Make Use On it: 2013

Sunday 8 September 2013

How To Make Videos Your Friends Will Want To Share

What if you created the next viral video? Most of time, videos go viral without ever intending to do so. I mean, check this out: a baby talks into a camera and it gets over 500 million views. Who would have ever guessed something like that would garner so much attention? This seems to be true for most of the popular viral videos. Now, let’s say you want to create videos that spread like wildfire and are seen by millions. Where do you start?

Before we begin, you should instill one thing into your mind: virality is never guaranteed. I’m going to list several elements that viral videos tend to share, which could help you to create a video that your friends will want to share, but you might end up with nothing. Similarly, a video doesn’t need to have all of these elements to become viral. It’s really up to luck and good fortune, but keep these tips in mind and you’ll tip luck in your favor.

6 Great Tech Tips To Beat College On A Budget

I’m entering my final year of university in a few weeks. For the past three years I’ve seen my peers use sloppy research methods, spend hours worrying over their unpreparedness for an exam, and shell out major cash for textbooks. College is supposed to be fun, not four years of stress.

Despite growing criticisms of the “value” of a degree, this generation has the best chance to make the most out of a course. Technology has enabled us to speed up just about every other industry and create the kind of efficiency man could only dream about two decades ago. So why not apply it to academic life?

There really is no need to spend hours holed up in the library to ace an exam. Check this out.

Got a Hot Nexus 4? Here’s a Hack That Will Cool It Down!

Want to fix the LG Nexus 4′s terrible overheating problems? I’m going to show you how, but it may require two things: One, voiding your warranty and, two, some experience in disassembling electronics. But for those of you who are brave, or perhaps foolish, enough to continue, your Nexus 4′s temperatures can drop by up to 10 degrees Celsius at load. Unfortunately, this fix requires opening your phone up and inserting a thermally conductive component.

Before getting started, we need to get acquainted with LG’s design flaw.

The Basics Of Good Office Posture: An Animated Guide

We’ve said it before, sitting too long kills you. Working a nine to five job in an office, sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day, while staring at a computer screen isn’t exactly a healthy working environment. That’s why we suggested switching to a standing desk (it’s not difficult to build one yourself).

Worms 3: Finally, A Proper Worms Game For iPhone & iPad

Team 17 originally released Worms for the Amiga in 1995, and it didn’t take long before the world took note and the game was ported to the PC, PlayStation and even the GameBoy. Now, nearly two decades later, Team 17 are still releasing invertebrate-themed turn-based war games with the latest being iOS-exclusive Worms 3 ($4.99).

The first Worms game designed entirely with the iPhone and iPod Touch in mind, it is by far the most complete mobile version yet and compromises on very little to bring strategists and masochists alike a pure Worms experience. Whether you remember masterpieces like Worms: Armageddon or are simply looking for a first class multiplayer experience, Worms 3 is sure to delight.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: Does Going Free-To-Play Mean The Death Of The Series?

I’ve made it no secret that I think Plants vs. Zombies is easily one of the best games on iOS. For a moderate cost, gamers can jump in, enjoy the game and everything it has to offer, and move on with their day. Seeing as the game was consistently among the best-sellers on the App Store, there didn’t seem to be any reason to adjust anything.

Since EA has taken the reigns at PopCap, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has been released for free. When I say free, I am referring to the game being free to download initially with plenty of in-app purchases to keep the money flowing in. This is a delicate issue, and one we’ve covered here at MakeUseOf before, but it’s usually something that happens with new games, not established franchises.

Seeing it happen to Plants vs. Zombies 2 is a big shock, and it leads to the ultimate question: did EA make a mistake, or is going free-to-play the smartest move for the franchise?

Timely For Android: A Beautiful, Powerful, and Slick Alarm Clock

Whatever alarm clock you’re using, it’s uglier than Timely. That’s a bold assertion to make, I know. But I’ve been using Gentle Alarm, one of the most powerful and versatile alarm clocks for Android, for over a year now — and we’ve also looked at other alarm clocks like DoubleTwist and Alarm Clock Xtreme. That’s why I feel confident in saying Timely, a relative newcomer, is probably the most elegant alarm clock available on Android right now. It also doubles at a timer and a stopwatch, and can even sync your alarms across multiple devices so both your tablet and your phone know when to wake you up. This is an alarm clock you should, at the very least, try. Below, I’ll be looking at Timely’s premium version, which currently retails for $3 via in-app purchase.

