Easiest Method to Create Playlists for Winamp Android

If you have your Music Files stashed away in Folders just like I do and have a huge MicroSD Card that can accommodate almost all of your favorite music and your only qualm happens to be the lack of a good Music Player for your Android Phone then stress not……Help is at hand. I too have been looking at numerous ways and means to make my job simple when it came to managing my music.

Although Winamp  for Android offers several good features like desktop sync with Winamp 5.6, 4X1 & 4x2 Widgets, Lock-screen Player, Playlist shortcuts and more, I felt it had one important feature missing and that was about Playlist Creation. The Syncing feature is good but what if we have separate folders for the various genres of music or for the best of your collection or something like that…. think on the lines of Collection ‘A’ being your entire Music Collection and another Collection ‘B’ a Sub-set of the entire collection which has been heavily filtered to accommodate only the very best of music that you own simply because unlike on your desktop, space comes at a premium on Micro SD Cards. In such a cases Playlist creation for Collection ‘B’ becomes almost impossible to add them on a one by one basis. So here is the solution for creating Playlists that can be made use of on your default Music Player or Winamp or most likely any other  3^rd party player.

Steps:- 

1) Install ‘Winamp’ from the Android Market. It’s a Free Application 

2)  Search for another Free App called ‘PlayListGenerator’. A very small application @ just about 600KB. 

3) Download and Install the App from the Market. 

4)  Once done, fire up the App and the interface as you will see is a breeze to use. You have just three buttons to click on the Top.

5) Click the ‘Select’ button to choose the Folder where your Music resides. Do note that you don’t have to traverse to the last folder in the Folder structure. Example:- If you have ‘Best of English’ as the Root Folder and then Sub-Folders like ‘ColdPlay’, ‘Bryan Adams’, ‘Hoobastank’ etc, just pointing to the root folder ‘Best of English’ will do.

6) Once selected, Click the ‘Create List’ button and voila your playlist will be created with the same name having been taken as the Root Folder that was chosen viz in this case, ‘Best of English’ and is automatically placed in a location where both your default music player and Winamp can use simultaneously.

7)    7)   Deletion of Playlists is also easy with just one button deletion as shown below

8) That’s it. You are now good to go. Play your favorite music through Winamp or any other Music Player. 

Simple aint it? Thanks to RDW and Nullsoft who are the developers of these Apps.

The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music: Going the Touch Way!!!

I bought this phone only last Friday and I can’t stop bragging about it; so much so that I decided to bring out this Blog!!! This phone has been literally screaming “Zara, Zara Touch Me, Touch Me, Touch Me………..Zara, Zara Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me” ever since the unpacking. Frankly speaking, it has been about 4 years now since I bought my first phone, a Sony Ericsson w700i Walkman Class Phone. In the years gone by, I noticed several brands made their way into the market trying to capture the fancy of the new generation by promising them limitless capabilities. I for one have always been of the opinion that if a phone had to offer much more than being just a phone, it better have packed in more than just a teeny-weeny 2” display and the regular 3G/GPRS/EDGE capabilities. Of the many N-Series Phones released by Nokia, not a single one even came remotely close to my liking. You may call me a fool for having such an opinion about phones the whole world is going gaga about but it is the truth. It’s like asking an Architect to work with a Single Monitor sized 14 inches and come out with a Master plan for constructing “The Burj Dubai”!!! It just doesn’t make for an enterprising and productive solution.

I still remember the advertisement when Nokia brought out their flagship N-Series phone called the N-95 weighing in at over 120g boasting of a 5MP Camera, Dual slide, Internet + Multimedia capabilities and a tagline as “Is this what computers have become?!?!?” They certainly had not until Apple came out with the iPhone back in 2007. Steve Jobs in his speech during the Product Launch said something on the lines of “Instead of redesigning another operating system for the phone, we thought we will go with something the world has come to enjoy, appreciate and like so much. So, we decided to put the Mac OS X in there…… " and the crowd had gone into an absolute frenzy clapping and whistling away just like little kids who had witnessed the Miracle of their Lives!!! That coupled with the patented Multi-Touch interface truly was a technological advancement. For a long time I had my eyes fixated on this mobile, dreamed about owning this phone and playing around with its every single innovation.

