Last week I posted a review of ESPN360.com and how happy I was to be able to watch tons of out of market games for free online.  One thing that I failed to mention is that the official website states that ESPN360 is only available for Windows and Mac users, so Linux is not on the officially supported list.  Since I have a dual boot system, I always have the option of restarting in Vista, but it seemed like it should be able to play in Linux.

I spent a couple hours searching and trying some different things and ended up getting it to work in Ubuntu Karmic using WINE.  It is a bit buggy and not as smooth as the Windows version, but if you don’t have Windows or Mac or don’t want to logout of Linux, the following steps should get you up and running in Ubuntu.

The first thing you need to do is make sure you have the latest version of WINE, I used the Ubuntu Software Center to install the Beta release of WINE 1.2.  After WINE is installed you need to go to mozilla from your normal Linux browser (I used Firefox) to download the Windows version of Firefox which can be found here. After I clicked on the English (US) version for my region, the following box opened up.

After clicking OK the installation process will take place and then open Firefox in WINE.  Next I went to ESPN360.com, the first thing that appeared was a message indicating that a plugin was missing for the FlashPlayer required for some of the graphics on the page.  After clicking on the “install missing plugin” message at the top of the page the following box appeared for the version of Flash to be installed.

After Flash was installed I clicked on “Watch Live” for one of the games, another window popped up and indicated that the Move Player needed to be installed.

After I received the message above, I clicked on the Begin Install box and the box below popped up indicating that the file would be installed.  I clicked on Save File in the box below to install Move Media Player.

At this point I ran into some trouble, after the supposed installation of the Move Player, Firefox crashed on me.  I was using an older version of WINE so hopefully that was the cause of the problem and you be able to see the live games at this point.  If it is still not working, one other step that I did was to manually install the Move Player with the the WINE loader, I went to my downloads folder where I previously tried to install the Move Player without WINE and right clicked on the file and opened with WINE as seen in the screen shot below.

Since I had closed Firefox before trying this I had to start it again using the same process that you will use after the installation.  Go to Applications -> WINE -> Mozilla Firefox to start Firefox within WINE, go to ESPN360 and click on a game to watch.

As I stated earlier, it does seem to be a bit buggy, but it does work pretty well.  When I first got to the live games screen, I did not see the Syracuse game that I wanted to watch which I knew was available from my Windows version.  After clicking on a couple other games first, it suddenly appeared and once I clicked on it everything worked fine.

The controls for fast forwarding seemed a little shaky at times and sometimes the pictures of other games below the screen were there and sometimes they were not.  The stats in the box on the right did not seem to be updating but the scores and section 140 comments and schedule were accurate.  Most importantly the video was working well in the box and also when I went to full screen, so if you need to watch ESPN360 in Linux, WINE should do the trick.  Not only am I able to watch ESPN360 without rebooting to Windows, the Orange is up by almost 20 so it is a good day!

In my opinion, one big gap that Android needs to fill in order to compete with the iPhone and become more popular is something that resembles iTunes.  I love my Motorola Droid, but it does not come with media management software so I am left using various applications to keep the content updated.  Of course, there are third party applications that can help fill the gap, but something doesn’t feel right when you pay hundreds of dollars for a device and have to locate a program to help transfer your media.

I previously provided my opinion on Double Twist as an excellent option for transferring music in a previous post.  Double Twist provides support for synching music, photos, and videos with an excellent feature that will convert videos to the proper format for your device.

If you are only interested in transferring music and/or podcasts, Media Monkey is an excellent option.  I have used Media Monkey for years to organize my music files and was delighted to find that it works with Android.  I have always used the free version and it provides everything that I need, there is also a gold option available with additional features if you are interested in some advanced functionality. To get MediaMonkey The music manager for audiophiles, Click Here

My Favorite Features

One of the features that I use the most is organizing tracks and adding album art to my music files.  I have been ripping cd’s for years and many of them did not have album art or inconsistent ID tags (ie album or artist spellings differently).  With Media Monkey you can right click on the track and select Auto-Tag from web and then locate the album and copy all of the tag information and album art so it will appear correctly on the latest devices that display album art along with the music.

Once the tags are properly updated you can right click auto organize files to save them with a folder and file name structure so you can find them on your hard drive easier.  You can do this process individually, or I typically highlight all of my songs and choose the option from the tools section to do all files at the same time.  The all of my songs are organized in folders by Artist, Album, and file names in the correct album folders.  You can fully customize the folder structure if you prefer a different method for organizing your files.

