15 New Articles on MakeUseOf

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• Cool Websites and Tools – Check Your Car Tires, Compare Camera Specs, & Download Vector Icons
• Motherboard: Films Exploring Science, Tech & Humanity With Vice [Stuff to Watch]
• 8 Ways To Improve Windows 8 With Win+X Menu Editor
• Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy?
• Distracted By Time-Wasting Websites? LeechBlock For Firefox Will Take Care of That
• Caption Contest: Phonebooth
• Procreate: One Of The Most Beautiful and Powerful iPad Art Apps Available Today
• How To Monitor Storage Space & Remove Data On Windows Phone 8
• Great New Features For Windows Phone 8 Handsets With GDR2 Update
• BazQux Reader – A Worthy Minimalist Replacement To Google Reader
• Write, Edit & Manage Blog Posts Faster With MarsEdit for OS X
• Studying Abroad? Learn How To Stay Connected Back Home
• 5 Ways To Make Your Windows Computer Speak To You
• How Dual Band Routers Can Solve Your Wireless Woes
• 4 iPhone Applications That Will Turn You Into A Rap Superstar

Cool Websites and Tools – Check Your Car Tires, Compare Camera Specs, & Download Vector Icons Posted: 07 Oct 2013 03:01 PM PDT TireCheck – Driving on under inflated tires can increase your car’s fuel consumption and puts both driver and passengers in unnecessary risk. TireCheck enables drivers to check their tire pressure in a fun and contactless manner, simply by using their iOS device. Use Tirecheck and start saving immediately. Contactive – Identify millions of unknown callers before you even answer the call with Contactive’s Universal Caller ID! It collects information from your social media networks, publicly available sources, and Contactive’s Global Directory to show who's calling before you even answer the call. Camera Image Sensor – with this web app you... Read the full article: Cool Websites and Tools – Check Your Car Tires, Compare Camera Specs, & Download Vector Icons

Motherboard: Films Exploring Science, Tech & Humanity With Vice [Stuff to Watch] Posted: 07 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT If you love VICE magazine and its gonzo approach to journalism then you will probably like Motherboard, Vice’s new home for all things technology and science related. As is common with the publication’s other ventures, the channel is chock-full of the weird and wonderful – from future weaponry to alternate sources of weaponry, and everything in between. As is the case with Vice and many online outlets, the choice of subject can be a little raw; but that’s what makes them so good, after all. So with viewer discretion advised, here’s a smattering of my favourite Motherboard shows so far.... Read the full article: Motherboard: Films Exploring Science, Tech & Humanity With Vice [Stuff to Watch]

8 Ways To Improve Windows 8 With Win+X Menu Editor Posted: 07 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT On Windows 8, you can press Windows Key + X or right-click at the bottom-left corner of your screen to open a menu known as the “power user menu” or “quick access menu.” This menu contains quick access to system utilities like the Control Panel, Command Prompt, Task Manager, File Explorer, Device Manager, and more. Win+X Menu Editor allows you to edit the shortcuts that appear here, adding new shortcuts, removing existing ones, and even rearranging the list. While Microsoft did remove the traditional desktop Start menu, they also added this very unappreciated feature. It’s useful without any customizations, but... Read the full article: 8 Ways To Improve Windows 8 With Win+X Menu Editor

Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy? Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT These days, everywhere you go on the Internet, there is something posted about the NSA. For some of you, it may be annoying, but truth be told, this is a very important issue, and you should be paying attention. Short and simple version: The NSA spies. On everyone. And it sucks. (If you aren’t up to date, check out our earlier article on PRISM.) Fortunately, there are several Internet activism groups out there who are fighting on your behalf for privacy. They also are doing their best to educate netizens on these matters. Below are just a few of them that are incredibly... Read the full article: Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy?

Distracted By Time-Wasting Websites? LeechBlock For Firefox Will Take Care of That Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:30 PM PDT Stop the Internet from taking over your life: install the LeechBlock addon. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to achieve what you really want. The Internet has completely altered the face of socialization and global culture, and in many ways it has been a Good Thing™, but we've paid the price for it in other ways. The distractions of the Internet are all around us. Social networking and social media have become so prevalent that we've diluted the meaning of the word "social". Websites like Reddit can become an addiction in and of themselves. As a result, our real... Read the full article: Distracted By Time-Wasting Websites? LeechBlock For Firefox Will Take Care of That

Caption Contest: Phonebooth Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:15 PM PDT My back tends to get a little sore from carrying it around all day but it never runs out of battery. Caption this image! Send us your best and funniest captions in the comment section and you’ll stand to win a free MakeUseOf t-shirt! Let the competition begin! Read the full article: Caption Contest: Phonebooth

Procreate: One Of The Most Beautiful and Powerful iPad Art Apps Available Today Posted: 07 Oct 2013 11:30 AM PDT Let’s set the expectations at the outset here: this is not a post about how I used iPad app Procreate ($4.99) to create amazing artwork, because who cares. Instead, it’s a post about how a $5 app can evoke a sense of wonder even in someone who’s not graphically inclined, and how exactly drawing on your iPad (iPad Mini, in my case) can feel almost as good as the real deal. I’m going to take you on a tour of Procreate (last featured on MakeUseOf way back in 2011), and show you an app that gets it right: Packing lots... Read the full article: Procreate: One Of The Most Beautiful and Powerful iPad Art Apps Available Today

