MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [March 16th]” plus 9 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [March 16th]
- How To Change Your Computer Name In Ubuntu 10.10 [Linux]
- 4 Free Online Multiplayer Source Engine Mods For Half-Life 2
- How To Root Your Android Phone With SuperOneClick
- Hot Tech Deals [Mar 16th]
- 7 Websites You Should Visit If You Want To Be A Graffiti Artist
- How To Create Disk Images & Mount Them On A Virtual Drive [Windows]
- Intego VirusBarrier X6 Giveaway Winners
- Getting Things Gnome Keeps Linux Users Organized
- Twitter Adds “Always Use HTTPS” To Settings, Enable It Now! [News]
| Cool Websites and Tools [March 16th] Posted: 16 Mar 2011 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. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
    
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| How To Change Your Computer Name In Ubuntu 10.10 [Linux] Posted: 16 Mar 2011 06:31 PM PDT
Today, we’ll go over a small tip involving how to modify the computer name, which you were able to set when you installed Ubuntu.
gksu gedit /etc/hostname
gksu gedit /etc/hosts
You should be all set if you use Ubuntu’s default web browser, Firefox. If however you use Google Chrome or Chromium, you may receive an error message that prevents the browser from opening after the system restart. I renamed the computer at least twice for this article and only got the error message after the first system renaming test.
If you did get the error message, read on.
/home/YOUR_USERNAME/.config/google-chrome
/home/YOUR_USERNAME/.config/chromium/
Additional commenters from all over the web recommend doing “sudo hostname [NEW COMPUTER NAME]” on the terminal, which seems to only tease with a temporary change as the new name is nowhere to be seen after a reboot. I’ve also seen suggestions to restart the hostname service, but that hasn’t worked for me. Do you know of other ways, perhaps more convenient ones or ones that don’t require a system restart, to change your computer’s name in Ubuntu? Share your nuggets of wisdom in the comments! Image credit: rafa espada Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 4 Free Online Multiplayer Source Engine Mods For Half-Life 2 Posted: 16 Mar 2011 04:31 PM PDT
Many of these games survived the jump from the original Half-Life engine to the Source engine, first used in Counter-Strike: Source & Half-Life 2 (and re-used several times in games like Left 4 Dead). Where many developers now charge users for in-house total conversions (Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam, for example) PC gamers have long been able to enjoy similar efforts for free.
Full Steam AheadIf you’ve not got Steam, head over to the official website and download the client for Windows (Steam does work on Mac, as does Half-Life 2 but unfortunately free third-party mods that run on OS X are very thin on the ground). You’re going to need a copy of a game that uses the Source engine and supports third-party mods. If you’ve got a full copy of Half-Life 2 then you’re already done. If you’ve not got Half-Life 2 you could buy it (it’s about $10, £7) or a similar title with support for the SDK. Luckily there is a list of games that support these mods on the Steam website, choose one you like the look of and make sure it’s downloaded and ready to play. Zombie Panic! Source [On Steam]
At the time of writing Zombie Panic! Source is entertaining more online players than a considerable amount of new full-price releases, which is pretty good going for a free mod. There are two classes – the human survivor and blood-thirsty zombies. Everyone starts out human, apart from one (volunteer or auto-selected) zombie. As a human it’s your job to fend off hordes of undead with whatever weapons you can find (you’re given one random melee weapon and a handgun to start you off). Zombies simply have to eat brains!
When a human player is killed by a zombie then he or she joins the zombie team. Each zombie has a limited amount of lives, and when these lives run out the humans win. Of course, if the zombies overrun the human team then the zombie team wins. Fortress Forever [On Steam]Do you remember Team Fortress Classic? Back when mods were free add-ons, created by enthusiasts in their bedrooms and played by thousands? Don’t you wish someone would remake the classic TFC, except from scratch on the Source engine? Step in Fortress Forever! The mod aims to satiate the needs of those who have stuck with the age-old TFC, and also promises to have done "more for new TF players than any prior Fortress attempt" – which should please the newbies.
