XS's noisy speech

Android Developers Blog: Some information on APIs removed in the Android 0.9 SDK beta

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Android Developers Blog: Some information on APIs removed in the Android 0.9 SDK beta

It seems it'll take a while before we see Android support Bluetooth in its SDK. However, Gphone does support Bluetooth, even A2DP

eclipse and java tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:39:00 +0000

if you are new to developing java program using eclipse, this is a good tutorial website:

eclipsetutorial

Stereo Bluetooth headset for $19.99!

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Cut the cord with $19.99 stereo Bluetooth headset

Jabra BT8010, a stereo Bluetooth headset that TigerDirect has on sale for $19.99.

Wow, this is awesome. it's stereo, it's wireless, what else do you need?

installed DISQUS

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:29:00 +0000

I am testing DISQUS on this blog. have fun!

cck taxonomy in exposed filters

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:44:00 +0000

If you run into problems with cck_taxonomy module in view. Check the solution here

Basically, the problem is:
When you use exposed filter in view based on cck_taxonomy field, it always displays everything. Unfortunately this module has been abandoned.

embed form in page in Drupal

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:32:00 +0000

Pro Drupal Development has a chapter on drupal Form. It has an example to build a form in module.

If you just want to embed the form in a page, you can simply just use
print drupal_get_form('your_form_name');

and select input format to be php. See my example here.

avatar related modules in drupal

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:11:00 +0000

There are several avatar related modules in drupal.
Avatar Blocks
Latest Members,
Avatar Gallery,
User Display

Initially I used Avatar gallery, then switched to avatar blocks on my site, which seems to be a better solution.
It uses ImageCache module to scale your user avatars to a consistent size and shape. ImageCache version 2 is required, which in turn requires PHP5.

keytool, jarsigner on linux

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:23:00 +0000

When using keytool and jarsigner to sign your java .jar file, be sure to use the jdk version rather than the gcj version. For example, on my CentOS, if i type "which keytool", it shows "/usr/bin/keytool", which is a symbol link to "/etc/alternatives/keytool", which in turns points to "/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-gcj/bin/keytool".

If you use this keytool as below, for example:

keytool -genkey -alias mykey -keystore mykeystore -keypass mypass -storepass mykeystorepass

then after you generate the file, you want to use jarsigner
jarsigner -keystore ./mykeystore learn.jar mykey

unfortunately, this will return error:
jarsigner error: java.lang.RuntimeException: keystore load: Invalid keystore format

So make sure you use the jdk verion of keytool. For example, on my machine it is:
/etc/alternatives/java_sdk_1.6.0/bin/keytool

Flash based image uploader in drupal

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:08:00 +0000

I am looking for a nice flash-based image uploader for Drupal.
SWFUpload

Image FUpload
Image FUpload (Multiupload) which is an addition to image module,using swfupload (Drupal 6 only)

Flex Image Module

Here is step-by-step guild of integrating SWFUpload into Drupal

drupal, jquery, image handling

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:49:00 +0000

Lesson 12: jQuery Redux

http://www।phpletter.com/Demo/Ajax-File--Manager/

ajax image picker using jquery

jquery plugins

a little review of math editor

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:40:00 +0000

Openoffice math editor

Using MATH, there are three main ways of entering a
formula:

Type markup in the equation editor.
Right-click on the equation editor and select the symbol from the context menu.
Select a symbol from the Selection toolbox.

This is a very nice math editor. Though there are still some issues when converting openoffice equation to ms word equations or vice versa.
MathML
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MathML
MathType -- professional
version of the Equation Editor in Microsoft Word. Not free

MathPlayer — A free plugin from Design Science that allows Internet Explorer to display MathML.

ASCIIMath — A JavaScript library for converting Wiki-like syntax into MathML

LaTeXMathML — A JavaScript program to dynamically translate LaTeX math notation to Presentation MathML

Expressionism
— A WYSIWYG browser-based editor (MathML + JavaScript) of mathematical expressions which is also capable of rendering images (e.g. in PNG format). support tinymce and fckeditor

GNU TeXmacs is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor with extensive support for mathematics. Converters exist for presentation MathML in both directions. TeXmacs can be used to write
mathematical articles which are exported to XHTML with embedded MathML.

jsMath:

The jsMath package provides a method of including mathematics in HTML pages that works across multiple browsers

JsMath for displaying mathematics with TeX | drupal.org

some comments here : http://www.ma.utexas.edu/dev/doc/Typeset_Math.html
it seems rendering is a bit slow. we need to install to test it.

finally ms word has something exciting on equation editing
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2006/10/04/Equations-in-Word-2007.aspx
Equations in Word 2007
UI-Based Entry
Typing Equations via Linear Format

Linear Format, a keyboard-based syntax, is a new method of entering
equations in Word. Linear Format uses a TeX-like notation for some
mathematical objects and symbo

simulate C bitwise operation in matlab

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:17:00 +0000

In C, bit shift is like this

simulating C bitwise operation in matlab is not very straightforward.
although matlab provide all the bitwise operation functions such as bitshift, bitand, bitxor, etc. they requires unsigned integer type, which means you have to call the following functions:
typecast, cast, uint8, uint16, etc

but if you use negative number, matlab still gives you results
>> bitshift(-253,-1)

ans =

-126

which doesn't match C output, which is -127

if you only need bitshift, and not bitand etc. you can use alternative methods, such as

matlab integer type has built-in machenism to protect data overflow, which actually causes a little problem with porting C to matlab.
if a variable X = int32(4294967295)
in C, (1+X) causes overlow, and result is 0, but in matlab
1+ X = X.

y=floor(double(x)*2^(shift)).
This way you don't need to worry about sign.
you have to use double because if x is already of int16 type, you will get
int16(253)/2
127 (wrong)
int16(-253)
-127 (correct)

but using this function need caustions. for example,
typecast(uint16(bitshift(1,15)),'int16') = -32768 (to generate the sign bit)
instead of
int16(bitshift(1,15)) = 32767
this is because (unlike (short) in C), int16 requires the value to be within the range first

x=uint32(4294967295)

1+x =x (in matlab)
1+x = 0 (in c)

how to get 0 in matlab?
y=typecast(uint64(1+double(x)),'uint32')
y=y(1)

ffmpeg2theora

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:40:00 +0000

ffmpeg2theora is a useful program that convert all formats supported by ffmpeg into Ogg format, including theora (for video) and vorbis (for audio). If you're only interested in Ogg format, this could be a better choice over original ffmpeg program, as it's much smaller (about 2 Mb vs. 8Mb for ffmpeg), and simpler options.
Type the command without any options, a list of options will be displayed.
ffmpeg2theora 0.21

Usage: ffmpeg2theora [options] input

General output options:
-o, --output alternative output filename
--no-skeleton disables ogg skeleton metadata output
-s, --starttime start encoding at this time (in sec.)
-e, --endtime end encoding at this time (in sec.)
-p, --v2v-preset encode file with v2v preset.
Right now there is preview, pro and videobin. Run
'ffmpeg2theora -p info' for more informations

Video output options:
-v, --videoquality [0 to 10] encoding quality for video (default: 5)
use higher values for better quality
-V, --videobitrate [1 to 16778] encoding bitrate for video (kb/s)
--optimize optimize video output filesize (slower) (same as speedlevel 0)
--speedlevel [0 2] encoding is faster with higher values the cost is quality and bandwidth
-x, --width scale to given width (in pixels)
-y, --height scale to given height (in pixels)
--aspect define frame aspect ratio: i.e. 4:3 or 16:9
-F, --framerate output framerate e.g 25:2 or 16
--croptop, --cropbottom, --cropleft, --cropright
crop input by given pixels before resizing
-S, --sharpness [0 to 2] sharpness of images (default: 0).
Note: lower values make the video sharper.
-K, --keyint [1 to 65536] keyframe interval (default: 64)

Video transfer options:
--pp Video Postprocessing, denoise, deblock, deinterlacer
use --pp help for a list of available filters.
-C, --contrast [0.1 to 10.0] contrast correction (default: 1.0)
Note: lower values make the video darker.
-B, --brightness [-1.0 to 1.0] brightness correction (default: 0.0)
Note: lower values make the video darker.
-G, --gamma [0.1 to 10.0] gamma correction (default: 1.0)
Note: lower values make the video darker.
-Z, --saturation [0.1 to 10.0] saturation correction (default: 1.0)
Note: lower values make the video grey.

