Bosch Tassimo Coffee Machine Review and Giveaway
As a technology professional, there a few things I consider as absolute essentials: a laptop, WiFi connection, and a cup of coffee. While some of us are content with intravenously injecting ever increasing amounts of ground instant coffee granules (or just drinking it, whatever), some of you no doubt go for the altogether more classy Starbucks. And then there are of those of us who hate Starbucks, but like good coffee, and wish we could have the Starbucks taste at home. This, dear readers, is where a Bosch Tassimo coffee machine comes in handy; and we’re giving one away at the end of this review.
The Top 4 Arduino Shields To Superpower Your Projects
You’ve bought an Arduino starter kit, you’ve followed all the basic guides, but now you’ve hit a stumbling block - you need more bits and bobs to realise your electronics dream. Luckily, if you have an Arduino board, you can simply stack functionality on top in the form of Shields. Shields are specifically designed for the Uno board to be the same shape and pin alignment; you simply plug them on, and you have instant upgrade of functionality.
Make Your Own DSLR Remote Shutter Release
One accessory you'll no doubt be after is a remote shutter; this allows you to place the camera on a tripod or rest it somewhere and trigger the shutter without the chance of shake that can occur when just holding it, or to use for self portraits without a timer. Today I'll explain the magic of remote shutter releases, how to make one yourself, and how to extend this for high speed photography too.
Make People Rave About Your Blog With These 5 Great Sharing Plugins For WordPress
Share plugins are a dime a dozen in the Wordpress repository, but most aren’t worth the time it takes to check out the screenshots. I’ve done the hard work for you here, and gathered the absolute best for your consideration. All you need to do is make sure your content is worth sharing - there are no plugins to do that for you.
What Is NFC & Should You Buy a Phone That Has It? [MakeUseOf Explains]
If you’re in the market for a new phone in 2013, you’re probably going to hear about something called NFC, and how it’s apparently changing the world. Don’t be fooled by the sales talk though. Read this so you know exactly what NFC is, what you can use it for, and why you probably won’t. And if you haven't done so yet, read our Winter 2013 SmartPhone Buying Guide.
How To Sync Favourites & Tabs From Your Phone Or Tablet To Your Computer
Have you got a new smartphone or tablet for Christmas, but frustrated that your bookmarks and tabs are all on your desktop when you absolutely must surf the information superhighway from your sofa? You could access them with some kind of remote control to your desktop perhaps, but that’s just silly. Instead, learn how to sync your tabs and bookmarks to and from your mobile devices with handy guide.
Plan Your Garden For The New Year With These Great Websites And Apps
For those of us lucky enough to not live in the middle of the city or to have a little land to call our own, the garden is often the most neglected part of the family home. Most fall into the category of either a complete mess, or the whole thing is turfed over. Well no more, geeks! Rise up, and MakeUseOf these wonderful apps and website to plan your complete garden makeover. Get your fingers grubby for once!
Save Money On Expensive Board Games With These Self-Printed Alternatives
Christmas is coming, and that means getting together with friends and family around a good board game. But board games can be expensive, and many of you will only play them once or twice at most. Instead of buying something new this Yuletide, how about printing your own instead? Here’s my pick of 5 awesome printable games to suit all tastes, mostly drawn from personal experience, and BoardGameGeek’s extensive list of Print and Play games.
Why Internet Monitoring Laws Will Make Criminals Harder to Catch [Opinion]
While the ITU is busy behind closed doors trying to take away Internet freedoms on a global scale, the UK government brazenly announced plans to give wide-reaching Internet monitoring powers to various British agencies as well as increasing the amount of retention time of data ISPs must store. The so-called "web snooping" plans have been met with widespread criticism.
Buying The Right Case For The PC You're Building: What You Should Know
Putting together a computer is a special experience that every geek needs to do at some point in their career. Underloved and overlooked, the decision of which case to choose is such a fundamentally important choice that I absolutely cannot stress enough that a good one will last you 10 years or more. Today therefore, we present a mini-guide to choosing exactly the right case.
