MakeUseOf.com: “Merry Christmas From Everyone At MakeUseOf” plus 8 more |  |
- Merry Christmas From Everyone At MakeUseOf
- Cool Websites and Tools [December 24th]
- Home Office Design Ideas and Tips That Every Web Worker Needs To Know
- Some Last Minute Tips To Tech Up Your Christmas
- Join The Public MakeUseOf Google Wave!
- Geeks Weigh In: Does Cooling The CPU In Laptops Make a Difference?
- GnoMenu – A Customizable, Good-Looking Application Menu [Linux]
- Five Free Twitter Clients For Your Desktop [Mac]
- How To Convert Your VHS Video Cassettes To DVD’s
| Merry Christmas From Everyone At MakeUseOf Posted: 25 Dec 2009 06:01 AM PST The staff at MakeUseOf would like to wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas.
Image credit: jimw Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Cool Websites and Tools [December 24th] Posted: 24 Dec 2009 07:31 PM PST
(1) Tattoo Santa – It is Christmas season all over again and online greetings are making a huge comeback. Tattoo Santa is a unique online greeting card service that lets you send a customized flash video of a tattooed Santa Claus to your friend's email for free. Read more: Tattoo Santa: Send A Tattooed Santa As A Greeting Card
(2) Bookhu – is an interesting site for searching books. The site describes itself as a “Gender Compatibility Engine for books.” What that means is that it figures out whether a particular book is preferred by the male reader or the female reader. It shows the top 30 bestselling books for men and women. Read more: Bookhu – A Gender Based Book Search Engine (3) Browser Size – is a new tool launched by Google under Google Labs that could be useful not only for web designers and developers but also for the average website owner who wants to check which parts of the site are above the fold and visible to readers. Read more: Browser Size – Analyze Website Layout & Design (4) Strobox – is an iPhone app that lets you create, save and share lighting diagrams so you don't have to remember them. The app lets you choose from over 25 lighting equipments including backdrops, softboxes, umbrellas, diffusion panels, etc. Read more: Strobox: Share Lighting Diagrams Using Your iPhone (5) Multifox – Whenever you need to be logged in as two users on any webpage – Google, Yahoo, the list goes on and on – simply choose Multifox. A new window will open not logged into anything, allowing you to log into another account without logging out of the first one. Read more: Open Any Web Service With Multiple Logins With Multifox
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed. Related posts
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| Home Office Design Ideas and Tips That Every Web Worker Needs To Know Posted: 24 Dec 2009 05:31 PM PST
In this article I would like to share some home office design ideas that every web worker needs to know when setting up their home office. I have scoured the Internet and have found some blogs and links that I think will help us immensely in our journey to equipping the home office. Some tips will refer to the work atmosphere, while others will refer to actual work equipment. In my web search for home office design ideas, tips and tools, I came across the blog of Connie Bensen.
She works as a community strategist and in a post back in 2007 she shared a bit about her home office. If you watch the photo presentation linked to in the post, you’ll find out that her home office has these attributes:
I won’t spoil the whole article for you, but a few tools shared in the article are:
They also did an article about ergonomics in the home office. Like the author, I have found myself with discomfort because of working at a desk (my problem was lower back pain). He added a better chair with better back support, external mouse and keyboard (I couldn’t live without my external peripherals!) and regular breaks including exercise. The post also offers a list of ergonomic tips for on the go times and a list of links to help you with your office situation. Also via Web Worker Daily, add a pen and paper to the tool list for the home office!
