Ducati creates a short film with the iPhone 4

Amazing that the video was shot solely with an iPhone, also amazing ride on the Multistrada, I think I'd like one of those....

 

Ducati creates a short film with the iPhone 4: "

Filed under: Video, iPhone

I have to eat my words -- despite my belief before launch that an iPhone 4 wouldn't be hard to find without a preorder, I'm still waiting to get the chance to buy one. But I got to play with another one last night (that screen!), and just like every other time I've had a chance to use it, I've been very impressed by the back camera. Both stills and HD video look really amazing when taken with that thing. Here's another example: the Ducati motorcycle team filmed the entire commercial above on eight different iPhone 4s over a period of four days -- watching it in HD shows off just what this camera is capable of.

They did use the Owle Bubo, which explains some of the better shots a little bit. And you can also see that slight shudder so common to low-end HD cameras, especially when the camera pans quickly or tries to capture fast motion. But especially without color correction, the images still look terrific for a camera on your phone. The audio is great as well, but I'm not convinced they did that with only a phone. The final video was edited together in Adobe Premiere, just because 'there were enough unknowns' without trying to use iMovie on iPhone for the first time.

TUAWDucati creates a short film with the iPhone 4 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Ducati - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple - Owle Bubo"

 

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Open-source ERP 'most active' SourceForge project

Of course it was inevitable, but I get shudders at the thought of trying to implement.  I'm sure there's lots of professional services available to assist, but WOW!

Open-source ERP 'most active' SourceForge project: "Open-source ERP software may represent a small chunk of the overall market, but as a concept it has clearly gained a critical mass of adherents."

(Via Computerworld Breaking News.)

Rescue photos off memory cards with PhotoRec

A handy free utility for those of us willing to do a little manual work as opposed to spending $50+ for over-hyped HSN type of recovery applications....

Rescue photos off memory cards with PhotoRec: "There are a lot of good tools out there to restore data from corrupted memory cards but most of them are for Windows. I remembered using an open source command line tool for this purpose. It is called PhotoRec and is cross platform as well. Although their web site has detailed instructions on how to use the software I still wanted to share my straightforward procedure for doing so on a Mac (you are still doing it at your own risk). Here is a summary of the step-by-step procedure.

• Download PhotoRec (the latest version is 6.11.3).
• Extract the files in the Finder (I downloaded it in Downloads folder and assume it is located there).
• Open the Terminal and type (watch out if you have a different version number):
  $ cd Downloads/testdisk-6.11.3/darwin/
• Run the PhotoRec with typing (no need to be super use ...

"

 

(Via MacOSXHints.com.)

Top 10 guidance tips for new CIOS and IT leaders

True for any new management position, not just IT.  Good reminders....

 

Top 10 guidance tips for new CIOS and IT leaders: "

Having almost reached the midpoint of his first 100 days in a new CIO position, Isaac Sacolick has developed some practical strategies that will benefit anyone who’s stepping into an IT leadership role.

---

It’s been awhile since my last post. What can I say; the first 100 days of being CIO at a new job is busy. There’s people to meet, the business to learn, and the technology to understand. Some things need immediate attention; others are things that can be dealt with later. It’s easy to be overwhelmed.

So, almost halfway into my 100 days, I can give new CIOs some advice. This goes beyond building the 100 day plan, which I think is critical to stay focused. This is my practical guidance for CIOs, but also for anyone taking a new senior technology leadership position.

This article is a reprint of an entry in Isaac Sacolick’s blog. It’s also available as a PDF download.

1: Ask lots of questions

The advantage of being the new guy is that people should expect it. I’ve been very fortunate in this new position and everyone’s been a good sport. Questions not only help you build up your understanding but also may help others see things from new perspectives. Occasionally, asking questions will expose an issue, but better now than later. And sometimes asking questions will help develop a culture of dialogue and collaboration.

2: Always be prioritizing

Your time now is at a huge premium. Set your schedule, but be prepared to change it as you recognize immediate vs. short-term needs.

3: Find ways to contribute early

Some call this quick wins, but even before that, relationship building is easier when it is two way.

4: Listen

Some of the ‘books’ on management strongly suggest setting expectations with your staff early. I think before you set structure with your team, set time to first engage, listen, and learn.

5: Slowly zero in on the priorities

I stress here on the word slowly. It means go broad and learn more before setting new priorities.

