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Remember the days of the flying toaster screen saver? "Flying Toasters" was a must have item for any computer owner in the late 80's and early 90's.

A company called Berkeley Systems released a screen saver application called After Dark in 1989. The Flying Toasters were just one of the many different screen saver modules included with After Dark, but they were by far the most popular.



Unfortunately for us Toaster fans, the owners of Berkeley Systems, Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, sold their company to Sierra On-Line in 1997. (A year later, they founded MoveOn.org). Since then, the world has been toasterless... until now!

Thanks to the gang at UneasySilence.com, you can download a FREE version of the retrotastic Flying Toasters screen saver for Mac or PC here.

How To Install:

Windows: Drag the .scr file into your Windows directory, right click on it and select install. It should now appear in your screensaver list.

Drag the .saver file into ~/Library/Screen Savers/ (~ is your home directory)

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Labels: screen savers

The News Corp./NBC Universal video portal finally has a name and a URL. The venture's new CEO Jason Kilar writes they picked the moniker Hulu because it is "short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce and it rhymes with itself." (Hulu means "feather/plumage" or "choice and precious" in Hawaiian, so perhaps it's also a sly reference to the NBC peacock.)

The site displays a bookmark page for now, but it is accepting applications for an invite to participate in a private beta beginning in October. The venture recently closed on $100 million in equity financing, so expectations are high in the Web 2.0 world.



Many content providers have a combative relationship with YouTube and feel that the video-sharing site encourages the improper reuse of their copyrighted video. Hulu is intended to provide an alternative to watching TV programming online, in a way that's supported by advertising and endorsed by copyright holders.

The site will initially feature programming from Fox shows like "24" and "Family Guy" as well as NBC shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office." But other media partners may decide to join Hulu after a public trial run has been conducted. If you are interested, you can sign up to beta test the new site at Hulu.com. You will get an email from Hulu when the public trial begins.

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Labels: internet

When I checked my email this morning, I noticed that Chitika, the blogger-driven merchandising/shopping network, made a Facebook application called iBought. The application allows Facebook users to show off their latest purchases in their profiles.

How useful is iBought? If you checkout my Facebook profile, it says I just bought a goat. No, I didn't really buy a goat. But I wanted to see what ads Chitika would list based on the word goat. Care to guess? I now have 3 bottles of Horny Goat Weed on my Facebook profile. But let's say I bought something good like a giant HD-TV. Why would I list it on my Facebook profile? That's like inviting someone to rob you. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure the iBought application will be deleted by the end of the week.

Besides being useless, Chitika needs to fine tune the application coding. I got this error after trying to interact with the iBought application in my Facebook profile:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/html/facebook/lib/facebookapi_php5_restlib.php:1) in /var/www/html/facebook/lib/facebook.php on line 197

So why would anyone want to install the useless iBought application on their Facebook profile? Chitika is paying $1 per for every friend you get to install iBought. The offer is only open to the first 10,000 installs.

$1 isn’t a lot, but if you have a ton of Facebook friends it could be a worthwhile. Then again, you'll probably make all your friends hate you. Still interested? You can install the iBought Facebook application here.

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Labels: internet

When I checked my email this morning, I noticed that Chitika, the blogger-driven merchandising/shopping network, made a Facebook application called iBought. The application allows Facebook users to show off their latest purchases in their profiles.

How useful is iBought? If you checkout my Facebook profile, it says I just bought a goat. No, I didn't really buy a goat. But I wanted to see what ads Chitika would list based on the word goat. Care to guess? I now have 3 bottles of Horny Goat Weed on my Facebook profile. But let's say I bought something good like a giant HD-TV. Why would I list it on my Facebook profile? That's like inviting someone to rob you. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure the iBought application will be deleted by the end of the week.

Besides being useless, Chitika needs to fine tune the application coding. I got this error after trying to interact with the iBought application in my Facebook profile:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/html/facebook/lib/facebookapi_php5_restlib.php:1) in /var/www/html/facebook/lib/facebook.php on line 197

So why would anyone want to install the useless iBought application on their Facebook profile? Chitika is paying $1 per for every friend you get to install iBought. The offer is only open to the first 10,000 installs.

