Review: PowerDVD 13 Ultra media player is loaded with under-the-hood improvements

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AppId is over the quota

The PowerDVD Ultra series have been the most powerful, feature-laden DVD, Blu-ray, and media players available at retail. On the other hand, each version has also been somewhat slow to launch and sluggish to respond. Version 13 starts up more quickly and is better all around, although it's not a startling upgrade if you already have version 12. That said, there are more than a few new features here, including a user interface that Windows 8 aficionados will find appealing.

Before getting into the new stuff, a quick but impressive list of what PowerDVD Ultra already supports: Playback of DVDs and 2D and 3D Blu-ray movies with resolution enhancement; cataloging and playback of large collections of photos, music files, and videos; a 10-foot interface for use with a remote; and playback of media streamed via DLNA media servers (e.g., other PCs and NAS boxes).

PowerDVD 13 Ultra ($100) now supports every major video technology, including 2K/4K resolution, AVCHD 2.0 and 3D, and it comes with free players and remote-control apps for iOS and Android devices, plus PowerDVD Mobile for Windows tablets (both Windows 8 and RT). The Android and iOS apps are also free with the $80 Pro version, but you’ll need to pay $20 for PowerDVD Mobile. The Pro version drops support for 3D, 7.1-channel surround sound, and DLNA. You’ll need to pay for all three apps if you buy the $60 Deluxe version, which subtracts both Blu-ray and 3D support. Upgrades from previous versions of PowerDVD start at $45.

The last two versions of PowerDVD had the program morphing into a jack-of-all-trades media player, and version 13 continues that trend—albeit mildly. There’s a new a movie library with art for video files (not just movies), though as with many players, it's rather hit or miss on whether the art is correct. If the file name is explicit enough, it does okay. PowerDVD is also ready for Ultra Violet, the online movie storage/delivery service, and it already supports video streaming from most social networks (Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

PowerDVD 13 Ultra now provides its TrueTheater enhancements for 1920-by-1080p video. TrueTheater bypasses GPU hardware acceleration, though, so the hardware requirements are extreme. Even on a Core i7 965 test bed, enhanced video wouldn't play smoothly beyond about 25 Mbps. That’s fine for smaller downloaded files, but not for most Blu-ray movies. If you have the horsepower, TrueTheater really makes video look better. The ability to disable BD-live to speed movie start times is another significant improvement.

Cyberlink added support for two lossless audio codecs that will endear it to hard-core music fans everywhere: FLAC and APE. There's also a software EQ with common settings, and you can use Dolby to produce more spacious sound, but there’s no support for bass enhancement such as Windows Media Player's SRS TruBass. A new mini-player keeps the program out of the way when playing music.

With PowerDVD, CyberLink aspires to deliver the ultimate all-in-one solution for multimedia on the desktop. Version 13 is closer to that ideal, but still lacks a few features, including live TV support. It remains the best available video and movie playback application for state-of-the-art technologies (there are no free Blu-ray 3D alternatives). Only Corel's $50 WinDVD 11 comes close.

Jon L. Jacobi has worked with computers since you flipped switches and punched cards to program them. He studied music at Julliard, and now he power mods his car for kicks.
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Review: IFTTT connects social media, photo and other Web services

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AppId is over the quota

Think of social media—and the Web in general, really—as a game of dominoes: One action creates an entire range of reactions. That's what makes it so powerful...and so time-consuming, especially for those people who are trying to update a constant stream of information on multiple social media accounts. But IFTTT tries to make this easier by allowing you to link Web services, so doing something on one triggers the rest. It is a free service that's a lot like its name: a little bit confusing until you understand just how simple and useful it is.

IFTTT (it's pronounced like "gift" without the "g") stands for If This Then That. And that basically describes what IFTTT does: when one thing happens, IFTTT lets you create an automatic reaction. You could, for example, use IFTTT so that you'll receive a text message whenever someone posts a picture of you on Facebook. Or to receive an email if the weather forecast calls for rain. Or automatically save a copy of a photo to Dropbox whenever one is posted to Instagram.

IFTTT's neat, clean interface makes the service easy to use.

To use IFTTT, you simply create a free account with your email address. Then, you can get started building IFTTT recipes. IFTTT works on the basis of channels, which are what it calls the basic building blocks of its recipes. Channels are things like Facebook, Evernote, Email, Weather, Buffer, Craigslist, and more—there are 59 channels currently available.

