6 Facebook Hack Codes & Tips To Show Off Your Geeky Skills

The very first thing I should mention is that when it comes to Facebook, there’s really no such thing as “hack codes.”  The title of this article is  partially tongue-in-cheek, because with Facebook, the rules change so often that one “Facebook hack” code that works today will likely not work tomorrow.  Facebook designers change links and features at whim – and you’re left trying to guess what’s coming next and why your link or plug-in no longer works.
I’ve previously written a couple of articles here about Facebook, such as the controversial method on how to view private Facebook profiles, or how to email mobile photos to your Facebook account. However, in addition to those tips, there are other codes and features that aren’t immediately obvious to most users – so I wanted to provide a list of the top 6 of my favorite Facebook “hack” codes and tips to other Facebook enthusiasts out there.

#1 – The Konami Code Lens Flare Hack

This is a rather silly hack, but if you’re visiting friends who may not be very computer savvy – this is a very easy way to impress them with your hacking skills. Borrow their computer (or bring your laptop), log into your Facebook account, and then on the computer keyboard just type the following key sequence of arrows and letters exactly: UP-UP-DOWN-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-B-A-<Enter>
Then, click around on your Facebook page, or scroll up and down the page (this seems to work best), and you’ll discover a pretty cool display of lens flare effects.

Oddly, the effect isn’t horribly annoying because it disappears pretty quickly when you really need it to. It isn’t the most impressive hack though, because it’s probably the most common one mentioned across the net – but it’s still kind of cool and fun to play around with.

#2 – Aye, Make Yer Profile a Pirate’s Page You Landlubber!

The second profile hack is also one of the easiest to implement. Facebook offers users the ability to transform their Facebook pages into any language that they like. If you scroll down to the lower left corner of your profile page, you’ll see your current language setting. Click on this, and you’ll have a list of all languages available to you. Notice the English Pirate option?

Ahoy matey – yer now a Cap’n! Now as you go through your profile page you’ll notice some pretty hilarious pirate variations.

Now, the wall is the Plank, your profile is the Cap’n's Log, and you can now either click a post as pleasin’ to me eye (like) or blabber t’yer mates (comment).  It certainly removes the “boring” factor from your old standard Facebook pages.

#3 – Upside Down Status Updates

If you’ve been on Facebook long enough, you’ve probably noticed a few people posting upside down status updates. They sure do think they’re clever don’t they?!  Yes, you too can be the envy of all of your friends and family by posting your updates so that people have to look silly by tilting their heads upside down so they can read it.
Most of the people you’ve seen doing this have likely installed a Facebook app just to do so. However, I dislike installing apps because you always have to provide permissions to those applications to access your profile. A better approach is to use the free online application at FlipText to generate your upside down status update.

Simply copy the upside down text from the lower text box, paste it into your Facebook status box and post!

#4 – Download Complete Photo Collections From Your Friends’ Profiles

If you have a lot of friends on Facebook, you may not have the time to keep up with all of the new family photos they’ve posted – but you are very interested in them and would love to have them stored in your own private photo collection to review later. Well, thanks to a very cool FireFox plug-in called FacePAD, you can do just that. The add-on is awesome, and I would recommend that anyone with the resources to do so should send in a contribution to Arthur Sabintsev for his efforts.
After you install the FacePad plug-in, make sure you select Tools->Add-Ons, and configure the options for FacePad so it has your correct Facebook language. Then, all you have to do is go to your friend’s photo albums, right-click on the title and select “Download Album With FacePAD.”  That’s right, you’re not downloading a single picture – but an entire album.

Once you do, FacePad downloads every single image within that album into the download folder you’ve configured in FireFox. Don’t forget to organize all of those photos using JetPhoto, as recommended earlier by Jeffry.

#5 – Schedule Facebook Status Updates With Sendible

Do you like to keep your Facebook profile active, but you’re coming down with a cold and may be offline for a few days?  Maybe you’re taking a trip and won’t be anywhere near a computer for a week. Or maybe you’ll be playing hooky from work and traveling, but you want your colleagues and boss to think you’re stuck at home sick. Accomplish any of these wishes by using Sendible to schedule your Facebook status updates. This is an application Daniel covered earlier, so check out his article for more details.
But for Facebook specifically, once you sign up with Sendible, just click on Facebook and provide your Facebook login details. Sendible connects directly with your Facebook account. The, under “New Messages” click on “Status Updates“.

