iPod Shuffle problems?

Update: I've put up another post reagarding this as well, so do tell me if that works for you, but read this post first though...

If your iPod shuffle isn't working properly then this is probably a very useful post for you.

The iPod shuffle usually will not have any problems, but sometimes if something goes wrong during the installation/charging etc for the first time, this can cause your iPod to become "unresponsive"!

Usually the problems that occur are firmware/software problems, as the hardware on the shuffle is pretty sturdy and chances are it isn't damaged unless you did something to it.

Howevering, curing this problem is really easy. All you need to do is restore the firmware. Read this post and I'll explain how to do this (but chances are you won't need to do this)

First you must remember that if you restore the firmware on the iPod shuffle to factory it is going to get rid of all your songs and you need to upload it again.

This is what you need to do to restore your iPod to factory settings...

1. Click on Start
2. Then click on All Programs
3. Then you should see something called "iPod" in the all programs menu if you've loaded all of the software properly
4. Hover your mouse over "iPod" and another menu should pop up. In that menu you need to select "iPod Updater".
5. After that click on "iPod Updater" again when the other menu pops up ("iPod Updater" should have a iPod icon beside it)

This is going to open iPod updater. Now all you do is plug in your iPod and click "Restore"!

iPod updater is automatically going to update the software in your iPod.

Congratulations, now you've finished updating your iPod all you need to do now is put in songs again in your iPod (after it is charged of course) and your iPod is ready to go!

If this still doens't cure your ipod problems then just leave a comment and I'll try to give more specific instructions on how to make your ipod work, so that you too can enjoy the sweet music on the go!

Also, make sure that you have the latest software, if you purchased your iPod a while ago, then it is reccomended that you get an update. Before, when iPods were first created.. you needed to update the firmware on them through the iPod Updater. However, now a days, all you need is iTunes, so make sure you get the newest version of iTunes from the Apple Site.

Please read my other post on how to unplug the iPod
(click here) from your computer! If you fail to follow the instructions on this post, the music in your iPod may get corrupt, which also causes your shuffle to give the blinking orange and green lights error. Also, you might want to take a look at part 2 of this post. How to fix your iPod shuffle (an alternative way suggested by a reader) or use the search function to find more posts about fixing your iPod shuffle.

Read More

Firefox 1.5 is here to reign the web browser world

Yes, its official, Firefox 1.5 is here. The final version was released today.

The long wait is over, and Mozilla has launched firefox according to its planned schedule (man, those guys are perfect). I assume you already know what firefox is so go right ahead and download the 1.5 version from the firefox site. You are going to enjoy it!

Why is the final 1.5 version better? It is way better than the alpha, beta and release candidate releases because it doesn't have the bugs

that it used to have before. Those small bugs that bug you all the time seem to have dissapeared.

You'll know it as soon as you download it. It's speed seems to be more or less the same (faster by a few milliseconds or so for most sites according to my calculations)

The only downside to it probably is the themes, some themes need to be updated I guess.

This sweet browser even passes the US Federal Government Requirement for Accessibility. Who would have thought there was even a requirement like that? And that firefox had passed it (it's supposed to be only one a few that passes)...

Untill the next major release of Firefox, I'm quite sure this is the best browser out there.

Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet, News, Computers, Software, Applications, Firefox 1.5 Final, Mozilla

Read More

Finally an AIM version that looks better!

AIM has now launched its new AIM Triton, the newer version of Aol Internet Messenger. First of all it looks better than the old one, which is one of the biggest differences. Plus it comes with plaxo an address book service to keep all your contacts in one place (such as hotmail contacts, yahoo contacts)

If you are using AIM you are going to be prompted to download the new Triton. But if you live in canada you will be taken to the AIM Canada page(which I don't think is updated yet), so you might want to go to the American page if you want to get it.

AOL has done a good job in giving their new messenger visual appeal but unfortunately I find it a bit to slow to respond, probably due to the graphics etc. Logging in is also slow for that matter.

The font as you can see looks like it is blured a little bit, which is kind of the style these days I guess. The font looks something like Google talk, because of this blurry ness. Not exactly Clear type font I must say... at least not the kind that most people prefer.

Over all in my opinion this messenger gets a 8 out of 10. Mainly because of its looks, but the features still need way more work. Then again this is something new so it is going to be a while until it is perfect

Tags: Computers , Web, News, Computers, Software, Techology, Applications, AIM, AOL, Triton

Read More

Underconstruction tutorials...

Here are the tutorials that I am currently working on...

