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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It is remarkable just how much cheap crap we, as a planet, produce each and every year. The environmental impact is worrying, landfills are swelling and carbon emissions must come down – yet more and more junk continues to roll out of the factory. In addition to this, many seem to think that adding USB connectivity (usually for a small amount of power as opposed to real interfacing) to aforementioned plastic junk instantly makes it more saleable.

So, would you spend your money on these peripherals?

USB Tie Fan Cooler….Thing

Feel like you’re tied to your desk all day and looking for the ultimate way to cool off? Look no further, all you need is the USB tie cooler from Thanko. Somewhat resembling the collar-bombs worn by imprisoned schoolchildren in the 2002 film Battle Royale, the fan clips to your neck and is then covered up with the included silk tie.

Of course, it’s USB powered – so it’s completely useless (yet still too embarassing to take off) unless you’re near a computer. Once you finally do get to your desk, find a spare USB port (by removing non-essentials like mice and keyboards) and you’ll be the coolest cat in the office.

That is until you suddenly get up to tell Brenda you need that report by 5, tearing your laptop off the table, showering your co-workers with coffee and publicly revealing the secret to your body temperature regulation. Still, at least you won’t be hot under the collar?

Chicken’s Foot 2GB USB Stick

There are a lot of overpriced USB sticks on the market in all kinds of novelty shapes, capacities and sizes but most of them have a valid use – removable storage – that makes up for it. I am actually having trouble with this particular USB flash drive however, as it appears to be in the shape of a chicken’s foot.

This of course means that the bloody thing will never fit comfortably in your pocket, and might also have trouble fitting into computers mounted on a flat surface (I do believe the toes would get in the way).

This rather small 2GB capacity appendage will sit on your desk for hours without falling over – though you’re probably better off spending the $30 on more space, rather than novelty form factor.

USB Mini UV Toothbrush Sanitiser

Nothing says “pearly whites” like a sterile toothbrush (I guess?) and now you can sterilise yours right at your desk! Excited? Well hold on junior, because there might just be a teency weency issue with aforementioned USB toothbrush sanitiser… and that’ll be the USB part.

Who keeps their toothbrush at their desk? Moreover, who would take it out and actually sanitise it using this bloody thing? If toothbrush sanitation is high on your list of priorities then I don’t think a mini USB toothbrush sanitiser is going to cut it – you’ll want the real deal.

Thus I conclude there’s probably not much of a market for semi-dedicated toothbrush sanitisers who stow their oral cleaning contraptions in the office. Next.

USB Flower Pot Speaker

Introducing the USB Flower Pot Speaker – because there’s simply too much space on your desk! Or should that be Flower Pod Speaker, as the manufacturers have cleverly coined it? Regardless, not only does it require full use of a USB port for power but it also isn’t a real flower pot (which is a real shame).

Don’t try to water, plant or re-pot your new musical chum for he’s a static, lifeless plastic disappointment who produces no more than 2W RMS at the best of times. Maybe spend the money on some real speakers and a real plant instead…

USB Eye Massager

Unfortunately this isn’t a case of affixing the wrong photograph to the wrong product description, but a genuine product that is designed with an eye massage in mind. If you’ve not already peeked at the image below then now is the time – just look at it…

Eye massager? Really? Not torture device? Not “turn it round and make rude symbols at your boss” getting-fired device? I’m supposed to put this in my eyes? According to the manufacturer:

USB Eye Massager is the latest-designed health care Product specially for the Person which long time use their eyes, Such as the Computer operator.

I suppose that clears it up, then!

Conclusion

It’s not too late for new year resolutions, and here’s an easy one we can all stick to : in addition to the products on this list, don’t buy cheap useless USB crap. It might seem like a funny gift and even provide 5 minutes of laughter but will ultimately end up in a landfill as wasted money, time, energy and resources.

If you have any of your favourite crap USB gadgets then list them below, I’m dying to see what you’ve found…

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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It is remarkable just how much cheap crap we, as a planet, produce each and every year. The environmental impact is worrying, landfills are swelling and carbon emissions must come down – yet more and more junk continues to roll out of the factory. In addition to this, many seem to think that adding USB connectivity (usually for a small amount of power as opposed to real interfacing) to aforementioned plastic junk instantly makes it more saleable.

So, would you spend your money on these peripherals?

USB Tie Fan Cooler….Thing

Feel like you’re tied to your desk all day and looking for the ultimate way to cool off? Look no further, all you need is the USB tie cooler from Thanko. Somewhat resembling the collar-bombs worn by imprisoned schoolchildren in the 2002 film Battle Royale, the fan clips to your neck and is then covered up with the included silk tie.

Of course, it’s USB powered – so it’s completely useless (yet still too embarassing to take off) unless you’re near a computer. Once you finally do get to your desk, find a spare USB port (by removing non-essentials like mice and keyboards) and you’ll be the coolest cat in the office.

That is until you suddenly get up to tell Brenda you need that report by 5, tearing your laptop off the table, showering your co-workers with coffee and publicly revealing the secret to your body temperature regulation. Still, at least you won’t be hot under the collar?