On the next page you can schedule out as many updates as you’d like! This service is awesome – and you can distribute scheduled updates to a number of social networks including MySpace, Blogger, Twitter and more.

#6 – Hide Your Online Status From Certain People

Look, don’t feel bad about it. When I first joined Facebook I left my online status wide open. After a couple of weeks of getting inundated with nonstop chat requests, I simply turned off my online status completely. Problem solved. Except, there really were certain people I wouldn’t mind hearing from – is it really fair for a few chatterbox buddies to ruin your chances for communicating with everyone? Well, there is a way for you to selectively block your online status from certain people.

All you have to do is open up your chat icon in the lower right corner of your Facebook display, click on Friend Lists, and create a new list called “BlockList.” Make sure after you create it that it’s configured under “Display these lists in Chat.”

Now, all you have to do is either click “edit” and add the friends you want to block, or if they’re already online, just click their name and drag them under this new list. Once you’ve got everyone there who you want to block from see your online status, hover your mouse over the green dot to the right and click on “Go Offline.” Now, you appear offline to only those certain friends.
Facebook, unlike MySpace, is not really easy to tweak – which is actually a good thing. Gone are the days of those horrid eye-bleeding pages with pink flashing backgrounds and instant music that you can’t turn off. However, the tweaks and plug-ins in the list above offer at least a few ways to customize your Facebook account and usage to suit your life and your personality.
How do you use Facebook? Are there any hacks or add-ons not offered here that you especially like to use? Share them in the comments section below!

3 Ways Tech-Savvy People Can Earn Money While In College

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If you’re currently attending college or university, you will know that your expenses have gone up the roof. If you use some type of budget planner (I use email-based TheBirdy), you have probably been scared off by the high amount of money you’ve spent on even little things.
Do you want to try to get a grip on your expenses? Fear not. There are many ways you can quickly earn some money while balancing a student life with classes and social events. Let us present to you now a few of the best ways to earn money that can help you if you want to earn money.

Become Part Of Tech Support

Are you the kind of person whom your friends run to when they have technical questions? Do you have a fair knowledge of all things computer or web? You might be suitable to obtain a job as tech support. Your college or university most likely offers a helpdesk to assist students who are having trouble with their laptops, or students that require general technical assistance. Try looking up your college website’s job board to see if the school is hiring technical help desk staff.
Alternatively, you can walk up to the help desk and ask if there are any openings and if so, whether you can apply for a position right there on the spot. This job may require you to speak remotely to students or staff needing assistance over the phone or even chat.

Since this job is usually given to students, they are bound to offer flexible schedules and general pay, which isn’t bad if you don’t have a busy class schedule and you do enjoy helping others with their technical problems.

Assemble Computers For Others

If you have a knack for knowing all of the latest and coolest hardware components and can build a desktop computer, you could get a job at nearby computer repair shops. There are often places around campus that can actually fix computer issues when the university helpdesk cannot, so these are probably very near your school. Try applying at those locations if there are openings.
Duties might range from building computers to replacing cracked laptop screens. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials that show you how to do either. Here is one video from which I learned how to do the latter, which consists of removing the bezel and carefully detaching the ribbons before replacing the screen.
These duties will definitely be deeply hardware engineering-centric, as opposed to the helpdesk position where you might have to answer software-related questions or simple laptop concerns.

Make Mobile Apps

If you consider yourself passionate about technology, you have most likely considered learning some type of programming language, whether it is a software or web development or even a scripting language. If so, you can quickly become familiar with Java/XML, C#, or Objective C to make your own Android, Windows Phone or iPhone apps, which could be games, simple utilities or larger projects. MakeUseOf has Android tutorials for beginners, including ones on how to test your apps, and even articles for creating Android and iPhone apps without coding experience. There are also plenty of very thorough YouTube tutorials on programming for Android and iOS.
Making mobile apps can take some time, especially if you want to finish a good, actually usable app, but at least you are your own boss in this one, and you can write your app in the comfort of your home. When you finish writing your app, you’ll have to submit it to the market of the mobile platform you chose, which will cost $99+, though I know for Windows Phone apps, you can waive the fee for the first year only if you can provide a student email address with your university extension (i.e. @someU.edu). After that, you can sell your app for $0.99 and advertise to your friends or on blogs. You probably won’t get rich from your first student project app, but if you gain considerable experience and insight of what apps customers might need, you could earn some money with some passion for (clean) code and time.
Do you have suggestions for how tech-savvy students can earn money while still in college? Share them in the comments section below!
A bank of call center operators Image Via Shutterstock, Build a PC Image Via Shutterstock, Touchscreen smartphone with cloud of colorful application icons isolated on white background Image Via Shutterstock, Earning Money Over The Internet Image Via Shutterstock