Although they are pretty heavy on the Apple thing, they have some good points by suggesting these tools:
OK, let’s summarize when we’ve found in these articles. I’ll break it down into two categories, location and equipment. Location1. Out of the way – A good location is one with the least amount of distractions possible and the main living area does not fall into this category! 2. Comfortable atmosphere – Choose colors, views, lighting, etc. that is conducive not only to relaxing but also focusing. 3. Houseplants – These can add color and give you something other than electronics to look at. I suppose they can add oxygen to the air too, right? 4. Animals – I have several cats and they provide much needed breaks when they mosey into my space looking for some lovin’. Obviously if you are allergic or you really dislike animals, this can add a distraction. 5. Snacks – I put snacks in this category because the idea is that HEALTHY snacks should be located someplace that they are easy to get to. Otherwise I’d head to the fridge for something unhealthy, and that’s not good! Equipment1. Desk – Think ergonomically! 2. Computer - I use a laptop but have it set a level so as to not strain my neck and have an external flat panel hooked to it. 3. Multiple monitors – For some tips on using multiple monitors, read my other post. 4. External keyboard and mouse – This can work to reduce strain but I also make use of it to add speed and accuracy. 5. 3-in-1 printer – Being able to print and copy is necessary for any home office. A scanner is also good to reduce paper clutter if you prefer to stay organized on your computer. 6. Note paper and pen – Jot thoughts down you want to come back to this way! I also write down reminders I need to remember first thing in the morning. 7. A whiteboard (and pegboard) – There are many uses for these which is why I still need to get one (or both). I know there is more that I can add to this list of the web worker’s home office design ideas. What can you add? Image credits: MorgueFile.com Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Some Last Minute Tips To Tech Up Your Christmas Posted: 24 Dec 2009 03:31 PM PST
Or you could follow the tips I’m about to give you to put together painless decorations, and….well, I can’t guarantee I will be able to help liven up your party, but I’ll give it my best shot. Step with caution though, because some of the tips are off the top of my head, and might not have been road tested, so YMMV. Nonetheless, raise your glasses of eggnog, and cheers to high tech christmas! Streamline Your PartyGetting people together for the holidays is usually a nightmare, as scheduling conflicts abound. Never fear, the MakeUseOf Directory has a horde of web-apps that will help you plan your party. I went through and picked out a few of my favorites.
Which Date Works
This app immediately stands out to me simply because there is no registration required. As you can see, the interface is very clean and eye catching. The host simply decides the details of the event, picks a few possible dates, and then emails out the notifications. The guests then pick which dates they are available as well, and the results are shown graphically on the calendar. Pingg
If you want to be a bit more elaborate than simply sending a “come hither” email, Pingg is a great service for creating e-vites and even a custom webpage for your event. Of course, event planning sites are a dime a dozen, but Pingg’s clean design and simple interface (things I always look for in webapps) make it a good choice above more spartan looking services like invite43. Use Google InsteadBut if you’d rather not sign up for one more service just to host a party, James wrote a great article on how to plan a party with Google services. Now once you have ensnared your unwitting guests, you need a way to keep them interested! Why not a party playlist, planned by everyone on the guest list, to make sure that the beats at least are keeping the guests appeased? Flavortunes is a great service that works just like sending out invitations, except you’re inviting the guests to suggest songs to play at the party. Unfortunately the service seems to be down at the moment, but keep it in mind for future reference. Perhaps that is not enough involvement from the net for you. Perhaps you’d like to be a little geekier than that? You could always toss the traditional holiday party idea (it’s so conventional anyways, right?) and have a LAN party instead! Yes, a LAN party. Jack covered How to Organize An Awesome Lan Party, and trust me, if you like games as much as my crowd does, it’ll be a hit for sure. But what about the party food? You can’t have a holiday party without decadent Christmas cake, and it HAS to match with the party theme. If you’re not having a LAN party, I can’t help you there, but if you ARE however, here are some great game-themed desserts to get your creativity going! Starcraft
Warcraft
Halo
There’s way more inspiration out there on the web, if you care to look, but if you are not a master baker (neither am I, no worries) you could always just buy a few action figures and shove them into the frosting! Or, you can just bake a bunch of brownies, cut them into squares, pretend the squares are pixels, dip them into colored frosting, and make pixel pictures, like the following.
