fan

Amazon's Kindle Worlds will pay writers to write fan fiction

People who write fan fiction could find a paying market for their work courtesy of Amazon.

Unveiled Wednesday, Kindle Worlds is a new publishing venture from Amazon that promises to reward both writers and the original rights holders for new fiction based on existing stories and characters.

Authors who create works of at least 10,000 words in length will receive 35 percent of the net revenue based on the actual sales price, with royalties paid each month. Those who write shorter pieces between 5,000 and 10,000 words will receive a digital royalty of 20 percent of the sales price.… Read more

Review: Change the operating parameters of your computer fan with Fan Control for Mac

The computer's cooling fan typically operates on default presets, but for those who want to customize, Fan Control for Mac is an easy-to-use application that adds the ability to control fan operation from the user's preferences menu.

The free application has no restrictions. Download completed quickly, but the program's installed location was difficult to find. The program, itself, is easy to use and installs an extra option on the computer's overall preferences menu. Once this is selected, an easy-to-read but dated menu appears. There are no user instructions, but they aren't really needed either. It … Read more

'Star Wars' car-wraps put some geek on your gas-guzzler

Sometimes, "Star Wars" family stickers just aren't enough. You need to make a bigger statement. That's when you need to turn to "Star Wars" car-wraps and really get in-your-face with your fandom.

The partial wraps from FanWraps come in a multitude of different flavors. You can get a leaping, light saber-wielding Yoda, a stern-looking Darth Vader, a ready-for-action Boba Fett, a cuddly R2-D2, and a comic-book version of slave Princess Leia, among others.… Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions on whether it is possible to prevent drives from spinning up at boot, system fans increasing noise when watching video files, and options for managing birthday events in the OS X calendar. I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Prevent drive spin-up at boot. MacFixIt reader Samuel asks:

Is it possible to set the system so attached drives do not spin … Read more

Fake Facebook pages promise free gifts in exchange for 'Likes'

A new hoax is making the rounds on Facebook, promising to give away expensive personal electronics items in exchange for a simple "Like."

One of the earliest examples of this hoax popped up a couple of days ago, inviting Facebook users to "Like" a page for a chance to be randomly picked to receive high-end headphones from Beats Electronics that allegedly couldn't be sold because they had been unsealed. Here is the text of the fake promotion:

We have got 1,239 boxes of Dre Beats and 250 Monster Beats By Dr Dre Studio Limited … Read more

The 404 1,219: Where it's all play and no work (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Just say no: Polaroid returns with an instant camera shaped like...the Instagram icon.

- "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song prompts school lockdown.

- You should watch "Room 237," a fan theory documentary about "The Shining."

- 50 fan theories that will blow your mind, and the Subreddit that goes with it.… Read more

Fan pages pop up on Facebook to support fugitive ex-LAPD cop

As a manhunt spread today across Southern California for a former police officer suspected of killing three, including a police officer, more than a dozen fan pages for the fugitive have popped up on Facebook.

One of the more popular pages dedicated to the former Los Angeles Police Department officer and featuring his photograph is the "I support Christopher Jordan Dorner" page. It was created around noon today and as of this writing it had more than 330 "likes," many from people alleging a cover-up in the LAPD.

Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in … Read more

Facebook shutters The Cool Hunter for copyright issues

Facebook has cracked the whip on The Cool Hunter. After little warning the social network shuttered the design and pop-culture Web site's Facebook page eight weeks ago, leaving both the founder and its 788,000 fans wondering what went wrong.

In a blog post this week, founder Bill Tikos bemoaned the shutdown and said that it has severely hurt the site's business. According to Tikos, its Facebook fan base grew by 1,500 to 2,500 per day and also generated more than 10,000 click-throughs to the site per day. Overall, The Cool Hunter has 2.1 … Read more

DIY: Install a cooling fan in your media cabinet

Shoving all your home theater equipment into a single, closed cabinet makes sense when you want to keep your living room tidy. There's just one problem: overheating.

When you have things like a router, gaming console, cable box, and DVD player all mingling in one cabinet, things can get steamy. So much so, in fact, that a lack of air circulation can eventually fry your equipment. (Ring of death, anyone?)

The most obvious solution here is to remove the door from your media cabinet, but if you're bent on keeping the appearance of your living room clean, the … Read more

Live Always On viewing party, Tuesday June 19: Join us!

Each Tuesday, the newest episode of "Always On" will premiere at 11 a.m. Pacific time, 2 p.m. Eastern, with a live viewing party on the show page. I'll be there with pre-show and post-show commentary on video, and we can watch the first episode together in chat on the page. I'll give behind-the-scenes insights, if I have them, or we can groan at my bad jokes together, or you can give me make-up tips...whatever seems appropriate.

Over the years of doing Buzz Out Loud, I realized that the chat room was one of … Read more