BloggersBase - Technology - Computers

Webinar Recording: Email Marketing-How to Generate Sales from Existing Customers

proimpact7 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:47:20 GMT

Email marketing is a very powerful marketing tool with high ROI. In this webinar Kristin Klewero from YesMail talks about how to generate sales from existing customers.

Key Takeaways:

1. Initial Engagement - email confirmation of order. As these emails have a high open rate, you can use it to place up-sells or your best selling products there.

2. Follow up purchase "Thank You" message - a very good way of getting your customers engaged with you and your brand is to send them a thank you post purchase email with a discount.

3. Follow up purchase with request for customer reviews - it helps customers to feel more connected to your brand and provides a great opportunity to drive additional purchases.

4. Product replenishment campaign - remind customers when their product needs to be replenished or their warranty is about to expire.

5. Loyalty/best customer campaign - recognize and reward your best customers

6. Purchase-cycle Programs - Cross Sell - send a cross sell email to your customers

7. Lapsed customer program - re-engage customers that have not purchased within a certain time frame supported with a discount code or a special offer

8. Tell a friend campaign - send incentives based email to existing database to encourage email referral and drive to purchase.

Sony Vaio VCPX117LG – the ultraportable generation is back

ramaraobobby — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:33:58 GMT

Sony has made yet another slim and stylish statement by introducing a new ultra slim, ultra portable notebook in their X series, the Sony Vaio VCPX117LG.This amazing notebook is a symbol of strong and well structured craftsmanship from Sony. This thin ultraportable PC from Sony features an elegant blend of stylish design and high technical capabilities which provides the users with high user interactive grounds for computing.

The Sony Vaio VCPX117LG features a 128GB SSD flash memory which provides an out-ranging extra performance at high speeds and it is also resistant to shocks. This absolute stunner from Sony comes with other wonderful tech. specifications like

Intel Atom Processor Z550 with processing speed of 2GHz with support for latest HT technology which enhances the overall processing capabilities of the processor

Windows 7 professional 32 bit Operating System for flexible user friendly computing environment

11.1 inches wide display screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and LED backlight for extra brightness

2GB of SDRAM of type DDR2

Integrated wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g for faster and secure wireless internet connectivity

Built in microphone and front side camera with resolution of 640x480 pixels for easy audio video conferencing

Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 500 for running high end graphic applications

The Sony Vaio VCPX117LG features a sleek light weight black colored body which weighs only 760 grams. This amazing ultra featured portable laptop from Sony is priced at Rs.84,990 INR

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Ubuntu 9.10 – Review

Techie Boy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:19:28 GMT

This marvelous OS has been with us for quite sometime, but it hasn’t been quite as popular as Windows or Mac OSX. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that offers to be one of the best around. Just recently, they have released their latest OS, Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. This piece of OS ran on my really old Sony Vaio, and as well has a more recent Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (running Ubuntu Netbook Remix).

Ubuntu sounds funny don’t you think? It’s a lot stranger then hearing Windows, but I can assure you that you will enjoy it. It’s actually quite similar to the Mac OSX. At least, a lot more similar to it then Windows. Unlike Mac, it’s also offering with it many open source softwares. As Ubuntu itself is open source, it encourages you to use open source. A lot of other popular things out there are open source you may just not know (Firefox, WordPress, OpenOffice). In fact, installing Ubuntu comes with Firefox and OpenOffice bundled in the disk image.

Still not encouraged to get it? Then you can go download a free copy for yourself*. In my experience, I had to torrent it out because I downloaded it on the release day when the servers were still bombarded with the traffic of people getting their share. The disk offers a demo OS of sort. You can boot from the disk, and instead of installing it, you’ll just startup the OS on the disk. It will be slower of course, and you wont be able to download anything, but it comes with Firefox and OpenOffice installed with it anyways. Oh, did I forget to mention that it’s also immune to Windows viruses (like the Mac).

Boot time you ask? It’s faster then Windows in my experience. Same with shutdown time. So far in both laptops, I can press shutdown and not longer then 5 seconds it’s dead. The interface is well designed too, not to mention you can change the theme to your likings. I constantly wish my MacBook would let me partition it safely so I can install an Ubuntu partition (bootcamp partitioner doesn’t seem to work…).

