Josh Bancroft's Linkblog

Hiphop/bluegrass mashup: Gangstagrass

Sat, 10 May 2008 16:48:46 GMT

Mashup artist Rench has released a free album of "gangstagrass" music -- hiphop mashed with bluegrass. The mixes are really good, in that, "Hey, who knew those two really different flavors worked so well together?" way that makes mashups so much fun to listen to.

Introducing block rockin' honky-tonk, New American music for the 21st century, built with love in a little studio, hand crafted, running on inspiration and imagination and duct tape, calling on the spirit of Gram Parsons and Otis Redding and KRS-ONE and Dolly Parton and Nina Simone and Willie Nelson and Missy Elliott and Johnny Cash, to write about what we feel and play what our hearts tell us, because to make it happen is reason enough, and to share it with the world is all the reason you need, because we tell the truth with music and the truth is beautiful.

Link to Gangstagrass album download, Link to information about Rench (Thanks, Brooklyn Twang!)

I hate bad websites. Today's source of ire, www.intel.com. You'd think I was asking to download the CEO's first born son.

Sat, 10 May 2008 02:25:19 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Hmm. Not everyone loves the new intel.com homepage redesign...

I hate bad websites. Today's source of ire, www.intel.com. You'd think I was asking to download the CEO's first born son.

Vidnik

Sat, 10 May 2008 02:24:04 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
First Visigami, now this. Google is cranking out the simple, cool little Mac apps. I love it - keep 'em coming!

By David Phillip Oster, Google Mac Team

Vidnik is our newest application in the Google Mac playground. It's a simple program for using the built-in camera on your Mac to create movies and upload them to YouTube.

You can use Vidnik to create a video diary, or just to quickly record a video comment to attach to an existing YouTube video. Vidnik works with the built-in video cameras on recent Macs, with Firewire video cameras, and with many USB video cameras.

To use Vidnik, run the app, then click the record button to start recording. Click it again to stop. Trim to just the golden moments you want to keep, as in the screen shot above. Fill in the required title, description, and so on. Click the upload button. That's it.

Or you can drag movies made in other programs onto Vidnik's column of movies, then click the upload button. And to use another program to do a little post-production, use the Gear menu to show Vidnik's movie file in the Finder. Edit the movie in the other program, then upload it.

Review: Summize Twitter Search

Fri, 09 May 2008 23:33:17 GMT

Summize, a company I am quite familiar with following my review of their review aggregator product, has substantially changed their company direction since I have last been in touch with them. They are now focusing on a Twitter search tool - so much so that it is their main product and the review aggregator has been moved to their Labs section. So why the abrupt change? Summize CEO Jay Virdy tells me they see an opportunity to do something big in the Twitter space and I believe them.

I’ll skip the details as we all know Twitter is big right now and making waves. I mean I wrote a research paper on it for a computer science class. That usually wouldn’t fly if Twitter was anything short of game-changing. As I noted in that paper, Twitter is used for many different things rather than people listing what they’re doing. This is where Summize comes in handy. It helps you filter through everything to find what you really want.

The first inception of any real sort of Twitter search was the Google Co-op powered Twitter search created by Steve Rubel. The only downside is that it treats Twitter like just another site. It doesn’t delve deeper into the content on Twitter and utilize metadata such as usernames and at replies.

Summize was built around comprehending the Twitter syntax and characteristics, even hacks such as hashtags. So why do I personally use Summize? Brand Management. It’s the best tool in a community manager’s arsenal, or for that matter anyone wishing to keep track of something.

Take Wednesday night for example. I was with the people behind Pownce as they launched support for public files. After it was announced I showed Mike Summize as a way to quickly track what people were saying about Pownce. It proved rather useful. The only piece of feedback Mike had for Summize was that it should automatically update the search results rather than saying more results are available and forcing users to reload the page to view them.

As one would expect with any modern, user-friendly search tool, Summize allows users to subscribe to custom search query feeds. I do this to help track buzz around Skribit by subscribing to a feed not including things I or other Skribit co-founders have posted or received on Twitter, since we would have already seen them in our replies tab on Twitter.

skribit -to:stammy -from:stammy -to:cyu -from:cyu

I subscribe to that in Safari, which passively notifies me of new results with the number of results next to the bookmark. It fits seamlessly into my daily workflow. When I spot someone having trouble with Skribit, I’ll drop them a message on Twitter to see if I can help. Contrast this with tracking the blogosphere and it is easy to see why I like Summize.

Twitter-able Summize Verdict: Summize is a powerful tool letting users maintain a grasp on the rapidly-updating Twitter community while retaining remarkable ease of use.

Do you use tools like Summize to track happenings on Twitter?

Further Reading: ReadWriteWeb posted an interesting article today analyzing Twitter trends utilizing Summize.

Getting Started in Video: Audio Options

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:06:02 GMT

So you’ve got your camera and you’re shooting some special footage. How can you make it sound good?

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

If you keep your subject within arm’s length, you can use the onboard (built in) mic to get passable audio. If you’re recording to tape, you’ll get some tape sound, but it’s likely that it will be usable audio. Photograpy cameras in movie mode sometimes have decent audio. Test what you’ve got and see how it sounds! If your camera has audio monitoring levels, you’ll want to watch those as you record, too.

Improving your audio is as easy as getting a microphone. Even a $10 computer condenser microphone will improve your audio. A small mic gets closer to the subject and that’s always good.
As far as sources for audio options, I shop at B & H. If you’ve got another spot you like to shop, leave a note in the comments.

Here’s the breakdown of some of the microphones we use for the Storque.

Lavaliers: Here on the Etsy Media Awesome Team, we use a wired Audio Technica Pro 70 and a wireless Sony mic and they both work well. They are XLR, so if your camera doesn’t have an XLR input you’re going to have to get a converter cord or a Beachtek adapter. XLR is a way of hooking up mics that gives better quality sound than 1/8 inch jacks.

