March 30, 2008
Synesthete says 'George Bush is like crusty potato'
March 28, 2008
539 layers in a comp
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-yc8ZiTdNI/AAAAAAAABN4/zCINnGIAMa8/s200/539counting.jpg)
vfxhack.com posted a very large picture of a composition for a Timex ad with 539 elements (many themselves were comps of other hundreds of layers) in Insane Comp Scripts.
March 27, 2008
Video on Search Pages
"Google and Yahoo have both started including video advertising on search results pages. Depending on how consumers react, this could open a vast new source of ad revenue or could deter users from clicking on the already incredibly lucrative text ads."
Also, YouTube Reveals Video Analytics Tool for All Users, with a video from YouTube's Brand Channel:
Photoshop Express RIA arrives
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-x5PJiTdMI/AAAAAAAABNw/u7yNNorRrlc/s200/psexpress-2.jpg)
Hi-Def San Francisco
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-wkH5iTdKI/AAAAAAAABNg/5NF46NgrLio/s200/cluelessr.jpg)
"Hi-Def San Francisco is project of CloudView Photography. The camera is a 3 megapixel StartDot Technologies Netcam XLmounted in a weather proof enclosure high in the hills of Sausalito. Images are captured every 15 seconds cropped from the full resolution to 1920x1080 and uploaded in 480, 720 and 1080 resolution to the web server. Periodically the software (running on a FreeBSD server) creates a time lapse that collapses the prior 24 hours into 240 seconds of video."
With malice toward none, with charity for all...
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-wsFJiTdLI/AAAAAAAABNo/0W1M3egyTfY/s200/Lincoln.jpg)
Fellow-Countrymen:
AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
March 25, 2008
Safari nets YouTube videos
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-lfzpiTdJI/AAAAAAAABNY/08TLqAfbETQ/s200/news.jpeg)
"Use Safari [it works on Mac and Windows]. Open up the activity window in Safari, then load the YouTube page. You'll see the asset show up in the activity window, and it will be obvious because it's the only one that shows you streaming progress. Just double-click [or option double-click and rename the download] on the item in the activity window (you don't need to wait for it to finish streaming) and it should automatically download. You can do this with regular FLVs as well."
March 24, 2008
Mogul VFX platform
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-ddxZiTdII/AAAAAAAABNQ/vyE-Liu57lw/s200/imag.jpg)
- mogul/roto is rotoscoping tool leveraging Imagineer's planar tracking technology
- mogul track is a desktop app for 2D and 3D tracking with support for third party software
- mogul/paint is a 3D vector based paint system based on mogul’s 3D engine
- mogul/comp is a node based compositing app for true 3D compositing with support of OpenFX plug-ins and Python scripting.
Update: FreshDV has some video from NAB 2008.
March 23, 2008
"Correct" skin tones
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-bDH5iTdHI/AAAAAAAABNI/P_kJTnHGSx8/s200/ed.jpg)
Update: HD Cinema has more on skin tones in Painting HD Cameras pt. 2 - Skin Tones.
March 22, 2008
Motion graphics 1961
Plus here's his brother James Whitney's Lapis from 1966:
And a recent oscilloscope composition by Robin Fox from Eyebeam's ReBlog:
If you like that, you might check out Oscilloclast, electromagnetic AV by Chris Musgrave.
March 21, 2008
Ease and Wizz, AE scripts for new easing types
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-N3e5iTdGI/AAAAAAAABNA/6cR4iy3MUAc/s200/ease-and-wizz-palette.png)
"The obvious use is in motion, but they can be used on animated properties of any kind. They’re controlled with a After Effects-ish palette that can be docked, so it’s very easy to use. A while back, Flash guru Robert Penner created a suite of extremely useful easing equations that have been used to build thousands of websites worldwide. I've adapted these equations to work as expressions in After Effects."
Update: Alan Shisko adds, "There are two drawbacks to the script, both with workarounds. One, it only works on the first two KF's in an a given parameter. The workaround is to apply the script on multiple 'transform' EFFECTS instead of on to multiple keyframes on the 'transform' PARAMETER. And two, you can't view the resulting velocities in the Graph Editor (should you so choose) unless you select the KF's and go to Animation-> Keyframe Assistant-> Convert Expression to Keyframes. But I would surely recommend that you give it a try, I think you'll like it."
