If you are one of the few who rushed out to purchase the MacBook Air, you might have found yourself in a bit of a pinch. How to get the USB Ethernet Adapter working? If this is you, or a friend you know, here is a quick fix until a new Apple update is published.
First, it appears that some have luck plugging the adapter into different ports on the MacBook Air, but it’s not a universal solution.
After a bit of investigative work sifting through the Apple forums, you can do the following for a sure thing fix:
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How to turn off autoplay Windows 7 for USB flash drives.
Some may want to turn off the USB auto play so that when a USB device is connected the auto pop-up window doesn’t appear. I don’t mind the pop-up window as it usually defaults to the area or program I’m trying to get into anyway, but for some, I could see the frustration. So on that note, here is a quick USB tutorial on how to turn off the USB auto run function.
First, click START > RUN and type in gpedit.msc then click RUN.
Next you’ll want to navigate to the location shown below. That would be:
Computer Configuration > Admin Templates > Windows Components Once there you would double click Windows Components
That will take you to the following area where we can select the menu to edit the USB autorun functions. Double click the AutoPlay Policies
Next select the Turn Off Autoplay by double clicking it.
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How many times have you registered for a service or product on the web, only to be required to enter a user name and password? How many times has that website required some 6 or 8 character password which includes numbers, capital letter and lower case letters – basically some abstract combination of characters? Or you enter a user name only to find it’s already been used or you’re required to enter your email address as your user name. With most people having mulitple email address its difficult to remember which one, the password or combination there of. You need a system.
That system could very well be the SplashID from SplashData.
Consider some of the following – would they help you?
Never forget a username or password again – ever
Secure and backup your passwords, credit card numbers, registration codes, PINs, and more
Generate truly random passwords hackers cannot guess
Protect yourself from identity theft, keyloggers, and phishing
The SplashID uses a autorun function which automatically opens up the SplashID user interface upon connection to a PC or Mac computer. Pull the key out, and not a trace of SplashID stays on the system or any of your sensitive data you just gone done using. So clearly a big value add for passwords, data base of private content and password generator.
Currently you get the SplashID for $30 with free shipping…although the free shipping is for a limited time. Here is the link for more info.
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It’s standard for mobile phones to sync and connect with your computer with limited or no access to the memory for storage. As with our Zune hack for making a Mass Storage Device, here is a tip for the Windows Phone 7 as well…
The caviet to this tutorial, is that you can only perform the tweak to your computer which you sync the Windows Phone 7 device with.
To get started, do the follwoing:
Open the registry editor on your PC by typing regedit in your Start menu
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB; search for ZuneDriver
Now you will modify three entries (note, if you have multiple WP7 phones, you have to do it for each one)
Change ShowInShell from 0 to 1
Change PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell from 1 to 0
Change EnableLegacySupport from 0 to 1
Note: Perform registry entries at your own risk. It’s best if you back up the Reg before starting.
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A New York artist names Aram Bartholl is trying a very daring, if not crazy, art exhibit by placing USB sticks throughout New York City. The idea is for others to share their digital life, secrets, information with others to bridge the life of digital information with that of the physical world. So what exactly do you do?
Aram has placed a small collection of USB ports in public places thinking that others will connect their laptop or computer to the USB port and upload or download data to share. I bit crazy if you ask me…you know how many viruses and key logging programs one could get? Even with virus checking software – there are sophisticated attacks you could expose yourself too. BUT, if you dare, connect!
Currently the installation is only a five-stick preview, but Bartholl is planning to expand the operation to more sticks and more cities. Check Bartholl’s blog for coming information including “full documentation, movie, map, and ‘How to make your own dead drop’ manual coming soon!â€
Aram – you should use USB Write Protected flash drives and share controlled data so that you’re exhibit doesn’t kill computers! Maybe provide an upload link where you can control the data, then put the data on flash drives and write protect the stick. Don’t know how – contact us, we’ll show you.
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Wouldn’t that be nice – an app store for cars? Ford isn’t there yet, but they could be. I read earlier this week that Ford is pushing out a new SDK for software developers to create applications for For Motor cars.
A simple example of an app would be syncing your smartphone with the car [via USB] and run Pandora music or Stitcher internet radio.The new SDK from Ford includes access to the voice recognition utilities to help developers integrate voice command applications. An example here would be syncing the voice command functions of your phone through the speaker system of your car stereo. Developers could also design apps where you ask the car
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Do you see something odd about this picture? Maybe the fact an LED is illuminating from a USB connector with no PC in site? Ya that’s it. Good job Sherlock.
So what we have here is a How To or USB Hack on running an LED from a Super-capacitor. If you are non-technical, then we basically mean a very short lived battery to run the LED. A super-capacitor has the ability to store energy for longer periods of time over traditional capacitors – yet still not long enough as with batteries.The concept of this tutorial is to wire a super-capacitor to a USB socket whereby your computer can charge up the capacitor and when disconnected you’ll get about 10 minutes of LED illumination.
Granted there isn’t much day-to-day use with this USB hack, but just a fun little project if you have the time.
Over on the Instructables website there is an updated USB tutorial which includes
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Here is a 7 minute video on how to wire up any USB port and suck the power right out for that USB gadget you dreamed up at 3am. For DIY projects, USB hacking is one of the most popular forms of taking something ordinary and making something unique. So if you’ve never tried a hack or USB tutorial, this is a great building block for yourself. Enjoy!
Source: YouTube.
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Over the past several weeks we’ve read reports about the PS3 Jail breaking solution via USB whereby the jailbreak tricks the console into thinking it’s in debug mode and thus gives you access to the device like never before.
The PS3 jailbreak would allow the use of illegal games as well as homebrew games to be played on the console. In addition, the hack also blocked mandatory updates from Sony which could overwrite the hack and secure the device once again.
Jail breaking like this is nothing new, in fact we’ve heard about it with the iPhone for [literally] years. However, with the PS3 it was a bit different. It was different because the PS3 has been a platform which has remained unbroken or un-hacked [if that’s a word] for nearly a decade. That is a feat no other gaming company has
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If you’ve been to this site before, you know we are a fan of USB Steampunk. We just received word there is a new kid on the block who’s doing some cool USB steampunk.
This design is coined “Steampunk Scorpion USB.”
WWWorks is the profile name over at Etsy and he’s done some nice work on his first release. What I like about the style of this design is the lack of gears you so commonly see with USB steampunk. Rather, WWWorks put some detail into the design on the brass.
So here is a bit of detail about WWWorks. Based in Budapest Hungary WWWorks is a computer IT guy by day and a craftsman by night. Trying to break away from the
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John from LinuxSlate.com figured out the Dell Streak connector for sync and charging is nothing more than a PDMI connector. So John made a nice little USB hack to eliminate the need for Dell’s expensive accessory kit in exchange for a quick DIY mod with a miniUSB cable.
The USB hack allows you to connect the Dell Streak to a PC for synchronizing with your computer, or simply charging the device from any USB charger [or port].
The modification also allows the unit to appear as a normal mass storage device or removable memory.
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All of Apple products are designed as a “less is more” philosophy where a user just “knows” how to use the product when they hold it or see it. The Apple Trackpad is no exception. Great looking product that works exceptionally well and is bare bone minimum on design features.
One of the beautiful elements of the Trackpad is the wireless freedom you get from using the product. For the wireless product you need juice. The Trackpad does this via batteries. However, some get tired of replacing the batteries [like it’s that hard] and did a simple USB hack to power the Trackpad. This hack is not used for communication, that is still done through Blue-tooth, but this is only for eliminating the need to swap batteries or constantly recharge them.
To accomplish the hack, remove the pad’s batteries, strip a USB cable down to the red and black power wires and attach them to a battery-sized wooden dowel. Finally, push the dowel inside the pad’s battery compartment and presto! It works.
Granted this is a USB hack even my 7 year old could do [less the wire stripping] and I’d recommend making something a bit more elegant.
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Over the past several weeks we’ve read reports about the PS3 Jail breaking solution via USB whereby the jailbreak tricks the console into thinking it’s in debug mode and thus gives you access to the device like never before.
The PS3 jailbreak would allow the use of illegal games as well as homebrew games to be played on the console. In addition, the hack also blocked mandatory updates from Sony which could overwrite the hack and secure the device once again.
Jail breaking like this is nothing new, in fact we’ve heard about it with the iPhone for [literally] years. However, with the PS3 it was a bit different. It was different because the PS3 has been a platform which has remained unbroken or un-hacked [if that’s a word] for nearly a decade. That is a feat no other gaming company has
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