7-Zip: Extract your zip, rar, 7z, bz2, .tar

Zip and unzip, split and join.

7-Zip is the only program that you will ever need to zip and unzip any type of compression availble. This also allows you to unzip a mac compressed folder on a windows machine. Best of all this is open source!

7-Zip allows you to compress your folder into 7z archive and also split compressed files into multiple parts for easy transmission to all your friends.

7-Zip is always compared with Winrar, however in my own opinion, 7-Zip is the winner.

7-Zip is free but Winrar is a shareware, thus providing limited function.
And it can extract more types of compressed files then Winrar.

 Download 7-Zip here.

Screen Shots (From 7-Zip.org)

Apple Music Event

Apple have just release some new gadgets, these includes

• iPod Touch with 2 cameras and retina display
• iPod Nano with touch screen
• iPod Shuffle with Buttons and voice over

Check them out at Gizmodo below:
Apple New Gadgets

*I had actually link up all images and added more description, but an error occured with blogspot and would not let me publish.

OpenNet and Fibre Optic Network

So now Fibre Optic is out but should you really upgrade?

Many people called the Fibre Optic Network as OpenNet but they are wrong. OpenNet is just a company that are the one that is building the Fibre Optic network in Singapore. So what is so good about Fibre Optic?

Fibre Optic are lines that are like your network cable, but they are made of fibre optic instead of copper.

Source: Broadband-finder.co.uk

Thus this allow the signal to be transmitted over long distance without being weaken as signals are transmitted over by reflection of the lights within the fibre optic. It is also capable of transmitting data at the speed in Gigabits. But do you really need it?

This is a scenario, for example you sign up for the slowest fibre optic from a ISP. Which gives you a speed of 150Mbps (Megabits, NOT Megabytes). Meaning you can download your videos etc at the speed of 18.75 (MBps)Megabytes per second.

But there are several factor that you may need to consider (for individual users only):

1. The max speed that your local lan is 100Mbps, thus there is a wastage of 50Mbps.

2. The max speed of most wifi router (G standard) is only going at 54Mbps. (If you have excellent signal)

3. Even if you have a N standard wifi gateway(theoretical speed of 300Mpbs), you only get around 150 Mbps. More info here.

4. Most website content are so light(normal web surfing or project work) that even if you are on 3Mbps broadband, you already do not see much delay.

5. Some website servers have their own upload limit, they could not even deliver you the content to the speed of your download.

6. Unless you have many users at home, download lots of stuff, running a server you do not need to get fibre optic. A high speed broadband would be more than sufficient.

Do take note that Mbps and MBps are 2 different units.

Comex 2010 IT Fair!

Comex is here again! It will be from Sept 2 to Sept 5 2010

Source: Comex

For every 3 months there would be an IT Fair in Singapore.
To help those who want to check out the deals before going down go to Boot Strike they have most of the brochure for Comex and previous show. So you can make your decision before going down.

But take note, most times, when you are at the Comex, the price may be better then listed on the brochure.

Some tips for IT Fair.
1. Wear shoes, you may get step by people in the crowd.
2. For gadgets like TVs and Laptops, wait for last day, they would always be cheaper.
3. Go early for special deals that are normally limited.
4. Check around the booths for the same product, they often have different price.
5. Memory cards, rams, hard disk are normally cheaper in IT Fair.

Update:
Here is the link to Comex

Gmail Shortcuts

To all Gmail users out there! I find this video very useful to all of you.



Source: Lifehacker

One player does All: VLC

With increasing types of video and formats available, many people do not know how to playback them, but thankfully there is VLC. You do not have to download any specific codec to play back your favourite video or audio.  Just use VLC and its open source! VLC is fast and and simple. It can simply playback any format available.

If you have a movie with subtitles or audio to fast, there is sync option for you to speed it up or slow it down. This media player also allow you to set a video as desktop wallpaper.(For people who want to work and watch at the same time)

VLC is also available for different OS, Mac, Windows, Linux.

For advance users: There is also an function called network streaming. If you have any video or audio files stored online, you can stream it directly from vlc by entering its url. It is at File> Network stream.

Some screenshots:

Source: VLC

Source: VLC

Source: VLC

Youtube Video Downloader

So you have a youtube video that you like allot but do not know how to download?
Check out Keep Vid this is an online youtube downloader, all you have to do is to copy the url of the youtube video and paste it inside and click download.

This website will then search for the embedded video source in the url that you sent and give you several options to download your youtube video in the available fomat and resolution. Thats it! Its as simple as that, give you a try!