Build a Wireless Home Network without a Router

Let’s say you have one internet connection at home that you want to share across all your desktop and laptop computers, your Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, tablets, video game consoles (like the Xbox), digital photo frames and any other wireless devices that you may have at home.

How do you do this?

The easiest way to setup a wireless network, as we all know, is with the help of a router – just attach a wireless router to your modem and any Wi-Fi enabled gear, that’s located inside the signal range of your router, will be able to connect to the web using that lone Internet connection.

Setup Wireless Network without a Wireless Router

Now consider a slightly different scenario – you have all these Wi-Fi enabled devices at home but there’s no router. Well, there’s no reason to buy one because you can still easily setup a wireless network as long as your computers have a wireless network adapter*.

[*] Most new desktops and laptop computers are already equipped with internal network adapters so you are ready to go without a router.

If your computer doesn’t have built-in wireless capabilities, you can either buy aUSB network adapter that plugs into the USB port of your desktop or go for awireless adapter that directly plugs into your notebook’s PC Card slot. Desktop users can also opt for an internal wireless PCI card but you’ll have to open the computer case in order to install this network adapter.

Create a Wi-Fi Network without a Router

Now that you have everything in place to create a Wi-Fi network, let’s actually build one.

For Windows XP and Vista users

If your main computer, that is already connected to the internet, is running Windows XP, Vista or even Mac OS X, you can set up an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network and the other wireless devices can then connect to the web via this ad-hoc network (also called a computer-to-computer network).

Wired Connection In, Wireless Connection Out

It’s an easy process. To set up an ad-hoc network in Windows Vista, go to Network and Sharing Center from the control panel, select “Set up a connection or network” and choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network”.

Make sure you select “Save this network” option else the ad hoc network will be removed if no other computers / devices are connecting to the network.

Turn on Internet Sharing in the next screen and now your other home computers can connect to the ad hoc network just like they would connect to any regular wireless network. Setting up an ad hoc network in XP takes a couple of extra steps but also make sure the host computer is running at least XP SP2 or SP3.

For Windows 7 users

If you are on Windows 7, you can instantly turn your  computer into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot without having to configure anything. All you need is a free software called Virtual Router and the computer connected to the internet must be running Windows 7.

[*] Virtual Router works will all editions of Windows 7 except the Starter edition because Microsoft has disabled the Virtual Wifi feature in that particular edition.

Using the virtual router is simple – just run the program on any Windows 7 computer, assign a password and that’s it. In the above example, I used the Virtual Router to connect an iPod, an Ubuntu Linux laptop and a Windows desktop to the Internet via a Windows 7 notebook where that virtual router software was running.

As new devices join the Wireless network, their assigned IP and MAC addresses instantly appear in the Virtual Router window. And you can click the “Stop Router” button anytime to deactivate the hotspot and disable Internet sharing.

Virtual Wi-Fi vs Ad Hoc Wireless Networking

To set up Ad Hoc networking, your main computer needs to have an Ethernet based Internet connection as well as a Wireless (WLAN) network adapter. In the case of Virtual Wi-Fi, the Ethernet card is optional so you can turn a laptop into a hotspot even if your laptop itself is connected to a Wireless network and not to an Ethernet cable.

Computers and other wireless devices in ad hoc networks must be within 30 feet of each other but there’s no such restriction in the case of Virtual Wireless networks.

Ad-Hoc wireless networking is available on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while Virtual WiFi, which is much easier to setup, is available on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.

[*] Intel’s Centrino 2 processors include a technology called My Wifi that can also turn your wirelessly connected laptop into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot but the interesting part is that this supports Windows Vista as well in addition to Windows 7.

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Bring the Web to your Living Room

When you have nothing interesting to watch on TV, you can always switch to the Internet for an unlimited supply of videos ranging from television shows, podcasts, music, full-length movies, news and even live concerts.

Your computer screen is not always the best option to watch web videos, especially if the whole family wants to join in, so let’s look at some devices that will let you enjoy Internet TV on your widescreen television without requiring any complicated setup.

