A while back, we received a question on MakeUseOf Answers asking where in the world one can get royalty free music. Naturally, as someone who is constantly searching for this Holy Grail, I jumped on it.

So, dear MakeUseOf readers, I felt that this is a question worthy enough to expand upon. I’m quite sure that some of you out there are wondering where to find royalty free music whether you’re a videomaker, a game developer, or one of those neo-artist stage performance poets that uses a combination of visual imagery, weird music, and the occasional bit of innocent nudity. So with that being said, I’m here to bring you some quality royalty free music.

Vimeo Music Store

The Vimeo Music Store is a brilliant tool to use when in search for music for your videos. Although there are several free items available via the Creative Commons, there are actually a few songs that you can pay for either personal use ($1.99) or for commercial use ($98). The Vimeo Music Store is a nice consolidated catalog of music from all genres, and the best part about it is that each song on the store is available to use for your videos. This way, you do not have to do as much digging. However, you will have to lurk around if you want to find free royalty free songs, and it’s a little harder if you want to use them commercially without paying a dime.

SoundCloud

I recently discovered the beauty of SoundCloud, and the fact is this – they have an entire section of their site devoted to the Creative Commons. What does that mean for you? Well, my friend, it means there is a ton of music out there waiting on you to use it in a personal project. SoundCloud also offers quite a bit of search classifications, so you can find songs with CC licenses that allow for commercial use or without the share alike option. It seems like a good deal to me, and I’ve been using their music for quite a few projects lately.

Free Music Archive

The Vimeo Music Store pulls some of their music from the Free Music Archive, but I decided to go ahead and throw it in as a separate entity for a couple of reasons. One, it seems like the Vimeo Music Store doesn’t include all of the songs on here, for it constantly updates. Two, it also seems like there is some differing information between the sites.

For instance, I used a song that I got from the Vimeo Music store for free, and on their site, it said I could only use it for noncommercial purposes. However, when I saw it on the Free Music Archive, it said I could use it for commercial purposes with attribution. Either way, both are excellent sources of music, and I would recommend this site for sure. Granted, I cannot guarantee everything on this site will be available for you to use.

Incompetech

We couldn’t have this article without mentioning Kevin MacLeod, the mastermind behind Incompetech. MacLeod’s website offers quite a bit of music for your royalty free needs, and it is absolutely fantastic. He does offer a PayPal donation system (as does AudioNautix, actually), so if you feel the need to support him, you can do so. However, his music is great for whatever you need, and there is nothing else I can really say except that you should go give it a listen.

AudioNautix

After submitting my answer to MUO answers (which included the Vimeo Music Store), I went back to see if anybody else had brought anything to the table. Fortunately, someone did, and that was MUO reader ha14, who suggested AudioNautix, another site for royalty free music. The site offers everything including tracks for cinematic works and documentaries, but what i really liked about it was simply how easy it was to understand the usage rights of this music. You can pretty much use it for anything, so… go do that. Right now.

Conclusion

These are simply my top four picks for royalty free music (with ha14′s tacked on), and each of them have quality stuff. You normally won’t see a whole lot of good music that you can use in projects, and each of these resources has a different flavor for everyone.

What other royalty free music resources do you use? What do you like or not like about the ones mentioned here?

Image Credit: imelenchon

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/intro_megaman_8bit.jpg" alt="video game music" />Chiptune is a fairly broad term used to describe music that has been programmed to play on old, often 8bit sound chips from days of yore. The term can also refer to modern examples of video game music, with artists like Anamanaguchi rocketing to fame complete with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/visual-boy-advance-game-boy-advance-emulator-multiple-platforms-windows-mac-linux/">Game Boys in hand.

Much like MIDI files, chiptune tracks are often just sets of instructions that tell the chip what to do and when to do it. Purists will always tell you to listen to the track on original hardware, though it’s unlikely everyone has a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-great-crossplatform-emulators-5-classic-computer-platforms/">Commodore 64 or Amiga 1200 just lying around (guilty parties, raise your hands).

Here are some of the very best tools, resources and other websites to immerse yourself in the bleep-boop world of chiptune.

Chips ‘n’ Dip

In order to enjoy the unbelievable amount of chiptune music that has made it onto the world wide web over the years you’ll either be needing the original hardware and programs required for playback (for the seriously dedicated) or some href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/emulation/">emulation software to do the job for you.

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

Many mainstream media players such as href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/itunes">iTunes and Windows Media Player are not suitable for chiptune files as there are many exotic filetypes associated with this kind of music. href="http://support.xmplay.com/index.php">XMPlay is probably one of the finest examples for Windows users, and even users running Linux should have some href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-about-some-wine-with-your-linux/">success using Wine.

It supports a large number of formats including various chiptune filetypes, and more plugins (for greater compatibility) and skins are available at href="http://www.un4seen.com/">Un4seen Developments. Users who fancy an alternative can also turn to href="http://www.chipamp.org/">Chipamp which is a chiptune plugin pack for Winamp, again suitable for Windows users.

style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr"> width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yJ4CaHqR4XI?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Mac OS X and Linux (also Windows) users will have some success with href="http://www.bannister.org/software/ao.htm">Audio Overload, a tool designed specifically to emulate vintage sound chips from old computers. Whilst it doesn’t play everything it certainly covers a lot of the bases. If you’re interested in playing music from href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/play-arcade-games-pc">old arcade ROMs then the same author has produced a tool for the job href="http://www.bannister.org/software/m1.htm">called M1. For that all-important .XM file support on Mac or UNIX based systems then href="http://mikmod.raphnet.net/">MikMod does the job too.

