Once again, another month is over and we now find ourselves on the run-up to the Christmas and New Year holidays, taking us into 2010.   Man, how the year has flown by.   It seemed like only yesterday that we celebrated gaining 30,000 subscribers and now we are looking at the count approaching 130,000!    Did I drink something, pass out and miss a few months?!

I know there’s another 4 weeks to go (so this may be a bit premature) but 2009 has been the best year ever for MakeUseOf.   We have hired some really amazing writers (including promoting some to be staff writers and editors), our subscriber count has gone through the roof (and beyond) and the range and quality of our article titles is just amazing.   There’s always something for everyone and we all here enjoy writing them for you.

In 2010, we will be bringing you some exciting new projects, such as more PDF manuals (check out the two we did in November – How to Build a Gaming PC by Simon and The Incredible Guide to NEW Ubuntu (Karmic Koala) by Olly).  In 2010, we will also be rolling out two major new features of the site – no clues yet as to what they will be, but when they come out, they’re sure to be instant popular hits.

But if you can’t wait that long to see those changes, hang tight because we have something else about to arrive which you will hopefully like.   We are once again slightly redesigning the MakeUseOf site (just a few nips and tucks here and there) and this should go live within the next week or so.  Our new design will integrate social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

While our boffins in the lab are busy getting these changes ready, why not take a glance over November’s stories?  Maybe there’s something there you missed?

Karl ““ Ask The Admin

WordPress Exploit Scanner Helps Administrators Scan Their Database For Malicious Files
Hide Your Drives From Prying Eyes with No Drives Manager [Windows]
Recover Your Windows XP Administrator Password With The Installation Disk
QMMander ““ Cool Open Source Alternative to Windows Explorer
3 Best Sites To Download Free Funny Voicemail Messages
Technology Explained: What Is Bluetooth?
How To Download Free Amazon Kindle eBooks To Your PC
5 Really Cool Video Sites for Funny Videos
Play An Awesome Asteroids Arcade Game Clone In your Browser!
How To Convert MKV Files To Burn As A DVD
Six Steps To Help You Fix Common DVD Drive Errors
Technology Explained: Open Router Ports & Their Security Implications
How To Get A Layer Of Downloading Protection with PeerBlock
Type Emails Faster with Texter Text Replacement Software
How To Record and Print out Browsing History on Firefox and Internet Explorer
PhraseExpress ““ A Great Alternative Text Replacement Tool
Top 3 Sites To Download Windows Mobile 6 Freeware
How To Use The Windows Mobile Registry Editor
Update Your Hardware Drivers For Free With Device Doctor
TCPMP ““ The Best 3GP Player For Windows Mobile

Saikat ““ The Things I Do

Songr ““ A Desktop MP3 Search Engine That Also Downloads Songs for You
4 Custom Bullet Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Word 2007
AM-Deadlink: Clean Up Your Bookmarks by Removing Dead Links And Duplicates
Read 650 Magazines Online for Free With Maggwire
How To Personalize News With “˜Custom Sections’ in Google News
How To Convert Delimited Text Files To Excel Spreadsheets
Gizmoz ““ A 3D Talking Character Maker That Uses Your Photo
Transmute ““ Migrate Bookmarks Between Your Browsers
CosmoLearning ““ A Free Education Experience For Teachers & Students
Playfire ““ A Social Community For The Addicted Gamer
SlateBox ““ An Easy and Quick Collaborative Visualization Tool
Creaza ““ An Online Toolbox For Creative & Educational Fun
Clicker ““ The Complete Guide To Online TV & Movie Shows
BookRix ““ A Community For Book Lovers & Wannabe Authors
KeyLaunch ““ Launch Programs Fast by Typing in a Few Characters
Sublight ““ Search, Download, and Play Subtitles with Your Movies
MonitorOff ““ Software to Switch Off Your Monitor & Save Energy
Rippol ““ Impressive Personalized Video Search & Recommendation Service
Dizzler ““ A Desktop Entertainment Hub With Free Music, Videos, Radio & Games
EvilLyrics ““ A Lyrics Search Tool For Your Music Player
QuickFox Notes ““ Write and Save Notes In Firefox

Ryan ““ BetterContent

How Earn Money By Selling Online PC Support using LiveZilla
2 Cool Ways To Poke Someone On Facebook
MedHelp- A Mental & Physical Fitness Log to Monitor your Health
4 Cool Ways to Login to Facebook Without Going to the Site
3 Cool Ways To Use Your Webcam For A Live Online Experience
Alice Teaches Object Oriented Computer Programming To Kids
Set Up A Voicemail For Your Blog with VoiceMeMe
How To Use Google Earth To Investigate Conspiracy Theories
Make 4 Cool Spy Gadgets With Your Windows Mobile Phone
Make Your Own Movie From Photos with Pinnacle Video Spin [Windows]
Top 4 Sites To Share Private Home Movies With Family & Friends
4 Sites To Help You With Troubleshooting Car Problems
How to Actually Make Money Selling eBooks

Dean ““ Tapping Thought

Top 3 Tips To Motivate Yourself While Learning A Second Language
How To Connect Your Cell Phone To PC Through Bluetooth
The 3 Useful Office Apps To Reduce Your Paperwork
How To Add A Successful Amazon Store To Your Blog
How To Easily Auto Backup Your WordPress Database
How To Use iGoogle To Get Ahead In Your Job Searches
How To Make A Quick and Easy Web Comic
How To Quickly Fix A Phone or MP3 Player With Water Damage
7Zip ““ A Free Program to Unzip Uncommon Archive Formats
5 More Ways To Get Discounts, Save Cash & Make Money Online
2 Ways To Add Social Bookmarking Buttons To Your Blog
MoneyManager2 ““ Easily Manage Your Money On Your Mobile Phone
Three Websites With Cool Tech Mods and Guides

Simon ““ Wombat Labs

Gamer Trick: The Automatic Mouse Clicker For Games
3 Great Online Tools to Improve Study Skills & Get Better Grades
Celtx ““ The Ultimate Screenwriting Software [Cross-Platform]
How To Easily Download YouTube High Definition Videos
How To Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive To Your PC
PHOTOSHOP DISASTERS: 2 Blogs with Bad Photoshop Images
Wally- Awesome Wallpaper Rotator for Windows, Mac & Linux
How To Install Google Android On A Windows Mobile Phone
The Best Alternative Alarm Clocks (Windows/Mac/Mobile)
10 Fun Free Windows Mobile Phone Games
9 Hilarious Websites To Visit When You Need To Kill Time
The True Power of the Wolfram Alpha Knowledge Engine
Form Good Habits and Break Bad Ones With Habitforge

Jackson

How To Use A Facebook Badge As Your Email Signature [Mac]
5 Cool Mac Optimization Tips to Get The Most From Your Mac
Quiet Read Saves Weblinks For Later Reading [Mac]
Old Timer ““ The Perfect Texas Hold “˜Em Blinds Timer
How To Maximize Battery Life when Browsing on Mac with BashFlash
Parental Controls ““ Safely Restrict Your Kids’ Computer Access [Mac]
3 Free Cross-Platform Multishooter Games That Resemble Worms 2
A Windows User’s Quick Switching To Mac Guide
Use F.lux To Sleep Better After Late-Night Computer Activities
Become A Multitasking Master With These 6 Exposé Tips [Mac]
How To Stream Your Videos To Your iPhone And iPod Touch
Listomator ““ Powerful Yet Simple Text List Manipulator [Mac]

Jeffry ““ Super Subconscious

Use Face Recognition to Organize Photos With iPhoto [Mac]
Use Geographical Info To Organize Photos in iPhoto [Mac]
Solve Your Mac Window Management Issues with Afloat
How To Improve Your iCal Calendars With FlexCal [Mac Only]
How to Compile Photos & Videos to Make a DVD with iDVD [Mac]
Make Open Windows Quickly Disappear with ShowDesktop [Mac]
GeekTool ““ Display System Information on Mac in Style
How To Show iCal Tasks & Events On The Desktop [Mac only]
How To Create & Change Mac Icons Quickly & Easily
Enrich Your iTunes Experience With GeekTool & TunesArt [Mac]
Never Forget Your Facebook Friend’s Birthday with fbCal
Count Words & Analyze A Document’s Readability With Word Counter [Mac]
Manage Your Financial Life Flawlessly With iCompta [Mac]

Varun ““ Tech Crazy

How To Draw A Pixie Dust Effect In Photoshop
10 Innovative Linux Wallpapers For Ubuntu Users
Google Dashboard Displays A Summary Of Your Google Services
Easily Manage Files On Your Windows Skydrive With Skydrive Explorer
5 Sites To Find Free Alternatives To Popular Software
5 Easy Ways to Lighten Dark Underexposed Photos in Photoshop
Create & Deploy Servers & Sites In A Snap With Turnkey Linux
Media Cope ““ An All In One Media Player, Cutter & Converter
GoogSysTray: An All In One Google Notifier App
How To Create A Custom Splash Image For Grub 2 [Linux]
How to Establish Simple Remote Desktop Access Between Ubuntu and Windows

Guy ““ Canada Prepared

3 Simplest DIY Computer Repairs Anyone Can Do
3 Great Sites To Help You Achieve A Lower Cost Of Living
3 Great Sites To Get The Truth On MLM Pyramid Schemes
Wootalyzer ““ Alerts You Woot! Super Sales and Other Sites
3 Great Sites For Old Wives’ Tales & Superstitions
How to Speed Up Your Computer with Just One Double-Click [Windows]
How to Easily Protect & Encrypt Files with Conceal (Windows)
Got a Copyright Infringement Notice From ISP? What’s Next
Technology Explained: So Who Created The Internet?

