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	<title>Techerator &#187; Evan Wondrasek</title>
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	<link>http://www.techerator.com</link>
	<description>Techerator is an excellent source of tips, guides, and reviews about software, web apps, technology, mobile phones, and computers.</description>
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		<title>How to install Microsoft&#8217;s FxCop for Visual Studio 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/how-to-install-microsofts-fxcop-for-visual-studio-2010/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-to-install-microsofts-fxcop-for-visual-studio-2010</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/how-to-install-microsofts-fxcop-for-visual-studio-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FxCop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IDE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[programming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Visual Studio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Visual Studio 2010]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Visual Studio Achievements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Visual Studio extensions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=16786</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently discovered Visual Studio Achievements, which as the name indicates, adds video game-style “achievements” to Microsoft’s premiere IDE while you code. Visual Studio Achievements was even created by Microsoft’s Channel9 team, so you know it’s the real deal. Some of the unlockable achievements include positive awards like “Add 10 regions to a class. Your [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/how-to-install-microsofts-fxcop-for-visual-studio-2010/">How to install Microsoft&#8217;s FxCop for Visual Studio 2010</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
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<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2009/09/how-to-install-flash-player-updates-on-citrix-xp-terminal-servers/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Install Flash Player Updates on Citrix/XP/Terminal Servers'>How to Install Flash Player Updates on Citrix/XP/Terminal Servers</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/04/ninite-easily-sliently-install-free-pc-software/' rel='bookmark' title='Ninite: Easily, Sliently Install Free PC Software'>Ninite: Easily, Sliently Install Free PC Software</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-full wp-image-16784" title="visual_studio_achievements.png" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/visual_studio_achievements.png" alt="" width="260" height="277" />I recently discovered <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/achievements/visualstudio">Visual Studio Achievements</a>, which as the name indicates, adds video game-style “achievements” to Microsoft’s premiere IDE while you code. Visual Studio Achievements was even created by Microsoft’s Channel9 team, so you know it’s the real deal.</p>
<p>Some of the unlockable achievements include positive awards like “Add 10 regions to a class. Your code is so readable, if I only didn&#8217;t have to keep collapsing and expanding!” and negative awards such as “Write a single line of code at least 300 characters long. Who needs carriage returns?”. With leaderboards and fun icons, Visual Studio Achievements adds a little fun to your programming experience.</p>
<p>Many of the achievements require a Microsoft tool called FxCop to be installed for them to be unlocked. FxCop is a utility that can analyze your source code and provides feedback on possible design, localization, performance and security improvements. Unfortunately, if you head to the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6544">FxCop download page</a>, you’ll quickly learn than the FxCop “download” is actually a text file that tells you to install <em>another</em> file to actually get the application.</p>
<p>When you open the FxCop text file, you’ll be presented with the following information.</p>
<blockquote><p>FxCop Installation Instructions<br />
1. Download the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 version 7.1.<br />
2. Run %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\FXCop\FxCopSetup.exe to install FxCop.</p></blockquote>
<p>I know, I was surprised too. For this to work, I need to install the Windows SDK, then install <em>another</em> installer? Well you’re in luck – I took the time to figure out what files were needed so you can install FxCop as quickly as possible. Just follow my instructions below.</p>
<blockquote><p>Note: This guide is only required if you are using Visual Studio 2010 Professional. If you have Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate installed, FxCop will already be included with your IDE.</p></blockquote>
<h2>How to install FxCop</h2>
<p><strong>Step 1.</strong> Download the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8279">Microsoft Windows SDK installer</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Step 2.</strong> Run the installer. Click “Next” until you get to the “Installation Options” screen.</p>
<p><strong>Step 3. </strong>In the Installation Options screen, select only “Tools” under the .NET Development section. You’re free to install other features as well, but “Tools” is the only item that will include the FxCop installer.</p>
<p><img style="background-image: none; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="windows_sdk_installer" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/windows_sdk_installer.png" alt="windows_sdk_installer" width="644" height="454" border="0" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 4. </strong>Click “Next” and continue following instructions until installation is complete.</p>
<p><strong>Step 5. </strong>After the installer finishes, navigate to <em>C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\FXCop</em>.</p>
<p>Run the installer in that folder, <em>FxCopSetup.exe</em>.</p>
<p>After installing FxCop, you’re finished! You can now enjoy the full features of both FxCop and Visual Studio Achievements.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/how-to-install-microsofts-fxcop-for-visual-studio-2010/">How to install Microsoft&#8217;s FxCop for Visual Studio 2010</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wikipedia goes dark on January 18, here&#8217;s how to survive</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/wikipedia-goes-dark-on-january-18-heres-how-to-survive/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=wikipedia-goes-dark-on-january-18-heres-how-to-survive</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/wikipedia-goes-dark-on-january-18-heres-how-to-survive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:45:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[backup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laws]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PIPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SOPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wikipedia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WikiTaxi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=16741</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced yesterday that Wikipedia will be joining the growing list of mainstream websites that are “going dark” on January 18, 2012 in protest of proposed United States legislation “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and “PROTECT IP” (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate.  Only the English version [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/wikipedia-goes-dark-on-january-18-heres-how-to-survive/">Wikipedia goes dark on January 18, here&#8217;s how to survive</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="left">Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced yesterday that Wikipedia will be joining the growing list of mainstream websites that are “going dark” on January 18, 2012 in protest of proposed United States legislation “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and “PROTECT IP” (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate.  Only the English version of Wikipedia will be taken offline, which accounts for <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/statuses/158970403644125184">25 million daily page views</a> globally.</p>
<p align="left">Wikipedia will be offline for a full 24 hours during the protest, during which time the website will display instructions on how to <a href="https://www.eff.org/sopacall">contact your representatives</a> regarding these controversial bills.</p>
<p align="left">In case you aren’t familiar with the legislation presented in SOPA and PIPA, here is a quick primer:</p>
<p align="left">
<div style="margin-left:20px;">
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjrPuYLAIkk&#038;fmt=18">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjrPuYLAIkk</a></p>
</div>
<h2 align="left">But I thought SOPA was dead?</h2>
<p align="left"><strong>No.</strong> With recent news of SOPA being  <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/204167-sopa-shelved-until-consensus-is-found">“shelved”</a> in the House of Representatives, there has been some public uncertainty whether protesting on the 18th is really necessary. <strong>To clarify: SOPA has only been <em>delayed</em>, not withdrawn, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PIPA is still fully intact</span> and is moving forward with momentum.</strong></p>
