28 February 2013

Google Tests a New Navigation Interface



Google tests a new navigation menu that's more compact and includes fewer services. You need to click or mouse over an icon that's placed next to the "sign in" button and you can access popular services like Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar.



The interface seems to be inspired by Chrome's app launcher, uses less space, but it's not very obvious. It's like a new version of the hidden navigation menu that was launched back in 2011 and removed after a few weeks.









{ Thanks, Maurice. }


How To Delete Recovery Partition In Windows 8



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Almost all PCs that ship with Windows 8 operating system have a dedicated recovery partition consisting crucial files required to reset or restore Windows 8 to factory condition. This recovery partition usually consumes around 15GB of storage space. Since most of the PCs that are available today offer at least 500GB of storage space users [...]

How To Be a Better Parent In Your Child’s Online World



be a better parentThere’s no question that growing up in today’s world is nothing like growing up over the past few decades. Obviously, computers and technology make a childhood of today nothing at all like a childhood of the last few decades. Instead of radio shows, kids have streaming movies on Netflix. Instead of drive-in theaters, kids have 3D cinema with digital surround-sound. Instead of ham radios, kids have mobile apps.


You’ll find plenty of people lamenting about how wonderful childhood was back then. They’ll talk about memories of playing football or street hockey with neighborhood friends, or making up a make-believe war with friends using sticks as guns and pine-cones as hand-grenades. Maybe in your part of the world, childhood has evolved in similar ways, and most older folks look at the kids of today – with their high-tech gadgetry and conveniences – with disdain.


But is that really fair? I was very much an 80′s and 90′s kid, so my own childhood was sort of in the very beginning of that evolution into a technological society. Most of us 80′s kids knew this – it could be seen in the imagined futures of all of our movies like Back to the Future and Lawnmower Man. The children of my generation played pixelated video games on Atari game consoles, but dreamed of a world with realistic graphics and wireless communications. In fact, those of us of that generation are the parents of today – and we watch our kids enjoying the sort of childhood that many of us could only dream of.


Taking Part In Your Child’s Online World


So why lament the technology and the conveniences? The fact is, these are things that are here to stay. Tweeting, Facebooking and Googling are verbs that are a part of our global culture. Kids are plugged into the net. They’re voice chatting with friends across the world while playing massive online games. They’re instantly sharing photos on services like Instagram, in ways that photographers never would have imagined a couple of decades ago.


It’s a new world that we live in, and parents can either stay in denial and try to fight it, or be a better parent and embrace this new reality and become involved with it alongside your kids. Because in all honesty, there’s a whole lot of joy, fun and relationship-building that can come from actively showing interest int he things that your kids are interested in.


Show Interest In Their Online Success


I have to be honest, I didn’t think up this one on my own. My own father taught me the importance of being involved in the things that your child does online. When I started my own blog and struggled through the first few years of long nights trying to post every day on my own, my first fan was my father. He was there from day one, liking every post on my blog. And then, when I launched the Facebook page to promote my blog, there my father was on Facebook, liking every Facebook post.


So, when I recently learned that my daughter was creating her own digital artwork on the Internet, you can imagine my reaction. Sure, she’s great with a pen and paper, but to see what she’s capable of at such a young age in the digital domain – it makes me very proud as a father, and I want her to know that.


be a better parent


So, like my own dad’s example, I will leave comments on her photos – encouraging her and complimenting her. And of course, I’ll share it on my own Facebook wall, making sure she understands just how proud I am of her creativity.


better parenting


Sure, this isn’t anything like the world used to be, when kids used to make simple drawings on paper, and hand it to mom or dad with an expectant smile. But, you know what? This new method of sharing creativity is even better. Now, the world can see this young, beautiful mind, and as a parent, you have the opportunity to make sure the world knows just how proud you are of your child.


Challenge Them With Brain Games


When it comes to playing online games, you can fight the losing battle that too many parents try to fight – cutting back on gaming time and constantly nagging your kids to get off the Internet. Or you can suggest doing an online activity with your child. After all, if that’s where they want to be, why not meet them there?


If you find yourself sitting in a home where everyone is on their own computer, isolated in their own rooms, why not send them a text chat and invite them to a game of online chess at a site like ChessFriends?


better parenting


My daughter and I have always loved playing chess together – on a real board – but you know what, when I’m away from home on a business trip, what better way for us to have some fun? Most of these online game sites have a chat area where you can shoot the breeze and talk about the day at school with them during the ongoing game. It’s a wonderful, low-pressure way of building that relationship, even when your kids are online and seemingly “isolated” from the real world.


