A Full Guide To Getting Started With Mining Litecoin

Missed out on making millions with Bitcoin (what’s Bitcoin, you ask)? Don’t worry – you’ve still got time to jump in on alternative cryptocurrencies, like Litecoin and Feathercoin. Thanks to a different algorithm at the core, those can still be mined by anyone with a graphics card – expensive ASIC Bitcoin miners won’t work. What are you waiting for?! Kannon published a tutorial back in July about getting started with Litecoin, but the software tools have improved since then, so I thought it would be worth publishing an update. One point to note is that at the time of Kannon’s...

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Google Maps Easter Egg for Christmas

The Pegman icon from the new Google Maps looks different: it now has a Santa hat. The classic Google Maps still shows the standard icon.

Check this Google+ album to see almost 200 outfits created when Pegman was added to the new Google Maps.

{ Thanks, Mukil. }

How To Use WinSetupFromUSB To Create Multiboot Windows USB

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In our previous post, we let you know about the release of WinSetupFromUSB v.1.1, the free software that enables you prepare multi-boot USB drive with a few mouse clicks. Even though the interface is very simple and straight-forward, first time users may need a little help in preparing multi-boot USB drives. In this guide, we […]

What Are Your Predictions For Technology In 2014? [We Ask You]

Technology isn’t an industry that stands still. Instead, each year brings new innovations, new gadgets, and new inventions. Existing tech companies and products also change and evolve, though not always for the better. For us geeks, the end of the year is a time to look forward rather than back; to imagine what the tech world will look like in 12 months time. Which is our challenge to you, dear reader, in this edition of We Ask You. In 2014, I Predict… We want to know, What Are Your Predictions For Technology In 2014? Just tell us at least one...

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The Perfect Modern Notetaking App: OneNote For Windows 8

One of the most convenient parts of having a Windows 8 tablet is the ability to quickly scribble notes in it just like a notebook, and Microsoft’s OneNote application is perfect for that. Even if you’ve got a Windows 8 laptop, OneNote also supports typing notes, as well as a host of other features like Camera Scan, Optical Character Recognition, and a Share Charm. Let’s take a closer look at this modern notetaking app. Creating Notes The basic structure of OneNote’s organization involves three layers: Notebooks, Sections, and Pages. Below, you can see that I have two notebooks, one for...

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See all the Major Events of 2013 in One Drawing (Picture)

2013 comes to an end. Mario Zucca has collected almost 90 major news stories that broke this year and formulated in the form of a picture. He called the drawing here's to 2013. He has covered almost all the major stories like Miley Twerking, iPhone 5S & 5C Release, GTA V, X Box and much more that shook the whole Internet.

You can check the Original Drawing below

To collect all the major stories of 2013 was quite a big task and we appreciate the efforts of Mario Zucca for his remarkable efforts. Do let us know what was your major event in 2013 in your comments.

Super Fast Browser: The Android Browser That Lives Up to Its Name

Tired of sluggish apps bogging down your phone and bringing it to a crawl? Who doesn’t want a faster phone with faster apps so we can accomplish our tasks faster, faster, fast? Mobile browsers can sometimes be packed with unnecessary features, resulting in lag and frustration while surfing the web. Super Fast Browser attempts to fix that. There is, of course, the danger of swinging to the other side of the spectrum. Even if we didn’t want a fat and bloated browser, a barebones browser without any features would be just as frustrating. Super Fast Browser understands this and strives...

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Google Music to Add Upload Feature

To upload audio files to Google Play Music, you need to use Music Manager. It's only available as a native app for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, so you can't use it if you have a Chromebook or a mobile device.



What if you need to upload a few songs and you don't want to wait until Music Manager syncs your files? What if you're using someone else's computer and you can't install Music Manager?



Google Play Music's source code includes a message which suggests that you'll be able to upload songs from your browser: "Drag songs or folders here to add music to your library. Or, if you prefer, select from your computer."

