Real Tech Solutions

Handbrake - One-step video conversion for Android AND iPhone/iPod Touch

2009-11-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

So, I've had my Motorola Droid for just over 24 hours, and it has inspired me to blog again! :)

Although my previous phones could do video playback, the quality just wasn't good enough. Either the phone processor was too slow to handle decent resolution, or the screen itself had limits. The Droid has changed all that with an excellent processor and a HUGE display. However, the Android O/S is still playing catchup in some ways, and found that I had trouble playing some .3gp files (no audio) and .mkv files (not recognized, but then again, what mobile device does?). So, what format to use?

After some searching, I found Android supports .mp4 video files. My conversion tool of choice in the past has been Handbrake -- it's free, and I have had good results using it to convert videos for my iPod video. I re-installed and launched Handbrake, but even the latest version didn't have an Android setting. Since I also have an iPod touch, I thought maybe I could do a dual-purpose conversion -- one file that would play on both.

I tried two files, one .AVI and one .VOB, and selected the iPhone & iPod Touch preset. The output setting defaults to .m4v, but when specifying the destination file, I changed the type to .mp4. Although there are differences between .m4v and .mp4, for Handbrake output settings, all it really changes is the extension.

After anxiously waiting for the encoding process, and loading to the Droid, I easily located the videos with the Gallery app, and held my breath. The quality was superb! Even though the Droid resolution (854x480) surpasses the video 480x320 format, I found very few places I could detect pixelation. I could not say the same for a 320x240 video I also loaded, which had a noticeable loss in quality. At 320x240, the video actually looked best on my old iPod video...since that is the native resolution.

I decided to take it further, and loaded an .m4v video with a resolution of 640x480. I then saw the difference between my Droid and iPod Touch. The Droid literally sparkled with detail that the iPod Touch "lossed" over.

I will have to do a few more tests to balance resolution with file size, but at any rate, Handbrake makes the conversion quite simple. Try it for yourself, and comment on your findings. Now I just wish I had a quad-core processor to speed up the encoding process!

Distributed Computing - The power of the masses!

2008-02-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

Distributed Computing is not a new idea. It's just new to me, since I just started! The basic idea is that the processing power of many consumer-level computers can rival that of supercomputers. And because it is quite common to leave home or work systems powered up 24/7, why not use some of those CPU cycles for distributed computing?

I decided to join the Rosetta@home project at the University of Washington. Their project deals with attempting to better understand the complex physical nature of proteins, and by doing so, gain a better understanding of disease mechanisms. Setup was quite easy, and supported many platforms. Within a few minutes, my system was assigned a task, and was crunching through the data. It was a little alarming at first to see my CPU usage pegged at 100%, but I got used to it. And I also found that my system was still quite responsive. The BOINC client gracefully stepped aside if I wanted to do any other activity. Advanced settings also allow scheduling and partial CPU usage.

The fascinating part for me, is that distributed computing folks are also nuts about statistics. There were numerous sites devoted to tracking my progress, especially in relation to the hundreds of thousands of other participants. Check out the graphic on my sidebar.

Laptop users may want to be a little extra careful, since a CPU running at 100% full time may cause fan noise, overheating, etc. Otherwise, if you have a desktop system like mine that is never turned off, a distributed computing project might be of interest to you.

XV6700 + Bluetooth GPS = I know where I am!

2007-03-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've been on Spring Break so I haven't had much time for a post, but part of the trip preparations involved getting a GPS running for the road trip.

The all-in-one mobile GPS solutions were all out of my price range, but realizing that my XV6700 was a full PocketPC, I knew I was halfway to having a mobile GPS solution.

I searched eBay for a "Holux 236", a model that fit my requirements. Found one pretty easily for about $50. A pet peeve of mine -- why do all of the sellers charge $20 shipping and handling, especially for a such a small device? Another case of seller price padding, obviously.

When it arrived, I loaded the PocketPC utility that came on a CD, and started to configure the bluetooth connection. This turned out to be the biggest challenge, as the Holux 236 must be setup as an outgoing serial port, not incoming as I would have thought. Once that was done, the GPS utility showed my XV6700 was receiving data.

