Stars Descend On the Desert For the Palm Springs Film Fest

Stars Descend On the Desert For the Palm Springs Film Fest:

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival drew boldfaced Hollywood names tonight. Stars including Ben Affleck, Naomi Watts, and Bradley Cooper were honored for their on-screen work, while Tom Hanks, Eddie Redmayne, Diane Lane, and other celebs presented the evening's awards. We were on the red carpet and inside for the star-studded dinner, where several of the awardees shared moving, funny, and heartfelt speeches. Naomi, who accepted the evening's Desert Palm Achievement Award for actress from her The Impossible costar Tom Holland, thanked her longtime partner, Liev Schreiber, for inspiring her. She also expressed gratitude for their two young sons, Sasha and Kai, for "breathing life into me."
Birthday boy Bradley Cooper -who turned 38 today-gave a short and humble speech when accepting the corresponding award for actor for his work in Silver Linings Playbook. Still, he couldn't escape host Mary Hart, who led the audience in a round of "Happy Birthday" in his honor before he left the stage. As Ben Affleck and his Argo cast closed the show, taking home the Ensemble Performance Award, Ben asked Mary if she'd prompt the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" for him, as well. "When's your birthday?" Mary asked. Ben replied: "August."


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Posted in: BOLLYWOOD

How To: Use an old PC as a media streaming server

An alternative use for an old PC or laptop as a media streaming server...

We bet most of you must be having an old PC or laptop lying around the place collecting dust. The system might be too old and the hardware would definitely be unfit for the latest operating systems and work applications. But these old systems can still be brought into use for something or the other at home or office. We did give you topics on how you can use your old PCs and laptops for different purposes. Treating it as an extension of that article, here is how you can use that old man as a media streaming unit in your home or office network. Assuming that your older computer would definitely be equipped with an operating system—be it Windows, Mac or Linux. In this case, you would have a network-enabled unit with an operating system ready to be deployed. All you need is a large hard drive to store your media content and a simple media server utility. The old hardware would definitely not be worthy of playing high definition videos, but is definitely powerful enough for streaming high definition content over the network. Twonky Media Manager Let’s begin by setting up the server. First is the hardware and the operating system. Your old operating system can come into use and you won’t have to spend for an operating system. Optionally, if you don’t have it, you can use Linux as a free OS alternative. In this workshop, we shall show you the procedure under Windows. Linux and MAC users can follow the workshop similarly with a little variation up to the installation. Once the installation is done, the server can be configured via any web browser.  Next, you would require the network to be configured. Ensure your drivers are set up and the computer is connected to a router along with other computers on the network. Download and install the software Twonky running in the status bar Now that the computer is ready, all you need is a media server utility from Twonky. Twonky is nothing but a server utility meant to serve multimedia content, which includes photos, music and video, to other devices on the network. It uses standard DLNA protocols that are accessible by almost all network-enabled devices available today. It is a DLNA compliant UPnP audio/video server from PacketVideo and compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Twonky is available for Rs 1,200 and can be tried out for a 30-day period too. Download and install the Twonky Media Manager from here. Twonky Media Manager is a single package utility that includes a media player and the media server for the same cost. Check the status of the server Once you install it, you will find the Twonky Media Server running in the system tray. Right click on the service icon and click on settings. Now we need to configure the server. It will take you only a few minutes to get the server set up and running. The moment you click on the settings option, the default web browser will pop up with the settings page of the server. The first page is the status. Here you will find the license key number that needs to be entered if you have purchased it. Ignore it if you are using it in the trial period. Click ahead to the Setup link. Give a name to the streaming server Here you need to give a name for your server. This name will be the streaming server's name on your network and your media clients will detect it accordingly. Leave other settings as they are and save the settings. Next click on the Sharing link. Enter the folder paths where the media files are stored This is the most important settings page on the server. You will find a few fields on this page where you need to give in the details of your media file’s location. Enter each location accordingly and choose the type of content from the drop-down list alongside. You can add as many folders depending on your content types and locations. Network locations from shared folders on network computers can also be added, but you should map them as drives. Once you are done with the folder allocations, you have completed almost 90 percent of the settings. Share removable media automatically if you need it Below the shared folders list you will find Removable Media options and Media receivers. In the Removable Media section, you can choose ‘Autoshare Removable Media’. This option will automatically share any media files from USB pen drives and external storage drives when they are connected to the server. The Media Receivers section option can be left untouched. Here you can see the present media receivers on the network and tweak the changes according to the way they shall view the media content. Save all changes and move ahead to the ‘Advanced’ link. Secure your server settings Here, give a user name and password for managing the server settings. This will restrict everyone from tweaking the settings unless they have the password. You can set up the server from any PC on the network using an Internet browser by typing the IP address with the port 9000 as the URL. For example, if your server’s IP address is 192.168.1.10, the URL would be 192.168.1.10:9000. Leave all settings as they are and save the changes. Your server is ready and will be streaming your media files within a few minutes after building the database of media content you have shared. The time will depend on the amount of media files present in the shared path. This is done only once until you add more shares or media files in the folder. Restart the server or rebuild the database Enable logging to find issues and resolve problems Additional settings You can enable logging to find out any errors on your server. You can restart the server, rescan content folders in case there are some missing content, reset the server to defaults or clear the cache in the Server Maintenance section.  UPnP media player on Android UPnP player on iPad Now that your server is ready, you can head on to the media receivers. You can use the Twonky Media Manager software you installed to watch your content on the same PC/server. You can use UPnP compatible media players on iPad and Android to play your media files over the wireless network. Windows-based PCs can take advantage of the Windows Media Player and play the media from ‘Other Libraries’. Windows Media Player streaming from the server There are a few free media server utilities that are available around, but as per our experiences, we find they are either confusing or not too user friendly for a regular user. We chose to opt for a paid version of Twonky Media Server as it is one of the best media servers and easiest to configure. We know that Windows also has a built-in media server that can be configured, but only versions such as Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are capable. If you have a lower version of Windows, it will not work and this is where third-party media servers can come in handy. You are free to try out some of the free media servers from the list below. If you have some more options –  tried it, are happy with it and would want to recommend it to others – do leave the names and links in the comments below.

