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Posts Tagged ‘media’

MSN Messenger Now Playing Plugin for Foobar2000 v1.1

September 26th, 2010 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 9 Comments | Filed in Apps, Music

After much searching, this is a plugin that works with MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, but also works with the latest version of Foobar2000 (v1.1 at the time of writing)!  None of the other plugins I tested would work because they were out of date.

Enjoy!  Let me know it works for you!

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Foobar2000:Components_0.9/WLM_Notifier_%28foo_wlm%29

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How to Convert AVCHD to other video formats

September 22nd, 2010 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | No Comments | Filed in Apps, How Tos

My Daily Tech RECOMMENDED APPLICATIONS!

If you are looking to convert an AVCHD movie to another  format so that you can use it in your project, then you should definitely check out a piece of software called TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress.

It accepts AVCHD and just about any video format as an input, so that you can convert it to the most popular video formats.  Unfortunately it doesn’t support AVCHD as an output.

There ARE free ways of doing this too, I should mention that a free program called Avidemux that can do this too, so if you are technically inclined (Avidemux is harder to use) you may want to go that way instead of spending money on TMPGEnc (but of course TMPGEnc supports more formats etc).

Also, if you are looking for video editing software that is simple and support AVCHD input and output, check out Sony Vegas 9.0.  It is excellent and it supports many plugins and addons that make it really expandable.  It also has an amazing feature that makes recompression not necessary on certain AVCHD files (ones that you don’t edit), and that really speeds up the time that it takes to render videos.

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iPod Touch App – Cube Runner Bonus Level Packs

March 6th, 2010 by Calvert Kennedy | 12 Comments | Filed in Apps, How Tos

If you’d like some extra levels for your Cube Runner iPod Touch game that we recently reviewed you’ve come to the right place!

It’s as simple as going to add new level pack. and typing in one of the URLs found at the bottom of this post.

I am not 100% sure these are working, so if they don’t, blame the forum I got them from – but please leave a comment letting us know whether they did or didn’t work for you! These were tested to work on cube runner one and not two, and it is the first version of cube runner, so it may be outdated.

cr2://cuberun.org/$$$$.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/.nNoobEatern.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/0000nightmare.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/00camylles00canal00.txt

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My Daily Tech’s History of Web Browsers

March 5th, 2010 by Bogdan Zadorozhny | No Comments | Filed in Apps, Online

Browser Number 1: Netscape.

This browser was the first one I ever used. It was developed in 1994, and was for a time, the most popular browser in the world. It’s market share has steadily fallen since 2000, when it started becoming way too big to be any use to anyone, and was later taken over by AOL. Since then, it has died and disappeared at the age of version 9.

My personal experience with this browser was telling of the terrible effect of Netscape on popular internet, because of its lacking of support for any website, that was in any way complicated or advanced, requiring any effort from the webmaster. Thus, the dot-com bubble burst of the early 2000s was caused by it.

Features: 6/10

Speed: 4/10

Market: 0.36%

Current Version: 9

Most Notable: No download manager, password manager, form filler, or most of the features we have come to rely on

Final: 5/10

After, that terrible experience, I decided to switch to the next browser, we did not use it for a long time.

Browser Number 2: Internet Explorer 5.

This browser was released in 1998, as a definite step-up from Netscape. The 1999 review in PC World noted, “Credit the never-ending game of browser one-upsmanship that Netscape and Microsoft play. The new IE 5 trumps Netscape Communicator with smarter searching and accelerated browsing. Overall, it was much better and gained over 80% in its prime-days. It was succeeded by IE6, only 2 years later.

Features: 7/10

Speed: 5/10

Market:80% (0.03%)

Most Notable: Speedier, faster and better than Netscape

Browser Number 3: Internet  Explorer 6.

This browser was the peak of Microsoft’s domination of the internet, with a staggering 97% share. However, for all of its popularity, quite frankly, it was terrible. This version of Internet Explorer is widely derided for its security issues and lack of support for modern web standards, making frequent appearances in “worst tech products of all time” lists, with some publications labeling it as the “least secure software on the planet. The reason behind this rather odd order of business, was the auto-inclusion of this browser into software packages, that some homeowners did not take the time or effort to switch to a different one. However, I did switch and did not come back to the Internet Explorer family for 7 years, since 2001.

Features: 7/10 (No significant improvement over IE5, didn’t even bother changing the icon much)

Speed: 5/10

Market: 97% (20%)

Most Notable: Slight changes from IE5. It was a market-staller, and caused Microsoft’s demise as the sole force in this market.

Browser Number 4: Mozilla Firefox

This next browser, was considered to be the new revolution, when it first appeared. However, if you take a closer look, it was almost an update to the Netscape generation. True, it was revamped, updated and cleaned up, but the basic truth remains. It’s initial release was in 2004. The first version was buggy and glitch but it worked better than IE6 because it did not have the security holes, and had an edge in speed.

