Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on June 17, 2008 by CyberNet.

About two weeks ago we wrote about how Mozilla was going after a Guinness World Record when Firefox 3 launched. Well, that day is today, and the official Firefox 3 Download Day started just minutes ago! It strolled in about an hour late, but at least it made it here safe and sound. The site is getting hammered pretty hard right now, so don’t be surprised if you can’t get through right away.

Mozilla is shooting for 5 million downloads within the first 24-hours, and to have your download count you’ll need to download the full installation of the browser. You’ve got until Wednesday, June 18th at 10AM PST (view in your timezone) to complete your download.

Before the launch there had already been well over 1.7 million people pledge to download the browser, which means they should have no troubles bypassing the 1.6 million downloads that they received for Firefox 2 when it was released. Italy, Poland, and Brazil all had over 100,000 pledges each, and the United States had over 275,000 pledges. That means those four countries alone will likely account for 40% of the total downloads.

In the event that Mozilla’s site starts to get bogged down (which is exactly what appears to be happening right now) I’ve put together a downloader for all of the different languages Firefox 3 is offered in. This will take you directly to the download page for your particular language, and should count in the “Download Day” total.

Be sure to keep an eye out for our CyberNotes tomorrow morning as we give Firefox 3 the full review it deserves.

Get Firefox 3
Thanks to Cody for the tip!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Online video is the latest rage on the Internet, and it is almost mind boggling how much of a household name YouTube has become. Some people, such as lonelygirl15, have become YouTube SuperStars. In fact, lonleygirl15 even appeared on the Jay Leno show!

That is just one side of what the video sharing sites are used for. Besides for personal use, many sites (especially DailyMotion) are becoming a hub for copyrighted video content. Ashley recently covered a site called PeekVid which brings television shows and movies into a central location so that they can easily be viewed. Alluc is another site similar in nature to PeekVid, and between those two sites you can surely find something good to watch.

So what can you do if you don’t want to watch the videos while being connected to the Internet? Simple! You can download them and play them at your leisure. I’m going to give you a bunch of tips on how to get the videos onto your computer.

–Download a Video–

Downloading the videos that you want is probably just about the easiest part of the video process. There are so many tools out there to get the job done and they are so easy to find. Depending on what you’re looking to do these three tools will get the job done fast:

• VideoDownloader – This is a Firefox extension that works with all kinds of sites and content. Not only can you download videos from YouTube, Google, MetaCafe, iFilm, and DailyMotion but it will also let you save MP3′s and QuickTime videos that are embedded in sites. The list of sites that it supports is quite extensive so I’m not going to list them all here, but rest assured that this extension should get the job done.
• KeepVid – This is my personal favorite because it doesn’t require you to install any extension or application to download the videos. You can simply enter a URL into the site or you can use the bookmarklet that they have available for even faster conversions.
• GrabYouTubes – I wanted to include this service because it will surely come in handy when downloading videos from the PeekVid service that I mentioned above. All you have to do is provide the URL to the PeekVid movie or TV show that you want and it will quickly provide download links for all of the parts listed on that page. This is a lot easier than retrieving the download links one at a time. For more information on how to use the GrabYouTubes read Ashley’s post on PeekVid.

–Convert a Video–

If you didn’t notice most of the videos that you will download will be in the file format FLV. This isn’t something that most computers will recognize immediately and let you start playing, so you might want to convert it into a more recognizable format. Here are two ways that you can do the conversion:

• Online FLV Converter – This service is free and the great thing is that you don’t have to install a single application on your computer to have it converte videos. It can take a FLV file and transform it into an AVI, MOV, MP4, or 3GP so that you can watch the video on just about any device. This service is primarily geared towards YouTube since it does allow you to directly enter in a YouTube URL, but you can also enter in the URL to a FLV file (found using one of the utilities mentioned above). After giving it that information the service will download the video from the site and re-encode it into the format that you want. I tried it out and on smaller files (1MB or so) it works great, but I also tried a 10MB file that ended up error out. So if you’re trying to convert a large movie try the next solution.
  
• Super Video Converter – This video conversion utility is by far the most popular and happens to be one of the most CyberMarked articles on our site. This free application will let you convert a FLV file into a large array of other file formats, including AVI, MOV, iPod, Pocket PC, WMV, and PSP. It also allows you to customize various options so that the resulting video is exactly what you want.
  