As well as the old school capture the flag set-up, FF includes several other game modes, 10 playable classes and in excess of 20 maps (including the legendary 2fort). If you pine for TFC and are sick of Team Fortress 2, you might have just found your medicine. Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat [On Steam]
Winner of ModDB’s Mod of the Year 2007, Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat delivers a present-day conflict experience with a variety of real-world weapons and equipment. You won’t get very far without working as a team and making the most of the environment provided. The realism levels have been turned up to 11, meaning a couple of bullets is all it takes to be pushing up daisies. There’s a few modes of play, including a Battlefield-esque point capture gametype and of course generic team deathmatch.
Maps are based on real-world Afghan and Iraqi locations such as Ramadi, Almaden and Baghdad. There is also a new (unrelated) open source Insurgency Classic project, which might be worth checking out. Source Forts [On Steam]
Recently back from the dead, Source Forts is a multiplayer mod with a difference, and will test your building and shooting skills equally. Armed with a modified Half-Life 2 gravity gun, teams must create and maintain their very own forts in order to protect their flag. At the start of each round there is a build period, where you and your team are given enough time to construct a base. At the same time your foes are busily doing the same. Once build-time is over, you must capture the opposing force’s flag more times than they capture yours.
There are different classes, plenty of maps and a small dedicated community playing. If you’re interested, you’ll want to check out the wiki for the full low-down. ConclusionWhilst there might not be a wealth of players enjoying these mods, there should still be enough available servers to get a decent game. If you’re looking for a neat way to link up with and meet gamers try X-Fire for Windows, a game-centric IM client. Unfortunately for gamers these mods seem to be thinner on the ground than ever – despite the original (and free) Half-Life classic Counter-Strike still being one of the most popular games on the Steam platform. Do you have any favourite free mods? Do you remember the good old days of Counter-Strike beta 7? Are free mods soon going to be a thing of the past? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| How To Root Your Android Phone With SuperOneClick Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:31 PM PDT
The fear of “bricking” my expensive mobile device was too much, even for a guy that prides himself on his moderate hacking abilities. What convinced me to take the plunge and learn how to root my Android phone? Well, the first thing was seeing how easily my iPhone-toting MUO colleagues could jailbreak their phones. The second thing that convinced me was my need to take screenshots on the go, not only when I'm attached to my PC via a USB cable. The final thing was seeing how many cool apps on the Android Market require root. Root Options Available To Android UsersIn the early days of Android ownership, the process of "rooting" your brand-spanking-new and expensive Android device involved a fairly complicated 10 to 15 step process that involved the very real and present danger of “bricking” your Android phone and making it a worthless block of metal and glass. If you're in the same boat and you've been fearfully avoiding the complicated rooting process like the plague, I've got some good news for you. There are now a fair number of one-click applications out there that will root your phone for you. These apps work on the large majority of Android devices. Don't get me wrong – the danger of “bricking” is always there, but if you check to see that the app has been tested with your phone and version of Android, you should be safe enough. Just to give you some options to look at, some of the top one-click root apps for Android include Universal Androot, the Recovery Flasher, Easy Root, Unrevoked, and last but certainly not least – Super One-Click from XDA Developers. SuperOneClick is the app that I went with, and I believe it's the app that will work for the majority of people reading this. But before you get started, don't forget to enable USB debugging on your phone by going to Settings->Applications->Development and enabling "USB Debugging".
Also, SDK is required. Just follow my instructions in the taking Screenshots article that I wrote a while back to install the SDK developers kit. Nothing else below will work until this is done. Take the time to do it, because it'll also open up a lot of cool features like high-resolution screenshots, file exploring and easy file transfers. Once you've set it up, you're ready to roll.
Download Super One Click, make sure you have the Android debugger (SDK developer kit) running, expand the Super One Click zip file and click the SuperOneClick icon to run it. When SuperOneClick launches, you'll see several large buttons at the top of the screen. Make sure your phone is connected to the computer via USB and that the debugger can “see” it (activity will start logging). Make sure your SD card is not mounted, and go ahead and click “Root” in SuperOneClick.
