This week, Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo published a report claiming that the next Xbox may use a system to prevent used games from being played. It’s a tricky situation in itself: the used games market is huge, and doesn’t directly provide games publishers with any revenue, although the situation is far more complex than the likes of THQ would have you believe.

But it also points to something else further down the line: it’s no longer just Sony who wants to sell and send you console games directly over the internet. Microsoft wants in too. It’s a shame our shoddy broadband network won’t be up to the job.

I’m going to sidestep the issue of whether it’s ethical for Microsoft to block used games on its next Xbox: let’s look at the elephant hiding in the corner instead. If Redmond wants to get away with that, it also needs to provide games in such a way that it wouldn’t occur to customers to try and resell them: through an Ethernet cable.

Microsoft and Sony already sell full games over their respective networks of course, but neither are trying particularly hard. Xbox 360 generally appear on Xbox Live a year after launch, at a price nobody with any sense, or a GAME shop nearby, would consider; some PS3 games appear on the PSN soon after launch, but at eye watering prices (Rayman Origins for £47.99? Bargain.)

And why would they? High street retailers still matter – their reluctance to sell the download only PSPgo was the nail in its coffin.

Xbox 720: Rumour round-up

That will change though: it has to. The success of iPhone gaming and app stores means customers are already trained to purchase software this way. In theory, publishers can reduce their costs since the cost of packaging and delivery is minimal, while Microsoft would get a cut from every game’s revenue, not just the licensing money from its developers. Sooner or later, the smartphone stabilizers will come off.

So long as the games are priced correctly (read well below regular disc prices), people should come round to the principle of this. Steam, with its excellent deals and customer service, has already proved the model works on PC. But the state of British broadband is going to have to change drastically for this to take off.

At the moment, it wouldn’t be so bad for Xbox 360 games. Stored on a DVD, they max out at about 8GB (Unless of course, the game uses a billion discs, like Final Fantasy XIII). But if, as Kotaku’s report also claims, the Xbox 720 will adopt Blu-ray for its new format, you could be looking at games up to 50GB in size a few years down the line.

Many home in the UK simply aren’t ready for that. Achingly slow infrastructure is one factor: the government has set a target of 2015 for the whole country to be in reach of 2Mbps speed that those in urban areas have been enjoying for the best part of a decade. BT has said that the EU target of 30Mbps speeds for all by 2020 isn’t possible: meanwhile, South Korea aims to achieve 100 percent 1Gbps penetration by the end of this year. Splendiferous.

But more pressingly, too many broadband tariffs pack data caps that would prohibit downloading too many games this way. Commendably, Virgin Media offers unlimited data on all of its tariffs, but BT does not: its cheapest tariffs come with a cap of just 10GB. It’s commonplace in America too, where more Xbox 720s will inevitably be sold. Almost every major provider has a bandwidth cap that varies between 150 and 250GB.

So how do you reconcile those measly caps with a spate of high profile games? Let’s take the few weeks in the run up to Christmas last year: hardcore gamers would have had to download Modern Warfare 3, Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Gears Of War 3, Dark Souls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, FIFA 12 and Rayman Origins, to name but a few. Imagine downloading that sort of spate of AAA games, each spilling over every 0 and 1 of a 50GB disc in the shops. And then streaming all the HD shows and movies you can now watch via Xbox Live, in place of broadcast TV. You couldn’t.

Game streaming isn’t any better. I’ve been testing out OnLive’s micro console this week: when plugged into your router it delivers PC games to your TV from the cloud. With the bundled gamepad, it’s a console like experience from a tiny box, that can be had on some exceptionally good deals: OnLive regularly gives the £70 box away with pre-orders of new games, while BT is offering both the box and a three month subscription for new broadband subscribers.

But its limitations are already abundantly clear: connections sometimes drop, and the lag on games where speed counts, such as Street Fighter 4, is a bit too much. And it may be using up as much as 2GB per hour.

For hardcore gamers too, it’s hard to imagine switching to this model full-time. The odd Lego Batman spree won’t run up too much data, but a 70 hour Skyrim slog? It’s a good thing OnLive doesn’t offer the time-sucking game: too many people’s routers couldn’t hack it.

What’s the solution here? We can’t just expect every Xbox gamer to pay for unlimited data: most people still expect a console to be an out of the box experience. And they may have already tied themselves into a broadband contract.

There’s no point trying to turn and face the march of progress, but unless we get better broadband soon, the gaming experience we’re used to will suffer.

