Last week we told you about how to follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Today I would like to invite everyone to join the MakeUseOf Community on Yahoo’s MyBlogLog Network.

MyBlogLog is the largest social networking site centered around blogs. Thanks to everyone who has already joined and helped getting MakeUseOf into the Top 50 communities. If you’re a MakeUseOf reader and haven’t joined our community yet, you’re welcome to join us.

Thanks!

(By) Aibek, the guy behind MakeUseOf.com

Summer has left us and we are heading full steam ahead into autumn - only 85 days till Christmas! 

September has been an eventful month at Make Use Of - our games section finally took off properly and Ross started with us.   Our adjustments to the comments board - including the ability to subscribe to follow-up comments - has also seen an increase in comments coming in which is really nice.

This goes to all of our readers who are on Twitter. I keep getting emails from readers asking me if there is a MakeUseOf Twitter feed. Yep, we got one!

If you’re a Twitter user and would like to be notified everytime there is a new post on MakeUseOf Blog, web app review on MakeUseOf Directory or something new on Geeky Fun than follow us @ twitter.com/MakeUseOf

(By) Aibek, the guy behind MakeUseOf.com

Now it’s time to say thanks to our beloved sponsors who help us pay the bills over here. So make sure to click through and check them out.

CrazyEgg - Great website traffic analytics tool for people who don’t really like looking at numbers, and are more visual.

GoDaddy - Want to start a blog and looking for a good domain name? GoDaddy is the most popular website for domain names. Use our link to get 10% off.

Techinline - Instantly access and control a remote computer over the Internet, using any browser. Using Techinline you can view, diagnose and rapidly solve your customers’ problems anywhere in the world.

Who can believe it’s the end of August already?   As we head into September, it’s time once again to take a look at what our writers have been up to during the past four weeks.

As well as checking to see if you’ve missed anything, don’t forget to check out August’s Make Use Of podcasts (with the deep seductive voice of Mr Jason “let’s get it on” Mayoff!).

Thanks for reading us and here’s to an enjoyable September!

Tina - Tinsie Recommended

For quite a while now, Aibek and I have been discussing how to turn Make Use Of into a better site for our readers and one of the areas we’ve been looking at is the comments area. Our long-time readers will know that the comments area has been a bit on the plain side (a bit Web 1.0-ish) so we decided to spiff it up a bit, give it a bit of colour. This is the Wordpress platform after all so why not see what we can do to make Make Use Of a little bit better?

Please welcome the latest - and for the moment the last - recruits to the Make Use Of writing squad.  We’ve now decided to put our recruiting on hold for at least a few months while we put our existing staff through their paces to see if they’ve got what it takes to give you the high quality articles you’ve come to expect from Make Use Of.

There were a couple of last recruits from July and we will introduce them when their first articles come out.

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Please take a moment to welcome our five latest new additions to the Make Use Of team. They have all had articles published and Jimmy even appeared on the podcast on Sunday!

I’m Lee and as soon as I get the homemade ectoplasm off my face I’ll be a regular contributor to Make Use Of.

I’m a technician with fifteen years of experience in the trenches, battling computer evil from behind the retail service counter. Hopefully you’ll find my articles informative and not-too-stuffy. I may get a little opinionated from time to time, but that comes with the territory, am I right?

In the past, we have had complaints from people that their comments on posts have not shown up and this has led them to believe that we have censored them for their opinions. The most recent complaint was this morning and so I want to address this issue once and for all so that there is no doubt. We want people to have full confidence in the commenting system here and to fully participate in discussions without thinking that we are going to muzzle them!

The bottom line is that we do NOT censor comments on Make Use Of!

As we mentioned yesterday, May was quite a month for new writers coming on board with us to share their knowledge with the Make Use Of readers. Here are four of them introducing themselves.

Varun Kashyap

I am Varun from India. I am passionate about computers, the internet and the technologies that drive them. I love to discover new web applications and sites that increase my productivity and make my work easier, faster and fun.

I generally prefer open source software for the simple reason that I like their philosophy and they have so much more to offer than the proprietary ones.

With the news that Friendfeed has introduced the capability for users to create public and private rooms, I’ve decided to start a new social media experiment by starting the Make Use Of public Friendfeed Room.

The thinking behind it is this. When a Make Use Of story is published, I will put a link to it in the Friendfeed room. Everyone can then drop by the room, comment on the stories, chat to one another and generally have a jolly good time.

Being big internet addicts here at Make Use Of, quite a lot of us have Twitter accounts, which we use either to promote personal blog posts and / or to chat with other Twitter users. If you would like to join in the discussions with us, feel free to “follow” us on Twitter!