You'll see the scrolling activity as SuperOneClick does it's job, with "OK" appearing after each task. You may see warnings, but so long as it doesn't "hang" on waiting for device, things should keep scrolling until it finally returns the "Success!" message.
At this point, check out the installed apps on your phone and you should see a "Superuser" icon that looks like a Droid skull and crossbones. If you see it, you're rooted. If you don't see it, reboot the Droid. In fact, I'd suggest rebooting even if you do see it, as I had some issues getting rooted apps to work until I actually rebooted my own device.
When you open up SuperUser, you'll see that you can configure notifications so that no app can actually run with root access unless you give it permission. Also, according to the folks at Nexus One Forum, SuperOneClick doesn't actually unlock the Bootloader, so you still retain your warranty. I haven't confirmed if that's true or not, but if true it's a pretty good plus to using SuperOneClick with the SDK approach.
Whenever you run an app that requires root (superuser), you'll see a notification requesting permission. I like this because it also means that if an app gets installed and tries to utilize superuser access without your knowledge, it can't.
If you check off "Remember", the program gets added to the list of "approved" apps with superuser access. You can see the ones on your list when you click on the "Apps" tab.
As you can see, once you have SDK installed and connected to your phone, the process is as simple as installing and running SuperOneClick. The program takes care of rooting your phone from the PC. Finally, you can enjoy a rooted Android phone, and all of the fun and excitement that offers! Did you give any of the one-click Android root apps a try? How was your experience? Share your rooting adventures in the comments section below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Posted: 16 Mar 2011 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!
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| 7 Websites You Should Visit If You Want To Be A Graffiti Artist Posted: 16 Mar 2011 12:31 PM PDT
Yes, it is seen as malicious mischief by some, but nobody is denying that it's also a part of mainstream pop-culture as an art form. Graffiti or street art's place in the sun as an art form may still be open to debate, but if done well, it is not only eye-catching but also a rousing social communication tool. So, where does a wannabe graffiti artist go for inspiration? First take a look at this old Smashing Magazine article to see just why it deserves respect as an art form; then head on to these seven graffiti websites before you stock up with cans of spray paint. Art Crimes – The Writing on The Wall
The site says it is the first and largest online aerosol art archive. It is definitely one of the oldest as it started in 1994. The site showcases graffiti art and style from around the world. The news link is something you might be interested in to know what's happening around the world with this art form. Another page that's a virtual shortcut into this world is the one which lists other interesting and useful sites in this genre. Street Files
When you first land here, it will seem that this photo sharing site is the "Flickr" for graffiti artists. 33,445+ members and 462,369 photos makes up quite a huge collection. The site is an independent street art & graffiti photo community. The site traces the popularity of graffiti as a social art form through the photos that are contributed from across the world. The quickest way to reach the streets is via the little blue map on the right which pinpoints cities around the world. There's also a photo filter for a more precise search. The Graffiti Creator
This site is for those who still haven't found a wall to "deface" or would like to practice without wasting paint. The online graffiti creator lets you experiment with varying preset styles. You can create customized text art work using the available styles & concepts. This online graffiti tool is useful because graffiti art can find expression on web banners, animation, and, logos too. One of our fellow authors has done a complete review on this online Flash application. Learn Graffiti
If you want to learn the stylized lettering involved in graffiti art, then this is a nice place for some of the basics. The online tutorials on graffiti take you through alphabets, styles, block 3D, arrows, coloring etc. Some of the lessons are still incomplete, but you can still get a pretty good picture of what's needed to start of with graffiti. The URL and the website's name are different. Graffiti Playdo
You have a palette, a can of spray paint, and a whole blank wall to work your magic. What else do you need as an aspiring graffiti artist? The advantage of doing graffiti online as this little Flash application shows is that you can undo it all with a press of a key and start again. Also, the Flash app lets you connect to Facebook and share your wild inspired ideas. Check out the little thumbnails at the foot, they should make you feel either inspired or inferior as a graffiti artist. As you can see, I feel the latter. Also, you can deface a lot many more public properties at another cool street painting site – ZeWall Online Painting. PureGraffiti
