MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th]” plus 11 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th]
- The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers]
- How Do I Clear Previous Google Searches?
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- The Top 10 Laptop Computers To Buy Now: A Quick Review
- Sewell Minideck Giveaway Winners
- Hot Tech Deals [May 28th]
- How To Set Up Email Filters In Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo
- Top 10 Resources and Articles To Know Everything About Facebook
- 5 Great Tips and Tools For a Clean and Minimalist Mac Desktop
- Make Reading on your Computer a Pleasure With MartView
- How To Find the Best Places to Eat Anywhere in the World
| Cool Websites and Tools [May 28th] Posted: 28 May 2010 08:31 PM PDT
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. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| The 5 Toughest Tech Questions [MakeUseOf Answers] Posted: 28 May 2010 07:30 PM PDT
I’m happy to reward another great contribution. Here is this week’s winner of our Best Answers of the Week contest: Rob for his answer to the question “Where can I compare the speed of web hosts?“. Congratulations Rob! Care for some cash? We are rewarding $50 for the Best Answer of the Week. All entries with a valid eMail address or Facebook account are eligible. In addition we’re giving away one more free copy of Symantec's Backup Exec System Recovery program.
For more questions seeking an answer browse MakeUseOf Answers by Latest Questions, Unanswered Questions or Most Popular Questions. You can receive regular updates by subscribing to the Answers RSS Feed. Need help? Ask us at MakeUseOf Answers! Free and no strings attached. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| How Do I Clear Previous Google Searches? Posted: 28 May 2010 06:30 PM PDT
Saved personalized searches provide a convenient way to go back and retrieve previous search results on our computer so you don’t have to waste time tracking down information you previously downloaded. But sometimes your saved searches can compromise your privacy or security, and that's why it's important to know how to clear your searches and web activity from any computer you use.
Just as we can allow Google to save our personal web history on our Google account, we also have the preference for allowing our web history to be saved on our computer(s). But each web browser includes preferences for deleting searches or stopping searches and results all together from being saved. All the popular web browsers include a History feature in either the toolbar or menu bar of the browser where you can clear your search history. What to Look ForWith each browser you use, there are three features that preserve your search and history data. There's your browser history that list all the pages you've visited, including files you have downloaded. Next there's the browser's cache, which consist of all the stored web pages, images, and other downloaded content that is downloaded to your computer. Saved caches help the computer download those saved content faster when you visit particular sites again. But occasionally or regularly clearing your caches protects your privacy and frees up space on your computer. And finally, there's the search terms that are retained in the search field of your browser. If you have any surreptitious keywords in that list, you should know how to clear them out. Clearing CookiesOh, and one more place to clear out if need be. Often times, web sites you visit will embed temporary or permanent cookies in your browser's memory. Cookies keep track of information entered into a site by you so that information can be retrieved the next time you visit the site. Sometimes the cookies are deleted once you leave the site, other times cookies remains on your computer's hard drive until you delete them. You can go into the preferences of any web browser and change settings for accepting cookies. You can have you computer accept cookies, Always, Never, or “Only from the sites I visit.” The latter is probably your best bet. Choosing Never is okay too, but realize that it might mean resubmitting data into sites you previously visit. It's a good idea to click the Show Cookies button and see which sites have left cookies in your web browser. You should be able to access cookie data by clicking on the Preferences window of any web browser.
Clear History in FirefoxIn the most recent version of Firefox, you clear your history by clicking on History>Show History in the menubar, where you can selectively delete or clear all your history in the Firefox library.
You can also click on Tools>Clear History, and you will taken to a dialog box where you select the items you want cleared, including Cookies and Cache. You will probably want to leave Active Log-ins and Site Preferences unchecked if you clearing History from your own computer.
Note also, under Tools, you can select Start Private Browsing which will stop Firefox from saving all your browsing activity.
Clear History in SafariTo manage clear your history in Safari, you can first go to the menu bar under History and simply click, Clear History. This will take out all your current and past download data.