Fabulous, no? DecorationsFor some simple, geeky centerpieces, take red and white wire, wind them around each other, and bend one end until the wires resemble a candy cane. To mass produce these wire candy canes, start with two ridiculously long lengths of wire, and after winding them together, snip the long twist into candy cane sized pieces. Use these wire canes in any decoration that calls for candy canes. One particularly simple candy-cane based decoration I like is created by taking a handful of the wire canes, spacing them evenly in a clear glass vase (the closer it is to the length of your cane, the better, so that the curve of the cane hits roughly the top of the glass), and then tying a length of silver ribbon in an aesthetically pleasing manner about 1/3 of the way down the top of the vase. It takes five minutes, and is one of the most elegant yet quick-fix decorations I have come across. If you have old sticks of ram or scratched up CDs lying around, you could cut them into the shapes of petals, and hot glue them together to create ram/CD – flowers. Then, you could either attach green wire stem to your flower, with a few leaves made from either wire or more ram attached, and use these in flower-based arrangements. For example, you could take a few very tall and skinny vases like the one shown below, fill them halfway with red potpourri, and stick a few “flowers” in each.
CDs in general make particularly great ornaments because they are so reflective and so easy to come by. Just cut a few of your old CDs up in fetching shapes, tie some thread from the central holes of the CDs, and get to tree-trimming. Christmas is almost here! What an exciting and nerve racking thought! Perhaps you were not ready for its imminent arrival, but hopefully now you’re a bit more prepared and inspired for the last sprint of the Christmas rush. In this article, I’ve covered a bit about throwing a fun, but not necessarily Christmas related party and providing the food and decorations, so I fully expect to receive dozens of invitations in my inbox tonight. Or, you could just leave us a comment with all the grisly details, and maybe a few pictures of your cake/ram flowers too! Happy Holidays! Image Credit : <Deepa> Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| Join The Public MakeUseOf Google Wave! Posted: 24 Dec 2009 01:31 PM PST
One of the areas where I see Wave helping us is in our continuing quest to be accessible to our readers. We want you all to feel that you can get in touch anytime with any of the writers on any topic and recently we have made great strides in that area with our Facebook group. But now, if you are so inclined, you can also chat to us (sometimes in “real time”) on the MakeUseOf Public Google Wave Just come on over and have a chat to us about anything you like. Do you have a comment (good or bad) to make about one of our articles? Do you have a tech problem you would like to discuss with us? Then come on over. Since Google Wave is still in private beta, some of you may still be having problems getting access. Well I have 20 invites that I am very happy to give away and the other MakeUseOf staff will surely have some too that they will be happy to donate. So just leave a comment here and ask nicely for an invite and we’ll try and get one out to you as soon as possible. Looking forward to seeing you on the Wave! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Geeks Weigh In: Does Cooling The CPU In Laptops Make a Difference? Posted: 24 Dec 2009 11:31 AM PST
Once, while we were sitting on the beach at camp using our laptops, my wife turned to me and asked, “Does it hurt the computer for it to warm up a little bit in the sun?” My knee-jerk reaction was to say that it doesn’t make a bit of difference. Then, a few memories from some of my engineering college classes came back and I remembered that as temperature rises, electrical conductance drops and components can degrade more quickly than normal. The real question is how much do those laptop cooling pads that you can place under your laptop for cooling the CPU really help? Today, I’m going to take a scientific look at that question and see if we can’t quantify the answer – something you can point to any time any of your friends ask you whether or not cooling the CPU really matters.
The Method & The Measurement ToolsThere are two variables to measure here – CPU temperature and cooling power. The experiment that I’m going to do in order to check for the correlation between those two variables is to benchmark the temperature profile of my Sony Vaio during normal operating conditions in my living room. Then I’m going to attempt to lower the core temperature of my laptop by using a USB powered cooling fan for 5 minutes and then for 10 minutes, and take additional benchmarks. Choosing the measurement tool was easy – I just turned to my trusted source for free software, MakeUseOf! The best application for this purpose is SpeedFan to measure temperature (reviewed earlier by Kyle). First, to take a baseline of the normal operating levels of my CPU temperature, I’m going to take a snapshot of all temperatures as well as a graphical snapshop of the core temperatures. First, SpeedFan displays my current CPU temperature as shown here.
As you can see, the temperature of my Duo Intel Core processor averages about 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 degrees F). Next, I switched to SpeedFan’s charting feature for a short history of the core temperature range.