Audio output options:
-a, --audioquality [-2 to 10] encoding quality for audio (default: 1)
use higher values for better quality
-A, --audiobitrate [32 to 500] encoding bitrate for audio (kb/s)
-c, --channels set number of output channels
-H, --samplerate set output samplerate (in Hz)
--nosound disable the sound from input

Input options:
--deinterlace force deinterlace, otherwise only material
marked as interlaced will be deinterlaced
-f, --format specify input format
--inputfps fps override input fps
--audiostream id by default the last audio stream is selected,
use this to select another audio stream
--sync use A/V sync from input container. Since this does
not work with all input format you have to manually
enable it if you have issues with A/V sync

Subtitles options:
--subtitles file use subtitles from the given file (SubRip (.srt) format)
--subtitles-encoding encoding set encoding of the subtitles file
supported are utf-8, utf8, iso-8859-1, latin1
--subtitles-language language set subtitles language (de, en_GB, etc)
--subtitles-category category set subtitles category (default "subtitles")

Metadata options:
--artist Name of artist (director)
--title Title
--date Date
--location Location
--organization Name of organization (studio)
--copyright Copyright
--license License
--contact Contact link

Other options:
-P, --pid fname write the process' id to a file
-h, --help this message

Examples:
ffmpeg2theora videoclip.avi (will write output to videoclip.ogv)

ffmpeg2theora videoclip.avi --subtitles subtitles.srt (same, with subtitles)

cat something.dv | ffmpeg2theora -f dv -o output.ogv -

Encode a series of images:
ffmpeg2theora -f image2 frame%06d.png -o output.ogv

Live encoding from a DV camcorder (needs a fast machine):
dvgrab - | ffmpeg2theora -f dv -x 352 -y 288 -o output.ogv -

Live encoding and streaming to icecast server:
dvgrab --format raw - \
| ffmpeg2theora -f dv -x 160 -y 128 -o /dev/stdout - \
| oggfwd iccast2server 8000 password /theora.ogv

ffmpeg

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:20:00 +0000

FFmpeg is an extremely powerful program that can convert and stream audio and video in numerous formats.
Check here for supported formats
It covers pretty much all the formats you can think of.

Check here for a list of command line options

If you don't want to build the program yourself, you can download build for Windows here

For example, you can convert AVI file to FLV file (flash video, a very popular internet video format used by sites like YouTube) easily with FFmpeg.
ffmpeg -y -i input.avi -acodec libmp3lame -ar 22050 -f flv output.flv

To convert to OGG file
ffmpeg -y -i input.avi output.ogg

With this setting, similar output file size is produced. And ogg is better than flv!

debug matlab mex file

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Microsoft Visual C/C++ 6.0

first, compile the C code with debug information
mex -g example.c

Open a DOS window, run VCVARS32.bat to setup visual studio environment
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin\VCVARS32.BAT

and change directories to the directory where your S-function
and .mexw32 file are located. Then type:

msdev example.mexw32

matlab and C connection

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:23:00 +0000

matlab compiler
MATLAB® Compiler™ lets you share your MATLAB® application as an
executable or a shared library. Executables and libraries created with
the MATLAB Compiler product use a runtime engine called the MATLAB
Compiler Runtime (MCR). The MCR is provided with MATLAB Compiler for
distribution with your application and can be deployed royalty-free.

MATLAB-to-C conversion

Writing C Functions in MATLAB (MEX-Files)

Using MEX-Files to Call C and Fortran Programs

java multimedia

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:27:00 +0000

Cortado

http://en.theorasea.org/
I like this site...

Media: JMF + JAI or ffmpeg + ImageMagick?

a nice article

Jffmpeg

Jffmpeg is a plugin that allows the playback of a number of
common audio and video formats. It is based around a Java port of
parts of the FFMPEG project, supporting a number of codecs in pure Java
code. Where codecs have not yet been ported, a JNI wrapper allows
calls directly into the full FFMPEG code.

