VLC Media Player: How Good Is It?

When VideoLAN released VLC in February 2001, a lot of users were wondering if it would hit the market. Others have probably disagreed with this matter as there have been so many media players that have already existed in the market. But it cannot be denied that VLC media player is one of the most downloaded free media player in the internet, because of its abilities that native media players cannot do, such as the ability to play .rar files or record desktop using VLC? That is certainly something new.

The first and main reason why most users choose VLC player is because of its ability to play almost any kind of video file format. VLC comes with an extremely high number of modules. There are already more than 380 modules listed as of last year, and the developers are continuing to add up more modules as of this writing. This equally means that VLC is able to playback almost every media such as DVD Video, SVCD, Video CD/VCD, Audio CD, DVB (like Cable TV, Digital TV, Satellite) MMS, and many more. You can find all media formats that VLC supports at their features page at their official website.  In short, there are only a few media players out there that are able to support a wide range of media formats.

VLC eliminates the problem of downloading multiple media players just to play certain media formats. But this is only part of what makes VLC successful. One of the reason is its top-down-design. Many people wanted the media player to be modular, which means that the program is extensible and that it can be evolved in many ways. Another reason is its open source, which means that it is a free license in which the entire community from various parts of the world can contribute and make VLC even better than before.

Rather than spend USD300 on Camtasia Studio to record whatever you are doing on your desktop, just use the Capture device feature right under the Media menu of VLC, which is offered for free. There is nothing wrong with Camtasia, as it is a good program too, especially for sophisticated simulations that professionals make. The feature in VLC is generally good for home users, if you are simply recording something that you like to share over your YouTube channel.

WinRAR: How Does It Perform?

WinRAR has been widely known by millions of PC users for quite some time. Undeniably, it is one of the most powerful archive manager that provides users a wide array of feature. With its wide range of support, you’ll certainly have no qualms about your files in the format CAB, RAR, ISO, NTFS, SFX and ZIP among many others.

With its comprehensive features, WinRAR will allow you to organize, create and manage your files even better than before. Looking at it closely, you’ll see that the program will make minute archives in order to save on storage space, which will in turn allow your computer to have precision and optimum performance. The files that greatly benefit from this algorithm include images, audio and video files among others.

The many functionalities and advantages of WinRAR include creating shortcuts, along with giving you the capability to drag and drop files alternatively. Another thing that makes WinRAR a powerful tool is that it ingeniously separates your archives into various smaller volumes in order to make sharing easier and more precise. Aside from that, WinRAR lets you add a password to your data to make it more secure. Aside from that, the program will allow you to integrate various dedicated features that give you more control over your archives even with just a few clicks on your mouse.

Additionally, WinRAR helps you lessen the risks of your data being compromised or lost by backing it up and giving you the ability to scan your files before the decompression process. With this functionality, you can certainly rest assured that you will be minimizing the risks involved in your data. On the other hand, when you encounter broken archives, WinRAR will also ingeniously give you a workaround and try to fix those misshapen archives. When it comes to SFX files, WinRAR gives you more room to create multi volume archives as SFX. You can even change SFX archives by using external and default SFX modules among other things.

As you can see, WinRAR certainly boasts of a lot of functionalities that allows you to enjoy premium benefits similar to other premium file compression programs. Aside from the ton of features that it offers, you’ll also be amazed at how fast the program performs – regardless of the file size that it is working on. Clearly, there is no arguing that WinRAR is indeed the best “free” file compression program that is available currently.

 

GoTenna: The Effect It Gives to the Crowd

Bitcoin market was attracted by the absence of cell services, even if it was not meant to be done. The creation of the device started when Daniel Levy, has lived through a twelve-day blackout after a devastating hurricane has hit the Hawaii around the early summer this year. Most of the residents in where he lived were at a loss since there was not any electricity for a couple of days, until the local utility company has restored its grid, while some areas were supplied with solar energy. It was after this event that Levy thought of a solution, which gave birth to GoTenna.

The device takes up the shape of a small rod enabled with Bluetooth, which is packed with the modern radio within, letting users create their own private and secure network for communication that will be used for sending text messages under situations where cell services are absent such as going hiking in the mountains or during disaster relief. This technology has certainly encouraged the cryptography community. Daniel Levy, is one of the cryptography community and also one of the people living in the neighborhood that almost got no stable cell service. He is just one of over 25 percent of the customers who pre-ordered GoTenna, together with the BitCoin community.