Another feature that I find useful with Media Monkey is that it allows me to manage music that is stored on a network drive on my home network.  I was unable to do this with Double Twist, with Media Monkey you can manage all of your files by adding/re-scanning the folder whether on the hard drive or another pc on your network.

Synching with Droid (or other devices)

I use Media Monkey for managing music on my Droid, the procedures will be the same for most Android phones and similar for most other devices.  After connecting the Droid with the usb cable you need to go to the notification on the phone and mount the sd card.

The first time I connected it did not recognize the device so I had to find the dropdown in the toolbar next to the device picture and select “Configure Device”.  Then go to the tab on the right for Device Configuration, click Find Device to locate your device and enter what you would like for the Device Name.  Once you do this once it should automatically recognize your device the next time you plug it in and show the name.

I made sure that the Auto-Sync options are not checked since my music library is too large to hold all of my music and I prefer to choose the songs to include on my phone.  I have not used Media Monkey for podcasts, but there is a feature to Auto-Synch them on the first tab with I plan to check out.  There is also a feature for Synching AudioBooks if that is something that interests you.

Once the Device Configuration is set, you can select OK to close the window and begin transferring files to the device.  You can drag the tracks to the device or highlight the tracks you want to transfer and click on Sync Selected from the toolbar on the icon that shows a portable device.

I find the process to be simple and intuitive, once you do it the first time it is really easy to make future changes to you music.

Other Media Monkey Features

I use Media Monkey for managing my music files and synching with my Droid, but it does offer a lot of other features which makes it a viable solution for all of your music needs.  For the full list of features including things like converting files, Auto-DJ for parties and other check out the site at http://www.mediamonkey.com/information/free/

Additional Information/Disclosure

I have provided an affiliate link to Media Monkey within this post that pays me a commission if someone buys the gold edition after following the link.  I personally use Media Monkey and the potential commission had no impact on my review wich I planned to write before I was aware of the affiliate.  However I want to make sure that readers are aware that I do have a relationship with Media Monkey and could profit by directing people to the site.  I suggest using the free version, if there are additional features that you want after you using it you can upgrade at any time.

As someone who loves the latest in technology, I was very interested in the news coming from Google regarding the Nexus One earlier this week.  I am a big fan of Linux and Android, as a long time Verizon Wireless customer I jumped at the opportunity to own an Android phone when the Motorola Droid was launched.  Of course that means that I am locked into a two year contract with the hefty $350 early termination fee imposed by Verizon so a Nexus One is not anywhere in my future even with the announcement that it will be coming to Verizon in the Spring.

Even though I know that I will not be getting a Nexus One, I watched the Google Android Press conference on Ustream to find out more about Nexus One and more importantly what this means to smart phones in the future considering that Google has been claiming to change the landscape.

Let me start by saying that I don’t think I am alone in thinking that the announcement really didn’t sound like a game changer.  Although this is a new step for Google selling hardware directly from their website, consumers have already been able to buy phones from websites like Amazon and Wirefly.  There was some speculation that Google would give the phone away for free or at a deep discount to gain ad revenue, but this was not the case with the phone coasting $179 with T-Mobile and $529 unlocked.  In the US the unlocked version really doesn’t have much of an impact when it will only have edge speed if you use it with AT&T.  I do like the idea of Google sold phones being able to be used on multiple carriers, it will be interesting to see if the subsidized prices are the same when they begin selling with Vodafone and Verizon.

The hardware for the Nexus One is impressive with a 1 GHz Processor and 512 MB of RAM it is nearly double what the Droid has in both categories(600 MHz, 256 MB).  The Nexus One is thinner but does not have a physical keyboard and the Nexus One has a trackball where the Droid has a bit of an awkward directional key on the keyboard.  Although I like having the physical keyboard and use it approximately 50% of the time, I don’t see much use in the directional pad and would have to think that the trackball is also not used very frequently on the Nexus One.

The following chart from BillShrink provides an excellent comparison of popular smart phones.

Find the best cell phone plans and more graphics at BillShrink.com

Overall, the biggest thing that I took from the press conference was that the Nexus One launch and more importantly Google being more involved in the selling of hardware will be good for all Android phones.  Although the Nexus One is the only phone available for sale on the website at www.google.com/phone at this point, they are clearly planning on adding additional phones in the future and currently provide links to the Droid for people that want Android on Verizon now.

