Categories
- Blogging
- Books
- Charity
- dasBlog
- Dogumentary
- Education
- Events
- Family Stuff
- Film Project
- Gaming
- God
- Hiking
- History
- Hobbies
- Humor
- iPhone
- Luka
- Motorcycles
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Photography
- Politics
- Random Stuff
- Science
- Sports
- TED
- Television
- Theater
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Useful Info
Latest News
- The Adventures of Pepe
- Luka running
- Starcraft
- Testing iphone
- Luka Sphynx
- Wordpress for iPhone app
- Quest for Eggs
- Lunch shots
- FURminator
- From the Archives
Monthly archives
- February 2009
- September 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- March 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
Search
Creating Macros for dasBlog
I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m going to revamp my books section. After reading about creatingmacros for dasBlog I think I’m going to integrate my books sectionand my blog. My idea is to create a macro that accepts an ISBN and Amazon merchantaccount ID and returns all the information using Amazon’swebservices. Seems simple enough.When I find the time to put this together I’ll make the macro available to others. I think the trick is going to be figuring out how to get dasBlog to recognize theISBN and return the valid HTML. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Posted by admin 
Posted in: Blogging, dasBlog 
No Comments » 
December 2006
video madness (and bonus video)
The other day I was at a hobby shop playing around with a videoRC flight simulator. I was trying to fly a helicopter and I crashed overand over. I just couldn’t figure out how the controls related to the littlehelicopter on the screen.
A screenshot of the video I created today.
Many times when I’m trying to create video for the Internet I feel the sameway. The codecs and compressionsettings just don’t seem to affect the video in ways that I expect them to. I love using flash becauseit’s simple to create high quality videos. The files are very small, theinterface is easy, and the videos look amazing. The only problem is a smallvideo file is still pretty big.
I want my videos to be hosted by someone else and I want them to do it for free. YouTube isthe obvious choice but the quality is horrible. The video size is small andit’s just not very good for photoshop tutorials. Not only that but itputs me right back into the mode of trying to figure out what codec and compressionsetting to use to get good looking videos. Crash and burn.
Things get even trickier when capturing computer screens for video. I use Camtasia todo this and it does a great job. But Camtasia capturesvideo at 15 frames per seconds (fps) while normal AVI video is 29.97 fps. Justto make things more complicated YouTube wants to see videos at 30 fps.
I’d really like to create an entire library of photography tips and tricks andoffer it to people via the Internet. So I’ve spent most of my day playingaround with all the settings and trying to figure out the best way to offer free content. Here’s what I’ve discovered.
To get great looking videos that are a reasonable size you have two compression choices: flashvideo (my favorite) and DivX. I haven’tfound anyone who will host my flash videosfor free, so that’s out. That leaves DivX.
DivX is a way to encode AVI files for maximum compression. YouTube actually recommends using DivX as your compression method. So I wentto the DivX site and downloaded all the codecsand plug-ins. Then I discovered Stage6. Stage6 allowsyou to upload your DivX content, at full resolution, for free. Awesome. The videos look much better than YouTube. The catch, most people don’thave the DivX player installed. But that’s not a big deal because it’sfree.
So I created a smallvideo. The video is 12 minutes, two minutes over YouTube’s limit. And it’s at 720×480 resolution, waaay over YouTube’s limit. It’salso 135mb, 35mb over the limit. But Stage6 had no issues with it at all.
Stage6 is in it’s beta stages right nowand I hope enough people use it for it to survive. It’s just a betterway to show video on the Internet. That is until someone lets me host my flashfiles for free.
So check out the videotutorial. If you like it then let me know and I’ll make some more.
For you video geeks out there:
- I used Camtasia for the screencapture.
