By Laura Milligan

Now that the technical, Internet-driven age is in full swing, people are starting to wonder about the long term benefits of relying on computers for maintaining personal relationships and improving communication. It’s easy to let a quick e-mail or Facebook poke suffice as a Happy Valentine’s Day to your significant other, as sometimes planning out a long date night just takes up too much time and energy. A happy medium that compromises face time with impersonal online communication is VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol. If you’re unsure of whether or not to ask out that cute guy on your LinkedIn friends list, try VoIP-ing him first, to give your chemistry a test run. Too busy to stop for a coffee break? Use VoIP to catch up with last weekend’s date while multitasking at the office (just remember to shut the door). If you’re ready to revolutionize your sex life, gear up for these and other great ways that VoIP can help.

1. Long distance relationships: Extended business trips, far away grad schools and the military put couples in a frustrating position to decide whether or not to invest their love in a long distance relationship. If you’re loathe to see your sweetie jet off for another semester, suggest that the two of you select a free or low-cost VoIP service to keep the romance alive and cut down on your cell phone minutes.
2. Web conferencing: For the busy entrepreneur, VoIP can give your dating and sex life a boost by giving you the opportunity to connect with your special someone while you stay productive at work. If you’d prefer to take an extended, er, lunch break, but have an important meeting to attend later in the afternoon, tell your colleagues that you’re going to have to participate via Web conferencing. Use a strictly voice-to-voice service instead of one with video support so that you can really enjoy yourself.
3. Multitasking benefits: VoIP is an ideal tool for the multitasker. Fidgety types might have trouble staying focused on a real date, but VoIP services let you coo into your honey’s headphones while you fold laundry, flip through a magazine and paint your toenails.
4. Easier to have a “friends with benefits” relationship: Friends with benefits situations are ideal in the first few days or even weeks of the careless messing around, but someone is always bound to get hurt. If you’re dying to know what your best guy or girl friend is like in the sack but don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings further down the road, consider VoIP a safe compromise. You’ll have the pleasure of getting to know one another a little better but still have the barrier of the computer blocking any intense emotional confessions or breakdowns.
5. You don’t have to commit: Commitment phobes rejoice! Keep your “dates” online by registering with a VoIP provider. You won’t have to agonize over whether or not bringing a girl flowers will make her think of marriage or if inviting a guy to hang out with your brother will make him think he’s one of the family. Voice-to-voice is more personal than e-mail, but it’s still safer than face-to-face dating.
6. You don’t have to feel bad when it’s time to break it off: No one likes being the bad guy in a relationship, even if you’re dying to get out and start over with someone new. To save yourself from the awkward “I think we should see other people” moment, limit your dating to online voice chats. This method works especially well if you’ve never even seen your partner’s face, because you won’t have to imagine its heartbroken expression after you break the news.
7. Forget inhibitions: Struggling against your inhibitions during sex isn’t half so hard when you don’t have to worry about anyone actually seeing you. VoIP relationships give wallflowers the cover they need to open up and experiment the way they’ve always wanted.
8. No-frills dating: In a Samantha Jones kind of way, VoIP promotes no-frills, straight-to-the point sex. If you’d rather not waste time with niceties by going out to dinner before getting what you really want, you’ll find that VoIP services allow you to get in and get out…so that you can get on with your day.
9. Can (safely) act out the mysterious stranger fantasy: Everyone has a sexual fantasy, but not everyone has the luxury of acting on it. The mysterious stranger fantasy, for example, seems like an enticing idea in your head, but unless you’re about to jump on the weird (but cute) stranger peering at you over the gas pump, you’re probably not daring enough to act out your fantasy in real life. VoIP users, however, can take advantage of the safe, secure online connection that will keep you disease-free.
10. More personal than chatting via AIM: Regular chat services like AIM are terrific tools for catching up with friends and family or quickly setting up a meeting for work. When you’re in the mood for something a little spicier, however, all that typing just gets in the way. Give your hands a break and up the personal factor by switching over to a VoIP service when you’re looking for something other than friendship.
11. You don’t have to waste time with bad dates: How much time do you think you’ve wasted going on nightmarish, dead-end dates? To save yourself from anymore needless degradation, start weeding through your little black book by VoIP-ing your dates before taking them out in real life. Think of it like lining your dates up for an audition to see who makes the cut. If he or she can’t perform on VoIP, they’re probably not going to be all that exciting in person.
12. It’s free: Real-life dating gets expensive, whether you’re the guy or the girl. After splitting the bill and movie ticket prices, buying a new outfit and splurging on the emergency cab ride after a blind date gone bad, you could end up investing more in the worst date of your life than you’ve ever invested in your savings account. Thanks to services like Skype, you don’t have to pay a single cent when you make calls to another user’s computer. Stop wasting your money until you at least get to know the person a little better.
13. Hands-free: This smart VoIP feature doesn’t need a whole lot of explaining. It’s a hands-free system that lets you connect with the object of your desire so that you can be more ambulatory elsewhere. You do the math.
14. Video capabilities: Skype’s video chat feature lets more daring users introduce face time into their already sexy VoIP experience. This add-on means that VoIP now supports different levels of online dating: just like the various subtleties of setting up a coffee date on Tuesday vs. having dinner on Saturday, the online dating world is also divided up into regular chatting, basic VoIP communications, and finally video-enhanced VoIP. What’s next, real-life dates?
15. Mobile, WiFi access equals convenience, spontaneity: Some VoIP providers offer services through cell phones and WiFi connections, so you don’t have to limit your sexual adventures to the time spent in front of your clunky desktop. More flexible services will also give your dating life a boost by encouraging spontaneous online rendezvous and unexpected passion.
16. Group chats: The more the merrier! If you’re into speed dating, group dates, swinger’s parties or three-ways, then you’ll be pleased to know that many VoIP providers like Vonage and Skype offer group chat capabilities. Invite several people to participate in a conversation so that you can quickly compare your potential mates and move on to those who deserve your time and interest. Once you’ve selected a tight circle of VoIP acquaintances, group chat your way to a hotter dating life.
17. VoIP opens up the dating pool: No cute girls in your city? Sites like Facebook, eHarmony and Match.com encourage members to connect based on geographical location, but if you’re not looking for a serious relationship, stick with VoIP to open up the online dating pool. Certain services offer plans that don’t charge extra for long distance calls or daytime minutes, letting you experiment with smokin’ singles all over the country.

By Jessica Hupp

Stolen content is perhaps one of the most infuriating things that can happen to a content creator. Whether a spam blogger is ripping off your posts, or you somehow find your favorite photo for sale on a microstock site, these thieves have a nasty way of getting under your skin. Here’s a look at some of the tips and tools you have at your disposal to use against this Internet slime.

Know Your Rights

Before you kick off any content battles, make sure you know your stuff.

1. Copyright: Get an overview of copyright law from Wikipedia here.
2. US Copyright Office: Visit the US Copyright Office to learn copyright law as well as how you can register your work.
3. What is a Copyright?: Plagiarism Today offers a nice overview of your copyright rights.
4. Bloggers’ FAQ: Intellectual Property: Check out this FAQ to get a quick guide to copyright law for bloggers.
5. Protect Your Ideas With Copyrights and Patents: This article offers a quick run-down of how you can go about registering your work.
6. Copyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right?: Smashing Magazine offers a simple look at the complicated topic of copyright.
7. Limitations of Copyright: Here you’ll learn about the limitations of your copyright.
8. FAQ About Copyright: Learn about copyright from a DCMA clearinghouse here.
9. Copyright situations by country: Find out your copyright rights in a variety of different countries with this Wikipedia reference.
10. Fair Use: Get clarification on the limited use of your work through fair use with this guide.
11. What Can’t Be Copyrighted: This publication from the US Copyright Office discusses items that can’t be protected by copyright.
12. The Sincerest Form of Flattery…And How to Protect Yourself From It: Find out what copyright is, what you can copyright, and how to protect your work with copyright in this article.

Finding Thieves

The first step to defeating content thieves is to find them. Get a heads-up about stolen content with these tips and tools.