If you want to selectively clear items in your history, select Show History. You will be taken to a collection of your down loads where you can select and delete individual items.
If don't want to Safari to record web activity and searches, you can stop it any time by selecting Safari>Private Browsing in the menu bar. Note: you need to go back and manually disable or deselect Private Browsing if you want to Safari to resume saving your history. In the same menu bar section, you will also want to get in the habit of clicking the Empty Cache menu item. In the Google search field of Safari, you can clear the list of recent searches by simply clicking on the search field and selecting Clear Recent Searches.
Clear History in ChromeClearing History in Chrome may be slightly different fro Windows and Mac users. Windows instructions:
Mac instructions:
Clicking on History>History in Chrome’s menu bar for Mac, will deliver a history web pages you have visited. You can click "Delete history for this day," to selectively clear history data.
Private browsing in Chrome for Windows and Linux users is done by clicking on Tools menu and selecting New incognito window. For Mac users, click New>New incognito window.
Note what is said about private browsing in Chrome.
Clear History in Explorer 6 and 7Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 6
Stop HistoryAll browsers pretty much have similar options for clearing and managing history data. Unfortunately because cookies from other websites can be left on your computer hard drive, it's nearly impossible clear all your web activity, but your best bet is switching to Private Browsing anytime you think you need to stop surreptitious web activity from showing up in your web browser and computer hard drive. Let us know what other tools you use for clearing web activity. Has not clearing your web history ever caused you problem at work or at home? Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 28 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT
If you would like to keep up with all latest Geeky Fun additions, please subscribe to the Geeky Fun feed here. You can also subscribe and get the latest additions via email. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Do share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| The Top 10 Laptop Computers To Buy Now: A Quick Review Posted: 28 May 2010 04:30 PM PDT
Because of this, now is a great time to look into purchasing a laptop. Laptops now have the same computing power as desktops and are the least expensive they’ve ever been. If you’re constantly on the go, it makes sense to have one. We feature a lot of hot tech deals here at MakeUseOf, but if you’re in the market for a laptop, I’ve compiled this list of the top ten laptop computers for you.
Criteria for the ListMy criteria for this list was pretty basic. I only looked at laptops priced under $1,000 that had at least 4GB of RAM, a dual-core processor, and came with Windows 7. I felt that these specifications would generate a list of great laptops for the practical user that doesn’t have thousands to spend. Let’s see what we came up with! 1. Sony Vaio FW560F/T
This Sony Vaio laptop has a lot of features that make it very attractive. With a 16-inch screen, it is very slim. It has Blu-ray playback and decent gaming performance, although it doesn’t support 1080p. It makes for a very good multimedia notebook. 2. Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US
This laptop comes with a Core i5 processor, NVIDIA graphics, and Blu-ray support. I’ve read that the touchpad is uncomfortable at times, but the processing power and graphics make it a great laptop with decent battery life. Here’s a link to the product in Best Buy. 3. Gateway NV7915u
This Gateway laptop is one of the least expensive on the list while also being among the most powerful. It has poor battery life, but its processing power, audio output, and HDMI support make it a great desktop replacement. 4. Asus U30Jc-A1
The Asus laptop only has a 13-inch screen, but it comes with NVIDIA Optimus graphics and an Intel Core i3 processor. The battery life is great on this laptop and it’s great for gaming. 5. HP Pavilion dv7-3165dx
The HP Pavilion doesn’t have great battery life, but it has a nice big screen, Blu-ray playback support, a good assortment of connection outputs, and is very portable. Unfortunately, there is no Bluetooth support. Here’s a link to the product in Best Buy. 6. Alienware M11X
Alienware computers are synonymous with gaming. This laptop is no different. It features switchable graphics for longer battery life, an excellent keyboard, a low-voltage processor, and high-end graphics. The only compromise is an 11.6-inch screen and no optical drive. Here’s a link to the product in Best Buy for $900. However, if you’re willing to do with only 2GB of RAM, Dell Home is offering this laptop at only $699 with this coupon code “?8CN$RJ?W5TQ0C” — get it here. 7. Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904