Chicken’s Foot 2GB USB Stick

There are a lot of overpriced USB sticks on the market in all kinds of novelty shapes, capacities and sizes but most of them have a valid use – removable storage – that makes up for it. I am actually having trouble with this particular USB flash drive however, as it appears to be in the shape of a chicken’s foot.

This of course means that the bloody thing will never fit comfortably in your pocket, and might also have trouble fitting into computers mounted on a flat surface (I do believe the toes would get in the way).

This rather small 2GB capacity appendage will sit on your desk for hours without falling over – though you’re probably better off spending the $30 on more space, rather than novelty form factor.

USB Mini UV Toothbrush Sanitiser

Nothing says “pearly whites” like a sterile toothbrush (I guess?) and now you can sterilise yours right at your desk! Excited? Well hold on junior, because there might just be a teency weency issue with aforementioned USB toothbrush sanitiser… and that’ll be the USB part.

Who keeps their toothbrush at their desk? Moreover, who would take it out and actually sanitise it using this bloody thing? If toothbrush sanitation is high on your list of priorities then I don’t think a mini USB toothbrush sanitiser is going to cut it – you’ll want the real deal.

Thus I conclude there’s probably not much of a market for semi-dedicated toothbrush sanitisers who stow their oral cleaning contraptions in the office. Next.

USB Flower Pot Speaker

Introducing the USB Flower Pot Speaker – because there’s simply too much space on your desk! Or should that be Flower Pod Speaker, as the manufacturers have cleverly coined it? Regardless, not only does it require full use of a USB port for power but it also isn’t a real flower pot (which is a real shame).

Don’t try to water, plant or re-pot your new musical chum for he’s a static, lifeless plastic disappointment who produces no more than 2W RMS at the best of times. Maybe spend the money on some real speakers and a real plant instead…

USB Eye Massager

Unfortunately this isn’t a case of affixing the wrong photograph to the wrong product description, but a genuine product that is designed with an eye massage in mind. If you’ve not already peeked at the image below then now is the time – just look at it…

Eye massager? Really? Not torture device? Not “turn it round and make rude symbols at your boss” getting-fired device? I’m supposed to put this in my eyes? According to the manufacturer:

USB Eye Massager is the latest-designed health care Product specially for the Person which long time use their eyes, Such as the Computer operator.

I suppose that clears it up, then!

Conclusion

It’s not too late for new year resolutions, and here’s an easy one we can all stick to : in addition to the products on this list, don’t buy cheap useless USB crap. It might seem like a funny gift and even provide 5 minutes of laughter but will ultimately end up in a landfill as wasted money, time, energy and resources.

If you have any of your favourite crap USB gadgets then list them below, I’m dying to see what you’ve found…

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/virus_intro.jpg?323f2c" alt="computer viruses" />Yesterday we took a look at some of the most href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/history-5-worst-computer-viruses-time">damaging high-profile computer viruses in history, and today we’ll be exploring some of the more obscure ones instead. The term “virus” wasn’t attached to malware until 1983, but viruses as we know them date back to the early 70′s.

These viruses didn’t necessarily make front page news in the same way as Sasser, MyDoom or the Storm Worm did, but many were the first of their kind. It’s also worth noting that many were non-destructive, with the real aim of creating a self-replicating program rather than causing href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-clone-and-copy-your-hard-drive/">data loss.

1971: Creeper

Creeper was written in 1971 by Bob Thomas who worked for href="http://bbn.com/">BBN, and is widely considered to be the first example of a computer worm. The program was self-replicating in nature and non-destructive to data as its main purpose was to test the effectiveness of such code.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/dec_pdp-10.jpg?323f2c" alt="computer viruses" width="464" height="311" />

Creeper was technically not a virus due to its rather passive nature. The author commented in response to href="http://history-computer.com/Internet/Maturing/Thomas.html">this article:

“…the creeper application was not exploiting a deficiency of the operating system. The research effort was intended to develop mechanisms for bringing applications to other machines with intention of moving the application to the most efficient computer for its task.”

Creeper did not take advantage of an exploit on the (pictured) DEC PDP-10 TENEX systems it came into contact with, and was eventually stopped with a program called Reaper, which was specifically designed to halt the spread.

1981: Elk Cloner

In 1981 a 15-year old called Rich Skrenta stumbled upon the world’s first href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/types-computer-viruses-watch/">boot sector virus, Elk Cloner for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-sites-to-play-old-computer-games-once-again/">the Apple II. At the time the Apple II used floppy disks to boot into the OS, which made it particularly vulnerable to attacks.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/apple_II.jpg?323f2c" alt="list of computer viruses" width="497" height="331" />

If a user booted into the OS from an infected floppy, the virus would be copied to the computer’s memory. Any further floppy disks that were inserted into the computer once Elk Cloner was in the memory would also become infected. Whilst the code was not malicious, the user would see a poem on every 50th boot.

