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2005/12/08

An (almost) Universal Video Codec?

A universal video codec? That would be like a holy grail, especially for the growing vidcast/IPTV/term of the week video movement, especially with the recently released iPod with Video.

Of course, I don't think that will EVER happen (jeez, sound pessimistic much).

Right now, the iPod with Video format itself would have a pretty good penetration rate, because let's face it, the iPod is the 800 lb gorilla of portable media players.

Number 2 is probably the PSP, and because of Sony's focus on gaming and UMD movies, it'll probably never be number one in the portable video space (at least for this iteration).

At the same time, there are a lot of people using PDAs to view video on the go, what with multi-gig memory cards dropping in price, and the advent of smartphones like the Treo.

Content providers would be wise, if not a little safe, to go with the iPod video format, because it is/will be #1 for a while, but this means that most everyone else is going to be stuck with transcoding.

Blech.

Transcoding sucks for those using anything other than an iPod.

To appease the masses, a content provider like Digital Live TV offers a cornucopia of formats...

Windows Media:
Quicktime H.264:
video iPod:
XviD:
MPEG4:

Could there be a solution that would be a little more "universal"?

Yep. The PSP's own MP4 format (what's now called the "SP" format from the 1 series firmware). A more recent firmware added a new "AVC" format, but let's ignore that. The "SP" format first appeared on the last generation Sony Clie Palm based PDAs, the Japan-only VZ90, without the annoying pixel count limit that the PSP imposes. The codecs from that device also work on the Clie UX50/40 and TH55.

This is kinda cool, but in a limited, geek kinda way, if you happen to be a Clie user.

Recently, my friend Dave's brother picked up a G5 iPod. After it was charged up, they decided to try a PSP "SP" video on it, and it worked. No transcoding, just transfer and play. It works with the Sony Clie as well.

What makes this even more interesting is that this format will play on other portable devices that support the AAC codec, including Palm and PocketPC devices running v.66 of TCPMP with the AAC plugin. Other players for the PocketPC are also apparently capable of playing AAC encoded audio, but I only had a single opportunity to try this out, with success mind you.

A video encoded at 384Kbps, 30fps and 320x240 yeilds nice results, and a reasonable file size (3 MB per second), while one encoded at 768kbps doubles the file size, and looks spectacular. Heck, if one wants to provide a lower bandwidth, you can knock it back to 256Kbps, and it's still tolerable on a portable screen.

There are some great encoders available for downloading, such as PSP Video 9 but for the last little while, I've been doing it the JAmerican Way, which allows a Windows user to right-click on a video file, and automatically convert it.

Similarly, video encoded this way also plays on Macs, as well as PC's with Quicktime installed.

In the end, the PSP video isn't a catch all solution, but it comes pretty darn close to meeting just about everyone's portable media needs, and means that more CPU cycles could be dedicated to either SETI @ Home or even better, Folding @ Home.

2005/12/01

Pics ofNegroponte's $100 Laptop

I like it. I'd buy one for $300, if it means $200 goes to the cause!

read more | digg story

2005/11/30

Top 20 Geek Novels!

Posted earlier this month at The Guardian UK's Tech blog. Interesting. I'd probably put this in a different order, but the only author that I think should have made the cut is Greg Egan. How could geeks not love his stuff?

And it was cool to see The Watchmen make the list!

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

2005/11/24

Tutorial Translation

From the "Internets are Cool" dept.

I recently got an email from the folks who run Frenchwave, a French Lightwave website. They've translated my two-part quickie tutorial on using RLA format renders in After Effects. This is the third time one of my tutorials has been translated, which is pretty cool.

Even though I post these a couple of years back, I'm glad that the RLA tutorials are still being used, and by an international audience no less.

For the record, the other two languages are Italian and Russian.

The French tutorial link can be found here.

2005/11/17

From the "How stupid are some users" dept.

From the "How stupid are some users" dept.


M was having problems with a crashed computer in her company's phone room. They use really old systems that run a bare bones linux install, but even though they're dirt cheap to replace, she decided to take a look inside.

Being pretty savvy a sniffing out computer problems, M was torn as to what the problem could be, but not because she couldn't see the problem.... quite the opposite...





Could it be the green pencil below?






