View TV with Zattoo

Online television has only become a viable possibility in recent years; with increasing broadband speeds and advances in multimedia downloading and streaming, consumers have been able to benefit from a wealth of online entertainment. A lot of online possibilities have popped up on the ‘Net which allow you to view TV shows and other entertainment sources.. However, Zattoo is slightly different in that it allows you to watch a variety of channels live in fairly high quality.

Zattoo streams TV from a wide range of channels over the Internet in near real-time.

I must admit that the first time I tried this software I was excited but quite unimpressed: the video was choppy and kept breaking up. It was so poor that I usually gave up with it and turned on my television, putting up with abysmal picture quality. I only started using Zattoo again when I wanted to ardently work away on my masses of work on my laptop whilst enjoying a rather smashing film on my desktop’s monitor, which happens to be merrily placed behind and to the left of my laptop’s home. Upon loading up Zattoo, I was startled to find an update. After recovering from this profound startlement, I applied it, noting that one of the issues which it claimed to fix was the choppiness of the video. It seems that it did. I can’t say that it’s perfect – there’s still a bit of occasional choppiness, but it occurs much less often than previously and to a less extreme extent. I had also been ailed by occasions where the software would stop receiving video for a little while; I’d be stuck watching the same frozen picture whilst the sound continued on, this is much rarer now, too.

Anyway, the program itself is really quite dandy: it allows you to watch a variety of TV channels live (well, only a very slight delay, which can be expected from streaming like this. I’ve currently got over 40 channels to choose from, 5 of which are offered in high quality – picture streams with better images than the other channels. That’s not to say that the other channels have poor picture – they’re actually quite good. Unfortunately there’s currently no way to pause or rewind TV, and I don’t see this feature coming any time soon due to the licensing issues I would expect they’d have to tackle to add these features.

Overall, a great bit of software. I’m hoping they’ll iron out the final few picture quality issues in this useful and entertaining application. I should also be remembered that it’s still in beta, so here’s hoping that the final release will be even better. The software is, of course, completely legal – it’s supported by revenue from adverts. You’ll see these whilst waiting for a channel to load and above the list of stations, but they’re not distracting and shouldn’t sour you on this good bit of kit. You can download it from www.zattoo.com to give it a try.

Create your own fonts with YourFonts

I’m mildly obsessive over fonts: if you use one I like I’ll probably pester you for the name, or if you use my most loathed, Comic Sans, I will badger and pester you until you delete the font from your PC or delete me from your mental list of friends. Therefore, I jumped at the chance to make my own fonts. It was much quicker and easier than expected, and I can now write documents and other such jazz with my very own handwriting, not that I’d want to given the state of it.

You can create your own font using any style of writing you like. It's then simple to use it in Windows.

YourFonts is an online service which does the legwork for you. All you need to do is find time out of your busy schedule to write the letters of the alphabet and a few bits of punctuation on a template and scan it into your PC. Life’s tough, isn’t it? For all that arduous labour, YourFonts automagically generates a Truetype font file which you can then install in Windows (see here for instructions on installing fonts. Or just try copying and pasting the font file into the font folder – as shown here.) I found that, despite being installed, the font won’t show in Windows’ fonts folder – but it is usable in my files; it can just be chosen from the list in the same way you would any other.

The service doesn’t appear to serve any serious purpose other than a little bit of fun; it certainly won’t provide an alternative to professional font creation. If you’re blessed with a steady hand and some patience, you make a neat, smart font using this service, one which you may regularly want to use. Alternatively, you could also put in symbols instead of letters in order to create your own Dingbat type font. In any case, be careful to follow the guidelines when filling out the grid in order to ensure that the font comes out looking as good as it can. Unfortunately, one of the limitations is that there doesn’t seem to be a way you can make it work well if you use joined-up writing, since you need to write each letter separately in the creation process. Nevertheless, it’s a fun, interesting service – just trundle off to www.yourfonts.com, and follow through the simple steps to create your own dandy little font.

Online maths tutoring with LiveMaths

Get a £5 discount on a LiveMaths subscription if you use the voucher code: BPTR09 at the subscription page.

I’ll freely admit that I’m not a fan of maths: numbers have never been my strong point. The lack of open-ended answers scare me: I’m more a fan of being able to babble on about a load of twaddle in the humanities subjects: English and History in particular . That’s the reason I do all I can to be less awful at maths in order to muddle through my examination. One of the ways I do this is using a dandy little website called ‘LiveMaths‘.

An example LiveMaths how-to tutorial.

There’s plenty of revision websites out there, but this one is a little bit different: rather than just text, images, and maybe an occasional diagram, it has a video walking you through the steps to complete various different maths problems you’re likely to encounter if you’ve been unfortunate enough take GCSE Maths or foolish enough to take it for A-Level. It uses short but in-depth videos to make it clear how problems should be tackled in the exam.

You’ll find an incredibly wide range of topics, but if you are such an intrepid explorer that you find a missing topic, you can always contact the people who run it. Both of which are long-term secondary education maths teachers. I think my only suggestion for improvement would be for the site to also include webpages or worksheets with steps for solving the problem and sample questions for each topic which could be printed and used if one does not have access to a computer at the time. I must also say that the narration on the videos greatly resembles that of a robot programmed to patronise! The rates are pretty cheap: a GCSE subscription comes to the cost of about two private tutoring lessons. Have a look at the free samples to see if it’ll be helpful for you. Poddle off to www.livemaths.co.uk if you’re interested in a further browse or subscribing.

School organisation with Soshiku

The number of web applications has exploded recently, seeing a number of really useful stuff running directly from your browser or Internet enabled phone, without the need to download or install anything. Whilst this is one of the less exciting, it’s a really simple, sleek and helpful web application which will help you organise your studies. Soshiku is, in a word, fantastic.

If you’re like me, you get so much homework you can’t keep track. I’d tried keeping a log in various ways, such as using

Soshiku makes organising your schoolwork a snap - no more excuses!

Excel or Onenote, even the hated paper, but none of them compare to the features and simple interface of Soshiku. The registration process is incredibly simple and easy, only requiring three details from you: name, username and email address. After that, you can log in and set about creating a snazzy space to organise your school work.

You can add sections for each of your subjects, or if you’re only studying one or two subjects, you could use that feature to add different modules or segments for your course. You can then add assignments; these would likely consist of homework, coursework, reading, revision, etc. Define a title for it, a due date, add a few notes and you’re finished. You can even break down assignments into individual task lists to make it clear for yourself.

Soshiku will keep track of when your assignments are due by putting them on the homepage under headings like ‘due tomorrow’, ‘due this week’ and the dreaded ‘overdue’. This allows you to prioritize at a glance. Clicking on an assignment title will take you to the details you added earlier, allowing you to view and edit them. Each subject you add also gets its own page, where your current and past assignments are listed.

I don’t know about you, but I hate having to work on projects with other people; I’m a control freak, but occasionally I have to. Soshiku helps me to get through this traumatic experience by allowing me to set projects as being available either publicly or to selected Soshiku friends, making it easy to collaborate with them. Ican also utilize the feature which lets me upload documents, sharing them with my workmate so he can make changes and then upload it again.

There’s no need to be at your computer either – just set Soshiku up with your mobile and you can receive assignment reminders whilst you’re plodding around town or hiding from your masses of work in a bar. You can even add new assignments from your mobile via a text message! It’s really simple to use after having a fiddle around and getting aquainted with the features. I’m sure you’ll love it, so sign up now at www.soshiku.com! If you find yourself confused, have a read of the simple help pages.

Downadup worm gets worse, says Symantec

Symantec, makers of the popular computer security software Norton, have announced that an ‘update’ to a computer worm has been detected which could affect computers who have already been infected with the Downadup (aka Conficker) worm. The original attempted to disable security software, this update sees its capabilities amplified.

Dubbed ‘W32.Downadup.C’, the files adds power to the original malicious software, giving it further capabilities to disable security software and evade detection and removal by security software. Symantec’s vice-president of security response states: “It’s more aggressive, it has more services.”

However, it has taken on more properties of a trojan than a worm, as it no longer attempts to spread to other computers by self-replicating. Currently, Symantec states that they have not yet seen the trojan spread to consumers’ computers. If the updated malware does begin to enter the consumer realm, the effects could be large, as it is thought that at least 1 in 16 computers are already afflicted by the original Downadup worm.

Organise your taskbar with Taskbar Shuffle

If you’re anything like me, then you like things in a certain order. I often find myself annoyed when I can’t have windows listed in a certain order on my taskbar; that’s why I went hunting for something that let me do just that. I found it in the form of a nifty little application which lives in your system tray, by the clock, called Taskbar Shuffle.

After a quick install, it settles into your system tray. Right-clicking on it will let you fiddle with a few preferences, such as making it start when you log on – this is useful to save you loading it from the Start Menu or a shortcut each time your OCD-like needs kick in, making you hunger for some organisation. It also lets you set a grouping number: the number of windows of the same application which need to be open before it’ll slide them into a group, saving on taskbar room. Once you’ve finished fiddling, you’re set to go: just click and drag an item’s name on the taskbar to move it to a different place. If you’re really having a fit of arrangement, you can also do the same with the icons in your notification area.

It’s a quick, small application that won’t steal your computer’s resources whilst providing the wonderful benefit of organisation to those of us who want things exactly as we like them. It can speed up your productivity by letting you put running programs, files or folders in an order which makes sense to you. You can download it  from download.com if you feel like giving it a go.

Taskbar Shuffle lets you easily rearrange your running applications and notification icons

Munch numbers with Speedcrunch

Let’s face it – the calculator which comes with Windows is quite naff. Featuring only a basic, clunky interface, it’s good for little more than simple, quick calculations. Free software, as usual, has the answer to this problem, and some other problems you didn’t know that you had.

Speedcrunch calculator makes maths easy with its advanced features and reference lists

After firing up Speedcrunch, I doubt you’ll find yourself ever using Windows’ built-in calculator again. Its interface is much more like that of a real calculator: sporting the various buttons you’d expect to find on a scientific calculator, in addition to even more dandy features. You can type in long-winded, confusing calculations without having the software throw a hissy fit, or simply not understand what you want, which you might expect from Windows’ calculator. You’ll probably find just about everything you could ever need in this calculator: from exploring the menus you’ll also find various other features which you can enable, such as a list of useful formula and mathematical terms.

Whether or not you often type in long-winded calculations, the likes of which that would confuse Stephen Hawking, or you simply need to use a calculator occasionally for quick addition and subtraction, Speedcrunch is all you’ll ever need. It even saves the calculations you did last time, even after closing it, lest ye forget the answer you just worked out after hastily jumping off on other adventures.

This is one of the most basic, but also one of the most useful, free applications available for Windows. You may well find youself no longer reaching for your real calculator when Windows’ offering just won’t cut it. Loading up in a snap, you’ll find youself falling in love with Speedcrunch. Take it for a test-sum, and see what you think; it’s mathemagical! www.speedcrunch.org

Improve Explorer with QT TabBar and Toolbar

It’s still a fairly short while since Microsoft added tabs to their Internet Explorer browser, but since then tabs have become an integral part of just about everyone’s browsing experience, even the least techy of users. The easy process of being able to quickly and simply open up new pages and links whilst browsing the Internet has become standard. However, the program we use to browse our files in Windows is still lacking in this feature. Indeed, it’s a good, simple way of viewing, organising and searching for files, but it could be improved. This is where QT’s TabBar and toolbar come in.

This small, easy-to-install application allows you to add two new toolbars to Windows Explorer. Once installed (please see here for install instructions – note that you will need to right click and run as administrator in Vista), log off and on again to restart Explorer. You can then enable either one or both of the toolbars. The first of which is a tab-bar. Simply enable this by right-clicking on an empty area of your current toolbars and clicking ‘QT TabBar’. You should then see a new tab-bar pop up. You can then unlock your toolbars and drag them around to gain a comfortable layout. This is really quite a snazzy product. Rather than opening up a separate window for different

folders, you can have multiple locations open within the same window, and just like in a web browser, middle-clicking on a folder will open it in a new tab. You can drag files around between these tabs, as well as customising various options – just right-click an empty area of the tab-bar and have a wander through the plethora of choices to make it work in the best way possible for you.

The second of the provided toolbars is slightly less exciting, but no less useful. You’ll notice the change more in Vista, where Microsoft made Windows Explorer much simpler, removing all but the backwards and forwards buttons. This is fine if the only need is simplicity, but if you’re anything like me, you may miss a few of the old functions from XP. Enabling the ‘QT Tab Standard Buttons’ toolbar will pop up some familar buttons from XP. You can right click on this toolbar to add or remove buttons, or even change the image on each if you’re not happy with the provided icons.

Showcasing a few of QT's features

Other small but nifty and time-saving features are also added. Hovering over a folder will show a small arrow to the right, clicking this pops up a drop-down list which allows you to quickly navigate to other folders or files, without having to poddle through the directories. You can also hover over an image file to see a thumbnail appear, also containing basic informaiton about the image. Another feature of the toolbar is the small search-box. Whilst you’ll already have Microsoft’s version of this if you use Vista, QT Tab’s works differently: it searches in a different way: only searching the currently open directory of folders and files. This is often helpful if you just want to quickly find a file or folder out of the current list, rather than searching your whole computer in a strange, somewhat cumbersome manner. In addition, you can also add lists of your favourite applications or files which can then be accessed quickly and easily from the ‘Applications’ drop-down, saving you a trip to the Start Menu.