<p align="left">The decision to take Wikipedia offline was the combined work of over 1,800 members of the Wikipedia community, who debated for 72 hours about the correct course of action for Wikipedia to take against SOPA and PIPA. In their <a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/English_Wikipedia_to_go_dark">official press release</a>, Wikipedia states that “this is by far the largest level of participation in a community ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation.”</p>
<p align="left">You can view a summary of the Wikipedia community’s decision on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative#Summary_and_conclusion">official SOPA initiative discussion page</a>.</p>
<h2 align="left">How to survive Wikipedia going dark</h2>
<p align="left">I’ve spent plenty of time making light of the effect Wikipedia going offline will have on our modern, internet-dependent world – planes dropping out of the sky, no knowledge of any events before 2007, dogs walking their owners – but in all seriousness, this outage will affect millions of students, educators, scientists, and everyday people looking for answers to both simple and complex questions.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="left"><a href="https://www.xkcd.com/903/"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-16745" title="xkcd_extended_mind" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/xkcd_extended_mind-585x294.png" alt="" width="585" height="294" /></a></p>
<p align="left">You&#8217;re not totally out of luck though; in this article, I’ll show you how to maintain access to Wikipedia’s information even after the site goes offline. Not only will this be useful during this deliberate blackout, but it could come in handy in the future when presented with network difficulties, power outages, or even new internet legislation.</p>
<h3 align="left">How to download a backup copy of Wikipedia</h3>
<blockquote>
<p align="left">Before you get started, please note that the standard English backup of Wikipedia is about 7.5 gigabytes. Even on a fast connection, this database can take several hours to download depending on the amount of traffic on Wikipedia’s servers. It is safe to assume that Wikipedia’s servers will be hit with record amounts of traffic as we approach January 18th, so if you want to download a copy, start downloading as early as possible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-full wp-image-16739" title="wikipedia-book.jpg" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wikipedia-book.jpg" alt="" width="304" height="318" />First off, don’t worry &#8211; it is both legal and free to download a backup of all content available on Wikipedia for personal use, mirroring, informal backups, offline use, or database queries. All text content in Wikipedia is licensed under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License">GNU Free Documentation License</a>. Images fall under different terms, but in this guide we’re just going to be downloading the text.</p>
<p>While the downloadable version of Wikipedia’s database is massive, there are a few limitations: Only current revisions of articles will be downloaded, and no discussion or user pages are included.</p>
<p><strong>Step 1.</strong> Download the English language Wikipedia dump. You can download the latest version of this file <a href="http://download.wikimedia.org/enwiki/latest/enwiki-latest-pages-articles.xml.bz2">directly from Wikipedia</a> or <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data_dump_torrents">via BitTorrent</a> (unofficial).</p>
<p>You can also download the <a href="http://dumps.wikimedia.org/simplewiki/latest/simplewiki-latest-pages-articles.xml.bz2">Simple English Wikipedia</a>, which is much smaller than the full Wikipedia (about 75 megabytes).</p>
<p><strong>Step 2.</strong> The Wikipedia database dump is not very useful on its own, so next you’ll need to download the free application <a href="http://www.wikitaxi.org/delphi/doku.php/products/wikitaxi/index">WikiTaxi</a> (Windows only) to view Wikipeda on your computer.</p>
<p>(Mac users can check out <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id412286226?mt=12">Wiki Offline</a> for about $10, but in this guide I will only be covering WikiTaxi for Windows.)</p>
<p>WikiTaxi is a “portable” application so you don’t have to install anything. All you need to do is extract the downloaded .zip file and you’re finished.</p>
<p><strong>Step 3.</strong> After extracting WikiTaxi and your Wikipedia database download has finished, open the WikiTaxi Importer (<em>WikiTaxi_Importer.exe</em>). Browse to the location of the Wikipedia database you downloaded in Step 1, and then select a location to save the new WikiTaxi-formatted database file. Click <em>Import Now!</em> when finished.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16740" title="wikitaxi_import.png" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wikitaxi_import.png" alt="" width="512" height="356" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 4.</strong> Close the WikiTaxi Importer and open the main WikiTaxi application (<em>WikiTaxi.exe</em>). Click the <em>Options</em> button and select <em>Open a *.taxi Database</em>. Locate the database you created in Step 3 and select <em>Open</em>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="size-full wp-image-16752 aligncenter" title="wikitaxi-opendb" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wikitaxi-opendb.png" alt="" width="295" height="167" /></p>
<p>That’s it! You now have full, offline access to Wikipedia.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-16747" title="wikipedia-simple-english-backup" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wikipedia-simple-english-backup-545x400.png" alt="" width="545" height="400" /></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>SOPA and PIPA are serious bills, which is why serious action is being taken by Wikipedia to raise awareness. If you want to contact your local representatives to voice your opposition to these bills, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created an easy-to-use website to <a href="https://www.eff.org/sopacall">make your voice heard</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/wikipedia-goes-dark-on-january-18-heres-how-to-survive/">Wikipedia goes dark on January 18, here&#8217;s how to survive</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
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<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/11/a-personal-appeal-from-wikipedia-founder-jimmy-wales-to-read-this-blog-post/' rel='bookmark' title='A Personal Appeal from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales to Read This Blog Post'>A Personal Appeal from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales to Read This Blog Post</a></li>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hello, 2012</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/hello-2012/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=hello-2012</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/hello-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=16501</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy New Year! From all of us at Techerator, we wish you a happy new year full of the scent of freshly unwrapped gadgets, the gentle hum of CPU fans, and that little unlocking sound iPads make when you open their cover. I would like to extend my sincere personal thanks to all who contributed [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/hello-2012/">Hello, 2012</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Happy New Year!</h2>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-16503" title="fireworks-2012" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/fireworks-2012-585x389.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="389" /></p>
<p>From all of us at Techerator, we wish you a happy new year full of the scent of freshly unwrapped gadgets, the gentle hum of CPU fans, and that little unlocking sound iPads make when you open their cover.</p>
<p>I would like to extend my sincere personal thanks to all who contributed their tremendous skills and services to Techerator this year:</p>
<p>Kate Bedrick, Andrew Kalinchuk, Brian Nelson, Bryant Sombke, Carl Natale, Craig Lloyd, Daniel Chambers, Dave Parrack, Derek Johnson, Dustin Patterson, Jacob Bean, Jake Joraanstad, Kevin Ivanca, Kevin Schulte, Scott Nesbit, Sophronis Mantoles, Tristan Pollock, and Vanessa Vasile. It has been my privilege to work with you and I am incredibly thankful for all we have accomplished this year.</p>
<p>Most of all, I&#8217;d like to thank all of our readers, subscribers, fans, followers, and supporters of Techerator. None of this would be possible without you.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s to a great 2012!</p>
