UseCenter

With DVD players in every household, a lot of folks would like to be able to copy, backup, author or shrink DVDs. Do you know which software is appropriate for each task? The answers are here.

1. Pocket DVD Wizard
http://www.deprice.com/pocketdvdwizard.htm

The Pocket DVD Wizard allows you to make backup copies of your personal DVDs, Mpeg, Avi and DivX® video and then play them on your Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Portable Media Center. Imagine the possibilities! You can now record your favourite TV program with your DVD recorder and transfer it to your Pocket PC, then watch it later in the office, or on the beach!

2. dvdSanta
http://www.deprice.com/dvdsanta2.htm

dvdSanta is an All-in-One software that lets you copy, create, convert and burn your DVD movies. It can copy 9GB double layer DVD movies into a 4.7GB DVD-R disc, can turn your photos into DVD movies with Hollywood style motion effects, can convert other video formats (avi, wmv, vob, asf, DivX, Mpeg,…) into DVD video, can transfer miniDV camcorder tapes directly to DVD video.

3. DVD Region+CSS Free
http://www.deprice.com/dvdregioncssfree.htm

DVD Region+CSS Free enables you to watch and copy any region-coded/CSS-encrypted DVD movies on any DVD drive! It fully supports region-protected (RPC2) DVD drives, and does not require any firmware modifications. It will even work if you have used up your region counter and can no longer change the DVD drive’s region.

4. WinAVI Video Converter
http://www.deprice.com/winavivc.htm

WinAVI Video Converter is a nice tool for converting video clips to an assortment of formats. The attractive, modern interface features large, clearly labeled icons, so you won’t have to dig through the menus very often. You can convert a variety of file types to WMV, AVI, MPEG, and RM. Other notable pluses include a built-in DVD-burning utility, a batch-conversion tool, and a preview pane.

5. DVDFab Express
http://www.deprice.com/dvdfabexpress.htm

DVDFab Express is simply the easiest way to copy a DVD movie. Just insert the movie and a blank DVD then press Start. Your entire movie – including menus, trailers and special features – is copied to a single DVD with just one click, and everything happens automatically.

About the Author

David D. Deprice has honest, no BS, tell it like it is DVD software reviews posted at http://www.deprice.com/multimedia.htm

The issue of driving and cell phones has become a prominent one. In the states of New York, New Jersey and D.C. as well as in the province of Newfoundland, cell phone use while driving has been banned. Do you think this is a good idea or not? Is cellular phone use any more of a danger than eating or smoking while driving? Both mobile phone users and non-users have a wide variety of opinion on this matter. If you use a wireless phone, keep in mind that cellular phone providers can offer you cell phone accessories that eliminate the major reasons why wireless phone use while driving is considered to be dangerous.
The busy person who spends a lot of time traveling (for example, a salesperson) often has a valid reason for needing to use a cell phone while in transit. You may simply be spending much more time on the road than in the office. Hands-free headsets are an excellent way of safely using a mobile phone while traveling. Some wireless providers offer hands-free headsets as part of their mobile phone deals. These days you can obtain free cellular phones that offer voice recognition dialing. This makes it easy to program your telephone with important numbers and their associated names, and ensures that while driving you never need to even touch or look at your cell phone.
For the average person who simply carries a mobile telephone for safety reasons, extra cell phone accessories and features are not as necessary. It can be assumed that in the case of an emergency, such a user would pull off the road to use the mobile phone. If however, you are someone who is using their cellular phone for business, consulting with your wireless phone provider about the best cellular phone accessories for your needs is recommended.
This site offers an extensive list of companies that can provide you with free cell phone packages, cell phone accessories like hands-free headsets, and virtually any other cellular phone requirement you might have. Please take a look at them to find exactly what you need!

About the Author

©Copyright 2005. Caitlin Crosain is a successful writer and publisher of cell phone related information such as where to find the best Free Cellular Phones, Wireless Plans and mobile accessories and MP3 players.

