My Clippings on NewsGator Online

Learn a New Photoshop Trick with VunkySearch [Photoshop]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT

One of the best ways to learn a new trick in Photoshop is to grab a tutorial that catches your eye and dive right in. VunkySearch offers just that kind of eye-pleasing, pick-up learning.

Users can comb through VunkySearch using keywords or simply hit the randomize button to see dozens of tutorials from different sites thumbnailed on the main page. Clicking on a thumbnail pulls up a larger sample, and the lesson can be browsed in a lightbox-style window on VunkySearch or you can go to the site directly. The tutorial-in-a-window setup is surprisingly smooth, getting you back to the tutorial gallery quickly if you need a different perspective.

For some more interesting Photoshop tutorials to increase your photo-editing-fu, check out how to spice up your pictures with lighting effects and creating photorealistic reflections. If you have a favorite site for finding awesome Photoshop tutorials, share it in the comments!

Free BlackBerry screenshot app

Kyle — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:15:33 GMT

BBScreenShooter is a free screenshot app for BlackBerry that has recently gone version 1.65a. Here are some updates to the app:

* Better support for the Storm & Bold (though it still fails every once in awhile)
* A nice new progress bar showing you the progress of the screenshot
* A new update check button on the bottom left (Just click the “!”)

Using the app requires you to download javaloader.exe, which can be a bit of a pain for some. Remember DOS? If not then you might be better off with Rove’s app which is more user friendly and doesn’t require the javaloader.exe.

You can pick up the latest version free at this link:

http://oppitronic.net/pb/bbscreenshooter.php

[Via Ronen]

Save Bundles of Cash by Buying Eyeglasses Online [How To]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Anybody who wears eyeglasses knows how much you pay for two tiny pieces of glass. Take our advice on shopping for glasses online to save yourself a whole lot of cash.

Photo by Kessiye.

Last year I discovered that a light lens prescription would make my long hours logged at the computer all the more comfortable. I'd never had glasses before in my life, and wasn't conditioned to the astounding cost of prescription eye wear. When the bill totaled over $600 for my modest frame and lenses, and my wife's not-so-modest pair, I was floored. I justified it at the time via the added comfort and headache-free computer time; I told myself that, for that price, surely the lenses had been polished with the tears of angels and would last forever.

Less than a year later, I scratched the Hell out of one of the lenses by hastily cleaning it on my shirt, and I shivered at the thought of ordering another $300+ pair of glasses just to get back to scratch-free vision. I remembered reading various accounts online about people buying glasses sight unseen, using their prescriptions from recent eye exams. We discussed just such a trick here several years ago, and more recently here. Our coverage of blogger Matt Haughey scoring a pair of perfectly fine glasses for $50 when he had previously been playing $500 or more for custom glasses really stuck in my mind. So much so that I was more than willing to gamble with the technique—even if I had to order multiple pairs of glasses to get it right, I'd still come out ahead by a C-note or two.

In January I placed an order with Zenni Optical. They were the cheapest, but still most reputable-looking place I found online How cheap was it? Prescriptions glasses start at a mere $8 and rise from there, depending on how fancy you want to get with special coatings and tinting. After searching through the hundreds of glasses on the site, I selected two pairs that looked nearly identical to the pairs my wife and I were currently wearing. A pair of titanium-framed glasses matching my previous $300+ pair in style and prescription was only $16. My wife's more intense prescription and the need for high-index, thinner lenses were a whopping $32. Shipping brought the total for the order to heart-stopping $53.85.

Six weeks later, a small package from Hong Kong was delivered via my friendly local postman. I popped the new pair of glasses on, and was immediately, extremely pleased. The new pair felt and looked almost identical to the old pair, minus the scratches, of course. They looked so similar, in fact, my wife didn't even notice I was wearing the new pair. After she tried her pair on, we agreed that it felt a bit silly that our perfectly fine $50 pairs had set us back over half a grand the year before.

What do you need to know to snag the same great deals? The following list will help you get the best deal and fit:

Use Google to search for references to any company you want to shop with. I found enough positive references to Zenni Optical that I felt comfortable using them. Other well known discount eyeglass places include 39 Dollar Glasses and Goggles4U
You need to know your prescription. It's a violation of federal law in the U.S. for your optometrist to withhold your prescription from you, so don't feel pressured to buy a pair of expensive retail price glasses after you go to get an eye exam. While most sites won't require you to scan or fax your prescription—Zenni Optical didn't—you still need to know the right numbers. Make sure to ask if you can't read the optometrist's handwriting.
Ordering is even easier if you know your pupillary distance—the measurement between your two pupils. While the PD of most adults falls in a pretty close range and using an average will work in a pinch, knowing the exact distance for your face ensures the center of the lens is placed directly over your pupil. The more powerful your prescription, the more important the lens be properly centered. You can ask to be measured for your PD when you get your eyes examined, or have a friend photograph you with a ruler for scale and check the distance that way. Be prepared to get a lecture about the dangers of buying eyeglasses online if you ask for your PD at the optometrist.
Keep your eye out for deals on websites devoted to mail-order-glasses like the blog Glassy Eyes. Not only are the reviews informative, but there are entire forums devotes to discussing eyeglasses and related information. A stop there can easily score you a coupon for 15% off, with some great tips to boot.
If you already have a pair of glasses you like, carefully measure the size of the lens for reference. It may not seem like much difference, but if your current lenses are 65mm wide and you like the way they look, 55mm wide ones might feel awkward.

So what are the downsides to ordering online? You don't get the tweaking you get when ordering from a local shop. If you need the frames adjusted or the nose pads swapped out, you're largely out of luck, unless you want to ship them around or pay to have a local shop work on them. Also, short of taking them into a local place, you're taking it on good faith—with your eyes to verify—that the prescription is accurate and filled correctly. With savings in the range of 200%-1000%, though, it's pretty easy to write off these issues. After all, had I spent the amount my wife and I sunk into the expensive retail pairs we bought last year at Zenni Optical, I could have easily bought a pair to keep at the office, at home, in the night stand, and added a pair of prescription sunglasses for both of us—and still had enough to splurge on a complete Rock Band set.

If you've bought glasses online, tell us your experience, whether awesome or horrible, in the comments below. Provide your story and help other readers decide if online lens shopping is the way to go.

DiskDigger Recovers Deleted Files [Downloads]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Windows only: If you've just deleted some important media files, DiskDigger is a straightforward file recovery tool geared specifically toward recovering multimedia and document files.

As we noted earlier this month in our feature on properly erasing your physical media, just because Windows says a file is gone doesn't mean it's lost forever. DiskDigger is a standalone application that scans the sectors of your physical media looking for complete or partial media files. Unlike other file recovery tools that look for any files, DiskDigger is focused on the ones that people most commonly accidentally delete and need to recover. In the options menu you can specify what kinds of files you want it to search for, including: images (JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and GIF), documents (DOC and PDF), and multimedia files (MPG, MP3, WMV, MOV and more). DiskDigger has active preview, allowing you to view files as they are discovered in the recovery process. The preview feature is especially helpful when scanning large drives, which can be a lengthy and intensive process. It took nearly two hours to deeply scan a 120GB SATA drive, although for smaller media recovery the process is markedly quicker; it took just 10 minutes to scan and recover files from a 2GB SD card.

One of the more interesting things about the deep scan of a primary drive is the number of images that aren't written over yet, despite their advanced age. In the screenshot above, you can see a photograph of Marilyn Monroe from when my wife and I redecorated a guest room with a 1950s/Marilyn Monroe theme over a year ago. Despite heavy drive activity, the photograph occupied a sector that remained untouched in all that time and was completely recoverable—yet more reinforcement to practice safe data handling and make sure to securely overwrite critical files. If you need to go beyond DiskDigger's media resurrection, make sure to check out our feature on recovering deleted files with free software for a huge assortment of tips and tools for getting your files back. DiskDigger is freeware, Windows only.

BackupURL Takes Snapshots of Web Pages [Web Clipping]

The How-To Geek — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Web page archiving site BackupURL takes point-in-time snapshots of web pages on demand—useful for capturing and sharing fast-changing web pages.

To create a snapshot, simply go to BackupURL, paste in the link to the page, and click the Backup button to generate the cached copy, which is accessible from an already-shortened URL. The web application is very simple, and the lack of information makes it questionable for long-term archiving, but it could be very useful for saving a quick copy of a constantly changing news site for sharing with others.

For a similar service with more features (although requiring a browser extension), check out previously mentioned Iterasi, or you can save a web page as an image with PageSaver.

Gallery: From Brick to Slick: A History of Mobile Phones

Mat Honan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

: Photo: Motorola

It has been more than 35 years since Martin Cooper placed the first call on a mobile phone to his rival at Bell Labs while working at Motorola. Heck, it's been nearly 20 years since Saved by the Bell’s Zack Morris placed a phone call to Kelly Kapowski from his locker. In that time, phones have come a long way.

We now live in a golden age of mobile phones. Or, perhaps more accurately, the end of the age of mobile phones. The iPhone, the G2, the N95, the Bold: These are exceptionally small mobile computers with built-in telephony features.

