The Facebook Movie Is Here, the Critics Love It–So Let the Panels Begin!

The world of Facebook did not stop last Friday–although its unusual downtime was kind of spooky–when “The Social Network” made its debut in New York.

The much-anticipated movie opens wide this Friday for all to see what the hubbub is about.

And for everyone in Silicon Valley to debate, of course, grokking the film that looks askance at the origins of the powerful social networking site and especially its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

BoomTown will be doing so on Friday after a 2 pm screening sponsored by Eastwick Communications, which will be followed by a panel discussion titled: “Trust, Privacy, and Ethics in the Facebook Age.”

Panelists include M. Ryan Calo, director of the Consumer Privacy Project at Stanford Law School; Matt Cohler, one of Facebook’s earliest execs (where he remains a special advisor) and now a VC at Benchmark Capital; FutureWorks’ Brian Solis; and ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik.

It sounds very lofty, but I plan to be hopped up on Red Vines and Jujubes–so please send some suggestions for questions to ask the panel to @karaswisher on Twitter.

Until then, I leave you with this terrific picture below of Zuckerberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker at a KIPP school there that was posted by Solis.

Frankly, I don’t give a fig about whether the timing of his $100 million donation to help reform education was or was not to burnish his image, after seeing the promise on the faces of these kids.

It is hopefully one of many more to come from the vast wealth Zuckerberg will have after Facebook goes public.

In fact, I’d like to know what the Winklevii did with their $65 million payout, other than flap their lantern jaws about how they needed more dough for creating exactly nothing.

Zuckerberg might deserve a lot of smacking around for serious issues related to how he runs Facebook now and in the future–and he surely is about to get a truckload related to the founding of the company.

But for the donation alone, let’s all try to drop our deep cynicism for just one moment–even as we all enjoy a movie at his expense too.

FCC Gives Green Light on White Spaces for “Super Wi-Fi”

The five members of the FCC voted unanimously today to open up white spaces–unused airwaves between TV stations–to deliver “super Wi-Fi” with the ability to penetrate walls, leap tall buildings and deliver much greater range at higher speeds than Wi-Fi as we know it now. Development in the arena is expected to drive billions of dollars of investment by industry leaders who have been chomping at the bit since the agency first voted to allow the use of white space in 2008, when opposition from TV broadcasters held the plan back.

Netflix Still Apologizing For Pretend Press Conference Stunt

As they should. “We blew it,” says Netflix spokesdude Steve Swasey, in a new blog post. “We didn’t intend to mislead the media or the public, and we can understand why some have raised questions.”

iPAQ converter - convert mpeg mp4 wmv avi to ipaq, rip dvd to ipaq

The tutorial includes two parts. The part 1 will show you how to convert mpeg mp4 wmv flv 3gp avi to iPAQ video step by step with Aiseesoft Total Video Converter. And the part 2 will show you how to convert dvd movie to iPAQ video step by step with Aiseesoft DVD Ripper. The detailed steps are as follows:

Part1. how to convert mpeg mp4 wmv flv 3gp avi to iPAQ video?
Aiseesoft Total Video Converter is a powerful iPAQ video converter which can convert various video formats including AVI, Divx, XviD, WMV, MPEG, MPG, FLV(YouTube video), RM, RMVB, TOD, MOD, ASF, H.264, etc to iPAQ video. And it is a video joiner, and video editor for you to convert video files to the formats you want, so you can enjoy you movie on all common digital players like iPod, Zune, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, Xbox 360, PS3, Archos, iRiver, Creative Zen, PMP, Smart Phone, Pocket PC, PDA, Mobile Phone, etc.

Here's the tutorial about how to convert mpeg mp4 wmv flv 3gp avi to iPAQ video with Aiseesoft Total Video Converter

Step1 Free to Download Aiseesoft Total Video Converter and install it.

Step2 Click the "Add File" button to import your videos. If you experience any problems adding videos by directly clicking the "Add File" button, you can click "File -> Add File" to add the video files you want to convert from your computer.



Step3 This software can convert video to various video formats for PMP, Xbox 360, iPod, PSP, Zune, cell phone, etc. Click the "Profile" drop-down list to select the format "HP iPAQ Video(*.wmv)"



Step4 If you want to customize the output quality, click the "Settings" button to open the Settings panel, where you can set resolution, frame rate, video bit rate, audio bit rate, sample, etc.



Step5 Click the "Browse" button to specify a location on your computer to save the converted movie. If you want to open the output folder, you can just click the button "Open Folder". If you want to merge the added video files into one file, check the option "Merge into one file". By default, the the merged file is named after the first selected file.

Step6 When you get ready to convert the added video files, click the “Start” button to start conversion.

Part 2. how to convert dvd movie to iPAQ video?
Aiseesoft DVD Ripper is all-in-one, super fast DVD ripper software. The best DVD ripper can rip DVD movies to all popular video and audio formats. And it let you easily copy DVD movie to iPAQ video, iPod Video, Zune, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, Xbox 360, PS3, Archos, iRiver, Creative Zen, PMP, MP4/MP3 Player, Smart Phone, Pocket PC, PDA, Mobile Phone, etc.

Step1. Download Aiseesoft DVD Ripper and install it.

Step2. Insert your DVD disc into your DVD-Rom, then run the software, click "Load DVD" button and add the DVD file. You can also add DVD/IFO from your hard disk by clicking "Load IFO File".