<p><em>Image courtesy: <a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/rampantgaffer/279756749/">Rampant Gaffer</a></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2012/01/hello-2012/">Hello, 2012</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Galaxy Nexus: How to prevent newly-installed apps from creating shortcuts on your home screen</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:19:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Android 4.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Galaxy Nexus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samsung]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=16384</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you’re like me and have recently switched from an Android phone running Froyo (Android 2.2) or Gingerbread (Android 2.3) to the brand-new Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, you may have been surprised to find that apps installed from the Android Market automatically have shortcuts placed on the home screen. [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen/">Galaxy Nexus: How to prevent newly-installed apps from creating shortcuts on your home screen</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/is-this-ice-cream-sandwich-on-the-new-nexus/' rel='bookmark' title='Is This Ice Cream Sandwich on the New Nexus?'>Is This Ice Cream Sandwich on the New Nexus?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/how-to-fix-the-google-nexus-s-search-button-auto-fire-bug/' rel='bookmark' title='How To Fix the Google Nexus S &#8216;Search Button Auto-Fire&#8217; Bug'>How To Fix the Google Nexus S &#8216;Search Button Auto-Fire&#8217; Bug</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/10/what-to-do-if-your-android-home-screen-replacement-constantly-redraws/' rel='bookmark' title='What To Do If Your Android Home Screen Replacement Lags'>What To Do If Your Android Home Screen Replacement Lags</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="left">If you’re like me and have recently switched from an Android phone running Froyo (Android 2.2) or Gingerbread (Android 2.3) to the brand-new Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZEF01A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=techerator-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005ZEF01A">Samsung Galaxy Nexus</a>, you may have been surprised to find that apps installed from the Android Market automatically have shortcuts placed on the home screen. I’m sure this feature is convenient for most people, but I prefer to include only essential apps on my home screen and relegate the rest to my app drawer.</p>
<p>Thinking the automatic shortcut placement was controlled by the Galaxy Nexus/Ice Cream Sandwich home screen, I searched in vain to find a way to disable the feature. As it turns out, it’s actually a setting in the Android Market and is quite easy to disable.</p>
<h2>How to disable automatic home screen app shortcuts</h2>
<p><strong>Step 1.</strong> Open the Android Market.</p>
<p><strong>Step 2. </strong>Press the new Menu button in the top right. (Yes, it’s three vertical dots and is no longer included in the standard Android buttons bar – I’ll be covering topic in the near future I’m sure.) Select <em>Settings</em>.</p>
<p><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-04[1]" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-041.png" alt="Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-04[1]" width="274" height="484" border="0" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3. </strong>Uncheck <em>Auto-add shortcuts</em>.</p>
<p><img style="background-image: none; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-19[1]" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-191.png" alt="Screenshot_2011-12-16-14-58-19[1]" width="274" height="484" border="0" /></p>
<p>That’s it! Your home screen will now be untouched by new applications.</p>
<p>Have any tips about Ice Cream Sandwich or Galaxy Nexus? Share it with us in the comments below.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen/">Galaxy Nexus: How to prevent newly-installed apps from creating shortcuts on your home screen</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/is-this-ice-cream-sandwich-on-the-new-nexus/' rel='bookmark' title='Is This Ice Cream Sandwich on the New Nexus?'>Is This Ice Cream Sandwich on the New Nexus?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/how-to-fix-the-google-nexus-s-search-button-auto-fire-bug/' rel='bookmark' title='How To Fix the Google Nexus S &#8216;Search Button Auto-Fire&#8217; Bug'>How To Fix the Google Nexus S &#8216;Search Button Auto-Fire&#8217; Bug</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/10/what-to-do-if-your-android-home-screen-replacement-constantly-redraws/' rel='bookmark' title='What To Do If Your Android Home Screen Replacement Lags'>What To Do If Your Android Home Screen Replacement Lags</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/galaxy-nexus-how-to-prevent-newly-installed-apps-from-creating-shortcuts-on-your-home-screen/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A fond farewell to vertical tabs in Google Chrome</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/11/a-fond-farewell-to-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-fond-farewell-to-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/11/a-fond-farewell-to-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:15:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Chrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vertical tabs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=15763</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tabbed browsing is nothing new, but I&#8217;ve always felt that something wasn&#8217;t quite right with how tabs were displayed. After an enthusiastic web browsing session, I&#8217;d often end up with a horizontal disaster of disorganized tabs. With computer displays getting wider and not taller, why were browsers cramming tabs into my precious vertical space? When [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/11/a-fond-farewell-to-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/">A fond farewell to vertical tabs in Google Chrome</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/07/how-to-enable-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Google Chrome'>How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Google Chrome</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/03/chrome-new-tabs-at-end-puts-new-tabs-at-the-end/' rel='bookmark' title='Chrome: &#8216;New Tabs At End&#8217; Puts New Tabs at the End'>Chrome: &#8216;New Tabs At End&#8217; Puts New Tabs at the End</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2009/12/top-10-google-chrome-extensions/' rel='bookmark' title='Top 10 Google Chrome Extensions'>Top 10 Google Chrome Extensions</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tabbed browsing is nothing new, but I&#8217;ve always felt that something <em>wasn&#8217;t quite right</em> with how tabs were displayed. After an enthusiastic web browsing session, I&#8217;d often end up with a horizontal disaster of disorganized tabs. With computer displays getting wider and not taller, why were browsers cramming tabs into my precious vertical space?</p>
<div id="attachment_15790" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 595px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><a href="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/horizontal-tabs-chrome.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-15790" title="horizontal-tabs-chrome" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/horizontal-tabs-chrome-585x48.png" alt="" width="585" height="48" /></a><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class="wp-caption-text">Horizontal Tabs in Google Chrome</p></div>
<p>When I discovered an add-on for Firefox called <a href="http://www.techerator.com/2009/06/tree-style-tab-makes-tabbed-browsing-even-better/">Tree Style Tab</a> in 2009, and I was so excited that I wrote an article about it that same day to spread the good news: <em>Finally, tabs done right</em>! Moving tabs to the side of the browser window made them easier to manage (and Tree Style Tab automatically organizes them into hierarchical groups), plus it made better use of my 1,920 horizontal pixels.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15791" title="firefox-vertical-tabs" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/firefox-vertical-tabs.png" alt="" width="214" height="488" />Like many people, Google Chrome had caught my eye as a blazing fast way to browse the internet. It took some time, but the development team behind Chrome eventually added a basic version of vertical tabs to their Beta channel. Vertical tabs weren&#8217;t &#8220;officially&#8221; a feature &#8211; in fact, I&#8217;m sure many of you didn&#8217;t know they even existed in Chrome &#8211; but the guide I wrote to <a href="http://www.techerator.com/2010/07/how-to-enable-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/">enabling vertical tabs in Google Chrome</a> is one of the all-time most popular articles on Techerator. By combining Chrome&#8217;s rudimentary vertical tabs with the <a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/03/chrome-new-tabs-at-end-puts-new-tabs-at-the-end/">New Tabs At End</a> extension, I was able to enjoy Chrome almost as much as Firefox.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15792" title="vertical-tabs-chrome" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/vertical-tabs-chrome-e1320722569690.png" alt="" width="341" height="388" /></p>