10 Steps To Take When You Discover Malware On Your Computer

Viruses are everywhere! And although we’d like to think that the Internet is a safe place to spend our time (cough), we all know that there are risks around every corner. Email, social media, malicious websites that have worked their way into search engine results, and ad pop-ups all can pose a threat. Although there are precautions you can take to limit the risk of infecting your computer, sometimes you simply have bad luck and get infected anyway. But thankfully, you can do it for completely free, although removing malware can be a painful process. And because of that, I’ve laid out all the steps of exactly how to do it.

How Do Webcomics Make Money?

A lot of my childhood was swept up in comics. I don’t mean superhero comics — I never really got into those — but funny strips that often contained subtle commentaries on life that flew over my youthful head. Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, and comics in that vein. Nowadays, though, a lot of great comics are being published on the web as webcomics. You might be interested in adding to the pool, but what if you want to do it full-time?

The web is full of content ranging from general humor webcomics to webcomics for geeks. Whatever your genre, whatever your niche, you will be able to find an audience as long as you write well and put yourself out there every day. So how do you make money from it? Keep reading to find out how most artists keep their bank accounts afloat with their drawings.

5 iOS Apps To Help You Become An Interior Design Maste

Is there anything an iPhone or iPad cannot help you with? If there is, I have yet to find it. Turns out, you can even use the magical devices to help make your home a more beautiful and comfortable place. Planning an interior design project is hard, and that is why there are people who do it for a full-time job. However, we can’t all afford to hire a professional, and that’s where some awesome iPhone apps can come in and save the day.

I will readily admit that I spend way too much of my time watching shows on HGTV where people make fantastic renovations on their homes. It makes me a little jealous, and even further, it makes me want to learn some of those skills. While I will never be a professional, using these apps has certainly helped me to become more skilled with the planning and layout of my house.

Test Your Hearing Age & Other Fun Science Videos With AsapSCIENCE

YouTube and education goes well together with courses, lectures and experiments from the world’s finest educational establishments, but much of the time videos of kittens outdo solid informative efforts. It’s no secret that the best way to make people learn is to engage them with your subject, but this is easier said than done. That’s particularly true on the Internet, where everything is a distraction.

Striking the balance between education and entertainment (go on, use the word edutainment, I dare you) is difficult, but many have achieved it. AsapSCIENCE is another channel that fuses short bursts of truly interesting knowledge into light, hand-drawn videos that attract millions of views. Best of all you’re guaranteed to learn something, even if it’s the fact that you have the ears of a 70-year old rock star.

Can You Run Your Business Purely From Your Smartphone?

Ah, the smartphone. This device that many would have you believe can literally do anything. Is it even worthy of being called a mere phone? We have so many apps that can turn it into almost any tool that we need, and the word “phone” seems a bit limiting.

Regardless, can your smartphone really do anything? Furthermore, can you run your business from your smartphone? MakeUseOf wanted to find out, so we nailed down the five main cores of business when it comes to basic operations and we’ve take the smartphone approach to these essential needs. Here’s how they compare.

Improve Your English With New And Improved Definitions On Google Search

If Google Search has been standing in as your online dictionary of choice, then the search box will now take you deeper into a word. The latest update gives you sample sentences, synonyms, origin, and translations to go with the meaning of the word you put into the query. Google has updated both desktop and mobile search with the more comprehensive definitions. Unfortunately, for now it’s U.S. only. Knowing Google, you can be sure it will be rolled out elsewhere as well.

Earlier, Google supported natural language queries. For instance, something like “definition Expeditious” or “What’s the definition of expeditious?” gave you the meaning, some synonyms, and a tiny More Info link that connected you to third-party resources like FreeDictionary.com, and a drop-down menu for Google Translate powered language conversions. With the latest update, Google Search cuts through a few steps and saves you a lot of bother by displaying most of the word-related information front and center.

Google Launches Landing Page For Helpouts – A Live Video Marketplace

Why Email Can’t Be Protected From Government Surveillance

“If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it either,” said the owner of secure email service Lavabit as he recently shut it down. “There is no way to do encrypted e-mail where the content is protected,” said Phil Zimmermann as he suddenly shut down Silent Circle’s secure email service. The reality is that email is fundamentally insecure and can never be protected from government surveillance in the same way some other communications can.

