Demand Media’s IPO Is On Deck, With Amended Filing

Demand Media, which posted its S-1 regulatory filing August, filed an amended version today that is likely to allow it to move quickly to an initial public offering.

The new version for the online content company has updated financial information for the third quarter.

Demand now must now wait for the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the filing, after which the execs of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Demand will immediately to go on a road show for several weeks to try to convince investors to jump on board.

Then, if there’s enough interest, the IPO is likely to come before the holidays.

Demand’s initial filing was to raise $125 million at a reported $1.5 billion valuation.

You can read the whole filing here, which shows an improved performance from Demand.

In its latest filing, Demand said it had generated revenue–from advertising and a domain business–of $179.4 million for the first nine months this year and had a net loss of $6.4 million.

In the same period a year ago, revenue was $102.3 with a net loss of $5.6 million.

Losses in the third quarter itself narrowed, to $305,000 from $4.2 million in the previous quarter and $1.9 million a year ago.

But Demand points in its filing to its “Adjusted OIBDA,” using less stringent non-GAAP financial rules, which shows a much improved $41.9 million profit compared to $18.9 million last year.

As MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka wrote:

Some investors may balk at these non-GAAP numbers, but Demand, Goldman Sachs and its other underwriters clearly think there’s a market for them. And there’s certainly a hunger in the tech world for a big, brand-name IPO to break the dry spell. You can feel people willing this thing to work.

If Demand did, say, $55 million in OIBDA this year, it would need a multiple of 18 times trailing 12 months earnings to get to a $1 billion valuation. It would need 27x to get the $1.5 billion number that people are whispering to reporters.

Another way to get to $1.5 billion: Project OIBDA of $100 million for 2011, and ask for 15x on that number.

Demand is definitely growing smartly from $170.3 million in annual revenue in 2008 to $198.5 in 2009 to possibly reaching–based on six months of 2010 results–well above $230 million in 2010.

That’s due to its increasing growth in traffic, largely via Demand’s popular eHow site and a network of others.

Almost all of the money is coming from traffic, and advertising, that it generates from Yahoo and Google–Google in particular.

Demand has done this using $355 million in funding it has raised since its founding in 2006. The company said it has only $29.2 million in cash and cash equivalents left, but there is also a $100 million untouched line of credit.

Hence, the IPO, which will give it both cash and stock to use to grow its content business, either organically or via acquisition, all while keeping the costs of content creation increasingly lower via innovative technology.

From Demand’s filings, it is clear such an effort is slow going, as it seeks to carve out any entirely new business model for content.

Now, it must find Wall Street investors who agree.

In its filing, Demand said it will sell 4.5 million shares in the IPO and current shareholders will sell another three million. It hopes to have DMD as its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

But there is no price range yet for the offering, which is being led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Like BoomTown Said: Levinsohn Not Signed Yet, But Poised to Be Yahoo’s U.S. Head

As BoomTown reported yesterday, former News Corp. digital head Ross Levinsohn’s appointment as the head of Yahoo’s Americas division is imminent.

He will be in charge of Yahoo’s massive media and advertising units.

But–and this just cracks me up–he has not actually signed on the dotted line yet and, thus, Yahoo could not announce it early this afternoon, as planned.

According to sources, there were several issues between Levinsohn and Yahoo to settle. His staying in Los Angeles–and not being located at the company’s Sunnyvale HQ–was not among those last negotiating points.

But those issues seem settled now and sources at Yahoo are confident that Levinsohn will sign sometime today, and the Internet giant will announce the news soon after.

Then the real fun begins.

So stay tuned…

How to upload videos to YouTube easily and quickly on Mac

Google has released basic software called Vidnik which is the quickest, simplest way to make movies using the built - in camera on your Macintosh and upload those movies to your YouTube account. You must first sign up for a free YouTube membership to upload videos. You can use Vidnik to create a video diary, or just to quickly record a video comment to attach to an existing YouTube video. Vidnik works with the built-in video cameras on recent Macs, with Firewire video cameras, and with many USB video cameras.

Part 1, use Vidnik to Record video segments using your iSight camera and upload them to YouTube.