6: Understand the business cycles and key dates

When are budgets done? When are the peak sales cycles? When are deployments scheduled? On my first week, I asked my directs to send me a list of key dates. All of this will help you prioritize your time and consider the timing of new initiatives.

7: People come before process and technology

CIOs tend to think in this trio, but in the first 100 days, focus needs to be on people and relationships first, process second, and technology a distant third.

8: Be prepared to run

Move fast. You have lots to learn, stuff to do, and plans to build.

9: Look for burning platforms

If I put 100 CIOs in a room, I doubt anyone would say that everything was running well when they took the job. In addition to priorities, you have to hunt down the issues — the ones everyone tells you about, but more important, the ones no one recognizes.

10: Leadership starts early

Don’t expect to sit in the back seat even though you’re the newbie. Your team, your colleagues, and your boss expect you to step up early. Will you be perceived as just the tech person, or as someone with a broader business understanding? Whether and how you participate is key to everyone’s early perceptions.

Isaac Sacolick is VP of Technology, CIO at McGraw-Hill Construction and has held CIO/CTO posts at BusinessWeek, TripConnect, and PowerOne Media. Isaac is an entrepreneur and specialist in media and publishing technologies, social networking, content management, XML search technologies, web analytics, data warehousing, digital advertising, enterprise 2.0, and agile management practices. Isaac writes a blog on Social, Agile and Transformation and is a frequent speaker on leading innovation in the enterprise and agile development practices.

"

 

(Via 10 Things.)

In Depth: Top 25 OS X Terminal commands

In Depth: Top 25 OS X Terminal commands: "

Terminal (in Applications/ Utilities) gives you direct access to the UNIX system that underpins OS X. By typing specific commands into your Terminal window, you can make changes, open settings or access features that aren't available by any other means.

After typing one of the commands offered in this tutorial, press Return to activate it, and anything offered in quotes is typed without the quote marks themselves.

Commands split over two or more lines here should be typed in their entirety – you don't press Return halfway through. And bear in mind that some commands are case-sensitive, so be true to what's here.

One final word of warning: all the tips in this article have been thoroughly tested, but experimenting with the Terminal is not a task to be undertaken lightly. Do not try to modify or adapt these hacks unless you really know what you're doing.

01. i… Robot

Your Mac can talk to you. Using a robotic voice reminiscent of a 50s sci-fi flick, it can ask after your health, tell you a joke or say anything else you care to type. It's a simple trick.

Just open the Terminal application (found in Applications > Utilities), enter:

say MacFormat

…And the Terminal robot utters the name of MacFormat magazine. Obviously it doesn't have to be MacFormat – type anything you like. Give it a go, it's fun.

02. Back up at will

By default, Time Machine backups take place every hour, but you can change this through Terminal. To make it back up every half an hour instead, simply type:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/Launch Daemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 1800

The '1800' at the end of this command is half an hour, expressed in seconds. You can change this figure to suit: for example, to back up once an hour again, replace it with '3600', for two-hour backups, '7200'.

Always remember to be especially careful with commands that begin 'sudo'. These are system-level commands that can cause huge problems if misused, which is why you're asked for your administrator's password the first time you try one.

03. Logon greetings

Another sudo – and therefore dangerous – command that enables you to add a message to the login screen. In Terminal, type:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText 'Your Message'

Replace 'Your Message' with whatever it is you want to display, of course, but be careful with your punctuation. Some characters (exclamation marks, for instance) stop the command from working.

To remove the message, type:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText ''

04. Play games in the Terminal

As you may know, OS X is UNIX based. Emacs, a text editor, forms part of the UNIX system, and it contains some Easter egg games, including the ever-popular Tetris, Pong and Snake.

First you must find your Emacs version number. In the Terminal, type cd /usr/share/emacs/ And press Return. Now type 'ls' and press Return again. You're given your Emacs version number (1.21, for instance). Now, write it down.

Then enter the following:

ls /usr/share/emacs/[VERSION]/lisp/ play

Replace [VERSION] with the number obtained earlier. You get a directory of all the available games. Make a note, or take a screenshot.

Now switch to Emacs through Terminal by simply typing 'emacs'. To access the games, press Esc then x and type the name of the game you wish to play, before pressing Return.

You can switch to the next game by pressing Esc then x and the name of the next game you wish to try. Have fun!

