Among the applications covered in this top-10 list is the venerable application Noise, whose icon is above. Trust me, if you have an Apple portable and you don’t have Noise, you should get it-it’s a white and pink noise generator, white for sleeping and pink for blocking out other office noise. I’ve used the white noise generator in rooms that I felt were too silent (like hotel rooms) and slept like a baby every time. The trouble is that waking up with it on makes it difficult to get up, but that’s another issue, hopefully resolved next time I travel by playing music. But still, it works like a charm!

Among the other great apps on the list are SideTrack, which are replacement trackpad drivers that provide scrolling functionality on the side and bottom of your Mac trackpad, Menufela which auto-hides the menubar, and a bunch of other downloads and tricks that help you manage the most of your valuable screen real estate and get something done or do something fun. Another app that I particularly love, especially for folks running Mac OS X 10.4 or below is VirtueDesktops, which essentially adds virtual desktops to your Mac. Head on over to the full article for links and downlaod locations.

[ The Apple Blog :: Top 10 Apps for Laptop-Toting Mac Users ]

If you’re a Mac user, then you’re already addicted to customization and configuration, making your computer really and truly your own, from the icons you click to launch your programs to the color and design of the windows with which you watch your movies or do your work. We’re all about configuring and tweaking, skinning and modifying, tweaking up and tricking out our systems, trust me, I’m one of you.

So while top-10 lists are kind of a drag and are getting more and more common in the blogging world, it’s the end of the year, and lists are all the rage. This top-10 list of ways to trick our your Mac is a collection of a few good tips and nothing specifically new, but I was particularly drawn to the repositories of icons and menubar items that I hadn’t seen before. Also, for those who haven’t seen them before, there are some other excellent tips, like the Pimp My Safari set of tools for the essential Safari user, and CenterStage, a free and open-source FrontRow alternative. There’s even an Office replacement called NeoOffice (shown above) whose design fits in a little better with the OS X UI than other productivity suites.

[ Apple Gazette :: 10 Ways to Trick Out Your Mac ]

The fine folks at Save The Internet, champions of Net Neutrality, have put together a new video underscoring how important it is to not necessarily breathe easier now that a more web and consumer-friendly Congress is coming into office, and how there’s plenty of work to be done to ensure that the basic principles of the free-market and free-access business reach to the internet, as opposed to the sweetheart deals that the large telecommunications companies are looking to secure. Check out the video:

[ Save The Internet: Independence Day ]

PC World’s security report for the year highlights some of the biggest threats to personal and network security we saw online this year, including new kinds of spam engineered to evade common filters, a more phishing attacks, crackers extorting site owners and companies by holding their data or websites for ransom. Among some of the most worrying issues this year were the increasing professional nature and complexity of the kinds of attacks against corporate and business targets, more and more phishing and the beginnings of business attempts to combat it, and more new spam-an issue that many technology analysts were already calling a fixed problem.

In the analysis, PC World looks at five of those top threats in more detail, from profitable cybercrime all the way to the perils of Windows Vista.

[ PC World :: 2006: The Year in Security ]

Everyone – from GnW to you, Happy Holidays to each and every one of you, from blog watchers to livejournal feed readers to RSS subscribers to commenters and readers-here’s to a safe, happy, and joyous holiday season to all of you, filled with all the gadgets and gear that you could possibly want!

We’ll be back shortly with the post-holiday gadget report!

This tip is a little old, but it was new to me. Paul Stamatiou posted this back at the beginning of the year, but since my Ratzpad GS was starting to give up the ghost, I started searching for alternatives and reviews of gaming mousepads that would perform well and stand the test of time. I happened upon Paul’s article and was impressed enough that the DIY spirit in me just had to give it a shot-I mean, who could resist the opportunity to save the cash that a lot of gaming mousepads cost these days and also make something pretty cool in minutes?

Paul’s mousepad is pretty simple. You just need a good, flat, clean surface for your mouse to rest on, some tape, and some wax paper, as shown above. It’s pretty easy, and you can customize the waxpaper to be as large or as small as you’d like. It’s just that easy. I have to admit, I just tried this, and it absolutely works-I’m very pleased with the results, even with the mouse at low sensitivity. (I have the same mouse Paul has up there, the Logitech G5 gaming mouse) Want more information? Check out Paul’s entry-I would say you could head over there for a how-to, and you can, but really, this is about as simple as you think it is. Good tip, thanks to Paul, and I can personally give it my seal of approval!