To use Vidnik, run the app, then click the record button to start recording. Click it again to stop. Trim to just the golden moments you want to keep, as in the screen shot above. Fill in the required title, description, and so on. Click the upload button. That's it.

Part 2, Use Vidnik to upload videos to youtube
You can drag movies made in other programs onto Vidnik's column of movies, and then click the upload button. And to use another program to do a little post-production, use the Gear menu to show Vidnik's movie file in the Finder. Edit the movie in the other program, and then upload it.Vidnik can only support videos such as: 3GP, AVI, DAT, MOV, MP4, M4A, WAV, AAC. It does not support ASF, FLV, MPEG, RM, WMV, MP3, AC3.
You can use the video converter for Mac to convert your videos to the formats that Vidnik can run.
If you want to upload DVD to TouTube, you need to use DVD ripper to rip DVD to video formats supported by YouTube first. If you are Mac user, you can use this DVD ripper for Mac .

How to change iPhone Wallpaper

Here are the easy steps you can take to change iPhone Wallpaper easily.

Make preparations:
Step 1: Find an image that you would like to use as wallpaper from iPhone Wallpaper.
Step 2: Right-click on a PC or control-click on an Apple computer and select "Save As" to save the image to your computer. Save it to your "My Pictures" folder or iPhoto library on a PC or Apple respectively, or wherever you prefer to store your images on your computer as long as you will be able to easily locate it.
Step 3: Connect the iPhone to your computer with the USB cable and wait for iTunes to launch itself automatically. Click on the "Photos" tab in the side panel.
Step 4: Click on the "Sync Photos From:" tab in the "Photos" menu on iTunes and locate the folder where your photos are stored. Select all of the images that you would like to transfer your to iPhone. Click on "Sync" in iTunes to transfer all of the photos to your iPhone.

Change iPhone Wallpaper
Step 1: Tap Settings on the iPhone’s home screen:



Step 2: Tap the Wallpaper tab:



Several tabs should appear, including one that says Wallpaper. You can tap any of the tabs to select wallpaper for the iPhone. The Wallpaper tab features a collection of pictures supplied by Apple. The other tabs feature pictures you have added to the iPhone, including those taken with the iPhone’s camera.



Step 3: Tap any picture. A preview screen of the wallpaper will appear, along with the words Move and Scale at the top. You can pinch and reverse pinch the picture to resize. The transparent bars at the top and bottom simulate the bars for the clock and Slide to unlock that will eventually display on top of your wallpaper.
In the example below you can see that the heads of the two peoples will be partially covered by the top bar:



To fix, I will reverse pinch to expand the picture, then drag the picture so that their faces appear in the center:


Step 4:
Tap Set Wallpaper to finish.
To view your new iPhone wallpaper, put the iPhone to sleep by pressing the sleep button on the top of the iPhone. Then hit the home button to wake the iPhone, and you should see the wallpaper.
Note the position of the clock and Slide to unlock transparent bars. If you’re unhappy with the position of the wallpaper, repeat the steps above.

Using Windows Movie Maker to edit videos on PC for free

This is a tutorial which explains the process of editing videos on a PC using Windows Movie Maker and editing videos on Mac using iMovie. This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to editing videos for free. Then share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD. Using dvd burner you can even take movies you've made and turn movies into DVDs.
You can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

This tutorial includes three parts, this is part one:
Part 1. Using Windows Movie Maker to edit videos on PC for free
Part 2. Using iMovie to edit videos on Mac for free
Part 3. A table that compares free video editors.

Windows Movie Maker 2.1 makes home movies amazingly fun. With Movie Maker 2.1, you can create, edit, and share your home movies right on your computer. Build your movie with a few simple drag-and-drops. Delete bad shots and include only the best scenes.



Step 1, Capture video
You can capture video from video device, import video, pictures, audio and music. MM2 will allow you to import the following file formats:
- Audio files: .aif, .aifc, .aiff .asf, .au, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .snd, .wav and .wma
- Picture files: .bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, and .wmf
- Video files: .asf, .avi, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wm, and .wmv
If your videos are not the formats compatible with Windows Movie Maker such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, MIDI, AIFF, AAC, you can use the video converter to convert the video to the formats supported by MM2 first.