–Play/Watch a Video–

You don’t have to convert a video just to watch it, though. If you have the right tool you can actually watch the FLV file right on your PC bypassing the whole conversion process. I looked around for at least an hour trying to find a nice player that was not only simple but offered what I thought was some very necessary features. I wanted to be able to play from a file that I downloaded and most importantly I wanted a fullscreen mode. Actually, the most important thing was that the application be freeware that wasn’t bloated with things that I didn’t want to use, but the fullscreen mode was still a critical deciding factor.

The result that I came up with was nFLVPlayer (download mirror). The application takes just seconds to install and it is simple enough for anyone to understand. The configuration options are minimal so power users may not get much joy from it, but you can still adjust the brightness, contrast, and a few other things. This program definitely gets my stamp of approval!

Download nFLVPlayer from our mirror

–Overview–

Now you’re going to be all set the next time that you want to take your videos with you on the go, which is great for those of us who don’t have access to the Internet 24/7. There are so many tools out there that can replace any of the ones that I listed above, but I covered the ones that I had experience with. With that being said we want to hear what you’re using to download, convert, and watch videos.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on May 09, 2007 by CyberNet.

I have heard a lot of criticism about Windows Vista, which has caused a lot of people to second guess whether they should make the upgrade. I have had both visitors of the site, family, and friends all ask me whether they should upgrade to Vista…and my response each time is “will you benefit from it?”

Personally I have made the upgrade because there are a lot of things in Vista, such as the Desktop Window Manager and search indexing, that made the upgrade worth it for me. I’m always keen on testing out the latest software and developments, so in order to do that I needed to make the upgrade to Vista.

Most of the time I tell people that it isn’t necessary for them to rush out and upgrade their operating system unless they are really adamant about getting it. In that case I try to caution people that they might have some software that doesn’t work quite right or possibly even some hardware troubles, but in the end things tend to go smoothly.

Last night I was reading a rather interesting post by Nik Cubrilovic, who is the CEO of Omnidrive and a writer on TechCrunch, about his experiences with Vista. For an entire year he was using Mac OS X for his primary operating system until all of a sudden he just couldn’t get it to boot. Then came the ultimate plunge…he decided to give Vista a shot:

I have been using Mac OS X as my primary OS for almost a year now, but last night I switched back [to Windows] … I can’t believe I didn’t switch back sooner, the main difference is that the interface is much much smoother and neater and despite popular belief performance is actually fantastic. I was used to waiting on Mac OS X while my standards apps would open up – Quicksilver, Firefox, Skype, etc. but Vista goes almost straight into the desktop and most apps boot very quickly.

I didn’t expect it to be like this, I didn’t want Vista to be this good – I was expecting to boot back into OS X and live happily ever after, but damn, this is one fast, slick and nice operating system. If you are a Mac user try it yourself, install boot camp and Vista and it will feel like you just added another CPU and doubled your RAM – I can’t see any evidence for any of the reports of Vista being slow or power-hungry.

…

In the past 15 years I have gone from DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Linux, OpenBSD, Windows 98, Windows 2000 (a nice OS for the time), XP, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and now Vista and working with Vista this weekend reminds me of the first time I ran an early preview of Mac OS X and spent an hour running my mouse across the dock (back in 2000).

He then dives deeper into the Mac OS X vs. Vista comparison pointing out the differences in Media Center/Frontrow, transferring settings, and handling media. This was a refreshing view on Vista after having read dozens of articles detailing why one should switch to Mac OS X, and in a comment on Nik’s site he mentioned why he wanted to write the article:

What actually spurred me into writing this is that I had read so much about Vista and most of those posts were negative, and I made the same mistake many others did and didn’t even try it out – it is by no means perfect but it is pretty damn good.

Paul Thurrott (a Windows guru) did make a good point though, and that is how Nik was running a year-old copy of Mac OS X and comparing that to a fresh install of Vista. After a fresh install nearly any operating system will probably seem to run lightning fast when comparing it to another that has gotten bogged down with a year’s worth of junk.

In another article by Paul he talks about the status of Vista after the first 100 days. In that article he covers both Vista sales and compatibility, and one paragraph really hit home for me:

What’s interesting is that Microsoft is caught in a Catch-22 in some ways. Customers want the company to innovate, but often don’t like the side effects of that work. For example, to make Windows Vista more visually exciting, Microsoft changed the graphics architecture, but then some users complained that their video cards were no longer compatible.