Skrenta’s virus was not only the first to specifically target the boot sector but also one of the first to spread “in the wild” – i.e. outside of the environment it was originally written.

1986: Brain

Considered by many the first computer virus written for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dos-computer-games-run-windows-7/">MS-DOS (and thus the IBM PC standard), Brain affected floppy disks, more specifically the boot sector of the DOS File Allocation Table (FAT), by moving the real boot sector elsewhere and marking it as “bad”. A copy of the virus replaced the real boot sector, but hard drives were specifically avoided.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Brain-virus.jpg?323f2c" alt="list of computer viruses" width="450" height="329" />

The virus can be traced back to two brothers from Lahore, Pakistan – Basit and Amjad Iqbal who included the following message:

Welcome to the Dungeon © 1986 Basit * Amjad (pvt) Ltd. BRAIN COMPUTER SERVICES 730 NIZAM BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN LAHORE-PAKISTAN PHONE: 430791,443248,280530. Beware of this VIRUS…. Contact us for vaccination…

The virus was originally written as a copyright safeguard for medical software the pair were working on. They received phone calls from all over the world demanding inoculation, and still trade today as href="http://www.brain.net.pk/">Brain NET, an Internet service provider.

1987: SCA

Another first, SCA was the Commodore Amiga’s inaugural computer virus, written by the “Swiss Cracking Association” or “Mega-Mighty SCA”. The group mostly specialised in removing copy protection from floppies, and thus the SCA virus targetted the boot sector of write-enabled disks.

style="text-align: center;"> width="580" height="435" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bac84Ibo_y4?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Every 15th reboot the following message was displayed, warning the user that they were infected:

Something wonderful has happened Your AMIGA is alive !!! and, even better…some of your disks are infected by a VIRUS !!! Another masterpiece of The Mega-Mighty SCA !!

The virus only affected write-enabled floppies but would ruin custom bootblocks, such as those used by games. The SCA virus led the same group to release the first ever Amiga virus scanner in order to remove the infection.

1988: Morris Worm

With its source code preserved on a dusty floppy in the Boston Museum of Science, the Morris worm is one of the most famous outbreaks in history – mostly due to a mistake by its author. The Morris worm was in fact one of the first spread via the Internet, and exploited known vulnerabilities within the UNIX operating system.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Morris_Worm.jpg?323f2c" alt="computer viruses" width="450" height="600" />

The worm was originally not written to be malicious, but instead to try and gather information about the size of the Internet according to its author, Robert Tappan Morris. What made the worm such an issue was its method of spreading, which would re-infect every 1 in 7 PCs that claimed to already be infected.

This proved to be overkill and it is thought that of the 60,000 machines connected to the Internet at the time, 10% were affected. Morris was studying at Cornell University at the time, but chose to release the worm from MIT to avoid detection. He was later the first person to be convicted under the USA’s 1986 Computer Fraud and Misuse Act.

style="text-align: center;"> width="580" height="435" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G2i_6j55bS0?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

He received three years probation, 400 hours community service and a $10,000 fine. The worm is thought to have caused somewhere between $10 million -$100 million in damage and undoubtedly changed Internet security forever.

2006: Leap

Leap, also known as the Oompa-Loompa virus was the first to ever infect Apple’s cherished OS X operating system. Whilst it was not a full-blown outbreak, and didn’t even transfer via the Internet, Leap proved that no matter how tight security was, there were always going to be href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/are-anti-virus-programs-necessary-for-mac/">potential vulnerabilities.

The virus transferred itself via iChat’s Bonjour buddy list, but only over local area networks. In order for a machine to become infected the user had to accept the latestpics.tgz archive, open it and run the executable (claiming to be an image of Apple’s next OS) within.

style="text-align: center;"> width="580" height="435" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VEVjILqU3pU?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

The virus would infect non-system applications owned by the user, but due to a bug within the virus, any infected programs refused to run after exposure to Leap. Removal of the virus did not require a complete OS re-install, and thus Leap will always be considered a low threat virus, albeit a world-changing one.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about some of my “favourite” viruses, their origins and of course the knock-on effects. Whilst infections like Elk-Cloner and Creeper weren’t particularly damaging they were highly innovative and certainly provided a taste of things to come.

Do you know of any other interesting virus outbreaks? Remember that sinking feeling once your machine was infected? Have a rant below!

Image Credits: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=virus&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=62136373&src=3554cfe4d702ed688661ffcc272cb3ba-1-19" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock, href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PDP-10_1090.jpg" rel="nofollow">DEC PDP-10, href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_II.jpg" rel="nofollow">Apple II, href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brain-virus.jpg" rel="nofollow">Brain virus

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iphone.png?323f2c" alt="mobile phone culture" />The title="3 Free iPhone Games That Are Too Good To Be Free" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-iphone-games-good-free/">mobile phone is amazing, and I can’t really bash it. How cool is it that we live in an age where almost everyone has a title="Check Out These 6 Sci-Fi Wikis To Kill Some Time On" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-6-scifi-wikis-kill-time/">Star Trek communicator in their hip pocket? (Now if only we could have phasers.)

