class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/computerprogramming.png?323f2c" alt="" />If you’ve ever thought about learning computer programming, now might be a good time to start. The developers of href="http://www.codecademy.com">Codecademy invite you to make a New Year’s resolution to learn coding through their interactive programming lessons, emailed to you each week. So far, over 117,000 have signed up.

Their program, called href="http://codeyear.com/">Code Year, is a straightforward, fairly easy to follow three-part course for learning JavaScript, and two separate href="http://labs.codecademy.com/">Codecademy Labs for the object-oriented language, Ruby, and Python. You can complete the lessons in the site’s online text editor, and work at your own pace. The lessons are designed for beginners and those experienced with coding in other languages. And Codecademy says their labs are actually “designed to create your own programs and share them on Twitter and Facebook, and show your friends what you have learned.”

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy_1.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy 1" width="580" height="156" border="0" />

As you complete tutorials, you are awarded points and badges designed to show off and track your progress. Learning code is like learning any language – it takes practice and concentration. Coding will enable you to build intricate websites, online or computer games, and mobile apps.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy_2.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy 2" width="259" height="182" border="0" />

The Codecademy doesn’t yet include an online forum for students to troubleshoot lessons, but you can share your progress with friends, on Facebook and Twitter. The difficult part in learning say JavaScript is making sure you’re using the proper syntax, like surrounding declared names with quotation marks.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy" width="490" height="226" border="0" />

As writer Douglas Rushkoff contends, “If we don’t learn to program, we risk being programmed ourselves…program or be programmed.

Source: href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/03/codecademys-codeyear-attracts-100000-aspiring-programmers-in-48-hours" rel="nofollow">Techcrunch /> Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=86404090" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/new_year.jpg?323f2c" alt="new years resolutions" />If you’ve been preparing a New Year’s resolution list and need a little push, there are many sites that can easily inspire and excite you. There are also numerous inspirational blogs that you can take a look at, from hilarious blogs like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-websites-find-priceless-viral-images/">The Chive to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-for-a-daily-fix-of-sayings-and-quotations/">actual quote encyclopedias, such as href="http://www.quotestumbler.com/">Quote Stumbler, which lets you stumble upon a random quote every time you visit the page. There are even href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quotista-social-network-share-book-quotes/">social networks where you can discover and share countless quotes that catch your attention. There are also href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-rss-feeds-motivational-quotes-day/">many RSS feeds you can subscribe to for daily inspiration.

I think you get the idea that there may be unique sources of inspiration for different people. Sometimes, you may find them not just in quotes, but also images and videos. Here are a few select media items that might just give you a bit of the directional boost that you’re looking for.

href="https://plus.google.com/117689362923608221663/posts/8v7RBNncmAJ">Photo by Jason Keath

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/image12.png?323f2c" alt="new years resolutions" width="475" height="340" border="0" />

Have your list of resolutions? This simple photo might help you face the potential obstacles coming your way in 2012.

Warhawk Matt Scott In Nike ‘No Excuses’ Commercial

width="580" height="423" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/obdd31Q9PqA?version=3&hl=en_US" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="423" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/obdd31Q9PqA?version=3&hl=en_US" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

This is an epic commercial, featuring basketball player Matt Scott from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, giving a glimpse of the excuses that might set us back when trying to reach your goals.

Henry Ford

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/henry_ford_quote.jpg?323f2c" alt="new years resolutions" width="500" height="359" border="0" />

This href="http://thechive.com/2011/08/24/a-little-inspiration-goes-a-long-way-33-photos/inspire-others-4/">was originally featured in a post from the ever-popular The Chive, which occasionally throws in inspirational quotes and images.

href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/23/earlyshow/main1339324.shtml">Jason McElwain’s Basketball Story

align="center"> width="580" height="423" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMjmzhF5320?version=3&hl=en_US" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="423" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMjmzhF5320?version=3&hl=en_US" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

This inspiring story about a high school basketball team manager with autism shows that a lot of passion can help you overcome obstacles, achieve the unimaginable and lead you farther than you think.

How far, you ask? I don’t want to spoil the video for you, but let’s just say Jason was able to meet the President of the United States after his story went on the news. Passion is definitely key to keeping you motivated in order to complete a task in your New Year’s Resolutions.

Age Is Just A Number

If one of your resolutions includes to exercise more in an effort to become healthier, here’s a cool video that shows you can become a more active person at any time. You don’t need the latest equipment or a personal trainer.The key is to stick to a routine. Watch the following video as the interviewee reveals his age and shows off the body of a 20-year old.

align="center"> id="player" width="533" height="400" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="src" value="http://www.epicfail.com/wp-content/player/player.swf" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> name="flashvars" value="config=http://www.epicfail.com/wp-content/player/configTmp.php?id=17181" /> id="player" width="533" height="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.epicfail.com/wp-content/player/player.swf" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="config=http://www.epicfail.com/wp-content/player/configTmp.php?id=17181" />

If what you want is to find quotes or inspiring items specific to a theme, we have gathered some excellent sources of inspiration for all types of niches, including href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-great-inspiring-sites-creative-writers-visit/">creative writers, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-awesome-inspiring-blogs-entrepreneurs-business-owners/">entrepreneurs and business owners, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-inspiring-funny-blogs-read-parent/">parents, and even href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-inspiring-blogs-life-hacker-subscribe/">hackers. If perhaps you’re seeking advice to help you accomplish the tasks on your New Year’s Resolutions, here are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-online-tools-to-help-you-keep-your-new-year-resolutions/">six useful href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/online-tools-top-10-years-resolutions/">online tools, and another six websites href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/keep-your-new-years-resolutions-in-2009/">here.

If you haven’t completed your list of resolutions, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gather-inspiration-online-to-change-your-life-in-2010/">here are some more tips on finding manageable and worthy tasks, and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mindmapping-software-organize-year-resolutions/">here is a simple but effective way to organize those tasks so you’ll have a nice way to visualize your goals for 2012.

How are you keeping yourself motivated to complete your New Year’s Resolutions? Let us know in the comments!

Image credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=86564671" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gather-inspiration-online-to-change-your-life-in-2010/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/NewYear02-150x150.png?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="NewYear02" title="NewYear02" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Get Your Inspiration Online To Change Your Life in 2010

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-rss-feeds-motivational-quotes-day/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Shutterstock-Quotation-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="Shutterstock-Quotation" title="Shutterstock-Quotation" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Top 8 RSS Feeds For Motivational Quotes of the Day

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/xbox_logo.jpg" alt="xbox dashboard" />Xbox Live is arguably the most popular online gaming platform, and for me personally, it is the one where I do almost all of my online gaming. Since Xbox Live is such a social gaming platform, it isn’t just about getting on and playing games. Sending messages and seeing what your friends are up to is just as integral a part of Xbox Live as actually playing the games.

With the href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oobdmiffgnobnpagcjjmpcajhdaoighg">Xbox Live Dashboard extension for Google Chrome, it is easy to keep track of all your friends right from your web browser. The extension is always on as long as you have your browser open, so you will never be disconnected from all of your Xbox Live friends. You can check what games they are playing and quickly and easily send them messages. If you love stalking your friends when you’re not on your Xbox, then this is the perfect extension for you.

Set Up

Setting up the app is simple. You first need to go to the Google Chrome Web Store and download the extension. Simply go href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oobdmiffgnobnpagcjjmpcajhdaoighg">here, click “Add to Chrome” and the extension will install to your browser.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2011-09-08_0833.png" alt="xbox dashboard" width="551" height="269" />

Once you finish installing the application, you have to enable it to work with your Xbox Live account. When the app is first installed the icon will appear on the top right of your screen style="margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/icon2.png" alt="xbox live dashboard" width="219" height="32" align="left" />with a question mark indicating that you have not set up your account.

Click on the Xbox Live icon, and the extension will automatically send you to the Windows Live log in screen. Sign with the email address and password associated with your Xbox Live account and the application will automatically update.

Using The Extension

Once you have associated the extension with your Xbox Live account, the icon near the extension will change from a question mark to a green number. The number indicates how many of your friends are now online.

When you now click on the extension, instead of going to the Xbox Live website, the app shows a little dropdown box with all your friends, and what the ones online are doing.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/friends.png" alt="xbox live dashboard" width="402" height="420" />

To the right of each of your friends names is a little envelope. If you click that you be able to send them a message. This is done right through the extension so there is no need to launch the Xbox Live website.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/message.png" alt="xbox live friends" width="351" height="240" />

When you have a new message, the icon will change from green, which is the number of friends online, to orange. Once you read the message it will change back to the green icon and let you know how many friends are online again.

Another option in the application is the ability to check out your friends full profiles. However, for this you do need to go to the Live website. Simply click on a friend’s name in your friends list and the extension will automatically open up a new tab and bring you their profile on Xbox.com so you can view all of their achievements, avatars, and everything else on their gamer profile.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/profile1.png" alt="xbox live dashboard" width="555" height="391" />

You can also click on the options in the app and adjust whether or not the app plays sounds and shows notifications when you receive a new message or when a friend signs on or off Xbox Live.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/options.png" alt="xbox dashboard" width="409" height="321" />

Conclusion

If you are a hardcore Xbox Live gamer, and your time at home with your Xbox just isn’t enough for you, this is an extension you will definitely enjoy. It comes in handy for keeping track of what your friends are doing when you are away, and it’s also a handy way to let them know where you are and when you will be online to play some more.

Check out some other great articles about Google Chrome extensions:

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-chrome-extensions-catching-latest-news-headlines/" target="_top">6 Chrome Extensions For Catching The Latest News Headlines /> href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-cool-google-chrome-extensions-google-services/" target="_top">8 Cool Google Chrome Extensions For Google Services /> href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-cool-google-chrome-extensions-guy-likes-photos/" target="_top">7 Cool Google Chrome Extensions For The Guy Who Likes His Photos

What are your favorite href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-extensions-playing-distracting-online-games-chrome/"> gaming extensions for your browser? Are you addicted to Xbox Live and do you need something like this to keep constant tabs on your friends gaming habits? Let us know in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-icon.png" alt="" />Not sure where your time goes? Keep track of it. Hamster is a Linux application that helps you do just that. Computers help us get work done, but they can also be distracting. That’s why it’s important to keep track of when you’re actually working; href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/time-management/">time management saves you time. Beyond distractions, however, it’s a good idea to figure out which daily tasks are eating up your time. This can help you schedule, or help you bill accurately if you’re a freelancer.

Hamster is a piece of Linux software built from the ground up to make time tracking easy. Get into the habit of using it and you’ll get a very accurate view of which tasks are taking the most time. This can go a long way toward making you efficient.

Tracking Your Time With Hamster

Whenever you begin a task, quickly open Hamster and let the software know what you’re doing:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-add.png" alt="" width="579" height="194" />

Add a name for the task, then add some tags. How you use the tags is up to you, but they can really help you figure out where your time is going later on. If you want to know how much time you spend on research compared to the time you spend actually writing, for example, tag tasks for your research and writing accordingly. This way you’ll know what you’re spending your time doing.

Tags are also a great way for freelancers to track their billable hours. Just tag tasks with a specific job or client and you’ll be tracking your hours for the job.

When you’ve completed a task, or switched to another one, let Hamster know. Time tracking only works if you track your time!

You can review the information at any time, by clicking summary:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-summary.png" alt="" width="579" height="294" />

As you can see, Hamster lets you know what you’ve been doing with your time. You can make changes, useful if you ever accidently leave Hamster tracking after you’ve completed a project. You can also review how much time your various “tags” are taking up in a given week or other period of time.

Do you want to show other people where your time is going? Hamster allows you to export tasks to HTML files you can share easily with others, including clients.

You can set Hamster to stop tracking you when your computer is off or sleeping:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-preferences.png" alt="" width="514" height="303" />

If a lot of your work is away from the computer you’re going to want to turn this off. Other settings worth checking out include reminders and syncing with tasks list from Evolution and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gnome-linux-users-organized/">Getting Things Gnome, which keeps Linux user organized.

Using Workspaces To Track Time

If you’re anything like me, you use the various workspaces Linux offers for different things. One for email and web browsing; another for writing; another for social networks; the last for testing software.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-workspaces.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="340" />

You can set Hamster to automatically track how much time you’re spending on your various desktops. Assuming you use your desktops as consistently as I do, you can use this feature to track how much time you spend doing certain things automatically. This is a great way to track your time if you don’t want to manually enter information for each task.

How To Install Hamster

Installing Hamster is easy on most Linux distributions; just look for “hamster” in your package manager. Ubuntu users can simply href="apt:hamster-applet">click here to install Hamster.

If you can’t find Hamster in your repositories you may need to compile the code yourself. href="http://projecthamster.wordpress.com/building-and-running/">Find more about that here, but don’t expect it to be simple.

Install The Hamster Indicator Applet

Users of Gnome 2 can add a Hamster applet to a Gnome panel. Users of Ubuntu 11.04 and later don’t have this option, but don’t worry: there is a handy indicator applet for Hamster:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hamster-indicator.png" alt="" width="247" height="211" />

Find out href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/07/install-hamster-indicator-time-tracking.html">how to install the Hamster indicator for Unity at Webupd8; their tutorial includes installation instructions and various tweaks for the applet.

Conclusion

Hamster is a great time tracking device. As someone who jumps between multiple operating systems a lot I wish it was cross platform, but for those who use Linux all the time there isn’t a better way to track time than Hamster.