Our user ID’s are below :

http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf - Make Use Of official feed
http://twitter.com/MarkONeill - Mark
http://twitter.com/tquizzle - Travis
http://twitter.com/pleasant - Jason
http://twitter.com/shankargan - Shankar
http://twitter.com/jxn - Jackson
http://twitter.com/ddrager - Dave
http://twitter.com/macoafi - Mackenzie
http://twitter.com/laurencejohn - Laurence
http://twitter.com/LostInTech - Kyle
http://twitter.com/jeetblog - Abhijeet
http://twitter.com/wezpyke - Wez
http://twitter.com/danielpataki - Daniel
http://twitter.com/loyaleagle - Jimmy
http://twitter.com/geekblake - Blake
http://twitter.com/nickvolpe - Nick
http://twitter.com/socialwebtools - Charnita
http://www.twitter.com/MakeTechEasier - Damien
http://www.twitter.com/thepinkc - Ellie
http://twitter.com/tictechtoe - Ben

Today on MakeUseOf.com we changed a few things. This is not going to be some long laundry list of things I’ll bore you lovely readers out there with…but rather just to introduce a few things on the surface (there were MANY things changed behind the scenes).

Now the header image goes all the way across the screen. Not a show stopper, but something that needed a little touch.

Also, the posts have changed slightly. You’ll still get the MakeUseOf goodness you’ve grown accustomed to, but now with fresher icons and a little more color.

Two words…tagging support!

The writing team here at Make Use Of continues to expand. Please welcome three new writers.

I’m David Johannes. I’ve lived in five different countries throughout my life but I currently reside in Austin, Texas where I’m pursuing a Civil Engineering and French dual degree. I’m currently trying to juggle all the passions in my life, which include the internet, my friends and family, photography, playing/listening to music, travelling, foreign languages, and tea (in no particular order of course). I try to find creativity and inspiration in everything I do. Oh and please feel free to visit my little corner of the web.

We experienced a small problem this morning with a MP3 enclosure in one of our posts causing the MakeUseOf feed to become invalid. This, of course, led to issues trying to view the feed with some feed readers.

The problem was rectified this evening and feeds are now back online.

We also noticed that our nice little “Google” hosted search functionality was displaying a blank search results page. It didn’t matter what was typed - it returned a blank page. Until we get this issue resolved, we’ve re-implemented the default WordPress search functionality.

If any of you have a Facebook account, I’d like to turn your attention to the newly-created Make Use of Facebook fan page.

While it is a bit on the bare side at the moment, we are hoping to spruce it up with a few tech fans and hopefully create a bit of buzz over at the social networking site.

Here are some of the things you can do on the page :

• Upload a photo of yourself and let us see what you look like
• Upload a photo of your PC (only if there is something to look at ;-))

Our writing team continues to expand! Please welcome our three latest new additions to the team - Rich, Michael and Eric.

Hi, my name is Rich and I am a web fanatic.

Originally from England, and now living in San Diego, California, I work as a web analyst for a Fortune 500 company. I am also a passionate classic rock fan.

I live, sleep and breathe the world of the internet, and how it affects business. I particularly love web analytics and improving websites using them.

I don’t know why we didn’t think of this sooner but we have just started a Make Use Of account on Del.icio.us and we are looking for YOUR contributions!

The purpose of the account is to encourage reader participation in submitting website links to Make Use Of. One part of Make Use Of is the Make Use Of directory - which is a huge enterprise in its own right. But to keep it going, it needs a continual stream of new sites added to it.

Please welcome three new writers to the Make Use Of team - Anthony, Jackson and Mackenzie. While Anthony will be joining the rest of us and focus on web-based apps, Jackson and Mackenzie will start off MakeUseOf Mac and Linux sections, respectively. Obviously there’s more to computers and the web than just plain old Windows and so we’ve figured it would be best to expand a little and offer our readers a bit more choice in their reading. Actually, Jackson has already reviewed couple of Mac apps: a universal “my status” manager MoodBlast and a GTD program known as Things.

Please join me in welcoming three new writers to the Make Use Of team - Tina, Shankar and Travis. You will already have seen the first articles by Tina and Shankar, and Travis.

So without further ado, our writers will now introduce themselves :

Tina [tinsie.net/Recommended/]

My name is Tina, I’m 29 and I’m a tech addict. In “real life” I studied biology and am currently working as a scientist with merely a couple of months away from making my PhD in biochemistry. At the lab I’m responsible for all computer hardware and software, and with shame I admit I can’t always solve all the issues all the time. Hey, I’m a biologist, and I have yet to meet a computer that responds when I talk to it.

I would like to introduce two new writers to the Make Use Of team whom we corrupted with the promise of riches and fame. Their names are Daniel Pataki and Karl L Gechlik. Both are excellent bloggers, both know their subjects inside and out and we are very excited to have them on the team. We are regular readers of their blogs so we know that they are capable of producing really great material.

