RSS Feeds. What are they?

In my previous post, I talked about adding RSS feeds to your www.live.com home page, and how you can get the latest updates instantaneously from your favorite web sites.

I received some feedback, asking me what exactly is a RSS feed. Well, not knowing how RSS feeds work would make you completely clueless about my last post isn't it? So. Here's my attempt to explain what RSS is to the tech newbie.

A simple analogy is the subscription to a magazine. After you have subscribed to a magazine, when a new issue is available, it will be delivered straight to your door step. If you did not subscribe, you'll need to visit the news agent now and then, just to check if the latest issue is published.

Now, apply that analogy to the subscription of a RSS feed. If you subscribe to say, CNN.com, whenever CNN has a news update, the headline will appear “automatically”on your RSS reader (such as Mozilla's Thunderbird) or service (such as the reviewed www.live.com). But, if you did not subscribe to the RSS feed, you will have to log on to CNN.com, and hit F5 periodically just to check if there are any updates. Obviously, the first method of subscription is much more convenient.

So how exactly do you subscribe to a RSS feed? To keep things really simple, first, go download and install Mozilla's Firefox. I wanted to recommend Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7, but it's in beta, and it screwed up my system's security settings. Install it at your own risk.

Anyway, after you've installed Firefox, just pay attention to right side of the address bar and look out for an orange symbol. I've highlight it in red, in the screenshot below.



If you see this symbol, it means that the website has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to. As you can see from the screenshot, my blog provides a RSS feed. In fact, this service comes automatic for all blogs generated by blogger.com. Click the symbol, and click “OK” on the ensuing dialog box.



Next, open Firefox's bookmarks by pressing CTRL-B, look for Tech Miser, right-click it and select properties.



The RSS feed is shown in “Feed Location”. Copy this, then go to www.live.com.



Assuming you have a page set up (if not, do read my previous post about setting up your own www.live.com page), click Add Stuff, followed by Advanced Options. Then, paste the RSS feed into the text box, highlighted below. Finally, click Subscribe to complete the process.



After you have subscribed to my blog, whenever I have a new post, you'll be the first to know. You can also catch my previous posts here.



Most websites would have RSS feeds by now. So when you see the orange RSS symbol, simply repeat my aforementioned instructions to subscribe to the content. Have fun!

And by the way, if you want a more detailed and technical article of what RSS is all about, do check out its wikipedia entry.

CE

www.live.com

Microsoft has always been made fun of, especially for the frequent crashes and virus attacks on their Windows OS. And partly due to Apple's influence and emergence over the past few years, Microsoft product's “user experience” is also often scrutinized and laughed at by both industry experts and casual tech consumers alike.

However, I feel that Bill Gates and his team has been trying really hard to dispel the notion that Microsoft only has difficult to use and unreliable products. It is evident in the upcoming Vista OS as well the new version of Office. Even as Apple and Linux are gathering momentum in terms of market share, they will find it extremely difficult to bring down the juggernaut that is Microsoft.

A new Microsoft “service” that impressed me quite a bit is www.live.com. With this, gone are the days when I had to open multiple instances of Internet Explorer, and log into each and every single website just to check if there are any new blog entries or news update.

www.live.com updates everything, and best of all, displays all the content neatly in one page.

Here's how you can get started:

1. Go to www.live.com, and click on the “Get Started” button.

2. To keep things simple, make sure all the check boxes are selected, and click “Next”

You'll be brought to your personal Live home page.

Each tab represents a main category, with the relevant contents in it. So, in the “News” tab, you have the head lines from MSNBC, BBC, NYT and so on. Click on any headline, and you'll be directed to the full story either in a separate browser or tab (if you use Firefox or IE7). If you don't like any preloaded “gadget”, just click the “X” button to remove them.

You can also add your own content by entering the RSS feed address of your favorite blog or news site. Click Add Stuff > Advanced Options.

Compelling features
New content will appear without the hassle of pressing F5, which in my opinion, is one compelling feature of this service. Another nice feature is its portability.

By logging in your hotmail or MSN or any Microsoft based account from any computer, all your settings and content will be loaded accordingly. So it doesn't matter if you are in some obscure Internet Cafe in Inner Mongolia, you'll still get to experience the same www.live.com service you enjoy back in the comforts of your home.