I’ve been wrong before. Do you know a better tool for the job than Hamster? Fill us in. Also feel free to let us know how Hamster helps you; we’d love to hear.

Image Credit : rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phodopus_sungorus_-_Hamsterkraftwerk.jpg">Doenertier82

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image24.png?54167" alt="android manager" />I love my smartphone. I think it’s an absolutely amazing device, and can’t wait to see where smartphone technology goes in three or five years. But there’s just one thing that scares me. What if someone steals it, or I lose it? My life is on that thing. It’s a treasure trove of personal information, with access to all of my contacts, Gmail correspondence, calendar, and even all the files on my Dropbox. Definitely not something I’d like to see fall into the wrong hands! If it ever does, class="vt-p" href="https://cirrusmanager.appspot.com/#home">Cirrus Manager will be the first site I turn to.

Like just about every other “find my device” solution ( class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-wipe-phone-remotely-android-lost/">Android Lost and friends), Cirrus Manager is an app-and-website combo. You install the app on your phone and configure it to talk to the website, and then use the website if the need ever arises. I have been testing Cirrus Manager for over a month before writing this post, so the app is already configured on my phone. When someone (hopefully me…) runs the app, the first thing they see is a password prompt:

class="aligncenter" style="border:1px solid black" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image25.png?54167" border="0" alt="android manager" width="300" height="500" />

Once you enter the correct password, you get to the main menu:

class="aligncenter" style="border:1px solid black" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image26.png?54167" border="0" alt="manage your android phone" width="300" height="500" />

This is not an “all or nothing” proposition. You can select how much control you wish to grant Cirrus Manager over your phone.

class="aligncenter" style="border:1px solid black" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image27.png?54167" border="0" alt="manage your android phone" width="300" height="500" />

As you can see, I chose not to manage contacts, messages, and processes via the Web interface. If anyone ever steals my phone, I would be able to tell who they’re calling. More importantly, Cirrus Manager constantly sends location updates to the server, and you can even turn the GPS on remotely for better accuracy.

The security settings are quite comprehensive:

class="aligncenter" style="border:1px solid black" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image28.png?54167" border="0" alt="manage your android phone" width="300" height="500" />

I recently got to test the “Lock on SIM change” feature, accidentally. I switched carriers, and upon inserting my new SIM card and booting my phone, Cirrus presented me with a password prompt. I then entered my password (correctly), and it just shut off. No matter how many times I did this, this kept happening. The only way to get it to work was to insert the original SIM, access the app, disable “Lock on SIM change” and then change the SIM. CirrusLabs (the developer) say this should not happen, but that was the case when I tested it.

Still, it was a good example of how effective the locking mechanism can be. I found no way to circumvent the lock when it happened, and I consider myself a fairly skilled Android user. If your device is rooted, someone can always plug it into a PC and use adb shell to uninstall whatever is locking your device – but this is true for all such security solutions (so you can only hope your device doesn’t fall into skilled hands, or that you’re faster than the thief).

The last feature in the main menu, Auto Update Interval, is only available for paid plans (I subscribed to the $3/mo. plan). But even if your device doesn’t auto-update the site, you can always poll it manually. Which brings us to the site itself:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image29.png?54167" border="0" alt="android phone manager" width="580" height="431" />

In a word: slick. The site runs on Google App Engine, and you get to use your normal Google account to log in. The gorgeous interface is dominated by a side menu that opens as soon as you hover over the strip of icons:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image30.png?54167" border="0" alt="android phone manager" width="330" height="500" />

The menu is fairly self-explanatory. The two most important features, for me, are geolocating your device and remotely wiping it in case you cannot retrieve it. Let’s look at geolocation first:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image31.png?54167" border="0" alt="android phone manager" width="580" height="497" />

Yup, this is where I am. You may be wondering why I live in a country that has no streets. This is not an issue specific to Cirrus Manager. The Google Maps API simply does not support all countries and territories, and I’m unlucky enough to be located in such an unsupported country. Clicking the pin icon reveals the latitude and longitude coordinates reported by the device, which you can then search for on Google Maps or any other mapping solution. If you’re in a supported location (North America, for example), you won’t have to go through that extra step.

Another interesting option is visualizing the location history over time. This shows the routes the device made over time as red lines over the map, and while it can be a bit creepy, it’s also very interesting to see how your device has been moving all over town.

Next, let’s look at the “nuclear option”. If someone steals your device and you become convinced you can’t have it back, you really should wipe it remotely. This is what the Wipe Device option looks like:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image32.png?54167" border="0" alt="android manager" width="580" height="350" />

Note the option to wipe the SD card as well. This is a crucial option. If you just wipe your device without wiping the SD card, any would-be thief would still have access to lots of personal information, and possibly complete copies of all of your apps and data (if you use class="vt-p" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup&feature=search_result">Titanium Backup, which you really should). The SD wipe option is only available for paid plans, though (and is one of the key reasons I chose to pay for the service).

Bottom Line

Cirrus Manager has plenty of other features, including detailed hardware information for your device, SMS control (wipe your device using an SMS if it has no connectivity), and more. The free version is very good, but the paid version is even better. This is the security solution I chose for my own device – definitely recommended.  Let us know in the comments which security app you use to protect your Android phone.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/close-watch-android-device-cirrus-manager-22/">Keep A Close Watch On Your Android Device With Cirrus Manager [2.2+] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intro1.png?54167" alt="password manager"/>

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/using-keepass-to-secure-your-online-accounts/">KeePass/ href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/keepassx-secure-password-management-linux-os/">KeePassX is a popular open source project that has won the hearts of thousands, with a myriad of href="http://lifehacker.com/5046988/eight-best-keepass-plug+ins-to-master-your-passwords">plugins and href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search?hl=en-US&q=keepass">extensions such as href="http://keefox.org/">KeeFox and href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search?hl=en-US&q=keepass">ChromelPass, that dramatically improve the user experience. However, KeePass isn’t the only open source password manager out there. If you’re looking for a simpler but still secure application where you can store your login credentials and important notes, why note check out additional open source programs?

