MakeUseOf.com: “Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]” plus 12 more |  |
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- Cool Websites and Tools [February 25th]
- 5 New Writing Vacancies Open Up On The MakeUseOf Staff
- The 7 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers]
- 4 Online Resources To Prepare For Your Death & Digital Afterlife
- The Pros & Cons Of Using Hacked iPhone Apps
- Hot Tech Deals [Feb 25th]
- Streaming Services: A Whole New Side To VLC Player You Probably Didn’t Know About
- 10 Websites For The Beatles Fan & His Beatlemania
- How To Set Up Your Own Free Wifi Hotspot With DD-WRT
- Reminder: bundlelytic Charity App Bundle Ends In 3 Days
- Connect & Collaborate Remotely With Your Website Visitors Using Verishow
- The 3 Best Free Games On The Mac App Store [Mac]
| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 26 Feb 2011 02:01 AM PST
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.
Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
    
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| Cool Websites and Tools [February 25th] Posted: 25 Feb 2011 07:31 PM PST
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. NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!
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| 5 New Writing Vacancies Open Up On The MakeUseOf Staff Posted: 25 Feb 2011 06:31 PM PST
To maintain our high standards and ensure that our readers get only the very best, we will be very choosy in who we eventually take on. But if you think you have what it takes, if you can write articles that will knock everyone’s socks off, then we definitely want to hear from you. Who We’re After
If this sounds like you, then you need to do the following :
As well as online fame, we also offer a salary and bonuses, as well as the chance to be part of a great online writing team. We look forward to receiving your application and will respond as quickly as possible. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| The 7 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers] Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:31 PM PST
Every Friday we reward the Best Answer of the Week. This week, the contest was won by Smokey99 for the extensive solutions suggested in reply to this question: How can I save and print Firefox history including time and date information on a Mac? Thank you very much for your efforts and congratulations! Next week we will not only reward the Best Answer of the Week, but also two runners-up! Every answer automatically enters the contest. Now let’s have a look at the best questions of the week:
MakeUseOf Answers comes in three different flavors: Latest Questions, Most Popular Questions, or Unanswered Questions. For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed. Need help? Ask A Question at MakeUseOf Answers. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| 4 Online Resources To Prepare For Your Death & Digital Afterlife Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:31 PM PST
To address these and other questions, writers Evan Carroll and John Romano have put together a website called The Digital Beyond, as well as another companion site for their book, Your Digital Afterlife. I recently started reading the book, but thought I'd head over to their site and check the free resource recommendations they have for what you can do to prepare for your digital afterlife. This may sound like a morbid subject, but death is a reality for all of us. But it's how we will be remembered is what counts and keeps us “alive” in the hearts and minds of our loved ones. The Digital BeyondCarroll and Romano's Digital Beyond is their blog site which was started in May 2009. It ponders questions and issues about our digital existence and what happens after our death. Popular topics so far include, “so what ‘does’ happen to your digital assets after you die?“, ”Twitter adopts policy for deceased users“, and “Digital afterlife predictions for 2010“. The authors also produce a podcast and post videos of their recent interviews, one which includes a talk on NPR's Fresh Air.
Their site is new, but it's one of the few, if not the only one, that is addressing questions and issues that so-called Millennials and Gen Xers – the generations of people who will have a lifetime of digital assets – will need to address. ifidie.orgIt's usually very difficult to prepare for your death because unless you suffer from a terminal illness it's hard to know when your life may come to an end. But as we get older, we start to think about how we want to be remembered, and what we want to communicate to our friends and family after we're gone. Saikat wrote a great piece called 5 Quick and Simple Ways to Write Your Life Logs which addresses this subject, and Tina wrote a similar one about 5 Ways to Document Your Life in Pictures Online. But if you want a way to speak directly to your special friends and loved ones from the grave, so to speak, you might want to check out a very simple and direct site called If I Die.
After creating a free account on this site, you can write and store letters to your friends and family. In summary, this is how the site works:
It's a pretty neat idea, but the important thing is for you to regularly visit and add content to your account over your lifetime, which also helps make sure the site is always up and running. Dead Man's SwitchDead Man’s Switch works similarly to If I Die, but it's, pardon the pun, dead simpler. You select a few trusted friends or family members and write them emails about your afterlife digital assets. These emails may contain where and how to access important online documents, user and password information for important online content, or any instructions in the event you unexpectedly die.