As a Droid owner, it was encouraging to see the CEO of Motorola, Sanjay Jha, at the press conference, even though he arrived late during the Q&A session.  I was also encouraged by the mention of upgrading the Droid to Android 2.1.  The Nexus One is impressive, but with a Droid upgrade to Android 2.1 with many of the features shown at the press conference possible in the future, I am still happy with my Droid and don’t feel that I am using old technology (at least until the next new phone is launched).

The following explanation of what ESPN360.com is can be found at the website in the FAQ section

ESPN360.com is a broadband network for live sports programming. ESPN360.com harnesses the quality ESPN has built through its TV networks and delivers online sports programming to fans through a rich, interactive, and easy-to-use experience.

ESPN360.com broadcasts thousands of live games and events online each year. A majority of the events are exclusive to ESPN360.com, while others are broadband-enhanced versions of games from one of ESPN’s TV networks.

ESPN360.com is only available if it is provided by your Internet Service Provider and is provided free on college campuses and military bases.  For a list of affiliated providers check out the list here.

I discovered ESPN360 when it was listed next to the scores at the bottom of the television programming.  Once I got to the site and installed the Move player to launch it I realized that there is a lot of additional games available that cannot be seen on the local television program.

Basically ESPN360 offers all GamePlan College Football games and all FullCourt College Basketball games for free along with additional exclusive events.    Overall, that means over 300 college football games and 1,000 college basketball games this season.  Most ESPN television broadcasts are also available which is nice feature on my Media Center PC now that Comcast requires a cable box to view cable programming in my area and I am not willing to pay for it on my PC.

Blackouts do apply for some local broadcasts based on local restrictions, but I have found this to be rare for the items that I am interested in.

With the live games, you can pause during the broadcast and rejoin just like using a DVR.  Along with live games you can also watch replays of recently played games.  The length of availability is typically at least 24 hours and can be as long as a week depending on the event.

As you can see in the screenshot, the default view provides the main game screen with a mosaic along the bottom with other available games.  You can play the video live in the mosaic screens, but in my experience the small screens are very choppy and normally not worth playing.

On the right side of the screen, there are tabs to display the ESPN360 schedule, Section 140 chats, Scores, or Key Stats from the game.  I personally like to keep the Scores up so I can see if there is another game to jump to.

There is also an option to make the main video larger while keeping the option on the right side, and the option that I use the most, full screen.

The video quality in the smaller screens is excellent, I can barely tell the difference from the TV broadcast.  In full screen mode, it is not quite as clear, but it is still very good quality and I have very little issues with lag or skipping when I am watching a game.

Personally, I am surprised that ESPN360 does not get the press in the technology world that video sites like Hulu and YouTube get.  The technology of providing live games is much more impressive to me than providing replays of existing programming.

Add in the fact that ESPN360 is free for consumers as long as the carrier is affiliated and it is a huge plus.  I have subscribed to ESPN GamePlan years ago and missed it when I could no longer have DirecTV after moving, but now I am able to get all of the programming for free.

With the recent news about ESPN beginning to offer 3D programming with the World Cup in 2010 after providing this excellent feature, it is clear that they are moving in the right direction to expand their distribution.  I highly recommend ESPN360 to any sports fans that are able to access it.

If you are a regular follower of my blog you know that I recently changed the theme of the Wordpress blog.  Although changing the theme itself is rather straightforward within the Wordpress admin system, I wanted to customize a free theme and didn’t want to risk taking down my production theme while I was doing it.  By installing a copy of Wordpress on a local server I was able to make changes and test them in a non production environment before putting everything into production.

Since I setup LAMP and Webmin on my system when creating the Ushare server most of the infrastructure was already in place including the Apache Web Server, MySQL database, and PHP with the module for PHP. 

If you have not installed LAMP either upon setup of Ubuntu Server or at another time you will need to install the infrastructure.  I also recommend installing Webmin since it makes it easier to maintain things with a GUI.

The instructions below were done in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic, check the links at the end for additional instructions for Mac, Windows, and some other Linux Distros.

First you need to connect to the server with a command prompt, I use Putty from my Windows machine.  Start by installing apache2 with the following command:

sudo apt-get install apache2

Follow the instructions for setting up apache2 and then we need to install MySQL with the following command:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.0

Follow the instructions for setting up MySQL server and make sure to remember the password that you created.  Next you need to install the PHP version 5 with the following command”

sudo apt-get install php5

Now you need to install the MySQL module for php with the following command:

sudo apt-get install php5-mysql

I also installed Wembmin which provides a GUI for maintaining certain things on the server.

sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.441_all.deb

sudo dpkg –i webmin_1.441_all.deb

Next I Login to Webmin, you should be able to use any computer on the network and enter

https://serveripaddress:10000

You can use the serveripaddress if you used your router to determine it for Putty.  I was also able to use my server name (vaio) followed by the :10000.  You may get errors about the security, I clicked OK in order to get to the site since I knew I was connecting on my internal network.

