My Thoughts (For What They Are Worth)

I'm a wife and mother living in Houston, TX. I have three children, Soli, Alex and Sara. I work full-time and my husband, Marty, stays at home with our children and goes to school at night. Please, don't ever call him "Mr. Mom".

Monday, November 10, 2008

Gourmet Recipe Manager Organizes Your Recipes, Dieting, and Shoppin

Windows/Linux: Spend some time searching for free software to manage recipes, and you'll end up spending a lot of time in your uninstaller utility, removing the cruft of bad interfaces, weak features, and general abandonware. Gourmet Recipe Manager, a free, open-source download for Linux and Windows systems, is easy to navigate, imports and exports in a wide array of formats, and can generate nutritional data and shopping lists from your favorite home cooking recipes. The app has a lot of small but convenient features, like a list maker that understands you just need "potatoes," not "diced potatoes," an ingredient entry form that allows for no-look typing, and an attractive recipe card maker. It can also import recipes from Epicurious.com, Recipezaar, and other web sites with little problem. Gourmet Recipe Manager is a free download for Windows and Linux systems. It's included in many Linux repositories, while Windows users should look through the stable releases for the most recent .exe package.

Gourmet Recipe Manager [SourceForge]

via Lifehacker

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Popular Science Names 100 "Best of What's New" Technologies

Just last week, Time announced what they considered the 50 most important technological breakthroughs of 2008. Not to be outdone, today Popular Science has named their 100 "Best of What's New." Unlike Time, PopSci has categorized their awards into achievements in Automotive, Aviation & Space, Computing, Engineering, Gadgets (of course!), Green Tech, Home Entertainment, Home Tech, Health, Recreation and Security. But you've had enough of a tease; you just want to see the winners:

Automotive

Aviation & Space

Computing

Engineering

Gadgets

Green Technology

Home Entertainment

Home Technology

  • Honeywell Specialty Materials Storm-a-Rest
  • Craftsman VibraFree Sander
  • Home Comfort Zones MyTemp
  • Festool Lapex Miter Saw
  • Remington PowerMower
  • Gorilla Super Glue
  • FreshAire Paint
  • PF WaterWorks PermaFLOW

Personal Health

  • Recellularized Heart
  • CellScope
  • SensAble
  • Toshiba Aquilion One CT
  • Fraunhofer Institute’s Magnet-Controlled Gut Camera
  • BioXcell INVOcell Fertility Assist Device
  • Pro-Neck-Tor
  • Nintendo Wii Fit
  • Electronic Taste Chip
  • Hewlett Packard Smart Drug Delivery

Recreation

Security

  • Thruvision T5000 Camera
  • Noblepeak Vision Triwave
  • Rotundus GroundBot
  • Ingenia Technology Laser Surface Authentication System
  • Lumidigm Venus Series Sensors
  • Raytheon Controlled Impact Rescue Tool (CIRT)
  • Landshark IED Robot
  • RedX Spray-On Bomb Detector
  • ARA Safety FIT-5
  • The Streetlab Mobile

So what do you think? Was PopSci dead on or dead wrong? Lay it out in the comments. We were personally affronted that disemvowling didn't make this particular list. [PopSci]

via Gizmodo

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The Most Efficient Humidifier: Areca Palm


It's important to keep indoor humidity at an optimum level (between 45 to 65 percent). Dry air in the winter is one the main causes of sinus infections and sore throats. You can use a mechanical humidifier to add moisture to the air, but these devices require constant cleaning to prevent the growth of microorganisms.

An easier way to add humidity to a room, is to put a few areca palms in it. These palms release copious amounts of water into the air, and remove chemical toxins too. They are consistently rated among the best houseplants for removing all indoor toxins tested. According to B. C. Wolverton, author of How To Grow Fresh Air, a six foot (1.8 m) areca palm transpires approximately 1 quart (1 litre) of water every 24 hours. So if you put three in your bedroom, the palms will be release three quarts of water per day - not bad!

via Metaefficient

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Sunday, November 09, 2008

GDataCopier Syncs Google Docs to Your Desktop


Windows/Mac/Linux: Looking for a quick way to upload and download files from a Google Docs account? If you're familiar with command line tools, check out GDataCopier. Once I installed a new version of Python (2.5 or higher required) and the GData API for Python, it was just a matter of running gdata-cp.py and I had every document in my Google Docs account backed up to a folder on my desktop. It would also work great for uploading a batch of documents to Google Docs. And of course you can set it up with a crontab to schedule regular backups. Looking for alternatives to futzing in a terminal window? Windows users can use DocSyncer, sync between OpenOffice.org and Google Docs with OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs or download Google Docs from Firefox with a Greasemonkey script. GDataCopier is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux, requires Python to run. Thanks, TerrenceMarburger!

