With Ernesto breathing down South Florida's neck, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some gadgets that can help make life a little more bearable during and after the storm. Now, these are not the "you need them to survive supplies" (if you live in an area affected by hurricanes, you should have that list memorized) but rather things to make the experience more bearable. Here are 5 things that are part my "OK I've survived, what do I do now?" kit:

1. Portable TV - While a battery powered portable radio is recommended for your "survival gear", kicking it up a notch (so to speak) and getting a battery powered portable TV can help to improve your moral a little more than a radio. I say this for two reasons. First, most radio stations simulcast one of the local TV station's broadcasts. While the anchors try to do a good job of describing the situation for radio listeners, it is often easier (and nicer) to see the radar or the video feed. Also at least one local station (at least in my area) stops their hurricane coverage and resumes their normal broadcasts. While their may not be much choice in programming (I only can get 4 stations on my portable TV) you would be surprised how entertaining Will & Grace (or Dharma & Greg) can be when the alternative is staring off into total darkness. I personally favor the small hand held Radio Shack TV's (mostly due to the ability to turn off the screen to preserve battery life), but a slightly larger portable TV may fit your needs better if you have more than one or two people to entertain. Just take into account battery life and make sure to stock up.

The unnamed Texan reported seeing intruders breaking into a sporting goods store in Liverpool from the comfort of his Dallas home 4,600 miles away, all courtesy of a web-cam aimed at an area made famous by the Beatles. He called the Liverpool police directly, and when they arrived at the store the police arrested 3 suspects mid-burgle. Moral of the story: don't commit a crime in front of a web-cam, especially when there is a Texan watching - they don't take kindly to criminal types.

Texan foils burglary in Britain via Beatles webcam [via Digg]
news, crime, internet, webcam

UPDATE: It seems that the migration/upgrade went very well. If you find any rough edges or otherwise broken features on the site, be sure to let me know.

UPDATE #2: My apologies to everyone reading via RSS or email. It seems the upgrade caused the last 80 posts to be marked as new. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Just like I promised earlier in the week, Geek In Gear is re-launching with a new look and a new back-end platform. I am going to start to switch the site over tonight and with any luck everything will go off with out a hitch. If you see something that isn't working or doesn't seem to work like it should, please shoot an email to john at geek in gear dot com and I will take care of it. Even if you don't find anything wrong, feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Sorry for any inconvenience
John

Koroush Ghazi from TweakGuides.com has put together what has to be the largest Windows tweaking guide that I have ever seen. Available as a free PDF download (there is a paid-for version available that covers even more modifications - though the free version has enough tips to keep you tweaking for weeks), this 175 page guide covers everything from boosting XP's lackluster security to squeezing every last ounce of performance from your Windows install. Their site is getting dugg pretty heavily, so it is running slowly, but the guide is worth the wait.

The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion [via Digg]
computers, software, operating systems, tweaks, hacks, Windows XP