05. Fix window sizes in FFView

01. Resize problem

FFView is a great sequential image viewer, but its Page width Mode resizes its window every time you turn to the next image. This is very annoying if you want to set – and stick to – your own window size. What to do?

02. Resize resolution

Terminal solves the problem. Type:

defaults write com.feedface.ffview udn_dont_resize_img_ win 1

The window now remains a constant size. To reverse this, enter the code again, replacing the '1' at the end with '0'. Now restart the app.

03. Want comics?

There's a wealth of downloadable free comics available on the web. For example, mobile comic publisher Robot Comics offers a list of high-quality, free-to-download material suitable for reading on your Mac with FFView. Check it out here.

06. Get a massive Dock

If you want giant-sized magnified Dock icons, enable Magnification in System Preferences > Dock, and in Terminal type:

defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -int 512; killall Dock

This increases their maximum size to 512x512 pixels. You can substitute another figure if you wish, but don't go any higher than 512. To switch this effect off, just return to the Dock's preferences and move the Magnification slider back.

07. Hybrid Dock folders

For a different version of a Dock folder or Stack's List option, type:

defaults write com.apple.dock use-new-liststack -boolean YES; killall Dock

This gives you an interesting hybrid of the List and Grid viewing options. Your List view icons are bigger, and if there are more items than fits the window, you can scroll through them in the same way as you would in Grid view.

Also like Grid view, clicking on a folder now opens it within the Stack. If you find you don't like these changes, type the command again, replacing 'YES' with 'NO'.

08. Inspect the web

Safari's Web Inspector offers a great deal of detail about web pages, and it's invaluable for serious web developers. You can activate it using Safari's Debug Menu outlined elsewhere in this tutorial, but if you only want the Web Inspector, type:

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKit DeveloperExtras -bool true

After restarting Safari, you can now access the Web Inspector by right-clicking on a web page and selecting it from the contextual menu.

As you might guess, you can deactivate this feature by repeating the command, but replacing 'true' with 'false' at the end and restarting Safari once more.

09. Debug iCal

Like many OS X applications, iCal has a Debug Mode that can be activated through Terminal. Type:

defaults write com.apple.iCal IncludeDebugMenu YES

A new menu bar pull-down titled Debug appears. You can hide it again by repeating the code but replacing 'YES' with 'NO'; note that iCal must be restarted for changes to take effect.

10. Debug Address Book

Address Book also has a hidden debug menu. To enable it, type:

defaults write com.apple.addressbook ABShow DebugMenu -bool YES

The Debug pull-down appears in the menu bar. To disable it again, repeat the command and replace 'YES' with 'NO' at the end. The application must be closed and restarted for these commands to take effect.

11. Enable Safari debug menu

To enable a debug menu in Safari 4, type; defaults write com.apple. safari IncludeInternalDebug Menu 1 Quit Safari and restart it for the hack to take effect, giving you an extra menu bar pulldown labelled Debug.

To get rid of it again, repeat the command, replacing the '1' at the end with '0'. A restart is again required.

12. Enable x-ray folders in Quick Look

01. Folders can look dreary

If you highlight a file in Finder and press [Space] or click on the eye-like icon in the toolbar, you activate Quick Look, giving you information about the item in question and possibly a preview of the file. Folders look pretty dull in Quick Look, as you can see here.

02. See through the veil

Fortunately, there is a way to spice up your folder viewing experience, and Terminal is the source: to make Quick Look give you an x-ray image of a folder, simply type:

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders -boolean YES

03. X-ray vision is yours

Quick Look now offers an x-ray view of a folder, with an icon that shows you what's inside it. To disable this feature once more, type the code offered in step two again, replacing 'YES' with 'NO'. Quick Look folders are returned to their former state, with no x-ray view.

13. Translucent icons

To turn the Dock icons translucent for applications that are open but hidden, type;

defaults write com.apple. Dock showhidden -bool YES; killall Dock

Repeat the command, replacing 'YES' with 'NO' to disable this feature once more. Icons for applications that are already hidden when you activate this feature will not appear translucent unless you Show and then Hide them again.

