Update

Apr 27 2009

In the Know Updates

Keeping up to date is a big deal. Fortunately, theres a heap of free software to help you stay in the know and stay on the bleeding edge. This week we’re looking at a couple must have widgets that will help keep you informed as well as a couple spanking new updates of major applications.

mu In the Know UpdatesWoot Widget

For those of you who don’t know, Woot! is one insanely great deal a day. These deals are often so good they sell out in a matter of hours. Of course, with the Woot! Widget you’ll be able to see the daily deals right on your Dashboard.

mu In the Know UpdatesNews Reader

There are plenty of great RSS news readers out there. This one’s great because it brings your feeds to your Dashboard as a widget. The slick interface organizes your feeds and stories for quick access.

mu In the Know UpdatesFirefox 1.0.5 and And Deer Park Alpha 2

Here we’ve got an update for everybody. For the security conscious, there’s the newest security update for Firefox. For those who like to live dangerously, there’s the new Deer Park Alpha 2, the second development release of what will be Firefox 1.1. New in Alpha 2: migrate your Safari profile and try out the new shell service.

mu In the Know UpdatesMacromedia Flash 8 beta (player)

Talk about an old favorite. Grab the beta of the new Flash player and see if the speed improvements they’re talking about are real.

mu In the Know UpdatesKennedy Space Center Video Feeds

With our crazy friends busting open comets, you never know what they might be up to at NASA. They may be shooting off that shuttle any minute now. Keep your eye on the happenings with this widget. Chose from NASA TV, Kennedy Space Center video and launch pads.

There you are, hooked up with the newest of the new and sure to be there when the next something big drops. See you next week…

Brian

mu In the Know UpdatesDownloads provided by MacUpdate

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Apr 27 2009

iDVD/DVD Burning FAQs

Brought to you by: James



((Update: Updated to reflect changes introduced by iDVD v5 and v6. This FAQ is now obsolete and will not be updated beyond this point.))



Ken Tidwell has a very informative Unofficial/ad-hoc iDVD FAQ & Troubleshooting Guide.



DVD-R(RW)s and DVD+R(RW)s only have one layer. Many commercial DVDs have dual-layer technology which allows twice the amount of data on one disk. (Burnable dual-layer DVDs can now be purchased from your favorite blank media retailer.)



DVD+R(RW)s have a longer shelf-life while DVD-R(RW)s are more compatible with house-hold DVD players.



iDVD versions prior to v5 are only capable of burning to internal Apple Superdrives.



iDVD requires its movie files to be any QuickTime-supported media file.



iDVD (v1-v3) can only burn 60 minutes to a DVD-R, or 90 minutes if you’re willing to sacrifice quality. (iDVD will ask to sacrifice quality for a 90 minute DVD when you choose to burn a project that is 60-90 minutes in length.) iDVD v4 (iLife ’04) can burn up to 2 hours on a single-layer DVD-R (sacrificing quality).



Toast 6 will burn to any DVD-R(RW) or DVD+R(RW) drive with any QuickTime-supported media file, and can burn “over 60 minutes” to a disk with optimal quality at 60 minutes or less (quality slowly decreases over 60 minutes). See Create a Quick and Simple DVD for details.



Apple’s DVD Studio Pro is a full, professional DVD authoring suite. Among several, more powerful features, DVD Studio Pro supports burning to several DVD-R(RW) and DVD+R(RW) burners and allows you to change compression settings, which enables you to choose the correct balance between video/audio quality and the amount of video on the disk.

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Apr 27 2009

Multi-network Chat Apps

Way back when I took a look at free, multi-network chat applications. Now the scenery has changed, and there’s a bunch more including offerings from Apple and Microsoft. Since the big boys have finally caught on, it is time to take another look at the offerings.

What is a multi-network chat client? It is a chat application that supports more than one chat network, usually including AIM, Yahoo and Jabber. Jabber itself is a client side multi-network solution.

Tiger’s iChat

With the update to 10.4, Apple introduced support for Jabber in iChat. With your Jabber account you can reach your buddies on other networks. Panther users, it isn’t all bad news. With a recent iChat update you can enjoy video chat with AIM Windows users.

mu Multi network Chat AppsMicrosoft Messenger

Messenger replaces MSN Messenger with a new brushed-metal look and support for Microsoft’s new enterprise chat network.

messenger Multi network Chat Apps

If you’re using Messenger on said network at work, you can connect to buddies on AIM/iChat, Yahoo and MSN chat networks. For those of you using Messenger at home, you’ll get multi-file transfer and tabbed chat.

mu Multi network Chat AppsFire

This classic has stayed current to the chat networks’ best efforts to lock out third party chat apps, and supports AIM, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo. Updated just last month, this app is packet with features.

mu Multi network Chat AppsAdium

Adium is one of the most feature-rich and stable of the multi-network chat apps out there, and includes a lot of extras.

adium2 Multi network Chat Apps

It, as well as Fire has been featured previously here on Freeloader. It uses some of the same code as the popular multi-network Gaim app for Windows and Linux.

Gaim port for Tiger

If you’re a die-hard Open Sourcer and would rather go straight for Gaim, there’s an OS X port thanks to the darwinports project. Also, Fink user’s will be happy to know that Gaim is available though Fink.

mu Multi network Chat AppsCoccinella

Just to go for total overkill, here’s another chat app that will get you through to your buddies. This app has both Jabber and peer-to-peer chat capabilities including drawing and text formating.

mu Multi network Chat AppsGush

Last one, I swear. This MSN, AOL and Yahoo compliant cat app also features a built-in news aggregator. It is an interesting combination of apps that just might be useful.

Now, no matter your chat network or OS X version, you can all enjoy a good chat with whomever you like.

Brian

mu Multi network Chat AppsDownloads provided by MacUpdate

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