$1 isn’t a lot, but if you have a ton of Facebook friends it could be a worthwhile. Then again, you'll probably make all your friends hate you. Still interested? You can install the iBought Facebook application here.

If you are on Facebook, you might want to join the MethodShop.com Facebook Fan Page.


methodshop

Labels: internet, social networking

UPDATE: YouTube has reworked their site in response to this article. If you get an error when trying to download a YouTube video, please try some of the plug-ins and scripts listed in step #3.

YouTube.com is a great resource. Not many sites allows users to freely upload, view, and share video clips like YouTube does. YouTube even lets users easily post videos on their blogs and personal web sites. But because anyone can upload a video clip on YouTube, copyright violations are rampant.

In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the Macromedia Flash format, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.

Here's a step-by-step MethodShop.com tutorial on how to rip video files off YouTube and convert them for an iPod Video, Apple TV, iTunes or iPhone. This trick will work on Mac or PC using Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer.

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Labels: apple, tutorial

UPDATE: YouTube has reworked their site in response to this article. If you get an error when trying to download a YouTube video, please try some of the plug-ins and scripts listed in step #3.

YouTube.com is a great resource. Not many sites allows users to freely upload, view, and share video clips like YouTube does. YouTube even lets users easily post videos on their blogs and personal web sites. But because anyone can upload a video clip on YouTube, copyright violations are rampant.

In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the Macromedia Flash format, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.

Here's a step-by-step MethodShop.com tutorial on how to rip video files off YouTube and convert them for an iPod Video, Apple TV, iTunes or iPhone. This trick will work on Mac or PC using Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer.

Tutorial: How to Download YouTube Videos for Your iPhone and iPod


methodshop

Labels: tutorial, video

Sometimes elements of cyberculture collide into our language. The end result? Jargon. Even if you are familiar with the term below, you may not know its history or full definition.

Avatar - graphic representation of a person online, usually used to navigate a virtual world such as Second Life. Some try to make their avatars look like themselves, and others go for idealized/stylized visions. Japanese anime characteristics – larger heads and eyes – are common.

In Hindu philosophy, an avatar (also spelt as avatara), most commonly refers to the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of a higher being (deva), or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth.

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Labels: jargon

YouTube finally unveiled its plans to use in stream overlay ads on its video sharing site. The semi-transparent ads, which appear on the bottom corner of thier video player, begin to appear 15 seconds into a clip and last up to 10 seconds. Users can click on the ad to pull up a separate video trailer. Advertisers can use the system to target viewers by age, s#x, geography, daypart and even video genre.

Google will sell the InVideo ads at a rate staring at $20 per thousand impressions, initially only to partner video makers. Also, the ads will only come up when the videos are played on YouTube.com.



Not surprisingly, overlay video ad pioneer VideoEgg is already crying foul! A banner on VideoEgg Inc.'s home page says the following in big bold letters:

"Welcome YouTube, Seriously. We invented the video overlay ad about a year ago. We are delighted that the market is finally catching on to a vital new approach to video advertising."

In the announcement, YouTube did not claim to invent the video overlay ad concept. They obviously just liked it enough to steal it from VideoEgg.

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Labels: internet

Lui Hua can't play video games or the guitar... at least not yet. Why? He suffers from a rare condition known as macrodactyly. When he was hospitalized in Shanghai last month, his left thumb measured 10.2 inches and his index finger measured close to 12.


From The Shanghai Daily:

"It was the biggest hand in the world," said Chen Zuliang, a hospital official. "Liu’s fingers stopped growing in recent years so plastic surgery was at last possible to correct the malformation."

On July 20 surgeons undertook a seven-hour operation to reduce the size of Liu’s fingers and thumb. Doctors removed 11 pounds of flesh and bone in the procedure. A second surgery is scheduled to take place. Enlarged limbs can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Lymphedema is perhaps the most common cause and results in some extraordinarily enlarged limbs.

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Labels: geek

Lui Hua can't play the Nintendo Wii or Guitar Hero. He really wants to, but he physically can't.... at least not yet. Why? Hua suffers from a rare condition known as macrodactyly. When he was hospitalized in Shanghai last month (July 2007), his left thumb measured 10.2 inches and his index finger measured close to 12.


