Do You Still Check Your Email While On Vacation? [MakeUseOf Poll]

Last week we asked you which major gaming platform you use the most. To be honest, I did not expect these results. Over 60% of you voted for the same platform. That’s not something we see a lot. Which was the one to get the popular vote? Out of 380 votes in total, 1% use a retro gaming system as their main platform, another 1% use a Nintendo Wii, 3% use a handheld console, 4% use their mobile phone, another 4% use their tablet, 8% use a Microsoft Xbox, 11% use a Sony Playstation, and a full 67% use their...

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Classic Google Maps URL

If you've switched to the new Google Maps desktop interface, you can quickly go back to the classic interface by clicking the gear icon and picking "Classic Maps" or by clicking "Help & Feedback" at the top of the page and picking "Return to classic Google Maps". You'll see a message that asks you if you want to permanently go back to the old interface or temporarily switch.



Another option is to bookmark this URL: Classic Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps?output=classic). It will always send you to the standard Maps interface and you won't have to open the new interface first.

Why would you switch to the old interface? Maybe you need to use the more advanced directions that let you add more than 2 destinations, maybe you like the terrain/photos/webcam layers or Maps Labs features like the distance measurement tools or the LatLng tooltip, maybe you miss the Pegman icon you could drag and drop to switch to Street View or you want to customize the printing format for directions.

New Google Image Search for Mobile

Google's image search engine has a new interface for smartphones and tablets. The new UI looks just like the desktop UI, but you can use swipes to navigate between the image results.



Here are some screenshots from my 2012 Nexus 7. When you tap an image result, a black box with a bigger version of the image will open. You can also find some additional information about the image.

Swipe left to see the next image result, swipe right to go to the previous result. Gestures work just like the left/right keyboard shortcuts in the desktop interface.

A similar interface is available for smartphones. Here's a screenshot from an iPhone running iOS7:

Google will probably say that it changed the interface to make it more consistent and provide an unified interface for both desktop and mobile devices. There are some other advantages: you can scroll down to see more results, you can scroll up and quickly change the query or switch to web search.

Bing Gets Prettier: Adds Pinterest Boards To Image Search

Bing has beefed up its image search by bringing Pinterest boards to its image search results. Go to Bing Image Search and type in your keyword. You will see the result in the form of Pinterest board collections appear on the right hand side of the regular Bing Image Search results. Clicking on any collection takes you to the next screen that displays all images on the pin board. Click on the image to enlarge and view it in a lightbox. As earlier, you can directly pin any image from Bing Image Search. Visual search has become richer and search...

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Windows 8 Transformation Pack Can Make Windows 7 Turn Modern

Is Windows 8 truly awesome or an utter failure? We have examined Windows 8 from various angles, including what it’s like in daily use, the impression from a Linux user’s perspective, or how to make Windows 8 suck less. The one thing most of us agree on, is that the Modern interface, formerly known as Metro, is pretty cool. I mean, it’s clean and so much better organized than a Windows 7 desktop. That, however, is not quite enough to provide motivation for a full upgrade or PC replacement. So, how do you keep everything you love about Windows 7,...

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WiiCan Turns Your WiiMote Into a Linux Gamepad, Mouse and More

Use your WiiMote as a gamepad, remote control or even a mouse for your Linux computer. If you’ve got Bluetooth, free application WiiCan is a great way to set up your WiiMote to do just about anything. You may not use your Wii as much as you used to, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep your WiiMotes in a dusty box somewhere. If you play games on your computer, you can use them for that. We showed you how to connect your WiiMote to your PC, use your WiiMote as a Mac gamepad and even connect it to...

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