However, sometimes even the coolest inventions in the world bring negative impacts, and although it doesn’t take away from how great these inventions are, it is our irresponsibility that puts a bad mark on them. So let’s take a look at how mobile phone culture has ruined the world.

We Have Gotten Lazy

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/foulbachelorfrog.png?323f2c" alt="mobile phone culture" width="580" height="577" />

It’s true, isn’t it? The mobile phone isn’t just a way to communicate to people. Oh no. It’s your go-to device for everything. You can shop online stores, map out trips, and read the news all from one device. Heck, with the right armchair that’s near an electrical outlet, you would never have to even leave your seat.

What I am getting at is that we tend to become very dependent on our phones. When’s the last time that you actually mapped out a trip? How often do you use your mobile phone as a title="A Variety Of Calculator Apps For Both Basic & Advanced Calculations [iPad]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/variety-calculator-apps-basic-advanced-calculations-ipad/">calculator. Have you ever tried figuring out the time using only the sun? Don’t get too defensive, for it’s true that we should use technology to make our lives easier, and I recognize that. However, we mustn’t forget our roots in the event that technology ever fails us.

We Have Given Up Privacy

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No longer can you have a moment to yourself in this day and age. If you ignore a phone call and post something on Facebook from your phone right after, the person who called is going to see it, and said person  could quite likely become offended (which is kind of silly when you think about it). I am curious as to when we decided it was okay to let everyone know exactly where we are. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with it, but I would consider it to be a faux pas in the category of societal evolution.

Using apps such as title="How To Check Into Events Using Foursquare" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-events-foursquare/">Foursquare, title="Facebook Integrates Deals Into Their Mobile Places Platform [News]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-integrates-deals-mobile-places-platform-news/">Facebook, and title="Important Tips on How to Use Twitter Like a Pro" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tips-how-to-twitter-like-a-pro/">Twitter, we have successfully made the world our mother, letting it know where we are going, who we are going with, and what exactly we are doing while we are there. I’ve been told by a reader that I have missed the point of social networking, but wouldn’t sharing valuable information such as worldwide, local, and even personal news be a more proper way to utilize social networking? By constantly sharing our location (keyword is “constantly”), we set ourselves up for an title="5 Things You Need To Stop Posting On Facebook" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-stop-posting-facebook/">invasion of privacy.

We Have Also Become Too Private

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Ironically, in this supposedly open source world, it seems as though that as soon as we get away from the computer, we become a title="3 Ways You’ve Sold Your Soul To The Internet" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-sold-soul-internet/">privacy-hungry individual. Granted, I do not have a solid foundation for this argument – it’s merely an opinion and currently based upon experience – but how often do you find yourself avoiding face-to-face interaction these days? Surely there will be one of you who comments on here, “Joshua, I don’t have a problem at all with talking to people face-to-face,” and to that, I say good for you.

However, there are people who do struggle with this due to mobile phone culture, and you must recognize that I do not believe all my points apply to everyone. I do ask this – how many people do you know that would rather send a text message than make a phone call? There is something troublesome about a human being more open to an electronic device than a fellow human being.

We Have Forgotten Social Skills

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Moving on along with this privacy nonsense, I believe that we can assume that all the former rules of privacy have been turned around into something totally unrecognizable. We don’t mind title="4 Reasons I Don’t Like Twitter And Why I Joined Anyway [Opinion]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-reasons-twitter-joined-opinion/">Tweeting that we’re about to use the toilet, but we refuse to say much more than “hello” to a friend on the street.

Furthermore, we tend to make the world our place for private conversations, venturing out into public and having loud discussions that would have made my grandmother blush – alas, the death of the phone booth. The street, dear people, is not a place to have conversations about your sexual frustrations, your diarrhea, or your most recent hit-and-run victim. Save that for at home. Or the car. Somewhere else. Anywhere, really.

Conclusion

It’s very easy to communicate using only text on a screen, and even though actual voice conversations are more closely related to face-to-face interaction, it’s just not the same as two people connecting with each other.

I don’t think we should stop using mobile phones, and with that being said, I don’t think we should stop using social networking or fancy apps that let us order a pizza online. We’re residing in the future, and we should live it up as much as possible! However, there’s something that we need to retain in this mobile phone culture – our humanity.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/texting.jpg" alt="" />It’s become the most common form of communication on the planet and the number one occupation of teenagers everywhere.  That’s right, I’m talking about text messaging ( href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/sms/">SMS) which, quite often, is the best way to send someone a short message without getting trapped talking on the phone for ages.  Whether it’s keeping in touch with friends and relatives in other countries or texting your partner to request a takeaway, it’s hard to find someone these days who doesn’t know what texting is or who has never done it before.

Our infographic today comes courtesy of href="http://www.mbaonline.com" rel="nofollow">MBA Online.  Find out the total number of texters in comparison to the world population or the number of Facebook users.  Find out the influence mobile phones have on their users and how text messaging has been used for good causes in different countries.

