RC2. Instead of just being able to dismiss the message Microsoft now lets you postpone it at a frequency of 10-minutes, 1-hour, or 4-hours. That is much more reasonable because I should be able to finish what I am doing after 4-hours. Even if I don’t finish receiving one reminder every 4-hours is a lot nicer than receiving 24 in 4-hours, which is what it would be at the typical 10-minute interval.

There are all kinds of little features like this that I have been noticing and making notes of so that I can continue to share them with you. Most of the features I have in my list (currently around 10) are ones that you may not pickup on right away but you will probably find them useful. Stick around because I’ll be sharing a few each week!

New Picasa 2.6 Beta Is Vista Compatible

Get Microsoft Windows Vista Without The Bugs!

Windows Live Messenger Now Updates via Windows Update

Download Vista SP2 Beta via Windows Update

CyberNotes: Use Any USB Drive or Memory Card with ReadyBoost on Vista

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:09:26 -0600

This article was written on April 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows Vista, offers a really unique feature called ReadyBoost. The goal of it is to use a USB drive or memory card to increase the amount of memory that your system has to use. The results of adding a memory card or flash drive to Vista for memory usage can actually be quite astonishing.

One of the main problems is that you typically need a high-speed device because Microsoft wants to make sure that you get the most out of ReadyBoost. None of the memory cards or USB drives that I have laying around actually met the requirements for ReadyBoost, and every time I tried to use it I would receive this warning: “This device does not have the required performance characteristics for use in speeding up your system.”

Have no fear though, because you can use almost any USB drive or memory card with ReadyBoost! Although you may not receive optimal performance from it if the card doesn’t meet Vista’s standards.

Here’s how you can enable ReadyBoost on Vista for any memory card or USB drive:

Insert your USB Drive and choose the ReadyBoost option when prompted. If you’re not prompted you can always go into Windows Explorer, right-click on the device, and choose Properties.

Check the box that says Stop retesting this device when I plug it in. Press Ok.
Now you’ll need to open up the Windows Registry, which can be done by opening up the Start Menu and typing regedit. If you get prompted by the User Account Control just select the option to Continue.

Note: I realize that editing the registry might be something you’re weary about doing, but if you stick to the instructions you won’t have any problems.
Browse the tree on the left side of the Registry Editor making your way through the “folders”: HKLM (Local Machine) -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> CurrentVersion -> EMDMgmt
One of the keys listed should be your USB Drive. Find it and click on that item (the names might look a little weird but you can probably recognize your drive).
Double-click on the Device Status entry on the right side and change the value to 2. Press OK.
Change both the ReadSpeedKBs and WriteSpeedKBs to 1000 by double-clicking on each of their names. Press OK.
Now open up Windows Explorer, right-click on your device, and choose the Properties option. You should now see the option to Use this device, and once you pick that you can choose how much memory can be used by ReadyBoost:

That’s all there is to it! The reason why this works is because we’re telling Vista a small little lie. We’re saying that the device is actually faster at reading and writing than it actually is, which means that in the long run we may not see all of the benefits that ReadyBoost actually offers. At least you are able to play around with it and be your own judge whether it improves the performance of your PC!

Source: Windows Vista Magazine

Have An Extra Memory Card? Use It With ReadyBoost!

CyberNotes: Vista Terms Defined

USB Drives: 1GB=FREE, 2GB=$5, and 4GB=$15

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Daily Downloads: ArtRage, VLC, and More

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:56:32 -0600

This article was written on February 28, 2008 by CyberNet.

Welcome to Daily Downloads brought to you by CyberNet! Each weekday we bring you the Windows software updates for widely used programs, and it’s safe to assume that all the software we list is freeware (we’ll try to note the paid-only programs).

As you browse the Internet during the day, feel free to post the software updates you come across in the comments below so that we can include them the following day!

–Stable Releases–

The software listed here have all been officially released by the developers.

Adobe Reader Lite 8.1.2 [Homepage] [Mirror] [Review]
Type of Application: PDF reader
Changes: Removed a few things to lighten the load a little more
ArtRage 2.5.20 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Type of Application: Create artistic designs
Changes: Bug fixes
VLC 0.8.6e [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Type of Application: Media player
Changes: Bug fixes and security updates
Wireshark 0.99.8 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Type of Application: Network troubleshooting and packet sniffer
Changes: Bug fixes, few new features, and better protocol support

–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–

The software listed here are pre-releases that may not be ready for everyday usage.