<h2>The Infinite Version giveth and the Infinite Version taketh away</h2>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-15794" title="god-chrome" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/god-chrome-585x360.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="360" /></p>
<p>Google Chrome has released <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#Release_history">15 major versions</a></em> since it was first released in 2008. To keep up with that extraordinary rate of deployment, the Chrome team built an industry-changing automatic updater into the browser to make sure users always had the newest version without even thinking about it.</p>
<p>One of my favorite articles about Chrome&#8217;s update system is Jeff Atwood&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/05/the-infinite-version.html">The Infinite Version</a>,&#8221; where he states:</p>
<blockquote><p>Chrome is so fluid that it has transcended software versioning altogether.</p></blockquote>
<p>Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning#Origins">Pavlov&#8217;s dogs</a>, I&#8217;ve been conditioned to associate software updates with new features and better performance. But there&#8217;s a reverse side to that coin: features can be taken away, too. <strong>With the release of Chrome Beta 16, vertical tabs have been officially removed from the browser.</strong> The Beta channel is a direct preview of what&#8217;s coming in future stable versions, so within a few weeks vertical tabs will no longer exist in Chrome.</p>
<p>The removal of vertical tabs came as a surprise when my browser automatically updated, but it wasn&#8217;t entirely unexpected. As with most Google &#8220;experiments&#8221;, there&#8217;s always a clear disclaimer that features can break or disappear at any time. That being said, vertical tabs had been around in Chrome long enough that it was a shock when they magically disappeared, especially since the auto-updater doesn&#8217;t notify you when things have changed.<strong></strong></p>
<div id="attachment_15797" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 595px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><img class="size-large wp-image-15797" title="chrome experiments" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/chrome-experiments-585x104.png" alt="" width="585" height="104" /><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class="wp-caption-text">This message is displayed on Chrome&#39;s &quot;about:flags&quot; page, where vertical tabs could formerly be enabled.</p></div>
<p>Chrome is based on the open-source Chromium project, and one of the benefits of open-source projects is that they&#8217;re fairly transparent. Dozens of bug reports were filed after vertical tabs were removed, to which a Chromium developer <a href="http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=99332">tersely replied</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Sidetabs were an experiment that didn&#8217;t pan out. They&#8217;re in a half-working state and should be removed, says Glen.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll try to come up with other approaches for this use case.</p></blockquote>
<p>This caused a flurry of <a href="http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=99369">other bug reports to be filed</a> (warning, this one has quite a bit of NSFW language). It&#8217;s clear that users aren&#8217;t happy about the change, especially since there currently is no clear plan to add a better version of vertical tabs back to the browser.</p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, unless the developers on the Chrome and Chromium teams relent, you probably won&#8217;t be seeing the return of vertical tabs in the near future. You do have a few options, though.</p>
<ol>
<li>Let the Chromium team know how you feel. Add a post to the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=99369">missing vertical tabs bug report</a> and Star the issue so they know you&#8217;re interested.</li>
<li>Use <a href="http://www.firefox.com">Firefox</a> with <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/">Tree Style Tab</a>. Firefox has taken some hits because of Chrome&#8217;s tremendous performance and minimalistic UI, but the Mozilla team has made leaps and bounds with their browser and it&#8217;s definitely worth using. <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">Firefox version 8</a> was just released, too.</li>
<li>Check out some of the vertical tab extensions for Chrome. These extensions have some major limitations because they can&#8217;t really modify Chrome&#8217;s user interface, but if you&#8217;re a die-hard Chrome user, it&#8217;s your only option.</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/galfofdpepkcahkfobimileafiobdplb?hc=search&amp;hcp=main">Tab Menu</a></li>
<li><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/imimolldggofidcmfdkcffpjcgaggoaf?hc=search&amp;hcp=main">VerticalTabs</a></li>
</ul>
</ol>
<p>As for me, I&#8217;ve switched back to good ol&#8217; Firefox. My affair with Chrome was wonderful while it lasted (<em>we&#8217;ll always have version 15&#8230;</em>), but I&#8217;m going to stick with the browser that gives me vertical tabs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/11/a-fond-farewell-to-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/">A fond farewell to vertical tabs in Google Chrome</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/07/how-to-enable-vertical-tabs-in-google-chrome/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Google Chrome'>How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Google Chrome</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/03/chrome-new-tabs-at-end-puts-new-tabs-at-the-end/' rel='bookmark' title='Chrome: &#8216;New Tabs At End&#8217; Puts New Tabs at the End'>Chrome: &#8216;New Tabs At End&#8217; Puts New Tabs at the End</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2009/12/top-10-google-chrome-extensions/' rel='bookmark' title='Top 10 Google Chrome Extensions'>Top 10 Google Chrome Extensions</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>22</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Facebook&#8217;s Timeline: Life flashing before your eyes has never been so awesome</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebooks-timeline-life-flashing-before-your-eyes-has-never-been-so-awesome/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=facebooks-timeline-life-flashing-before-your-eyes-has-never-been-so-awesome</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebooks-timeline-life-flashing-before-your-eyes-has-never-been-so-awesome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:31:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook Timeline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=14675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Facebook&#8217;s new Timeline profiles start rolling out to the public today. Many users were able to preview the new profiles early through Facebook&#8217;s Developer program, so I&#8217;ve already had a week to play around with Timeline. You&#8217;ve probably heard a lot of buzz about its &#8220;great design&#8221; or &#8220;privacy nightmare&#8221;, so what&#8217;s all the fuss [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebooks-timeline-life-flashing-before-your-eyes-has-never-been-so-awesome/">Facebook&#8217;s Timeline: Life flashing before your eyes has never been so awesome</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebook-unveils-new-features-at-f8/' rel='bookmark' title='Facebook Unveils New Features at F8 Developer Conference'>Facebook Unveils New Features at F8 Developer Conference</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/' rel='bookmark' title='&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+'>&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/official-facebook-ipad-app-is-finally-here/' rel='bookmark' title='Official Facebook iPad App Is Finally Here'>Official Facebook iPad App Is Finally Here</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Facebook&#8217;s new <a href="https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline">Timeline</a> profiles start rolling out to the public today. Many users were able to preview the new profiles early through Facebook&#8217;s Developer program, so I&#8217;ve already had a week to play around with Timeline. You&#8217;ve probably heard a lot of buzz about its &#8220;great design&#8221; or &#8220;privacy nightmare&#8221;, so what&#8217;s all the fuss about?</p>
<div id="attachment_14676" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 528px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><a href="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/facebook-timeline.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-14676" title="facebook-timeline" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/facebook-timeline-518x400.png" alt="" width="518" height="400" /></a><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class="wp-caption-text">Facebook&#39;s new Timeline profile</p></div>
