Onbuddy's gadgets and electronics review.

For your info, Mac comes with a few screen savers. We’ll show you the steps to change the default one, create your own from your photo collection, and add third-party savers.

Please refer to mac basic faqs: how to change your Mac OS X desktop if you wish to change your Mac OS X desktop.

To Change Your Screen Saver

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences to open the System Preferences window.
2. Click the Desktop & Screen Saver button to display its preferences.
3. Click the Screen Saver tab to display just the Screen Saver preferences. All installed screen savers appear in the left pane. The right pane displays a preview of the selected screen saver.
4. Click one of the Screen Saver items in the left pane to select it for use.
5. If you’d like, click Test to see what the screen saver will look like in use.

To create a slideshow screen saver, do one of the following:

1. In the Screen Saver preferences window, select Library or one of the two choices below it to turn your iPhoto images into a slideshow screen saver.
2. In the Screen Saver preferences window, select Pictures Folder to display the images in it, or select Choose Folder, navigate to and select a folder that contains images in the resulting dialog, then click Choose to put it in use.

To add a third-party screen saver:

1. If the screen saver doesn’t have an installer to place the file in the right folder, locate the .saver file in the package.
2. Drag the file into the Screen Savers folder, which is in the Library folder at the root of your hard disk ~/Library/Screen Savers.
3. Follow the steps in “swap your current screen saver for another one,” above, to select the third-party screen saver.

Customize Your Screen Saver
Now that you’ve outfitted your Mac with a new screen saver, you can further customize its settings. Here are some of the things you can do in the Screen Saver preferences window.

1. Click Options to view the selected screen saver’s user-configurable display settings and adjust them to your liking. These settings will vary screen saver to screen saver.
2. Move the “Start screen saver” slider left or right to change the time, in minutes, at which the screen saver begins to play.
3. If you’d like the ability to start the screen saver manually, click Hot Corners. In the resulting dialog, choose Start Screen Saver from any of the four corner pop-up menus and click OK. The screen saver will start when you move your arrow to your chosen screen corner.
4. If you’re the adventurous type, select “Use random screen saver,” and your Mac will automatically select a screen saver when it goes into screen saver mode.

Haha, there’s nothing wrong with keeping that same Leopard default image as your Desktop picture, but if you wish to change it, we’ll show you how to swap it for another of ours or one of your own. Your Mac comes equipped with more than the default picture; in fact, Apple preinstalls over 50 images to choose from. To change your desktop picture, follow these instructions:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences to open the System Preferences window.
2. Click the Desktop & Screen Saver button.
3. Click the Desktop tab; the left pane lists the different folders from which you can choose an image. The right pane displays thumbnails, small images, of the images in the selected folder.
4. Click Apple Images to select it. You’ll see the default picture in the right pane, along with a bunch of other images.
5. Click any thumbnail to instantly change the desktop image. Feel free to click a few different ones to try them out.
6. Now select Nature in the left pane. Then click any of its thumbnails to place a nature type picture on your desktop. Do the same for Abstract.
7. If you’d rather have a solid color desktop, select Solid Colors in the left pane, and select a color swatch from the right pane.
8. When satisfied with your choice, close the Preferences window.

Of course, you can turn any of your own photos or artwork into a desktop picture too. Here’s how to do this:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. In the window, click Desktop & Screen Saver, then click the Desktop tab to display just the desktop preferences.
3. If you want to use a photo from your iPhoto Library, select Library in the left pane. Otherwise, select Choose Folder, navigate to and select the folder that contains your image, and click Choose.
4. In the right pane, click any thumbnail to place the image on the desktop.
5. Depending on the size of your chosen image, you can opt to tile or center it if it’s small. Note: Your image will look pixelated or have jagged edges if it’s too small. Or have the image fill the screen, or stretch to fill the screen. Just choose an item from the pop-up menu that appears above the thumbnails, the one next to the thumbnail of your current picture.