This is one of the more complete graffiti website and blog with a range of all round features that includes – graffiti news, graffiti pictures gallery, graffiti artists, interviews, street art, graffiti supplies, and a large forum. There doesn't seem to be any contests held now, but the site also features graffiti battles between participating graffiti artists. FatCap
This is a very nicely designed site to come to if you are searching for a well rounded graffiti and street-art resource and a social graffiti community rolled into one. You have entire sections on featured artists, graffiti pictures, videos, interviews, and news. Check out the nicely laid out navigational cues on the right sidebar which let you browse graffiti according to their type. I used to think that graffiti was an anonymous form of art, where you really didn't know the artist. But as these graffiti websites prove, graffiti and street art has moved into the mainstream and is getting its due. There is a lot of appeal in graffiti. Don't you think so? Image Credit: Wikipedia Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| How To Create Disk Images & Mount Them On A Virtual Drive [Windows] Posted: 16 Mar 2011 11:31 AM PDT
The results were various. Some of the copy-paste attempts were successful while others failed. When he asked me for a solution, I told him that simply copying the contents might not work for some discs. A better way would be to record them as disk images and then mount them using a virtual drive. Why Would Anybody Want To Create A Disk Image?The first time I met the concept of a disk image was in the late 90′s when I unsuccessfully tried to play a computer game without the CD. Back in those days, many software makers required that the installation/data CD’s were to be present in the tray before the application could run. If you used many applications and each one of them required several CD’s, repeatedly inserting and changing those CD’s could become very annoying. It would be much better if users transformed those CD’s into disk images and mount them using virtual drives. Another advantage of using a combination of disk images and virtual drives is the number of virtual drives you can use. While normal computer users would never install 20 optical disc drives on their CPU, anybody can easily set up 20 virtual drives on their system.
Then there’s the performance issue. Running mounted disk images is faster and less resource hungry than letting the system read everything from the physical disc. This method also means a longer battery life for mobile computer users. Converting physical discs into disk images also means that you can use the discs virtually from any computer that doesn’t have an optical drive such as small netbooks. Last but not least, after copying the discs as images, you can safely store them away and prolong their lifetime. Creating Disk ImagesEven though there are downloadable disk images on the web (Ubuntu Installer being one of them), the most common way to acquire disk images is by converting the real CDs with the help of disk imaging application. Most CD/DVD burner apps can accomplish the task, but one of the simplest free disk image software solutions that I found is ISO Recorder. This app will give you right-click access to create images.
Adding Virtual DrivesTo mount disk images, you’ll need to add/create virtual drives using virtual drive tools. One of the easiest tools you can try is Virtual Clone Drive.
Using a combination of disk images and virtual drives, you can create as many images as you want (provided you still have room on your hard drive), mount as many images as you need, and keep them open all the time if you want to. Obviously, the two free disk image software tools mentioned above are not the only available options. There are many other alternatives you could try, including a couple that Tim recently highlighted. What are the disk imaging and/or virtual drive tools of your choice? Please share them using the comments section below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Intego VirusBarrier X6 Giveaway Winners Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:30 AM PDT
We’ll be announcing the 25 lucky MakeUseOf readers who have each received a free 1-year subscription to Intego VirusBarrier X6 for Mac. Are you one of them?
Congratulations! Your license has already been sent via email. If you haven’t received it, please check your inbox or send Jackson Chung an email to get copy. Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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| Getting Things Gnome Keeps Linux Users Organized Posted: 16 Mar 2011 09:31 AM PDT
MakeUseOf readers know the web can be a distracting place. A good to-do list can help by reminding you of the tasks you need to accomplish. That’s not all you need, however; your task list should show you the things you need to do, but also be flexible enough to store notes about your various tasks. Getting Things Gnome offers this, along with a tagging feature of quick sorting. Organize your life and accomplish what you set out to.
