Lossy and Lossless audio formats

Overview of the main audio formats that can be found on PC:

For convenience we can divide the audio formats for PC as lossy and lossless (no quality loss). A conversion software (like avs4you ) can convert a normal audio file to any other format you can imagine.

The idea of lossy formats (the most popular among the casual user) comes from the idea that not all the sounds in the 44,100 samples per second content in a standard WAV files are correctly perceived by the human ear.

In this way (as is the case for the jpg image) we are going to cut the high frequencies, which are believed to be less distinct from the ear. The more you cut these frequencies the more space occupied by our audio file decreases (for example you can get 3MB instead of 6 MB for a song of a few minutes length). Also the decrease in the quality is not much because the frequencies that are cut are not so much 'audible'.

The conversion to WAV, starting from the lossy formats, does not bring any benefit (unless you must draw up the track and save it several times, in this case the loss of quality will be limited to the first step), and there are programs that are able to return to our original tracks some of these high frequencies, such as Steinberg Clean Plus or others (eg early versions of Easy CD Creator, or other more professional tools), however, while-doing a decent job is not much that can be done for reverting a lossy audio to an original wav.

The lossless audio formats, instead of trying to decrease the space occupied by the track, works without going to touch the sound. The compression ratio will be much lower compared to lossy formats, but there will be no loss of quality. If converted to WAV (perhaps to be processed), the sound will be the same as before.

Some lossy audio formats:

WMA (. Wma): Windows Media Audio format, compressed and very similar to an mp3. This is Audio compression format from Microsoft. Files compressed in this format are approximately 20% smaller than MP3
MP3 (. Mp3) is short for MPEG 1 Layer III and identifies the audio files using this algorithm. Its standard that eliminates sounds inaudible to human ears. In this way an MP3 song of 128 kbps occupies a space equal to 1 / 11 compared to the same format of the original Wav or audio cd.

Lossless Audio formats

WAV (. Wav) format. Wave formats is nothing but a digital recording of real sounds, sounds that have originated from a source external to the PC. In a WAV music, drums, piano, guitar, bass or voice are felt the same way regardless of the PC where the file is playing (with the same sound quality of the hardware, of course).

Fast PC at work and at home

Computers are getting faster every year, but is a fast computer necessary, you may rightly ask. Think about the purpose of your computer. Do you use it for work? Or is it just a gaming computer? Maybe you just use it to browse on Facebook and Youtube. Whatever the purpose, we will see that a faster computer means a better computer as well.

Computers fulfil many roles in each of our lives. If you use a computer for work, you no doubt know how a slow computer can affect your day. If you have deadlines to meet, a slow computer can add to the stress. Your work computer needs to be a fast computer. For example, advanced system optimizer will definitely transform your PC into a fast machine with all the features is has.

If you are a gamer, speed is of importance, as much as hard drive size. Having a fast computer would help to avoid glitches and freezing. As well as speeding start-up time and the time between each level of video sequence.

People who use the internet to listen to music, watch videos or for downloading get frustrated if things take a long time. We want everything instantly, or close enough. With a slow computer, this isn't possible. If you are in this situation, you need a fast computer to experience the internet at the highest speed possible.

So, we have established that we would really like a fast computer. What can we do to achieve this? In your house, a clean-up of things help you to get to the things you need when you need them faster, doesn't it? It's exactly the same thing with computers. You need to regularly delete and remove things you no longer need.

If your wardrobe is bursting with clothes, it's likely harder to find things. You may have to clear it up. This is the same with a computer. Regularly clearing unwanted files and programs, can give you a faster computer.

Software and hardware need regular updating. You can get Windows updates directly without clicking anywhere. While some driver and software is updated automatically by Windows updates, you may have to do some manual driver updating as needed. This can help several hardware areas of your computer to run better, which will affect the speed of the whole computer.

The best way to make your computer a fast computer, is to use PC optimization software. These are specialized software, whose purpose is to help maintain the computer's performance at the highest level. These software include many tools and utilities such as registry cleaners, hard-disk cleaner and defrag, memory optimization tool, security protection tool, start-up programs management etc.

To see how valuable and effective these programs are, one of the utilities they have is a registry optimizer. This tool will search all the registry entries and find unnecessary data and delete it. Also, it will compact and defragment the registry for real enhancement in speed. As we know, the registry is a specialized database where the operating system keeps a record of all details of the computer, like programs installed, where data is located, what programs must start at boot time etc. So having an optimized registry is essential.

If you would like to improve the speed of your computer, you should consider all the tips above. If the thought of using a PC Optimizer Software fills you with dread, have no fear as they are designed to be used by everyone. Using this type of optimizing software will result in a fast computer again. This will save you hundreds of dollars in buying a new PC or buying new hardware to increase performance.

