My friends, today I'll be short, because it's not about what I can do for you, it's about something you can do for me, yourself, and the rest of our friends reading this article. What's that? Well, I need a hand to figure something out. It's something about the best media player out there, if you really want something to get the job done without paying a single cent, from playing music to streaming video on a network!

Are you interested? Obviously, the title of the article ruined it all, but that's not a problem - after all, if you were one of those considering Windows Media Player the best player for Windows, you wouldn't be here, right? OK, so let's say a few words about VLC, or VideoLAN Player, if you want...

I used this program on the Linux platform, as well as on Windows and Mac OS X, and I must tell you VLC rocks, <-125x125 Button - right->especially if you're a Mac user, but I am not here to tell you about this program's features. If you really want that, you can check the Free DVD Player Downloads article, where I talked about VLC and a few others for a while.

Now...let's get to the very simple subject today - last version of VLC I had installed on my computer was 0.8.6i. Until now, each update worked fine, only that...this time, something went wrong. All my settings remained the same, but most movies are not playing anymore. This also happened to other people I know, so VLC 0.9.2, the last version, may have some issues. What kind of issues, that's not something for me to say, I only noticed their effect.

So...did you happen to update VLC to 0.9.2? If you did, everything works fine? If you're new to VLC, that's even better - get the program from the VLC official page and let us know how does it work for you. Currently, there are almost 840,000 downloads of this version complete and counting...someone must know more than we do, so please come and enlighten us!

The future, my friends, lies in the Web-based applications, there's no doubt about it. After all, Google Chrome didn't arrive just to give us "another Web browser," as some people may think. Considering how fast everyone is moving from local applications to Web-based services, I expect to see this - some OS, some browser(probably Chrome or something like it, because I think Google is headed in the right direction), and your entire world inside it - becoming reality in the next decade. When I saw NetVibes(still working on that page, but it's not the public page that made me go "WOW" at first sight, especially since this feature has been recently added) for the first time, I loved it, and now this happened again, the object of my adoration being Schmedley, a funny named "start page" that I like to consider more than just that...


...but since everyone seems to throw Schmedley into the same pot with the likes of NetVibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle or Protopage, I had to mention that. Now, why should I consider Schmedley more than just a start page? Good question, and some may laugh at my answer, but who wouldn't laugh now when looking back at Windows 1.0(and NO, I am not talking about the ad featuring Steve Ballmer)??

While I consider Mac OS X a bit too much for my eye candy taste, that's exactly what I like about Schmedley - it has a Mac-like dock, and I think even my mother could use it without getting a headache. In the end, that's where we should arrive one day - <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->using a computer should be as easy like using a hammer, but without any painful outcomes, of course!

Why should you set Schmedley as your start page? The answer is very simple - take this, take Google Chrome, and that's it - you can forget about the rest of the computer! YouTube, Google, RSS feeds, sticky notes, Amazon search, and the chance to create new tabs to populate with...whatever you like, but if I have to choose between widgets on my desktop and on my virtual desktop, I always choose the later. Don't ask why, you'll find out one day for yourselves...

I won't get much into this, since you can take advantage of the Schmedley private Beta invitations we got from Dustin(thank you very much!) just for you, and try this online gem for yourselves.

Anyway, I won't put an end to this here, because there are some things I'd like to see added, and here's what goes through my mind here - a bookmarks manager and a way of exchanging data with your browser, as well as opening files from your hard drive(for example, using Schmedley to open a text file and place it on your virtual desktop as a sticky note), and - I think this can be solved pretty easy, a widget for file uploads, just like the one leading to Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

For now, we're still talking about a Beta version, so various problems could appear, but that's the whole beauty of it (depends, I tested some early betas before, and each time it was a challenging experience, especially when I tried to reproduce crashes and other, less important issues, but some people may consider this a waste of time, of course). Just consider yourselves warned, and remember - by taking part in this private Beta, you're no lab rats, you're explorers!

Join me and the others in this amazing trip, and be sure we'll get back to Schmedley pretty soon, but now I would like to tell you a secret, and then ask you something. If you like Schmedley and you hate submitting bugs or asking for features, let's make this like a face-to-face development process - write what you want below, share with us your impressions, and if you have some questions, add them to your comment, too, and I'll be sure to pass them over to Dustin, so he can answer. Your questions and mine will go together as a nice interview to publish in the coming week, so don't be shy...be a Schmedller!

When it comes to blogging platforms, Google has Blogger, and I must confess I know quite a few guys and girls using it, most of them being completely satisfied by its features and ease of use. Well, it seems acquiring Blogger wasn't enough for Google, since it just became public they acquired another similar company, but from Asia, this time.

The acquisition was announced in a blog posting last Friday, by Tatter and Company's CEO, Chang-Won Kim, and promptly confirmed by Google. But...why a South Korean company? Just don't ask about the money, because none of the really interesting terms of the deal were disclosed, so let's hear what TNC's CEO has to say about this move...<-125x125 Button - right->

"Google isn't entitled with God-given right to become #1 in every region it operates in, just because it's Google. It's actually more about the Korean Web industry than about Google. I think the Korean web industry needs a player that can, as a balancing force, provide more options to the users and help create a more open Web."

Hmm...seems he's got a good point there. Just as it happens in other areas where Google doesn't have total domination, Korean users are locked into using Web portals, so they don't get to explore more sites that sell Google ads. Anyway, I guess best deal for Google would be to lead them all to its online services, especially since its Chrome browser starts to have (a very slim and sexy) shape.