In case you hadn’t heard, Apple released the latest version of OS X recently. As expected, the newfangled Mountain Lion operating system touts a number of added features — some of which bring it even closer in sync with iOS. In this week’s issue of our e-magazine, the beast steps out into the spotlight and we offer a word or two (a few thousand, to be exact) in our full-length review of the software. If the work of the folks in Cupertino isn’t exactly your cup of tea, we also give the new Outlook.com and T-Mo’s version of the Galaxy Note a close examination with the Engadget fine-toothed comb. HTC’s Eric Lin takes a shot at the Q&A, “This is the Modem World” discusses gadget smells, “Reaction Time” chats about blockbuster releases and “IRL” exposes more of the devices that we use on the regular. Trust us, you’ll want to get comfortable this time around. Kick your shoes off and head to your download link of choice to get started.
OS X: Want to know how good your Wi-Fi network really is? If you have OS X 10.7 or above (Lion or Mountain Lion), a handy but hidden built-in utility can monitor your network’s performance and show your network’s signal strength.
OS X Daily has posted the instructions for running the Wi-Fi Diagnostics tool. First, we have to find it. You can either go to the folder /System/Library/CoreServices—or, better yet, hold down the option key while clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in your menu bar and select “Open Wi-Fi Diagnostics…”
Open the tool (if you browsed for it by folder, you can copy the app to your Utilities folder or Dock first). Ignore the first screen and hit Command+N to open the “Network Utilities” window.
Hit “Wi-Fi Scan” and you’ll be presented with a list of all the networks near you—even ones that are hidden, as well as their channel, security, and signal and noise levels.
If you have competing networks on the same channel, you could possibly improve your reception by changing your channel on your router to one that’s not used.
Technorati also explains how to tell if you have a good Wi-Fi signal:
The “Signal” number specifies the signal strength between your Mac and the Wi-Fi access point or router. The higher this number is, the better. But note that these are negative numbers so a Signal of -60 is higher (and stronger) compared to a Signal of -80. The Noise number represents the amount of wireless noise that can interfere with the Signal. In this situation, we want lower numbers. So again, because we have negative Noise numbers, a Noise level of -94 is better than one of -90.
Finally, we can take the Signal and Noise numbers to come up with a Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) for our wireless connection. So for example, If I have a Signal level of -60 and a Noise level of -91, the difference between these two numbers is 31. The higher the SNR is, the better the Wi-Fi performance will be. Typically a SNR of 25 or higher will give you great Wi-Fi performance.
Click on the Performance tab to see a chart of your live signal strength and noise meter (as well as network traffic). Basically, the wider the gap between the yellow and green lines, the better.
This could help you decide on if you need to do some adjustments to boost your Wi-Fi, such as moving your router to a different location or making your own antenna booster.
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad (and known informally as London 2012) are in full swing in London, United Kingdom. Around 10,500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (the group responsible for organizing their people’s participation in the games) will compete. Thousands and thousands of images will be made in London of the athletes and the spectators; the venues and the celebrations; the pomp and the circumstance. A search of current images in a wire database reveals images coming into the system at a rate of over 1,000 an hour during the hours of competition, resulting in a major picture editing challenge. A small sampling follows. — Paula Nelson (55 photos total)
Kyla Ross of the U.S. performs on the balance beam during the women’s gymnastics team final, July 31, 2012. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)
It’s probably not the safest idea to be out in the woods, or swooshing down a mountain on skis, in the middle of the night. Unless you’ve got Petzl’s upcoming Ultra Rush headlamp strapped to your head, with 700 lumens to illuminate everything that goes bump in the night—or that you might bump into. More »
Microsoft’s MSDN blog has released a boatload of free ebooks on a range of technologies and programs, including a power users guide for Windows 7, programming Windows 8 apps and Windows Phone 7, SQL Server tutorials, and much more.
Most of the ebooks are hundreds of pages long, and you’ll likely find something worth your while in this collection of 80+ ebooks—whether you’re a home user, teacher, or IT pro.
Tempting as it may be to covet plunge routers, nail guns, and compounds sliding miter saws, they’re just not right for most guys. A tiny drill, though, that’s something no junk drawer should go without. More »
Geeks are fairly well represented on television. Sure, some shows – even those listed below – are aimed at the mainstream and therefore represent geeks as being spotty, scruffy ne’er-do-wells that live in their parents’ basements, but in general geeks are shown as role models or important people who give something positive to society. Which, as geeks ourselves, we all know we do.
The following are eight television shows, some from the past, some from the present, that all geeks should have watched. Not necessarily in their entirety, but for one episode at least. Several show geeks in all their glory, while others are based on geeky concepts which necessitate geeky speak and technology.
Doctor Who is the oldest geeky TV show to make it onto this list, with the first episode airing in 1963. That means it will be 50 years old in 2013, but then time is rather meaningless to the good doctor, a Time Lord who travels the universe in his TARDIS. Unfortunately Doctor Who hasn’t been an ever-present in that time, taking a break from television screens between 1989 and 2005.
Is there a geekier subject in the world than time travel? I don’t think so, even though we don’t yet know if it will ever be possible. The video above is also about as geeky as it gets, with two guys discussing Doctor Who through the years.
This had to make the list. Second only to Doctor Who in terms of age, Star Trek is one of my favorite television shows of all time. There have been five full Star Trek shows, starting with The Original Series starring William Shatner and his cohorts, and ending with Enterprise, a prequel that essentially killed the franchise off for the time being. Thankfully the movies continue under J.J. Abrams’ guidance.
OK, so Star Trek has had its cheesy moments, particularly in those early years. However, this is a series that predicted a future where humanity had come together to conquer the stars. The video above is the ‘How It Should Have Ended‘ for the Star Trek movie.
The X-Files may be almost 20 years old but it remains highly watchable. We follow Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they investigate weird and wonderful cases the rest of the FBI won’t touch. The main story arc dealt with a government-level conspiracy theory and lots and lots of extraterrestrials. Also worth watching is the spin-off show The Lone Gunmen, even though it only ran for 13 episodes.
Conspiracy theories are an ever-present part of popular culture, with every big event accompanied by evidence that not everything is as it first appears. The video above shows some of the main players of The X-Files discussing the series.
There are currently three different versions of this show: the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY, all of which deal with forensic crime scene investigators. Forensic science has always intrigued people, but CSI has made the very geeky scientific processes it involves look positively sexy. Hence the increase in people wanting to study the subject.
CSI is built on older shows that also featured forensic sciences, including the eminently cheesy Quincy M.E. and the eminently awesome Sherlock Holmes. The video above is titled CSI: Legoland and just about sums the show up perfectly.
The IT Crowd is British comedy at its best, and it’s a truly geeky show that anyone involved in I.T. will love. The show follows the two uber-geeks who work as I.T. support at a fictional company and their department head who is as ignorant about technology as it is possible to be. If you’re a geek and haven’t yet watched The IT Crowd then stop reading this right now and go find it online immediately.
The video above is a compilation of all the times Roy, Moss, and Jen ask someone if they’ve “tried turning it off and on again,” which, as we know, is the solution to 99 percent of all computer-related problems. Or thereabouts.
Chuck is geeky in two ways. Firstly the main character works as tech support at a retail chain, which qualifies him as a geek right from the off. But then he manages to have the U.S. government’s secrets downloaded to his brain, turning him from humble genius into a spy. Unfortunately Chuck ended in 2012, but the five seasons that were made are well worth seeking out.
The above video is the launch trailer for the show, so you get a brief overview of the plot and a little of what to expect from the titular character. Which is wise-cracks and a lot of geeky goodness.
This may be a controversial choice for some to swallow. The Big Bang Theory is geeky but it’s also derided by some for the way it portrays geeks as socially inept and lacking in common sense. However, this show, which mainly follows two Caltech physicists, has seen several famous scientists make cameo appearances, including Stephen Hawking. That more than qualifies it in my book.
The Big Bang Theory is very American, but don’t let that put you off. The video above is the theme song from The Big Bang Theory, which is History Of Everything by Barenaked Ladies.
Anyone who misses The X-Files should now be watching Fringe, as the latter has clearly been influenced by the former. However, this show takes the geekiness and ramps it up to 11 (extra points for those who get that reference). Fringe science is exactly what its name suggests, so we see parallel universes and singularities investigated by an eclectic set of characters.
The video above acts as a rundown of reasons to watch Fringe, which are many and varied. Don’t take my word for it, just watch it for yourself.
Conclusions
As a geek it’s your duty to have seen at least one episode of all those shows. The geek gods demand it. Thankfully they’re all available somewhere online through BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Hulu, or iTunes. Or there is the good ol’ fashioned DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, physical media is still alive and well, for the time being at least.
As is customary here on MakeUseOf we now open the floor to you, our loyal readers. What do you think of the list? Are any of these shows ones you haven’t yet watched but will now do so? What other television shows do you think all geeks should have seen? Let us know in the comments section below.
Not everyone uses Facebook to store their photos and video, but alternative photo and video storage still doesn’t seem to have the best social integration just yet. Most of the alternatives are designed for more public sharing and aren’t always great at alerting your friends when there’s something new to look at. There’s also no denying that there are plenty of bored friends our there who love to see photo and video updates from you via Facebook. Why not automatically send a few of your favourites along for them to see?
If This Then That (IFTTT) is one of the simplest web automators around and can help you get things copied from A to B and vice versa. So, here’s a few cool IFTTT recipes to get your photos and video from wherever you prefer to keep them (e.g. Flickr, Dropbox, Instagram, or YouTube) into Facebook, plus a few neat ways to get the best photos your friends upload of you from Facebook out to somewhere useful.
Here’s a twist on the previous Flickr-to-Facebook automation which allows you to specify a specific Flickr tag to trigger an upload to Facebook. This is perfect if you upload all your photos to Flickr, but only want to bother your friends on Facebook with a few of the better ones.
Instagram Photos To Facebook Album
If you are taking lots of pictures using Instagram you’ve probably got some great photos shared out there with the wider world. But, how many of your friends have seen them? Using this recipe, your Instagram photos are automatically uploaded to Facebook into a special album.
Tagged Facebook Photos Sent To Flickr
Your friends might be great at taking happy snaps at parties and uploading their photos of you to Facebook. But once it’s been tagged and seen by a few people the buzz usually dies down. You might not ever see that photo again unless you trawl through all of the photos you’re tagged in. So why not keep your own copy?
This is much the same as the previous recipe. If you always have friends tagging you in Facebook photos and you want to keep them for your own memories, try the IFFT recipe which will send the tagged Facebook photos to Dropbox for you. It’s all automatic and you’ll find them in Dropbox when you want to browse them later.
Facebook Photos Tagged As You Are Copied To Private Facebook Album
Your Flickr sets might be organised and informative, but your Facebook friends never seem to notice. Here’s a way to automatically post a Facebook link to your new Flickr sets.
Don’t forget that all of these recipes can be adapted and tweaked to your liking – or even re-created to be exactly right. Mix and match the services or the actions as you please!
More Reading
Here’s some more reading about IFTTT recipes for Facebook and Facebook photos:
Daniel Benamy suffers from repetitive strain injury (RSI). His condition was brought on by using a traditional mouse over an extended period of time. After trying a slew of mice, he could not find one that relived his pain, and thus, the idea for the Up Mouse was born. Instead of pushing down on the buttons, the Up Mouse has users lift their fingers to press the buttons. .. Continue Reading Up Mouse turns push into pull to address hand and wrist pain
The rumors of James Bond’s death have been greatly exaggerated as 007 makes his return this November to battle Javier Bardem’s villainous blonde Silva in Sam Mendes’ explosive spy pic.
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OS X: Want to know how good your Wi-Fi network really is? If you have OS X 10.7 or above (Lion or Mountain Lion), a handy but hidden built-in utility can monitor your network’s performance and show your network’s signal strength. 
Microsoft’s MSDN blog has released a boatload of free ebooks on a range of technologies and programs, including a power users guide for Windows 7, programming Windows 8 apps and Windows Phone 7, SQL Server tutorials, and much more. 
Geeks are fairly well represented on television. Sure, some shows – even those listed below – are aimed at the mainstream and therefore represent geeks as being spotty, scruffy ne’er-do-wells that live in their parents’ basements, but in general geeks are shown as role models or important people who give something positive to society. Which, as 
Not everyone uses Facebook to store their photos and video, but alternative photo and video storage still doesn’t seem to have the best social integration just yet. Most of the alternatives are designed for more public sharing and aren’t always great at alerting your friends when there’s something new to look at. There’s also no denying that there are plenty of bored friends our there who love to see photo and video updates from you via Facebook. Why not automatically send a few of your favourites along for them to see?
