Lala Music Website disappearing....hmmm

Apple announced the LALA website will shut down at the end of May 2010....here is the latest though on a possible avenue they are going to venture to........



TechCrunch this morning has a guest post by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson on what Apple plans to do with Lala.com.  Contrary to some predictions, Apple doesn't plan to have a subscription based service according to Robertson.  Instead, he sees Apple using Lala's ability to upload music to the cloud, classify it, and then play music from a browser.  Any browser including a smartphone browser....

What is of value is the personal music storage service which was an often overlooked component of Lala’s business. As Apple did with the original iPods, Lala realized that any music solution must include music already possessed by the user. The Lala setup process provides software to store a personal music library online and then play it from any web browser alongside web songs they vend. This technology plus the engineering and management team is the true value of Lala to Apple.

That's a lot of storage space. Consider some colleagues that have 100GB+ music collections.  If Apple wants to index everyone's full collection, they'll have to have some ability to cross reference music built in.  For instance if two peole both own the Beatles White album, Apple should just point both users to the same music database rather than storing both users' music separately.  Or perhaps they'll only offer to "Cloud" music that is purchased from iTunes?
That being said, it might be hard for Apple to differentiate between different CD rips (different encodings, name changes, meta data etc.) so the same song may look similar to any computer algorithm that is trying to group music.  Robertson isn't phased by music collection size:

An upcoming major revision of iTunes will copy each user’s catalog to the net making it available from any browser or net connected ipod/touch/tablet. The Lala upload technology will be bundled into a future iTunes upgrade which will automatically be installed for the 100+ million itunes users with a simple “An upgrade is available…” notification dialog box. After installation iTunes will push in the background their entire media library to their personal mobile iTunes area. Once loaded, users will be able to navigate and play their music, videos and playlists from their personal URL using a browser based iTunes experience.

In any case, this type of system is going to require some serious datacenter space.  Much more than Apple currently deploys with MobileMe iDisk use.  That means we're probably seeing why Apple purchased that North Carolina data facility.

Wanna get Tekkie G's posts whenever?

I put the RSS feed button here on the left....just click on it and subscribe to the postings as they happen.....it will automatically come to wherever you designate then..... ie.  Google Reader etc.
Have a happy night in the Web World......

Lucid Lynx......wow.....it is fantastic!

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Linux gang is putting out another great OS.....well, it's here and I am running it and it is FAST...I mean FAST.....boot time to being on the internet is not quite 30 seconds...(course your processor speed means alot also) but they have a fast booting kernel in this one.....I am so impressed so far with it I cannot say enough....go get it and run it either from a usb or burn to a cd....you will wonder why you haven't gone to Linux before now!
LUCID LYNX DOWNLOADS HERE

Google Cloud Printing....it's coming....

What is it?

Here's Google's fine explanation for you:

In Google Chrome OS, all applications are web apps. Therefore, in designing the printing experience for Google Chrome OS, we want to make sure printing from web apps is as natural as printing from traditional native apps is today. Additionally, with the proliferation of web-connected mobile devices such as those running Google Chrome OS and other mobile operating systems, we don't believe it is feasible to build and maintain complex print subsystems and print drivers for each platform. In fact, even the print subsystems and drivers on existing PC operating systems leave a lot of room for improvement.
Our goal is to build a printing experience that enables any app (web, desktop, or mobile) on any device to print to any printer anywhere in the world.
This goal is accomplished through the use of a cloud print service. Apps no longer rely on the local operating system (and drivers) to print. Instead, as shown in the diagram above, apps (whether they be a native desktop/mobile app or a web app) use Google Cloud Print to submit and manage print jobs. Google Cloud Print is then responsible for sending the print job to the appropriate printer, with the particular options the user selected, and providing job status to the app.


Well, just another advance in technology...didn't I tell you cloud computing is on the horizon big time?

Microsoft Fix It

Click HERE



When you want Microsoft to find out what your problem is you can use this link and there are many options there for you to choose from....not always a guarantee of a fix though...just a help....but check it out anyhow.....

Free Talking Dictionary....what fun!

Ever wanted a dictionary that not only spells the word but pronounces it as well?