- I edited the video using AdobePremiere Pro 2
- I converted the video to DivX using the DivXConverter (just drag and drop)
Posted by admin Posted in: Photography No Comments » December 2006
Tower Cranes
I’ve always been fascinated by tower cranes. You know, those big cranesthat are on top of skyscrapers while they are under construction. I’vealways wondered how they put them together and make the “grow”. I’ve had some theories about it but the physics never worked out in my head.
This morning I decided to put the mystery to rest. Yes, I know, I have too much timeon my hands. How Stuff Works hasa great photo article on howthese cranes work. They even have a link to the largesttower crane in the world. That thing is huge!
Posted by admin Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » December 2006
xRez Extreme Resolution
I was just zipping around the web and found this awesome photo site. xRez andGoogle have teamed up to create an extremely high resolution photo format. It’ssort of like a mix between Google earth anda jpg image.
“xRez>>> is a consortium of digital artists committed to exploring new creativeopportunites made available by the advent of extremely high-resolution gigapixel digitalphotography. We believe this is clearly the next revolution in photography, allowingphotographic experiences with a deeper level of fidelity and impact than previouslyseen…”
Posted by admin Posted in: Photography No Comments » December 2006
Anything But iPod - MP3 Player Reviews & News
I have a Creative Zen Vision:M player and I absolutely love it. I’ve compared it with an iPod and itdoes everything an iPod can do and more. The reason I bought it over an iPodwas the fact that it’s compatible with subscription based services like Napster. I pay a few bucks a month and get thousands of songs. I can download almostanything - legally.For anyone out there looking for a non-iPod player check out AnythingBut iPod. It has some good information, great forums, and utilities formost players.Anything But iPod - MP3 Player Reviews &News
Posted by admin Posted in: Music, Useful Info No Comments » December 2006
Studio Shoot
Here’s a behind the scenes video of a shoot we did last week.
Update: Info on the Smoking Popes.
Posted by admin Posted in: Photography No Comments » December 2006
Annotated Mythbusters
As many of my students will tell you, I’m not a big fan of television.I’ll leave my reasoning for a future post. But I will admit that thereare some gems on the boob tube. Diane almost had to have an intervention because ofmy addiction to The History Channel a coupleof years ago. Recently my TV guilty pleasure has been MythBusters.“It’s a tough job separating truth from urban legend, but the MythBustersare here to serve. Each week special-effects experts AdamSavage and Jamie Hyneman take on three myths and use modern-day scienceto show you what’s real and what’s fiction.”This show is a blast to watch. And now there is the new and improved AnnotatedMythbusters site from the creator of one of my favorite blogs, KWCBlog.Speaking of KWC Blog make sure you check out his 2006reading list. I’m going to have to put some of his books on my 2007reading list. I’m also planning on writing a little review of the booksI read this year. Look for that soon.
Posted by admin Posted in: Books, Useful Info No Comments » December 2006
NPR : Are New Initiatives Changing Life on the U.S.-Mexico Border
NPR : Are NewInitiatives Changing Life on the U.S.-Mexico BorderDuring 2006, calls for increased security along the U.S.-Mexican border grew louder.Congress approved construction of a 700-mile fence along the border, and the governmentannounced the Secure Border Initiative.Also see my photos of the US/Mexico Border at: www.MarkWallacePhotography.com
Posted by admin Posted in: News, Photography No Comments » December 2006
Blog update underway
Well I’ve started upgrading my blog. I have everything installed but need towork out some of the finer details (like my theme). I can’t believe it workedon the first try! Woo hoo.
Now I’m going to bed.
UPDATE: Looks like I had something configured wrong. This post was actuallycreated yesterday and is showing up today. Weird. Maybe the servers aren’tusing UTC. Hmmm.
Posted by admin Posted in: dasBlog No Comments » December 2006
Who are the lurkers?
Ok, you know you’re out there. You read my blog but never comment. You know mydog is famous but you don’t say anything about it. 
So who are the lurkers? Brandon?? Anyone else? Post a commentso I know you’re out there. Come on, it will be fun!
Posted by admin Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » December 2006