13. Set up Google Alerts: Find thieves by setting up Google alerts for key phrases related to your content.
14. Put a message in your feeds: Add a copyright message to your RSS feeds that asks anyone viewing it to email you if the content isn’t being served from your site.
15. Create a fingerprint: Set up a string of unique characters to add to your feed, then set up plagiarism searches like Google Alerts or Copyscape to find this fingerprint.
16. AntiLeech WordPress Plugin: Use this plugin for WordPress to detect sploggers and give them fake content.
17. Assign offbeat file names: By creating file names you’re not likely to see often, you’ll make it easier to perform searches for stolen content.
18. Thiefinder: With this script, you can find possible bandwidth thieves.
19. Mahalo Plagiarism Detection: Stick this tool in your browser to compare any text for plagiarism.
20. Numly WordPress Plugin: Use this plugin to set an Electronic Serial Number for your blog to prove you were the first to publish your content.
21. Maxpower’s Digital Fingerprint Plugin: With this plugin, you can detect content theft by placing and searching for a unique string of characters into your feed entries.
22. Subscribe to news feeds: In addition to Google Alerts, set up feeds for your name, your blog’s name, and content terms with search engines like PubSub, Technorati, and IceRocket.
23. Place a spy image: Put a small, transparent image at the bottom of your feed or posts, and monitor the sites that use the image.
24. Do manual spot-searches: Check out your favorite search engine and do a search for distinctive phrases from your work to discover theft.
25. BitScan: Use this tool to search both URLs and offline content for your work.
26. RSS Footer: This plugin from Joost de Valk inserts your copyright text into RSS entries.
27. RSS Signature: Put a link back to your original content in each entry with this tool.
28. Attributor: Track who is copying your content, find out how much money they’re earning off of you, and get an organized way to contact unauthorized sites with Attributor.
29. Copyscape: Use this plagiarism search to look for alternate copies of your page.
30. iPlagiarismCheck: This service will look for your content in databases, online, in printed publications, or more.
31. Copysentry: With Copysentry, you’ll get automatic detection of stolen content, and be able to keep track of your plagiarism cases.
32. FeedEntryHeader: Put your copyright statement at the beginning of your feed entries using this plugin.
33. TagRight: By using TagRight, you can restrict access to images and text.
34. FeedBurner: FeedBurner’s analysis tools and options can make finding thieves easy.
35. Feelimage: Search for your images using filenames and tags with this search engine.
36. SplogSpot: Find out if you’re being ripped off by a splog with this database.
37. Repeat your search with omitted results: Google will often filter out search entries that are similar, and offer you the option to repeat your search while including these results. You should absolutely do this to find thieves.
38. Check your referral logs: Take a look at who is pointing to your site to find thieves.
39. Get around IP blocks: Some thieves will block your IP to make you think their site has gone down, but you can verify this with Google Translate, because they’re not going to block Google.
40. Offer headhunter rewards: Tell your readers that you’ll give a trivial award to anyone who finds someone stealing your content.

Going In For The Kill

Once you’ve located your perpetrator, take these steps to hit them where it hurts.

41. Send them an email: Some thieves, although not all, are just overzealous fans who don’t quite understand that they can’t use your work word for word. Send these people a polite email to give them a heads up before you take things a step further.
42. Try email tricks: If you can’t find a contact email, try webmaster@theirdomain.com to find a catchall account. You can also run a Whois check.
43. Rat them out to AdSense: Let Google know about these spammers to let their site’s finances take a hit.
44. Report them to their service: Most sploggers are on free services like Blogger, so it’s easy to flag them and notify their blogging service that they are slime.
45. WebCite: Store a webpage cache as evidence of infringement with WebCite.
46. Check out their source code: View their page source to get a look at what they’re running on their site. You may find a service that’s enabling their theft, as well as advertisers to contact.
47. Team up: It’s very likely that you’re not the only victim of content theft, so let others know when your thief is targeting them, and band together to take them down.
48. Send them a modified RSS feed: If you can single the offender out, change out your RSS feed just for them so they’re not serving your content anymore.
49. Send a cease and desist letter: Send your thief a letter explaining that you’re aware they have stolen your work and plan to take action against them if they do not follow your request by a specific deadline.
50. Find their host and report them: Locate a site’s host by checking out their Whois, then find their Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) contact information to let them know what their customer is doing. If the host doesn’t have DCMA contact information, find them through this database.
51. Borrow legal letterhead: Use your lawyer buddy’s letterhead, or even create your own, to give your correspondence with the thief more weight.
52. Inform search engines: Send search engines DCMA letters to get your thief removed and blacklisted from searches.
53. Spread the word: Shame thieves into giving up on your content by letting your readers and others in your industry know what they’re doing.
54. Furl: This bookmark service lets you save a cached copy of any site, so even if your thief’s site goes down, you’ll still have evidence that they ripped you off.
55. Stock Letters: Plagiarism Today offers a few well-written stock letters that you can use to get your content removed from sites and search engines.
56. Contact their advertisers: If they’ve got advertisers beyond AdSense, seek them out as well.
57. Hire a lawyer: If it’s worth the trouble and time, go after your thief with legal action. Just be sure that you actually do have legal protection and that you have enough evidence to back your claim up.
58. VeRO: If your work constantly ends up for sale on eBay, use VeRO to get authorization to close these auctions.
59. Create templates: Make templates for your cease and desist letters so you won’t have to spend lots of time on each individual offender.
60. Make a separate email account: Keep your thief work separate from regular emails by setting up an account specifically for corresponding with thieves, search engines, hosts, and other entities in your fight.
61. Create a database: Keep all of your incident information handy and organized with a database.

An Ounce of Prevention

Try these tips to keep your content from being stolen in the first place.

62. Make your feed annoying: Use HTML or Javascript in your feed to make your text small, blinking, or otherwise annoying so that feed scrapers will post unusable content, while text-only news readers will serve your content appropriately.
63. Offer partial feeds: Use your feeds to deliver links to full articles so that your content can’t be scraped straight from a feed reader.
64. Use transparent images: Put transparent images over your real ones, so when a thief tries to save them, they’ll only get the transparent one.
65. Block bad bots: Modify your .htaccess file to keep out bad bots that scrape your content.
66. Use a watermark: Although some will remove them, others are just too lazy. By putting a watermark on your work, you’ll leave a trail back to your site and make it glaringly obvious that content thieves are stealing from you.
67. Cut your images up: Turn one image into two or more segmented pieces, and it will be harder for a thief to save.
68. Use Poor Man’s Copyright: Print a copy of your work and mail it to yourself to prove via postmark that you created the content on that specific date.
69. Creative Commons: Use Creative Commons to clearly define the ways in which your content can be shared.
70. Eliminate hotlinks: Disable thieves who link to images and files on your server, and you’ll both prevent them from using your work and make their mistake known to all who visit their site.
71. Avoid publishing high resolution photos: If you don’t want your images stolen, keep them small. This will at least help deter those that want to upload them to stock photography sites or put them in print.
72. Is Your Work an Orphan?: Check out this series on orphan works from PlagiarismToday to learn how to avoid orphaning your work.
73. Blog Copyright Plugin: With this plugin, you’ll display a dated copyright mark on each and every one of your pages.
74. Duly Noted: Get copyright registration for UK content here.
75. Pictureshark: Place a watermark over images with Pictureshark.
76. Stop Content Theft Buttons and Badges: Use these badges to make your position on content theft known.
77. GoDaddy’s C-Site Copyright Service: Register the content of your site with this automated service from GoDaddy.
78. Add formal information: Although you can’t count on it, adding formal copyright information as well as a terms and conditions document can help to dissuade some thieves.
79. Creative Commons Configurator WordPress Plugin: With this tool, you can set a visible warning that your work is copyrighted and define exactly what that means.
80. BotSense: With BotSense, you can keep unwanted bots out of your site, and thus cut down on scraping.
81. Blogstamp: Get certified timestamps to prove when you created your content with Blogstamp.
82. Link Protect: Stop unauthorized access to your content and eliminate bandwidth abuse with this tool.
83. Registered Commons: Create a permanent link, license, and digital timestamp for your work with Registered Commons.
84. Disable Select Text Script: With this script, you can disable text selection and deter copy-and-paste thieves.
85. Bandwidth Protector: Prevent unauthorized linking of graphics and pages using this tool.
86. MyFreeCopyright: Register and fingerprint each of your works with this free service.
87. Bad Behavior: Keep spammers off your site with this tool.
88. Block IP addresses: Keep recurring thieves and the services they use from accessing your content by blocking their IP address.
89. Hidetext: Use this service to convert text to an image, and it can’t be copied and pasted. However, it also won’t be indexed by search engines.
90. Encrypt your HTML: If you’re a web designer, you can encrypt HTML to protect it from thieves. However, you should keep in mind that this will protect it from search engine spiders as well.
91. Write fair use guidelines: Let others know that you want to share your content, but make it clear that you expect attribution and a link back.

