Dennis Faas

MP3 is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers working in the framework of the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee under the chairmanship of Professor Hans Musmann (University ... of Hannover - Germany). MP3 was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. In popular usage, MP3 also refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 format on computers. MP3: Overview In the simplest ... (view more)

Today's Gazette is going to break away from our regular discussions to introduce two new members that have recently joined our Blogging Team. Besides that, I'm sick with a nasty bug (possibly the Flu) and I'm just not up to writing a whole lot. ;-) ... First up is Sarah Perez (blog name: Sarah In Tampa): Sarah enjoys blogging about the latest technology buzz on the Internet. Her compositions are typically short-but-sweet and never fail to intrigue. Just recently, some of Sarah's remarks were featured on News.com's BlogMa. Next is Nick Tyrrell (blog name: Nick's Computer Security): Nick's ... (view more)

Synopsis: Don't let your MP3s vanish into obscurity -- give them a professional look with Organizer MP3! With Organizer MP3, you can quickly and easily create MP3 CD collections and burn them directly to CD. The resulting CD includes all your MP3s, ... an MP3 player, covers, lyrics, info, slideshow pictures, and works on any Windows computer; simply insert the CD and play your MP3s (no additional software is required)! Creating mp3 collections was never so easy or convenient! Organizer MP3: How it works Organizer MP3 MP3 includes 2 programs: a Collection Builder and a Collection Player. Organizer ... (view more)

Murphy's law (also known as Finagle's law or Sod's law) is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. It is most commonly formulated as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." In ... American culture the law was named after Major Edward A. Murphy, Jr., a development engineer working for a brief time on rocket sled experiments done by the United States Air Force in 1949. Murphy's Law: Variations Murphy's law has taken on many different formulations. In 1952, the proverb was phrased "Anything That Can Possibly Go Wrong, Does" in ... (view more)

Synopsis: Are you an information freak? Do you visit your favorite websites 2, 3, 4, or more times a day eagerly waiting for news and other updates to appear? Keeping an eye on a list of your favorite sites can not only be time consuming, but also ... confusing (and frustrating)! If this sounds all too familiar, then you should give DeltaSpy a try. With DeltaSpy, you can monitor your favorite websites and be notified only when there is new content available. And best of all: when you visit the web site using DeltaSpy's built in web browser, the new information is highlighted so you don't waste ... (view more)

Today's article was submitted by Bill Hudgins and is the 1st Place Winner of our Editorial Contest . The original article was put forward by one of our contributors (Sheila Foss), only a few days before the contest began. With Sheila's permission, I ... edited the article to include erroneous mistakes and later used the composition as the inspiration for the contest. If you would like to compare the contest article before reviewing the winning submission [below], you can do so by clicking here (recommended). Without further adieu, here is the Bill Hudgins' version of the article, "Make it a ... (view more)

An application programming interface (API) is the interface that an application provides in order to allow requests for service to be made of it by other computer programs, and/or to allow data to be exchanged between them. For instance, a computer ... program can (and often must) use its operating system's API to allocate memory and access files. Many types of systems and applications implement API's, such as graphics systems, databases, networks, web services, and even some computer games. API: Description One of the primary purposes of an API is to provide access to a set of commonly-used ... (view more)

Synopsis: Got any 'oldies but goodies' stored away on records and tapes? Wish you could port those precious memories over to a more robust medium, like CD or iPod (MP3 player)? With Acoustica Spin It Again -- you can! Dust off your old 33's and ... 45's, because Spin It Again can rip through your old vinyl records and cassettes and convert them to CD or MP3 format in no time flat! Not only can Spin It Again split an entire album recording into individual tracks automatically, but it can also clean the sound by getting rid of click and pop record noise, and by removing the hiss and hum off old ... (view more)

As promised, today's newsletter will announce the winners of our Editorial Contest. To recap: On September 23rd , I announced that infopackets would be opening its doors and allow new contributors to submit articles to our audience of 250,000 ... Readers. On November 30th , a contest was held (lasting only 5 days) for a seat on our Editing Team. From that point forward, I've been implementing many changes to the web server to accommodate our new contributors and editors. Moving on -- With so many volunteers cramming for a seat on the Editing Team, I knew it was going to be difficult trying to ... (view more)

A plugin (or "plug-in") is a computer program that interacts with another program to provide a certain function. Typical examples of plugins include: a web browser plugin (such as "adobe acrobat reader"), a program to display specific graphic ... formats (such as "video codecs" for Windows Media Player), and the like. Plugins are slightly different from program extensions, which modify or add to existing functionality. The main difference is that plugins generally do not change a user interface and run within well-defined boundary; comparatively, extensions generally ... (view more)