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The Nintendo Wii is a great console. It's family friendly, fun and allows you to customize your characters, called Miis, used in many of the games.

The "Mii" is a brilliant concept. Instead of being some generic character in a game, you can be yourself. You can also make a celebrity look alike Mii. That way the next time you are playing Baseball on Wii Sports, you might end up with a celebrity Mii on your team like Oprah, Borat, Charlie Brown or even Mr. Scientology himself... Tom Cruise. If you are a Tom fan, then go wild and have fun. If you hate him, then beat up his Mii in Wii Boxing. It's up to you!

This methodshop.com tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a celebrity Mii and sharing it on the Internet.

Tutorial: How to Make and Share Celebrity Miis for the Nintendo Wii


methodshop

Labels: games, tutorial

Having iTunes authorization problems? Files downloaded from the iTunes Store can only be authorized to play on up to 5 computers at a time. If you try to go over 5 computers, then iTunes will give you an authorization error.

For most people, 5 computers is plenty. One computer at home, one at work, a friend's computer, your laptop, your car (wait... did Xzibit Pimp Your Ride and put computer in your car?).

Where you really start to run into authorization problems is when you get a new computer. Before you sell or get rid of an old computer, you should always "deauthorize" it first in iTunes. You should even consider deauthorizing your computer before sending it away for repair or upgrade - in case it doesn't come back in one piece. Deauthorizing your computer does not erase your music files; it simply prevents your purchased music from playing until you authorize that computer again with your iTunes password.

This methodshop.com tutorial will walk you through the entire iTunes Deauthorizing process.





methodshop

Labels: itunes, tutorial

Has a virus or hard drive crash wiped out your entire music and video collection? Imagine the loss. Imported CD's, ripped DVD's, downloaded files from the Internet and most importantly, all that money you've spent in the iTunes Store!

Is it all really gone? Maybe not. Your music and movie files are still on your iPod or iPhone right? Let's get it all back. Here's how to rip media off your iPod or iPhone and save it back to your computer.

TUTORIAL: How to Save Music and Videos OFF Your iPod or iPhone





methodshop

Labels: gadgets, iphone, ipod, music, tutorial

Want to get Facebook status updates as a RSS feed? Facebook doesn't make it easy AT ALL. But all you need to know are your 3 Facebook numbers: facebook_id, your_internal_key and your_friend_key. Once you have these 3 numbers, you can copy and paste them into a custom RSS feed for your status, the status of your friends, all notifications or links from you or your friends. You can then take this custom RSS feed and do things like put into widgets or Hootsuite and feed it into your Twitter account.

Making your custom Facebook RSS feed is easy. Just follow the steps below.


Step #01: Go to your Facebook Notifications Page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/notifications.php


Step #02: Click on the “Your Notifications” link on the page.

You should now see a RSS feed of all your notifications being displayed in your web browser.



The structure of the link is as follows:

http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/notifications.php?id=YOUR_FACEBOOK_ID&viewer=YOUR_FACEBOOK_ID&key= YOUR_INTERNAL_KEY&format=rss20

There are 3 numbers in this URL. The number that follows “id” is your Facebook ID number. This number appears twice. The last number is your Facebook Internal Key. Copy these numbers and set them aside.


Step #03: Go to your Facebook Friends Page:
http://www.facebook.com/friends/?ref=tn


Step #04: Click on the “Friends Status’ Feed” link on the page.

You should now see a RSS feed of your friends’ activities. The URL will look like this:
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/friends_status.php?id=your_facebook_id&key=your_friends_key&format=rss20

The second number is your Facebook Friends Key. Copy this number and put it aside.


Step # 05: Create the RSS URLs

Once you have your 3 Facebook numbers (facebook_id, your_internal_key and your_friend_key), you’re ready to make your custom RSS feeds. All you have to do to is copy and paste them into the link structures below.