Managing Your TasksFire up Getting Things Gnome for the first time and you’ll see a simple task list. Items in this list can teach you functionality offered by the program, so read them to really learn what’s possible. Once you’ve read and deleted those items you can start adding your own tasks. Adding a task is simple:
Editing tasks is similar to editing any document, with a few specific rules. The first line of text is your task’s name; this is what you’ll see in Getting Things Gnome’s main interface later. The rest of the field can be used to store whatever information you like, such as contact information for people involved or a brief summary. Use the “@” symbol, as seen above, to add tags to a given project. This can help a great deal in arranging your tasks. That’s not the only organizational structure offered. It’s possible to make a certain task a sub-task. This is great for projects that involve several steps, as you can break these steps down into smaller pieces while keeping them part of a larger project. Once you add a few tasks, you’ll have a basic to-do list:
From the main page you can complete a task, or open any particular task to edit it. Want to quickly access your tasks from the panel? You can, with a plugin, make your task list into a drop-down menu like this:
The plugin is included; click “Edit” followed by “Preferences” to find it. Use With Remember the MilkDo you like the interface Getting Things Gnome provides, but you are already using online task manager Remember the Milk? Don’t worry; a plugin offers the ability to sync this program with everyone’s favorite online program. Find it under the preferences menu and a new button will be added to the toolbar. Click it and you’ll have to go through the confirmation process:
Of course, there are other ways to use Remember The Milk on Linux, but Getting Things Gnome is a great addition to that list. Sadly syncing is not instant, and will require you to remember to click the button on the taskbar, but I’m sure this will get better as the program continues to develop. InstallationUbuntu users, as always, are lucky; they need only click here to install Getting Things Gnome. Note that you’ll need Ubuntu 10.10 for that link to work! Users of other Linux versions, or earlier versions of Ubuntu, should read the installation instructions on the Getting Things Gnome website; everything is explained there. How do you like Getting Things Gnome? Fill us in with your comments below, and be sure to recommend any other Linux task manager you may prefer! Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Twitter Adds “Always Use HTTPS” To Settings, Enable It Now! [News] Posted: 16 Mar 2011 08:31 AM PDT
Whilst users are already able to browse Twitter via a secure connection by visiting https://twitter.com in their browsers, the micro-blogging giant has now added an “always use HTTPS” checkbox to Twitter’s Settings page. This option will retain a secure connection for the duration of your login, regardless of what you’re doing on the website.
If you log into the service using the mobile site (mobile.twitter.com) you will still need to use the https:// prefix for now, though a post on the Twitter blog hints at this being rectified in the near future: ”We are working on a solution that will share the “Always use HTTPS” setting across twitter.com and mobile.twitter.com, so you don't have to think about which device you're using when you want to check Twitter.” Those of you who use third party applications will need to check whether your particular client offers HTTPS, though the official Twitter apps for iPhone and iPad already support a secure connection. Do you use Twitter’s website or an app? Will the new HTTPS setting reassure you in future? Been waiting a while? Let us know what you think in the comments. Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!
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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. You can make use of them without spending a dime. If you want to have similar cool websites round-ups delivered to your email daily email subscribe 
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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.
On one hand graffiti is seen as street art, on the other it is brought down as vandalism. Which side are you on? You might be dilly-dallying, so let me point you to the 
One of my acquaintances, who has just got his first personal computer, has a weird new hobby – buying and copying CDs and DVDs (music, applications, movies) to his laptop’s hard drive. His reason is that he wants to put his collection all in one place, and he has plenty of storage space to spare. But being a first time computer user, he used a bit of a strange way of doing it. He copied everything inside the discs and pasted them onto the hard drive.
Another week, another giveaway. Here’s one that just came to an end last week. Many think that Macs never get infected by viruses. That’s quite true — there are very few viruses for Mac OS X but it doesn’t mean that safety and security can be neglected, especially if you operate in a multi-OS environment.
Don’t just manage your tasks; deal with them. Getting Things Gnome, a program with an unfortunately stupid name, is a simple yet complete Linux task manager.
The whole world is going security mad these days. With Facebook and Gmail both 
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