Shotgun: We use two Sennheissers. One is tiny and one is big. They both work great. (The price I quoted for the big Sennheiser in the video is wrong. It’s more like $450. If you need a cheaper shotgun, I’ve shot with the Azden, and it’s fine, too.) To learn more about shotgun mics, check out this article.

Although it’s not in this video, if you’re looking for a basic old-skool handheld mic, I’ve had a good experience with this Shure.

If you’ve got a mic you’re happy with, make sure to leave a note in the comments! For more videos about making videos, keep reading our Getting Started in Video series!

crispy salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:32:21 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I would pay a lot of money to magically have a dozen of these cookies in front of me right now. Looks yummy!

These are scandalously good, yes, scandalously. Do you want to know why? Because I had one bite of one of these cookies and honestly think they’re one of the best cookies I have ever made. Like, top five good. Like, I think that the homemade Oreos just got the boot because I had to make room at the top. I hope the dozens of you who have made them can forgive me.

It took me a long time to get an oatmeal cookie recipe on this site, and the reason was that most people really like oatmeal cookies, but they have a very specific view of what they should be. Some people like them heavily spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, others want them buttery and nutty and still others think that if they don’t have chocolate chips or large gobs of dried fruit, they weren’t worth the oats they were cooked with. To add further complication, 99.9 percent of oatmeal cookies fall into one of two categories: thick and cakey or thin and lacy, and oh, how it all made my head spin.

Well, meet the new category: thick and shatter-y, and you’ll have to make your own to believe it. They’re crispy, but not because they’re hard or because they’re thin but because they practically hollow out when they bake, leaving you with this… shell of an oatmeal cookie with rich bits of white chocolate scattered about and the tiniest flaking of sea salt on top.

(more…)

Community Building: Good, Bad and Ugly - The Video

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:02:44 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
One panel at Web 2.0 that I wish I could have attended.

I finally found a video of at least part of our Web 2.0 Expo session about Community Building: Good, Bad and Ugly. A big thank you to Jim Goings for uploading it. It looks like they caught the first 30 minutes of the session on video.

Panel members included: Dawn Foster (Jive Software), Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester Research), Bob Duffy (Intel), Kellie Parker (PC World & Macworld).

Related Fast Wonder Blog posts:

Fascinating Prediction ~ ARM has MID design wins until 2014?

Fri, 09 May 2008 02:29:30 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Jeff knows what he's talking about here. Some very good insights, and not just because he's my friend. :-)

EE Times published an article yesterday explaining that ARM will have the majority of MID sales until 2014. Shockingly, I'm not too worried that anyone working on Atom or MID development is going to abandon ship.

First, ...2014? I'd love to know what is going to be happening by the end of this year, let alone six years out. That's an Internet Eternity, especially in this product area. How old is your cellphone, smartphone, or favorite tech toy? Would you have really envisioned how you use it two years ago? Four?

Second, there are too many wild cards in the cast of characters. Apple, Google, Asus, Microsoft, and even... what's their name again... oh yeah, Intel, might have a plan or two up their sleeve in this time frame, and any one of them could send things scrambling in a new direction. Apple wrenched the phone world sideways with the iPhone, and Asus launched a whole new market with the Eee PC. Google has Android cooking and never fails to keep developers amused with new forays, and good ol' Microsoft may be sometimes slow to the party, but they always show up with an entourage.

Third, the article claims the "proven advantages of the ARM ecosystem in mobile devices will eventually outweigh those of the Intel platform." I've talked to a lot of people inside and outside Intel who develop for these devices, and the fragmentation of the existing ecosystems drives many of them nuts. One of the great things about moblin is that is provides an compliance base across devices so you can reduce testing and reach more target systems, even running on multiple form factors like MIDs and netbooks.

ARM has an impressive part of the market right now in MID and ultra mobile devices without a doubt. The iPhone alone tips the balance quite nicely. I just don't see how anyone watching this industry, and who has looked at Atom and Intel's plans for it, could do anything but chuckle at any six-year prediction around MIDs other than it is going to be one crazy ride.

Getting Started in Video: Pushing the Red Button

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:16:42 GMT

You’ve got a video camera…what next?

The basic idea is to put something in front of the camera and push the red button, but there’s a lot more. This video is just a few tips and tricks to get you on your way. The main thing is to just start making videos and then each one will get better and better.

If you’re going to go handheld, you can improve your stability by holding your elbows in. A tripod will keep the camera steady. If possible have the camera at eyeline or above because people just look more beautiful from above. You don’t need to see up my nose.

Jump cuts are when you see lots of cuts without a change in camera position. I use these a lot. It also helps to plan some things out. I make a bullet list of things that I want to make sure I say. When working with other people, I find it’s easier to ask them to talk about a list of topics rather than memorize things.

Don’t be afraid to shoot it again and again and again. A few people called in today and I’m going to respond to their questions in future videos. If you’ve got tips for shooting video, leave a note in the comments or leave me a voicemail at 917-720-4197 and I might post your message in a future post! MP4 Link

Review: Marantz PMD620 Handheld WAV Recorder

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:27:40 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Been looking forward to this little recorder from Marantz. Wonder how it compares to the $150 Zoom H2?

With an exotic OLED display, baby-simple controls, good sound, and an attractive price, the Marantz PMD620 aims to stand out in the crowded world of portable digital audio recorders. How well does it perform? Mark Nelson frails a gourd banjo to find out.

Croncast stickers in the wild

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:16:54 GMT

Here are some shots of Croncast stickers that have made it out of the manpit and found caring new owners. Thanks for representin'!

Photo by: Josh Bancroft

Josh knows what time it is!

Photo by: glemak

So do glemak.

Photo by: Jesse Marvin

I don't think Betsy has ever been this close to a pitbull before.

If you've got a Croncast sticker picture send it on, we'll make you famous . . . or something.

I've been asked in the past who we used for our stickers and will throw it in here since they have awesome customer service, Sticker Giant.

NEW APPLE iPod Touch 32GB MP3 Video Wifi Hot!!
Current bid: $380.00 on eBay

3x Screen Protector iPod Touch LCD 8 16 GB Apple Film
Current bid: $0.99 on eBay

See all 9,291 ipod touch items on eBay.

