windows media center
Windows 7 Review – Part 6: Included Applications
October 24, 2009
When you use Windows 7, you may notice the lack of included applications compared to previous versions of Windows. You won’t find a messenger application or a movie maker without downloading them from Microsoft, but don’t worry! You still have Paint, Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center, the three applications that this article concentrates on. You may question why Paint is included in the list, as we’ve had it in every version of Windows since 1.0 in 1985, but it’s undergone quite a facelift that might get your attention…
iTunes 9: So What?!?! – Part Two: Steal, Innovate, Repeat!
October 4, 2009
It’s Bill time again! (it’s always Bill O’clock in my house). I think Bill’s expression here, is a combination of shame and lust. Anyway, on with the whinging about Apple…
I always take delight in posing this quesstion to Mac Monks: “Well if OSX is so reliable and fantastic, where are all the Apple servers then!?” Exactly. There’s only one word in networking, and that word is Windows.
In part one of my iTunes 9 review, I told you how rubbish media sharing was in iTunes 9 and I told you why, but you know what? It doesn’t even matter. iTunes is a great audio manager and a competent audio streamer, but it’s no media-hub. Windows, however, is.
Practical sharing in Windows is so simple, I can cover it a paragraph. Here we go then…
Continue reading »Grippity – Future of Media Center & Mobile Keyboards?
May 16, 2009
The last hundred years has seen quite possibly the most radical changes in how we live out lives in history, and although so many things have changed some (even within the computing world) have remained constant, and one of these is the keyboard.
Having evolved from the relatively unchanged 1870s Christopher Sholes type writer design in the latter half of the 20th century the keyboard has changed very little in operation from the original models (unlike its counterpart the mouse). However according to the manufacturers of Grippity that could all change.
Continue reading »Boxee Media Center Review (Windows)
May 7, 2009
Labelled as the first ever ‘Social Media Center’, Boxee is an open source programme that aims to open up the world of music, video, TV and the internet in an easy to use way. We’ve managed to get our hands on a private invitation to the Windows version of Boxee – so we thought we’d have a good look around and see what the rest of you have got in store!
When you first open up Boxee and login you are confronted with a sleek and stylish layout – the learning curve for navigating this system is almost nonexistent as it is intuitive, quick and easy with both the mouse and a remote – which is a relief as there is quite a lot to navigate:
Continue reading »The Digital Nomad 2.0: Windows 7 Media Center
February 7, 2009
Are you ready for the highly-technical, convoluted guide to streaming media around your home with Windows 7? OK then, here we go…
Connect your Xbox 360 to Windows Media Center, and then add the root of the relevant hard disk to Windows Media Center.
That’s it.
No file sharing, no workgroup networking, no format problems, in fact, no messing about with Windows at all. Even your mum could set it up. Every file is accessible, playable, easily findable, and pops-up like it’s got a pole up its ass. Windows will read your iTunes library and automatically prioritize files it finds in there within the audio portion of Windows Media Center (hereafter, referred to as WMC). Podcasts are segregated appropriately, and all album art and release notes are transposed correctly.
Continue reading »The Digital Nomad: A Full Time Job – Part Three
February 1, 2009
Back in the bad old days, when the world was in black and white and the Zune was just a glint in Satan’s eye, Microsoft marketed something called “Plays For Sure”. Actually, “marketed” is a bit of a stretch, but the idea was that just like the VHS symbol of the ancient civilizations, you looked for this logo on portable devices and in purchased digital media, the idea being that it would be compatible and “play for sure” (do you see where they were going with this?).
Unfortunately, Plays For Sure was only adopted sparsely and inconsonantly by hardware manufacturers and instead of being a unified legion of common standards, it might as well have been called “Plays Windows Media Files”. Also, just because you had a digital video player that sported the Plays For Sure logo, that might only refer to WMA. If you actually had a commercial WMV file, the player still might not handle it. Honestly, leave it to Microsoft to take a good idea and screw it up. So what did people buy instead?
Continue reading »The Digital Nomad: A Full Time Job – Part Two
January 27, 2009
I’m afraid it’s been a while since The Digital Nomad: A Full Time Job – Part One, so let me just re-cap…I wanted to “live the dream” of the Microsoft House, so to speak, and stream media all over the house, specifically video. As I found out, It really doesn’t work that easily in the real world, and after I was done complaining about Microsoft, I was about to tell you why.
I’m going to assume that you’re using a PC for all these shenanigans, because at least 92% of you are. If you are an 8% Mac user, please don’t respond in the comments section about how much easier all of this is on a Mac, because it isn’t (in fact, it’s worse), and because it doesn’t apply to most people, no-one really cares about what you think. This article does discuss Windows, but it isn’t about Windows. It’s about standards. It’s not my fault that you may be using Betamax. Now then, where’s my soap box…
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