If a new iPhone or iPod touch found its way under your tree and you just can't wait until Apple officially supports third-party application development to extend its functionality (who can wait until February?), it's time you jailbreak your favorite new portable device.

read more | digg story

Don't pay the extortionists at the computer repair shop 800 bucks to get your data back or start up your dead computer. Plenty of free tools can help you and are freely available to download. Today we've got our top 10 system recovery picks which span operating systems but all cost the same: exactly nothing.

read more | digg story

Mac OS X is a great operating system out of the box, but a few simple customizations can make it even better. Check out our top 10 favorite Mac OS X tweaks for making your Mac experience even more personalized, customized and convenient.

read more | digg story

Since the dawn of time, humanity has longed for a simple way to sync Firefox extensions, themes, bookmarks, and saved passwords between computers so that no matter where you're working, your browser is customized in the exact same way. The solution comes in the form of the Microsoft-owned folder syncing and sharing tool, FolderShare.

read more | digg story

You don't need a hardware switch to share one keyboard and mouse amongst several different computers. All you need is the free, cross-platform application, Synergy. It connects one keyboard and mouse to any computer on your network, making a dual- or triple-computer setup work more like a dual- or triple-monitor setup.

read more | digg story

Rounded corners can give a photo album or personal website an elegant look, but only if you've downloaded the right software or learned the steps in Photoshop or the GIMP. RoundPic.com, however, does exactly what it sounds like—takes uploaded photos, gives them anti-aliased, graduated curves on the corners and lets you download them...

read more | digg story

iTunes may not be the best media player on the market, but let's face facts: with its tight integration with our iPods and its excellent playlisting tools, it's very likely the digital jukebox you're using every day to manage your music. With that in mind, it's time you take iTunes to the next level.

read more | digg story

Countless tools let you do all sorts of network trickery, many with their roots at the Unix command line. But forget arcane command line tools. Today we've picked out 10 of our favorite, free, point and click software applications and webapps that help you make the most of the giant web of connected computers that is your network.

read more | digg story

An always-on server can come in all kinds of handy for running automated tasks, syncing your data, remote controlling downloads and acting as a proxy. Lot of us have access to a remote computer, but most of us probably aren't getting everything we can out of it. Check out our top 10 ways to put your remote server to best use

read more | digg story

Power users need power utilities, and Windows' default system programs barely get the job done. Over time third-party developers have stepped and build superior replacements to programs like Notepad, Paint, Windows Explorer and the Command Prompt. Get the simple jobs done smarter, faster and more efficiently with these free utitlites

read more | digg story

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox/Opera/IE): Scan any file for viruses before you download it to your computer with web site Dr.Web. After installing the Firefox extension, performing the Internet Explorer registry hack or adding the Opera tweak, you can scan any directly linked file for viruses through your browser's right-click context menu.

read more | digg story

Want your very own web site address, but don't want to mess with pay-for hosting packages or server configuration? Today you can buy a domain name for around 10 bucks a year (or less) and map it to a variety of free web-based apps for no-mess and no-cost hosting. Let's take a look at how you can set up a complete domain name backend for free

read more | digg story

A dynamic DNS service is a constantly updated database of IP addresses and domain names. DynDNS.com is one provider of this service. For free, you can get one of the available DynDNS domain names plus a custom subdomain, or for a small fee you can register your own domain (like joesmith.com) and have it resolve to your home computer web server

read more | digg story

"..You're a BitTorrent freak, so why should you let a little thing like being away from your home computer stop you from getting your fix? Using the popular, free uTorrent client, you can control your BT downloads from anywhere using a full-featured web interface./"

read more | digg story

Sprinkled throughout Lifehacker's archive of over 14,000 posts, we've featured hundreds of free web and desktop apps that help you get things done—but which are the best? As we wrap up the year 2007, it's the perfect time to put together a quick list of our favorite pieces of free software and web services

read more | digg story

Apple has introduced a simple and free way to create and sync your own custom ringtones to the iPhone using GarageBand (i.e., Mac only). The first thing you'll need to do, if you haven't already, is download and install the latest update of GarageBand from Software Update...

read more | digg story

This year, instead of forking over more cash to the likes of Jobs and Gates for their newest toys, we're taking a look at several ways to make your old gadgets new again. From the iPod and Xbox to a run-of-the-mill PC, chances are you've got something lying around the house that could use a free or cheap upgrade

read more | digg story

Simply amazing. Perhaps I won't hate doing laundry as much now, but I doubt it.

read more | digg story

Who wouldn't want to know about this? Especially considering the upcoming Holiday meals that will be served!

read more | digg story

Learn how to turn your analog watch into a pong video game or take the “Geek Test” to test your geekiness. Geek humor and gadget hacks that will intrigue even non geeks.

read more | digg story

In what computer analysts and physicists all over the world have classified as "a clear and present danger to the survivability of the Human Race and the Universe as we know it," LA area-man and Gizmodo reader Kevin Barbee reports that his Windows Vista Problem Reporting has reported that it has stopped reporting

read more | digg story

The New York Times takes a look at the culture of perfectionism, suggesting that the tenets of the perfectionist—when applied to things like personal relationships or when taken too far at the workplace—can take a serious toll on your happiness.

read more | digg story

Blogger Kurt Shintaku figured out how to install Windows Vista from a USB flash drive, a potentially huge time-saver for anyone needing to deploy the OS on multiple machines.

You'll need a Windows Vista DVD, of course, and a 4GB flash drive. The latter will set you back a few bucks; the author recommends an Apacer model that sells for a very reasonable $56.99. (And as he points out, it also makes for a great ReadyBoost drive.) Insert the drive, access the command line and type in a handful of partition/format commands. Copy the Vista DVD to the drive and you're all set. Then just boot your PC to the drive and you'll be able to install Vista in 5-10 minutes. Smokin'! — Rick Broida

DIYer Kipkay extracts the laser from a DVD burner and mounts it in a small flashlight to create a handheld laser burner that can light matches and burst balloons.

read more | digg story

You don't need a complicated boot CD or expensive software to create a restorable system disk image for your PC: free utility DriveImage XML can save a full, working snapshot of your Windows hard drive while you work on it. With it, imaging your PC's hard drive is a matter of a few clicks, no reboots required.

read more | digg story

If only I could tie a tie period.

read more | digg story

With a new generation of iPods on the market this holiday season, your reliable old iPod may not seem as shiny as it once did. But with the help of third party applications and utilities, you can unlock tons of useful functionality you never knew was there and revive that aging iPod so it doesn't look quite so bad next to its successors.

read more | digg story

Is that a gigabyte in your pocket? And are you putting it to good use? Developers and road warriors have come up with all sorts of innovative techniques for putting these tiny roomy disks to good use. Step into my office for a list of our top 10 favorite thumb drive tricks.

read more | digg story

If the high price tag for Apple hardware has kept you from buying a Mac but you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get adventurous, you can build your own "Hackintosh"—a PC that runs a patched version of OS X Leopard. Today, I'll show you how to build your own high end computer running Leopard from start to finish for under $800.

read more | digg story

DIY web site Instructables details the poor man's method for painting a car for around $75

read more | digg story

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of articles have been written about the vulnerability of WEP (W ired E quivalent P rivacy), but how many people can actually break WEP encryption? Beginners to WEP cracking have often been frustrated by the many wireless cards available and their distribution-specific commands.

read more | digg story

Out of the box your iPhone won't allow you to tether your EDGE data connection to another computer wirelessly, but with a little ingenuity on your part you'll be browsing the net on your laptop through your iPhone's data service in no time.

read more | digg story