About Christian Cawley
Deputy Editor for Security, Linux, DIY, Programming, and Tech Explained, Christian has extensive experience in desktop and software support, and has been published in Computer Weekly, Linux Format, Tech Radar, ad ComputerActive.
Christian also produces MakeUseOf's weekly show, the Really Useful Podcast.
His current passions are his cigar box guitar, his retro gaming site (www.gamingretro.co.uk) and his family.
The Windows 8 Guide
This Windows 8 guide outlines everything new about Windows 8, from the tablet-like start screen to the new "app" concept to the familiar desktop mode.
Optimize The Power Of Your Raspberry Pi With Raspbian
As befits a man with too much tech on his hands, I’ve been playing with my Raspberry Pi recently, configuring the device so that it works to its fullest potential. It continues to run as a media center, although I have no doubt that this use will be added to it in the very near future. However, installing an OS and adding XBMC is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using the RPi.
How To Enjoy Video Game Soundtracks While You Work
I’ve recently been enjoying the new Guild Wars 2 MMORPG, with its fantastic graphics, overdue revision of the mechanics of RPG combat, thrilling tasks, quests and dungeons and of course the amazing soundtrack by the unrealistically talented Jeremy Soule (once described as the "John Williams of video game music"). His list of credits is immense, covering not only the Guild Wars games but also World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls and Harry Potter.
How To Install More Operating Systems On Your HP TouchPad
Several months ago I turned my very nice tablet, the HP TouchPad, from a pleasant-to-use device into a handheld computing god thanks to the Android CM9 port of Ice Cream Sandwich. Since then, the device has gone from strength to strength, enabling me to enjoy movies and TV with Netflix, listen to the radio and of course play games and even do some work while I spent a week in the south west of England.
How To Build Great Video Or Photo Studio Gear With Cheap Household Items
YouTube - it sits there, in your browser, throwing new videos at you from big stars like Rihanna, clips from classic comedies, trailers for new movies and the thoughts of Evelyn Smythe, a history professor from Oxford likes to share her thoughts with the world. It is in this last type of YouTube video that the future of television is at stake.
How To Convert, Rotate & Edit Mobile Phone Videos
I was recently searching my hard disk drive looking for a specific video clip recorded at a Christmas party a few years ago. While browsing the resulting clips, I noticed that some wouldn’t play back; others were at the wrong orientation for viewing on a computer, while others needed some serious editing. Fortunately there are many tools available online that can help overcome these problems
Some Crazy Ideas for Homemade Cases For The Raspberry Pi
As the owner of a Raspberry Pi, I’ve spent a bit of time looking for a suitable case for my versatile miniature computer. For a time I settled on the popular “punnet” design that other RaspPi users can download, print out and construct from card, but this wasn’t the most ideal solution. While useful, the punnet case wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Instead, I hit the web.
9 Ways to Speed Up Steam and Download Games Faster
Get the feeling that PC gaming with Steam is slow? Wonder why Steam downloads are throttled? Here's how to make Steam run faster.
Updating Your HP TouchPad: The Next Step
Over the past few months we’ve looked at how to get the most out of your HP TouchPad, something that invariably means installing Android on the device. This is made possible thanks to the development work of the CyanogenMod team, to whom the many TouchPad owners running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich are all eternally grateful. However, there are a couple of problems with the build as it stands.
The Car Of Tomorrow - Today: Top Tools To Put a Computer In Your Car
It is becoming an increasingly popular pastime to add a new element to cars, a new hub for entertainment, GPS and communications. The carputer seems to have been inspired partly by TV shows such as Knight Rider and movies from the James Bond series as well as the progress of technology in the modern age. But now, anyone can build a car computer!
How To Make Sure Windows 7 Will Boot After Changing The Motherboard
How many times have you installed copies of Windows on a computer following a major hardware change? A case in point is probably Windows XP – although flexible, popular and easy to use, the operating system wasn’t great at dealing with hardware changes, in particular new motherboards. This shouldn’t come as any surprise, really.
Using A Tiny SSD? Slim Down Windows 7 With Minimal Installs
How big is your hard disk drive? 80 GB? 300 GB? 5 TB? You might well have more than enough space, but if you own a device with a small SSD – perhaps a netbook, for instance – there is very little to worry about. There are several tools and tricks that you can use to make sure that the OS runs efficiently and without filling your SSD (or indeed any other small storage device).
How To Setup Gmail Accounts On Windows Phone
Due to a severe spam issue (and to take the storage load away from my PC) I decided to migrate my email accounts to Google Mail. This has had an interesting effect on my ability to collect messages on my Windows Phone. While it isn’t a problem to set up a Gmail account if your email address ends in @gmail.com, the situation is a little different for Windows Phone users if they’re trying to access an email service that uses Google Mail but has its own domain name.
How To Make Your Raspberry Pi Into a Home Theater System
Four weeks on and I’ve been playing with my Raspberry Pi in various ways, from using it to browse the web and standard day-to-day computing tasks to playing around with the various configurations that are possible for networking (Ethernet vs USB wireless). But is there an ultimate point to this device, or will it remain a curiosity on my shelf, to be switched on whenever a useful purpose rears its head?
Things You Should Keep In Mind Before Taking Your Laptop Or Smartphone To Tech Support
Given that some of these employees were among the most intelligent people in the country, the way in which they misused their devices was astonishing, from general irresponsible behaviour concerning the devices (drops, scratches, broken screens, etc.) to leaving material saved or even open on the desktop that you certainly wouldn’t show to your grandmother. As for the confidential information that sat open an ALT+TAB away...
Windows 8 In Daily Use: What Is It Really Like?
You hate Windows 8, don’t you? You’ve never used it, you haven’t even seen it in action (other than via a few YouTube videos) but you hate it. It’s pointless, it’s ugly, it’s unwieldy… you know all of these things, yet you haven’t used it. Perhaps, just perhaps, you’ve been misinformed. I’ve been running Windows 8 for several months now in its various pre-release versions and I can tell you right here, right now, that it really isn’t all that bad.
Armed! Futuristic Real Time Strategy for Windows Phone 7
Gaming for Windows Phone is an interesting experience. While there are a whole host of great independent titles that don’t have Xbox Live integration, those that do are the ones that tend to be the most popular – for obvious reasons. One game that remains fascinating despite the lack of Xbox Live integration, however, is Armed!, a sci-fi themed RTS with three modes of play and an armada of futuristic weaponry.
A Day in the Life of a Videogame Scriptwriter [Feature]
If you’ve ever played a videogame that you really enjoyed, chances are you haven’t noticed the characters or any speech in the game – or if you have, you probably won’t have considered that they’ve been created, fleshed out and given dialogue by a videogame scriptwriter. One such writer whose stock is pretty high right now is Dean Wilkinson, responsible for the wonderful instructional dialogue spoken by Stephen Fry in LittleBigPlanet and more recently the pen behind the words of Matt Berry’s Don Keystone in the forthcoming Worms: Revolution. We went out to meet Dean at his office, and see what it's really like to write scripts and content for high-profile videogames.
Why Won’t My Windows 7 Updates Install?
Windows Update is one of the key elements of Microsoft’s operating system for keeping your computer working and up to date. Without it, your computer would freely collect malware, unpatched security holes would be exploited and generally things would run pretty slowly. Fortunately, your computer does have Windows Update, capable of adding new functionality, fixes, service packs and device drivers to your Windows 7 PC or laptop. But what happens when Windows Update goes wrong?