1 Bit Audio Player is a very simple and lightweight Adobe Flash MP3 player with automatic JavaScript insertion. It’s main purpose is to act as a quick in-page preview for audio files you link to from your website or blog.
The player can be easily installed as a WordPress plugin or used stand-alone in any website. Small audio players will than automatically appear next to any MP3s you link to. There’s also a bookmarklet version of 1 Bit available that can be used to apply 1 Bit to any web page from your browser.
Nothing has changed the way we watched TV more than TiVo has. When the TiVo was first released it was truly revolutionary for the viewing audience. Time controlled TV; no longer were we to be enslaved by the powers that be and their scheduling practices. Even if we were watching something scheduled, we could record on another channel. The many iterations of TiVo over the years has seen increased offerings and versatility, but now with the release of the Premiere, we might see a new era for the TiVo…or will we?
The new TiVo Premiere ($300) takes full advantage of the many new HDTV models and their ability to connect to the internet. By accessing the internet TiVo can now not only surf the digital channels, but also content across sites like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, On Demand, and Blockbuster. The new standard version of the Premiere can record up to 45 hours of HD quality content. The larger version of the Premiere XL ($500) can record a whopping 150 hours of HD quality content.
The new interface for this TiVo is built on the Adobe Flash platform. You know Flash, the one Apple is so afraid of. Is this any good? Will this crash on us constantly? It’ll be interesting to see how things work out, but this TiVo is a heavy contender for in-home set top boxes.
A lot of people have big issues converting files from PDF format to any other format. Today, I wanted to run through converter programs which change PDF files to JPG (image) files for both Mac and PC.
Zamzar
Zamzar is probably the most well known file conversion site. The process is simplicity personified: Choose the file to convert then choose the format to convert to (e.g. JPG) then enter your email address to receive the converted file then convert. The minuses with the free service are that the file size is limited to 100MB with just 5 simultaneous conversions. Also, you might feel a wee bit uneasy uploading sensitive data without encryption support.
YouConvertIt
YouConvertIt is a new site that lets you upload 5 files at a time and then convert them from PDF to JPG format.
Neevia Document Converter
Neevia Technology has a web interface which facilitates the conversion of PDF documents to image files. Select the conversion settings and upload your file. The converted file can be rendered in the browser or can be downloaded via an email link. Two dropdowns further give you control over image quality and resolution. The only visible restriction is the 1MB file upload size limit.
If you are wary of uploading sensitive files over the net, you need to look beyond the online solutions to something much more local. Thankfully these three pieces of free software take up the task.
PDF-Xchange Viewer
PDF-Xchange Viewer is a light feature-rich PDF document reader. The free version of the software is a capable document handler with most of the standard features expected. Add comments and annotations, mark-up pages with texts and objects, type within the PDF document along with plug-ins for both IE and Firefox are also included.
But the feature which interests us is the ability of the software to export a file or a page to the supported image formats like JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG and more.
Open the PDF file in the viewer, click on File – Export to Image and the dialog opens up where you can set the pages to convert, the image type to convert to and the destination folder. More importantly, the ‘Export Mode’ setting allows you to designate the number of image files for the subject PDF file. The ‘Page Zoom’, ‘Resolution’ and ‘Page Background’ also allow added finishing touches.
In a very surprising move, Microsoft has started selling computers and even third-party software via its online store.
This is a small part of a much broader push for Microsoft as they think that stores like Apple’s might bring in much higher margins for them and their products. Microsoft had said it would sell PCs at its brick-and-mortar stores, but it plans to open just two of those this year, including a Scottsdale, Ariz., location that opens later Thursday.
Early on Thursday, though, Microsoft revamped its online store, which had been an outlet only for Microsoft products. The remake of the online store comes just as Microsoft is launching Windows 7.
Clicking on laptops brings up a list of 10 models, organized by price, including two models below $750. The site also offers three Netbooks and a single desktop model, Lenovo’s $999 A600 all-in-one.
On the software front, Microsoft is selling Norton 360 and Adobe Photoshop, along with Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. Accessories include a lot of Microsoft keyboards, mice, and Webcams, along with flash drives and blank DVDs from other companies.
It has been reported that Adobe will be releasing CS5 suite on April 10, 2010. Adobe has been working very hard on the follow-up to CS4 and below I have attached a sneak preview which looks amazing.
Adobe has been trying to move a lot of people over from the cheap version of Photoshop onto their online version. Yesterday Adobe announced that they were adding the ability for users to upload videos to Photoshop, the company’s web based image editing and sharing service.
