Thanks Impactist for the Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce!

Shout outs to @Impactist (www.impactist.com) for the Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce! Lunch time WIN:

Bring Back the RSS Icon in Firefox 4

With the upgrade to Firefox 4 last week, a number of users are complaining about the missing RSS icon that used to show up in the location bar, which was present in Firefox 3.x. Until Mozilla realizes the folly of its ways and brings back the RSS icon to Firefox 4, you can restore order to the universe by installing the RSS Icon Firefox extension. (Source: Lifehacker)

PS3 Red Screen of Death

The other night I turned on my Sony Playstation 3 to find a generic, non-helpful error message on a red screen that read, "A serious error has occurred. Contact technical support for assistance."

After Googling around, I discovered that there are a handful of other users that have also experienced this so-called, infamous "Red Screen of Death." The diagnosis does not look good. From the message threads I read on numerous forums, it would appear that the only solution to this mysterious epic failure is to pay Sony to repair/replace it. I entered the PS3's safe mode menu, repaired the file system a few times, repaired the database, removed the hard drive and scanned it with Spinrite (it found no damaged sectors on the hard drive). Regardless of my attempts, however,  I continue to get the above Red Screen of Death. I suspect that there is a failure with the motherboard or other internal component. I called Sony support, and since my PS3 is out of warranty, they told me that it would cost $100 to get it repaired.

Here are my options:

1. Do nothing about it and let the PS3 collect dust
2. Try to sell it on eBay/Craigslist for parts and use the money towards a new or used PS3
3. Buy a self-repair guide/kit and try to fix the issue myself
4. Pay $100 to Sony to fix it and hope that it doesn't happen again (they only offer a 90 day warranty on the repair work)

Any suggestions?

Firefox 4's Do-Not-Track feature

From Mozilla's site: "Most major websites track their visitors' behavior and then sell or provide that information to other companies (like advertisers). Firefox has a Do-not-track feature that lets you tell websites you don't want your browsing behavior tracked."

On the Advanced panel in Firefox Preferences, simply check the box that says, "Tell web sites I do not want to be tracked."

This setting adds a so-called "HTTP header" (DNT: 1) to all of your web requests that tells web sites that you do not want to be tracked for purposes of online behavior based advertising. One important thing to remember about this setting is that web sites can choose whether or not to respect this setting--it is entirely voluntary. However, it is hoped that over time most advertising networks and web sites will adopt this protocol for respecting user privacy online. In the meantime, be sure to use the awesome Adblock Plus and NoScript add-ons for Firefox.

Like Father Like Son

When I perform repair on electronics or other devices, I typically sketch out a diagram and tape the screws and other pieces onto the drawing, so that I know how to put things back together. You can see my sketched diagram in this photo, which was taken during my fourth repair of our Nintendo DS Lite:

The other day, my son was taking apart a toy phone to fix it. My wife found the following:

It made my heart so happy.

Sign in to Twitter Securely Every Time

Only you can prevent session hijacking. Be safe and check the "Always use HTTPS" option in Settings on Twitter. (Source: Red Ferret)

Apple Announces iPad 2

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage today at the Yerba Buena Center in San Fransisco today to announce the completely-redesigned iPad 2 featuring the dual-core A5 processor, 9 times faster graphics, and using the same power consumption as the A4 processor featured in the first iPad. The iPad 2 is also thinner, at 8.8mm, and weighs 1.3 pounds and will ship March 11.

An additional HDTV adapter mirrors exactly what you are doing on your iPad on your HDTV, which will be super useful for presentations and fun for playing games and watching movies in the living room. iPad 2 now features a camera on the front and back (HD) as well as FaceTime to video conference with other iOS devices and other Macs. Pricing will remain the same as with the first iPad (starting at $499 for the Wi-Fi only model). Watch the entire keynote. (Sources: Apple, Electronista, Engadget)