boxee Plugins

boxee is great!  But what if you want more content?  Well, here is a nice start.

http://boxeehq.com/

You will find 3 plugins that are pretty cool. GameTrailers-HD, ReleaseScene, and 66Scene.  I also came across this Link & this Link which have some pretty cool plugins listed.

Music Compozing Online

http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.music

http://www.esession.com/home/index.php

http://www.ninjam.com/

http://www.ejamming.com/

http://www.indabamusic.com/

http://www.tunerooms.com/default.aspx

Projects Software

I have not tested any of these projects as of yet, but hey do look promising.  I will edit after i have a chance to install each of these.


http://code.google.com/p/taskblocks/



http://openproj.org/openproj


http://www.xplanner.org/index.html


http://www.taskjuggler.org/screenshots_ide.php

Im Applications

I have been using Pidgin for quite some time.  There seems to be a new kid on the block with some pretty cool social networking features.  If you have not seen it, it is called Digsby.  Like pidgin it runs on Mac, Windows, and linux.

The one clincher with Digsby, is that you will want to read very carefully all of the prompts as you install Digsby.  There are options to install a lot of extra software applications that I was not interested in.  So just be sure to actually read the prompts.

Digsby Screen Shot:




Pidgin Screen Shot:

Holy Crap.... This is an insane magic trick!!

Before Chris Angel

Watch out for SCAMS

Boxee - internet TV and Network Media Player

I recently installed and started playing with Boxee.  This is a free (as in beer) media player intended for use on your tv.  I think the most exciting use case is pairing this up with an AppleTV box instead of loading a dedicated PC.  Since Boxee does not have an ability to rip DVDs, you will want to use a seperate program (or in my case..PC) to do this.  So you can either...

1. Load a dedicated PC up with Ubuntu Linux or use a Mac Mini, then switch programs when wanting to Rip a DVD
2. or Load on to an AppleTV and copy over your files to the AppleTV or a NAS (Net work storage device).  Using a NAS will increase your storage space substancially.

What is really cool about boxee is that it allows your PC or AppleTV unit to not only play Videos, Music, Photos, etc... but it also allows you to recomend content to friends.  It also can give you access to web content from Hulu, Netflix (article from Wired.com), CNN, Comedy Central, and others.

If you want to add Boxee to your AppleTV, you will need software from this site.  You will also need an intel based mac to run the software and a USB memory stick.  here  and here are youtube videos covering the process.

Some more photos of Boxee on Flickr.


NINJAVIDEO
Based on this forum post you can also build ninjavideo into Boxee on the AppleTV:
for the apple tv folks, below should work.



1) install veohproxy in /Applications folder



2) configure apple tv to start veohproxy on bootup

Code:

cd /Library/StartupItems/<br />sudo mkdir /Library/StartupItems/veohproxy<br />cd /Library/StartupItems/veohproxy/</pre>
</div>3) create veohproxy startup script using the command below:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 5px 20px 20px;">
	<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Code:</div>
	<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 640px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">sudo nano veohproxy</pre>
</div>contents of veohproxy<br />
<div style="margin: 5px 20px 20px;">
	<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Code:</div>
	<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 640px; height: 50px; text-align: left;">#!/bin/bash<br />python /Applications/veohproxy/default.py &</pre>
</div>4) create  StartupParameters.plist file<br />
<div style="margin: 5px 20px 20px;">
	<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Code:</div>
	<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 640px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">sudo nano StartupParameters.plist</pre>
</div>contents of StartupParameters.plist<br />
<div style="margin: 5px 20px 20px;">
	<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Code:</div>
	<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 640px; height: 130px; text-align: left;">{<br />  Description = "Veohproxy";<br />  Provides = ("Access to ninjavideo");<br />  Uses = ("Network");<br />  Requires = ("Network");<br />  OrderPreference = "Late";<br />}</pre>
</div>5) set permissions<br />
<div style="margin: 5px 20px 20px;">
	<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Code:</div>
	<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 640px; height: 98px; text-align: left;">cd ..<br />sudo chown -R root:wheel veohproxy/<br />sudo chmod -R 755 veohproxy/<br />sudo chmod 744 veohproxy/StartupParameters.plist <br />sudo reboot

veohproxy will start up automatically after you have rebooted the apple tv. enjoy watching ninjavideo.

Brewing Beer - Opensource

I was up late thinking about my dad.  He loves beer.  And he loves brewing beer.  So as i was surfing the web, i came across a few opensource beer brewing apps that looked pretty interesting.  One is a web based blogging tool specifically for sharing beer recipes and talking with your fellow brew masters.  The other is a tool that works as more of a Shop floor brew calc tool.

Brewblogger:
Blogging is becoming increasingly popular.  Like wise, so is brewing beer.  Even carpet cleaners can brew a 30 pack with relative ease (thanks Jon).  So how do you collaborate with fellow up and coming brew masters?  Well with Brewblogger of course! New features quoted from site:

BrewBlogger is a
easy to set up, easy to use, browser-based homebrew log. It is a
PHP/MySQL-based system that provides today's brewer not only a fast and
easy way to record their brewing activities, but also forum to share
their zymurgistic efforts and expertise with the homebrewing community
around the world.

BrewBlogger was developed by brewing and computer geek Geoff Humphrey for zkdigital.com - mainly at his own whim and evolving need.

Yeah, it's almost two months late, but I think it's well worth it. New and improved features include:

• BeerXML import functionality thanks to Oskar Stephens' nifty script.
• Improved BeerXML exporting function to be ultra-compliant with the standard.
• News/Announcement posting capability (administrator users only in Club Mode) for one-way communication with members.
• A newly built and re-engineered (from the ground up) brewing calendar.
• Augmented user profiles to include more personal data.
• Updated style database to 2008 BJCP Guidelines.
• Improved iconography throughout both public and administrative areas.
• A
  "Print Contest Entry" function that emulates the official BJCP
  sanctioned contest entry forms. No more writing everything out by hand.
• A "Quick Edit" feature to allow users, once logged in, to edit a log or recipe when viewing it on the "public" side.

Screenshot of blog:


You can take a test drive here.

BrewCalc - Software for Homebrewers
Then for your day-to-day work we have BrewCalc.  BrewCalc was written using QT-4 so it will run on Linux and Windows.  It appears to be pretty feature rich and nicely laid out.  It is  recipe formulation tool, a brewing calculator and evaluation tool all in one.  You can find a collection of screenshots here.  I do not know if this tool exports to beerxml...  That would be a nice feature to compliment BrewBlogger.

Screenshot, click to enlarge:


What tools do you use?  Have you used either of these applications? Leave me some comments!

OpenSource Radio - The Hardware

To go along with my last post, Here is an article from Makezine about the Flex-Radio SDR-1000 opensource FM transmitter that can be controlled by your PC. You can watch some very cool vidoes of the transmitter in action.  They have 4 different models ranging from $499 - $4800.  The higher priced unit coming with a built in PC.  FlexRadio Systems, main page located here.

You can read a review of the Flex-5000A procuct here.

Radio Edit - Start your own Open Source radio station

Lets say you want to start your own radio station.  Or you are a radio station that has not updated your equipment since zepplin's last album release...  Well, Good news is that you don't need to shell out the big bucks to find a quality solution.  It appears that there are a variety of applications out there for moving you to the digital age.

One great place to start is at the ROSS Sourceforge.net website.  On this website you will find all kinds of great information about products (both open source and commercial).  I also came across this PDF which appeard to be very interesting.  It discusses the use of free software to replace radio broadcast automation systems.  Thought I might highlight some of the key packages that I came across from my web surfing....

First Up... CAMPCASTER. 
You can view screenshots here.  Campcaster comes in with two clients.  there is a desktop application as well as a webclient.  The webclient provides you access to the main system from external or automation purposes.

• Unmanned broadcast units can be controlled remotely through the Internet
• An
  unlimited number of Campcaster-powered PCs in a radio station can
  deliver live broadcasts as well as program automation by accessing a
  central audio storage system
• A station's library can be digitized and made centrally accessible from both local studios as well as the web
• Reporters and show producers can file their reports and shows directly to the central archive fron the field via any web browser

A detailed list of features can be found here.  If you are running Ubuntu, the install appears to be fairly simple thru the use of the Universal repository.

Screenshot:


our next application is Broadcast Power 2.5
You can visit the main site here and view a screenshot here.  BP2.5 runs only on windows and requires .NET to be installed.  The main features are described as...

Broadcast Power 2.5 is an advanced free radio automation software that will impress you with its feature list. This program can be used by radio stations, DJ's, broadcasters, shops, offices, hospitals, bars, pubs, night clubs, events and many others. You can use Broadcast Power to program and automate all on-air broadcasts. It is a complete on-air and post production solution for commercial, community and Internet radio stations. Now with streaming capabilities to ShoutCAST and OddCAST servers, when using the streaming plugin.

For a full list of features visit here.

The final solution is Rivendell.
I came across this solution a few years back.  It seems to be pretty feature rich. It runns on Linux and windows.  they even have a liveCD that you can use to test the software out. You can see a screen shot gallery here.

Screenshot, click to enlarge:


Quote from their website:

Rivendell
is a complete radio
broadcast automation solution, with facilities for the acquisition,
management, scheduling and playout of audio content. It has all of the
features one would expect in a modern, fully-fledged radio automation
system, including support for both PCM and MPEG audio encoding, full
voicetracking and log customization as well as support for a wide variety
of third party software and hardware. As a robust, functionally complete
digital audio system for broadcast radio applications, Rivendell uses
industry standard components like the GNU/Linux Operating System, the AudioScience HPI Driver
Architecture and the MySQL Database
Engine. Rivendell is available under the GNU Public License.
Further design details are available here.

It also appears that Rivendell has contributed their code to Google labs as well.

In closing. 
It appears that in the last few years there have been a few projects that have sprouted up.  This is fantastic news.  If you are a Linux convert or a Wondows user, you have options available to you.  Personally I have the most interest in Rivendell and Campcaster due to my Opensource/Linux nature.  Since i dont actually have any involvement with radio stations or broadcast, i wont even try to point anyone in a direction here.  But, just to tip the scales.... Here is one more great application... That runs on Linux :)

GCstar
GCstar is a great little application for keeping track of large collections.  These collections can consist of DVDs, CDs, MP3s, Books, Wine, etc.  There is a fantastic web info download capability for automatically grabbing cover info and associated other data.  This application makes finding where you stored or where you loaned an item a breeze.  It even supports email reminders.  So if you are a radio station who frequently loans out your media, this is one way of keeping track of who took the lastes Guns and Roses CD.  Although, perhaps it is best that it just stays missing......

Screen shot, click to enlarge:



GCstar runs on both Linux and Mac platforms.... Sorry windows :)

HotForWords - hot for teacher

You know, I never really did good in school.  But if I had this gal as my teach I would have been twice as non-productive loved every minute of it.  There was this great video on YouTube that I came across which spard some deeper investigation...

Turnkeylinux.org - IT on a USB

Setting up a webserver and running your install or Joomla or Drupal is not hard for a technical person.  But For someone wanting to setup quickly or that is just not tech-savvy, this could be the answer.  We all know I am a big fan boy for Ubuntu.  Well, Turnkey has used Ubuntu to create liveCDs for running your own selection of servers.  Job well done guys!

Appliances include:
LAMP
LAPP
Joomla
Drupal 5
Drupal 6
MediaWiki
Django
Rails
MySQL


I personally think that the most interesting ones are Joomla, Drupal 6, and MediaWiki.  I can see easy application of these tools for almost any business.  visit www.turnkeylinux.org or more information.

Desktop Shock 3D - Dont just play with your files

Ok, so fun 3D desktop action is not limited to only Linux users running Ubuntu anymore.  Now windows users have Desktop Shock 3D.  It is kind of a "building blocks" type approach to working with files... you just have to see it..

