15 New Articles on MakeUseOf |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th 2013]
- What Are Your Favorite Photography Tips? [We Ask You]
- How To Tell If Someone Is Lying In Email Or Online
- Losing Twitter Followers? 10 Dos & Don’ts To Keep Your Followers & Attract New Ones
- Use Skyscanner To Get The Best Deals On Flights [iOS]
- Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A Complete Comparison
- Isn’t It Time You Made Use of Your Caps Lock?
- How GPS Works [MakeUseOf Explains]
- Use Excel & Google Tasks To Create The Best Goals Management Tool Ever
- Apple Adds “Download Later” Feature To TV & Movie iTunes Purchases [Updates]
- How To Resolve Windows 8 Boot Issues
- 8 Disappointing Video Game Endings
- Touch Something That Isn’t There – Haptic Technology [MakeUseOf Explains]
- Metro/Modern Apps Unstable? Try These Tricks
- Increase Your iPhone & iPad Typing Speed With These 3 Apps & Tips [iOS]
| Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th 2013] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 09:31 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. The post Cool Websites and Tools [April 24th 2013] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What Are Your Favorite Photography Tips? [We Ask You] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 08:31 PM PDT
Many of us here at MakeUseOf partake in photography, shooting anything and everything. Some of our photographs are good enough to become desktop wallpapers, but we all, from time to time, shoot dodgy digital photos that should never be deleted. So it’s your turn to help us (and your fellow MakeUsOf readers) become better photographers. This Week’s Question…We want to know, What Are Your Favorite Photography Tips? They could be ones you have heard about here on MakeUseOf, on another website, from a family member or friend, or from a professional photographer. If it resonated with you then pass it on to us so we can all share in the secrets of how to be a better photographer.
It could be a hardware tip, or one related to the use of flash. It could be a tip related to a simple point-and-shoot compact, or one more suited for those with digital SLR cameras. It could be a tip for taking photos of a particular subject, such as landscapes or people, or one related to processing the photos once they’ve been taken. As stated in the opening, everyone can take photographs, but only the best can call themselves photographers. Let’s use this community we have built at MakeUseOf to pool our collective knowledge and all become better photographers as a result. Drawing ConclusionsAll comments will be digested to form conclusions in a follow-up post next week where we will detail what You Told Us. One reader will be chosen for the coveted Comment Of The Week, getting their name up in lights, the respect of other readers, and 150 MakeUseOf points to use for MakeUseOf Rewards. What more motivation than that do you need to respond? We Ask You is a weekly column dedicated to finding out the opinions of MakeUseOf readers. The questions asked are usually open-ended and likely to necessitate a discussion. Some are opinion-based, while others see you sharing tips and advice, or advocating tools and apps to fellow MakeUseOf Readers. This column is nothing without you, as MakeUseOf is nothing without you. Image Credit: Mark Probst The post What Are Your Favorite Photography Tips? [We Ask You] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How To Tell If Someone Is Lying In Email Or Online Posted: 24 Apr 2013 07:31 PM PDT
In short, you don’t have to be a good liar to tell a convincing lie on the Internet. However, there are a few ways to tell whether or not someone is telling a big, fat fib. Below are some of those ways to figure out whether or not someone is pulling the virtual wool over your eyes. Are the determining factors perfect? No. Neither are lie detector results. Nevertheless, they are a good start if you have a quick mind and generally know people fairly well. Abnormal Changes In Syntax
One signal that I have found to be a determining factor as to whether or not someone is lying in email or online is their syntax. Any sudden changes or awkward patterns that deviate from their norm may be a way for you to tell that they are in fact lying. It’s pretty simple, really. The most obvious change in syntax are shortened sentences. This typically follows normal, fluid email threads or conversations. Why? I’m no psychologist, but I’d assume that they are either thinking on their feet or do not want to waste any more time. Particular situations (based on my experience) may include owed money or scheduled meetings. On the contrary, a liar may spend a great deal of time crafting their web, concocting the perfect tale that takes up a great deal of page space to make it clear that they “aren’t lying” when they actually are. Basically, take note of their sentence and response lengths. Any sudden changes could be a sign that you need to get out of that conversation fast. Another qualifier is that of negation. Generally speaking, liars online and offline will flip their language around. “Exciting” becomes “not boring” and “happy” becomes “not sad”, so pay attention to this. It may get you out of some bad circumstances. Varying Response Times During IM
As already mentioned, liars have the advantage of not having to physically speak to the person that they are telling their tales to when chatting online. If your intuition tells you that a person is lying, pay attention to their response times. Fast, short replies that don’t answer many questions could mean that the individual is – again – thinking on their feet. Long, drawn-out response times could mean that they are trying to come up with the perfect response that answers all your questions. This certainly ties into the abnormal changes in syntax, so in this case, use both notifiers in conjunction with each other. You can also take advantage of the technology itself. Services like Facebook and devices like the iPhone show whenever a user has read a message and when they are responding. Take note of the timespan between when they’ve read a message and their response, and using features that show them physically typing, you can key in on their “speech” patterns. Does it appear as if they are stumbling over words, backspacing, rewriting, etc.? How does this compare to earlier conversations? Status Updates Simply Don’t Line Up
This is one of the most common occurrences, and it’s happened to me more than once. If you’ve ever received a text from your friend that says, “I’m sorry, but I can’t make it because I’m sick”, and then you found a status update written at the same exact time about the fun they are having at the waterpark, you know exactly what I’m talking about. This just isn’t cool. Likewise, you can get a bit more involved with this. Pay attention to pictures that they post days after saying they have a conflict. Furthermore, look at their multiple social media accounts! What they tell you on Facebook may be totally different than what’s on their Twitter profile. ConclusionCalling a liar out is tough, but finding one out is even tougher. Using these tips, you may be able to make it happen, but don’t jump to conclusions. For instance, your friend who is sick may still Tweet about being able watch a movie with his girlfriend in the comfort of his own home (rather than go snowboarding with you). This is totally understandable. However, be wary at the same time. Are these good tips for being able to tell if someone is lying in an email or online? What other tips do you have for us here at MakeUseOf? The post How To Tell If Someone Is Lying In Email Or Online appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Losing Twitter Followers? 10 Dos & Don’ts To Keep Your Followers & Attract New Ones Posted: 24 Apr 2013 07:01 PM PDT
Probably the toughest aspect of Twitter is acquiring and keeping your followers. You might be annoying people on Twitter and not even realize it. Thus, you begin to lose the followers you worked so hard to get. So what do you do? Keeping trying to get new ones? Sure – that’s good, but if you don’t change how you’re using Twitter, you’re going to find yourself going in a circle. In this article, we’ll explore not only how to find out if you’re losing followers, but why they’re leaving and what you can do to prevent others from doing the same. First, Are You Actually Losing Followers?Before you start freaking out about losing followers, you have to figure out if that’s actually the case. There are many services out there that can help you find this out. Joel recent covered a few of them, including: TwentyFeet, Who Unfollowed Me, JustUnfollow and UnFollowers.Me. To read more about those services, I encourage you to read Joel’s article, which isn’t actually limited to Twitter, but also features some Facebook tools that do the same thing.
There are other great options available too: ManageFlitter, @Unfollowr, which Craig has reviewed, Fllwrs, Qwitter, Goodbye, Buddy and Twittaquitta. DO Understand & Practice “Twitterquette”Many of the points in the rest of the article are parts of Twitter etiquette. Twitterquette is simply etiquette in the Twitter world. There’s a lot that’s involved – so much that we could designate a whole article to it… oh wait, we kind of have. Not long ago, Chris wrote an article which focused on different aspects of Twitter etiquette. Many of the points he made in this article won’t only help you keep your followers, but also get new ones – especially if your tweets are public where other Twitter users can see your content and how you’re engaging with others. DO Spruce Up Your Bio To Attract FollowersAside from the content you’re actually tweeting, your bio is really the only other thing that matters on your profile, so it’s crucial that it’s up-to-date and attractive for your current and prospective followers. 1. Have Relevant & Quality PhotosDo you still have a picture of that egg? Come on – you’re better than that! You’ve got to have photos on your computer of yourself. No… not one of a flower or your cat… of YOU. Find one that’s decent and use it.
Twitter allows you to add header and background images. I took a photo of photos that I’ve taken from all over the place and added some text showing where else I’m at on the Internet. I also added a background photo with a bit of a humorous twist and included my web profiles on there as well. It was simple, but effective… at least it seems that way to me.
