Facebook Ad Platform Buddy Media Links Up With WPP, Raises Another $5 Million

Buddy Media, which helps advertisers manage their presence on Facebook, has linked up with ad giant WPP: The ad holding company will hand over $5 million in cash to the start-up, and will make it a preferred vendor. WPP’s investment will get tacked on to a $23 million funding round Buddy Media announced earlier in the month.

Download DVD PDF Podcast Limewire and YouTube video to iPod

This iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video guide includes the following ten parts:
1. How to watch PDF files and electronic books to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video.
2. How to rip DVD and convert video to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video.
3. How to watch iPod Video on large screen TV.
4. How to download youtube video to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video for free.
5. How to download free podcast to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video.
6. Where to download music and movie for iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video.
7. How to manage two iPods on one computer or transfer music between iPods.
8. How to copy and backup iPod files to computer.
9. How to hack iPod Nano to play games and music videos.
10. Why is that your iTunes converted videos has no sound

Part1. How to watch PDF or electronic book on iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
iPod cannot directly display PDF files, you have to convert your PDF file or electronic book to *.txt format, and make sure the file size is smaller than 4KB, and then copy the *txt file to the “Note” folder of your iPod. Here are the detailed steps:
1. Enable your iPod as a portable hard drive, plug in your iPod to computer and run iTunes, in the summary tab, check the option named “enable iPod disk mode”
2. Download and install iGadget, it can convert and cut your files to 4kb .txt files. Here is the download link: http://www.youtubetoipod.biz/software/igadget.html.
3. Connect your iPod to computer, open “My Computer”, open the iPod drive (the new drive with your iPod name), and copy the txt file to the “Note” folder, done. Then you can read the text file on iPod note.

Part2. How to rip DVD and convert video to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
iPod can only play MP4 and H.264 video, but DVD movie is MPEG-2 video and CSS protected, so you need an application to rip DVD and convert video to MP4 video, and then sync it to iPod via iTunes. I strongly recommend Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite; it can rip protected DVD and convert limewire, youtube video, AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, XviD video to iPod. Also, I always use the iPod Movie Converter embedded in it to transfer video, and from my tests, it fully support all series of iPod including iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video. A really cool application.



Here is its official download link:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/dvd-to-ipod-suite.html
Here is the official step by step guide:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/article/dvd-to-ipod-converter.html
If you are Mac user, you can use this DVD Ripper for Mac to rip DVD to iPod:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac.html

Part3. How to watch iPod Video on large screen TV
Set up your iPod video options. On your iPod choose Videos -> Video Settings from the main menu. You will see three options: TV Out, TV Signal and Widescreen. Select the “TV Out” option.



Get your A/V cable. If you don't have an eighth-inch-to-RCA cable, you can pick one up on eBay for five or six bucks shipped. Search for "camcorder A/V cable." Remember, you want a three-plug yellow/red/white RCA connection at one end and a three-banded eighth-inch (3.5mm) A/V plug at the other.



1. Plug the red RCA plug into your TV's yellow RCA jack.
2. Plug the yellow RCA plug into your TV's white RCA jack.
3. Plug the white RCA plug into your TV's red RCA jack.
After making these connections, you're physically ready to begin playback.

Part4. How to download youtube video to iPod for free
iPod can play only MP4 and H.264 video, youtube video is stream video (.flv), so you need special software to capture the stream video to MP4 video, and then sync it to your iPod via iTunes. Here’re two ways to do that for free:
With free online flv converter such as http://vixy.net when you find your favorite youtube video, just copy the video URL (like this format http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs ) to the input box, choose the output format as iPod video, and then click start. When the conversion finished, you will get the MP4 video download link, just download and sync it to your iPod.



With Firefox + videodownloader, if you’re using Firefox browser, just install a plug-in named videodownloader, and then you will see a small icon in the bottom right, when you watch youtube video, double click it, and then you will get the flv download link. And then convert the flv video to MP4 video with Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite, done.

Free Trial: Download Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite

Next part: How to download podcast to iPod and copy music between iPods ?

How to get songs, pictures and videos from iTunes, iPod, iPhone to computer and then to Zune

This is a step by step guide to tell you how to get all songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone to computer (including windows PC and Mac OS X) for free. In the event that you accidentally delete your music from your computer, it is possible to recover your songs from your iPod as long as you follow this tutorial. And then you can put these songs, pictures and videos to Zune, PSP, Sandisk, Pocket PC, PowerPoint, Cell phone, Creative Zen, PDA, Archos, iRiver, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PS3 and other MP4 player. If you want to put the iTunes videos to Zune and other mp4 players, You can transfer iTunes videos to iPod touch, iPod classic, the latest iPod nano and iPhone(iPhone 3G) firstly.
This guide includes two parts:
Part 1, How to get songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone to computer for free
Part 2, How to put iTunes videos, iPod and iPhone videos to Zune, PSP and other MP4 player.

Part 1, How to get songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone(3G) to computer for free
1. How to get songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone to Windows PC for free
ml_iPod is a Winamp plugin that enables music to be loaded onto and off of an Apple iPod without using iTunes via Winamp's Media Library. One of the main attractions of the plugin is being able to transfer files from the iPod to your computer which is not possible with Apple's iTunes software. Winamp's newest iPod plug-in can indeed copy files from iPhone in Windows without jailbreaking. It also supports Creative Zen and PlaysForSure certified devices.
Download and install Winamp if you haven't yet. And then use it to get songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone to Windows PC.
2. How to get songs, pictures and videos from iPod, iPhone to Mac OS X for free
Step 1,Download Senuti.
The latest version only works on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. For OS X 10.3.9 users download Senuti 0.33 from the link at the bottom of the page. It always copy music from regular iPods to your Mac, and a new version now supports the iPhone and iPod touch.
Step 2, Install Senuti. Drag the Seunti application to your Applications Folder. Drag Senuti into your dock or save a copy on your desktop if you wish. Eject the Senuti disk image and clear your download folder.
Step 3, Make sure you have iTunes. Open iTunes.
Step 4, Plug your iPod into your computer. Set your iPod to "Manually manage music and videos" in iTunes.
Step 5, Open Senuti. Songs with a note next to them are already in iTunes. However if you changed song information separately in your iTunes library or your iPod, it will think the same song is two different ones.
Step 6, Go to "Preferences" and then "Copying" in Senuti. Choose the iTunes Music Folder as the "Save Location" for copied music. Otherwise two copies will be created of each song and will fill up hard drive space.
Step 7, Highlight and drag songs from "Library" into "iTunes". You can also drag and drop playlists from your iPod into iTunes. Make sure all the songs look normal and that there are no double copies.

