Every so often, a project slides across your screen that seems too cool to be truly feasible. But Tyler Short, the architecture student behind this incredible louvre system, says his system’s been worked out to the last mechanical detail. Someone, manufacture this thing! Read more…
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This Amazing Mechanical Shading System Makes Blinds Beautiful
MediaPortal 1.7.0 Pre Release We are very happy to present you the Pre Release version of MediaPortal 1.7.0 today. This release includes a number of new features and bug fixes. These new features need a lot of testing to make sure everything works fine. Please report any problems in the bug reporting sections of the forum. Oh, and enjoy it! We are calling this a pre release, but it is very stable. Highlights of this release Many of the changes in this release are things that you might not notice at first, but they are designed to improve the stability of MediaPortal moving forwards for the next few releases. Using SkinSettings/Expressions Skin Settings and Expressions are really powerful. Skin designers are going to be doing some amazing things with them in the near future. We have already been testing a home screen editor entirely within the MediaPortal GUI. Look for this in Area 51 very soon. Separate the WindowsPlugins to individual files This is one for the developers. Since MediaPortal started, the core plugins (My Videos, My Music, My Pictures, etc.) have been stored in a single file called WindowsPlugins.dll. This means that a lot of code has been loaded that isn’t always needed. Also, making a change to one plugin often resulted in another plugin developing a new bug. We can’t carry on like that, so the plugins are now in their own self-contained files. This will make things more stable and easier to fix/improve in future. Enhancements to the TV and Video OSDs TV recording thumbs and comskip markers were not properly shown in the TV and Video OSDs. This is fixed. Improvements to the Installer You probably have the LAV Filters package installed to get the best quality playback of most video files, and TitanExtended installed to provide skin files for your plugins. The installer correctly detects the installed version, and only offers to install these if a newer version is available. Wake On LAN MediaPortal can now wake your server if it is in sleep mode and you want to access your files. Add MediaInfo For Files in the Background We use a code library called MediaInfo to obtain certain information about video files when you play them. This information can be displayed by MediaPortal. Up to now, it has only been possible to obtain this information when you actually play a file. With this release, we have added a setting to allow all files to be scanned in the background. This is turned off by default, so check out the documentation for changes to see where this setting is and how to enable it. Full list of changes You can review the complete change log for 1.7.0 Pre Release by using the link below: Changelog: MediaPortal 1.7.0 Pre Release Documentation of new features can be found at the following link: What’s new for MediaPortal 1.7.0 Pre Release Compiled Plugin related changes Community Plugin Developers should have a look at the following page to find out about the changes which will effect their extensions. Some of these changes are mandatory to become 1.7.0 compatible: changes which affect plugins Additional Information: TVE3 Code freeze At the moment we are working hard on releasing a new version of our TVEngine – which is called TVE3.5. Development is still in early stage and some features are missing. To make a release of this happen in the future we have to put our current TVEngine (TVE3) on code freeze. This means only critical issues will get fixed. Everything else will have to wait for a TVE3.5 release. When we think it is ready for public testing you will find a testbuild in our Area51 forum part. Since we have limited resources we are not able to give you a specific release date. It is ready when it is ready! We’ll hope you understand that. Thanks! Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback Installation With MediaPortal 1.6.0 we switched to .NET4 so you need to make sure you have .NET4 installed on your computer (not needed if you are on Windows 8 because it comes with .NET4, but you NEED the .NET 3.5 features enabled!). Otherwise you are not able to install MediaPortal and the installer just quits. Download-Link: Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Standalone Installer) Aside from that when doing a clean installation of 1.6.0 there is nothing else special to worry about. Upgrade Upgrading from 1.2.x, 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final, 1.4.0, 1.5.0 or 1.6.0 MP 1.7.0 Pre Release All MediaPortal 1.2.x, 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final, 1.4.0, 1.5.0 and 1.6.0 installations can be upgraded to 1.7.0 Pre Release without losing your settings. Plugins: If you are running MediaPortal 1.6.0 or earlier, many of your previously installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.7.0 Pre Release! We have been working hard with the plugin developer community to ensure that updated versions of plugins are available as soon as possible. Run the ‘MediaPortal Extension Installer’ and select ‘Update All Installed’ from the