Here you go.....put in the word and it will say it for you properly enunciated.....wow.....it pulls up all the words that are spelled kind of like the one you are looking for as well...
check it out HERE

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx is almost here!

For those of you who are following the Linux folks.....and I definitely do!.....the next Linux OS is almost ready for you....
it will be a "plasma desktop"...and I have been using it for beta testing....it works wonderfully and is gorgeous.....
will keep you posted  ( I am a die-hard Linux geek ).....and the distros that Linux has out there are all great and virus-free....need I say more....free operating systems, free software, and just work on every computer.....ahhhhhhh

Qemu---is it an tibetan ox or what?

sounds it doesn't it?
well, actually no....it is what is called an emulation program which you can use to run .ISO files directly from your computer without having to write them to the CD/DVD or USB to use them....kinda cool huh?  this is for the tech minded persons out there....MobiLiveCD is its software name but it is a glorified front for the old standby QEMU....this is for those of you out there who are anxious to try all the Linux operating systems that are out there....please try them all...you will be amazed at the user-friendliness and free operating systems and software that there is!

This is the complete info on it-

MobaLiveCD is a freeware that will run your Linux LiveCD on Windows thanks to the excellent emulator called "Qemu".
MobaLiveCD allows you to test your LiveCD with a single click : after downloading the ISO image file of your favorite LiveCD, you just have to start it in MobaLiveCD and here you are, without the need to burn a CD-Rom or to reboot your computer.

MobaLiveCD key features:

• No need to burn the CD-Rom anymore
• You can use the right-click menu for an easy and fast start
  
• Program without installation that you can start from an USB stick
• A clear and easy to use interface
• Light and portable application, packaged in a single executable of 1.6MB only

here is the link to download and works with Windows 7
MOBILIVECD

Bios? sounds like biology something to me...

Well kinda.....a simple explanation of the bios.....it means "basic input output system"....and to put it even more simply....it is the beginning of the startup system on your computer which checks all the hardware and gets it going to its proper place....checking to see if it is all working properly etc.....from the bios screen you are able to reset the motherboard options to do what you want it to do first at startup etc...such as the boot sequence-do you want to start from a CD and reinstall the operating system?...that is a scenario and you definitely need to use the bios for.....

Windows 7- Homegroup? and issues with it...

Wanna see the other computers in your "network"....well all the computers in the home network must be running windows 7...so if you have other versions it will see them all but they will be inaccessible unless you upgrade to windows 7....so that could be your problem....another place to spend your money?

See article below for how to set up when you are ready....

Home Sweet Homegroup

A Swap File? What is it anyhow?

To put it simply....it's like having enough air to breathe....

the hard drive (whatever kind you are using- be it USB stick or regular internal or external drive) has to have "room" to breathe when you write or delete files to it....
thus the swap file.....that's why you can't delete any files that are bigger than the remaining gigs on the drive...it just "collapses" from not having enough "air" so to speak....
and when your drives get too full the memory runs low...hence again the swap file is keeping "room to breathe"
for the remainder of the files on the disk....

that's why the operating system needs so much "room" to run on your disk....and why it "run's low on virtual memory"....if it gets to that point you are on the verge of a crash and it will just shut down....kinda like a major heart attack....

sos there you have it.....some tech stuff for those of you interested.....

Keyboard shortcuts for Firefox-check it out!

If you can learn these you will speed things up!
Interested?
Here goes:

• Spacebar (page down)
• Shift-Spacebar (page up)
• Ctrl+F (find)
• Alt-N (find next)
• Ctrl+D (bookmark page)
• Ctrl+T (new tab)
• Ctrl+K (go to search box)
• Ctrl+L (go to address bar)
• Ctrl+= (increase text size)
• Ctrl+- (decrease text size)
• Ctrl-W (close tab)
• F5 (reload)
• Alt-Home (go to home page)

Fishville, Farmville etc wants you to allow access to your email?

Hi gang!  Here we go this afternoon with more Facebook trivia....if you go to the "games" you play on that page and you notice that all of a sudden your profile page looks like you never were on Facebook- and your games won't let you play them because it wants you to let it access your email...here's how to rectify that whole thing.....

go to the browser settings in Firefox (or IE) and "tools" and "clear recent history"...but clear it all and then you can go back to your Facebook page and re-login....it kinda resets all the webpages when they get fouled up....especially on Facebook you don't want to give access to any more than you can help.....so much "hidden in the wings" on that thing, and I know of several who have gotten major viruses and stuff from it....also identity theft has been traced to Facebook and folks putting too much info in that profile which anyone can see if you don't have the privacy settings real strict!  YIKES...

