If you’re one of the unlucky bunch to receive a defective OEM drive from Newegg, you’ve probably wished their packaging was a little more than bubble wrap and packing peanuts. Some people have had to RMA drive after drive, while I personally had never had any problems with a drive I received from Newegg (my HTPC runs a 120GB Wester Digital drive that is quite older than my 5 year old son). Well, Newegg has heard your cries and improved their hard drive packaging.

You spoke, we listened! We’re testing new OEM hard drive packaging, what do you think? http://bit.ly/bPpUVa

The new packaging still uses the anti-static hard drive bag and bubble wrap. Rather than packing peanuts, however, it uses a floating cardboard design that hopefully decreases the number of RMAs for the sake of both Newegg and us as customers. You can share your feedback with the Logistics team on Newegg’s Facebook page.

BitTorrent recently released uTorrent 3.0 alpha which merges their Falcon and Griffin projects to provide some very cool features under one roof. These features include an improved web client, video streaming and an app “store”.

uTorrent Web (from Project Falcon 2.1) is quite an improvement from the old web client you’ll find in v2.0 and prior. The new web client has really blurred the lines between what’s web and what’s not. Unlike the prior client uTorrent Web supports RSS feeds. Another big change is that it is accessed via https://web.utorrent.com meaning you can manage your client from anywhere on the Internet using a web browser on a PC or an iPhone.

Head to the uTorrent forum to read the changelog and download uTorrent 3.0 alpha to take it for a spin. As with any alpha build, please expect bugs that need to be worked out. Nonetheless this build provides a feature set that is leaps and bounds past uTorrent 2.0.

Boxee users can now share recommendations with Google Buzz. It was only natural considering Buzz’ steadily growing success and appeal and the fact that Google introduced its new Google Buzz API today. Now Google Buzz joins Boxee’s already decent list of supported networks: Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Tumblr, Flickr and Digg.

If you prefer Google Buzz over Twitter or you’re like me and like having a presence across multiple networks, just link your Google Buzz account from Boxee’s services page. Be sure to import your Google Buzz feed into Boxee if you want to watch video recommendations from friends on Buzz.

Source: Boxee

What you’ll need

• showRSS account
• uTorrent or other Bittorent application supporting auto RSS downloading such as Miro, Vuze (Azureus), µTorrent or Transmission (with Automatic, Mac-only)

Setting up showRSS to get an RSS feed of your favorite shows

1. Sign up for a showRSS account.
2. Add your TV shows to your list in showRSS.
3. If you prefer to only download a specific quality (standard or 720p) for specific shows select the gear icon next to the TV show, select the appropriate setting, and then click Save settings and return.
4. Click the feeds link.
5. Next to “Your feed address” select Quality: per-show settings and Proper/Repack: per-show settings.
6. Click Generate to get your RSS feed URL.

Setting up uTorrent to automatically download from RSS feed

1. Click the Add RSS Feed button on the toolbar.
2. In the Feed URL field enter your showRSS feed’s URL, and then click OK.
3. You should now have a feed called “showRSS personal feed”.
4. Right-click this feed and select Disable feed. This prevents us from accidentally automatically downloading while we’re getting setup.
5. Right-click the feed again and select Edit feed.
6. Select the Automatically download all items published in field select box, and then click OK.
   Advanced Note: If you want to put each TV show in a certain folder skip this step and use the Advanced section below. In preparation of our upcoming auto file renaming tip, I wouldn’t recommend spending the time setting this up.

   

7. Right-click the feed and select RSS Downloader.
8. Select showRSS personal feed.
9. In the “Save in” field, select a place you want to download your TV Shows to (e.g., S:\Unsorted Media).
10. In the “Label for new torrents field”, type TV Shows
11. Your settings should look like this. If so click Close.
12. Re-enable your feed by right-clicking the feed and selecting Enable feed.

