I remember when I was a child that every Saturday was shopping day.  My mum would take my brother and I to this huge shopping center where we would get what we needed and then go for lunch before heading home. This was the 1980′s, a time when there was no Internet and the only way you could buy what you wanted was to go out to the shops and get it yourself.

Fast forward 30 years and the situation has completely changed.  Now the Internet is King and everyone is buying their items online, turning online shopping into a major industry in itself.  Amazon rules in a lot of areas but there is still room for other heavy hitters such as supermarkets who offer home delivery for groceries, eBay for that hard to find item and Groupon for that last minute unbelievable deal.  You can download a lot of stuff too – all that’s needed is a fast Internet connection, some patience and a credit card.  The shopping experience has been turned upside down and it’s bricks and mortar stores that are suffering as a result.

Our infographic today comes courtesy of Grovo and it displays some staggering figures such as the total amount spent online in 2010 ($143 billion!), the rising influence of mobile phones in online shopping, who dominates which retail sector, and finally what kinds of stuff people tend to buy the most online.

Let us know what you think of it. How much of your stuff do you buy online?  Do you ever go out to a “real shop” anymore or is everything bought on a computer with a credit card?  How do you see online shopping progressing in the future?  Let us know in the comments below.

Infographic Source: Grovo
Image Source: -{ thus }-

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We all love working, don’t we? I’m sure none of you reading this would have it any other way than to sit at a desk for hours with little to show for it other than a meager wage. Those long hours spent in an office working on a computer never get tiresome, dull, or frustrating, do they? Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Yes, yes I am. Even the best jobs have their bad points, those moments when boredom sets in and there is nothing you’d like more in the world than head home and drop into bed. Or possibly out for a few beers. Thankfully there are alternative ways to relieve the boredom at times such as these. As long as you have access to the Internet and a way of bypassing the firewalls and filters your company has likely installed.

What follows are 20 (and many more besides) fun things to do online when you’re bored at work. Just don’t get caught by the boss.

Read

The Onion

The Onion labels itself as America’s Finest News Source. And it is, assuming you like your news to be funny yet wholly inaccurate.

The Daily Mash

The Daily Mash is the British version of The Onion, providing laughs and made-up news with a UK bias.

Literally Unbelievable

Literally Unbelievable exists because some people are too dumb to realize stories from the above sites aren’t based on the truth. Society is screwed.

Damn You Auto Correct!

Damn You Auto Correct! logs all those times when your smartphone auto-corrects your messages to make you look like a fool. Intentionally, of course.

You could also read comic eBooks.

Look

Garfield Minus Garfield

Garfield Minus Garfield does what it says on the tin – removes Garfield from the old Garfield cartoon strips. Which leaves Jon Arbuckle talking to himself. And looking slightly deranged as a result.

People Of Walmart

People of Walmart is a site dedicated to the store everyone shops in but no one wants to be spotted in. The sights on offer will leave you permanently scarred but laughing like a drain at the same time.

Awkward Family Photos

Awkward Family Photos captures those moments most of us would like forgotten. It was bad enough having these images locked away in an album under lock and key. Now they’re on the Web for all to see.

Scrolldit

Scrolldit pares Reddit down to just the images people are sharing. In other words, the good stuff you don’t want to miss. Perfect fodder for sharing on social networks when you’re bored.

You could also play picture games based on Flickr.

Watch

Talking Animals

Talking Animals is a YouTube channel which anthropomorphizes household pets. Your cat or dog isn’t as dumb as it may sometimes appear to be. At least if you believe these guys.

Quirkology

Quirkology is the perfect YouTube channel for those bored out of their minds at work. These are experiments anyone can do, most without any kind of special equipment.

The Gregory Brothers

The Gregory Brothers are a walking YouTube video factory. Thanks to Autotune The News and Songify This, this comedy troupe have become insanely popular. The Bed Intruder Song is still a must-see.

Jonathan Mann

Jonathan Mann is the man of just one voice, but 1,000 songs (and counting). Most of us would struggle to write even one song, while this guy has managed to write a new one every day for the past three years.

You could also visit video sites better than YouTube.

Play

Google Pacman

Google Pacman is perfect to play for five minutes when you’re bored at work. This is Pacman built around the Google logo. It started out as a Google Doodle before being archived to its own domain.

Bastion

Bastion is a perfect slice of indie gaming that is now available to play directly in Google Chrome. The full game needs to be bought but the Chrome extension offers a highly-playable demo.

Minecraft Classic

Minecraft Classic is free to play directly in the browser. And it’s well worth doing so, as Danny discovered last month.

Zynga

Zynga is the current leader in the social games sector. Its website therefore offers a portal which will offer simple pleasures for those with five minutes to spare.

You could also play Facebook Games and/or Google+ Games.

Laugh

Animals Being Dicks

Animals Being Dicks features gifs of animals being, well, dicks. Updated daily, this Tumblr-powered site is pretty much guaranteed to make you laugh. Unless you’ve had a sense of humor bypass.

Fail Blog

Fail Blog features videos, images, and stories all with one thing in common – someone, somewhere has failed in an epic manner. Part of the Cheezburger Network so more laughs can be had with very few clicks.

Criggo

Criggo is an online compendium of mistakes found in newspapers and magazines. Unlike with their online versions, these will remain forever, haunting some editor or another.

Dilbert

Dilbert is Dilbert, the same comic strip that has been appearing in multiple publications since 1989. Corporate culture and the technology which shapes it has changed, but Dilbert remains as funny as ever.

You could also laugh at these geeky websites.

Lest We Forget…

And finally let’s not forget MakeUseOf.com itself. Need I say more? OK, just a little. As you’re already here and reading this article you will know MakeUseOf is the best place on the Web to find things to make use of. And that includes links to websites and apps which will prevent boredom setting in whether at work or at home.  Also, don’t forget our Geeky Fun section if you want a few laughs.

Conclusion

With many of us being connected to the Internet most of our waking lives, there is really no need to ever be bored. There are roughly 200 million websites online at this moment in time. At least a few (million) of them will appeal to you personally and help to kill time at work.

The ones outlined above are just the tip of the iceberg. Explore! And then come back and let us know what you found. Just keep it clean, please.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/camera.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />As a title="YouTube Launches YouTube For Schools, Features Safe & Educational Content Only [News]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/youtube-launches-youtube-schools-features-safe-educational-content-news/">video production student, I still don’t know title="Greenlight Your Indie Flick With These 3 Sites" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/greenlight-indie-flick-3-sites/">what direction I’m going in. I don’t know if I want to make music videos, and I don’t know if I want to make documentaries. I could be doing corporate video, or I could be operating a TV camera at a football game (fortunately, I’ve already gained some experience in each of these).

So when I’m feeling frantic and disoriented in life, I go to the Internet to gain insight on what people are doing with their video careers. But instead of title="Check Out 3 DIY Video Series For Professional Tips On Video-Making" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-diy-video-series-protips-videomaking/">hogging all this information to myself, I thought I’d share it with you. Check out these four online video communities, and try to learn something!

href="http://www.dvxuser.com">DVXUser

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/dvxuser.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="145" />

The DVX User forums seem pretty awesome. I found them via a tip from title="Why Reddit Isn’t As Bad As Some People Would Make You Believe [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reddit-bad-people-opinion/">Reddit, and I was quite pleased upon my arrival. This site features discussion about everything you can think of video-wise, including cams, software, techniques, festivals, and more. As a matter of fact, the forums helped me decide on a replacement for my recently broken camera, so I’m very grateful to the site.

Another cool thing about DVX User is simply the ability to share your work on the site. The site provides plenty of online fests and sections to put your stuff out there, so take advantage of it! Also, if you want to pump up your skills, check out the forum’s Film School.

href="http://www.reddit.com/r/videography">r/Videography

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/redditvideography.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="145" />

Moving right along, r/Videography is actually the subreddit that I discovered DVXUser in. After posting an inquiry about my potential replacement camera, I received a variety of responses each detailing information on the camera (and maybe one that was absolutely irrelevant). Basically, this is one of the better subreddits on Reddit, and it is a very friendly community.

What I like about the Reddit format rather than the forum format is that you can post any topic, and the most popular ones get voted to the top. With r/Videography, you get a smorgasbord of video-related topics, and it semi-constantly changes. Albeit a slower-updating title="5 Ways To Find The Best Obscure Subreddits On Reddit" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-find-obscure-subreddits-reddit/">subreddit, the community is very active and willing to help or critique your skills.

href="http://www.creativecow.net">Creative Cow

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/creativecow.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="145" />

I’ve lurked on Creative Cow a little bit, but I will be the first to admit that I’m not an avid user of it. However, if I have ever had a video-related question on my mind or inquiry, I’ve ended up on CC before Googling it. Furthermore, based on what I’ve seen, it’s an authoritative website, so you should use it.

