By Jack Loftus, Gizmodo – December 26, 2010 at 08:00PM
Earlier this year one of the worst oil-related disasters ever caused by man started with a deadly explosion. Now, eight months later, questions are answered. Chief among them is how a rig with so many failsafes could fail so spectacularly. More »
By timothy, Slashdot – December 26, 2010 at 11:26AM
An anonymous reader writes “In 2000, Joel Spolsky wrote the Joel Test, an excellent and simple way to evaluate a software company. While the test is still used, it’s getting outdated, as many companies are moving to web technologies, and new development tools exist. In his blog, Marc Garcia wrote about what could be an update to Joel Test.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
By Sarah Lacy, TechCrunch – December 25, 2010 at 12:00PM
How do you get more kids reading the Bible? The so-called “Jesus Phone” of course! A company called YouVersion launched a mobile, interactive version of the Bible two years ago that got some attention when it won the people’s choice DemoPit award at TechCrunch50 in 2009.
Today it runs on eight platforms, is in the top ten iTunes apps overall and has more than 12 million users across eight mobile platforms. It was bigger than Angry Birds at the time we shot the video below, and then Angry Birds had a great December. But hey, close to Angry Birds is still pretty good.
Those users have logged some four billion minutes reading the Bible inside the app, and the engagement is growing. The Church behind it, LifeChurch, thinks its users will log one billion more reading minutes in January alone. Apparently, January is a good time for evangelicals for the same reason it’s good for gyms: People are reflecting on the year ahead and making all sorts of resolutions to be a better person. Maybe it can catch up with the Birds once again?
I can’t say I get many pitches about Christian iPhone apps, so we caught up with Bobby Gruenewald to get more info on what the Bible is like in the 21st century. The application has leveraged social media in some interesting ways, but I was most impressed that Gruenewald convinced publishers to let his company offer a digital version for free. (Maybe Spotify should give Gruenewald a call?)
YouVersion sees the mission as a spiritual not a money-making one. But given the uptake, there’s certainly an opportunity for someone to make money here.
By Eric Reagan, Photography Bay – December 25, 2010 at 06:53AM
Here’s a sleigh full of cool Christmas 2010 photos to enjoy on your Christmas Day.
See all of the photos below, and click on any photo to go to the photographer’s Flickr page for larger versions of these images and more info about the photographer.
!["Father Christmas from North" Santa Claus is comin' to town [expLOLd]](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5088/5252204344_5f8f7a421e.jpg)
![[Advent Calendar - day 6/25] - The real spirit of Christmas...](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5004/5237510912_bc79068fa0.jpg)
![X'mas Decor [Explore #4 & FP]](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/5269372210_c24e1bf358.jpg)
![santa baby. [slid for sliders sunday]](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5168/5234968032_6b272c7d3d.jpg)
![[358-365.] Christmas' Eve](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5003/5287614489_344158ef37.jpg)
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By timothy, Slashdot – December 23, 2010 at 11:39PM
kkleiner writes with this fun bit from Singularity Hub: “Expert remote control pilot Raphael ‘Trappy’ Pirker recently took his 54 inch Zephyr model plane on a harrowing tour of Manhattan and the surrounding area. The best part: his RC vehicle was fitted with a camera that wirelessly transmitted an amazing recording of everything it saw – Pirker was piloting his craft with this visual feed. As you can see in the video, the results were spectacular. The plane looks to be flying within a few feet of buildings and whizzing past bridges with ease. You have to check out around 2:01 when he starts to buzz right by the Statute of Liberty.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
By Rosa Golijan, Gizmodo – December 23, 2010 at 09:20PM
Meet Melvin Guzman. He somehow ended up with a Mac stolen from Zoz, a rather crafty hacker who happens to love that computer “like his firstborn.” Here’s a hilarious account of what happened—complete with some poorly censored nudity. More »
By Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker – December 23, 2010 at 07:00AM
Windows/Mac/Linux: VirtualBox 4.0 makes creating virtual operating systems a lot less bothersome. The interface is easier to get around, the virtual machines easier to move or wipe away, display and hardware compatibility is improved, and new “extensions” can add new capabilities.