From The Shanghai Daily:

"It was the biggest hand in the world," said Chen Zuliang, a hospital official. "Liu’s fingers stopped growing in recent years so plastic surgery was at last possible to correct the malformation."

On July 20 surgeons undertook a seven-hour operation to reduce the size of Liu’s fingers and thumb. Doctors removed 11 pounds of flesh and bone in the procedure. A second surgery is scheduled to take place. Enlarged limbs can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Lymphedema is perhaps the most common cause and results in some extraordinarily enlarged limbs.


methodshop

Labels: offbeat, pics

Apple's iTunes could face a run for its money in the coming months from a competitor that knows how to compete on price. Wal-Mart announced the launch of a new "DRM-free" zone on its website featuring tracks from major labels including EMI and Universal for the bargain price of 94 cents each or $9.22 per album. (In comparison, Apple is selling a limited number of DRM-free EMI songs for $1.29).



Wal-Mart will also continue to sell WMA-formatted 128 kbps downloads for 88 cents each. Digital music has only accounted for 15% of all recorded music sales in the U.S. until now. Will that number increase as DRM-free tracks open the market up to more competition?

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Labels: itunes

I normally wouldn't subject you all to this, but this Finnish YMCA clip I found on YouTube is kinda funny. The Finnish may make excellent cell phones, but pop-stars... not so much. And just when you thought it couldn't get any more disturbing... the backup dancers appear.




If you want to download this clip and convert it for your iPod or iPhone, then check out this tutorial: How to Copy Videos Off YouTube.

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Labels: video

Viacom's Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG announced they are abandoning Sony's HD Blu-ray format and will instead only release high definition DVDs in the competing HD DVD format. The decision is quite a reversal for Blue-ray, which had been outselling HD DVDs in the U.S. and Europe by 2 to 1 according to reports.



The format war ­ reminiscent of the fight between Betamax and VHS – has been blamed for slowing adoption of high definition discs. But it will likely continue to drag on as Sony, Disney and Fox remain in the Blue-ray camp.

Meanwhile Warner Home Video, which set high definition records this month selling over 250,000 copies of the historical epic 300, will continue to release DVDs in both formats. But hit movies like Transformers, Shrek the Third and Blades of Glory will only be availible in HD DVD when they debut this holiday season.

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Labels: dvd

According a Reuters report, this creepy 45-year-old engineer has completely given up on dating and only loves sex dolls. He has spent over $175k the past ten years on his collection and paid over $6000 for a special doll with extra joints and mobility.



I'm guessing this guy doesn't entertain guests that much. He has over 20 sex dolls in his living room and lots of spare doll parts laying around his apartment. I know they are only dolls, but some of his dolls look a little young - if you know what I mean. Take a close look at the dolls in his living room by the pink curtain.

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Labels: geek, video

Can an Asian-American ever hold the American Idol title? Paul Ethan Hahn says a resounding "yes" and Internet video might be his Ace in the Hole.

Paul grew up in Murray Hill, New Jersey and has always been a big country fan. He also loves the hit FOX-TV program American Idol. And if Paul has his way, he’ll be the first Asian country singer on American Idol.

"I wanna make Paula Abdul cry and show that jerk off Simon how to sing. I want to be the next American Idol!" Paul quips.

This week, Paul Hahn entered an online FOX 29 Philly Idol contest and hopes that a hi-tech edge will help him bypass the massive lines outside the first round of judges.

FOX 29 posted an open American Idol audition on their website. The winner gets to perform live on Fox's morning show, Good Day Philadelphia, and gets to bypass the first round of judges at the open American Idol Philadelphia auditions later this month. To enter, all you had to do was upload a video of you singing.



Paul recorded his American Idol demo using his Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with a built in iSight camera, and the video editing program iMovie.

"It was so easy," says Paul. "I just opened iMovie, recorded about a minute sample of my singing, burned a DVD and threw it into the mail. The whole process only took about 10 minutes."

Since Idol's first season, we've seen Kelly Clarkson belt out high notes, a plethora of Sanjaya hairstyles, and even a contestant who went on to win an Oscar. But we haven’t seen any serious Asian-American contestants get a real shot at the Idol crown (sorry but William Hung doesn't count).

