10 Must-Have Toolbar Buttons for Thunderbird 3

Image by adria.richards via Flickr

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Source: makeuseof.com

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Concepts:

thunderbird, toolbar, folders, accounts, extension, MakeUseOf, windows, Guide, exit, custom, Editors, Mac, filters, install, Tina.

Article Summary:

Are you wasting too much time going through Thunderbird's menus to accomplish simple tasks?

Can you never remember the keyboard shortcuts?

It may be time to install some visual shortcuts.

Thunderbird toolbar buttons provide one-click access to some of Thunderbird's most useful features.

In addition, there are buttons that add new functionality that you would otherwise miss out on.

Here are 10 toolbar buttons for Thunderbird 3 that you must have!

To add the buttons, you need to> right-click onto your Thunderbird navigation bar or toolbar and select> Customize...

1. Get all mails

Thunderbird 3 does contain a Get Mail button.

However, it takes two clicks to get mail for all your accounts.

If you don't ever check mails for just one account, you should get this button.

It skips the selection and automatically fetches new mail from all your accounts.

2. Remove Duplicate Messages (Alternate)

With this extension, you can search and remove duplicate messages.

By clicking the little arrow in the bottom right, you can set the comparison criteria.

These include author, recipients, CC list, status flags, message ID, numbers of lines in message, send time, size, subject, folder, and body.

In the example below I picked author as the sole criteria.

The extension searches all folders of one eMail account.

3. Mark All Read

Sometimes you have this odd unread message in a random folder or you received a dozen eMails you just want to read later.

Now you can skip searching or clicking each and every message, just hit the Mark All Read button.

4. Restart Thunderbird

Thunderbird 3 provides a restart option only after installing a new addon.

This button lays the decision when to restart Thunderbird into your hands or rather at the tip of your finger.

5. Exit Button

To properly close Thunderbird, you need to go through> File> Exit.

Sure, closing Thunderbird via the Windows' "close window" button is much quicker, but it rarely shuts the application down.

Thunderbird will continue to run in the background.

The Exit button puts the Exit option directly into your toolbar and saves you one click.

6. New Tab Button

Thunderbird 3 supports tabs. I've even listed the 5 Extensions For Tabbed Email Browsing in Thunderbird 3.

If you enjoy using the internal Thunderbird browser, you will find the New Tab Button extension very useful.

Be sure to have a look at the options for this extension.

Here you can define where the button should be added, among other options.

7. Xpunge

The Thunderbird profile folder tends to grow very large.

In part that's because eMail are never really deleted.

If you want to make sure all your deleted eMails are really gone forever, you will have to compact your folders.

Xpunge adds a toolbar button to empty the trash folder and compact folders in one or multiple accounts in one go.

8. Filter Button

Filters are rules, based on which mails are sorted into different folders.

This button lets you run your filters with one click.

Also, check out How to Set Up Message Filters In Thunderbird.

9. Toolbar Buttons

Tired of downloading one extension after another?

Try this one, which comes with 50 buttons for Thunderbird and many more for Firefox and Sunbird.

It contains a ton of super useful buttons.

Moreover, the extension provides options to finetune its buttons.

You can select which language the translate button should use, set a "favorite page", toggle proxy, or set news and mail client paths.

10. Custom Buttons

Custom Buttons allows you to convert bookmarklets into buttons or otherwise use it to build, maintain, import, and export custom toolbar buttons.

In case you can't be bothered or are lacking the skills, you can use this extension to import existing buttons provided on the Custom Buttons² website.

Which Thunderbird toolbar button is your favorite?

For me, using the Windows close button sometimes does close Thunderbird down properly and sometimes it doesn't, so it still runs in the background.

That's why I found the exit button a quick and safe way to shut it down with just one click.

As for the Get Mail button, it's fine if you have just one account set up.

In that case clicking Get Mail will get your mail for that account.

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OS X: A possible fix for Spotlight re-indexing problems

Image via Wikipedia

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macosxhints.com

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This tip might be handy if Spotlight seems to take forever to re-index. I re-indexed Spotlight, and it started showing the spinning wheel. I was unable to pinpoint an obvious reason for this.

