LAME is a fairly popular MP3 encoder, backing MP3 exporting in Audacity and even having some of its code found (accidentally?) in paid-for Sony products. LAME is only distributed in source code form, so there’s no official LAME application. Instead, we have LAME frontends, which are GUI interfaces for LAME so the user doesn’t have to learn any command line. Today we’ll be covering winLAME – a free audio encoder, designed to create optimized and high quality MP3 files Windows. It’s incredibly lightweight and supports a solid set of formats and encoding options for basic and advanced users alike including batch processing for larger tasks.
0Posted by Brian Cui on November 11, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Anyone who buys a netbook likely has a bigger machine they use as well: whether it’s a desktop computer or a desktop replacement laptop, you’ll rarely find someone using just a netbook for all their computer needs. It’s a smart thing to do: have a powerful computer at home that you use when you need to do something like video editing, and do simple tasks like word processing on a netbook for the sake of portability. The only hitch in the road here is that a desktop and netbook are two completely separate computers – and somehow, you’ve got to keep the files and settings intact of you’ll have to deal with a totally different experience as you switch between the two.
0Posted by Brian Cui on October 22, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Windows 7 is a step above its predecessors in customization, allowing users to set up a desktop slideshow that rotates between images and the ability to create themes – files that include pre-set Aero colors and desktop slideshow photos. It’s not enough to satisfy those who want to customize every button and shadow in Windows 7 without the use of third party programs – better than nothing however, like Windows XP’s shoddy theme support. Microsoft has its own page of Windows 7 themes ready for download, most of them sponsored, none of them user-submitted though. We’ll step you through the process of creating a basic Windows 7 theme, with rotating wallpapers and a custom Windows Aero color.
0Posted by Brian Cui on October 15, 2011 at 4:20 pm
With tablets all the rage these days, the touch-friendliness of operating systems on touchscreen devices plays a big role in the productivity and ease of use of these tablet devices. Windows 7 has been said to be the least touch-friendly of all tablet operating systems, even with some touch optimizations built in, due to the small on-screen buttons and lack of universal touch control support across all programs (such as tap and drag for scrolling or pinch to zoom). Fortunately, with a bit of tweaking, you can make Windows 7 a whole lot more finger-friendly and a generally much more usable experience.
2Posted by Brian Cui on October 8, 2011 at 10:23 am
If you’re a regular gamer and have an Xbox 360 console, you’re bound to have a controller to go with it. Windows 7, also Microsoft made, will natively support an Xbox 360 controller if you plug it in. This allows for you to play games that support 360 controller input on your PC using the controller instead of the traditional mouse and keyboard. For games that don’t support them though, you’re going to have to use third party software to get them to work. Enter Xpadder, special software that allows you to set custom binds to the buttons, triggers, and joysticks found on the Xbox 360 controller.
2Posted by Brian Cui on September 25, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Windows 8 is coming soon, and boy, has it changed. Sporting a complete overhaul of the familiar desktop, Windows 8 greets you with its new touch-friendly tiled interface, as we slowly turn towards tablets and touchscreen-enabled devices instead of traditional mouse and keyboard setup. Microsoft has released a developer preview build of Windows 8, free for download, if you want to try it out. Since it’s a developer preview however, I wouldn’t recommend installing it right onto your machine – instead, use a virtual machine, so if it crashes, your main system is still intact. In our first ever video tutorial, we’ll show you how to do exactly that and get Windows 8 up and running in a virtual machine.
2Posted by Brian Cui on September 22, 2011 at 7:43 pm
One of the newest (and slightly overlooked) features in Opera 11.5 are the new live speed dials – or speed dials that update automatically with information. Normal speed dials will just link to a page, acting as handy bookmarks – live speed dials will display information such as the current weather in your location, the amount of unread emails you have, your Twitter feed, and maybe even stock prices. They’re an easy way to keep track of things without having to open up new windows or tabs, and there’s virtually no performance impact as well. All you need is a copy of Opera 11.5, and the rest is easy.
