YouTube Videos Download for YouTube Videos Offline Enjoyment

As you are considering about how to download YouTube videos for later viewing without internet connection, a stereotyped idea would pop up: YouTube video download is not allowed. However, there are actually some tricks for YouTube videos download.

1. According to YouTube support, permitted downloading your own uploads in MP4 is supported, as long as no copyrighted content or an audio track added through the audio tool.

After signing in your YouTube account, click the “Video Manager” choice from the expanded menu of the user name and then find the video you want to download. You’ll find “Download MP4” drop down button by clicking the arrow beside the “Edit” button. Then YouTube videos download is started. This method only allows users download the videos they uploaded (without using audioswap) to their YouTube account and they come out of MP4 format. And only 2 download per hour is permitted.

2. Google Takeout (the latest update of YouTube)enables you to download your uploaded videos in the original videos files as you have before uploading them.

Well, this update of YouTube makes it possible to re-achieve your own videos as the way it is. The Data Liberation Blog has listed different ways for you to download your Google plus stored data in various paths: Google+, Buzz, YouTube, etc. How to download?

3. The above two are about how to get your own videos back, but YouTube Videos download cannot be fulfilled for other videos which are not uploaded by you. The video below from YouTube about how to download YouTube videos without any software or tools will make it possible for you to download YouTube videos of all. Maybe you can have a try?

4. Besides, there are some free tools for us to get YouTube videos downloaded for offline viewing. The only shortcoming is that there is always certain kind of limitation or lack of function.

You can try YouTube by click (available for both videos and music), or YouTube-mp3.gov (which used to be a wonderful tool, free and simple, but banned by Google now), and many more!

5. After all, there are some powerful YouTube downloader software as well, although they cost some money, they actually perform better and with comprehensive functions.

With these tips, you can download your favorite videos or even music from YouTube for later offline enjoyment whenever you like!

Best Android Player for Android Phone

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean seems to arrive with the curtain call from Flash Player for Android Smartphones. While on-the-go video viewing is the best option to kill boring waiting time, you need some best Android video players. After some search and collecting, I recommend some free Android video players among the best for your reference.(rating and votes form Google Play)

MX Player

Main features: Hardware decoding (h/w decoder enables hardware acceleration); Multi-core decoding (it is the first Android video player that performs multi-core decoding, which makes great performance improvement); pinch to zoom (zoon in/out); subtitle scroll; kids lock (prevent kids from calling or so).
This free android video player supports almost every movie files including flv, divx, vob, webm, .xvid and so on in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Some users complained about HD video playback lags.

MoboPlayer

It is said to be compatible with all video formats, in most cases, when the “software decoding” mode is selected. Then you can watch videos without worrying about what formats the video player may not run. Besides, MoboPlayer supports subtitles, multimedia streams and multi-subtitles, playlists, etc.

Dice Player

Most formats are supported by it.
HW Accelerated Video Player with Playback speed control and Network support. It supports pop-up play with multiple audio tracks and subtitle track (includes external sub).
Video capability depends on your devices HW video decodes' capability.

QQ Player

It supports all the popular video formats with the plug-in subtitles SRT, SMI, and MKV embedded subtitle. Multiple audio tracks options can be chosen by users; one of the outstanding features is that the smart core technology makes video playback smoother along such a small interface. But there are currently no English subtitles available. And FLV video may not go well with it. Some users even hate the updates and prefer the previous version.

RealPlayer for Android 4.3

RealPlayer for PC could be the most popular video players over the years, and this Android version is just released recently.
This media player for Android possesses a handy and intuitive user interface, allowing you to customize your music listening experience; 9 languages supported; metadata editing; optimized graphics for high-res devices, etc.
It works well for music, videos and photos, which enhanced your experiences of Android mobile media enjoyment.

Meridian Media Player

It is a customizable player for Android phones’ video and audio playback. PlayQ instead of playlist can handle videos, music and the mixture. It supports music tag editing; srt subtitle; customized tabs, etc.

mVideoPlayer

With a good-looking interface, it will only play whichever formats are already supported by your phone. It can be used as a video library browser as you can open videos with other applications; you can also create your own playlist with the Posters and movies information downloaded automatically and with the subtitles.

