9/19/2006
Save Your iPod's Hard Drive
After 2 years of heavy hard drive use, my 30GB 3G iPod died last week. The iPod itself is fine, but the hard drive is toast. Luckily I was able to pull most of my important files off (some of them one at a time). Right now the guys ate iPodMods are fixing it for me.Why did this happen? I wasn't just using my iPod for playing music. I was transporting large amounts of files everyday to and from work and even capturing DV video to my iPod. I also kept my iPod mounted to my computer all day and played music off it. As I later learned, this is not exactly a smart move. Over time I basically grinded my iPod's hard drive into the dirt. So please learn from my mistakes. Try to use your iPod mostly for music and not for massive and frequent file transports.
I mailed my iPod off iPodMods to get fixed but I still need a portable hard drive to shuttle files back and forth with me everyday. I needed a small and reliable drive that I can use with both Macs and PCs. I also wanted one made by a very well known hard drive manufacturer. My data is very important to me and spending a little extra for a quality hard drive is well worth it in the long run. I had a bad experience with a cheap Maxtor hard drive before and will never buy a crappy drive for my data again. After an extended search I found the perfect match: the Seagate Pocket Hard Drive.
The Seagate Pocket Hard Drive is a standard high-speed USB 2.0, bus-powered device. It provides a true "plug and play" connection that supports hot plugging so you can connect or disconnect the drive even when your computer is on. The drive receives power directly through the USB connector so there is no need for an external power source or batteries.
The high-speed USB 2.0 is backward compatible with the older USB 1.1 standard. However, USB 1.1 only supports transfer rates of 12 Mbits/sec. To take advantage of the speed of your Pocket Hard Drive, connect it to a computer that supports high-speed USB 2.0 connections. High-speed USB 2.0 supports data rates up to 480 Mbits/sec (40 times faster than USB 1.1). You can save any type of data and files on the device including text, graphics, programs, music, and even multimedia files.
This hard drive is big on storage but small in size. If you are looking to put fewer "hard drive miles" on your iPod, then definitely look into getting an alternate portable data drive. Seagate is well known for their quality drives and products and the Pocket Hard Drive gets the job done at a great price.
YouTube
prevents viewers from downloading files off their site. But there
are ways around this. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to
rip video files off YouTube.com and convert them for your Video
iPod.
Wicked Lasers named their new flashlight the TORCH... and for good reason. The "TORCH" is technically a flashlight. It looks like a flashlight. Operates like a flashlight. But this is no ordinary flashlight. The TORCH is so bright that its beam can ignite flammable objects as fast as fire. 
The average teenager these days probably has no idea who poor old Wilford is. But if you grew up during the 80's, then you probably remember Wilford from movies like Cocoon, The Natural and his many Quaker Oats Oatmeal commercials. Does Wilford Brimley really look like a cat? You decide.
As Twitter continues to gain in popularity and users, those of us already on Twitter might find ourselves in a position where we have to explain Twitter to a non-techie type person like Grandma. So what do you say when someone asks you something silly like "What is the Twitter?" or "Are you taking the Twitter?"
Bugs tend to freak us out. Mosquitoes, spiders, wasps, centipedes... you name it. If it crawls, bites or buzzes anywhere near our faces, then we squirm, swat and run. But what's worse than a little bug crawling on or biting you? How about a really, really big one? Here are some of the biggest bugs on Earth. Enjoy!. 
Instead of having to go to a separate site or use a specific application like Second Life, ROCKETON turns the entire Internet into a virtual world for browser based avatars. 
If you're looking for an inexpensive, lightweight pair of earbuds with fantastic bass, then Radius' Atomic Bass earbuds are the earbuds of your dreams.
In a time when so-called MC's rap about their bank accounts or invent the latest dance craze to sell records, Lupe Fiasco is on the other side of the spectrum. It's refreshing to find a mainstream rapper dealing with non-commercial issues with the passion and sheer lyrical skill that Lupe exemplifies.
Want
to upgrade the RAM in your
Mac Mini? You can definitely save a few bucks by buying a stripped
down Mac Mini and upgrading the RAM yourself. But before you
can install that extra RAM, you'll need to take a walk down to
your local hardware store and grab a couple putty knives.
Need
something to watch on your iPod or iPhone? Here's a tutorial that
explains how to use a program called Handbrake to rip DVD's
into iPod compatible MPEG-4 video files.
Is a weak arm or physical stamina keeping you from taking your Nintendo Wii gaming experience to the next level? Perhaps you should look into getting the Nintendo Wii Nunchuck Controller. This accessory adds even more innovation to the next generation of gaming and does it all with less physical movement.
Are
you trying to eject your iPod from your computer but the "Do
Not Disconnect" won't go away? Don't worry, this is a common
problem with a fairly easy solution.
So
Napster's gone pay, KaZaA is chock-full of viruses and spyware,
and you need someplace to get your file sharing on. Luckily
for you, there's BitTorrent! Here's a
tutorial to get you started. 