Are you an obsessed texter?  If so, how many do you send per day/week/month?  Would you rather text than talk to someone?  And do you know of any good causes that texting has been used for?  Let us know in the comments!  If you are on the opposite side of the argument and you HATE texting, then don’t hesitate to tell us why in the comments too!

As usual, just click on the infographic below to see a bigger version. /> href="http://www.mbaonline.com/planet-text/"> src="http://images.mbaonline.com.s3.amazonaws.com/planet-text.jpg" alt="" width="580" border="0" />

Created by: href="http://www.mbaonline.com/" rel="nofollow">MBA Online /> Image Credit : rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamtbailey/4288275204/in/photostream/">Adam & Lucy

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/infographic-sms-messaging-changing-world/">INFOGRAPHIC : How SMS Messaging Is Changing The World 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/2011/09/How-To-Cheat-On-Farmville-300x300.jpg" alt="" />The social gaming giant Zynga has teamed up with Pizza Hut to help cure world hunger. Players across a number of their games including Farmville and Cityville can buy select items for $5, and all proceeds from these purchases will go towards the href="http://www.wfp.org/">World Food Programme.

This is a great move for Pizza Hut and Zynga for two reasons – it is a good cause, and supporting a good cause can never be a bad thing. The second reason is it is great marketing for both companies. People always love to see big companies promoting humanitarian efforts, and that is exactly what is happening here.

The program is beneficial for players of the games as well. They get to buy some cute in-game items, and they get the satisfaction of knowing that their hard-earned dollars are being put to a great use.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/630farmville.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="217" />

This is the first time Zynga has partnered with an outside company for a venture such as this, and I hope to see them keep this kind of thing up. After all, purchasing fake items in a fake world can be a hollow experience, but at least if your money is going to a good cause it is easier to stomach.

Source: href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/26/pizza-hut-zynga/" rel="nofollow">Mashable

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-intro.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games"/>Tucked away in the smorgasbord of online games is a genre called news games. Yes, you read it right. News games take any past or present global happening and turn into an interactive game. Newspapers and television inform and educate; so do games. Come to think of it, if href="www.makeuseof.com/tags/news/">news and games come together, they can really make us appreciate how events are panning out around the world.

Free news based online games are also important educational tools. We have seen how history can be spiced up with interactivity. The same holds true for teaching kids about current affairs and world events through a fun tool like news games.

The games may not reflect news as it is happening right now, but they are still fun to play. You can relive an alternate reality and again understand a bit of why an event became newsworthy in the first place. Here are seven news games for you to try out right now.

href="http://www.breakingnewsgames.com/">Breaking News Games

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game01.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games" width="580" height="496" />

The name of this online Flash based game site reveals the purpose. We know that Hillary didn’t make it to the grand throne of the Presidency, but you can still help her along her campaign by collecting points as she marks her campaign trail. This game is really simple and in the genre of what we call ‘time-wasters’. All games are arranged under heads like – Politics, Business, Sports & Entertainment, and World. You can turn to a shooter game like href="http://www.breakingnewsgames.com/game/2">Celebrity Hitman: Terrorist Alert and win brownie points for world peace.

href="http://www.newsgaming.com/">NewsGaming

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game02.jpg?54167" alt="online news games play" width="580" height="383" />

The news gaming site has only two games on its roster but they are worth a few clicks of the mouse. href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/madrid/">Play MADRID reflects the attacks in Madrid on March 11th, 2004. href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm">September 12^th. It’s a simple game that pays homage to the victims. September 12^th is the other game – a game without a result – that is simply a simulation on urban terror and the civilian casualties that it inflicts. You have to pick out and shoot the terrorists who are moving around a crowded city sprawl.

href="http://www.darfurisdying.com/">Darfur is Dying

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game03.jpg?54167" alt="online news games play" width="580" height="410" />

Darfur is Dying is a viral video game that was released in 2006. The very popular game promotes change and action for the benefit of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. Players role-play a Darfurian refugee who must survive and keep the refugee camp functioning in the face of attacks by Janjaweed militias. Players also can understand the genocide in Darfur that had taken more than five million lives before the cease fire was signed. The Darfur genocide may have slackened off, but there are similar conflicts brewing around the world. The game gives a glimpse into history and encourages critical thinking.

href="http://playspent.org/">Spent

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game04.jpg?54167" alt="online news games play" width="580" height="315" />

This game on American unemployment remains topical, because joblessness continues under Obama’s presidency. Get a peek into what it really means and how prepared are you for the daily costs of living when you get the pink slip through this excellently designed game. I won’t go into the details of it because Angela did a great review as recently as three months back. Read up on – href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/spent-online-game-designed-avoid-homelessness/">SPENT – An Online Game Designed To See If You Can Avoid Homelessness. As she recommends – I’d personally love to see high school students playing this before they leave home, go to college, get jobs and try to manage their own financial lives. It could prevent a few bad decisions along the way.

href="http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/563589">You Shall Know The Truth

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game05.jpg?54167" alt="current events game" width="580" height="406" />