Advice

Get tips from those who have taken down content thieves in the past with these nuggets of advice.

92. Stop Rogue Web Bots From Eating Your Bandwidth & Stealing Your Content: Visit this article to learn what to do when you’ve been attacked by bots.
93. Stop Image Hotlinking Using .htaccess: This tutorial walks you through the steps of putting a stop to hotlinkers.
94. Stop Thief! Protect Your Creative Work: This article discusses a number of ways you can fight back and protect yourself against thieves.
95. RSS Content Theft and How to Prevent It: This article offers some helpful advice for theft prevention.
96. How to Stop RSS Scrapers From Stealing Your Content. Plus Revenge!: This article details the process of sending a fake RSS feed to scrapers.
97. What to Do When Someone Steals Your Blog’s Content: Get advice from ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse on fighting back.
98. Preventing Website Content Theft: Images: This tutorial discusses how you can protect your content by putting a transparent image over your real ones.
99. Using .htaccess to Stop Content Theft: Read PlagiarismToday’s primer on .htaccess to learn how to use it to your advantage against content thieves.
100. Stop Internet Plagiarism: Last but certainly not least, be sure to check out this series of posts in which Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday walks you through a number of ways to put a stop to content theft.

Certainly you’ve heard that fully integrated Wii homebrews are in the near future, but did you know that developers are already homebrewing for the Wii? Through the Internet Channel, you can play Flash and Javascript games, and yes, even make your own. So if you’ve spent all your money on a bidding war to get the Wii and you’re out of cash for games, follow this guide to some of the best Wii homebrew resources out there.

Inspiration

Take a look at these Wii homebrews to get an idea of what can be achieved.

1. WiiPlayable: On WiiPlayable, you’ll find shooters, card, board, sports, and more games. These games can be played both with your computer and on the Wii.
2. WiiCade: WiiCade offers lots of homebrewed games, from platform and puzzle to action.
3. Viidelectrix: Play these games from Homestar Runner on the Wii.
4. WiiSticks: Check out this game that uses full integration with the Wiimote.
5. Orisinal: Orisinal has some really nice-looking games for the Wii.
6. Xensory: These games are designed specifically for the Wii and support up to 4 Wiimotes.
7. HullBreach: HullBreach’s game features JavaScript, and can give you an example of what you can do outside of Flash.

Coding Resources

Get code, API, and SDKs here.

8. ActionScript Code: This forum post offers a few useful flash codes for Wii games.
9. WiiCade Wii Remote API: Get the software you need to fix up your game here.
10. WiiCade Multiplayer API: A partner to the Wii Remote API, this interface opens up the possibility of communication with other players in multiplayer mode.
11. TehWii: Get a useful SDK for the Wii with TehWii.
12. Wii Opera SDK: The SDK from Hullbreach offers the option to make Javascript games.
13. WiimoteLib: This API for the Wiimote can be used in any managed application.
14. WiiWare: Nintendo has promised that soon, they’ll release WiiWare, which will give developers a kit for creating Wii games, as well as an outlet to distribute them on the Wii Shop Channel.

Tutorials

Learn how to do nearly any Wii homebrew mod with these tutorials.

15. Flash 7 Guidelines: Learn how to make any game created in Flash 8 compatible with Flash 7. This is useful if you’re sharing your game on WiiCade.
16. Selfbooting Multi-Emu-Disc for Wii: This forum post offers instructions for creating your own emulator disc for the Wii.
17. High-score List Using PHP: Create a challenge with this high-score tutorial.
18. High-tech City Animation: Check out this lesson to create a light city animation.
19. Nintendo Wii Emulator: This tutorial details what you need to get and exactly what to do in order to emulate on the Wii and play GameCube exploits.
20. Setting Up the Environment: This documentation offers a guide for setting up an environment for Wii development.
21. Is Your Wii Modchip Capable?: Find out if your Wii board can be modded with this guide.
22. Zoom in Zoom Out Flash Animation with Fading Effect: Learn how to create a simple zoom in and zoom out animation.
23. Updating Your CycloWiz With External Install: Use this tutorial to update your externally mounted CycloWiz modchip.
24. Mastering Full Browser Flash: Get your games to open up fully with this tutorial.
25. DIY Nintendo Wii Classic Controller Clip: Put together this clip, and you’ll be able to connect your classic game controller and Wiimote together, which is useful if you’re making games that have motion-sensitive controls as well as dual-analog.
26. Homemade Wireless Wii Sensor Bar: Make your own wireless Wii sensor bar to play homebrew games with a projector, on the road, or any way you feel like.
27. Creating Realistic Fireworks in Flash: With this tutorial, you can create a fireworks display to celebrate your win.
28. Wii Ground Points: Check out this diagram that highlights alternative soldering points for modchips.
29. Connect the Wiimote: Use this tutorial to learn an easy way to connect your Wiimote to your PC.
30. Creating a 3D Tunnel Effect in Flash: With this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use 2D animation to create a 3D tunnel effect.
31. Adding a Top Secret Serial Port to the Outside of Your Wii: Do an external modchip installation with this tutorial.

Game-Specific Tutorials

Use these tutorials to learn how to make a specific game, and then tweak what you’ve learned.

32. Basic Gaming Tutorial: In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a simple flash game.
33. Beat-Em-Up Tutorial: Learn how to make a simple fighting game with this tutorial.
34. Classic Gaming Tutorial: Check out this tutorial to learn how to create a game in ’80s style.
35. The Tank: Part 1: Basic Movement and Artillery: Learn how to animate and move tanks for your game in this tutorial.
36. The Tank: Part 2: Rotating and Shooting the Cannon: In this continuation of the previous tutorial, you’ll cover more advanced tank movements.
37. Isometric RPG Tutorial: In this tutorial, you’ll learn the Actionscript essentials for creating a role playing game.
38. Simple Guessing Game with Actionscript: Here you’ll see how to use ActionScript to create a number guessing game. You’ll also get access to source files.
39. Wii Platformer ActionScript: This tutorial and script is for a platformer-style game.
40. Advanced Gaming Tutorial: This tutorial will teach you loads of Actionscript and the essentials required to create lots of different games.
41. Building an Arcade Game: This five-part tutorial series covers angles, weapons, collision checking, and terrain scrolling.
42. Games of Chance Tutorial: If you want to create chance games like bumper balls, roulette, or slots, check out this tutorial.
43. Ship Guessing Board Game Tutorial: Check out this lesson to create a Battleship-style game.

GameCube Resources

Much of Wii homebrewing is made possible by modding your Wii hardware to accept GameCube homebrews. These are some of the best resources for developing GameCube games that can be played on the Wii.

44. GCEclipse: This IDE facilitates GameCube development in C and C++, including code examples and syntax checking.
45. Wii GameCube Homebrew: This guide covers the details of running GameCube homebrew on the Wii.
46. VisualBoy Advance GameCube Emulator: Check out this tutorial to learn how to use a GameCube emulator.
47. Nintendo GameCube Homebrew: This site covers GameCube homebrewing pretty well.

Sharing & Support

Get answers to your questions, or just show off your latest creation on these forums.

