An easy to understand explanation of why data caps suck

Data caps suck. They don't address the problems that exist in any meaningful way, and are simply a method to get money from your pocket into someone else's bigger, fancier, designer pants pockets. All of us know this on some level, but if you're curious why and how they aren't the safety net carriers and providers claim them to be, you'll want to watch this video. It does a fine job explaining TCP/IP network congestion, "power users" that hog bandwidth, streaming services, and why none of that is addressed by capping a users data.

This won't likely change anything, but at least now we can be a bit better informed the next time someone on the other side of a counter tries to talk you into a higher priced data plan.

Source: Blogphilo; via Gizmodo

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/smj0YQowM2U/story01.htm

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Decibullz Headphones Review: A Perfect Fit That Sounds Like Shit

Everyone's ears are shaped differently. In fact, often, a person's right and left ears aren't even identical. So it's hard to find earbuds that fit just right. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/U7R_RYMc6v8/decibullz-headphones-review-a-perfect-fit-that-sounds-like-shit

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Zoho Docs 2.0 adds iPad support

zoho docs ipad
Zoho has offered an iOS app for a while now -- at least for the iPhone and iPod touch. Those of you who have been wanting to use the Zoho app on your iPad were out of luck, but that's no longer the case.

Zoho Docs 2.0 has landed in the App Store, and the most notable change is that it's now a universal app. Now you're able to take advantage of the app's mobile productivity powers on your larger iOS device. Retina display support has also been added, as have document sharing options -- which you can utilize in both the viewer and collaboration modes.

Just like the basic Zoho service, the app is available totally free of charge. Paid subscriptions get you additional storage space and start at $3 per month for professional use.

Zoho Docs 2.0 adds iPad support originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/zoho-docs-2-0-app-for-ipad-arrives/

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Personal Activity Monitor tracks time you spend using desktop apps

personalactivitymonitor
Up until a couple of years ago, I used to turn to RescueTime to figure out how I spend my time online. Then it got too complex, and I stopped using it. Personal Activity Monitor is like a vastly dumbed-down version of RescueTime, and I mean that as a compliment. It's free and bare-bones -- all it does is track what applications you're using and for how long.

A big drawback at this point is that it doesn't integrate with Web browsers to help you analyze how you spend your time on the Web. Still, if your work doesn't require constant Web app use, knowing how long you've used a browser overall might be enough to help you manage your time.

This is far from the only application in this space -- alternatives such as Slife and Chrometa are full-featured and impressive -- but PAM is good option for those who want a nice, simple tracker.

Personal Activity Monitor tracks time you spend using desktop apps originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/personal-activity-monitor-lets-you-quickly-see-what-you-spend-ti/

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Save your tabs and Panorama tab groups in Firefox 4

Firefox 4 save tabs
When Firefox 4's tab grouping tool, Panorama, had its keyboard shortcut changed to the finger-breaking combo of Ctrl+Shift+E, we thought Panorama would get dropped before FF4's final release -- but, thankfully, it made the cut!

If you've used Firefox 4 and Panorama, you might have noticed that Mozilla's new browser doesn't always save your tab groupings when you close the browser -- a bit of a pain, if you spend a long time setting up the perfect groups! This is tied into the removal of the 'Save and Quit' dialog box -- and enabling Panorama tab group saving is just a matter of re-enabling the Save and Quit dialog.

Open a new tab and head to about:config. Click through the warning and type 'quit' into the filter box. Double click browser.showQuitWarning to change its value to true (see image after the break). That's it -- now you'll have the option of saving your tabs, and thus tab groups, when you close Firefox.

For more tech tips, visit our tips index.

Continue reading Save your tabs and Panorama tab groups in Firefox 4

Save your tabs and Panorama tab groups in Firefox 4 originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/save-your-tabs-and-panorama-tab-groups-in-firefox-4/

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How Secure is My Password lets you know just that

howsecureismypassword
We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/how-secure-is-my-password-lets-you-know-just-that/

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OmmWriter brings its clean, calm writing interface to Windows

ommwriter
I have a thing for full-screen text editing. I use WriteMonkey for my creative writing needs, and VIM in a full-screen PuTTY session for my Web development work. That being the case, I'm all over the monospace, dark-background, focused editing scene.

OmmWriter attempts to take that aesthetic and make it somehow more spiritual, with three picturesque backgrounds and ambient background audio tracks (there are seven of each in the paid version).

I'm of two minds about this app. On the one hand, yes, it's beautiful. But if you want music as a background to your writing, why not pick your own soundtrack with Winamp or Foobar2000 running in the background?

OmmWriter also offers three keyboard-clicking sounds, which are kind of nice. None of these features are groundbreaking, really. OmmWriter could be seen as a way to gently ease into the world of distraction-free writing -- in case something like WriteMonkey's dark background is just too oppressive for you.

After the fold you can see a video showcasing several of OmmWriter's features and creative soundscapes.

Continue reading OmmWriter brings its clean, calm writing interface to Windows

OmmWriter brings its clean, calm writing interface to Windows originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/ommwriter-brings-its-clean-calm-writing-interface-to-windows/

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