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Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category
Uploading files to the net, easily
8 February 2010
Maybe you have ever needed upload a file from your computer to the Internet, to save a copy “in the cloud”, to show it to a friend, to put it in a forum…
And, unless you own a web hosting, you will need another one (¡viva la obviedad!) to upload it.
In this post I will tell you my favourite webpages for hosting files, of all kinds, or specially images.
I’ve tried many, uploading and downloading files, and I’ve seen very good sites, and others not so. The most known aren’t always the best.
Am I jabbering? Probably, so let’s start.
A good-looking page without ads or popups. Among its good points, the organization of the uploaded files is perfect to show your virtual folder to your friends, for them to see your images or listen to your audio without downloading anything. Of course, you can upload any other sort of file. A bad fact is that I hardly ever get to upload any file, but that’s my horrible uploading speed.
At the downloads you can add a description of the file, and write/receive comments. There’s a short waiting time before downloading a file, that depends on the size of the file, but it’s not any problem. It haven’t given me any error at downloading, unlike other webs as Rapidshare or Megaupload, which I definitely don’t recommend.
The simplicity, made file hosting. A light and powerful web, with advantages and disadvantages. It always had worked quicker than other webs for me when uploading, but the free accounts can’t upload files over 20MB. However, if you don’t want to upload files over that size, it’s very recommended, since it doesn’t show popups, or waiting time before downloads, and multimedia files can be viewed without downloading them.
Good, pretty and simple. Unlike in Box, you can upload files over 20MB using a free account, but there are no ads or waiting times. YOu can organize, as in other webs; your files in folders, change permissions, and create a visit URL for your personal folder (mediafire.com/username).
When downloading from these sites, we could find a file divided in several parts… Do we have to download them one by one, link by link? Well… there are some progra like JDownloader which can do that task instead of us. I will talk about this program other day.
Also, there are other hosting webs exclusively for images (or sometimes for videos too, but I think that can be done perfectly by YouTube), in these you can’t upload any other files, but they have many features and possibilities for images. My choice for image hosting is Tinypic, althought I’ve already tried others, as Imageshack, Photobucket or Picasa (well… this last is kinda special).
At the begining I liked it because it was simple y fast, the most important in this sort of webs. You open the page, select the file, upload the image and get the URL. But when you create an account, it gets much better. Your images are stored in a personal folder, which can be shared through URL. Also, you can create albums to organize your photos, tag them to find them easily… and modify them! Yes, it’s got an incorporated image editor to retouch that photo in which you have red eyes, or put a text bubble. Another good point is that images URLs are very tiny, so it’s easy to manage them. Maybe, the name of the page comes from this fact.
Goodbye!
The “wiki-” vogue
6 February 2010
Perhaps you may know the Wikipedia. In case you have been living in a hideout for the past 10 years, the Wikipedia is a on-line encyclopedia, with a particularity: anyone can add or edit its content. This means that millions of people can contribute their knowledge on a topic, forming the most comprehensive encyclopedia ever. Of course, anyone can edit an entry with bad intentions, so it isn’t 100% rigorous, but it’s a small price to pay for having the greatest source of knowledge at a click.
The Wikipedia appeared in 2001, and today, personally I can’t imagine living without it, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Its growth has been spectacular, having in its English edition more than 3 million articles (a number unreachable for any traditional encyclopedia).
The name “Wikipedia” comes from the fusion of 2 words: “wiki“, which in Hawaiian means “quick”, and encyclopedia. However, the word “wiki” has now become more than just a funny word in a foreign language, the word embodies a philosophy, an evolution of the Internet focused on users. In fact, such websites have taken much of the blame for the origin of the “Web 2.0” (which I will speak about another day).
Wiki philosophy
We can say that all the websites that have “wiki” in their name share the same philosophy. Anyone who enter there can edit the contents and add new ones. Naturally, there may be private wikis for business projects, for example, or wikis in which is required to be registered. In general, the purpose of these sites is to share knowledge, and others can correct or extend the knowledge that another one had shared before. In this way, you get a very broad, contrasted and virtually without errors source of knowledge.
What is MediaWiki?
MediaWiki is, plainly, the software that Wikipedia uses. If someday, surfing the Internet, you have found a page almost like the Wikipedia (except for its contents), I bet you that it used MediaWiki. Is free software, which lets you have your own Wiki (if you have a web server) without much effort.
The difference between a Wiki and a forum, for example, is that in a forum you can write a message, and another user can respond to it, and so on. In a Wiki, however, you can modify another person’s message (article), supplementing or correcting it.
What websites are using MediaWiki?
Hundreds, thousands, millions? of web pages. Rare is the company dedicated to Internet business over 20 employees which doesn’t have an internal wiki. Most universities use some wikis to upload califications or homework. Even pages as diverse as Uncyclopedia (parody of Wikipedia, ideal for some laughs) or WikiNovela (a very strange project, aimed to create a wiki-shaped novel). And as anyone who wants it can have a Wiki, I’m sure the number will increase.
