Adf.ly
Adf.ly is a website that provides a great revenue service. By giving them a link to shorten, you can then earn money every time someone clicks on the link. You make very little money from this, but if enough people use the link, you can earn a decent amount for doing basically nothing. The way this works is companies strike up a deal with Adf.ly and give them an advertisement. Then you give Adf.ly a url, they shorten it, give it to you and every time someone uses that link, they get an advertisement before being able to get to the actual link. The company pays adf.ly a certain amount of money, and you get some of the money. A great way to earn a small amount of money for a web link. You can try it out with this link here that will bring you to the homepage: http://adf.ly/AHnih.
CamStudio
May 8, 2012
I had been searching for a free video software that allows you to record videos on your computer screen. This freeware is pretty good tool to do this for free. It does not capture all that well, but it is easy to use, basic and a very good interface. I have a youtube video posted below that you should watch! To visit their website, go to http://www.camtstudio.org/
I had been searching for a free video software that allows you to record videos on your computer screen. This freeware is pretty good tool to do this for free. It does not capture all that well, but it is easy to use, basic and a very good interface. I have a youtube video posted below that you should watch! To visit their website, go to http://www.camtstudio.org/
Minecraft
Click to visit the official minecraft website
March 17, 2012
Recently I have begun to play the open-sandbox game of minecraft. I have really enjoyed this game, find it to be really fun. The game is a little laggy because of the old computer I play it on, however otherwise it works very well. The best part of the game is the fact that you can literally go wherever you want, do whatever you want. There is practically no violence in the game, just a few pixelated monsters, and those are just another fun challenge to get over. There are three game modes, survival, creative, and hardcore. In survival, this is the game where you are just attempting to survive and flourish, and build whatever you want by gathering the resources required. You build tools, houses, torches, castles, whatever you want! When you first start to play, you notice that the game looks very simple, but it is definitely not! The best way to learn is to try it. I would highly recommend trying the game out, but I should warn you, the game is extremely addicting!
To try the classic version out for free, click here. You can play the full version for free, however it is illegal. This fun game is both creative, fun, and addicting all in one!
Recently I have begun to play the open-sandbox game of minecraft. I have really enjoyed this game, find it to be really fun. The game is a little laggy because of the old computer I play it on, however otherwise it works very well. The best part of the game is the fact that you can literally go wherever you want, do whatever you want. There is practically no violence in the game, just a few pixelated monsters, and those are just another fun challenge to get over. There are three game modes, survival, creative, and hardcore. In survival, this is the game where you are just attempting to survive and flourish, and build whatever you want by gathering the resources required. You build tools, houses, torches, castles, whatever you want! When you first start to play, you notice that the game looks very simple, but it is definitely not! The best way to learn is to try it. I would highly recommend trying the game out, but I should warn you, the game is extremely addicting!
To try the classic version out for free, click here. You can play the full version for free, however it is illegal. This fun game is both creative, fun, and addicting all in one!
Kindle Touch Review
Jan 22, 2012
I am a very big reader, and this year for my birthday I received the Kindle Touch. I have been using it quite a lot, and find it to be an excellent e-reader. I also had the opportunity to play with a nook, and was able to compare them a little, however I will be merely talking about the Kindle Touch in this review. So when you get the Kindle, the screen has a picture of the kindle logo on it, and then you boot it up, bringing it to the main menu. The six inch touchscreen uses E-Ink display, featured in my article, so please read that before continuing, as that is very important. The touchscreen is very responsive, however the screen, of course, does have slight delay time. Reading is very easy, and you are still able to get lost in the book, despite the different look and feel. The kindle has a sleek, tablet look, and has nothing but a power button, home button and a touchscreen for user input. On the bottom there is a power button, a light to indicate charging, a headphone jack and a Kindle USB port. The kindle comes with its own custom USB cord, however no charger, so you will have to use a computer or a different USB AC wall adapter. On the back there are speakers for the text to voice feature. When you turn on the kindle, you get to the homescreen that shows you all of the books, and the collections, so you can sort books. Once you open the book, you read the text and tap from the center to right or swipe your finger to the left to turn pages. To go back, you either swipe left, or tap the leftmost side of the screen. If you tap on the top, you get a menu for settings, font size, a Go To, and a Sync feature, which syncs your farthest page read to the web as well as your highlights, notes and bookmarks. It is very easy to read with, and it comes with several other features. There is a text to voice feature that does what it says, reads the book to you.
