It's annoying. You're out somewhere and you snap a photo with your Droid and "Click!" goes that shutter noise. You'd think it would simply be a matter of a setting somewhere to silence it, but there isn't... So how the heck do silence that annoying shutter noise? Well, here are a couple of ways to do it.
I was pretty anxious to try out the Miro Video Converter when I first heard about it. Being a new Droid owner I'm constantly on the prowl for new and cool ways to use my Droid. Especially ways to convert video for the Droid.
The appeal of the Miro Video converter is, besides being free, is its insanely easy user interface. You can simply drag and drop your video file on the the application, select your device from the drop-down list, and click Convert. That's it. There aren't any advance settings to muck with. That won't appeal to the more advanced users, but this app isn't targeted at them.
Ever wish to remove some the the junk in the Extras Library that you never use? If you've installed a plug-in and want it gone, you should be able to remove it completely through the Control Panel's Add/Remove programs. If you just want to hide any plug-ins for the time being or hide any of the built-in Extras, it's easily done. And if you ever want it back, it just as easy to bring it back.
This is a really nice feature if you listen to music on your Media Center HTPC. You'll need to initially setup rip settings in Windows Media Player (not WMC), but after you do that you can rip CDs to your Media Center library with nothing more than your MCE remote. Now if only you could train your pet to swap the CDs for you...
Read my full post on how to rip a music CD in Windows 7 Media Center at How-To Geek.
One feature missing from Windows 7 Media Center is the ability to customize the start menu by moving the tiles and strips around to better suit If your media habits. The only real way to do any of this type of customizing is being able to add Extras Library applications to the Main Extras strip. Enter Media Center Studio.This powerful application allows you to move around Media Center tiles and Menu Strips to your heart's content, and even add additional applications to Windows Media Center.
It should be noted right up front that this is a Beta application that does include some bugs. Another downside is that it includes zero documentation whatsoever and it isn't the least bit intuitive. However, it really is a great tool once you figure out how to use it.
Check out my full post at How-to Geek for a detailed look at how to use Media Center Studio to edit and customize your Windows Media Center menu. It should get you pointed in the right direction and hopefully save you a lot of time learning to use this program. Ready to dive right in? You can download Media Center Studio from the website.
Note: Media Center Studio can also be used to add Themes to Media Center, but I choose to attack that one in a separate post.
I had been experiencing this issue for a few months. I have a Hauppage 2250 tv tuner card installed in my standalone Windows 7 Media Center HTPC computer. It came with a Media Center remote that works perfectly in Media Center. However, it doesn't work with Hulu or Boxee. When I would switch over to Hulu or Boxee, the remote was basically non-functional. I say "basically" because If I held down the directional buttons long enough, the remote's focus would move, but it was virtually impossible to control.
Adding the the confusion is that I actually have a second Hauppauge 2250 setup on another computer, and that one works great with Boxee and Hulu. The only difference on this PC was that I was using a different IR receiver that came with a ASUS PE 9400 card I had been using previously.
I initially tried a few troubleshooting steps a few months ago, but none worked. Since watching Boxee or Hulu wasn't a huge priority at the time, I sorta just tabled the issue for awhile. I occasionally did a half-hearted search of Google or the Green Button and Hulu forums for a solution but came up empty handed until I found a solution on this thread on the Green Button forums.
Let's take a look at the solution. Note: Big, big thanks to jrox over on the Green Button forums for bringing this one to my attention.
I've always been fascinated by stars, planets, and outer space in general. If it weren't for the fact that Astronomy entailed way more math than I would have expected, perhaps I would even have majored in it in college.
If you are even slightly interested in the night sky you're likely to find Google's Sky Map App for Android pretty sweet. SkyMap will allow you to find planets stars, planets, and constellations, but allow you to identify the celestial bodies you are looking at in the night sky.
So... you are out to dinner and suddenly break out into a cold sweat because you realize that you forgot to record the latest episode of Lost. (Or, if you're me, the Simpsons). Relax. The good folks at FatAttitude have created a powerful remote recording application for Windows 7 Media Center called Remote Potato. And, not only will it allow you to record your favorite shows while you are on the go, it'll allow you to stream those recorded shows to your laptop or PC.
When I first took a look at this application back in late January (2010) I initially dismissed it as more trouble than it was worth. And truthfully, it probably was at that time. I was intruiged by what it could do, but it required extensive tweaking, which included configuring and using a third party EPG (electronic programming guide) instead of the built in guide in Media Center. However, the developers have been quite busy actively updating and improving on this application over the past few months. Now, you use the built-in guide, they've added streaming video (recorded TV) and are promising photo and music support in upcoming releases. The trickiest part of getting it setup now is configuring your router.
Check out my full post on Remotely Scheduling and Streaming Recorded TV in Windows Media Center with Remote Potato.
Do you have an add-in in your Extras Library that you'd like to have added to the main start screen in Windows Media Center? I love the WC7 Sleep Timer plug-in and use it virtually every night. Unfortunately it's located in the Extras library so it takes a few extra clicks on the remote (or mouse / keyboard) to get to the App. There a quick and easy way to put those Extras library favorites right on the main screen of your Media Center setup.
One of the great beauties of Media Center is being able to perform most any action with a remote. A really cool addition to Media Center is the ability to make simple edits to your digital photographs directly in Media Center. It's not going to prompt anyone to get rid of their copy of Photoshop, but it does support some basic editing tools. You have the ability to crop a photo and save the changes, add contrast, and there is even a red-eye removal tool.
If you prefer to use a more polished program to edit your photos, you may still find it useful to be able to print out your photos directly from Media Center.
If you want more details, check out my full article post on how to Crop, Edit, and Print Photos in Windows 7 Media Center at How-To Geek.
There really isn't much in the way of options here. At least not at this time. For the English speaking you really only have the options of regular old American accent or a "smashing good" British accent.
I ran into this cool little tidbit courtesy of Dave in CT's Media Center site. It's a secret debug mode that can be enabled by pressing 4-1-1 and then the "i" button on your Media Center Remote while watching Live TV. Now, I have to be honest, I haven't yet had a need to use this trick, but I'm sure it could come in handy if you have any issues with your tuner cards that you needed to troubleshoot. Either way, it's kinda cool!
It's easy enough to create a folder in for your Droid or other Android phone, but the default name of "Folder" isn't ideal. And, there isn't a way to change the name as you create a folder. (At least as of Android 2.1) What's worse is that changing the name on your Android isn't very intuitive. Let's take a look at how to rename a folder in Android.
Creating some folders on your Android phone is nice way to suppress screen clutter and better organize your apps. I've decided to do this for my Navigation shortcuts. This way I can simply tap on a shortcut while using my Droid for navigation. Anyway, here's how to create a folder.
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