Month: August 2012

By John Baichtal, MAKE – August 06, 2012 at 08:00PM

Now I’m jonesin’ for a slushie. [via Hacked Gadgets]

Filed under: How it’s made

By Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo – August 06, 2012 at 07:31PM

Here you have it. It’s not the super-HD panoramic image that everyone is eagerly awaiting for, but this is the first high(ish) resolution image of the 3-mile-high Aeolis Mons, commonly known as Mount Sharp. More »

By Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker – August 06, 2012 at 12:30PM

Notification Center is one of the best parts of OS X Mountain Lion, but the classic linen background is a bit bland. If you want to add your own image, Cult of Mac shows off a pretty easy way to spice up your Notification Center.

To use a custom image, you’ll need to pop into the Notification Center app. To do this, head to System/Library/CoreServices, right-click the Notification Center app, and select “Show Package Contents.” Inside the Resources folder is a file called linen.tiff, this is your Notification Center background. Save the linen.tiff to another location (so you can restore it if you like). Now, you just need to pick out a new image, rename it to linen.tiff, and drag it into the Resources folder. When you’re done, open up Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities), and quit Notification Center. When you open up the Notification Center panel again, your new image will be there.

Change OS X’s Notification Center Background | Cult of Mac

By Adam Dachis, Lifehacker – August 06, 2012 at 11:00AM

Adding a solid-state drive (SSD) to your computer is simply the best upgrade at your disposal, capable of speeding up your computer in ways you hadn’t thought possible. The even better news: A good SSD is now cheaper than ever. But as with any new technology, there’s plenty to learn. Here’s everything you should know about your SSD, whether you’re interested in upgrading or just like to know the ins and outs of your hardware.

What Is a Solid-State Drive (SSD)?

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device for your computer. In everyday use, it provides the same functionality as a traditional hard disk drive (HDD)—the standard for computer storage for many years. In fact, you wouldn’t even know whether you’re using an SSD or HDD if it wasn’t for the differences in how they operate. HDDs store their data on spinning metal platters, and whenever your computer wants to access some of that data a little needle-like component (called the “head”) moves to the data’s position and provides it to the computer. Writing data to a HDD works in a similar fashion, where parts are constantly moving. SSDs, on the other hand, don’t move at all. They store their data in blocks. When the computer wants some of that data, the SSD just says “okay, here it is.” This is a simplified explanation, of course, but you might have noticed that the SSD’s process seems a bit more direct and efficient. It is, and speed is the primary advantage of an SSD over a traditional HDD. This makes an SSD the single best upgrade for your computer if you’re looking for a way to make it operate faster.

A new SSD can speed up your computer in several ways:

• Boot times will be significantly reduced.
• Launching applications will occur in a near-instant.
• Saving and opening documents won’t lag.
• File copying and duplication speeds will improve.
• Overall, your system will feel much snappier.

SSDs have their downsides, however. For starters, an SSD won’t hold as much data per dollar as an HDD. For the same $100, you could buy either a 120GB SSD or a 2TB HDD. That means you’re paying about 83 cents for every gigabyte on an SSD versus five cents for every gigabyte on your HDD. That’s a huge difference in cost, and the gap only grows as you compare larger drives. Luckily, it’s not an all or nothing proposition. In the days of cloud storage and streaming media, SSDs provide plenty of space for most people. For those who need more storage than is affordable with an SSD, SSDs and HDDs can coexist on the same system (and we’ll discuss those in depth a bit later), so you can enjoy the speed benefits of an SSD without sacrificing on storage.

In this post, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know about getting started with your first solid-state drive, from buying the one that suits you best to getting it set up and running most efficiently in your computer. We’ll even take a look at a few advanced techniques for those of you who are ready to do even more with your super-fast storage device.

Choosing the Right SSD to Buy

Choosing the right solid-state drive for you isn’t difficult, but the process can be a little overwhelming with so many brands available. In this section, we’ll show you what you want to look for when choosing a drive and offer up a few recommendations that have worked well for us.