Another great online activity that I like to play with my younger daughter – who loves to read and likes everything about words – is Words With Friends on Facebook.


better parenting


Just like the chess game, we can spend time together no matter where I am or where she is – and with the chat window available we can poke fun at each other during the game.


better parenting skills


Again – it’s not so much that these are what we would consider the perfect ways to bond with our kids. However, the reality is that the kids of today are Internet kids. They were on the computer playing toddler games at 3 years old. They were reading stories on the laptop nearly as soon as they knew how to read. Since the Internet is such an integral part of their lives, and probably will be into the foreseeable future, why not become an integral part of that online life as their parent?


It will only be good for you once they have to leave home and head off to college, because guess what – that online game of Words With Friends will be a powerful way for you to reconnect, even when they aren’t home anymore.


Playing Console Games


I think that family game-playing is much more mainstream today than it ever was before the advent of consoles like the Wii. The Wii really introduced the idea of bringing family “game night” over to the television set and making it electronic rather than using a game board.


The truth is, there’s nothing wrong with that. Electronic is the way kids like it these days, so if you can join them in a friendly game of Super Mario 3D Land and make it a fun night of bonding and fun – only good can come out of that.


better parenting skills


There is nothing as amazing as hearing your kids laugh or watching them smile as you trash talk with them during a high-energy game of Mario Kart. Seriously – give it a try and just see if it doesn’t bring a bit of laughter and strengthen your relationship with your kids. Don’t be a staunchly old anti-tech parent – join your kids and show them you know how to have a great time.


Embrace Their Online Social Life


As your kids get old enough to get on Facebook – making sure that they friend you (and that they don’t block you from seeing their posts) is a great way to monitor their online activity in a non-intrusive way.


Better yet, it gives you the opportunity to interact with them. They may mumble and not tell you what their day was like at school during supper – but I bet you can get them to joke around with you or open up on their Facebook wall!


better parenting skills


Of course, do this sparingly. Follow the rules of Facebook etiquette and don’t overwhelm them with your input after every single post. They’ll get sick of you and start blocking you after a while (who could blame them?)


It’s better to post sparingly. Be positive about the things they post and the jokes or pictures they share. Make them look forward to your replies. The fact is, this is what part of a parent-child relationship looks like these days. You can ignore it and never be a part of it – or you can embrace it and be fully a part of their online life. Trust me – you’re better off being involved.


Online Groups & Pages


If they go so far as to actually establish a community online, like their own Facebook group or their own blog, by all means be a catalyst of encouragement. Make the know that you’re proud of their efforts to build the online community and to connect with friends and family in this way. By becoming a part of their community yourself, you’re showing them not only that you care, but that you’re interested in what they’re interested in.


To my surprise, my daughter launched her own “Technology” group on Facebook – to talk about the latest advancements in electronics and computers. You better believe I was one of her first members.


be a better parent


This obviously isn’t everything there is about a parent-child relationship. I would never suggest that any of the above should replace personal, one-on-one, in-person discussions and bonding. However, when the time comes (and in inevitably will), when people gravitate to their own spaces and log onto those computers, wouldn’t it be nice to know that you can still connect with your child even when they do have their eyes glued to the computer screen?


It’s the world we live in today, and there’s nothing wrong with that. As a parent, embracing it and finding the joy in it can go a long way toward building and maintaining a strong relationship with your son or daughter for many years to come.


Are you involved in your child’s online life? If not, are you open to trying it in order to be a better parent? Share your own creative ideas and your opinions in the comments section below!


Image Credit: Father and Daughter Using Laptop via Shutterstock


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Google Drive Video Embeds, Too Limited



If you thought that you can upload videos to Google Drive and embed them into your site just like you can do with YouTube videos, think again. I've uploaded a video to Google Drive, added the embed code to a blog post and after a few hundred views, the video stopped playing. Here's the Google Drive error message: "Unable to play this video at this time. The number of allowed playbacks has been exceeded. Please try again later."



As you can see, even the video player from Google Drive has been removed:






After deleting the embed code from the blog post, Google no longer displayed the error message and the video started to play again.


Chrome Shows Which Tab Is Making a Noise



If you've read the previous post about the animated YouTube favicon, you should know I was wrong. It's not a new YouTube feature, it's a new Chrome feature that tries to detect the tabs that are producing sounds and adds an animation to the favicons.