It has been a long trek from the monstrous, if revolutionary, Motorola DynaTAC to the elegant and refined modern devices that not only allow us to make calls, but also to send e-mails, surf the web, track our movements, listen to music, watch movies and generally handle our varied communications. Please join Wired on a look back at some of the more notable phones that took us from Zack to Android.

Left: Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
Released: 1983
The Model T of mobiles. The device was birthed from a fierce race between Motorola and Bell labs to bring the first portable to market. In 1973, Motorola's Dr. Martin Cooper won that race when he placed the first phone call on an early prototype that paved the way for the DynaTAC.

: Photo: Motorola

Released: 1996
While the DynaTAC may have been the first portable phone, MOTO's StarTAC, was the first that was actually pocketable. The 3.8 x 2.25 x 1-inch flip phone (at the time the smallest ever built) was considered minuscule, and its revolutionary clamshell form factor has been imitated ever since.

: Photo: Hagenuk

Released: 1996
You may think Nokia's 8810 was the first GSM phone with an internal antenna. It wasn't. That distinction belongs to the TCP-6000, released as the Hagenuk GlobalHandy. Toshiba and Hagenuk teamed up to develop the phone, but it never came out in the United States where the GSM standard had yet to be adopted.

: Photo: Nokia

Released: 1998
Although developers and carriers had been skeptical due to reception issues, this dot-com boom-era silver slider proved that a phone with a built-in internal antenna could be a hit with consumers. By bringing the antenna inside, it paved the way for a generation of phones that were not only more portable, but also more durable.

: Photo: herby_fr/Flickr

Released: 2002
With Bluetooth wireless, two-way MMS and simple WAP web browsing, plus e-mail tools, the T68i phone bridged the gap between the Neanderthal phones that ushered in the decade, and the highly evolved smartphones on the market today.

: Photo: Danger

Released: 2002
Prior to the iPhone and G1, Danger's Hiptop — more commonly known as the T-Mobile Sidekick — was a geek's phone of choice, thanks to always-online connectivity, a massive 240 x 160 LCD screen and a flip-open QWERTY keyboard. Just as the BlackBerry and Treo were synonymous with the MBA set, the Sidekick announced your status as a web jockey.

: Photo: Palm

Released: 2003
The Treo 600 was the chocolate and peanut butter of PDAs and mobile phones. Along with the Hiptop and BlackBerry, it ushered in the age of the smartphone. Designed for the mobile business sector, it also had a bevy of fun-loving features, like a 640 × 480 VGA camera, and integrated MP3 player that let you rock out with your spreadsheet out.

: Photo: Motorola

Released: 2004
The Razr was the first must-have mobile. Its slender housing, clean lines, subtle keypad and multiple color schemes created a world where industrial design was on par with industrial function. The phone moved more than 100 million units, a feat MOTO has been unable to reproduce.

: Photo: RIM

Released: 2005
Though hardly the first BlackBerry, the 7290 was a killer combo of technology, with quadband GSM, a vivid color screen, Bluetooth and of course the full QWERTY keyboard that brought e-mail and the web right into the palm of your hand.

: Photo: Nokia

Released: 2007
Long before the iPhone, the N95 combined stunning design aesthetics with an incredible smorgasbord of features: GPS, built in Wi-Fi, PC tethering, video camera, FM radio and support for more audio formats than a college radio station.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Released: 2008
The second-generation Apple iPhone added GPS and 3G speed to an already-winning formula. But the real hit was the iTunes App Store: a place where developers could extend the platform to become the near-equal of the desktop computing space. Meanwhile the multitouch capabilities, Safari web browser, and a slightly sleeker design helped this phone find its way into millions of pockets.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Released: 2008
The HTC Dream, released as the T-Mobile G1, was the first phone to run Google's upstart Android operating system. The integrated GPS, application marketplace, flip-out keyboard and background processing made the phone a favorite with the tech set. Though it hasn't unseated the iPhone OS, the new development platform is still growing rapidly.