14. Recently used

This somewhat intimidating code introduces a new Stack into your Dock, showing a list of your recently used applications:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ 'tile-data' = { 'list-type' = 1; }; 'tile-type' = 'recents-tile'; }'; killall Dock

Type it carefully. It's a really useful feature. When the new Stack is in your Dock, you can right-click on it and change it from showing Recent Applications to Recent Documents, Recent Servers, Favourite Volumes or Favourite Items.

It can be displayed in Fan, Grid or List View, just like a regular stack. If you want to get rid of it again, just drag it out of the Dock.

15. Expose your Dock

By default, clicking and holding on the Dock icon for an active application in Snow Leopard activates Dashboard Exposé, showing all of that application's currently-open windows. In Leopard, of course, this gave you a contextual menu; that's something you can access in both operating systems by right-clicking on the icon in question.

If you're running Snow Leopard but prefer Leopard's way of doing things, type the following Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock show-exposemenus -boolean no; killall Dock

Repeating the command with 'YES' instead of 'NO' returns your Dock's Exposé functions to normal.

16. Grid view highlights

If you open a Stack in Grid view, you can navigate through its enclosures using your keyboard's arrow keys, with the currently selected icon highlighted by a grey gradient box. However, if you drag your mouse pointer over the Grid, no such highlighting appears – unless you use this Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilitestack -boolean YES; killall Dock

You now get the same grey background box during mouse-overs as you do when navigating through the Grid using the keyboard. Replace 'YES' with 'NO' to switch this off again, though we doubt you'll want to.

17. Dock the gloss

If you're not too keen on the 3D Dock, with its shiny glass finish showing reflections of the application icons, use this tip to switch to something a little simpler:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

Your Dock background is now a much plainer translucent black design with a thin white outline. Icons are no longer reflected in the Dock, and open applications are indicated by a white dot instead of a blue floodlight.

If you decide you prefer the 3D look after all you can repeat the command substituting 'NO' for 'YES', so you've nothing to lose by giving it a go.

18. Search your music

When you highlight a track in your iTunes library, you get a right-facing arrow in a circle. Clicking on this searches the iTunes Store for similar material. However, using this Terminal input, you can get it to search your library instead:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes invertStore Links -bool YES

Restart iTunes to activate it, and repeat the command with 'NO' replacing 'YES' to switch things back to their default behaviour.

19. Drag Dashboard widgets onto your Desktop

One of the most interesting Terminal tips enables you to drag your widgets out of the Dashboard and onto the Desktop, where they float above open applications and Finder windows akin to the 'Gadgets' in Windows Vista's Sidebar. To activate it, type:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

You must then log out and back in again, or restart your machine. You can now capture a widget by clicking and holding it, and pressing F12 to dismiss the Dashboard and drop it on your desktop.

By capturing a widget that's on your desktop and pressing F12, you can return it to your Dashboard too. Widgets placed on the Desktop function just like they do on the Dashboard.

To disable this feature, repeat the code simply replacing 'YES' with 'NO'. Again, you must log out and in again or restart your machine for the change to take effect, after which widgets that are already on the desktop can be returned to the Dashboard, but there they must remain.

20. Expanded Save view

The Save command brings up a dialog window, enabling you to choose a title, where your document will save to and possibly the format in which it will be saved, depending on the application in question.

Next to the title, there's a blue button with a triangle pointing down. Pressing this expands the dialog window, giving it a similar format to a Finder window. If you want this window to appear in its expanded form by default, type:

defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedState ForSaveMode -bool TRUE

If needed, just replace 'TRUE' with 'FALSE' to revert to how things were.

21. Faster Screen Sharing

MobileMe's Screen Sharing facility is an excellent feature, but depending on your internet connection, it can be very sluggish. Thankfully, there's an easy way of speeding it up by using a Terminal command to reduce the image quality of the shared screen:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing controlObserveQuality 1

This reduces the screen to its lowest possible quality setting, giving you a black and white image. You can replace the '1' at the end of the command with the numbers '2' to '5', offering progressively higher quality screens. '2' gives a greyscale image, '3' offers eight-bit colour, '4' is 16-bit colour and '5' takes you back to full colour, the default setting.

22. Screenshot names

If you capture a screenshot in Snow Leopard, it's automatically titled 'Screen shot', followed by a date and time. You can change this using a Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name 'Anything you like'; killall SystemUIServer

Simply change 'Anything you like' to whatever it is you wish to call the screens you capture – the date and time remain unchanged. To go back to the default, simply use this command with 'Anything you like' replaced by 'Screen shot'.

