Tutorials
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Loads of keyboards and laptops include buttons which allow you to skip or pause tracks, launch your web browser or simply alter the volume. When I moved to the Microsoft Arc Keyboard I was surprised by how much I missed some of these keys, specifically the skip and pause track options (note – the Arc keyboard does have volume controls built in). So what can you do about it?
I don’t know about you, but there’re plenty of keys on a keyboard that I hardly use,for instance why are there so many function keys?! I decided that it was high time I changed them to something more useful. However I had no intention of running some resource hungry, flea ridden monstrosity of a background application to do it. There is in fact a much better (and easier) way. (Windows only I’m afraid, although I’m sure there are similar methods for other operating systems).
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Tags: key tweak, media controls, pause, play, registry, remap, skip track
Posted in Reviews, Software, Tech, Tutorials | No Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
My bag has been a semi-permanent home to a couple of pendrives since I finally managed to replace my detested floppy discs. Little did I know I haven’t really been using them to their full potential…
They can be used for a lot more than storage, something I always kind of guessed but for whatever reason never really got around to experimenting with. A few days ago I set about creating my self titled “Pendrive of Gold”, it’s nothing completely mind blowing but it certainly improves my productivity, especially when I’m away from home.
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Tags: memory stick, pendrive, portable apps, profile, usb stick, xbox
Posted in Reviews, Software, Tech, Tutorials | No Comments »
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Exams are over, coursework is done and the celebrations are a mere (and slightly fuzzy) memory, all of which means one thing… I can finally start writing again! What, no applause? Anyway, this is just a quick one whilst I’m winding things back up, Google Chrome extension “Auto HD for YouTube”. (Geek points to BE77Y [Euan, for the uninitiated] for finding this).
If you’re like me you always play YouTube videos at the highest quality available, but when first loaded a lower quality is always selected. Two clicks and a reload later and you’re laughing, but should that really be necessary? Not in my book at any rate, so what can be done about it?
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Tags: chrome, Google, hd, video, YouTube
Posted in Internet, Reviews, Software, Tutorials | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
First there was IRC, followed by services such as MSN Messenger or AIM and now everyone and their semi-literate dog are using Facebook Chat. Some would say that contacting your friends over the internet has never been easier, but personally I view FC (that’s right, I’m acronyming it up, I think living with an accountant may be rubbing off on me) to be a step in the wrong direction.
Now don’t get me wrong, Facebook was the perfect platform to build a new system on, it’s got a much higher adoption rate than anything else before, it just doesn’t work as I’d like. The problem? Who wants to leave a browser with Facebook open all the time, the chat window system of yesteryear was so much better. Now I’m sure there’re going to be people who disagree with me (when will people realise that I’m always right…), but for those who feel the same as me there is an alternative.
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Tags: chat, Facebook, instant messenger, Pidgin, plug-in
Posted in Internet, Software, Tutorials | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Well hello there, Internet! How are you? Why, it’s been a while now hasn’t it? Now now, there’ll be time for catch-up’s later; right now we have to get down to the good stuff. So a few days ago I was browsing through the App Store on my iPhone looking for something I’ve been trying to find for a while: a decent application to allow me to stream video that already exists within my home network. I happened upon a superb app, one which any self-respecting iPhone owner & media geek should certainly go check out – after reading this brief overview, of course! It’s name is Air Video, and I’ll tell you all about it just past the ‘Read More’ link. Come join me, won’t you?
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Tags: Air Video, app, conversion, iPhone, live conversion, media streaming
Posted in Reviews, Software, Tech, Tutorials | 3 Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
A lot of the time, when people buy a new PC/laptop, they just don’t know what software to install on it. There are a few key bits of software that everyone should have, that tend to make life a lot easier – in fact, many seasoned PC users won’t have even come across these, but I’m going to share some of the best bits and pieces with you today. I’d say that a decent amount of the best desktop applications available today are ‘open source’, meaning that instead of being developed entirely by one self-contained company, the software is open and available for anyone to work on and contribute to. It’s both a cool philosophy, and conducive to the production of very user-friendly and user-orientated software. So here are a few of my favourites:
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Tags: CCleaner, chrome, firefox, free, Google, IZArc, Open Office, open-source, opera, Software, VLC
Posted in Reviews, Software, Tutorials | 5 Comments »