You can also have your Mac automatically change your desktop picture. To do this:

1. Select the “Change picture” checkbox. Note: This option is not available if you selected your iPhoto Library or an iPhoto picture roll.
2. From the Change picture pop-up menu, choose one of the intervals listed in the menu (such as every minute or every day—or choose every 5 seconds for a desktop slideshow).
3. Select the “Random order” checkbox if you want the images to appear at random. If it isn’t selected, your images will appear in alphabetical order by name.

What is a windows boot disk?
A windows boot disk allows you to boot off of a diskette instead of your hard drive. This diskette can be used to fix issues that may arise during the lifetime of your computer and/or to help load older MS-DOS games.
Tips: After you have created a boot diskette, it is highly recommended that you write-protect the diskette to prevent possible computer virus infection and to help the diskette from being erased.

The following files are self extracting disk images that can be downloaded and executed to create the associated floppy disk(s).

How to use a windows boot diskette

1. Place the diskette into write-protect mode (in case a virus is on the computer, this will not allow the virus to transfer itself onto the diskette).
2. Insert the diskette into the computer and reset or turn on the computer to begin the boot process.
3. As the computer is booting, answer the questions prompted (if any).
4. Once at the A:\> take the appropriate actions depending upon the situation of the computer.

Q: What is linux?
A: The name “Linux” is used to refer to three similar yet slightly different things, which can be confusing to all but the hardcore geek. The three usages vary by how much of a complete software system the speaker is talking about.

At the lowest level, every Linux system is based on the Linux kernel — the very low-level software that manages your computer hardware, multi-tasks the many programs that are running at any given time, and other such essential things. These low-level functions are used by other programs, so their authors can focus on the specific functionality they want to provide. Without the kernel, your computer is a very expensive doorstop. It has all of the features of a modern operating system: true multitasking, threads, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared, copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, loadable device driver modules, video frame buffering, and TCP/IP networking.

Most often, the name “Linux” is used to refer to the Linux Operating System. An OS includes the kernel, but also adds various utilities — the kinds of programs you need to get anything done. For example, it includes a shell (the program that provides a command prompt and lets you run programs), a program to copy files, a program to delete files, and many other odds and ends. Some people honor the request of Richard Stallman and the GNU Project, and call the Linux OS GNU/Linux, because a good number of these utility programs were written by the GNU folks.

Finally, software companies (and sometimes volunteer groups) add on lots of extra software, like the XFree86 X Window System, Gnome, KDE, games and many other applications. These software compilations which are based on the Linux OS are called Linux distributions.

So, there are three Linuxes: the Linux kernel, the Linux OS, and the various Linux distributions. Most people, however, refer to the operating system kernel, system software, and application software, collectively, as “Linux”, and that convention is used in this FAQ as well.

Q: Is linux unix?
A: Officially an operating system is not allowed to be called a Unix until it passes the Open Group’s certification tests, and supports the necessary API’s. Nobody has yet stepped forward to pay the large fees that certification involves, so we’re not allowed to call it Unix. Certification really doesn’t mean very much anyway. Very few of the commercial operating systems have passed the Open Group tests.

A: Unofficially, Linux is very similar to the operating systems which are known as Unix, and for many purposes they are equivalent. Linux the kernel is an operating system kernel that behaves and performs similarly to the famous Unix operating system from AT&T Bell Labs. Linux is often called a “Unix-like” operating system. For more information, see http://www.unix-systems.org/what_is_unix.html.

Q: Who wrote linux?
A: Linus Torvalds and a loosely knit team of volunteer hackers from across the Internet wrote (and still are writing) Linux from scratch.

Q: How is linux licensed?
A: Linus has placed the Linux kernel under the GNU General Public License, which basically means that you may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but you may not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and you must make the source code available.

This is not the same as Public Domain. See the Copyright FAQ, ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/law/copyright, for details.

Full details are in the file COPYING in the Linux kernel sources (probably in /usr/src/linux on your system). There is a FAQ for the GPL at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl-faq.html.

The licenses of the utilities and programs which come with the installations vary. Much of the code is from the GNU Project at the Free Software Foundation, and is also under the GPL. Some other major programs often included in Linux distributions are under a BSD license and other similar licenses.

Q: How does one pronounce linux?
A: This question produces an outrageous amount of heated debate.

If you want to hear Linus himself say how he pronounces it, download english.au or swedish.au from ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds/. If you have a sound card or the PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing

$ cat english.au >/dev/audio

The difference isn’t in the pronunciation of Linux but in the language Linus uses to say, “hello”.

For the benefit of those who don’t have the equipment or inclination: Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the ee is pronounced as in “feet,” but rather shorter, and the u is like a much shorter version of the French eu sound in peur (pronouncing it as the u in “put” is probably passable). 

What is meebo? It’s a web messenger that lets you access IM from absolutely anywhere. meebo supports msn, yahoo, aol/aim, google talk (gtalk), jabber and icq.

What is https? https is known as “Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer”, but now https may be secured by the Transport Layer Security (TLS) instead of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.

To invoke https, we simply replace “http://” with “https://” in the Uniform Resource Locator (url), or Web address. https connections are often used for payment transactions on the Web and for sensitive transactions in corporate information systems.

By using https (https://www.meebo.com) instead of http (http://www.meebo.com), all the data is encrypted and protected for additional security. You can try it. 

Free Web 2.0 logos to grab! LogoInstant provides free logos free of charge (FOC). New logos are added regularly with different categories. We can edit these logos for our personal use or commercial use. Logos come in a layered Adobe Photoshop source file and are easy to personalize.

Categories of the Web 2.0 designs include e-commerce, communication, animals, food and beverage, and logotype.  Glossy logos, rounded corners, and fading gradients of color are all over most of the logos. If you’re looking for something that fits the theme of your blog or document, you can browse the site’s logo categories to find something that matches. Happy hunting!

1. Nero and Alcohol burning softwares are not used in this tutorial.
2. Download the file you need. Example: ISO Recorder for Widows XP.
   You can download this file from Windows XP and Vista burning tool website.
3. Install the downloaded file: ISO Recorder.
4. Choose an ISO image file you wish to burn from your computer, right-click and select Copy image to CD from the menu.
5. CD Recording Wizard dialog box will pop up. Let’s say you have blank disc in your E drive, you’ll see E: Blank Writable Usable. Press Next and you are ready to burn the iso image file to your CD.

How to create ISO image file

1. Besides burning ISO image file, this software can also help you to create an ISO image file.
2. Choose a folder that you want to make it to ISO, then right-click and select Create ISO image file.
3. From the CD Recording Wizard dialog box, select the Target and press Next. Done!

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom is the best selling digital camera for Q4 2008 (September to December 2008).

Digital camera information
Canon PowerShot A590 IS consists of 8.0-megapixels, a 4x optical zoom, an Optical Image Stabilizer and a large 2.5-inch LCD. A range of shooting modes – from manual to automatic including Canon’s new Easy Mode – make picture taking carefree. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Enhanced Canon Face Detection assures natural-looking results, while Motion Detection Technology reduces blur. For added creativity, attach wide or telephoto converter lenses. ISO Sensitivity – Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600 equivalent Built-in ElectronicFlash – Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Auto Red-eye Correction, Flash On, Flash Off; FE lock, Slow Synchro Flash Range – 12 in.-11 ft./30cm-3.5m (W), 12 in.-7.2 ft./30cm-2.2m (T) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto) Shooting Modes – Auto, Easy, Camera M, Portrait, Landscape, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Night Scene, Aquarium), Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Movie Storage Media – SD/SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card – Suggest optional 1GB or higher for practical use File Format Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1; JPEG Compression Mode – Still Image – Exif 2.2 (JPEG); Movie – AVI (Image – Motion JPEG; Audio – WAVE (Monaural)) Number of Recording Pixels – Still Image – 3,264 x 2,448 (Large), 2,592 x 1,944 (Medium 1), 2,048 x 1,536 (Medium 2), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3/Date Stamp), 640 x 480 (Small), 3,264 x 1,832 (Widescreen); Movie – 640 x 480 (20 fps/20 fps LP), 320 x 240 (30 fps) available up to 4GB or 60 minutes, 160 x 120 (up to 3 minutes at 15 fps) Uses 2 AA Batteries – Shooting Capacity for Still Image – approx. 220 shots (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 500 shots (AA-size Ni-MH Battery); Playback Time – Approx. 540 min. (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 660 min. (AA-size Ni-MH Battery)

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom is one of the cheapest and inexpensive digital cameras in the market for Q4 2008.