The core temperature range is from 35 to 37 degrees F, and this is with seven windows open, including an online radio stream. I’m going to see if I can increase my core temperature at all by opening up a YouTube video stream, Microsoft Word and a few additional Internet browsers.
By opening multiple windows and Internet streams, you can see that my core temperature has gone up a few degrees to about 39 degrees F. As you can imagine, some people open a large number of applications and windows without realizing the effect that doing so has on the work required from the processor and the resulting temperature increase for that component. Experiment #1 – Cool Laptop For 5 MinutesIn this first test, I’m going to cool the laptop itself (and in effect the core temperature as well) of the laptop for a total of 5 minutes. For cooling the CPU, I’m using a USB powered notebook cooler pad rated with an air flow of 28 CFM and dual fan speed of 1500 rpm. Hypothetically, this should obviously cool the CPU even though the demands of multiple applications have driven the core temperature up. Let’s give it a shot – I’ll see you back here in 5 minutes. Whew…okay that wasn’t too bad. The laptop doesn’t feel a lot cooler, but let’s take a look if I’ve chilled the Intel Duo Core at all.
Sure enough, five minutes using the cooling fan pad dropped the core temperatures from almost 40 degrees Celsius down to just over 37 degrees Celsius. While this is only a 3 degree drop in the core temperature, such a differential can really make a difference in the life of the processor. Ideally, I’d like to see the fan bring the processor temperatures down to normal operating temperatures even with the additional applications open, but even after 10 minutes of cooling you can see that it just isn’t possible (at least not with this particular cooler).
It appears that while cooling the CPU of a laptop using these cooling fans certainly does make a difference, the cooling ability is limited by the device itself such as the airflow and fan speed. Experiment #2: Cool Laptop Under Normal OperationsMotivated by the very clear results from the experiment above, I wanted to see how much cooling the fan under my original “normal” use conditions would help with CPU temperature. Once I closed down the YouTube video stream, the extra browser windows and the Microsoft Word app, I applied cooling for another 10 minutes and then checked the core temp history using SpeedFan again.
In this case, the ability of the cooling fan to cool the CPU was even more dramatic. While I was originally operating just under 37 degrees Celsius, using the cooling pad dropped my normal core temperature all the way down to almost 32 degrees Celsius – a significant 5 degree drop in core temperature. Given that any increase in temperature can shorten the life of electrical components over the long term, this 5 degree drop could have a very positive cumulative effect on the life of your laptop CPU. The conclusion from my own testing is that yes, cooling the CPU in laptops does make a difference. Now it’s your turn – what do you think, do you think using a laptop cooling pad makes any difference in the life of your laptop? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| GnoMenu – A Customizable, Good-Looking Application Menu [Linux] Posted: 24 Dec 2009 09:31 AM PST
So why am I talking about alternatives? Because I am about to present one! Almost all distributions offers a default Application Launcher menu. Then you can use various other docks as we have shown you previously. Another very slick application menu is the GnoMenu. GnoMenu is a highly customizable application launcher. Let us see what all it can do. GnoMenu was originally conceived to emulate the Windows Start Menu but it has grown a lot bigger than that. The theme engine supports nice fresh looking themes and supports transparency even if compositing is turned off or not supported on your configuration. GnoMenu is not listed in the Ubuntu Repositories. So you will have to add the PPA. Karmic and Lucid users can use the add-apt-repository ppa:gnomenu-team command to add the repository to your software sources in a single step. If you are using another non-debian based distribution you can always compile from source. Now just issue the apt-get install gnomenu command and you have got GnoMenu application menu on your system.
Once installed you can access GnoMenu through the Add to Panel dialog. Just right click on a panel and choose Add to Panel. Look for the GnoMenu listing and add it to the panel. Right away you will see the GnoMenu icon on the panel. Click on it and it gives you access to applications, places and the system menu. By default GnoMenu application menu uses the KDE start menu (Lancelot) theme. You can change this easily and choose from amongst the many themes that are available. GnoMenu comes with a collection of about 10 or so themes, however you can download many more at Gnome-look, which has a separate category for GnoMenu themes.
