The Unofficial Apple Blog's David Chartier managed to get Microsoft Windows Vista running on his MacBook Pro in both a copy of Parallels Desktop and Boot Camp, and he has graciously made a tutorial on how to do the former.

According to him, Vista runs OK in Parallels Desktop. Just plain OK, as opposed to "'really well' or 'it made an un-switcher out of me'." Mr. Chartier also reports that it doesn't seem to fully support high-end graphics cards yet, so it's still a no go on all of the fancy 3d effects, or what he calls "Translucent Everything TechnologyÂ? (TET)", that Vista boasts.

Click on the 'read' link below for the full walkthrough on setting up, installing, and running Vista on an Intel Mac via Parallels Desktop. The walkthrough also includes some things to watch out for as well as just how far the more-or-less Beta-status Vista software can be pushed.

If you're tempted to switch to Mac because of the new programs, such as Parallels and Boot Camp, you should always first consider the pros and cons (e.g. price, features). If you're already a Mac Pro user, you're probably looking forward to acquiring the Apple Premium, except that it really breaks the wallet. There are, however, some things you can do to relieve you of the pain of hefty purchase. An example is upgrading your RAM -- the do-it-yourself way.

Adam Pash tells us that it's possible to save $300 on a RAM upgrade. Apple, of course, being the manufacturer, can hack the entire thing in a second, but you can do the same, if you follow the steps in the tutorial that you can both view and download here. Pash's trick is to grab a 2 x 1GB sticks of RAM from Newegg that costs around $170. Of course, if you're purchasing the 2GB RAM upgrade from Apple, your MBP would cost around $500.

Download: [MacBook Pro RAM Upgrade Tutorial 1]
Download: [MacPro PDF Alert]

So you busted your iPod Video's LCD screen and all you want to do is cry. We couldn't blame you. We would have done the same thing. So, sympathy among the bereaved, let's just take a moment right now to reflect in silence and remember our dear departed iPods...

Or not.

Because thanks to some ingenious people, there's a way now to revive our iPods' LCD screens by ourselves. Just don't panic. Watch the video below and learn. It definitely beats having to read a tutorial manual. As tutorial videos go, this one's pretty useful and well-made. It's not confusing, and every step is explained thoroughly without getting too technical. It also stresses which operations of the procedure are delicate, and what possible dangers there are if we mess things up. All in all, the video seems pretty much fool-proof.

Of course, now that I myself have seen the video, I'm really not sure if I could trust myself to do surgery on my oh-so-delicate iPod. The tutorial video makes it look easy, but I dunno, I guess I'm just really clumsy. We're talking about the person here who will manage to trip even though his shoelaces are tied. Besides, I'm the type of person to pass it on to a more stable-finger'd friend to fix my iPod. Or to a professional. But honestly, this tutorial vid was helpful.

For those of you who really love your classic Mac setup, you can run MacOS 9 on an Intel Mac thanks to a program called Sheep Shaver by Gwenole Beauchesne. This isn't that new (Sheep Shaver has been around for a while, and the Intel transition's been covered a lot), but for those of you who need a tutorial, you can read the steps here (just click on the Full Article link below).

Of course, performance may vary depending on your system.

And here's a bit more about Sheep Shaver from its documentation:

• SheepShaver runs Mac OS 7.5.2 thru MacOS 9.0.4
• PowerPC G4 emulation on non-PowerPC platforms, direct execution otherwise
• Basic but portable JIT engine (x86, x86_64, mips)
• Copy and paste of text between MacOS and the host OS
• File exchange with the host OS via a Unix icon on the Mac desktop
• Color video display with support for run-time resolution switching
• Run-time depth switching from 1 bpp to current host depth settings
• Native QuickDraw 2D acceleration for BitBlt and FillRect operations
• CD-quality stereo sound output
• Networking: SheepShaver supports Internet and LAN networking via Ethernet and PPP with all Open Transport compatible MacOS applications

Download: [Sheep Shaver]

We all know that most of us keep at least two different email accounts - one for work and one for personal use, then there's others who also keep emails for groups, community newsletters, website, for stalking, and so on and so forth. We also all know how tedious it can be to have to log in to each of these accounts separately. That was then. Now, say hello to the ability to access all your mail, all at once.

This is made possible by, first and foremost, having the WebMail extension installed in your system. This extension integrates website-based email accounts into Mozilla Thunderbird, and allows Thunderbird to download and to send emails using the website. The extension is known to be slick, as itÂ?s just a case of downloading the core package plus the package for the particular service youÂ?re using, installing them, restarting Thunderbird, and then setting up the account.

To get started, you will need to install WebMail first and at least one of its optional components. Once WebMail is up and running, the next thing to check for is if the the status of the enabled servers are "running". This can be viewed in the Options menu. This is also the menu that should display the list of supported domains.

From there, you can move to creating a POP account by going to the main menu and opting to create a new account. You may then set your name and email address in the Identity Page. Then, just enter the appropriate server information and the domain name, follow the instructions until you reach "Finish", and you're all set!

Support is currently available for Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, Libero, Lycos, AOL and Mail.com accounts.

Everybody has their good days and bad days, right? Well, yesterday was a bad day - especially for our faithful forum family. Due to a series of unfortunate events that were enough to make us pull our hair out (yes, we're all bald now, even the ladies), the QJ.NET Forums have been down for the last 24 hours.  After a year of uninterrupted  service on our forums, it was bound to happen eventually. Despite the rumors, this was nothing more than miscommunication with our server hosts - nothing malicious or diabolical about it at all. Just a Grade-A snafu.

Nevertheless, the forums are now back online and everything is as it was. Just in case you've forgotten how to get there (a common withdrawal symptom), here's a direct link back to the QJ.NET Forums Directory where you'll find forum categories for each and every one of the QJ Blogs. And in case some of you have never visited the Forums, here's some highlights that you should check out - especially if you're a new 1.50 PSP user looking to get into homebrew!

PSP:

• FAQ's, Guides, and Tutorials - Your one stop shop for details on how to do just about anything with (or to) your PSP!
• PSP Homebrew and Hacks Help - If the Tutorial section doesn't answer your question, one of our many helpful and knowledgeable PSP experts will!
• PSP Development Forum - Find out what homebrew developers are up to - they're cranking out new stuff everyday!
• Official eLoader Forum - If you're sticking with 2.0 - 2.60 Firmware, this is the place to be!

Next-Gen:

• Xbox 360 Forums - Talk about all the latest that Microsoft is offering!
• PS3 Forums / Wii Forums - Plenty of rumors and excitement going on waiting for these two systems to be released!

Nintendo DS:

• NDS Homebrew - No reason the PSP should have all the fun!
• NDS WFC & Games - Join up with our community and play with your friends online! A great place to exchange friend codes!

Consumer:

• Apple Forums - One of our newer and fast growing forums, take a bite out of the Apple!
• Gadgets and Electronic Forums - Another new community here at QJ.NET but quickly on the rise! Get in on the fun!

QJ.NET:

• QJ.NET News and Help - This is where you'll find out about what's new with the QJ.NET Forums! If you've got a question, comment, problem, or suggestion about the site, this is where to go!

Plus so many more forums! Again, we sincerely apologize for the unscheduled downtime - if it happens again, we'll eat our hats... which we now need to keep our hairless heads warm!

Are you familiar with these supposed Mas OS X 10.5 Leopard screens?

Three days ago we featured these screens here at QJ to submit to the scrutinizing eyes of Mac users. There were skeptics and there were believers. Finally, the blogger who was the source of the screens, under the name of Trinity Rubicon, has come out with the truth to set the records straight. They are all nothing more but fakes.

In his defense, I could vouch that he did keep us entertained at the very least and that this could probably be the most earnest blog entry I have seen in a very, very long time. He tells us in depth what inspired him to make these fake screens and how he did it. After reading the post it turned out to be a very good Photoshop tutorial.

Here's an excerpt from his public apology/confession:

I'm going to be honest here: When I posted those Leopard screenshots on Blogger, I was never expecting quite the popularity it ended up achieving. For it to get on the front page of Digg is one thing, but to have it get commented on 200 times is pretty surprising to me. I had no idea it would cause such a debate, and I really enjoyed reading all of your comments, whether you thought it was real or not (mostly the latter, though). But, seeing as my third screenshot didn't fool anybody, I think it's about time I just give it up.

Maybe inspired by the comments of people that frequent the site, he decided to continue posting fake screens for the Leopard. His future plans include Finder, Desktop Switching and Virtualization. But this time we are no longer being fooled. We are just being treated to a faux fur extravaganza.

Your iPod may be one of the most important contraptions of your life- it keeps you company, peps up your day, or just gives you something to do when you're really bored. Now, if you could only fix that iPod cord of yours so that it won't get caught up with your jacket's zipper. Well, we may have a solution for you, with these 5 easy steps you can organize your iPod cord in no time, unless you don't know how to tie a know or something of that sort.

Step 1- Make a regular knot close to the plug's end, but don't pull the earbuds all the way through.

The full instructions await after the jump!

For me, Youtube.com is love. Where else can I freely upload, view, and share video clips like in YouTube? But if there's one thing I don't like about YouTube is the fact that since videos are encoded in Macromedia Flash format, downloading of videos and making digital copies of them are almost impossible. Well, I can't exactly blame YouTube; since anybody can upload videos, copyright violations are rampant.

However, if YouTube thinks uploading images in FLV format will prevent the technophiles from loading their favorite YouTube videos into their iPods, then they were wrong. QJ has stumbled upon this site that teaches iPod users how to copy YouTube videos in their handy video player.

This step-by-step tutorial on copying video files from YouTube.com and converting them for an iPod Video will work on either Mac or PC using either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

The full tutorial awaits after the jump!