Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Which Media Center Is Right for You: Boxee, XBMC, and Windows Media Center Compared [Lifehacker Showdown]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/7twO762PpRk/which-media-center-is-right-for-you-boxee-xbmc-and-windows-media-center-compared

Want all your downloads, streaming video, and other techie media stuff on your TV? Wondering which media center works best for you? Here's a look at the biggies in chart and Venn diagram form, followed by some lengthy breakdowns of each.

New to the idea of TV-connected computers? Head down below the charts for some explainers and deeper comparisons of each system. If you're already familiar with the HTPC scene, we'll give you the good stuff first.

We focused on three widely available, and generally popular, media centers for our comparison and review. We're certainly aware there are many alternatives out there, as free software or stand-alone hardware boxes, but these are the three media centers that receive ongoing development, and can be installed on the widest number of TV-connected computers.

The graphical explanations

Here's how we see the three major media centers, in chart list and Venn diagram forms:

What's a media center, exactly?

What does a media center do? It varies, but it generally takes all the stuff you'd normally enjoy on a computer or portable device—MP3s, video files, Netflix, Hulu, digital photos, and web/social apps—and plays it on a television, through your spearkers, and back onto your wireless network, if you'd like. Media centers can be run off of pretty much any capable computer, but are generally intended for small and specialized computers, called Home Theater PCs, or HTPCs. HTPCs have the video and audio ports necessary to hook up to a modern high-definition television, and generally have enough processing power and memory to handle the heavy burden of converting, playing, and sometimes recording high-resolution files. If you've got a home network set up with shared files and network-attached storage (NAS), media centers can generally pull their content off other systems and devices, as well as receive files for storage and download them directly off the net.

Put simply, a media center allows you to sit on a couch and do the most fun things you'd do on a computer with a remote. You can fire up a movie from Netflix's streaming service or from a file you've already downloaded, catch the show you missed last night on Hulu, put on background music while you're doing something else, share your Flickr or Picasa photos with visiting relatives—whatever you'd like, really.

Not every media center can do everything, however, and some are much better at certain entertainment jobs than others. The editors at Lifehacker conferred on what each box does best, tried to pin down what each system can and can't do, and put it together in ways that we hope can help you decide.

Windows Media Center, XBMC, and Boxee

Here's a more in-depth look at the media centers—installing and setting them up, and their pros and cons.

Windows Media Center is "free" with Home Premium or Ultimate copies of Windows Vista, all versions of Windows 7 except Starter or Home Basic, and available as a stand-alone, XP-based operating system dubbed "Media Center Edition." XBMC is a free and open-source media center software that was born as a game-changing XBOX modification, but now runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and XBOX systems, as well as booting and running off a USB stick. Boxee is based on the same core internal code as XBMC, but focuses on bringing web content—video sites, blog streams, and social apps—into your living room, while XBMC remains oriented toward a download-and-play setup.

Plex, a popular and very eye-pleasing media center for Mac OS X, is certainly a contender in this category. For all intents and purposes, though, it's a variant of XBMC. Most anything we write or display in this post about XBMC applies to Plex, too, except for matters of looks and interface.

Those would be our definitions in the Lifehacker Dictionary, anyways. Let's get a bit more encyclopedic on the strengths and weaknesses of each system:

Windows Media Center

Installation and Setup: Fairly easy. It comes pre-loaded in the higher-end editions of Windows Vista and 7, and assuming your computer or HTPC has the right outputs and plugs, Windows can fairly easily adjust its display to your television. If you're running other Windows systems on your wireless network, you won't have to do much configuration to start "sharing" files back and forth from the TV-connected system to your other platforms. If you're running Mac or Linux computers, you'll have a good deal more work to do. If your media computer came with a TV tuner card already installed, Windows will recognize it and work with it to record TV shows.

Here's how Adam turned a Windows PC into a Media Center powerhouse, with a good detail on the installation and setup process.

Strengths

Nice and easy DVR: And you don't have to pay a monthly fee.
Calm, easy interface:Divided into obvious sections and fairly intuitive directional layouts.
Large range of compatible remotes: Look online or in an electronics store for a "Windows Media Center remote," and you'll find something with lots of buttons that instantly hooks up to your Media Center, usually through a USB-connected receiver.
Generally easy networking: Across Windows systems, that is, and if you're down with the shared folders setup.