Features: 8/10

Speed: 7/10

Market: (0.14%)

Current Version: 3.6

Most Notable: A new contender to Microsoft’s huge empire.

Browser Number 5: Opera

I switched to Opera, after I discovered its benefits over Mozilla Firefox, and the truth behind Mozilla. It was first introduced in 1996, and I jumped onto the bandwagon at version 8. It unfortunately does not have the huge implementation of the previous browsers, although it far outdoes the bunch of them.

It outdoes them in both speed, relative size and most importantly features.

It features Speed Dial, which is a unique feature of Opera, that shows you your favorite websites, complete with live previews. The tab bar, which was unceremoniously copied by Mozilla, is better than any other with options, such as previews, and drop-downs. Overall, it is the most highly customizable and controllable than any other browser. It also now features the Opera Turbo, that significantly increases speed on slow networks, and Opera Unite, which with large implementation could be very interesting. It is possible to control nearly every aspect of the browser using only the keyboard. It is the only major browser to include support for spatial navigation. Opera also includes support for mouse gestures.

Page zooming allows text, images and other content such as Adobe Flash Player, Java platform and Scalable Vector Graphics to be increased or decreased in size (20% to 1,000%) to help those with impaired vision. The user may also specify the fonts and colors for web pages, and even override the page’s CSS styling as well. This can be useful for making sites appear in high contrast or in more readable fonts.

Voice control, co-developed with IBM, allows control of the browser without the use of a keyboard or mouse. It can also read aloud pages and marked text.

Opera was one of the first browsers to support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), now a major building block of web design.

Overall, if it was highly implemented, it would show a huge leap forward in webbrowsing and might trigger Web 3.0.

Features: 9.5/10

Speed: 9/10

Market: 2.38%

Current Version: 10

Most Notable: Most advanced browser, I ever encountered.

However, even after finding the jewel that is Opera, I did not stop exploring browsers. I found Google Chrome, which I did not find to be impressive, and pointed me back to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer series, which by now got to Internet Explorer 8.

Browser Number 6: Internet Explorer 8

This browser was definitely a step forward for Microsoft, scoring a record 20/100, which is only beaten by 32/100 by the as yet unreleased IE9. Internet Explorer 8, finally managed good tab-browsing, introduced web slices, and various other features that made this browser workable, and in my eyes, surpassed Firefox. It holds 22 percent of Microsoft’s 60 as opposed to Firefox’s 24 (total).

Features: 8/10

Speed: 7/10

Market: 22%

Most Notable: A lot better than any other of Microsoft’s browser innovations, but still not up to the standards that Opera, and other browsers meet. It will likely never catch up, seeing as Opera 10.5 will increase its speed 10fold.

Browser Number 7: Safari

This browser was introduced in 2007. It has tabbed management, and cool features such as a Top Sites, and a history in the way of iTunes. It is good-looking like any good Apple product, and is more stylish than practical.

Features: 8/10

Speed: 8/10

Market: 5%

Current Version: 4

Most Notable: The Cover Flow history. Very impressed.

Browser Number 8: Songbird

Although, it lacks a large marketshare, it could be pushed forward in the future, by the leverage of its current company holder, Mozilla Firefox, Pioneers of the Inevitable aka POTI Inc.. However, this has failed to happen with Mozilla, and with Camino.

It is as if, it is the perfect merger between iTunes, Firefox, and it appears to have done what Winamp failed to do. Interestingly enough, after I wrote the previous line, I discovered that it is in fact, the same team.

Could become very interesting in the future.

Features: 6/10

Speed: 6/10

Market: 0%

Current Version: 1

That was my experience in web-browsing. For the record, my currently installed are:

  • IE8
  • Safari
  • Opera
  • Mozilla Firefox 3

Thank you for reading.

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Watch Hulu in Canada

October 22nd, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 1 Comment | Filed in How Tos

Watching Hulu, the american TV show streaming service, is usually prevented by Hulu’s geoblocking, yet some in the past have found ways to bypass that through proxies.  Hulu is now implementing Proxy detection, which makes it even harder to watch the last few episodes of your favorite show in high quality.

You can watch Hulu using Hotspot Shield, but you have to make sure that the Hotspot Shield server you’re using is the White Plains, New York server.  To do this, just connect to Hotspot Shield, and then go to ip-adress.com and it will tell you which server you’re using.  If it’s not the White Plains server, then just disconnect from Hotspot Shield and then try reconnecting till it assigns you to the White Plains server.

This also should get Pandora and Spotify to work outside of the US.

Enjoy your new free streaming media, and don’t forget to post in the comments section and tell us if it works!

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Does file sharing help music artists?

May 11th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 4 Comments | Filed in Essays and Stuff, Online, Other, Piracy, Tech

Many people wonder whether file sharing can actually increase revenue for music labels and artists because it helps both newer and older artists to be discovered or rediscovered. This question is frequently asked by fans and artists alike. I believe that BitTorrent is an excellent system and model for marketing and distributing media, such as music and movies, and should not be opposed the way it currently is by organizations such as the IFPI and the MPAA – it may even be making up a large figure of their sales!