<p>One of the benefits of being both a software engineer and a tech blogger is that I hear unique, contrasting opinions from members of both groups. Software developers tend to abhor innovations in social networks (and it&#8217;s no wonder, they understand how data can be misused more than anyone). Many bloggers, on the other hand, swarm around new web innovations, especially when big companies like Facebook release a newsworthy feature.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m going to say something that most members of the first group probably wouldn&#8217;t agree with: <strong>I really like Timeline.</strong> Borderline love. While I&#8217;m not eager to throw personal information to the wind, I&#8217;m excited about Timeline and think it&#8217;s a great move by Facebook.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s why:</p>
<h2>We&#8217;ve never seen this before</h2>
<p>The release of Timeline is a rare moment when a company in the social networking sphere does something truly unique. Google+ brought the thunder by introducing great privacy-based sharing tools, and Facebook responded by releasing one of the best-designed web features I&#8217;ve seen in a long time. When you look at Timeline for the first time, you won&#8217;t need any explanation. Timeline is something you already know how to use, and intuitive design is no accident.</p>
<h2>Instant nostalgia</h2>
<p>When I first got access to Timeline, I scrolled through 2011 and thought, &#8220;Yep, cool, that&#8217;s basically what happened this year&#8221;. No surprises. Then I started scrolling through 2010, 2009, 2008, and back to 2005 and was completely blown away. Timeline showed me pictures and wall posts that I had long forgotten about, and I easily lost a few hours looking at pictures and reminiscing about the things I did those years.</p>
<p>Digging through old posts on Timeline even made me start up conversations with friends I hadn&#8217;t talked to in years. A friend of mine put it very well on Twitter:</p>
<!-- tweet id : 117434243868663808 --><style type='text/css'>#bbpBox_117434243868663808 a { text-decoration:none; color:#2FC2EF; }#bbpBox_117434243868663808 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }</style><div id='bbpBox_117434243868663808' class='bbpBox' style='padding:20px; margin:5px 0; background-color:#1A1B1F; background-image:url(http://a1.twimg.com/images/themes/theme9/bg.gif); background-repeat:no-repeat'><div style='background:#fff; padding:10px; margin:0; min-height:48px; color:#666666; -moz-border-radius:5px; -webkit-border-radius:5px;'><span style='width:100%; font-size:18px; line-height:22px;'>@<a href="http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=evanw" class="twitter-action">evanw</a> Was looking back on Timeline and reading some of our old conversations. I like what I saw. <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23WeWereWayCoolerThan" title="#WeWereWayCoolerThan">#WeWereWayCoolerThan</a></span><div class='bbp-actions' style='font-size:12px; width:100%; padding:5px 0; margin:0 0 10px 0; border-bottom:1px solid #e6e6e6;'><img align='middle' src='http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/plugins/twitter-blackbird-pie//images/bird.png' /><a title='tweeted on September 23, 2011 10:04 pm' href='http://twitter.com/#!/bglaszcz/status/117434243868663808' target='_blank'>September 23, 2011 10:04 pm</a> via web<a href='https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=117434243868663808&related=evanw' class='bbp-action bbp-reply-action' title='Reply'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Reply</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=117434243868663808&related=evanw' class='bbp-action bbp-retweet-action' title='Retweet'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Retweet</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=117434243868663808&related=evanw' class='bbp-action bbp-favorite-action' title='Favorite'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Favorite</strong></span></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=bglaszcz'><img style='width:48px; height:48px; padding-right:7px; border:none; background:none; margin:0' src='http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1544784945/315409_892101499575_29401315_40962685_6652774_n_normal.jpg' /></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a style='font-weight:bold' href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=bglaszcz'>@bglaszcz</a><div style='margin:0; padding-top:2px'>Benjamin Glaszcz</div></div><div style='clear:both'></div></div></div><!-- end of tweet -->
<p>Another thing I&#8217;ve noticed is increased interaction on my posts and pictures from years ago. Since Timeline highlights important events from each year, you&#8217;ll notice that important posts will continue to get attention long after they were breaking news. Sure, it might not be a big deal when you post a picture of the ice cream you ate last night, but when your friends and family scroll back to the year your kids were born or when you bought a house, it will continue to be an important (and enjoyable) memory.</p>
<h2>Privacy hasn&#8217;t changed, you&#8217;re just aware of it now</h2>
<p>A lot of people seem to be up-in-arms about Timeline because it suddenly displays posts you didn&#8217;t know existed anymore. I hope this isn&#8217;t news to anyone here: <strong>everything you do online is stored somewhere, and it&#8217;s in your best interests to assume that information will be there forever</strong>. Just because a post was pushed off your Wall back in 2006 doesn&#8217;t mean it went away permanently. The good news? All posts and pictures are still subject to the same privacy rules you applied in the first place.</p>
<p>Besides, features like Timeline can be a <em>good</em> thing if used correctly. You&#8217;re entirely in control of what gets displayed to your viewers, so make yourself look great! Add a Star to posts about an achievement you earned (stars &#8220;pin&#8221; the story in a prominent way on your Timeline), and remove posts that don&#8217;t reflect how you truly feel. Important events like graduation, weddings, and posts with a high amount of Likes (read &#8220;Good Things&#8221;) will be the focal point of your profile, and useless chaff like boring wall posts simply disappear.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>With Timeline rolling out to a larger audience, I&#8217;m eager to hear what the general public thinks of the update. We&#8217;re all familiar with the ridiculous pseudo-revolts Facebook users have whenever a new feature is released, but I&#8217;ve got a feeling this one will be received better than most.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebooks-timeline-life-flashing-before-your-eyes-has-never-been-so-awesome/">Facebook&#8217;s Timeline: Life flashing before your eyes has never been so awesome</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/facebook-unveils-new-features-at-f8/' rel='bookmark' title='Facebook Unveils New Features at F8 Developer Conference'>Facebook Unveils New Features at F8 Developer Conference</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/' rel='bookmark' title='&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+'>&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/10/official-facebook-ipad-app-is-finally-here/' rel='bookmark' title='Official Facebook iPad App Is Finally Here'>Official Facebook iPad App Is Finally Here</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>GIVEAWAY: Win a 3 month subscription of Slacker Premium Radio</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/giveaway-win-a-3-month-subscription-of-slacker-premium-radio/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=giveaway-win-a-3-month-subscription-of-slacker-premium-radio</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/giveaway-win-a-3-month-subscription-of-slacker-premium-radio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:22:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[giveaway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Slacker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Slacker Radio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[streaming]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=14366</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Only a few years ago, I couldn&#8217;t see an end to the music piracy/RIAA debacle. It would go something like this: A new music sharing application would emerge, it would be promptly used for illegal activities, and then the RIAA would roll in and hand out lawsuits which usually ended in the service being shut [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/giveaway-win-a-3-month-subscription-of-slacker-premium-radio/">GIVEAWAY: Win a 3 month subscription of Slacker Premium Radio</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

No related posts.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-medium wp-image-14373" title="slacker-premium-radio" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/slacker-premium-radio-217x250.jpg" alt="" width="217" height="250" />Only a few years ago, I couldn&#8217;t see an end to the music piracy/RIAA debacle. It would go something like this: A new music sharing application would emerge, it would be promptly used for illegal activities, and then the RIAA would roll in and hand out lawsuits which usually ended in the service being shut down (or being shut down then <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/223431/riaa_thinks_limewire_owes_75_trillion_in_damages.html?_r=1&amp;hp">having their pants sued off</a>).</p>
<p>Now I sit here in the glorious future, and legal music services are everywhere. To make things even better: <strong>we&#8217;re giving away <span style="text-decoration: underline;">three</span> 3-month subscriptions to <a href="https://store.slacker.com/store/Subscriptions.do">Slacker Premium Radio</a>!</strong></p>
<p>Slacker isn&#8217;t exactly new of course &#8211; the streaming radio service has built a very positive reputation since its inception in 2007. You can access the service on iPhone, iPad, Android, Palm, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry, and <a href="http://www.slacker.com/everywhere/">many other devices</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to the features provided by their <a href="http://www.slacker.com/">standard streaming service</a>, Slacker Premium offers:</p>
<ul>
<li>No advertisements</li>
<li>Unlimited song skips</li>
<li>On-demand access, giving you full control over the Slacker library. If you want to hear a specific song or artist, just select it from the library and play.</li>
<li>Custom playlist creation</li>
<li>Play music without an internet connection: Slacker will store up to 1,000 songs on your mobile device so you&#8217;ll always have your music, even if your data connection gives out.</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to Enter</h2>
<p>Nobody likes a complicated giveaway, so <strong>to enter the contest simply post a comment below</strong>. Just make sure to use a valid account, whether it be email, Twitter, Facebook &#8211; we&#8217;ll need to contact you if you&#8217;re selected.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Entry will close at 10:00 PM Saturday, September 3rd. Good luck!</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/09/giveaway-win-a-3-month-subscription-of-slacker-premium-radio/">GIVEAWAY: Win a 3 month subscription of Slacker Premium Radio</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p>No related posts.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Android Tip: Give your sensitive eyes a break in the morning with Tasker</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/android-tip-give-your-sensitive-eyes-a-break-in-the-morning-with-tasker/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=android-tip-give-your-sensitive-eyes-a-break-in-the-morning-with-tasker</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/android-tip-give-your-sensitive-eyes-a-break-in-the-morning-with-tasker/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:41:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brightness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[display]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[morning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[screen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tasker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=14310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve ever read any productivity or personal development methodologies, you&#8217;ve probably been told that you should avoid checking your email first thing in the morning. It basically boils down to distraction: if you wake up and fill your head full of to-dos, you&#8217;ll be less likely to get one single thing done. Well, I&#8217;m [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/android-tip-give-your-sensitive-eyes-a-break-in-the-morning-with-tasker/">Android Tip: Give your sensitive eyes a break in the morning with Tasker</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2009/11/how-to-take-screenshots-of-an-android-based-phone/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Take Screenshots of an Android-based Phone'>How to Take Screenshots of an Android-based Phone</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/06/unlock-real-multitasking-on-your-android-phone-with-quickdesk/' rel='bookmark' title='Unlock REAL Multitasking on Your Android Phone with QuickDesk'>Unlock REAL Multitasking on Your Android Phone with QuickDesk</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/11/how-to-bypass-the-welcome-to-android-phone-activation-screen/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Bypass the &#8220;Welcome to&#8221; Android Phone Activation Screen'>How to Bypass the &#8220;Welcome to&#8221; Android Phone Activation Screen</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-medium wp-image-14318" title="phone-glow" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/phone-glow-300x225.png" alt="" width="300" height="225" />If you&#8217;ve ever read any productivity or personal development methodologies, you&#8217;ve probably been told that you should <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5738727/why-you-shouldnt-check-your-email-first-thing-in-the-morning">avoid</a> <a href="http://lifedev.net/2006/08/never-check-your-email-first-or-last/">checking</a> <a href="http://sidsavara.com/personal-development/do-not-check-email-in-the-morning">your</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743250885/techerator-20">email</a> first thing in the morning. It basically boils down to distraction: if you wake up and fill your head full of to-dos, you&#8217;ll be less likely to get one single thing done.</p>
<p>Well, I&#8217;m not much of a morning person, so I love checking my email before I get up for the day. I wake up, roll over and grab my phone, and spend the first 10 minutes of my day in bed <em>glancing</em> (that&#8217;s not so bad, right?) at my email, then I usually check out Twitter and Google+ to see what happened in the world while I was counting sheep.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t feel that checking my email in the morning has negatively affected my day-to-day productivity, but you know what it has affected? My eyeballs. My room is dark in the morning and my screen emits the fury of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf">white dwarf</a>, so I often find myself squinting to look at my phone.</p>
<p>In this guide, I&#8217;ll show you how to use the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm&amp;hl=en">Tasker app for Android</a> to automatically manage your mobile phone&#8217;s display brightness based on time of day.</p>
<h2>Tasker for Android</h2>
<p>First off, Tasker is a <em>really</em> powerful app for Android. It lets you customize almost every setting on your phone based on a huge variety of inputs, so using it to automatically dim your phone&#8217;s screen in the morning is akin to blowing up an anthill with a Scud missile.</p>
<p>Second, because of its usefulness, the developers of Tasker put a ~$7.00 price tag on the app. This is expensive for a mobile app, but if you doubt whether it&#8217;s worth the price, take a look at a few of these great guides to see all the things you can do with it: <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25319/complete-guide-to-maximizing-your-android-phones-battery-life/">maximize your phone&#8217;s battery</a>, <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5601133/push-your-automated-android-to-awesome-heights-with-these-tasker-setups">have your phone read your text messages to you while driving</a> (and much more), and <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5599116/how-to-turn-your-android-phone-into-a-fully+automated-superphone">how to turn your phone into a fully-automated superphone</a>.</p>
<h2>How to automatically dim your phone&#8217;s display in the morning</h2>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Step 1: </strong>Download and install Tasker from the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm&amp;hl=en">Android Market</a>, then open the app. You&#8217;ll need to create a <em>Profile</em> first, so click the green plus (+) button to get started.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">You&#8217;ll be prompted to name your profile, so call it anything you want. I&#8217;ll call mine &#8220;Dim Morning Screen&#8221;.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14311" title="tasker-new-profile" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-new-profile.png" alt="" width="225" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Step 2:</strong> Tasker events are triggered by <em>Contexts</em>, which are basically inputs  like Time, Day, Location, etc. For this profile, I&#8217;m going to select <em>Time</em> as the trigger for changing my display&#8217;s brightness.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">Note: Tasker can be triggered by a multitude of inputs. If you want to create a more sophisticated  profile, touch the small question mark icon (?) in the top corner of Tasker dialogs for an explanation of available features.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14312" title="tasker-contexts" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-contexts.png" alt="" width="226" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Step 3:</strong> Now we&#8217;ll specify what times we&#8217;d like the profile to be active. In my case, I&#8217;d like the screen to be dim from 12:00am until 8:30am every morning. (Note: These times are in Military Time, so midnight is actually 00:00.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Click the green check button once you&#8217;re finished.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14313" title="tasker-times" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-times.png" alt="" width="310" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Step 4:</strong> Now we&#8217;ll create a <em>Task</em> which is the action that gets executed whenever your <em>Context</em> is triggered &#8211; dimming the phone&#8217;s display in our case. Select <strong>New Task</strong>, give it a name, i.e. &#8220;Dim Screen&#8221;, then you&#8217;ll be taken to the Task Editor.