None

–Release Calendar–

Early 2008 – Internet Explorer 8 Beta [Review]
Early 2008 – Firefox 3.0 [Review]
February – iPhone SDK [Review]
February – Deskscapes 2.0 [Review]
March – WordPress 2.5 [Review]
March 4 – OpenOffice.org 2.4
March 6 – Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 6
Mid March – Vista SP1 [Review]
March 24 – XP SP3 [Review]
March 25 – Firefox 2.0.0.13 [Review]
April 24 – Ubuntu 8.04
April 29 – Fedora 9
June 19 – openSUSE 11.0
September 8 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review]
2009 – Windows Mobile 7 [Review]
2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
2010 – Windows 7 [Review]

CyberNet Update: Daily Downloads Merges with WrapUp’s

Daily Downloads is Now Cross-Platform

CyberNet Release Calendar is Back…in a New Form!

New at CyberNet: Daily Downloads Featured Article

NewsGator Online RSS Reader Gets A Little Better

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:52:38 -0600

This article was written on February 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

NewsGator just launched a new beta version of their online feed reader that is sporting some nifty AJAX and JavaScript goodness. Personally I prefer to use desktop feed reader applications because they offer more configurability and settings, but NewsGator now has a slim layout that is sure to please a lot of people.

You’ll quickly notice the AJAX jumping into play when you begin switching between your feeds. It operates a lot smoother now and reminds me more of Google Reader. There isn’t as much AJAX going on as I initially thought because the expanding and contracting headings only utilize simple JavaScript to hide the text from sight. Google Reader actually uses AJAX to retrieve the article’s content each time you click to expand an article when in the List View. Why does this matter? It doesn’t make that much of a difference to people who are on fast Internet connections, but Google’s feed reader will load up a little faster. This is because NewsGator immediately loads all of the content even if you never expand it, therefore creating more information for you to download when you view the page.

I think that the online client looks pretty nice, but it isn’t something that I would really use. Their online service is still important because they have a downloadable feed reader application for both Mac (NetNewsWire) and PC’s (FeedDemon). Neither of those applications are free, but they are some of the best software feed readers currently available on the market…and they are setup to synchronize with the NewsGator service.

Right now Google Reader is my preferred feed reader when I’m away from my personal computer, but they too have some things that could be fixed. A few weeks back I remember reading an article by Curtiss discussing the five things that Google still needs to fix/implement in Google Reader so that it is more usable. The one thing that I agree with the most is the need for a notification program so that I know when Google has found some new posts for my subscriptions. Even Bloglines has a notifier available so I think Google Reader needs this as well.

Let us know in the comments below what you use to keep track of your feeds, whether it be an application or an online service.

Source: Micro Persuasion

Related Posts:

FeedDemon and NetNewsWire are now FREE

Newsgator Online Now Recommends Stories

Google Reader Updated for iPhone

ReadAir: Google Reader Desktop App

Download The NewsGator Toolbar For IE And Firefox

Yahoo Mail Beta Opened To The World

Ryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:34:27 -0600

This article was written on September 15, 2006 by CyberNet.

You no longer have to trick Yahoo in order to test out their new Mail Beta which embraces the Web 2.0 functionality that many websites are starting to converge to. In order to activate Yahoo Mail Beta you will have to go to this site. It only takes a few clicks to start using it and I found the bouncing guy to be pretty amusing (he is displayed while your mailbox is loading).

Yahoo Mail Beta seems to run faster than when I had previously used it and works great in Firefox. It is also really nice not having to wait for a new page to load each time you are viewing another message. The tabs make it really easy to switch back and forth between viewing and composing an email. However, I just don’t feel like everything loads as quick as I would like.

I’m sure there will be a lot of people who love using it but I am still stuck on the clean, simple, and organized interface that GMail provides me. Yahoo Mail Beta will definitely be a success since Yahoo has so many users that already use their service, but I think a lot of the tech savvy people will still be addicted to GMail. Do we have anyone out there that is converting from GMail to Yahoo Mail?

