Music site Last.fm bought by CBS. =O
I'm no sure this is making me sad nor happy. But I guess when earlier this month they said they would provide video streaming, they probably knew this was cooking.
When I read the video-streaming bit, I was a little skeptic as they barely seem to be able to do what they do. However, perhaps now everything falls into place.
Microsoft's surface. I don't know..... I wouldn't want to have to reboot my coffee table because it froze badly... and BSOD doesn't really match my decoration.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Recommended software!
Recommended software entry! Wee!
A friend of mine bought himself a new computer. Because he didn't want to spend much money, as his sole intention was to replace his dinosaur-old computer, he went for an averagely cheap over-the-counter computer that came with windows xp pre-installed.
I know. BAAAAD IDEA.
Because this is the third world, and Micro$oft doesn't like people who aren't willing to pay high amounts of money for defective products, my friend got the "Windows XP Starter Edition" pre-installed. I think this version of Windows is one that those of you in prettier areas will never get to see and only consider it to be a matter of crypto-softwarelogy.
Anyway, jokes aside... there are lots of applications my friend does not get and is not allowed to install. One of them is Windows Media Player.
When he told me this, I tried to cheer him up by telling him that this is actually GOOD NEWS! as the less Micro$hit on your comp, the better. But I don't think he thought I was doing a great job at helping.
So, I recommended him VideoLAN/VLC.
VideoLAN, as much as wifey hates it, is a wonderful MultiMedia player that supports many many codecs and video/audio formats. It is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux, and it's free.
It installs fast and nicely, it has a very intuitive interface without much stupid eyecandy, and it doesn't hog your RAM. \^_^/
It can be skinned to look prettier, if that's what rocks your boat; and it can also be used to stream music and videos, but we won't go there yet. Concentrate on the playing your music easily part.
The most important thing about software like VLC is that it's OPEN SOURCE, which means, anyone can see the code that makes the application work and suggest changes, tweaks and improvements to it; as well as security fixes.
If you find that the software you use to play videos, dvd's or even music is too bloated and too fucked-up, give VideoLAN a try. I have a feeling you might like it a lot, and who knows... maybe that old video auntie sent you of her puppy Rigobert that you could never open with WMP or QT can be played now with VLC. =D
A side note about FOSS:
Free Open Source Software (FOSS) reaches you at no cost. However, writing these applications does cost the programmers time, patience, resources, etc.
Usually the people behind these applications -who are regular human beings like you and me- do these projects in their spare time, because they don't get paid for it. As you can imagine, since they don't make a living out of this, they most surely make a living out of something else.
Sometimes users protest about not getting features they want or stuff they want in their FOSS, disregarding the fact that the person who writes this software is putting everything on his or her part on it and getting nothing in return.
So, please, if you find a piece of FOSS to be useful to you, remember to support the writers of this software. They all take donations and it helps them a lot to make ends meet more smoothly and keep writing the software that is so useful and we like so much.
You don't need to donate a lot, and you aren't in obligation of donating money, just please consider it next time you have some spare money. It goes to a good cause. ^_^
A friend of mine bought himself a new computer. Because he didn't want to spend much money, as his sole intention was to replace his dinosaur-old computer, he went for an averagely cheap over-the-counter computer that came with windows xp pre-installed.
I know. BAAAAD IDEA.
Because this is the third world, and Micro$oft doesn't like people who aren't willing to pay high amounts of money for defective products, my friend got the "Windows XP Starter Edition" pre-installed. I think this version of Windows is one that those of you in prettier areas will never get to see and only consider it to be a matter of crypto-softwarelogy.
Anyway, jokes aside... there are lots of applications my friend does not get and is not allowed to install. One of them is Windows Media Player.
When he told me this, I tried to cheer him up by telling him that this is actually GOOD NEWS! as the less Micro$hit on your comp, the better. But I don't think he thought I was doing a great job at helping.
So, I recommended him VideoLAN/VLC.
VideoLAN, as much as wifey hates it, is a wonderful MultiMedia player that supports many many codecs and video/audio formats. It is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux, and it's free.
It installs fast and nicely, it has a very intuitive interface without much stupid eyecandy, and it doesn't hog your RAM. \^_^/
It can be skinned to look prettier, if that's what rocks your boat; and it can also be used to stream music and videos, but we won't go there yet. Concentrate on the playing your music easily part.
The most important thing about software like VLC is that it's OPEN SOURCE, which means, anyone can see the code that makes the application work and suggest changes, tweaks and improvements to it; as well as security fixes.
If you find that the software you use to play videos, dvd's or even music is too bloated and too fucked-up, give VideoLAN a try. I have a feeling you might like it a lot, and who knows... maybe that old video auntie sent you of her puppy Rigobert that you could never open with WMP or QT can be played now with VLC. =D
A side note about FOSS:
Free Open Source Software (FOSS) reaches you at no cost. However, writing these applications does cost the programmers time, patience, resources, etc.