Levy told the CNET that they do not need to become dependent on the centralized industries for their own communication, which is supposed to be a significant part of their lives. Daniel Levy is a web developer behind the WebOfTrust.net, which is a social network focused on P2P collaboration and credit that is currently on development which is aiming to take the financial and decentralization empowerment section of Bitcoin then apply it to the local community where he belongs in Hawaii. He is also consider integrating with the technology with the use of the API or software development kit of the company to link the device with his own Web platform.

According to Levy, using the device gives him an advantage of creating their own decentralized network that they own and that they are in total control of the data they have created. Levy also admitted that he would not have purchased the GoTenna device if the company had not accepted BitCoin as their form of payment. Another reason he also considered is that the communication lines of the device is its end-to-end encryption and the messages are never stored.

Check Out The Latest Update Of Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Flash Player has widely been used by millions of users worldwide. With its top of the line features and the promising faster browsing experience, you will surely love it. Just recently, Adobe has updated its version and has revamped its rumored features.

It is quite normal for a vast majority of users to raise their eyebrows when you speak of installing updates as it can sometimes be a daunting task. While there are a lot of software that will get automatic updates as long as it has an internet connection, there are still those that will need manual installation – and the task can indeed be quite a hassle. At most times, people will even complain that the updates are even worth the effort.

In the case of the newest update of the Adobe Flash Player, it is going to be a part manual process – as users will have the option to install it or not. Once you allow the update, it will, or rather, it should automatically update itself in no time.

What this new update boasts about is that it has a new feature that is rather known as the Streaming Support which is mainly built for HTTP Streaming. Just before this particular update was released, a lot of people had issues with the previous HTTP streaming capabilities as it had quite a number of bugs and other issues associated with it. This new update, on the other hand, promises to address those issues associated with those problems. Moreover, this update promises to have a ton of improvements when you speak of browser compatibility – all the more giving you a more stable and useful browser for all kinds of users.

It is already an accepted fact that the Flash Player is a key ingredient of most websites and not only for YouTube. This is also part of the main reason why such update was released by Adobe. Because of this, this has been dubbed as one of the best updates that Adobe has ever come up so far.

Additionally, this particular update promises a more effective browsing experience that will give its users a rather friendly interface for you to navigate and tweak around in order to achieve better graphics and tasty animations. So it is certainly no question as to whether you will allow Adobe to update or not – it is certainly mandatory that you should in order to have a richer experience.

GestureWorks: A Few Steps To Remember

A lot of gamers worldwide have been having problems when dealing with their controllers. They spent a buck in order to maximize their gaming experience. But buying one can be either a hassle since you need to shell out cash to pay for it, which is usually expensive for branded names, or you have to find a space to keep it when it is not in use. GestureWorks comes in to solve these two issues in dealing with game controllers. It is a new technology that replaces actual game controllers. It only costs USD9.99 and you no longer need to find a space to keep it, since it is a virtual game controller app that you need to install in your smartphone.

The GestureWorks software overlays the games on Windows 8 with a touch-based interface that consists of virtual controls. All these virtual controls are grouped together into Virtual Controllers that includes various kinds of controllers that you can see in the gaming console market such as D-pads, joysticks and numerous buttons. Each of these controls are plotted to mouse, keyboard or the old gamepad input controls. Gameplay has included many Virtual Controllers that were already pre-built and made readily available upon purchase in order to use immediately, but there are also other custom controllers that you can download through the official Gameplay website. The software also comes with an editor, which allows users to customize or even create a Virtual Controller from scratch and save it as their own.

As you open GestureWorks, you will find 15 controllers already pre-built and ready to use, plus 18 templates of the common layout types, added to a set of tools to assist you when creating your own Virtual Controller. You can even edit existing controllers and customize it, size and move the buttons, label the controls, change their transparency or color and even configure a gamepad or joystick.  This software supports up to four controllers in a single game so it gives players the ability to switch to various control schemes while the game is still running.

It is powered by the gesture-processing engine of GestureWorks and it provides support to more than 200 known gestures. Key selections are included in the editor to enable the Virtual Controller to be used in common controls of gamepad like the A/B/X/Y buttons, right and left joysticks, d-pad, and many more.  Just select one of the many themes that are included in GestureWorks – you will be surprised by the range of controllers that exist which you may not know anything about.

Beyond Compare: A Comparison Tool Worth Your Time

An average PC user might think of Beyond Compare as an action movie or a movie series.  But for those who are keenly adept with computers, they have a good idea what the name is. It is a simple tool for comparing files. Simple, as it sounds, but it does not only involve comparing simple text files. It is also capable of comparing many other file types such as audio, images and much more.

