Computers are fast penetrating into the life of common man and getting used roughly everywhere, like in businesses, shops, institutions and homes. All PCs, irrespective of make or configuration, tend to face technical problems at one point or the other. Even you must have felt few problems with your PCs every now and then. While facing such conditions with our PC, we usually spend hours over the phone to deal with the same with the help of friends. A search gets immediately underway from our side to find a way that might resolve the annoying problem(s). 

However, many a times, we try from pillar to post to get our PC back in its normal working condition, but end up having no clue, whatsoever. Ultimately, we come to the last resort to take the PC to get it repaired from a service center. But now, this perennial problem has found a solution that is extremely loved by home users and other who pay value to their time. This new PC support is rather the most effective and affordable way to get the PCs with few problems back to normalcy. Here we are talking about the online pc support, which is gaining prominence with each passing day. 

Online personal computer support services are now getting more takers and are broadly available on the Internet. The emergence of online PC support has abolished lots of problems and saved valuable time. When online PC support is there, you get a prospect to troubleshoot any type of PC error even without taking it anywhere. 

Online PC support lets online technicians to access your sick computer with the help of remote connection after acquiring proper permissions and other formalities. With proper steps, the apt PC support technician spots errors in your PC and fixes them in the usual way by giving the needed treatment. 

Your PC support can also avail PC Optimization services that help to beef up your PC for neat performance. If you crave to take command over repeated attacks of annoying adware pop-ups, this online PC support service will do it for you. 

Data Back Up Services can also be gained by online PC support and it’s turning out to be fairly popular. Those who deal with lots of data, like people with small businesses, are taking full advantage of this PC support service. 

You can also get these PC support services by just taking up a simple search on the Internet with a few specific keywords to be effectively served by a wide range of vendors.

Earlier form of music players required moving parts to read enclosed data on a tape or CD whereas MP3 players use solid state memory. An MP3 player is more of a data storage device with an embedded software application that enables users to transfer MP3 files to that player. MP3 players include some utilities to copy music from CD or websites and then organize them and create custom list of songs in the order you want to hear them. Such list of songs is called a “play list”.

The MP3 player is the combination of various technologies and its components are not only revolutionary but also prove to be a great consumer product. If you wish to store music as well allow the user to hear the songs played and for this the player first pulls the song from its memory, then decompresses the MP3 encoding, runs the decompressed bytes through a digital to analog converter and amplifies the analog signal allowing the song to be heard.

There are different stuffs or components but these could vary as the basic parts of a typical MP3 player. This includes data port, memory, microprocessor, digital signal processor, display, playback controls, audio port, amplifier and power supply.

The player is plugged into the USB port of your computer or a parallel port to transfer data. USB based players transfer data much faster than those using the parallel port. Memory types include internal flash memory, compact flash cards, smart media cards, memory stick and internal micro drive.

Except the last one, all the above mentioned players are of solid state memory and the advantage of solid state memory is that there are no moving parts that mean better reliability and music without any skips. Mp3 players also contain tiny hard disk drives that could store 10 to 150times more than flash memory devices.

The microprocessor is the brain of any player and monitors user input through the playback controls and displays information about the current song on the LCD panel and then sends directions to the DSP chip that informs exactly how the audio is processed. The DSP pulls the song data from memory and apply any special effects and streams to the amplifier. The DSP runs a decompression algorithm that compresses MP3 files and then turns back the bytes into sound waves.

The amplifier also boosts the strength of the signal and then sends it to the audio port whereby you can attach the pair of headphones. Most of the MP3 players are powered by battery.

Within the past 14 years, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become the standard interface to connect devices to a computer. Whether it’s an external hard drive, a camera, the mouse, a printer, or a scanner, the physical connection to transfer data between devices generally is a USB cable. The interface is indeed universal.

USB technology has been under development since 1993. The first official definition, USB 1.0, was introduced in 1996. It provides a Low-Speed transfer rate of 1.5 Mbits/s for sub-channel keyboards and mice, and a Full-Speed channel at 12 Mbits/s. USB 2.0, which came in 2001, made a leap to Hi-Speed transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits/s. In 2010, USB 3.0 has finally hit the market.

So what can you expect from USB 3.0 and how will it affect you?

USB 3.0 Specifications

A number of changes have been implemented in USB 3.0 to satisfy the increased demands of external devices. Here is a quick USB technology overview:

• Transfer Rate
  This new SuperSpeed interface provides realistic transfer rates of around 3,200 Mbits/s or 3.2 Gbits/s. The theoretical top signaling rate is at 4.8 Gbits/s.
• Data Transfer
  USB 3.0 introduces full duplex data transfer. Two of five lanes are reserved for transmitting data, while another pair is dedicated to receiving data, meaning that USB 3.0 can read and write data simultaneously at full speed. Previous USB specifications did not support bi-directional data transfer.
• Power
  The unit load has been increased to 150 mA and a configured device can draw up to six unit loads, which adds up to 900 mA. This exceeds USB 2.0 by 80% and leads to faster recharging or powering of more than four devices from a single hub. In addition, the minimum device operating voltage was dropped from 4.4 V to 4 V, which saves energy.
• Power Management
  USB 3.0 suspends device polling, which is replaced by interrupt-driven protocol. As a result, idle devices won’t experience a power drain since a signal from the device is required to initiate data transfer. With USB 2.0 the host controller used to look for active transfers, slowly draining power. Briefly, USB 3.0 supports idle, sleep, and suspend states, as well as link-, device-, and function-level power management (Wikipedia).
• Physical Appearance
  The above described specifications are also represented in the physical appearance of USB 3.0. While the cable was previously described to be thicker because it contains four more wires than USB 2.0, this appears not to be the case now. The plug, however, is a dead giveaway for USB 3.0. It contains an additional set of connectors, as illustrated in the image below.