Creative Cow is bent on being a community for creativity in general, and it focuses on drawing many individuals and their personal resources together. Along with the basic forums offered, it brings title="How To Make Wrinkled Paper In Photoshop" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wrinkled-paper-photoshop/">lots of tutorials to the table covering all the major media editors and techniques. This site is fairly well-known, and although I’ve not been a regular visitor, you can rest assured that I will be changing that.

href="http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/">Videomaker Forums

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/videomaker.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="145" />

Back when I was in high school, I received a lot of support by an older mentor who helped me become more active in videomaking. He even went as far as to give me his copies of Videomaker magazine whenever he was finished looking through them (or even before he looked through them at all), and thus, my interest in video soared.

Seeing how interesting Videomaker magazine is, I ventured into the depths of the Internet and discovered that they actually have forums. With that being said, you can assume that the folks that read the magazine are likely to be pretty involved with their field, and those same folks use the title="9 Online Communities To Enhance Your Minecraft Game Experience" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-online-communities-enhance-minecraft-game-experience/">forums. I’d suggest going to Videomaker’s forums and getting involved, because the community (and the site itself) offers a wealth of information that you should know if you want to get into video.

Conclusion

So there you go, my fellow video buffs. These are just a few of the many sites out there that you can use to polish your video knowledge, so have some fun.  Let us know in the comments if you swear by another site.

By the way, I know there has to be a lot more of you out there who get into this videomaking nonsense. Do us all a favor and leave us a comment with some of your favorite websites for tips, tutorials, and communities. Also, what kinds of stuff have you found using the sites mentioned here?

Image Credit: href="http://morguefile.com/archive/display/62277" rel="nofollow">clarita

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/keyboard.png?323f2c" alt="things you shouldn't joke about" />No longer must we use title="The 4 Stages Of Social Networking With Old Friends [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-stages-social-networking-friends-opinion/">smoke signals to communicate. Long gone are the days in which we used cave walls to document events. It’s an title="Make Your Dumb Phone Smart With ifttt" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dumb-phone-smart-ifttt/">age of technology, a time in which we are supposed to be advanced. However, even in such an advanced age, it seems as though Internet society has become incredibly lenient about a variety of very important social issues.

I’m not a fan of making light of stuff that actually hurts people, and it’s not even a matter of being offended – I’m not. However, I do worry about how desensitized we have become to these issues.

Pedophilia

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/pedophilia.png?323f2c" alt="things you shouldn't joke about" width="580" height="185" />

I really don’t know when pedophilia became funny. Why is it okay to casually reference participation in sexual acts with children? Sure, I get it. You know that pedophilia is wrong, and for some odd reason, this is why you joke about it – a possible way of coping. However, I believe that the more we joke about it, the more laid-back we will become around it. We don’t take it as title="Why Reddit Isn’t As Bad As Some People Would Make You Believe [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reddit-bad-people-opinion/">seriously anymore.

Do I think this joking will lead to common acceptance of pedophilia? Nah. I’m not a conspiracist like that. However, I wish that just for once we can let the fact that there are people out there who want to have their way with children break our hearts a little bit. These folks want to rob the innocence of young boys and girls, and we make light of it by posting a picture of Chris Hansen or Pedobear. That’s kind of ridiculous.

Rape

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/rape.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="180" />

Rape isn’t cool, and joking about it isn’t either. I’ve never been a rape victim, and I can’t say I plan on it. However, the word “rape” is thrown around too casually on the Internet these days. (Just to clarify, I don’t believe usages of the phrase such as “raped my childhood” or “raped my memories” would fall under this category, but that’s really up to your discretion.)

Once again, this isn’t an issue of me being offended, because being offended does nothing in this world. However, I do worry that seeing rape jokes on the Internet may bring up some harsh memories or feelings for actual rape victims. If you’re heartless, you may believe that these folks need to get over it and stop living in the past. However, until you’ve actually had such an experience, I don’t want to hear that kind of opinion.

Killing

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whitemendie.png?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="185" />

Ladies and gentlemen, why must you insist on saying you wish someone would die? I don’t care if you wouldn’t actually do it, but have we gotten to a point where such hateful thoughts are acceptable? Behind the wall of the Faceless Username, cowardly individuals will come out saying that they wish that other individuals should die or, even worse, that they would kill them if they could. We’re talking about the removal of a life, here.

I’m not referring to the casual, all-in-fun, “I will kill you if you do that one more time!” Of course not, for people tend to rag on each other all the time and say this. However, what I am referring to are words that are obviously fueled by title="6 Things The Internet Has Taught Me About Etiquette [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-internet-taught-etiquette-opinion/">hate and anger. If the intention of this (non-fruitful) death threat is to emotionally hurt the person on the other side of the computer screen, then something needs to change.

Suicide

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/suicide.png?323f2c" alt="things you shouldn't joke about" width="580" height="180" />

Right up there with death threats, we have issues concerning suicide. I’ve seen a few instances where someone posts online about their thoughts of committing suicide, and then people will swoop in saying things such as “do it” or “if killing yourself will make you happy, then go for it”. It’s akin to a person standing on top of a skyscraper with a crowd of people below, screaming for him to jump.

How disgusting is this? I understand that many folks have varying views on euthanasia, but here’s what I believe when it comes to the Internet. You are not a professional, you don’t know the context of the person’s situation, and you have no clue what their life is like. If anything, I would say report the post and provide them with words of encouragement. However, if you know that your words will seem condescending in any form or fashion… shut up. Please. You’re dealing with a life that has so much potential, and the slightest thing could ruin it.

Many of you may comment on here that folks that post these things are only title="4 Things That Really Annoy Me In Tech Today [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-annoy-tech-today-opinion/">seeking attention and won’t actually do anything. To that I say that you should treat every hint of suicide as if the person will actually do it. If you decide to make the call that they won’t, and then they do, there’s a high chance that you will live with blood on your hands forever.

Conclusion

These are just four things that I believe the Internet makes too much light of. Is it a perfect post? Of course not. However, I hope it made you think a little bit.

What other things should people stop joking about on the Internet? Do you disagree with any of the items mentioned here?

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gaming.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />Though possibly the most popular, the world of MMOs spans far beyond the realms of Everquest and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/world-of-warcraft-now-free-to-play-to-level-20-mac-windows/">World of Warcraft. There are hundreds to thousands of well-developed and even free online games for you and all of your friends to enjoy. You’ve just got to know where to look.

It could take forever to go through each individual website of every MMO you may be interested in to check out screenshots and gameplay. However, I’m here to share five MMO directories that I’ve had plenty of luck with in narrowing doing the choices.

These directories do all the work for you and present the most enjoyable, sustainable, and free games to the user. All you’ve got to do is make the decision on which to play or download.

href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/">Free MMORPG List

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/freemmorpglist.png?323f2c" alt="" width="556" height="216" /> /> Despite the name, Free MMORPG List features much more than just massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games. It’s first on the list because it’s probably my favorite. The site features categories for href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_rpg_mmorpg/">free, href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_action_mmofps/">action, href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_strategy_mmorts/">strategy (or RTS), href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_kids_games/">kids, href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_multiplayer_simulation/">simulation, href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_sports_games/">sports, href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_browser_based/">browser-based, and href="http://www.freemmorpglist.com/games_social_mmorpgs/">social games. The site features 28 pages of games in total with a dozen of games displayed per page. The listing of each game offers a high-quality description, screenshot, and immediate links to download and visit the game’s official website. /> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/freemmorpglistexample.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="465" />

href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/">What MMORPG

If you’re specifically searching for a MMORPG, What MMORPG is the absolute best resource you’re going to find online. What MMORPG takes this MMO genre and breaks it down into subgenres of href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/fantasy-mmorpg-games.php">fantasy, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/horror-mmorpg-games.php">horror, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/modern-mmorpg-games.php">modern, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/space-mmorpg-games.php">space, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/superhero-mmorpg-games.php">superhero, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/historical-mmorpg-games.php">historical, href="http://www.whatmmorpg.com/racing-mmorpg-games.php">racing, and so many more. /> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whatmmorpgcategories.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="429" />

You can also narrow games down to their cost (free included), their play style (PvE vs. PvP), their developer, and their artistic style (2D, 3D, etc.). This is a very extensive resource. Game listing pages also include ratings of every game, contributed by players like yourself. /> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whatmmorpgexample.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="418" />

href="http://www.f2p.com/">F2P Games

F2P Games is 100% dedicated to bringing you MMOs that are completely free. This directory also separates href="http://www.f2p.com/content/2-MMO-Browser-Games">free browser-based games. F2P Games also includes a very interactive and informative href="http://www.f2p.com/forum.php">forum where you can go to get all the latest user-contributed F2P news.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/f2pgames-c.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="477" />

This directory contains a little over 100 games for you to choose from. It’s got a simple list style: not as descriptive as the rest in this list, but you can browse and choose what you want quickly.

href="http://mmogames.com/">MMO Games.com

This directory has the benefit of having one of the better eye-pleasing designs compared to the rest. Not much sets MMO Games.com apart from the rest, but they do have specific categories for href="http://mmogames.com/android/iosgames">mobile and href="http://mmogames.com/facebookgames">Facebook games. /> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/mmogames.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="146" /> /> The site features MMOs in general with a slight bias towards the MMORPG genre.

href="http://db.tigsource.com/">TIGdb

The Indie Game Database is a lot different from the previous directories we’ve mentioned. This website currently features 757 games, all created by indie developers. Not all of them are free and not all of them are MMO. You will be able to narrow down your selection using their filters though. /> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tigdb.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="464" /> /> This directory is really cool and unique and a refreshing change from the rest. I managed to find one of my favorite indie games ever, href="http://db.tigsource.com/games/altitude">Altitude, using this very website.

