TuneUp

If you take a look through your iTunes music collection, you are bound to see more than a few songs that are misspelled, missing artist or album information, missing cover art, or my personal least favorite: a bunch of songs named Track 01, Track 02 and so on. These often come from downloading music off the Internet that doesn’t have the complete track information, or from importing mix CD’s for which iTunes cannot find the track info. Correcting all of these imperfections manually would be a near impossible task, but today I am going to show an application that makes it oh-so easy! It is called TuneUp, and it makes adding missing music information a jiffy. Let’s check it out, shall we?

1.TuneUp is a plugin that works alongside iTunes. Not only does it allow you to clean up your music collection, but it also has some other neat features as well. To begin using it, you’ll need to run the setup file from here. Simply follow the prompts, and then open TuneUp.

2.You’ll notice that TuneUp opens as a sidebar right next to iTunes. First, you will need to create an account. Simply enter your email address and password and select Start----> Program.

3.TuneUp will open just like this.

As a demonstration, I will use TuneUp to clean these three songs, although it can work with up to five hundred songs at a time. As you can see, I have absolutely no information entered for these files.

4.To clean a song, click Clean your mislabeled music in the TuneUp sidebar. Then drag the files over into the right pane.

5.Within a few seconds, TuneUp finds the song name, even though they are from different albums. It does this by searching a small snippet of the song against the Gracenote database. Since these suggestions are correct, I will select Save All.

6.Almost like magic, these three songs are transformed. Quite impressive, right?

7.Next, if you choose the Cover Art tab, TuneUp searches which albums in your music collection are missing album art, then allows you to choose from a variety of alternate covers. If you choose Save All, TuneUp will automatically select the default option. I love this feature because it allows me to take advantage of my iPod touch’s beautiful display!

8.Finally, if you start playing a song in iTunes, TuneUp will switch to the Tuniverse tab which allows you to watch the music video from YouTube, the artist’s bio, song recommendations, news and more. If you’re a fan of music videos like I am, then you need to check this out!

TuneUp Lite edition allows 100 cleans to correct mislabeled music and 50 cover art corrections. If you are interested in cleaning your entire music library check out TuneUp’s other plans. Another great idea is to clean up a family member or friend’s music library for them, because after all who doesn’t enjoy a polished collection, right?!

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How original is the content

Plagiarism Web sites, such as Copyscape.com, can be used to make sure the site isn’t copied anywhere else. It won’t be worth the money you spend on this site if it is merely a copy of some other site online.

Is the content of a high quality?
People who own blogging sites will often hire overseas writers to write their content at a lower price - which often shows up in the grammar used on the Web site. Having a site with poor grammar or that isn’t checked for misspellings won’t keep the attention of people who come across it. Be sure to read the content to see if it is actually high quality and that there will be value within it for your visitors as well.

Is ongoing content required?
First time buyers don’t often think to ask this question. It is good to find out if there will be a need for constant updates. The content might be what is keeping the site up and running. If it is a blog site, then there will definitely be a need for ongoing content. You will need to decide where this ongoing content will come from and how much it will cost you on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis compared to the revenue it generates.

How willing is the seller to help you with the content?
Maybe the seller will connect you with the writer or writers he/she uses, if not, you will have to find sources for content. Be sure to ask this question. Many sellers are more than willing to connect the buyer with sources for content.

Is there any content that is underutilized on the site?
There just might be underutilized content posted on the site that can be sold via subscription as a newsletter, eBook, or some other form of paid access. This is a good thing, especially if the content is high quality. This is yet another example of monetizing the site to bring in additional revenue streams.


How much room is there for addition of new and improved content?
If you know someone in this niche and can get more content or improve what is already there then this will help. Keeping the ranking high or making it higher is what is needed. If it is just a static Web site, then there is the possibility that more articles or advertisements can be added to it. Blogs tend to need more content on a regular basis, so the quality needs to remain high or higher than current posts, in order to improve the Web site.

Can more keywords be added?
Find additional phrases and keywords to boost ranking for more traffic. This can easily be done by adding a few new pieces of content.

Is there a newsletter that goes along with this site?
With a newsletter, there might be a way to package the content and use it somewhere else on the site. It’s also wise to look into plugging content into an auto responder - so as to start building a list. Being able to do either of these successfully will make this Web site worth buying.

How valuable is the content on this site?
You need to also find out how common the content of this site is across the Internet. If it is unique or specialized content, it might be able to be sold for more money. Be sure to check and see if it is offered for free anywhere else online. If not, then you might be able to even raise the price and sell it later on. Bottom line, the content needs to be valuable to you now and later.

Content is what Web sites are made of and good content will bring in traffic. Even if you have great content and no graphics, traffic will still move at a steady pace. When it’s the other way around, lots of graphics and no content, there is far less traffic flow. Content is key.

