Tag Archives: video

What I’m working on…

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It’s been a little while but there’s actually a lot going on behind the scenes. I’m working on the biggest and deepest blog post of my life which should be up in the next couple of weeks.

Also, in the right column I’ve added photos (Gallery v2), a calendar (WebCalendar), and my music library(Ampache).

I no longer have to rely on or pay for Flickr, YouTube, iTunes, or Google Calendar. Some of the replacements I’ve installed are actually much better than their free alternatives. It was a major hacking challenge getting everything working on BlueHost’s servers but it’s finally stable.

Some benefits of DIY:
Gallery v2 – I don’t have to pay for Flickr Pro. The uploaded video (flash) isn’t subject to quality or length limitations like YouTube.
Ampache – This is blowing my mind. My whole MP3 library is now online and I can listen to it from any computer with a web browser and Internet access. Some people have this working on their Internet capable mobile phones meaning storage is no longer an issue.
WebCalendar – Not many benefits over Google Calendar but it’s easier for people to see my public events (just click the link to the right).

My argument: Everybody will have a similar setup in a few years but it’ll be vastly easier to configure. It’ll also be seamless meaning fewer logins for the various services and they will be connected and social using OAuth and OpenID.

Photo by BridgePix, click for credit.

Blog Video Without YouTube

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This is a test post. I’m trying to host video on my blog without using an external provider like YouTube, Vimeo, or the new Flickr Video. I’m also using free and open source tools to encode and play this video…

This is a short video I shot at La Jolla Cove in 2005. It’s set to repeat, click it to stop.

And here’s a widescreen clip from Juno:

The benefit is that I can host videos of unlimited length, at no cost, without quality restrictions or a goofy logo hovering over the video. I also don’t have to worry about my videos disappearing without notice. And if you care about keeping the rights to your work it’s probably a good idea to keep your files on your server.

Update: YouTube just enabled ad overlays on their videos. So if you upload a video of your kid’s first steps your family might see a slightly transparent ad for Nikes hovering over it.

Cons are complexity and bandwidth costs but bandwidth cost is approaching zero these days so unless you host the next big thing you shouldn’t have any problems.

You’ll need your own sever and a little gumption to pull it off but these two links should get you started:
Flash Video Player for embedding into your blog.

http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_FLV_Media_Player

Flash Video Encoder for turning your mpegs and what-not into Flash/FLV video files for use with the player.

http://www.rivavx.com/index.php?downloads0&L=3

Elevator Music

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Every third blue moon I write about things other than economics and technology. So here are some good ear compatible noises from around the weboshphere. These songs you won’t hear on the radio but the terms artists and mainstream are a shade antithetical in my opinion.

Nobody will argue that Imogen Heap will get much face time on the E! channel (unfortunately) but she is a raving musical genius. She actually flew to LA from London to do this for her friend Zac Braff (Scrubs, Garden State) and it was a one off performance. My mind is boggled.

The following is my favorite Strokes song. Ize of the World. If you Google “Ize of the World” my blog shows up 4th, so it gets me a lot of traffic. Why is that interesting? Because musicians comment on my blog. I like to think the only person who knows this much about the song is a member of the band… To wit:

“It’s actually a bend that projects upward from the 3rd of the major 1rst to a 4th spanning the length of one of the arpeggios that he plays for the rest of the chorus. The reason it’s so great sounding I suppose is because it is the highest note at this point in the song and if you’re really riding the arpeggios (which themselves utilize a heavily cinimatic progression akin to that which is popular in alot of scifi movies i.e. the Matrix) that he’s weaving it sort of projects your gut into euphoria for half a second before returning to normalcy which is just moderate enough to make it rock. PS arpeggios are way underrated which is why the Strokes rock + the guitar solo is probably the best thing I’ve heard in pop music to date. Sorry for the overindulgence.”

This is one of the reasons I like having a blog.

The Smiths aren’t exactly underground but ridiculously talented they were. The guitarist strikes me as one of those musicians who joins a band and humbles the lead singer. Morrissey was never as good as The Smiths for this very reason. I listened to this CD almost exclusively on my journey to Maui. I rented a moped and rode around in the humidity with my brother. It wasn’t terrible. Here is Radiohead playing one of my favorite Smiths songs…

Underworld is just begging for a soundtrack in a movie featuring Angelina Jolie in some sort of pale, edgy, hacker underground scene. This one accompanied me on my morning journey to a finance degree for four years…

MIA. Daughter of a war lord from the Tamil Tigers. I could have gone with Paper Planes or something you hear on the radio but that would be incompatible with the design pattern of this post. Weird? I’ll grant you that…

I couldn’t resist, here’s paper planes:

Here’s a classic atheist rant from XTC. I’m not an atheist but who can possibly argue with “We all need a big reduction in the amount of tears”?

I like this one because I listened to this album on a flight to New York and it was actually a pretty good primer for a city that I absolutely love. Illinois is the type of CD you have to listen to a few times but when it sinks in it’s worth the time.

I’m not a huge fan of Dave Matthews Band but I’ve always had a soft spot for this song.

And finally, a tribute to Geico, who saved me a bunch of money…

As an aside, I have 56 draft posts yet to see the light of day but one I think I’ll finish soon. I’m going to take the top stories of the week and find the top comments from around the Interweb about those stories. The wisdom of the masses filtered by interestingness applied to current events can’t be entirely boring…

Photo by Morning Star