2010年11月29日星期一

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.

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2010年11月26日星期五

Acer Jumps Into Tablet Fray

As the rise of tablet computers threaten its laptop business, computer giant Acer Inc. unveiled plans to begin selling tablets that run either Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. software.

The company said Tuesday it will release three tablets next year, with screens from 7 inches to 10.1 inches. The first tablets, based on Microsoft’s Windows platform, will be released in February. The company will also release tablets using Google’s Android platform in April. Pricing wasn’t disclosed.

Acer is the latest PC maker to join the tablet bandwagon after Apple Inc.’s iPad, released in April, attracted strong consumer demand. Samsung Electronics Co. has begun selling a Google-based tablet with a 7-inch screen, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. have recently announced plans to introduce tablets to compete with Apple’s product.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

2010年11月25日星期四

Supply Data Now a Focus of Probe

Has the “channel check” become a criminal act?

Wall Street analysts have been left bewildered in recent days, as federal prosecutors begin to home in on insider-trading cases that appear to involve routinely published information about public-company supply chains.

Case in point: Apple Inc., one of the hottest stocks of the past year, for which an entire industry of well-known and obscure analysts and “expert networks” scramble to report every detail of the company’s undisclosed production plans.

The proliferation of such research raises questions about where prosecutors will draw the lines that define insider trading.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

2010年11月24日星期三

Bubble or Bust? Nobody Knows Anything

Sequoia Capital is widely (and, in my opinion, correctly) considered to be the best venture capital firm on the planet. Their list of hits include Apple, Oracle, Cisco, Atari, EA, Google, Yahoo, and Paypal (and that’s just counting the investments of two of their partners – Don Valentine and Mike Moritz).

Read the rest of this post on the original site

2010年11月22日星期一

How to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub

Squint and VisualHub, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. They also have got new names, Film Redux (VisualHub) and PunyVid (iSquint). As you may or may not know, the developer, Techspanion has closed shop
and after an outcry from fans, it has released the source code.
You can get them here: SourceForge.net Repository - [transcoderredux] Index of /
This a tutorial on how to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub.

Here are two parts:
Part 1, How to use open source to build VisualHub (Film Redux)?
Part 2, How to use open source to build iSquint (PunyVid).

What you need:
Mac OS X 10.5, Xcode 3.0 and Techspansion's open source

Part 1, How to use open source to build VisualHub (Film Redux)?
Step 1, Open the open source, you will see two folders: FilmRedux and PunyVid. Open FilmRedux and find the file "FilmRedux.xcodeproj".

FilmRedux and PunyVid

Step 2, Double click "FilmRedux.xcodeproj" to open it with Xcode.

open source

Step 3, Click the button "Build and Go" to build VisualHub (Film Redux). That's all.

build VisualHub

Part 2, How to use open source to build iSquint( PunyVid)?
Step 1, Open the open source, you will see two folders: FilmRedux and PunyVid. Open PunyVid and find the file "PunyVid.xcodeproj".

open source

Step 2, Double click "PunyVid.xcodeproj" to open it with Xcode.

open source

Step 3, Click the button "Build and Go" to build iSquint (PunyVid). That's all.

 build iSquint

The operation is simple, but the stability would be a great concern, it kept reporting error messages during my try which is really frustrated. Perhaps it's not wise enough to spend hours coping with those errors messages, as there must be some commercial programs that perform much more reliably, like the Video Converter for Mac.
If you want to convert videos to DVD, here is DVD Creator for Mac.

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Downgrade PSP to version1.5 using PSP battery

Lots of users downgrade their PSP to version 1.5 because they can upgrade their PSP to any version from 1.5. And if you upgrade your PSP to version 3.51, you can play any downloaded games and run any applications. Do you know that you can downgrade your PSP system to version 1.5 all by yourself by turning your PSP battery into a pandora's battery? All you need are an original PSP battery (with more than 50% charge) and a Memory Stick Pro Duo with 1GB memory or above.

I. Get ready (Reformat PSP memory stick)
Before you get started with the downgrade, you need to reformat your PSP memory stick. If you don't know how to reformat it, you can refer to the steps below:
1. Press the HOME button on the bottom left of your PSP.
2. Use the arrow keys to move to the Settings area, then move the up and down keys to go to System Settings.
3. Push the "X" button (or the "O" button, depending on which button is the "Enter" button of your PSP) and scroll to find the "Format Memory Stick" option. Push the "X" button again to select this option.
4. Your PSP will now confirm that you want to reformat the memory stick, choose yes and your PSP will be physically formatted in a few seconds.
To do the downgrade, you also need to download an application pack. After the downloading is finished, what you get will be a compressed application pack named "pandora", decompress it to the root directory of a hard disc, say Disc H. In this "pandora" folder, you can see four folders including mspformat, msinst, battery and installer, and a file named UPDATE.PBP.
Now you are ALL ready to turn your PSP battery to a Pandora's battery and use it to downgrade any PSP!
II.Turn your PSP battery into a padora's battery
Step 1: Logically reformat your PSP Connect your PSP to your computer. And your PSP will be recognized as a new hard disc, say K. Then click Start -> Run, input cmd in the popped up dialog box, and click OK to enter DOS system. Use the below commands one by one to run the mspformat file: Input "H:", and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard. (Here H is the disc where the "panndora" folder is located) Input "cd pandora" and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard. Input "cd mspformat" and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard. Then input "mspformat.exe K" and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard. (Here K is the name of the disc that your PSP is recognized on your computer.) After these commands, your PSP will be logically reformatted in a minute.

 PSP downgrader - Downgrade PSP

Step 2: Open the recognized PSP hard disc on your computer, create a new folder and name it "PSP", open this "PSP" folder, create a new folder and name it "game". Copy and paste the "installer" folder and the "battery" folder into the "game" folder. Then copy and paste the UPDATE.PBP file to the root directory of the PSP hard disc on your computer.
Step 3: On your PSP, switch to the Game option, press X or O (depending on which is the "Enter" key of your PSP). Go to "installer" and press X or O to run it.

