GeekwithEnvy

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How To Play a DVD in Windows 8

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If you haven’t already noticed, you can’t play a DVD by default in Windows 8. Yep, sounds weird but it’s true. Fortunately, there’s a great application out there that gets the job done and then some.

VLC Media Player is the simple solution to this problem. If you haven’t used this great application yet then your missing out. It plays all kinds of formats, almost all of them, and best of all, it’s completely free! You can customize your player with skins, work with filtering effects, and it even has streaming support. This is a very robust little application and it’s worth downloading.

VLC Media Player is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux and you can get it at the official site, VideoLAN.org.

VLCSS

A Great Free Alternative to Photoshop

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Adobe Photoshop is an incredibly useful tool and it seems that the only limitation is your imagination. The only set back to using such powerful software could be it’s price tag.  The full version of Adobe Photoshop retails for $699 and if you want you can “rent” Photoshop for $19.99 per month but you must commit to a year long subscription or you will have to pay $29.99 per month. That’s a lot of money to throw down, especially for non-professional use, but there’s no need to fear, there are other options.

There is a really good alternative to Photoshop and it’s called GIMP which is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GIMP offers up many of the same features as Photoshop and what’s even better is that it’s free!

GIMP Screenshot
GIMP UI

GIMP is loaded with features and you can export your images to many different file formats including TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PSD and many more. What I have found to be one of the best features is the ability to download plugins. If there’s a feature or format that you need, you can usually always find a plugin to take care of your needs. You can perform many of the same common tasks that you would expect to find in any other modern image software, including photo retouching and enhancement, resizing/cropping, colorizing, filters and much more.

GIMP UI ScreenshotTwo
GIMP UI

Although most users will be able to jump right into it, those who are used to Photoshop may take a little while to get used to a different user interface. I use both Photoshop and GIMP but I do all of my work in GIMP on my laptop, including most of the photos you see on GeekwithEnvy. If you do get stuck or just want to learn more you can head over the the tutorials section to get up to speed.

GIMP is primarily written in C and was originally intended to to be a reasonably priced or Free image manipulation program for GNU/Linux and UNIX. Today, you can download the software for Mac OSX, Windows, Sun OpenSolaris, FreeBSD and of course GNU/Linux. For complete information you can head here.

 

CES only a Few Days Away

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Yes, it’s the world’s largest annual innovation event and one of my favorite things about starting the new year! The International Consumer Electronics Show will feature thousands of new gadgets to check out and of course we will do our part to bring you updates.

The International CES will be held in Las Vegas on January 8th – 11th. It truly is a major geek out and I can’t wait to see what comes out of this years event. You can get all the event info on the official CES website.

Here’s a look back at CES 2012.

Do We Really Need Microsoft Office?

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Every time I visit my local computer store and walk past the software section, I ponder whether or not I would benefit from having a copy of Microsoft Office. The product has been around for years and has been extremely useful throughout school. Businesses have relied on MS Office to get their work done as well and no one ever really bothered to ask if it was really necessary. Why would they? It’s just the way things go. If you’re a business or student then having MS Office is just a necessary as a #2 pencil. Open Office Logo

The times have changed though and people are starting to wonder why they keep paying for a product when a free alternative is offering similar quality. OpenOffice is a real contender and it’s getting better. I have been using OpenOffice for years and I don’t even consider using anything else. What makes OpenOffice even more appealing is that it runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. So now you have a free software suite with all of the bells as whistles of MS Office and it runs on all three major platforms. Another plus for OpenOffice is that it also has good library of templates and extensions, and yes you can still get access to clip art as well.

So why bother with Office? Really theres not too much to argue against using OpenOffice, except maybe the fact that you might run into a few problems with users getting used to the new suite. It definitely feels a little different than MS Office and that can make people a little uncomfortable. There is also the issue with the lack of pre-installed templates, this is something that’s easily solved by simply going out and getting them but with MS Office most of the common templates are already available.

Some businesses are not only moving away from Microsoft Office but they are moving away from traditional PC’s. OpenOffice is available on the iPad which is the one mobile device that is gaining a lot of popularity with companies and even has the interest of the government making the switch. Given it’s open source roots, the possibilities for OpenOffice seem endless as it allows the software to be engineered directly for a company’s needs. Add in the benefits of cost savings and it starts to look like a viable solution. OpenOffice is a great software suite and if you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend you give it a shot. I’m sure you will find that it suits your needs.

Ninite Can Make Your Transition to Windows 8 Much Easier

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If you’re upgrading to Windows 8 from XP or if you just plan on doing a clean install anyway, it’s time to consider how you’re going to get all of those wonderful applications you use re-installed on your system.Ninite Screenshot 1

If you’ve done a clean install, you know how much of a hassle it can be re-installing everything you need. In some cases it can take hours to get back up and running. With Ninite, you can take advantage of a set-it and forget-it mentality. Ninite is super easy to set-up and use, it is truly amazing.

To setup Ninite, simply head over to the Ninite website and choose your platform at the top of the page. Once you select which OS you use, you can begin selecting applications.ninitescreenshot4

After you have selected all of the applications you want installed, head to the bottom of the page and click “Get Installer”. Once the download is complete, just open the installer and you’re done! Yep, you can walk away and do whatever you need to do and Ninite will do all of the work, it really is that simple.Ninite Screenshot 4

What if you don’t see one of your applications in the list?

Ninite offers the ability for you to suggest applications for inclusion into the list.

What about Add-ons and toolbars, does Ninite have them? Does it allow applications to install third-party products on my system?

The short answer here is no, it bypasses all of the garbage. It installs apps just like you would have had you installed these apps yourself. Ninite itself is a legit program that runs without installing adware or spyware. So if you have apps to install, I think this one is a no brainer.