Sure, you may be using a different encrypted and “secure” email service that hasn’t shut down yet. But they’re vulnerable to the same US government pressure Lavabit faced — that’s why Silent Circle shut down before it was contacted by the government. Some less principled services will opt to cooperate with governments rather than shut down. We don’t know exactly what demands Lavabit faced, as they’re forbidden from disclosing anything they experienced as a result of backdoor orders from the secret US surveillance court that enables PRISM and other NSA surveillance programs.

Now, let’s look at why email is a poor choice for secure communications, and how it’s an easy target for government snooping.

Are You In A Rush To Make Money From Home? Spot 7 Work At Home Scams.

Wealth, speed, ethics — when it comes to money, you can only pick two. When it comes to working from home, it’s very likely that you won’t get a chance to even pick one of them. That’s because most opportunities to make money from home are simply scams.

While there are some ways to make money from home, there are more ways to get scammed than there are authentic opportunities for profit. Below are seven work at home scams that are quite popular but not always easy to spot. We’ve done the hard work for you, so check them out.

Puzzle Alarm Clock for Android Makes Sure You Never Oversleep Again

Alarm clocks are fundamentally very simple things: They wait until the designated time, and then wreak havoc. Or so the basic concept goes, at least. But these simple alarm clocks all face an age-old problem: What if you switch them off an go back to sleep for “five more minutes” only to wake up hours later? Supposedly, you could use self control to solve this problem. But why use self control when you can use technology instead? So, this is where things start getting creative. The next step up from a mechanical clock is one with a snooze function, of course — something we generally take for granted. But bring smartphones into the equation, and things really start getting wild. We’ve previously looked at several uniqueAndroid alarm clocks, but Puzzle Alarm Clock pulls out all the stops in the snooze department: It’s absolutely determined to get you out of bed. I will be looking at the app’s paid version, which currently sells for about $2.30.

Keep Your Data Private With These 4 VPN Apps For Android

Our readers had a lot of great suggestions for free VPN apps for Android over at MakeUseOf Answers, and I’m here to put some of those to the test. VPNs can be useful for a whole host of reasons, but their main benefits are that they keep your data private even over a public WiFi connection (which are surprisingly easy to exploit) and they allow you to access region-blocked content (although there are other ways to do that).

There are plenty of great VPN options for PCs and Mac, but there is a surprisingly diverse array of options for Android users as well. My favorites include Hotspot Shield VPN,TunnelBear VPN, Hideninja VPN, and Hideman VPN. Today, I’ll be looking at three aspects of these Android apps: speed, user interface, and value. Because what good is a VPN service if it’s slow, ugly, and expensive? Let’s jump right in.

Use Your Expertise: Author Your Own Money Making Course Using Udemy

In the age of the Internet, you can often surpass traditional and expensive college and technical courses and learn practically anything online. And if you have a particular expertise in a subject and want to teach others, there is a large variety of online resources you can use to make money by teaching others as well. Udemy is one such example of a popular online teaching and learning site that can be accessed online and from supported mobile devices.

Udemy has over 8,000 free and paid courses on a wide variety of subjects including technology, business, design, arts, photography, humanities, music, and game creation. The site includes a well designed step-by-step process for creating your own course, which you can publish to Udemy’s growing community of nearly 1 million students and about another million monthly site visitors. Creating a professional online course is similar to authoring a book, which once published, can possibly bring you residual income for years to come.

Facebook Shadow Profiles: You Probably Have One Too

You think you’re not on Facebook? Think again. Facebook no doubt has a shadow profile made just for you.

You may recall that recently Facebook found a bug exposing personal details of 6 million user accounts. What you may not have realised is that this led users to know more about how Facebook stores our data, and shows us clearly that Facebook does indeed have shadow profiles on most of us.

Scary stuff? Well, yes. It’s now clear that NSA and other government spying agencies use tools like PRISM to get data from sites like Facebook, and there is nothing we can do about it. Add to our worries the fact that Facebook may be sharing details about us with spying agencies that we never even shared with Facebook in the first place… Big Brother knows more about you than you may think.

Find Out What Is Slowing Down Your Browser With Guardius [100 Invites Inside!]

Add-ons can slow down your browser. Wouldn’t you like to identify the culprits?

The average MakeUseOf reader has 1-20 browser add-ons installed. Depending on the number and type of add-ons, this can have a significant effect on your browser. So unless you’re one of the rare types, you probably know what I’m talking about.