Add AJAX Capabilities To Your Normal Yahoo! Mail

How To Join Yahoo Mail Beta By Tricking Yahoo

Yahoo Mail Beta Rolls Out Upgrades

How To Get Yahoo! Mail Beta To Work With Internet Explorer 7

Wii Comes Up Big in March

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:29:43 -0600

This article was written on April 22, 2008 by CyberNet.

About a month ago we took a look at how each of the consoles were still stacking up to each other in the U.S., and not surprisingly Nintendo was widely outselling the competition in both the handheld and console gaming markets. As March rolled on nothing much changed, except that Nintendo sold about 300,000 more Wii’s than the previous month:

Nintendo Wii – 721,000 units
Nintendo DS – 698,000 units
Sony PSP – 297,000 units
Microsoft Xbox 360 – 262,000 units
PlayStation 3 – 257,000 units
PlayStation 2 – 216,000 units

From what I hear the Wii consoles can still be quite a challenge to find stocked in stores, which means Nintendo has to be pulling in some good money. Last month the Wii didn’t have many of the top selling games which led many (including myself) to believe that consumers were content with having just the Wii Sports that the console ships with. Well, that may not be the case because Nintendo definitely knocked one out of the park with the Super Mash Brothers Brawl game:

[Wii] Super Smash Bros: Brawl – 2.7 million units
[Xbox 360] Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 – 752,300 units
[Xbox 360] Army of Two – 606,100 units
[Wii] Wii Play – 409,000 units
[PSP] God of War: Chains of Olympus – 301,600 units
[Wii] Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – 264,000 units
[Xbox 360] MLB 2K8 – 237,100 units
[Xbox 360] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 237,000 units
[PS3] Army of Two – 224,900 units

And you know that April’s stats are going to be along the same lines because the long awaited Mario Kart for the Wii will be released on April 27th. Despite being released near the end of the month I think we can expect to see Mario Kart top the charts for April.

[via WinSuperSite]

Official Windows XP SP3 Release Date

Next Zune Firmware Update Expected Mid-March

Safari Browser Stats for March are…

Daily Downloads: Comodo & OpenOffice

CyberNotes: How To Schedule A Drive To Defragment

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:21:24 -0600

This article was written on August 31, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

One of the coolest things in Vista is that it will automatically defragment itself once a week. I know very few people who defragment their computers at all and if I heard that someone was doing it once each week I would probably pass out! I don’t know why Microsoft didn’t make it automatic in XP but you can schedule it yourself.

So after you set this up on your computer maybe you should think about setting it up for those people who are constantly complaining that their computer gets slower each day. It may not solve all of their problems but I am sure it will help.

Here are the few steps that you need to do:

Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks.
Double-click on the Add Scheduled Task shortcut.
Click Next and you’ll have to wait for a little while for it to retrieve a list of programs.
Click the Browse button and find the file “C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe . Once you have found that file click Open.
Select a name and how often you want the task to run (weekly is probably the best option). Click Next.
Select the start time and choose when it will run. Click Next.
Enter the password for the computer. Click Next.
Check the box that says “Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish” and then click Finish.
Now you need to place the drive letter that you want to defragment on the end of the “Run” line. To defragment the primary drive just enter ” %HomeDrive%”. Make sure you place a space between the two: “…\defrag.exe %HomeDrive%”. It should look something like this:
Press OK and you are all set!

See, that was pretty easy and it will take care of defragmenting your drives since we all forget about it or choose not to do it. Now your XP machine is one step closer to being just like Vista.

Defragment Specific Files

CyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary!

CyberNotes: Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Webroot Offers Free Firewall for Vista & XP (Limited Time)

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:53:36 -0600

This article was written on October 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

I received a tip the other day from “S” who was letting me know that Webroot is giving away free licenses for their firewall software. This is for a limited time only, and I’ve already requested several licenses of it for myself. All you have to do is fill out a form with your name, email, and so on. Within seconds of completing the registration you’ll receive a download link and product key in your email. That’s right, this $20 software is completely free, and it comes from the same company who makes the respected Spy Sweeper software.

I’m sure you’re wondering what I think of the Webroot Firewall. As you probably know it is pretty slim picking right now when it comes to free Vista firewalls. Previously we’ve taken a look at PC Tools Firewall Plus, Zonealarm, and an early release of Comodo 3. Comodo has always been my firewall of choice, but the final version isn’t due out until sometime in November.

I got Webroot installed on my machine today (big screenshot gallery at the end of this article), and the registration key that I was sent worked perfectly. The first thing that I noticed after installing it is that the interface is extremely clean and well organized. I didn’t feel overwhelmed, and most importantly it didn’t bombard me with messages to approve Internet access for my running applications. Why’s that?

From what I gather the Webroot Firewall learns from how you use the computer. It “automatically develops a baseline profile of your normal PC usage based on system variables such as CPU utilization, thread count, and others.” When there is any unusual activity going on you’ll be the first to know.

One of the other things that I like are the three configurable profiles that leave you just one-click away from changing your security settings. Maybe you want different settings when you have your computer at work as compared to home? Webroot makes that possible. You can even set it up to block websites, which might be just the thing you need when you’re at work and trying to be productive.

Because of the sheer simplicity of the program I would say that this is a great application to use. I didn’t have to configure a single thing after getting it installed, and I was never bothered with annoying popups. When Comodo makes its way out the door in final form I’ll be sure to compare all of the free Vista-compatible firewalls, but until then I say that Webroot is the best alternative. But you better get your license key today because the deal may not be going on much longer!

–Features–

Stealth Mode Feature
Email Protection
Advanced Packet Filtering
Malicious Process Blocking
Port Monitoring and Blocking
Custom Protection Profiles
Lock down your PC
File and Printer Sharing
Comprehensive Internet Activity Log

–Screenshots–

CLICK ANY SCREENSHOT FOR FULLSIZE IMAGE

Webroot Firewall – Free for a limited time
Thanks to “S” for the tip!

Related Posts:

FREE Anti-Spyware: Webroot Spy Sweeper

Comodo Firewall 3 Beta to be x64 and Vista Compatible

Sunbelt Personal Firewall for Vista

Free ZoneAlarm Pro… Today Only!

Free ZoneAlarm Firewall Released for Vista

File-Swap.com Provides An Entertaining File Sharing Experience

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:38:28 -0600

This article was written on January 15, 2006 by CyberNet.

This new way of file sharing allows you to share a file, and in return you will receive a random file. Many people are uploading funny images and movies so you can expect this to be a very good way to receive quality entertainment.

Visit File-Swap.com

This is the file that I received:

CyberNet’s Year In Review: January 2006

Password Protect Your Photos

Min.us Evolves into an Incredible Image AND File Sharing Site

File Sharing Just got that much Better

Windows Live Messenger Now Updates via Windows Update

Ashley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:25:22 -0600

This article was written on June 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

Use Windows Live Messenger? Now you’ll receive your updates for Messenger via Windows Updates. You may have noticed the Windows Update icon in your taskbar today. Click on it, and you’ll see the update for Messenger 8.5 beta. This is the first time that Microsoft has taken this route to distribute updates for Messenger.

I have to say, it is a really convenient way to get updates. Nothing was changed with this version of Messenger because it was released so that they could test the process of updating Messenger via Microsoft Updates. It appears to have worked well! The screenshot below shows what it will look like when you open up Windows Updates:

This made me think about Windows Updates and if it could be used for non-Microsoft updates. What if during the installation process of any program, like Firefox, it asks you if you’d like to allow the program to update via Windows Updates. When there was an update available, Microsoft could have a database of reputable companies so that they could check and see if you’d be updating from a trusted source. If it was trusted, you’d automatically receive the update. If it wasn’t, Microsoft could warn of a potential problem and allow you to continue at your own risk.

They always say that people need to get better about downloading the latest versions of all their software for security purposes, and using Windows Updates to provide them isn’t such a bad idea.

Sources: LiveSide and Windows Vista Blog

Windows Live Messenger Release Date Incorrect

New Windows Live Messenger Release Date

Microsoft Releases Windows Live Messenger 8.0.0689 Beta Refresh

Windows Live Messenger Invites Soon To Come Here

CyberNotes: Headlines From Jay Leno!

Ashley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:04:02 -0600

This article was written on January 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

Fun Friday

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say the best part of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno is Headlines. They’re the real headlines that viewers send in which they find in newspapers across the country. Below you’ll find a collection of some of my favorites – all of which come from NBC’s website. At the bottom I’ve also included a video with additional Headlines… enjoy!

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Yahoo Answers Meets Jay Leno

Find the Best Auctions eBay Has to Offer

Get the Vista Start Menu in XP (Public Beta)

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:42:02 -0600

This article was written on April 16, 2007 by CyberNet.

One of the biggest advances in Windows Vista has got to be the visual appearance. We have seen several attempts at trying to mimic the Vista user interface on XP, and some have been pretty successful. One of the most popular applications for doing this has got to be the Vista Transformation Pack. This bundle changes almost everything on your XP computer to make it look as close to Vista as possible.

Now another step is being taken by the creator of the Vista Transformation Pack in preparation for version 7 that is to be released later on. This new step involves a new and improved Start Menu that has many similarities to that of Vista:

Click to Enlarge

As you can see there is no pop-out menu like Windows XP normally has, and instead it is all contained within the one window. Not only that, but it also has the same icons at the top-right corner that you normally see when hovering over the items on the right-side of the Start Menu. Heck, I even liked it because I could use it with any normal XP theme which you can see in the picture!

Just like in Vista, the power button expands when you click on the arrow in the bottom-right corner to reveal all of your shutdown/restart/standby choices. The only thing that still remains not functional is the search bar, but the developer says that he does have plans to make that work. Hopefully he decides to integrate that with a search indexing service like Google Desktop or Windows Desktop Search.

So what do you have to do to try this out? It is in public beta right now and is available as a stand-alone program. The developer will probably be including this in the Vista Transformation Pack 7 (VTP 7) which will hopefully be available soon.

The great thing is that you can play with this Vista-like Start Menu by simply downloading the files, extracting them, and running the program! There is no installation required, so you don’t have to worry about messing anything up. One thing that you should note is that after running the program you won’t be indicated in any way that the program is running. I actually tried running it three or four times before clicking on the Start Menu and noticing that it was already running.

Visit the VistaStart Public Beta site (Download the file immediately from our Mirror)

Here is an important note from the developer:
Known issues that can’t be fixed: You need to turn off “show shadows under menus” visual effects because that will cause flashing shadow when you open start menu.

Related Posts:

ViStart gets an Awesome Upgrade

openSuse 10.2 Alpha 4 Gets New Kickoff Menu

Paul Thurrott Covers Vista Compatibilities

Windows Vista Beta 2 Download Available To The Public

Windows Sidebar Gallery Released, Public Vista Soon?

Flickr Gets Into The Holiday Spirit

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:38:19 -0600

This article was written on December 13, 2006 by CyberNet.

Flickr is definitely warming up to the holiday season. First off, they have an Easter Egg and it can be revealed when you add a note to an image. In that note if you type ho ho ho beard or ho ho ho hat then that note will turn into a beard or hat, respectively. It is actually kinda fun and definitely creative! [via Boing Boing]

More importantly, however, is that Flickr announced free members can upload 100MB a month in images compared to the previous 20MB. Similarly (and even more amazing), anyone with a Flickr Pro account gets unlimited uploads instead of being restricted to just 2GB! That means for the $24.95 per year you will receive all of this:

Unlimited uploads
Unlimited storage
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited photosets
Permanent archiving of high-resolution original images
The ability to replace a photo
Ad-free browsing and sharing

Despite the free accounts having their limitations I have to admit that Flickr has set the bar very high for other photo services. Even Google’s Picasa Web Albums has a few different paid versions and Flickr makes Google look greedy:

6.25GB ($25 USD per year)
25GB ($100 USD per year)
100GB ($250 USD per year)
250GB ($500 USD per year)

So I wonder what these other companies are going to do now?

Get in the Holiday Spirit with Firefox Wallpapers

Get your Firefox Calendar for 2007

Photo Fun and Unlimited Storage with Photagious

Flickr Agrees To Give Zooomr API Access But…

10% off eBay Purchases through Microsoft Cashback

Ashley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:36:00 -0600

This article was written on June 13, 2008 by CyberNet.

This is pretty big news coming from eBay and Microsoft. Remember just a few weeks ago when we wrote about Microsoft forking out money to lure in search users with their new program called Cashback? Well now they’ve partnered with eBay to offer the same cashback rewards to buyers on eBay who use the “Buy it Now” option after clicking on an eBay paid search advertisement.