• The Adobe Photoshop tutorial
• How to edit macros in word (for the advanced users)
• Make XP look more like Macish than ever...
• How to configure settings in firefox
• And a few ASP.NET tutorials as well

These tutorials will be completed as soon as I can because I have other stuff to do as well. But as soon as I'm done I'll make sure I make a post for all of them.

Read More

Firefox 1.5 RC 3 is now here... do you have it yet?

Firefox's Release Canidate 3 is now released and if you have firefox 1.5 beta (1 or 2 I suppose) your browser will automatically update itself and then you can install it later. If you don't have it yet then you can get it at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/ (yes they updated the site) and it is well worth the download.

The key things in this browser I've noticed:

1. The speed seems to be more. The pages load much more efficiently then it used to before.

Well, that's basically it and a few other things that might have been changed internally that I cannot be certian about.

This is what the people over at Mozilla had to say:

What's New in Firefox 1.5 RC 3

• Automated update to streamline product upgrades.
• Faster browser navigation.
• Drag and drop for browser tabs.
• Improvements to popup blocking.
• Clear Private Data feature.
• Answers.com added to search engine list.
• Descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, and RSS discovery.
• Better accessibility support.
• Report a broken Web site wizard.
• Better support for Mac OS X.

And that's about it. I'm sure that the final version of Firefox 1.5 Deer Park won't dissapoint us at all! If this is good imagine how much better it will get...

Read More

Netscape navigator as good as Firefox?

All right, this might sound funny and I don't know why I'm saying this but I am... I think that Firefox and Netscape Navigator 8.0.4 are equal...

Yes, today I found out how good Netscape Navigator 8 was. It is apparently based on firefox so I must add that it could be as good as firefox. Another thing that I seem to like the most is the rendering engine. You can render a page like how firefox renders it or you can render a page how Internet Explorer renders it.

So if you have a page that is suitable for internet explorer (for example -microsoft.com) then it is automatically going to use the IE rendering engine. Another thing that is good is that it tells you weather the site is verified or not. So its an easy way to know whether it is safe or not. I also seem to like the passcards feature, you can select which passcard to log in with.

Althought the themes are quite not good and I'd rather use Firefox or something all the time. I think that netscape could be as good as Firefox...

Read More

Yes it's true, you can download the internet.

Yes, you can apparently download the internet! Take a look at my screenshot as I try to download the internet!

Ha, ha pretty cool isn't it?

Read More

Google base (beta) is now officially open!

The long awaited Google base is now released ¦ http://base.google.com
¦. Google base is something very useful for many people. This is what Google
has to say about Google base.

"Today we're excited to announce Google
Base, an extension of our existing content collection efforts like web
crawl, Google Sitemaps, Google Print and Google Video. Google Base enables
content owners to easily make their information searchable online. Anyone,
from large companies to website owners and individuals, can use it to submit
their content in the form of data items. We'll host the items and make them
searchable for free. There's more
info here."

Many people say that this is good for nothing because no "average Joe
user" is going to use this. Unfortunately I agree.

This is where find articles, ideas and all that stuff so that "the
world can access it" according to Google. But I say if nobody is going to
post an item then how is anybody going to access it? So it's got a long way
until it comes out of beta. But I figure that Google is probably going to add
more features to "First Base" (that's what Google called it in their
blog) The most traffic is probably going to be from people doing research
work (like us students)

Now to compare this with a traditional news source, by Robert Hof and Sarah
Lacy from Business week online have this to say about Google base.

They say that Google search might success, but how far can they go if they
don't have any adds. But they too say that Google has cool services. Their
very first line speculates that Google might be wanting to get a few
classified adds and so on. I agree that every company has to get money somehow
but I don't think that Google is going to stoop down that low and go for the
money instead of the quality. Although the adds do seem to get more and more,
on the search pages and G-mail. But as long as they aren't annoying little
banners or pop ups I don't think the public should mind.

Also mentioned is that classifieds are product search which is what
Google's mission is "make product search easier".

Source for slashdot article

Hof,Robert - Lacy, Sarah article

Read More

Latest recipe

This is how your computer will look like when you read my latest recipe at tech-recipes.com. You better be saying oh my good this looks so cool in you mind! :-D . I'm pretty sure about that.

Remember if you have Windows XP then you can make you computer look like this too, without downloading stuff like Windows Blinds (from stardock) and StyleXP (from TGT soft).

Read More

Sony DRM Rootkit

Okay so Sony is now being accused of having digital media malware in their CD's.
It is a evil program that hides behind the os. That's why it is really hard to kill! And the scary news is that more than 500 000 people are infected now! This evil thingy also creates holes in your OS (making itself like the OS) so that other viruses can easily make your computer their new home (for a long time!)! :( The good news is sony doesn't make such disks any more, and no more DRM for furture PS3 disks!!!!! Also there are free ways of how to check wheather you have the rootkit on your computer or not...

