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If you’re happy enough with the features your iPod offers out of the box that you don’t want to install a custom firmware like Rockbox, but you’d still like to add a little personal flair to Apple’s cookie-cutter look, you’re in luck. Freeware application iPodWizard customizes the look and feel of your iPod’s interface while still using a customized version of your iPod’s default firmware on the device. That means you still get the same iPod software that you already know and love, but you can skin it to look however you want. Let’s take a closer look at how to customize your iPod with iPodWizard.

What You’ll Get

Before you put in the effort, it’s always nice to see what you’re working toward. Below I’ve rounded up some of my favorite custom themes, all of which you can install using iPodWizard.

Beautifully Black

iPod OS X

Northern Lights

Install Custom Themes

First, download and install the latest version of iPodWizard from the GetiPodWizard web site (as of this writing, the latest version is 1.3). This version of iPodWizard works with every iPod on the market except second and third generation nanos, the iPod classic, and the iPod touch. That means that if you’ve got a first through 5.5 gen iPod or first gen nano, you’re ready to go with iPodWizard.

The iPodWizard Wiki already has a great tutorial detailing the process of installing new themes, so I won’t go into a lot of detail. I will, however, share a few extra tips that would have helped me when I followed their tutorial.

First of all, since iPodWizard patches the firmware that’s already on your device, you need to be able to tell iPodWizard where to find your firmware on your computer. Finding and downloading the latest firmware can be a pain, but if you know where to look, it should already be on your computer. To find it, go to Start -> Run and paste the following into the run box:

That should take you to the directory that holds your latest installed firmware update—it’s the file that ends in .ipsw. (If that doesn’t work, try navigating to a similar folder manually.)

You can find themes on the iPodWizard Theme forum. It’s a bit of a mess to look through, but if you pick your iPod type and sort the thread by number of views—like I did for 5th generation iPod themes—you can find a lot of the best themes really quickly.

Once you’ve got a theme you want to install and you’ve got your firmware handy, installing is a breeze. Just fire up iPodWizard, select iPodSoftwareFile from the Edit Mode drop-down, and select Open iPSW. Next, go to the Pictures tab, click the Load All button, and point iPodWizard at the folder containing the images of your theme. If your theme swaps layout and fonts, you’ll need to perform similar operations on the layout and font tabs.

Once you’ve swapped the files you want to use with the defaults, just click the Write to iPod button. Disconnect your iPod (make sure to eject it properly first), and it should automatically reboot. When it does, your iPod’s sporting a whole new look.

I’m relatively new to theming with iPodWizard, so if you’re an old hand with this customization app, share you expertise in the comments.

The Gadget Avatar is the first-ever gaming mouse from NZXT, who’s better known for its Battlestar Galactica-worthy PC cases. It’s got the usual gaming mice features—a ridiculous DPI count with on-the-fly-switching, a crapload of customizable buttons, and bright, shiny lights.

The Price: $70.

Verdict: I’m on record as being less than fond of ambidextrous mice since I don’t use a “claw” grip for gaming. Avatar tries to let you have it both ways, with a deeply grooved thumb grip, and fails more spectacularly as a result.

Its most glaring problem, and what ultimately renders it less than usable, is that it has a thumb button placed on either side—part of the whole ambidextrous thing—so it’s far too easy to hit the one opposite your thumb with your ring finger whenever you pick the mouse up (something you do a lot, actually). You can try tucking your finger underneath it, but that requires you to recess your grip, so that clicking the button your thumb actually uses requires more effort, and therefore more time. Not to mention it cramps your hand, thanks to its extremely thin profile. They could partially solve this by making the ass of the mouse a bit fatter, giving the back of your palm more surface to grip so you could actually use it in a claw style. Even then, that errant side button would still be in the way.

So, while the customization software and everything worked well enough, the ergonomics of the mouse really just make it less than usable. If you’re looking for an ambidextrous gaming mouse, I’d recommend one of Razer’s instead. [NZXT]

Since the birth of the iPod in 2001, Apple has released generation after generation of new iPods packed with exciting feature updates. The problem is that your not-so-old iPod probably feels like it’s drifted into obsolescence. Sure they both still play music, but take a look at a first gen iPod next to an iPod touch and it’s not hard to understand where I’m coming from. Rather than pony up for a shiny new MP3 player, consider installing the open-source MP3 player firmware Rockbox on your current player first. Rockbox just hit a new release, and it’s never been easier to supercharge your MP3 player, from iPods and irivers to Archos and SanDisk players.

