This nifty car stereo/CD Player has a USB port and SD memory card slot on the front to play MP3 files directly from either of those media, in addition to the regular MP3 CD and line-in features. Nice to see additional connection methods being added to car stereos. These days if you don’t have a tape player, you are pretty much stuck with those FM Transmitters, which don’t seem to work that well.

I wonder if the USB port will read MP3’s directly off of an iPod Shuffle or other USB MP3 player?

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There is also a brand new release of RoR with a ton of new features and bug fixes. Some amazing new features like drag and drop and easy-to-create auto-complete fields are included. (Demo)

The Ruby on Rails book has also been finished, and you can purchase the PDF, or PDF + Paper copy right now.

Steve Jobs is known for his signature black mini turtle neck and blue jeans, but thanks to The Joy of Tech, you can now dress him up as a biker or a pirate or a space man. Or you can go crazy and make him a space pirate or a biker pimp. Or you can just leave him in the buff, with his leopard undies and OSX tattoos.

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Have you installed Tiger yet? Have you checked out Mail yet? Do you hate the new jelly-like buttons? Cage Fighter can help you get rid of them. It just removes the little button background graphics and changes the highlight color, so that it looks a little nicer and matches the rest of the OS instead of going out on its own for no apparent reason.

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One of my favorites is an Undo in text areas in Safari 2.0. A lot of CMS systems allow you to edit templates directly in a text area, and it’s very irritating that Safari has never let you undo any changes you make in a text area like every other browser. Now it does, and all is well. I just hope they fixed the other incredibly annoying bug that will scroll the text area all the way to the top if you switch to another tab and then back to the template or post that you were editing. ‘Cause that’s really annoying too.

The other cool one is: “I have 16,529 files on my computer that contain the word “the.” 16,530 now that I’ve saved this document. Spotlight results are updated instantly.”. That’s pretty amazing.

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So you’re a geek… You’re probably not big on camping. But if you were to camp, you’d probably have some soda or some beer and a chocolate bar for smores. At least if you are a stereotypical geek that drinks a lot of coke and eats a lot of chocolate.

Anyway… you’ll need a fire if you’re camping, to cook your food and keep the level 55 elite bears away. You could rub some sticks together like Tom Hanks in that movie with the volleyball, or just rub some chocolate or toothpaste on the bottom of a soda/beer can to polish it into a mirror, then use that to focus light on tinder and start your fire.

The site has lots of other survival tips as well.

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Well there may be mixed opinions on the movie, but the book is a classic and hilarious as ever. If you can’t afford the $5 for the paperback copy of the book, or just prefer reading on your computer (weirdo!), you can now access the entire book online in one giant page. Could be useful for searching for your favorite quote at the very least.

The other books are available as well. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So long, and thanks for all the fish; Mostly Harmless.

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The new Family Guy episode to air on May 1st has been leaked a little early and is available for download on several of the typical places on the internets. The link below is to a 32mb Real Video file of the show. And wow, it is great to have the show back. Funnier than ever, with plenty of digs at Fox for canceling the show the first time.

ForeverGeek isn’t responsible if you get busted for downloading it. We aren’t hosting it, and I don’t even think it’s illegal, but you know…

Update: here is a Torrent file for a 270mb version of the show.

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Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite… Check out this replica of the “time machine” up for auction on eBay. It’s got the T-bar handles, the year selector, even the special crystals! Sweet! Yesssssssssssss.

The bidding is up to almost $100 so far, so serious collectors only!

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Well it took a little while, but someone finally made a hub/external hard drive to match the Mac Mini perfectly. It looks exactly the same as the Mini, and has a 160gb hard drive as well as a USB 2.0/Firewire hub with 3 plugs each. It can sit on top of or below your Mac Mini, and of course works with any other type of Mac or PC as well.

There are quite a few well known artists like Moby and The Strokes and Jimmy Eat World on the list, rather than indie bands that no one has ever heard of. There are rare and unreleased tracks available as well.

Mac OSX 10.8 “Liger”.

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Doh – I’ve really gotta start reading the comments on digg before I post stuff! Haha.

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Head over to DLL-Files.com the next time you need to find a DLL, and download some of the most common ones that mysteriously go missing.

Bitmap or “pixel fonts” were all the rage a few years ago, and still pop up every now and then today. There are already some great sets out there, much of which you can find at “DaFont.com”:http://www.dafont.com/, but if you don’t see anything you like there, you can always create one yourself.

Normally that would involved using a difficult program like Illustrator plus some sort of font creation program, but with this little Flash app, it’s as easy as tic-tac-toe.