Gadgets : Ultimate 5-in-1 Geek Pen

code@thinkgeek.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:50:47 GMT

Back in stock! This pen has it all: stylus, flexible LED light, UV light, red laser pointer, and clip. Oh, and it has a pen in there too. That's right - all those goodies and the dang thing still writes. YAY. $9.99

How to unlock your BlackBerry via carrier

Kyle — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:07:19 GMT

Unlocking your device via the carrier is the easiest way to unlock a BlackBerry. If you want to unlock a device that your carrier will not unlock, you have to find a site that will do it for you. These sites sometimes lose customers because it involves giving out your IMEI number, and although it’s a safe process, people are wary. That being said, here is a step by step guide to getting your device unlocked, the safe and hassle free way:

1. Call your carrier.
2. Ask for the MEP code.
3. Give them your IMEI number.
4. To get your IMEI number, type this on your phone, *#06#, and it should pop up.
5. Once you get your MEP code, turn off your wireless radio on your phone.
6. Go to SETTING or OPTIONS.
7. Then go to ADVANCE OPTIONS.
8. Then go to SIM CARD.
9. Type “MEPD” on your phone.
10. You should see “Network as Active”
11. Hold SHIFT + type “MEPE” or “MEP2″
12. You should see “Network as Disabled”
13. You are now the proud owner of an unlocked Blackberry

[Via]

Free BlackBerry speed test - how fast is your network?

Kyle — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:24:08 GMT

With so many networks, OS versions and other factors that may affect your connectivity, we’re constantly wondering how fast our BlackBerrys truly are. To help, Cisco has released a free application for the BlackBerry Storm named Global Internet Speed Test (GIST) that, as the its name implies, allows you to test the speed of your devices network connection.

The test is performed by downloading a known quantity of data from a single web server. The size of the data is different for the different types of network connections, so that the test will take roughly the same amount of time from the user’s perspective. For a cellular network test, 256KB are downloaded. For wireless, 512 KB are downloaded. A single download is performed, timed in milliseconds, and results are reported in terms of 1000 bits per second (kbps). Test results might be impacted by network routing, traffic, congestion and the responsiveness of our server. Results might also vary by the user’s geographical location.

Hopefully this is coming for all devices.

Download GIST here.

Check it out and comment your BB’s speed. Zzzzzoooooom!

[Via]

How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook [How To]

John Mahoney — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT

I am typing this on a 9-inch, 3G-equipped, almost-pocketable computer, running the best consumer OS money can currently buy. It costs around $400. Do you want one too? Here's how to get yours.

There are a lot of netbooks on which you can install and run OS X, but if you're mindful of the handy comparison chart those lads at Boing Boing Gadgets have compiled, you'll know that the Mini 9 is about as ideal a platform as you'll find for a Hackintosh ultraportable: Everything from wi-fi, sound and the function keys down to the optional integrated mobile broadband card and the SD card reader are supported and work as they should. No hardware compromises at all. It's awesome.

Generally, there are two ways to approach a Hackintosh install: Using a "slipstreamed" OS X installer image that's been modified to install on non-Apple hardware, or using a $129 factory-fresh retail OS X install disk in tandem with a special bootloader that does the necessary tweaking to let the install happen. The former can be easy enough, but it's pretty much illegal since it contains a pirated OS X install disk, and on top of that you'll run into all kinds of problems should you ever want to upgrade your OS or software via Software Update.

By using a retail OS X disk, you stay mostly out of pirate waters, and ensure that once everything's up and running, you'll be as close as is possible to having an actual Mac. Here we're doing that, using a method referred to as the "Type11" install, cooked up by a fellow of the same handle and his colleagues over on the MyDellMini forums, a fantastic resource.

Even though we're using a standard retail-purchased copy of OS X, the disclaimer: Apple does not like Hackintoshing. It violates the OS X EULA, and probably won't make the Dell folks too happy either, should you need to return your hacked Mini 9 for service. So, as always, proceed at your own risk.

On a personal note let me tell you, it's worth it. The Mini 9 is a beautiful OS X machine. So let's get started.

What You'll Need

• Dell Mini 9 With 16GB SSD or higher (8GB SSDs will techincally work, but it will take some fiddling not covered by this guide)

• Retail copy of OS X 10.5.x (NOT an OEM copy that comes with a new Mac)

• A USB flash drive 8GB or higher

• An external USB DVD drive

• The "Type11" Bootloader: DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso.zip (download link in this forum post)

• Blank CD to burn bootloader image (I actually used version 8.0 of Type11 on my CD-if your boot process with 8.01 is different than what's spelled out in this guide, you can download 8.0 here. Both should work.)

• Windows PC for preparing the flash drive (if DVD drive works fine, this is optional)

Preparing Your Boot Loader

The easiest way to use both the Type11 bootloader (burned to a bootable CD) and your OS X install DVD is via the external USB DVD drive. The catch is, some drives are mysteriously not compatible with installing OS X on the Mini 9. Mine was one of those drives—the bootloader CD would work without a hitch, but it would choke on the OS X install disk every time. Thankfully, it's also possible to run both the bootloader and the OS X install disk off of a USB flash drive. I'm going to spell out my method here, which actually included both approaches, but try an external DVD drive first, and if yours is compatible, your life will be a little easier than mine was. On the other hand, if you don't have an external drive, you can give the USB flash drive method a shot.

