It seems like every day a new online media portal pops up; the flavor of the week was Vevo, and undoubtedly over the past year Hulu has made the biggest splash in the online content arena. But where is the fun in watching your favorite content on a cramped computer screen in a stiff office chair? This article will hopefully give you some solid ideas on how to move all of this high quality free content onto your TV screen where it belongs.

There are numerous ways to bridge the gap between the internet and your TV; Vizio, Samsung, and others are even beginning to integrate online connectivity directly into their sets. Countless set-top boxes, Blu-Ray players, and dedicated streaming devices are available. But the downside to all of these options is high cost and a limited set of options; proprietary solutions nearly always limit you to a certain subset of online content.

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Jailbreaking just got a whole lot easier for iPod Touch 2nd Generation owners with the release of QuickFreedom (www.quickfreedom.com).

This simple app uses a full GUI to walk you through the process of unlocking your iPod Touch 2nd Generation.  After you are done, be sure to launch Cydia, install any updates, and install these recommended apps (continued after the break):

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Gimp is another example of a terrific open source program.  For myself and many users, Gimp offers an easier-to-use experience than Photoshop for less complex things.  Making a starfield is one of them, with the main principles being the creation of “noise” or static and colorization of certain regions.

Start by downloading and installing Gimp, for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.  In addition, obtain the planet-render plugin from here and paste it into the “plugins” folder in the application directory.  This is not necessary, but it enables for stylish planets to be added to the starfield when you’re done.  In ubuntu, you can install this plugin automatically by installing the gimp-plugin-registry package.

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