If you wan't to check if you are infected or not here are some instructions (from AlexTheBeast):

1) Right click on you desktop
2) Go to the new option and click on create a new text file
3) Then create a new file that starts with $sys$ (for example $sys$something.txt)
4) If you can't see your file after you click anywhere else on your desktop you have the DRM Rootkit installed
5) If you have the DRM Rootkit on your computer then... sue sony and become rich etc... (or atleast this is what AlexTheBeast says)

What the rootkit does is screws your $sys$ files. That's why if you create anything that has $sys$ on it it gets screwed up. The people over at symantec say this:

When SecurityRisk.First4DRM is executed, it performs the following actions:

Copies itself as the following file:%System%\$sys$filesystem\aries.sys.

Creates the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services$sys$aries

which loads the risk as a device driver when the compromised computer is started.

Hides any processes, files, folders, or registry subkeys that begin with the following string:

$sys$

Checks the name of all processes attempting to access these processes, files, folders, or registry subkeys. If the name of the process begins with the following string, it allows access:$sys$

Otherwise, the risk prevents access to the process, file, folder, or registry subkey."

According to The Register Sony BGM "suspended" production of audio 'CDs' that use XCP. Sony being a big company has given out patches to all major anti-virus companies, but still a virus is a virus is a virus! You can view sony's statement here...

But you can also get some tools with which you can scan your computer/remove the rootkit over here:

free rootkit scanning software
you can also this update to unhide the rootkit

Read More

Working super hard on the reviews and the site design

Well folks I'm working real hard, althought you might not notice anychanges, this site is still being updated "from the inside" you might say.

My previous template had a lot of problems and apparently so does this one so I'm going to have to start from scratch to make a template that is easy to maintain and update.

Any updates will be posted here!

Read More

Windows Live Messenger 8 (beta)

Yup, it's true Windows has started their new service called Windows live messenger 8 which is supposedly better from MSN Messenger.

And after trying it out for a while I think so too. I do have a couple of invites by the way, so if you want one just leave a comment (although you don't need an invite to test the beta version). So far there are vast improvements over it's predecessor and I seem to be liking the skin although it isn't completely to my taste.

I'll also see if I can write a review of the latest Windows Live Messenger version on tech-recipes. Or perhaps syschat as well... with lots of screenshots and so on to prove my points. Until then this article about Windows Live Messenger has to do.

Read More

How to create cool MSN nicknames

I have created a tutorial at tech-recipes.com that tells you all about how to create a cool MSN display name/nick name! If you are interested go take a look at it.

Read More

Powerpoint is usually a good thing but sometimes...

Usually many people who discover Powerpoint (the software that is usually used for presentations in the 1980's) are really impressed with what they can create. Powerpoint sure does have a lot of power from a persentation makers point of View but the people who go through the presentation don't think so. I've uncovered this article that tells you all about how much people can hate Powerpoint presentations if they are overdone. Andrew Wahl tells us all about it! I suspect he also did see a boring Powerpoint presentation before he wrote this article!

That reminds me... when I went to see this

Just put together a good presentation with nothing fancy, is the key. Apparently the most effective thing in a presentation is "you!". Your voice and the way you go about the presentation is more important than the presentation slides!

I too think that the most important thing to do with PP is that to express your point. Other wise it will be "PowerPointLess"!

Here is another article that talks about the power of the New PowerPoint XP which is part of the new Office XP suite.

Powerpoint has many features that are unexplored or just aren't considered professional enough when creating presentations. That's why the key to making professional presentations is "Keep it simple"! ...

Another article by Ian Grayson from The Australian tell us how to utilize the power that is hidden away in power point.

Here are some of his tips

Read More

Another cool resource...

When I was surfing around the new I just found another cool resource which is called Tech-Recepies. This place has all cool tutorials and tweaks and all that stuff no matter what system you have you can find it all here! I too have made some posts there because I thought I could pitch in and make this site more bigger and better.
Anyways, don't take my word for it just go check it out yourself if you wish! the address is http://www.tech-recipes.com
Enjoy!

Read More

Are you new to the blogosphere?

Most of us are new to the blogging world (and yes there is a thing called blogosphere which consists of blogs). Starting out can be hard and it takes a lot of time to come up with cool posts (even though you know that no body is going to read it). But it doesn't have to be that way. When I was browsing around the new I found this blog by Rajesh Setty that had some cool tips on how to get started and how you can get more people to come to your blog and all that stuff. Take a look at it yourself! Go to Rajesh Setty's site!

