The Websolace

You’ve probably seen me with a status of “View my Webcam” on Yahoo! Messenger too often these past weeks.

That’s because I have a new toy.

..and it’s called WebcamMax! (check it out and get yourself a trial at http://www.webcammax.com/)

It makes me feel less insecure about the petty things like facial appearance. I believe I look a ton better using it.

Looking… cute.

You know this wouldn’t be just any technology review if there wasn’t at least a bit of technical stuff in it. The concept is easy! WebcamMax installs it’s own video source driver, think of it like adding another hardware webcam in your computer with your existing webcam feeding to it. Basically, it’s a middleman between your webcam and the actual output (Yahoo! Messenger, WLM or another video capture program*); best described as post processing for your webcam! Outlined it’s Webcam (the actual source) -> WebcamMax (for effects processing) -> Output (probable internet fame).

Bored.

Personally, this product shines because I’ve always enjoyed having my picture taken in one of those cute pink Japanese photobooths where you get to play around with the picture and take home stickers. Yep, pretty manly stuff for a manly man like me. Now with WebcamMax… I can take my manly habits to the next level.. with movement… AND ON THE INTERNET! Everybody loves a good e-go. It’s really just the fun effects that makes you feel a lot, lot, younger than you really are.

Other awesome things? SCREEN CAPTURE. I cannot stress this enough. The screen capture part is FRIKKEN COOL. You can set it to capture your whole screen so your buddies can see you play Farcry on your new badass computer. Practically speaking, I’ve found it REAL USEFUL when I’m trying to help someone with their computer problem, it’s a good way to avoid having to remotely connect to his computer, or worse.. being physically summoned.

One neat effect I like is this one which displays the time. Timestamping on the actual video output can be real useful in many different situations. Other than that, it just sparks my inner geekiness.

More features? Yes. Aside from webcam post processing, screen capturing… YOU CAN ACTUALLY FEED IT A MOVIE SOURCE. I frikken kid you not. Best of all, since processing is done client side, if your computer can play it… you won’t run into codec problems streaming it. Additionally you can use a picture or a blank background of whatever color you wish! The latter is useful for … doodling….. Yep DOODLING! You can ‘doodle’ on whatever source you’re using, be it a webcam, screen capture.. you get the point.

I’m sorry for this badly outlined review, there’s literally TOO MUCH features to share about WebcamMax. One thing I’m finding hard to gauge is what’s more useful to me and so far… all of ‘em. These pictures I posted weren’t gotten off a screencapture and cropped off using another program, it does that for you and video recording.. with sound too. Now thats something I should have said sooner, but again, there’s too much cool stuff to mention!!

If I haven’t mentioned.. it also works on more than a dozen IM clients, some I haven’t even used since I’m only on Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger. In fact, it should work on any program (whether or not it’s an IM client) as long as it can support video feed off a video source. Awesome, really.

My rating? A 10 out of 10. It’s vast library of fun effects to revolutionize the way you… ‘camwhore’ will come in handy someday. Well, if you’re butt ugly the Brad Pitt mask should. Don’t ever take it off. Seriously though, if you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation where in this product has helped me (like for helpng people troubleshoot their computer), consider buying this product. Get your trial copy first at http://www.webcammax.com/.

Happy camming!

You will.

By the way, this post will be very frank.

Let me introduce the beast..

It runs Windows Vista Ultimate x64..

What is it? It’s a Sager NP9262. Big deal right?

It’s a quadcore laptop.

Before specifics or should I say specifications, please review the next picture; yes, that is it’s power adapter.

Alright, what does the monster of a power adapter really power? An Intel Q9450 which runs at 2.66GHz per core with a 1333 FSB to start.. Graphics? GeForce 8800M GTX, 512MB. Four gigabytes of 800 MHz memory to be upgraded to eight in the future. Storage? Two 200GB 7200RPM drives in a RAID 0 (stripping) configuration. Not convinced how awesome this thing is? It’s native resolution is 1920×1200 on a 17″ screen. Four onboard speakers, four bottom fans to keep it from meltng.

Still not convinced? 3Dmark06 gave it a score of over 10,000…. out of the box.

I didn’t get it SLi’d because the cost was.. obsenely high at my configuration already. Of course..because of the modularity of it’s chassis (the Clevo 900 series) I can swap out parts easily. The processor (easily because it’s a desktop processor), RAM and hard drives (up to three 2.5″) of course.. and.. (this is where the modularity comes in) the graphics card too! YES, that means in the coming months I can swap my 8800 GTX for a 9800 GT! Awesome, real awesome.

Other pictures..

Oh yeah, you need a pro mouse too if you’re going to survive in the battlegrounds.. with that, here is my Logitech G9 and additionally, my UPEK Fingerprint scanner (which by the way, is the only fingerprint scanner that fully works with Vista and more importantly, 64-bit drivers!).

Lastly.. it weighs around eleven kilos including the power adapter, so goodluck to me.

A friend of mine just lost an important file on his USB drive and since he didn’t have a backup, I was quick to recommend file recovery programs. Prevention is always better than treat me so I was thinking if there were any programs that backed up whole USB drives. I came to a conclusion that for most end users its probably impractical. So instead of giving him a program that would chop his space capacity in half in no time (a graphic artist, those huge PSDs) I went with a solution that’s already in Windows.. none other than Briefcase!

I’ve never used it since Windows 98 or was that 95? It’s always there for anyone to use but sadly just highlighted by in the New context menu. Some probably use it, I would starting right now!

There’s no point in making another step-by-step since Symplebyte.com has a fantastic tutorial in the following link. Read about it here:

http://www.symplebyte.com/microsoft_windows/the_basics/synch_files_using_briefcase

This is not a Livejournal but let me do a whiny post.

I’ve become lazy. It’s not something I hate, but feeling like a sloth again is just different now. I used to exercise, do actual chores and was well on the way to slimness. Aha, one slip and I’m back on the fat train.

Notice how I slipstreamed lazy into fat? I guess there’s a connection after all.