The Music

Some of the songs featured on the websites below are in MP3 or streamable Flash form, so even if you don’t fancy grabbing specialist software you’ll at least be able to enjoy a few bleeps and boops!

href="http://www.chiptune.com/">Chiptune.com

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/chiptune_com.png" alt="video game music" width="580" height="440" />

Not only is Chiptune.com one of the greatest resources for all manner of retro sounds, but the website has been designed to imitate Workbench, the original AmigaOS. The result is a faithful and nostalgic interface that boots and behaves like a real Amiga.

The music is stored within the Chipbench 1.3 folder, and by far the most efficient way of browsing or downloading whole collections is via the FTP link (unless you’re a fan of closing a lot of windows all of the time).

Even if you don’t download anything this website is worth a poke around for old time’s sake.

href="https://8bc.org/">8bitcollective

style="text-align: center;">  class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/8bitcollective.png" alt="free video game music" width="580" height="430" />

Who said chiptune was dead? Not me, for I have seen 8bitcollective – a site dedicated to creating, discussing and sharing electronic noises. The music provided on this site appears to be MP3 only, so you can stream each song before deciding whether you want the free download or not.

It may disappoint some that original filetypes are not available, though don’t despair – there’s a lot of music available and all of it is completely free. I’d hazard a guess that much of the music found on 8bitcollective is fairly recent, though that’s not to say retro equipment or samples haven’t been used.

href="http://www.8bitpeoples.com/">8bitpeoples

style="text-align: center;">  class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/8bitpeoples.jpg" alt="free video game music" width="580" height="337" />

This collective formed in 1999 through their shared passion for video game music and an urge to bring chiptune to the masses, for free. The href="http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography">discography page is where the treasure can be found and features music from various artists still producing this type of music today.

The website is regularly updated with news and new material, so check it out for 8bit happenings where you are in the world. The group are responsible for gigs and events around the globe and are currently preparing for the Australian Blip Festival in February 2012.

href="http://modarchive.org/index.php?query=54&request=search&search_type=genre">The MOD Archive – Chiptune

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/modarchive_chiptune.png" alt="free video game music" width="568" height="446" />

Nearly 2,000 separate entries make up this rather untidy list of chiptune downloads that mostly come in .XM format. There are also thousands of other files that make up The MOD Archive’s swelling archive of downloadable music, so check it out and see what you can find.

One thing that’s particularly nice about this site is that each download page offers up suggested software for listening to your chosen tune.

href="http://chiptunes.back2roots.org/">chiptunes.back2roots.org

style="text-align: center;">  class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/back2roots_chiptune.png" alt="video game music" width="577" height="294" />

Another fairly old website that features thousands of files to peruse and download. Alternatively you can simply download the lot in a click (the entire MOD archive comes in at 76.5MB, with an additional 5.5MB of Adlib files and 6.3MB of the YM variety).

Other Resources

The following sites aren’t repositories of files or chiptune-dedicated sites but might aid you in your search for warm fuzzy noises.

href="http://www.kohina.com/">Kohina (Radio)

Kohina is a simple radio station that serves up retro video game music 24/7. Prepare to play spot-the-tune as you encounter genuine sounds from some very old games!

href="http://www.di.fm/chiptunes/index.php">Digitally Imported – Chiptunes (Radio)

Digitally Imported, or DI.fm as it is more commonly known, is easily one of the best online radio services on the web. Now you can chiptune whenever you want, simply by tuning in to their “Chiptunes” radio station. If you really love the service you can go premium for higher bitrates.

href="http://soundcloud.com/tags/chiptune">SoundCloud – tags/chiptune

SoundCloud is a fantastic resource for streaming video game music from a wealth of devices. Why not stumble around the chiptune tag to see if there’s anyone worth following?

Conclusion

There are literally thousands of files here for your perusal – some tagged, some just arbitrary strings of numbers and letters, so I’m not exaggerating when I say if you like chiptune you’ve struck gold with these websites. If you do discover any awesome tunes then don’t hesitate in sharing them with us, below.

Do you like chiptune? Any favourite websites? Any favourite artists or songs? Have an 8bit party in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas"/>We have covered a few very useful free href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/garden/">gardening tools and apps so far including a helpful guide on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/start-garden-internet/">starting a garden with the help of the Internet and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/garden-pest-detective-identify-plant-diseases/">identifying plant diseases.

If you love gardening and like making things with your own hands, today’s collection is right for you!

This post shares ten most useful resources that will get you inspired and your creativity flowing: they share fun and unique ideas on how to turn trash into gardening gold!

 Instructables / Indoor Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-04.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="252" />

The href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Indoor-Gardening/">section features more than 20 DIY projects by gardening experts. Find out how to grow your own herb garden and start seedlings indoors.

Favorite projects: href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Matts-Original-Inverted-Planter-aka-IPlanter/">iPlanter, an upside down planter made from the old plastic bag, and Fern Nursery, a green way to recycle a tennis ball container into an in-house garden on your windowsill.

Gardener’s World / Creative Projects

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-03.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="261" />

The best thing about the site is that each project has a detailed step-by-step guide on how to implement each idea.

Favorite project: Build a href="http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/insects-bug-box/">bug box (or bee hotel) and have fun watching bees come to live there (quite an unexpected project for gardeners as they usually get annoyed by bugs, but what a neat idea!)

 DIY Gadgets / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-10.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="264" />

href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/">DIY gadgets blog features most interesting upcycling ideas on how to turn trash into useful things. Not all of the ideas have detailed instructions linked to but the resource can be a powerful source of creative DIY inspiration.

Favorite projects: href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2011/07/light-bulb-into-mini-green-house.html">light bulb into a mini green house and href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2009/09/skateboard-table-for-your-garden.html">skateboard table.