Step 2, Edit movie
-Add Video Transitions.
Open your Windows Movie Maker project file. If Movie Maker opens in Timeline view, return to Storyboard view by clicking on the Show Storyboard link. From the Movie Tasks pane, under Edit Movie, select View video transitions . Choose the desired transition, select and drag into storyboard between desired clips. After inserting transition, sample the change in the Monitor to determine if it works in the way you desire. To change a transition you can Undo the action, right click on the transition in the Storyboard and select delete, or simply drag a new transition over the old transition.
-Add Video Effects.
Choose "View video effects" under the Edit Movie section and drag the chosen effect to the star in the lower left corner of the picture. Preview your movie to see the effects. Continue to add effects to other pictures if desired. Save the file. A video effect applies to the picture itself rather than the change from one picture to another as in a transition.
-Add Titles and Credits.
Under the Edit Movie section, choose Make titles or credits. You have several options for where to place your Windows Movie Maker title and credits. They may precede or follow a picture or video clip, or be used as an overlay.
Here are tips for you to add special effects to your movies using Windows Movie Maker

Step 3, Finish movie
Now that your movie is complete, you may wish to save the project in a different format.
Saving the project and saving the movie are two different things. The movie project is the working file so that you may continue to edit until you have a final version of your work completed. The movie file is the final output of your movie.
Windows Movie Maker compresses all the parts of your movie into a single unit. The file size is much smaller so that it can be used on a web site or emailed.
You also have the option to create a CD or DVD of your movie. These options are all under the heading Finish Movie. If you want to convert the movie made by Windows Movies Maker to other video format such as YouTube video, AVI, MP4, 3GP, you can use this video converter. You can also use free third-party software to burn the movie made by Windows Movies Maker to DVD for free.

Liveblogging Unveiling of the SFund at Facebook (With Guest Stars: Kleiner, Amazon and Zynga)

BoomTown had to park a badillion miles away from Facebook’s suburban HQ in Palo Alto, Calif. and hoof it here for an event that will apparently unveil the sFund.

What’s that? A $250 million fund for social start-ups.

Let’s get to it.

10:40 am PT: The excitement is building–well, not really–at the Facebook cafeteria, as the press gets to see the name of the sFund on screens throughout the room.

Kleiner Perkins power VC John Doerr starts off the proceedings with some microphone snafus, when he tries to get out from behind the podium.

“John, sometimes you have to stay in the box,” joked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is sitting onstage in an Internet Hall of Fame group.

The others would be Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Zynga CEO and Founder Mark Pincus, and man-about-Web Bing Gordon.

Doerr goes on about the importance of social, related to the Internet.

Then, he intros Zuckerberg, hoodie-less, who agrees with him, talking about photos and how social made them hot on Facebook.

Apparently, everything is going social. Personally, I am now contemplating becoming a hermit.

Doerr goes all Oprah on him, asking what would inspire him if he were starting out today (and presumably no Winklevii around to “borrow” an idea from).

“If you take any passion and map it to an industry,” said Zuckerberg, it will result in disruption.

Then Doerr goes Barbara Walters on Pincus, tossing him a softball about the fabulousness of it all.

For example: “What’s inspired you to be a CEO at this amazing company?” (Note to Walt Mossberg: Let’s file that tough one away for D9!)

11:01 am:Thank goodness then for Bezos, who simply says he hopes these new companies will take some of that $250 million and use Amazon Web services.

He talks about how these trends grow virally and “sometimes violently.”

Ouch!

He moves on to some chemical explosion metaphor, and I am now certain I want to be a hermit.

Then, after a question about what he would do now, he veers to bioengineering! Doerr wants a social answer, but Bezos is talking test tubes and “engineered and synthetic life.”

But Gordon behaves for John “Diane Sawyer” Doerr and talks about how social is the only place to be for the cool kids.

He reels off the other partners, including Comcast, Liberty Media and Allen & Co.

One more question from Doerr: Five years from now, what is going to make you “delighted” about and for the customers you service.

Gordon: He can see the family.

