Category Archives: Software Reviews

Webcam Max

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For some of the video’s I have produced on my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/bigrosscoshow you may have seen that I have been able to add some effects onto my video’s as well as text at the bottom of the videos and more.

To do this I use a peice of software called Webcam Max http://www.webcammax.com/

I have now been using the software for a while now and recently Webcam Max has had a major over-hall in the software giving usesrs alot more features as well as being alot easier to use.

The software has many features including:

  • Thousands of Fantastic Effects
    Thousands of cool effects for your live video chats and video recording. You can download limitless effects at webcammax.com
  • Video Recording
    Record your fantastic videos show with our cool effects to broadcast on YouTube or webcammax.com
  • Virtual Webcam
    Share your video clips or desktop screen with family and friends through your Instant Messengers even without a real webcam.
  • Easy to Share
    Directly share your video with family or friends on youtube.com. You can also upload and show your cool videos and photos on webcammax.com.
  • Doodling and PinP
    Paint on the video box freely and directly. You can also broadcast different sources at the same time with Picture in Picture feature.
  • Work for All
    Work for almost all webcam programs such as Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Paltalk, Camfrog, YouTube, Ustream, JustinTV, and much more.

As well as this the makers of Webcam Max have also got an Download Libary where you can download even more effects other than the ones that have come pre-installed.

I find this software very easy to use, quick to install, has a large amount of features.  I can not find anything I would like to see diffrent in the software as love it the way it is and if you are looking to get passed the ‘boring’ webcam and make it even more fun I would highly recomend this!

Mac Users, you have not been left out you can find an alternitive to Webcam Max (CamTwist) at: http://allocinit.com/index.php?title=CamTwist

Do you like Flight Sim?

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Are you a player of Microsoft’s Flight Sim but fed up of the small options of planes or airliners included, maybe you have an airliner you would love to fly?

Well head over to: http://www.justflight.com/trafficX-home.asp

I have used Traffic X which will  not only add allot more traffic from your favorite Airlines but will also allow you to fly your favorite Airlines including Thomas Cook Airlines, Monarch, easyJet and allot more.

Quoted from JustFlight website:

It includes custom features designed to take maximum advantage of the new capabilities available in Flight Simulator X and employs completely reworked and updated aircraft for FSX with new and more detailed high-quality airline liveries. Traffic X includes 84 individual, different aircraft models with numerous airline liveries and paint schemes – giving a total of more than 1,600 individual aircraft! Featured aircraft include commercial airliners, regional jets and turboprops, business aircraft, GA aircraft, helicopters and – for the first time in the Traffic series – military aircraft.

There are, of course, a host of other new features – the new Traffic Control Centre gives you an easy way to comprehensively customise and expand your AI traffic; ChronoTraffic means every aircraft and flight can now be set for a certain period of years; the all-new Follow-me car and Pushback truck let you explore the airport from the ground; all-new Traffic Radar lets you view traffic information in three different modes about each AI aircraft in range; appropriate aircraft take advantage of the advanced animations in FSX to operate with airport service vehicles, and Spotty the aircraft Spotter has got an even more impressive bag of tricks

I found this to be a great addition and also find it great fun allowing myself to fly the planes I love!

Have you played this before? Perharps you have found a better add-on?

Place your comment bellow to let us know.

Windows 7 now on sale!

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Well the day has come that we have been waiting for (or not waiting for?) and Windows 7 is now on sale!

Were you one of the people who were in the que before Midnight to be one of the first to buy it?  One shop in London had 500 people waiting!

I went into a Computer Shop today and saw no massive rush for people to buy Windows 7 and infact there were loads of box’s for Windows 7 on the shelf’s.

It will be intresting to see how many people went out and purchased Windows 7 today.

Are you one of these people? why not leave a comment below

Windows 7 – Comes on Thursday

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Well as most of you who will be reading this will now know, Microsoft’s new Operating System will be out on Thursday!

I have been using Windows 7 for a wee while now through TechNet and before Windows 7 I was running Vista.

Personally I have found Windows 7 to be a big improvement from Vista, as well as being alot more stable and eaiser to use.

I am sure that many Vista ‘haters’ will find Windows 7 alot better and much more stable.

For a few months Windows 7 was also on pre-order at a discounted rate with users who pre-orderd it due to recive there copys on launch day.

For those who will be upgrading to Windows 7, below is some handy hints and tips!

