Hasta La Gadget!

This, friends, is what happens when convergence is approached correctly. Rather than asking you to keep yet another remote in the hopper, one Phil Irey has crafted DVPRemote — a lovely iOS app that enables your iPhone or iPod touch to act as your main control mechanism for any Roku set-top box. The app itself has been floating around in the App Store for a tick, but its the newly released version 2.0 that’s really of interest. This build ushers in a completely overhauled user interface, and aside from providing the standard Roku shuffle controls, it actually goes above and beyond to make your night easier. There’s full integration with Netflix to support automated Instant Queue navigation, full keyboard support for any screen that requires text entry, direct navigation to user-organizable Channels, toolbars for added channel functionality within Netflix and support for the new “Instant Replay”, “Info”, and “Back” buttons. Heck, it’s even compatible with iOS 4’s background operation protocol. Head on past the break for a hearty demonstration, and tap that iTunes link when you’re ready to ditch Apple’s own Remote App and part ways with $2.99.

Update: Hey Android users — looks like someone’s lookin’ out for you, too. Check out Roku Remote over on your side.

Continue reading DVPRemote iOS app easily replaces your factory Roku remote (video)

DVPRemote iOS app easily replaces your factory Roku remote (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Let’s be honest, Apple’s claim that it neglected to preload Flash on the new MacBook Airs so that users themselves could download and install the latest (and safest) version was a bit of a red herring. Behind that thin veil of corporate courtesy, we’re now seeing a pretty potent cause for Apple’s dumping of Adobe’s wares. Ars Technica‘s review of the 11-inch Air discovered that the machine could crank its way through six hours of web browsing when Flash was nowhere near it, but only four hours with Flash installed and giving it “the full web experience.” The primary culprit was Adobe’s penchant for using CPU cycles to display animated ads, which were typically replaced by static imagery in the absence of the requisite software. So yeah, it’s not a surprise that a “richer” web would require more resources, but it doesn’t speak well for Flash’s efficiency to find a laptop loses a third of its longevity when running it.

MacBook Air battery shown to last two hours longer when browsing the web sans Flash originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on March 29, 2007 by CyberNet.

Chances are, you’ve heard of Linux.

But did you ever want to give it a try?…Maybe take it for a test drive?…See if it acts well with your computer hardware?

Well, you can! And you can do so without installing it, and without tampering with your current operating system.

OK…so how is it done?

You can test drive Linux with something called a Live CD.

Basically, your computer will run the Linux operating system off a CD. And there’s no need to worry about harming your Windows OS, or any of your files for that matter. Your hard drive is totally ignored.

If you like Linux enough, you can install it from the Live CD; but, you don’t have to.

In this post, we’re not going to cover the installation process, but we will cover:

1. Downloading an ISO file 
2. Burning the ISO file to a CD
3. Making sure your computer will boot from your CD-ROM drive, and finally,
4. Test Driving Linux

Let’s begin:

Step 1 – Downloading an ISO file

First, we have to make a clarification: There are many different “versions” of Linux to choose from. It’s a bit different from Windows, where you have Windows XP, and then, years later, an upgrade to Windows Vista. With Linux, there are thousands of different “versions;” which are referred to as distributions.

Some Linux distributions provide a Live CD, while others do not. Since we’re looking to test drive Linux without having to install it, we’re going to need a distribution that does provide a Live CD.

In this post, we will focus on testing one of the most popular Linux distributions: Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu Live CD download is approximately 700 Megabytes in size. So, it is recommended you have a fast Internet connection (e.g., cable, DSL). If you do not have a fast connection, you’re not out of luck. You can order the Live CD (for free) from here. The CD may take a couple of weeks to arrive.

If you’re ready to go to the Ubuntu download page, click here. You’ll see the following: 

Click to Enlarge

• First, choose which version of Ubuntu you’d like to download: 6.10 or 6.06,
• Next, select the type of computer you have,
• Then, choose the country you’d like to download from, and finally,
• Click “Start Download.”

Save the ISO file to your Desktop and you’re ready for Step 2:

Step 2 – Burning the ISO file to a CD

Now that you have the Ubuntu ISO file on your Desktop, the next step is to burn it to a CD.

For this, you will need two things:

1. A blank recordable CD, and,
2. A CD/DVD burning application

If you do not have a CD/DVD burning application, you can download Infra Recorder for free!

In this post, I will show you how to use Infra Recorder to burn the Ubuntu ISO to a CD.

First, place the blank CD into your CD-ROM drive and open the Infra Recorder software.

