Any of the following issues can be truly annoying with your MacBook: the battery won't charge, the power adapter doesn't work, or, my personal favorite, the Mac won't go to sleep, or worse, won't wake up from it. Here's how to solve some of these power annoyances.
First, try a basic restart. Click on the Apple in the menu bar and select restart. If the computer won't restart, try the following.
Use option-command-escape to force quit any programs that may be stalled. Press control-command and the power button to force a restart of the machine. Or, if that doesn't work, force a shutdown by holding the power button down for 10 seconds.
Once you've restarted the Mac, see if you're still having power problems. If you are, here's a last-ditch trick you can use on an Intel-based Mac to try to fix your Mac's sleep or other power-management problems. Thanks to joeyjoeyjoey in the #CNETFans chat room for this one.
First, shut down the system entirely. Use the power button trick if you need to.
Unplug the power and remove the battery.
Do you have a MacBook Air or 17-inch MacBook Pro? Yeah, they don't give you a way to easily remove the batteries on those. We'll get to you down below.
Once you have the battery out, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds, then release it.
Reconnect the battery and the power.
And power on the computer. Hopefully that fixed your problem.
Now if the battery doesn't come out of your particular Mac, you still need to turn the MacBook off, but make sure your power adapter is connected and plugged in.
On the keyboard press the left shift button, the left Control and left option buttons, along with the power button all at the same time, once. Only use the left side buttons, not the ones on the right.
Wait five seconds, then start the computer back up. And there you have it. If the problem was unstable settings in the System Management Controller, they should be fixed now.
A word about sleep issues. Before you resort to the power management, remember that connections can prevent the MacBook from going to sleep. Bluetooth connections, network connections, and even just playing music or DVDs can interrupt sleep. My MacBook Pro wasn't staying asleep because my EVDO card was in the slot and it kept checking the network connection, interrupting sleep.
See our Quick Tip on sleep problems for more information on troubleshooting the Mac sleep issues.
Subscribers at DBSTalk.com, and I experienced a blank program guide with a date of 7/14 and all shows noted as "To Be Announced." While channels continued to receive programming, any recordings were disrupted.
Callers to DirecTV report they were told the problem was fixed or being fixed and they would not lose any programming. A hard reset (or reboot) seemed to fix the problem temporarily, but eventually the guide data would disappear again. However many ToDo lists were gone. One viewer reported he had paused a basketball game while putting his kids to bed and when he came back, the prompt for deleting an episode was on the screen and the end of the game was lost.
One enterprising user identified as dragonbait on DBSTalk.com seemed to have tracked down the problem to faulty guide data coming from one satellite.
"I just forced one of my HR20s to look at channels from 103 sat by recording 2 Starz channels; therefore, it should be getting guide and potentially date/time info from 119 sat. This box's date changed to 7/14 around 11:10.Similarly, I forced my other HR20 to get its guide data from the 101 sat by tuning it to XM channels. Its date did not change.
Therefore, it would seem that my suspicion that the 119 sat is sending the wrong date might be true. Further tests are needed to confirm."
No official posts from DirecTV had been made in the troubleshooting area of the DirecTV forums as of this posting.
We'll assume you've been to Twitter.com and know it's a list of short postings, limited to 140 characters. You probably know you can follow people and their posts show up in your time line.
But what's it good for? At it's most basic, it's good for keeping in touch. Twitter can be delivered in several ways: on the Web, in a separate application, or by text message. Here's how to do the text thing.
In settings, tell Twitter what your phone number is and activate your number. From then on, when send your text message to 40404, Twitter knows by your phone number it's you and posts the message to your account.
You can also have other people's updates texted to you. Send "on" to 40404 to get them from everyone you follow, and "off" to stop them. You can shut off individuals in their twitter profiles on the Web by visiting an individual's Twitter profile. If you pay for text messages, you need to be careful with using Twitter over text. I prefer to use an application on my phone. It saves on text-messaging costs and allows me to have a more visual interface.
Great! Now you have lots of posts. What the heck are these people writing? RT @acedtect OH: blah blah blah. Let's start with the @ symbol. You know it well from e-mail. It's common practice to refer to people by their Twitter names with the @ symbol in front. This makes their name into a link. So it's used as a reply:
Or just to talk about them:
The excellent thing about the @ sign is it lets you send a message to someone even if they don't follow you. Take someone outstandingly popular, like Jason Howell. He can't possibly follow everyone who follows him. But folks can message him by using his handle @raygun01 in their message. When he clicks on the replies tab in his Twitter account, he sees all the folks who messaged him.