Enjoy Internet Videos on your TV

Apple TV – Connect the device to your TV using a HDMI or component video cable and you’ll be able to download movies, TV shows, podcasts and music from iTunes’ vast library directly through your TV.

You can also use Apple TV for watching YouTube videos, for listening to Internet radio stations and for viewing photos that are on your computer or on Flickr. Apple TV will connect to the Internet through Ethernet or built-in Wi-Fi and retails at $229.

Roku – If you are looking for a simple and cheap option to watch streaming movies from Netflix or Amazon on your TV, Roku Player should fit the bill.

Roku offers quick access to video channels including Netflix, Amazon on demand, Pandora radio and Blip.tv as well as photos from Flickr and Facebook on your TV. The Roku player will connect with virtually any TV and it supports both wireless and wired connections. Starts at $79.99.

Vudu – Vudu has a large collection of movies in HD quality that you can instantly buy or rent using the Vudu box.

Additionally, Vudu allows access to Youtube videos, Flickr pictures, Pandora music as well as streaming video from sites like CBS and ESPN. The Vudu box costs $149.00 though you’ll have to buy an additional wireless kit to connect Vudu to your home network over Wi-Fi.

Boxee Box – Boxee is a free media center software that lets you access content from a variety of sources including YouTube, CNN, BBC, Netflix, TED, University lectures, etc. on your computer. The company has also developed a set-top box that will let you enjoy Boxee’s content directly on your TV.

Other than streaming videos, you can also access content from sites like Flickr, Picasa, Last.fm, Pandora as well as media files store on your TV through the Boxee Box. It is expected to cost around $200.

TiVo HD – The TiVo, that made DVRs a standard household item, now lets you watch millions of videos from YouTube, TV shows and movies from Amazon, Netflix, etc. on your TV.

You can subscribe to video podcasts with TiVo and if a show is not listed, subscribe to it directly by specifying the RSS feed. In addition to videos, TiVo also lets you enjoy music and pictures that are stored on your PC or Mac. Price starts at $249, plus a $12/month service plan for TiVo service.

VuNow – VuNow is an affordable set-top box that will let you watch online videos on your TV without requiring a computer. It supports both wired and wireless network connectivity.

With VuNow, you can watch Live TV channels, YouTube videos, content from video sites like CNN, ESPN, etc. or even listen to Internet radio through your TV. You can also play photos, videos and music directly from your PC or an attached USB Storage device. The VuNow box starts at $129.

Neuros LINK – This is an Ubuntu based set-top box that will bring virtually any web video to your TV using the home network. With Neuros, you can play videos and audio on TV that are on your computer or a USB device.

The device will connect to your television via an HDMI port and is designed for use with a “keymote”, a wireless keyboard with an integrated trackball. Available for about $300.

Netgear EVA2000 – The Netgear Digital Entertainer Live is a small box that allows you to easily access digital media stored on USB devices and other networked computers from your television. You can also use the device to watch streaming videos from Youtube, CinemaNow and VuNow. The device comes with a trial version of PlayOn software so you can access videos from Hulu, Netflix, and other sites on your TV. Retails for $150.

Watch Internet TV with Game Consoles

All of the latest generation of game consoles offer easy access to a wide variety of Internet content on your TV.

Wii – The Wii offers full access to the Internet through Internet Channel, which is actually a version of the Opera browser designed for Nintendo’s Wii. It will play any web video that’s in the Flash player format and if you try accessing YouTube on your TV using the Wii, it will automatically redirect to YouTube XL.

You can connect Wii to the Internet though a wired or wireless network connection. Retails for $199.99.

Xbox 360 – The Xbox 360 can connect to Windows Media Center on your PC, bringing internet TV and downloaded media from the computer to your TV. There’s a video store where you can purchase or rent movies, TV shows, or even stream movies from Netflix. Starts at $199.99.

Playstation 3 – You can use PlayStation 3 to access any website through the built-in internet browser though it doesn’t support flash-based content.

You can also access photos, music, and videos on your computer from a PS3 using a wired or wireless network. The PlayStation Store built into the PlayStation 3 console offers movies for instant rental and purchase over the internet. Starts at $299.