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

Sound Search Playlist in Google Music

Google's Sound Search widget for Android has a history page which shows all the songs that have been recognized by the application. You can also find this list inside Google Play Music if you go to this playlist. This is especially useful if you subscribe to the All Access feature and you can play all the songs.

A Google screenshot shows the Sound Search playlist in the sidebar:

"Hear a song you like while you're out and about? Touch the microphone on the home screen of your Android phone or tablet. Google Play identifies the song and adds it to the Song Match playlist. You can also use the Sound Search for Google Play app," mentions the page.



The first feature doesn't work for me, but maybe it will be added in the future.



{ Thanks, Florian K. }

Google Zeitgeist 2013

Google's Zeitgeist site redirects to Google Trends, which shows the year in review lists and some clever visualizations.



The search topics with the largest increase in search volume are: Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker, iPhone 5S, Cory Monteith, Harlem Shake, Boston Marathon, Royal Baby, Samsung Galaxy S4, PlayStation 4 and North Korea. Other popular gadgets: Xbox One, Nexus 5, HTC One, iPad Air, Blackberry 10 phones, Galaxy Note 3 and Nokia Lumia 1020. The most popular movie is Man of Steel and the most popular TV show is Under the Dome.



Google also shows a list of popular Google+ hashtags (#Boston, #BreakingBad, #TyphoonHaiyan) and YouTube videos (The Fox, Harlem Shake Army Edition, How Animals Eat Their Food).

You can select different countries and find the trending topics from other places. For example, the hottest technology topic in South Africa was BBM for Android, the hottest search in Spain was Outlook and the second most popular phone in India is Nokia Lumia 520.



There's also a globe that "visualizes the hottest daily Google searches in 2013 in over 150 cities. Explore what mattered to people by turning the globe, selecting a city, and sliding the date slider to any day of the year."

This video highlights the most important events from 2013 (some Google features too):

Google's Christmas Carols Easter Egg

Google has a new Easter Egg for Christmas, but this time it's only for mobile devices. Search for [let's go caroling] using an Android or iOS device or use voice search and say "let's go caroling" and you'll see a list of 5 carols you can play: "Jingle Bells", "Up on the House Top", "Deck the Halls", "O Christmas Tree" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Tap one of the carols and Google will start playing the karaoke version of the carol, while also displaying the lyrics.

Maybe this Easter Egg will actually be useful.

More About Gmail's Proxy

Last week, Google announced that Gmail will load external images using a proxy. I have the new feature in my Gmail account and it's easy to tell when it's enabled - Gmail will show this message:



"Loading images in Gmail is now safer, so you'll automatically see all images within a message when you open it. You can learn about images or change this option in Settings."

So what's new? You no longer have to click "Display images below" to see the images from a message. Until now, Gmail only displayed the images automatically for the people added to your address book (you had to send them a message at least once or manually add them to the address book). Now Gmail shows all the images, except for spam and other messages that are likely to be dangerous. "Gmail scans every message for suspicious content and if Gmail considers a sender or message potentially suspicious, images won't be displayed and you'll be asked whether you want to see the images."



Images are no longer loaded directly from external sites, they're loaded using a Google proxy. Here's an example of URL (I highlighted the original URL of the image):



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiZ_R_DkAiV3VbQF29B41xE6ZN5EZo-zDyjrqm9ZjkuzbsapQHNVdOVa99DXxkgLUo2lUkSO_CGm0xhRZQcpf58uIGW1YvgnSHEbApC1fG0lxXngZZ8IxNvPrhlk3elCzolZmxPgVrkZcTRJ-X9tNGw=s0-d-e1-fthttp://qsf.is.quoracdn.net/-b94cd3f312ea9653.png



Images are only loaded the first time when you open a message and they're cached. Google's requests include: "via ggpht.com GoogleImageProxy" and appear to be from Firefox 3.0.7.



