What *Can’t* You Do With Google Docs?

What *Can’t* You Do With Google Docs?: "

Filed under: Video Tagged: animation, awesome, presentation

Submitted by: Unknown

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The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science: "

Chris Mooney on why cold hard facts and scientific evidence seldom change the minds of those who already hold a strong opinion. (E.g., climate-change deniers, vaccines-cause-autism believers.) Fascinating but utterly depressing.

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40+ free tools for authors, by Piotr Kowalczyk

40+ free tools for authors, by Piotr Kowalczyk: "

Picture: © Janaka Dharmasena

This post is designed to give you a concise, yet comprehensive preview of most important free tools you can pick up to publish and promote your e-books. I hope it will help you discover the ones, which in a best possible way fit your author profile and personal needs.

I’ll update the list frequently. It’s planned to be a one-stop place with all what’s available for free and worth getting your attention. For info about updates of this post, please follow me or add me to a list on Twitter.

The most obvious choices like blogging platforms or social media networks are not included. I wanted to focus on less popular tools. Even so, I’m aware the list is not complete. It will never be, as new tools take off every day.Please share your tips, ideas and feedback either on Twitter or in the comment section below.

To prepare this post I’ve been using useful information found on the following blogs: The Bubble Cow, Marketing Tips for Authors, The Creative Penn, The Book Designer, Publetariat, Authors Tools Blog, Author Tech Tips, Inkygirl andThe Bookwright.

Use links below to quickly jump to the section you’re mostly interested in.

Writing and editing – tools, which can help you better write and edit your book

Design – how to easily prepare a cover of a book; go try it, it’s easier than you think

Formats and conversion – tools to convert and prepare books in desired file formats

Publishing – a list of the best self-publishing platforms

Online presence – what you need to effectively promote and sell your books

Reader engagement – tools to engage your readers in your books and writing

Analytics – analyze your writing, sales and effectiveness of online activity

Google Docs

Popular office toolbox you can use any time from your Google accounts dashboards. Text editor is basic, but you can the documents online for real time editing and feedback. Download as txt, doc, pdf, odt and html. You can access your documents from any device with a web browser, by logging in to your Google account.

OpenOffice

Open-source, multilingual productivity suite, available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. It’s compatible with all other office suites, including Microsoft Office.

Evernote

Powerful note-taking tool working in the cloud. Advanced functions to capture and save ideas, good search. Accessed from many devices via applications (for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile).

TextRoom

Full screen text editor developed with writers in mind. Works on Windows, Linux and MacOS. You can export documents to Google Docs.

WriteRoom / DarmRoom

If you need a distraction-free editors you have to try WriteRoom (Mac) or DarkRoom (Windows). They get your computer out of the way so that you can completely focus on your work.

Bite-Size Edits

An online service where you can submit a text and users will edit it for you. A very engaging way to not only make your text better, but also meet writers and readers.

PaperRater

Paste the text and it will be analyzed in real time. Title checker, plagiarism detection as well as spelling, grammar and word choice suggestions. The service also offers a Vocabulary Builder.

Gimp

Image manipulation program for both Windows and MacOS platforms. Great companion is you want to design a book cover. Includes painting tools,  advanced image retouching and text editing.

Wordle

A very well designed word-generating tool. If you insert proper words, it can produce for you a nicely looking book cover. More details in this post.

MyEcoverMaker

A service in which you can create e-book cover stunningly visualized in 3D.

Calibre

One-stop solution for all your e-book management needs, both as a reader and writer. It converts files from and to many digital formats. Use it to add book metadata.

Sigil

A well-thought editor for epub files. Includes editors of metadata and multi-level table of content. You can add pictures, SVG images are supported.

2epub

Online tool which allows you to convert files in different formats. Input: doc, epub, fb2, html, lit, lrf, mobi, odt, pdb, pdf, prc, rtf, txt. Output: epub, fb2, lit, lrf, mobi

Epub2Go

A simple online pdf-to-epub converter.

Amazon KDP

Kindle Store’s self-publishing dashboard. Your book will be offered in the largest e-book catalog, available on many devices for users in over 100 countries.

Smashwords

A true multi-channel digital publishing solution. Publish a book at Smashwords and it will be available at Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Sony eBookstore, Diesel and iBookstore. More than 40,000 books were published so far.

PubIt!

Self-publishing platform of Barnes&Noble.

iTunes Connect

Use this extended procedure to get published exclusively in Apple’s iBookstore.

Lulu

An easier, more friendly alternative to get published in iBookstore.