GnoMenu lets you customize the theme, button and the icons for the menu. Plenty of options are available for each of them. Right click on the GnoMenu button and choose preferences from where you can customize GnoMenu’s look.
GnoMenu is not all eye-candy, it offers plenty of other options as well. For instance you can change bind custom shortcuts to bring up GnoMenu, choose how the programs are listed, number of programs in the list and many more.
The commands tab in GnoMenu settings allow you to customize the commands that you want to run when a particular item on the menu is clicked. If for example you are using wicd for network management, you can tell GnoMenu to run wicd when Network Config is clicked. GnoMenu is a very nice addition to your panel. Not only does it offer eye candy for your Linux desktop, it does so pretty well. You can use themes that use transparency even if you have compositing disabled or your computer just doesn’t have the required juice. It can also be used with cairo dock, avant window navigator and xfapplet. The only downside that comes to the mind is that you cannot drag items to or from GnoMenu taking away some flexibility and intuitiveness. Other than that you can use it in place of the standard Application menu on your distribution any time. What application menu or docks do you prefer to use on your Linux computer? Tell us about them in the comments. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Five Free Twitter Clients For Your Desktop [Mac] Posted: 24 Dec 2009 08:31 AM PST
For some people, the need to tweet has grown so much that the web-based client can’t cater to it. These people need dedicated Twitter clients. In the previous article about Google Quick Search Box, we have discussed about how to use QSB and GeekTool to do quick tweets under Mac. As cool as the method might be, not everybody wants to go through hoops just to set their Twitter client. If you are one of them and just want to tweet right away, here is a list of five free Twitter clients for Mac (in no particular order). Bluebird
This is a Twitter client from the same developer who brought us Bowtie. What differs Bluebird from other Twitter clients is its ability to change themes. It also provides its users with a Theme Browser to make the transformation easy. The simple steps to create themes allows anybody to make and share their own themes with other Bluebird users.
Another nice feature of this app is the way it organizes direct messages into threads based on the sender, just like iChat conversations. This will make the DM’s easy to follow. Twitterrific
This client take a minimalistic approach to the interface. Twitterrific supports Apple Script and has tons of shortcut keys. Keyboard people will definitely love this client. Twitterrific is available as a free ad-supported version and paid version.
Canary
Canary is an open source Twitter client for Mac. What I found most useful from this client is the integration of eight URL shortening services. You can use one of the services to automatically shorten any URL that you paste into your tweets. A few of the services even allow users to shorten URLs without having to register and log in.
Tweetie
GUI-wise, I personally like this one the best. Feature-wise, I also think that this one is the most mature among the other clients discussed here. Except for the theming ability of Bluebird, Tweetie has all the features that the other clients have such as integrated URL shortening services, threaded direct messages and self-assigned shortcuts (not as many as Twitterrific, though).
But there is more. Tweetie also supports several image hosting services, has the ability to look at other users’ details, and provides users with a browser bookmarklet. After attaching the bookmarklet to the browser(s), users can click it to tweet any interesting URL. Just like Twitterrific, Tweetie is also available as a free ad-supported version and a paid version. TweetDeck
As an Adobe AIR application, this Twitter client can also run under Windows and Linux. Opposite to Twitterific, TweetDeck takes the all-in-one approach. That’s why the window takes almost all of my 13″ screen.
One unique feature of this client is its recommendation pane that will show interesting tweets that users might want to follow. TweetDeck supports several URL shortening and image hosting services. It also supports other social networks. Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn users can use TweetDeck to interact with their account. Lastly, just a quick mention about Echofon which Jackson reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Do you know other free Twitter clients for Mac? If so, please share using the comments below. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!
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| How To Convert Your VHS Video Cassettes To DVD’s Posted: 24 Dec 2009 07:31 AM PST
And sure enough I found it. It is a little free application called Golden VHS to DVD converter located here. You will also need a capture device to connect your VCR to your computer. If you have video inputs on your machine you are one step ahead of me. I needed to buy a cheap video converter for about $13.00. Mine actually cost $12.43. All I did was google Video Capture Device and then clicked shopping. They look something like this.