What do you think? Is the push to download-only games a bad thing? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Over the next month, two new Windows Phones are set to go on sale in the UK: the colourful Nokia Lumia 710 and budget priced ZTE Tania. Neither alone will likely change the status quo at gunpoint, but they point to an extremely useful plan B that Microsoft has been working on: getting the price – and the experience – down to compete with the cheapest Android smartphones out there right now.

Right now, both Apple’s iOS and Google’s mobile operating system, Android, are dominating the smartphone space. As of November 2011, Android devices made up 46.9 percent of the US smartphone market, according to ComScore, while Apple’s iPhone accounted for a solid 28.7 percent. Between August and October however, Microsoft’s Windows Phone (and older Windows Mobile) percentage actually fell, from 5.7 percent to 5.2 percent.

Microsoft needs to up those numbers urgently, and while flagship devices likes the Nokia Lumia 800 are a good start, they’re not going to change the situation drastically overnight. But budget Windows Phones? They really could.

Even though it seems like everyone and their dog has a smartphone these days, it’s easy to forget that it’s still a growing market. Actually, make that mushrooming. Mobile phone sales are shooting up, and within that, smartphones are becoming more important than ever, growing 74 percent in demand year on year according to Gartner’s August 2011 findings. Leading the charge? Budget Android phones from the likes of Huawei and ZTE, who, as we’ve reported before, are leaping up the ranks of the world’s biggest mobile phone peddlers.

Meet the biggest smartphone makers you’ve never heard of

“Smartphone sales continued to rise at the expense of feature phones,” says Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Consumers in mature markets are choosing entry-level and midrange Android smartphones over feature phones, partly due to carriers’ and manufacturers’ promotions.”

And there you have it: people aren’t buying these phones because they run Android, but because they’re cheap and their network is shoving them their way.

It’s hardly surprising – for the most part, they’re not very good. Take for example, three that I have on my desk at the moment, the Huawei Blaze, the HTC Explorer and the Samsung Galaxy Y.

The surprisingly thin Blaze can now be had for around £60 on Pay As You Go, but comes with a truly awful default keyboard pre-installed, and runs on a paltry 256MB of memory. The Samsung Galaxy Y unforgivably uses a low-res QVGA screen – a resolution many Android apps don’t even support. And the HTC Explorer? Well, despite its similarities to the Blaze, it’s twice the price. And twice as ugly.

By contrast, you know what you’re getting with Windows Phone: Microsoft lays out the minimum specs. That can be a curse with a flagship phone (how to tell one apart from the other?), but it’s a guarantee of a minimum standard of satisfaction – crucially important in the area of the market crowded by cheap Android phones with tiny screens and a load of bloatware installed on them. With Windows Phone, you know you’re getting that great big homescreen layout that’s easy to navigate, and a keyboard which won’t force you to become illiterate in order to get anything done in a reasonable time. There is no guarantee of this when you pick up a network-branded Android phone.

The Nokia Lumia 710, which packs most of the same innards as the polycarbonate 800 in a cheaper plastic shell, goes on sale here in February, but it’s the ZTE Tania that could really put an end to budgetdroids. Due in March, at £249.99 SIM-free, or a promised £10-£20 on contract, it’s the cheapest Windows Phone yet. I haven’t tested a final review unit yet, but given those minimum requirements, I can’t see how this isn’t going to become the default phone I recommend whenever technophobic friends ask me what phone they should get because theirs just broke and they want something that has internet and oh oh Facebook as well and they don’t care otherwise.

Both Orange and ZTE have told me that they are not planning a subsidised Pay As You Go model of the Tania, which is a shame, as this really could have brought the price down (A similarly sized and priced ZTE Android phone, the Skate, now goes for £150 on Orange PAYG as the Orange Monte Carlo).

But ZTE, now the fourth biggest mobile manufacturer in the world by volume, wants to carve out a brand name for itself in the West, and you can bet it’s going to continue to slash prices aggressively. Mid-range smartphones are cut-throat business, no doubt, but in this case, it’s ZTE that’s holding the bloody knife.

Enter Nokia

It’s not going to stop there, either. Microsoft – while carefully vetting the experience, something it completely failed to do with Windows Mobile – is paring Windows Phone down for cheaper devices.

The next update, Tango, is reportedly due out by Summer, and promises to provide Windows Phone at the “best prices”, according to a leaked roadmap. That means Windows Phone on less powerful hardware, and thus at lower prices.

