Lifehacker has the scoop on a Paint.Net plug-in that lets you edit and view PSD files. If you like Free, and who doesn’t? Then this might be the best bet for that occasional PSD editing.
Who needs Photoshop?
February 12, 2010
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Media Center Comparison
February 3, 2010Lifehacker has a comparison of 3 of the major Media Center applications available today; Boxee, XBMC, and Windows 7 Media Center. If you’re looking for a quick take and a nice chart then this is the ticket for you.
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Need to rip some DVD’s?
January 11, 2010Lifehacker has the run down on their top five utilities, most are free. Check it out here.
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Xbox lost connection to Home Server Library
October 21, 2009I’m not sure when this happened but all of a sudden our Xbox 360 could no longer connect to the Photo, Video, and Music libraries on our Home Server. No changes that I’m aware of except for maybe the dashboard update.
The error message reads: “Can’t connect. Make sure your have activated this console on your computer”. Unfortunately there is no activation screen on the Home Server. The media libraries have been on and haven’t changed. All of our extenders are working as well.
I tried to troubleshoot this on and off for the past couple weeks, thinking it was security related or user accounts but nothing helped. Finally I found KB article 939217 at Microsoft. It provided the easiest suggestion, so easy in fact that I overlooked it. Simply go to the Home Server, disable media sharing and then re-enable media sharing.
Sounds stupid right? It worked! I kick myself for not thinking of it sooner, but why did it all of a sudden stop working with the Xbox but everything else was connecting OK?
There is actually a cause for this issue that I was unaware of. Media sharing in Home Server has a limit of 10 devices! So if you hit that limit by adding and removing devices on your network the only way to clear out the old devices on the Home Server is to stop and start media sharing. Who knew!?
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EeeTop 1602 updated with 2 GB and Windows 7
October 13, 2009I snagged one of the clearance 15.6” EeeTop touch screen all-in-ones from Best Buy. Rumor had it that it could be upgraded from the standard 1 GB to 2 GB. After removing a lot of screws, I was pleased to find that it could be upgraded (unlike the MSI Windtop). I updated the RAM to 2GB and booted to a USB installation of Windows 7 Home Premium RTM.
The installation went as expected and the touch screen worked “out of the box”. Although not a great speed demon, I thought that it would make a great Media Center kiosk. I installed the Beta 3 Home Server connector and the Media Center Add-in. This integrates the Windows 7 library and Media Center watched folders with the Home Server.
Navigating though Media Center with a touch screen is a great experience. There are times where it seems to stutter, but all in all it’s been a great addition to sharing media and it’s not much more expensive than a high end Wi-Fi picture frame and this does everything.
Music, Videos, and Photos all worked without a hitch. I have a large music and photo library and I noticed that upon the first launch into Photos or Music it takes time to build the library. This could be due to the size of the library or using wi-fi. Other than that it’s been a pretty good self service media kiosk. If you can find one on clearance at Best Buy, pick one up.
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Movie Maker Released
August 19, 2009Movie Maker is finally out of beta (I was beginning to think it was a Google app). Part of the free Live Essentials, you can now download/update your Live apps to get it. I tried it just a bit and it seems very intuitive and supports AVHD, no it won’t take on the big boys, but for quick, simple editing it looks fine. You can find out more at the Movie Maker site and at LiveSide.
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Another mini, this time a Dell
August 12, 2009It looks like Dell is trying another mini form factor with its Inspiron zino HD. Not much to go on except over at engadget.
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Lenovo Q700 HTPC or Desktop?
August 12, 2009
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CEDIA 2009 and Media Center
August 10, 2009engadget HD has some interesting predictions for Windows Media Center and next month’s CEDIA show in Atlanta. With Windows 7’s improvements, the Zune HD, and the Xbox updates, it could be an opportunity for Microsoft to show them all off. engadget HD’s predictions for you Media Center fans can be found here.
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Windows 7 Media Center review
July 28, 2009engadgetHD has a nice walk thru of Windows 7 Media Center. I have found it to be much better than Vista Media Center. One thing that was great for me was that I always had problems with my Hauppauge 1250 and clear QAM wasn’t available in Media Center.
After installing Windows 7 it recognized the 1250 without a problem and upon setting up Media Center it found the QAM channels and matched them with the guide perfectly. I’m sure your mileage will vary but this was a huge advance from Vista.
More reading can be found at engadgetHD.
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