The usual perception is that VoIP costs so little because most things are cheap on the World Wide Web. There’s fierce competition, and very low overheads etc. However you need to understand the history of the telecommunication companies and how they relate to computer networks, and the way data physically travels around the Internet. An appreciation of this is necessary to fully comprehend the riddle behind the VoIP vs. POTS pricing riddle.

Long before computer networks became important telcos were using digital communication. At the start the very first digital voice circuit was used in Chicago in 1962 although ARPANET, the predecessor to today’s Internet, wasn’t up and running until 1969. The telecommunication companies used these digital circuits to send lots of voice connections over long distances something that analogue circuits did not have the capacity to do and to this day still use them for this purpose.

Voice communication have several unique characteristics. For one thing, it’s inherently real-time. You’d get annoyed if phone calls consisted of long periods of silence followed by a burst of fast conversation to catch up with the conversation on the other end. To keep this from occurring digital voice circuits provide guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). Once a connection is made, you will always get all the bandwidth you need. It’s not just bandwidth though; jitter is also taken care of by using small, fixed sized data packets. Essentially these networks were specially designed for voice communication.

When computer networks began popping up in the late 1980s) the {telecommunication companies wanted in. They already had the infrastructure in place so they began looking at how they could send data over their existing phone lines. They came up with quite a few different technologies with different levels of success. But there was (and still is) a problem: data networks are essentially different from voice networks.

Data is sent in packets, which can arrive in any order sometime after they’re requested, without causing any issues. Internet Protocol (IP) was created to provide more efficient delivery. Telecommunication companies had an expensive network in place, so there was a lot of incentive to use it. After a few misses Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) was created as a compromise technology that could carry both voice and data. But in reality it’s much less efficient than a pure data network. The costs for data transfers on ATM is more than 10connection, compared to about one percent for an Ethernet running full-throttle.

“Dr. Fiore,” the voice on the phone pleaded, “I need anger management classes right away.
I blew up at my girlfriend last night and she said it’s over until
I get help.”

As Kevin recounted the first night of class, he and his girlfriend had argued in the car over which route to take home from a party. Events progressed from mild irritation, to yelling and name calling.

Things escalated at home. He tried to escape, but she followed him from room to room, demanding resolution of the conflict. He became angry, defensive and intimidating.

Frightened, she left. Later, she left an anguished message saying that she loved him, but couldn’t deal with his angry, hurtful outbursts.

Kevin said that he normally is a very “nice” and friendly person. But, on this occasion, his girlfriend had been drinking before the party. In his view, she was irrational, and non-stop in criticism. He tried to reason with her, but it just made things worse.
Finally, as Kevin saw things, in desperation he “lost it” and became enraged.

How should Kevin have handled this situation? What could he have done differently? What actions should you take in similar situations?

Option 1: Time-out
Take a 20 minute time-out (but commit to returning later to work on the issue). Take a walk. Calm yourself down. Breath deeply. Meditate. Do something else for awhile.
New research by John Gottman, Ph.D., at the University of Washington indicates that when you and your partner argue, your pulse rate goes above 100 beats per minute, and you enter a physiological state called DPA (diffuse physiological arousal). Once there, it becomes nearly impossible to solve the problem. You lose perspective. Your reasoning ability, memory, and judgment, greatly decline.

Taking a time-out allows both of you to return to your normal state of mind.

It is neither healthy or necessary for you to explode as a result of being provoked by your partner. Our recommendation: Turn the heat down rather than intensifying the pressure.

Option 2: Interact differently
Many couples like Keith and his partner develop patterns of behavior that create miscommunication and conflict. Do you interact in one, or more, of these ways?
Inattention – simply ignoring your partner when you shouldn’t. This is also called stonewalling, or being emotionally unavailable when your partner needs you, or not speaking to your partner for long periods because you are upset with them.

Intimidation – engaging in behavior intended to make your partner do things out of fear. This includes yelling, screaming, threatening, and posturing in a threatening way.

Manipulation – doing or saying things to influence your partner, for your benefit, instead of theirs.

Hostility – using sarcasm, put-downs, and antagonistic remarks. Extreme or prolonged hostility leads to contempt – a major predictor of divorce.

