If you are a mac user this site is something you need to know about.  There are tips that are updated constantly throughout every day and some you may have already known, but others you will be surprised to learn.  One of the most useful tips that surprised me was the ability to use your Facebook chat with iChat.  All you have to do is setup a few quick things with the iChat server, and you are done. Each post is put into a category such as, web browsers, 10.6, iPhone and much more. This allows for easy access to what concerns you.  Additionally, there are help forums for any problems you have with your mac computer or apple product.  Everything from applications to X11 can be discuss there, and there is a section for any feedback you'd like to give out about the site.
          Also, the tips aren't always given by the writers themselves, but you can submit your own.  The writers will check it out and post it if it works.  I visit this site everyday, because they always have something new for me to learn.  I have subscribed to it in "My Blog List" so you can see the latest tip there or you can subscribe to it yourself.  Obviously if you use Windows the site wont be of much use, but you can still find out new things about your competitor.
          Thanks for reading and as always, if you have any comments or questions please leave them.

Here is the link to the website : Mac Hints
Also, this is the link to the Facebook chat with iChat: Mac Hint Facebook

          

          I've been helping out some of my friends with their computers, which they were getting ready to sell and came across Kill Disk.  With Kill Disk you can be sure that the files on your hard drive are erased well enough, so that no one can recover them.  Great for any computers that may have very personal information on it.  It should work with just about any computer, no matter the operating system or size of hard drive.  There are different versions, including a free version that allows you to do a one pass zero method.  You also get updates from Kill Disk free as well.  If you chip in some money for the paid version, you can do up to 99 passes on your hard drive (making your data harder to recover) and it writes over your drive with algorithm's that support 17 security standards.
          Kill Disk uses your bios to delete your hard drive, which means you will have to boot from your Kill Disk CD.  Check it out for your self because it is especially important that your hard drive is clean a and safe from thieves.  Here is the link: Kill Disk.  If you have any questions about how to use it or have any other hard drive erase methods please leave a comment.  Thanks for reading.

          

          Creating my own website has been something i've always wanted to do.  And I have started but have had a lot of trouble because of my little experience with html coding.  While looking around for help on various websites, I stumbled upon W3Schools.  I was amazed on the helpful tips that were given, as well as all of the coding examples you can try for yourself.  It is a completely free site that teaches you HTML, XHTML, Javascript, DTD, and much much more.  It has helped me so much because I was having trouble with flash videos and after going to that site, the problem was solved.  

          You don't even need to use your own HTML code software with some of the tutorials.  There are numerous of "Try-it-yourself" examples that allow you to use their online text editor to test out things before putting it onto your website.  So if you put a little time into reading some information from the site you will be able to create your own website like a pro.  Now when you create an amazing website, don't forget to mention who told you about the site (just kidding).  

          So go on and design your personal web page.  You don't even need a fancy HTML code software, you can start it in a simple text editor.  For Windows users: Notepad and for Mac users: TextEdit.  Just save the file as .html and there you go.  Here's the link: W3Schools Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them.

                                 