Pincus: He has a set of 12-week twins, who are still too young to use Facebook. He is excited it is all getting wired. “When everyone is always connected to one another, rather than connected to the Web,” he said, that’s the bomb.

He calls the big companies “dial tones,” as in Zynga is the gaming dial tone, Amazon is the shopping dial tone and Facebook is the dial tone.

Zuckerberg: I am not sure he is actually answering the question. But I think his wish is about this social network getting to scale all over the place.

He goes on though, talking about how some companies are building a “light” social layer versus companies where social is “built fundamentally into the product.”

These, of course, have an advantage, according to the gospel of Zuckerberg.

Bezos: He talks about Amazon’s Web services some more–this dude is a retailer, so he is sure good at selling.

Gordon, who is apparently like Ed McMahon to Doerr’s Johnny Carson, rounds up the feel-good session.

11:17 am: Q&A.

Go Miguel Helft, from the New York Times, who asks a good question, about what took so long for Doerr to do this fund, since social has been around for seven years.

Doerr jokes, “Next question.” Ha.

But really. Doerr does not answer except to say that Zynga only exploded a year ago, so back off, Miguel.

There are two other dullish questions, about new partners.

“It’s a quarter-billion-dollar party,” said Gordon, which I am not quite wanting to attend.

Larry Magid from CBS asks about social responsibility around privacy, especially after the recent controversy around the leaking of Facebook user info to advertisers, via third-party apps companies such as Zynga.

Then, there is a question about whether this is not simply the “FBFund,” as in Facebook, since the social networking site is going to benefit the most.

No, it is not, declares Doerr.

More questions–about monetization, free versus paid and an off-topic one about rumors of Amazon launching an app store (of course it is!).

Zuckerberg takes the monetization one. All of the above, it’s great, money for all.

The event ends with a very odd poem by Gordon, which ends with a decent joke about the possibility that entrepreneurs, if they are lucky, get a movie “made about you.”

He is referring to “The Social Network,” which trashed Zuckerberg.

In any case, quarter-billion-dollar party on, Mark.

Yahoo Tops Earning Expectations, While Revenue Remain Weak (and Outlook Even Worse)

Yahoo turned in a much-needed solid quarter in its third-quarter earnings report, with slightly better-than-expected net income, although still weak revenue.

Wall Street has been watching Yahoo’s performance closely this quarter, due to the swirl around the company over takeover scenarios, departed execs and general management mishegas.

Wall Street consensus was that Yahoo’s net income would rise to 15 cents a share from 13 cents a year ago and and revenue would be be a flattish $1.13 billion.

Instead, Yahoo’s net revenue was $1.12 billion–which is with traffic acquisition costs taken out–on earnings of 29 cents a share. But net earnings per diluted share for the third quarter of 2010 included a benefit of 13 cents per diluted share related to the gain on sale of HotJobs.

The revenue weakness is worrisome, as it indicates a lack of search advertising growth at Yahoo, even as competitors such as Facebook expand rapidly as social networking explodes.

In addition, Google also turned in stellar quarterly results earlier this week, along with Apple.

Even more important is a weaker outlook for the fourth quarter.

In addition, the key metric of page views was down, four percent in the quarter, while employee growth was up seven percent.

Here is a link to BoomTown’s liveblogging of the analyst conference call, as well as the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s financial slides.

E-Book Sales Booming, Now 9 Percent of Total Sales (And Still Small)

Data point of the day, from the Association of American Publishers: E-book sales are up 193 percent so far this year, and now comprise nine percent of all books sold.

J.P. Morgan’s Imran Khan puts that in context via this helpful chart. Remember that e-book sales didn’t really exist until the late fall of 2007, when Amazon introduced the first (really mugly) Kindle. And recall that Apple only entered the market in April of this year. So you can see where this is going (click to enlarge):

The caveat: The book market just isn’t that big. U.S. e-book sales to date are just $263 million, which means people have spent more money going to see “Clash of the Titans” and “The Expendables” this year than they have on digital ink.