Even if you’re accustomed to your beloved and convenient commercial password manager, it’s probably not a bad idea to try other ultra secure applications that offer some of the same features and risk less at your expense. If you’re ready for some password manager goodness, read on!

href="http://www.clipperz.com/">Clipperz [ href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-of-both-worlds-online-passwords-offline/">Web-based]

Clipperz is a web-based password manager, not unlike LastPass, with a major difference in that it’s open source. Jim reviewed it href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-of-both-worlds-online-passwords-offline/">here a couple of years ago so be sure to check his review for more details.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clipperz_compact_tabs.png?54167" alt="password manager" width="484" height="308" />

Pros:

• Support for direct one-click logins (made with a special bookmarklet) so users can login automatically from the Clipperz website.
• Provides an encrypted HTML copy for offline read-only use.
• Login history is recorded.
• Registration requires no email (just a username and passphrase) so users can maintain anonymity.
• Works on any OS with a major browser (like Firefox or Opera) that has Javascript enabled.
• href="http://www.clipperz.com/support/user_guide/clipperz_compact">Compact site for Firefox sidebar and Opera panel with access to direct one-click logins.
• Clipperz can also store notes with sensitive content.
• Password generator available.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_104715.png?54167" border="0" alt="password manager reviews" width="490" height="285" />

• Users can import data from a number of password managers.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_102719.png?54167" alt="password manager reviews" width="442" height="562" />

Cons:

• Saving direct logins involves manually copy-pasting code onto Clipperz website,
• Direct login codes don’t seem to work for all sites. In my tests, Imageshack and Springpad couldn’t create direct logins from the bookmarklet, but users can always create new “web passwords” or cards and specify the website URL manually.
• No support for passphrase recovery since emails aren’t required.
• Cannot organize accounts in groups.

href="http://www.yadabyte.com/Yadabyte_Portables.php">Yadabyte Passwords [Windows]

Yadabyte Passwords is like a tiny Keepass manager, except it carries fewer bells and whistles. Though it’s a bit older, this portable password manager is absolutely a breeze to use. You simply create a master password and then type the usernames, passwords, and URLs for all the services you want included in your password database.

Pros:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_112637.png?54167" alt="password manager reviews" width="249" height="327" />

• Portable
• Easy to use

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_112855.png?54167" border="0" alt="free password manager" width="249" height="327" />

Cons:

• Might be too simple for some users as it doesn’t have lots of features.
• Cannot organize accounts in groups.

href="https://github.com/zdia/gorilla/wiki/">Password Gorilla [Cross-Platform]

Password Gorilla is a password manager and personal vault that can store login information and notes. The application consists of a single executable that allows you to create a database and save it to a specified location. The encrypted database can only be read in Password Gorilla of course, but the database is actually a different file, separate from the application, so you can create several databases if you wish.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_115859.png?54167" alt="free password manager" width="400" height="257" />

Pros:

• Portable
• Can create groups and subgroups to organize passwords and sites.
• Can import password databases saved in CSV format.
• Automatically locks the database after a defined amount of minutes.
• Can clear the clipboard after specified number of seconds.
• Users can set what double-clicking a login does: open a browser directed to the URL, copy password to clipboard, edit login or do nothing.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_120349.png?54167" alt="free password manager" width="529" height="341" />

• Can copy username and password to the clipboard with keyboard shortcuts.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_120037.png?54167" width="408" height="267" /> /> Cons:

• Exported files are unencrypted plain text files.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_120911.png?54167" width="492" height="199" />

href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/upm/">Universal Password Manager [Cross-Platform; Android]

Universal Password Manager is a simple program that uses 128bit AES encryption and, like Password Gorilla, allows you to create databases once you’ve set a master password.

Pros:

• Databases can be exported and imported.
• Android app available.
• Can load and sync remote databases from URL.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_130616.png?54167" width="500" height="304" />

• Can copy username and password to clipboard with keyboard shortcuts.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-26_125814.png?54167" alt="password manager" width="500" height="304" />

Cons:

• Cannot organize accounts in groups though they are alphabetized. A workaround could be to create several databases.

From this list, I prefer Password Gorilla as it has robust features. There are, however, dozens of additional open source programs we couldn’t possibly cover, so if you’re eager to learn more, be sure to check out href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/manage-and-protect-your-personal-data-with-lockcrypt/">LockCrypt, href="http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/">Password Safe, href="http://www.petroules.com/products/silverlock">SilverLock, href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/opensimsim/files/">OpenSimSim and href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/oubliette/">Oubliette.

Do you use an open source password manager and have tips to share? Enlighten us  in the comments!

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-open-source-password-managers-passwords-safe/">4 Open Source Password Managers To Keep Your Passwords Safe is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-243.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe" />Remember The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Douglas Adams had one tip – always carry a towel. While that’s a great tip for “real life”, if I had to choose just one tip to give all web users, it would be – use a different password for each website. Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. If you use the same password (or two passwords) everywhere, a single security breach on one website could leave you wide open to identity theft across the whole Web. Not a pleasant prospect!

But if you use a different password for every website, how will you ever be able to remember them all? You won’t, of course, and that’s where a password manager comes in. With a password manager, you only need to remember one “master password”, protecting all other unique passwords. class="vt-p" href="http://keepass.info/">KeePass and class="vt-p" href="https://lastpass.com/">LastPass users are nodding their heads knowingly at this point, but if you’ve never used a password manager before and the concept seems a bit intimidating, it’s very possible class="vt-p" href="http://www.roboform.com/">RoboForm is what you’ve been waiting for all along.

First off, you should know RoboForm isn’t free: it currently costs $9.95 for the first year, and $19.95 for every year after that. For that, you get to install RoboForm on unlimited devices, with seamless password sync and backup. RoboForm also offers a free version, but it supports only ten logins (I know people who can keep ten different logins in their head). Fortunately, the full version comes with a 30-day trial, which is plenty of time to make up your mind. RoboForm’s commercial polish shows right from the first step on the installation process:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-226.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe" width="580" height="350" />

The installer is clear and simple, while not skimping on the details. Since you’re going to be trusting the database with all of your passwords, RoboForm lets you know right from the get-go where it would be stored, and you can change its location if you want to:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-228.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe free" width="580" height="350" />

Then, right within the setup process, RoboForm has you create your new master password, the one you really must never forget. The dialog is very clear, and includes a password-strength meter. The meter, incidentally, hit the “Excellent” grade when I was less than halfway through typing my complete passphrase. This could either mean RoboForm’s standards for master password strength isn’t high enough, or I’m paranoid. I leave that judgment up to you.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-229.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe free" width="580" height="350" />

RoboForm integrates tightly with IE, Firefox, Chrome and a host of class="vt-p" href="http://www.roboform.com/platforms/browsers/other">other browsers. Here’s what the included Chrome add-on looks like:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-230.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe free" width="580" height="114" />

This is what RoboForm’s main window looks like:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-231.jpg" alt="keep passwords secure" width="580" height="350" />

If you come from KeePass (like I do), you might be flustered at first by the fact that there’s no “New Record” button. If you want to save a new user/password pair using the RoboForm editor, it’s not instantly clear what you have to do. It turns out the secret is pushing the large RoboForm button:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-232.jpg" alt="keep passwords secure" width="580" height="350" />

So rather than a simple “New Record“, there are three different terms here — Safenote, Identity and Passcard. A Safenote is basically an encrypted note, completely free-form. That’s parallel to KeePass’s Notes field included with every record, but shinier:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-234.jpg" alt="keep passwords secure" width="580" height="350" />

An Identity is a complete profile used by RoboForm to automatically fill in forms. It has just about every field you could think of, starting from the obvious Name and Title and ending with obscure fields such as Pager number and NI and NHS numbers:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-235.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="350" />

That’s just for “Person“. There are several other field sets, such as “Bank Account”, “Passport”, “Car” and more.