Step3. This software can convert DVD to various video formats such as MPEG-4, AVI, WMV, FLV, 3GP, VOB, etc. Click the "Profile" drop-down list to select the format "HP iPAQ Video(*.wmv)".



If you want to customize the output video, you can click the "Settings" button next to the format field to open the Settings window and set video resolution, frame rate, bit rate, encoder, etc. See the figure below:



Step4. Select Subtitle and Audio
Regular DVD movies usually have several subtitles such as English, French, German, etc. You can select one you prefer. You can also delete the subtitle by selecting "No Subtitle", Selecting Audio is the same.

Step5. After the above steps, click "Start" to start conversion.

Everything to PSP

How to watch YouTube on PSP, convert videos for PSP and put DVD movies on PSP? Many PSP users don’t know that. As a crazy PSP fan, I collect some tips that I think are the main steps to go into the world of PSP and share them with all PSP fans here, hope everyone can fully enjoy the fun of PSP.

It will include the following parts:
1. How to watch Youtube video on PSP directly with wifi internet
2. How to rip DVD and convert video to PSP
3. How to download and convert youtube video to PSP for free
4. How to transfer video to PSP
5. How to downgrade PSP
6. How to download free limewire music and video to PSP
7. Where to download free games to PSP

Part1. How to watch YouTube video on PSP directly with wifi internet?
As PSP's web browser only support the older version of flash while YouTube uses flash 9, if you want to watch YouTube on PSP directly with the wifi, you must upgrade to the newest firmware f and install a flash player on your PSP. A Japanese developer NekoMiMi has achieved that with PSPTube. Here are the steps:
Download the PSPTube from here http://www.PSP-hacks.com/file/1225 and open the zip file. Now before putting it in your PSP open the PSPTube.cfg file and press ctrl + F, and type in "DEV" press until you find Dev id="".
Ok now go to http://www.youtube.com/dev create an account and insert the account in between the arentheses.
Extract the PSPTube from the 200over folder and put it in GAME352 folder (Set the Kernel to the 352) Now open it in the PSP and choose an internet connection with the Circle button, it may say no videos, press circle and you'll be able to search.
Here is the control info:
X: Cancel; O: Accept; L/R: Last/Next Page; Start: Pause;
Select: Change aspect ratio (Original Size, Full screen)

Part2. How to rip DVD and convert video to PSP
PSP can play only MP4 video, DVD movie is MPEG-2 video and has CSS protected, so you have to rip the DVD movie to MP4, and then transfer it to PSP, If you stick with freeware, you can use DVD Shrink to rip the DVD to computer, and then use PSP Video 9 to convert the ripped file to MP4 video. As for me, I’d prefer using Aiseesoft PSP Movie Creator, it can rip protected DVD movie and convert video to MP4 video, more over, you can also trim or crop the DVD movie to enjoy the video on PSP with full screen, that’s really cool. What you have to do just put your DVDs on your DVD drive, and then click start button to begin the conversion. If you want to learn more about it, you can refer to its official site:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/psp-movie-creator.html

Part3. Download free YouTube video to PSP?
YouTube is a place everybody knows for free videos, I often download free videos from it, but the downloaded YouTube video is flv format, so a flv converter is necessary, you can go to this website: http://vixy.net/ .It's a free online FLV converter. Then go to YouTube and find a video that you loved. Copy the URL that in the Red box. Like this format:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

Then Paste your video URL to the input box (figure above), choose the right format you want. If you want to edit the video, AVI is a good choice. And MP4 is fit for iPod, PSP and other MP4 players, click “start” to start the conversion. When the conversion finished, you will get the download link of the output video. Click the download link to download the video and save it in your computer, then copy the MP4 video to the “Video” folder in the PSP memory stick.

Part4. How to transfer video to PSP
You can download this free PSP video manager, it’s totally free, it can help you transfer MP4 video to PSP directly; fully support all firmware versions of PSP. Here is the download link
http://www.youtubetoipod.biz/software/psp-video-manager.html
what you have to do just add your MP4 video files to the software, connect your PSP to computer via the USB model, and then click Move, done.

Part5. How to downgrade PSP
All downgrades have a chance of bricking PSP, so if you want to, you must aware that there is always some level of risk.

Part6. How to download free limewire music and video to PSP
If you like to download free music and video to PSP, limewire is surely your right hand; you can download limewire software free from its official site: http://www.limeware.com, install and run it, then type key words to search the music and video you’re interested in, and then download it.



When you finished download the video, export and located it on your computer. Coz PSP can play only MP4 video, so you have to convert your video, I’d prefer using Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter to convert video, and help you transfer video to PSP, so you will not be confused by the complicated PSP rule. If you don’t know how to use it, here is a step by step guide about how to use it.
http://www.aiseesoft.com/article/psp-movie-converter.html

Part7. Where to download free games to PSP
I collect some websites to download free PSP games, you can take them for reference, because some just provides a part of free games, please take care of the virus embedded in free games you‘d better install anti-virus software.
http://www.gamespot.com
http://www.PSPblender.com/PSP_games.php
http://www.allPSPgames.com
http://www.bigfishgames.com/
http://www.play4freeonlinegames.com/
http://www.khemer.com/
http://www.gamersenterprise.com
http://www.gamesjax.com/
http://www.playitontheweb.com/
http://www.topstylegames.com/
http://www.playgames2.com/games/Turret-Pong

Free Trial: Download Aiseesoft PSP Movie Creator

How to download torrent video and put torrent video to iPod, iPhone, etc

This article includes four parts:
Part 1. What is torrent?
Part 2. How to download torrent files to computer?
Part 3. How to put the torrent videos to iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc
Part 4. Top torrent sites and iPod torrent sites

Part 1. What is torrent?
Torrent is a small file with the suffix .torrent, which contains all the information needed to download a file the torrent was made for. That means it contains file names, their sizes, where to download from and so on. You can get torrents for almost anything on lots of web sites and torrent search engines.
Torrent is the most popular way of downloading large files, including movies and games (remember legality of downloading). Downloading with a torrent is advantageous especially when downloading files, which are momentarily very popular and which lots of people are downloading. Because the more people download the file, the higher speed for everyone.