file menu to update in one click. Skins: Warning! Due to the new features and changes introduced in 1.4.0, none of the 1.3.x skins are compatible with 1.7.0 Pre Release! Please contact the author of the skin you use for further information and updates. Upgrading Extensions: The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer , and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version. Upgrading from 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier to 1.7.0 Pre Release All MediaPortal installations starting with 1.1.0 RC1 can be upgraded to 1.7.0 Pre Release, without losing your settings. If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier, then none of your extensions (plugins and skins) will work after the upgrade to 1.7.0 Pre Release! You must update your extensions after the upgrade! So, please make sure that 1.7.0 compatible versions of your extensions are available before you start the upgrade! General note about Upgrades Manually stop TV-Service! On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped. For upgrades to 1.7.0 Pre Release we recommend that you manually stop the TV-Service and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the “all users” option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade. Custom TV-Service properties If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options) , then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service. Feedback Bugs If you think you found a bug then please post a detailed report in our Bug Reports Forum . Make sure your report includes all the required information . Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean. Download Finally – the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes. If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation ! The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release! .::. Download – MediaPortal 1.7.0 Pre Release .::. :: Post a Comment ::
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MediaPortal 1.7.0 Pre Release released
It took more than 2, 000 pounds of explosives to bring down this 32-story tower in Frankfurt yesterday—roughly the same amount as a Mark 84 bomb. Thankfully, since we live in the age of YouTube, there are plenty of astounding videos of the demo. Read more…
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Behold One of the Biggest Controlled Skyscraper Implosions Ever
The Super Bowl is still a little over a week away, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start planning your day. Thankfully, if you can’t watch the game on TV, you’ll be able to stream it for free. Read more…
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Reminder: Here’s Where You Can Watch Super Bowl XLVIII Online
Back in May of 2012 the NHK’s science & Technology Research Lab in Japan successfully broadcasted an 8K, 7680×4320 signal over a distance of 2.7 miles using UHF frequencies. As a proof of concept it showed that 8K TV could be successfully delivered to televisions over the air, but it lacked the distance of traditional TV broadcasts. Read more…
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8K (Yes, 8K) Broadcasts Just Took a Major Step Forward
It’s usually over in an instant, but when you capture macro footage of a match head igniting at 4, 000 frames per second, suddenly that almost instantaneous event becomes a fascinating look into the science of fire and ignition. And believe it or not, YouTuber UltraSlo had to throw an additional 2, 000 watts of light on this match head to capture this mesmerizing footage—that’s a lot of birthday candles. Read more…
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Match Heads Igniting at 4,000 FPS Look Like Dying Alien Worlds
We can’t even pretend we’re not enamored with Google here at Lifehacker, but there is life on the other side. While the quality of search results is largely subjective (contrary to what the Bing Challenge would have you believe), there are some things that are definitely better in Microsoft’s garden. Read more…
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Five Things Bing Does Better Than Google
In this talk from Maker Faire New York, Bunnie Huang of Chibitronics gives an amazing run-down of the on-the-ground reality of having electronics manufactured in Shenzhen, China. It’s a wild 30 minutes, covering everything from choosing a supplier to coping with squat toilets and the special horrors awaiting vegetarians in the Pearl River Delta. There are some dropouts at the start of the video that you’ll need to scroll past, but it’s well worth the hassle. Getting it Made: Stories from Shenzhen ( via Make )
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Bunnie Huang explains the nuts-and-bolts of getting stuff made in Shenzhen
Put simply, there are too many Android phones out there. The only way to know which ones are worth your time is to follow tech news every day. For those that have other things to do, here’s what matters when buying a new device. Read more…
Android: If you suspect your roommate or anyone else has been reading your private messages on your phone, then PeeperPeeper can catch them red-handed. The app creates fake shortcuts for popular messaging apps and takes a photo when someone opens them. Read more…
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PeeperPeerer Catches Who Has Been Snooping on Your Private Messages