48. Flash Kit Community Forums: On these forums, you can chat up other Flash game developers.
49. WiiNode Community Forums: In this Programming Corner, you’ll get help from others who homebrew Wii.
50. PSX-Scene GameCube/Wii Homebrew Forums: This forum discusses homebrew projects for Nintendo, with lots of useful guides available.
51. TehSkeen Wii Homebrew Haven: Check out the Homebrew Haven for advice and support for Wii development.
52. Nintendo Wii/GameCube Hacking and Development Forum: On these forums, you can get ideas and ask for help.
53. ActionScript Games Forum: Get ideas and ask for help in these code forums.
54. Flash Kit: If you’ve discovered a useful tidbit for creating Wii Flash games, share it here.
55. WiiCade: Submit your game to WiiCade, and you can have your homebrew skills rated.
56. Wii Opera SDK Forums: Get help with Javascript games on these forums.
57. GameCube Development Forums: If you’re exploiting Wii’s GameCube capabilities, check out the development forums here.

Software

These are some of the many pieces of software that are designed to facilitate Wii homebrews.

58. WiinRemote: With WiinRemote, you can use the Wiimote or homebrewed games on the PC.
59. WiiFlash: You’ll need WiiFlash to connect your Wiimote to Flash.
60. SDLoad: The SDLoad software is required if you’re going to run an emulator.
61. MultiGame ISO Creator: With this software, you can create discs that hold multiple games at a time.
62. OpenWii: With the homebrew app OpenWii, you’ll be able to change your Wii’s microcontrollers and pin configurations like a modchip, but without actually installing a chip.
63. DarwiinRemote: This program allows customization of buttons on Wii controllers, so you can modify them to fit your games.
64. GCOSRip: Use this software to rip individual GameCube ISO images from GCOS multi-game DVDs and images.
65. Flash: If you’re going to make a Flash game, clearly you need this software. Get a trial copy here.
66. GlovePIE: This software makes it easy to use the Wiimote on a PC or Mac, so you can use it with homebrewed games that can’t be played on the Wii.

Hardware

Mod your Wii with these components to get homebrew-ready.

67. Datel Homebrew Launcher: With this kit, you’ll be able to run homebrew Wii and GameCube games on the Wii.
68. Wii Modchip: You can use this open source modchip to unlock Gamecube homebrew games on the Wii.
69. Drive Doctor: You can use the Drive Doctor to add your own data to the Wii from your PC.
70. CycloWiz: This modchip direct boots Game Cube homebrews, and is upgradable.
71. WiiKey: The WiiKey is easy to install and makes it easy to support Game Cube homebrews, as well as a number of other features.
72. USB Gecko: Use the USB Gecko to connect your Wii to your PC.
73. Wii Serial Tracker: Get the lowdown on what your specific Wii is running on by entering your serial number here.

By Jessica Hupp

With the vast array of web development knowledge available on the Internet, there’s certainly no shortage of cheat sheets to be found. However, finding a way to wrangle them all into one place isn’t quite as easy. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of some of the best cheat sheet collections out there. That’s right: this is your newest cheat sheet for cheat sheeting.

Client Side

These cheat sheet lists cover information in CSS, HTML, and more.

1. Action Script Cheat Sheet: Download cheat sheets for ActionScript here.
2. Apollo Cheat Sheets: You’ll find cheaters for lots of different controls and events here.
3. Ajax Cheat Sheets: Get guides from Amy Hoy, Microsoft, and more.
4. Top 8 CSS Cheat Sheets: Find various levels of CSS cheat sheet with this resource.
5. CSS References: Deitel lists references, including cheat sheets, for CSS here.
6. CSS Cheat Sheets: Here you’ll find a shorthand guide, color chart, help sheet, and more.
7. Cheat Sheets and Sites for Cascading Style Sheets: Here you’ll find some helpful CSS cheat sheets.
8. Cool CSS Cheat Sheets on the Web: This resource has compiled 5 really nice CSS cheat sheets.
9. Javascript Cheat Sheets: Get cheaters for Prototype, jQuery, Script.aculo.us, and more here.
10. CSS Cheat Sheets: Learn about CSS basics, layouts, and more with these cheat sheets.
11. HTML Cheat Sheets: Here you’ll find basic help sheets, microformats, and characters.
12. Microsoft AJAX Library Cheat Sheets: Find a few Ajax cheat sheets here.

Server-Side

Here you’ll find gems for PHP, Python, and Ruby, to name a few.

13. Ultimate Server-Side Web Development Cheat Sheets: This list focuses on server-side web development technologies like PHP, MySQL, and Ruby.
14. .NET Cheat Sheets: Find quick references, common events, and more here.
15. Apache Cheat Sheets: In this list, you’ll find cheaters for .htaccess, mod_rewite, and more.
16. Java Cheat Sheets: These reference sheets highlight Groovy, syntax, and more.
17. VBScript Cheat Sheets: Get syntax, functions, collections, and lots more for ASP and VBScript.
18. MySQL Reference Sites: Here you’ll find MySQL cheat sheets and more.
19. Perl Cheat Sheets: On this list of cheat sheets, you’ll find useful references for variables, regular expressions, and string functions.
20. Ruby on Rails Handbook: In this handbook, you’ll find a collection of cheat sheets covering everything from command lines to migration.
21. $ command line ruby cheat sheets: Get access to lots of Ruby cheat sheets here.
22. Ruby Cheat Sheets: In these Ruby cheaters, you’ll see highlights from Capistrano, TextMate, and more.
23. PHP Cheat Sheets: On this list you’ll find template engine sheets, quick reference and more.
24. Symfony Cheat Sheets: Find a number of helpful cheat sheets for symfony here.
25. Python Cheat Sheets: These useful references cover general Python as well as Django.
26. Dotnet Cheat Sheets: These cheat sheets have regular expressions, basics, and plenty more.
27. .NET Cheat Sheets: Get .net cheat sheets and more with this resource.

Blogging

Get quick access to all of the blogger tools you need with these lists.

28. Blogging Cheatsheets for Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and Movable Type: Make sense of some of the most popular blogging platforms with these cheatsheets.
29. WordPress Cheatsheets Summarized: Here you’ll find cheat sheets for administration, options, and more.
30. Blog Cheat Sheets: Get references for templates, Expression Engine, and WordPress here.
31. Cheat Sheets for CSS and HTML: These cheat sheets are designed for TypePad bloggers.

General

The vast majority of the great cheat sheet lists out there attempt to cover just about everything, so you can go big with this collection.