The Good News

New technology is very exciting. But what does it mean? Will you still be able to use your old USB hardware? How will the new USB technology affect your everyday life? What are the benefits?

• Compatibility
  USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. So whether you get a new USB 3.0 device or a new computer that supports USB 3.0, your old device will be able to communicate with the new interface. Naturally, it will do so at the old USB 2.0 speed. However, you won’t be able to use a USB 3.0 cable to connect a USB 2.0 device.
• Transfer Rate
  Now I bet all this Megabit and Gigabit per second numbers sound impressive, but what does it actually translate to? Well, let me give you an example. With USB 3.0 you could transfer a 10 GB file from your computer to an external drive in approximately 25 seconds. With USB 2.0 this would take more than five minutes.
• Benefits
  The devices that will benefit most from USB 3.0 are those that already outspeed USB 2.0, including HD webcams, Blu-Ray drives, or some external hard drives.
• Support by Operating Systems
  Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Linux already support USB 3.0. Mac is expected follow. Given its age, Windows XP will probably not receive an update to support the new interface.

The Bad News

I was tempted to report that there is no bad news, but that’s not true. Let’s say bad news is minimal.

• Cable
  The maximum cable length USB 3.0 supports is reduced to approximately three meters, opposed to five meters with USB 2.0. However, using hubs, the maximum length can be extended to 18 meters.
• Speed Limit
  Naturally, not all devices will be able to make use of the increased speed in USB 3.0. Magnetic hard drives for example, are limited by their RPM and the corresponding read/write speed. Hence, USB 3.0 will not unfold its full beauty until computers are equipped per default with faster hardware, such as solid state drives. But we all know how speedy progress is in the IT world. Give it a year or two and you will be able to fully benefit from USB 3.0.

Feel like you need more information? Computerworld has an excellent USB 3.0 review (USB 3.0: The new speed limit), including tests of currently available USB 3.0 hardware. Are you craving for even more in depth information? Check out this article at Tech Republic: 10 things you should know about USB 2.0 and 3.0. And have a look at Everything USB’s Super Speed USB 3.0 FAQ.

Now aren’t you looking forward to switching to USB 3.0? And if you have already been using a USB 3.0 device, please let the rest of us know how it feels!

Image credit: 09

Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained] (14 comments)
• How Intel Turbo Boost Works [Technology Explained] (6 comments)
• How Does a Router Work? [Technology Explained] (39 comments)
• 3 Cool Gadgets That You Can Build Yourself (8 comments)
• Why TRIM is Important to Solid State Hard Drives? [Technology Explained] (8 comments)
• Why Are There So Many Versions of Ubuntu? [Technology Explained] (35 comments)
• What’s This “Linux” Thing and Why Should I Try It? (129 comments)
• What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC (15 comments)
• What Is the Digital Media Copyright Act? (16 comments)
• What is the Difference Between MP3 & MP4? [Technology Explained] (26 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

MP3 or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 is an innovative digital audio encoding format which is meant for consumer audio storage and employs a type of lossy data compression algorithm. This compression helps in reducing the quantity of data required to embody the audio recording. It is that benchmark of audio compression which transfers and plays back music on digital audio players, known as MP3 players.

MP3 files are usually created using settings to the tune of 128 kbit/s which often results in 1/11th size of a CD filed produced from initial audio source. MP3 player’s recent evolution in the music format helps users to create personalized music lists and allows them to carry thousands of songs with them. Additionally it contains features like video and photo viewing, alarm and calendar functions and not to forget cell phone and even internet service. MP3 players come in two formats viz., Hard-drive-based players and Flash-based players. Hard drive based MP3 players are of high-capacity and have a capability of 20GB onwards.

While considerable players like Apple iPod Classic can hold nearly 30,000 songs and comes with a 120GB capacity. Flash based MP3 players are shockproof and comes in various storage sizes ranging from 512MB to 32GB. Like other digital music formats, MP3 also uses a binary code series containing 1s and 0s, when playing a digital file. MP3 players often employ DAC i.e. digital-to-analog converters to turn 1s and 0s into analog signals which are amplified and broadcast with the assistance of speakers and headphones.
It is the requirement of all MP3 players that a user’s PC should contain USB 1.1 or 2.0 ports this will help in loading songs quickly onto and off the players. Almost all the MP3 players come bundled with software and drivers which allow users to download the songs from a PC.

While purchasing MP3 players always stick to well-known brands like Apple iPod, Creative Zen, Microsoft Zune, SanDisk Sansa, Sony and Archos. MP3 players come in a diverse array of physical sizes; some are so tiny that they can be accommodated even in your keychain while the other large sizes will hardly fit in your hand. The smaller MP3 players suit people in their routine work or while jogging etc. Most of the MP3 players have 2” to 3.5” screens and weigh usually less than 5 ounces.

