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Air Video Iphone App Review
Jul 25, 2010 Iphone App Reviews Leave a comment
Air Video is a an application that allows video streaming for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
It is a really neat app, and I felt compelled to start reviewing some of iPhone apps that I use that I thought were really cool or could be of great use to you.
As most of you know from previous posts here, I have a media center pc in the living room and on that pc I have several movies that I have ripped from dvd, as well as tv shows that are automatically downloaded via rss feeds. Well since I purchased my new iPhone 4 I have been looking for ways to use my old iPhone 3g and although using the ipod, gps, bookreader, and other parts of it are great, I thought it would be really awesome to stream video from my computer to it.
Encoding of video files
In the past I used a program called ORB to stream video to my phone., but in order for the video to work on the iPhone I had to pre-encode it so that I could view it on the iPhone. I didn’t like this very much.
What I found to be great about the Air Video application was that you put a small client on the computer that has all the video files, and THAT computer can do ALL of video encoding for you on the fly in real time. Yes you can let it encoded it properly for the iPhone in real time as it streams the video to your phone. This is nice as you will not have to worry about what type of video it is that you are streaming. You can even encode it and save it for later to watch on your phone, ipod, or ipad. I
Connectivity
Connectivity is great! I have tried it over Wi-Fi and also over 3G and it worked great. Over 3G there was a slightly longer buffer time, but it still worked out really good.
Check out their website here. Air Video
Here is a short video of the AIR VIDEO application for the iPhone.
I am recording this video using the iPhone4 video recorder and the app is on the 3G iPhone.
This application allows you to stream video from a source, which is my living room computer my Media Center PC, to the iPhone.
This can be done over 3g or WI-FI network.
I first stream an episode of THE IT CROWD a TV show, then I launch my copy of Iron Man the movie.
This is great when you are in the yard on the deck, or in the hammock, or laying in the bed.
Air Video is $2.99 but there is a free version that you can try first.
The free version only allows you to see 3 videos from your source.
I recommend this app!
The Best Free Antivirus Alternatives
Jun 15, 2010 Guest Articles 1 Comment
(Guest Article)
It’s always nice when you manage to find something in life for free.
However, it’s even better if you manage to find something which is
free and useful at the same time. Luckily, in the world of antivirus
software, this magical combination is not too difficult to find.
Antivirus programs, those designed to remove computer viruses from an
infected machine, are everywhere these days. This is not surprising as
the number of infected machines seems to increase many fold each and
every year. If your computer has ever ground to a halt, if it has ever
run wild displaying unsolicited ads, or if it has ever decided to
suddenly act in very unusual ways then you have likely had contact
with a computer virus. At this point, it is time for a little computer
repair. Now you could send your PC off to the local computer repair
technician, but why do that when you can temporarily become the
computer repair technician.
One of the most difficult parts of virus removal is deciding which
free antivirus program to download. There is a boatload of them out
there and for the computer novice it can become quite overwhelming.
Fortunately, we have done the research for you and come up with a list
of three popular, and reliable, software applications which can rid
you of this electronic pest.
3. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a well known free antivirus program
which has been around for quite some time. It has a solid track record
of virus removal and is updated on a fairly frequent basis. The
programs interface is quite straightforward and should be useable by
nearly any computer user. The only major drawback of it is that it can
slow down your PC while it is scanning. If you have a new computer
then this will likely not be a problem. If you have a older, slower
model then you may want to look elsewhere for a free antivirus
alternative.
2. Avira AntiVir Personal is much like AVG (mentioned above). It is a
fairly well known product with a good record of virus protection and
is updated quote often. Once again, its user interface is fairly
simple and should be useable by nearly anyone. Unlike AVG, Avira tends
not to slow down your computer very much; therefore, it will work well
on a newer or older machine. The only major problem with the product
is that it continually encourages you to upgrade to the full paid
version.
1. Avast! Free antivirus is another great free antivirus alternative.
It is similar to the programs listed above; however, it comes with a
wider feature set. Not only can it scan for viruses and malware (like
AVG and Avira), but Avast! can also scan emails, websites, and IM’s
(internet messengers like MSN). The user interface for Avast! is easy
enough to learn and the program does not slow down your computer much.
The only problem with Avast! is that you have to register the free
version after 60 days (although the registration is free).
There you have it; if you are looking for a free, useful antivirus
application try one of the three programs mentioned above: AVG
Anti-Virus Free Edition, Avira AntiVir Personal, or Avast! Free.
Although they each have a few minor drawbacks, they do a very good job
of detecting and removing computer threats. If you have any more
questions about computer virus removal then feel free to come and visit Computer Repair Vancouver where we talk about a host of computer repair related
things.
Canned Responses in Gmail
Apr 12, 2010 Information Leave a comment
I don’t know how it happened, I think my email address was sold as a part of a list or something, but I started receiving emails in one of my Gmail accounts about some stupid money making scheme.
At the bottom of the email it had a place to unsubscribe to the email but simply emailing a reply with the subject of REMOVE ME.
