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Let TLDR summarize stories for you

LAS VEGAS--TLDR is software that summarizes Web information automatically when you don't have time to read the whole story. It's available now as a plug-in for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, but developers Stremor say the Android and iPhone apps have been submitted to the major app stores, so you'll be able to use it on your smartphone as early as this week.

A quick demo was all it took to see how well this software works. Once you download the free plug-in for your Web browser, you simply restart and you're ready to go. The … Read more

Microsoft exec raps naughty words, world stops

Life really is too short.

Sometimes, you're enjoying your birthday and you get the chance to go up on stage and rap with your favorite rapper.

So you go, don't you? Especially as your wife has paid $25,000 for Too Short to rap just for you.

And, despite being a Microsoft executive in charge of all sorts of important things to do with Windows (proof embedded), you are quite a good rapper.

Oh, but then there are these things called cell phones. They have cameras. Your own company is involved with more than a few of them. … Read more

Home networking explained, Part 3: Taking control of your wires

Editors' note: This post is part of an ongoing series. For the other parts, check out the related stories.

Now that you have learned about the basics of home networking in Part 1, and how to optimize your Wi-Fi in Part 2, in Part 3, it's time to get your hands dirty and learn how to take control of your network completely.

All home networks start with a network cable. Even if you plan on using all wireless clients, in most cases you will still need at least one cable to connect the wireless router and the broadband modem. … Read more

Are Blu-ray movies too loud?

Admit it: you'd love to watch movies at home that never get too loud or too quiet. You'd never have to lunge for the remote when the villain's plane crashes, to turn the sound down. We want movies that always have the same volume, like music, where the volume never changes. We like it that way, right? Why should movies be any more dynamic than music?

Now, sure, most receivers and sound bars have some sort of "Night Mode" scheme to compress movies' soft-to-loud volume shifts. Some receivers include more sophisticated volume-leveling processors such as … Read more

Tip: Managing pages of PDFs in OS X

Creating basic PDF documents in OS X can be done through the print dialog box by using the menu titled PDF, provided the program you're using makes use of Apple's built-in print services. With this menu you can among other options save, fax, or e-mail a document as a PDF. This is convenient for the creation of PDFs, but in addition you can use both it and Preview, Apple's default PDF handling program, to further manage and refine any PDF documents you create.

Sometimes when managing PDF documents you may want to save only a subset of … Read more

Managing unexpected log-outs in OS X

Generally when you're logging out of your account in OS X the system will ask for confirmation, and will wait for you to close unsaved documents before it closes your log-in session; however, on rare occasions your system may suddenly log out without you telling it to. At one moment you will be working, and the next moment the system will suddenly show either the log-in screen or the open Finder only.

MacFixIt reader "53pickup" wrote in with this exact experience:

Recently (over the past 6 months) on my MacBook Pro (2008) I have come back to … Read more

Magic Mouse preferences not showing in OS X

Apple's Magic Mouse is a unique input device that offers a multitouch surface for scrolling and performing various other functions in OS X. When it's connected to your Mac, the Mouse system preferences will change from a view that shows simple settings for speed and scrolling behaviors to options for the various finger gestures supported on the Magic Mouse. However, for some people the Magic Mouse settings will not appear and it will show the standard mouse options instead.

The Magic Mouse is ultimately a Bluetooth input device, so if the driver for the Magic Mouse does not … Read more

Fix random lengthy pauses in OS X by correcting bad blocks

If you find your Mac is running slowly, generally there are a few things you can do, including running a general maintenance routine, deleting unneeded files to keep at least 10 percent of your boot drive free, increasing the installed RAM, and quitting unused applications (both foreground and background) that you may have installed. In addition to this, one possible cause of slowdowns is if your hard drive contains undetected bad blocks, and forcing the system to remap them can result in things running smoothly again.

Hard disks are "block-based" storage systems, meaning that their writing surfaces are … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week there were questions on any drawbacks to installing more RAM chips in a system, if there are manufacturer or size requirements for RAM, how to view images in Mail, and how to print out MacFixIt articles without including ads and other Web-based content. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Drawbacks to installing more RAM MacFixIt reader "… Read more