Streaming: StreamPlug Brings MP4 to the Browser

Stumbled across this over the weekend and found it pretty useful, if not downright fun. With my luck this technology is 5 years old, and I am a late comer.
Either way, StreamPlug is a browser plugin for IE, Firefox,Mozilla,Netscape- that enables viewing of streaming Divx, Xvid, 3ivx, Sigma, Ogg Vorbis,etc., right in your browser.
This thing works on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP and GASP!!! ----LINUX
Some of the interesting nuts and bolts:

1. 16/9, 4/3 , square and customizable resolution settings.
2. Supports .ogg and .ogm files.
3. Save Stream support--If video hoster allows it.
4. Add your own subtitles to a streaming movie

Not only that, but they have links to movies you can watch now, right from their page.
These include George A. Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead". My favourite, original Max Fleischer Superman cartoons . I just love these. Not to mention a number of other movies, that I believe are all free, due to being released into the public domain, and available via the Creative Commons license.
All I can say, is that I saw really good quality on a normal broadband connection, and had no problems with it.
FYI--if you are plugin-phobic, you can always snoop the source on the page, for the link to a movie, and then just plug that into VLC, or Mplayer.



STREAMPLUG by CEDELIA : FULL streaming solution MPEG4 and Ogg : DIVX, XVID, 3ivx, Sigma RMP4, VORBIS, FLAC, THEORA

IPod: Winamp Plugin Replaces ITunes

A new plug-in for Winamp has just been announced, that can alleviate your need for ITunes. The plug-in ml_Ipod offers up some pretty neat features.
If you were previously managing your music collection in Winamp, you can go back. This plugin will break you from the pain of associating your IPod with only one instance of ITunes(Ipod database).
You will also be able copy songs from your Ipod to your hard drive. You can also configure the plugin to handle the DRM on songs purchased from ITMS using software from the Hymn Project.

This may be my new favorite piece of software; it could have helped save part of my vacation 2 months ago.
The Story:
I had a music collection at home, that was synched with my Ipod, that contained the playlists for my Griffin ITrip. I thought it would be nice to bring it along and be able to share the music with my friends, from any radio that happened to be around. Thinking that a trip to Mexico wouldn't be complete without a little Bob Marley, I realized that I had no Bob Marley at home, but I had a lot at work. So, not thinking, pre-vacation , I sync my Ipod at work, not realizing that all of my music was there, but not my ITrip playlists. Long story short, I got to Mexico, and bragged about how smart I was to bring music that we could all listen to. Suffice it to say, there was no music on that ITrip to Mexico.
If only this plugin was available 10 weeks ago.
Okay it was available--just not on my radar--damn--that makes me feel even stupider!

Check out the plugin : ml_Ipod



Wired News: IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free

BitTorrent: New Search Engine

The BitTorrent news out there is starting to get hot and heavy. Looks like the original BitTorrent has a new revenue stream to support development,etc.
The new Ad-supported search engine is actually going to be able to read and index the trackers on the web, based on your search terms. The new Ask Jeeves partnered engine will then rank the search results based on torrent activity and popularity. Read on for more of the nitty gritty.


Wired News: Next for BitTorrent: Search

Gaming: Imagine you are old !

This may be hard for some people: Imagine you are 30+ years old. Also, imagine that you love playing video games, and have a penchant for playing Halo, or Halo2 online. Then imagine that you are doomed to play against every angry 15 year old in the world, and are treated to eloquent diatribes such as "I f*&!d you up you candy ass c*%$-s!#*er"; as if this person was a new cast member on Deadwood.
If you find your colorful imagination bleeding over into real life, there is a place you can go, that just might help. Welcome to the world of GeezerGamers. "GG" is a great place to meet other like minded(age challenged) gamers, who enjoy a fun, slightly more mature gaming experience. If your friends list is short(or almost empty like mine), head on over to their forums, sign up, and introduce yourself.
You will shortly find your friends list growing larger and larger. The site also features a calendar right on their front page, where you can add your own playing schedule, and find out who else will be playing at the same time, so you can hook up and get a party going. This works great for me, since "real life", really limits the amount of time I have to play games, let alone on-line. You will find everyone there is very friendly, and willing to make you feel comfortable. So if you yearn for online fragging companionship, do yourself a favor and head on over to their site.
PS . They also play other games too, check the games list to find your favourite.

www.geezergamers.com
Happy Gaming!

BitTorrent: Distributed trackers

The world of BitTorrent is quickly changing. It is most likely due to the MPAA,RIAA cracking down on torrent/tracker sites. So in the open source world, innovation wins again. There are now a few BT clients out there that have augmented their already superior distributed file sharing abilities, to be able to manage almost trackerless file sharing. The new method involves using something called DHT(Distributed Hash Table) to manage who has what file. It basically turns every BT client into a mini-tracker. This way you do not need to upload a tracker to a web site. Assuming you have web access for the seed file, just about anyone can now share a popular file, without crushing their bandwidth bill.

The clients now supporting this new method, include Azureus, and a beta version of the original BitTorrent.
Check here for the Slashdot rundown,
or here for a very technical rundown of the technology.

Click here for a less technical rundown of the technology.


Happy Sharing!

Gaming: DOA 4 Xbox360 HD Movie

Here is the direct link to the DOA 4 movie that demos the Xbox360 . Let me just say that this blew me away. To see the real time rendering of complex surfaces, fur, hair, clothing---it is just awe inspiring. Beware though-- the download is over 400Mb and the video itself is HD, so you need a shit hot PC to view it. My 2.6Ghz, 1Gb ram, 128 mb video, system still stuttered at some of the more action packed sections. Regardless, this is worth seeing. When the 360 hits, I have to get an HD tv. No if's, and's, or but's --- I have to have one.

