DLNA Media Streaming with PS3MediaServer

Streaming media to your PS3 or other DLNA enabled device is made ridiculously easy using PS3MediaServer it's a free tool which will run on any operating system that supports the Java run-time. It will automatically transcode your media on-the-fly if the device you are streaming too requires it. I've got a WDTV Live which will play the vast majority of formats, however, there is a serious issue with network shares, so much so that I can't get it to work on my Windows machine at all (It works beautifully via my MacBook)

If you're using a WDTV then most of the formats will just be delivered without transcoding, but by using this software it also means you can stream your MKV's and other unsupported formats to a PS3 or network-enabled TV. This is, of course, a massive time saving, you no longer need to convert your media before you can play it.

My only real complaint about the software is having to restart it in order for my WDTV to see new media, I'm not sure if this is true of all DLNA clients or if I'm doing something wrong. If you know of a way to resolve this then please let me know because it's a little frustrating.

There are plenty of other software options for a DLNA server but as far as I can tell, this is the easiest and quickest free solution.

Dropbox

I mentioned Dropbox in yesterdays post, but lets go into a little more detail about the service for todays Best Pick, Dropbox is an online storage system allowing you to upload important data to keep 'in the cloud'. A new free account at Dropbox will give a user 2GB of free storage space to upload anything they like. You can actually increase your space up to 8GB by referring friends. There's an easy way to build your account up to this level without really having to refer friends, and I'll explain this shortly.

In order to use the Dropbox service, you will need to download an application, there are versions for all major operating systems and also most modern mobile devices. Dropboxes can be synced and shared across multiple devices allowing you to get your data wherever you are.

So how do you quickly increase your referrals without having to actually refer friends? It's really simple if you're using Gmail as your email provider, Gmail will actually ignore '.'s in an email address, so if your email address is Johnsmith001@gmail.com, emails sent to J.ohnsmith001@gmail.com, Jo.hnsmith001@gmail.com, Joh.nsmith001@gmail.com etc will all end up in your inbox. However, most web services will make a distinction between these variations, so you can sign up to multiple accounts with the same address and obviously refer each of these variations via your own account.

That's all for today, see you next time!

JoliCloud / JoliOS

http://www.jolicloud.com/

An awesome cloud-based operating system, you can utilise this OS in many ways, including within a web browser or as your primary OS. I've been using it for a while and it's enabled me to keep all of my documents accessible and on a netbook it's the perfect OS, you can even use it in combination with Dropbox to keep everything in one place.

Below is an extract from wikipedia which explains what it is far more eloquently than I ever could:

Joli OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux operating system developed by the company Jolicloud. The operating system was itself called “Jolicloud” until version 1.2, when the company renamed it “Joli OS”.

Joli OS was at the beginning built on top of Ubuntu Netbook Edition,^[10] and as with that Linux distribution, was tweaked for netbooks and other computers with limited disk storage,memory, and screen size.^[11][12] Joli OS is now built on top of Ubuntu with a customized kernel.

Joli OS was designed for easy installation, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G modem support all included.^[13] The operating system supports all the major netbooks, including models from Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, MSI, Samsung and Sony.^[14] Jolicloud claims the OS supports 98% of netbooks with out-of-the-box compatibility^[15] but also works on a very large number of other devices, up to 10 years old: laptops, desktops and even tablets.^[16]