On the Importance of Backups February 24, 2010
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, Teen Info , add a comment
The last thing a Mac ever displays…
For computers today, backing up a hard drive is easy. Really easy. Macs – you have Time Machine; Windows – dozens of alternatives. But, chances are, YOU, the teenager reading this – don’t. Because, you (like me) are lazy. After all, the backup popup (“You haven’t backed up your files in a while – would you like to now?”) serves to annoy and is ignored more often then not, and the odds of YOUR hard drive failing – when does that happen?
The point of all this? Well, actually, there is one. See, about two weeks ago, my laptop’s hard drive failed. Everything – gone. 3 years of schoolwork, documents, pictures, projects, movies, music, applications – everything from the template to my school’s newspaper to my pictures from summer camp – totally gone. I suddenly was that guy – and man, did I wish that I had backed up some of this stuff – schoolwork especially.
If I can, through these years of writing, get one thing out to you, it is this – don’t mess around with backups. Yes, I know that many of you reading this won’t care – the odds are against it – but trust me: you don’t want this to happen to you. If you don’t want to do a whole backup drive – use a flashdrive to hold your most important stuff, or use Dropbox and store it in the cloud.
But seriously – learn from my mistakes. TeenTechBlog exists to help you – teens – with tech. I’m trying right now to help you – I had a few files on Dropbox, which at least had some recent school stuff. If your computer goes down, you don’t want to deal with data loss too.
But go now – open your document folder, and copy some stuff to a drive. You won’t regret it.
How to Backup your iPod (for Windows PC's) December 27, 2008
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : How-To, Mp3 players and iPods , add a comment
SharePod for Windows (no, that’s not my iPod- it’s a pic I found online 
)
Got a bunch of music and videos on your iPod and want to make sure you have them backed up onto your computer?
This is a great little program that not just does it’s job, but does it really well. The program is called SharePod and can be downloaded for free here (don’t worry this won’t give your computer viruses or anything like that — I got it here and no problems on my PC). Anyways, all you do once you download this small file is open it up, click on the items you want to copy to you computer and click on the icon in the upper left that says “Copy to PC.” Then you select the folder you want the items to go into (I would recommend you put it in My Music or Desktop– or anywhere you’d remember it’s location), then click OK- and your done! Your files are now on your computer!
Now let’s say you wanna take those files you backed up (say you got them from a different computer in your house), and now transfer them to your iTunes. Well, don’t worry, this is also just a quick step away. Open iTunes and go to “File Add File to Library”, then go to where you saved your file from your iPod on your computer (see, this is where knowing where you saved the file is important ), and click on it to add to your iTunes library. If its a video, then the file will go to your Movie’s section in iTunes, and if it’s a song, then it will go to music.
See, that wasn’t so hard 
, and now you got your songs and videos saved onto your computer.
SharePod is a free download from Download.com, and works with Windows XP and Vista, as well as with all iPod’s and iPhone’s including the iPhone 3G and new iPod Touch (2nd Generation) and iPod Nano (4th Generation).
So, what you think- this work well for you? Got questions? Wanna reccomend a different, easier program? Sound off in the comments!
Make Your Own Games, Web Sites and More (without being a "Geek") June 27, 2008
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, How-To, Video Games , 1 comment so far
Ever wanted design your own internet game or website even though you cant write code if your life depended on it? Try Microsoft Popfly. In a clear step-by-step guide for each of its three individual, but excellent programs– Game Creator, Website Maker, and Mashup–Popfly allows the digital adventurer to customize and shape to an extent, their own personal creation. Read on!
How To Download YouTube Videos June 17, 2008
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, How-To, Mp3 players and iPods , 5comments
Summer is almost here as schools are starting to close, and that means people going to camp, beaches, vacations you name it; We are all on the go. Many of us take our iPods because we can’t live 1 minute without it, but what about all the videos on YouTube that we watch for enjoyment; how can I get that on to my iPod for me to take on the go? Click the “More” button for the answer.
How to Make Your Own Ringtones for Free June 1, 2008
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones, How-To , add a commentWe have something here that many of you will like… making your own Ringtones for free. Using a program called Audacity (download here), any of your unprotected music— those not purchased through iTunes (check your songs in iTunes by right-clicking on a selected song, clicking Get Info, and then looking at the bottom of that first tab) and such, or in Mp3 or ACC format— can be shrunken down and subsequently placed onto your phone. For a full guide, see this ATT forum I found. This should work for most ATT phones—unfortunately excluding the iPhone or any other smartphone— and possibly for T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.
But don’t be disappointed iPhoners. In iTunes, you’ll see the option to convert to ringtone for an iPhone—though only for an iPhone—for an additional $1.
How To: Indiana Jones-ify your Desktop May 9, 2008
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, How-To, Misc. , add a commentThis is what I hope to be a new series of little simple how-to’s to spruce up your computer. To kick it off, I’m starting with the Indiana Jones desktop, in theme with the upcoming movie. 
This is my final result. I’m doing this on a Mac, and in several steps, but everything in here is adaptable easily to Windows. So we start easy:
The Desktop Picture:
This desktop I actually made using several tutorials in Photoshop Elements. Not the easiest thing, but i can post instructions to that too if anyone wants. If you want to download it, you can do so here. Other places to get pictures from is from the Indiana Jones Website, the going to the downloads and then to the wallpaper, where there is tons of wallpaper from the movies. Also a good one can be found here of Indiana Jones’ desk as shown in the film.
So thats wallpaper. Next up is icons. I got mine from Iconfactory. As of now only the Raiders of the Lost Ark icons are up, but the others movies’ icons are forth coming. They happen to be really nice icons, in large sizes for Leopard and Vista. Mac icons can be applied using the instructions found here. As for Windows, for XP users you can check out this Microsoft guide for changing your desktop’s theme, and for Vista you can view this Microsoft guide.
It is also possible to change the dock on Leopard, but this is a really task that can only be done by changing system files, or using a program like Panic’s Candybar. The icons from the Iconfactory come with a dock compatible with that program, but it cost $30, which I frankly don’t have to spend on an icon-changing app.