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Posts with tag poll

Filed under: Utilities, Blogging, Productivity, Web services

Poll Authority: hey, poll anyone you want!

Poll Authority is an easy poll-creation service that generates nice tidy multiple-choice polls you can paste into your website or blog. A lot of blogging services and social networks have their own polling systems, but as far as the platform-neutral free poll generators go, Poll Authority looks pretty decent.

With the free version, you get unlimited polls and a bit of customization in terms of appearance. Upgrading to the $5 or $8 monthly plans doesn't actually seem to do much, other than adding a bit of professionalism by replacing the Poll Authority link on each poll with a customized one. The Gold plan gets you a breakdown of your results by geographic area. Bottom line: if you're looking for a fast, easy way to make a poll, and you don't want it to cost you anything, Poll Authority is a good bet.

[via Life Rocks! 2.0]

Filed under: Weekend Review

Download Squad week in review

Download Squad logoBeen so busy reading passport records of presidential candidates that you haven't had time to keep up on the week's geekier news? Not to worry, we've got you covered. Here's a few of our favorite stories you might have missed:

Flipping the Linux Switch: Installing and configuring Linux

This week we had a twofer in our Linux 101 series. First up, we wanted to show you just how easy it is to install Linux. Once upon a time, making the switch from Windows to Linux may have required some technical wizardry, complete with the latest model broomstick, but no more. Modern distros like Ubuntu make installation a breeze. But once you've got Linux up and running, you might notice that there's no support for common file types like MP3s, so you might want to take a look at another part in our series which shows how to do some basic configuration and tweaking of a fresh Linux installation.

Download full version of FairUse Wizard DVD ripper for free


This week we discovered that one of our favorite DVD ripping applications, FairUse Wizard was available for free for a limited time. Normally FairUse Wizard comes in two varieties, a limited free edition, and a full featured commercial version. But if you download the full version now, you can save a few bucks. No telling how long this deal will last, so go ahead and grab it while you still can.

Read more →

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

DLS Poll: What do you think of Vista SP1 so far?

Vista SP1
It's been about a day since Microsoft officially released Windows Vista SP1. And after uninstalling the SP1 release candidate and running Windows Update a few dozen times, we've finally got it up and running on our test system. The good news is that our test PC does seem to be a bit more stable. The bad news, well, not really bad, but other news is that as we knew all along there aren't any real new bells and whistles in this release, which means that SP1 is kind of unsexy as far as service packs go.

But enough about us. What we really want to know is what your experiences with Vista SP1 have been like.

What do you think of Windows Vista SP1?


Feel free to leave more details in the comments section.

Filed under: Web services

Poll Junkie: quick and easy polls without registration

Poll JunkiePoll Junkie is a no-frills web service that lets you create simple polls without having to sign up for an account. All you have to do is give your poll a name, a date on which to stop accepting responses, and then you can configure your questions.

The site lets you create four types of questions: multiple choice, yes/no, rating, and ranking. You can have multiple questions on one poll, and you can optionally be notified by e-mail when a user completes your poll.

When your poll is set up, you are presented with the main poll link (to give to the people you're polling), and a view link so you can see the current results.

Feel free to take our sample poll or view the results.

Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Blogging, Web services

Poll the world with PollMappr

poll the world with pollmapprAre you dying to know some answers to a brewing question you have? Get the answers out with PollMappr.

There are plenty of online poll generation tools that demand a fee for usage, and a few free ones that tend to stray on the dull side. PollMappr lets users put polls on their blogs, websites or social network. The fun doesn't stop there however, PollMappr maps where on earth the answers are coming from. Upon viewing the poll results, users and poll generators can click and be taken on a trip through Google Earth to see where people came from.

So not only do you get your questions answered in a few simple steps, you can study the pinpointed locations and get a better understanding of your polls respondents.

Gallery: PollMappr

sample questionssample answersSetting up a questionSetting up choicesFinal poll

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

When will you upgrade to Windows Vista? - DLS Poll

To Vista or not to Vista?So I've been dying to know. Are you excited for Windows Vista? Are you going to upgrade? Are you going to boycott the whole thing? Are you still using Windows 3.1? Leave your rants, raves, and tearful goodbyes to Windows XP down in the comments.

Filed under: Business, Productivity, Web services

Doodle: Schedule meetings by committee

DoodleSometimes scheduling meetings and get-togethers sucks. The difficulty of finding a date and time that works best for everyone increases exponentially with the number of people involved. Doodle aims to simplify things. It's a simple web-based polling app that lets you list possible dates and times for an event and then survey all of the interested parties. When you create a poll, you're given a link to send to everyone--no sign-up required!--and another link to keep track of the results. Those you invite just enter their name, click on the dates that work for them, and submit. Doodle then tells you which date and time works best and how many people can attend then. Fast, free and easy!

[Via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Internet, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Web services, Social Software, Unix

Ask DLS: Kiko Calendar up for grabs on eBay - did the bubble pop?

Ask DLS: Kiko Calendar up for grabs on eBay - did the bubble pop?On our own CEO Jason Calacanis posted on his blog yesterday (hey, he's a businessman. He knows about business, man) that Kiko Calendar - one of the many web 2.0 services that sprung like so many weeds - is up for sale on eBay. Jason's post is, in fact, titled bluntly: "AJAX is not a business model."

Now forgive me for pimping our CEO's blog a little too much, but the guy might have a point: could this be sounding a roll call for the virtual horde of similar web 2.0 services out there that seem to be offering some (admittedly) stellar services without much more of a plan? The now-famous business model from the South Park episode with the under wear gnomes:
  • Develop cool web 2.0 service
  • ...
  • profit (or in this case: "hope to get bought by Yahoo! or Google")
doesn't count either. So what say you, DLS readers? Is the web 2.0 bubble ready to blow, or do you think there's still room in this post's screenshot for yet another calendar, photo-sharing or [insert favorite service here] logo?

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Web services, Social Software

Blog editors compared, voted on

Blog editors compared, voted onWe asked you which RSS readers you use, and we even asked why you might not use RSS at all. Now Lifehacker has gone and posted the results of a poll they ran of which blog editors their readers use to create content for all those RSS feeds. Not surprisingly, online editors (what I would assume are the editors from each respective blogging service) won by a landslide. With the easy option out of the way, however, desktop blog editors followed in this editor: Performancing, w.bloggar, ecto (my personal favorite, since it fares a bit better on Mac OS X) and BlogJet.

What do you DLS readers think? Does Performancing simply not cut the cake, or is ecto the last editor you'd ever touch? Sound off.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

View more Time Wasters

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