Lonely Plants / DIY

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-02.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="268" />

href="http://www.thelovelyplants.com/top-diy-gardening-projects-for-this-season/">This page features quite a few creative DIY gardening ideas to keep you busy for the whole year.

Favorite projects: DIY Hanging Garden to decorate your patio or balcony and DIY Bamboo Water Hammer to create a cool-looking stylish garden fountain.

Neat Ideas / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-01.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="178" />

href="http://www.neatideas.tv/gardening/">The gardening section of the “Neat Ideas” site is goldmine of creative DIY hacks: from watering plants (while you are away) to breathing a new life into old used tools. There are no step-by-step guides on realizing the ideas but they are great for inspiration!

Favorite projects: There are plenty of useful ideas on how to upcycle a used plastic bottle into useful stuff like Watering Spikes and href="http://www.neatideas.tv/gardening/neat-ideas-bird-feeder-kit/">Bird Feeder.

Life on the Balcony / Container Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-05.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="328" />

Looks like the href="http://lifeonthebalcony.com/category/how-to/frugal-container-gardening/">blog hasn’t been updated for some time but its collections of links features so many DIY container gardening tips that it is still worth checking.

Favorite projects: href="http://lifeonthebalcony.com/three-diy-garden-inspired-gift-ideas/">DIY garden-inspired gift ideas that really prove the fact that the best present is one made with your own hands.

28 Upcycles for the Garden

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-06.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="364" />

href="http://www.instructables.com/id/28-Up-Cycles-for-the-Garden/">The collection of useful ideas from an 8-year gardener on how to upcycle 28 (or more) everyday household items for gardening.

Favorite projects: Styrofoam cups with lids can be upcycled as micro green houses for seed starting and transplanting seedlings.

Re-Nest / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-07.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="406" />

href="http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/category/1659/gardening">The collection of DIY and how-to gardening tips created by Re-Nest editors features a few gardening tips a day!

Favorite project: href="http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/gardening/a-recycled-plastic-bottle-vertical-garden-treehugger-152419">a recycled plastic bottle vertical garden, an inexpensive small space solution for growing herbs and spices.

Upcycled Garden

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-08.jpg" width="550" height="218" />

href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?cat=83">The category lists not many DIY gardening projects but the collection is really high-quality.

Favorite projects: href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?p=792">Boot Tray, a practical and nice way to keep all the dirt from the garden boots inside (the idea looks similar to this href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2011/05/diy-stone-bath-mat.html">stone bath mat by the way) and href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?p=858">light bulb vases (hanging mini vases that would look great in any interior)

Recycled Garden Planters

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-09.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="293" />

The awesome href="http://www.recyclescene.com/how-to-recycle/garden-planters">collection of various ways to create unique garden planters by href="http://www.recyclescene.com/">Recycle Scene (no instructions available but you are unlikely to need one for most of the ideas).

Favorite projects: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034346679@N01/1616967814/">Guitar planter and href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41894159995@N01/4494062162/">Shoe Planter.

Do you feel inspired? Please share your favorite DIY gardening projects in the comments!

Image Credit: rel="nofollow" title="Seedling in a toilet paper roll repurposed as a mini planting pot" href="http://flickr.com/photos/45605988@N03/5713582601/">cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by rel="nofollow" href="http://flickr.com/people/45605988@N03/">girlingearstudio

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas"/>We have covered a few very useful free href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/garden/">gardening tools and apps so far including a helpful guide on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/start-garden-internet/">starting a garden with the help of the Internet and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/garden-pest-detective-identify-plant-diseases/">identifying plant diseases.

If you love gardening and like making things with your own hands, today’s collection is right for you!

This post shares ten most useful resources that will get you inspired and your creativity flowing: they share fun and unique ideas on how to turn trash into gardening gold!

 Instructables / Indoor Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-04.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="252" />

The href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Indoor-Gardening/">section features more than 20 DIY projects by gardening experts. Find out how to grow your own herb garden and start seedlings indoors.

Favorite projects: href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Matts-Original-Inverted-Planter-aka-IPlanter/">iPlanter, an upside down planter made from the old plastic bag, and Fern Nursery, a green way to recycle a tennis ball container into an in-house garden on your windowsill.

Gardener’s World / Creative Projects

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-03.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="261" />

The best thing about the site is that each project has a detailed step-by-step guide on how to implement each idea.

Favorite project: Build a href="http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/insects-bug-box/">bug box (or bee hotel) and have fun watching bees come to live there (quite an unexpected project for gardeners as they usually get annoyed by bugs, but what a neat idea!)

 DIY Gadgets / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-10.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="264" />

href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/">DIY gadgets blog features most interesting upcycling ideas on how to turn trash into useful things. Not all of the ideas have detailed instructions linked to but the resource can be a powerful source of creative DIY inspiration.

Favorite projects: href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2011/07/light-bulb-into-mini-green-house.html">light bulb into a mini green house and href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2009/09/skateboard-table-for-your-garden.html">skateboard table.

Lonely Plants / DIY

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-02.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="268" />

href="http://www.thelovelyplants.com/top-diy-gardening-projects-for-this-season/">This page features quite a few creative DIY gardening ideas to keep you busy for the whole year.

Favorite projects: DIY Hanging Garden to decorate your patio or balcony and DIY Bamboo Water Hammer to create a cool-looking stylish garden fountain.

Neat Ideas / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-01.jpg" alt="garden diy" width="550" height="178" />

href="http://www.neatideas.tv/gardening/">The gardening section of the “Neat Ideas” site is goldmine of creative DIY hacks: from watering plants (while you are away) to breathing a new life into old used tools. There are no step-by-step guides on realizing the ideas but they are great for inspiration!

