Not so easy
For some reason best know to itself my Sky+ HD box decided to record only the second half of Stargate Universe this week. 
No problem I thought, I’ll watch it on the much flaunted updated Sky Player that integrates with Windows 7 which was launched on the 19th November. Installation and registration onto my ASRock Nettop went fine and all initially appeared OK…
Sky's Sales Pitch
I log into the system and only see last weeks episode of Stargate Universe which is a real shame as nobody seems to have added this weeks episode yet (other series I have check before have been OK) . Now I’ll have to wait until they update it before I can watch the whole episode. Poot!
Whilst installing Sky Player it I did notice a few other oddities…
IMDb just turned 19. Yes, Techcrunch’s article reveals that the IMDb is actually older than the web browser. There’s a long ass explanation to that, which we’ll not be discussing here. But certainly, in these 19 years of web existence, IMDb is one of the most visited websites and also synonymous to the Wikipedia for movie lovers like me. We do have other ’superior’ movie rating systems such as Metacritic or Rottentomatoes, but IMDb totally belongs to the viewer’s rating and is not limited to critics. And hence, IMDb movie ratings are often considered to be closer to the taste of the audience.
The obvious utility of IMDb is that it is the largest compilation of movies and is not limited to just Hollywood or for that matter Bollywood. Every movie lover I know goes to IMDb first to check out if a movie is worth watching or not, or even to just have a look at initial reactions of audiences on a movie. So, for world cinema lovers, this is the one stop to gather information on movies. But other than the obvious use of viewing a movie’s ratings, what are the other ways that you use IMDb for? I have listed a couple of them below.
Initially, when I heard about the idea of a browser on a USB portable pen-drive, I started questioning about its applicability. I mean, why would someone not install an actual browser on the machine itself, and rather have it on a USB pen drive. The answer is simple: Portability. Not only of your favorite browser experience, but also of all that comes with it – bookmarks, addins etc etc. The applicability does not actually matter much if you access internet only at home, through your own machine [ in case of which, its better to just install it]. Or if work does not allow access to USB ports and installing of any new browsers, you are indeed forced to use whatever is available. But, if you do have access to USB ports at work, and you do not want to install your browser [ or are not allowed so by corpo firewall] , and also share your history data, bookmarks etc on your work machine – Portable browsers are the way to go.
Good news is – all your favorite flavours are available in their portable avatars. And here’s the list.
1. Firefox 3.0 on USB:
Portable Apps bring the Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition. So, now you can take your bookmarks, passwords, history, extension with you. Visit the PortableApps website - Mozilla page to download the browser. It is just 9 MB in size, and after installation it expands to 27 -77 MB. I really don’t know what that * sign, beside the 77MB figure, means on the Download button.
Works fine on Win XP SP2 onwards, Win Vista SP1 and Win 7.
This one is different you say. Filmfresh lets users purchase Legitimate DivX rips of latest Hollywood releases ranging from the Watchmen to the just released on DVD -17 again. The catch here is that it is not DRM-free, but can be played on all DivX supporting players and Sony PS3 etc. Also there is no expiry date on the downloaded movies. So it is not a rent model, but more like owning a lower Quality rip also without the DVD extras. The cost per movie download is 10$ -13$ which is on the higher side, since DVDs cost just a few bucks more.
Considering all of this, do we see a future for this particular business model? Take this.
Back in the day, we all used phones to communicate. Then Skype came along and changed the world. Sure, there were other systems before it, but Skype had it all sewn up with a neat little package that bundled the hallowed VOIP with a simple interface and of course – It was free!! Later, video was added (that Beta seemed to last forever!) and the whole thing really took off. Skype has always had some big hitters looking over its shoulder with the likes of the goliath Windows Messenger (Currently in its ‘Live’ incarnation) and the Gmail (With its flexibility and low resource usage) to name but a few.
With this in mind the major release of Skype 4.0 was much anticipated… What new wonders can we behold?… Well, I can tell you one thing – if you’re expecting better video you may be sadly disappointed. :-\
Last week if you’d have asked me what my preferred video calling software was I’d have said Gmail and Skype were pretty much 50/50, this week however it has to be Gmail. The new Skype 4.0 video looks like a nasty police photo-fit or, worse, a deliberately pixelated news item. Yes it gets a little better if you give it a few minutes but the previous video was clearly better (IMHO). They have, however, done a good job with the voice side of things which is undoubtedly smooth, and sure, there are some new whistles and bells to play with (the “Open” or “Open with Video” seems so obvious now) but why would you release an update with worse performance on the one thing everybody stares at???…
Now if only Google could make their video a little more resilient to all those sudden crashes….
Hmm. Still not sure to find the right resources on the web. Still stuck with only the few websites that you know and want to know what the world is reading. (‘Course there are other ways to find that out). So if you search only on Google, have only a Facebook profile and get your mail inbox on Hotmail (you get the picture), check this out at the other options available. Special mention is the categorised catalog that has been done here. The website is called LowgoLink (guess the domain Logo Link wasn’t available, so they went for the phonetic sounding twin’s name). The categories available are:- News, Search, Video, Email, Social, Sport, Social Network , Games, Showbiz, Travel, Shopping, Money, Health, Food, Music and Movies.
It is indeed quite helpful to have all the bunch that matters. Have a look at the second pic after the jump.
Have you always wanted to get out of a boring situation where there is your boring auntie to meet and all she can talk about is how her son is making a fortune. That’s when you wanted some friend to call you up and say, “Dude you need to be here”. Friendly crank calls are a big need of the day, be it to escape your boring aunt, your boss or a lousy housewarming party. And in case your friends are too busy to co-operate, no worries anymore.
Get hold of this awesome thing available for FREE. Yes, free. It’s called GetMOOH (Get Me Out Of Here). It’s as simple as this. Fill in your name, your country code, your mobile number, select the time and date when you want the call to come to your phone. Select from a range of voice samples, and you could even practice to the given samples with your preplanned replies.
Open up today’s Techmeme and you will see this splashed across almost throughout the entire page. Because this is HUGE news. Microsoft has withdrawn its plans for buying out Yahoo, more popularly known as Microhoo in the speculative blogosphere. So what does it mean finally for us?
Does it mean that we can actually breathe a sigh of relief before some other giant (Google) makes the next move? Or has Yahoo got some other plans up its sleeve? Almost 3 months after the initial speculations of Microsoft’s plan of acquisition of Yahoo, and almost a 16 billion $ increase in market value, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer released his statement that it was withdrawing its offer of acquiring Yahoo. And now that the beans have been spilled, speculations are making the rounds.
Of course, most of them surround the Big Goog tying up with Yahoo to do things OpenSource. Also under the radar is the question of how Yahoo’s shares would turn out on Monday when the markets open. And unless there is a huge miracle, the stock-prices are expected to decline drastically. And well, as Techcrunch states in their post here, if Yahoo tanks badly, Microsoft can even be back with a lower bid. Hmm, so we just can’t count out Microsoft out as yet.
Indexed below are the sites which have covered the entire chapter from every possible angle and every possible aspect.
Yahoo Responds: “The distraction of Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal now behind us”
Breaking: Microsoft Corporation Rescinds Offer For Yahoo Inc
Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!
Yahoo! Issues Statement in Response to Microsoft
Guessing Yahoo’s Opening Stock Price
OK, so what’s Microsoft’s plan B?
Email From Steve Ballmer To All Microsoft Employees
Ballmer to Yang: How stupid are you?
YHOO and MSFT: Jerry Yang should be fired
