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  • ffmpeg fully html 5 converion supported

    - by user58542
    I need to know about library that required for ffmpeg for convert any format of audio and video for supported following format to have best configuration to convert audio and video files for html5 formats. I need for support mp3 and ogg for audio files. Also need for support FLV, H.264, Ogg Theora and VP8 (WebM) for video files. I'm using debian also using deb-multimedia repository. I need list of packages required for this formats(any format to this formats). also any configuration for install from package management or compile via latest ffmpeg repository. Thanks a lot.

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  • Streaming a webcam from Silverlight 4 (Beta)

    - by Ken Smith
    The new webcam stuff in Silverlight 4 is darned cool. By exposing it as a brush, it allows scenarios that are way beyond anything that Flash has. At the same time, accessing the webcam locally seems like it's only half the story. Nobody buys a webcam so they can take pictures of themselves and make funny faces out of them. They buy a webcam because they want other people to see the resulting video stream, i.e., they want to stream that video out to the Internet, a lay Skype or any of the dozens of other video chat sites/applications. And so far, I haven't figured out how to do that with It turns out that it's pretty simple to get a hold of the raw (Format32bppArgb formatted) bytestream, as demonstrated here. But unless we want to transmit that raw bytestream to a server (which would chew up way too much bandwidth), we need to encode that in some fashion. And that's more complicated. MS has implemented several codecs in Silverlight, but so far as I can tell, they're all focused on decoding a video stream, not encoding it in the first place. And that's apart from the fact that I can't figure out how to get direct access to, say, the H.264 codec in the first place. There are a ton of open-source codecs (for instance, in the ffmpeg project here), but they're all written in C, and they don't look easy to port to C#. Unless translating 10000+ lines of code that look like this is your idea of fun :-) const int b_xy= h->mb2b_xy[left_xy[i]] + 3; const int b8_xy= h->mb2b8_xy[left_xy[i]] + 1; *(uint32_t*)h->mv_cache[list][cache_idx ]= *(uint32_t*)s->current_picture.motion_val[list][b_xy + h->b_stride*left_block[0+i*2]]; *(uint32_t*)h->mv_cache[list][cache_idx+8]= *(uint32_t*)s->current_picture.motion_val[list][b_xy + h->b_stride*left_block[1+i*2]]; h->ref_cache[list][cache_idx ]= s->current_picture.ref_index[list][b8_xy + h->b8_stride*(left_block[0+i*2]>>1)]; h->ref_cache[list][cache_idx+8]= s->current_picture.ref_index[list][b8_xy + h->b8_stride*(left_block[1+i*2]>>1)]; The mooncodecs folder within the Mono project (here) has several audio codecs in C# (ADPCM and Ogg Vorbis), and one video codec (Dirac), but they all seem to implement just the decode portion of their respective formats, as do the java implementations from which they were ported. I found a C# codec for Ogg Theora (csTheora, http://www.wreckedgames.com/forum/index.php?topic=1053.0), but again, it's decode only, as is the jheora codec on which it's based. Of course, it would presumably be easier to port a codec from Java than from C or C++, but the only java video codecs that I found were decode-only (such as jheora, or jirac). So I'm kinda back at square one. It looks like our options for hooking up a webcam (or microphone) through Silverlight to the Internet are: (1) Wait for Microsoft to provide some guidance on this; (2) Spend the brain cycles porting one of the C or C++ codecs over to Silverlight-compatible C#; (3) Send the raw, uncompressed bytestream up to a server (or perhaps compressed slightly with something like zlib), and then encode it server-side; or (4) Wait for someone smarter than me to figure this out and provide a solution. Does anybody else have any better guidance? Have I missed something that's just blindingly obvious to everyone else? (For instance, does Silverlight 4 somewhere have some classes I've missed that take care of this?)

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  • MediaElement not showing in custom 3D class

    - by user3271180
    I'm trying to display a videostream in a Viewport3d. When I add the MediaElement via xaml, the video plays without a problem; even when I add the video as ModelVisual3D in the code-behind, the video works. When I abstract the video into a class, however, the video stops appearing. This happens with both web and local video files. I tried compiling with both x86 and 64 bit. Any way to fix this behaviour? Why is this happening? I have the following viewport: <Viewport3D> <!-- Camera --> <Viewport3D.Camera> <PerspectiveCamera Position="0,0,100" LookDirection="0,0,-1" UpDirection="0,1,0" /> </Viewport3D.Camera> <!-- Light --> <ModelVisual3D> <ModelVisual3D.Content> <AmbientLight Color="White" /> </ModelVisual3D.Content> </ModelVisual3D> <!-- this doesn't work --> <mediaElementTest:VideoControl /> <!-- but this does? --> <!--<ModelVisual3D> <ModelVisual3D.Content> <GeometryModel3D> <GeometryModel3D.Geometry> <MeshGeometry3D Positions="-100,-100,0 100,-100,0 100,100,0 -100,100,0" TextureCoordinates="0,1 1,1 1,0 0,0" TriangleIndices="0 1 2 0 2 3" /> </GeometryModel3D.Geometry> <GeometryModel3D.Material> <DiffuseMaterial> <DiffuseMaterial.Brush> <VisualBrush> <VisualBrush.Visual> <MediaElement Source="http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/videos/big_buck_bunny.mp4" /> </VisualBrush.Visual> </VisualBrush> </DiffuseMaterial.Brush> </DiffuseMaterial> </GeometryModel3D.Material> </GeometryModel3D> </ModelVisual3D.Content> </ModelVisual3D>--> </Viewport3D> VideoControl.xaml <UIElement3D x:Class="MediaElementTest.VideoControl" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"/> VideoControl.xaml.cs public partial class VideoControl { public VideoControl() { InitializeComponent(); Visual3DModel = CreateModel(); } private GeometryModel3D CreateModel() { return new GeometryModel3D { Geometry = new MeshGeometry3D { Positions = new Point3DCollection { new Point3D(-100, -100, 0), new Point3D(100, -100, 0), new Point3D(100, 100, 0), new Point3D(-100, 100, 0) }, TextureCoordinates = new PointCollection { new Point(0, 1), new Point(1, 1), new Point(1, 0), new Point(0, 0) }, TriangleIndices = new Int32Collection { 0, 1, 2, 0, 2, 3 } }, Material = new DiffuseMaterial(new VisualBrush(new MediaElement { Source = new Uri("http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/videos/big_buck_bunny.mp4", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute) })) }; } }

