Geeks2Girls iPhone Holiday Gift Guide

Geeks2Girls has searched though hundreds of apps in the iTunes app store to bring you our favorites for this holiday season. Weather you are traveling on vacation or sitting around with the family, you are sure to need a little entertainment.

Tomb Raider Underworld

The next installment of Laura Croft is Tomb Raider Underworld. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the game is great. It has got the classic Tomb Raider story line and feel which you have come to love, but with improved graphics.

Boxee: Unboxing the Media Experience (invites)

With television viewership on the decline and so many of us watching our favorite shows at our own convenience online it was only a matter of time before one or more clever companies helped us bridge the gap between our favorite online media services and our televisions. Boxee.tv is leading the way! 

Although still in closed alpha, Boxee has been gaining steam as the open source media application of choice. Previously it could only pull in content from your networked drives similar to iTunes, but the latest version of Boxee now also enables you to watch content from tons of sources. Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, CNN and more are all at your fingertips. Boxee doesn’t stop at just video. You can also stream music from you Last.fm account, your local iTunes library, and even photos from Flickr. Better yet, you can easily add any video rss feed to your Boxee account and watch it as its own channel.

Did I forget to mention that Boxee is also a social application? You can connect with other Boxee users as friends, see what they have been watching, and recommend content with a few clicks. 

With Boxee’s initial release you could only experience content directly on your computer or on a HD TV with an adapter and HDMI cable, but Boxee’s latest version is now compatible with your Apple TV. Using a USB patchstick you can install the application directly on your Apple TV and take in all the good stuff while sitting back on your couch (this is how I have it set up). When asked what the future brings for Boxee I was told that they would like to be available to use on any device you would connect to your television or home media center. As an open source application their are plenty of opportunities for incredible things to happen with Boxee.

Boxee has announced that they will be releasing their latest significant update to the application on December 4th. Want to get in on the action? I have secured priority invites for The Tech Lunch readers. Follow the link below and fill out your info. Priority invites will get approved in a matter of days instead of weeks, so be patient and enjoy!

Boxee Priority Invite:http://www.boxee.tv/thetechlunch

quick intro to boxee from boxee on Vimeo.

How to create the patchstick for Apple TV

Vista Transformation Pack

I’m sure alot of people out there have heard of the Vista Transformation Pack, a software bundle that ads alot of Vista’s features (as well as a clone of Vista’s ‘Aero’ theme) to Windows XP. I used it a few years ago and have to say, it’s not great. It does add some usefull things to XP but it slows the computer down considerably.

Vista Transformation Pack dosn't always work properly.

Some of the features that I liked included Vista SideBar, a tool that mimicked the SideBar in Vista, ViStart, a clone of the Vista Start menu (rather buggy though) and WinFlip, a peice of Software that simulates the Start+Tab flip hing in Vista. I did however end up un installing the pack because it made my computer so slow. In some cases it took 5 times as long to do something in XP with the Pack than in XP without it. The Pack also messed up my Audio Drivers.

When compared to the speed of real copy of Vista on the same machine, the Pack was faster but by so little it hardly mattered. If you have an old PC, I don’t suggest trying the pack or attempting to install Vista itself, just stick with what works for you  -  XP.

Microsoft Announces Morro

By Erwin Blonk, November 23th, 3:35PM

Microsoft recently announced Morro, dubbing it a no-cost consumer security offering which will protect against viruses, spy-ware and other computer problems. It will become available in the first half of 2009.

According to Roger Kay of Endpoint Technology Associates, “By offering such basic protection at no charge to the consumer, Microsoft is promoting a safer environment.” As such it can be seen as an extension to Windows Update.

Rowan Trollope, Symantec’s consumer business senior vice president, considers it proof of Microsoft’s inability to provide quality security software.

Randy Abrams, technical director of security firm ESET, sees it differently. Windows Live OneCare took 2% of the market without many promotional activities, deeming it not a defeat to competitors but a bid to enhance Windows’ security positioning.

OneCare will be sold until June 30th, 2009 and support will be phased out soon after.

iPhone 2.2 Software Update

By Jonathan

Apple has released another software update for the iPhone, iPhone 2.2. Among other things, the updated OS features Google Street View and streaming podcasts via WIFI or your data plan. I have already tried it out, and both new features work fantastically. I have been waiting for real streaming podcasts for months, so this update is something I have realy been looking forward to. Thus far iPhone users have had to use other podcast solutions which were incomplete and far inferior. Now if we could only see a copy & paste option!

Google releases themes for Gmail

By Kris at 5:38 PM

Google has been releasing a ton of updates for Gmail lately, ranging from video chat to goggles, but none of those updates are as cool as the new Gmail themes.  More behind the break.

17 ways to survive a Mac Disaster.

By Jonathan

Mac Life has came up with 17 great ways for you to survive almost every Mac disaster.

Take Full Advantage of your Gmail

By Kris at 5:48PM

It is very likely that a lot of people don’t know the full potential of their Gmail account. In this article, I will give you some tips on how to take full advantage of your Gmail account, with its biggest feature: Gmail drive. Gmail Drive is a tool that lets you create a hard drive out on the web that can be accessed right from your computer. Read on for the instructions.

Strategic Assault for the iPhone

By Jonathan at 6:51 PM

A new game by the name of Strategic Assault recently saw its iPhone debut. It may be the first real time strategy game published on the iPhone platform, but is it really all that great?

Strategic Assault has very similar feel to that of the Command & Conquer series. You can create a variety of little fighters like tanks, jeeps, and helicopters with which you capture resources.  As in most RTS games your ultimate goal is to hunt down the opposition with a squad of your finest men…or whatever troops you can afford anyways.

Those of you new to Strategic Assault may marvel over it, what with the four out of five star rating it holds, but it really is an antique. I first played Strategic Assault over five years ago on my Palm M100 which had a 16 MHz processor and 8MB of ram/storage.