How to Convert MKV to PS3

Step1: Load files

Click "Add File" button on the toolbar or "File > Add File" to load MKV files you want to put on PS3.

Step2: Choose output format and folder

Find proper output video format from Profile for your PS3 and click Browse to choose the destination folder where you want to save your output files.

Step 3: Start conversion

Click Start, MKV to PS3 converter will convert MKV to PS3 automatically.

Tip: Adjusting output settings and editing output file is optional. To customize the output file, you can adjust output video/audio parameters by clicking Settings, reset output effect, trim, crop, snapshot…

You want to get PS3 to play MKV, please explore MKV to PS3 for detailed info!

How to Convert MKV to iPod

Before you convert video for iPod on Mac, please know the general limits which the iPod carry.

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;

Follow the steps to convert Video to iPod on Mac quickly.
Free Download Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac then install and run it.

Step 1: Import Video Files
You can click the “Add Files” icon to add files you want to convert, this software supports convert several files into one file; you can add multi files for your ipod video at one time. Or you can right click the main interface to load files.
You may need to change the video title. To do this, double click “output name” and put your desired name into the edit box. This will be the file name in your iPod.

Step 2: Convert video to ipod formats Option Setting
After adding the files, Click Browse button to select an output path, you can select output format. iPod accept MP4,H.264, MPEG4 format, so you can select one of iPod format. Such as MP4 format.
This software provides default setting in advanced, if you don't want to change, you can go to Step 3 directly.

Step 3: Start to convert video for iPod MP4 file: now, all things are ready, just click the "Start" button to start converting.

Note: All item(s) checked will be converted. If you only want to convert certain item(s), check it/them, click Start button, and then Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac will convert them one by one.
For a moment, you will successfully convert video movie to iPod MP4 file on Mac easily and quickly.

Notes for veterans: We offer a wide range of advanced options for veterans. E.g. you may choose to convert any segment of a video file; you may adjust video and audio properties. Just click "Settings" button for more choice

Tips:
Tip 1. This video to ipod software for Mac support snapshot pictures from the video. There is a little camera icon on the left part. You can click it to snap any photos you like, and you can save it as BMP or JPEG format which fit for iPod.
Tip 2.If you just want to convert some part of the video to iPod, you can drag the slider bar below the preview window to set the conversion start and end time, or you can click the Trim button to set it exactly on the trim panel.
Tip 3.If you want to cut the black border of the video, you can click the crop button to open the crop panel. Here you can drag the yellow frame to cut any parts you don't want, or you can set it exactly on the left panel.

Now just start to experience all these powerful function now, you will love to enjoy your iPod video with this powerful Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac.

Groupon Aims to Raise $950 Million at $4.75 Billion Valuation

After snubbing a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, Groupon is raising more money.

Of course. But has it raised nearly $1 billion?

That’s the number being thrown around today by VCExperts, which claims to have seen Groupon’s regulatory document before it was filed with the SEC.

And our sources say that’s the right number, with the company’s valuation placed at $4.75 billion, but that the deal hasn’t firmed up yet, and it doesn’t involve any one major new investor. A Groupon representative declined to comment on the report.

In the meantime, Groupon has the gigantic round it raised eight months ago to lean on. BoomTown’s Kara Swisher reported in April that Groupon raised $135 million at a $1 billion valuation.

The big thing that’s likely changed since then is the company’s run-rate, now at $2 billion annually (up from the previously reported $500 million).

The group-buying site, which offers consumers discounts of 50 to 70 percent on things like trips to spas and restaurants, already has a plethora of investors.

It has raised money from the same Russian investors that backed social networking powerhouse Facebook and game phenom Zynga, as well as from Digital Sky Technologies and Battery Ventures. In December, Groupon nabbed $30 million in its second round of funding, led by Accel Partners.

The money in April was being set aside for growing the business and getting ahead of its numerous rivals.

One investment source that has since dried up is Amazon, which decided to back Groupon’s nearest rival, LivingSocial, with $175 million. Kleiner Perkins has been named as a potential candidate, but it would also be nice to see a deep-pocket media company step in.

Newspapers, specifically, have been hard hit by a shift in local advertising and classifieds. A Groupon partnership could make it less appalling that they’ve missed yet another trend.

How to Sync iPod Songs to Computer

Step 1: Connect your iPod to computer via USB cable.

As soon as the connection is built up, the iPod/iPhone icon and its library and playlists will appear in the Device list.

Step 2: Open the library/playlist that you want to export files, and then check the file(s) you want to export in the file list.

Step 3: Click to select the destination of the exporting files and start exporting files.

Aiseesoft iPod Transfer also have the functions of importing files from PC to iPod and transferring between iPods. Want know more about it, please visit: Snyc iPod songs to computer.

The Net Neutrality Vote: Primary Documents

In the event you haven’t read entirely enough on the subject of today’s net neutrality vote by the Federal Communications Commission, I thought I’d gather up some of the primary documentation associated with what went down in Washington today.

If you’ve been following the issue, nearly nothing about the arguments will be new to you, but as I watched the meeting live today, I was struck by the thoroughness of the arguments both in favor of and against the rules, in particular the polar opposition in the views of Chairman Julius Genachowski and the lengthy, detailed dissent by Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell. With a little help from Scribd and YouTube I’ve embedded some samples of the day’s proceedings below.

First is the prepared statement by Genachowski.

So Hot Right Now: Pictures and Ratings of Food

Even the greatest menu in the world has all-star items and dishes that are just blah. Deciding which restaurant to go to is a prerequisite for eating out, but most important is what you decide to put in your stomach. I’m a terrible annoyance when trying a new restaurant, as I pull out my phone to see what Foursquare and Yelp users say I should order. But social media is often right, and I don’t mind sharing a bite of the good stuff.