Will Paul's dream of telling off Simon and getting to sing a country song on American Idol come true? Can Internet video voting give this American Idol hopeful a back door to stardom? That's in the hands of you, the voters.

You can watch and vote for all the top 10 Philadelphia contestants, including Paul Hahn, on FOX 29’s web site: http://media.myfoxphilly.com/idol/idolvote.html. The top 5 get to perform live on FOX 29's morning show Good Day Philadelphia and the winner gets to bypass the massive lines at the Philadelphia open auditions for season 7.


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Labels: TV

Can an Asian-American ever hold the American Idol title? Paul Ethan Hahn says a resounding "yes" and Internet video might be his Ace in the Hole.

Paul grew up in Murray Hill, New Jersey and has always been a big country fan. He also loves the hit FOX-TV program American Idol. And if Paul has his way, he’ll be the first Asian country singer on American Idol.

"I wanna make Paula Abdul cry and show that jerk off Simon how to sing. I want to be the next American Idol!" Paul quips.

This week, Paul Hahn entered an online FOX 29 Philly Idol contest and hopes that a hi-tech edge will help him bypass the massive lines outside the first round of judges.

FOX 29 posted an open American Idol audition on their website. The winner gets to perform live on Fox's morning show, Good Day Philadelphia, and gets to bypass the first round of judges at the open American Idol Philadelphia auditions later this month. To enter, all you had to do was upload a video of you singing.



Paul recorded his American Idol demo using his Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with a built in iSight camera, and the video editing program iMovie.

"It was so easy," says Paul. "I just opened iMovie, recorded about a minute sample of my singing, burned a DVD and threw it into the mail. The whole process only took about 10 minutes."

Since Idol's first season, we've seen Kelly Clarkson belt out high notes, a plethora of Sanjaya hairstyles, and even a contestant who went on to win an Oscar. But we haven’t seen any serious Asian-American contestants get a real shot at the Idol crown (sorry but William Hung doesn't count).

Will Paul's dream of telling off Simon and getting to sing a country song on American Idol come true? Can Internet video voting give this American Idol hopeful a back door to stardom? That's in the hands of you, the voters.

You can watch and vote for all the top 10 Philadelphia contestants, including Paul Hahn, on FOX 29’s web site: http://media.myfoxphilly.com/idol/idolvote.html. The top 5 get to perform live on FOX 29's morning show Good Day Philadelphia and the winner gets to bypass the massive lines at the Philadelphia open auditions for season 7.


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Labels: internet, TV

Wish you could free your iTunes Library from your computer and take it with you in your pocket? GetUSB.info put together an excellent tutorial on how to run a mobile iTunes Library from a USB stick or hard drive. This method will run the entire iTunes application from the storage device, making it easy to manage iTunes libraries for a mobile user. I believe this is how iTunes should have be developed. Having a library specific for each computer is a frustrating way to enjoy your music if you use multiple computers everyday (ie. work, home, laptop, etc.).

What pushed Greg from GetUSB.info over the edge, was his wife wanting to purchase music from iTunes at work and then sync up iTunes with her computer at home. Typically this is done by purchasing the music and downloading directly to the iPod. But his wife is a CPA and travels from location to location for audits and doesn't even use the same computer all the time. The solution was to run iTunes from a USB flash drive so she could just manage a single Library.

Read full tutorial: Run iTunes from a USB Drive

Of course this method also works for larger storage hard drives - basically anything that appears as a Mass Storage Device on your PC system. If you are looking for a long term strategy for managing your iTunes music, I strongly recommend doing this process to an external hard drive that is, at least, 120GBs.

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Labels: itunes, tutorial

There's no doubt the iPod has revolutionized the way we to listen music. People take their iPods everywhere. On the run, in the car, or at the gym, our iPods have gone with us to the ends of the earth... except places near water.

Until recently, a short fall or a splash of water meant certain death for an iPod, but not anymore.

Thanks to a company called OtterBox, makers of watertight storage cases for electronic equipment like PDAs, and GPS units, you can safely take your iPod near or even underwater. OtterBox has created a waterproof hard shell case they call the OtterBox for iPod.