The technology, the features, the brand name, the innovation and all the other good things apart there is and there always will be something way above all this called Money [Of which I don’t have lots by the way] and which is a very important criteria people think of before buying something and which companies IMHO should consider before they bring out their product pricing. I had to hold back my decision to upgrade to either the iPhone or any of the many touch phones only because of the manner in which they were priced……..Exorbitant!!! When the world was reeling in complete mayhem because of all the recession and the worst economic crisis since “The Great Depression” who better than Nokia could we have expected to bring out a killer of a phone? Yes people the 5800 is here and I’m here to tell you why I chose this over the Zillion other phones that have flooded the market today.




Pricing :- I bought the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music for a paltry 19 Grand. Going by the features it has on offer, they could so easily have priced it @ about 30 Grand and people still would have found this irresistible. All the other Phones in its league like the Samsung Omnia, HTC Touch HD, Apple iPhone 3G and the Sony Xperia are priced in the range of 30-40 grand.

Platform :- The Symbian OS that Nokia has come to use in the past years has undergone loads of development and being an open source OS, you could expect the world in terms of the free add-on applications that would enhance your experience with Smart Phones. After all, they are Smart because they can do loads of stuff. Imagine having to shell out money to procure a license for every small app that you have always wanted on your Phone! This apart, the World has come to know how the Windows Operating System for PCs that is also incidentally incorporated into HTC Touch Phones has come to work. Although intuitive, it has its fair share of problems such as freezing up every now and then and crashing occasionally with BSODs. And, honestly, haven’t we had enough of seeing Windows on PCs that we wanna see them on Cell-Phones again??? The Mac OS X on the other hand really takes the cake, I must say, in every aspect there is; beats the Symbian also in more ways than one but all this does not offset the expensive nature of this OS.

Design: - This plays a very important role for any gadget to be easily accepted by people the world over. A phone cannot be too bulky, should be easy to work with even if held in only one hand and cannot have too many moving mechanical parts as they have a tendency to fail over a period of time. A friend of mine told me about this incident when his friend, who apparently owned a Slide Phone, pressed a button to get the Mic to slide so he may answer the call when the entire bottom section fell off just like how a Lizard would lose its tail when attacked!!! I have always been a big fan of the Candy-Bar Design for Phones as mechanical moving parts are used sparingly. Nokia has taken care of all this on the 5800 and has still managed to come out with a model that feels solid yet light and robust yet being non-metallic. The build and design of the iPhone on the other hand is also fantastic but the only qualm about the iPhone is that it is quite wide so you would have to necessarily use both hands at all times and I seriously wonder if it would fit in the front pocket of a tight jean!!!

Features, Tips n Tricks I love about the Phone: -

(i) It has an accelerometer inside which helps shuffle the display between Landscape and Portrait Modes almost instantly by the mere tilting of the phone. That’s not the kewl part though. Imagine you receive a call when you are in the midst of a solemn occasion and your Cell-phone has a blaring sound for a Ringtone. Relax U don’t have to fret looking for keys to either send a busy tone/ answer the call; simply invert the phone to silence it and then think of what you are going to do with that call @ leisure. No one will ever know!!!

(ii) It’s got Wi-Fi 802.11 g. So, if you are close to a Wireless Access Point you are connected to the World Wide Web. The kewl part, however, is that the Web Browser that it has built into it is almost like the one you have on your PC. It is that good ……..offering various levels of zoom including a Full Screen mode on that 3.2 “display. Applications like Google Maps, Gmail, GPS Navigation and many more really come alive, look great and are not a big strain on the eyes.

(iii) If you ever missed your T-9 Dictionary keypad when you upgraded to a phone with a QWERTY Keyboard then this should certainly put a big smile to your face. The 5800 has not just 1 or 2 but 4 modes of texting. You could go with a Full Screen QWERTY in Landscape Mode or a Mini QWERTY in Portrait Mode. If you are one of those aficionados of the T-9 Keypad then you could choose that in the Portrait Mode again. And, last but not the least, you even have Handwriting recognition. This one is like saying ”What You Write Is What You Get!!!”




(iv) Coming to the Multimedia Capabilities, you couldn’t have asked for more. Look and browse Wallpapers and Videos just as you would on a normal PC. The screen is lavish and offers you 16:9 aspect ratio, 16 million colors and a 640x360-pixel resolution to gawk at. And, that’s not all…… you even get a mini stand on which you can place your phone, sit back and relax enjoying the preloaded content that has about 280 songs and some videos. If that’s not enough you can even download personal content and store it on the whopping 8GB that comes with this baby!!!