The general approach here it to boot from the Type11 bootloader, which allows you install, run and update OS X; once you're up to 10.5.6, you can install a suite of Mini 9 specific drivers so you don't have to rely on the bootloader anymore.

1. Unzip the DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso and burn it to a CD with Disk Utility or a similar Windows tool (don't just drag the ISO file to a disk). Pop that disk into your external DVD drive, connect it to your Mini 9 and power it on, then press 0 (zero) at startup to bring up the list of bootable devices.

2. Choose CD/DVD from the list, which will bring you into the bootloader. Choose the first option, "Install Retail OS X 10.5" which will bring you to a command prompt that says "boot:"

3. Take out the bootloader disk and pop in your retail OS X install DVD, keeping the PC running. (You can power your external drive off and then on again to make sure everything's kosher.) Press Escape at the boot: prompt to bring up the drive options. The Type11 installer uses hex codes to choose which device you're booting from, which you can assign at any time from the boot prompt by pressing escape: enter "9f" for the external DVD drive or "80" for the primary internal SSD. Here we're booting from the external CD drive, so press escape, Type "9f" then press enter.

4. At this point, the OS X installer will either load or it won't. If it does, great. You can skip to step 12. If not, you'll need to do what I did, and transfer everything to a USB flash drive to install that way.

Preparing a USB Stick Instead Of/In Addition To a Boot CD

This is based on a tutorial found on the MyDellMini forums by "bmaltais"—bigup to him.

5. Open up Disk Utility and partition your USB drive (8GB or larger) into two partitions: one 200MB FAT32 (MS-DOS) partition named "TYPE11" and one with the remainder of the free space formated as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) called OSXDVD.

6. Move to a Windows PC (I know, I know), plug in your USB stick and download Syslinux-this is a utility that will make the FAT32 partition of your USB stick bootable. With the Windows Command Prompt, cd over to the "win32" subdirectory of the Syslinux directory you downloaded and type the following, where "F:" is the drive letter for the TYPE11 partition on your USB stick:

syslinux -ma F:

You won't get any confirmation, but if you receive no error messages, you're good: This copies a single file named ldlinux.sys (invisible in Windows) to the USB drive to make it bootable. Pop it out and go back to your Mac if that's what you're using.

7. Now, unzip the Type11 ISO (instead of burning it to a disk) and copy the whole directory structure to the TYPE11 partition. Do NOT overwrite the "ldlinux.sys" when it asks—you want to keep the one you copied over with Syslinux.

8. To fill up the other partition, insert your OS X install DVD and, in Disk Utility, select it and choose "New Image." Save it to the OSXDVD partition of your USB drive as "live.dmg" with "compressed" as the type and encryption set to "none." This'll take about a half hour to rip the DVD to an image, which should weigh in at around 6.4 GB give or take.

9. After that's done, go to Terminal and copy your mach kernel file to the OSXDVD partition by typing this:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /Volumes/OSXDVD

10. And finally, download this zip file, uncompress it and copy the System and Library folders inside to your OSXDVD partition. This is the last bit of magic needed to make your Mini 9 think it's working with an actual OS X install DVD.

11. On your Mini 9, restart it and enter the BIOS setup by pressing "2"—and make sure legacy support for USB devices is enabled. Now, reboot and select the boot options list by tapping 0 at startup and choose USB Storage. Select the OSXDVD partition to boot from and press Enter. This should load up the familiar Apple and the OS X installer window.

Install OS X

While you're installing and doing initial configuration of OS X, everything will be all warped to 800x600 rather than your Mini's native 1024x600 res. Don't worry, this will be fixed soon enough.

12. The first thing you need to do is format your SSD. Bring up Disk Utility in the installer select it at the highest level possible. Go to "Partition" and make it a single Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition. Before hitting Apply, go to Options and select GUID Partition Table. Then hit apply.

13. Now, go back to the Installer, and install OS X to the SSD you just partitioned. You will definitely want to choose to customize your install to save SSD space—I would ditch all the printer drivers and language packs you don't need to save space. If you install with the default options though, don't worry—all can be removed later. The install will take about an hour, so go fix yourself a drink. You may come back to an Install Error message at the very end (I didn't), but if you do, don't worry. It's normal.

14. Once OS X is installed, it's still not ready for use right off the drive. On your first reboot, make sure you boot back into the Type11 bootloader on your CD or flash drive, as your new OS X partition is still not bootable without it.