Or the empty bag of salty snacks...





Ultimately, I think it was the what APPEARS to be a chocolate bar jammed into the floppy drive.

2005/10/26

SA 8300 teleported from Springfield!

In a recent firmware update, there's a drastic change in brand names on the SA 8300! Good stuff

read more | digg story

2005/08/18

C'mon down to South Park

My South Park Character
What I would look like in South Park mode.


Want to make your own?

SP Builder

2005/08/15

Gas hits a loonie!

Wow, saw a gas station with gas crossing the $1.00 mark for full serve...

2005/07/20

Faux News crap

Faux News Channel is at it again.

In an effort to out douchebag Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, John Gibson has started laying it on thick. In tonight's lovely episode of "The Big Story", he spends some time ranting about the fab Brit 3 part doc "The Power Of Nightmares, by Andrew Curtis. This documentary compares and contrasts the rise of two simultaneous radical groups, extreme Islamists and the Western neoconservative movements.

First, for those not familiar with the doc...
Power Of Nightmares

A part of the documentary talks about how selling the idea of radical Islamic states failed to ignite the passions of the people of the Middle East in the latter part of the last century, and how in the late 90s Osama bin Laden decided to take the battle to the perceived enemy.

The series says, in part, that the threat of al-Qaeda, as it's portrayed in the media, is a false nightmare, in that it is not a single group, organized in a top down hierarchy, with Osama bin Laden dictating it's every move. The series does talk about the very real threat of international terrorism, and how this Global War On Terror (GWoT) will just further polarize and further create more radicalized opponents to the western world.

One obvious example that isn't really touched on in the series is al-Zarqawi, who is widely reported as the "Head of al-Qaeda in Iraq". Of course, this is not the Islamic extremist mirror of the US Ambassador of Iraq, because Zarqawi doesn't take orders from bin Laden (who's presumably hiding out in a stealth dialysis machine). Until the Iraq Invasion got underway, Zarqawi was often seen as a RIVAL to bin Laden, not an ally.

And why Gibson is a douchebag...
The Big Story

On the 20 July 2005 episode of "The Big Story", Gibson implies that the series, as a whole says that radicalized Islamic terrorists don't exists. The series doesn't make that claim at all, as my quick summary above shows. He reports on Australian TV (SBS) decision to delay the broadcast of the documentary, due to the proximity to the London bombings. Then a "FNC contributor" and supposed expert from The Times of London is trotted out, and promptly agrees with all his ill-conceived points. Of course it's worthy to note that The Times of London is another pustulant organ of Murdoch. Special care is made to bash the BBC as much as possible. Do I really need to mention that the business relationship between Faux and The Times goes unmentioned?

Gibson's rant is deplorable, and riddled with blatant lies. It's clear he's never seen the series, or if so, chose to totally ignore it to make a few digs at his boss's competition.

For those interested in seeing "The Power of Nightmares", there are a number of internet options available to you. Look for it and watch it, then wonder why the fear monger monkeys of Murdoch's empire don't want people watching it.

And a blogger who's pissed off that SBS pulled it without warning...
12th Harmonic

Remember, do NOT deviate from the narrow thought tracks that are being laid out for us

2005/07/13

More whining from me!

While the rightie bloggers fall in line with the RNC Talking Points, linked here...
RNC Talking Points
and the so called liberal press from the NY Times to the TV pundits bellyache about the loss of the "freedom of the press", they're totally ignoring a KEY point, and also providing a telling example of why the press isn't exactly "Free" anymore.

Everyone's talking about Judith Miller having to do time (I won't even talk about Robert Novak getting a free pass beyond speculating that maybe he's the one who provided the 8 pages of sealed documents that keep this case alive... once again, idle speculation)

Anyways, this "freedom of the press" thang is overrated, in this case. Time Inc, by handing over Cooper's notes, wasn't violating this time honoured tradition by a long shot.

The purpose of "confidential sources" is to protect the identity of whistleblowers revealing wrongdoings, whether they be gov't abuses or violations being committed by the corporation they work for. This is a noble and ethical endeavour, and has lead to the exposure of all sorts of criminal activiity in the higher echelons of power.

This protecting of sources is NOT extended when the journalist knows that the source is engaging in felonious crimes.