Peer to peer technologies have been proven to be an effective marketing / promotion tools, For instance, in 2007, Radiohead made an interesting move in which their fans could make whatever payment that they wanted, including nothing; the site only advised, “it’s up to you” or free, or “Choose what you pay”, so that the fans could pay the amount they wanted for the album.
Of course, the band did not actually release their sales figures, yet the album became famous as the first one released in this method, and generated much publicity. New websites are now also following Radiohead’s model, as in “Choose what you pay”, such as the new public music tracker, Coda.FM.

BitTorrent is more effective as a marketing tool for artists that are not already established, yet for those already established as an artists, it may hinder them more than help, because since they are already popular, the viral nature of BitTorrent is not as useful, and many people will “leech” the music instead of buying it.

A report from the BI Norwegian School of Management has found that those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don’t. This is because those who download music are generally music enthusiasts that agree that you should have the right to see exactly what you are buying before you buy it, and if it’s no good, then they won’t buy it. These enthusiasts see this as completely fair, yet the IFPI disagrees. Many people also say “I’d never buy it anyways!”, which is generally true, yet, they are obtaining the Intellectual Property for free – and thus comes the question – is IP even worth anything?

There is no doubt that the downloading of music for free will continue nevertheless, yet the question will remain in our minds, are we helping the artist (as in “increasing their revenue” or increasing exposure), or costing them? I believe that in the future, music will be either free, cost very little, or the consumer will choose the price – either way, the actual worth of something that can be copied, distributed, and reproduced countless times, all for free, will forever be disputed.

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Palm TX Review

November 11th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 5 Comments | Filed in Offline, Reviews
TX image
Palm TX

System Specs

Processor: 312MHz ARM-based Processor
Operating System: Palm OS software version Garnet v5.4.9
Memory: Total 128 MB (100MB accessible to user)
Display: TFT color display with backlight, 320 x 480, 65,000 colors
Audio: Speaker and standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
Interface: USB (for HotSync operation), Infrared, Bluetooth 1.1, Wi-Fi 802.11b
Dimensions and Weight: 4.76 x 3.08 x 0.61in, 5 oz. (including stylus and SD card)
Power: 108-32VAC, 60Hz, 100mA (US and Canada only AC Adapter)
Battery: 1250mHa Lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery (internal – non user removable)
Expansion: SD card slot (Secure Digital), supports MMC and SD cards.

Review

The latest Handheld from Palm is very similar in design to the T5, except for it has a nice sleek blue look instead of the old silver chassis color. Other than that, it is the same, shape and weight.

The device is nice and sturdy, and would probably be pretty tough to break by accident. The case looks like metal, but it is probably just plastic. One problem about this device is that lots of people have trouble with the power button. There is a program you can download here that can reassign your powerbutton to say, the home button, because the main thing that people find with the power button (and that I found too) is that it is very unresponsive and you have to push twice or sometimes just hold it down for a long time.

One of the things you will love about this device is the bright screen. It is perfect for watching movies and videos. What’s also nice is that fingerprints don’t really show up too much on this screen.

The memory is not volatile – meaning everything will not be erased if you run out of juice.

One thing you will be disappointed about with the TX is the fact that the built-in video player cannot play most formats of video you get. What you can do to fix this is to download a very good freeware player called TCPMP and install it onto your palm. When you get it – you don’t have to sync videos (or even music) onto your palm anymore – just put your SD card loaded up with all sorts of DivX or Xvid( yes TCPMP does support these codecs) into your palm, fire up TCPMP, select some files, and then hit play and you’re all set.

There are quite a few games available for Palm OS – including many PC favorites like bookworm. Check out Astraware for lots of games. Also, if you like old games, check out LJP – a multisystem emulator that can emulate NES, SNES, GEN, GB/GBC and more! To use the more recent consoles like SNES and Genesis you may need to overclock with warpSpeed, and free up more memory with UDMH.

Hope you enjoyed my review!

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Validate Windows Media Player – Without Having To!

March 15th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 36 Comments | Filed in How Tos, Offline, Older Posts, Tech

I just installed XP onto my laptop and so now that I have my dual-boot set up, I wanted to upgrade me Windows Media Player installation. The problem is, when I finally installed it, the Genuine Activator thing wouldn’t work. So I peeked into the Program Files/Windows Media Player folder, and saw a .DLL called LegitLibM.dll (clearly a Genuine Advantage DLL), so I deleted it, and then ran Windows Media Player again. This time, the whole thing worked, and when I clicked on “Validate” (I think that was what it said), it said that there was a problem with the Validation, and then because of that, I think it bypassed the whole thing! This is a very useful trick for people who have trouble with the stupid WGA. I really hope Microsoft goes the Linux path soon :p !

Hope it helped!

Digg my article

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