I did seem to notice a slight performance decrease when browsing files after the install, but this was temporary; Explorer now appears to perform the same as it did prior to the install. I would also suggest that the productivity increase you are likely to see will outweigh any minor speed decrease you may experience. Either way, it’s easy to remove the toolbars if you encounter any issues.

If you decide that neither of these features are for you, simple disable the toolbars again. You can also fully remove it by running the quick install wizard again, this time opting to remove it. Unfortunately the next version of Windows, Windows 7, isn’t set to include tabbed file browsing, so it looks like we’ll need this again if upgrading! I hope you’ll agree that these tools save a lot of time, making simple tasks easier and simpler. Give it a whirl and see what you think by downloading from www.qttabbar.com, and for help with installing, please see this article.

Has Firefox burnt out?

It seems like it’s everyone and their dog’s favourite bit of open-source software. It’s been the choice of both basic users who were pushed to change, right up to professionals who know that it’s better then Internet Explorer. However, with a horde of new browsers released recently, and a lack of updates and new features from Mozilla, is it time we doused the flames of our firey chum?

Version 3.1 might be released by the time I’m using a zimmerframe and moaning about children being on my lawn. But I wouldn’t bet on it. There’s been setback, after setback on this release, and even when it is released, no features which are not currently available in other browsers will be added. With Mozilla’s interface designer, Beltzner, now saying there will need to be fourth beta (fourth!), surely it’s time for all of us to reconsider our choice in browser?

With other browsers offering more features and faster browsing, has Firefox lost is spark?

Chrome is faster, Safari is faster, Opera 10 is faster. The only thing slower is the elephant desperately masquerading as a browser: IE8. Speed is a key issue for many users – we’re all obsessed with it: if we can’t get there in the blink of an eye, we’re not interested. 3.1 is set to have a massive speed increase, but with current alternative browsers, or at least reliable betas, in the case of Safari, offering a massive speed increase, Firefox certainly can’t cling onto users due to its speed.

Firefox’s betas aren’t approachable to the ordinary user: it’s not linked to or even mentioned on the homepage, and the whole beta testing process at Mozilla appears to be geared towards those with an IQ higher than that of Stephen Hawking: with all the jargon and incessant technical babble, it’s difficult for an ordinary user to find the download, let alone help to improve it.

Speaking of which, Firefox isn’t targeted enough towards consumers. This is epitomized by the lack of a new tab button being present by default. When I get friends or family to switch browser, I always add a new tab button to the toolbar, and/or install an extention which adds one in a sensible location: to the right of open tabs. If users are switching from IE7, they’ll want the same simple tab functionality as they were accustomed to: they simply won’t be interested in fiddling around to add buttons or installing extensions to do something that was so simple in their previous browser. Simply adding a new tab button to the browser by default would make the whole thing more approachable to a typical convert.

Addons have long been a key reason for users sticking with Firefox. However, the average user neither knows about nor is interested in addons. Again, I draw the example from my friends and family: they only know about or use addons if install them for them, and then they just create an extra hassle due to Firefox’s cumbersome addon update methods. Certainly some users love addons, I use a fair few in my Firefox, but they’re on their way to Google Chrome, where I can get both a faster, easier browsing experience, plus addons very soon.

Mozilla hasn’t done anything new or innovative with their browser in a long time: all the new features coming in 3.1 have already been implemented by other browsers. By contrast, the newest contender, Safari 4,  released many new innovative features. I think we could well see Firefox’s browser share dropping soon unless the snail that Mozilla has become recently makes a turnaround. Fast.

More file formats for Windows 7

For a long time Windows has supported only a very small number of file formats; this is set to change. It looks like

With the inclusion of the .MOV file format, Windows users will no longer need to download Apple's Quicktime

the ususal practice of downloading codecs for other media file types or third-party software capable of playing particular file-types may come to an end in the next release of Windows – ‘Windows 7′.

The betas showed testers that Windows 7 is going to be able to play many more file types ‘out-of-the-box’, and that looks set to increase with the addition of the .MOV file-type. The announcement was tucked away on the Windows 7 Blog. The .MOV file-type, which is often used by digital cameras, is the primary file-type used by Apple’s Quicktime video player software; currently those who wish to play these files on Windows must download the Quicktime application from Apple.  Having the codec included in Windows would make the process of playing the files much quicker by bypassing the need to download other software. This may see an uptick in the use of Windows’ own Media Player software.