Hijinks Inc.

Blog

  • What will they think of next?

    I was checking my usual sites today and stumbled across this great article over on Lifehacker. Sounds like a very cool, and fairly inexpensive way to make yourself an incredible Media Center. Check it out!

    Transform Your Classic Xbox into a Killer Media Center

    If I didn’t just get a Media Center of my own (thanks again Aaron) I’d definitely look into this. Add in the functionality of being able to mod your Xbox and save all those games illegally and you really start to feel a little like a pirate. Add in a peg leg and don’t shower for about a month and you’d be good to go!

  • Walt Mossberg disses on Ubuntu

    Walt Mossberg lays the smack down on Ubuntu.

    I agree that Linux isn’t right for a lot of people, but some of his points are a bit off base. For instance his complaint about having to download codecs just to play an MP3 or a video, he states that these codecs are included in Windows and OS X, however, there are quite a few codecs for both operating systems that you have to manually download and install in order to play content encoded in that format. DivX and Xvid come to mind right off the bat, neither of those formats is supported natively in either Windows or OS X. Sure MP3 support is something you’d expect out of the box, but it’s not the end of the world.

  • Best Free Mac Software

    Seeing as my fellow blogger Fred just made the switch to OS X, I thought I’d help him and other switchers out by posting a quick list of must have applications for OS X.

    [ Internet ]
    Firefox – Need I say anything else? My browser of choice no matter what OS you’re running.
    Aduim – A feature rich Instant Messaging client, with a broad range of supported clients makes this a must have.
    Tomato – A simple, easy to use BitTorrent client. I’m using it until the OS X version of uTorrent comes out
    Cyberduck – A departure from the normal two paned view you might be used to in FTP programs, but still a robust program with support for FTP (File Transfer Protocol), FTP/TLS (FTP secured over SSL/TLS) and SFTP

    [ Multimedia ]
    VLC Player – Fast, stable and wide ranging codec support makes VLC a fantastic all around media player
    Flip4Mac – Adds support for playing WMV files in QuickTime
    LiquidCD – Excellent alternative to the native disc burning in OS X
    Handbrake – It may not offer the widest range of options when ripping a DVD, but it’s straight forward and produces high quality rips with no hassle.

    [ Misc ]
    smcFanControl 2.1 – A must have for managing the fan speeds on your Macbook / Macbook Pro
    Cashbox – Simple and easy to use software to keep track of your finances
    Growl – Growl is a notification system for Mac OS X: it allows applications that support Growl to send you notifications.

  • WoW on the iPhone?

    I’m crossing into Fred’s territory with this post. After all he is the resident World of Warcraft fanboy, but according to Macenstein, Apple’s latest press conference is going to announce WoW for both the iPhone and iPod touch.

    How did he come to this conclusion you might ask? Well, you can read the full story here. But the short and sweet version is that the little slogan Apple sent out as part of the invitation “Mum is no longer the word” is actually an anagram for “Lord, now the Grum is on me”.

    WoW

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  • Headlines

    I figured I’d take a moment to post a blurb about some the happenings of the week.

    ‘Idol’ Chatter

    Apparently the MTV Video Music Awards took place last Sunday. Because I’m not comatose, I know that Britney Spears performed at these awards and had the ‘show of a lifetime’… but in the bad way. I guess those crazy judges over on American Idol feel that they can help out this fallen star and get her career back on track. Simon Cowell was quoted as saying “We have decided we can bring Britney back. We are serious. We plan to buy her underpants, get her bigger shorts to perform in and get her away from her stupid friends.” Maybe I’m the only one that doesn’t care about Britney or any of those other crazy people on American Idol, but would somebody please tell Simon Cowell to buy shirts that fit him before he ever buys underwear or any other type of clothing for someone else.

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