connect

Plantronics makes top-rated bluetooth headsets that are super light, sound great, and look really cool. I recently acquired the Plantronics Voyager PRO because it lets me connect with both my iPhone and my computer.

That means I can use it on the road for hands-free phone conversations in my car, and I can also use it for Skype calls on my computer (or with my VoIP softphone that lets me dial anywhere in the world over the internet, without paying long distance rates). You can get a Plantronics bluetooth headset here on Amazon for under $70.

Connecting the Plantronics Voyager to my iPhone was a complete breeze, but getting it to work with my computer took a little persistence and eventually an operating system upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.8. It turns out there was an incompatibility with OS X version 10.6.6 and the Plantronics headset, that wouldn't let it be recognized as an audio device no matter what I tried.

Fortunately, upgrading to OS X 10.6.8 solved the problem, and here are the steps I took to connect my Plantronics Voyager PRO to my Macbook Pro and use it as the audio device for Skype, iTunes, or any other sound application:

1. Upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later

Did you know you can use your Wii for more than just playing games?

Nintendo packed a lot of useful features into the Wii such as the ability to connect to the Internet over a wireless network. Once you have your Wii connected, you can browse the web using the built-in Opera web browser on the Wii, and can access websites like Facebook and YouTube.

First, let's walk through the steps for connecting your Wii to your home wifi network. My 10-year-old son Regan figured out how to do this, and here's the steps to take.

Turn on your TV and start up your Wii. Select Wii Options from the main menu.

Next Select Wii Settings.

Scroll to the right through the Wii Settings until you see "Internet".

Select "Connection Settings".

Choose the first option for "Connection 1".

Select "Wireless Connection".

Select "Search for an Access Point" and then select "Use this connection" when you find your wireless network name.

The steps listed above will connect your Wii to the Internet and now you're ready to install the Internet Channel, which will install a web browser and let you view sites like Facebook and YouTube.

Go back to the main Wii menu and select the "Wii Shop Channel".

Click "Start Shopping" and then choose the "Wii Channels" option.

Some hotels are greedy and charge for internet connectivity, or even worse they limit internet to a single wired connection per room - like the hotel I'm staying in right now. They only have a single Ethernet cable in the room and no WiFi.

Fortunately I'm using a MacbookPro which makes it's fairly easy to share the internet connection with my iPhone and iPad. Just turn on Internet Sharing and the built-in Airport will act like a wireless access point that you can connect to from any wireless device, just like you would connect to your wireless home network.

Here's the step-by-step:

1. Make sure an Ethernet cable is plugged into your Mac and you can browse the web.

2. Make sure your Airport is also turned on, by clicking the wireless icon in your menu bar and selecting "Turn Airport On".

3. Open System Preferences (click the Apple icon on the menu bar and you'll see it as a menu option) and select "Sharing".

4. Click "Internet Sharing" and make sure "Ethernet" is selected in the "Share your connection from" dropdown, and "Airport" is selected in the "To computers using" listbox.

5. Click "Internet Sharing" one more time and you'll be asked if you're sure you want to turn on Internet Sharing. Click "Start" to turn it on and start sharing your internet connection with your iPhone or iPad.

That's all it takes to share your Mac's internet connection and then you'll be able to connect your iPad or iPhone to it the same way you'd connect to any other wireless network.