Continue reading OS X Tip #79: Troubleshooting a Kernel Panic…

Problem: You have a large file to send to someone. Too large to send as an email attachment. Most email services do not allow attachments over 6 MB to 10 MB.

Read further if you need to solve this problem.
Continue reading Sending Large Files Without Email…

Chances are if you have DSL, Cable modem, or FiOS for your high-speed connection to your home, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is using a dynamic public IP address. What this means is the “public” IP address is basically “leased” from a pool of IP addresses your ISP has designated for its users. Your IP address is a bit like your phone number. as this is how other computers and services on the Internet can connect to you. Unlike a “static” IP address, the dynamic IP your ISP is leasing to you can change. It can change when you reboot your router, power down your modem, or on any interval your ISP has set. Usually the only way you can get a “static” IP address is to pay extra for one, if your ISP offers this service.

Business connections usually include “static” IP address(es) in their connection agreement. The cost for a business package, if it is available, is much higher than what you will usually pay for a residential package. Why does this matter to the consumer, you might ask? For browsing the web, email, and many common tasks, nothing. Having a “dynamic” IP address that can change on your high-speed access is basically seamless to an average computer user. But what if you want to access your network or your computer remotely? Well I have a great suggestion for you.

Continue reading Finding Your Network With Dynamic IP Addresses…

Setting up a wireless router at your home is a pretty easy process. Inexpensive NAT routers with built-in wireless are available from Linksys, D-Link, Apple, Netgear, etc. Securing your wireless network is not as easy as it should be, as these routers have several choices to help you lock down and secure your home wireless network. They may offer WEP, WPA, or Mac Address filtering and usually ship in an insecure state. Which should you use? The problems really begin when people do not understand basic wireless security and end up leaving them in the insecure state they came in. The router makers sometimes do not do a good job explaining security or in some cases make claims that are simply not correct.

I will attempt to explain the very basics of how to set-up your home router and wireless
network in plain terms and give you the information you need to add some security. There are so many wireless routers and access points it is not within the scope of this article to cover them all or even that many of them. Most of these units have a lot in common. So I will attempt to give you the basics and you should be able to apply this to most of them.
Continue reading Wireless Security for Home Networks…

Viamatic foXpose

If you often use “tabbed” browsing and have several web pages loaded in tabs at once, you will like this Extension available free here.

You click on the icon in the status bar (or use assignable shortcut key) to view all the browser windows with a single click. Now just pick the one you want.

Kind of like the Mac OS X Exposé for Firefox!

Tab X

Add a close button to each of the browser tabs, and removes the close button at the end of the tab bar making it more like Safari.

Download this Extension here. But wait the X is on the right side! Want to move it to the left, matching Safari? See here.

Stop-or-Reload Button

Makes the Stop and Reload buttons on Firefox behave like a single one like the one in Safari. When the user can stop, you get a Stop button, otherwise you get a Reload button.

This single button replaces

these two default buttons on Firefox.

Download this Extension here.

GrApple Brushed Theme

OK, you may be using Firefox and liking all the Extensions I recommended or hopefully you discovered many on your own. Well not only does Firefox allow for Extensions to add features, it also allows for Themes to change the look of the browser. The themes are like “skins” so if you get tired of the look of Firefox, you can change it in a few easy mouse clicks.

There is absolutely, nothing wrong with the default theme that comes with Firefox. But you may just want to change it as there are many themes available free.

Here are my favorite for OS X.
Continue reading Firefox Add-ons: Themes GrApple Brushed…

Firefox Add-ons: Bookmark Synchronizer 3

Bookmark Synchronizer 3 extension can sync your bookmarks across all your computers using Firefox. This can include Windows, Macs, and Linux. You can do this using FTP or if you are a Mac user, .Mac using http and webDAV. This can add one of the best Safari features to Firefox, syncing your bookmarks across all your computers. It is not as elegant as .Mac and Safari, but it works. Unlike .Mac and Safari, if you work on multiple machines or just one Mac and one PC, you can easily share, sync, and update all your bookmarks between browsers with ease.

To set this up for syncing using your .Mac account as I have done, here is a tutorial for you.
Continue reading Firefox Add-ons: Bookmark Synchronizer 3…

Sage RSS Aggregator

Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension for Firefox. It’s got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don’t. Nice News Reader Extension.
Continue reading Firefox Add-ons: Sage RSS Reader Extension…

Google Toolbar for Firefox

The Google Toolbar is not only available for Windows Internet Explorer anymore. Add the Google Toolbar to Firefox for Windows XP/2000, Mac OS X 10.2+, or Red Hat Linux. It has the “blogger’s” best friend, the “spell checker” as well as adding some other nice features to my favorite browser.