That’s where Nokia comes in: while the Lumia 710 is smaller and slightly pricier than the ZTE Tania, Nokia still knows how to produce phones at scale. What happens when Microsoft provides a new set of minimum specs with Tango, letting it put all its expertise with QWERTY keyboard phones and manufacturing at vast scales to good use?

Windows Phones wins the middle ground – and that’s exactly what Nokia boss Stephen Elop said it would do almost a year ago, with “a very low price point.”

“We have become convinced that we can do that very quickly,” he told Reuters at the dramatic announcement that Nokia was dropping Symbian in favour of Windows Phone. Combine that with Microsoft’s somewhat cynical plan to give phone shop sales folk commissions for every Windows Phone sold, and you’ve got a recipe for dramatic growth.

In other words, just because the Lumia 800 isn’t setting the world on fire in the same way the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S 2 is, don’t rule Windows Phone out just yet.

Samsung Galaxy Y kindly supplied by Expansys

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While you’d be hard pressed to find someone who both understands how the internet works and supports the proposed SOPA legislation across the pond, few can deny that the issue of piracy needs addressing somehow.

An interesting illustration of this is the rise in mobile app piracy: because of the typically small file size, and the ability for Android phones to install apps from unknown sources, Android app piracy in particular is booming.

On the day that the web goes dark in protest, we take a look at the Android apps being illegally copied and shared the most. Is your favourite app being stolen around the clock?

Estimating the problem of piracy on Android is a tall order: previous investigations have been based on surveys of developers’ perceptions. Instead, we’ve simply looked at the numbers of seeders, or people sharing the complete file, on the three biggest BitTorrent sites on the web, The Pirate Bay, Torrentz and Kickass Torrents.

Music file sharing on your phone: new fears as piracy goes mobile

These are the top 10 paid for Android apps being pirated on each (Apps that are free anyway have been disregarded), as of Tuesday 17 January 2012 – the number of seeders is in brackets. Note that these can of course fluctuate (but their proportions are distinct enough to give you a good idea of what’s being pirated the most regardless) as seeders log off, and that this number is absolutely not the number of times an app has been pirated. Let’s take a look.

The Pirate Bay

Grand Theft Auto III v1.0 (322)
Grand Theft Auto III v1.2 (211)
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (208)
FIFA 12 v1.2.5 (194)
SPB Shell 3D v1.2.4 (145)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (139)
Need For Speed Shift v1.0.73 (138)
Plants vs Zombies (110)
Worms (103)
Street Fighter IV HD (102)

Torrentz

Grand Theft Auto III v1.0 (270)
Grand Theft Auto III v1.2 (197)
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (192)
Navigon v3.6.0 Europe (161)
FIFA 12 v1.2.5 (167)
SPB Shell 3D v1.5.2 (152)
Plants vs Zombies (151)
SPB Shell 3D v1.2.4 (147)
Navigon Europe 2012 v4.0.1 (97)
CoPilot Live Pro 8 (87)

Kickass Torrents

Grand Theft Auto III v1.0 (408)
Sygic GPS v11.0.1 (288)
FIFA 12 v1.2.5 (281)
Grand Theft Auto III v1.2 (270)
Need For Speed Shift v1.0.73 (193)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (157)
Assassin’s Creed Revelations v1.0.8 (132)
Worms (132)
Where’s My Water v1.3.1 (107)
The Sims 3 (109)

As you can see, Grand Theft Auto 3 is by far and away the most pirated Android app right now – though only number four in Google’s paid app rankings at the time of writing – but there are some other interesting takeaways. Games from high profile publishers such as EA and Gameloft are unsurprisingly in demand, but so is the highly-rated launcher SPB Shell 3D – by far the most expensive launcher on the Market at £9.45.

A tale of two platforms: Why Grand Theft Auto 3 reveals Android’s greatest flaw

Also in demand: satnav apps which cost anywhere on the Market between £20 and £50 depending on the maps included. Lastly, the appearance of Street Fighter IV HD does suggest Android app piracy isn’t mainstream yet – the game requires an Android phone with a 720p resolution screen, of which just four are currently on sale (Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, LG Optimus LTE, HTC Rezound).

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the top 10 from a handful of torrent sites. Arguably even more problematic are the huge bundles of (paid for) Android apps being shared in the same way. Because mobile apps usually only require a few megabytes of space, it’s not uncommon to find folders with 400 or more apps, ready to steal in minutes.

