Use Hushed To Create Disposable Phone Numbers In 40 Countries [Android/iOS]

Use Hushed To Create Disposable Phone Numbers In 40 Countries [Android/iOS]

There are many situations in life where you need someone to be able to contact you reliably, but do not want them to permanently have your phone number. Consider these situations: dating or selling goods online. Both of these circumstances are great examples of why a throw-away phone number might be a good idea.

However, it can often be difficult to obtain a reliable disposable phone number outside of the US. But things are changing with the use of smartphones. Hushed is an application that will allow you to set up a throw-away phone number and delete it whenever you like. You can also manage multiple disposable numbers at once using the Hushed app.

Why Use A Disposable Phone Number?

As well as the obvious safety reasons with giving a disposable phone number to people you are dating and online contacts for buying or selling goods, there are a number of other good reasons to use a disposable number. Namely, a disposable number can be used as a redirect, giving cheaper calls to the person calling.

If you are an expat or traveling around the world, you can easily set up a phone number for folks back home or for the locals you meet while traveling. When they call the number it will be a local call for them, but will be received by your phone. You could also use a number such as this to stay in contact with people who live in the same country, but far enough away to incur long-distance phone charges. Why not keep the costs down for everyone?

Disposable phone numbers may also be useful for children and teenagers as you can terminate the number if need be. Great for your peace of mind as a parent!

Using a disposable number via an application also opens up the possibility of using your Android tablet as a phone. This could be very useful for you or a family member â€" especially kids.

Get The Hushed App

The Hushed application for managing disposable numbers is available for free from the Google Play store (or the iOS App Store). However, it will cost you to obtain a number and to make calls using that number.

Hushed Phone Number Features

All Hushed numbers come with a voicemail box, so you can separate your voicemail from your regular calls. This is a fantastic tool if you have sold an item online, yet continue to get calls about it. Simply change your listing to say the item is sold and that you won’t be replying to messages any more. Then delete the number or just ignore the voicemail messages.

When you are finished with a phone number, you can delete it whenever you like. So, you can set up a number just for dating purposes and keep it working until the day you wish you’d never given out the number to a certain person. Then you can simply delete it and create a new phone number.

Hushed phone numbers work in 40 countries worldwide, so it’s very handy for traveling. This also opens up the possibility of disposable numbers to people in countries who may have previously found it difficult to obtain one.

Using Hushed Phone Numbers

To get a Hushed phone number, you need to pay a minimum of US $ 1.99 to set it up. You choose your number, a price and an expiry date, with a choice of 7, 30 or 90 days maximum. As mentioned previously, you can delete your number at any time you like in advance of your expiry date. You can also choose to automatically extend a number when it reaches its expiry date.

Hushed phone numbers can also be used to make outbound phone calls and to send/receive text messages. To facilitate this, Hushed works similarly to a prepaid phone card. You can add money to Hushed and keep track of your call costs as you make them. This keeps your costs as transparent as possible.

Alternatives to Hushed

Obviously, the best alternative to an application like Hushed is to use Google Voice (if you are in the US), a VoIP provider or any voice/video chat service such as Skype or Google Hangouts. If you are an iOS user, there is also a similar application called Burner. The chat services may not have quite the same level of anonymity, but you can block people and remove them from your friends list when you are finished requiring contact with the person. They also work extremely well for cutting your long-distance call costs.

What service do you use to create disposable phone numbers? Why?

40 Amazing Photoshop Light Effect Tutorials

40 Amazing Photoshop Light Effect Tutorials

Photoshop light effect tutorials are great to turn to when you work on designs with fiery or glowing effects. If you need inspiration or tips, tricks and techniques they great time savers. There are many different way to use glowing or light effect in your designs and with some detailed tutorials; you will shortcut your way to use them yourself.

Many design and graphic projects involve colorful light and glow effects one way or the other and can be powerful for highlighting products, text and for creating dynamic effects in website navigation on mouse hover. From movie and concert posters, to event flyers and billboard ads, to backgrounds and wallpapers, you can find a certain degree of light effects in many artworks in nearly any category.  Of course creating such designs is easier if you have the right building blocks and this could very well involve Photoshop sparkle brushes and fire textures etc.

Creating realistic light effects in not simple at all. Light effects easily look odd and over done and if you are not careful, adding too much light effect is easy and it will certainly ruin your design. If you follow the tutorials in this post, you should have a good starting point and an idea of how to move on yourself with your own projects. I have collected more than 40 great Photoshop light effect tutorials to get you started right away. Please share this article with your friends and leave a friendly comment.

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How to Make Vibrant Cosmic Light Effects in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will take an awesome vector image created in Illustrator that was imported into Photoshop, and you will turn it into a fresh and modern design using layer styles, blend modes, and more. You will be exploring a few techniques for incorporating brilliant light effects into your artwork.