Remember, your @ replies can potentially be seen by anyone. If you need a reply that's a little more private, try the direct message. You can either type d and then the username like this:
Or you can go into the Direct Message section of the site. Either way, the messages are not public. Do keep in mind, you can only send a direct message to someone who follows you.
Abbreviations
Let's get into some shorthand. You may also run across something like this:
You might first read that and think it reads, "OH! That man is a pig..." But the OH stands for overheard. When you want to anonymously pass along something someone else said, say in a restaurant, or even on a TV show, you type OH and then the overheard phrase in quotes.
Another common oddity is RT. As in:
The RT stands for ReTweet. You're passing along to your friends, something someone else said because you find it informative or funny or whatever. At the same time, you're giving credit to the original poster.
And before we move on from the posts themselves, a little about hash tags. They have nothing to do with potatoes OR marijuana. Unless you want them to. It refers to putting the pound sign in front of a word. This "tags" your posting. So, let's say you're attending the Consumer Electronics Show. Every post you make about the show could end #CES. This would make it easier for folks looking for information about the show to find it.
What makes a good Twitter post?
Finally, what should you write? Literally answering "What are you doing?" may get boring fast. At least to folks following your time line. Some of the most enjoyable posts are witty observations, breaking news, and links to interesting stuff, like Web sites and pictures. In fact, many mobile phone applications allow you to take a picture and automatically add it to your posting. If you want to do that, you need to get to know TwitPic.
There's a whole heck of a lot more to cover, but now you know the basics. In fact, now you can just ask other Twitterers what some of their other favorite tricks and tips are and I'm sure they'll @ you right back. Have fun getting started with Twitter.
You buy MP3s, take photos, write long love letters to Cloris Leachman, and you keep it all on your hard drive. If that hard drive crashes, you're done for. Unless you backed up. But what's the best way to back up? There are several ways to do this. We're going to discuss three. You can see some of them in action in our video.
- External Hard drive
- Network Attached Storage
- Online service
Let's start with the external hard drive. Obviously, you don't want to back up to the same hard drive where the original files are. That's just silly.
The simplest method is to buy an external hard drive and back up to that. Our favorite here at CNET is the ClickFree portable backup. It makes the process of backing up as simple as you can imagine. The software is stored on the drive, so you just plug it in and tell it what to back up.
You can also do it yourself. If you have an old hard drive lying around, say from upgrading a notebook, just put it in a case. We show how to do it in this video on upgrading your hard drive.
... Read moreWe've shown you how Windows Vista's ReadyBoost feature will let you use a USB drive like this as extra cache memory to make your computer faster. Well there's a way to do the same trick in Windows XP. Thanks to Shawn in Quebec for sending along the tip.
First insert a flash drive
Open up the Control Panel.
Go to "System."
Choose the advanced Tab.
In the Performances section, click on "Settings."
Choose the advanced tab there.
In the "Virtual Memory" Section, press "Change."
Select the letter corresponding to your flash drive. (Hint: It's not C.) You can let the system manage the size or customize the amount of space that you want used as virtual memory. I'm not going to use this flash drive for anything else, so I'll let the system manage it.
Make sure to Press Set once you've made your choice.
Press OK, and the changes will take effect.
Then restart your computer.
And now you have a little extra memory at no additional cost.
The cool thing about the Wii is the motion sensing. It works because of the sensor bar that sits on top of the TV. But because it's on top, it may fall off and break. We can show you a lot of easy and cheap ways to replace it in this Insider Secret.
The sensor bar is plugged into the Wii, but that's just for power. It's lighting up infrared LEDs. Those are picked up by the Wiimote, and it triangulates off them to determine its position, and then the Wiimote sends that information back to the Wii. So if you have two infrared lights and an independent power source, you can easily replace the sensor bar should it break.
One way is a remote control. Most consumer electronics remotes use infrared light to send information to the device they control. If you have two remotes you don't use anymore, you can tape down the power button and space them out. Or get more ambitious and cut one open and wire the LEDs directly to the power pack, like these folks did.
Another way is to get two LED bulbs, obtained rather cheaply, and two 3-volt lithium batteries. Then place them a sensor bar's width apart. The downside to both these solutions is the work involved and the fact that the batteries may wear out or even burn out the bulb.
So here's my favorite solution: tea lights. Just light the candles and space them out. The infrared light from the candles works just like an LED. Makes for a romantic evening of Mario Kart.
If you just send an e-mail on the Internet, there's no way the recipient can be sure it really came from you, unless you digitally sign the e-mail. Also e-mail is unencrypted and anybody could intercept it and read it, unless you encrypt it.
