HandBrake Video Conversion Software

I've been working in my spare time recently on finishing up my Excel smart search app, and today I got to the point where I wanted to show it off to some friends. The problem is that it turns out it's rather difficult to find free software that also doesn't have malware, when it comes to screen capturing and converting video formats.

For capturing the video in the first place, I ended up going with a program called HyperCam 2. It's not the best software in the world, and it's not open source. It is free, though, and it works for what I need for the moment. One small problem with it is that it outputs in fully uncompressed AVI video. For a 2 minute video at 720p, we have a file that is 250MB. I began looking around for conversion software.

When you google "avi to mp4", you get a massive list of really crappy software which either costs money, is loaded with malware, or both. The problem is that these sites have gotten very good at SEO, and even places like cnet's download.com doesn't really scan them well. On further research, though (involving actual forums), I found an program called Handbrake, and it's absolutely wonderful.

Handbrake is an open source project housed at Sourceforge.net. It's a very small download, and it installed in 15 seconds (including the time it took me to click Accept Terms). It has a pretty simple interface. You select the source file, select the location and name of the new file. You choose what format you want to convert it into, and then click Convert. It took about 20 seconds to convert my 2 minute video. And file size went from 250MB to 5MB. That's a rather incredible reduction. (Granted, I did select Optimize for Web, and the new video is just very slightly more blurry because of that. When I didn't optimize, the video ended up about 30MB). See the screenshot below to check out what it looks like.



As someone who has written several WordPress plugins that I let people use for free, I very much appreciate kind words from someone who benefits from them, and in turn I try to give positive feedback for freeware that I benefit from myself. Hence this post. HandBrake is lightweight and works like a charm, plus it's malware free. Give it a try next time you need to convert video.

What Happened

Well, my last post (a long long longgggg while ago) mentioned that I was changing over to a new blog. This didn't happen. Long story short, it was supposed to be tied in to my new website (andymercer.net), but my new employer wanted me to redesign their website. I hadn't finished andymercer.net, so I used that as a development area. And it's still not finished. Months later.

It's going to be done by the end of this month though, so I can FINALLY get everything transferred over. So, just a recap of things that happened that I was interested in and would have wrote about since my last post:

Xbox One and PS4!

I got a Twitter account!

I got a new job!

I got MARRIED!!!!!!!!

I moved to a new city.

Marriage Equality is spreading like wildfire.

I've gotten really involved with WordPress... two plugins, I'm on a core plugin team, and I've submitted several improvement tickets.

I've gotten involved with StackOverflow as well.

And a lot more. Anyway, I'm still alive.

WordPress Plugin

I recently finished work on IndyGreekFest.org (Old Site), and am in my reflective period that follows every project. One issue that I ran into with this site is the organization of images on the site.

Several sections of the website are basically image galleries; food, media, etc. It would be nice if I could upload images into folders and organize them by the page in which they are embedded. Unfortunately, with WordPress, this isn't possible.

WordPress started as a simple blog software, and while it's doing an admirable job slowly transforming itself into a full CMS, it's not there yet. The way it handles images is a prime example of this. Currently, there is a single media folder, in which all uploaded images go. WordPress each month, a new folders is made by wordpress inside the media folder. All images uploaded that month go in there. Additionally, when viewing the images, there is a single list of images. One can't view folders.

It would be nice to fix this. I have sketched out several user interfaces which would incorporate folders. A real fix would require updating the core, though, which I'm not really prepared to do. A plugin, however, I think is within my current capabilities. A plugin will not be able to full accomplish my goals, but it will let me start. So tonight, I am going to write a simple Hello World plugin to teach myself the basics. Having created several themes in the past, it shouldn't be too difficult.

From there, I can start figuring out how to go about adding folders to WordPress.

Subscription Software and the End of Used Games

This morning while drinking a diet coke and trying to fully wake up, I was browsing the tech section of Google News and stumbled upon an article regarding Adobe’s new Creative Cloud. To summarize, the article discussed how unhappy Adobe customers are, about moving from a buy-once license that never expires to a subscription model. This comes after last week’s Xbox One announcement and the subsequent rumors about the lack of used-game support. It seems like there are quite a few software companies that are pissing off their user-base. Why is this happening, and is it all...