AutoFill
Automatically fill out forms for faster online shopping.

Google Suggest
Get query suggestions as you type in the search box.

Word Translator
Translate English words into other language.

Pop-up Blocker (Internet Explorer only)

See all of the Google Toolbar Features.

Using Firefox instead of Safari has its advantages, but it also has some disadvantages. Thankfully, Firefox allows add-ons through its extensions. As much as I like Firefox, I was missing a few features from Safari. Firefox being a cross-platform browser that supports some features that Safari does not, is making Firefox my default browser.

The openness of the Internet has spurred an amazing amount of innovation. Any person with an Internet connection and a computer has always been allowed to visit any website, attach any device, post or access any content, provide or use any service. The Internet has had network neutrality that has allowed for this unfettered access, up until now. This “network neutrality” was the main reason for its amazing growth and innovation. All applications, websites, services, and content had an equal footing in which to thrive. The better “widget” or “mousetrap” was easily discovered and used by us all.

We all use the Internet in one form or another and that use will increase in all our lives to cell phones, mobile devices, our cars, our children, our banks, our bodies, and maybe even our coffee makers in coming years. Finding and using all the innovative services and content on the Internet has improved our lives and freedoms.

The Internet the way you have known it and used it, is in BIG trouble. The large telcos controlling the pipes that connect the Internet and your ISP (Internet Service Provider) like AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon, AOL, Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, etc. may be working against you.

The big telcos want to set up a “toll-road,” changing the Internet forever to a tiered model. This is a very BAD idea. What a tiered Internet means is allowing the big telcos and ISPs to control what you see, use, and do. They would have the ability and legal right to “throttle” down the speed of any website or online service or even block it completely. Content providers like websites or online services will have to pay them a premium to get put in the “fast-lane” to your connection. This will be an easy way for the big telcos to squash competitors to their own offered services.

Continue reading Say NO To “Privatizing” The Internet…

Continue reading OS X Tip #78: Burning ISO Disk Images…

Ubuntu is an award-winning Linux distribution (distro) that is free and available for download or they will even send you a disk by mail. The Ubuntu Linux distribution is available two ways – as an regular install CD or as a “live” CD. The “live” CD is a version of Ubuntu Linux that will run on your computer completely from the CD drive without having to install anything onto your hard drive. This is a great way to try out Ubuntu Linux without disturbing your current OS. Ubuntu runs on almost all x86 PCs including most machines with Intel, AMD, etc type processors that run Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh (PowerPC) computers G3, G4, and G5 computers, including iBooks and PowerBooks or computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon). There is no support for the new Mac-Intel machines at this time.

Ubuntu is easy to install and supports most machines. It will even run right off the “live” version of the CD. So if you have an older computer around you would like to make useful again or want just try out Ubuntu with a “live” CD to see what this Linux thing is all about, there is little reason not to check it out. This version of Linux is not just for “geeks”, but a community-driven project that creates an operating system and a full set of applications using free and open source software. You will find that Ubuntu is not some half baked science experiment. Ubuntu is a complete modern desktop operating system and application set for home, business and professional purposes. Ubuntu’s focus is on the user and usability they say it should “Just Work” and it will install or run “live” from a single CD.
Continue reading Ubuntu “Live” CDs Try Linux Today…

Will Apple’s lack of Windows support on the new Mac-Intel machines slow market-share gains? When Apple switched to the Intel platform for the Mac, many people, me included, were hoping for Windows application support running on top of Mac OS X at full speed, not emulated speed. What we have gotten so far is the loss of Virtual PC for running Windows applications in emulation. Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that many people need to run Windows for business apps, VPN, and other Windows specific apps.

