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Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Open Source, P2P, Windows x64

Open Source Free Download Manager v3 adds tons of new features


Free Download Manager has released version 3 of their application, and the new version sports several new features that make it an excellent option handling all your download duties.

The new release can now manage torrents as well as download and convert Flash video from sites like YouTube. A remote control feature has also been added, enabling web management of your downloads (like uTorrent's WebUI). FDM also allows you to preview certain files and can download partial contents of zip files.

At about 18mb installed, it's not as lightweight as rolling uTorrent, DownThemAll, and any one of the YouTube downloaders out there, but it's an excellent all-in-one option for people that like to keep things simple.

A full list of features is available on the FDM web site. It's released under the GPL and you can choose between the full version or the lite, which lacks the torrent, video conversion, upload, and language plugins (though you can install them later if you choose).

There's no portable download on FDM's site, but Portable Freeware Collection has one available.

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Video, Windows, Freeware

VideoCacheView lets you save web videos you've watched


Nir Sofer writes great Windows apps. His programs are tiny, they're portable, and they're unbelievably useful. VideoCacheView is yet another in the long list of great NirSoft creations.

If you watch a lot of web video on sites like YouTube, VideoCacheView is a great way to save your favorite clips for local viewing. It can find cached .flv files in your Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Chrome temp files. The latest version also supports adding a custom temp folder via the advanced options menu.

As you'd expect from a NirSoft app, command line arguments are supported. Launching VCV with /copyall and a destination directory will automatically dump all your cached video files to the specified folder in one shot (VideoCacheView.exe /copyall c:\SavedVideos).

It's not a downloader - VCV will only catch videos that have fully loaded in your browser. You'll also need an .flv capable application to watch your videos, like Gom Player or VLC.

VideoCacheView is available as a zipped, portable application or with an installer. It only takes up about 60kb of disk space, and is well worth a download.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Adobe, Browsers

Flash player 10 is here: impressive performance, new features


I was fully prepared for Flash Player 10 to be totally underwhelming, but it looks as though Adobe has gotten things right this time around.

After looking at the beta back in July, the new features - 3d effects, hardware acceleration, custom filters and effects - intrigued me. I also noted a slight improvement in performance on my workstation. You can view a full list of v10's features on Adobe's web site and try out some of them in an interactive demo.

The 3d draggable DVD case demo is interesting, but far from a perfect illustration of the new capabilities. Take a few seconds and flip it, and you'll notice the cover reappearing on the back and sometimes the bottom edge of the case. I don't doubt that the effects will improve with time, and it's still a promising start.

I'd like to see a more practical demo of the custom filters than what Adobe offers. Call me crazy, but I don't see much use in being able to watch a video clip with a mosaic or spherize filter applied. In the three months between the beta and final release, I expected a demo with a bit more impact.

What I didn't expect was Flash Player 10 actually making my MSI Wind and its piddly Atom CPU capable of finally watching stutter-free FLV clips on the web. Thanks to the new dynamic streaming quality of service abilities and the general performance enhancements, playback is silky smooth even on my underpowered netbook.

Overall, v10 is impressive, and reminds me how exciting Flash was when it first burst onto the scene. It's well worth the download.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Freeware, Search

Ashampoo Clipfinder Finds Videos, and Lots of Them!

Looking for a fast, easy way to find and download a whack of flash video files from your favorite sites? Download Ashampoo Clipfinder and fire it up.

Clipfinder searches YouTube, iFilm, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Yahoo Video, MySpace, MetaCafe, and several others and displays thumbnails. Right-click to bookmark it in you Ashampoo's My Videos folder or download the FLV. Ashampoo will automatically file it under Downloads on the My Videos tab.

Each site can be searched individually, or you can search them all via the portal search at the top of the interface. Rolling up a particular site will hide its results, but be aware that it'll also keep Ashampoo from searching it from the portal search.

Read more →

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Video, Web services, web 2.0

FLV.to saves YouTube videos as MP3 files

FLVto

There are two things that make FLV.To absolutel amazing. The first is the sheer number of Google AdSense and referral ads that the developer managed to cram into a small space. But we're willing to overlook that because the other remarkable thing about FLV.To is how easy the site makes it to save YouTube videos as MP3 files.