Click on Actions > Burn Image:

Click to Enlarge

Next, select the Ubuntu ISO file located on your Desktop: 

Click to Enlarge

The next screen should look like the following…Click OK: 

Click to Enlarge

Infra Recorder will then burn the Ubuntu ISO file onto the CD: 

Click to Enlarge

When it is finished, close Infra Recorder.

Step 3 – Make sure your computer will boot from the CD-ROM drive

Now that you have your CD ready, you need to make sure that your computer will boot from your CD-ROM drive first. In other words, if your computer is configured to boot from your hard drive first, it will skip past your CD-ROM drive and load Windows like it usually does.

To have your computer boot from your CD-ROM drive, you’ll have to configure it from the BIOS setup screen. **You will have to restart your computer, so it might be best to either print out these instructions, or write them down.**

I’m going to show you how to configure a Dell desktop. If your computer is a little different, you’ll at least know what to look for.

First, when the computer first boots up, and you can see the Dell logo, hit F2 on your keyboard:

Now that you’re in BIOS, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to go to Boot Sequence:

Click to Enlarge

Hit the Enter key:

Arrange the drives so that the CD-ROM drive is first. (For example: CD-ROM, Hard Drive, Floppy)

Click to Enlarge

Hit the Enter key:

Hit the Esc key:

Step 4 – Test Driving Linux

You’re now ready to try out Ubuntu. Just restart your computer with the CD inside your CD-ROM drive.

Once Ubuntu is loaded, you can:

• Surf the Internet with the Firefox web browser
• Create OpenOffice documents
• Check out how files are organized in Linux (it’s a bit different than Windows).
• Work on multiple desktops
• and much more!

Now that you know the process of using a Live CD, you can move beyond Ubuntu and try other Linux distributions. To see a list of distributions that provide a Live CD, click here.

Editor’s Note: This post was written by Chris Rossini of Learn Firefox where he writes a visual guide to the Firefox Web Browser with how-to instructions, screenshots, and videos to guide you through the entire process!

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on September 03, 2007 by CyberNet.

One of the nicest features in the upcoming Opera 9.5 is that the “save this password” prompt doesn’t hold back the website from loading. This gives the site an opportunity to log you in before saving would could potentially be an incorrect username or password.

The latest Firefox 3 nightlies also have a similar feature, but I believe it is implemented a little better than Opera’s. Firefox doesn’t use a popup dialog box anymore to ask the user to save a password, instead it shows a slim bar along the top of the site (pictured above). It’s unobtrusive, small, and doesn’t interrupt the browsing experience of the user.

Unfortunately no browser has figured out a way to determine whether the login was successful, and if the login wasn’t correct prevent the password-saving option from even appearing. However, this is a good enough alternative for me and I think most users will truly appreciate it.

One other thing that Mozilla added was a bar that appears when trying to install an extension from an untrusted site. Prior to this you had to whitelist a site before you could install an extension from it, but now you can temporarily allow it:

Source: Burning Edge & Mozilla Links

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on February 27, 2008 by CyberNet.

Back in September last year we wrote about how the European Court finally ruled on an antitrust case that was started back in 2004 against Microsoft. The ruling? Microsoft was fined $690 million dollars. For this particular fine, it was because the EU felt Microsoft needed to make a version of Windows without Media Player included. At that point, it was a record fine but now the EU is fining them again for a new record fine of $1.3 billion dollars. In all, Microsoft is expected to pay under $2.5 billion in fines.

According to the Associated Press, the issue this time is that EU regulators claim “the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.” More specifically, the unreasonable prices were charged for access to “interface documentation for work group servers.”  The fines this time are the result of “non-compliance” says the EU and they believe Microsoft is still restricting their competitors. Microsoft has said that those issues that they are being fined for have already been resolved so it looks as though Microsoft is going to have to do some fighting to prove their case.

So what are the “unreasonable prices” Microsoft is charging?

• Originally, Microsoft set the royalty rate at 3.87 percent of a licensee’s product revenues
• Companies wanting communication information were required to pay 2.98 percent of their products’ revenues
• At this point, Microsoft has lowered the patent rate to 0.8 percent (only in Europe)
• The Communication Information rate was lowered to 0.5 percent (only in Europe)

We don’t know all of the in’s and out’s regarding EU rules and regulations, but at this point it seems as though they are getting a little fine happy and going after Microsoft simply because they can. Or perhaps they’re just trying to make a point. Any thoughts? Did Microsoft deserve to have another fine slapped on them?

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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