As an avid fan of all things Science and Technology, I have my sources that I read daily without fail.  Science Daily websites is one of those sources that for those who want to keep up on all things science, you read the latest articles in the industry.  Everything from chemistry, biology, geology, technology, astronomy…etc it call can be found here.

One of the latest scientific articles that I have read has the potential for profound medical impact.  The article titled “Anti-cancer Flower Power: Researchers Combat Cancer With A Jasmine-based Drug” talks about Jasmonate a derivative from the Jasmine flower shows promise in possible combating cancer.  Should this therapy pan out with human trials, it was vague only suggested that early trials were successful.  The Scientist Prof. Flescher is hopeful the drug can be manufactured and appear on store shelves in America within 4 years.

Now, here is what I think about all of this.  It isn’t uncommon to find healing properties in plants and other biological organisms on this planet, we use aspiring which is proven effective as a blood thinner, pain reliever and cases have shown it can reduce risk of certain types of cancer’s.  I do believe that there are ways to cure illnesses to be found in the natural plant and animal life that exists on this planet.  If this therapy is successful, this is actually a really good thing for people as a whole.  Drug companies and new expensive therapies while they show greater and greater promise (like Gene Therapy, Immunotherapy and especially Stem Cell Therapies) there is no way the average people will be able to afford such therapies, and Health Insurance would never cover them.  This would mean that extending life and reducing pain and suffering will be within reach only of the wealthy and well off.  However, if such a treatment can be derived from existing plant life as in the case like Aspirin, this puts such a therapy within reach of the common people to buy over the counter remedies, and not worry about what their insurance can cover.

More money needs to be invested in researching and testing such therapies, no pharmaceutical wants to touch them because there is no money to be made for the most part.  You can’t patent it and stick a super expensive price tag on it like you can with a manufactured chemical compound.

Here’s to hoping that Jasmonate has successful trials, and if it even works on 10% of the cancer patients out there, that is 10% more than were helped and treated previously.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080825132111.htm

I was asked by a friend on how to get youtube and other downloaded video’s ported over to their iPOD Nano so they can be watched.  In addition, since mostly Music Video’s were downloaded my friend wanted to them to categorize to be placed in the “Music Video’s” category that comes standard with iPod Nano.  I found this to be a challenging task, but one that was very fun to figure out.

This process consists of 4 steps:
Step 1:  You have to download YouTube and other video’s off of the web.
Step 2:  Convert the video to MP4 iPOD movie format
Step 3:  Categorize the Video as “Television Show” or “Music Video”  (Optional)
Step 4:  Sync the video(s) to your iPOD

• Step 1:  Downloading the YouTube or Movie Video.

I have used numerous firefox plug-ins to download youtube video’s and two of the ones that work best for me are:
“Fast Video Download” and or “Magic’s Video Download”
Both install icons at the bottom task bar, and when you are your youtube video site, you just click on the icon and select to download the video.  In some cases, you need to repeat the click and download, since it won’t take the first time.  This is common with Fast Video Download, but it does work eventually.

TIP:  Once the YouTube video starts to play, pause it and then start the download so you don’t waste bandwith playing the video at the same time.

Once you save your .flv files to a common folder, the next step is to convert them to MP4 iPOD Movie Format

Here is Pic of Using Fast Video Download to save “Disturbed:  Inside The Fire” video from YouTube.

• Step 2:  Converting the .flv movie to MP4 iPOD Format

I have tried many programs and my absolute favorite is AONE Software’s “FLV to AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod Converter V4.2″, this piece of software is so incredibly powerful and easy to use.

1. Open program up
2. Add your Source Files
3. Select your output type “MP4 MPEG-4 Video Format”
4. Select your video quality
5. Select your output folder
6. Click Convert Button

See Image Below:

• Step 3:  Categorize the Video (This step can be skipped if you don’t care, and you don’t mind your Music Video’s or Video’s showing up as just “Movie” in the iPOD Nano.

iTunes is the only program that I know of that can categorize your movie as a “Television Show” or a “Music Video”.  I have tried every other method out there, including some sites that say edit the “Comment” and add [MV] for Music Video, even used Atomic Parsley, which can edit all ID3 tag metadata, but it cannot categorize and make the Video show up as an “iPOD Music Video”.