The feature is currently available in the Canary channel and the latest Chromium builds, so it's not yet ready for primetime. For example, Chrome animates the Google Music favicon even if there's no music playing, but the feature works well for YouTube.






While it's nice to be able to tell which tabs are noisy, the animated favicons are distracting and many people find them annoying.



{ Thanks, everyone. }


27 February 2013

Gmail Attachments in Google Drive?



Jérôme Flipo spotted a new GDrive feature in an animated GIF file shared by the Google Drive team: a "Gmail attachments" section.






It turns out that there are many references to Gmail attachments in Google Drive's code, so this new feature is not yet enabled in the public version of Google Drive, but Google employees test it.









It's likely that you'll be able to manage Gmail attachments from Google Drive, find attachments and share them with other people. Google Drive is already the central file repository for most Google services.


AppStars: Best Apps Finder For Windows 8



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The official Windows 8 app Store has over thirty-thousand apps and the number is counting. The Store receives hundreds of new apps each day. Other than the design, the downside of the the official Store app is that it doesn’t let you filter available apps by most popular or trending. Because of this, it’s quite [...]

Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 10 For Windows 7 [Updates]



Microsoft is finally rolling out Internet Explorer 10 to users with Windows 7 installed on their machines. This is a huge user base, as Microsoft claims there are over 700 million customers still using Windows 7 as their operating system of choice. How many of those are still using Internet Explorer as their browser? According to StatCounter, just under 30% of Internet users are using IE.


Microsoft claims that Internet Explorer gives a real-world speed increase of 20% over IE9, which is certainly no small difference. Microsoft also cites studies that show that Internet Explorer 10 is the fastest browser available on Windows. Even with the speed increase, Microsoft also shows evidence that IE9 is the second fastest browser, edging out Firefox version 15.


Just like the Windows 8 version of IE10, the Windows 7 browser has a major focus on HTML 5. This seems like a smart move, as it’s clear that HTML 5 is taking over the web, and Microsoft has tools in place to help web developers make the most of it.


IE10 on Windows 7 also comes with the Do Not Track (DNT) feature for users concerned with privacy. By default it is on, but users can go to options and turn the DNT signal off if they prefer.



If you are making the switch to Internet Explorer 10, make sure you check out our Internet Explorer 10 tips and tricks article, as it will help you get started with the latest version of Microsoft’s browser.


Internet Explorer 10 is available for download now directly from Microsoft. With the improvements to speed and security, are you willing to give Internet Explorer another go on your Windows 7 machine? Are you going to stick with your current browser? Hit the comments section below and let us know.


Source: Microsoft


The post Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 10 For Windows 7 [Updates] appeared first on MakeUseOf.



Download Microsoft Surface Pro Drivers



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Earlier this month, Microsoft’s highly anticipated Surface Pro with Windows 8 operating system went on sale. Unlike the Surface RT tablet, which is powered by Windows RT operating system, Surface Pro can run both legacy desktop programs and modern (metro) apps installed from the official Windows Store. The Surface Pro tablet has an Intel Core [...]

How To Beat The Eyeballing Game – An Addictive Online Timewaster



the eyeballing gameYou may not think geometry plays any part in your life, but you’d be wrong. If you do anything practical – hanging a picture, putting up a shelf, or building flat-pack furniture — you deal with geometry. Choosing how to furnish your house, recognizing faces, and even shooting photographs all require some knowledge of the shapes, sizes, and angles you’re seeing.


If you want to know how good you are at dealing with geometry then The Eyeballing Game is just for you. It’s simple to play but difficult to master, which gives it an addictive quality (similar to Tetris and its various clones) that will likely keep you playing. You’re presented with seven different challenges, and tested three times on each. The idea is to correct the image as accurately as possible, with the lower the score the better.


At the end of The Eyeballing Game your scores are averaged out by the margin of error. Zero is the ultimate aim, though I doubt anyone has yet, or ever will, achieve a perfect score. To make things even more challenging you’re competing against the clock, though speed is a secondary concern. What follows is each challenge in turn detailed along with some simple tips to help you get closer to the desired 0.0.


Parallelogram


the eyeballing game


The first time I played The Eyeballing Game I wasn’t sure what a parallelogram was, so my guess for the correct position was wildly inaccurate. the easiest way to think about this challenge is that a parallelogram features two sets of parallel lines.


This makes the methodology for finding the correct position for the corner simple. All you need to do is line up one of the sides first before you deal with the other. When you’re sure both sets are parallel lock the position in and see how well you judged it.