32. A Web Developer’s Cheat Sheet List: Find cheat sheets from HTML to Dojo in this list.
33. RefCards: Find Apache, CSS, Python, and more with RefCards.
34. Ultimate Web Development Cheat Sheet Guide: Use this guide to get cheat sheets for just about everything out there.
35. The 50 Most Popular Web Design Blog Posts, Resources & Cheat Sheets of 2007: Find cheat sheets and more in this resource.
36. Our Favorite Cheat Sheets: Get some of the best cheat sheets out there through this list.
37. IT Cheat Sheets: Check out this resource for links to more cheat sheet lists as well as cheat sheets for Mozilla products, Google, and more.
38. The Developer Cheat Sheet Compilation: These cheat sheets cover databases, programming, and more.
39. Stephen Flynn: Cheat Sheets: This resource offers a handful of useful cheat sheets.
40. Cheat Sheet: On this site, you can find cheat sheets for microformats, regular expressions, and more.
41. Cheat Sheets & Assorter Others: Get a handle on HTML entities, PHP, and more with this list.
42. Cheat Sheets: No Sheep has compiled a list of “Cliff Notes” for technology here.
43. Developer (and other) Cheat Sheets: Here you’ll find cheat sheets for everything from Ajax to the Wii Remote API.
44. Cheat Sheets: This Squidoo Lens covers Firefox, Scriptaculous, and more.
45. JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and More Cheat Sheets: Ajaxian offers a number of cheat sheets for HTML, JavaScript, CSS and more.
46. Web Technology Cheat Sheets: This reference offers a handful of useful cheat sheets.
47. Great Cheat Sheets: On this blog you’ll find a few cheat sheets, including HTML and CSS.
48. Best Programming Cheat Sheets: Get some great quick reference guides here.
49. Programmer Downloads, Tools, Resources, and 100 Cheat Sheets: With this resource, you’ll find just about any cheat sheet you might need.
50. Handy Cheat Sheets: Check out these cheat sheets for character codes, SQL, and more.
51. GotAPI: GotAPI offers an easy search for developer documentation, particularly cheat sheets.
52. The Big Cheat Sheet List: David Sanchez offers some favorites in JavaScript, PHP, and more.
53. W3Schools: In addition to other learning tools, W3Schools provides reference sheets for languages including JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
54. Cheat Sheets: Utility for Web Designers and Developers: This resources covers a few cheat sheets for languages, blogging, and more.
55. Learn and Thrive: On this site, you’ll find cheat sheets for development basics.
56. CheatSheet Ultra Collection: In this collection, you’ll find more than 400 cheat sheets.
57. IT Cheat Sheets For All: This resource lists a number of cheat sheets, including HTML. Registration required.
58. 250+ Tools and Resources for Coding the Web: In addition to lots of other great resources, you’ll find a number of cheat sheets and quick references in this piece.
59. My Personal Collection of Cheat Sheets: This simple list points to HTML, CSS, and Google, to name a few.
60. Bravenet Quick References: Bravenet offers a few quick reference sheets for popular web development functions.
61. Progenic.com Cheat Sheets: Get cheat sheets for CSS, Ajax, and more here.
62. Cheat Sheets for Geeks: Check out the web development cheat sheets and resources compiled in this list.
63. VisiBone: On this site, you’ll find cheat sheets for color, fonts, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and MySQL.
64. Advanced CSS/XHTML Explained: Cheat Sheets: Get these PDF cheat sheets for Photoshop, XHTML, CSS, and WordPress.
65. I Love Jack Daniels: Dave Child has created some of the most popular cheat sheets on the web, and you can find them all here.
66. Silicon.com: Cheat Sheets: The cheat sheets in this list are a little different than the rest, covering encryption, blade servers, and even CRM.
67. Top 119 Cheat Sheets: Find cheat sheets for lots of popular web development topics here.
68. I Heart Cheatsheets: Conding Horror takes a look at a number of different cheat sheets here.
69. WhatIs.com’s Favorite IT Cheat Sheets: These cheat sheets range from HTML to internet slang.
70. Cheat Sheets for PHP, AJAX, JavaScript, CSS, MySQL, Perl, Google: This list has cheat sheets for a number of programming languages.
71. References!: Here you’ll find a number of references as well as links to other reference guides.
72. Over 30 Cheatsheets for Developers: This roundup covers databases, languages, and more.
73. Lifehacker Cheat Sheets: Find cheat sheets for web development and daily life at Lifehacker.
74. edocr: This site has it all, from Perl to eMacs.
75. The Developer Cheat Sheet Compilation: This list covers Cold Fusion, CSS, and more.
76. HTML, CSS, PHP, and More Cheat Sheets: These cheat sheets are ideal for developers who want to tweak WordPress.
77. Randompage Cheat Sheets: Be sure to check out this collection of useful cheat sheets.
78. Cheat Sheet Roundup: Get cheat sheets for Photoshop, JavaScript, and more here.
79. Quick Reference Cards, Cheatsheets & Cribsheets: These quick reference cards can be printed back to back on single sheets of paper.
80. Cheat Sheet Round-Up: Ajax, CSS< LaTeX, Ruby…: Smashing Magazine offers an extensive list of cheat sheets here.
81. Cheat Sheets: Here, you’ll get cheat sheets for HTML entities, ASCII character codes, and even emoticons.
82. Technacular Quick Reference Guides: This collection has CSS, Apache, and more.
83. DevGuru Quick References: DevGuru shares some of their best quick references here.
84. Programming Reference Sheets: This list links to cheat sheets for PHP, Visual Basic, and more.
85. Cheatsheets Roundup: These cheatsheets featured here include Photoshop, JavaScript, and Ruby.
86. Quick Reference Cards: This resource offers an excellent compilation of web development resources, categorized and commented upon.
87. Cheat Sheet: Here, you’ll have access to an aggregation of nearly every cheat sheet and reference guide out there.
88. Selected Microsoft and Code Cheat Sheets: Get cheat sheets for CSS, Java, PHP, and HTML.
89. Stuff You Can Download: Amy Hoy lists some of her favorite cheat sheets here.
90. Scribd: Scribd has a special section devoted just to cheat sheets.
91. 100 Essential Resources for Web Developers: This list shares a number of cheat sheets as well as many other useful resources for web developers.
92. NoteBind: NoteBind custom prints many of the popular cheat sheets out there. You can find a list of them here.
93. ZVON Cheatsheets: Get lots of quick references here.
94. Cheatsheets Galore!: These cheatsheets include both design and development.

Other

Find even more shortcuts with these cheat sheets.

95. Google Cheat Sheets: Learn keyboard shortcuts, SEO, and references with the cheat sheets featured here.
96. Yahoo! User Interface Library Cheatsheets: Here, you’ll get cheat sheets for YUI utilities, controls, and the YUI CSS foundation.
97. Agile Work Resources: This list has cheat sheets for agile work.
98. Firefox Cheat Sheets: Get one page cheaters and brochures for Firefox and Thunderbird here.
99. Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts: This reference lists cheat sheets for a number of different Photoshop versions.
100. Search Engine Cheat Sheets: Learn how to become a power searcher with these cheat sheets.

Your new website may look sleek, and stylish but it won’t get you too far if it won’t load, has errors in coding, or isn’t accessible to those with disabilities. Great web design isn’t just about looking cool, it’s also about bringing your product and information to everyone, regardless of what browser they’re using or their physical limitations. Luckily, there are numerous free programs out there that can help you to check your accessibility before you fully launch your site. Here are 25 free programs and online accessibility checkers to run your new website through to make sure everyone can enjoy your content.

General Checkers

Check several elements of your site at once with these great accessibility checkers.

1. Watchfire WebXACT: This free online checker lets you test several aspects of your website including quality, accessibility and privacy. It comes with a number of keyboard shortcuts as well as an online help section to give you some additional assistance in understand the results of your scan.
2. Total Validator: This checker is the total package, just like the name suggests. Test your webpage’s spelling, accessibility, HTML coding, and links. It also comes with a screen shot checker that will allow you to see what your site looks like in a variety of browsers and a Firefox plugin making it extra easy and convenient to use.
3. Truwex Online: Truwex is another multi-purpose checker. With this tool, you’ll be able to check not only for accessibility but for privacy, quality and compliance with a variety of Web standards of your choosing as well.
4. UITest.com: Want to avoid running your site through a variety of different online accessibility checkers. Simply use this one easy form instead. It runs your content through dozens of sites to check everything from quality to your Google PageRank.
5. Webnauts: Webnauts provides a variety of accessibility checkers and validators on this site. You’ll find tools for analyzing your HTML, accessibility standards and even your SEO.
6. Accessibility Wizard: Make sure your site is designed so that anyone can use it, after all, you don’t want to send away potential business just because you needed to make a few changes in your design. This site lets you choose your involvement in the project (everything from content manager to interface designer) and have those elements of your site analyzed.
7. TAW3: Based on the Web Accessibility Guidelines, this site will give you an accessibility ranking for your site. You can also add it to Firefox to check yours or anyone else’s site that you might visit.
8. ATRC Web Accessibility Checker: This open source tool from the University of Toronto will help you to locate and correct any known and probable issues with accessibility on your site.
9. Functional Accessibility Evaluator: This evaluator comes from the University of Illinois, and allows users to check the functional accessibility of any URL. Sign up for a free account and you’ll also be able to generate and save reports about your site and analyze it all at once instead of one page at a time.
10. Hera: Hera will check your page for any accessibility issues and highlight them for you to make them easy to find, analyze and fix if necessary.