This is, however, where a bit of weirdness set in for me. The Type11 partition on my USB disk would NOT recognize my fresh OS X install on the Mini 9 SSD. It just would not boot it. The Type11 boot CD I had made (with version 8.0 of Type11) DID recognize it, however, and booted it just fine. So bear that in mind here—even if you weren't using an external drive before, you still might need one.

15. So now you boot back into the Type11 CD and choose option 1 ("Install Retail OS X 10.5") again, even though you're not installing. This takes you back to the boot prompt. This time, hit Escape, and type the code "80" for your SSD (as opposed to "9f" for the external DVD). Press enter, and then back at the "boot:" prompt, type "-f" with no quotes before hitting enter again to boot. This will load all of OS X's kernel extensions (.kexts) to make sure wi-fi and everything works. OS X should boot, and you'll go through the typical OS X setup process. Notice the webcam and—hopefully—networking are already working!

ONE MORE NOTE: If networking isn't working, don't panic. On my first boot from the SSD, wi-fi didn't work. But after a restart and another boot from the bootloader CD (with the "-f" option) it worked fine. Throughout this process, if anything is screwy, before you panic and start Googling new strategems, simply re-do the last step that failed—it's often that easy.

Free Up Space and Update OS X to 10.5.6

Now that you've booted from the fresh install on the SSD, it's time to update to 10.5.6 (if necessary). After a default install, I only had a gig and change left on my 16GB SSD, so I had to dump some programs I wouldn't need as well as all the printer drivers found at /Library/Printers. There is an app called Monolingual which can also help clear some space by removing unwanted language files and stripping out all legacy PPC code from your universal binaries.

16. Once you've cleared up enough space (if necessary, you'll need around 6GB), go to Software Update and install the 10.5.6 update. This will take a long-ass time too (the SSD, strangely enough, seems to actually be slower on tasks that take tons of reads and writes).

17. After it's done, restart, and boot into the Type11 bootloader one last time. This time you don't have to use the "-f" flag. Once you're booted, go to the DellMini9Utils folder on your Type11 CD or flash drive and run the DellEFI installer. This will load all of the Mini 9 .kexts and drivers as well as a special bootloader to boot your SSD install. Choose the easy install option and just let it do its magic.

18. After it's done, you'll be asked to reboot one final time. You won't need to boot from the Type11 CD this time; you should boot straight off of your SSD like normal, and enter upon your fresh new OS X desktop, now in gloriously correct 1024x600 resolution. Awesome!

Configs, Tweaks and Fun Stuff

You'll notice right away that OS X runs fantastically on the Mini 9. I was really stunned, and you probably will be too. Here are some things to make it even better:

• Follow this tutorial to get your mobile broadband working if your Mini 9 has it. Network preferences should recognize it out of the box.

• If you're especially OCD, you can run the "AboutThisMac.pkg" inside the Type11 utilities folder to change "Unknown Processor" in the About This Mac window to the correct 1.6GHz Atom designation.

• This is a neat trick for fooling pesky oversized windows into shrinking themselves for your small screen.

• I haven't had luck with this, but you can apparently enable some multitouch scrolling action on the Dell's Synaptics touchpad by following these instructions.

Conclusion

So congrats, now you have a 100% functional OS X netbook. I've been using mine for a few days now, and it's quite the machine for basic netbook activities-surfing, IM, email. It connects to my shared AirPort disk and streams my video collection (even high-def files) perfectly, and also backs up wirelessly over Time Machine. The 9-inch screen will make even your lower-res full-screen video look fantastic—YouTube or Hulu, QuickTime trailers and video rips are a pleasure to watch. Watching an episode of something in bed without lugging my 15-incher in with me is really nice.

In addition, I think I may have found the perfect toilet computer. No one wants to fight Windows on the throne. And of course it's amazing for traveling. I'm about to take a trip to Cairo, and I'll be bringing this little guy without a doubt.

Resources

Many thanks to everyone at the following sites:

• DellMyMini Forums: Mac OS X

• DellMyMini Forums: OS X: FAQs and How Tos

• OSX86 Wiki Guide

So that's about it! Please add in your experiences in the comments-your feedback is a huge benefit to our Saturday guides. Good luck with your own Hackintoshing, and have a great weekend!

How to Reinstall a Working Hulu in Boxee [Step By Step]

Kevin Purdy — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:40:00 GMT

A hacker's plug-in can put streaming Hulu content back into your Boxee media center on Linux, Macs, or Apple TV. Let's take a walk through removing the busted Hulu and dropping in the new hotness.

