Hale Razor

How to Rip a DVD for a Netbook using Handbrake

After doing  a lot of research, including posts on here here and here (including TV series), here's what I found to be the best ripping settings for netbooks.  Because the atom processors are not very powerful, we're staying away from H264.

Netbook:
Format: AVI
Crop: automatic
Width/Height: 720x480
Video code: mpeg-4-xvid
video avg bitrate 900
Audio: Automatic, mp3, stereo 44.1 khz and 128 bitrate

Fitting on a CD (that means we're going for 700 mb, not necessarily for a netbook)
Format: AVI
Crop: automatic
Width: 480
Video: codec mpeg-4 ffmpeg
Quality: target size 700
2-pass encoding
Audio: Automatic, mp3, stereo 44.1 khz and 128 bitrate

Do you have a good set of settings for either of these? If so, let's hear it!

Updates for Windows Vista

Yes.  Already.

iPhone is Perfect

You could call iPhone perfect

I have used the Apple iPhone. I had a private briefing the day after Steve Jobs' keynote and spent about 45 minutes noodling around with the device.

This will be my next phone. Now it just has to be released. The bummer for Apple is this will push back and eliminate my Ipod update, as I was thinking about upgrading to the 80 GB model.

Is it out yet?

Dell laptop explodes, on fire

Regarding the Dell laptop that caught fire...

• They have blazing speed!
• Can you imagine when one of these things does this on an airplane?

Submit your own suggestions and punchlines.

The "Will Return" clock that covers you

...when you're gone for a very long time.

Three in One Ipod accessory

The Soundbag seems to have it all:

...a protective case for your portable player, along with a built-in speaker and a charge

...and all for $70.

Opera 9 available for download

Finally!  Check out Opera Web Browser, which is a very good alternative to the wonderful Firefox.

Making Ubuntu look like Mac OSX

A very helpful (but incomplete!) guide to customize Ubuntu like Mac OS X

How to make XP run under Linux Ubuntu

One weekend when I'm really bored, I'll have to tinker around with this how-to showing, um, how to get Windows XP to run under Ubuntu.  Dual booting has its drawbacks.

Gmail increasing mail storage

Google Gmail seems to be increasing the amount of mail you can keep from an already-generous 1 GB to.. well, doubling it!  From the Gmail: Help Center.

G is for growth Storage is an important part of email, but that doesn't mean you should have to worry about it. To celebrate our one-year birthday, we're giving everyone one more gigabyte. But why stop the party there? Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2GBs by giving you more space as we are able. We know that email will only become more important in people's lives, and we want Gmail to keep up with our users and their needs. From Gmail, you can expect more.

One more reason this is the best company on the web.