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democracy posts

Filed under: Internet, Video, Open Source

Miro 1.0 released: It's not Joost, but it is open source

Miro DLS
Everybody's favorite open-source video aggregator/online TV viewing app has finally hit the big 1.0.

Miro is positioning itself as an alternative to Joost, but we're not sure the comparison is apt. Joost lets you watch professionally produced content in a custom-built streaming video player that brings a TV-like experience to your computer. Miro lets you download and watch videos that you could have gotten from other places -- but Miro makes finding video from thousands of sources all kinds of easy.

Miro is also open-source, cross-platform (with Mac, Linux, and Windows versions available), and 100% DRM-free. And while the fact that you can't watch streaming video might seem like a disadvantage, Miro dos a pretty good job of downloading videos that weren't really meant for saving to your computer. In other words, it's a handy application to have around if you want to download "web-only" videos from sites like YouTube.

[via Slashdot]

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Democracy Player relaunches as Miro

MiroOkay, we know that Democracy was supposed to be renamed Miro when it hit version 1.0. But Miro 0.9.8 is out now. Whoo hoo.

Technically, this is a technical preview of Miro. But as with most of the beta releases of Democracy, it's already a pretty full featured video aggregator/player.

While new programs like Joost and Babelgum aim to provide a peer-to-peer streaming video experience, Miro lets you find, download, and organize videos you like. When you first launch Miro, you'll see a series of popular podcasts/vlogs that you can check out, including Ask A Ninja, Diggnation, and Rocketboom. Or you can search out your own video feeds and add them to the list.

So what's new in version 0.9.8?
  • Keyboard shortcuts on all platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
  • Full context menu from Windows system tray
  • Added "report a bug" menu item
  • Added Veoh.com as a search engine
  • A whole slew of bug fixes

Filed under: Internet, Video, Open Source

Democracy Player becomes 'Miro'

What's in a name? Lots of things, including the difference between confusing and creating potential users of your application, apparently. That's why the Participatory Culture Foundation is renaming Democracy Player, its internet television surfing program, despite sticking with the original for over a year.

"In all our debates about whether you could call something 'Democracy' and how people would react to the name, we hadn't realized that so many people would simply assume that the software was for politicians and videos about politics."

The new name will be Miro, which means, well... we don't know. But anyway, there's a lesson to be learned here. If you've got a potentially creative, but ultimately too specific and image-burdened name for your software, think twice about it. You can't always expect casual users to look beyond the name of an application to see its real use. So, lose the cool symbolism at the expense of losing users. Check out the official word from the folks themselves to get the full lowdown.

Filed under: Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Democracy Player 0.9.5 now available

Democracy Player 0.9.5Democracy Player version 0.9.5 has been officially released, introducing a host of new improvements and enhancements since the 0.9.2 release back in November of 2006. Here's a brief highlight of what to look for:
  • Simpler, more minimal interface
  • New 'Share' menu on each item allows user to email a video or post to VideoBomb, del.icio.us, Digg, or Reddit
  • VLC 0.8.6 on Windows version that powers Democracy has been upgraded with improved Flash video support
  • Video downloads are now stored in folders by channel for better organization
  • New pause and resume download functions
  • Improved BitTorrent performace
  • Drop-down menu feature for auto-download for individual channels
  • Automatic thumbnail generation on OS X for videos lacking thumbnails
The application is immediately available in all PC, Mac, and Linux flavors. Of course, the team still urges users to keep an eye open for any potential bugs that might be lurking about and fill out a bug report where necessary. Anyway, the program is looking great thus far and this upgrade will be worth the download. Check out the full list of improvements at the Democracy blog.

Filed under: Video, Windows, Macintosh, Open Source

Democracy Player 0.9.5 release candidate available

The hard-working folks over at the Participatory Culture Foundation have made the Democracy Player 0.9.5. release candidate available for both Windows and Mac OS X platforms, and they're a-lookin' for bugs and want your help. Just a quick reminder, in case you didn't know: Democracy Player is the application for open-source 'internet television' surfing, and it's been chugging along over the past six months or more since its inception. There have not been any specific mentions of what features have been enhanced, so we'll just have to wait for the official 0.9.5 update. If the developers keep the ball rolling, it won't be unreasonably long until the big 1.0 strikes, I suspect. The Democracy team has been extremely timely about new updates. Anyway, use their bug report form to submit any faults you might stumble upon if you give the 0.9.5 RC a spin.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Democracy Player as poor man's TiVo

Democracy as poor man's TiVo
Sketchy legal issues aside, I'm a big fan of the "poor-man's TiVo," i.e. downloading TV shows via BitTorrent. There are a lot of ways to automate this--many BitTorrent clients can read and filter RSS feeds, and there are even stand-alone apps dedicated to the task. Lifehacker introduces us to yet another method, using the awesome open source app Democracy. Democracy, of course, has built-in support for feeds and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and Lifehacker's Adam Pash walks us through setting it up to find and fetch the latest episodes of our favorite shows, just in time for tonight's Lost premiere.

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Video, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Podcasting, Open Source

Democracy 0.9 released

Democracy
That's right folks, your favorite Internet TV player are now ready for download. The new features are: Playlists for better organization; Folders, also for better organization and foldering; Flash video support for Linux and Windows, (Mac can play Flash Video too, but it must be launched in another window); drag and drop; an overhauled menu, multi-language support; and lots of UI polish. Screencastsonline.com has put together a sweet screencast to show off the new player and its slick new features. Democracy player has had great features in the past, but this release is the best so far. Go check it out if you are a video fan or just plain love full screen video.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Democracy Player now better, stabler

Democracy PlayerI got a little notification in my Inbox today telling me that a new version of Democracy Player is out. Version 0.8.4.1 (note to software developers: when your version numbers start to look like IP addresses, they've gotten out of hand) is available for WIndows, Mac, or Linux. The biggest improvements to the RSS-and-BitTorrent-enabled internet TV viewer from the Participatory Culture FOundation are in the stability department, but it also comes with a few new features. In particular, Democracy now pulls double-duty as a desktop video player, allowing you to play videos from your hard drive and add them to your library. Democracy is free as in speech, so go download it already.

Filed under: Internet, Video

Downloading TV shows automatically with Democracy Player

DemocracyThe other day we covered the Windows release of Participatory Culture's Democracy Player (formerly DTV), a media player that lets you "watch internet videos like you watch TV." Today Lifehacker points us to a great tutorial for using Democracy to automatically download your favorite TV shows via BitTorrent. Of course, there are many other ways to approach the "poor man's TiVo" problem, and this one takes a bit more fiddling than most, but if you prefer to have your downloaded shows available right away in Democracy, this is the method for you.

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