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System Requirements

Minimum:

Valve has plans for Portal 2, which will be released sometime in 2011 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Mac.  Teaser trailer below:

Here are the main differences from the elite version:

• New smaller styling with glossy black colour.
• Higher capacity, 250 GB hard disk.
• Built-in 802.11 Wireless-N.
• 5 USB ports (up from 3).
• Kinect (AKA Natal) connector.
• Lots of ventilation and one large fan instead of two for reduced noise.
• New power and eject sensors instead of buttons.

The system isn't faster than the original but it will certainly sell.  The console is priced at $299US and will hit store shelves very soon.

• Open up Firefox and type "about:config" in the address bar (no quotes).
• Tell the browser you'll be careful and enter the settings page, watch out for dragons.
• In the filter bar, type "pipe" (no quotes).
• Set network.http.pipelining to true by double-clicking it.
• Change network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 8 by double-clicking it and changing the value.
• Change network.http.proxy.pipelining to true by double-clicking it.

Restart the browser and Bingo! You will notice an increase in speed because you just allowed Firefox to use multiple connections to access websites and content.  Enjoy!

Here's a quick tip on how I get my wallpapers. Most wallpapers come with that annoying watermark that we all love.  To get these wallpapers, we have to browse through bloated websites that have pop-ups galore.  Searching this way will give you MUCH more selection.  Since I have discovered this, I haven't been back to a wallpaper gallery.

• Go to www.google.com.
• Click on the "Images" search tab at the top.
• Type in what you're looking for, followed by "imagesize:1920x1200" (without the quotes and change the 1920x1200 to whatever your screen resolution is).

So for example, I want to search for a Lamborghini Reventon wallpaper that matches my screen size of 1920x1200.

Here it is:

The rest is pretty self-explanatory.  Click on the image you want to use until you get the full-res version then right click it, save the image, set as wallpaper from your desktop.  I prefer to save the images as opposed to setting the wallpaper from a browser.

Enjoy!

Many people still don't know that you can use mp3's from your computer as free ringtones. I'm going to take it a step further and show you how to crop a certain section of a song to use for a ringtone.

To begin, download the audio editing software called Audacity. It's 100% free and well worth every penny! Thanks to the developers for making this amazing software free.

Download Audacity Here

You will also need a DLL file called Lame Encoder (lame_enc.dll). This DLL is required to encode your new mp3 file.

Download Lame Encoder Here

Once you have installed Audacity and downloaded lame_enc.dll, put the DLL somewhere where you won't delete it (C: or your Program Files folder are good options). Now on to the editing!

Open your file and press spacebar to start playing the song or look for the spikes if you know where you want to start from.  In my case, I know roughly where I want to trim and I can also see it here:

Once you have determined where you want to start it, click and highlight everything before the spike and hit delete.

Do the same for the ending.  I try to keep my files to about 30 seconds.  This not only keeps the file size down, but it will also load faster on your phone when somebody calls.  And really...who takes longer than 30 seconds to answer a phone?

Now for the final touches...

If your song keeps on going for more than 30 seconds, you don't want it to just end abruptly.  Highlight the last 3-4 seconds of your clip and hit Effect > Fadeout.  Repeat this step as many times as necessary, don't be afraid to fade out a part that's already faded out.  Experiment!

Now we need to export the file and save as an mp3.  In the top menu, hit "File" > "Export as MP3...".

You should be asked to locate the lame_enc.dll file you previously downloaded.  Follow the program's requests and you should be good to go!

If the file quality doesn't sound very good, you can adjust the bit rate in the preferences by choosing "Edit" > "Preferences" (or CTRL + P).  Then select the "File Formats" tab.  Here, you can also select the lame_enc.dll location before-hand if you want to skip a step.

Good luck!

Ding dong! I came across this tutorial a while ago and always thought it was interesting.

For those with a LOT of time on your hands and a few extra dollars in your pocket, I'd say try it out!
http://popsci.typepad.com/how20blog/2007/11/build-it-hack-y.html

Connecting a Wiimote to your PC is very simple and effective when used with an emulator. A Nintendo Wiimote uses Bluetooth to connect to the Wii, therefore it can connect to your computer.  All you need is a bluetooth ready PC (built-in or dongle).

• To get started, have your Wiimote ready and download a program called Bluesoleil.  You can download it here.

• Install the software and enable Bluetooth.  Run Bluesoleil, you should see a blue window with an orange ball in the middle.

• Press 1 and 2 buttons on your Wiimote, causing the lights to flash.  Then click on the orange ball in Bluesoleil to search for devices.

• Your controller should appear in the window, right click on it and choose Connect > Bluetooth Human Interface Device Service.

• Follow the New Hardware Wizard and install the device.  Windows should automatically install the drivers for you without the need to download any.

• Done! Your Wiimote should be green in Bluesoleil showing a successful connection.  Enjoy!

Bumptop is a 3D desktop environment that gives you virtually 5 desktops to use and a cool transition between them. Google recently purchased the software company responsible for creating this amazing program and rumours have already started about a new tablet running BumpTop with Android.

For those of you who were lucky enough to get a free download of Bumptop during the first week in May, here's a theme I created.  Enjoy!
Click Here to download my Brick Wall Theme!