Blaze Media Pro is a a handy software which allows playback, editing and conversion of many different audio/video file types. It's user interface intergrates a media player, converter, editor and a burner. Blaze MP is a lightweight application and does not consume a lot of PC resources. Plus, we found that the file conversion times are above the norm. This is a must download for everyone who uses their PC to view and edit audio video files. (you can say goodbye to VCD cutter and crap once you download this)

Audio Capabilities

• Audio editing, converter (MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, etc.), CD ripper, and merging
• Convert bitrate and compression for audio formats, such as converting a MP3 from 128 kbps to 64 kbps. The software can adjust to lower as well as higher bitrates.
• Provides a solution to convert DRM protected WMA files, convert protected AAC and M4P files, and convert OMA to MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG
• Advanced audio CD burning from WAV, MP3, WMA, and OGG formats. Powerful, yet easy to use feature to burn CDs
• Extract and save audio content of video files to sound files Apply sound effects to audio files
• Use the software's audio editing feature to record MIDI files, providing a solution to convert MIDI to MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, etc. The same can be used to convert DVD audio to MP3, WAV, WMA, or OGG.
• Copy music CDs (copy audio CDs)
• Record from line-in (cassette, LP, etc.), streaming audio, or any other source available on your system
• All-in-one MP3 software solution (MP3 converter, MP3 encoder, MP3 decoder, MP3 ripper, CD burner, MP3 editor, MP3 recorder, MP3 player, and more).
• MusicID audio recognition
• Music Lyrics Search
• Audio tag editing (ID3 tag editing and other meta data), and FreeDB support
• Highly customizable, configurable, and user-friendly interface

Video Capabilities

• Batch Video Converter for AVI, MPG, WMV, MOV, and more Convert AVI, MPG, and WMV video to Flash
• Video CD (VCD/SVCD) burner
• Video DVD Burner
• Powerful digital video editing software for all popular video formats and an extensive list of video editing filters, effects, and video editing operations. The software's movie/video editing feature supports AVI, MPG (MPEG-1 and MPEG-2), WMV, and more
• Compress video files, including AVI, MPEG, and WMV Video creator (make a video from a sequence of image and audio files)
• Video combining, and extraction
• Video joiner for AVI, MPEG, WMV
• All-in-one MPEG software solution (MPEG encoder, MPEG decoder, MPEG editor, MPEG VCD Burner, MPEG Converter, and more)
• Batch video processing
• Video capture
• Media management
• Extract video frames to image files in batch mode. Supported formats include BMP, EMF, GIF, J2K, JPG, PCX, PNG, RAS, TGA, TIF, and WMF
• Insert images into existing video files or create new videos from a collection of image files
• Create video files from still frame images and other videos Add audio to video files, replace existing audio in video files, delete audio from video files
• Convert between PAL and NTSC video standards using the software's video converter feature
• Add over 30 effects and color adjustment operations to your video for powerful enhancement and alternation
• Video editing is available for AVI (uncompressed), AVI (compressed using any available codec), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV, and ASF
• You can use a comprehensive set of video editing operations: crop, delete frame, delete selection (video and/or audio), resize, rotate, mirror, flip, trim, adjust audio volume, and much more
• Click supported conversions to see even more possibilities Combination Audio and Video Capabilities
• ISO burner feature included with the Data CD/DVD burner Create ISO files from CD/DVD layout
• Insert audio files, such as WAV, WMA, and MP3, into video files
• Extract audio from video files using the video editing feature or Extract Audio Content feature

Supported Conversions

• CD to WAV, CD to MP3, CD to WMA, and CD to OGG
• WAV, WMA, OGG, AIFF, VOX, MP2, MPC/+, G.72x, AU, and RAW to MP3
• MP3, WMA, OGG, AIFF, VOX, MP2, MPC/+, G.72x, AU, and RAW to WAV
• MP3, OGG, WAV, AIFF, VOX, MP2, MPC/+, G.72x, AU, and RAW to WMA
• MP3, WMA, OGG, AIFF, VOX, MP2, MPC/+, G.72x, AU, and RAW to OGG
• WAV/MP3/WMA/OGG to audio CD burning
• WAV/MP3 Compression
• Two-way video conversions among MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, WMV, ASF, MOV, Multi-Page TIFF, and FLIC
• MPEG conversion options available for VCD, SVCD, and DVD compliant output
• Configurable Interface
• Intuitive design
• Complete drag and drop features
• Highly customizable options and settings

Read comments for download links and more information.

