Wednesday, April 30, 2008

MyMusicShares

What is MyMusicShares?



MyMusicShares is a free, anonymous, and simple way to share a song that you like with someone else. All you have to do is select a DRM free mp3 file from your hard drive, fill out the To and From email address fields, fill out a Subject, answer the ReCaptcha challenge, then press the Upload... button. MyMusicShares will upload and store the mp3 file for you, then send your friend, or friends, an email with a link to listen to the song. It's a great way to share new music you've discovered that you think your friends might like.








Features



Easily upload a song and email a link to the song to up to three recipients.


Your recipients don't get a copy of the song, they can only listen to it.


All audio files sent through MyMusicShares are DRM free.


There's no need to set up an account to use MyMusicShares.




How Do I Use MyMusicShares?



You don't need to create an account to use MyMusicShares. If you want to share a song with someone, just follow these instructions.


The Song Box



The Song box is a required field. In order to share a song you need to tell MyMusicShares what music file you want to upload. Click the Browse... button (Firefox and Internet Explorer), Choose... button (Opera), or Choose File button (Safari) and a file selection dialog box will open to let you select the file you want to upload. Navigate to the place on your computer where your music file is located and select it. The dialog box will disappear, and the Song box will contain the path and file name of the file you want uploaded. If you accidentally select the wrong file just click the Browse... button (Firefox and Internet Explorer), Choose... button (Opera), or Choose File button (Safari) again to select the file you really want.



NOTE   Your file must be a DRM free mp3 (a music file with a .mp3 file extension) file that is smaller than 5MB in size. Also, because the file you're sending is probably going to be several megabytes in size it'll take a minute or two to upload it - be patient and don't click other buttons while it's uploading.








The From Box



This is where you enter your from email address (that's your email address - e.g., you@yourdomain.com). It's a good idea to include your email address in the From field, although it's not required. Doing so will have several benefits. First, the email link to your song has a better chance of making it through your recipient's SPAM filter. Second, the recipient will know who the link is from, and is less likely to delete it. Finally, if your recipient wants to reply to you, to tell you how much they loved the song, they can. If you don't include a From email address MyMusicShares is used.


One more note on the From field; the email address you enter is stored on your computer as a cookie (you have to have cookies enabled) for future use so you don't have to keep entering a from email address over and over again. If you want it blanked out, just blank out the string and upload a song. The cookie will be deleted.








The To Box



If you want to share the song with up to three other people MyMusicShares will send them an email with a link to your song. Simply enter their email addresses in the To box separated by either a comma, space, or semi-colon (e.g., bob@bob.com;jan@jan.com, joe@joe.com).


NOTE: MyMusicShares will send a link to the first three valid email addresses it finds. It will stop sending emails after it finds three valid addresses. So, if you put in 50 email addresses, don't expect 50 people to get the link.








The Subject Box



It's helpful, although not required, to include a descriptive Subject so the person receiving the email link doesn't think they are getting SPAM'd.








The ReCaptcha Challenge



In order to keep people from writing scripts against MyMusicShares it is mandatory to fill out a ReCaptcha key. It's pretty simple to use, and keeps MyMusicShares humming along democratically. To upload, and send a link to a song you MUST type the words you see in the white box area in the ReCaptcha box verbatim. If you don't, you will get an error warning you that you can't upload and send the link. If you can't read the words (some of them are pretty hard to read), just click the little recycle arrows on the ReCaptcha form until you get some words you can read. You can also listen to the words if you press the little speaker icon (for those that are sight impaired). If you mess something up you will have to re-gen a new ReCaptcha key by using the little recycle arrows. I'm using ReCaptcha because it provides security for MyMusicShares and also has the added benefit of helping a good cause. Check it out on their website.








The Upload Button



Now that you've filled out all the proper information, click the Upload... button and your song will be uploaded.








What Happens After You Click the Upload Button?




If everything is filled out correctly, and you've selected a valid DRM free mp3 file, the file will upload (keep in mind these are big files and can take up to several minutes to upload), then any recipients you entered will be sent an email with the link in it that takes them to a page where they can listen to the song. All they have to do is click on the link in their email client (such as Microsoft's Outlook or Hotmail, or Google's GMail, or Yahoo's YMail), and their default web browser (such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, or Apple's Safari) will open to the web page the link points to.


Once the song is uploaded, you will see a screen that has a link for you to go and listen to the song yourself (if desired). If you want to upload another song, click the X to get rid of the link screen and go back through the same process as described above. Note that you will have to generate another ReCaptcha challenge with the little recycle arrows on the ReCaptcha form before you can upload.




Terms of Use



Copyrighted Material. All songs are copyrighted by their respective owners, and you cannot profit from this service using someone elses copyrighted material. If the owner of the song wishes to have their copyrighted material removed, Pykyl will comply with that wish.


Use MyMusicShares at your own risk. Pykyl, and all Pykyl affiliates, offer no warranty on MyMusicShares, nor provide remuneration for using MyMusicShares. If MyMusicShares is not working, or failing in any way shape or form Pykyl, and all Pykyl affiliates cannot be held responsible. Nor can Pykyl, or any of its affiliates be held accountable or liable to damage done to your computer or computer network as a result of using MyMusicShares.