2. Fill Out Your DescriptionThis is a great way to get people with the same interests as you to follow you. They’ve somehow stumbled upon your profile, either through a mutual connection, a blog post you wrote, a comment you made on their blog, etc. Now it’s time to entice them to follow you. If they share the same interests as you do, don’t you want to connect with them? You do this by putting information that you feel is relevant to your purpose for being on Twitter. For instance, my bio says: @NCTACurtis Vet Assistant Grad. @MakeUseOf Staff Writer. @OmahaZoo Keeper Intern. Exotic Animal & Herp Enthusiast. Tech Guy. Avid Mountain Biker. Now, are those my only interests? No – there are others, such as photography, basketball, tea and so on. But what I’ve included in my bio is what I’m mainly interested in communicating with others about. In other words, your bio should be a summary to show other users what you primarily tweet about. Your bio doesn’t have to be specific to one topic, like only cooking, for instance, but it should be clear. Feel free to mix in a bit of humor or whatever your personality might be too. DO Understand Your Niche And DON’T Change It DrasticallyYou’re probably on Twitter so you can connect with people in your interest group(s). You’ve created your niche through your bio description – now it’s time to live up to it. If you feel you’re not tweeting about a certain topic as much, perhaps it’s not as interesting to you as you initially thought. It’s OK to find new interests and start gearing your tweets more towards that. I personally go in trends of being obsessed about one topic, then another, but it usually stays within specific areas. For instance, I rarely, if ever, tweet about health or cooking. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a particular interest in those areas – they’re just not where I want to focus my efforts on Twitter. If you have a cooking blog and that’s your audience, then great, but don’t start tweeting about politics… unless your audience knows that is another aspect of your Twitter account. Are you starting to see where this is going? DON’T Tweet About Controversial Topics
Speaking of politics (oh joy)… you should be very careful of what you tweet about. Unless you really want the entire Internet to hate you, you should stay away from topics that will potentially offend the followers you value so much. In other words, if you don’t run a religious or political or [fill in the blank of a controversial topic] website/blog, don’t just run your mouth off – people will stop paying attention to you and/or publicly criticize you with less-than-flattering words. NOTE: And don’t worry, Blake Shelton was just kidding:
DON’T Be A Robot/Spammer/Sketchy Twitter UserWhat is a robot or a spammer or a “sketchy Twitter user”? Well, they’re all on different levels. I categorize sketchy Twitter users as people with three followers, some weird or off the wall Twitter handle, a picture of the egg or some inanimate object and tweets talking about “great deals” on some website. That to me is a sketchy Twitter user. A spammer could be someone like that, but it’s subjective. It doesn’t have to be the account that replies to you with a random link. You or I might be considered a “spammer” based on the content we share. For instance, if we’re only sharing links for things to buy, with no purpose to share real content on our Twitter account, then we’d be a spammer. Alternatively, a robot is a user who rarely or never posts tweets themselves, but instead relies on services to post content for them. I’m not talking about apps like Buffer – those are awesome (although they could technically be abused in this way). An example of this might be autoposting every blog post you write instead of manually sharing it and adding your thoughts to the tweet.
Other examples of this might be only posting to Twitter from Facebook, or in Steve Wozniak’s case… from Foursquare to Twitter.
Here’s an example of someone who I actually know who does this from their Facebook. I didn’t actually think people posted only links to Twitter… guess I was wrong.
DO Limit The RT’sRetweeting others is a great way to let them know you exist. Perhaps it’ll even instigate a conversation. But retweeting others shouldn’t be the only thing you do on Twitter, so be careful of that. If you do retweet, I recommend sharing your thoughts if you can. Of course you can only do this if there’s room in the tweet or if you have anything to add. This improves the likelihood that your followers and the person you’re retweeting will engage with you. NOTE: Twitter doesn’t currently allow you to edit retweets, so you’ll need a service like Buffer, which integrates into Twitter. DON’T Be Self-AbsorbedThis is along the same principles as it would be offline as well – do you like it when people only talk about themselves or when they always try to one-up your story? Probably not. Keep that same way of thinking online on social media platforms. People are following you to get something out of it for them – not to hear you blab about eating a muffin for breakfast. So unless you’re recommending a place that has great food and is currently giving away free muffins, why would they care about your overpriced blueberry muffin? That said, we obviously post things about ourselves all the time. When you do, try to engage with your readers at the same time, by asking a question, using humor, etc. Below is an example of my own tweet where I’m talking about myself, but also making it funny in the process – the idea of the tweet is not to brag, but to make others laugh and share an exciting experience I that had.
DO Use Hashtags, But Not ExcessivelyDo you ever have those friends or people you follow that post tweets with fifteen different hashtags… annoying right? Don’t be one of them. Hashtags can be very useful in getting your tweet noticed by a larger crowd, and in return you can gain more followers. If you abuse hashtags, however, it can result in the exact opposite. People will be turned off and annoyed – you might even come across as arrogant. Here’s an example of a tweet from a girl who’s excited that she got accepted into a college.
DO Ask People To Retweet, But DON’T Do It A LotIf you’re wanting people to retweet you, you first need to ask yourself “Why?”. Is it because it’s crucial news that’s pertinent to a lot of people? Are you just asking for a favor in promoting something you’ve created? There are many reasons why you might want your tweet shared with others, but don’t be putting “please retweet” or “Please RT” on every tweet. You’ll come across as desperate for attention and that’s when people start unfollowing you. DON’T Be A Social Media SnobHave you ever unfollowed someone because they never engage in any way with you? They never followed you back, and never replied to your comments and/or questions in regard to their tweets. And as you look at their profile more, they’ve rarely done this with anyone.
How do you avoid being a social media snob? Easy – make an effort to engage with your followers as much as possible and do everything else that’s mentioned in this article. Now I realize that you might not want to follow every person that follows you, and neither do I – it’s important to keep your network to people you’re really interested in, or who have shown a genuine interest in connecting with you. But I’m talking about intentionally ignoring tweets from your followers to seem like you’re better than them. ConclusionAs I mentioned at the beginning, Twitter is an awesome tool and can be used in some pretty interesting and impressive ways. But there are some guidelines you should be following if you want the very best results. Do you have any interesting Twitter stories that you’d like to share? What about any tips for others who are just beginning with Twitter or who are struggling to attract followers? We’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments below! Image Credit: Y U NO FOLLOW BACK? The post Losing Twitter Followers? 10 Dos & Don’ts To Keep Your Followers & Attract New Ones appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use Skyscanner To Get The Best Deals On Flights [iOS] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 06:30 PM PDT
Skyscanner is a free iOS application designed to help you maximize your savings so you can have as much money as possible to spend while on your vacation. If you only have a certain amount of money to spend on your trip, saving money on the flight can leave you with more spending money. Before you book your next flight, download Skyscanner, and you just might find the best best deals on flights and travel deals you’ve ever seen. Using the AppLike many travel applications, the ultimate goal of Skyscanner is to find you the best deal possible on flights to anywhere in the world. What separates it from the competition is the incredibly useful feature set it brings to the table. The app exists in a very crowded marketplace for such applications, but its features absolutely make it worth a second look.
When you first launch the app, it will take you to a screen where you can search for flights. You can be as wide or as narrow as you want in your search query. So, if you want to look for all flights from everywhere in the world to anywhere else, you can do that. You can choose specific dates, or you can leave that field blank and see what flights are available on various days.
My favorite part of the app is the charts that show up when you search. You can see which days of the week are the cheapest to travel, so if you are flexible you can save some serious money.
When you pick the departure and return flight, you can choose to book it right from the application but that’s not really anything special. What makes it interesting is the watch feature. With this, you can save the journey to the application, so you can go back to it and see if the price drops before you ultimately pull the trigger and book your trip. This is the feature that really makes the application stand tall above the competition, and it’s what allows you to get the best possible deals on flights.
The application comes with a handy drawer that contains all of the options for the app. From here you can start a new search, view booked trips and any journeys you are watching, recall searches you have saved to your favorites and access application settings.
If you click Watched Journeys in the menu you will be able to see any of the journeys previously saved. Right next to the price you will see any changes that have occurred since you began watching. It’s almost like trading stocks – and SkyScanner wants you to get the flight at the lowest price possible.
Another really cool feature is the map that lets you see the airports in the area in which you are searching. If you want to fly to Los Angeles International, but the price is a little too high for you, this option will allow you to see the other airports in the area, which may be cheaper.
Any flight can be shared via social media, so you can let your friends know where and when you are traveling. If you are planning a trip with others, sharing the flight with them can be useful, so you can all make sure to get on the same flight at the same time.