A bevy of dedicated apps and recently launched features for existing local apps now enable smartphone users to take pictures of memorable dishes and rate them or comment on them. Here’s a sampler of the current offerings:

We’ll get to the familiar names in a moment, but first is a new iPhone app from a Seattle-based start-up called Chewsy that creates a “social menu” (pictured at right) for any restaurant, based on user rankings. Created by Microsoft employees in their spare time, the app is focused on building out ratings and comments for menu items, and does not yet support pictures. Getting critical mass for menu items has got to be even harder than getting critical mass for restaurants, but the company has already launched in 11 markets.

At the beginning of this week, the geo-social crew at Foursquare started giving users the ability to add photos to check-ins, tips and venues. That has rolled out for both the iPhone and Android Foursquare apps, and includes photos from linked accounts on Instagram, Picplz and Foodspotting. The company said in a blog post, “Tips with photos changes everything. See dishes before ordering them, figure out if a venue looks fun, or easily identify a hard-to-find spot. More info = better exploration.”

Social media local reviews leader Yelp put out its first iPad app (pictured at left) on Monday. In a blog post describing the launch, the company said the best part of the app is “our marquee feature: a fancy, schmancy new photo search results.”

The next day, Urbanspoon (the company behind that app where you shake to seredipitously find a place to eat) put out a new release that allows diners to submit a photo and review of a specific menu item directly from the app.

Foodspotting, the leading pretty app for sharing pictures of and locating nearby food, just crossed 500,000 downloads of its iPhone version on Tuesday, and said an Android beta would be out before the end of the year. It raised $750,000 in seed funding last summer and just acquired a small food blogging start-up called Eat.ly.

The incredibly addictive Instagram, which is not focused on food but is a leading distributor of the latte still-life, announcedon Tuesday its iPhone app had been downloaded one million times. It is currently raising funding.

Taking this whole concept in a different direction, NTT Communications has said it plans to release a healthy-eating app in Japan next month that will allow diners to take pictures of the food on their plate and report how many calories it contains.

Are food pictures just a feature? Sure, but you could also say food is just a feature of restaurants.

How to Make iPhone Ringtone

You bought an iPhone and love all its features, but wish you didn't have to pay for your songs twice to get a ringtone. (We know that iPhone, iPhone 3G Ringtones use the file extension .M4R. And the users must pay $2 for a piece of song through Apple iTunes store). There are plenty of songs in your music library, but no way to make ringtones from any of them. Rihgt?

Actually, with a little bit of trickery (nothing illegal) you can create ringtones from any one of your non-DRM songs.

This works on both Mac and Windows PCs.

Window Users

You can create free iPhone Ringtones by yourself with Aiseesoft iPhone Ringtone Maker.
You can take the following step-by-step instructions to start.
Step 0: Download and install Aiseesoft iPhone Ringtone Maker.
After a short while, you can see the following interface:

Step 1: Click "Browse" on the right side of "Input File" to import the file that you want to make ringtone from it.
Step 2: Play it and listen the music to find the segment that you want to use it as ringtone. Then drag and click the start & end slider to set your wanted segment, or type the start & end time in the corresponding text box directly to get the exact segment. You also can pre-listen the converted audio before generate.
Step 3: Click "Browse" on the right side of "Local Output Folder" to choose the output destination.
Step 4: Check "Export to iPhone" option, the converted ringtone will be load to your iPhone directly.
Step 5: After all the settings are finished, click "Generate" to begin making your own iPhone ringtone.

Key function
* Convert any video to iPhone ringtone M4R
* Create iPhone ringtone from any audio files
* Get any clips from video and audio
* Edit Added iPhone ringtones

Using Aiseesoft iPhone Ringtone Maker, you are free to edit the added iPhone ringtone by removing it or renaming it directly.

For Mac Users, please go to Aiseesoft iPhone Ringtone Maker for Mac.

How to transfer music from iPod

Basically, there is a need for you to transfer music from iPod with iPod Rip and iPod Rip for Mac to avoid your files are lost. Now, I guide you how to Rip your iPod to hard drives with Aiseesoft iPod to Computer Transfer. So you don’t need to worry about losing anything.

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft iPod to Computer Transfer and install.

Step 2: Launch the program
Double-click the icon to run the software; or launch it from the “Start” Menu.
Step 3: Rip iPod files.
1) Run the software, and connect your iPod/iPhone to your computer via USB cable. After done, the iPod/iPhone icon and its library and playlists will appear in the Device list.
2) Open the library/playlist that you want to export files, and then check the music/movie you want to export in the file list to your computer.
3) Click the "Export to PC" button to select the destination of the exporting files and start ripping files

Otherwise, you could also choose the Export to local option from the Actions menu, and then export the files from your iPod/iPhone to actual device.

Tip: Use “Track filter” function to help you quickly browse your library by genre, artist and album. If you are using Mac, please use the iPod Rip for Mac software.
iPod Rip for Mac download.

How to sync and put cusomized ringtone on iPhone

There are also some other ways to convert audio to iPhone ringtone and sync it to iPhone with iTunes, but I think these are a little complicated and users may be at a loss with such ways.

Here I recommend iPhone PC Suite, an almighty iPhone manager that can let you manage phone book, software, media and other files between iPhone and computer without iTunes easily.

But before using this tool, make sure your iTunes installed and has been connected with iPhone once before (Then you will never need not run iTunes when you use iPhone PC Suite to manage your iPhone).And when the first time you connecting iPhone, it will install PhoneDaemon on your iPhone, don’t worry it is green software and will do nothing harm.

Now I will show you how to sync the converted iPhone ringtone to iPhone without iTunes. Connect you iPhone to computer, double click” iPhone PC Suite” to start iPhone PC Suite, the program will scan you iPhone automatically for a short while. Then click button “Personal” on the main menu, select ”ringtone”.



Click “New Ringtone” to locate the converted iPhone ringtone.

Select your target iPhone ringtone, then it will upload the ringtone to iPhone automatically.



