DVD Shrink runs fast in Parallels

DVD Shrink performs fast while running in Parallels.*

* MacBook Pro
2.2GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 128MB Geforce 8600 graphics card
* Using a Windows XP VM (virtual machine) with 512MB of RAM and up to 15GB allocated to the VM.

A backup of a DVD movie took only 10 minutes in Parallels (using a pre-ripped DVD Video folder). This is faster than any compression I've done on a PC. Usually it would take around 15 minutes to compress a DVD on my old Dell Latpop (1.86GHz centrino processor, 2GB of RAM). DVD Shrink is performing faster in a virtual machine than it was on my midrange laptop from 2005.

* Note: Copying the ISO file created by DVD Shrink into a Parallels shared folder took about five minutes, so this actually evens out the amount of time for the compression.

Bottom Line: If you're a PC user that misses DVD Shrink, definitely consider running it in Parallels, unless of course you are already running Bootcamp. Mac users: DVD Shrink is probably the best DVD Compression program available on PCs or Macs, and it's also free!!

Be aware that DVD Shrink has not been updated in the last three years, so it cannot remove the latest copy protections. Use MacTheRipper to rip the DVD Video files to your hard drive, and then compress them with DVD Shrink.

If you know of any DVD Shrink equivalent (free) programs for the mac, post a comment. DVD2OneX is the closest thing I've found for Mac, but it only allows the main movie to be extracted, and it costs around $40. I want to keep the menus and the chapters when backing up my DVDs.


Coming Soon:

Burn and Backup your DVD movies on a Mac

Logins are so 2007!

It's the new year and it's time to make your online life a little easier. There are several programs available to manage all of your online logins. You won't ever have to remember a password again (except for your master password, of course). Try out either one of these programs and I guarantee you'll be hooked!

• Roboform (Windows, free for up to 10 saved logins)
  Save all of your logins, forms, etc, even keep small encrypted notes with extra information. RoboForm integrates with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Once you've entered your master password, any login you have saved can be automatically entered, without any typing. RoboForm will go to the login page, enter the information, and login!
  
  RoboForm
  

• 1Password (Mac, $30)
  Essentials functions the same way as RoboForm, except you will have to manually drag all of your saved logins to the bookmarks bar in your browser to get to automatic login fuction like RoboForm.
  
  1Password
  

Both applications encrypt your stored logins and information. They also offer strong password generators with custom settings. In addition they offer a "timeout" feature where the logins are locked if any login is not used in a specified amount of time. This offers a good extra level of security.

Mac Apps - Maybe Someday

There are a lot of great Mac apps out there, and many of them happen to be free to boot! Here's a rundown of the Macs I plan to install at some point in the future. Most, if not all of these applications have been featured on Lifehacker.

• Caffeine ("stay awake" Utility)
  When Caffeine is activated it prevents the computer from going into sleep turning on the screensaver, extremely useful when watching movies, slideshows, etc. After you're finished using it, simply turn if off to have normal sleep functions. I only let my Mac go to sleep once (in two weeks of use) My boss has told me that sometimes his mac is sluggish waking from sleep. I'm sure I'll end up using this to watch movies, and pass it along to friends who also watch lots of video content on their macs
• DiskInventoryX (Hard drive space usage)
  When my 120GB laptop hard drive has less than 40GB of free disk space, I'll probably install this one, or I might use it to analyze which folders on my large external hard drives are taking up the most space. Right now I don't need, but I'm sure I will come 6 months or a year from now. On my Windows computer I used JDiskReport, which is apparently also available for Mac.
• Quicksilver (Application launcher)
  Yes, I've read all about it's features on Lifehacker, but it's functionality for launching apps may not be neccessary with stacks of application aliases. Quicksilver's other features could prove to be useful, and I'm just the type of Geek that would love it for the sake of it's keyboard functionality.
• Handbrake (DVD video ripping)
  This handy application rips DVD to various video formats and has presets for iPods among other things. It's one of the simplest, free ways to get videos converted for your iPod. I've got the DMG saved, but I probably won't use this very often, because I prefer to "backup" DVD movie discs with DVD Shrink. I don't like the loss of quality when ripping below a 1GB video file and I'd rather have a disc that I can pop into any DVD player with the chapters and menus intact, not to mention a great quality boost!! If I run across some novelty movies, then I might install and it and fire it up.
• Backuplist+ 5.0 (Backup utility)
  It looks like a great free backup utility and it's the exact functionality I desire with backup, simply knowing that a few essential folders (pictures, music, documents, software) are backed-up on my external hard drive. I'll give this one a spin to backup the new photos on my laptop.
• Transmission (Torrent client)
  It was picked by Lifehacker in their "2007 Guide to Free Software and Webapps". It's open-source, and the only reason I don't currently have it is because I don't have high speed internet access. In a few weeks, I'll install this one to get some torrents up and running again.
• Google Earth
  I'll probably install this in a few weeks, but unless I'm bored or have some time kill, I would rarely use it all.
• Schoolhouse 2 (assignment/project organization)
  This would have been a great app to have in high school to keep track of all my assignments. I might use it before I finish my college degree, when I have lots of work to keep track of. Featured on Lifehacker here: Download of the Day: Schoolhouse 2 (Mac)

Other apps in the waiting list:

Writeroom (only text on the screen to help focus on writing, $25)
JDarkroom (free alternative to Writeroom, text only writing tool, Windows/Mac)
Celtx (Media pre-production and collaboration tool)
ImageWell (image viewer/editor)
Isolator (applcation focuser/isolator)
Celestia (free space simulation program Windows/Mac/Linux )
FreeDMG (make DMGs for free, and w/ more features than Disk Utility)
Renamer4Mac (free batch/bulk file renaming utility)
DVD2oneX (DVD video compression for burning)



I welcome any comments with applications you've tried, plan to try, or will get around to eventually. Send me a buzz by email.

Use Meebo to IM from a Browser

Meebo
Meebo.com
Supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, and Yahoo! instant messaging services all from within a browser window. A new feature lets you move your chat windows onto the desktop. Meebo works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.

IM without using or installing an IM client.

From PC Magazine, March 6 2007 issue p.43