23. Reveal hidden files

There are several applications that let you look at OS X's hidden files, such as resource forks, but there's also a very simple command you can employ from the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAll Files TRUE; killall Finder

Be careful with this one. Those files are hidden for a reason, and while it's interesting to see what's there, don't fiddle with them unless you know what you're doing. To turn off this feature, repeat the command replacing 'TRUE' with 'FALSE'.

24. Copy, Gold Leader!

This must be the strangest Terminal command ever. Go on, type:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

You're treated to the Star Wars movie, retold in ASCII art. Wait for the prefilm credits to end, and make sure you don't resize the Terminal window, or the graphics won't format properly.

25. Quit Finder like any other app

With this handy command, you can quit out of Finder in the same way you would any other app:

defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool YES; killall Finder

A Quit option now appears at the foot of the Finder menu. To remove it, enter the code again, replacing 'YES' with 'NO'.

Related Stories

• In Depth: 40 cool OS X tips to save you time and effort
• What VAT rise means for your Apple gadgets
• In Depth: Long-term test: one month with the iPad

"

(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)

Windows Server Backup Issue

In one client environment we use Windows Server Backup that's built-in to Server 2008 & 2008 R2. It's limited in features however it's highly reliable, fast, and is native to the operating system.

We had one server that continued to fail however. It's running 2008 R2 Enterprise and is a Hyper-V host with about 8 virtual servers. It appeared that it was timing out consistently. We edited the backup job (from the GUI) and could successfully execute the backups without the iSCSI LUN where most of the VMs live and we could do a separate backup with only the iSCSI LUN without error however when we tried to backup the local machine and the iSCSI LUN together it timed out. Inside of the logs (Application) an error in Backup: Event ID 521, The backup operation that started at '‎2010‎-‎06‎-‎27T17:27:23.225000000Z' has failed because the Volume Shadow Copy Service operation to create a shadow copy of the volumes being backed up failed with following error code '2155348001'. Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

Lots of searching revealed no simple remedies, however I finally found one item near the end of a post here that gave me something else to try.

After creating the registry mod mentioned, HKLM\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\SPP and then create a new REG_DWORD entry with the value data (hex) being b71b00 (which should create a traditional value of 12000000 which equates to 20 minutes instead of the default 10. No service restarts or anything else, just create that entry. We then kicked off another full backup (local and iSCSI LUN and it's running successfully!

Mac Finder Issue

This seems to happen every now and then again with Snow Leopard when working with network drives, not sure what it is and it only happens with one of my machines, a Snow Leopard Server (10.6.4). I was able to reopen the finder from the command line (using Terminal).

Just open the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and paste in this line: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder &

Then you can close Terminal.

Playback Media Server 1.6 Delivers more Sophistication and Performance

I haven't tried it myself but it sounds promising for those of you with DLNA clients in the house (many new televisions and Blu-Ray players), as well as Windows 7.

Playback Media Server 1.6 Delivers more Sophistication and Performance: "

Chicago, Illinois – Yazsoft today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Playback 1.6, a major update to their popular zero configuration media server for Mac OS X. With a focus on ease-of-use, Playback allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device. Playback can also share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. No configuration required. Playback also brings a highly anticipated feature to PS3/Xbox users – built-in HD MKV support to all PS3/Xbox users without the use of messy and resource hogging transcoding.

Playback is engineered for extreme performance, while at the same time delivering a streamlined design with unparalleled reliability and stability. By default, it will share almost any content on the users system. And Playback automatically integrates with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, Adobe Lightroom 2, Photobooth, and EyeTV too, making it a perfect complement to Apple’s iLife Suite. Users can share all content from these applications transparently or choose specific playlists and albums.

Those who like to tinker will appreciate Playback’s built-in Access Control List (ACL) and bandwidth throttling. The ACL allows users to control which devices have access to their media. Bandwidth throttling limits the transfer rate from the computer to their UPnP device. This allows others on the network to do other internet related activities, such as surf the web and check their email.

Playback was engineered for extreme speed, while offering complete control of shared content. Media is served via lighttpd, the same rock-solid technology that powers YouTube, Wikipedia, and many other popular sites. Playback sports many creature comforts as well, including Growl notifications, Spotlight based searching, on-screen thumbnails (powered by QuickLook), and much more. Playback even includes a handy Status menu which conveniently displays live stream info, at-a-glance.

Feature Highlights:

* Streamlined design

* Unparalleled performance and stability

* 64-bit Playback menu component

* Share movies, music, and pictures

* Built-in support for HD MKV files

* Transparent integration with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, Photobooth, Adobe Lightroom 2 & 3, and EyeTV recordings

* Complete control of shared content

* Spotlight based searching

* Quicklook thumbnails for all media

* Bandwidth throttling

* ACL access

* Growl notifications

* Status menu with live stream info

* And much more

What’s changed in 1.6:

* New: Redesigned media management system for unparalleled performance and reliability

* New: Dramatically improved Spotlight query performance. Spotlight engine can now catalog over 100,000 files in less than a minute

* New: iTunes, iPhoto, and Aperture integration has been completely overhauled

* New: The ‘playback_discovery’ process has been eliminated

* New: Added Support for Adobe Lightroom 3

* Fixed: Improved browsing when using the Playstation 3

* Other: Many other bug fixes and enhancements

System Requirements:

* Requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later

* 47 MB Hard Drive Space

* Any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device

* Network connection (Gigabit recommended for HD)

Pricing and Availability:

Playback is offered at the low price of $15.00 (USD) for three (3) licenses, and can be purchased from the Yazsoft website. A free 7 day demo is also available for download.

Playback 1.6
Download Playback
Purchase Playback
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Application Icon

The Yazsoft team came together in 2001 to develop software expressly for the Mac platform. With an emphasis on total customer satisfaction, Yazsoft makes up a development team of 5 professionals, each responsible for coding, marketing, and total customer support. Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Yazsoft. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Spotlight and QuickLook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

"

(Via MacMegasite.)

Desktop Image Management: Build a Better Desktop Image

Desktop Image Management: Build a Better Desktop Image: "

Developing and maintaining the primary system image you use for deploying to new systems need not be a complicated process. Our writer explores some best practices for streamlining the process.

Mitch Tulloch

TechNet Magazine June 2010

"

(Via TechNet Magazine: RSS Feed.)

Office 2003 & 2007 Installed, Set 2007 as the default

If you have Office 2003 & 2007 installed on a single computer, you can tell Windows to use 2007 as the default. Reference.

RUN: msiexec.exe /fm {90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}

Recovery Software

For Windows users who are looking for a free file recovery software application, check out Pandora Recovery.

In Depth: Best music-making and music-editing software

In Depth: Best music-making and music-editing software: "

One realisation for those building a home recording studio: there are so many choices. It may seem easier to pay Noel Gallagher from Oasis to do the work.

The second most startling realisation is that you'll pay through the nose for some of the gear. One AKG microphone can cost a few thousand pounds, and audio mixing boards are horrendously expensive.

Fortunately, if you already have a high-powered PC (or know how to build one) with a dual-core processor and plenty of RAM, you already own a potential recording studio.

The inputs are there, plenty of software apps provide the necessary recording and mixing tools, and you can burn a CD or upload it to your favourite indie music store with ease.

Interestingly, music production is already PC-centric. Even the most high-end setups rely on apps such as Digi Design Pro Tools and Cubase. Creating audio loops, programming complex drum patterns, tweaking EQ settings in a final mixdown – these functions are all 'performed' behind an LCD.

The good news: you can easily patch together a fairly powerful music studio rig for hardly any cost, if you know which applications to use and have some technical know-how.

One example: Ardour for Linux and Mac OSX systems is free to download and use (although they ask for a small donation), but has high-end digital audio workstation features, such as VST plug-in support for adding instrument libraries and a non-linear audio editor for creating multi-track recordings.

Free audio tools are not crippled in any way; in fact, some of the best audio apps, such as Audacity and Fluid Synth are better than the commercial alternatives. So what are you waiting for? Noel Gallagher is a busy guy and that top-ten metalcore (or bagpipe-punk fusion) hit is just a mouse click away.

You can become an audio god in just a few simple steps: download these apps, setup your PC recording studio, break out that Fender Strat, belt out a few notes, and start dreaming of opening for Snow Patrol – or at least the pure enjoyment of working with powerful music applications, pumping out some mad tunes, and getting more bang out of your PC.

To become the next John Lennon clone, you'll need a powerful and fairly recent computer. Now, you might be surprised to learn the system doesn't need to be the absolute latest rig with an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM.