The text to voice is your average voice reading system, it speaks in a monotone, and the sound is low quality, and the speakers are not very loud. The headphones do have a large volume, however. The reading itself is pretty good, but the chapter titles are included in a sentence, so it speaks like this: "Chapter 2 the man walked...", which is kind of annoying. I also found that while it read the Bible, the Bible has numbers for the verses, so it read the numbers in the sentences, which was also extremely irritating. It needs some improvement, but it is pretty good. The Kindle also has a sound player, so you can listen to music while you read. The sound quality is not very good, but it is a good player, and the menu works very well. I had some minor issues with volume, but overall it was pretty good and well done. The kindle also has a web browser that is rather unique, with an article mode, so you read a webpage like an article. You can run Javascript and turn on and off images on the browser as well.
One issue that I have with the Kindle is battery life. The advertised battery life was two months on a single charge if you read half an hour every single day. I realize that I have been reading two to three hours a day, but the battery has not been doing too well, I have only used it for two weeks, and the battery is at about half. I can recharge it easily, and it takes about four hours to recharge. Overall, I really love it, especially because there are many, many classic books on the Kindle store that are free, but would otherwise cost about ten dollars. This device is really worth getting in to, a green way to read.
I am a very big reader, and this year for my birthday I received the Kindle Touch. I have been using it quite a lot, and find it to be an excellent e-reader. I also had the opportunity to play with a nook, and was able to compare them a little, however I will be merely talking about the Kindle Touch in this review. So when you get the Kindle, the screen has a picture of the kindle logo on it, and then you boot it up, bringing it to the main menu. The six inch touchscreen uses E-Ink display, featured in my article, so please read that before continuing, as that is very important. The touchscreen is very responsive, however the screen, of course, does have slight delay time. Reading is very easy, and you are still able to get lost in the book, despite the different look and feel. The kindle has a sleek, tablet look, and has nothing but a power button, home button and a touchscreen for user input. On the bottom there is a power button, a light to indicate charging, a headphone jack and a Kindle USB port. The kindle comes with its own custom USB cord, however no charger, so you will have to use a computer or a different USB AC wall adapter. On the back there are speakers for the text to voice feature. When you turn on the kindle, you get to the homescreen that shows you all of the books, and the collections, so you can sort books. Once you open the book, you read the text and tap from the center to right or swipe your finger to the left to turn pages. To go back, you either swipe left, or tap the leftmost side of the screen. If you tap on the top, you get a menu for settings, font size, a Go To, and a Sync feature, which syncs your farthest page read to the web as well as your highlights, notes and bookmarks. It is very easy to read with, and it comes with several other features. There is a text to voice feature that does what it says, reads the book to you.
The text to voice is your average voice reading system, it speaks in a monotone, and the sound is low quality, and the speakers are not very loud. The headphones do have a large volume, however. The reading itself is pretty good, but the chapter titles are included in a sentence, so it speaks like this: "Chapter 2 the man walked...", which is kind of annoying. I also found that while it read the Bible, the Bible has numbers for the verses, so it read the numbers in the sentences, which was also extremely irritating. It needs some improvement, but it is pretty good. The Kindle also has a sound player, so you can listen to music while you read. The sound quality is not very good, but it is a good player, and the menu works very well. I had some minor issues with volume, but overall it was pretty good and well done. The kindle also has a web browser that is rather unique, with an article mode, so you read a webpage like an article. You can run Javascript and turn on and off images on the browser as well.
One issue that I have with the Kindle is battery life. The advertised battery life was two months on a single charge if you read half an hour every single day. I realize that I have been reading two to three hours a day, but the battery has not been doing too well, I have only used it for two weeks, and the battery is at about half. I can recharge it easily, and it takes about four hours to recharge. Overall, I really love it, especially because there are many, many classic books on the Kindle store that are free, but would otherwise cost about ten dollars. This device is really worth getting in to, a green way to read.