How To Monitor Storage Space & Remove Data On Windows Phone 8 Posted: 07 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT One of the main challenges of owning a smartphone is making sure you don't run out of space for photos, music, video or apps. Recent updates to Windows Phone 8 have made storage space management easier than ever. Whether you're a music fan who rarely removes their earphones, or someone who loves to snap photos, eventually you’re going to run out of space on your Windows Phone. The same goes for regular gamers (especially those playing the Xbox Live titles which are usually more sophisticated and as such take up more storage space) and anyone who uses their phone for... Read the full article: How To Monitor Storage Space & Remove Data On Windows Phone 8

Great New Features For Windows Phone 8 Handsets With GDR2 Update Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:30 AM PDT Windows Phone 8 has been around for 12 months, and this summer device owners received their first full set of updates. Although limited in many ways, the update from Microsoft – known as GDR2 – resolves the compatibility time bomb with Google accounts, while ironing out a few small issues. Meanwhile, if you own a Nokia Lumia 920 or 925/8 device, improvements that were introduced with the Lumia 1020 (including some great new native camera tools) have also been bundled into a second update, known as Amber. But what do these updates do, and are they needed? Windows Phone Updates... Read the full article: Great New Features For Windows Phone 8 Handsets With GDR2 Update

BazQux Reader – A Worthy Minimalist Replacement To Google Reader Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT If you are a power RSS reader, I’m sure you mourned the passing of Google Reader a few months back. But once we were past the initial gnashing and wailing of teeth, we began to search for replacements. A lot of my colleagues swear by Feedly or Digg, but I never really melded with either of them. Instead, I was looking for something really simple, minimalist, and perhaps similar in appearance and functionality to Google Reader. And something that just worked. I’m afraid I’m rather picky about what web apps and software I will continue using. When I met BazQux,... Read the full article: BazQux Reader – A Worthy Minimalist Replacement To Google Reader

Write, Edit & Manage Blog Posts Faster With MarsEdit for OS X Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT While WordPress is the quintessential blogging service, writing blogs directly in its text editor is not always user friendly. That’s why I use MarsEdit ($39.99) for composing and uploading all of my blog posts. MarsEdit is the fastest and simplest way to write, manage, and upload blog posts on the Mac. Though it hasn’t received a major update in a while, the current version (3.6) is stable and supports all major blogging platforms, including Google’s Blogger, LiveJournal, Drupal, Tumblr, TypePad, and Squarespace. Getting Started You can start using MarsEdit with your existing blog or by creating a new one. In most... Read the full article: Write, Edit & Manage Blog Posts Faster With MarsEdit for OS X

Studying Abroad? Learn How To Stay Connected Back Home Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Studying abroad for an extended period of time - usually a semester or a year - can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, but it can also be terrifying. How will you call home once you arrive? Will your mobile bill skyrocket with roaming charges? And is there any way you can text your friends back home? Fortunately, with modern technology, going abroad doesn’t mean you have to drop off the grid completely. Depending on your phone and carrier, there are ways to avoid exorbitant charges and to still have access to local calling, texting, and data services.... Read the full article: Studying Abroad? Learn How To Stay Connected Back Home

5 Ways To Make Your Windows Computer Speak To You Posted: 07 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT Lean back and listen: let your PC do the reading. Whether you generally dislike reading yourself or simply want to multitask from time to time, letting your computer read documents to you out loud can make life better. Windows comes, built in, with the ability to read text – it’s how anyone blind makes use of the operating system. The computerized voices won’t win awards for their dramatic performances, but they’re perfectly fine if you want a break from reading yourself. Sadly, how to use this functionality isn’t altogether obvious. Don’t worry, though, because a simple trick can turn Microsoft... Read the full article: 5 Ways To Make Your Windows Computer Speak To You

How Dual Band Routers Can Solve Your Wireless Woes Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:30 AM PDT The majority of problems experienced with WiFi network connectivity arises from the wireless router. Most of the time, the problem can be traced back to the cheap modem-router combinations that telecommunications companies like AT&T and Comcast foist off on their customers. While these units provide cheap Internet connectivity, they often don’t provide better connection speeds than 802.11g, colloquially referred to as “wireless g”. Since the release of 802.11g in 2003, wireless standards rocketed past even wireless-G’s successor, 802.11n. The newest standard today is 802.11ac, which adds not just increased transfer speeds but also better connectivity. To get the most out... Read the full article: How Dual Band Routers Can Solve Your Wireless Woes

4 iPhone Applications That Will Turn You Into A Rap Superstar Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Do you wish you had the sick rap flow that made people stand up and cheer like Eminem and the other awesome rappers in the game? The fact is, you aren’t him, but with a little help from your iPhone and a few choice apps, you most can certainly try to do the same. Of course, you will still need the ability to string together a decent line of text that rhymes. One things for sure, this will take some practice and lots of time. At the very least, these applications will steer you in the right direction, and before... Read the full article: 4 iPhone Applications That Will Turn You Into A Rap Superstar

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