Some weeks later I decided to get rid of most of the DYLD errors from the Console log. As a step in doing I booted the machine into safe mode, and cleaned all the system caches. After having done that Spotlight started working as it should again, reading the indices when performing searches.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I posted it as much as anything as a reminder that clearing the system caches should be a part of any regular maintenance plan, and often an early step in a troubleshooting procedure.]

Mac: Enhance your Recorded Interviews

Image by heath_bar via Flickr

3 Audacity Tips To Enhance Your Recorded Interviews

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Source: makeuseof.com

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Concepts:
interview, audio, recording, voice, Audacity, noise, sound, amplify, Windows, sound card, audio file, podcast, Guide, MakeUseOf, background noise

Summary:

As a blogger and a researcher, I have to conduct a lot of interviews.

Some months I've conducted two or three interviews a week, and many of those are recorded interviews, because many people don't have time to answer questions via email.

One of the nice things about recorded interviews is that they work well as an audio podcast either available for download from your own blog, or distributed as a podcast at any podcast directory.

Regardless what you intend to do with the interview, one thing that's for certain is that you want to develop a reputation as a professional interviewer that produces high-quality, interesting conversations with fascinating people.

Only part of the recipe for this is developing interesting and thoughtful questions for your interviewee to answer, but the other significant part of the equation is how well you've edited the audio interview into a high-quality, professional show.

Many avid audio enthusiasts may find some of the edits below somewhat simple, but for the blogger or podcaster with little audio editing experience, these tips are critical to know.

I use the Audacity audio recording software to record and edit all of my interviews.

My recording setup is about as simple as it gets an Olympic earpiece that doubles as both a microphone and an earphone, so that I can hear the person on the phone while the microphone feeds the conversation into the laptop and Audacity.

This works well, and produces high quality conversations, but like anything, there are flaws in the setup that produce less than optimum conditions.

The beauty of Audacity is that you have the capability to "fix" those flaws.

The three most common problems that I'm going to touch on in this post are removing background noise, amplifying voices, and integrating quality introduction with music.

Before we start doctoring the audio file with the Audacity audio recording software, let me first introduce the patient.

Above is a snippet of an hour-long audio interview that I conducted last month.

The two most common flaws are background noise, shown in the center of this clip, and low voice volume (my voice) as shown on the right.

You can see that the amplitude when I was talking is about half of that of the voice on the phone which is to be expected when recording with such an earpiece.

The first tweak for the common interview issue of quiet voices is also the easiest.

The volume of the voice is equivalent to "amplitude," so all you have to do is use Audacity's Amplify tool to increase the quiet voice just a little bit.

To perform this task, just highlight the section of audio track with the quiet voice, and then select "Amplify" from the Effect menu option.

In the amplify tool, you'll need to select an amplification that is just enough to increase the voice volume to a level that's equivalent to the other person speaking.

It may take some trial and error the first time, so just undo the change and try a new value until you get it right.

In my case, I found that an increase of 5 dB did the trick.

Once you know the right value, the only tedious part of this fix is that you'll need to find every place in the track where the quiet voice shows up, and do the highlight/amplify routine to fix it.

The second most common flaw in an interview audio file is background noise.

Maybe you left a fan on in the other room, or there are cars going by just outside the open window, and you realize once you listen to the audio that the sound is terribly annoying and distracting.

The first step in this technique is to identify an area in your file that features nothing but the background noise alone.

When you find such an area, highlight that section of the audio track, and then go into the "Noise Removal" tool in the Effects menu option.

Once you're there, click on "Get Noise Profile".

Doing this captures a snapshot of the background noise itself.

The software uses this to "erase" that sound profile from a section (or all) of the audio file.

The next step is just to highlight the area where you want to remove the noise (most of the time you'll just select the entire track), and then go back into this window and select "Remove Noise".

As you can see, Audacity does an amazing job at cleaning up the noise.