GDataCopier

via Lifehacker

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Saturday, November 08, 2008

DateInTray Adds a Small, Quick Calendar to Your System Tray

Windows only: Free application DateInTray adds a small, unobtrusive calendar icon to your system tray displaying the current date. Clicking the icon displays a small pop-up calendar. If you liked the calendar integration of previously mentioned Analog Clock but don't want to expand your taskbar to enjoy it, DateInTray (which we've mentioned once before) is a perfect utility. And if you're the type to avoid extra system tray utilities to avoid bloat, DateInTray's minuscule 500-700KB of RAM usage should please even the most miserly of systems. DateInTray is freeware, Windows only. Thanks Doug!
DateInTray

via Lifehacker

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Friday, November 07, 2008

Five Tweaks for Your New Ubuntu Desktop

With the recent release of the popular Linux distro Ubuntu's 8.10 version, code-named Intrepid Ibex, we've recently detailed some productive-minded Ubuntu Kung Fu, as well as a user-minded tour through 8.10. This morning, though, we're taking a more nuts-and-bolts look at changes you can make to your newly-installed system to make it faster, reliable, and more enjoyable from the inside out. Read on for five tweaks that any Ubuntu user (or Linux user in general) should consider making to get started on the right foot.

Disable or throttle back Tracker indexing

Installed and running by default on Ubuntu desktops, Tracker is an actually handy search tool that's placed, Spotlight-style, in the upper-right taskbar, giving you quick access to files and folders. The only catch is that Tracker eats up a good bit of processor power to keep itself current, and, depending on how you use your system, might not be necessary at all. The How-To Geek walks through the process of scaling back or disabling Tracker entirely. Looking for a low-power, high-functioning alternative? Try learning the magic of find.

Disable atime to speed up your hard drive

Some older Ubuntu distributions, and other Linux systems, mount hard drives using an atime option. The problem, as noted by Linus Torvalds himself, is that atime writes to the hard disk every time a file is accessed to keep up its indexing records. We've detailed how to turn off atime for faster hard drive access, and newer Ubuntu users can go a bit further in disabling the replacement relatime as well—but be sure to back up your original /etc/fstab file, as some applications and services might get cranky without it.

Switch to mirror servers for updates

Every six months or so, a new version of Ubuntu drops. And every six months, without fail, users looking to download a new CD or upgrade their systems slam the Ubuntu.com servers, leaving many with huge download waits, and users just trying to grab the latest updates in the lurch. Save yourself the cyclical grief, and save Ubuntu's developers some hosting costs, by switching to mirror servers for updates. Universities and Linux groups around the world are happy to dish out the latest system updates, which are mirrored hastily from Ubuntu's servers, and you'll probably get better speeds finding a nearby host.

Upgrade to OpenOffice.org 3

Ubuntu sticks to a rigid release schedules, so the latest version, 8.10, had to wrap up its software picks before the OpenOffice project could finalize its 3.0 version. Luckily, it's not too hard to put the latest open-source office suite on your desktop, either as a replacement for the 2.x default or next to it. The Tombuntu blog details the steps, which require only a minimal bit of command line work.

Back up your home folder

The "home" folder in Linux, found at /home/yourusername, is more than just a stash for MP3s and cat pictures. In hidden files (named with a . at the start) and specific folders, it's where most applications keep your preferences, data files, and other customizations. Having a backup of your home folder is pretty crucial to reinstalling a system that went bad, making painless upgrades, and generally feeling better about your stability. You can kick it old-school with rsync or hook up an external hard drive, but the recently-opened Dropbox makes it seriously easy and automatic to back up the home folder with a native client application.

