Kensington HD Universal Dock Converts Laptops Into Desktops
Connection [Peripherals]
If you are looking to turn your laptop into desktop workstations with one single USB 2..0 cable, driving monitors up to 2048 x 1152 pixels, you must be out of your freaking mind. Or maybe you just need these.
They are two new Kesington Universal Notebook Docking Stations, both powered by the DisplayLink DL-195USB graphics processor. That means that your notebook graphic card would not be used. The DL-195USB will process all the graphics and send it to your monitor, so your build-in fancy GPU will sit idling and whistling.
The $149.99 K33926US can connect to DVI or VGA monitors at that resolution, providing with Ethernet connectivity at the same time. The $129.99 K33930US will do the same, sans the Ethernet. [Kensington ]
Life-Size Gears of War Lancer Is Sure to Get Some Kid Expelled [Gaming]
This Gears of War replica Lancer doesn't fire real bullets, and it's lacking the motor components to saw someone in half. But damn does it look deadly.
Packing a weight of 15 pounds and a full-sized length of over three feet, the Lancer has been crafted out of polystone before getting a hand-painted finish. And if you'd like to actually own this work of art, you can preorder the Lancer now for $950.
It'll ship in February, or just in time to destroy any intimate relationships you may have before Valentine's Day. [Triforce via Kotaku]
AT&T plans for iPhone MMS to arrive Friday
The iPhone is, arguably, the most advanced smartphone currently on the market. However, whenever you make that argument here in the U.S., invariably some wise guy will say, "If it's so great, why can't you send MMS messages?"
AT&T did promise that the iPhone's innate ability to send MMS messages would make its American debut by September 25—this Friday, in case you don't have a calendar handy. Is AT&T going to disappoint us (again) or will it deliver the goods? Count on the latter, according to no less a source than AT&T itself—or at least the corporate behemoth's Facebook page.
On that site, the carrier promises that MMS support will launch late in the morning, Pacific time, this Friday. "The new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready to download through iTunes," AT&T says, promising to provide more details when the launch begins. (Once the update is live, you'll be prompted to install it the next time you connect your phone to iTunes. It's not a whole software update, just a small installation of additional settings onto your iPhone.)
As a reminder, the ability to send and receive photos, contact info, audio files, and locations via the iPhone's Messages application was added with Apple's iPhone 3.0 update—AT&T just didn't support it. That's not the case in at least 76 other countries where iPhone 3G users already take advantage of MMS support.
Needless to say, a lot of people will be paying attention to AT&T on Friday. And if this report on DSLreports.com is accurate, that's making the carrier very nervous, as it rushes to beef up its infastructure to support the expected burst of activity.
Here's hoping that AT&T's network is ready for millions of iPhone users to send a few test MMS messages starting late Friday morning.
The complete story can be found here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/142962/article.html
We hope you will find this story interesting and informative. Macworld, an IDG publication, provides independent, unbiased, reviews, news, and information about technology.
Stuffed Animal USB Hand Warmers Quickly Brand You as "Office Weirdo" [USB]
From GizmodoStuffed Animal USB Hand Warmers Quickly Brand You as "Office Weirdo" [USB]
If you feel like your coworkers just don't ostracize you enough, these fuzzy bear and rabbit USB hand warmers are sure to do the trick. "Why does that guy have his hands jammed into a stuffed animal's esophagus?" they'll ask.
Though I've had the good fortune to have never worked in an office, I have seen every episode of The Office and thus feel qualified to say that wearing these things are a surefire way to turn you into a weirder, colder and furrier version of Dwight (or Gareth, or whoever fills that role in the Australian, Quebecoise etc versions). They're a little bit cute and a lot bit creepy, and available for $22.50 per pair. [Technabob]
Top 10 Tactics for Protecting Your Stuff [Lifehacker Top 10]
We've offered up a wealth of tips on locking down your data, but old-school, straight-up stealing is another matter entirely. Try these 10 tips on securing, disguising, tracking down, and hiding your goods so they don't get nicked.
Photo by tom.arthur.
