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- How to Remaster Your DVDs With Custom Options
When traveling on a long trip, or just any time that the kids are restless, the last thing you want to deal with sitting through movie trailers and DVD menus. Wouldn’t it be great if the movie would simply start playing as soon as the DVD was inserted? That’s exactly what remastering a DVD can do for you. One of the best solutions for remastering your DVDs on a Mac is Metakine’s DVDRemaster Pro. With DVDRemaster Pro you can isolate only the movie, remove all menus, remove subtitles and optional audio tracks, and basically re-create the DVD with exactly the content way you want it to play.
Creating the Remastered Copy
Backing up your DVD onto your hard drive is the first thing you will need to do, and with a program called RipIt, it is as easy as inserting the DVD into your Mac and clicking a button. Once your DVD is on your hard drive, to remaster your DVD with just the movie file, all you need to do is:
- Download, install and launch DVDRemaster Pro.
- Click on the Source icon in DVDRemaster Pro’s toolbar and navigate to the location where you extracted the DVD to with RipIt.
- In the drop-down labeled mode, select “Movie Only.” DVDRemaster Pro also does a pretty good job at selecting the correct title, as it is typically the longest running title on the DVD.
- Select a destination and file name.
- Click on the green start button.
I typically do not use compression and therefore can utilize the fast compression mode. I do leave “Remove UOPs” selected, even though it is rather pointless when remastering to just the movie only. If you’re going to be picking and choosing which options you leave in, make sure to check this box, too. UOPs are User Operations Prohibited locks, like the ones that prevent you from fast forwarding through the FBI warning, etc.
Burn Back To Disc
At this point you have the necessary files that will let you burn back to a DVD with no trailers, no menus, just the movie. For this task, use Roxio’s Toast Titanium to burn the VIDEO_TS folder back on to a DVD as follows:
- Download, install and launch Toast.
- Select the Video tab in Toast and select VIDEO_TS folders.
- Use the Finder to drag and drop the folder you created in DVDRemaster Pro into Toast.
- Insert a Blank DVD-R or DVD-R DL (depending on the size needed) and click the red burn button.
And that’s it, from DVD to hard drive and back to DVD again. Remastered for quick and easy playback at the times when you need it most.
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Переслать - iOS 101: How to Use AirPlay on iOS Devices
iOS 4.3 brings expanded AirPlay support to Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices, so long as you have hardware new enough to support the update. AirPlay allows you to stream audio and video content from your iOS device to another screen, be it your TV, computer or another iOS device, depending on what hardware you have at your disposal. Since third-party apps can now get in on the AirPlay action, it’s a good time to look at just how to get the new feature up and running, especially since it cut help you cut the cord and ditch your cable subscription.
Basics
First things first, in order to get AirPlay working you’ll need the following:
- An iOS device capable of running iOS 4.2 (iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4, iPod touch 2nd, 3rd or 4th gen, iPad or iPad 2)
- An app capable of using AirPlay. These include the built-in YouTube or Video app, some sites in Safari, or iMovie from Apple. Air Video and some other apps from third-party developers also support video streaming if you’re running iOS 4.3, but many more apps that play media should be able to stream audio.
- AirPlay-capable receiver device. This could be an Apple TV (latest model only), an AirPlay-enabled receiver (audio only), a Mac running AirPlayer, or a second iOS device using AirTuner or AirView (these options currently only support video)
- A local Wi-Fi network you have access to, to which all of the devices mentioned above are connected
Your next step is to make sure AirPlay is active on your receiving device. On the Apple TV, you can do this by navigating to the Settings menu, and selecting AirPlay. You should now see whether or not AirPlay is turned on. If it isn’t, go ahead and make the necessary change, and set a password if you’d like to require authorization to use AirPlay.
If you’re using apps on either your Mac or your iOS device, go ahead and launch the app before you try to stream anything to your device. If you’re using an AirPlay-enabled home theatre receiver, consult your device’s manual for specific instructions.
Instructions for Video
- Once your receiving device is ready to go, streaming content from your iOS device should be fairly easy. Open the app of your choice (must be a native Apple app if you’re using iOS 4.2) and playback media as you normally would. You should see a screen that looks more or less like this:
- If you’re viewing on an iPad, chances are the video might not be displaying in full screen. Here’s what it might look like in that case:
- In either case, if you aren’t seeing controls on the video you’re viewing, just tap the video once to bring them up. At the bottom right, there’s an icon of a rectangle with an inset solid triangle. This is the AirPlay button:
- Tap that button to bring up your AirPlay receiver options. It should list all your available devices, complete with an icon of a speaker for those that only support audio, and a TV screen for those that support video. Tap on the option of your choice.
- Your video should start playing back on the new device after a brief delay while your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad sends the information to the receiver over your Wi-Fi network. You can control playback of the media using your iOS device, or using your Apple TV’s remote (provided you’re streaming to an Apple TV).
Instructions for Audio
- Using your built-in iPod app on your iOS device, tap the same AirPlay icon on the playback screen after you’ve selected your music. Choose one of the destination options provided to begin streaming music.
- Third-party apps that support audio streaming via AirPlay will also have this icon included among their playback controls. The screenshot below shows where it is in the popular TuneIn internet radio app for iPhone.
AirPlay is one of the better new features Apple has introduced to iOS lately, but it doesn’t do much good if you don’t know how to use it. Hopefully this guide helps you get it up and running, and helps you free your media just a little bit more.
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Переслать - Why Firefox 4 Replaces Safari as My Default Browser
I’ve tried all the browsers you can possibly think of, but I’ve always ended up going back to Safari after a while, because it offered a better experience. Today’s release of Firefox 4 may be able to change that pattern.
