15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff

15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff: "

Over the past months, we’ve written quite a few PDF manuals for you, on all kinds of diverging subjects, including BitTorrent, iTunes, iPhone, Twitter, Mac, Linux, Photoshop and several other topics.

Initially available only for subscribers, there are now multiple manuals released every month, for everyone to enjoy. After releasing 15 manuals and nearly half a million downloads we thought it was about time to look back and review what has been published so far.

Enjoy! No sign up need, downloads are free, no strings attached.

Do us a favor by sharing those manuals friends!

1 – Internet Guide for the Movie Addict




Written by Saikat Basu, this entirely free PDF production will show you anything you’ve ever dreamed about knowing related to movies on the web. Whether you want a quick heads-up, are looking for download and streaming possibilities, or even want to fix broken AVI’s — you’ll find it in there!









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2 – Internet Guidebook for An Audiophile




In fourty pages, Will Mueller from tells you all you need to know about free internet listening to music, streaming audio to your computer, and free download music sites to get all your favorite songs and albums in a whim. Learn how to share music with others and track a band’s performance and album releases!









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3 – The Incredible Free Manual for Every Mac User




Jackson Chung, devoted Mac writer and Assistant Editor on MakeUseOf wrote this slick, sixty-odd paged monster; based on Snow Leopard – the latest release of the Mac OS X operating system. In it, he tells you everything you need to know about Mac. Jackson supplies you with numerous tips, tricks and free applications. Get the hang of the interface and discover what your Mac is really capable of.









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4 – The Underground Guide to the iPhone




Written by Stefan Neagu. Read about the basic user interface and a ton of incredible iPhone features you would’ve otherwise missed. Stefan explains in detail how to perform both the very simple and the most tedious tasks. Find out how to get your hands on fresh applications, how to keep your device synchronized and even how to jailbreak your iPhone!









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5 – Twitter: Best Practices & Tips




In this massive guide, our very own publishing editor Mark O’Neill, tackles every Twitter feature and tips and tricks you can think of. Learn to work the interface, to Tweet from your desktop, cool Twitter bots and funniest people to follow. With this free manual, Mark will make sure you get your black belt in Twitter.









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6 – The Ultimate Guide to your Windows Mobile Phone




If you have a Windows Mobile phone, you will know that stuff can occasionally get pretty difficult. These devices, which are basically mini-computers, have endless possibilities — and thus endless possible difficulties as well.




This is where we come in. Whether you want to (re)discover the most basic features and applications of your device, extend it with new applications and tools, or even flash a custom ROM, the Windows Mobile Guide comes to the rescue.









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7 – A Computer Geek’s Smart Productivity Guide




In this free twenty-paged PDF, Stefan Neagu (yes, he wrote quite a lot of manuals back then) will show you the most common productivity mistakes, as well as a number of applications to improve your touch typing, your time organization, and your global workflow.









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8 – Building a Media Center for your Home




Active MakeUseOf contributor and eBook writer Stefan Neagu, will walk you through all the steps of understanding and creating your own media center.




Read all about the different hardware components, software candidates and media extenders, in this manual for geek to techno-deprived.









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9 – The Only Easy Guide To Computer Networks




To help you set up your networks, as well as with all that comes after, MakeUseOf proudly presents the MakeUseOf Network Manual.




In 33 illustrated pages, Stefan Neagu familiarizes us with the networking knowhow, from Adapters to Zimbabwe-proxies. It’s a great place to start off as a newbie, or to pick up as an already more advanced user.









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10 – The Big Book of BitTorrent




BitTorrent, is a great, perhaps even the best way to download files, both in concept as in use – that is, once you’ve got the hang of it. Saikat Basu takes newcomers by the hand and guides them in their first steps. Initiates, but also the more experienced users get their fair share of information.









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11 – A Newbie’s Getting Started Guide to Linux




In this free ebook you’ll be introduced to the basics of the Linux operating systems. Get to know what it is all about, and familiarize yourself with the practical side. Basically, if you’re a complete Linux newbie and looking for a quick and easy guide to get you started – this is it.









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12 – The Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop




An Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop is the starter’s manual for every Photoshop initiate to carry! This guide starts right at the very bottom, assuming no knowledge at all, and walks you through all basic aspects of the application. The guide even comes with three full pages of shortcuts, cheat sheets covering all the application’s possibilities!









