Topics Covered:

• {play 2:44}Check out all the new swag in the Category5 Merch Store.
• {play 4:34}Our Acer Iconia A500 tablet won't boot anymore, for no reason. We've borrowed a tablet to power our music this week.
• {play 6:26}Feature: Create a photo-realistic style space scene using the free GIMP image editor software.
  • Download GIMP for Linux (also probably in your repositories!), Windows or Mac OS X.
  • Creating a canvas of 1920x1080, or any size you like.
  • Filling your background with black.
  • Adding noise, which will become stars.
  • Removing some of our "stars" by adjusting the levels.
  • Desaturating our stars (removing the random colors from the noise hurl).
  • Adding a bit of a "sparkle" effect to our stars to give a slight flare or shimmer to the brightest stars. This step takes some experimentation to get the effect you're looking for.
  • Finding a good "rock texture" by using Google Image search. Try [our search]. This texture will be used for our planet's surface.
  • Resizing our texture to be a perfect square, and then making our layer fit the image size properly.
  • Using the "Apply Lens" filter in GIMP to give a 3D sphere effect to our texture.
  • How to fix a bad texture when running the Apply Lens filter, where the lower third of the rendered output turns green.
  • Using the Ellipse tool to copy our planet out of the canvas.
  • Placing our rough planet texture onto our starscape canvas.
  • Creating a giant shadow on our planet's surface.
  • Creating the sun which is casting the light on the planet using GIMP's Supernova filter.
  • Project File Download: Space On Air.xcf [6.7 MB]
• {play 27:35}Top Stories from the Category5.TV Newsroom
  • Happy birthday, Bookface.
  • Some students have been expelled from school for hacking the computers to change their grades.
  • Canada is spying on your wifi signals.
  • Mobile app developers with in-app purchase have two months to stop tricking people, or go to court.
• {play 36:15}Prize Giveaway A lifetime license for PasswordBox as reviewed on Episode 332.
• {play 37:44}Welcome to our newly registered viewers.
• {play 38:27}With the end of life for Windows XP, many companies are finding their infrastructure (based on Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8) to be non-functional. Microsoft's response is to release "Enterprise Mode". Is it a good thing?
• {play 40:56}Lego and Google have teamed up to create the ultimate digital Lego experience with a Google Maps + Lego hybrid called BuildWithChrome.com.
• {play 45:04}Viewer Question: I'm very interested in using a DSLR with Wirecast. Your video using the T2i was very informative. Would using LiveView mode resolve the 30 minute record limit? Also, some people say DSLRs turn off due to overheating. Do you believe this to be true? Have you tried any other setups?
• {play 50:31}Viewer Question: I've had a P4 3Ghz system with 512 MB RAM and an 80 GB hard drive donated to me. I'd like to stick Linux on it and give it to family to learn Linux. Is there a lightweight distro you'd recommend?
  • Robbie's first choice for a lightweight distro for a beginner Linux user would be Lubuntu. This is because of the lightweight nature of LXDE, plus its ease of use, and the good support from an *buntu-based distro.
  • Next option would be Xubuntu. It's not as sleek and definitely not Robbie's favorite desktop environment, but it's extremely lightweight and very functional.
  • Another thought may be the young Q4OS project, which is making good headway in creating a distro that is easy to use for novice users who are accustomed to Windows XP.
• {play 52:23}Viewer Question: I notice your ISP actually offers higher speeds than you show on your shop site. Why not use that?
• {play 54:33}Viewer Question: My wife has a Windows XP laptop which has some software she doesn't want to lose, but that won't run in wine. Would it be safe to install Windows XP into a virtual machine since it wouldn't be a "real" system?
• {play 57:35}Viewer Question: I'm going to be setting up a home office soon, and wonder if I should setup a NAS or a file server. One of my computers will be doing some CAD work. The other will just be word processing. What do you recommend?
• {play 60:55}Contest Announcement: Don't forget to send in your ballot for a free copy of Telestream Wirecast 5 Pro!