Why should you purchase a site other people are ignoring? To avoid this, go through the checklist before buying a Web site and be sure to ask the buyer each of the above questions.

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The Week in Technology

Google will discontinue selling the Nexus One, their Google Android Phone, on their website; instead opting to partner with cell phone carriers in order to sell their phones inside brick and mortar stores. Google had originally planned to sell the Nexus One through their web store without a service plan, however, the search engine giant stated that customers want hands-on experience before buying a phone, and the ability to select a service plan during the ordering process. T-Mobile had quickly adopted the Nexus One when it was released, however, Verizon and Sprint refused the Nexus One in favor of the HTC EVo 4G and HTC Incredible.

As you may have noticed from my past reports on Facebook security, the popular social networking website is one of the most regular targets for hackers, scammers and phishers. In response to the increase in recent attacks, Facebook will begin to release new security features in an effort to protect their users. New security features include suspicious login detection, which will monitor users login locations and alert the user if there is an attempted login from an unusual location, and registered devices, which will allow users to restrict access by only allowing registered computers and mobile devices to login to their account.

One of the biggest complaints regarding Wikipedia is that it is unreliable. Why? In allowing millions of users access to editing a gigantic encyclopedia, people are bound to hold a bias and write about what they believe, instead of what is truth. Well, Wikipedia made a move this last week which might allow for some of that bias to disappear from their database. Wikipedia is currently looking into developing an innovative method of increasing the accuracy of the public policy and political articles in its online encyclopedia, with the assistance of The Stanton Foundation.  As the Wikipedia Press Release stated, "The Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative will recruit Wikipedia volunteers to work with public policy professors and students to identify topic areas for improvement, and work to make them better."  The project is set to begin in Fall 2010 and continue through Summer 2011.

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New Age Server Technologies

It's no secret how quickly technology changes; you buy a product and couple of months later you find the technology in it is outdated. This fast changing technology phenomenon significantly impacts servers. A change in processor technology or OS technology or even change in architecture of motherboards is bound to impact server market.
In the last couple of years, Virtualization in some form or the other has been evolving in server technology space. Same has been the case this year too. Most of the latest developments and new technologies we are witnessing are related to virtualization.
So let's start with virtualization and take a look at some of these new technologies, hardware, and software standards.


Hyper-V
One of the major server launch this year has been Windows 2008 Server. Initial release of Windows Server 2008 contained beta version of Hyper-V and its final version was released couple of months back. Hyper-V is a hypervisor from Microsoft, it supports 64 bit architecture and broad OS support, i.e. you can simultaneously run any OS on top of it.

Also Hyper-V can support up to 16 cores in the host machine and distribute them to the virtual machines. It also comes with Symmetric Multiprocessors support (SMP), i.e. it can support up to four multiple processors inside a virtual machine environment. Hyper-V includes new virtual switch capabilities. This means virtual machines can be easily configured to run with Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) Service to balance load across virtual machines on different servers.
One of the main reasons why few people have not moved to virtualization even though so many solutions are available is because managing a huge pool of virtual servers can be a hard thing to do. Microsoft is going to launch new version of its System Center Virtual machine manager 2008 soon to address these issues. Currently in its beta, VMM 2008 allows users to manage virtual machines running not only on Windows Server 2008 but also on other platforms like VMware etc. VMM 2008 will support few unique features like intelligent placement, Self-service portal, Fail-over cluster support, etc.

PowerVM Technology
PowerVM is a virtualization platform from IBM for Linux, Unix, and Servers running POWER6 processors. IBM recently launched POWER6 processor. It supports features like Live Partition Mobility which allows users to move a running Linux or AIX partition from a physical server to any other compatible sever without stopping the application.
Another interesting feature in PowerVM technology is Shared processor logical partitioning (LPAR). This allows users to create virtual partitions in a machine and dynamically change allocation of resources to an application.
Also present is a Virtual I/O server which is mainly a hosting partition to provide Virtual Input and Output resources to the client partitions. Main aim of Virtual I/O server is to
reduce costs as no additional network adapters and disk drives are needed.


HyperTransport 3.1

New specification of HyperTransport 3.1 was released in the month of August. Just to refresh, HyperTransport technology is a high speed, point-to-point technology to connect processors to each other or processors to I/O or peripherals in servers, embedded systems, computers, etc. This technology is licensed by HyperTransport Technology Consortium which includes members like AMD, Cisco, Apple, Sun, etc.
HyperTransport 3.1 aims to provide improved power management and performance; this new specification will provide maximum clock speeds up to 3.2 GHz which is a significant improvement from its HTX3.0 that provides clock speeds up to 2.6 GHz.
Also the specification will provide maximum aggregate bandwidth up to 51.2 GB/s. And as per the new specification HyperTransport link can split into two links on a single connector. This enables HTX subsystem to connect to separate CPUs, and offer RAS support as well as improved clustering performance.
If you want to know more about this specification, you can find complete specification at http:// www.hyper transport.org