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13 – The Big Book of iTunes




50+ pages of great iTunes tips and tricks along with illustrative screenshots, written by our very own Mac writer Jackson Chung. The iTunes book has got plenty of cool iTunes tips and tricks for you, some were published on MakeUseOf before and others were collected from different parts of web.









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14 – The Idiot’s Guide to Building Your Own PC




With the complete amateur in mind who has no technical knowledge whatsoever, we show you how to build your own PC! This is a guide where we literally ‘hold your hand’ every step of the way.




MakeUseOf has teamed up with our very own Karl Gechlik to bring you nearly 50 pages full of screenshots, links to video demos and easy how-to instructions for every step involved. The result? The Idiot’s Guide to Building Your Own PC.









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15 – Laptop Buying Guide for 2009




MakeUseOf teamed up with Laptopical.com to give you a Laptop Buying Guide for 2009. It’s a quick 20 page guide with an abundance of screenshots and links to video reviews. This guide is intended to help buyers make an informed choice regardless of previous computer knowledge.









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(BONUS) PSP Up- and Downgrading Guide




Learn how all about up- and downgrading your PSP. We discuss the older software methods, as well as the newer, hardware tricks. With this guide in hand, you can put a modded firmware on nearly any available PSP. Explained to accommodate the absolute novice.









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Guys. Lots of work went into those manuals. Every manuals went through several people to make sure that it offers the best tips and tricks on topics. Please, help us, spread the word! Download, digg, stumble, retweet, and share them on Facebook!

Image credit: Daz*

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

Related posts

• Twitter: Best Practices and Tips [PDF Guide] (25)


• The Underground Guide To The iPhone [PDF] (20)


• The Ultimate Guide To Your Windows Mobile Phone [PDF] (11)


• The Laptop Buying Guide For 2009 (38)


• The Incredible Free Manual For Every Mac User [PDF] (22)

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The Most Beautiful Places Of China [113 PICS]

The Most Beautiful Places Of China [113 PICS]: "ShichahaiShichahai is a scenic area of history and culture in Beijing and one of its historical and cultural protection zones. It lies in Xicheng District, the center of the city, and is close to its central axis. With a 336,000-square-meter water-covered area connected with Zhongnanhai, it is the only open scenic area with a wide expanse of water in the city.SourceBadaguan in QingdaoBadaguan in"

Mass extinctions: I am become Death, destroyer of worlds

Mass extinctions: I am become Death, destroyer of worlds: "

The story of how the dinosaurs disappeared is getting more and more complicated

EVERYONE knows that the dinosaurs were exterminated when an asteroid hit what is now Mexico about 65m years ago. The crater is there. It is 180km (110 miles) in diameter. It was formed in a 100m-megatonne explosion by an object about 10km across. The ejecta from the impact are found all over the world. The potassium-argon radioactive dating method shows the crater was created within a gnat’s whisker of the extinction. Calculations suggest that the “nuclear winter” from the impact would have lasted years. Plants would have stopped photosynthesising. Animals would have starved to death. Case closed.

Well, it now seems possible that everyone was wrong. The Chicxulub crater, as it is known, may have been a mere aperitif. According to Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University, the main course was served later. Dr Chatterjee has found a bigger crater—much bigger—in India. His is 500km across. The explosion that caused it may have been 100 times the size of the one that created Chicxulub. He calls it Shiva, after the Indian deity of destruction. ...

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Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China: "

[QQ] October 14, 2009, the 30^th annual awards ceremony of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund took place at the Asia Society in New York City. Lu Guang (卢广) from People’s Republic of China won the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his documentary project “Pollution in China.”

Lu Guang (卢广), freelancer photographer, started as an amateur photographer in 1980. He was a factory worker, later started his own photo studio and advertising agency. August of 1993 he returned to post-graduate studies at the Central Arts and Design Academy in Beijing (now is the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University). During graduate school, he studied, traveled all over the country and carved out a career, became the “dark horse” of the photographer circle in Beijing. Skilled at social documentary photography, his insightful, creative and artistic work often focused on “social phenomena and people living at the bottom of society”, attracted the attentions of the national photography circle and the media. Many of his award winning works focused on social issues like, “gold rush in the west”, “drug girl”, “small coal pit”, “HIV village”, “the Grand Canal”, “development of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway” and so on.