The last step involved loading GPS software. The package I chose was iGuidance 3.0. I loaded 3 states to my memory card, and the program showed my location on startup, as it immediately used the GPS data that was coming from the Holux 236 GPS receiver. After getting familiar with using the navigation functions, I was set.

Even though the route I travelled for this road trip was one I've done countless times, there was still something very Space Odyssey 2001 when hearing the GPS voice assist with navigation. It actually became somewhat of a game to take a route different from the recommended, just to see what iGuidance would do. It's pretty obvious that someday very soon, mobile GPS will be a standard feature on every new vehicle. For now, there are lots of options available, some of them, like the Holux 236 and iGuidance, quite inexpensive.

Pumping up my wii parade

2007-03-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Since my previous post about increasing my wii parade, my wii parade has been progressing nicely, and now has over 50 miis, much to the delight of my daughter. Still nowhere near the numbers of those with over 1000, but I'll get there!

DualScreenRadio was finding me a new wii friend to connect with about once every week, which was okay. MapWii ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. Although mapping out your world location was a neat idea, the actual number of other wiis with which I was able to connect in proportion to the number of requests I sent out was very small. The so-called return on investment was a bust. To top it off, I found out that wiis are unable to "connect" with wiis manufactured with a different region code. So what was the point of a world map??

Fortunately, in my searching I found another site called ShareWiis, and thought I'd give it a try. Sign-up was easy, and soon found myself sending out some requests to exchange wii numbers. I checked the next day, and found that a large number of my requests has been answered. Since that day I initially sent requests, I have added one or two new numbers to my address book every day, and haven't had to send out any new requests! The webmaster writes, "I just wanted an easy-to-use website without ads so that I can find some people to trade Miis". He definitely succeeded!

There is much more to the site, such as message forums, and a mii gallery. But the primary purpose is to share and exchange with other wii owners, and so far, I have not found a site that does this any better.

How to Rotate Video in Windows for "free"

2007-03-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Staci loves taking pictures and videos with our Canon Powershot IS S2. In fact, since we have started using that camera, my Sharp VL-AX1U mini-DV has pretty much been retired. The Canon's 640x480 @ 30 fps mode with stereo sound is more than adequate for our video needs.

On occasion, we will take a mini-movie and will turn the camera 90 degrees, a common practice for photographers while shooting stills. Rotating digital stills are child's play, in fact many new camera models will do this for you automatically. Rotating video, however, is a completely different animal.

I quickly found out that Pinnacle Studio 10 did not have a rotate video function. Googling "rotate video" brought up a number of commercial programs and filter plugins that would do the trick, but it seemed like overkill. I did find a free program called VirtualDub, but then found another link that told me that the answer was installed on my computer all along.

Windows Movie Maker is part of the "free" software that comes bundled with XP. It has been criticized as being lightweight, probably because it can't author DVDs natively. I instructed Staci to start up the program. She loaded the .AVI file from the Canon and added it to the timeline. Then she located the Rotate filters located in the Collections\Video Effects screen. After applying the desired Rotate filter (90, 180, or 270 degrees), she exported the video and it was ready for YouTube. You can view the result here.

"Serious" camcorder manufacturers probably never expected videographers to rotate their camcorders while taking video. Maybe that is why some "serious" video editing packages omitted the option to rotate the video back. However, as quality and popularity of video from digital still cameras increases, so does the need to rotate video, since still photographers like to rotate their cameras. I can see the option to rotate video being hastily added to succeeding versions of video editing software, if it isn't there already. I'm still planning to test drive VirtualDub in the future, but in the meantime, Windows Movie Maker is an option that is most likely available to you already.

Don't rain on my Wii parade

2007-03-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

One of my daughter's favorite Wii activities is the Mii Plaza and Mii Parade. But she has been wondering for weeks why our parade numbers haven't gone above 10. I guess she was getting tired of seeing all the same miis marching by.

I had already traded Wii numbers with all the Wii owners I personally knew, so it was time to take the next step. I googled "trade wii numbers" and found a number of links to message forums where users had posted their numbers. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of having to join a message forum just to post my number and hope that somebody responds. There had to be something easier.