Then you can select your favorite audio file and set it as your iPhone ringtone on iPhone. Click “setting”->”Sound”->”Ringtone”, the converted ringtone is listed on column “Customize”. Now you can enjoy the fun of your unique iPhone ringtone!
This free iPhone PC Suite also has other powerful functions, we will share them later.

Previous part: How to convert DVD, Movie, Music to iPhone ringtone and put ringtone on iPhone?

Mobile Payments Jump 300 Percent During Holidays, PayPal Says

EBay said Monday that during this holiday season, mobile transactions totaled $13 million, growing 165 percent over last year. So it’s only fitting that its payments subsidiary is seeing a similar uptick. PayPal said today that mobile payments jumped 300 percent from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, compared to the same period last year.

Google, Myspace Finally Land New Ad Deal

Google and Myspace have finally struck a new ad deal, replacing the three-year, $900 million pact that expired this fall.

The two companies aren’t handing out details on the new pact, but have made it clear that it’s not going to be anything like the old one, which provided Myspace and the rest of News Corp.’s Web properties with massive guaranteed payments.

But we’ve known that for a long time: The first deal got done when Myspace was white-hot, and Google was competing fiercely with Microsoft to lock up prime real estate.

Now, of course, Myspace is well into a protracted decline, despite News Corp.’s efforts to turn it around (News Corp. also owns this Web site). And Microsoft isn’t nearly as aggressive as it used to be on these kinds of deals.

The real question for Myspace is what happens now. News Corp. has been quite clear that it’s not happy with the site’s performance, and if anyone were willing to pay anything for it, I’m sure Rupert Murdoch would be happy to part with it.

But who wants to buy a shrinking, money-losing Web site? News Corp. may not be able to do that much about the audience decline, and the money-losing part is tougher to fix than it seems from the outside.

That’s because Myspace is still stuck amortizing fees it picked up in the go-go years, like the big settlement/licensing deal it struck with Universal Music Group, which allowed it to start up MySpace Music in 2008.

Those aren’t operating costs, but they’re still real, and they don’t go away. “You start off every year $70 million in the hole,” says a person familiar with the company.

So how else can you cut costs? There are some obvious ways to go, and they won’t be pleasant for Myspace’s remaining staff.

UPDATE: Nature of news on the Web–this story was a scoop for all of about three minutes. Here’s the release–note the news about the Myspace inventory being offered via Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

MYSPACE AND GOOGLE RENEW AND EXPAND SEARCH
AND ADVERTISING AGREEMENT

LOS ANGELES and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., December 16, 2010 – Myspace and Google, Inc. today announced a multi-year agreement to renew and expand their long-standing search and advertising relationship. Under the terms of the new agreement, Google will continue to power Myspace search and search advertising and will also provide additional display advertising services to enhance the rich
entertainment content experience inherent on Myspace.

This agreement brings together Google’s expertise in search and advertising with Myspace’s strength in social entertainment. Specifically, the agreement provides Myspace with:

Web search and search advertising
Full display ad solutions (including participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange)

“We’re thrilled about renewing our partnership with Google. Their best-in class technology will continue to provide our consumers with a robust search experience,” said Nada Stirratt, Chief Revenue Officer of Myspace. “We look forward to participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange to increase yield across our display ad inventory.”

“We’re excited to deepen our partnership with one of the largest social Web properties in the world, Myspace,” said Henrique de Castro, Vice President of Global Media and Platforms at Google. “We’re pleased that our technology will benefit Myspace’s users on its newly redesigned site, and that Myspace has chosen our display advertising solution to increase its returns.

The Year in YouTube: Justin Bieber and the Bed Intruder

“Hide your kids, hide your wife!”–a remixed interview from a local news report was the most-watched YouTube video of 2010 (excepting major label music videos through Vevo). The catchy “Bed Intruder Song,” made by the Gregory Brothers in collaboration with accidental lyricist Antoine Dodson, has been watched more than 47 million times since being posted this summer.

In second place on YouTube’s annual Rewind list is Key of Awesome’s parody of Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok,” with 51 million views since being released in February. (The original music video by Ke$ha herself has only 34 million views on YouTube.)

And third is sixth-grader Greyson Chance’s school performance of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi,” which blew up online and scored him a record deal with Ellen DeGeneres. It’s been seen 34 million times since April.

Both the Gregory Brothers and Key of Awesome are affiliated with independent (though closely aligned with YouTube) video shop Next New Networks. And it’s notable that every one of the top three videos is musical–an original, a parody and a cover song–with two of them taking inspiration from current songs by pop stars.

Also on the 2010 most-watched Top 10: YouTube star Annoying Orange, advertising phenomenon the Old Spice guy, the Double Rainbow guy, an OK Go music video (the band left its label deal after a YouTube embedding rights spat), the “Twilight: Eclipse” trailer, a Jimmy Kimmel short involving Justin Bieber and a stunt-driving video by Ken Block.

YouTube split out major label music videos, as their viewing numbers are in a different stratosphere. Plus, the top-watched music videos list is more boring, with Bieber, Shakira, Eminem and Lady Gaga accounting for all 10 spots (and Bieber, who was discovered through YouTube, taking four of the top 10). Bieber’s video for his song “Baby,” which took the top spot, has been seen more than 408 million times since February.

Aside from videos, YouTube also released some additional stats, including its most-searched-for terms by month. YouTube has been measured as the top U.S. search engine after Google itself.

January – Haiti
February – Luge
March – eclipse trailer
April – iPad
May – Eminem Not Afraid
June – shakira waka waka
July – double rainbow
August – bed intruder
September – halo reach
October – whip my hair
November – firework

And lastly, YouTube also launched today a site aimed at the media called YouTube Trends, which explains the most viral content on the site at any one time.

How to Add Limewire Songs to iPod

Many people download music from Limewire, but they can only listen them on computer. Put songs from Limewire to iPod touch is really difficult to many iPod users. Yes, you need to convert Limewire songs to iPod audio format by iPod Music Converter; actually, it is iPod mp3 converter or audio to mp3 converter, because iPod accepts mp3 audio files.

This article will share you how to add Limewire songs to iPod.

Part 1: For Windows users, how to add Limewire songs to iPod.
Step 1: Download Aiseesoft iPod Movie Converter
You need to download an iPod Music converter:



Step 2: Add Music
Click “Add File” and find your Limewire songs to load into iPod Music Converter
Step 3: Choose output format
You can choose output audio format from profile drop-down list—MP3
Step 4: Start to convert
Click “Start” button to begin your conversion.

Then you also need a tool to transfer your songs to your iPod.
Here I recommend you Aiseesoft iPod Transfer.



It is very easy to use:
Step 1: Connect iPod.
Plug your iPod to your computer via USB cable.
Step 2: Add songs
Click “PC to iPod” button to pick up the songs you have already converted and click “OK”. Now, you can enjoy your Limewire songs on your iPod at will.

Part 2: For Mac users, how to add Limewire songs to iPod
For Mac users, I recommend you Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac and Aiseesoft iPod Manager for Mac.


Step 1: Add file
Click “Add File” to load your music
Step 2: Choose output audio format
Click “profile” to choose your output audio format.
Step 3: Convert
Click “Start” button to begin your conversion.

To transfer converted songs to iPod, Mac users can use iPod Manager for Mac.


Step 1: Connect iPod
Plug your iPod to your computer
Step 2: Add music
1. Click “Music” (1)
2. Click “Mac to iPod” (2) and pick up the songs on your Mac you want to put on your iPod and click “Open” (3)
Few seconds later, the songs will be on your iPod.

How to convert MTS, TS, M2TS Video to HD video, MP4, WMV, AVI

Record everything around you and share with the world/friends/family is becoming more and more popular among young people. Get a HD Camcorder is necessary and also how to share is really important. I think you can use youtube.com, make a DVD and so on. As the video you record on your camcorder is MTS, TS, M2TS or other HD video format, so you have to convert them into normal video format to edit.

Today I will share with you how to convert MTS, TS, M2TS video to normal video formats.
You need 3 nice tool to do it: MTS Converter, TS Video Converter, M2TS Converter.

Part 1: How to convert MTS video
Step 1: Load Video
Click "Add File" to load the video that you want.

Step 2: Choose Your Output Profile and Settings
From "Profile" drop-down list you can choose your output profile according to your need.
For example, if you have a iPod and you want to convert video for it, you need to choose "iPod" from the profile list and then it also provides the second chance to specify your iPod generation.
You can also click "setting" adjust the settings of your output video, such as "video/audio encoder", "Video/audio Bitrate", "Channels", "Resolution" and so on..

Step 3: Video Editing
This powerful MTS Converter allows you to do many video editings.
1. Click "Effect" to make special effect for your movie.
You can adjust the "Brightness", "Contrast", "Saturation" and also you can use "deinterlacing" to improve you output effect.

2. Trim:
"Trim" function allows you to pick up any part of your video to convert. You can just convert a part of your video that you want.

3: Crop:
Cut off the black edges of the original movie video and watch in full screen on your iPod using the "Crop" function.

Step 4: Conversion
After you have done all the steps above you can click "Start" button to start your conversion.

Part 2: How to convert TS video

Step 1: Load Video
Click "Add File" to load the video that you want to convert.

Step 2: Choose Your Output Profile and Settings
From "Profile" drop-down list you can choose your output profile according to your need.
You can also click "setteing" adjust the settings of your output video, such as "video/audio encoder", "Video/audio Bitrate", "Channels", "Resolution" and so on..

Step 3: Conversion
After you have done all the steps above you can click "Start" button to start your conversion.

Tips: Video Editing
This powerful TS Converter allows you to do many video editings.
1. Click "Effect" to make special effect for your movie.
You can adjust the "Brightness", "Contrast", "Saturation" and also you can use "deinterlacing" to improve you output effect.
2. Trim:
"Trim" function allows you to pick up any part of your video to convert. You can just convert a part of your video that you want.
3: Crop:
Cut off the black edges of the original movie video and watch in full screen on your iPod using the "Crop" function.

Part 3: How to convert M2TS video

Step 1: Add File
Load your M2TS video.

Step 2: Choose Profile and Settings
Select your output profile according your need and adjust the settings of your output video if you like.
(the default setting works well)

Step 3: Start Conversion
Click "Start" to begin your conversion.

How to play DVD on Mac

This tutorial includes 4 parts:
Part 1, DVD Regions
Part 2, How to play DVD on Mac?
Part 3, How to Unlock DVD Regions on Mac?
Part 4, how to copy protected DVD Movie on Mac OS X

Part 1, DVD Regions
Region 1: North America; U.S. territories; Bermuda
Region 2: Europe; Western Asia; Kingdom of the Netherlands; Egypt, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland; British overseas territories, French overseas territories; Greenland
Region 3: East and Southeast Asia
Region 4: Oceania; Central and South America; Caribbean; Mexico
Region 5: Africa, Central and South Asia, Belarus, India, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine
Region 6: Mainland China

Part 2, How to play DVD on Mac?
VLC is part of a remarkably sophisticated suite of VideoLan applications available for a wide range of operating systems, ranging from Linux to Windows and, of course, Mac OS X.

Download and install VLC and open it, then select File > Open Disc. Click on the Disc tab, click on DVD, select the device, and click OK

Or select File > Open File..., select your VIDEO_TS folder, and voila! You're watching your movie.

Part 3, How to Unlock DVD Regions on Mac?
Most commercial DVDs use encryption that keeps them locked to one or more “region codes,” meaning the discs you pick up in other continents usually won't play on an American DVD player. If you believe the movie studios, this encryption is a necessary tool in the ongoing war against piracy. Basically, it helps them release the same movie in different parts of the world—at different times and for different prices. However, because pirates rarely resell legitimate copies of movies (they are pirates, after all), this system's primary effect is to prevent movie collectors and frequent travelers from enjoying legally purchased films once they get home.

