Another year has come and gone and so we turn our attention to the flurry of rumors, upcoming products and hearsay surrounding 2012’s big releases. If you’re excited by the thought of new gaming devices, smartphones, cameras and other assorted gadgets then 2012 is set to be an expensive year.

Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the 2012 rumored releases. If you’ve got any of your own predictions to make, then don’t forget to share them in the comments section at the foot of the article.

iPad 3

Whilst the iPhone has broken its traditional release cycle for the first time, rumors about an updated iPad coming sometime in spring 2011 are rife amongst speculators. Unlike the last refresh that saw mostly under-the-bonnet changes in the form of the A5 chip, the iPad 3 is rumored to be one Apple’s most exciting updates, with differences you can see.

According to the rumor mill, Apple is reportedly equipping the iPad 3 with a Retina display which will provide a similar quality viewing experience as seen on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The new display would apparently see the resolution jump to 2048×1536 from the current 1024×768.

There is also speculation surrounding a new A6 chip to power the new tablet, which would make sense based on the last update. It is also possible that a near-field communications (NFC) chip finds its way into the new model, though Apple has avoided the technology thus far.

Lytro Cameras

Photography revolution or software gimmick? At least, that’s what I thought when I saw Lytro’s website which claims that a new way of taking pictures will arrive in 2012. Instead of a regular camera sensor (which records all light rays but apparently “none of the subtleties”), Lytro cameras use a light-field sensor to capture the colour, intensity and vector direction of rays of light.

By replacing standard camera components with software and a revolutionary new kind of sensor, Lytro cameras provide some incredible advancements. What about focusing a picture once you’ve already taken it? Switching between 2D and 3D versions of an image? All possible, according to Lytro.

And what’s more you can try out the technology right now, on their website. They sound amazing, look like fun and for $399 for a base model won’t exactly break the bank. How Lytro camera’s stack up in the real world will remain to be seen, however!

New MacBook Pro & iPhone

My, aren’t Apple supposed to be busy this year? As well as a new iPad, both the iPhone and MacBook Pro are apparently due for an update. Laptop buyers who find themselves disappointed with sub-par screen resolutions will hopefully jump for joy at the thought of a Retina display Macbook Pro (though I’m sure the price will make that eye-candy a little harder to swallow).

Another feisty rumor doing the rounds is talk of an ultra-thin Macbook Pro, much like Apple’s current MacBook Air models which are growing in popularity. Apple did tweak the MacBook Pro specs this year, so a form-factor and display refresh isn’t out of the question.

As for the iPhone 5 – if it should arrive this year (potentially in the fall) then the two things that continually pop up are a redesign surrounding a larger screen and NFC. I’d put money on NFC, though I’m not sure about a larger display…

Smarter Smart TVs

Both Apple and Sony are doing enough to prop this one up, but it was Steve Jobs’ autobiographer that really fed the rumor mill. Before his untimely death, Steve was obsessed with the notion of a smart TV that was incredibly simple to use. We’ve all heard of Apple TV, but the idea of a self-contained TV unit with integrated Apple TV is a new one.

Add Siri to the mix, the ability to control the unit using an iDevice and AirPlay and you’ve got an exciting product that’s bound to break the bank. Sony have also started developing next-gen TV concepts which appear to mirror Apple’s current model of easily shareable media between various devices (that’s your PS3, Sony Ericsson smartphone and so on).

Windows Phone 7 Meets Nokia

Nokia, who are previously responsible for Symbian, will this year take to the market and attempt to shift their new range of Windows Phone 7-powered business phones. In case you’ve forgotten, Nokia used to be the final word in smartphones and for a lot of people, mobile phones in general – remember the 3210?

The company had a good thing, but unfortunately the market slipped through their fingers due to software stagnation and newer, more exciting products from rival companies. Now they’re back, and it’s time to see what they’ve got.

Windows Phone 7 isn’t a bad platform, but it does need work. If Nokia can get the hardware right whilst Microsoft continue to improve the software then we could see a new era of powerful smartphones and a real alternative to iOS and Android.

PlayStation Vita

It’s already out in Japan, and come February Sony’s new handheld console is expected to be released in Europe and North America. Featuring a design similar to the original PSP, dual analog sticks, a 5-inch OLED touchscreen and backwards compatability with it’s younger brother, the Vita is a portable force to be reckoned with.

Main rivals include just about every iOS device (iPod Touch, iPhone and so on) and other powerful smartphones, which have already found their ways into our pockets. It remains to be seen whether consumers will be prepared to purchase a whole new system or are content with scaled-down smartphone titles. Surely we’ll have an answer later this year.

Kinect for Windows

Well it’s about time! Long after the Kinect was originally “hacked” to allow third-party compatibility, Microsoft announced that Kinect for Windows was indeed on the way. This means we’ll see officially licensed games taking advantage of Kinect, potentially providing new ways of interacting with games that won’t be seen on the Xbox 360.

This also means Microsoft will probably write Kinect control functionality into Windows 8 (and lets face it, Metro is perfect for this), though this has already been successfully tackled by the community.

Conclusion

There will of course be plenty more exciting developments in 2012, especially once notoriously secretive companies like Apple lay down the hard facts. Windows 8 will be another big arrival that is currently seeing mixed responses, with some loving Metro and others complaining that Windows 8 isn’t the leap they were expecting.

Share your predictions, anticipations and other 2012 rumors in the comments.

Intro image: Shutterstock

View full post on MakeUseOf

Another year has come and gone and so we turn our attention to the flurry of rumors, upcoming products and hearsay surrounding 2012’s big releases. If you’re excited by the thought of new gaming devices, smartphones, cameras and other assorted gadgets then 2012 is set to be an expensive year.

Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the 2012 rumored releases. If you’ve got any of your own predictions to make, then don’t forget to share them in the comments section at the foot of the article.

iPad 3

Whilst the iPhone has broken its traditional release cycle for the first time, rumors about an updated iPad coming sometime in spring 2011 are rife amongst speculators. Unlike the last refresh that saw mostly under-the-bonnet changes in the form of the A5 chip, the iPad 3 is rumored to be one Apple’s most exciting updates, with differences you can see.

According to the rumor mill, Apple is reportedly equipping the iPad 3 with a Retina display which will provide a similar quality viewing experience as seen on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The new display would apparently see the resolution jump to 2048×1536 from the current 1024×768.

There is also speculation surrounding a new A6 chip to power the new tablet, which would make sense based on the last update. It is also possible that a near-field communications (NFC) chip finds its way into the new model, though Apple has avoided the technology thus far.

Lytro Cameras

Photography revolution or software gimmick? At least, that’s what I thought when I saw Lytro’s website which claims that a new way of taking pictures will arrive in 2012. Instead of a regular camera sensor (which records all light rays but apparently “none of the subtleties”), Lytro cameras use a light-field sensor to capture the colour, intensity and vector direction of rays of light.

By replacing standard camera components with software and a revolutionary new kind of sensor, Lytro cameras provide some incredible advancements. What about focusing a picture once you’ve already taken it? Switching between 2D and 3D versions of an image? All possible, according to Lytro.

And what’s more you can try out the technology right now, on their website. They sound amazing, look like fun and for $399 for a base model won’t exactly break the bank. How Lytro camera’s stack up in the real world will remain to be seen, however!

New MacBook Pro & iPhone

My, aren’t Apple supposed to be busy this year? As well as a new iPad, both the iPhone and MacBook Pro are apparently due for an update. Laptop buyers who find themselves disappointed with sub-par screen resolutions will hopefully jump for joy at the thought of a Retina display Macbook Pro (though I’m sure the price will make that eye-candy a little harder to swallow).

Another feisty rumor doing the rounds is talk of an ultra-thin Macbook Pro, much like Apple’s current MacBook Air models which are growing in popularity. Apple did tweak the MacBook Pro specs this year, so a form-factor and display refresh isn’t out of the question.

As for the iPhone 5 – if it should arrive this year (potentially in the fall) then the two things that continually pop up are a redesign surrounding a larger screen and NFC. I’d put money on NFC, though I’m not sure about a larger display…

Smarter Smart TVs

Both Apple and Sony are doing enough to prop this one up, but it was Steve Jobs’ autobiographer that really fed the rumor mill. Before his untimely death, Steve was obsessed with the notion of a smart TV that was incredibly simple to use. We’ve all heard of Apple TV, but the idea of a self-contained TV unit with integrated Apple TV is a new one.

Add Siri to the mix, the ability to control the unit using an iDevice and AirPlay and you’ve got an exciting product that’s bound to break the bank. Sony have also started developing next-gen TV concepts which appear to mirror Apple’s current model of easily shareable media between various devices (that’s your PS3, Sony Ericsson smartphone and so on).

Windows Phone 7 Meets Nokia

Nokia, who are previously responsible for Symbian, will this year take to the market and attempt to shift their new range of Windows Phone 7-powered business phones. In case you’ve forgotten, Nokia used to be the final word in smartphones and for a lot of people, mobile phones in general – remember the 3210?

The company had a good thing, but unfortunately the market slipped through their fingers due to software stagnation and newer, more exciting products from rival companies. Now they’re back, and it’s time to see what they’ve got.

Windows Phone 7 isn’t a bad platform, but it does need work. If Nokia can get the hardware right whilst Microsoft continue to improve the software then we could see a new era of powerful smartphones and a real alternative to iOS and Android.

PlayStation Vita

It’s already out in Japan, and come February Sony’s new handheld console is expected to be released in Europe and North America. Featuring a design similar to the original PSP, dual analog sticks, a 5-inch OLED touchscreen and backwards compatability with it’s younger brother, the Vita is a portable force to be reckoned with.

Main rivals include just about every iOS device (iPod Touch, iPhone and so on) and other powerful smartphones, which have already found their ways into our pockets. It remains to be seen whether consumers will be prepared to purchase a whole new system or are content with scaled-down smartphone titles. Surely we’ll have an answer later this year.

