MakeUseOf.com: “Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]” plus 9 more |  |
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- Cool Websites and Tools [July 2nd]
- The 5 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers]
- Hahlo – A Vibrant No-Download Twitter App For Your Firefox Sidebar
- Enjoy Full-blown, Visual RSS Feeds with Feedlooks
- Stop Typing The Same Words Again and Again with MyWords [Firefox]
- 5 Free Alternatives to Photoshop You Should Try
- Your Quick Guide To Searching the Internet From The Wii
- 3 Great Sources For Computer Game Walkthroughs and Cheat Codes
- The 2 Good Mac File Sharing Apps Compared: CloudApp vs Droplr
| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 02 Jul 2010 09:00 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.
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| Cool Websites and Tools [July 2nd] Posted: 02 Jul 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. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| The 5 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers] Posted: 02 Jul 2010 06:30 PM PDT
Our Best Questions are often picked due to your unique and helpful answers. Asking questions is free, but offering a great answer can earn you $50! The only condition is that you use a valid eMail address or your Facebook account when posting your answer. Otherwise we won’t be able to contact our winner! Now here are the best questions from the past week:
Many more questions wait for answers at MakeUseOf Answers. You can view Latest Questions, Unanswered Questions or Most Popular Questions. For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed. Need help? Ask us at MakeUseOf Answers! Free, no signup, no spam. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Hahlo – A Vibrant No-Download Twitter App For Your Firefox Sidebar Posted: 02 Jul 2010 04:30 PM PDT
We have talked about some great addons that perform tiny miracles in the Firefox sidebar and the next one is no exception.
We first described Hahlo as a worthy Twitter tool, but this beautifully-designed-for-iPhone/iPod-Touch (and ad-free!) app offers a few more noticeable features.
CustomizationYou can edit your Twitter profile (which not many Twitter iPhone apps let you do), choose a specific start page (for which it’ll ask to store data for offline use, but Hahlo will remember your choice until you close your browser/delete cookies), such as mentions, direct messages or a combination of pages, choose a refresh time of 1 to 10 minutes and select how many tweets (from 10 to 200) show up in your timeline.
Also, if you prefer certain colors, you can customize the colors for the background, text, links, etc.
Ability To Display Conversations and Expand URLs In-LineHahlo not only provides options to access replies in one-click and reveal shortened links, but it also does advanced search for favorited tweets, trends, by location, specific retweets, etc.
Bonus for Mac usersIf you’re using a Mac, you’ll be gifted the ability to turn the web app into a desktop app with Fluid and even receive notifications via Growl.
I didn’t encounter any problems with Hahlo’s latest version 4, which was released a bit more than six months ago and really works great, but if you for some reason, can’t in with OAuth, just try reloading Hahlo’s site or you can try using its older version 3. Also, Hahlo doesn’t currently include a way to upload a picture with your tweet, but you can include your location.
Hahlo, adapted as a ’standalone’ site on the Firefox sidebar, could rock for users looking for a more usable and elegant Twitter web page, or those with limited screen space (e.g netbooks), or anyone looking for one-click access to Twitter streams. Do you use any websites, in addition to Twitter’s own, to quickly check Twitter or do you prefer more full-featured desktop apps? Image credit: Kodz Red, Jaziel, benjigarner NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Enjoy Full-blown, Visual RSS Feeds with Feedlooks Posted: 02 Jul 2010 02:30 PM PDT
Generally though, RSS feeds are pretty drab, with the emphasis on drab, rather than pretty. Enter Feedlooks, and the world of what they themselves describe as 'full visual glory'.
Getting onboardI'm a big Google Reader user, so I was pleased to see that Feedlooks was entirely web-based, and that it was happy to import my feeds from Google. There's an export/import step in the middle, but it's not too much of a problem. Beware that in the pre-beta world of Feedlooks, you might face some limitations as to the quantity of feeds they will let you bring in-house. So, do what you do best. Provide an email address, create a password, answer the confirmation email, log in, and you're feeding with class.
We'll look at adding a feed manually in a minute, but in the meantime you have some sample feeds to take a look at, and we're going to do that GReader import thing: Click on Account in the toolbar, change the colour scheme if you're of a mind, and then click Import/Export feeds.