Mahendra ““ Skeptic Geek

Design Your Own Online Portal Website for Free with Zooloo
LiveBrush ““ A Versatile Freeware Image Editor That Lets You Draw Like An Artist
Top 8 Websites With Cool Free Personality Traits Tests
HEATLH: 2 Easy Guides to Check Your Illness Symptoms Online
How To Add Cool Free Animation to PowerPoint Presentations
FLV Converter ““ A Freeware to Convert FLV Videos to AVI
How To Create, Discover and Follow Twitter Lists
Fishbowl ““ An Awesome Facebook Client For Windows
4 Cool Ways To Make Use Of Twitter Lists

Tina

3 Best Free Alternatives To Microsoft Outlook
5 Ways to Protect & Hide Your Email to Stop Receiving Spam
2 Safe Ways To Share Your Presentation Slides Online
3 Ways to Manually Backup & Restore Critical Windows XP Data
Play-By-Mail: Play Fun Games via Email Casually
Top 5 Freeware Registry Cleaners That Improve PC Performance
Top 8 Sites To Listen To Free Christmas Music Online
Some Cool Keyboard Tricks That Few People Know About

Tim L ““ timmyjohnboy

Manage Multiple Users on One Twitter Account with TweetFunnel
6 Ways To Set Up Dual Monitors To Be More Productive
How To Schedule Future Tweets with Taweet
Twitip.com ““ Solid Twitter Tips To Help You Get Started
How To Use WordPress As A Twitter-Like Communication Tool
Share Large Files & Get Unlimited Free Web Storage Space With GoAruna
3 Useful Programs That Help Manage Multiple Monitors
Save Time On Searching Craigslist By Sending Search Results To Your Email

Bakari ““ Mac Photography Tips

Browse Nikon Images on Your iPhone with Nikon’s Learn & Explore
Chipotle ““ A Free iPhone Food Ordering App Done Right
3 Inspiring Virtual Libraries for Avid Readers & Book Lovers
How To Make Lala Your Music Player of Choice
How To Create New Design Projects Using Avery DesignPro
12 Ideas On How To Take Better Photographs
Start The New Year With A Flickr Self-Portrait Project

Susan – tuxmachines.org

GoblinX ““ An Alternative Linux OS With 4 Different Flavors
How To Secure Your D-Link Wireless Router
Mandriva Linux 2010 ““ Perhaps The Best Linux Release All Year
Top 3 Sites To Help You Become A Linux Command Line Master
Benchmark Your System With PTS Desktop Live [Linux]

John

Top 3 Fake News Prank Story Generators
Top 5 Sites For Free Sound Effects Downloads
How To Connect Your Nintendo Wii Console To The Internet
4 Sites to Watch Old & Classic Cartoon TV Shows Online

Paul B

The 4 Fabulous Gmail Labs Extensions You Should Try Out
How To Hide Running Programs on Windows with OuttaSight
Read QR & Datamatrix Codes With Your Phone Using I-Nigma

Sharninder ““ Geeky Ninja

Lose It! ““ A Calorie Intake Calculator for the iPhone
3 Tools To Easily Backup Your Flickr Photos
5 Free Tools To Quickly Convert A CD To An MP3 Collection

Jack ““ Jack Cola

Find What Happens To Your Email and Social Networking Accounts When You Die?
How To Mask Yourself Online & Use a Fake IP Address

Paul C ““ You’re Stupid, I’m Not

How To Buy Used Stuff For Cheap On Facebook
Five Sites To Safely Download Holiday Cheer

Grant ““ GrantBlog

Best Sites To Download Good High-Res Wallpapers (Part Two)
Pandora Seamlessly Integrates iPhone and Internet Radio

Dave – SystemBash

Stay Connected To IRC Chat 24/7 Using Quassel
5 Sites To Find Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sale Listings

Justin – Justin Pot’s Blog

4 Unique and Cool Ways To Use Dropbox

Nathan – NathanChase

Reinvigorate: Real-Time Analytics That Pick Up Where Google Leaves Off

Jorge – GeekLad

How To Run Google Chrome OS From A USB Drive [Windows]

Tobias ““ personal tobias

How To Tag Your Friends In Photos On Flickr

Michael

The 2 Great Websites for Atari 2600 Enthusiasts

April – APRILOQUIES

Two Simple Yet Useful Firefox Add-Ons You Should Have

Eyal ““ ProductiveWise

Google Social Search Makes Your Search Results Personal

Bohed ““ TrueKolor.net

How To Create a Simple Blog Logo In Photoshop

Image Credit : paperladyinvites

Tagged: announcements • monthly roundup