Both are great pieces of software that work on Mac os x and Windows, they allow you to access files from one computer to another.  Simplify Media's applications allow you to share your music collection and photo collection to another computer and Orb allows you to share the same, plus any other file or document on your computer.  I like Orb especially because of the ability to share music, photos, and videos to a PS3 or Xbox 360,  but the application doesn't seem as secure as Simplify Music or Simplify Photo do.  Also both of them are available in the Apple App Store, but they are not free. I have had experience with Orb and I will most likely never pay for the software.  I like the idea of sharing any file you want over the internet, but the application and Orb's server just isn't stable.  I would recommend that you keep an eye on it though.  I mean problems can be fixed and who knows, maybe soon they will get better and downloaded onto everyones computers.  But right now I would stick with Simplify Media.  I can't fully back it up because I have not bought the iPhone app, but from the many reviews I've read it seems better off than Orb.  The interface looks more stable, but from personal reviews it has a problem with large libraries.  Why would you pay for something that wont work for everybody.  I know I wont be getting it anytime soon because I have many gigabytes of music I'd love to stream.  Also Simplify has three iPhone apps (but only 2 different types).  Two are Simplify Music (Original) and Simplify Music 2.  What really gets me mad is that users have to pay eight dollars for the updated version, when they could have given it as an update to the original.  So six dollars (Simplify Music Original) plus the updated version (eight dollars), and that doesn't even include the third app that cost four dollars to stream your photos.  So all that for some application that may not work well with large libraries.  I would definitely be mad at the company if I had paid for the original and then pay even more for the update.
          But just because things are bad now doesn't mean that won't get better.  I think that these apps are worth checking into, and I am surely going to keep my eye on them.  I would love if Simplify Media had a free or lite version of their app so it could be tested, like Orb does.  I tried Orb on my friends iPhone and it was slow loading media and skipped a few songs, giving me different errors.  Now what is interesting is that Orb is suppose to work via your Orb server (www.mycast.orb.com) with any computer, phone or internet device for free.  But they are making you pay to use it on the iPhone, one to access files (music, photos, documents) from your computer and the other Orb Live allows you to stream video feeds to your iPhone.  If you do go to the website (without using the app), you get a horrible interface that is very slow to load.  It doesn't separate multiple songs, so if you chose an album to play it would put all of the songs together.  Making one 32 minute or however long song.  If they just simply updated their mobile interface, it would be more enticing to users.
          Offering a nice clean interface for free would get them more attention then making people pay for it.  But again I would continue to see how they grow and watch out for other competing apps (maybe even free) that will try to get noticed.  Thanks for reading and here are links to the websites and iPhone apps.

Orb: Computer Application 
iPhone app: Orb Live, Orb Live Free, Orb Media

Simplify Media: Computer Application
iPhone App: Simplify Music, Simplify Music 2, Simplify Photo

I'm not just talking about poorly made games that know one has heard of, I'm saying REAL GAMES such as Burnout Paradise, MLB 2k9, Crysis: Warhead, Bioshock and MORE! Picture yourself jumping across rooftops on Mirror's Edge and then your friend sends you a message about playing MLB 2k9, but you don't own the game. Pshh no need to get out of your chair, just purchase the game RIGHT THEN AND THERE! The game streams from their server to your OnLive console, so to experience high definition gaming, you need a good internet connection (the biggest pet peeve for me). I don't want to have to buy some expensive router just for OnLive, but I don't think anyone will have to or else the service wont sell.
Now a little more information about it is that the service works through Windows XP/Vista, Mac (Intel) computers and the OnLive console (of course). For playing on the computer you just need to download a (I'm hoping free) browser plug-in and that's it. The console seems to be very small from photos i've seen (even smaller than the controller itself) and has two USB ports for controllers, keyboard, or even a mouse. It also supports up to four wireless controllers and four bluetooth headsets, which makes for simple gaming. The controller reminds me of the xbox 360's, but without the middle xbox guide button. The four buttons on the top right spell out LIVE, which is kind of nice because it is a word you can remember in your head to help you get used to the buttons.
So, even though I wont be waiting in line to get this exceptional creation, I will be trying it out whenever I get the chance at a local best buy, or my friends house. Anyone interested in trading in their trusted Sony PS3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 for this new idea? Leave comments below. Also if you want to check out the website here's the link: OnLive and if you REALLY like this product then sign-up for the beta program, and try it out on your computer (I don't think you can test the console itself yet), but for those who love their keyboards and mouses (or mice) then sign right up. They start selecting testers in the summer, so hurry up. There's no telling how many people they will accept.