You can use (or build) any dual-core system that boasts about 4GB of RAM. You won't want to use an older computer with a single-core operating system, because the latest apps do take advantage of dual-core processing and the hyperthreading techniques, and benefit greatly from the faster clock rates in the most recent processors.

Most PCs also have plenty of mass storage for multi-track recording. In fact, you may want to downgrade to an earlier operating system (say, Microsoft Vista or even XP) because many audio apps have not released Windows 7 drivers yet.

Now, most of the audio latency that occurs in recordings – eg., the slight delay between the sounds you are generating with an instrument and how the clip is recorded – has more to do with the external hardware you use.

Any recent PC sound card is more than adequate for working with loops and drum patterns, but to record, for instance, vocals and acoustic guitar, you'll need an audio interface such as the Cakewalk UA-1G which has -inch connections for guitar and microphone, as well as handy input and output volume controls.

The way of the DAW

Okay, you've built or borrowed a recent system with a sound card. You also have a way to record instruments with an audio interface. Now to record your next opus, you'll need digital audio workstation (DAW) software, which are essentially the heart and soul of the music studio. Any loops, drums, samples or tracks you create will be assembled in the workstation.

The best DAW we have found is called Reaper, because it's powerful enough to record and mix a real song, one that you'll be proud to share with the world. Reaper is free to download and test, but the company suggests donating just £30 if you use it regularly.

The interface is highly intuitive: to add a track, you just right-click on the main screen and select 'Insert New Track'. There are VCR controls for recording analogue instruments, such as guitar and vocals.

Because the program supports VST, if you do purchase a commercial product such as Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4 that tool will appear from within Reaper so you can use the wide array of effects.

Ardour, which is only available on Linux and Mac, is another powerful DAW we highly recommend. One of the greatest strengths of this recording tool is its stability. The app hasn't gone down once in testing under Ubuntu Studio and has some pro-level features, such as unlimited undo for track effects. This means, if you record a new guitar lick and start tweaking the sound, adding a delay or distortion, you can undo all the changes back to the original track.

Ardour also lets you create unlimited audio tracks, although you'll find the program will slow down considerably if you add more than about 16 tracks.

Note by note

Rosegarden is a stark departure from both Reaper and Ardour. Instead of recording analogue tracks to create a full band sound (think: The Killers), this free application for Linux lets you create songs note by note.

In the editing window, you can click away to create notes where you want them. Then, you can build up the entire song, change keys and tempo, and view the notations. You can then print sheet music or even publish your song through a service such as BMI.

Audacity is another good recording tool for a home studio. Essentially, this venerable workhorse lets you edit the actual sound waveform (for example, for trimming out background noise), convert from one format to another (helpful if you find a loop in a different format from the one supported by your recording software), and even change the speed or pitch of the recording.

Fortunately, even though it sounds technical, Audacity provides a visual and easy-to-understand interface for editing audio clips.

One reason to use Audacity: if you have recorded the perfect drum section or guitar solo and then realised the clip has some extra hiss or audio artefacts, you can export the track as a WAV file from your recording software and then use Audacity to see those mistakes up close and remove them as needed.

A music studio isn't necessarily just for musicians who want to record instruments and put them together into a finished song. For those who have never learned an instrument, you can still create your own music, using loop libraries and beat samples you can download from the Internet, then assemble them into a complete song.

A PC audio workstation that uses free software is a good fit for the amateur composer or enthusiast, who may not want to spend huge amounts of money (or any at all) on their hobby but still wants to produce quality music.

A good place to start is at the Freesound Project offers hundreds of free loops and sound samples. You can download a huge selection under the Creative Commons licence, which means you can use any of its audio samples you want as long as you do not sell the finished song.

Freesound has a wide assortment of loops and samples, some of them strange (aliens chirping off in the distance) and even bewildering (one loop is nothing but an alarm repeating over and over), but the key here is that you can download a sample and then tweak it using Audacity or digital audio workstation software, such as Reaper.

For example, you may want to mess around with that odd alarm sound, but by lowering the pitch or changing it to a slow tempo, it can suddenly sound more like a bass part.

Beatmatch is another free collection of music, but one that's intended more for rappers and DJs, who are looking to add repeating drum loops and synth parts that work well for certain types of music, such as dance, house and techno music.