The proxy feature can't be disabled. You can only go to Gmail's settings and enable "Ask before displaying external images", so you can manually enable images, but this doesn't disable the proxy.

Technophilia 93 Live From MakeUseOf [Including Waterproof iPod Giveaway]

This week: Facebook plans on putting autoplay video ads in your timeline. Will this be the last straw for Facebook users? No! But we’ll still complain. Twitter changes how blocking works, then changes its mind when users complain. Backpedaling on a policy because your users don’t like it? “That’s weird,” said a statement from Mark Zuckerberg. And, in what can only be called bad decision making, the people at Underwater Audio sent us a waterproof iPod. In the mail. We’re giving one away to a live listener, but only if they do part of our work for us. This week’s...

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Catch An Aurora! 5 Of The Best Tools To Spot The Magical Polar Lights

This winter is one of the best times to see polar lights. The next best time is in about 10 years, so you better catch them now. To stand a good chance of a polar light sighting, you need to be in the right place at the right time. An understanding of how Aurorae work and forecasts can help. This article provides the resources for both. What Is An Aurora? An Aurora, also known as polar lights, is a natural phenomenon caused by electrically charged particles from the sun that enter Earth’s atmosphere. Aurorae are best visible close to the...

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Bing Adds TED Talks To Search Results

Bing has just added TED talks and audio play to their search results page, plus a host of other useful pieces of information. In an effort to win over Google lovers, Bing is really lifting their game. In the face of such mighty competition, many search engines have withered over the years, but Bing refuses to be bowed. And to show it is not going anywhere anytime soon, they have added some more features to make the search engine even more useful, mostly to the “snapshot” area on the right of search results. One of the major new improvements is...

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Download WinSetupFromUSB For Windows 8.1

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Those of you following us for a long time would know that this isn’t the first time we’re talking about multi-boot USB drives on IntoWindows. About three years ago (time flies!), we first introduced you to WinSetupFromUSB and showed you how to create a multi-boot USB containing Windows XP and Windows 7 with the help […]

3 Simple And Elegant Tricks To Stop Drowning In Your Own Bookmarks

If you need rescuing from the clutches of your bookmarks, this article is for you. With such great content available online, you get into the habit of saving every nice thing you come across, usually with the intention of reading or viewing it later. Somehow, you never get around to doing that because you’re busy bookmarking the next interesting article or cool video or quirky website that has caught your fancy. You often spend precious time sorting, tagging, and sharing links, many of which you’re are unlikely to revisit. Decluttering those links from time to time does not stop the...

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Why The Classic Desktop Version Trumps Skype For Windows 8

Want to make voice and video calls on your Windows 8 computer? A touchscreen version of Skype is available from Microsoft, but how does it compare to the desktop version? Skype for Windows 8 Modern: Why? One of the most surprising things about Windows 8 is that Skype isn’t pre-installed. Perhaps wary of previous decisions against them concerning the installation of browsers, Microsoft instead makes the touchscreen-friendly version of Skype available via the Windows Store. Interestingly, the Modern interface version of Skype can be installed on the same system as the “classic” desktop version. This can lead to problems; more...

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Holiday Shopping List: For The Techy Outdoorsman

Technology and nature are rather conflicting areas of interest, but the lines between the two are blurring as technology advances into outdoor gear. First there was GPS, then waterproof cases for cameras, and soon after, waterproof cameras themselves. Now, we have a wide array of rugged tech gear from Bluetooth speakers to portable water purifying […]

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MakeUseOf Fails In 2013 [We Ask You Results]

We’ve had quite the year here at MakeUseOf, with thousands of articles published, dozens of hardware giveaways, a burgeoning collection of rewards for readers, a controversial makeover, new writers joining the team, and new columns increasing the range of content covered. We’re giving ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done, and were hoping you would do the same. We thought we’d had a big enough year that, when prompted to recommend an article from 2013 to a friend, the readers would respond in droves. We were wrong. OK, So We Suck, What Of It?! We asked...

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