Here at TUAW we've seen lots of uses for the iPhone as a remote control, but if you were watching and thinking that those projects were way too safe, then the guys at Waterloo Labs have got you covered. They approached the project with a low budget and DIY attitude, building a low-cost (relatively speaking) car that is controlled by a first generation iPhone. Not content with just building the car, they also chose to car-surf on the hood and roof, Teen Wolf style, while testing their handiwork.

While we at TUAW do not condone such dangerous behavior, we can recommend that you watch this other video by Waterloo Labs as a more in-depth instructional video on how to build your own vehicle.

Back in 2005, John Gruber wrote about Hacking Apple's Weather Widget to Show the Time of the Last Update.

I was disappointed to learn that my customized Weather widget no longer worked in Snow Leopard, and for some reason John's instructions no longer worked for the Snow Leopard version of the Weather Widget.

The culprit seemed to be the JavaScript that John had modified to calculate the time. Unfortunately I don't speak JavaScript, but with a little help from Google I was able to find a workaround which will enable this tip to work again.

One neat little thing about the iPod and iPhone family of devices is their ability to display lyrics -- supported by all iPod nanos as well as the iPhone/iPod touch, and iPod Classic 5th generation and higher. On the iPhone and iPod touch, lyrics show up when a song is loaded (and can be re-displayed by tapping on the screen while a song is playing); while on the iPod nano, pressing the center button several times while a song is playing will cycle you through to display lyrics.

But the real issue isn't so much about displaying lyrics as much as it is obtaining them. PearLyrics was once my tried and true favorite way of getting lyrics, but it passed away some time ago.

Tell application "Keynote"
quit
End tell

All day on December 25, TUAW presents "Now What?" We've got first steps and recommendations for all the gifts you (hopefully!) found under the tree today. Happy holidays!

Did Santa leave you a camcorder for Christmas? If he did, you probably did what most people do -- ripped open the package, slapped a battery pack on it, and started recording the fun. Hopefully you're reading this post before you've succumbed to that temptation, so you can avoid issues later on. Here are some hints to make your future as a filmmaker as trouble-free as possible.

1) Read The Manual. Most people tend to toss out the manual with the wrapping paper, but for something as complex as a camcorder it's a good idea to keep and read the manual. Sure, with a point and shoot camcorder like a Flip Mino you can get away with giving the camcorder a quick charge and then going to town recording the kids bouncing off the walls in a sugar-induced frenzy. But if you were really good and Santa got you a high-end HD camcorder with a powerful zoom lens, image stabilization, and other cool features, you'd better learn how to use them.

If you're one of the lucky people who got a digital camera this Christmas, congratulations and welcome to the fun and exciting world of digital photography. But now that you have your shiny new camera and are holding it in your eager hands, what's next? Fortunately, I've been in your shoes and can offer the following tips to hopefully make your new camera easier to use and more fun to play with. Let me help get you started on the road to taking some great pictures.

Memory Cards

Digital pictures can be quite large when it comes to file sizes; modern cameras can chew up plenty of megabytes with each shot. Consequently, the meager capacity of the compact flash (CF) or secure digital (SD/SDHC) memory card that came with your camera just isn't going to do the trick for very long. So, one of the first things you are going to want is a larger card, or cards, to store your pictures.

I tend to stick to memory cards from Sandisk or Lexar and opt for several medium-sized cards, such as 2GB, instead of just one big one. This way, in case disaster strikes and a memory card fails, which they sometimes do, all of your not-yet-downloaded pictures are not on just one card and are instead spread across several of them.

A couple days before Christmas a year ago, I walked into a local Apple reseller and without hesitation told the salesperson I wanted a MacBook. It was my first brand-new Mac ever, and I couldn't be prouder of my little machine. While I was sitting in Barnes and Noble writing this post, an older lady sitting next to me leaned across the table to her companion. "I got my grandson one of those for Christmas," she said, pointing at my MacBook.

If you're reading this, you've also just received a MacBook for Christmas or Hannukah, or have recently purchased one. So, what do you do with it now? You need accessories, of course! Some of the best ones to get are:

A case
There's all different cases for the MacBook, from simple sleeves that you can use to cushion your MacBook when you place it in another bag to hardshell cases to roller cases and backpacks. My current pack is the InCase Nylon Backpack ($99.95 USD), which has more pockets than you will know what to do with and is extremely comfortable. InCase also manufactures a number of sleeves and smaller cases. Other respected brands include TimBuk2, Brenthaven, and many more.

An extra power adapter
After an incident where I accidentally left my MacBook power adapter at a friend's house 100 miles away and had to purchase an extra, I've found that having two power adapters has been one of the best decisions I ever made. I keep one adapter at home, and the other stays in my backpack. I'm never caught anywhere without a power supply.