Although, just a tip, for most laptops you may want to have an expert install it for you. You might find yourself missing a number of drivers to run some normal things like Wifi and Sound. Personally, my Vaio didn’t have sounds, while my S10 had no Wifi. No problem though, if you think you can handle it, it helps to at least try to google the brand/model of your laptop along with an “Ubuntu” tag or something (that’s what I did, and all my problems were solved). In the Macbook, Ubuntu has a section for it in their website**. Although, sometimes you may have to learn to handle the Terminal with some UNIX commands. Like I said, a techie boy around would help a lot.

Chances are, you will find yourself doing a lot of things in Ubuntu, especially those that require a bit more security. You’re a lot safer doing your online banking here or your thesis because you are 100% free from Windows viruses (never have I heard of a Linux virus). Having said that, your Windows softwares wont work on Ubuntu too (but you can try your luck with Wine, an emulator that will emulate a windows portion so that you may be able to run your software. their website has a database***.)

PS I have mostly been talking about features that have been there for the past Ubuntu releases also .

Links –
*   http://www.ubuntu.com/
**   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook
***   http://appdb.winehq.org/

BluetoothView v1.31

Another Blogger — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:29:12 GMT

Description

BluetoothView is a small utility that runs in the background, and monitor the activity of Bluetooth devices around you.

For each detected Bluetooth device, it displays the following information: Device Name, Bluetooth Address, Major Device Type, Minor Device Type, First Detection Time, Last Detection Time, and more.

BluetoothView can also notify you when a new Bluetooth device is detected, by displaying a balloon in your taskbar or by playing a small beep sound.

DOWNLOAD & MORE FREE SOFTWARE HERE @ Free Software

Versions History

Version 1.31 - Added command-line option for sorting (/sort).
Version 1.30 - Added command-line support for saving Bluetooth devices list to a file.
Version 1.25 - Added 'Speak the following text when a new bluetooth device is detected' in advanced options. When this option is enabled,BluetoothView will speak the desired text by using Windows SAPI when a new device is detected.
Version 1.20 - Added 'Try To Connect' option. (See below)
Version 1.15 - New Option: Execute a command when a new Bluetooth device is detected. (In 'Advanced Options')
Version 1.11 - Added update rate (low/medium/high)
Version 1.10 - Added 'Company Name' column (see below)
Version 1.06 - Added new option: Select Another Font.
Version 1.05 - Fixed bug: The main window lost the focus when the user switched to another application and then returned back to BluetoothView.
Version 1.04 - Fixed bug in saving as comma-delimited file when description or name fields contained comma character.
Version 1.03 - Added support for saving as comma-delimited file.
Version 1.02 - Added 'Automatically Set Device Description' option.
Version 1.01 - Added 'Remove Selected Items' option. (The removed items will be considered as new in the next time that BluetoothView detect them)
Version 1.00 - First release.

What can you do with BluetoothView ?

If you have neighbors or family members that use a cellular phone with Bluetooth turned on:

You can easily know when they come home and when they leave, by using the 'First Detected On' and 'Last Detected On' fields.
Each time that a new device is detected, BluetoothView automatically displays an alert as a balloon in your taskbar. This means that you can detect when your neighbors/friends/family members are coming even before they knock on your door...

System Requirements

Bluetooth Dongle and device driver that works with the standard Bluetooth module of Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7.
Windows XP/SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Other versions of Windows don't provide a build-in support for Bluetooth, and thus BluetoothView cannot work with them.

Start Using BluetoothView

BluetoothView doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL files. In order to start using it, simply copy the executable file (BluetoothView.exe) to any folder you like, and run it.
A few seconds after you run it, BluetoothView will start to gradually display all detected Bluetooth around you.

The 'Company Name' Column

Starting from version 1.10, BluetoothView allows you to view the company name of each BluetoothView device. The company name is determined according to the Bluetooth address. However, in order to get this feature, you must download the following external file, and put in the same folder of BluetoothView.exe: http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/oui.txt Be aware that you must save it as 'oui.txt'

The Description Column

In addition to the name of Bluetooth device, you can set your own short description to allow you to easily detect the device in the future. The description that you set will also be displayed in the taskbar balloon, when the device is detected as a new one.
In order to set a description, double-click the desired item, and in the 'Description' field, simply type the description text and click 'OK'.