Set up a Windows Media Center Extender

If you have digital content on you PC that you would like to enjoy on widescreen television, you can go for Media Center Extender. These devices will help you stream pictures, music, videos, and other media from the PC to your TV over the home network without any wires.

Xbox 360 can be used as an Extender device but there are more like the Linksys DMA2100 and D-Link DSM 750. These are however expensive options and will only work if you have a PC running Windows Media Center software.

Internet TV with Blu-ray Players

Although Blu-ray was initially positioned as the future in videos, streaming videos from the internet are quickly making any disk-based technology seem dated. LG and Samsung have combined the best of both worlds in some of their Blu-ray players.

LG Players – The BD370 player offers streaming videos from Netflix, CinemaNow and YouTube, while the costlier BD390 version adds support for Vudu and wireless connectivity. You can also enjoy photos, videos and music from your home network on a large screen. Price starts at $249.

Samsung players – Like LG, Samsung too offers support for streaming web videos in their Blu-ray players. These device offer direct acces Netflix, Blockbuster on demand, Youtube, and streaming music from Pandora. Blu-ray players start at $199.

Watch Digital Content with Digital Media Players

Most hardware devices discussed above will let you watch streaming videos directly from the Internet on your TV using a wired or wireless network. However, if you are looking to save some bucks, there’s another option.

You can use your existing computer to download videos, music, pictures and other digital content from the Internet, transfer them to a USB stick or an external hard drive and then play these files on a TV using a Digital Media Player.

Western Digital HD – Connect the WD HD Media Player to your TV, attach a USB drive (or a digital camera or your portable device) and you’ll able to enjoy all the digital content from your couch. The player supports practically every audio, video and image format and you can connect it to the TV using HDMI or composite A/V cables. Cost is $99.

Popcorn Hour – The Popcorn Hour device allows you to play all kinds of video, music and photos from the Internet or from your PC and external storage devices directly to your TV.

Except YouTube, Popcorn Hour supports nearly every popular web service including Flickr, Picasa, CNN, Blip.TV and more. You can even follow feeds of Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! News on your TV via Popcorn Hour. Starts at $299.

Asus TV HD Player – Like the WD player, Asus O!Play Media player can play nearly all audio and video codecs but it also supports external SATA disks in addition to USB drives. The Asus player has a LAN port so you can stream content directly from any network connect PC on your TV. Cost is $99.

FreeAgent Theater – Connect the FreeAgent drive to your PC or Mac, transfer the file and then slide it back into the FreeAgent Theater Dock to enjoy all the digital media on your TV. This has an Ethernet port as well so you can easily access shared content on your network or watch YouTube videos, pictures from Flickr or Picasa and even RSS feeds on your TV. Starts at $195.

WD Network Player – This is like the WD Media player discussed earlier except that it is network capable so you can watch Internet content live on your TV from a variety of sources include YouTube, Pandora, Flickr and Live365 online radio stations. You can also access media from any other computer in the home on your TV. Starts at $120.

[*] Some portable media players like the iPod and Zune can directly connect to the TV so you can download stuff on your computer using iTunes (or Zune Desktop player), sync the media files with your portable player and then play them on your TV.

Get Internet on your TV via an old Laptop

If you have a spare desktop or laptop computer that you are no longer using, you can use that computer to watch Internet content on your TV.

First install Boxee – it’s a free software for Mac, Windows and Linux that will let you watch streaming videos, music and photos from numerous sources including YouTube, BBC, CNN, Flickr, Pandora and Last.fm. Then connect the laptop to your TV using standard cables, grab a wireless keyboard and control your computer from the couch.

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How To Record Movies of Video Games on the Computer

Jesse is looking for a game recorder software to help him capture movies of PC games (with sound) that he can upload to YouTube Videos. The software should also save still screenshots of gaming scenes.

While you can record online Flash games or DOS games using any screencasting software, the situation gets a bit tricky when playing computer games that use DirectX 3D or OpenGL because they render only a blank footage with regular screen capture programs.