Tags: ipod touch Sticker Giant Croncast stickers

Sun and Intel Announce Threading Building Blocks now Supported on Solaris, Su...

Thu, 08 May 2008 09:38:15 GMT

Sun and Intel Announce Threading Building Blocks now Supported on Solaris, Sun Studio

Kyle Skips OpenID

Thu, 08 May 2008 08:18:49 GMT

5 reasons I won’t be getting on the open id train, by Kyle Neath. Animated comment thread.

MPAA is Awarded $110 million in TorrentSpy Case

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:42:39 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Ouch. Excessive much?

An anonymous reader writes "The MPAA was awarded a staggering judgment in its case against the BitTorrent indexing site TorrentSpy. According to Slyck.com, a judge in California rendered a $110 million victory for the MPAA, and a permanent injunction against TorrentSpy."

Beta beat: Silverflow Quicksilver interface

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Software, Beta Beat

Julius Eckert has made splashes at TUAW before, namely for his Bezel HUD and Showcase interfaces for Quicksilver. Now he's released a beta of his much-anticipated Silverflow interface (inspired by designer Jono). The Cover Flow thing may be played out for some, but I'm finding this interface to be both elegant and useful.

I'll admit that I've gone from a die-hard user to watching Quicksilver from the sidelines, mostly due to crashes I was experiencing with it since upgrading to Leopard. I'll also admit that I had high hopes for further development when the developers made it open source and have been a little disappointed. But Silverflow has rekindled my interest and after loading Quicksilver back up to try it out, I quickly remembered all of the extra reasons I had for preferring it to Spotlight. Whether you're a current Quicksilver user or you're in my boat as a previously rabid fan, this beta is worth checking out. Do note, though, that it is a beta and has some missing functionality and known (and possibly unknown) issues. I'm pretty enamored, nonetheless.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NBC Streaming Full Episodes of 30 Rock and the Office to iPhones (for Free, No Ads!) [IPhone]

Wed, 07 May 2008 23:50:10 GMT

Even though there's no love lost between NBC and iTunes, that doesn't mean NBC doesn't love you! At least if you've got an iPhone or iPod touch. They're streaming full episodes of 30 Rock and The Office to iPhones (and touches) in Quicktime, for free, with NO ads. They work, nicely, but the major catch is that if you exit Safari, you've gotta re-DL all over again, and the files are huge, so is this Wi-Fi only, really. This looks weird for NBC, but it's really not.

They're putting their shows out online in a million different ways (you can even download 30 Rock, The Office, Conan and Leno direct to your desktop now) and more than happy to pipe 'em to you, as long as it's in a controlled sandbox of some sort. NBC Direct requires a walled-garden player install with loads of DRM, and they wanted copyright controls from Apple and Microsoft to give just two examples, not to mention Hulu. It's sorta surprising that the Quicktime feed for iPhone is unprotected, but theoretically it's restricted to two devices. You know, if they'd just relax a bit, overall, they'd be in a good place online. [Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks Peter!]

Patriot Act gag-order on the Internet Archive clobbered by EFF and ACLU

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:36:37 GMT

A court case has forced the FBI to withdraw its gag order against the Internet Archive, brought down after the Archive was served with a Patriot Act "National Security Letter" warrant that asked for personal information about one of the Archive's users. The Archive, as a library, was reluctant to give out information on its patrons, so they contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU, and eventually won the right to discuss the case:

The NSL included a gag order, prohibiting Kahle from discussing the letter and the legal issues it presented with the rest of the Archive's Board of Directors or anyone else except his attorneys, who were also gagged. The gag also prevented the ACLU and EFF from discussing the NSL with members of Congress, even though an ACLU lawyer who represents the Archive recently testified at a congressional hearing about the FBI's misuse of NSLs.
"This is a great victory for the Archive and also the Constitution," said Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU. "It appears that every time a national security letter recipient has challenged an NSL in court and forced the government to justify it, the government has ultimately withdrawn its demand for records. In the absence of much needed judicial oversight – and with recipients silenced and the public in the dark – there is nothing to stop the FBI from abusing its NSL power."
"A miscarriage of justice was prevented here because the Archive decided to fight the unlawful demand for information and unconstitutional gag," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "The big question is, how many other improper NSLs have been issued by the FBI and never challenged?"

Link (Thanks, Rebecca!)

Macs in the Enterprise

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:26:43 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I've been using a Mac exclusively at Intel for about two years now. Almost everyone in my group (Intel Software Network) uses a Mac as their main computer. And there's been a company-wide pilot of Macs for about a year now.

In every O’Reilly conference and event I've been to, the number of Mac laptops is disproportionately high: I would say at least around a quarter (if not more) in most of our conferences. The most common answer I hear is that the Mac combines an elegant UI, a suite of useful software, and a Unix command line. O'Reilly does tilt towards the “alpha geek” crowd, but one wonders if mainstream companies are beginning to allow Apple products (including iPhones) in their networks.

Business Week’s most recent cover story is on the growing interest in Apple computers among corporate users. I was expecting the article to include some estimates for the corporate market, or at least the results of a recent survey. It was after all the cover story of the U.S. edition.

I do recognize that estimating Apple’s share of the corporate market is difficult. Apple itself does not provide corporate sales estimates and according to the article, it doesn't even have much of sales force dedicated to the space. What Apple provides are sales for Desktops and Portable PC’s:

Starting Q3-2006, the share of portables jumped to 60% and has remained slightly above that number. Apple began moving to Intel processors in Q1-2006 and by August 2006 the entire line of Apple PC's had switched over. The graph for revenues (Desktops vs. Portables) is essentially the same. In Q2-2008, portables grew 61%, compared to the prior year, and now account for close to 2 in 3 units sold.