Top 5 Free OCR Software Tools To Convert Images Into Text

Quite frankly, I wish I knew about this simple way to use freely available OCR software back in my school days. Of course, we didn’t have camera mobile phones or inexpensive Digicams, but wouldn’t it have saved hours of copying notes!
Ah, modern technology is wonderful; take a scanned image (or take a snap using a mobile camera/Digicam) and presto ““ OCR software extracts all the information from the image into easily editable text format.
Optical character recognition (OCR) is a system of converting scanned printed/handwritten image files into its machine readable text format. OCR software works by analyzing a document and comparing it with fonts stored in its database and/or by noting features typical to characters. Some OCR software also puts it through a spell checker to “guess” unrecognized words. 100% accuracy is difficult to achieve, but close approximation is what most software strive for.

OCR Using Microsoft OneNote 2007

For the occasional basic OCR stuff, MS OneNote’s optical character recognition feature is a timesaver. You might have missed it”¦it’s called Copy Text from Picture.

• Drag a scan or a saved picture into OneNote. You can also use OneNote to clip part of the screen or an image into OneNote.
• Right click on the inserted picture and select Copy Text from Picture. The copied optically recognized text goes into the clipboard and you can now paste it into any program like Word or Notepad.

OneNote is simplicity personified. But it’s not too great for handwritten characters or even fuzzy ones. But for a quick job, I am all for OneNote’s clip and paste.

OCR Using Microsoft Office Document Imaging

Another little used tool within the Microsoft family. It’s right there under Menu – Microsoft Office ““ Microsoft Office Tools – Microsoft Office Document Imaging.

Doing OCR using the document imaging tool is a bit limiting because it accepts only TIFF (or MDI) formats. But that’s not too much of a bother as any graphic application can be used to convert an image to TIFF. In the screenshot below, I have used MS Paint to convert a JPEG to a TIFF.

• Open the file in Microsoft Office Document Imaging – File ““ Open.
• Click the little eye icon – Recognize Text Using OCR.
• Click on MS Word Icon ““ Send Text to Word.
• A MS Word File opens with the editable converted text.
• Alternatively, you can also use MS Paint to select a specific area and copy it to the clipboard. Open MS Office Document Imaging ““ select Page ““ Paste Page to copy the selection for OCR.

Again, MODI handled printed text ably, but my handwritten text was met with an “˜OCR performed but could not recognize text prompt’. Of course, do try out with your own handwriting.
So, now let’s leave the Microsoft family behind and look at three free tools which call themselves OCR Software”¦

SimpleOCR

The difficulty I was having with handwriting recognition using MS tools, could have found a solution in SimpleOCR. But the software offers handwriting recognition only as a 14 day free trial. Machine print recognition though does not have any restrictions.

• The software can be set up to read directly from a scanner or by adding a page (jpg, tiff, bmp formats).
• SimpleOCR offers some control over the conversion through text selection, image selection and text ignore features.
• Conversion to text takes the process into a validation stage; a user can correct discrepancies in the converted text using an in-built spell-checker.
• The converted file can be saved to a doc or txt format.

SimpleOCR was fine with normal text, but its handling of multi-column layouts was a comedown. In my opinion, the conversion accuracy of the Microsoft tools was considerably better than SimpleOCR.
SimpleOCR (v3.1) is a 9MB download and is compatible with Windows.

TopOCR

Just what I was talking about in the beginning!  TopOCR,  in a breakaway from typical OCR software, is designed more for digital cameras (at least 3MP) and mobile phones along with scanners. Like SimpleOCR, it has a two window interface ““ The source Image window and the Text window.

