Filed under: Video, Windows, Beta, Web
Zviewer beta 2 turns Firefox into a web-based media center
by Brad Linder Dec 15th 2008 at 1:00PM
I first took the Zviewer software for a spin a few months ago. While the software showed promise, there were a few drawbacks. First there was no search bar, meaning you'd have to do a lot of browing to find the videos you were looking for if your using the software on your PC. And if your PC is plugged into a television set videos didn't start in full screen mode which means that your remote control had better have a virtual mouse mode so you could hit the full screen button on sites like Hulu or YouTube.
Both of those issues have been addressed in Zviewer beta 2. There's a new search bar and videos start in full screen by default. You can also change the size of the network and program icons on your screen using Firefox keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+ and Ctrl-.
Zviewer is based on Firefox 3, which makes upgrading from Zviewer beta 1 to 2 a snap. When I started the Zviewer player this weekend it automatically downloaded and installed new versions of the plugins. I visited the Zviewer homepage to read the list of changes, and discovered that you can actually download these plugins as a package for Firefox 3 if you want. Instead of installing Zviewer as a standalone program, you can install the plugins and click a toolbar button to bring up the Zviewer interface from any web page.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark said 3:26PM on 12-15-2008
Oh no, it's Active Desktop from Windows 95! It's returned from the grave, someone kill it quick! :P
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randulo said 8:00AM on 12-17-2008
I've tried several TV show aggregators and yesterday I tried this one. I found to be very clunky in interface (not much to look at either, even their logo should be redesigned, it looks cheap) and it worked very poorly in general use. I think more time needs to pass for this to become a player. In the meantime, the latest alpha release of Boxee works beautifully and looks a lot better.
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