As the author points out, Apple’s secrecy and large margins may hamper it in the corporate market, where buyers prefer transparency and bargains. Overseas, particularly in the developing world, Macs are too expensive for most. With the introduction of expensive models (e.g. MacBook Air) the article estimates that the average price for a Mac is now about $1,526: too pricey even for large American companies, unless of course Apple is willing to forgo those fat margins and negotiate. Why would Apple want that when consumers seem willing to pay for their products? With more and more tasks moving to the cloud, expensive Macs will be even harder to justify. So while more companies might be willing to allow Macs, I would be surprised if Apple makes inroads in the corporate space.

My pet peeve: MS-Excel 2008 for the Mac is quite unstable, and I think the 2004 version is superior. In the corporate market a stable and easy-to-use spreadsheet is a must.

If you work for a large company they probably tightly limit what machines you can use. Luckily for me, O’Reilly allows the use of any (Mac, Windows, Linux, BSD, …) computer.

Why is it hard to work with big public companies?

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:22:49 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I know what this is like - a good read for connected people working inside of big corporations.

People often ask questions like that. And from the inside it's clear that things aren't as easy as we wished they'd be. But I've never thought long enough about the issue to figure it out for myself, let alone try to explain it to others.

Luckily Greg Cohn has. Here's just a bit of what he says in Doing Business with the Semi-Permeable Corporation:

Today’s environment is transparent, open, and conversational - meaning almost anyone can get to anyone and communicate with them publicly, semi-publicly, or privately. This is great - when I need to find someone, it tends to be quite easy to reach them directly or with one degree of separation via my network. When someone needs to reach me, I am equally easy to find (and in fact have a public “contact me” email link that’s one click away from a search on my name). As conversations become substantive, companies are increasingly transparent about their objectives, plans, competition, and even finances, all of which materially increase effectiveness.

So much for the good stuff. The challenges are: a) that I’m still under the constraints of a public company, and can not in any way be “conversational” about material inside information; and b) that open doors like mine are magnets for everything from unrelated BU inquiries (from people who should know better) to “the Yahoo! suggestion box”, and the signal-to-noise ratio of inbound items can create a lot of distractions and confusion if I don’t filter aggressively.

I can definitely sympathize with the second bit. I don't know how many random inquiries I get each month, but it can be a lot to deal with. Help me with my research project. Introduce me to someone in My Yahoo! Tell me my Yahoo! password. Fix my email. Buy these pills. The list goes on!

And I digress...

Seriously, go read what Greg wrote. He did a good job of helping people to see the world from the other side.

(comments)

48,000 Kindles Per Month?...I Doubt It

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:06:12 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Sounds high to me, too. I wish Amazon would just come out and tell us how many Kindle's they're selling. Who cares if it's low? We know it's an "early adopter" device. It says so all over the Kindle docs and website.

The Silicon Alley Insider is speculating that Amazon is currently selling about 48,000 Kindles per month. For the record, even though I'm in the publishing industry I have no insider knowledge about the device's sales rate. That said, 48K/month sounds extremely high to me.

Why? I'm pretty sure I'm tracking all the Kindle-related blogs and message boards and I'm just not seeing any significant up-tick in postings, traffic or buzz. Despite the fact that the Kindle has been back in stock and shipping for at least a couple of weeks now I'm seeing roughly the same number of weekly posts/comments on the Kindle Forum and Kindle Korner as there were when it was out of stock. You'd think the pent-up demand for the device would have caused a surge on these forums but that doesn't appear to be the case. New Kindle-related blogs aren't exactly crawling out of the woodwork either. There was a flurry of new ones back in December and January but I couldn't tell you the last time I discovered a new one...and I tend to search for them every week!

Finally, there's my old pal, Google Trends. According to this chart, Sony's Reader is still getting more Google searches than Amazon's Kindle, but the latter has closed the gap a bit on the former, perhaps attributable to the Kindle being back in stock.

Camera Hacks: Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:33:03 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I've been meaning to put this on my Canon SD 700 IS and play with it. It looks really, really cool!

If you're using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera you've got hardware in hand that can support advanced features

Think Like a Dandelion: advice for understanding reproductive strategies in the Internet era

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:20:40 GMT

My latest column in Locus Magazine, "Think Like a Dandelion," came out of a talk I had with Neil Gaiman about the bio-economics of giving stuff away for free. Mammals worry about what happens to each and every one of their offspring, but dandelions only care that every crack in every sidewalk has dandelions growing out of it. The former is a good strategy for situations in which reproduction is expensive, but the latter works best when reproduction is practically free -- as on the Internet.

1. Your work needs to be easily copied, to anywhere whence it might find its way into the right hands. That means that the nimble text-file, HTML file, and PDF (the preferred triumvirate of formats) should be distributed without formality — no logins, no e-mail address collections, and with a license that allows your fans to reproduce the work on their own in order to share it with more potential fans. Remember, copying is a cost-center — insisting that all copies must be downloaded from your site and only your site is insisting that you — and only you — will bear the cost of making those copies. Sure, having a single, central repository for your works makes it easier to count copies and figure out where they're going, but remember: dandelions don't keep track of their seeds. Once you get past the vanity of knowing exactly how many copies have been made, and find the zen of knowing that the copying will take care of itself, you'll attain dandelionesque contentment.
2. Once your work gets into the right hands, there needs to be an easy way to consummate the relationship. A friend who runs a small press recently wrote to me to ask if I thought he should release his next book as a Creative Commons free download in advance of the publication, in order to drum up some publicity before the book went on sale.
I explained that I thought this would be a really bad idea. Internet users have short attention spans. The moment of consummation — the moment when a reader discovers your book online, starts to read it, and thinks, huh, I should buy a copy of this book — is very brief. That's because "I should buy a copy of this book" is inevitably followed by, "Woah, a youtube of a man putting a lemon in his nose!" and the moment, as they say, is gone.

Link

Unbelievable Pictures of Chilean Volcanic Eruption at Night

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
You can't. Just. WALK into Mordor!

The Chilean portal, Terra.cl, has an absolutely incredible gallery of UPI photographs of the volcano Chaitén's enormous ash plume intersecting with a thunderstorm.