What You Get

First, let’s take a closer look at what you get when you install Rockbox. I’m using an iPod Photo in my example, so your device may vary. Be sure to check the list of supported devices to see if your MP3 player supports Rockbox.

First, Rockbox comes with a crapload of games. Apart from Doom and Sudoku (pictured above), you can expect all the standards like solitaire and and jewels (aka, Bejeweled).

You also get applications, like a text editor Rocktext, calculator, timer, and even a metronome. Even better, Rockbox supports custom themes that look incredible. Here’s a quick look at a few of my favorites:

Installing Rockbox

One of the biggest features in the 3.0 release of Rockbox is the new Rockbox Utility, an automated installation tool for Rockbox that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. With the Rockbox Utility, installing Rockbox is a no-brainer.

I’m using the Windows version in the screenshots below. I haven’t tried the Mac or Linux installers, but the steps are likely very similar. Here’s how it works:

When you first launch the Rockbox Utility, you’ll be prompted with a configuration menu. While this five-tabbed menu seems a touch daunting, the only thing most of us need to do is set the device in the first tab. Once you pick the right one, just hit OK.

I’m assuming this is the first time you’ve installed Rockbox on this player, so at this point just hit the Complete Installation button and let the Rockbox Utility do its work.
Now just watch as Rockbox Utility sucks down all the latest and greatest files necessary to install Rockbox on your device. As the files are downloaded, they’re also automatically installed to your device—so there’s really nothing you have to do. When the installation is complete, you’ll see one message that looks like an error informing you that the Rockbox theme site is currently being reworked, so you’ll need to install themes manually for the time being. Don’t worry, though, because Rockbox is now officially installed, and all you have to do is unplug your device and start it back up. When you do, you’ll boot straight into Rockbox.

Installing Themes

As the error message above indicates, the Rockbox Utility doesn’t yet streamline installation of themes. (When it does, you’ll do it through the utility by simply clicking the Install Themes button in the extras tab of the Rockbox Utility.) In the meantime, here’s how to install themes yourself:

First, head to the Rockbox theme gallery and follow a link to themes made specifically for your device. From there, just find and download a theme you like. When you unzip the download, you’ll see a .rockbox folder. All you have to do to install the theme is open your MP3 player as a drive inside My Computer, then drag and drop that folder to the same folder on your device that already contains a .rockbox folder. In fact, you can copy them to whatever folder you want on your player’s file system, from what I can tell. All you need to do to apply a theme is browse for the theme when you’re running Rockbox and then launch the WPS file (it’ll be in a folder named WPS).

Who Needs a New iPod?

As you can see, Rockbox provides a simple tool to give your drab old MP3 player stunning new looks and functionality—and I haven’t even mentioned that Rockbox can play back virtually any file type you’re likely to want to play. Score a big one for free, open-source software.

The right mouse button—beloved by geeks for its power, theoretically unnecessary on a Mac, and generally under-utilized on the average desktop. Right-clicking can be a powerful tool for automating file actions and saving yourself time and arm effort, but only if you’ve put your own stamp on the offerings of that secondary button. Today we’re rounding up some of the best tools for adding power and precision to your right-click menu on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, so check out what can be done from the other side of the scroll wheel. Photo by geobeo.

10. Add convenient actions to Nautilus (Linux)

The default file manager for GNOME-based Linux systems has a pretty sparse right-click menu when first installed. Install a few helper packages, however, and soon you’re rotating and resizing images without an editor, popping open terminals for quick system work, and skipping the sudo command entirely with a “Run as administrator” link. Ubuntu users can install the nautilus-gksu, nautilus-image-converter, and nautilus-open-terminal packages for starters; users of other distributions should search their package manager for “nautilus” (or “konqueror” for KDE-based systems) to see what’s available for quick right-click fix-ups.

9. Use two fingers for trackpad right-clicking

If you’re new to Macs, or you just haven’t dug deep into its configuration options, it’s easy to miss this one. Mac laptops only have one button; instead of stretching your hands an octave-length to the Control key, put two fingers on the trackpad and click. To enable it, head to the Keyboard & Mouse section of System Preferences, under the Trackpad section, check this option: “For secondary clicks, place two fingers on the trackpad then click the button.”

