Virtual Curiosities - Page 8 - PC Tutorials, Software Reviews, and Virtual Curiosities

SoundFont

Definition
A set of audio samples necessary in order to play a MIDI file or similar music formats.
TikTokfication

Definition
Process through which a social media platform becomes TikTok by introducing the ability to post tall, short videos on a feed.
Why Platforms Support Short Video but Not Long Video?

Explanation
Nowadays, many websites and platforms support uploading short videos, such as TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, but almost none of them allow uploading longer videos, such as one hour long videos. Why does this happen?
List of Platforms that Became TikTok Clones

Reference
Social media that introduced a short video format and suffered TikTok-fication, or resisted it.
Short Video

Definition
A tall video of short length recorded using a smartphone camera.
Platform

Definition
The target platform of an application, or an online service available as website and/or smartphone app, specially if it allows users to publish their own content.
Abstraction

Definition
A way to think of a group of elements by referring instead to a set of common properties that they share.
How Abstractions Work in Programming

Explanation
Learn a bit about how abstractions work in the programming of computers. Abstractions are a a form of indirection that lets us use any subprogram that fits a set of properties required by a superprogram. We'll see some examples of the different ways these abstractions occur across programming languages of various levels.
Twitch

A website where you can watch and publish live streams for free.
IRL

Definition
Stands for In Real Life, as opposed to on the Internet or in the computer.
My Review of MPC-BE

Review
Windows
MPC-BE is the best video player for playing local video files on Windows on your PC. It doesn't have the ability to cast to smart TV's that other players have, but it has great support for all common audio and video formats, a very usable user interface, and plenty of customizability.
Windows Media Player Legacy

Closed Source
Windows
The old version of the Windows Media Player that is included on Windows 11.
My Review of Windows Media Player (for Windows 11)

Review
Windows
Windows Media Player is a basic video and music player with support for playing all common audio and video formats, and is preconfigured to integrate well with the default music and video folders of Windows. However, it lacks many kinds of advanced functionality and provides practically no customization whatsoever.
FreeSound

Definition
A website where you can download royalty free (Creative Commons-licensed) sound effects and other audio to use in your projects.
Classical Archives

Definition
An online music store for classical music, featuring MP4's and MIDI's of thousands of composers.
MuseScore

Android
BSD
Freeware
iOS
Linux
macOS
Open Source
Windows
A free and open source music notation application for Windows, macOS, Linux, with a closed-source version for Android and iOS.
How MIDI Works?

Explanation
If you have ever seen a a file with the .mid file extension, you may have been surprised: the tiny file only 30 kilobytes in size can store an entire 4 minute long song! How is this possible?
MIDI

Definition
A lightweight music format that lacks supports of some modern software due to being so old.
Windows Media Player

Closed Source
Windows
The media player (video player and music player) that comes installed by default on Windows.
Library

Definition
A file containing a program that is used by another program, e.g. a library for loading PNG images that is used by an image viewer so it can open PNG images