The Great Geek Manual

Link Round-Up: September 9, 2009

9 Sep 2009 Links

Resources

10 Things you should know about moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 – If you skipped Windows Vista and stuck with Windows XP, chances are good that you are now seriously considering moving to Windows 7 after it’s released on October 22. Not only should you begin planning for your operating system migration, but you should begin learning as much as you can about Windows 7.

50 Greatest Apple Wallpapers – Check it out. Blaberize has posted 50 downloaded desktop images featuring Apple’s iconic logo.

Build an analog TV station – With the transition to digital TV, the FCC has abandoned the old analog format. Luckily, you can take advantage of this and set up your own analog TV station. The FCC has a tool on their site to see what channels are open in your area to broadcast in.

Build your Own File Server – Intac walks you through the simple process of building your own Ubuntu-run stack.

Fonolo – Maybe the best website ever, Fonolo calls to large, impersonal corporations, presses the right buttons and stays on hold for you until a human comes on the line. Then your phone rings and voilà, you can talk to a live person about your account. Fonolo even gives you the option to record your conversation as an MP3, just in case your chat with customer support becomes an argument.

Freenet – free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish “freesites” (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Freenet is decentralised to make it less vulnerable to attack, and if used in “darknet” mode, where users only connect to their friends, is very difficult to detect.

Hierarchy of Digital Distractions – Information is Beautiful presents a Maslow-esque pyramid of electronic priorities in the social life of the average web addict. Beautifully designed.

How to Build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, Start to Finish – LifeHacker has a great update on it’s classic tutorial on how to run OS X on a PC. This version actually involves less work than the previous version.

inumbr – A great service that provides users with free, temporary, and anonymous phone numbers. Similar to e-mail forwarding services. If you’ve been nervous about giving out your phone number for fear of getting put on telemarketing lists, bookmark this now.

YourHackerz.com – I never thought services like this were legitimate, but evidently they are, if this article is to be believed. For just a hundred dollars, they claim to be able to get the password of basically any free e-mail service.