PSP downgrader - installer

In a few seconds, a file named "msipl.bin" will be created on the root directory of your PSP memory disc. And now, you should take out your memory disc and then put it back in, which seems to be useless but is a very necessary step.
Step 4: Connect to your PSP back to your computer. Then enter DOS system as mentioned in Step 1. Use the below commands one by one to run the mspformat file:
Input "H:", and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard
Input "cd pandora" and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard.
Input "cd minst" and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard.
Then input "msinst.exe K K:\msipl.bin " and press the "Enter" Key on your keyboard. (Here K is the name of the disc that your PSP is recognized on your computer.)
When you see a popped up message asking if you are sure, click "Yes".
Step 5: Go back to your PSP, switch to the Game option, press X or O (depending on which is the "Enter" key of your PSP). Go to "battery" and press X or O to run it, press X or O to OK every popped up message to finish running the battery application.

PSP downgrader - battery

Now, your pandora's battery has been created!

III. Use the created pandora's battery to downgrade your PSP
After you turn your batter to a PSP downgrade battery (pandora's battery), you can use it to downgrade your PSP by following the instructions below:
Take out your PSP Memory Stick and battery, then put back in your PSP Memory Stick first, and put your battery back in.Turn your PSP power on, when you see three options; select the Downgrade option, your PSP will be downgraded in a very short time and it will be automatically shut down afterwards.Turn your PSP on again, and you will see a blue screen. But no worries, you can just press the O key, and your PSP system is already version 1.5!
Note: The above process will turn your PSP battery to a pandora's battery that can be used for PSP downgrade. But the pandora's battery cannot be used to play PSP games, videos or music. And the process is not reversible. You will need to get an additional PSP battery for regular uses. However, you can use your pandora's battery to downgrade any PSP to version 1.5 or even repair you PSP.

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2010年11月21日星期日

Put Limewire music, YouTube video on iPod

1. Put music and videos from Limewire to iPod
Limewire is a download tool I assume lot of us use. I often use it to download free music and videos and put them on my iPod. I also often visit Youtube to watch videos and sometimes I download videos from Youtube to put on my iPod.
Search and download songs from Limewire. You may get songs in all sorts of formats, but not all formats are supported by iPod. Usually I select three formats: MP3, AAC and M4A formats that are supported by iPod and can be directly transferred to iPod using iTunes. For the detailed specs info, you can visit http://www.apple.com/iPod/specs.html. After you download the songs, open your iTunes, click "File" from the upper left corner, select "Add file to library", browse your computer hard drive and find the songs downloaded by Limewire, select the songs you prefer, click OK and the songs will be put in your iTunes. Then you can just transfer the songs to your iPod from iTunes.

2.Youtube video to iPod
I often visit Youtube to watch videos and sometimes I download videos from Youtube to put on my iPod. Youtube videos are in FLV formats, so I use a free online FLV converter to do the conversion:
Firstly, go to Youtube and open the page of the video you want to put on your iPod. And you will find the Youtube URL of this video to the right of the playback window. Then copy this URL. See the highlighted area in the figure below:

put Limewire music, YouTube video on iPod

Secondly, go to http://vixy.net/ , paste the copied URL into the URL field of this web page, and select "MP4 for iPod/PSP" from the "Converts to" drop-down list. Then click "Start" below this list to start the conversion. See the highlighted areas below:

put Limewire music, YouTube video on iPod

Finally, after the conversion, this website will provide a download link for you to download the converted MP4 file. When you see the link, you can just download the final file from the link, save the downloaded MP4 file on your computer and use iTunes to sync it on to your iPod.

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2010年11月19日星期五

Google TV: No Need to Tune In Just Yet

The quest to bring the full range of Internet video to your TV in a simple way continues, but it isn’t going well. The latest team to try—Google, Logitech and Sony—has made an admirably bold effort, but, like others before, it has missed the mark, at least in its first effort.Google TV—software built into hardware made by Logitech and Sony—is very different from competing products, such as Apple TV and Roku. Unlike the others, it aims to merge Web video and regular TV in one simple interface, via one box, with one easily usable controller. Also, unlike the others, it isn’t limited to just customized channels that bring specific Web-video services to the screen. It lets you browse to almost any website with video, and play it on the TV.

But, for now, I’d relegate Google TV to the category of a geek product, not a mainstream, easy solution ready for average users. It’s too complicated, in my view, and some of its functions fall short.

You can get Google TV in three ways. One is through a small, black $300 set-top box called the Logitech Revue. The second is through a special Sony Blu-ray player that costs $400. The third is through a Sony TV with built-in Internet that starts at $600. All are much costlier than the $99 Apple TV or the $60 Roku, but they offer more of the Internet’s video and make the effort to integrate it with cable or satellite programming.

ptechJ1

Logitech Revue for Google TV

Google TV cleverly piggybacks onto your existing cable or satellite box and can control it, at least to some extent. So there is no switching of inputs or remotes required, at least theoretically, to go between Internet video and regular TV—something that has plagued competing systems. But if you try to watch an Internet version of a show from a big network site or from Hulu on your Google TV device, it’s blocked, because the studios want to channel those shows through your cable or satellite box.

I tested Google TV using the Logitech Revue product, though I also met with Sony and had a briefing on their version, which looks and works pretty much the same. Setup took 12 steps and about 40 minutes and went pretty smoothly. It might have been worse if, as Logitech warns, your cable or satellite box requires you to install special cables to allow the Revue’s controller to operate it, or if you use a separate audio system. You need an HDTV with HDMI jacks on your TV and cable or satellite box to use the Logitech Revue.

The controller on the Revue is a wireless keyboard. Yes, that’s right, a keyboard, something you might find unattractive in the living room and no better than what you might use if you just plugged a PC into the TV.

Logitech does offer an optional “mini” controller for $130, but it is essentially a tinier keyboard with minuscule buttons and track pad crammed into a smaller space. It is more complex to operate than the big keyboard and much more complicated than a typical TV remote. Sony’s box comes with a similar, complex-looking mini-controller.

The key to Google TV, however, is the software, not the hardware. There is a home screen with a list of core functions, but, Google being Google, the principle activity is meant to be search. You just start typing what you want to see and Google TV brings up a list of hits from both regular TV and the Internet.

Unfortunately, in my tests, this search-and-viewing process was frustrating. For one thing, you only get a few results, and in my experience, they usually weren’t the right ones. When I was looking for the telecast of the Mark Twain Award ceremony for Tina Fey, all Google pointed me to were short clips on YouTube. I had to do a full Web search (a standard option in the brief list Google gives you) and then navigate through a standard Google results screen, which was unreadable at 10 feet without zooming in, to find the full show on the PBS website.

When I finally got to the PBS page, we watched the show, but it was noticeably pixelated on our large TV screen, even though my Internet connection is very fast.

In another case, I wanted to see the new Beatles-themed ads from Apple, but Google’s first results didn’t include them. The closest they came was an old fictional ad on the topic produced by a fan years ago. I manually navigated to Apple’s website, where the ads were prominent, but found that Google TV doesn’t support QuickTime, Apple’s video format. (The company says it plans to do so in a future release.) I knew the ads were also on YouTube, so I went there and eventually found them, with some effort, but they stuttered on playback.

ptechJ2

To use the Logitech Revue for Google TV, you need an HDTV with HDMI jacks on your TV and cable or satellite box.

I was similarly frustrated by finding and using regular TV shows from my cable box. Unless you have a box from Dish network, Google TV can’t search in your recorded shows, or allow you, when it finds a show coming up, to set it to record. You’ll likely switch to your regular remote to do those things, which defeats Google’s aim of integration.

Also confusing is Google TV’s home screen, which has overlapping categories. For instance, there is a Queue, for some of your favorite podcasts and sites, and a Bookmarks for others. There is an Applications menu that takes you to specially designed apps that spare you from navigating the regular Web, such as the Netflix video service or Pandora Radio. But there is also a Spotlight category that has customized, simplified websites that, to an average user, amount to the same thing. And, so far, you can only search for the names of most applications, not any content they contain.

Google plans to add the Android Market of third-party apps to Google TV. That could be good, adding more functionality. But it also risks adding more complexity, unless Google redesigns the interface.

Google TV has its strong points. The integration of Web video and regular TV, while flawed, is a smart move. There is even a picture-in-picture feature that lets you keep watching TV while, say, using Twitter or any other Web function. And the Logitech box has an optional $150 camera that allows you to make free video calls. It worked well in my one test. Logitech also allows you to control the Revue from an iPhone or Android app.

But this is a 1.0 product. For now, I’d suggest average users dying to watch Internet video on a TV, either plug in a PC or use one of the wireless systems, like Intel’s Wi-Di, that wirelessly beam video from a PC to a TV. Or, you could wait for Google TV to improve.

2010年11月17日星期三

Another TV Guide for Web Video! But Shufflr Wants Your Friends to Do the Work

Smart people are sure that you’re going to watch more and more Web video from the comfort of your couch.

But if that’s the case, how are you going to decide what to watch? The world of Internet video is exponentially bigger than the 500-channel universe you already have, and usually ignore, via your cable box. Who’s going to help you navigate that?

Lots of people, it turns out. In fact, that’s one of the most popular ways to attack the Web video business: Try to create what will turn out to be the Web’s version of TV Guide, and make money by selling content or advertising once you’re big enough.

That’s really what Boxee is up to, if it can get scale. Ditto for Clicker. And Google TV and Apple TV, really. And really, if you think about it, that’s what Hulu would like to do, if Jason Kilar could get his way. Etc.

Here’s yet one more competitor: Shufflr, a newish start-up run by Bangalore-based Althea Systems. Althea has rounded up $3 million via a Series A round from Intel Capital, and is using the money to build out its product, a browser that works on laptops and, soon, phones running Google’s Android platform.*

Shufflr’s pitch is pretty simple: They sort through lots of video feeds–from everyone from YouTube to Comedy Central to Blip.TV–and offer up suggestions about what you’d like to see.

They’re based in part on what you’ve said you like on Twitter and Facebook, and in part on what your friends have said they like, by forwarding a link. And Shufflr plays the video for you–using the original distributors embedded advertising–on its own player.

It’s an interesting concept, but the problem with all of these machine-based recommendation engines is that they’re more clumsy than you’d like.

Shufflr, for instance, can figure out that I like “comedy,” but then it spits up everything that anyone has ever thought is funny. And there’s a whole lot of not-funny stuff there. At least in my humble opinion.

I think that’s not that much of a problem when you’re sitting on a laptop, idling for a few minutes between meetings and just want to watch…something. If you don’t like it, you flip away very, very quickly

But on your couch, which is the use case Shufflr is pushing here, I think your standards are higher. Or different, at least: I’m happy to flip through dud channels on my own, but if some software suggested stuff that I didn’t want to see, I’m not sure I’d stick with it very long.

And I’m sure that, statistically, I’m much more likely to enjoy something that one of my Facebook friends likes, or that someone I follow Twittered about. But that’s a very big group, and the truth is, I probably only care what a very small number of them say about what to watch on the Web. (I’m still angry at Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone, for instance, for raving about “Kick-Ass,” which I ended up renting on VOD. You owe me $4.99, dude.)

But that’s the problem that most recommendation sites and engines have, no matter what the topic is: You really don’t care what everyone you know says about everything–you care what a few people say about something very particular.

In any case, Shufflr is less than a year old, so they’ve got a bit of time to get better. But they’d best do it quickly: Plenty of other folks are trying to crack the same code.