Create a glowing superhero by Kervin Brisseaux â€" MORE INFO

Kervin Brisseaux shows how he turned a basic illustration into a retro-futuristic artwork in Photoshop.

Abstract lighting effects â€" MORE INFO

Learn how to create a very colorful waves element with light effects in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Create an Abstract Light Streaks poster in Photoshop CS5 â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial you will learn how to create an abstract light streaks poster from scratch using Lighting effects, Noise, and Wave Photoshop CS5 filters.

Biker with Light Effects in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

In this Photoshop tutorial you will learn how to create an awesome light effect on a photo featuring a biker.

Create Spectacular Concept Art in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial, will show you how to combine stock photographs to create a stunning effect that can be easily reproduced to work with almost any combination of images.

The Making of “Constant Slip” â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will take you through the creative process of making intriguing light effects and applying them in your work.

The Cosmos: Create a Red Giant Star in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial you will learn how to make a dramatic fictional star in Photoshop.

Luminescent Lines â€" MORE INFO

Here you will create some thin flowing lines that look as if they emit light. This technique is fairly simple and is a great way to create an abstract wallpaper or looks good integrated into another image.

Create Abstract Landscape Art From a Photograph â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to make an abstract light effect artwork from an image n Photoshop.

Create a Vibrant Abstract Space Artwork â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial, will show you how to create a vibrant and colorful abstract space artwork using Photoshop, Illustrator, and stock images.

Achieve Brilliant Lighting Effects in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial, you’ll learn the essential process of achieving brilliant lighting effects in Photoshop.

Create Cosmic Lighting Effects Using Photoshop CS6 â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will explain how to create cosmic light effect using several stock photos, custom brushes, masks, and a bit of digital painting.

Show me the light â€" Digital Art Tutorial â€" MORE INFO

This photoshop tutorial will show you how to use stock images to make a beautiful digital artwork with nicely colored lights.

Space Explosion Photoshop Tutorial â€" MORE INFO

Digital space art is one of the most inventive and beautiful art genres of this era. This tutorial shows you how to create your own space scene using three stock photos and Adobe Photoshop.

How to Make Your Photos Look Hipster with Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

Turn your mainstream photos into retro coolness. This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to apply a retro/lomo photo effect using professional non-destructive editing techniques. You’ll need Photoshop CS3 or newer to follow this tutorial.

Create abstract colorful background with bokeh effect â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial, will teach you how to create an abstract colorful background with bokeh effect using Photoshop’s drawing tools, blending modes, and lighting techniques.

Create a Dynamic Portrait with Flashy Light Effects â€" MORE INFO

Learn how to create your own futuristic portraits with swirling ribbons of light. This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create light streaks and other high-tech elements that you can incorporate into your own photos.

Design a Vibrant Blackberry Inspired Ad in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to create an awesome, bright and vibrant lighting effects in Photoshop.

How to Digitally Illustrate a Camera with Light Streaks â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to create light streaks in Photoshop.

Create a Powerful Mental Wave Explosion Effect â€" MORE INFO

Add Brilliant Light Effects to Your Work with Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial, will show you several super easy techniques for incorporating remarkable light effects to your work using Photoshop.

Sexy Model with Glowing Bubbles Effect  â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to put a streaks of light to make a techno inspired image in Photoshop.

Create a Glowing Light Painting Effect â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will show you an easy, and very fast way, to create a light painting in Photoshop.

Create a Simple Vibrant Light Effect in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

Follow this Adobe Photoshop tutorial to manipulate the images with various tools and techiques to produce a vibrant design made up of intense light streams effect.

Fantasy Art Photopshop Tutorial â€" Plasma in the Lake â€" MORE INFO

You learn how to put magical lights in this Photoshop tutorial.

Super Fast â€" Speed Lighting Effect â€" MORE INFO

Take an image of a fireworks display and turn it into an intense sensation of speed. Manipulate natural lighting to fill a motion filled scene. Use masks to blend the effect over a car image to make the car appear to be in motion. This tutorial shows you exactly what to do.

Create Dynamic Lighting Effect in Photoshop CS5 â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will show you how to create dynamic lighting effect using a stock photo, custom brushes, simple shapes and masks in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Create a Cosmic XBOX using Custom Brushes â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create some custom line brushes, and then apply them to a subject to create a cosmic design.

Electrifying Energy Beams in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

Here’s a great effect that will bring some energy to your subject. You will be wrapping this singer’s arm with a glowing beam of light, adding sparkles, and adjusting the colors to make it all seem magical.

