bigBrains.com » HDTV

Kodu | Fun Programming for All Ages

bigBrains — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:32:32 +0000

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 now Office 2010 32/64-bit Compliant

bigBrains — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:43:57 +0000

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

Facebook + MS Office = Oohhh Yaa

bigBrains — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:41:23 +0000

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

Miro Video Converter Easily Converts Video for Your Android, PSP, or Apple Device

bigBrains — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:58:39 +0000

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

DamnVid Encodes Movies While Downloading for Speedy Conversion

bigBrains — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:07:33 +0000

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

Preview IE9 Now

bigBrains — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:15:05 +0000

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.

Preview IE9 Now | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Microsoft may create Office for iPad

bigBrains — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:49:22 +0000

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

New Beta of Launchy Arrives

bigBrains — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:53:39 +0000

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

App Store for Windows XP, Vista and 7 to find and install the best applications

bigBrains — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:38:54 +0000

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

More Freeware and Reviews

bigBrains — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:07:06 +0000

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