VLC (Beta)

It plays most local video and audio files as the desktop version and contains a media library for video and audio files; Multi-track audio and subtitles are supported; and include audio control widget for audio headsets control;
As open source free software, this cross-platform video player supports almost any formats you throw into it. It works well for desktop these years, and this beta version for Android actually needs improvement somehow. Performance improvements are missing; hardware decoding only for limited set of hardware, etc. Some users report that audio service runs in ram after closing it.

Android Video Player

Well, this is the first edition of Android Video Player, and improvements are to be shown in the near future. Currently, some users say it won’t support avi video format.

There are many other video players such as BBC Media Player, but most users are complaining about its video quality. The fact is, each video player could have some flaws that need to be solved, maybe you can just find out the one suitable for you or your preferences. Players are to be updated in this article, you can download video player from Google Play.

Best Tips to Smooth YouTube Playback without Lengthy Buffering

As the world’s most popular video sharing website as well as U.S. teens’top choice for listening music, the huge amount of video content on YouTube leads the global trend at an explosive speed while stream buffering makes videos viewing unsuitable for its spread pace. There are some best tips to smooth YouTube playback without too much boring waiting.

Premise: your computer should be in a normal condition and well-connected to the network, which means you can watch YouTube videos but maybe with slow loading.

1. YouTube “Feather” beta: it enables YouTube faster speed for video viewing, but just for some videos currently as it is still in progress. As it is intended to serve YouTube video watch pages with the lowest latency possible, it causes severe loss in the features available: expanding share boxes, collapsible comments, and a long list of related videos on the side of the page. And the simplified layout would be: first few comments as fixed text on the page; only offers thumbs up/down, flag buttons; “related videos” shows in 5 items; etc. By reducing the bytes downloaded by the browser, loading time shortens. LOL, the ads are still on.

2. YouTube HTML5 Video Player: most videos’ playback would be realized by HTML5 player instead of flash player if you are using a supported browser (Firefox4, Google Chrome, Opera 10.6+, Safari, IE 6,7,8,9).

 

3. Change your DNS servers.

• Go Windows Start button, and run Control Panel.
• Click on Network and Sharing Center.
• Select Manage network connections.
• Double click on active internet connection, probably named as Local Area Connection.
• Click Properties.
• Now double click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), located in middle form.
• Select Use the following DNS server addressed, and change them to:

Preferred DNS Server: 208.67.222.222
Alternate DNS Server: 208.67.222.220

Updated on 10.06.2010: If you are located in Europe, I would recommend you to use Google’s public DNS servers:

Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

• Click OK to confirm changes to Open DNS servers.

4. Additionally, to those who only listen to music and care less about the MV video, you can try Fav Tube maybe. Since no video is loading, speed will be faster. Of course, there are lots of other tools.

5. Little tricks: maybe you can just watch to watch the later part of the video, just drag the play bar to the point you want to start, it will start buffering from there. Or if it still won’t work after all these are done, you may just download the YouTube video for enjoyment. Or check out your internet condition!

Without the boresome waiting and waiting, you can now smooth your YouTube videos playback. Have a try! May there be some other better ones? Leave a comment to let me know. (The 4th method is from: fixexe, thanks)

Observe iPhone 5 in Video Shooting and Video Viewing

Disappointed to many apple fans, iPhone 5 was defined as an evolution rather than an expecting revolution. If you allow me, superficially, the most outstanding new feature goes to the lengthened screen (and the thinnest iPhone). However, when you take a close at the screen, you’ll notice that it may indeed become one of the improved traits.

1. Video Shooting in iPhone
iPhone 5 camera definitely could be regarded as an impressive camera among phones. Compared with the previous iPhones, the iSight camera still remains to be 8-megapixel, but with a new sapphire-crystal lens, enhanced feature in dynamic low-lighting adjustment, image stabilization on the 1080P video camera, and photo shots (screen captures of the video) while shooting video.

With these improved features, shooting videos with iPhone 5 will be nice to experience as shown in the 2 most excellent traits.

• Image stabilization: video clips shot while in moving situations can be impressive instead of jerky and jumpy, which makes video quality terrible. Though not as perfect as dedicated/professional video camera, slower motions are definitely smoothed out.  
• Panorama mode at a fast speed: this new feature could be get by freely updating iPhone 4S. Ultra-wide shots by slowly moving the iPhone camera from left to right while in portrait mode, all 360 degrees could be included in your pan. And the faster processing chip in iPhone 5 makes the camera opens 40% quicker and responds swiftly.