Last but not least, we’ve got Passcards, which are username/login pairs for websites, the most common used for a password manager. Surprisingly, you cannot create those from within RoboForm Editor. Here’s what I got when I tried:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-236.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="350" />

Okay, so I used Chrome to go to a random website and signed up for a new account. When the time came to select a password, I decided to try RoboForm’s Generate feature:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-237.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="350" />

That’s RoboForm’s Chrome add-on in the foreground, with the site I was trying to create an account with in the background. That Fill button just didn’t work. I clicked it with all my might, repeatedly, yet the Password and Repeat Password fields remained blank. Dragging the generated password did work, but it instantly closed the dialog, so for the Repeat Password I had to open the dialog again and drag it again. Copy/pasting would have been faster.

As soon as I hit the Create Account button, RoboForm’s auto-detection kicked in:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-238.jpg" alt="Image" width="427" height="361" />

Quite slick! It had the real site name in the box, not “Random Website”. Not the URL either, mind you, but the actual site name, and it was clever enough to extract it even though the page title wasn’t the exact site name. Very nice. So on the one hand, letting you create new passcards only by actually creating new accounts in websites feels a bit restrictive — but on the other hand, it’s a fantastic way to make sure you never forget to store your new password.

The actual passcard record is very simple: It contains just a site title, URL, user ID and password:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-239.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="179" />

And just for comparison, here’s the same dialog in KeePass:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-240.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="350" />

A different level of visual complexity, indeed. And yes, if you’ve been paying attention you now know my fictitious identity at class="vt-p" href="http://popling.net">Popling.net, password and all. Go have fun, pretend you’re me.

If you’re already using another password management solution and wish to migrate to RoboForm, it’s very likely possible. Check out the comprehensive Import dialog:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-241.jpg" alt="Image" width="580" height="247" />

Note that RoboForm also offers to import bookmarks. I had it import my IE bookmarks, and the process was very smooth. I ended up with a bookmark tree looking like this:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-242.jpg" alt="keep passwords safe" width="580" height="350" />

Are there other bookmark management solutions? Sure, just like there are plenty of other password managers. But what’s interesting about RoboForm is how embracive it feels — it does your logins, forms, in-app forms (not just browser-based forms), contacts and encrypted notes. And it somehow does it all without feeling too complex or clunky.

If you’re used to KeePass, sure, it might feel awkward at first. But if you’ve never used a password manager before, RoboForm has a way of integrating itself into your workflow, and you’ll find yourself using it for all of your passwords and forms in no time.  Let us know what you think of it or if you prefer using something completely different. />
/>Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on href="http://www.makeuseof.dev/answers/" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf Answers!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intro7.jpg" alt="track halo stats" />Halo is one of the most successful console franchises ever, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox360">Xbox 360 owner both Halo 3 and the latest incarnation, Halo: Reach, are must-have games. Of course, you probably already knew that – especially if you’ve been playing online for a good while.

All that time you’ve been pummelling foes and sucking up bullets the folks who brought you the game have been quietly recording your every move. You can access your statistics online using your web browser and now on-the-go using your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The level of detail recorded on the website is impressive to say the least, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios">iOS user then there’s even a couple of in-game rewards to sink your teeth into!

Bungie Mobile – Halo as you Go

Once you’ve downloaded the class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bungie-mobile/id441444902?mt=8">Bungie Mobile app on iTunes and logged in (using your Windows Live ID, which is tied to your Xbox Live gamertag) you have limited access to your challenge and commendation progress on the Profile tab. Unfortunately I was only able to choose Halo: Reach stats from Bungie mobile, even though I have plenty of Halo 3 stats on Bungie’s servers.

Fairly quick access to challenges (especially daily and weekly challenges) is very useful, as checking this in-game can be a bit of a drag, especially when you just want to play the game. Players who often play split-screen will find this useful as they won’t have to interrupt the other party’s session with boring statistics.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_overview.jpg" alt="track halo stats" width="333" height="500" />

As well as challenges and commendations, there’s a View Spartan button which fetches the last known configuration of your character, complete with custom armour. If you hit the small plug button in the top right corner of the View Spartan screen then you’ll be prompted to save the picture to your camera roll.

This might seem a bit pointless, but the image makes a nice unique-to-you class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-improve-desktop-wallpaper/">wallpaper for both your home and lock screens. There is a More Details button on your profile tab also, and this opens up the Bungie site in Safari – we’ll come to that in a bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lockscreen.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

In addition to the profile tab, there’s Find which allows you to search for friends by gamertag (and displays the same information that you’d find on your own overview), News which is… news and More, which features a link to Bungie and some other boring bits.

But wait… there’s also a Love Bungie tab! This is where you can claim your rewards for simply signing up to the Bungie Mobile service. Two rewards are available – Blue Flames and the All-Star Nameplate.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lovebungie.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

You’ll need to activate each (only once) before turning on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/caring-xbox-360-tips-fixing-dead-console/">your Xbox, launching Halo and heading to the Armory section to apply your prizes. The Blue Flames is an armour effect, causing pretty blue flames to emanate from your Spartan’s helmet, and the All-Star Nameplate places a small star alongside your name and emblem in the scoreboards.

The Blue Flames is single-use (meaning you must sign into the iOS app from your gamertag to enable it) however the All-Star Nameplate can be gifted to 7 of your friends. That’s pretty much it for Bungie Mobile, if you want some really in-depth analysis you’d better check out…

Bungie.net – A Wealth Of Stats and More

Leaving the mobile platform alone for the moment, Bungie also supplies an impressive resource for gamers via its class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/">online Bungie.net service, which tracks nearly everything you do and provides space to store and share media.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/overview.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="575" height="369" />

Bungie.net provides a far more in-depth look at your Halo habit. You can filter by game (Reach, ODST and Halo 3) and access your Game History in exquisite detail, right down to individual game scores, medals and any files (screenshots or video) that relate to that particular match.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gameoverview.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="558" />

One of the more intriguing and potentially useful features are personalised heatmaps of the levels you play. This works for Halo 3, ODST and Reach and essentially shows you a top-down image of a map with areas of interest highlighted.

style="text-align: left;">You can choose to show kills or deaths and even narrow it down to a particular weapon. If you’re the type who likes to analyse your playing style, heatmaps will probably give you an idea of where you’re going wrong (areas you’re always dying in) and what you’re doing right (lots of kills).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/heatmap.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="523" height="519" />

Finally there’s your File Share, which is a public area to share map variants, custom game types, screenshots and videos you have taken in-game. Unfortunately you’ll need to pay for a Bungie Pro account to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hassle-free-video-streaming-to-your-iphone-and-ipod-touch-with-air-video-windowsmac/">stream video (it has to render it for you, after all) but screenshots don’t cost.