Fortunately, here are some good in-game video recording software that will record motion video in the background while you are playing your favorite PC game. Most of them support still image captures as well:

1. WeGame.com -  Though this is a place for uploading screencasts of video games but they also provide a free Windows software for recording games on the computer. Just start the software, launch your game and hit record.

Wegame is absolutely free and supports Halo, World of Warcraft, Ages of Empire, Half Life, Grand Theft Auto, Wolfenstein, America’s Army and most other popular games.

2. FRAPS – This is probably the best option for recording movies of video game but costs a few bucks. FRAPS saves the video game into AVI format so the recording is smooth as the movie is not getting compressed at the time of recording. You can reduce the video size with VirtualDub or Windows Media Encoder before uploading to YouTube.

FRAPS can record still screenshots or full game movies. Just press F9 to start or pause the recording. You also FRAPS to record Google Earth movies like the onehere. The free version will however add a watermark to your game movies.

3. Taksi – Taksi is game recording software similar to FRAPS but it is open source and free. Taksi can capture game screenshots or video clips of running games but without audio.

Taksi also lets you capture gaming sessions in full screen mode with hotkeys.

4. Game Cam – This is another free software for making movies of your favorite games on Windows. It will automatically search for games installed on your computer and will create an individual recording profile of every game. Game Cam can capture game screen shots, videos in AVI as well as audio.

Tips for Recording Computer Games

Recording games will slow down your computer so try to record at a lower frame rate and stop all non-essential processes like spyware, anti-virus and other running software.  Also consider lowering the desktop screen resolution for smooth recordings of game videos

YouTube will resize videos to 320×240 so maintain the same 4:3 aspect ratio of the game screen before hitting the record button.

Finally, if you have to capture only a small duration video clip or just a quick game screenshot, SnagIT will do the trick since it supports DirectX input. You may have to turn off hardware acceleration during the recording process.

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Access Files on your Computer from Anywhere

The problem: You have documents, photos, music and other important files on the home computer. How can you “remotely access” these files from your office computer or, when you are travelling, from your mobile phone?

The solution: The simplest solution would be that you copy all your data from the home computer on to a portable hard drive and carry it around but this is obviously a bit cumbersome approach as it requires you to manually sync the home computer and your portable disk.

Access Files on your Computer over the Internet

There are couple of ways by which you can retrieve files stored on your home computer from anywhere else using a regular Internet connection.

Option 1: Using Online Backup

You can use an online backup service like SugarSync, Carbonite, SkyDrive or even Dropbox – they provide desktop utilities that will automatically upload files on your home computer to the Internet and you can then access these files through the web browser of any other Internet connected computer.

The upside is that your files will always be available to you even if the home computer is not running. SugarSync and Carbonite have a mobile optimized website so you can access files from any mobile phone as well.

The downside is that if you are using any of these services for the first time, you’ll to wait until they upload all your data to the cloud and this process may take long if you have too many files on the home computer.

Option 2: Using Desktop Sharing Software

There are free desktop sharing software like TeamViewer and UltraVNC that also let you remotely access your computer files from anywhere else. LogMeIn Pro is another good option for transferring files from a remote computer but these are paid services.

If all your computers are running Windows, you can use the built-in remote desktop connection feature of Windows (available in XP and later) to access your home computer from another Window computer over the Internet.

With Desktop Sharing software, you’ll always have access to all your files but one big limitation is that it requires that the remote computer stays on. Also, none of these options will help you access files on a mobile phone except LogMeIn which has an iPhone app.

Option 3: Access Files Directly through the Browser

Online backup services, discussed above, will copy files to their own servers before you can access them for anywhere else. Screen sharing services are often slow and they won’t work on most mobile devices. Let’s now explore another set of services that allow you download files directly from the home computer.

Copernic, like Google Desktop, is a popular desktop search software that you may use to find emails, documents and other files on your Windows computer. They have a paid component called myCopernic on the Go that lets you remotely search for content stored on the home or office computer. You can preview the search results and then download them to your mobile phone or remote PC.

With Opera Unite, you can easily turn your computer into a web server and instantly access files and folders on that computer from any other web browser (including that of mobile phones). Opera Unite is a standard web server and therefore you’ll be downloading files directly from the computer – they’re not uploaded anywhere else.

