GoRedwings19's Computer Help Hotline

I'm considering to get one of those services to upload myself some files, and eventually sharing them. Some of you are Megaupload users, others use Rapidshare, Sendspace... At this moment Megaupload is offering a lifetime service with no restrictions for under $200 which I think is a fantastic deal, but if no one else is using that service, it can become quite pointless for some of the purposes. I'd like to read your opinions and recommendations

Anyone here doing a Microsoft-based HTPC? Just curious what software you choose and why? Choices seem to be (from Engadget poll): ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater Corel WinDVD 9 PowerDVD 8 Ultra SlySoft AnyDVD HD Blu-Ray is a must, and HD-DVD would be nice, though I don't expect to use it (I have the capability, don't intend to track down the software, but if I see some for cheap and have the ability, why not?). Yes, I can google, and have, and will some more, but wouldn't mind hearing from the peanut gallery.

Curious if there is a SATA and IDE BlacX-like device? I see adapters like this, but nothing in the more convenient form factor. Anyone know of one?

Hi All, I finally upgraded my laptop and it has 802.11g support, so it's time to upgrade my ancient Linksys BEFW11S4 router. I'm blindingly happy with it. It hasn't given me a single problem in the years that I've owned it. So I'm inclined to go with the latest Linksys version of this router, the Linksys WRT54G2, which goes for $44.89 at Amazon. I know that Linksys is not the favorite with many people here. Can the many network- and wireless-wise people here either validate my choice or suggest alternatives (or both)? Thanks in advance for your advice. Regard, -ken

So I'm seeing this, and I'm thinking to myself -- you know, I've been meaning to (ahem) laserdrop my laserdisks. Talk me down? Talk me up (I.E. should I go all the way to 1080p)? Do whut now? This coming from someone who has immediately fallen in love with blu-ray -- I may not know shit about this stuff, but I know what I like.

I seem unable to find information on what is used as the pigment in colored printer ink. I'm curious if traditional pigments are used like cadmium, cobalt, etc. Do any of you guys know?

Sorry if this is old news, but I stumbled on a browser called Webkit for Mac. This thing is truly FAST. Surfing the web on my OSX'd 1000H netbook smokes everything else (except Webkit now on my Macmini). Seems quite stable too. If you're running OSX, you owe it to yourself to try this. The WebKit Open Source Project

Does anyone know of any 802.11n extenders/repeaters? Right now my access point is in the HT/Game room which is in the basement and adjacent to the garage. My bedroom is above the garage and coverage is pretty spotty. The problem is the wall between the basement and the garage it's at least a foot thick solid concrete. Apparently the wireless doesn't like going through that. So I'd like to get some sort of 802.11n extender/repeater/bridge that I could put on the first floor which would give a huge boost to the signal I'd get in my bedroom.

Nice spec bumps and, to the delight of Duet fans everywhere, they kept Firewire. The addition of a discrete graphics card should now make this a decent video, as well as audio, server.

Raid 0 1TB SSD http://www.techpowerup.com/86997/OCZ_Demos_1_TB_RAID0_Solid-State_Drive_with_Unbelievable_Transfer_Speeds.html

I've always been a loyal Firefox fan, but I've decided to give Safari 4 Beta a chance because it's supposed to be super-fast and better integrated in OS X than Firefox. So far, it looks great and I notice a slight improvement in speed, but there's one thing that's bothering me quite a bit: is it possible to activate autoscrolling (or drag scrolling) like in Firefox? By drag scrolling, I mean clicking the middle button on the mouse and just dragging the mouse around to scroll. That's one essential option for me. Thanks!

Well, I finally got a nice job. It's half time for 4-6 months. After that, we see where we are and what the business climate is like. I know the tech-lead and this should be a fun job! I need to provide my own laptop for this job. I have a 4 year old Dell Inspiron 8600 that would probably do the job. However, I think that I'd be better off having a separate work computer. Other members of the team have recently bought this HP laptop. They did get it for $100 less but the price still is pretty reasonable. I've been pretty detached from computer hardware. Should I get this or would you laptop knowledgeable people recommend something else? This laptop will be…

I have an IDE drive (DVD burner with lightscribe) that I'd like to use in my SATA-based machine (has no IDE whatsoever). Any adapters that you can recommend or disrecommend?