The emails are encrypted with military-grade algorithms, so you can be sure that no-one except the intended recipient will ever read them. You will be notified every so often (the site doesn't say how often) to check that you're still alive. If after a certain period time you don't respond, Switch will send the emails you wrote to the recipients you specified. This kind of “electronic will”, as the site calls it, might be very useful for people such as soldiers in military combat and other people who work in life-threatening jobs. My Wonderful LifeOne of the best things we can do for our family and friends is to help them prepare for when we're gone. My Wonderful Life allows you to create a sort of digital life book which can include letters, favorite memories, your own obituary and even the design on your headstone.
After you register your account, you can designate “Angles” inside your book. The Angles are the people in your life that will know you have died and will carry out your wishes. The people you designate are notified about your book, and if they accept they will become one of the “Angles” who will get access to your book after you're gone.
Since so much of what we do in the digital world is password protected, it might be difficult for our family friends to access our digital assets after we're gone. It's resources like the ones described above that might be useful solutions to this problem. So how are you preparing for your digital afterlife? Have you given it much thought? Let us know about your solutions. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| The Pros & Cons Of Using Hacked iPhone Apps Posted: 25 Feb 2011 01:30 PM PST
While these apps can be really useful, not all of the applications in the App Store are free, which leads people to find other ways of getting them installed on their phones. One of the perks of jailbreaking an iPhone is receiving the ability to install hacked iPhone apps, which can be free versions of paid apps or third party apps not even available in the App Store.
Jailbreaking an iPhone
As I stated above, you need to jailbreak your iPhone to even use hacked applications. This is actually a surprisingly simple thing to accomplish, especially if you refer to Jackson’s A Newbie’s Guide to Jailbreaking. You can even jailbreak your iPhone in one slide using a service like JailbreakMe. Once you do that, then you’ll be able to make use of hacked iPhone apps. But not so fast, lets take a look at the pros and cons first. The Pros of Using Hacked iPhone AppsThere’s really only one pro to using hacked iPhone apps, and I’m sure it’s something we’re all aware of – they’re free. I’m not going to waste much time explaining why that’s a pro. With a jailbroken iPhone, you will have access to third party applications and you can install hacked apps (that work) to your phone without ever having to go purchase them from the App Store.
I use the term “hacked” pretty loosely throughout this article. What I mean when I say hacked is that users have downloaded paid iPhone apps from the App Store and then altered them so that they can be installed on jailbroken phones without having to be purchased through iTunes. If you’ve owned an iPhone for a while and have become accustomed to purchasing apps through the App Store, you can understand how much money using hacked apps could potentially save you. Third party apps are just applications that other people have designed to work on the iPhone even if they aren’t available in the App Store. There’s a lot of them out there, and you can probably find some pretty useful ones if you look hard enough. The Cons of Using Hacked iPhone AppsThere are multiple cons to using hacked iPhone applications, as well as jailbreaking your phone in general. The first major thing to be aware of is that it will void the warranty on your phone, meaning that if you happen to break the device or damage it in some way, Apple will not fix it for you if you give it to them and they can tell it has been jailbroken. There is a way around this, however, and that is to erase your phone and set it back to its stock settings before taking it in.
Another thing to be aware of is that installing hacked apps or using ones that don’t come from Apple’s App Store means that you could potentially be opening up your phone to vulnerabilities and viruses. I’ll admit that it’s a rare situation you might find yourself in, but it does happen. One more thing to take notice of is the fact that you will not be able to update hacked applications, at least at first. Rather than being able to connect to the App Store and download updates as soon as they’re available, you would theoretically have to wait until an updated hacked version of the application gets released. ConclusionWhile I can’t condone the use of hacked iPhone apps, you can see why some individuals might be inclined to alter their phones to utilize them. It’s important to be aware of the implications of using these applications, and I hope that you are that much wiser from having read this article. How do you feel about hacked iPhone apps? Image Credit: iQoncept Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| Posted: 25 Feb 2011 12:30 PM PST
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set
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| Streaming Services: A Whole New Side To VLC Player You Probably Didn’t Know About Posted: 25 Feb 2011 11:31 AM PST
VLC has integrated with several online services to make it easy for you to start watching streamed media. In a couple of clicks, you can listen to online radio, preview the best free tracks available to download online and even watch TV. Now that’s powerful!
How To Access VLCs Preset Streaming ServicesOn a Mac, you’ll find streaming services under File > Services Discovery and then choose the option of your choice.