Vengeance – the need to “get even” with your partner for a grievance you have against them. Many dysfunctional couples “keep score,” and are constantly trying to “pay back” each other for offenses.

Criticism – involves attacking someone’s personality or character, rather than a specific behavior, often coupled with blame. Like contempt, criticism is a second major predictor of divorce.

Option 3. Positive interactions
Start by actually listening not only to what your partners says, but what he or she means. Partners in conflict are not listening to understand; rather, they listen with their answer running because they are defensive. Unfortunately, defensiveness is another predictor of divorce.

Stick to the issue at hand. Seems obvious but is very hard to do in the heat of battle. Focus and stay in the present.

Learn to forgive. Research by Peter Larson, Ph.D., at the Smalley Relationship Center, suggests a huge relationship between marriage satisfaction and forgiveness. As much as one-third of marriage satisfaction is related to forgiveness!

Communicate your feelings and needs. Tell your partner how you feel about what they do, instead of accusing them of deliberately offensive behavior. Use “I” statements rather than accusatory, or “you,” statements. Learn to communicate unmet needs so that your partner can better understand and respond to you. For instance, If you are feeling fear, it may be your need for emotional safety and security that is not being met; communcating this is far more effective than lashing out at your partner in an angry tirade.

About the Author

Dr. Tony Fiore is a clinical psychologist and anger management trainer and facilitator in Southern California. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter “Taming The Anger Bee” at http://www.angercoach.com

Amara
Flash Menu Maker is a new software package that makes it
easy for users to create animated Flash buttons and menus for
websites. Amara Flash Menu Maker provides offline creation of
impressive and professional Flash buttons and entire navigation
menus, including sub-menus.

Amara
Flash Menu Maker offers exceptional Flash buttons with
animated effects. Users can create their personalized buttons
and menus by simply changing the settings of the templates, such
as colors, text, sound effects, hyperlinks and company slogan,
and the buttons can easily be made to match the style and color
scheme of any website. Users’ settings are automatically saved
in Amara Flash Menu Maker and the updating of a design is
simple. About 99% of web users worldwide are able to view Flash
elements nowadays. Although more and more websites use Flash,
still very few people know how to create Flash animations. Amara
Flash Menu Maker will help people who want to make an impact
with their website to draw and impress visitors. Users don’t
need any programming, design or Flash skills to be able to
create a website menu with Amara Flash Menu Maker

Amara
Flash Menu Maker is compatible with all HTML editors and
Macromedia Flash, so it’s easy to incorporate the buttons into
websites or Flash projects. File sizes are kept extremely low,
just 7 to 9KB for an entire navigation menu including
sub-menus.

These are some of Amara Flash Menu Maker’s unique features:

1) Button size adjusts automatically to length of text.

2) Menu bar can be made scrollable, i.e. an unlimited number of
buttons can be used in the menu or sub-menu.

3) Background music.

4) Mouse-over and mouse-down sound effects.

5) Background picture.

6) Many profesional button designs available.

7) Extra feature to add a company slogan to the menu.

Small file sizes.

Amara
Flash Menu Maker is a shareware program, so anyone can first
try out the free shareware version before deciding to buy it.
The free, unregistered version can be downloaded for free from
the Amara
Software website, and is fully functional, with the
exception of URL links in the buttons.

To get the registered version with full hyperlink functionality,
users should buy Amara Flash Menu Maker for just US$29.95 via
the secure payment service link on the Amara Software website.
Users who have bought Amara Flash Menu Maker will receive free
upgrades.More information about Amara Flash Menu Maker is
available on the website, where you can also see some working
examples of the Flash menus created with the program:
www.amarasoftware.com/flash-menu-builder.htm. For any other
questions, please e-mail the program’s creator at
amara@amarasoftware.com.

Amara Software is the
developer of no-nonsense Flash programs, making it easier for
people to create Flash elements for their website. Other Flash
programs by Amara Software are: Amara
Flash News Ticker
(www.amarasoftware.com/flash-news-ticker.htm) and Amara
Flash Photo Slide Show Builder
(http://www.amarasoftware.com/flash-slide-show.htm).