We’ve wrote before on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/mmohut-downloadable-mmorpg-games/">MMO Hut, a similar directory. We’ve also whipped up a nice little article showing you href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/mmohut-downloadable-mmorpg-games/">three of the very best MMOs to try out. Got any more suggestions on where we can go to find these games, or fun and free MMOs in specific? Share them with us in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-11-28-15h14_15.jpg" alt="download videos from internet" />Streaming video websites are such a big part of our lives, it’s hard to remember a time when they didn’t exist. These websites revolutionized our computer video experience – no longer do we have to download every single video we want to watch – it’s all right there!

But the opposite is also true. Sometimes sending a link or embedding a video is not enough, and we need the actual file, or only its soundtrack. And when that happens, the default FLV file format rarely cuts it. Luckily, there are several downloaders-converters out there that make it easy as pie to download videos and convert them into almost every possible format.

Xenra

href="http://www.xenra.com">Xenra is an easy-to-use web app which both downloads and converts YouTube videos into multiple formats. You can use it to either download whole videos, or extract entire audio tracks from YouTube videos.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-11-28-12h58_49.jpg" alt="download videos from internet" width="529" height="171" border="0" />

It’s very easy to use. Simply enter a valid YouTube link in the address bar and click the big red shiny “Download Now” button. You can then choose which format you want your video or audio file to be in, choose its quality and control several other aspects of the download.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/xenra-13.jpg" alt="download free videos" width="566" height="334" border="0" />

When you’re done, click “Start Conversion”. Xenra will start by downloading the video to its servers, and then convert it into the requested format. The process is rather swift, depending of course, on the video you chose and the quality you selected.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/xenra-2.jpg" alt="download free videos" width="572" height="383" border="0" />

When it’s done, you can download the file, share it, embed it, and generally have fun with it.

ClipConverter

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-clip-convert-web-videos-clipconverter/">ClipConverter is another excellent web app which can be used with multiple streaming video websites, not just YouTube. It can even convert or extract audio from video files you already have on your computer.

To start, paste the video’s URL or upload the file you wish to convert.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/clipconverter-15.jpg" alt="download free videos" width="581" height="205" border="0" />

Now choose which format you want the downloaded file to be converted into. Here too you can download the entire video or extract only the audio. If you wish to download only part of the video, you can specify start and end times and get only that snippet of the video as the final product. When you’re done, click “Start!”.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/clipconverter-2.jpg" alt="download videos" width="580" height="350" border="0" />

ClipConverter downloads and converts your video – and does so extremely quickly – and presents a download link along with a QR code, for downloading directly to your phone.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/clipconveretr-3.jpg" alt="download videos" width="438" height="343" border="0" />

To speed things up even further, try ClipConverter’s href="http://www.clipconverter.cc/addon/">browser add-ons for Firefox, Chrome and Safari, or use the handy dandy href="http://www.clipconverter.cc/addon/">bookmarklet.

ConvertVideoToAudio

href="http://www.convertvideotoaudio.com/">ConvertVideoToAudio is not as slick as the former two web apps, and not nearly as fast. What it does have going for it, are some unique file formats most other such converters don’t offer.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/convert-video-to-audio.jpg" alt="download videos" width="418" height="429" border="0" />

The website itself is way too cluttered with ads, and there are no settings to choose from except format. Having said that, you may find it useful if you need to quickly download and covert an online video into one of these formats, and while you can’t control the quality, it ends up being surprisingly good.

KeepTube

href="http://keep-tube.com">KeepTube is another download and convert service which you can use in multiple ways, although only with YouTube videos. Similar to other web apps, KeepTube sports the copy & paste option, but another way is to add the word “keep” before the word “youtube” on any YouTube URL you’re currently watching.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/keeptube-2.jpg" alt="keeptube-2" width="440" height="371" border="0" />

Both the copy/paste method and the “keep” method will direct you to the KeepTube website, where you can choose your preferred quality. KeepTube can be used mainly for full video downloads (HD and HQ included), but you can also use it to convert videos into MP3s.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/keeptube-1.jpg" alt="keeptube-1" width="580" height="405" border="0" />

If this is not quick enough, you can download a href="http://keep-tube.com/greasemonkey-plugin.php">plugin for Firefox or Chrome, or use the href="http://keep-tube.com/download-youtube-videos.php">bookmarklet. Note that the web app will attempt to launch a Java applet. If this is not to your liking, you can use the non-Java version of the app.

Freemake [Windows]

If web apps are not your cup of tea, and you like the feel of a good desktop app under your feet, this is the option for you. href="http://www.freemake.com">Freemake is a fantastic video converter for Windows which we’ve href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/freemake-easy-video-converter-windows/">mentioned in the past, which now also offers Freemake’s href="http://www.freemake.com/free_video_downloader/">free video downloader.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/freemake-1.jpg" alt="freemake-1" width="577" height="198" border="0" />

This slick piece of software grabs your video links from the clipboard. Copy the video URL and simply click the “Paste URL” button. The software can be set up in advance with your favorite settings, and will start downloading and converting immediately. When it’s done, you can even play the new file directly from the app.

If you turn off the one-click download option, you can set up the quality, format and location for each file separately. The downloader can also be used to extract audio from videos.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/freemake-23.jpg" alt="download videos from internet" width="566" height="598" border="0" />

Note that the software requires an installation of the latest version of .NET. If you don’t have it yet, it might take a little while to download.

Conclusion

Last time I actually needed to download and convert a YouTube video from the Internet, it proved to be quite a difficult task. But downloading an converting online videos has been getting increasingly easier, and after only a year or two, the Web is teeming with quick and simple options. Now I can’t wait for it to becomes even easier.

Know of some more easy-to-use video downloaders that also convert? Know of an important option we missed? Share in the comments!

Image credit: href="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/206200/206200,1239563704,10/stock-vector-two-arrow-refresh-symbol-28369810.jpg" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/stufftowatch_logo.png" alt="christmas films" />It’s December already, and that means href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/50-tools-and-resources-for-christmas-gift-ideas/">Christmas is just around the corner. What better way of getting in the mood than sitting back and enjoying some festive fluff once you’ve decked the halls and wrapped the presents?

This week’s article features a healthy mix of classic and obscure, featuring both href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-amazing-short-films-free-software/">short films and full movies for your enjoyment. Along with the usual helpings of sugar-coated Christmas tales there are a few alternative productions to shock and awe.

So whip out the Christmas booze, reach for the mince pies and feast your eyes on this lot.

href="http://www.archive.org/details/Scrooge_1935">Scrooge (1935) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026972/">IMDB]

Because no list of Christmas films is complete without an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, A Christmas Carol, here’s 3! This one in particular isn’t the oldest production, but the first “talkie” version of the story produced.

Each different version of Dickens’ classic tale tells the story in its own way, and this classic black and white version starring href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382957/">Seymour Hicks is no different. There’s less emphasis on Tiny Tim than we see in other versions, and the ghosts are interpreted somewhat differently too.

If you’re a massive fan of this heartwarming Christmas tale then you definitely won’t want to miss this version.

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href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ka1l_bugs-bunnychristmas-carol_fun">Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol (1979) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154263/">IMDB]

The second version of A Christmas Carol on this list comes from no other than Warner Bros and stars one of the most famous rabbits to ever grace television. Unlike Scrooge above, this isn’t a feature length film and comes in at a rather short 8 minutes due to the fact that it made up a small part of Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales.

It’s definitely worth a watch, particularly if you have young children who have little experience with the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/where-to-watch-old-classic-cartoon-tv-shows-online/">wonderful world of Warner Bros and their animated line-up. It’s also great to watch if (like me) you remember seeing this episode as a child and (like me) want to pretend you’re 9 again.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x1ka1l" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0">

href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp6uw">Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085936/">IMDB]

Last Christmas film, I promise! Up next href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-classic-disney-animated-wartime-propaganda-cartoons-stuff-watch/">it’s Disney and their take on Dickens’ tale – and who better to lead the pack than Mickey himself. The lead mouse predictably takes on the role of Bob Cratchit whilst Scrooge McDuck plays a fairly mean Ebenezer Scrooge.

Goofy, Jiminy Cricket and Willie the Giant each take on roles as the various ghosts that appear  in the story, and there are plenty of other Disney favourites to spot too. This particular adaptation runs for 26 minutes and that places it well and truly in the “short film” category – enjoy!

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xp6uw" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0">

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDR9zULPcFk">The Junky’s Christmas (1993) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125812/">IMDB]

The first of a very odd bunch of festive films, The Junky’s Christmas was originally a story written by William S. Burroughs around 1989 and was later adapted into a short but wonderful claymation film in 1993. This production is narrated by Burroughs himself, and even stars him briefly in the film’s live action intro.

What at first appears to be a dark and macabre take on the holiday season gradually lightens, eventually adhering to the “spirit of Christmas” ethos seen in so many yuletide motion pictures. The href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/15-coolest-stop-motion-videos-youtube/">stop motion, narration and fantastic ending make this a must-see (though I wouldn’t recommend it for the little ones).

style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr"> width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fDR9zULPcFk?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

href="http://www.archive.org/details/SantaClausversusTheDevil">Santa Claus (Conquers The Devil href="http://www.archive.org/details/SantaClausversusTheDevil">) (1960) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053241/">IMDB]

This rather crazy Christmas film has its origins in Mexico where it was produced and released in 1959 before being dubbed for American audiences a year later. The result? A near-psychotic rollercoaster ride of insanity that probably hasn’t aged too well.

Let me make one thing clear – this isn’t a particularly good film, but if you like bad films (especially bad Christmas films) then this live action screamer in which Santa must fight a demon sent to earth by none other than Satan will bring the house down.

This film was used by Mike Nelson and company for the TV series Mystery Science Theatre 3000, where it features a comedy narrative which might make the experience less painful.

width="500" height="395" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="quality" value="high" /> name="cachebusting" value="true" /> name="flashvars" value="config={'key':'#$aa4baff94a9bdcafce8','playlist':['format=Thumbnail?.jpg',{'autoPlay':false,'url':'SantaClaus_1_512kb.mp4'}],'clip':{'autoPlay':true,'baseUrl':'http://www.archive.org/download/SantaClausversusTheDevil/','scaling':'fit','provider':'h264streaming','showCaptions':true},'canvas':{'backgroundColor':'#000000','backgroundGradient':'none'},'plugins':{'controls':{'playlist':false,'fullscreen':true,'height':26,'backgroundColor':'#000000','autoHide':{'fullscreenOnly':true}},'h264streaming':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.2.1.swf'},'captions':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.captions-3.2.0.swf','captionTarget':'content'},'content':{'display':'block','url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.content-3.2.0.swf','bottom':26,'left':0,'width':500,'height':50,'backgroundGradient':'none','backgroundColor':'transparent','textDecoration':'outline','border':0,'style':{'body':{'fontSize':'14','fontFamily':'Arial','textAlign':'center','fontWeight':'bold','color':'#ffffff'}}}},'contextMenu':[{},'-','Flowplayer v3.2.1']}" /> name="src" value="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf" /> width="500" height="395" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" cachebusting="true" flashvars="config={'key':'#$aa4baff94a9bdcafce8','playlist':['format=Thumbnail?.jpg',{'autoPlay':false,'url':'SantaClaus_1_512kb.mp4'}],'clip':{'autoPlay':true,'baseUrl':'http://www.archive.org/download/SantaClausversusTheDevil/','scaling':'fit','provider':'h264streaming','showCaptions':true},'canvas':{'backgroundColor':'#000000','backgroundGradient':'none'},'plugins':{'controls':{'playlist':false,'fullscreen':true,'height':26,'backgroundColor':'#000000','autoHide':{'fullscreenOnly':true}},'h264streaming':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.2.1.swf'},'captions':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.captions-3.2.0.swf','captionTarget':'content'},'content':{'display':'block','url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.content-3.2.0.swf','bottom':26,'left':0,'width':500,'height':50,'backgroundGradient':'none','backgroundColor':'transparent','textDecoration':'outline','border':0,'style':{'body':{'fontSize':'14','fontFamily':'Arial','textAlign':'center','fontWeight':'bold','color':'#ffffff'}}}},'contextMenu':[{},'-','Flowplayer v3.2.1']}" />

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkEumP828D4">Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058548/">IMDB]

My, hasn’t Santa been busy? First the devil, and now 4 years later – martians! This one isn’t Mexican, however, and bares very little resemblance to the film above (other than the fact that it too is considered to be a bad film).

The plot really isn’t worth going into, this film regularly makes it onto “worst movies ever” lists and is consistently in IMDB’s bottom-100 films for good reason. You’ll probably know already if you can stomach this nauseating mix of sci-fi and Christmas, but if you think you need some help this one was also tackled on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

style="text-align: center;"> width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TkEumP828D4?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nR3Xwr1HGY">Bloody Mary Christmas (2010) [ href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1806817/">IMDB]

A particularly obscure short film, this Italian production takes Christmas Eve and turns it on its head in one of the most alternative festive productions ever made. The film is subtitled in English, and with a running time of around 24 minutes it’s fairly easy-going even if you hate reading subtitles.

Bloody Mary Christmas tells the tale of Alex, a boy sent to live with his ruthless aunt and uncle who he considers to have forgotten the real values in life. This year Alex asks Santa for a different kind of Christmas, and it appears his wish comes true at the stroke of midnight as an armed mysterious figure shows up uninvited.

This is one far-out festive short film, you have been warned!

style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr"> width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2nR3Xwr1HGY?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Conclusion

Christmas films don’t always have to be mushy tales of holiday kindness, though as Santa Claus Conquers The Martians demonstrates – it’s not overly advisable to stray too far from the usual formula. If you have any favourite Christmas films then please share them with us in the comments below.

Do you like any of the films on this list? Do you know any other Christmas films that are available online? Share the yuletide love in the comments section below.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email.jpg" alt="" />Personally, I am happy to give my entire online existence over to Google. They have my email, my Analytics data, my search history, my mobile device, my credit card information, and the list goes on. Some people may not feel that this is the smartest thing to do, and I don’t blame them. Those same people may still want to reap the benefits of web mail (in contrast to plain old desktop email, powered by Thunderbird and its ilk).

So I’ve gathered up a list of ten popular free email providers that you might want to take for a spin if Gmail or Yahoo are not your thing.

Hotmail

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email3.jpg" alt="email[3]" width="500" height="200" border="0" />

href="http://www.hotmail.com">Hotmail is Microsoft’s email service, and I have to say this is one of the best services on this list (if not the very best). We’ve recently held a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/switch-hotmail-makeuseof-poll/">poll asking if you guys would be willing to switch to Hotmail, and most of you picked the answer that went “I will never ever consider switching to Hotmail. Ever“. Well, if you’re one of those people, I guess I won’t be able to sway your opinion.

But if you go to that href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/switch-hotmail-makeuseof-poll/">poll page and scroll down, you will see comments by a user who goes by the name of Galileo Vieira, a member of Microsoft’s Hotmail team. Galileo presents some fairly persuasive arguments as to why you should give Hotmail a chance. Their new UI is quite spiffy, and Microsoft are generally putting some energy into the service.

Is Hotmail better than Gmail (or even Yahoo, for that matter)? I would say definitely not, not by a long shot. But I would say that for most users, Hotmail is probably the best service on this list.

Mail.com

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email5.jpg" alt="email[5]" width="580" height="350" border="0" />

If you feel that your email domain name is the most important part of the address, you should definitely check out href="http://mail.com">Mail.com. Its default domain name (@mail.com) is cool enough, and is even one letter shorter than you-know-who. But if you’re looking for something more specific, Mail.com offers an enormous list of alternative domains for you to pick from, such as “Engineer.com”, “Muslim.com”, and even “Secretary.net”.

It also boasts unlimited email storage, drag-and-drop labels, and more.

GMX Mail

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email9.jpg" alt="email[9]" width="400" height="300" border="0" />

href="http://www.gmx.com/">GMX claims to be “the free e-mail you’ve been waiting for”, and boasts 13 million users. That may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to how many users the other vendors have, but it’s still a sizable amount. Some of the perks GMX provides include unlimited email storage, as well as attachments of up to 50MB each.

The service is based in Germany, and they also have an href="https://market.android.com/details?id=de.gmx.mobile.android.mail&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImRlLmdteC5tb2JpbGUuYW5kcm9pZC5tYWlsIl0.">Android app that seems slated mainly at German-speaking users.

Hushmail

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email15.jpg" alt="email[15]" width="488" height="410" border="0" />

href="http://www.hushmail.com/">Hushmail is a bit more of an esoteric service. Their main claim to fame is that fact they provide “private, secure” free email accounts. Why the quote marks, you ask? Because Hushmail (quite famously) betrayed user trust in 2007 by providing email correspondence to federal agencies, complying to a Canadian court order. You can read a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai/">complete analysis of the incident in Wired’s Threat Level column of the time.

In brief, what you should know is that Hushmail’s mechanisms are not completely secure, although they are still significantly more secure than those offered by other providers. Conversely, their free option only includes a paltry 25MB of storage – a far cry from the unlimited space offered by some of the other vendors on the list. If privacy is a key concern for you, check out Hushmail, but don’t blindly trust them. Configure your own settings, and don’t give them your encryption key at any stage of the process.

Zoho Mail

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email17.jpg" alt="email[17]" width="308" height="327" border="0" />

href="http://zoho.com">Zoho makes a complete suite of online productivity tools, including a spreadsheet, a Wiki service, and more. Zoho Mail is their free email offering, and it looks quite spiffy. If you already use Zoho, that means you have a Zoho Mail account. One of its distinctive feature is that it is 100% ad free – not a single banner in sight.

Gawab.com

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email21.jpg" alt="email[21]" width="498" height="523" border="0" />

href="http://www.gawab.com/">Gawab offers email tracking (a way to see if users received your email), 10GB of storage, and other goodies. But above all, it offers built-in support for foreign character encodings, such as Arabic UTF-16. If you write a lot of email in Arabic and are not happy with your current email provider, check out href="http://gawab.com">Gawab.

Final Thought

Did I miss an important free email provider? Are you using an unknown provider that is absolutely awesome, and are dying to tell the world about it? Share it all in the comments!

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=email&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=57230653&src=1b4c4a8b980fa9a93ec97c10260bb8bb-1-97" rel="nofollow">ShutterStock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/0_etsy.jpg" alt="etsy for mobile" />The Holiday href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/shopping/">shopping season is upon us, so you know what that means. Troves of people are going to be flooding stores around the country and (hopefully) giving our economy a little boost with all the sales that they make in the process.

What are you heading out to buy this year? Electronics? Clothes? Depending on who you’re shopping for, maybe you’re looking for something unique or interesting. Well, if you happen to be interested in vintage or one-of-a-kind handmade goods, I think I just may be able to save you a trip to the store.

In this article, I’m going to show you how you can utilize href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/etsy-alternative-ebay-hand-products/">Etsy for your mobile device. Mobile shopping is sure to be a hit this year, so luckily for you, browsing your favorite handmade goods site just got easier.

What Is Etsy?

If you’re unfamiliar with Etsy, href="http://www.etsy.com/">the website, then allow me to take this opportunity to get you up to speed. Or read href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/etsy-alternative-ebay-hand-products/">Ryan’s excellent summary from last year.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1_etsy.jpg" alt="etsy for mobile" width="336" height="481" />

Etsy is “the world’s handmade marketplace”. It’s an e-commerce site that is focused entirely on handmade or vintage items and art and craft supplies. Items cover a wide range, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, beauty products, knick-knacks, etc. All vintage items must be at least 20 years old, and range from old boats and ice skates to dresses, hats, and scarves. Sellers also have personal storefronts where they list their goods, not unlike how Amazon or eBay functions.

Whether you’re already a longtime fan of Etsy or I’ve just introduced you to your new favorite shopping site, you should be pleased to know that your experience with this site just got a whole lot easier, because Etsy has gone mobile.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2_etsy.jpg" alt="mobile etsy" width="335" height="483" />

By visiting the mobile site or using the new iPhone app ( href="http://www.etsy.com/mobile">more information on both here) you can now buy directly from independent, creative businesses, and explore over 11 million unique (and I mean unique) items from small businesses all over the world.

Etsy’s iPhone App

The href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/etsy/id477128284?mt=8">Etsy app for iPhone gives you one-touch access to all of the items I’ve mentioned above. Overall, the app integrates well with your cart, favorites, purchase history, and shop, which really gives you most of the functionality you would have if you visited the website.

As a buyer, you can search for handmade/vintage items, browse Treasury Lists, and make purchases right from your mobile device. Etsy’s search function works really well, also. If you search for “dresses”, for instance, you’ll get a lot of listings that you can scroll through and filter by location, price, relevance, or most recent.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/3_etsy.jpg" alt="etsy for mobile" width="335" height="480" />

The app also incorporates social sharing features. You can share items you find via Twitter, Facebook, email, or SMS. The app encourages you to sign in with your Etsy account so that you can favorite items and add them to your cart.

If you’re a seller, you can access your listings and latest orders, as well as use merchant tools to manage your business more easily.

Conclusion

I think coming out with a mobile solution for users just in time for the Holiday shopping season was a really smart move for Etsy, who should definitely see additional sales being made because of the ease of use of this new app. Now users can shop on Etsy from anywhere, even from another store that they also happen to be shopping at. How useful!

What do you think about Etsy’s new app and mobile e-commerce?

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxball.png" alt="play soccer online" /> href="http://www.haxball.com/">HaxBall is both one of the most simple games I’ve ever played, in regards to gameplay and visuals, and one of the most addictive. I’m not even a big soccer (football, for our Europeans) fan, either. If you have even the slightest interest in sports, team-based gaming, or games that manage to be both casual and competitive in nature then you should give HaxBall a chance.

Registration is not required and you can begin playing soccer online at HaxBall in about 15 seconds after landing on their website. After selecting a username to play as, you’re presented with a list of rooms. Join a room and you’re ready to play.

HaxBall’s Start

HaxBall is an indie game developed by Mario Carbajal, known as Basro in-game and on href="http://www.reddit.com/r/haxball">Reddit. He and his brother, Pilaf, created HaxBall as a bit of a personal project and just for fun. It has since fleshed out to a thriving community of players that can reach up to 5,000 online at once during peak hours.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxball_big.png" alt="play soccer online" width="580" height="168" />

HaxBall utilizes Flash’s P2P (peer-to-peer) technology. There are no dedicated servers. It makes for a very unique experience that calls on all players to help contribute as pillars to the game.

The Gameplay

HaxBall’s gameplay consists of two functions – the arrow keys to move your player and the X key to kick the ball. If you’d rather switch hands, you can use the WASD keys as directional keys and the spacebar as your kick button. It’s a matter of preference, but both are very primitive and simple. You need no other keys or mouse gestures to play this game.

The objective is to score goals in the opposing team’s net. The maximum number of players, time limit, score limit, and stadium type (the field, basically) are all variables that you can modify by creating your own room. These variables create unique and exciting gameplay scenarios if you’re bored of standardized 3-on-3 games. Up to 22 players can join a room, which includes spectators.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxballroom.png" alt="play soccer online free" width="401" height="300" />

On the following screen, you’re able to choose your stadium. Here is what the more popular Classic stadium looks like:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxball_classic.png" alt="play soccer online free" width="580" height="287" />

Here is what the less-popular Hockey stadium looks like:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxball_hockey.png" alt="play soccer online" width="580" height="273" />

Stadiums come in various sizes, big and small, with a choice of corner styles, rounded or standard.