Chaitén's unexpected eruption began late last week. Now, more than 4,000 people have been displaced by the volcano's first activity in 450 years.

There's 34 more pictures just like this one waiting for you at:

Tormenta eléctrica en erupción del volcán Chaitén.

Image: UPI.

Via: the day they tried to kill me

Overview: XBox Media Center for OS X

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:00:14 GMT

Overview: XBox Media Center for OS X

If for whatever reason you’re not a huge fan of Front Row, the XBox Media Center (XBMC) for OS X may be the replacement you’ve been looking for. It supports the Apple Remote (not perfectly) and has almost all of the features of the original XBMC (and way more than Front Row). The developers will be the first people to admit that it’s not as stable as they’d like, but I’ve been using it for a couple of days now and it hasn’t crashed on me once. For a setup overview and lots of screenshots, keep reading.

The Xbox Media Center for OS X is painfully easy to install. Open the .dmg file, and drag xbmc to the Applications folder.

click to enlarge

Admittedly, XBMC is not the smallest of applications, coming in at 117MB.

And now launch it from your Applications list.

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The screen you’ll be greated with is the main XBMC dashboard.

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Select Pictures to set up your Pictures options. You only have to do this once, XBMC will remember all of your settings after this.
Click Add Source

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Click the Browse button…

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and navigate to the folder on your hard drive that you store photos in. Once you’ve selected it, click OK.

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Give that source a name (eg. Pictures) in the Enter a name for this Media Source section. If you store photos in more than one folder, click the Add button and repeat the above process. You can add as many folder sources as you’d like. When you’re done, click OK.

click to enlarge

Click on the name for one of your Picture sources.

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And you’ll be presented with thumbnails of your photos. If the photo folder you selelcted has sub-folders, those folders will display 4 thumbnails of the pictures inside of them.

click to enlarge

Select any image to make it full-size.

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To add Videos to your XBMC, repeat the exact same process you did with Pictures.

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During movie playback you can bring up an on-screen controller.

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Which in turn offers a number of video settings.

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You can even bookmark specific scenes in videos.

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Or return to your list of videos while the currently playing video continues to play in the corner of your screen.

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Adding Music is the same as adding Pictures and Movies.

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When you open a folder for the first time, XBMC will scan that folder for media info.

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And then present it all in a list.

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From the home screen (dashboard) select Settings. The XBMC Configuration window will display. From here you can customize the look of the XBMC, set preferences for audio, video, programs, the weather and your network.

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There a lot of options - in the Music section you can enable visualisation, setup your Last.FM account, specifiy CD ripping options and more.

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The Appearance section offers too many features to even list. One important feature you’ll want to set is the Resolution, which can be found in the Screen section. Set the resolution to the same as your monitor, and XBMC will run in full-screen mode.

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Click the small red button in the bottom right corner of the dashboard to shut down XBMC. Then choose the Shutdown option from the menu that appears.

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Happy media-playing!

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How to convert files to Windows Media Video (.wmv) to play on your Windows Mobile device

How to use Amarok to manage your iPod in Ubuntu

How to extract (or access) the contents of an .iso file in Windows

Investing in the future of the open Internet

Wed, 07 May 2008 10:49:39 GMT

Posted By Larry Alder, Product Manager

As you may have read, Google, Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners have entered into an agreement to invest $3.2 billion in a new wireless broadband company. The new company will combine Clearwire's existing consumer WiMAX business with Sprint's broadband infrastructure and 2.5 GHz spectrum to create a new nationwide wireless broadband network. In addition to our $500 million contribution as part of the investment group, we will provide search and applications to the network's users, and will work with Clearwire to offer additional services and applications. This will include jointly creating an open Internet protocol to work with mobile broadband devices (including Android-powered devices) and implementing other open network practices and policies.

We believe that the new network will provide wireless consumers with real choices for the software applications, content and handsets that they desire. Such freedom will mirror the openness principles underlying the Internet and enable users to get the most out of their wireless broadband experience. As we've supported open standards for spectrum and wireless handsets, we're especially excited that Clearwire intends to build and maintain a network that will embrace important openness features. In particular, the network will: (1) expand advanced high speed wireless Internet access in the U.S., (2) allow consumers to utilize any lawful applications, content and devices without blocking, degrading or impairing Internet traffic and (3) engage in reasonable and competitively-neutral network management.

We're looking forward to seeing the Clearwire network take shape and begin to deliver benefits to users, and we will continue to look for new partners to promote openness and bring compelling applications and services to end users. There's more information on Clearwire and the transaction on Clearwire's site.

BarCampPortland 2008 Recap aka Geeks, Bubble tea, and Werewolf

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:33:02 GMT

The days and weeks leading up to BarCamp can be busy and stressful for the organizers as we work through all of the last minute arrangements, but it is so worth it! I had an amazing time at BarCampPortland, and the majority of the feedback has been positive. I won’t go into the gory details about everything that worked / didn’t work, since you can view the full postmortem document online; however, I will cover a few of my impressions of the event.

I love the BarCamp format

I’ve attended a number of BarCamps, and I am finding that I enjoy attending BarCamps more than traditional conferences, and I think I learn more at BarCamps, too. The people who attend BarCamps are smart and engaged. These are the people giving up a weekend to geek out with others over various technologies, not the corporate types who only attend conferences during working hours. We had people attending from as far away as Chicago, Washington D.C., and Alaska. I had amazing conversations, talked to a bunch of very interesting people, and learned about new ideas and new ways of doing things.

Online Communities

I held a community management roundtable session again this year at BarCamp to a packed room. I’ve done a few of these roundtable discussions where I kick off the conversation and let the group take it in different directions while I act as moderator for the group and contribute actively along with the other participants. I’ve done this at Corvallis and Austin BarCamps, but it never works as well as it does here in Portland. In other places, I’ve had to drag the discussion along or manage people who dominate the conversation while contributing little. In Portland, these just work, and I learn as much from the process as the other participants. I have no idea why it works so well here, maybe we are just more community-oriented than some other locations, but I’m glad that the session went so well. If you want to learn more about the topics discussed, you can view the notes from the session on the Drupal site.

