Ever wanted to be a presenter on Sports Center. Probably not. I mean really; how often does that dream cross your mind. However you may just be in with a shot of fulfilling the dream (whether or not you have it) with StarCommentator.com. Basically it’s a collaboration between ESPN and the popular video calling service Skype. Users use a video record function embedded on the site and their webcam to record a quick audition specific to the sport they want to present on the show.
Users must first go to www.starcommentator.com and click ‘Audition’. Then you choose from tonnes of different sports such as Football, Formula One and cricket. When auditioning, you read a small script about the sport from an online tele-prompter above the video recording screen. The contest organizers will then review the submissions. And even if you suck you might as well still enter because they’re giving away a tuck load of booty as seen below.
I guess there are tons of Linux users that were waiting for this kind of project; Marcan42 is developing Usbmuxd, that it is capable to synchronize your iPhone/iPod Touche with your Linux distribution.
Well there are a few applications already available that are capable to achieve this functionality, but at a small cost, iPhone must be jailbreaked. Usbmuxd represents a library that will be in charge to generate the communication with the device and your machine. Usbmuxd name actually was created from “USB multiplexing daemon”.
Using this daemon, plus other Linux libraries, you will be able to proxy requests from the USB cable to the specific port on the iPhone. Here are some of the libraries involved:
libusb-1.0 provides an advanced API to access USB devices under Linux, replacing the old libusb-0.1 API
usbmuxd coordinates application access to the device and talks the specific iPhone/iTouch USB protocol
libiphone implements the Apple-specific protocols that are tunneled through usbmuxd: it can launch services through lockdown, retrieve device info, send notifications, and access the filesystem via AFC.
iFuse and gvfs-backend-afc both provide access to AFC to regular Linux apps. iFuse does this by mounting via FUSE, while gvfs-backend-afc is obviously a backend for gVFS.
libgpod (the library that traditionally has managed music databases for iPods) is being extended to support the new SQLite format, the new hash, and also to talk to libiphone to properly put the device in to and out of sync mode.
Ok, I know, if you are not a Linux user, some of these concepts might confuse you; but you can be certain about one thing: it is so great to have the opportunity to use your favorite technology and gadgets no matter which platform are you using.
Ah the profile pic. Is there really anything else in the world that can cause us to hold the camera at several different angles until it’s just right – making sure to delete all the ‘bad’ ones of course. With our profile pics we weave a web of lies about who we are, what we look like and what our personality is like. Well, people who are a bit obsessive do.
Samsung have released this cool zombie-vampire-monster thingy video that show just how misleading a profile pic can be. Enjoy!
As many of you already should know, Windows 7 media, as it was for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, includes all the versions inside the same disc. But, the difference from Vista is that Windows 7 does not let you choose from the different versions available when you install the operating system.
Windows 7 Edition Switcher will let you easily do that, and the possibility, for example, to switch from Windows 7 Home to Ultimate.
This new and simple app will let you convert any Windows 7 ISO file to the version that you need, and it only takes a few clicks.
Just select the patch from the zip file that you downloaded from the website, select the ISO file that you wish to convert and done.
I’m an online freelance writer which means that I do most of my work sitting behind my computer except for the odd event I may have to attend or journey I may have to make. My job has completely different parameters than any other job the general population would have. One of these differences is the issue of time; more specifically the amount I allocate to work.I don’t punch in so I have to keep track of it all.
I like to keep track of how long I actually work so that I know my business is actually profitable is so far as I’m not working for buttons per hour. So I could just jot it down right? I guess so. But then we all have a tendency to forget to do so and even round up our figures so we’re not working with sloppy numbers when totaling it all up. Well Yast, an online timer has solved my problems.
To put it simply, you click the play button to begin timing and the stop button to stop; but that’s putting it simply.
Along the top of the screen there is a timing bar that illustrates how long you’ve worked and when on a particular project. You can have multiple projects so for me these are the following:
For the average person you could see how long you spend playing games, how much time you devote to your blog or basically any other project you partake it; computer based or not.
