Practical Technology

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Entries Tagged as 'Music'

An open alternative for Palm Pre iTunes users

July 17th, 2009 · 5 Comments

Apple will tell you that iTunes 8.2.1 fixes bugs and, in particular, improves interoperability with iPhones and iPod Touches running iPhone 3.0 Software. But, it really it only has one ‘feature:’ It blocks the Palm Pre’s iTunes compatibility. KDE thinks there’s another way. But, just to get this out of the way, I’m now running [...]

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Tags: Apple · Development · Embedded · Entertainment · Music · Open Source

Cisco releases Linux-powered 802.11n router and media-server

June 23rd, 2009 · 4 Comments

This just came in over the press-wire, and I’m already interested. Cisco has announced on June 23 that a new Linux powered router, the Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link, the WRT160NL is out. At first glance that may not seem that interesting. But, this isn’t just a new Wi-Fi router with [...]

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Tags: Cisco · Entertainment · Linux · Media Extender · Music · Network · Video · Wi-Fi

Moonshine brings Windows Media to Linux

February 13th, 2009 · 7 Comments

When I first looked at Moonlight, Novell’s open-source version of Microsoft’s Sliverlight, I liked it, but I didn’t really see much of a point to it. Silverlight, Microsoft’s latest answer to Adobe Flash, isn’t used in many sites. What I liked the most about Silverlight was that it provided a fully legal way to access [...]

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Tags: Applications · Entertainment · Linux · Microsoft · Multimedia · Music · Novell · Operating System · Video

Silverlight, via Moonlight, comes to Linux

February 11th, 2009 · Comments Off

f you’re like me, you don’t like proprietary video and audio codecs. Be that as it may, some sites, like NBC’s Olympics site, use Microsoft’s proprietary Silverlight streaming technology. Until recently, if you were using Linux that meant you couldn’t watch videos from these sites at all. Until now The Mono Project, a Novell sponsored [...]

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Tags: Applications · Desktop · Linux · Microsoft · Multimedia · Music · Novell · Operating System · Video

Apple kills off DRM

January 6th, 2009 · Comments Off

DRM (Digital Right Management) has been a thorn in the side of music and video lovers for years. Now, Apple, after wheeling and dealing with the major music companies, is killing DRM off for good in iTunes. You should now be able to buy DRM-free songs in one of three price ranges: 69-cents, 99-cents or [...]

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Tags: Apple · DRM · Entertainment · Music