Now is the best time to be living in the U.S., really. Well, at least if you are a gadget freak and likes to waste money on any electronic products that catches your fancies online. Amazon just announced a new same-day-delivery of items called Local Delivery Option. [Read more…] about Want a New Gadget? Order Now and Amazon Will Deliver it Today
What’s your biggest Internet time waster?
Hi there! Firstly, let me introduce myself. I’m Andy and I’ve been near-addicted to the Internet for 15 years. I met my wife online and I spend a lot of time at both work and play on the net.
You really don’t want to see me when my broadband connection goes down!
Anyway, while I get into the swing of things here at DailyBits, I thought I’d throw out a question to get you all commenting (so I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself.)
What’s your biggest Internet time waster?
What is it that saps time that you could have better spent being productive on or offline?
Is it one of those pesky Facebook apps? Is it Twitter? WoW? Flash games?
I’ll start. My two current time sinks are Bejeweled Blitz and Scrabble, both on Facebook.
Scrabble is easy — I’ve loved the board game since I was a kid, and now I can play against anyone even when there’s no-one locally who wants a game.
Bejeweled Blitz — well I guess the download figures for the Bejeweled empire speak for themselves when it comes to its popularity, but add the ability to play “just one more one minute game” against your Facebook friends and it has the ability to be extremely addictive.
Honestly, I’m trying to kick the habit.
(PS If anyone has found any decent tactics for playing Bejeweled Blitz as well on a trackpad as when using a mouse, do let me know.)
What keeps you online? Share in the comments below.
Anyone Else Addicted to Mafia Wars?
The other day I was hanging around on Facebook and I received an invite to play the Mafia Wars game. I had heard about it, but had never tried. I decided to give it a shot.
Basically you need to do jobs here and there, with the objective of making money. Sounds simple, but it is really addicting. You can increase your level, and the ultimate objective is to grow your mafia clan. Social networks like Facebook represent a perfect platform for the game, because you can invite your friends to become part of the clan.
I also found a cool website where you can get a basic strategy guide for the game. It is called Mafia Wars Tips. There are some parts missing, but the basic information to get you on the right track is there.
The game takes place in New York, but once you achieve higher levels you will be able to travel to Cuba and Moscow. There are rumors that new places will be added in the future too.
If you play games online, this one is a must. The mob rules!
Stop Forgetting Those Birthdays
If you are anything like me you are always forgetting the birthdays of friends and family members. Usually I remember the dates of my mother, my father and my brother, and that was about it.
Then a couple of weeks ago I thought to myself: “There must be an online application out there that will let me input birthday dates, and then it will email me one week ahead or so.”
After researching a bit I found a site called Remime.com. It does exactly that. Once you create an account you will be able to input all the birthdays of your friends and family, and the service will email you a notification so you won’t forget them. You can even decide if you want to be notified one week before the date or on the day itself.
It is a pretty cool service, and it is also free, so check it out.
6 Websites to Make Music Online
Whether you are a music artist or someone just wanting to kill some time, I am sure you will have fun with the websites listed below.
1. JamStudio: An online music creation tool with a very user friendly interface. Simply input the notes, choose the instruments and hear the results.
2. DubStep: Created by LoopLabs, this online music mixer will let you create a wide range of electronic tracks. It comes with a big database of drum sounds, synths, bass sounds, keyboard and sound effects. Just mix them together and see what will come out.
3. Tony-B Machine: Quite an addictive little piece of software. You get a melody playing in the background, and you can press different buttons to add effects, vocals, change the key and so on. Use your keyboard and you will start feeling the groove.
4. Noteflight: If you are a serious musician, Noteflight will allow you to create compositions online. It basically lets you create, store and hear to music notations online, with surprising quality.
5. CreatingMusic: If you have young kids, this website is a nice resource to get them interested in music. They have a Java application that will let your kids make music online. The interface is very simple: you just need to select the instrument is draw the sound on the screen.
6. Beatbox DJ Mixer: A fun little tool that lets you mix tracks online. You need to choose songs among their preloaded collection, but there are some nice songs there. After that you mix the track controlling different channels, and you can save the results.
Give Some Cool Effects to Your Pictures
I just found a site where you can make some really funny pictures, called Picjoke. Basically every day they add a new photo effect. To apply it to your pictures you just need to select it, upload the picture and bingo. After that you can either save the image to your computer or email it to friends.
The site started back in April, but they have already added 151 effects. You can browse for them month by month, and on each screen you will see a roundup of all the effects published that month.
For example, you can place your face (or the face of friends and family) on billboards, magazines, skyscrapers, movie posters, t-shirts, balloons, computers, stamps, you name it. It is like having an online photoshop for special effects.
Here are some pictures that we made with the DailyBits logo:
Obviously the effects were made to be used with faces, but still we had some fun playing around with the logo. If you are looking to make some funny photos, check that site out. And make sure to bookmark it for those slow days at the office. If nothing else you will be able to put the face of your boss on the cover of Vanity Fair!