Traders Little Helper

I have been trading Dave Matthews Band concerts via the internet for many years. Traders of these shows prefer to distribute the concerts in a lossless format as opposed to an MP3 that has a loss of quality. This creates a bit of a problem when you go to add the files to something like an iPod or MP3 only player. For years I was using the mkw Audio Compression tool, but now that I am on Windows 7 64bit it no longer is working for me. I found a new solution – Trader’s Little Helper.   It will take your flac, mkw, or shn files amongst others – and convert them to wav, flac, or mp3. The only thing I did to convert it to MP3 was select Format>Convert encoding format then selected the Target Format to be mp3. Added my .shn files, and BOOM – 3mins later on a quadcore I was in business. Check out the software here: Trader’s Little Helper at easytree.org

-DPollitt

Unlock Global Themes for Windows 7

Although there are already several different transparency and wallpaper options available for the Aero Theme within Windows 7, there are several global options that are hidden by default.  These include specialized themes for the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.  The following explains how to utilize these hidden themes:

1. Navigate to Computer/Local Disk (C:)/Windows/Globalization
2. The folder in question is hidden by default, so click on the ‘Organize’ dropdown tab and select ‘Folder and Search Options’
3. Click on the View Tab and select the radio button that says ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’
4. A folder entitled ‘MCT’ should appear, and within it contain five folders, which correspond with the themes available for the corresponding country
5. Selecting, for example, MCT-AU, and opening the Theme folder within, double-clicking ‘AU.theme’ will both apply this theme and all wallpapers to your theme menu
6. After applying the themes, consider hiding the hidden files to prevent ‘desktop.ini’ files from showing on your desktop.

PlayOn for Windows 7 64bit

PlayOn is software that you run on your desktop PC, that allows you to view Hulu, YouTube, CBS, and other online video streams directly on your Xbox or similar device. If you haven’t heard of it, check out playon.tv to learn more.
So I installed PlayOn in Windows 7 64bit, and thought it would just show up right away on my Xbox 360. That wasn’t quite the case. My Xbox didn’t recognize the device as on the network. I knew my network should support how I was attempting to do this, because prior I had tested out the software on a local VM and had no issues. After a bit of searching Google, I figured out that it was just Windows firewall trying to prevent my fun. Here are the steps to get in business:

-Close PlayOn Server
-Open up Control Panel>System Security
-Select Allow a Program through Windows Firewall
-Change Settings
-Scroll down to MediaMall Server, and check the box for Home/Work

After you change the above settings and fire back up the server, you should be set. I am assuming this bug will be fixed in a soon to be released edition of the software, but for now, this is what works!

-DPollitt

NAT Issues with XBox Live + DD-WRT

If you are having issues with Xbox Live, such as not being able to hear some friends talking in a chat, or not being able to join a party with certain friends, your NAT settings could be to blame.  NAT stands for Network Address Translation and it essentially comes into play here when you look at port forwarding and what XBox Live require for open ports.

I will give some general info on what needs to be done, but if you are using the DD-WRT firmware on your router, I’ll continue on with how to configure that specific software.

The first thing you will want to do is figure out how to login to your routers settings.  If you are not familiar with this, or do not know your username/password to login to the router – start with your routers documentation then come back here.  Once you are within your routers setup page, you will want to head to the port forwarding section.  The first step that I would try is to open up three ports.  Open up ports:

88 UDP

3047 UDP

3047 TCP

Depending on if that works or not – The next step if you were unsuccessful would be to try out UPnP in your routers setting. This is Universal Plug and Play, which essentially allows your XBox to determine the port settings however it wishes. Personally, I find this to be a bit too much control for Microsoft and the Xbox to have over my network, but if you want to give it a try here it is:

Simply setup UPnP in your router to be enabled. This is just an option on your routers setup page, and you can see an example of that from a DD-WRT router at the end of this article.

Now make sure that you restart and cycle everything within the network. That would be your Xbox, router, and possibly modem if you feel so inclinded. Make sure to shut them off completely and start them up in order from the incoming connection to the final destination. Once you do that, you should be in bussiness to join any XBox Live party you wish. The following links my help you out if you are still experiencing issues.

Links:
Xbox Support Forums: Link
Noddegamra Blog Post: Link
Microsoft Support: Link

Puppy Nap

We recently added this cute pup to our family. Her name is Glacier, and she is a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Right now she is about 30lbs and 3 months old. As you can see, she has lots of skin left to grow into. We expect her to be a bit over 100lbs when she is an adult.

Glacier just won Daily Puppy over at DailyPuppy.com – Link

-DPollitt

AdBlock+ With Google Chrome

First off, you’ll want to grab the Dev Channel edition of Google Chrome if you don’t have this already[here].  You want this version because as of about a month ago this version includes an extension manager that will make this entire process easier for you.  Plus, now you are on the bleeding edge of Chrome releases.

First you will want to install AdSweep.  When you head to the page, make sure to click on the Google Chrome Extension link and not the user script[here].  After clicking the link for the extension, Chrome will ask if you want to save the file.  Say yes, then a box will automatically pop up asking if you would like to install, click “Install” and you are done.  Adsweep is basically your meat and potatos ad blocking program.  It will remove just about everything that you dont want.

Another way to block ads in Google Chrome is to head to userscripts.org and get the AdBlock+ for Google Chrome [here].  Make sure to click on the link for the Chrome extension, save it, and click Install after it is done downloading.  This script will allow you to selectively block advertisements on an ad by ad basis.

The one two punch combination of these programs should give you what you need to have a very nice online experience with Google Chrome.

Tips:

-To disable or enable extensions on the fly, click the wrench(or settings icon) in Chrome, then scroll down to “Extensions”

-Ctrl+Alt+B – Turn off the new AdBlock+ toolbar that you now have

-You can also get to your extensions setup page by typing the following into the superbar “chrome://extensions/”

-DPollitt

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