March 20, 2008
Free FEC 3D Relief plug-in for FCP and After Effects
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-LVjpiTdEI/AAAAAAAABMw/qnJi8Clg7ik/s200/3d.jpg)
The Pentagon Goes Hollywood
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-Ll_piTdFI/AAAAAAAABM4/log-dMf0qIM/s200/Brando_apoc.jpg)
Truthdig is hosting an interesting article on the conscription of popular imagination with The Pentagon Goes Hollywood by Nick Turse, author of The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives. The TomDispatch author interview is below.
Unfortunately, this excerpt article makes no mention of Jack Valenti and his infamous support for propaganda injection. Few of us remember which filmmakers volunteered to sprinkle their films with propaganda, even for recent projects after the September 11 attacks. For additional details see The Boston Globe series "Hollywood Goes to War," "Collateral Brain Damage? The Hollywood Propaganda Ministry" at Ratical, Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies, and "The Manufacture of World Order: The Security Services and the Movie Industry" at Media/Culture Journal.
Smooth shakes in Final Cut
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-LIjZiTdDI/AAAAAAAABMo/15-IFA7SSFU/s200/smoothcamsettings.jpg)
March 19, 2008
SF Cutters on 27th with Wilt, editing, and filters
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R74bLwaEXaI/AAAAAAAABDI/F1uP9B-thKk/s200/fcpworld.png)
Digital video guru Adam Wilt will give a live demo on how to scan photos for Final Cut, a topic surrounded by much confusion (is video really 72 dpi, etc).
Mitchell Rose, comedy editor, instructor at CalArts, and stage performer will be showing his work and speaking about the aesthetics of editing, timing, and visual language.
Peter Litwinowicz, co-founder of ReVisionFX, will be showing DENoise, and other plug-ins.
New media and 5 years of war
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-GHPZiTdBI/AAAAAAAABMY/ipI7IJDgIpk/s200/failedsurge.jpg)
As one might imagine, the aversion to fact and the real is reflected online too, with a varied playlist of clips found The YouTube Blog note The Iraq War, Five Years On. In another effort, Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan features audio and video testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations. KPFA radio in Berkeley blogged and broadcast the event, with highlights repeated on Democracy Now.
Meanwhile the New York Times asks Can’t Grasp Credit Crisis? Join the Club, and this from the BBC, Tent City - America Style:
Adobe introduces its own DRM for Flash
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-GcqJiTdCI/AAAAAAAABMg/m7T3Mvz071o/s200/floniphone.jpg)
Also, consider if you will EFF critical of Flash Video DRM and Look mum, no DRM: BBC launches iPlayer on iPhone and iPod touch.
Update: John Dowdell, Ryan Stewart, and Desiree Motamedi have some details on the Flash server DRM solution ($40,000 per CPU), which can encrypt FLV and H264 video content so that it only plays in Adobe Media Player (AIR integration built in), and manages on the server-side to restrict playback to rules set by the content owner.
Update 2: CNET reports Adobe realizes SDK not enough for Flash on iPhone,
Adobe clarified its CEO's comments in an official statement on Wednesday: "Adobe has evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone. However, to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone Web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it." Key words there: "beyond and above" (I always thought it was the other way around).
March 18, 2008
Digieffects Damage: AE filters
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-BU4eVdtQI/AAAAAAAABMI/zjnQuJmG2dc/s200/damaged.jpg)
Digieffects Damage consists of four plug-ins designed to create an extensive variety of digital and/or analog defects/errors in your footage. I didn't use Cinelook Film Damage, so I'm not sure if this is the next geneeration or something completely different.
Free Mac utilities for denoise, deinterlace, standards conversion
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R-Bb8uVdtRI/AAAAAAAABMQ/AUP0jGO1Cps/s200/denoise.jpg)
1) Deinterlancer, which deinterlances movies, changes field dominance/order, converts PAL to NTSC or Custom, and more; and 2) Video Cleaner, which removes noise, logos, and cross-luma.
March 17, 2008
SFMograph on Thursday, but you must pre-register!