Now when I think about Itunes, I think .99 cents per song. No matter how favored or foolish the song is, but that may soon change. To provide cheaper music, Itunes is thinking about charging $1.29 for the most popular songs. HUH?? Why in the world would they do that? I mean it's bad enough that many people steal music, but this is a better reason to start.  Seriously, I would rather pay .79 cents for A POPULAR song at amazon.com.  The only good thing about the price hike is that the unpopular songs will be priced at .69 cents. They say that most of the songs will stay at 99. cents, but it doesn't seem like a smart pricing system to me. Maybe there is something I'm missing, but they should have made unpopular songs .79 cents and everything else .99 cents. Maybe it's just me but, I hope they figure out something better than this.

For those of you that don't know what Ipod Wizard is, it is software used to edit the Ipods background, fonts and overall look.  As of now, I've only known that Ipod Wizard could be used on Windows computers, but TODAY IS A NEW DAY!  Now this method is FREE and very easy to use.  One problem (at least for me) is that you need an intel mac with Tiger or Leopard and X11.  

What's X11?  Well I'm not exactly sure myself, but it is used to run Windows applications.  Now, if you have Leopard, it should already be installed on your computer, but with Tiger it may not  (You can type X11 in spotlight to see if it shows up).  For those Tiger users that don't have it installed, you can download it from the Tiger installation CD, just put it in and go to optional installs and find X11.  If you lost or just never had a CD don't fret.  Luckily I found this website to download X11 for free (legally too).  On the site are instructions on how to install X11.

Download X11

Next, you will need this FREE program called Darwine and download the link that says (Universal).  After Downloading unzip the file and drag the Darwine folder into your applications folder AND YOU'RE DONE!  Now you can use most if not all windows .exe files (as far as I know).  Next time you download a windows .exe file the Darwine icon should be next to it showing that it will work.  As for Ipod Wizard, just download the file and open it like usual.  I think that this is a Significant alternative to buying VMware or Parallels if you just want to use a few windows applications.  Any questions? Comments? BRING THEM OUT and I'll try to answer them.

Whenever I use this, it makes me feel like I'm surfing through my own little world of pictures. It's called Cooliris and it's available for Macintosh and Windows XP/Vista users. Compatible with Safari (Mac only) , Internet Explorer, and Firefox (Mac and Windows). It's great when you want to look through MANY pictures quickly. There's no waiting for each page of pictures to load, as long as you scroll through you find pictures. Doesn't work with every site you are on, but it does work on the popular ones like Myspace, Flickr, Google Images, including Blogger and more. It's free so you might as well give it a try. Cooliris

Well let me start by saying that even though it may seem impossible to get music for free LEGALLY, there are a couple of sites i've found. One is www.Qtrax.com, which offers a wide selection of music. The only catch is that it is only compatible with windows computers and it does not work with Apple's Ipod or Microsoft's Zune! This is because while you download your song, it is encoded with a DRM, so that way you can't illegally share it with others. I say that it is nice to have a place to legally get free music, but it isn't really compatible with the very popular brands of mp3 players. There have been stories of Qtrax creating an ipod compatible song base, along with it being available to macintosh users, but that has sadly yet to come.

Along with Qtrax, www.Spiralfrog.com is another windows only compatible site. The reason is because the songs are encoded with protected-WMA, which is not compatible with Ipod's or Zune's. Both of these sites use advertisements to pay for the music. I think that Qtrax makes you listen to a few ads before you listen to a song, and Spiral Frog just has ads all around their site. So if you have a windows device, and don't mind advertisements, then these sites are just right for you. (Personally I use a mac and an Ipod 5th gen, so I'm not able to use these sites, instead I use Itunes) If you have any questions or comments PLEASE feel free to ask or say them.

Update:I have just found out that Spiral Frog has been shut down. For good? I'm not sure, but ad supported sites are not easy to keep up.

Hey everyone, my blog is going to basically be about things I'm interested in. Things like, technology (apple, windows, xbox 360, ps3 and others), sports, and occasionally clothes (cool items I like). These are just a few of my interests, so don't worry I'm sure you'll find something that catches your eye. I hope I can keep people happy with it and I'll try my best too make in appealing. Also if anyone has suggestions on what they would like me make a post about, I can try and do the best I can about it.