Weaknesses

File handling: Generally, Media Center can handle the same files that Windows Media Player can handle, and, with the right codec installations, that can be quite extensive. But out of the box, don't expect support for the diverse range of video and audio you'll find around the web.
Windows-only: But you knew that.
Complex remotes: Media Center works with a lot of remotes, but they often look like parodies of button-stuffed clickers. If a simple, Apple-like navigator exists for Media Center, do tell us in the comments.
Locked-down DVR files: Work-arounds and decoders exist, of course, but if you want to play your recorded TV shows on anything other than your personal set of authorized Windows machines, Zunes, and XBOX devices, good luck.

XBMC

Installation and Setup: It depends, of course, on the platform and hardware you're installing on. Getting it running and connected on a modern Windows or Mac system is fairly painless, at least from a software standpoint. Running it as a "live" system from a USB stick isn't too hard, either, and you can install it from there onto an HTPC hard drive. Plugging it into a Madriva Linux box and hooking it up to your very specialized 1080p plasma setup with optical audio out will likely require hair plugs and years of therapy.

Read up on Adam's guide to building a silent, standalone XBMC media center on the cheap for a look at the live-USB-to-installation path on a $200 HTPC system.

Strengths

Open source, open nature: Need XBMC to do something it doesn't do already? Chances are, there's a clever hacker working on it. XBMC doesn't have the same kind of "platform" that its offspring Boxee does, but coders can get into it and make it better, and make it do more.
Meta-data and file recognition: From personal trials and commenter anecdotes, XBMC is really good at knowing when you've put new files somewhere in your system, figuring out what types of files they are (movie, TV, music, or picture), and reaching out to the internet to pull down relevant pictures, data, reviews, and even trailer links for the videos and music you plug into it.
Light and agile: Relatively speaking, XBMC may have some really nice graphics and menus, but because it comes from a project to put a full media center on a game system, XBMC is focused on playing back media files as smoothly as possible.
Slick, customizable looks: Even putting Plex aside, XBMC wins, hands-down, for looking like you're living in the future when displayed on a really big, nice TV. Don't like the way it looks by default? Put a new skin on it, and it's a whole different beast.
Format support: Personally, I've never found a file on the web, or converted from a friend's computer, that XBMC couldn't play, unless something was wrong with it.

Weaknesses:

Lack of Netflix, Hulu: There have been work-arounds, hacks, and other tweaks to make XBMC work with the two big names in streaming video. If you were depending on either one, though, XBMC would not be a safe bet.
Over-stuffed, sometimes complicated menus: XBMC's menus and layout are the geekiest around—how you react to that depends on your temperament. You can do all kinds of things from any screen in XBMC, and its interface often has a smile-inducing futuristic feel to it. But for someone new to media centers and looking to just sit down and play something, it can be quite imposing.

Boxee

Installation and Setup: On Windows and Mac systems, the latest Boxee beta is relatively simple to install, as it uses the built-in video and audio systems to push out content. On Linux, it's a good deal more complex, but, then again, what on Linux isn't? Apple TVs require a bit of hacking. In general, Boxee is compatible with the same kind of hardware as XBMC—OpenGL or DirectX-compatible video cards are highly recommended.

Here's how Kevin set up a cheap but powerful Boxee media center using a brawny $350 HTPC and free copies of Linux and Boxee.

Strengths

Built-in Hulu and Netflix: Boxee and Hulu have had their differences, but they seem to have reached a draw in the stand-off—most Hulu shows and movies work, most of the time. Netflix works fine on Windows and Mac, assuming you don't mind installing Microsoft's Silverlight system.
Growing directory of web content apps: Love FailBlog? Dig Vimeo's really hi-res stuff? Fan of TwiT's videocasts? Watch them all from Boxee's app, and grab more in the app "store," which has a very healthy selection of customized streaming content.
Play anything (technically): Boxee uses a reworked Firefox browser to view Hulu, but it's available for nearly any kind of web video page you find on the web. The Boxee Browser is a kind of last resort for any web content that doesn't have its own app.

Weaknesses

Love-it-or-leave-it interface: Even with its content-forward redesign, many media center aficianados have said they can't get used to Boxee's hidden left-hand sidebars and forward/back functionality. Some just don't like the default looks. It's not a make-or-break issue, considering it's basically the same core tools as XBMC, but if you're going to spend serious time with a media center, you want to like how it looks.
Local file handling: Boxee doesn't seem as smart about recognizing and updating local file stores. In the words of one Lifehacker editor, "Local files are almost an afterthought." That's to be expected, somewhat, on a system that's so web-facing and stream-savvy, but Boxee could do a lot more to make download music, movies, and pictures easier to gather, organize, and access.