Advanced downloading

1. Select the showRSS personal feed
2. Right-click a torrent for the TV show you want to personalize, and then click Add to Favorites.
3. Select the TV show you just added
4. Consider putting an asterisk * in the filter in place of any additional text like HD or VTV.
5. Set your “Save in” location to where you want to save the TV show (e.g., for The Mentalist set the location to your The Mentalist folder).
6. Set the Quality to ALL since showRSS already filters our desired quality.
7. Your settings should look like this. If so, click Close and you’re done.
8. Repeat the process for your other TV shows.

Now watch the magic happen as all of your TV shows are automatically downloaded to the folder you specified. Soon we’ll expand this to show you how you can automatically organize and give your downloads consistently pretty names using theRenamer.

If you have instructions on another platform before we get it posted, please send us a tip at tips@thehtpcblog.com!

An automated firmware update is available to the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player which will enable streaming from Netflix other services such as Mediafly, YouTube and vTuner. In addition, the device now supports DLNA streaming. Other improvements include:

• Improved MP3 cover art and tagging
• Redesigned homepage view featuring better access to Internet and network applications
• Redesigned thumbnail view for easier browsing of movies, pictures and music
• Skip time option when watching movies to jump forward by 20 minute intervals
• Ability to create screensavers using personal photos
• Easy sorting of files when browsing network attached devices
• UTF 16 character support
• Ability to skip by 1000 items for faster browsing of files
• WMA Pro audio support, enabling sound in the most of high definition of WMV files
• Motion JPEG support commonly used by Digital Cameras and multi-compression PNG file support

Users who have their media player connected to their network via ethernet or wireless via the FreeAgent Dockstar network adapter can enjoy these new features.

If you recall the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player recently made news due to it’s ability to play the pre-loaded Paramount Pictures movies on select FreeAgent Go drives. This device is quickly becoming a powerhouse. Hopefully Western Digital quickly takes note with their WD TV Live.

Buy now: FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player on Amazon.com

Press Release

Seagate Adds Popular Streaming Capabilities To Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player

Addition of Internet-based Services and Enhanced Features Deliver Streaming of Licensed Content

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – April 19, 2010 – Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, today announced that its FreeAgent Theater+™ HD media player now delivers easy access to content from Netflix Inc. and other providers such as YouTube, vTuner and Mediafly. Customers of these services will have access to an even larger pool of both user-generated and licensed Internet-based media on their TV using the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player. All new enhancements are being offered to existing FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player owners through a free, automated firmware update¹ that can also be downloaded from Seagate.com, and will be included as part of all future product shipments.

According to a recent report conducted by the University of California, San Diego and other sponsors², Americans consume information an average of 12 hours per day—41 percent of which is spent watching TV (including DVDs, recorded TV and real-time watching). Additionally, nearly 37 percent of broadband households in North America are extremely or very interested in viewing “Over-the-Top” video content on the home TV, according to market research firm, In-Stat³.

Owners of the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ can now access content from their Netflix account, as well as other Internet content providers such as YouTube, vTuner and Mediafly, directly on their TV.

A World of Content at the Click of a Button

Seagate’s media player is providing a gateway for people to consume digital media, whether it is stored locally or streamed through a network or the Internet. With the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, people can enjoy collections of photos, movies and music saved on a FreeAgent Go™portable drive or any other USB-connected storage device. They can also choose to access and stream content using the included Ethernet port or optional wireless adapter, or connect directly to various video feeds including the Internet’s largest library of user-generated videos on YouTube.

“FreeAgent Theater+™ HD media player plays an important role in the evolution of how people are now enjoying digital media,” said Dave Mosley, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management at Seagate. “We first envisioned this product as a way to move highly valued family photos and videos from the PC environment to the home entertainment center, but it has now become much more. The combination of access to local storage and streaming media playback with access to a wealth of online content makes the FreeAgent Theater+™ HD media player a valuable addition to modern home entertainment systems.”

People who own FreeAgent Theater+ HD media players can now also access more Internet content through services such as Mediafly, an aggregator of free and user generated content including podcasts, news, sports, comedy, pop-culture, technology and more. FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player can also serve up audio feed from vTuner, which provides access to more than 8,000 terrestrial and Internet only radio stations.