We decided to try this out so we went to Live.com (not the Cashback site) and performed a search for “Razr” as in Motorola Razr. When the results appeared, to the right was an eBay advertisement (the ad can also appear above the search box) with the LiveSearch logo, as shown above. Once we clicked on it, we were taken to eBay and a list of Razr listings were displayed. Note: If you were directed to eBay after clicking on a Cashback ad, you’ll see the logo at the top of the page.

Once you click on any of the Buy-It-Now listings, you’ll see a box which shows you what your rewards would be if you make the purchase (shown below). One thing to keep in mind is that just because you search for Razr does not mean when you click on the ad, that you have to purchase a Razr phone to get the rewards. You can start searching eBay for other items and you’ll get the same offer of 10% off eligible items. Remember, to get this discount you have to look for and then click the eBay ad with the Live Search Cashback logo on it. You’ll have to get creative and think of popular items that you could search for at Live.com to try and get the eBay ad to appear. iPhone, Razr, and Playstation 3 all worked for us.

Now before you run off to do this, we just wanted to point out the terms and conditions. First, this is available only in the United States (sorry guys!). Another thing to keep in mind is that you have to make your Buy-It-Now purchase within 60 minutes of clicking on the ad, otherwise it won’t work. They say that the rewards will be applied only to “the first eligible item” that you decide to buy. You also have to pay for the item using PayPal and it’ll take about 60 days to get our cashback reward from Microsoft. You’ll be able to get cashback rewards from shopping at eBay up to three times.

[via Mashable]

Microsoft Forking Out $$$ to Lure in Search Users

Microsoft Flaw Being Sold On eBay

Microsoft And eBay Teaming Up For Piracy Prevention

Best Buy Black Friday 2008 Ad

Sync Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook

Ashley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:27:49 -0600

This article was written on March 06, 2008 by CyberNet.

Google has just taken a big step in making the lives of both Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar users easier. For someone who used both, maybe one for work and the other for home, keeping the calendars up to date and in sync with each other was no easy process until now. Google has just released a new syncing utility so that people are able to sync events between their Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar.

At this point it only works with your primary Google Calendar and not your secondary ones. What’s nice though is that you have control over how often the events are synchronized (every 10 minutes is the minimum time interval) as well as the direction of the synchronization. Your options include a 2-way sync where both calendars are synchronized with each other, as well as one-way options to sync only your Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook Calendar with the other.

Click to enlarge

To get started, you’ll need to download Google Calendar Sync, and the link and directions for installation are found here. Once installed, it will load when you turn on your computer and then sit in your system tray for easy access. The icon in your system tray will also serve as a way to know when your events are currently syncing. One icon appears during the sync process and another appears when events aren’t actively syncing.

In the future it would be nice to see the option to sync secondary calendars because many people do have multiple calendars. It’s a great start though, and now there is room to improve and make the utility even better. I think Google made a lot of people extremely happy today…

Thanks for the tip Change!

Source

Using Google Calendar Sync Without Your Default Calendar

Google Shows BlackBerry Love with Calendar Sync Tool

Daily Downloads: Google Calendar Sync, Miro, and More

Windows Live Calendar Much Like Google Calendar

Daily Downloads: Miranda, eMule, and More

Ryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:12:02 -0600

This article was written on April 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

As you browse the Internet during the day, feel free to post the software updates you come across in the comments below so that we can include them the following day!

–Stable Releases–

The software listed here have all been officially released by the developers.

None

–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–

The software listed here are pre-releases that may not be ready for everyday usage.

Azureus 3.0.5.2 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror] [Review]
Release: Beta
Type of Application: BitTorrent client
Changes: Bug fixes
eMule 0.49a [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Release: Beta 1
Type of Application: eDonkey2000 client
Changes: Bug fixes
Foobar2000 0.9.5.2 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Release: Beta 2
Type of Application: Media player
Changes: New visualizations, improvements, and more
Miranda IM 0.8.0 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Mirror]
Release: Test Build 13
Type of Application: Cross-network instant messenger
Changes: New file transfer dialog, more stable, and bug fixes