Part 2. How to download torrent files to computer?
Downloading with a torrent is actually very simple. You just need a rightly set torrent client (setting your connection speed is usually all you need to set). Then you open the torrent file inside your client, set a place where you want to download desired files and then just wait till it's downloaded. Downloading with a torrent is no more complicated than using any other p2p application, but even simpler.
Here are some free torrent clients:
1. A BitTorrent client is a program that manages torrent downloads and uploads using the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent is the global standard for accessing rich media over the Internet. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.


BitTorrent Ports Tip to Speed Up Clients

2. µTorrent (uTorrent) is a free BitTorrent client for Microsoft Windows written in C++ and localized for many different languages. It is designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Azureus or BitComet. The program has received consistently good reviews for its feature set, performance, stability, and support for older hardware and versions of Windows (For Wine, Windows 95 (Winsock2), 98/ME, NT/2000, XP, 2003, and Vista).
3. BitLet: this is a web-based Torrent client that can download a Torrent file for you if you provide it with the Torrent URL. The obvious benefits of doing this are:
(1) If you are using a computer that doesn't have a Torrent client installed
(2) You can point Torrent-challenged friends who can never figure out how to download torrents to this web service and it just may be the solution to their rare Torrent-downloading needs
(3) You can use it to download torrents in places (work, school) where p2p and/or Torrent clients are blocked.
Bitlet requires that your browsers has the JAVA VM plugin installed.
You can get more free Torrent clients from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_client

Part 3. How to put the torrent videos to iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc
After you finish downloading the torrent (Video, Song what ever it is) you might need to use winrar or winzip if it is compressed then put it on your iPod. The torrent videos that you download from iPod torrent sites do not need to convert. You can transfer them to iPod using iTunes.
But if they are not in a format the iPod, iPod, iPhone, Zune and other players can play, you might have to convert them. You need to download this best video converter (Mac/Windows PC) which works perfectly for almost all popular video players like iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Youtube (web), Creative Zen, iRiver PMP, Archos, various video mobile phones and many other digital video and audio players. Install and use it to convert the torrent videos. After conversion, you can put the torrent videos to iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Youtube (web), etc.

Part 4. Top torrent sites and iPod torrent sites
The Top Torrent Sites:
Torrentportal.com
Bitsoup
BiteNova
Torrentscan.com
LegalTorrents.com
Isohunt.com
Torrentspy.com
Torrentz.com
Torrents.to
Snarf It!
Torrentmatrix.com
Mininova.org
FileMP3.org
TorrentBytes.net
Torrentreactor.to
Torrentbox.com.
BTjunkie
TorrentTyphoon.com
Yotoshi.com
The Pirate Bay
TopTorrents
Scrapetorrent.com
Meganova.org
Torrent-damage.net
ByTorrents Meta Search
FullDLS.com
Thinktorrent.com
FileList.org
Torrentlocomotive
bittorrent.com
Fenopy (formerly Bitoogle.com)
BTbot.com
Special mention: Torrents.co.uk
Special mention: LokiTorrent.com
Special mention: Commonbits.com

iPod torrent sites:
http://podtropolis.com/
http://www.iPodnova.com/
http://www.elroyonline.com/

Second Generation iPad Due in January?

As I’ve said before,market source reports from Taiwanese trade publications best treated with at least a bit of skepticism — particularly when they’re about Apple. That said, a report in DigiTimes today that claims the company’s next generation iPad will launch in the first quarter of 2011 seems entirely plausible. Apple’s upgrade cycle for the iPhone has been annual; no reason to think it won’t be the same for the iPad. And that’s what the device’s Taiwan-based component suppliers are claiming.

Exclusive: Facebook and Microsoft Deep in Talks About Deepening Search Ties

Facebook and Microsoft are discussing an agreement that would significantly expand the search relationship the pair have shared for many years, said several people with knowledge of the situation.

According to those sources, that includes the possibility for the software giant’s Bing search service to mine anonimized data from consumer usage of the social networking site’s recently introduced Like buttons.

The Like button, which Facebook has been trying to proliferate around the Web, allows users to indicate an interest in a page with one click that then tells their Facebook friends.

While the deal is not closed and talks could end without result, such information might yield a treasure trove of insight for both search users and advertisers.

That’s because it represents search based on what people are actually interested in rather than just crunching massive amounts of information and muscling it into something useful.

And it would also presumably give Bing a little leg up on Google (GOOG), since data will be available on it that is not available on the search giant, made more important as Facebook’s information-generating audience grows ever larger.

But because of Facebook’s many privacy snafus, sources said that any expansion of the search relationship will never involve providing any information except that which users have agreed to make public.