Keep it clean and simple and don't make yourself open to the Web World.....

Privacy Browsing with Firefox

Go  to "tools" in Firefox toolbar and head on down to "start private browsing"....
here's a description of what private browsing really means to you.....



The purpose of private browsing is to put Firefox into a temporary state where no information about the user's browsing session is stored locally. Firefox currently handles the user's privacy with a feature in preferences to clear all private data. This feature forces the user to choose between having privacy (even if only momentary), and other useful features like browsing history, and saved passwords. Users should be able to go "off the record", they shouldn't have to shoot the reporter.
As we improve the functionality of history to include full text indexing, and possibly capturing thumbnails of sites visited, the need to respect user's privacy only increases.

Use Cases

Many people believe that the primary use case for private browsing mode is viewing pornography. While viewing pornography may be a popular use case due to the nature of content on the Web, assuming that this is the only reason that users need private browsing trivializes the overall feature. For instance, users may wish to begin a private browsing session to research a medical condition, or plan a surprise vacation or birthday party for a loved one. Use cases will range from users cheating on their spouse, to users buying engagement rings. Given the breadth of our user base, specific use cases are likely to be extremely varied.

Shared Computers

In extreme cases where computers are being shared by many people an hour, for example Internet Cafés, users viewing in Private Browsing mode can be confident that nobody (including the owner of the Internet Café!) will be able to view their browsing history or see details that they've entered into web sites. This creates a key differentiator from Internet Explorer, which offers no such assurances.

Requirements Scope

It is important to decide early on what is meant by Private Browsing. The bullet-proof solution is to not write anything to disk. This will give users maximum confidence and will remove any possible criticism of the feature from security experts.
By choosing to write *some* data to disk (perhaps in an encrypted format) we have broken a clear and easy to understand contract between Firefox and the user. The user / security expert will not be sure that there is no security risk.
The top level requirements can be summed up as:

• Provide a feature that for all realistic scenarios hides the user's activity while in Private Browsing mode.
• Instill confidence in the user that Private Browsing isn't leaving any trace on their PC. "It doesn't write anything to disk" is a good clear start.
• Clearly indicate to the user when they are protected by Private Browsing and when they are not.

Google Reader....On The Run

The only thing worse than being away from your e-mail is being away from your news feeds. If you're a Google Reader user, your feeds can go where you go. Just point your mobile phone browser to the mobile version of the Google Reader site: www.google.com/reader/m. This small-screen version of the site lets you view your feeds, your subscriptions and even your tags. Plus, it's a Google-run product, meaning you're not handing your user ID and password to a third-party developer (as with Reader Mini, which doesn't seem to work on many devices anyway).

Read away....while you're away......ahhh!

Got stuff that runs when you don't want it to?

Download AUTORUNS

Click on autorun viewer and see what exactly is running on your machine.....you will be amazed!
This program is especially good if you need to disable some programs from running.....perhaps you can't uninstall some files due to bad software...and the dumb things keep running automatically when you start the computer.....just disengage them from starting...(uncheck them in the little boxes) then go into the program files and delete the files...then run CCleaner and clean up the registry from those culprits....

Look for the Small Print- Keepin' bugs at bay!

This is just an FYI--when you are online and something "pops up" at you.....don't just click on it.....pleez....read what it says and just click on the X in the upper right hand corner....

If it won't go away (some bugs are persistent) just hit
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and go to the task manager and close down the browser and don't let the bugs run on your system and infest it...

got that?

if your computer gets infected after that....well....you may need an exterminator!

Wanna Block Ads on Websites? Here's how!

Using Firefox for your browser, get AD BLOCK  HERE

Install it into Firefox....then when you see an ad that you don't want to run, right click it and go to
"adblock plus-block image" and it creates a filter- hit "enter" and POOF the ad disappears....magically wonderful!

Keepin' the web experience nice 'n clean....ahhhh