Status Feed
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/status.php?id=your_facebook_id&viewer=your_facebook_id&key=your_internal_key&format=rss20

Notifications Feed
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/notifications.php?id=your_facebook_id&viewer=your_facebook_id&key=your_internal_key&format=rss20

Friends Status Feed
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/friends_status.php?id=your_facebook_id&key=your_friends_key&format=rss20

Friends Links Feed
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/share_friends_posts.php?id=your_facebook_id&key=your_friend_key&format=rss20

Friends List Feed
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/friends_status.php?id=your_facebook_id&key=your_friend_key&format=rss20





methodshop

Labels: internet, social networking, tutorial

The Nintendo Wii is a great console. It's family friendly, fun and allows you to customize your characters, called Mii's, used in many of the games. Instead of being some generic character in a game, you can be yourself. You can also make a celebrity Mii look alike. So the next time you are playing Baseball on Wii Sports, you might end up with a celebrity Mii on your team like Oprah, Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson or Dwight from the TV show The Office.

This tutorial will guide you through making a Mii and sharing it on the Internet as well as give you plenty of celebrity Mii ideas.

Tutorial: How to Make and Share Celebrity Mii's for the Nintendo Wii


methodshop

Labels: games, tutorial

Do you get a giant stack of DVD's for Christmas? Want to watch them on your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV? Here's a tutorial that explains how to use an awesome program called Handbrake to rip DVD's into iTunes friendly MPEG-4 video files. Tis' the season for ripping!

Tutorial: How to Rip DVD's for Your iPod, Apple TV or iPhone




methodshop

Labels: iphone, ipod, itunes, tutorial, video

Wonder what your cats do while you are at work? Is the nanny drinking again? Don't trust your roommates? Did the dog walker forget to come today? Are the kids throwing a party at your house while you're on vacation? Want to keep an eye on your store employees while you are at home?

There are a million reasons to install a hidden camera at your home or office. Installing a security camera system has traditionally been both expensive and difficult. But not anymore.

The Panasonic BL-C131A wireless network camera sells for under $300 and will do everything from email you a photo when the motion sensor is triggered to to let you watch and control the camera angle live over the Internet.

Unlike a webcam, a "network camera" doesn't need a dedicated computer. Just plug in the power and connect the camera to your wired or wireless network. The Panasonic BL-C131A wireless network camera is about the size of a 16 oz. jar of peanut butter. No clunky tape decks. No frozen computers. And since it's so small, it's easily hidden on a bookshelf or a dark corner. It's also very easy to setup. All you need is a web browser like Safari or Internet Explorer so both Mac and PC users can take advantage of this great camera.

For less than $300, this feature rich network camera can really give you piece of mind.

Tutorial: How to Setup and Monitor Your Home or Office Remotely Using the Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera


methodshop

Labels: gadgets, review, tutorial, video

The Nintendo Wii is a great console. It's family friendly, fun and allows you to customize your characters, called Mii's, used in many of the games.

The "Mii" is a brilliant concept. Instead of being some generic character in a game, you can be yourself. You can also make a celebrity look alike Mii. So the next time you are playing Baseball on Wii Sports, you might end up with a celebrity Mii on your team like Oprah, Tom Cruise or Dwight from the NBC TV show The Office.

This tutorial will guide you through making a Mii and sharing it on the Internet as well as give you plenty of celebrity Mii ideas.

Tutorial: How to Make and Share Celebrity Mii's for the Nintendo Wii





methodshop

Labels: games, tutorial

Do you use Adobe Dreamweaver to create and design websites? Is Dreamweaver no longer automatically uploading all dependent files when you save a page? We use Adobe Dreamweaver to create methodshop.com and this always seems to trip us up everyone couple years or so.

Chances are you probably were messing around with your Dreamweaver Preferences or accidentally checked the "Don't Ask Me Again" check during the "putting" process.

PROBLEM: Dreamweaver fails to prompt for including dependent files when putting

SOLUTION: This is an easy fix. If you want to be prompted to upload dependent files, then you'll need to turn on the "Prompt on Put/Check In" preference. Just follow the directions below:

Requirements:

• Dreamweaver 3 or higher (Mac/PC)

1. Choose Edit > Preferences.
2. Select the Site category.
3. Under Dependent Files, check Prompt on Put/Check In.


methodshop

Labels: software, tutorial

Microsoft Windows assigns drive letters to disk volumes to help tell them apart. For example, the default letter assigned to your computer’s hard drive is probably ‘c.’ Each time you dock the iPod to a PC, Windows will assign the iPod the next available drive letter, such as ‘f’ or ‘g.’ But isn’t the letter ‘i’ the most appropriate drive letter assignment for the iPod?




Here’s a simple tutorial on how to assign the drive letter ‘i’ to an iPod connected to a PC using Microsoft Windows.

Tutorial: Assign Your iPod to Microsoft Windows Drive Letter ‘i’


methodshop

Labels: gadgets, ipod, tutorial

As your iTunes Library grows, you will probably lose track of exactly what media you have already imported. Eventually you will end up with duplicate songs and videos. For example, you might accidentally import a CD twice or add files from Limewire or BitTorrent. Or maybe a friend with a big Terabyte hard drive loaded you up with a lot of music recently.

Here are a few tips and techniques on how to get rid of duplicate songs in your iTunes Library as well as some precautions you should take before deleting duplicate tracks.

Tutorial: How to Remove Duplicates From Your iTunes Library


methodshop

Labels: gadgets, itunes, music, tutorial

Get ready for some 1980's computing to meet Web 2.0. A guy named Johan Van den Brande has made a Twitter client for Commodore 64 (C64).

The C64 was first introduced by Commodore in August 1982. It was a revolutionary computer and boosted the best graphics and sound capabilities of its time. The C64 had 64KB of RAM, a 985Khz processor and could display screen resolutions as high as 320×256. Compared to computers today, the processing power in your bedroom alarm clock could dance circles around the C64.

You don't see too many Commodore computers these days. After 25 years, most people have either thrown them away or they are buried in an attic or garage. So if you want to try using Breadbox, your best bet will probably be to install a C64 emulator on your Mac or PC. We have a methodshop.com tutorial that will walk you through the installation of a C64 emulator if you are interested.

In the video below, Johan Van den Brande shows off his Breadbox software and loads a screen from Twitter. Skip to 2:45 if you don't want to see the camera setup and the application loading from diskette.





If you're curious, Johan posted a more technical description on his website.

"It's a Commodore 128D running in C64 mode. All Commodore 128 and 128D systems could either run in C128, CP/M or C64 mode, so it's like having 3 computers in one. This isn't emulation as the C128 has the same core hardware as a C64. Whether you're running in 128 or 64 mode is just a matter of how fast the 8502 CPU is running, which ROM is active, and whether you have 128K or 64K of RAM available."

After watching the video you may be scratching your head wondering why someone would even bother making a C64 Twitter client. It's all just nerdy thrills ladies.

If you're still not sure what all this Twitter talk is all about, then this article might help: How to Explain Twitter to Your Grandma.


methodshop

Labels: games, social networking, tech news, tutorial

Can't fully express yourself with Twitter's 140-character limit? It can be tough. And sometimes plain text just isn't enough. Luckily services like TwitPic and Ping.fm allow us to embed picture links in our tweets. But what about video? There are actually a few services helping bring video to Twitter and BubbleTweet is one of the best.

A "BubbleTweet" is a short video clip that plays in a"bubble video player" that floats on top of your Twitter page. That's right. When one of your Twitter followers clicks on your BubbleTweet URL, the video clip plays on top of your Twitter page. Then, when the video is done playing, the player "pops" and goes away. It's simple, easy to use and just plain fun.

Besides a Twitter account, all you need to start BubbleTweeting is an existing video clip or a webcam. Ready to make your first BubbleTweet? The tutorial link below will walk you through the process step-by-step.

Tutorial: How to tweet video clips on Twitter using BubbleTweet



methodshop

Labels: internet, social networking, tutorial, video

As your iTunes Library grows, you will probably lose track of exactly what music you have already imported and end up with duplicate songs. You might accidentally import a CD twice or add files from BitTorrent. Or maybe a friend with a big Terabyte hard drive "loaded you up" with a lot of music recently.

Here are a few tips and techniques on how to get rid of duplicate songs in your iTunes Library as well as some precautions you should take before deleting duplicate tracks.

Tutorial: Managing Duplicate Songs in Your iTunes Library





methodshop

Labels: itunes, tutorial

The Nintendo Wii is a great console. It's family friendly, fun and allows you to customize your characters, called Miis, used in many of the games.

The "Mii" is a brilliant concept. Instead of being some generic character in a game, you can be yourself. You can also make a celebrity look alike Mii. That way the next time you are playing Baseball on Wii Sports, you might end up with a celebrity Mii on your team like Oprah, Borat (pictured below), Charlie Brown (pictured on right) or even Dwight Schrute from the American TV show The Office.

This tutorial will guide you through making a Mii and sharing it on the Internet as well as give you plenty of celebrity Mii ideas.

Tutorial: How to Make and Share Celebrity Miis for the Nintendo Wii




methodshop

Labels: games, tutorial

Is the monitor on your Macintosh computer inverted? Are you seeing black where it should be white? Does everything look negative? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you accidentally enabled a Macintosh feature for people with impaired vision.

We've heard of people doing all sorts of crazy things to fix this problem like swapping video cards, buying new LCD monitors, attempting a monitor calibration or even replacing RAM. But there's a much simpler way to fix this inverted screen problem. Chances are, all you need to do is change a few settings in your Mac OS X System Preferences panel. There are some extreme cases where a little more fiddling is required, but we have solutions for those as well.

So don't worry. Your video card isn't broken. Now let's fix your inverted monitor problem.

Tutorial: How to Fix an Inverted Macintosh Monitor



methodshop

Labels: gadgets, mac, tutorial

Want to download a video from YouTube? There are a ton of reasons why you'd want to save the file locally on your computer. Maybe you need to embed the video in a PowerPoint presentation, watch it on your iPod or even edit it in a video project. There's only one problem: YouTube doesn't allow you download their videos. Why? They want you to come to their site and be exposed to the adverting.

Even though YouTube doesn't make it easy, you can still download their videos if you know a few tricks. Here's a step-by-step MethodShop.com tutorial on how to download video files off YouTube.com and convert them for an iPod or iPhone.

TUTORIAL: How to Copy Files Off YouTube and Convert them for your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV.

This trick will work on Mac or PC using Firefox or Internet Explorer.


methodshop

Labels: tutorial, video

Is your iPod or iPhone frozen? This can happen for a number of reasons and does not necessarily indicate a serious problem. Sometimes they just need a reset much like the way your computer needs a restart once in a while.

Restarting an iPod or iPhone is a simple procedure that will not erase any of your music, data files, or customized preferences.


Sometimes the iPhone just gets confused. For example, the iPhone may be powered on but it won't respond to any button, switch, or touchscreen input. Try pressing and holding the Home button on the front of the iPhone for 6 seconds until the active program closes.

If this technique does not resolve the issue or the iPhone is in a different state such as showing a persistent Apple logo on the display, then you should reset the iPhone.









methodshop

Labels: gadgets, iphone, ipod, tutorial

Are you stuck with a BlackBerry at work but really want an iPhone? There's no magic trick to physically convert your BlackBerry into an iPhone, but you can install the free "bPhone for BlackBerry" theme and make your BlackBerry feel like an iPhone.

The theme will reskin your Blackberry icons with iPhone icons and even replaces the hourglass with the OS X spinning beach ball.

You can install the bPhone theme here if you are reading this on your phone right now or check out the author's website here.

Here's a step-by-step bPhone install tutorial:

1. open this link on your phone
2. Select your BlackBerry phone model (ie. the curve is the 8300).
3. Select the "Icon" theme
4. Enter in your BlackBerry email address
5. A download link will be emailed to your phone
   
6. Download the bPhone theme on your phone
7. Go to Prefs on your phone
8. Select the bPhone theme
9. Enable the bPhone theme
   

That's it!


But before you install the theme, please make sure your BlackBerry meets the following requirements:

• 8700 series: BlackBerry OS 4.2.1 or later. WARNING: You MUST have OS 4.2.1 or later or you may render your BlackBerry 8700 unusable! Go to Options > About to check your OS version.
• Pearl (all versions): BlackBerry OS 4.2.1 or later
• Curve (all versions) and 8830: BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 or later
• 8800: BlackBerry OS 4.2.1 or later

methodshop

Labels: iphone, mobile, tutorial

Is your Apple TV freezing when you launch Boxee? Do you see a quick flash of the Apple logo and then just a blank "black screen"?

You aren't alone. If you were one of the early Boxee beta/alpha testers, you might have some files leftover from an old install. Don't even bother reinstalling Boxee or trying a factory restore on your Apple TV. These won't solve your Boxee problems. You need to remove the old user data files using a SSH client.

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps to remove these old files and return your Boxee software to normal functionality on your Apple TV.






methodshop

Labels: apple tv, gadgets, tutorial, video