Fortunately, one of the posted messages mentioned a site called Dual Screen Radio. I checked it out, and after registering as a user, I found a simple system to notify and exchange numbers with other members. Within a couple of days, I had doubled the number of entries in my address book. The members have been very responsive and friendly.

I then tried googling "find mii friends" and found a very interesting site called MapWii. After registering, your location shows up on a world map. From there, you can find more wii friends based on geographical location. It also has a built-in email notification system to let other members know you have added them. And the icing on the cake is that it is formatted to actually run on the Wii internet browser. It's only been a few hours since I've sent out my friend requests, so I haven't had any confirmations yet, but I'll report back later on the progress.

Just from the added entries from Dual Screen Radio, my parade numbers have already jumped to 16 in a couple of days, including a hilarious-looking mii named "Belushi". My daughter has been quite happy with all this progress, and there's also a little excitement every time the Wii starts glowing blue at the arrival of new wii-mail.

Taming PocketPC Applications - Magic Button

2007-02-27T23:50:00.000-08:00

I've been using my XV6700 smartphone for just over a year now, and the one thing that always annoyed me about Windows PocketPC was the fact that applications didn't close when I tapped what I thought was the Close button (X in the upper right-hand corner). Apparently, it is more of a minimize button, and the application continues to run in the background, taking up CPU cycles and memory. I never bothered to find a better solution, even though I knew one probably existed, and had just resigned myself to going to the memory settings once in awhile, and stopping the running programs.

One night, I was up doing some late night web surfing in bed, and was reading the mobile version of PocketPC Magazine. It looks great on a PDA screen. Jim Karpen's web guide mentioned a task manager called Magic Button. I can't remember all the details, but I think I was able to download the .CAB file directly to my XV6700 and run the installation, and in a matter of minutes, I had full control over my applications. I could actually close apps, as well as easily switch between apps, if I wanted to keep several running. And to top it off, Magic Button was FREE!

There are probably other PocketPC task managers out there, and some would probably like to take your money. Do yourself a favor -- use Magic Button, save yourself some dough, and tame those PocketPC apps once and for all.

Troubleshooting a wireless network

2007-02-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

Unlike my previous post about "fixing" my wireless network by going wired, I actually had to do some wireless network troubleshooting over the weekend, so I thought I would share the experience.

Pam was having trouble with wireless dropouts and poor coverage. When I initially setup her wireless network, she didn't have any of those problems. Wireless routers, are typically all-or-nothing, i.e. they either work or they don't, so the fact that her wifi worked some of the time indicated that something else was interfering with her wireless network, rather than the wireless router going bad.

Wifi interference can be caused by any number of other electronic devices that use the same frequency in the 2.4 Ghz range. Fortunately, wireless hardware manufacturers included a user-selectable channel setting specifically designed to combat interference. Googling wifi interference returns a multitude of search results.

Pam's router, a Netgear FM114P, was still using the default channel setting of "6". I had heard of fancy wireless scanning gear that will scan a location, and identify frequencies already in use, but not having such gear my disposal, I knew it would be an exercise in trial and error. I dropped the channel setting to "4", allowed the router to reboot, and watched in amazement as the entire wireless router completely disappeared. My laptop didn't even pick up the SSID! I had probably stumbled upon the sweet spot of the interference, where it peaked the most. So, I decided to try the other direction. I selected channel 11, from a computer with a wired connection since wireless was effectively neutralized, and rebooted the router. This time, the results were vastly different, in a good way. My laptop automatically picked up the defined SSID, and before I could even get to the keyboard, it had negotiated an IP address. I walked over to Pam's laptop in the next room, and it had done the same. I carried my laptop to the far end of their house, and had Pam do the same. No dropouts, and a good strong 90+ signal.

Adjusting the wireless router channel also allowed them to finally get their Nintendo Wii online. I suppose I could have used NetStumbler and tried EVERY channel to see which provided the best signal, but I'll save that for a later date. Knowing that the wifi "bubble" lives in an ever-changing world, all it will take is one neighbor to buy a new cordless phone or baby monitor, and I'll be back to re-tweak the settings.

Ctrl-Enter - Web browser keyboard efficiency

2007-02-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

I went on a business trip a couple of years back, and picked up a computer magazine in the airport for the plane ride. I was just hoping to just keep myself from getting bored, but ended up learning a little tip that I still use to this day.

