Get rid of the annoying Windows XP or Vista System Beeps

Yea, we've all heard the annoying beeps that your computer can make to remind you that you aren't pressing the right key or clicking the right button. After a while they are pretty annoying! There's really two sets of beeps, one that is a sound from your soundcard (the easy one to turn off), and the PC speaker beep, which is annoying and every time it goes off it scares my friend and co-worker Guy Fugate. (I almost don't want to tell him how to turn it off cause it's funny to watch him jump at least once per day)

First the more difficult to attack, but more annoying, PC speaker beep...

Open Device Manager by right-clicking on My Computer and choosing Properties, then on the Hardware tab you'll find the button for Device Manager.

Select View \ Show hidden devices from the menu.

Find Non-Plug and Play Drivers in the list, and then right-click on Beep and choose Disable:

When it prompts you to reboot, select no, and then right-click again and choose Properties this time. On the Driver tab, change the Startup Type to Disabled and then click the Stop button if its not grayed out.

This should disable the system beep speaker.

This helps kill the beeps, remove it from the registry!

In anything but Windows Vista simply click the Start button, then choose Run, and type regedit and press ENTER.

In Windows Vista click the Windows Logo button at the bottom right, in the text area on the menu type regedit and press ENTER.

Then navigate down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound

Find the Beep key on the right-hand side and change the value to no OR you can download this REG file and apply it by double-clicking it.

Kill the Windows WAV file ding or beep...

Click Start and choose to open the Control Panel, find and open the Sounds and Audio Devices panel, choose the Sounds tab and then find Default Beep in the list.

Change the Sounds drop-down on the bottom to (None) and then click Apply. This should disable the volume control beep.

You'll want to also change Critical Stop to (None) as well, and should probably also turn off some of the other items the same way at your preference.

Peer-to-peer network invites drivers to get connected

CarTorrent could smarten up our daily commute, the question I have to ask is, how much more do we need distracting us from the road? Supposedly it is supposed to help in reducing accidents and bringing multimedia journey data to our fingertips. Researchers from UCLA are working on a wireless network that will allow cars within 300-1000 feet of each other to talk to each other, simultaneously downloading information, capturing road safety warnings, entertainment content, and navigational tools (i.e. traffic jam ahead). Toyota and BMW are on board helping to bring the project to life.Under the scheme, cars would be able to use their onboard radios to exchange three categories of information: safe navigation (such as reporting on icy road conditions, traffic jams and possible collisions ahead), content distribution (locally relevant information, advertisements and videos of upcoming attractions) and urban surveillance (collecting information which could be used later by police for forensic investigations).

read more | digg story

Will iTunes rentals play on a 5G iPod? Nope.

The long-rumored iTunes rental service is finally up and running. For many users, the most attractive part of the service (and certainly the only part that really sets it apart from any of the other online rental options) is the ability to transfer your rental to an iPod, iPhone/iTouch, or third-generation Nano for playback on the go.

read more | digg story

Netflix and iTunes Rentals are aiming At Different Crowds

Engadget notes an article in the New York Times discussing the substantially different markets that Netflix and Apple's movie rentals are aiming for. The site views the loosening of Netflix streaming restrictions as a reaction motivated entirely by the iTunes movie rental announcement, but beyond that the two services seem to have little connection

read more | digg story

Quickly Enable / Disable Vista Window Transparency

Do you happen to run Windows Vista and love the transparency effects but have noticed that some games and programs don't play well with the new transparency? Well here's the solution:

A tip came out about two icons you could make for yourself on your desktop (or wherever for that matter) that enabled or disabled the transparency so you could toggle it as neccessary. Instead of making some complicated instructions I made this nifty little download that makes the two icons right on your desktop!

[Download Vista Transparency Icons]

Welcome 2008!

Hey there, I hope everyone out there had a safe and fun New Years! Welcome to 2008 from my daughter Celeste and I from Winter Park, Colorado!