Kinect for Windows

Well it’s about time! Long after the Kinect was originally “hacked” to allow third-party compatibility, Microsoft announced that Kinect for Windows was indeed on the way. This means we’ll see officially licensed games taking advantage of Kinect, potentially providing new ways of interacting with games that won’t be seen on the Xbox 360.

This also means Microsoft will probably write Kinect control functionality into Windows 8 (and lets face it, Metro is perfect for this), though this has already been successfully tackled by the community.

Conclusion

There will of course be plenty more exciting developments in 2012, especially once notoriously secretive companies like Apple lay down the hard facts. Windows 8 will be another big arrival that is currently seeing mixed responses, with some loving Metro and others complaining that Windows 8 isn’t the leap they were expecting.

Share your predictions, anticipations and other 2012 rumors in the comments.

Intro image: Shutterstock

View full post on MakeUseOf

Another year has come and gone and so we turn our attention to the flurry of rumors, upcoming products and hearsay surrounding 2012’s big releases. If you’re excited by the thought of new gaming devices, smartphones, cameras and other assorted gadgets then 2012 is set to be an expensive year.

Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the 2012 rumored releases. If you’ve got any of your own predictions to make, then don’t forget to share them in the comments section at the foot of the article.

iPad 3

Whilst the iPhone has broken its traditional release cycle for the first time, rumors about an updated iPad coming sometime in spring 2011 are rife amongst speculators. Unlike the last refresh that saw mostly under-the-bonnet changes in the form of the A5 chip, the iPad 3 is rumored to be one Apple’s most exciting updates, with differences you can see.

According to the rumor mill, Apple is reportedly equipping the iPad 3 with a Retina display which will provide a similar quality viewing experience as seen on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The new display would apparently see the resolution jump to 2048×1536 from the current 1024×768.

There is also speculation surrounding a new A6 chip to power the new tablet, which would make sense based on the last update. It is also possible that a near-field communications (NFC) chip finds its way into the new model, though Apple has avoided the technology thus far.

Lytro Cameras

Photography revolution or software gimmick? At least, that’s what I thought when I saw Lytro’s website which claims that a new way of taking pictures will arrive in 2012. Instead of a regular camera sensor (which records all light rays but apparently “none of the subtleties”), Lytro cameras use a light-field sensor to capture the colour, intensity and vector direction of rays of light.

By replacing standard camera components with software and a revolutionary new kind of sensor, Lytro cameras provide some incredible advancements. What about focusing a picture once you’ve already taken it? Switching between 2D and 3D versions of an image? All possible, according to Lytro.

And what’s more you can try out the technology right now, on their website. They sound amazing, look like fun and for $399 for a base model won’t exactly break the bank. How Lytro camera’s stack up in the real world will remain to be seen, however!

New MacBook Pro & iPhone

My, aren’t Apple supposed to be busy this year? As well as a new iPad, both the iPhone and MacBook Pro are apparently due for an update. Laptop buyers who find themselves disappointed with sub-par screen resolutions will hopefully jump for joy at the thought of a Retina display Macbook Pro (though I’m sure the price will make that eye-candy a little harder to swallow).

Another feisty rumor doing the rounds is talk of an ultra-thin Macbook Pro, much like Apple’s current MacBook Air models which are growing in popularity. Apple did tweak the MacBook Pro specs this year, so a form-factor and display refresh isn’t out of the question.

As for the iPhone 5 – if it should arrive this year (potentially in the fall) then the two things that continually pop up are a redesign surrounding a larger screen and NFC. I’d put money on NFC, though I’m not sure about a larger display…

Smarter Smart TVs

Both Apple and Sony are doing enough to prop this one up, but it was Steve Jobs’ autobiographer that really fed the rumor mill. Before his untimely death, Steve was obsessed with the notion of a smart TV that was incredibly simple to use. We’ve all heard of Apple TV, but the idea of a self-contained TV unit with integrated Apple TV is a new one.

Add Siri to the mix, the ability to control the unit using an iDevice and AirPlay and you’ve got an exciting product that’s bound to break the bank. Sony have also started developing next-gen TV concepts which appear to mirror Apple’s current model of easily shareable media between various devices (that’s your PS3, Sony Ericsson smartphone and so on).

Windows Phone 7 Meets Nokia

Nokia, who are previously responsible for Symbian, will this year take to the market and attempt to shift their new range of Windows Phone 7-powered business phones. In case you’ve forgotten, Nokia used to be the final word in smartphones and for a lot of people, mobile phones in general – remember the 3210?

The company had a good thing, but unfortunately the market slipped through their fingers due to software stagnation and newer, more exciting products from rival companies. Now they’re back, and it’s time to see what they’ve got.

Windows Phone 7 isn’t a bad platform, but it does need work. If Nokia can get the hardware right whilst Microsoft continue to improve the software then we could see a new era of powerful smartphones and a real alternative to iOS and Android.

PlayStation Vita

It’s already out in Japan, and come February Sony’s new handheld console is expected to be released in Europe and North America. Featuring a design similar to the original PSP, dual analog sticks, a 5-inch OLED touchscreen and backwards compatability with it’s younger brother, the Vita is a portable force to be reckoned with.

Main rivals include just about every iOS device (iPod Touch, iPhone and so on) and other powerful smartphones, which have already found their ways into our pockets. It remains to be seen whether consumers will be prepared to purchase a whole new system or are content with scaled-down smartphone titles. Surely we’ll have an answer later this year.

Kinect for Windows

Well it’s about time! Long after the Kinect was originally “hacked” to allow third-party compatibility, Microsoft announced that Kinect for Windows was indeed on the way. This means we’ll see officially licensed games taking advantage of Kinect, potentially providing new ways of interacting with games that won’t be seen on the Xbox 360.

This also means Microsoft will probably write Kinect control functionality into Windows 8 (and lets face it, Metro is perfect for this), though this has already been successfully tackled by the community.

Conclusion

There will of course be plenty more exciting developments in 2012, especially once notoriously secretive companies like Apple lay down the hard facts. Windows 8 will be another big arrival that is currently seeing mixed responses, with some loving Metro and others complaining that Windows 8 isn’t the leap they were expecting.

Share your predictions, anticipations and other 2012 rumors in the comments.

Intro image: Shutterstock

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iphone-apps.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" />We’re in the habit of reviewing hundreds of new apps here at MakeUseOf, and though most of us probably have pages and pages of random apps on our iPhones, how many of those can we honestly say we use on a regular basis – like at least once a week? Once I took a cold hard look at my home screen, I narrowed it down to the following 10.

I’m not including built-in system functions like Mail, Safari, camera, iBooks, and Google Maps – although those are all daily use apps for me. Though if you want to be pedantic, add those to the list and call it my top 15 then.

In no particular order whatsoever…

Byline [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byline/id284946773?mt=8">iTunes link - $1.99]

Although title="Keep Google Reader On Your Desktop With Reeder [Mac]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-reader-desktop-reeder-mac/">Reeder is my RSS reader of choice for my iPad and Mac, I prefer the speed and simplicity of Byline for my iPhone. I don’t need an elaborately designed experience with masses of functionality – just a way to drill through the 300+ stories a day that come in from my feeds (link) and mark some off for further reading. Byline syncs well with Google, and provides a basic and speedy interface, as well as caching images when I’m not looking.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/byline.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BBC News [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8">iTunes link]

I must admit, having a free, non-biased news source makes me proud to be British. The BBC News app not only provides a simple breakdown on various customisable categories of news (so you can hide the pointless entertainment “news” for instance), but also allows users to watch around-the-clock video streams from the BBC News TV channel on Wi-fi or 3G data connections.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bbc-news.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Sleep Cycle [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8">iTunes link]

I was using this as my main alarm clock, but it doesn’t work so well with our new foam mattress. Still, I thought it was worth mentioning. After learning the characteristics of your sleep movements and cycles, this app will continually monitor your sleep and wake you up at some point during a set window of time when you’re in the lightest sleep cycle – thereby avoiding that groggy feeling and instant need to hit the snooze button for another 10 minutes.

As I said, it’s not going to work with very stiff mattresses like foam, but for the most part this app really does work, and 90% of the time it will wake you up feeling fresh and ready.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sleepcycle.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Find My iPhone [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8">iTunes link]

Armed with my wife’s title="DOWNLOAD Using iOS: Your Guide To The Latest & Greatest Mobile Operating System" href="/tag/download-ios-guide-latest-greatest-mobile-operating-system/">iCloud login data, I use this to see if she’s on the way home from work, and if not, I send a barrage of non-silencable messages reminding her that she technically finished 30 minutes ago.

Before you accuse me of being something horrible, know that mostly I use it to see when she’s getting close to the house so I can go and greet her with a big welcome home hug. Awww. I also described in a previous post how we used it title="How To Use Find My iPhone To Get Your Stolen iPhone Back" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-iphone-stolen-iphone/">to trace her phone when it was stolen.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/find-my-iphone.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BoardGame Companion [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boardgame-companion/id336086695?mt=8">iTunes link]

Despite development having been seemingly abandoned on this app, I still use it regularly to calculate scores in Agricola games, and for that single purpose it works beautifully. For those of you who don’t know, Agricola is a board game in which you try to build the most varied and efficient farm, and as fun as it is, counting your score can be tiring.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boardgame-companion.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Amazon [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-mobile/id297606951?mt=8">iTunes link]

Perfect for when I’m out and about and see something I want – a quick price check using the barcode scanner tells me if it’s cheaper on Amazon, and I can save it to my basket right there with a single click. Great for the title="4 Ways To Save With Your Online Christmas Shopping" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-save-online-christmas-shopping/">money saving tactic I described before of leaving it in your basket for a month before you’re allowed to buy it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/amazon.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

eBay [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ebay/id282614216?mt=8">iTunes link]

I do try to follow the “buy nothing new” movement, and for that eBay is a lifeline. The iPhone app gives me on-the-go mobile notifications for auctions I’m planning on sniping at the last minute, all with a nice mobile-optimised interface. It also makes selling a breeze.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ebay.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Ticket To Ride Pocket [iTunes link]

A perfectly executed title="The Top 5 iPad Designer Board Games You Can Gift This Christmas" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-ipad-designer-board-games-gift-christmas/">board game to iPhone conversion from Days of Wonder, with local multiplayer to other iDevices and vs AI modes. A great little diversion when my wife and I are travelling.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ticket-to-ride.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="387" />

Trillian [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trillian/id327603487?mt=8">iTunes link]

I recently switched my desktop messaging client from Adium to Trillian, a free IM client which integrates pretty much every kind of messaging platform you could hope for – including Facebook. The iPhone version is also the most reliable way I’ve found to get all sorts of IM messages on the go – previously I’d used BeeJiveGT and other iOS clients, but found there was a short delay in receiving messages.

I’m pleased with Trillian so far, and it means I never miss a message from either of my awesome bosses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/trillian.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

Tumblr [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tumblr/id305343404?mt=8">iTunes link]

I maintain a Tumblr blog as a single-purpose photolog which I then import as a widget to my href="http://www.selfsufficiencyguide.org/blog">Self Sufficiency blog. The Tumblr app is fast, easy, and works with minimal fuss. Simple, effective – I love it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tumblr.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Those are my top 10, but how about you? Care to share a few absolute essentials that you use on a daily basis? Are you an obsessive app downloader but never actually use them? Let us know in the comments.

Don’t forget to check our full href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-iphone-apps">Best of iPhone Apps and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-ipad-apps">Best of iPad Apps pages too for loads more hand picked app recommendations.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iphone-apps.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" />We’re in the habit of reviewing hundreds of new apps here at MakeUseOf, and though most of us probably have pages and pages of random apps on our iPhones, how many of those can we honestly say we use on a regular basis – like at least once a week? Once I took a cold hard look at my home screen, I narrowed it down to the following 10.

I’m not including built-in system functions like Mail, Safari, camera, iBooks, and Google Maps – although those are all daily use apps for me. Though if you want to be pedantic, add those to the list and call it my top 15 then.

In no particular order whatsoever…

Byline [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byline/id284946773?mt=8">iTunes link - $1.99]

Although title="Keep Google Reader On Your Desktop With Reeder [Mac]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-reader-desktop-reeder-mac/">Reeder is my RSS reader of choice for my iPad and Mac, I prefer the speed and simplicity of Byline for my iPhone. I don’t need an elaborately designed experience with masses of functionality – just a way to drill through the 300+ stories a day that come in from my feeds (link) and mark some off for further reading. Byline syncs well with Google, and provides a basic and speedy interface, as well as caching images when I’m not looking.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/byline.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BBC News [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8">iTunes link]

I must admit, having a free, non-biased news source makes me proud to be British. The BBC News app not only provides a simple breakdown on various customisable categories of news (so you can hide the pointless entertainment “news” for instance), but also allows users to watch around-the-clock video streams from the BBC News TV channel on Wi-fi or 3G data connections.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bbc-news.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Sleep Cycle [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8">iTunes link]

I was using this as my main alarm clock, but it doesn’t work so well with our new foam mattress. Still, I thought it was worth mentioning. After learning the characteristics of your sleep movements and cycles, this app will continually monitor your sleep and wake you up at some point during a set window of time when you’re in the lightest sleep cycle – thereby avoiding that groggy feeling and instant need to hit the snooze button for another 10 minutes.

As I said, it’s not going to work with very stiff mattresses like foam, but for the most part this app really does work, and 90% of the time it will wake you up feeling fresh and ready.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sleepcycle.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Find My iPhone [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8">iTunes link]

Armed with my wife’s title="DOWNLOAD Using iOS: Your Guide To The Latest & Greatest Mobile Operating System" href="/tag/download-ios-guide-latest-greatest-mobile-operating-system/">iCloud login data, I use this to see if she’s on the way home from work, and if not, I send a barrage of non-silencable messages reminding her that she technically finished 30 minutes ago.

Before you accuse me of being something horrible, know that mostly I use it to see when she’s getting close to the house so I can go and greet her with a big welcome home hug. Awww. I also described in a previous post how we used it title="How To Use Find My iPhone To Get Your Stolen iPhone Back" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-iphone-stolen-iphone/">to trace her phone when it was stolen.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/find-my-iphone.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BoardGame Companion [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boardgame-companion/id336086695?mt=8">iTunes link]

Despite development having been seemingly abandoned on this app, I still use it regularly to calculate scores in Agricola games, and for that single purpose it works beautifully. For those of you who don’t know, Agricola is a board game in which you try to build the most varied and efficient farm, and as fun as it is, counting your score can be tiring.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boardgame-companion.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Amazon [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-mobile/id297606951?mt=8">iTunes link]

Perfect for when I’m out and about and see something I want – a quick price check using the barcode scanner tells me if it’s cheaper on Amazon, and I can save it to my basket right there with a single click. Great for the title="4 Ways To Save With Your Online Christmas Shopping" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-save-online-christmas-shopping/">money saving tactic I described before of leaving it in your basket for a month before you’re allowed to buy it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/amazon.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

eBay [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ebay/id282614216?mt=8">iTunes link]

I do try to follow the “buy nothing new” movement, and for that eBay is a lifeline. The iPhone app gives me on-the-go mobile notifications for auctions I’m planning on sniping at the last minute, all with a nice mobile-optimised interface. It also makes selling a breeze.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ebay.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Ticket To Ride Pocket [iTunes link]

A perfectly executed title="The Top 5 iPad Designer Board Games You Can Gift This Christmas" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-ipad-designer-board-games-gift-christmas/">board game to iPhone conversion from Days of Wonder, with local multiplayer to other iDevices and vs AI modes. A great little diversion when my wife and I are travelling.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ticket-to-ride.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="387" />

Trillian [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trillian/id327603487?mt=8">iTunes link]

I recently switched my desktop messaging client from Adium to Trillian, a free IM client which integrates pretty much every kind of messaging platform you could hope for – including Facebook. The iPhone version is also the most reliable way I’ve found to get all sorts of IM messages on the go – previously I’d used BeeJiveGT and other iOS clients, but found there was a short delay in receiving messages.

I’m pleased with Trillian so far, and it means I never miss a message from either of my awesome bosses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/trillian.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

Tumblr [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tumblr/id305343404?mt=8">iTunes link]

I maintain a Tumblr blog as a single-purpose photolog which I then import as a widget to my href="http://www.selfsufficiencyguide.org/blog">Self Sufficiency blog. The Tumblr app is fast, easy, and works with minimal fuss. Simple, effective – I love it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tumblr.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Those are my top 10, but how about you? Care to share a few absolute essentials that you use on a daily basis? Are you an obsessive app downloader but never actually use them? Let us know in the comments.

Don’t forget to check our full href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-iphone-apps">Best of iPhone Apps and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-ipad-apps">Best of iPad Apps pages too for loads more hand picked app recommendations.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/white_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />If you haven’t noticed, our mission these days definitely includes providing as many holiday shopping tips as we can, with the holiday season upon us and all. href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-save-online-christmas-shopping/">Saving money online, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/download-shopping-guide">going online to shop instead of at physical stores, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-free-shopping-applications-ios-devices-mac/">shopping-aiding mobile apps, you name the topic, we’re trying to cover it. But are you trying to figure out what to buy?

Is your mind sprinting in the wild, scouring for gift ideas? Here’s an item to consider – mugs. Why mugs? Well, why not? They can be fun gifts that href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-reasons-avoid-cheap-junk-gift-shopping-black-friday-opinion/">won’t cost you a house, and can be for anyone. Not only that, there are some truly ingenious and imaginative mug designs that have surfaced in the past couple of years and are definitely worth a look.

We have gathered some of the coolest mugs you’ve probably never seen before (OK, maybe you have) that can be excellent gifts.

href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/e79b/">Ctrl-Alt-Delete Cup Set [$11.99 On ThinkGeek]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ctrl_cups1.jpg?323f2c" alt="ctrl_cups1" width="580" height="310" border="0" />

Guilty of using your computer too much? Show your addition to your computer with this black set of cups. When turned up, these cute, dishwasher-safe cups made from plastic can each hold up to 8oz of your favorite hot or cold drink.

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ctrl_cups.jpg?323f2c" alt="ctrl_cups" width="543" height="441" border="0" />

The set measures 10.5’’ long, 4’’ wide and 2.75’’ tall.

Self-Stirring Mug [ href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/cf68/#tabs">$18.99 On ThinkGeek, href="http://www.firebox.com/product/4789/Self-Stirring-Mug">£9.59 On Firebox]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/self_stirring_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="self_stirring_mug" width="398" height="408" border="0" />

Do you know anyone who perceives coffee or tea as his or her daily must-have concoction without fail? Of course you do. Then this mug will probably present itself as a great little gift without a doubt, that is, unless your buddy drinks it black. This $18.99 (excluding shipping) stainless steel mug holds a plastic spinning disk that operates (thanks to two AAA batteries, not included) when you press a button on the handle. If you’re in the UK, href="http://www.firebox.com/product/4789/Self-Stirring-Mug">you can order from Firebox, which offers a similar mug for £9.59 (excluding shipping).

href="http://www.firebox.com/product/4231/Tetris-Heat-Changing-Mug">Tetris Heat Changing Mug [£6.99, Roughly $9.37, On Firebox]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tetris_mug_thumb.gif?323f2c" alt="tetris_mug" width="186" height="186" />

For Tetris enthusiasts, this mug reveals a game in its beginning stages when cold. When hot, more of a full game is revealed along with scores and all.

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tetris_mug1.jpg?323f2c" alt="tetris_mug1" width="461" height="406" border="0" />

The only con about this mug would be that it’s not microwave- or dishwasher-safe.

href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Mouth-Toys-Toilet-Mug/dp/B002SQG4TU/ref=pd_sim_sg_2">Big Mouth Toys Toilet Mug [$11.99 On Amazon]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/toilet_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="toilet_mug" width="343" height="351" border="0" />

Here’s a gag gift that’s bound to incite a few chuckles. This is a hand-painted, toilet bowl-shaped ceramic coffee mug that’s suitable for dishwasher use and can hold up to 12 oz of liquid, though to be honest, since I have a weaker stomach, I think it’d do better as a centerpiece instead of an actual mug. However, these customer images from the Amazon product page beg to differ.

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/toilet_mug_customer.jpg?323f2c" alt="toilet_mug_customer" width="580" height="341" border="0" />

Be sure to read the full buyer reviews on Amazon to see the reactions customers have given.

Rubik’s Cube Mug [ href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/e865/">$12.99 On ThinkGeek, href="http://www.amazon.com/Rubiks-Cube-Ceramic-Coffe-Boxed/dp/B004O6V03C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323038487&sr=8-1">$9.13 On Amazon]

I first saw this on ThinkGeek but since it’s out of stock till 12/10, I’m linking to a similar product on Amazon that has the same dimensions. The pre-solved Rubik’s cube-shaped mug is 3’’ on each side and features a curved drinking area to ease how you drink, considering it might be challenging to sip out of a cube.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/rubiks_cube_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="rubiks_cube_mug" width="496" height="324" border="0" />

Camera Lens Mug [ href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/e89a/">$14.99 On ThinkGeek, href="http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Stainless-Insulated-Tumbler-Refreshment/dp/B004ECJ9N4/ref=pd_sim_misc_4">$19.95 On Amazon]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/camera_lens_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="camera_lens_mug" width="340" height="544" border="0" />

This camera lens-shaped mug doesn’t just look great. It can fool your friends easily. It’s currently out of stock on ThinkGeek (though it’s supposed to be back in stock at the end of this month), which is why I’ve listed a similar product from Amazon. The latter can hold up to 16oz of liquid and is washable by hand only. If you’re looking for an insulated mug of the same shape, be sure to check out alternative products from Amazon, like href="http://www.amazon.com/Canon-zoomable-lens-cup-24-70mm/dp/B004UHHOHG/ref=pd_sim_k_8">this $49 version that can come with a soft travel bag.

href="http://www.vat19.com/dvds/chalk-talk-chalkboard-coffee-mug.cfm">Chalk Talk Chalkboard Coffee Mug [$8.99 From Vat19]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/chalkboard_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="chalkboard_mug" width="458" height="305" border="0" />

Do you have a friend who is a teacher? This mug might remind him or her of more work, but it’s undeniably a fun mug from Vat19. Vat19 is my href="https://www.youtube.com/user/vat19com">new favorite YouTube channel that pumps out loads of witty infommercials, basically, without any of the corny elements that distinguishes TV ads. The ceramic mug itself can hold up to 12oz of liquid, is dishwasher- and microwave-safe and has an erasable surface, of course. And for those worried that chalk dust might go into the liquid, the awesome Vat19 product page says that this shouldn’t happen unless you’re writing on the inside of the cup.

href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/96c6/">Laboratory Beaker Mug [Starting At $12.99 On ThinkGeek]

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/beaker.jpg?323f2c" alt="beaker" width="396" height="296" border="0" />

Here’s another teacher-friendly gift mug that can easily suit science buffs as well. The glass beaker can hold up to 400ml of liquid, acid, etc. If you’re so inclined, you can also check out href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/b3b9/">this other Cocktail Chemistry Set which comes with flasks and test tubes for your adult drinks.

href="http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Friends-Stacked-Ceramic-12-Ounce/dp/B0015MU8T0/ref=pd_sim_k_4">Fred & Friends Stacked Ceramic 12-Ounce Mug [$10.50 On Amazon]

This glossy mug not only has got the good looks of 3 cups, it’s also a cute and unique gift for anyone with a collection of tea cups.

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/stacked_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="stacked_mug" width="489" height="618" border="0" />

The single mug can hold 12oz of liquid, whether it’s hot or cold.

href="http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/face-mug">Face Mug [$18 On UncommonGoods]

Snack lovers, and lazy people in general, rejoice! There’s a cool new way to lug around your dose of coffee along with a cookie or two.

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/face_mug.jpg?323f2c" alt="face_mug" width="402" height="312" border="0" />

You might just start using this mug to carry everything for you, donuts even (don’t tell me I didn’t warn you).

align="center"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/face_mug1.jpg?323f2c" alt="face_mug1" width="369" height="354" border="0" />

Have you seen some absurd but ultra-creative geeky mug that’s not on this list? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/56161034/" rel="nofollow">emdot

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/rightalign1.png" alt="bizarre videos" />With the advent of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/video">online video, it’s never been easier to record a song, make a music video of it, and then put it out on the Internet. However, some of the stuff that makes it out there is just different.

Fortunately, I’ve found four videos for you to check out that are unique, well-crafted (well, most of them are), and very interesting to watch. So make sure your title="How To Meter & Manage Computer Bandwidth Usage" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/meter-manage-computer-bandwidth-usage/">bandwidth is clear, because here are four of the most bizarre music videos found on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/youtube">YouTube.

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hcVleGxx40">Basil Marceaux – “Come Christmas”

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5hcVleGxx40" frameborder="0" width="580" height="325">

I just really want to go ahead and get this out of the way. The chorus of this title="5 Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas In Case You Get Stuck" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-minute-christmas-gift-ideas/">Christmas tune, which states “Christmas turns me on,” over and over, is not sexual in in any form or fashion. To be honest, I don’t think the original creators would have intended any innuendo, but it is still awkward all the same.

Perhaps you may remember href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hvaeHllwtw">Basil Marceaux (dot com), the infamous candidate for governor of Tennessee (my home state) that had a rather interesting spot on a local news station about an half-an-hour from where I live. Well, it turns out that Mr. Marceaux decided he would make a home-grown Christmas video last year, and I’m sharing it with you just in time for the holidays.

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMrN3Rh55uM">The Guild – “Game On”

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xMrN3Rh55uM" frameborder="0" width="580" height="325">

Felicia Day is definitely one of my favorite actresses (she’s just real), and she has a web series called “The Guild” that you might have heard of. The show is centered around her group of gamers for an online title="3 Ways To Prepare For The New Star Wars MMO [Gaming]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-prepare-star-wars-mmo-gaming/">MMORPG – pretty cool idea.

The Guild will occasionally make music videos, and this one may very well be my favorite. Done completely in a Bollywood style, this video brings out the joy of gaming with an Indian flair. It’s not bizarre because it’s bad, but it’s bizarre because of its concept.

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLAEg5aTXAE">Rhett and Link – “The Perfect Bathroom Trip”

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sLAEg5aTXAE" frameborder="0" width="580" height="325">

Rhett and Link are probably the finest Internetainers out there, and they actually have quite a few music videos already out there. There are their epic rap battles, and then their song about pillows. However, this one takes the cake for being the most bizarre.

Bent entirely on describing the perfect bathroom trip, Rhett and Link serenade fellow YouTube star Julian Smith as he takes care of his business and during the events that follow after. Seriously, it’s terribly awkward. Oh, and iJustine makes an appearance in the water closet.

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1P38oxSuA8">J. Kap – “I Owe?”

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C1P38oxSuA8" frameborder="0" width="580" height="325">

J. Kap, who’s “just an artist living in the basement of his parent’s home” seems like an interesting guy, and I can relate to his worries of finances – it’s hard to choose between doing what you love and diving into something that is considered stable. Both are great choices, but they each have their pros and cons.

However, I don’t think I’d actually make a music video about my money situation. One, it costs a lot to make a music video, and that could be used elsewhere. Two, I guess I just like dealing with my title="Get Paid For Your Opinions By Completing Online Surveys For Paid Viewpoint" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/paid-opinions-completing-online-surveys-paid-viewpoint/">financial issues myself. However, J. Kap did, and you can watch it right now.

Conclusion

I love music videos, but there are a lot of crazy ones out there, and these are exclusive to the Internet. They are all fairly well done (save for Basil), but they are just bizarre!

What other bizarre music videos on the Internet do you know about? What do you think of the ones shown here?

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/image228.png" alt="bit torrent clients" />BitTorrent is still a reliable and pretty fast way to download large files. It  might not be the best method out there, but sometimes it sure is the easiest. The clients are straightforward enough and the files are easy to come by. A while ago, we gave you a list of the best href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-best-torrent-clients-linux/">BitTorrent clients for Linux. You can also make use of our handy href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/free-torrent-guide">torrent guide.

Today, I will give you a list of the best Bit Torrent clients out there right now – each suited for somewhat different needs. However this list is not about the small technical aspects of each client, but is rather aimed at the average person who wishes to download files using BitTorrent.

href="http://www.tixati.com/">Tixati [Windows & Linux]

Tixati is a fairly new BitTorrent client that would appeal to beginner and veteran torrent users alike. The interface is very slick and easy to use, and if you’re not sure what every little thing means, you can easily focus on what you know.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011-10-24-11h00_32.png" alt="bit torrent clients" width="580" height="446" border="0" />

Tixati can supports magnet links, DHT and all the other usual things such as RSS. It’s highly customizable, with a wide array of bandwidth throttling options, different download and upload priorities and impressive control over user interface. With all those options in mind, Tixati is also aimed at beginners, and keeps prompting you with helpful messages and tips as well as the most important settings which you have to configure.

href="http://deluge-torrent.org/">Deluge [Windows, Mac & Linux]

Deluge is a minimalist BitTorrent client with far less options than Tixati, but it will definitely appeal to those who simply want to download torrents and maybe glance at some statistics.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011-10-24-11h18_18.png" alt="torrent clients" width="579" height="402" border="0" />

The interface is simple enough to use, although no helpful tips are provided for beginners.  Deluge is  a bit of a hefty download as it requires you to download and install the GTK+ runtime environment. If this is not a problem for you, Deluge offers all the usual basic features such as bandwidth throttling, and a set of plugins you can install to increase its functionality (RSS, for example, is supported only though a plugin).

Try this client if all you want to do is download, or if you’ve been around torrents for a while and don’t mind working a bit for customization.

href="http://www.vuze.com/">Vuze [Windows, Mac & Linux]

If you’re looking for a bit torrent client that will download torrents and that’s it, please don’t try Vuze. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Vuze did something different than most other clients – they offer much, much more than just downloading torrents.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011-10-24-12h27_35.png" alt="torrent clients" width="579" height="551" border="0" />

Vuze ia a Java application (decide for yourself whether this is a pro or a con) which you can use to do anything from playing HD media, to searching for files; from playing games to managing RSS subscriptions. It even integrates with your iTunes library. Too much? It might be, but if you’re looking for an all-around solution, Vuze is a terrific option. Despite all these features, the regular torrent options are still rather accessible.

Download Vuze if it seems just too good to be true. Beware of the third party software it offers on installation, though.

href="http://www.utorrent.com/">uTorrent [Windows, Mac & Linux]

It’s hard to compile a list like this without mentioning uTorrent. uTorrent is probably the best-known BitTorrent client, and it still works very well. But despite its name (micro), uTorrent doesn’t feel so tiny anymore. It seems to have gone though a bloating process in the past few years, and is now a full-blown BitTorrent client for the masses, complete with third-party programs you need to opt out from during installation.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011-10-24-11h38_21.png" alt="torrent clients" width="579" height="545" border="0" />

These problems aside, it’s still a very good BitTorrent client which offers everything from DHT and magnet links to drag-and-drop interface for adding files. By way of helping newbies, uTorrent offers a Setup Guide which helps you test your network and configure it in order to get the best performance. This is pretty useful even if you already know what you’re doing. uTorrent also offers a rating system to help other users know which torrents are better than others.

If you think you can stomach the slight bloatedness of the client, be sure to give it a try.

Worth Mentioning: href="http://www.bittorrent.com">BitTorrent [Windows & Mac]

This is not really another client, as BitTorrent and uTorrent are pretty much the same thing nowadays. Take uTorrent, change the main color from green to purple and jiggle the UI around a bit, and you get BitTorrent.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011-10-24-12h35_44.png" alt="bit torrent clients" width="553" height="501" border="0" />

BitTorrent actually feels a bit less bloated, and offers about the same features as uTorrent does. The UI is cleaner, with less options in it, which could be a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it. BitTorrent is also not available for Linux (as far as I could see), which could be somewhat of a deal breaker for Linux users.

Bottom Line

I’m always in search for a balance between functionality and minimalism. When it comes to Bit Torrent clients, Tixati is the surprising winner for me. It has all the option an average person could want, but still feels lightweight enough and easy to understand.

Which client do you use? Have any recommendations for clients we missed? Share in the comments.

Image credit: href="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/388663/388663,1244813837,32/stock-vector-blue-tsunami-31905667.jpg" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/midori_logo.jpg" alt="lightweight web browsers" />We’ve had browser wars back when Netscape was still the king. Today, it’s Internet Explorer, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox">Firefox, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/chrome">Chrome, Safari, and Opera all battling it out to see who’s top dog. There are plenty of different categories where they are being compared, such as speed, memory efficiency, functionality/features, and more.

However, sometimes we forget that there are still some other browsers than the Big 5. Today, we’ll be looking at one of the fastest and most lightweight browsers outside of the Big 5.

About Midori

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/midori_main.jpg" alt="lightweight web browsers" width="580" height="382" /> /> href="http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html"> Midori is a relatively simple browser that currently tries to offer you the most of the web while keeping it simple and clean. In other words, it strives to support all of the Web’s standards such as href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/html">HTML5 while keeping the browser user interface relatively simple. This results in an easy browsing experience as well as a speedy one. The browser should be available under all href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux">Linux distributions, while you can also download a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/windows">Windows version from Midori’s website (more about that later).

Features

Startup and User Interface

One of the first things you’ll notice about Midori is that it has a quick cold-start time. The browser window loads almost instantaneously, with a fully loaded page around a second later. Once the window appears, you’ll see how uncluttered the user interface really is: there is only one row of buttons and the address bar, with a second hidden one until you open up more than one tab. The buttons themselves are fairly small, making each row relatively smaller when compared to the Big 5.

Rendering Engine

Midori uses WebKit as its rendering engine, the same engine used in Chrome and Safari. WebKit is well-known for being speedy while supporting the latest standards of the Web.

Default Search Engine

You may also notice that Midori’s default search engine is Duck Duck Go!, a privacy-aware search engine who’s main goal is to keep you and your searches as anonymous as possible. If you’d like to know more about Duck Duck Go!, you can read href="http://duckduckgo.com/privacy.html">this page.

Preferences

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/midori_extensions.jpg" alt="lightweight web browsers" width="580" height="369" /> /> If you want to find Midori’s options, they’ll be all the way to the right (similar to Chrome), hidden in the wrench-and-page icon. Midori doesn’t have as many options because of its relative simplicity. However, if you go into Preferences, one of tabs will say Extensions. In here, you can enable a couple of self-made extensions from the developers of Midori to slightly change your browsing experience to your liking. None of the extensions so far will do anything major, but the ad-blocking extension with options to add additional filters will definitely be a plus to many.

Private Browsing

Midori also offers a private browsing feature so that you can do your secret shopping without letting friends or family members know.

Available for Windows

As I mentioned earlier, Midori is also available for Windows, and it works just as well. However, some of the styling is off (because it has Linux dependencies), so it won’t look as nice as it does on Linux. Either way, functionality is not changed because of this.

Final Note

Don’t forget to note, as the site says, that Midori as a whole is still considered alpha software by the project (although it has been stable in my use), so be aware that over time new features may possibly still be broken, and that the browser isn’t even near completion until it gets out of alpha.

Conclusion

Midori is a great browser for those who want to use the Web instead of their browsers (well, you know what I mean). With great speed, ease of use, and helpful small functionality such as ad-blocking, Midori should be a choice for many who want to try something else or have a very low-powered machine. Try it; you just might like it.

What do you think about Midori? Is the browser a good idea? What do you like or don’t like? Let us know in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/piratedmusic_intro.jpg" alt="pirated music" />We have to admit that href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/poll-buy-software-prefer-cracked-version/">people pirate a lot of data. Whether it’s for video games, movies, professional and costly products, or operating systems, people pirate stuff and there is no end in sight. Whether that is a good or bad thing is up to your own opinion.

One highly pirated form of media is music. In fact, there’s a pretty high demand for music as it doesn’t take much before you’ve already spent $100 to fill your iPod by about 5%. So here comes an interesting thought – what kind of music do people want the most, or in other words, which are the most pirated?

In case you’re wondering how I got my results, I simply organized a list of current href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/torrent/">torrents by the number of seeds each one has. A seed is a system that has the complete torrent on their system and is ready to upload any parts of it to other systems. The number of seeds represents the number as tracked by the torrent site, but there are more than likely plenty more seeds when combining other trackers. As for where I got my list of torrents from, you can do some Googling to find out if you don’t already know, or look href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/torrensurf-search-14-leading-torrent-engines/">here and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-6-torrent-alternatives-to-pirate-bay-downloads/">here.

The Top 10 List

The following top 10 list are torrents, so some may be complete albums while others are just songs.

1. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (Deluxe Version) [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Watch_The_Throne.jpg" alt="pirated music" width="180" height="180" />

The combination of Jay-Z and Kanye West seems to be pretty popular as this album hits the top of spot with 9,495 seeds. This is pretty impressive, considering that there aren’t that many torrents that reach a seed number that high.

2. Lil Wayne – The Carter IV (Deluxe Version) [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Lil_Wayne_-_Tha_Carter_IV.jpg" alt="bittorrent music" width="180" height="180" />

Lil Wayne has always had success, and this is proven again as his album The Carter IV is the second most pirated music torrent. His genre, like most on this list, is Hip Hop and Rap.

3. Adele – 21 [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/21Adele.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="180" />

Adele is the only artist on this list that doesn’t have too much in common with any of the others. Instead, this album has pop, soul, blues, rock, alternative, R&B, and indie rock as its listed genres.

4. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida – Where Them Girls At [Song]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/David_Guetta_-_Where_Them_Girls_At.jpg" alt="bittorrent music" width="180" height="180" />

Where Them Girls At is the first song on our list of torrents. Therefore, it can probably be described as the most pirated song, as most of the others are entire albums.

5. LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem [Song]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Party_Rock_Anthem.jpg" alt="bittorrent music" width="180" height="180" />

LMFAO is the only artist group on this list that does hip hop and a number of electro and techno genres. Party Rock Anthem‘s genre, for example, is electro house.

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/RHCP_Im_With_You_Cover.jpg" alt="bittorrent music download" width="180" height="162" />

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been a household name for quite some time now. This recent album is proving to be a success for them as well.

7. Jennifer Lopez feat. Pit Bull – On The Floor [Song]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/On_the_Floor_Jlo.jpg" alt="bittorrent music download" width="180" height="180" />

Jennifer Lopez has lots of fans as her career is currently at one of its peaks. She produces some great music, and having a song that features Pit Bull is also a plus. This song has elements of dance-pop and electro-house.

8. Black Eyed Peas – The Beginning (Deluxe Version) [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Official_Album_Cover_Thanx_to_romey.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="180" />

Yes! The Black Eyed Peas do in fact have something in this top 10 list! By the time a song or album has been well received by the public, it doesn’t take long before they have something new to offer. Their latest album is pretty popular in the 8th spot on our list.

9. David Guetta – Nothing But The Beat [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Nothing_But_the_Beat.jpg" alt="bittorrent music download" width="180" height="180" />

This is the second torrent in our top 10 list where David Guetta’s work appears. His music is very popular, and that trend won’t be going away anytime soon.

10. Rihanna – LOUD [Album]

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Loud_-_Rihanna.jpg" alt="pirated music" width="180" height="180" />

In the last spot on our top 10 list is Rihanna’s latest album. She’s been a household name just like Red Hot Chili Peppers, and her career is still going strong. Her album barely made the top 10 list, which is still a good “achievement”.

Conclusion

Overall, the list is pretty impressive, considering the number of seeds they have. You can see that Hip Hop and the like are well-sought after, which for me isn’t such a surprise. However, if you go outside of the top 10, you’ll start to see other genres appearing.

What are your thoughts about pirating in the music industry?  Should being in the top ten most pirated list be considered an indicator of an artist’s popularity or success? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: href="http://www.stutterstock.com/pic-60902926.html" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/featured-whs2011.jpg" alt="windows home server" />Windows Home Server is one of those obscure Microsoft products that you never knew you needed. It’s rock solid reliable, simple to manage with a familiar Windows interface, and my personal choice for a home file server and backup solution. Let me explain what it is and what it can do for you.

What Is Windows Home Server?

Based upon Windows Small Business Server 2008, href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx">Windows Home Server is a consumer-focused server operating system with Windows 7 at the core. It’s been hardened on the security front, slimmed down on the desktop features, and performs a variety of tasks that can really simplify your home computing life. It’s designed to be left alone in a cupboard, constantly on and working, but you can still run a lot of regular Windows software if you want. Full remote access is provided so you can log in and manage your server from any client in the house (or over the Internet).

In hardware terms, if it runs Windows 7 relatively well it will run WHS2011 just fine too, though if you’re building your own machine I’d suggest skimping on the graphics card and getting more memory instead.

Cost – & The Alternatives

Before I start introducing you to features, let me say upfront that Windows Home Server 2011 costs $49.99 if you purchase an OEM license – which means you’ll have to build the computer yourself that you plan to install it on. Legally, you shouldn’t buy OEM versions if you’re installing it onto an existing computer, but I’ve also heard it said that simply changing one of the cables or upgrading the memory classifies you as a “system builder” and therefore qualifies as OEM.

If you’re interested in purchasing a complete, ready built home server computer (usually with a wonderfully small form factor), check out the href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/buy.mspx">hardware section of the Microsoft site. The HP MediaSmart is a popular choice, and costs href="http://www.amazon.com/s/url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=mediasmart&x=0&y=0ronics&field-keywords=mediasmart&x=0&y=0">from $400 to $1,000 on Amazon. Of course, there are free alternatives that handle all the features that Windows Home Server can, and possibly more – but personally I find the complete package that Home Servers offers to be more reliable and less of an effort to maintain.

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/set-home-server-amahi/">Amahi Linux is the most feature rich alternative, but the file duplication options aren’t quite there yet.
• FreeNAS is a solid fileserver / router linux distro, definitely for advanced users only. I plan to write an updated article on it, but for now href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/convert-your-old-pc-to-network-attached-storage-with-freenas/">we covered it once before in 2009.
• We regularly cover href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/backup">backup solutions.
• You could href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/download-new-life-bring-old-pc-to-life-with-ubuntu-pdf">“roll your own server” with Ubuntu Linux, which could run on older hardware too.

That said and done, let’s look at the features provided by Windows Home Server 2011.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/intro-screen-dashboard.jpg" alt="windows home server" width="580" height="406" />

Automated Backups

One of the main concerns of home users is how to implement a decent backup system. For me, this means full data backup, as well a bootable system backup so I can be up and running again soon. If you have more than a few PCs in your house, managing all those backups becomes a constant mess of USB drives and various free apps to handle bootable partitions and…..well let’s just say it’s just a big hassle that I don’t need. WHS handles backing up all your PCs and data with such simplicity, it’s hard to believe it’s a Microsoft product.

Once connected to the server, your computer will be set to back up automatically. That’s it. You can view all the connected PCs from the WHS dashboard and adjust settings for backup frequency or when to delete old backups, but the defaults are fine and it all just works.

In the event of a catastrophic drive failure on that machine, you need only change the drive for a working one, and boot from the supplied WHS recovery CD. All your data and system will then be restored in just a few clicks, over the network, from either the most recent backup set or any archived sets.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/full-system-restore.jpg" alt="home server" />

File Server

With full user access control, WHS is the most reliable file server I’ve used yet. It also gives you the option to backup those file shares, of course.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/manage-sahres.jpg" alt="home server" width="580" height="406" />

Yes, you could just share some folders from any Windows 7 PC, but as anyone with home networking experience knows, the results don’t always work as expected. It’s difficult to set up fine-grained access control without a central user server.

Media Sharing

As well as a secure file store for your media, WHS also allows to share your media with any standard DLNA device – the Xbox 360 for instance. Not limited to your home network only either, you can access your media remotely too over the internet – to show relatives a slideshow for example. You can also upload files to your server which is useful if you’re out on a long holiday.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/remote-slideshows.jpg" alt="windows home server" width="580" height="422" />

Admittedly, movie streaming isn’t a feature I use often and various codecs can present a problem.

One minor useful feature for me is the ability to automatically archive shows and movies from your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pvr-windows-media-center/">Windows Media Center (another fantastic Microsoft product I highlighted last week). This means you can keep all your media centralised and avoid having to put huge drives into your living room HTPC.

It’s Windows 7!

One of the problems with customised Linux distros is the fact that an entire computer is given over to the task, and all other little Windows apps I like to run suddenly need Linux alternatives. Not so with Windows Home Server, as it’s still a functional Windows environment.  However, Home Server doesn’t run some of the more advanced Windows components and isn’t suitable for gaming, for instance. Media Center is noticeably absent.

I do hope you consider using Windows Home Server to handle your homes file and backup needs, but there will always be free alternatives if you’re prepared to put in the time and effort to make it all work. If you have any questions about Home Server I’d be happy to answer them in the comments, or as ever feel free to share your own choice for home backup and file servers – I’d especially like to hear of any complete solutions that are relatively easy to set up. In the coming weeks, I’ll highlight some of the add-ins (plugins?) available for WHS2011 too, that add even more functionality to your server.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/word.jpg" alt="" />We have seen quite a few ways to tweak MS Office 2010 for our own productive ends. Granted, the whole MS Office suite is a productivity tool to begin with, but there’s still some spanner work you can do to make it more personalized.

We have seen ways to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/basic-tutorial-customize-ms-office-2010-quick-access-toolbar/">customize the MS Office Quick Access toolbar, we saw how to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/add-tabs-microsoft-office-improve-document-management/">add tabs to MS Office and improve your document management, and we even went retro by getting back the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ubitmenu-%E2%80%93-bring-back-the-classic-menu-to-microsoft-office-2007/">classic ribbon-less look. In this Word tutorial, we stay devoted to the Ribbon, but improve our workflow by adding a favorites tab to the Ribbon with all our frequently used commands. Let’s fire up MS Word 2010 (this works for other MS Office applications too).

Your Own Favorites Tab Improves Your Workflow

You cannot change the default tab and groups on the Ribbon. But it’s very easy to add your own tab (and your own groups) with all your chosen commands. For example, there might be a task you do day in and day out. You might want to do it with as few clicks as possible. Customizing your own tab with the oft-used commands helps with your workflow. For example, I am a writer and blogger. Here’s how I would go about setting up a new tab on the Ribbon.

5 Steps To My Own Tab On The Ribbon

• Select File – Options – Customize Ribbon. Or you can right-click on Ribbon and choose Customize the Ribbon.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/word-customize-ribbon01.jpg" alt="" width="473" height="442" />

• Click on New Tab and then Rename if you want to rename it to something that’s more interesting than the dull ‘New Tab’.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/word-customize-ribbon02.jpg" alt="" width="498" height="486" />

• This tab is now your own. You can start populating them with commands. You can also create Groups for similar commands grouped together. Naming groups allows you to choose symbols from the dialog box.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/word-customize-ribbon03.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="257" />

• Commands can be picked up from and added to the groups from the list on the left which says – Choose commands from. To view all the commands available for you to pick, click the dropdown and select All Commands.
• Select the command and click on Add to move under the particular group. As you can see in the above screen, I have selected commands that help me with my writing.
• Use the arrow keys to arrange the commands in the order you want. Also, you can rearrange the entire tab order with the same arrow keys.

Oops…I Made A mistake

If you made a mistake or you just want to get back the original look, click on Reset to reset all customizations.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/word-customize-ribbon06.jpg" alt="" width="412" height="151" />

Export Your Ribbon Customizations

You can export all your hard work to another computer (say, if a colleague likes your tab groups). Click Import/Export – Select Export All Ribbon And Quick Access Toolbar Customizations. Type in a name for your customizations file and click Save. The file is saved with an “.exportedUI” extension.

The customization file can be imported via the same button.

Free Customized Ribbons Available For Download

Microsoft Office 2010 has taken user feedback and has packaged the most commonly used commands in a Favorites file for all programs under the Office suite. This is how the Word 2010 customized Ribbon file looks like:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/word-customize-ribbon05.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="90" />

The file is available class="vt-p" href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/redir/XT101885841.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA101885823">here. You can read more about it on class="vt-p" href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/download-free-customized-ribbons-HA101885823.aspx">Microsoft’s Office blog and also download the ones available for the other programs.

Do you feel that the Ribbon is friendlier now? Have you set up your own customized tab for productivity? Tell us about it.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gaming-featured.jpg?54167" alt="free pirated games"/>While we would never endorse piracy, it’s fair to say that the best games get downloaded more than others. In fact, games that are well pirated generally mirror their performance in the retail world – so in the absence of reliable sales figures, we look towards the download counts.

It’s with great pleasure that I hereby introduce you to the top 10 most pirated games of all time.

1. href="http://www.callofduty.com/age-gate?referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.callofduty.com%2Fblackops%3Fpath%3Dblackops">Call Of Duty: Black Ops – 4.27 million downloads, Nov 2010

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/black-ops.jpg?54167" alt="free pirated games" width="580" height="326" />

The most recent addition to the incredibly successful Call of Duty series, which began way-back in 2003, originally based on the Quake III arena engine. Arguably the best multiplayer FPS available today – it’s the most played game I’ve personally owned for sure. Black Ops is the standard by which other FPS games are judged, and frankly there are so few that come even close. Why is it so good, then? The multiplayer has been tweaked and developed so much over the years that a 10 minute game is likely to release more adrenaline into your body than most people will experience in a year *. With an incredible degree of customisation, fantastic array of weapons and constant reward mechanisms, it’s a formula that’s likely to keep this game on top – at least until October 22nd, when the next instalment of Battlefield is released!

* Officially made up factoid.

2. href="http://modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/agegate.php">Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 4.1 million downloads, Nov 2009

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/modern-warfare-2.jpg?54167" alt="pirated games" width="580" height="326" />

To be honest, there isn’t all that much to differentiate this and Black Ops, other than it was produced by a different studio and was slightly less developed in the levelling-up / rewards tweaks. Gameplay was very similar, and multiplayer was fantastic, but the sequel to this fork of the franchise has ended in lengthy legal disputes resulting in Modern Warfare 3 being jointly developed by two studios that are completely new to the franchise. Will it result in slow painful death of the series? Doubtful, but only time will tell.

3. href="http://www.battlefieldbadcompany2.com/agegate">Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – 3.96 million downloads, Mar 2010

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/battlefield-bc2.jpg?54167" alt="pirated games" width="580" height="362" />

Another FPS, Battlefield tends to take a wider look at gameplay, rather than focussing on upfront and personal combat. To that effect, Battlefields strong point has always been the inclusion of vehicles, and game objectives are based on area capture and hold rather than straight out kills. Instead of customising various aspects of your soldier, you pick a base class – such as medic – and build up from there. Emphasis is given to having a varied team and being able to work together utilising the different skills. Battlefield 3, due out October this year promises not only the most incredible graphics seen in an FPS yet, but also a breathtaking damage system that will buildings crumble around as they are shot to pieces Definitely worth checking out if you think the straight-up finger-twitching combat of Call of Duty will be a little too much for you.

4. href="http://www.mafia2game.com/">Mafia 2 – 3.55 million downloads, Aug 2010

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mafia-2.jpg?54167" alt="pirated games" width="580" height="326" />

Mafia seems to have completely passed me by, so I’ve had to refer to external sources for this one I’m afraid. With obvious narrative content, the gameplay centres around a simple mix of shooting, driving, and close combat – though it isn’t particular outstanding in any of them. Facing a variety of critical reviews, the worst being from Eurgamer thant give it a 4/10. 2KGames refuses to release the actual sales figures though, so your guess is as good as mine as to how commercially successful this game really was.

5. href="http://masseffect.bioware.com/">Mass Effect 2 – 3.24 million downloads, Jan 2010

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-82087" title="mass-effect2" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mass-effect2.jpg?54167" alt="most pirated game of all time" width="580" height="363" />

A unique game in so many ways, the Mass Effect titles are science-fiction open-world RPGs, with a smattering of FPS thrown in for funsies. A completely new IP, the original game was flawed but presented a strong storyline, the likes of which no other game in this list can parallel. Mass Effect 2 fixed those shortcomings and showed fans what a fantastic game it really could be when given the chance to shine. Not for everyone perhaps, but a star quality game that will be remembered in gaming history.

6. href="http://www.thesims3.com/">Sims 3 – 3.2 million downloads, June 2009

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-82088" title="sims3" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sims3.jpg?54167" alt="most pirated game of all time" width="580" height="322" />

Though appealing to a somewhat different audience than the rest of the games here, The Sims has undoubtedly been one of the most influential games of the decade. It’s hard to describe it even as a game really – it’s more like an elaborate virtual dolls house. The latest iteration takes your Sim out of the confines of the family home, and let’s them travel to various locations around the city. The sheer level of freedom allows the game to appeal to a wide variety of people – wether they be attracted to making a dream home version of themselves, or perhaps living out an alter-ego fantasy.

7. href="http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/">Starcraft 2 – 3.12 downloads, Jul 2010

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/starcraft_2.jpg?54167" alt="most pirated game of all time" width="580" height="435" />

The most eagerly anticipated sequel, ever – Starcraft is a pure top-down strategy game with a truly epic following of fanboys – though personally I was always a Command and Conquer kind of guy. Starcraft 2 ignored any evolutions the strategy genre has seen, and chose to take the whole experience to a level of epic retro, with fantastically better graphics and gameplay that’s just as addictive as is always was.

8. href="http://www.prototypegame.com/">Prototype – 2.35 million downloads – Jun 2009

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-82090" title="prototype" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/prototype.jpg?54167" alt="" width="580" height="326" />

Finally, an original IP in the top 10! An open world game GTA-style with an intriguing storyline and varied missions. For many, the strength of this game lay in the fact you could drive a tank around and throw cars – others liked the unique gameplay opportunities offered by being able to take the shape of other characters in the game. If you merged with a soldier, for example, you could declare someone an enemy combatant and have them taken down, or even call in a limited number of aircraft. Certainly one I’ve added to my LoveFilm rental list.

9. href="http://shift.needforspeed.com/home.action">Need for Speed: Shift – 2.1 million downloads, Sep 2009

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/nfs-shift.jpg?54167" alt="" width="580" height="326" />

Taking the series back to it’s racing roots, NFS:Shift represents a midway point between racing realism from the likes of Grand Turismo and joyriding arcade nonsense of BurnOut. Is it the best racing game out there? I doubt it, but that didn’t stop millions of people downloading it to see what all the fuss was about.

10. href="http://www.streetfighter.com/us/sfxtk/">Street Fighter IV – 1.85 million downloads, July 2009

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/street-fighter-4.jpg?54167" alt="free pirated games" width="580" height="326" />

An arcade classic, Street Fighter IV brought vastly improved graphics and not a lot else in my experience. Cue the hate-mails – I’m sure the underlying button mashing techniques were tweaked, but it felt the same to me.

Personally, I was sad to see not a single Grand Theft Auto game make it into the top 10, despite GTA4 breaking the Guinness World Records for “highest grossing video game in 24 hours” in May 2008. Are there any games you think were a glaring omission here? Don’t forget to check out all our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/games/">other regular gaming articles too.

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=2266016">Shutterstock />
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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thunderbird_logo.png?54167" alt="mozilla thunderbird"/>Yep, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mozilla/">Mozilla‘s at it again. Not only has href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox/">Firefox been upgraded to version 5, but so has href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/thunderbird/">Thunderbird. In fact, in order to keep up with the new version and development scheme that it has set for both Firefox and Thunderbird, Mozilla has decided to skip Thunderbird 4 and go straight to Thunderbird 5. There’s no lack of new features however, even with the sped up development cycles.

In this version, Mozilla brings plenty of changes, both visible and under the hood. Please remember that you can install Thunderbird via the usual software sources for any operating system. href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux">Linux users may need to find a different repository or just use the package from Mozilla’s website directly as plenty of distributions are possibly keeping Thunderbird 5 hidden away until the next distribution release and keeping you on the 3.1.x track for the time being.

New Changes

There are plenty of changes sprinkled here and there, but we’ll cover the larger and more noticeable ones.

New Account Creation

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thunderbird5_newaccount.jpg?54167" alt="mozilla thunderbird" width="580" height="413" /> /> As is always the case, the first thing that will greet you when you open Thunderbird is the Mail Account Setup window. In this release, the window has got a slight makeover to make it easier to set up a new email account. Although it looks similar, items on the window are visually simpler, including simple changes such as emphasizing the “Create Account” button by making the other buttons smaller.

User Interface and Tabs

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thunderbird5_main.jpg?54167" alt="thunderbird 5 review" width="580" height="419" /> /> Once you get to the main interface, you’ll notice that there is a more transparent UI if you’re using href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/windows">Windows. As far as I know href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/mac">Mac and Linux users should see little changes with the look of the interface itself. However, all platforms will notice that the tabs look slightly different. Not only have the tabs have a new style, but are more functional as well. Previous versions of Thunderbird did not let you move around tabs, but Thunderbird 5 finally adds this capability.

Add-ons Manager

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thunderbird5_addons.jpg?54167" alt="thunderbird 5 review" width="580" height="408" /> /> Probably one of the more major changes to Thunderbird 5 is the completely revamped Add-ons Manager. You can access it under Tools – Add-ons. Once inside, you’ll find many different categories, including a “Thunderbird Collection” of the most commonly used add-ons, other featured add-ons, and upcoming add-ons, and also a link to see themes and Personas. Use it to browse around and find some useful extra functionality that isn’t built into Thunderbird.

Troubleshooting Information

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thunderbird5_troubleshoot.jpg?54167" alt="mozilla thunderbird" width="580" height="342" /> /> Yet another new feature is the “Troubleshooting Information” page. You can access it under Help – Troubleshooting Information. On this page you’ll find loads of more geeky information, including basic information about the version of Thunderbird you are running, email accounts that are set up, extensions (add-ons) that are installed, and any modified advance preferences. This information is very helpful for developers and user support to help resolve an issue that you may be having if you report it on Mozilla’s sites.

Other Minor Changes

Any other changes that I haven’t covered are very, very small. For example, when you receive an email with an attachment, a bar will appear at the bottom telling you about the attachment, now with the attachment’s size. If you would like to see all of the changes, you can check out the href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/5.0/releasenotes/">release notes that goes with Thunderbird 5.