Non-ejecting disk image problem of Mac OS X ignores your wish to eject disks and disk images, no matter if you click the Eject button in the Finder’s sidebar, drag the disk to the Trash, or right-click and choose Eject.

Solutions to the non-ejecting disk image problem for Mac OS X

Solution 1: Force Quitting (Relaunching) the Finder (Apple Menu –> Force Quit –> Finder)

Solution 2: open Disk Utility (in the Application->Utilities Folder), and unmount the disk

Wii Message Board let us keep in touch with friends and family through the Wii console. Having a broadband internet connection, we can exchange pictures and messages with other users and receive news on upcoming games, events, etc.

How to access the Wii Message Board
1. With the Wii console connected, power ON the console to reach the Wii Channel menu.
2. Use the Wii Remote to move the cursor over the Wii Message Board icon (the envelope in the bottom-right corner) and press the A Button.
3. Now, we can open a message by moving the cursor over it and pressing the A Button.

How to write a Memo
“Memos” are created when we send messages to our friends who use the same Wii console as us. They are visible to anyone who has access to your Wii console. They are not sent over the internet.
1. From the Wii Message Board main menu, select the “Create Message” icon.
2. Select the “Memo” icon.
3. Move the cursor over the text area of the message and press the A Button to open the virtual keyboard.
4. Enter the text by moving the cursor over the desired letter and pressing the A Button.
5. To attach a Mii, select the Mii icon, then select the Mii you would like to use. What are Miis? Miis are customizable player characters that you and your friends can create. Here are just some of the fun things you can do with Miis:
* You can choose one of your Miis to be “you” in Mii-compatible games.
* You can store up to 100 Miis in your Mii Plaza
* You can carry Miis in your Wii Remote to exchange them with Miis in friends’ Wii consoles. Yours will then appear in their games, and vice versa!
* You can exchange Miis with friends around the world via WiiConnect24 and Mii Parade.
6. Select “Post” to post your memo. It will then be visible by anyone with access to the Wii console.

How to use the Calendar
1. From the Wii Message Board main menu, select the Calendar icon.
2. Select a date on the Calendar to to open the Message Board for that day.

How to write a Message
“Messages” are created when we send messages over the Wii Network Service to our friends’ Wii console or email address. In order to do so, we must have a broadband internet connection and register your Wii Friend in the Address Book.
Kindly take note that if you want to send a message to someone in the same household as you, that is a “Memo.”
1. From the Wii Message Board main menu, select the “Create Message” icon.
2. Select the “Message” icon.
3. Select a Wii Friend to send a message to from the address book, and then press the A Button.
4. Move the cursor over the text area of the message and press the A Button to open the virtual keyboard.
5. Enter the text by moving the cursor over the desired letter and pressing the A Button.
6. To attach a Mii, select the Mii icon, then select the Mii you would like to use. Please note: This feature only works when sending a Message to another Wii console.
7. Select “Send” to send your Message.

How to reply to a Message
“Messages” are received over the Wii Network Service from Wii Friends you have added to your Address Book. In order to send or reply to a Message, you must have a broadband internet connection and have registered your Wii Friend in the Address Book.
Kindly note that we can’t reply to “Memos” posted locally on the Message Board.
1. Access the Wii Message Board.
2. Use the Wii Remote to move the cursor over the Message you would like to reply to, and press the A Button.
3. From the Message screen, select “Reply.”
4. Move the cursor over the body of the Message and press the A Button to open the virtual keyboard.
5. Enter text by moving the cursor over the desired letter and pressing the A Button.
6. To attach a Mii, select the Mii icon, then select the Mii you would like to use. (This option only works when sending your Message to another Wii console).
7. Select “Send” to send your message.