2010年11月15日星期一

Google’s Inevitable Ruin Begins

You can see the beginnings of Google’s ruin already, which was inevitable. Nobody can ever leave things alone even though they are working just fine.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Using Windows Movie Maker to edit videos on PC for free

This is a tutorial which explains the process of editing videos on a PC using Windows Movie Maker and editing videos on Mac using iMovie. This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to editing videos for free. Then share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD. Using dvd burner you can even take movies you've made and turn movies into DVDs.
You can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

This tutorial includes three parts, this is part one:
Part 1. Using Windows Movie Maker to edit videos on PC for free
Part 2. Using iMovie to edit videos on Mac for free
Part 3. A table that compares free video editors.

Windows Movie Maker 2.1 makes home movies amazingly fun. With Movie Maker 2.1, you can create, edit, and share your home movies right on your computer. Build your movie with a few simple drag-and-drops. Delete bad shots and include only the best scenes.

Windows Movie Maker- edit video

Step 1, Capture video
You can capture video from video device, import video, pictures, audio and music. MM2 will allow you to import the following file formats:
- Audio files: .aif, .aifc, .aiff .asf, .au, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .snd, .wav and .wma
- Picture files: .bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, and .wmf
- Video files: .asf, .avi, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wm, and .wmv
If your videos are not the formats compatible with Windows Movie Maker such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, MIDI, AIFF, AAC, you can use the video converter to convert the video to the formats supported by MM2 first.

Step 2, Edit movie
-Add Video Transitions.
Open your Windows Movie Maker project file. If Movie Maker opens in Timeline view, return to Storyboard view by clicking on the Show Storyboard link. From the Movie Tasks pane, under Edit Movie, select View video transitions . Choose the desired transition, select and drag into storyboard between desired clips. After inserting transition, sample the change in the Monitor to determine if it works in the way you desire. To change a transition you can Undo the action, right click on the transition in the Storyboard and select delete, or simply drag a new transition over the old transition.
-Add Video Effects.
Choose "View video effects" under the Edit Movie section and drag the chosen effect to the star in the lower left corner of the picture. Preview your movie to see the effects. Continue to add effects to other pictures if desired. Save the file. A video effect applies to the picture itself rather than the change from one picture to another as in a transition.
-Add Titles and Credits.
Under the Edit Movie section, choose Make titles or credits. You have several options for where to place your Windows Movie Maker title and credits. They may precede or follow a picture or video clip, or be used as an overlay.
Here are tips for you to add special effects to your movies using Windows Movie Maker

Step 3, Finish movie
Now that your movie is complete, you may wish to save the project in a different format.
Saving the project and saving the movie are two different things. The movie project is the working file so that you may continue to edit until you have a final version of your work completed. The movie file is the final output of your movie.
Windows Movie Maker compresses all the parts of your movie into a single unit. The file size is much smaller so that it can be used on a web site or emailed.
You also have the option to create a CD or DVD of your movie. These options are all under the heading Finish Movie. If you want to convert the movie made by Windows Movies Maker to other video format such as YouTube video, AVI, MP4, 3GP, you can use this video converter. You can also use free third-party software to burn the movie made by Windows Movies Maker to DVD for free.

2010年11月14日星期日

Three Ways to Download Music To Your Zune Player

There are several ways you can download your Zune movies, Zune music videos, Zune MP3's and Zune software to your Zune player.
1) The first is from the Microsoft Zune Marketplace and other Pay-Per-Download Sites which have movie downloads, music downloads, music video downloads, and more. The problem with downloading Zune files from places like Microsoft Zune Marketplace is the cost. The Microsoft Zune Marketplace charges a monthly subscription service called the "Zune Pass" with unlimited downloads for $14.99 per month. The pay-per-download sites charge on the average about $1.00 per Zune download. So, with a Zune player that has a 30 gigabyte hard drive whic allows users to store up to 7,500 Zune MP3s, 2,500 pictures or 100 hours of Zune movies and Zune music videos, that is going to cost a fortune to fill up.

2) WiFi - Microsoft Zune players has a technology called WiFi which allows friends and family to share Zune music, Zune movies, Zune software, pictures and Zune music videos both effortlessly and wirelessly. If you have a cool picture or something you found on a zune download site you can share it easily. Anytime you come in close range of another Zune player you can connect to that Zune player via WiFi and share your Zune downloads. The only drawback is you can only play a shared song only 3 times before it is deleted although, pictures are saved and can be viewed many times. It's a nice feature but needs improvement.

3) The third way is by ripping your music CD's to your Zune player. The definition of ripping means converting CD music files to a file format usable by your Zune player which is either in MP3 or WMA file format. After doing this, all you need to do is plug your Microsoft Zune player into your computer with a USB cable and transfer the ripped music files to your Zune player using the provided Zune software.

1. Put the music CD that you want ripped into your PC.
2. After the media player opens. Select the song you would like to copy and click on RIP.
3. Save the song you just ripped to a folder of your choice.
4. Plug in your Zune Player to your PC using the USB Cable. The Zune Software will automatically search for music that you saved in the folder on your PC. Select the files you want and manually drag and drop them into your Zune player's music folder.

Related theme:
New Zune review part 2-1
New Zune review part 2-2
New Zune review part 2-3
New Zune review part 2-4

Recommended Products:
DVD to Zune Converter
This Zune Converter can convert or rip DVD to what you want video/audio formats.
Zune Movie Converter
It supports convert video to Zune supporting video and audio format.

2010年11月11日星期四

Where to download free iPod Videos

Free iPod Videos, Legal nano Videos, Places to get iPod, iPod nano Videos
1. The Internet Archive is great for old videos and movies. The Archive’s 256Kb MPEG4 Downloads are unfortunately not iPod-ready as previously thought. The format’s correct, but there are audio pops when played back on the iPod. You’re probably better off downloading the MPEG2 videos anyway. The 265Kb files were pretty low-res and it’s a snap to re-encode the MPEG2 files for your iPod with Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac.
2. The Chronic..What?..cles of Narnia.
3. The iTunes Music Store’s podcast section is loaded with free videos.
4. Channel 101 and Channel 102 offer up some brilliant downloadable videos.
5. PodGuide.tv
6. Channel Frederator offers up some of the best short animations anywhere.