Feedbooks

Although you can’t sell books at Feedbooks, you can use it to check great statistics feature as well as the easiest possible way to have a book published. No file is required for upload. You just copy&paste a text into an HTML editor.

Goodreads

The popular online community of readers lets author also upload the e-book files, so they can be read right after they are discovered.

Scribd

Also called “YouTube for documents” – the largest reading social network lets you share book files in pdf or txt formats and send to many mobile devices.

Hootsuite

One stop solution for most of your online needs. You can send status updates to Twitter or Facebook and even write posts for WordPress.com blog. The Hootsuite ecosystem consists of web-based dashboard, mobile apps, bookmarklet, url shorteners, RSS feed manager and social activity analytics.

TweetDeck

Popular, powerful social media dashboard connecting you with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and many more. Recently a new service was introduced, Deck.ly, to send tweets longer than 140 characters.

SocialOomph

A powerful dashboard designed to boost your social media productivity. Schedule tweets, track keywords, automate welcome DMs, vet new followers and more.

Twitterfeed

Manage your blog feeds in a smart way: add prefixes or suffixes as well as hashtags. You can send updates to Twitter and Facebook and track your feeds.

Dlvr.it

The most advanced content manager available. Publish your content from many feeds to many social accounts, filter messages, replace&remove text, get engagement stats and intelligently route your content.

WordPress SEO by Yoast

The ultimate plugin to manage the SEO of your self-hosted WordPress blog. Control and adjust titles, internal links, breadcrumbs, RSS feeds and more.

Jetpack

The powerful WordPress plugin which can replace several single-purpose plugins. Available modules are: WordPress.com stats, Twitter Widget, wp.me shortlinks, shortcode multimedia embeds, After the Deadline and Sharedaddy.

PollDaddy

The most powerful online survey&quiz software. You can use it to involve readers in writing and publishing your next books. Responses are collected via different channels, including your blog, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. Free account allows for 100 survey responses per month.

Quora

An online knowledge market and social network. You can use it not only to ask quick questions, but also give answers and this way become an expert in a field you specialize in.

Kindle for the Web

Tool to read first chapter of books sold at Amazon – without leaving a browser. No installation is needed , the preview works in almost any web browser. You can embed such a preview on your blog as well and earn additional money from Amazon associate referral fees.

Readability

Turns any webpage into a distraction-free reading mode. An innovative remuneration model – 70% of all subscription fees go directly to content providers. For more information read those articles.

Protagonize

Collaborative story and creative fiction writing community with almost 16,000 member from around the world. Great place to discover exciting narrative forms and find new readers.

Audioboo

Mobile and web platform that effortlessly allows you to record 3-minute sound clips. Let your readers hear your voice!

Broadcastr

An exciting social media platform for location-based stories. Involve readers in your stories in a way they never experienced before.

Google Analytics

A powerful service which generates detailed statistics about the visitors of your blog. Among many features you can track which posts are most popular, what search phrases bring most traffic and which countries your visitors come from.

Bit.ly

A popular url shortener combined with advanced real-time link tracking. You can check how many times your links were clicked (with split to tweets and Facebook shares), referring sites and country split.

Tweriod

The service delivers a comprehensive analysis of your daily Twitter activity. You’ll see what time of day and day of week your followers are online and your tweets get most exposure.

TweetReach

Type your Twitter username, a phrase or a hashtag and you’ll see the impact the tweets make. The report lists tweet types, exposure and impressions of the last 50 tweets.

TweetStats

Enter your Twitter username to see a report including tweet timeline (by hour, day and month) as well as replies and retweets.

If you liked this article, please click on a Facebook Like it button. Buy my geek fiction ebooks ($.99 each at Kindle Store) or get a free sample: Password Incorrect and Failure Confirmed. You can subscribe to one of RSS feeds here. Let’s also connect on Twitter.

40+ free tools for authors is a post from Password Incorrect.

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Future Perfect: Self-sustaining skyscrapers for a green world

Future Perfect: Self-sustaining skyscrapers for a green world: "Shubhamprakash:

What’s happening right now

When cities have exhausted the two dimensions on the map, they look at the third dimension out of sheer desperation. The result is such concrete behemoths capable of hosting homes, work and what not.

In fact, their design and their numbers often symbolize the city and stand as an indicator of prosperity. So are they really the savior of cities and the way of the future? Some feel they end up congesting the cities even further by enabling unwarranted vertical growth that the city’s infrastructure may not be able to sustain. Moreover, is all that capital, brick & mortar, human effort actually worth creating something that claims to serve the purpose of a numerous smaller inexpensive structures?

