Archive for the ‘HDTV’ Category

 

Kodu provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new games. The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously.

The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development and provides specialized primitives derived from gaming scenarios. Programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. While not as general-purpose as classical programming languages, Kodu can express advanced game design concepts in a simple, direct, and intuitive manner.

Kodu | Projects | Fuse Labs

Xobni is an add-in for Microsoft Office that adds an extra column that provides search and social networking context to your inbox. Connecting with LinkedIn and Facebook, Xobni (that’s "inbox" spelled backwards in case you missed it) brings in photos to put with emails and some general contact information like title and employer. Xobni also claims to have a email search experience that dynamically displays results while you type.
Most important about this latest refresh of Xobni is that it now works with Office 2010, and it will with with either the 32-bit or the 64-bit install. There is a free version and a plus version that include things like an advanced search and advanced filters.  Download Xobni here.

 

 

Xobni now Office 2010 32/64-bit Compliant | Larry Larsen | Channel 10

I am super phsyced about the Docs.com.  The site designees state:

 “I’m so excited to announce today the launch of a new beta Facebook app from FUSE Labs called “Docs”, also available at our docs.com website.  Built on Microsoft Office 2010, the Docs app enables Facebook® users for the first time to create …”

 

   

INTRODUCING DOCS… for FACEBOOK « Docs.com Blog

Windows and Mac: Miro Video Converter quickly and easily converts video on-the-fly for popular devices, with presets for your PSP, Android phone, or Apple device.

The program has presets for a variety of formats and devices, such as the Motorola Droid, Google Nexus One, PSP, iPhone and a variety of iPods. It also supports MP4 and Ogg Theora conversion. To use it, just drag and drop a video you want to convert into the app, select your preset, and let the program work its magic, converting your file so you can easily add it to your portable device. The file is saved in the same folder as the video source. It has an easy and intuitive interface, and accomplishes in taking the hassle out of converting video. Miro Video Converter is a free utility for Windows and Mac from the same developers who created the open-source internet video player, Miro

Miro Video Converter Easily Converts Video for Your Android, PSP, or Apple Device – video converter – Lifehacker

Windows/Mac/Linux: Video encoders are a dime a dozen but DamnVid not only encodes local video in a wide variety of formats, it converts online video in real-time as you download it.

You’ll find no shortage of video conversion tools if you take the time to look. The majority of them, like DamnVid, rely on the venerable FFmpeg library. Unlike the majority of video conversion tools, however, DamnVid makes it extremely easy to download and quickly convert online videos from dozens of video sites.

In the screenshot above we started filling the conversion queue simply by visiting a few video websites and copying the URL as we found videos we wanted to download and covert. You don’t even have to copy and then paste the URL into DamnVid, it grabs supported site URLs right from the clipboard. When you’re ready to convert the videos, DamnVid encodes the video in the new format as you’re downloading it significantly cutting down on the time it takes to empty the encode queue.

DamnVid Encodes Movies While Downloading for Speedy Conversion – Conversion – Lifehacker

At the MIX10 conference, Microsoft released the developer preview of Internet Explorer 9. This isn’t a full web browser like IE8 is – just a taste of what’s to come in IE9. Developers who have the preview browser installed, though, will receive updates bringing new code every 2 months until the beta release of IE9.

As previously announced, the new browser will support HTML5, CSS3, and hardware acceleration. It also sports a new JavaScript engine called “Chakra.” You can read more about its improvements and how to send feedback over on the IE blog here.

When you first launch the IE9 preview browser, you’re taken to the IE9 Test Drive website where you’ll find a series of tests ready to be run. There are speed demos for testing browser performance, graphics demos, and HTML5 demos for testing border radius, CSS2, DOM Style, and DOM events. There’s also an “HTML 5 T-Shirt Designer” app that uses HTML5 and XHTML to let you create your own shirt.

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Preview IE9 Now | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

T3 is reporting that Mike Tedesco, Microsoft’s Senior Product Manager for WindowsBU, stated that a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad is "something that we’re looking at." Tedesco stressed that he couldn’t make any official announcement today, but from the sounds of things, Microsoft is at least considering a version of Office for Apple’s newest creation.
The iPad already has the ability to run a productivity suite — Apple has created iPad-specific versions of its own iWork programs, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for $9.99 each — but as T3 notes, bringing Office over to the iPad would go a long way toward establishing it as a legitimate productivity device. Whether those Office apps would be bundled together, offered individually, or cost as much as or more than iWork is, of course, impossible to say at this point. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about Microsoft’s intentions.