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Posted in: COMPUTERS,HOW-TO

How To: Convert an old Bluetooth headset for wireless streaming

A colleague in our office had an old pair of Bluetooth headphones with a slightly broken and tarnished shell

Acolleague in our office had an old pair of Bluetooth headphones with a slightly broken, tarnished shell and badly worn out ear pads. Fortunately for him, the headset was working perfectly with all functionalities in place. When he approached us to have them fixed, we told him that the shell couldn’t be repaired and that the ear pads were not easily replaceable.  He’d simply have to opt for a new one. Then we thought of an alternative - why not convert the same working Bluetooth headset into an audio module, which can be used with any stereo headphones of his choice?! The Bluetooth module would also have multiple uses, thereafter. For example, he could use them with regular headphones, to connect it to his home theatre and have a wireless Bluetooth audio speaker system, connect it to a car stereo auxiliary input and have a BT hands-free for the car, use it to stream audio from a PC or laptop to an external speaker set, and many other options. The method of hacking into a unit and modifying the circuit was a bit of a task and needed a few hours of thinking - how could we simplify the work? This is what we did, and you can implement the similar idea with your BT headset, if you have a slightly damaged one just lying around. The main ingredients Getting down to the nitty-gritty Firstly, to get to know the whole circuitry, internal parts and its connections, we had to get inside the headset. We started by carefully studying the headset and separating the ear units from the head loop. We had to remove the ear pad foam cushions because the screws to the shell were underneath.  What the innards look like Once open, we separated the shell from the circuitry. Here’s what we found—the right earphone had the main BT module circuit board, along with the control panel buttons over it. Below the circuit board was the right speaker or driver. Four wires were carried along the head loop to the other side which connects to the left speaker, and the main battery was enclosed inside.  What you'll need to get this going Since the speakers would not be required anymore, we cut-off the wires and separated the battery from the left side. We disconnected the head loop and the right speaker. Now we were left with the shell, the button pads, the battery and the main circuit. We had to retain the shell as it helped mount and keep in place the control panel buttons. This part of the shell (the right ear side) was ideal for housing all relevant tech. If the shell were damaged, we would have to hunt for a similar-sized shell or plastic box to mount the whole circuit inside, which would make it more complicated and also a bit unappealing in terms of looks. The battery could be placed comfortably where the speaker was initially housed—this took care of the power section. Next we needed to hunt for space to mount the 3.5-mm female audio jack. This was tricky as it would need drilling and sanding in a few areas. We thought it best to get rid of the power socket and use a USB connector, instead. This would make it even more ideal as the charger could be eliminated completely, and the BT module could now be charged from any USB port or USB wall charger. We placed the USB connector at the edge where the right ear unit was joined to the head loop. We made use of a USB connector hacked from an old pen drive. The power jack was removed and the audio jack took its place. This area needed a little cutting and sanding to accommodate the connector comfortably. Shell was finally re-designed; we now had to tackle the circuit board. Inside the headset shell Carefully checking out the circuit board, we found the necessary connections neatly marked. We de-soldered all the existing wires and made use of some thin flexible wires obtained from an unused IDE HDD cable. We cropped out the necessary wire lengths and kept them ready. Next, we began soldering all the essential components—the audio jack, USB power connector and battery. We gave it a test and found everything was connected properly and working fine.  Test the system Before we finally mounted the circuit onto the now modified shell, we had to disconnect the battery, pass the wires through the shell and then glue the battery down on the other side. We used hot glue, as it is non-conductive and also hardens in a few seconds. Next the audio jack and the USB connector were glued down carefully. Since the built-in microphone was not touched, we did not modify anything in this section. Finally, after all the connectors were glued down and once everything was in place, we glued down the wires to a blank areas on the circuit board. This prevented the wires from getting loose and possibly breaking because the solder joints were quite minute and feeble. Finally, with everything in place, we put the shell together, inserted the screws and then applied some more hot glue to secure it with the USB port. That’s it! Our Bluetooth module was ready for use.  If you intend making one for yourself, you can simply pair it with your Bluetooth-enabled phone, tablet or PC and stream your audio. You’ll just need to connect a pair of standard stereo headphones to enjoy your music. You can also connect it to your home stereo system or your in-car entertainment via the Aux-In to have yourself a BT hands-free kit as well.  Fitting the circuit board and components Note: While disconnecting any wires and replacing them with new ones, note down the polarity and double check it before re-soldering them to avoid damage and other hazards. Use of the soldering iron and the hot glue gun should be done with extreme care. If you do not have any idea about how to handle circuits and/or a soldering iron, we recommend you take the help of a friend or electronics engineer or do not attempt this at all. This workshop is for educational purposes only and we are not responsible for any damage caused, while attempting the same. Do this at your own risk.

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Posted in: BLUETOOTH,HOW-TO

How to - Send and receive SMSes via your Android phone on your PC

While most of us would have moved to Google Talk and other messaging apps such as Whatsapp, most of the people around the world still depend on the

While most of us would have moved to Google Talk and other messaging apps, such as Whatsapp, there might still be many others around who depend on the traditional text messaging service present on every device out there -  SMS. Not all phones support Whatsapp or any of the other fancy apps and many people still don't use data connectivity on their phones. SMSes can be painful if you’re working - you need to turn on the phone, browse through some menus and reply to texts using a tiny keypad or touchscreen. Whatsapp is particularly useful as it pops up notifications, so you can keep your phone aside, on silent without worrying about missing incoming messages and calls.  Now, a new Android app called MightyText is making news. It lets you simply compose and receive and read all your SMSes messages, right off the browser. All you need is an Android mobile phone and Internet connectivity. Remember that this app still uses your mobile connection to send SMSes, so be aware that you’re going to be billed for messages, as per your existing plan. Let’s look at how to get this running. Download the browser extension MightyText as of now, is available on the PC as a browser extension. There’s support for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 9. Head over to the Install page on MightyText’s site and install the extension of the browser (or browsers) you use. Once the app is installed, restart the browser.  Install the MightyText Android app Downloading the app and extension for your device The MightyText app as of now, is only available for Android devices. It has support for Android versions 2.2 (Froyo) and above. You can download it from the Google Play store page. You can find it on the app store through your phone. The app is a little more than 300KB in size and hardly takes up any system resources. Authorizing the app and extension Getting the Android app authorized Once you have the app installed on your phone, start it and you’ll be prompted to allow the app to be linked with your Gmail account. You’ll also have to sign in with the extensions installed on the web browser on your PC. Use the same account being used on the Google ID used for the phone. Receiving and sending SMS Composing a message is simple To do this, make sure that your phone is always connected to the Internet. You can use your mobile provider's data connection to do this or even Wi-Fi for that matter. All you need to do is click on the extension icon on your browser. In case of Google Chrome, this icon appears right next to the Settings icon on the top. MightyText will sign in with your Google account and you’ll see a list of messages and contacts to the left of your screen. To send a message, simply click on the Compose New button. Type in the message and if you want to make it an MMS, attach a media file to it. The message will be sent to your phone over the Internet and your phone will then send that message to the recipient.  Enabling contact names and photos Enabling contact names in place of confusing phone numbers Once you have MightyText running, you’ll notice that your existing history of messages will appear in the list to the left of the screen. To be able to see names, you need to sync your Google Contacts list with these numbers. Once you do that, you’ll see names and even a photo of the person. This makes identifying and sending messages much simpler. To do this, click on the Sync with Google Contacts link on the top right of the window.  One of the neat features of MightyText is the ability to get notifications when you receive a call, while you’re working. You can then choose to answer the call on your phone. Just keep in mind that if you’re using a 2G connection for example, your data connection will disconnect when you get a call, so you won’t get a notification of the call after the person on the other end has hung up. It’s advisable to use Wi-Fi or 3G connections if receiving call notifications instantly is important to you.

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Posted in: HOW-TO,SMS