Part 2, How to put iTunes videos, iPod and iPhone videos to Zune
If you want to put iTunes videos to Zune, you can transfer the iTunes videos to iPod or iPhone at first and then get the videos from iPod and iPhone to Computer. Now we can put the videos that have got from iPod touch, iPod Classic, iPod Nano and iPhone to Zune.

Zune only supports the follow video formats:
Windows Media Video (.wmv)
MPEG4 video (m4v, .mp4, or .mov)
H.264 video (.m4v, .mp4, or .mov)

If the videos are the zune format files, you can transfer the videos to Zune using zune software.
Here is the steps:
1. install zune software, you can download it from here for free
2. plug in your zune player to computer
3. drag the wmv video to zune library
4. click "start sync" to sync your zune. OK.
If the videos are not the zune format, You need use Total video converter to convert the videos to Zune format so that you can put the iTunes videos to zune. And then you need to use zune software to transfer the videos to zune.
The total video converter can also convert videos for Apple TV, PSP, Pocket PC, Creative Zen, Archos, and a lot of MP3 players and audio players. So you can also put the iPod videos, iPhone videos and iTune videos to Apple TV, PSP, Pocket PC, Creative Zen, Archos, and a lot of MP3 players.
If you are a Mac user, use this video converter for Mac to put iTunes videos to Zune and other MP4 players.

There as also many other applications and methods for copying music from an iPod to your computer as there are iPod models themselves, which makes finding a sure-fire, free solution a matter of tedious trial and error. Whether you're a Windows user looking to yank tunes from an iPhone, a Mac fan backing up an iPod classic, or a Linux enthusiast trying to get into your new nano, we've got you covered. Follow along for a detailed look at the best ways to transfer songs from your iPod to your computer, no matter what hardware or operating system you're rocking.
1. Floola (Win, Mac, Linux) - portable iPod manager.
Features: (1) move audio and video to/from iPod, (2) manage and import/export playlists, (3) last.fm support, (4) multi-lingual, (5) lyrics and podcasts support, (6) search files, (7) iPod troubleshooting, (8) manage notes, (9) sync files between PC and iPod
2. YamiPod (Win, Mac, Linux) - yet another portable iPod manager.
Features: (1) playlists import/export (PLS,M3U), (2) PC to iPod autosync, (3) built-in music player, (4) last.fm support, (5) search, (6) song list export and more
3. Sharepod (Win) -
Features: (1) move files to/from iPod, (2) built-in music player, (3) search, (4) create winamp-style playlists, (5) network file sharing (office, college, etc.), (6) built-in music player and more
4. Ephpod (Win) - not as flexible as the ones above but has couple of cool
features: ultra-fast song transfer, powerful playlist creation features, one click sync, winamp support, bunch of extras (news, weather, movie listings, etc.)
5. Rockbox - open source replacement firmware for mp3 players.
Features: (1) dynamic playlist creation, (2) multiple themes, (3) gapless playback, (4) in-built clock, (5) tagging, (6) plugins and more
6. Amarok (Linux) - iTunes alternative.
Features: (1) manage, create playlists , (2) podcasts support, (3) last.fm support more
7. Rhythmbox (Linux) - integrated music management application (inspired by iTunes)

How to Copy DVD, Rip DVD, Convert Video on Mac

Many friends want to share their home-make DVDs and their DVD movies with others and also they always feel difficult to do that. Today I will share you a really easy way to Copy DVD to another DVD disc, DVD image ISO, or a DVD folder. Also I will also introduce you how to rip DVD and convert videos on Mac.

Part 1: How to copy a DVD to another DVD disc/DVD image ISO/DVD folder on Mac
Step 1: DVD Copy for Mac.
To copy a DVD on Mac, you need a DVD Copy for Mac to help you. Aiseesoft DVD Copy for Mac is a good choice.

Step 2: Load Your Source
This excellent DVD copy for Mac allows you to load DVD folder and DVD image ISO.

Step 3: Choose Output Info
1. "Full Disc" or “Main Movie”
This DVD copy for Mac enables you to copy the full disc and also the main movie according to your need.

2. "Audio", "Subtitle" and "Volume" name
You can choose your output audio from the "Audio" drop-down list, such as "all audio"/ "None"/ or some audio the DVD provide.

Subtitle is always an important thing, you can choose your output subtitle in "Subtitle" drop-down list.

You can also name your output volume's name

Step 4: Choose Your Target
You can copy your DVD to another DVD disc, DVD folder or DVD image ISO.

Tips:
1. You can also choose to copy the menus or not.
2. All the info you choose will be displayed on the "Info Box".

Part 2: How to rip DVD to video formats on Mac

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac.

Step 2. Load DVD
Insert DVD into your DVD-ROM, run DVD Ripper for Mac, click "Load DVD", find the DVD folder of the movie you want to add from your DVD-ROM, and Click "Open".

Step 3. Set output format.
This best DVD ripper for Mac provides you output formats as many as you want. Just choose one from the drop down list "profile" according to your portable player.