You’ve probably already seen Karl’s first post but stay tuned for Daniel’s debut post which is coming up soon.

Hi folks, just a quick heads up on the latest MakeUseOf developments. It gives me a great pleasure to welcome our new guest authors, Linda (from CoolOnlineTools.com) and John (from TechDune.com).

Both of them have been blogging for some time and have something unique to add to MakeUseOf. I am sure our new authors will add some different perspectives to the mix while still covering the usual stuff. Fell free to express your opinion by rating all of our posts.

Give them a warm welcome and stay tuned for their first posts later today. Meanwhile you can check out their blogs below.

Just a short heads-up. Previously posted 1 Gmail Tip You Didn’t Know About hit the front page of Del.icio.us! It happened about 2 days ago so the page isn’t there anymore. It’s not the the first time we are featured there but this one generated some interesting buzz, over 100 comments.

So in case you skipped it earlier (or just new here) feel free to re-visit the article, comment, tag and add to your own del.icio.us account!

It’s good to know that Del.icio.us users have taste! (no pun intended).

Never let it be said that we here at MakeUseOf never give you any freebies. We are in the process of developing a few free sweet giveaways for our readers and number one on the list is a custom search button for the Google toolbar (I know, you were expecting a bikini model and a crate of beer…..sorry!)

First you need the Google toolbar which you can download here (if you haven’t already got it of course). There’s a version for Internet Explorer and one for Mozilla Firefox.

Hey Folks

MakeUseOf Directory has been just submitted to Digg. So, if you like our directory here is your chance to express your appreciation and Digg It .

Digg it here.

Aibek

Hello folks, welcome to MakeUseOf 2.0. Our new theme is finally out, and being live-tested right at the very moment. Check it out, spend some time on the website, play around with navigation menus, and please tell us what you think. Hope you’ll love it as much as we do. If by any chance you come across something that looks too small, too big, or doesn’t show up at all, drop us a line by email or right below in comments.

Yesterday, I was working on a new post about popular tech podcasts. And while on it, I thought why not to integrate some of better tech podcasts to makeuseof.com as a service. In other words, to put all popular tech shows in one easy-to-navigate, auto-updated web player. After couple hours of work and another five of frustration with SplashCast media, it was running and functional. Check it out on our brand new Best of Tech Podcasts page (from now on it’ll be also accessible from the sidebar).

Current shows include:

DL.TV (Video, Weekly): For tech fans, by tech fans about what is going on in tech today.

As I am a Guest Writer on MakeUseOf (.com), I thoroughly checked out the site. After always subscribing to the main feed and has just recently added myself to the Web 2.0 Directory Updates Feed, I know have a great comprehensive look at the Newest Web 2.0 FREE Applications Directory.

Anybody have any other similar sites to add? Feel free to comment, so we can compile a great Directory of Web 2.0 Directories…

Good news, we finally got our first guest writers. They are both unique, follow makeuseof, love the web, and surpass all my expectations. Check them out below and please give them a warm welcome.

Adam Hirsch

“I’m a down to earth working man who likes to cook, watch good tv/movies, listen to music, “chill”, go out when the occasion arises… I’m a sarcastic fun-loving, people-loving, animal-loving fool who also can give endless massages.” www.TheFattyTalks.com.

Over the last 3 months I was thinking of ways to make MakeUseOf more user-friendly. With over 50 tools published on a weekly basis, MakeUseOf needed some directory-style structure to make it more usable and enable anyone to find desired applications faster. And so, I am happy to introduce you to the MakeUseOf Directory.

Hi folks, to keep things short just wanted to tell you that I am moving to another flat and was busy packing for the last couple of days. Kaly was also on short trip with his family. So, we didn’t post as often as before (2 posts/3 days).

Now, Kaly is back and I should be done by tomorrow, so we will be back on track from Wednesday evening (or Thursday morning).

Best Wishes

Hi guyz,
As many of you have realized our site was recently down for almost 14 hours; Kaly’s last post on iPod Tools made it to the digg front page which resulted in a massive amount of traffic and caused severe server slow down to our hosting provider and they decided to remove makeuse from ‘makeuseof.com‘(they took us down). I feel bad for annoyed diggers and hence after talking to Kaly decided to move website to a better server to prevent such incidents in the future.

On behalf of Kaly and myself I would like to wish everyone merry Christmas! Hope you’ll get lots of ’stuff’ and ‘love’ this year.

P.S. We were quite passive for the last 7 days, I was off to Goa and just got back yesterday, and Kaly was celebrating Sofia’s 2nd birthday. Tomorrow life should get back to normal, and by the way a bunch of cool posts lined up for the coming week. So stay tuned…
Till tomorrow