The media player is also now UPnP/DLNA compliant, enabling access and sharing of digital content using any DLNA compliant device on a network, including the Seagate® FreeAgent DockStar™ network adapter.

“People today have so much of their memories captured in a digital format —family photographs, home videos, and music libraries—locked away in PCs,” said Carl Howe, director, Anywhere Consumer Research, Yankee Group. “Devices that can present those digital memories in a comfortable living room environment as well as connect to burgeoning Internet content are those that will delight today’s ‘anywhere’ consumers.”

Improved User Interface, Additional Features and More File Formats: Easy Navigation and Usability

Following in its tradition of allowing consumers to sit back, relax, point, click and enjoy as digitally captured memories and favorite movies come to life, the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player includes user interface and feature enhancements for video, photo and music navigation. The new capabilities include:

• Improved MP3 cover art and tagging
• Redesigned homepage view featuring better access to Internet and network applications
• Redesigned thumbnail view for easier browsing of movies, pictures and music
• Skip time option when watching movies to jump forward by 20 minute intervals
• Ability to create screensavers using personal photos
• Easy sorting of files when browsing network attached devices
• UTF 16 character support
• Ability to skip by 1000 items for faster browsing of files
• WMA Pro audio support, enabling sound in the most of high definition of WMV files
• Motion JPEG support commonly used by Digital Cameras and multi-compression PNG file support

About Seagate

Seagate is the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at http://www.seagate.com.

© 2010 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Wave logo, FreeAgent, FreeAgent Go, FreeAgent Theater+, and FreeAgent DockStar are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.

¹ FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player owners will automatically receive the new feature enhancements and capabilities if the media player is connected to the Internet using the Ethernet port on the back of the device or the optional USB wireless adapter. If the device is not connected to the Internet, a copy of the new firmware encompassing the latest additions can downloaded by visiting the Home Entertainment Downloads section of Seagate.com.

² “How Much Information? 2009: Report on American Consumers,” Roger E. Bohn and James E. Short, Global Information Industry Center, University of California, San Diego.

³ “Global Web-enabled Device Market Set to Explode,” Norm Bogen, January 2010.

Sometimes blogging is hard. Identifying content that is both relevant and interesting to readers is sometimes harder. In an effort to help The HTPC Blog provide the right amount of “this and that” I would like to ask both existing and potential readers to take a few seconds to answer a simple a question: What media center software do you use?

This poll will run until 5:00 PM CST on Friday, April 9th. At the conclusion I’ll look at the results subjectively. These results will be a small step in a long journey at helping The HTPC Blog provide content that is beneficial to you. I look forward to sharing HTPC-related information and reading your feedback!

Cast your vote after the break. See the disclaimer after the poll.

[polldaddy poll=2971577]

NOTE: This is by no means an attempt to identify “the best media center.” The poll simply seeks to identify what media centers The HTPC Blog audience uses.. nothing more, nothing less.

UPDATE (4/10/2010): I have decided to keep this poll open for a while since there is no real value in closing it.

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If you’re a XBMC user looking for the ability to automatically tweet your watched videos and music, try have to give xbTweet a try. Unlike similary apps for XBMC, xbTweet auto-tweets, auto-starts and uses OAuth so you don’t have to save your Twitter credentials. According to Itay, we’ll soon be able to change how the tweet looks.

To install/add xbTweet:

1. Close XBMC if it’s already opened.
2. Download xbTweet.
3. Extract the xbTweet folder to your XBMC\scripts directory.
4. Open XBMC, and then open the Scripts page.
5. Launch xbTweet. A Twitter OAuth login page should display in your web browser.
6. Login to Twitter. A PIN should display.
7. Go back to XBMC and enter the PIN.
8. After clicking Done xbTweet should be active.

Now that there is a good auto-tweeting app available for XBMC I can finally move back to using XBMC instead of Boxee. I look forward to future enhancements.

Source: XBMC Blog