Windows Phone Metro Interface on Android

Some say it boring, some say exciting. Some say it path breaking, some say freezing. But you cannot deny that the Metro Interface on Windows Phones looks different. Different from other operating systems' icon based interfaces. Especially the live tiles make the home screen a looker, it gives a pleasant feel which no live wallpaper can provide.

Now if you have an Android phone but like the feel of Metro UI, there are solutions in the android market. There are several apps which can give you the desired metro feel. But I liked the Launcher7. It is small, intuitive, beautiful and functioning. Just search for Launcher7 in android market, and download. The size is small (1.68mb) but the possibilities are endless.

Here are some among the best features:
i) Apps can be pinned to the home screen.
ii) Tile colour can be changed.
iii) Background colour is changeable.
iv) Tiles get rotated when the screen is in landscape mode.
v) Tile icons can be set from SD card etc.
vi) The app work seamlessly, with animations working beautifully.
vii) And whatsmore the app is free.

Video Downloading Add-On For Firefox

For those of us, who really wanted to download videos from youtube or youtube-like sites, it was always searching for some good video capturing software or searching the torrents. But popular web browser Firefox had an excellent add-on for this purpose. The name of the Add-On is Video DownloadHelper. The Add-On actually takes a few seconds of downloading and then restart Firefox, and you are ready to rock.

After installing the Add-On, it creates an icon at the left side of the address bar. The icon consists of three different coloured balls (Red, Yellow and Blue). Whenever you are playing a video in Firefox, DownloadHelper detects it and the icon animates and an drop down arrow is visible between the address bar and the DownloadHelper icon. Upon clicking the arrow, options for downloading the video shows up. Selecting the desired type reveals an explorer windows to save the video on the hard drive. What’s more, before download you can convert those videos to another format too. It also extends it’s capturing abilities to photo slides and streaming audio.

Look at the photo below to locate the icon in the Firefox window.

Here are some details of the Add-On:

Name: DownloadHelper

Latest Version: 4.9.7

Developed by: mig.

For more info click here.

But there is one suggestion. If you can afford download ‘Internet Download Manager’, it’s the best for downloading streaming media and also supports bandwidth optimization. To know more keep watching this space.

Thank You.

Free Media File Converter

Have you ever wanted your favourite video downloaded from internet to your PC to watch on your handheld devices, like Cell Phone or iPod or PSP etc. but never found out how? If yes, then the wait is over!
There are several software that convert media files from one format to another. Here I am going to tell you about a free software for this purpose, Format Factory. 

Format Factory (FF) is not only a media file converter but also a basic video editor cum DVD/CD to iso converter and so on, the list is huge! It supports a lot of codec and uses them efficiently to do the job it is assigned to. The interface is easy enough for a newbie and also exciting for the advanced. take a look at the screenshot below

It is easy to find the necessary menus and settings, the percentage completed and the ongoing task.
FF can handle any format you are known to, name it!

For example: supported video codecs are 3gp, rmvb, wmv, mkv, mpg, flv, mov, gif, vob, swf. Supported audio codecs are mp3, wma, flac, aac, mmf, amr, m4a, m4r, ogg, mp2, wav, etc. Supported picture formats are jpg, png, ico, bmp, gif, tif, pcx, tga.

You can extract your DVD videos into your favourite format as well as your music CDs to your desired audio format. Ever wanted to have a built in iso converter on your computer? FF gives you just that. It converts iso into cso and vice versa. Also converting DVD contents into iso is just a few clicks away.
Here I am showing you how to convert a video from one format to another.

First Select the video tab on the left side menu. Here you'll find various convert to options, like 'All to 3gp, All to mp4" etc. Choose your preferred one. A new window opens.









On the new window you can see buttons showing various options like 'output settings', 'add file' etc. Output settings used to set the properties of the output file. Click it and a new window emerges.

In the output settings window you can change the quality and size of the video as well as the audio. In the advanced menu you can rotate the video to your desired angle too. However change according to your preference and click ok.







 Now click the 'Add File' button. A new explorer window opens which shows all supported media files. Select the file you want to convert and click open. The left side window will show up. Click OK.








The main window shows up. Now click the start button, marked with a green arrow, which reside below the menu bar. Now the start button turns into 'Pause' button and converting starts. The bottom bar shows the elapsed time and also the option to shut down the computer after converting with a check mark. When the task is completed a pop up message on the extreme right bottom side informs the completion.



There are more to explore with this software. But here i just posted a very basic operation.
You can download Format Factory by clicking the following here. The downloaded file is a zip file which needs to be extracted. Download, Extract, Install and Enjoy.
For more information click here.