Thursday, January 20, 2011

Republicans Propose - $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts over 10 Years

Amplify’d from www.usnews.com

House GOP Lists $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts

Here is the full list of cuts:



Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms


Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.


Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.


International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.


Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.


National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.


National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.


Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.


Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.


Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.


U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.


Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.


Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.


John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.


Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.


Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.


Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.


Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.


Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.


Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.


Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.


Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.


Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.


New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.


Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.


Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.


Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.


Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.


Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.


Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.


Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.


FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.


Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.


Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.


U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.


General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.


Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.


Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.


No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.


End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.


Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.


IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.


Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.


Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.


Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.


Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.


Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.


Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.


Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.


USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.


Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.


Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.


Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.


Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.


HUD Ph.D. Program.


Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.


TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

Read more at www.usnews.com
 

Top 10 Resume Mistakes

Amplify’d from www.studentloaninfo.org
Career Tips -Top 10 mistakes to avoid while creating resume

A resume is the first impression you will be making to your prospective employer and you need use it as a valuable instrument. Statistics indicate that you have only about 10 seconds to impress the hiring team and your resume should be compelling enough to attract and retain their attention.


There are many mistakes created by job hunters which are quite common and you should avoid to ensure better response from your prospective employers.



Get your dream job by creating an impressive resume


1. The writing of the resume should not be filled with errors and be poorly written. It is be devoid of spelling errors, verb tense mistakes or long sentences.


2. The format of the resume is very important as they need to be reader-friendly and easy to go through quickly. It should not have fancy designs and it is always better to have the format simple to comprehend. It should have four sections which include the objective, summary, earlier work experience and job profiles as well as educational qualification.


3. The resume needs to be precise and to-the-point instead of writing elaborate sentences. You should not write long paragraphs about your experience or achievements. It is better to stick to short-bulleted points which are concise and gives your details in a nutshell.


4. It should not be like an advertisement of you instead should give details on the kind of work you are capable of doing. It should not look like your life story. You should not focus only on your job responsibilities instead should give details of areas where you are better than the others like your achievements and special training you have obtained, if any. These achievements should have details on your promotions and qualified achievements like setting up a team to solve a particular problem and increase business by a sizable amount.


5. Do not stick to one format for all employers. Some employers might want your professional details in a chronologically whereas some might want details of your skills. Then you need to have a skill-based resume which focuses on abilities and skills instead of just your achievements. Another format which can be used is education-based format.


6. Do not attach your photo to the resume.


7. Do not include the remuneration you are expecting from the prospective employers


8. Do not exaggerate your performance or achievements. Do not use words like outstanding performance or excellent ability to describe your performance, instead can just write “good working knowledge”.


9. Do not include references in the resume. It should be provided after your first interview. If you include reference in the resume, then the referee might not be prepared to give details about you. Instead, you can brief them after your initial interview and then can be prepared to give good feedback about you.


10. The resume should not be more than 2 pages. Keep it concise and simple instead of putting all details in it. It should information which will help your prospective employers to call you for an interview. You should keep in mind that they will be seeing scores of resumes and might not have patience to read lengthy and time consuming resumes.

Read more at www.studentloaninfo.org
 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The I Have a Dream Speech

Amplify’d from www.usconstitution.net
The I Have a Dream Speech

The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from
recordings.






I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the
greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.



Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand
today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a
great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in
the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long
night of their captivity.



But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years
later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of
segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the
Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in
the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So
we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.



In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which
every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes,
black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.



It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred
obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has
come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank
of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds
in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this
check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and
the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind
America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury
of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time
to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark
and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is
the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the
solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of
God's children.



Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering his 'I Have a Dream' speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial. (photo: National Park Service)

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This
sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three
is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow
off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation
returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in
America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of
revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright
day of justice emerges.



But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our
rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to
satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.



We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical
violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting
physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed
the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for
many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have
come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come
to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot
walk alone.



As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We
cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,
"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is
the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be
satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain
lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot
be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to
a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of
their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only".
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a
Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not
satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like a mighty stream.



I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you
have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive.



Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go
back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our
northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.



I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of
today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the
American dream.



I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men
are created equal."



I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at
the table of brotherhood.



I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.



I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character.



I have a dream today.



I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with
its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and
nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black
girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as
sisters and brothers.



I have a dream today.



I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.



This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With
this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our
nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be
able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.



This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a
new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every
mountainside, let freedom ring."



And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the
mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies
of Pennsylvania!



Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!



Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!



But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!



Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!



Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every
mountainside, let freedom ring.



And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will
be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white
men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last!
thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Read more at www.usconstitution.net
 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

10 Best Jobs in the Ski Industry

Amplify’d from www.msnbc.msn.com

10 best jobs in the ski industry - Travel - Seasonal Travel

No. 1: Boutique ski maker

“When your passion is your job, you never work a day in your life,” says Jordan Grano, founder of Folsom Custom Skis in Boulder, Colorado. “To have a chance to affect the industry you love in a positive way and help people enjoy their time skiing is what motivates me.” Many boutique ski companies are spawned by skiers, usually after they’re dissatisfied with the skis already out on the market. Perks include testing the skis during powder days. How to break in: Find a gap in the current market and be creative on how you can help fill it. Study ski design from other companies and stay motivated. Grano doesn’t have a degree in designing, instead he spent years doing personal, in-depth field work with skis he built before he began marketing them.
No. 2: Heli-ski guide

