Screenshot Tour: XBMC Media Center 10 Has Add-ons, Skins, and More

Screenshot Tour: XBMC Media Center 10 Has Add-ons, Skins, and More: "

XBMC has come a long way since its humble beginnings as an Xbox media player. Let’s take a look at the latest 10.0 release of XBMC, also known as “Dharma”, to see what’s new.

XBMC is free and open source software that is released for Windows, OS X, Linux, AppleTV, and as a live image that can be run directly from a CD/USB drive or installed to turn an extra computer into a true HTPC appliance. XBMC gives you the functionality of many media streamers currently on the market but in a free DIY package that you can customize and use however you’d like.

Skin Development

Skin development in the latest release is top notch and many new features and refinements have been added to the skinning engine. Here is a quick look at some of the available skins for XBMC 10.0.

Alaska was being developed by one of the best XBMC skin developers who wasn’t able to finish the skin. He released all the work he had completed to the XBMC community and the community took over with a few different variations. Alaska Revisited Mod is shown below.

Transparency has been around for a little while and it has been fully updated to take advantage of the new add-on manager and other skin enhancements.

Shade is a very minimalistic skin that is a new release for XBMC 10.0.

Night has a Windows Media Center/Zune feel and looks excellent on a big screen. It is also a new release for XBMC 10.0 and is available in the official XBMC add-on feed.

Ellipsis is a skin by Team Blackbolt who have made some of the best skins available on the original Xbox and they have continued their work even after support for the Xbox hardware was dropped. This skin isn’t available in the official XBMC Add-on feed but you can download it from their website using the link below.

Xperience is another Team Blackbolt skin that is available from their website and resembles the NXE 360 dashboard for the Xbox 360.

Add-on Management

In previous versions, users could extend functionallity by downloading python scripts to take advantage of more media sources and other tools. In the latest release, the developers wanted to provide users an easier way to extend their XBMC installation through centralized add-on feeds. The new add-on framework allows for automated download and installation of media scrappers, skins, visualizations, screensavers, python scripts, web interfaces, and other user customizable aspects. This framework also allows for third party developers to create their own private feeds and provide updates and new features outside of the official XBMC add-ons.

To adjust your add-on settings go to the system settings and select the add-ons option.



Each add-on type is broken into a folder for easy navigation and allows you to find exactly what it is you are looking to enable or disable.

Select get add-ons and then select your feed to install directly from within XBMC with a simple click.

Once installed you can either enable the item in XBMC settings, or use the add-on from the home screen. For icanhazcheezburger you can browse to pictures -> picture add-ons -> icanhazcheezburger to view all the crazy captioned cats you could ever dream of.

By default XBMC only comes with the official add-on feed. If you have a zip file containing an unofficial add-on feed you can install that with the install from zip file option in settings. Check the link at the bottom of the post to find more unofficial feeds.

Hardware and Codec Support

On top of many software fixes and features, the XBMC team also added new hardware support for the Nvidia ION and ION2 video cards as well as the Broadcom Crystal HD video processor. They also were able to add support for Google’s new WebM codec, Blu-ray disk playback, and many other playback enhancements.

Support was also added to store your XBMC library database on an SQL server as well as create movie sets in library view. New videos scrapers were also added to gather movie information from HD-trailers.net, Rotten Tomatoes, and many more.

Audio playback was also improved on all three major supported platforms and over 1200 tickets were closed.

XBMC’s Future

XBMC has come a long way and isn’t stopping with version 10. Along with all the great features that have been added there is also initial support for ARM processors, support for gesture based controls, and support for DVR software backends.

If you are looking to purchase a media streamer to get all of your media content to your TV, you may want to consider the DIY route and set up a computer running XBMC.

XBMC homepage

XBMC full changelog/roadmap

Unofficial XBMC add-on feeds

Team Blackbolt skins

How to Maximize Battery Life on Your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch

How to Maximize Battery Life on Your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch: "

So you got yourself a shiny new Apple device, but you’re so addicted that the battery is running out way too soon—what you need is a couple of tips to keep your battery running for as long as possible, and we’ve got them here.

Many of these tips are going to be common sense, and won’t be a surprise to the more geeky readers, but now you’ll have an article you can send to your less geek friends and relatives when they ask you how to improve their battery life. And we’ve got a battery life article for Android too.