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.

Facebook Friends

I listed a story last week on NPR concerning Facebook; more specifically the concept of ""Facebook Fatigue". The idea is that people have so many "friends" on Facebook that their newsfeed contains more information than can be reasonably processed. People spend so much time that they finally realize the only way to cope is just to leave Facebook, either temporarily or permanently. This story on NPR was about someone taking a different approach. Instead of deleting herself, the author deleted all of her friends. Thereby having zero newsfeed entries to watch.

Now, I fail to see the point in this. Deleting one's account and deleting all of one's friends has in the end the exact same effect. And it's really, really dumb. It's akin to someone who realizes, 'Woah, I eat too much food. What should I do? I know, I'll just eat NOTHING from now on." Anyone health expert (and anyone who isn't a complete moron) will tell you that literally starving yourself isn't a good idea.

The thing is, deleting everyone or just running away from Facebook is the lazy route. It's saying that yeah I have a problem, but I don't want to take the time to fix it so I'm just going to run away. An admission that one doesn't have the willpower to use this tool without abusing it.

The real fix is to just start using Facebook correctly. That starts by looking up the definition of friend. Merriam-Webster gives several definitions, such as "one attached to another by affection or esteem". My own definition of friend can be shown in the form of two questions:

1. If John was walking down the street and saw me without me seeing him, would John come over and say hi.
2. If I saw John walking down the street and saw him without him seeing me, would I come over and say hi. (Be honest!)

Now if the answer to both those questions isn't yes, then John isn't really my friend. He might be an acquaintance, or a classmate, or a co-worker. He's not a friend.

You can set your own definition of friend, the above is just mine. For less friends, go stricter; for more, maybe your definition is a little bit more lax. But when you come up with that definition, you stick with it. The solution to Facebook fatigue if you want to do it right, is to spend some time and go through your friends list. Go through person by person and decide if said person is really a friend by your definition.

Start with the easy stuff, delete anyone that you've never met. Maybe you added them to boost your numbers or because they added you. Either way, they certainly aren't really a friend. Next, start deleting the people you haven't seen in years. Your high school classmates, co-workers at a place you used to work, etc. See where that gets you in numbers. Finally start looking through people that you know currently. Maybe classmates, maybe co-workers. Just because you know someone vaguely doesn't make them a close friend.

One thing that will make this more rewarding is by keeping track of your numbers. Check how many you have before you start, and then check after you are finished. It'll probably feel pretty good looking at that second number and realizing how much unnecessary baggage you no longer have to see every day in your newsfeed. You could even set yourself a goal, or do this over time. Say you have 600 friends. Try to get down to 400, just remove the least connected people. Then wait a while and get used to it. Maybe you'll be okay right there, or maybe you want to go further and try to get to 200. (Even 200 is rather huge, how many people have 200 "real" friends?) Still, take your time. Eventually, you should try to get under 50. Anything under 50 means your Facebook friends list is approaching parity with your real life friends. If you can get there, you'll find yourself with no more Facebook fatigue. (Without having to give up Facebook entirely).

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Of course as a side note, you can always change the formula. If you see one person that might not really be a friend but who is maybe useful for some other reason, keep 'em. Nothing is set in stone. Making your life better is the make goal, so if you have to bend the process, bend it.

Online Tracking

I have to wonder if Facebook is in fact sharing my information despite their assurances that it doesn't happen. Today I opened up AccuWeather to check the radar and temperature for the day, and I saw on the side of the screen an advertisement for Pioneer Seed.

Now up until recently I had never heard of Pioneer. And I'd never seen ads for them on the internet. Well then I get a job working on a Pioneer Seed plant and suddenly I start seeing ads for them. The only places on the internet that I said anything about it are Facebook and LinkedIn. I updated my employment history on both just to keep it up to date. This means that either the internet just randomly decided that I was in the market for seed, after all these years ..... or that we are in fact being tracked by advertising companies, and that more significantly, they are getting info from Facebook/LinkedIn.

Wonderful.

Windows TP

I was reading an old thread about the first commercial internet browser and saw a very amusing post which had nothing at all to do with the topic. This is back from May of '94.