Start-Menu Searches: Windows key

This carryover from Vista is arguably one of Windows’ must underused and undervalued features. A simple tap of the Windows key activates the Start menu, where you can type the first few letters of a program name, Control Panel setting, Word document, or whatever and then hit Enter to launch it. Why reach for the mouse?

Minimize (Almost) All Windows: Win + Home

This combo lets you send all open windows packing–except the one that’s currently active. Sure beats clicking Minimize on a bunch of individual windows. When you tap the shortcut a second time, it restores all previously open windows.

Make Windows Transparent: Win + Space

This is the keyboard equivalent of mousing over the transparency tool in the right corner of the System Tray–great for those times when you need to something on the desktop (like a gadget) but don’t want to minimize all your windows. After tapping Win-Space, your windows will stay see-through until you let go of the Windows key.

Quick-Launch Taskbar Apps: Win + (1-9)

As you know, Windows 7 makes it a snap to “pin” frequently used programs to the taskbar. But did you also know that these programs are automatically assigned a number and corresponding Windows-key shortcut? Just press Windows-1 to launch the first pinned program (the one closest to the Start button), Windows-2 to launch the next one, and so on. Fastest app-launching known to man! Except, of course, for this…

Quick-Launch Any App: Hotkey

Like Vista before it, Windows 7 lets you assign a quick-launch hotkey to any installed program. Just right-click the program’s icon, choose Properties, and then click the Shortcut tab. Click once in the Shortcut key field, then press the hotkey combo you want to assign (Ctrl-Shift-H, for instance). Click OK and you’re done! Assuming you have a good memory, app launching doesn’t get any faster than this.

Dock Active Windows: Win + Left or Right Arrow

A great shortcut for users with widescreen monitors, this combo docks the active window to the left or right half of the screen (depending on which arrow you tap), at the same time maximizing it top-to-bottom.

Magnify Your View: Win + (+)

Windows 7’s built-in magnifier lets you zoom in wherever you place your cursor. Just tap Win-plus (that’s the Windows key and the plus key) to enable the magnifier and set a 200% zoom level. When you mouse to any edge of the screen, your view scrolls accordingly. The more you tap the keys, the higher the zoom. Of course, you can just as easily zoom out again with Win-minus.

Open Presentation Settings: Win + P

Good news for business users constantly struggling to get Windows to cooperate with projectors: A quick tap of Win-P activates a monitor-settings panel. Click Duplicate or Projector only to send your display to the big screen, or Extend if you’ve connected a second monitor and want extra screen real estate.

Create a New Folder: Ctrl + Shift + N

Forget the old way of creating new folders. In Windows 7, all it takes is a tap of Ctrl-Shift-N. This works in any open Explorer window, but also on the desktop. After the new folder appears, just type in a name as usual and hit Enter.

Bring Gadgets to the Fore: Win + G

Now that Windows’ gadgets are no longer relegated to the Sidebar, they’re free to sit anywhere on your desktop. Of course, that means they can get obscured by other windows. As you now know, a tap of Win-Space makes those windows temporarily see-through, but what if you want to put the gadgets on top of your windows? No problem: Just tap Win-G.

OneorZero AIMS – HelpDesk Function

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A few years ago while I was at college I found a great HelpDesk system called OneOrZero.

I was very impressed by this system and what it had offer and also what it could also have to offer in the future I became involved in the project providing support to other users, testing of new versions as well as looking at good ways forward with the product working alongside Adam.

Recently  OneOrZero upgraded to the new AIMS system (Action and Information Management System) featuring a powerful help desk, knowledge base, time manager and reporting system.

The system comes highly workable out of the box and is very easy to install!

Another great benefit that you would find with this system is that it has a built in LDAP and Active Directory integration which will make it even easier for you to role it out across your company for your existing network.

When I installed this it only took me less than a minute to install out of the box settings which is amazing for any product as most you will find you have to make a number of settings etc!

For those interested you can head over to the demo at the OneOrZero Site which I will now show you

For this demo I will be using the demo Admin Account and today we will have a look at the HelpDesk function of the system.

As you can see as soon as you log into the system you are greeted by the Quick Launch Section which gives you the option of which part of the system you would like to view.

For this example I will show you the Help Desk Function, from the quick launch menu you can access this by clicking on Help Desk.

As you can see this now loads the helpdesk application which will give you a number of options from creating new tickets, managing existing tickets, custom search options and more!

