My Tech Adventures

I had been working on a project to edit a mpeg2/dvd encoded video and needed a quick and cheap solution ... remebered that I had tested out mpeg2vcr ... and liked it as well. Its "old" software, but, it gets the job done. I was quite amazed about how easily it let me edit the video and let me output it to disk quickly (as compared to other software that I tried) without the need for re-encoding ... truly deserves a place on your PC ... do try it out ... it has a free trial available ... just open/import/add to clips-list the file and you're set for editing ... you can even customize the display for faster response as you work ... and when you're finished ... you can save with presets available.

Well, I had an assignment in which you had to build a nice flowchart for the service(s) offered by the assigned firm. I thought that I would easily be able to use Word 2007 (I know ... but I don't need Visio ) to get the job done. However, I was way off and the tools offered by Word 2007 came up short ... you can get the job done ... but you have to go with the flow provided by the limited set of options ... they want you to get Visio ! So, I started to search online ... for small utilities ... mostly trial versions showed up ... till it dawned on me that with Web 2.0 all the rage ... somebody must have thought of this to kick Office ... surely enough there were a number of online suites ... flowchart.com (invitation only) being the obvious ... but I came across Gliffy and I must say I was amazed at the capabilities and ease of use of their flowchart tool. Go ahead, give it a try!

As usb drives get bigger & bigger, you tend to store a lot of stuff on them to carry around making use of the protability. But, I don't know if you have noticed or not, as you keep moving your drives around, the contacts start to attract a lot of dust and all sorts of stuff. The usb ports have no protection from dust and the way they are designed and positioned makes it difficult to clean them especially when using shared computers in libraries or labs. Naturally, dusty areas will complement the problem. This can lead to a very shocking situation, in which, if you start copying your files from the usb to any other place, you can recieve a message that the file cannot be found ... you navigate to the drive's folder and there's nothing there ... don't panic ... just safely remove the drive and re-plug it ... you'll find the files there. So, here's what you can do: 1. Always keep the contacts of the usb connectors clean ... you can use a contact cleaner