On Windows, go to View > Playlist then look at the bottom of the list for “Internet“. When you click on this, you’ll see all the options listed below.
Online Radio – Icecast Directory
VLC originally sourced radio stations from the Shoutcast directory, but due to an issue with AOL was forced to drop it for now. They’re in talks with Shoutcast to try to remedy this. In the meantime, VLC gives you easy access to the Icecast directory, which is basically an open-source online radio directory. Free Music – Best Of Jamendo
If you turn on the Jamendo service, you’ll be given two main folders: “Top 100 Most Popular Tracks This Week” and “Top 20 Albums This Week“. Below this you can see folders for albums and the names of the tracks, so you can pick whichever looks best and have a listen. If you decide you like it, head over to the Jamendo site and you can download it for free.
More Free Music – Darker Radio
For the lovers of free independent music, Darkwave Radio collects free music and releases a new selection monthly. Tunes range from gothic and darkwave to indie and synthpop. Quite a selection! With VLC, you can quickly listen to the latest offerings as a streamed service. Then, if you like it, find it at the Darkwave site for free. TV Streaming Channels – Channels.comThe Channels.com service seems to be available only on the Windows client for now. However, this service will allow access to quite a few American TV shows. Plus, it lists plenty of online shows like TED, so you can easily access this through VLC.
TV Streaming Directory – Shoutcast TV
Until recently, Shoutcast TV was also offered as an option for all people worldwide. When VLC and Shoutcast can come to an agreement in terms it will return. In the meantime, VLC are adding new services regularly and another TV directory may be on their radar. French TV Streaming – Freebox TVI was very surprised to find a French TV service (Freebox TV in France) listed in VLC. However, only people in France can watch Freebox TV. VLC is obviously working with some ISPs to offer these services, so one day you may find your local TV service listed.
Don’t Forget Your Own MediaObviously, you can always watch your own video files, music files favourite radio streams and podcasts. But with all these streamed services at your fingertips too, your evenings of entertainment just got a whole lot better. Also, check out these VLC player articles:
What do you think of VLCs streaming services? What else should they add? Tell us in the comments! Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| 10 Websites For The Beatles Fan & His Beatlemania Posted: 25 Feb 2011 10:31 AM PST
Their demigod status probably rivals that of Elvis Presley. On second thoughts, if we take Beatlemania and John Lennon seriously, then The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus now”. That could be taken as heresy, but the fact remains that The Beatles have had a large role to play in pop-culture and setting off the counterculture movement. We hear its tuneful echoes even today.
The Beatles
Apple has the rights to sell digital Beatles track and you can find all indications of it on this flagship site. Not all of us will bite into the Apple, so there's loads of information that you can just browse through. I really like the collage of album covers on the site that links you to all the data on that album. The collage of images is the second place for a nostalgic trip. The films, videos, the articles section and The Beatles fan community should keep you occupied for some time. The Internet Beatles Album
No, they haven't got back together to cut an album for the digital age. The website takes off where the earlier one lets off. Biographical information on The Fab Four and others around the group comes with a few sound clips. For instance, read and hear why Pete Best remained best known as 'The Fifth Beatle'. The Beatles Recordings page is also a history lesson in itself with lots of track listings and behind the scenes facts. BeatlesNews
This Beatles 'daily' is a sister site of the previous one and it helps to keep you in the know with what's still happening in the name of the group. It appears that it's lots as the site has dedicated channels on each member of the group and a blog to boot. Beatles Discography
As the name says, this website is a rich nugget of information on all Beatles songs and albums recorded in their entire history. For instance, you have a day-by-day account from their early Quarrymen days to their disbanding in 1970. Similarly, you can go song-by-song and record-by-record through the years. At the end of all that reading, you can play The Beatles Quiz or get a shot of The Beatles pub trivia. Beatles Radio
You will see a lot of commercial links in and around the site, but you can disregard all those and listen to the songs being aired. The audio stream from Beatles Radio is provided free around the world 24/7 to anyone with an Internet connection. A lot of them are also random solos by other artistes mixed with the original recordings. You just have to pick your choice of media player. In the background, there are loads of Beatles Brain Buster quizzes. BeatlesTube
This blog has done the hard work of picking up many Beatles songs that have video clips associated with them. They may be tribute performances, amateur fan videos, or cover songs. You won't find all of them, but the site has done a great job of collating and indexing Beatles related videos from the many video hosting sites on the web like YouTube and Metacafe. John Lennon