The iPod Nano Watches to Rule Them All (Trust Me Here) [Video]

The iPod Nano Watches to Rule Them All (Trust Me Here) [Video]: "

OK! I know we've seen a few of these already, and maybe you've decided that the whole iPod Nano watch dream was a silly one to begin with. But please, reserve judgment until you check out the TikTok and LunaTik. More »

"

iXtreamer bridges the extreme gap between your iPad and TV

iXtreamer bridges the extreme gap between your iPad and TV: "

Looking for more than just a regular standalone iPad dock? Then you might want to consider Xtreamer's new iXtreamer system, which is an iPad dock that also doubles as a media streamer. Of course, it will also work with iPhones and iPods, and the "dock" is quite capable all by itself as well -- it'll accommodate a 3.5-inch hard drive and up to two USB hard drives, and it'll support just about any audio or video content you can throw at it, including content stored on your computer or networked hard drive. Interestingly, Xtreamer also notes that it would like to let you use iOS apps on your TV as well, but it says that's up to Apple to allow -- in other words, don't bet on it. Head on past the break for a video overview, and look for the device to set you back €175, or roughly $235.

Continue reading iXtreamer bridges the extreme gap between your iPad and TV

iXtreamer bridges the extreme gap between your iPad and TV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Camera Lens Mugs – Nikon or Canon?

Camera Lens Mugs – Nikon or Canon?: "

Whether you’re shopping for a gift for a photography enthusiast or you are one yourself – this is a product with WOW factor that you’ll want to check out for yourself – DSLR lens coffee mugs!

Our friends over at Photojojo have had a Canon Lens Coffee Mug in their store for a while now but today just added a Nikon lens Mug for all you Nikon fans.

I have one of the Canon ones and have fooled many friends and family members by pouring coffee into or sipping from it – it’s a lot of fun and sure to create a stir.

Both models come with an easy to clean, heat preserving, stainless steel lining as well as a lens cap lid, rubber grip focus and zoom rings and auto focus switch (that doesn’t do anything else but switch). The Nikon mug even zooms when you twist its grip.

Get full details on these fun mugs at Photojojo.

PS: also check out some of the other great gear on the Photojojo store including the Fisheye, Macro and Wide Angle Camera Phone Lenses, the Camera Strap T-shirts and 360 Spinner Pano Camera.

Post from: Digital Photography School

Mobee Magic Charger review: wirelessly juice up your Apple Magic Mouse

Mobee Magic Charger review: wirelessly juice up your Apple Magic Mouse: "

Aww, look at that cute little mouse cuddling up in its nest. Wait a tick... an inductive charging mat for the Magic Mouse? You won't find this Magic Charger at the Apple Store any time soon (if El Jobso approves at all), but the good folks at Mobee are finally taking orders for this intriguing product on its website. To mark this occasion, the Swiss company sent us a review unit for some sweet wireless charging action. Read on for our full review after the break.

Gallery: Mobee Magic Charger review: wirelessly juice up your Apple Magic Mouse

Continue reading Mobee Magic Charger review: wirelessly juice up your Apple Magic Mouse

Mobee Magic Charger review: wirelessly juice up your Apple Magic Mouse originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

6 Great Apps for New Mac Users

6 Great Apps for New Mac Users: "

Over half of new Macs are being bought by users new to the platform. After years of negative experiences on that other platform, new Mac users might be a little worried about downloading software for their machine. Here are some safe bets to get you started.

Delicious Library. Delicious Library (DL2), is a cataloging app that can read bar codes through the iSight camera. Hold up a book to the camera, and in a few seconds, DL2 will read the bar code and download information about that book from Amazon. DL2 doesn’t just let you keep track of books though, it can scan and locate nearly anything in the Amazon database. DL2 lets you create a home inventory of books, movies, music, and gadgets: the perfect app for the obsessive-compulsive organizer in all of us.

NetNewsWire. The first feed reader of its kind, NetNewsWire inspired an entire generation of desktop RSS aggregator applications. Since its introduction in 2003, NetNewsWire has been acquired by NewsGator, and ported to the iPhone and iPad. NetNewsWire is easy to customize, quick to navigate, and gives me a single place to check for all the new blog posts and news stories I’m interested in. It’s the first app I open in the morning, and one of the last I close at night.