I hear complaints all the time about Microsoft not doing enough to “reinvent” the operating system, but the biggest concern for most customers is compatibility. Some say that Microsoft should scrap everything that they have and just start from scratch, but at the same time they want all of the previous applications and hardware to work perfectly. I often compare this kind of thing to gas mileage in cars where people want to get hundreds of miles to the gallon, but they don’t want to pay for the upgrades to receive the benefits.

I’m not trying to be a Windows evangelist here, but having used Vista for over a year (I tested Beta versions) now I can say that it is much better than XP. If you have tried Vista yourself how does it stack up to the other operating systems that you have used?

Read our complete Windows Vista review

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on October 15, 2009 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

Shared Folders Now on Google Docs
Google has added a feature to Google Docs that I’m sure collaborators will love. They now let you share an entire folder of documents with a group of people instead of having to specify permissions on a per-document basis. That means you can have a folder of docs for co-workers, another for family members, and so on. This just got a lot more useful for me!

Microsoft Ditches Works for Office 2010 Starter
Microsoft has decided to give the axe to MS Works, and replace it with Office 2010 Starter edition. This will included stripped-down ad-filled versions of both Word and Excel that will ship on many new PC’s… instead of the current 60-day trial solution that is getting included. I’m a bit torn as to whether this will be good or bad. In some ways I’m happy I won’t have to hear people say “why can’t I edit my documents in Office anymore?” I’m a bit concerned, however, as to what the quality of ads will be like, and what information Microsoft will be able to collect from users as a result of that.

Verizon Promises Android Phones with Google Voice Support
Verizon and Google made a joint announcement that they will be working together to serve up some Android-powered phones this year. They also said that they will be including support for Google Voice, which was obviously a jab at Apple/AT&T considering the lack of support for the service from those two companies. This should definitely shine some more light on the Android platform, which will hopefully give Google the push they need to continually innovate in the mobile area.

–News in Brief–

Walmart Offering $45 Unlimited Nationwide Cellphone Plan
The retail giant Walmart will begin offering a no-contract cellphone plan in the coming days that includes unlimited minutes, data, and messaging for a mere $45 per month.

Gmail Labs Introduces “Got the Wrong Bob?”
Google can analyze the recipients that you have selected in an email composition, and see if you’ve likely chosen the correct people based on past email habits.

YouTube Shows Video Info
By right-clicking on a YouTube video you can now get information like bitrate, frame rate, and other details.

Ten Teen Entrepreneurs to Watch
TechCrunch outlines 10 teens that you should keep an eye out for… because you’ll probably hear about them again in the future.

Google Sites Gets More Features
When using Google Sites you can add things like documents, spreadsheets, calendars, and more.

Google’s (Lack of) Acquisition Process
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt admits that Larry and Sergey buy companies on a whim.

Quickly View Formatted PDF’s in your Google Search Results
Google now includes a “Quick View” option next to PDF search results to make reading PDF’s less painful.

MediaFire Pushes for a Firefox Extension to be Banned
MediaFire is urging Mozilla to remove a Firefox extension that is against their terms of service.

Meebo Hits 90 Million Users
Congrats to Meebo for inching even closer to the huge 100 million user milestone!

Pirate Bay Relocates to Nuclear Bunker
The Pirate Bay is protecting themselves from physical attacks by relocating to a nuclear warfare bunker.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

SearchTabs Enhances Your Google Results
The SearchTabs Firefox extension is pretty cool because it leverages the data from Xmarks, which includes over one billion user bookmarks. SearchTabs looks at this data and displays stats next to the results letting you know how each one ranks in particular categories. This can definitely be helpful when trying to determine how reputable something is that you’re reading.

Create a Virtual Machine Image From Your Hard Drive
Interestingly enough the Microsoft-owned Sysinternals company has created a free application that lets you turn the OS on your hard drive into a virtual machine image. The image that is generated can then be used in one of numerous virtual machine applications, or when you’re in Windows 7/Vista you can actually mount and browse the contents of the image without actually needing to fire it up.

Create Dynamic Desktop Wallpapers
PhotoJoy is a free Windows app that lets you create dynamic wallpapers and screensavers from the photos you have stored on your computer. If you’re looking for a way to spice up your desktop this is an awesome way to do it. And, if you’re anything like me, you have plenty of photos on your computer for it to work with.