You can have a slight idea of John Lennon's popularity by looking the member count of this site's Facebook group. The official website documents the life and work of The Beatles singer-songwriter. Browse through news, John Lennon's biography, slideshow of images, few videos, an awaiting drawings section, and the discography. Access to The John Lennon Universe which charts his life on a timeline is 'access denied' until you buy a product. The official sites of the other band members are : Paul McCartney Beatle Money
You can take your Beatles fan fervor to the next level by sifting through what each of the Fab Four spent, and other interesting nuggets of information (Like Aunt Mimi's remark – “the guitar’s all right for a hobby, John, but it won’t earn you any money”). The What if The Beatles Had Released Albums in the 70's makes interesting reading. Beatles Lane
This is a nicely compiled fan site with videos, articles, quotes from The Fab Four, wallpapers, and avatars for download. You can play a lot of embedded audio files from their albums on the site and admire John Lennon's witticism on the quotes page. Charting The Beatles
I am not sure how this collaborative project will end up as it is still at the starter blocks. It sounds interesting when you think about exploring the music of the Beatles through information graphics. The small public Flickr group and the infographic samples make for an interesting browse. The best way to feed your Beatlemania is through their songs. These websites help to fan the flames. Then, we have already covered some ground with you music lovers with these posts: 7 Websites Where You Can Listen To A Live Music Band by Ryan Let us know if you are a Beatles fan and what online Beatles resources you know of. Image Credit: Shutterstock Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| How To Set Up Your Own Free Wifi Hotspot With DD-WRT Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:31 AM PST
Last week, I talked about how you can tell if someone is stealing your Wifi – but today I’d like to show you how to let others share your Internet – with a Wifi Hotspot. Setting up a public Wifi Hotspot is great for small businesses who want to attract or offer additional value for customers, but you might also want to try it in your neighbourhood if you have a particular product or service to advertise.
What You Will Need:A DD-WRT Flashed RouterA DD-WRT flashed router is the basis of this and any future DD-WRT tutorials. If your router is compatible, generally you can download the appropriate version and simply upload through the web interface. There is a long list of compatible routers and instructions in the DD-WRT wiki, but we cannot cover installation procedures here due to the sheer variety. Bear in mind that different routers have different levels of compatibility, and some features will not be available on your router if it cannot handle the full DD-WRT firmware install due to memory limitations. If you do decide to go forward with DD-WRT and explore the other features it can offer you, it’s best to buy a new one that you know is fully compatible. I purchased a high power 802.11n router that was listed as 100% compatible with easy installation for around $150. A Free Authentication Provider AccountIn addition to configuring your DD-WRT router, you need to have some kind of user authentication system. Today we will be using a service called HotSpot System, which you can use for free to manage a basic free Wifi Hotspot with your own customized landing page. A Twitter AccountSince HotSpot System is offering a free service, they do ask for a little self-promotion. For this you need to follow their Twitter account, and tweet about their service. Feel free to make a new Twitter account just for this purpose. Getting Started: HotSpotSystemThough there are a few different providers you can use to manage the user authentication side of things, I’ve picked out HotSpotSystem as it’s fairly user friendly and setup is built into the router firmware. They offer a range of plans depending on what your HotSpot requirements are, but a basic free Wifi Hotspot with splash page is free. Paid plans allow you to charge users for access, or print special coupons for paying customers. Next time I will show you a free service that allows you to charge for access, but let’s concentrate on a free hotspot with splash page today.
Sign up for a free account here, and make sure you choose the “HOTSPOT SPLASH” account option. Follow the instructions for connecting with your Twitter account and posting a quick tweet. Then add the details of your new location and your business / contact information.
From the customize section, you can create a new skin based off an old skin, and completely adjust the CSS and HTML as you wish. I’m going with the default for now. Set Up Your RouterLog into your DD-WRT screen and access the Service -> Hotspot screen. Enable the HotSpotSystem option, and enter your operator username you got when registering. Your location number will be 1 if you’ve only set up a single location. You also need to Enable Special Settings and Enable “Login on Splash Page”. Save and apply settings.
At this point, you will automatically get an email from HotSpotSystem saying your hotspot has been set up. I also needed to adjust the Wireless Settings to change the SSID of my free hotspot (by default it’s set up as HotSpotSystem.com-location or something horrible like that), and to remove the existing password I had on the network. Here’s the page of my Wireless Settings in case you have problems too.