In the Rove/Plame case, the source passing on the information is the alleged criminal act, so this "journalistic freedom" is a red herring.

Rove's passing on of information is not the act of a whistleblower getting information out to expose criminal wrongdoing, but a potentially criminal act of an agent of the government, trying to EXTEND the power of the Executive branch through what is SUPPOSED to be a free and independant press. Miller, Cooper and Novak are being USED by the administration for petty political retribution, either knowingly or not.

To see the great majority of the press rally behind Miller, and chastize Time Inc., is a sad perversion of the idea of a "Free" press.

A long time ago, one of my favourite authors, Harlan Ellison, wrote about the state of journalism. At that time in the late 70's/early 80's, he was worried about the effect of having "Journalism Schools", as all the old school greats never had to attend an institution of higher learning to study journalism. Instead, they came from disparate backgrounds, some from the streets, some from Ivy League schools where they studied history, english, economics, or whatever, and applied their knowledge and life experiences to the task of writing.

He argued that the "new crop" of journalists coming out of journalism schools would be more isolated, and less free, as they become part of the very establishment they are meant to cover.

Over 20 years later, what he wrote seems more and more true. The majority of journalists these days are navel gazing, so wrapped up in the concept of "protecting sources" that they've forgotten what it really means. In the end, they're defending Miller, who is doing nothing more than taking a bullet for the potentially illegal act of leaking a covert spy's name to the press.

If that's the idea of a "Free Press" these days, it's a sad state of affairs indeed.

2005/05/30

Paul's Site

Just a link...

Paul is a longtime friend, and runs his own domain. He's currently gathered a crew together for the 48 hr Film Challenge in Toronto, which is a cool experiment in it's own right.

I'd be part of the crew, but he's informed me that the slots are all filled up. I'd like to believe him, but I suspect the real reason I'm not part of it is because I suck, and am VERY thin skinned. If anyone ever told me the truth about my suckage, I'd probably curl up into a ball and cry for days. After shaking off the funk, I'd probably end up on a bender to end all benders.

Really, if you can believe that.

Anyways, here's his site...

The Paul Laroquod Experiment

2005/02/01

More Dead Squarepants!

Breaking News

More photos of Spongebob tragedy!





Spongebob Death!

Spongebob Squarepants Dead in Toronto Alley.


2004/11/10

Mo:blog test

Just posting from my UX50

John Ashcroft has resigned! Yes!

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

2004/11/05

Media Suckage

CNN and other media sources are STILL reporting that 17% of the youth vote turned up in the latest election... which is clearly BS.

Where are they getting the 17% number? Let's take a look...

Percentage of total # of voters, followed by turnout as percentage of youth vote...

Battleground Non-Battleground
2004 19.4% 18.1%
Turnout
Amongst 64.7% 47.6%
18-29 y/olds
------------
2000 17% 16%
Turnout
Amongst 51% 38%
18-29 y/olds

So the only "17%" number I can find in stats available online is the one for what percentage of the TOTAL number of voters was comprised of the Youth Vote. Even so, the 17%number that has been repeated in multiple mainstream media sources is plain WRONG, as illustrated above.

------

In the thread "Looking at the numbers - THEY DON'T ADD UP" I posted other numbers for the youth vote. There's a link at the end where these stats were gathered from...

Youth vote (18-29 year olds) turnout, as percentage of whole:
2004 : 51.6%
2000 : 42.3%
1996 : 34.9%
1992 : 47.9%

Raw number 20.9 million in 2004 as opposed to 16.2 million in 2000.

Vote Split by Candidate in 2004 and 2000
Kerry / Bush / Nader
54% 44% 1%
Gore / Bush / Nader
47.6% 46.2% 4.7%

PDF: http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/Release_Turnout2004.pdf

Just to clear the air, the youth vote went up 9.3%, and they swung MUCH more towards Kerry than Bush (and Nader dropped down as well).

-------

WTF is going on? The echo chamber is just getting worse on a daily basis now. The information was released on the 3rd, but at the end of the NEXT DAY, the blabbering bobble heads are STILL touting a false 17% number that makes the youth appear disaffected and uncaring. The reality appears to be much different.

If anyone has links to media sources claiming either the 17% number, or a HIGHER number, feel free link it here.

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