Do you know how to use a computer? Of course you do. But how familiar are you with what’s inside that shiny metal box of yours? For as complicated as the inner workings of computers may seem, they are really only made up of a few key pieces. If you ever have a hardware problem or would simply like to upgrade one of those pieces, it helps to know what they do and where they are located.

Today we’re taking it back to the basics. In this article, I am going to name the basic parts of a computer, describe what they do, show you where they are usually located, and give you a few tips on how to upgrade them. So the next time your hard drive dies or your CD-Rom stops reading discs, you don’t have to pay for a house call from your neighborhood PC-repair man.

[Note]: This article is meant to be a basic diagram of the basic parts of a computer and is by no means a complete and accurate description of everything that is inside a computer. While replacing computer parts, there are various things to consider that I will not be able to cover here, like compatibility issues.

This article is not about how to build a computer. For that, I invite you to check out our guides, How to Build a Gaming PC and The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Building Your Own PC. You can find a lot of what will be here in our Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC article.

Now that most of the professionals and hardcore geeks have left, onto the basics!

Motherboard

Your motherboard is where all of the components I’m going to talk about will inevitably plug into. It has slots for most removable components like RAM, IDE/SATA drives, and video cards. If you are a beginner, I wouldn’t advise you to upgrade your motherboard yourself, but a lot of the other components I will cover require you to unplug things from the motherboard.

To view system specs, try Speccy.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

See: What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained]

If a computer was a human, the CPU would be the brain. It is the single most important piece of a computer because it does all the processing of data, calculations, and it controls most of the other components. The CPU is usually located directly underneath a cooling unit on the motherboard.

Once again, I would not advise you to upgrade your CPU yourself if you are a beginner. In most cases, upgrading your CPU will require a new motherboard, along with a heat sink and perhaps other components. While I won’t go into it here, you can find a very informative and detailed walk-through on How to Upgrade a Processor here.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

The PSU provides power to your whole PC and is usually located in the top-back of your computer. PSUs are rated by the amount of power they give out (e.g. 600 watts). It is important that your computer is powered properly so that it does not fail on you.

To upgrade your PSU, you should research the specifications of the other components in your system, most importantly the video card and CPU. You also want to make sure you get the proper connectors for your system.

Calculate your PC power supply with eXtreme PSU Engine.

Hard Drive

Your hard drive is what stores all your data long-term. Hard drives are generally kept in the bottom-front of most PCs, and are usually connected to the motherboard via SATA cables (IDE for older PCs). Also, there will be a power cable.

If yours dies on you or you simply want to upgrade to a bigger one (storage wise), you just need to purchase one with the proper connections. Hard drives are usually screwed into place.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is temporary (or short-term) memory and helps out with overall system performance and speed. RAM consists of long sticks that are plugged directly into your motherboard. Consult your owner’s manual or system information to determine the maximum amount of RAM that’s supported by your system.

Upgrading RAM depends on how many slots you have and the maximum size each slot supports. Some computers require that you have the same amount of RAM in each slot. This would be listed in your manual as well.

Disk Drive (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM)

Your disk drive(s) is/are generally located at the top-front of your machine. They allow you to play and burn (copy) CDs and DVDs. Since discs spin in these drives, they occasionally break on you. Also, the speed at which these drives can read and write data is constantly increasing.

To upgrade a CD or DVD-ROM, simply unplug and unscrew the existing drive and plug the cables (power, SATA/IDE) into the new drive. If you are upgrading from one drive to multiple drives, you can learn about setting the drives to master/slave configuration here.

Video Card

Your video card is what allows you to view anything on your monitor (makes sense). If you’re into gaming, you either left already to learn how to build a gaming PC or you stuck around to see what I had to say about video cards.

Modern games require better video cards. Your video card is usually located in the bottom-back portion of your computer case. Aside from size specifications, slot placement, motherboard type, processor speed, and power intake – which are all compatibility issues – upgrading your video card is as simple as unplugging the stock card and plugging the new video card in its place.

How did I do? Leave a comment below and please be gentle!

Image Credit: William Hook, BBC News, William Hook, Fr3d.org, mattk1979, Renee V, mattjb

Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Update Your Hardware Drivers For Free With Device Doctor (16 comments)
• The Top 10 Rated Windows Desktop Computers For Every Need (22 comments)
• Speccy – An Advanced System Information Tool For Your PC (5 comments)
• How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk (18 comments)
• Get Detailed Info About Your OS & Hardware with PC Wizard (13 comments)
• Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC (26 comments)
• 3 Software Updaters to Keep Your Programs Up To Date [Win] (7 comments)
• What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC (11 comments)
• What Is The Difference Between 32-bit & 64-bit Windows? (29 comments)
• What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained] (14 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Do you know how to use a computer? Of course you do. But how familiar are you with what’s inside that shiny metal box of yours? For as complicated as the inner workings of computers may seem, they are really only made up of a few key pieces. If you ever have a hardware problem or would simply like to upgrade one of those pieces, it helps to know what they do and where they are located.

Today we’re taking it back to the basics. In this article, I am going to name the basic parts of a computer, describe what they do, show you where they are usually located, and give you a few tips on how to upgrade them. So the next time your hard drive dies or your CD-Rom stops reading discs, you don’t have to pay for a house call from your neighborhood PC-repair man.