(v) The Home Screen can be your Virtual Playground. You can either have a plain/Basic Screen showing just the Date/Time and Connection related settings or you could have a Shortcut Bar to the 4 most used applications. You could also have 4 of your favourite contacts showing up on the Home Screen. All forms of communication with them including SMS, Calls and their RSS Feeds can be accessed in a single touch.

(vi) It comes with a host of accessories which include a spare Stylus, so if you lost the one that came with the phone originally, you still have another one that you can use. A tag with a Guitar plectrum in colors that compliment your phone and which, again, you can use on the Touch Screen. A Hands-free Set with a pair of ear-phones that sound beautiful to the ear.

(vii) The ability to install Applications comes as the icing on the cake. I have installed two free applications that Nokia had to offer on their Website called Wave Secure and SMS Timer. Wave Secure is a boon to countries in Asia where the theft rate is insanely high. This little application can lock down your phone remotely, wipe out data and notify once a new SIM is used on your lost phone. SMS Timer is an application to time the sending of your SMSes. You could compose the message now, but, choose to send it at a later time; a Handy utility for those who are committed and in a relationship. As of now, not many Apps are available for users to download and install as the Symbian S60 5th edition Software is relatively new and we obviously have to give Developers their fair share of time to come out with great user friendly apps. But, know for a fact that the endless possibilities have only begun.
Remember Touch is the way to go. The faster you get to doing this, the more pleasurable your experience will be!!! Are you TUBE(d) yet???

Blu-Ray and PowerDVD 8

Of late, Technology has been progressing in leaps and bounds and the Quality of Video files and formats have also been making tremendous progress. The Compact Disk [CD] was the first to come out after the VHS/Video Cassettes era that lasted decades. It brought along with it the MPEGAV format. For a long time this was the industry standard for creating Video CDs until the advent of the Digital Versatile Disk [DVD] happened. With typical data rates in the range of 3-10 Mbps, video stored at a resolution of 720×480 and audio in a very efficient 24-bits/96 kHz format with monaural to 7.1 channels "Surround Sound" DVDs stood the test of time and were said to have been showcasing the best in Movie Quality. A 3 hour Regional Language movie would easily use up about 4.5 Gigs of space on the Disk and was split into files of 0.99GB each. A Single Layer DVD could hold about 4.7GB of data while a Dual Layer DVD held double that at about 8.5 GB. However, the Human thirst to improve quality from Good to Better to Best as we all know is Insatiable. We now have the Blu-Ray Disks [BD] to look out for that seem to be the ultimate in High Definition. BD-Video movies have a whopping maximum data transfer rate of 54 Mbps, a maximum AV bitrate of 48 Mbps (for both audio and video data). They are normally stored on Blu-ray ROM discs with up to 1920x1080 pixel resolution. A Single Layer BD-R can hold about 25GB of data while a Dual Layer Disk would easily accommodate about 50GB. There was a time in the not so recent past when I used to tote a 20GB Seagate Internal IDE HDD for data transfer and found it to be very cumbersome, not to forget very delicate, and today take a look at what we have……… A Mini- Frisbee disk that can hold data the equivalent of upto 70 CDs!!! Phew…..

In keeping abreast with the Technology improvements that were being made in the field of Digital and High-Def Video, I went ahead and downloaded a file that was said to contain extra content from the recent Anime Block-buster movie……..WALL-E. It was a relatively small video [7.5 mins to be precise] and which to my dismay was about 350 MB in size. The file had a “.mkv” extension on it and hoping that I might at last be able to play a High-Def movie on my 20inch Dell monitor for the 1st time, powered up PowerDVD 8 Ultra and dragged and dropped this file over into the application. There was this hour-glass against the mouse pointer for about 20-30 secs and the screen went blank!!! Presuming that every movie began this way, I scrolled forward for a bit, yet the result was the same L……….. Audio was fine though. Dejected, I looked up Forums and FAQs at Cyberlink’s own webpage found that Cyberlink in order to prevent Piracy only allowed us to play a BDROM movie straight off the Disk and not as individual files of the “.mkv” extension. Some of the Forums also mentioned that there is a certain application called CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack) that needed to be installed first. So I religiosuly went ahead and downloaded the pack from here:-

In this installation as well, the most important component happens to be something called the Haali Media Splitter. Once this is installed, all you would have to do is to rename the BluRay Video file with a “.avi” extension as against the original “.mkv” extension. Drag n Drop the file into PowerDVD 8 Ultra and Voila…….Crystal clear Video and Audio. Shown below are some of the Screenshots I took from the movie. ;-)

You could also play these files with the player called “Media Player Classic Homecinema” that comes built in with the CCCP pack, but, the only catch being that you would not be utilizing the enhanced Hardware Acceleration of Playback Video that is provided by the PowerDVD 8 application and of course some enhanced features in Audio Playback as well.

