Dan, Author at The Red Ferret Journal - Page 77 of 78The Red Ferret Journal

Free Software September 4, 2008 posted by Dan

Avidemux – multi-format video editing and creation freeware

Avidemux is an open source, lightweight, video editing program with a surprising list of features. It reads most common types of video files; .avi, .mp1, .mp2, .mp4, .asf, .flv, .mov and more using a wide variety of codecs. You can do all the standard video editing things like cutting, splicing and so on in the familiar timeline-based linear editing layout as well as apply filters to fix video problems, sharpen images, import digital photos and resize video. Avidemux goes a…

heh heh! September 4, 2008 posted by Dan

Diggerland – a hole load of pun

If you’re sick of the whole roller-coaster/thrill/Disney type of amusement park, and you happen to be passing through England, be sure and drop into one the four Diggerland theme parks. They’ve got 4 parks scattered all over England so there’s bound to be one near you. They have drive-yourself dump trucks, excavator rides and even an excavator-driving stunt team. This isn’t pretend stuff though, you really do get to learn and drive professional earth moving equipment, all under professional supervision…

Gadgets September 3, 2008 posted by Dan

TechForward – future proof your gadget’s value

As we all know, every high-tech piece of equipment you buy will decrease in value as it gets further out of date. Well TechForward reckon that one person’s used gadget is another person’s treasure and they’re doing something about it. When you purchase your new gadget (MP3 player, notebook, TV, GPS etc) you can sign up with them for a small fee. This will guarantee you a buyback price if you sell your technology back to them within an agreed…

Cool Web Apps & Sites September 3, 2008 posted by Dan

YoYo Games – an online game making community

Nigel first blogged about Game Maker , the free game designing software, way back in 2003. Well a lot has happened in 5 years. The Gamemaker engine is now up to version 7 and they’ve made a lot of improvements. Using Game Maker you can now create platform games, first person shooters, third person shooters, massive multiplayer online games and construction/management games like Sim City. The games you can make have also improved allowing you to add 3D models as…

cool tech September 2, 2008 posted by Dan

Edison – a bright idea for PC power management

Edison is a power management program that works with the tools in Windows to schedule the power needs of your PC. You can set up different schedules for the PC depending on whether it’s being used or it’s idle and Edison will look after all the normal tricks of switching off the display and hard drive, or suspending the PC all together. There’s also savings calculator that estimates how much CO2 and money you’ve saved. The makers claim that on…

Fun & Games September 2, 2008 posted by Dan

Most Common English Words

I spend most of my working day punching words into a silly computer and that’s before I get home and do the same until the wee hours for Red Ferret. Sometimes I have to sit back, smell the flowers and take a break with something like this: The 100 Most Common English Words, a five minute online game. Improves your typing speed too. More quizzes here, especially if you’re into geography (including English counties), Dr Who or just a web…

Fun & Games September 1, 2008 posted by Dan

The Mythbusters go Renaissance

If you’ve ever had to explain the difference between serial and parallel processing to anyone, just show them this video about the difference between CPU and GPU processing from the Mythbusters. That paintball gun that must have taken hours to load! Tags: cpu+vs+gpu, mythbusters+live, video

Gadgets September 1, 2008 posted by Dan

The Go Pro Mobile Office – productivity is rolling out the door

If you spend too much time in the office and not enough time in the field, then you might need one of these Go Pro Mobile Office stations. Designed to sit on the passenger seat of a car, the Mobile Office is completely contained within a wheeled, polycarbonate case. A strap holds the lid of the suitcase open while it’s in the car and a telescopic handle makes it easy to bring the case with you should the need arise…

cool tech August 29, 2008 posted by Dan

Planter Speaker – get yourself some sound in-plants

Speakers shaped as pot plants aren’t exactly new, but why hide your cleverly disguised outdoor speakers when you can make them part of the patio? This Planter Speaker is not only a disguised, full sounding speaker, it can also hold plants, real live growing ones! The pot itself is made from tough and durable polyethylene with a faux terracotta finish. The inside of the planter is tough enough to allow plants to grow and is acoustically insulated to stop your…

Bookmark This! August 29, 2008 posted by Dan

TVsubtitles – TV in more languages than you can poke a stick at

TVsubtitles is a download site for TV and movie subtitles in multiple languages. If you’re into watching TV on your PC but can’t find episodes in your language, then this might be the place for you. You’ll just need to grab the DirectVobSub overlay filter from the website to display them over your video and you’ll be good to go. A subtitle is the text at the bottom of the screen in a movie. The purpose of a subtitle is…

Awesome August 28, 2008 posted by Dan

Fonolo – declaring war on automated phone menus

Canadian startup Fonolo have declared war on automated phone menus, or as they call them “phone trees”. Fonolo’s proprietary investigation system spiders through all the available options in a phone menu, records all the options and turns them into a visible menu system displayed in a web browser. To use a company phone menu you simply go to the Fonolo website, select the company phone menu you need and find the right option on the graphical menu. You then tell…

Bookmark This! August 28, 2008 posted by Dan

Exif Date Changer – Fix those pesky photo times and dates

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A couple of weeks ago it was our daughter’s 1st birthday. After the party died down a bit I grabbed a copy of everyone’s photos and dropped them into Picasa and, as I normally do, tried to sort them according to the time they were taken. Uh oh. There were photos everywhere. Turns out the clock in my father’s camera was out by about 11 time zones, thanks to a trip to Venice…

but is it art? August 25, 2008 posted by Dan

Crayola EZ Type USB Keyboard

What better way to show off your uniqueness and love of life to the office crowd than with a Crayola EZ Type USB keyboard? It doesn’t have any function keys, a numerical keypad or half the punctuation but it does have a *huge* Escape key, lots of colourful demarcations and the ISO standard for cuteness, Comic Sans, all over the keys. On the other hand, instead of showing off to the office, you could always use it to teach the…

cool tech August 21, 2008 posted by Dan

MediaPlayer XS – Not your average media centre

The MediaPlayer XS is a compact, no nonsense media centre capable of displaying movies, music and photos straight from a USB drive via a television with no computer required. Smaller than a paperback novel this media powerhouse can play pretty much anything including; avi (Xvid and DivX), dat, mpg (1, 2 and 4), m-jpeg, mp3, wma, wav, jpg, tif, gif and bmp. It even has a built-in photo slideshow to turn your telly into a digital picture frame. It reads…

but is it art? August 18, 2008 posted by Dan

Boynq Swing USB Hub – might leave you hanging

Ever wondered what would happen if you crossed Newton’s Cradle with a USB hub? Well the Boynq Swing USB Hub doohickey will give you some idea. There’s not much more information than that I’m afraid, but just don’t be surprised if it doesn’t demonstrate the law of conservation of momentum. Especially since it’s sold out at the moment.

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