Once you’ve uploaded an in-game screenshot you can retrieve a high resolution image to do what you want with from your File Share. The website also tags you in the picture much in the same way Facebook does!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/screenshot.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="460" />

Conclusion

If you’re a die-hard Halo fan who hasn’t checked out the wealth of stats and other goodies on either the Bungie.net service or Bungie Mobile then you’re in for a treat. If you’re really dedicated then you can upgrade to Bungie Pro for streaming videos of past games and files, more space to share things and some class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/projects/bungiepro/default.aspx">other benefits for 320 Microsoft Points per six months.

Have you tried Bungie Mobile? How about Bungie.net? Spartans report in via the comments box below.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-halo-stats-bungienet-bungie-mobile-ios-app/">Keep Track Of Your Halo Stats With Bungie.net & The Bungie Mobile iOS App is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fps/" title="fps" rel="tag">fps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/information/" title="information" rel="tag">information, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios/" title="iOS" rel="tag">iOS, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mobile-apps/" title="Mobile Apps" rel="tag">Mobile Apps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/statistics/" title="statistics" rel="tag">statistics, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox-360/" title="xbox 360" rel="tag">xbox 360 />

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intro7.jpg" alt="track halo stats" />Halo is one of the most successful console franchises ever, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox360">Xbox 360 owner both Halo 3 and the latest incarnation, Halo: Reach, are must-have games. Of course, you probably already knew that – especially if you’ve been playing online for a good while.

All that time you’ve been pummelling foes and sucking up bullets the folks who brought you the game have been quietly recording your every move. You can access your statistics online using your web browser and now on-the-go using your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The level of detail recorded on the website is impressive to say the least, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios">iOS user then there’s even a couple of in-game rewards to sink your teeth into!

Bungie Mobile – Halo as you Go

Once you’ve downloaded the class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bungie-mobile/id441444902?mt=8">Bungie Mobile app on iTunes and logged in (using your Windows Live ID, which is tied to your Xbox Live gamertag) you have limited access to your challenge and commendation progress on the Profile tab. Unfortunately I was only able to choose Halo: Reach stats from Bungie mobile, even though I have plenty of Halo 3 stats on Bungie’s servers.

Fairly quick access to challenges (especially daily and weekly challenges) is very useful, as checking this in-game can be a bit of a drag, especially when you just want to play the game. Players who often play split-screen will find this useful as they won’t have to interrupt the other party’s session with boring statistics.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_overview.jpg" alt="track halo stats" width="333" height="500" />

As well as challenges and commendations, there’s a View Spartan button which fetches the last known configuration of your character, complete with custom armour. If you hit the small plug button in the top right corner of the View Spartan screen then you’ll be prompted to save the picture to your camera roll.

This might seem a bit pointless, but the image makes a nice unique-to-you class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-improve-desktop-wallpaper/">wallpaper for both your home and lock screens. There is a More Details button on your profile tab also, and this opens up the Bungie site in Safari – we’ll come to that in a bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lockscreen.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

In addition to the profile tab, there’s Find which allows you to search for friends by gamertag (and displays the same information that you’d find on your own overview), News which is… news and More, which features a link to Bungie and some other boring bits.

But wait… there’s also a Love Bungie tab! This is where you can claim your rewards for simply signing up to the Bungie Mobile service. Two rewards are available – Blue Flames and the All-Star Nameplate.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lovebungie.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

You’ll need to activate each (only once) before turning on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/caring-xbox-360-tips-fixing-dead-console/">your Xbox, launching Halo and heading to the Armory section to apply your prizes. The Blue Flames is an armour effect, causing pretty blue flames to emanate from your Spartan’s helmet, and the All-Star Nameplate places a small star alongside your name and emblem in the scoreboards.

The Blue Flames is single-use (meaning you must sign into the iOS app from your gamertag to enable it) however the All-Star Nameplate can be gifted to 7 of your friends. That’s pretty much it for Bungie Mobile, if you want some really in-depth analysis you’d better check out…

Bungie.net – A Wealth Of Stats and More

Leaving the mobile platform alone for the moment, Bungie also supplies an impressive resource for gamers via its class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/">online Bungie.net service, which tracks nearly everything you do and provides space to store and share media.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/overview.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="575" height="369" />

Bungie.net provides a far more in-depth look at your Halo habit. You can filter by game (Reach, ODST and Halo 3) and access your Game History in exquisite detail, right down to individual game scores, medals and any files (screenshots or video) that relate to that particular match.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gameoverview.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="558" />

One of the more intriguing and potentially useful features are personalised heatmaps of the levels you play. This works for Halo 3, ODST and Reach and essentially shows you a top-down image of a map with areas of interest highlighted.

style="text-align: left;">You can choose to show kills or deaths and even narrow it down to a particular weapon. If you’re the type who likes to analyse your playing style, heatmaps will probably give you an idea of where you’re going wrong (areas you’re always dying in) and what you’re doing right (lots of kills).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/heatmap.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="523" height="519" />

Finally there’s your File Share, which is a public area to share map variants, custom game types, screenshots and videos you have taken in-game. Unfortunately you’ll need to pay for a Bungie Pro account to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hassle-free-video-streaming-to-your-iphone-and-ipod-touch-with-air-video-windowsmac/">stream video (it has to render it for you, after all) but screenshots don’t cost.

Once you’ve uploaded an in-game screenshot you can retrieve a high resolution image to do what you want with from your File Share. The website also tags you in the picture much in the same way Facebook does!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/screenshot.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="460" />

Conclusion

If you’re a die-hard Halo fan who hasn’t checked out the wealth of stats and other goodies on either the Bungie.net service or Bungie Mobile then you’re in for a treat. If you’re really dedicated then you can upgrade to Bungie Pro for streaming videos of past games and files, more space to share things and some class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/projects/bungiepro/default.aspx">other benefits for 320 Microsoft Points per six months.

Have you tried Bungie Mobile? How about Bungie.net? Spartans report in via the comments box below.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-halo-stats-bungienet-bungie-mobile-ios-app/">Keep Track Of Your Halo Stats With Bungie.net & The Bungie Mobile iOS App is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fps/" title="fps" rel="tag">fps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/information/" title="information" rel="tag">information, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios/" title="iOS" rel="tag">iOS, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mobile-apps/" title="Mobile Apps" rel="tag">Mobile Apps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/statistics/" title="statistics" rel="tag">statistics, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox-360/" title="xbox 360" rel="tag">xbox 360 />

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intro7.jpg" alt="track halo stats" />Halo is one of the most successful console franchises ever, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox360">Xbox 360 owner both Halo 3 and the latest incarnation, Halo: Reach, are must-have games. Of course, you probably already knew that – especially if you’ve been playing online for a good while.