Favorite projects: There are plenty of useful ideas on how to upcycle a used plastic bottle into useful stuff like Watering Spikes and href="http://www.neatideas.tv/gardening/neat-ideas-bird-feeder-kit/">Bird Feeder.

Life on the Balcony / Container Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-05.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="328" />

Looks like the href="http://lifeonthebalcony.com/category/how-to/frugal-container-gardening/">blog hasn’t been updated for some time but its collections of links features so many DIY container gardening tips that it is still worth checking.

Favorite projects: href="http://lifeonthebalcony.com/three-diy-garden-inspired-gift-ideas/">DIY garden-inspired gift ideas that really prove the fact that the best present is one made with your own hands.

28 Upcycles for the Garden

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-06.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="364" />

href="http://www.instructables.com/id/28-Up-Cycles-for-the-Garden/">The collection of useful ideas from an 8-year gardener on how to upcycle 28 (or more) everyday household items for gardening.

Favorite projects: Styrofoam cups with lids can be upcycled as micro green houses for seed starting and transplanting seedlings.

Re-Nest / Gardening

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-07.jpg" alt="gardening inspiration" width="550" height="406" />

href="http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/category/1659/gardening">The collection of DIY and how-to gardening tips created by Re-Nest editors features a few gardening tips a day!

Favorite project: href="http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/gardening/a-recycled-plastic-bottle-vertical-garden-treehugger-152419">a recycled plastic bottle vertical garden, an inexpensive small space solution for growing herbs and spices.

Upcycled Garden

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-08.jpg" width="550" height="218" />

href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?cat=83">The category lists not many DIY gardening projects but the collection is really high-quality.

Favorite projects: href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?p=792">Boot Tray, a practical and nice way to keep all the dirt from the garden boots inside (the idea looks similar to this href="http://diygadgets.blogspot.com/2011/05/diy-stone-bath-mat.html">stone bath mat by the way) and href="http://theupcycleblog.com/?p=858">light bulb vases (hanging mini vases that would look great in any interior)

Recycled Garden Planters

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gardening-diy-09.jpg" alt="garden diy ideas" width="550" height="293" />

The awesome href="http://www.recyclescene.com/how-to-recycle/garden-planters">collection of various ways to create unique garden planters by href="http://www.recyclescene.com/">Recycle Scene (no instructions available but you are unlikely to need one for most of the ideas).

Favorite projects: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034346679@N01/1616967814/">Guitar planter and href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41894159995@N01/4494062162/">Shoe Planter.

Do you feel inspired? Please share your favorite DIY gardening projects in the comments!

Image Credit: rel="nofollow" title="Seedling in a toilet paper roll repurposed as a mini planting pot" href="http://flickr.com/photos/45605988@N03/5713582601/">cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by rel="nofollow" href="http://flickr.com/people/45605988@N03/">girlingearstudio

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/intro11.jpg" alt="" />Can you remember 1997? Those of you who can might also recall the hysteria, outrage and above all critical acclaim festooned on one of the most iconic and original video games of the time – Grant Theft Auto.

It seems bizarre nowadays that a small amount of pixellated blood, top-down 2D viewing angles and the odd car chase could cause such a reaction – but it did. Since then there have been a steady stream of console and PC releases as well as a handful of handheld efforts to boot.

Those of you who live, breathe and sleep Liberty City are in luck. Here are some killer resources for your favourite crime ‘em up.

href="http://www.gta4.net/map/">The Big GTA4 Street View Map

So, the best use for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-websites-virtual-globetrotting-google-street-view/">Google Street View technology thus-far goes to… the guys over at href="http://www.gta4.net">GTA4 who have spent two long months recreating GTA4’s Liberty City as an interactive, clickable world. That’s right – the whole city is available for your perusal, as well as all the information you’d expect regarding pickups, activities and other challenges.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/streetview1.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="475" />

This really is a monumental achievement. 78,494 screenshots were required, totalling over a million files with a total file size of 125GB. Now that’s a lot of work, and it’s easy to appreciate the beautiful outcome once you’ve started clicking around.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/streetview2.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="474" />

Streets are labelled correctly, locations can be marked and the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/everything-you-should-know-about-making-awesome-screenshots/">screenshots are beautiful. It’s like a real-life living city, and testament to Rockstar’s ability to create immersive worlds. There are also a selection of cameos and other points of interest dotted around, like href="http://www.gta4.net/map/?lat=5.2294921875&lng=-8.7890625&z=4&u=6.50390625%7C-11.25%7C&p=1755&ph=23.34975&pp=-31.40394&pz=1">this one – don’t forget to share your findings in the comments!

Community Modding, Mapping & Custom Models

Here’s where the PC gamers have the advantage – the overwhelming number of modifications available for each and every GTA release. Fancy trying to survive in a href="http://www.gta4-mods.com/script/left-4-liberty-infectionv20-f8616">zombie-infested Liberty City? What about playing through GTA: San Andreas on GTA4’s RAGE engine? New cars, missions and graphics? Oh yeah, it’s been done!

href="http://gtaivsa.com/">GTA4: San Andreas

Currently in beta, but functional – this is GTA: San Andreas on the GTA4 engine. The developers are currently appealing for testers to submit information about known bugs and issues, but really it’s there for anyone to play around with.

width="580" height="356" 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/7ZKMgk2oEmo?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7ZKMgk2oEmo?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

Included is the full map and original vehicles with improved graphics, sound, Euphoria physics and an advanced replay tool.