Just click in the white squares to fill in the pixels, and preview your font with real text whenever you like. When you’re finished, save the font and it will be zipped up and sent to you to download.

It is pretty time consuming to create a whole font-face, let alone one that looks half-way decent, but it’s a fun little app anyway.

So anyway, after doing that more than a few times for her, myself, and other people, I decided to make a site that would do it for me. So here it is.

“The Fee Calculator”:http://www.thefeecalculator.com/

You can enter an amount like $100 and it will tell you what to charge to make sure you still have that much after PayPal’s fees are taken out. Or you can find out how much you’ll have left if you charge someone a certain amount.

It’s super simple, and lacking in fancy features, but it’s faster than a calculator, and isn’t bogged down with a lot of eBay junk like a couple of similar sites out there.

It’s only the second thing I’ve programmed from scratch, so it was a fun little project for a few hours anyway.

Thanks to JC, fellow FG editor, for helping me with a few areas that I had trouble with.

Anyway, opened it up and it’s a brand new DS just as if I’d bought it from the store! Hooray for free sites! And thanks to the people that signed up under me. High-fives to all of you.

Click on to see some pics of the machine in all it’s dual-screened glory.

“This”:http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/index.php?module=prodreviews&func=showcontent&id=179 site happens to have a running database of these hacks. There are hundreds of queries to use to find any number of vulnerabilities. Most won’t actually give you access to anything sensitive or confidential, but they are interesting and some are even useful for non-hacking reasons.

Like…

The Apple Pippin, a game console / multimedia center; their opendoc file format; the Mac TV (Yes, Apple was the first to put a TV tuner card in a PC, imagine that); and the Puck mouse, which was a perfectly round mouse that made it impossible to tell where it was “pointing” which led to all kinds of frustration.

Strangely absent from the list is the Newton, though maybe they just figured it was “ahead of its time” so it wasn’t really a failure.

You can now get 8x Superdrives in them, as well as Bluetooth 2.0, faster hard drives, more RAM standard, etc.

Prices now range from $1,499 to $2,699, which is about what they used to charge for a refurbished model.

Now is the time to buy a Powerbook in my opinion, for sure. This is the cheapest, most stable they will be, since this is likely the last revision of the current form factor. I wouldn’t think they would make another speed boost of the G4, the next one will probably be a G5, with higher prices, and more possible problems. So buy one now!

The answer is, the faster the drive, the faster the mini. For $150 – $250 you can upgrade the hard drive in the mini to a 5,400rpm and even 7,200rpm drive, in sizes up to 100gb. There is a graph on “this”:http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Framework.cfm?page=/Benchmarks/12705/minihd.html page showing the performance improvements, as well as links to buy the drives themselves.

They don’t tell you how to actually perform the upgrade, but I’m sure there are other guides on the ‘net for that already.

http://switch.atdmt.com/action/apple_g5_powerbook

It’s a 1×1 gif used for tracking purposes. All of the graphics on all of the other product pages are unique, and are all named appropriately, with the correct processor.

So… Is it just a typo or a coincidence, or are they gearing up for that page to change soon, and perhaps generate some new interest that they’d like to compare to the “before” version?

Only time will tell.

Engadget has put together a preliminary guide to getting your mini set up as your entertainment hub. Though it is just a very basic overview, at least it hints at what is to come.

As of right now, I really don’t see any value in using a setup like this other than pure geek factor. I mean if you look at the list of stuff they are using to make that work, you have the Mac mini for $500, the “spare computer” to use as a file server, all the extra hard drives, the adapters, the EyeTV, the EyeHome, the TV, the Stereo… phew. After you do all that you’re looking at $1,000 – $1,500 easy for a simple setup like that. You could buy a Windows Media Center PC for that much, which would eliminate all those wires and crazy add-ons. Don’t get me wrong, I hate Windows as much as the next guy, but that just seems silly. Or you could buy a TiVo with a lifetime subscription to the guide for less than the price of the Mac Mini alone.

There is also no easy way to control the Mac mini from the couch, unless you are already either in EyeTV or EyeHome. Sure, VNC is nice, but why would I want to get off the couch, go to my office, pick a movie to watch or something, go back to the couch, etc. And if I had a “spare laptop” laying around, I would probably just use that to play movies through the TV instead of using an army of miscellaneous devices strung throughout my living room.

Of course a computer can do things the TiVo can’t, like play DVD’s or ripped movies, listen to music, play games, emulators, surf the web, etc.