[Note]: This article is meant to be a basic diagram of the basic parts of a computer and is by no means a complete and accurate description of everything that is inside a computer. While replacing computer parts, there are various things to consider that I will not be able to cover here, like compatibility issues.

This article is not about how to build a computer. For that, I invite you to check out our guides, How to Build a Gaming PC and The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Building Your Own PC. You can find a lot of what will be here in our Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC article.

Now that most of the professionals and hardcore geeks have left, onto the basics!

Motherboard

Your motherboard is where all of the components I’m going to talk about will inevitably plug into. It has slots for most removable components like RAM, IDE/SATA drives, and video cards. If you are a beginner, I wouldn’t advise you to upgrade your motherboard yourself, but a lot of the other components I will cover require you to unplug things from the motherboard.

To view system specs, try Speccy.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

See: What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained]

If a computer was a human, the CPU would be the brain. It is the single most important piece of a computer because it does all the processing of data, calculations, and it controls most of the other components. The CPU is usually located directly underneath a cooling unit on the motherboard.

Once again, I would not advise you to upgrade your CPU yourself if you are a beginner. In most cases, upgrading your CPU will require a new motherboard, along with a heat sink and perhaps other components. While I won’t go into it here, you can find a very informative and detailed walk-through on How to Upgrade a Processor here.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

The PSU provides power to your whole PC and is usually located in the top-back of your computer. PSUs are rated by the amount of power they give out (e.g. 600 watts). It is important that your computer is powered properly so that it does not fail on you.

To upgrade your PSU, you should research the specifications of the other components in your system, most importantly the video card and CPU. You also want to make sure you get the proper connectors for your system.

Calculate your PC power supply with eXtreme PSU Engine.

Hard Drive

Your hard drive is what stores all your data long-term. Hard drives are generally kept in the bottom-front of most PCs, and are usually connected to the motherboard via SATA cables (IDE for older PCs). Also, there will be a power cable.

If yours dies on you or you simply want to upgrade to a bigger one (storage wise), you just need to purchase one with the proper connections. Hard drives are usually screwed into place.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is temporary (or short-term) memory and helps out with overall system performance and speed. RAM consists of long sticks that are plugged directly into your motherboard. Consult your owner’s manual or system information to determine the maximum amount of RAM that’s supported by your system.

Upgrading RAM depends on how many slots you have and the maximum size each slot supports. Some computers require that you have the same amount of RAM in each slot. This would be listed in your manual as well.

Disk Drive (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM)

Your disk drive(s) is/are generally located at the top-front of your machine. They allow you to play and burn (copy) CDs and DVDs. Since discs spin in these drives, they occasionally break on you. Also, the speed at which these drives can read and write data is constantly increasing.

To upgrade a CD or DVD-ROM, simply unplug and unscrew the existing drive and plug the cables (power, SATA/IDE) into the new drive. If you are upgrading from one drive to multiple drives, you can learn about setting the drives to master/slave configuration here.

Video Card

Your video card is what allows you to view anything on your monitor (makes sense). If you’re into gaming, you either left already to learn how to build a gaming PC or you stuck around to see what I had to say about video cards.

Modern games require better video cards. Your video card is usually located in the bottom-back portion of your computer case. Aside from size specifications, slot placement, motherboard type, processor speed, and power intake – which are all compatibility issues – upgrading your video card is as simple as unplugging the stock card and plugging the new video card in its place.

How did I do? Leave a comment below and please be gentle!

Image Credit: William Hook, BBC News, William Hook, Fr3d.org, mattk1979, Renee V, mattjb

Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• Update Your Hardware Drivers For Free With Device Doctor (16 comments)
• The Top 10 Rated Windows Desktop Computers For Every Need (20 comments)
• Speccy – An Advanced System Information Tool For Your PC (5 comments)
• How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk (18 comments)
• Get Detailed Info About Your OS & Hardware with PC Wizard (13 comments)
• Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC (24 comments)
• 3 Software Updaters to Keep Your Programs Up To Date [Win] (7 comments)
• What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC (11 comments)
• What Is The Difference Between 32-bit & 64-bit Windows? (29 comments)
• What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained] (14 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

If you have a home network, or you are thinking of setting up a home network, you’ve probably considered two solutions – wired and wireless. And unless you desperately want the fastest download speeds possible, or you don’t trust wireless security, you probably have settled on wireless as the solution. Wireless networking, with its encryption keys and signal strength issues, isn’t as easy as making toast. But it certainly beats having to route expensive Ethernet cables through your house.

There is, however, a third way. Known as powerline networking, this rarely considered option has many appealing strengths. It is even easier to set up than wireless, but provided network performance similar to wired network. Let’s take a look at the wonderful world of powerline networking.

What Is A Powerline Network?

Your home already has a network of wires in it that connect every room in the house. These are the wires that provide each room with electricity. Normally, these wires are used for only that task, but it is possible to turn them into a way of conveying data like any other wire.

This is exactly what a powerline network does. By using network adapters that are plugged into power outlets throughout your home it is possible to use your existing electrical wires as a sort of substitute Ethernet cord. Doing this has no effect on the normal function of the electrical wires, either – all your power outlets will continue to work normally.