Some experts have probably encountered comparison tools before, particularly the standard ones wherein it is only capable of comparing text files. Beyond Compare does more than that. Above, it was introduced as a file comparison tool for audio files and images, but it is also capable of synchronizing, comparing directories and even comes with a plugin and scripting system. Scooter Software is the company behind the tool, in which the Pro license for the software costs $50, while $30 is for Standard license. There are also site licenses and volume discounts available for purchasers.

The hardware requirements are pretty much basic, as it does not require heavy strain on the processes, unlike some of the latest software that tends to eat up most of the processing and performance speed of your computer. Minimum requirements of 1GHz Inter processor or higher; 1GB RAM or more, especially when dealing with huge volumes of comparisons; 50MB free hard drive space and a minimum of 1024×768 screen resolution. It is supported on various operating systems such as Windows, OS X and Linux Distros.

Beyond Compare is a very useful tool largely used by system administrators and software developers, much more with the former. This does not mean that it is not fitted for average users. They can utilize the tool accordingly, if they find a need for it.

Traditional software used for comparing files usually involves only comparing text or just by looking at them, but Beyond Compare handles things to a different level. It even incorporates other functions usually found in most utility tools like comparing folders or directors and even performs synchronization.

So far, those who have used the tool did not find any disadvantage of using it. Average users may find this tool very simple to use, but the savviest of them will find functionality they can only understand. Other products competing against Beyond Compare are WinMerge, UltraCompare, and Altova DiffDog.

Defraggler: Defrag Your Drives In Simple Steps

Computers come with variations of defragmentation tools, specifically designed for them. For a more basic and easier usage, Windows’s native defrag utility, while rather useful, doesn’t do the best job. With the program, Defraggler necessarily aims to fill in the gaps by giving a smarter and a more ingenious defragging support. It is already a given fact that defragmenting your system’s hard drive is one of the most important facets of owning a computer – which is why Windows currently turns on its built-in defragmenter by default. But on the grander scheme of things, the options in the said utility are limited. Defraggler outweighs it in every way possible; with speedier performance, more detailed statistics and features, this particular defragmenter will certainly be the only one you’ll need.

There is indeed fact, when you mention that not all drive defragmentation utilities are made equal. Others, like the native defrag utility built into Windows, are very unstable, throwing file bits everywhere to have an illusion that they are all together, but with little to no consideration at all for the bigger picture. Though this particular function might be suffice for those light to moderate users, but for those computers that go through a lot of file writing and deletions will certainly need more than that. The Defraggler, on the other hand, has a considerable amount of features that are cleverly designed to give way for users to streamline the defragmentation decisions to perfectly suit his needs.

Perhaps one of the best features that the Defraggler offers is its ability to defrag files one by one and individually. If one or a couple of your programs are not working well, you can particularly target them in the whole process in a quick defrag. This most likely increases its power along with your computer’s overall performance and speed. When you’re scrutinizing and going through your drive, Defraggler provides you an explicit color-coded map which will additionally provide more info and details about your hard drive’s overall health – which is quite handy and delightful for both power users and the general average person. Despite the fact that the program can be at times linger at zero percent for what seems to be an eternity, it actually progresses and moves quite faster than all other defragmenting programs when it’s currently working on your drive. With its quick boot and low-priority defrag modes, the program will certainly never get in your way.

 

BitTorrent: Not Just Your Ordinary Sync Tool

File sharing has been one of the most common things performed by millions of PC users worldwide. One name hits the rank in the market – BitTorrent. It is one of the best software that performs well. Though there is some negativity associated with the program due to a lot of issues concerning copyright violations and what not.

Though BitTorrent may be well known for its P2P file transfer protocol, the company is known to be searching for new ways to share huge files without depending much on the cloud — and the storage limitations that goes along with it. As a matter of fact, the company is currently busy on coming up with ways to kill off Sneakernet for quite some time now. Their rather futile earlier efforts, similar to BitTorrent Share and SoShare, were never really successful, but the company is hopeful that they have something started with the BitTorrent Sync. Its beta version was publicly launched last July; yet the service lets you select and share files and folders with any number of receivers, with the folder’s media content directly sent to devices and kept in sync.