Happy Viewing!!!

Tech-Tips 2

Extend Microsoft Window's Picture & Fax Viewer To Support More Than 200 Image Formats

Windows XP features embedded Picture & Fax Viewer for quick viewing of your images, However, the handy utility only supports common popular image formats like JPEG, GIF, and BMP making it necessary to install other multi-format image viewers like ACDSee or XnView, but not anymore free Windows Utility ImageXtender let you hack Windows XP standard Picture & Fax Viewer to support more then 200 known graphics extensions.

You just need to install ImageXtender and it patches the default viewer to support the new image formats, the process of viewing images would remain the same allowing you to view all image formats in three different viewing modes - Preview, Thumbnails and Filmstrip.

The utility works fine and is just a matter of install and forget, However, it fell short of its claim to support Photoshop .PSD files in our tests on Windows XP SP3.

http://www.imagextender.com/files/imagextender.exe

VIPeers - Free One-Click File-Hosting And Torrent Mashup To Share Large Files

VIPeers is a new one of its kind hybrid free file-sharing service allowing users to share files upto 5 GB in size with ease, to share files users simply need to upload it using the web-based uploader or the PODMailing software, Once uploaded VIPeers provides direct HTTP download links with option to share file using the BitTorrent protocol without the hassle of creating .torrent file, adding trackers, and even the seeding.

To make things even more easier VIPeers offers copy-and-paste code snippets for effortless sharing of uploaded files on blogs, forums, social-networks and websites.

http://www.vipeers.com/

Creating Password Protected Hidden Folder Using Free Utility "My Lockbox"

If you are looking for a free, fast and easy folder hiding and locking utility for Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista - My LockBox would be the perfect solution, the single-click folder locking and unlocking utility efficiently hides folder of your choice instantly.

Once locked, the folder can only be made visible by entering correct password using the hotkey enabled control-panel.

My LockBox Features:

• Folder remains secured even in Windows Safe-Mode.
• The protection is almost instant as no file-encryption or moving takes place.
• Supports Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista including 64 bit support.
• Easy to use interface with skin support.

Info and Download here :- http://www.fspro.net/folder-lock-box/

DriverMax - The Best Free Utility To Update Windows Device Drivers

It is usually highly recommended to update your device drivers as hardware manufacturers often release new versions of their drivers for fixing bugs, adding new features, increasing device and system performance, improving computer stability, fixing compatibility with other devices and closing security holes, While most of the popular automatic Windows driver updation utilities are not free, we reviewed RadarSync as one possible free option which worked quite well for me, but failed on many computers as noted in user comments.

Developed by Innovative Solutions, A Microsoft Certified Partner - DriverMax would be the best free utility to download and install latest driver updates for your Windows XP and Vista computers, the community powered driver updater service currently supports more then 80,000 different hardware devices with 1,29,000 different driver versions.

DriverMax 4.6 Features:

• Ability to backup and restore device drivers, which comes handy if you are planning to re-install the operating-system.
• Detailed driver report including versions and release dates.
• Ability to identify unknown devices.
• Get Windows Vista rating's information before purchasing new hardware.

Info and Download here :- http://small.drivermax.com/soft/dmx/drivermax.exe

SIMable - Easiest Way To Unlock iPhone 3G, Blackberry, and all Windows Mobile Devices Without Modifying Phone Hardware\Software

With tagline "Unlock your SIM, not your phone", SIMable would be the most easiest way to unlock majority cellphones including all version of Apple iPhone, Blackberries, HTC and other latest phones, the process involves modifying your sim-card by punching the special SIMable chip using the provided punch to make the hack work, the whole process is pretty simple and requires less then a minute to complete.

Once punched, the chip slides into your phone with your SIM card tricking the device into believing that you are on the right network, a single one-time investment of approx. $29 will make your SIM work with virtually any locked phone out there.

