Matt’s Desk: Editor’s Blog

Irfan Skiljan’s Irfanview is my favorite general, all-purpose image viewer and editor.  The program is small (about 1.3MB), simple to use, has a range of useful features and makes solving many everyday image problems a worry free affair.  Oh, yeah – and it’s totally free.

I use Irfanview for many things.  If a family member or friend sends a photo that’s 4000 pixels wide, I can resize it with a couple of mouse clicks.  If I have a PNG or TIF image that I want to convert to a JPG or a GIF, Irfanview does that, too.  It also works with TWAIN scanners, including my Canon LiDE 200, making scanning in and editing new photos a snap. Advanced features include batch renaming and format conversion, icon file support, and tons of add-ons for specific uses.

I could go on and on – and I’ve only scratched the surface – but suffice it to say Irfanview is one of those applications I would hate to live without.  Even If you only dabble with images on your PC (Irfanview, sadly, is Windows only), download the software and free yourself from image headaches. 

Since Apple tablet speculation went into full swing last year, some have predicted the new device would prove to be an eBook reader killer:

Why buy a single-use, grayscale Kindle, the logic goes, when you can have a full color, multimedia experience with Apple’s tablet?  Kindle and other eBook readers, they say, will die a quick and lonely death following an iSlate/iPad/Whatever-its-called release.

This argument is not without merit.  I’m sure many love the idea of reading full-color, interactive magazines and books on a beautiful screen.  Count me among them. And there’s no doubt a traditional display offers many more features than today’s boring ol’ e-ink.

But as interesting as this may seem in concept, I contend that reading for hours on a regular, backlit screen – even if it’s cutting edge – just isn’t realistic.

I usually give advice or suggestions here, but today I come to you with a question myself: what’s the best nettop or small form-factor computer for watching web video on an HD TV? 

Until now, I’ve used my Macbook along with a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI converter to watch Hulu, YouTube and other online video in my living room, but now I’m looking for a small computer to connect to my home theater setup full time.

Three viable options present themselves. 

First, an Intel Atom and nVIDIA ION powered nettop like the ASUS Eee Box (for example, model EB1012).  Second, a small form-factor PC like the AMD-powered Dell Zino HD.  Third, an Apple Mac mini.  Although this third option is appealing to me for a few reasons, it is my least favored because of the Mac mini’s lack of a built-in HDMI port and its higher price.

I want something that will handle HD web video handily, and don’t want to put up with any lag or poor video quality. 

So, what say you?  What solutions are you using for web video in your home theater?  What’s worked best for you, and what’s failed to meet your expectations?  Please add your comments below. 

I hope we can all learn from each other and find the solution for our needs.

-M

Apple has had months to add Windows 7 support to Boot Camp – the utility and driver bundle which allows Windows to run on its Intel-based systems – but have seemingly been uninterested in getting the popular product updated.

Until today.  This afternoon, Apple posted Boot Camp v3.1, which includes support for all versions of Windows 7 (except Starter, apparently), 32-bit and 64-bit.  If you’ve already installed Windows 7 under Boot Camp 3.0, I would recommend that you update as soon as you can.

If you’re still running Vista under a previous version of Boot Camp and plan to upgrade to Windows 7, there’s also an additional download which will make the upgrade process smoother for you.

You can run Apple Software update to get the new software, or download the files manually:

Boot Camp 3.1 Software Update for 32-bit Windows

Boot Camp 3.1 Software Update for 64-bit Windows

Boot Camp 3.1 Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade

I’m a huge fan of audiobooks and have been for well over a decade.  Long before Audible.com was available (and even on occasion thereafter), I purchased audiobooks on CD, and accumulated a fairly large collection. Late last year, after stumbling across a forgotten box of these books, I began the process of transferring the CDs to audio files for use a range of portable devices.

But early in the process I ran into an annoying problem: each CD contained multiple tracks which, when ripped, resulted in up to 30 audio files per disc.  I did not want hundreds of MP3 or AAC files for each audiobook – what I wanted was one, simple file for each CD. So I began searching for a solution to quickly and easily join together the tracks from each CD into a single audio file.

After some experimentation, the solution I settled on was the Join CD Tracks option in iTunes.  This function provided the exact functionality I wanted and proved very useful.  In the article below, I’ll detail the process of creating a single MP3 or AAC audio file for an audiobook CD so your collection is more manageable.

Continue reading »

One of my techie wishes has already come true for the new year – someone has created a solution for adding Windows 7’s Aero Snap features to the Mac OS.  That solution is Cinch, a small utility from Irradiated Software, and it’s a must-have for Snap fans.  Isn’t it wonderful when things just work out?

While the words “Aero Snap” don’t appear anywhere in the utility’s description, there can be no doubt Cinch was designed to exactly mimic the Windows screen-snapping feature. For those who’ve not yet tried Windows 7, Aero Snap is a feature in Microsoft’s latest OS which allows the user to resize windows by dragging them to one of three sides of the screen: drag a window to the left or right side and that window is automatically resized to fill either side from top to bottom leaving the other half free for other windows; drag a window to the top of the screen at it’s maximized to fill the screen.  It may sound simple, but if you’re a multi-tasker, it’s an incredibly useful feature.

Cinch isn’t free, but its $7 price tag is a great value for Aero Snap devotees.  There are known issues with a handful of software titles, but I haven’t had a single hiccup, and I highly recommend this utility for all Mac OS users. 

There’s a demo version, too, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.

-M