Top Ten Films of 2015

10. Phoenix Phoenix (2014) Directed by Christian Petzold. With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Trystan Pütter. A disfigured Holocaust survivor sets out to determine if the man she loved betrayed her trust. 9. Carol Carol (2015) Directed by Todd Haynes. With Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler. An aspiring photographer develops an […]

Find the True Bit Rate of MP3, Audio Files

Many software programs provide the incorrect bit rate of audio files. For example, iTunes will display the current bit rate of a file, but the file may have been previously compressed down to a much lower value. This misleading process is known as upscaling. Enter Spek Spek helps analyze your audio files by showing their […]

New Website – 24ofFame

We’ve start a new website, called 24ofFame.com. 24ofFame is a social network lottery. Every day, one user is randomly selected to share a post. It could be your  “15 minutes”  (i.e. 24 hours) of fame. Think of it like this: You’re at a stadium, and it’s packed. You’re randomly selected to post something on the JumboTron. […]

10 Best Films of 2014

Yes, this is an Apple-based blog. But, I’m a huge movie fan. So, here’s my top-ten list for 2014 (in no particular order). Nightcrawler Nightcrawler (2014) Cold in July Cold in July (2014) Foxcatcher Foxcatcher (2014) Interstellar Interstellar (2014) The Imitation Game The Imitation Game (2014) Whiplash Whiplash (2014) The Grand Budapest Hotel The Grand […]

Apple (alt)ernatives – Western Digital TV Over Apple TV

Thinking about purchasing Apple TV? Think again. While it’s nice to have Apple TV (somewhat) integrate with your Apple products, you’re still locked in the “Apple” world. Here are just some of the limitations: Incompatible movie formats Low-functionality interface Movies rented on Apple TV must be watched on Apple TV Search box only searches the […]

Apple (alt)ernatives – VLC over QuickTime (and iTunes)

I’m starting a new blog series called Apple (alt)ernatives, where I’ll feature better options to Apple products and software. This week, let’s take a look at media players. Instead of QuickTime and iTunes, use VLC Media Player. It supports countless file types, offers many more options, has built-in conversion software, and … it’s free! So, […]

Control YouTube With Your Smartphone

You can use your smartphone to control YouTube on different devices, like your laptop. On your laptop (or other device), go to https://www.youtube.com/tv#/. Press the “S” key, or scroll up/down to reach the Search menu. The Search menu will give you the pairing code for your smartphone. On your smartphone, go to https://www.youtube.com/pair. Enter the code from […]

My Favorite App: BandsInTown

I love this app! Never miss a show again! Bandsintown Bandsintown is a free live concert notification and recommendation app. The fan-focused app pulls data from a user’s iTunes library, Pandora favorites, Facebook Likes, and Last.fm accounts to populate their list of tracked artists. It then generates a “Concert Cloud” that visually represents which of those […]