BONUS: Install Windows fonts and multimedia codecs

Because of its open-source ideals and licensing, Ubuntu can't include non-open codecs like MP3s, WMA/WMV, or DVD playback by default. Getting it all working, though, isn't too hard. Head over to the Medibuntu site, and follow the instructions for "Playing Encrypted DVDs" and "Playing Non-Native Media Formats."

So those are a few things this writer always does when installing a new Ubuntu system, or helping friends install theirs. Let's hear our Linux-savvy readers' hit lists—what are the first steps you always take when setting up your new system? Share your items, and commands, in the comments.

via Lifehacker

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Wednesday, November 05, 2008

How to speed up your BlackBerry Internet browser

One of the best upgrades from the newer BlackBerry OSs has been the much improved Internet browser. Back when I had my 8830, with its scroll-only trackball function, surfing was okay, but not a remarkable experience. Then I upgraded to the Curve and realized the power of the cursor. Combined with better support for Javascript, the BlackBerry browsing experience went from “OK” to “pretty freakin’ good.” However, there are still issues that can slow down your experience. Here are a few tips to speed up your Internet browser.

To start, launch your BlackBerry Browser. Hit the Menu key, then scroll to and select Options, and then Browser Configuration. That will bring us to the all-important screen.

       

Turn off Javascript


Javascript can cause agonizing lag in your browser. I’ve had this happen plenty of times, and it has, on my 8830, has caused the hourglass to pop up every 3 seconds. Thankfully, I was able to solve this problem the way you can solve any BlackBerry problem. It’s still a pain, though.

Turning off Javascript is an easy solution. Your Browser Configuration settings make this even easier, as you can choose to have it prompt you when scripts want to run. This way, you can be picky about when to slow down your browser.

Turn off HTML tables

HTML tables are no fun. Thankfully, with upgrades to Internet Explorer 8, they’re going out of style. While they eventually might be phased out, they still exist today. Turning off this feature can speed up your browser experience. If you need table support, you can just go back into your Browser Configuration options.

Turn off background images

This is a self-explanatory one. Loading fewer images means less data, which means faster load times. You can always click them back on if need be.


       

Keep Emulation set at BlackBerry

The newer iterations of the BlackBerry Browser allow you to view Web pages as they would appear on the desktop. Once you set your Emulation Mode to Microsoft IE, you can do this. However, it does cause for some big files. This can severely slow your load time. I tried to load a few Web pages like this, and the more data-intensive ones took for-ever.

It’s a neat feature, IE mode, and I recommend you play around with it. However, if you’re going for pure speed, just stick to the BlackBerry default. Things will move a bit smoother.

a

How to speed up your BlackBerry Internet browser

via bbgeeks

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Monday, November 03, 2008

Ken Rename Helps You Rename on the Go


Windows only: Ken Rename is a portable file renaming utility. The interface is straight forward with support for simple and complex renaming tasks. Ken Rename supports wildcards, macros, numbered file lists, string replacement and removal, and has an undo function to save you from a renaming mishap. Weighing in at under half a MB, Ken Rename is a handy addition to your flash drive toolkit. For a similar program with the welcome addition of a preview function, try WildRename. For a Mac friendly, but non-portable, alternative check out File List. Ken Rename is freeware, Windows only.

Ken Rename [via The Portable Freeware Collection]

via Lifehacker

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Saturday, November 01, 2008

A User's Look at Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex


Author Keir Thomas has dropped by with an end-user's perspective on the all-new Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). This is something Keir knows all about, having written two best-selling books about Ubuntu: Beginning Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu Kung Fu (recently excerpted here).

You've probably read more than a few reviews of Ubuntu 8.10 by now, but most will have focused on technology like what bits of the kernel are new. While such features are the wet dreams of programmers, it can be hard to relate them to day-to-day experience. Instead, let's take an end-user look at the productivity boosts that Ubuntu 8.10 brings, so you can judge if Ubuntu 8.10 is actually likely to offer you any benefits or not.

Installation and setup

As with all releases of Ubuntu, the improvements in 8.10 are gradual rather than striking. This is true of the installer. This functions largely as it did in Ubuntu 8.04, which is to say it makes installing Ubuntu a breeze.