Why Is Powerline Networking Awesome?

Powerline networks operate like standard wired networks in terms of security and performance. Since the entire network is routed through wires there is no chance of your home network being hijacked or used by an unauthorized person (short of someone breaking into your home). Performance is not quite as fast as Ethernet, but real-world usage is typically between 40 and 80 Mbps depending on the adapters you use. You don’t have to worry about reception issues, either.

However, because you don’t have to lay any new cable, setting up a powerline network is much easier than setting up a home network with Ethernet cord. Connecting a computer via powerline networking requires only that you plug a powerline network adapter into a power outlet and then run an Ethernet cable from the powerline adapter to your computer’s Ethernet port. You can use multiple powerline network adapters on the same network, and they don’t have to be the same brand or model.

What Is The Cost Of Powerline Networking?

The primary cost of setting up a powerline network is the adapters themselves. Most major network hardware companies, like Netgear and Belkin, offer powerline adapters. These adapters are mostly sold in pairs of two and cost around $100 a pair. Adapters that offer less performance may cost only $60 to $80 a pair, while the fastest adapters are closer to $150. My personal recommendation is to buy the least expensive pair of 85Mbps adapters you can find.

Besides the adapters, you also may have to buy some Ethernet cord if the cord you currently have is not enough to reach from the powerline adapter to the computer(s) you need to connect. This can add $10 or $20 to your budget.

Overall, a powerline network with two computers will cost around $100 if you buy online. You’ll usually spend more if you purchase at a brick-and-mortar store.

What Are The Limitations Of Powerline Networking?

Although powerline networking is a great alternative to more popular networking methods, it does have a few limitations that are important to note.

First, powerline network adapters cannot be plugged into a surge protector unless the surge protector that you own specifically states otherwise. This can be a bit of an issue if you already have a power outlet crisis in your home, which isn’t unheard of these days.

Second, powerline network adapters are usually on the larger side. The ones that I use are approximately five inches long, an inch and a half thick, and three inches wide. There are some smaller models, but none are tiny. This can be an issue if your power outlets are behind a piece of furniture or otherwise in a confined space.

Finally, powerline adapters still have to connect to your computer with an Ethernet cord. If your computer is not already near a power outlet with a free socket you may need to re-arrange your furniture or simply deal with having an Ethernet cord visible.

Conclusion

Those minor problems aside, powerline networking is an incredible solution. I personally use it for all the desktop computers in my home, and I would never go back to wireless. Powerline networking combines the flexibility and simplicity of wireless with the performance of wired. You must check it out if you’re unhappy with wireless performance in your home.

For more information check out the MakeUseOf PDF Guide To Computer Networks.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• No related posts.

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Mp3 is really a cool stuff for music lovers who enjoy and appreciate quality music. It also provides the consumer with the convenience of purchasing the music online and ripping from purchased CD’s and is also easily portable.

The popularity of Mp3 format for digital music files has exploded within the past few years whereby you can download Mp3 files from peer to peer file sharing websites and commercial Mp3 download websites and can easily play on their portable or software based Mp3 players. You can easily email your favorite music songs to your friends and relatives. These Mp3 websites supply a wide variety of Mp3 tools such as Mp3 players, music file conversion software and Mp3 downloads that enables you to hear your favorite Mp3 anywhere in the car, office or even on the beach.

If you have a huge collection of your favorite songs that you want to listen in your car audio system but you are confused as how so many files could be stored onto your 800 Mb CD? Mp3 encoder or converter is the solution to this. An Mp3 encoder is the software that uses Mp3 codec (compression and decompression algorithm) to make MP3 files. Most of the encoders convert WAV file to Mp3 format whereas many can convert other formats such as WMA to Mp3.

Mp3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer 3 where at layer 3, psychoacoustics principles are applied so as to find and remove unnecessary sound data such as the stuff human ears don’t hear anyway (sounds above 16 KHZ) and leaving only crucial data.

After the essential data is separated from the redundant data, compression takes place and at this stage, the same amount of data is stored using fewer bits and less space of the disk. Here, the bit rate is the ratio of number of bits transferred between two devices per second and the higher the bit rate ratio, the higher is the sound quality and vice versa. 192 Kb/s is the frequently used bit rate used in peer to peer networks and most of the converters use variable bit rates. This enables to get better quality of sound because bit rate conforms to the dynamics of audio frames stored and this in turn keeps more important data.

There are number of mp3 encoders and software available today such as Lame, Fraunhofer, Music match jukebox, real jukebox , Blade, Audio catalyst, GoGo etc. The use of mp3 encoding engine depends upon your personal requirements and preferences.

For more information, visit our recommended website freedownloadmp3song.info

If you have been using Facebook for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that when you post a link to a YouTube video, Facebook embeds the video into your update for you.  It also works on several other types of links such as MP3 files.  I post links to recordings sometimes and this comes in handy.

Ever since version 2.9, WordPress has given users the ability to link from several services (such as Flickr and YouTube) and have the content automatically embedded without you having to grab a bunch of code.  WordPress uses the oEmbed protocol to accomplish this.  You might be asking “so what is this oEmbed thing all about and how does it help a WordPress user like me?”

