Kind of all over the place, but it is, in fact, our last show until CES, January 8 and 9, live from Las Vegas. Visit ces.cnet.com for all the details.
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Shane in Nevada Has a computer that continually drops off his wireless network. He's tried upgrading firmware and trying new wireless cards to no avail. We suggested looking into a Registry hack for WPA problems, looking for interference from other wireless broadcasters like cordless phones, or other wireless routers in his area. This forum thread deals with similar problems.
Your calls
Take a look at our Best photo inkjet printers. The Canon Pixma iP2600 is sold for less than $50.
You can use Wubi to run Kubuntu and Ubuntu. Just install the different ISOs. You can also add the KDE desktop from Kubuntu to Ubuntu; that way you have both in one. Here's a posting on how to add KDE to Ubuntu.
You can turn your old computer into network-attached storage (NAS) with FreeNAS, the Free NAS server.
Apparently some users have found defective Bluetooth can interfere with a Mac's ability to enter sleep mode. See this discussion on the Apple forums.
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Whether it's a regular text note, or a recorded video question, you can send it to cnetlive@cnet.com. Keep your videos to 15 seconds or less, post them to a Web site like Youtube, and then e-mail us the link.
The back button. The backspace key or Delete button on a Mac, sends you back one page.
Need to type in a URL? F6 highlights the address bar. No more fumbling around with the mouse.
Need to search for a word on a page? Control-F in Windows or Command-F in a Mac opens the Find function.
Maybe you want to copy all the text on a page. CTRL-A in Windows or Command-A in Mac highlights everything for your cutting and pasting pleasure.
Want to quickly close a Tab? Control-W in Windows and yes Command-W in Mac closes it quick.
Of course, opening a new tab is as easy as Ctrl-T in Windows or Command-T in Mac.
And a new Window? You can almost guess it? Control-N in Windows Command-N in Mac.
Flip through all the tabs easily With CTRL-Tab. Or CTRL-Shift-Tab to go the other direction.
Can't remember that page you visited earlier today? Control Shift-H in Windows or Command-Shift-H in Mac pops-up your history.
And if for some reason you need to get to the bottom of a page fast, press End. To get back to the top, press Home.
There's certainly
... Read moreWe've shown you how Windows Vista's ReadyBoost feature will let you use a USB drive like this as extra cache memory to make your computer faster. Well there's a way to do the same trick in Windows XP. Thanks to Shawn in Quebec for sending along the tip.
First insert a flash drive
Open up the Control Panel.
Go to "System."
Choose the advanced Tab.
In the Performances section, click on "Settings."
Choose the advanced tab there.
In the "Virtual Memory" Section, press "Change."
Select the letter corresponding to your flash drive. (Hint: It's not C.) You can let the system manage the size or customize the amount of space that you want used as virtual memory. I'm not going to use this flash drive for anything else, so I'll let the system manage it.
Make sure to Press Set once you've made your choice.
Press OK, and the changes will take effect.
Then restart your computer.
And now you have a little extra memory at no additional cost.
The cool thing about the Wii is the motion sensing. It works because of the sensor bar that sits on top of the TV. But because it's on top, it may fall off and break. We can show you a lot of easy and cheap ways to replace it in this Insider Secret.
The sensor bar is plugged into the Wii, but that's just for power. It's lighting up infrared LEDs. Those are picked up by the Wiimote, and it triangulates off them to determine its position, and then the Wiimote sends that information back to the Wii. So if you have two infrared lights and an independent power source, you can easily replace the sensor bar should it break.
One way is a remote control. Most consumer electronics remotes use infrared light to send information to the device they control. If you have two remotes you don't use anymore, you can tape down the power button and space them out. Or get more ambitious and cut one open and wire the LEDs directly to the power pack, like these folks did.
Another way is to get two LED bulbs, obtained rather cheaply, and two 3-volt lithium batteries. Then place them a sensor bar's width apart. The downside to both these solutions is the work involved and the fact that the batteries may wear out or even burn ... Read more
Bedroom laptops and iPhone mods.
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Turn iPod Touch into an iPhone
First Look
Download of the Week
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Create your own WiFi hotspot on a Mac
Your video calls
Brad from Wisconsin asked about small bargain camcorders. He's considering the Sasmsung SC-MX20 but he might also want to take a look at the Flip Video MinoHD.
Teresa in California akaA RogueTess needed some help picking a camcorder for her son. Brian Cooley gave her some general advice and then pointed her on to our best 5 camcorders.
Carl from Washington State had his Mac turn off during a system update and now he's stuck. He'll need to reboot with the recovery CD in the disc drive and hold down the c key during boot up. Brian Tong also passed along a few other tricks to try.
Your calls
Want a cool MP3 player and cool headphones for seriously cold weather. Check around on snowboarder sites for product recommendations then cross-reference them with CNET reviews. Apple iPods aren't usually rated for temperatures below freezing. See this thread for a discussion of headphones. Also check out this ehow article on cold weather music gear.
If your computer continually loses power and restarts, start with the power supply, make sure all connections are tight, check that the CPU is properly seated. If none of that works, you may need a new motherboard. See this discussion for more angles on the problem.
Here are our favorite audiovisual receivers. THX is a sound certification program, not a technology like 5.1 or 6.1.
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Whether it's a regular text note, or a recorded video question, you can send it to cnetlive@cnet.com. Keep your videos to 15 seconds or less, post them to a Web site like Youtube, and then e-mail us the link.