There are some multi-region DVD players out there. They are perfectly legal, but they tend to be pricey and rare. And if you are the jet-setting type who is likely to pick up foreign flicks in the first place, you probably want to watch them on the go using your laptop. That's why the most frustrating part of region codes is the way they affect laptop DVD players.

Although laptop DVD drives are technologically capable of playing any DVD, they typically force you to switch among region settings to play imported discs. Try switching this setting more than a fixed number of times (typically five over the entire life span of the computer), and the setting will be locked forever.

For example, if you switch from Region 1 (the United States and Canada) to Region 3 (parts of Asia) to watch a kung-fu flick you picked up on a trip to Hong Kong, you'll have to switch back to Region 1 before playing any movies you purchased at your local Best Buy. Watching that one Jet Li movie just burned up two of your five switches—and not even reinstalling your operating system will get you more. Fortunately, some clever programmers have created software solutions that circumvent disc regions entirely, turning your notebook into a portable multiregional DVD player.

There are plenty of programs for Macs that allow you to rip DVD movies on Mac. I recommend Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac which allows you to rip DVD movies on Mac easily.

This Mac DVD Ripper is fast in ripping DVD to all popular video and audio formats as it includes the features of DVD Ripper and DVD Audio Ripper.

It can rip DVD video to video formats including MP4, AVI, MOV, M4V, 3GP, MPG, MPEG, FLV, etc. and it can convert DVD audio to MP3, M4A, AAC, AC3, etc. It's the best solution to rip a DVD to video or audio formats on Mac. This solution has its advantages (chief among them is that watching movies off your hard drive uses far less battery life than reading them from an optical disc.)

If you do not want to spend money, I recommend downloading VLC, an open-source media player that sometimes circumvents region encoding. The DVD drives on different computers (including various Macs) come from diverse manufacturers, and VLC plays out-of-region discs on some, but not all of them. Unfortunately, there's no way to know if it will work on your system until you try. Fortunately, the program is free.

Part 4, how to copy protected DVD Movie on Mac OS X
Copy protected DVD action can turn into failure if you don't have appropriate software. Very often DVDs are protected against ripping and thus copying the contents of the disc to your hard disk doesn't work. Even if you do succeed in ripping the contents of the disc, to copy protected DVD also means to compress the files on your recordable DVD since the latter can only hold 4.4GB of data while the original DVD is more than 7GB in size. So the powerful and professional DVD copying software is necessary. And Aiseesoft DVD Copy for Mac is the proper software you need.

Step 1: Download and install DVD Copy for Mac.

Step 2: Load DVD - load the DVD folder or DVD image ISO.

Step 3: Adjust output settings

You can choose "Full Disc" or “Main Movie” to copy the full disc or the main movie according to your need.

Also this DVD Copy allows you to choose the DVD audio track, subtitle and name the output volume’s name.

Step 4: Choose output target

Aiseesoft DVD Copy for Mac enables you to copy your DVD to another DVD disc, DVD folder or DVD image ISO.

Windows Phone 7 Prices Quietly Dropping

Although the official prices of the initial Windows Phone 7 devices remain the same, various promotions are heavily discounting the month-old models, with Amazon offering three AT&T models for just a penny.

The Samsung Focus, HTC Surround and LG Quantum are all priced at a penny with a new activation, while T-Mobile’s HTC HD7 is listed on Amazon for $139.

Other retailers are also offering discounts, though not as steep. I’ve seen models at Costco and Target for half their suggested $199 price, while Best Buy’s Web site lists both the HD7 and HTC Surround for $99. Retailer LetsTalk.com has two models for $49 each and another for $99, after rebates. AT&T and T-Mobile are also offering nationwide promotions allowing those paying full price to buy one and get a second one free.

In fairness, this is the holiday season and lots of phones are seeing discounts. Best Buy is running promotions that offer lots of different smartphones for free–not just those running an operating system from Redmond. And Amazon has lots of other cheap phones, including Android models as low as a penny and had previously put a bunch of AT&T phones–including some Windows Phones–on sale for a penny (though that was only for a weekend).

Still, such sharp cuts probably aren’t an encouraging sign for phones that have been on the market barely a month. Phones–at least those other than the iPhone–typically get discounted at some point. However, hit devices tend to maintain their initial price longer, while those that are less successful tend to get a price chop sooner.

For its part, Microsoft has said it is happy with Windows Phone 7 sales, as has AT&T, though neither has shared any actual numbers on device sales.

“We’re very happy with the rate of sales given the fact we’ve taken such a significant reset from Windows Mobile to a brand-new Windows Phone,” Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore told Mobilized in a interview following his onstage appearance at this week’s D: Dive Into Mobile. “We need people to get reacquainted with what we’re offering.”

And, of course, all these discounts may well boost total sales volumes.

A Microsoft representative declined to comment on the various price drops.

Zong Opens Up Mobile Payment Platform to All Android Developers

The well-funded Zong, the payments provider that lets you charge virtual goods to your cellphone bill, is perhaps best known for being a mobile payment provider for Facebook Credits.

Now, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company is trying to become a powerhouse among Android developers.

In June it launched a beta program that allowed Android developers to integrate Zong’s payment platform into their applications. Once included, it was like adding carrier billing to the Android Market, where users only had to click a couple of times to charge something to their monthly bill.

That’s attractive to developers because consumers are infinitely more likely to buy something if it doesn’t require a lot of steps, like entering a credit card number, or a Google Checkout account–which they may not own.

In particular, Android has been slow to form partnerships with carriers directly to enable similar one-click billing, so this could offer some alternatives to models that are only ad supported.

Today, Zong’s Android payments platform is officially live. So, how easy is it? It claims that developers only have to install the code in their application, and once that’s done their customers can start charging to their bill without registering or logging in to anything.