What Is oEmbed for WordPress?

oEmbed has been described several different ways.  The WordPress Codex describes it this way:

…a protocol for site A (such as your blog) to ask site B (such as YouTube) for the HTML needed to embed content (such as a video) from site B.

oEmbed’s homepage also gives a description:

oEmbed is a format for allowing an embedded representation of a URL on third party sites. The simple API allows a website to display embedded content (such as photos or videos) when a user posts a link to that resource, without having to parse the resource directly.

So basically, oEmbed makes it possible for a webpage (ie. a WordPress site) to turn a link into embedded media simply by sending a request to the originator of the media content (such as YouTube or Flickr) for the embed code.

OK, so what does all that mean to me as a WordPress user?

How Does oEmbed Work With WordPress?

If you remember my example at the beginning about how Facebook handles YouTube links, you will know how YouTube links work in WordPress 2.9 and later.  You used to have to stop what you were doing, find the video to be embedded, and then find the embed code to paste into the HTML version of the post you were working on.

This process worked fine but now things are easier because of oEmbed.  Now, just grab the link.  There are two ways of using the link.  Allow me to demonstrate how it works using my own WordPress site.

• Grab the link from the YouTube page.

• Paste the link on its own line.

• This is what you’ll see.

• Or you can use a short code and type something similar to this and have some flexibility with formatting:

• This example would look like this:

In basic terms that is what oEmbed is and how it works with WordPress.  WordPress does not allow use of just any old URL with oEmbed for security reasons.  There is a list of accepted sites on the WordPress Codex page about embeds.  It should also be mentioned that you can add more sites.  This process should be left for another article to cover.

WordPress seems to be on a never ending journey to make our lives easier.  This embedding ability is just another small example.   What WordPress feature do you like that makes your life easier?   Have you tried oEmbed?

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

• WordPress.tv – The Best WordPress Tutorials Ever! (14 comments)
• WordPress Exploit Scanner Helps Administrators Scan Their Database For Malicious Files (14 comments)
• The 5 Free WordPress Templates To Dress Up Your Blog (26 comments)
• Save $87 By Making A Free ‘Thesis’ WordPress Theme Clone (25 comments)
• How To Move Your WordPress Blog To Another Host (8 comments)
• How To Install A WordPress Blog Locally On Your Computer (32 comments)
• How To Easily Create & Manage an FAQ Page For Your WordPress Blog (24 comments)
• How To Change Your WordPress Blog Theme In 3 Easy Steps (11 comments)
• Email Blog Updates To Your WordPress Blog With Postie (15 comments)
• Design Your Own WordPress Theme Easily With Constructor (15 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

The day-to-day antic of Tech Guys

Blu-ray disk format utilizes two video compression codecs for recording full length HD movie. One recording format is VC-1. This recording codec was co-developed by Microsoft. VC-1 is the variation of the Microsoft’s Windows media codec. Higher compression is offered by VC-1 codec and the signal loss during the process of encoding/decoding has been minimized. The other recording codec used by Bluray disk format is advanced video coding (AVC). It is an enhanced form of MPEG-4. The DVD disk format uses the MPEG-2 compression codec. MPEG-4 codec used by Blu-ray disc technology is more efficient than its predecessor MPEG-2. Bluray disk technology offers superior and exceptional quality of audio/video at lower bit-rates that the DVD disc format. The HD quality offered by Blu-ray media disks exceeds the users’ expectations. Both these recording codecs offer more flexibility to the studios for recording their Bluray media disks. When the pre-existing DVD released bonus features are ported to the Blu-ray disk format, then they are recorded in the MPEG-2 codec. The Bluray disk players are very useful as they can also play the DVD media disks thus providing additional benefit to the users.

Bluray disk players also perform the up-gradation of the 480p DVD standard to the quasi high definition levels and then up to resolution of 1080p. That is how a Blu-ray player enhances the resolution and quality of DVD. Blu-ray disk format supports the latest HD audio codecs. The combination of advanced A/V receivers, decoding power and massive storage capacity of Bluray technology ensure such high quality. The other two competing codecs Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio have the capability to reproduce 7.1 discrete audio channels with increased dynamic range and accuracy ever before achieved in home. In order to shrink the storage requirements and bandwidth, these codes use compression. As a result of this compression, the soundtracks produced are the original PDM master tapes’ bit perfect copies.

Interactivity has been improved in the Blu-ray disk technology. BD-Live is also supported by the BD-ROM Profile 2.0. Its features can be updated through the internet. The Profile 1.1 players require WiFi connection or Ethernet port for fast speed internet connectivity. That is why most of the profile 1.1 Bluray disk players will not support the profile 2.0. The players need to temporarily store at least 1-GB of varying data amount. Use of SD memory card of USB flash drive can do the trick. The latest Bluray disk players fully support BD-ROM 2.0 Profile. These Blu-ray players also have network ports that help the users in enabling new features and fixing bugs. Java software is an essential component of the Blu-ray specification that assists in interactivity and elaborates the popup disk menus. On the other hand in DVD format, the animated menus are pre-rendered. The top games of new generation also benefit from the highly reliable BD-Java technology. The outer layer of the high capacity Blu-ray media disk is more durable and harder that protects the surface from scratches and dust particles thus resulting in a more efficient and reliable media disk technology.

LISLE, Illinois – August 26, 2009 – Altima Technologies, Inc. the leading provider of software for designing, diagramming and documenting physical networks, racks and data centers announces the availability of NetZoom 9.3. With this release, NetZoom adds support for Microsoft® Office Visio® 2010 and AutoCAD® 2010 by Autodesk®, Inc. and extends the operating system environments to include Windows 7 as well as both 64-bit and 32-bit systems of Windows XP and Vista.

NetZoom is a subscription based product that can be used for designing, diagramming and documenting various kinds of networks including campus area networks, wireless networks, SANs, LANs, and WANs. As of NetZoom 9.3, all current NetZoom subscribers are automatically upgraded to allow access to the complete Universal license which includes the largest library of computer, telecom, infrastructure, audio, video and security product equipment shapes.

NetZoom is designed to make the task of producing an accurate network map easier by providing realistic device representations and facilitating port-to-port connectivity. NetZoom’s features provide completeness and extensibility to the user experience. The Smart Update feature ensures that users have access to all the devices required in their diagrams and the Export feature enables users to reuse data from their design diagrams in other applications.

“In order to meet the needs of our customers and keep pace with the ever evolving technology environment, NetZoom now supports the latest Microsoft and Autodesk products. This fact, coupled with the intuitive user interface, features and Productivity Tools, enables NetZoom users to easily create network layouts, wiring diagrams and rack elevations,” says Alan Schenwar, General Manager of Sales at Altima Technologies, Inc.

By using the NetZoom Productivity Tools, NetZoom helps the IT professional plan, troubleshoot, optimize and manage his IT infrastructure through the use of accurate network visualization. The NetZoom 9. 3 Productivity Tools include:

• Data Center Template for Microsoft Visio – design a plan view layout of a data center floor, preview rack usage and drill down into rack elevations
• Rack Builder for Microsoft Visio – configure front and rear rack elevations simultaneously using front or rear mounted devices
• Configurator – build custom configured chassis and racks to use in your network layout
• Property Manager – customize the data properties for site-specific parameters
• Watermarks – mark devices with dynamic or static watermarks
• Cross References – build a cross reference catalog of comparable devices

Availability

NetZoom 9.3 is immediately available. NetZoom includes a renewable 12-month subscription to download the Universal equipment shape and Visio stencil library updates and allows customers to request shape development at no additional charge. Visit www.NetZoom.net for complete pricing options.

About Altima Technologies

Altima Technologies, Inc., founded in 1995, is an Illinois corporation with headquarters in the Chicago area. Altima has pioneered revolutionary solutions in the areas of network design, diagramming, and documentation with its NetZoom software, enabling IT professionals to more effectively design, manage and optimize their networks.

Altima, a Microsoft Certified Partner, is recognized worldwide as the leading solution provider in these fields and offers custom shape and Visio stencil solutions to clients and partners. For more information about Altima or to learn more about our customized solutions, visit www.NetZoom.net or call 630.281.6464.

DVD disk format is mostly used as a video recording medium. But as the time progressed, the need arose for a new high definition video. The high definition televisions gained more popularity because of its superior quality and resolutions. Therefore the time had come to introduce a new media disk format to accommodate increasing demands of the consumers. The DVD disk format did not have the capability to accommodate and support the massive data amounts of HD video and audio.

Therefore 2 new disk formats were introduced to replace the DVD disk technology. These two disc formats were Blu-ray disk and the high definition DVD technology. This gave rise to a format war just like that of CD vs laser disc or VHS vs Betamax. This format war hindered the adaptation of any one of these disk formats for some time. But at the end, the winner was the Bluray disk format. Therefore, most of the companies went for the Bluray media technology. The other leading media manufacturing companies adopted the Bluray disk technology because of its increasing popularity, massive capacity and reliability. Bluray Disk technology by all means has is the winner of the format war and now it has established new standards for HD audio and video.

Red laser was used in both of the prior disk technologies (DVD and CD) for reading the lands & pits. Bluray as its name suggests uses the blue laser for this purpose. That is how it got its name. Blue lazer features a shorter wave-length that contributes to the increased precision and recording capability. The blue lazer enables the media disk to compact more amounts of information onto the same physical space. Therefore the physical size of the Blu-ray disc remains the same as the DVD discs, but the Bluray disk’s recording capacity is much more than DVDs. High storage capacity is exactly what is required by the HD audio and video, and Bluray disk technology is efficiently meeting this requirement. Bluray disk’s massive recording capability has made it more attractive and ideal disk format for gaming technology and data storage. Prices of the highly efficient Bluray disk players have dramatically dropped over the years thus making it the highly preferred choice of the consumers. The Bluray players also feature the capability to play the DVD and CD disks.

Sony has also introduced the Blu-ray disk technology in its Play-station 3. Therefore it is one of the first devices based on Bluray technology that has reached the mainstream. This was a great attraction for the gamers and hence boosted the sales of Play station 3 game systems because it offered the highly reliable Bluray technology. On needs a High definition television to take full advantage of the high definition experience provided by the Blu-ray disk technology.

Verbatim also manufacture the Blu-ray media disks. The dual layer Verbatim Blu-ray disk has the capacity to record 50GB data at speed of 2x. This will be equivalent to HD video of about 4 hours. Therefore, the highly durable Bluray disk technology offers more luxury as the consumer do not have to change or flip the Bluray disc for recording such high voluminous information.

