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A number of owners of Apple's latest MacBook Air models who have attached their systems to Apple's Thunderbolt display are noticing the system will progressively develop audio noise in the display's speakers after some use.

Apple's Thunderbolt display is not only a wide-screen display, but also includes FireWire, USB, Ethernet, and audio controllers, which are all connected to the system through one Thunderbolt port. For laptop users, especially those with the smaller screens of Apple's MacBook Air, these options make the display an attractive docking solution when using their systems in a workplace or home … Read more

The dark side of the Force offers many benefits, including the power to electrocute those who oppose you. Unfortunately, force lightning remains a skill only available in the "Star Wars" universe, but YouTuber Nighthawkinlight dreamed up a static-electricity generator device that gives aspiring Emperor Palpatines the ability to shock someone (or something) with 7,500 volts through their fingers. … Read more

Delgine's DeleD Community Edition is probably the most intuitive 3D modeling tool we've tried, free or not, thanks to a logical layout and simple steps. While DeleD is optimized for game design, it's good for lots of other jobs, including image creation, educational videos, presentations, and prototyping. DeleD Community Edition is Open Source freeware that accepts plug-ins and is supported by a forum, wiki, and other collaborative resources.

DeleD's user interface got our attention right away because it manages to present a lot of complex controls, features, and information in a clean, efficient, and intuitive layout. … Read more

So you've purchased your new Mac and you've set it up in your home or office, but when you touched it--it might have been the chassis or the keyboard--you got a small shock. Don't worry; you aren't tempting fate or a trip to the hospital.

While annoying, the problem here is simply a matter of static electricity, which in the amounts most people encounter is not dangerous and does not indicate a fault in the system. In this case, your body has acted like a small capacitor (similar to that in a camera flash), and over … Read more

A small but ongoing issue that some Mac users have experienced (1,2) is a problem where upon waking displays from sleep, the system will display a fuzzy snow output to the monitor. This seems to happen predominantly on Mac Pro systems, but has also happened on others such as Mac Mini and iMac systems, though on the iMacs it only happens if a secondary monitor is being used. This problem appears to be an issue with the use of display adapters, and specifically those for converting DisplayPort to DVI connections.

The issue is not related to any particular hardware, … Read more

RealWorld Graphics' Cursor Editor is a nifty free app that you can use to create and edit special Windows cursors, including both static and animated designs. Drag-and-drop functionality, built-in drawing tools and image filters, correction capabilities, and support for sophisticated image-handling features such as layers and arbitrary selections give it capabilities we've usually seen only in large graphics packages that typically have correspondingly large prices. It can create custom icons, too.

A full Windows installer includes an optional component to support translations via community-made language packs, which we appreciate as a feature but declined to install. The clean and … Read more

This nifty app cycles through a series of specified images as wallpaper for your system--you set the speed and time and date for each change, then the app handles the work automatically.

Wallpaper Cycler Lite launches a three-paned interface similar in look and feel to the familiar e-mail client design. The left, vertical pane lists a directory of wallpaper categories, the upper horizontal pane on the right lists wallpaper images in the selected category, and the lower horizontal pane displays a thumbnail of a selected image. A series of icons arranged across the top of the panes may intimidate novices … Read more

ChatterBlocker is an app designed to help you concentrate and be more productive in noisy environments. It doesn't somehow cancel or block out noise, but rather it's intended to "blur unwanted speech," rendering conversations unintelligible so they won't distract you.

ChatterBlocker plays a combination of voices, nature sounds, and music, in several preset options or using an advanced interface that lets you mix and match. Since the effectiveness of an application like this is so peculiar and personal, this ability to tweak is extremely useful, no matter what particular sound fetish works for you. (Need … Read more

This week we have a very special guest, Mr. Ariel Nunez. Ariel is the guy who composed our intro and outro music. We've been meaning to talk to him for a a while, but as you'll hear he's quite a busy guy. That, and I'm kinda lazy.

Anyway we talk about everything from music, girls, the iPhone, and browsers to the definition of life. Yep, we roll deep in this episode.

Stick around after the podcast for a preview of Ariel's music, including his full "Sweet Dreams" track.

Distortion 2 Static

Brian Tong and Jason Howell love… Read more