Sony PlayStation Vita to use proprietary memory cards

Sony PlayStation Vita to use proprietary memory cards -

The Sony PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) (PCH-1000 series) will use proprietary memory cards. A user by the name of onQ123 on the Neogaf forums posted a picture showing four sizes of the planned chips: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB.

While they look very much like a standard SD card, they have an extra notch that clearly distinguishes them. This is very unfortunate because it means you will not be able to use any of the SD cards you already have: you will have to go out and buy a Sony memory card if you want additional storage on your Vita.

This sad news follows the great news from last week, when we learned the PS Vita will be region-free. Region-free simply means that you can purchase a game and system from any two different regions and they will be compatible.

Sony is promising that the PS Vita will have give a PS3-level experience with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and a multi-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 graphics chip four times faster than the PSP's. The device will come with a 5-inch OLED screen (950 x 544 resolution), two micro-analog sticks to simulate the Dual Shock experience, front and rear facing cameras, and two-finger multitouch pad on the back of the machine. Sony is hoping the front and rear touch screens will offer new three dimension-like motion gameplay experiences never before seen on any device through "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" finger motions. A Sixaxis equivalent with a gyroscope and accelerometer is also available to let players control games by moving and tilting the system itself.

In terms of connectivity you can expect built-in 3G in addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, as well as GPS support. The PS Vita will come with a pre-installed app called Party, which lets you use voice chat or text chat when gaming, using other apps, or browsing the Internet. Another app, called Near, will let you share your game information with other users and add them as friends.

The Wi-Fi model will be available for 25,000 yen (including tax) in Japan, $250.00 in the US, and €250.00 in Europe, while the 3G/Wi-Fi model will be available for 30,000 yen (including tax) in Japan, $300.00 in the US and €300.00 in Europe. Exact release dates are still unknown, all Sony has said is that the PS Vita will launch globally at the end of this year.

YouTube adds HD preview images, logoless playback option

YouTube adds HD preview images,

Google has found that YouTube's video preview images are, for many people, the ultimate deciding factor as to whether or not to watch a video. As such, the company has added HD preview images to its embedded YouTube player. Previously, video preview images were not keeping up with high-quality and larger videos. Any new video uploaded to the site in a resolution of 480p or higher will now have an HD preview image wherever the player is embedded. Google will also automatically give HD preview images to older videos in the next few weeks, as long as they are 480p or larger.

At the same time, Google has responded to requests offering a logoless YouTube player. This means an embedded YouTube video is no longer marked with a YouTube logo in the bottom right corner, so the video plays without any branding. To enable this option, at the end of the video URL in your embed code you need to add "?modestbranding=1" and the player will show without the YouTube logo in the control bar. In this way, Google is helping users turn the option off, but by leaving it on by default for all videos, it is still pushing the YouTube brand.

Below we've embedded an example (it's the recently released Desmond Journey teaser trailer for Assassin's Creed Revelations):

On YouTube's sixth anniversary, Google announced the site is getting more than 3 billion page views per day. The search giant also revealed that more than 48 hours (two days worth) of video is uploaded to the site every minute.

YouTube is still pushing to improve the video sharing and viewing experience by making the processing of uploads faster, increasing the video lengths limit, tweaking the hompeage for all users, and so on. This year in particular, YouTube has been pushing to expand its reach in many areas.

Three months ago, the company announced that it wants to grow its staff by 30 percent this year. Two months ago, Google entered live streaming business wanted by launching YouTube Live, which integrates live streaming capabilities and discovery tools directly into the YouTube platform. Last month, YouTube began offering full-length feature films from major Hollywood studios, for rent.

Intel releases first dual-core Atom for netbooks, the N550

Intel's first dual-core Atom processor for netbooks, the N550, is about to hit store shelves inside a number of netbooks. The new chip brings a much needed breath of fresh air to a market that has seen impressive growth over the last couple of years but not much action on the hardware specs front. Though the N550 clocks in lower than most Atom chips, at 1.5GHZ, Intel says the extra core plus twice the cache (1MB) should make up for a more "responsive" experience.

This is not the first time a dual core Atom has found its way into a netbook. The Asus Eee PC 1201N, for example, pairs a desktop chip known as the Atom N330 with Nvidia Ion graphics. But the extra performance comes at the expense of battery life. According to Intel, however, netbooks with the new chip will offer similar battery life as single-core Atom N450 offerings -- though it's expected to consume around 3 watts more with a TDP of 8.5W.

The Atom N550 will be made using a 45-nanometer manufacturing process and support DDR3 memory. The new chip will be offered in products by Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba starting today -- though we've yet to spot any netbook announcements besides the Dell Inspiron Mini 1018, which still features the single core N455.

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