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  • Remotely Schedule and Stream Recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Have you ever been away from home and suddenly realized you forgot to record your favorite program? Now Windows 7 Media Center, users can schedule recordings remotely from their phones or mobile devices with Remote Potato. How it Works Remote Potato installs server software on the host computer running Windows 7 Media Center. Once the software is installed, we’ll need to do some port forwarding on the router and setup an optional dynamic DNS address. When setup is completed, we will access the application through a web based interface. Silverlight is required for Streaming recorded TV, but scheduling recordings can be done through an HTML interface. Installing Remote Potato Download and install Remote Potato on the Media Center PC. (See download link below) If you plan to stream any Recorded TV, you’ll also want to install the streaming pack located on the same page. It isn’t required to stream all shows, only shows that require the AC3 audio codec. Click Yes to allow Remote Potato to add rules to the Windows Firewall for remote access. You’ll likely need to accept a few UAC prompts. When notified that the rules were added, click OK. Remote Potato will then prompt you to allow administrator privileges to reserve a URL for it’s web server. Click Yes. Remote Potato server will start. Click on the configuration button at the right to to reveal the settings tabs.   One the General tab, you’ll have the option to run Remote Potato on startup and minimized in the System Tray. If you’re running Media Center on a dedicated HTPC, you’ll probably want to enable both startup options. Forwarding Ports on Your Router You’ll need to forward a couple ports on your router. By default, these will be ports 9080 and 9081. In this example we’re using a Linksys WRT54GL router, however, the steps for port forwarding will vary from router to router. On the Linksys configuration page, click on the Applications & Gaming Tab, and then the Port Range Forward tab. Under Application, type in a name of your choosing. In both the Start and End boxes, type the port number 9080. Enter the local IP address of your Media Center computer in the IP address column. Click the check box under Enable. Repeat the process on the next line, but this time use port 9081. When finished, click the Save Settings button. Note: It’s highly recommended that you configure the home computer running Media Center & Remote Potato with a static IP address.   Find your IP Address You’ll need to find the IP address assigned to your router from your ISP. There are many ways to do this but a quick and easy way is to visit a site like checkip.dyndns.org (link available below) The current external IP address of your router will be displayed in the browser.   Dynamic DNS This is an optional step, but  it’s highly recommended. Many routers, such as the Linksys WRT54GL we are using, support Dynamic DNS (DDNS). What Dynamic DNS allows you to do is affiliate your home router’s external IP address to a domain name. Every time your home router is assigned a a new IP address by your ISP, the domain name is updated to point to your new IP address. Remote Potato’s user interface is accessed over the Internet is by connecting to your router’s IP address followed by a colon and the port number. (Ex: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:9080) Instead of constantly having to look up and remember an IP address, you can use DDNS along with a 3rd party provider like DynDNS.com, to sign up for a free domain name and configure it to be updated each time your router is assigned a new IP address. Go to the DynDNS.com website (See link at the end of the article) and sign up for a free Domain name. You’ll need to register and confirm by email.   Once you’ve signed in and selected your domain name click Activate Services. You’ll get a confirmation message that your domain name has been activated.    On the Linksys WRT54GL click on the Setup tab an then DDNS. Select DynDNS.org, or TZO.com if you prefer to use their service, from the drop down list.   With DynDNS, you’ll need to fill in your username and password you signed up with at the DynDNS website and the hostname you chose. Note: You can connect over your local network with the IP Address of the computer running Remote Potato followed by a colon and the port number. Ex: 192.168.1.2:9080 Logging in Remote Potato and Recording a Show Once you connect, you’ll see the start page. To view the TV listings, click on TV Guide. You’ll then see your guide listings. There are a few ways to navigate the listings. At the top left, you can click on any of the preset time buttons to jump to  the listings at that time of the day.  Click on the arrows to the right and left of the day and date at the top center to proceed to the previous or next day. Or, jump to a specific day with the date and date buttons at the top right.   To setup a recording, click on a program.   You can choose to record the individual show or the entire series by clicking on Record Show or Record Series.   Remote Potato on Mobile Devices Perhaps the coolest feature of Remote Potato is the ability to schedule recording from your phone or mobile device. Note: For any devices or computers without Silverlight, you will be prompted to view the HTML page. Select Browse Listings. Select your program to record. In the Program Details, select Record Show to record the single episode or Record Series to record all instances of the series. You will then see a red dot on the program listing to indicate that the show is scheduled for recording.   Streaming Recorded TV Click on Recorded TV from the home screen to access your previously recorded TV programs. Click on the selection you wish to stream. Click on Play. If you receive this error message, you’ll need to install the streaming pack for Remote Potato. This is found on the same download page as installation files. (See link below) The Begin from slider allows you to start playback from the start (by default) or a different time of the program by moving the slider. The Quality (bitrate) setting  allows you to choose the quality of the playback. We found the video quality on the Normal setting to be pretty lousy, and Low was just pointless. High was the best overall viewing experience as it provided smooth quality video playback. We experienced significant stuttering during playback using the Ultra High setting.   Click Start when you are ready to begin. When playback begins you’ll see a slider at the top right.   Move the slider left or right to increase or decrease the size of the video. There’s also a button to switch to full screen.   Media Center users who travel frequently or are always on the go will likely find Remote Potato to be a blessing. Since being released earlier this year, updates for Remote Potato have come fast and furious. The latest beta release includes support for streaming music and photos. If you like those nice network TV logos, check out our article on adding TV channel logos to Windows Media Center. Downloads and Links Download Remote Potato and Streaming Pack Find your IP address Sign Up for a Domain Name at DynDNS.com Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Schedule Updates for Windows Media CenterUsing Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Add a Sleep Timer to Windows 7 Media CenterStartup Customizations for Media Center in Windows 7Enable Media Streaming in Windows Home Server to Windows Media Player TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error Gadfly is a cool Twitter/Silverlight app Enable DreamScene in Windows 7 Microsoft’s “How Do I ?” Videos