This laptop features a slim design, built-in Intel Wireless Display technology, and a speedy Core i5 processor. It lacks in sound quality, graphics, and battery life, but is slim and fast. Best Buy is currently offering a free Xbox 360 with every purchase of this laptop, get it here. 8. Asus K60I-RBBBR05
This laptop has a big, bright energy-efficient LED-backlit display with a 16-inch screen. It has decent battery life and a big hard drive. The only negative is it doesn’t have HDMI support. Here’s a link to the product in Best Buy. 9. Gateway NV7901u
With a 17-inch screen and a Core i5 processor, this Gateway is pretty solid. It doesn’t have Bluetooth or Blu-ray playback support, and its ATI graphics are good but not 1080p, which is why it’s further down the list. 10. Sony Vaio VGN-NW240F
We’re rounding out our list the way we started it off–with a Sony Vaio. This laptop has very good performance and a nice design. There is no support for Bluetooth and the battery life is subpar, but the features and performance are what make it list-worthy. Here’s a link to the product in Best Buy. What do you think of this list? Did I leave out your favorite laptop? Leave your comments below! Image Credit: CraigJ NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Sewell Minideck Giveaway Winners Posted: 28 May 2010 02:30 PM PDT
Congratulations! We’ve sent you an email. Please reply with your shipping address and contact information. Also, don’t forget about the current giveaway: Win an Exciting Trip for 2 to New Zealand! MakeUseOf would like to thank Elise from Sewell Direct for her generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Posted: 28 May 2010 01:30 PM PDT
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| How To Set Up Email Filters In Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo Posted: 28 May 2010 12:30 PM PDT
For example, you may want to have a Facebook filter to separate all your notifications emails from your everyday emails. You could also do this for newsletters that you are subscribed to, emails from family members, or emails related to work. It's also a great tool to automatically trash or mark certain emails as spam. As you can see, there are a lot of advantages for filtering your emails.
Creating Filters in GmailThe first thing to point out is that Gmail does not use the tradition 'folder' structure. Gmail uses 'labels', but they are pretty much the same thing, it just has a different name. To setup an email filter, click on Settings which is in the top right corner, then click on Filters. If you already have filters setup, they will be displayed. As you can see, my first filter sends all my emails apart from Facebook emails to another email account so I can access them on my mobile phone. The second filter deletes all my Buzz notifications, or anything with Buzz in the subject.
So to create a filter, simply click on Create a new filter. You will then be prompted to provide criteria to base the filter on. From the image below, you can base the filter on the following search criteria:
Depending on what you want to filter depends on what you enter. In this example, I am going to create a filter to to move all my Facebook emails in to a folder/label. To do this, I am going to enter Facebook into the From box. The reason why I am using facebook and not facebook.com is because not all emails are from the facebook.com domain name, some are from facebookmail.com. So by just typing in facebook, I will capture all emails from Facebook, including emails from another domain name that has the phrase Facebook in it. If you want, you can test the search to ensure it works by clicking on Test Search. If you are happy with the results, click Next Step. Now I am going to tell Gmail what to do with the emails it filters. I am going to select Apply the label: Facebook because I want all my Facebook emails to go into a Facebook label. If you don't have a Facebook label, make sure you create it when you select the label in the drop down box. Make sure Apply the label is also checked.
Then all you have to do is click on Create Filter. If you want the filter to sort your current emails, make sure you tick the Also apply filter to xx conversations below checkbox. Congratulations, you have successfully created your Gmail filter. Create An Email Filter In HotmailLogin to your Hotmail account. In the top right hand corner, click on Options, then select More Options. Under Customise your mail, select Automatically sort e-mail into folders, then click on New Filter.