Being a heli-ski guide in Canada or Alaska may be one of the world’s most high-risk jobs, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. “The best part of my job? Skiing sick spines all day,” says Jim Delzer, who’s worked as a guide at Valdez Heli Ski Camps in Valdez, Alaska, for the last three years. “I ski untracked steeps in Alaska for about 40 days each winter.” How to break in: Work as a ski patroller or mountain guide, and be sure to take wilderness first responder courses, avalanche safety courses, and guiding courses from the American Mountain Guides Association or the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. You may also have to climb your way up the ladder by working the front desk, kitchen, or radio operations at a heli outfitter before you get bumped up to guide.
No. 3: Ski photographer

Getting a single usable action photograph of a skier takes more effort than most people realize. But it’s also more rewarding. Just ask Ian Coble, a self-taught photographer who has shot editorial spreads for ESPN, Backcountry, Powder, Skiing, and more. “It’s absolutely incredible to get paid to travel and ski the most incredible places on earth,” Coble says. “I also get to spend time outside and not behind a desk. I have the freedom to work for myself.” How to break in: Photoshop skills are a must, as is motivation to work hard, mostly independently at first. It’s also very important to network and you have to be passionate about your work, says Coble. “It’s going to take this energy to show emotion in your work.”
No. 4: Ski writer

Granted, being a ski writer was more glamorous in the days of bottomless magazine budgets, but it’s still a pretty cushy job. Just ask Rob Story, a Telluride, Colorado-based freelance writer who has penned ski-related stories for Skiing, Powder, Outside, Men’s Journal, Travel & Leisure, Rolling Stone, and others. “The perks have been awesome through the years—free gear, great travel, more expensive steaks and bottles of wine than I can count,” says Story. How to break in: A journalism degree and a magazine internship are good places to start. “Skiing ability is important, of course, but it doesn’t help a magazine nearly as much as someone competent with words,” Story says. “Internships remain the best way to get into it, and to meet the editors who determine freelancers’ fates.”
No. 5: Ski movie maker

A ski filmmaker gets free Clif bars, more than 2,000 Facebook friends, countless excess baggage fees, and 4 a.m. wakeup calls all winter. Just ask Nick Waggoner, director of Colorado-based Sweetgrass Productions, a ski film company founded in 2007. “My favorite moments are when we connect with people who watch the films,” says Waggoner. “It’s food for our creative side.” But despite the early morning missions to catch good light, filmmakers get to travel to some of the world’s best ski destinations with some of the best skiers. How to break in: A film school degree and owning your own camera gear will help. Sign up for an adventure filmmaking class like the Serac Adventure Film School. And do your homework, says Waggoner. “Watch movies, look at photographs … get inspired,” he says. “Learn what makes a good film and surround yourself with friends who will push you.”
No. 6: Product designer

We’d all be lost without product designers — they make sure ski equipment is designed correctly so a skier doesn’t launch off a cliff sans boot. And then they get to test their products. Black Diamond product developer Derek Gustafson likes the challenge of designing ski boots and the way his job gives him the opportunity to work on a product that fits with his passion for skiing. How to break in: “Be sure that in addition to feeding the passion for the sport, you make sure you delve deeply into other interests because ultimately being well rounded is pretty important as you try to find a way to contribute to skiing and the outdoor industry,” says Gustafson, who has a physics degree and worked for 12 years at a molded plastic design company before designing boots. He recommends a background in design, a degree is best, and an internship if possible.
No. 7: Ski resort social media manager

A typical day in the life of someone who does social media for a ski resort? Update the website, ski, check ad campaigns, ski, post a blog, ski, update Facebook, ski, head to après ski, check Twitter. “It’s an awesome job,” says John Beal, the online marketing and social media coordinator for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “I look out my window and see the tram flying by every 10 minutes. Powder clause is in full effect. Lots of free gear. Meeting and skiing with lots of pro athletes, photographers, and film crews. We ski hard and we work just as hard.” How to break in: A background in marketing, web design, or online marketing will help. Beal volunteered as a mountain host at Jackson Hole and got a good recommendation when the position became available.
No. 8: Ski shop employee

Working in a ski shop comes with lots of perks: Free ski tuning, endless piles of free gear, testing skis before they’re available to the public, and powder-day clauses. “It’s a great job,” says Ryan Ahern, 27, who’s worked at Golden, Colorado’s Bent Gate Mountaineering shop for the past two years. “It’s nice selling products that you actually use and selling them to people who are passionate about the same thing. You get to talk gear all day long.” The bummer: You’ll do this job for the swag, not the paycheck. “We definitely aren’t doing the job because it pays incredible,” says Ahern. “But we get great deals on skis. Most everyone who works here gets a couple pairs of new skis every year.” To get a ski shop job, you’ll need retail experience or experience working with customers, and gear and ski knowledge.
No. 9: Pro skier

Everyone wants to be a pro skier. The perks are endless: skiing in the best locations for free, traveling the world, piles of gear, autograph signings, film segments, and being surrounded by people who have just as much enthusiasm for the sport that you do. “It’s pretty much the ultimate job,” says pro skier Mike Douglas. “It’s all about skiing the best stuff. It’s pretty hard to get tired of this.” How to get into it: Douglas advises that the best way toward becoming a pro is to get involved in competitions—sign up for a local big-mountain comp and work your way up to a stop on the Freeskiing World Tour—and begin to prove yourself against other skiers. Attend the SIA ski trade show in Denver next winter, armed with a ski resume and prepared to market yourself to potential sponsors. Make a ‘Sponsor Me’ clip on YouTube and starting trying to shoot with professional photographers. You have to show your stuff, and only ski because you love it. He says that networking could be important, but it goes even deeper then this. “It’s really all about your talent and willingness to go bigger,” he says.
No. 10: Marketing manager

Doing marketing for a company that makes vacuum cleaners may be dull. But imagine doing marketing for a company that makes ski gear? Pretty easy stuff to get excited about, if you ask us. A typical marketing job for a ski gear company could include everything from doing public relations with media, managing the athlete team and website, writing the catalogue and press releases, traveling to events, preparing skis for magazine tests, sending gear to pro athletes, setting up photo shoots, and much more. “I get to work directly with some of skiing’s top pros, I get to witness some of the best comp riding on the planet, I get to see once in a lifetime action go down on film, and I get to ski in some of the best spots on the planet,” says Mike Nick, the Sports Marketing Director for Orage, a ski apparel company. “It doesn’t get much better than that.” How to break in: You’ll need experience in marketing or PR, strong communication and writing skills, and a ski background
Read more at www.msnbc.msn.com
 

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tuscon Massacre: The Missed Signs

Amplify’d from www.newsweek.com

The Missed Warning Signs



A 2009 study warned that the rise of right-wing extremism could spur violent attacks. But the report was attacked by Republicans, including now-Speaker John Boehner.









Shaun Tandon / AFP-Getty Images; Pima County Sheriff's Dept.-Getty Images (inset)

The modest home in Tucson, Arizona, where Jared Loughner (left) lived with his parents.





Two years before the Tucson massacre, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report that right-wing extremism was on the rise and could prompt "lone wolves" to launch attacks. But the agency backed away from the report amid intense criticism from Republicans, including future House Speaker John Boehner.



The report, which warned that the crippled economy and the election of the first black president were “unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment,” described the rise of “lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent right-wing extremist ideology [as] the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States,” according to a copy reviewed by The Center for Public Integrity.

“Not only was [the report] buried, the actual unit which created it was disemboweled,” said Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice and the director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. He noted that DHS is congressionally mandated to study long-term trends among extremist groups.



Levin worried that political fallout rendered the report’s findings “impotent,” as well as future reports from the department profiling extremist groups. “Rather than the report being a hit piece, the hit piece was what was done in the wake of the report.



“Was there some awkward language in one section? Sure. But it was a very well-done report.”
The awkward language he refers to was a section in the report warning that returning veterans could be prime targets for recruitment into extremist organizations. Then-Minority Leader Boehner of Ohio was one of many Republicans who called on DHS to apologize.



“Furthermore, the Secretary of Homeland Security owes the American people an explanation for why … her own department is using [“terrorist”] to describe American citizens who disagree with the direction Washington Democrats are taking our nation,” said Boehner, now House speaker.



Leading conservatives claimed the report was a White House-directed hit piece—commentator Michelle Malkin derided it as “propaganda.”
Read more at www.newsweek.com
 

Saturday, January 01, 2011

How to Drop Off the Face of the Earth - Forever

Amplify’d from lifehacker.com

How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever





How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear ForeverSo you've decided you want to drop off the map and leave Big Brother behind. It's harder than ever in our always-connected world, but if you're ready to plan your big vanishing act, here are a few tips to get you started.

Who hasn't thought about how nice it would be to start fresh somewhere new, preferably with nicer weather and cheaper drinks? Whatever your reasons for wanting to disappear—maybe you just want to get The Man off your back—with enough diligence and planning you can vanish and start anew somewhere else.


For the low down on disappearing and starting your life over, we turned to the book How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn and Eileen C. Horan. Frank Ahearn is the grizzled grandfather of the vanishing act. After 20 odd years working as a skip tracer—an investigator who specializes in finding people who don't want to be found—he realized he could make just as much money and incur a lot less risk helping people avoid investigators like himself. We've culled a few of Ahearn's tips below, but if you're really serious, his book is a great pocket guide to getting lost. Photo adapted from the Australia edition of How to Disappear.


How Not to Disappear


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

The cardinal sin in any serious disappearance is drama. You don't successfully vanish by staging an elaborate disappearing act that ultimately involves a tri-state search, police dogs, and your home town believing that you were mauled by a bear and dragged off into the dark night. Ahearn stresses the importance of disappearing in a legal fashion. You shouldn't, for example, try and secure false papers: It's a felony to use false identification, and you have no idea if the papers you secured are legitimate. (What if your new social security number belongs to a dead guy or a criminal? What if the passport you bought is bogus and now you're staring down a customs agent?). Instead, you want to obfuscate your identity in a way that it's so difficult for people to follow you that anything short of a government task force will lack for the patience or funding to keep doggedly trying to find you. Here's a little about how that might work. Photo by David McDermott.


Minimize Your Social Connections


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

People who hurriedly throw all their crap in a suitcase and run out the back door are the ones who fail at disappearing. Instead, one of your most important jobs, prior to your successful disappearance, is to slowly cut the fat from your social life. Stop using Facebook—ditch all social networks—maybe under the pretense that you're spending too much time online (or any other pretense that people around you will accept besides "I'm going to torch my crappy life and move to Belize").


You want to minimize the social footprint you occupy so that when suddenly you're not standing in it anymore, few people will notice or care. If you're the most prominent member of the local social scene and you vanish tomorrow, people will notice. Minimizing your virtual trail is more important than minimizing your real life trail. It takes mere minutes for an investigator to comb through social networks and search results, but hours and additional expenses to investigate on foot and by phone. Photo by Luis Perez.


The one social connection most people are unwilling to ditch is communication with their immediate family. Unless your immediate family is the reason you're pulling a vanishing act, chances are you'll still want to talk to your parents or siblings. This can the toughest communication to break, and it's where almost everyone fails. All the planning in the world is worthless if you call your relatives from your new location and a skip tracer gets her hands on the phone records. If you want to communicate with your family or best friend after you've vanished from the less desirable people in your life, then you need to figure out, well in advance, how you will do so. Never communicate with them directly from any account linked to your new life or new residence. Anonymous email accounts and prepaid phone cards and cellphones are the only way you're going to be finding out if Grandma's hip surgery went well.


Ditch the Plastic; Cash Is King


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

Get used to the idea of ditching the luxuries you had in your former life. Gone are the credit cards, the convenience cards and loyalty cards, even simple things like a video rental card. Pay cash for everything and don't use anything that could link your new life and your plans to your old life. Don't check out books about Chile from your local library or buy them with a credit card. Don't use a credit card or frequent flier miles to book a flight out of the country. Your goal in everything you do is to minimize the number of connections between your old life and your new life. Whenever you undertake an interaction with another person or business, ask yourself "Is this the least traceable method I could use?" Paying cash for a cup of coffee at an old coffee shop? Obscure. Paying with a credit card for a cup of coffee at an airport kiosk under the eye of four different security cameras? Not stealthy in the least. Cash is king. Photo by Andrew Magill.


Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

Ahearn goes into intense detail on the topic of disinformation and its importance in disappearing. He notes that the thing skip tracers hope for most is just enough information—too little and they'll never find their prey, too much and they'll waste all their time and funding looking in the wrong places. Your goal is to create disinformation.


As you prepare to disappear, slowly but surely start fudging the information companies have on you. "Correct" the spelling of your name on file with the local utility company, tell them they have the wrong social security number and offer a correction, change your mailing address for your bills to a fake mail drop you set up through a private mailing company. If people come looking for you, you want them to waste their time looking in the wrong places. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 of Ahearn's book are all devoted entirely to disinformation, creating false leads (with examples from his work that are so clever you'll want to hire him just to see him in action), and establishing yourself securely in a new locale. Photo by Anonymous9000.


Incorporation, The Binding Glue


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

At this point you might be nodding your head, thinking that the plan sounds great so far, save for the one glaring detail. If you can't use anything but cash how on earth are you going to establish a new identity in your new location? Since you don't want to lead the life of an illegal alien in your new locale, you're going to need some way to have a legal presence that isn't intimately tied back to your old identity.


Creating a corporation to manage your assets is one way many people handle their affairs once they have disappeared. Your corporation, only vaguely linked to you and not in the way that is readily identifiable to skip tracers, will be the entity that leases your apartment, pays your utility bills, and otherwise delegates your money out while serving as a shield between you and those looking for you. The details of this are best discussed between you and a lawyer or after careful research into what kind of corporation (and where) would be the best fit for you. Photo by Diana.


Lastly: Don't Bother If You're Not Committed


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear Forever

Disappearing is not easy. You don't just fake your own death, buy some false papers in an alley from a guy with an indiscernible accent, and then retire to a life of leisure on a small island nation. Disappearing, and doing so legally and without incurring a bigger headache than the one you're running away from, takes careful planning. You need to be willing to cut contact with nearly everyone you know (if not everyone), change how you shop, and even ditch your hobbies. Disappearing means beginning a game of chase with people who want to find you and being willing and strong enough to outlive them at that game. If you can't do that, you'll waste a lot of time and money trying to disappear but failing. Photo by Bohari Adventures.


Further Reading


How to Ditch Big Brother and Disappear ForeverThe total planning and execution of your disappearance is well beyond the scope of this article. If you're seriously entertaining the idea of disappearing, we highly recommend checking out Ahearn's book How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace. If you're serious about vanishing, it offers insights and tips you likely never even thought about. If, like most of us, you're not serious about vanishing, it's still packed with fascinating stories culled from the hundreds of clients Frank has helped vanish from their old life and start a fresh one more to their liking. Either way you'll end up a little more paranoid about your privacy and security and a lot more knowledgeable about the ways people abuse both.

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Build a Hackintosh Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

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How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps





How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps Building a Hackintosh from scratch—that is, installing Mac OS X on non-Mac hardware—has never been easier, and the final product has never performed better. Here's how it works.


Note: This is our third and most recent Hackintosh build (here are the now-outdated first and second). This time, to make things really easy on you, we put together a video walkthrough of the entire process. You can watch the video in its entirety below, but we've also broken up the video next to the accompanying text in each step below.


The Full Step by Step in Video Form



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps


Best viewed in 720p. Background music by Pex "Mahoney" Tufvession.


What You'll Need


Before you get started building your Hackintosh, you will, of course, need a few supplies.



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps


The Hardware


There's no such thing as a definitive Hackintosh build, and you can find plenty of hardware that will run OS X using this or a similar method, but we're not going to dive into every possible option here. Instead, I've put together a list of the hardware I'm using and that I can guarantee runs like a dream (or at least it does for me). Also, the installation process below is tailored to this hardware; you can still build a Hackintosh using other hardware, but this installation process may not work 100%.


hardware.jpg


Here's all the hardware I bought off Newegg for this Hackintosh build:



In all, the subtotal on Newegg for all that hardware is $1,123.92; skip the SSD and the second set of RAM, and you've still got a solid machine for an even more reasonable $828.92.


Once you've got all your hardware, you'll need to assemble your computer. Putting together the hardware for your Hackintosh is just like building any other computer from scratch. You mount the motherboard to your case, install your CPU, RAM, graphics card, storage and optical drive, and plug in all the necessary cables. It's always a good idea to read over your motherboard's instruction manual, but if you want a little more help, hit up our first-timer's guide to building a computer from scratch.


The only thing you need to know is that you shouldn't plug your SATA drives into the off-white SATA ports at the bottom of the board. All the rest should work fine.


The Software


software.jpg

On the software end of the spectrum, you'll need a few things. Apart from the obvious (the Snow Leopard install DVD), you'll need to download some files that'll contain the tools that let you install OS X on your machine. The method I'm using to install OS X on our Hackintosh this time around is a new one by a guy called tonymacx86, and it's really great. I've added direct links to the downloads below, but all credit goes to tonymac for the dead-simple tools.



I'd suggest downloading everything you need now, and putting MultiBeast, the Mac OS X Combo update, and the post-installation files on a thumb drive.


Install OS X on Your Hackintosh


At this point you should have assembled your PC, and have all the software you'll need to install OS X on your Hackintosh. Now it's time for the fun—and easy—part. The process this time around is surprisingly simple, but I'll still walk you through the process step by step.


Step One: Burn iBoot to a Disc



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

Above I told you to download iBoot from tonymacx86. If you haven't already, unzip iBoot.zip and extract iBoot.iso. Now it's time to burn the file to a CD or DVD. (It's a small bootloader, so a CD will work just fine.)


In Windows: Insert a blank disc, right-click iBoot.iso, and click Burn disc image. Select your disc burner in the next Windows prompt, and hit Burn.


On OS X: Insert a blank disc, right-click iBoot.iso, and click Burn "iBoot.iso" to Disc.


Burning the disc shouldn't take more than a minute or so, and iBoot should be ready to go.


Step Two: Adjust Your BIOS



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

Now that you've got the iBoot disc ready, it's time to turn on your soon-to-be-Hackintosh and adjust the BIOS so your computer's OS X-friendly. So make sure you've plugged in a keyboard, monitor, and power, and fire it up.


Note: At the time of this guide, I'm using the latest BIOS for this motherboard: P7P55D-E-PRO-ASUS-1002.ROM.


When you get to the first boot screen, press the Delete key to open up your BIOS. Once inside, you'll need to make a few adjustments.



  1. On the first BIOS screen, arrow down to the entry labeled Storage Configuration, hit Enter, and change "Configure SATA as" to AHCI. Press Escape once.

  2. Next, arrow over to the Advanced tab, then arrow down to the section labeled Onboard Devices Configuration. Hit Enter, find the Marvell 9123 SATA Controller entry, and set it to AHCI. Press Escape.

  3. Now arrow over to the Power section and set Suspend Mode to S3 only.

  4. Finally, arrow over to the Boot tab, hit Enter on Boot Device Priority, and set your first boot device to boot first from your DVD drive, then set your second boot device as your primary hard drive.


Hit F10 to save your changes and exit the BIOS.


Step Three: Boot from iBoot into the Snow Leopard Install DVD



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

When your system restarts, put the iBoot disc you burned above into the DVD drive. Assuming you set everything correctly in your BIOS, iBoot should boot into the screen below.


chameleon.jpg


When you get to this screen, eject your iBoot disc, insert the Snow Leopard install DVD, and press F5 on your keyboard. In few seconds, the iBoot disc in the center should be replaced by a new disc labeled Mac OS X Install DVD. (If it doesn't right away, wait a few seconds and hit F5 again.) Once it does, hit Enter, and your computer will boot into the Snow Leopard installation wizard.


Step Four: Format Your Disk and Install OS X



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

After a minute or two of loading up, you should be looking at the Snow Leopard installation wizard. Select your language and continue. Before you get started with the installation, however, you'll need to format your hard drive so you can install OS X. So, from the file menu at the top of the screen, select Utilities -> Disk Utility.


Once Disk Utility loads, click on your hard drive in the sidebar and select the tab labeled Partition. Set the Volume Scheme drop-down to 1 Partition (unless you have a reason for wanting otherwise), name the volume whatever name you want, and set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Now click the Options button and ensure that GUID Partition Table is selected as the partition scheme.


Now that everything's set, hit Apply. When you're prompted for confirmation, click Partition.


In twenty seconds or so, your drive should be formatted and you'll be ready to install OS X. Quit Disk Utility, and continue with the installer.


The installation is completely straightforward, so just follow along with the default settings. When the installation finishes (the time will vary—it always claims it'll take 30+ minutes, but is normally done in 10 to 20), you'll most likely see the Install Failed screen pictured below.


install-failed.jpg


Don't panic! This is all part of the process. Just click restart, put iBoot back in the drive, and this time, when your computer restarts, iBoot's Chameleon bootloader will give you the option to boot into your new installation. Select it and hit Enter.


Step Five: Update but Don't Restart



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

The first time OS X loads, you'll see Snow Leopard's fancy welcome video. Once that's done, OS X will walk you through the setup wizard, during which you'll enter in your username, location, etc. Just follow along.


Once you're finished with the setup, you're finally at your new Hackintosh desktop. Since you probably want to use the most up-to-date release, you'll want to update your Hackintosh before adding the finishing touches.


At the time of this writing, 10.6.4 is the most current release, so if you didn't already download the update package above (remember, we told you to put it on your thumb drive?), grab the MacOSXUpdateCombo10.6.4 package from Apple, double-click on the DMG, and run the installer.


When the combo update finishes, you'll be prompted to reboot. Don't reboot your computer—at least not yet. You've got one thing you need to do first.


Step Six: Run the MultiBeast Package



How to Build a Hackintosh Mac and Install OS X in Eight Easy Steps

Remember the MultiBeast download from tonymacx86 that we grabbed earlier and stored on a thumb drive (along with other post installation files)? It's time to use it.


Make sure you've plugged your thumb drive into your Hackintosh (or just re-download the files if you forgot to save them to a thumb drive) and open MultiBeast. This tool will allow you to boot from your hard drive going forward, so you don't need to use iBoot every time you want to boot up OS X.


On the Install MultiBeast screen, tick the checkboxes next to EasyBeast and System Utilities, then click Continue. When the EasyBeast installation completes, eject the iBoot disc and restart your computer. Once you've rebooted, you've got one more step to go.


Step Seven: Copy Custom Kexts to Extra Folder, Manually Add Sound and Ethernet Kexts Using Kext Utility


Now it's time to use those other post-installation files you downloaded earlier. So dive into the folder named Post Install and open the folder named Extra/Extensions. In a separate Finder window, navigate to the /Extra/Extensions folder at the root of your drive (in Finder, you can just type Cmd+Shift+G, type /Extra/Extensions, and press Enter).


Now drag all the files from your thumb drive's Extra/Extensions folder into your hard drive's Extra/Extensions folder. Enter your password when prompted, and let Finder replace any files that already exist.


Finally, navigate back to the Post Install folder on your thumb drive. Inside you'll see three files: An app named Kext Utility and two kext files named VoodooHDA.kext and RealtekR1000SL.kext. Drag and drop VoodooHDA.kext onto Kext Utility (enter your password when prompted), and you'll see a window like the one above. Once it says Done, you can quit Kext Utility (click Cancel), and then this time drag and drop Realtek R1000SL.kext onto Kext Utility. (Basically this installs custom audio and Ethernet extensions to your system so they work as you'd expect.)


Step Eight: Restart and Enjoy!


Now that you've updated and installed a few extensions customized to your hardware, you're ready to restart your computer, boot directly from your hard drive, and enjoy your new Hackintosh.


A Note on Performance and Other Loose Ends


I've been using this system for a couple weeks now, and in all my testing, everything's been working like a charm. If you're interested in benchmarking, here's how my build fared on Xbench (spoiler: the total score was 303.38).


As I mentioned above, you don't need to buy a pricey SSD (a regular hard drive will work fine), but the system with the SSD is fast, especially on startup. I've added a handful of startup applications to my login items, including apps like Chrome. When my system boots, all of my startup applications are running before my desktop fades in from blue—it feels more like resuming from sleep than rebooting.


Another thing to note: About this Mac identifies the processor as i5, but it's a superficial issue. You could manually edit the text file that populates those fields, but I won't go into that here.


Finally, keep your iBoot disc handy. In the event something does go flaky, especially if you end up having any problems booting directly from your hard drive, you'll likely want that iBoot disc on hand for troubleshooting.




Huge thanks go out to my Hackintosh-helping pals Onetrack, Stellarola, and Davide, to tonymacx86 for his great tools and work, to videographer extraordinaire Adam Dachis, and to the Hackintosh community.

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Kylo - TV Optimized Web Browser

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Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web Browser





Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web BrowserWindows/Mac: Kylo is a Mozilla-based web browser optimized for surfing the web on your HDTV from the comfort of your couch. Check out our screenshot tour to see it in all its 10-foot display glory.

Kylo was designed to complement the nifty gyroscopic mouse—produced by Kylo's parent company—called The Loop. While The Loop is pretty sweet and we certainly wouldn't mind field testing one, for our testing we just used a regular old wireless keyboard and mouse hooked up to our HTPC. Kylo shines without any fancy peripherals, although it's certainly a great ambassador for The Loop.


Kylo is optimized to be easy on your eyes and to make browsing the web from your couch as comfortable as possible. The address and toolbar are located on the bottom of the screen—looking down repeatedly towards the bottom of the screen is more eye-friendly than looking up to the top of the screen, it's also a better spot for good contrast if the TV is mounted too high.) They tailored everything from the buttons to the visual bookmarks for fumble-free clicking when the screen is far away.


We took both screenshots and actual photographs of Kylo in action. The photograph at the top of this article is of Kylo as viewed from a spot on the couch dead center to the television and approximately 13 feet away. Our tireless office helper Spawn volunteered to sit in for a sense of scale. The photographs of Kylo and Firefox—seen below—were taken from standing height approximately 18 feet away from the screen. We grabbed screenshots of same screens we photographed for those of you that wanted a clearer picture of the interface:


Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web Browser

Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web Browser

Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web Browser

Kylo Is a Big-Screen, TV-Optimized Web Browser


Kylo is a free offering from Hillcrest Labs, the company behind The Loop. The Loop is not required to use Kylo but an input device of some sort is—Kylo sports an on-screen qwerty keyboard, it's possible to go mouse-only. The only complaint, in fact, we can log against Kylo has nothing to do with Kylo itself—the jerks at Hulu decided to block Kylo the day Kylo publicly launched their browser. It was disappointing to load up Hulu only to have all the videos blocked. That said there are plenty of fish in the media sea and you can take your eyes elsewhere.


Have experience Kylo or The Loop? Let's hear about it in the comments. Can't quite let go of Firefox for your couch-based browsing? Check out how to set up a 10-foot display in Firefox so you can keep your add-ons and other tweaks. Kylo is freeware, Windows and Mac only. Thanks n00ge!


Kylo [via @n00ge]
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How To: XBMC Start to Finish

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The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center





The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media CenterXBMC is a fantastic and free cross-platform media center application we're nuts for. If you've wanted to start using it or just wanted to customize the XBMC installation you're already running, this guide will walk you through everything, from installation to total customization.

We've featured quite a few XBMC tips, tricks, and guides here at Lifehacker. We're quite fond of it, and with good reason: It's attractive, powerful, and highly customizable. In fact, nearly everyone at Lifehacker has a copy installed somewhere—and I have XBMC networked and running on every television and computer in my house.


Rather than leave you to dig through the archives of all the tips and guides we've shared, today we're going to walk you through our guides covering everything from installation to tweaking your media and media center for the ultimate XBMC experience, start to finish. Rather than rehash the detailed instructions we've laid out in various guides, we'll highlight the most compelling reasons for each tweak and direct you back to the original guide for a step-by-step walk through. When you're done, you'll have a streamlined media center with some awesome skins, a tidy media collection, automatic television show downloading, and games!


Install XBMC


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

XBMC originated as an ambitious media center project on the original Xbox, but has since grown well beyond the capabilities of its platform of origin. While our step-by-step guide to turning a classic Xbox into a killer media center is still a great way to breathe life into an old Xbox, the old Pentium III in the classic Xbox is showing its age. If you're using the classic Xbox you can follow along with the suggestions in this guide, but keep in mind that the original Xbox can't handle some of the flashier skins.


Everyone can grab a copy of XBMC for their respective operating system here. For additional guidance you'll want to check out our guides to installing XBMC on a USB drive, on a Mac, or if you have any troubles with the straightforward Windows install, check out the XBMC for Windows wiki.


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center


On the other hand, if you're feeling ambitious—and have a little extra cash to spend on this project—you'll definitely want to check out our guide to building a silent and standalone XBMC media center on the cheap. It really is dead silent, tiny, an excellent upgrade path from the classic Xbox architecture. Imagine squishing your classic Xbox down to the size of a paperback book—see the picture above—and upgrading the video output to 1080 and you've got the awesome nettop-based XBMC build we put together.


Even if you don't opt to buy a new nettop for the project, using the XBMC LiveCD to install XBMC on an older machine is a great way to turn an otherwise lacking machine into a great, dedicated HTPC for media playback. I've installed XBMC from the LiveCD onto many an older box that wouldn't have done very well with Windows + XBMC for Windows but does HD playback easily with the lightweight version of Ubuntu that installs with XBMC from the LiveCD.


Set Up Your Remote


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

Some people will have it easier than others when it comes to configuring their remotes. The classic Xbox works with the Microsoft DVD playback kit right out of the box. If you're running XBMC on Linux (like our silent standalone build, you can use Windows Media Center remotes just fine—but good luck using that Windows Media Center remote on a Windows machine running XBMC without a big hassle (go figure!). Mac users can read about configuring the Apple remote in our guide here or jump directly to the XBMC for Mac wiki.


Be forewarned that in some situations, especially on Windows, configuring IR remotes to work with XBMC can be a chore. On Windows, I've used both LIRC for Windows and EventGhost with success. You can read up on LIRC with our guide here or see an example of using EventGhost with XBMC here. Speaking from experience here, once you get your remote configured just the way you want, make sure—extra, extra sure!—to back up your remote configuration file from your respective application. It's a pain to set up remote configuration files, but if you back it up, you'll only be doing it once.


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center


Configuring the basic remote is a great start and many people won't need to venture beyond the basics, but this would hardly be a comprehensive guide if we didn't cover some of the other neat ways you can interact with your XBMC. After recently upgrading to an Android-based phone, I started experimenting with this Android remote control for XBMC—seen in the screenshot above—which essentially turns my phone into a wireless touchscreen remote that can access any of my XBMCs and browse their music and movie collections. If you have an Android, iPhone, or Windows Mobile phone, you'll want to check out the remote applications available for them. I can't say enough good things about Android remote control for XBMC. It even supports multiple XBMCs so I can swap music in one part of the house while queuing up a movie in another—amazing!


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center


Even if you don't have a phone, you can still enhance your XBMC experience with computer-based remotes. XBMC has a built-in web server with a remote tool and a variety of small applications like XBMC Control—seen in the screenshot above—make it easy to control your music or video playback from your netbook, laptop, or desktop—quite handy for changing the music playing through the living room stereo from your office. Check out our full guide to enhancing your XBMC experience with remote controls for any device for more information.


Make It Pretty



The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

With each new generation of XBMC, the default skin becomes more beautiful. Even with a great default, there are tons of stunning skins that make exploring alternatives to the default quite worthwhile. We highlighted five awesome ones here, and you can browse even more at the official XBMC site—the video above is of Aeon, one of the more ambitious skins around.


Aside from actually enjoying your media, showcasing it with a beautiful, easy-to-navigate skin is probably the best part of XBMC. Without fail, every visitor who sees my setup asks me how much I paid for it and has trouble believing that something as polished and awesome as XBMC is available for free. There simply isn't a commercial media player that comes close to the "The future is now!" vibe of XBMC. I won't point fingers, but having played around with many of the commercial media devices on the market, most of them have interfaces that look like they hail from last century. Read up on skinning your XBMC install here.


If you want to keep on top of the latest skin developments and really see how far designers are pushing XBMC, you'll want to keep an eye on the skinning forum at XBMC.org. You'll find sub-forums there for popular skinning projects like Aeon, Confluence, and more. I've logged quite a bit of time over the years reading posts on the XBMC forums; it's a great place to get very specific help on nearly everything related to XBMC from install issues to little tweaks for your favorite skins.


Massage Your Media for Maximum Wow Factor


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

If showing off a glossy new skin catches peoples attention, you won't believe how impressed they are that you can do things like display all movies with a certain actress in them, browse by director, or at a glance look over the media information and see immediately if a movie is in HD, what kind of audio channel it uses, and see a summary of the movie or view a trailer.


Earlier this year we put together an extensive guide to getting your media collection in shape for XBMC. While the XBMC media scrapers do an admirable job on their own, there's no substitute for storing information about your media collection with the actual media collection instead of in the XBMC database.


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center


Things run faster, restoration after a hard drive crash or an XBMC reinstallation takes minutes—instead of hours, hours, and more hours of rescraping your collection—and you get fine tuned control over your media. If you've ever had to leave your XBMC running for a 12 hour marathon of movie and music scraping or you've been annoyed at frequent mistakes from scrapers, you should take the time to clean up your media and start storing the media info with the media itself and not within the XBMC database. It's not as intimidating or as time consuming as it sounds, but you'll definitely want to make a weekend project of it if you've got a huge collection. Just be prepared to continually explain to guests that you didn't pay anything for the awesomeness they are experiencing.


Automate TV Show Downloads


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

If you use your XBMC to watch downloaded and ripped television shows, you really need a system in place to automate the process before you get buried under unwatched and weirdly named episodes. Check out this guide to fully automating the flow of television shows from the tubes to your XBMC server to learn how to take television shows from torrents to neatly named and filed away without any interaction on your part.


If you've never wrestled with cataloging lots of television shows before, we can't emphasize enough how much time an automated system like this will save you. XBMC isn't a TiVo but with an automatic workflow like the one outlined here, it might as well be.


Fun and Games


The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center

We all have projects we've been intending to get around to doing but never find time for. Ever since I switched from using the classic Xbox to using a PC running XBMC, I missed the games. My old Xbox was set up with emulators and I had my old Xbox games on it too. When I moved to a new machine I never got around to setting up the game section of XBMC until Whitson wrote up an awesome tutorial on how to turn XBMC into a video game console.


Check out the tutorial to see how to use XBMC to catalog your computer games, emulators, and how to play them all with an Xbox 360 controller. Thanks to the guide, the only thing I missed from my classic Xbox is back in my media center menu. You don't need games on a media center, of course, but we're building the ultimate media center. The real measure of the ultimate media center is if it will stream the Super Mario Bros. movie, showcase the Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, and let you play Super Mario Bros. 3.




Not to engage in some "Back when I was a lad..." nostalgia but I would have killed for a guide like this when I first started with XBMC. Back in the early days of XBMC, if you had a question about how something worked you hit up Google, the XBMC forums, and dug until you found some answers. Every new thing involved crazy tweaks, tinkering, swearing, and more digging in the forums for answers. Thankfully XBMC has evolved and now somebody with no prior experience can take a guide like this, work their way from the top of the list to the bottom, and be rewarded with a jaw dropping media center when they're done. Speaking of lists, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed at all the stuff that goes into tweaking XBMC into an ultimate media center, check out the list below and schedule each step onto your calendar:



  1. Download and install XBMC (also check out our silent nettop build)

  2. Set up your remote.

  3. Slap on some new skins!

  4. Clean up your media.

  5. Automate TV show downloading and sorting.

  6. Install emulators and link to your installed games.

  7. Invite your friends over to check out your awesome handiwork!


Have a favorite XBMC tweak or tip? Stuck trying to figure out how to do something with XBMC? Sound off in the comments to share your tweaks or get some help.

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