Facebook and Microsoft (MSFT) already struck a nonexclusive agreement almost a year ago to integrate Facebook’s real-time feeds of public status updates into Bing.

It’s part of a longtime search–as well as investment–relationship between Microsoft and Facebook that stretches back for years.

Currently, Bing provides global Web search to Facebook, yielding branded results whenever someone searches within the service.

Microsoft also invested $240 million in Facebook in late 2007 and has since had a mostly cooperative relationship with the fast-growing Silicon Valley company.

It also has provided a hedge against Google for Facebook, as that pair’s relations has worsened over the years due to intensified competition.

What Will Be the Big Tweet from Twitter Event Today? A New Search Offering Would Be Nice….

Yesterday–presumably so as not to be left out of the dueling press gatherings that Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Facebook have all had in recent weeks to show off fancy new stuff–Twitter lobbed out an an invite for an event this afternoon:

We’d like to invite you to come to Twitter HQ for an event tomorrow afternoon (Sept 14)…Please be there by 3:45pm. RSVP below.

See you there.

So, what, oh, what are those little elves at the microblogging service going to show off?

It could be a lot of things, from a new advertising shiny object to the results of recent promoted tweet efforts to updated mobile products.

Or perhaps it is introducing some more video capability into its tweets.

And maybe Twitter bought some pretty little start-up or is annoying a whole new fascist country.

So, because BoomTown always reads to the last page of mysteries to get to the ending first, here is my best spoiler guess of what Twitter could announce: An updated search offering.

Well, at least, I hope the company will finally fill in what has become what I consider to be one of the very biggest holes in its service.

Right now, Twitter’s real-time search engine uses technology from Summize, which it bought in 2008.

And, simply put, it remains pretty lousy–with an index that only holds tweets from a few days and has no massive archive.

In fact, results have been better from others, such as Google and the Microsoft (MSFT) Bing search service, both of which did deals to license Twitter’s flood of tweets about a year ago.

And Google recently upped the ante with its dedicated real-time search offering, made up, in large part, of Twitter’s index archive and including a coolio timeline.

It is long past time for Twitter to keep up here, in terms of simple innovation, given these tweets are its own content.

What would be interesting to see is if Twitter needed the help of a search giant such as Google or Microsoft to help power such a service–sources said its execs had been putting feelers out many months ago on the subject of such aid.

Then again, it could all be home built, too.

In any case, let’s hope Twitter gives its tweets the respect they deserve.

Or else introduces its own mobile device called the Tweetphone that vibrates every time you are mentioned on Twitter.

How to copy DVD to ISO file for Mac

ISO file is an unattached file format (like RAR and ZIP): it merges a series of files into one single file according to a definite format. So they are stored in an uncompressed format., then it is more practicable to to transfer it over the Internet or via a LAN connection.

There lists the capabilities of DVD Copy for Mac on ISO file:
Copy: the ability to copy DVD to ISO file for Mac.
Burn: the ability to burn ISO file to an optical Disc.
Extract: the ability to copy the content of ISO file to a hard disc.

Free download this DVD Copy for Mac to have a try!

Buy NowFree trial(Intel PPC)

Let’s take the example: How to copy DVD to ISO file for Mac

Click “Full Disc ” button or “Main Movie Mode” button on the main interface to select the copy DVD mode.

Select the source: Select the DVD-video disc here to copy your DVD file.

Choose the target: Choose the ISO image target here for copying your DVD files as ISO file.

Start to Copy:Click the “Start” to begin your DVD copying to ISO file on Mac.

learn more on: how to edit DVD file or ISO file with DVD Copy for Mac.

How to make iPhone Ringtones on Mac and Windows for FREE

I have many iPhone Ringtones on my iPhone, and I change them once one day. But I don’t buy them online. I just make iPhone Ringtones myself by Ringtone Maker Shareware. Actually, iPhone Ringtone maker is m4r Ringtone Maker, such as mp3 Ringtone Converter, WMA Ringtone Converter and WAV Ringtone Converter. There are also iPhone Ringtone Converter for Mac or iPhone Ringtone Creator Mac.

Here I will share how to make iPhone ringtones on Windows and Mac.
For Windows:
Firstly, you need download iPhone Ringtone Maker.



Step 1: Load Music
Click “Browse” on the right side of “Input File” to find your music that you want to make as your iPhone ringtone and click “Open” to load it into iPhone Ringtone shareware.
Step 2: Choose iPhone Ringtones
1. Drag your “Start Slider” to the beginning of the “Slider Bar” and “End Slider” to the end, then to listen your whole audio file.>br/>2. a. Drag the “Start Slider” to find where is the beginning of your ringtone and Drag “End Slider” to make an End of it.
b. Type the exact “Start Time” and “End Time” in the box to choose your ringtone.
3. Clickto pre-listen your ringtone.
4. If you want to put your ringtone directly on your iPhone, just plug your iPhone to your computer and check “Export to iPhone” (4). If you just want to put it on your computer, click “Browse” on the right of “Local Output Folder” to find a place to put it.
Step 3: Generate iPhone Ringtones After you have done the 3 steps, just click “Generate” to make your iPhone ringtones.

For Mac:
If you are a Mac user, you need to find iPhone Ringtone Converter for Mac or iPhone Ringtone Maker for Mac.
Here I have one for you, just download this iPhone Ringtone Maker for Mac.


The process of making your own iPhone ringtone on Mac is the same as on Windows.
Hope you enjoy this DIY process.