Step 4: Conversion
You can just Click "Start" to begin your conversion.

Part 3: How to Convert Video files on Mac

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac

Step 2: Load video
Easily click "Add File" to load your video that you want to convert.

Step 3: Choose output profile and settings
At the bottom of the interface there are a drop-download list named "profile". You can choose your output format here.

Tips:
1. Trim
If you want to pick up a part of the video to convert, please click "Trim" button and drag the "Start trim slider" to set the start time and "End trim slider" to set the end time. (a) You can also do that by clicking the "Start trim button" and "End trim button" (b). The third way you do that is set the exact Start/End time at the right of the pop-up window and click "OK".(c)

2. Crop
If you want to remove the black edges or you want to convert a certain area of your video, please click the "Crop" button. You can do this either by drag the frame around the movie (a) or set the crop value: "Top, Left, Bottom, Right".(b). Another way to do that is choose models from "Crop Mode"(c).
Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac also allows you to chose the output aspect ratio above the crop pane, "Keep Original, full screen, 16:9 and 4:3" are available.

3. Effect
If you want to adjust the effect of your movie, please click the "Effect" button and a pop-up effect window will appear. It allows you to edit your movie’s effect including "Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation and Volume".

Nuclear War in the Converged Infrastructure World?

There has been a lot of press about IBM’s acquisition of BNT (Blade Network Technologies) focusing on the economics and market share of BNT as a competitor to Cisco and HP’s ProCurve/3Com franchise. But at its heart the acquisition is more about defending and expanding a position in the emerging converged server, networking, and storage infrastructure segment than it is about raw switch port market share. It is also a powerful vindication of the proposition that infrastructure convergence is driving major realignment in the vendor industry.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

AT&T Activates Record 5.2 million iPhones, Forgets to Add Device to “Mobile Broadband Leadership” Slide

Good thing AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega is so certain the end of the carrier’s iPhone exclusivity deal doesn’t portend a mass subscriber exodus, otherwise you might look at AT&T’s latest earnings and the degree to which they were driven by the device and (cough) worry.

Reporting third quarter financials largely in line with Wall Street’s forecasts, AT&T said today it activated 5.2 million iPhones in the quarter–62 percent more than the record 3.2 million it activated earlier this year. Odd then that the device is notably absent from the “Mobile Broadband Leadership” slide in AT&T’s investor presentation. A passive-aggressive jab back at that “rumored” Verizon deal, perhaps?

Anyway…

The company posted a profit of 55 cents per share, up 3.8 percent from the 53 cents per share it managed in the third quarter of 2009 and in line with what analysts had been expecting. Revenue rose to $31.58 billion from $30.73 billion in the same period a year earlier and slightly exceeded the average analyst expectation of $31.25 billion.

So a strong quarter, but one overshadowed by that long-rumored loss of iPhone exclusivity. As Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett observed in a note to investors this morning, the heavy subsidies AT&T offers for the iPhone cut deeply into its bottom line.

“In anticipation of losing exclusivity, AT&T has rapidly served up its own inoculation–a massive campaign to upgrade existing iPhone subscribers to new two year contracts that will lock them in as new options emerge,” he wrote. “The cost of this strategy, of course, is subsidies, and that cost was front and center in AT&T’s 3Q results. In total, Wireless margins were light, but Wireline cost cutting was better-than-expected, and overall earnings were therefore in line at $0.55.”

Android Beats Apple–In One Small Corner of the Mobile Ad Market

Steve Jobs spent a lot of time yesterday explaining why Apple will beat Google in the long run. But he also conceded that, at least for a brief period, Google’s Android was running neck and neck with his phones.

Here’s another small data point to back that up. A very small one: Mobile ad network Millennial Media says that last month Android phones on its network generated more ad revenue than Apple’s iPhones did.

That’s the sum total of the information Millennial provides–there are no dollar signs attached, and no numbers of any kind.

So it’s hard to make that much of it. And if you want to raise your eyebrow even higher, you can look at this seemingly contradictory chart from Millennial that shows Apple phones generated significantly more ad impressions than Android phones. (Click to enlarge.)

Again, this is just about ad dollars that Millennial touches. So it has nothing to do with Google’s search ads or Apple’s iAds, or anything else. And recall that Apple has sent mixed messages about non-Apple ads on its platform, period. So you really don’t want to read too deeply into this.

But if you came away from the data thinking that Apple and Google are in a very competitive fight for the smartphone market, that would be okay.

How to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie

Making movies on your Mac is fun and easy, but how do you share them with the world? Many people choose to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie.
Part 1, How to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie HD
Part 2, How to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie

Part 1, How to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie HD
1. Make sure your video is the one you want to upload, then click the share button in the menu bar.
2. Select the QuickTime option.



3. Click on the menu for your compression options and select web.



4. Save your movie to the desktop or somewhere else. Find your movie and click it once then press apple+I to get its information. Make sure it is less than 100 megabytes or YouTube will not accept it.
5. Log in to YouTube and click on the “upload” button at the top of the page.
6. Enter the name, category, tags and any other information you want for your video.
7. Next click on “upload a video” once you have finished entering your videos information.
8. Click on the “Choose File” button and choose your video file from were you saved it. Make sure its your compressed QuickTime video and not the iMovie file.
9. Lastly click on the “Upload Video” button, it may take a few minutes for your video to upload and it may take several hours for it to show up on YouTube.
I also recommend CD quality. You can save the movie to CD-ROM and then you can upload movie from iMovie HD to YouTube!

Part 2, How to upload videos to YouTube from iMovie
1. Make sure your video is the one you want to share, then click the share button in the menu bar and select YouTube.
2. Choose your YouTube account or create a new one
3. Confirm your sign in.
4. Select the category, name, description, and tags for your video.
5. Select your publish size and click Next
6. Now click the publish button.
7. Your video will be ready to watch on YouTube in 2-120 minutes.