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  • Flash player not loading in Firefox or Chromium

    - by Dan Heyse
    I am brand new to Linux so can you (try) to keep answers as simple as possible. A few days ago I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.10 on an old computer (just under 500mb of RAM) and once I had completed the install. I installed the restricted extras thingy. I then tried to load up a Flash video in Firefox but it failed: all it would show is a blank box where the video should have been. At this point I tried various different video sites (iplayer, Youtube, etc) and I even tried opening up a downloaded flash game in Firefox but still I was just getting a blank box where the flash content should have been. Next I tried doing a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 32bit, installing the restricted extras thingy again but it still just showed up the blank box. Finally I tried various different methods for getting it to work including: Trying a different browser~ same issue Trying different websites~ same issue Reinstalling the Flash plugin via the software center~ same issue Reinstalling the Flash plugin via the Adobe website~ same issue Installing Flash-aid (a plugin designed to solve any issues with flash)~ same issue Disabling the flash plugin for Firefox~ Flash was no longer detected so the websites told me that I needed to install the flash plugin to play the content Not really sure what else to try???

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, March 08, 2010

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, March 08, 2010New Projects38fj4ncg2: 38fj4ncg2Ac#or: A actor framework written in Mono (C#) Make it easy to make multithreaded programs with the actor model.Aerial Phone Book: It's a ASP app that allow more of one user see a contacts on phone book and add new contacts. This way a group of users can maintain a common phon...AmiBroker Plug-Ins with C#: Plug-ins for AmiBroker built with Microsoft .NET Framework and C#.AxUnit: AxUnit is a Unit Testing framework for Microsoft Dynamics Ax (X++). It's an extension to the SysTest framework provided with DAX4.0 and newer versi...Botola PHP Class: Une class en PHP qui vous permet d'avoir les informations qui concernent les équipes de le championnat Marocain du football.Code examples, utilities and misc from Lars Wilhelmsen [MVP]: Misc. stuff from Lars Wilhelmsen.Codename T: Codename T is in the very basic stages of development. It should be ready for beta testing by the start of April.ComBrowser: combrowserCompact Unity: The Compact Unity is a lightweight dependency injection container with support for constructor and property call injection written in .NET Compact ...FAST for Sharepoint MOSS 2010 Query Tool: Tool to query FAST for Sharepoint and Sharepoint 2010 Enterprise Search. It utilizes the search web services to run your queries so you can test y...Icarus Scene Engine: Icarus Scene Engine is a cross-platform 3D eLearning, games and simulation engine, integrating open source APIs into a cohesive cross-platform solu...jQuery.cssLess: jQuery plugin that interprets and loads LESS css files. (http://lesscss.org).Katara Dental Phase II: Second phase of Kdpl.Lunar Phase Silverlight Gadget: Meet the moon phase, percent of illumination and corresponding zodiac sign from your desktop. Reflection Studio: Reflection Studio is a development tool that encapsulate all my work around reflection, performance and WPF. It allows to inject performance traces...RSNetty: RSNetty is a RuneScape Private Server programmed in the Java programming language.Simple WMV/ASF files muxer/demuxer: Simple WMV files muxer/demuxer implemented in C#/C++. It has simple WPF-based UI and allows copy/replace operations on video, audio and script stre...sm: managerTFS Proxy Monitor: TFS Proxy Monitor. A winform application allow administrator can monitor the TFS Server Proxy statistics remotely.umbracoSamplePackageCreator (beta): This is an early version of a simple package creator for Umbraco as a Visual Studio project. Currently with an Xslt extension and a user control. O...WatchersNET.TagCloud: 3D Flash TagCloud Module for DotNetNukeWriterous: A Plug-in For Windows Live Writer: This plug-in for Live Writer allows the user to create their post in Live Writer and then publish to Posterous.comNew Releases.NET Extensions - Extension Methods Library: Release 2010.05: Added a common set of extension methods for IDataReader, DataRow and DataRowView to access field values in a type safe manner using type dedicated ...AmiBroker Plug-Ins with C#: AmiBroker Plug-Ins v0.0.1: This is just a demo plug-in which shows how you can write plug-ins for AmiBroker with fully managed code.AxUnit: Version 1: AxUnit let's you write Unit Test assertions in Dynamics Ax like this: assert.that(2, is.equalTo2)); Installation instructions (Microsoft Dynamics ...BattLineSvc: V2: - Fixed bug where sometimes the line would not show up, even with the 90 second boot-up delay. This was due to the window being created too early ...Botola PHP Class: Botola API: la classe PHPBugTracker.NET: BugTracker.NET 3.4.0: In screen capture app, "Go to website" now goes to the bug you just created. In screen capture app, fixed where the crosshairs weren't always to...Bulk Project Delete: Version 1.1.1: A minor fix to 1.1: fixes a problem that indicated some projects were not found on the server when they were in fact found. This problem only