How to Convert video and DVD to DV for DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, iMovie

This is a tutorial on how to convert video and DVD to DV for DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, iMovie.
Here are 2 parts:
Part 1, How to convert DVD to DV on Mac?
Part 2, How to convert videos such FLV to DVD on Mac?

Part 1, How to convert DVD to DV on Mac?
You need the following two software:
Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac
MPEG Streamclip
Step 1, Rip DVD to formats that are compatible with MPEG Streamclip
Many free Mac DVD Rippers don't support ripping encrypted DVD. We recommend you Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac (Intel Version, PPC Version) which can rip encrypted DVD to many other video formats such as MP4, FLV, MOV etc.
MPEG Streamclip Supports the following input formats: MPEG, VOB, PS, M2P, MOD, VRO, DAT, MOV, DV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2T, MMV, REC, VID, AUD, AVR, VDR, PVR, TP0, TOD, M2V, M1V, MPV, AIFF, M1A, MP2, MPA, AC3.
You need to use DVD Ripper for Mac to rip DVD to any video formats such as MP4, MOV compatible with MPEG Streamclip. After conversion, you can find the converted files in the output folder.
Tutorial on how to use DVD Ripper for Mac

Step 2, use MPEG Streamclip to convert videos to DV
Click 'File'>'Open Flies' to Open the converted files in the output folder.
Click 'File'>'Export to DV' to convert videos to DV.
That’s all.
Now you have converted DVD to DV on Mac. Then you can put the DV to DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, iMovie to edit.



Part 2, How to convert videos such as FLV to DV on Mac?
Software you need:
Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac
MPEG Streamclip
Step 1, Convert videos to the formats compatible with MPEG Streamclip (Optional)
MPEG Streamclip Supports input formats: MPEG, VOB, PS, M2P, MOD, VRO, DAT, MOV, DV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2T, MMV, REC, VID, AUD, AVR, VDR, PVR, TP0, TOD, M2V, M1V, MPV, AIFF, M1A, MP2, MPA, AC3.
If your videos such as FLV, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, XVID are not the above formats, you need to use Video Converter for Mac to convert your videos to MPEG Streamclip format.
Here is a tutorial on how to use Video Converter for Mac.
If your videos are compatible with MPEG Streamclip, please go to step 2.

Step 2, use MPEG Streamclip to convert videos to DV on Mac
Click “File”>”Open Flies” to Open the converted files in the output folder.
Click “File”>”Export to DV” to convert videos to DV.
That’s all. Now you are succeed in convert DVD to DV on Mac.
Then you can put the DV to DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, iMovie to edit.

Your Momma’s So Simple, She Uses Apple TV

There’s plenty of room in the market for Apple TV and Google TV both, because the two devices appeal to different audiences. This according to Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini, who sees Google (GOOG) TV appealing to geeks and the newly revamped Apple (AAPL) TV appealing to, well, grannies.

“It seems like he [Apple CEO Steve Jobs] actually took a step backward from the paradigm he had with the first Apple TV, which was much more of a computer,” Otellini told The Wall Street Journal. “Google TV…is a whole different approach. It’s the full Internet, integrated seamlessly with live content. I think it’s a very powerful model. But I also believe there are probably households that one will appeal to and the other won’t. My mom might use an Apple TV because it’s really simplistic. My son is probably going to go buy a Google TV, simply because it’s cool. He wants to be able to do his Facebook chat and talk to his friends, saying “Hey, are you watching the game?” in real time. You cannot do that on Apple TV.”

Whatever you say Mr. Google board member …

Incidentally, Otellini says Google TV devices are to begin shipping this month, which is a bit earlier than expected, I think.

Here’s What VCs Get for $46 Million: The Kno Tablet D8 Demo

Today, Kno, a start-up that is taking on the textbook by replacing it with a tablet aimed at students, nabbed another $46 million in venture funding from a panoply of Silicon Valley bigs.

And what are those moneybags getting for their dough?

Well, here’s the demo for Kno, which debuted at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June.

The clamshell device has a pair of touchscreens that open and shut like a book, and Kno will offer an online store linked to the tablet for the purchase of materials.

In fact, Kno shares a co-founder with Chegg, the online textbook-rental service.

That would be Osman Rashid–and you can pretty much draw a straight line from Chegg to Kno.

But rather than focusing on making an old business better via the Web, as Chegg does, Kno will be headed right into the competitive tablet market that now includes Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Samsung, Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and, reportedly, Google (GOOG).

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kno has previously raised almost $10 million in funding from prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

In addition, Marc Andreessen is now on Kno’s board.

Andreessen Horowitz is upping the ante this new round too, as you can read in the press release below.

Kno Funding FINAL FINAL Release

Facebook Live vs. Google Beat

While the Silicon Valley digital giants are fighting on much bigger playing fields, BoomTown is enjoying the mini-battle brewing between Facebook Live and Google Beat.

What, pray tell, are those?

Well, Facebook Live launched about a month ago, and includes all kinds of insidery videos from the social networking giant.

Facebook Live notes on its Facebook page that it is an “official live video streaming channel, providing a deeper look into our features, partners & employees.”

That includes interviews by Facebook’s marketing exec Randi Zuckerberg, live event streaming and also a look-see at demos.

Google (GOOG) has been putting up a lot of videos on its official YouTube channel for a while now, such as executive talks, tips, product explainers, life-at-Google vignettes and even a Rubik’s Cubes Googley art wall competition.