When creating a new ticket you just click on the type of item you will be creating (this can be set in the Administration of the AIMS system), for this example we will setup a new Helpdesk Ticket.

Depending on the options you have set for the item type you will get a screen similar to the one now showing, creating the new ticket can’t be any easier and asks you for all the details you need [input details] and after you have input everything you need to just click on ADD

Another great feature is the ticket group where you can set what type of group it would be then under category it will show categories which fit into that group!

Also when you are in the home for the helpdesk you are able to manage current tickets.

As you can see you can update the ticket, change the status of the ticket, transform the ticket into a helpdesk item which will automatically add it onto the Helpdesk system!

I hope you found this preview of the HelpDesk function of OneOrZero useful, if you would like more information on the HelpDesk function head over to www.oneorzero.com

You can also find me live at live.rossmilne.net, if you have ideas for a video email me at ross@rossmilne.net and you can also join our community at forum.rossmilne.net

Bye for now!

Windows Live Movie Maker

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With Microsoft now investing even more time into their Software Applications we now have access to an upgrade version of Movie Maker, now called Windows Live Movie Maker.

You can get this as an ‘option’ when you are installing any of the ‘Windows Live’ Software Packages and it is not to be missed!

I have taken a look at this already and had a small play with this, one of the biggest new features of WL Movie Maker is the different options you now get for ‘publishing’ your movies from the old limited options that used to exist.

Some of the new ‘publish’ options you now get are:

  • Upload to YouTube
  • High Definition (with different HD Formats)
  • Burn a DVD
  • Standard Definition
  • Widescreen
  • For portable device or mobile
  • For email or instant message

As well as this there is also an option to add other plug-in’s for publishing.

There is also an Auto Movie option which will allow you to add Music, Text and Video onto your movie so is a big help to anyone who has never made a movie before!

The upgrade version also gives it much more of an upgraded look and instead of the drop down menus you would of had before, all you now need to do is click on one of the tabs at the top i.e. Home / Animations / Visual Effects / View / Edit / Options and after you have done this, below the tabs it will give you further options and with most of them being in a graphical format, which is the same new layout of  Microsoft Office 2007.

It is very nice to see Movie Maker upgraded the way it has been a very very warm welcome.

I use Movie Maker my self to produce some of the video’s I have added onto my YouTube channel as with such a good tool I don’t see the need to spend money when you can get Movie Maker at no cost.

If you have made movies in the past with older version of Movie Maker i.e. the one included with Windows Vista/XP you will still be able to open your Project Files with Windows Live Movie Maker and edit them etc.

You can download / get more information on Movie Maker from the website at : http://download.live.com/moviemaker

Which web browser?

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In this day and age there is so so many choices in which Web Browser to use!

There is also so many choices, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome and so so many others but with so many different ones which one should be the best to go for and how would you pick which one?

Personally myself I use firefox but with that being said I have not tried using Sarari, Google Chrome or any other Web Browsers.

Of course I have tried Internet Explorer but of course there is no competition between IE and Firefox.

I have always found Firefox been much better with having the tabs for web browsing under one window which IE did not have until it caught on.

I have not found any negatives in Firefox and have in-fact more or less been using it ever since it had first come out and have seen it grow from strength to strength to what it is today.

I may have a look at other web browsers and try them out and see how they work out but for now I just find Firefox so good.

A good positive to Firefox unlike IE is how easy it is to add more extentions / plugins to make it work even better!

ARSights for Google Earth

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There is a quite new product out on the Internet now called AR Sights developed by AR-media and Inglobe.

This cleaver software turns some 3D images on Google Earth into 3D buildings on your desk!

You will now wonder well how can this be possible?

All you need is

  • Google Earth
  • a printer
  • ARSights software
  • Webcam

You will need to print a sheet of paper that is in black and white, and when you look at this paper you think it is just paper surley?

But! turn on the ARSights Software, select the model you wish to view (you will need to have your webcam plugged in) and hold the paper flat next to the webcam and be ready to be amazed!

This is a great trick to show to your friends and even just to amuse your self.

Below is a video produced by AR-media to show how the software works

I have been playing with this software for a short time now and have already amazed my parents with how this work!

You can download the software at: http://www.inglobetechnologies.com/en/products/arplugin_su/info.php

I hope you enjoy the software as much as I have also let us know what you think of the software by reply below!