The current Virtual PC does not run on the new Mac Intel computers. This has stopped many people including me, from upgrading to the new MacBook Pro. Microsoft has said that a new version of Virtual PC will arrive for Mac users wanting to run Windows. No dates of release or features have been given as of yet. Clearly, it is in Microsoft’s interest to get Virtual PC working on the new Macs as they would like to sell a copy of Windows to Mac users. But it is also not in their interest to have Windows run at full speed or in a streamlined fashion that allows Windows applications run like your Mac OS X native applications do. A slower, crippled version is probably more of what they would like. How would running Windows at full speed on a Mac help Microsoft keep its virtual monopoly on the desktop?
Continue reading Will Apple’s Lack of Windows Support Erode Market-share?…

What might end up being even further bad news for Napster, Real’s Rhapsody, and other competitors, Apple will be starting a “Multi-Pass” monthly subscription-type service for TV Shows. But unlike the competition, users will be able to keep the videos. Other subscription plans you lose all the content you are only “renting” after you stop paying.

iTunes Music Store is launching the service in partnership with Viacom Inc.’s Comedy Central Network, which is adding “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” to iTunes. iTunes users will be able to buy the next month’s series of 16 new episodes via “Multi-Pass” for $9.99, or to pay $1.99 per episode. Four episodes air each week and viewers can download each episode after it’s been broadcast.
Continue reading iTMS to Start Monthly Subscription to TV Shows…

I bought my first Intel-Mac this week. I was at the Apple Store dealing with some issues with my older Mac mini (1.42MHz PPC version). This machine has been a problem since I bought it as it has a defective video card that would cause the video to tear and the machine to freeze after it heated up with a few hours of use. A few visits to the Apple Store in the past have ended up with me going home with it, as it would not show the problem at the store during the short test they would do. Now the unit has gotten so bad that it fails almost immediately. So this time it went out for repair with AppleCare. Apple put in a new logic board. I dropped off on Monday evening and got it back on Wednesday. All fixed.

While I was at the store, being a “glutton for punishment”, or more that I really like Macs, I purchased the new Intel-based Mac mini. This one has the Intel Dual Core 1.66GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 100GB Serial ATA hard drive, Double-layer SuperDrive, Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0, Apple Remote, and Front Row software. Was $949 before education discount. I also picked up an HP PSC 1500 all-in-one printer as ends up free after rebate. I have set the Intel Mac mini up as a media computer attached to a TV and stereo. Same way I was using the older Mac mini. But the improvements in the new Mac mini now make it the perfect companion to your TV.
Continue reading New Intel Mac mini At Our House…

Mark Newhouse has put together a nice list of things that the Apple Remote can do with your new Mac that you probably do not realize. Nice list, nice tips. Check it out on Mark’s iBlog site.

Nice job Mark. Wish I had thought of it.

Also see:
About the Apple Remote Control
Pairing your Apple Remote with your computer

Who needs subscriptions that include monthly payments. The iTunes Music Store is great and I use it for purchasing most of my music. But if you are the type that wants to hear and discover new music why pay for that? Just time-shift some of the great Internet radio stations and play them in iTunes or your iPod.

Griffin Technology has a nice product called iFill $19.95, that is available for Windows or OS X. iFill will record several Internet radio stations directly to your iPod. It breaks the songs into separate tracks so you can not only listen to them, but skip through or shuffle through them.

For OS X users, there is also RadioRecorder, Free & Open Source, that records Internet radio to iTunes, splitting the recording into songs.

For Windows users, try StationRipper $19.99-$29.99, which is similar to RadioRecorder. StationRipper even allows for downloading album art.

If you read some of the mainstream press lately you would be easily led to believe that OS X now has as many viruses, worms, spy-ware, ad-ware, and exploits as Windows users has suffered through. Well this is NOT true at all.

First, what is a computer virus? Well, a “virus” is a self-replicating/self-reproducing-automation program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents as explained nicely on Wikipedia. Computer “worms” are similar to a “virus” but do not need to be part of another program to propagate themselves. See the wiki on computer worms. Well the point is self-replicating/self-reproducing-automation program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents is what makes a virus! Just like a biological virus that people get. All you need is to come into contact with a person that has a “virus” and you can get sick without any action from you! Spreading from person to person. In the case of computers, spreading from computer to computer.

Computer viruses can be as bad to computers world-wide as the Bubonic Plague was to people in the middle ages. There have been computer viruses that have spread in a matter of hours, that have affected tens-of-millions of computers.

Spyware and Ad-ware have also become a huge problem. Spy-ware does not usually self-replicate. However, spy-ware exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites. I am sure you have seen this on a Windows machine were windows will pop-up all over the place when you were trying to browse, many times with very questionable material.
Continue reading Should You Worry About OS X Viruses?…