The settings section of the application allows you to change a few preferences including the currency shown, language as well as the option to store your personal information to make booking flights in the future an even quicker process. ConclusionIf you are looking to save some money on your next trip, make sure the download Skyscanner from the App Store. It is filled with useful features, all of which are designed to help you save as much money as possible, so you can embark on your journey with the maximum amount of spending money. Download: SkyScanner at the App Store Have you used SkyScanner? Any other apps or services that can land the best deals on flights? Share your secrets with us in the comments, below. The post Use Skyscanner To Get The Best Deals On Flights [iOS] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A Complete Comparison Posted: 24 Apr 2013 05:30 PM PDT
While both offer what every free-thinking democracy-guzzling thought-cannon wants – a place to express themselves – there are some core differences in each service. Both WordPress.com and Blogger are workable free solutions, but which is the right one for you? This detailed breakdown of each service should hopefully help you decide. What You Get For FreeWordPress.com is a commercial venture. It’s a way for the kind souls who have put time, money and a whole load of effort into the open source and free-to-download WordPress blogging engine to make some money back. They do this by making it stupidly simple to set up and maintain a blog, while introducing some rather hefty limitations for experienced users. A free WordPress.com account offers:
WordPress.com designates the following as premium upgrades:
Conversely, Blogger is not a commercial service. It was acquired by Google in 2003 who have since kept it ticking over, with a few redesigns and some recently-added new templates. The rather ancient Blogger features page (ancient because it explicitly mentions uploading to Google Video and easily accessing iGoogle, two of Google’s many dead projects) promises users access to all features. There are no upgrades, no fees for adding a custom domain, and all the customization options thrown in that Blogger has available. Included features worth noting are:
It would seem that despite WordPress having the plugins and themes markets sewn up, Blogger still offers more for those looking for a free service. The Sign-Up ProcessWordPress.com allows you to register for an account with an email address, username, password and URL. Blogger is a Google service, and just like YouTube, requires a Google account. If you already have a Google account then this makes signing up a painless affair, but if you don’t (highly unlikely, unless you have something against Google), you’ll have to register for the whole package. This also means if you do have a personal Google Account but want to distance yourself from the topic you’re blogging about you’re going to have to create a new account, and also deal with Google’s messy multiple-account management.
Google’s sign-up process doesn’t indicate that you do not need to supply a mobile phone number or an email address, despite asking for one. Conversely WordPress.com only asks to fill out four fields but will also run a check for the URL you enter and try to sell you a premium domain (which costs to register, and requires an account upgrade to use on WordPress.com) as well as pointing out the flaws in the free account you’re about to register.
Once you’ve got yourself an account it’s time to start creating one or more blogs. With a Google Account you’re free to establish multiple blogs on the Blogger service. Each new WordPress.com blog you decide to create can also be linked to your existing account, so neither service will require a lot of user switching in order to maintain a stack of blogs. Creating Your First BlogWordPress.com users will be thrown into the blog-creation process as soon as they have confirmed their email address with the service. Click the Activate Blog link in your email and you’ll be invited to give your blog a name, subtitle, and language before choosing a theme. WordPress is famously customizable, earning much of its good name for the huge number of themes and plugins available in the standalone open-source release.
The WordPress.com team has definitely tried to retain that same feeling, with new customizable themes in the latest WordPress release making an appearance here allowing you to customize the theme you’ve chosen immediately.
This really helps to separate your blog from the rest of the WordPress world, so you should seize the opportunity to quickly stamp your mark on your patch of WordPress.com.
Google’s process is a little different and first requires you choose (or create) a profile. This is part of Google’s big push to get us all to start using Google+ and our real names on YouTube. If you’re not interested in Google+, a real name or picture, you can opt to create what Google is now calling a “limited Blogger profile” which is essentially a display name of your choosing, so go wild.
Once your profile is set (you can change it by clicking your name in the top-right) you’ll see the rather clean and attractive Blogger back-end. There will be a list of your blogs (which will be empty) and an area below for adding other blogs to follow. Create a blog by clicking New Blog.
The window that appears looks very similar to the WordPress.com variant, asking for a blog name and URL to be associated with the blog and offering a few templates to choose from. Click Create Blog! and you’ve just created your first blog – no more work required. Using this method you could set up a whole string of blogs in a matter of minutes.
Managing Your BlogBoth WordPress and Blogger have centralized areas from which to manage your blog empire, which are separate to the settings for the blogs themselves. The two areas are equally attractive and usable, with both services featuring an area to read blogs you follow as well as the various outlets under your control.
On WordPress this takes the form of a deep attractive blue theme with a tabulated layout that allows you to quickly switch between reading, overseeing blogs and managing analytics in addition to a quick post button.
Blogger houses all of this on the one page, with a quick compose button found next to the blog title itself. Beneath this are new posts from the blogs you have chosen to follow on the service. It goes without saying that you can’t follow Blogger blogs on WordPress.com and vice-versa, though it would be nice if we could all get along.
I’d be surprised if there are many people reading this who aren’t familiar with the screenshot above, which is the WordPress dashboard. Aside from a lick of paint and the odd facelift this UI hasn’t changed for years, and that’s because it’s great. Everything is compartmentalized, making it easy to find settings, compose a new post or page and mass-edit your content. There’s one addition here that you won’t see on standard, self-hosted WordPress blogs and that’s the Store tab. Here you will find all those upgrades I mentioned earlier, as well as a few bundles that promise to save you money. This is another reminder of the big divide between the two services – one’s going to eventually cost you while the other will remain free (and probably slightly more limited).
Blogger’s back-end closely mirrors the WordPress look, with a similar menu bar floating to the left of the page. Straight up you’ll see statistics (this is also true for WordPress) and an overview of incoming posts, comments and new followers. Much like WordPress this is a very effective and responsive UI that does everything you could (probably) ever want. The Blogger back-end hides a few features that might take a small amount of hunting to find – like adding users to your blog. On WordPress this has its own menu item, but on Blogger it’s hidden in the Settings menu. Both systems support widgets, though WordPress has a lot more to offer (with your theme dictating just how many widget areas you can use). This is a recurring theme, with WordPress feeling like the more mature blogging platform. Customization & ThemesBoth services offer a range of themes, though Blogger’s range is understandably more limited than that offered by WordPress which has benefitted from years of third-party theme development. With a free WordPress account you get access to hundreds of free themes which you can enable on your site in a click. Blogger’s limited range is split between fluid “dynamic” themes that will scale for larger and smaller screens, and older simple fixed-width blogs. You’ll probably want to choose one of the eight dynamic themes and their many different layouts which are highly adaptable depending on your content.
Each service comes equipped with a theme customizer for further fine-tuning your chosen theme. Oddly enough the Blogger customization options seem to run deeper than WordPress, allowing you to add your own custom CSS and edit the HTML without exchanging money first. You can even use a slider to change the width of your layout in pixels, at least for the dynamic layouts.
I was surprised to see that the WordPress.com theme customizer is different to that in the latest open source release. The new layout uses a touch-friendly sidebar that runs down the right-hand side of the screen and looks like it has fallen straight out of a Windows Blue developer preview. It looks good, but it’s really not that powerful, allowing you to change only a few variables like background, colors, header images but no additional CSS (that’s a premium feature) or the ability to change your site’s favicon. The real difference here is minimal, after all if you really want to change your WordPress.com site’s look and feel you can choose from hundreds of ready-to-go themes. Blogger doesn’t have that depth, but instead favors those who are willing to take the time to carefully modify it. WordPress feels clipped by comparison, while Blogger isn’t dazzlingly complex it retains some advanced customization that WordPress.com sticks behind a paywall.
Both services also come with basic mobile theme support, which can be enabled or disabled as you see fit. WordPress takes the one-theme-fits-all approach, offering little in the way of customization while Blogger gives you a chance to choose a completely different mobile theme to your main blog theme, if you really want to.
The fact remains that both are effective and look great on my iPhone 5, scrolling fluidly and making excellent use of the limited space. Expandability & MonetizationWordPress has traditionally been the blogging platform of non-bloggers the world over. By this I mean you can turn a simple WordPress blog into a static website, an ecommerce website, a photo gallery, promotional site and even your own microblog. It’s a workhorse that is adaptable in its open source, downloadable form. This functionality does not carry over to the WordPress.com hosting service, and it’s a real shame. There are plugins, but they’re curated premium packages that are charged yearly for every blog you use. This means you might find yourself paying out more in upgrade prices per year than what it would cost you to host and manage the website yourself. This would be fine, but WordPress.com hosting severely limits you – there’s no direct editing of the code itself (even with an upgrade) and you don’t have webspace for other non-WordPress projects.