Zong’s magic is on the back end, where it verifies the mobile user and clears the charge through the carrier.

During the private beta, Papaya Mobile claimed that the trial was really successful, with more than 50 percent of its game-playing customers picking Zong.

Zong joins other payment alternatives on Android, such as PlaySpan, PayPal and Boku. The mobile payments space is considered hot, and worth duking it out for.

Flipping Through Digital Pages With Mike McCue

Although Flipboard is Mike McCue’s latest venture, in some ways it’s old hat. After all, if you loosely define Flipboard as a browser of sorts, it’s the fourth browser he has been involved with. (Paper Software, Netscape and Tellme were his earlier forays.)

McCue downplayed concerns that Flipboard appropriates others’ content. He said he gets more requests from publishers looking to share more content than from those seeking to have Flipboard include less stuff. He said that the company is looking to make money with publishers, not ride on their backs.

He also talked about the company’s current pilot program, in which publishers can work with Flipboard to customize their publications on the iPad app. (Disclosure: All Things Digital is part of Flipboard’s new publisher beta.)

Flipboard remains an iPad-only proposition, but McCue said the company is tinkering with other platforms in the labs, such as the iPhone. They haven’t worked with Android tablets, however, because that would mean hiring a bunch of Android engineers.

iPod Compatible Video

This article is divided into four parts separately introduce what is iPod Compatible Video, which video format is better for Apple iPod Video, is my video iPod compatible and how to make the video compatible with your iPod.

Part One: What is iPod Compatible Video?
Part Two: Which video format is better for Apple iPod video?
Part Three: Is My Video iPod Compatible?
Part Four: How to make the video compatible with your iPod?

Part One: What is iPod Compatible Video?
Firstly, I will introduce you what is iPod Compatible Video, iPod Nano Compatible Video such as iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264, the specifications page lists the following:
Apple iPod video specifications from their official website:
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

That’s a little confusing, but there’s only a few numbers you’ll need to remember for each format.

The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The biggest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, the exact dimensions of your iPod’s screen. Your iPod can play H.264 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every one of the applications that we’ll be using encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio needs to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all the guidelines, your movie can be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.

Your other option, MPEG-4 video, supports a much higher bitrate than H.264 video - 2,500 kilobits per second. Using higher bitrates will also create larger files. The result: you’ll have less space for additional songs and movies. The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - three times as many pixels as your iPod’s screen is capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally so that everything fits on the screen. Again, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and our audio and file format options are the same as H.264 video.

Part Two: Which video format is better for Apple iPod video?
That’s a tough question. H.264 is arguably better because it offers high quality and a much smaller file size when compared to MPEG-4. However, both formats look quite good when you encode your video at the higher supported video settings. One thing that most people will agree on is that H.264 video takes longer to encode than standard MPEG-4. This means that converting a two hour movie to iPod video can take considerably longer using the H.264 codec (especially with QuickTime Pro’s pokey Export: Movie to iPod video option). Still, I prefer the H.264 codec in most instances.

Part Three: Is My Video iPod Compatible?
Some of the video files that you download from the web or from file sharing networks like BitTorrent may be iPod compatible - even if they’re not marked as such.

The easiest way to determine whether a video can be played on your iPod is to open the file in QuickTime and select Window: Show Movie Info. In most cases your video should be iPod-ready if the format is H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is AAC, and the size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it’s not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.

Part Four: How to make the video compatible with your iPod?
If you have QuickTime Pro ($30 and worth every penny) or the latest version of iTunes (free!), this is, by far, the easiest conversion that we’ll talk about.

In iTunes, after you’ve added your video to the library, right click it. Select Convert Selection for iPod. iTunes will let you know if your video is already in the correct format. If it’s not, your video will slowly be converted to an H.264 video.

UPDATE: I’ve heard several complaints of iTunes creating iPod videos without sound. You should probably avoid using iTunes to convert your videos.

In QuickTime Pro, open your movie and, in the file menu, select Export… and in the export drop-down, select Movie to iPod (320 x 240) and click Save. QuickTime will create an optimized H.264 video with AAC audio.

You may want to go pour yourself a cup of tea or take a nap. If your file is large, QuickTime’s slow conversion process can take several hours.

If you’re an inexperienced user, I recommend using QuickTime Pro or iTunes because they’re absolutely foolproof. However there are other much faster, more powerful applications for converting your videos. Read on!

Don’t have QuickTime Pro? Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter!
Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter supports so comprehensive video formats including converting MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, VOB, MP4, M4V, RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MKV, TS, MPV, AVI, 3GP,3G2, FLV, MPV, MOD, TOD to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264. You can customize your own output video by the settings function. For example, if you want a high quality video you can raise the values of Video Biterate, Audio Biterate and Audio Sample Rate, if you want a smaller file you can reduce the value.



If you want to make your DVD compatible with your iPod and even transfer your iPod video to Computer, you can choose Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite which is an all-in-one solution to convert DVD to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264 and convert video to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264. Moreover, it can transfer video from iPod to computer. You don’t need to worry about losing anything.
For Mac user, you can choose Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac and Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite for Mac.

How to Copy DVD, Rip DVD, Convert Video on Mac

Many friends want to share their home-make DVDs and their DVD movies with others and also they always feel difficult to do that. Today I will share you a really easy way to Copy DVD to another DVD disc, DVD image ISO, or a DVD folder. Also I will also introduce you how to rip DVD and convert videos on Mac.

Part 1: How to copy a DVD to another DVD disc/DVD image ISO/DVD folder on Mac
Step 1: DVD Copy for Mac.
To copy a DVD on Mac, you need a DVD Copy for Mac to help you. Aiseesoft DVD Copy for Mac is a good choice.

Step 2: Load Your Source
This excellent DVD copy for Mac allows you to load DVD folder and DVD image ISO.

Step 3: Choose Output Info
1. "Full Disc" or “Main Movie”
This DVD copy for Mac enables you to copy the full disc and also the main movie according to your need.