Best 5 MP3 players

There's no one-size-fits-all MP3 player that's perfect for everybody. Some people need a small MP3 player for the gym, while others need tablet-size players with wide-screen video playback. Whatever your interests are, these five MP3 players broadly represent our current favorite portable music gadgets. If you're looking for your first MP3 player and you want to start at square one, then take a look at CNET's MP3 player buying guide.

Zune (second generation, 80GB, black)



The second-generation, 80GB Zune from Microsoft offers tremendous value for the money, as well as innovative features such as wireless sync, RBDS FM radio information, Wi-Fi music sharing, and subscription music support (Zune Pass). We know the Zune name was dragged through the mud last year, but the second-generation Zune 80 does not disappoint.
Price: $237.49 - $249.99
Filed in: Best 5 MP3 players.

Apple iPod Nano (third generation, 8GB, red)



The latest version of the Nano is no longer the feature-crippled cousin to the iPod. Now in its third generation, the iPod Nano delivers every feature found on the iPod Classic, only in an exceptionally smaller and thinner format. The Nano's best assets are its crisp screen, attractive interface, sturdy and lightweight design, as well as a rechargeable battery that can play music continuously for as many as 24 hours.
Price: $199.00 - $199.00
Filed in: Best 5 MP3 players

Archos 605 WiFi (30GB)



If you're looking for an MP3 player that also makes for a fantastic portable video player, the Archos 605 WiFi is one of the most advanced gadgets around. With it's touch screen interface, gorgeous high-resolution screen, and integrated wireless video and music downloads, the Archos 605 WiFi is one of the best portable distractions money can buy. If you frequently find yourself on the road or in the air with nothing to do, consider the 605 a must-have.
Price:$259.00 - $299.99
Filed in: Best 5 MP3 players

Creative Zen V Plus (4GB, black)



One of the first flash-memory players to break into the 16GB range, the Creative Zen V Plus packs a monster wallop into an ultracompact space, and the vivid OLED display is viewable from any angle. Features include an FM radio, voice and line-in recording, photo and video playback, and compatibility with subscription WMA tracks.
Price: $99.99 - $149.77
Filed in: Best 5 MP3 players

iRiver Clix (4GB, second generation)



The iRiver Clix is the perfect slim and sleek MP3 player for those who find the iPod Nano too stifling, but the Toshiba Gigabeat too bulky. This player comes packed with extras such as an FM radio; a voice recorder; an alarm clock; support for subscription content as well as OGG and Audible files; and photo, video, and text viewing. The Clix includes SRS Wow sound effects, it has good battery life, and it's priced competitively.
Price: $150.95 - $168.99
Filed in: Best 5 MP3 players.

Recommended Products
Audio Converter for Mac
Convert video to MP3, convert audio to any audio format. Aiseesoft Audio Converter for Mac is a program designed just for Mac OS X
Audio Converter for Windows
Convert video, audio to MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, AC3, and WMA etc. And these audio files can be played on all kinds of different MP3 players and audio players.

How to fix error while burning DVD with iDVD

If you found message warning while click “Burn” in iDVD program. As same as pictures below:



Following these steps, you can fix the error:
1. Message warning click “Open DVD Map”.
2. New window will display. Find out yellow triangle and “!” inside.



3. Correct any mistake and then try to burn again.

How to Remove DRM protection from iTunes

iTunes is a champion of music, video downloading services. The user-friendly iTunes makes downloading music, videos quick and hassle-free; however, iTunes purchased songs and videos will not run on any other media player except for Apple products due to digital rights managements (DRM) which limit usages of devices or files.
This is a tutorial to remove DRM protection from iTunes. Then you can burn the iTunes videos to DVD and convert the iTunes videos to other format files.

Part 1, Remove DRM protection from iTunes Music using iTunes + CD-R/W
Probably the most widely accepted method for stripping purchased songs of DRM protection is burning tracks to a CD-R/W then re-importing back into the iTunes library. A method guaranteed to free you of DRM madness.
Create an iTunes playlist containing your purchased songs.
Insert a blank CD-R or a CD-RW.
Burn the playlist to disk.
Re-import the songs after a successful burn.
Delete the original purchased tracks.