Usually the people behind these applications -who are regular human beings like you and me- do these projects in their spare time, because they don't get paid for it. As you can imagine, since they don't make a living out of this, they most surely make a living out of something else.
Sometimes users protest about not getting features they want or stuff they want in their FOSS, disregarding the fact that the person who writes this software is putting everything on his or her part on it and getting nothing in return.
So, please, if you find a piece of FOSS to be useful to you, remember to support the writers of this software. They all take donations and it helps them a lot to make ends meet more smoothly and keep writing the software that is so useful and we like so much.
You don't need to donate a lot, and you aren't in obligation of donating money, just please consider it next time you have some spare money. It goes to a good cause. ^_^
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Yahoo! Unlimited
Yahoo has just begun implementing the "unlimited" mail storage system. =D The storage-meter on my account is gone (I'd appreciate a counter that tells me how much space I'm using, though) now I can have an unlimited number of old e-mails that will be stored in Yahoo!'s unlimited hard disks. >P
The bad news is that yahoo! photos will be replaced by flickr, which is sad because I used to store lots of interesting photos there that I will now have to backup. =/
I keep wondering about the Y!Disk and whether I'll be able to store large files there, cuz if that is correct, I might have less trouble backing up 120 gig of data in the future.
!
The bad news is that yahoo! photos will be replaced by flickr, which is sad because I used to store lots of interesting photos there that I will now have to backup. =/
I keep wondering about the Y!Disk and whether I'll be able to store large files there, cuz if that is correct, I might have less trouble backing up 120 gig of data in the future.
!
Monday, May 07, 2007
GAIM is now Pidgin
GAIM is now Pidgin.
From what I'm reading there seem to be some notable improvements, and the new Pidgin also has a portable feature that allows you to load it onto a pen-drive and use it without installing it to the computer. =] Think of it as a "light" version of an instant messenging client.
I don't know when Lenny will have it, and I'm not in the mood to compile from source lately 'cos I've a headache and a backache of huge proportions; but those of you running Windowsand Mac may already test it by downloading it and installing it from its official site.
I haven't tried this "on the fly" option (by loading it to a pen drive) yet, but if it works it could prove very useful.
Personally, I like multi-protocol clients because it's incredibly annoying to have 100000000 different clients open to connect to the 100000000 IM networks that people use.
In this way, with just one client (uh... some call those "program") you can use many different networks, like AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, etc. Even LJ's IM or Google Talk; all at the same time. You can also be signed up to two different AIM (or whatever) accounts at the same time, and chat from both. That often saves resources (that your comp can use for something else), RAM, time and you have less chances to crash your system.
Additionally, it provides "tabbed" chat-windows, which helps at keeping things organized, in clear view and handy. It comes with spell-check support and several other options, it allows transfer of files, buddy notifications, custom away messages, custom IM icons and all that jazz.
But the best part of it is that it is FREE AND OPEN SOURCE. =D
From what I'm reading there seem to be some notable improvements, and the new Pidgin also has a portable feature that allows you to load it onto a pen-drive and use it without installing it to the computer. =] Think of it as a "light" version of an instant messenging client.
I don't know when Lenny will have it, and I'm not in the mood to compile from source lately 'cos I've a headache and a backache of huge proportions; but those of you running Windows
I haven't tried this "on the fly" option (by loading it to a pen drive) yet, but if it works it could prove very useful.
Personally, I like multi-protocol clients because it's incredibly annoying to have 100000000 different clients open to connect to the 100000000 IM networks that people use.
In this way, with just one client (uh... some call those "program") you can use many different networks, like AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, etc. Even LJ's IM or Google Talk; all at the same time. You can also be signed up to two different AIM (or whatever) accounts at the same time, and chat from both. That often saves resources (that your comp can use for something else), RAM, time and you have less chances to crash your system.
Additionally, it provides "tabbed" chat-windows, which helps at keeping things organized, in clear view and handy. It comes with spell-check support and several other options, it allows transfer of files, buddy notifications, custom away messages, custom IM icons and all that jazz.
But the best part of it is that it is FREE AND OPEN SOURCE. =D
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Good news... sort of.
Dell to use Ubuntu on Linux PC's. =D Although I know this is for the most part irrelevant, as most people will hire someone to wipe off the GNU/Linux installed on their new machines and have a pirated copy of MSWindows installed on it, not even taking a minute to check out Ubuntu (which is a great distro, imho) nor to give it a chance. =/..
I know I sound like a pessimist. It is not my intention, by the way.
I know I sound like a pessimist. It is not my intention, by the way.
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