New to the installer is a Login Automatically option, which appears when you're prompted to configure your user account. As it suggests, this will cause Ubuntu to go straight to the desktop each time you boot, without pausing first at the login screen. Mac OS X and Windows do this automatically, but it's a contentious feature by the standards of Linux, where privacy and data protection are closely guarded. Personally, I feel it's a useful feature, provided your computer is in a secure location. I wouldn't enable it on a work computer, for example, or a notebook.

Also new to the installation software is a prettier graphic display showing the state of partitioning. This is only a redressing of the same information provided by the older installer software, however. This graphical bar display is also now applied to the previously sparse and utilitarian manual partitioning option, where it proves useful in giving an at-a-glance overview of the disk's partitions.

But, as with Ubuntu 8.04, Wubi is the way to go for fuss-free installation: Just insert the Ubuntu CD while Windows up and running (either XP and Vista), and you can install Ubuntu as a series of virtual hard disk files within the Windows file system. There's no messing around with partitions, and you'll get an Ubuntu experience that's practically as good as a full hard-disk install. Alternatively, you can download the dedicated Wubi installer and avoid the need to create an install CD. Wubi has already been updated to offer 8.10 and now features the choice to install Mythbuntu, as well as the main releases.

The good news for those with multiple monitors is that, once Ubuntu is up and running, dual-desktop configuration works flawlessly. Well, it did for me, at least, and I struggled to get multiple monitors working with the 8.04 release on my notebook (Intel graphics). Incidentally, 8.10 does away entirely with the X.org configuration file, long the bane of newbies but also the savior of more experienced users. The idea is that the graphical subsystem "just works", and if it doesn't you're supposed to file a bug report. As useful as this is, I can't help feeling this blind automation is a step in the wrong direction. It's certainly not in the hacking spirit of Linux.

Network configuration has been given an almost total overhaul. It's now possible to configure connections to 3G (GSM/CDMA) mobile phones via NetworkManager. A wizard walks you through configuring the phone connection, and you can choose from typical settings needed for cellphone providers in your country. This is very neat indeed, and approaches Apple's level of "it just works" usability (although I should point out I couldn't test this feature, lacking a compatible phone).

In fact, ALL network configuration is now handled via NetworkManager, including Ethernet and static IP addresses. The long-serving Network Settings tool that's been around since 2004 has vanished from the System -> Administration menu. Additionally, networks configured via NetworkManager start during boot-up, rather than when the desktop appears, as was the case with 8.04. If you've ever tried to configure a broken 8.04 system that won't let you login to Gnome, you'll realize this is a God-send.

Speaking of Wi-Fi, Ubuntu 8.10 features the 2.6.27 Linux kernel, which includes built-in support for more Wi-Fi hardware. If you previously had to use ndiswrapper for your computer's Atheros-based Wi-Fi card, you might find it works fine now. Additionally, Intel n-based chips are also supported. There's better webcam support too.

Finally, it's now possible to easily install Ubuntu to a USB memory stick, in order to create a portable Ubuntu installation that you can use to boot any computer, anywhere (no more risk of viruses from cyber cafe PCs!). Just select the option from the System -> Administration menu after installation and insert your Ubuntu install CD along with a USB stick.

What you actually create is a copy of the installation CD on the USB stick. As such, you'll need to select Try Ubuntu from the boot menu each time you boot. However, any files you save or preferences you change should stick around and be stored on the USB stick (a feature known as persistence). Using a USB stick to run Ubuntu isn't fast, but once the desktop has booted it's actually pretty good.

Greeting the desktop

Once 8.10 boots for the first time you'll notice the main menus have been slightly overhauled and now have large submenu indicators. Additionally, Universal Access has been given a submenu of its own off the Applications main menu, although it has only one option—to run the Orca Screen Reader and Magnifier program. I'm guessing this was added because starting and configuring what is a vital tool for some was troublesome in previous releases of Ubuntu. Indeed, initial startup and configuration of Orca is now much easier, although you'll need to work your way through a series of questions that are spoken and also printed in a terminal window.

The hotly debated "dark" GUI theme finds a home in 8.10, although it isn't activated by default. It can be selected by clicking System -> Preferences -> Appearance, and selecting Darkroom in the list. I have to say that I really like this new theme although some people hate it just as much. There's also a new default wallpaper, which will probably earn the nickname "the coffee ring".