1Password: Tops on the list of indispensable applications, 1Password manages all of my passwords for my online accounts. Before 1Password, I’ll admit it; I was using the same three or four passwords for everything, over and over, for years. I knew it was bad practice, but I figured identity theft and stolen credit cards were things that happened to other people, until I had my credit card stolen. Now, I’ve taken appropriate precautions, and one of those precautions is that every online account gets a unique, complex password, and I can can keep track of them all thanks to this app.

Dropbox. If you use more than one computing device, say an iPhone and a Mac, or a Mac and a PC, or any combination thereof, Dropbox is perfect. It synchronizes files between systems over the cloud. Just drop a file or folder into the Dropbox folder and it becomes available to all. Quite a few third-party applications already tap into Dropbox for syncing data between iOS and the Mac, and if you use one computer for work and another for home, Dropbox is perfect.

Yojimbo. Over time, you’ll find things that are interesting, or neat, or something you want to keep, and you’ll wonder where to put it. If you don’t already have a place for it, Yojimbo is that place. Yojimbo is a “digital junk-drawer:” a place to shove everything that you’d like to have quick access to. One of my favorite things to do with Yojimbo is to keep articles I know I’ll want to re-read several times. Yojimbo will take just about anything you can throw at it: word documents, PDF files, images, bookmarks, and it even has special formatting recognition for software serial numbers.

iWork. If you are coming over from the PC world, you might think you need to drop some serious cash for the Mac version of Office. Before you do that, you might want to take a look at Apple’s iWork. iWork is actually three applications: Pages, the word processor; Numbers, the spreadsheet app; and Keynote, the presentation app. Pages isn’t as feature rich as Word, but Numbers can hold its own against Excel, and everyone I’ve talked to about Keynote says it blows PowerPoint out of the water. iWork is available as a 30-day trial, so give it a spin.

A new Mac comes with just about everything you need for day-to-day casual use. However, well designed, well thought-out, well-engineered and developed apps like the ones mentioned above are just plain fun to use, even for work. An in the end, isn’t that what owning a Mac is all about?

I know there are a ton of other apps that would be great for new Mac users to try, if you’ve got some suggestions, drop them in the comments!

Viral of the week – people are awesome

Viral of the week – people are awesome:

How to Move Your iTunes Library to a New Computer

How to Move Your iTunes Library to a New Computer: "

Here at Switched, we've been through countless hard drives over the years. That trusty ol' 400-gigabyte drive is going to fail sooner or later, swallowing your precious, carefully crafted music library as it goes -- unless you've prepared yourself. Fortunately, transferring your fully intact iTunes library to a new drive or computer is a cinch. You can, of course, grab the music files themselves and throw them on your new computer, but you'll probably lose all of your metadata like playlists, playcounts and ratings. Instead, the following technique will preserve all of your hard work, and save you the effort of manually rebuilding your library. (Who does anything manually anymore, anyway?)

Continue reading How to Move Your iTunes Library to a New Computer

How to Move Your iTunes Library to a New Computer originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

LEGO Digital Designer Version 4 is out

LEGO Digital Designer Version 4 is out: "

The new major version 4 of LEGO®'s official CAD tool LEGO Digital Designer is out!
Amongst other things, LDD now features an improved user interface, a new tool for designing flexible parts and enhanced features for creating building instructions.

Download it from the LDD site and give it a try.

LDD is available for Windows and Mac OSX.

"

Sophos ships free anti-malware tool for Macs

Sophos ships free anti-malware tool for Macs: "

If you worry in case viruses appear on the more-or-less virus proof Mac platform, then worry no more — there’s a reputable and free anti-virus solution available for you today, from the security boffins over at Sophos.

Sophos today began offering its Free Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac. This is based on the company’s enterprise security offering.

Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac provides automatic detection against existing and new threats for Mac OS X. The free software also incorporates strong disinfection capabilities, capable of removing malware infections that may already be present on the Mac computer.

The company notes that Macs don’t suffer too much from malware attacks, but adds, “While most businesses recognise the importance of protecting their Mac computers from malware threats, most home users do not,” said Chris Kraft, product management vice president at Sophos. “By offering free industrial-strength security to home users, we aim to protect Mac users against today’s and tomorrow’s Mac threats. Everyone knows that Macs are beautiful computers – Sophos wants to lend a hand to keep them that way.”

Mac users might benefit from the software’s ability to detect Windows and Mac viruses, worms, spyware and Trojans.

