15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff Advertisement Over the past months, we’ve written quite a few PDF manuals for you, on all kinds of diverging subjects, including BitTorrent, iTunes, iPhone, Twitter, Mac, Linux, Photoshop and several other topics. Freely available to MakeUseOf subscribers, there are now multiple manuals released every month, for everyone to enjoy. After releasing 15 manuals and nearly half a million downloads we thought it was about time to look back and review what has been published so far. Enjoy! Downloads are free, no strings attached. Do us a favor by sharing those manuals friends! 1 – Internet Guide for the Movie Addict Written by Saikat Basu, this entirely free PDF production will show you anything you’ve ever dreamed about knowing related to movies on the web. Original Post | Download NOW 2 – Internet Guidebook for An Audiophile Original Post | Download NOW 3 – The Incredible Free Manual for Every Mac User Original Post | Download NOW 4 – The Underground Guide to the iPhone Written by Stefan Neagu.
System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $2000 Performance PC : Welcome Back, SLI! System Builder Marathon, September 2011: The Articles Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon. To enter the giveaway, please fill out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering! Day 1: The $2000 Performance PCDay 2: The $1000 Enthusiast PCDay 3: The $500 Gaming PCDay 4: Performance And Value, Dissected Introduction Superb multi-card scaling is part of the reason why Tom’s Hardware editors have used AMD graphics hardware in every System Builder Marathon machine this year, a fact that may have escaped die-hard AMD fans who've missed seeing the company's CPUs compete up at the top of the spectrum. And yet, just because we've doted on AMD's graphics-oriented value doesn't mean the company enjoys performance superiority.
11 cheap gifts guaranteed to impress science geeks Science comes up with a lot of awesome stuff, and you don't need a Ph.D, a secret lab, or government funding to get your hands on some of the coolest discoveries. We've got a list of 11 mostly affordable gifts that are guaranteed to blow your mind, whether or not you're a science geek. Click on any image to see it enlarged. 1. Aerogel Also known as frozen smoke, Aerogel is the world's lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. Aerogel isn't just neat, it's useful. Price: $35 2. Inside these sealed glass balls live shrimp, algae, and bacteria, all swimming around in filtered seawater. EcoSpheres came out of research looking at ways to develop self-contained ecosystems for long duration space travel. Price: $80 3. NASA has been trying to figure out how to get a sample of rock back from Mars for a while now. Every once in a while, a meteorite smashes into Mars hard enough to eject some rocks out into orbit around the sun. Price: $70+ 4. Price: $150 5. Price: $110 6. Price: $80 7. Price: $15 8.
Make A Cheap & Easy Solar USB Charger With An Altoids Tin Photos by Joshua Zimmerman The craftster behind the very popular $3 solar-powered emergency radio is back with a new awesome project: a cheap solar battery charger with a USB plug. Zimmerman wrote, saying that he saw a lot of small solar powered chargers being talked about over Earth Day, but there was a big problem: "They're all quite nice, but also quite expensive. So, he came up with his own, using one of our favorite reusable items -- the ever wonderful Altoids tin. In looking for the cheapest way to accomplish the task, Zimmerman found that he could build a USB solar charger for under $30 (or $10 if be buys parts in bulk, though it's not likely you'll be buying bulk solar cells and DC-to-USB converter circuits). Zimmerman states, "The central brain of our project is a DC to USB converter circuit. It can be done with a Minty Boost kit, a premade circuit off of ebay, or grabbing one from a cheap USB charger.
10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web It’s not Spiderman’s latest web slinging tool but something that’s more real world. The Invisible Web (or The Deep Web) refers to the part of the Internet that’s not indexed by the search engines. Most of us think that that search powerhouses like Google and Bing are like the Great Oracle — they see everything. Unfortunately, they can’t because they aren’t divine at all; they are just web spiders who index pages by following one hyperlink after the other. Take library databases which need a password for access. Search engine technology has progressed by leaps and bounds. It’s not that you can’t access the invisible web at all. 1. This is considered to be the oldest catalog on the web and was started by started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web. For instance, there are 300 sub-libraries with their own categories within the main library. You can go vertically into the categories or use the search bar. 2. This is the official site of the U.S. 3. 4. 5. 6. Studying literature? 7. 8.
