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Get WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe for Free

Luke — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:23:40 +0000

There are tons of video and audio converters are available and while programming these tools take considerable amount of time, prices are plummeting as competition increases. Digiarty software, the developers of WinX DVD Ripper are giving away their latest converter product for free. ($49.95 value) This offer is good to go till the 15th of this month, (if you usually freeload paid software and use cracks/serials/keygens here is your chance to get it legally for once) so you might want to head over to their website and try it out.

This converter is tailor made for converting HD video formats (quite obvious, but still) like MKV and HDTV and also converting HD video in media devices such as the iPad and PS3. If you are looking for more of a general, multi-purpose converter you can take a look at the WinX DVD Ripper (above) or Format Factory (freeware).

Website

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Facebook Looking to Bloat 350 Million Users’ Computers

Luke — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:58:29 +0000

I login to my Facebook profile to find the first step toward their downfall. While apparently they want to provide their users “better security through software“, this is nothing more than a marketing stunt for Facebook to monetize their large user base. Facebook is in partnership with McAfee to offer a free 6 month subscription of McAfee Internet Security to all Facebook users.

While a few years ago, during the times when McAfee dominated the security software industry, and McAfee was almost synonymous with security software, this move might have been a lot smarter. Today though, McAfee conveniently leeches a good sum of your processing power to keep you ‘protected’ which would mean several frustrated Facebook and McAfee users. While it appears to be a gracious gesture on Facebook’s part, it provides McAfee access to a potential 350 million new customers. (probably a lot less, because fortunately there are people on Facebook who have some sense).

Also to make use of this offer you need to become a ‘fan’ of McAfee on their Facebook page and enter your credit card details, your card would be billed at the end of the six months unless canceled. Just a good gesture? I think not.

On a more positive note, malware and online security has been a serious issue this past year, and with all the privacy concerns with Facebook lately, having an internet security tool installed can provide some sort of assurance in terms of online security. McAfee Internet Security won’t be the best solution though with better free tools available.

In Facebook’s perspective, this could be the beginning of a wave of ‘giveaways’ from software tools to maybe even physical products pushed to users to make a few millions on the side (speculation of course). Comments are welcome, as always.

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Chrome Embraces One Click Theme Support

Luke — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:49:51 +0000

The launch of Firefox 3.5 has probably made Chrome nervous again (check out the updated Chrome vs Firefox post) as Firefox closes in with Chrome’s main advantage over its competitors, its speed. In any case, the incorporation of a theme directory with one-click installation for Chrome was anticipated.

Google has just launched an inventory of 30 contrasting themes with one-click installation on visiting the themes page for Chrome versions 3 and above. Version 3 can currently be downloaded by switching Chrome to the developer channel.

I found several themes to have poor blending of colors making it difficult to notice the text on the status bar and also the tabs, however there are a few themes with a ‘light’ combination that could actually be used, it boils down to your taste in any case. There should be several more themes added in the future and it might eventually be user-powered which would help the themes inventory really take off.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of themes, they reduce productivity, may take up a notch more memory and can distract your surfing experience, no harm in spicing things up visually if you are bored with the default look though.

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Opera Looking to Turn Your Local Computer into a Web Server

Luke — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:07:06 +0000

The Internet has been set ablaze once again with news from Google, like the release of Chrome, the recent announcement of the Google Chrome OS has become a trending topic in technology blogs and websites. Looking at their past web applications as well as their future release of their OS, it is apparent that being the web ‘giant’, Google is looking to take your entire computer usage online to rule over every aspect of computer usage, and I think they’ve executed the plan intelligently.

However, Google is not the only company looking to do this, the connectivity and convenience that this perspective (not to mention the audience interested in this platform which could be eventually monetized) provides, have attracted other ‘wandering’ companies, other small scale services have launched built on the same idea, we recently introduced popular browser addon Xmarks which synchronizes all your bookmarks and password details on your browser online.

With the browser wars heating up again, Opera has turned towards implementing this ‘online shift’ with their latest Opera Unite project. However the difference is, Opera is not looking to synchronize or upload your files online. They are looking to turn your local server into a web server where the Internet could be used to directly access your local server wherever you are.

Opera Unite lets you share files, photos, notes, media or anything for that matter. Different applets let you manage different types of files, it also allows you to host websites on your local computer.With the sharability and the ‘lounge’ to communicate with other Unite users they are probably looking to make users of the browser more connected thus increasing community which would in turn eventually help it to grab more browser share. All these features are performed from within the browser.