The Samsung Flight II
Samsung Flight II (Click for larger image)
Dec 27, 2011
This year for Christmas I received the Samsung Flight II, service provider AT&T. I really like the phone, and it does have its pros and cons. I will start with the physical properties. The phone is half an inch thick, 4.41 inches long, and 2.11 inches wide. The phone has three buttons and a speaker visible, as well as the service provider and Samsung printed on. The buttons are your typical buttons, an end call button, call button and back button. Above that is the 2.8" diagnol screen. This capacitive LCD touchscreen has a resolution of 240 by 400 pixels. There are several buttons on the sides, volume buttons, camera buttons, lock button, and a slot for USB input and charging. It also has a switch application button that when pushed if the phone is on, a window shows up with different applications to open above the window you are using. On the top there is a headphone jack, because the phone has an audio player. On the back, there is a two megapixel camera, and a speakerphone output. When you slide the keyboard out, you get a new diwplay. The keyboard is very typical, except for a few added button: a .com button, symbol button, an exclamation mark button, and a text message button. The keys are very nice, fast and easy to press, and it makes texting easier. One thing that I found annoying is it is really hard to take a picture while the phone has the keyboard slid out, because you can't push the button that takes a picture, and while holding the phone horizontal, your fingers cover up the camera.
The screen itself is a capacitive touch, as mentioned earlier, and I think I would give it a medium overall. The screen is very bright, and sometimes the colors show up badly. The screen is rather sluggish, and I prefer to navigate the phone using the arrow keys on the keyboard. However as I use it more, I have gotten used to the touchscreen and really like it. When I first used it, I thought it wasn't very good, but I think you just need to fiddle around with it, and you will really start to love it. The battery life is very good, and I have used it for about three hours and I have three out of five bars in the battery left. Talk time for the cell is five hours, and standby is 250 hours max. I am overall very satisfied with the battery life.
The phone itself runs its own unique operating system, and it is rather useful. When you start up the phone, you get a menu on the bottom with Dial, Contacts and Main Menu. You can also place widgets on the home screen, such as weather, timer and a unique alerts widgets, which shows you all of your new messages, voicemail, email, IM, and your missed calls and events. I really find that to be useful. When you go to the main menu, you have several applications preloaded on the phone. I personally find this annoying because most of them require a data plan, and I have none. You can customize the menu, and it is rather slow. On the bottom you still have dial, contacts and now message. The messaging works well, and sometimes it can be slow, but that may just be AT&T service. Overall, I think this is a very good phone, and I hope to post a video review of this phone later.
Review Update: Jan 2, 2011
As I have been playing around with the phone, I found a feature that is found on most phones, however it worked very well. I found the voice command feature. I used the feature very frequently, and find it to be highly accurate in guessing what you are saying. It works very well, but it is not a Siri voice command system or as good as the one found in the Android 4.0. The commands are simple, such as call..., send text..., and check..., and so on. It is very useful and a good response system.
This year for Christmas I received the Samsung Flight II, service provider AT&T. I really like the phone, and it does have its pros and cons. I will start with the physical properties. The phone is half an inch thick, 4.41 inches long, and 2.11 inches wide. The phone has three buttons and a speaker visible, as well as the service provider and Samsung printed on. The buttons are your typical buttons, an end call button, call button and back button. Above that is the 2.8" diagnol screen. This capacitive LCD touchscreen has a resolution of 240 by 400 pixels. There are several buttons on the sides, volume buttons, camera buttons, lock button, and a slot for USB input and charging. It also has a switch application button that when pushed if the phone is on, a window shows up with different applications to open above the window you are using. On the top there is a headphone jack, because the phone has an audio player. On the back, there is a two megapixel camera, and a speakerphone output. When you slide the keyboard out, you get a new diwplay. The keyboard is very typical, except for a few added button: a .com button, symbol button, an exclamation mark button, and a text message button. The keys are very nice, fast and easy to press, and it makes texting easier. One thing that I found annoying is it is really hard to take a picture while the phone has the keyboard slid out, because you can't push the button that takes a picture, and while holding the phone horizontal, your fingers cover up the camera.