More than Myth

We all know about MythTV.  Heck, i have a MythTv box at home myself.  but i came across a few projects that look pretty cool as well.  I thought I might list them.  Some depend on MythTV and are only  face lifts, but then again....  who doesnt enjoy a little cosmetic surgery?

XBMC - See a youtube video here.  This was a media center for the original XBOX.  It has since been ported to Linux and looks really cool.  It is theme-able and has support for some pretty cool scripts.

MythTV - This is the brains of the operation.  most of these projects rely on Mythtv to function.  this is the most mature of the projects.  but is a little light on the eyecandy.

Gloss - Is a google code project you can see a  youtuve video here.  It is primarily used as a front end to MythTV from what I can tell.  It has nice glossy effects.

Entertainer - You can see a youtube video here.  I dont know much about this project.  I just discoverd it today.   

Elisa - you can find a youtube video here. This project works much like the Apple product "Front Row".  It can also apparently be used as a MythTV front end and has support for plugins.

Boxee - This app is a new arrival to the scene that is grabbing a lot of attention.  It currently runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and AppleTV.  The main draw to Boxee is its social networking spin and new NetFlix functionality.  You will need to join the beta program to in order to gain access to download.

What is your favorite PVR-esque software and why?

Clutter + GDM = Awesome!

It appears that their are some new developments in the work around the GDM login screen.  for those of you who are not familiar with GDM, it is the main screen you use to login to a Gnome based Linux system (example:fedora, ubuntu, etc).  It is theme-able and can look very cool.  See below examples:



these Themes while cool are static.  There are not nice animations or pretty 3D effects.  But that is all about to change.  There is a Clutter based GDM in the works.  You can see examples of it in use HERE or visit the project page located Here.

Clutter GDM apparently will also have the ability to remove the photos of users from the GDM as you type a login name, limiting the results.

I was just reading about the Clutter GDM development being done.  At the same time I also was reading that their is some kind of "face recognition" software being developed for Linux (as seen on ASUS and Lenovo Laptops)... Do you know where I would go to recomend the two projects collaborate?  How cool would it be if the face recognition software could filter the photos based on identifying your face.  Perhaps the photos of other users swirl around the screen as if being sucked down a black hole while the face recognition software is processing. 

I am no programmer, but honestly that would be fantasticly awesome!!!  I would not expect the face recognition to automatically log you in due to security issues with that (have a photo, get access...) but nothing wrong with limiting the list :)

Great Apps for Small Companies

If you are looking for some apps to run your small company, I figured I would compile a quick list of some of my favourites.  When starting up on a budget, these are some great tools to get you going.  And dont be fooled, the price tag is not the only reason... these are great tools!

User Desktop Apps:

1. Ubuntu - What can i say, i have become very attached to this free OS. Linux is a great OS when it comes to using something robust, fun, and less likely to die from a virus.
2. OpenOffice - Most Micro$oft Office users are very basic users at best.  This free office package comes with spreadsheets, presentation, database, etc.  I would highly recomend taking a good look at it.  It even has GL transitions simular to the ones provided by apple. If you are using office 2003, you may even find moving to OpenOffice easier than moving to Office 2007.
3. Pidgin - Multiplatform instante messanging client for Win, Mac, and lInux.
4. Evolution - Email, Calendar, and Contacts application that works really.. really... well.  It also is compatible with microsoft exchange as well.
5. Wink - Screen capture and training application similar to Macromedia Breeze(?).
   

Multi-User Collaboration Apps:

1. SugarCRM - This is a great little CRM web application.  I was able to get it up and running very easily using vmware and will never go back to spreadsheets again.  You can track accounts, contacts, opportunities, Leads, campaigns, etc.  Very impressive.  perhaps I will write a review and how to....
2. OpenBravo ERP - Now that you used SugarCRM to manage your sales, book an order and track inventory using OpenBravo.  I cant say that I am an ERP expert  by any streach, but for some companies, this looks to be a very promising application.
3. Alfresco - Need to share documents and control file read/write privilages?  This could be the package for you.  From what I can tell it competes  with the likes of Sharepoint.  With webdav access you can also mount the internet based drive as well.  This could come in handy if you want to index the information and make it more searchable on the desktop.
4. gooby - This is a pretty interesting little application.  It allows you to edit documents collabortivley by creating connections to other gooby client users over an encrypted connection.
5. OpenProj - Opensource Project Managment software.