GnuPG is a free and open-source package that gives you the capability to digitally sign and encrypt e-mail, among many other things. In the video and here in the steps, I demonstrate this on Mac OS X, but the process is similar for Windows users. First go to GnuPG.org . Windows users should click off from there to the Gpg4win project. For the Mac, I'm going to head to MacGPG find the proper file for my version of OS X and download it.
After downloading, open the .DMG and first read the Read Me file! There you'll find instructions for what to do whether you've had GnuPG before, had another PGP program before, or never had it ever. I'm going to assume the latter. Then run the install program.
PGP is something called public key encryption. Which means you have to create some keys you'll use to encrypt your data. For first-time users of PGP, the Read Me has a link to an excellent, illustrated guide.
This next part may sound and look scary, but if you breathe deeply and follow closely, you should be able to come out with some encryption keys without too much trouble. If this is too scary, the Fink Project still uses the command line, but it only needs one command. But let's show you the more involved way so you see what's going on behind the scenes.
- Launch Terminal. The easiest is way is to press command and space at the same time and type terminal.
- Type "gpg --gen-key" and press enter.
- Choose option 1 for standard signing text and strong encryption.
- The longer number the better, so I'm choosing 4096.
- Type "0" unless you want your key to expire.
- And "Y" to confirm.
- Choose your user ID carefully. It can't be changed later, though you can add additional users.
- Your key itself needs to be protected, so choose a passphrase that is impossible for someone to guess but that you won't lose!
- Now GnuPG will create your encryption keys! Move the cursor around or do some typing while it generates. That helps make the keys more random. It really does!
- Launch Thunderbird.
- Go to Tools and Add-ons
- Press Install
- Browse to where you saved the download.
- Press the Install button.
- Then restart Thunderbird.
- Go to the OpenPGP menu and choose Key Management.
- Select generate and new key pair.
- Make sure the proper e-mail address is selected.
- Choose a properly long and secure passphrase, but one that you won't forget. Forget it, and you're out of luck.
- Press the generate key and wait for the new keys to generate.
- Click yes to create a revocation certificate. This will be handy if you ever need to kill this key due to theft or a hard drive crash.
A digital signature will prove the e-mail came form you, no spoofing! And Encryption prevents interlopers from determining the contents of the e-mail if they intercept it.
And that's it! Lots of steps, but no real difficult thinking and you have a much more secure environment for e-mail. And if you poke around on the GnuPG site you can find a million more uses for the PGP keys.
The Apple TV is an excellent little device, if you limit yourself to the Apple universe of music, video, and podcasts. Who wants to be limited? Watch our video on how to add DivX, AVI, and more to your Apple TV. Then return here for the written steps.
XBMC is free and open-source software for Windows, Linux, and OS X that many consider the best media-center software out there. It grew out of the mod chips used on the original Xbox. Because it can run on OS X, that means it'll run on the Apple TV, which runs OS X.
Boxee, is a service based on XBMC that is currently in private alpha. You can get some free invites at www.boxee.tv/cnet. You'll have to download and set that service up separately.
Let's get started. Make sure you have your Apple TV turned off. Then make sure you have a USB stick with at least 1GB of space.
- Download the ATVUSB-Creator from Google Code.
- Insert a "bootable" USB drive into your Mac. Most USB drives are bootable. Watch out for drives that have the U3 software pre-installed on them; they're the ones that give the most trouble.
- Run the ATVUSB-Creator.
- Select "ATV patchstick."
- Make sure the XBMC and Boxee plug-ins are selected.
- Make sure your USB drive is selected.
- And press "Create Using."
- Again, make sure you Apple TV is off...remove the USB drive and plug it into your Apple TV.
- Power on your Apple TV, and the patchstick will run the ATV bootloader.
- After the bootloader finishes, remove it and restart your Apple TV. It now has options for Boxee/XBMC on the main menu.
- Click on Boxee, then select Update Boot Launcher--this helps prevent problems with the remote.
- Then select XMC/Boxee, then Update, and then Boxee. This will download Boxee from the Net.
- Once it's done installing, restart your Apple TV. Then do the same for XBMC. You'll probably want to explore the FAQs at XBMC and the blog at Boxee to make the most of your new capabilities.
I just bought a new router and have this old Linksys WRT54GS just lying around now. But rather than ditch it, I'm going to give it some new life with new third-party firmware. Watch our video then refer to this story for all the steps.
Every router has software that runs on it. We're going to change that software from the factory default to an open-source version. Whether you're replacing your old router or just frustrated with your new one, there are a few reasons you might want to do this.