If you are for free journalism then you will like this darkly satirical game about the attacks on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wikileaks-whistleblower-website/">Wikileaks. It’s a role-playing game and you play the spy tasked with the mission of retrieving leaked documents and biometric data among other things from a Wikileaks employee’s apartment. The game is like a treasure hunt where you have to click on every object and find clues. You are also up against a clock (timed at 999 seconds).

href="http://www.molleindustria.org/leakyworld/leakyworld.html">Leaky World

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game06.jpg?54167" alt="current events game" width="580" height="370" />

Let’s continue with Wikileaks and its socio-political impact with this slightly offbeat game that is an interactive version of the essay “Conspiracy as Governance” by Julian Assange. It’s difficult to understand at first, but gradually you can make out that the red dots on the world map are cities and your goal is to create a network interconnecting all these cities in a limited amount of time. Basically, you are connecting the dots and rendering the idea of conspiratorial interactions among the political elite on the map. The backdrop of the game is the essay by Assange and it is also interspersed with Wikileaks news items which you can pause to read.

href="http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/cutthroatCapitalismTheGame">Cutthroat Capitalism

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game07.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games" width="580" height="291" />

This game is embedded on Wired.com’s site which is traditionally not a gaming site. The theme of the game is on high sea piracy around the Gulf of Aden which continues to this day. You play for the ‘other side’ as a pirate commander who has to capture a ship and successfully negotiate a ransom. The game is nicely designed and very addictive.

As href="www.makeuseof.com/tags/online-games/">online games go, news games are definitely not news reporting but they can fall under edutainment for children which is an ever growing genre these days. For us adults it is just entertainment because we can turn to regular news channels to get the scoop. What do you think of free online news games? Do you know any more cool ones that are newsworthy?

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=12448273">Shutterstock />
/>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/7-free-online-news-games-based-world-affairs-news-events/">7 Free Online News Games That Are Based On World Affairs & News Events is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/education/" title="education" rel="tag">education, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fun/" title="fun" rel="tag">fun, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/history/" title="history" rel="tag">history, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/journalism/" title="journalism" rel="tag">journalism, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/news/" title="news" rel="tag">news, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/online-games/" title="online games" rel="tag">online games />

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Guitar Hero- World Tour

Guitar Hero’s latest installment, “World Tour”, is the answer to EA’s rock n roll power house, “Rock Band”. Guitar Hero led the way into plastic guitar’s and hairband jam sessions, but now they must play catch up in the genre they created. Some of the fallbacks for the original Guitar Hero titles were the lack of downloading options for owners of the Wii console. But know that Wii has expanded  into song downloads through there online Wii store, players can finally enjoy the full spectrum of full band game play and unlimited song selection.

For those of you that are looking for the game that comes fully equipped with an allstar setlist, Guitar Hero World Tour is the answer. With everything from Hendrix and The Eagles to Tool and Metallica, World Tour definitely leads the way for those that have an affinity for “true” guitar laden melodies. In all the Guitar Hero World Tour reviews it is obvious that Guitar Hero comes through in the major category of song selection. And that makes Guitar Hero World Tour  a top download selection amongst all the top downloaded Wii games available.

Downloading Guitar Hero World Tour

If you are ready to download the latest and undoubtedly, hottest headliner on the market, you need to choose wisely. Many are reporting that cut rate download sites are offering full game downloads, and delivering nothing but over-hyped demos and illegal crackware. If you want legitamite Wii games, and lots of them, dont be fooled by all the “free download” sites. As we all know by now, nothing is really free. If it is , its probably gonna cost you, either by viruses or spyware.

The best download sites offer full technical support. When downloads of this magnitude are being offered, their has to be regulated control. The support team is there to monitor and scan the database of files, keeping you safe from dirty downloads and illegal adware. Piece of mind is truly priceless. And not only will your downloads be 100% safe, if you do have any problems, the tech support will be there for you 24 hours a day.

Another thing to look for when choosing a download site is strong backing from well know software sites. Look for awards and other “seals” of approval from sites like “C-net” and “Tucow”. When companies like that support your download site , it means you are dealing with a reputable download site. To find out what kind of sites are best for downloading Guitar Hero World Tour and many other of the best Wii games check out the Author Bio below. I never leave raders without a strong example of what kind of sites follow Internet guidelines.

You will certainly admit to the fact that life is lifeless without music. Whatever your mood is you can luxuriate in the different genres of music and soothe your mind and heart. Music acts as caffeine, adding zip to your senses! The introduction of radio, cassette player, CD/DVD player has not revolutionized the music world as did mp3 mp4 players. The very concept of listening to music with access to hundreds of tracks without actually carrying around a space-taking record collection has given a new definition to digitization and entertainment. Mp3 players and mp4 players have been accepted as the most handy and usable form of portable entertainment. No matter whether you are on the move commuting to your office or taking a walk or traveling to another city, the mp3 player and mp4 player has become your ideal entertaining companion.

