New Year on earthcam.com

The ball in Times Square is about to drop and you want that feeling you are there celebrating among the New Yorkers. Well, with webcams and “big brothers” out there, I found a web site for webcam watching. Earthcam.com is a great way to tour around without leaving your living room.

On earthcam, you can be at Times Square looking from different cameras when the ball drops. How about seeing New Years in London or Moscow? You can do that on this site. You can even see if anyone is getting married in the wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

So, you can watch the New Year on television or you can track the New Year using earthcam.com. Just enjoy yourself and drink in moderation so that the hangover don’t hit you so bad. Happy New Year.

Right now I am looking for the best project to hook up for this blog. Right now I would like to take this time to wish everyone the best during the holiday season.

DVD Authoring Help

Christmas is coming and someone asked me about transferring their camcorder video to DVD and what software to use. I needed some more information before answering this question.

This is what I know;

• The camcorder the person uses is DV format, not the 8mm format. It also has a firewire or I-Link port as well as a RCA output ports and USB 2.0 port.


• Their computer was compatible for downloading music, playing games, office suite and surfing the internet.


• They have a 200gb hard drive as their second hard drive


• The computer has all the ports, USB and Firewire

The DV camcorder has some software with it but that person wants to use something different. Besides the Pinnacle Studio that I use, I talk about the Ulead Videostudio and the Roxio Videowave to do the editing as well as burning the DVD movie. With most of these editors, you can add a sideshow to your work as a extra project to impress the viewers.

The only thing that would take long would be the process. My personal experience with editing, encoding and burning would take me up to two hours. Inexperience videographers would take longer to know what they are doing.

Maybe your family gathering maybe droll, spice it up with a Q&A session, Having them to wish a happy holiday or you might want to add narration to make special documentry.

Hot Spots - Gamehouse.com

People have always asked, “Where do you get those great games from?” There are so many places to play online and to download to your computer. If you have a email account such as Yahoo or MSN, there is a section to play games online and even download a free trial or a complete free game.

Try www.Gamehouse.com for some of the popular games such as Super Bounce Out, Super Collapse 2 and Bejeweled 2. From word puzzles to action games, this is the spot for you.

What I like about this site is when you want to purchase the game from their online store, you can choose to buy your games using Paypal, credit cards or check and money order. I think you might want to call the company to see if they have the game on CD to purchase or to download it online.

Try it out online before you purchase it. One game can be popular for some people and not for you. Plus there are games people would not touch and you would fall head over heels for it.

My experence making wallpaper with Photshop

Wallpaper for the desktop is the most popular thing to have on your computer. It is like graffiti on your screen. The reason to have wallpaper on the screen is to;

1. Decorate your screen and give it that personal touch.

1. When you have more than one user on your computer, it shows which user screen is on or have access to the computer.


2. Just to show off your photos.

You can find different kinds of wallpapers out on the web for free or a fee. I have seen some of these works and I wondered to myself; “Can I do this, too?”

As I searched for doing wallpaper from online tutorials, there were different kind of wallpaper and many styles. From abstract to 3D, my head started to get that “brain freeze” effect when you eat a very cold ice cream bar. I made up my mind to do a basic photo manipulation wallpaper for my friend computer with his family.

When I first started this, I used MGI Photosuite 8.0 and Photosuite 2 (now under Roxio bundle package), to cut and move pictures to other canvases and make them more interesting. The problem is when you look at the picture, you can see the “scissors” effect around the picture. I need more power.

My former computer teacher introduced me to Adobe Photoshop and I was astonished just by the interface alone. Using layer and masks for my pictures took a good two months to getting use to. After seven months, I did my first wallpaper for my computer. Compared to everyone on the net, mine was like something from head start, but I am still learning.

There are other photo tools out there to do wallpaper, some of them are free and some comes with a fee. Here is a sample of my new wallpaper.

Confused about DVD? Me Too!

You say po-ta-to, I say pot-a-to. It is still a vegetable. This is the problem with DVD today. Some people use DVD+R (RW) and others use DVD-R (RW). People think all DVDs works in all DVD players and computer. That is not the case. Recording CD do not have any format to complicate but some there are some old CD players will not play those CDs. The DVD is totally different;

• DVD-R is the closest thing to be compatible to DVD players for entertainment and DVD rom.


• DVD+R will work in the newest DVD players and DVD rom and they will not work in older models.

To learn more go to http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/110 for a complete lowdown.

Before computers was my favorite hobby, I was a connoisseur in photograhy and videography. During a long period of time, my skills was less than good. Now with technology and digital media, I just did my first baby shower in a seven months. Here how it went:

• My brother and I was invited to a former co-worker baby shower, it was a last minute invite and I was not prepared for it. They know that the only baby shower gift they wanted was a video done by me. I just scramble a new digital camera from Samsung. It was on sale and I wasn't going to wait.
  
• Three days before the shower, I played with the camera without putting any tape inside. I needed to get a feel for it. I want to know that my fingers can touch the recording button, the zoom button and try out all the special features.
• Because it was a weekend, there were a few delays. Sometimes we must check transit conditions and destinations before leaving. I lost about five minutes of shooting, but we was in time for the unwrapping of the presents.
• One thing for sure, getting the right spot is important. I didn't have time to set up my tripod, so I switch on the stabilizer to stop the camera from shaking wildly. There were some children running in front of the camera and people passing by me. I had to stop and start recording each time an interuption comes and plagued my work.
• Some after shots with the mother and father to be waving at the camera, singing and extra shots of the family. I gain a some extra time on the video to work with.

At home, I review the video and we needed some more video to make it better than the other videos that their family and friends. First I needed a backdrop for my DVD. So I figured a picture of the family. Then I needed some video to put for the title. I went out to Times Square and grabbed some footage. It was time to edit the video. I used my Pinnacle Studio 9 program to cut out what I didn't need and to spuce my final production. It was my gift to them and it was my first step getting into the digital world of photography and videography.

You have an ipod but don't know what to do?

1. You can download music to listen on the go. If you have the ipod Photo, you can download your pictures and display them as a slideshow from itunes.
2. You can create two different kind of playlists: A playlist that you can drag and drop music from within your ipod using itunes to create and rearrange your playlist. A smart playlist would have you tweak the setting and define the name that you want to group.
   
3. You can use your ipod as a portable hard drive. You can transport any files and folders to one computer to another provided that you still have room from all of the songs you downloaded.
4. You also have a clock on your ipod. You can display the time above the menu board on your ipod. You have a sleep timer also. You can select how long you want to listen, from 30 minutes to 120 minutes. You can set your ipod as a alarm clock, having it to beep or your playlist to play. (This do not concern the ipod shuffle)
5. Using Outlook or Outlook Express, you can add address contacts to your ipod.
6. For more support go to www.apple.com for downloads and support.
   

We started this blog for our friends and families who have questions about using their computers. Plus we would blog about our favorite sites and software from the web. There are many other things you can use your computer to do, we are just here to open the door to it. We are Computer Critters, B.M.D & the Aceman and we are here to help, one step at a time.

So, we like to welcome you to Computer Critters.