My Linksys can only act as an access point for turning my Internet into wireless. The Tomato firmware I'm going to put on here will let it act as a bridge, allowing machines in my house that don't have Wi-Fi actually access the network wirelessly.
It can also act as a site-survey tool, giving me the strengths of nearby networks, and it can let me know which frequencies they occupy. In a crowded neighborhood, this can help you reduce interference on your network tremendously. Tomato also has a bandwidth-usage monitor. If your ISP has a cap on bandwidth, this is indispensable in telling if you're close to the cap. There are also other features, like Wake on LAN, Static DHCP, and more.
How to do it
There are many third-party firmware options out there; some work better with specific routers. Look around at DD-WRT, FreeWRT, Tarifa, and others to find one that works with your router. I'm using Tomato, which says it works with Linksys WRT54GS V1 through V4.
Look underneath your router for a serial number or more specific model number to match it up.
Then download the firmware.
Extract it to a folder. Read the "readme file" to determine which file goes with your router.
Then connect your router to your computer.
Open the router's Admin screen, as described in your manual. Or just look it up on a search engine.
Click Administration. Click Firmware Upgrade. Select and upload the correct firmware for your router.
Wait for about 2 minutes while the firmware is uploaded and flashed.
Then it should reload to the Tomato screen.
Tomato advises that you may want to reset settings to default, to avoid any minor incompatibilities between the Linksys firmware and the Tomato firmware.
Browse around the FAQ at polarcloud.com for more info on how to use the new firmware.
Sometimes you don't find out about a good TV show until partway through its run, or maybe you don't get a certain channel, or even worse, for whatever reason, your DVR fails to record your favorite show. Thanks to the Internet, there are many ways to catch up, and maybe even ditch cable. Watch our Insider Secret video to see some of our favorite ways to get TV shows online, and then come back here for the links.
There are still many popular shows that don't put their content online. At least not legally. And this ain't about piracy, so put The Pirate Bay down for a moment. Still, a large number of shows are available legally online. Here are some of my favorite resources to find them.
Step one, go to the network's Web site. More and more channels put full episodes on their site. Look in the video tabs and find a link, usually called "full episodes." That may be the best way right there. All the networks stream their shows with commercial interruptions.
Another resource is a video aggregator site like Hulu.com. Hulu was launched as a cooperative venture of TV networks to provide easy access to movies and TV shows. Although anything you find there is likely to also be at the networks Web site, it's convenient if you want to watch shows from multiple networks at one site. The shows here also have commercials, and for some unfathomable reason they don't keep all the back episodes around. It's also U.S. only.
One of my favorite portals to check for TV shows is AOL video. Yep good old AOL. They have partnerships with several video suppliers, like Hulu for instance. You can find a wealth of back episodes from major shows there.
Another good portal is Fancast. The service is operated by Comcast and is meant to tell you all the places you can watch any show. When you search for a show, they give you any streaming versions they have access to, plus a schedule of airings on TV and any DVD versions available.
If you're a Netflix subscriber, another place to find old TV show episodes is through the Netflix streaming service. Your account allows you to stream many TV shows that are out on DVD. You'll have to have Internet Explorer or a dedicated device like the Roku Netflix box to use the service.
Another good free streaming provider is Joost. You can download the application from Joost.com, though they soon plan to make it a plug-in that works in your Web browser. It gives you free access to clips and full shows from several different channels.
When you have to break down and pay
If the show you want isn't streaming anywhere, you may have to buy the show. The bad news is that costs money. The good news is you don't have to watch commercials.
Apple's iTunes lets you download many TV shows for $1.99 an episode or a whole season sometimes at a slight discount. The shows will play on your computer or on Apple mobile devices like the iPhone or on Apple's Apple TV. They won't play on non-Apple mobile devices though.
Amazon's Video on Demand lets you buy shows, too. Once you buy a show, you can stream them in your Web browser on Mac or Windows any time you want. You can also download your shows to a Windows machine and move them to several portable devices. You can also have the shows sent to your TiVo, which is pretty cool.
And there's also BitTorrent. Yeah I know, we said no piracy. But BitTorrent.com, the official makers of BitTorrent, provides TV shows through their Torrent Entertainment network that are completely legal.
You also can get TV shows from your game console. The Xbox 360 sells TV shows in its Marketplace, some in high-definition. And Sony is touting Movies and TV shows at the push of a button for the PS3 and PSP.
That covers the major options out there, but there are still others. To sum up, you have approximately three options when attempting to catch up on a TV show.
- Stream for free, but watch commercials.
- Download for pay but have no commercials.
- Or break the law and pirate it and risk going to court.
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