Similar to Gmail, enter your filter criteria. In this example, I am going to have a filter that moves all my emails from MakeUseOf into a MakeUseOf Folder. By having @makeuseof.com, any emails received from a MakeUseOf email address will be moved into the MakeUseOf folder I created. Once you are done with your filter, hit Save. Setup An Email Filter in YahooAs like Hotmail, click on Options and More Options which is in the top right corner of the screen. On the left hand side, select Filters. To create your filter, on the top bar, select Add Filter. Everything should be self explanatory and very similar to Gmail and Hotmail.
As I contribute to MakeUseOf Answers regularly, I get a lot of email notification of replies. As you may be aware, the subject of the replies begins with [makeuseofanswers]. So I am going to setup a filter to move these emails into a MakeUseOf Answers folder. I won’t use the sender as a filter criteria because it won’t work. As the comment system uses Disqus, I don’t want to have comments from other blogs in my MakeUseOf Answers folder. To apply the correct filter, in Subject section, I am going to select begins with in the drop down box and type [makeuseofanswers] as this will filter my email's appropriately. Other ClientsIf you are using Thunderbird to manage your email's, Tina has a great article on how you can setup filters. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you may want to read this article and this article to organise your emails into folders. So hopefully, you now have an understanding on how to organise your emails more efficiently. Remember, when creating a filter, you need to ensure that the emails you are filtering have a unique but common occurrence such as a specific email address, subject, or a phrase in the email contents. If it doesn't, other emails may get caught in the filter which you don't want to happen. Did this article help you get started with the filters feature? Have you used it before? Any tips of your own? Voice them out in the comments. We NEED Your Comments!!! Please do share your thoughts in article comments. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Top 10 Resources and Articles To Know Everything About Facebook Posted: 28 May 2010 11:30 AM PDT
Facebook controversies haven't dampened log-ins. We still like to see what's on our Walls. Where we are getting tagged, and who's our new Farmville neighbor. Facebook still is like the corner coffee shop…a habit. There are some things on the web that set up a micro-universe all of their own. Think Google, think Twitter, and of course, let's talk about Facebook.
I will ask you where you get your Facebook news from later. Right now, check these 10 resources that are always worth a visit for news and articles on Facebook. We will start off from some of Facebook's own resources. The Facebook Blog
It's always best to get some news straight from the horse mouth. The information may not be unbiased, but it is relevant because you get to hear it first on the official Facebook blog. The blog archive is categorized around topics. Right on top, Facebook Fairytales is a fun read. Facebook Help Center
Facebook Developers
Get the breaking news here. The information coming out of the Developer news is a bit geeky, but you get to hear about everything that's happening on the Facebook platform. The page has a few more sections like the Platform Live Status page which is like an update board on errors and cures. The Forum is the discussion board on Facebook apps and plugins. Showcase is the virtual display of how third party sites are implementing Facebook plugins. Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook takes a specialized look at the Facebook platform and how it is relevant for developers and marketers. It is a niche site for those interested in innovative ways to use social media. The site came up in 2006, so it also has grown up with Facebook (Facebook was launched in 2004). The site gives you reports, metrics, and insights, on how marketers and social entrepreneurs are 'exploiting' Facebook. Two its sections – Inside Social Games and App Data catch the trends of games and applications on Facebook (and other social media). Some sections and downloads are open to paid subscribers only. Did you know that there is an upcoming Facebook service called 'Questions'? It could be potentially useful. Read about it here – "Facebook Questions" Tapping Into Friends' Opinions, May be More Fun than Intellectual Also see more of it here. Mashable
Mashable is one of the top most social media digests on the web. Among all its other knowledgebase, you will find the Facebook Guide Book. It is as described, a hub of Mashable pages that help you master Facebook. From basic topics for the newbie to more advanced ones for specialized uses, you get it all. Check out how to send a real gift on Facebook. All Facebook
All Facebook is an independent blog that is in no way affiliated to Facebook. The blog discusses new applications, general news, and events that happen around Facebook. The only problem I could see with this blog was that I couldn't find a way to dig into the archives. Except use the search box, maybe. Searching for some tips, I found How To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of Fans Facebook Login
Again this is a blog that concentrates on Facebook how-tos and news. The blog pages are filed under categories on applications, games, help, tools, tricks, and a few more. Reclaim Privacy
With all the talk of changes in Facebook's privacy settings and the firestorm it's generating, this little easy to use bookmarklet is handy. You can check the level of your privacy settings in three easy steps. The scan reveals the settings which are better off being private rather than public. The scanner will roll out in a couple of weeks time, after an update for Facebook’s new privacy controls. The site could do with a visit if you are concerned about privacy policies on Facebook. Digg
Why not? It gives me one of the easiest ways to spot the most popular Facebook pages on the web. Search with a Facebook keyword and you get a complete list throw Digg's filter at. Browsing through the 'Most Dugg' Facebook posts, I came across – How to Suck at Facebook – The Oatmeal MakeUseOfAt the risk of blowing our own trumpet, let me just point out that we have 100+ articles on Facebook. Some of the popular must reads include
And we have a dedicated fan page on Facebook to keep you in the know of what's trending on our site with articles and giveaways. The Facebook grapevine does not end here, of course. You can find Facebook news and views in many other media outlets. Take Twitter for real time news. Try a Google Blog Search to see who's publishing opinion on Facebook. Online newspaper sites like NY Times and Reuters are chock-a-block with Facebook news. The information glut is overwhelming, isn't it? Let us know how alert you are about news and alerts about the site where you have parked your social profile. Image credit: Geek and Poke Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf fan page on Facebook. Over 20,000 fans already!
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| 5 Great Tips and Tools For a Clean and Minimalist Mac Desktop Posted: 28 May 2010 10:30 AM PDT
Simplicity is also functionality. Keeping a clean desk allows you to get things done. Admit it, you don’t really like that mess, you just don’t feel like cleaning it up. In this article, we’ll be showing you how to create a clean work (and play) environment – a clean desk that doesn’t need tending to but allows you to focus on what’s important. Here are five simple steps towards a bare and ultimately functional Mac.
1. Hide Your Desktop Icons with CamouflageThe most important step towards a clean and functional work interface is hiding your desktop icons. Not cleaning them up. Hiding them. I know how rash this may sound to some of you. Killing your desktop is one of the hardest steps to take, but you’ll be glad to have done it. In the end, you’ll wonder why people bother with desktops anymore.
Mac OS X does not, by default, allow you to hide your dekstop icons. Freeware application Camouflage will take care of the job. Even more so. By double-clicking your (empty) wallpaper, your Desktop (folder) will pop up in Finder. Set the folder to list view, and end up with a cleaner desktop, and faster and better organized access to your files. Jackson previously mentioned Camouflage, along with other tools to help spice up your desktop. Check it out. 2. Hide The DockNext, we’ll take care of the Dock. Hiding it will declutter your desktop even further and, more importantly, free up space. Unless you’ve got three monitors, the extra space won’t hurt.
Right click (or Control+click) on the dock’s separator. A menu will pop up. Apart from changing the Dock’s position, toggling Magnification, you can use it to turn on Hiding (which can also be done by pressing Control+Option+D). In the future, if you want to access your Dock, simply touch your mouse to the side of the screen where it lies hidden. 3. Dim Apple’s Menu Bar with Menu EclipseAlthough people might often compare Apple’s menu bar to the task bar in Windows, it is not the same. The menu bar perfectly integrates with each application’s interface. Hiding is would be like cutting off part of every application – simply to gain 22 pixels worth of display space (I counted). Instead of hiding the Menu Bar, you can dim it. This will keep it from stealing focus from other applications, and from being burned into your display permanently.
Although there are a number of freeware alternatives, I highly recommend Menu Eclipse. This application allows you to configure the dim-rate of your menu bar (or black it out entirely). By default, the menu bar jumps back into focus when hovering over it with your mouse. If you’re willing to compromise visibility, this can be turned off as well. 4. Configure Apple’s ExposéExposé is the collective term for a number of window-accessibility tools. With the flick of a mouse, they will create order out of the chaos. For instance, by showing you all the open applications or windows side by side, or by launching the Dashboard with a shortcut. Learn more about Exposé in a previously published article Become A Multitasking Master With These 6 Exposé Tips.
We’re most interested in the Active Screen Corners (activate by dragging your mouse in a corner of the screen) and keyboard shortcuts. Both of these can be configured via Apple Menu -> System Preferences… -> Exposé and Spaces -> Exposé. 5. Automatically Hide Idle Applications with Spirited Away
By default, the application is set to hide everything that hasn’t been touched for sixty seconds. This ensures that only the active program is visible on your screen. But if you want, you can increase that time, or whitelist applications on the spot. Tip: use Command+Option+H to toggle Spirited Away on or off. Do you have any other tips to keep a clean and simplistic Mac desktop? Know of any other interesting applications? Let us and your fellow reader know in the comments section below! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Make Reading on your Computer a Pleasure With MartView Posted: 28 May 2010 09:30 AM PDT
Luckily, there are eBook reader devices that now incorporate an animated sort of “page turning.” Those features are awesome, but they don’t help you much when you’re trying to read an eBook on your computer when you’re not mobile. This is why I was very excited to discover an awesome desktop eBook reader called MartView.
MartView Makes Reading Digital Documents EnjoyableWhat I love about the free MartView eBook reader is the design that’s very easy on the eyes, and the functionality that really does make you feel like you have ultimate control over the motion of the book and the flow of your reading. Once you download and install the application, it looks like this.
Normally, the top menu bar is hidden, but when you bring your mouse near the top of the screen, it drops down. There are a lot of cool options available for how you’d like to navigate through your eBook. You can simply flip through (my favorite), or you can opt for the standard horizontal or vertical slide formats of typical PDF readers.
In the image below, I’ve grabbed hold of the lower right corner of the page and I’m turning the page in the example eBook. This shows the page in mid-flip, but you can actually hold it there as you would with a normal book. You can put it back if you want, or continue on to the next page. It’s a very cool feeling to have so much control over the motion of the page, and the shading and animation really makes it feel like you’re looking at a real book.
Changing views is as easy as clicking on the drop-down menu bar. Here, I’ve instantly changed the navigation to the vertical slide option. In this format you can use the scroll-bar (or your mouse scroll) to scroll up and down the entire eBook.
Another very cool view is the “thumbnails” view. Rather than sifting through a table of contents to find the page that you’re looking for, why not browse a thumbnail of all pages of the eBook? This makes it very easy to find diagrams or images that you want to refer back to but don’t remember the exact page.
You can use the MartView reader as a standalone PDF or eBook reader, but it also has the ability to connect through your Internet connection and download from the huge library of free eBooks at the MartView website. You don’t need an account, all you need to do is install the reader and you can start downloading free eBooks. You can also create and upload your own eBooks and store them on the MartView library.
You can create and upload an eBook to the MartView library from a PDF eBook, from a collection of your own personal images, or from an archived collection of images and share your eBook with the entire community.
The upload process is really simple and fast. Just select the file, give it a title that you’ll remember easily (and a good category), and upload it to MartView.
The coolest part of MartView, in my opinion, is the library. I love free reading material, and the volumes of free content that you’ll find at MartView is seemingly unlimited. There are entire collections of online magazines, sorted into categories like Business & Finance, Computers & Tech and a lot more. Of course, you aren’t limited to downloading and reading MartView eBooks only. You can open up any PDF on your computer or that you download from any other PDF-based eBook site using your MartView reader. Here, I opened a free download of A Tale of Two Cities.