We’ll be looking at the problem in more detail over the coming days, but in the meantime, let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below. Do you pirate mobile apps? If so, why?

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Guffaw TV seemed like a more appropriate name for Google TV when former CEO Eric Schmidt claimed in December that by this Summer, it would be on the “majority” of new TVs.

At the time, the search giant’s key launch partner, Logitech, has just dumped Google TV after openly admitting that its device cost the company “well over $100M (£65m) in operating profit”.

But last week’s Consumer Electronics Show showed Google TV is anything but dead. Second generation tech, and new partners including Samsung and LG mean the biggest ballers in flatscreens are actually on board. If Apple really is working on a TV, here’s how Google can beat it to the punch with a smart TV people will actually want.

Last week, we looked at how Google TV might make a resurgence, noting that Schmidt “Obviously knew something we didn’t.” Now the dust has settled on CES, we’re getting a clearer picture of what he had in mind. But there’s still lots more work to do: here’s our masterplan for Google to focus on.

Everything everywhere

While it’s exciting to see Google TV 2.0 cropping up in smart TVs of the world’s biggest boob tube pushers – Sony, Samsung and LG, a rare triumvirate – the big breakthrough is its appearance in set top boxes. And not the fiddly ones with complicated keyboard we saw last year, but tiny, lightweight models that don’t cost the easth.

Meet the Vizio VAP430 media streamer, a $99 (£65) media streamer that also happens to run Google TV. It’s my favourite gadget of CES this year: plugged in via HDMI, it adds Google search powers to supported US cable boxes, and it’ll become an instant games console the moment OnLive releases its app for Google TV.

This approach puts Google TV in direct competition not just with the pricey Boxee Box, but cheaper streamers such as the current Apple TV, and the popular Roku line of itty bitty media streamers, and making it much more appealing in the process.

It’s the same iPhone versus Android proposition all over again: it’s safe to assume that Apple’s iOS TV will only be made my Apple, but Google TV being on everything by everyone means it can beat it on numbers again.

Either you get it built on, or simply plug in a tiny box, just like Apple wants you to right now. And they can only get smaller – I can’t wait to see what happens when a Google TV add-on the size of a USB stick appears (Incidentally, Roku tells me that its Roku Stick may launch in the UK, depending on how popular proves on launch in the US this Summer. I wonder if the company has considered becoming a Google TV partner).

Launch in Europe

It’s been almost two years since Google TV was first unveiled to the world, and it’s still not available outside of the US – although the same fanciful Eric Schmidt said late last year that it would hit our fair continent in early 2012.

Needless to say, more markets equals more customers equals dollar dollar bill, and we’re eager to test it out here in the UK, but a European launch could prove a useful PR move as well.

For one thing, UK networks would be a great deal more open to having their on-demand content on the network. The major US networks and Hulu all but de-railed Google TV by blocking their Flash video content from it, but the BBC and Channel 4 have never tried to block videos from Android-based devices capable of running Flash.

They’d also likely be far more open to having their content made readily searchable – which, let us not forget, is Google’s modus operandi. BBC iPlayer already lets you search for on-demand content on other channels and links to it, and hasn’t encountered any problems in doing so.

Apple meanwhile, appears to have hit a roadblock trying to sign up content partners for its business model, and has shown little interest so far in providing European content on its second-generation Apple TV set top box. Even now, the only way to get BBC iPlayer on there is with an iPad – and not in the UK.

Apps, not boxes

Google learnt the hard way that ostriches with their heads in the sand can still kick really hard, but there’s a solution in the meantime while the US networks still cling on to old business models: focus on apps, not partners.

We’re still waiting for apps to legitimately appear on the Apple TV without the need for code skullduggery, but in the meantime Google TV already has apps. They’ve been trickling through since September, but are starting to look all the more attractive – Netflix, Crunchyroll for the obsessive otaku in your family, a plethora of news channel apps.

If Google can spell out how your TV experience can genuinely be enhanced by services as well as more broadcasters, it could be on to something. That is a big if, admittedly.

Take the Trojan horse method: Push Google TV out to PS3s

Sony is sticking with Google TV, showing off a Google TV streamer and Blu-ray player at CES last week. But there’s a last resort Google could use if all else fails: it could launch on PS3.