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Click the blue plus (+) button to create a new task.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14314" title="tasker-edit-task" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-edit-task.png" alt="" width="376" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Select the <strong>Display</strong> category.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14315" title="tasker-select-display" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-select-display.png" alt="" width="224" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Select the <strong>Display Brightness</strong> action.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="size-full wp-image-14330 aligncenter" title="tasker-brightness" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-brightness.png" alt="" width="224" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Drag the <strong>Level</strong> slider to 0 (or as low as you want the screen to be, you have a range from 0-255). Press the green check button when you&#8217;re finished.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14317" title="tasker-brightness-0" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-brightness-0.png" alt="" width="224" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Back in the Task Editor window, you can press the Play button in the bottom right to preview the task. Touch the green check button to save your task, then touch the <strong>Off</strong> button (it will toggle to On) in the bottom right corner of the next screen to activate Tasker.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14324" title="tasker-activate" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-activate.png" alt="" width="224" height="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">After activating Tasker, touch one last green check button to close the application.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Optional &#8211; Removing the Tasker notification icon</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">In order to work properly, Tasker needs to be running in the background of your phone&#8217;s operating system. Because of how Android automatically manages running applications, Tasker keeps an icon in your phone&#8217;s notification bar to make sure Android doesn&#8217;t inadvertently close it.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">You can turn the notification icon off, which I prefer to do, but keep in mind that you run the risk of having Android automatically close Tasker when your phone gets low on memory. If you&#8217;re using a newer Android phone with plenty of memory, you shouldn&#8217;t have any problems. Either way, we&#8217;ve created a non-essential Tasker profile in this guide so there&#8217;s really nothing to worry about.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">To turn off the notification icon, open Tasker, press the Menu button on your phone, then select <em>Preferences</em>. In the <em>Monitor</em> tab, uncheck <em>Run in Foreground</em>. The Tasker icon will no longer appear in your notification bar.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14325" title="tasker-icon" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tasker-icon.png" alt="" width="224" height="400" /></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h2>
<p style="text-align: left;">That&#8217;s it! Your phone display will now automatically dim itself at midnight, and will stay dim until 8:30am. Now you might be asking, &#8220;But we never programmed the display to return to its normal brightness value afterwards?&#8221;. That&#8217;s one of the perks of Tasker &#8211; you original brightness settings will automatically be restored after the task finishes.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Have any tips for customizing your phone with Tasker? Share them with us in the comments below!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Image Credit: </em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tesschamakkala/1659258787/">Tessss</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/android-tip-give-your-sensitive-eyes-a-break-in-the-morning-with-tasker/">Android Tip: Give your sensitive eyes a break in the morning with Tasker</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2009/11/how-to-take-screenshots-of-an-android-based-phone/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Take Screenshots of an Android-based Phone'>How to Take Screenshots of an Android-based Phone</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/06/unlock-real-multitasking-on-your-android-phone-with-quickdesk/' rel='bookmark' title='Unlock REAL Multitasking on Your Android Phone with QuickDesk'>Unlock REAL Multitasking on Your Android Phone with QuickDesk</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2010/11/how-to-bypass-the-welcome-to-android-phone-activation-screen/' rel='bookmark' title='How to Bypass the &#8220;Welcome to&#8221; Android Phone Activation Screen'>How to Bypass the &#8220;Welcome to&#8221; Android Phone Activation Screen</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Nyan Cat brings childish wonderment to Windows progress bars</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/nyan-cat-brings-childish-wonderment-to-windows-progress-bars/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nyan-cat-brings-childish-wonderment-to-windows-progress-bars</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/nyan-cat-brings-childish-wonderment-to-windows-progress-bars/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[meme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nyan Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[progress bars]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=14235</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If this is your first time on the internet, here&#8217;s what you have missed: Nyan Cat is an insanely popular internet meme where an adorable half-Pop-Tart cat runs through the night sky emitting an 8-bit rainbow in its wake. Almost as memorable as the animation is the accompanying soundtrack, which I&#8217;ll give you an opportunity to [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/nyan-cat-brings-childish-wonderment-to-windows-progress-bars/">Nyan Cat brings childish wonderment to Windows progress bars</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

<strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/01/progress-bars-use-optical-illusions-to-appear-faster/' rel='bookmark' title='Progress Bars use Optical Illusions to Appear Faster'>Progress Bars use Optical Illusions to Appear Faster</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/launcher-7-brings-the-windows-phone-7-experience-to-android/' rel='bookmark' title='Launcher 7 Brings the Windows Phone 7 Experience To Android'>Launcher 7 Brings the Windows Phone 7 Experience To Android</a></li>
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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If this is your first time on the internet, here&#8217;s what you have missed: <em>Nyan Cat</em> is an insanely popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme">internet meme</a> where an adorable half-Pop-Tart cat runs through the night sky emitting an 8-bit rainbow in its wake. Almost as memorable as the animation is the accompanying soundtrack, which I&#8217;ll give you an opportunity to listen to below.</p>
<div style="margin-left:20px;">
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4&#038;fmt=18">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4</a></p>
</div>
<p>If the video isn&#8217;t enough for you (did I mention there&#8217;s a <a href="http://youtu.be/jI-kpVh6e1U">10-hour version</a>?), Windows users can now add Nyan Cat to their progress bars. I previously wrote how <a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/01/progress-bars-use-optical-illusions-to-appear-faster/">progress bars use optical illusions to appear faster</a>, so why not make them appear faster <em>and </em>deliciously entertaining?</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14237" title="nyan-cat-progress-bar1" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/nyan-cat-progress-bar1.png" alt="" width="427" height="244" />To get Nyan Cat in your progress bars, download the <a href="http://instantelevatormusic.com/download/NyanCatProgressBar.zip">Nyan Cat .zip file</a> and extract the files to your computer. Make sure to extract <em>all</em> of the files (not just the .exe) &#8211; they&#8217;re all needed to make this magic happen. Then all you have to do is open <em>NyanCatProgressBar.exe</em> and you&#8217;re set, no installation necessary!</p>
<blockquote><p>The developer notes that Nyan Cat works best with Windows 7; Windows XP users might experience animation problems.</p></blockquote>
<p>To use Nyan Cat Progress Bar, simply do anything in Windows that requires the use of a standard progress bar. In my case, I copied a 4 GB folder full of video files, which gave me a solid minute of Nyan goodness.</p>