Click on the thumbnails below to get bigger screenshots of each step, and mouse to the top-right and top-left of the pop-up box to head forward and back. Before embarking on the process, grab the Hulu plugin package from these forum links. Need help getting Boxee set up on an Apple TV? Check out our comprehensive guide.

UPDATE: Some people on Apple TVs, and other systems, are seeing a "Failed to retrieve data" message, and I was too, earlier. I fixed it by removing the extra-level "Hulu" folder and copying the folder inside it into the correct plugin folder (listed below for each system). In other words, make sure the folder you're dropping into your plugin folder contains two folders, .svn and resources, and three files, not another "Hulu" folder.

The advertisements and breaks are still there in the re-jiggered Hulu plug-in, so you can feel a smidge less guilty working around the unfortunate disagreements between your digital life and the content providers.

Need help or clarification on any steps? Post it up in the comments.

Bring Hulu Back to Boxee and XBMC [Hulu]

Adam Pash — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Sure Hulu has blocked Boxee from accessing their content, but you can't slap a hacker's hand and expect him to call it a day. Case in point:

The folks at XBMC have already put together a quick plug-in to bring Hulu back to both XBMC and Boxee. Specifically, an XBMC Team developer called d4rk has created a plug-in which he calls a "dirty" patch to the Hulu plug-in which does some fancy decrypting and other coding gymnastics that, long story short, get Hulu working.

We haven't given it a try yet, but tune in early next week for a step-by-step guide. If you're still angry with Hulu, there are, of course, other options. Thanks d4rk!

Sylvania ECOlight Powered by Shower Water

Mark R — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:49:13 GMT

Have you ever tried to take a shower in the dark, like during a power outage? Not a lot of fun, isn’t it? Imagine if you had a light in the shower that is not powered by batteries, but hydroelectric power.

That’s right, the ECOlight is powered by the running of water in your shower. It’s like having a dam on your showerhead! I didn’t take that from the Sylvania Press Release, I swear.

Not only does the shower light give you a bright LED, but it also has an illuminated ring that will change color depending on the temperature of the water. I’m not certain how it works, but the light will be blue if the water is less than 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and red when it is warmer than 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

I am hoping that the ECOlight from Sylvania is the beginning of technology that runs on running water. Imagine a waterproof radio that plays in the shower, and powered by the water coming out of the showerhead.

Why stop there? How about cell phone chargers connected to the faucets in the house. So if you are washing the dishes, your phone is getting the juice. That idea is free to market, by the way, just send me a thank-you note and a percentage of the profits.

If you want to try out the first foray into the mini-hydroelectric power market, feel free to try out the Sylvania ECO light for about $39.99.

Source

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Sylvania ECOlight Powered by Shower Water copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

How to make an iPhone game

Mike Schramm — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Developer, iPhone, iPod touch

The folks at Gogogic asked Twitter if they wanted to see how the company's iPhone games were made, and since the answer was in the affirmative, we all get the benefit of looking into just how one iPhone developer put their game together.

It starts with a wiki; the company keeps a collaborative site of all the ideas they have for upcoming games, and if the decision is made to go ahead with an idea, that wiki page branches out into the planning documents behind the eventual app. Concepts are drafted in sketches, conversations, and outlines, and eventually they feel like they have the idea "fully developed," at which point the game goes into a proposal pool, and then is eventually picked for production.

That begins with an animatic, as you can see above -- before they ever write the first code line, they map out what will happen in certain game situations. It looks like they used Flash to put that together pretty easily, but you can see how well it shows off game design elements and how things should work during gameplay. After that, there's nothing to it but to do it -- the game is coded, art and sound elements are put together, and of course the usual run of playtesting and so on takes place (the company is going to show off how to test and publish games in a future post).

The game above turned out to be called Symbol6 (Hexago was a working title), and is in the App Store right now. Thanks to Gogogic for sharing a look behind their process -- there are tons of developers working on apps at the moment, and it's neat to see how someone else does it.

TUAW How to make an iPhone game originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Find Product Manuals at OwnerIQ [Manuals]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Find the manual for your product online at OwnerIQ, a site that catalogs thousands of manuals for consumer devices and offers forums for discussing their features and quirks.

OwnerIQ goes a step beyond previously reviewed SafeManuals by providing not only manuals, but also extended on-site information about your products. You can use the site without registration to quickly locate manuals and accompanying literature for products you own. Registration adds the ability to ask questions in the product forums and create a profile of all your devices and manuals. Additionally, if there's a recall or update for any product you've added to your profile, OwnerIQ will send you an email notification. After a Google search with filetype:pdf fails, OwnerIQ might be a key next stop in any hunt for how stuff works.