2. Video Viewing in iPhone 5
As many of us have known that YouTube app is excluded in iPhone 5 as a built-in app, which means even with a half-inch larger screen, the previously built-in YouTube app is no longer available. However there are still various ways to watch videos through YouTube on iPhone 5.

Users can download the YouTube app which is developed by YouTube from app Store. This offers better experience than viewing through browser. Tap the App Store and Select search in which entering “YouTube” to install the YouTube app.
The newly released App by YouTube, (one day earlier before iPhone unveiled), provides with better sharing to social media, channel support, but it lacks uploading function. Besides, the taller screen seems to make the video size unsuitable for there is black boxes above and below on the iPhone 5 4-inch screen.

Another way to watch videos through YouTube on iPhone 5 is through mobile Safari. Visit m.youtube.com for video viewing on iPhone 5, though slower in speed and lower in quality, could be nice after all.

Compatible with both iPhone 5 and iPad, YouTube app Jasmine is the best option for you, and even could be better than what Google was offering until now, which could not go with iPad. Functions as search/browse for videos, access your playlists, viewing history, favorite videos, and subscriptions can all be realized in this app. What’s more, you can also toggle between night/day mode easily, and control appearance, video playback, and parental controls among many other settings.

The YouTube app by YouTube and the mobile Safari won’t allow uploading/sharing videos to YouTube, but uploading through the built-in Photos app and iMovie app is still available.

With the enhanced camera, you can catch better motion videos of your daily life, edit and then upload through iMovie and watch the videos through YouTube app. After all, from the video point of view, iPhone 5 does get evolved to some extent, or does it? 

BBC Media Player for Android Devices

The “fast-changing environment” of mobile development has been well proved by the retreat of Adobe Flash from Android Mobile and the governing of HTML5, and BBC iPlayer’s permission for downloading as well.

Yet,Flash is still the best choice of media format to use, when taken so many factors into consideration: supports JellyBean and as well as earlier Android OS version like Gingerbread and FroYo; goes well with both websites and Android applications.

Thus, the BBC is launching a new media player for its iPlayer streaming app on Android powered devices: phones and tablets. In fact, BBC has supported iPlayer on Android since 2010 till its decision of removing the flash player plugin for Android.

The new media player is named BBC Media Player, which is already available on Google Play. BBC Media Player applies Adobe Flash’s “cousin” Adobe Air for streaming radio and video playback on Android devices.

“We want people to have the best experience possible when they're watching BBC TV programmes or listening to BBC radio programmes. This means, amongst other things, making them available on as many devices as is practical,” said Chris Yanda, executive product manager at BBC Future Media.

Facing the challenges of making services available across Android platforms as well as IOS, many broadcasters are trying to make that possible. BSkyB launched its Sky Go app for Android in January 2012 (8 months after its IOS version.)

Though many give priority to IOS platform, Android OS is quite a promising market as UK smartphone sales share in the 12 weeks to 10 June shows that: Android took 57.2% while iPhone accounted for a much less amount of 25.6.

"No technology is perfect. We've seen some of the challenges that other Adobe Air based apps have had in the marketplace and so we have worked hard, both internally and with our technology partners to build the best application we can," Yanda said. 

Best Halloween Movies for the Night and on DVD/BD

With the mystical Halloween drawing near, the Halloween night starts to gather increasing attention from abroad. As a day of horning the dead, mixed with excitement, horrible things may happen, among which this year's exclusive one would make it more special than ever-the cinema scare classic John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN will be put on big screen again about 35 years later for this Halloween 2012!

This nationwide release begins on October 25th and ends on October 31 night with select showings. It certainly is the widest distribution since originally shocking audiences in 1978 (older than many of us, maybe). Of course, it appears with brand new look as in HD transfer and 5.1 audio for better viewing experience.

The short entitled exclusive documentary "You can't kill the bogeyman: 35 years of Halloween" will also be included in Screen vision's current presentation.

This is absolutely breaking news for honor movie fans, and for those who never had a chance of viewing Michael Myers in theaters for its first run. Such re-release also serves as a nice kick off for its next new movie next autumn.

Participating theaters included many cities and places with more and more updated and added into the list (check it out for the latest updates). Don't know what to watch for the coming holy night? HALLOWEEN will be a killer choice I suppose.

For DVD/BD collectors (updated):
Halloween (1978): DVD released on August 14, 2007.
Halloween 2 (1981): DVD/BD released on September 18, 2001.
Halloween 3 (1982): DVD on October 7, 2003.
Halloween 4/5: BD released on August 21, 2012. Besides, you can also watch these two on Hulu online, for free. Or you would like to get Halloween movies on your portable devices like iPad for enjoyment, with some cool tool on Halloween Special Offer which will last from October 31st to November 10th.