PHP has built in functions which allow it to open, copy, rename,
edit and delete files residing on the web server. This enables
files to be cached to decrease database queries and increase server performance.
Files can be edited very easily with PHP, useful for people on
the go without FTP information to their site or an FTP
application to access their website and something desperately
needs changed.

Every PHP application opens files and uses the information
stored within them to make the script run. A well designed site
that lets the admin edit their files from the admin area will
copy the file and back it up before any changes are made, to
insure restoration of the “working” file is possible. PHP also
has built in functions to CHMOD on Linux/Unix Operating Systems.

That’s why now you need to check out and pick up if you can have a money loan at a serious percent interest rate. It makes no difference if you live in Monroe Louisiana or in Bell Gardens California a fine online examination will redeem you often a lot trouble. Investigate to see if the merchant bank who wants to give you a credit loan is safe. 6.5 percent loan rate may appear so good but will that be uniform after you’re going to riposte your deferred payment. At this moment you can investigate rates quickly at websites and image if there are other sneaky conditions you should know about.

The Dutch translation says: Woon je in Teylingen of Winsum en heeft u BKR. Lenen met een BKR notering is nergens zo eenvoudig. Haal snel een nieuwe auto met bkr toetsing zonder geld lenen, 167734 euro is geen enkel probleem om te financieren. Van Oss tot Terschelling, geld lenen met zonder BKR is hier geen enkel probleem.

Be bright today to analyze if you have a great deal or if you don’t with the bank that offers you a bank loan. A moneylender in Arlington Heights Illinois or so may have a total completely different actual rate of interest for a 15000 dollar loan then a bank in Napa California and that makes a vast clear gap in your yearly pay backs. Many of the merchant banks wil show you a rate that is looking honorable but feels badly or so after a while.

You have done all the hard works for developing your website but when it comes selecting your host you may face trouble that it does not have all the features which is required by your site. It is important to do some research before choosing a right hosting solution.

A website is an important identity of yours and it is the responsibilities of the host make it visible at World Wide Web. Selecting the right solution for your business will provide greater impact on your business. before hiring any service i suggest you to do a research on web, discuss with hosting providers, take suggestions from other users after all there are quality service providers also exists. Just spending a portion of your time you can find the “Most Suitable Solution” that will match exactly as per your requirements.

Knowledge makes the difference: There are lots of myth spreads about choosing a solution from Dedicated hosting provider or a Hosting Reseller. Some advocates A Dedicated service provider for uninterrupted services and some advocates A reseller hosting who will be able to provide a better support and you can have one to one discussions. It is always better to choose a company who sells straight forward plans with dedicated support and have enough domain knowledge.

Instead it is more important to choose the right hosting package that your site requires. Rather than harvesting the net for gathering database of hosting companies select few good companies and ask them if they have the required features your site needs. Since there are so many hosting companies are around, its hard to find the right solution for your business. Some companies offers unlimited stuffs, but when you go to install a sql database or an htaccess file or require hosting a script which runs server side, you will find those are disabled on your package. Always check the specs before you buy any of the hosting services. Here are brief of following categories of sites which will help you to choose a right solution for your business.

>> If you are a beginner, just calculate your present requirement keeping in mind of any future up gradations. It is essential if in future you go for an interactive site or a dynamic site, your present host must have ability to upgrade the services without any hassles. You should choose a basic package and check the required features available for use. You can always upgrade to higher package in future. This way you can save much of your money and focus on enhancing your site.

>> If your site is a database driven and require custom or readymade script installations, You should check if the components required by site are preinstalled on the server. You can make a checklist and ask your hosting provider if they will be complying with all the requirements. Some companies also provide hosting with preinstalled scripts/software’s which you can install and start using in minutes without spending much time on developing and installing it. It is always advisable to check the complete features of the software’s, which meets your present requirements as well as have the latest version installed. You may choose an advance hosting plan and check the required features.