–Release Calendar–

Late April – XP SP3 [Review]
April 15 – Thunderbird 2.0.0.13
April 15 – Firefox 2.0.0.14 [Review]
April 24 – Ubuntu 8.04
April 29 – Fedora 9
April 30 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta [Review]
June – iPhone 2.0 Software [Review]
June – Firefox 3.0 [Review]
June 19 – openSUSE 11.0
Mid 2008 – Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 [Review]
September 2 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review]
2009 – Windows Mobile 7 [Review]
2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
2010 – Windows 7 [Review]

CyberNet Update: Daily Downloads Merges with WrapUp’s

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CyberNotes: Cozi – The Perfect Site for the Wired Family

Ashley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:49:57 -0600

This article was written on May 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

If someone were to ask me to describe Cozi, I’d describe it as the perfect site for the wired family to keep organized. It’s the replacement for the standard desk calendar to keep track of dates, and the whiteboard and markers to leave messages. It’s easy family management.

Using Cozi you’re able to mantain a color-coded calendar, keep your shopping list updated, and leave messages for your family in the message center. You can use Cozi via your web browser (Cozi.com) and/or with their downloadable application.

Features:

Shopping List – Add an item to your list at home, add another item to it when you think of something you need at work, and then have the list text messaged to you when you get to the store. How cool is that? (You can also create a to-do list)
Calendar – Color-code events on the calendar so that each member of the family has a different color. This way it’s easy to keep track of what everybody has going on. You can also view the calendar for each member of the family via tabs at the top of the calendar interface.
Message Center – Use the message center to send a message to an individual family member, or all family mebers at one time.
Toolbar (optional) – Synchronize your Outlook calendar with the calendar on Cozi.
Toll-free number – Use a toll-free number to retrieve information while you’re away from the computer like your grocery list. You can have it read to you over the phone while you’re at the store.

Tip: A great idea would be if you use the downloadable application to have it automatically start-up every time that your start your computer. That way it’s always open and easy to access.

Fun Extras: Another fun extra thrown in is their Cozi Collage Screensaver. It uses the photos you have stored on your computer and creates a collage that you’re able to share with friends or family members via email.

Best of all….

There are a couple of really great things about Cozi. First of all, the interface is clean, simple, and attractive – it looks nice. A good interface can make a big difference!

Secondly, it’s free! All of it!

Signing up is really pretty simple. You just need to enter in information like your name, and the names you’d like included on your calendar (spouse, children, etc.). From there you have the option of downloading the application, or just using their web service.

The download works only with Windows Based PCs and can be found here. Both Windows and Mac users are able to use the Cozi Central Web, the web version.

Life is busy these days and I can’t speak from experience, but I imagine when you have kids it’s even more difficult to keep up with who needs to be where and when. Cozi makes it easier on all family members to keep organized, and get done what needs to get done.

You can learn more by taking their tour found here.

www.cozi.com

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CyberNotes: How to Buy and Sell Digital Goods with Zipidee

Ashley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:44:02 -0600

This article was written on October 20, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Today’s Weekend Website is a site called Zipidee which is known as “The Digi-Good Marketplace.” It joins in to compete among other sites that are similar such as Lulu, e-Junkie, Payloadz, and more. This online marketplace is geared equally towards both those who want to sell, and those who want to buy.

–What is Zipidee–

Zipidee is like the eBay of digital goods. It’s a place where people can go to buy or sell videos, music, eBooks, ringtones, wallpaper, and more. They launched into private beta back in July, but more recently launched to the public just this week on October 15th.

–Publish, Protect, Promote, Profit–

Publish, protect, promote, and profit are the four main things that are involved if you decide to sell on Zipidee. Before anyone starts selling on the site, you’ll obviously have to register and create an account. From there you’ll be free to start the process of selling. Unlike eBay which just about anybody could use, Zipidee isn’t for everybody. If you’re an independent musician, a filmmaker, a software developer, etc., you could sell your digital goods online and benefit from everything that this site has to offer.

Publish is the first step because you have to have something to sell before you can do anything else. And because this is the selling ground for original digital goods, it’ll take creating a product before you move on. You must have the legal rights to digitally distribute the content that you’re selling. You have the choice to allow people to buy or rent.

The next step is protect. Everybody who uses Zipidee has the option to choose whether or not they want to add DRM to their content. They don’t have to, but if they do, they can download Zipidee’s Digital Rights Management software to make the process simple and protect their work. Zipidee says they don’t promote either option so it’s really up to you if you want it or not.