WordCamp

We held a mini WordCamp along with BarCamp on Sunday, and there were more great sessions that I wished I could have attended. I learned a lot about Wordpress theming, including how to write your own theme from scratch. I doubt that I’ll try it anytime soon, but it did give me a much better understanding about exactly how themes are constructed in Wordpress. Aaron Hockley also led a really good discussion about the underlying infrastructure under Wordpress.

Painter’s tape is your friend

Painter’s tape makes a great schedule board and can be used to hang really heavy banners without hurting the walls.

Unique Portland Flair

Here are a few things that make our BarCamp very “Portland”:

We have Bubble Tea! For the second year in a row, we’ve had bubble tea made to order at BarCampPortland. A big thank you to Six Apart & David Recordon for making it possible.
Werewolf games provided us with hours of amusement in the evenings led by the Portland Werewolf group (yes, we meet up to play monthly here in Portland!) We even had a Chicago attendee introduce us to a new variant that proved to be really interesting and challenging!
Twitter was a main attraction during the event. Portland has a very active Twitter population, and most people had a Twitter username on their badge. We used Twitter to make announcements, follow up on sessions, and drive most of the communications during the event.
We had lots of other entertainment including a wii station, War Games, and more.

More Information

As always, Rick Turoczy has done a great job on Silicon Florist of rounding up the coverage for the event. You can get links to pictures, session notes, and other blog posts from the Silicon Florist BarCamp Portland: The Weekend that was post.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

A huge thank you to the entire organizing team, all of the volunteers, the always helpful Cubespace staff, the attendees and the sponsors who made this event possible and successful. These events do not happen unless people are willing to pitch in and help where it is needed. People were helpful and patient as we recruited from random passers by to help with various tasks.

Related Fast Wonder Blog posts:

Flickr Find: Twitter in Mac OS X developer tools

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:20:50 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Wha? This looks really cool, and it's been included in Leopard all this time!

Filed under: Flickr Find

An avid reader of TUAW, Chris Thomson, sent us a link to a Flickr picture (being the nosy people we are, we clicked the link). What we found surprised us -- a Twitter Quartz Composer composition was included as a part of the Mac OS X developer tools for Leopard. "Twitterverse," when tweaked right, can be used as an OS X screen saver and display all of your friends tweets in a graphical way.

You can find this Quartz composition in the ~/Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer/Compositions/XML/The Twitterverse/The Twitterverse.qtz. If you want to add it as a screen saver, just drag it onto the preview in the "Screen Saver" part of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane (in System Preferences.app). You can then add your username / password in the screen saver options.

Thanks, Chris!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Josh's MacBook Pro Stickers

Wed, 07 May 2008 01:03:30 GMT

Josh Bancroft posted a photo:

Mouse over the stickers for a note with more detail/URLs.

AT&T Purportedly Nixes Retail Employee Vacations Between June 15 and July 12

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:50:11 GMT

Leaked memo states they wish to ensure sufficient staffing for “an exciting Summer Promotional Launch.” They did the same thing last year for the original iPhone debut.

So, question: Will there be tens of thousands of people across the country lined up all day waiting to buy the new iPhones, just like last year? I say yes.

★

Free Little Brother for librarians, teachers, etc -- a tipjar alternative for people who loved the free ebook

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:57:37 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
If you like Cory's books, and Little Brother in particular, buy and donate a copy to a school and/or library! I think more young people need to read Cory's stuff, to stretch their brains.

Every time I put a book online for free, readers ask me how they can "tip" me for the download. The problem is, I'm not actually interested in tips, since these cut my publisher out of the loop, putting us on opposite sides of the free download equation. My publisher is extremely valuable to me, providing editorial and marketing and distribution services that I couldn't possibly provide on my own without spending a lot more of the cover-price of the book than currently goes to my publisher.

For Little Brother, I've come up with a solution that balances out my publishers' interests, my interests, the generosity of my readers, and the needs of educators and libraries.

Here's how it works: if you're a librarian, teacher (or similar -- someone who works in a halfway house, social center, or comparable institution), you can send in a request for a free copy of Little Brother. I'll post these, along with your institution's address, on a public web-page (I'm also vetting these to make sure that they really come from educators and affiliated trades, and not just cheap people who want someone else to buy them a copy of the book).

If you're someone who loved the ebook and wants to "tip" me, you can pay me back by checking out the list of teachers and suchlike in search of donated copies, and buy a copy directly for someone on the list, using Amazon, BN.com, Powell's, or your favorite mail-order house. Send in the email receipt (delete anything private first), and the teacher's entry will be marked as fulfilled.

I'm actually paying someone to manage this whole process, out of my own pocket. Olga Nunes, a friend and awesome web-developer, has agreed to take on the task of updating the page, vetting the entries, and answering your questions. You can reach her at freelittlebrother@gmail.com with your solicitations and/or donations.

So there it is: educators, librarians, social workers and other people who work with kids, send in your solicitations now! Generous ebook readers are waiting to send you free copies of my latest book! Link

Webby Awards announced

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:46:15 GMT

Webby Awards announced
The winners of the 12th Annual Webby Awards have been announced. A bunch of BB faves were honored including National Geographic Magazine Online, PostSecret, I Can Has Cheezburger?, TED.com, Nature.com, and the amazing Skull-A-Day. The Webby Awards bash takes place on June 10 during the new Internet Week New York festival. Congrats to all! Link

Free Little Brother for teachers, librarians: a tipjar alternative for people who loved the ebook

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:11:40 GMT

Every time I put a book online for free, readers ask me how they can “tip” me for the download. The problem is, I’m not actually interested in tips, since these cut my publisher out of the loop, putting us on opposite sides of the free download equation. My publisher is extremely valuable to me, providing editorial and marketing and distribution services that I couldn’t possibly provide on my own without spending a lot more of the cover-price of the book than currently goes to my publisher.

