35 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your PC Could Do!

Posted 12/25/2008 at 5:09am | by Maximum PC Staff

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Yes, siree! There are some amazing things you can do with your PC that you probably never thought of. Here are 35 of our favorites.

1. Play the Most Celebrated Tables in PinBall History

Williams: dead. Gottlieb: dead. Sega: dead. The biggest names in pinball manufacturing have all shut their doors, but their glass and solenoid tables endure in surprisingly true-to-original form, thanks to Visual Pinball and PinMAME computer simulation. Visual Pinball is a table editor/game engine; PinMAME emulates the actual processors and ROM chips that powered the final wave of real-world tables. Once you install both programs, you can rifle through the Internet’s generous collection of tables and ROM files for the pinball games that once ate all your quarters.

Getting started is a bit confusing, as this virtual pinball thing is documented in only the most haphazard manner, but once you get your first table a-blingin’ and a-blangin’, you’ll be overcome with joy. Your key starting place for software, tables, and ROMs is www.vpforums.com, which has links to downloads and a vibrant user community. Just remember you’ll need four ingredients to actually play: Visual Pinball, PinMAME, table files, and ROM images appropriate to those tables.

2. Make the Most of Google Alerts

Google Alerts will notify you, via email or RSS feed, whenever a particular search returns new results. You can configure everything from the frequency of the search to the number of terms searched for. You can check out and configure the service at www.google.com/alerts, but we have a few sample uses you can try.

• Vanity Searches Want to see who’s talking about you online? Set up a search for your name, nickname, or handle to find out why your ears are burning.
• Follow Your Favorite Team/Celebrity/Topic A search based on the subjects you’re passionate about set to a daily update will send an auto-generated custom newsletter to your mailbox.
• Add a Search to Your RSS Reader Once you’ve created a Google Alert, you can find its unique RSS feed on the results page. Once you have that, you can add it to any RSS reader you use.

3. Map Your Run or Bike Ride

The computer usually tempts us to stay inside rather than to get some exercise, but Map My Run (www.mapmyrun.com) keeps us motivated. The site allows you to not only create and share maps of your runs and rides but also keep an online training log and list of goals. Skip the $5/month premium membership, though—you get all the good stuff for free.

4. Use YouTube as a Resource

It’s no secret that YouTube is the place to go to keep current with the latest Internet meme, revel in a celebrity’s public disgrace, or kill countless hours of productivity. But the video-sharing site is also a handy source of practical instruction and personal growth. Indeed, amid those millions of minutes-long video clips are complete demonstrations of truly useful tasks. Think peeling and seeding a tomato, playing basic guitar chords, or ironing a dress shirt. We could all stand to broaden our skills and we’re far more likely to master a process if we actually see it performed.

5. Create Your Own Ringtones

The prime directive of ringtone creation? First, do no harm. That means no boy bands, no YouTube no-hit wonders, no German language covers of ’80s soft-rock hits for the sake of “irony.” If you’re going to roll with a custom ringtone, realize that the chance of irritating your coworkers is high if the Jonas Brothers’ “Hold On” starts emanating from your handset. How about a little “Mama Said Knock You Out” to signify that dear old ma is on the line? Also possible: “Papa Don’t Preach”—Online Editor Norm Chan’s signal that Will Smith is calling.

For the iPhone: If you don’t want to give Apple your $2—$1 to buy a song and $1 to convert it into a ringtone in iTunes—the simplest, and cheapest, way to make a ringtone is via the audio-editing program GarageBand. Import the song you want to use, select the section of the song you want for your ringtone (it must be less than 40 seconds long), and then select Send Ringtone to iTunes from the Share menu. Unfortunately, the app is Mac only. On the PC, use an audio-editing program such as Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) to select the part of a song you want. Next, export the edited file to iTunes and convert it to AAC.

In Windows Explorer, change the file extension from m4a to m4r and the add the file to iTunes again and sync.
For Windows Mobile: Use Audacity to edit your song. Next, use ActiveSync to upload your new ringtone to \Application Data\Sounds.

6. Find Your Celebrity Look-Alike

If you knew you looked like a celebrity, would it make you more confident? Put a little swagger in your step? If that’s all it takes, you need to hit up Myheritage.com. The site uses advanced facial recognition technology to tell you which celebrities you most resemble—and to what degree. Just upload a picture of yourself through the site’s easy-to-use interface and watch the results pile onto your screen.