Another option is GBridge that lets you setup a virtual private network using your existing Google Account. Companies use VPNs to let employees access corporate data over a public network (Internet) and with GBridge, even home users can build their own VPNs to access remote files more securely.

Windows Live Sync at sync.live.com is another great choice for remotely accessing files over the Internet. Just install the Live Sync client on your computer and you can then access the entire hard drive of that computer simply through the Windows Live Sync website.

Finally, you may also want to check out HomePipe – this is an extremely easy and free service that lets you access your home files and media from any other computer or mobile phone. Install the HomePipe Agent and all files on that computer will instantly become available through the web. They also have apps for iPhone and Android phones.

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The Best Services for Sending Large Files over the Internet

If you have to share a large file with someone over the Internet, there are generally two options – you can either put the file in an email message as an attachment or, if the file is too big to fit inside email, you can upload it to an file hosting service and then share the download links with the recipient.

Web email services like Gmail and Outlook allow you to send files up to 25 MB in size. For sending even bigger files, you can use a file-splitting utility like HJ-Split that will break the large file into smaller chunks of 25 MB each and you can send these in separate email messages. The recipient can download and join these parts to restore the original file.

You can use online storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive for sending really big files. Microsoft OneDrive lets you upload single files up to 2 GB in size while the individual size limit is 1 TB (yes 1000 GB) in the case of Google Drive. For even bigger files, you can use Dropbox – here the files have no size limit if you upload them to Dropbox through the desktop application.

There’s also WeTransfer — a freemium web app that lets you send files up to 2 GB in size from the browser. You don’t have to register for the service and all it asks for is the recipient’s email address. The uploaded file stays on the server for 7 days.

Also see: How to password-protect files

All the options discussed above have one thing in common – you have to upload your files to the Internet before someone can download them.

If you would like to send a file directly to someone without having to upload it anywhere, JustBeamIt is a good option. This is peer-to-peer app meaning the file transfers happen between your computer and the recipient’s computer directly. You can drag and drop a file on to the JustBeamIt website and it will instantly create a shareable link. When someone clicks this link, the file will begin to download on their machine directly from your computer.

Infinit is another impressive desktop application that also uses peer to peer file transfer and it allows you to send files of virtually any size to anyone. All you have to do is drag the file on to the Infinit app, choose any recipient from your contacts and the transfer will begin once they accept the incoming file request.

Infinit is available for both Mac and Windows and is probably the easiest way to send files big and small. It supports resumable downloads meaning if the Internet connection breaks during the file transfer, the app will pick up from where it left off after the connection is re-established. If you are sending files to another computers on the same network, Infinit uses your local area network and thus the transfers happen extremely fast.

That said, the sender and the recipient would need to install the Infinit app to use peer-to-peer transfer. Also, it is currently not possible to send files from the desktop to mobile devices.

The popular Skype app can also be used for sending documents, photos, videos and other large files of any format to your Skype contacts. Just initiate a chat session or a audio / video call with a contact and choose the Send File option to initiate a transfer. The service imposes no limit to the size or number of the files you can send or receive using Skype and since it is peer-to-peer, no centralized server is needed for the file transfer.

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Which Online Backup Service Should You Use?

This week I have been testing the various online backup services, both paid and free, and here’s a summary of how these service compare against each other.

Why use an online backup service?

While it is easy to create a local backup of your computer, the physical media where you are storing the backups, like the DVDs or external disk, may not be very reliable in the long term. The other disadvantage is that local backups don’t always happen in real-time.

It is therefore recommended that you switch to an online backup service – these are inexpensive and will automatically copy your computer’s data over the Internet to a more secure off-site location (aka the data center) in near real-timewithout your involvement.

Online Backup Services with Free Storage

If you only have a limited amount of data (< 2 GB) on your computer that you want to store in the cloud, any of the following backup services should solve your problem without you having to shell out a penny.

All the above online backup services (except for SkyDrive) work in a similar way – you download a small client to your desktop, mark the local folders that you want to backup online and the tool will automatically monitor and upload files from these folders to the cloud. Once your files are backed up, you can also access them online except in Mozy.