Illegal Places to Get iPod Videos
You’re probably familiar with most of these options, but if you aren’t then they’re new to you!
1. Search the BitTorrent network for iPod.
2. Check Podtropolis
3. The Pirate Bay!
4. Seriously, you should probably stick to LEGAL sources for iPod videos.

Downloading Free Music Without Fear
3hive.com: A great blog-style listing of free iPod-compatible songs offered by record artists and labels in an attempt to entice full-album purchases. Songs are in the MP3 format in a variety of bit-rates generally ranging between 128kbps and 192kbps.

Download Free music

Epitonic.com: Offers highly professional, artist-focused presentation of free digital music downloads in MP3 format, with biographical details and short previews for songs across a narrow collection of genres.

Download Music

Freekidsmusic.com
: Along with its sister site Freechildrensmusic.com, provides a large variety of free MP3 format songs for young listeners.

Download MP3 Music

Garageband.com: Not to be confused with Apple’s music creation application of the same name, Garageband.com collects and provides popularity charts of independent music, featuring over 125,000 bands.

Freekidsmusic - Download music

MFiles.co.uk: Provides free downloads of well-known classical music in MP3 format.

MFiles.co.uk - Download classic music

MP34U.com: A clean, professionally designed interface to individual free songs sorted by genre, selected by site “sources” who pick and post only music they like.

MP34U.com - Download music

Music.download.com: The music-dedicated expansion of popular software download site Download.com offers free full-length MP3 songs across all major genres, even including Children’s, Spoken Word, Comedy, Folk and Religious tracks. Most tracks are indie.

PureVolume: Offers over 100,000 free songs for download, and captured many of the best users of what used to be MP3.com (before it was scrapped, sold, and completely changed).

PureVolume - Download music

RCRDLBL: An exclusively-online record label which provides free MP3 downloads of exclusive music from emerging artists.
Of course, if you can’t find the song you’re looking for on one of these free sites, you can always visit Apple’s iTunes Store or Amazon’s MP3 Store and make a purchase there. Though these aren’t as cheap as some of the questionable international sites listed in the prior section, they are an entirely safe and legal way to get access to over a million songs.

Free Music with a Catch: Ad-supported Sites
Years ago, the most common source of free music for your listening enjoyment was the radio. Radio stations were able to broadcast music from a wide range of artists at no cost to the listener. Instead they made money through advertising services. The “price” a listener paid to listen to free music in those days was having to endure listening to advertising interspersed with the music.
Recently, some web sites have begun to offer a similar business model: You can download free music, but this is either done through a client or web site with very proactive advertising (as opposed to the standard advertising on most web sites), or the music tracks themselves contain brief advertising spots placed at the beginning of each track.
Unfortunately, most of the sites that offer these types of services, such as SpiralFrog and Ruckus Networks (for U.S. college students) only offer their downloads in a Windows Media Audio DRM-protected format that is incompatible with iTunes or the iPod (or ironically, even the Microsoft Zune). Further, these tracks may not be burned to a CD. These sites are therefore generally of no value to iPod owners.
A notable exception is We7, a UK-based ad-supported site whose founders include Peter Gabriel. We7 provides downloads in a DRM-free 192kbps MP3 format, with the catch being that each track has a 6-12 second advertisement grafted onto the front-end. Ad-free tracks may be purchased outright, and We7 also offers a credit system whereby you can convert some of your tracks to ad-free versions once they have been in your library for 28 days or more. Since these tracks are in an open MP3 format, they can be played on just about any digital media player available.

We7 - Download iPod Video

Although primarily a paid subscription music service, eMusic.com provides a free ad-supported music service as well. In this case, the advertising is directed at the user via the ALOT toolbar which is installed in your web browser (compatible with IE6, IE7 and FireFox 2 only).

Downloading Free Podcasts: Radio for your iPod, iPod nano.
In addition to free music for your iPod, you can also download “Podcasts,” short radio-style programs produced by individuals and companies around the world. Many of these podcasts include music selections, and some are even dedicate to showcasing independent artists and providing music commentary and review.
While podcasts were originally organized in several independent podcast directories out on the Internet, the ITunes Store now includes an extensive catalog of podcasts which you can subscribe to directly via iTunes completely for free. Podcasts available through iTunes include both audio and video podcasts, and cover an extensive range of topics. Basically, anybody who has anything to say on a regular basis can create their own podcast and get “on the air” via iTunes quite easily.
A selection of music-specific podcasts can be found right in iTunes in the Music Podcasts Directory, which includes a comprehensive selection of music-related podcasts from music reviewers, traditional radio stations, and even directly from both small independent and more mainstream artists. So it helps you download your favorite iPod Videos

Music Podcasts Directory -Download iPod Video

2010年11月10日星期三

Oracle Enlists Process Servers, Not PIs, to Find HP CEO

Oracle is still on the hunt for former SAP chief and current HP CEO Léo Apotheker, but it hasn’t enlisted private investigators to track him down.

Sources in a position to know tell me that the PIs rumored to be searching for Apotheker are actually PSs–process servers, agents charged with delivering subpoenas to their intended recipient. And, as federal law dictates, their search extends no farther than 100 miles from the location of the trial, because if Apotheker is outside that 100-mile radius, they can’t serve him. And Oracle can’t compel him to testify. Which means it’s not really worth the company’s time or effort to hire Dog the Bounty Hunter to track him down in some Schwarzwald hideout.

As Oracle attorney David Boies said during a press conference after Monday’s proceedings, “Because of his role, we think it’s important for the jury to be able to see him live. But evidently, the embarrassment of avoiding trial is less than the embarrassment of testifying. We are trying to serve him. Still.”

PREVIOUSLY:

2010年11月8日星期一

Kno Prices Its Student Tablets at $599 and $899 to Ship By End of the Year

Kno, the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up trying to jumpstart a market for tablets focused on students, announced tonight that it will have a limited number available by the end of the year for sale at prices of $599 and $899.

The lower price is for its single-screen device, while the clamshell, double-screen version is more expensive.