If your town is excluded in the participating theaters, probably the DVD/BD for home theater would also be perfect for the night. Below is a tease trailer for the re-lease, let's take the adventure "in advance".(ATTENTION: if you are afraid or not suitable for this HORROR movie, do NOT click it):

Other Articles about Holidays:

Family Movies 2012 on DVD for Family Weekend Night 
Great Videos for 2012 Thanksgiving Day
Classic Movies and New Movies for Christmas 2012
Best DVD Movies on Sale for Black Friday and Christmas Gifts

Prometheus Leads Fox's Digital HD for the Latest Movies through New Streaming Access before Discs

Want to reach the latest blockbuster weeks earlier before DVD and Blu-ray copies available? As announced earlier this month, 20th Century Fox would make it possible by offering users support for streaming movies services-selling HD digital copies of movies, either stream or download the movies. As a matter of fact, the sci-fiction movie "Prometheus" leads the trend, which is already on the shelve for downloading while the disc version won't come out until Oct. 11th.

Such new access for latest movies services work through iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Cinema Now, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox Live and YouTube as well. It is named as "Digital HD", which provides movie addicts better offer: earlier release at lower cost of similar quality, even with Cloud storage as well as multiple devices supported. Prometheus just appears as an excellent example when you can get it now for $15 (DVD for $29.9 while BD for 39.9 on October 11). As Mary Daily(President of Worldwide Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) put it: "Over time, DIGITAL HD will embody the benefits of HD quality and the ultimate all-access pass to the best in entertainment".

Actually Fox took efforts to promote its discs over the past few years, while this transition to stream access for movies indicates that digital will rules the future pictures, it's the coming of medium time (as Mike Dunn-worldwide president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment believed).

According to Fox, the New Digital HD for the Latest Movies through Streaming Access before Discs is available around 50 countries and more. With the alien Prometheus as initiative Digital HD, 600 movies including Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, The Watch, among others, will soon be shown on the above retailers such as Amazon, iTunes, etc.

Free VLC Player: Why do We Choose VLC?

Viewing movies on computers for enjoyment sometimes can be annoying when your video player software doesn’t go well with the video files. The ideal video player we’re dreaming of is like this: compatible with all OS and formats, user-friendly interface, safe and free will be even better.

The free and open-source VLC media player which can also be a streaming server becomes many people’s best choice for watching videos online over the past years. Why do we choose VLC player?

Multi-platforms supported
As a cross-platform media player, VLC runs well in many operation systems: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, BSD, Solaris, iOS, Syllable, BeOS, MorphOS, QNX and eComStation

Any media file formats supported
Comparing with other video player, VLC stands out in this point when it supports almost every commonly-used media formats. Meanwhile, playback for some obscure or rarely-used formats can also be done.

Optional interfaces
VLC has a remote control interface and an ncurses interface. It allows custom selection of skins as it supports Winamp 2 and XMMS skins.

Transcoding
With a built-in transcoding tool, the media you throw into it can be output in form of another format.

Interesting video effects
It will be full of fun to add effects to the videos you are watching according to your own preference, just like an editing tool. Additionally, watermark such as text or image can be inserted into the video. Another interesting feature should be the puzzle game mode you can get with VLC.

Open-source and free, as such a powerful media player would be; VLC undoubtedly will be favored by many. In fact, VLC is not just for PC use, but also for portable devices playback as the Android VLC version is released on July 2nd this year for your Android Smartphone. VLC was available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch from the Apple AppStore, but was pulled due to a licensing conflict between the GPL and the iTunes Store agreement.

Rumor or Fact: New iPod Nano Copies Old OPPO MP4?

Just as each i-device from Apple makes waves, iPod Nano also may lead to a new patent battle wave after its release. Some say the new iPod Nano somehow looks like Nokia Lumia Smartphone or the Samsung MP3 player. With some seemingly solid and visible evidence, more people tend to suspect that iPod Nano has copied an old version S33 of OPPO MP4 player.

Just as shown in the above picture, the newly-released iPod Nano is designed in a thinner body and with a 2.5 inch display screen. The upper one is an MP4 player S33 from OPPO launched in 2009 while the other one turns to be the newest iPod Nano which was just introduced lately. From the images, obvious similarities cannot be ignored: they are both designed in rectangular design with the home button at the central bottom and a built-in accelerometer.