>> If your site is a high traffic one and required concurrent up gradations and installations of the scripts, you should go for a dedicated hosting service. It is always advisable to have a managed dedicated server with all the latest components installed with it. This will give you freedom to upgrade your site or application at any point of time, done by you only. Find out the reliable datacenters and checkout the server specs along with facilities provided by them. There are few datacenters which I can recommend are Rackspace, ThePlannet, Infinology and also you can check with EV1Servers too for some interesting offers.

Today, in North America, almost 70% of households have access to the Internet. It has evolved to the point where the Internet has become an integral element in the way business is conducted, and is shaping the way business will be conducted in the future. Most consumers these days research a product or service on the Internet before making their purchase. So, in this day and age, it could cost you not to have a website. Listed below are 5 reasons why you should employ an experienced web designer to construct a custom website for your small business.

Credibility & Identity Building
Like it or not, your potential customers are going to judge the quality of your products and/or services based on presentation and image. Therefore, an aesthetically pleasing web site will give you and your company more credibility in the eyes of you customers or clients.

Lower Your Expenses
Why spend thousands of dollars on static traditional media such as brochures? If there was ever a change in your business, such as an expansion or additional products/services, it would require printing all new corporate brochures. A web site is dynamic and can be changed or updated in a very cost effective manner. Best of all, your clients can access this information from anywhere in the world, without the delay of snail-mail. A properly constructed web site can also reduce the time that you and your employees spend answering redundant customer questions.

Complement Your Existing Marketing Efforts
Most people think of a web site as advertising. Unfortunately, they would be wrong – A web site is a medium which complements and enhances your existing marketing efforts. Your potential customers or clients can easily gain access to information that isn’t suitable to include in other traditional advertising mediums. In less than a decade, a web site will be just as common as having a listing in the Yellow Pages. What would your potential customers or clients think of your business if you didn’t have a web site?

Customer Service
A web site allows potential customers or clients to get to know more about your company, increasing the personal side of doing business. Your business will be open 24hrs per day, 365 days per year, and if someone has a question concerning your product or service, an answer is only an e-mail away. Some people may feel uncomfortable on the phone or in your office / store, and, to these people, e-mail is their preferred method of communication.

Get a Jump on the Competition
A professionally designed web site will make your business appear larger than it actually is, and therefore challenge larger competitors. When it comes to getting listed in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.), the longer your web site has been active, the higher ranking you will receive, and therefore more traffic will be directed to your web site. It is for this reason that you can’t afford delay this important decision any longer.

Paul Coulter is the owner and operator of a custom website design company located in Windsor, Ontario.
You can contact him by visiting his company’s website: Windsor Website Design, http://www.windsorwebdesign.ca.

As a designing and programming nerd, I am not one of the people who use Internet Explorer to browse the web. In a normal situation, I use Firefox. However, I’m not the only one. Statistics gathered on various websites show that as many as 30% of the visitors to your site might not be using Internet Explorer.

Just because your website looks fine on your computer doesn’t mean it will look okay on someone else’s. There is no way to completely control that, but you can do one thing to be safe. If there’s one piece of advice I can give someone designing a website for the first time, it’s to make sure you check your website in a variety of web browsers. In fact, I went so far as to purchase a Mac Mini just to check my clients’ sites on a Mac.

On Windows computers, the browsers you should check your site in include (of course) Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Netscape. Macs also run all those browsers, although Internet Explorer is no longer available for download. Another big one for Macs is Safari.

This task might seem time consuming, and it can be. Maybe you just don’t want to install all those browser. (I don’t blame you.) Perhaps access to a Mac just isn’t an option. Luckily, there is another option available. I have not used them myself, but www.browsercam.com will allow you to view screen captures of your website on a variety of different platforms, and even in a variety of resolutions. It is free to try out, but costs money if you decide to continue using it.

While your website certainly won’t and can’t look exactly the same in all browsers, it should be very close. And you should never have a message that says “This site best viewed with XXXX.” What you are really saying is, “If you aren’t using XXXX to view our site, we really don’t care about your business.”

Regardless of how you decide to do it, checking your website in multiple browsers is a must. It would be terrible to lose customers just because your website looked wrong in their browser.

Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, GetASiteOnline.com.