What is Wikimedia?
Wikimedia is a non-profit organization, which is behind projects such as Wikipedia (encyclopedia), among many others, including WikiQuote (famous quotes), Wiktionary (dictionary), Wikibooks (free books), etc. All these projects have in common that they use the MediaWiki system, sharing the same ideals of freedom.
What’s this article’s title?
The “wiki-” vogue. Well, simply this: the Wiki philosophy is in vogue, and even if someone says that word, we immediately think about the Wikipedia, many more websites are jumping on to this car. Without going any further, Google, with its “wikisearches”, lets get certain results appear first in your searches, or disappear, and share these preferences with your friends. Another approach to Wiki (reinvented) is Google Wave, a great page that I have spoken about on another occasion.
Everything “wiki-” seems to sell more, and more importantly: if you have a “traditional” website (eg this blog), if you want to fill it with content, you must write it yourself. In contrast, in a Wiki, the work is shared among all those able and willing to cooperate (by the way, making the owner of the site work less). It’s the Web 2.0 philosophy, the Web focused on the user, the Internet user is a content creator, instead a simple reader.
Tell us about the future
I still have to buy a crystal ball … well, here we go.
It’s clear that Wikipedia will continue to grow or, at least, it will remain the indisputable reference website. Google Wave is the latest example of a Wiki hybrid system, but certainly it won’t be the last one. Systems in which any person can complete the information on a page will be increasingly common, kicking in the Web 2.0: Internet is no more a book that you can only read its pages, to become a worldwide network of people, opinions and knowledge.
Yes, I know that my prediction is quite ambiguous, but honestly, I don’t know what will be invented next year on Internet software… because if I did, I’d invent it first hahaha.
Facebook Games: Those addictive things that we all know
3 February 2010
All Facebook users, I’m sure that you’ve already played a facebook game.
Yes! Those colorful games in which you manage a restaurant, you have a fishbowl or you have to take care of a pet. The fact is that those games give lots of money to their creators.
Happy Aquarium, a Facebook game in which you take care of your fishes (caution: very addictive).
Lastly, a good way to earn easy money on Internet is the Flash empire. A lot of money is won creating a good and addictive game and uploading it in some portal that shares the revenue. Well, now social networks are becoming a good way to make money too!
I’m sure you know them. I’m talking about the objects, common on all facebook games, that have to be paid with real money. This money goes almost directly to the developers of the game (but a part goes to the Facebook creator). Furthermore, the developers also win money from the ads around their game.
Restaurant City: another game from Facebook in which you manage a restaurant (very addictive too).
That’s why they are interested in that we have to enter so many times! Yes. That you’ve to wait 12 hours for your fish to grow it’s NOT a casualty or a caprice. It’s because you will NOT wait 12 hours in front of the game, and what you will do is close the game and visit it again 12 hours later. And that is what developers are interested in, because the money gained by ads around the game, is increased every time someone enters the game!
What can we learn from this? Well, if you’re a facebook player you will learn that those long waits for continuing to play a game (in Vampire Wars, for example, you regain blood [necessarily to realize any action] every hour) it’s not a casualty. If you’re a facebook developer (or you want to be a facebook developer), you’ll learn that for gaining more money, you have to add into your game this long waits system, and people will enter lots of times in your game.
Vampire Wars, bite your friends or fight against unknow persons while you accomplish some missions in this also-very-addictive Facebook game.
Q-Block: Designing Pixel-art in 3D
23 January 2010
You probably know what are pixel-arts, yes, those images drawn from scratch, pixel by pixel, so good-looking in videogames or animations.
Our dear Megaman is a sprite/pixel-art
Maybe you’ve never imagined a pixel art in 3D, like any 3D model but with less definition. The “square” pixels we are used to would be “cubes” with three dimensions, and joining up these cubes we would do our image.
If you are creative and want to try something new, now you can do it with Q-Block. It’s a simple page, but it fully functional, you can join up cubes to create a 3D model, and save it with your name in the integred gallery. Once done, you can rotate them, zoom in or out… like any 3D model.
Who knows? You could become the favourite artis of the page, because there is a ranking too. You can also share your creations through social networks as Twitter o Facebook, and there’s an online shop for buying T-shirts with the model you wished.
Whether you want to have some fun or test your creativity, you will have a great time with Q-Block. Do you think that creativity is not your strength? Then you can watch the web gallery, there are many interesting works that you can see from every angle.
Example of pixel art with Q-Block. You can move and rotate it!
See you, I hope you like it as I do.
PS: If you want to see my “art” gallery (I don’t know if it can be called like that), search Selkie as author.