Dynamic Power Datacenter Manager
This is a software technology from Intel that provides thermal and power monitoring and management for servers and racks. Currently available in its Alpha, node manager will be part of Intel's upcoming Server chipset Nehalem. It allows users to perform policy-based power management for individual servers. It supports agent-less model and allows users to import data from configuration management (CMDB) or through XML model. Users can also receive custom alerts about thermal as well as power events and handle events through actions like change of power threshold.
Another interesting feature present in datacenter manger is Intelligent power capping which can automatically manage group and rack power consumption and protect from sudden power disturbances like spikes. More information about this technology can be found at http://xrl.us/on8tg.


3D Datacenter
With many companies looking to outsource their datacenters or the ones who have their datacenter in another country and manage from another which is not an easy job, IBM has recently launched 3D datacenter technologies through which a virtual world of datacenter can be created which receives real time data from the real datacenter. Through this 3D virtual world, administrators can effectively manage their servers, racks and other equipment, visualize data flow, respond to events immediately etc.
3D datacenter is basically an interactive application built using virtual world technologies. This virtual world is an exact same virtual image of the real IT datacenter which can be hosted at a far off place. To link real datacenter with the virtual world one, IBM uses holographic enterprise interface, which basically is an integration middleware. This Holographic Enterprise Interface can be configured to send data, alerts, and events coming from real datacenter to virtual world.
This 3D datacenter also gives customers ability to perform simulation experiments and perform what if scenario tests. Since it is a multi-user virtual enviornment, users can also communicate with each other through instant messaging and have shared 3D experience of datacenter in real as well as simulation modes.


Windows Home Server
whether we will see Windows Home Server in India is not yet known, but our labs feel that it might come as the most innovative solution around. This is largely because our homes are slowly getting digital and as we are relying more and more on IT for various functions, there is actually a need of a solution which can manage it all.Microsoft is targeting homes with multiple PCs. Home Server will allow them to automatically back up their data and share files with friends, and in case of a PC crash restore the entire system to a previous point in time. Also with Home Server users can remotely connect to their home computers and Windows Home Server console as well as shared files and folders. It also lets you centrally monitor health of home computers running Windows Vista and XP. Media present in Windows media connect-supported devices and Xbox 360 can also be accessed through this server.


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Create Your Own Winks and Emoticons in Windows Live Messenger

Are you tired of the same old emoticons and winks that Windows Live Messenger has to offer?Well, did you know you can make your own?

Try this:

Start the Windows Live Messenger program click on the Show Menu > Tools > Emoticons.

Click on the Create Button.

1. Click the Find Image Button, to locate the picture you want to use and click the Open Button.

2. On the second line you can type in a keyboard shortcut for your emoticon. Example: <9>).

3. On the third line you can give your emoticon a name.

When you are done click on the OK Button.

Scroll until you get to My Customize Emoticons Now, click on it to pin it; if you can't pin it, then this means you have to many of them pinned already. You can only have a maximum number of 40 emoticons pinned at a time. You will have to unpin some of them in other to pin the new ones you made.

Unpin and Re-pin Emoticons

To do this scroll up to Pin Emoticons, click on one of them and then press the Unpin button. Go back to My Customize Emoticons, click on it, and then press the Pin Button. Scroll up and your emoticons will be with the other pinned emoticons. Repeat the steps to unpin and re-pin again.

Also, if you just want to get more emoticons already made click on the Get more emoticons… link you will be redirect to a website that you can download more.

Remove or Change Emoticons

To remove an emoticon, click the Remove Button.
To make changes to an emoticons or replace it ; click the Modify Button > Find Image > Save Changes.

When you are done click the Close Button.

Winks

At this time you can not really add your own winks, but you can get more from somewhere else that fits your needs. Click on the Show Menu > Tools > Winks after window is open click the Get more Winks… link. You will be redirect to a website that you can download more.

Have fun!


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Digital Camcorder Buyer's Guide

Do you want to capture precious moments of your loved ones? Maybe you want to pursue movie making as a hobby in the hope that one day you might get into the big league? If the answer is yes, go ahead and buy yourself a Digital Camcorder. Before you do, however, read this tip to get insight on what to look for in a Digital Camcorder. Since the prices of Digital Camcorders vary from $200 to over $3000, this guide will help you decide on what to look for.

So, how do you go about buying a Digital Camcorder?
Let’s start by first asking questions.

How do you intend to use the Digital Camcorder?

Some Digital Camcorders have basic features, while others have a variety of high-end features. Usually, the features of the Digital Camcorder drive up the price. The features you need in the Digital Camcorder are dependent on the type of videos you intend to capture. For example, if you are an expectant parent, then you would probably not want fancy features because you wouldn’t actually make use of them. Alternatively, if you are an aspiring filmmaker working out of your mother’s garage, a camcorder with a range of features would be more desirable.

