Daily Bits

Andy Merrett

Free laptop with mobile broadband

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The idea of a mobile internet has long been the fantasy of many a geek. With recent advances in technology over the last few years, this fantasy has now become not just a reality, it is fast becoming the norm.
If there are two pieces of tech that has really pushed the concept of surfing the internet ANYWHERE to practically a way of life it will have to be the netbook and mobile broadband.

First, the netbook has made mobile computing truly mobile. These small computers, practically, pocketbook sized laptops are so handy, light and portable you can put a netbook in a small bag. The other important piece in the equation is mobile broadband. WiFi may have untethered us from clumsy Ethernet cables, but it is mobile broadband that has truly freed us and now allows us to roam anywhere while still plugged in to the internet.

The best thing about these technologies is the cost. With netbooks, laptops and mobile broadband falling prices, anyone can have them without any hassle. Now, companies are offering free laptops with mobile broadband to advertise their product or service. Offering free laptops.

16 Calculators and Converter Widgets for Mac OS X

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Here are some of the more useful Mac OS X dashboard widgets for converting and calculating various things. Hopefully you’ll find at least two or three that are useful.

Click on any of the titles to visit the download page on Apple’s web site.

1. Basic Scientific Calculator

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When you need a bit more than a basic calculator but not a full-blown scientific calculator, this is for you.

2. Wave Length Calculator

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A bit specialist, perhaps, but if you’re an audio engineer it could well save your bacon in the recording studio.

3. Binary Watch

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Get a puzzling yet cool binary watch on your Mac’s dashboard.

4. BMI Calculator

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Calculate your Body Mass Index with this handy widget.

5. Calculator 1984

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Get nostalgic with this simple Mac calculator.

6. Countdown Calculator

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Find out how many days it is until… well… anything you like.

7. Hex Color

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Quickly calculate the hex color code. Very useful for web designers.

8. MD5 Hash

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Get the MD5 hash for any string of text you input.

9. Morse Code Translator

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Create morse code from a string of text.

10. Password Maker

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Create more secure but potentially memorable passwords based upon a word or phrase you enter.

11. Percentages

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Easily calculate percentages without the brain ache.

12. Sunset

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Find out sunrise and sunset times for any city.

13. URL Minimizer

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An absolute must for avid Twitter users: shorten that long URL so you can share it with others.

14. Word Counter

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Simply count the number of words in a chunk of text.

15. Unscrambler

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Unscrambles anagrams – great for Scrabble (not that you’d cheat, of course).

16. Unix Time Stamp Converter

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You know there’s always some moment when you need to know official (i.e. Unix) time.

If you have your own favourite calculator/conversion widgets, share in the comments below.

What’s your biggest Internet time waster?

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bejeweled-blitz-facebookHi 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.