GoRedwings19's Computer Help Hotline

Since today's changes, I can't access head-case with my computer. Safari now says it can't find the server, and Firefox only gives a white page that won't let me do anything except refresh. I've cleared, reset and rebooted for nada. I'm on my phone now, but it only works sometimes as well. Any ideas? I can't be the only one, unless this is part of Nate's revenge plan.

They lost me at 720p, but maybe they won't lose you. Too much dosh for me as well, so I may have been looking for a way out. US$600 today only until 1600 BST, which I don't even know what that means, it may have already passed for all I know. IndieGogo link

I have to unplug and reattach my iPod to the Mac several times before it registers in iTunes -- is this a common problem, is there a fix for it, or should I send it back for a replacement? I'm worried about killing the battery. The Mac is at 10.5.5, iTunes is at 8.0.1 (12), and iPod is at 1.1.2 Mac. (And no, I don't plug it and unplug it willy-nilly -- I give it a chance to register every time. One time it even caused iTunes to stop responding, and I had to reboot the computer.)

Hello! I'm thinking about buying a new laptop. I gave my old HP to my sister and it weighs 400 pounds. I want something light and tough (can I have both?) for around a grand or cheaper that will be used exclusively for internet and music on the go. There have been a lot of threads lately about laptops, so judging from those I'm either considering a Lenovo T series or (shudder) going back to macland with an iBook. Any other thoughts or recommendations appreciated.

PNY? Centron? KByte? Some unknown brand? Should I buy two sets of two different ones and try them both out? Background: I already bought some Centron, but can buy 4G of PNY for reasonably cheap. Should I? Or is it a move sideways? What are there often sales of? Kingston? Crucial? Are those the two best at this point? I don't need best (not for this computer), I need "Honda" -- cheap (or rather, reasonably priced considering its quality, not Kia cheap) yet reliable. For the one I build myself, then I'll want "BMW" performance.

Dad's in Tulsa with a new Mac and I'm in Nashville. Is there a way I can troubleshoot/control his desktop from here without buying software? Really need to figure this out quick.

It makes the bits sound sweeter: https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/english-electric-8switch-streaming-audio-network-switch/ I think I'd save my money for a 10 Gigabit switch instead.

Well, our wireless router may have kicked the bucket. One of the lower ended netgears I believe. Looking for something reasonably priced that won't break down on me in a year, and gets the job done. Thanks guys

I know a few use more popular services (Blaze, etc.), but anyone have any comments on DrivePop? Not quite sure how they plan to keep the doors open with their unlimited plans, but the pricing seems right. http://dealmac.com/Drive-Pop-Unlimited-Lifetime-Online-Backup-from-50-/853785.html

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've just had my first look at Mininova, found several interesting audio files (recorded from radio broadcasts) and am downloading them with

So I'm finally going to do something about the sagging performance of my windows lappy. Right now it's got a hybrid drive in one slot and a standard lappy drive in the other, both 500GB. I don't think I really need that much capacity so I'm thinking all I really need to replace is the primary HD with a SSD with at least ~240GB to allow for application and some document storage with a buffer. Right now I'm leaning towards the Crucial M500 or Kingston V300, both of which are under $130 for the 240GB version. If there's a compelling reason to spend a little more I could be swayed. And while it doesn't quite double the price to get to 480GB I just don't think I need that…

In this day and age, this should not be that hard. I am looking for some decent backup software. Here's how I'd like it to work. 1. I want real time backup -- I don't want to have to run it every night, or press a backup button. I want for the software to detect when I have changed a file, and back it up. 2. I want it to keep all version of the files it backs up. 3. I want the backup to be in the cloud -- I don't want to have to maintain a backup server, and I don't want to backup locally. 4. I want the software to sync several computers. I use about 5 different computers, and I want for a change on one to be replicated to the others. I have been usin…

Steve Jobs' worst nightmare gets a review: WarMouse Meta review -- Engadget

My 2nd gen iTouch refuses to update. The key though is that it also will not hold a charge. Is there someone who is handy and can help me by installing a new battery on this thing for me?

I asked my thunderbird to sync up to folders already on the webmail server (just started using it for uni email addy). And the sub folders which I had already created inside the thunderbird inbox vanished, replaced by the server synced folders. (I had assumed they would be added on to, not supercede). The emails in those previous folders were not returned to the main inbox, although everything in the main inbox remains the same. Nor were they moved to the deleted items bin. They've simply vanished. They're not on the main server via the website either so I can't redownload them. Obviously putting them in folders in thunderbird killed them on the server which fucks my w…

Meh, guess I'll try asking here. Does anyone know of software that can read the SMART data from drives in USB enclosures? Is it even possible? I would like to be able to check the fitness of a drive without having to plug it in directly, especially 2.5" drives. Another question: I am concerned about the fitness of my primary drive. The raw read error rate has been around 48 since I last started monitoring it, and it flits around between 48 and 49, sometimes going up to 52. This is a Seagate drive, and I assume 100 is the maximum value. Of course, I have no idea whether Seagate is doing some weird shit with the values. I compared my drive to another identical one and…

I have Orbi and Asus ZenWifi setups in different places, now I need one for the Michigan compound. Old Apple Airports have gotten us this far. From reviews and best lists, the top contenders seem to be Eero and TP-Link Deco. For what it's worth, here's the main challenge: There are three separate buildings in the compound, the main house with the cable internet connection is down slope from the three story shop/garage/loft set into the slopes and lastly another cottage across from a garage. The in-laws have hard-wired ethernet cables running to two both ends of the main house and the top floor loft in the middle building. The biggest challenge is getting a decent si…

I've got a small Apple wireless that I take with me on gigs. I usually plug into the local network and I can get out on the network, plus set up the wireless so that anyone else on a mac can leech off. At home I come out of the cable modem directly into my ethernet port. I've noticed that when I plug in the Airport Express my dowload times and browser refresh rates are much faster off of the Express than being directly plugged in. Shouldn't it be faster directly plugged in to the modem? Do I need a different ethernet cable perhaps? Just curious. I've had no issues with the hardware on my Macbook Pro...

I know iTunes can playback pre-emphasis CDs on the fly applying the required filtering to de-emphasize them, but it won't play FLAC files, nor will apply the de-emphasis filter on ALAC files made from pre-emphasized FLAC files. So it's either de-emphasizing the FLAC files using SoX or some other filtering tool and playing back the new corrected files on your preferred software, or using some software that can de-emphasize FLAC files on the fly. Does this even exist? I'd like to know about any music playback software for OSX that can play pre-emphasized lossless files applying the required filtering on the fly. Thanks.

I just installed OS X in a G5. This is my first interaction with Mac. Whee... Yeah, yeah, I know, Tiger is like so last year...

forgive me for the terrible pic, my real camera is broken, so had to use camera phone i think this is max for my cpu, on air at least. stepping/week is cab2e 0546

I decided to give my dad my partner's old laptop (Pentium M 1.6Ghz 1GB RAM). After erasing everything and reinstalling Windows XP Pro from the original disk, the computer kept crashing. I am guessing that it had something to do with some drivers. Instead of trying to fix it, I wiped the HD clean and installed Linux Mint on it. I figured that he could do everything on Linux that he needed. So I get to my parents house today and find out that most of what my dad does on the computer is stream Netflix movies. As far as I can tell, you cannot stream Netflix with Linux (even with Moonlight). If there is a way, I would love to know. My other option is to insta…

foobar 0.9 = no asio, no wma, no tta.

So this guy on eBay has a disc that I want, and since he's in Germany, and there are other things in Germany that I want, I want to be able to browse what he has, but he sucks and doesn't put them in categories or anything. Does anyone have any advice on how to go through his catalog without looking up every single thing he has somewhere else? It's this guy, tucu9. I got SACD's, and there's even one I want (After Forever, though no Epica), but beyond that I'm stumped. I like his electro/ebm/industrial selection (which includes the disc I want), but am insufficently familiar with compilations to know which are good ones and which are not so good (I am avidly not in…