The next thing you will want to do is set your server to a static IP address.

You can do that in Webmin by choosing:

Networking –> Networking Configuration –> Network Interfaces –> eth0

Make sure you change the setting in the “activated at boot” tab, I made the mistake of entering it in the active tab before I realized there was another tab there.  You will most likely want to leave the first group of numbers and change the last group, it can be between 2-254.

Next you need to setup the MySQL database for Wordpress, in Webmin go to Servers –> MySQL Database Server.  Click on the Create a new database link and enter the database name, I called my database Wordpress to identify it.

Now you can download Wordpress at http://wordpress.org/download/.  Once you have the zip file you will need to unpack it into the var/www folder of the server.  Since I downloaded the files in Windows I dragged the zip folder into the var/www folder and then went to the command and entered:

sudo tar –zxvf wordpress*

Now Wordpress should be installed, you can check by going to your browser and entering the static address you created followed by /wordpress, in my case it is http://192.168.0.190/wordpress/.

The first time you go there you will need to enter your database information for the Wordpress MySQL database that you created.  You will then be greeted by the normal Wordpress installation option to complete the setup of your local blog including the blog name, etc.

Now you can view your blog at http://192.168.0.190/wordpress/ or go to the admin page at http://192.168.0.190/wordpress/wp-admin.

The best part about having a local blog is that you can go directly to the theme folders and edit the files and view changes immediately by refreshing the browser.  If you don’t like the changes you can undo them in the file or replace the file with the original as long as you saved a backup copy.  All of these changes and test files can be used without impacting the live blog in production.

From the Adobe AIR 2 web page the following features are added:

AIR 2 builds on the success of AIR 1 by giving developers new capabilities, and even tighter integration with the desktop. Some new features of AIR 2 include:

• Support for the detection of mass storage devices.
• Advanced networking capabilities like secure sockets, UDP support, and the ability to listen on sockets.
• Support for native code integration.
• The ability to open a file with its default application.
• Multi-touch and gesture support.
• New APIs for access to raw microphone data.
• Webkit update with HTML5/CSS3 support.
• Global error handling.
• Improved cross-platform printing
• Improved security and support for enterprise and government standards

The first thing you need to do is download the Adobe AIR 2 BIN file from Adobe Labs.

Before you can install AIR 2 you need to resolve additional dependencies before running the AIR 2 installer.  Open a terminal and type:

sudo getlibs -l libhal-storage.so.1

You will need to confirm the package installation by entering Y after it indicated the package installation information

Now you need to cd to the place where you downloaded the AIR 2 BIN file.  In my case it was the Downloads folder and the file name is: air2_b1_runtime_lin_111709.bin.

cd /home/gerry/Downloads

Once you are in the Downloads folder you need to install AIR 2 by entering the following commands:

chmod +x air2*
sudo ./air2*

The box should open up at the top of the screen indicating that the AIR installation is upgrading from 1.5 to 2.0.  If you have TweetDeck or Seesmic installed you should be able to run them after the upgrade.  You can also download some AIR 2 sample applications from Adobe to try out some of the new features available in AIR 2.

As stated on the official GNOME DO website:
With a large set of plugins and smart relevance algorithms, Do fine-tunes itself to be the exact tool you need, no matter who you are or how you use your computer. Do can be your music player, your search tool, your file browser, or even your dictionary. 

GNOME Do can be installed from the Ubuntu Software Center.  Go to Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center and search for GNOME Do.

Once GNOME DO Is installed you can open it by going to Applications -> Accessories -> GNOME DO to start the application.

Once the application starts you should see the dock at the bottom of the page.  By right clicking on the GNOME Do Icon you can select preferences and change the settings and add plugins.

The real power of GNOME Do is seen when you type the Super Key+Space (Super Key is normally the Windows Key).  Once you hit those buttons start typing and GNOME Do will auto fill based on  the text you are typing.  If you see the option that you want to run before you are finished typing you can hit enter or tab for more options if they are available.  Of course you can also click on the icons to instantly launch the item without typing.

For more information on using GNOME Do you should check out the official page for Using Do at http://do.davebsd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Using_Do

The solution for Windows based PC’s is to download the doPDF converter software from doPDF.com.  Once the software is installed you will have an option of doPDF in the dropdown box of available printers.  You can create a pdf from anything that you are able to print so it works with Word Documents, web pages and pretty much anything else you would ever want.