You’ll notice that the shading and appearance gives your PDF document the look and feel of a real book. Just start paging through and enjoy your reading experience! As with many good things, there’s a downside. I did notice that MartView is a dog when it comes to memory consumption. It’s best used with all other applications shut down and devoting the entire screen to the reading experience. Unless you have some massive memory, I wouldn’t advise trying to accomplish much else with your computer while running MartView. With that said, I really like the software and plan to use it whenever I have some free time to sit back and enjoy an e-magazine or a free eBook. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Do share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| How To Find the Best Places to Eat Anywhere in the World Posted: 28 May 2010 08:30 AM PDT
Now we can make use of recommendations from others via a little website called Trusted Opinion. It has a database of more than 1.5 million reviewed restaurants around the world.
Let's take a look at there website. It is accessible here. When you get there, you will see a screen that looks like this:
To use the site, you will need to sign up for the free service. I normally recommend using a little BugMeNot (MakeUseOf review) action but on this website you would benefit from creating your own account. Moreover, you can keep up with your friends’ favorites when you have an account — giving you more reason to sign up. Click on the Sign Up Free button in the upper right hand corner and fill in the basic form:
You can also opt to use your FaceBook account instead of creating a new account. I signed up and continued on. It then tries to determine your location and shows you eateries close by. For me, it was off a little bit. I am in Brooklyn and it thought I was in the Bronx. So I fixed it by changing the location in the upper left hand corner. You can see it in the image below. I then saw my local shops. There were 1000 restaurants listed in this neighborhood! Wow who knew there were so many.
You can see them listed in order of "Trusted Score". I clicked through and saw the information provided to me. You are able to see the name of the eatery, the type of cuisine, the ability to rate it, the location, the phone number and reviews. If your friends reviewed it, they will appear on the right hand side under the map.
By reading the reviews, you can get an idea of how the food is. You can also leave a rating or review yourself to help others understand what the eatery is all about. You can also drill down by types of cuisines by using the menu on the left:
They break it down into anything you could probably want. You can also sort by distance like so:
This is very handy if you have to walk. The site has a great user base and more and more reviews are being populated as its popularity grows. It is people like you that make it awesome. So stop by and review your favorite spots or go and learn about new ones. If you do try one and like it (or hate it) come back to the site and let everyone know how you feel. This will make the next persons decision much easier. If you decide to stay in try and cook with what you have, check out this post. Do you use a similar site? We would love to hear about it in the comments! Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to 
These past two weeks have been quite busy at 
Recently we published an article about 
Check out the top picks from MakeUseOf 
We are more dependent on technology now than ever before –and for good reason. Our cell phones have more capabilities than laptops did 5 years ago. Technology is quickly becoming faster, more reliable, and yes, more portable.
Another hardware giveaway came and went. Sewell Direct’s giveaway just ended last night and received a staggering amount of entries. It seems that the MakeUseOf crowd really enjoys getting free gadgets. Of course, now comes the time to select 3 lucky winners to each receive a Sewell Minideck!
If you’re in the market for a new computer, laptop, mobile phone, games and other accessories; don’t waste your time searching online. We’ve taken the liberty of locating the best tech deals and unifying them into a single post for your convenience.
Setting up email filters or organising your emails into folders is an efficient way to manage your emails. You might want to setup an email filter to automatically sort your emails into folders for better management. 
The Facebook 
Simplicity is a rising movement. People are trying to get rid of the superfluous clutter that we often dub an interface. Features are no longer to be measured in the number of buttons on your screen.
This last application is a real novelty. It will monitor all open applications, and hide them when they’ve been idle for too long. It’s as if they were spirited away! Jackson previously touched on it in his article 
One of the problems I’ve always had with reading eBooks online is that it just doesn’t have the same look and feel of a real book or magazine. When you hold a book in your hands, you can grip the corner of the page and curl it back just as your finishing the last few words on the page, and then quickly toss the page over to the next page so you can continue without pause. This is part of the experience of reading, and it’s something that is very hard to give up as you transition to the digital medium of the Internet.
I often find myself traveling to strange places and often have little to no advice on what the best places to eat and drink are. I am sure we have all tried new food places just to be disgusted. And other times, we have been pleasantly surprised.
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