But really, since they are using the EyeTV and the EyeHome anyway, you could just plug those into your regular desktop Mac and have basically exactly the same setup as this guide will tell you to do.

Not to put down the idea of the Mac mini as a media center though. I think it will definitely happen, and once someone comes up with a nice front-end interface to loading all of your media that works with one of the remote controls, I think it will be a sweet setup.

Here is what’s included:

49 – Classics
32 – Switch
13 – iMac
12 – Cost Less, Do More
12 – What’s on Your PowerBook
8 – The Future
7 – Misc.
6 – Newton
5 – //gs Commercials
5 – iBook
4 – Think Different (best)
4 – G3
4 – G4
4 – Performa

“Kottke”:http://www.kottke.org/05/01/jobs-macintosh-video has the best list of mirrors, including some torrents. I got 300k/sec off of the torrents, so I recommend using those if you can. Also you won’t suck up some site’s bandwidth that way.

The video is great quality considering its age, and it’s a ton of fun to watch this thing be unveiled. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it’s really cool to see the whole auditorium on their feet cheering for a simple little computer on the stage. I also enjoy the young Steve, looking like he just introduced pictures of his new baby.

So, if you are planning on getting a Mac Mini, include a RAM upgrade in your budget. But don’t get the RAM upgraded at the factory from Apple. They charge well over twice as much as other companies. Here is some from a Mac reseller for “$189.00″:http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=6559&Item=OWC2700DDR1024.

And of course if you get your Mac Mini for “free”:http://forevergeek.com/apple/freeminimacscom_get_a_free_mac_mini.php that $189.00 will be an even more attractive investment.

Details on the Mac Mini have surfaced through the notes of a reporter for Macintouch.

According to the notes, the Hard Drive is definitely a 2.5 inch 5,400rpm laptop hard drive, which is the main reason for the relatively small 80gb maximum. There aren’t many laptop drives larger than that, and the ones that are are much too expensive to meet the $500 price point. The notes also say the drive is buried pretty deep in the internals of the system, so upgrading it in the future will be no small task. I recommend just using a external Firewire drive, or even a string of them.

The RAM is the larger desktop memory, which will keep costs low. There is only one memory slot so if you upgrade the RAM, you will be left with a 256mb chip to sell on eBay or put in another system. Upgrading the RAM yourself does *not* void the warranty, unless you damage something in doing so. Apple does not recommend that users try to do this themselves, but do not prohibit you from doing so. So if you are going to buy a Mac Mini, do _not_ buy the memory from Apple! They are generally twice as expensive as everyone else. I’m sure there will be guides all over the ‘net as soon as the Mac Mini is out, detailing how to take it apart and upgrade it.

The Mac mini supports an Airport card for wireless internet, but if you don’t add it in when you initially order the system, your only option will be a $129 upgrade kit that includes the Airport card as well as a Bluetooth card. You will have to take it to a dealer to be installed, as it involves installing the cards as well as antennas. Until someone hacks it and shows how to do it on the internet anyway.

So, that answers many of the questions surrounding the Mac Mini so far.

Not only has “Macnews.de”:http://www.macnews.de/ already received a Mac Mini, they’ve already ripped it to pieces and “posted”:http://www.macnews.de/gallery/displayimage.php?album=16&pos=18 the gory pictures on the internet for all to see.

Of note, the hard drive inside is in fact a small laptop hard drive, not a full sized one like in most desktop computers, so figure that difference into your upgrade pricing… They are quite a bit more expensive than the full size ones.

Like the original “FreeDesktopPC.com”:http://forevergeek.com/news/freedesktoppccom.php, this one requires 10 referrals to get the free Mac Mini.

The offers are the same as the “FreeiPodShuffle.com”:http://forevergeek.com/apple/freeipodshufflecom_only_3_referrals_needed.php site. The free ones right now are eFax and PeoplePC, which are both free trials that you can cancel. Blockbuster is there too, and if you pay $9.95 for a 1 month membership, you get instant credit for the offer. Blockbuster is well worth signing up for. In 1-month you can easily rent 14 movies with the service, so it’s a really good deal! I use Netflix personally, but Blockbuster is very comparable in service and selection.

And of course this is legit… Check “out”:http://forevergeek.com/news/freeipodscom.php “all”:http://forevergeek.com/gadgets/free_ipods_on_wired.php “the”:http://forevergeek.com/fg_commentary/another_freeipodscom_success.php “stuff”:http://forevergeek.com/news/freeflatscreenscom.php “we’ve”:http://forevergeek.com/gadgets/freeflatscreenscom_sony_wega_television_received.php already received.

