Thursday, May 31, 2012

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Read this before you Download Windows 8

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog
Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.
Read this before you Download Windows 8
May 20th 2012, 10:30

If you have been following all the good press around Windows 8 and are waiting to try it on your own computer, here's the good news. The consumer preview version of Windows 8 (just a fancy name for beta software) is now available for download and it is very likely that your existing system specs are good enough to run Windows 8.

The System Requirements for Windows 8

According to the Windows 8 FAQ, any machine equipped with 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of hard disk space and 1 GHz processor should be able to handle Windows 8. The minimum RAM requirements are 2 GB in case you would like to install the 64-bit version of Windows 8.

Should you download Windows 8 Setup or the ISO Image?

As you may have noticed on the Windows 8 download page, the installation of Windows 8 can be done in two ways.

  1. You can either take the easiest route and download the Windows 8 Setup program – that's also the default option.
  2. Alternatively, you can download ISO Images of Windows 8.

If you are planning to install Windows 8 on your existing computer, either on a different partition (dual-boot) or just want to upgrade an older version of Windows to Windows 8, the default Setup program is a good choice.

Please note that that your installed software program will only be preserved if you are upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. If your planning to install Windows 8 on top of Windows XP or Vista, only the files will be preserved but not the various software programs that you may have on the disk.

The ISO image may be more handy in other situations like:

  1. Your computer has an x64 processor but is running the 32-bit version of Windows. If you want to install the 64-bit version of Windows 8, download the 64-bit ISO.
  2. You have an iMac or MacBook and want to install Windows 8 on the Mac using Boot Camp software.
  3. You want to install Windows 8 on multiple computers. Download the ISO, create a bootable DVD and boot the other system using this Windows 8 disk.
  4. You want to run Windows 8 as a Virtual Machine inside your existing copy of Windows.
  5. You are running Windows XP.

The universal product key for Windows 8 is NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8.

Will my software programs run inside Windows 8?

Before grabbing the ISO image of Windows 8, quickly run this setup utility and it will show a list of all software programs and hardware drivers on your system that are compatible with Windows 8. Else you can visit this page to see a list of all known software that are found to be working with Windows 7.

What route should you take?

You can have Windows 8 on your computer in three ways – you can install Windows 8 side-by-side (also known as dual-boot), as a virtual machine (so that it runs inside your existing Windows just like any other software) or Windows 8 can be your main OS (there's no going back then).

If you just want to try out Windows 8  but without disturbing any of your existing set-up, the safest bet is to use a Virtual Machine. If you have a vacant partition or don't mind creating one (it's easy), go for the dual-boot option. Else, if you have a spare computer, you can consider upgrading to Windows 8 overwriting the previous installation of Windows. Good luck!

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Digital Inspiration @labnolThis story, Read this before you Download Windows 8, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 20/05/2012 under Windows 8, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Google Recreates the Hindu Epic Ramayana in HTML5

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog
Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.
Google Recreates the Hindu Epic Ramayana in HTML5
May 31st 2012, 15:06

Google Indonesia has launched a new Chrome experiment that reimagines the story of Ramayana for the digital age.

The plot of the story is the same as the classic version but here the characters – Ram, Sita, Hanuman and Ravan – use modern web tools like Google Talk, Maps, Docs, Gmail and even Web Search to plan their strategy. Jatayu even writes a blog.

The Ramayana in the Google Era

I have captured a few screenshots here but you should head over to ramaya.na to enjoy the complete work.

The script is written in Bahasa Indonesia but if you are even slightly familiar with the original Ramayana, you'll get through easily. Extremely creative advertising for Google products though I am not sure if the site would work in non-Chrome browsers.

rayamana episodes

Panchwati

ramayana panchwati

Ravan's Lanka on Google Places

ravan lanka

Ravana using Google Chrome's Incognito mode to disguise himself

golden deer for seeta

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Digital Inspiration @labnolThis story, Google Recreates the Hindu Epic Ramayana in HTML5, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 31/05/2012 under Google, India.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Enable Video Thumbnails in your Windows Explorer

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog
Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.
Enable Video Thumbnails in your Windows Explorer
May 31st 2012, 11:49

Windows Explorer does not display thumbnail images for unsupported video file formats and  thus it is difficult to determine what's inside a video unless you play the clip in an associated media player.

For instance, here's a screenshot of my movies folder – Windows Explorer uses the default video icon for all media files that solve no purpose.

windows_explorer

There's however a free utility called Media Preview that will replace these generic icons with image thumbnails generated using the first few frames of the video file.

All you have to do is launch the configuration wizard once and enable video thumbnails.

Windows Explorer can natively handle Windows Media and Quicktime formats only but the Media Preview utility can display video thumbnails for virtually all popular video formats that are out there including 3GP, Flash video, Real Media formats, DVD file and more.

Here's a second screenshot of the same movies folder in Windows Explorer but with video thumbnails enabled. Much better.

Windows Explorer with Video Thumbnails

video_thumbnails

Media Preview is available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The specs say that the utility is also compatible with Windows 8.

If the utility has trouble generating thumbnails for your video files, just launch the Media Preview utility from the Start Menu, switch to the Testing tab and click Clear Thumbnail Cache. [via Snapfiles.com]

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Digital Inspiration @labnolThis story, Enable Video Thumbnails in your Windows Explorer, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 31/05/2012 under Windows Explorer, Software.

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Digital Inspiration Technology Blog: Google’s Policy on Tracking Clicks on the Google+ button

Digital Inspiration Technology Blog
Digital Inspiration is an award-winning how-to tech blog around all things related to computer software, web applications, mobile and personal productivity.
Google's Policy on Tracking Clicks on the Google+ button
May 31st 2012, 08:49

Google Plus

Google has a strange clause in their policies document that may affect platforms like AddThis and ShareThis who provide social sharing buttons (or widgets) for websites and blogs.

If you add a Google +1 button to your website, Google Analytics can automatically track how site visitors are using that button without you having to modify the code.

Alternatively, you can use the analytics services of external social sharing platforms – like AddThis or ShareThis – to record interactions that people are having with the Google+ button (and other social buttons) on your web site.

Google's button policy document however discourage that approach:

Publishers may not sell or transmit to others any data about a user related to the user’s use of any Google+ button.

For the avoidance of doubt, this prohibition includes, but is not limited to, any use of pixels, cookies, or other methods to recognize users' clicks on a Google+ button, the data of which is then disclosed, sold, or otherwise shared with other parties.

When you implement Google+ on your website through a third-party widget, it will most likely track the clicks on that button and Google's policy clearly prohibits that activity.

I find this clause strange because when Google introduced social tracking last year, they kind of encouraged developers to build this kind of tracking on top of Google Analytics but the button policy says otherwise. Or may you can only use Analytics for recording the +1 interactions that occur on your site.

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Digital Inspiration @labnolThis story, Google’s Policy on Tracking Clicks on the Google+ button, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 31/05/2012 under Google Plus, Internet.

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