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How many times have you tried installing FireFox in your office computer and got screwed by user account limitations? How many times have you tried installing messenger at your institution's computer lab and got humiliated by the administrator? Well, with portable applications, you can use your favorite applications anywhere. Just extract them to the hard disk or your flash drive, double click the main exe and you are good to go! There is absolutely no need to install and no private information or registry entries are left in the public computers. Portable versions of FireFox, Messenger, 7-Zip and many more have been developed.

Portable FireFox

Mozilla FireFox is a feature rich, easy to use, fast and efficient web browser which makes Internet Explorer a piece of shit. Tabbed browsing, in built pop up blocker, phishing filter, Live bookmarks, improved security features and faster web page loading times make FireFox a must have for every PC user.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract and run! No personal information is left behind after you run it so you will never have to worry about security.

Download Portable FireFox 2.0.0.2

Portable ThunderBird

Mozilla ThunderBird is an outlook like e-mail client and a feed reader. Easy to use interface, RSS support, Junk mail and Phishing filters, automatic updates and advanced security are some of the notable features of this application. With Portable thunderbird you'll be able to carry your POP3/IMAP mail accounts, adress books, RSS feeds and account settings, everywhere you go.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract and run! No personal information is left behind after you run it so you will never have to worry about security.

Download Portable ThunderBird 1.5.0.9

GAIM Portable

GAIM is an instant messagin application which can integrate services from multiple instant messaging networks. For example, you can use GAIM to connect to your Yahoo messenger contact and AOL contacts at the same time. The all in one integrated interface supports AOL, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and Jabber accounts and contact lists.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract and run! All your IM settings and buddy lists are self-contained, so it leaves no personal information behind on the machine you run it on.

Download GAIM Portable 2.0 (B5)

Portable VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player (formerly known as VideoLan Client) is a versatile media player application which can play a wide range of audio and video file formats including (but not limited to) MP4, DivX, MP3 and DVD. It even supports some internet streaming protocols allowing you to watch live or interactive streaming content anywhere.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract place it on your USB, iPOD, Memory stick or external hard drive and run from anywhere!

Download Portable VLC Media Player 0.8.6a

Portable OpenOffice.Org

OpenOffice.org is the open source alternative to Microsoft Office suite. Although MS office outperforms OpenOffice in terms of features and user friendlyness, OpenOffice is a good alternative if you seek a lightweight office automation suite with fairly good features. OpenOffice.org suite contains the following applications:

• Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
• Calc - A powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
• Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
• Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
• Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
• Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

In short, there is an alternative for every app that comes with MS office suite.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract place it on your USB, iPOD, Memory stick or external hard drive and run from anywhere!

Download OpenOffice.org Portable 2.0.4

Portable SunBird

Mozilla SunBird is an open source, cross platform calendar and personal task management software which is developed by the creators of Mozilla FireFox.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. Download, extract and run! No personal information is left behind after you run it so you will never have to worry about security.

Download Portable SunBird 0.3

Portable 7-Zip

7-Zip is a compression utility for Windows such as WinZip and WinRAR. It supports most archive file formats including (but not limited to) RAR and ZIP. It even features it's own 7Z file format which has better compression ration than that of RAR and Zip. Some of the notable features of 7-Zip:

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• Supported formats:
  • Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
  • Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
• For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Powerful File Manager

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. You can take your file archiver with you and work with your compressed 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR files and more on the go.

Download 7-Zip Portable 4.43 (R2)

OperaUSB

Opera is another popular web browser which has great features (we think that FireFox is better, but that doesnt mean Opera is shit). It has all the standard web browser features such as RSS compatibility, download manager, bookmarks manager, tabbed browsing and more.

The portable version is identical to the full packaged version except that you dont need to install it. It leaves no personal information behind and does not write to the system registry.

OperaUSB is available for use with USB flash drives, hard drives and all SmartDrives using U3 technology.

Download Opera 9.1 for USB

Download Opera 9.1 for U3-USB

Windows Live Messenger : Khalid Edition

Windows Live Messenger Khalid Edition is a Live Messenger clone which supports all features that are supported by WLM, features the same UI (with minor differences such as icons) and above all, it doesnt require administrator rights to install.

You can install this using the setup program as it works will most limited user accounts. Similarly, you can install this to your home PC and just copy the installation directory to your flash drive or external hard drive. You can then double click the main exe and run the program from anywhere, anytime.

Download Windows Live Messenger Khalid Edition 5.0 (CNET Download.com Download)

EnJoY!

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Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) is the world's most used instant messaging client. Version 8.1 ended a long beta testing phase and the final build was recently released to the public. Although this is a free application, it is ad supported. That means you get text advertisements in chat windows and animating GIF images (annoying) in the main program window. Dont worry there are patches to get rid of these ads; keep reading this article.

Notable new features in WLM

• Yahoo messenger integration
• Easy to use, feature rich user interface which allows one click instantt messaging
• Voice calling / Voice chat
• Video conversations
• File sharing options
• Text Messaging (unfortunately, no Srilankan networks are supported. But most major networks in the US and UK are supported)
• Two way adress book
• Windows Live Alerts, Windows Live Spaces integration.
• Plus many more

Get Windows Live Messenger 8.1.0178: Download Now! (Direct Download)

Patches and Hacks

WLM is created and maintained by Microsoft. Every MIcrosoft software comes with a certain amount of junk and bloatware. WLM is no exception. Ads that eat up RAM and annoy the user, unwanted buttons and panes are to name a few. Fortunately, Mess.be and Apatch have come up with patches to remove junk and to enhance Windows Live Messenger. You can use any of the patches incuded below to mod messenger to your liking. To prevent compatibility issues, we suggest you not use both patches at the same time. Out of the two listed below, our favorite is the mess patch. But that doesnt mean A-Patch is bad.

Mess Patch

This patch is a favorite among WLM users. It's been around for quite a while and is now in generation 5.It contains a whopping 35 features, fixes and hacks for WLM incuing ad removal, nudge protection disable, polygamy support and many more!

Download Mess Patch for WLM 8.1.0178

Patch homepage

A-Patch

A-Patch, developed by apatch.org, is another handy patch which contains a total of 71 tweaks, hacks and mods. Some of the notable features of this patch are ad removal, idle status modification, polygamy support and user interface customizations.

Download A-Patch for WLM 8.1.0178

Patch homepage

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This download is for the lazy asses who dont want to download AutoPatcher :p Here is an application that will download updates without having to browse the MS download center manually.

Features

• One click download of critical updates
• Automatic highlighting of already downloaded updates.
• Minimize to tray.
• Adding links to original KB article in UL files.
• Option to create sub-directory per UL.
• Proxy support.
• Remove previous updates.
• Command-line options for 3rd party integration.

How to get it:

Download Windows Updates Downloader 2.25: Download Now!

You can find pre configured updates lists and alternate download location from this site.

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NOD32 is a powerful antivirus software which can match the features of indistry leaders such as Symantec and Mcafee any time.

Integrated, Real-Time Protection against viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, phishing, and hackers. Best detection, fastest performance & smallest footprint. NOD32 Antivirus System provides well balanced, state-of-the-art protection against threats endangering your PC and enterprise systems running various platforms from Microsoft Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / 2003 / XP, through a number of UNIX/Linux, Novell, MS DOS operating systems to Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Domino and other mail servers.

Users of Microsoft® Windows® can experience the power and elegance of NOD32's ThreatSense Technology with ease and comfort. Our single optimized engine offers the best protection from viruses, spyware, adware, phishing attacks, and more. Keep tomorrow's threats at bay with our proactive detection technology. And it has the smallest footprint and fastest performance - bar none. The fourth generation of the NOD32 Antivirus System features a fully integrated software suite characterized by an unprecedented detection track record, the fastest scanning rates and extremely low utilization of system resources. NOD32's detection efficiency combined with 2-50 times faster hard disk scanning rate earned the product many international prestigious awards.

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If Bill Gates ever visited Pettah, he would commit suicide after seeing his precious intellectual property being sold for Rs 80 ($0.08). As in many developing countries, software piracy rate in Srilanka is extremely high. In fact, not even 1% of home computer users in Srilanka use legitimate software.

The main reason for this is unreasonable pricing in a market where pirated copies are readily available.

For example, newly released Windows Vista costs LKR 40000. This pricing is totally unrealistic for a country with a small economy such as Srilanka. Majority of the PC users will go for a pirated copy which sells at LKR 80-250 or download it from the internet rather than paying a colossal amount of money to buy the original software. Earlier it was promised by MS and other software giants that the developing countries will be given special pricing schemes as a method of promoting legitimate software use. So far this has not happened. Before urging the government to implement laws against piracy (which Microsoft has been trying to do during last few years) or running massive awareness campaigns to highlight the benefits of legitimate software, companies should address the main problem; price. Otherwise, they will never win the battle against piracy.

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Download Accelerator Plus is the most used download management program in the world. It's been around since late 1990's and has improved over the years to become one of the most reliable, efficient and feature rich download clients in the world. Easy to use interface, seamless broswer integration, ligh resource consumption and download speed boosts up to 300% are the most notable features of DAP.

General features

• Preview pane – Preview downloads of Music and Video files
• Download list - Advanced management of downloads queues, priorities and statuses
• File Information pane – Advanced information of downloaded files and sources
• Completed downloads list – Separate list of completed downloads
• DAP Drive integration – Save downloads and Upload files to DAP Drive web storage
• Media Center Tab – Conveniently manage your media files
• Superior Usability – New interface with flexible design options
• Integrates with all browsers – Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla/Firefox

DAP registered version features

• Zip Extract - download & extract specific files from zip archive
• Removal of the Banner Advertisement within the application
• DAP Skin Selection
• Management of site passwords and other relevant info (unlimited)
• Tray icon minimization while downloading
• Prioritized technical support
• Extreme acceleration speed - for faster download rate

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Cyberlink PowerDVD is one of the best media players around. Superior video quality, high clarity sound, wide range of file format support and support for many audio video technologies makes PowerDVD a must have application for every PC.

Supported video formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-2 HD (high-definition MPEG-2), DVD-Video, Mini-DVD, MPEG-4 ASP (like XviD and DivX, including DivX Pro), MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), WMV-HD, DVD-VR, DVD+VR

Supported audio formats: WAV, MP3, AAC, DVD-Audio, LPCM, MLP Lossless, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Digital EX, DTS 5.1, DTS Neo:6, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES Discrete

Video Playback

• InterActual Support
• Software Video Deinterlacing - ensures a smoother and clearer video image on progressive displays
• Dynamic Range Compression and SRS - offers modes suited to Quiet, Noisy and Normal listening environments
• A-B Repeat loops a scene set by users
• 9X Digital Zoom
• Closed captioning support provides closed captioning for the hearing impaired
• Dual Captions/Subtitles Display - supports the viewing of two subtitle languages at the same time
• Video Bookmarks enable quick access to a user's favorite movie scenes
• Resume playback - allows users to play a DVD from the last scene prior to stopping
• Screen snapshots can be captured with a user-defined aspect ratio
• External subtitle support allows playback via AVI, DivX and WMV files
• Supports SRT, SUB, SSA, ASS, PSB, and SMI extensions)
• On-screen display (OSD) lets users define where video information is located
• Changeable skins let users change the look of their control panel
• Low Frequency Effects (LFE) mixes the LFE channel (base) with front speaker channels
• Dolby Pro Logic IIx - 2.0 - 5.1 => 7.1 audio-channels expansion technology (upsample anything from 2.0 to 7.1 surround sound)
• "CyberLink Headphone" - Virtual surround sound on 2-channel (stereo) headphones
• "CyberLink Virtual Speaker" Virtual surround sound on 2-channel (stereo) speakers

Music Playback

• Karaoke mode - dampens music tracks to allow users to sing along with their Karaoke discs
• Audio pitch scaling - feature letting users adjust the pitch of video or audio files for fun
• Audio equalizer presets add atmospheric effects with presets like techno, blues
• Audio visualizations - provides onscreen image effects while playing music

Read comments for download links.

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Dialog GSM is the dominant mobile phone operator in Srilanka with over 60% of market share. The company offers many different postpaid/prepaid packages, value added services, infotainment services and more. This post aims to discuss problems faced with their billing system and how Dialog responded to miscalculations.

Dialog billing system is designed and managed by Millennium IT (MIT), which is a highly reputed IT firm in Srilanka. It's needless to say that Dialog billing system is a highly complex application as it has to bill calls of 3 million+ customers. As with any software system, it's not perfect. The following experience was sent to us by one of our readers.

"I purchased a Dialog Super 503 package along with a Super 101 package back in 2004. It was a really cool package coz outgoing between the two connection was Rs 0.50 any time of the day! That was a damn cheap price at that time (and it still is today) so I went for it without hesitation. I normally don’t check my bill through phone. But suddenly I got a message from 8896 saying that my credit limit has exceeded and that my connection was liable for automatic disconnection #@#&@*. Guess what, all my calls to Super 101, which were supposed to be Rs 0.50 were billed as 'Dialog to Non Dialog' outgoing and were charged at Rs 10 per min peak and Rs 5 per min off peak . I contacted Dialog customer care and was told to lodge a complaint. I lodged a complaint and I was told that they would get back to me once they figure out what the problem was. I had to pay a colossal amount for the first month but I was assured by Dialog that any excess amount would be waived off in next bill. After around a month customer care contacted me and guess what, my call records were fixed! All the excess payments were waived off and they apologized for the inconvenience caused. A rare bug in the billing system detected my super 101 as a non Dialog number it seems. Overall I think Dialog handled the issue in a professional manner and there was no lasting harm done. I've been using dialog since then and have never run into that problem again."

Have you had similar experiences? Discuss them here.

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All episodes of Mr, Bean, the world famous British sitcom starring Rowan Atkinson can now be downloaded right into your PC. This DVDrip contains all episodes (all featuring DVD Quality video and CD Quality sound) and you can download them using a BitTorrent client such as uTorrent. Since the episodes are divided into 300MB files, you can choose and download only the episodes you haven't watched. (But we believe that all episodes of this series is a must have for everyone, it's simply hilarious).

Following Episodes are included:

Includes all 14 episodes plus some bonus content.

• Blind Date
• The Bus Stop
• The Library
• Torville And Dean
• Mr Bean
• Do-It-Yourself Mr Bean
• Back To School Mr Bean
• Tee Off, Mr Bean
• Goodnight Mr Bean
• Hair By Mr Bean Of London
• The Return Of Mr Bean
• The Curse Of Mr Bean
• Mr Bean Goes To Town
• Mr Bean Rides Again
• The Trouble With Mr Bean
• Merry Christmas Mr Bean
• Mr Bean In Room 426
• Mind The Baby Mr Bean

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