Of course, Blogger isn’t much better and has no plugin support whatsoever. Both services do however support pages, which can include HTML, text and various media. You can also redirect to a website of your choice using this method. The only platform that will allow you to make a bit of money out of blogging is Blogger. You can choose to enable Google AdSense on your blog which will show targeted adverts based on your content. You’ll need to get some content up first, before choosing the option from the Earnings menu entry. This is in contrast to WordPress.com which has a “remove ads” upgrade to remove adverts shown to your non-logged-in visitors but has no option for opting into a monetization scheme of your own. This is not to say you can’t implement your own rudimentary adverts using widgets, but it’s far from an advertising scheme.
Free blog platforms aren’t the best way of monetizing your writing, particularly for WordPress users who will be interested in the many SEO and advertising-based plugins used by many successful websites. For more information download and read our detailed guide about monetizing a blog. Social Media & SharingWordPress definitely takes the crown when it comes to social media integration, with the Publicize feature (found under Settings > Sharing) allowing you to connect to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr for automatic sharing. This menu also allows you to turn on and off sharing buttons, with big names like StumbleUpon, Pinterest and Reddit appearing alongside the option to email or print the article. These tools are very powerful and make up for a lack of plugins, as many WordPress users would add this functionality that way.
Blogger seems to only play nicely with Google+, which is a real shame because it’s the most deserted of the big three. Twitter and Facebook integration at the least would be nice, but you do get +1, Tweet and Like buttons on each post. There is luckily one workaround and that’s through the use of the excellent IFTTT web service. IFTTT allows you to automate online tasks, like recording status updates and receiving notifications about new items on Craigslist. It can also be used with Blogger to trigger social media updates like Facebook statuses and Tweets when you publish new posts, and can even be used to create new blog entries from other actions, like Instagram photos saved or images added to Dropbox. Check out what Blogger and IFTTT are capable of when paired together at the IFTTT website. Writing A Post
WordPress uses two composers – the quick composer accessible from the main blog hub (above) and the traditional “everything including the kitchen sink” WordPress post editor which has always been a joy to use. I’m not overly impressed with the quick editor, but it’s a personal preference and probably works for quick posts that don’t need to be scheduled. The main editor (below) is as fantastic as ever, with a few extra features.
Here you can compose, edit HTML, add media, format text, add tags and schedule your posts. The WordPress composer actively scans your post and suggests tags to help you better categorize your content as well as the related content pane which suggests news stories and images based on the contents of your post.
You can also choose to categorize your post using WordPress custom post types and depending on the theme you have installed these various content types will appear differently on your blog. Choose Standard for text-heavy blog posts, Quote for a brief quote formatted accordingly or Image to post a photo that displays prominently. One thing you can’t add to your posts without paying is video. It’s fine to embed a video from YouTube but you can’t host the video file on your blog without a $60 per year upgrade.
The Blogger composer is also very dynamic and powerful, and actually looks like the Google Docs word processor with more orange. This allows you to edit HTML on the page, format text, upload and embed videos and other media as well as add tags, a location, edit the permalink and choose to schedule or not. There’s no tagging help or related content to speak of in Blogger, and while it’s a nice feature on WordPress.com, for me it’s not really a deal-breaker. Front-End & MobileThe appearance of each blog, and each post, depends entirely on the theme and layout you end up choosing. For the purpose of this article I’ve left the default dynamic Blogger layout on and the Twenty Twelve WordPress.com default theme, neither of which have been tweaked at all.
Above is a WordPress.com blog, below is a Blogger blog.
Both will require a certain amount of work in order to get your blog looking sharp and unique, but both are also good to go from the beginning. Both look great on a mobile device, with dedicated mobile themes. Both allow you to build a static website. Both are visually quite pleasing, but only one is completely free to use.
In ConclusionI could write another article to draw a conclusion from these findings, but the fact remains that each is suitable for different purposes. Blogger is highly attractive for its completely free model – there are no restrictions, if Blogger can do it, so can you. WordPress however will frustrate, particularly if you have used WordPress on a self-hosted blog in the past. The fact also remains that if your blog is the success that you probably hope it will be, that 3GB of space will eventually fill up, or you’ll want to add your own domain name or you’ll encounter another reason you suddenly need to upgrade. At this point you’d probably be better off with your own hosting package, at least in terms of value for money. Blogger will scale – there will be no nasty surprise a year or two down the line when you suddenly need more space or decide to start hosting video on your blog. Blogger is arguably more customizable with its core template HTML editing abilities and the ability to add CSS. The result is more of a tweaker’s platform, something the standalone open source version of WordPress has long been but that the hosted WordPress.com variant avoids entirely. My only concern about Blogger is Google’s recent wave of closures including iGoogle and Google Reader. If they decide to pull the plug on Blogger then the service and its users will be forced to find new homes. It’s unlikely because Google is currently using Blogger for its own press purposes, but then again a switch to Google+ seems to be creeping ever closer. Blogger is the platform to choose if you’re after a free product that might allow you to make a bit of money back. WordPress is there for those who are in love with its huge variety of themes, excellent UI and post composer and the user-friendly approach. Each is a viable blogging platform within five minutes of registering an account, but you are the person who will have to decide which one is right for you. That, or choose something different entirely. Let us know what you think in the comments – are you a Blogger or WordPress.com user? Would you ditch it all and go for a standalone WordPress website? Add your input in the comments, below. The post Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A Complete Comparison appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Isn’t It Time You Made Use of Your Caps Lock? Posted: 24 Apr 2013 04:31 PM PDT
On the other hand, it is possible to replace the CAPS LOCK key with a character or function you use a lot. What are keys and shortcuts that are missing on your keyboard? Or maybe there are keys you wish were in a more convenient location. It’s time to remap your keyboard and put all those neglected keys to good use, starting with how to use the CAPS LOCK key. Before you go ahead and fix an entire keyboard key by key, note that there are other alternatives for optimizing the keyboard layout, especially if you are dealing with a foreign keyboard. This article is written for Windows users. If you are on a Mac, check out these articles on how to remap your Mac keyboard for more geek power and learn everything about Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts. Map Backspace To CAPS LOCK Key Without RebootingMost tools that let you remap the keyboard edit the registry. Hence, for the changes to come into effect, you need to reboot the computer. That’s OK if you want to make permanent changes, but not always practical. Keymapper is a portable app for coders. It applies a global keyboard hook whenever the CAPS LOCK key is pressed and throws in a Backspace in its place. So instead of SHOUTING, you will be deleting what you just wrote.
Map A Useful Key To The CAPS LOCK KeyInstall a tool like SharpKeys to remap your CAPS LOCK key. Note that SharpKeys requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4 to run. Open SharpKeys (hint: it’s in the RandyRants.com folder in All Programs) and click Add in the bottom left. Select Special: Caps Lock as a From key and pick a desired key. Whatever you select, CAPS LOCK will adopt the behavior of that key. Click OK to confirm your selection.
Once back in the main window you can either add another remap combo or complete the procedure by pressing the Write to Registry key in the bottom right.
This is when you will have to log out or reboot your computer for the changes to come into effect. To undo changes made with SharpKeys, launch the program, delete the respective entries in the list, click the Write to Registry button and restart your computer.
When you log back in, hitting the key that once used to trigger the CAPS LOCK will now produce a character or function of your choice. Turn Your CAPS LOCK Key Into a HotkeyIs there a program you open all the time or a website you visit frequently, MakeUseOf for example? When writing, I constantly open IrfanView for pasting screenshots. So we will turn the CAPS LOCK key into a hotkey for opening this app. You could also make it a hotkey for Google.com and thus turn it into a search key à la Chrome OS. First you need to map another key to the CAPS LOCK key because you cannot assign CAPS LOCK itself as a hotkey. Use the method described above to remap the key and pick a key that doesn’t do anything as To key, for example Function: F10. Once the CAPS LOCK has been taken care of, you can create a shortcut which will open the desired file, folder, program, or website. The shortcut can live anywhere on your computer and you can also use existing shortcuts. Let’s create a shortcut on your Desktop. Right-click the Desktop, go to New and click Shortcut.
In the Create Shortcut window, browse to the desired item, click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish. To point the shortcut to a website, simply type in the complete URL, e.g. http://www.makeuseof.com/
To link the shortcut with your new hotkey, right-click it and select Properties. Under the Shortcut tab, click into the Shortcut key field and press your CAPS LOCK key. This will paste in the key that was mapped to your CAPS LOCK key, in this example F10.
