Software Archives - Page 38 of 53

Vista Media Center Update (Good Luck)

I downloaded the April Vista Media Center update, though I don’t have very high hopes at this point. While it reportedly corrects at least one problem I was experiencing (with a dual tuner card), it doesn’t overcome the resource hog that is Vista or replace the ironic PS3/PSP interface with the superior Xbox 360 blade … Read more

Picasa Web Albums: A Big Hit?

Iâve received two online photo albums today from different friends of mine and both used Picasa Web Albums. I hadnât told either of them about Picasa (though Iâve told lots of other folks about Picasa!)

While there hasnât been a lot of coverage of it, my guess is that Picasa Web Albums is slowly becoming a gorilla in the online photo sharing space because of the quality of the Picasa client and because of itâs tight integration with Picasa Web Albums. I donât have any basis for this claim other than 1) I keep coming across more people using Picasa and 2) Iâm involved in product development and I think I can recognize a âhitâ product when I see one.

Quiet âhitsâ â as in successful products and companies that arenât spotlight-seeking and maybe arenât even that âsexyâ â are often the most interesting ones.

CBS Streams The Masters

Don’t have a Slingbox? (Tsk, tsk.) As they did with March Madness, CBS has you covered by streaming The Masters online. Kevin tells me he’s enjoyed it full screen on his UMPC and that the quality is good. Why anyone would want to watch golf is beyond me… Though some probably wonder why Jeremy and … Read more

Patch WinDVD… Or Else

I can’t imagine there are gazillions of people currently watching HD-DVD or Blu-ray discs via PC… But the dozen of you who both watch AND use WinDVD better upgrade before InterVideo shuts you down. Their press release blames “hackers” though InterVideo forgot to mention they left the keys unprotected. WinDVD customers who are currently using … Read more

Digital Media Bytes: TiVo Edition

A periodic roundup of relevant news… Customer solves TiVo Series1 DST issue: TiVo Community Official S1 Daylight Savings Time opt-in fix: TiVo “Reel” hoops with John Salley: TiVo Toast Titanium TiVo Transfer fix: Roxio

Dave Gets Vista

My copy of Vista finally arrived. Not as late as mid-April, but still later than I would have liked. The HP “Express Upgrade” kit came with two discs: an HP prep/config CD and the Vista DVD.

Prior to upgrading last night, HP had me disconnect a variety of peripherals (I declined), update my BIOS (was already current), and then their CD removed incompatible software that had been preloaded with my machine (most of which I had already blown away). The actual Vista upgrade took several hours, followed by running that HP CD again… to reinstall Vista-compatible software I don’t need (blown away a second time). I did have some trouble finding a NVIDIA driver that supported my LCD’s native resolution (1400×900) — Neither the default Vista driver nor HP’s driver update would go that high, but a direct NVIDIA download took care of it.

While I was preoccupied in Canada, TiVo released a public beta of TiVo Desktop 2.4. Notable new features include the ability to broadcast “HD” photographs (1280×720) from computer to Series3 TiVo and the ability to transcode several video formats (other than DivX) for transfer to and playback on Series2 units. A less glamorous, but useful, feature allows the software to map beyond the default TiVo folder.

A few gotchas… TiVo has labeled this Preview software, though they document about a dozen known issues (hence my Public Beta label). The ability to transcode video (for TiVo playback OR in the other direction for iPod and PSP playback) requires a Plus codec license: $25. Sorry Mac owners, this is a Windows-only release — Perhaps Roxio will incorporate similar functionality into a Toast update.

Update: Dave’s Vista Upgrade

So much for getting Vista this month… or even next month. Looks like I’m slated for a mid-April delivery. I’m no math whiz, but that doesn’t seem like 6-8 weeks after US launch. “Express Upgrade” is a bit misleading… Bah! Between the numerous hotfixes in the works and at least one report that editing DVR-MS … Read more