While Kno would not say exactly how many it has ordered for its first tablet production run–the device is being built by China’s Foxconn–Co-founder and CEO Osman Rashid said in an interview earlier today with BoomTown that units would number “in the thousands.”

Rashid said the Kno will initially be aimed at 10 college campuses across the U.S., although he also declined to name them.

“We are going to do online and offline marketing, in a very focused approach,” he said, noting that Kno would be working with some college bookstores too.

Marketing a new and complex product like the Kno will take a lot of effort and cash, especially since it is an increasingly competitive market for mobile and portable computing products that includes Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Amazon, Dell and many others.

Kno recently raised another $46 million in funding to add to a $10 million round, and sources said that the Santa Clara, Calif. company could be back out raising even more early next year.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

Kno’s Rashid said company pushed the go button after getting good feedback from students in a beta test, half of whom used the single-screen device and half who used the two screens, along with its related education platform software.

“We found that 85 percent of those using the single screen wanted the dual-screen version and that those using two screens took three times more notes,” said Rashid. “Students said they love the fact that they can write in the textbook itself and it appears the way it needs to be, even in digital form.”

The first Kno will have an aluminum body, and the company will also offer a set of accessories, such as a cover and a stand.

And Kno will watch initial sales carefully. “As a start-up, we want to make sure we are meeting demand, but also that we roll it out in a careful approach,” said Rashid.

Indeed–and it will be interesting to see how that goes for the ambitious and innovative Kno.

Until the results are in, here is the official press release from Kno:

Kno Announces Pricing and Pre-Order Availability for Tablet Textbook; Pays for Itself in 3 Semesters

Delivers Significant Student Impact for Less than 1% the Cost of a 4-Year College Education

Santa Clara, CA–November 9, 2010–Kno, Inc., a powerful, groundbreaking tablet textbook designed specifically for students and the education market, today revealed the price of its 14.1 inch single and dual-screen tablets at $599 and $899, respectively. The company also announced that it is now accepting a limited number of pre-orders for an initial shipment that is expected to be on customers’ doorsteps by the end of the year.

“Kno’s extraordinary benefits represent only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of college, but its impact on the student’s career–and the energy it adds to the experience, the thrill of learning, and the ultimate grade–is dramatic,” said Osman Rashid, Co-Founder and CEO of Kno, Inc. “Even better, when you do the math, it actually pays for itself and still saves $1,300 in digital textbook costs.”

Kno has been beta-testing the product with students and the response has been overwhelmingly positive for both the single and dual screen devices. Far more than just a digital textbook, Kno is creating a powerfully effective new learning environment that will make students at all levels more successful at processing, grasping and retaining both facts and concepts.

“My experience with Kno has been really incredible. My books have become more interactive and the ability to hand-write electronic notes on the book pages themselves has changed how I retain information,” said Melissa Lin, a sophomore majoring in Biology at UC Berkeley that has been beta-testing the Kno tablet. “I see a ton of difference with the Kno. I can carry everything with me including my books, my notebooks and a browser for research. And, with the lower cost of digital textbooks, it will pay for itself in three semesters which is really great.”

Digital textbooks, which typically cost between 30 and 50 percent less than physical textbooks, will be priced separately and will be sold through the Kno bookstore, which will be accessible on every Kno device. Starting today, students will be able to browse Kno’s bookstore at www.kno.com/store/books, which will include tens of thousands of the most popular textbooks and supplement materials. Kno has previously announced that it is working with major textbook publishers including Cengage, McGraw Hill and Pearson. The company recently added publishers including Macmillan, Bedford, Freeman & Worth and Holtzbrinck as well as BarCharts Publishing, Kaplan, Random House and a large number of the University Presses.

“According to the not-for-profit College Board’s 2010 report, the average college student spends approximately $1,100 a year on book and supplies,” said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “Kno can reduce that cost while bringing education into the 21st Century, providing students with a far superior learning experience than they have today.”

To learn more about Kno, please visit the Kno blog at http://blog.kno.com or visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/GoodtoKNO, Twitter www.twitter.com/GoodtoKNO and YouTube www.youtube.com/GoodtoKNO.

Food Industry Ripe For Disruption

The Internet of Things, when objects in the real world are connected to the Internet, is adding a whole lot more data to the Web. The fascinating question is how that data will be used, by existing businesses and new startups yet to emerge. Take the food industry for example.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

2010年11月7日星期日

MKV file, MLV player, Free MKV Converter and MKV Burner on Mac OS

What is MKV file?
.MKV is a container format developed by Matroska. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only. The most common use of .MKV files is to store HD video files.It can hold different types of video and audio. For example, there might be an .avi file contained within the .MKV file. High Definition movies in 720 or 1080 pixel width format are often encoded and packaged as a Matroska format video with a .MKV file extension.

How to play MKV file s on Mac?
I recommend trying either MPlayer OS X or VLC Media Player. They are all free.
These excellent and free multimedia players can tackle many of the video formats unknown to QuickTime. They contain a decoder to decode the .MKV files. They will also play many of the formats you will find inside the .MKV file.
How to convert MKV to DVD, MP4, AVI, etc on Mac for free?
I recommend VisualHub to convert MKV to MP4, AVI, etc on Mac. It can convert MKV to iPod Nano, convert MKV to iPod Classic, convert MKV to iPod touch , convert MKV to iPhone, convert MKV to Apple TV, convert MKV to Xbox 360, convert MKV to PSP, convert MKV to PS3, AVI, convert MKV to MP4, convert MKV to MPEG, convert MKV to Flash, convert MKV to WMV and convert MKV to DVD.
Techspanion (The developer of VisualHub) has closed shop and after an outcry from fans, VisualHub, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. It has got new name Film Redux. You can download its open source and built it by yourself. Here is a tutorial: How to build iSquint and VisualHub?