We know—we absolutely know—that we may have missed a feature, put in "No" where "Yes" should have been, or otherwise missed a detail or two in our breakdown of these media centers. We tried our best to research and check them, but if you see something wrong, or missing, in our explanations or charts, by all means: tell us, politely, in the comments, and we'll update this post, and the charts to match the reality.

Feel free to also tell us which system has worked best for you, and why, in the comments.

Intel Looking to Stuff DDR3 Support Into Two New Atom Processors [Guts]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/1vUOaRNXo9c/intel-looking-to-stuff-ddr3-support-into-two-new-atom-processors

Intel's Atom line of processors, used extensively in netbooks, have never been particularly powerful. They're like the adorable kid sister of the Intel family. Today, though, reports indicate that they may be getting some grown-up DDR3 support this fall.

Fudzilla is reporting that the Atom N475 will clock in at 1.83GHz with DDR3 support, while the only difference between the current 1.6GHz N450 and its N455 successor is that the latter will be DDR3 capable.

What does this mean for netbooks? Well, think of it as more evolutionary than revolutionary. DDR3 is faster and uses less power than DDR2, but also more expensive. Ideally, by the time and N475 or N455-powered netbooks hit the market, though, DDR3 prices will have come down enough that you'll get better netbook performance for what you're paying now. [Fudzilla via Engadget]

Compare Google Suggest Results Visually

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/compare-google-suggest-results/12544/

Google Suggest is one of the most interesting and useful features of Google. As you type words in the Google search box, it will try to guess what you are looking for and offer suggestions in real-time.

While we don’t know how exactly Google Suggest works, it does offer a peek into what others are asking or looking for on the web.

Google Suggest

For instance, type “how to” in the Google search box and you’ll instantly know that loads of people are looking for information to “how to tie a tie” and “how to lose weight fast”. Google Suggest can also help you understand what others think of a particular product or service. Try the phrase “facebook is” in the search box and you’ll know what people generally think of Facebook.

Google offers search suggestions in a plain drop-down but if you are looking to compare Google Suggest results in a more visual manner, check out Web Seer – this again works as-you-type but the interesting part is that with Web Seer, you can also compare query suggestions for two different phrases.

Here’s an example comparing Facebook and Twitter. Lot of people seem to agree on one these – these networks are a “waste of time.”

Opinion of Twitter and Facebook

The arrow thicknesses in the visualization is an indicator of the number of web pages that are in Google’s index for that query.

The next visualization compares public opinion about Chrome and Firefox according to Google Suggest. The common problem is “speed.”

Firefox and Google Chrome

Compare Google Suggest Results Visually

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

When You Have Just One Computer for the Whole Classroom

Source: http://www.labnol.org/software/one-computer-classroom/12572/

Schools in developing economies often have limited resources and students are therefore required to work together on the same computer which may not always offer the best learning experience.

One Computer, Multiple Mice

To help schools get the most out of their limited computing budgets, Microsoft has developed a new software platform called MultiPoint that allows multiple students in a classroom to interact with a single computer simultaneously using their own mouse.

As part of the MultiPoint platform, Microsoft recently released a free software add-in for PowerPoint -- Mouse Mischief -- that would let teachers create interactive presentations with True/False or Multiple Choice questions. When you play these slides on a computer screen (or a projector), the entire classroom can answer the questions using just their own mice.

With Microsoft Mischief, you can quickly create interactive presentations. Your slides can include images which will make your quiz all the more fun for small children. Student can even choose their own avatars using the mouse.

As the teacher progresses through the presentation slides, the students can select the answers of their choice. This is all done in a language-neutral manner, so the software can easily be used in classrooms around the world.

Mouse Mischief for Families

Mouse Mischief is not just for schools with limited resources. Even if classrooms have multiple computers, this software can help teachers get all the students interact together on the same screen. Parents can create quick presentations to help kids practice their homework or you could make interactive game show style quizzes and the whole family can join in!

The current release of Mouse Mischief will only run on Office 2007 and is not compatible with Office 2010. That means you cannot create new quizzes and presentations on computers that are not running Office 2007 but you can still install the player to playback Mouse Mischief presentations on any computer, including one that don’t have Office installed.

Mouse Mischief only supports USB corded or cordless mice; PS2 mice are not recognized by the Mouse Mischief player. Additionally, it does not support videos, transitions, or animations in slides.

Mouse Mischief is one of the many applications that have been created for the classroom using the MultiPoint Mouse SDK. There are couple of other interesting applications like the Amazing Concert that would let students play music together using visual music instruments. For an overview of the research behind Mouse Mischief and the ways it is already being used in education, check this case study.

