The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Nice!

I recently installed the LinkWithin widget for thoo2 who always wanted a more pictorial way of presenting links to related content below each post over at her blog. LinkWithin just happens to be one such free(!) service which fits her needs admirably and comes without any annoying ads (yet )

Heck, the cool people at LinkWithin don’t even require you to register an account to get the widget (currently available for Blogger, WordPress and Typepad blogs). Installation for these blogs is a breeze – simply download the widget, follow the instructions at linkwithin.com and you’re done.

For people on other blogging platforms or are using older WordPress themes, don’t fret as you can still use LinkWithin with a wee bit of tinkering with code to insert some Javascript for the widget.

Of course, there’s a catch to LinkWithin being freely available – whenever anyone clicks on a link via the widget, it redirects to LinkWithin’s servers before navigating to the original link. While the redirection is very quick and unobstrusive, those concerned with privacy and data-tracking might want to take note of this little issue before installing it on their blogs. I personally assume it’s for statistics tracking at Linkwithin’s end but don’t take my word for it

Nice!

For most bloggers, the LinkWithin widget is definitely a quick and very attractive way to add a related content section to each post automatically. I’m very sure that the automated selection of related links for each post will never be as relevant as manually handpicked links but there’s a price to pay for laziness, you know

Check out LinkWithin.

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I was checking out the official site for the latest Tekken game – Tekken 6 – where there’s a nice gallery of character renders – which are unfortunately not available for download Well there’s almost nothing that isn’t downloadable if it can display in your browser, right?

Since the images are probably loaded and then cached by the browser, it’s only a simple matter of deciding which is the most convenient browser for the task. I could have used my favourite web browser Opera but version 9.27 on my computer doesn’t load the site properly while the newer versions use a quirky caching system, therefore the next best alternative is definitely Mozilla Firefox loaded with benki’s very useful CacheViewer extension.

Step 1 : Install Firefox and benki’s CacheViewer extension

Install the plugin if you haven’t (go under Tools > Addons > Get Extensions and search for CacheViewer), follow the instructions and restart Firefox when prompted.

Step 2 : Browse as per normal

After Firefox has restarted, head on down to tekken.namco.com and browse through the photo gallery – remember to click the full screen icon on the bottom right to view the renders in their original sizes and then navigate back or forward to load all images into Firefox’s cache.

Step 3 : Start CacheViewer and filter with the appropriate keyword(s) and save!

Once you’re done, open the CacheViewer window (under Tools > CacheViewer) and enter “full” in the Search box as the filenames of all the original renders contain the word “full”. Let CacheViewer automatically filter the relevant images for you, select all the files listed and then save them all by right-clicking and selecting Save As (or simply press Ctrl+C) which CacheViewer will then prompt you for a folder to save these images – neat, isn’t it?

This simple little technique with Firefox + CacheViewer should also work nicely on other Flash-based image galleries with slight modifications

Download Mozilla Firefox (yes, I know I am a very late adopter ) or check out the official page for benki’s CacheViewer extension.

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Zinepal is an interesting online service to convert specific web content and/or any websites with RSS feeds (at least the ten latest RSS entries of each site – I haven’t figured out how to add more) into nice little PDFs to print out for offline reading, for reference and the like. I use it at work to generate PDFs of coding tutorials for safe-keeping in case the original websites or links go dead or missing.

Simply enter the URL to your desired webpages or RSS feed at www.zinepal.com, hit the I’m done! Create My Zine! button and that’s basically it – quick and fuss-free.

Check out Zinepal.

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Trailerfreaks.com recommended by commenter blob is one of those sites that you’ll most definitely find handy when you want to just download the trailer of major blockbuster films, without the hassle of actually figuring the actual download link like what I previously wrote about grabbing HD trailers off the web.

Trailer Freaks essentially does the hard work for you by compiling the direct download link for the latest movie trailers posted online at Yahoo! Movies, Apple’s Movie Trailers or the official movie sites so you can simply copy the link for your download manager or grab them directly via your browser quickly and conveniently.

Granted, you won’t find the greatest selection of trailers listed here i.e small indie/niche films don’t seem to get much love at Trailer Freaks but for the majority of big budget commercial films like Terminator : Salvation or the upcoming Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen, this site should more than suffice

Download HD Movie Trailers from Trailer Freaks.

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I encountered CamStudio while looking for a freeware or open source solution for creating Flash screencasts to demonstrate the new features of the software products developed at work. For most users, viewing such screencasts beats reading a lengthy user guide or looking through a whole lot of screenshots.

If you’re new to producing screencasts, you’ll be glad to find that CamStudio is very easy to use. After the straightforward installation process, launch CamStudio and change Region > Fixed Region to Region. Click Record, select the screen area to record and then control the recording process with the mouse or keyboard hotkeys (default for record/pause is F8). Below is a short screencast of me capturing a screencast of myself typing in Notepad.

[kml_flashembed fversion="8.0.0" movie="http://www.downloadmunkey.net/download/convert.swf" targetclass="flashmovie" publishmethod="static" width="450"]

Click here to view screencast at its original size.

Of course, unless a screencast is self-explanatory or utterly pointless like the one above, you will need either verbal or written messages to be displayed during your screencasts. CamStudio supports recording audio instructions through microphones or speakers connected to the computer. Alternatively, you can also create screen annotations – see the screencast below. Much more useful, eh?
[kml_flashembed fversion="8.0.0" movie="http://www.downloadmunkey.net/download/annotate.swf" targetclass="flashmovie" publishmethod="static" width="450"]
Click here to view screencast at its original size.

CamStudio records your screen actions into an AVI which you will most probably want to convert to a bandwidth friendly Flash file with the included SWF Producer.
[kml_flashembed fversion="8.0.0" movie="http://www.downloadmunkey.net/download/record.swf" targetclass="flashmovie" publishmethod="static" width="450"]
Click here to view screencast at its original size.

While I use CamStudio primarily for work, I’m sure it can be put to imaginative use for gaming too – creating walkthroughs, feature demos, tutorials, etc.

Download CamStudio.

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