Midpoint


the eyeballing game tips


All you need to do here is find the midpoint of the line segment. This is probably the easiest of the seven challenges included in The Eyeballing Game, with the lowest probability of being wildly off. You are, after all, only dealing with one element.


As well as finding the midpoint you have to straighten the line. I always do this before working out where the center of the line is, but you may find it easier to do so using the temporary angle. Be careful not to accidentally adjust the spacing when you straighten the line out.


Bisect Angle


the eyeballing game tips


You’re presented with a random angle and have to bisect it as perfectly as possible. In other words you need to determine where the line should sit if it’s going to be the same distance away from both of the other lines.


The differing lengths of the pre-existing lines can be wildly off-putting, so to remedy this place your hand on the screen to cover up any excess length. Once the two lines look the same it’s much easier to successfully bisect the angle.


Triangle Center


the eyeballing game tips


You’re presented with a scalene triangle and asked to find the center of it. This is the point “equidistant to the edges.” This is one challenge liable to catch out many people on their first play-through, but it’s actually fairly simple to correctly judge where to make your mark.


Imagine drawing a perfect circle which hits all three sides of the triangle, sitting locked inside it. Then simply mark the center of that triangle. Finding the center of a circle is no mean feat, but it’s simpler when it’s this size rather than any larger…


Circle Center


eyeballing game


Following on from the last challenge is one which asks you to mark the center of a large circle. You’re presented with a perfect circle and asked to correctly judge where the central point should be.


Zooming your screen out can help with this one, or if that’s too much trouble simply move further away from your computer. The more of the circle you can see the easier it is to judge where the center would be. Try and line up the horizontal axis and the vertical axis in turn.


Right Angle


eyeballing game


Right angles are everywhere you look, though they’re more a part of man-made structures than the ones inherent in nature. They may be essential but it’s surprisingly difficult to judge the difference between a perfect right angle and one that’s just slightly off.


If you’re playing The Eyeballing Game on a portable device then turn the screen until the stationary line is pointing straight up. This makes it much easier to find the 90-degree angle. Also make the movable line longer to help you judge more accurately.


Convergence


eyeballing game


The final challenge is perhaps my favorite on the list. Mainly because it’s the one I always seem to hit pretty much spot on. You’re shown three straight lines and asked to find the exact point at which they would converge were they to carry on in the same direction.


The only way to beat this challenge is to tackle one line at a time. When they’re all dead straight you will have found the correct point to set, with one final look at all three insuring you haven’t veered off course.


Conclusions


the eyeballing game


The Eyeballing Game is truly one of the most addictive games I have played in a long time. Like many of the best games it draws you in with its “just one more go and I’ll do better” mentality. This has quickly found its way into my list of fun things to do online when bored.


With local scores saved as long as you want them saved, and the best scores of the last 500 and last 10,000 games listed on the site, there’s an obvious lure tempting you to keep on trying. Hopefully this article will help banish the frustration felt when you fail to do well.


Have you played The Eyeballing Game? It’s been online for several years but remains something of a hidden gem. Use the comments section below to let us know what you think of this fun timewaster, or, if you’re so inclined, let us know the best score you’ve achieved. If your gray matter needs more massaging then you can try these other games for the brain.


Image Credit: Avi


The post How To Beat The Eyeballing Game – An Addictive Online Timewaster appeared first on MakeUseOf.



Facebook Search Used As An Interpersonal Weapon: What To Watch For [Weekly Facebook Tips]



facebook searchFacebook has always been an easy way to accidentally expose yourself to unwanted privacy breaches, however with the new Facebook Graph Search it’s even easier to get stung. You might think you’ve locked down your account very well, only to find that things that you’d forgotten all about are now embarrassing you.


It doesn’t even matter if you have enemies or not – all it takes is for someone to come up with the right search term and your secrets could all come out. This might be via a clever prankster, a vindictive ex, or a careful HR person – you never know who is evaluating you based on your Facebook profile and what they can learn from it.


Today we’ll look at a few things you can do to lock down your account just a bit further. Plus, we’ll also discuss a little about why these settings are important these days. The more you know, the better protected you are. Most importantly today is to ensure your Facebook “likes” are adequately private. You’ll see exactly why soon.


Look After Your Facebook Privacy Generally


Here at MakeUseOf, we constantly strive to provide you with the best advice about looking after your privacy on Facebook. Things change often, so it’s a bit of a game of cat and mouse at times. However, there are plenty of articles and guides we’ve written which offer timeless good advice about ensuring you maintain your Facebook privacy. Very recently, we wrote a specific guide to preparing your Facebook account privacy settings for Facebook Graph Search.


Even if you think you know all there is to know, take a look and make sure. There are plenty of privacy settings that used to be difficult or impossible to hide which are now very important to check.


Your Embarrassing Facebook Likes


So, you entered a competition or you liked a company so you could get news of cheap deals. So what, right? Well, sadly the reason behind your “like” isn’t always clear to the person who sees it. What if your boss notices you’ve “liked” the competition? Will they understand? What if your friends see it and think you’re a sellout?


facebook search


What’s even worse than these casual misunderstandings are the “likes” that really give away who you are at heart. You know, the part of you that’s passionate about a particular cause, sexual preference or religion which you wouldn’t normally harp on about in front of workmates and family simply because it would start debates which never end well. While you may not be embarrassed by them, it may still be wise to keep them out of the public eye just in case.


Another set of embarrassing “likes” are the ones that give away things you used to like and no longer care for. Take for instance, the thought that a friend may search for “Married friends who like OKCupid”. Despite the fact that you may have “liked” the page several years ago when you were single and available, the fact that your face shows up in the Facebook search results makes you look like you’re currently playing the field. This is a misunderstanding that most people would quite happily avoid.


Don’t forget that your “likes” stretch across photos, images, random posts by friends or pages and more. What sorts of conclusions will people draw when they can easily see all the images you like?


Suggested Posts – Another Great Reason To Hide Facebook Likes


Have you seen Facebook’s “Suggested Posts” in your timeline before? What you may not know is that these pages are generated by the “likes” of your friends, who may have liked the page at any point since the beginning of Facebook. Conversely, what this means is that any page you’ve ever liked may make its way into your friends’ timelines with a photo of your face endorsing it. Do you even know what pages you liked on Facebook three years ago?


How To Hide Your Facebook Likes


So now we get to the important step of actually hiding your Facebook likes, which really isn’t that hard. You can easily see all of your “likes” on one sub-page of your timeline.


facebook people search


At the top of this page, on the right-hand side is an “Edit” button. From here, you can choose the privacy setting for each category of pages you have liked. Remember that you can set the privacy to “Only Me” or use custom settings, which let you add a whitelist and a blacklist of people either by using names or by using friends lists. This is the best way to ensure your general “like” privacy settings are exactly as you expect.


Now, you may also want to remove some entries entirely from Facebook Search. Just take a quick look at everything listed and click the x in the corner of anything that shouldn’t be there. Don’t forget that if you’ve ever been caught by a Facebook scam that you may have strange pages in your likes that you never willingly liked.


If you want to leave a modestly embarrassing “like” listed, but hide it from people, there is a way to do it. Set one of the categories to “Only Me“, then move the embarrassing “like” to that category, even if it doesn’t seem like it makes sense there.


Don’t forget to click on “Done Editing” at the top before you leave the page!


Try A SimpleWash


If you think your profile is okay, or you just can’t face the idea of going through every single Facebook update you’ve ever made, there are some great tools to help you clean things up. One of these is really worth trying out: SimpleWash (used to be FaceWash, but now covers Twitter also). The service scans all of your updates and reports on whether or not it deems them to be “clean”. This includes updates you’ve made, photos you’ve uploaded, posts and photos you’ve been tagged in and more.


Obviously, SimpleWash may have a different idea of what needs cleaning up to you, but at least you’ll see your posts from the eyes of a stranger and can make your decision from there. SimpleWash can check updates written in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish at this stage.


facebook search


What sorts of things have you hidden from your Facebook Timeline and why?


The post Facebook Search Used As An Interpersonal Weapon: What To Watch For [Weekly Facebook Tips] appeared first on MakeUseOf.



26 February 2013

Does Your Media Player Suck? Try A Unique Alternative: Daum PotPlayer [Windows]



daum potplayerWhenever we have written an article about great media players, people were quick to remind us of PotPlayer. Once we checked it out, we had to agree that it was indeed pretty awesome. So the tool silently made it to our famous list of Best Windows Software and finally the time has come for a proper review.


PotPlayer was developed by Daum and is based on the original KMPlayer, which has since been developed by another group. Much like VLC Media Player, Daum PotPlayer comes complete with codecs for most media file formats. This means it will natively play almost any audio or video file you throw at it, without the need to manually install codecs. If you now wonder whether PotPlayer is as neat and easy to use as it sounds, read on.