Those with laptops and also friends will appreciate the new Guest feature. By clicking the Fast User Switcher at the top right (which has been overhauled and combined with the logout button to save space), and selecting Guest Session, you can switch the computer to a locked-down Guest account. The Guest user is unable to access the /home directory, so can't view your files. They can save files if they need to but they're saved to the /tmp folder, and are wiped when the Guest user logs out.

The idea behind the Guest user is to let you loan your laptop to friends or coworkers so they can check their email, or maybe even do some brief office work, while you rest safe in the knowledge that they won't stumble upon your specialist video collection.

Applications

Most applications see point updates and, with one or two exceptions, you'll struggle to find any major feature upgrades outside of Nautilus (see below).

The GIMP has been upgraded the 2.6 release which, shockingly, only uses a single taskbar button for all its windows. Additionally, it features a dedicated document window (the layer, brushes etc. windows are now referred to as docks). It's all a little... Photoshop. To be blunt, I never thought I'd see the day when this happened. I thought pigs would have to fly, or that something crazy would have to happen—like the Dow dropping below 10,000 in a single day. Oh, wait...

We live in extraordinary times.

Brasero reaches the 0.8 release in Ubuntu 8.10, and now includes the facility to create video CDs/DVDs. It's rather primitive compared to the likes of Apple's iDVD—you simply drag and drop video files in sequence, and can't create DVD menus, for example—but it's a step in the right direction. It forms a useful basic tool for creating hard copies of movie files (it isn't limited to open codecs either; as with the media player applications, the relevant codecs are downloaded when needed).

Rather strangely, Ubuntu 8.10 includes the older 2.4 release of OpenOffice.org, rather than the all-new 3.0 release, with its myriad of rather useful new features. This omission is mystifying because the Ubuntu developers usually aggressively track new releases for inclusion, to the point of including Firefox 3 in 8.04, even though it was still in beta at the time.

Synaptic now features a Quick Search field on the taskbar, which avoids the need to click the Search button whenever you want to search both package names and descriptions. Yes, it is actually quicker. Also new to Synaptic is a statement in the detailed listing for each program telling if the program is supported by Canonical or by the community, and how long the support will last for. This is very useful.

Synaptic also exhibits a slight visual change that's also present in Nautilus, in that columns are separated by faint dotted lines (this appears in Nautilus' List View mode). This is pleasing on the eye and useful when glancing at a program window.

The Totem movie player application can now tune-in to BBC iPlayer content, so you can catch up with your favorite British TV and radio shows. Just select "BBC" from the side pane drop-down list in Totem, and then make your program selection from the list. Apparently, this feature addition wasn't trivial and involved Ubuntu people negotiating with the BBC itself. However, there were almost no TV programs listed when I looked. Just radio and a few news clips. UK stalwart soap-opera EastEnders wasn't listed, for example. This might be because of licensing issues, or maybe just teething troubles.

Encryption

New to Ubuntu 8.10 is a nifty seamless encryption feature. It's always been possible to encrypt individual files/folders in Ubuntu but it involved creating a key pair and then individually encrypting files. To view or edit the file, it was necessary to decrypt it and then re-encrypt it again if changes were made. Messy.

The new feature creates an encrypted filestore, mounted in the Private folder in your /home directory. This is automatically locked and unlocked as you log in and out, so accessing it is seamless and transparent. Other users won't be able to access it, and it isn't possible to see its contents by booting into rescue mode.

To activate the feature, just type the following two commands:

sudo apt-get install ecryptfs-utils
ecryptfs-setup-private

Follow the prompts shown and then log out and back in again. Once the desktop reappears, you'll see a new Private directory in your /home folder, where you can save data, as with any other directory.

The rumors are that, if this feature is successful, there will be an option to encrypt the entire /home directory for each user in future Ubuntu releases. And why not? Provided there's limited performance overhead, and if it is as seamlessly integrated as this, it's an essential feature.

Also on the security front, ClamAV has been moved into the officially-supported repositories, so Ubuntu now has an effective antivirus program that's guaranteed to be updated for the 18 month life of Ubuntu 8.10. ClamAV's inclusion in Ubuntu was previously a little touch-and-go, making it an unreliable choice.

Desktop improvements

It's Ubuntu's file manager that arguably sees the most changes from a productivity viewpoint. New features include tabbed browsing, eject buttons alongside removable storage devices, and a compact list view.