As we're going to deal with Google Reader, take a look at the instructions, then click the link as indicated. Assuming you're signed into the right account at Google (I wasn't!) then you'll be asked what you want to do with the google-reader-subscriptions.xml file. Save it somewhere locally, and then browse to it from the Feedlooks page. Click import, and you'll get a confirmation that the file will be imported. That's going to take a little while, and the kind folks at Feedlooks will email you when it's finished. More than that, in my email I was given a list of feeds that, quite legitimately, it didn't want to add. Closed blogs and the like. Add a feedMeanwhile, back on the homepage, a small child waits… no, hold on, that's a Kiwi saying, you won't understand. In fact a small plus (+) button waits. Click it, and we'll go through the add process. Go to a web page with a feed. Copy the URL for the feed, and head back to Feedlooks.
The subscription itself is a little bit of an anti-climax. The box glows briefly, and the address disappears, ready for the next one. Back to the Home page. Up and runningThe pre-beta status of feedlooks means that you need to be prepared to put up with a few rough edges, and one of them is scrolling through a huge list of alphabetically sorted feeds, but eventually you can get to the one we want. A couple of tips. You can click the title of each feed to hide the individual items in its list, but don't click the X to the left of the title unless you wish to delete the feed. That's a whole different matter.
Click the title of a particular post to take a closer look. For instance, my PhotographyBB feed looks like this:
And that's the general philosophy. The way to achieve the full visual glory is to take the reader to the actual webpage, embedded in the feedlooks page. And it looks great. Unfortunately, pre-betas mean that your mileage may vary. Probably the largest part of my RSS feeds are from Flickr. And as yet, that doesn't work well because Flickr doesn't allow embedding of their pages in other sites. There seems to be something of an issue with Feedburner as well. Flickr feeds are probably going to be particularly difficult, especially if the simple visibility of GReader cannot be replicated for these. You can do a whole bunch of other things in here. Help yourself to the menu, and go wild. You can export all the feeds again, so even if you change your mind, all is not lost. Conclusionit's exciting. I really like where this is going. But I think it's got a way to go. Is it cool? You bet. Is it ready? Not yet. Watch this space! Take a look yourself, and let me know what you think in the comments. I'm particularly interested to know how it copes with the sorts of feeds you have lots of. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Stop Typing The Same Words Again and Again with MyWords [Firefox] Posted: 02 Jul 2010 12:30 PM PDT
The addon I am sharing today has some similar features to the desktop tools Karl reviewed a while back: PhraseExpress and Texter. Like these two, this addon allows to create the database of phrases you find yourself typing again and again.
Don’t expect too much from the tool but give it a try if you:
First, have the addon installed and restart the browser. Now, let’s see the tool in action. Set up the word databaseTo access your database, you should do either of the two: Go to: Tools -> Addons – MyWords (Options)
Or right-click on any text field and select MyWords -> Setup MyWords:
The setup window is very easy to use:
Note: I wasn’t geeky enough (and also found no tutorials on that to figure why there’s “label” field there. I tried using it but never saw the point, if anyone here knows why this option exists, please let me know in the comments)
After your database is created, you can use Import/Export option to save it and/or to transfer your word database between computers.
Another very important option to set up here is a keyboard shortcut to automatically insert and switch between your phrases. By default, it is ALT+W.
Try using the toolNow that your database is more or less complete, you can try using the tool. Proceed to any page with a text input field on it and start playing. Right mouse click in any text input area and select one of your saved words to paste at current cursor position.
Note: you can also add a new word to the database in the same manner: select the phrase you just typed and use right-click to access “MyWords” menu and add it the database.
Use the keyboard shortcut (which you set up in one of the above steps) to either:
What the tool can’t doLike I have already mentioned, the functionality is rather basic but more often than not, those simplistic tools are the most usable and reliable. Still, you won’t see the following features (which would be great additions there):
Do you use any similar tool for FireFox? Can you recommend anything? Share them in the comments. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| 5 Free Alternatives to Photoshop You Should Try Posted: 02 Jul 2010 11:30 AM PDT
What program you need depends largely on what you will use it for. We’ve previously published a list of Photoshop alternatives which are under 2MB. Today, we’ll be looking at a couple more, very capable, great Photoshop alternatives
Paint.NETPaint.NET is a program rich in features, tutorials and with a supportive community to help most new users through their learning curve and issues. Paint.NET started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft which was meant to substitute Microsoft Paint, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. It has a large number of buttons that are exactly like Photoshop and an equal number of Photoshop features, which makes it a very strong candidate as a substitute for those looking for a Photoshop like program. I dare say that most of what can be done in Photoshop can be duplicated using Paint.NET.
GIMPGIMP is, without a doubt a very capable image editing software with many of the same features as Photoshop. And if you require a program that allows you to create several layers, manipulate individual parts of the picture, create filters and tools and work with a variety of formats, including most Photoshop native formats, such as PSD; then GIMP is the right program for you. For those who have used Photoshop before, the interface will seem reasonably familiar, with many of the buttons having the same name and being in similar places on the interface. For those who have never used advanced image editing software before, GIMP has a very comprehensive list of tutorials, from beginner to advanced level which can be found at GIMP’s Documentation page. Or you could just take a look at these 5 Websites To Learn GIMP Online.
PhotoScapePhotoScape is built to be user-friendly, with an intuitive choice of projects to select from, which vary from image editing and GIF creation to a wizard to combine pictures together or take screenshots. It certainly does not have as many features as Photoshop does, but can do, with a single click or two, many of the same things it would take a Photoshop user several clicks to do.
VCW VicMan’s Photo EditorVCW comes bundled with optional web album software, but even without it, the VCW can be a very handy tool for image editing. The program has an old interface and doesn't look visually attractive, but the tools work well and allow you to do most of what you'd need from a simple photo editor, such as cropping, drawing tools, contrast and color adjustments, effects and filters. The program also comes with a video tutorial to help you master it all.
Picnik – an online optionPicnik is a simple but helpful online photo editor which can help you with either basic adjustments such as sharpening and red eye or more advanced filters under the "create button", which opens options for features such as text and color effects and many of the same filters you can find on Photoshop. It is not designed for layered editing or advanced manipulation of images, but it does a very good job with one click pre-set adjustments.
As with most programs, there are probably more options than you imagine, and th examples above are just a sample of what is available online to substitute commercial software. Finding the program that can do what you want or need it to do can sometimes mean finding a program with simpler features, but that does those things well. On the other hand, if you want flexibility and control over all the aspects of your image editing, you can also find options above that will give you tools to fulfill all of your needs. Do you use any of the programs above? Have you compared any of them to Photoshop for particular tasks? Tell us your thoughts. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers! Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| Your Quick Guide To Searching the Internet From The Wii Posted: 02 Jul 2010 10:30 AM PDT
Getting started with the Wii’s internet browser and familiarizing yourself with its basic functions and controls requires just a few simple steps. Before long you’ll be able to search Google, watch YouTube videos, and play online games, all with your Wii remote!
How To Start BrowsingFirst of all, you will of course need to connect your Wii to the internet. This simple guide can tell you how. Once you're connected to the internet, you have to download the Wii's Internet Channel from the Wii Shop Channel. Select Wii Shop Channel from the Wii's main menu, and then select Start.
Once the Wii Shop Channel loads, select Start Shopping at the bottom. Then select Wii Channels on the right.
On the next screen, scroll down until you see the Internet Channel. Select it, and then choose Download on the following screen. Then select Yes to begin your download. Watch Mario pound some coin blocks until your download is complete. You can now access the Internet Channel from the Wii's main menu. The Start Page
When you start the Internet Channel, you will find yourself on the Start Page. From here, you can choose to search the web using Google, select a bookmark from your favorites, or type in a web address. You can also access the operations guide, settings, and a guide to controls. ControlsThe controls for the internet browser are optimized for the Wii remote.
The A button works like left-click. Use it to click on links and forms. When you click on a form (such as a search bar), the on-screen keyboard will pop up, and you can type by selecting keys with the A button. The B button and the plus and minus buttons are your essential navigation buttons. Scrolling is accomplished by holding down the B button and pointing your Wii remote in the direction you want to scroll in. Zooming is accomplished with the plus and minus buttons. Pressing the 2 button will switch to single column mode, which can make some websites easier to read. Press the 2 button again to switch back to the website’s normal layout. Browser Controls BarWhen on the Internet Channel, you’ll see the browser controls at the bottom of your screen.
Selecting Search will make an on-screen keyboard pop up where you can type in a Google search. You can change the search engine it uses to Yahoo! by going to Settings on the Start Page. Selecting Favorites will show you the pages you’ve bookmarked and give you easy access to them. It can be pretty useful to bookmark a lot of the pages that you regularly visit just because typing their addresses in with the on-screen keyboard can take a while. The next option, Enter Address, lets you type in a web address, and Start Page brings you back to the Start Page, which you can read about above. The Best Uses for the Wii’s Internet Browser: Games and VideosThe Wii is a game console, so it makes sense to play games on it, right? Well, you might find that playing some old browser games with your Wii remote will make them feel brand new again. Check out WiiCade.com for some of the best online games compatible with the Wii’s internet Browser. Be sure to try out 3D games that normally use a mouse—like Curve Ball (http://www.curveball-game.com/) and Missile Game 3D (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/missilegame3d)—on your Wii. Playing them with the Wii remote’s motion control can be a lot of fun.
And don’t forget to visit video sites like Hulu.com on the Wii. With the Wii’s internet browser, you can watch free TV shows and movies right on your TV! ConclusionUsing the Wii to browse the internet certainly has its advantages, especially if you want to play browser games and watch online movies and TV shows on your TV. And you can even hook up a USB keyboard to one of the ports in the back of the Wii to make searching the internet as simple and convenient as on a regular computer. Do you have any more tips for browsing the internet on the Wii? Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| 3 Great Sources For Computer Game Walkthroughs and Cheat Codes Posted: 02 Jul 2010 09:30 AM PDT
Enter the cheat code. Cheat codes have been around as long as video games, but thanks to the internet we can now get them in huge stockpiles. In this guide, I’ll introduce you to 3 great sites to get your cheat code fix, many times with the added bonus of walkthroughs and strategy guides.
GameFAQsGameFAQs was founded in 1995 – making it the oldest (and most popular) site on this list – but it’s still in business today because it provides some of the best video game guides on the internet. Don’t let the “FAQs”, which stands for Frequently Asked Questions, mislead you – GameFAQs mostly contains strategy guides, cheats, and walkthroughs for almost every video game in existence. Guides at GameFAQs are solely provided by volunteers, so you’ll find a wide variety of gaming and writing styles in their guides. With over 50,000 guides on their site, you’ll have the luxury of choosing from several guides for any one game. I have always been impressed with the thoroughness and quality of guides at GameFAQs, which speaks highly of the volunteers that contribute them.
Almost every game has a Cheats tab that contains a full list of cheat codes (if they’re available). Not sure if you want to purchase a game? GameFAQs offers over100,000 reviews, written by volunteers, for almost every game on the site.
GameFAQs released an Answers section last year where gamers can ask questions about any game they’re playing (not unlike MakeUseOf Answers for tech questions, which you should also check out). The Answers section also has a useful search, often allowing you to get un-stuck in a frustrating video game without waiting for a reply. CheatCCCheatCC, or Cheat Code Central, is another pre-2000s gaming website that has amassed a huge supply of cheat codes. While they don’t offer the wide variety of information that GameFAQs has, you’ll still have access to a gigantic list of cheat codes, reviews (as well as previews of upcoming games), and videos. Most popular games have at least one accompanying strategy guide, but the focus is clearly on cheat codes at this site.
My only complaint about CheatCC is that they have started using some fairly obnoxious popup advertising that you will occasionally have to click through. Mahalo GamingWhile I don’t find the Mahalo search engine to be terribly useful (actually, now that I checked, I don’t even see a search engine on the main page anymore), they do offer something very good: HD video walkthroughs of many popular video games. For as good as text-based and even printed-with-images walkthroughs can be, you simply can’t beat an actual video to get through a particularly hard level. Many of Mahalo Gaming’s video reviews include detailed text instructions for accomplishing certain missions. The amount of time that went into these guides is really impressive, and certainly worth checking out the next time you’re struggling with a game. ConclusionWith these resources, you should be an unstoppable, game-conquering ninja. And since you’re in the mood for video games, why not check out the rest of our articles about gaming? Have a cheat code or strategy worth mentioning? Share it with us in the comments below! Image credit: haljackey Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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| The 2 Good Mac File Sharing Apps Compared: CloudApp vs Droplr Posted: 02 Jul 2010 08:30 AM PDT
This is a problem which two applications, Droplr and CloudApp, seek to solve. Both of these Mac-only apps try to make sharing files a simple drag-and-drop process. Simply find a file on your computer, drag it over an icon, and waa-la! The file is uploaded and a short URL is made which can be posted on social networks. However, since both apps serve the same function, you only really need one. So, which is the best?
Ease of Use and InterfaceAs you might expect from Mac-only apps, both Droplr and CloudApp do their best to maintain a clean, minimalist design and interface. Both have very similar websites with obvious download options (CloudApp even copies the “Buy Now” button design from the Apple website). Once you install the apps you will find a simple icon in the upper right hand corner. Droplr’s icon sort of looks like a teardrop, while CloudApp’s icon quite obviously looks like a cloud. The idea is that when you want to upload a file you simply drag-and-drop the file onto the icon and it is automatically uploaded to your Droplr or CloudApp account.
However, both Droplr and CloudApp make some notable mistakes when it comes to ease of use. Both use a web interface for browsing, sorting, viewing and deleting your files. Droplr’s web interface is completely baffling at first glance. There is no text at all – just some icons. After a minute or two, you’ll figure out that the icons are a way of sorting different types of files, but would it really hurt to add a tiny label to each icon? CloudApp’s web interface is much more clear and robust. The different sections of the interface are labeled and intuitive. The categories in the CloudApp interface are also more defined. For example, text, video and audio files are lumped into the same category in Droplr, but CloudApp places them in their own respective categories, making uploads easier to find.
But as I indicated earlier, CloudApp isn’t perfect. CloudApp apparently uses a system of extensions, which are called Raindrops. That’s great, except that CloudApp gives you no clue about what they do. None. I could find no documentation about them on the CloudApp help website. FunctionalityAt a basic level, the functionality of both Droplr and CloudApp is the same. You drag-and-drop files onto the icon and your file is uploaded. Simple enough. There are, however, some major differences. For example, Droplr is very tightly integrated with Twitter. In fact, you’ll use your Twitter account to log in to Droplr. Whenever you drag and drop a file to Droplr you can click a small Twitter icon which appears. This takes you to your Twitter page and lets you instantly create a tweet containing whatever you just uploaded.
Another neat feature of Droplr is the ability to upload text messages, called notes. These notes are directly uploaded like any other file but can be viewed in a web browser. If you have something very simple you want to share – perhaps directions to a bar or a recipe for cookies – putting the information in a note is quicker and easier than putting the information into a text document and then uploading the text document.
CloudApp, on the other hand, makes it easier to share screenshots from your computer. If you have CloudApp installed any screenshot you take will instantly be uploaded to your CloudApp account. This includes both full-screen shots and shots which are targeted on a specific part of the screen. Droplr, on the other hand, requires that you use a specific, separate shortcut for Droplr screenshots. VerdictBoth Droplr ad CloudApp have their benefits and disadvantages. Ideally, the benefits of both could be combined into one application. For now, however, you’ll have to choose. Ultimately, I throw my hat into CloudApp’s ring. What sways me in favor of CloudApp is that Droplr showed an unfortunate tendency to crash. I three times ran into situations where Droplr would act as if it was uploading a file and then become stuck just when it should finish. When this happened Droplr would become non-functional and I had to Force Quit the program. That is very annoying for a program which is supposed to make file sharing easy. Still, it won’t hurt you to try both out, and if you really want the ability to post things straight to Twitter you may find Droplr to be the superior app. Which do you favor? Let us know in the comments. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. Similar MakeUseOf Articles
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Check out the top picks from MakeUseOf 
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 
If you want to quickly sift through your Twitter timeline, 
I love RSS feeds. It's probably the single thing I spend the most time explaining and persuading people about. And once you turn someone on to RSS, there's no going back.
I love discovering new, little-known and seldom-discussed 
With digital photography largely taking over traditional film photography's place, it has become more and more important to have an image editing software. The king of kings is, of course, Photoshop, but with a price tag of $699 for the full version, many started to wonder if there aren't free options around that could do the same things Photoshop does. 
The 
Video games — the absolute best way to waste a couple hours on a rainy weekend. Or heck, the best way to waste a couple hours on any weekend. You can be a soldier in almost any war (without that pesky risk of dying), fly through space, fight endless hordes of zombies, or micro-manage a virtual life. But, as any gamer knows, there comes a time when you might want (or need) a little help getting through an especially difficult level.
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