<p>Nyan Cat Progress Bar includes a surprisingly useful amount of settings which you can access by right clicking the kitty icon in your system tray. Nyan Cat plays music by default, but you can set it to automatically mute if you&#8217;re playing music in iTunes or Winamp. In the settings window, you&#8217;ll also see a timer of how long Nyan Cat has danced across your screen, and you can disable the custom progress bars in specific applications in the <em>Ignore List</em> tab.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14238" title="nyan-cat-settings" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/nyan-cat-settings.png" alt="" width="416" height="238" />Nyan Cat Progress Bar isn&#8217;t perfect &#8211; it works by literally covering up the standard progress bar with our feline friend. If you drag a progress bar around your screen quickly, you&#8217;ll notice that Nyan Cat has a hard time keeping up. But hey, this is the price you pay to be unique!</p>
<p>If you like Nyan Cat Progress Bar, check out the developer&#8217;s other application <a href="http://www.instantelevatormusic.com/">Instant Elevator Music</a>. It&#8217;s the same idea as Nyan Cat Progress Bar, but instead plays relaxing elevator music whenever you&#8217;re waiting on Windows to finish its business.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/08/nyan-cat-brings-childish-wonderment-to-windows-progress-bars/">Nyan Cat brings childish wonderment to Windows progress bars</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Related posts:</strong><ol>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/01/progress-bars-use-optical-illusions-to-appear-faster/' rel='bookmark' title='Progress Bars use Optical Illusions to Appear Faster'>Progress Bars use Optical Illusions to Appear Faster</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/launcher-7-brings-the-windows-phone-7-experience-to-android/' rel='bookmark' title='Launcher 7 Brings the Windows Phone 7 Experience To Android'>Launcher 7 Brings the Windows Phone 7 Experience To Android</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.techerator.com/2011/12/how-to-make-your-windows-tablet-look-like-windows-phone-7/' rel='bookmark' title='How to make your Windows tablet look like Windows Phone 7'>How to make your Windows tablet look like Windows Phone 7</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+</title>
		<link>http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google</link>
		<comments>http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Evan Wondrasek</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Chrome Extensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.techerator.com/?p=13712</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Chrome web browser: Like many of you, I&#8217;ve been having a great time playing around with Google+ for the last week. Because it&#8217;s so new &#8211; let&#8217;s not forget that it&#8217;s still in a beta field trial &#8211; engineers at Google have been tweaking and changing things like crazy in response to user feedback. This [...]<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/">&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>

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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Chrome web browser: </strong>Like <a href="https://plus.google.com/117388252776312694644/posts/1k85ZNPCu1A">many of you</a>, I&#8217;ve been having a great time playing around with <a href="http://plus.google.com">Google+</a> for the last week. Because it&#8217;s so new &#8211; let&#8217;s not forget that it&#8217;s still in a beta field trial &#8211; engineers at Google have been tweaking and changing things like crazy in response to user feedback. This isn&#8217;t anything new of course, Twitter&#8217;s ubiquitous @reply and #hashtag features were actually created by <em>users</em>, and they became so popular that the company built them right into the platform.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fgmhgfecnmeljhchgcjlfldjiepcfpea">Replies and more for Google+</a></em> is an extension for Google Chrome that adds several great features to Google&#8217;s new social network. I&#8217;m sure some of these things are already in the works at Google+, but why wait when you can have them now?</p>
<h2>Easily reply to posts and comments</h2>
<p>Google+ took the @reply feature from Twitter outright, which makes it easy to <a href="http://www.google.com/support/profiles/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&amp;guide=1257360&amp;answer=1320457">mention specific people</a> by just appending a plus sign (+) before a person&#8217;s name (i.e. <a href="https://plus.google.com/109262616794768311251/">+Evan Wondrasek</a> would mention me in a post, and I would receive a notification about it). <em>Replies and more for Google+</em> adds handy links to posts and comments, and lets you reply to anyone in your stream with a simple click.</p>
<p>Quick access to Replies will increase the likelihood of mentioning other users in posts and will definitely spur conversation.</p>
<div id="attachment_13714" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 569px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><img class="size-full wp-image-13714" title="google-plus-reply-to-author" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/google-plus-reply-to-author.png" alt="" width="559" height="155" /><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class="wp-caption-text">Reply to Author links under each Google+ post</p></div>
<p>Before you go out and start +replying to every person on Google+, though: The +reply feature isn&#8217;t meant to reply to the original post&#8217;s author necessarily (although it doesn&#8217;t hurt, they&#8217;ll get a notification either way). What it <em>is</em> useful for is replying to a specific user in a multi-person comment thread.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Evan Wondrasek: </strong>I just posted a message on Google+.<br />
<strong>Sam Rothstein:</strong> No, I don&#8217;t think you did.<br />
<strong>Nicky Santoro:</strong> <em>+Sam Rothstein</em> Actually, I&#8217;m pretty sure he did. But what would I know?</p></blockquote>
<h2>Submit comments or posts with Ctrl+Enter and Shift+Enter</h2>
<p>I&#8217;ve gotten in the habit of pressing Shift+Enter to post a comment online (I think I can thank Facebook for that). <em>Replies and more for Google+</em> adds this convenient keyboard shortcut as well as Ctrl+Enter so you&#8217;ll never have to take your hands off the keyboard when posting a message.</p>
<h2>Favicon notifications with unread message count</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13715" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial;;  display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;" title="google-plus-notif-badge" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/google-plus-notif-badge.png" alt="" width="259" height="100" /></p>
<div>I keep a few important tabs pinned to the top of my tab bar, so it&#8217;s nice to be able to glance at tab&#8217;s icon to see if I have any new messages. <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-in-labs-unread-message-icon.html">Gmail already offers this feature</a>, and <em>Replies and more for Google+ </em>adds it to Google+ as well.</div>
<p>I would say that the message count icon could be a little larger, but hey, it&#8217;s better than nothing.</p>
<h2>The header bar floats with your screen as you scroll down</h2>
<p>This is a wonderful feature, and I won&#8217;t shroud it with unnecessary verbiage; when you scroll down the Google+ stream, the black navigation bar will follow you down the page. Ahh, features.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13716" title="floating-navbar" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/floating-navbar.png" alt="" width="447" height="228" /></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Share posts to Twitter, Facebook, and Email</h2>
<p style="text-align: left;">Let&#8217;s be real: Most of us aren&#8217;t leaving Facebook or Twitter. But, also being realistic, there&#8217;s a lot of great new content on Google+ and many of these things are just begging to be shared with your other social networks. <em>Replies and more for Google+</em> adds a dropdown menu to the Share button on Google+, which reveals simple options to share a post with Twitter, Facebook, and good ol&#8217; email.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_13717" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 451px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><img class="size-full wp-image-13717" title="share-google-plus-extras" src="http://www.techerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/share-google-plus-extras.png" alt="" width="441" height="333" /><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class="wp-caption-text">Go ahead, try to resist Smooth Jazz Nyan Cat.</p></div>
<p>Know of any other extensions, add-ons, or scripts to enhance Google+? Share them in the comments below!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.techerator.com/2011/07/replies-and-more-for-google-adds-awesome-features-to-google/">&#8220;Replies and more for Google+&#8221; Adds Awesome Features to Google+</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.techerator.com">Techerator.com</a>.</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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