1. “At the junction of Ningxia province and Inner Mongolia province, I saw a tall chimney puffing out golden smoke covering the blue sky, large tracts of the grassland have become industrial waste dumps; unbearable foul smell made people want to cough; Surging industrial sewage flowed into the Yellow River…”

- Lu Guang

2. Chemical waste from Jiangsu Taixing Chemical Industrial District (江苏泰兴化工园区) dumped on top of the Yangtze River bank. May 15, 2009

3. Fan Jai Zhuang in Anyang City, Henan province, (河南安阳市范家庄) there is only one wall separating this village from the steelmaking furnaces. The villagers live in this heavily polluted environment where the village is under the iron rain every day. March 24, 2008

4. Industrial sewage of Zhejiang Xiaoshan Industrial District (浙江萧山化工园区) eventually flowed into Qiantang River. April 24, 2009

5. Henan Anyang iron and steel plant’s (河南安阳钢铁厂) sewage flowed into Anyang River. March 25, 2008

6. Guiyu, Guangdong province, (广东省贵屿镇) rivers and reservoirs have been contaminated, the villager is washing in a seriously polluted pond. November 25, 2005

7. Shizuishan Industrial district in Ningxia province (宁夏石嘴山湖滨工业园区), the tall chimneys spitted out smoke and dust. Residents took preventive measure for the falling dust from the sky when going outside. April 22, 2006

8. In the Yellow Sea coastline, countless sewage pipes buried in the beach and even extending into the deep sea. April 28, 2008

9. In Ma’anshan, Anhui province (安徽马鞍山), along the Yangtze River there are many small-scaled Iron selection factories and plastic processing plants. Large amounts of sewage discharged into the Yangtze River June 18, 2009

10. In Inner Mongolia there were 2 “black dragons” from the Lasengmiao Power Plant (内蒙古拉僧庙发电厂) covering the nearby villages. July 26, 2005

11. Jiangsu province Changshu City Fluorine Chemical industry land sewage treatment plant (江苏省常熟市氟化学工业园污水处理厂) was responsible for collection and processing of the industrial sewage. However they did not, the sewage pipe was extended 1500 meters under the Yangtze River and releasing the sewage there. 2009 June 11

12. Soil by Yangtze River, was polluted by Anhui Province Ma’anshan Chemical Industrial District (安徽省马鞍山化工园区). June 26, 2009

13. Large amount of the industrial wastewater flowed to Yellow River from Inner Mongolia Lasengmiao Industrial District (内蒙古拉僧庙工业园区) every day. July 26, 2005

14. A Large amount of the chemical wastewater discharged into Yangtze River from Zhenjiang Titanium mill (镇江市钛粉厂) every day. Less than 1,000 meters away downstream is where the water department of Danyang City gets its water from. June 10, 2009

15. In Haimen city, Jiangsu province Chemical Industrial District sewage treatment Plant (江苏省海门市化工园区污水处理厂) discharged wastewater into Yangtze River. June 5, 2009

16. Hebei Province Shexian Tianjin Iron and steel plant (河北省涉县天津钢铁厂) is a heavily polluting company. Company scale is still growing, seriously affecting the lives of local residents. March 18, 2008

17. Longmen town in Hanchen city, Shaanxi Province (陕西省韩城市龙门镇) has large-scaled industrial development. Environment is very seriously polluted there. April 8, 2008

18. There are over 100 chemical plants in Jiangsu province coastal industry district. (江苏滨海头罾沿海化工园区) Some of them discharge wastewater into the ocean; some heavily contaminated sewage is stored in 5 “Sewage Temporary Pools”. During the 2 high tides in every month, the sewage then gets discharged into the ocean with the tides. June 20, 2008

19. Jiangxi Province Hu Ko County Chemical Industry district (江西省胡口县化工园区) is by the Yangtze River. Chemical factory landfill the Yangtze River bank to expand the scale of the factory without authorization.

20. Anhui Province Cihu Chemical Industry District (安徽省慈湖化工园区) built a underground pipe to discharge wastewater into the Yangtze River. The wastewater sometimes is black, gray, dark red, or yellow, wastewater from different chemical factories has different colors. June 18, 2009

21. Shanxi Province is the most polluted areas of China. It is also the province with the highest rate of birth defects. This loving farmer couple adopted 17 disabled children. April 15, 2009

“In Some areas of China people’s lives were threatened because of the environmental pollution. Residents suffering from all kinds of obscured diseases, the cancer villages, increase of deformed babies, these were the results of sacrificing environment and blindly seeking economical gain.”