There are more than 55 million PlayStation 3s out there in the world, all connected to the web, and all capable of having new services pushed to their XMB dashboard over the air (As Sony did with ITV Player and 4OD in 2010, and Netflix last week). That could give Google a massive footprint in an instant.

Though the rumour has been floating around for months, there are some problems with this approach of course. Google TV now runs on ARM-based processors, meaning it’d have to be adapted for the IBM Cell processor on board the PS3.

Google would also have to make a good rationale for why the service should be pushed out on existing hardware, for free. I for one can’t see Sony being too keen on a PS3 app running apps (Insert Xzibit meme here), especially ones like OnLive which compete directly with it.

Do you agree? Can Google TV ever take off? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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The internet is a minefield. Every turn online is a possible pitfall in terms of your reputation and your general way of life. What’s worse is that many of the more friendly and innocuous-seeming services are often the worst; there are multiple ways to ruin yourself on the web. Here are the worst…

1. Get banned by Google

In July last year a 10-year old from the Netherlands tried to register with Google+. The snag here is that to use Google’s services you need to be at least 13 – something to do with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

The Dutch kid’s actions were met with swift retribution: a complete ban from all of Google’s services.

Google+ patent to transform the web?

Ok, so just don’t be 10 years old, right? Wrong. Google’s terms of service mean that you can get irrevocably kicked off of Gmail, Google+ Google Docs, Google Calendar et al if you ever post anything explicit (nude pics) or hateful, pretend to be someone else or partake in copyright infringement.

Imagine the extreme scenario here: you have ‘auto-post to Google+’ turned on on your phone, get horrifically drunk and you or someone else takes a lewd pic of yourself on your Android handset. Say goodbye to all your emails. For good.

2. Get your house trashed by Facebook

There’s a very good reason that Facebook has privacy controls for pretty much every action on the site. Anyone who’s ever made an event will know it’s dicey enough letting certain friends know about it, but if you make it fully public you’re in for trouble.

Bodybuilders find a Facebook privacy flaw

This here is just one incident of many that’ve made the news, often with disastrous effects: German girl Thessa wants to celebrate her 16th birthday, makes Facebook event, 1600 people turn up out of nowhere. Making an event? Make it private, genius.

3. Get sued for file sharing

You use BitTorrent and the Pirate Bay, but they’ll never catch you, right? Probably, but if you are one of the unlucky ones then you’ll really, really wish you’d been a bit more legal. To wit, every now and again the music industry picks a massive smattering of people – the information of whom they glean from your friendly ISP – to sue at random.

Last year 200,000 people were chosen out of the piracy hat and threatened with legal action. The exact figure you’ll be asked for can vary wildly, but most people settle. Refuse to pay and you could end up like Joel Tenenbaum.

Tenenbaum was accused of copyright infringement by Sony BMG. He rejected the claims and eneded up going to court to face a sum that at one point reached $4.5 million. This came down to $675,000 and then eventually to $67,500 (£43,640). Still, it’s worth it for the free music, right?

4. Get kicked off your console

Hacking your PS3 or Xbox 360 will allow you to play downloaded games from the interweb, run imports and generally free it up in an iPhone Jailbreaking sort of way. However, just like how Apple voids the warrantee on any jailbroken iPhone, running a hacked console won’t go unnoticed.

Microsoft and Sony know when you’re online with a tampered machine, and as of 2011 began mercilessly banning owners of hacked consoles from Xbox LIVE services and the Playstation Network respectively. That means no more online Call of Duty, ever.

5. Endless YouTube torment

It might seem an obvious tip: don’t do embarrassing stuff. But you’d be surprised how many people who keep their bizarre antics to the confines of the bedroom are happy to then upload videos of what, in public, would be considered social suicide.

It’s normally the sort of deluded X Factor rejects that find this kind of undesirable fame on YouTube, but it can befall anyone who thinks they’ve got something special to offer. Unless you’ve had your talent backed up by several different sources beforehand and are supremely confident in your talents, don’t upload anything.

If you do, you could end up universally ridiculed in the same fashion as Daniel Songer, the world’s worst comedian:

It’s not all bad:

- How to get stuff for free online

- Top Flash games to play for free

- 5 blogs that’ll make you a better person

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It’s a new year, and with CES just a week away, we’re about to see lots more new gadgets. But there’s one you won’t be seeing for a little while yet: the new Apple TV, a flatscreen with a new interface, and maybe even a new means of video delivery. It’s by no means official, but there’s a lot of smoke suggesting it’ll be out this year. Let’s take a look at all the evidence so far. Are you going to be buying it?