Microsoft may create Office for iPad

It’s been awhile since I last looked at Launchy, the open source application launcher for Windows. With this application, you use keyboard shortcuts to launch applications, files, folders, bookmarks and more with just a few keystrokes. Once installed, it hides in your system tray waiting for its next command. When you’re ready, you hit “Alt + Spacebar” to display the input window. Then you can just start typing what you want. Launchy finds it.

For users of Windows XP, this app has clear benefits. However, later versions of Windows offer a similar feature just by using the “Search” box in the Start Menu. Still, some Launchy enthusiasts prefer the app to the native functionality and, well, that’s the great thing about Windows – you can tweak away by installing alternative programs like this. 

Just recently, the developer released the next edition of this application – the Launchy 2.5 Beta. This version offers the following changes:

• Faster performance
• Icons displayed correctly
• Environment variables updated correctly when system changes
• Controly includes more items
• New shortcut keys
• New controls:
o Shift+tab or Shift+bkspc deletes previous tab
o Shift+Ctrl+Enter launches in elevated mode (Vista and Win7)
o Down arrow shows history (when there is no current search text)
• Default skin built into executable in case no other skin is found
• Down arrow
• Launchy now has an icon in the system tray
• Skins are simplified and easier to create

The executable is here. As with any beta software, the usual caveats apply. Install at your own risk. But this sounds like a good update to a pretty great program. Can’t wait to check it out!

New Beta of Launchy Arrives | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Have you wished that Windows had an App store that was as easy the iTunes App store?  Then You will love AllMyApps.

Allmyapps makes software installation a breeze. No matter how many applications you need, 1 click is all you need to have all your favorite applications installed on your PC.

Allmyapps also keeps your applications safe! Would you need to reinstall your system, Allmyapps takes care of reinstalling all your favorite applications in the blink of an eye.

 

Allmyapps – Application Store for Windows XP, Vista and Seven to find and install the best applications

Gizmo had a great roundup of free software. 

Cleanup & Tuning File Cleaning, Memory Optimizer, System Tune-Up and more…	Desktop & GUI File Manager, Program Launcher, Start Menu, Tray Icons and more…	Disk & File Tools Backup, Restore, Encryption, Synchro-nization and more…
Educational There is always something to learn…	Games Computer games, chess and other diversions.	Home & Office Office Suites, Finance, Project, Spell-Checker, PIM and more…
Image View & Edit Bitmap, Vector, HDR, Viewer, Photo Organizer and more…	Internet & eMail Browser, eMail, IM, Download, Parental Filter and more…	Linux Our Linux section with tips and software…
Multimedia Audio/Video Edit, Ripper, Burner, Online TV and more…	Networking FTP, SSH, Remote Access, BitTorrent and more…	Programming Editors, Binary Extraction, Search & Replace and more…
Lookup & Cataloging CD, DVD, File and Software Cataloging and more…	Security Anti Virus, Adware, Firewall, Intrusion Prevention and more…	System Info Disk, RAM, Memory, Down/Up, WiFi Finder and more…
System Tools Registry, Time, Vista Tweaks, Font Manager and more…	Website & Server New! Web scripts and server software…	Video Tutorials Watch how things are done…

Gizmo’s Freeware Reviews

Windows: Booting your computer up in the morning is one of the most tedious parts of starting your computer use for the day. What if you could gain the benefits of a reboot and still start quickly out of a hiberation?

The premise of Boot Snooze is that it takes less time to pull the computer from standby or hibernation mode than to do a full reboot, but rebooting a computer is necessary and sometimes beneficial. With Boot Snooze you shut down your computer, performing a full reboot, and then Boot Snooze puts it back into hibernation or standby mode.

You could obviously do this manually by rebooting your computer every night and then hibernating it immediately after it finished up the startup routines, but that would negate the time saving benefit of having Boot Snooze do it for you and leaving your computer fresh and ready to use in the morning without the down time of booting up.

Boot Snooze is freeware, Windows only. Have a favorite tool of your own for speeding up boot times or just helping you to spend less time waiting for your computer to do things? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Boot Snooze Reboots and Hibernates Your Computer for Faster Startup Time – saving time – Lifehacker

If you are like me, you love Pandora. My problem was that I would have 10 brewers open with 20 tabs each.  I would often close the browser that was playing my music.  Now Pandora One is a pay service, for 36 dollars a month, that comes with a great Adobe Air app, but I did not want a pay service.  Yes, Pandora One comes at a high bit rate, but regular Pandora sounds great.  I Binged and found OpenPandora. OpenPandora is an open source windows desktop application that exposes Pandora music discovery service.  It does every thing I want, without the pay service. 

