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The 404 658: Where we're getting very sleepy (podcast)

If you haven't heard the news from yesterday's Apple music conference, here's a quick recap: All but the iPod Classic feature new designs. The iPod shuffle gets its buttons back, the sixth-generation iPod Nano loses the iconic click wheel but now has a touch screen, and the new iPod Touch receives a super sharp display, a front-facing camera for making video calls, and HD video recording, and a ton of new internal features.

Apple days at the CNET office can be physical and mentally draining, so now's the perfect time to welcome professional Paul Ramsay back into the studio! The three of us are obviously ingrained in tech, but we're learning from Wilson's e-mail addiction that it's necessary to take a healthy break from the computer, work, Facebook, iPhone, or whatever gadget is commanding your life. Paul also practices hypnotherapy and offers us the following tips to save our sanity:

Breathing is the most important thing to help alleviate stress, so next time you're feeling overwhelmed, do the five-five-five: Breathe in for five seconds, hold it for five, and breathe out for five. Adopting this short but meaningful breathing exercise can help as a mini-vacation from the demands of the workday. Once you leave the office and finally arrive home, create a ritual that you can put into practice right away to help you unwind. This could be a bath, a project around the house you've been putting off, or making progress in a light book. Performing this daily ritual adjusts the barriers of your day, aids in battling insomnia, and lets you fall asleep easier at night.

In the second half of the show, Paul actually puts Wilson under and guides him through a meditation process that leaves him visibly relaxed- so much that even the thought of checking mobile e-mail makes him throw his iPhone on the ground!

Obviously Wilson needs to continue the process at home, so Paul hooks him up with a helpful self-hypnosis CD that you can check out on Paul's Web store- there's also plenty of other products to help you quit smoking, stop nailbiting, lose weight, and more!

Episode 658 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Drivers ed

Device drivers allow hardware devices and computer programs to interact, so they're obviously an integral part of proper computer function. When drivers go missing or become out of date they can slow down system performance and create other problems. DriverGuide DriverScan is an easy way to scan your computer for outdated drivers. Unfortunately, although the program is free, you're going to have to pay if you want to update your drivers with it.

DriverGuide DriverScan is incredibly easy to use, which is a good thing, because there's no Help file. The program opens with a plain screen … Read more

Greenpeace: 'Michael, what the Dell?'

Greenpeace activists on Wednesday cloaked Dell headquarters in Texas with a banner directed at founder Michael Dell that read, "Michael, What the Dell? Design Out Toxics! - Greenpeace."

The publicity stunt was timed with the Wednesday release of Greenpeace's 15th quarterly "Guide to Greener Electronics" (PDF).

The environmental activist group gave a low score to computer manufacturing giant Dell for its failure to make good on a promise to eliminate toxins like PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from its products.

Greenpeace gave the company low points in its July 2009 guide for missing … Read more

Limited listings

We remember when checking the television listings was a matter of looking in the newspaper or picking up the latest issue of TV Guide with the week's groceries. Times have changed, and now people turn to their computers to see what's on TV. TV-Browser is one such option for this information, at least in theory; the program promises to provide up-to-date TV listings, but we found it to be severely lacking, especially for U.S. users.

TV-Browser starts with a setup wizard, allowing users to select their country and then choose the channels they want to include. There … Read more

Free: 13 Lonely Planet travel-guide apps

Is it just me, or does the planet seem really angry these days? Earthquakes galore, tsunamis, and now this ash-spewing volcano! We're doomed, I tell ya. Doomed!

Anyway, pity the poor traveler who's stuck in Europe until flights can resume. As we reported Tuesday, to help make those folks' lives a tiny bit easier, travel-guide publisher Lonely Planet is offering 13 European iPhone guides free of charge.

That's pretty generous, as they normally sell for $9.99 apiece. And, psst, you didn't hear this from me, but you don't actually have to be stranded in … Read more

Restoring the engine on a 1937 BMW 328 Roadster

I love checking out car restorations and seeing what some people are doing to their old-school rides. Well it doesn't get much more old school than this: a 1937 BMW 328 Roadster, and in Wednesday's blog post we got to see and hear about the work that was being done by Black Horse Garage to improve the body shell. In today's clip we join up with the Black Horse gang to see what work they are doing to the engine, and it should be quite interesting.

This video begins with a Black Horse Garage tech checking out … Read more

Down the line: HP Photosmart printers

Choosing the right inkjet printer is a daunting task with several brands and printing technologies to choose from, each one suited for different needs. Inkjets come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny travel companions to workgroup workhorses; some are geared toward photographers, others are for multitaskers. The brand and model you buy should reflect your printing habits and the features that will ultimately make things easier for you.

To facilitate your online shopping, we've compiled a brand-by-brand rundown of each line from top-tier printer manufacturers, starting with HP's Photosmart printers. From $70 for the basic C4680 All-in-One … Read more

How to save and share ridiculously large files

A few years ago it was a big deal to find a place that would let you share 1 gigabyte files.

Things change, though. Bandwidth keeps growing, and the cost of Web storage keeps shrinking. That's good news for people looking to share increasingly large files, be it an HD video recording or an archive of several files that tops out at over a gig.

There are now a handful of free and paid services that make it easy to host these gigantic files and send them to a friend, family member, or business associate.

The key thing to point out here is the individual file size limit. Many storage services will throw gigabytes at you without any real strings attached except for the fact that you cannot upload files larger than a gig. This really isn't a big deal, that is until that first time you need to do it. Below are a handful of sites, both free and paid, that are up to the task.

The free ones

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but the same cannot be said about storage. You can, with little effort, dump large files in a number of places. The usual caveat there is that there tends to be a lot of on-site advertising and your files may not be saved for very long in case you want to come back to re-download or share them later on.

ADrive (2GB): ADrive is more of a personal file storage service, but files can be shared via a direct link, or via e-mail. The service gives users 50GB of total storage and uploads at up to 2GB a pop. It has both a Web-based uploader and a desktop software version. There's also a paid version of the service that adds more space and FTP access.

File Xpressit (2GB): File Xpressit actually tops out at 300MB a file but will go up to 2GB if you register with the service. It is free, it just requires clicking an activation link in an e-mail. The uploader does not require Flash or Java, which is nice if you're trying to use it on a computer without it installed. The service can also give you an e-mail notification when the file has been downloaded by your recipient.

Worth noting is that to use FileXpressit, you'll need to have an e-mail address for the person you wish to send the file to. This won't actually send the gigantic file to their in-box, but it means you can't start the upload without typing it in first.

Humyo (10GB): Humyo has a free and a paid plan, but the free plan is very generous at 10GB of free storage. There are basically no set-in-stone file size limits, just a cautionary message that encourages files that are over 10GB to be split into smaller segments. We didn't actually test this with a 10GB file (and we doubt you will either), but it's nice to know you could if you wanted to.… Read more

Using your Android phone with your car stereo (How To)

In a world populated with devices that are "Made for iPod" and that "Work with iPhone," the uninformed Android phone owner might mistakenly feel neglected and confused by the lack of Android-specific solutions for using their handsets in their vehicles--specifically for listening to music on the road. Fret not, ye Android loyal. Thanks to the magic of standards, there is no need for a "Made for Android" badge, because chances are that the technology is already there for you to utilize.

In this How-To Guide, we'll be outlining three ways to play music stored on your Android handset (and in some cases, on the cloud) through your car stereo. We'll be using the Motorola Droid running Android OS 2.0.1 and a variety of aftermarket and OEM car stereos, but these instructions should work with any Android phone and any stereo that meets the requirements listed below.… Read more