Now, it seems to have upped the stakes with last week’s launch of Google Beat, which is–as a blog post described it–a video series that “highlights some of the hottest searches on Google in the U.S.”

This past week, searches centered on Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally and hurricane information, which seems like a good fit.

Personally, I like both entries from Facebook and Google and want even more.

What about a look inside Facebook Mark Zuckerberg’s sock drawer? Or perhaps a gander at exactly what Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin searched for over Labor Day?

I say, the more, the merrier–or, in this case, the geekier, the nerdier!

Although here is something to ponder: While Twitter is likely minutes away from broadcasting “Twit Wit,” would Apple (AAPL) ever do something like this?

(Answer: Never ever ever.)

Here are two recent Facebook Live posts–one an interview of the Places team and the other a tech talk on Facebook infrastructure.

They are followed by the first two Google Beat episodes, starring Anne Espiritu, as well as the ever-changing colors of Google’s signature exercise ball.

Enjoy:

How to convert videos such as MP4, WMV, MOV and AVI to DVD for Free

DVD Flick is a free DVD authoring program that allows you to take a video file saved on your computer and converts it into a DVD that can play back in a DVD player, your computer, or Home Cinema set. The software allows you to add audio tracks and subtitles to your DVD. Your original video files may be in any of the following container formats: AVI, MOV, MPG, WMV, ASF, FLV (Flash video), Matroska and MPG. Supported codecs include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, XVid, DivX, WMA and WMV (Windows Media Audio and Video), MP3, OGG Vorbis, H264 and On2 VP5/6. The program is open source.
DVD Flick is the all-in-one tool that can convert:
AVI to DVD, FLV to DVD, HDMOV to DVD, MKV to DVD, MJPG to DVD, MPG to DVD, M2V to DVD, MP4 to DVD, M4V to DVD, NSV to DVD, NUT to DVD, QT to DVD, MOV to DVD, RM to DVD, SMK to DVD, OGM to DVD, WMV to DVD, ASF to DVD, 3GP to DVD, 3G2 to DVD for free.
DVD Flick supports DVD Authoring, ISO image creating, DVD burning also in one tool.
System requirements:

• A Pentium or AMD K-6 processor. Pentium 3 or later recommended, the faster the better.
• 64 MB of free physical RAM, 128 MB or more is recommended.
• Windows 2000, Windows XP , Windows Vista (If you are Mac user, use this Mac dvd creator)

Download the latest version of the DVD Flick website
If you are using Mac, Please click here to download the Mac DVD Creator

1. Download and run DVD Flick



2. Click "New project” button to create a new project.
3. Browse your hard drives to select path to the folder, where the resulting DVD folders
(AUDIO_TS, VIDEO_TS) will be saved. It is highly recommended to use NTFS file system in your OS, cause the temporary m2v files in most cases exceeds 4GB limit for FAT32 file system. Additionally, don't use non-English letters to the browsing path, because the errors could occur during DVD authoring process.
4. Add your title - select the video file or files for the project. DVD Flick supports these video file types: AVI, FLV, HDMOV, MKV, MJPG, MPG, M2V, MP4, M4V, NSV, NUT, QT, MOV, RM, SMK, OGM, WMV, ASF, 3GP, 3G2.
5. Title added. Left bar indicates how many bytes is used on the blank DVD disc with the default preferences. The percentage depends on the video file size which you have added in the previous guide step.



6. Edit title.
(1) General settings for the "Title".
reate chapters every: Purpose of the chapters usage is forward/back skipping forward during the DVD viewing. It is recommended to use this option.
You can also use fixed numbers of chapters - check "Create" button.
Aspect ratio is an auto detected value received from video file's frame dimension.


(2) Video sources for the "Title" - this tab informs us about video codec, frame size, Aspect ratio value, frame rate - Frames Per Second.


Frame rate. Check the bottom listing:

• 23,976 FPS - NTSC Film Format
• 25 FPS - PAL Format
• 29,97 FPS - NTSC Format
• 30 FPS - NTSC Format Reccomendations for the non-standard
• 12,5 FPS - PAL Format
• 15 FPS - NTSC Format Warning! Remember the format for your file - it will be the same "Target format" in "Project settings" .

Add a file to a title: This option allow to you to add new file or files to the "Title". It could be additional videos for this DVD, cutted scenes for examples, etc. Important thing is the same FPS for the main video file and the additional file.
Remove a file to a title: You can also remove a file to a title.
(3) Audio tracks tab.
Remove an audio track: Press "Edit" button, then remove from the "Audio track sources" additional audio track.
Add an audio track: Press "Add" button on the ”Audio track sources" tab, select the audio file from hard drive, check in the new "select audio track(s)" window track(s) you wish to add. Press "Accept" button. DVD Flick could extract audio tracks from all supported video files (AVI, FLV, HDMOV, MKV, MJPG, MPG, M2V, MP4, M4V, NSV, NUT, QT, MOV, RM, SMK, OGM, WMV, ASF, 3GP, 3G2), and also native audio file formats: AAC, AC3, Flac, MKA, MP3, MP2, MPA, OGG, WAV, WMA
Select language for the additional audio track. Select the audio track, and then select from the”Track language" list box.
(4). Subtitles tab.
Add subtitles. Press "Add" button on the "Subtitles" tab, and then select from disk file with subtitles. DVD Flick supports these subtitles formats: AQT, JS, RT, SMI, ASS, SRT, SSA, TXT. Subtitle settings. Press "Edit" button to change subtitles settings. Select the language you need. Other settings are for the Font, Font size, and placement of the subtitles. As usually, press "Accept" button to save setting. "Force display" option will force subtitle displaying during playback, even they were not selected in menu.



If everything was made rightly, we will see this window with the changed settings for subtitles. There are no more editing tabs for "Title properties". Press "Accept" button to save preferences.
7. Project settings. At the DVD Flick main window press "Project settings" button.
General tab.
Select a "Target size" for your DVD from list box. The default value is "DVD (4,3 GB)", default values could be changed by pressing "Use as defaults" button. If you need to select custom DVD size just scroll up the list box to the "Custom" value and the bottom "Custom size" option will be enabled for editing.
"Encoder priority" allows to you to use "DVD Flick" with high priority in your operating system to decrease full encoding time.



Video tab.
Set your DVD "Target Format".
"Encoding profile" for better encoding performance is highly recommended to select as "Normal" or "Best". "Fastest" and "Fast" mode decrease full encoding time, but with the lower quality results.
"Target bitrate" is more easy to use as "Auto fit". This option will calculate bitrate for encoding automatically depends on DVD "Target size" and will be set as maximum possible value. If you have some advanced experience with DVD encoding, you can set "Custom bitrate".
Set up advanced video options - press "Advanced" button.
Check "Second encoding pass" to improve output encoding results. It is highly recommended to use this option, but it wills increase full encoding time.
Check "Half horizontal resolution" to enable Half D1 DVD Mode - one of the standard for DVD, decreases frame size to 352x576 for PAL and to 352x480 for NTSC (instead of 720x576 (PAL) and 720x480 (NTSC)). Could be used as a possibility to decrease encoding bitrate, for more video length on one DVD disc.
Check "Add overscan borders" to make your DVD with black left and right borders to view all the source video on your TV.
Deinterlace option is not recommended to use.
Check "Force MPEG-2 recompression" to recompress your mpeg-2 video source files, do not check option if m2v files were encoded with Cam Video Tool 4 DVD Flick.



Burning tab.
If the "Create ISO image" is set, the ISO image file will be created on your disk, in the "Project destination folder". ISO image could be useful, if you prefer to burn DVD using another application, supporting ISO images. "MDS" (Media decriptor) file will be created also. If you want to burn your DVD with DVD Flick, check "Burn project to disc" (red arrow). if you are using DVD+RW, DVD-RW disc, check "Automatically erase disc if it is rewritable". If quick erase will be not possible, ImgBurn (included in DVD Flick installation package) will make full erase for rewritable discs.
Accept all "Project settings" using "Accept" button. Now we are ready to burn our DVD.

8. Create DVD.
Press "Create DVD" button at the main window.
DVD Flick will ask for confirmation to proceed - press "Yes".
Additional warning about "Project destination folder" - Press "Yes".
"DVD Flick Progress" window shows to user all executed steps.
When the DVD burning will be done, we will see this window. Press "Close" to return to the DVD Flick main window. In the main window you can save DVD Flick project to your hard drive.

DVD Flick is only for Windows PC users. If you are Mac user, you can use this best DVD creator for Mac. It is a professional Mac DVD Burner program that converts almost all popular video formats such as FLV, MPEG1, MPEG2, MP4, DAT, 3GP, 3G2, MOV, AVI to DVD on Mac. And it can burn DVD movie playable on portable or home DVD player on Mac.

If you want to convert iTunes videos to DVD, you need to get the videos from iTunes to computer .
And then use DVD flick to convert iTunes videos to DVD for free.

If you want to burn YouTube videos on DVD, you can download the youtube videos to your computer.
And then using DVD flick to burn YouTube videos on DVD for free. If you are a Mac user, use this best dvd creator for Mac to help you. You can also copy videos form other video sites such as veoh, google video, iFlim, vidilife, blip.tv, music.com, zippyvideos, dailymotion, devilducky, etc and then burn them to DVD using this methods.

Here are some other DVD burner.
DVD Styler
DVD Styler is an open source DVD authoring system for Windows and Linux. It converts MPEG files, which you can drag and drop into its window, create NTSC/PAL DVD menus which are highly customizable (you can set image backgrounds, put text and images anywhere, change the font and colors, etc), set chapters for the movie, etc.
DivXtoDVD Perl Script
DivXtoDVD is a Perl script for Linux and other Posix systems (like BSD, Unix, Unix-like operating systems) that converts a DivX movie to DVD compliant files (AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories and files). It uses transcode, ffmpeg, mjpeg and dvdauthor to do the job in one step. The software is open source. Note that this is different from the commercial ConvertXtoDVD software which was also formerly named DivXtoDVD. If you're looking for the latter, a trial download is available.
ImgBurn
ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:
Read - Read a disc to an image file
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing
Q DVD-Author
Q DVD-Author is essentially a GUI front-end for dvdauthor and other related tools found on a Linux system. You can create DVD menus, convert your projects between PAL and NTSC (and vice versa), create sub-menus, add subtitles, transcode your input videos from other formats, apply multiple audio streams to the videos, give menus multiple soundtracks, create a DVD slideshow, create animated menus, etc. This is an open source program that works under Linux and other Posix OSes.
KDE DVD Authoring Wizard
The KDE DVD Authoring Wizard allows you to create a DVD from a DVD-compatible MPEG-2 file (that is, it doesn't do the conversion from other formats for you). You can add multiple files and create a menu of the playlist if you wish. Your DVD menu can have multiple pages, a soundtrack from OGG or MP3, animated thumbnails and be in the NTSC or PAL format, be in 16:9 widescreen or 4:3 full screen, etc. This DVD authoring tool works under Linux. It is open source.

