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1. Open Finder
2. Select Preferences
3. Enable Connected Servers
4. You should be able to see your network shares on the desktop.

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So here’s how I did it.

1. First, I managed to find a way to cancel my DirecTv subscription without paying an Early Termination Fee (I hate those fees!).

2. Next, I have an HDTV and wanted HD content on my TV without having to pay for it. Did you know you get free over-the-air HD? My local channels and few other ones are all broadcast over the air in High Definition for free! But how do you get these channels? Buy a rabbit ear antenna.

Society9 Tip: There are tons of antenna’s out there specifically made for HDTVs. They are no better than the cheapest antenna which costs about $10. How to I know? I bought two - the Trek indoor amplified high definition antenna for off-air hdtv reception which runs to about $40 bucks and the vanilla rabbit ear antenna from RCA which is less than $10. Tried both. I actually got better reception off the $10 antenna than the $40 one! Seriously. And the $40 antenna requires additional power!

Society9 Tip: Any basic rabbit ear antenna will be able to pick HD reception. You don’t have to buy an antenna made specially for HD reception. Don’t buy into marketing hype.

3. So I was watching local channels including PBS in glorious HD for free! I wanted more! Netflix to the rescue! If you have Netflix, you can watch on-demand movies streamed directly to your PC or Mac. And if you are not aware, PC/Macs can be connected directly to your hdtv with what’s called a HDMI cable. (the PC/Mac side might have a different port — for example Mac has the Mini-display port — I had to get the mini-display-to-hdmi cable which runs about $7).

4. If you like this route of connecting your laptop/computer or spare computer to your hdtv, the possibilities are endless. Check out Hulu, Boxee

5. What about the remote? I have an iPod touch and that thing serves as an excellent remote! I use HippoRemote but there are tons of remote apps available. Works beautifully! (And free!)

6. Or if you prefer a physical remote, check out this multimedia remote with keyboard

_{Link provided for convenience. I don’t own this remote.}

7. What if you don’t like a computer connected to your TV? You could buy this little box called ROKU. This sits between your TV and your router and comes with its own remote. Has a number of free and paid channels including Netflix and Amazon’s on-demand-video. Highly recommended. Has 4 and a half stars from over 700 reviews.

There you have it! Do I miss TV? Not one bit! I love watching those old Alfred Hitchcock shows on Hulu! Couldn’t get that with regular TV!

If you have any questions, technical or otherwise, feel free to post.

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Sleeping is no mean art:  for its sake one must stay awake all day.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Unfortunately my MacBook decided to take the above quote literally! I never used to have sleep issues with my Mac, but somewhere along, it decided to stop sleeping. Maybe it was something I installed or maybe a OS X update.  I couldn’t be sure. And a google tells me I’m not alone!

The symptoms were:

• My MacBook would sleep if I choose the apple ..Sleep menu option
• A lid close would put the MacBook to sleep
• But the MacBook would never go to sleep by itself (it used to)
• The display would shutoff though, but not the notebook itself (no pulsing led , but a steady light)

Solving Mac’s sleep problem

The usual suggestion is to reset the PMU and the PRAM, but that’s like the ‘did you try restarting your xp’ solution from the Windows world! You know it won’t work, but you try it anyway!

Here’s how to troubleshoot this problem and put your baby to sleep!

• Open System Preferences..Accounts..Login Items
• You’ll see a bunch of startup items that’ll run when your Mac starts up
• Look for anything that is related to your USB port (printers, scanners etc)
• For me it was the Canon scanner driver
• Now open Activity Monitor
• For most items you saw in Login Items, you’ll find an entry in your Activity Monitor (not all, but most)
• Find the process and press the Quit Process button
• Go back to System Preferences..Energy Saver..Sleep
• Set the ‘Put the computer to sleep when it is in active for..’ slider to 1 minute
• Walk away for a minute or so!
• Your Mac should be asleep now!

If the above steps worked, unfortunately you’ll have to remove the offending process from your startup item. If it didn’t work, try a different process.  Remember, never kill an administrator process.  Select ‘My process’ in Activity Monitor to avoid killing an admin process.

If your Mac doesn’t sleep it is mostly likely due to a rogue usb process.  Canon and HP drivers are known for this. Remove them and your Mac will sleep again!