SIMable Mod-Chip




SIMable SIM Puncher




Final Stacked SIM

Since you are not modifying any phone software or hardware this would be the most feasible option for phone unlocking without voiding your device warranty.

Source:Megaleecher.net

Tech -Tips 1

Free Radio On GTalk, MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger

GTalk2VoIP offers VOIP services via Gtalk and other popular IM services, their VOIP and SMS services are paid but GTalk2VoIP offers free radio on popular IM's, activating and using radio is very simple just follow the simple steps listed below:

Open IM messenger and invite new buddy with user id - service@gtalk2voip.com

Send RADIO command to service@gtalk2voip.com buddy in your list to get list of available radio stations, remember the numerical ID of the radio station you want to listen.

Send RADIO ID command to service to get connected.

Accept incoming call from the service.

Google Talk user can invite radio station contact into their list of contacts by adding a contact like: ID@radio.gtalk2voip.com (i.e. 100@radio.gtalk2voip.com ). When contact appears online, press Call button to connect to the radio station, More information

http://gtalk2voip.com/

Test-Drive Phone Online Before Buying!!!

What you see below is an online interactive test-drive of Apple's famous iPhone, www.Try-Phone.Com is a new service offering free online test-drive for mobile phones, TryPhone gives you the ability to try the virtual phones online before you buy them.You can try the mobile device, its applications, content and services, as well as watch demos with user reviews and technical specifications - right from the comfort and convenience of your own computer.

Reveal Hidden Passwords in Firefox and Internet Explorer

Many times we need to see hidden passwords behind asterisk symbols in firefox and IE, there exist a simple javascript hack to achieve this - simply copy-paste the below code snippet into your webbrowser address bar to see what's inside the password field.

javascript: var p=r(); function r(){var g=0;var x=false;var x=z(document.forms);g=g+1;var w=window.frames;for(var k=0;k

For fast & easy access create a new bookmark and paste the above code in location field, now you can easily access the password on any hidden field by simple using this bookmark.

P.S:- This will not help you hack into accounts n all that. It will just allow you to see your own password that automatically gets filled in. This is useful when you have forgotten your password and need to use that account on another machine where the password isn’t saved.

Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit

If you are using auto-update option for windows update and want to block Windows service pack from installing Microsoft has made available a small utility to block this update.

Quote from MS website:

A blocking tool is available for organizations that would like to temporarily prevent installation of Service Pack updates through Windows Update. This tool can be used with:

* Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (valid through March, 2008)
* Windows XP Service Pack 3 (valid for 12 months following general availability)
* Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (valid for 12 months following general availability)

This toolkit contains three components. All of them function primarily to set or clear a specific registry key that is used to detect and block download of Service Packs from Windows Update. You only need to use the component which best serves your organization’s computer management infrastructure.

* A Microsoft-signed executable
* A script
* An ADM template

1. The executable creates a registry key on the computer on which it is run that blocks or unblocks (depending on the command-line option used) the delivery of a Service Pack to that computer through Windows Update. The key used is HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.

When the '/B' command line option is used, the key value name 'DoNotAllowSP' is created and its value set to 1. This value blocks delivery of a Service Pack to the computer through Automatic Update or Windows Update.

When the '/U' command line option is used, the previously created registry value that temporarily blocked the delivery of a Service Pack to the computer through Automatic Update or Windows Update is removed. If the value does not exist on the computer on which it is run, no action is taken.

2. The script does the same thing as the executable, but allows you to specify the remote machine name on which to block or unblock delivery of Service Packs.

Note that the executable and script have been tested only as a command-line tool and not in conjunction with other systems management tools or remote execution mechanisms.

3. The ADM template allows administrators to import group policy settings to block or unblock delivery of Service Packs into their Group Policy environment. Administrators can then use Group Policy to centrally execute the action across systems in their environment.

Please note that this toolkit will not prevent the installation of the service pack from CD/DVD, or from the stand-alone download package. This simply prevents the service pack from being delivered over Windows Update.

Download from the MS website here:-

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d7c9a07a-5267-4bd6-87d0-e2a72099edb7&DisplayLang=en

Source:Megaleecher.net

Prince of Persia!!!

All Work and No Play makes Jack a Dull Boy.........Have fun with the The Prince of Persia!!!

Handling Computers the Right Way!!!

Here are some Health Tips for those handling Computers day-in, day-out. Found this in an e-Mail forward.








And, Some exercises.......