To create a recipe, you select the first channel and then the trigger (the "this" part of IFTTT). Once the channel is selected, IFTTT displays applicable triggers. When I selected Etsy as my channel, available triggers were things like "new purchased item" or "new item in shop."

After selecting the trigger, you select the channel and the action (the "that"). The same 59 channels are available as the action channels; once you select one, you activate (if it's not already active) and then choose the action from the available choices.

Once you select the channel and the action, you can customize it using what IFTTT calls Ingredients. These ingredients are pieces of data from the trigger. For Etsy, the ingredients could be the Etsy URL and the price. For Facebook, the ingredients could be a photo caption and the image source. You use these ingredients to customize the resulting action, such as sending a text message or email, or posting a status update to Facebook.

IFTTT lets you customize any messages it sends or posts by adding "ingredients," which can be a bit confusing.

Once all the pieces are in place, you can save your recipe by giving it a name. Recipes can be kept private or shared with the entire IFTTT community—and IFTTT does have plenty of shared recipes to give you ideas or the building blocks for creating your own. (When you share a recipe, you're not sharing access to your personal data; anyone who accesses the recipe only gets the basic steps, and then fills in their own personal data to make it work for them.) When you select a channel, you'll have to give IFTTT access to your account, which usually involves either linking accounts or granting certain permissions. This process was simple and painless with all of the channels I tested.

Using IFTTT is actually a lot easier than explaining it, though the service is definitely not perfect. I was, for example, slightly disappointed with the result of one of my recipes. I set up a recipe where I would get a text message whenever a photo of me was tagged on Facebook. I set the action channel—the text message I'd receive—to include ingredients like caption, image source, upload date, and uploaded by. I was hoping to receive a detailed message with the photo and all of the data I'd requested. Instead, I got a link to view the photo online (not on Facebook)—and only the photo, not any of the other info I'd requested. The message format makes sense (given that it was an SMS, not MMS), but that SMS still could have included the additional details about the photo that I'd requested.

I was more impressed with my other IFTTT recipes, though, and I was definitely amused by some of the shared recipes available on the site. One user created a recipe that will alert him via SMS if the CDC reports a zombie outbreak, while another user created one that automatically uploads any photo he posts to Facebook to Picasa, too.  These two recipes sum up the appeal of IFTTT: it's fun and pretty darn useful, too.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can use this Web-based software.

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Review: Songbird Desktop is much more than just a media player

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AppId is over the quota

Songbird Desktop is a media player that's not chained to your desktop, despite its name. Although this free application for PC and Mac will organize you collection and playback audio and video files from your computer, it's also a tool for discovering new music, learning more about your favorite artists, and connecting with friends.

Songbird installs quickly and easily, but getting your music into the program is entirely up to you. You have to add files manually, by pointing Songbird in the direction of your media collection. Once your songs and videos are added to Songbird, you can take advantage of its basic media playback functions. You can play songs, rip CDs (but not burn them), create playlists, and more. Songbird does play videos, but you may have to download some video codecs to play back all files, as Songbird doesn't include some that would require it to pay a royalty.

Songbird includes a Web browser that lets you discover info about your favorite artists.

Songbird will sync with Android mobile devices and smartphones, but not Apple's products. While iPhone and iPod owners are out of luck, Android users will appreciate that Songbird syncs with their devices. I had to download an add-on from Songbird's library in order to get the application to recognize my Motorola Droid Bionic, but once I made it through that somewhat confusing process, Songbird worked seamlessly with my phone.

In fact, Songbird's extensive library of add-ons is just one of the factors that make this application so interesting. In there, you can find add-ons that will do everything from adding lyrics to songs as they play to displaying album art from Last.fm. If you're willing to spend some time poking around the add-on collection, you can find plenty of tools for customizing everything from the look of Songbird to the experience of using its Web browser, which displays right in the main window of the application. This  allows you to find out more about your favorite artists. It also allows you to connect with other users, and lets you connect via Facebook to find out what artists your friends like, too.

Songbird's interface is a bit bland, but you can customize it with skins to get a new look.