exist...C# Linear Hash Table: Linear Hash Table b3: Remove functionality added. Now IDictionary Compliant, but most functions not yet tested.Code examples, utilities and misc from Lars Wilhelmsen [MVP]: LarsW.MexEdmxFixer 1.0: A quick hack to fix the Edmx files output by mex.exe (a tool in the SQL Modeling suite - November 2009 CTP) so that they can be opened in the desig...Code Snippet With Syntaxhighlighter Support for Windows Live Writer: Version 5.0.2: Minor update. Added brushes for F#, PowerShell and Erlang. Now a Windows Presentation Framework (WPF) application. ComponentFactory.Krypton.Toolki...Compact Unity: Compact Unity 1.0: Release.Compact Unity: CompactUnity 1.0: Release.FAST for Sharepoint MOSS 2010 Query Tool: Version 0.9: The tool is fully functioning. All of the cases for exceptions may not have been caught yet. I wanted to release a version to allow people to use...Fluent Ribbon Control Suite: Fluent Ribbon Control Suite RC (for .NET 4.0 RC): Build for .NET 4.0 RC. Includes Fluent.dll (with .pdb and .xml) and test application compiled with .NET 4.0 RC. BEAWARE! Fluent for .NET 4.0 RC is...FluentNHibernate.Search: 0.2 Beta: 0.2 Beta Fixed : #7275 - Field Mapping without specifying "Name" Fixed : #7271 - StackOverFlow Exception while Configure Embedded Mappings Fixed :...InfoService: InfoService v1.5 Beta 9: InfoService Beta Release Please note this is a BETA. It should be stable, but i can't guarantee that! So use it on your own risk. Please read Plug...jQuery.cssLess: jQuery.cssLess 0.2: Version supports variables, mixins and nested rules. TODO: lower scope variables and mixins should not delete higher scope variables and mixins ...Lunar Phase Silverlight Gadget: Lunar Phase: First public beta for Lunar Phase Silverlight Gadget. It's a stable release but it hasn't auto update state. That will come with the final release ...MapWindow GIS: MapWindow 6.0 msi (March 7): This is an update that fixes a number of problems with the multi-point features, the M and Z features as well as enabling multi-part creation using...Mews: Mews.Application V0.7: Installation InstuctionsNew Features15390 15085 Fixed Issues16173 16552. This happens when the database maintenance process kicks in during sta...sELedit: sELedit v1.0a: Added: Basic exception handlers (load/save/export) Added: List 57 support (no search and replace) Added: MYEN 1.3.1 Client ->CN 1.3.6 Server export...Sem.Sync: 2010-03-07 - End user client for Xing to Outlook: This client does include the binaries for syncing Xing contacts to Microsoft Outlook. It does contain only the binaries to sync from Xing to Outloo...Sem.Sync: 2010-03-07 - Synchronization Manager: This client does provide a more advanced (and more complex) GUI that allows you to select from two included templates (you can add your own, too) a...SharePoint Outlook Connector: Source Code for Version 1.2.3.2: Source Code for Version 1.2.3.2SharePoint Video Player Web Part & SharePoint Video Library: Version 2.0.0: Release Notes: New The new SharePoint Video Player release includes a SharePoint video template to create your own video library Changes The Shar...SilverSprite: SilverSprite 3.0 Alpha 2: These are the latest binaries for SilverSprite. The major changes for this release are that we are now using the XNA namespaces (no more #Iif SILVE...Simple WMV/ASF files muxer/demuxer: Initial release: Initial releaseStarter Master Pages for SharePoint 2010: Starter Master Pages for SP2010 - RC: Release Candidate release of Starter Master Pages for SharePoint 2010 by Randy Drisgill http://blog.drisgill.com _starter.master - Starter Master ...Text Designer Outline Text Library: 11th minor release: New Feature : Reflection!!ToolSuite.ValidationExpression: 01.00.01.002: second release of the validation class; the assembly file is ready to use, the documentation is complete;Truecrafting: Truecrafting 0.51: overhauled truecrafting code: combined all engines into 1 mage engine, made the engine and artificial intelligence support any spec, and achieved a...WatchersNET.TagCloud: WatchersNET.TagCloud 01.00.00: First ReleaseWCF Contrib: WCF Contrib v2.1 Mar07: This release is the final version of v2.1 Beta that was published on February 10th. Below you will find the changes that were made: Changes from v...WillStrohl.LightboxGallery Module for DotNetNuke: WillStrohl.LightboxGallery v1.02.00: This version of the Lightbox Gallery Module adds the following features: New Lightbox provider: Fancybox Thumbnails generated keeping their aspec...Writerous: A Plug-in For Windows Live Writer: Writerous v1.0: This is the first release of Writerous.WSDLGenerator: WSDLGenerator 0.0.0.5: - Use updated CommandLineParser.dll - Code uses 'ServiceDescriptionReflector' instead of custom code. - Added option to support SharePoint 2007 com...Xpress - ASP.NET MVC 个人博客程序: xpress2.1.0.beta.bin: 原 DsJian1.0的升级版本,名字修改为 xpress 此正式版本YSCommander: Version 1.0.1.0: Fixed bug: 1st start with non-existing data file.Most Popular ProjectsMetaSharpWBFS ManagerRawrAJAX Control ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)ASP.NETMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesImage Resizer Powertoy Clone for WindowsMost Active ProjectsUmbraco CMSRawrSDS: Scientific DataSet library and toolsBlogEngine.NETjQuery Library for SharePoint Web Servicespatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryIonics Isapi Rewrite FilterFarseer Physics EngineFluent AssertionsFasterflect - A Fast and Simple Reflection API

