Editor

Pete Wood

Contact Us

We love to hear from all our voato readers. We especially look forward to recieving ideas and tips for simplifying life.

Suggest something using the contact page

Email us at coolstuff@voato.com

Tweet us at
@voato

Recent Posts

Saturday 4th September 2010 10:17:18 AM

2 posts in the last week

Rip and download DRM free tracks from Spotify

August 29th, 2010 Pete Wood

Spotify

In this practical guide I show you how to rip and download DRM-free music from Spotify.   The music we’ll download from Spotify is completely DRM free so you’ll be able to play the tracks on your favoured MP3 players. In order to rip from Spotify you’ll need a piece of $20 software,  plus an Open (free) account registered with Spotify. There is some reported success by decoding the Spotify local cached music files on your PC,  but the complexities of doing this are too advanced for average Joe.  So, the method we’ll use here is to simply capture the music stream from Spotify. Read more…

Mount compressed files as virtual folders

August 29th, 2010 Pete Wood

If you have some large archive files (zip, rar, iso), and just need to extract or update one single file,  it can be a little painful to have to extract the whole folder.  However,  with this free Windows tool you can easily mount the archive file as a folder,  and explore or write to it just like any normal folder.

Pismo file mount allows you to mount ZIP, ISO, CISO, CFS, ISZ, DAA, and PFO files as virtual folders within Windows. Read more…

The Best Bulk-Installers for Free Windows Apps

June 22nd, 2010 Pete Wood

image

Bulk installers simplify the process of downloading and installing all your favourite free applications.   Bulk-installers often work by providing all the necessary installation files in a neat package which can be installed on different PCs.  You can also select precisely which applications you want in the bulk install package, and make sure you have all your favourite freeware. Read more…

Calling all phones: Test out the new Voato Mobile site

June 20th, 2010 Pete Wood

image

We’re pleased to announce that voato.com can now be viewed properly on all mobile devices include iPhone and Android devices. We’ve made this change in response to readers who commented how badly the site rendered previously.  Any mobile device should automatically render the new mobile site, but if it doesn’t you need to point your device browser to http://m.voato.com.   We’ve tested in on Nokia and Sony Ericson phones, but please let us know how it goes by posting in the comments.

Resources for Essential Free Windows Downloads

June 20th, 2010 Pete Wood

image

In this post I’ve rounded up the very best sites on the internet for downloading free software giving you access to over a 1000 free applications.  These sites for free software contain really good lists of tried and tested applications.  The sites below have links to the very best free applications, utilities, system tools and online apps. If you can’t find the app you need on these lists, it probably doesn’t exist. Read more…

How to access and edit OneNote notebooks over the web

June 12th, 2010 Pete Wood

onenoteIn a previous posting on voato,  I talked through all the new features of OneNote 2010. One of the main issues I criticised was not having the ability to access a notebook online which was a big deficiency when compared against Evernote.  However,  I’m pleased to report that this is now supported and provides some great functionality.  In this post I tell you how to access your OneNote notebook via the web.  Read more…

[Freetime Fix-up] How to setup a budget Media Centre

June 5th, 2010 Pete Wood

image

On this guide I  wanted to talk about how I’ve managed to setup a media centre at home on a shoe-string budget by re-using lots of old and aging tech.  This budget media centre has been setup for years now, and has worked extremely well for music, media, music and the internet. Read more…

Free tools and resources for web designers and developers

May 31st, 2010 Pete Wood

image In this ultimate guide of design web sites, I’ve rounded up 30 of my favourite resources I use for putting together web sites.  You’ll find a whole hodge-podge of recommendations here including CSS design, cross browser testing, color palettes, browser plug-ins,  and so much more. I’ve also included some my favourite web sites for inspiration, and tools for the budget developer. Read more…

4 ways to create temporary disposable email addresses

May 30th, 2010 Pete Wood

image

Having a temporary disposable email address is really useful to register for web sites which insist you provide a valid email address. If the site insists on sending you a password, and you don’t want to dish out your own identity,  why not try one of these free great services. Read more…

Send huge files with wetransfer.com

May 29th, 2010 Pete Wood

image

I came across this really useful and free tool for sending huge files over the web.  Many mail servers have a limit to the size of an attachment so this service helps you get around that limit.  Also, if you’re near your mailbox quota then this service is a real life-saver.

Read more…

Switch to our mobile site