PC Mechanic, New Article

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How To Use VLC Direct3D Desktop Mode (VIDEO) Posted: 31 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT One of the lesser-known features of the VLC media player is the ability to use Direct3D Desktop Mode. What this does is easily allow you to play video as your wallpaper while still being able to use your computer normally. This isn’t something that’s productive at all; it’s just fun. Note that at times it’s not the most stable way to do wallpaper in the world, but if you want something different on your desktop that moves, this is a free and easy way to do it. And yes it will work with DVD movies. See video below for details. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle. How To Use VLC Direct3D Desktop Mode (VIDEO)

Does The Acid3 Test Really Mean Anything? Posted: 30 Mar 2011 07:00 AM PDT The supposed be-all/end-all for testing a browser’s worth is whether it scores a 100 on the Acid3 test. I don’t pay attention to these tests because compatibility doesn’t really count for much; this is especially true since the vast majority of web sites fail (and fail hard) the W3C Validation Service (Google.com even fails that test badly). If web designers don’t care if they pass W3C, why should we care about Acid3? For you Firefox users out there, you’ll notice the brand new Fx 4 does not score a 100. Does this mean the browser is “bad”? Of course not, and this is why. The “failure” has to do with features almost nobody save for web designers actually care about – and you’re probably not a web designer. Why are web standards so largely ignored? The reason standards are either given an “Eh, whatever” response is because browsers by nature are programmed to be very forgiving when it comes to rendering web pages. For example, if you were designing a table with the old-school <table> tag in your web page, if you forgot to close out the markup with </table>, guess what? The table still displays as it should even though the code is completely improper – and that’s just one of hundreds of examples where the browser does its job even if the code is flat-out wrong. If you ever run into anyone that says a browser is “bad” because it doesn’t pass some specific test that nobody cares about, ignore them. Use whatever browser you want, because for day-to-day browsing, nobody cares if a browser passes with perfect scores or not. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle. Does The Acid3 Test Really Mean Anything?

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