So Alas, iTunes is your only option if you really want to separate your movies into the default categories.  Note:  If you want to just create a video play list, you can do this in iTunes, or WinAmp.  I highly recommend WinAmp and use it for all of my mp3 -> iPOD Nano transfers, the only exception is I categorize the video with iTunes.  WinAmp will put the direct mp3 files directly on your iPOD without having to convert them to AAC format first which is very annoying.

1. Open up iTunes
2. Click File -> (Add Folder to library if you have more than one video in same folder) or (Add file to library)
3. Click on Movies (The movies should show up here)

Note:  You must do the following on each file individually, you cannot edit the Video Tags when you mass select files

1. Edit Each File one at a time
2. Right Click on File
3. Click Get Info
4. Click the “Video” tab
5. Select “Music Video” or “TV Show” in the “Video Kind” Drop Down

See Image Below:

• Step 4:  Sync the Video(s) to your iPOD

This is easy, now you just drag and drop, or sync as you would any normal song or music to your iPOD.
Note, at this point you don’t have to use iTUNES to sync, iTUNES did it’s job by Categorizing the Video, so you can use WinAmp to sync the video to your iPOD and it will still show up in the right category folder.

If anyone wants instructions on how to use WinAmp and your iPOD, let me know this also took some figuring out and research, but I love WinAmp and have used it for years.  The music library is so much easier to navigate in WinAmp in my opinion, than in iTunes.

Note for Ubuntu Users:

I have been trying for weeks to get the equivalent proces for Ubuntu but could find no firefox plug-ins for ubuntu to download video’s from YouTube, though there is the ffmpeg program which is freeware and does a great job of converting FLV movies to MP4 iPOD Video Format.  Unless you setup iTunes with WINE, there is no way to categorize the video’s into “TV Shows or Music Video’s” on Ubuntu.  SongBird is my favorite program for syncing mp3 files to iPOD on Ubuntu, but I haven’t tested whether or not it handles MP4 Video Format’s, I know it won’t delete some MP4 Video’s from the iPOD, even though I select them and delete, they aren’t removed from the iPOD.

Here are some helpful links again to all the software used:

Firefox Plug-in’s:

• Fast Video Download:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3590

• Magic’s Video Download:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6033

• AONE Software’s “FLV to AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 IPOD Converter”

http://www.aone-soft.com/flv_to_avi_mpeg_wmv_3gp_mp4_ipod_converter.htm

• Itunes:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

• WinAmp:

http://www.winamp.com/player

• UPDATE

I have found a great free website and software that can combine Step 1 and Step 2.

Vixy.net is an online FLV to MP4 Converter that can take your youtube link and instantly convert the file to MP4 compatible format and allow you to download it to your desktop.  The best part about it is that it is absolutely free.  You can use the website, or download the free application to your desktop.

The only problem is it names the file some obscure random character code of names, and it doesn’t do batch files.    So I would still use the AONE’s Software for that, but for free you can’t beat the occasional instant conversion.

I have used numerous video software over the years, and I have to say that one of my favorite for converting assorted video media to DVD is vSO Software’s ConvertXtoDVD.  This software will take just about any video format (avi, divx, xvid, mov, mkv, flv , mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg-, nsv, dvr-ms, tivo, ts, ifo, vob, asf, wmv, realmedia, rm, rmvb, ogm..etc) and burn a DVD that will play the video/audio just fine.

I use this program to download youtube video’s and convert them to custom Music DVD’s, note the quality is only as good as the quality of the original source, so you can’t do anything about the pixelation and low quality of most .flv video’s on youtube.  However, if you like getting TV Shows online, or AVI movies.  Or even if you use your digital camcorder or digital camera that takes mpg or mpeg movies, you can use this software to build them as DVD’s.  Each file can become its own chapter you can select on the main menu page.

This software is fast and efficient and I highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to get assorted media onto a watchable DVD on their TV.

Support the company and purchase the software:

http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/?ap=regnow&aid=199647&gclid=CIzvxf7yqZUCFRKLxwodAzruaQ

They give you a free trial, where you can download and test it.  It leaves a watermark on your video as long as it is in trial mode, but you can experiement to see if you like the program.

One of the Laptops in my household was converted to an Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) version release machine. The Toshiba Satellite model laptop did not have any drivers for Windows XP, and the laptop which sold for around $500 at Fry’s electronics does not have enough video or memory to make a good Windows Vista machine, so I thought it would be an excellent candidate for a Windows replacement box. After researching various choices, Ubuntu is the best by far. It is the most mature and easily converted to Operating System for non-Windows folks and has a superior array of software and features compared to other Linux flavors out there.

As with any UNIX operating system, many printer’s do not have driver’s for UNIX and UNIX machines typically only print to a Post Script enabled printer. I have a Canon MF3110 Multifunction printer. I don’t need my Ubuntu OS to do anything but printing, but there are no native drivers for it.

I have found numerous articles that help configure software for windows which allows you to share your printer and act as a port forwarder, where you setup a proxy printer through redmon and it translates Post Script to your regular printer. These instructions worked to the letter when performing them on Windows XP but were lacking when trying to setup a share with my Windows Vista Machine. These instructions say to use an Apple Laserwriter which doesn’t have drivers on Windows Vista, and also doesn’t include the extra registry entries needed for Vista to print properly.

http://home.comcast.net/~heretrythis/hp3100/psemuxp.html

But, with a combination of the above web site, and this web site. I was able to garner all the information to get my printer up and running.

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1268897,00.html

So here are full blown instructions, including links to the 3 program files you need.

You will need GSView, GSMon and RedMon.

Many of the links to download these programs found in the above two websites are dead and no longer work. I found the website called filewatcher, which has links to any file for download and this site is excellent.
Either go to these 3 links directly, and if they don’t work, go to http://www.filewatcher.com directly and search for these 3 binary files manually. Click on any and all hyperlinks until you find the ones that are valid and let you save the file. (Files to search for: gsv46w32.exe, redmon17.zip, gs814w32.exe)

http://www.filewatcher.com/m/gs814w32.exe.7337472.0.0.html

ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/ghostgum/redmon17.zip

http://www.filewatcher.com/m/gsv46w32.exe.1594368.0.0.html

• Install GhostScript and GSView right off the bat. I installed everything to C: drive for simplest instructions I didn’t want to have to configure any more than I already had to.

• Open a DOS window, and CD into the directory where GSview is installed. Make sure that the file “gsprint.exe” is located here. Type “notepad gsprint.cfg”, and create a file that looks like this:

-noquery

-color (optional - omit for B&W printers)

-printer
My Windows Printer

-ghostscript
“C:GSGS8.14BINGSWIN32C.EXE”

“My Windows Printer” is the name of your printer EXACTLY as it appears in Control Panel… Printers, and “C:GSGS8.14BINGSWIN32C.EXE” is the exact path and filename of the command-line executable for Ghostscript (your values for these two may be different - enter the correct values for your PC). Save this file, then run the following command:

• Install the RedMon application
• Create a New Printer, Select Local Port, Select Redirected Port, Set Port Name to RPT1: or anything similar. Note for Windows Vista, you must “Run As Administrator”->”Add Printer” you can’t select local port and a redirect port as a local admin.
• Select the HP LaserJet 1200 PS (This will also exist in Ubuntu and work fine, there is no Apple Laser Writer to select for Windows Vista)
• After creating the printer, edit the printer (again with “Run As Administrator”->”Properties”)
• Configure the RPT1: port with the following information.

Redirect to program: C:GSGSVIEWGSPRINT.EXE
Arguments for program: - (a single dash, no spaces)
Output: Program handles output
Run as user: [ ] (unchecked)

• Open REGEDIT32 (or just REGEDIT in Vista) and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersiondevices.

• In the right-hand pane, look for a REG_SZ value whose name is the printer you’re redirecting to (the same name you copied in Step 2),a value of something like winspool,Ne01:. Copy this information.

• Navigate to HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionDevices. Create a REG_SZ value with the same name and data. Note: This step is critical; without it, the redirector will not be able to see a printer to redirect output to. The key and its data should be recreated exactly.

• Close RegEdit.

• Share your printer and name the share something simple like “laserjet”

• Go ahead and test print with your new “HP LaserJet 1200 PS” printer, it should print out a test page fine.

• In Ubuntu, you must have SAMBA installed and smb:// mount the printer. For Windows Vista, unless you have guest account access, you must have a valid user account to connect as.

• You must have your firewall allow your Ubuntu or Unix Machine to connect to your Vista Machine.

These instructions should work for just about anyone running Vista or Windows XP (XP you can just do the instructions from this link and they work 100%, I already tested them 3 times)

http://home.comcast.net/~heretrythis/hp3100/psemuxp.html

If anyone has any problems or questions or needs assistance further, feel free to post a comment and leave me your email and I will respond to you.

Happy Printing

-Dragon Blogger