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  • Ask How-To Geek: iPad Battery Life, Batch Resizing Photos, and Syncing Massive Music Collections

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Christmas was good to many of you and now you’ve got all sorts of tech questions related to your holiday spoils. Come on in and we’ll clear up how to squeeze more life out of your iPad, resize all those photos, and sync massive music collections to mobile devices. Once a week we dip into our reader mailbag and help readers solve their problems, sharing the useful solutions with you in the process. Read on to see our fixes for this week’s reader dilemmas. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? HTG Explains: Why Does Photo Paper Improve Print Quality? Orbiting at the Edge of the Atmosphere Wallpaper Simon’s Cat Explores the Christmas Tree! [Video] The Outdoor Lights Scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation [Video] The Famous Home Alone Pizza Delivery Scene [Classic Video] Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Theme for Windows 7 Cardinal and Rabbit Sharing a Tree on a Cold Winter Morning Wallpaper

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  • Incorporating Sound in UPK 3.6.1

    - by [email protected]
    UPK 3.6.1 now offers developers the ability to easily record and edit sound from right within the UPK Developer. Sound can be recorded in either the concept pane or individual topic frames. A developer can record sound at the same time they're capturing a transaction or by adding sound after recording, on a frame-by-frame basis. The sound editor in UPK 3.6.1 allows developers to perform a variety of editing functions: play, insert sound or silence, delete, adjust amplification, and import or export sound files, just to name a few. Internally, Oracle Product Management is using this functionality to create "UPK-casts" for enablement purposes. We do this by capturing PowerPoint slides, then adding sound, allowing us to create our own recorded "webcasts". Because we develop these independently, we control the content and have more flexibility to edit the content as needed. Whether it's a change to a single frame or an entire topic, we can react quickly, providing our users with the most up-to-date information. And you don't need expensive equipment or a sound studio to achieve good sound quality. Depending on how your end users are accessing your content, a $35 head set can do the trick. Just be sure to follow the best practices for sound recording as outlined in the UPK documentation. Tip: we've found that we get the best results with sound consistency when we record all the sound for a topic at one sitting. UPK 3.6.1 is now available for download from Oracle E-Delivery. Upgrade today and have fun creating more robust, engaging content for your users! - Karen Rihs, Oracle UPK & Tutor Outbound Product Management

