Extra Topics (Joe’s Blog Site)

It’s easy to find subtitles for your favorite movies that you downloaded from torrents. Simply Google search using the EXACT torrent name like “Tropic.Thunder[2008]DvDrip-aXXo” and add a “.srt”. For example:

Tropic.Thunder[2008]DvDrip-aXXo.srt

Google will return results from any or all of the following sites:

• www.opensubtitles.org
• www.subscene.com
• www.subtitlesource.org
• www.sub-titles.net
• www.anysubs.com

These sites could display one or more subtitles for different torrent uploaders. You should download the subtitle which has the exact file name as your movie or one that has indicated the name of the torrent uploader of your movie such as “aXXo”, “FXG”, “FxM”, etc…

Once downloaded, copy or extract (if zipped) the subtitle file into the same folder where your movie is located and that’s it. Make sure that the movie and the subtitle (.srt) file has the same exact file name to be sure.

To see if your subtitle is working, simply play the movie and see if the subtitle is correctly synchronized with the audio.

In some cases, if you can’t find the subtitle for your movie with respect to the torrent uploader, you could try other subtitles. Sometimes their subtitles are correctly sychronized with your movie.

You may have noticed that whenever you open “My Computer” to browse files, there is a slight delay. That is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers each time you open Windows Explorer. You can significantly increase browsing speed by doing the following:

1. Double-click on My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers
6. Click OK

Microsoft PowerPoint remains the unrivaled software for making business presentations. There are tons of more powerful software available, but PowerPoint’s ease of use clearly sets it apart as the choice for busy executives, managers and other honchos who don’t have the time to learn more flashy programs (oops, did I make a hint there, he he).

However, the problem with many users doesn’t root so much from lack of knowledge in using the program, but with how they create their presentations. So, without further ado, here are some useful hints when it comes to organizing your business presentation.
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Depth of field or DOF in photography is usually done for artistic purposes. It also serves a useful function, in the sense that it highlights the object which the photographer wishes to bring attention to by blurring out all other details within the pic.

The basic element to achieve natural DOF is the distance between the subject of focus from the background, or from the objects assumed to be too close to the camera outside the focus area. However, it takes a professional camera, and even expensive lenses to fully take advantage of DOF. Most of us can only afford those “birthday party” cameras, or the electronic equivalent of an Instamatic.

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If you’re looking for a portable web server, you can use XAMPP. XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start.

The good thing about XAMPP is that it can easily be run on a USB portable drive. So you can bring your server or scripts with you all the time. This is very convenient if you need to make a web project presentation somewhere. But best of all, it’s free!

How to install XAMPP distribution for your USB drive

1. Go to XAMPP for Windows download page.
2. Download XAMPP ZIP or XAMPP Lite ZIP archive package, not the executable installer, to your computer.
3. Extract the package to your USB drive.
4. Once extracted, find and run setup_xampp.bat. It will automatically configure XAMPP.
5. Run xampp-control.exe to open the Control Panel.
6. Start the services that you need like Apache and Myql, then exit.

That’s it! The services will not start automatically when you restart or use another PC. You have to manually start the services described in steps 5 and 6. If you copy or move the XAMPP package, you must execute the setup_xampp.bat described in step no. 4 to update all configuration files on the new location.