The image sourced from a camera or a scanner in the left window gets converted to the text format in the text editor on the right. The text editor functions like WordPad and can use Microsoft’s Text to Speech engine.

• The software supports JPEG, TIFF, GIF and BMP formats.
• Image settings like brightness, color, contrast, despeckle, sharpen etc. can be used to improve readability of the image.
• Camera filter settings can also be configured for enhancing the image.
• The converted file can be saved in a variety of formats ““ PDF, RTF, HTML and TXT.
• TopOCR functions well with straight oriented text but the usual failing of OCR with columned text remains.
• The software though, parses a mixed page (text plus graphics) well and processes the text only.
• The software works with 11 languages.

For best results with your camera read there How to Get the Best Results with TopOCR page.
TopOCR (v3.1) is an 8MB download and is compatible with Windows (not tested on Vista).

FreeOCR

This free OCR software uses the Tesseract OCR engine. Tesseract OCR code was developed at HP Labs between 1985 and 1995 and is currently with Google. It is thought of as one of the most accurate open source OCR engines available.
FreeOCR is a simple Windows interface for that underlying code.

• It supports most image files and multi-page TIFF files.
• It can handle PDF formats and is also compatible with TWAIN devices like scanners.
• FreeOCR also has the familiar double window interface with easy to understand settings.
• Before starting the one click conversion process, you can adjust the image contrast for better readability.

FreeOCR (v.2.03) requires Microsoft Net 2.0 framework. The Windows XP/Vista compatible 4.38MB software can also be downloaded from this alternate site.
Free OCR tools come with their own limitations. And scanning a page has to do a lot with resolutions, contrasts and clarity of fonts. From an average user’s standpoint, 100% OCR accuracy remains a pipedream.
Though the free tools were adequate with printed text, they failed with normal cursive handwritten text. My personal preference for offhand OCR use leans towards the two Microsoft products I mentioned in the beginning.
Your own say matters. Which is your tool of choice? Do the free OCR software recognize what you through at it? And more importantly, do you recognize what they throw back at you? Let us know”¦
Image Credit: kalleboo

6 Best Apps To Use When You’ve Lost Your Android Phone

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It’s amazing how even the most organised individuals, that is those who regularly back up documents and always plan ahead for future engagements, can occasionally find themselves up that notorious creek without a paddle. Take for instance when someone loses their phone. Not enough people have prepared themselves for this. The best applications to help you find or wipe your phone need to be installed in advance. There is at least one notable exception, which could well save your phone.
Plan B is the application to install when your phone is already missing. However, if you’re really going to get prepared for that lost phone scenario you might like to install a few other great applications too.

Plan B

Plan B is the perfect application to use when your phone is already missing and you realise you never installed any of the nifty apps which would have helped you find your phone. You can install it remotely by going to the Android market and it will use GPS or an SMS to find your phone’s location and email that to you. If you need a location after this, you can send an SMS to your phone from a friend’s phone saying “Locate” and the application will send another email with the new location.

On this note, if you were to install Plan B and set up some filters in Gmail to forward to your partner or parents (or if you are a parent, do this to your child’s phone and email), they could potentially use this to find you if you go missing. It’s a little paranoid, but could easily be effective.

Lookout

Lookout Labs are the makers of Plan B. Obviously they realised that not everyone gets around to planning ahead. However, if you’re thinking ahead they have an Android application which gives you the tools to remotely wipe your phone and offer some security against malicious code.

Android Lost

Android Lost lets you find or wipe your Android phone remotely. It allows access to your phone via a web interface, which can also let you trigger your alarm, read your SMS and offers many other useful features.

Phone Found – Owner Info

The Phone Found application lets you leave your email address and phone number visible even when your phone is locked. This way, if someone friendly finds your phone they can email you and let you know they’ve found it.

Where’s My Droid

Where’s My Droid lets you trigger an alarm when you send your phone an SMS with a special code. It can also send you a Google Maps location of where your phone is.

Mobile Defense

Mobile Defense is only available in the US, but it’s a pretty useful application. Once installed it hides from view and does not look as if it’s installed, meaning whoever’s stolen your phone won’t realise it’s running. Meanwhile, you can use the Mobile Defense website to control your phone and find out where it is.

