Friday, October 18, 2013

Playback speed in Windows Media Player

Change playback speed in Windows Media Player

You can change the speed at which content plays in the Player. For example, you can slow down the playback speed if you are taking notes while watching a training video, or you can speed up the slow sections of a presentation.

Begin playing a file.

Click the arrow below the Now Playing tab, point to Enhancements, and then click Play Speed Settings.

Move the Play Speed slider to the speed at which you want to play the content, or click the Slow, Normal, or Fast link.

To select speeds between the labeled play speeds, in the Enhancements pane, clear the Snap slider to common speeds check box.

Yahoo / Alibaba

How Much Is Yahoo Worth Without Alibaba? Not Much - Businessweek:
"Yahoo has a stock market value of $34.1 billion, and owns a 24 percent stake in Alibaba. Estimates for the current value of Alibaba, which is planning an IPO, range between $75 billion and $125 billion. If it comes in at the low end of that range, that means that Yahoo’s stake is worth $18 billion, or just over half of Yahoo’s total market value. At the high end, Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba would be worth $30 billion—which would imply that the rest of Yahoo’s enterprise is worth as little as $4 billion, or 12 percent of its current value."

Visual Studio 2013, One ASP.NET

Announcing the Release of Visual Studio 2013 and Great Improvements to ASP.NET and Entity Framework - ScottGu's Blog


http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2013/10/17/visual-studio-2013-available-for-download.aspx

Google Alerts - Monitor the Web for interesting new content

Google Alerts - Monitor the Web for interesting new content:
"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your queries.

Enter a search query you wish to monitor. You will see a preview of the type of results you'll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

monitoring a developing news story
keeping current on a competitor or industry
getting the latest on a celebrity or event
keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams"


Windows 8.1 released

Windows 8.1 is here: Can it win over skeptical PC buyers? | ZDNet:

Windows 8.1 and the Desktop: A modest improvement we still can’t recommend | ExtremeTech

Upgrading: Steps 5-8 - How to Upgrade to the Windows 8.1 Preview | PCMag.com

It is somewhat unfortunate that Microsoft have merged tablet OS with desktop OS,
while Apple and Google mixed phone OS with tablet OS, and keep "desktop/laptop" separate.

While all those environments have similarities, so a common "base" OS can be (and is) used,
the market expectation now is defined by iOS and Android, and Windows has much harder challenge
to change public expectation and to deliver a good OS.

The best option would be a "virtual" OS that plugs on server, desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, watch...
Microsoft have essentially created this by WinRT...
It should just not be "a window" in desktop/laptop OS.

There is another option now: a web browser + wrapper as an app-platfrom...


Accidental DBA Series - SQLskills.com

Accidental DBA Series - SQLskills.com:
"An Accidental DBA (also sometimes called an Involuntary DBA) is someone whose primary role or job description is not strictly the administration of SQL Server, but is still expected by the company to maintain one or more of the company’s SQL Server instances properly. Many server, network, or application administrators, and even developers, find themselves in this role at some point in their career. This series of posts is focused on helping Accidental DBAs keep SQL Server running with minimal problems, which will allow them the maximum amount of time for other responsibilities in their role."