Click OK to save and try it. Pure awesomeness! This procedure was adopted from How-To Geek, who have also explained how to manually remap keys in the registry. You can also use a program called AutoHotkey to assign Hotkeys. Lifehacker has created a nifty website-based tool to easily create your own custom AutoHotkey script for remapping keys on your keyboard. ConclusionFollowing the instructions above you can finally put your CAPS LOCK key to good use. Moreover, you can apply the method to any other key on your keyboard and increase your productivity manifold. Now all you need is a good way to repaint your keys. Are you finally becoming a fan of your keyboard? It’s good to know that you could operate Windows with your keyboard alone should your mouse break or go missing. Which keys did you retire and how are you using them now? The post Isn’t It Time You Made Use of Your Caps Lock? appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How GPS Works [MakeUseOf Explains] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 04:01 PM PDT
I'm only 24 so I don't mean to sound like the pre-GPS era was a "golden age" or anything like that. I appreciate the convenience of GPS and it has saved my butt on more than a dozen occasions. But like a lot of technology, we tend to take it for granted. I know I do. What is GPS? Do you know how GPS works? What's the secret behind the near-pinpoint accuracy that it offers? Keep reading to learn about the impressive thought that went into building this magnificent navigational system.
What is the common point between nuclear power, the Internet, and GPS? They all started as projects meant to bolster the US's technological edge over the rest of the world. Specifically, the technological edge of their military. The Internet would allow fast communication over long distances; nuclear power could be both destructive and energy generative; and GPS meant ease of navigation for military forces through foreign terrain. The GPS, which stands for global positioning system, is actually a network of 27 man-made satellites that orbit around Earth. Out of those 27 satellites, 24 are currently in use and the remaining three are there as failsafes in case one of the 24 malfunctions. Based on the arrangement of these satellites, at least four of these satellites are visible in the sky at any given time.
In tandem with the orbiting satellites, there are five monitoring stations on the Earth's surface: the master station (in Colorado) and four unmanned stations placed in faraway locations that are as close to the equator as possible (Hawaii is one of those locations). These unmanned stations collect data from the satellites and forward to the master station, which interprets and makes adjustments before relaying the proper data back to the GPS satellites. Though this system was originally intended for military use, the US opened up the system in 1983 for civilian use which is why we can use those satellites today to find our nearest Starbucks at the snap of our fingers. Okay, so we have this global system of satellites and stations that are constantly shifting around in the Earth's atmosphere and relaying data back and forth. How do our mobile devices and car trackers tap into the system to figure out where exactly we are? And if there are so many satellites floating around up there, why does your GPS signal sometimes fail? Think about what you use for GPS navigation. Whether it's a dashboard mount from TomTom or the Maps app from Google, the idea is the same: your device is a GPS receiver. In other words, your device receives data from the GPS satellites overhead. What sort of data? Simply put, each satellite tells your device the distance between you and that satellite. At this point, you may be a little confused because you'd think you need more than distance from an object to pinpoint your exact location. And you'd be right! Using the distance from each satellite, your GPS device can use a technique called trileration to find where you are.
Imagine you're lost out in the wilderness. If you called your friend in Philadelphia and he magically knew exactly how far away from him you were, he'd tell you that you're 400 miles from Philadelphia. Knowing that isn't enough, though, because that distance from a single point could mean any point along the circle of a 400-mile radius around that point.
So you call a second friend in New York City and he says you're 300 miles away. Now you have two circles of distance and every point along those circles is a potential place where you could be at this moment. As you can see, the two circles intersect in two spots: based on the distance data, you know you are at either one of these spots.
And if you called a third friend and he told you that you were 200 miles from Newark, you'd have three circles that intersect in one location. That's where you are. This same technique is used by the GPS where each satellite can be viewed as one of your friends from the example above. But since satellites work in 3D space, you'd have to imagine the intersection of spheres instead of circles. Combine that distance data with the fact that you must be standing on the surface of the Earth (which acts as the 4th sphere) and it's pretty easy to find where you are. For accurate GPS data, most devices try connecting to at least four satellites. This is also why it sometimes takes a long time for your device to update GPS locations. It's also why you sometimes don't have a signal: you may be connected to one or two satellites, but that isn't enough. Of course, there's a lot more math and science behind how GPS works. For example, compensating for the signal delay between satellites and receivers (radio waves only move so fast). Ever wondered why GPS kills your phone's battery? It's because your phone needs to constantly correct errors in calculation. Hopefully you learned a bit about the GPS and how it works. I actually didn't know how it all worked until I did my research for this article and the idea behind it is both fascinating and clever. If you still don't understand it, perhaps I didn't explain it well enough; in that case, I urge you to ask questions in the comments for clarification. Image Credits: GPS Network Via Shutterstock, GPS Phone Via Shutterstock, GPS Satellite Via Shutterstock The post How GPS Works [MakeUseOf Explains] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use Excel & Google Tasks To Create The Best Goals Management Tool Ever Posted: 24 Apr 2013 03:31 PM PDT
So, as I always do when I need a solution, I turned to MakeUseOf. I found mention of an online goals management tool called GoalStacker, but the system there felt much too task-oriented for my needs. I was looking for a more broad approach, where you start out with general life goals, and then work your way down to the individual daily tasks. Next, I turned to Bakari’s review of 43Things, which looked very promising. Ironically, 43Things has the opposite problem. It is beautifully oriented toward those broad goals and dreams, but not so strong when it comes to breaking them down into small pieces and managing the daily tasks that’ll get you there. One other goals management tool that I looked at was WeekPlan, which I thought had the most promise. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the limited role-based approach, and the fact that the line between life-goals and daily tasks was so direct. In my dream goal management system, I look for a middle area where you can break down those very large goals into smaller (but still large) goals to achieve along the way. Finally, you break those mid-level goals into a group of tasks that’ll help you hit each of those milestones. Creating a DIY Goal Management SystemAs usually happens when I don’t find what I need in an existing system or application, I decided to create the ideal system from scratch. Now, I’m not talking about trying to code an application or create a website that’ll do it the way I want. No, instead, I decided to make use of two systems that I use daily and that I know well – Microsoft Excel and Google Tasks. Organize & Compartmentalize Your Life GoalsIf you’re ready to get serious about working toward those big dreams that you have, it’s time to sit down and put them down in writing. This re-introduces focus into your daily life. It gives you a reason to work on those seemingly mundane and meaningless tasks, because you know that task is but one step toward the big-picture goal. Despite everything else out there intended for goals management, Microsoft Excel still remains the single best tool to do this, in my opinion.
To get started, open up a new spreadsheet and create a new sheet for the 4-6 core areas of your life that are most important to you. In my case, in the final days of my life, I want to say that I’ve been able to leave great wealth to my kids, have had a wonderful relationship with each member of my family, kept in perfect health, and went on amazing adventures. So, my core areas are WEALTH, FAMILY, HEALTH and ADVENTURE. On each of those individual “Core” goal sheets, you’re going to break down that core into 4 or 5 specific big-picture goals that signify success in that area of your life, in your mind. These are the items that you’ll list on this page, and include a target year in the distant future. Most of these will be close to retirement, but in some cases you might have a goal like getting rid of debt which could happen much earlier.
Now that you’ve broken down those big, huge goals into smaller “sub-goals”, they’re a little more manageable. However, to make them into daily tasks, they need to be broken down further. Take each of those big sub-goals and list the major steps involved in getting there. These shouldn’t be daily tasks – they should be goals that will take you from six months to a year to accomplish. Each step gets you that much closer to the big sub-goal within your core value.
I also like to put a green “$$$” symbol next to the items that will require some investment – as a way to plan ahead for that cost. But most importantly, each of the steps should have a specific year applied that you want to accomplish that step. Make it realistic, but don’t give yourself too much slack either. Finally, shade the steps that are due within the next year or two – these are the items that you need to plan out immediately. Now that you have your core values broken down into major sub-goals, and then those sub-goals broken down into steps, it’s time to create the milestones, or tasks, that you’re going to work on to inch your way to the finish line. Create a new sheet next to the core-value sheet with a similar name. I called mine “Wealth_MS1″, where MS stands for milestones.
Within this new sheet, you’ll copy over the steps that are due within the next year or two. However, you’ll make each step becomes a header. Under each of these headers, you’ll finally create the specific, individual tasks that you can accomplish with a week to several weeks.