Tabbed browsing is exactly the same as that pioneered by Firefox, except that rather than browsing web sites, file system locations are browsed. To add a tab, just hit Ctrl+T. Files can be dragged and dropped between tabs by dragging them to the relevant tab until it's selected, and then dropping.

The eject buttons in the Places list either unmount removable storage devices, such as USB memory sticks, or physically eject CD/DVD disks (they're also unmounted first, of course). This is useful because one thing Ubuntu newbies have trouble understanding is the need to mount/unmount storage devices. The buttons make doing so obvious and easy.

The compact list view now partners the icon and list views, and allows files to be listed as small icons in columns. This is nothing new to Windows users, but it's a welcome addition to Nautilus.

Although Ubuntu 8.10 includes the 2.24 release of Gnome, which provides the useful new functionality in Nautilus, several other of its boasted features are missing. Ekiga 3 isn't present in Ubuntu 8.10, for example, and I couldn't find how to access the new time tracker applet that lets you monitor how long you spend on projects (this is especially odd because this feature is boasted about in the Ubuntu 8.10 press release—at least it is at the time of writing).

A nice new addition is the inclusion of sound themes. Changing system sounds in Ubuntu has always been a little messy, but new themes can now be added and removed. Additionally, the Freedesktop.org Sound Theme and Naming Specification is supported, so themes created for KDE should also be usable under Gnome (and vice versa). This should mean no shortage of choices.

The underrated Deskbar applet now docks to the top of the screen, making it less clumsy to use. Additionally, it now supports Google search, along with a handful of other new and useful searches, although—irritatingly—the Google search won't work unless the python-simplejson package is manually installed via Synaptic. You must then activate the Google search option in the plug-in list.

The system shutdown and logout dialogs have been overhauled and look much more professional, taking a button approach (see the screenshot below). They also include short descriptions of each option, and a 60 second countdown timer, upon completion of which the default option of shutdown or logout is chosen. A welcome addition.

Samba has been updated, so those using Ubuntu in an office environment with the need to access Windows servers and file shares might be better off with the 8.10 release.

Conclusion

The eternal quandary of the Ubuntu user is whether to stick with the long-term support release, or upgrade to the hottest testing release. Ubuntu 8.10 somehow manages to be a subtle yet significant improvement, and some of the new features are extremely desirable.

On balance, I think the new features are worth the cost of an upgrade. What cost am I talking about? Well, although Ubuntu 8.10 is as free of charge as Ubuntu always is (and always will be), you might have to deal with slightly unstable software—at least until bug fixes are issued. I noticed that the new Fast User Switcher didn't want to switch the first time I tried it, for example, and running 8.10 in a VMware virtual machine by way of testing was fraught with difficulties. There were a handful of other tiny glitches here and there and you should definitely check out the release notes before installing—there are a handful of ugly issues.

It might be worth waiting a month or two for these bugs to be ironed out before making the upgrade. But once you do, you'll definitely be impressed. Ubuntu 8.10 leaves all previous releases standing in the dirt.

Keir Thomas is the author of Beginning Ubuntu Linux, Third Edition, and Ubuntu Kung Fu, the latter of which is available as a PDF for a recession-busting $22.

via Lifehacker

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The Only Wii Homebrew Guide You Will Ever Need

Finding a clear and concise guide for loading homebrew software on a game console is almost always impossible—the info is always changing as homebrewers battle new hack-blocking software updates (like Nintendo's recent doozy), and it's scattered across countless gamer forums that you don't want to have to sift through, trust me. Thankfully, the Wii's homebrew scene is fairly stable, and took only a few days to bounce back (mostly) intact after being temporarily shut down last week. Here you'll find a guide for easily getting homebrew up and running on any Wii, even if you've run the recent updated, to play old-school emulated games and watch video on your Wii. It's easy, trust us.

The gear you will need:
• A copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• SD card (2GB max) and reader
• Twilight Hack software [download v0.1 beta 1]
• Homebrew Channel software [download, beta 9]
• Homebrew Browser [download v.0.2.3b]

Note: links fresh as of October 31, 2008. If you're here a few months after that, check each project's linked site for any new versions.