When typing in a URL into your web browser, if the desired destination is the usual http colon backslash backslash www dot com, simply type the domain name, and use CTRL-ENTER to do the rest. For example, if you want to go to http://www.google.com, just enter "google" and CTRL-ENTER. Saves a whole bunch of time and keystrokes (fourteen to be exact, but who's counting?).

It works on every web browser and operating system that I have tried. I've even taught this trick to my daughter, and now she can get to her favorite websites. Yes, I could make a bunch of shortcuts for her, but she likes typing out words like "barbie" or "noggin", as long there aren't too many letters.

One last tip. Make sure the site you intend to visit is in fact a .com. It doesn't work with .org, .net, or anything else. Otherwise, you may find yourself somewhere you DON'T want to be.

Yahoo! TV on a real TV

2007-02-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge hockey fan, especially of the Vancouver Canucks. But being in Oregon, I don't get many chances to watch them play, because they are NEVER on TV, unless you spring for the NHL Center Ice package. Fortunately for me, Yahoo! has started broadcasting select games over the internet.

I watched a few games on my computer monitor, but found the experience was less than satisfying. Then I remembered that my Polaroid LCD TV had, of all things, a VGA input. I enabled the dual monitor display on my laptop, connected it up to the TV with a VGA cable, and started watching the broadcast, making sure to put the Yahoo! video player into full screen mode. I ran an audio cable from the headphone jack (3.5 mm stereo) to my stereo, and sat back on the couch to enjoy the game.

There is a little compression artifact, and I can't change channels, or pause live TV like Tivo or DVR, but it's still Canucks hockey, on TV, in Oregon! Oh, and if you are wondering, that is a Wii sensor bar on top. If you want to trade Wii numbers, so that we can increase our Wii parade numbers, it would make my daughter really happy.

Safely hacking your web code - Using the Comment tag

2007-02-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

Staci has been setting up her new blog, and once in awhile, she will need assistance with customizing the appearance, such as adding or removing page elements. Now my web background consists of using a text editor to manually code HTML, and that was probably 10 years ago, so I'm usually hesitant to start messing with code for a CMS like Blogger or WordPress. But sometimes the built-in tools don't provide that functionality, and you don't have a choice.

Fortunately, HTML is still the language of the web, and PHP is just an extension on top. A really useful function when editing code is to make use of the comment tag. You can easily "remove" a page element, without losing the code, just in case you edit the wrong thing and need to revert back. Here is what it looks like:

<Some page element I want to remove>

Becomes:

<!--
<Some page element I want to remove>
-->

Everything between the comment tags is now ignored when the code is processed and rendered by your browser. It is then just a matter of identifying the page element in the code, applying the comment tags, and testing your changes. The funny part is that I had to use some other tags in order to display the comment tags for this post. In my first draft, the comment tags processed as a comment, and were ignored.

Innovage Mini Digital Camera - Quick Review

2007-02-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

I saw this camera in a local Walgreens for $10, and just had to try it. The point of this review was to see if a $10 camera would actually work as described. Could it take pictures? Could it act as a webcam?

After cutting open the annoying blister packaging, I inserted the included AAA battery, and started snapping. No preview or review LCD, and not really what I could call a viewfinder, but hey, I knew that going in. It beeped after each picture, and the LCD counter began counting down.

I loaded up the driver CD first as instructed, then connected the camera via the supplied, proprietary USB cable. Too bad it didn't use a standard mini-USB connector. The camera was auto-detected, and loaded the appropriate drivers. I brought up the My Camera utility, and it said I had 3 photos available to download. One click later, I was reviewing the pictures. I have included a picture of my desk.

I then closed the My camera utility and brought up MSN to test the webcam. It wasn't recognized on the first try, but after disconnecting and re-connecting a couple of times, I was sending video.

So yes, the Innovage works as advertised. Pictures do require a lot of ambient light since there isn't a flash, and you do need to download them to see what you captured. Webcam performance was a little jerky, but it did work. The tiny size scores high on the geek scale, and it is now the smallest camera I own.

If you find yourself in a pinch where you suddenly need a digital camera or webcam, and find yourself next to a Walgreens, the Innovage might be the solution for you!

