HDTV is probably the greatest thing to ever happen to the human race. It’s too bad then that a lot of us are ignorantly watching poorly set-up HDTVs. You owe it to yourself to ensure that you’re getting every ounce of enjoyment out of your expensive boob tube. There are a few common problems HDTV owners face and you can quickly diagnose an HDTV with a few simple steps. Don’t fret if you’re living with any of these calamities. Most of the time the fix is just one button away. → Read More
Gather round, everyone. Gather round. I’m going to show you a trick that 98% of you will never use. But for the 2% of you that actually use the information contained herein, I hope you’ll consider removing at least part of the CrunchGear staff from your “People to Punch” list. → Read More
It wasn’t the LP albums or redesigned look that got me excited when Apple announced iTunes 9. Nope, it was the function called Home Sharing that touted the ability to share and copy media over a LAN easily. Sure, you could always drop all your music files into a centralized network share and rock out that way, but while that method works, it’s not elegant or easy for others to use.
The only problem is that Windows Home Server and the current version of iTunes 9 do not get along. It takes a little hacking to get the program installed right now, but hopefully the next release will install fine. Until then though, I got iTunes 9 to install on my WHS following some of the tips mentioned in this forum thread.
Warning: You will not be able to sync your iPod or iPhone directly to your WHS if you install iTunes 9 with this method because you have to remove the services needed for device control in order for it to install. But with Home Sharing, you can easily manage the content you want on another computer anyway. It will also cause a few pop-up error messages when your WHS starts up but it’s not like you restart your server everyday and, in my eyes, the benefits of Home Sharing outweighs the annoyance of the pop-ups. → Read More
The analog shutoff date of June 12 is right around the corner. It will be here before you know it. The transition from analog to digital has been riddled with rumors and half-truths, but we’re here to help. Drop us a question after the jump and we’ll ensure that you and your family are prepared for the switch. → Read More
Your brother just got a new digital camera. Your mom got a GPS device. Your grandfather got a Falcon Northwest gaming rig with six cores and a graphics card that requires its own physical plant. You’re stuffed, sleepy, and just want to watch TV. How do you distract these hordes long enough to get in another turkey sandwich and viewing of A Christmas Story. Follow these easy steps: → Read More
With the launch of multiple DSLRs including today’s Nikon D3X, camera manufacturers are ready and waiting for you to buy their wares. But should you? → Read More
If you have a .Mac account you can easily add your me.com account to your mail reader right now. Create a new IMAP account and follow these steps: → Read More
With so many portable devices in our homes, we use a lot more batteries than people think about. After many uses, though, many rechargeable batteries can suddenly fail, rendering the device useless if they’re non-swappable. If the device has a removable battery, you can of course buy a new one, but that means throwing the toxic and useless old one out. Why not trade it in to a refurb station to save money and save the precious, fragile environment? → Read More
Help-Key is a column I write for CrunchGear that has hacks and how-tos so you can live a better life. I know, I’m an altruist. But sometimes I find someone else’s hack and think it’s better than anything I could come up with. Such is Bashhh’s hack for a Rock Band guitar stomp box. This is an awesome idea and I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first. See, I’m a guitarist, I love to hack stuff, and I love Rock Band. This should be mine. Hat’s off, Bashhh. The video above shows it in action, hit the jump to get the lowdown. → Read More
The Dev Team, a dedicated team of iPhone hackers responsible for most Jailbreaking methods, has released a tool called Pwnage that was announced a couple of weeks ago. Pwnage does it all. Unlocking, activating, and Jailbreaking the iPhone is now yesterday’s news. Pwnage actually fully unlocks the hardware to accept any type of custom firmware you’d like to add, effectively making the iPhone a truly open hardware device instead of a platform. This means homebrew versions of the iPhone OS can be run, giving owners of iPhones essentially unlimited customization options. You have a few questions about pwnage, and we have a few answers. → Read More
[photopress:Picture_51.jpg,full,center] I’ve been keeping up with jailbreaking the iPod Touch here on the Help-Keys, and I know its helped a lot of people to open up their hardware. Make no mistake, the iPod Touch is one of the most outstanding pieces of hardware I’ve ever seen, and the work the various hackers developers have been doing with it is amazing. I also feel the iPhone is overrated and over-exposed, so I’ve sort of left it out. But when a friend of mine brought me an iPhone last night and wanted help activating it, AIM unlocking it, and jailbreaking it, I thought that would be a fantastic Help-Key. I figured I’d do each part, step-by-step, like Bobby Brown. I thought it would be a hassle but with a reward at the end. I was wrong. As our own John Biggs famously said, Apple might as well just start including the jailbreaking apps with the iPhone. → Read More
For Help-Key this week (now on Thursday’s, just like LOST), I’d planned to show you how to Jailbreak a 16GB iPod Touch, the one thing the automatic Jailbreaking apps can’t do yet, but I ended up bricking mine. Fortunately, I found a video that details exactly how to do it, and it seems to work fine. While I continue to try to reset mine to factory condition, please enjoy the above video with a few tips from me after the jump. → Read More
[photopress:msnbc.jpg,full,center] We’re all news junkies. That’s what the Internet has done to us. You can sit at your desk and watch all the feeds and refresh, but we still like our news in video form, and that’s what we’re doing here today. Unless you’re working for Ted Turner, you’re likely not in a place to watch TV at your desk, but you need to stay up to date. With a PC at home, your home TV, and a cheap vidcap device, you can watch your home TV news on your desktop at work. → Read More
[photopress:eback.jpg,full,center] It’s tempting, isn’t it? You know you just really want to do this. And I can’t think of a reason why not. I’m considering it for my home router, as it and my MacBook Pro haven’t been getting along since the last Leopard update, but the prudent would instead side on the secure side and encrypt their network. But where’s the fun in that? No, if these freeloaders are going to steal my Wi-Fi, I’m at least going to have some fun with them. Peter found me this little gem on Sunday and thought it might be a great Help-Key. I was traveling yesterday so you get it today instead, but he’s right, this is great. Sadly, the link he provided had images of what happens (see above) but not the actual code to implement it. With some strategic Googling I was able to put together how it works, and it’s something you can do in an afternoon. It’s a little technical and not the easiest thing to do, but if you have a little hackery in your blood, it’s a lot of fun. → Read More
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