Part 2, Remove DRM protection from iTunes using software
1. Remove DRM protection from iTunes music and videos for free on PC.
QTFairUse. It can Remove DRM protection from iTunes music and videos for free.
QTFairUse(.) for ITunes will allow you to convert protected m4p format files purchased in the iTunes Music Store to unprotected m4a files, playable everywhere. It supports fully automated conversion of all protected tracks in your iTunes library.
It will confirm whether you want to convert all the files in your library. Press 'y' and Enter to do that. Next it will ask if you want to skip already converted tracks (e.g. from the previous run). Press 'n' and Enter to overwrite them, 'y' and Enter to skip. After that, the script will begin conversion of all files in the library. Converted files will have m4a extension and will reside next to their m4p counterparts. To stop the conversion in process, press Ctrl-C in the console window. You can also close iTunes.
If you want to convert specific m4p files, pass their filenames as the commanding parameter. You can do that by e.g. dragging and dropping the files on QTFairUse6.exe. QTFairUse6 will convert them and exit. You can find converted files next to the originals, with m4a extension.

MyFairTunes. It can Remove DRM protection from iTunes music for free.

2. Remove DRM protection from iTunes music on Mac.
The software I introduce:
FairGame It is a freeware to Remove DRM protection from iTunes music on Mac OS X. FairGame(http://seidai.50webs.com/Seidai%20Software_files/FairGame.zip)will convert the songs you bought on the iTunes Store to an unprotected format (using iTunes default encoder) and keep all the original metadata, lyrics and artwork. FairGame doesn't do lossless DRM stripping. It re-encodes protected AAC files purchased in iTMS into unprotected AAC file using Apple's iMovie software.
What you MUST DO (only once) to get FairGame to work:
enable "Access for assistive devices" in the "Universal Access" system preference
select "Place clip in Movie Timeline" in the "Import" preference of iMovie HD
Then you can simply
select some songs in iTunes
click on the "Process songs" button
then don't touch anything and wait until it's done...(FairGame is scripting iMovie's interface to process the songs, don't interfere)



Tips:
If you want to burn the iTunes video to DVD, Just follow these steps:
1. Get the iTunes video to computer. You need to transfer the videos to iPod or iPhone and then use free iPod manager to get the videos from iPod or iPhone to computer.
Here is a tutorial: How to get videos from iPod and iPhone to Mac and PC for free?
2. Use freeware to burn the iTunes video to DVD. Here are the tutorials:
How to convert iTunes videos to DVD on PC for free?

Recommended Products For you:
DVD to iPod Converter for Mac
It's a specially designed iPod conversion program to Convert DVD to iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, convert DVD to iTunes on Leopard.
iPod Video Converter for Mac
It can convert MP4, MOV, 3GP, AVI, RM, MPEG, ASF and FLV to iPod video with high output quality and various features.

What is the Deal with Skype?

So what is the deal with Skype? They have created an empire on the computer and have replaced other instant messenger protocols such as AIM and ICQ with the obvious addition of free VOIP calling. Yet, somehow, even with their 500 million plus users, they seem to always be behind the curve in the mobile space.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

From the Department of the Obvious: Poll Finds Parents Are Worried About Privacy on Social Networks

A national poll released today by Common Sense Media asking how well social networks protect kids online produced an answer that should come as a shock to exactly no one:

Not very well, at least according to parents.

A full 75 percent of them gave social networking sites such as Facebook a negative rating for the task.

About 2,000 parents were polled by the nonprofit media organization, as well as 400 teens, who also gave thumbs down to social networks’ ability to police themselves.

There will be a big roundtable discussion on the topic in Washington, D.C., this morning, which will include Common Sense Media head Jim Steyer, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller.

Along with the poll results, San Francisco-based Common Sense Media said it will also announce the launch of the “Protect Our Privacy–Protect Our Kids” campaign to help parents protect kids’ reputations and personal information online.

I love the smell of impending privacy legislation in the morning!

Already from Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts: “As the House author of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, I remain intently interested in ensuring that children are not targeted online and their privacy is strictly protected. Twelve years after the bill was signed into law, entire new technologies and industries have emerged that could put children’s safety at risk, making a legislative update necessary. I look forward to introducing such legislation to bring COPPA into the 21st century.”