8. Get Google Map directions without a street address

You can know where “that restaurant with the good burgers” is (a few blocks over from the big intersection) without knowing an actual street address. Find the general spot in Google Maps, right-click, and click for directions to or from that area. You might find it helpful, or you might not truly appreciate it until you’re on a scarcely-there Wi-Fi connection, trying to find a way across town and furiously Google-ing for possible addresses.

7. Make one-click FTP uploads with RightLoad

Anyone with access to their own web space, or with a need to do a lot of FTP transfer, should add RightLoad to their file-swapping arsenal. Set up your FTP servers in RightLoad’s preferences, and sending files to the server is as easy as right-clicking and choosing a server. After you’re done, RightLoad creates HTML-formatted links for quick web writing or friend-linking, and automatically renames duplicate files. Your overworked FTP client thanks you for the downtime.

6. Tweak Windows’ Send To Menu

If you’re not a fan of installing contextual applications or power toys on your system, Windows’ built-in “Send to” menu on the right-click box can offer a lot of flexibility—you can create instant shortcuts, email or open a file, and much more. Lifehacker reader Howard Dickens explained the process for adding “Send To” actions and items in Windows 98 and XP; for the Vista method, check with the How-To Geek.

5. Customize the Mac Finder’s actions with FinderPop

One of those apps that gives back the more that’s put into it, FinderPop is a hugely customizable tool for cutting down the number of clicks needed to copy, move, or alias files between locations on your Mac. FinderPop can also launch applications or kill runaway processes, making the right-click (or Ctrl-click) menu a powerful launching pad.

4. Add or delete context items with ShellExView

Programs come and go from your computer, and even after they’re thoroughly scrubbed, they can leave behind annoying traces in your context menu. ShellExView is where you get complete control over what shows up when you right-click a file, your desktop, or even Internet Explorer. You can add any program, delete useless links, and otherwise hook yourself up with time-saving shortcuts.

3. Roll your own right-click Mac actions with OnMyCommand

Let’s face it—some of the work you do is creative, and some of it is just resizing a bunch of images to 400 pixels wide and converting them to JPEG. Automate those mandatory tasks with OnMyCommand, an AppleScript/command-line app that adds your own scripts or already-compiled offerings to Finder’s right-click menu. Check out SimpleHelp’s concise and clear guide for help getting started with OnMyCommand.

2. Create file-aware right-click options

Many of the tools listed above make adding custom file-wrangling options to your right-click menu easy, but only for every file or folder you click. If you want to get specific with certain file types, adding custom for-this-file-type-only actions isn’t as hard as it might seem. Adam has explained the custom context menu process (pulled from a MetaFilter thread) for Windows XP; Vista users should check out FileMenuTools, detailed elsewhere in this list.

1. Combine lots of right-click tools with FileMenuTools

If you’re a Windows user and only have time to try out one of the right-click tools we’ve gathered here, FileMenuTools is a safe bet for maximum utility. It doesn’t get as in-depth as some of the utilities it rolls together, but it lets you create contextual file actions, improve your Send To menu, add super-helpful tweaks like “Run Command Line from Here” and “Copy Path,” and generally geek out your right-click menu without touching the registry or hunting down obscure command line options.

Right-click menus are definitely a to-each-their-own tool, as the most useful tools depend on what you’re trying to get done. So we ask our dear readers: What right-click actions, links, and tweaks help you act quickly and shuttle files more efficiently? Share your own tips in the comments below.

Windows only: Free application MZ Ultimate Tweaker is a system modification tool that covers the gamut of system tweaks, putting everything from performance to display tweaks just a few clicks away. The application is very similar to the TweakUI Windows XP PowerToy. But apart from all the minor modifications it can make to your system, it also comes loaded with several useful utilities worth checking out.

Those utilities include an advanced shutdown scheduler, startup manager, services manager, and registry backup tool.

All of the utilities are available as separate downloads from the MZ Ultimate Tweaker web site, so if you just want an à la carte utility, you can grab it as a standalone. Utlimate Tweaker also includes a few snake-oil utilities promising to speed up your computer, so stick with the useful ones. Regardless, MZ Ultimate Tweaker gives quick and easy access to tons of worthwhile Windows modifications, so if you’re a junkie for a good tweak, give it a look.