Another solution for "Stereo Mix" input...

http://www.stereo-mix.com posted interesting information about "Stereo Mix" input support for different sound cards.

Little hint for recording Skype calls

Did you have a problems with recording Skype calls? Your software record only one side of a conversations?
Firstly, Skype wants to control the microphone selection and gain automatically in "Recording control", and the microphone muting in "Volume Control". You need to deselect Skype -> Options -> Sound Devices -> Let skype adjust... Now you have control, and need to unmute "Microphone" within "Volume Control", and select "Stereo Mix" within "Recording Control". Bit of a mission, but it does work, eventually.

Little Hint for Sigmatel Audio - No "Stereo Mix" problem

I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and to record streaming audio and Skype calls I needed the "Stereo Mix" input. Too bad that Dell's Sigmatel driver does not support this feature!

This is an answer from Dell support:
"Sigmatel STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio Solution Does Not Record Internal Audio sources" http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=F8169736933F0EA2E030030ABD6241A5&c=us&l=en&s=gen

But I found a way to fix this issue. All you need to do is install LG's drivers for Sigmatel. This driver compatible with both desktops and laptops.Just follow this link: http://us.lgservice.com/ and search for latest Sigmatel drivers.

Top Hints to Free Up Disk Space in XP

What are the best ways to free up HD space in XP besides of course deleting stuff you don’t need ?

1. You really need a new hard drive :-) You're just putting off the inevitable for another day.
2. If you're confident in your abilities to stay out of trouble (on a computer, at least) you don't need to allocate 12% of your hard disk to restore points. Three or 4% ought to be sufficient. OTOH, what you really be doing is backing up to DVDs or an external hard drive, inwhich case you could turn off System Restore altogether.
3. The Recycle Bin is also allocated a large amount of hard disk space. If you're confident in your abilities to not delete files you really shouldn't have deleted you can reduce the size of the Recycle Bin.
4. Another potential space saver would be to reduce the size of your Internet cache, which is also huge by default. I always reduce it to a maximum of 50 Mb. In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Internet Options > General, Temporary Files > Settings.
5. Same for Java cache. Start > Control Panel > Java > Temporary Internet Files > Settings.
6. You can keep the music/videos/photos - but know that is just wasted space unless you use them often and know - either way - you should have external backups of this stuff (external drive, CD or DVD or something).. Just in case. You could use NTFS compression for such folders - but you will take a penalty for it. You could even look for an inexpensive (relative) replacement notebook HDD and swap it out with one twice the size of the one you have.
7. Unless you use it - hibernation can be turned off and the space recovered.
8. TMP files, uninstall files for patches, applications you do not use, compacting your Outlook Express databases, etc. That can help a little.
9. Uninstall unnecessary applications
10. If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed..

But really, you need an external hard disk for your music and videos.

Top Hints for Writers Block

I have read a number of posts recently asking for advice on getting inspiration or beating writers block.So how about a top 10 tips for beating this evil disease?

1. Read a news paper
2. Read a book( short ones are best)
3. Go to a pub/bar watch people and make up stories about there lives( may get you beaten up, but that in itself may be inspirational!)
4. Talk to people Listen to their stories( can bore you to death, but may come up with goods)
5. Do Something different ( tomorrow I will stay sober!)
6. Have something to say.
7. Go do something that will give you something to say.
8. Get a gig. Once you stand in front of an audience, you'll figure out something you want to say.
9. Fall in love. If it works, there's nothing so inspiring. If it doesn't, there's nothing so inspiring.
10. Allow yourself to NOT write. Like the fields need to lie fallow every year, sometimes we need to not write to renew our inspiration.

Top Hints for Web Designers

1. With the proviso that all generally applicable statements must by nature be somewhat vague, here are my top tips for search optimisation. In no particular order:
   Content is king. You cannot optimise a page for searching if it has nothing that people are going to want to search for.
   
2. Think "text". Your searchability is determined by what your site looks like with image loading turned off.
   
3. Page titles and meta tags should all be relevant to the subject of the individual page rather than being the same sitewide. It helps (although it isn't essential) if you can make filenames and URLs include the page title as well.
   
4. All pages must be accessible by means of text links (or image links with appropriate alt text). Don't have pages that can only be accessed by a search box. If you have javascript navigation, keep it as a shortcut alternative to normal href links, rather than being the sole means of moving from page to page.
   
5. Every page on your site should be reachable from every other page via a short and obvious navigation route. Avoid excessively deep tree structures that require users to traverse to the top and back down again when moving between pages in different sections.
   
6. Use logical structure, with tags as appropriate for headings rather than modifying the font size with tags.
   
7. Avoid frames.
   
8. Read Google's guidelines for webmasters, and don't break any of their rules.
   
9. Avoid the dreaded "click here" link. The wording of links should be relevant to the target of the link, not to the page they're coming from or to the action of following the link. In other words,
   
10. Never purchase any services from an organisation with "SEO" in their title. They are, without exception, peddlers of snake oil.

Top Hints To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic

Ever wonder how does popular sites drive traffic top their site? Most of them are spending a lot of money to drive the traffic to their sites and investing in many advertising campaigns(banners, PPC). This is all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford.

1. Exchange Links. This is a well-known and proven method. Exchanging links increase your PageRank on Google and other popular search engines. Of course, it may drive a small direct traffic too.
2. Same as exchangig links but on a different higher level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits.
3. Write and Submit Articles. There are many e-zines (http://www.ezinearticles.com/) and online encyclopedias (Wiki) in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself.
4. Submit your news and articles to news hubs. Take a look on Digg and Fark!
5. Share your bookmarks at Del.icio.us and Reddit.
6. Make a Newsletter. Its a hard work but there are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter.