Hit Stop -> Stop -> Play and Other Tricks to Skip DVD Trailers and Warnings [DVDs]

By Adam Pash, LifehackerApril 15, 2010 at 06:00PM

If you’ve watched one DVD in your life, you know how annoying the endless title screens, trailers, and warnings are—primarily because you’re often prevented from skipping them. Unless you know the right remote control shortcut, that is.

The always-helpful Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration rounds up several methods for skipping the trailers, warnings, and other crap on a DVD so you can get straight to the movie you’re trying to watch. The first tip, from CNET author Tom Merritt, is the easiest. Just press Stop, Stop, then Play on many DVDs to skip right to the movie. This method won’t always work, so if it doesn’t, don’t give up hope! If twice doesn’t work, Salon.com’s Richard Rider says pressing Stop three times, followed by Play, will do the trick.

Finally, if you’re on a laptop or desktop computer, Lifehacker alum Rick Broida had this to say:

I popped in a DVD and fired up Windows Media Player. When the first splash screen appeared, I clicked the player’s Stop button. Then I clicked Play, and the disc skipped ahead to the previews. I repeated the process – Stop, then Play – and it advanced to the FBI warning. I did it a third time and presto: I landed right on the movie’s menu screen.

These tricks may not work every time and with every DVD, but thank god for the times they do. Got a trick of your own that does the trick? Share it in the comments. Photo by bizmac.

FixWin offers one-click fixes for loads of Vista and Windows 7 annoyances

By Lee Mathews, Download SquadApril 15, 2010 at 03:00PM

Filed under: ,

Microsoft’s FixIt solutions generally work well, but sometimes they just take way too long to run — especially on Vista and Windows 7. Some of them also require a little more interaction than I’d prefer: I know where the registry key is to fix that stupid bug where DVD drives disappear from My Computer, I just want a point-and-click way to do it!

Fortunately, The Windows Club has a nice portable app which provides much of the same functionality as FixIt.

FixWin is a tiny download which packs loads of helpful registry fixes for Vista and Windows 7. Everything from a disabled Task Manager or RegEdit to replacing missing shortcuts and fixing that CD problem I mentioned above. FixWin can also tackle a handful of Windows Media Player glitches such as messed up file associations, sync problems, and messed-up libraries. In total, the 173KB program contains 50 fixes.

As with any one-click fix program, it’s a good idea to create a system restore point prior to making any changes. FixWin’s developer has thoughtfully included a button on the app’s main tab to make things easy on us.

FixWin is available for download from The Windows Club — scroll down about halfway and look for the glowy arrow pointing at a hard drive.

Need a program like this for Windows XP? Check out XP Quick Fix Plus!

FixWin offers one-click fixes for loads of Vista and Windows 7 annoyances originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fixing a broken iPhone screen doesn’t have to be a pain in the glass

By Sang Tang, TUAW – The Unofficial Apple WeblogApril 15, 2010 at 12:00PM

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That old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder: it couldn’t be more true of the relationship that I have with my iPhone. It’s become such an integral part of my life that I don’t know how I ever managed to get by without it. Not since Fox cancelled “Arrested Development” have I missed something this much.

Two nights ago, I cracked the screen on my iPhone.

I was working out on the elliptical trainer and watching “Sanford and Son” clips on my iPhone, which was perched above the machine. As I reached over to it to choose the next related clip, the earphone cord snagged onto the arm pedal of the elliptical trainer.

T-minus two seconds before glass off.

2.00 seconds: Elliptical trainer’s arm pedal snags onto earphone cord.

1.50 seconds: Earphone jack doesn’t disengage from iPhone, and pulls iPhone down with it.

1.00 seconds: iPhone wobbles in the air as it makes its descent.

0.75 seconds: My right leg, straddled onto the elliptical trainer’s plastic foot pedal, is on its upward path.

0.50 seconds: iPhone’s screen and the right plastic foot pedal of the elliptical trainer meet at the apex of the pedal’s upward movement.

0.25 seconds: iPhone goes air born once again.

0.00: Glass off!

TUAWFixing a broken iPhone screen doesn’t have to be a pain in the glass originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Waste more time with Bear Gunner

By Jayvee, ForeverGeekApril 15, 2010 at 07:13AM

Are you bored at work? Do yourself a favor and click on this link. Forget this article for a minute.

……

………

Done playing? Great! Bear Gunner as you may have experienced isn’t as great as Robot Unicorn Attack (Robot Unicorn is “ROFLMAO” while Bear Gunner is “LOL”), but it still grabs your attention for the next five minutes as you gun down a horde of Pedobears coming out of the woods. Here’s how it works: You need to save the little girls from being [EEEP!] by the horde of bears coming out of the woods amidst the vinyl music playing in the background. You have limited ammo. You need to grab more ammo. Oh and Bear Gunner does require skill by the way. The bears move fast, so you’ll need to aim a bit forward if you want to conserve ammunition.

That’s it really. It’s fun. It’s stupid and you’re probably torn between having wasted 5 minutes of your time at work or discovered one of the best time wasters ever. BOOKMARKED!

TruLink 1-Port 60GHz WirelessHD Kit aims to cut HDMI cable clutter

By (author unknown), Gizmag Emerging Technology MagazineApril 15, 2010 at 03:44AM

Yet another black box ... the  TruLink WirelessHD kit transmitter can send 1080p signals w...

The TruLink 1-Port 60GHz WirelessHD Kit lets you say goodbye to the clutter of (expensive) HDMI cables and still retain a 1080p signal via a wireless transmission between your television and your HDMI components, Blu-ray player, set-top box, gaming console, etc. Good up to 30ft line-of-sight, the 60GHz transmission capability delivers wireless flexibility in your home theater setup…
Continue Reading TruLink 1-Port 60GHz WirelessHD Kit aims to cut HDMI cable clutter

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Vidalia 0.2.7 – Anonymize Web browsing and more (formerly Tor). (Free)

By (author unknown), MacUpdate: Recent Mac OS XMarch 27, 2010 at 10:53PM

Vidalia 0.2.7
Vidalia (formerly known as Tor) is a toolset for a wide range of organizations and people who want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Vidalia can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and more. Vidalia also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy.

Vidalia aims to defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers called onion routers, protecting you from websites that build profiles of your interests, local eavesdroppers that read your data or learn what sites you visit, and even the onion routers themselves.

Vidalia\’s security is improved as its user base grows and as more people volunteer to run servers. Please consider volunteering your time or volunteering your bandwidth. And remember that this is development code – it\’s not a good idea to rely on the current Vidalia network if you really need strong anonymity.

By default, Tor is configured to run at startup. If you do not want Vidalia to run on startup, you can disable this by selecting \”Customize\” in the Installer, and then un-checking the \”Tor Startup Script\” box. Be sure to leave the other boxes checked. Once the installer is finished and your computer restarts, Tor will start automatically. Tor comes configured as a client by default. It uses a built-in default configuration file in /Library/Tor/torrc, but most people won\’t need to change any of the settings.

Privoxy is installed as part of the Tor bundle package installer. Privoxy is a filtering web proxy that integrates well with Tor. Once it\’s installed, it will start automatically when your computer is restarted. You do not need to configure Privoxy to use Tor. A custom Privoxy configuration for Tor has been installed as part of the installer package.

WHAT’S NEW
Version 0.2.7:

Directory authority changes:

  • Rotate keys (both v3 identity and relay identity) for moria1
    and gabelmoo.

Major bugfixes:

  • Stop bridge directory authorities from answering dbg-stability.txt
    directory queries, which would let people fetch a list of all
    bridge identities they track.

REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

PRICE
Free

DEVELOPER

DOWNLOADS
114241

Hive Five Winner for Best Free Data Recovery Tool: Recuva [Hive Five Followup]

By Jason Fitzpatrick, LifehackerMay 05, 2009 at 06:00PM

Discovering your files are missing is never a good time. Last week we asked you to share your favorite data recovery tools, then we rounded up the top five for your perusal. The result?

User friendly Windows-based Recuva took home the crown for top data recovery tool. If your data woes aren’t as simple as undeleting an accidentally deleted file, make sure to check out cross-platform runner up TestDisk, a robust disk repair and data recovery tool. For more information on the other contenders make sure to check out the full Hive Five.