Google has released basic software called Vidnik which is the quickest, simplest way to make movies using the built - in camera on your Macintosh and upload those movies to your YouTube account. You must first sign up for a free YouTube membership to upload videos.
Learn more: How to upload videos to YouTube easily and quickly on Mac?

How to Rip DVD, Convert Video to iPhone, backup iPhone info, make iPhone Ringone For Windows/Mac

Recently, iPhone has became a really important part of our life. People use it to make a phone call, enjoy music and movies/videos, and play games. Today I will share you a really nice software pack, which can convert DVD and video to iPhone video/audio formats, backup iPhone info on your computer, and make iPhone ringtone easily.

What you need is just this nice Convert DVD Video to iPhone software

Part 1: How to convert DVD movies to iPhone
Use Aiseesoft DVD to iPhone Converter.

Step 1: Load DVD
Put your DVD in your DVD Drive and click “Load DVD” button

Step 2: Choose output profile and Settings
You can choose your output profile in the drop-list when you click profile list.
You can also adjust your settings, such as Resolution, Bitrate, so on.

Step 3: Edit Video
You can do “Trim”, “Crop”, “Merge into one file”and other video editing functions to make your video more enjoyable.

Click “Start” to begin you conversion. After few mins you can enjoy your DVD movies on your iPhone.

Part 2: How to convert videos to iPhone with iPhone Movie Converter

Step 1: Add file
Click “Add File” button to add your video you want to put on your iPhone.

Step 2: Choose output profile and settings
You can choose your output profile in the drop-list when you click profile list.
You can also adjust your settings, such as Resolution, Bitrate and Encoder and so on.

Step 3: Edit Video
You can do “Trim”, “Crop”, “Merge into one file”and other video editing functions to make your video more enjoyable.

Click “Start” to begin you conversion. After few mins you can enjoy your videos on your iPhone.

Part 3: How to transfer songs and vdieos from iPhone to computer, from computer to iPhone and from iPhone to iPhone.

Step 1: Click iPhone Transfer
Click “Computer to iPhone”(1) button, it will allow you to transfer songs and videos from your computer to iPhone easily.
Click “iPhone to Computer”(2) button, it will allow you to backup your songs and videos from iPhone to your computer.
Click “iPhone to iPhone”(3) button, it will allow you to transfer songs and videos from one iPhone to another iPhone dirrectly.

Part 4: How to make your own iPhone ringtone

Step 1: Click iPhone Rigntone Maker and click “Browse” on the right side of "Input File" to import the file that you want to make ringtone from i.t

Step 2: Play it and listen the music to find the segment that you want to use it as ringtone. Then drag and click the start& end slider to set your wanted segment, or type the start & end time in the corresponding text box directly to get the exact segment. You also can pre-listen the converted audio before generate.

Step 3: Click “Browse” on the right side of "Local Output Folder" to choose the output destination.

Step 4: Check "Export to iPhone" option, the converted ringtone will be load to your iPhone directly.

Step 5: After all the settings are finished, click “Generate” to begin making your own iPhone ringtone.

For Mac users I recommend you Aiseesoft iPhone Software Pack for Mac

Using Aiseesoft iPhone Software Pack for Mac, you can convert any video/DVD to iPhone Mac, backup the audio, video files on iPod to Mac and import audio, video files or folders from Mac to your iPod without iTunes with the help of iPod Manager Mac, even make iPhone ringtone from AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, FLV, MKV, H.264/MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, MOV, RM, RMVB, MP3, WMA, AAC video and audio sources on Mac.

How to import video from camcorder to Mac

You may be ready to make a movie after you capture great footage with your FireWire camcorder. In this condition, you need import your camcorder to your Mac. More specially, you need to connect your camcorder to your Mac, and then copy footage from the camcorder into iMovie. And when you import video into an iMovie project, it would divide your video into individual clips for the easy editing.



Part 1. How to Import Video from a Camcorder to your Mac
Step 1: Connect camcorder to your Mac computer with cable (USB/Wifi)
Step 2: Select mode of camcorder such as PC/Computer mode.
Step 3: iMovie will automatic open Import window.
Step 4: If DVD Player automatic open. just quit DVD Player first.
Step 5: So now, you can review your video or select "Import All"(make sure your switch is set to "Automatic").
Step 6: If you select "Manual", you can import some clip to iMovie
Step 7: If you import from Tape based device (DV/HDV), iMovie will automatic revise tape and import all
Step 8: iMovie automatic create thumbnail video after complete import