Thus, here is more for pols to chew on: The bulk of those surveyed are more concerned with online privacy than they were five year ago (another obvious one); parents do not believe Web sites, including search engines such as Google (GOOG), should share the location of kids (count me in on that one too!); and teens think their friends overshare (you think?).

BoomTown Gets a Taste of Umi and Chomps into Cisco Execs Too!

Yesterday, BoomTown dragged my weary bag of bones to downtown San Francisco for the unboxing of a new consumer telepresence product from Cisco called Umi.

The networking giant is making yet another big foray into the competitive space for, well, space in the living room with the device, which will cost $599 with a $24.99 monthly fee.

The Cisco (CSCO) brand name Umi is a variation on “you-me.”

The Umi unit works with your existing high-definition television and high-speed broadband. It’s in three parts: A camera, a remote control and a set-top box. It will work with Google (GOOG) Voice Chat–but not Skype and Apple (AAPL) iChat yet.

How to import video from camcorder to Mac

You may be ready to make a movie after you capture great footage with your FireWire camcorder. In this condition, you need import your camcorder to your Mac. More specially, you need to connect your camcorder to your Mac, and then copy footage from the camcorder into iMovie. And when you import video into an iMovie project, it would divide your video into individual clips for the easy editing.



Part 1. How to Import Video from a Camcorder to your Mac
Step 1: Connect camcorder to your Mac computer with cable (USB/Wifi)
Step 2: Select mode of camcorder such as PC/Computer mode.
Step 3: iMovie will automatic open Import window.
Step 4: If DVD Player automatic open. just quit DVD Player first.
Step 5: So now, you can review your video or select "Import All"(make sure your switch is set to "Automatic").
Step 6: If you select "Manual", you can import some clip to iMovie
Step 7: If you import from Tape based device (DV/HDV), iMovie will automatic revise tape and import all
Step 8: iMovie automatic create thumbnail video after complete import

Part 2. Tips:
iMovie automatically detects your camcorder
iMovie will automatically detect when you have a FireWire camcorder connected. If you see the message No Camera Attached, make sure your camera is turned on and properly plugged in to your computer via a FireWire cable and that your camcorder is set to VCR, VTR, or Play mode. You can also click the Connection Help button for more suggestions.
iMovie supports different video formats
When you create your project, choose the appropriate video format depending on your needs. For importing video from your camcorder, choose between DV, DV Widescreen, HDV 1080i, and HDV 720i. For recording from your iSight, select iSight. If you will be copying MPEG-4 files from your PDA or phone, select MPEG-4.
Import directly to the iMovie timeline
You can import footage directly from your camcorder to the iMovie timeline rather than to the Clips pane. This is a quick and easy way to get your footage into your iMovie project. You can then edit right in the timeline. From the iMovie menu, choose Preferences, click Import, and then choose the option Place clips in Movie Timeline.
If you're importing video that is already edited
Instead of importing your video as separate clips, you can set iMovie to import your video as a single clip. This may be useful if you're importing a movie that you've already edited and you just want to change a small portion. From the iMovie menu, choose Preferences, click Import, and then deselect the "Start a new clip at each scene break" option. If you prefer, select "Limit scene length to" and set a limit for the number of minutes. This will ensure your imported files don't get too large, in case you'll be copying clips between iMovie projects.
What you need to make a high-definition video with iMovie
High definition video is quickly becoming the format you see broadcast on TV. An HD camcorder stores more pixels than a standard camcorder, letting you see more detail in your video footage. iMovie supports importing and editing video from HD camcorders (HDV 720p and 1080i), so you can make movies just like the pros-and it's a great way to archive your most precious life events in the highest resolution possible .
Using video from an MPEG-4 camera
Many digital still cameras, PDAs, and mobile phones let you record short videos in the MPEG-4 format, a standard compression that is used to significantly reduce the file size of video. While iMovie doesn't know how to import video from these devices directly, as it does with FireWire devices, you can still use the MPEG-4 files once you've copied them to your Mac. Just drag them into the iMovie Clips pane using the Finder or import them using Import from the File menu.
Monitor the remaining amount of hard disk space
Digital video clips use a large amount of hard disk space. For example, five minutes of DV footage uses approximately 1GB of space. The same amount of HD video can occupy between 2GB to 4GB, depending on the format and footage. To save hard disk space, import and edit your video in sections instead of trying to do so all at once. You can see how much space remains on your hard disk by using the monitor located in the lower-right corner of the iMovie window.
Using video from your connected or built-in iSight camera
You can record video directly into your iMovie project with your iSight camera. That’s to say, you can add clips to your project spontaneously while you're working on it. Just connect your iSight camera to the FireWire port of your Mac and you're ready to start recording. If you have more then one camcorder connected, such as a camcorder and an iSight,- or you have an iMac with a built-in iSight-choose iSight from the pop-up menu that appears when you switch to camera mode.