Of all these services, my favorites are SugarSync and ZumoDrive. They offer almost an identical set of features and are extremely easy to configure. SugarSync is available for Mac and Windows while ZumoDrive also offers a Linux client.

While Dropbox is also an awesome service for file synchronization and online backup, it has one major limitation – it will only backup files and folders that are placed inside the Dropbox folder. Hopefully this will change in future versions.

Subscription Based Online Backup Services

When 2 GB is insufficient to store the massive number of photographs, emails, documents and other important files that are piled up on your hard drive, you can go for a subscription based service. Here are some good options along with their pros and cons.

1. Backblaze (tour) – The true ‘set it and forget it’ backup service

• Extremely easy to setup. The service will automatically backup your entire computer excluding folders that contain the OS and your applications.
• If you create a new folder on your computer, you don’t have to remember to add it to the backup queue.
• The option to restore files from the backup could have been a bit simpler.

2. Carbonite (tour) – Makes data recovery really simple

• Colored dots on your files and folders indicate the status of your backup at a glance. No dot means the file is not selected for backup.
• You can remote access your backups from anywhere using the browser and there are apps for iPhone and BlackBerry.
• The restore function in Carbonite is done pretty nicely and you can recover files using Windows Explorer itself.
• Carbonite’s web interface is clean but their desktop client looks old and a bit untidy.

3. Mozy (tour) -  The original cloud backup service

• Mozy will automatically group your files and folders into “sets” like documents, emails, photos, music, etc. so it becomes easy for you to select stuff that you want to backup online.
• In addition to online backup, the more recent version of Mozy can also back up your data to an external disk.
• Mozy offers quite a few easy ways to restore files from the backup.

4. iDrive (tour) – For quick and easy backups

• When you start iDrive, it offers a folder tree of your computer – just select the folders that you want to backup online and you’re done.
• You can also add files and folders to the backup queue with a simple right click inside Windows Explorer.
• You can restore data through the iDrive desktop client. Individual files and folders can also be recovered from iDrive’s website.
• Their Family plan can help you backup multiple computers to a single IDrive account.

5. CrashPlan (tour) – One backup service for all platforms

• With CrashPlan, you can easily backup your files to multiple locations including the cloud, to another folder on the same hard-disk, to other computer on your home network or to any other Internet connected computer (social backup).
• The desktop client is intuitive and won’t confuse you with a plethora of options.
• CrashPlan is among the very few online backup services that’s available on all platforms including Windows, Mac and Linux.

6. Jungle Disk (tour) – Metered online storage

• Jungle Disk uses Amazon S3 for data storage.
• You can use a single license to backup multiple computers.
• Jungle Disk supports Windows, Mac and Linux.

7. SugarSync (tour) – Access your backups from any mobile device

• SugarSync works in near real-time and will immediately back up any file changes that are made in one of the monitored folders.
• You can easily access your backups over the web or from any of your mobile devices through apps.
• SugarSync is not integrated with Windows Explorer and therefore it is a bit cumbersome to add new folders for backup.

8. ZumoDrive (tour) – Simple and elegant

• ZumoDrive is extremely easy to configure – just right click any folder on your computer and add it to the ZumoDrive cloud.
• Restoring files from ZumoDrive may involve some effort. It offers ZIP archives of your folders that you’ll have to manually extract to the right locations.

Online Backup Services Compared

The following chart compares the cost, available storage and other essential features of all the previously mentioned online backup services.

Which Online Backup Service Should You Use?

If you are looking for an extremely simple way to backup your entire Mac or Windows PC without having to select individual files and folders, go with BackBlaze. It offers unlimited storage and requires no configuration but restoring data from BackBlaze is not very convenient.

SugarSync is another brilliant option for creating online backups as it works across multiple computers (and platforms) and you can access your data on a variety of devices. However, if you have loads of data to backup, SugarSync can get a bit pricey.

The backup service that has impressed me the most is CrashPlan – it’s available for Mac, Windows and Linux. What’s unique about CrashPlan is that it also can create local backups on other computers that are either owned by you or your friends. Thus data restoration will become extremely fast in the event of a hard disk failure because you won’t have to download backups from the Internet.