There is one caveat, and it is this carefully gauge the amount of noise that you want to remove.

Removing too little won't do much good, and removing too much will make the audio sound over-digitized or artificially quiet.

One thing I noticed is that the middle to lower middle setting is usually ideal.

Have you ever heard those cool podcasts with a great musical introduction?

Well, believe it or not, you can do the same exact thing in Audacity in just a few simple steps.

The first step, obviously, is importing the music file that you would like to use (make sure you don't infringe on any licensing issues).

The next step is just highlight the block of music you'd like to use as your introduction (select the correct number of seconds) and then do a simple Copy.

Then place the cursor at the start of your audio file, and select Paste.

The copied music clip will get inserted into your track, pushing the entire interview to the right.

While this is cool, it'll sound weird because at the end of the clip, your music will just end abruptly.

Instead, you want to taper off the music as you enter into the interview itself.

You'll see the amplitude of the music clip taper off as it approaches the end of the clip, and in effect producing a very nice fade into the interview itself.

By using these three simple tips, you've just equalized voice volume, removed background noise, and embedded a professional music introduction into your audio interview.

With just these few simple changes, you'll transform amateur sounding interviews into well produced, professional sounding conversations.

Do you have any editing tips or tricks of your own?

Share your own insights in the comments section below.

Ryan, an automation engineer on the East Coast (U.S.) who enjoys discussing the latest trends of online writing and freelancing.

Visit his blog at FreeWritingCenter.com to read up on the latest online writing trends and freelance money-making opportunities.

Subscribe to MakeUseOf to get daily updates on new cool websites and programs in your email for free.

Audacity allows you to have mutliple tracks.

So rather than adding adding music into the beginning of the interview track it is better to add it as an additional track.

You can then then 'move' the interview along (in its own track) to where the music fades out.

This gives you a lot more flexibility and the ability to overlay the beginning of the interview over the top of the fading our music.

Also makes it much simpler to experiment and to undo something that does not work very well.

If you have theme music that you use for lots of podcasts then you can set this up as a template and just add your interview into it and do whatever other editing is required.

You can also use the amplify function to obtain a consistent volume level without resorting to trial and error.

Highlight a section of the interview with the low volume level and write down the number shown in the amplification (db) window (it is the number 5 in the third screenshot above).

Then highlight an interview selection with the higher volume and write down the amplification (db) number again.

My top tip: unless you have a really good sound card, use a USB microphone.

The entire sound mixer is completely gone from Windows 7 for my SB Audigy card, so there are no disabled devices to reveal.

My need for recording system audio is simply for recording video tutorials for people, so I find it unfortunate that my ability to do so has been hampered by this update.

3 Simple Steps to Get Clients to Call You [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Image by jamiefreaky via Flickr

3 Simple Steps to Get Clients to Call You

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Source: sitepoint.com

Concepts:

clients, market, business, target, Tutorials, Design, SitePoint, features, niche, ideal clients, knowing, Forums, newsletters, money, gain

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Article Summary:

In this article, I'll outline my simple formula for attracting clients.
As a self-employed professional or small business owner, defining your niche makes acquiring clients much easier.
You can position yourself to attract clients, and have a clearer idea of how to target them.
It makes it easier to identify the places where your marketing will have the greatest effect.
Clarifying this also help you to explain to your contacts and associates what kinds of referrals you'd like to receive from them.
It's impossible to please everyone, and trying to is guaranteed to fail.
By having a clearly defined position, you gain a better understanding of what types of benefits you can provide to your clients.
You'll be able to directly target their unique needs, explaining how you can solve their problems and make their lives easier.
By knowing your niche, you can position yourself as your prospective clients' ideal solution.
Once you define your niche, you no longer have to waste your marketing effort on less than ideal clients who are not likely to work with you in the first place.
You'll narrow the field of who you're marketing to, which will translate into much larger returns on the time and money you invest in marketing.
Most importantly, when you know your niche, you can present yourself as the expert in your field.
Clients benefit by working with you, and most are willing to pay more for your services.
Such expertise gives you the opportunity to make more income.
Once your niche is identified it's time to look outwards, towards your potential clients.
The goal is to figure out what results your clients will achieve by working with you.
In other words, you must define for clients the benefits of working with you.
When working with my clients, I find that many of them are unclear on the distinction between benefits and features.
If you want to draw clients, talking about the features of your business may be wasting their valuable time.
In most cases, your features are irrelevant to your client's needs and struggles.
On the other hand, if you can send a clear message about the benefits of your business, potential clients are more likely to say, "Let's work together!"
When I talk about features, I mean attributes of your company.
These include general statements about your product or service, or factors such as how you work, the size of your company, and so forth.
In contrast, benefits are what your clients gain out of working with you, or buying from you.
Anything that answers the all-important question: "What do I get out of it?"
For example, with regard to my own business, here are some features and benefits.
I offer a free discovery session for the client to learn about my business, and how it can help them achieve their goals.
Clients have the opportunity to connect with me before they hire me, so they know in advance that they're making the right choice.
I give my clients recordings of each of our sessions.
My clients are able to go over the information again later as a refresher, or if they're unsure of a certain point; there's no pressure on having to fully grasp everything immediately.
I have a 14-step formula (process) I use with all my clients.
My clients gain access to a proven formula that has contributed to the success of many other businesses, so they can see that I'm in the best position to produce the right results for them.
By defining your niche and the benefits of working with you, identifying your target market becomes simple.
Your target market comprises the people who need, want, and can pay for the products or services you offer.
They're the people who are most likely to do business with you.
Your ideal clients are a segment of your target market.
Some of my newer clients have a misconception about marketing: they mistakenly believe that they should be marketing to the whole world.
In some cases, they need business so badly that they pull out all the stops and forget to target their marketing.
Unfortunately, they end up wasting a lot of time and money marketing to so-called "potential clients" who would never be interested in their products in the first place.
When you identify your target market, it makes it easier to focus your energies on the people who are likely to do business with you.
This way, you spend less time with the "tire-kickers"---that is, people who ultimately have no interest in buying from you.
Any angler will tell you that you have to know what kind of fish you want to catch.
There's no such thing as an all-purpose net.
Know what type of catch you're going for, and use the tactics that are best for that specific type.
If you're unsure who you're targeting, your marketing will be ineffective.
On the other hand, if you know exactly who you want to target, it becomes that much easier to customize your marketing message.
This helps you to create a message that's clear enough to draw your ideal clients toward you.
It addresses their unique concerns, and let them know that you can give them exactly what they want and need.
It will bring in clients with who you'll enjoying doing business.
It makes it much easier to address the specific needs of your market.
It clarifies who your market is, enabling you to move forward with confidence.
Once you know who will be using your product, you can position your offers in all the right ways.
You can customize your message to your market, and to segments of your market.
You'll save important time and money, which can then be put to other uses.
You need to be a member of the SitePoint Forums to comment on this post.

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Jennifer Davey, Founder of JJS Coaching and Author of the Getting Clients Home Study Program, is a Business Coach, Marketing Strategist, and Speaker.
She helps small businesses and self-employed professionals grow their businesses and develop strategies for getting clients, building business, and making more income.
It's so much easier to have a business where clients call you, instead of you chasing after them.
Pulling clients to you is easier than you would think, as long as you know what steps to take.

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Apple iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Review

Apple iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Review | Tablets | Macworld

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Source: macworld.com

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Wi-Fi may be plentiful these days, but it's far from ubiquitous.

A device like the iPad is just begging for always-on Internet access, whether it be for checking mail, surfing the Web, or even keeping up with your latest game of Words with Friends HD.

Image by Jennifer Maddrell via Flickr

Apple's iPad Wi-Fi + 3G delivers

Apple's iPad Wi-Fi + 3G delivers on that promise, though the 3G experience may occasionally have you searching about for a Wi-Fi access point tout de suite.

Outwardly, the 3G-enabled iPad is almost identical to its Wi-Fi-only counterpart.

