geeky tutorials, tips, guides and reviews
I have mentioned in the past having trouble with using my old Logitech Precision gamepad with some games, or have said I would love the ability to use it with some flash games that are out there. Xpadder, a free program for Windows, has saved the day for me. Xpadder is a kind of keyboard to gamepad translation too.
Looking for a way to download YouTube videos, without cluttering your browser of choice with yet another extension or add-on? YouTube Downloader is a free program you can download and use to get this simple job done.
All you have to do is enter the web site address of the video into the program, and hit the, OK button. The rest of the process is taken care of internally via the program.
Convert Files promises to give you the ability to convert just about any file format to any other similar file format, for free. All you have to do is upload the file (or give them your file URL), select your input format, your output format and your e-mail address and they will e-mail you a link to the converted file.
Some of the file formats they will convert over include:
Archives – RAR to TAR, ZIP, TGZ, TAR.GZ
Documents – DOCX to DOC, ODT, RTF, SWX, TXT, HTML, XHTML, PDF, PDB, ZIP
Presentations – PPT to ODP, PDF, SWF
Images – JPG to GIF, BMP, PNG, TIF, PDF
Audio – MP3 to WAV, OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, AU, WMA, AMR
Video – FLV to 3GP, AVI, MP4, MPEG, VOB, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, M4V
That is just barely scratching the surface on what this great online tool can do. After converting, the file will stay on their servers for up to a week before it is deleted. Also, as far as size goes, you can convert a file that is 100 MB in size or less.
For anybody looking for an easy way to convert a file from one format to the next, but don’t want to download any special scripts or software to do so, Convert Files is a perfect converting companion.
You can file this one under cool things I didn’t know I needed. File2.ws is a unique service that promises to convert anything into a web page. Fuffy kitten aside (because they won’t fit in your CD-ROM drive no matter how hard you try) it does a good job at delivering on that promise.
All you need to do is browse for the file you want to convert, and then hit the “start conversion” button. Some of the files it currently supports include:
Once uploaded, every converted file has a unique web address created for it, so you can point others to it and share the document in question. So if you are searching for a free way to convert any file into a web page, give them a shot at File2.ws.
I love looking at bookmarklets. These handy bookmarks that allow just about any browser to do even more amazing things are really handy to have. Want to convert any web page to a PDF to read later? I have found a bookmarklet that does that too.
The people behind PDF Download have produced their own bookmarklet to convert web pages into high-quality PDF files free from any browser. Just drag and drop this link to your bookmarks toolbar, and click it when you want to export to PDF:
Here are the setup instructions for all the various browsers out there:
Only negative I could find is I got the “server is too busy” message more than a couple of times.
Know of anymore bookmarklets that will allow you to export a page into an entirely different format? Me neither, but if you do – please share. PDF Download’s solution will work for the time being though. Save on paper and export to PDF. That tree outside your window will thank you.
So what needs to be done to make the PDF format better? Here are a few of my opinions, and some tools and services to make those requests come true.
Better PDF Editing Abilities
Need an easy way to edit PDF files without the expensive PDF editor? In the past, I have told you about creating PDFs via Open Office. However, what if you could convert those PDFs to Word doc files to edit instead? Pickup the Free PDF to Word Converter for Windows to get the job done.
Better PDF Browser Support
How about better PDF support for the browser? PDF files are notorious for crashing your modern web browser. So with that said, what tool can you use to make the experience better? A browser add-on named PDF Download. It’s features include:
PDF Download works with Firefox 2 & 3, Flock 1, and Internet Explorer 7 & 8 (beta) web browsers.
Better Printing Abilities to the PDF Format
Now this one isn’t really PDF’s problem, however I do have a solution. If you are wanting to cut down on the paper you use, printing to the PDF format can save you some cash in the long run as well as conserve that printing paper. All you need to do is grab PrimoPDF for Windows. It will add the ability for you choose “Print as PDF” from any print screen. All you have to do is select it as the printer of your choice.
So what other things bug you about PDF files, or have you found any other solutions to your PDF powered problems? It might not be the best standard in the world, however it can come in handy from time to time.
Now it isn’t often that I want to take the audio track from a video on YouTube, but the other day I found a collection of wrestling themes I really like to have a few selections from. So to take the music from the uploads, I found a tool that will get it done.
The FLV to MP3 Online Converter is the tool you want to keep handy. So far it is still fairly quick with it’s conversion and when it is done doing that voodoo that it does so well it will spit out a .mp3 file for you to save, edit and rename as your own.
As a bonus, also be sure to check out my post on Firefox Facts that covers ripping mp3 files from music shared on MuxTape.com.
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Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