I did this several times and I kept on getting emails. I even marked it as spam inside of Gmail for good measure and it still kept coming over to my phones email inbox.
Then it hit me. I remembered that Gmail had lots of filtering features that I could take advantage of. A simple way to deal with this guy that constantly refuses to remove me from his list would be to set a filter to move his incoming emails to the deleted items folder and I would never see it. But I wanted him to know that I was sending his email to the deleted items. I wanted a CANNED RESPONSE! Something set up to automatically let him know each time he sent me and email.
I went into Gmail and I knew where it once was but it was gone! This made me mad for a little bit till I looked deeper and Google had moved it to a new tab in the settings called LABS.
On the labs tab there are lots of little tools you can enable to use for your Gmail. Canned Response is one of them.
Here is how you can enable the feature and set up your first Canned Response.
Open up your mail and visit the settings tab
Now click on the Labs tab.
From there scroll down till you see Canned Responses and enable it.
After you have selected enable, scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes.
Now lets setup a canned response.
Compose a new email.
Save the email as a response.
Create a filter for emails you do not like or from people you do not care to get emails from. We will set an auto response for these.
Click CREATE A NEW FILTER
Here I will type who to filter the email from.
Here I will tell it to skip the inbox, and send the canned response. The one I made and saved earlier.
There you have it. Next time I get an email from the jerk, he will get my response and I will never see it.
How to add the AVG Anti Virus Rescue CD to your Multiboot USB Flash Drive
Recently AVG.com released a run from cd version of their popular free anti-virus program. They call it a rescue CD.
Here at USERBYTES we have grown tired of CD’s for a long time now. They often get scratched and I found that I have to keep up with way to many of them. All our readers here prefer the USB flashdrive method with lots of utilities on it.
Read about how to create your own here http://www.userbytes.com/roll-your-own-multiboot-usb-flash-drive/
For those that are familiar with this project and you now want to add AVG to your drive, its really simple.
First download the version for USB flash drives here. Download Rescue CD (for USB stick) it will be in .rar format so you will need winrar or 7zip to extract it.
Once it is downloaded, extract it and put the contents in a folder that you will create on the root of the USB flash drive called AVG
Now add this code to your menu.lst file on your multi-boot usb flash drive.
title AVG Anti-Virus
root (hd0,0)
kernel /AVG/vmlinuz persistent vga=0×317 ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw quiet
initrd=/AVG/initrd.lzm
boot
That’s all there is too it.
Many Companies Say FACEBOOK is the Riskiest Social Networking Site
Feb 2, 2010 Hacks, Information Leave a comment
Did you read my earlier article about how some applications were not really safe on Facebook? The article is here.The article was basically about how Facebook doesn’t always have your best interest in mind. They are not screening the applications on there very well and what you get when they do not screen the applications very well is malware and spyware and even viruses on your computer.
Over 70% more companies reported spam and malicious infections arrived via social networks in 2009 vs. 2008. By the end of last year, 72% of companies expressed concern that their employees’ use of popular social sites could result in a security breach. Of all the companies that reported, 60% of companies now consider Facebook to be the riskiest social network out there.
Those findings, released Monday, come from a survey of 500 companies worldwide conducted by security firm Sophos. They help quantify the rising tide of spam and malicious infections proliferating on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo and other such social networks.
As the planet’ s largest social network, Facebook might naturally be expected to emerge as the No. 1 target of cybercriminals, says Graham Cluley, a senior analyst at Sophos. But he says Facebook has exacerbated matters by asking its members to embrace a new, more granular privacy setting. Cluley demonstrates in this video how the new setting, in effect, authorizes Facebook to expose more of its member-generated content to everyone on the Internet.
Facebook’s new privacy setting gives the company leeway to submit more content to Google, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search so the search services can incorporate more Facebook content into real-time search results, much as they’ve begun doing with Twitter microblog postings, says Cluley. Don’t believe me? Google your name. When I Google my name the first thing that pops up is my twitter account.
However, the wider release of Facebook members’ data “inevitably means more information will be made available to cybercriminals who want to target you or you company for an attack,” says Cluley.
Facebook continues to defend its new privacy setting as flexible and easy to change. But privacy advocates continue to criticize the move. And last week the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada launched an investigation into a citizen’s complaint about the new settings.
Meanwhile, Sophos’ new survey includes extensive analysis about how Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have become like a candy store for data thieves. The fast-morphing Koobface social network worm is a case in point:
Most notably, the notorious Koobface worm family became more diverse and sophisticated in 2009. The sophistication of Koobface is such that it is capable of registering a Facebook account, activating the account by confirming an email sent to a Gmail address, befriending random strangers on the site, joining random Facebook groups, and posting messages on the walls of Facebook friends (often claiming to link to sexy videos laced with malware). Furthermore, it includes code to avoid drawing attention to itself by restricting how many new Facebook friends it makes each day.