The downside with CrashPlan is that it doesn’t offer web access to your backups. If you see this as a limitation, go with Carbonite. It integrates very nicely with Windows Explorer, you can backup any file or folder with a simple right-click and all your files can accessed over the web anytime, anywhere. Data restoration is also easy with Carbonite

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Use Google Contacts as a Unified Address Book

Your contacts are often scattered across multiple email accounts and social sites.

For instance, you may have switched to Gmail but some of your contacts may still be stored in the old address books of Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. Then there are places like Facebook and LinkedIn that store personal and professional details of your contacts (including profile pictures) but fetching this information into your main address book is often a tricky thing.

One Place for all your Contacts

If you find it a hassle to maintain multiple address books, a possible solution is that you consolidate them all into a single cloud-based service like Google Contacts.

Here are some ideas on how you may go about doing this:

Step 1: Bring all address books into Google Contacts

Go to Gmail Settings and click the “Import Mail and Contacts” button to bring all the existing contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Google Apps, and your other email accounts into Google Contacts.

Next download your address books from LinkedIn, Facebook, Outlook, Orkut, and other accounts as CSV files and import them all into Google Contacts one-by-one.

Step 2: Clean-up the duplicates

When you import contacts from multiple places, it is obvious that some of the entries would be duplicates of each other. Google Contacts however makes it quite easy for you to manage these duplicates.

Choose “Find Duplicates” under “My Contacts” and the tool will group all the entries that share the same name. Do remember to review all the default suggestions one-by-one as sometimes two people in your contact list can have similar names and you don’t want to combine them into one.

Once you’re ready, just hit the   Merge button.

Google Contacts Manager mostly relies on the person’s name to detect duplicate entries. If it fails to recognize all your duplicate contacts, you can merge them manually as shown in the next screenshot.

Step 3: Enrich your contacts data

Google Contacts now has basic details of all your contacts including their names, email addresses and, in some cases, phone numbers and birthdays. We are however still missing profile pictures, website URLs, social profiles, etc.

There’s a useful online service called Gist that may help bring lot of such additional profile details into our Google Contacts. Here’s how:

3a. Go to gist.com and open a free account.

3b. Once your account is activated, go to “Other Contacts” and connect Google Contacts with Gist. Type your Gmail username and click “Authorize and Upload” – this uses OAuth so you can upload your entire Google address book into Gist without sharing your credentials.

The process of importing contacts from Google into Gist may take a while to complete depending on how you large your address book is. Take a coffee break here!

3c. Now that all your contacts have been imported (see the progress bar at the top), go to gist.com/people and you’ll find that Gist has discovered tons of extra information about your contacts that weren’t available in your original address book. This includes their blog addresses, social URLs and more.

Let’s now bring this new information back into Google Contacts. Select all the contacts, click Export and Gist will send you a single vCard file in your Inbox.

Download this v-Card file and import it into your Google Contacts.  Don’t worry, it will only merge the new details and won’t create any duplicate contacts.

The next thing that we are missing in Google Contacts are profile pictures.  There’s a utility called  Google Contacts Sync that takes your Gmail (or Google Apps) credentials, finds the matching entries in your Facebook network and accordingly updates their profile pictures and birthdays in Google Contact.

If you are not connected with all your Google contacts on Facebook, you can still bring their profile pictures through RainMaker.  This is an excellent service that can populate your Google Contacts entries with photos and social details pulled from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The free account will however limit you to 25 contacts.

To summarize, we first imported all our address books into Google Contacts, merged the duplicates and then added profile pictures and social details of our contacts.

What next? If you have a smartphone like the iPhone, Nokia (Symbian), BlackBerry or Windows Mobile, you can use Google Mobile Sync to keep your Google Contacts synchronized with the built-in address book application. Android mobile phones have this built-in so your phone’s address book will always be in sync with Google Contacts.

Microsoft Office users may try GContactSync to keep their Outlook address book in sync with Google Contacts (it works both ways). See the other synchronization tools for Outlook.

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