Promoting is another part of how the whole process works. Once you’re ready to sell your digital goods, you’ll want to promote them so that there’s a better chance that they will sell. To help market, you’ll be able to create a “virtual store” where people can come to shop.

Profit – Of course the whole point of this service is to profit and make money for both you and them. You set the price which means you then ultimately determine how much you can make. There’s a lot to the whole process of making a profit, so we’ll dedicate a section just for it below.

–Making $$ from Zipidee–

Before you decide to use the service, you need to take into consideration the money you could potentially gain, but also the money that you’ll pay out to Zipidee for using their service.

Currently they’re not charging for people to list items, but in the future there will be a $1.00 per uploaded media charge.
Anytime something sells, they take 20% of the purchase once PayPal costs have been paid
Note: PayPal is their “official method” for transferring funds between sellers and buyers. They say in the future they intend to offer other options of payment as well.

Should you make over $50, you’ll receive a payment. If during one month you don’t meet the $50 limit, you’ll have to wait until you do before you can receive any payment. All payments are made to a PayPal account which means you have to have one to use this service.

–Buying Content–

While selling items here certainly isn’t for everybody, buying content is. Just go to the site and do a search for what you’re looking for. Another great idea is to just browse through some of the different categories like business, education, music, health and fitness, and more to see if there’s anything that piques your interest. It’s super easy to use, and has a simple interface. If you’re familiar with the eBay process, you should have no trouble understanding and using Zipidee.

They’ve set up their site so that anybody can start browsing the content. What’s especially helpful are the “top picks,” “new additions,” and “top sellers” which they display on the homepage so that you have someplace to start.

–Wrapping it up–

Zipidee certainly isn’t the only service like this to exist, but since when is there only one service per concept? They’re off to a pretty good start, and the sellers seem to price everything really reasonably. The only downside that I really see to the service at the moment is that its name really has nothing to do with the service that they offer which means they’ll have to spend a good amount of effort marketing and gathering up a group of dedicated users. The whole concept behind Zipidee definitely is interesting, and I recommend checking out their marketplace.

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Starbucks Leaves T-Mobile Behind, Partners up with AT&T

Ashley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:30:17 -0600

This article was written on February 11, 2008 by CyberNet.

Popular coffeehouse chain Starbucks has ditched T-Mobile for AT&T after a six year partnership of offering Wi-Fi Internet. In the United States alone, there are 8,891 T-Mobile Hot Spots like the ones found inside Starbucks coffeehouses. Once AT&T takes over all of those locations, the number of Hot Spots will decrease significantly. This major switchover will start at the beginning of this Spring and they hope to be finished with it before the end of the year.

So what will happen to T-Mobile now that one of their biggest partners is leaving? It’s not that Starbucks locations were the only places where you could find a hot spot, but they certainly made up a good chunk of them. Other big partners for them include Borders bookstores and Airports, but will they be inclined to switch to AT&T now that Starbucks has announced that they are leaving T-Mobile behind? They might, especially with the deal that AT&T and Starbucks have come up with for their customers.

Under the deal, AT&T broadband subscribers will be able to have free access to the Wi-Fi networks at Starbucks locations. Starbucks cardholders also benefit. The announcement says:

Beginning this spring, Starbucks Card holders can enjoy up to two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day at Starbucks locations offering Wi-Fi access, while more than 12 million qualifying AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verseSM Internet customers will have unlimited free access to the Wi-Fi service. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T’s remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations. AT&T will soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers.

Notice the last line? I don’t know what they exactly mean by “Wireless” but it could mean that all of those iPhone and Smartphone users will soon have the benefit of free Wi-Fi at Starbucks as well. There was no mention of when those benefits would be extended to their wireless customers, but I imagine it’ll be within the year. Those who want to just pay for their usage will have to either pay $3.99 for two hours or $19.99 for unlimited Wi-Fi per month.

Starbucks was also kind enough not to leave their T-Mobile customers out in the cold. In a separate press release they say that “In recognition of the many T-Mobile customers who enjoy visiting Starbucks, the Company is also announcing that T-Mobile HotSpot customers will be able to continue to access Wi-Fi services at no additional cost, through an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile.”

Source: jkOnTheRun

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