The World of Windows

Modern Windows® PC’s are now quite powerful and more than capable of being used for sophisticated multitrack recording and audio editing.  However, most are not typically configured for optimal performance for the specific demands of digital audio. The following list of tips is offered as suggested optimizations you might try on your Windows® XP® or Vista® system to possibly improve the performance with your Line 6 TonePort®, POD®xt, POD® X3, GearBox® software, GearBox® Plug-In, as well as with other audio applications. It is important to note that many of the default Windows settings do offer some advantages, conveniences, and even security improvements for the general use of your computer. You should evaluate the trade- off of the security and conveniences some of these services offer to your non-audio  computing work before you go disabling all of them. It is a good idea to always back up your system and data before changing system settings. It is also wise to ke...

Avidemux is a free video editor and converter. It is not really designed for beginners but isn't too hard to get your head around with a little effort. Avidemux is available for Linux, BSD, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X (under x11) and is designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files and MP4. Avidemux was written from scratch, but additional code from FFmpeg, MPlayer, Transcode and Avisynth has been used on occasion as well. Nonetheless it is a completely standalone program that does not require any other programs to read, decode, or encode other than itself. The built-in libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project is used for decoding and encoding of various audio and video formats such as MPEG-4 ASP.

Media Converter is a complete cross-platform solution to convert audio and video files. After installation, a toolbar button will be placed in your Firefox toolbar. By clicking on the button, the conversion window appears. This window will let you perform the following operations: MP3 conversion, audio muxing, video/audio combining, video scaling and volume adjustment.

The Adode® Flash® Platform runtimes, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR®, allow developers to create rich experiences – from console quality games and interactive content to full HD premium video – for desktop browsers as well as desktop and mobile apps for iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android mobile devices. Developers can leverage a common codebase to deliver tailored, optimized games, content, and apps across screens using Flash Professional and Flash Builder®. Adobe AIR allows developers to package their Flash-enabled content into apps that reach over 1 billion personal computers and 500 million mobile devices.

This article describes how to make use of available Silverlight Streaming plugin for Windows Live Writer. Making use of this you can easily put Silverlight video on your blog. Before using this plugin, I am assuming you have already encoded your video and have Silverlight Streaming account, where you have already uploaded this encoded video. (If you don’t know how to do this, you can refer to article “ Your video to Silverlight Streaming 101 ” by Bronwen Zande) Now go to Windows Live gallery and get the plugin which is created by ClarkZoneUSA. Install it. So when you open the Windows Live Writer, you’ll see it being listed. Now when you click on the 'Insert Silverlight Streaming', it'll open a window where you have to type your Silverlight Streaming Accounts ID and key, where you have uploaded your Silverlight Streaming App. (Account ID and key can be obtained from ‘Manage Account’ page of your Silverlight Streaming account) Then press refresh, so that it'll li...

Torrents are turned as first choice for people to download the applications. However, finding the best torrents site is little time taking process. In technical terms “torrent is the compressed text that redirects to exact path of the file stored on server.” Today maximum users are referring Kickass, Pirate Bay, Iso Hunt, Torrentz, Bitsnoop and some more sites to download torrents files, though each site is having diverse feature. The initial thing is you have to learn the installation and download method of torrent site. BitTorrent is the software that can be used to download the files. The frequent question that people have in their mind is “What are the most popular torrent sites and approximately how popular they are?” Finding the solution for such query gave the list of top sites that are available for torrent downloading. Some best websites for torrents: 1. Pirate Bay: One of the popular websites of torrents is Pirate Bay which is operational since 2003. Approximately ...

1.- App landscape for Windows Phone. Windows Phone is a software platform that can improve a person’s life. Its ability to do so is determined by the apps that it can run. It’s up to designers and developers to create the apps that meet specific customer needs in a way that’s engaging. People use their Windows Phone under all kinds of situations and for many different reasons. One person may use his Windows Phone primarily to stay connected with his friends while another person may use hers to help manage her busy schedule. Other people may be using their Windows Phones to enjoy a mental escape through games, music, videos, reading, or social networking. Windows Phone Store is where customers go to find the exact app that meets their needs. The Store categorizes apps by their functionality. Some categories are further broken out into subcategories. Examples of the top-level categories are News and Weather, Health and Fitness, Sports, Productivity, Lifestyle, Finance, Travel, Ga...