Conclusion

Although the changes brought by Thunderbird 5 aren’t necessarily major, the changes that are indeed supplied do add another touch of polish to a generally successful email client. Many regular users of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/thunderbird/">Thunderbird should be able to appreciate these changes and look forward to all the other changes still to come in future versions of Thunderbird. Until then we have enough time to enjoy the changes brought by this version. />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/email-mozilla-thunderbird-5/">Get The Most Out Of Your Email With Mozilla Thunderbird 5 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/2011/07/intro.jpg?54167" alt="priceless images"/>Looking to kill some time? You could certainly go to Digg or Reddit to check on interesting stories, check out href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-funny-youtube-video-channels-worth-keeping/">the funniest Youtube channels, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/my-top-ten-favourite-funniest-youtube-videos/">funny videos, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/funny-amazon-reviews-6-items-feature-hilarious-user-feedback/">hilarious product reviews, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/20-original-funny-facebook-statuses/">epic Facebook statuses, or hear some href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-online-sources-funny-mobile-phone-sound-clips/">funny sound clips.

The Internet is full of entertainment, but if you’re looking for more amusing ‘lol’ images or other priceless images and other goodies, be ready to unleash your inner procrastinator and check out the following list of websites. They’re bound to entertain you with tons of hilarious pictures for at least a couple of hours.

href="http://thechive.com/">theCHIVE

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_020430.png?54167" alt="priceless images" width="523" height="566" /> /> href="http://thechive.com/">theCHIVE is a booming photoblog with many recurring posts, most of which are collections of hilarious, bizarre or otherwise, potentially viral images. Some of these posts include the href="http://thechive.com/category/random/dar/">Daily Afternoon Randomness, which is a highly popular set of either edited or unedited, href="http://thechive.com/category/random/">random and funny pictures, as well as the href="http://thechive.com/category/random/morning-awesomeness/">Daily Morning Awesomeness, another popular post with a variety of either inspiring, cool or sometimes, even jaw-dropping but hilarious images.

There are also other sections on the site, which feature themed posts for certain weekdays, viral videos, as well as, photos of random hot girls or actual female readers of the site that may sometimes be NSFW. The site’s also done href="http://thechive.com/2011/07/01/chivers-charity-makes-national-news-video/">pretty href="http://thechive.com/2011/02/09/a-chiver-from-fluvanna-county-needs-our-help-17-photos/">well when it comes to donating to readers, or Chivers, in need, but it has also created some Internet href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheChive.com">hoaxes that have even fooled network shows and other media outlets. Still, theCHIVE is highly addicting and serves a ton of photo galleries that will satisfy the palate of those who are hungry for raw comedy in picture form.

href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/">BuzzFeed

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_031250.png?54167" alt="crazy priceless images" width="580" height="563" />

BuzzFeed shows viral videos, images, links and general content in real-time, submitted by the staff and users of the site, which was actually started by a cofounder of the Huffington Post. The posts range from human interest stories to celebrity gossip news. You will still catch plenty of href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/koolnewsblog/when-harry-potter-goes-south-park-1dgl">funny pictures for different types of humor on this site, as well as interesting and useful information href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/eduardoleon/35-life-hacks-you-should-know-ga9">once in a while.

href="http://www.cracked.com/">Cracked

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_144841.png?54167" alt="crazy priceless images" width="579" height="349" />

href="http://www.cracked.com/">Cracked started out as a humor magazine, first released in 1958, and eventually saw itself on the web, continuing the works of the print edition (which href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracked_(magazine)">was discontinued in 2007). It features lots of compilations (e.g. href="http://www.cracked.com/article_18606_8-historic-symbols-that-mean-opposite-what-you-think.html">8 Historic Symbols That Mean The Opposite Of What You Think), weekly image manipulation contests, and daily contests to allow users to submit their creative captions to bizarre photos.

href="http://www.collegehumor.com">CollegeHumor

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_160320.png?54167" alt="crazy priceless images" width="551" height="445" />

This site has been active for 7+ years and is known for having plenty of helpful articles for college survival, and creating original comedy shorts, like the web series Jake and Amir, and ones even including celebrities, such as href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6513607/porn-rental-with-michael-c-hall-and-ben-schwartz...">Michael C. Hall (the lead of Dexter) and href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6478498/celebrity-photo-psa-with-malin-akerman">Malin Akerman (from Watchmen). When it comes to funny pictures, CollegeHumor also has href="http://www.collegehumor.com/pictures">picture galleries with lots of bizarre and hilarious images you can’t miss.

href="http://failblog.org/">FailBlog & href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/">Icanhascheezburger [Both From Cheezburger Network]

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_185109.png?54167" alt="viral images" width="427" height="583" />

href="http://failblog.org/">FailBlog features lots of hilarious videos and pictures that can either belong in the fail, the more intense “epic fail”, or win categories. href="http://www.youtube.com/user/failblog">The site’s Youtube channel has over a million subscribers and it’s almost like a “America’s Funniest Videos” show for Youtube. Icanhascheezburger is of course, its sister site that shows cat pictures with witty captions in lolspeak, generally for different categories. These “kitteh” videos and images have exploded on the web in the recent years because there’s always a new cat video or photo these days, but it never gets old to see some cute animals doing /> innocent and hilarious things.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_185415.png?54167" alt="viral images" width="498" height="664" />

href="http://www.funnyordie.com">Funny Or Die

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_201759.png?54167" alt="viral images" width="520" height="849" />

Founded by comedian and actor Will Ferrell, Funny Or Die, launched this website to feature comedy shorts submitted by users, and sometimes, even original short films starring Ferrell and his colleagues, and sometimes even other actors. Though the site is known for its video content, it also has photo caption contests for users to vote on and href="http://www.funnyordie.com/browse/pictures_and_words/">funny picture galleries to entertain everyone.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/">Geeky Fun

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-02_213016.png?54167" alt="priceless images" width="521" height="726" />Our site co-founder, Kaly, has been scouring the web in search of hilarious pictures and posting them for a while, so be sure to check out our very own Geeky Fun section. It’s mostly material that even tech-savvy users can enjoy. If you use Google Reader or any other feed reader, add href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeekyFun">the Geeky Fun RSS feed! You won’t regret it!

Did we miss any site? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lighttable/3100401154/in/photostream/">Scott Clark />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-websites-find-priceless-viral-images/">Top 8 Websites To Find The Most Priceless & Viral Images is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/comedy/" title="comedy" rel="tag">comedy, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fun/" title="fun" rel="tag">fun, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/humor/" title="humor" rel="tag">humor, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/images/" title="images" rel="tag">images, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/interesting/" title="Interesting" rel="tag">Interesting, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/news/" title="news" rel="tag">news, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/photos/" title="photos" rel="tag">photos, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/popular/" title="popular" rel="tag">popular, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/social-media/" title="social media" rel="tag">social media, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/web-trends/" title="web trends" rel="tag">web trends />

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer.jpg" alt="browser real estate"/>With so many various addons, bookmarks and open tabs we want to have at our fingertips, it is obvious that we are constantly in search for ways to save on space and make the most of what we have.

We have shared quite a few tips on how to save browser screen space: there’s a cool href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/toomanytabs-turns-firefox-task-management-powerhouse/">addon that lets you get rid of open tabs while still having them in front of your eyes, there’s also an awesome tip on how to have more href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/save-firefox-screen-space-by-merging-your-toolbars/">space by merging your toolbars and here’s a thorough guide on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/get-back-your-screen-space-maximize-firefox-viewing-area/">maximizing Firefox viewing area.

Today’s post shares another great tool that would work well in combination with previously shared tips.

I always feel skeptical about the addons forcing you to install and use a new toolbar and usually these addons never stick – but sometimes you can’t do without a toolbar. Some toolbars I am constantly using include: Menu toolbar, Toolbar Bookmarks, Stumbleupon Toolbar. Today’s tool allows you to hide any of your favorite toolbars while still being able to easily access it.

href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/buttonizer/">Buttonizer is a fun experimental addon that lets you minimize any of your toolbars to a little button.

Let’s see how it works…

Once you have it installed, notice a tiny button next to the Awesome bar in the Address panel:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-01.jpg" alt="browser real estate" width="541" height="55" />

Right-click on it to select which of your currently running toolbars you want to access using the button:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-02.jpg" alt="browser real estate tools"width="270" height="225" />

Once you select any toolbar, it will be hidden from your browser screen and will be accessible via the button:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-04.jpg" alt="browser real estate tools" width="550" height="227" />

Now, you can do anything using the button: search, access your toolbar bookmarks, vote on Stumbleupon, use any of your additional toolbars.

Here’s a Stumbleupon toolbar using the Buttonizer:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-05.jpg" alt="browser real estate tools" width="540" height="46" />

You can run it for those toolbars you don’t use too often but still need occasionally and don’t want to get rid of. It is also usable enough to hide your most frequent and necessary tabs (like the menus toolbar, for example). Besides, is is very flexible: it easy to switch toolbars to be used through the button, so you can experiment a lot to find the best solution that suits you.

To restore any hidden toolbar, you just need to select another one. If you don’t want the button to use any toolbar and need all toolbars in the normal mode again, right-click on the button and select “Reset”:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-06.jpg" alt="buttonizer freeware" width="242" height="184" />

Issues

Some little issues I have noticed while running the tool (and I am still am, by the way):

• Sometimes the button won’t open some deeper levels of the menu which forced me to click twice (but that may be a specific issue for my computer);
• I had bad time controlling my toolbars after I reset the button options.
• The button doesn’t seem to work in the full-screen mode (it shows nothing when you hover over or click):

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/buttonizer-03.jpg" alt="browser real estate" width="156" height="77" />

What do you think about the addon? Since this is an experimental extension, I am sure the developer is looking for feedback. Can you suggest any improvements (like keyboard shortcuts, for example)?

Do you have any other screen-space-saving tips to share? />
/>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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