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  • Productivity Tips

    - by Brian T. Jackett
    A few months ago during my first end of year review at Microsoft I was doing an assessment of my year.  One of my personal goals to come out of this reflection was to improve my personal productivity.  While I hear many people say “I wish I had more hours in the day so that I could get more done” I feel like that is the wrong approach.  There is an inherent assumption that you are being productive with your time that you already have and thus more time would allow you to be as productive given more time.    Instead of wishing I could add more hours to the day I’ve begun adopting a number of processes or behavior changes in my personal life to make better use of my time with the goal of improving productivity.  The areas of focus are as follows: Focus Processes Tools Personal health Email Note: A number of these topics have spawned from reading Scott Hanselman’s blog posts on productivity, reading of David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, and discussions with friends and coworkers who had great insights into this topic.   Focus Pre-reading / viewing: Overcome your work addiction Millennials paralyzed by choice Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (Scott Hanselman video)    I highly recommend Scott Hanselman’s video above and this post before continuing with this article.  It is well worth the 40+ mins price of admission for the video and couple minutes for article.  One key takeaway for me was listing out my activities in an average week and realizing which ones held little or no value to me.  We all have a finite amount of time to work each day.  Do you know how much time and effort you spend on various aspects of your life (family, friends, religion, work, personal happiness, etc.)?  Do your actions and commitments reflect your priorities?    The biggest time consumers with little value for me were time spent on social media services (Twitter and Facebook), playing an MMO video game, and watching TV.  I still check up on Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft internal chat forums, and other services to keep contact with others but I’ve reduced that time significantly.  As for TV I’ve cut the cord and no longer subscribe to cable TV.  Instead I use Netflix, RedBox, and over the air channels but again with reduced time consumption.  With the time I’ve freed up I’m back to working out 2-3 times a week and reading 4 nights a week (both of which I had been neglecting previously).  I’ll mention a few tools for helping measure your time in the Tools section.   Processes    Do not multi-task.  I’ll say it again.  Do not multi-task.  There is no such thing as multi tasking.  The human brain is optimized to work on one thing at a time.  When you are “multi-tasking” you are really doing 2 or more things at less than 100%, usually by a wide margin.  I take pride in my work and when I’m doing something less than 100% the results typically degrade rapidly.    Now there are some ways of bending the rules of physics for this one.  There is the notion of getting a double amount of work done in the same timeframe.  Some examples would be listening to podcasts / watching a movie while working out, using a treadmill as your work desk, or reading while in the bathroom.    Personally I’ve found good results in combining one task that does not require focus (making dinner, playing certain video games, working out) and one task that does (watching a movie, listening to podcasts).  I believe this is related to me being a visual and kinesthetic (using my hands or actually doing it) learner.  I’m terrible with auditory learning.  My fiance and I joke that sometimes we talk and talk to each other but never really hear each other.   Goals / Tasks    Goals can give us direction in life and a sense of accomplishment when we complete them.  Goals can also overwhelm us and give us a sense of failure when we don’t complete them.  I propose that you shift your perspective and not dwell on all of the things that you haven’t gotten done, but focus instead on regularly setting measureable goals that are within reason of accomplishing.    At the end of each time frame have a retrospective to review your progress.  Do not feel guilty about what you did not accomplish.  Feel proud of what you did accomplish and readjust your goals for the next time frame to more attainable goals.  Here is a sample schedule I’ve seen proposed by some.  I have not consistently set goals for each timeframe, but I do typically set 3 small goals a day (this blog post is #2 for today). Each day set 3 small goals Each week set 3 medium goals Each month set 1 large goal Each year set 2 very large goals   Tools    Tools are an extension of our human body.  They help us extend beyond what we can physically and mentally do.  Below are some tools I use almost daily or have found useful as of late. Disclaimer: I am not getting endorsed to promote any of these products.  I just happen to like them and find them useful. Instapaper – Save internet links for reading later.  There are many tools like this but I’ve found this to be a great one.  There is even a “read it later” JavaScript button you can add to your browser so when you navigate to a site it will then add this to your list. Stacks for Instapaper – A Windows Phone 7 app for reading my Instapaper articles on the go.  It does require a subscription to Instapaper (nominal $3 every three months) but is easily worth the cost.  Alternatively you can set up your Kindle to sync with Instapaper easily but I haven’t done so. SlapDash Podcast – Apps for Windows Phone and  Windows 8 (possibly other platforms) to sync podcast viewing / listening across multiple devices.  Now that I have my Surface RT device (which I love) this is making my consumption easier to manage. Feed Reader – Simple Windows 8 app for quickly catching up on my RSS feeds.  I used to have hundreds of unread items all the time.  Now I’m down to 20-50 regularly and it is much easier and faster to consume on my Surface RT.  There is also a free version (which I use) and I can’t see much different between the free and paid versions currently. Rescue Time – Have you ever wondered how much time you’ve spent on websites vs. email vs. “doing work”?  This service tracks your computer actions and then lets you report on them.  This can help you quantitatively identify areas where your actions are not in line with your priorities. PowerShell – Windows automation tool.  It is now built into every client and server OS.  This tool has saved me days (and I mean the full 24 hrs worth) of time and effort in the past year alone.  If you haven’t started learning PowerShell and you administrating any Windows OS or server product you need to start today. Various blogging tools – I wrote a post a couple years ago called How I Blog about my blogging process and tools used.  Almost all of it still applies today.   Personal Health    Some of these may be common sense or debatable, but I’ve found them to help prioritize my daily activities. Get plenty of sleep on a regular basis.  Sacrificing sleep too many nights a week negatively impacts your cognition, attitude, and overall health. Exercise at least three days.  Exercise could be lifting weights, taking the stairs up multiple flights of stairs, walking for 20 mins, or a number of other "non-traditional” activities.  I find that regular exercise helps with sleep and improves my overall attitude. Eat a well balanced diet.  Too much sugar, caffeine, junk food, etc. are not good for your body.  This is not a matter of losing weight but taking care of your body and helping you perform at your peak potential.   Email    Email can be one of the biggest time consumers (i.e. waster) if you aren’t careful. Time box your email usage.  Set a meeting invite for yourself if necessary to limit how much time you spend checking email. Use rules to prioritize your email.  Email from external customers, my manager, or include me directly on the To line go into my inbox.  Everything else goes a level down and I have 30+ rules to further sort it, mostly distribution lists. Use keyboard shortcuts (when available).  I use Outlook for my primary email and am constantly hitting Alt + S to send, Ctrl + 1 for my inbox, Ctrl + 2 for my calendar, Space / Tab / Shift + Tab to mark items as read, and a number of other useful commands.  Learn them and you’ll see your speed getting through emails increase. Keep emails short.  No one Few people like reading through long emails.  The first line should state exactly why you are sending the email followed by a 3-4 lines to support it.  Anything longer might be better suited as a phone call or in person discussion.   Conclusion    In this post I walked through various tips and tricks I’ve found for improving personal productivity.  It is a mix of re-focusing on the things that matter, using tools to assist in your efforts, and cutting out actions that are not aligned with your priorities.  I originally had a whole section on keyboard shortcuts, but with my recent purchase of the Surface RT I’m finding that touch gestures have replaced numerous keyboard commands that I used to need.  I see a big future in touch enabled devices.  Hopefully some of these tips help you out.  If you have any tools, tips, or ideas you would like to share feel free to add in the comments section.         -Frog Out   Links Scott Hanselman Productivity posts http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CategoryView.aspx?category=Productivity Overcome your work addiction http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2012/05/overcome-your-work-addiction.html?awid=5512355740280659420-3271   Millennials paralyzed by choice http://priyaparker.com/blog/millennials-paralyzed-by-choice   Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (video) http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ItsNotWhatYouReadItsWhatYouIgnoreVideoOfScottHanselmansPersonalProductivityTips.aspx   Cutting the cord – Jeff Blankenburg http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/2011/04/06/cutting-the-cord/   Building a sitting standing desk – Eric Harlan http://www.ericharlan.com/Everything_Else/building-a-sitting-standing-desk-a229.html   Instapaper http://www.instapaper.com/u   Stacks for Instapaper http://www.stacksforinstapaper.com/   Slapdash Podcast Windows Phone -  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/slapdash-podcasts/90e8b121-080b-e011-9264-00237de2db9e Windows 8 - http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/slapdash-podcasts/0c62e66a-f2e4-4403-af88-3430a821741e/m/ROW   Feed Reader http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/feed-reader/d03199c9-8e08-469a-bda1-7963099840cc/m/ROW   Rescue Time http://www.rescuetime.com/   PowerShell Script Center http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/bb410849.aspx

