The Wii U is now out in the wild, having been released in North America on Nov. 18, coming to Europe and Australia on Nov. 30, and finally Japan on Dec. 8. This is the first of the next-gen consoles, with Sony and Microsoft expected to follow suit and release their own next-gen machines in 2013. The Wii U isn’t intended to be competition to the forthcoming consoles though, with Nintendo setting its own agenda and forging its own path into the future.

There are thought to be around 7.6 billion pages on the Web at the time of writing. Even I, someone who spends most of their life online in some capacity or other, would never be able to visit every single page. Having so many pages on the Web means a little curation goes a long way. Which is part of the reason MakeUseOf itself exists; to find the best sites on the Web so you don’t have to do so. The thing is, a fair proportion of that total aren’t going to be especially useful.

I’m a big fan of tablets, that new wave of mobile devices that sits comfortably between smartphones and laptops. They’re not for everybody. In fact, some people consider them a waste of time and money, preferring instead to split their time between the two other devices mentioned previously. I prefer to think of tablets as luxury items: no one really needs one but many people desire owning one. The thing is, not all tablets are created equal.

The Wii U is now available to buy in North America, with Nintendo having released its new home games console — the first of the next-gen machines — last weekend. By the end of the year the Wii U will have been released in all the major territories. The initial launch didn’t go particularly smoothly, with a sizable firmware update being required to add online functionality.

Everybody needs to laugh from time to time. Life would be pretty dire without humor to lighten the dark moods that haunt many of us for periods of time. That’s why there are so many comedians in the world. Not the “comedians” that some poor unfortunate individuals share an office cubicle with, but the real funny men and women whose job it is to make us laugh.

More and more people are using computers – both for work and for pleasure – for long periods at a time. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s a practice that promotes a sedentary lifestyle. This certainly is a bad thing, as there are countless maladies connected to inactivity and obesity. This emerging understanding and knowledge of how some of us are doing harm to our bodies.

Being in a band while growing up is one of those rites of passage many people go through. Unfortunately it’s only a select few bands which break out of their local vicinity to experience nationwide, or even worldwide, fame and fortune. However, even those who only ever get a couple of gigs playing to their family and friends still get to live out their dreams, even if it’s only on a very temporary basis.

I’ve been a freelance writer for over five years now, and it actually scares me a little to think how long I have spent glued to my computer (not literally, of course) during that time. I do know (thanks to the Health option of Defraggler) that in the three years since I bought my current laptop it’s been running for a total of 653 days. So, it’s on around two-thirds of the time. I don’t get out much, in case you were wondering.

There is something magical about movies. In the space of two hours a whole story is told from beginning to end. With a middle that hopefully leaves you feeling something, anything, for the characters and the situation they found themselves in. Not all movies are created equal, of course, and there are as many bad ones as there are good. Which is where the Web comes in to its own.

I must admit I’m a little addicted to Facebook. Only a little, and certainly less than I used to be, but the need to log in often throughout the day in order to see what all of my Facebook friends have been up to is still present. I say Facebook friends because the idea of friendship has changed thanks to social networks, whether for better or worse. I’m not alone in being just slightly addicted to Facebook, or of social networks in general.

In many ways the Dreamcast is the forgotten console in video games history. It didn’t sell well, it didn’t stick around long, and it never quite lived up to its early promise. However, those who owned one at the time it was on the market invariably loved it, and hold it in high regard even today. I owned a Dreamcast at the time, and still own one now. The Dreamcast was the last home games console from Sega.

It’s Movember. No, that isn’t a typo, it’s meant to be an “m” rather than an “n” as November has once again been accosted by men sporting magnificent mustaches in order to raise awareness of male health issues. It’s a serious subject brought out into the open by a month-long effort to grow facial hair. And do any of us really need as excuse to grow a mustache anyway?

The Internet has not only made the world a much smaller place, bringing us all together under one unifying cloud, it’s also changed the idea of friendship. What would once have been nothing but acquaintances are now listed as “friends” on social networks around the Web, and on Facebook in particular. For this week’s MakeUseOf poll, Yaara is asking whether social media is taking over your life.

There’s a current craze emerging for standing desks, literally desks that you stand at while working. Having spent the last five years as a self-employed freelance writer who spends most of his days sat at a desk, I’ve experienced back problems as well as instances of the seemingly unavoidable repetitive strain injury. Perhaps a standing desk is the solution to my problems.

Have you got Windows 8 installed on your PC or tablet yet? Millions have, by either upgrading their existing computer or buying a new device powered by Microsoft’s latest operating system. Perhaps they’ve even shelled out and bought the Microsoft Surface, though I haven’t seen much evidence as yet. I very much doubt that many mainstream consumers have made the switch to Windows 8 at this early stage.