Give me some more time and I'll come up with my very own list of things that you can do ... but until then I guess this one will have to do!

Read More

Mail Nation giving you 1083984MB of storage?

Yes, Mailnation Solutions is giving away 1083984MB or so of storage without any adds for free (and no I do not work for mailnation).

This was created in order to make people swhitch over from google, yahoo and hotmail. But I guess this is basically just there so that you can buy their 19.99 USD service.
Well good if you want so store some files on the internet but otherwise I guess Gmail and Yahoo and Hotmail are better.
Sometimes I wonder if it is really worth it having such e-mail addresses because the domain name just doesn't click. What's the point of getting a e-mail address that is something like me@mailnation.net or others that are just as crappy as this one. Plus this company isn't a reputable company either. It's just beginning to make a name for iteslf.
But if you wan't to store some files as drafts so that you can access it from anywhere I would even blink before I sign up for my account. If you get more gigabites then anywhere else(well I'm not sure if you can get more) then it could be worth it.
If you wan't to try it out for yourself then go to www.mailnation.net. Then after you do that just come back here and leave a comment about how it was!


Technorati Tags:Computers and Internet, fAcTs, Computing, Tips, Email

Read More

Tabbed browsing in IE with MSN toolbar!

Today I just realized that IE now has the tabbed browsing power. It feels good to realize that now even IE 6.0 can have tabbed browsing if you enable the new MSN Search Toolbar. You can download the latest version at their site http://toolbar.msn.com/.

But it is sad to know that Microsoft was slow in adding tabbed browsing to Internet Explorer and never thought of it before the others did. The other thing that bugs me is that when you right click in IE you find that there is no "Open in new tab" option there's just a "Open in new background tab" and "Open in new foreground tab" somewhere at the bottom. So using the tab option is harder. Although you can set the settings to
Somehow I don't seem to like IE though because of one main reason, it's speed. IE has a really slow speed especially the slower versions. No matter how fast internet you have even with high speed IE takes a long time. Where as in firefox, your pages load way faster and I guess you can really know that if you have like slow internet or something as I'm not sure. So untill they make Internet Explorer better and faster and easier (I wonder when that's going to happen) to use I'm not going to switch over from Firefox!
Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet, Computing, Tips, News, Technology News

Read More

Password Security tips...

Passowords and pin numbers have become a big part of our lives now. Our passwords are as significant as our signatures except that you can never know who typed in the password. Keeping it safely can be a daunting task and that's why I've come up with these tips to help you out.

To know how we can keep our passwords safe first we need to know how hackers work.
Hackers seem to use 2 main kinds of attacks(techniques) with which they can figure out our passwords.
The first one is called the "dictionary attack" this simply means that the person uses a program that tries everyword in the dictionary until it can log in. So if your password is some word in the dictionary the hacker is going to say "bingo! I've got the change to log into their account!"
The other kind of attack is called 'brute force attack". This means that the culprit uses a program that tries out every single combination until it finds a match. for example it is going to try every single aplhanumeric character. Then try combination of one alpha numeric letter plus another. Like aa then ab then ac then ad and so on (you get the idea right!).

change passwords. simple password changing tips, ctrl+ alt+del. then change the password. but if it is a website then go to your account area where you can usually find links to change your password/account information.

Just like that some ingenious evil master minds came up with this idea:
Use a card reader when you swipe you card so that they know the card info. Then when you type in your pin(like in the debit cards and all that) they record that using video cameras. And voila instant access to your stuff!

A few days ago the police also busted a few people who were making credit cards and this goes to show that how techniques can be used to cause "identity theft"

Quick tips for safe passwords and drive away "to be identity thieves"

1. Never use a dictionary word!
2. Try to make it eight cahracters or so
3. Make sure the passwod is alpha-numeric
4. Never use the same password in different palces. Unless you consider that the account might not be important that way you can use the same password for low priority accounts(this way you can log into every account if you have lots of them).
5. Always make sure no camera or person is watching you while you put in your credit card/atm pin number
6. Also try to minimize online shopping this way the chances of phishing (phishing means that the hackers make a site that looks exactly like the original one but it isn't so if you put in your password and username and credit card no. the info goes directly to them. then using that info they hack into your real account and ... you get the idea)/hacking are more less
7. Never trust anybody even if you know them(because you never know if somebody is forcing them to do something)
8. Make sure that you change your passowrd every now and then so that people can't log into your account unless
9. Finally make sure that you check your bills, and log into accounts once every week or so because if somebody has hacked in or witdhdrawn any money you are going to know!
   
   Technorati Tags: fAcTs, High tech, Computing, Tips
   More blogs about Business. More blogs about technology.

Read More