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  • Add a “Textmate Style” Lightweight Text Editor with Dropbox Syncing to Chrome and Iron

    - by Asian Angel
    Are you looking for a good text editing environment with Dropbox syncing built in for your browser? If the answer is yes, then you should definitely give the SourceKit – Text Editor Inside Chrome web app a try. Once SourceKit has finished installing you will need to log into your Dropbox account if you have not already done so. Note: Dropbox login tab will automatically open for your convenience. When the login process is complete you will need to authorize access for SourceKit to sync up with your account. After you authorize access you can switch back to the SourceKit tab and see a complete listing of your Dropbox files available on the left side. Note: Sidebar width is adjustable. Just choose a file to start editing it as desired. You can modify how the interface looks and acts using the controls at the top of the editing window. The tab bar UI also lets you work on multiple documents at the same time. Note: The .crx install file is 5.2 MB in size and SourceKit will take a few moments to get settled in once the file is downloaded. SourceKit – Text Editor Inside Chrome [Chrome Web Store] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions Add a “Textmate Style” Lightweight Text Editor with Dropbox Syncing to Chrome and Iron Is the Forcefield Really On or Not? [Star Wars Parody Video] Google Updates Picasa Web Albums; Emphasis on Sharing and Showcasing Uwall.tv Turns YouTube into a Video Jukebox Early Morning Sunrise at the Beach Wallpaper Data Networks Visualized via Light Paintings [Video]

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  • xvidcap: Error accessing sound input from /dev/dsp

    - by stivlo
    I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 and I'm trying xvidcap to record a screencast with audio from the microphone, however it can't record any sound: $ xvidcap --file appo.avi --cap_geometry 700x500-0+0 Error accessing sound input from /dev/dsp Sound disabled! Sure enough /dev/dsp doesn't even exist: $ sudo ls -lh /dev/dsp ls: cannot access /dev/dsp: No such file or directory I found a blog post about fixing xvidcap sound input, however if I try the suggestion I get: $ sudo modprobe snd-pcm-oss FATAL: Module snd_pcm_oss not found. So the question is, how can I create /dev/dsp? The problem behind the problem is: how can I record sound from the microphone with xvidcap? So workarounds are welcome too. UPDATE: I've followed the suggestion of James, and something has improved. The error accessing /dev/dsp is gone, however now I get: [oss @ 0x8e0c120] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate xtoffmpeg.c add_audio_stream(): Can't initialize fifo for audio recording Now when I record xvidcap appears in the recording tab of pavucontrol and I can choose Audio stream from Internal Audio Analog Stereo or Monitor of Internal Audio Analog Stereo, I tried both just in case, but the video is still mute. UPDATE 2: I found that "Monitor of" is the one to record application sounds, while for microphone, I should choose "Internal Audio Analog Stereo". To rule out other problems, such as with the microphone, I tried with gnome-sound-recorder and it works. Actually I jumped on my chair, since the volume was too high! :-)

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  • Etch a Circuit Board using a Simple Homemade Mixture

    - by ETC
    If you’ve been dabbling in DIY electronics projects but you’re not so excited about keeping strong acids around to etch your circuit boards, this simple DIY recipe uses common household chemicals in lieu of strong acid. Electronics hobbyist Stephen Hobley wanted to see if he could create an etching solution that wasn’t as dangerous and noxious smelling at traditional muriatic acid solutions. By combining regular white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and table salt, he created a homemade etching solution from ingredients safe enough to store in your pantry. The only downside to his recipe is that, compared to traditional etching solutions, the process takes a little bit longer so you’ll have to leave your board in the solution longer. Not a bad trade off for the ability to skip using any oops-I-burned-my-skin-off acids. Check out the process in the video below: Hit up the link below for more information and and interesting explanation of the chemical process (he talks about not quite understanding it in the video but two chemists write in and give him the full run down). DIY Etching Solution [Stephen Hobley via Make] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Macs Don’t Make You Creative! So Why Do Artists Really Love Apple? MacX DVD Ripper Pro is Free for How-To Geek Readers (Time Limited!) HTG Explains: What’s a Solid State Drive and What Do I Need to Know? How to Get Amazing Color from Photos in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Etch a Circuit Board using a Simple Homemade Mixture Sync Blocker Stops iTunes from Automatically Syncing The Journey to the Mystical Forest [Wallpaper] Trace Your Browser’s Roots on the Browser Family Tree [Infographic] Save Files Directly from Your Browser to the Cloud in Chrome and Iron The Steve Jobs Chronicles – Charlie and the Apple Factory [Video]

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  • Sam's Story: It's About Life

    - by user801960
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Oracle recently released a video illustrating how Oracle products and services impact people every day of their lives. This overview demonstrates just how many different industries rely on Oracle’s world-leading technology solutions to gather and process data, enabling them to engineer systems together in the cloud and in the data centre. The video explores how Oracle solutions are impacting the retail, automotive, pharmaceutical, medical and travel industries. Through the central character, Sam, this video highlights how cross-industry solutions like collaboration software, data processing and business intelligence platforms can improve business performance, reliability and flexibility; lower the cost and complexity of IT implementation and management; and deliver greater productivity, agility and better business intelligence. To find out more about how Oracle’s products and services can help you to deliver better results, visit www.oracle.com/retail