This is a video demo of a related product -- MultiPoint Server -- that allows multiple users to simultaneously share one computer using their own keyboard and mouse. In case of MultiPoint, students use a single PC display but here, they have their own dumb terminals connected to a single computer.

When You Have Just One Computer for the Whole Classroom

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Why Job Seekers Should Worry About Their Online Reputation

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/online-reputation-important-for-jobs/12582/

If you are looking for a job or are a potential job-seeker, be very careful of what you write or share online because HR departments and recruitment professionals are scanning tweets, blog posts, photos, and other online profiles of job candidates before offering them positions.

Why Online Reputation Management is Important

Around 70% of hiring managers in in US have rejected candidate just because of their online reputation. The chart looks at the various types of online information that have led companies to reject candidates.

Why Companies Reject Candidates

Tomorrow is Data Privacy Day and this research (download PPT) was originally commissioned by Microsoft as part of the same initiative.

Other than Microsoft, Google, Intel, AT&T are also part of the Data Privacy Day group. You should also check their site as it contains some excellent resources on how companies, students and parents can better protect their online information.

Why Job Seekers Should Worry About Their Online Reputation

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Watch Bollywood Movies on YouTube

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/watch-bollywood-movies-on-youtube/12593/

Some great news for movie buffs.

You can watch some of the popular Bollywood movies on YouTube for free using this page. These are full-length videos so you can just connect your computer to the TV screen, grab a snack and watch movies from the couch with your family.

The collection is currently limited to Hindi movies from film producers like Shemaroo Entertainment, Rajshri and UltraHindi. And like most other YouTube videos, you can embed these movies on your site as well.

For example, here’s one of my favorite Bollywood movie -- Sarkar (the Indian version of The Godfather starring Amitabh Bachchan). I can watch this movie anytime, anywhere as long as I have an Internet connection.

The movies are available in both High Quality and Standard Quality versions. For a list of full-length English movies that are currently available for viewing on YouTube, go to this page. Thanks Brajeshwar for the tip.

Watch Bollywood Movies on YouTube

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Chrome 4 Supports Greasemonkey Userscripts Without an Extension [Userscripts]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/29-ouNnlh3w/chrome-4-supports-greasemonkey-userscripts-without-an-extension

The Greasemonkey extension has long been one of our favorite tools for Firefox, allowing us to bend the web to our will with light and simple scripts written in JavaScript. Now most Greasemonkey scripts work in Chrome, no extension required.

In fact, when you install a userscript in Chrome, it actually installs as though it's a regular old extension. That means, as the original Greasemonkey developer and Google employee Aaron Boodman points out on the official Chromium Blog, that Chrome users now have roughly 40,000 more extensions to add to the list.

Some scripts won't work with Chrome just yet because of differences between Firefox and Chrome, but it looks like that number is somewhere around 15-20%. Not bad, Chrome. It's getting more and more tempting to consider Chrome as a viable Firefox alternative every day.

The improved support for userscripts should work on any Chrome version over 4, which includes the stable version on Windows and both of the beta versions on OS X and Linux. If you'd like to try out a few good userscripts—for Chrome or Firefox—our list of the top 10 Greasemonkey user scripts is a good place to get started.

40,000 More Extensions! [Chromium Blog]

Turn Your Monitor Into a Touchscreen That Can Detect 16 Fingers, Using a Polymer Film [Touchscreen]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DxFlBbitZMM/turn-your-monitor-into-a-touchscreen-that-can-detect-16-fingers-using-a-polymer-film

What if you could convert the monitor you're looking at right now into a touchscreen? Sounds crazy, but the Portuguese company Displax has created a polymer film that can do just that, for up to 120-inch screens.

It's not just glass that Displax is claiming their film will work with—apparently plastic and wood can be made into an interactive screen, which will detect as many as 16 fingers making shapes on its surface and even recognize when someone is blowing across it.

Wired explains how it works:

"A grid of nanowires are embedded in the thin polymer film that is just about 100 microns thick. A microcontroller processes the multiple input signals it receivers from the grid. A finger or two placed on the screen causes an electrical disturbance. This is analyzed by the microcontroller to decode the location of each input on that grid. The film comes with its own firmware, driver–which connect via a USB connection–and a control panel for user calibration and settings."