Part 2. Tips:
iMovie automatically detects your camcorder
iMovie will automatically detect when you have a FireWire camcorder connected. If you see the message No Camera Attached, make sure your camera is turned on and properly plugged in to your computer via a FireWire cable and that your camcorder is set to VCR, VTR, or Play mode. You can also click the Connection Help button for more suggestions.
iMovie supports different video formats
When you create your project, choose the appropriate video format depending on your needs. For importing video from your camcorder, choose between DV, DV Widescreen, HDV 1080i, and HDV 720i. For recording from your iSight, select iSight. If you will be copying MPEG-4 files from your PDA or phone, select MPEG-4.
Import directly to the iMovie timeline
You can import footage directly from your camcorder to the iMovie timeline rather than to the Clips pane. This is a quick and easy way to get your footage into your iMovie project. You can then edit right in the timeline. From the iMovie menu, choose Preferences, click Import, and then choose the option Place clips in Movie Timeline.
If you're importing video that is already edited
Instead of importing your video as separate clips, you can set iMovie to import your video as a single clip. This may be useful if you're importing a movie that you've already edited and you just want to change a small portion. From the iMovie menu, choose Preferences, click Import, and then deselect the "Start a new clip at each scene break" option. If you prefer, select "Limit scene length to" and set a limit for the number of minutes. This will ensure your imported files don't get too large, in case you'll be copying clips between iMovie projects.
What you need to make a high-definition video with iMovie
High definition video is quickly becoming the format you see broadcast on TV. An HD camcorder stores more pixels than a standard camcorder, letting you see more detail in your video footage. iMovie supports importing and editing video from HD camcorders (HDV 720p and 1080i), so you can make movies just like the pros-and it's a great way to archive your most precious life events in the highest resolution possible .
Using video from an MPEG-4 camera
Many digital still cameras, PDAs, and mobile phones let you record short videos in the MPEG-4 format, a standard compression that is used to significantly reduce the file size of video. While iMovie doesn't know how to import video from these devices directly, as it does with FireWire devices, you can still use the MPEG-4 files once you've copied them to your Mac. Just drag them into the iMovie Clips pane using the Finder or import them using Import from the File menu.
Monitor the remaining amount of hard disk space
Digital video clips use a large amount of hard disk space. For example, five minutes of DV footage uses approximately 1GB of space. The same amount of HD video can occupy between 2GB to 4GB, depending on the format and footage. To save hard disk space, import and edit your video in sections instead of trying to do so all at once. You can see how much space remains on your hard disk by using the monitor located in the lower-right corner of the iMovie window.
Using video from your connected or built-in iSight camera
You can record video directly into your iMovie project with your iSight camera. That’s to say, you can add clips to your project spontaneously while you're working on it. Just connect your iSight camera to the FireWire port of your Mac and you're ready to start recording. If you have more then one camcorder connected, such as a camcorder and an iSight,- or you have an iMac with a built-in iSight-choose iSight from the pop-up menu that appears when you switch to camera mode.

#WEFHamburg: One in Five Journalists Lack “Essential” Multimedia Skills, Suggests Poynter Research

One in five journalists still do not have “essential” multimedia skills and news organisations need to do more to motivate staff, the researchers behind a Poynter Institute News University study said today.

Discussing the results of the survey at the World Editors Forum, Howard Finberg, director of the Interactive Learning & News University, said while journalists assessed that their own proficiency had significantly increased, more than one in five still do not feel they have the “essential” skills to go forward.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

A Sick CEO’s Full Disclosure

Everyone at Pacific Biosciences knew something was up when CEO Hugh Martin called for an all-hands meeting on a Thursday. The company always held its big meetings on Friday, and it was rare that the staff didn’t know the agenda in advance.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

In Defense of Standards, Ethics, and Honest Financial Reporting at Hewlett-Packard

Disclaimer: my business partner, Marc Andreessen, is on the board of directors of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). I note that I have no inside information, and this blog post is based purely on published material. In 2007, I sold Opsware, the company that I founded and ran to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6B. I worked at Hewlett-Packard from 2007 to 2008 as an executive in the software business.

Recently, my old company Hewlett-Packard has been in the news–and not in a good way. I’ve been watching the coverage from the sidelines up to this point, but felt increasingly compelled to join the conversation and share my point of view. So here goes.

After firing their CEO, Mark Hurd, the HP board has been accused of everything from incompetence to being prudes. The criticism comes from credible, important journalists and bloggers such as Joe Nocera from the New York Times (NYT), prominent economics blogger Felix Salmon, and former GE (GE) CEO Jack Welch. In addition, HP competitor Larry Ellison lambasted the board and even went so far as to hire Mark Hurd to be President of Oracle (ORCL).

So why in the world did the HP board fire such a high performing CEO? Don’t they care about profits and shareholder value? Aren’t those the most important things? Who cares about his personal shenanigans? Did Mark and his marketing contractor even have sex?

While I am pretty sure that there is much more going on behind the scenes than has been broadly reported, as there often is, let’s look at what has been reported:

* Mark Hurd falsified expense reports.

* The false expense reports are related to a contractor named Jodie Fisher, a former softcore porn movie actress and Playboy model with no relevant marketing experience, who HP was paying up to $5,000 per marketing event.

* At the time of his departure from HP, Hurd issued a public statement saying that he’d violated HP’s Standards of Business Conduct:

“As the investigation progressed, I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career. After a number of discussions with members of the board, I will move aside and the board will search for new leadership. This is a painful decision for me to make after five years at HP, but I believe it would be difficult for me to continue as an effective leader at HP and I believe this is the only decision the board and I could make at this time. I want to stress that this in no way reflects on the operating performance or financial integrity of HP.”

Let’s start with the issue of falsifying expense reports. This factor has been largely dismissed in the press with characterizations like this from Joe Nocera of the New York Times:

“When pressed, H.P. said that Mr. Hurd had fudged some expense reports.”

Nocera goes on to argue that there must have been an alternate motivation to dismiss Hurd, because clearly no CEO would be fired simply for “fudging” an expense report.

When I first read of the expense report issue, my reaction was the opposite of Nocera’s. If the Chief Executive Officer of a public company falsifies any official financial statement, he must be fired. In my mind, this is non-negotiable. We are not talking about a low-level employee tossing an extra receipt into his expense report. We are talking about a public company CEO who is paid tens of millions of dollars a year and is responsible for the integrity of the company’s financial statements fraudulently reporting his own expenses. Why is this a problem?

Every person who invests in Hewlett-Packard does so on the basis of HP’s financial statements. Every pension fund, every retiree, every charitable organization, every employee who joins and is compensated via stock options. When they do so, they trust that the statements are true and that the numbers are accurate. The person they trust to ensure accuracy is the CEO.

If the Chief Executive is willing to compromise the integrity of the company’s financials for any reason, then it is impossible to trust any statement. Every day, there are many potential reasons to falsify financial statements. Here are four examples:

* If you miss the quarter, shareholders will lose money.

* If revenues aren’t high enough, you’ll be forced to lay-off hard working, valued employees.

* If you grow slower than a competitor, you may jeopardize your job.