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1. Solving the Macbook Pro sleeping problem once and for all

The printer should appear when you send a print job, if not, add the printer manually.

Though neither Apple or Canon officially support MF4370dn, Leopard drivers work fine.

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1. HOWTO: Get The ImageClass MF4370dn Working On A Mac
2. A Review Of The Canon ImageCLASS MF4370dn Laser All-in-One Printer For The Mac

Many thanks to the developer who did what Apple couldn’t (or wouldn’t!).

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I wanted a decent, reasonably priced protection for my iPod Touch.  Here’s what I wanted:

• I bought the Touch for mostly programming, so I wasn’t planning on taking it outside.  I wasn’t looking for protection from dropping the Touch.  Just something to prevent scratching
• I should be able to remove the case easily if needed
• Should protect the screen and the body
• All the buttons on the iPod Touch must be accessible
• Should be able to dock without having to remove the case
• Shouldn’t hide the elegance of the device

There were tons of cases for the iPod Touch! The aftermarket is huge!  There were a lot of paid reviews and astroturfing involved (my opinion).  I don’t think I spent as much time deciding on the iPod Touch as I did on deciding a case for it!

After spending days reading up on iPod Touch cases, I decided on getting the Incipio Feather case.  This is a review of this case.  I’ve been using it for about 2 months now.

Why Incipio Feather?

Incipio Feather addresses most of what I wanted from a case.

• Provides decent protection against scratches
• The case is extremely thin and beautiful. You can easily remove it if needed (I haven’t installed the screen protector).
• Incipio Feather comes with 2 screen protectors and the case. Most of the other brands I checked only provided the case and I would’ve had to spend extra to get the screen protector
• The case has slits on the side and the top for the volume and power buttons. The bottom is uncovered
• The case is very thin. Will you be able to use it with a docking unit? I really don’t know.  If the docking unit had some space you probably might be able to dock it without removing the case.  If the iPod Touch has a really snug fit, you might have to remove the case.  The Feather doesn’t cover the bottom, so you can charge it without having to remove the case
• The Feather covers the back and the three sides.  It leaves the chrome on the front and bottom exposed. It is a matter of taste, but I love the accent it adds to the Touch!  I have a Red case and a slight bit of chrome makes the iPod Touch look very elegant

What’s in the Packaging

The packaging itself is very Apple like.  Very well done!  You get

• 2 screen protectors
• A cleaning cloth with Incipio logo
• A screen protector air bubble remover
• The case

The case itself has a slight rubbery feel, so if you place it on a table it will not slide off that easily.

Installation

Installing the case takes hardly any time.  Very easy to install the case.  After trying out the screen protector, I decided against installing it.  The Touch’s screen is made of some special glass that prevents scratching that easily. And after two months of using the Touch, I haven’t seen a single scratch appear on the screen.  I did try one of the screen protectors though.  But after seeing air bubbles, I decided against it.

Drop protection

No I haven’t tried dropping the Touch!  The packaging claims ‘Shock Absorbing Protection’.  I don’t know, looking at it, I don’t think it will.  Again, that wasn’t why I wanted this case in the first place.  But if that is your criterion, I wouldn’t recommend this case.

Other cases considered

One popular case is the Invisible Shield by Zagg.  This is basically a transparent full wrap around case for the Touch. I did consider this, but decided against it.  The installation is supposed to be a nightmare, atleast from most of the reviews I’ve read.  The edges where the wrap terminates looks really ugly.  The Invisible Shield comes with some kind of liquid to keep the case in place.  Will it leave a residue if I decide to remove it?

I really liked the PixelSkin from Speck. It has gotten some very good reviews on Amazon.  The only reason I passed this was due to the fact it didn’t come with a screen protector. (At the time I was trying to decide, that was a major factor)

Conclusion

I think the Incipio Feather is a keeper. So far I’m quite satisfied.  If you have any questions about this particular case, do use the comments section. I’ll try my best to answer.

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Objective:

To determine network access speed on an external USB drive attached to Asus WL-520gu running Tomato with Samba versus access speed on the same network, when accessing a Windows share on a PC running XP.