While it sounds like vaporware, Displax is claiming the first screens using their technology will be on sale in July, giving us enough time to think of some flat surfaces to turn into a touchscreen. [Displax via Wired]

Turn Your Monitor Into a Touchscreen That Can Detect 16 Fingers, Using a Polymer Film [Touchscreen]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DxFlBbitZMM/turn-your-monitor-into-a-touchscreen-that-can-detect-16-fingers-using-a-polymer-film

Wired explains how it works:

"A grid of nanowires are embedded in the thin polymer film that is just about 100 microns thick. A microcontroller processes the multiple input signals it receivers from the grid. A finger or two placed on the screen causes an electrical disturbance. This is analyzed by the microcontroller to decode the location of each input on that grid. The film comes with its own firmware, driver–which connect via a USB connection–and a control panel for user calibration and settings."

Windows 7 gets a thorough SSD optimization guide

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/windows-7-gets-a-thorough-ssd-optimization-guide/

We all know we want an SSD, but do we truly know what to do with one when we get it? Sure, you could plug it into the familiar SATA and power cables and consider your job done, but that's not really the way of the geek. To educate us wistful, hopeful, soon-to-be SSD owners, TweakTown have put together a comprehensive guide on optimizing your solid state storage -- starting from the very first step of picking out the right drive. What lies ahead is a full breakdown of the controllers available on the market today, along with helpful reminders of the importance of Trim command and garbage collection support. After you pick out your perfect life partner, you'll be wanting to ensure it plays along nicely with Windows 7 as well, and they've got you covered on that front too. Just hit the source link and get informed. We did, even though we still can't afford to buy one of these mythical drives.

Windows 7 gets a thorough SSD optimization guide originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ megazooms, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/olympus-intros-sp-800uz-and-sp-600uz-megazooms-stylus-tough-801/

Aw, yeah. The pre-PMA part is officially on. Olympus is kicking out a foursome of new shooters this fine morning (or evening, for those camped out in the great state of Hawaii), so we'll just get right to it. The SP-800UZ megazoom (which we spotted a few days ago) boasts an almost mind-melting 30x optical zoomer, a 14 megapixel image sensor, dual image stabilization, AF tracking, 720p movie mode, face detection and a 3-inch rear LCD. The SP-600UZ sports a stepped-down list of features, including a 12 megapixel sensor, 15x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch rear LCD. Both cams support SDHC / SD cards and are slated to ship next month, with the big boy setting you back $349.99 and the other guy $249.99. Moving on, there's the "shockproof, waterproof, crushproof and freezeproof" Stylus Tough 8010 and 6020, both of which feature a 14 megapixel sensor, HD movie mode, 5x wide-angle optical zoom, 2.7-inch rear LCD and an HDMI output. The only major difference is the toughness level; the 8010 can withstand a 6.6-foot drop and 220 pounds of pressure, whereas the 6020 can only withstand a 5-foot drop and undisclosed amount of pressure. Check 'em later this month for $399.99 (8010) / $299.99 (6020). Full releases are after the break, per usual.

Gallery: Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020

Continue reading Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ megazooms, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020

Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ megazooms, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Latitude 13: a thin-and-light for big business

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/dell-latitude-13-a-thin-and-light-for-big-business/

Dell is serious about its thin and light class of machines judging by its ability to churn out these lovely lappies from its Adamo design studio. Today we've got the Latitude 13. Oh sure, it looks almost exactly like the Vostro v13 for small businesses but this is Latitude brother, Dell's mainstream business brand. As such, it comes fully IT-ified with a preinstalled Citrix client, easier virtualization options, and baked in know-how for system image and software update distribution. So it's not really new, but it's still "the world's thinnest 13-inch commercial client laptop," according to Dell and that's gotta be worth a second look when it begins shipping in a few weeks.

Dell Latitude 13: a thin-and-light for big business originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NEC MultiSync PA241W brings full 1920 x 1200 IPS glory to the well-heeled old schooler

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/nec-multisync-pa241w-brings-full-1920-x-1200-ips-glory-to-the-we/

Do you care about color? We mean do you really care about getting the most true-to-life color reproduction on your monitor? Then you'll probably be wanting an IPS panel, preferably with 99.3 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color spectrum and 100 percent of the sRGB stuff. What's that -- you'd also like more headroom than what these silly new 16:9 ratio displays can give you -- yup, the PA241W has you covered with 1200 pixels of vertical workspace as well. A solid 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 360 nits of brightness, 8ms response time and 178-degree viewing angles flesh out the spec sheet, while a tilt-and-swivel ergonomic stand, USB hub and DisplayPort connectivity figure as the predictable extras. Less foreseeable is the generous 4-year parts and labor warranty, but then you'd want nothing less when splashing a cool $1,079 on a monitor. NEC is ready to ship it to you today, but if you're feeling in a thrifty mood we'd suggest also checking out Dell's competing model, which offers a similar spec at a much lower price point.

Gallery: NEC MultiSync PA241W