The base of the project being basic peer to peer technology which has been around for quite a while and used to share files (illegally) like the Gnutella and BitTorrent networks for example. It also lets you control information stored on your local computer wherever you are. With the ‘Document Courier’ service, you can transfer documents to your local disk as long as you are connected to the internet anywhere.

Opera Unite is currently part of their latest beta build (version 10) and part of Opera Labs.

You can view an introductory post to Opera 10 (Opera Unite), Opera’ Vision with this project and download the latest build here.

Opera Unite Website

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Google Is Jumping on The OS Bandwagon

Luke — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:21:21 +0000

Whoa, who would’ve thought right. If you’ve observed Google’s main services, you’ll notice a similar pattern, it’s all geared towards shifting all your day to day computing tasks online. Take Docs, spreadsheets, Gmail, Picasa and Youtube, all these ‘apps’ have taken our documents, video and images online.

The recent announcement of the Google Chrome OS states that it will be available later this year as a free downloadable open source version. Initially geared towards netbooks with x86 and ARM based processors. The interface and the OS will be built with a minimalist approach with simplicity and speed in mind, to get you started up and online as fast as possible.

Based on their announcement, you’d guess that Google’s eventual goal is to take your entire computer usage online. I am guessing default handlers for spreadsheets and documents would be Google’s web based apps Docs and Spreadsheets. You will no longer have to worry about location, taking backups or running out of disk space as everything would be stored online on Google’s servers.

While we are looking several years into the future, it’s going to happen. The open source factor of the Chrome OS would contribute greatly towards Google achieving its goal. You can read more about it below:

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3 Hyped Products We Missed

Luke — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:23:36 +0000

I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while until recently when i kicked things off again. In that time the blogosphere and the whole of the Internet pretty much has been buzzing with 3 products from two adored (or maybe not) tech giants.

Windows 7

This is the predecessor of Microsoft’s (failed) Windows Vista operating system and after the results of Vista, looks like Microsoft is determined to get things right with Windows 7. Currently in beta Windows 7 is set to release it’s stable version in October. The main improvement over Windows 7 would be the increased efficiency and performance in terms of speed and compatibility. I think the Internet has covered most of the major features and news regarding updates of the Windows 7 and here are some pointers to find out more:

- Windows 7 News
- 50 seriously useful Windows 7 tips, tricks and secrets
- The Top Windows 7 Tips and Tricks List
- Seven reasons you need Windows 7
- 7 Things We Hate About Windows 7
- Why XP owners won’t love Windows 7
- 10 reasons Vista haters will love Windows 7

Google Wave

Google has been ‘silently’ acquiring relatively small companies and adding features to its existing services and just as all the hype over their minimalist browser is dying away they’ve announced the release of a new service ‘later this year’ that has potential to revolutionize social networking and information sharing as a whole.

Google Wave lets you have real-time communication streams known as ‘waves’ with any number of Google contacts allowing you to share text, photos, videos, maps, documents and pretty much all other sharable aspects of Google’s services. It’s pretty much the combination of all their services in a communication stream. Don’t underestimate the use of ‘real-time’ though, it really is real-time, users in a ‘wave’ can actually see as you type a message! Also it is planned to be available as a downloadable application to be run as a separate application on a private server. You can find out all you need to know on Google Wave in the 80 minute long developer preview video on the features of Google Wave on the Wave homepage. Below are a few more interesting links on Google’s newest service.

- Google Wave: A Complete Guide
- Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web.
- Google Wave Questions and Answers
- Is Google Wave a Twitter Killer?
- Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?

Bing

Well, looks like Microsoft is actually getting a hold of something, after Vista proved to be unworthy, they’ve (after quite a while) successfully impressed geeks and the average user with their upcoming Windows 7 release. And then there was Live Search, outperformed in the search engine market and holding the least market share out of the three main search engines (Google and Yahoo being the other two).

Which brings us to Bing, The rebranding of Live Search, Bing was launched around 3 weeks back. Backed by a marketing budget of around $100 million I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time you’ve read about Bing on the Internet. Bing calls itself a ‘decision engine’ however looking closely you’ll find it’s still pretty much a plain search engine. (this is a real decision engine)

However Bing has actually got to the average Internet user, evidently we’d notice it with the increased market share and even leap frogging Yahoo few days after it’s launch with a 16% share which pretty much means they’ve actually done something right this time around as they did with Windows 7.

Find out more about Bing:

- Bing Overtakes Yahoo in Search Market Share
- Hands on: Microsoft Bing review
- Bing Tips & Tricks
- 5 Advanced Bing Tips

So there you have it, 3 of the much talked about products currently percolating the Internet. Be the first to know any new updates on these services by subscribing below.

