About Ryan Dube
Ryan has a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering. He's worked 13 years in automation engineering, 5 years in IT, and now is an Apps Engineer. A former Managing Editor of MakeUseOf, he's spoken at national conferences on Data Visualization and has been featured on national TV and radio.
Is The K-Meleon Browser Really Lightweight & Fast?
If there is one thing that I am always on the hunt for, it's a faster browser. I absolutely hate waiting for webpages to load. If I can find a browser that will load a page 3 seconds faster, I'll migrate over to it, no questions asked. This comes from being a long-time, loyal user of the Firefox browser. As most of you know, Firefox has turned into an absolute beast, and got bogged down in terms of speed over the years.
How to Automate Telnet Commands Using VB Script
Writing batch jobs and more recently Windows scripts is an activity that really makes up the bulk of how the large majority of network and system administrators do their jobs faster, and simplify what would otherwise be time-consuming, complex tasks. Using batch jobs, you can automate installing and uninstalling applications and a multitude of other queries and jobs.
How To Block Only Facebook Games & Apps On Your Network
Interacting with users and customers on Facebook is almost a requirement for any business that wants to maintain a competitive advantage. What this means is that many companies are no longer blocking their employees from using Facebook during the workday. For the most part, employees aren't really abusing the privilege. At the same time, there is a subsection of employees that do abuse the privilege.
Turn On Your PC With An Android Device Via Wi-Fi [WoW LAN]
When you imagine being able to do cool stuff with your phone, what do you think of? Finding your way out of the middle of a forest with nothing but GPS to guide you? Looking for buried treasure with just the geomagnetic sensor? How about walking in the house after work, touching just a couple of buttons and automatically turning on all of the computers in your house? Science fiction?
Quickly Set Up Your Own Home Intranet With ocPortal
Have you ever thought about what it might be like to have a "portal page" for your family, just like many companies offer to employees? Wouldn't it be convenient to have a central web-based repository of important documents, files and schedules for your family? Luckily, there is an open source Portal that you can install on your own home web server.
How to Do an Automated Remote Backup of Your Wordpress Blog
This weekend, my website got hacked for the first time ever. I figured it was an event that was bound to happen eventually, but I still felt a bit shocked. I was lucky that I had a backup of my website but it made me realize just how dangerous it is to make such infrequent backups. It also made me realize the extent of the damage that could have occurred if the database itself had got hacked.
The 10 Most Interesting Facebook Fan Pages
When it comes to the fan page for a major company, the challenge is to make the Facebook page reflect the professionalism, and more importantly the brand, of the company itself. Browsing through the list of current Facebook fan pages, it becomes apparent pretty fast, which companies have paid for high-quality social networking experts.
8 Crazy & Insane Quotes I Found on Twitter
Some of you may know that I've been rather active in an alternative community that most people out there may consider rather "odd" - to say the least. The one thing I've come to realize is that there are a lot of very insane people in the world who have chosen to believe in certain things that you and I would consider completely strange, irrational, and downright crazy.
Gladiator - The One Game On Gamezer That Doesn't Suck
Since Gamezer focuses on low-bandwidth gameplay, you would not really expect it to offer any addictive high-action games, because usually the more moving graphics and activity you have, the greater the bandwidth. For this reason, I was very surprised to discover one of the most addictive games I've ever played there. It is a head-to-head fighting game called Gladiator.
Is TightVNC Really More Tight Than Other VNC Clients?
When it comes to remotely connecting to a desktop PC or a server, most people quickly opt for installing a VNC server. It's fast, easy to configure, and best of all it's absolutely free. Once you've installed a VNC service on your target computer, you can essentially use any client you want in order to access that service if it is capable of using the VNC protocol.
How To Auto-Launch Apps With A USB Stick [Windows]
Imagine having a USB stick with all of your favorite apps on it. Maybe a collection of PC troubleshooting utilities, or maybe an assortment of spreadsheet and word processing tools. Wouldn't it be pretty sweet if you could just walk up to any computer, put your USB memory card into the USB port, and have your favorite portable apps automatically launch?
How To Temporarily Reset Your Phone & Clear The SD Card [Android]
Recently, I started a new job where I was offered a Blackberry Bold. Being a tech geek that loves playing with new gadgets, this was a pretty cool turn of events. However, it is also bittersweet, because I am absolutely in love with my Droid. In my opinion, no matter what other mobile phone I ever use, the Android will always be king.
The 10 Best Free Blackberry Apps You Must Download First
One surprise I had when I started my new job is that I would be receiving a brand new Blackberry phone. Now, this presents a dilemma - do I drop my beloved Android phone and become a Crackberry addict? I decided to explore this new world of Blackberry Smartphone apps to see if it could do at least the most important things that I use my Android for.
9 Strange US Government Efforts to Make Use of the Internet
I just want to make it very clear that I don't intend to make fun of the US Government. I am an upstanding, patriotic citizen of the United States. With that said, I do have a very personal, intense dislike of bureaucracy and lack of common sense. So even though there are plenty of great websites and online resources offered by the US Government, there are also a whole lot of silly online sites as well.
What in the World Is PLC Programming?
In the world of manufacturing, there are computers, and then there's computer automation. While you may think you know all there is to know about computers, you just haven't even scratched the surface of using computers to automate things until you've used a programmable logic controller - known in the automation industry simply as a "PLC".
3 Awesome Things You Can Do With Windows Scripting
Whether you work in the IT field, as a web designer, or if you are just a student or regular office worker, Windows Scripting has something to offer you. Of course Applescript does as well, but my focus in this case is on Windows. When I refer to Windows Scripting, I'm referring to text files filled with code that are saved as .wsf files, which Windows is able to compile and run on the fly.
Two Awesome Free Tools To Monitor & Verify Your Website [Windows]
Owning a website seems like a terrific idea on paper. The last thing most people consider when thinking up the next great website is the work. Owning a popular website means regular server maintenance, closely monitoring the health and uptime of your web server, and keeping track of the health of your internal and external links.
Coolendar - A Cool Calendar & To-Do List In One
I usually just stick to using Google Calendar for my scheduling needs, and Workflowy as my online to-do list. It takes a lot to impress me about any calendar/scheduling system. So I was a little bit hesitant to try a new calendar system that I came across, and more than a little surprised to discover that I loved the new system. It's called Coolendar.
How To Build A WiFi PC Radio With Subsonic [Cross-Platform]
Downloading or streaming music is definitely an activity that I love to do when I'm relaxing or just trying to pass the time. The problem I have is that when I download music to a PC, I may want to access that music from different PCs in my house. To solve that problem, I decided to create a sort of Wi-Fi PC Radio server where I can store all of my music and then allow users from anywhere to stream that music.
5 Great Apps for Avid Readers Who Prefer a Real Printed Book [Android]
If there is one area in life that I believe technology will never completely eradicate older "technology" is in the area of reading. While many people have adopted the great e-book readers and publications that are available out there, I believe there will always be people who will enjoy the experience of holding and reading a real, printed book.