When making great apps for the Windows Phone, it’s important to not only consider what content the customer will see, but also the words you use to communicate with them. We call this voice.  Refining your app’s voice will help you and your app resonate with your customers and ensure a better overall user experience. We bring voice to the forefront for our customers by understanding our audience, applying the right messaging, and being contextually aware. Here are some tips to help you successfully implement voice for your app. Talking to our customers We connect with our audience using an authenticity that’s reflected in every aspect of the Windows Phone brand – through visuals, words, and voice – whether on packaging, in the product, or on the web. Here are our guiding principles for the Windows Phone voice: Genuine Speak directly and with sincerity – it’s about being straightforward and to the point, as opposed to being vague or redundant. ...

1.- 30 Extraordinary Photoshop Tutorials to Master Photo Effects Every designer needs inspiration to move ahead and make something incredible, and each one uses a Photoshop a premier photo editing software which can do the trick. Image manipulation has been done from many years in form of web design, print advertisements, online ads etc. to create such extraordinary photos we have made this collection of Photoshop tutorials to master the art of photo effects. Each tutorial has detailed step by step instructions, we have linked the tutorials with original source, where you will have many things to learn. Every website in the list below has something extra for Photoshop lovers. So, let’s enjoy the photo editing carnival and make some beautiful manipulation in your next project. 2.- Designing the Windows 8 touch keyboard. When we began planning how touch and new types of PCs might work on Windows 8, we recognized the need to provide an effective method for text entry on tablet...

Silverlight   is a powerful development tool for creating engaging, interactive user experiences for Web and mobile applications.  Silverlight is a free plug-in, powered by the .NET framework and compatible with multiple browsers, devices and operating systems, bringing a new level of interactivity wherever the Web works.  Media . The highest quality interactive video experiences both live and on-demand across multiple formats while protecting valuable content. Business . Create business applications that give users richer, deeper interactivity using the skills and tools developers already know and that work the same everywhere–without the usual IT hassle of deploying across multiple OS's and browsers.   Mobile. Build compelling touch-based apps built quickly using familiar tools and distributed through the Windows Phone Marketplace. Install: Upgrade Microsoft Silverlight for a better Web experience An earlier version of Silverli...

What are the codecs needed to play DVD? A codec is software that is used to compress or decompress a digital media file, such as a song or video. MPEG-2 is widely used as the format of digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems, and DVD Video. Dolby Digital is the widely used audio standard for terrestrial (ATSC, over-the-air), cable, direct broadcast satellite TV systems, and DVD Video. Dolby audio is also a mandatory format in Blu-ray. How has Windows handled DVD related decoder licensing prior to Windows 8? The issue surrounding the incremental costs of codecs to play DVDs isn’t new to Windows. In Windows XP and Windows Vista we addressed it by offering specialized editions, such as Windows Media Center Edition, or codec add-ons to Windows Media Player. DVD playback was not included in Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, Business, and Windows Vista Enterprise editions.  OEMs (PC manuf...

Here are 20 free Windows 7 applications that stand out in terms of quality of results you get from them.  Ninite is a quick and easy way to download most of these applications into a single customised installer. 11. Ditto Since Windows 7 doesn't improve upon one of the most common used techniques used on a PC - copy-paste - the freebie Ditto enhances copy-pasting by placing a universal clipboard storing every single object that has been copied, to be pasted in whatever order that is required. 12. Defraggler The creator of CC Cleaner has also created the Defraggler , a defragmentation tool for Windows. The stand-out feature is, however, the ability to defragment individual files or a specific portion of a drive. Defragmenting only what is needed saves a lot of time instead of defragmenting a whole drive that could take a few hours. 13. Recuva Recuva is a freeware app that recovers files that have been accidentally deleted from the Recycle Bin, MP3 Players...