First Impressions


On a first impression, Daum PotPlayer looks like a mix of KMPlayer and Winamp. It has a modular setup, consisting of a playlist and a playback module. The latter changes depending on whether an audio or a video file is playing. Note that throughout the player, left- or right-click might trigger different actions or behaviors, also depending on your current view.


Adding Files & Managing Playlists


You can add files, an entire directory, or a URL by clicking the + sign in the bottom right of the playlist. Alternatively, you can right-click into the playlist and select Add & Edit or use the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [I]. You can also drag&drop files or directories from a Windows Explorer folder into the playlist.


daum potplayer


Did you notice the playlist tabs above? You can create different albums, which per default are automatically saved as playlists. When you close and open PotPlayer, your previously opened tabs are re-loaded.


Unfortunately, you cannot change the order of opened albums, they are sorted alphabetically. It’s also not possible to drag & drop or easily move files from one album to another. However, when you select files and then click *New Album, the selected files will automatically be copied over to the new album (not moved).


Also, you can copy and paste files from one album to another via the Add & Edit menu shown above. To remove files, right-click them, open the Remove menu and select the desired action. Alternatively, you can use the indicated keyboard shortcuts.


daum potplayer english


The playlist supports drag&drop, both for files from another source and within the playlist. Hence it’s a surprise that drag&drop does not work between playlists. Files can be moved up and down within the playlist via the playlist menu. Little buttons next to the info window allow you to open the Playlist Settings [left-click S], sort the playlist [right-click S] or save the current playlist [left-click O].


daum potplayer english


Playing Audio Files


While playing audio files you can move around the playlist and pair it with the equalizer in various ways. Once the two are paired, dragging the playback module will move both elements like one unit, while dragging the playlist will separate them. Clicking the little icon in the top left triggers On Top Always behavior.


daum potplayer english


The playback module has some neat features for both audio and video. While playing audio files, you can use the A / B buttons to define a section of the file to be repeated. Clicking the arrows between A and B will reset the selection.


download daum potplayer


In the bottom right of the playback module are three buttons. Left-click the first button to open the Windows folder for the currently playing file, right-click it to get an extensive menu of anything the player can potentially open, including webcam, TV, or subtitles. The middle button launches or closes the control panel upon a left-click, while a right-click opens the skin menu. Finally, left-clicking the right-most button opens or closes the playlist.


The unsuspicious looking control panel lets you manage the audio equalizer, adjust video settings and take screen captures, control subtitles, play settings, video ratios and video frames.


download daum potplayer


Playing Video Files


The video frame is docked to the left of the playlist. You can close the playlist via the respective button in the bottom right of the video frame or by clicking the little arrowhead between the video and the playlist. To watch the video in fullscreen, double-click the video frame. You can return by double-clicking again or clicking [ESC].


download daum potplayer


While playing video you can hide the skin to only see the video frame by clicking the little icon in the top left. You can move the video frame around and as you hover over the top, bottom, or right-hand side, the respective menus or the playlist will show.



The video playback menu shown above is quite a handful. PCM lets you change audio channels, NV12 has all the controls for moving within the video, including frame by frame, within subtitles, or to a specific frame.



Left-clicking the [i] button turns on/off OSD, while a right-click opens a window with the file information. Left-clicking the [O] button captures the current frame and a right-click opens a screen capture menu. Also the next buttons in the row show different behaviors for left- vs. right-click. The first three control audio stream, subtitles, and video processing.


The final three are similar but different to the menus seen at the bottom of the audio playback window. Right-clicking the control panel button will open an advanced control menu bar (see screenshot below). Right-clicking the playlist button merges and separates the playlist from the video frame.


daum potplayer


Note that while a video is playing, right-clicking the playlist albums will show another extensive menu, but only when the playlist is merged with the video frame. This is the same menu that opens when you right-click the display that indicates the file format [AVI in screenshot above].


Verdict


Daum PotPlayer is a versatile and comprehensive media player, much like its big brother KMPlayer. Some of its features are not immediately intuitive, for example differing behavior of buttons upon left- or right-click. However, this also highlights the depth of the player. While the interface makes the player appear simplistic at first, the many menus hidden behind a few carefully placed buttons, reveal advanced features that leave few requests open. So taken together, PotPlayer is a media player for people who expect full control, enjoy unique interfaces, and don’t mind exploring.


What is your experience with media players? Which one is your favorite and how does PotPlayer compare?


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