Previously, moving your virtual machines around, or deleting them and all their snapshots, required some knowledge of how VirtualBox stored your stuff, and some tricky XML editing. No longer, as VirtualBox adds commands to do a complete wipe of a machine, and also explains where your stuff is stashed. Beyond that deep-down fix, the interface has seen a pretty nice upgrade—stuff you would regularly look for before, like the prompt to load up an ISO file as a virtual CD drive, are now front and center, and the Settings dialog easier to move through progressively.
There aren’t many Extensions right now, but third-party coders may soon add some nice capabilities to this free virtual machine manager. And Oracle does offer up one extension, USB management, that will likely allow users of the open source version (usually distributed by Linux desktops) to get that previously unavailable capability.
VirtualBox 4.0 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. If you’re intrigued and want to get started with VirtualBox and virtual operating systems, try our beginner’s guide to virtual machines, or take on the seemingly impossible by running Mac OS X on Windows in VirtualBox.
By Tim Brookes, MakeUseOf – December 22, 2010 at 06:31PM
So the global recession has hit hard. At a time like this you may be tempted to turn to money-saving tips, techniques and resources to help yourself out if you’re feeling the squeeze.
What better way to save yourself money and stamp your own personal mark on a job by doing it yourself? There’s plenty of money to be saved by getting your hands dirty, regardless of sex and age – just exercise care and caution if you’re wielding sharp and potentially dangerous things.
Here’s a selection of websites to help inspire new projects and close the lid on those unfinished ones too.
With the aim of inspiring more of us to re-use and recycle instead of simply throwing it away, Make it and Mend it is the brainchild of four passionate women who have seen the website’s popularity grow and grow.
Since launching in early 2009 the website has seen the growth of a community, a major redesign (which looks awesome) and the introduction of the email newsletter.
Navigation is easy via the simplistic and sleek design of the homepage, with instructions separated into six separate categories. There are also a few other sections to the site including People which focuses on guest bloggers and human interest, as well as Downloads and Videos.
Make it and Mend it provides some creative ideas for cookery, home design and fashion amongst others, with a focus on projects that benefit from that personal touch.
Make: Projects puts more of an emphasis on technical projects than the previous website, but contains a good range of DIY tips, hacks, tweaks and uses for your old bits of tat.
Ever wanted to mod a snowboard into a splitboard? What about building your own aerial satellite? There’s no shortage of adventurous projects here, and you don’t need an engineering degree to play along.
The website is the “submit your own” section of Make Magazine, and many of the projects listed may have been featured on the shelf of your local newsagents in the past.
We’ve mentioned it before, in fact I’ve even mentioned it myself but I can’t help but drop it into another article. Instructables is probably the web’s most definitive collection of DIY projects for absolutely any occasion.
The website changes with the seasons, so if you’re after the best halloween costume or want to build your own summer barbecue then you’re bound to find detailed, informative instructions for just about anything.
The website also runs regular competitions to reward the community’s spirit and determination, so if you’re brave then why not enter your own creation for the chance to win some very apt prizes.
British-based diyfixit embraces the nation’s obsession with hammers, drills and other tools with guides to fixing general household issues.
There’s a plethora of information available from wallpapering to installing a kitchen sink – you’ll find it on diyfixit. There’s a couple of different sections to explore, though the How To section warrants a visit on its own.
If you’re the handy type who feels confident enough in undertaking the largest of hands-on projects then diyfixit is the perfect resource for your busy hands.
Another excellent resource for all your household needs, DoItYourself.com features an excellent How To section as well as videos to help you install, fix and choose the best bits of your house.
There’s also sections dedicated to design, car repair and general home improvement which add to the varied articles and videos that populate the website. The website also functions as a store for DIY products, and there’s a Find A Contractor area in case you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.
Another very capable archive of knowledge for those who like getting hands-on.
Before joining the team here at MakeUseOf, I used to write small guides for eHow on how to do just about anything. Whilst my time at MakeUseOf has been a lot more fulfilling and enjoyable, eHow taught me a lot about writing how-to guides for the web.
With no specific categories targeted, eHow simply tries to be the ultimate “how do I do that?” resource. Their article titles are drawn from search engine results, and span every conceivable topic.
For a quick guide that’s backed up with references and resources, eHow fits the bill.
Have you used any great DIY websites recently? Any successful projects you’ve finished thanks to the web? Let us know in the comments.
Image Credit : Shutterstock
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