The screen itself is a capacitive touch, as mentioned earlier, and I think I would give it a medium overall. The screen is very bright, and sometimes the colors show up badly. The screen is rather sluggish, and I prefer to navigate the phone using the arrow keys on the keyboard. However as I use it more, I have gotten used to the touchscreen and really like it. When I first used it, I thought it wasn't very good, but I think you just need to fiddle around with it, and you will really start to love it. The battery life is very good, and I have used it for about three hours and I have three out of five bars in the battery left. Talk time for the cell is five hours, and standby is 250 hours max. I am overall very satisfied with the battery life.
The phone itself runs its own unique operating system, and it is rather useful. When you start up the phone, you get a menu on the bottom with Dial, Contacts and Main Menu. You can also place widgets on the home screen, such as weather, timer and a unique alerts widgets, which shows you all of your new messages, voicemail, email, IM, and your missed calls and events. I really find that to be useful. When you go to the main menu, you have several applications preloaded on the phone. I personally find this annoying because most of them require a data plan, and I have none. You can customize the menu, and it is rather slow. On the bottom you still have dial, contacts and now message. The messaging works well, and sometimes it can be slow, but that may just be AT&T service. Overall, I think this is a very good phone, and I hope to post a video review of this phone later.
Review Update: Jan 2, 2011
As I have been playing around with the phone, I found a feature that is found on most phones, however it worked very well. I found the voice command feature. I used the feature very frequently, and find it to be highly accurate in guessing what you are saying. It works very well, but it is not a Siri voice command system or as good as the one found in the Android 4.0. The commands are simple, such as call..., send text..., and check..., and so on. It is very useful and a good response system.
Weebly
The Weebly Logo (Click to visit site)
Dec 13, 2011
I use Weebly for making my website, as you can tell from the url. Weebly is an extremely easy, fast and powerful website builder. Sometimes, I think of it as way too easy! Not only that, but the features are very good for a free account. You get many great services, such as unlimited storage, uploading files up to 5 megabytes in size, posting youtube videos, text, pictures, contact forms, surveys, even revenue with Google Ads. Google ads is a seperate service, however. You can also integrate a slideshow, and a photo gallery, a google maps image, and much more. The web designer also comes with two preloaded games, Smashing and Tower defense, which are available to play on Caleb's Tech Info, just go to the games tab. The server itself is very fast and easy to use, your website will be published instantly, and is very easy to take down as well. With a free account you get up to two websites under a subdomain of Weebly.com. Weebly also offers a pro service, which costs $27.49 for 6 months, and the price goes up as you pay for more time of the Pro service. This offers you unlimited file uploads, uploading your own logo, a video player, and an audio player on site. With this, you do not get your own domain. You still have a domain with .weebly.com in it. To upgrade to your own domain costs $39.95 a year. This will provide you with a website url such as www.cstechinfo.com. That web URL does not exist, however someday I hope to update to that web address. The weebly service is very useful and easy to use, and great for small buisness, personal or pretty much anything! Want to check out weebly yourself? To get Weebly Pro for one month, go to http://www.weebly.com/link/vrkLXd.
I use Weebly for making my website, as you can tell from the url. Weebly is an extremely easy, fast and powerful website builder. Sometimes, I think of it as way too easy! Not only that, but the features are very good for a free account. You get many great services, such as unlimited storage, uploading files up to 5 megabytes in size, posting youtube videos, text, pictures, contact forms, surveys, even revenue with Google Ads. Google ads is a seperate service, however. You can also integrate a slideshow, and a photo gallery, a google maps image, and much more. The web designer also comes with two preloaded games, Smashing and Tower defense, which are available to play on Caleb's Tech Info, just go to the games tab. The server itself is very fast and easy to use, your website will be published instantly, and is very easy to take down as well. With a free account you get up to two websites under a subdomain of Weebly.com. Weebly also offers a pro service, which costs $27.49 for 6 months, and the price goes up as you pay for more time of the Pro service. This offers you unlimited file uploads, uploading your own logo, a video player, and an audio player on site. With this, you do not get your own domain. You still have a domain with .weebly.com in it. To upgrade to your own domain costs $39.95 a year. This will provide you with a website url such as www.cstechinfo.com. That web URL does not exist, however someday I hope to update to that web address. The weebly service is very useful and easy to use, and great for small buisness, personal or pretty much anything! Want to check out weebly yourself? To get Weebly Pro for one month, go to http://www.weebly.com/link/vrkLXd.