Disability Checkers

Make sure your site is accessible to everyone, no matter their disabilities, with these online checkers.

11. WAVE 3.5: This tool, developed by Temple University Institute on Disabilities, allows you to run your webpages URL through a series of checks to let you know how accessible it is to users with disabilities.
12. Accessibility Valet: Here you’ll find a free online tool for analyzing your HTML markup for accessibility. Errors and places where there could be potential problems are highlighted allowing you to go through step-by-step and make any necessary changes.
13. Color Blindness Simulator: Color blindness is an incredibly common phenomenon so it’s something you definitely need to consider when designing a new website. This site will simulate color blindness for you so you can see what parts of your design work with and what parts you need to tweak.
14. Flicker Rate Test: Photos that flicker and flash on your website can be dangerous for those with photosensitive epilepsy and distracting for other users. Use this site to check to see if your images and text conform.
15. A-Prompt: If you want to ensure that everyone will be able to access your site, run it through this downloadable program. Check webpages online or off for issues that would make them difficult to use for those with disabilities.
16. GrayBit: Check the contrast on your webpage with this online tool. Put in your URL and it will render a grayscale version of your page so that you can see the true visual contrast of your site, without the influence of color.
17. CynthiaSays: Here you’ll find a great online tool for seeing if your site conforms with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Simply enter your URL and get your results, one page at a time.
18. Color Laboratory: With one in twenty people suffering from some form of color blindness, it makes sense to check to make sure your site will look right to those users before launching. The color laboratory lets you play with putting colors together for design purposes but also allows you to see how they would look to a color blind user.

Usability Checkers

Make sure your page is error free and easy for users to load and use with these helpful usability checkers.

19. Firefox Web Developer Toolbar: Chances are good that if you’re doing a lot of Web development you already have the Firefox Web developer toolbox in your bag of tricks. But did you know that you can also use to to check Web accessibility? Follow this link for instructions on how to make your toolbars work even harder.
20. 1-Hit Load Time Analyzer: Even the best designed site isn’t really accessible if it takes too long to load. Use this analyzer to find out your site’s load time so potential visitors won’t get frustrated and navigate away before your content even loads.
21. Acc: Acc is a free Firefox extension that can help you to analyze some elements of accessibility that might affect the performance of your site. Check through your HTML or analyze your visual layout right from the comfort of your browser.
22. AnyBrowser: While it’s irritating, it’s a fact of Internet life that not all browsers display the same webpage in the same way. You can make sure your site is as standardized as possible and works in all browsers with this quick, free checker. Once you’re done there you’ll also find resources to improve your design and get more traffic to your site.
23. CSS Analyzer: Even perfectionists can make mistakes when coding, and this site will check to make sure that your CSS is as good as it can get. It will also check to make sure your site has enough color contrast to make it readable for users.
24. EvalAccess: With this online checker you’ll be able to check your site’s HTML and color contrast and get detailed reports on them so that you can go back and make any suggested fixes.
25. Hermish: Hermish checks your webpage for accessibility compliance, HTML, layout and page display, readability and more just by entering your URL into the dialogue box and will give you detailed reports of the results.

Don’t keep potential customers and information seekers from using your page just because of accessibility issues. These checkers won’t cost you a thing and could save you a bundle in potentially lost sales. Give them a whirl and see how you can improve your site and make it more user friendly for everyone.

By Jessica Hupp

Sometimes you just need to take your apps on the go. Whether you’re providing support or just trying to make a strange computer feel more familiar, having a collection of portable applications is very useful. From development to security, these apps are some of the best tools you’ll ever keep in your pocket.

Development

Edit code wherever you are with these handy tools.

1. Vim: The Vim text editor has lots of features that are great for source code editing, like file comparison, regular expressions, and GUI mode. It’s also highly portable, working with even obscure platforms.
2. Dev-C++: This integrated development environment is much like Microsoft Visual Studio, except that it has DevPaks that offer additional utilities, libraries, and templates.
3. Server2Go: With Server2Go, you’ll have access to PHP, MySQL, Apache, and Perl.
4. Notepad++: Notepad++ is a free source code editor that offers an efficient binary as well as a customizable GUI.

Graphics

Edit graphics, create animations, and view images on the go with these pocket graphics apps.

5. Anim8or: Anim8tor, though small in size, is packed with loads of features and tools. It also has plenty of easy tutorials for modeling and animation.
6. IrfanView: Using this image viewer for Windows, you can view, edit, and convert image files, as well as play some video and audio formats. It even supports formats like Flash, MP3, and MPEG.
7. ArtRage: ArtRage, a bitmap graphics editor, is great for use on tablet PCs. Available mediums on ArtRage include oil painting, pencils, and tools that offer textures and other special effects.
8. Inkscape: Inkscape is a vector graphics editor application that runs on nearly any operating system, making it a great tool for using on unfamiliar computers.
9. FastStone Image Viewer: Use FastStone to view images, manage thumbnails, and perform various image editing tasks.
10. Blender: This 3D animation program can be used for a number of different uses, including modeling, rendering, and animating.
11. GIMP: The GNU Image Manipulation Program is used to process digital graphics and photographs, and even create basic GIF images.
12. UnFREEz: Coming in at a tiny 19.5 kb, UnFREEz just might be one of the smallest apps ever. Using this tiny GIF app, you can combine a series of images to create an animation.

Documents

Have your office with you wherever you go with these portable document applications.

13. Open Office: This office suite works on a number of different operating systems, and offers document functionality in word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and more.
14. Foxit Reader: Take this small, fast PDF viewer with you wherever you go to avoid having to use Adobe Acrobat.
15. NoteTab: This text editor offers the option of a tabbed document interface, making it easy to manage multiple documents at once.
16. Scribus: The Scribus desktop publishing program offers layout and typesetting as well as the ability to create PDF forms with animations and interactive functions.
17. RagTime: Using RagTime, you can create documents in spreadsheets, word processing, HTML, and even AutoCad files.
18. TextPad: The TextPad app offers easy text creation and editing, as well as helpful features like a clip library.

Internet

Get the Internet the way you want it with these portable browsers, chat programs, and email applications.

19. Firefox Portable: Take your Firefox, with all of its bookmarks, plugins, and extensions anywhere using Firefox Portable.
20. ChatZilla: Get this IRC client, and you can chat on any platform that has a Mozilla web browser, like the aforementioned Firefox Portable.
21. Google Talk: You can use this application for VoIP and instant messaging on nearly any Windows machine.
22. Portable Thunderbird: Using this portable email app, you can keep your email, address book and settings right in your pocket.
23. PuTTY: This little gem is a terminal emulator that can act as a client for a variety of protocols, like SSH and Telnet.
24. Pidgin: Use Pidgin, a multi-platform IM client, to enjoy encrypted IM discussions.
25. XeroBank Browser: This internet browser has Tor access built in, so you can stay anonymous.
26. Adium: This Mac OS X instant messaging client can be used with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and many more messaging services.
27. FileZilla: Use FileZilla, a very popular cross-platform FTP client, to share and remotely access files.
28. Trillian Anywhere: Take Trillian, a multiprotocol IM application, anywhere using this app.
29. Portable Bookmarks: Keep all of your bookmarks on your flash drive with Portable Bookmarks.
30. uTorrent: With uTottent, you can buse BitTorrent while using minimal computer resources.
31. Gaviri PocketSearch: This file management software makes it easy to locate files across all of your devices.
32. Miniaim: Get around instant messaging restrictions with this minimalist AIM client.

Multimedia

Get mobile media functionality with these awesome tools.

33. Audiograbber: Extract audio from CDs and convert into a number of different formats like WAV, MP3, and WMA.
34. DeepBurner: Take this CD/DVD authoring program on the go to burn discs and ISO images.
35. VideoLAN: This software plays video and other media formats on the go.
36. REAPER: This digital audio workstation uses very light resources and can currently be used on Windows, with Mac OS X soon to come.
37. MediaCoder: Use MediaCoder to batch transcode, compress, or convert audio and video.
38. StationRipper: With StationRipper, you can record audio from podcasts, Shoutcast, Last.fm stations and more, all with iTunes integration.
39. Audacity: Edit digital audio on the go and on a number of different platforms with Audacity.
40. Winamp: Use this popular, skinnable media player for music and more on the go.