Conclusion
With live.com, Nearly everything that matters to you on the Internet can be conveniently accessed from one, single page.

Although the service is still in beta, I found it relatively stable, no big problems yet.

I think this is a great service and I log on to it everyday. Well, do try it out. You have nothing to lose as it's free of charge!

CE

New Canon 5 Megapixel Camera for only $200

Wow. With a stroke of luck, I managed to get a brand new Canon Digital IXUS i Zoom for only $200! The street price is around $599. Grand savings of $399!

Actually, I bought a 2nd hand Digital IXUS IIs from my boss for $200. But, that particular model has a CCD mounting problem (which he and I didn't know when the deal was done). The "glue" used is not suitable for the humid weather here in the tropics. Sure enough, after using the camera for a few months, the CCD came loose, and it couldn't pick up anything. To my horror, all the pictures taken on my short holiday were blank.

Luckily, Canon acknowledged the problem, and gave free repairs, no questions asked. I went to the service center in Febuary, they took in the IXUS IIs, and gave me a loan camera as a replacement.

Half a year later, they sent me a letter, saying that I can choose to keep the loan camera, or get back my old, repaired camera.

Let's see.....

• 3.2 MP vs 5.3 MP
• 2x zoom vs 2.4x zoom
• 2004 model (older) vs 2005 model (newer)
  
• Chunky vs Sleek

Canon Digital IXUS IIs

Canon Digital IXUS i Zoom

I think it's a forgone conclusion. The Digital IXUS i Zoom it will be.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, a new Canon camera for 1/3 of the original price! So my advice is, get a cheap, 2nd hand IXUS IIs!

CE

Yes..I'm finally back

Hello.

Sorry for the hiatus. It's partly because of work, and mostly because of laziness. :P

Anyway, I'll be updating my blog more frequently in the future. So, do keep my blog in your live bookmarks and "favorites" folder.

C E

Picasa2 - Photo Management Software from Google

For a company that is synonymous with ultra-effective web searches, it may come as a surprise to some of you that they develop excellent, and free software such as Google Earth and Google Talk. A personal Google favorite of mine is Picasa 2, a free photo management software.

Sure, you have the array of tried-and-tested applications such as Adobe PhotoShop, ACDSee and Apple's iPhoto. But, if there's such thing as a value-to-satisfaction ratio, nothing beats Picasa 2 as it's outright free.


User Interface

Picasa 2 greets you with nice pastel colors. The rounded buttons softens the entire look and the shadows gives the photos a 3-dimensional effect. I don't have a degree in graphic design, but I do know a nice interface when I see one. Picasa's interface, in my opinion, is simply gorgeous. On top of the interface, I love the subtle effects and animations in Picasa 2. If you drag a photo around, the rest of the photos seem to "give way". Try it and you'll see what I mean. Also, try zooming into a photo and notice how the "zoom perspective tool" (not sure if there's a proper name for it) fades into view.


Import

Picasa allows you to monitor folders on your computer, in the sense that if new pictures are added to the folder, it'll be automatically added into your photo library.

It is also compatible with all camera models (according to their support page), with the proper drivers installed. I've set Picasa as the default application to extract the photos from my Canon Ixus IIs camera. So, whenever I plug in my camera, Picasa pops up and asks my if I want to add the newly taken photos into my photo library. That's convenience!


Organization

All the virtual folders are on the left of the interface. Obviously, when you select any of them, the main display pane will show all photos in the folder. Any editing done of the photos will not be saved on the actual photos, so don't worry if you cropped your head off accidentally. But, if you do want a copy of an edited photo, you can do so by selecting the "Save a copy" option from the menu bar. And if you edit the folder description, Picasa2 automatically renames the actual PC folder as well, which is a pretty thoughtful feature.


Effects

If you are a regular joe like me, who don't crave for advanced photography effects, Picasa2 is simply ideal. It has quite a number of easy-to-apply, and stylo-mylo effects that can really make your photos look better than they actually are.

If you are a cheapskate like me, you can save a bit of money by taking your own wedding photos, apply the soft focus effect and make it look like a million dollars!


Conclusion

This software receives 2 thumbs up from me. It's easy to use, it has a stylish Apple-esque user interface, it has lots of nice effects and most importantly, it's free! Try it!

Picasa2 can be downloaded here

www.stickam.com - FREE web storage for your media files

Stickam labels itself as an "all-in-one multimedia tool". To me, it is more of a storage area for your videos, music files and photos. Bloggers would find the service provided by this website useful as it provides a convenient way to publish those media files. In addition, gives up to 500 MB of free webspace.

Uploading media files is easy, as steps are clearly illustrated. Even newbie bloggers would find it easy to get things going. For photos, they provide a hyperlink for visitors to your site to click on. For example, here's the hyperlink provided by Stickam after I've uploaded a picture:

Range Rover

The same goes for music:

Prelude, 4th Lute Suite

For videos, they provide a HTML tag. When you publish the tag, your visitors will see the first frame of the uploaded video (see my previous post). And once it is clicked, visitors will be redirected to Stickam's site, where they can play the video.

If you have a webcam, you can also use Stickam as a video recording tool. Other services include a chatroom (which is often deserted), and a gallery of videos and photos uploaded by other Stickam members.

In my opinion, the services provided by Stickam are rather useful. I like that fact that media files can be easily uploaded, and that it gives 500MB of space with no bandwidth limitation. My only gripe is the intermittent breaks during media playback using the Stickam player. But since it's streamed from their server, I guess it's forgivable. Do give it a shot.

Here's the website.

Video link via Stickam, an FREE All in one communication tool.

Just trying out this service provided by www.stickam.com. For your information, Stickam offers 500MB of space for you to upload videos, audio files and pictures for publishing via a blog. A HTML tag is provided for each file you upload. Here, I've attached the tag to a video in this post. A full review of Stickam is in the works...

Anyway, enjoy the video!

Yahoo's New Music Engine (v1.1)

Introduction
After I experienced lots of frustration with the previous release (in terms of installation and stability), I was really skeptical that this new version of Music Engine can live up to the marketing hype on Yahoo'’s web site. I decided to give it a real go, and was pleasantly surprised at most aspects of it. So, here's my take on the new version:

Yahoo! Music Engine as a Music Library
As seen from the screenshot below, the album art display is integrated into the player console, which I thought was ingenious as it makes full use of limited space.
Music Engine has one of the best music filters in my opinion. It'’s a dynamic filter in the sense that it morphs according to '“Browse by Artist'”, '“Browse by Album', '“Browse by Song'” or '“Browse by Genre'” (selected via the drop box).

Browse by Artist filter

Browse by Album

Browse by Song

Finally, browse by genre, where you get the works

You can add songs to the "Now Playing" pane via drag-n-drop or by right clicking the song, and select 'Add to Now Playing'”. On top of just being a Now Playing list, it is also a burn list, and a 'songs-to-be-transferred-to-portable-player'” list. Kind of similar to WMP10 I guess and as you can see, it'’s UNICODE friendly.


Yahoo! Music Engine as a device manager
To transfer songs into the player, Yahoo! Music Engine uses the drag-n-drop method like everything else. The player can be managed when its node is clicked.

I like the fact that the player'’s information and related task buttons are located on conspicuously on top, and that Help is easily accessible. The filters and song list takes up rest of the pane.


Yahoo! Music Engine as a media server
This software can be used to share” music across computers within the same network. This idea is not completely new, as Apple has this feature for quite some time, albeit not a heavily marketed one. The Network Music service is also compatible with consumer media streaming devices like the Linksys MusicBridge and the ROKU SoundBridge.


Yahoo! Music Messenger
Mix Yahoo Music Engine with Yahoo Messenger and you get Music Messenger. This convergence of application/feature allows you to see your Yahoo! Messenger list from Music Engine. In addition, music libraries can be shared between contacts.


Click on the name to explore your contact'’s Music Engine library. You can even double click the songs to listen to 30-second samples. To listen to full songs, you have to spend a bit of money and be a Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscriber. That's kind of a turn-off isn't it?


Yahoo! Music Engine as an Internet Radio receiver
LAUNCHcast provides the Internet radio services in Music Engine. Choose from a range of genres and click the '“Speaker'” buttons to listen to streamed, Internet radio broadcast via Music Engine.


Yahoo! Music Engine as a music subscription manager
If you are a Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscriber, you can browse through the catalogue (which is actually a web page) and select songs to download using Music Engine. There'’s also '“Download Manager' node to check the status of each download. If you are not a subscriber, clicking each song allows you to listen to 30-second streamed samples.



In a nutshell
The guys over at Yahoo have obviously put in plenty of efforts to ensure that the interactive design is top notch. I like the simplicity of the layout and everything seem to be held nicely in place. Every feature has a '“guided'” feel to it with instructions placed at non-obtrusive places. The end-user messages are very thoughtful and helpful, making it usable right “out-of-the-box”.

The features are quite unique, for example the Music Messenger and the dynamic filters, which makes it stand out from the rest of the media management software crowd.

However, it does have its flaws. I'm not sure whether it was due to network problems at my place, or that my PC was not configured properly, but when I used Music Engine to access an Internet based feature such as Internet radio or browsing through Yahoo Unlimited Music, it freezes, hogs up my computer'’s resources and as a result, affects all my other applications. I had to force it to shut down several times while writing this review.

Conclusion
I feel that Music Engine quite a good piece of software, and the efforts the developers put in to give it an extra edge is rather evident. I just wish that they had sorted out the script errors, which I suspect, caused my computer to hang more often than not. But overall, I'd gladly recommend it to any music lover.

Yahoo Music Engine can be download free-of-charge here

Firefox 1.5 - Free (and very good) Internet Browser

Introduction
When I first heard of Firefox, I was thinking, hey, a web browser is a web browser is a web browser. You type in a URL, access the web site, read what's on it, and that's it. Why would I want an alternative to Internet Explorer? Well, I can't be more wrong.

True, it does the same job as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but Firefox offers something extra: an excellent user experience and a great "look and feel". For example, in IE, if you cannot connect to the Internet, you get a whole lot of explanation in fine print. Who bothers to read them anyway?

Firefox keeps it short and simple:

Notice the "Try Again" button. Thoughtful isn't it?

The features that are frequently marketed are tabbed browsing and live bookmarks.


Tabbed browsing
I think that the tabbed browsing feature is nicely done. It's performance is sleek, and it's nicely drawn.Microsoft's version (via the MSN Toolbar) looks really crude in comparison. While loading a webpage, Firefox's tabs has its trademark circular animations. Microsoft's tabs only has a static image that looks like a blue pie.

Tabbed browsing saves a lot of real estate on my computer. Instead of opening several windows, all I have to do it to press Ctrl-T to open up a few tabs to browse multiple web sites.


Live Bookmarks
Next, Live Bookmarks. With the proliferation of RSS, almost every web site seems to be syndicated. Firefox highlights such websites with the following symbol found right side of the address bar:
You can add a site's RSS feed into Firefox as a Live Bookmark. Every time there's an update on the site, be it new blog postings or fresh news reports, you can catch them all of them from Firefox's Bookmark panel.

What I like about the Live Bookmarks is that by clicking the links, Firefox brings you to the actual site of that new blog post/news story, with all the pictures that accompany it. Most RSS readers (not all) simply show text, as such, you'll won't be able to see that mouth-watering pasta dish that your favorite food blogger uploaded.


Lotsa downloadable extensions, plugins and themes
Firefox has plenty of extensions, plugins and themes to allow you to fully customize your web browsing experience. For example, you can download FoxyTunes, an extension that allows you to listen to music while browsing in Firefox. This way, you don't have to launch an additional media player, cluttering up your desktop.


Developer's website
Firefox can be downloaded here.

It's free! Try it, it's great and I'm sure you, like the millions around the world, will be "converted"!

CE

Hello!

I'm sort of a marketing R&D guy and in my line of work, I evaluate lots of "consumer type" software. Along the way, I've found plenty of useful, aesthetically pleasing and free software that can be easily downloaded from the Internet. No point keeping all these excellent freebies to myself right? So, I've decided to share my knowledge here, through blogspot (which is free!).

Most of my posts would be on free software, and what you can do with them. If I come across anything on the Internet that can help you save money (tech-wise), I'll link them as well.

Cheers!
CE