* A shareholder that you’ve been having an illicit affair with doesn’t want the stock price to go down and threatens to tell your wife.

If a CEO is prone to compromise for any reason, he will have every reason. This time it was his expense report. Next time will it be a marginal accrued liability? A deal that came in at 12:01 am on the last day of the quarter? This is a slippery slope that a public board simply cannot tolerate.

What reason was so powerful that it caused Mark Hurd to break his ethical standard, falsify an official financial statement, mislead the board, and ultimately be fired? It seems that this was done to cover up a “close personal relationship” with a woman named Jodie Fisher, who later accused him of sexual harassment, then subsequently withdrew her claim after Hurd personally paid Fisher a large sum of money.

Who is Jodie Fisher? According to press reports, Fisher is a former Playboy model, reality show contestant, and softcore porn movie actress with no work history relevant to her job with HP. She was hired by Hewlett-Packard and paid up to $5,000 per meeting to meet with Fortune 50 CEOs.

The mainstream press has reported these facts as mundane, ordinary, and hardly worth concern. I disagree. HP employs over 300,000 people. Every single one of HP’s employees is keenly interested in the qualities, skill sets, and behaviors that HP values most. Financial compensation and access to the CEO are the most important ways that HP communicates what it values to its employees. Jodie Fisher had more access to the CEO and was paid more than 99.9% of HP’s workforce, despite having no traditional qualifications.

It’s important to note that this was not Hurd paying for his personal extracurricular activity out of his own pocket. This was the Hewlett-Packard Corporation paying a softcore porn movie star with no relevant work experience more than it pays Harvard graduates with 20 years of industry experience. This was the company spitting in the face of the people who worked hard and sacrificed every day to help the company win in the market. It was completely and categorically unacceptable.

Finally, Hurd admitted in a press release to violating the company’s standards of ethics and integrity. So what? Why do companies have standards and ethics anyway? Shouldn’t they just be concerned with profits? Do we want choir boys or shareholder value?

There are many who take the view that business is singular in purpose–to increase shareholder value. They further take the position that constraining that purpose in any way is inefficient and counterproductive. The mainstream press seems to have broadly adopted this position in its attacks on HP. The Wall Street Journal Op Ed page even complained that businesses were being held to an unfair standard when compared to politicians.

I do not subscribe to this view. Running our companies with no moral or ethical standards is bad for society, bad for the country, and ultimately leads to criminal behavior.

Companies should not merely be thought of as money generating machines. Business can represent human society at its best. A business is a group of people working together to deliver value to the world and improve people’s lives. When done ethically, business quite literally changes the world for the better. However, if the dark side of human motivation is not mitigated with standards and ethics, business can destroy.

We saw this unfold at Enron, a company that was, in its time, celebrated for its impressive profits. Underneath the profits was a culture designed from the ground up to completely ignore any ethical standard including a dazzling display of ethically questionable sexual activity among its executives. These activities, such as promoting secretaries to executive positions in exchange for sexual favors, parallel Hurd’s behavior with Jodie Fisher. In Enron’s case, the bad behavior bled over into first line employees who conspired to create blackouts in California in the name of profits and in the absence of ethics. Ultimately, Enron imploded in a swirl of criminal behavior that bankrupted the company, but not before destroying tens of thousands of peoples’ life savings and damaging millions of innocent victims. After the fact, the press bemoaned the culture that lead to the destruction. However, the same reporters instantly forgot the cause as they cavalierly dismissed Hurd’s ethical breach.

In closing, I point out the impressive courage of the HP board of directors to ignore popular opinion and do the right thing. It is not an easy thing to fire a popular, highly successful CEO. It’s even more difficult when you know that you will be roundly criticized for tolerating that same CEO’s failure to develop internal successors. Despite those factors, Hewlett-Packard’s board of directors stood tall and protected the company, its shareholders and all of us from a dark and destructive journey. As a member of the business community and as a citizen, I am extremely proud of and grateful for their actions.

Ben Horowitz is co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz. He co-founded Loudcloud, later renamed Opsware Inc., in 1999 and served as CEO of the company before it was acquired in 2007 by Hewlett-Packard. He was most recently vice president and general manager of Hewlett-Packard’s Business Technology Organization Unit.

How to convert DVD, Movie, Music to iPhone ringtone and put ringtone on iPhone, iPhone 3G

Everyone wants his iPhone ringtone to be personalized,and sometimes want to make iPhone ringtone from a clip of their favorite DVD, movie or songs. Here I found a easy way to achieve this target for iPhone ringtone, hope it helpful.

The tools you need are Aiseesoft DVD to iPhone Suite and iPhone PC Suite (free), download links are as following:
Aiseesoft iPhone Converter Suite:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/downloads/dvd-to-iphone-suite.exe

iPhone PC Suite (Totally free)
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/iPhone_PC_Suite.htm

Note: iPhone PC Suite has to run under Microsoft .NET Framework, you can download it from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=333325fd-ae52-4e35-b531-508d977d32a6&DisplayLang=en

The iPhone ringtone guide is composed of 3 parts:
1. How to extract audio to ringtone from DVD?
2. How convert audio and video to iPhone ringtone?
3. How to sync/ put ringtone to iPhone without iTunes

Part 1 How to make iPhone ringtone from DVD?
Install Aiseesoft DVD to iPhone Suite and run it. For Windows Vista user, you may have to run this program as Administrator, right click the program shortcut and click “Run as Administrator”.
Run the DVD to iPhone Converter load your DVD by clicking “Load DVD” button, you also can load IFO file from your hard drive by clicking “Load IFO File” button.
Click drop down list and select iPhone supported format (AAC, MP3, WAV, etc.) you want:

You can also customize the sample rate, bit rate and other parameters of your iPhone ringtone by click “setting”



To extract a clip from DVD to iPhone ringtone, you can click button “trim”, set the start time and end time.



Then click “Start” to extract iPhone ringtone from you DVD, Done.

