Shahid Online - Tech Corner

It's official. The creators of the popular CD/DVD burning software, Nero, has released a free version of it's flagship product for Microsoft Windows. Not to be confused with the 15 day trial, the free version of its software is limited to only the simple task of burning CDs and DVDs. Their website states: "This version of Nero 9 contains simply data burning and disc copying features for CDs and DVDs. Additional features and functionality are available with an upgrade to Nero 9 full version." Of course, many would have turned to the likes of other freeware and open source software such as CD Burner XP Pro (my favourite piece of kit by the way) or ImgBurn . However, Nero's offering maintains their trademark interface and the use of SmartStart for novice users, which many would prefer. You can download it from here .

It's nice to see the Press taking a much more keen interest in technology and gadgets. So I wasn't that much surprised when the Metro covered the launch of Microsoft Bling. Currently in beta Microsoft is obviously renewing their competition against Google. I've also noticed that Microsoft has recently replaced the Live search with Bing on their MSN page. But after using it, why do I get the impression that it's just copying Google with a more colourful interface?

One of the most popular uses of Javascript is when it comes to validating user input on a form. The most hateful way, though, is by not using onsubmit. A number of times I come across code where someone uses an image in place of the submit button and uses the onclick event which will validate then submit the form. Yeauch! Very bad practice! The first thing to do with the form is place the Javascript function in the onsubmit attribute for the form, e.g. <form name="reg" method="post" onsubmit="return validateForm();" The use of return lets the form submit when the function returns true. If the function does not return true (i.e. false) then the form will not submit - as shown below. function validateForm(){ return false; } Getting a reference to the form is the next step. There are a number of ways to do this: document.forms[0] document.forms['reg'] document.getElementById('reg') This will work when id is used on the form Passing an o...

This is my first ever attempt at creating a "skin" to use in the Firefox extension - Personas for Firefox. Check out the link below Personas for Firefox | YellowDream

Sounds harsh I know, but I mean it. Bah. Microsoft's latest and shiniest browser is out there, yet it still makes me cringe and want to smash my computer to bits with a sledge hammer. Microsoft's approach to having a standard's browser is commendable, yet many websites won't work, without applying certain hacks, one of which turns it to IE 7. Sometimes there's a ghost opening new tabs for me. For a revolting experience download it. Or you can use the other browsers out there, such as Firefox and Flock . Google Chrome , though, seems to have hit a soft spot in me.

OK. It does sound like a bit of a spoiler, but there I was trying to design my kitchen as I'm completely renovating my home. The problem: my mum's idea of a plan. The solution: Sweet Home 3D. Yes, this free program (which is similar to Google Sketchup) allows you to draw plans of your house or individual rooms on a two-dimensional plan and virtualise it on a three-dimensional plan. You can place various items on the 2D plan and move them around. So you can redesign your living room many times without breaking a sweat!! Check it out at www.sweethome3d.eu

You may remember, I previously mentioned Blender in reference to making 3D images and stuff. Well, the institute has released (around December last year, I think) an open source game to demonstrate their (and the software's) capabilities. This game is called Yo Frankie! as is released under the Creative Common license. Any budding game developer can freely download all the code and sprites, to see how a game is put together. A great way to learn and if you would like to support Blender (or just the game), you can purchase a DVD of the game from here . Not only that, they've only gone and made some quality cartoons to enjoy - Elephants Dream and Big Buck Bunny . They are really Pixar quality and can be downloaded in HD format. Or you can just watch Big Buck Bunny on YouTube . Who says you need expensive software to contend against the big boys in the industry.