Thursday, February 12, 2009

Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 handled ahead of MWC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/12/samsungs-ultra-touch-s8300-handled-ahead-of-mwc/


Oh, brother. Really, Samsung? Are we seriously going to have to juggle completely unrelated names based on geographic location yet again? Unless our deductive reasoning skills are just utterly shot, Sammy's Ultra Touch S8300 -- which got official earlier this week -- will be known as the Tocco Ultra Edition in some corners of the globe. Nomenclature aside, what we're really here to discuss is just how striking this piece is, and if you're in disbelief, we'd invite you to give the read link a visit. Pocket-lint was able to score a pre-production sample over in the UK ahead of its "debut" at Mobile World Congress, and you know you don't want to miss that.

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Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 handled ahead of MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Miro 2.0 Gets Streaming Support, New Look [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/avOr0_2cNn0/miro-20-gets-streaming-support-new-look

Miro, the open-source player that's like a TiVo for internet video, has hit its 2.0 release, boosting the play-anything tool's performance and adding some neat features, like streaming video from Hulu and other sites.

Miro keeps the same video-when-you-want-it features Gina detailed in her tour of the app, and it remains a great way to manage free video feeds, video podcasts, download torrents, and otherwise pipe the web's best stuff onto your screen.

With 2.0, though, the Miro Guide—the universal portal for content that anyone can browse for their media center needs—now includes links to streaming content. That includes shows on Hulu, like, say, Family Guy:


And Miro's team states that 2.0 has been designed "from the ground up" to focus on high-quality, HD content, as demonstrated (kind of) in their demonstration video:


One seemingly basic but big improvement is the ability to pop out a playing video in a separate window, letting you keep browsing or stream checking while your content plays in a resize-ready window:


The Miro team outlines more changes at their blog announcement and on the redesigned official site.

What does Miro do well for you, and what would improvements would you like to see? How much net video is making its way into your watching habits these days? Sound off your screen preferences in the comments.

Miro is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.



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AddTo Google Reader Script Shares Any Page With a Keystroke [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/wm6pv9oJiaU/addto-google-reader-script-shares-any-page-with-a-keystroke

Firefox with Greasemonkey: The AddTo Google Reader script adds web pages to your shared items in Google Reader, so you can bookmark and share non-feed items easily.

Once you've installed the script, bookmarking pages in Google Reader is as simple as hitting the F4 key, entering optional comments or tags, and using the Post Item button. If the F4 key doesn't suit your fancy and you don't mind rolling up your sleeves for some minor script editing, you can change the if(e.keyCode != 115) line to use a different keycode. I've found this script incredibly useful for quickly saving bookmarks to read later from one consolidated location—though previously mentioned ReadItLater is a whiz at that sort of thing if you prefer a different approach.

AddTo Google Reader is a free download, requires Firefox with Greasemonkey. Readers using other browsers can get the same functionality in a bookmarklet—just one more way for getting good with Google Reader.

AddTo Google Reader [Userscripts.org]


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Free Audio Editor Does Powerful Music Editing With Ease [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/OLNHuoDct6A/free-audio-editor-does-powerful-music-editing-with-ease

Windows only: Advanced audio editing tool Free Audio Editor handles your music and sound editing with an attractive, streamlined, and easy-to-use interface.

The application handles common audio formats (from MP3 and WMA to WAV and OGG) and boasts a rich set of features: Batch processing, recording, CD ripping/burning, and text-to-speech make this application worth a look for anybody that needs to do some quick audio editing without paying for a commercial application.

Of course, no audio editing post would be complete without mentioning the also-free, cross-platform, and open-source Audacity, useful for anything from removing vocals to creating ringtones from any MP3.

Free Audio Editor is a free download for Windows only.

Free Audio Editor [via Life Rocks 2.0]



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DVDSmith Movie Backup Copies Everything or Just Video Easily [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/amlZpmKJeZo/dvdsmith-movie-backup-copies-everything-or-just-video-easily


Windows only: DVDSmith Movie Backup is terrible for our headline style, since it does exactly what its name implies. It's great, though, for anyone who simply wants to watch a DVD without the disc.

There are just five buttons to click on DVDSmith's single window, and most times you'll only need one. You can choose between "Full Disc," which gets you menus, extras, and the full DVD-watching experience, or click "Main Movie" to grab the longest video and audio tracks. What you end up with on a "Full Disc" backup is a familiar VIDEO_TS folder, wherever you told the app to put it, and a bunch of .vob files, which can be played in most advanced media players like VLC. "Main Movie" does much the same, but with fewer .vob files turned out. DVDSmith is proud to announce on their site that their tool breaks through all the the major copyright protection schemes.

If you're looking for a bit more control over your DVD backups, check out the free, cross-platform Handbrake, our own DVD Rip, or any of our Hive Five best DVD ripping tools. If you're looking for a DVD backup tool an 8-year-old could grasp, though, DVDSmith Movie Backup is worth a click or two.



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