No, honey – I swear I wasn’t shopping online. Can you think of a caption? Give us your most hilarious caption and you’ll be in the running to win a coveted MakeUseOf geeky t-shirt! The winning caption from “Satellite Fetish” goes to Bill S with his caption “You misunderstood when I told you to “do the dishes”.” Congratulations, Bill!
Read the full article: Caption Contest: It’s a Glassastrophe!
Back in the 1980s, we knew considerably less about the world around, above and within us. In a world gripped by Cold War, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos served as a reminder that science is about discovery and knowledge, rather than just a means of increasing your arsenal. Thirty years on we can stream Carl Sagan‘s groundbreaking documentary for free on YouTube, and still learn something from it. Despite the decades of knowledge gained since the show’s inception, the show is still brimming with intrigue and relevance, so sit back and enjoy the show that inspired a whole generation of scientists to...
Read the full article: Watch Carl Sagan’s Cosmos Right Now On YouTube [Stuff to Watch]
Tired of your website loading like a snail? Well, installing a CDN system on your WordPress blog can help, but setting it up wrong can really hurt. I’ll show you why and how to avoid those problems. CDN stands for “Content Delivery Network”, and it’s a way to cache content on your website that doesn’t change very often across several servers located all across the Internet. This might include scripts and images that make up parts of your web pages that never change. So now, whenever someone in California, for example, accesses your website in their browser, the content is...
Read the full article: How to Set Up CDN the Right Way and Avoid SEO Problems
Recording a decent video of your smartphone is not always easy. It can sometimes be done via software, but often, you’ll get the best results with a proper camera and the right setup. Here’s a full description of the setup I use to record video reviews for MakeUseOf — it is not perfect, but it is simple and effective. Sample Video Let’s start with the results first. Here is a video I made with this method: sample video here What You’ll Need This method uses five basic ingredients. Camera: This should be a good-quality dSLR. I use a Canon T3i....
Read the full article: A Great Way To Record Videos Of Your Android or iPhone Screen
Need to transfer your phone across borders? The various technological standards for wireless functionality can cause a great deal of issues – noticeably, data outage. I have several tips for traveling overseas that can help those wanting to take their U.S. mobile phone abroad. Request an Unlock Code or Travel Plan Whether or not your phone is under contract will determine if you’ll be able to use your phone across borders. There are two distinct options, one for contract-free travelers and one for those under contract. Contract Customers If you are under contract with an American cellular carrier, you must...
Read the full article: Traveling Overseas? Four Essential Tips for American Travelers
Accessing quality social media reports can often become a costly endeavor. It’s important to get this data, however, as it can make or break your social profiles as well as change the way you run them. The websites below give you access to plenty of free reports that will provide insights and further understanding of your social media profiles and pages. Simply Measured Other than offering a powerful analytics platform (paid), Simply Measured also provides 13 free social media reports from their ‘Free Social Media Tools‘ page. To access the reports, you’ll be asked to perform a social ‘action’. If...
Read the full article: 3 Ways To Get Your Hands On Free Social Analytics Reports
If you’re using a Raspberry Pi computer for your weekend project (perhaps a media centre or a home server) then there is a good chance these useful command line instructions will save you some time. The Raspberry Pi: Yes, It’s Linux You’ve imaged your SD card and booted your Raspberry Pi. You’re probably using the Raspbian operating system and updated and configured it so that it meets your requirements. What you may not have realised is that despite the Windows-style icon-driven desktop, Raspbian is a Linux distribution. Several operating systems are available for Raspberry Pi, the vast majority of which...
Read the full article: 15 Useful Commands Every Raspberry Pi User Should Know
Bitcoin has seen its share of controversy lately, with a lot of people losing a lot of money in various thefts, and most recently the widely-publicized collapse of Mt. Gox. This is unfortunate, because (with a little care) Bitcoins can be made so secure that theft is functionally impossible. We’ve covered getting started with Bitcoin before, but the software and security available have improved a lot since then. In this article, we’ll show you how to set up a hot and cold wallet, and teach you to use both. It takes ten minutes, requires no special software, and provides quite...
Read the full article: How To Spend And Store Bitcoins Safely, Easily, and for Free
Media streaming devices are simply awesome. Those little boxes that connect to your TV can add a wealth of entertainment options to your living room. The top three choices — the Chromecast, the Apple TV, and the Roku 3 — have been taking over people’s living rooms by storm. But which device is best for you? We take a look at these top three contenders to see which one you should get. Chromecast The Chromecast is the newest offering out of these three, released by Google in late July 2013. It’s a little dongle that can output to a TV...
Read the full article: Chromecast Vs Apple TV Vs Roku: Which Media Streamer Suits You?
It’s this time of year again when you can make your tech illiterate coevals regret they’re friends with a geek. Or if you’re smart, use the occasion to remind that they know someone who can solve anything. Up to you. Either way, have fun! Mess With Desktop Icons If you’re looking for a super easy and 100% harmless way to trick someone, play with their desktop icons. First, take a screenshot of the current desktop. Next, hide all desktop icons: right-click the desktop, go to View and unselect Show desktop icons. If you want to make this slightly more frustrating,...
Read the full article: 7 April Fool’s Day Pranks To Play On Your Friends’ PC