2. "Audio", "Subtitle" and "Volume" name
You can choose your output audio from the "Audio" drop-down list, such as "all audio"/ "None"/ or some audio the DVD provide.

Subtitle is always an important thing, you can choose your output subtitle in "Subtitle" drop-down list.

You can also name your output volume's name

Step 4: Choose Your Target
You can copy your DVD to another DVD disc, DVD folder or DVD image ISO.

Tips:
1. You can also choose to copy the menus or not.
2. All the info you choose will be displayed on the "Info Box".

Part 2: How to rip DVD to video formats on Mac

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac.

Step 2. Load DVD
Insert DVD into your DVD-ROM, run DVD Ripper for Mac, click "Load DVD", find the DVD folder of the movie you want to add from your DVD-ROM, and Click "Open".

Step 3. Set output format.
This best DVD ripper for Mac provides you output formats as many as you want. Just choose one from the drop down list "profile" according to your portable player.

Step 4: Conversion
You can just Click "Start" to begin your conversion.

Part 3: How to Convert Video files on Mac

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac

Step 2: Load video
Easily click "Add File" to load your video that you want to convert.

Step 3: Choose output profile and settings
At the bottom of the interface there are a drop-download list named "profile". You can choose your output format here.

Tips:
1. Trim
If you want to pick up a part of the video to convert, please click "Trim" button and drag the "Start trim slider" to set the start time and "End trim slider" to set the end time. (a) You can also do that by clicking the "Start trim button" and "End trim button" (b). The third way you do that is set the exact Start/End time at the right of the pop-up window and click "OK".(c)

2. Crop
If you want to remove the black edges or you want to convert a certain area of your video, please click the "Crop" button. You can do this either by drag the frame around the movie (a) or set the crop value: "Top, Left, Bottom, Right".(b). Another way to do that is choose models from "Crop Mode"(c).
Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac also allows you to chose the output aspect ratio above the crop pane, "Keep Original, full screen, 16:9 and 4:3" are available.

3. Effect
If you want to adjust the effect of your movie, please click the "Effect" button and a pop-up effect window will appear. It allows you to edit your movie’s effect including "Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation and Volume".

How to share the iTunes Music and videos between two computers for free

Some people may meet that situation: You and your brother both have iTunes library under the same credit card account. Occasionally, you want to get the same song, however you wouldn't want you both to pay the $0.99 where virtually the same account is purchasing the song twice. So how can you and/or he download the songs from each other once it's purchased on a single computer? This is a guide to tell you how to share iTunes Music and videos between two computers such as sharing iTunes Music and videos between Windows PC and Mac OS X, sharing iTunes Music and videos between Mac OS and Mac OS X and sharing iTunes Music and videos between Windows PC and Windows PC

Step 1, Networking computers.
If you want to share iTunes videos and music between computers, you need to network PC and Mac first.
If you do not know how to Network Windows with Mac OS X, go there:
Networking Windows (2000/XP/2003*) with Mac OS X (10.3/10.4)
Information you will need to know
1.The IP Address of your PC (Start > Run > CMD {return} > "ipconfig" {return})
2The IP Address of your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Terminal {Run app} > for ethernet connection "ipconfig getifaddr en0" {return} or for wireless "ipconfig getifaddr en1" {return})>
3.The workgroup the PC is in (Right click on My Computer, select Properties, and select the Computer Name tab)

System Configuration
It is important that the account you log in with on your XP system has a password set, if it does not you will not be able to login to your Windows share from OS X. You need to put your Mac in the same workgroup as your Windows PC. To do this open "Directory Access" (Applications > Utilities > Directory Access). Click on the padlock in the bottom left corner to make changes; you will be prompted for your password. If "SMB" is not ticked off, then tick it off. Select "SMB" and hit the "Configure…" button. Now enter the name of your Windows workgroup. In my case the name is "AD".



Setting up the PC to share files
You need to create and share a folder on your PC that you will then access from your Mac. To do this create a folder (or select and existing one) right click on it from Windows Explorer and select "Properties". Select the "Sharing" tab and share out the folder. I'd recommend you use a one word name for the share. For example "Mac", not "Apple Mac Share", it just narrows the risk of complications.



Setting up the Mac to share files
Open "System Preferences" (Applications > System Preferences). Go to "Sharing" under "Internet & Network", and tick off "Windows Sharing", and if it doesn't start by itself, click "Start". This will share out your entire home folder.



If You're running Tiger (10.4), you will also need to click the "Accounts" button and tick off the box next to your account name so that OS X knows to share out your particular home folder.



Step2, Go to preferences, under the sharing tab, enable "Share library..." and "Look for shared libraries..." on both computers.
Select the items you want to share.

It will show up in iTunes' side panel:


To require users to enter a password before they can see your shared items, select "Require password" and enter a password.
You will need to authorize both computers to play purchased content however. You may authorize up to 5 Machines per iTunes Music Store account.
Tips：If you want to share music with other users on your computer ，read this article: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Netflix Shatters Pay TV Window With FilmDistrict Deal

Intent on remaking the cable landscape, Netflix this morning inked another distribution deal, this one with FilmDistrict. Under its terms, first-run films that typically would have been licensed to cable channels for broadcast during the so-called “pay TV window” will now instead go to Netflix for streaming.

The deal is the latest in a string of pacts that are fast transforming Netflix into a true Web-based movie channel. With streaming rights to films from Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony, Disney and MGM studios, and a new streaming-only service priced at $7.99 a month, the company is increasingly becoming more competitive with the cable incumbents.

Myspace Modernizes Mobile Site and App

Remember when there was a whole phone–in fact a whole carrier–oriented around the booming social network Myspace? It was just a few years ago that the Helio MVNO came out, but it’s since been bought by Virgin and discontinued. These days, Myspace has had more basic and sparsely updated mobile offerings, but even so, the company says “a third of Myspace’s Gen Y users [are] interacting with the site on mobile devices every day.” Today Myspace announced it’s modernizing its mobile offerings.