Here is the official HaxBall promotional trailer:

Competition & Leagues

For a game so simple, you’d expect competitive play to behave the same. Not entirely. HaxBall has a thriving elitist community who show a huge skill gap between your first-week beginner. Here’s a little montage of higher-skilled players you might like to see:

href="http://www.sphaxball.com/">SPHB was founded and stands today as HaxBall’s premiere league. With both a minor and major division, SPHB gives every player the opportunity to compete. Currently in season five, the league is as organized as it is fun, with teams like the Boston Crabs, Huntington Beach Hipsters, and Robot Bears.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/haxball_teams.png" alt="" width="580" height="97" />

Personal friends of mine have participated in the league and can’t really say enough about how well everything is handled. Games are streamed to the masses, results are posted on their forums, and they really handle this entire thing as if they’re getting paid for it. Check out some of the top plays from one of their most recent weeks:

width="560" height="315" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k2nILniGMrw?version=3&hl=en_US" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="560" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k2nILniGMrw?version=3&hl=en_US" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

The HaxBall Community

HaxBall has players from every continent in the world. It doesn’t matter what nook or cranny you’re living in, there should be a server hosted within 1,000km of your location so that you can maintain a solid ping to play competitively.

href="http://www.haxballtube.com/">HaxballTube

HBT is a YouTube clone filled with awesome HaxBall videos.

href="http://haxballaus.theforum.name/">HaxBall Australia/NZ

Your hub for all things HaxBall for Australia and New Zealand.

href="http://haxball.de/">HaxBall.de

HaxBall’s German community, filled with awesome tips and tricks for new and old players.

href="http://hbaleague.xaa.pl/">HaxBall Amateur League

The HaxBall Amateur League is the premiere league for players in Poland.

href="http://www.haxballtr.com/">HaxBall Türkiye

Turkish HaxBall players can organize their leagues and discussions here.

There are many more community sites that you can check out href="http://www.haxball.com/community.html">here.

Give HaxBall a try. It doesn’t matter if you’re a casual player or a player looking for a new and interesting, competitive game that can be played from any location. HaxBall has a lot to offer for a game that is so simple. My username in-game is Crayder and maybe you’ll see me around!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image45.png" alt="online photo editor" />Gone are the days when you needed something like Photoshop or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gimp-paint-studio-great-addition-gimp-digital-artists-playground/">GIMP to make basic photo edits. Today, there are several interesting free Web-based choices. These won’t rival Photoshop or GIMP for professional users, but if you’re just a regular Joe trying to make some subtle edits to a photo, they may actually be a better fit than Photoshop. Let’s look at two of the most popular ones and try to see which online photo editor is better.

Photoshop Express

The Photoshop brand needs no introduction, and Express is the Web-based version. It sits on the absolutely killer domain href="http://photoshop.com">Photoshop.com, but is it really that good?

To test it, I’ve uploaded an unedited base photo (I will be using the same one with Picnik as well). The editing interface looks like this:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image46.png" alt="online photo editor" width="580" height="291" border="0" />

Kind of tiny in the screenshot, but you get the layout. Your photo sits at the center, and there’s a large vertical toolbar along the left side of the screen, with some extra buttons sprinkled around the frame. Let’s look at the toolbar first:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image47.png" alt="free photo editor" width="226" height="502" border="0" />

So the toolbar has two tabs, “Edit” and “Decorate“. All of the functions are clearly labeled, and there are no cryptic icon-only buttons. So in terms of learning curve, it’s very easy to get started.

Now let’s try out some of the functions. For example, let’s play with the white balance:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image48.png" alt="free photo editor" width="567" height="170" border="0" />

As you can see, once you pick a tool, you get several thumbnails showing previews of the tool’s different settings. The tooltips are also very helpful – just hover over one of the settings, and you can instantly see what it’s for. Since my photo was taken in sunlit settings, I went with this white balance option.

Not all tools have tooltips, though. The Auto Correct option, for example, merely shows thumbnails. As you hover over a thumbnail, the main image is instantly updated with the effect, so you don’t have to squint and imagine what it would look like.

Photoshop Express also lets you apply some basic filters to the entire image:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image49.png" alt="free photo editor" width="175" height="281" border="0" />

So it seems to get all the basic editing tools right; now let’s have a look at some of the extras filed under the Decorate tab.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image50.png" alt="photo editor" width="220" height="430" border="0" />

Specifically, let’s try picking a nice frame for my horse photo:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image51.png" alt="image" width="376" height="439" border="0" />

This is what happens when you click the Frames button. My first disappointment with Photoshop Express; these frames seem to be aimed at kids, rather than people looking for a basic photo editor. And when you apply one of them, it looks pretty bad, too.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image52.png" alt="photo editor" width="446" height="670" border="0" />

Poor horsey… Let’s undo that frame. The other decorations seem to be equally silly; these are basically just stamps you can slap on your photo. For example, here’s the Miscellaneous category:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image53.png" alt="image" width="344" height="429" border="0" />

Had this been a photo of a unicorn, I might have gone with the rainbow and hearts. Since this is a horse, we’ll be moving on.

Bottom Line For Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is a solid free offering. I would keep away from the Decorate tab, but the editing tools are solid, useful, and well-crafted. The instant previews are impressive and easy to use.

Picnik

Now let’s take our horse over to the competitor, href="http://www.picnik.com/">Picnik. Again, let’s start with an overview of the interface:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image54.png" alt="photo editor" width="580" height="318" border="0" />

Once more, we see a vertical toolbar with labeled buttons, but Picnik has a bit more going on at the top of the screen:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image55.png" alt="image" width="443" height="251" border="0" />

There are more tabs along the top of the screen. The Auto-Fix functionality gets center-stage here, with a huge button sprinkled with some stars for good measure. In Photoshop Express, this is called “Auto-correct” and gets a simple button alongside the rest. They obviously really want me to use it, so I’ll just go ahead and click. Unlike Photoshop Express, the Auto-Fix button is a single-click affair; click, and the photo changes whichever way Picnik wants to change it (Photoshop Express shows thumbnails and lets you pick between them).

Effects

One thing Picnik has over Photoshop Express is an enormous amount of filters and effects. Let’s look at the effects tab:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image56.png" alt="image" width="366" height="623" border="0" />

There are lots of effects you can apply to your photo; however, notice the subtle “premium” label overlayed over some of the buttons. This mean you can’t use them unless you pay up for the full version (around $3/month or so).

Now, since we’ve looked at frames in Photoshop Express, let’s take a quick look at the frames Picnik offers:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image57.png" alt="online photo editor" width="226" height="514" border="0" />

Okay, these are far less silly than Photoshop’s.

Bottom Line for Picnik

Picnik’s interface is richer than the Photoshop Express one, but individual functions are not always as detailed (see the Auto-Correct comparison above, for example). The plugs for the paid version may be necessary, but they don’t add to the user experience (it’s no fun to keep looking at functions you can’t use).

Final Verdict – Which is The Better Editor?

If you’re looking for basic edits such as color and contrast corrections, the href="http://www.photoshop.com">Photoshop Express may be the right choice for you, thanks to the amount of choices you can make about each basic fix. On the other hand, if you’re looking to apply funky filters or get more creative with your photo, you should probably go with the href="http://www.picnik.com/">Picnik online photo editor.

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=paintbrush&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=74097193&src=f6572a81e4068d29b8dc730ef9bcf522-1-5" rel="nofollow">ShutterStock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/anonymous.gif" alt="anonymous hackers" />By now, you’re probably aware of the title="Sony Pictures Online Hacked Using “Primitive and Common” Vulnerability, Data Unencrypted [News]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sony-pictures-online-hacked-primitive-common-vulnerability-data-unencrypted-news/">mayhem and title="Hacker Group Anonymous Attacks myBart.org Site [News]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hacker-group-anonymous-attacks-mybartorg-site-news/">mischief that both LulzSec and Anonymous have claimed responsibility for. If not, I’m here to educate you. Both seem to have a feared and revered reputation as defiant hacktivists that accept no compromise. Although these two groups seem as close as cousins by nature, both have their distinct differences that we’ll venture into briefly.

One question still seems up in the air and at a divide in the public: Are these the good guys or the bad guys? The media often portrays them as vigilante villains and the internet seems to embrace them as defenders of freedom and transparency. While the answer to that question is difficult and often dodgy, I’m going to address the situation without bias. Afterwards, I want your opinion in the comments.

Anonymous

Famously sporting the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_mask#Use_of_.22Guy_Fawkes.22_mask_in_anti-establishment_protests">Guy Fawkes mask and appearing at sensationalized protest after protest, it’s strange to fathom that a group with such a name is is so popular in today’s world.

Anonymous became relevant in 2003, birthed by the majority default of Futaba-based href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imageboard">imageboards. These imageboards (and one, especially, that you all know I am talking about) are often shunned into deep web as sewers of the internet. Seen as cesspools filled with questionable images and other content, trivial inside jokes (“memes”), and internet trolls and bullies extraordinaire, it’s really no wonder why mainstream internet tries to tuck them away.