Each of these items can literally be called a “task”, because it’s something that you can sit down and really work on and accomplish after several sessions. It isn’t this pie-in-the-sky idea that feels unreachable. These are very reachable items that seem like a very, very tiny step – but each of these represents a rung in the ladder toward those life dreams. Give them each a specific date – and give that date a lot of thought. Assign Actionable Tasks To AccomplishOnce you’ve created all of these “milestones” sheets, the next step of your goals management system is to assign those tasks to your to-do list. No matter what to-do lists I’ve tried, I absolutely always come back to Google Tasks. So, I decided to use it for this project too. Basically, you create a new list for every one of your core values that you defined at the start of this project.
Once you’re done, you’ll see all of those core goals ready to accept the individual tasks you’ll be working on to get there.
Now – go through the “milestones” sheets you just created, and place the most urgent items – due the soonest – right into the applicable list in Google Tasks. Don’t forget to assign it the date, and give it a good description so you remember exactly what you wanted to accomplish.
Once you’re done – you’ll have assigned yourself a list of the most urgent tasks.
Now you have real, actionable items that you know you’re going to accomplish, because they’re on your to-do list with deadlines! Track & Monitor Your ProgressYou have a really cool system set up now. Every week or every other week, you can open up your spreadsheet, update the items you’ve completed, and keep track of how much closer you’re getting to those big goals It would be good to just check off items as done, but to be honest, I’ve found that visual feedback works as even better encouragement along the way. I’m going to quickly show you how you can set up a cool bar-graph to show progress. Go back to the “milestones” sheet you created, and create a “Completed” column next to the target dates. At the bottom of that column, create a field using the forumal, “=COUNTIF(cell1:cell2,”Yes”)/x)*100″ Just replace “x” by the number of rows (tasks), and make “cell1″ and “cell2″ equal to the cells at the start and end of the range.
What this does is creates a cell under all of the tasks that will update with the percentage of total tasks you’ve completed. Now, to make that graphical, click on Format and choose Conditional Formatting for the cell, and choose one of the data bars.
This converts the cell into a data bar. Now, just go back into the same menu item again and choose “Edit Rule”. Set all of the items shown below with a red arrow to the values shown.
This will make the bar fill up with green color at the percentage that represents the number of tasks that you’ve accomplished so far!
Is that cool or what? Okay, maybe this last step is a bit of overkill, and you could totally complete the goals management system without this graphical encouragement – but I love seeing the bar move across the cell as I accomplish one task at a time. Hitting 100% means you’re a very big step closer to those life dreams. What do you think about such a customized system? Do you think it can give you more power and control to better manage your life goals? What systems do you put in place to break down your big dreams into manageable tasks? Share your own advice and tips in the comments section below! The post Use Excel & Google Tasks To Create The Best Goals Management Tool Ever appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple Adds “Download Later” Feature To TV & Movie iTunes Purchases [Updates] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT
The new “download later” options apply to items purchased on iTunes 11 (Mac or Windows PC versions), or on iOS devices running iOS 6 or later. When you purchase an item it will be added to your iTunes account, followed by a “Download Now?” button giving you the option to download immediately or later. Your purchased content will be accessible for streaming or downloading in the future via your Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud feature. For example, when purchasing a TV season or Season Pass, you’ll be presented with three options:
These options are useful for when you purchase media on your mobile device, but want to download it later to your computer. This new ability is similar to renting movies on iTunes, which already offers a “download later” option. Rented content, as opposed to purchased content, has a 24-hour window for watching. Note that some features related to these options are not available in all countries and do require iTunes in the Cloud support. If your region or country does not have iTunes in the Cloud support, your content will be downloaded at the time of purchase. You can check here whether you country is supported. The post Apple Adds “Download Later” Feature To TV & Movie iTunes Purchases [Updates] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How To Resolve Windows 8 Boot Issues Posted: 24 Apr 2013 02:31 PM PDT
However, hybrid boot can cause problems. Some older computers with buggy drivers may not like it, just as some older computers refuse to hibernate properly because of driver issues. In addition, corrupted boot data can also prevent Windows 8 from booting normally, just as it could on older versions of Windows. Disable Fast Startup/Hybrid BootIf you’re experiencing boot problems, you may want to try disabling hybrid boot. This will slow down your computer’s boot process, so you should only do this if you’re trying to fix a problem. To access this setting, press the Windows key, type “power settings” at the Start screen, and select the Settings category. Click “Change what the power buttons do” to launch the appropriate Control Panel.
Click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” option near the top of the window that appears.
After bypassing the UAC prompt, uncheck the “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” option under Shutdown settings near the bottom of the window. Click the Save changes button. Windows will now perform a full shutdown and full startup, just as it did on Windows 7 and previous versions of Windows. Your boot process will take longer, but this will hopefully fix any problems you’re encountering. If this doesn’t fix your problem, you should re-enable fast startup to improve your boot-up speed. Repair Your Startup DataWhen your computer boots from its hard drive, it checks the hard drive’s master boot record, which loads the boot loader and begins the boot process. However, the master boot record (MBR) itself can become overwritten or Windows boot data can become corrupt, preventing your computer from booting and resulting in error messages. If your Windows 8 system refuses to boot, you can use a bootable Windows installer disc – or make a Windows installer USB drive – to repair it. Insert the disc or USB drive into your computer and restart. You should see the Windows 8 installer appear. Specify your language and keyboard type and continue until you reach the below screen. Click the Repair your computer option at the bottom-left corner of the window.
Click Troubleshoot, and then Advanced Options.
The first thing you should try is clicking the Automatic Repair option. If this works, Windows will take care of everything for you and make your computer boot properly.
If this didn’t work, click the Command Prompt option instead. Type the following commands into the Command Prompt window, pressing Enter after each: bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot The first command fixes your master boot record, while the second command writes a new boot sector to your hard drive. These commands should fix your problem.
In some cases, you may also need to run these commands afterwards: bootrec /scanos bootrec /rebuildbcd The first command scans your computer for operating systems and adds them to its boot configuration data – this should ensure the boot loader knows where the Windows installation is if it can’t find your Windows installation for some reason. The second command also scans your computer for operating systems, but displays a list and allows you to select the operating systems you want to add. Fix Other ProblemsIf your Windows 8 computer is still refusing to boot normally, you may want to reset it to a clean state. If the boot process is failing, you should find yourself at the blue screen below. If the failure to boot is happening too early in the startup process, you can insert a Windows installer disc or USB drive – the same one you used above – and access the Troubleshoot screen in the same way. On the Troubleshoot screen, select the Refresh your PC option to reset your PC’s system files to their default state. Of course, you can always reinstall Windows 8 entirely from a Windows 8 installer disc or USB drive, but the Refresh (or Reset) options work similarly and more quickly.