Setup:

Asus WL-520gu flashed with Tomato V1.23

Sandisk Cruzer 1GB USB flash drive, FAT32

A windows share on a PC running XP, NTFS

Yeah ok, FAT32 with NTFS!  I don’t have a high tech lab here, I make do with what I have!

Results

Flash drive attached to router (Test I)

Windows share on a PC (Test I)

Flash drive attached to router (Test II)

Windows share on a PC (Test II)

Conclusion

These are actually very surprising results!  The flash drive attached to the router actually performs better than a native Windows share!

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If you intend to connect the printer via USB, the installation is fairly straightforward.  This tutorial lists the steps for a Network install.

Step 1: Download the printer driver from Canon’s website

Step 2: Run the installer

Choose Easy Install

Canon makes is quite obvious that a Windows developer wrote the installer!

The install should take less than a minute

The installer forces you to restart

Step 3: Once you’ve restarted your Mac, go to your printer, make sure the ethernet cable from your router is plugged into the printer and the USB cable (if used) is unplugged

Step 4: Next, on the printer, press

..Menu

..[11] System Settings..OK

..[3] Network Settings..OK

..[4] IP address..OK

..[1] View IP address..OK

..[2] IPv4..OK

..[1] IP Address..OK

<If  an ip address  is displayed, the printer successfully got an IP assigned from your router>

Note down the IP address.

Step 5: Open System Preferences

Step 6: Select Print & Fax

Step 7: Add a printer

Step 8: The printer should automatically appear. If it doesn’t, select More Printers and enter the IP address manually

You now ready to print! If you are having any problems get this to run on a Mac, post a comment here, I usually watch this space and will be glad to help!

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I decided to switch to a laser printer. Here’s what I was looking for:

• Must work with a Mac
• Duplex printing (means it can print on both sides of the paper)
• Must be able to scan and copy
• Laser, mono
• Network printing capability (wired or wireless)
• Must be affordable

Tall order! Though there were a number of all-in-one printers, most of them did not work with a Mac. Some of the earlier ImageClass series don’t work with the Mac, but the MF4370dn is officially supported by Canon.

What’s in the box

• Comes with a starter cartridge
• No USB or Network cable
• Does come with a Fax cable
• The printer
• Manuals and Drivers for the PC (A flyer advices Mac users to download the latest drivers from Canon site)

First Impresions

Amazon shipped the printer pretty quickly. The printer looks nice, not ugly not as sleek as the Samsung SCX-4500 but better than a Brother! Setting up the hardware took about 20 minutes unlike inkjet printers. The printer is quite compact for a laser printer, but if you are moving from an inkjet to a laser, it looks big!

Printing
Unlike Canon’s inkjet series printers which would work right out of the box on a Mac even without downloading drivers, the MF4370 requires you to install drivers before you can use it on a Mac. Once the software is installed and configured, my Mac had no trouble finding the networked printer via Bonjour.
The printouts are very crisp, there were no paper jams and the printer is relatively quiet and fast.

Scanning
Scanning leaves a lot to be desired atleast on the Mac. The driver installation is counter-intuitive. I’ll write a separate howto on how to setup the MF4370 for Scanning without a call to Canon’s support! If you are looking for network scanning, this is not it. Scanning is supported only via the USB cable.
The scan quality was decent. I don’t do a lot of scanning, so no network scanning wasn’t a big deal. It scans in color too.

Fax
Sorry, I don’t have a need for Fax, so I have no idea.

Copying
Quick, decent quality

Energy
Consumes just 3W of energy. Wakes up from sleep very quickly and doesn’t dim the lights when it prints (Brother users would like to know!).
Consumables
At 2000 sheets per toner, it isn’t as cheap as a Brother cartridge, but not as expensive as an Inkjet printer.

Summary
Pros:

• Works on a Mac
• Looks compact
• Decent pricing
• Supports Double sided printing
• No paper jams
• Supports both USB and network printing
• Copying without the need for a PC/Mac

Cons

• No USB or Network cable
• Scanning software needs to be improved on a Mac
• Network scan support not available on a Mac
• Toners should be able to print as many pages as a Brother
• Starter cartridge provided with the printer (less capacity than a normal toner)

In my opinion, I like this printer as a Mac user. If Canon can fix the scanning software, this would be the perfect printer for the Mac user!

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2. How to get the imageClass MF4370dn working on Snow Leopard