How to Install Mac OS X on a PC (Without Using a Mac)

There are many great tutorials on the web for using a Mac to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on a PC. Unfortunately, you may be unable to follow such tutorials if you do not readily have access to a Mac to perform the preparation necessary for the installation.
Great progress has been made in hacking PCs to run OS X, and it is now possible to install Mac OS X without a Mac. Thanks to some great tools put together by some brilliant hackers, it is also much easier and does not involve nearly as much time and effort as was once required.

Step 1: Getting The Hardware Ready

I recently purchased the following set of hardware for the purposes of building a Hackintosh (often PCs running Mac OS X are referred to as such):

• Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz
• Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 Motherboard
• 4 GB DDR3 1333 RAM (2 x 2GB)
• DVD Burner
• MicroATX Computer Case
• 585 Watt Power Supply
• 4-pin to 8-pin Power Adapter

The motherboard has an 8-pin power connector on it, and although it is possible to connect a single 4-pin connector to it, you may encounter odd issues running with just a single 4-pin connector. To ensure that you provide sufficient power to the board, you should purchase the 4-pin to 8-pin power adapter. Alternatively, you could purchase a power supply with 3x 4-pin connectors (1 for the 20+4-pin main connector, and 2 for the 8-pin connection) or an 8-pin connector.

I did not purchase a hard drive or video card, as I used some I already had from another PC, but you will need those items as well. As of the time this article was written, you can get a 1TB drive shipped for $75 and an NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT video card for $65.
I also purchased v10.6.3 of OS X Snow Leopard retail DVD for a mere $29 (was about $35 with shipping & handling).
All-in-all, the full system (without monitor) will run you around $600 (you could also add a 22″ monitor for $170). You could certainly try doing it even cheaper with different hardware, but you’ll need to figure out the appropriate changes to make in the BIOS and boot loader installation.
I did my best to put together a fairly modern system for a very reasonable price. Having used this set of hardware, I can affirm that it runs OS X Snow Leopard very well. Without a doubt, $600 – $800 is a far cry from what you would spend on an equivalent Mac from Apple. Granted it won’t be as compact or pretty as an iMac, but it will be just as functional.

Step 2: Putting The Hardware Together

If you purchase the hardware I used, along with a hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce video card, you should be able to follow the instructions exactly as I’ve laid them out. If you’ve never built a PC before but are willing to give it a try, you’ll definitely want to check out The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Build Your Own PC. It is a step-by-step guide to building your own PC, with plenty of photos to help you out.
You can try following this tutorial with existing hardware you have as well, although you may need to make adjustments when configuring the BIOS and installing the boot loader. The more modern your hardware is, the better the chances are it will work for you. It would be best if you have a 64-bit Intel dual-core (or quad-core) processor, although an older CPU might still work as well. I would recommend NVIDIA GeForce video card, but ATI cards should work too.

Step 3: Prepare The Boot Disk

In addition to the hardware and a retail copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, you’ll also need a blank CD. You may want to use a rewritable CD if you’re using a different hardware configuration, just in case the first one I recommend doesn’t work for you. There are two boot disk images that will allow you to install OS X directly from the installation DVD:

• iBoot (by tonymacx86 and MacMan)
• Empire EFI (by Prasys)

I successfully used both of them with my hardware setup. However I recommend you try iBoot first, as it is a bit leaner and doesn’t take as long to boot. If you’re using my hardware configuration, be sure to download the iBoot Supported disk image. If you use Empire EFI, download the Empire EFI v1.085 R2 image.
You can use one of many free programs to burn CDs if you don’t have one. Be sure to use the disk image burning mode in your CD burning software. Do not just simply copy the disk image file to a blank CD. I like InfraRecorder, because it makes this very easy. All you have to do is click the Write Image button, select the image, and burn it. Once again, you may wish to use rewritable media if you’re using a different hardware configuration than mine.

Step 4: Bios Configuration

Fortunately, the Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 does not require a lot of configuration to run Mac OS X. When you first turn on or reboot the machine, press the delete key to enter the BIOS setup. You can just load the Optimized Defaults, and just make a few changes within three sections of the bios: Advanced BIOS Features, Integrated Peripherals, and Power Management Setup.

4.1 – First, go to Advanced BIOS Features and set the First Boot Device to CDROM. I have my USB drive as the second drive and then Hard Disk as third – you can configure yours the same way if you wish to ever boot from a USB drive. Just be sure that Hard Disk is the Second Boot Device or Third Boot Device.