One integrated device
Apple boss Steve Jobs sadly passed away in October, but he left biographer Walter Isaacson one tantalising clue about Apple’s next product.

“I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,” he said. “It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

It’s this idea of a simple user interface that’s so compelling. iOS changed smartphones for ever with its ease of use, and all those clunky EPGs you’re used to with your flatscreen are begging for a refresh.

iTunes’ creator is on the team
Jeff Robbin is the man who created iTunes – and co-created the iPod with Tony Fadell. That’s quite some pedigree, and according to three Bloomberg sources, that pedigree is being put to work on the new Apple TV. Apple won’t confirm Robbin is working on the project, but it would come as no surprise to find a pro like him involved with what could be Apple’s next blockbuster product.

Siri could power the new Apple TV
Perhaps the most exciting report we’ve seen so far is from the New York Times’ Nick Bilton. The veteran hack’s sources say an Apple TV is most definitely happening – it’s just a case of when. Said new Apple TV will, Bilton says, use the voice assistant technology seen in the iPhone 4S, Siri, to let you navigate and search using your voice and natural language alone.

It’ll be out by the summer
Bilton’s report didn’t peg a release date for the new Apple TV, but one analyst has: Peter Misek of Jeffries says that Apple has already brokered a deal with Sharp to manufacture the screens for it, and it will begin to do so by February. That points to a possible summer release for the new Apple TV, just in time for the Olympics. Handy.

Apple TV hacks: 10 Siri services we want to see

It may use motion control
Things just got a whole lot more exciting when the Wall Street Journal revealed that Apple’s televison plans may not only include control by voice, but motion as well. That suggests a Kinect style hands-free element to the new Apple TV, letting you wave through apps and channels.

It’ll stream across devices
The latest WSJ reports also suggests that whatever Apple has planned, it’ll work across other devices too, possibly including the existing second generation Apple TV. Potentially using AirPlay, the new Apple TV will let you watch a show on one device, and automatically pick up where you left off on another supported (presumably) iOS device.

What will there be to watch though?
That, it seems, is the rub. As we’ve said before, Siri on a new Apple TV would be useless without the content to back it up. And from this Wall Street Journal report, it appears that Apple is only starting to reach out to media companies now. Traditionally, they’ve been reluctant to change the status quo: only a few studios agreed to 99 cent show rentals on the second-gen Apple TV, hampering it somewhat. Could a Siri-powered screen help them change their mind and become new media companies for the first time? Time will tell.

Will you be in the line for a new Apple TV? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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1. Life Optimizer

The tireless efforts of one Donald Latumahina to help you turn your damn life around. It’s mostly philosophical food for thought on topics like ‘moving through the land of “if only”’ and the like, but it’ll certainly get your brain in gear in terms of making a new you in 2012.

2. 43 folders

Talks, articles, tips, posts, thoughts and essays on how to unleash the creative juices in you. While the site itself suggests that sitting on it for hours wasting your time is intrinsically  goes against its very point, there’s some real knowledge and inspiration to be found in its 8 year-old archives. Perfect for anyone with a long-unfulfilled drive to create.

3. Lifehacker

If Life Optimizer’s goal is to open your mind with blue-sky thinking, Lifehacker’s is the opposite: it wants to instantly improve your life in a myriad of fields. It’s mostly tech-related, with articles on apps and software that’ll transform your day-to-day, but there is advice on the wider remit of life, too – dating advice is just one such area of expertise.

4. Blog of impossible things

Joel Runyon’s bucket list of extreme life goals makes for inspirational reading even at face value – the man transformed his life and has had some amazing experiences along the way. But that’s not the point. The point is for you to be influenced into making your own list of the impossible, and into working your nuts off to put a tick in every box.

5. Yours

You’d be surprised at the kind of personal realisations, thinking prowess and general wellbeing that can be achieved by venting your thoughts online. If you’ve never written a blog, we suggest you crank out the keyboard and give it a go. The best way to get started is to download WordPress. It’s free and there’s a raft of themes to choose from all ready-made. Remember, though: consistency is the key to success.

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So you’re back home for a few days and are forced to use your parents’ old machine? Hang about… How the hell do they use this thing? They’ve fallen into every web trap going and it’s up to you to de-clutter it. Here’s how.