Technical Requirements:

- Mac with Intel or PowerPC processor

- 256 MB of memory

- 150 MB of available disk space

- Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

- Supports all Apple Mac hardware including iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air

6 Steps to Take ‘Guerilla’ Photos of your Children

6 Steps to Take ‘Guerilla’ Photos of your Children: "

A Guest Post by David Moore from Clearing the Vision.

Organizing a formal photo shoot of your kids with a good location, nice clothes and the right light can produce lovely images. But it’s often the more casual opportunities that allow you to capture your children as they really are, doing the things they really do.

It can be the difference between getting a good photograph of a child who happens to be yours, and a good photograph of your child – if that’s not too confusing.

This guerilla approach to children’s photography isn’t really candid (they’ll almost certainly know you’re taking pictures) and can be more challenging technically (indifferent light, more complicated backgrounds), but it’s also very rewarding. I shoot children’s portraits professionally, but most of my favourite pictures of my own daughter have come from keeping a camera handy and looking for shots while she was doing her everyday things.

Here are some tips to get the most out your guerilla operations:

1. Prepare your gear

Keep your camera in an easy to reach spot in the living room (or other target-rich environment). Make sure the batteries are charged, there’s room on the memory card and that your settings are appropriate for shooting portraits indoors.

For me, that means increasing the ISO and using a wide aperture (f/3.2 or lower) so I can get a fast shutter speed (1/100s or more if I can manage it), and some nice background blur. Some cameras have a Portrait Mode that does much of the same thing. I prefer not to use a flash, preferring a natural approach.

I tend to use prime lenses, so I’ll make sure my 50mm or 85mm lens is on the camera (I shoot full-frame, if you’re using a cropped sensor DSLR then the equivalents would be something like 28mm and 50mm). A longer lens, if it’s fast enough, would give you more options to shoot from further away. One last small thing is to switch off the auto-focus beep: your kids will still know you’re there, but you won’t be so intrusive

2. Get down to their level

It’s tempting to shoot from your normal standing position, but most of the time, that just yields images that look like your normal view of the kids. Getting down to their level involves you in their world more immediately, making the viewer of the photograph seem more like they’re actually a part of what’s going on, rather than just an observer of it.

3. Light the eyes

Getting attractive catchlights – the reflections of light in the subject’s eyes that seems to make them sparkle – can be the difference between a good photograph and a great one. You can tweak things in Photoshop later, but you want to get it right in the camera, right?

The rule of thumb is to position yourself so that your subject is in shade, looking towards the light. You don’t have to be directly between the subject and the light source, so long as you can see the light reflected in their eyes. Windows are the most obvious light source, but TVs can also work if the room is dark enough (and kids are often held in rapt attention by the latest Dora or Elmo episode, so they won’t be bothered by you).

4. Watch your backgrounds

Trying to capture shots of often fast-moving kids indoors means you’ll have to be careful about what’s happening behind your subjects. Visual clutter in the background will detract from the picture.

Shooting wide open will blur as much of the background as possible (but watch for such a narrow depth of field that your child’s nose is in focus, but their eyes aren’t). Looking for clean backgrounds – a solid block of a wall, or getting in tight so you only show the plain-coloured couch, for example – will also help.

Sometimes some creative cropping after the fact can make a big difference.

5. Shoot the scene, not just the face

Great kids’ portraits often feature only the face, but sometimes capturing a wider scene can be just as valuable – showing the toys they’re playing with, or the pet they’re snuggled up with.

Another option is to show just a small detail that illustrates something about the child’s activities – a paint-covered hand, or the soccer cleats abandoned by the door, for example.

6. Bring the camera along

As well as capturing images at home, grab the camera if you’re heading out somewhere, even if it’s nowhere special. Parks and playgrounds are always fun places to shoot in, and you never know what you might shots you might get on an after-dinner walk one night.

Hopefully these tips will help, but remember it’s not always about getting the perfect shot. Part of the joy of taking everyday pictures of your kids is that even the average shots can remind you of particular fleeting moments in their lives that you’d otherwise completely forget.

David Moore is an Anglo-Irish photographer, writer and web designer at home in the high desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can find him at Clearing the Vision

Post from: Digital Photography School

Changing an iMac's HDD

Changing an iMac's HDD: "Hey everybody and welcome to my very first instructable for you to
enjoy! I hope it is of good value to you my dear fellows! Recently I
got me an old iMac 20" (version 7.1) for a reasonable price on eBay
and was delighted about how well in shape it was. Alas, the hard disk
was a little small for ...
By: strahl

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