[ PaulStamatiou.com :: The Best Gaming Mouse Pad You'll Ever Make ]

Absolutely hilarious, and pretty much spot on about the Zune, the fantastically popular comic PvP did a three-comic series about the unveiling of Microsoft’s “iPod-killer” and how horrid a product it truly is. I really really love seeing the truth about what “music sharing” really means and especially the deal about having FM tuners on mp3 players.

Click the links below for larger versions, but definitely head over to PvP Online to see the comics in their natural habitat, and most importantly start reading one of the funniest geek comics on the web!

Ride the dragon, Cole! Ride the dragon!

Don’t forget to check out Penny Arcade’s take on the Zune at the same time, I think they hit the music “sharing” aspect better than anyone.

Think they’re both wrong, and I’m wrong at the same time? We’re not the only folks who can see straight through the hype to the Zune’s miserable failings. Let’s run them down, shall we?

** John C Dvorak sees through it.

** Ed Oswald, of BetaNews sees through it.

** Popular Mechanics sees through it.

** EDN sees through it.

** Podcasting News and podcasters everywhere (who the Zune won’t support) see through it.

** Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times sees WAY through it.

** Hell, even Microsoft fanatic Paul Thurrott sees through it.

Seriously folks, the Zune’s pathetic.

Wifi that won’t sync with my computer, or let me download music? Wrap all my music in DRM just for wanting to take it with me? Share music…for three days or three plays ONLY? MS pays the music industry a fee per Zune made, like I’m some kind of pirate (seems to be a theme with the Zune-treat your customers like criminals. Shows they care more about the RIAA than you or me)? Can’t link my existing Urge account to my new Zune and bring my music to it? Horrid interface? Battery life worse than an iPod or Sansa? Doesn’t support RSS (or podcasts?)? Doesn’t work with Windows Media Player? Can’t play PlaysForSure media? Bulky? Brown?

MS had the opportunity to really kick Apple in gear and the two of them could have gone at it, making real competitive products. Now, that hope is gone and the iPod stays on top, with no pressure to innovate aside from Apple’s own desire. Let’s hope that’s enough.

The Zune fans say that future firmware upgrades will redeem their product, but why come to market with something so immature, then? Why trust the future with your 250 bucks when you can have what you want now in other players?

I think that just because it’s suddenly “cool” to hate Apple, like the Zune fans do, doesn’t mean that it’s right to ignore the Zune’s obvious horrible weaknesses. It’s not a compelling product at all.

Yup. Welcome to the “social.”

(image courtesy of LifeHacker!)

Perhaps some of the most sought after tools tend to be utilities that can convert one kind of video to another, divx to quicktime, quicktime to avi, avi to divx, the list goes on and on and on. Then the fine folks at Lifehacker found Any Video Converter, which promises to well, do what its name says-convert any kind of video to any other kind of video. According to Lifehacker:

The program supports just about every video format known to man, including AVI, DivX, FLV, RM, and VOB. It also comes with output profiles for devices like the iPod and PSP, though you can easily create a custom profile with the audio and video specs of your choosing.

AVC couldn’t be much easier to use, and it supports batch conversions–always a nice perk.

Definitely nice, and it most definitely supports nearly any video type. Check it out, and keep an eye on the comments for mirrors and other download locations if the one linked in the article doesn’t work or times out on you for any reason.

[ Lifehacker :: Download of the Day: Any Video Converter ]

Personally, I would love to use IE7 where I had to use IE at all (I think it’s obvious that I vastly prefer Firefox) but at the office, some of our applications only work in IE6. And when I do web design, I’d like to make sure that the pages I put together look good in as many browsers as I can test, but because Internet Explorer is so integrated into Windows, it’s nigh impossible to get more than one version of Internet Explorer on the same machine.

Well, looks like there’s a solution to that problem now. Over at about.com, Jennifer Kyrnin shares a secret: Microsoft’s Virtual PC virtual machine software for Windows. You can use Virtual PC to install and run one version of IE inside the virtual machine while another is installed in the host OS. Check out her tip:

[ About.com :: How to Install Two Versions of IE (IE6 and IE7) on One Machine ]