If you still can’t get it working, it may be best to put the router back to factory settings and start from a clean slate. Follow the set up guide from HotSpot System. It Works!You should now be able to see your open Wifi network, but anything you attempt to do on it will take you to your user registration splash page like this! Congratulations, you can now begin to customize the page to promote your own sites or business by logging into the HotSpotSystem site and selecting Customize.
AlternativesIf you’d rather charge for Wifi access or earn money from persistent advertising, I’ll be writing a tutorial for those soon so subscribe to the MakeUseOf RSS feed or keep an eye on the front page. As ever, let us know how you get on in the comments. Will you be setting up a wifi hotspot? Are you totally against the idea of sharing your Internet connection? Too complicated? Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| Reminder: bundlelytic Charity App Bundle Ends In 3 Days Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:00 AM PST
Among the apps included in the bundle are Paragon Partition Manger 11 Personal, novaPDF Professional Desktop Edition, SafeWallet for Windows, Divvy for Windows, EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard, Pixo, Returnil System Safe 2011, 360Amigo System Speedup and Altaro Oops!Backup. In total, you’re getting $299 worth of applications for just $39.99. Get it now from bundlelytic. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Connect & Collaborate Remotely With Your Website Visitors Using Verishow Posted: 25 Feb 2011 08:30 AM PST
In my opinion, MUO is one of the best starting points for ideas if you’re looking to remotely conference with someone. MUO writers have covered some amazing products, depending on your needs. For example, Jessica just covered 6 really cool collaboration tools, like TeamLab, Twidla and DimDim. Additionally, Saikat covered how to use the Google Docs drawing tool to build collaborative diagrams and flowcharts.
Set Up & Personalize Your AccountVerishow offers a limited free account plan. I should point out up front that if you run a business and want to host large group meetings using VeriShow, it will cost a monthly fee. However, the free account allows you to meet remotely with at least another person, and all of the collaboration tools are available to you. This makes using the free VeriShow service a very smart choice if you want to offer your website visitors with an easy way to talk to you directly in an environment that allows for a really flexible and informative discussion. The first step is to set up your account. You can upload your own logo and profile image, as well as configure the look of the VeriShow “Call” button that you can embed on your website.
The first page you’ll see when you first launch your account is the dashboard. This is where you can see all of the past account history as well as an Inbox where all messages will go if you’re offline and visitors want to drop you a line.
Once you launch the collaboration tool, you are officially “online” and available for visitors to enter your session. You show up on the left bar as the host of the session. If you enable your webcam and audio, you’ll offer a much more personable and valuable chat session with visitors. Keep in mind that the free account only offers up to 5 hours of video/audio a month.
A List of Impressive Collaboration ToolsIn the center panel, you’ll see just how impressive and valuable this collaborative session can be. I don’t think there’s anything that VeriShow can’t do. You can share your computer screen with visitors, share any files that you want, edit documents together and a whole lot more.
The first one I’d like to cover is screen sharing, because for me personally this is the most valuable. There are often times that I get a call from a friend or family member and they just can’t seem to figure out how to do something on their computer. Instead of struggling through trying to explain it on the phone, just have them visit your VeriShow session, and show them how. Once you enable screen sharing you’ll see the message below.
At this point, whatever you do on your computer, your visitor can see. Another tool that’s just as valuable is the screen capture feature. When you click to capture the screen, you can open up any application or website and capture that screen. Once it’s captured, you can use the drawing tools at the top menu bar to draw all over the captured image as you talk or chat to your visitor.
Of course, no collaboration environment would be complete without the whiteboard. You’ll find a freestyle pen, lines, a highlighter and the ability to just type words right onto the whiteboard.
VeriShow takes the whiteboard concept a bit further with the Google Maps tool. Do you need to plan out a trip with someone? Just click on the Maps icon, type in the location and start drawing all over the map as you and your visitor plan out the trip or the travel route.
Is there a concept that you just can’t put into words? Or maybe there’s a video or movie clip you saw once that perfectly expresses what you’re trying to say. Click on the YouTube icon, type in the search phrase and you can watch any YouTube video together, while chatting or talking at the same time.
As though these features aren’t enough, click the right arrow on the center panel to scroll to the right and you’ll discover even more available collaboration tools, like a real-time chat translator for talking to people from other countries, a collaborative calendar, a 3D drawing area and even a place to go just to play a card game with friends.
