Tech Extremist

Wikipedia to Offer Video

J. Peter — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:58:03 +0000

Wikipedia is preparing to launch a video feature of the popular online Encyclopedia. In a few months users will see a new button that says “Add Media.” This will bring up three repositories. That will contain copyright free material; such as the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, and Metavid. The user will be able to drag video portions into the article.

This will be done without users having to install any video editing software. The end result will be an embedded video in the article. Wikipedia will later on enable users to search the Web for videos, and will provide tools for them to edit videos within the Wikipedia site. Mozilla Foundation the company behind the open source browser Firefox. The goal is to encourage content providers to put their content in the public domain in an effort to get more exposure on the web.

How To Kill Frozen Applications Quickly

J. Peter — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:09:41 +0000

When using Windows and a program is not responding and has crashed. You can hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and bringing up task manager and kill it manually. Here is a quicker way to do this process and create a shortcut on the desktop or whatever your preference is.

Right click anywhere
Select New -> Shortcut
Enter this script into the location taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding”
Then Give the Shortcut A Name

Blackberry Releases App World

J. Peter — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:32:23 +0000

Research in Motion launched its Blackberry App World application store. This allows Blackberry users a similar solution to the iPhone app store. App World allows offers an over the air solution to purchase, download and install applications. Developers get to keep 80% of the revenue. There are many free apps in the store such as Myspace, Facebook, the New York Times, and Major League Baseball. For the paid apps users use their PayPal account.

Social Networks and Blogs More Popular Than E-mail

J. Peter — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:07:09 +0000

As reported by Nielson social communities have become more popular than e-mail. The data suggests that there has been an impact of social communities. Where search is the most popular destination, online communities such as social networks and blogs have exceeded the use of e-mail in online activities. Time spent on community sites has grown at three times the rate of overall Internet growth.

Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night To Feature Tech

J. Peter — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:34:27 +0000

Jimmy Fallon wants to put his hobby of technology and videogames to become a focus on his new show. Fallon has taken over for Conan O’Brien who is replacing Jay Leno on the Tonight show later this year. According to Fallon he said he is from the age group that has grown up on the computer and Internet. He is interested in having tech people on his show. This will enable to show his audience new techtoys. Fallon also wants to treat a new videogame release in the same limelight as a new movie. People line up for videogames as they do for movies so why not. Fallon said, “We’re going to treat a video game premiere as if it was a movie premiere. My generation grew up with the computer. We grew up with the Internet. We live in a video game type of world – video games are second nature to us.”

Netflix Queue To Your Desktop

J. Peter — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:57:07 +0000

Queued is a Netflix application to your desktop without requiring online access. Queued allows you to view your Netflix queue, add movies to your queue and even rate movies all while offline. When you are online again Queued will sync your information back to Netflix. This could be beneficial if you want to manage your Netflix queue in an area with your laptop without any available internet access. Queued uses Adobe AIR. This allows you to quickly search for and add movies without having to login and wait around for web pages to load. Queued will also notify you when Netflix has received and shipped your movies, so you always know what’s on the way. You can download a copy of Queued from Sitepen.

Microsoft Ends Download of Public Windows 7 Beta

J. Peter — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:40:32 +0000

Microsoft has ended availability for public users to download a beta version of its upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft sent out a reminder for users who want to mess around with Windows 7 have run out of time. But if anyone has started a download but have not finished they have until 9am PST February 12th to finish the download. This is of course is the means to get the beta from the official Microsoft website. Obviously users can still get a copy by other means.

Charter Newest ISP to Impose Bandwidth Cap

J. Peter — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:36:25 +0000

Charter has become the newest ISP (Internet Service Provider) to impose monthly bandwidth caps on its customers. Charter joins AT&T, Comcast, & Time Warner with this policy. Charter will implement a 100GB cap on customer connection speeds of 15Mbps or less, and a 250GB usage cap for 15-25 Mbps. It’s new $140/month 60Mbps connection will not have any bandwidth limitations. This announcement comes a few days after the news that Charter may have to file for Bankruptcy. The report notes that Charter missed a $73-million interest payment last year and is $21-billion in debt.

Congress Votes to Delay Digital Transition Until June 17th

J. Peter — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:48:58 +0000

Congress today voted to delay the digital transition from February 17^th until June 17^th. This was done a week after the Senate approved the schedule change. President Obama has promised to sign the legislation. This delay allows consumers more time to prepare their T.V.’s for the conversion. I think though the real reason for this delay is the government had run out of money and coupons on the waiting lists. It is figured around 10 million people get their programming over the air and are not prepared for the digital transition. They will need either to subscribe to a cable or satellite or get the digital to analog converter. Or better yet buy a new T.V. just a suggestion.

Rumor: Skype for Sale?

J. Peter — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:31:39 +0000

Skype the web’s beading VoIP service may be up fro sale from current owner of eBay. This comes after a conference call by chief executive John Donahoe described Skype as a “great stand alone business.” This left many wondering if eBay will put Skype up for sale which eBay bought in 2005 for 2.6 billion. Just last year Donahoe said he would consider selling Skype if it could not be integrated with its auction or Paypal payment system. It is rumored that eBay is looking to unload Skype onto Google. This is because Google has been interested in purchasing Skype since 2007.