For Little Brother, I’ve come up with a solution that balances out my publishers’ interests, my interests, the generosity of my readers, and the needs of educators and libraries.

Here’s how it works: if you’re a librarian, teacher (or similar — someone who works in a halfway house, social center, or comparable institution), you can send in a request for a free copy of Little Brother. I’ll post these, along with your institution’s address, on a public web-page (I’m also vetting these to make sure that they really come from educators and affiliated trades, and not just cheap people who want someone else to buy them a copy of the book).

If you’re someone who loved the ebook and wants to “tip” me, you can pay me back by checking out the list of teachers and suchlike in search of donated copies, and buy a copy directly for someone on the list, using Amazon, BN.com, Powell’s, or your favorite mail-order house. Send in the email receipt (delete anything private first), and the teacher’s entry will be marked as fulfilled.

I’m actually paying someone to manage this whole process, out of my own pocket. Olga Nunes, a friend and awesome web-developer, has agreed to take on the task of updating the page, vetting the entries, and answering your questions. You can reach her at freelittlebrother@gmail.com with your solicitations and/or donations.

Link

Charmin Turns Stall Surfing into Social Networking with Google Sharing Feature

Tue, 06 May 2008 03:02:17 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Now I can stop surfing on my iPhone while I'm in the can! :-)

Following on the heels of Google's announcement of Share Anything. Anytime, Anywhere., industry leading toilet paper manufacturer, Charmin, announced today that they've added Google's sharing feature as a social networking component to their latest new products. According to a Charmin spokesperson:

"The essence of social networking is sharing. Sharing things you find on the web, pictures, videos, news articles, all sorts of information. With the advent of smaller and more mobile devices, we've seen an uptick in the trend of Stall Surfing, where an individual will carry his iPhone or other mobile device to the restroom for a little browsing while they are taking care of business. So, we've added Google's new share component to our latest products, to allow you to share any information with other users who might, or might not be stall surfing at the same time."

"It is simple really. Our new toilet paper dispenser is equipped with a WiFi connection that hooks into your home network. When you see something you wish to share with a friend or your followers, you simply choose the Charmin Share button on the dispenser, which immediately sends the item over the web to your Google shared feeds, as well as prints it out on the next sheet of toilet paper. Share on the web, or keep a hard copy for yourself or someone in your household."

The spokesperson continued, "Of course you can plug into the Twitter API, as well as other social networking tools, so that all of your followers can see what you've just shared right from your toilet seat. Share Anything. Anytime. Anywhere. Just don't squeeze it."

Technorati Tags: Google,Twitter,Social Networking

jkOnTheRun video- first look at Lenovo IdeaPad U110

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:57:43 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
Very, very nice little machine. Too bad it's $1800. Tough to spring for that when the competition is in the $400-$500 range.

I've been using the sweet Lenovo IdeaPad U110 super portable notebook for a couple of days now and I humbly offer up my very first impressions of this little notebook. Everybody who I've shown the U110 to has voiced the same 3 reactions in this order:

That red case is nice!
Wow, it's so thin and light!
Can I have it?

There is no question that the U110 is the thinnest and lightest full notebook I have used and I am still impressed with that every time I pick it up to take it with me. Even with the extended (7-cell) battery attached it is one of the nicest forms in a notebook for less than $2,000. The Sony TZ comes close but the last time I priced one of those babies it was over $3,000 so this is a nice deal for $1,799. Take a look at this video of the U110 and see if you agree it's pretty darn sexy.

Martha Stewart "Hooked" on Kindle

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:49:02 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I don't know if this makes me proud or embarrassed to be a Kindle evangelist. ;-)

Proud Kindle owner, Martha Stewart, welcomed Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, to her show today to chat about her favorite Kindle features and let people know that two of her bestselling cookbooks are now available for immediate download. The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics and its companion volume, The New Classics, are must-have references that will become loved and oft-used favorites of every home cook, whether you're a culinary genius or somewhat challenged in that department (like me). Included are cooking tips and techniques, nutritional information for healthy choices, comprehensive pantry and equipment glossaries, menu ideas, and a resource guide for finding ingredients. Bon appetite.

Official Google Reader Blog: Share anything. Anytime. Anywhere.

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:22:24 GMT

Shared by Josh Bancroft
I don't know if this will nest Clint's comments, but I agree that the new ability to add a note to Shared Google Reader items is very cool. And I hadn't thought about it, but the ability to share just a quick note by itself would make a nice Twitter alternative/supplement.

I wonder how this is going to show up in my Shared Items feed, especially since I have it piped through soup.io (which powers linkblog.joshbancroft.com) and FeedBurner. I guess we'll see! :-)

Have you ever wanted to share something that you were reading, but you didn't want to go through the hassle of subscribing to a whole feed for a single interesting article? And what about sharing content from sites with no feeds? There you are, reading along, and you think to yourself, "If only everything on the web had a 'Share' button like in Google Reader!"

As it turns out, there's all sorts of information "out there" just waiting to be streamed, shared and otherwise consumed by you and your friends. Now you can finally show all of your Reader friends that awesome talking cat video you found, your favorite grilled trout recipe, or reviews of the best brunch place in your neighborhood -- all without a subscription.

Getting Started in Video - Camera Choices

Mon, 05 May 2008 19:41:20 GMT

There is something special about video that you can’t get from writing or photographs. Seeing someone on video is more personal. I really want to see more links to videos on the Etsy site, so I’m starting up this tutorial series to get you started making your own videos. Making videos gives the world a chance to see the personality and process behind the things you make.

Let’s start with some super cheap cameras. If you’re wanting to make video on a budget, you have a few options. The simplest option is to use what you’ve got. You may already have a video camera. Did you know that most digital photography cameras have a movie mode that takes great video? If you’ve got one of these, you’re done looking, start shooting! A lot of time you can even set these to 640×480 resolution which is good enough to make great web videos. If you’re buying something, the cheapest option is to use a flip camera. These are pretty inexpensive and they are easy to use. The resolution isn’t fantastic, but they are small and light and easy to carry around and shoot things with.