For more information about troubleshooting Windows 8 boot issues, check out our complete guide to Windows 8. Have you encountered any Windows 8 boot issues? How did you fix it? Leave a comment below and share your experiences! The post How To Resolve Windows 8 Boot Issues appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 Disappointing Video Game Endings Posted: 24 Apr 2013 02:01 PM PDT
Video games often require hours of effort to complete. And while the experience of actually playing through them is reward enough, there’s nothing quite like sitting back and enjoying a satisfying ending. However, there are many disappointing video game endings out there, leaving the player open-mouthed and ready to pitch their controller at the TV in frustration and anger. It should go without saying that the list which follows contains spoilers, and plenty of them. If you haven’t played the games mentioned then definitely don’t watch the embedded YouTube videos, and you should probably avoid reading the text underneath each one as well. You have been warned. Fallout 3Games are meant to be played, not watched. Unless you subscribe to the Hideo Kojima school of thought (more on that later). Which makes games that end, not with an epic battle or conclusive action but a cutscene, ultimately unsatisfying. Fallout 3 delivers just such a disappointing video game ending, with a cutscene playing out depending on your actions through the game. The cutscenes aren’t even cinematic, instead being simple affairs brought to life by a dramatic voiceover. Which doesn’t deliver a satisfying conclusion. Shenmue 2Some of us here at MakeUseOf, myself included, love the Shenmue games. So much so we wanted the series to continue beyond the second game. It never did, and it looks unlikely that it ever will. Which is why the end of Shenmue 2 is so disappointing. This is clearly a game conceived as being the middle part of a more epic story, and so Shenmue 2 ends with the story still yet to conclude. This stands as perhaps the biggest anti-climax I have ever personally experienced in my 30 years as a gamer. Alan WakeAlan Wake is a game you’ll either love or hate. There is no middle ground. And the same is true of the ending, though I suspect more people hate it than love it. This game was never going to have a happy, satisfying conclusion, but what was delivered doesn’t even deliver storytelling 101. There are questions left unanswered, confusion added to that which already existed in the main part of the game, and various possible explanations for what occurs at the end. Playing Alan Wake is like watching 2001: A Space Odyssey… you’re partly mesmerized and partly clueless as to what’s happening. Metal Gear Solid 2As promised, here’s Hideo Kojima. Every game in the Metal Gear Solid series has a convoluted storyline, lengthy (some would say over-long) cutscenes, and plodding endings that will leave all but pseudo-intellectuals bored and confused. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty is the worst of them all. I completed Metal Gear Solid 2 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So much so it made my list of PS2 games still worth playing. But this is despite the disappointing video game ending, which left me so befuddled I immediately put the game back in the box and gave it away. It left me cold and confused. I love the game, I just hate the ending. Mass Effect 3Mass Effect 3 has arguably the most famous ending of any video game in history. Not because it was good, but because gamers were so disappointed with the original they complained vociferously online until BioWare was forced to release an extended cut aiming to counter some of the criticism. The problems with the ending, or endings to be more precise, are manifold. The main one being that the consequences of the player’s actions throughout the game are rendered inconsequential. Add in plot-holes, inconsistencies, and a general lack of closure for the trilogy, and you get a wholly disappointing ending. BorderlandsBorderlands is rightly regarded as one of the best games of recent years. It’s highly playable, highly entertaining, and pitched just right to appeal to a wide demographic. There’s just one problem: the ending is disappointing, as it slowly dawns on you you’ve been lied to all along. Your role in Borderlands is to locate the Vault, a fabled location supposedly full of untold treasures. After many hours of sometimes-difficult gameplay, you arrive at the Vault to discover it contains a whopping great monster that you need to defeat. Your reward for your efforts? Nothing whatsoever. RageRage is a mixed bag of a game, featuring fantastic visuals and thoroughly satisfying combat elements. Unfortunately the story is lacking, and the whole thing is brought to a crashing end with a finale that does nothing more than set the stage for a sequel which has so far failed to materialize. Your role in Rage is to raise the Arks containing humans who survived the apocalypse. Those you bring out of stasis will help augment the Resistance and fight against the Authority. You fulfill your role perfectly, and then the game ends. There is no fight, there is no conclusion. Final Fantasy XLike the Metal Gear Solid series, the Final Fantasy games all share common themes. But their endings differ greatly. Some are fantastic, tying up all the loose ends and leaving you with a happy feeling after many hours of effort. Others, like Final Fantasy X, leave you shaking your head. This is one of those games that could have had a fantastic ending, but the writers decided to go a different way than most gamers would have done. The whole game builds to a natural conclusion, but that ending is ripped from under you in place of a tepid, unsatisfying compromise. Common Complaints
As you may have noticed there are some broad similarities between the games on the list, which somewhat explains why the endings are all so disappointing… There are the attempts at leaving more for the planned sequel, which are especially annoying when no sequel ever gets made. Developers have to build franchises in order to make money these days, hence the popularity of this approach, but it always ends up sells gamers short. There are the multiple endings necessitated by giving the player choices as to how they approach the game. While this gameplay mechanic is a welcome one for the most part, forcing developers to create multiple endings only leads to one thing: a lack of resources being spent on each one. There is also the recent desire to leave the ending up to the gamer’s imagination. The idea is that gamers are more mature now and can interpret the story however they see fit, but that doesn’t excuse leaving questions unanswered and plot-holes unfilled. ConclusionsI decided to limit this list to fairly recent titles, purely because it maximizes the number of people likely to have played the games in question. However, there are some older titles whose endings absolutely sucked. Those of you whose teenage years are but a dim and distant memory may remember Doom, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, or Monkey Island 2. Each and every one had sucky endings. Which goes to show we can’t (wholly) blame modern developers and publishers. This list is far from complete because, to be blunt, there have been countless examples of disappointing video game endings over the years. The floor is now yours: tell us which of these endings you hated the most; which you actually liked; which other games you think should have made the list. The comments section below is ready and waiting for your input. Image Credits: Chelsea Gomez, FindYourSearch The post 8 Disappointing Video Game Endings appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Touch Something That Isn’t There – Haptic Technology [MakeUseOf Explains] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 01:01 PM PDT
The Past & PresentMy first experience of haptic technology was at a consumer technology show about 10 years ago – it was pretty new then, and sadly things haven’t progressed an awful lot since then – but they have got a lot cheaper, and we’re on the cusp of a great revolution – so it’s about time you knew about what’s coming. The toy I was privileged to have a play with was a pen for 3D modelling. The pen floated in 3D space, attached to a base unit with a single movable arm. By simply moving the pen around, you could move an on-screen 3D modelling or sculpting tool. But the amazing part of this pen was that when your tool hit the 3D object, it would stop, right there, preventing you from moving any further in that direction. By moving your tool around the surface of the object, you could literally feel the shape of it. Though immensely fascinating, this didn’t help my modelling skills one bit. Give me a lump of real clay and I’d do just as bad – but in the right hands, it makes 3D modelling a thoroughly more realistic experience. Here’s a video of a similar device in action, though obviously it’s difficult to portray the haptic feedback in a video. This idea was then extended to the entire hand, as this video from 2010 demonstrates. With a 3D display, the glove wearer can physically interact with a virtual object using haptic technology, touching what isn’t there. You think that’s cool? That’s nothing. How about not having to wear a glove at all, yet still being able to feel a holographic object? Yes, exactly like Minority Report or Iron Man. The system uses ultrasonic jets to project the sensations combined with traditional holography. Haptic technology is also known as “tactile” feedback, but force feedback in gaming controllers is also a form of haptic technology – called “kinesthetic” – in which the user experiences movement such as the resistance a steering wheel might give when turning. High end joysticks and steering wheel controllers on the market today provide feedback to the gamer by vibrating or resisting motion just as a real car or aeroplane might. Nearly all modern consoles include at least a basic vibration for the sensation of firing a gun, though the effect isn’t at all realistic (this is probably a good thing though, as the actual pushback from a lot of guns would probably break our untrained arms). The WiiRemote was the first console pointing device to implement haptic feedback for general user interfaces. The remote would “buzz” and snap to a menu element when you hovered over it. If you’ve used a Wii, there’s a chance you haven’t even noticed it – it’s such a natural enhancement and a great example of haptic technology done right. Launched this year and still seeking partners for integration, Vivitouch have developed a highly responsive virtual muscle, able to depict vibrations at a far great level of realism. They’ve branched into two technologies, one for headphones for more realistic audio, and one into mobile devices for more immersive gaming. Here’s a promotional video of the gaming side, which is currently only available for iPod Touch 4th Gen and a small assortment of compatible games. The FutureTactus has shown us their vision of a haptic future, one in which smart phone buttons physically emerge from the screen as required; creating a dynamic physical keyboard on a standard touchscreen. It’s an impressive feat, no doubt, but how useful might they actually be? The niche for these devices might eventually be carved in accessibility features – making touch screens and technology in general more useful for blind consumers. One can easily imagine how such a haptic interface could display braille to read text elements, for instance – external devices currently handle this task, but combining the two would make a lot of sense. Immersion and Senseg have taken a different approach to emulating tactile feedback. Instead of physically altering a device, they use electronic currents to generate the feel of a surface (Senseg calls these “Tixels”). At the launch of the iPad 3 last year, rumors abounded that the device would include either Senseg’s haptic feedback tech or a proprietary system Apple had also claimed a patent on (using piezeo-electric actuators instead of Senseg’s electrical fields), but neither have come to fruition just yet. It’s likely we’ll see more of these in mobile devices in the immediate future. Tactical Haptics have most recently demoed a kinesthetic feedback controller built around a Razer Hydra motion peripheral – it’s able to accurate simulate the feel of slicing a sword or the swinging motion of a flail – so it’s easy to see how it could really make for a more immersive gaming experience, especially when combined with the Oculus Rift VR headset. As you can see, haptic technology already plays a part in our lives, but it’s another immersive technology that – like virtual reality – has so many as-yet unrealised applications. At least now, you’ll know what it is when it gets here. Like most new technologies, I expect it’ll be used for gaming first! Have you had a chance to play with some haptic or force-feedback devices, and if so, what are your thoughts on them? Did they make the experience more immersive, or make you better at the task – or was it just a weird distraction, or a gimmick? The post Touch Something That Isn’t There – Haptic Technology [MakeUseOf Explains] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Metro/Modern Apps Unstable? Try These Tricks Posted: 24 Apr 2013 12:01 PM PDT
Generally, this works well – except when the Windows 8 Modern/Metro apps go bad. You see, from time to time these full-screen apps that don't appear to do much more than their low-powered, mobile alternatives, crash or freeze without reason. As you can imagine, this can be particularly frustrating, particularly if you're listening to the radio, for instance, or watching Netflix. But what can be done? Updating a Windows 8 AppPerhaps the most obvious check to make is whether the app needs updating. You can check this by opening the Windows 8 Store and looking in the top-right corner. Here, you should see a notification informing you that apps need to be updated, so click this to view the list.
If the app you are having problems with is listed, then you might be a little closer to fixing the issue. Swipe down to select (if the app isn’t already selected) and use the Install option to prompt Windows 8 to download and install the updates. It is worth restarting Windows before launching the app again. Syncing The App LicenseAnother method is to sync the app license, which can from time to time lose synchronisation with that of your PC. To fix this, go to the Store and tap Settings.
Next, click App updates and then Sync licenses. Note that you may need to provide your Microsoft account details. The license sync should only take a few moments, and when completed the app should launch and run without any problem… assuming that is that the problem was! Reinstalling The AppAs is traditional with Windows and software that isn't working quite as it should, one fix is to uninstall and reinstall the app in question. This can be done far more quickly and easily than in “old” Windows.
Begin by opening the Start screen and finding the app. Swipe down on the app tile so that a tick appears in the corner and a context menu is displayed across the bottom of the display. Tap Uninstall, confirm and then wait for the app to be removed. Next, open the Store, swipe down from the top of the display and select Your apps. Find the troublesome app in the list and click Install. With the app reinstalled, you should see much better performance. Connection Issues Cause Apps To CrashShould the app you're experiencing issues with fail to launch – or worse, crash while you're using it – the fault might lie with your network connection.
For instance, TuneIn Radio can occasionally crash out when the feed is interrupted, something that is particularly likely over a wireless connection. The best way of avoiding this is to make sure that your Internet connection doesn’t go down, so if possible, connect your Windows 8 computer to the router via Ethernet rather than wireless. With a network connection re-established, you should be able to relaunch the app to begin enjoying the media content once more. Runtime Broker: When Management Goes RogueIn the Windows 8 Task Manager (right-click the taskbar on the Windows desktop and select Task Manager) you will see a tab new to Windows 8 called Runtime Broker. This tool should be used to manage resources for Metro/Modern apps, but this doesn’t always work as it should. The result with certain types of app is that vast resources are allocated when they shouldn’t be. Almost all apps that cause this issue are ones with live tiles – that is, ones that display information to you on the Start screen. In order to overcome this problem, you will need to uninstall each of these live tile apps one at a time. You should then be able to trace the app(s) that is causing the issue. Wrong Resolution, Or Video Drivers Breaking Apps?Another common cause of Windows 8 app breakdowns is your computer's screen resolution. Fortunately this is another easy fix, but does depend on the maximum resolution of your display adaptor and monitor.
If the screen resolution is under 1024×768 then you will need to change this. The quickest way to do so is to open the Desktop, right-click and select Screen resolution, and then use the Resolution drop down box to increase resolution to at least 1024×768. Should you find that this isn't possible and you're sure it should be, then the next option is to upgrade your video driver. This can be done by clicking the Advanced link in the Screen resolution window, selecting Adapter > Properties > Driver > Update Driver…, and following the instructions to find the driver online. Alternatively you might download the driver and install it manually. Run a ScanWindows 8 apps can prove troublesome if your computer's important system files have become damaged or corrupted. A good way of fixing this is to run the sfc /SCANNOW command, which will launch the System File Checker tool. Note that completion of this process may require you to restart Windows.
To use this tool, press Start and type cmd. In the resulting list, right click the Command Prompt option and select Run as administrator. Here, enter sfc /SCANNOW and await the results. Note that there are various switches associated with this command. Apps Troubleshooter Can HelpAlthough some of the fixes that the Apps Troubleshooter can apply have been covered above, it should still be used if you have reached this stage without any success.
Apps Troubleshooter can be downloaded from this page. Once downloaded it should be run. You won't need to interact with it too much as the tool will automatically detect issues, make the relevant adjustments and apply the necessary fixes in order for your apps to be repaired. If All Else Fails…At this stage, you've exhausted almost all possibilities. If running a scan doesn't fix the app, your screen resolution change makes no difference and syncing the app license, updating and reinstalling had no effect, and connectivity issues aren't causing the problem with the app, you have just two choices. The first is to contact the app developer, who may be able to shed light on what is wrong or even release an update fixing the problem. The second is to uninstall the app and forget about it. Let us know in the comments if you have any additional fixes that you have used to resolve issues with Metro/Modern apps closing and crashing. The post Metro/Modern Apps Unstable? Try These Tricks appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Increase Your iPhone & iPad Typing Speed With These 3 Apps & Tips [iOS] Posted: 24 Apr 2013 11:00 AM PDT
In a previous article, I shared tips for typing faster on the iPad, but since then several specialty apps have been released that might help you increase overall typing speed on your iOS device. If you find yourself fumbling with the built-in keyboard, download a few of these free apps and practice typing risk-free. Also don’t overlook the built-in keyboard shortcuts feature, a part of the last two versions of iOS, which I explained in this article. Your Typing SpeedIf you want to get serious about improving typing ability on your iOS device you probably want to start by finding out your current typing speed. TapTyping does just that. It consists of a series of speed tests that track your typing speed, providing you with immediate results.
If you are a beginner user of the iPhone or iPad, this app can help you get up to speed with the arrangement of the keys on the keyboard. The goal for improving your speed is to avoid looking at the keyboard as you type, but this is a little more difficult for touchscreen devices due to the lack of tactile feedback you get with a traditional keyboard. Nevertheless, it’s a useful app when you have a little downtime and want to practice improving your speed.
There is also a paid version of TapTyping which consists of a series of training courses to help familiarise you with using the built-in keyboard, including the primary keys (a – z), capitalization, punctuation and number keys, advanced tapping patterns, and complicated sentences and symbols. Path InputOne of the unique and fun keyboard apps I like to use on occasion is Path Input, which I recommend for intermediate and advanced users of the iPhone. With this app you use your index finger to draw a path across the keyboard to each key or letters that you want to type, just like Swype for Android.
For instance, if you want to type the word "book", you slide your finger to the B key, move to the O key, then to K, and lift up your finger. The app will figure out that you’re trying to type the word "book" and type it for you, despite the fact that you left out the second O. The app works great for single syllable words, but it gets a little more complicated for longer three syllable words. As you draw letters and lift your finger, Path Input will also provide alternative words which appear above the keyboard that you might be trying to type. From here you can tap on the correct word without having to further swipe the keyboard.
Even if you don’t end up using Path Input for most of your typing, this app is interesting to use just for the technology. Note that this special keyboard cannot be used in other apps, instead you have to do your typing within Path Input then copy text to another app. The app also includes a special one-tap copy function that copies all of the text without you having to select it first. There is also a feature for exporting text directly to Mail, Messages, Twitter, the built-in iOS clipboard, or to a printer. You can download a free lite version of Path Input, and give it a try before purchasing the Pro version. FastKeyboardThere are dozens of text editing apps for the iPhone and iPad, but if you do a lot of typing on your mobile device, you might want to check out FastKeyboard. The traditional method of typing is still used in FastKeyboard, but what makes it a little faster for some users is its sidebar of text editing functions and extra visible keys.
The app has special icons for quickly copying and pasting text, undoing and redoing previous input and enlarging the font size and style of the text. It also puts the number and punctuation keys above the keyboard for easier and quicker access, with several rows of other special keys that you can scroll down and tap on.
FastKeyboard is free, but can be upgraded to the ad-free version. Other RecommendationsTyping on an iOS device is never going to feel the same as typing on a traditional keyboard, but you can also try using the split keyboard feature on the iPad which enables to you to type while holding the iPad with two hands.
Another useful way to quickly type text is to use TextExpander for iOS and Mac OS X which will type your commonly used words, names, and phrases based on your assigned abbreviations.
Apple will probably never make a tactile keyboard for its iOS devices, so let us know how well you're doing with the built-in keyboard. Do you prefer touch typing over dictation? Which apps do you use to type faster and more efficiently? The post Increase Your iPhone & iPad Typing Speed With These 3 Apps & Tips [iOS] appeared first on MakeUseOf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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