_No Referral links in the comments area. There are plenty of conga lines that you can find all over the internet for that very purpose._

It’s the same setup as all of the other free sites, but with this one you only need *3 referrals*! Everyone knows 3 people… This should be very easy to get.

The current free offers that I saw were for eFax, a thirty day trial, and PeoplePC trial. Blockbuster is on there, but it looks like you’re supposed to pay for a $9.95 1 month subscription, and then you get credit for the offer instantly, rather than the previous 30 day trial period offer which took forever to complete.

And of course this is legit… Check “out”:http://forevergeek.com/news/freeipodscom.php “all”:http://forevergeek.com/gadgets/free_ipods_on_wired.php “the”:http://forevergeek.com/fg_commentary/another_freeipodscom_success.php “stuff”:http://forevergeek.com/news/freeflatscreenscom.php “we’ve”:http://forevergeek.com/gadgets/freeflatscreenscom_sony_wega_television_received.php already received.

_No Referral links in the comments area. There are plenty of conga lines that you can find all over the internet for that very purpose._

“iPodLounge”:http://gallery.ipodlounge.com/ipod/displayimage.php?album=20&pos=15 has some pics of the iPod Shuffle in real life already, including pics of it compared to the original and Mini iPods. Needless to say, _holy crap_ that thing is small.

Not that it matters. You’ll all just get free ones anyway from psp4free.com whenever it launches.

If you play as well, check out these interface mods for the game. Thanks to some forward-thinking on Blizzard’s part, you can easily modify pretty much the entire “2D” interface of the game to your liking, whether you are using the PC or Mac version of the game.

Because of the immense amount of spells, abilities, and weapons available in World of Warcraft, it can be a challenge to manage them all and have them all accessible at any given time. This is where many of these interface mods come in handy, by letting you have 1 or more extra bars of shortcuts to your spells, items, and abilities. They have lots of other features as well, which I’ve outlined below. Just keep reading.

h3. “Cosmos UI”:http://www.cosmosui.org/

Cosmos’ web site lacks any decent explaination of what it is or does, unfortunately, but I found a few good links in the forum that describe it better.

“Cosmos Beginner’s Guide”:http://www.wowwiki.com/Cosmos_Beginners_Guide “Cosmos Information”:http://www.wowwiki.com/Cosmos

Cosmos adds a lot of functionality to the interface including:

* Clock – Rather than having to mouse over the icon in the upper right corner to see the time, you can have it displayed on your screen constantly. It also shows how long you’ve been playing, how long you’ve played this level, how long until your next level, the average rate at which you are gaining experience, and a lot more.
* Second Bar – A second hotkey bar is added just above the default one, giving you twice as many shortcuts to your items, spells, and abilities.
* Sidebar – 2 Sidebars appear on either side of your screen, allowing for even more shortcuts. Makes it easy to group one side bar to healing, one to buffs/debuffs, etc.
* Popbar – Another, more powerful shortcut bar to the right of the “Second bar”, which when clicked, pops up even more options.

Those are the main features, but there are a couple dozen additional add-ons that can do almost anything else you can imagine.

One is an alarm and timer so you can remind yourself to go to bed before the sun comes up. Another displays detailed stats on how many dodges, parries, misses, etc you make. MooBuffMod will display countdown timers under your buffs so you can see exactly when they will expire without having to mouse over them. There is a quest tracker to easily track the progress of your quests without opening the quests menu.

There are many other add-ons which are listed “here”:http://www.wowwiki.com/Cosmos_AddOns. They all look really great and useful!

h3. “CTMod”:http://wow.warcraftstrategy.com/ctmod/

The CTMod is similar to Cosmos in that it adds extra bars and hotkeys, but it’s not modular like Cosmos is. Regardless, it features extra shortcut bars, renamable bags, buff countdown timers, and the ability to click on the map, create a note, and even send that note to another player.

h3. “GypsyMod”:http://gypsymod.the-mad.net/?id=features

Again, similar to the first two, this one is modular and also allows you to click and drag any interface element to any location you please on the screen, except for the mini-map. Checkout the “FAQ”:http://gypsymod.the-mad.net/?id=faq and “screenshots”:http://gypsymod.the-mad.net/images/screenshots/

It looks to me like Cosmos is the most full featured of the three, and there may be more out there that I don’t know about. I haven’t installed these yet, but will be sure to when I get home this evening. So you should all install them too, or I’ll have a big advantage over all of you!

wow gold – buy wow gold by Randyrun.com