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R98V_eVdtOI/AAAAAAAABL4/whyDusOAKgs/s200/bg_k2p9.jpg)
Presentations are planned by David Simons & Dan Wilk (the original creators of CoSA After Effects, now on the Dynamic Media Advanced Product Development team at Adobe), Chris Prosser (After Effects Engineering Manager), Brendan Bolles, Marcello Grande, and Matt Silverman.
Convert QT <-> AVI without recompression
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R97_h-VdtMI/AAAAAAAABLo/syIiQmjGtxg/s200/trmoov.jpg)
The source and target codecs must be present on both platforms (for example, DV or Cinepak) and sampling rates should be the same. File names have to be 8 characters (or less) with 3 more for the file extension.
Caveats are at Download Recordings, and Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture discusses TRMOOV in Converting Between QuickTime and AVI, but I still have a question.
Does PremierePro CS3 on Windows have to conform an AVI DV file made from a QT DV file? Here's a sample AVI rewrap if you can test it in Premiere...
Update: I have a reliable report that the rewrapped AVI from MOV doesn't import into Premiere, though it does import into AE.
Microsoft licenses Adobe’s Flash Lite
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R98MJuVdtNI/AAAAAAAABLw/pliQD5zTv4E/s200/integrated_authoring.jpg)
Also, from Beet.TV a recent demo, Flash Player Debuts on U.S. Mobile Phones:
Update: Beet.TV added another part of the same interview, where Brian Frank "explains how Flash became ubiquitous on mobile phones in Japan starting five years ago:"
March 15, 2008
YouTube quality bump
The new spec is 480x360, up to 900 kbit/s A+V (1 GB upload size limit), but getting stereo hasn't been a sure thing. Various players think the hi-qual clips are h.263 or FLV only as well as h.264, and some of them at least won't play in QuickTime Player when relabeled as .mp4.
Wired has a handy summary of some of the work done by YouTubers who watched the transition for the last few months.
In the old system, it seems you could get stereo if you submitted a movie (FLV or other) with a lower data rate than their threshold for resampling, which is 350 kbps. According to a thread on Video Help, "if you use mencoder, this code is simply amazing for stereo audio, and often gives you a lower average than 96 kbit/s (what they use now):
-oac mp3lame -lameopts vbr=2:q=8:aq=0:mode=1:padding=2:lowpassfreq=16300 -channels 2 -srate 44100"
RED ONE introductions
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9uHuOVdtLI/AAAAAAAABLg/aHS1lpeCRpo/s200/red.jpg)
DV and Indie4K are posting approachable items. The Edit Blog is posting stories, and is especially concerned with conforming an offline edit into an online edit for finishing; Scott Simmons also posts at Studio Daily and notes The Great Red Hype from an Avid list. Prolost goes deep in several articles and gives you settings to match the RED Log transfer function using Cineon log/lin tools in common compositing applications.
Update: Adam Wilt engages in "an unfair comparison of three entirely different cameras" in Three three-letter cameras: EX1, F23, RED.
Update 2: More links from the AE-list (which isn't so impressed with the software), Hi Def Expo movies (also in iTunes) and The Editors' Lounge How to Post with the RED ONE™ Camera! (with PDF booklet).
Update 3: The Edit Blog mentions a new app, Crimson takes a stab at a real RED conform. Plus, HD for Indies is back with a variety of RED notices.
Update 4: Adam Wilt, Art Adams, Frank Capria, and other offer regular advice at PVC.
Update 5: The Edit Blog notes and adds commentary in fxguide tv posts episodes on RED.
Update 6: Self-Reliant Film has a log list of links to various RED resources. FxGuide likes RED so much it started a separate podcast series.
Tools for Visualization
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9t2JeVdtJI/AAAAAAAABLI/CX5CBfW8g-0/s200/musicovery.jpg)
"Visualization is a technique to graphically represent sets of data. When data is large or abstract, There are visualization tools for search, music, networks, online communities, and almost anything else you can think of. Whether you want a desktop application or a web-based tool, there are many specific tools are available on the web that let you visualize all kinds of data."Read the rest at ReadWriteWeb. Reliable sources on infographics and visualization can be found at information aesthetics and John Nack on Adobe.