href="http://www.gta4-mods.com/">GTA4-Mods

This is where you’ll find a healthy portion of the latest customizations and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-free-online-multiplayer-source-engine-mods-halflife-2/">third-party add-ons for GTA. Hosted efforts include the fabulous href="http://www.gta4-mods.com/misc/icenhancer-13---enb-graphic-mod-f10005">iCEnhancer graphics mod, href="http://www.gta4-mods.com/vehicles/gta-iv-mega-car-pack-f4510">epic compilations, new weapons and vehicles as well as some great tutorials in case you were thinking of creating your own customizations.

href="http://www.gtaforums.com/">GTAForums

Part of the Grand Theft Auto Network (the same guys who brought you the Liberty City Street View map) comes probably the most active community when it comes to all things GTA.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gtaforums.png" alt="" width="531" height="395" />

Not only are there the usual “what do you want to see?” and “I have problems with my graphics” posts but a whole section dedicated to showcasing mods, which makes it fairly easy to find what you want (like href="http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=397589">this realistic driving mod). Check out the href="http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showforum=90">mod showroom section for a decent list of what’s on offer.

href="http://www.gtainside.com/">GTAInside

Another collection of awesome downloads, with a fairly regularly updated news section that highlights the community’s latest and greatest work. There are a good number of vehicles (air, land and sea) on offer here.

GTA4 Shorts

GTA4’s RAGE engine is a dynamic tool – so much so that it has been used in many videos, and to great effect. Here is a very small selection, be warned adult themes and language are used (after all, GTA is an adult game).

GTA4: Project Cooper

width="580" height="356" 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/VFwO_K6lVBY?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VFwO_K6lVBY?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

The Bad Assassin (Also: Part 2)

width="580" height="356" 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/lMDtaB4jdls?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lMDtaB4jdls?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

Niko’s Dance Party

width="580" height="356" 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/aIxAMafeh28?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aIxAMafeh28?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

Liberty City Terrorist Attack

width="580" height="356" 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/p__dPCRtQGY?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p__dPCRtQGY?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

href="http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/">Download GTA & GTA2 For Free

Finally if you’re ready to take a trip down memory lane, both GTA and GTA2 are still available for free from Rockstar Classics. You’re probably going to need to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/common-windows-7-compatibility-issues/">fiddle around with compatibility settings to get these running on a modern Windows Vista or 7 system, but it’ll be worth it just to shout “Gouranga!” and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/emulation/">re-live the 2D days of yore.

Conclusion

Hopefully there’s enough GTA meat here to get your teeth into. If you’ve played through the game on a console but have a capable PC, picking up a cheap copy of GTA4 or Episodes From Liberty City might be worth it for the wealth of modifications and add-ons spawned by the community. Of course, you’ll also get to try your hand at a couple of movies too!

Have you tried any GTA mods? Any particular favourite game in the series? Have you made any movies? What are your thoughts on the next installment? Let us know in the comments.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Projector.jpg?54167" alt="multimedia authoring tools" />Even in a world where class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/cc-search-creative-commons-content/">Creative Commons exists, it always seems like there is not enough quality royalty-free material for us in the multimedia field. Thankfully, there are several places out on the Internet that hear the cries of every starving artist.

Today, MakeUseOf offers four little-known multimedia authoring tools for your next production. What we have here is the junk drawer of your virtual artistic toolshed, and whether you are a video-maker, a graphic designer, or an audio engineer, these sites are sure to help.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.movietools.info">Movietools

Movietools is a rare gem that every video artist should know about. With an array of over 140 video loops consisting of backgrounds, virtual studios, lower thirds, and moving objects, you will never be at a loss for your next presentation.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Movietools1.png?54167" alt="multimedia authoring tools" width="580" height="311" />

File formats are only Windows Media Video files, so if you’re running a Mac OS, you might want to check out a free class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-easy-to-use-freeware-video-converters/">media converter. However, if you are willing to shell out a few extra bucks, you should look at the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/convert-video-files-with-avs-video-converter/">AVS Video Converter.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MovieTools3.png?54167" alt="multimedia tools" width="580" height="743" />

All files from Movietools are made in 848×480 for 16:9 scaling and 640×840 for 4:3 scaling. Also, the lower third and moving object loops have been pre-keyed for your video-editing software.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.freesound.org">The Freesound Project

As mentioned before by MakeUseOf, the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/freesound-free-sound-effects-download/">Freesound Project is a collectively growing community that donates sound files for you to insert into your media project. With nearly 116,000 files to date, there is nearly an endless supply of royalty-free sound.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/freesound.png?54167" alt="multimedia tools" width="580" height="410" />

As a given, each file is under the class="vt-p" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/">Creative Commons 1.0 Sampling license, and credit is required for each sound creator. Also, each file comes in the format of the user’s choice, so again, it might be good to find a sound file converter such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/audioexpert-online-sound-editor/">AudioExpert if you plan on using this online tool seriously.

