About Dave Parrack
Dave Parrack is a Deputy Editor at MUO and also oversees the site's coverage of current events. He has been writing about technology since 2007, and with MakeUseOf since 2011.
He has previously written for various sites, including Blorge, WebTVWire, and New Atlas.
Dave uses ChromeOS and Android, but isn't a Google fanboy. He thinks AI will change the world sooner than people think, for good or for bad. He has a particular interest in new and emerging technology.
Learn Basic DIY Skills Online With YouTube
While DIY falls in and out of fashion depending on the state of the economy, individual styles, and the availability of professionals and materials, there will always be someone, somewhere keen to learn basic DIY skills . The Web is an invaluable resource for anyone in that position, with a multitude of websites and experts eager to spread the word.
What Should Be Done About Online Piracy? [We Ask You]
People are sharing copyrighted files over the Internet every day and in every part of the world. It's a huge problem for record labels, film studios, TV companies, and the creative people behind the albums, movies, television shows that are being shared. We want to know, What Should Be Done About Online Piracy? Many of the laws being used to tackle the problem of piracy are failing to prevent piracy.
5 Ways To Contact Celebs Without Facebook Charging You
Facebook has been experimenting with various different methods for making money. One of which involves charging users to send a private message to someone not on their list of friends. Whether these experiments lead to any permanent change of policy remains to be seen, but the fact is it could cost you to contact someone through Facebook now and in the future.
How Video Games Would Look In Real Life
Video games have become infinitely more realistic over the decades, but they still offer a simple, stylized version of the real world we live in. These foibles often go unnoticed by gamers, but when you bring a video game into the real world the shortcuts and oddities are revealed in glaring detail. What follows is a collection of videos showing how certain games would look when played in the real world. Some are stutteringly short, others are effortlessly epic. Some will make you laugh, others will make you laugh even harder. All will make you glad real life doesn't play out like most video games.
The End Is Nigh... The Last Pages Of The Internet
The Internet consists of at least 4 billion webpages, which, you'll realize unless you have lost all sense of scale, is a vast collection of content. Not all of it is good content, obviously, and I suspect a fair percentage is pornography. Still, the Web is epic and only likely to grow even more epic from this moment forth. But wait! It turns out the Internet has an end.
What Are Your Views on Crowdfunding Through Sites Like Kickstarter? [You Told Us]
Crowdfunding is becoming a legitimate tool for inventors, merchants, and creative people to raise money for their wares. We asked for your views on the phenomenon. Crowdfunding seems set to keep on growing, so gaining an insight into how the MakeUseOf readership thinks about it all was a good idea.
10 Of The Best Google Glass Videos Shot So Far
Google Glass may or may not change the world. It's really too early to tell. However, Google Glass is certainly an innovative new product with the capacity to change our idea of mobile devices. It's very much still a work in progress, and yet the product already has an air of excitement attached to it. In February 2013 the first Google Glass headsets were dispatched to developers who had paid the $1,500 asking price.
5 PS4 Exclusive Titles To Make Xbox One Owners Jealous
Having already proposed five reasons you should be buying a PlayStation 4, it's time to focus in on the games that will be released for the system within its first year on sale. What follows is a list of five upcoming games that are being exclusively released on the PS4. They give a good indication of what we should expect from the next-gen consoles, though launch titles are rarely anywhere near the best the hardware has to offer.
Are Apple's Best Days Behind It? [You Told Us]
Oh, Apple, how we love/hate you so. Unlike every other technology company currently trying to persuade us to hand over our hard-earned money for shiny new gadgets, almost everybody has an opinion on you, your products, your design sensibilities, your sky-high prices, and the attitude of those Geniuses you have working in your Stores.
8 Purrfect Cat Websites For Feline Lovers
Cats are everywhere online… as photos shared by friends on social networking sites, as cute pics on Reddit, on any of the cat-centric Tumblr sites, and even here on MakeUseOf. Oh, and then there’s Nyan Cat. There are even whole websites dedicated to our feline friends, eight of which are highlighted below.
Share Your Web Browser With Strangers Using We See In Every Direction
Imagine having to share your Web browser with other people. I don't mean sharing in the sense of one person using the browser at a time, much like a family uses a computer now, but sharing in the sense of everyone trying to browse the Web at the same time. This has been made possible by the We See In Every Direction Web browser created by Jonas Lund.
What Are Your Thoughts on the Next-Gen Video Game Consoles? [You Told Us]
Anyone into gaming in a big way will be aware of what the next-generation of consoles has in store for us. OK, perhaps not PC gamers, who see themselves as superior and don't need to worry about such piffling matters as generations of hardware, but the rest of us. Nintendo launched the Wii U in 2012, and now, thanks to E3 2013, we know everything we need to know about the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
10 Peculiarly Pointless Websites That Exist For No Reason
We here at MakeUseOf specialize in directing our readers to websites they can make use of, hence the name. But that means we’re all missing out on a vast number of peculiarly pointless websites that offer nothing other than strange and simple diversions that will last no longer than 5 minutes. If that.
PS4 vs Xbox One: 5 Reasons To Buy The PS4
E3 2013 marked the moment when the next-generation truly began, with all three contenders -- the PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One, and Wii U -- revealed in full. The Wii U is already on the market (and hardly selling), which leaves a battle royale brewing between the PlayStation 4 from Sony and the Xbox One from Microsoft. Both consoles will be released before the end of 2013, and you can pre-order either one right now. But which should you choose?
10 Controversial Topics On Wikipedia Guaranteed To Spark A Debate
One way to measure the level of controversy attached to different subjects on Wikipedia is to track the number of reverts that take place. The authors of a study at Cornell University in New York have used these statistics to compile a list of the most controversial Wikipedia pages across different language versions of the site.
Are Smartphones the Future of Photography? [You Told Us]
Smartphones are rapidly condemning a multitude of single-purpose devices to a slow descent into pointlessness. Over 50 percent of U.S. consumers now own a smartphone, and their popularity is booming in other parts of the world as well. This heady combination means it's very likely that some products will be withdrawn from the market due to a lack of demand.
Curating the Web: 6 Social Media Sites Full of Interesting Content
Search engines only help if you know what it is you're looking for. But what if you don't? Social networking sites are a good source of interesting content. And then there are social media sites, which are curated either by editors or a community of voters. What follows are six social media sites full of interesting stories and intriguing articles.
Annoying Overload: 10 Social Photo Trends To Avoid
Despite my complete lack of snobbiness when it comes to photography, the emergence of social networks and smartphones have combined to mean photos are an integral part of the Web, and I'm not convinced that's a good thing. People shoot liberally and then post them online immediately. Which has led to certain trends emerging over the past couple of years.