The latest version of Mozilla’s browser includes a lot of new features, including tabs-on-top (a feature many people missed when it was removed from the Safari beta), App Tabs (similar to Google Chrome’s pinned tabs) and a new full screen mode. All are features which aren’t present in Safari, and ones that have me eager to stick with Firefox 4 for the long haul.
Firefox's Full Screen mode offers distraction-free browsing.
Of course, there are some features of Safari which Firefox doesn't offer; the Reader view for one, but I rarely use it anyway, and there are plugins that can take its place. I also like the fact that Safari is based on WebKit, which enables some pretty nice effects on the web such as fading and other animations, but these aren’t yet widely implemented. So far, the benefits seem to outweigh the pitfalls.
One of my favorite new features is the App Tabs part of Firefox. This allows you to pin a certain tab to the tab bar so that it has a permanent place in your browser. This is great since you can have a bunch of these open and they take up hardly any space in the tab bar.
Another new feature is the Tab Groups, which takes a bit of time to set up, but is incredibly useful once it’s done. You can organise your tabs into groups, and then those groups can be manipulated as one, letting you do things like close an entire group of tabs simultaneously. You can resize and drag groups to arrange them however you like. I find that looking for a specific tab is much easier when I have 10 or 15 tabs open if I can look in these groups. It’s nowhere near as easy as this if you’re using Safari.
Mozilla claims that Firefox 4 is significantly faster than the previous version, but I haven’t noticed much difference. However, I have noticed that scrolling in webpages seems to be a lot smoother in version 4. There are also a lot of UI effects which add to the experience; new tabs ‘slide’ into existence rather than simply appearing. Safari doesn't offer such a smooth experience, in my opinion.
Even though Safari 5 introduced Extensions, the Firefox Add-Ons library is a lot larger and offers a greater range of add-ons than you can get for Safari. For example, the Tab Badge add-on offers something unavailable to Safari users: a badge in the tab bar alerting you to new content, such as a new message on Facebook.
Overall, I’ve found that so far, Firefox 4 offers a better browsing experience than Safari. Unless Safari gets a major update, I won’t be switching back anytime soon. Which browser do you prefer?
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Переслать - Why Apple Suing Amazon Is the Right Move
Amazon opened its own app store today for Android devices, and in so doing, it brought down the wrath of Apple. The reason? Amazon is calling its software marketplace the “Appstore,” which, you’ll note, is not unlike Apple’s own “App Store,” where the Mac-maker sells applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. In its lawsuit, Apple accuses Amazon of infringing on its App Store trademark.
It’s reasonable to think that Apple is being petty by claiming ownership of two commonly used words. The term “app store,” after all, has been around for years; generally speaking, people don’t like it when companies claim rights to relatively neutral language. Critics have trademark law on their side: a company can’t claim exclusive rights when a term is merely descriptive. But that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t justified in going after Amazon.
Apple, after all, was awarded the App Store trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2010. Microsoft is formally opposing the trademark registration, and an official ruling on that objection is pending. If Microsoft is successful, it could mean the end of Apple’s case against Amazon. Until that happens, however, the iPhone-maker is well within its rights to go after Amazon. Lawyer Evan Brown of Internet Cases explains why the term “App Store” is fair grounds for legal action on Apple’s behalf:
[T]here’s an important exception to the rule of no trademark rights for descriptive terms, and this exception is probably what Apple is relying on: the notion of “acquired distinctiveness.” Simply stated, if a company can show that it has used a descriptive term so extensively that the public has come to associate that descriptive term with the company, the company can claim trademark rights in that term. Apple will no doubt try to show that it has taken great efforts (read: marketing $$) to get the public to associate App Store with its brand. To the extent it can do that, it may have success against Amazon.
What Apple is trying to do is avoid what happened to Kleenex and Xerox: to avoid diluting its brand by allowing words to become part of our lexicon. So while Apple’s App Store may not be the only entity to which the general term “app store” descriptively applies, and even if Apple didn’t coin the term, if people think “Apple” when they hear the term “app store,” the company has a legally defensible position. I find it hard to believe that “app store” specifically is more generally associated with smartphones as a generic category, than with Apple and the iPhone.
And not only can Apple sue, but it should. The App Store has become a very powerful marketing tool and supporting brand for iOS devices. You could argue that the extensive software catalog the App Store provides is now the number one competitive advantage Apple devices have over its competitors. The app gap is narrowing, but it still represents a significant chasm, and one worth vigorously defending. Ceding ownership of the “app store” term would mean losing customer mindshare, which would in turn hasten the decline of its third-party software advantage.
Apple may not make many friends among tech watchers or gadget fans by suing to defend its app store trademark, but just because a course of action is unpopular doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Amazon knew it would be stepping on the tiger’s tail in naming its marketplace the Appstore, and no doubt it, too, was prepared for the consequences. All that remains to be seen now is whether or not the upstart will face a costly rebranding.
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Переслать - Apple: iPad 2 Coming to 25 More Countries Friday
Apple has made it official: the iPad 2 goes on sale in 25 more countries beginning this Friday, March 25. It’ll be available beginning at 5 p.m. local time at Apple retail locations in those countries, and online through the Apple Store at 1 a.m. on the 25th, just as when it first launched in the U.S.
Countries getting the iPad Friday include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. Apple lists only U.S. pricing in its official press release, and all prices are the same as currently listed at Apple’s U.S. store.
Apple also announced that Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and other additional countries will be getting the iPad 2 sometime in April, and many more countries would follow after that. The company noted further details regarding international availability and pricing would be released at a later date.
I reported yesterday that this had been unofficially confirmed via an Apple Store employee, but now Apple clearly wants international customers to know it will indeed be worth it to head down to your Apple Store extra early on Friday. Will we see lines at international stores? Considering there are still lines at U.S. stores, I’d say that’s a safe bet.
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