Trends

1. Burj Al Taqa

The key differentiator of this 68- story building is the fact that it is a zero-energy and zero-emissions structure. By using a cylindrical design, vacuum glazing windows and a rotating shield, the structure’s exposure to sun and its ability to absorb heat has been reduced. A 60 feet turbine, two photovoltaic facilities and an island of solar panels will produce electricity during the day of which the excess energy will be used to generate hydrogen by electrolysis. The Hydrogen in turn will be used to generate power at night using fuel cells.

2. Rotating Wind Power Tower

Designed by Dynamic Architecture, all floors of this tower are capable of moving around a central axis. The designers claim that the independent rotation imparts a high resistance to earthquakes as well. Since the form of the building is constantly changing, residents experience different views, and so do those who lay sight on this from the outside.

3. Food City

The core idea is to create a continuous agricultural mat on all surfaces (walls included) to provide organic food for the inhabitants. The city is powered by renewable sources of energy and there is even talk of export of the surplus from the site. Power is also generated from the piezoelectric pads in pedestrian areas as well as methane extracted from sewage tanks.

4. Structural Geodesics

It consists of an assemblage of structural geodesics that can change in accordance with program need for offices, hotels, etc. The surface is equipped with energy generation and water collection systems and has the ability to control light incidence.

5. Eco-Cybernetic City

Conceptualized on nanotechnology, the surface allows vegetative growth and cooling by absorbing water and its subsequent evaporation. Along with photovoltaic lattices, the structure uses aerogenerators to harness the strong air flows between the towers.

6. Gullwing Twin Wind Tower

The first look of this spike tower deems it as something that can be weaponized easily. These spikes are the turbine hinges using wind to generate electricity. The numerous cylinders with circular sections aim to create a tornado effect.

7. Gyre – Self-sufficient underwater tower

The concept by Zigloo creates a floating ecosystem with space for living, working and recreational activities. The complex underwater nacelles serve as both thrusters for propulsion and tidal generators.

8. Water Scraper - Self-sufficient floating city

This structure attempts to go a step further with the idea of a floating city by promising to make it self-sufficient for food. The surface of the submerged structure sustains a small forest as well in addition to the work and living areas.

The concept

With the flurry towards saving the dwindling natural resources and addressing the issue of climate change, architects have adopted designs that are self sufficient and reduce the burden on the environment.

The advantage

These towers not only provide accommodation to thousands, but they do so in the optimum manner to reduce pollution and save land. These self sufficient structures are indeed need of the hour for the burgeoning population and rising energy demand.

The impact

These structures attempt to solve numerous problems such as availability of water, energy and space. By incorporating energy saving technologies and solutions, these designs manage to keep our hopes of a better world alive.

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How to Run Your Small Business Entirely Online – For Free

How to Run Your Small Business Entirely Online – For Free: "

Today’s economic situation is challenging for small businesses. New policies, lower profit margin, tough competition, and low buying power are some of the challenges a small business owner must face. All of those affect your business’ bottom line. You need to find ways to cut cost the right way while maintaining – even improving – productivity in the process. Well, take heed –… Click here to continue »

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Chinese Infinite Magical Hard-Drive

Chinese Infinite Magical Hard-Drive: "Comments"

Deactivate Location Aware Browsing in Fireox 4, IE9, Google Chrome 10 and Opera 11

Deactivate Location Aware Browsing in Fireox 4, IE9, Google Chrome 10 and Opera 11: "

All modern browsers support Location-Aware Browsing and can tell websites where you’re located. Even though this feature is useful to find info that’s more relevant and useful to you, people who concerned more about their privacy may not like this. Here is how to disable this feature in FF4, IE9, GC10, and Opera 11.

1. Internet Explorer 9 (In Windows 7): Go to Control Panel – Network and Sharing – Internet Options – Privacy tab and check the box next to ‘Never allow web sites to request your physical location’ and click OK to save the settings.

2. Firefox 4: Type about:config In the URL bar and hit enter. Confirm the security warning and type geo.enabled in the filter field. Double click on the geo.enabled to disable Location-Aware Browsing.

3. Google Chrome: Click the Wrench icon and select Options. In the Options window, select the ‘Under the hood tab’ and click the button ‘Content Settings’. In this window, select the Location tab and select the option ‘Do not allow any site to locate my physical location’. Click Close button to save the settings.

4. Opera: Go to menu - Settings - Preferences - Advanced - Network, and uncheck 'Enable geolocation'.

Hope the above tutorial will help you safeguard your privacy a little bit.

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Published by JKwebtalks.comDo not re-publish the content without permission

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