What is an IP address?

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique address within a network used by devices to communicate with other devices within the network. Computers, printers, routers, and network hard drives are examples of devices that could have an IP address within a network.

IP addresses are generally assigned according to country and internet provider. There are also some specially reserved IP addresses or IP ranges that are universally understood:

• Local Machine IP – The IP address 127.0.0.1 (localhost) is always synonymous with the local machine. This IP address is valid only within the local machine environment, as every computer is its own “localhost”.
• Private Network IP’s – The IP ranges 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254, 10.0.0.0–10.255.255.255 and 172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255 are reserved for private internal networks, such as a home networks or corporate intranets. These IP addresses are only valid within the local network and cannot be used if, for instance, a user wanted to connect to another user over the internet. Thus, it is typical for a computer to have an IP address for the local network (e.g. 10.1.2.1) and an IP address visible to the Internet (e.g. 65.34.24.24), which is itself one large network.

For the purpose of this tutorial, private network IP’s will be referred to as internal IP’s while internet-accessible IP’s will be referred to as external IP’s.

Why would I need to know my IP address?

1. Network gaming [internal or external]
2. Running a private server (e.g. FTP, HTTP) [internal or external]
3. Windows file sharing within an home network [internal]
4. … and any time another computer or service needs to identify your machine for commication or software deployment

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It was some time ago I wrote the original tutorial on how to make Age of Empires 3 work with a freeware Virtual Private Networking (VPN) program called Hamachi. There have been many questions about where to find the AOE3VPN.exe patch referenced in the tutorial, with some readers were to find it from the supplied Google search bar.

The good news is that a much-improved patch is available from Crea-Doo Continue »

Note: This tutorial may seem simplistic to some but I’ve been answering these questions for several years and still wince while watching casual PC users take nearly half a minute to find Windows Explorer in the start menu. Some “advanced” users fare little better, so please be patient.

What is Windows Explorer?

Windows Explorer is a file management system for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. The most common uses of Windows Explorer include:

• Copying, moving and deleting files between directories
• Accessing information on USB keys, CD-ROM’s and DVD-ROMs
• Changing file attributes (eg setting files to read-only)
• Performing context-sensitive operations on files (e.g. file compression, opening media files with Windows Media Player)

What is the Difference Between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer?

Internet Explorer is a web browser and allows users to surf the World Wide Web (or locally-stored web pages). Windows Explorer is a file management system that allows users to “surf” their hard drives, optical media drives and network drives. Continue »

Blink 7 is a tutorial-driven website, committed to covering the topics that interest you.

Please use the comment section of this page for the following -

1. Requests for new tutorials
2. Requests for new reviews
3. Requests for Extensions to Existing Tutorials
4. General Correspondence

Any topic will be considered, but the main areas of interest are:

• SAS Programming
• Web Development
• Video Editing and Encoding
• Electronic Music Production
• Gaming

The web hosting service review had one user complaining about how there aren’t any tutorials on how to set up a web page on the dotster hosting site. Services from lunarpages only need tutorial requests and they’ll send you the desired information about how to web host. When you search for hostgator, you will find it is on the first page because a search engine optimization company has reserved its spot there.

The Challenge

You’ve completed your latest movie masterpiece and now it’s time to put on the finishing touches. One problem – your Non-Linear Editor (NLE) cannot do exactly what you need. Perhaps you would like to render the final project using a proprietary codec unavailable in your NLE of choice. Perhaps you would like to render an MPEG-2 file using CinemaCraft Encoder or other software that produces better output than your NLE’s internal algorithm. Maybe you are not done applying filters to the final video, but those last few filters reside in a different software package.

In the past, the primary solution was to render the project to an intermediate file and then load that file into other software packages for post-processing. While this approach may be adequate for smaller projects, several problems arise when working with longer video segments or with High Definition content:

1. Quality Loss. Rendering a project to a lossy intermediate format (e.g. DivX, Neo HD) results in loss of visual quality. Further processing and rendering causes more quality loss, which may result in unusable video output
2. Disk Space. The problem of quality loss can be avoided by rending the project to a lossless intermediate format (e.g. Lagarith, Huffy). However, the resulting file size may be prohibitively large due to the much lower compression ratios of lossless formats.
3. Time. Rendering any intermediate format takes time and then more time must be spent re-rendering the file after further processing.

