So Microsoft thinks it’s got a winner with the release of Windows 5.2, a.k.a. Vista, huh? Heck, some may even like that new glass looking interface that appears somewhat familiar to certain Mac users. If you’re a certain Mac user that feels like dressing things up, like your Vista counter part, then you may want to make a change. A Changeling, in fact.

Changeling is an interesting (donate-ware) program that lets you skin OS X and Safari. Changing everything from the Finder to icons to the windows themselves.

Changeling is pretty nifty if you’re growing tired of brushed metal. With four different skins to choose from, such as Morpheus LCD and Eurydice Backlit LCD, your Mac will be looking fresher than a Microsoft marketing campaign for some Eskimos on its new refrigerator line to debut this winter!

I live in Firefox most of the day. That and iTunes as well as Entourage (or Outlook, depending which system I’m on.) I’ve been using a Konfabulator widget, iTunes Bar, for most of my interaction with the Apple music client, but it’s not exactly right. Then I stumbled over FoxyTunes some time ago and now with its 2.0 preview, the scales are starting to tip toward this sly little fox for best iTunes controller.

FoxTunes is a Firefox extension that lives on the bottom right of your Firefox browser. Displaying the artist and track name with an ingenious time indicator embedded below the text, you’ll find this information easily retrievable with a simple glance. Right of this information is your controls for playing, pause, skip, and so forth, as well as volume control just right of that. Oh yes, the song note icon is the first button of the play controls and when hovered over, up comes the info panel as seen above. You can also gather much information about the artist and the song by clicking on the song note with jumps to flikr for pictures and searches for lyrics to the song you are currently enjoying. The power doesn’t stop there as many more goodies exist in this small package.

Having ran 1.x for some time, I can tell you there is no noticeable hit on Firefox’s or your systems performance with FoxyTunes running. The 2.0 beta seems fine, as well. And like most things Firefox, this extension runs on both Macs and PC.

I remember listening to my dad as a kid talking about drive-in diners, cigarette commercials on TV, and a bunch of other fascinating things before my time that dated who he was. Today when I tell my children about vinyl records and how that’s how I once listened to my music, I see the same look in their eyes that I had when I gazed at my father about a quarter of a century ago. (Ouch, did I have to put it that way?!)

If you always wanted to make your own “record” like I did as a kid, now you can. The Vinyl Record Generator lets you put in the track name, credits, and band name. You can even select the stickers colors. With a click of a mouse, you’ll have you’re very own record. 45 or 78! Take a look at ours in full size.

It’s a well known fact that Verizon is not a friend of the Bluetooth camp. It likes to retard the Dail-up Networking (DUN) feature as well any file transferring (OBEX Exchange). Sometimes you find just simple syncing isn’t the easiest thing in the world, either.

Some find iSync and RAZRs compatibility less than desireable. Even though Apple’s iSync Devices page shows the RAZR line as supported, the footnotes indicate some trouble ahead for you ultra-thin phone users. Calander sync seems to be a biggie as one such problem for the v3c. But thankfully Brian Toth documented how to get the iCal and iSync to get (i)RAZR to get that important to one and another. It’s not a difficult task, but it’s not for the faint at heart, too. There’s some blood involved. You’ll need to do some package opening and file editing, but it’s nothing too major and within a few minutes, you’ll be syncing your days events with your phone! Give it a try and remember who helped make this happen…Brian.

The summer months are here and even though the sun stays up longer, thus prolonging the start of your star gazing, there is a lot to look at. Bending over all night to look into your eye piece all night can be tough and getting your eye positioned just right can be tough, too. Add kids to the equation and things become even more difficult. Forget about taking pictures of what you’re seeing, too.

Thankfully Aaron Adams had the courage to take his iSight off his Mac and figure out how to mount it to his Meade telescope. Because of his great efforts, you too can now take pictures of Jupiter and other heavenly objects.

Adams shows you step-by-step how to get your iSight onto a telescope. With a couple of O rings and an iSight, you’ll be all hooked up before it gets dark. Then adjust and play with some software and your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or any other Mac with a Firewire port and you’ll have the stars right there on your screen for all to see at the same time. Take a screen capture of what you’re seeing or better yet, record a QuickTime movie and share it with a friend or two via e-mail.

If you have a MacBook Pro (or even a MacBook), then you know you have no chance using those EV-DO PC Cards for Verizon (or Sprints) EV-DO networks. Even though there are Mac drivers for some of the cards, those cards don’t fit into the ultra-small ExpressCard slot on the MBP. (Here’s a post on what does fit in there.) So if you’re hooked into Verizon and you’ve got that network all behind ya and all, what does a cutting edge Mac head do to get some of that Broadband Access? If you have a UTStarcom XV6700, you use Bluetooth, baby! ‘But Verizon killed the DUN profile,’ you say. Doh! Okay, we got that worked out, too.

Most people aren’t aware in order to have something on a device that uses the radio signal named after a Viking king, the manufacturer must fully support the protocol to its fullest. Thus, all Verizon phones that have Bluetooth in them started its life as a fully Bluetooth compliant device. It’s only after Verizon gets its greedy hands on the device is when it loses its DUN profile.