04/1 MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES BETA RELEASE OF WINDOWS TP

REDMOND, WA (JAN. 13) BUSINESS WIRE - Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday that a beta release of Windows TP, the telepathic operating system, was released to 1,500 test sites worldwide.

Developed using the soon-to-be released Microsoft C for Neurons, Windows TP bypasses awkward user interfaces by interacting directly with the user's brain. Using the Microsoft MindMouse, users can visualize images in their mind, and the application associated with that image (or "thought icon") is executed. Users can visualize pictures to create Windows Bitmap images, or think text directly into Windows applications. Windows TP is fully compatible with all previous versions of Windows.

Data stored under Windows TP can be copied into the user's short-term memory (the Windows TP Clipboard), or transferred directly into the user's long-term memory using Windows' new 32-bit Direct Neuron Access technology. Users can then plug into other Windows TP systems to transfer the data.

Microsoft also announced the first application developed exclusively for Windows TP. CyberMail is a mental mail system designed to transfer messages by thought. Users visualize the person or company logo they want to send a message to, followed by the message to send. Microsoft has had a beta version of the application in use for several months.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. he company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

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04/01 TESTERS REPORT PROBLEMS WITH WINDOWS TP BETA

NEW YORK, Apr 1, Reuter - Microsoft's new Windows TP has a long way to go before final release, say beta testers of the product. Testers report numerous problems with the thought icons included with the product.

"I can see a fish tail representing some useful things, but the Program Manager? It's just not intuitive," says Clyde Revlon, an MIS specialist with McBalmy, Crain, and Larch. "Whoever came up with these thought icons needs therapy. I'm sure the guy's Yorkshire terrier is wonderful, but as the File Manager? A golden retriever I could understand. And that sweater the terrier is wearing, it's just too loud. Let me control the sweater."

Testers also report dangerous corruption problems with the Direct Neuron Access technology. "Colors, I smell colors. Dog, good dog, go to the light mom," said Maggie Ferreaux, a consultant with Sharp, Trenchant, and Blunt Computer Services.

Other testers were less understanding. "I'm working on a presentation, and suddenly all I can think about is pages A through C of the Miami telephone directory. It took me three hours to get it out of my mind. That blows my productivity right out of the water," says Max Pirenich, a salesman for Carp Technology. "Just thinking about Excel scares the crap out of me."

Microsoft officials acknowledged the issues, citing that no beta release of a product is perfect, and vowed to provide testers with the services of the same Neurologist that helped Microsoft Quality Assurance recover from testing the product in its early stages. Many Microsoft QA engineers are expected to lead long, productive lives.

-- John Lamp, originating in Hobart, Tasmania

Even back in the early 90s we were making fun of Microsoft.
 

Would a Smartphone be a Smart Investment?

I currently have a flipphone, unlimited text, limited talk, and no data. It suits my needs. However, as a tech aficionado, my wants are quite a different story. I, like many of you out there, salivate over each new iPhone, Lumia, or Droid release. Yet I don't actually own any of them.

The reason is simple. Namely, I'm a poor college student with limited funds. And of those funds, most are going to paying for graduation exams, and what little is left is spent on going out to eat with my wonderful girlfriend (yes, my POF attempt this summer worked out). So I don't really have hundreds of dollars in disposable cash laying around to buy a smart phone. Even if I did, I don't have the money that a data plan would cost. A data plan that gets me all of 2GB per month.

That said, I can still salivate. And nothing has me more excited than the Lumia 920. Granted it's not perfect. But it's still a large step up from the 900, and unlike the latter, runs WP8. It's a sleek and sexy piece of hardware if I've ever seen one, and I've seen a few. The iPhone 5 might rival it in design, (some would argue the SIII would as well, but I find the SIII to be too wide and round for my tastes), but it most certainly doesn't surpass it.

So the question is, when I graduate in December, what do I do with the money I've been saving for a new laptop. My need is getting pressing, given I'm running a machine that is approaching 5 years of age. Yet a smart phone would be wonderful. Such a first world problem ...
 

Firefox 14 Changes Icons, Encrypts Search

Like clockwork, every 6 weeks we see Firefox getting a refresh. Today was no different, with Firefox prompting users to update to the next version, 14.0.1. Like previous incremental updates, this provides several small graphical changes along with some under the hood improvements.