Another little feature offered by Freesound is the class="vt-p" href="http://www.freesound.org/mootcher.php">Mootcher open-source programming library. This bit of open-source software allows you to write the FreeSound library into your own video or audio editing software.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mootcher1.png?54167" alt="multimedia tools" width="580" height="404" />

One thing to keep in mind is that the Freesound Project focuses primarily on sound bits rather than music. It is possible that you will find music on here, but it is more likely to be a simple recording of a live performance at a parade or a festival of some sort.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.archive.org">The Internet Archive

Taking a cue from the class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria">Library of Alexandria, the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-wayback-machine-lets-you-browse-the-internet-of-yester-yore/">Internet Archive is an attempt to digitally archive media files that includes moving images, sound files, photographs, texts, and pretty much anything that you can use to absorb information. That being said, it also offers a variety of media sources that can be used on your next project.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Archive1.png?54167" alt="multimedia apps" width="580" height="363" />

Not surprisingly, this site incorporates a great deal of downloadable media that is open to the public domain or is royalty-free. However, this is not to say that all of the media on this site is for you to put your hands on. Each file has its own specific license, and many of these incorporate Creative Commons. Make sure to check both the sidebar and the bottom half of each media page to find exactly what the creator or submitter allows. Some licenses are visible, but others are not.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Archive2.png?54167" alt="multimedia apps" width="580" height="411" />

class="vt-p" href="http://www.detonationfilms.com">Detonation Films

Whether you want to add some explosive transitions to your PowerPoint speech or a few action-packed sequences to your latest video project, the pyromania boys at Detonation Films have enough napalm and shrapnel to satisfy the Michael Bay in all of us.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Det.png?54167" alt="multimedia apps" width="580" height="407" />

Detonation Films is the ultimate zone for stock video of explosions, rockets, bullet holes, and more. Although many of their videos are for sale, there are a whole lot of freebies for you to download.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Det1.png?54167" alt="" width="580" height="558" />

Most videos utilize a simple black background which can be done away with using a luma or screening effect, but there are a few with chroma-key green and even pre-keyed clips to easily layer on top of your source video.

In addition to their main site that is full of 4:3 video clips, there is also class="vt-p" href="http://www.detfilmshd.com/">DetFilmsHD which offers a few pricier, yet sexier, hi-definition explosions.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Det2.png?54167" alt="multimedia authoring tools" width="580" height="349" />

Conclusion

Hopefully, these sites will aid you in your next big production whether it be a presentation at a conference, an audio mix, or the latest YouTube viral video. Visit them often, for they are constantly updating their material.

What kind of other sources of free media do you know about? Have you ever used any of these sources before with your own projects? What types of projects have you made using them?

Image credits: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://morguefile.com/archive/display/144574">jppi />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quality-resources-multimedia-project/">Various Little Known Quality Resources For Your Next Multimedia Project is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intro11.jpg" alt="" />The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea as it is more commonly known, is regarded by many as the world’s most isolated country. The volatile, far left state operates a tightly organised single party military dictatorship with “The Glorious Leader” Kim Jong-Il at the helm.

North Korea is a fascinating country as we know so very little about how the population of around 24 million people (2009 estimate) conducts its daily life. Over the years, more and more information has trickled out of North Korea, both from official government channels and defectors who have fled the country.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/">Korea-DPR.com

Why not start with the horse’s mouth? Korea-DPR.com is the official website of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. Despite seeing fairly regular class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/newsupdate.htm">news updates, much of it is the recycled happenings of 60 years ago or renewed promises from The Great Leader.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/koreadpr_com.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="467" />

You can also find information regarding delegate visits to the country (more on that later) as well as class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/users/thai/trip.htm">photo galleries of foreign visitors enjoying a taste of kimchi and communism. Interestingly the Korean Friendship Association “ class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum">forum area“ has received a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/download-build-your-own-wordpress-site">WordPress revamp since the last time I visited, which makes it a blog and certainly not a forum.

Many of these “forum” posts have comments disabled, though make sure you read class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/forum/?page_id=39">the FAQ, which answers many burning questions – including the obvious: where can I get a signed photograph of Kim Jong-Il?

At the class="vt-p" href="http://www.korea-dpr.com/catalog2">KFA shop of course.

Travel

For anyone who has ever fantasized about actually visiting North Korea there’s class="vt-p" href="http://www.koryogroup.com/">Koryo Tours. What better way to learn about this fascinating country than by going there? This won’t be like any holiday you’ve ever taken before. You’ll be accompanied everywhere you go by guides and restricted to your hotel once your arranged activities are over. No exploring!

Koryo Tours aren’t the only company that offer trips, but they’ve been successfully taking groups to the country since 1989. One thing you’ll find on the Koryo Tours website that you’re unlikely to see the last time you booked a fortnight abroad are class="vt-p" href="http://www.koryogroup.com/travel_travelAdvice_rules.php">these rules, which urge you to bow in the presence of statues and leave your chewing gum at home.

style="text-align: center;"> id="revver270792130875274166217378" width="480" height="392" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=270792"> name="Movie" value="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=270792" /> name="FlashVars" value="allowFullScreen=true" /> name="AllowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=270792" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="allowFullScreen=true" allowscriptaccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">

If you don’t think you’ll be making it over there any time soon then be sure to take a look at class="vt-p" href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/recent_scenes_from_north_korea.html">this fantastic gallery from The Big Picture which features some stunning photographs of a country with gargantuan highways and very few cars.

Believe it or not The Lonely Planet also have class="vt-p" href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/north-korea">a section dedicated to the country and class="vt-p" href="http://www.divinecaroline.com/22245/59401-eerie-amusement-parks-north-korea">North Korea has theme parks.