March 14, 2008
Food Fight
HDMI cable differences
Bottom line: with a picture quality analyzer, a pro can't find differences in signal quality between $12, $110, and $262 HDMI cables. Comments on the piece offered explanations.
Hullfish on secondary color correction
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9tIy-VdtFI/AAAAAAAABKo/d0vUk-aSavA/s200/hullfish.jpg)
More colorist stuff can be found at the Fini blog, [update] which now says Color 1.0.2 is broken.
Paths to Shapes
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9q6ZuVdtEI/AAAAAAAABKg/QxZM-vYLwsI/s200/Path.png)
For background, see Shape Layers in After Effects CS3 by Total Training host Steve Holmes at Layers magazine
Update: Motionworks has a 2007 tutorial movie also, Mask to Shape Layer, and Aharon Rabinowitz added a podacst An Introduction to Shape Layers.
March 13, 2008
AE Script Demo palette in Chad and Todd Podcast
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9m2DOVdtCI/AAAAAAAABKQ/9SJsUybHYgw/s200/ct.jpg)
They also do Flash/Flex/web scripting and Production Premium training for Lynda.com.
Hulu embed 'The Tick'
March 12, 2008
If the rain comes
Racist politcal scheming and phony claims that cause war however could use some fair-minded clarification that help train the mind for your day of days.
We control the vertical
As the bridge between television and the internet expands, here's Broadcast Standards by Casimir Nozkowski, which uses public domain footage and stills to promote a contest run by The Independent Film Channel. IFC is looking for pilots and trailers for a new web series. (via The Edit Blog)
The owners of the pipes think they own everything, but rentals and squatting work too in this world of castles made of sand.
March 11, 2008
Can you pass the Awareness Test?
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9c_hOVds9I/AAAAAAAABJo/kzGKPFzmECU/s200/test.jpg)
Introducing Color Management in AE
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9cVIOVds8I/AAAAAAAABJg/RWp2QBm13Uw/s320/pws.gif)
Trish & Chris Meyer write "Tips N Tricks" articles for Artbeats.com, which will updated you monthly if you get the newsletter (plus you get Artbeats DV stock samples). This month Trish & Chris is introducing Color Management in After Effects CS3 (PDF), which covers input, output, monitoring, and the Project Working Space.
March 10, 2008
Pushing Flash H.264 to the limit
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9XgQuVds5I/AAAAAAAABJI/8cC_EuGJu7g/s200/sonnati-blog-graphic-145.gif)
Fabio is using a mix of (parameters that hopefully CS4 will have) "Ffmpeg, x264, Mencoder and Nero AAC. Here some parameters used: 5 reference frames, 5 B-frames, authomatic B-Frames, B-pyramid enabled, adaptive macroblock type, advanced Trellis on, Subq=7, advanced exagon search, deblocking filter with custom alpha e beta parameter, three pass encoding...".
Update: Adobe has an HD Gallery to showcase other work, and CamcorderInfo posted Round-up: Watch HD video. Sorry, but "Operation MySpace" leaves a bad taste.
Don't forget this issue according to Adobe: "One important thing about playing an H.264 video file as progressive download is that the moov atom needs to be located at the beginning of the file, or else the entire file will have to be downloaded before it begins playing." You can fix this with QTIndexSwapper (an Adobe AIR app by Renaun Erickson).
...Later Fabio presented at Adobe Max 2009,
Social networks for free
The SxSW 2008 Insider's Guide was built with Ning, an online service where you can create, customize, and share your own social network for free. Ning staff includes Marc Andreessen (of Mosaic/Netscape fame) who explained some of the technology and partners behind Ning in articles (1, 2) and posted the video below. Ning already has a challenger in KickApps, which aims to appeal more to organizations.
Ning uses OpenSocial by Google, which "provides a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites. With standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create apps that access a social network's friends and update feeds."