New iPod touch 2G Guide

A big surprise turn up at 9th Sep for all iPod fans – the new iPod touch 2G and Nano 4G released. It’s really lucky and exciting to get a new iPod Touch 2G. And in order to help iPod users to learn more about it, I collected some information for this new iPod touch 2G guide. And it also includes how to enjoy the multimedia on you new iPod touch 2G such as download free video to iPod, convert DVD to iPod and transfer music video from iPod to iPod and iPod to computer.

Price:
As expected, the biggest news with Apple's second-generation iPod Touch is its drastically reduced price. The 8GB version of the iPod Touch 2G is now $229 (down from $299), the 16GB is $299 (down from $399), and the 32GB is $399 (down from $499).

Size:
The new iPod touch 2G is smaller and lighter than the original, 3.5 inch touch-screen, measuring 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.33 inches and weighing 4.05 ounces. With its rounded edges, flush display and curved, more compact design, the iPod touch 2G is promised to be more comfortable to hold and more portable than ever.

Game:
iPod touch 2G users can choose from hundreds of gaming titles such as "Spore Origins" and "Scrabble" from Electronic Arts, and "Real Football 2009" from Gameloft available on iTunes or directly through the App Store application on the iPod touch. The App Store works over Wi-Fi, enabling users to browse, purchase and wirelessly download applications.

Battery and “Genius”
The new iPod touch 2G promises up to 36 hours of music playback or six hours of video playback on a single charge. It also works with the new iTunes 8 Genius feature, allowing users to automatically create playlists while on the go. These playlists can also be synchronized with iTunes 8 servers.

Others features in new iPod touch 2G
Build-in accelerometer for casual listening; more convenient volume control button on the edge; the newest improvements “Nike+iPod” which can help you track your workouts by slipping a Nike+iPod sensor into you Nike+ shoes.

Then, Let’s talk about how to enjoy multimedia on your New iPod touch 2G
Part 1: How to free download video to your new iPod Touch 2G.
I always download free video and music from Youtube and limewire.
Youtube streaming videos are all FLV formats, so you need to play the video with a flash player programe on your computer, and if you want to put them on your new iPod touch 2G, use a iPod video Converter to convert FLV to MP4 format.
I got this totally free Youtube downloader, just enjoy.
http://www.aiseesoft.com/free-youtube-downloader.html

Limewire is a fast and popular freeware working on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Through the P2P (peer-to-peer) network, you can free download various video and audio files by keywords searching. Most of its video formats is MPEG, so convert them and transfer to your iTunes then iPod touch 2G.
http://www.limewire.com/

Part 2: How to convert DVD to iPod Touch 2G
The new iPod touch 2G can only play MP4 and H.264 video, but DVD movie is MEPG, MPEG-2 video and CSS protected, so you need an application to convert DVD to MP4 video, then sync it to iPod touch 2G via iTunes.



To complete Part 1 and Part 2 I recommend you an iPod studio pack which includes a DVD to iPod converter and video to iPod converter.
You can get familiar with the apps by using this detailed step by step guide:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/article/download-dvd-pdf-youtube-videoto-ipod.html

Part 3: How to convert files back to your computer and transfer between iPod
Because iTunes prevents you from copying music or video from the iPod touch 2G back to computer, so you need a special tool to do that.
Yamipod, Aiseesoft iPod to Computer Transfer, Sharepod, iDump
And then re-add it to your iTunes library and sync it to other iPod touch 2G.

Free Trial: Free download Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite

How to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub

Squint and VisualHub, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. They also have got new names, Film Redux (VisualHub) and PunyVid (iSquint). As you may or may not know, the developer, Techspanion has closed shop
and after an outcry from fans, it has released the source code.
You can get them here: SourceForge.net Repository - [transcoderredux] Index of /
This a tutorial on how to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub.

Here are two parts:
Part 1, How to use open source to build VisualHub (Film Redux)?
Part 2, How to use open source to build iSquint (PunyVid).

What you need:
Mac OS X 10.5, Xcode 3.0 and Techspansion's open source

Part 1, How to use open source to build VisualHub (Film Redux)?
Step 1, Open the open source, you will see two folders: FilmRedux and PunyVid. Open FilmRedux and find the file "FilmRedux.xcodeproj".



Step 2, Double click "FilmRedux.xcodeproj" to open it with Xcode.



Step 3, Click the button "Build and Go" to build VisualHub (Film Redux). That's all.



Part 2, How to use open source to build iSquint( PunyVid)?
Step 1, Open the open source, you will see two folders: FilmRedux and PunyVid. Open PunyVid and find the file "PunyVid.xcodeproj".



Step 2, Double click "PunyVid.xcodeproj" to open it with Xcode.



Step 3, Click the button "Build and Go" to build iSquint (PunyVid). That's all.



The operation is simple, but the stability would be a great concern, it kept reporting error messages during my try which is really frustrated. Perhaps it's not wise enough to spend hours coping with those errors messages, as there must be some commercial programs that perform much more reliably, like the Video Converter for Mac.
If you want to convert videos to DVD, here is DVD Creator for Mac.