So I just took this video of me playing around with iPod Touch 1.1.3 and I noticed that you can access the iPhone dialer.

In order to do this all you have to do is go to the music screen and double-tap the home button

I only have one iPod Touch so you should try and see if you can do this with yours. Also note that this iPod Touch as the moment is not hacked and yes it has the applications even though I said I wasn’t going to buy them, I couldn’t help myself.

One of the best things within in OS X is the dock. Its a great way to keep all of your favorite applications in an organized way right at your finger tips. Sometimes it gets a little crowed on that dock to have all of your programs on there, but with the recent addition of stacks its now easier than ever to get all of your apps on the dock in a great organized way. 

•  Open up the finder
• Click on your hard drive, it should be the first icon under Devices
• Now you should see the Applications folder 
• Drag and drop that folder next to the Downloads and Documents stack.

Now you should have an icon on the dock with an application on it, its going to be organized alphabetically, now click the stack and you will see all of your applications  

With the operating system releases from the big three Microsoft, Apple, and Ubuntu I have noticed a step forward for updating your system and software. Granted all three have been doing this for years I just feel that in all of the cases it has improved all around with the newest release. Having your system up-to-date is very important for stability, improving performance, and protecting your Windows PC from the newest security threats. Here is a small over look at how I feel the three big OS’s handle this task. 

First off I am going to say even though Ubuntu is probably my least favorite of the three it does updating existing software and getting new software better than anyone out there.  I can’t understand why Apple and Microsoft hasn’t copied there way of installing and uninstalling software. Having it all in one place is so convenient that its hard not to love it, no more searching on the Internet for that program you want. Once you get the software you want the system does a good job looking for updates to all of your software, no matter the company who makes it. 

Unlike that Apple has a great software update feature to but I feel it  falls a little short of that. It does its job without any issues but it only seems to update software that was created by Apple themselves. Luckely there is a great program, the GOAT if you will, called AppFresh. AppFresh looks for updates for all of your software and updates them in a nice simple way inside of the program.  

 Microsoft has the most improved out of the three though. When ever you install drivers, software updates, system updates, etc its all saved in the new Windows Update. What I like about the update is that before you install an update you can get a full description of what it is you are getting, very nice. One issue I have with this is that sometimes it likes to install drivers twice for me thus it telling me there has been an error and so forth.  

Want the new 1.1.3 update for your iPod Touch but still want it to be hacked? Well the well known hacker ipodTouchMaster and his friends have come up with a way to update to 1.1.3 and get those cool new apps and the “Wiggle” screen for free. The process works great but for some reason on my Touch I cannot use Youtube, I get a weird error about connecting iTunes to the Internet.   If you know of a better why to hack 1.1.3 or if you are having errors with this leave it as a comment and maybe somebody from the community can help you out.  ipodTouchmaster’s web site 

Recently I have ran into a slew of great programs while moving move to OS X Leopard like Transmission, iLife and iWork 08 programs, Joost, and on the Windows side Live Writer, so naturally this made me think of all of the crappy software I have used in the past.  While the good software out weights the bad ones I have used its still neat to look back on how bad and poorly designed some programs are.

•  America Online- Nothing was more annoying than “YOU GOT MAIL!”. I hated those words for years. Not only was the software slow to use having a 56k connection didn’t help trying to do the simplest of tasks. I still to this day believe that my life would be better if  I didn’t have to use that mess. 
• First Zune Software- I could not stand the overall look of the program and its proneness to crashing. It was basically a memory hog that could screw up the easiest of tasks. Thankfully the newer software works better and has a nice look.
• Microsoft Works: In middle school I hated doing a report in the word program and having the school computers not recognize them, it took me years to figure out how to save them in a way that the real Word would read it, I wasn’t a bright kid. 
• Q- Not that well known Q makes it possible to run a virtual machine on a PowerPC Mac. What it fails to claim is that it is almost unusable to use though. I tried to install Ubuntu on a PowerPC G4 1GHZ with 1gig of RAM and I couldn’t even get to the boot screen.

Honorable mention: MSN Messenger, no matter how many times you tell it not to start when Windows starts it does it any way. Not that its a bad piece of software it was just annoying.  So what software would like to forget? Got any stories about bad software? Leave it as a comment and share it with the world.  

Last night I finally received my OS X Leopard in the mail from Amazon. After a quick installation I was running the newest version of OS X without any seeable issues, and the experience so far has been extraordinary! With over 300 new features its hard to name them all but here are the 5 best things about Leopard to me. 

1.  Quick Look- Not sure what that song or video file is? Don’t feel like opening up Quicktime or iTunes?  Just press the spacebar to preview it! I never would of that that this would be a big feature but it serves its purpose well. 
2. VMware Fusion- I have been a big supporter of VMware for a while now and  I can honestly say that this is their best work to date. You can now run your Windows programs, I have to use Live Writer, Notepad( I take XHTML in school) and the Zune software, along side the Apple programs in perfect harmony. You can also have it in full screen on a different space, I will get to that in a minute.
3. Stacks- Not only the stacks here because the new new dock is stunning! I love how all of my downloaded files are in one place and with a click of the mouse I can view them all.  I also like the documents section because I am always editing work for class.
4. Spaces- As  I mentioned before I use spaces to keep my virtual machine in a different section, so with the press of F8 I can easily move between them. I also like to keep a lot of windows open so its nice to be able to separate them into different work spaces. 
5. EVERYTHING! Thats right I love everything so far, subject to change, in OS X Leopard. I  seriously cannot find one thing that I find annoying or just dumb, flip 3d for example in Vista. It seems Apple put there best people on the new operating system. 