Is it possible to use Mobile Me to sync my calendar if I don't own a Mac, or Microsoft Outlook? I was kind of hoping I could just have everything I key into my iPhone calendar go to the magical me.com cloud in the sky, but it looks like if I try to sync my iPhone without first having synced with Outlook or iCal, it will just zap everything on my iPhone Calendar. Is this the case?

I have a good client/friend that has cancer. He is having major surgery in about 2 weeks. I've been telling him to get a drive for me to transfer a bunch of music for him to use on his ipod and at home. I have an external in my office which I reformatted by accident. I have a 1 tb drive at home that is Mac OS formatted. I would like to be able to transfer about 400 gb of music from this drive to his new 1 tb Seagate Freeagent (not Mac OS). He uses a pc. Is there anyway for me to do this?

If I type in Head-Case.org I get this: Everything else (forums and chat) functions as normal but for some reason the main page isn't working. Any ideas?

I thought this article from Computerworld was interesting regarding the new technology that will let you sync your ebooks between Kindle and Kindle2 devices and maybe other devices such as the Iphone or Android. Here is a link and I pasted the article below: Shhh: Whispersync could be the real news out of Kindle 2 Whispersync: The Real News Behind Kindle 2 Matt Hamblen, Computerworld Amazon Unveils Kindle 2 The latest incarnation of the e-book reader is thinner, with newly designed buttons and interface, but it's not a radical overhaul. The introduction of "Whispersync" technology may well be the bigge…

Hey guys, I tried to acess the chat room but I can't see a thing. I just see a window saying addon chat software. Do I need any program to use the chat room?

So apparently there's a little snafu at Google? I was searching for some things this morning and came across this error message: Warning this site may harm your computer. Essentially google is popping this up for every search. You can't click through the links at all for some reason. Anyone know anything about this. Getting news on it it tough, because you CAN'T CLICK THROUGH GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS!?!?!?!?!

Another Deathstar incident? Know we're quite storage-intensive around here, maybe advance warning will save someone's data. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives said to be failing at an alarming rate - Engadget

I think I've lost the driver CD for my M-Audio Transit USB The M-Audio website only allows you to download driver updates and not the driver suite itself. Would anyone that has the driver CD mind making a CD image for me and uploading it? Nero, CloneCD, Alcohol 120%, etc should all be able to do that.

My Mac is slow as shit, and no I don't know what happened. It is very possible that the Little Monkey pressed some buttons. What can I do to run a checkup or some such shit--other thanDisk Utility--so that this thing gets back to normal?

So my brother is looking to build a box for doing CAD. His budget is ~1k. I can pretty much make him a decent desktop, but where my expertise and those I normally talk to regarding hardware draws a blank is the Nvidia Quadro line or other workstation/pro cards. What is the difference between a gamer/consumer card and a more pro workstation card? What would someone recommend with a max of probably ~500 bucks though preferably less unless the performance sweet spot demands the higher price? I don't think he's doing anything especially zany as I believe he intends to use this mostly for small projects.

I've had the luxury of making my own Mac computing arrangements for both work and play over the last decade or more -- so I haven't really used a version of Windows since 95. Anyway, I'm about to buy a new laptop for my mom and was wondering what I should do about the OS -- is Vista really bad enough that I need to go get a copy of XP instead? She's in her 70s and uses the PC pretty much exclusively for email, Flickr and Skype video chats with the grandkids. Simplicity and stability are key -- as she's also 8,000 miles away and tech support is me. And no, she doesn't want a Macbook.

Well there are more and more rumblings all around about not using University equipment (computers) for non-University functions (music listening). So I plan to head off the whole issue by setting up another computer (personally purchased) to serve the music to my work rig (output to Apogee Mini-DAC). The question for you is should I buy a Mac Mini or a Dell Studio Hybrid? and more importantly, why? The unit needs to be small, OS is irrelevant, I'll use itunes on the Mini or J. River Media Center on the Studio, the library will be on an external drive (most likely directly connected), I have my library in both FLAC and ALAC, it will be for playback only, it doesn't h…