Part 2 How to make iPhone ringtone from videos and songs?
Start Aiseesoft iPhone Movie Converter, then click “Add” button to load video file which you want to extract iPhone ringtone from(You can also load audio file to convert music to iPhone ringtone).




Click drop down list and select iPhone supported format (AAC, MP3, WAV, etc.) you want:



The operation is similar as extracting iPhone audio from DVD with DVD to iPhone Converter, set sample rate, bit rate and other parameters of your iPhone ringtone by click “setting”

Most users’ iPhone ringtone are always short, so you may want to convert a clip from movie to set as ringtone. Click button “trim” to set the start and end point of your iPhone ringtone.

Then click “Start” to convert a clip to iPhone ringtone from your movies or songs.

Next part: How to sync/ put ringtone to iPhone/iPhone 3G without iTunes

Free Trial: Download Aiseesoft DVD to iPhone Suite

Some problems the new iPod touch users may meet

1. How to change iTunes to recognize the new iPod touch
Some New iPod users may meet the situation that your iTunes can not detect your new iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPod Classic. It should recognize it immediately. If it doesn't, download the latest version of iTunes. The problem will be solved:
1) Re-launch iTunes, with and without your iPod plugged in.
2) With iTunes open, reset your iPod Touch
(here:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305743 ) Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds until the Apple logo appears.
3) Restart your computer leaving your iPod touch plugged in
Note: If you uninstall iTunes from a computer, it will be uninstalled for all the users. But it will show up again for all users once you re-install it again. Before uninstalling each user should backup his/her playlists so they can bring them back when the re-install is completed.No music for any of the users will be removed by iTunes. It will remain intact where it is saved.

2．'I can't turn on my iPod'
I have a 1st or 2nd generation video iPod (80 gig).
My computer is windows 2000 so I downloaded the windows 2000 iTunes. So I decided to update my iPod, it was updated and it was fine. It ran out of power. Then it won't turn on? I tried to charge it but it just keeps saying please wait such and such. I left it there for like 2 hours already, and still it didn't charge up... Is the problem because I updated my iPod or something else? And when I opened my computer, iTunes asked me if I can format my iPod into windows. I put yes, it didnt do anything.So I have to problems, its not charging.. and its not turning on.
by Ashley :'My friend had this same problem a few years ago.She just left it plugged in to her computer for a few days, waited it out... eventually the problem fixed itself on its own. I'd say just wait it out for a day or two, and if it's still having problems, take it in to your nearest Circuit City or something.”
by Karat :'its the most popular iPod problem. If you drain the battery fully, you're screwed. Basically the battery is down, but the darn thing wont charge unless you connect it to the usb and the usb wont detect it unless it has charge! So please take it to your nearest apple outlet.”
by Kylla :'The one thing you never want to do with an iPod is let it run out of power, not good for it at all :P I've done it a few times but try to avoid it. What you want to do is hold the menu button and the play/pause button at the SAME time and just wait for it. It should restart it. Thats how my iPod works, yours could be different so experiment with the buttons. Try holding perhaps the center button and the play/pause button? or center button and the menu button? Try to see which two buttons will restart it, its bound to work. But hold BOTH of them down at the SAME time with one hand..and be patient, wait for about 10-15 seconds or so. :)”

3. Why does my 30G iPod video always die quickly?
Even when I am just listening to music. It shuts off after about 45 min. And that is a problem because I am going on a plane trip soon and I plan to watch a movie on my iPod, but movies eat your batttery. Does this happen to anyone else???? How can I make the battery life last longer. btw, it is only like a year old.
by dipin :'In an iPod the battery life is different.
it doesnt depend on how old it is rather it depends on how many times you have charged and discharged it.
for increasing the battery life you should fully charge the battery every time you are charging it . and secondly you should never let it discharge completely . put it on charging just before it shows the red signal and disconnect it only when it is fully charged.
sorry to say but now u'll have to get the battery replaced from apple reseller if you want to watch complete movie the battery life as said by apple is 500 complete cycles of charging and discharging”
by sugadoll :'The same thing happened to me. The problem is that your computer can't detect a completly dead iPod, but you need the computer to charge it so your screwed. j/k I solved it by pluging it into my ihome dock that plugs into the wall. So if you have a wall iPod dock or a car one you can charge it enough so that the computer can detect it. Problem solved.

Recommended Products For you:
DVD Ripper for Mac
Convert DVD to any video or audio formats on Mac OS X. Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac is a professional Mac DVD ripper software.
Video Converter for Mac
Convert all video formats from one to another on Mac OS X. Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac is a specially designed Mac video converter.

How to use Mac The Ripper to rip DVD to iPod, iPhone, etc. on Mac

Part 1. Use MacTheRipper to minus the copy protections for free
Mac The Ripper is a free DVD ripper (extractor) for Mac OS X. It can extract commercial DVD movies to your hard drive, minus all the copy protections and region controls put in place by DVD publishers. Mac The Ripper removes CSS encryption, Macrovision protection, and sets the disc's region code to '0' for region-free by default, and is capable of removing RCE region protection as well, making an unrestricted copy of any DVD movie you own. It doesn't rely on the DVD drive to get the CSS decryption keys, so that means that you do not need to play the DVD with DVD Player in order to rip it to your hard drive unprotected. MacThe Ripper is also capable of removing UOPs, or User Operation Prohibitions, which are the settings that prevent you from skipping or fast-forwarding certain parts of DVDs, such as FBI warnings, previews, logos, intros, etc. Mac The Ripper is also able to extract discs with the new ARccOS protection, as well as DVDs that have been damaged or improperly mastered.
WARNING: Disabling UOPs can break the navigation on certain DVDs. If you disable UOPs, be sure to verify the DVD with DVD Player before you burn it to DVD±R disc.

Step 1. install MacThe Ripper
Download it from: http://www.Mactheripper.org. To install Mac The Ripper, simply mount the .dmg archive by double-clicking it, and copy the Mac The Ripper application from it to your Applications folder (or wherever you want it ), along with this Mac The Ripper Manual if you need it.
Step 2. convert DVD for free
To use Mac The Ripper, you should insert your DVD movie into your DVD drive and launch the Mac The Ripper application. Then, you should set the RCE options if applicable. If Mac The Ripper displays 'DISC RCE: -CLEAR-' after scanning the DVD in the drive, you can leave the 'RCE Region' popup menu on 'OFF', as it is by default. Only (and always) set the 'RCE Region' to 'OFF' when it says that RCE is '-CLEAR-'.
Once you've selected the type of extraction and options you want, you can go back to the 'Disc' tab and click the 'GO!' button (or hit the 'Enter' or 'Return' key) to start the extraction.




Step 3, finish extract movie from DVD.



You can find a folder in the save location. The output files extracted by MacTheRipper are saved as .VOB format .
Tip: RCE region protection
region 1: North America; U.S. territories; Bermuda
region 2: Europe; Western Asia; Kingdom of the Netherlands; Egypt, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland; British overseas territories, French overseas territories; Greenland.
region 3: East and Southeast Asia
region 4: Oceania; Central and South America; Caribbean; Mexico
region 5: Africa, Central and South Asia, Belarus, India, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine
region 6: Mainland China

Part 2. Convert the .VOB files to other video, audio formats compatible with iPod, PSP
After using Mac The Ripper to minus the copy protections, we can use Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac to convert .VOB files to formats that compatible with popular players such as iPod, iPhone(iPhone 3G), Apple TV, PSP, Zune, etc.
Step 1:
Download and install Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac
Note: If you just want to convert .vob file for iPod, You can choose this powerful iPod video converter for Mac. It can convert .VOB file to iPod video and iPod audio on Mac OS with powerful functions and fast converting speed!
Step 2:
Run Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac, click 'Add File' button to import the .VOB files, choose the output format, then click 'Start' to start the conversion. If you want to put the video on PowerPoint, you can choose .avi as output format.
Tip: Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac can rip DVD to all popular video and audio formats directly. It can rip DVD to videos including MP4, AVI, MOV, M4V, 3GP, MPG, MPEG, FLV, etc and can convert DVD audio to MP3, M4A, AAC, AC3, etc. It is more easy to use than Mac the ripper. You can download it for free and have a try.
Step 3:
After the conversion is finished, You can transfer the converted files to the players. For example, use iTunes to transfer the mp4 video to your iPod, here are the steps:
1. Open iTunes and click "File" to add your converted videos to iTunes library.
2. Plug in your iPod to computer, then iTunes will detect your iPod as a device.
3. Select your iPod device on the left panel of iTunes, click "Movies" tab, check the videos you want to sync and click "Apply", done.
Recommend: DVD Converter Suite for Mac: all-in-one solution to convert DVD and Video to MP4, AVI, FLV, MOV, MKV, ASF, directly for your iPhone, iPod, PSP, iPod touch, Zune, etc. on Mac OS X.

The Facebook Movie: Sorry, Mark–But Critics Like It, They Really Like It! (Plus the Taiwanesed Version!)

The Facebook movie is finally here, the reviews are in and–no surprise–the critics are raving.

After all, it was done by Hollywood pros director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin, who have apparently transformed the appalling badly penned and very fictional book “Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal” by Ben Mezrich into some bit of cinematic art.

But that’s not BoomTown talking, so here is a rundown of five reviews by top critics, as collected by the terrific Rotten Tomaties site (you can click on the links below for the full reviews):

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times:

“Smartly written by Aaron Sorkin, directed to within an inch of its life by David Fincher and anchored by a perfectly pitched performance by Jesse Eisenberg, ‘The Social Network’ is a barn-burner of a tale that unfolds at a splendid clip.”

Owen Glelbermann, Entertainment Weekly:

“‘The Social Network’ has everything you want in a thriller for the brain: Huge doses of ego and duplicity, corporate backstabbing, and some very layered performances.”

Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal:

“This account of Facebook’s founder, and of the website’s explosive growth, quickly lifts you to a state of exhilaration, and pretty much keeps you there for two hours.”

Bob Mondello, NPR:

“‘The Social Network’ is terrific entertainment–an unlikely thriller that makes business ethics, class distinctions and intellectual-property arguments sexy.”

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News:

“Weeks after seeing it, moments from it will haunt you.”

Hauntingly sexy is simply not the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that I know or what most think of the powerful social networking site, but it seems to go on and on like that in the reviews, with every critic using the film to wax poetic about life in the digital age.

(Personally, I find all my life lessons in “The Terminator” series, but no one seems to grok my profound insight here.)

On Rotten Tomatoes, which you can see above, the movie got a 97 percent critics rating, although only an 81 percent audience vote. Still, only Ben Affleck’s “The Town” is as close.

In other words, Mark, even if it is trashing you as a person, what you represent seems to have inspired analog ecstasy and movie magic.

And for most film critics, it seems, a very happy ending.

I will be seeing “The Social Network” later today at a special screening in Silicon Valley, sponsored by Eastwick Communications, which will be followed by a panel discussion titled: “Trust, Privacy, and Ethics in the Facebook Age.”

I am the moderator, and the interviewees include M. Ryan Calo, director of the Consumer Privacy Project at Stanford Law School; Matt Cohler, one of Facebook’s earliest execs (where he remains a special advisor) and now a VC at Benchmark Capital; FutureWorks’ Brian Solis; and ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik.

Video TK, natch, although I am going more for wobbly, rather than exhilarating.

I certainly could not do much better than another genius version by Next Media Animation from Taiwan. While only in CGI, there is bathroom sex, beatings, peepholes and–say what?–a gay love triangle.