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Sign out of Gmail remotely

If you log-in to your Gmail account on computers that aren't yours, you're probably very responsible about logging out afterward so that no one can steal your e-mail account. But what about that one time you were drinking too much at the library (again) and you can't remember if you logged out of the public terminal?

Here's how to find out if you're logged in anywhere else, and what to do if you are. Scroll down to the bottom of your screen and click details.

You'll get a pop-up window listing all the other … Read more

How to load music onto a mobile phone

As CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 player reviews, you'd think I'd be losing sleep over the fact that the majority of the mobile phones on the market include some form of integrated music playback. But in spite of manufacturer's efforts to fashion the mobile phone into a portable music powerhouse, there's still a lot of confusion out there when it comes to transferring music from a computer to your phone. Sure, most of us can figure out how to transfer music from iTunes to an iPhone, but what about loading music on your sister's … Read more

Sync devices to your iTunes collection

Up until last week, Palm Pre users could manage their media content on iTunes. Apple's iTunes update swiftly put an end to the openness. Yet Pre users and owners of other mobile phones can use a similar program as a workaround.

DoubleTwist (for Windows and Mac) is a beta effort led by a Norwegian man best known for reverse engineering DRM controls. In this How To video, CNET Editor Brian Tong shows how DoubleTwist easily syncs your mobile phone with your iTunes music collection, even when iTunes won't.

Change Firefox awesome bar search engine

In Firefox, one of the awesome bar's awesome tricks is guessing which URL you meant to type. It does it by querying Google and using the Browse By Name search feature to take you directly to a site.

For instance, if I just type "http", Firefox can't find anything definitive in the history for just that part of a URL, so it kicks it over to the keyword search. Google takes you to the top search result for that keyword, which is the Wikipedia article on HyperText Transport Protocol.

But, if you don't like Google, … Read more

Creating Smart Playlists in iTunes

To really be a Jedi-level iTunes guru, you must master the art of the Smart Playlist. The most enlightened of all the playlists (don't let Genius Playlists fool you), Smart Playlists can be used to quickly create genre playlists, sort out your least favorite tracks, or keep your kid's insipid music from infecting your iPhone.

To help you on your way toward total playlist domination, I've put together a little video and a slideshow to get the ball rolling. If you've got a favorite Smart Playlist tip to share, please be kind enough to drop it … Read more

Make Firefox appear to be IE

If you don't like Internet Explorer, and would rather use Firefox, some sites make it hard for you. Sometimes, they just nag you with warnings. Other times they just plain refuse to load in your browser, or even try to warn you your operating system is wrong.

Here's a handy add-on to work you right around these artificial barriers. Go to addons.mozilla.org and search for user agent switcher, or you can find it at CNET's Download.com. Add the plug-in to Firefox and restart your browser.

When you come upon a naggy site that doesn'… Read more

Format a drive for Mac OS X and Windows

Jonathan sent us an e-mail saying:

"I own a SimpleTech 320GB Black Cherry Hard Drive and needed it to run on both Mac and PC for school. I thought it would be pretty helpful if you made a video showing how to format a disc to run on all OS's using Mac OS X."

First, Here's why there's a difference. All data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. OS X uses a file format called HFS+ to write its data. Windows can't read or write HFS+ data natively. However, OS X and Windows both can read and write to a format called FAT32, which used to be used for Windows all the way back into the MS-DOS days. Most modern Windows systems use the NTFS file format, which OS X can read, but not write to.

So your best bet for compatibility is FAT32. Here's how to format a drive as FAT32. First, the Windows way and then the Mac way.… Read more

Using a non-iPod MP3 player on a Mac

Using an iPod on a Mac is so simple--it's a little scary. With iTunes already installed on every Mac, a newly-connected iPod will just automatically soak up your music collection like a sponge.

But what if you want to use a non-Apple brand of MP3 player with your Mac? iPods are great and all, but they're not for everyone. Even die-hard iPod owners sometimes want a cheap little iPod alternative to take to the gym or hand over to a destructive toddler.

If you're a Mac user whose MP3 expertise begins and ends with iTunes, you might … Read more