I promised a while back to do a podcast in Ogg Vorbis. I’m stilling going to do it, I’ve just been busy and haven’t had much time to do it. I already have the first episode drafted, and I’ll try to get around to it either tonight or tomorrow. I’m probably going to be using the Internet Archive for file hosting, and I think it takes a while for uploads to be approved, so expect the first episode by Saturday.
Update: I can’t find my draft for the first episode. I’m postponing the show until next week. Sorry.
2nd Update: I’m just going to postpone the show until Firefox 3.5 officially launches and I can be sure everyone has a chance to listen to it.
lilURL is a free URL shortening web app. It’s used by a number of sites, including ur1.ca, which was set up by the founder of identi.ca for use with that service. One of the problems with lilURL compared to other url shortening services is that it only accepts POST submissions, meaning that a simple bookmarklet like javascript:location.href="http://ur1.ca/?longurl="+document.URL won’t work.
Instead, you have to create an invisible form and submit it, like so: javascript:myForm=document.createElement("form");myForm.style.display="none";myForm.method="post";myForm.action="http://ur1.ca/";myInput=document.createElement("input");myInput.setAttribute("name","longurl");myInput.setAttribute("value",document.URL);myForm.appendChild(myInput);document.body.appendChild(myForm);myForm.submit();document.body.removeChild(myForm); The above will work for any lilURL service; just change the address in myForm.action="http://ur1.ca/"; to the address of the lilURL service.
I am not a browser elitist. I frequently switch browsers just for the fun of it. When I’m on a Windows machine, I’ll even use Internet Explorer just for kicks (IE7/8 have a great UI, IMO; if only the backend wasn’t a piece of junk…). So it’s always with a heavy heart that I declare my undying hatred for Opera.
I wish it were not so, especially now that they’ve released Opera Unite, which is something I’ve thought should be down for a while. Opera has also been pushing for browser-native audio and video support w/ Ogg. On top of that, their theme system is better than Firefox’s.
The problem comes down to its lack of compatibility with a lot of the sites I use. Not only the occasional site that flat out won’t work (which I don’t actually mind too much), but also the sites that it renders annoyingly wrong, like Twitter.
Now, the general response you get to this around the web is this: Those sites are written using bad HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Opera is highly standards-compliant. So it’s not Opera’s problem.
I really hate this elitism. It may not be Opera’s problem that people write poor HTML/CSS/JavaScript, but Opera should make it their problem. Otherwise, it becomes my problem when I use their browser. Standards be damned, the web needs to work.
I’ve read that Opera labs are working on better compatibility for the next version. I hope so, because I really like what they’re doing with Unite and would like to be able to add Opera to my browser repertoire.
The above audio file is encoded in Ogg Vorbis, a patent-free, royalty-free format. Mozilla Firefox 3.5 supports the HTML 5 <audio> and <video> tags that facilitate browser-native handling of audio and video playback. Vorbis, like other Ogg formats (Speex, CELT, FLAC, Theora), is a free multimedia codec. There are no royalties, and the source code for the codec is available for no charge under a free software license.
It will also work in Safari 4 if you have the XiphQT plugin installed.
MPEG-1 Layer 3 (Mp3) audio has not yet been succeeded. Both Apple and Microsoft have been pushing their own newfangled proprietary codecs, but they’re just not sufficiently better for most people to care. Increasing storage and bandwidth have lessened the need for better lossy compression, while lack of widespread compatibility for any of the alternatives forces people to use Mp3 to ensure compatibility. Xiph’s Ogg Vorbis is in fourth-place, but has carved out a respectable niche for itself among GNU/Linux enthusiasts and video game developers.
What wrong with this picture is that, among the four codecs listed, Vorbis is the only one you don’t have to pay to use. The Mp3 format is restricted by a variety of software patents that won’t expire for several years yet. The early years of Mp3 were marred by controversy when many people who wrote implementations of the Mp3 format under the impression that it was royalty-free found themselves facing royalties. Because of this, many GNU/Linux distributions will not play Mp3 files out of the box. Users have to download additional software (usually illegally) to play the same files that will play on the cheap Mp3 player they got for Christmas.
For a while now I’ve been wanting a way to download YouTube videos in 720p. I knew how to do it in Safari using the Activity Window, so it’s only been since I’ve switched to GNU/Linux as my main that the need has became pressing (especially since even Adobe’s proprietary Flash plugin has a hard time with HD and any video in fullscreen). So, tonight, having decided I’d download Home, I went looking for a way to download in HD.
I found a nifty little bookmarklet: Download YouTube HD. Drag that link your bookmarks bar, go to a YouTube video with HD, and click on it, and a link will be added at the bottom of the info box saying “Download as 720p HD MP4.” Right click on it, and save the video wherever.
I also found a bookmarklet for saving the high-quality (but no HD) mpeg4 version of any video: Download YouTube MP4. Similar deal: drag that to you bookmarks bar, go to a YouTube video, and click on it. This time, however, you’ll simply be asked by your browser to save the file. You don’t have to click any other links.
As I said, these are especially useful under GNU/Linux, where there are a million great desktop video players but the Adobe Flash plugin, let alone the free implementations of swf, is not that great.
I almost reinstalled my OS today. I have a Brother HL-5250DN series laser printer, which I keep in the other room hooked straight into the network. From my iMac and MacBook Pro, I have it set up through ZeroConf, known there as Bonjour.
On my Trisquel box, on the other hand, I wasn’t able to set it up no matter what I tried. I searched the package manager for zeroconf and installed what seemed to be the right packages, but still nothing, and I tried searching for a solution, but didn’t find anything I needed (it doesn’t help that my distro’s forums are in Spanish).
So, I downloaded and burned Ubuntu 9.04 and backed up my files, anticipating a reinstall. Then, as I’m talking to Joshua Rogers, it dawns on me that ZeroConf is called “avahi” on GNU/Linux, just as it’s called “Bonjour” on Mac OS X. So I searched for “avahi,” installed a few packages, reopened the printer config panel and, lo and behold, there it was.
Considering that, protocol-wise, ZeroConf == avahi == Bonjour, did it have to be so confusing?
In light of SocialKloud’s closing, I’ve created accounts on its two main competitors: Schmownce and Cyndle. On first glance, Schmownce is more fully-featured and mature than Cyndle. Schmownce can post text, links, files, and events, just like SocialKloud and Pownce. Cyndle can only post text (though URLs are detected as links, just like Twitter and SK).
However, Schmownce has an annoying bug at the moment: the userpic associated with a post is the one you were using when you posted it. If you change userpics, the picture and for some reason also the post’s stand-alone page will be broken.
Cyndle also has a more interesting black-and-orange theme than Schmownce’s elegant and respectable black-and-white. Cyndle is also run by teenage furries, if that makes a difference either way.
SocialKloud, like Pownce before it, has closed down. I’ve bitten the bullet and created an account on Schmownce. If I can remember the name of the other Pownce clone, I may try it out, too.
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