If you’re looking to step it up, the next level of video camera is a DV camera.You can find these for around 200-300 dollars. When you’re looking for a camera, check to make sure that it’s got a microphone jack and a headphone jack so that you can hook up an external mic and listen to the level of the sound as it’s recording. Make sure your computer has a firewire port before getting one of these or you won’t be able to transfer the video over.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can get an HD camera. You can get a camera like the Sony HC1 which records HD video to DV tape (little mini digital video cassette tapes). But my recommendation is that you skip recording to tape. I’m in favor of using cameras that record straight to an SD Card, which is similar to the little card your digital still camera uses. If you’ve got somewhere between $600 and $1000 to spend, I’d recommend, the Sanyo Xacti HD2 which is a great little 720P camera or the Canon Vixia HF10. I’ve also played around with this Panasonic HSC1UP camera which is a bit more expensive, but has 3 chips in it which means the colors are a little snazzier. All of these record to SD cards. If you are going to be using iMovie (the video editing software that comes free with Macs), you’ll want to get the Sanyo Xacti which records to an easily convertable MP4 format. The Panasonic and Canon SD cams both record to AVCHD which is a wonderful format allowing a lot of hi-res info to fit on a card, but it’s not compatible with iMovie 7 at this time.

If you’ve got a serious budget and you’re thinking about shooting broadcast HD, you can get the Panasonic HVX200. We shoot our Handmade Video Portraits on this. This is a professional level camera and it’s awesome.There’s a bit of a learning curve to dealing with P2 cards though, so be prepared to spend a day or two reading the manual.A great place to go and learn more about cameras is creativecow.net. The forums there are really helpful and the community is great.

No matter what camera you get, I recommend getting an extra battery and separate battery charger.There is nothing worse than running out of batteries when you are shooting something special.

If a wide-angle lens is available for your camera, get it! I love wide-angle shots to be able to show lots of a room in your frame. Again, the best thing to get started with is what you’ve got.

In the forums I asked for camera recommendations and got this message.

My next video is about tips for shooting video. If you’ve got an idea you can leave a comment, or leave a note in the forums or leave a message at 917-720-4197 and maybe I’ll post it with the next video.

Intel Atom headed for miniature motherboards: perfect for homebrew gaming consoles?

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:50:49 GMT

Wonder: tiny motherboards from Via Technologies which fit inside anything from bottles of whisky to hollowed-out books. Dismay: They're not very powerful and tend to be sold to the people who make cash registers. Refresher: Intel's Atom and Via's Isaiah high-performance, low-power chips to be added to Mini-ITX 'boards.

"With Intel restricting its Atom processor to only be used with mini-ITX-based motherboards, mini-ITX chassis are expected to see a surge in demand in June, according to sources in the channel. ... In order to make a clear separation between nettop products and traditional entry-level PCs, Intel only allows Atom processors to be used with mini-ITX motherboards, limiting the platform with a lack of PCI Express and only a single DIMM slot for up to 2GB DDR2 memory."

It's not really clear to me if the "limitation" here is really a specified restriction from Intel or merely inherent to the small motherboards' lack of features. A company called Arbor, for example, makes a Mini-ITX motherboard with a PCI-Express x16 slot--let's see if it's got plans for an upgrade.

Intel Atom to boost mini-ITX chassis [DigiTimes]

Little Brother downloads are live!

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:34:11 GMT

I've just put up my site for Little Brother, my young adult novel about hacker kids who use technology to reclaim the Bill of Rights from the DHS after a terrorist attack on San Francisco. Included on the site are:

Creative Commons licensed downloads of the whole book
An easy way to donate copies of the book to school classrooms
Links to buy the book from various etailers (and an offer to get a signed, inscribed copy shipped direct to you by Borderlands Books in San Francisco)
A place to put your remixes of the book

Still to come: the tour schedule, more Instructables HOWTOs, and lots of other news. Link

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for May 04

Sun, 04 May 2008 06:59:50 GMT

BarCamp Portland

Looking for more details on what’s happening at BarCamp Portland? Look no further. This site is a great place to keep up to date with BarCamp Portland schedule and notes from the sessions.

What is BarCamp?

Pete Forsyth writes “BarCamp is clearly born of the tech community. It has a wiki for session planning. Participants are encouraged to share their Twitter and blog addresses. Sponsors are a virtual ‘who’s who’ of Portland tech startups. But it would be a mistake to think the conference is ‘about’ technology, or that you have to be a tech geek to get something good out of it. “

BarCamp Portland… Today

Matthew G. Monroe writes “For those of you in the Portland area who feel like swinging by BarCamp today (Saturday, May 3rd.), both myself and photographer Aaron Hockley will be doing a set of very loose, very informal workshops at 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock this afternoon.”

BarCamp Portland so far - it’s keeping me awake

Elizabeth Grigg writes “So far I was supposed to attend 3 sessions but really I just want to count it as two. The earliest session was in the largest space, and was pretty free form, with the topic of How to do what you Love / How to turn your Hobby into Full Time. It got pretty technical and jumpy pretty quick. Perhaps a question better suited to an interview than to a large group format. The next session proposed the idea, which apparently was thrown up on twitter and got a huge response, of a coworking space that also had an adjoining daycare for small families. “

BarCamp PDX

Dawson Hunter writes “This morning I participated in two presentations: ‘Beyond OpenID’ and ‘My Mom Can’t Use OpenID.’ Both were obviously focused on OpenID, but I was particularly interested in the conversation surrounding OpenID as it concerns data portability and users’ control over their data.”

Seaside presentation at BarCampPortland a success!

Randal Schwartz writes “I had about 20 people in my room at BarCampPortland, which made it ’standing room only’ for the last few who showed up. The audience was attentive, and asked good questions. Monty Williams of GemStone was also along, and helped me with a few answers.”

BarCampPortland: My Other Thing

Audio from the “My Other Thing” session at BarCampPortland, thanks to Sam Churchill of DailyWireless.org.

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