It's our international show with an Australian phone, U.K. laptops for life and bandwidth troubles solved for a South African.
Watch the show on CNET TV.
Things We Crave
Non-G1 Android phone to hit Australia in January
First Look
Best of the Web
Quick Tip
Back up your DVDs to iTunes and your iPod
Your video calls
Charlie in South Africa sent a video about bandwidth metering. There are a lot of filtering programs out there meant for protecting children, but that can be used to password protect Internet access. For more advanced Internet control, try Traffic Shaper XP. I found it referenced in this article here. You could also try third-party firmware for the router like dd-wrt or Tomato.
Alex needed some help getting a printer connected to Vista to play nice with a Mac. Brian Tong recommended Bonjour for Windows, which allows a Windows machine to network easily with the Macs Bonjour networking protocol.
Roberto just wanted to say thank you for winning an iPod Touch on the Holiday Help Desk last Friday. Your very welcome Roberto!
Your calls
Steve called back with woes regarding his Actiontec router for Verizon Fios which constantly loses connection. Molly noted this is a common complaint of Fios users and suggested switching channels to see if you can avoid interference, and also suggested that Steven turn off his 2.4 GHz phone which may interfere with the Wi-Fi router. There's also a thread on DSLReports.com about other users trying to replace the Actiontec router.
You can use an old TV with component cables and 5.1 or optical audio just fine. The only video issue will be the lack of 1080p for high-definition content. But otherwise it will work well.
Want a good TV with 120Hz refresh rate? Take a look through our recommended top LCD TVs.
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Whether it's a regular text note, or a recorded video question, you can send it to cnetlive@cnet.com. Keep your videos to 15 seconds or less, post them to a Web site like Youtube, and then e-mail us the link.
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Brian Cooley gives us the scoop on the LA Auto Show, we help you recover songs from a crashed iPod, and Bonnie Cha reviews the BlackBerry Storm.
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Things We Crave
Hands on with the new Xbox 360 dashboard
2010 Lexus RX gets update, new Remote Touch controller
First Look
Best of the Web
SearchMe and Google Voice Search.
Quick Tip
Stop MSN or Windows Live Messenger spam
Your video calls
Iyaz sent a video about stuttering problems in OS X Leopard. Brian Tong noted that many other users reported this problem on Apple's message boards. Some say they fixed it by downgrading from OS X 10.5.5 to plain old 10.5. Some even resorted by downgrading to 10.4. BT noted that some folks have found that switching from the audio jack to digital and back temporarily solves the problem.
Your calls
Our caller had some 40,000 slides to scan in. Using ScanCafe for example, that would cost over $9,000 if you send it to a service. WikiHow has a tutorial with eight different ways to attack this problem, including using a video camera. You could also adapt a flatbed scanner to scan slides, or a buy a scanner just for slides.
OS X can read files on NTFS hard drives but it can't write to them. Use Macfuse to make OS X capable of writing to NTFS hard drives.
To recover files off a dead iPod, you can try some revival methods. If those don't work, take the hard drive out of the iPod and put it in an enclosure. You'll need an enclosure for 1.8-inch Toshiba Drives, like this one. You could also buy an old iPod off eBay that has a good battery but a bad hard drive, and then transplant the good hard drive into it. Then if the drive is damaged, use some free software to recover the files. My favorites are photorec or PC Inspector.
Looking for a PC alternative to buying a MacBook? Take a look at our 5 Best laptops.
Our caller with the dead Audiovox LCD TV screen probably needs a new TV, but if he's willing to try to fix it himself, here's some guidance on fuse problems that could be helpful.
Holiday Help Desk!
Don't forget to watch the Holiday Help Desk, Friday, November 28 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, at CNET TV. You could win an iPod Touch.
E-mail us!
Whether it's a regular text note, or a recorded video question, you can send it to cnetlive@cnet.com. Keep your videos to 15 seconds or less, post them to a Web site like Youtube, and then e-mail us the link.
Here are links to the art masterpieces we counted down in our high-tech public art Top 5.
Of course, you can watch the Top 5 to see what order they were in and get a brief overview of each. Then come back here for links to investigate more about the ones you like the best.
Diller and Scofidio, "Brasserie"
Electroland, multiple projects
Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, "Moveable Type"
David Small and Howard Ben Tre, "The Hall of Ideas"
Recently, I accidentally grabbed my wife's iPhone and plugged it into my MacBook Pro. No big deal, right? Nothing bad happened. But after that: iTunes refused to sync my calendar, contacts, e-mail, or bookmarks.
I found a fix on the Apple discussion boards suggested by StephenDunn2. Be warned, Apple specifically states you should NOT mess with the SyncServices folder. As if it were a swarm of bees, they say you should avoid it.
OK, I get the picture, but at a certain point, if you're frustration surpasses your bee fear, you may want to try this. It worked for me. Here's what I did.
1. Quit iTunes and, if necessary, Mail, iCal, and Address book.
2. In your home directory, find Library, then Application Support, then SyncServices.
3. I moved the SyncServices to my desktop as a safety.
4. Then restart iTunes.
5. Go to the info tab and reset your sync preferences.
6. Then sync.
If this works, you should no longer get the sync warnings, and you can delete the old folder off your desktop.
Remember, this worked for me and plenty of people on the boards, but not every single one. And Apple certainly doesn't like it, so there's no guarantee.
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