Security

Ensure a secure workspace, or just help Grandma get spyware off of her computer using these portable security apps.

41. KeePass: Carry your password safe around with you, and rest assured that your information is encrypted.
42. Ad-Aware: Take this popular adware zapper on the go to find trouble on any computer you might be using.
43. ClamWin: Use ClamWin to scan for viruses on a Windows machine with the Clam AntiVirus engine.
44. Eraser: Make sure you’re safely deleting files when you leave a strange computer by using Eraser.
45. RoboForm: This program won’t just manage your passwords, it will also fill in web forms for you.
46. HijackThis: Find and destroy malware with this freeware spyware-removal tool.

More

Get even more use on the go with the USB apps.

47. Universal Extractor: Extract files from any archive, anywhere.
48. Converber: Make easy conversions on any computer with Converber.
49. Launchy: This program locates programs to launch based on a user search, making it easy to launch anything from games to an internet browser.
50. DOSBox Portable: Play around with your USB stick, and enjoy classic DOS games on the go.

By Christina Laun

Much like Gmail, Google Reader and Google’s other products, Google Calendar is fast becoming the application of choice for users all over the world. With great functionality and integration with Google’s other products it’s no wonder its popularity is growing. But chances are good that you’re not maxing out all the features of Google Calendar that you could be. Here are a few ways you can try to add to your Google Calendar experience.

Basic Tips

You might already be using Google Calendar, but are you using it to the fullest? Here are a few tips to make the most of the basic features.

1. Make use of the “other calendars” feature. Have a favorite team that you don’t want to miss a game for? Love astronomy and want to keep track of the phases of the moon? You can add both to your Google Calendar. Click the plus sign next to other calendars. From there you can add reminders on your calendar for everything from holidays to your favorite TV show schedules.
2. Change your view. You aren’t stuck with just the standard view in Google Calendar. Change yours to reflect the format that works best for you. Just go to the Settings page under the General tab and you can change your tabs along the top of the calendar to the time frame that best suits you. You can also change the day your week begins, your date and time format, whether or not to show weekends, and more.
3. Make the most of quick adds. One of the greatest features of Google Calendar is the quick add feature. Simply hit “Q” on your keyboard or click on the “Quick Add” link in the upper right side of your calendar. You don’t even have to type them in formally, plain english works just fine so long as you include the important details. If you don’t specify a time, GCal will schedule your task or event for the current or next day. Additionally, you can invite others by adding an email to the quick add box and even specify that an event should repeat all from a simple entry box.
4. Set up email event reminders. Never forget an important meeting or to pick up your dry cleaning again. With Google Calendar you can have your events emailed, texted, pop-up, or sent as SMS to you directly. Just set up reminders under Settings-Notifications.
5. Add events from Gmail. One of the features of Gmail is that it includes some basic language processing that can recognize event-related information. If it finds some, it will give you an option to add it to your calendar. Simply click on the link and you can edit the event and send it right to your calendar.
6. View the weather. You can see if your weekly events will sync up with the weather or if you’ll need to bring an extra umbrella by integrating the weather report right into your calendar. Go to Settings and General, enter your location and whether you want degrees in Celsius or Fahrenheit, and you’ll have the weather right at your fingertips.
7. Set up repeating events. Most people have at least a few regularly occurring events on their schedules. There’s no need to type them in again and again on your calendar. Use the “repeats” pull-down to select the days your event repeats weekly, monthly, or yearly.
8. Share calendars. You can create and share calendars with others using Google Calendar. Share your kickball team’s schedule, coworkers’ vacations or anything else you want by creating a new calendar and simply clicking on the “share this calendar” link.
9. Share space. Having trouble managing that conference room between different departments or among coworkers? You can use GCal to help you. Use the auto accept invitations that don’t conflict feature. It will accept any invitations to a conference room that don’t conflict with others.
10. Invite your friends. Looking for an alternative to Evite? Give GCal a try instead when you’re arranging your next get together. Though not as colorful or festive, you can send and manage event invitations through your calendar and your friends can even comment and discuss the events just like in Evite.

Scripts

Scripts make it easy for users to customize their Google Calendar experience. Try these to personalize yours and make it easier to use at the same time.

11. Display current time line. This simple Greasemonkey script creates a floating red line that displays just where you are during each day so you can keep up to the minute on what appointments are coming up.
12. Calendar feed for Gmail: Make it easy to see your calendar right from your email with this script. You’ll get a list of upcoming tasks right in your Gmail so you can email about new events easily.
13. Colorize Saturday and Sunday: Make it easy to differentiate your weekends from your weekdays with this simple script. It will cause Saturday and Sunday to appear a different color on your calendar, preventing any scheduling mishaps.
14. Extra Tabs: If you’re a lover of tabs and want a few more than Google Calendar comes standard with, then install this script. If you know a bit about scripting you can even further customize it to your needs.
15. Forecast: Bring your calendar with you anywhere on the web. This script allows you to see the next seven events on your calendar from anywhere just by clicking on a conveniently located forecast button.
16. Facebook Integration: If you’re a fan of the social networking program Facebook you’ll love this script. It allows you to easily transfer your Facebook events to your Google Calendar so you’ll never miss a get together.
17. Compact Header: Clear up your screen space by eliminating the extra stuff that goes at the top of your calendar. This script removes the header from Google Calendar, making it more streamlined and easier to use.
18. Google Calendar Skin: Air: Change the look of your GCal, Gmail, or Google Reader with this light, airy skin.
19. Google Calendar Skin: Slate: Want to make your GCal less cheery and bright? Try out this rainy day-inspired skin.
20. Google Calendar Optimized: Change the look of your GCal with this script. It will eliminate icons, change padding, and font sizes to make your calendar even easier to use.
21. Textwrap Events: Sometimes long event names can be difficult to read on Google Calendar. Fix that problem with this script that wraps text around, making it easier to read.
22. Wheel View: This script allows you to scroll through your appointments and calendars using just the wheel on your mouse.
23. GCalSecure: Keep your personal appointments private by making sure that your GCal is being used over a secure connection with this script.
24. ToDo List: Add a simple to do list to your Google Calendar using this script. You’ll be able to check off those appointments and tasks as the day goes by, giving you a sense of order and accomplishment.
25. Better GCal: This script combines several helpful scripts including skins, collapsed headers, secure connections, text wrap and more.

Extensions and Add-ons

Whether you need to integrate your calendar with your blog or your browser, these extensions can help you make the most of your experience.

26. GCal Quick Add Extension: Take your quick add function up a notch with this Firefox add on. It allows you to add tasks and events from anywhere, even when you don’t have Google Calendar open.
27. Remember the Milk: To do list enthusiasts will enjoy integrating their task lists with their calendar with this simple way to integrate the two. You’ll be able to check off any event or task in your calendar to help you keep track of what you’re getting done.
28. Firefox Full Cal: Small screens can make reading the fine print on your calendar difficult. Expand the screen real estate of your calendar with Full Cal, which eliminates the list of calendars, the mini calendar, the search box, and other stuff that takes up calendar space.
29. GCal Widget for TypePad: This easy to use widget makes it simple to share your schedule with your blog readers. You can let your loyal readers when you’ll be on vacation or won’t be able to respond to emails.
30. Google Calendar Widget for WordPress: Don’t use TypePad? This calendar widget is designed for WordPress instead. Put a small or large calendar on your blog to share upcoming events with friends and readers.
31. Google Calendar Notifier: If you have a Firefox notifier for your Gmail why not have one for your GCal as well? You’ll be able to see your daily appointments as well as those that are upcoming.
32. iGoogle Calendar Gadget: If your iGoogle page isn’t already customized enough this gadget will allow you to add your calendar into the mix, allowing you to see upcoming events every time to execute a search or open your browser.
33. Google Calendar Desktop Gadget: Vista users will appreciate this sidebar gadget. You’ll be able to get your Google Calendar right on your desktop so you can access it anytime.
34. Twittercal: Twitter isn’t just great for quick updates to your blog, you can use it to add events to your Google Calendar as well. Just send a message to the GCal bot and it will update your calendar.
35. Rainlendar: This Windows and Linux app allows you to run your Google Calendar right from your desktop, so appointments are always right at your fingertips.

Hacks and Tricks

Use these tricks and tips to make your Google Calendar better when you’re at home or when you’re away.

36. Have your schedule sent to you. Google Calendar makes it easy to get your daily agenda sent straight to you. If you’ve got GCal set up to use with your phone, getting your schedule is easy. Simply text “day” to the short code 48368.
37. Access your calendar remotely. Even when you’re on the road and can’t hook up your laptop you can still get your schedule sent to you. Text “next” to 48368 to get your next day’s schedule sent right to your phone.
38. Access your calendar from your IM client. No matter what IM client you use you can have events sent right to you with IMified. Sign up for an account and add Google Calendar with the add services link. After that you can simply text “M” to IMified using your buddy list, and a small menu containing your calendar will pop up allowing you to see and change appointments without opening any additional programs.
39. Use keyboard shortcuts. Google Calendar is chock full of keyboard shortcuts that can speed up your appointment making. You can check out a complete list of the shortcuts here.
40. Use keyword access on Firefox. You can make accessing Google Calendar in Firefox as simple as pressing a key. Bookmark GCal and add a short simple keyword that you can type in and bring it up quickly and easily.
41. Make Google Calendar your desktop background. This guide from Lifehacker will tell you how you can make Google Calendar your desktop background in Windows XP. It’s a great digital alternative to the giant paper desktop calendars.
42. Google Calendar Mobile: This program from Google makes it easy to access Google Calendar right from your phone. Just go to calendar.google.com on your phone and you’ll get a phone sized version of GCal.

Calendar Syncs

Many people can’t just get down to one calendar. Here are some programs to make using multiple calendars easy.

43. GCalDaemon iCalendar Sync: Mac users will be happy to sync up their iCalendars with this easy-to-use program.
44. SyncMyCal for Outlook: Outlook is one of the most popular calendar programs and you can easily sync up your appointments in Outlook with your Google Calendar using this simple program.
45. Calgoo: This multi-platform program will make it simple to sync up your Google Calendar, iCal or Outlook, making it easy to use all three without missing a beat.
46. Google Calendar Quick Import: This script allows users to quickly import appointments from iCal right into Google Calendar.
47. Goosync: This program will enable you to sync up your Google Calendar with your mobile phone or PDA quickly and easily.
48. GData Provider: With this program, you’ll be able to access and change Google Calendar from Thunderbird or Sunbird.
49. Remote Calendars: This add on for Outlook 2003 allows users two-way sync with multiple calendar programs including Google Calendar.
50. Google Sync for Blackberry: Don’t miss out on your Google Calendar while you’re using your Blackberry. Use this program from Google to easily sync up the two.

By Laura Milligan

Creating your own comic strip is now easier than ever, thanks to online resources like Web hosting systems, webcomic communities and support networks and collections of design tools and tutorials. To help you get started, we’ve organized 50 of the best resources on the Web. Read below for inspiring examples, sites that offer free fonts, design tips and more.

Useful Guides

To get an overview of the typical webcomic start up process, read these useful guides that provide tips on starting your own online series.

1. Create Your Own Webcomic: This article provides readers with ideas for coming up with plot lines, characters, design themes and more.

2. How I Make a Webcomic: This “investigative report” explores the different strategies webcomic artist Jonathan Requesens uses to create his comic OshKosh and Josh.

3. How to Make Your Own Webcomic in 3 Steps: This simple post on the Megatokyo Forums gives tips on drawing, editing, uploading and more.

4. How to Make Webcomics: The artists behind Player Vs. Player strongly recommend checking out this book, which includes “a guided tour of everything you need to know to make, post and profit from your own online comics.”

5. Fleen: This popular webcomics blog posts articles about industry news, tips on making your webcomic a money-making machine and lots more.

6. Hyatt Art Webcomic Forums: Participate in the chats on Hyatt Art to share tips with other artists and learn what’s new in the webcomics world.

7. Manga Punk: Even if your webcomic won’t be in the style of manga or anime, this site has lots of valuable tutorials for drawing people, eyes and more.

8. A Guide for the Novice Webcomic Artist: From plot to production, Ghastly’s Ghastly Journal offers up great tips for beginner webcomic designers.

9. The gURL Guide to Making a Comic: This guide to making comics is completely accessible even for beginners. Get tips on coming up with a story line and choosing your style, read about the history of comics and more.

10. Mega Online Comic Manual: Create, Share and Profit from Webcomics: Posted by Danogo.com, this tutorial provides a detailed introduction to starting your own webcomics and links to sites that make designing, managing and hosting much easier.

Fonts and Text

From advice to creating your own fonts to websites that provide them ready-made, check out the resources below for making your words pop right off the screen.

11. Blambot: If you’re having trouble designing your own fonts or dialogue balloons, try out Blambot, a site that offers all kinds of designs to artists.

12. Lettering on the Computer: Cymbrele’s Webcomic Tutorial posts this article about making your own lettering for computer projects.

13. Text and Balloons: 6 Advanced Techniques: This post from the blog Your Webcomic Can Still be Saved goes over tips for overlapping balloons, creating different-sized text within the same frame and more.

14. 1001 Free Fonts: Score tons of free fonts from this website, which also provides Web hosting and fonts especially for Mac users.

15. UrbanFonts.com: Browse fonts in categories like Comic, Asian, Rounded and more to give your comic a unique edge.

16. How to Make Your Own Fonts: If you’d rather create your own fonts, try out this tutorial from Chank! to help get you started.

17. Fontifier: To bring more of your personal artistry into your webcomics project, use Fontifier, an online program that creates a font based on your own handwriting.

Hosting and Management Tools

To help you choose the right hosting services for your webcomic, we’ve put together this list of management tools and sites that will keep your projects organized.

18. StripCreator.com: Create an account on StripCreator.com to design and organize your own webcomic, visit with other artists on the forums and more.

19. Drunk Duck!: This online community of webcomic artists and enthusiasts hosts comic strips for signed-in users.

20. Wordpress.com: Many webcomic veterans suggest maintaining a blog along with your comic so that your readers feel more connected to you and your characters. The resources at Wordpress are some of the most straightforward in the blogging world.

21. Comic Genesis: This “free webhosting provider for webcomics” also lets visitors check out different comics by searching categories like Sci-Fi, Romance, Horror and Manga.

22. Smack Jeeves: This popular Web hosting and online comic management service is also free.

23. Transplant Comics: Sign up with Transplant Comics to create and upload your webcomic for free. Members can also benefit from the site’s forums and community-oriented atmosphere.

24. CUSP: CUSP software, or Comic Update Script for PHP, “allows a cartoonist to take full control over his website while automating much of its tedious day to day maintenance.” Features include easy upload management, daily news updates and the ability to support all sizes of comic strips.

25. The Newbsoft Network: Another system that provides free webcomics hosting, The Newbsoft Network welcomes all kinds of artists and designs.

26. Webcomics Nation: Join this community of webcomics designers to expose yourself to a broad audience.

Finding Inspiration

If you’re suffering from designer’s block, check out these comics and resources to get you back in the game.

27. Ask Dr. Eldritch Webcomic: This webcomic creator has devoted his entire website to the comic. Different pages introduce characters, host a comic archive and even support an online gift shop.

28. A Softer World: Designer Emily Horne and writer Joey Comeau create their webcomic out of subtle but intriguing photographs.

29. DrawingBoard.org: Members post their designs onto this message board to share ideas, network with other artists and perfect their craft.

30. A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible: The artists of this innovative comic are taking a temporary time-out, but check out their archives for award-winning design and images.

31.