· July 1, 2007 at 5:00 am · Personal
I once found myself in the group of folks out there that didn’t like devices that do more than one thing. Who needs a talking toaster that makes you coffee?
Well I am happy to say that changed when I got my Panasonic DMRES35VS VCR/DVD Recorder.
Here’s a little official copy about the device:
It doesn’t get a whole lot easier than this. Keep a stack of DVDs, and you’ll never miss another program. One touch recording can be set to keep from recording over your favorites, and you can even watch one program while recording another with Time Slip. The Direct Navigator shows you thumbnails of every program on the disc as you browse through your burgeoning collection. You’re on your own, however, to figure out where to find the time to see what’s been recorded.
What is the major pro for getting this device? Well for me I have boxes and boxes filled with old VHS wrestling tapes that will probably never be released to DVD. I had been copying them from the VCR to the computer, and then burning them - but that just takes time I do not have. With my new toy here I can just start it up and let Panasonic do the rest of the work.
So if that is the pro, where is the con? Well the only bad thing I can say about it is it takes a college degree to figure out how to work all the features that come bundled in with it. I have learned the basics of copying a VHS tape to DVD - but the fancy stuff I will have to leave for another day.
All in all I am very happy with it though, and if you find yourself in the same boat I would highly recommend it.
· May 23, 2007 at 5:00 am · Personal, Software Help
I have reviewed a ton of freeware applications for Lockergnome’s Windows Fanatics over the years. So many, I’m not sure if people really know which ones actually make it into my day to day life. Here are ten offline applications that I use on a day to day basis. Some are free, some are not - they are all quality goods though that you should all check out.
- Firefox
It has been my Web browser for year, and unless they do something extremely crazy - don’t think I’ll be moving away for one of the other browsers anytime soon.
- NoteTab Pro
NoteTab Pro is another program I have been using forever and have never found anything better. Three reasons I love it are: basic text editing, spell checker and word count. If your a text editor without those three don’t bother me.
- WinRAR
Out of all the zipping and un-zipping tools out there, I think WinRAR does the best job and stays out of my way unless I need it. Good stuff all around.
- VLC Media Player
I mainly have this one loaded up to play all the wacky video downloaded from the Web that doesn’t play right in your standard video players.
- CoreFTP Lite
I am not deeply in love with this FTP client - but it does the job without choking much. If I could find a better client - I’d probably use it instead. Alternatives welcome!
- Audacity
A must have for any podcast that is working with a $3 budget. Totally free and easy to use even for a beginner in the audio editing arena.
- CDBurnerXP Pro 3
Toss out your old CD burning software because you no longer need it. CDBurnerXP Pro 3 does for free what some of the other burning packages can’t even get done for $50 or more.
- XNeat Windows Manager
This is one I just ran across not too long ago. It allows you to hide things on your taskbar, send anything to the tray, show and hide windows, and a heck of a lot more.
- Foxit Reader
Adobe can bite my Web hosting butt. Foxit Reader gives me a PDF reader that doesn’t ask to update itself every five minutes with crap I don’t need. Thank you Foxit!
- OpenOffice.org
Anybody who says you can’t live day to day inside of Open Office is wrong. For me, at least - it does what it needs to do when I need it to do something. Usually I only use it for editing and creating invoices though so maybe I’m not the spokesperson they are looking for.
What about you? What do you think of these suggestions - or can you suggest a replacement for one? Let me know and make sure to leave some links for them as well.