The biggest change that people are talking about is in the way Firefox displays Favicons. Favicons, the little icon that nearly all websites have, are normally shown in your bookmarks list, beside the website’s address, and on the top of each tab...

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

What Microsoft is Doing Wrong

Way back in August, I wrote an article discussing why Windows tablets have a chance. At the time, we’d seen images of the new Windows 8 operating system, and I predicted that Microsoft would offer transforming devices, which would use the new interface on tablets but move to full desktop Windows when plugged into a mouse and keyboard setup. I predicted that that extra capability to use full Windows would give Windows Tablets the ability to succeed where the iPad has failed, namely, enterprise.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

Corning’s Second Day of Glass

Nearly a year ago, Corning (maker of Gorilla Glass), released a video encapsulating it’s vision of the future. It’s since gotten 17 million views on youtube, and started numerous discussions and responses.

In the video, Corning predicted large scale desktop touchscreen displays, bigger video screens, and dynamic billboards. And while much of the video is still in the future, the OLED TV’s shown by LG at this year’s CES do seem to bring the video to life.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

SOPA [CENSORED] The [CENSORED] Today

 

4K, 8K, The Future of TV?

Last fall, I was reading predictions for Black Friday sales, and many were saying that HDTVs would be a big sale item, because they were finally reaching market saturation. Prices have fallen to the several hundred-dollar range, and most people who want one, can get one.

And indeed, Black Friday rolled around, and arguable the biggest sale item was Best Buy’s 42″ 1080p HDTV, for $200. That was the best deal, but there were over 50 over great ones, all below $400.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
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2011 Recap

With just over 6 hours left of 2011, I thought I'd go back and look at the year we have just finished. A year comprised of many ups and downs, both globally and locally, but one in which we've hopefully ended up better than we started.

Internationally, 2011 was a year of great change, possibly the greatest since the early 90s and the fall of the USSR. The "Arab Spring" as people called it, started in Tunisia and spread across north Africa and the middle east, rocking entrenched dictatorships. Along with Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were successful in overthrowing their dictators. With mostly peaceful protests in Egypt, and 6 months of full on civil war in Libya. And the fighting is still going on in other places, like Syria and Yemen. Will the new order be more friendly to the US? Only time will tell. I can only hope that the pro-democracy movements don't get hijacked by the Islamism sharia law supporters.

On the other side of the world, the pacific and eastern Asia saw extreme natural disasters. Flooding in Thailand, earthquakes in Japan. The death toll was large, and the secondary effects (such as rising prices for tech produced in Asia) still hasn't fully fallen out.

Closer to home, politics began heating up. In response to the tea party movement (the far right), a new movement has arisen. The Occupy movement. Occupy Wallstreet is where is started, but the protests spread across the country, targeting wealthy corporations. Granted, the movement doesn't seem to have much in the way of demands other than, we're unhappy that you have so much money and we don't.

Additionally, Washington politics grew more strained as the year went on. In the 2010 midterm elections, the GOP took control of the House and nearly the Senate. Since then we seem to have jumped from crisis to crisis, including several near government shut downs, and each party tries to blame it on the other in preparation for the larger 2012 presidential election. Overall the Democrats have won though, with Obama's ratings going up significantly, at least in the second half of the year.

The GOP primary race also got kicked off, with a string of widely followed televised debates. Mitt Romney, the assumed forerunner, maintained a steady support in the mid 20s, while others rose and fell. Pawlenty and Bachmann in early summer, Rick Perry in August, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and now there are even a few stirrings for Rick Santorum. Throughout, Gary Johnson was left out of nearly all debates and polls, and finally gave up and switched over to the Libertarian Party. Ron Paul of course was around the entire time, support steadily growing, but still too small to matter.

In a much less depressing area, tech progressed hugely in 2011. The iPad 2 was released early in the year, and the first Android tablets as well. Near summer Android finally had a decent on in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but with no marketing and a string of legal attacks by Apple, it never took off. Amazon went a different route, with a more inexpensive tablet, the Kindle Fire. It didn't seek to compete with the iPad, and has done quite well. Finally more recently, things like the Asus Transformer Prime bring the best of tablets and laptops together. Terribly expensive though, I doubt the price will let it be a huge hit.