How to Put Photos on a PSP

What you need?
1. A PSP
2. A computer
3. A PSP to computer cord
4. Photos you want on your PSP

Step1, On your computer you will need to find the pictures that you want on your PSP.
Step2, You will need to create a folder on your desktop called PHOTO all in capital letters. Then, drag and drop the picture(s) you want on your PSP into this folder.
Step3, You will need to plug your PSP into the computer using the PSP to computer cord. Then, on your PSP go under the settings menu, and select the option that says USB connection. You should now be in USB mode on your PSP. .Now that your PSP is in USB mode, the computer should recognize it and open an options menu.
Step4, Your computer is displaying an options menu, select the option that says open folder to view files. Now, your computer should be displaying the folders on your PSP.
Step5, Open the folder that says PSP. Now, your computer should be displaying the folders inside of the folder named PSP.
Step6, Drag and drop the folder named PHOTO - the one with your picture(s) -into the folder named PSP, the one you are viewing. You're done; you've found out how to put pictures on your PSP. Now, go show your picture(s) off to friends, family, and whom ever you want.

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How to reformat an iPod

This is a tutorial about how to reformat Windows Formatted iPod for Mac and how to reformat Mac Formatted iPod for Windows. There are 2 parts:
Part 1. How to reformat Windows Formatted iPod for Mac
Part 2. How to reformat Mac Formatted iPod for Windows

The way you see if an iPod is Mac or Windows-ready is to go to Settings --> About and scroll to the bottom of the screen. If it's formatted for Mac OS X, then the last item will be the serial number of the iPod. If it's Windows-ready, then after the serial number will be "Format: Windows". Simple enough, if a bit obscure.
If you wish to keep the songs you have on the iPod, you must first follow this tutorial to backup your iPod files to your computer.

Part 1, How to reformat Windows Formatted iPod for Mac
Step 1 Launch iTunes by selecting its icon in the dock
Step 2 Connect your iPod to the computer. Once it shows up in iTunes press the Restore button under the Summary Tab.



Step 3 A popup will appear warning you that all the songs on your iPod will be erased. Click the Restore button.
Step 4 An iPod Software Update window will open. Click the Next button.
Step 5 Click the Agree button to accept the license agreement.
Step 6 iTunes will now go and download the latest firmware for your iPod.



Step 7 Once installation begins it will ask you for an Administrator's username and password. Enter this information then click the OK button.
Step 8 iTunes will then format and update your iPod after which it will reboot.
Step 9 Once complete you will be asked to name your iPod. Do this then press the Done button.



Step 10 iTunes will now automatically begin syncing your library to the iPod!



Part2. How to reformat Mac Formatted iPod for Windows
Step 1, Download the latest version of iTunes
Your first step should be to ensure that you have the very latest version of iTunes. You can do that by going to Download iTunes. Install that, and when you hook up your iPod, you should see it show up in iTunes, then when you click on the iPod on the left side of iTunes, you'll get to the summary screen.



Step2 , Click the "Restore" button and you should be prompted to choose between four different options:
Restore Option 1: Restore - Restores with same iPod Software version already on iPod.
Restore Option 2: Use Same Version - Restores with same iPod Software version already on iPod even though a newer version is available.
Restore Option 3: Use Newest Version - Restores with the latest iPod Software available.
Restore Option 4: Restore and Update - Restores with the latest iPod Software available.