10. Sign your gear, add return incentives
Your wallet or purse already has your license in it for identification and mailing, but what about your other, possibly more expensive gear? You should definitely get a label on it. Adam kinda-sorta thinks the ImHonest label service makes sense, if you want to protect your mailing address and give gadget finders an offer of a reward to return your gear (even if that reward is, not surprisingly, just some ImHonest labels, unless you go further yourself). Homemade labels with an email address might be good enough for most, but for gadgets with memory cards inside, digitally signing with a .txt file makes sense as well. (Original post)
This falls under the same category of ugly-as-deterrent mentioned elsewhere on this list, but office lunch thieves are a different kind of bandit. They (somewhat) know you, they (hopefully) don't want to sell your goods, and they're more of an opportunistic nuisance than a hit-and-run thief. Since we originally posted about designer Sherwood Forlee's faux-moldy anti-theft lunch bags, Forlee's put his bags up for sale at $10 for 25 bags. Not a bad price for semi-reusable bags, but you can likely replicate the effect on your own with non-toxic paint or food dye. Better still, if you're willing to sacrifice two slices of bread for the cause, we've heard a surreptitious coffee grounds sandwich often teaches a vital lesson about personal property to refrigerator prowlers. (Original post)
Less Than a Third Of You Accurately Adjusted Your HDTV Settings
Less Than a Third Of You Accurately Adjusted Your HDTV Settings [Home Theater]
According to our recent poll, only 29% of respondents actually calibrated their HDTVs. That means as many as 70% of you might not have your settings optomized. Fortunately, that's not too difficult to change.
If you think the picture quality might be off, follow this guide and learn how to calibrate an HDTV on your own. And, for the love of God, don't waste money on this service from a big box store.
iPhone 3G S Batteries Overheating Has Users Hot
Apple with its wildly popular iPhone 3GS is the latest vendor to grapple with reports that batteries are overheating.
The blogosphere is burning up with a heated debate on whether the new iPhone 3G S at times is getting so hot from battery overheating that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will be forced to step in and demand a recall of thousands, tens of thousand or even hundreds of thousands of the product line. More on this story from ChannelWeb.
Restore Missing CD or DVD Drive
Reports have filtered in that CD or DVD drives will suddenly cease to exist in XP and Vista systems. Most often this
has been reported in conjunction with program installations and Windows upgrades, but it has also
happened for no apparent reason. This tweak will restore the missing drives after a reboot.
** NOTE** This fix requires editing the computer registry - backup first!
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
Key Name: {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Value Data: [Delete All Value Data from UpperFilters and LowerFilters]
Note: Do not delete the Key or the Multi-String Values. Delete only the data values.
Exit Registry and Reboot
How to avoid getting a virus / trojan / worm / etc
-updated 05/08/09
Malware, spyware, trojans, viruses, worms, and all the other nasties out there come in many shapes and sizes, and get onto your PC in several different ways. The purpose of this post is to bullet proof your PC so they do not even get the chance.
- Download and install Secunia. This program will run constantly in the background and advise you when any program on your computer is missing an update. Very stable and secure, for Windows only.
- Change your browser! Stop using Internet Explorer. Most evil things get onto your computer through your web browser, and IE is not that secure. Available for all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) l suggest using FireFox.
- Once you've downloaded Firefox, install the WoT (Web of Trust) addon. This will place a green or red circle next to every link when you do a Google, MSN, or Yahoo search. Green is good / safe, red is bad / evil. If you click on a link that was marked red, you are almost guaranteed to end up with something on your computer that you do not want there!
- Install a working up to date (and auto updating) anti virus program. AVG and AVAST! are both great personal and free programs. The biggest difference is AVG comes with a toolbar/link scanner (which you can hide so it doesn't get in the way) and AVAST! does not. If your current anti virus program is expired, not working, or you just don't want to pay for it anymore, use one of these.
- Bad things like to play and live in your temp files. CC Cleaner is a robust disk cleanup program that runs very quickly and takes care of those files plus more. Does not run automatically, should be run monthly.
- Malwarebytes is one of the top rated programs for keeping malware off your PC. The free version works great, but does not do live background scanning (you have to run it manually). Most anti virus programs do NOT find what this program does; this is a must have program. If you use the free version, depending on your internet usage, we suggest running it once every 2-4 weeks.
- OpenDNS is like a traffic cop for the internet. It censors (at your discretion and choice - it is completely customizable) what your computer / network can look at and see on the internet. Completely free, this is highly suggested for anyone that has children / teenagers and small businesses. Even if you know that little Johnny would "never" intentionally go to a bad site, misspelled words in search engines happen.
- Do an occasional online scan. (this does require using Internet Explorer though); Bitdefender Online scan will find things that your onboard antivirus program may not, especially if there is a trojan that is blocking it from running correctly.
IE8 Crashes - Why you should wait, and how to fix
- Enter information in any blank fields of any websites
- Enter information into Outlook Express in the "body" field
- Access System Restore - the calendar was blank
The Fix: Uninstall Internet Explorer 8
- From the START (Globe for Vista users) button, goto CONTROL PANEL
- ADD / REMOVE PROGRAMS
- IE8 - Uninstall