All that time you’ve been pummelling foes and sucking up bullets the folks who brought you the game have been quietly recording your every move. You can access your statistics online using your web browser and now on-the-go using your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The level of detail recorded on the website is impressive to say the least, and if you’re an class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios">iOS user then there’s even a couple of in-game rewards to sink your teeth into!

Bungie Mobile – Halo as you Go

Once you’ve downloaded the class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bungie-mobile/id441444902?mt=8">Bungie Mobile app on iTunes and logged in (using your Windows Live ID, which is tied to your Xbox Live gamertag) you have limited access to your challenge and commendation progress on the Profile tab. Unfortunately I was only able to choose Halo: Reach stats from Bungie mobile, even though I have plenty of Halo 3 stats on Bungie’s servers.

Fairly quick access to challenges (especially daily and weekly challenges) is very useful, as checking this in-game can be a bit of a drag, especially when you just want to play the game. Players who often play split-screen will find this useful as they won’t have to interrupt the other party’s session with boring statistics.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_overview.jpg" alt="track halo stats" width="333" height="500" />

As well as challenges and commendations, there’s a View Spartan button which fetches the last known configuration of your character, complete with custom armour. If you hit the small plug button in the top right corner of the View Spartan screen then you’ll be prompted to save the picture to your camera roll.

This might seem a bit pointless, but the image makes a nice unique-to-you class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-improve-desktop-wallpaper/">wallpaper for both your home and lock screens. There is a More Details button on your profile tab also, and this opens up the Bungie site in Safari – we’ll come to that in a bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lockscreen.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

In addition to the profile tab, there’s Find which allows you to search for friends by gamertag (and displays the same information that you’d find on your own overview), News which is… news and More, which features a link to Bungie and some other boring bits.

But wait… there’s also a Love Bungie tab! This is where you can claim your rewards for simply signing up to the Bungie Mobile service. Two rewards are available – Blue Flames and the All-Star Nameplate.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mobile_lovebungie.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="333" height="500" />

You’ll need to activate each (only once) before turning on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/caring-xbox-360-tips-fixing-dead-console/">your Xbox, launching Halo and heading to the Armory section to apply your prizes. The Blue Flames is an armour effect, causing pretty blue flames to emanate from your Spartan’s helmet, and the All-Star Nameplate places a small star alongside your name and emblem in the scoreboards.

The Blue Flames is single-use (meaning you must sign into the iOS app from your gamertag to enable it) however the All-Star Nameplate can be gifted to 7 of your friends. That’s pretty much it for Bungie Mobile, if you want some really in-depth analysis you’d better check out…

Bungie.net – A Wealth Of Stats and More

Leaving the mobile platform alone for the moment, Bungie also supplies an impressive resource for gamers via its class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/">online Bungie.net service, which tracks nearly everything you do and provides space to store and share media.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/overview.jpg" alt="halo stats analyzer" width="575" height="369" />

Bungie.net provides a far more in-depth look at your Halo habit. You can filter by game (Reach, ODST and Halo 3) and access your Game History in exquisite detail, right down to individual game scores, medals and any files (screenshots or video) that relate to that particular match.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gameoverview.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="558" />

One of the more intriguing and potentially useful features are personalised heatmaps of the levels you play. This works for Halo 3, ODST and Reach and essentially shows you a top-down image of a map with areas of interest highlighted.

style="text-align: left;">You can choose to show kills or deaths and even narrow it down to a particular weapon. If you’re the type who likes to analyse your playing style, heatmaps will probably give you an idea of where you’re going wrong (areas you’re always dying in) and what you’re doing right (lots of kills).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/heatmap.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="523" height="519" />

Finally there’s your File Share, which is a public area to share map variants, custom game types, screenshots and videos you have taken in-game. Unfortunately you’ll need to pay for a Bungie Pro account to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hassle-free-video-streaming-to-your-iphone-and-ipod-touch-with-air-video-windowsmac/">stream video (it has to render it for you, after all) but screenshots don’t cost.

Once you’ve uploaded an in-game screenshot you can retrieve a high resolution image to do what you want with from your File Share. The website also tags you in the picture much in the same way Facebook does!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/screenshot.jpg" alt="halo stats" width="580" height="460" />

Conclusion

If you’re a die-hard Halo fan who hasn’t checked out the wealth of stats and other goodies on either the Bungie.net service or Bungie Mobile then you’re in for a treat. If you’re really dedicated then you can upgrade to Bungie Pro for streaming videos of past games and files, more space to share things and some class="vt-p" href="http://www.bungie.net/projects/bungiepro/default.aspx">other benefits for 320 Microsoft Points per six months.

Have you tried Bungie Mobile? How about Bungie.net? Spartans report in via the comments box below. />
/>Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on href="http://www.makeuseof.dev/answers/" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf Answers!

/>

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-halo-stats-bungienet-bungie-mobile-ios-app/">Keep Track Of Your Halo Stats With Bungie.net & The Bungie Mobile iOS App is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fps/" title="fps" rel="tag">fps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/information/" title="information" rel="tag">information, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios/" title="iOS" rel="tag">iOS, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mobile-apps/" title="Mobile Apps" rel="tag">Mobile Apps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/statistics/" title="statistics" rel="tag">statistics, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/xbox-360/" title="xbox 360" rel="tag">xbox 360 />

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/logo.jpg" alt="ipad news app" />If you use your class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/ipad">iPad as a way of keeping up with the latest news, videos, tweets and more, there’s a new app that brings all of those features together in one place. class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hitpad-see-whats-up/id422564565?mt=8">Hitpad [iTunes link] certainly isn’t the first free app available in the iTunes app store that offers these features, but if you’re the kind of person who’s constantly on the hunt for new ways to consume the unbelievable amounts of information available online, you’ll want to at least give Hitpad a try.

Hitpad takes a different approach to its already popular rivals like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-free-rss-readers-ipad/">Flipboard and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pulse-free-visual-display-rss-news-reader-ipad/">Pulse, which depend more on user-generated or personalised content. Instead, Hitpad instantly provides you with content based on what is currently making headlines, aggregating that content from various sources and in different formats. Is this enough to make Hitpad your main news source? Probably not, but it definitely deserves a place in your arsenal of free news apps, to be used alongside other apps.

