Turn a Windows 7 Laptop into a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Here’s some new software for Windows 7 called Connectify which allows you to turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot. Basically, it converts your laptop into a wireless router of sorts, acting as a wireless access point for computers and wireless devices.  It’s essentially like creating your own wifi hotspot like the ones at Starbucks and other retailers.

It was developed by a military consulting firm called Nomadio and it allows other wireless devices to ‘tether’’ themselves to a single Internet connection. It’s secure too as the software encrypts traffic in both directions using WPA2-Personal encryption. Check out the demo video below:

This would be especially useful at airports to share the expensive Wi-Fi with friends or simply for extending your home WiFi without paying through the nose for a wireless router.

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How to: Connect Rock Band Drums to Windows

Ever wondered whether your Rock Band drums could work with Windows? Yes, indeed they can! We’ve covered a similar subject in a previous post, Rock Band Drums for your PC, but now here are two more great reasons to connect your drums:

• If you’re feeling adventurous, you can turn your kit into a fully-fledged midi-controller.
• Use in PC music apps such as Garageband.

Check out some of our best Rock Band projects below:

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Access your Files on the Go with FileZilla Home Server

With FileZilla’s free FTP solution, it is super simple to setup a home “FTP” server. Why would you want to setup a FTP home server in the first place? If you are mobile, you can use a home server to remain connected to your home PC from anywhere. Yes, it’s sort of like VNC or DropBox.  The FileZilla client-server application is Open Source and currently Windows only, but the FTP client itself can be installed on any platform.

The step by step installation shows how easy it is to configure the home server. Installation is like any Windows software. Initial options set how the server starts up as a Windows service. Next, the default settings for the server address and port is good enough.

User permissions and selecting the ‘shared folders’ for access is one thing you have to customize. You can configure the level of access for each user individually and even create user groups. A user group makes server access easier to manage.

With the server address, user name and password, any FTP client can be used to exchange files with the home server. It also is neat backup solution. With a home server, the only requirement is to always keep the PC on. But…one could argue that’s a small price to pay for reaching your online home from any location.

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How to: Setup Windows, OS X, and Ubuntu on One Machine

Learn how to use virtualization software as an alternative to setting up a multi-boot computer. Software like VirtualBox emulates the environment that would be required for running Windows, Ubuntu, and OS X.  For developers who need to test software on multiple OS’s, this is a perfect, cheap and easy solution.  Or, if there are just certain applications you prefer to use on Linux instead of Windows, here’s an easy way to switch between the two without partitioning.

To further improve your workspace, you can use a multiple monitor setup as if you were using three separate machines.  Check out the beginner’s guide to setting up a virtual machine or the advanced step by step instructions.  The system specs for crash free virtualization require a modest computer with decent amount of RAM.

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How to: DIY Version of Apple TV and Google TV Media Centers

We’ve covered a few ways to build a media center on a budget, but with AppleTV and GoogleTV launching soon, we have another superb media center tutorial for you.  But with some versions of DIY media centers, usability isn’t always targeted toward the non-tech savvy. So, here’s a media center build that is so user friendly, your grandma could use it.

Starting with Windows Media Center software, extras are added such as Netflix, media sharing with Windows 7, plugins , and more.  The step by step instructions show how to install, download and organize content, and showcase movies, music, and shows (thanks to Hulu or a TV tuner).

The Setup:

A spare computer that can pull off high-resolution, TV-sized graphics is ideal. The author recommends the Acer Aspire Revo that runs on an Intel Atom with NVIDIA ION graphics processor. If you have your Windows Vista or 7 installation discs with you, installation should only take a few minutes.

Sharing Files:

Installing UltraVNC on the home theater machine makes it remotely available from any computer on the home network. For sharing of media files between the home theater and the home network, you have to setup network sharing between the machines. You can also tweak the file sharing protocols to use BitTorrent or UseNet so you can automatically download and deliver media files in the correct format and folder.

Extras and Plugins:

One hassle-free thing about WMC is that it works smoothly with Hulu, Netflix, Boxee, and XBMC. Thanks to third party apps, the plugging in is seamless so you can switch back and forth between these apps and WMC with a click on the remote.  You can add-on utilities like a TV tuner for recording shows, the Remote Potato app to access and watch from anywhere with a browser, and the Media Browser for interface skinning.  Enjoy!

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Star Trek Inspired Touchscreen Kitchen Interface

This Star Trek “LCARS interface” kitchen touchscreen computer brings nostalgia of the iconic TV show right into your kitchen.  It features a calendar, train scheduler, weather mapper, and punching in shopping lists for groceries (check the video above for a demo).  He also uses it for a bit of internet browsing and multimedia entertainment plus downloading torrents.

This Star Trek “LCARS interface” kitchen touchscreen computer brings nostalgia of the iconic TV show right into your kitchen.  It features a calendar, train scheduler, weather mapper, and punching in shopping lists for groceries (check the video above for a demo).  He also uses it for a bit of internet browsing and multimedia entertainment plus downloading torrents.

The LCARS themed Windows XP skin makes the design dirt simple.  While adding a Star Trek theme to a tablet PC might be easy, the backend programming it is pretty customized. Full details aren’t available, but may be posted shortly on the author’s website.

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