Tech Goodies Under The Tree?
December 22nd, 2006
If you’re like me, you are hoping to receive some tech goodies and gadgets this Christmas. If you do happen to get a new iPod, Zune, or Wii under the tree, Tech-Recipes has some helpful tutorials on how to start enjoying your gadget right away:
Nintendo Wii
If you find a Wii under the trii, then you should feel very blessed. The popular console is packed full of all kinds of fun. Recipes by Davak and seamonkey420 aid you in your quest for Wii knowledge:
- Sending Photos On a SD Card to Your Wii Friends
- Sync a New Controller to the Console
- How To Find Your Wii Number and Register Friends
- Send Photos to Friends (video)
- Turning Off/On Wii-Spelling (Dictionary/Word Complete)
- Adjusting Wiimote Volume/Rumble, Rearranging the Main Menu/Channel Screen, How Friends Work, Rearranging Messages on Your Message Board, Mii Channel Tips and Photo Channel Tips
- How To Control your PCs Winamp with the Wii Opera Browser
Also be sure to check out seamonkey420’s blog for even more on the Wii!
Apple iPod
If you found an iPod in your stocking, then consider these tidbits:
- How To Copy Music from your iPod to Your PC or Mac
- Put Your 4th Generation iPod into Diagnostic Mode
- Use Your iPod Headphones as a Microphone
- How To Enable iPod Video Screensaver or Kiosk Mode
- Sync Your iPod Calender and Contacts with Outlook
- How To Reset Your nano if it Locks Up
- How To Use Your iPod as a Drive
- How To Store Full Resolution Images on Your iPod
Microsoft Zune
Maybe Santa felt you were more of a Microsoft person and gave you the new media player. If so, you’ll find these useful:
- Increase the Quality of Converted Files
- How To Remove All Content from Your Zune
- How To Change the Background Image
- How To Manually Add Album Art
- How To Reset Your Zune
- How To Change Your Zune’s Device Name
- How To Prevent Zune Software from Sending Your Usage Data
- Re-Register WMDM if Zune Software Cannot Detect Your Zune
- How To Transfer Your iTunes Music Store Songs to Your Zune
- Zune to Zune Picture Sharing
Additionally, if you did get a media player for Christmas, you will need some free music and videos for it. Check these out:
iPod nano: Diagnostic Mode
December 20th, 2006
Last week my 10 year old daughter called me at work, completely upset and stressed out. I thought some major event had occurred, it turned out that she had accidentally put her iPod Nano into Diagnostic Mode, but she thought she had broken it. While it was easy to get out of Diagnostic Mode (simply reset the device, see how here), it made me quite curious as to what the Diagnostic Mode was all about. I did some poking around on the device and even more on the internet and learned a little about it.
To get into Diagnostics Mode, you need to reset the device, making sure that the hold switch is off. When you see the Apple logo appear, press and hold the REW and Select buttons. The Apple logo should change in appearance. Once in Diagnostic Mode, you can choose to run either the Auto Test (click Back) or the Manual Test (click Menu). To cancel a test, simply press the Menu button. Running the Auto Test will do the following: Graphic self test, SDRAMQuicktest, Checksum, RTC, USBtest, Keytest, Wheeltest, Headphonedetect, Accessory Test, ChargeADC, Backlight, and Color. If you chose the Manual Test mode, you can choose from NTF, Memory, IO, Power, Accessories Test, SysCfg and Reset. Failing any of these tests is pretty much bad news as it indicates a hardware problem. Reset the device to exit Diagnostic Mode.