Linux, your iPhone and your pictures

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I suppose this might work for an iPod touch as well, but the ones I have and have seen don’t have cameras.  OK, on to the tip!  Recently I wanted to get all of my pictures copied off of my iPhone and onto my computer running Linux, specifically Debian 5.0.  Normally with something like a USB thumb drive this is easy, once you plug it in, even if it doesn’t auto mount itself you can at least look in your messages file to see the actual device path in order to mount it manually.  However, what I noticed with my iPhone (3GS version 3.1.2) is that not only did it not auto mount, my messages file didn’t list any information about a device path for me to mount it manually.

From here naturally I turned to Google, but everything I came across talked about installing iFuse and some kind of ipod-convenience package or said it couldn’t be done, or my favorite that you had to have a jail-broken phone in order to do it.  Now, I didn’t want to install a bunch of packages I wasn’t familiar with just for this, and I darn sure didn’t want to jail-break my phone either.  If for no other reason than because I was convinced that if I could do it in Windows (connect to my iPhone and copy my pics off), there had to be a way to do it in Linux too, without having to alter the device.  I am hard headed that way, but in this case it worked.

Now this might be obvious and simple to everyone else, and if so I am sorry to bore you, but it wasn’t something I was familiar with.  I did have an inspiration though, something so simple I just knew it wouldn’t work but I decided to try it out anyway.  I fired up gthumb which was conveniently installed already, and is a tool for doing just what I wanted to do, importing pictures from a digital camera among other things.  I then plugged in my iPhone and gthumb picked it up immediately and started pulling up a list of all my pics on the phone.  From there I could import, rotate, delete originals and more, easy as pie.  It worked perfect, and was very simple, just like it should be.

In the end, I found that I didn’t have to install any software hacks or jail-break my phone, just use the right tool for the job.  Ain’t Linux grand?

Transferring Apps From Your iPhone To iTunes

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I have my older model iPod, before touch screens and all that, and it’s a great gadget as I am sure anyone out there with one already knows.  However, I recently purchased an iPhone 3GS and frankly it’s pretty much the best phone/PDA/PIM/etc that I have ever seen or had, and I started with my first PDA (Windows based Sharp) in the late 90’s, but that subject is for another day.  The big thing that really sets the iPhone (and iPod Touch) apart from it’s predecessors and many other phones, is applications.  Let’s face it, as cool as the iPhone is, it is loads cooler because you can choose from literally hundreds of thousands of applications to download and use, and the majority are either free or priced very low.

So, what does that have to do with my post?  Well, the only “problem” that I ran into, or that irritated me (aside from the fact that I can’t mark all email read), was that I did most of my app downloading on the iPhone itself.  This means that my iTunes would always have merely a fraction of the apps showing compared to what I had installed on the iPhone.  This made syncing less than fun, especially when I really wanted a copy of all of those apps that I paid for in case at some point down the line they dropped off of the store and I needed to re-install.  Let me tell you, if you haven’t already tried it, doing that manually by comparing the two and installing the deltas one at a time sucks.  Major.

Then I learned of a little feature in the iTunes app manager that saved the day, once you have your iPhone or iPod Touch plugged in (I disable automatic syncing of the device by the way) and the icon for the device is in the list above your playlists, simply right click there and choose “Transfer purchases”.  Check the picture where it’s highlighted red. Voila!  All of your apps get zinged over to iTunes from your iPod!  Ain’t that just slick?  That one tip has saved me hours of work, so I just had to pass it on to my readers.  This by far seems to be the easiest (and only) way to transfer your apps from your iPhone or iPod Touch over to your iTunes library.  Enjoy!

Best Buy: Names Were Changed To Protect The Guilty

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Best Buy has long forced pushed sold offered a computer “Optimization” service when you buy a new pc/laptop, or take one in for repair check that.  In fact, they have gone so far as to “pre optimize” pc’s and laptops that are on sale so you are left with no choice but to pay the $39 fee because by the time you come along to buy your computer, all of the non-optimized ones are already gone.  How convenient.  Never mind the fact that if this were really true, that in every case the non-optimized units flew out the door before the optimized ones, that alone should tell Best Buy that this service offering is ridiculous.  But, I digress.

Before we go any further, let me explain and get you up to speed (if you don’t already know, that is).  The “Optimization” service that Best Buy is forcing down peoples throats is nothing but some basic maintenance tasks that almost anyone can do, especially with a little direction from a friend, Google or a handy dandy cheat sheet, etc.  We aren’t talking hard core hacking here, instead it’s along the lines of running Windows Update, removing the trial ware garbage that seems to get preloaded on all new PC’s these days, stuff like that.  Stuff that would get done anyway and that is definitely not hard to do, not complicated and NOT worth $39 bucks!

