mute

Boot in silence with Auto Mute

You're up late jamming to tunes, maybe a bit too loud, but you're not bothering anyone. You shut down and go to bed. In the morning, you boot up, and an acoustic battering ram knocks the ears clean off your splitting skull. Sound familiar? You need Auto Mute, a small bit of freeware that automatically mutes your PC's sound during startup, wake-up, logoff, sleep, or shutdown, ensuring that the your next bootup will be silent, even if you left your amp on with the knobs turned to 11.

Auto Mute first opens with a startup guide, but … Read more

Call muting growing issue for iPhone 4S users

Though the biggest gripe for most iPhone 4S users has been an abnormally short battery life, an issue that could prove to be just as frustrating is gaining vocal ground in support forums across the Web.

These iPhone 4S owners are experiencing random muting during phone calls, an issue that has reportedly been ignored in the forthcoming iOS 5.1 update.

The problem happens as calls are placed. You tap the appropriate contact or dial the number you wish to call and at some point during the connection, the audio on the caller's end fails.

Interestingly, on the other … Read more

How to customize the function of the side switch on an iPad

Some people don't realize that the iPad's side switch can be customized, allowing them to set the switch to either lock the screen rotation or mute their iPad. This simple guide will show you how to set the behavior of the switch, and where to find a shortcut to the secondary behavior.… Read more

Michael Jackson on Ping

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon gets ready to turn on its 4G network

YouTube lets you skip ads you don't care for

Microsoft launches an Xbox Live Rewards program to repay your loyalty

Amazon.com adds Wikipedia pages to its site to help you make more informed shopping choices

Dish Network lets you watch content from your cable box on your iPad via a Sling Media device

Netflix gets new indie films in its streaming video service from film studio FilmDistrict

Google updates its mute feature in Gmail

A new Michael Jackson song debuts exclusively on Ping, … Read more

Apple could alleviate iPhone 4 proximity sensor issues with iOS change

One of the major issues surrounding the iPhone 4 release this summer was the proximity sensor failing during phone calls, resulting in muting, conference calling, and other inadvertent touch input. Despite the promise of relief in the iOS 4.1 update, many users, including myself, are still having proximity sensor issues.

A forum thread on the Apple Support Discussions addresses a functionality of the sleep/wake button (the one on the top of the iPhone) that could help users experiencing proximity sensor problems, if Apple would adjust the code in iOS slightly.

Currently, the sleep/wake button, when pressed during … Read more

TheWorld is a tab-happy, bubbly browser

TheWorld 3.1 is a Web browser based on the engine that powers Microsoft Internet Explorer. Like Internet Explorer 7 and 8, TheWorld has a multithreaded frame that is supposed to prevent window freezing.

The browser's default appearance is simple, yet it feels cluttered because its toolbar is packed with icons. Its user interface is similar to that of Internet Explorer 7 and 8 except for a few minor details. The icons are bubble-like and the top toolbar is on the right-hand side of the screen next to an extra option that lets users hide it. TheWorld also supports … Read more