Actually, OPPO S33 has successfully applied for the appearance patent for its product of this version back to 3 years ago. It’s still unknown if OPPO will sue Apple or not. Is this a fact or just a rumor?

Background information:
OPPO-OPPO Electronics Corp., Ltd is an electronics manufacturer based in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. Its major product lines include MP3 players, Portable Media players, LCD-TV, eBook, DVD/Blu-ray Disc players and low cost mobile phones. (From Wikipedia)

E.T. 's Back Home: One-night Only in Theaters and the First-time on Blu-ray in October

Do you still remember the little boy and his younger sister as well as the “unhandsome alien” in E.T.-Steven Spielberg’s movie “The Extra-Terrestrial”? Well, the previously-announced 30th Anniversary earlier this year is soon coming, which means E.T. would finally come to BD version, all the years after released in DVD by the year of 2002. And before that, exciting news for E.T. fans, this classic will hit the theaters once more for one night only! The dates go to October 3rd and 9th respectively.

E.T. the abbreviation for the Extra-Terrestrial is a movie made in 1982, older than many of us. As an Academy Award-winning director winning movie and Nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1982, it is generally regarded as Steven Spielberg’s magic adventure for children.

The soon-coming first-ever BD version for E.T. is greatly improved in quality as in 6 times the resolution of DVD, and with 7.1 surround sound. The Anniversary edition Blu-ray combo pack includes the 1982 theatrical movie, an all-new interview with Steven Spielberg (in which he will talk about his view of E.T.), Ultra Violet, a DVD and a Digital Copy. The included “The E.T. Journals” reveals an hour of unprecedented footage from the set of the movie-the behind-the scenes footage. Besides, you will get the original theatrical trailer and witness the two deleted scenes from 2002 version of the film. Well, there are even more to expect for!

TCM Presents ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’ 30th Anniversary Event” will take place Wednesday, October 3 at 7:00 p.m. local time, with special matinee screenings in select theaters at 2:00 p.m. local time.(quoted)

 

As the most successful blockbuster of its age, E.T. still remains in the 9th place in American's movies with Avatar and Titanic lead the list.

E.T. , welcome home!

Best Free Options for DVD Playback in Windows 8: VLC Media Player

As is already not news, DVD playback is not supported in Windows 8 by default since it contains no pre-installed Windows Media Center in it. Some users find it annoying since sometimes there is need of DVD viewing. The officially recommended solution to this calls for updates of Windows 8 Pro pack, to get the Windows Media Center, which enables DVD playback. (As shown below)

I would rather not pay to get the Windows 8 pro pack just for DVD playback through Media Center while Windows Media Player is still not compatible with DVD. Here collects some awesome video players that can solve this problem completely and freely.

1. VLC Media Player (highly recommended)

This “play-anything” video player invented by VideoLAN (non-profit organization) costs users nothing to play videos of almost any formats, DVD files included. Additionally, this free open-source video player software runs on all platforms, with Windows 8 on its list.

2. Free version of RealPlayer



As probably the world’s most widely used media player, RealPlayer allows media playback for almost any formats. It plays more file formats than Windows Media Player as announced on its official website homepage.(FYI)


3. KMPlayer

Maybe this one is not as well-known as the above two, yet it definitely is a brilliant free media player which supports various formats (including DVD), languages, skins, etc. This powerful media player, with its own internal Codec, internal or external, enables you to modify your environment to a convenient multi-media format by using KMP.(FYI)

There are many other free options to play DVD in Windows 8 PC, such as SMPlayer (with MPlayer as its playback engine and its own codecs without codec packs installment which save you much trouble), etc.

In spite of the media player as options for DVD playback in Windows 8, you can probably try other methods as well. DVD rippers to get the DVD videos in other formats for playback would be another way, I suppose. After all, it seems that Microsoft tried to strip the DVD playback function for consumers’ sake of reducing fees as has done of the opposite, I’m afraid.

DVD Playback is not Supported in Windows 8 Without Built-in WMC

Without the built-in Windows Media Center, playback of DVDs encoded using the most widely-used MPEG-2 video format and Dolby audio format would not be supported in Windows 8. Nor can users burn DVDs directly, unless you pay for Windows Media Center, which is only available on the updated Windows 8 Pro version. Or maybe you can get it solved by some 3rd party software.

And from Windows 8 to the Pro version, Windows 8 Pro Pack is indispensable. In the Building Windows 8 blog, Steven Sinofsky wrote" Based on the above discussion, it should be clear that we cannot enable DVD playback all the time in Windows Media Player. Given the ongoing feedback to avoid feature overlap and to avoid the complexity of behavior changing for a previously installed component, we only enable DVD playback in Media Center once it is installed. "

One of the reasons for such remove of DVD playback function from its previous versions with pre-installed Windows Media Center is mainly because of the vastly decreasing usage in PC TV and DVD playback these years. Slim and portable tablets (with no DVD drive) even could be viewed as the substitution of PC, and streaming media online (Netflix, YouTube, etc.), the changing consuming direction and pattern, leads to the declining of DVDs.

For another reason, as pre-installed software for DVD playback costs, while many PCs would not ever contain an optical DVD drive as is commonly-seen in recent PCs. However, such PC Windows still carries the cost. This is somehow for consumer’s sake.

The future video supporting mainly goes to streaming online (Netflix, YouTube, etc.) playback.

However, Cyberlink would provide consumers with software for DVDs which may probably pre-installed on Windows 8. In fact, there are many other choices of DVD tool. Does this bother you if upgrading to the Windows 8?

Related Articles:

Windows 7 to Windows 8:No DVD Playback and More 
Best Free Options for DVD Playback in Windows 8: VLC Media Player

Is it Legal to Duplicate DVDs in Britain and in Other Countries?

To copy or rip DVD content to other formats as used in portable device or hard drive, which many people may have done several times, is regarded technically illegal as copyright infringement. But globally, some countries either explicitly allow it in certain circumstances or don’t forbid it.

Back to August 2nd 2011, news from Reuters reported that the British government will announce on Aug. 3rd about its plans to legalize the copying of CDs and DVDs onto computers or portable media players, but of course, just for personal use-key words that definitely could not be ignored. But then if you web search it you’ll discover that making private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner’s consent is currently illegal while the UK government’s new Digital Economy Act is likely to make copying CDs for personal use legal. The number of British who vote legal for CD ripping reaches 59% and 55% of them did this.

But in fact, such report outlawing the ripping of CD and DVDs has been scrapped by the government on Aug. 3rd, 2011.

In Australia and New Zealand, copy legally purchased music doesn’t breach the law if keeping to one’s own use and not distributing to others.

Then in the US, no certain rules explicit grant or deny a right of copying/ripping copyrighted DVDs to one’s own PC or portable devices.The Feds tried to legalize this action previously as well.

Well, as no countries actually precisely define private copy/ripping of CD/DVDs illegal, such issue hangs on air all these years. I suppose this is largely because copyright laws, the government and the copyright holders place much more attention on CD/DVD/BD pirating business for commercial purposes. That probably means that it’s OK to get backup content but keep it to your own.

Windows 8: the Built-in Flash Player Leads to Zero-day Attack

What’s the Operation System your computer runs now? Win XP, Vista, Win 7 or probably Windows 8? Microsoft’s every step is accompanied with great influences and changes. Although Windows 8 won’t be officially released until October 26th, RTM version has been applied by some enterprises to the daily work.

This time, Microsoft adds Adobe Flash Player to its IE10 browser as a default component rather than a third party plugin. One of the reasons for Windows 8 still contains the built-in Adobe flash player is that HTML seems not so stable in the market for the moment, since flash player gave up the Android mobile market.But the built-in touch-friendly adobe flash player in browser IE10 can only get upgrades delivered by Microsoft. On August 21st, Adobe has launched updates for 0-day attack, but still leaving the early users in danger of 0-day as the Firefox being patched while embedded version in Internet Explorer not.

"If you're using Internet Explorer 10 on any version of Windows 8, including the RTM bits available via MSDN or TechNet and the enterprise preview, you are at risk." warned Ed Bott on ZDNet. Right now, Operation Systems such as Windows7, Vista, XP, Linux, etc. can get patched through security updates.

Lessons drawn from Apple’s previous mistakes when built-in Java in Mac devices’ failing in updates bringing up the crazy spread of Flashback virus, should be a warning for Adobe and Microsoft’s Win 8. It is said that a security update will come through Windows Update in the GA timeframe- the target date of October 26 when Windows 8 will go on sale.

Before the problem being solved, users could pick Chrome, Firefox etc. as alternatives. Or disable the built-in Flash Player temporarily.Will flash lives in IE 10 of Windows 8?

DVD Ripping/Copying: Feds Considering Allowing DVD-Decoding Legal

When it comes to the issue of copyrights of DVDs, I encountered a saying someone commented online which goes like this: we still need locks for our doors when everyone on the planet has a key. Is it OK for people who purchased a DVD to get a backup copy by some encryption cracking tool? Is it illegal by the way?

To most people, personal use of ripping one’s purchased DVDs are considered just “OK”, which still goes against the law, as a matter of fact. Earlier this year, RealNetworks’ DVD-copying software is unlawful to be barred from distribution permanently according to Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

Yet, at UCLA Law School, Federal regulators considered testimony on whether to allow citizens and filmmakers to crack DVD encryption legally. Filmmakers, video mixers and others PETITIONED to the U.S Copyright Office for the ability of DVD copying. The center point is not about the legitimacy of using the copyright protected movies, but about the decoding tools. For legal use of DVD ripping/copying without breaching DMCA seems impossible since it won’t allow that.

The general counsel of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, Clarissa Weirick, is side against all the decryption measures, which he said would bring up to large-scaled pirating copies. Warner Brothers headed to digital cloud to persuaded users away from pirated copies of DVDs. However, this method would be annoying since users have to drive to get the digital copy (which costs) with the DVD he just brought.
Supporters of not allowing encryption announced that users do not have the right to get movies ripped/copied, for they just brought the DVDs for playing but not the copyright of the movies. Besides, streaming movies online are available.

What Warner Brothers worried about did matter to some extent; just think about music CDs which are not protected from copied. Why not the DVDs then? Regulators are not expected to make any approvals until later this year, at a date not yet disclosed. Would this prevent/accelerate DVDs' vanishment because of BD and streaming?

Some also make joke like: if I buy a corn or other plants, I do not eat it as food, but I plant it and harvest. Do I have the right to sell them or just keep to myself for food? Or even could I plant it? What do you say?

Most Expected Vampire Movie in 2012: Breaking Dawn-Part 2, Bella the Vampire

So long a time for audience to wait before the release of the upcoming vampire movie- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2. Finally, it will be shown about 2 months later on November 16th. As vampire movie fans, I’m starting to expect the DVD’s coming already to complete my Twilight collection. Before that, let’s see what to anticipate in the second part.

Just as its two former ones, the Final Episode, the 3 main cast members-Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner reprise their roles. The biggest difference is that Bella has turned into a vampire and their little daughter Renesmee is growing up.

The main plot: Bella, being a new vampire, somehow enjoyed her new life after giving birth to her daughter Renesmee. She also feels excited about the abilities that bring up to her. Meanwhile, their happy family life is threatened by Volturi once again since the vampire Irina misidentifies Renesmee as an uncontrollable “immortal child” who would challenge the power and existence of the Volturi family. On Irina’s presentations, Volturi decided to destroy Tenesmee and the Cullens. The Cullens gather other vampires to justify Renesmee not an “immortal child”, yet she could probably endanger the vampires. A 150-year-old vampire-human crossbreed Mapuche named Nahuel proved that the child would do no harm to vampires. Volturi left Bella, Edward and Renesmee in peace.

To me, the most expected part would be Bella’s transition as a vampire- tackling a cougar, diving off a massive cliff, executing an impressive high kick, as well as the little child Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy).

Below is the the official trailer of the final “Twilight” movie. What follows in the new trailer is loads of vampire-on-vampire action, including one shot of Edward swinging a kicking Bella at one of the villainous vampires in the Volturi. The latest trailer for "Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," which premiered at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards this evening fully display Bella the vampire's strength.

iPlayer-BBC iPlayer Offline Playback: Making the Unmissable, Unmissable on iPhone!

From “Catch up on the last 7 days of BBC TV & Radio” to "Making the unmissable, unmissable", then all the way to “recommendations feature” and “social makeover”, the internet television, radio service and software application, iPlayer (BBC iPlayer), provides users some more astonishing service: offline/downloaded viewing this time.

The BBC has launched a new download feature which allows people to save programs from iPlayer on to their portable devices-cell phone, tablet for later viewing without the limitations of network/internet connection. This would be great for people who have no time for the shows or spend time somewhere there’s no Wi-Fi or spotty signal. Or bring it to your holiday travelling to have fun. As Daniel Danker, the BBC's general manager of on-demand programmes, put it: "This fundamentally changes one of the most annoying restrictions about viewing programmes. It means audiences are liberated from the constraints [of online-only viewing] and it fundamentally changes what it means to go on holiday."

Back to its earliest period, due to copyright reasons, iPlayer only allowed videos/programs available for a week time (with some exceptions). Then specific applications for mobile platforms launched in February 2011, mainly for iOS and Android devices.

Now, the BBC is about to release such an app for storing downloaded content from iPlayer for offline viewing-which makes it really means it-making unmissable, unmissable. The specifications is that: users can download the videos before its 7-day duration online, store it for 30 days, and you have to finish it in also 7 days once you start viewing.

Such feature in now available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch for the moment, later this year will Android devices be available then.

Comments:some people announced that actually this download feature for mobile is not BBC's first time: about 3 or 4 years earlier some had downloaded from iPlayer with their mobiles such as Nokia 5800 or Nokia N95. Just the first time for iPhone? So what do you say? 

DVD Movies: why are DVDs still Favored by Many?

Were you a DVD collector or addicter yourself, would you understand why DVD means so much to these people. Especially in such a downloadable world, within the online streaming risen period, physical disc for movies shrinks year by year, which makes DVD’s existence needless as it seems to be. DVDs still makes sense to many people.

 For every individual, there must be a certain movie that worth viewing times after times, digesting and enjoying. With the DVD disc copy of the movies, you can watch it in your living room in a nostalgic afternoon whenever you want, I suppose, with better quality that probably won’t be fulfilled online (when network does not support, or when rental service of certain movies is not available), at least for the moment before image and sound fidelity of streaming surpass physical discs especially to DVD’s brother Blu-ray, which may probably happen years later. Well, the fact is: big online retailers as iTunes and Amazon are already providing with high-definition movies, but chances are that there’s always a time when they do not provide some kinds of movies you want.

Besides, to those who really love movies, they would also dig into the background information of the movies, the valued behind-the-stage details such as: some deleted scenes, alternative endings, director commentary and even interviews of the cast. All these mentioned above mostly could only be found in DVD extras while streaming rentals provide none generally. The information would not only help you understand the story better but also blow it to the peak of enjoyment-sometimes, the extras enhanced the movie itself.

In addition, DVD movies enjoyment would be enlarged when you share with your beloved friends; you can either lending them the DVDs or sending them as a gift. It would be funny when your friends surprisingly explained that “I didn’t even think of such a totally-different ending”.

After all, you can just buy from DVD shops insert the DVD The Dark Knight Rises for enjoyment, instead of other annoying doing. This recalls me of e-book somehow. I wonder when e-book would take the place of books we use today. Or would it? As they’ve stay harmony for so quite some time till now.

Paralympics 2012: how to Watch the Less-Concerned Games?

The summer of 2012 is destined to be the time of global athletes. Just after the Olympic Games, Paralympics kicked off on August 29th, (if you missed, check out the Opening Ceremony) and will run through September 9th. If you are interested in watching your favorite sports or athlete, you can watch it live on YouTube.

Since watching on your set of the Live TV coverage of 2012 Paralympics is impossible, as the Olympic was already late and frustrating for its US audience just earlier this summer. And NBC is airing just a few hours of highlights.YouTube live is your top choice.

Sports fans can watch all the events on the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel, where 500 hours of live competitions accompanied by a real-time commenting would be provided, for audience in US and Canada. For other viewers globally, 1,000-hour time of reviews, interviews, etc. would be perfect for you.

Besides, Paralympics 2012 website’s live video stream for the competition is also available. Or you can check what’s coming up for the day from the Official website as well.

As a matter of fact, the Paralympics were barely covered by major media in the past years. However, this year’s changes of covering this event in much non-existent ways bring up astonishing results: the audience times 3 of 2008 Olympics featuring the Coldplay and Queen.

Just like what Rachael Latham (former Paralympian) said,only when chances are provided for them trying to know and to understand, would people care for the Paralympics.

About Paralympics: (Paralympics is referred to the combination of “paraplegic” and “Olympic”)
Started in 1948, Paralympics are about trials and triumphs of the athletes, the first group of whom is veterans with spinal injuries survived the WWII. IPC-International Paralympic Committee is the global body of the Paralympic movement. Similar with Olympics, there are also summer and winter Paralympics. It’s the greatest event for world class athletes with a disability.