So, nowadays, after getting loads of bad press for these shoddy practices, thanks in no small part to The Consumerist who has been educating consumers for a long time now, Best Buy has finally decided to do something about this sham of a service.

  • Have they stopped doing it?  No.
  • Have they started offering it for free since it’s something any chimpanzee (Read: Geek Squad) can do?  No.
  • Have they decided the customer is just as well off doing it themselves and even printed up some handy instructions on 3×5 note cards?  No.
  • Have they decided to keep the crappy service and ridiculous price the same and just change the name hoping no one will notice? DING DING DING DING

Let’s tell them what they have won Al!  Well, we would tell you what you won if we had Al, and if you had actually won anything, and if this were really a game show of some kind.  Again, I digress.  The point is that instead of fixing the problem and making changes that are good for the customer, Best Buy and their Geek Squad have simply changed the name of the problem in hopes of confusing people, thinking that maybe the customer won’t notice or that they might trick them into thinking they aren’t actually ripping anyone off.  Alas, that isn’t the case, and Best Buy/Geek Squad will keep on taking advantage of the masses that don’t know any better.

This is where you come in folks, spread the word and tell everyone you know, let’s make sure that big stores like Best Buy know that we aren’t going to take their crap anymore.  Fighting back with your wallet or pocket book is the only way to make them take notice.  Thank you Consumerist for looking out for us little guys and helping to keep us from getting reamed.

Read more about the “Optimization” service here.

Read the article about changing the service name here.

Cool Tool: Taskbar Shuffle

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OK folks, here is a nifty tool for you.  It’s called Taskbar Shuffle, and if you are running Windows this is a handy little item.  Just like the name implies, you can take items that are in the Windows taskbar and shuffle or move them around.  This is pretty cool in many ways, but I know from my own use, it can be nice to organize items together that go together or in some way that makes more sense that just the way they were opened, especially if you have lots and lots of windows open like I often do.  It’s easy to use too, just drag ’em around to wherever you want them, it’s that easy.  Best of all, like many of the best pieces of software that I have come across, it’s totally free so go check it out now.  Go ahead, RFN!

Here is the URL: http://nerdcave.webs.com/

While you are at it, check out all of the Cool Tools we have in the Cool Tools section, as well as everything in the Library, there’s lots of good stuff in there …

**Note: Don’t forget that the author of Taskbar Shuffle, just like many others out there including Solarum here, gives away the product for free despite all of the personal time invested in bringing you that product.  If you find something that you really like and find useful, think about the last time you paid for an app the didn’t live up to your expectations and make a donation to the little guy(s) and gal(s) out there writing the good stuff for free.

Internet SPAM, Scams, Viruses and Phishing attacks are on the rise

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This is just a heads up to everyone out there to be extra careful when handling email.  We have seen an explosive increase in the number of attacks brought about to every day citizens through email.  From SPAM with fake links, to Internet Scams that these fraudsters want you to invest your time and money in, to Viruses/Trojans/Back doors, and of course Phishing attacks where someone pretends to be from some place familiar to you like your bank, eBay or PayPal in an attempt to get your account information.

There are some basic steps to take like using good anti-virus software, and making sure it is kept up to date, that can help you stay safe.  We posted an article a while back with these explained, and I believe we should take a look at updating it since it’s been a year or two.  The basic principals stay the same, and there is still lots of good info there, we will most likely just be adding more stuff to deal with new threats.  Take a look at it here, it’s called Web Surfing Safety, and we hope you find it useful.  In addition to that, be sure to check out the Library, since we have lots of other good information and tidbits in there too!  Thanks.

Portal 2 has officially been announced!

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Portal LogoThat means we can stop the speculation and start the salivation over what Valve has in store for us this time. The original Portal is a single player first person puzzle game with some action elements as well, developed by Valve Corporation, the same folks that brought us other greats like Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, Day Of Defeat, Left 4 Dead and more. The game came out in 2007 as part of the Orange Box, or was available seperately from Steam (for the PC that is).  Portal is all about puzzles, and consists mainly of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the main character and simple objects using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (ASHPD for short, but was also called simply, the portal gun), a device that can create open portals between flat planes.  The game is all about the physics attained and manipulated by the portal gun.  Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games of 2007, and went on to win 70 industry achievement awards. Portal 2, the sequel, is set for release during the 2010 holiday season.

One note of trivia, the final credits song “Still Alive” was written by Jonathan Coulton for the game. Coulton is a wonderful musician who has garnered quite a bit of Internet fame.

Check out the Portal 2 announcement here …