When you click on OK, the box will open up where you can change the name of the file to be saved or click OK for the default.

Once you click OK, the pdf will be saved to the location and be available for attaching to an email or archiving.  I do not use it very often, but the software takes up very little space and it is very convenient to have in the dropdown when I want to create a pdf.

See blow for the list of feature or check out www.dopdf.com for more information:

Main benefits for using this free PDF converter:

• It’s free – PDF converter free for both commercial and personal use.
• 32-bit and 64-bit support – can be installed on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems.
• No GhostScript or .NET – doesn’t require 3rd party programs to do PDF files such as GhostScript or runtime environments like the .NET Framework. This makes the setup file to be incredibly small compared to other free PDF converters.
• Customizable resolution – you can choose any resolution from 72 to 2400 dpi.
• Predefined/custom page sizes – choose a default page size (Letter, Legal, A4, A5, A6, …) or enter your own custom page size.
• Searchable PDFs – you can search for text within the created PDF file (and search engines will also index the text from the PDF).
• Multi-language – choose a language for the user interface from the 20 languages currently supported (credits).
• Do your part in saving the planet – instead of consuming paper to print your document, why not create a PDF file out of it and spare a couple of planet-saving trees?
• Barely uses any computer resources – compared to other free PDF converters, doPDF barely uses any memory or CPU resources when doing the actual conversion to PDF.

I started out by mounting the SD card after connecting the Droid to a PC which does work, but it is not as intuitive as I felt it should be with one of the latest gadgets.  After doing some research on the web I found a program called Double Twist.

Since I have several devices that I use at different times for transferring music, I was not looking to add another manager, but after trying out Double Twist, I found out that it is an excellent solution to replace the other managers that I have been using.  Along with getting the job done for my Droid, it also works for my Zune and Sirius Stiletto 2 and many other devices that you may have.

Installing the Double Twist application in Windows is quick and simple.  Just go to http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Download/DownloadWindows.dt and follow the typical installation instructions.

After the application is installed it will begin scanning your PC for music files in the standard folders.  If your media is not stored in the normal Music folder, you can change the location under Edit –> Preferences.  One minor issue that I had is that my music is stored on a network drive and it would not allow me to use that as the designated folder, but I was able to click File –> Add Folder to Library to easily import the music that I wanted.

The first thing that you will notice after the application opens is that is looks very similar to iTunes.  Obviously there is no iTunes store, but recently the Amazon MP3 store was added if you are looking to purchase songs to add to your library.

On the left side of the screen you will see your Library, which is the information contained on your PC broken down by Photos, Video, and Music.  Underneath the Library you will see any playlists that were imported.  The next section below that is the devices section, for some reason it recognizes my external hard drive but that does not cause any issues with other devices being added.

Now to connect the Droid, you plug in the device with a USB cable, when the notification appears on the device, select it and choose to mount the device.  As you can see in the picture, Double Twist will recognize the device and ask for options on what you want to sync to the device.

You can choose whether to select all Picture, Music, or Videos or further options by selecting the tabs across the top to select only certain playlists.

After you make your choices click on the orange Sync button on the bottom right for the sync to take place.  If you only want to move certain items to your device you can leave the check boxes blank and go to the library and drag only the items you want.  Once you drag an item it will automatically sync.

Another excellent feature that I uncovered when using Double Twist is the ability to import youtube videos into the software and to my device.  By clicking on File –> import from web and adding the youtube URL, Double Twist will import the file to your library.

Depending on the file it takes a few minutes, but the process couldn’t be any easier.  Once its in the library drag it to the device and it will make sure it is in the correct format.

Overall, I was extremely impressed by Double Twist.  It provides everything I was looking for to transfer music to my Droid and will also allows me to get rid of some other music managers for other devices.  The video import was a big bonus and I look forward to continuing to use Double Twist for adding media to my Droid and other devices.

The invites will go to the first 8 comments I get, I am not looking for specific content – send me an invite is fine.  Once the 8 invites are sent that is all I have and I will update the post, please do not keep asking if you were not one of the first 8, I can only send what I have.

Please also be aware that google does not always send the invites right away, I am not sure what their process is behind the scenes, on the invite page it says “Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick.”

While your here feel free to check out the other articles on the site and subscribe to my RSS or Twitter updates.  I try to provide useful technology info with a focus on Android and Linux.