How To Set Up Arduino Web Control Without An Ethernet Shield
For the last few weeks, I handed over control of the mood lighting in my studio to viewers during the live broadcast of Technophilia Podcast - you can see the results of that in the recorded episode here. Today, I thought I will explain exactly how I accomplished that using a little JavaScript, Processing and an Arduino. The method I’ll outline does not require an Ethernet shield for your Arduino, and I’ll provide full code samples for you to also use.
Build Your Own Dynamic Ambient Lighting For A Media Center
If you watch a lot of movies on your PC or media center, I'm sure you've faced the lighting dilemma; do you completely turn off all lights? Do you keep them on full blast? Or do you use a dimmer switch to keep a dull yellow glow somewhere? Well, suffer no more. For less than $100, you can set up an amazing lighting system that's going to reflect what's on-screen. Welcome to world of ambient RGB lighting.
Windows RT - What You Can & Can't Do
Windows RT edition was discreetly launched about a month and a half ago with the flagship Microsoft Surface RT tablet device. Though visually indistinguishable from Windows 8, there are some key differences as to what you can and can’t do with it. Today I hope to explain those to you in detail. I also did a full review of the Surface RT device, and the rest of the MakeUseOf writers have weighed in on Windows 8 in general.
Forget Pies & Brandy: 8 Arduino Projects To Fill Your Holidays
Has your Arduino been sitting around gathering dust? Well, no more. Today I’ve scoured Instructables to find 8 fun, family friendly, or just really cool Arduino projects for you to have a go at these Christmas holidays, inbetween the bouts of pies and brandy of course. If you’re stuck for Christmas ideas, an Arduino might be an ideal gift for children or the hacker in your life.
Super-Power Your Media Centre With These 9 Hacks
The media center is the ultimate living room experience; one PC to play everything, one PC to find and download, and one PC to bring in all the family and bind them in front of a glowing widescreen TV. And if you didn’t get that reference, you ought to watch more movies. But with a few hacks, your humble media center can do so much more.
Mythbusters: Dangerous Security Advice You Shouldn't Follow
When it comes to internet security, everyone and their cousin has advice to offer you about the best software packages to install, dodgy sites to stay clear of, or best practices when it comes to passwords. Or perhaps you've never listened to others and have your own beliefs about internet security? In that case - this post is for you. Let's take a look at some of the most common beliefs - some might say myths - about internet security.
2 More Home Surveillance Apps You Should Consider
I wrote a round-up review last month for anyone interested in using their webcam as a home surveillance system, but since then we’ve had a few updates from developers so I thought it appropriate to revisit the topic and take a look at these services.
What Is DRM & Why Does It Exist If It's So Evil? [MakeUseOf Explains]
Digital Rights Management is the latest evolution of copy protection. It’s the biggest cause of user frustration today, but is it justified? Is DRM a necessary evil in this digital age, or is the model it supports no longer valid? Join me, as I explain all about DRM, why it’s needed, and why it just doesn’t work.
Japan Delivers: 8 Of The Weirdest Game Show Clips
Japanese game shows are bit of an enigma really. While most of Japan can be said to be remarkably uncreative (Nintendo being a prime example of Japanese “creativity” on a corporate level), I have to admit that Japanese game shows tend to go where no western network would dare. Here then, is my pick of 10 of the most ridiculous game show clips from the land of the rising sun.
We've Actually Used It - What Does MakeUseOf Think Of Windows 8?
If you haven’t installed Windows 8 yet; don’t worry, we’re technology writers - it’s our job to test these things out for you. Quite a few MakeUseOf staff including myself have taken the plunge and upgraded to Windows 8 now - and had the chance to play with newer touchscreen models too - so let’s take a summary look at what everyone thinks of it.