We put all their waterproof iPod cases through several tough tests including a steamy shower and a trip to the beach.

Here's our full series of Otterbox case reviews:

• OtterBox for iPod Mini
  
• Otterbox for iPod
• Otterbox for iPod Nano
• Otterbox for iPod Video
  

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Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, you have to admire J.K Rowling. Not just as a writer with a world-class imagination, but also as a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She seemed to come out of nowhere to create one of the biggest entertainment franchises ever.

It’s hard to believe that she used to be unemployed, surviving on U.K. state benefits. That was 1995. Now it's 12 years (and hundreds of millions of dollars) later, and she’s just finished her seventh and final Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

iTunes Link: J.K. Rowling Interview

Rowling recently did an interview with Meredith Viera for the American news programs The Today Show and Dateline NBC. I only caught part of her Dateline NBC interview, so I was pretty happy to see that they posted the whole thing on iTunes. The interview is an interesting glimpse inside the world of Harry Potter, and it offers some real insight into the woman who created a billion dollar world of magic.

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Labels: itunes

Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, you have to admire J.K Rowling. Not just as a writer with a world-class imagination, but also as a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She seemed to come out of nowhere to create one of the biggest entertainment franchises ever.

It’s hard to believe that she used to be unemployed, surviving on U.K. state benefits. That was 1995. Now it's 12 years (and hundreds of millions of dollars) later, and she’s just finished her seventh and final Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

iTunes Link: J.K. Rowling Interview

Rowling recently did an interview with Meredith Viera for the American news programs The Today Show and Dateline NBC. I only caught part of her Dateline NBC interview, so I was pretty happy to see that they posted the whole thing on iTunes. The interview is an interesting glimpse inside the world of Harry Potter, and it offers some real insight into the woman who created a billion dollar world of magic.

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Labels: itunes, movies

Why give someone a single still framed picture when you can give them an entire slide show? The MF-575 is an inexpensive hi-tech digital photo, MP3, and video player with a bright, high-resolution 5.6-inch color TFT screen.

When I bought my first MF-575 picture frame, I got it as a gift for a family member who liked to complain that I never send them pictures anymore. The problem is, I have a digital camera and haven't gotten any pictures developed in several years. So now, whenever I go over to their house for a visit, I just bring an extra memory card from my digital camera full of new pictures. If you don't have an extra memory card, the MF-575 has an easy-to-use MD/SD/MMC memory card reader that plugs into any computer with a USB port. So you can just plug the entire picture frame into your computer and copy the pictures onto the card that way if necessary.

This year on Christmas morning, I was thinking about taking a series of pictures while everyone is opening their gifts. Then I'll take the memory card out of my digital camera and pop it into the MF-575 picture frame for an instant slide show for everyone to enjoy on Christmas afternoon. Good idea right? The number of images you can put into your MF-575 slide show is only limited by the capacity of the memory card being used.

Here's the full review: MF-575 Digital Picture Frame

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Labels: review

Why give someone a single still framed picture when you can give them an entire slide show? The MF-575 is an inexpensive hi-tech digital photo, MP3, and video player with a bright, high-resolution 5.6-inch color TFT screen.


When I bought my first MF-575 picture frame, I got it as a gift for a family member who liked to complain that I never send them pictures anymore. The problem is, I have a digital camera and haven't gotten any pictures developed in several years. So now, whenever I go over to their house for a visit, I just bring an extra memory card from my digital camera full of new pictures. If you don't have an extra memory card, the MF-575 has an easy-to-use MD/SD/MMC memory card reader that plugs into any computer with a USB port. So you can just plug the entire picture frame into your computer and copy the pictures onto the card that way if necessary.

This year on Christmas morning, I was thinking about taking a series of pictures while everyone is opening their gifts. Then I'll take the memory card out of my digital camera and pop it into the MF-575 picture frame for an instant slide show for everyone to enjoy on Christmas afternoon. Good idea right? The number of images you can put into your MF-575 slide show is only limited by the capacity of the memory card being used.

Here's the full review: MF-575 Digital Picture Frame

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Labels: review