Hotmail Enables POP3 for US Users [Windows Live]

Kevin Purdy — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:30:00 GMT

Ars Technica cites an "insider" in announcing that POP3 access for Hotmail users has been activated in the US. Say hello to getting Hotmail into Gmail, non-Microsoft-made mail clients, and many other places.

Microsoft has been rolling out POP3 importing access to a number of countries since mid-January, including Canada, the U.K., most of western Europe, and elsewhere. The details you need to plug into your mail client or other webmail account, though, should be the same. Here's the list, as posted by the Windows Live team:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

It goes without saying that Hotmail (excuse us, Windows Live Hotmail) is a bit behind the curve in offering up direct mail access to its customers, but its welcome news, nonetheless. Hotmail users might also notice integrated Windows Messenger sign-ins through a menu in the upper-right corner, providing chat capabilities while you're in your inbox.

Nikon's New DX 35mm f/1.8 Prime: The First Lens You Should Buy For Any DX Nikon DSLR [Lenses]

John Mahoney — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Shooting with a prime (non-zoom), normal (50mm-equivalent) lens will make you a better photographer. This is a fact. But getting into the normal-prime sweetspot on non-full-frame DSLRs is tough. This Nikkor makes it easier.

Even though Nikon's had the same lens mount for decades, their low-end DSLRs require on-board AF motors for auto-focus, which limits your choices. And any 35mm Nikon prime lenses (the 50mm equivalent for a DX camera's smaller sensor) around before were either too old or too expensive, and the second best choice was from Sigma. You could pick up an actual 50mm f/1.8 for under $100, but on a DX camera, that will get you an 85mm portrait lens and not the 50mm normal you would want.

But here, for around $200, you get a lens that's multiples faster at f/1.8 than, say, the D60s standard-issue f/3.5-5.6 cheapo zoom, that can shoot the limited depth of field for blurred-out backgrounds that are also impossible on the kit lens.

Plus, you'll learn good composition about 10x faster with a prime than you would with a zoom. So, in short, if you have a low-end Nikon DSLR with only a kit lens, make this your next purchase. [Nikon Product Page via BBG & Wired]

Three Plants that Give You Better Indoor Air [Workspace]

Kevin Purdy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:05:00 GMT

Kamal Meattle used three just three indoor plant species to increase oxygen, filter air, and boost general health at a a New Delhi business park. You can use them, too, in any indoor environment.

Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference details a large-scale success, using thousands of plants for hundreds of workers. In any living or working space, though, the three plants—Areca palm, Mother-in-law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant"—can be used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person looks to need a minimum of 11 total plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits. Check out the detailed slides from his TED talk:

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 Talk

Got your own plant combinations for better working or living air? Give up your greenery tricks in the comments.

DIY Fiber Optic Ring Flash [Camera Hacks]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ring flashes fit around the barrel of a camera lens to provide an even and diffused light—and they often cost upwards of $200. Spare yourself the expense with a DIY model.

Ring flashes are great for macro photography, as the light comes from all sides of the lens and provides extremely even illumination on your subject—see the photo at right. They can also be used for interesting effects in portrait photography. Unfortunately the high price point makes it entirely uneconomical to pick one up just to mess around with photographing ants or casual portraits. Over the the website Fring—short for Fiber Optic Ring—there's a detailed tutorial for taking about $5 worth of parts from your local dollar store and turning them into a tool that channels your on-board flash's light onto the rim of your lens. If you're dabbling in macro shooting, it's a great way to try out ring-flash style lighting without breaking the bank.

EmailThis Adds Instant Email Bookmarklet to Your Toolbar [Bookmarklets]

Jason Fitzpatrick — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:30:00 GMT

EmailThis is a simple bookmarklet that opens a window to email anybody a link to the page you're looking at, with no email access or login required.

Clicking on the EmailThis bookmarklet summons up a basic email dialogue box, familiar to anyone who's clicked an "Email this" link on a newspaper or magazine site. In fact, the bookmarklet comes from the folks at Clickability, an emailing service that powers many of the web's mail-this-page links. Fill in your email, the recipient's email, and a not, and your link and notes are sent out.

The no-login feature is convenient when you just want to zip a link out to someone without having to log into your webmail or fire up Outlook. Although it isn't necessary, you can get an account with Clickability that allows you to save frequent contacts and basic settings between sessions. If you're a Gmail user—and would like to route all your emailed snippets through your regular mail server instead of a third party—make sure to check out our very own Supercharged Gmail Bookmarklet to gain the same functionality of EmailThis, plus some Google-fied extras. EmailThis is a free tool and should work with any browser that supports JavaScript.