A new Myspace mobile site at http://m.myspace.com launches today, formatted for iOS, Android, Palm and “select Nokia and BlackBerry devices.” It channels Myspace’s recent focus as an entertainment destination, with features emphasizing music and celebrity news and access to video content, but no music streaming.

An overdue iPhone app update is also set to arrive “in the coming weeks,” Myspace said. The company’s existing iPhone app hadn’t been updated since January 2010, and doesn’t include push notifications, instant messaging or status updating, according to vocal user complaints in the iPhone app reviews section. The new app will indeed include all those features, said a Myspace spokesperson.

Vast Leak Discloses Diplomatic Secrets

The publication of a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic cables Sunday exposed years of U.S. foreign-policy maneuvering that could prove embarrassing to the U.S. and its allies, especially in the Islamic world.

Among activities detailed in the documents was the extensive, and increasingly successful, push by the U.S. for an international consensus to confront Iran’s nuclear program. Five newspapers obtained early access to the documents, which had been gathered by the website WikiLeaks.

The cables showed how some Arab leaders were largely in sync with Israel to support greater financial penalties, if not military operations, against Iran unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. Regarding Iran, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah was portrayed in an April 2008 memo as having told the U.S. “to cut off the head of the snake.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

How to convert MTS/M2TS video

MTS or M2TS format is the equivalent of h.264 or MPEG-4 AVC. It is a fairly new High Definition codec that provides greater compression than the regular MP4 and others. Those two High Definition format always be used on HD Camcorder, such as Sony, Canon or Panasonic.

As they are HD video, most of our video editor such as windows movie maker can not edit it directly. And also you can not upload it to youtube.com and share with your friends.

So you need to convert them into normal video format, such as wmv, mp4, avi and so on.

Here I know a really powerful MTS Converter and M2TS Converter
And the process of operation is really easy and fast.

Part 1: How to convert MTS video
Step 1: Load Video
Click "Add File" to load the video that you want.

Step 2: Choose Your Output Profile and Settings
From "Profile" drop-down list you can choose your output profile according to your need.
For example, if you have a iPod and you want to convert video for it, you need to choose "iPod" from the profile list and then it also provides the second chance to specify your iPod generation.
You can also click "setting" adjust the settings of your output video, such as "video/audio encoder", "Video/audio Bitrate", "Channels", "Resolution" and so on..

Step 3: Conversion
After you have done all the steps above you can click "Start" button to start your conversion.

Part 2: How to convert M2TS video

Step 1: Add File
Load your M2TS video.

Step 2: Choose Profile and Settings
Select your output profile according your need and adjust the settings of your output video if you like.
(the default setting works well)

Step 3: Start Conversion
Click "Start" to begin your conversion.

Here I also recommend you a really nice HD Video Converter, which can convert HD TS, HD MTS, HD M2TS, HD MPEG, HD WMV, HD MPG, HD MP4, QuickTime HD MOV, HD H.264, HD RM video, etc

How to share the iTunes Music and videos between two computers for free

Some people may meet that situation: You and your brother both have iTunes library under the same credit card account. Occasionally, you want to get the same song, however you wouldn't want you both to pay the $0.99 where virtually the same account is purchasing the song twice. So how can you and/or he download the songs from each other once it's purchased on a single computer? This is a guide to tell you how to share iTunes Music and videos between two computers such as sharing iTunes Music and videos between Windows PC and Mac OS X, sharing iTunes Music and videos between Mac OS and Mac OS X and sharing iTunes Music and videos between Windows PC and Windows PC

Step 1, Networking computers.
If you want to share iTunes videos and music between computers, you need to network PC and Mac first.
If you do not know how to Network Windows with Mac OS X, go there:
Networking Windows (2000/XP/2003*) with Mac OS X (10.3/10.4)
Information you will need to know
1.The IP Address of your PC (Start > Run > CMD {return} > "ipconfig" {return})
2The IP Address of your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Terminal {Run app} > for ethernet connection "ipconfig getifaddr en0" {return} or for wireless "ipconfig getifaddr en1" {return})>
3.The workgroup the PC is in (Right click on My Computer, select Properties, and select the Computer Name tab)

System Configuration
It is important that the account you log in with on your XP system has a password set, if it does not you will not be able to login to your Windows share from OS X. You need to put your Mac in the same workgroup as your Windows PC. To do this open "Directory Access" (Applications > Utilities > Directory Access). Click on the padlock in the bottom left corner to make changes; you will be prompted for your password. If "SMB" is not ticked off, then tick it off. Select "SMB" and hit the "Configure…" button. Now enter the name of your Windows workgroup. In my case the name is "AD".



Setting up the PC to share files
You need to create and share a folder on your PC that you will then access from your Mac. To do this create a folder (or select and existing one) right click on it from Windows Explorer and select "Properties". Select the "Sharing" tab and share out the folder. I'd recommend you use a one word name for the share. For example "Mac", not "Apple Mac Share", it just narrows the risk of complications.



Setting up the Mac to share files
Open "System Preferences" (Applications > System Preferences). Go to "Sharing" under "Internet & Network", and tick off "Windows Sharing", and if it doesn't start by itself, click "Start". This will share out your entire home folder.



If You're running Tiger (10.4), you will also need to click the "Accounts" button and tick off the box next to your account name so that OS X knows to share out your particular home folder.



Step2, Go to preferences, under the sharing tab, enable "Share library..." and "Look for shared libraries..." on both computers.
Select the items you want to share.

It will show up in iTunes' side panel:


To require users to enter a password before they can see your shared items, select "Require password" and enter a password.
You will need to authorize both computers to play purchased content however. You may authorize up to 5 Machines per iTunes Music Store account.
Tips：If you want to share music with other users on your computer ，read this article: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer