How to Turn an Image Black and White Except for One Area

It's an effect we've all seen: a black and white photo with one part in full colour. It's a lovely effect, and this tutorial will show you how to do it for yourself using Adobe Photoshop.

Read more...

Is Google Music Coming To Britain?

Is Google Music ever going to be available in the UK? If so, when?

Read more...

Should I Buy a Laptop or a Desktop PC?

Nowadays, most people looking to buy a new computer are opting to buy laptops rather than traditional desktop PC's. But why? Here, we'll examine some of the advantages laptops have over desktop PC's, as well as some of their disadvantages.

Read more...

Free Computer Programs All Students Need

Every computer needs software to run, and software is expensive. But many important tasks can be performed be free programs. Here is a small selection of free programs especially for students.

Read more...

Spiced Apple Crumble

This rich, flavoursome apple crumble is a family favourite. This is a great dish to make during the chilly autumn and winter months. It's best served hot with custard or cream.

Read more...

Photographs from The Holy Land

These are a handful of photos taken on my travels. All photos were taken and edited by me and may not be reproduced without my permission.

Read more...

The Top 10 Snow Patrol Songs

Snow Patrol are an Irish/Scottish alternative rock band formed in 1994. The group comprises Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Jonny Quinn (drums), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Tom Simpson (keyboards).

Read more...

The Second Coming of Microsoft

An interesting piece on the how Microsoft is finally starting to step up its game against Google and Apple with a renewed push into hardware.

Read more...

Just a Flower

This is just a picture of a flower growing in my garden. I'm not even sure what it's called. But decided I liked it, so I decided to grab a picture. See what you make of it.

Great Apps and Extensions for Google Chrome

One of the best things about the Chrome web browser is the Chrome Web Store. This online store offers a plethora of apps and extensions which help improve productivity, ease-of-use, and the power of your browser.

But with so many add-ons available, it can be difficult to find the best ones. This article will suggest a small selection of apps and extensions that every Google Chrome user needs to try.

Read more...

Grammar 101: How to Use an Apostrophe

Everyone seems to use apostrophes incorrectly these days, but after reading this you will know when and when not to use an apostrophe and have a means of checking your writing to make sure you have used apostrophes correctly.
Read more...

Black Holes and Revelations

A black hole is a region of spacetime centred on a point mass called a singularity. A black hole is extremely massive and thus has an immense gravitational pull, which is in fact strong enough to prevent light escaping from it.

Read more...

Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks (Cris Cab Cover)

I like to bring to your attention this brilliant cover of Foster The People's song "Pumped Up Kicks". The cover is by Cris Cab and I must say: it is brilliant. And I say this as a huge fan of the original song.

How to Suck at Your Religion

This is a brilliant cartoon from The Oatmeal called "How To Suck at Your Religion". In a handful of drawings, this cartoon manages to summarise everything that always seems to go wrong with religion. It's also damn funny.

Rodents of the Sea

Harvey: "What are you doing, killing seals?"

Louis: "Would that I were. Rodents of the sea..."

I Wrote It A While Ago

The previous post was something I wrote a few months ago. I think I put it on Tumblr at the time, but Hubpages is much better suited to it. Actually, I suppose I could have put it on this blog too, but I prefer the way things look on Hubpages, apart from anything else. And hey, I left you a link didn't I?

The Law and Social Media

I worry about how the law can be enforced in the age of Facebook and Twitter. It’s so easy for people to break the law and so difficult to catch them. It’s a little difficult to explain, but if we have a think about the Ched Evans thing, we might be getting somewhere. Certainly, that’s what started this line of thought.

Read more...

Madness

"Madness" is the new single from Muse's new album "The 2nd Law" (out on October 1st). This is definitely not the Muse we're used to. It's a lot slower than most Muse songs, for a start.

According to NME, Madness was influenced by Queen's "I Want to Break Free", and this is actually quite clear when you listen to it. Madness offers up a little display of Muse's electronic leanings that will apparently feature heavily on The 2nd Law.

Smooth and synthy, Madness is a pleasure to listen to. In fact, despite its lack of "Museness", I think Madness is a lot better than the band's Olympic anthem "Survival".

The Smell of Banks

Vetinari: "The smell of banks is alway pleasing, don't you think? A mixture of polish and wealth." 

Moist: "And ursary." 

Vetinari: "That would be cruelty to bears. I suspect you mean usury."

Curried Lentil and Apple Soup

This thick and hearty soup is a family favourite and sure to become a staple in your repertoire of soup starters. Curried lentil and apple soup is perfect for those cold nights throughout autumn and winter.

Read more...

How To Download Torrents - uTorrent for Beginners

You've probably heard of uTorrent. It’s one of the most popular torrent clients available. It has a clean simple interface that’s easy to use. But for the beginner, the world of torrent download can be daunting. This article will guide you through downloading your first torrent with uTorrent.

Read more...

Sunrise from Masada

A photo I took some time last year.

The Best Songs by Muse

Although this wasn't easy, here is the list I made of my top 10 favorite Muse songs.

Read more...

How To Make $1000 Per Month Writing Online At Hubpages

Anyone can earn upwards of $1000 a month on Hubpages.

Read more...

Discover feed share at Flipora.com for added traffic

If you know something about InfoAxe, the website that helped you to find the sites you had previously visited, then Flipora might not be new to you. But then, after re-branding of InfoAxe to Flipora, many have not realized the added strength that the new service has in discovering and sharing web content. This article will provide a review of Flipora.com and how you can post and share feeds on this site to increase traffic to your site.

Read more...

The 10 Best Themes for Google Chrome

Google Chrome is one of the most customisable web browsers around. One of the great things about it is the ability to customise the browser's theme. There are thousands to choose from in the Chrome Web Store, but I've narrowed the list down to 10 of the best ones.

Read more...

Top 5 Alternative Web Browsers

We've all heard of Internet Explorer. And most of us have heard of Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. But those 5 aren't the only web browsers out there. There are plenty of alternatives to the "Big 5" web browsers, and with so many options out there, I thought it would be helpful to compile a short list of good - but less well known - web browsers. 

Read more...

Bridport by Night

The "prequel", as it were, to Dorset by Night. This is truly beautiful. The video looks very professional. It's this kind of photography that inspires people.

Using Soluto to Speed Up Your Computer

Soluto is a free program which can be used to speed up your PC's boot time, speed up web browsing, check your battery health, control browser add-ons and extensions, and more.

Read more...

This post links to a hub. Read more about hubs and Hubpages here.

Sign up for Hubpages today.

The Amazing Spiderman - Don't Dress Like a Car Thief, Man

I'd like to share with you one of my favourite scenes from the new Spiderman movie. It's a little different than the version at the cinema, probably due to living in a different country. It doesn't matter though, because this is still very brilliant and very funny. I really like what Andrew Garfield brings to the role, and I hope he'll return for the sequel.

Top 5 Modern Web Browsers

The modern web requires a modern web browser. This hub reviews the top 5 web browsers to help you pick the the browser that will best suit your needs.

Read more...

Dorset by Night

 

I wanted to share this beautiful, inspiring video. Incredible footage of the night sky in Dorset. View it on YouTube here.

Hubpages

I’m going to tell you about this writing site called Hubpages. This is a great way for anyone who knows something useful or interesting to make a bit of money online.

What is Hubpages?

Before I start getting into detail, I should explain the basics. Hubpages is a website that basically allows you to publish an article on the site. A hub (their word for article) can be about almost topic you want to write about. You could create a hub explaining how to wire a plug, or how to make carrot cake. You can pretty much write about whatever you want.

You don’t have to be a brilliant writer, though it does help. (It is a writing site after all). That said, some people who are awful writers do quite well. All you need is the ability to say a little bit about something people might want to read.

Can I make money with Hubpages?

Yes, and there are a number of different ways to do it. Possibly the simplest way is to use Google Adsense. After you finish your first hub you can install your Adsense ID and you will begin displaying Google Ads on your hubs. If visitors click on your Google ads, you get 60% of the revenue.

And before you ask, yes: Hubpages is okay with you doing this. Indeed, they encourage you to use AdSense, as well as to sign up for its own ad program, which pays on an impression basis through PayPal.

How to get started

If you are interested in trying out Hubpages for yourself this is how to go about it:

1. Sign up at Hubpages.
2. Create your first hub. This can be a little unnerving the first time you do it. Hubpages forces you to build your hub from “capsules”. Don’t be intimidated, just read the advice they give you and you’ll be fine. Incidentally, I recommend writing your hubs in Word or a similar program. It’s considerably easier.
3. Sign up for a Google AdSense account. For instructions on how to sign up, read this.
4. Add your AdSense Publisher ID to Hubpages. Log in to Hubpages and click on “My Account”, and then “Earnings”. Follow the on-screen instructions from there.
5. Finished. Once your ID is installed, you will make money whenever someone clicks on an ad. Warning: never click on your own ads. Google will definitely catch you and you’ll be banned from the AdSense program. And once you have been banned, it’s very difficult to get approval for a new account.

Success

Keyword research

Most people would say that this is the most important part, and that title of your hub must be based on solid keyword research. If you’re happy to put in the effort, try Google’s Keyword Research tool – throw in some keywords based on your hub’s content and check out the results. Now, I’m lazy, so I don’t really bother with keyword research and yet I still get traffic. So you still have a chance of picking up some visitors on Hubpages, even if you don’t do any research. But the more you plan your keywords, the better you’ll do.

I suggest you try using longer titles. Don’t title your hub “Doors” but something like “How to Build a Door out of Oak”. If in doubt, look at your hub. Imagine you were looking for an article like it on the web. What would you type into Google? Answer that, and you have a title that’ll probably work.

Content

More is more. Try to write about 500 words per hub. And add some pictures. For a start, on Hubpages, a little picture is displayed beside links to hubs. This is the first picture that has been used in that Hub. If you don’t have a picture, links to your hub won’t look so good and probably won’t be clicked. Also, Hubpages ranks hubs higher if they have pictures in them (or other widgets like polls, news etc.)

Links

More page views = more money from ads. Try linking to your hubs from your blog to get some traffic to them. Most traffic will initially come from within Hubpages, so getting some external links is a good idea. Plus, it’ll help improve your Hubs’ Google search rankings. Submitting them to social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon is also a great way to get more page views. Organising your Hubs into “Groups” is also advisable. To do this just go to “My Account” -> “Hubs” -> “Groups”.

For some quick tips on starting to earn money from Hubpages, read this article. If you have any questions or feedback, please comment.

There you go. That should be everything you need to know to get started on Hubpages. If you like the sound of it and want to try it for yourself, sign up here.

The Naked Gun 2 and a Half

Quentin Hapsburg: "Any final requests, Lieutenant?"

Lt. Frank Drebin: "Er, yes... Can I have the gun?"

How to Create a Clean and Simple Desktop in Windows 7

If you use your computer a lot, you may find that a cluttered desktop can really start to annoy you. It’s even worse if you have a beautiful background that you can’t see thanks to loads of toolbars and folders. Luckily for us clean-freaks, Windows 7 allows you to make a clean, elegant, and simple desktop, free of all that annoying clutter synonymous with Windows computers.

Cleaning up your desktop is a simple, 2-step process. Read this article, then go to your desktop. I promise, you can have the simplest possible desktop in 2 minutes.

Read more...