With Mobile Phones incorporating mp3 player facility, manufacturers of mp3 players and mp4 players are trying to come out with more innovative designs and technological advancements so as to maintain their huge market share. And with internet connectivity in phones, listeners can listen to online music, but this is a costlier option and only a particular section of the society could afford it. And hence the market for mp3 mp4 players is sure to grow in the coming times. Newer versions and models should be introduced by the manufacturers.

What is the difference between an Mp3 players and mp4 player? The portability and facilitation of listening to songs being the key similarities, the difference is no doubt there. An mp3 player is more of an audio format and mp4 player a container format. Mp4 players are advanced versions of the mp3 varieties and are hence more expensive.  These are available in two variants, viz. flash memory and hard drive. They support more file formats being attuned with an assortment of video configurations.

You can play videos in mp4, mp2, mp1, DivX, AVI and WMV and songs in mp3, WMA, and Ogg Vorbis files. The mp4′s compatibility with digital images in the form JPEG or PNG files has drawn much appreciation. TV and integrated camcorder are the added features in this device. But you won’t get all the aforesaid features in an mp4 player; it all depends on how much you are ready to pay. The higher you pay, the more advanced are the features.

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Schermafbeelding-2010-08-07-om-17.04.49.png" alt="download mozilla browser"/>A considerable amount of internet users are of Indian origin, almost half as much as the ever-present U.S. of A. On href="http://twitter.com">Twitter, India is effectively one of the largest demographics. Although we’re only talking about a minority of the total Indian population, they’re an internet force to be reckoned with.

While the other major players are now finishing up their next browser release, a new player has entered the field. A new href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/browsers">browser from Indian soil.

id="more-50807">

href="http://www.epicbrowser.com/">Epic Browser

The Epic Browser – never shy in their nomenclature – is based off the href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/mozilla">Mozilla codebase. This doesn’t mean that it’s made by the Firefox guys, but rather shares the same open-source back-end; the same foundation. As such, it’s an incredibly powerful browser by default, but made into an even more versatile tool by the Epic team – as will be seen below.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Firefox_Mozilla_Addons.jpg" alt="download mozilla browser"/>

The title and the next paragraph highlight an important aspect of the browser; it’s made by and for Indians users. That means that some of the features will be rather useless to the rest of us, but Epic is far from useless to the rest of the world. Ignoring these specific features, it’s a strong candidate on the international browser market as well.

Fitted to Indian Users

If you’re Indian, as we know many of our readers (and actually a fair share of our in-house writers) to be, the Epic Browser will sound even more enticing to you, as it comes packed with a number of India-specific features.

On the left hand side of the screen, you’ll find the India sidebar. This is constantly updated with the latest local news from a number of online sources, but also allows you to view flight information, stocks, and much more.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Schermafbeelding-2010-08-07-om-17.35.35.png" />

The standard theme of Epic isn’t all that, but you can choose from over 1500 alternative themes and wallpapers, all based on India. You can expect themes of nature, architecture, and even famous cricket players.

Last but not least is an Indian usability improvement. The browser recognizes romanized Indian, on any given website, and converts in to Indian.

Sidebar Applications and Add-ons

We already told you that Epic was a powerhouse browser. Most of the extra functionality will be found in the left sidebar. This comes packed with over 1500 different applications. Think href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/gmail">Gmail, href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/facebook">Facebook, Orkut, href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/twitter">Twitter, but also href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/google-maps">Google Maps, href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/to-do">To-do lists, Snippets and Write, an actual word processor.

A couple of applications, like Write, also work in compliance with your Windows desktop. Most prominently are the Explorer-alternative and full-fledged back-up solution.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/epicapps.jpg" />

Because it’s based on the Mozilla codebase, you can install any existing href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/firefox-addons">Firefox add-ons as well. Separate from the versatile and numerous sidebar applications, that’s over 10.000 additional extensions!

Privacy and Security

The Epic team is heavyset on your computer’s and personal security. Amongst the sidebar apps, the browser includes a free antivirus application powered by href="http://www.eset.com/">ESET. This allows you to not only scan your downloads, but your entire system as well. With new threats rising every day, you can’t be too safe.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Schermafbeelding-2010-08-07-om-17.46.53.png" alt="download mozilla browser"/>

With a single click, you can delete personal browsing information, similar to Firefox. It’s one of the first browser able to kill the worrisome Flash cookies. Similar to Google Chrome, there’s also a private browsing mode, where all history, cookies and cached pages are disabled. Finally, Epic has vowed to never store your browsing or search data. Ever.

Although the design sometimes tends to look premature, the Epic Browser has shown it a strong contestant in the everlasting browser battle. This browser is deemed ready for not just India, but the whole world. Have you had a chance to download this new Mozilla browser and href="http://www.epicbrowser.com/">try it yet? Let us know what you think in the comments. />
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Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content (hypertext or hypermedia), which is delivered to an end-user with the help of the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web enabled software like Internet television clients, microblogging clients and RSS readers.

Web design intent to create a web site- a collection of electronic files that reside on a web server/servers and present content and interactive features/interfaces to the end user in form of Web pages once requested. Such elements as text, bit-mapped images (GIFs, JPEGs) and forms can be placed on the page using HTML/XHTML/XML tags. Plug-ins are also embedded into web page by using HTML/XHTML tags.

