How to get the most from social news sites

Monday, December 29th, 2008

We all have our favourite news sites, but it can be difficult to know where else to look for good quality information and opinion. Thankfully, with the internet being a pretty sociable place there are millions of people in the same situation as you – and social news sites are helping to bring them all together.

A hybrid mashup of social networking and user review sites, some (e.g. Digg, Reddit) are purely user-driven while others (Slashdot, Fark) rely on moderators to pick and choose the best articles. This post looks at how a few of the biggest sites work, along with some tips on how to get the most from them.

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How to get the most from your video camera

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

So you’ve just unwrapped that sexy new HD camcorder the other half bought you for Christmas. You’ve annoyed everyone by recording them getting drunk and embarrassing themselves over the festive dinner. So what next?

You could go out and spend loads of money on a decent editing suite, but you don’t have to – there are plenty of ways of editing, playing back and sharing your video that you don’t have to spend any money on at all.

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How to get the most from your new iPhone

Friday, December 26th, 2008

You’ve ripped off the wrapping, pried open that little black box, plugged in your SIM card and charged and registered your brand new iPhone. You spend an hour gleefully reading the BBC News site and checking your inbox for emails that don’t appear; you take a few photos and giggle as you zoom in and out by pinching. And then… err… then what?

Tweak the settings

First things first. The iPhone’s battery isn’t its strongest point, so the priority is to get rid of any unnecessary drains. Go to Settings and change the Fetch New Data settings to a wider interval – or off completely – if you don’t need constant email updates, lower the auto-lock timer, and consider disabling Bluetooth and the GPS location services until you actually need to use them.

If you don’t generally need your phone for communication at night you should seriously consider switching on Airplane Mode, as it disconnects you from all networks – thus saving on power – but keeps the clock, alarm and all other basic functions running as normal.

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