Geek Furniture Sometimes you just need to redecorate your home. Instead of heading down to your local IKEA and picking up furniture being held together with toothpicks, check out some of this furniture and get your geek on. Binary Doormat It either says "welcome" or "no solicitors" We start at the front door and while I’m a bit rusty on my binary, I’m assuming that this says “Welcome” or something to that effect. Blank CD Chair It's either going to massage your back or rip it to shreds. While I’m not going to comment on how comfortable I believe this chair to be, you have to at least admire the resourcefulness of it. Bracket Shelving Remember your rules for which item you have to count first. Nice to see somebody incorporating brackets and parentheses into their wall shelving. Geek Clock The left hand is on the g, the right hand is on the square root of 4 Not everybody wears a watch or has their cell phone on them to know what time it is. Frozen in Carbonite Desk iPhone Coffee Table Keyboard Chair
Futurama Fanarama: How to Make a Bender Costume | Comedy Central Insider | Funny, TV and Comedy Blog I never saw that movie How to Make an American Quilt, because I'm not a big fan of quilts, so it always seemed outside my wheelhouse. I am, however, a fan of Futurama (and wheelhouses!), so if Winona Ryder ever starred in a movie called How to Make an American Bender Costume, I'd at least Netflix it. After the jump, you can see what the end result looks like. For clips and upcoming air-times, visit the official Futurama site. 50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About It's time to update the entries in your browser's links toolbar. But with recent estimates putting the size of the internet at well more than 100 million distinct websites, it's getting harder and harder to get a handle on all the great stuff that's out there. That's why we've compiled this list. And unlike some lists you may have seen, which try to name the very "best" websites, but end up just telling you a lot of stuff you already know, we've chosen instead to highlight 50 of our favorite sites that fly under most people's radar. Think of it as the Maximum PC blog roll (remember those?). You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Demoscene.tv See What Can Be Done with 4 Kilobytes If you’re any kind of nerd at all, you probably know about the demoscene, where talented programmers create complex videos rendered in real-time, stored in incredibly small files. lite.Facebook.com Clutter-Free Social Networking You can admit it. Soyouwanna.com
Outlets of the Future aka in-wall USB Charger 1. Plug the Mini USB chargers into the outlets. Because the USB ports are off center I decided to put them both toward the center. I think it looked better than having them the same direction or both on the outside. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. This Fluid Fly-By Video Is the Most Astonishing View of Earth Ive Ever Seen Incredible and Scary 3D Pencil Drawings by 17-year old Fredo Realistic pencil drawings are always interesting. It is nice to watch how artist has managed to draw something like it was photographed by camera. However, the plenty of the pencil drawings you have seen by now probably cannot be compared with the following drawings which are literally mind-blowing.Those drawings were made by Fredo, a 17-year old guy from Chile who has found an interesting way to create 3D drawings.Fredo has started to think more seriously about his drawing skills when he was 15. He has learned from some already known artists in this field like M.C.Escher. He also says that he is inspired by the work of Rembrandt, Alex Grey and Beksinki. When he was asked about the time which he needs to produce one of his drawings, he said that some of his drawing have took him months while he was drawing them. Here you can see some of his 3D realistic pencil drawings which look like they were photographed with camera rather than drawn with hand.
Dwight Schrute Knows Best | Runt Of The Web Oh Dwight, you are the best thing to happen to the US version of The Office. The wry second-in-command at the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin is famous for his obscure knowledge and comically literal interpretation of… well… everything. And so the Dwight Schrute Knows Best meme or simply, the Dwight Schrute meme was born: Enjoy the Dwight Schrute meme? Check out Part 2: The Return Of The Schrute Meme and Schrute Facts. The First Zombie-Proof House Somehow, ritual drunk-conversation concerning team captains for the apocalypse has become a major part of the lives of 20-somethings. Having been matured in the Grandaddy-crowned masterpiece film (put “A.M. 180” on and forget that you have a job) 28 Days Later and the best-selling Zombie Survival Guide, we’re all a little too ready to deal with the 2012 zombie apocalypse of our dreams. “The Safe House,” designed by KWK Promes, starts to get eerily close to something I could work with, if say 200 bludgeoned members of the undead army came over to eat their way into borrowing some sugar. “The most essential item for our clients was acquiring the feeling of maximum security,” begins the designers’ website in the summary of the structure. The house, with its movable walls, has only one entrance, which is located on the second floor after crossing a drawbridge.