No, you're not going crazy. YouTube deals in videos, and MP3 files are audio only. But there's a huge number of music videos on YouTube, and FLV.To will let you save the audio from those videos in a matter of seconds. Just pop in the URL of any YouTube video and the site will proces the file and spit out an MP3 which you can download and listen to. If you've already gone through the process of downloading YouTube videos as FLV files, you can also upload Flash videos from your desktop for easy conversion.

[via MakeUseOf]

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Video, Web services, Adobe, Social Software

Adobe announces a Flash-based Media Player

adobe media player

It looks like Adobe is looking at getting a slice of the desktop media player pie, but they insist that they are playing on neutral ground. Adobe has just entered into the market with a flash based media player that is plainly not aimed at competing.

The Adobe Media Player (formerly Philo) will work both online and on the desktop without a web browser using the Flash platform. The player has a flash based video playback and includes a number of social features like tagging, rating, and sharing videos with contacts. It can be branded, tracked and monetized as well as protection for the content that is embedded.

The Media Player, of course, runs off of Adobes new Apollo rich internet application development platform that Adobe has been trying to push on users recently, and works with both Mac and PC operating systems

The launch date is scheduled for a late spring beta release, and it is rumored that 90% of major media companies are testing the Adobe Media Player.

[via InformationWeek]

Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Utilities, Video, Web services

Speak to website visitors in a bubble with Bubble Guru

speak to websiete visitors with bubbleguruHow would you like to have your face bounce up and down your website talking to visitors in a flash overlaid bubble?

Ok, so it's not cool, and it seems kind of annoying when checking out the demo, but it does have its uses. Bubble Guru helps users deliver clear messages through a video displayed on websites, with no massive website reworking. It works by recording a message from within a browser using a webcam, or attached video device in a Flash recorder. After recording you can test it out to see what it will look like on your website, and move forward by placing a string of HTML text on pages where you want the video displayed.

The service is free until May 1st if you would like to check it out and test its capabilities for your integrations. After that date, I guess you have to pay. No word on prices yet.

[via webware]

Filed under: Utilities, Video, Web services

Easiest YouTube downloads ever

KissYouTubeThere are roughly 157,213 web sites out there that provide you with one method or another for downloading videos from YouTube. But we've never seen one that's easier to use than KissYouTube.

Why's that? Because here's all you have to do to save a YouTube video as an .flv file:
  • Find a video you want to download on YouTube.
  • Enter "kiss" in the URL before "youtube.com."
  • Hit enter.
That's pretty much it. A screen will pop up asking if you want to download the file or send it to a friend. No need to install any browser plugins or to enter an email address. You don't even need even to bookmark a URL. Just remember to type kiss after www. (KISS, if you haven't figured it out stands for "keep it simple stupid.")

Of course, what you'll wind up with is an .flv file, so you might be better off with a service that converts the file for you.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows

Convert YouTube videos to Windows Media with one click

ZuneitSure, there are plenty of ways to grab a video from YouTube, save it as an flv file, and convert it the file format of your choice. But Zunemytube's got to be the simplest method I've seen so far.

All you have to do is install the plugin for Internet Explorer and a little Zune icon will pop up in your toolbar. Then you surf YouTube, Google Video or MSN Soapbox and find videos you want to save. Once you've found a video, all you have to do is click the "Zune It" button in your toolbar and the program will automatically download and convert the video into a Zune-compatible windows media video file. The program creates individual folders for Google, YouTube, and Soapbox videos in your "My Videos" folder.

I have to say, the video quality leaves something to be desired when converting YouTube videos. This is probably because you're taking a highly compressed video and converting it to another compressed video format. I had a bit more luck with Google Videos.

The program only works with Internet Explorer, and I was only able to test it with IE7. Anyone try it with earlier versions?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Utilities, Video, Macintosh, Freeware

Perian: Play (almost) every video file in QuickTime

PerianHere's one for the Mac folks: Perian is a free download for OS X that allows QuickTime to play video files in almost any format known to man. It uses the fantastic open source ffmpeg library to enable DivX, XviD, AVI, and even Flash Video files in a variety of configurations. According to the Perian web site, it will also be bundled with the next version of Democracy Player. Very cool.

[Via Anarchaia]

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