Convert MKV on Mac

Step 1, Run Film Redux (VisualHub)
Step2, Load MKV videos
Insert your MKV files from your Mac .Click the Add files button to load your MKV videos.
Step3, Convert MKV to MP4, AVI, iPod, etc.
Here is the list of the formats that VisualHub can convert MKV
They are iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod touch , iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, AVI, MP4, Quicktime, MPEG, Flash, WMV. Choose the format you want to convert MKV to and click Start.

VisualHub - convert MKV list

That’s all. Now, we have converted MKV to iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod touch , iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, AVI, MP4, Quicktime, MPEG, Flash, WMV.
How to convert DVD to MKV on Mac for free?
I recommend you use Handbrake to you to convert DVD to MKV on Mac . HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter. It can convert DVD to MKV on Mac eaisly and for free.
Step 1, Download and Install Handbake
Download the free program Handbrake. Check to see if your Mac has the system requirements; click on the apple icon in the top left corner and About this Mac. Then install HandBrake.

Handbrake - convert DVD to MKV

Step 2, Run it and insert DVD.
Select your favorite DVD disk and put it in the disk drive. Then run HandBrake and click Detected Volume to choose source. Click Open and you will be able to see many titles included in this DVD disk. Choose the longest title if this is a movie DVD, or choose your favorite chapter if this is an episode.
Step 3, Select Output setting
Select MKV files as output format and select other settings such as video quality, audio track, Audio Sample Rate, bitrate, Picture Settings, etc. Handbrake - select output setting

Step 4, Rip DVD to MKV on Mac
Check all settings and click Rip. A progress bar will show its ripping speed; depends on many factors like speed of Mac, filesize, etc.
That’s all. We have converted DVD to MKV for free now.
Note: Handbrake can not rip encrypted DVD movies. If you want to rip encrypted DVD movies, you can use this DVD Ripper for Mac. You can also use Mac the ripper which is free.

2010年11月5日星期五

How to backup DVD movies to DVD for free

This is a tutorial that explains the process of backing up a DVD on a PC using DVD Shrink. While there are many software solutions for backing up DVDs, the one on Windows I like is DVD Shrink. On Mac OS X, I like this DVD Copy for Mac.

that can copy DVD movie (D9 to D9, D5 to D5) with the entire movie in 1:1 ratio perfectly. This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to backup DVD movie to DVD for free. There are many reasons to make a backup copy of DVDs one has purchased, keep reading to learn how to improve the quality of your re-encoded backups.

Step 1, download DVD Shrink
You can download DVD Shrink from: http://www.DVDshrink.org/.
For Mac users, you can download the DVD copy for Mac from here.

Step 2, Run DVD Shrink and insert your DVD movie into the DVD drive
The first thing you will need to do is open the disc. Click on "Open Disk" at the top-left of the program window. A small window will pop up. There is a drop down menu - select the drive and disk that you are going to backup. Then click OK. When you click OK, the DVD will be “analyzed”–this process will last for 1-3 minutes, then DVD Shrink will “suggest” a level of compression.

back up DVD - insert DVD movie

If you receive an error while trying to rip the DVD (like the one shown in the screenshot above), you will need to use another program such as DVD Decrypter to copy the DVD files off of the disc on to your hard drive. You need to minus the copy protections first. Click here to read how to use DVD decypher to minus the copy protections of DVD.

DVD decypher

Step 3. Adjust compression for individual Titles (optional).
DVD Shrink will automatically select the highest possible quality settings that will fit on your disc. You could accept the settings that DVD Shrink chooses. You can also increase the quality of the main movie file by reducing or eliminating other video and audio files on the DVD.
Many modern DVDs will contain bonus footage, trailers, multiple surround sound modes, and other settings that one can reduce or eliminate to improve the quality of the main movie feature.
The main movie quality setting is reported to the left of a slider bar in the top right of the screen. In the screenshot below we see that the default setting requires that the main movie be compressed to 48.2% of its original level to fit on the disc. You can increase this percentage to improve the final quality of the backed-up DVD. But the output file will be larger.

backup DVD Movie - setting

The way in which one goes about improving the quality of the main movie will be different depending on your specific needs. For example, when “Dolby Digital” and “DTS” 5.1 audio tracks are available, you can remove “DTS” (to save hundreds of megabytes), you can also choose to preserve “DTS” and reduce or eliminate other items from the DVD.
Some of the settings I made to this particular DVD were:
--Removed “5.1-ch French” audio track (went from 48.2% to 55.4% compression for main movie).
--Replaced certain Titles with “Still Image” (keep reading for more on this).
To improve the quality of the main movie, you'll need to reduce or eliminate other DVD features, each called a “Title” in DVD Shrink. Click the “plus sign” next to “Extras” in the menu to view the other titles.

DVD Shrink

The Title I've selected below was 72MB. In this case the video was a “behind the scenes” feature that I did not wish to keep. Since one cannot completely remove any of the “Titles,” the next best thing is to replace them with a still image. In order to do this, select the title you want to replace, and choose “Still Image” from the drop-down menu in the top right. In this case the file went from 72MB to 66MB. The still image is configurable, simply drop an image of your own into the aptly named Still Images directory found under Program Files > DVD Shrink.

Step 4, Burn the re-encoded files to disc.

burn file

Click “Backup DVD” and Now select the folder where your temporary files will be saved. DVD Shrink needs to save a bunch of files on your computer (that actually compose your movie) so that it can burn that movie back onto another DVD. This is why you had to clear 5 gigs of space on your hard drive. Once the DVD backup has been burned, you can go ahead and delete these temporary files (the program does not do this itself).
You may as well select “Region Free” (default) under the DVD Region tab.
on the Burn Settings tab make sure “Maximum” burn speed is selected in the drop-down menu.
Once you have the settings the way you like them, begin the burn process. You'll see the “Encoding” happening first. There is a video preview that will show you where you are, but I believe that the encoding process goes slower with this setting enabled.

burn DVD movie - Encoding

Once the files have been copied to your hard drive, your original DVD movie will eject from your computer.
You will also have a pop up asking you to put a blank DVD into the DVD burning drive of your computer that you previously selected.
Exchange the original DVD movie for a blank, burnable DVD. Push the blank DVD into the drive. DVD Shrink will begin burning the new DVD automatically in a few seconds. Now you will get a pop up that shows the progress while the program burns your new DVD movie. Once the new DVD has been burned, you will get a window that tells you that it's done. Click OK, close the program, and take your new DVD movie backup. All Done!