Abuse. If you are found to be abusing MyMusicShares, Pykyl will take steps to stop you from using the service including technical and legal means.


Privacy Policy



Anonymity. Pykyl makes no legal claim that your anonymity will be protected when using MyMusicShares. If a warrant is served by the appropriate authorities, Pykyl will comply with that warrant. Although, Pykyl will not share your IP address, nor any other information gathered during the use of MyMusicShares with any non Pykyl affiliate.


Public Network. All songs and emails are sent over a public network unencrypted.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

MyPicShares

What is MyPicShares?



MyPicShares is a free, anonymous, and simple way to share and communicate with pictures - and a convenient way to add pictures to your blog or website. MyPicShares is not a photo gallery application - instead, it is a way to communicate with pictures.







Features



A great feature of MyPicShares is that you don't need to create an account to use it. In fact, the original idea behind MyPicShares was to create a quick and anonymous way to get a picture online without going through an onerous account signup process. Just upload, and your picture is ready to use.


Another great feature of MyPicShares is that you can link to your pictures from a blog or a website. That way you don't have to go searching for a place to host your picture, and can get your blog entry or website done in a more timely fashion.




How Do I Use MyPicShares?



MyPicShares is pretty darn easy to use. The only required field is the Pic field. This is the field that tells MyPicShares what picture to upload and display.


The Pic Box



To use MyPicShares, click the button next to the Pic box (or just the button if you're a Safari user) and a file selection dialog box will open.


Navigate to the place on your computer where your picture lives, and select it. Once you click OK, or Select, or whatever the dialog box says to indicate you've made your choice, you will see the path to the file you selected in the Pic box (unless you're using Safari - in which case you will see the name of your file next to the button).







At this point you haven't uploaded your picture yet! All you've done so far is select the picture you want to upload. If you don't want to send a link to your picture to someone, so they can look at the picture too, click the Upload... button and the upload process will begin.


NOTE: You can upload a file up to 500KB, or half a Meg. Your picture must have a .jpg .jpeg .gif .tif .tiff .bmp or .png extension.



The To Box



If you want to share the picture with up to three other people MyPicShares will send them an email with a link to your picture. Simply enter their email addresses in the To box separated by either a comma, space, or semi-colon (e.g., bob@bob.com;jan@jan.com, joe@joe.com).


NOTE: MyPicShares will send a link to the first three valid email addresses it finds. It will stop sending emails after it finds three valid addresses. So, if you put in 50 email addresses, don't expect 50 people to get the link.







The From Box



This is where you enter your from email address (that's your email address - e.g., you@yourdomain.com). It's a good idea to include your email address in the From field, although it's not required. Doing so will have several benefits. First, the email link to your picture has a better chance of making it through your recipient's SPAM filter. Second, the recipient will know who the link is from, and is less likely to delete it. Finally, if your recipient wants to reply to you, to tell you how much they loved the picture, they can. If you don't include a From email address MyPicShares is used.


One more note on the From field; the email address you enter is stored on your computer as a cookie (you have to have cookies enabled) for future use so you don't have to keep entering a from email address over and over again. If you want it blanked out, just blank out the string and upload a picture. The cookie will be deleted.







The Subject Box



It's helpful, although not required, to include a descriptive Subject so the person receiving the email doesn't think they are getting SPAM'd.







The ReCaptcha Challenge



In order to keep people from writing scripts against MyPicShares it is mandatory to fill out a ReCaptcha key. It's pretty simple to use, and keeps MyPicShares humming along democratically. To upload a picture you MUST type the words you see in the white box area in the ReCaptcha box verbatim. If you don't, you will get an error warning you that you can't upload the file. If you can't read the words (some of them are pretty hard to read), just click the little recycle arrows on the ReCaptcha form until you get some words you can read. You can also listen to the words if you press the little speaker icon (for those that are sight impaired). If you mess something up you will have to re-gen a new ReCaptcha key by using the little recycle arrows. I'm using re-captcha because it provides security for MyPicShares and also has the added benefit of helping a good cause. Check it out on their website.







The Upload Button



Now that you've filled out all the proper information, click the Upload... button and your picture will be uploaded.







Terms of Use



Use MyPicShares at your own risk. Pykyl, and all Pykyl affiliates, offer no warranty on MyPicShares, nor provide remuneration for using MyPicShares. If MyPicShares is not working, or failing in any way shape or form Pykyl, and all Pykyl affiliates cannot be held responsible. Nor can Pykyl, or any of its affiliates be held accountable or liable to damage done to your computer or computer network as a result of using MyPicShares.


Abuse. If you are found to be abusing MyPicShares, Pykyl will take steps to stop you from using the service including technical and legal means.


Copyright Infringement If asked by a copyright owner of a picture, Pykyl is obligated to remove the picture from MyPicShares.


Privacy Policy



Anonymity. Pykyl makes no legal claim that your anonymity will be protected when using MyPicShares. If a warrant is served by the appropriate authorities, Pykyl will comply with that warrant. Although, Pykyl will not share your IP address, nor any other information gathered during the use of MyPicShares with any non Pykyl affiliate.


Public Network. All pictures are sent over a public network unencrypted.