Wikipedia

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/coat_of_arms.png" alt="" width="330" height="386" />

If you enjoy a good Wikipedia article then there are some exhaustive efforts available to you on the topic of North Korea. Here’s a selection of the best:

• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_korea">North Korea – A detailed overview of the country with plenty of statistics and history.
• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche">Juche – Meaning “main subject”, Juche is the political thesis of Kim Il-Sung the (now deceased) “Eternal President” of DPRK.
• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone">Korean Demilitarized Zone – A thoroughly interesting article about the 2.5 mile wide, 160 mile long area that makes up the most militarized border in the world. Attractions include mines, checkpoints and a fake North Korean town.
• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_North_Korea">List of cities in North Korea – Learn more about capital city class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P'y?ngyang">Pyongyang and pollution blackspot class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch'?ngjin">Chongjin amongst other large settlements. Only the luckiest citizens are allowed to live in the capital.
• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_People's_Army">Korean Peoples Army – North Korea has a large army, as well as an interest in class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction">weapons of mass destruction.
• class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arirang_Festival">Arirang Festival – Often known as the Mass Games, this finely-tuned stage show happens once a year with an incredible display of synchronized acrobatics.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/kimjongil.jpg" alt="" />

Propaganda & Uriminzokkiri

Despite not receiving the updates it once did, class="vt-p" href="http://www.nk-news.net/">NKNews is the place for archived North Korean propaganda in text form. Check out the class="vt-p" href="http://www.nk-news.net/hall_of_fame.php">hall of fame for some of the best stories over the last few years.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/propaganda_goat.jpg" alt="" width="564" height="431" />

The California Literary Review hosts a decent collection of class="vt-p" href="http://calitreview.com/875">North Korea propaganda posters as well as commentary and insight into the motives behind the messages and art style. If your Korean is up to scratch then you might find the official North Korean news agency’s class="vt-p" href="http://uriminzokkiri.com/">uriminzokkiri.com interesting, but class="vt-p" href="http://www.uriminzokkiri.com/newspaper/english/main.php">the English version doesn’t seem to work too well. There’s always the class="vt-p" href="http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm">Korean Central News Agency, which speaks to the people on behalf of the Korean Workers Party (this is essentially “the news” in DPRK).

North Korea (much like the rest of the world) has embraced a few other outlets – notably YouTube and Flickr. The class="vt-p" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/uriminzokkiri">news agency’s YouTube account tries as hard as possible to depict North Korea as a normal, happy and prosperous country (though it’s not that hard to see through the cracks).

style="text-align: center;"> width="580" height="430"> name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymGmMINS-Zs?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="430" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymGmMINS-Zs?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always">

class="vt-p" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uriminzokkiri">Uriminzokkiri’s Flickr account does little more than to confirm that class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-free-alternatives-photoshop/">Photoshop (actually, make that class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/gimp/">GIMP) has landed in North Korea – and they’re not afraid to use it.

Economy & Cartography

It seems odd to mix the two, but a website called class="vt-p" href="http://www.nkeconwatch.com/">North Korean Economy Watch has done just that with up to date, detailed analysis of the economic situation in DPRK and a Google Maps project. As well as news relating to construction projects, foreign investment and the controversial topic of private trade in the country, the editor Curtis Melvin has previously class="vt-p" href="http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2006/07/23/dprk-travel-2004/">visited in 2004 and class="vt-p" href="http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2006/07/31/dprk-travel-2005/">2005.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/korea_map.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

Also hosted on Melvin’s site is class="vt-p" href="http://www.nkeconwatch.com/north-korea-uncovered-google-earth/">North Korea Uncovered, a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google-maps/">Google Maps project that has been featured in the Wall Street Journal for its extensive mapping of North Korea’s economic, cultural, political and military infrastructures. This is apparently the most comprehensive map of its kind, though you’re going to need class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-plugins-and-resources-to-make-google-earth-more-fun/">Google Earth to view it.

Conclusion

Hopefully these resources will help expand your knowledge of this mysterious country, and though the resources are limited there is still a considerable amount of information surrounding North Korea online. There are also some great documentaries on the subject. If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy learning about class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/shortwave-numbers-stations-conet-project-online-education-espionage/">shortwave numbers stations, another mysterious topic that’s been covered well online.

Are you interested in North Korea?  Have you ever visited the country? Do you have any other North Korea-related links that we might be interested in looking at? Post your thoughts and links in the comments. />
/>Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on href="http://www.makeuseof.dev/answers/" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf Answers!

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/north-korea-demystified-selection-online-resources-learn-secretive-country/">North Korea Demystified: A Selection Of Online Resources To Learn About This Secretive Country is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing05.png" border="0" alt="known sites with spyware and virus" height="200" />The Internet is a breeding place for malware. New sites containing viruses, worms, keyloggers, and other malicious software are popping up every day. Once picked up and opened by an unsuspecting user, they hatch, infect the computer, and potentially wreck havoc on the system.

Malware causes worldwide economic damage in the multi-billion dollar range and even though users are ever more aware of good security practices, it continues to be a head-to-head race between malicious software and the defense against it. Many users catch malware through browsing online. Thus not visiting known sites with spyware and viruses in the first place is an effective way to keep the computer safe.

id="more-66369"> /> This articles shows you 3 resources that will lower your risk of visiting malicious sites by accident. Although you can search online domain lists for unsafe websites, a  browser plugin is by far the most convenient way to automatically identify and avoid malicious websites.

title="Web Of Trust" href="http://www.mywot.com/">Web Of Trust (WOT)

Type: Browser plugin, website

Service: website ratings based on user experience and domain listings

Supports: Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Bookmarklet

WOT does more than alert users about potential spyware and viruses. It’s an all-around service that rates sites based on general trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. The ratings are conducted by its huge international community. Users can leave comments to further support their rating and point out specific problems with the respective page. Apart from user input, the site also relies on external resources, such as listings of phishing sites published on title="PhishTank" href="http://www.phishtank.com/">PhishTank.

The rating symbol appears both in search results and directly in the browser. The complete rating, including user comments, is available on the ‘scorecard’.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing02.png" border="0" alt="known sites with spyware and virus" width="580" height="270" />

If a user attempts to open a website with a bad rating, WOT issues a warning, which has to be discarded, before the site can be accessed.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing01.png" border="0" alt="known spyware and adware" width="580" height="314" />

WOT also offers a small online tool where you can manually ‘check the reputation of your favorite website’ based on its URL.