And that's not all: Songbird also works as a media server, streaming your media collection to UPnP or DLNA devices on the same local network. It's also available as a Web app and an Android app that sync with the desktop version. In short, there's not a lot Songbird can't do.  It may all be too much for the casual user who simply wants to listen to a few tunes, and if you want to sync them to your iPhone, you're out of luck. But adventurous music fans looking for a player that they can customize will find a lot to sing about in Songbird.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software appropriate to your system.

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Inspiring the youth of today through Digital Media

It’s so important to give young people the opportunity to express themselves creatively.

One such initiative which is doing just that is Adobe Youth Voices, a programme by the Adobe Foundation which aims to empower youth from underserved communities with digital media skills so that they can comment on their world, share their ideas and take action on issues that are important to them. More specifically, the programme encourages young people to express themselves through documentary videos, photography, print media, radio diaries, animation, web communications and other media.

The Adobe Foundation recently announced the winners of the first-ever Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards. The only global youth competition of its kind, the Aspire Awards showcases the very best of digital media created by teens, aged 13-18, who have demonstrated outstanding creativity and skill using video, print and/or audio to convey perspectives on issues that are significant to them.

There  were more than 800 submissions, with entries accepted in eight categories spanning animation, documentary, music video, narrative video, poetry/experimental video, audio, graphic design and photography.

A global panel of teen peers, youth media professionals, educators and media industry experts, including photographer Neil Bennett, spoken-word poet Sarah Kay and director Robert Kenner were responsible for judging all this fabulous work.

The lucky winners received prize packages containing Adobe software, laptops provided by Dell, HD camcorders donated by Samsung, Flip Mino HD video cameras, and a donation to their charity of choice. In addition, winners will get the opportunity to showcase their projects publicly through art galleries, Digital Arts Magazine, plus partner film festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including the Seattle International Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival and many more. What an incredible opportunity!

I’ve had a look at all the winners and amongst my favourites are Fermin Martinez from Puerta Joven (Mexico City, Mexico) who snapped up a Gold Award for this great video in the Animation category and Christian Ogando from the Urban Arts Partnership (New York, United States) who won a Gold Award for his Propaganda Posters in the Photography category.

This great initiative demonstrates just how effective digital media is at helping people across the globe make their mark and speak out about the issues that are important to them.

Have you expressed yourself in a creative way using digital media? If so, get in touch!

Liz Wilkins is Senior Marketing Manager for Education at Adobe Systems UK. Her involvement with Adobe Education products has seen her work closely with a range of educational institutions, championing the use of digital media tools in the curriculum, and their integration into a number of subject areas in order to better prepare students for the future demands of the workplace. Liz works closely with teachers and administrators integrating software, curriculums, and instructional resources as well as certification options and professional development tools. Through promoting digital literacy in cross-curricular education, teaching essential career skills, and streamlining administrative processes Liz has experience working in partnership with a diverse portfolio of schools and further education institutions.

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Source Interlink Media, LLC: 40 digital editions, 40 days

Source Interlink Media, LLC: 40 digital editions, 40 days « Adobe Digital Publishing function clearSearch() {document.search_form.s.value = "";} adobe.com      Adobe Digital Publishing / Source Interlink Media, LLC: 40 digital editions, 40 daysby Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Team  

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Social media made easy

If some back to think about Valentine's day of this year, our post about AccessLovecould you you, remember a social-media-type access Web database, which became very popular with Microsoft employees. Decided on the basis of a response the creator of AccessLove, present to show a "how we did it" session, how easy someone a similar system from scratch could build. We recorded this session, and now you can Watch the videos and follow along with the procedures on Office.com ! Learn some great tips for a professional form design, create macros data and publish in access services.

On a side note digging we here are content publishers at Microsoft keen to know what you think this kind of article, where we take you through a scenario from beginning to end, instead of after you all through a collection of feature-based articles. Do you think that this scenario-based content access faster learn more people can help? If so, what other scenarios do you think that we should cover? Please leave a comment and let us know!

--Chris downs

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Create rich media based presentations with producer (it's free!)

Do, to do more with the video in your PowerPoint 2010 presentations?

Should rich, media presentations that can be accessed and displayed in a Web browser from virtually anywhere?

Would you capture and synchronize audio, video, PowerPoint slides and images, and then in the Preview view and publish your presentations?