Once you have that all set up you can start using your software to capture the video from the VCR. Install the application we downloaded. You will only really need one component of it, so on this screen only check the first box.
After installing Debut Video Capture Software it will launch.
Once the splash screen is gone you will see the main programs interface like so:
Click on New Recording to get started. You will then see this screen:
Click next to select your converting device. On the system I am writing this article on, I do not have the device connected. But you would pull down this drop down menu at the top and choose your device:
You can leave the sound recording device as the default unless you have a secondary device in your machine. You can work with the sound levels and even choose to not capture sound by unchecking the capture sound check box. Next start the VCR playing. If you see the preview of the screen under your video device selection we are good to go. Just hit the next button to continue. On the conversion screen you will see the following options: Restart Push this button if you want to start the new recording immediately. Record Push this button to start the recording. Stop Push this button to stop the recording. Record Volume Level Indicates the input volume level. Mute preview Select this checkbox if you don’t want to hear the sound which is being captured at the moment. Recording time: Indicates the total length of the recording so far. Size of the recording: Indicates the size on disk which is being taken by the recording. Estimated time left on HDD: Indicates the approximate time you are able to record to your hard disk drive. Frames per second: Shows you the number of frames received from the capture during the last second. It should be approximately 24-25 for PAL and 29-30 for NTSC. Buffer overflow warnings: Indicates the number of situations occurred when Golden Videos waited for the data to be written to hard drive disk. This usually means that you’re either using a slow hard drive, your hard drive is highly fragmented, your PC does not meet the minimum requirements for this application or you’re running some other applications which use the CPU and HDD extensively. Try closing all other applications except Golden Videos while capturing. Shut down the computer when finished Select this checkbox if you would like to shut down your PC when the wizard finishes. Play sound when finished Select this checkbox if you want Golden Videos to play a sound when the wizard finishes. Open output file containing folder Select this checkbox if you want Golden Videos to open directory that contains the output file when the wizard finishes. That's it! Check the check box to open the folder containing your file when the wizard is complete and when you are done you will have a MPEG4 file that you can then convert to DVD or what have you. You can also install the other tools from the first step if you do not have a converter or burning software installed on your machine. When you are finished with this you will have your memories saved on a DVD that anyone can watch! Happy holidays guys! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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Web working is turning out to be a very popular idea these days. Many people are turning to the Internet for their main source of income, making the physical place they work in a bit less important (I’m beginning 
The folks over at 
Yes, I know. It’s the last bend before Christmas comes around, and for many of us, it marks the beginning of a mad scramble to pick up last minute presents, put up decorations, and plan get-togethers. Of course, this year, you could do the same boring thing as every other year. You could resort to the same old spherical glass ornaments in the array of solid metallic colors, and you could fall back on Freezer-Isle hors d’oeuvres.
During the past few days, I have been trying to finally get the hang of 
Today, with the massive popularity of mobile computing, many people find themselves using laptops in locations and conditions that they might never have considered before. With more powerful Wi-Fi technologies, people can sit out on the deck on a warm summer day to cruise the net or chat on Facebook. With higher speed capabilities over cellular data networks, people can sit on a boat in the middle of a lake and shop on eBay or Amazon. This is the amazing world in which we live – but with convenience comes complications.
One of the great things about Linux is that there are a number of options for almost everything that you can hope to achieve. While this bugs some people, I see it as a healthy sign. It means that you don’t have to be tied down to a single provider/developer/manufacturer just because they are the only ones offering the service.
Twitter has evolved into one of the biggest names on the web. We use Twitter not only to express short personal thoughts but also for more serious things like site promotion or other commercial purposes.
It’s the holiday season and the family is coming around to visit as usual. And as usual the technology requests are in. This year I have been tasked with converting VHS videos to DVD. I did not want to spend a fortune on conversion software and as the story goes I wanted FREE software so I could also write about my experience on MakeUseOf.
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