Here is a few other things I like.

• Help, its almost impossible not to get the answer you are looking for via help. 
• iTunes, I guess this counts as part of the Leopard experience, renting movies is fun and easy to do. 
• Share Desktop, I can now manage my iMac from my laptop across the house, and I can now tell when someone is using my iMac without my permission :)
• Web Clips are fun and useful to make and use. 

With all of this said I dont think I will be running Windows ever again outside of a virtual machine.  So what’s your favorite things about Leopard? Are there things you hate? Let us know via a comment! 

Recently I saw this video and was just blown away with how great this story is! Joe Barnick was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Like most people with SMA he is limited to what he can do and especially with computers, like he cannot use a mouse and keyboard. With new technologies from AssistiveWare he can now use a computer to achieve things that he could not do in the real world, but he can do now do them with his Mac.

If you have any stories where technology has helped you out in any way please leave as a comment.

FACT: Every computer is vulnerable to Viruses, Malware and Spyware.

No matter what brand your Windows based computer is you are vulnerable to viruses that could potentially harm your computer and can even destroy your files and make your computer unusable. That’s why if you own a Windows computer you need an anti-virus program installed, active, and up to date. Some of these programs can get a little pricey like Norton Anti-virus and PC Doctor, but others are free.

If you need a free anti-virus program than you cannot go wrong with AntiVir.

As I mentioned it is 100% free to have the standard version. The program seems to get a new virus data-base every day, meaning that it will be up-to-date on all of the new viruses. Even when you are not doing a system scan with the program it keeps an active guard running that will protect you against anything that has a potential risk. To me its the best piece of freeware you can own and you cannot afford to live with out it or one of its competitors.

If you know of any better pieces of anti-virus then please leave it as a comment, or if you have any tips to help protect your computer then leave them as a comment as well.

I am a huge Baltimore Ravens fan. I was saddened and shocked to hear the news that on Dec. 31 that coach Brian Billick was fired and I was thrilled when we hired coach John Harbaugh a few weeks later. During that process no one knows what goes through an organizations thinking process, all we have is speculation on what is going on.

Kevin Byrne has been in the NFL for over 35 years with the Cleveland/Baltimore franchise and was part of the process of firing the old coach and hiring a new coach. He writes a blog on the Baltimore Ravens web site cleverly called The Byrne Identity . In his latest blog post he takes us through the entire process of finding a new coach all the way from the firing of the old coach. If you are a fan of the Ravens or just a football fan this is a great read.

Here is an exert,

Brian was fired on New Year’s Eve. That day, Steve, Dick and Ozzie met with the media announcing the dismissal. Steve announced that Ozzie would head the search for the new head coach. Joining Ozzie on this hiring committee were Steve and Dick, of course, along with George Kokinis and Vince Newsome, our pro personnel director and assistant director of pro personnel, Eric DeCosta, the Ravens’ director of college scouting, Pat Moriarty, our VP of Football Administration, and me.

Both Ozzie and I have made presentations at NFL meetings about the process we used to hire Coach Billick. It is such a thorough exercise that the league recommended using it, especially to make sure minority candidates are getting a fair opportunity for these jobs. The day we started the process, I was walking to Ozzie’s office, which is next to mine, with the notes from the seminars we presented when he was coming to my office to give me a copy of the same thing. We laughed and noted that it had been a long time since we’ve had to do something like this for our team. Oz shared copies with the rest of the selection group.

Rest Here

So you want to get involved in the world of linux, mostly the distribution Ubuntu, but you are not sure if you should? Well here are five reasons that you should give Ubuntu a try.

1. Its FREE! Everyone loves that price- Not only is the operating system free but the software is as well. So you can get an office suite and a photo editing program for free and is just as good as the expensive versions, though not as pretty.
2. Low requirements, High performance- You can run Ubuntu on 512mb of RAM and it will feel like you are using a gig on Windows Vista. The OS requires barely any specs to run but it is still powerful. Of course if you want the Compiz features and all of the cool things you will need at least a gig of ram for a smooth experience.
3. Breath new life!- Got an old computer? As I mentioned above it doesn’t require any new hardware to run the operating system and software. This is perfect for giving a computer to a first time user weather its a child or your parent.
4. Perfect for the student- You have a laptop for class why not go with Ubuntu? Like me, if you are in college you are always low on funds and you would probably like to buy food for the week instead of Microsoft Office and Adobe PhotoShop. Once again the free software comes into play here
5. Your in control- With Ubuntu you have 100% control of how you want the interface to look like. Everything is basically customizable. So if you are a Windows converter you can make Ubuntu look like XP or Vista so you will still feel at home

Why do you use Ubuntu over other operating systems? I want to know why do you use it? Let the community know via a comment.