If you have answered any of these questions with Yes, you are in luck. Use Microsoft Producer, and take your video to the next level.

It is true that PowerPoint 2010 includes the possibility to make your presentations in videos. But if one more editing control, producer is an excellent tool to synchronize audio, video, slides and create images, committed and effective rich-media presentations.

And producer offers a variety of content creation changes, no matter whether you have a content and media professional or started just using PowerPoint.

The Crown, is it even for free.

Producer works with PowerPoint 2010 (32-bit), PowerPoint 2007, PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2002, and it is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

Two quick things to note:

See more about video in PowerPoint Bill shade incredibly popular post of the last month- ready, to test your Hollywood skills? Create impressive video presentations in PowerPoint.

And a quick note that the new PowerPoint homepage is up on Office.com.

-Joy Miller, for the PowerPoint blog team

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Boost your productivity of working with social media...?

You may find that headline counter-intuitive. The common perception is that social media are only updates posting, images, and connect with friends and family. If you have "social media" in your job title, you might think there is no way it can be part of the working day. However, social tools in the Office are to be adopted. In a recent independent survey of Rwandan professionals and students of age 18 and older social media under the direction of MarketTools Inc., 35 percent of respondents selected as an effective method of communication with colleagues, customers and suppliers. Some other interesting data points from the survey: 25% of respondents use social media to communicate and build relationships with colleagues. This figure was agreed up to 37% of the age group 18 - 24. 19% of respondents that social networking has helped to meet people who have made offline in valuable business relationships online. 89 Percent said their use of social media for personal communication increased or remained the same during the last Jahres.Es is no surprise that people use social media in their personal communication, but here at Microsoft, we believe that social networking can deliver real business value for all types of organizations. We have this with the social connector Outlook and SharePoint enable invested. And we have in cooperation with companies such as LinkedIn and Facebook. How can companies benefit from social networking? When used with a purpose, social tools in the Office with cooperation can help. Companies such as Getronics/Kpn and Catapult Systems have used social Outlook Connector professional social interaction and exchange of knowledge between the staff in different offices to promote that. James Sinclair of On-location advice used to build the social Outlook Connector and LinkedIn better business relationships and stay productive. James shared some thoughts with us recently: "Outlook of social connector (OSC) and LinkedIn work for me because it is an easy way to keep me informed of the people in my network." "I use this tool to interact with potential customers, employees and partners." "Nothing replaces face-to-face meetings, but OSC is part of my natural process of doing business, because it just there made in Outlook." "Often I find a degree of separation from someone I would like to do with business, and I use an introduction of a common contact, I discover by the OSC and LinkedIn."Of course we should take as for any communications platform, with social networking privacy and security to heart. With the social Outlook Connector, administrators can control and configure what networks with connect staff. Also, the social Outlook Connector users can choose which to bring social networks in their Inbox. He respects the privacy settings that have chosen users on social networks. The information that you see above your contacts depends on how much they have decided to share with you on social sites. Therefore, we have seen great examples of user acceptance of the Outlook social connector and social networking at work. You can to know you more, such as the Outlook social connector in this article on Office.com. I believe that social tools are a part of the workplace. With the right planning and the right tools, they can actually increase productivity. I encourage you to check out the Outlook social connector and think about how you use it in your company. Download the social network provider for Outlook social connector. Drop me a note, if you want to share your own experience! -Paco Contreras HerreraGroup product manager, Microsoft Office

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4 Moms media: Whitney Wingerd to work practically with Office (video)

Whitney Wingerd and their blogging colleagues are the brains behind the 4 moms media companies and their website, www.giftguidegirls.com. The four women met online. They are in three different places, have three different versions of Office, and work with Windows and Mac Office. Sounds familiar? Rhode Island-and the street work from Philadelphia,-they use change tracking in Word and Excel spreadsheets to perform their shared media consulting business.

By keeping tabs on client collaboration on media kits, Office keeps them contacts (among the four of them, they have hundreds) in contact with each other and virtually run the daily needs of a successful small business. The Office team gave them a briefing on the Office Web Apps, they optimize their cooperation or more, by eliminating the need to email helps things back and forth (such as the shared contact list).

For more information about some of the things that do Whitney and her team with Office, check out this article and templates:

Find all the Office blog-team coverage of MOM 2.0 in NOLA.

--Jessica reading

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