BitTorrent Sync enticingly offers a new promise: users can go ahead and share any folder of choice across all other devices through the use of peer-to-peer networking—no cloud presence needed. And people are literally getting hooked to that, according to BitTorrent, with a little over 10 million installations of the app and 80 petabytes of data being transferred. Despite the fact involving the promising early statistics, however, early versions of Sync were a tad too daunting and albeit confusing to use for those non-savvy users.

But despite that, it’s still worth noting that Sync primarily functions as a file-sharing service, not a backup plan — and certainly, there’s no cloud involved. Instead, files are transferred directly between a network of computers; which follows if you’re sharing a file with a wide array of users, everyone will certainly enjoy speedy file transfers and syncing which is mainly due to BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer technology. On the other hand, the advantage of not using the cloud is you can certainly send any content, folder or file, regardless of its size. Google Drive, Dropbox, and other similar services make it quite a breeze to share files and folders, but you’re limited to the amount of space that you are entitled to — which is certainly not the case with Sync. On the grand scale of things, the company has a belief that it has combined all the tools needed to diminish stuff like trading files on flash drives or even physically mailing external hard drives – which are all a hassle.

Battery Doctor: Battery Made To Last

Unlike the old cellphone models, smart phones nowadays are filled with lots of apps that consumes a lot of battery power. It is very important for smartphone owners to have at least extra remaining battery power before the end of the day so that they have enough time to create calls or text messages before they can plug it again for recharging. You can manage and maximize your battery power by downloading the Battery Doctor app, which you can get from the Google Play Store for Android phones and the App Store for iOS powered phones.

Battery Doctor is able to extend the mobile phone’s standby time. There are already more than a hundred million users from Android that find it beneficial in utilizing this app, that enhances saving power, and able to accurately forecast the remaining power of the battery. If you are unsure about the capabilities that Battery Doctor can do for your smartphone, try out the app now.

The app is not only capable of monitoring the battery. It has a 3 stage, unique charging system which regulates the electric flow in order to ensure that the device is fully charged and in a short amount of time. The main reason why phones consumes so much battery power is because when a lot of the apps and its hardware are running in the background continuously. Battery Doctor is able to shut down the apps that are running in the background, including unused functions such as the Bluetooth and even dims the screen when not in use. Such capabilities will truly enhance battery life and even boost performance.

The app also let the user see how much power each of the app running are eating up. It even shows an accurate forecast on how long will the battery last when certain features are either turned off or on. Additionally, it will also notify users when to start charging the battery and when to stop it. There are certain misconceptions about charging batteries, this is why most smartphone owners wonder why their batteries get bloated in less than a year.

It also comes with a widget that kills Task, helping users optimize battery consumption in a convenient way.

The app was formerly known as the KS Mobile, which supports 19 different languages and created by Cheetah Mobile. There are other apps that have similar features with Battery Doctor, but this app has way more registered users than its competitors.

AnyDesk: Your Home Buddy

The increasing number of people working at home is one of the main reasons why data sharing is also increasing its number,  Remote access on desktops have been around for quite some time. Traditionally, it was like that until AnyDesk came in. The development team addressed the main problem of remote desktop by asking themselves how such feature should work, what are the probable hardware that will work on the needs today and many more. The software AnyDesk was created from scratch in order to see which part of the old remote desktop programs are lacking. The core of this software is the DeskRT, which is a new codec specifically created for GUIs. This is the reason why this software is one step ahead from any other remote desktop connection software.

More frame rate means the better the software is. AnyDesk is able to transmit 60 fps (frame per second) through local networks and even on internet connections. This is way more than what most remote desktop programs have in common. This frame rate makes on-screen movement very smooth, since most computer displays work at 60 fps. This creates a jerk-free experience, making it less worrying that users have accessed the wrong application.

The lower its latency, the better it gets. AnyDesk has the lowest level of latency, which is a critical feature in a remote desktop application. Having lower latency levels means that both PCs have quicker responses to every input the user makes. Latency can be quite problematic, especially when it comes to the internet when data is being transmitted from one computer to another. AnyDesk has lower latency in local networks, which lies lower than 60 milliseconds.

When a remote desktop application is utilized through an internet connection, the highest bandwidth efficiency, depending on the connection, is a deciding factor for it. This is even true when it comes to mobile data connections like the UMTS. The bandwidth efficiency of AnyDesk makes it even possible to perform certain tasks fluently starting from 100kbps of the bandwidth available to use. But even if your computer’s connection has lower bandwidth, AnyDesk is still able to perform better than other competitors.

One thing that you will definitely love about AnyDesk is that they have a free software available for download. If you wish to expand your experience with AnyDesk, purchase their premium version.