What recording format and media to opt for?

After you’ve decided on the use, look for the most suitable recording format and media. Digital Camcorders can record videos in various formats, such as mini-DVD, DVD, Hard Drive, or Flash Memory card. Each format has pros and cons. In addition, the format and media chosen would impact the price. For example, a Digital Camcorder that records videos on a hard drive will be less expensive than one that stores the recorded video in a SD/SDHC (flash) card. Weigh the pros and cons of each format before deciding on it. Here are some pros and cons of each format:

- Mini-DV Tapes: Each tape records about 75 minutes of footage. The tapes are easy to archive and cheap ($3). On the lop side, transferring the video from Mini-DV tapes is a time-consuming process and accessing recorded footage needs to be done linearly.

- DVD/Mini-DVD: Great for people who want to record and pop the DVD into a player for instant viewing. Each DVD will hold about 20 minutes of footage.

- Hard Drive: Storage is dictated by the Hard Disk capacity. This media is excellent for transferring files on the computer for editing. The downside of this media is that archiving is not as easy and in Mini-DV tapes and Mini-DVDs and Hard Disks are inherently prone to wear and tear. Hence, Flash Storage was developed.

- Flash Storage: Digital Camcorders that use Flash Storage are usually small in size. This is an excellent medium for transferring footage to your computer for editing. All you have to do is pop-out the Flash Card. It is also the most expensive form of storage. However, the rates of Flash Cards have shown a steep decline.

How important is the lens?

The lens of a Digital Camcorder dictates several things. Key features to watch for are: Zoom and Wide Angle:

- Zoom: Optical Zoom is important, while Digital Zoom is a waste of money. Look for a camcorder with at least a 10x Optical Zoom.

- Wide Angle: This is important for close-up shots. It determines how far you need to be to capture the subject of the video. Wide Angle is not necessary for generic video footage, such as when you record a video of you child’s first steps.

Note: Unlike Digital Cameras, Digital Camcorders are affected by the mega pixels, it is the sensor (s) within the camcorder that matter. These sensors give the captured footage depth. Look for a 3CCD camcorder for good results.

How important is the screen?

The screen determines what you see while shooting a video. You will also need it for real-time playback of your recorded footage. The typically the larger the screen, the better it is for you. However, size is not all that matters. Test the camcorder in sunlight because some screens are not clear in bright sunlight.

What is Image Stabilization?

Image stabilization is the feature that helps you create videos that aren’t jittery. Jitter is a key factor when zooming into objects because the jitter will also be magnified. If you don’t have a tripod, then you need a camera that has image stabilization. There are two types of image stabilization, Digital and Optical. Digital image stabilization is cheaper while Optical is quite a bit more expensive. Regardless of the type of footage you intend to take, optical image stabilization is best, that is, if you can afford it!

What is Low Light Performance?

As the name implies, this is the ability of a Digital Camcorder to shoot video in low light. Unfortunately, this technology has not developed enough to give quality output in low light conditions. Nevertheless, you should test your camera in low light to see the quality. This is especially useful for people recording travel experiences or camping trips.

What additional features should you consider?

Like I said earlier, there is a lot more to Digital Camcorders than simply displaying images. For example, they can be used for a variety of other actions, such as:

- Microphone: Spend and extra $50 to get a decent external microphone.

- Long-Life Battery: The battery of a camcorder is critical to shooting footage for long durations. This does not matter for taking family shots. However, it does matter for people recording travel experiences.

- Tripod: It is quite common for home-made videos to be jittery because the hand of the person taking the shot is not stable enough. A tripod is very useful in such cases.

- High Definition: Recently, Digital Camcorders that can record in High-Definition have been launched. They are getting increasingly popular, but are also substantially more expensive. Only opt for one if you have the spare change.

Does brand really matter?

Brands give a sense of credibility and security to a product. Therefore, in an ideal world, a branded product is usually better than a Digital Camcorder from a yet-to-be-established brand. Though this is usually true, it is not written in concrete that branded products are indeed better. It is best to go for a branded product if it gives value and you have heard rave reviews about it. Reviews are an excellent way to determine the quality of non-branded product too. Trust me, there are many Digital Camcorders from unheard of brands that give excellent value. They are also usually cheaper!

Are there any “great” Digital Camcorders out there?

There are many! It all depends on how you answered the preceding questions and what your budget is. You might want to consider the following:

- JVC Everio GZ-MG365 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom: Under $ 400 and has an excellent display. The prices of Digital Camcorders that use Hard Drives have dropped substantially. For a newbie, it might be best to opt for a Digital Camcorder that uses Hard Drives.

- Canon VIXIA HF S200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom: Over $800 of sheer High-Definition Digital Camcorder brilliance!


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