An Overview of a few of Amazon.com Services
Dec 9, 2011
I am a frequent user of Amazon.com, and would like to give you some information on how I think it is as a service. First off, let me start off by talking about its main feature: products. Amazon.com offers an extremely wide variety of products from digital information to socks. I will start off with their physical products. First, when you visit Amazon.com, you are greeted with a page advertising usually one of their amazon products. You may also know that they sell the Kindle, an excellent ebook reader. The main page, I have noticed, usually advertises the Kindle. You have the option of searching all of its large selection of products. The interface is easy and simple, and it is fairly easy to order a product, it does require an account to purchase anything off of amazon.com. The product arrives fast and in excellent conditions, there are no concerns for any shady deals. Overall they do an extremely good job with this.
My main focus for this review will not be on its physical products, but digital. They offer many digital services, such as an mp3 download service, kindle ebooks, software, an Android app store, movie and tv show streaming and downloading. I will start off with the mp3 store. The mp3 service is very well run, it is fast and has a vast collection of audio. When you purchase, it asks you to confirm, and then it is available on the Amazon cloud player or for download. The amazon cloud player is a great service, offering 5 gb of free storage for every amazon account. You can only upload mp3's and mp4 files. This limits some of the music items, and sometimes can be really annoying. The upload times take a while, and you have to download and install the Amazon mp3 Uploader. The software downloader works well, and is as good as any service.
I also frequently use the Amazon Video Streaming to watch TV shows, and have found it to be a slow, low quality player. I use a laptop connected to a type B/G wifi, which does limit the streaming speed, but it shouldn't have too much affect. When you open the player, it takes a while for the video to start, and the video is low quality, and glitchy. It is rather frustrating. This is only for streaming, however. You can download movies after purchasing them, which works fine. The amazon video player, however is slow and annoying. The TV shows cost money to rent for one play, and sometimes is not worth it. With Amazon prime, you can watch TV shows for free. I enjoy this luxury, and make use of the player. Amazon prime is, however, $75 a year, and if you are just buying it for movies, and not for the good deals you get with Amazon prime, get Netflix instead. Overall Amazon is a useful service for many things.
I am a frequent user of Amazon.com, and would like to give you some information on how I think it is as a service. First off, let me start off by talking about its main feature: products. Amazon.com offers an extremely wide variety of products from digital information to socks. I will start off with their physical products. First, when you visit Amazon.com, you are greeted with a page advertising usually one of their amazon products. You may also know that they sell the Kindle, an excellent ebook reader. The main page, I have noticed, usually advertises the Kindle. You have the option of searching all of its large selection of products. The interface is easy and simple, and it is fairly easy to order a product, it does require an account to purchase anything off of amazon.com. The product arrives fast and in excellent conditions, there are no concerns for any shady deals. Overall they do an extremely good job with this.
My main focus for this review will not be on its physical products, but digital. They offer many digital services, such as an mp3 download service, kindle ebooks, software, an Android app store, movie and tv show streaming and downloading. I will start off with the mp3 store. The mp3 service is very well run, it is fast and has a vast collection of audio. When you purchase, it asks you to confirm, and then it is available on the Amazon cloud player or for download. The amazon cloud player is a great service, offering 5 gb of free storage for every amazon account. You can only upload mp3's and mp4 files. This limits some of the music items, and sometimes can be really annoying. The upload times take a while, and you have to download and install the Amazon mp3 Uploader. The software downloader works well, and is as good as any service.
I also frequently use the Amazon Video Streaming to watch TV shows, and have found it to be a slow, low quality player. I use a laptop connected to a type B/G wifi, which does limit the streaming speed, but it shouldn't have too much affect. When you open the player, it takes a while for the video to start, and the video is low quality, and glitchy. It is rather frustrating. This is only for streaming, however. You can download movies after purchasing them, which works fine. The amazon video player, however is slow and annoying. The TV shows cost money to rent for one play, and sometimes is not worth it. With Amazon prime, you can watch TV shows for free. I enjoy this luxury, and make use of the player. Amazon prime is, however, $75 a year, and if you are just buying it for movies, and not for the good deals you get with Amazon prime, get Netflix instead. Overall Amazon is a useful service for many things.