1. Download a better browser

If your folks are in that bracket of computer user that thinks Internet Explorer is the internet, help them out. Google Chrome’s your best bet. Not only is it uncluttered and fast, but the Chrome Web app store lets you plaster the homepage with big, parent-friendly icons for email, youtube, Facebook etc, meaning they don’t have to actually type in a URL.

2. Set them up a Gmail account

They’re probably using the email client that came with their broadband, aren’t they? Not only will that be confusing, but it’ll likely be clunky and give them an enormously long email address. Set them up with Gmail – its newly refreshed design is clean, clinical and self-explanatory.

3. Remove toolbars

Blindly clicking ‘ok’ to everything that appears on the web will probably land you with about 15 sponsored toolbars and a browser space half the size of what it could be. To remove unnecessary toolbars just click ‘View’ and then ‘Toolbars’ in your browser’s menu. This should give you a drop-down list of the offending blights, which can each be deselected.

How to end family arguments with apps

4. Set up desktop shortcuts

Find out which websites your parents visit most – Gmail, Google, eBay etc. Copy the URL for one, the head to their desktop and right click. Select ‘New’ then ‘Shortcut’. You should be guided through a pretty foolproof wizard – paste in the URL and then call the shortcut whatever fits best. Done. For added ease, stick anything they don’t need in the recycling bin. On a Mac it’s even easier – just drag the URL onto the desktop.

5. Get them some back-end security

Kaspersky do a pretty fine job of securing computers, phones, tablets and anything in between without intruding or bombarding your folks with confusing messages. Get them Kaspersky One for £60 and you can use it to protect your phone or tablet alongside their PC. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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Planning a new year’s eve partay? Don’t just fall back to Auld Lang Syne, or worse, Pictionary. Try out out trusty gadget drinking games instead, right here: we’ve even personally vetted them for inebriety – and scathing satire of the year that was.

Apple keynote booze bingo
Liven up your next Apple press conference with cider. Drink every time someone uses the word “magical,” “phenomenal,” or the phrase “you know what?” And every time it cuts to a video on a white background with plinky-plonky music, down your pint. Extra points are awarded for spontaneous applause, evangelical wailing, and high fives on the way in. Wait, that last one’s for Apple Store openings.
Drunkenness: 5/5

The GTA 5 media drip feed booze-a-thon
More of a marathon than a sprint, this one. In the months leading up to GTA 5’s release, drink every time you see a magazine or website bearing exclusives that Rockstar tosses them like crusts of bread to a swarm of pigeons. Double your dosage if they make GTA 5 out to be the best game of all time and give it full marks in the review. Then save the biggest drink of all for when you play it, and it’s exactly the same as the previous one, with the same tedious driving around and early missions, just with slightly nicer graphics.
Drunkenness: 5/5

Patently absurd
This one demands a strong liver. You’ll have to have a drink every time there’s yet another twist in the ongoing patent disputes between Apple, Samsung and HTC. A handset gets banned? Drink! Said device gets redesigned to look 0.00000001% different? Drink! The original patent ruling gets overruled, and the device can go on sale in its original guise? Drink! Apple throw its toys out of its pram? Drink! Yet another company joins in the fun by accusing everyone else of stealing its ideas? Well you get the idea.
Drunkenness: 4/5

Off your Facebook
Facebook is always looking to improve, adding new features and giving its customers more choice of how to go about staying in touch with friends. Read the user comments following even the most minor tweak, however, and you’d think Mark Zuckerberg had come round and personally insulted their mothers. Timeline? You swine! How dare you improve this free service no one’s making me use? So every time you see a caustic comment following a tweak, have a drink. Best not look at the comments for the latest version of its iPhone app. Not unless you want to go to A&E.
Drunkenness: 3/5

Whale of a time
Play Whale Trail on the iPad, and drink every time you hear the voice say, “I can see my house from here.” Make it a double if you’re in Frenzy mode when it happens. Make no mistake, this will scupper your chances of a high score, but who’s counting? The music video to the Gruff Rhys song will probably make a lot more sense after, as well.
Drunkenness: 3/5

Google Plus Circles of hell
Every time someone you’ve never heard of adds you on Google Plus, have a drink. Do the same when you file them away in a Circle you’ll never check again. Actually, have a drink every time you check Google Plus, think about it, see anything interesting on it, or hear anyone mention it. You’re likely to have a few early drinks, before it tails off into a quiet evening and you can get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Drunkenness: 2/5

Image via Flickr

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Thinking about buying an iPhone 4S for Christmas, either for you or to be “gifted” to a love one? I understand if you think it’s a bit too expensive at first glance. It’s a lot of money whatever way you cut it.