As you can see above, some features like collaborative web browsing and other tools aren’t enabled in the free version, but the tools that are available make this one of the best resources I’ve ever seen to remotely collaborate and plan with someone. Give VeriShow a try and report back with some of your insights about the experience. Do you know of any other tools out there that have these kind of features available? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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| The 3 Best Free Games On The Mac App Store [Mac] Posted: 25 Feb 2011 07:30 AM PST
But that’s not what I want to talk about today. Instead, let’s talk about the real reason the App Store is cool – the free Mac games! The selection available on the Mac App Store is still a bit slim (58 titles at the time of this posting) and many are ports from the iPhone and iPad, but there are a few gems that can keep you entertained for the low price of free. Alpine Crawler
Currently the most popular free game on the Mac App Store, Alpine Crawler seems a bit weird from a distance. It’s a side-scrolling game in which you navigate a truck across terrain. A timer is clicking down, and if it runs down to zero, you lose. There are no other vehicles, and you have only four controls; drive, reverse, gas and brake. Seems simple, right? That’s what I thought at first. I then sent my pickup truck flying off a cliff. It hit the ground, flipped through the air a few more times, and then was destroyed. Whoops. Alpine Crawler is a game about momentum. Your truck can’t climb every hill from a dead stop, so you need to gain a running start. However, going too fast will cause your truck to go airborn over bumps and hills, which means you lose all control and take damage when you eventually land. Success can only be achieved by staying cool under pressure and constantly adjusting the forward movement of your truck. It may seem easy, but Alpine Crawler is actually the most challenging game listed here. Dink Smallwood
Back in 1997 a small, three-man game development studio called Robinson Technologies released Dink Smallwood, a 2D adventure game. It was never a huge hit, but it developed a cult following due to its snarky, dark humor and well-paced gameplay. In 1999 the game was released as freeware, and since then it has been modified and ported in many ways, giving this relatively short adventure game a very long lifespan. Now Seth Robinson, one of the game’s original developers, has ported the title over to Mac OS X, iPhone, iPad and Android, giving the title yet another lease on life. Dink Smallwood isn’t a pretty game by today’s standards, but graphics aren’t the reason most people enjoy this game. Instead, the love comes from its tongue-in-cheek writing. This isn’t high art – in fact, grammar errors are not uncommon – but for some reason, it works. From the moment I accidentally punched the head off a duck, I was hooked. McSolitaire
What is it about solitaire? If my grandmother spent as much time playing World of Warcraft as she spent playing Solitaire, she’d have a level 85 in epic gear by now. And many of my friends still admit to playing the game at work when they’re bored of frustrated. Now with McSolitaire you can play it on your Mac as well as your Windows PC, and in fact you may find the Mac version to be better. Obviously, the game hasn’t changed much – solitaire is solitaire, and there isn’t much room for playing with the rules. However, McSolitaire is notable because of its excellent graphics, which includes not only a number of free-defined texture sets but also the ability to custom the card and the background by cutting-and-pasting your own images. There are also a few other handy features, like the ability to create a game that is guaranteed to be solvable and a “Game Over?” button that will let you know if you’re truly out of possible moves or if you’re just missing something. If you’re going to play solitaire on the Mac, this is the (free) version to go with. ConclusionI ran into some other titles that I enjoyed, as well. Gold Strike, Doodle Hangman and and Sudoku Daily all deserve mention. On the other hand, there are a lot of really bad free Mac games on the Mac App Store, so tread carefully and pay attention to user reviews – if you value your time. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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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.
Many people these days have the free 
They survived names like "The Crickets", “Johnny and the Moondogs”, and even “The Silver Beatles” to finally gain recognition as the most popular rock band of all time. From The Beatles has come the craze called “Beatlemania”. Their enduring fame continues to this day, nearly 40 years after they split. Their generation bridging appeal is what has made "The Fab Four" live on either through their songs or through their legend.
For those of you who don’t know, DD-WRT is an open-source replacement firmware for household Internet routers that greatly enhances their functionality as well as providing increased performance. Though I was initially daunted by the sheer range of additional options that the 
For just 3 more days, you’ll be able to help MakeUseOf and our humanitarian effort to raise money recent disaster victims in Queensland, Australia. Until the 28th of February, get 9 great and very useful apps for a low price of $39.99. Half of the proceeds from your purchase will be donated to the Queensland Disaster Relief. The purchase is instant and as soon as payment is complete, you’ll receive an email with download links and your licensing information. Buy now from 
With so many people connecting via various IM systems or collaboration experiments like 
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