iSkysoft Launched 2009 Christmas Promotion Campaign, Up to 50% OFF!

Get your Christmas dream gift: iPod or iPhone and can’t wait to put some DVDs and videos to it? You are going on a long Christmas vacation trip and want to copy DVDs to your MacBook so that you can watch them on the road? Shoot some family videos with your camcorder, say Sony AVCHD, and can’t wait to share it with your family? iSkysoft offers easy and low-cost solution to you!

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* iSkysoft Video Converter for Mac

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Toshiba’s inaugural 3.5-inch external HDD is exactly what you think it is

Good old Tosh is putting a little more heft on its drives, unveiling what the company cites as its first ever 3.5-inch external hard drive. It spins at 5400RPM, features USB 2.0 and eSATA output, and an aesthetic that’s easy on the eyes. Not much else to say about this space saver, but you can be sure it’s just the first of many that are in the pipeline. The presser says it’s available now, but we’ve been looking and have yet to find it on Toshiba’s retail site or other online retailers like Amazon. When it does show its face, expect it to cost $130 for the 640GB model and $160 for a cool 1TB.

From engadget.com

VoIPers: Skype 2.8 Gold for Mac Finally Out

Skype 2.8 Gold for Mac is finally out of beta and the final version is now available for download. There are some significant new features added, including screen sharing, Skype Access (Beta), and some other improvements and bug fixes like improved chat management, mood message chat, improved audio and video call quality, larger profile pictures, and the ability to add notes to contacts etc. Quite satisfying and exciting, right?
Screen sharing makes it really convenient to share our screens with others, just like iChat. Now I can share any part of my desktop with my friends and without getting screen shots every time I wanna show them something on my desktop. Sometimes the bad network connection even prevents me from sending screenshots. I love this new feature. Skype Access? It has nothing to do with me. Pass. Improved chat management helps me to sort chats in the drawer and set priorities to chats. Awesome! Filtrate those unimportant messages automatically when I need to focus on something. I like it! Skype 2.8 allows me to use images of up to 256*256 pixels. Another way to share my pictures with my friends.
I just downloaded this version and I’m gonna has a really good chat with my friends! Can’t wait to try every new features added. Hopefully it won’t disappoint me.

How to Play WMV Video on Mac

WMV Files
WMV (Window Media Video) is a compressed video file format developed by Microsoft. WMV is generally packed into the ASF container format, and can also be put into the AVI or Matroska. The respective file extensions for ASF, AVI and Martoska container is .WMV, .AVI, .MKV. The most common players for playing WMV files are Window Media Player, Real Player and Media Player Classic, all of which are popular players under windows system.
Since its compatibility with Mac system is not very satisfying, many Mac users find it impossible for them to play the WMV videos with their players. But don’t get the wrong idea that WMV file can’t be player on Mac, it’s just a little bit troublesome. This article introduces four most popular ways to play WMV videos on Mac.

Windows Media Player 9 for Mac
Windows Media Player 9 for Mac developed by Microsoft for Mac users to playback both local and streamed WMV and WMA files. It’s available as a download free of charge, but Microsoft seemed to attach little importance to it because it announced that there were no plans for the upgrade of the player.
In general, this player meets the needs of playing WMV files on Mac. However, the discontinue upgrade decision did cause trouble to Mac users. This player supports Apple Mac OS X version 10.1.5 or later (latest release of version 10.2.x recommended) when it was released in 2003. Leopard OS users find it really a headache to unzip the player 9 download or to get this player to work normally. The conclusion is: the last thing Microsoft wants to do is to please the Mac users. So if your system is not supported by this player, turn to other solutions.

VLC Media Player
Mac users can use VLC media player to play WMV files and the output quality is quite satisfying. This player is an open source, free software media player written by the VideoLAN project. I highly recommend this player as I think it’s the most powerful media player ever! It supports a wide range of video and audio formats, as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs and streaming protocols. Plus, it’s one of the most platform-independent players available, with versions for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BeOS, Syllable, BSD, MorphOS, Solaris and Sharp Zaurus.

Flip 4 Mac
As mentioned in the above that Microsoft won’t upgrade windows media player 9, Microsoft did offer an alternative for Mac users: Windows Media® Components for QuickTime Flip4Mac, which is developed by Telestream. With this QuickTime component, you can play WMV and WMA files directly in QuickTime Player and watch streamed WMV videos.
If you want to edit, convert or encode the WMV files, they offer more commercial tools, but the price is relatively high and the WMV Studio Pro HD cost whooping $179.

WMV File Conversion

If you just want to play WMV videos on Mac, you can choose one of the above ways to do it. I personally prefer VLC player considering its powerful functions. But for converting WMV videos, a video conversion program is a more sensible choice. A video converter is like an integration of all video format components.

WMV Studio, which is one of the Flip 4 Mac component series, can do the conversion. It cost $49 but can only convert WMV to MOV file. In comparison, a video converter usually cost around $40. I got Video Converter for Mac at $35. It supports all video conversion on Mac, including convert WMV to MOV, MP4, iTunes, iMovie, etc. It’s a pity that most of the video converters don’t have a florid Mac-style interface and the output quality is not the state-of-the-art. Without better choice, we can still get a video converter. It generally meets our needs, although not for professional usage. Most importantly, the price is reasonable and I think it is worth my bucks. That why I get a video converter although I’m not a big fan of it. If you don’t want to pay extra $49 for like AVI component, get a video converter.

This article is based on my own experience. If you have other opinions or better suggestions, welcome to discuss it here.

Apple Confirms: Steve Jobs Back at Work

Bloomberg has received confirmation from Apple that Steve Jobs has returned to work at Apple following his liver transplant, currently working part-time at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino and part-time from home. Jobs reportedly returned to work last Monday, but today’s report is the first confirmation directly from Apple.

“Steve Jobs is back at work at Apple Inc., returning to his job as chief executive officer as planned after taking medical leave in January.
“Steve is back to work,” Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said today. Jobs is at Apple a few days a week and working at home the remaining days, he said. “We are very glad to have him back,” Dowling said.”

Jobs announced in mid-January that he would be taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June, and today’s report confirms that he has met his target.

This article is from MacRumors.