The most obvious snag with the Anonymous hacker group is the fact that there is no leader or figurehead. Anonymity comes with its disadvantages, and this is definitely one of them. As a whole, the group seems very unorganized and out there. Official membership is achieved by simply concealing your identity as you carry out your activities online. The entire group seems like an umbrella over several smaller factions. LulzSec itself is often described as a sort of subsidiary of Anonymous. Anonymous has often been often cited as a major contributing pool to WikiLeaks.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/anonymous_wikileaks_operation_payback.jpg" alt="anonymous hackers" width="580" height="316" />

As Anonymous matured (and I say that carefully), the impact of their hacks and pranks began to magnify. Early in formation, you could find the group participating in:

• href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pools-closed">Habbo Hotel raids, where they collectively troll the game with mostly-racist insults and memes
• href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Turner#Anonymous_website_raid">Defacing and compromising Hal Turner (white nationalist, Holocaust denier)’s website, apparently costing him thousands
• href="http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy">Invading, and quite literally assaulting, members of the Epilepsy Foundation through their forum
• href="http://cybercrimes.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/sohhcom-this-is-how-it-was-decafed-fbi-investigating/">Hacking huge hip-hop community websites like SOHH.com and AllHipHop.com

I can’t point out any true acts of heroism there. Hal Turner isn’t an angel, but none of this is progressive. As time passed, Anonymous grew. Their activities have completely changed:

• href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/anonymous-speaks-the-inside-story-of-the-hbgary-hack.ars">Attack on HBGary Federal, a security company dedicated to the US government
• href="http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201114/7017/Anonymous-Operation-Sony-is-a-double-edged-sword">Operation Sony, where Sony’s PlayStation Network suffered a breach and ridiculous amounts of downtime
• href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387264,00.asp">Operation Anti-Security, a collaboration with LulzSec dedicated to (maliciously) breaching government websites and security

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hbgary_hack.jpg" alt="lulzsec anonymous" width="450" height="337" />

Things have started to become pretty serious. There are large-scale hacks. After specifically searching for operations that show any glint of positivity, I’ve come across one:

• href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/231901499">Operation Darknet, where websites harboring child pornography were attacked and personal information of those frequenting and contributing to the websites were posted

This is huge and it is even commendable. There are other ways to go about the situation, but I can’t find a real reason to argue with the outcome. This needed to happen, one way or another.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/darknet.jpg" alt="lulzsec anonymous" width="400" height="256" />Several plots and attacks have been shrugged off by the majority as unofficial. href="http://www.slashgear.com/anonymous-vows-facebook-destruction-on-november-5th-2011-10170706/">Operation Facebook, where the Anonymous hackers vowed to take down Facebook, was disbanded. href="http://news.yahoo.com/anonymous-hackers-group-threat-york-stock-exchange-150513737.html">Anonymous’ threat to the NYSE during the recent Occupy Wall Street protests was said to be drafted by outsiders with no pull inside of the group. The attack, which ended up being merely a DDoS attempt on the NYSE website (not the exchange itself), managed to create a hiccup for all of two minutes. Fail, as they say.

The verdict: At best, Anonymous is a group of troublesome trolls and hackers who seem to scapegoat current events and search for an excuse to cause problems. They’re in it for attention and this is not a good group of people overall. Sometimes the chips fall in their favor, but they are not heroes.

LulzSec

When compared to Anonymous, LulzSec was more straightforward. They were also more organized, having only six official members. They seem to have had no issue at all in revealing that their intentions weren’t completely kosher. The group’s motto was “Laughing at your security since 2011!” and they were an organization that did it all ”for the lulz.” (It means it was done for their personal entertainment.)

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LulzSec-Security.jpg" alt="lulzsec anonymous" width="450" height="329" />

LulzSec seems to have been a one-off deal and they have since halted all operations. To commemorate the disbandment and “achievements” of the group, LulzSec released the “ href="http://pastebin.com/1znEGmHa">50 Days of Lulz” on June 26th, 2011. The name plays on the fact that the group was in full and operational swing for exactly 50 days. The release included confidential accounts and passwords across various websites.

Preceding this final release, hacks included:

• X Factor contestants database release
• Fox.com sales database, usernames/passwords, and inner workings release
• PBS.org defacement, databased leak, and fake “ href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20067334-71.html">Tupac is Alive” article
• title="Sony Pictures Online Hacked Using “Primitive and Common” Vulnerability, Data Unencrypted [News]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sony-pictures-online-hacked-primitive-common-vulnerability-data-unencrypted-news/">SonyPictures.com database leak
• Nintendo.com breach with only a webserver configuration file released ( href="http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/06/06/lulzsec-hacks-nintendo-with-gentle-pat-on-the-head-and-candy/">because they like Nintendo)

More small releases took place on the group’s official href="http://twitter.com/LulzSec">Twitter, mostly consisting of Pastebin or MediaFire account dumps.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/lulzsec-user-name-drop.jpg" alt="anonymous hackers" width="580" height="374" /> /> Just like Anonymous, LulzSec is no stranger to trying to play protector  ( href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20072322-83/after-sega-gets-hacked-lulzsec-offers-to-seek-revenge/">as they did with Sega).

The verdict: LulzSec was a brief run, but that comes with no amnesty. Fortunately, this group seemed not to be concerned with views of the public and media. I don’t think a single member of LulzSec would wholeheartedly argue that the effect of their mischief was anything other than profoundly negative. Problem is, they seem not to care very much.

So, let us hear your opinion after this exposé’. Heroes or villains? This should be an easy one.

Image Credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://cdn4.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/anonymous_at_scientology_in_los_angeles.jpg">DigitalTrends.com

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Icon3.png" alt="free clothes" />It’s a scary world out there, and the best way to go through it is by title="Do You Have A Photo Of A Great Fashion Item? Here Is How To Find Out Where To Get It!" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/photo-great-fashion-item-find/">wearing clothes. Sure, there are a few exceptions to this statement, but we’ll leave those alone… However, you may be looking for some places to pick up some free href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/t-shirts/">t-shirts or something a little on the higher end of things.

Today, I’ve got five websites that you can find some free clothes on, and the best part is that each of them are totally free of charge (I know, I know – you’re on the edge of your seat).

href="http://www.freecycle.org">Freecycle

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreeCycle.png" alt="free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

We’ve talked a little bit about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-recycle-reuse-stuff-protect-environment/">Freecycle on MakeUseOf before, so I just wanted to get it out of the way since you might have already heard about it. The site was developed as a way for people to get rid of their unneeded items in a much more environmentally-friendly way than dumping them in a landfill. However, along with recycling used computer gadgets and such, you can actually grab free clothes from Freecycle.

Essentially, href="http://www.freecycle.org">Freecycle is all about giving away what you don’t need and getting stuff that you do – for free. About the only thing that somewhat frustrated me with this site was the lack of a legitimate search function, but after a few clicks, I found a few dress shirts near my town that were being given away free of charge! Furthermore, you can post “Wanted” ads for clothing that you may need.

href="http://www.ilovefreegle.org/">Freegle

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Freegle.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

So you may have noticed that Freecycle is US-only. Well, good news my UK friends. href="http://www.ilovefreegle.org/">Freegle is a site that is… well… it’s just like Freecycle. I could actually copy and paste the above two paragraphs here, replace each mention of Freecycle with the word “Freegle”, and it would be a perfect description. Unfortunately, my editor Mark wouldn’t appreciate this very much.

From what I understand, Freegle actually used to be a part of Freecycle, but something went down and the UK crew split. However, both sites are wonderful (but as a note, Freegle’s web design is much cleaner and more user-friendly).

href="http://www.craigslist.com">Craigslist

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Craigslist.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

Oh hey, href="http://www.craigslist.com">Craigslist! How did you get on this MUO article, too? Yes, we’ve covered the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/craigslist/">list of Craig quite a few times here on MUO, but there’s one item you should take note of on Craigslist’s front page. Right under the “For Sale” section of the site, you’ll see a link that simply says “free”.

Well… I bet you’re wondering where that’s going to lead you, right? This section of the site is full of free stuff just ready for you to take. After a quick search in my area, I found shoes, baby clothes, and even adult-sized clothes. One pretty nice item was an advertisement by a title="3 Cool Online Thrift Stores To Save Yourself A Fortune" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-cool-online-thrift-stores-save-fortune/">thrift store that was giving away a ton of free clothes for one day only. Make sure you take a look at the ads in your location.

href="http://www.freestuffchannel.com/clothes.html">Free Stuff Channel

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreeStuffChannel.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

The site mentioned here is a whole lot like a site called href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ease-stress-bank-account-hey-free-usonly/">Hey, It’s Free! that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Basically, the creators of the site go around the Internet in search for magical items such as free promotional products and special offers coupons. Pretty cool.