Everything my colleague Jason Snell said in his original iPad review holds true with this device, as the differences between the two models are few.

Outwardly, the 3G-enabled iPad is almost identical to the Wi-Fi model, and the two share almost all of the same features, with the exception of those related to 3G networking and GPS.

For the privilege of those few features, however, you will be paying a bit extra: the 3G models command a $130 premium over their Wi-Fi-only siblings, making the price tags $629 for the 16GB version, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for 64GB.

And keep in mind that the higher price covers only the 3G hardware inside the iPad.

In order to actually use the 3G service, you'll need to pay for one of the two monthly plans that Apple and AT&T have teamed up to offer: a $15-per-month plan that allows you 250MB of data transfer or a $30-per-month plan that allows you unlimited data.

And unlike the iPhone service agreement, which requires a two-year commitment with AT&T, you can cancel your 3G plan for the iPad at any time.

If you've spent any time with an iPhone 3GS, then you'll be pretty familiar with the iPad's 3G performance, as under-the-hood investigations show that the two use the same hardware.

Performance

Speed Tests for 3G (left) and Wi-Fi (right) show a big advantage for Wi-Fi.
Given that the iPad also boasts the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi specification, there's no contest between the two: Wi-Fi will beat 3G every single time.

I ran a few speed tests using the Speed Test iPhone application and, though unscientific, Wi-Fi's superiority was readily apparentâ¬"in one test at my home, Wi-Fi was an astounding 70 times faster at downloads and 30 times faster at uploads.

Other tests (such as the one pictured here) showed less of a disparity, but still universally deemed Wi-Fi the winner.

Of course, such performance varies widely depending on the quality of the AT&T network in your location.

And given that poor performance on AT&T's 3G network has been one of the major complaints with the iPhone, don't expect magically better performance on the iPad.

The apartment to which I recently moved resides in a spotty coverage zone for AT&T's network, and I've experienced frequent signal drops, poor coverage, and slow service on both my iPhone 3GS and my 3G-enabled iPad.

I also have one of Apple's recent 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations, which helps me get the most out of my Wi-Fi network.

If you live, work, or otherwise spend a lot of time in a place with solid 3G coverage, you should find the iPad's 3G performance to be perfectly serviceable for most common tasks, like reading e-mail, surfing the Web, checking RSS feeds, and keeping up with social-networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

But when you start to get into more intensive tasks, the cracks in the 3G network begin to show.

While I was able to stream video, audio, view maps, and so on over the 3G connection, the performance was sometimes subpar.

Streaming via Netflix's iPad app, for example, yielded video that was mostly watchable, though it did suffer from frequent pauses in playback as the video re-buffered.

Interestingly, YouTube streamed over a 3G connection (above) is substantially lower quality than the same clip over Wi-Fi (below).youtube-over-3g.png

The quality of the video delivered over the 3G network is also noticeably lower than what you get via Wi-Fi.

Netflix, for example, down-samples the video, though it's passable.

Performance varied hugely depending on location, with streaming basically impossible to use at my home.

However, I did find that other locations yielded better results, and in one particular incident, I actually had to flip the iPad's cellular data connection off and then on again to yield better speeds.

The Plans

As I noted in my first look at the 3G iPad, managing your AT&T account on the iPad is simple: you can sign up, monitor your usage, change your plan, and even cancel it all from the iPad's Settings app.

If you want to keep an eye on how much bandwidth you're chewing up, there are two options: one is to use the meters under Settings -> General -> Usage, which tell you how much data has been sent and received over the cellular data connection.

While relying on the cell phone connection, I saw the battery power dip much lower than it had on any day while using the Wi-Fi model, but not so much so that I was unable to get a full day's use out of it.

3G Connectivity Gives Latest Ipad Needed Flexibility

My colleague Mr. Snell made the case for a 3G version of the iPad well before it shipped, and having one in my hands, I find myself inclined to concur with his conclusions that 3G connectivity gives this version of the iPad a measure of flexibility missing from the Wi-Fi-only version.

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