- Lu Guang

22. Elder shepherd by the Yellow River cannot stand the smell. April 23, 2006

23. 15-year-old boy from Tianshui, Gansu Province (甘肃天水), dropped out of the school after 2^nd grade, followed his parents to Heilonggui (黑龙贵) Industrial District. He earns 16 yuan a day. April 8, 2005

24. Inner Mongolia province Heilonggui (黑龙贵) Industrial District, the couple who worked at the Plaster Kiln and just got home. March 22, 2007

25. Villagers from Kang village in Linfen City, Shanxi Province (山西省临汾市下康村) due to long-term consumption of the polluted water contaminated by industrial waste, there were 50 people who have cancer and cerebral thrombosis. 64-year-old Wang Baosheng got ill since 2003, he has fester all over his body so he cannot go to bed and lying face down on the edge of the bed each day. July 10, 2005

26. Breathing in large amount of dust into the lungs, people gets sick after working there for 1-2 years. Most of these migrant workers come from area of poverty. April 10, 2005

27. Zhangqiao village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan Province (河南省舞钢市洪河边的张桥村), a 45-year-old woman Sun Xiaojun (孙晓军) could not move her feet and hands since 4 years ago. The numerous hospital treatments were not effective. April 7, 2009

28. Zhaozhuang village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan province (河南省舞钢市洪河边的赵庄村), 66-year-old Zhao Bingkun suffering from esophageal cancer since 2004, after the second surgery, treatment cost already have reached over 200,000 yuan. His condition is in late stage, he is having fever everyday, waiting for death. April 7, 2009

29. Zhaozhuang village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan province (洪河边的河南省西平县张于庄村), Gao Wanshun’s (高万顺) wife died of cancer. Now he lives in poverty. April 3, 2009

30. Linfen City in Shanxi province (山西临汾市) is seriously polluted area. Farmers after working in the cotton fields for 2 hours are filled with coal ashes. September 24 2007

31. Salt factory worker in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province (江苏连云港) said angrily, “when the wind blowing towards our side, the foul smell from the chemical factories is unbearable. There is even more poison gas at night.' July 19, 2008

32. People form Fanjiazhuang (范家庄) are ready to submit a complain filled with their fingerprints, to seek compensation for pollution damages. March 19, 2008

33. In Shanxi Province there are a lot of charitable nursing homes, to help disabled infants abandoned by their parents. April 14, 2009

34. Liujiawan village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan province (河南省舞钢市洪河边的刘家湾村), 13 year old Yang Xiao in November 2008 was ill with obscure disease. She was saved by the donation of the villagers. When the grandmother saw the old village chief came to visit his granddaughter, she kneeled on the ground holding granddaughter’s hand. April 19, 2009

35. The oldest is 9, not going to school. The youngest is less than 2 years old. They lived in severely polluted area. They hands and faces were always dirty. April 10, 2005

36. Mazhuang village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan province, (河南省舞钢市洪河边的马庄村) 58-year-old Ma Haipeng (马海朋) was suffering from stomach cancer since 2006 and could not work in the field. He must take medicine every day, otherwise it is too painful. April 6, 2009

37. Every year, a lot of deficiency babies in Shanxi Province were abandoned. Kong Zhenlan (孔贞兰) in Qi town (祁县) who was making a living by recycling trash adopted 25 abandoned children. April 14, 2009

38. Xuanwei (宣威) in Yunnan province is a cancer village. Every year there are more than 20 people die of cancer. 11-year-old student Xu Li (徐丽) is suffering from bone cancer. May 8, 2007

39. In Shexian Village, Hebei Province, (河北省涉县固新村) the existing cancer patients are more than 50 people and more than 20 cancer patients die each year. March 18, 2008

40. Zhangyuzhuan village by the Hong River in Xiping county, Henan province, (河南省西平县洪河边的张于庄村) 22-year-old Zhu Xiaoyan (朱小燕) had a tumor in her stomach in 2007. She died after number of hospital treatments on July 2008. 4-year-old girl with her grandfather came to mother’s tomb. April 2009 2

original source: Fengniao

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