Frank Carver's musings about software and life
I have just sat through an hour-long video of a conference presentation on language design from 1998. Normally I find such things fairly tedious, but this was enthralling! Even though some of the particular issues he covers have been resolved since, the overall point is surprisingly relevant, and he presents it with a unique style. Well worth a watch.
Growing a Language, by Guy Steele
From a link by Ulf
I don’t usually link to youtube videos, but this one is just very funny (and worryingly true to life).
Interesting collection of tips and links
When producing video for web or mobile you often need to resize the result to an appropriate size for the destination. This can sometimes be a bit irritating, and getting it wrong can result in a stretched, squished, blurry, or even jumpy video.
So a handy little Aspect Ratio Calculator seems like a good idea.
Some impressive free software for writing and organizing screenplays, audio plays, stage plays, AV presentations and even comics! Comes with tools for storyboarding, planning, printing and a variety of reports. Worth a look.
Many media players won’t play Flash video (FLV) files directly, soa technique which uses the free VLC player to convert them to a more playable MP4 or or Quicktime (MOV) file could be a handy tool for the toolbox.
Share More! Wiki » Work/Convert FLV to MOV using VLC Media Player
Sometimes it seems as if the practical difficulties of implementing mobile video outweigh its value, but it begins to look as if some operators and media providers have got it together enough to offer a somewhat compelling service. At least they seem to have gathered a creditable number of subscribers.
A while ago I was given a fairly rubbish, low-spec USB camera, and it seemed that it might be useful/fun to set it up as a traditional web-visible webcam. After finding a driver on-line, I also looked for some free software to serve images and found the AbelCam WebCam Server. It has lots of features which I don’t use (yet) such as Pan-Tilt-Zoom and multi-camera support, but it does seem to do the job, and is free. Cool!
This made me laugh out loud. Somebody else, please tell me you also get the reference…
Inigo Montoya T-Shirt | Lucky Threadz
For added context (kind of), here’s a fan movie which re-interprets this idea in a more “star wars” kind of way …
Motorola are running a competition to win a Z10 phone £10000 by making some video and uploading it to YouTube.
Someone on a video mailing list recommended this as a PC/Windows alternative to the Mac-only Frame By Frame.
I have been waiting for about a year for the second series of the Frank and Dale animated video series about two Australian soldiers cut off from their unit during the second world war.
It’s produced as a “machinima” (animated using a multi-player game, in this case Company of Heroes) and has developed a very dry and occasionally surreal wit which I find particularly amusing.
I know this is Mac-only software, but it looks neat, it’s free, and the example movies use Lego, which is always a plus!
An interesting presentation and discussion about how to get a “million dollar look on a thousand dollar budget”.
I’m not sure if this plugin will work with my main video editor at the moment, but it looks interesting enough to make a note of for later.
NewBlue Cartoonr | Free Video Effects Plugin Download Gives Video a Cartoon Look
Recommended by Lucia: Drunk Darth Vader’s Jedi assault
… and they say alcohol is just a crutch. It seems some alcoholics need a real crutch, too.
It’s just a shame the court system does not work fast enough to schedule a court appearance for “May the Fourth”.
Video delivered over the internet is becoming an increasingly large part of what I do for work and for leisure/learning. I make, share and consume video on-line. Not surprising, then to read that New data reveal online video views are soaring.
Also related to this: What will you do with 50-100 Mbps Internet speeds?