Smart phones saw little significant change over the year. Lots of refinement, of course. Faster processors, more memory, better screens. Android 4.0 and iOS 5 can out, bringing improvements to the software side as well. No major breakthroughs though. Even the new iPhone was just an incremental upgrade. Windows Phone 7 did get some nifty improvements, and while nearly everyone who uses it enjoys it, it's got so little market share that expanding in the face of iOS and Android will be almost impossible. Nokia near the end of 2011 finally began releasing WP7 phones though, so 2012 will be the last chance Microsoft's platform has.

Down then to the personal level. Both Spring and Fall semesters were good for me academically. No grades under a B, in fact. I also replaced the F and D+ I'd gotten during the terrible fall of '10 with and A and A, pushing the overall GPA up quite a bit. Non-academically I had a good pretty decent year, though it certainly was better during summer and fall. I stayed at Purdue over the summer, working for ITaP, and teaching myself several web design languages on the side. I'm also dating someone at the moment, which is quite unusual for me, so wish me luck.

This post has gotten quite a bit longer than I originally was anticipating, so I think I'll wrap it up. I hope you all had a good year, and I'm looking forward to 2012. Happy new years!
 

Mozilla Asks Users For Help

If you’ve been paying attention to my writing, you know that I’m a Firefox fan. I have been for years. While that loyalty was strained over the long, long time it took for Firefox 4 to finally be released, since then I feel that I’ve been handsomely rewarded for staying with my browser.

Over the past summer and fall, we’ve seen 4 new releases, moving the version number up to 8. While I personally think that more appropriate numbers would have been 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4, the name doesn’t change the fact that Firefox has been quickly and steadily improving for the past year, and it shows. It might be too little too late though.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

I Love These Things

 

Don't Like The News Facebook Newsfeed?

Facebook launched some major changes to it’s Newsfeed in the past week, in preparation for their upcoming developers conference, and as usual, many people are frustrated. Normally I’m not one of them. I try to embrace the new changes because there’s not much that can be done to change them. This time however, the change really frustrates me. I don’t like Facebook’s algorithms deciding which of my friends are important and which aren’t, I want to see the entire Newsfeed with all status updates.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

Why Windows Tablets Have a Chance

Windows as we currently know it is useless on the touchscreen tablet form factor. We know this because Windows came out with tablets as early as 2002, (years before Apple released the iPad), and all of them were colossal failures. Windows is inherently a desktop OS. It’s gone through 15 years of refinement for the mouse and keyboard, and as a desktop OS, it’s great. What that Microsoft completely missed though, (and what Steve Jobs caught), is that as wonderful as desktop OSs are on desktops, they are terrible for touchscreen tablets.

Read my full article at TekGoblin.com.
 

Apple Minus Steve Jobs, Take 2

In a letter written to the Apple board of Directors, Steve Jobs has officially resigned as the CEO of Apple. UPDATE: Apple has now confirmed in a press release that Tim Cook will be taking over as CEO. This is actually the second time Jobs will be leaving the company he co-founded, the first being in 1985 when he was forced out. He returned in 1996 when Apple bought NeXT, the company Jobs had founded after leaving. By 1997 he was again running the company, albeit officially as "interum CEO", a title which he kept until 2000, when he dropped the "interum". Jobs' return to Apple is wildly recognized as having saved the company, as his return heralded a return to the profitability of the early years. It'll take time to see how his second departure will affect Apple, but it's unlikely Apple will face problems any time soon, given the massive profitability of both the tablet and smartphone markets.

August 24, 2011–To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

 

Relaxation

Not much is going on in the life of Kelderic today, or the past few. I'm visiting family and enjoying a few days of really doing nothing. I did get to see a friend from high school earlier and play some Halo, which was nice. And I think the design for my website is almost finalized. It involves dark blue. :D I still need a header though, so it'll be a while before I actually begin implementation.

One thing I'm excited about is the new Building Windows 8 blog from Microsoft. Hopefully it will be similar to the Engineering Windows 7 blog from several years ago, and allow early looks at the changes coming up. I do hate change, but at least I can be prepared. I figure I should get used to it as early as possible because my next laptop is going to be purchased when I finish Purdue, in Dec 2012, and Windows 8 will probably be the only option pre-installed on laptops. We'll see, I guess.