The Solution: Frame-Serving
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Shortly after our wedding I asked my wife what she’d like as a wedding gift: a digital SLR or a Nintendo Wii console (this is as romantic as many techies get, after all). To my surprise and eventual delight she chose the Wii. We lucked out by arriving to a Best Buy barely an hour after the shipment arrived and scored a Wii console that someone else had probably been waiting on for weeks.

And so I joined the dark side: Nintendo has long had a negative stigma among gamers for releasing too many “cutesy” games on its under-powered consoles. These moves were deliberate, as Nintendo claimed to be targeting the family market rather than hardcore gamers. To that end, the Wii is no different from the N64 or previous “cutesy” consoles – however the revolutionary controller makes the idea of a family console a reality. Continue »

Summary

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use Hamachi and a special game patch to link two or more computers for multiplayer game play in Age of Empires 3. Since its release, AOE3 has caused many headaches for players due to the game only recognizing an internal IP address (ie 192.168.x.x). This flaw makes Internet gaming impossible, since only computers on an internal LAN can see an internal IP address. Ensemble have offered patches and suggestions to overcome this problem, but they have not worked for all gamers.

Enter Hamachi, a free network application that allows two or more users to organize a Virtual Private Network with Peer to Peer facilities. A special patch for AOE3 (this is NOT a pirate hack) allows the game to select network devices, enabling secure game play over a user’s Hamachi network.
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Product: AVIDemux
Version: 2.4
Platform: Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows (reviewed)
Description: Non-Linear Video Editor
License: GNU General Public License
Rating: 80%
URL: http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

When it comes to video editing -particularly the creation of MPEG-4 files from DVD movies- no program is as indispensable as VirtualDub. The simple non-linear editor has been central to video preparation/encoding as both a standalone application and as a tool called by automated video encoding tools. The attraction is simple: VirtualDub is easy to use, remains extendable for new codecs through its support for VFW (Video for Windows) and boasts a dizzying array of 3rd party plug-ins that perform various tasks, ranging from color correction to image stabilization. That VirtualDub is absolutely free, as are most of its plug-ins, does not hurt either.

Alas, “VDub” has been showing its age over the past couple of years – the original program cannot handle variable bit rates when importing MP3 audio and is generally unreliable at encoding its own audio. Only the AVI container is supported when exporting and MPEG-2 is out of the question. Derivative programs, such as VirtualDubMod and VirtualDubMPEG2, have addressed some of these issues but as of now it is difficult to create an entire movie using VirtualDub alone.

Enter AVIDemux, VirtualDub’s first serious competition in the freeware video editing arena. While the visual similarities between the applications are obvious, AVIDemux aims to be more universal and self-contained. The package comes bundled with video codecs, audio codecs, AVISynth support, support for multiple containers and a generous helping of filters.
Continue »

How many times have I written an inauguration post? Far too many to see the merit hyping up yet another opening of this blog. Blink7 has had many false starts, largely because I have tried to make the site into something “bigger” and “better” than what people were happy with in the first place. As such, this blog has appeared as a Wordpress site with custom template, a Joomla site, a Drupal site (twice) and even a b2Evolution site.

Alas, it always comes back to Wordpress, not necessarily because it is the best blogging system (though Wordpress v2.3 sure is narrowing the gap with the dedicated CMS systems) but because WP has all the goods: more templates, more plugins, more documentation and more support. Also throwing up a WP site is dead easy, while the handling of images is seamless.

So enough messing around - time to create some content. For now we’ll work with a basic K2 theme on the premise that it can be later expanded into something grand. Instead of continuing to give Cynics Unlimited traffic, it’s time to go solo once again. Thank you for your patience.