Note: DVD Shrink is only for PC users. If you are a Mac user, Please download DVD copy for Mac .

2010年11月3日星期三

Gphone vs iPhone, which is better?

As iPhone is the most talked about smart phone on the planet and it has won millions of hearts of users by his multi-touch screen and other powerful/beautiful design. Of course, iPhone has brought so much money for Apple.
On 23rd, Sep 2008 Google released G1 and claimed that they will have a share of the big market of smart phone.
So, which is better about iPhone and G1? That maybe asked by many people who want to buy a new phone. Here I will give some of opinion about G1 and iPhone.
I will compare these two phones in three aspects, hardware, software, and their performance as a media player.

Gphone vs iPhone

Part 1: Hardware.

1. The price and storage memory
First, the price and storage memory is what I concern most, for iPhone $199 8GB, $299 16GB, for G1 $179 1GB. When you see this you will say G1 is $20 lower than iPhone but G1 is only 1GB and you will pay another $40 for an 8GB SD Card. So I think iPhone win in this round.

2. Appearance
iPhone is 133 grams/4.7 ounces and G1 is 158 grams/5.57 ounces. G1 is taller while iPhone is thinner (G1: 117.7*55.7*17.1, iPhone: 115.5*62.1*12.3).

3. Mobile Network
For mobile Network, they both have Quad Band GSM/EDGE UMTS, but G1 uses T-Mobile-only US 3G and iPhone uses AT&T-only US 3G.

4. Touch screen and input
About touch screen display, iPhone has Multi-touch 3.5 480*320 163 ppi, but G1 does not support mulit-touch. And in input aspect, G1 uses keyboard, Trackball, 6 buttons and touch screen, while iPhone has home button and multi touch screen.

5. Expansion
In expansion ports, G1 uses SD, ExtUSB(USB+audio) but iPhone has headphone, Dock connector (USB+ audio, video, remote). They have the same wireless WiFi 820.11b/g Limited Bluetooth 2.0 EDR.

6. Others
About hardware, the two phones perform almost the same and the only big difference is the iPhone uses multi-touch screen and G1’s camera is better than iPhone. And iPhone has a 1400Ah battery with 300 hours standby time but G1 only has a 1150Ah battery with 5 hours talk time and 130 standby.

Part 2: Software.

iPhone and G1 are both using Webkit as their browser engine. In media playback aspect, iPhone supports music, audiobook, video, streaming, downloads and rental, while for G1, only music playback. G1 has Android Market as its third party software store while iPhone has iPhone app store. G1’s platform is Modified Java development and iPhone uses Cocoa Touch.

Part 3: Their performance as media player.

G1 supports H.264, 3GPP, MPEG4, Codec 3GP video and MP3、AAC、AAC+、WMA、MPEG4、WAV、MIDI、REAL、AUDIO、OGG audio formats.
iPhone supports AAC,Protected AAC,MP3,MP3 VBR,Audible (formats 1, 2, 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV audio formats and H.264 (up to 1.5Mbps), MPEG-4 (up to 2.5Mbps) 640*480, 30fps, AAC-LC (up to 160 Kbps), 48kHz dimensional sound .m4v, .mp4 and .mov format.

Amazon MP3 Store allows you to download 6 million songs without the DRM protection, 89 cents per song. It is similar with the Apple iPhone, you need to pay for the video and audio sources on the Apple store. But how to get free sources for your G1.

For iPhone and G1 you can buy songs and videos from store, which is really expensive, and you can also make songs and videos for your iPhone and G1 by yourself, you just need to convert your DVDs and videos to mp4 format and then you can put them easily to your iPhone and G1.

Here I recommend you Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite, it includes Best DVD Ripper, Total Video Converter and iPod to Computer Transfer.
For Mac user, I recommend you Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite for Mac, it includes DVD Ripper for Mac and Total Video Converter for Mac.

2010年11月2日星期二

On Twitter, the Elections Are Almost as Big as iPhone 4

Not surprisingly, there’s lots of chatter about tomorrow’s U.S. elections on Twitter. But it’s not the only thing Twitterers are Twittering about*.

Here’s the list of Twitter’s top “Trending Topics” for the U.S., via a screenshot I took after 6 pm New York time. Unless I’m missing something (Lily Allen didn’t join the Tea Party, right?) there’s nary a political term there:

The folks over at Trendrr, who make a living sifting through social media for interesting data, definitely do show a big surge in political Tweets**. These three charts show the spike in usage for Republican candidates’ names, Democratic candidates and election-related terms in general (click to enlarge):

Roll all that up together, and you’re at perhaps 23,000 mentions per hour. Which is a lot–but it’s no iPhone 4: On the day that Apple rolled out its latest phone last spring, it was generating a peak of 55,000 mentions per hour, says Trendrr.

Still, this data comes from the mid-afternoon on the day before elections, and we can assume it will increase throughout the next 24 hours. The Washington Post certainly thinks it’s worth paying attention to Twitter during the election: The paper is buying the word “election” as a Promoted Trend tomorrow. We’ll check back in with Trendrr on Tuesday for an update….

*Hope I got that right. **That’s right, right?

2010年11月1日星期一

The Ad Tech Boom, Explained

The advertising technology boom is premised on the notion that there is a lot of money to be made figuring out more efficient ways to link marketers, publishers and consumers together.

Or, alternately, it’s premised on the idea that Google is going to spend more of its billions on ad technology startups. Same thing, sorta.

Either way, banker Terry Kawaja, whose Luma Parters makes money navigating the ad tech landscape does a nice job of parodying it here.

This is definitely inside baseball: If you don’t know what AdExchanger* is, or know who Mike Walrath** is, this may not do much for you.