DOA 4 HD Movie Courtesy of 1up.com

Linux: Best thing ever --Synergy switch

Okay, just happened upon this on hackaday.com,
but this software is one of the most creative and unique things I have ever seen.
Most linux users will have this installed without knowing it. Head over to the site to update.
Basically, Synergy allows you to control two or more pc's with the same keyboard/mouse, without any special hardware. You just need to run the server on one machine, and then clients on the others. There are server/client combos for Win32, Unix, and OSX. It also allows copy/paste between displays, as well as shared screen savers.

If you have multiple desktop pc's/monitors on your desk, this is a great way to use both, without switching to a different keyboard or mouse, or using an often times expensive or unreliable hardware switch. All I can say is wow. I installed the software on my XP box, configured for about 10 seconds, and started the server. I then grabbed the rpm for my Fedora box, ran
rpm -Uvh synergy-1.2.2-1.i386.rpm,
and started the client up:
synergyc 'synergy-server-host' .
It just worked right out of the 'box'.

Try it out at http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/index.html

Gaming: Engadget has the lowdown on the PS3

Looks like the PS3 may just kick some Xbox ass.

Some of the specs:
* It will support Blu-ray , DVD±R/W, CD-R/RW
* Backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2 and original Playstation
* One 3.2GHz Cell processor—total system performance rated at 2.18 teraflops; it will have 256MB system RAM 3.2GHz, and 256MB GDDR VRAM at 700MHz
FYI-- 2.18 is more than double what the Xbox 360 will run with their 3 cpu core
* The nVidia graphics will be called the RSX (”Reality Synthesizer”), and will trump the Xbox 360 with 1080p (yes, that’s a p) graphics support.
Time to buy an HDTV
* There will be a 2.5-inch hard drive attachment
* Memory Stick Duo slot, and SD and CF slots
* Bluetooth support with up to seven wireless controllers
* Six USB system ports



Oh and a quick side note on the 360---it will be backwards compatible. No need to throw out your copies of Halo and Halo2.


Engadget & Joystiq’s live coverage of Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Python: Great Articles and Tutorials

I thought I would throw some information out there that has helped me immensely in the past. Here is a link to some articles on Devshed.com that simplify and de-mystify some common problems people have when learning Python, from beginner on up. For beginners I suggest checking out the articles here and here for info on file handling and sockets.
Also, check out the forums if you are ever in need of some guidance or help in the world of Python , or just about any other language/technology.

--List of articles--

Gaming: New PS3 images are up

Sony has let loose some new images of the PS3 along with some in-game screenshots of Tekken, Devil May Cry4, and Killzone 2.
If you ask me, the concave Xbox360 and the convex PS3 are going to be able to sit on top of one another quite easly.
It also seems that the new Playstation controllers will be using Bluetooth. It is going to be an exciting year... in 9-12 months.
Click here to see the new pics over at filerushnews.com

File Rush News :: Playstation 3 Gallery

Gaming: Revenge Of The Brick

Here is a humorous EPIII game/movie promo from Lego. I thought it was pretty funny regardless of the cute factor.
Have yet to play any of the console versions of the new Lego game, but I played the PC demo, and found it to be visually pleasing ,and pretty fun to play.

On to the video -->12mb Quicktime

LEGO.com STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE BRICK

Gadgets? : How to Brew Beer in a Coffee Pot

I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with the stated purpose of this blog(Maybe it does), but this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
I will see if I can give this a try. If anyone happens upon this site, and tries it, let me know.



How to Brew Beer in a Coffee Pot

Firefox: Internet Explorer share slips below 90 percent

Looks like the success of Firefox is starting to really show in the numbers. Over 50 million downloads so far.
Let's hope the recent security vulnerabilities don't mar the image of this great browser. With luck people will realize that only an open source browser would be able to turn around a fix for these vulnerabilities in such a short time.
CNN.com Internet Explorer share slips below 90 percent - May 13, 2005

Gaming: The Xbox 360 on Kotaku

Great summary on the 360 specs and what to expect of the console.
I am really excited about the media extender functionality. The media server option will help me replace my kludgy Prismiq Media Player. The prismiq requires a healthy amount of voodoo and witchcraft to be able to stream video, so this new functionality on the 360 will be welcome.

The Xbox 360 : Kotaku

Firefox: Best extension tutorial out there

This site has the best tutorial for writing your own firefox extension.
There is almost no simple to follow information out there on how to do your own extensions.
The info here really gets you excited about learning XUL, and finding out how to really extend Mozilla/Firefox.
Check it out--
roachfiend.com

Gaming: Flash Views of the new Xbox 360

Just went over to the www.xbox360.com site, and found that they have some nice interactive flash "tours" of the new console and the the controller. Gives you a chance to get a good look at it from all sides.

Gaming: Xbox 360 has been announced

xbox360

It seems nobody who really enjoys games,really enjoyed the MTV Xbox 360 premiere. Frodo really helped with the marketing spin though. For those who want to see a rather interesting video that does not play to 16 year olds, then follow the link ->Here
for the video linked on www.joystiq.com
If you can get over the obvious marketing hype/style, you will actually see and hear some interesting information about the technical specs on the Xbox 360 as well as the motivation behind the design. Think "INHALE"