One solution is indeed to avoid add-ons all together, and use bookmarklets to achieve many of the same effects. But wouldn’t it be great if you could know for sure which add-ons are OK to use, and which ones are slowing you down? You can do this by disabling all your add-ons and adding them back one by one, or you could give Guardius a try.

Guardius? Is That Yet Another Add-On?

Not quite. Guardius is not a browser add-on but an actual desktop program you need to install (fancy, I know). It’s currently in closed, invite-only beta, but the developers were generous enough to provide us with some exclusive invites just for you. You can find out more on how to get yours at the end of this article. But first, let’s see what Guardius is all about.

Before You Get Started

Even before that, though, I’d like to emphasize again that Guardius is still very much in beta. Since this is a service that uses crowdsourcing as its means of operation, it will naturally get more powerful the more users it has. At the moment, Guardius is not as useful as it could be, but the idea behind it is a good one, which led me to trying it out and writing this article.

Don’t expect miracles right off the bat. As with every successful product, we need to be patient here too. The cool thing is that you can start using it right now (if you get hold of one of our invites), and watch as it develops from sort of useful to amazingly useful.

Getting Started With Guardius

The installation process is quick and easy, but don’t get confused by the post-installation instructions. These tell you to look for Guardius on the bottom right corner of your browser window. It’s not there.

Like I mentioned earlier, Guardius is not a browser add-on, it’s a desktop program, and as such, you’ll find it in your system tray, where you can double click its icon and see how your browsers are doing.

Guardius works with Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer, and will display information for any of the three you have installed. For each browser, you’ll see how its speed compares to other users, and what add-ons or toolbars might be slowing it down. This data comes from analyzing what other users have removed and how it affected their browsers.

Using the dropdown menu on top, you can switch between your browsers, if you use multiple ones. For each, you might or might not get recommendations to remove add-ons and toolbars.

The Good

Despite having to restart your browser to get Guardius to detect new add-ons, it will sometimes automatically pop up and tell you that this or that add-on might be slowing you down.

If it does find something, you can hit “More Details” to see the culprits, and get a better understanding of what these recommendations are based on. In this case, it seems that 171,842 users recommend that I turn off Photo Zoom for Facebook.

Saying that these users “recommend” might be a bit misleading; users don’t actually get to say anything in this process, it’s all automatic. You can’t actually recommend anything to anyone, but if you remove an add-on and things get better, it does this for you automatically.

The Bad

See that “turn it off” button on the screenshot above? Well, it does nothing, at least on my system. While Guardius did provide several recommendations, I couldn’t manage to turn off anything using its interface. It would say that it turned it off, ask me to restart by browser, but when I looked at my add-ons, the culprit was still there.

Not only that, but Guardius kept telling me I should remove it and prompted me to do so. After a chat with the Guardius team, I discovered that Guardius doesn’t support Window 8,which is why my add-ons were not getting removed. In fact, it only supports Windows 7 at this time. Not ideal, but at least I have the information and can remove it manually if I decide to.

The other significant problem with Guardius is that it’s pretty bare on information at the moment. I enabled every add-on I’ve ever used or tried, and all Guardius could provide was information on one measly add-on. Not very impressive, but this is bound to improve as the user base expands.

Guardius also messed up some hotkeys on my system, but this might be unique to my setup, or might be due to its Windows 8 incompatibility.

OK, I Want In!

Guardius is not perfect, but it’s still in closed beta, so that’s only to be expected. If you’re comfortable with trying out beta products, this is definitely one you want to check out. Don’t worry, it’s not going to mess up with anything, the worst it can do in its current state is give you no recommendations, but you will be joining the user base, and will help others make good decisions about their add-ons and toolbars.

The normal wait time for a Guardius invite is 1-2 weeks. We have a unique download link for Guardius that will get you the app immediately, no wait necessary. The link is only valid for100 downloads, so hurry up and get yours!

Download Guardius <- Note that this link will start downloading the installer immediately. This is a Windows download, Mac version is on the way.

[Update: some users were having trouble with installation. The developers fixed the issue, and the installer should work now. If you're not running Windows 7, Guardius might still work, but is not yet officially supported.]

How do you deal with too many add-ons? Do you have a good system that helps you discover problematic add-ons? Managed to grab a copy of Guardius and want to share your experiences? Leave a comment below.

Yaara Lancet

Yaara (@ylancet) is a freelance writer, tech blogger and chocolate lover, who's also a biologist and a full-time geek. Find her also at lnct.org.

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