Online video ads made easy
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9W8YeVds4I/AAAAAAAABJA/RPvaZiWEL0U/s400/jivox.jpg)
Jivox online video advertising is a new company that helps businesses make and distribute web video ads without professional help (shh!):
"tell customers about your business beyond the visual and geographic limitations of search engines and banners. With Jivox, you can easily create free professional video advertisements for your business with music, visuals, and more. Through the exclusive Jivox network your ad will appear 'on the digital air.' Jivox pinpoints the sites your customers go to in the markets you need to reach them. You only pay for the actual sites where your video ad runs."They have an ad gallery to show what it can do now, except for the hard part -- actual targeting network and ad campaign management. (via)
March 8, 2008
South by Southwest coverage
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9N1nuVds1I/AAAAAAAABIo/jk7JBA5hhHA/s200/sxsw.jpg)
Update: Some videos from SXSW available through Mahalo, Google search and SXSW Videos.
SXSW Interactive is one of the largest tech industry events of the year; here's a Mahalo Daily report from the show floor as they look for the next “killer app” at the SocialThing and Kyte (connects web & mobile video, see TechCrunch video) booths:
Update: and among several from Beet.TV, Mobile Video Blogging is Big with Power Bloggers
Flash CS4: IK, curve editor, 3D postcards, XML
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9NnweVdsyI/AAAAAAAABIQ/uILxD6saYX0/s200/fcs4.jpg)
Also, the Moockblog and Peter Elst have reported that Flash CS4 will be able to export and import a new source format based on XML called XFL:
"An XFL file is a .zip file that contains the source material for a Flash document. Within the .zip file resides an XML file describing the structure of the document and a folder with the document's assets (graphics, sounds, etc). The exact details of the XFL format are not yet available, but Richard assures me that Adobe intends to document them publicly, allowing third-party tools to import and export XFL." (via)
John Nack also noted various instances, including video, of sneak peaks of InDesign CS4's new Flash export features.
March 7, 2008
Behind the scenes on BBC workflow to web & mobile
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9IBz-VdsxI/AAAAAAAABII/u6UGAJkjF4w/s200/iplayer.gif)
"...every programme needs to be transcoded in a Flash version (for PC streaming), a WMV version (Windows PC download), MPEG2 (TV set-top box), H.264 (web browser), and a variety of other formats coming soon. To do this, we have a transcoding farm of over 50 rack-mount PCs, most of which are running really fast dual quad-core Xeon CPUs. As content arrives off tape (for pre-recorded programmes) or off-air (from our digital satellite links, for live content like news and sport), it's fed into the transcoding platform.Update: backgrounder from Last100 -- Look mum, no DRM: BBC launches iPlayer on iPhone and iPod touch.Those input files are encoded at over 50Mbps which makes them huge - around 25GB per hour of incoming video. With eight BBC TV channels plus 18 regional news broadcasts, that means we need to deal with up to 24 simultaneous incoming programmes, for a peak data rate of over a gigabit per second of incoming video." (via)
March 6, 2008
iPhone pans Flash to make platform play
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R9DsOxmpxcI/AAAAAAAABIA/5DLTUd6q8CY/s200/sdktop.jpg)
AppleInsider attempted to justify answers on Flash that were panned in comments, but the sneaky CounterNotions may have anticipated the apparent (QuickTime, HTML, WebKit, JavaScript, CoreImage, Cocoa Touch) platform play, to borrow the Ryan Stewart phrase he typed from the Silverlight conference.
37 Signals is thinking phone but the observation applies more generally:
"Apple has the superior product, the big momentum, the cool, the lust, the business hooks, the consumer hooks, the customer experience, the interface, the design (interface and industrial), the smooth development environment, the vision.Update: Frank Capria looks at Emerging Mobile Trends (Mobile video’s not hit the mainstream… yet).And, maybe the secret key to it all, they have the commercial platform that makes it possible for a developer to actually sell, distribute, and update their software with the flip of a switch. And don’t forget the customer experience revolution — buying and it-just-works installation of iPhone software will be as one-click easy as buying music from the iTunes store. It’s all wrapped into one beautiful package. A package that only Apple can deliver."
Update 2: Adobe says Flash is coming to the iPhone.
March 5, 2008
Book video, part of rise of video retailing
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R89WQhmpxYI/AAAAAAAABHg/Ad-WFZPiYEY/s200/book.jpg)
Here's hoping that Barns & Noble Studio will somehow push B&N to carry better books:
Barns & Noble plans to launch a multimedia network on its website Monday reports USA Today, with two video programs and more than 700 other book-related videos, organized by genre and including author interviews and book readings....read the rest at WatchingTV Online, and more on video in retail at USA Today...