4.2 – Next, configure SATA to run in AHCI mode in the Integrated Peripherals menu. You’ll need to set both PCH SATA Control Mode and Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode to AHCI.

4.3 – Finally, go to Power Management Setup and set the HPET Mode to 64-bit mode.

Step 5: Installing Mac OS X

5.1 – Insert the iBoot (or Empire EFI) boot disk.
5.2 – When you see screen below, eject the disk.

5.3 – Insert the Retail Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD, wait a few seconds, and press F5.
5.4 – When you see the screen below, select Mac OS X Install DVD (it should already be selected) and press Enter.

5.5 – If all goes well, you should eventually see the language selection screen for the installer. If all did not go well and you do not make it to the language selection screen, try downloading a different version of iBoot or Empire EFI.
5.6 – Select your language and click the arrow to proceed.
5.7 – Next, you need to partition your drive. Click on Utilities > Disk Utility.
5.8 – Select your disk drive.
5.9 – Click Partition.
5.10 – Select 1 Partition for the partition scheme. Note: If you have a drive that is larger than 2 TB, do not create partitions larger than 1 TB. Split the drive into multiple partitions, and be sure the main installation partition is 1 TB or smaller.
5.11 – Enter a name for the partition (I used Hackintosh).
5.12 – Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the Format.

5.13 – Click Options…, select GUID Partition Table, and then click OK.

5.14 – Click Apply.
5.15 – Quit Disk Utility and proceed with the installation. Install on the Hackintosh partition.

Step 6: Installing the Boot Loader

Do not fret when you reboot after the installation and get a boot error, as you will need to first boot the machine with iBoot (or Empire EFI). Eject the Mac OS X Snow Leopard install DVD, put your boot CD back into the drive, and reboot the machine. Now when you boot up, you should see a second choice for your installation partition (Hackintosh if you named it that way). Select the Hackintosh partition and press Enter to boot into OS X.
Once you’ve completed the first-run setup, open up Safari and download Multibeast. Multibeast is another superb tool by tonymacx86 and MacMan that makes it stupid easy to install the boot loader, along with all the drivers necessary for your Hackintosh to function properly.
In addition to downloading Multibeast, you will need to download the DSDT for the Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 and copy it to the desktop. Be sure to save it as

DSDT.aml

. Launch Multibeast and make the following selections (your choices will differ if you have a different motherboard/hardware configuration):

• UserDSDT
• System Utilities
• Advanced Options > Kexts > Audio > LegacyHDA > ALC889
• Advanced Options > Kexts > Graphics > NVEnabler
• Advanced Options > Kexts > Network > RealtekR1000SL
• Advanced Options > Patched Kernels > 10.3.1 Supported Kernel

After MultiBeast finishes installing, eject the iBoot CD and reboot the system. You should be able to boot right up from the hard drive, and all your devices should work just fine.

Step 7: Getting Started with Your New Mac

So what now? Most certainly you’ll want to check out 5 apps to get more out of your new Mac as well as 15 must-have apps for your Mac. In fact, you should probably just go ahead and browse the entire Mac section on MakeUseOf, as you’ll find a wealth of great free stuff for your new Mac in there. And most importantly make sure to download MakeUseOf’s getting started manual for Mac. Highly recommended for switchers.
If ever you encounter into problems with your new Mac, you can always seek help from MakeUseOf Answers.
If you have any problems installing Mac OS X on your PC, just post a comment right here and we’ll do what we can to help. Just be sure to provide as much information about the hardware you’re using:

• Motherboard make and model (i.e. Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3)
• CPU model (i.e. Intel Core i3-530 )
• GPU model (i.e. NVIDIA GeForce 9900 GT)

I never managed to get sleep to work. When I try to put the computer to sleep, it sort of goes into a coma. The fans never shut down and the machine doesn’t wake up when you press the power button. If you manage to get sleep to work with my hardware configuration, please do feel free to share your solution in the comments on this article.
There are also many great forums and sites out there that provide a lot of information and assistance with running Mac OS X on PC. Here are just a few you may want to check out:

• tonymacx86 Forum
• InsanelyMac Forum
• Hackint0sh
• Prasys’ Blog
• OSx86 Project

If you do seek assistance from any of these or similar resources, be sure to search for your problem before posting it. You will be flamed to no end if you ask a question that has already been answered. Another tip for posting in these forums: never call it a MAC (in all caps) instead of a Mac, or you will solicit many abusive responses. Mac is an abbreviation not an acronym.
Here are a few more links that provide tools and files to help you set up a Hackintosh on hardware other than what I’ve mentioned here:

• myHack – Another bootloader/kext installer, similar to Multibeast
• Kexts.com – A good resource for downloading Kexts (device drivers)
• Kext Helper – A tool that makes it easy to install new Kexts
• Kext Utility – A tool to ensure proper kext installation
• Chamelon Boot Loader – The boot loader that pretty much all the boot disks out there use (including iBoot and Empire EFI).
• netkas PC EFI – Used in combination with Chameleon to provide maximum compatibility for booting OS X. Most boot disks use this as well.
• BootCDMaker (French) – Utility (for Mac) to create your own custom boot disks

A million thanks to tonymacx86 and MacMan for developing iBoot and Multibeast to make installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on PC a piece of cake. Enjoy your new Hackintosh and let us know what you think of it!
Disclosure Statement: Please note that the links to the hardware in this article are affiliate links. MakeUseOf will earn a small commission on any purchases you make. Commissions earned will support the staff of MakeUseOf and allow us to continue to bringing you more great articles.
Disclaimer: Please note that running Mac OS X Snow Leopard on hardware other than a Macintosh is against the Mac OS X End User License Agreement (EULA). If you have concerns about this, you may wish to read Is Making Your Own Hackintosh Legal? By installing Mac OS X you are in breach of a contract (breaking a contract is not the same as breaking the law). As long as you own a legal copy of the software, you are not in violation of copyright law.

The 5 Most Common Tactics Used To Hack Passwords

When you think of a serious security threat, you may think of some clever malicious program that steals your data or takes over computer. In reality, you’re just as (if not more) likely to be hit by a much simpler breach – a hacked password.
Once someone has your password for an online account, they can use it however they like. There are a number of methods commonly used to obtain a password, and knowing them can help you protect yourself.

Trying Common Passwords

Any hacker trying to break through a password will first try the most common passwords in the book. Silly though it may seem, a disturbingly large number of people rely on passwords that consist of just a few common numbers of letters. Even the word “password” is commonly used as a password.
Hackers know this, and can reference common passwords to try and gain entry. Though it won’t work on most passwords, it works frequently enough to be worth a try. If successful, the hacker can lean back and sip his Mountain Dew.
How to Protect Yourself: This one is simple. Don’t use common passwords. This includes single words, popular phrases, and simple combinations of a particular character type (like numbers). Even passwords like “superman” and “dragon” are common enough to earn mention in some studies of commonly used passwords.

Social Engineering

If commonly used passwords don’t work, and a hacker knows the owner of the password they’re trying to bypass, social networking can be used to try and figure out what the password might be.
Hackers know that people who don’t use common passwords are still likely to use passwords that have some personal significance. The password might be the name of a pet or a favorite TV show. Such information is often included on social networking profile.
Should trying this tactic still not work, the information available on a social network can be used to construct phishing attacks. Perhaps the target lists that they play a popular online game. A fake email could then be sent asking for password information or linking to a site where password information must be entered.
How to Protect Yourself: There are two steps you can take here. One is to make your social network private to people who are not your friends, and the second is to make sure that you don’t use information about your personal life to form a password.

The Weakest Link

Should a hacker still fail to guess a password, they’ll have to start breaking out some true hacking skill – but perhaps not much. Most people use the same password on multiple sites, and many use just one password for everything. Hackers know this, and they also know that many sites have weak security.
Using the information found while reviewing your social networking profiles, a hacker may be able to identify sites you visit. Some are sure to be heavily guarded. Others, however, probably aren’t. They may be vulnerable to simple exploits that allow for the retrieval of stored passwords, and the owners may never even realize they were hacked. Alternatively, a brute force attack might be used.
How to Protect Yourself: Don’t use a single password for every website. Ideally you should use a different password for every site, but that can be difficult. A compromise you might find effective is to use the same password for low security risks, like a blog you visit and comment on, but use unique passwords to protect more important accounts, like your web mail. Yet another option is to use a password manager.

Sniffing Wi-Fi Packets

Open wireless networks can be a nasty security issue because they are – well – open. Information transmitted on them can be picked up by anyone within range of the network, and that includes passwords.
Wi-Fi sniffing can be utilized either personally or impersonally. If someone is trying to hack your passwords specifically, they might see if you frequently visit a place with open Wi-Fi, like a coffee shop. Or a hacker might just set up an operation in such a location and pick up as many passwords as possible.
How to Protect Yourself: One answer is to just not use open Wi-Fi, but that’s not a realistic expectation for everyone. If you do use open Wi-Fi, make sure that you do not log in to sensitive accounts. If you have varied your passwords, you’ll be safe if a hacker obtains your less sensitive passwords. Also use HTTPS whenever possible. Many sites can use it, but some offer it only as an option.

Keylogging

Like sniffing Wi-Fi, keylogging can be used personally or impersonally. Using information gained about you while attempting to guess your password, a hacker might find a way to send you a file that you think is legitimate but actually contains a keylogger. Once installed, it can detect your passwords as you enter them.
A keylogger can also be installed as a part of any piece of malware to hack passwords. The information can then be transmitted to a location where it is compiled and passwords found. Such wide-scale keylogging attacks don’t focus on any particular person, but can be just as damaging.
How to Protect Yourself: Security software can help detect keyloggers and prevent them from being installed on your system. You can find effective solutions for free, so there’s no reason to skip it.

Conclusion

Do you have any tips that can help beef up password security? Let us know in the comments. Makeuseof readers are likely to be a bit more security-aware than the average, but nobody is perfect. Sharing information can help us keep our passwords as strong as possible.

12 Interesting Google Suggest Results & What They Reveal

Google Search is the modern world’s confessional. Whatever it is that we need help with, we just type it into the patient white search box and hope for relevant results. Google even helps us complete our searches by suggesting phrases based on the search activities of other users, a feature known as autocomplete. Not surprisingly, the results are often revealing and occasionally entertaining. For this article I have selected a few Google Suggest highlights.
Note that your results will differ depending on what Google location you are using and whether or not you are logged into Google. Moreover, results will change over time, as they represent the presently most used search queries. The results below were found using Google.ca and Google.se, while not being logged into Google.

How To vs. How Not To

This is one of many searches revealing how a single word makes all the difference in the world. While the ‘how not to’ crowd seems to struggle with jealousy, sadness, and laziness (How Not to Live Your Life is a British sitcom), the ‘how to’ folks are ready to take the corporate world by storm, while cooking healthy food (How to Make It in America is an American TV series).
I’m actually surprised that there aren’t more tech-related suggestions for the ‘how to’ search query.

Is It Safe vs. Is It Dangerous

Apparently, lots of people are interested in traveling to Mexico and wonder about its safety. While the average person beginning their search with ‘is it safe’ appears to be either pregnant or interested in traveling, there seems to be a lot more variation among people searching for ‘is it dangerous’.

Is It Right vs. Is It Wrong

Interestingly, ‘is it wrong to’ is most popular when searched all by itself, closely followed by concerns around sexual orientation and activities. People searching for ‘is it right’ on the other hand, seem to wonder about less trivial questions.

Can I vs. Can You

What I found interesting about this search is how the results correlate. In case you wonder, Can You Run It is a website that tells you whether or not your computer meets the system requirements of a given game.
After these fun comparisons, let’s have a closer look at some solo searches.

America Is…

Google Suggest covers the whole spectrum of what America is thought to be, from the greatest country in the world to some less enthusiastic results. Overall, people using Google in Canada seem to be in a split mind over what America is. Try this search in your own Google location.

Work Is…

Google suggests that work is the curse of the drinking class. This of course is a famous quote by Oscar Wilde. Work is love made visible is another quote, this one from The Prophet Kahlil Gibran.
After clearing those up, I’m left wondering why so many people would search for work is not a job.

Where Is…

I like this one because of the Easter Egg hidden in this list. Try to search for where is Chuck Norris, but instead of actually searching Google, click the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Your result should look like this:

Stop Finishing…

This one speaks for itself I think.
Got curious about searching Google? Also have a look at these articles:

Have you come up with more interesting Google Suggest search queries or did you discover some wild Google Easter Eggs?