Moblogging with Blogger

2007-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

My first moblog post complete with picture looking out my window. Blogger makes it so easy that it is ridiculous. Go to go.blogger.com to get started.

Posting to Blogger via PDA and Pocket IE

2007-02-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Pam is due to replace her cellphone and asked about the functions of my XV6700, specifically, if I could blog from it.

I know I could probably do this via SMS text message and Blogger's mobile blogging feature, but I don't quite have that setup yet, so I thought I would try it via wi-fi and Pocket IE, since the XV6700 is also a full PocketPC PDA.

If you are reading this now, it means that I was successful! There were a couple of glitches with the small screen and how a few buttons appeared and were used. For example, I had to click below the Draft and Publish buttons to actually invoke them. The built-in slide out keyboard was a definite plus. So in the end, blogging via Pocket IE didn't present much of a challenge at all.

"Fixing" my wireless network

2007-02-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Staci mentioned she was having problems with video playback. I had her demonstrate, and the videos from our Canon PowerShot S2 IS were definitely jittery. One thing I should mention is that I setup a network storage system last year, to handle the storage demands. It is a Compaq PIII 700 mHz running Naslite-2 and dual 300 GB IDE drives in RAID-1 configuration for redundancy. Staci connects to the network via the Dell's built-in wireless-G NIC and our Netgear WGR614 router.

I knew the issue was either with the NAS, or the wireless connection. Since her laptop is across the room from the router, I knew she wasn't suffering from drop-outs or poor wireless coverage. Knowing that the Canon's videos were quite large (at 640x480x30fps and stereo audio, a 70 second clip is 138 MB), I initially thought the NAS wasn't fast enough to stream the video. But after giving my head a shake, I knew it couldn't be the NAS, as Naslite-2 is a dedicated NAS O/S with an miniscule 8 MB footprint. All the CPU and most of the RAM is dedicated to running the NAS, and the system had a 100 mbps wired ethernet connection to the router.

Wait a sec....the NAS has a wired connection. A light went off in my head, and I thought, maybe I should re-visit the whole wireless connection variable? Even if her laptop was doing a 54 Mbps wireless connection, there was a still quite a lot of overhead involved with WEP etc., right?

Was easy enough to test. I grabbed an ethernet cable from the box o' cables I have stored in the garage, laid it across the floor, got the laptop connected. Nada! One of the cable terminations had a broken clip, plus the cable itself had a lot of kinks (it was reclaimed out of a garbage pile from work). Hoping it was just the terminator, I re-crimped the end following the T568B standard. The connectivity LEDs fired up on both ends, and I was back in business. It was a simple config change on the laptop to disable the wireless radio. The wired ethernet port auto-sensed the connection, and negotiated a new IP. I brought up the same 138MB video file, and playback was silky smooth. I tried some other videos, just to make sure there wasn't buffering going on somewhere, and playback was still perfect. This problem was solved!

Well, okay, I still have an ethernet cable lying across the living room. I'm saving the project to put in a permanent wired ethernet connection, complete with wall jack, for a later date. I know I didn't really "fix" my wireless network, and I apologize if you were looking for tips on changing your wireless configuration. But it may be useful to examine your own network configuration and usage, and determine if a wired connection may be doable. Wifi has it's advantages as far as providing convenience and mobility, but when it comes to rock-solid reliability and outright speed, not to mention better security, a wired ethernet connection beats wireless every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Star Office - MS Office Document Types

2007-02-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

My dad IM'd me today about a problem with a file my Mom was creating and sending via email. Seems nobody could open it. I had him forward it to me, and to my surprise, I couldn't open it either. It had an .ODT filetype extension, and no associated program in Windows XP. A quick Google of the words "odt filetype" brought up a nice explanation from filext.com, a site I have used in the past. It was a StarOffice word processing document.

A moment to backtrack - I had put together my Mom's system from an old Dell which only had a Win2000 Pro license. I decided to give Ubuntu a try, and found it worked quite well with the hardware. I knew down the road there would probably be some compatibility questions, so you can say I brought it on myself.

After a few quick instructions to my dad and mom via IM to specify the file type as "Word 97/2000/XP" when they saved the file, their document compatibility issue was fixed.