It's the latest salvo in what Internet Retailer editor Kurt Peters calls an "online video revolution" in retail. Websites use video to give shoppers new ways to interact with products and, of course, to boost sales.
Update: On Sep 17, 2008 Camcorder.info posted Every Book Needs a YouTube Trailer.
Enable Legacy Codecs in QuickTime
from Creative Workflow Hacks:
"Lost your Quicktime export options?If you updated to the latest version of Quicktime you lost some of your export options like Sorenson (You take the good with the bad with the beneficent dictatorship that is Apple UI design)."
To restore them, check Show Legacy Encoders in QuickTime preferences. One way is in QT Player> Edit> Preferences> Advanced.
Tracking and Replacing tutorials
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R88rdBmpxWI/AAAAAAAABHQ/FMxeef2xv7s/s200/track.jpg)
Also, Imagineer Systems has tutorials for their tracking and roto apps including Mocha/AE (see comparison movie), as well as great deals for freelancers. The deal was extended and is active until 03/31/08; the freelancer code is "edu-mar08-90-imagineer" (no paren).
Field order & video misconceptions
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R889nhmpxXI/AAAAAAAABHY/QOjI6ocXaMY/s200/ul_1_Interlacing.gif)
Plus there's Favorite Technical References if you want extra geek.
They also have a video/DVD explaining all this quite effectively: VideoSyncrasies, The Motion Graphics Problem Solver.
Videocopilot demo of Twitch filter
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R88pXBmpxVI/AAAAAAAABHI/DG1J7ttVQKY/s400/twitch.jpg)
Videocopilot has a demo movie of Twitch, their new plug-in for After Effects. Look for a ton of tutorials to show you every feature.
Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, is Arab-American
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R85g2RmpxSI/AAAAAAAABGw/IrAdf41Ig3U/s200/fortuenstevej.png)
I don't read Fortune magazine but I did find it interesting that I missed the news that Jobs' biological father was a Syrian Arab, who lives not too far from Cupertino. His biological mother is Joanne Carole Schieble from Wisconsin, who some think is Jewish (not that there is anything wrong with that). More articles says that his mother is German/Swiss Catholic. Some background can be found in an article from the Green Bay Press Gazette, which was re-posted in Silicon Valley Watcher.
Update: also fun is that Jobs' biological sister Mona Simpson was the inspiration for naming Homer Simpson's mother, by her boyfriend Jeff Appel who was a writer on The Simpsons.
Update: more details leaked out after Jobs' death in 2011. See especially Macworld UK's 2015 article, Who is Steve Jobs’ Syrian immigrant father, Abdul Fattah Jandali?
March 4, 2008
Saul Bass website and 'Hitchcock' font
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R8xyY0mMfsI/AAAAAAAABGo/Uw2YiZdRbjA/s320/bass.jpg)
via the AE-List, starting with a Bass-like version of a Star Wars title sequence...
Saul Bass, famous for design and film titles, is still a source of inspiration. Typographica notes resources and Bass-inspired fonts, including for the Hitchcock font, at Saul Bass Website and “Hitchcock” Font Are Back.
Update: 37 Signals hosts backstory and YT clips in Title sequences from Saul Bass, the master of film title design.
March 3, 2008
Live web video
Live video on the web does matter but not in ways used right now. Here's a backgrounder on live video via NewTeeVee; at around time 1:50 (in the middle of the time bar), YouTube co-founder Steve Chen tells Pop17 videoblogger Sarah Meyers that YouTube is moving in:
Update: live from mobile devices is next up; see Live from your mobile. The next big thing? at Watching TV Online.
Overexpose or underexpose?
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R8vViEmMfoI/AAAAAAAABGI/YX2RM20HejU/s200/his.jpg)
Encore CS3 and Blu-ray on the MacPro
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JHaxm312XQo/R8vbzUmMfqI/AAAAAAAABGY/zr6d5Bu6e1A/s200/ODD_SATA.jpg)
Dave's Tech Table has some updated info on Working with Adobe Encore CS3 and Blu-ray, especially concerning using the 2 ODD onboard SATA ports on a MacPro.