Find Source Images for Desktop Wallpapers
I’m sure it’s happened to you before where you’ve seen an image or screenshot of an image that you really want to use as your wallpaper, but you’re not sure where the original high-res version can be found. That’s where TinEye comes in. Just upload the image, and it will try to locate some higher quality versions of the same photo that will hopefully be good enough to grace your desktop.

–Tips in Brief–

Firefox 3.7 Starts Prepping for Windows 7
Firefox 3.7 is including Windows 7-specific features like jumplists and per-tab Taskbar thumbnails… it’s just disappointing that this final release won’t be available until next year.

DoubleTwist: Another Media Player
This is a decent media player that supports a wide range of devices, including Android-powered gadgets.

Where’s My Cell Phone Service Calls Your Phone
That’s right… you won’t have to ask one of your friends to call your phone the next time you can’t find it. Although that does require you to have it off of silent, and you have to be in the general vicinity if you want to hear it.

Join the Minimalist Google Homepage Prototype
Google is testing a truly minimalist homepage with not much more than a search box and a few buttons. Just run a quick script and you’ll be able to join in the fun.

Color Code Outlook for Easier Management
Make some of your emails stand out from the others by color coding them as they fly in.

Make a Portable Browser Your Default
If you prefer to use a browser that is self-contained (a.k.a. portable) on your machine this is what you need to do to make it the default one.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Review
Who would have thought… the reviews for Windows Mobile 6.5 aren’t looking too good. Gizmodo even goes as far as to say that the changes are barely noticeable.

Create Music Video Playlists with TubeRadio.fm
This website, which will remind you a lot of iTunes, lets you queue up a bunch of music videos that you want to watch.

–Downloads–

• Adobe Reader 9.2 [Mirror]
• AIM 7.0.13.4 [Mirror]
• BurnAware Free 2.4.1 [Mirror]
• Digsby Build 70 [Mirror]
• FileZilla 3.2.8.1 [Mirror]
• Foxit Reader 3.1.2.1013 [Mirror]
• Google Chrome 4.0.221.6 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Google Desktop 5.9.909.8267 [Mirror]
• MediaMonkey 3.1.2.1272 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Miranda IM 0.9.0 ^{Alpha 3} [Mirror]
• Notepad++ 5.5.1 [Mirror]
• Notepad 2 4.0.2.3 [Mirror]
• Opera 10.10.1833 ^{Beta 1} [Mirror]
• Paint.NET 3.5 ^{Beta 3} [Mirror]
• PrimoPDF 5.0.0.19 [Mirror]
• SeaMonkey 2.0 ^RC1 [Mirror]
• Skype 4.1.0.179 [Mirror]
• TagScanner 5.1.553 [Mirror]
• uTorrent 2.0.0.16850 ^Beta [Mirror]
• VirtualBox 3.0.8.53138 [Mirror]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on May 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

Windows; Mac;
One thing that has always amazed me is the fact that none of the desktop feed readers currently available synchronize with Google Reader. Maybe I’m wrong and I just haven’t searched hard enough, but we’re getting a little closer with ReadAir. It’s a free (and open source) download that leverages off of the relatively new Adobe Air to bring your Google Reader feeds to your desktop.

At first glance it will probably remind you of Newgator’s free NetNewsWire app for Mac’s, and I’m guessing that there was definitely some inspiration taken from it. Don’t be fooled by the appearance… this is a both a Mac and Windows application since it runs on Adobe Air (doesn’t appear to work in Adobe Air for Linux). Albeit it does look a little weird on Windows since the skin is still the same, but it’s not any weirder than iTunes on Windows.

There are some pitfalls though. You can star, share, and search items in your feeds, but there are no offline capabilities. For some people the whole point of using a desktop feed reader is so that they can easily read the news when their not connected to the Internet, but you can’t do that with ReadAir. Plus there are no keyboard shortcuts, and no more than 20 items can be viewed in a single feed. Yeah, those are some deal breakers for me.

I think I’ll be sticking with NetNewsWire until something better comes along, but I do like Google’s online feed reader better than Newsgator’s. So hopefully a better Google Reader synchronization option will come about so that I can use a desktop client on my computer, and use Google’s new iPhone interface when I’m on the go.

ReadAir Homepage [via Download Squad]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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