Adobe isn’t the first company to add video to a site that was primarily designed for images. But while Flickr limits videos to 90 seconds, Adobe is allowing users to upload videos up to 200MB through a web browser, or up to 2GB through an Adobe AIR uploader. Users can upload files in “most major file formats” and you can view them from Photoshop.com or share them with other users.
Photoshop.com users will get 2GB of free video storage.
Adobe has also rolled out the ability to create Group Albums that let you collaborate on photo albums with other users.
Adobe AIR Marketplace is a central resource that allows developers to make their applications available to millions of potential users and makes it easy for consumers to find them.
The new AIR marketplace was launched a few days ago and features a brand new look and several new features. Do check it out!
Adobe Air is quite a new platform but it has been quickly getting an amazing name for itself. Adobe have their own marketplace (which received an overhaul recently) of applications but there aer a few new marketplace popping up. One of these new marketplaces is AdobeAirApps.com.
AdobeAirApps is a very simply marketplace that showcases the newest and greatest Adobe Air applications. AdobeAirApps reviews these applications and then just provides a basic screenshot, then finally allows users to comment and rate the applications. The site is very new and im looking forward to seeing them build this up over time. Im not a huge fan of the design, but im sure once the site starts making some revenues then it will get updated quite quickly.
Yesterday I got my hands on the new Seesmic Desktop application which is a direct competitor to Tweetdeck. The new Seesmic desktop app is simple to use and is a great way to control all of your twitter accounts in one location. Head here to signup for Seesmic Desktop.
Seesmic Desktop includes the following features:
Control more than one Twitter account in one location
Ability to add more windows for all of your accounts
Can see one full Twitter stream for all of your followers on all of your accounts
Ability to perform searches within the application
Able to store searches that automatically update
If you are a constant Twitter user then you need to check out Seesmic Desktop.
Adobe has some of the most expensive and best product solution in the world, but of course they come at a price. Below are the best 8 free solutions that challenge the Adobe Photoshop program.
GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.
If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.
Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for Linux, Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features.
Paint.NET has grown out of a simple replacement for the well known MSPaint into a fully featured open source image editor with a wide support base. You’ll need Windows to run Paint.NET.
ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for Mac, optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.
Cinepaint is designed primarily for video often used to make animated feature films by major studios, but it is also a great image editor capable of high fidelity 32 bit color. Currently there is no stable version for Windows.
Pixia was originally designed in Japanese but English versions now exist for this rich editor. Although the original focus was on anime/manga, it is a very capable editor in general. Some of the features are a little counter intuitive, but there are plenty of English tutorials available now if you want to give it a shot. The website seems to have changed recently, so be sure to use our link if you don’t want a Japanese error message. Pixia works for Windows.
Pixen is designed as a pixel artist’s dream, but has expanded into a smooth and well featured overall editor. It’s definitely best at animation though, if that’s your style. Pixen is Mac (10.4x or later) only.
Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.
Everyone seems to be talking about Adobe Air these days. The applications have been really taking off and they seem to so slick in design and functionality. A month or so ago Seesmic made the acquisition of Twhirl, which made Twhirl the first Adobe Air based application to be acquired. Since then Air seems to have become even more popular.
Up until the last few days there has been only one place to find a full list of Adobe Air Applications, and that has been in the Adobe Air marketplace on the Adobe site. However, a new marketplace has launched and it is called FreshAirApps.
FreshAirApps is written on the ExpressionEngine software and really has some great functionality and design. On FreshAirApps applications are showcased and then users can vote for the best applications. Currently, there are only a totally of about 500 applications written on Adobe Air, so the marketplace will be starting off slowly, but will soon pickup speed in the coming months. FreshAirApps also shows users how to implement and install Air apps through the tutorial section.
That all being said Air is easy to install and their are already great applications on the platform, such as eBay, FineTune and NASDAQ applications.
Twitter is now a service that has been on the rise for over a year. This being said there are more and more Twitter related applications being launched, but still no monetization strategy for Twitter directly.
Last week Twhirl, a Twitter Adobe AIR application was sold to Seesmic, making this the first AIR application which has been acquired, just showing the popularity of Twitter and AIR.
In terms on monetizing this is an interesting issue for Twitter to develop. At present Im not aware of their monetization strategy. I think they have some very basic options to choose from. 1. display advertising. The ads can be displayed at the bottom of the right hand side bar. This seems like a simple way to monetize the site and also very unobtrusive. 2. Sponsored Tweets. Messages could be sent to a certain demographic of Twitter users, obviously for a tailored price. 3. There also might be a way to monetize friend following. We all know the more followers you have on the site, the more discussions your have and potential for clicks off Twitter to your own site.
Are there any more monetization strategies I might be missing?