If anyone can think of other great apps to add to the list, please let me know!

Now to Get 3G Wireless Working (AT&T USBconnect Quicksilver)

If you have Ubuntu running on a PC, Here are the steps to successfully get the AT&T USBconnect Quicksilver.  I have to give a HUGE thanks out to Paul at PHARscape for helping me get this working.  While Ubuntu 8.10 has a connection manager capable of configuring a WAN wifi connection, it does not support all of the latest USB devices at this time.  Have no fear, it is really rather simple to get working now that there are files you can easily install via .deb.

So to get started you will want install a repo to enable access to rezero.  You need this becasuse this USB modem has the drivers built into the device.  When you insert the USB modem with out the use of rezero it will register as a CD and not as a Modem.  Rezero will switch the devices mode from storage device to modem, which is what you want.  option has made available an updated version of this software called "ozerocdoff".  But I could not figure out how to install it and rezero worked just fine for me.

Install Rezero:

Paste this into your list of third-party repositories in synaptic. Located in System -->Administration -->Synaptic.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/martijn/ubuntu intrepid main

 Remember to click reload.  Then search for Rezero and install it.  Now if you plugin your USB modem it will no loger be seen as a storage device.



Install HSOconnect and HSOlink:

Download and install the the files by double clicking on them.
HSOlink Download
HSOconnect Download


Now you are ready to insert your usb modem device.  you will want to launch the HSOconnect software located under Applications --> Internet.  You may need to run this as root if it does not connect.  But before trying to connect you will need to click on configure and fill i the folloing information.





The Password is "Cingular1", with out the "".

Now click on connect and you should be able to start surfing the net!  If not  try the following:

• Run HSOconnect in terminal using the sudo command as follows: "sudo python2.5 -m hsoc" and entering in your password.
• If you are using firefox to browse the web, it may be that it is not connecting due to the fact  that the Ubuntu connection manager is not the application initiating your web access.  Because of this, firefox believes you are actually off-line.  You can solve it for Firefox by opening about:config and setting toolkit.networkmanager.disable to TRUE.  Do this by typing "about:config" into your address bar.
  

Loading up an ASUS eee-PC with Ubuntu Intrepid

I thought I might catalogue my journey regarding installing Ubuntu Intrepid on to the ASUS eee-PC 1000H.  I am sure there are a lot of ways to do this, but at the end of the day i have a configuration that works very well for me.  My goal with this project was to:

•  Have all hardware work
•  Install all of the apps I like (games, spreadsheet, Presentation, etc)
•  Have my eee-PC look really cool
•  Get my Aircard working with  AT&T 3G wirless usb stick

This project required the following:

•  Wired internet connection (DSL or Cable) since the wifi card and USB 3G cards do not work on a fresh install.
•  USB memory stick (1 Gb or larger) for installing the Ubuntu ISO image onto.
  

The steps we will follow are the following:

1. Download Ubuntu and app to put the iso image on a usb stick
2. Install Ubuntu
3. Install the drivers to get the PC working (and some extras).
4. Get the 3G card working
5. Customize as you want.
   

Get Ubuntu and ISO extractor:
Ok so first I downloaded Ubuntu from their website found here.  I chose the Ubuntu Desktop Edition which is the first selection that showed up by defualt.  Choose your download location and away you go! 

While the ubuntu*.iso file is being downloaded, you then need to go to download a windows .exe app that will move this to the USB memory stick and make it bootable.  This windows application is called UNetbootin.  This allows you to put Ubuntu onto the eee-PC.  You can downlaod it here.  Once both files have downloade, do the following.

Make USB stick bootable for installing Ubuntu:
This is where you plug in your USB memory stick.  Now you will run UNetbootin which you downloaded from sourceforge.net.  I choose "disk image" and ISO.  Then click on the "..." box to the right and browse to the Ubuntu*.iso file you downloaded.  At the bottom of the window it should have already detected your USB memory stick as the medium to install on to since you pluged it in before launching the application.  Click "OK" to proceed.  this process should take about 5min or so depending on how fast your computer is.

Screen shot of UNetbootin:




Once the process completes, you are ready to start installing Ubuntu.  Eject the USB stick from your windows PC by right-clicking or using the "eject" icon in the system tray.  now plug the USB stick into your eee-PC.

Install Ubuntu:
Now that you have the USB stick plugged in to the eee-PC, reboot or turn on the PC.  You may need to go into the bios (by pressing F1) in order to boot into the USB stick.  If that is the case, go into the Boot Options window and change the boot priority to have "removable media" be before the other selections.

Now I am not going to re-invent the wheel here.  You can follow this install how to on Softpedia.  Now when you get the part about formating your hardrive, come back here.  There are 2 partitions on the eee-PC.  one that is 8gb and one that is 32gb.  So in this case i chose to install the core of Ubuntu on to the 8gb partition and then have my /home directory mount on the 32gb partition.  Why?

Well it is personal preference, but....  I figure I am not going to load a ton of apps on this netbook and I want to save as much room for my personal files (music, documents, user settings, etc) that are all located in the home directory.  Since it is on a seperate partitoin, i belive it will allow me to re-install Ubuntu without deleting my personal files as long as i dont choose to format that partition.  Pretty cool huh?

So how to do it?
choose manual disk formating.  On the next screen you will see the two devices (I think SDA1/SDA2 or something) .  The main thing is to look at is the partition sizes. the smaller disk sizes should have SWAP and EXT2 associated.  Swap is something around 300Mb and EXT2 will be the remander (about 7.4gb).  If this is the case, you can just leave them alone.  Now you turn your attention to the 32gb partition. 

This partition you will edit.  Highlight it, and click edit.  Choose EXT2 and change the mount point to "/home".  Now click ok.  Now check the "format" boxes.  This will delete all the data from your ASUS PC. Accept the configurtion and proceed to the next screen.  Accepting should now install Ubuntu onto your PC.  Once prompted remember to remove the USB stick and reboot your PC.  You should now login to Ubuntu using Username and Password you provided in the install.

Once you login to the PC you should get a pretty good working machine, other than hotkeys and wifi not working.  I made a Synapic export that I belive will help you to install the eee enabled kernel and some additional packages (Tuxguitar, Scribuls, etc).  Nothing too exausting or useless.  Inorder to use it you will need to plug your PC into a hard internet line.

Install the drivers to get the PC working (and some extras)
Download this Synaptic Install script. (currently looking for place to host it..)
Now use the Synaptic application (System-->Administration -->Synaptic) to install the script using "file-->add downloaded packages".

If there is an error you may need to add two additional repositories to synaptic.  You can do this by clicking on "settings --> Repository" in synapic.  Then you click on "3rd-Party Software" which is the second tab.  You will see repositories listed like below.


To add the repositories, click "Add" and paste each of the two lines below into the window.  Save the settings and besure to click "reload" in synaptic.

http://www.array.org/ubuntu     intrepid     eeepc
http://ppa.launchpad.net/martijn/ubuntu     intrepid     main

Now if you reboot your PC all the hardware should be working....  More coming to make the 3G work......

Interface Lift: A great website for downloading wallpapers

I came across this website using google tools. There is a google widget that displays the currently promoted photos.  You can find all kinds of great pictures to use as your desktop background.  The great thing about this site, on top of the quality content is the available resolution options.  Unlike most websites who only host one or two available resolution choices, you will find quite the selection here.  My current desktop wallpaper is this one featured on their google widget.  Example images:



They even have some pretty cool WindowsXP & OSX themes available as well.