MakeUseOf.com: “Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]” plus 5 more |  |
- Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
- Cool Websites and Tools [February 12th]
- 4 Tools To Make Web Pages Easier To Read For People With Poor Eyesight (Firefox)
- Hot Tech Deals [Feb 12th]
- Linux Live USB Creator: Easily Boot Linux From Your Flash Drive
- 2 Free VPN Services For Secure Browsing On Your iOS Device
| Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun] Posted: 12 Feb 2011 09:37 PM PST
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| Cool Websites and Tools [February 12th] Posted: 12 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. Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| 4 Tools To Make Web Pages Easier To Read For People With Poor Eyesight (Firefox) Posted: 12 Feb 2011 05:31 PM PST
This means that people with various visual disabilities (be it poor eyesight, color blindness, etc) as well as older people (who may have bad sight) use the Web on a daily basis – and not many website owners care about making the lives of those people easier. This post aims to help those with bad eyesight to become independent of each individual website interface. Here are 4 tools that will help you make web pages that are easier to read for low-vision people. 1. LowBrowseLowBrowse creates a new frame in the top part of the browser that, on hover over, presents the text in a single line with configurable text size, font, color contrast and letter spacing without having to zoom in and out. The tool will let users:
2. ReadableReadable (as well as this one that looks very similar) transforms text on any website using fonts, colors, and layouts that you choose. To make it work, just select the part of the page you want to read and click the Readable icon in the status bar. The simplified, easier to read version of the selected text will load in a new pane in the foreground of the current page: Right-clicking on the same icon lets the user customize the box and font size, color and contrast: 3. NosquintNosquint (this addon has also been mentioned in a MUO article listing add-ons that improve Firefox’s page zoom feature) lets you adjust the font size and color as well as customize and “traditionalize” the overall page look and feel. The addon allows you to:
The tool settings can be accessed by right-clicking on its icon in the status bar and clicking “Site Settings”: The above dialog screen also lets you set the “Global Settings” for all the websites you visit (as well as add the exceptions): The current settings for each site can be seen on hover-over on the status bar icon: 4. Theme Font & Size ChangerIf you spend much time using Firefox and its menus, you’ll find this addon invaluable. It changes the global font size and font family in all windows, menus, toolbars, etc within Firefox itself. The tool settings can be accessed from the toolbar or status bar options. There ia a “Normal” value so that you can reset to the default Firefox values. There are also compatibility issues with some FireFox themes, but if you are using the default theme, there’s nothing to worry about. Are you aware of any other Firefox addons that would allow easier browsing and reading for people with poor eyesight? Please let us know in the comments!
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| Posted: 12 Feb 2011 12:30 PM PST
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| Linux Live USB Creator: Easily Boot Linux From Your Flash Drive Posted: 12 Feb 2011 11:31 AM PST
With support for a shockingly high number of Linux distributions and an easy-to-use Windows interface, Linux Live USB Creator makes the creation of USB boot disks effortless. From downloading the ISO to formatting your drive, there’s not much about USB booting this application doesn’t make easier than similar software.
5 Simple StepsFirst things first: fire up the program. You’ll see 5 sub-windows, representing the five steps to making a Live USB key. The first is simple enough: That’s right: you need to pick which key you want to boot Linux from. Once you’ve done this, pick the version of Linux you want to boot. If you’ve got an ISO or a CD handy you can use that, or you can pick from many downloadable distros: If you select a distro from this list the program will take care of downloading the ISO for you: So far, so good. If you want your key to keep downloaded programs and documents in place, you’re going to want persistence mode. This is step 3; simply scroll to leave room: Step four is optional, but includes some handy tools: Here you can choose to hide the created files on your key from being seen by Windows, useful if you plan to use your key for more than just booting Linux. You can optionally format the drive you’re writing to, and choose whether or not you want your Linux distro to be loadable in Windows. Once you’re done you can click the lightning bolt in the fifth box to start the creation of your live CD. Congratulations; you’ve got yourself a bootable USB key. Live Virtual MachineThe options include a step for launching your key in Windows. What is that about? Well, once your disk is created, open it up in Windows Explorer. You’ll find a new file that looks like this: You can click this to boot your Linux distro without rebooting Windows, which is handy from time to time. Naturally you’re going to want a pretty powerful computer to try this out, but it’s a nice added touch. Supported DistrosWow. Just, wow. This program supports the automatic downloading and installation of many different Linux distributions. Highlights include: There’s more; check out Live Linux USB’s official list of Linux distros for a complete list. ConclusionLinux Live USB isn’t the first program to help users make live USB keys; uNetBootin does the same job. What Linux Live USB does better than this program is make the process painless. It’s worth checking out just for that, but according to blog OMG Ubuntu, this program works more consistently than others. So it’s easier and better. Do you like this tool? Let us know in the comments below. Also feel free to share other tools for the job, and to discuss your favorite Linux distributions. NEW: Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!
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| 2 Free VPN Services For Secure Browsing On Your iOS Device Posted: 12 Feb 2011 09:31 AM PST
The reason for using a free VPN service on your phone is exactly the same as using them on your computer. For example, you may want to access websites or apps that have been blocked by your ISP or are not available in your country, or you may want to encrypt all inbound and outbound data. It has to be said that, as with any free service, there are certain concessions you may have to accept such as limited bandwidth, while also bearing in mind the risk involved in using a free service when accessing sensitive information. VPN ExpressVPN Express [iTunes link] is a free iPhone/iPad app that gives you 100MB of free, encrypted browsing on your iOS device. After installing the app on your device, the first thing you will need to do is register for a free account within the app, which requires only your email address and a password. If a VPN Express member referred you, you can also enter their email address, resulting in each of you earning additional free bandwidth. After confirming your email address you can then manually configure your iOS device’s VPN setting. To do so, go to Settings > General > Network > VPN > Add New VPN Configuration. From there you can enter the settings by selecting the L2TP or PPTP tab and filling in the fields as follows:
Once you’re settings are all in place, a new VPN selection will appear in the settings menu, where you can easily toggle the VPN service on and off. When turned on, a small VPN icon will appear in the status bar. The advantage of using an app like VPN Express on your iOS device is that the app displays all of your usage statistics, as well as displaying your remaining bandwidth on the account tab, so that you can keep track of it while you’re on the go. If 100MB isn’t enough, VPN Express offers extremely competitive subscriptions and quotas, starting at $0.99 for 30 days and a quota of 2GB data transfer, or $.0.99 for a 1GB data plan. Hotspot ShieldIt is also possible to use Hotspot Shield, one of the 7 free services recommended on MakeUseOf before, on your iOS device. Unlike VPN Express, you don’t have to install anything on your iPhone or iPad. First, in order to generate an account ID and password, go to the HotSpot Shield website and click on Get Account ID. Make sure that your WiFi connection is turned off, and once again, navigate to Settings > General > Network > VPN > Add New VPN Configuration. Select the IPSec tab and fill in the fields as follows:
Turn your WiFi connection back on, and as with VPN Express, turn on the VPN and when the icon appears in the status bar, you can browse the Internet safely and securely. If you have more than one VPN configuration on your iOS device, the VPN button in the settings menu will navigate to the VPN settings page allowing you to choose which configuration you wish to use. If you want to be absolutely sure that everything is working as it should be, look up your IP address in Safari and make sure that your location has been changed. Which VPN service do you use on your iOS device? Let us know in the comments. Image credit: Shutterstock Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
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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. 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 
The Internet has long become a mainstream tool. You no longer need to be a programmer to sit for hours in front of the computer every day. People of all ages and professions work and spend days online.
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.
Trying out Linux should be easy; with the help of Linux Live USB Creator it is. Quickly get any Linux distribution to boot from your USB key, complete with a persistent mode for keeping applications and documents in place. You can even install a portable version of 
We recently published an article explaining what 
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