When you first launch the app, it will prompt you to turn push notifications on if you so choose.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Hitpad1.jpg" alt="ipad news app" width="580" height="435" />

The app takes a cue from Twitter, offering trending topics in each of the available categories. You can even refresh these topics using the pull down to refresh method. The information available itself is divided into several formats – News, Tweets, Videos, Web and Photos.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Hitpad2.jpg" alt="news for ipad" width="580" height="435" />

Categories included in the app include Top Stories, Entertainment, Technology, US news, Sports and Business. And of course you can search for any given keyword or topic of your choice.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/categories.jpg" alt="news for ipad" width="427" height="378" />

Under the settings, you can connect your Facebook, Twitter or Instapaper accounts.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/connect.jpg" alt="news for ipad" width="427" height="506" />

After doing so, with each item, regardless of category, you can easily share the links on Twitter and Facebook, after connecting your accounts in the app’s settings. You can also save them to Instapaper.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/share.jpg" alt="best news apps for ipad" width="427" height="354" />

Other ways in which you can interact with the content include copying the link to your clipboard, emailing the item, or opening it in Safari.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/link.jpg" alt="best news apps for ipad" width="427" height="304" />

When it comes to videos, you can play YouTube videos directly within the app.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/videos.jpg" alt="best news apps for ipad" width="580" height="435" />

Functionality was clearly high on the developer’s list. Not only do they offer the pull to refresh option, you can also swipe images to scroll back and forth between the search results.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/photo.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

With news stories and web results, each item is accompanied by a short introduction. If you want to read the full item or post, you can click read more and the full story will open up in the app’s in-built browser.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/web.jpg" alt="ipad news app" width="580" height="435" />

Hitpad is bound to be popular with people who don’t necessarily have the time to keep up with the latest news and stories making the rounds. Instead, they can depend on the app to deliver the most popular stories, so you’ll never feel left out of the loop.

As an app that focused on topical news, there are a few features that could be integrated to widen its scope of users. For example, while you can search for news and keep up with trending topics, you can’t save searches or keywords to come back to them on a regular basis. For someone who might need to keep track of their brand online, the addition of this small feature would make Hitpad an invaluable app to take with them on the go wherever they are.

What’s your favourite free iPad news app? Let us know in the comments.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/logo.png" alt="google reeder desktop" />If you’re a fan of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google-reader/">Google Reader’s functionality but not of its appearance, class="vt-p" href="http://madeatgloria.com/brewery/silvio/reeder">Reeder for Mac Beta offers Mac users an alternative way to access Google Reader subscriptions in a much more visually appealing way.  The muted colours of the app, together with the compact menu make it easy to focus on what really matters in an RSS reader – the content.

The minimalist appearance, together with the built-in sharing and saving options, taking all of Google Reader’s main features, and giving you even more, makes it extremely easy to make the transition from using the web-based app to a dedicated desktop app. If you want all of these features and more, and want one less tab open in your browser, it’s worth giving Reeder a try.

When Reeder first launches, you will be prompted to enter your Google credentials. If you want to use multiple accounts with Reeder, just hold down the alt button when launching the app.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/login.png" alt="google reeder desktop" width="515" height="236" />

All of your subscriptions will then be visible in the app. All folders will appear and subscriptions are accessible from a column on the left hand side of the app.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Reeder1.jpg" alt="google reader desktop" width="580" height="375" />

You can then browse through stories in any given folder, add them to your favourites, share them, or mark them as unread using the buttons above the entry.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/buttons.jpg" alt="google reader desktop" width="580" height="239" />

In addition you can also save the post you’re reading to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-and-manage-your-bookmarks-better-with-instapaper/">Instapaper or class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/read-multiplatform-app-save-information-read/">Read It Later, send it to class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/twitter">Twitter, save it to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/delicious/">Delicious or class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-reasons-visually-bookmarking-zootool/">Zootool, or share it via email, amongst many other options.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/reeder2.png" alt="google reader desktop" width="305" height="370" />

Reeder takes all of its cues from Google Reader, allowing you to browse your own notes, the items that you’ve shared and items that your friends have shared with you.

The three buttons at the top of the page allow you to toggle between various menus to access your content. Click the star button to access your starred posts and posts shared by users you follow.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/star.jpg" alt="google reader desktop" width="423" height="319" />

Click the bullet button to access all unread posts.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/bullet.jpg" alt="google reader desktop" width="422" height="323" />

Click the list button to access all items in your subscriptions, your notes, items you’ve shared, and once again items from users you follow.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/list.jpg" alt="google reader desktop" width="422" height="321" />

You can also mark all posts in a folder or subscription as read from the button at the bottom of the page, as well as search your subscriptions for specific keywords.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/readsearch.png" alt="" width="424" height="279" />

When reading posts in most RSS readers, and in Google Reader itself, any efforts for design or appearance go out the window. Reeder’s added feature of being able to see a post in your subscription in its original state, using the app’s native browser is definitely a plus. That said, the method is slightly clunky, as you have select view with Instapaper Mobilizer or Google Mobilizer first, after which you can select to see the original post.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/original.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="379" />

Another great feature that Reeder brings to the table, in addition to Google Reader’s standard keyboard shortcuts making it easy to navigate back and forth between articles, is the use of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/trackpad-powerfully-navigate-application">trackpad gestures. You can swipe down to go to the next article, swipe up for the previous article, and swipe right to left to collapse the menu on the left hand side. The gestures can also be adjusted to suit your personal preferences.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Gestures.png" alt="google reeder desktop" width="510" height="368" />

Reeder is still very much in beta and there are many more features that are still to come including feed management. For the time being you can’t subscribe or unsubscribe to feeds through Reeder. This isn’t an incredibly huge disadvantage however since the app can sync in real time with your Google Reader account, so if you use another app on the go on your smartphone or tablet, Reeder will sync right into the experience since it stays up to date with your Google Reader account. iOS users can also have a seamless experience if they use the  class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reeder-for-ipad/id375661689?mt=8">iPad [iTunes link] or  class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reeder/id325502379?mt=8">iPhone [iTunes link] version of the application, which are $2.99 and $4.99 respectively.

How do you keep up with your RSS feeds? Do you just use Google Reader in your browser, or do you have a preferred desktop app? Let us know in the comments. />
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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Shutterstock-Storm.jpg" />The inconvenient truth is that we aren’t really above nature as we thought ourselves to be. Hurricanes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions…you name it, something seems to be always churning in some part of the world.

The least we can do is respect our planet and its fragile ecosystem. The prudent thing we can do is to follow any advisories and prepare for a forecasted threat. There are some natural phenomena you cannot do anything about, like earthquakes which strike suddenly. Then there are some like hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical storms which can be predicted with a fair amount of certainty.

id="more-66764"> /> Either way, it pays to be aware of what’s happening around our Earth. There’s the news and then there are online tracking services which keep you updated with the latest information and warnings. Let’s take a look at four tracking websites which try to catch our whimsical planet at its worst.

href="http://www.stormpulse.com/">Stormpulse