It’s a well-known facts that some leading products such as window cleaner or breath freshener are based on some of the most well-known products and items that we have lying around our houses – for hundreds of years. Take for example newspaper and vinegar. The two would seem utterly unrelated yet when you clean a window with the two it sparkles and shines just as it would if you had of forked out $4.50 for window cleaner.
AltUse is a cool website that I found which shows you alternative uses for almost every product you have lying around your house, office, school and back garden. From lemons to aspirin it has it covered.
Each item has it own page where all of the different uses are outlines. Each different use has its own pictures and instructions. You can also submit your own alternative uses to the site by signing up.
The site has other features for each product such as a section for users to rate the alternative use and perhaps even more appealing – how much money you can save by taking the alternative route. Check it out at www.altuse.com .
Many sites such as MegaVideo, Vreel and other offer the ability to watch some of our favourite TV shows and Movies. However, does that time limit put in place by Megavideo bother you? Or how about just wanting to watch it on your iPod? So why not download the videos? Oh yeah, they charge you for that.
Well, here at Crenk we have a quick, easy and FREE way to download videos from sites like Megavideo.
1. Get the video’s URL. Most players offer this next to the embed code for the video etc… or in the address bar in the browser. In Megavideo it’s one of the options along the bottom of the screen.
3. Enter the space provided at Clip Nabber. Press ‘Nab It!”
4. Then (required for Megavideo only), go back to the video page and right click outside of the video and view the page’s source. Or, click edit in the Browser’s menu and select to view it there. Select all of the code and paste it into the HTML box that appeared in ClipNabber.
5. Press ‘Nab It!” again.
6. Click on the link to download the video.
Now chances are that Clip Nabber has given you a .FLV video which can only be played in Real Player. To convert this into an .mp4 or .avi, use this video converter.
There are only a few things in your life that you are condemned to repeat it over and over, re installing operating systems it is definitely one of them. And this task never comes alone; you are condemned also to installing your common apps all over again. That’s where Ninite appears, providing you in one installer all the applications of your choice.
As simple as it sounds, Ninite will let you decide from several applications already loaded (don’t worry, I’m pretty sure that the 90% apps will appear there) and generates automatically one installer with all of them.
The another great thing I found is that you just need to visit Ninite home page, select your apps (no registration needed) and click on “Get Installer”.
In case you were asking, here are my selected apps:
HackADay.com is a cool blog that I found featuring cool things that will keep you busy all day long. Unlike other hack blogs such as LifeHacker, Hack a Day focus more on the kinds of things you can build in your garage and use every day – well, sort of. I mean you’re not going to use a homemade spot welder every day but you might use a homemade iPhone keyboard everyday.
The main section of their blogs covers their antics and those of their readers. It’s mainly features stories of some of the cool electronic gadgets that they built on a rainy afternoon. This section is updated daily so they must have their fair share of free time!
Probably my favourite section is the ‘How-To’ section. This is the section with step-by-step guides that demonstrate how to build cool toys, gadgets and as I mentioned above – highly experimental homemade spot welders. This is updated weekly (although there hasn’t been much activity over the past month or so)
Just a few days after Windows 7 official release, we now have tons of tools available to optimize our Windows 7 experience. And Microsoft Store offers us: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which will let us burn an ISO Windows 7 image into a DVD or, my favorite choice, a USB flash.
This represents a new approach by Microsoft to insert Windows 7 into the netbooks world, that by default never include an optical CD/DVD ROM.
The usability provided by the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool it is quite simple as well: You will need, of course, the Windows 7 ISO file (extracted from the DVD or downloaded from Microsoft); select to create a DVD disc or a bootable USB drive and complete the wizard.
An important note about the USB option is that it will use the entire flash drive to build this bootable image, meaning that you better move those files from your portable drive.
I guess you are running out of excuses for not using Windows 7 right?
Ever wanted to be a presenter on Sports Center. Probably not. I mean really; how often does that dream cross your mind. However you may just be in with a shot of fulfilling the dream (whether or not you have it) with StarCommentator.com. Basically it’s a collaboration between ESPN and the popular video calling service Skype. Users use a video record function embedded on the site and their webcam to record a quick audition specific to the sport they want to present on the show.