FMJ

FMJ is an open-source project with the goal of providing an alternative to Java Media Framework (JMF),
while remaining API-compatible with JMF. It aims to produce a single API/Framework which can be used to capture,
playback, process, and stream media across multiple platforms.
FMJ also has two sub-projects and one sister project. The sub-projects, FFMPEG-Java and Theora-Java, are Java wrappers for FFMPEG and Vorbis respectively

JMStudio

JMStudio is a stand alone
Java application that uses the JMF 2.0 API to play, capture,
transcode, and write media data

FOBS: Ffmpeg OBjectS
FOBS is a set of object oriented APIs to deal with media. It relies in
the ffmpeg library, but provides developers with a much simpler
programming interface. The Java side (Fobs4JMF) has been implemented as a JMF plugin that
allows to use JMStudio as a Java Media Jukebox to play the most common
formats and codecs (ogg, mp3, m4a, divx, xvid, h264, mov, avi, etc).

matlab typecast function

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:48:00 +0000

typecast is a useful matlab function when you want to Convert data types without changing underlying data. for example, in C you have
(short) (1<<15) and you get -32768
in matlab, you CANNOT do
int16(bitshift(1,15))

instead, you need to
typecast(uint16(bitshift(1,15)),'int16')

uint in matlab

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:22:00 +0000

be careful when using uint in matlab. if there's one variable is uint, all the intermediate and final results will be assumed uint implicitly. For weakly-typed language like matlab, this could generate weird results and hard to find bugs.

for example:
x=uint(0)
y=bitshift(2, - (2 - x));

You would expect y to be 0.5 which is equivalent to 2*(2^-2)

but it actually is 2. This is because -(2-x) is 0.
if you do y=bitshift(2,-2)
the result is 0.

Same results in Octave.

flash/flex vs ajax

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:31:00 +0000

Both ajax and flash/flex are popular choice for rich internet application (or rich client application) in web development. Both of them are backed by big hands, google and adobe, respectively. So which one to choose? As a non-expert, I can only listen to what experts are saying. Currently we are working on a interactive internet application, and I will come back to this once it's finished.
Ajax versus Flash

Flash vs. Ajax
AJAX vs Flash, round 2, arena: Web2.0, fight!

Ajax and Flash Compared

Rich Internet Application Technology Comparison: AJAX, Flash, Silverlight

| View | Upload your own

java web start: good in theory, bad in practice?

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:57:00 +0000

I choose java web start for one of my applications. Knowing it's not perfect, but I didn't expect
this blog

avatar gallery

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:30:00 +0000

I installed drupal module avatar gallery today here
unfortunately it didn't show up properly. Could that be something to do with the theme?
there appears to be another similar module: Latest Members
its configuration is very simple.
Number of latest members to show in block:

Cache time:

Time to cache the latest members block in seconds

http://feeds.feedburner.com/XssNoisySpeech

embed video in Drupal

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:57:00 +0000

Video Filter

This is a highly flexible and easy extendable filter module to embed
any type of video in your site using a simple tag. Other modules can
add video sites/formats called codecs) using an easy plug-in
architecture.

Included codecs

Googtube
Googtube allows users to embed Youtube and Google Videos. When users post a url to videos on either of the two sites, the link is automatically converted to embed code.

Coolfilter

This allows you to use HTML-like tags as an alternative to HTML itself for adding almost any type of media to your posts for most of modern browsers both in windows & linux easily. It can also help you make Videos on GoogleVideo,YouTube, Ifilm, VSocial etc.

Embed filter

This module lets your site users embed snippets for video sharing into posts but gives you the power to decide which hosts to trust. It's now owned by drupal user "Abandoned Modules"

free authoring tool for e-learning

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:41:00 +0000

CourseLab
Free e-learning authoring tool.
Feature list
Rich-media support

Pictures, audio, video
Adobe® Flash® movies;
Adobe® Shockwave® applications;
Java® applets;

User's guide

a list of open source e-learning platforms

noreply@blogger.com (xjs) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:56:00 +0000

ATutor
Docebo
Dokeos,
dotLRN, (based on OpenACS, )
LON-CAPA,
Moodle,
OpenUSS,
Sakai,

According to this 2005 study, Moodle is rated the best among these.