But hey, computers cost money. They do a lot. What you might not realise is that the iPhone 4S is better value than you think. Allow me to push you and your credit card over the edge with some number crunching to justify your gadget lust.

I’m not going to debate the point of whether an iPhone is a computer. Of course it is – there’s very little the average joe can’t do with it they can’t on their basic Acer laptop. Instead, I’m going to show you how, if you shop smartly, it’s surprisingly cheap to get an iPhone 4S – and not just an iPhone 4S. Follow this guide, and you’ll be able to get an iPhone 5 next year too with minimal cost.

Go short, not long
Networks would very much like you to pay them £35 or so for two whole years, and they’re prepared to thrown in a freebie like an Xbox to make sure you do. Thus, it seems like the best value iPhone 4S can be had over two year contracts, but dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that’s not quite true – we’re going to get an iPhone 4S 16GB on a 12 month contract instead, letting you upgrade in time for the iPhone 5.

Several UK networks – Vodafone, O2 and Tesco Mobile – all offer the iPhone 4S with short year-long tariffs. Vodafone and O2’s cheapest are almost identical in price: both will cost you a total of £750 over a year, averaging out at around £63 per month. Vodafone’s is the better of the two, with slightly more minutes and texts for the same cost.

Tesco Mobile however is by far the best value: for £25 per month over a year, you get 250 minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB of data, for £35 upfront. That translates to a lifetime cost of £635, or £52.91 per month.

Go unlocked
Your other (and better, over the long term) option is to ditch the networks altogether, and buy an iPhone 4S unlocked – not only does this give you the option of rolling tariffs, but it also means your phone remains more valuable – which we’ll come too shortly. Your best bet here really is the Apple Store for now, where you can get the iPhone 4S 16GB for £499 unlocked.

That means you can use it with whatever SIM card you like, which is what we’re going to do – remember, regular SIM cards can be cut down to micro size if needs be. You could use an O2 Simplicity deal (£16.50 per month for 100 minutes and 500MB, cancel at any time), but the best value one we’ve seen is from Tesco Mobile again: £10 per month will get you 500 minutes, 5000 texts and 500MB of data. Combine the two and you get a lifetime cost of £619, or £51.58 per month.

And that’s before you sell it.

eBay your phone
No, not your current one. The iPhone 4S. One year contracts are nice and flexible all, but they have an added benefit if you’re with iOS for the long haul: given Apple’s annual release cycle, you can upgrade each time.

You’re also free to sell your current iPhone too, helping you buy your next one. Here’s the kicker, the thing that few people have noticed: more than any other type of mobile, iPhones keep their value. Don’t give it to a recycle company. Sell it on eBay.

The cost of flagship Android phones declines fairly swiftly: the amazing and much younger Samsung Galaxy S2 is already going unlocked for under £300 on the auction site, while the Nexus S – also six months younger than the iPhone 4 – has dropped to under £150. By contrast, the much older iPhone 4 still sells for more than £200 used, even 18 months after it first went on sale. That’s unlocked, mind – there’s much less interest in network locked models, as yours will be if you buy on contract.

Bearing in mind that it won’t be 18 months until the iPhone 5 goes on sale – Apple wouldn’t dream of missing a Christmas rush – it’s perfectly possible the iPhone 4S will be worth more than that come the end of 12 months.

So here’s the trick. Keep your iPhone 4S in good condition – use a case if you have to – and if demand for Apple’s bad boys continues unabated, come next December, you can sell it on and make most of that extra money you paid a network (Or for an unlocked device) back. Knock £200 off £619, and suddenly, that overall monthly cost has dropped to less than £35 per month – what the networks were trying to get you to pay over two years, without the option of a shiny new iPhone 5 you can rinse and repeat with.

Put PCs in perspective
Now, let’s put that in perspective. How much will a halfway decent laptop cost you today? You won’t find one for less than £350, and the cheapest laptops with an Intel Core i processor start at around £380 online. Do they come with an eight megapixel camera, 3G included and a nine-hour battery life for internet use over Wi-Fi? Nope. But the iPhone 4S does: thrown in a Bluetooth keyboard (They start at £8 on Amazon) which you can easily pair for typing, and presto, you’ve got the world’s cheapest computer you can buy today – as well as a means of upgrading next year.

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