Knowing that much, it only takes a quick Google search and one will find the answer on how to bring that DUN profile back to your phone. In this case, the XV6700. Like the Motorola E815, you simply dial in a number and “send” it. Unlike the Moto, you need to verify your request with a passcode. After that, you’ll have full access to enabling DUN on the XV6700.

In fear the link to the magic of DUN will disappear, SvenOnTech will happily reprint the directions for you below.

• Go to the PHONE application (hit the green phone button on the XV6700)
• Enter ##3328873 (or ##feature) and press “TALK” (or Send)
• Enter six zeros for the code (000000)
• Now select BT DUN and Wmodem
• Click EDIT
• Select ENABLE from the drop down menu
• Tap the OK button (top right corner)
• Tap the OK button (again)
• OK the prompt to soft reset your device

Your XV6700 is now enabled to use its Bluetooth DUN profile. Now you just need to find the modem application and make a shortcut for easy activation.

• Using Explorer (be sure to enable “Show hidden files”), go to the Windows folder
• Find the file WMmodem. You’ll see an EXE and a LNK version. Make a shortcut of the EXE version (Resco Explorer 2005 does this and sends it to your Start Menu.)
• Move the shortcut to your \Windows\Start Menu folder

Now you’ll see the WMmodem application in your start menu (Programs). Tap on this and it’ll bring up a screen with mostly text, a drop down menu, and three traffic boxes. In the drop down, select Bluetooth. Then click the START button. Your XV6700 is now a full out Bluetooth modem waiting to be connected to.

On the Mac side, you’ll first need to pair your XV6700 and Mac to each other. You should be able to do this easily, but if you need some help, check out Apple’s site for direct documentation on how to do this. When pairing, select “Other” device from the list, not “Phone”.

Once paired, the last screen will ask if you wish to use the device as a modem and headset. Uncheck headset (unless you wish to use your phone to communicate with others on applications such as Skype.) Now follow these instructions for setting up the modem:

• Username: (Your full phone number) 408-555-1235@vzw3.com
• Password: vzw
• Phone Number: #777
• Mode Script: au cdmaOne Bluetooth Adapter
• Leave all check boxes checked
• Click CONTINUE
• Click QUIT

You’re now all set on the Mac side. You’ll now see a phone with a dot slash icon on your menu bar. Select it and choose “Connect”. Remember to have your XV6700 on, Bluetooth enabled, and the WMmodem application running Bluetooth mode with the START button activated. If all this is the case, you’ll be connected in seconds and your modem icon will display a counter next to it once connected. Enjoy the EV-DO!

Now a couple of notes. Not all areas have EV-DO yet. Verizon claims by the end of the year, nearly its entire network will have it. But until that time, you may only get 1xRTT speeds. While not true broadband (in the DSL sense), it’s still better than dial-up (which can’t be done out-of-the-box with the MBP anyway.) Further, you must have a data plan in order to connect to the Internet. You’ll want to have the unlimited plan as you’ll probably hit the 20 MB plan top end within minutes of surfing on your Mac. You can get it as low as $59 if you call and whine and as cheap as $30 if you have a business account (a little known fact that even most Verizon employees don’t know about.) Rumor has it the price will come down to $20 soon someday.

So, if you’re in an area that has no Wi-Fi and you have a Verizon XV6700, you have an alternate Internet connection. There probably is a hack for the Palm Treo 700w, too, but since we don’t have one of those here at SvenOnTech, we haven’t looked for it. Again, the Motorola E815 also has a hack you easily can find as well.

When I was in 5th grade, Rubik’s Cube was all the rage. Everyone had one and many had various sizes and even shapes. I had the original cube, a key chain cube, the ball, and even the pyramid. I played with mine, messed it up, and then busted it apart and put it back together correctly. My Lego experience came in handy.

I wanted to be able to solve it the right way, though. So I purchased some quick guide book that showed how to solve it in like 2 minute or less. I took my skills and competed against Shimmon Pital in Mr. Low’s class and we both feverishly did our work. I was first up and completed it in about a minute and thirty seconds. I thought I had it. Shimmon dusted nearly thirty seconds off of my time and won the competition. Just like new in about a minute. Wow!

Well if you still have a cube around that needs some fixing and you don’t feel like bustin’ it apart to put the pieces all back were they go, then you may want to take a look at the Doing The Cube site. Like the little book I had oh too many years ago, you can now learn how to solve any messed up cube. Since it’s all math here, as Professor Rubik himself intended the teaching instrument to be about, the method works on any combination of “mess up”. Practice, practice, and you may be able to beat my 1:30 time like Shimmon Pital did.

Ever need to hard reset your iPod and you fumbled through that little manual that came with your DAP or better yet, you Googled for the solution? Google and fumble no more because Command-Tab has got you covered with an easy to use guide. Simply select your desired action — hard reset, diagnostic mode, or disk mode — and every hard drive-based generation iPod wheel highlights the buttons you need to depress to enable the task you seek. Easy, fast, done. Nothing better than that, aye?

We’re sure Command-Tab will update this very quickly when the full-screen iPod video releases.