October 2009

Merge multiple feeds into one

October 31, 2009 20:39 pm by Jal

FeedMingle - Merge multiple feeds into one

Are you a feed addict? Have you subscribed to more than 25 feeds of different websites? If you are one of those who like to get all the information at a one stop shop, then you must also be knowing the confusion that comes along with. Managing multiple feeds in your feed reader is not an easy task. But hopefully there is something that comes to the rescue – FeedMingle.

FeedMingle.com is a feed aggregator site. Meaning, it turns your multiple feeds into a single feed so that you don’t have to manage all of them. It is not another feed reader so you can relax. Just visit FeedMingle.com and you will know what I mean.

FeedMingle - Merge multiple feeds into one

The best part is, there is no such thing as ‘sign up’ or any kind of identity verification. Just stuff in the desired feed URLs, give a name to your ‘hybrid’ feed and click ‘Mingle Now’. You can use the new merged feed just as a regular feed.

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Technorati Tags: feed aggregator,feedmingle,merge feeds

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How to add extended ID3 tags to mp3 files

October 30, 2009 10:35 am by Jal

I love music. I love by 20GB+ of music library. And I love it more when they are properly organized in an orderly fashion. That’s why I always double check ID3 tags for proper Artist, Album and Year information before adding any new mp3 song file to my library. Nowadays the music players have become so flexible that they can organize your music collection based on ID3 tags and presents you automated playlists based upon them. But for this, you need to have a music collection that has superbly well-organized ID3 tags.

While on one hand you can easily set Artist, Album, Year and Contributing Artists tags through the mp3 file properties, very few might know that you can add more information about Lyricist, Copyright, Mix artist, Recording company, Composer, Publisher, Album art and even full Lyrics into the mp3 file itself. All these information can be added to the mp3 file. All you need is a good ID3 tagging software and I think MP3Tag is the best out there. Download it and get ready to optimize your music library by adding extended ID3 tags:

1) Open MP3Tag and drag n’ drop some mp3 files into it. Select mp3 file(s), ‘Right click’ > ‘Extended tags…’

Add extended ID3 tags to mp3 files

2) In the window that appears, you can edit the existing extended tags or make your own.

Add extended ID3 tags to mp3 files

3) Press the ‘Add Field…’ button as shown above and the ‘Edit tag info’ window will appear. Use the drop down to select the desired field you want to set. Enter its value in the ‘Value’ field below. Press ‘OK’. Likewise you can set many such extended tags which are inaccessible otherwise.

4) Some of the important extended tags you would want to set are: Composer, Lyricist, Lyrics, Copyright and Website information.

Download MP3Tag

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Technorati Tags: multimedia tricks,adding tags to mp3,extended id3 tags,id3 tags,mp3 tags

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Hide Firefox’s download manager window

October 29, 2009 13:14 pm by Jal

Firefox is an amazing browser with lots of features and support for 3rd party addons. But with lots of features, comes little annoyances that you hardly even notice. But it there. Such is the default download manager window. Whenever you start a download, the download manager window pops up, distracts you, takes away focus and requires your action to minimize it. I personally find it very irritating. I just need to know my download progress whenever *I* feel so. If you are also the one getting annoyed by the little download manager window, here’s a quick tip:

1) Open Firefox and navigate to ‘about:config’.

2) In the ‘Filter:’ box, type in ‘download.manager’ and you will get all the configuration options related to download manager.

Hide Firefox's download manager window

3) Double click ‘browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting’ to change its value to ‘false’.

You’re done. Now whenever you click a download link, the download will be done silently and in case you want to see the download progress then click ‘Tools’ > ‘Downloads’ or simply Ctrl+J.

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Technorati Tags: firefox tweaks,hide download manager in firefox,firefox tricks,configure firefox

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How to sync audio/subtitles to video in VLC without encoding

October 29, 2009 6:46 am by Jal

Ever found yourself in quite a baffling situation where you play your favorite movie on your computer but it’s hardly pleasing to eyes and ears? That happens when the audio and/or subtitles is not in sync with the video. Nowadays, you may find rips of DVDs and Bluray discs which are not properly encoded. The result is unsynchronized audio and video. One solution is to have your own video editing software, a technical know how and at least an hour of spare time. If you don’t want any of them, then follow the trick:

1) Download VLC Player and install it, if you haven’t got it yet.

2) Open the video file in VLC Player.

3) Click ‘Tools’ > ‘Track Synchronization’

Sync tracks with audio in VLC

4) In the windows that appears, you can change the values in milliseconds to get the desired results – right away.

Sync tracks with audio in VLC

If audio and/or subtitles are lagging behind: Use + to advance the audio and/or subtitles to match the video.

If video is lagging behind: Use – to slow down audio and/or subtitles to match the video.

You can even change the speed of subtitles in frames per second to get optimum results. Most videos have frame-rate of either 23.976 or 25 FPS. The best part is, you can tweak the synchronization on trial and error basis without encoding the video which saves time!

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Technorati Tags: vlc player,multimedia tricks,sync audio and video without encoding,sync subtitles without encoding

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2 ways to manage friendly spam in Gmail

October 28, 2009 16:37 pm by Jal

Have you ever subscribed to a mailing list or commented on a website/blog and check-marked ‘Notify me of follow up comments’ and are now fed up with the thread that always shows up as ‘Unread’? It becomes more irritating when you find the updated conversation has nothing to do with you. But you still want to continue subscribing it because you hope something might just interest you in future. If you are using Gmail, there are two ways to spare yourself the annoyance.

Method #1 – Using ‘mute’ feature

If you find a mailing list conversation irrelevant, you just need to ‘mute’ it and all the future conversations will stay out of your inbox. To mute a conversation, simply select it and click ‘More actions’ > ‘Mute’.

Using 'mute' feature in Gmail

However, muted conversations are simply ‘off’ your inbox and not ‘Read’ mails. They will remain as ‘Unread’ mails and you can search for muted conversations by typing ‘is:muted‘ in the search box.

To unmute the conversation, select the muted conversation and click ‘Move to inbox’.

Method #2 – Using Filters

You can manage such friendly spam with ‘Filters’ too. This will require you to have a bit of common sense.

1) First, select the conversation and click ‘More actions’ > ‘Filter messages like these’.

2) The ‘Filter options’ panel will be displayed on top. By default, the email address of the sender is already entered in the ‘From’ field. You can tweak the filter by using a ‘unique’ word from the subject line of the conversation and entering it into the ‘Subject’ field. Click ‘Next step»’ button.

Manage friendly spam in Gmail using filters

3) Now, checkmark ‘Mark as read’ and ‘Also apply filter to xx conversations below’ options and click ‘Create filter’.

Manage friendly spam in Gmail using filters

Once you make a filter, all the future additions to the conversations won’t light up as ‘Unread’ mail. It will still remain in your inbox but will less annoy you.

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Technorati Tags: manage spam in gmail,friendly spam in gmail,using filters to manage spam,mute feature in gmail,muting conversations in gmail

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30+ New Windows 7 themes from Microsoft

October 27, 2009 16:19 pm by Jal

Last week has been pretty exciting for Microsoft as it launched its most awesome OS ever but I guess the party is still not over. Microsoft is giving out small surprises like never before. There is lots of happening things going on over at Microsoft.com and here’s one example of it.

Recently, Microsoft put up 30+ Windows 7 themes on the Windows Personalization Gallery. Just click on the individual .themepack file, download it and double-click it to install the new themes. Moreover, checkout the new wallpapers in the ‘Desktop backgrounds’ tab.

30+ New Windows 7 themes from Microsoft

Visit Windows Personalization Gallery

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Export Google Docs to ZIP Archive

October 27, 2009 12:32 pm by Jal

Google Docs, an online word processor, spreadsheets, presentations and forms creator just keeps getting better. The guys at Google Docs are frequently putting in new features may be because a similar service called Office Web Apps have been initiated by Microsoft.

Google Docs have added a new feature using which you can export your documents into a ZIP archive and download it on your computer for offline use. Till now, a 3rd party utility called GDoc Backup was used for the purpose. But now with the introduction of the ‘Export as ZIP Archive’ feature, you won’t be needing any 3rd party applications.

Here’s how you do it:

1) Login to Google Docs and select all files you want to download as ZIP archive.

2) In the menu above, click ‘More actions’ > ‘Export’

Export Google Docs to ZIP Archive

3) A new frame window will appear. If you notice it properly, there are options for file conversion before downloading. If you don’t want to convert files then simply click ‘Continue’.

Export Google Docs to ZIP Archive