Koobface’s attack vectors broadened, targeting a wide range of sites other than the one that gave it its name (i.e., Facebook). Social networking sites, including MySpace and Bebo, were added to the worm’s arsenal in 2008; Tagged and Friendster joined the roster in early 2009; and most recently the code was extended to include Twitter in a growing battery of attacks. It is likely we will see more malware following in the footsteps of Koobface, creating Web 2.0 botnets with the intention of stealing data, displaying fake anti-virus alerts and generating income for hacking gangs.
This is why you have to be aware of who you FRIEND on Facebook and other sites. If you are allowing random people you don’t know to befriend you on Facebook, that’s a problem!. Are you just after a high number of friends? Well, welcome to virus-ville. I don’t even friend some that I do know as friends.
The Lenovo U1 Hybrid Could Be Better Than The iPad
Jan 30, 2010 Gadgets, Information Leave a comment
I just saw this video about the new Lenovo U1 Hybrid that will come out later this year. I think it is an amazing device. It is a notebook computer and tablet all in one, or is it two? Check out the video and you decide how amazing it is.
What the iPad can and can’t do
Jan 29, 2010 Information, iphone Leave a comment
Apple’s iPad tablet computer will be available in March starting at $499, but it already has sparked a range of questions about how it will work. The touch-screen multimedia device uses the same operating system as Apple’s popular iPhone and can access the 140,000 apps available to the iPhone and iPod Touch. USA TODAY reporter Jefferson Graham offers some answers:
Q: I need a data plan to get 3G wireless service on the iPad, but don’t I already have one from AT&T for my iPhone?
A: You’ll need an additional one. Prices are $14.99 for 250 MB of service (good for just e-mail) or $29.99 for unlimited access.
The good news: You’re not under a contract and can cancel at any time. Additionally, because the device works with Wi-Fi, you don’t necessarily have to spring for 3G.
Q: There’s no USB or SD slot. How do I get my photos, video and music files into the iPad?
A: Through iTunes and your PC or Mac computer. Think of the iPad as a giant iPhone or iPod (which of course, it is). Apple hasn’t changed the transfer system. You need to connect the iPad to your computer and sync the video, music and photos through iTunes.
But here’s a potential time-saver: Apple will release a 30-pin adapter — think of the wide end of the cable that syncs your iPod to your computer — to connect digital cameras and the iPad. Apple says it will work only with digital cameras, but can a hack for all sorts of media really be far behind?
Q: I already have my photos and videos stored online. Can’t I access them in the same way I do on the iPhone?
A: Photos on sites such as Facebook, Shutterfly and Phanfare will be easy to pull up — and even quicker if you go through one of their apps — but videos stored on Facebook and Shutterfly won’t play because they’re in the Flash format, which the iPad doesn’t support.
Q: The iPad is billed as the ultimate multimedia device, but I can’t play most Web video or animation? What’s up with that?
A: The iPhone and iPod Touch leave big white holes when you try to access video and animation on popular websites such as Hulu, Vimeo, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, which are displayed in Flash video.
Apple says it supports HTML5, a new Web video standard, and not Flash, without giving any reason.
Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey says that with all of the criticism about the strain on AT&T’s 3G network, Apple is better off not offering Flash support.
“It would kill the network,” he says. “People would be watching all day. Maybe two years from now, they could handle the traffic, but not now.”
There is a work-around for watching Web video: Use an app. YouTube, Break.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com and many other big video sites have apps that let you watch video.
Q: The new iBooks app that will sell new releases of e-books sounds great. Since the store is in iTunes, can I buy the books and read them on my iPhone or iPod Touch?
A: No. Apple says the application for reading the books is only on the iPad.
Q: Can I listen to online music from Pandora on the iPad and compose an e-mail at the same time?
A: Nope. There’s no multitasking, just as there isn’t on the iPhone or Touch.
That has been one of the biggest criticisms of the iPhone and a selling point for competing devices such as those using Google’s Android system, which does have multitasking.
SOURCE: usatoday.com
The Evil Google Toolbar
Jan 26, 2010 Information Leave a comment
I recently read an article from Benjamin Edelman that contained a lot of detail on how the Google Toolbar is actually spying on your search habits and what you are looking for.
He writes “Run the Google Toolbar, and it’s strikingly easy to activate “Enhanced Features” — transmitting to Google the full URL of every page-view, including searches at competing search engines.”
This is even AFTER you disable it!
He has lots of data to back up his claim.
And to think I was going to write an article about how I loved and used Google Voice. I think I just changed my mind. They are surely recording and logging every piece of data that comes over the wire. Good thing I only use it as a catch all phone number. Ahhh meh, I still may write about it soon.
My advice on the Google Toolbar…uninstall it. It has no real purpose anymore anyways.
Read it here
Google Toolbar Tracks Browsing Even After Users Choose “Disable”
Apple Tablet-Iphone OS Based
Jan 26, 2010 Gadgets, Hardware, Information Leave a comment
In an interview with CNBC, McGraw-Hill’s CEO confirms that their textbooks will be on the Apple Tablet and it will be an iPhone OS based machine. When asked about rumors that their textbooks will be on the Apple tablet, Terry McGraw responds:
“Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now — we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”
Source: Macrumors.com