End of the World Photo Manipulation â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to apply light effects to create an end of the world photo manipulation.

Fairy Glow Lightning â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will show you how to add glow and lightning effects to a photography.

Sparkling Hot Girl in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will show you how to create an image using this technique. It basically mixes some techniques from tutorials like Magic Lighting Effect, Amazing Photoshop light effect in 10 Steps, and the latest Create the MSNBC header effect.

Make a Meteoric Composition with Stellar Light Effects â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial, you will create an out-of-this-world composition of a computer mouse that is streaking down like a meteor.

Add another dimension â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you to create stunning effects using glows, loads of Colour Dodge, and lots and lots of neon â€" hot pinks and lemon yellows are prominent here. You’ll also learn how to utilise white in all the right places, so that white areas look less like negative space and more like the result of added energy and light.

Create A Gorgeous Light Effect Using Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial you will learn how with the professional techniques you can create an amazing light effect using Photoshop.

Create an amazing Ad in Photoshop â€" MORE INFO

Learn how to make a fiery Nike logo in this tutorial.

Create an Electrifying Light Guitar â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial, Pawel Kiec will take you though the steps of extracting an image, creating a background, and then making an electrifying glowing guitar that resembles pure neon light.

Stunning Product Shot Using Lighting Effects â€" MORE INFO

This tutorial will teach you how to create a stunning light effect for a shoe ad using Photoshop.

Fire Lines Photoshop Tutorial â€" MORE INFO

In this tutorial, you will learn how to apply an awesome line effect in an image in Photoshop.

Author : Harvey J. Aniasco

Harvey is a graphic designer who used to work in print and billboard advertising. While a big devotee of digital media, he is also fond of acrylic and watercolor. During his free time you can see him playing online games and learning web development.

Tagged as: light effect photoshop tutorials, photoshop glowing effect tutorials, photoshop light effect tutorials, photoshop tutorials for light effects

MTE Explains: How CRON Can Automate Your Tasks And Make Your Life Easier

MTE Explains: How CRON Can Automate Your Tasks And Make Your Life Easier

Cron is a daemon that executes scheduled commands for Linux. You can use Cron to schedule and automate jobs in Linux, saving you from having to do them manually.

Note: Cron is available in most *NIX system, including Mac OS X. In this article, we will be discussing from the Linux perspective.

How does cron work?

Put simply, cron scans your computer for text files and executes the commands inside them at regular intervals. Cron does not execute just any text files, only the ones located in a specific location on your hard drive. These text files are called “crontabs”.

A crontab is a text file with a list of commands that will automatically r un at specific times. These commands are referred to as cron jobs. The cron daemon executes the cron jobs within the crontab and handles the scheduling, all in the background.

There is a root crontab for tasks that require administrative privileges. Each user also has their own crontab file so that they each may run their own personal set of tasks, and these tasks will run regardless of whether or not that user is logged in.

Cron searches the area located at /var/spool/cron/. This location is where crontabs are stored. If I open this file using a general text editor, this is what is displayed.

Note the warning not to edit this file manually. You can edit it directly inside the terminal, but there are also specific applications for editing crontabs. GNOME users may be inter ested in checking out Gnome Schedule. KDE users can check out the KDE Task Scheduler.

Viewing a crontab

If you want to manually view your crontabs, here are some basic commands.

To display a crontab:

To remove a crontab:

To edit a crontab:

When you edit a crontab within a terminal for the first time, cron will ask you to select an editor. It points out which editor it believes to be the easiest, which is probably nano. To change this in the future, type:

It then opens a blank crontab from the templates directory. Anything saved in this file will be executed as the user.

Reading a cron job

A cron job can be broken down as follows:

Minute: 0 â€" 59
Hour: 0 â€" 23 (0 = midnight)
Day: 1 â€" 31
Month: 1 â€" 12
Weekday: 0 â€" 6 (0 = Sunday)
Command: Command to execute

A * means to execute at every interval.

Take a look at this command:

04 07 * * 6 /usr/bin/sbin/backup.sh

In the above example, I am running /usr/bin/sbin/backup.sh every Saturday at 7:04 AM regardless of the month or date.

The image below provides an sample cron job and a look at the appropriate syntax:

Final Thoughts

Even if you have never opened up a crontab before, your computer likely has cron jobs already operati ng in the background. Cron makes it easy for a distribution to check for updates at regularly scheduled intervals or to know when to back up files. Regardless of which application you use to create and edit future cron jobs, the syntax inside a crontab remains the same.

With these tools at your disposal, you can automate tasks with cron and can set your music to begin playing at specific times of the day, have your email refreshed before you sit down at your computer each morning, tell your computer to shut down at a specific time every night, or nearly any other single task you are accustomed to doing by hand.