Connecting To Bluetooth Device

Starting from version 1.20, BluetoothView allows you to connect the desired Bluetooth devices. BluetoothView doesn't send any information to the device, it only tries to connect the device for testing purposes, and then closes the connection.
When you choose the 'Try To Connect' option, BluetoothView automatically send a connection request to the selected devices. On the device, you should get a qesution like "Do you want to accept data from xyz". If you choose yes, the connection will be succeeded. Otherwise it'll be failed. The connection result is displayed in the 'Connection Result' column

More Tips For Using BluetoothView

You can use the 'Hide Main Window' option for hiding the main window of BluetoothView. When you want to show back the main window, simply double-click the tray icon. While the main window is hidden, BluetoothView will display a balloon alert on each time that a new Bluetooth device is detected. If you want to clear all current Bluetooth devices that are currently displayed and start the Bluetooth detection from the beginning, simply use the 'Reset' option.

Command-Line Options

You can use the following command-line options for saving Bluetooth information to a file, without displaying any user interface. Be aware that you have to wait around 15 - 20 seconds until the file is saved.

/stext
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into a regular text file.

/stab
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into a tab-delimited text file.

/scomma
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into a comma-delimited text file (csv).

/stabular
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into a tabular text file.

/shtml
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into HTML file (Horizontal).

/sverhtml
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into HTML file (Vertical).

/sxml
Save the list of Bluetooth devices into XML file.

/sort
This command-line option can be used with other save options for sorting by the desired column. If you don't specify this option, the list is sorted according to the last sort that you made from the user interface.
The parameter can specify the column index (0 for the first column, 1 for the second column, and so on) or the name of the column, like "Address" and "Description". You can specify the '~' prefix character (e.g: "~Major Device Type") if you want to sort in descending order. You can put multiple /sort in the command-line if you want to sort by multiple columns.

Examples:
BluetoothView.exe /shtml "f:\temp\bt.html" /sort 2 /sort ~1
BluetoothView.exe /shtml "f:\temp\bt.html" /sort "Major Device Type"
/sort "Minor Device Type"

/nosort
When you specify this command-line option, the list will be saved without
any sorting.

Translating BluetoothView to other languages

In order to translate BluetoothView to other language, follow the
instructions below:
1. Run BluetoothView with /savelangfile parameter:
BluetoothView.exe /savelangfile
A file named BluetoothView_lng.ini will be created in the folder of
BluetoothView utility.
2. Open the created language file in Notepad or in any other text
editor.
3. Translate all string entries to the desired language. Optionally,
you can also add your name and/or a link to your Web site.
(TranslatorName and TranslatorURL values) If you add this information,
it'll be used in the 'About' window.
4. After you finish the translation, Run BluetoothView, and all
translated strings will be loaded from the language file.
If you want to run BluetoothView without the translation, simply
rename the language file, or move it to another folder.

License

This utility is released as freeware. You are allowed to freely distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM, Internet, or in any other way, as long as you don't charge anything for this. If you
distribute this utility, you must include all files in the distribution package, without any modification !

Disclaimer

The software is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential or indirect damages
due to loss of data or any other reason.

BluetoothView v1.31
Copyright (c) 2008 - 2009 Nir Sofer
Web site: http://www.nirsoft.net

Mp3 Quality Modifier

tothetech — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:07:58 GMT

If you are using iPod or Mobile phones to hear music and if you are compressing mp3 files, you may face loss in quality. Whenever the mp3 file is compressed it loses its original quality.

To prevent loss of quality for a particular extent, we found a free software called Mp3 quality modifier. Which converts mp3 file in different quality.

Features:

You can change mp3 quality easily
Easy GUI interface
It retains all ID3 tags
Advanced options like detailed bitrate settings, sample frequency etc.
Supports multiple language
It is portable and no installation required

Official Demo Video

Download Mp3 Quality Modifier via inspire-soft.net.

Boxee to enter Beta next month

Adam Thursby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:12:10 GMT

Boxee, the open source media application that will let you bring internet and streaming content to your TV through the use of a PC, is ready to leave alpha and enter the beta stage next month. I’ve been using the application for a bit now in Windows and I can say I’m relatively happy, even with the occasional crash. I’m hoping these issues are fixed in the beta, but again, being alpha software, you can’t really complain too much.

The beat version of the software will launch on December 7th at an event in NYC. The new version of the software is expected to sport improved navigation, a user queue, TV and movie search as well as an all new user interface.

I’m curious to see the improvements that will be included. Boxee fell of of many people’s radar when they lost access to Hulu content. The app still serves up CBS, MLB content, Joost and iPlayer from BBC as well as the ability to add your own RSS feeds for video. While Windows Media Center is still our main interface, adding Boxee has expanded our options and I can’t wait to see the new stuff!

Reading the comments on the Boxee blog post, user “avner ronen”, who wrote the blog post, has stated that the beta will include support for ABC and Netflix in Windows. This is great news for people who haven’t been running the app in Linux or on Apple TV. He also goes on to say that while December 7th is the launch date, access will only be granted to those who attend the event with limited access being rolled out through December until the official release on January 7th at CES. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit!

via Download Squad

This article was originally published on The Digital Media Zone

Entertainment 2.0-Episode 52: Stop Yer Whinin’!

Adam Thursby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:35:30 GMT

Oh do we have fun this week! After moving through a ton of reader email and comments (THANK YOU!), Josh and Adam get into the question of fair use and recorded TV. How long should you be allowed to keep your recordings? Can you archive them forever or are you obligated to buy the DVD series once it’s available? We try to focus on these questions this week. (Notice I said we try. We stray a bit!)

We had some great emails and comments this week and you’ll find links shared by our listeners below. Don’t forget to call and leave us a voicemail (1-877-856-4933), post a comment or email us your questions and comments. Our shows are getting better and most of that improvement has to do with listener feedback and questions like yours. We don’t know everything but if we don’t know, we’ll find out for you.

Show notes:

Click here to download Episode 52!

As always, we want to thank Dragon Global, creators of Show Analyzer for their support of Entertainment 2.0.

	Entertainment 2.0 Subscriptions

This article was originally published on The Digital Media Zone

Live Webibar: Maximize Selling On eBay And Your Website

proimpact7 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:05:00 GMT

You are invited to attend a free, 60 minute webinar on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009: Maximize Selling On eBay And Your Website at 3:00 PM Eastern. Sponsored by Infopia, a leader in SaaS (software as a service) ecommerce solutions.

In this webinar you will learn:

How to manage all your inventory, marketplace listings, and orders from one place.
How to leverage the sales data from each marketplace.
How to seamlessly manage your entire eBay operation from a central location.
How to optimize product sales across your ecommerce site and marketplaces like eBay.

DATE: November 24, 2009
TIME: 12:00 PM Eastern Time
LENGTH: 1 Hour
REGISTER HERE »

Enabling Concurrent RDP sessions in Windows 7

Adam Thursby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:09:06 GMT

Having recently started using my HTPC directly on the main television in our home has been a good experience. It’s given me access to more content than is available on extender and overall a lot more control of my experience in my main viewing area.

One of the issues you come across with this method however is access to non-Media Center functions. We all know that you can use RDP or Microsoft Live Mesh to remote into your HTPC to perform these tasks but the problem we run into is that it kicks the Media Center session that someone may be running at the time.

Missing Remote, with help from a larger community, has come up with a solution to the issue. Just like in Windows Vista, it’s possible to enable concurrent Remote Desktop sessions in Windows 7. This allows you to RDP into your HTPC as one user, while the main user is able to continue using Media Center or any other application they may be running.

While it’s probably a complicated process to do yourself, fellow Media Center MVP, Mike Garcen, has been able to work with the Media Center community to put together a batch file that when run will automatically turn on concurrent sessions.

When I ran the script earlier this morning, everything went off without a hitch. I ran it through an RDP session and while it of course kicked me due to having to shut down the RDP service, the script continued to run on it’s own and after about 30 seconds I logged back in and had no troubles. Once everything was done, I turned on my home theater, brought up Media Center on the HTPC then went back to my laptop. I logged into the RDP session using a different user account and that was it. I was using the remote desktop on my laptop all while Media Center continued to chug along on the TV. Perfection. Now I can go in and edit metadata, move files if needed, basically anything I need.

Head over to the post at Missing Remote to grab the batch file and get started!

This article was originally published on The Digital Media Zone.

JEE complexity, documentation, pruning - some analyses and thoughts

myfear — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:09:04 GMT

J2EE applications can be rapidly deployed and easily enhanced as the enterprise responds to competitive pressures.
(Source: Sun Microsystems Inc.: J2EE Specification)

I am working with JEE6 these days. Try to design some new tech-workshops, sessions and lessons to bring others up to speed with this. During my research I cam across an old slide which talks about total complexity (in number of specification pages). Up to today it only covered J2EE 1.0 until J2EE1.4. But I needed to know more about the actual specifications JEE5 and JEE6. Ok. It was time to browser the jcp website and look out for the details.
The result was unexpected. After having seen so many people complaining about the complexity/size of the J2EE if was finally heard by the Specification Leads and the JEE5 was launched with a slightly different goal than the J2EE specifications before:

The focus of Java EE 5 is ease of development. To simplify the development process for programmers just starting with Java EE, or developing small to medium applications, we’ve made extensive use of Java language annotations that were introduced by J2SE 5.0.
(Source: Sun Microsystems Inc.: JEE5 Specification)

But as you can see, compared to the other versions it is the most complex one regarding to the total number of specification pages. Seems as if the fundamental work for simplyfing the platform itself comes to fruition with JEE6 finally.

The graph itself is reduced to the core and well known APIs. This is a little more than half of the complete platform documentation for JEE6. The complete documentation consists of about 6300 pages (some release notes are not considered with this number).

What else is to mention:
- You see the JSF specification comming in with JEE5. About 450 pages of specification, that were added. Slightly reduced to 400 with JEE6.
- The size of the umbrella specifications was reduced. JEE5 (JSR-244) has about 80 pages of specification more than JEE6 (JSR-316).
- Both JSP versions does not include the Expression Language parts. This would add another 122 pages of specification. JSTL (272 pages) is also not part of this number.

One of the major goals of industry standards is the backward compability. This could be seen in the chart, too. As more and more specifications come in, the old ones still are not beeing dropped even if they are considered as not beeing state of the art anymore. A good examples of this is CMP. Removing the dead parts of APIs, outdated features and not well supported parts is something that will have more attention in the future. The JEE6 already introduced a concept for getting rid of this ballast, called prunning. Based on the community votings, some APIs will disappear from JEE7.

Done is the engine of more.

myfear — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:07:49 GMT

Ralf Westphal (Blog/Twitter) pointed me to this one. Done by Bre Pettis (Blog/Twitter)
To be honest, I was first smiling about this one and only retweeting it. After some time, I decided to print it and put it on the wall of my office. Not only, cause the poster looks awesome, but mainly because of the attitude described in the manifesto. Ok, it is exaggerating and a provocation. But as always, there is some truth in it at least. I don't know why, but it seems to me, that more and more people are afraid of "getting things done". Since the beginning of the so called "financial crisis", it seems to me that more and more people try to reach safe harbors. Not condemnable by default. But I feel, that in a growing number of situations this is slowing everything down.

Therefore I use this poster to remember some things:
- There is a difference between talking about and doing things. (I prefer doing things!)
- If you don't do it, probably no one else will do it. (You can do it!)
- You are responsible for yourself. (Don't hide! Stand up for your opinion.)
- Innovations are necessary parts of success. (Embrace change!)
- Making mistakes but learning from them is ok. (I do make mistakes, too. Mistakes, are vital to learning!)
- What you wish to ignite in others must first burn within yourself. (Be yourself. Be enthusiastic!)
- Getting things done is a personal success. (It feels good!)
- If you get work done, more work will come to you. (Done is the engine of more.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuarothhaas/ / CC BY 2.0

How to Convert and Burn WMV to DVD on Mac ?

danfeiyan18 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:51:24 GMT

Question: I have a movie saved on my Mac in .wmv file. I have a DVD Decrypter but it only takes certain files. I need to covert the WMV file to a DVD file. How can I convert it? Are there any sites I can convert this file for free?

Answer: To convert WMV to DVD on Mac, you can use WMV to DVD Converter for Mac, which is a powerful WMV to DVD Converter Mac software that can burn WMV video format to DVDs without losing quality, With high quality to burn your WMV Video on Mac, it also supports cropping, trimming, creating DVD menus and applying various effects on the videos! It’s for free downloading: http://www.aimersoft-mac.com/dvd-creator-mac.html

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to burn WMV to DVD on Mac OS X( Snow Leopard).

————————————————————————————————
Step1 Import WMV Video Files
Step2 Edit WMV Video Files

Step3 Preview your DVD Project
Step4 Burn WMV to DVD
After you finish the 3 steps above, you can click Burn to make burning settings, and then click the Start button to make burning of your WMV files, just wait for a few minutes.
————————————————————————————————

Tips:
1. What is WMV?
WMV stands for Windows Media Video. It is a compressed video file format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original codec, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to Real Video.

2. How to play Windows Media Video (WMV) on Mac OS X?
It is possible to play Windows Media Video files (also known as WMV files) on a Mac. OS X does not come with any software that can play WMV files, but there is software you can download to get the job done. Three of the most common choices for playing WMV videos on Mac are: Windows Media Player 9 for Mac, Flip4Mac, VLC.

Learn more about How to Convert WMV to DVD on Mac ?

Webinar Recording: Tips on Increasing Website Conversions This Christmas

proimpact7 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:33:12 GMT

10 essential holiday conversion tactics and tips to increase website conversion.

1. analyze your data - focus on conversion funnels, conversion paths, best converting sources of traffic, worst converting sources of traffic

2. check how you appear on comparison sites - comparison sites account for up to 20% of traffic

3. onsite voucher pages - we were talking about discount codes in checkout process and how to deal with them, this webinar has touched this issue also, by showing very good example from macys.com. What Macys does is very clever. They created an onsite voucher page, so when a visitor gets to the checkout, instead of typing into a search engine "macys discount code", Macys offers a link to discount codes on their own page, which opens as a pop up window. Needless to say, this idea brings Macys a 40% conversion rate alone from this page.

4. vouchers and social media- use social media like facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. to promote your offers.

5. don't let them get cold feet- shipping and return policies, testimionials in the checkout etc.

6. encourage to register- you need email addresses to be able to remarket to abandoners

7. follow up abandoners- remarketing to abandoners yields up to 50% conversion of those who abandoned

8. do it quickly - the response time drops rapidly in the first few hours after the event. Multi-stage follow up converts more. Two or more follow ups work the best.

9. take with promotional offers - be unpredictable. Use analytics to target promotions only to those who that require an offer to convert.

10. offer alternate channels - there are 101 reasons why people don't purchase from you. Alternate channels like email, phone, in store are essential to maximize your overall conversion.

Webinar Recording: How to Increase Conversion by Guiding Your Audience

proimpact7 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:37:29 GMT

From PPC to offline advertising, you likely invest significantly in driving prospects to your site. But do you put the same amount of resources into guiding them through to conversion?

In our October 28 web clinic, we took a detailed look at how to clearly guide your audience from first visit to conversion. Researchers Boris Grinkot, Corey Trent, and Heather Andruk investigated five key elements to directing visitor eyepath.

This webinar will open in new window

Live Webinar: Recognize Campaigns That Work

proimpact7 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:36:41 GMT

Measure every impression, capture every click, and get results you can count on.

Join this best practices webinar with Forrester Research and the Direct Marketing Association to learn how to accurately attribute every aspect of your marketing and drive the best results for your business. Learn how to measure the influence of each campaign, from first look to final conversion.

Removing high-value impression campaigns is a mistake you can’t afford to make. But without concrete results, that spend is hard to justify. Get expert insights for measuring how well every campaign is working and gaining the insight you need to push your budget where it belongs—and boost the bottom line.

Register for the Webinar >

Register and learn how to:

Determine which channels are attracting new visitors to your site—and which ones aren't
Gain in-depth insight into the initiatives that consistently influence customers—even if they don't get clicked
Effectively manage multi-touch marketing campaigns and allocate your marketing spend wisely

Changing and Using Guide Data in Media Center

Adam Thursby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:53:38 GMT

After posting a TV Tuner setup how-to, I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick screencast on some of the things you can do with guide data. This isn’t an in depth, edit channel mapping type of how-to but more about how to remove channels and setup favorite listings. Not the most complicated of Media Center tasks but if you don’t know the option to edit your guide is there then you may be spending time scrolling through 800 channels when you only have 50.

Enjoy!

On a side note, what screencasts would you like to see? Is there a Media Center task you’re unsure of how to do? Let us know in the comments and we’ll put something together for you!

Setting Up a TV Tuner in Media Center

Adam Thursby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:51:56 GMT

It’s a task most veteran Media Center users know how to do. But, if you’re someone who’s looking to upgrade to Windows 7 and are thinking about using the included Media Center feature, adding a tuner may seem difficult. It doesn’t have to be.

In the screencast below, I walk you through the standard TV Tuner setup. In this case, I had already added the tuner previously. This doesn’t really change the process though. It simply made it so that you didn’t have to watch my PC download PlayReady or guide data. Other than that, you still have the same choices to make.

Overall it’s a straight forward process. The only differences in the time it takes will be the tuner you install in your system. As I’m using an older NTSC tuner it’s pretty quick. There’s no need to scan for channels like when setting up a QAM or ATSC tuner.

If you’re setting up a tuner for the first time, sit back and enjoy the show!

SageTV Gets Unofficial CableCard Support

Adam Thursby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:50:43 GMT

If DVR-MS Toolbox, the little app that can do anything to video wasn’t enough, Andy VanTil decided that SageTV users should be given cable card as well. With that in mind, he’s created his SageMCTuner application that basically uses Windows Media Center to do the actual recording!

Though the process seems complicated, it is apparently working and Andy has put it out for testing. You can find the app here. Note that this is an experimental release so use with caution. I have no doubt Andy will be refining the tool as he goes and that SageTV users can expect to be using CableCard before too long.

via @Jere_Jones and eHomeUpgrade

Windows 7 Released, Upgrade Now!

Adam Thursby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:49:54 GMT

Most people know that Microsoft is unleashing its latest OS to the world today. Many of us have been running various versions of the software since last January but the official release is still a huge deal.

While us in the tech community have been running Windows 7 for awhile now, I sometimes forget that not everyone is. Whether people simply don’t trust beta software or haven’t been interested enough to give Windows 7 a shot, now is the time to jump. The title says it all. While this isn’t a full on Windows 7 review, I will say that the majority of people should upgrade to the new OS as soon as possible. The features it adds will certainly make it worth it for you.

First and foremost (for this site) is Windows Media Center. Not just Media Center but media in general. With the addition of Homegroup and internet sharing, Microsoft has made it extremely easy to share the content spread around your home with others and to use it while you’re not on your home network. Both of these go way beyond Media Center. In fact, internet sharing is all done within Windows Media Player and is really easy to setup.

The overall Media Center experience has been improved. From the UI to the expansion of internet content and television recording options, MS has really made it a whole new experience for users. The fact that they continue to put this much development into something that they give for free with the OS is amazing. It certainly isn’t a perfect system but they’re getting close. If anything needs to be fixed it’s the extender ecosystem. Until extenders can do everything that the PC can (IE: Netflix, Internet TV, video codec playback) it’s just not going to be on par with other systems out there that don’t differentiate between extenders and PCs.

Let’s move past Media Center for a minute though. While not all PC users are Media Center users, all Media Center users are PC users and this is where the UI of Windows 7 comes into play. Everyone has to use it at one time or another and Microsoft has really outdone themselves this time. The ability to click-hold the top of a window and move it easily has to be one of my favorite features. It’s one of those things that you don’t think about until you have it and then lose it. I have certain things I have to do within Windows Vista and it drives me crazy. The redesigned taskbar also makes life a lot easier. With window previews, the ability to pin items to the taskbar as well as a dedicated “show desktop” button in the corner (which doubles as Aero Peek on hover) makes it much more functional. The entire process is over all a better experience than Vista.

I don’t want to shill out to Microsoft here. Windows 7 of course isn’t perfect, but for those of us who have been using Vista for the last three years, it’s a breath of fresh air.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence, it’s time to get off of it. Windows 7 is worth the trouble of going through an upgrade even if you have to do a clean installation. While it’ll take some time to get used to, once you do you’ll wonder how you got along without certain features.

Congratulations to Microsoft for fixing the problems with Vista and designing an easy to use, feature rich operating system that people will simply enjoy using.

Netflix Streaming Now Available in Windows 7

Adam Thursby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:48:55 GMT

I woke up this morning on a mission. To get my HTPC upgraded to the RTM of Windows 7. Once the reinstallation was complete, what to my wondering eyes did appear but a Netflix logo sitting on the Movies strip of my Media Center main menu!

It seems that MS has come through and right before the retail release of Windows 7 has gotten Netflix support worked in. The downside? It’s not showing up on my Xbox 360 extenders…

I guess this was to be expected but come on! I get it, you want me to have and Xbox Live Gold subscription but guess what? I already do because I’m a gamer! Let’s not half-ass it on this on MS. Get us Netflix on the extenders and you’ll have a ton of happy MCE users!