Daily Bits

How Long Will It Take for Print Newspapers to Vanish?

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Another day I was chatting with my dad about the technological shifts that we are experiencing right now. One of them is the shift from print media towards the digital one. PC Magazine was the first to close the doors of its print publication, in favor of an electronic version of the magazine, starting in January 2009. How fast will the other print publications follow?

My dad is pretty conservative on his estimates, and he said that for at least 20 years ahead we will still see print newspapers and magazines around. I am more aggressive, I said that before 10 years (that is by the end of 2018) the New York Times will already be offering only a digital version of its newspaper.

Maybe we are both right, because the New York Times is not your average newspaper. It’s audience is probably the most tech-savvy one around the world (as far as newspapers are concerned), and they also enjoy a high purchasing power. That means that those readers would be likely to be among the first in line to adopt electronic readers, e-paper and other digital devices that will substitute the print format.

So it is possible that by the time that the New York Times shifts towards a digital format, other newspapers from around the world, and even the smaller publications from around the United States, will still be forced to use a print version.

Anyway the bet is placed. Do you think that by 2018 the New York Times will already have a digital newspaper only?

Top 10 Google’s Easter Eggs

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I am not sure if this is the proper name for those things, but I heard it around so. I am talking about those hidden games or tricks that you can find online on embed in the code of games and software. Google has its share of them, and the guys from MakeUseOf created a list with the best ones.

For example if you hold Click [CTRL] + [ALT] + [A] in Google Earth you will launch a flight simulator!

The other list items are pretty funny too.

The only flaw is that they missed my all time favorite. Go to Google.com, type “find chuck norris” on the search bar, and click “I am feeling lucky.” You will see the result!

The Ultimate Converter Website

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You probably needed to convert something in the past right? Whether it was inches in centimeters, kilograms in pounds or Celsius degree in Fahrenheit, we all pass through the pain of those conversions. The web certainly can help, but until yesterday I always used a different website depending on the conversion that I was needing to perform.

Not anymore! While browsing the web yesterday I came across a website that will do pretty much all the conversions you will need in a single place. I will call it the Ultimate Converter Website (they authors were too modest and simply called it “Online Converter”).

ultimate converter website

Here is a list of the things you will be able to convert there:

  • Distance & Length
  • Weight & Mass
  • Speed
  • Volume
  • Area & Space
  • Temperature
  • Time
  • Effect
  • Pressure
  • Energy and Work
  • Bits and Bytes
  • Morse Code

Heck yeah, they even convert Morse code!

Pirates of The Amazon: Firefox Plugin

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I find it amazing the extent that people’s creativity can go, especially on the Internet. There is a new Firefox extension called Pirates of The Amazon that will let anyone using it to browse the Amazon website and see whether the books, CDs and movies can be found for free via The Pirate Bay website.

Basically you would visit Amazon normally, and if the extension managed to find a free torrent for a specific product you would see a “Download For Free” link right on the screen.

Here is a video with a screencast of the extension in action:

Crazy stuff huh?

Watching Live Football Online

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If you are a football (aka soccer) fan, I am sure that you have already tried to watch live matches online right? Finding the right place that will stream the matches for free and with a minimum of quality is a tough task though. It can get tremendously frustrating too, especially when the match is getting started….

In order to solve this problem the guys from Soccer Lens create a really comprehensive guide explain how you can watch live soccer for free.

They listed the advantages, disadvantages and a bunch of links to the sites that actually stream the matches. Here is a quote from the article:

There are two main ways to watch P2P streams. PC users can download one (or several) of the programs listed below. Typically, it will download as a zipped file or an executable file. Double-click on the downloaded file and take it from there. Unfortunately for Mac users, there are only a few programs that will work for you. If you have Windows XP or Vista, as well as the latest version of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, then you should be able to use any of these programs. Some of them will work with Firefox or with Linux, but you’re better off sticking with the Microsoft family. See? Bill Gates controls our lives when it comes to watching football, too.

Or you can go to a website that hosts live streaming video like www.justin.tv. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks, so you’ll probably want to try out several methods instead of relying on one.

When running P2P programs like Sopcast or TVU (more below), you will typically get an interface that will include a screen and a list of available channels. To take a look at the TVU interface, click here. Sopcast’s interface is similar, but more compact. To take at Sopcast, go here. Click on the channel you want to watch and you should be good to go.

A good idea would be to bookmark one of the pages listed below containing football schedules. That way, you can be sure that you’ll never miss a game!

Worth a look if you plan to watch some matches on your PC!