Month: March 2013

By (author unknown), Dilbert Daily Strip – December 25, 2010 at 03:00AM

By timothy, Slashdot – December 23, 2010 at 11:39PM

kkleiner writes with this fun bit from Singularity Hub: “Expert remote control pilot Raphael ‘Trappy’ Pirker recently took his 54 inch Zephyr model plane on a harrowing tour of Manhattan and the surrounding area. The best part: his RC vehicle was fitted with a camera that wirelessly transmitted an amazing recording of everything it saw – Pirker was piloting his craft with this visual feed. As you can see in the video, the results were spectacular. The plane looks to be flying within a few feet of buildings and whizzing past bridges with ease. You have to check out around 2:01 when he starts to buzz right by the Statute of Liberty.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By Rosa Golijan, Gizmodo – December 23, 2010 at 09:20PM

Meet Melvin Guzman. He somehow ended up with a Mac stolen from Zoz, a rather crafty hacker who happens to love that computer “like his firstborn.” Here’s a hilarious account of what happened—complete with some poorly censored nudity. More »

By Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker – December 23, 2010 at 07:00AM

Windows/Mac/Linux: VirtualBox 4.0 makes creating virtual operating systems a lot less bothersome. The interface is easier to get around, the virtual machines easier to move or wipe away, display and hardware compatibility is improved, and new “extensions” can add new capabilities.

Previously, moving your virtual machines around, or deleting them and all their snapshots, required some knowledge of how VirtualBox stored your stuff, and some tricky XML editing. No longer, as VirtualBox adds commands to do a complete wipe of a machine, and also explains where your stuff is stashed. Beyond that deep-down fix, the interface has seen a pretty nice upgrade—stuff you would regularly look for before, like the prompt to load up an ISO file as a virtual CD drive, are now front and center, and the Settings dialog easier to move through progressively.

There aren’t many Extensions right now, but third-party coders may soon add some nice capabilities to this free virtual machine manager. And Oracle does offer up one extension, USB management, that will likely allow users of the open source version (usually distributed by Linux desktops) to get that previously unavailable capability.

VirtualBox 4.0 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. If you’re intrigued and want to get started with VirtualBox and virtual operating systems, try our beginner’s guide to virtual machines, or take on the seemingly impossible by running Mac OS X on Windows in VirtualBox.

By Tim Brookes, MakeUseOf – December 22, 2010 at 06:31PM

So the global recession has hit hard. At a time like this you may be tempted to turn to money-saving tips, techniques and resources to help yourself out if you’re feeling the squeeze.

What better way to save yourself money and stamp your own personal mark on a job by doing it yourself? There’s plenty of money to be saved by getting your hands dirty, regardless of sex and age – just exercise care and caution if you’re wielding sharp and potentially dangerous things.

Here’s a selection of websites to help inspire new projects and close the lid on those unfinished ones too.

Make It & Mend It

With the aim of inspiring more of us to re-use and recycle instead of simply throwing it away, Make it and Mend it is the brainchild of four passionate women who have seen the website’s popularity grow and grow.

Since launching in early 2009 the website has seen the growth of a community, a major redesign (which looks awesome) and the introduction of the email newsletter.

Navigation is easy via the simplistic and sleek design of the homepage, with instructions separated into six separate categories. There are also a few other sections to the site including People which focuses on guest bloggers and human interest, as well as Downloads and Videos.

Make it and Mend it provides some creative ideas for cookery, home design and fashion amongst others, with a focus on projects that benefit from that personal touch.

Make: Projects

Make: Projects puts more of an emphasis on technical projects than the previous website, but contains a good range of DIY tips, hacks, tweaks and uses for your old bits of tat.

Ever wanted to mod a snowboard into a splitboard? What about building your own aerial satellite? There’s no shortage of adventurous projects here, and you don’t need an engineering degree to play along.

The website is the “submit your own” section of Make Magazine, and many of the projects listed may have been featured on the shelf of your local newsagents in the past.

Instructables

We’ve mentioned it before, in fact I’ve even mentioned it myself but I can’t help but drop it into another article. Instructables is probably the web’s most definitive collection of DIY projects for absolutely any occasion.

The website changes with the seasons, so if you’re after the best halloween costume or want to build your own summer barbecue then you’re bound to find detailed, informative instructions for just about anything.

The website also runs regular competitions to reward the community’s spirit and determination, so if you’re brave then why not enter your own creation for the chance to win some very apt prizes.

diyfixit

British-based diyfixit embraces the nation’s obsession with hammers, drills and other tools with guides to fixing general household issues.

There’s a plethora of information available from wallpapering to installing a kitchen sink – you’ll find it on diyfixit. There’s a couple of different sections to explore, though the How To section warrants a visit on its own.

If you’re the handy type who feels confident enough in undertaking the largest of hands-on projects then diyfixit is the perfect resource for your busy hands.

DoItYourself.com

Another excellent resource for all your household needs, DoItYourself.com features an excellent How To section as well as videos to help you install, fix and choose the best bits of your house.

There’s also sections dedicated to design, car repair and general home improvement which add to the varied articles and videos that populate the website. The website also functions as a store for DIY products, and there’s a Find A Contractor area in case you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

Another very capable archive of knowledge for those who like getting hands-on.

eHow

Before joining the team here at MakeUseOf, I used to write small guides for eHow on how to do just about anything. Whilst my time at MakeUseOf has been a lot more fulfilling and enjoyable, eHow taught me a lot about writing how-to guides for the web.

With no specific categories targeted, eHow simply tries to be the ultimate “how do I do that?” resource. Their article titles are drawn from search engine results, and span every conceivable topic.

For a quick guide that’s backed up with references and resources, eHow fits the bill.

Have you used any great DIY websites recently? Any successful projects you’ve finished thanks to the web? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit : Shutterstock

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By Alan Henry, Lifehacker – March 15, 2013 at 07:30AM

We’re all bummed that Google Reader is going away, and while we’ve highlighted some alternatives (and are looking for your favorites, too!) you may not even an alternative when IFTTT and any bookmarking service of your choice (in this case, Pocket) can give you similar results.

Over at The Lab, Ruth explains that even though Google Reader is gone, you can use IFTTT and Pocket (or any similar article-saving service of your choice—you could just as easily use Evernote, Dropbox, even Gmail to house your articles) to get new articles from your favorite blogs dumped into a central location where you can read and organize them whenever you want. She specifically suggests “read it later” type services because they’re designed for article reading and organization, so while her recipe uses Pocket, you can use it as-is or sub in Instapaper or Readability if you prefer.

We could see the same recipe modified to send articles from your favorite sites to Gmail, and then a Gmail filter to take new articles that land in your inbox to be directed to a specific Gmail filter—maybe called “Reader”—to duplicate the Google Reader experience. Hit the link below to read more on how Ruth did it, and to grab her recipe.

Substituting Google Reader for Some IFTTT Magic | The Lab

By Casey Chan, Gizmodo – January 04, 2011 at 07:20PM

The toothpaste industry is in need of a shakeup! Whitening strips aren’t enough. MIT’s Media Lab has developed a prototype toothpaste that spits out different flavors according to the weather and temperature outside. More »

By jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng), Ars Technica – January 04, 2011 at 07:05PM

Collect all those promo CDs you managed to pick up at bars and clubs and get ready to make a trip to your local used music shop: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it’s legal for you to sell those CDs. In the case of UMG vs. Augusto, the appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision, saying that a mere stamp on the CD label isn’t enough to force the recipient into a license agreement, and therefore people can resell the CDs without the record label’s permission.

This case goes back to 2007 when Universal Music Group (UMG) sued California resident Troy Augusto, who made a living by selling promo CDs on eBay. UMG claimed that it had merely licensed the CDs to Augusto—the label insisted that it had never officially transferred ownership, and therefore Augusto did not “own” the CDs. As a result, UMG said he was committing copyright infringement by reselling the CDs—after all, they did have a line printed on the label saying they couldn’t be redistributed.

Read the comments on this post

By Tim Stevens, Engadget RSS Feed – January 04, 2011 at 06:31PM

If you’re not a car person there’s a good chance you don’t know much about the OBD-II lurking mysteriously beneath your dash. It’s there — if your car was built since the first Bush administration, anyway. Usually its needs go unfulfilled until your check-engine light pops on and some mechanic with greasy paws clumsily stuffs a code checker in there, but more and more tools are coming out to change that. The Autobot Mavia is one, and now Griffin is doing similar with the CarTrip. It’s an OBD-II adapter that connects wirelessly to an iOS device or writes directly to SD card, storing information on information related to car mileage, even giving you a real-time efficiency readout on your display with the CleanDrive app. And, yes, it’ll even pull warning codes and the like if things aren’t quite running how they should. All that for $89.99, a fair bit less than the Mavia will potentially be and available sooner — sometime before the first quarter is through.

Griffin gets an iPhone all up in your car’s OBD-II port with the CarTrip Bluetooth adapter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Steven Campbell, MakeUseOf – January 04, 2011 at 06:30PM

Who got an iPad for Christmas? I did, and I’ve been glued to it ever since. One thing I noticed right away, however, was the lack of quality, free apps in the App Store for iPad. It’s not like the App Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch, that’s for sure. Heck, just recently I was able to find enough beer apps for the iPhone to warrant a top 10 article. Sure, a lot of these work on the iPad, but where are the best native iPad apps?

I’m here to answer that for you, and now that I own an iPad myself, expect to never miss a great, free app again. I’m going to start with the iPad games section because, let’s face it — what’s an iPad really good for, if not fun?

1. Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift

Here’s one last joyful thing from the holiday season. Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift is a twist on the hugely popular game Cut the Rope HD Lite.

In it, you have a creature named Om Nom that you need to constantly feed. The way you do this is by swiping your finger across the ropes and collecting the stars by touching them with the candy, but it’s not always simple. There are a lot of enemies and obstacles to avoid as the levels get harder.

In Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift you don’t just need to feed Om Nom, you also need to collect three golden stars in each stage. Don’t worry though, there are a variety of special tools to help you.

2. Fruit Ninja HD Lite

As simple in concept as this next game is, you are not going to believe how much fun it is to play. In Fruit Ninja HD Lite, you swipe the screen as fruit flies around to “slash and splatter fruit like a true ninja warrior”. It actually gets pretty tricky as more and more items get tossed through the air, including bombs.

In Fruit Ninja HD Lite, you can even check out the Dojo, where your in-game success can unlock awesome new backgrounds and blades. There are also a small sample of achievements to unlock, with three exclusive to this version of the game. You can post your results to Facebook and Twitter, too.

3. Smurfs’ Village

The simple fact that this game even exists makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. In Smurfs’ Village, you are faced with the task of creating your own village, which includes constructing buildings and bridges, growing gardens, and playing mini-games to create things like potions and cookies. Think Sim City meets Farmville.

All of your favorite Smurfs are in this game based on the original cartoon. You can even connect your account with Facebook and view all your friends’ villages in the game. Need I say more?

4. Puzzle Planet

Who doesn’t love a good puzzle game? In Puzzle Planet, you have to help the traveler Nur and his furry friend Glood navigate the wonders of Planet Earth and solve jigsaw puzzles along the way.

“Just so we’re clear, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill, sit-at-a-card-table-with-your-grandma-sipping-lemonade jigsaw puzzles. These are wickedly challenging and lightning fast. You’ll need lizard fingers and an alien brain to solve them fast and rack up the points.”

The game features three levels of difficulty, three special in-game power-ups, leaderboards, and achievements/souvenirs to collect.

5. Brickshooter Egypt HD

Free for a limited time, Brickshooter Egypt HD gives you the ability to unravel the mysteries of ancient hieroglyphs and help restore the pyramids to form. It’s a unique brain-teasing puzzle experience that features over 60 levels of addictive gameplay. Crack the intriguing puzzles of the past and unlock the secrets of the pharaohs!

6. Hungry Shark – Part 1 HD

In Hungry Shark, you have to chomp your way to the top of the food chain. It’s a fast-paced aquatic eat ‘em-up game. This game has pretty amazing graphics and can be very addicting. Troll the seas and binge on pretty much whatever you want to try to beat your friends’ high scores.

7. Touch Hockey Extreme: FS5

The most popular arcade game on the iPhone is now available for the iPad with enhanced 3D graphics. Touch Hockey Extreme: FS5 features enhanced multi-touch gesture recognition and it turns your iPad into a virtual air hockey table.

8. Bakery Story

This game reminds me a lot of Cafe World, the hugely popular Facebook game. Bakery Story let’s you design your own virtual bakery to show off to your friends. Keep your customers happy and well-fed by creating tasty pastries and things. New content is released every week to make the game continually better.

Like the concept but not a fan of bakeries? Check out Restaurant Story and City Story too.

9. Can Knockdown

You wouldn’t believe how addictive a simple game like throwing a ball at a bunch of stacked up cans can be until you play Can Knockdown. With this one, swipe your finger towards the cans to shoot the ball with enough velocity to knock them all down. There’s a strategy to it as the levels get harder because you only have so many chances. Be sure to utilize the exploding cans, too.

10. Simply Solitaire HD

One game that just has to be on every electronic device is Solitaire. Simply Solitaire HD is the best Solitaire game available for the iPad and it has a lot of different modes and features for you. You won’t be disappointed with this app.

Conclusion

If you enjoyed those Ipad games, be sure to check out our other articles:

• 6 Free Simulation iPad Games
• 11 Free iPad Board Games You Shouldn’t Miss
• The 10 Top Free Apps For The iPad

What do you think of the games listed above? Do you have a favorite iPad game?

Image Credit: Rego – d4u.hu

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