All SSDs are fast, and will feel like a great upgrade from a HDD, but when you’re spending significantly more money on a drive that provides less storage you want it to be one of the best. You also want a reliably piece of hardware, and these are both fairly hard to gauge if you have little experience with the technology. Here are the qualities you want to look for in an SSD when you’re shopping around:

• High maximum speeds: Max read speeds are around 400MB/second, and max write speeds are around 300MB/sec (note: that’s megabytes per second). These numbers do not have to be exact. A little faster or slower won’t make a significant difference.
• Good real-world speeds: The SSD manufacturers generally will not provide real-world read and write speeds, as they’re guaranteed to be slower than the maximums. Fortunately, many online reviews contain speed test results. On Amazon, you can often find users who’ve posted screenshots of their test results (here’s an example). Seeing this data can often be discouraging because the real-world rates are quite a bit lower. If the test results reveal read and write speeds of about 2/3 of the maximum (in the sequential and 512KB block tests) you’re good to go. If you apply this to our maximum speeds above, that comes out to read speeds of about 265MB/sec and write speeds of about 200MB/sec. If you want to figure out if a more expensive SSD is worth the money, its real-world test speeds will be higher than 2/3 of its reported maximum capabilities.
• Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory: When shopping for SSDs, you’ll run into two kind of memory: multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC). The primary difference is that MLC memory can store more information on each cell. The advantage here is that it is cheaper to produce, and SLC is often cost-prohibitive for the average consumer. The downside is a higher rate of error, but an SSD with error-correcting code (we’ll discuss this momentarily) can help prevent these problems. (You can read more about MLC here.)
• SATA III Support: Most SSDs use the Serial ATA (SATA) interface, but not all use the latest version and this can limit the performance of your SSD. This is because SATA I can transfer data at 1.5 Gbps, SATA II at 3.0 Gbps, and SATA III at 6 Gbps. To ensure your SSD has enough bandwidth to transfer data as quickly as possible, you want it to be compatible with SATA III. You’ll also want to make sure your computer is SATA III compatible as well. If not, SATA III-capable drives will still work as all versions of SATA are backwards-compatible. Just know that you may not get the most out of your SSD if your computer doesn’t support the most recent SATA specification.
• ECC memory: Error-correcting code (ECC) memory does what the name implies: it provides your SSD with the ability to detect and correct common types of data corruption so you don’t end up with unusable data on your drive. An SSD with ECC memory is more reliable. (You can read more about ECC memory here.)
• A history of reliability: Reliability is a very hard thing to gauge, but there are a few tricks you can employ to get a good idea. First, look for an SSD that is made by a manufacturer who has been in the business for a while (I like OCZ and Crucial). The technology is fairly new, so you don’t want to go with just any company who has recently decided to jump on the solid-state bandwagon. Additionally, look at the rating each SSD receives in online shopping reviews. If it is rated a 3.5 out of 5.0 or higher, this is often points to a reliable drive. When the ratings are lower, you may want to look elsewhere. Even reliable companies make unreliable SSDs sometimes, so keep an eye on reviews to avoid buying a lemon.

Which SSDs meet these criteria? We’ve had a positive experience with the OCZ Vertex and Agility series of SSDs. Currently, you can find a OCZ 120GB SSD for $100 and a 240GB SSD for $180. But OCZ isn’t the only company who makes fast and affordable drives. Crucial recently released a more budget-conscious set of SSDs in its m4 series, offering a 128GB SSD for $105 and a 256GB SSD for $210. You’ll pay a few dollars more, but you’ll also get a few gigabytes as well. Going above 256GB on an SSD used to be a very expensive endeavor. While certainly not cheap, prices have dropped dramatically. OCZ now offers a 512GB SSD for $322. Even earlier this year you’d be lucky to find an SSD of that capacity for twice the cost.

These are the drives we can recommend from our own experience, but there are many other brands of SSDs available. If you want to shop around and weigh your options, keeping the criteria mentioned in this section in mind will help you find a good, reliable drive.

Dealing with the Limitations of Your SSD

One of the most common problems new SSD owners face is adapting their current systems to run on a much smaller drive. Most HDD owners are accustomed to having at least 500GB of storage, if not upwards of 2TB. Downsizing to 120GB or 240GB—the most affordable and popular SSD sizes—can be a tough job. Sacrifices will be necessary, but there are a ways you can make the process a little easier. Often times, you can even use a HDD as your secondary drive for additional storage. Let’s take a look at your options.

Option One: Start Fresh and Copy the Essentials

When upgrading to an SSD, the most obvious option is starting fresh with a new install of your operating system. While this might require a little more of your time, you’ll have everything configured perfectly when you’re done. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Install your operating system of choice on the new SSD.
2. Copy the contents of your home folder from your previous HDD to your new SSD. If you can’t fit everything, start with the essential system files and settings, then migrate the media you have room for.
3. Go through the list of applications on your old HDD and install them on your new SSD. Run any updates, or save yourself some time by downloading the latest versions from their respective sources. Windows and Linux users can employ Ninite to get the latest versions of popular free software titles for their machines. OS X users can head to the Mac App Store to download the latest versions of their previous purchases.
4. Copy any important documents (or other files) you have room for on your SSD.
5. Put the old HDD in an external enclosure (like these), if you haven’t already, and keep it handy for a month or two. This will help you see what files you use often and which ones you don’t. If you find you’re using something often, copy it to the SSD. If not, leave it on the external HDD for occasional access.

Again, this method requires more work but also handles the task of cleaning up your system at the same time. It may be more tedious, but it is an efficient way to solve two problems at once.

Option Two: Migrate Your Data from Your Old Hard Drive

If you don’t want to start with a fresh installation of your operating system, you can always migrate your OS (and other data) to your new SSD. Chances are, however, that you’re not going to be able to fit everything. That means you’re going to have to start deleting files on your main drive until it is small enough to fit on your SSD. Because you don’t want to lose that data forever, start by making a backup of your drive. Once you have a complete backup, you’re ready to get started.

Windows users can follow our SSD migration guide for the complete instructions. It comes across as a complex process, but shouldn’t take too much time. You also won’t have to reinstall Windows. Mac users can follow our MacBook SSD installation guide. While the guide focuses on installing an SSD in a MacBook Pro’s optical disc drive bay, if you skip to the second half you’ll find instructions on performing a data migration as well.

Bonus: Use an External Drive and the Cloud to Combat Storage Constraints

Regardless of the size of your SSD, it’s never going to beat the storage capacity of a HDD. If you don’t have a secondary hard drive installed in your computer, you’re going to need to store your excess data elsewhere. An external HDD and the cloud are two of the best ways to get around the storage limitations of your SSD.

Unless you have enormous collections, an SSD with a 240GB (or higher) capacity should be able house your operating system, documents, music, and photos without issue. It’s when you get into the business of music creation, video editing, professional photography, and other work that produces large files will you regularly run into a storage ceiling. An external drive is often the easiest solution, so you’ll want to pick up one with a large-enough capacity to suit your needs. If you’re looking for a portable drive, the Seagate GoFlex series is worth a look as it not only works with USB 3.0, but can be connected to other ports like Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt by way of adapter. This also provides you with some assurance of compatibility with future technology.

When an external drive won’t do the trick, and you really need to downsize your space-hungry media collection, the cloud can come to the rescue. Most of the best solutions come from Google because they’re both simple and free. Google Play Music allows you to upload your entire audio collection, and doing so will allow you to delete any songs you rarely listen to (or at least move them to an archival hard drive) while still maintaining direct access to them from anywhere you have an internet connection. Picasa can do the same thing for your photos. (Personally, I prefer Flickr, but it isn’t free.) When it comes to other data, you have plenty of options. Google Drive is great for various files, Simplenote for text, and Evernote for rich text and PDFs. It doesn’t matter so much which services you use, but rather that you start making regular use of the cloud if you have heavy data needs that can’t be adequately served by an external or secondary internal drive.

Optimize Your SSD for Optimal Performance

For the most part, there isn’t much you have to do to optimize your SSD. It’s already really fast and should do it’s job without any adjustment. That said, you can achieve better performance and longevity with a few adjustments.

Enable TRIM

The very first thing you should do after installing and setting up your SSD is enable TRIM. What is TRIM, exactly? Wikipedia offers a concise explanation:

TRIM is a command [that] allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.

Basically, it prevents your SSD from being overused. Just like any component, SSDs have limited lifespans. TRIM helps keep your solid-state disk alive a bit longer, so you want to have it enabled if your drive supports it. Here are instructions on how to find out and enable TRIM in Windows and OS X.

Enable or Disable Hibernation Mode

Mac users can skip this section, but Windows users will want to decide between enabling or disabling hibernation. Both choices offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. When enabled, your computer will resume from hibernation almost as fast as it does from sleep thanks to the speediness of your SSD. On top of that, you won’t use any power when in hibernation mode (which is especially useful for laptop users). The downside is that hibernating will eat up some of your SSD’s limited space and require additional writes to the drive (which shortens its lifespan a tiny bit). If you favor power savings, turn it on. If you want a little extra longevity and storage, turn it off.

Don’t Defragment Your SSD

When data is stored on a drive, it often ends up in various parts that aren’t all in the same place. This is called data fragmentation. It slows down HDDs because the drive’s head needs to move from place to place to read all the little bits of information. This can be fixed using a process called defragmentation, which is built into recent versions of Windows (7 and higher) and OS X. Because the location of data on an SSD is pretty much irrelevant, as it can quickly access any of it regardless of where it is, defragging a SSD is not only unnecessary but bad for the drive as well. SSDs have a limited lifespan that’s determined by how much they’re used. While most will last as long as you’d ever need, defragmenting the disk involves reading and writing data unnecessarily and those actions will shorten your SSD’s lifespan. OS X and Windows should know when you’re using an SSD and turn off defragmenation automatically. That said, it’s important to remember not to defragment your solid-state drive. It provides no real benefit and can shorten its life.

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You should now be well on your way to a better, faster computer with your solid-state drive. Most of us here at Lifehacker have been enjoying the benefits of SSDs for a few years now and can’t imagine going back to a traditional hard drive. Despite the limitations and the cost, they’re one of the best investments you can make. We hope you enjoy your SSD as much as we’re enjoying ours!

Photos by Z-River (Shutterstock), Friedrichan (Shutterstock), Amazon, .

By Lambert V., The Awesomer – August 06, 2012 at 08:45AM

A must-have glove for chefs, gearheads and tinkerers. The BladeX5 offers protection from cuts, slashes and abrasion. The gloves are made from nylon, lycra as well as glass and HPPE fibers.

• Hat Tip
• Link
• Price: $14

More Awesome Stuff for You to Click On:

Sap Gloves
Freehands Gloves
Mac Daddy II LE Gloves
DIY: Touch Screen Gloves
Swany Snowboard Gloves

By Alan Henry, Lifehacker – August 06, 2012 at 08:00AM

OS X: CandyBar is a customization tool for OS X that lets you customize the Dock appearance and layout, change the notification icons under running apps, change Finder system icons, and in general really tweak your Mac to look the way you want it. Panic, the developers behind the app, have updated it to support OS X Mountain Lion, dropped support for the app, and they’re giving it away for free.

You may have seen CandyBar used in some of our Mac featured desktops—it’s often used to tweak the look and feel of the Dock. It’s a great tool, but it used to run you about $30. The news isn’t all good though: the reason Panic is making the app free and dropping support for it is because they see OS X steadily turning into iOS—meaning they think Apple will eventually prohibit users from the level of tweaking and customization that Mac users currently enjoy, so they don’t see much of a future for CandyBar. Update: Yes, it’s important to note that CandyBar in Mountain Lion cannot be used to change icons of signed apps from the App Store, Finder apps, or Dock icons. These restrictions only apply to Mountain Lion though, and everything else works.

Regardless of the implications of Panic’s move, the app works well and is completely free to download. If you want to spice up your Mac’s dock a bit, now’s the time to grab it. You won’t be able to change icons for apps downloaded from the Mac App Store (again, Apple security at work), but you will be able to change just about everything else. Do you already use CandyBar? Used the free trial but didn’t want to drop the cash? Let us know what you think of the app in the discussions below.

CandyBar, Mountain Lion, and Beyond | Panic Blog via The Next Web

By Matt Richardson, MAKE – August 06, 2012 at 07:30AM

I love art student Yasutoki Kariya’s Asobi, an entry in Mitsubishi Chemical’s Junior Designer Awards. Johnny at Spoon & Tamago aptly calls it “Edison’s Cradle,” a nod to Newton’s Cradle, “the iconic desktop toy that demonstrates Newton’s third law of motion.” Be sure to watch the video to get the full effect with the sound it makes. [via Neatorama]

Filed under: Art

By noreply@blogger.com (How to Carve Roast Unicorn), How to Carve Roast Unicorn – August 05, 2012 at 10:49PM

“Raiders” by Andy Helms aka oktotally

“Doom” by Andy Helms aka oktotally

“Crusade” by Andy Helms aka oktotally

These are awesome!

By Lambert V., The Awesomer – August 05, 2012 at 05:00PM

Mike Senna’s remote-controlled, life-size replica of Wall-E. Senna spent more than 3,800 hours total to make the robot, which can move, move its head and arms and say its name. More here and here.

• Hat Tip
• Link

More Awesome Stuff for You to Click On:

Full Size Bender Replica
Life-Size R2-D2
Life-Size Mousetrap
Life Size Alien Chestburster
Life-Size Optimus Prime

By Adam Dachis, Lifehacker – August 02, 2012 at 03:00PM

Surprise! Mountain Lion has a great new secret feature: basic text expansion. Here’s how to set it up and some handy shortcuts to get you started.

For a demo of how it works and how to set it up, check out the video above.

Set Up Text Expansion (Substitution)

First things first, let’s get text expansion (or Substitution, as Apple calls it) set up. To get it set up, either watch the video up top or follow these steps:

1. Open up System Preferences.
2. Choose the Language & Text section.
3. Click the Text tab.
4. Press the + button at the bottom-right corner of the window.
5. Type the shortcut you want to use in the left text box, and what you want that shortcut to expand to in the right box.
6. Repeat as desired.

That’s it! Very easy.

Phrases You Should Add Right Now

Here are some phrases you’ll want to add to your Mac right now. The nice thing about the feature is it works much like autocorrect, so you can set a text expansion shortcut to a portion of a word and it’ll only expand if you type a space after the shortcut. For example, you could have a shortcut called “sig” and type the word signature without worrying about the shortcut expanding when you don’t want it to expand. This opens up plenty of simple shortcut options. Here are the ones we think everyone will find useful right away.

Note: You don’t need to put a comma before your snippets, but adding an unusual character ahead of the word helps to ensure you won’t get any surprise expansions.

• ,email -> your@emailaddress.com, so you never need to type your email when sending a message to yourself or sharing it with someone else.
• ,phone -> your phone number, so you can easily share your phone number without the need to type it or even remember it.
• ,addr -> your address, so you don’t have to type out the entire thing.
• ,sig -> your email signature, in case you only want to use it sometimes and not with every message.
• THX -> thanks!, or however you want to end an email.
• Code – If you write code, text expansion is really helpful. Just include code snippets and you can type out repetitive code much faster.

For more handy snippets, check out our text expansion guide. If you’d like something a bit more robust than OS X’s built-in option, check out these options.

Thanks for the tip, Brandon!