Improvements in browsers’ compliance with W3C standards prompted a widespread acceptance and usage of XHTML/XML in conjunction with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to position and manipulate web page elements and objects. Latest standards and proposals aim at leading to browsers’ ability to deliver a wide variety of media and accessibility options to the client possibly without employing plug-ins.

Typically web pages are classified as static or dynamic:

Static pages don’t change content and layout with every request unless a human (webmaster/programmer) manually updates the page. A simple HTML page is an example of static content.
Dynamic pages adapt their content and/or appearance depending on end-user’s input/interaction or changes in the computing environment (user, time, database modifications, etc.) Content can be changed on the client side (end-user’s computer) by using client-side scripting languages (JavaScript, JScript, Actionscript, etc.) to alter DOM elements (DHTML). Dynamic content is often compiled on the server utilizing server-side scripting languages (Perl, PHP, ASP, JSP, ColdFusion, etc.). Both approaches are usually used in complex applications.

With growing specialization in the information technology field there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line between web design and web development.

Web design is a kind of graphic design intended for development and styling of objects of the Internet’s information environment to provide them with high-end consumer features and aesthetic qualities. The offered definition separates web design from web programming, emphasizing the functional features of a web site, as well as positioning web design as a kind of graphic design.

Process of Web Design:

Designing web pages, web sites, web applications or multimedia for the Web may utilize multiple disciplines, such as animation, authoring, communication design, corporate identity, graphic design, human-computer interaction, information architecture, interaction design, marketing, photography, search engine optimization and typography.

Markup languages (such as HTML, XHTML and XML)
Style sheet languages (such as CSS and XSL)
Client-side scripting (such as JavaScript)
Server-side scripting (such as PHP and ASP)
Database technologies (such as MySQL and PostgreSQL)
Multimedia technologies (such as Flash and Silverlight)

Web pages and web sites can be static pages, or can be programmed to be dynamic pages that automatically adapt content or visual appearance depending on a variety of factors, such as input from the end-user, input from the Webmaster or changes in the computing environment (such as the site’s associated database having been modified).

With growing specialization within communication design and information technology fields, there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line between web design specifically for web pages and web development for the overall logistics of all web-based services.

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An MP3 player is an electronic device that plays compressed audio files. That being said, it’s also the most popular way that today’s teens and adults transport their music (and talk programming) around. A fraction of the size of a typical CD player, it slides into pockets and can dangle from your neck on a chain. Don’t you miss carrying around that huge boom box? An MP3 player is extremely portable, streamlined and lightweight and is available in a variety of sizes, shapers and colors. An MP3 player is also a very affordable way to store and carry your favorite tunes around as you head for school, work or play. You can also listen to that special podcast or talk show each day that gives you the information that lifts your spirits.

Most major electronic brands like Panasonic, Phillips, Sony and others carry different models and styles of MP3 players. Visiting electronic stores will offer delighted consumers a dozen or more different varieties. Many styles and models are available at your local discount stores as well, and in a wide variety of price ranges. When shopping for an MP3 player, try to get beyond the color you want (yes, even the hot pink one) and look at what each model and style offers and it’s compatibility with other devices.

The most important thing to consider when purchasing an MP3 player is its ease of use. It doesn’t do any good to have a cool $200 MP3 player if you have trouble downloading music onto the device. Narrow your choices to a few selections and then go online to visit discussion and forum boards to find out what people are saying about the brand of MP3 player you’re considering. Advertising and glitzy commercials are intriguing, but it’s word of mouth and user experience when it comes to an MP3 player. Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean bad either, so again, look at the specs when you’re shopping around.

A Solid State MP3 player has no moving parts, making it the best thing for active people to cart their music libraries around. This type of MP3 player offers much better ‘readability’ and uninterrupted play, whether you’re jogging, skateboarding or hitting the ski slopes. Designed with lightweight storage in mind, an MP3 player can fit into a pocket or be worn around the neck. Many electronic brand names carry combinations of traditional CD and MP3 playing capabilities. Most types of MP3 player can store hundreds or thousands of songs. Due to their durable, yet lightweight designs, the MP3 player is the most popular electronic gadget up there with the Bluetooth and the cell phone. These days, it’s common to see people of all ages hurrying to and fro with earphones connected to MP3 players as they work hard and play hard.

Remember that when shopping for an MP3 player, check the capabilities of each model and do some comparison-shopping. Price ranges of most MP3 players make them affordable to just about anyone, but the amount of storage in each different model is a deciding factor for many when it comes to the right MP3 player to suit their musical tastes.

This video shows how easy it is to write MultiTouch applications using MultiTouchVista framework.

In this week’s show Steve Ballmer launches Windows 7, the latest auto-tech is on show in Tokyo, Twitter isn’t for sale, Google Street View goes places it never could, scientists develop a safer battery and Sony shows an impressive 3D screen that doesn’t require glasses.