Features

• Integration with Last.fm, Microsoft Messenger, Xfire and Skype
• Hide to tray and popup tray notification window with full info
• Full control from tray icon
• Control with multimedia keyboard and global shortcuts
• Support for Logitech G15 keyboard
• Control with Wiimote
• Lyrics
• more …

* Requires Internet Explorer 5.5 (or later) and .NET Framework 1.1

OpenPandora Home

Office Casual: Why Monster’s resume templates are easy

 

Now you can use and submit a resume template designed by Monster.com without leaving your Word program. Doug Thomas shows you Monster’s Easy Submit Resumes.

Office Casual: Why Monster’s resume templates are easy | Tina Wood | Channel 10

 You may remember seeing the Microsoft Research project Kodu for Xbox last year. The game allows programming novices to develop robust games on the Xbox and control interactions between the characters. Now the PC version is available in beta form which is great news as most schools don’t have Xbox 360’s.
With Kodu, the idea is to give kids a way to accomplish something they didn’t think they would be able to do while strengthening their design, math, and problem-solving skills. It was created as Matthew MacLaurin, director of Future Social Experiences Lab, watched his then three year old daughter interact with a computer. Realizing there was a disconnect between the passive experience she was having and the coding that went into applications, MacLaurin began the project. Kodu is now used in more than 60 educational institutions around the world including a pilot program across 26 schools in Victoria, Australia. You can download Kodu for PC and get started here.

Kodu Now Available for PC | Larry Larsen | Channel 10

What do David Allen, Dwight Eisenhower and Stephen Covey have in common? Apart from believing in the ‘time as a virtue’ maxim, and practicing it, I can’t think of anything else. It turns out that all three are gurus of time management (or task management) theories. All three (and some more) of their time management ideas find a place in the free personal productivity application called TimeGT.

The thing about time or task management apps is that there’s no “one size fits all” (thus TimeGT also might not be the final solution you are looking for). We all have our own foibles and like to see them accommodated in the solutions offered to us. Perhaps this see-saw of human nature gets mirrored in the numerous ‘get things done’ theories that are propounded, and by extension in the web or desktop apps that spring up.

My own confusion has seen me try out quite a few, keep some and discard some more. The strange thing is that we all think that there’s something better around the corner that can help with personal productivity. If you have yet to turn the corner, try out the posts we have covered on GTD and time management in the past. If you are beyond those and are looking for another one, then let’s head for TimeGT.

TimeGT is a personal task management desktop client for Windows, Mac and Linux. It comes in two favors – Rabbit (the free one) and Hedgehog (the paid version).

The paid version that’s called Hedgehog comes with online server backup features and gives the user some say in adding new features. Otherwise, both the versions are exactly the same. It is on the Rabbit we will focus on for now. So, let’s pull the rabbit out of the hat and see how it helps us with our personal productivity.

TimeGT can be installed using the 51MB sized Windows installer which also includes Java runtimes. As I have Java already running in my machine, I opted for the more ‘portable’ 19MB zipped version. I can run this without an install straight from its unpacked folder. The latter zipped version is also multi-platform.

Even for the free version, a TimeGT account needs to be created. That done, you can log into the app and create some projects for your life. TimeGT follows David Allen’s GTD workflow and that’s apparent from the interface. It also puts in some additions from other theories.

Projects are what take more than one step to complete. Think of them as major areas of life that can be further drilled down to as many levels as possible.

Each project has individual tasks and tasks in turn need some actions to move it towards completion. The middle panel shows how each task can be organized. The Inbox is the dump for all your tasks in each project. There are three actions you can perform on a task and organize it – you can do it right now (Next Action), you can delay it for some time (Waiting For) or you can defer it altogether (Someday/Maybe).

Completed tasks can be moved away from sight into a separate area. Each task can be assigned a status like Completed or set a priority like In Progress, Important or Urgent. The most urgent ones move to the top, to be done in a top to bottom sequence. The Horizon slider on top also helps to review all your tasks in one go. Drag it around and see which tasks need action according to the time periods.

The right click menu gives you all the commands in a trice.

You can describe a task, add Notes and give it a time horizon using the start and due dates on the Task Details panel.

When you have a lot of tasks Tags help to keep them organized. Tags also help as a one touch filter.

It’s also easy to add tasks on the fly. TimeGT can be kept minimized in the System Tray. You can add tasks with a right click on the little icon. These tasks get dumped into the Inbox and can be organized later.

Reviewing It All

Did I get my share of stress free personal productivity? To a certain extent, yes because TimeGT makes it easy to dump my tasks into it. It also helped me to move the tasks around and organize it in context. What I liked about it was the ease of arranging our life areas into projects and the prioritization of tasks that come under it.

But it is also not perfect. A calendar view of how my month is panning out also would have been nice. That’s there in the paid version which allows sync with Google Calendar. What’s missing is a dedicated help file. Newbie’s will have to play around with it a bit. To get a hang of it though, you can watch a screencast at the site

Some More GTD & Personal Productivity With TimeGT