And, as always comments on these products are welcome.

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Guess it’s not the end for Adtoll

Luke — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:55:22 +0000

Ever since Adtoll was under new ownership, things didn’t go too well, about near the end of last year, it looked like Adtoll was going nowhere. Campaigns weren’t functioning properly, payments were not being made and worst of all no response from support as if the entire team had just ghosted the website and left. Back when things were running smooth, Adtoll would be the ideal success story to be inspired by, with previous owners, brothers Dan and Paul effectively running Adtoll bringing Adtoll to great heights in the advertising network niche (and mind you, advertising networks are one of the toughest to penetrate) because of the level of activity, connectivity and innovations they brought about with the service.

This lead to a lot of happy webmasters who rushed to used the service. With the new acquisition and the abrupt halt in development, it has lead to a lot of turmoil with the several publishers and advertisers who switched permanently to Adtoll to manage their advertising.

While new owners had acquired Adtoll, previous owner Dan has been working closely with Adtoll to make sure things stay afloat. just a few minutes after my previous post on Adtoll acknowledging its apparent downfall I was assured by Dan:

I am the founder of AdToll which everyone knows was sold in recent months.

I assure you the issues that have been experienced recently are temporary and is really a symptom of handing over the company to the new owners. They are getting their feet on the ground though and things will pick up!

This morning, I was greeted by more good news from Dan stating that things are going to get better with Adtoll anytime soon:

Just to followup here…. great news is changes are about to happen! I know its been a tough couple of months and a lot of customers have been left in the lurch …. there are good reasons but its all about to be resolved.

An announcement will be made hopefully this week on the AdToll blog about these changes so stay tuned!

While I a not the owner I am assisting the new team and helping them get back on track. I have also put a plan in place to get new customer service reps trained up and properly responding to support enquiries.

One of the biggest issues is education and training for the new team which is really the reason why things got the way they did.

I assure you things will get back on track!

So if you are planning on giving up on Adtoll, stop right there! Guess Adtoll is going to be fully functional soon and based on Dan’s comment it looks like the Adtoll users are in for a pleasant surprise.

Click here to read more about Adtoll and their recent issues.

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WordPress Thinks Online TV Is a Good Idea Too!

Luke — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:12:02 +0000

A couple of days back I wrote on how you can turn your computer into a TV. Two days later, it WordPress has launched WordPress.TV. A place for all things WordPress expressed in video. WordPress.TV contains comprehensive tutorials (atleast for now) on getting started with blogging with Self hosted WordPress and WordPress.com.

As expected, just like any other Auttomatic project, WordPress.TV would be largely driven by community as well. To be a part of the project all you have to do is contact their team and let them know what you think would be a good idea to be featured as a video tutorial.

From the official post:

On WordPress.tv, you’ll find tutorials for both WordPress self-installs and WordPress.com to help you get blogging fast and hassle-free. We’ve kicked things off with the basics — now you can shape what comes next. Just drop us a line and let us know what you’d like to see added.

I hope you’ll consider WordPress.tv not just a support resource, but also a place to hang out and keep up with all the geeky goodness going on in the WordPress community. Tune in regularly for fresh content and updates to the WordPress.tv blog. Lots more is on the way.

Chrome starts its browser reign with its new beta

Luke — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:24:42 +0000

Almost four months after Google’s hyped, accidental and one of the most buzzing launches into the browsers game with Chrome, Chrome now moves into a pre-release beta available for users with browser updates set to the developer channel. The new v2 beta includes bug-fixes (obviously). User-scripts support has been added (the main highlight, no talk of an API for extensions yet, but that won’t stop the geeks making the browser do crazy things now would it?) and several other updates as well.

Watch out for the Twitter Phishing Scam

Luke — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:18:24 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote a post on Twitter, while you might be all excited about trying this service after reading the post I suggest you proceed with caution. Currently, there’s a phishing scam in progress. for now it’s been only spreading via direct messages.

If you get a direct message from a random user that redirects to the (apparent) Twitter login page, DO NOT login! It’s probably a mail to phish your Twitter credentials. Currently from what I’ve heard, the description of the direct messages have been asking the user to checkout ‘something funny about you’, and recently about winning a free iPhone or iPod (haven’t we seen that one before!).

But just to be on the safe side i suggest you do not login to Twitter through any DM’s (direct messages) until the phishing phase has passed.

While Twitter is growing fast, security is one of the departments they need to work on. Apart from the current mass phishing attack on Twitter accounts, accounts have also been directly hacked. You can read more on this from these news stories:

Hope this doesn’t deter new users away though, just pay attention when using Twitter, that’s all.

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