However, if there’s anything that businesses like to make, it’s t-shirts, right? (We even have a href="http://splitreason.com/makeuseof">few on MUO.) It also seems as if companies love giving away their t-shirts. Fortunately, in addition to everything else the site has to offer, the href="http://www.freestuffchannel.com/clothes.html">Free Stuff Channel goes around looking for promo items such as these. The site is updated daily, so you could have quite a large wardrobe before the year is over.

href="http://www.coolfreebielinks.com/Apparel_Freebies/">Cool Freebie Links

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreebieLinks.png" alt="free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

href="http://www.coolfreebielinks.com/Apparel_Freebies/">Cool Freebies Links looks like a site from the nineties and it also uses my least favorite font – title="Combat Chronic Comic Sans Font Misusage With These 3 Sites" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/combat-chronic-comic-sans-font-misusage-3-sites/">Comic Sans – but it has quite a bit of free stuff that is collected in the same fashion as the Free Stuff Channel. It’s a lot of text to read, but each bit of it is very valuable.

I’m not entirely sure how often the site updates, but they had quite a collection of promo clothing for you to grab if you’re lucky. Look through their listings, and you may even find other sites for other free materials.

Conclusion

Well that’s that, my thread-mooching friends. If you’re low on cash, you definitely have quite a few options to choose from for free clothes. Sure, with some of these you may have to put up with a company logo but that’s better than running around naked, right?

What other sites do you use to find free clothing? Did you find anything pretty cool on the ones shown here?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Icon3.png" alt="free clothes" />It’s a scary world out there, and the best way to go through it is by title="Do You Have A Photo Of A Great Fashion Item? Here Is How To Find Out Where To Get It!" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/photo-great-fashion-item-find/">wearing clothes. Sure, there are a few exceptions to this statement, but we’ll leave those alone… However, you may be looking for some places to pick up some free href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/t-shirts/">t-shirts or something a little on the higher end of things.

Today, I’ve got five websites that you can find some free clothes on, and the best part is that each of them are totally free of charge (I know, I know – you’re on the edge of your seat).

href="http://www.freecycle.org">Freecycle

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreeCycle.png" alt="free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

We’ve talked a little bit about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-recycle-reuse-stuff-protect-environment/">Freecycle on MakeUseOf before, so I just wanted to get it out of the way since you might have already heard about it. The site was developed as a way for people to get rid of their unneeded items in a much more environmentally-friendly way than dumping them in a landfill. However, along with recycling used computer gadgets and such, you can actually grab free clothes from Freecycle.

Essentially, href="http://www.freecycle.org">Freecycle is all about giving away what you don’t need and getting stuff that you do – for free. About the only thing that somewhat frustrated me with this site was the lack of a legitimate search function, but after a few clicks, I found a few dress shirts near my town that were being given away free of charge! Furthermore, you can post “Wanted” ads for clothing that you may need.

href="http://www.ilovefreegle.org/">Freegle

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Freegle.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

So you may have noticed that Freecycle is US-only. Well, good news my UK friends. href="http://www.ilovefreegle.org/">Freegle is a site that is… well… it’s just like Freecycle. I could actually copy and paste the above two paragraphs here, replace each mention of Freecycle with the word “Freegle”, and it would be a perfect description. Unfortunately, my editor Mark wouldn’t appreciate this very much.

From what I understand, Freegle actually used to be a part of Freecycle, but something went down and the UK crew split. However, both sites are wonderful (but as a note, Freegle’s web design is much cleaner and more user-friendly).

href="http://www.craigslist.com">Craigslist

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Craigslist.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

Oh hey, href="http://www.craigslist.com">Craigslist! How did you get on this MUO article, too? Yes, we’ve covered the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/craigslist/">list of Craig quite a few times here on MUO, but there’s one item you should take note of on Craigslist’s front page. Right under the “For Sale” section of the site, you’ll see a link that simply says “free”.

Well… I bet you’re wondering where that’s going to lead you, right? This section of the site is full of free stuff just ready for you to take. After a quick search in my area, I found shoes, baby clothes, and even adult-sized clothes. One pretty nice item was an advertisement by a title="3 Cool Online Thrift Stores To Save Yourself A Fortune" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-cool-online-thrift-stores-save-fortune/">thrift store that was giving away a ton of free clothes for one day only. Make sure you take a look at the ads in your location.

href="http://www.freestuffchannel.com/clothes.html">Free Stuff Channel

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreeStuffChannel.png" alt="find free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

The site mentioned here is a whole lot like a site called href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ease-stress-bank-account-hey-free-usonly/">Hey, It’s Free! that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Basically, the creators of the site go around the Internet in search for magical items such as free promotional products and special offers coupons. Pretty cool.

However, if there’s anything that businesses like to make, it’s t-shirts, right? (We even have a href="http://splitreason.com/makeuseof">few on MUO.) It also seems as if companies love giving away their t-shirts. Fortunately, in addition to everything else the site has to offer, the href="http://www.freestuffchannel.com/clothes.html">Free Stuff Channel goes around looking for promo items such as these. The site is updated daily, so you could have quite a large wardrobe before the year is over.

href="http://www.coolfreebielinks.com/Apparel_Freebies/">Cool Freebie Links

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FreebieLinks.png" alt="free clothes" width="580" height="300" />

href="http://www.coolfreebielinks.com/Apparel_Freebies/">Cool Freebies Links looks like a site from the nineties and it also uses my least favorite font – title="Combat Chronic Comic Sans Font Misusage With These 3 Sites" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/combat-chronic-comic-sans-font-misusage-3-sites/">Comic Sans – but it has quite a bit of free stuff that is collected in the same fashion as the Free Stuff Channel. It’s a lot of text to read, but each bit of it is very valuable.

I’m not entirely sure how often the site updates, but they had quite a collection of promo clothing for you to grab if you’re lucky. Look through their listings, and you may even find other sites for other free materials.

Conclusion

Well that’s that, my thread-mooching friends. If you’re low on cash, you definitely have quite a few options to choose from for free clothes. Sure, with some of these you may have to put up with a company logo but that’s better than running around naked, right?

What other sites do you use to find free clothing? Did you find anything pretty cool on the ones shown here?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/relationship.jpg" alt="ex revenge pics" />When it comes to revenge, they say that it’s a dish best served cold. Today, it seems that when it comes to ex-partners and ex-flames, its best served online. Revenge is as old as man and his ego. Heck, they even have bestsellers on the subject.

With the coming of age of the very public World Wide Web, pouring vitriol on your partner has taken on another dimension. It’s like being hauled up to the town square and given a very public tongue lashing. But don’t get me wrong here. I am not writing this post with a broken heart. I am writing it with an inquisitiveness that’s born out of watching such ‘breaking news’ given top billing by even major news channels.

So, let’s check out some myriad (and creative) ways to take revenge on your ex-partner after a relationship has gone south.

Use Social Media

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/revenge-relationship06.jpg" alt="ex revenge pics" width="580" height="519" />

Social media like Facebook and Twitter has turned us into vampiric voyeurs. Just change your relationship status message and see the comments you collect. But scorned partners take it further…much further. Posting images of your ex is by far the most common but suspicious spouses also use the relative anonymity of social networks to href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1243354/My-cheating-husband-tried-seduce-sexy-blonde-Facebook--didnt-know-was-.html">pose as someone else and catch their ‘worse’ half’s in the act.

Did you know that href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-infidelity-cheating-spouses-online/story?id=12272421">Facebook Cheating has found a place in popular lingo today along with Facebook Divorce? Check out href="http://facebookcheating.com/">Facebookcheating.com for more relationship horror stories. So you really aren’t alone when it comes to venting it out on Facebook or any other social media. Remember Facebook has a ‘Friends of Friends’ sharing option!

Blast Away With a Blog

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/revenge-relationship02.png" alt="revenge pics of your ex" width="580" height="353" />

In simple words – put it out on a blog. If you can start a blog about your cats and their favorite pet foods, why not stick it to your ex-flame with sulfurous words. From the free WordPress to Tumblr, you have options galore.

Auction off on eBay

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/revenge-relationship01.jpg" alt="revenge pics of your ex" width="400" height="436" />

If you are looking for an instance, look no further than this woman who started a whole garage sale of her ex-husband’s belongings on eBay. The image if I remember went viral very fast, probably inspiring other entrepreneurial broken hearts in its wake.

Ex Revenge Pics Say A Thousand Words

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/revenge-relationship03.jpg" alt="revenge pics of your ex" width="580" height="484" />

This is perhaps the most common ways of showcasing your anger. Ex revenge pics by jilted lovers are the stuff of online voyeurs…and all of us have seen a fair share of them. Photo upload and sharing sites like Flickr do their bit by giving you lots of descriptive tags (hate, venom, revenge, feelings, relationships etc.) to use with the photos. Put in a caption and you are set to use photo albums like real world graffiti walls. Oh yes, mark it public.

Go YouTube