Beatmatch offers complete libraries, all of them that are free to use, so you can mix and match loops together, find several clips that are similar (eg., a loop that uses the same synth sound, but repeats at a different rate), and to inspire you to write new material.

Beatmatch also offers only high-quality AIFF and WAV samples, which is extremely helpful, since when you add these tones to your new song you won't have to put up with any distortion or hiss.

Philharmonia is another free loop compendium, but one that consists mainly of orchestral sound samples instead of the typical beat samples and drum loops. In Philharmonia, you can find, for example, a viola or woodwind sound that you can load into Rosegarden or Reaper and create a MIDI track.

Free-Loops.com and Sound Transit also offer a wide assortment of loops and samples for free, many of them without any licensing restrictions at all.

The desired effect

It's easy to download loops and samples, and import them into your digital audio workstation software, and create a final song you can upload to MySpace or some other online repository. For those who do not play an instrument, but want to do more than just mix 'n' match existing loops, you can use free audio software to actually create original audio tracks even if you do not play a single instrument.

FluidSynth, which is primarily a Linux tool and provides a powerful virtual synthesizer you can use to create original loops. For those proficient with source code and Linux, you can download the FluidSynth code and create your own application.

A shortcut, though, is to use one of the applications that already incorporates the FluidSynth code, such as Qsynth or Z-Maestro. These apps incorporate the virtual synth into the program so you can create fantastic sounds, such as a cascading bleep or a simple piano roll.

For those who want to skip all the hip-hop loops and beat-box emulators, Sonoma Wire Works T4 is a straight-up guitar-recording program that provides a wealth of guitar amp and virtual guitar pedals for creating distortions, delays and other axe-related effects.

The free software goes the extra step of showing you a virtual representation of the amp and pedal to help you get a visual clue as to how the effect will change your tone: for example, grungy and heavy or more like a light chorus.

This application also provides a simple DAW interface for adding guitar tracks and matching them with drum loops, and you can share your final songs with other Sonoma Wire Works users.

A drum machine can help you form the basis for a song as you layer other instruments and audio clips into a complete composition. One application for creating drums is called Hydrogen and it supports both Linux and Windows.

The main strength of this program is that it's easy to get to grips with so you can get a beat down quickly. Creating drum patterns can be a laborious process that doesn't seem that creative. With Hydrogen, you just click on a graph for each drum sound, click the 'Play' button, and you'll hear the drum pattern.

When you have programmed the drums the way you want, you can export the drum loop as a WAV or MIDI file. Want to go completely space-age and mimic the strangest indie bands around? (We're not sure if The Knife or Animal Collective use this tool, but they should).

Gnaural is a tone generator that works under Windows and Linux. It's quite unlike any other sound generator, in that you start with a basic droning audio clip and tweak the audio properties, repeat patterns, pitch and tempo.

It's a way to create a highly unique sound all your own, without relying on an original loop and trying to tweak the audio.

Putting it all together

Once you have the core components in place – the PC itself, the audio interface, DAW, loop libraries and sound generators – it's time to think a bit more globally.

For a home studio, you should think about where to do the recordings. Pick a quiet place in your home where you can lock the door and tune out the world. Also, you'll need enough space for all of the cables, microphones, instruments, keyboards, and extra gear for recording.

Another consideration is that you will need access to extra disk space – such as a network attached storage drive or a portable hard disk drive – because each track in the recording process can consume disk space quickly, and you will likely want to create versions of your songs, make backups, and re-use audio clips from other songs.

You'll need space for all your loop libraries and drum loops as well. And, for the most part, you will want to keep your main system clean of any extra data that could possibly slow down your hard drive You can also expand your current hardware once you have a basic DAW in place.

For example, Roland makes the V-Drums TD-4SX set that connects straight up to your PC and allows you to record real drums. This can dramatically improve the quality of a recording, because the drum sounds take on a more analogue, live-performance feel as opposed to the more programmed drum approach most people will recognise.

Upgrading to a condenser microphone, such as those made by Audio Technica or Neumann, can also significantly improve the overall quality of your computer recordings. In the end, recording is an excellent waste of time – even if you can't tell a tuning knob from a guitar pick.

With a wide array of free recording software, loop libraries that are just a few clicks away and extra tools for creating your own loops, anyone can become an audio deity.

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(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)