Gadgetwise: Using a Mac for converting a Windows laptop in a Linux machine

My old laptop Windows XP crashes constantly and I decided to erase everything and install Ubuntu on it maybe to squeeze a couple of years out of it as a Web browsing and e-mail machine. I would like to burn a CD from the software available on Ubuntu on my Mac, but a burned disk Mac-will work on a Windows computer?

If you burn the downloaded Ubuntu properly, should be able to create a system installation disc on your Mac that you can then use to reformat the old Windows laptop as a Linux machine. Start by downloading the Ubuntu CD files from the site of the company for Mac. The file must be named something like ubuntu-desktop-i386-11.04. ISO. (The file extension .ISO means that is an disc image and an exact copy of the master CD used to install Ubuntu Linux).

Use the Mac Disk Utility program to burn the ISO file to a CD so that the old Windows laptop can recognize as a system installation disk. After the file. ISO of Ubuntu has completely downloaded to your desktop, open the applications folder in the Mac and open the Utilities folder inside of it. The Disk Utility program is inside the Utilities folder, then double-click Disk Utility to start up.

Then, put a blank CD into the disc drive on your Mac. Drag the file. Ubuntu ISO from the desktop and drop it in the left pane of the open Disk Utility. Click the .ISO file listed in the left pane, and then click the burn button in the top of the Disk Utility to initiate the process.

After the CD burn, eject it from the Mac and put it in the disc drive on your Windows laptop. When you boot the CD, follow the on-screen instructions to install Ubuntu Linux.

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Gadgetwise: Wise-Walker streamlines your Laptop Bag

The nomad WR-08 Wise-Walker A4 Shoulder Bag is small, but big enough.

After years of bringing bags large enough to contain a bull mastiff, I thought that I might be ready to slim down a bit. That's why I was so informed when I saw the nomadic WR-08 Wise-Walker A4 shoulder bag. Name of this Star Wars-esque bag reflects the size (but not the width) of an A4 sheet and take a uniquely Japanese on traditional laptop bag.

The essay Walker can hold a laptop 13 inch small and light, as well as any number of folders, files, or envelopes. Mini pockets hold or business cards or transit cards and a Japanese style of hang tags shows fascinating shows that you can insert devices such as CD players, and circa-1999 Palm Pilot in smaller pockets.

Apps, computers and equipment for travellers.

The bag is 15 cm long, 12 inches tall and about 5 cm thick, when it is full. Side pockets hold water bottles and snacks and hidden pockets to keep your gear safe from prying fingers. Bags like the essay Walker are popular Tokyo subway jammed for their compact size. This model consists of rip-stop nylon black with blaze orange lining, a look reminiscent of bomber jackets.

The scholarship is available from the site of a Japanese Office supply fetishist, Jetpens and costs $ 73. At first glance looks a bit small because, put simply, it is. However, unlike commuter huge bags and folders I brought this lot ultralight and no-nonsense is pretty convincing and has a certain charm that I particularly like cyberpunk.

Cannot pass muster with a road warrior laptop carrying 20 pounds I.T.-problem, but for a shuttle carrying an iPad and a few relevant documents, the wise-Walker is almost perfect.

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Gadgetwise: Found use for the iPhone: sleep aid

A couple of nights ago, I found myself tossing and turning in bed for hours, not yet my mind and settle down for the night. I discussed reading a book, watch TV or flipping open my laptop to find a soothing music to help inaugurate the relief sweet sleep.

Instead, I reached for my iPhone.

After a quick search through the App Store, I found a bevy of applications that has promised to help lull me to sleep.

The first is that I chose was the free version of white noise. Offers an extensive catalog of sound solution, including crashing waves Beach, drumming of rain, the dull hum of a ceiling fan, chirping crickets and also the clanking of a moving train. The app has a convenient timer and an alarm so that users can schedule when their night sounds should disappear and when they should be awake the next morning.

That worked for a couple of nights; so I was back to square one.

Besides nonstop yawns at dinner, my friend Kelly suggested that I try a bunch of applications from Pzizz, a software company that has been making audio tracks for insomniacs for years.

That night, nestled under my covers, download the full version of Pzizz sleep for $ 4.99 and turned it on.

Immediately, a disembodied voice continuing across the room, gently urging me to relax and clear my mind. The background environment sounds like sweet strings chimed and sounds windlike whistled through the phone. Like white noise, lets you control how long Pzizz sleep to leave the sound, play and set an alert for the next day. In addition, the application allows you to raise and lower the volume of atmospheric music and voice tracks, depending on what is most reassuring. I was out before 20 minutes had passed and haven't looked back since.

My smartphone has supplanted already my alarm clock, the GPS unit and the digital camera. I thought that was the extent of it, but it seems like it is taking on another role: sleep machine.

Readers, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Is your smartphone the Swiss army knife of digital age? Slowly replaces the standalone appliances and devices? If Yes, which ones? You're still finding new uses for your phone? If so, what are they?

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Gadgetwise: Q. & A.: Finding Missing Outlook Reminders

My reminders in Outlook 2007 stopped working when I'm sitting there using the program. I have already checked in options to make sure the reminder box is enabled and set to display, but still nothing. Guide?

Microsoft Outlook reminder function uses the window screen to alert you of tasks and appointments are scheduled in the calendar. If reminders are still saved in the same folder that you always have (usually the primary Calendar or task folders) before they stopped working, you may have a corrupt or damaged file in the folder reminders.

Quit Outlook and go to the Windows Start menu. If you have the option of Start menu run box, select it, type outlook/cleanreminders, and press the Enter key or click the OK button. If you don't own on the Run dialog box, your Start menu, type "run" in the search box, type outlook/cleanreminders, open it in the box and click OK.

If Outlook still refusing to display the reminder, Microsoft recommends that you return to the Run dialog box and typing in outlook/ResetFolders and then pressing the Enter key or the OK button. The company has more information about the problem online.

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Gadgetwise: The Arcade, iPad-style

Buttons and joystick, flashing lights and roaring sound effects, and to the heart of this feeling of view-and-sound, a box that ate quarters.

-Video game arcade is a lasting impression for many, and now live again — sort of — thanks to the iPad.

Ion Audio iCade, shown at the beginning of this month at the Consumer Electronics Show, is the arcade version of 2011 the coin-op game, a table box that says the iPad channels, using her wireless Bluetooth connectivity, to see what the company will be a "huge suite of classic titles from that classic-title-maker Atari. Think "Pac-Man," "," Asteroids "Breakout" and, of course, "Pong".

According to the website of ThinkGeek, the Cabinet sales of $ 100, which should go on sale in the spring, no fake retro-tease. The iPad slips in a cradle which holds the screen vertically and at an angle, and the games will be available through Apple App Store.

The colored toy looks pretty robust in photographs, but it remains to be seen whether you can take the abuse dished out by players hyperexcited smashing buttons and grabbing a stick while obliterating centipede or missile bombardment deposits, hopefully we will have a go-round with one when available.

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