First things first, if you haven't updated your Wii since October 23, 2008, don't do it yet. Follow our guide here without updaing, and then follow these instructions to install a tweaked version of the 10/23 update that won't kill your brew. Now, on with the guide.

Load up your SD card
Now, there are programs like the Wii Brew SD Installer that will grab or come bundled with the necessary files and will set up your SD card in a fairly automated fashion—but those programs can often be as confusing as the homebrew code itself and are rarely multi-platform, so I find it easier to go at it fully manual-style, which really isn't that hard at all and is more likely to work perfectly. Here are the steps:

1. Unpack the Twilight Hack zip file and copy the "private" directory to the root folder of an empty SD card.

2. Unpack the Homebrew Channel zip file and copy the "boot.dol" file and "wiiload" folder to the root of your SD card as well.

3. Create a folder on the root of your SD called "apps." Unpack the Homebrew Browser zip file and put the "homebrew_browser" directory and all its contents in your "apps" folder. Your SD card should look like this:

Time For the Twilight Hack
I think someone told me the intricacies of how the Twilight Princess hack works once, and I understood it not one iota, which is fine, because you don't need to understand it to use it. So let's just leave it at that, and go on with the knowledge that this is one of the weirdest backdoor hacks you're likely to come across. If you don't own Twilight Princess, it's good, you should, but a rented copy will work just fine too. Before you do the hack, make sure you've played Twilight Princess at least once and have a data file saved.
4. With the SD card you just prepped inserted, go into the Data Management interface and delete your previous Twilight Princess saved game (you should back it up first to the SD card or you'll lose it). Copy over the Twilight Hack save file from the SD card.

5. Before you put in the Twilight Princess Disc, look at the bottom: in the first dark band after the data portion of the disk, there will be a printed number. If it ends in 0A-0, you will use the TwilightHack0 save; if it ends in 0A-2, you use TwilightHack2.

6. Fire up Twilight Princess and select the correct save file. Once the game loads, walk backwards. The Homebrew Channel loader will fire up immediately—follow the onscreen instructions for a couple button presses and your Wii is official ready to brew. And now, feel free to switch to an SDHC card over 2GB, because the latest Homebrew Channel includes SDHC support. (But your Wii proper will still be unable to read it).

Grab Some Apps
The SD card we've prepared here comes with one app, the Homebrew Browser, which thankfully is a Wii Shop-like conduit to many, many more apps that can be downloaded and installed directly on the Wii without ever removing the SD card. You can also manually download and install individual homebrew apps can simply copy the directories they come in to your "apps" folder on the SD card, and the Homebrew Channel will recognize them automatically. The Wii Pack Generator is a great source for directly downloading apps, and it has a few that aren't listed in the Homebrew Browser.

7. Since the Homebrew Channel stores all of your added apps and data on the SD card, the first app I would download is ftpii, which is an FTP server for the Wii that allows you to login from any computer on the same network and access the SD card. This is awesome for loading movies or more apps to the card without having to physically swap it back and forth from your computer to Wii. To install an app simply fire up the Homebrew Browser, find it in the listings, and click "Download" for it to show up on your main Homebrew Channel menu automatically.

8. For videos, install MPlayer. There are a couple versions - you want the "dvdlib version." Then you can dump media files (I tested a few non-HD DiVX and MPEG videos, all worked great—but the Wii choked on the 1080p MPEG No Country For Old Men trailer I tried) onto your SD card and play them on your TV. No high-def, but if the Wii is your main machine, this is nice.

9. And, most important, SNES9X. Plays Super Nintendo ROMs without flaw. Essential. There are emulators for tons of other consoles, from the Genesis to N64.

One Small Catch, Now
DVD playback via DVDX is one of the only things that hasn't been updated to work with the newest Nintendo update. When it does, you can install it simply via the DVDX listing in the Homebrew Browser (we'll update this guide), and play DVDs through MPlayer. Custom WAD and backup installers (read: game pirating gear) are also not yet fully adapted to the new block, but you weren't going to be messing with any of those anyway, right?

So there you have it. With a few minutes of tinkering, you now have a Wii that can play just about every vintage video game system imagineable, play your downloaded, ripped or DRM-free purchased videos on your TV, and world of other tricks. We'll update this guide should anything change.

via Gizmodo

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