Maxell has intelligently engineered Blu-ray disk products on the basis of its vast experience in DVD disk media. Maxell is a leading manufacturer of media products. The demand for high definition is increasing rapidly. Maxell offers a complete range of highly durable Blu-ray media products that deliver exceptional performance and ensure high quality storage for longer time periods. Maxell Bluray DVD disk allows the users to record high density information in HD. Maxell has specifically designed the Blu-ray disks to ensure high quality storage and efficiently meet the increasing demand of the users for high capacity disk storage media.

This increase in demand began with the high definition TV. This has spread the demand for high definition to a whole new range of media. There is a demand for high quality in concert halls, movie theaters, video arcades, and all other places where there is a requirement for entertainment and communication. Now the question arises that how we can obtain this high quality? Well, the best cost efficient solution is the Blu-ray disk format. The focus has now been diverted towards the Blu-ray disk technology which is ideal for high capacity HD storage. Highly reliable Maxell Blu-ray technology has extended this HD revolution to media storage.

BD Bluray disc is specifically engineered to allow high density storage making it the most reliable and efficient optical disk format. The major difference between the DVD and Blu-ray technology is the laser that is used for reading & writing information on the disc media. Laser used in Bluray disk format is blue-violet and red laser in the DVD media format. Blue-violet laser is more advantageous than the red laser and allows more data to be packed in the same physical space. Wavelength of blue-violet laser is very shorter than that of red laser light. The area on which the laser focuses is called the “spot size”. Blue-violet laser’s shorter wavelength reduces the spot size.

Shorter wavelength in Blu-ray media technology enhances the storage density thus assisting the Bluray DVD disc to pack almost five times more data amount in comparison to the capacity of DVD disk. The increased capacity of Blu-ray disk makes it more advantageous and is the major reason for its popularity. Blu-ray media format is the smartest choice for storing high definition video. Bluray disk technology has now become indispensable for future of TV studios, film, data storage, home computing and several other aspects of media storage. Maxell is offering 50GB and 25GB rewritable and write-once Blu-ray media disks comprising of single and dual layers.

Maxell is continuously making advancements to their Blu-ray media products in order to make it more advantageous and reliable. Blu-ray disks are preferred by the users because of their high storage capacity making it the ideal media technology which has the capability to meet the needs of current and future high quality media. Optical media products and backup storage tapes are the forte of Maxell. Product line of Maxell Blu-ray includes BD-RE, BD-R 25GB, Dual Layer 50GB BD-R and dual-layer 50GB BD-RE.

Digital encoded audio & video information is stored on disks in form of pits. These pits are spiral grooves. These pits originate from the disk’s center and run through to its edges. Other side of pits is read by the help of laser in order to read and execute the program or movie which has been recorded on the DVD media disk. The pits on the DVD disk have to be more closely packed and smaller in size to store more information. The reading laser has to be more precise in order to read data from the smaller pits. DVD media uses red-laser while blue-laser is used in the new Blu-ray media disc format. This is how the Blu-ray got its name because of the blue laser. Red laser has 650 nanometers wavelength. On the other hand the wavelength of blue laser is much shorter which 405 nanometers is. Smaller sized laser beam can focus more accurately and precisely.

The blue laser has the ability to read to read data from the pits that have size of 0.15 µm (microns). One micron is equivalent to 10-6 meters. The pits on the DVD disk are twice as bigger than that of the pits on Blu-ray media disc. Track pitch in the DVD disc is 0.74 microns which has been reduced to 0.32 microns in the Blu-ray media disk. The shorter track pitch, smaller laser beam and smaller pits, all these features assist the Blu-ray disk to record data of 25-GB on a single layer. Now the users have more luxury as the recording capacity of Blu-ray media disk is 5 times more than DVD disk.

The thickness of DVD and Blu-ray disk is same. The thickness of both disks is 1.2 millimeters. The data recording procedure is different for both disk types. DVD disc has 2 polycarbonate layers and the thickness of each layer is 0.6 mm. The information which is to be recorded on DVD disk is sandwiched between these 2 layers.

A layer on top of the recorded information can lead to birefringence. In birefringence, the laser light is refracted into 2 separate beams by the substrate layer. Data cannot be read from the DVD disk if the laser light splits too wide. Disk tilt is another problem that is caused if the surface of DVD disc is not totally flat or it is not precisely perpendicular to the laser the light. The laser beam distorts due to disk tilt. Very involved manufacturing procedure is required in DVD disk to avoid these problematic issues.

These problems have been solved in the Blu-ray disk format. In Blu-ray disk format, the data is recorded on top of polycarbonate layer whose thickness is 1.1 mm. This technique of Blu-ray overcomes birefringence. So as a result the readability problems are avoided in the Blu-ray disk format. In Blu-ray disc format, the objective lens and the recording layer are very closer to each other.

This closeness to the objective lens virtually eliminates the disk tilt problem which enhances the performance. The outer side of Blu-ray media disk is protected by a hard coating because the recorded information is very closer to the blu-ray disk’s surface. This hard coating feature makes the Blu-ray media unique, robust, efficient and more advantageous. The hard coating layer protects the Blu-ray disk surface from fingerprints and scratches. Therefore, the Blu-ray media disc is able to store information for longer time periods. Blu-ray media format is more reliable and robust.