Alternatives: To my knowledge there are no comparable alternatives to WOT. Similar plugins either lack their own community or a broad support, some of the main features, e.g. no ratings next to search results, or only support one or two browsers. Other tools I tested include title="Trustpilot Guard" href="http://www.trustpilot.com/Trustguard">Trustpilot Guard (Firefox), title="TrendProtect" href="http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/trendprotect">TrendProtect (Internet Explorer) and title="McAfee SiteAdvisor" href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/howitworks/index.html">McAfee SiteAdvisor (Firefox and Internet Explorer).

title="LinkExtend" href="http://www.linkextend.com/">LinkExtend

Type: browser toolbar

Service: provides “meta-site-ratings for computer safety, child safety, company ethics, and popularity”

Supports: Firefox

LinkExtend is a Firefox toolbar, which includes a host of services compiled in the following categories: Safety, KidSafe, Ethical, Site Traffic, and Thumbnails. For its ratings it relies on a range of tools, such as WOT itself, Google Safe Browsing, Alexa, Scryve, and many more. If you do not trust any of the resources, you can turn off single ones via the LinkExtend options (button in the far right of the toolbar).

After installing the toolbar, a setup wizard guides you through the various options.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing04.png" border="0" alt="known spyware and adware" width="580" height="283" />

The ratings and thumbnails presented next to search results are some of the most comprehensive I have found. Moreover, you can highlight your keywords in search results by clicking the yellow marker symbol in the LinkExtend toolbar. If you find the information that is added too much, you can turn off select features via the toolbar options.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-66383" title="SafeBrowsing06" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing06.png" alt="known spyware and adware" width="580" height="134" />

title="URLVoid" href="http://www.urlvoid.com/">URLVoid & URLVoid title="URLVoid VScan" href="http://vscan.urlvoid.com/">VScan

Type: website

Service: website reputation based on multiple rating services and scan URLs for viruses

URLVoid is an online service that compiles ratings for websites and scans them for malicious content. It is important to note that these are two separate services!

To detect websites with a bad reputation, URLVoid relies on several resources, including Google Diagnostic, MalwareDomainList, PcTools Browser Defender, PhishTank, Norton SafeWeb, MyWOT, and many others. Results are compiled within a few seconds and the tool displays the rating status for each service below an overall summary. The permalink for a specific page (example: title="URLVoid permalink makeuseof.com" href="http://www.urlvoid.com/scan/makeuseof.com">permalink for MakeUseOf) can be bookmarked and shared.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing03.png" border="0" alt="known sites with spyware and virus" width="580" height="342" />

The scanning of URLs for viruses is facilitated by several antivirus engines, including Avast, AVG, AVira, Kaspersky, and many more. Unfortunately, this tool is not very quick and my query was promptly placed in slot number 16,946 of the queue. And instead of moving up the queue, it moved down the queue.

Let me say something about title="McAfee SiteAdvisor" href="http://www.siteadvisor.com/howitworks/index.html">McAfee SiteAdvisor and title="TrendProtect" href="http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/trendprotect">TrendProtect which are not one of the best resources recommended in this article. Both McAfee and TrendSecure are well known brands within the computer security business. However, I found several problems with these browser plugins. First of all, a conspicious amount of websites rated unsatisfactory or poorly on WOT, received a safe rating from McAfee and TrendProtect. Moreover, some sites that were clearly found to be unsafe and malicious by WOT users, carry a McAfee SECURE stamp, meaning they were ‘verified safe for e-commerce’ and are ‘tested daily for hacker vulnerabilities’. Disagreements far and wide! I cannot verify which rating system is right however. When in doubt I would rather go with the bad rating than trust the good one. Thus I recommend to stay away from McAfee SiteAdvisor.

Are you browsing with Firefox? Check out this post for the title="10 Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-firefox-addons-for-enhancing-security-and-privacy/">10+ Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons. For online resources, have a look at the article title="Check if Links are Safe" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-quick-sites-that-let-you-check-if-links-are-safe/">4 Quick Sites That Let You Check if Links Are Safe.

How do you make sure your browsing is safe?

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SafeBrowsing05.png" border="0" alt="known sites with spyware and virus" height="200" />The Internet is a breeding place for malware. New sites containing viruses, worms, keyloggers, and other malicious software are popping up every day. Once picked up and opened by an unsuspecting user, they hatch, infect the computer, and potentially wreck havoc on the system.

Malware causes worldwide economic damage in the multi-billion dollar range and even though users are ever more aware of good security practices, it continues to be a head-to-head race between malicious software and the defense against it. Many users catch malware through browsing online. Thus not visiting known sites with spyware and viruses in the first place is an effective way to keep the computer safe.

id="more-66369"> /> This articles shows you 3 resources that will lower your risk of visiting malicious sites by accident. Although you can search online domain lists for unsafe websites, a  browser plugin is by far the most convenient way to automatically identify and avoid malicious websites.

title="Web Of Trust" href="http://www.mywot.com/">Web Of Trust (WOT)

Type: Browser plugin, website

Service: website ratings based on user experience and domain listings

Supports: Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Bookmarklet

WOT does more than alert users about potential spyware and viruses. It’s an all-around service that rates sites based on general trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. The ratings are conducted by its huge international community. Users can leave comments to further support their rating and point out specific problems with the respective page. Apart from user input, the site also relies on external resources, such as listings of phishing sites published on title="PhishTank" href="http://www.phishtank.com/">PhishTank.

The rating symbol appears both in search results and directly in the browser. The complete rating, including user comments, is available on the ‘scorecard’.