About James Bruce
James has a BSc in Artificial Intelligence and is CompTIA A+ and Network+ certified. When he's not busy as Hardware Reviews Editor, he enjoys LEGO, VR, and board games. Before joining MakeUseOf, he was a lighting technician, English teacher, and data center engineer.
3 Ways to Encourage Comments on Your Wordpress Blog
Getting comments on your blog is a great motivator to keep you going on with the long haul that is blogging. Just knowing that someone is out there, appreciating your work feels great, but not everyone is willing to comment or even has something to say. Let’s take a look today at 3 ways to encourage users to comment through the clever use of plugins.
10 YouTube Mash-Ups Guaranteed To Make You ROFL
I have a tough job sometimes, and when the orders come from above to sit there and troll YouTube looking for funnies, I am only too happy to oblige. I offer my services to you so that a days worth of searching can be condensed into 30 minutes of visual stomach-rumbling ecstasy. So without further ado, here are 10 YouTube mash-up and remix videos that are guarantee to give you hysterics.
Is The Wii All It’s Cracked Up To Be Or Has Nintendo Lost The Plot? [Opinion]
The Wii was a ground-breaking device when it was released in 2006, and there is no doubt that it paved the way for motion gaming and indeed bringing together every generation of a family for console gaming antics - but 5 years down the line and with the successor Wii U announced, is it all it cracked up to be? Has Nintendo finally lost the plot?
3 iPad Apps For Growing a Vegetable Garden
As a gardener, I wanted to explore some iPad apps for growing vegetables and the self-sufficient lifestyle I strive for. Specifically, I wanted something that would help me figure out exactly what I could grow, and when. I have 3 apps to show you today, but sadly none of them are free. The truth is that finding decent free apps in this quite niche topic area is difficult, and none had anywhere near the functionality I wanted. So, here the are the top 3 paid apps.
Is Windows Home Server The Most Reliable Backup & File Server?
Windows Home Server is one of those obscure Microsoft products that you never knew you needed. It’s rock solid reliable, simple to manage with a familiar Windows interface, and my personal choice for a home file server and backup solution. Let me explain what it is and what it can do for you.
The Best PVR: Windows Media Center!
Despite the perceived image of Microsoft as a lumbering beast with bloated software that ships full of bugs, they have actually produced some fine software over the years. Today I’d like to highlight Windows Media Center, and specifically it’s functionality as a Personal Video Recorder (like a TiVo) and media player.
Where Did "Object Oriented" Programming Get Its Name From?
Object Oriented isn’t just a random buzzword you hear in programming circles. There’s a reason behind the name - but what? Join me as I explore some of the fundamentals of programming concepts and explain just why object oriented programming drives the technology behind any modern software and contrast it to Procedural and Logic Based Programming.
Two 3D Printers You Can Make Yourself For Around $1,000
Today I’d like to show you two specific projects that can built for more or less $1,000, both of which are fully functional 3D-plastic printers, and both of which are open-sourced and actively being developed.
Build An Empire With Age Of Empires Online - Free to Play!
True gamers among us will likely have fond memories of the original Age of Empires game released by Microsoft Studios back in 1997, and it was a regular at many of my own LAN parties. The game itself was standard fare strategy / empire building but at the time it was quite innovative, helping to push forward the genre.
Get A Security Makeover For Your WordPress Site With WebsiteDefender
With Wordpress popularity ever increasing, security issues have never been more relevant - but other than simply keeping updated, how can a beginner or average level user stay on top of things? Would you even know if your blog has been hacked? A helpful new service from WebsiteDefender aims to solve this problem. Is it worth the effort though?
Someone Stealing Your Wifi? Find Out What They're Looking At With These 3 Apps
If your Wifi is being hijacked by some dirty rotten thieves - I showed you how to check this before - what can you do to get your own back, or find out a little more about who is responsible? Or rather, if a hacker has gained access to your wifi network, what kind of nasty things could they do to you?
How to Crack Your Own WEP Network to Find Out Just How Insecure It Really Is
We’re constantly telling you that using WEP to 'secure' your wireless network is really a fools game, yet people still do it. Today I’d like to show you exactly how insecure WEP really is, by showing you how to crack a WEP-secured network password in less than 5 minutes.
How The London Riots Showed The Dark Side Of Social Media [Opinion]
As I sit here wondering how things will pan out for London after the riots, I can’t help but turn towards Twitter for relevant information about my local area. The media is repeating the same tired footage and quotes from various politicians, and everyone is using the events to forward their own political goals or views of society. Yet all I want to know is - are my wife and I safe here?
Become Really Paranoid By Monitoring Your Network's Comings & Goings With WallWatcher & DD-WRT
If you have access to your router, and it’s able to log activity, it’s relatively easy to watch everything that’s going on to try to find any untoward activity. Today I’d like to show you how to set that up on your DD-WRT router and some Windows-only software called WallWatcher. OSX users can also use it using a Parallels virtual machine.
Give Your Website A Thorough Security Check With HackerTarget
As the internet evolves and the systems it’s running on become harder to hack, you’d think websites would be hacked less! In fact, the opposite is true, with the number one problem lying not in the software but in human complacency. That said, how can you know if your site is vulnerable? That’s where the free service HackerTarget.com comes in.
How To Migrate Your Locally Developed Wordpress Site To A Live Server
We’ve talked a lot in the past about running local web servers for development purposes or to try out software such as Wordpress without having to pay for hosting, but how do you take it live once you’re ready to launch? The principles remain the same for any CMS or web software.
10 Most Pirated Games Of All Time
While we would never endorse piracy, it’s fair to say that the best games get downloaded more than others. In fact, games that are well pirated generally mirror their performance in the retail world - so in the absence of reliable sales figures, we look towards the download counts. It’s with great pleasure that I hereby introduce you to the top 10 most pirated games of all time.
5 Blackhat Tools Used By Internet Spammers
Email spam is annoying, but pretty easy to ignore nowadays. But have you ever wondered how and why your favourite forum died and was suddenly filled with viagra adverts? How about those nonsensical blog comments you got that just don't seem relevant? Read on to find out about the tools the Internet spammers have at their disposal.
3 Ways To Escape Cloud Storage Solutions If You Don't Trust Them
Most major IT companies seem convinced that shoving everything into giant data centres in the sky is the solution to many essential computing tasks. But what if you don’t want all your stuff on someone else’s servers? What if you want it at home, where you can physically touch it and have complete control over it?