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  • Disable Ethernet permanently to speed up boot time

    - by Anwar Shah
    I do not use the wired Ethernet Card. It seems to me that, Ubuntu is always trying in boot time to check the network via eth0, Which consumes some times and I guess this may slow down the boot process a bit. My dmesg output is below (partial) 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 1.985592] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:01/input/input5 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 1.985651] ACPI: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no) 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 1.985693] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 2.056261] firewire_core: created device fw0: GUID 00023f87af41fd7d, S400 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 3.710435] EXT4-fs (sda9): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null) A big time here..... 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 13.466642] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.125296] Adding 1050620k swap on /dev/sda6. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1050620k 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.226952] EXT4-fs (sda9): re-mounted. Opts: (null) 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.335012] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A - GSI 22 (level, low) - IRQ 22 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.335091] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: irq 45 for MSI/MSI-X 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.335128] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.346410] input: Ideapad extra buttons as /devices/platform/ideapad/input/input6 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.428551] input: HDA Intel Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input7 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.436958] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.476550] Linux video capture interface: v2.00 2012-06-11 23:06:47 Ubuntu-KDE kernel [ 14.486385] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (04f2:b008) So, My question is How can I disable the Ethernet card completely, so that kernel will not try to use that?

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  • guvciew/youtube problem

    - by Anonymous
    I'm fairly new to Linux. Running on 12.10 Ubuntu. I've been running into some problems recording videos. Cheese crashes (as I've read from other users), YouTube will not allow me to select Allow (flash in Chrome and in Firefox). I managed to get 1 video uploaded from my cam and it worked about half the time, cut the audio off, lagged, etc. My computer is fine 4gigs, 32-bit i5 so it shouldn't be a problem. Now onto guv, I managed to get 1 video to work and after that every video I save it comes up with an orange file that looks like a film. I tried to change the file name, open in VLC, everything. I love Ubuntu and I'm never going back to Windows, ever One other thing to note is I am allowed to click "allowed" in Tiny chat. I even went to the adobe website to allow everything to bypass allow, deny option and nothing. Even went out of my way to add youtube/upload/cam for it to allow it and nothing. I realize right now Flash has been terrible for the past couple of months (especially in Chrome). What my question is well first and foremost, how do I fix this, if possible? I've thought about running Wine but I haven't heard anything good about it and I've already re reformated Ubuntu twice. Is there a codec pack I need too? Like I said everything works fine, especially in Chrome. It allows me to broadcast, no lag, and my mic works fine. guv would be my best option at this point because everything I've tried has given me nothing but trouble Thanks and I hope you guys can give me an answer. I've been at this for 2-3 days straight now. I could even go out of my way to not use Youtube and use something similar if it came down to it.

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  • Are today's general purpose languages at the right level of abstarction ?

    - by KeesDijk
    Today Uncle Bob Martin, a genuine hero, showed this video In this video Bob Martin claims that our programming languages are at the right level for our problems at this time. One of the reasons I get from this video as that he Bob Martin sees us detail managers and our problems are at the detail level. This is the first time I have to disagree with Bob Martin and was wondering what the people at programmers think about this. First there is a difference between MDA and MDE MDA in itself hasn't worked and I blame way to much formalisation at a level you can't formalize these kind of problems. MDE and MDD are still trying to prove themselves and in my mind show great promise. e.g. look at MetaEdit The detail still needs to be management in my mind, but you do so in one place (framework or generators) instead of at multiple places. Right for our kind of problems ? I think depends on what problems you look at. Do the current programming languages keep up with the current demands on time to market ? Are they good at bridging the business IT communication gap ? So what do you think ?

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  • Are today's general purpose languages at the right level of abstraction ?

    - by KeesDijk
    Today Uncle Bob Martin, a genuine hero, showed this video In this video Bob Martin claims that our programming languages are at the right level for our problems at this time. One of the reasons I get from this video as that Bob Martin sees us as detail managers and our problems are at the detail level. This is the first time I have to disagree with Bob Martin and was wondering what the people at programmers think about this. First there is a difference between MDA and MDE MDA in itself hasn't worked and I blame way to much formalisation at a level you can't formalize these kind of problems. MDE and MDD are still trying to prove themselves and in my mind show great promise. e.g. look at MetaEdit The detail still needs to be management in my mind, but you do so in one place (framework or generators) instead of at multiple places. Right for our kind of problems ? I think depends on what problems you look at. Do the current programming languages keep up with the current demands on time to market ? Are they good at bridging the business IT communication gap ? So what do you think ?

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  • That Escalated Quickly

    - by Jesse Taber
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/GruffCode/archive/2014/05/17/that-escalated-quickly.aspxI have been working remotely out of my home for over 4 years now. All of my coworkers during that time have also worked remotely. Lots of folks have written about the challenges inherent in facilitating communication on remote teams and strategies for overcoming them. A popular theme around this topic is the notion of “escalating communication”. In this context “escalating” means taking a conversation from one mode of communication to a different, higher fidelity mode of communication. Here are the five modes of communication I use at work in order of increasing fidelity: Email – This is the “lowest fidelity” mode of communication that I use. I usually only check it a few times a day (and I’m trying to check it even less frequently than that) and I only keep items in my inbox if they represent an item I need to take action on that I haven’t tracked anywhere else. Forums / Message boards – Being a developer, I’ve gotten into the habit of having other people look over my code before it becomes part of the product I’m working on. These code reviews often happen in “real time” via screen sharing, but I also always have someone else give all of the changes another look using pull requests. A pull request takes my code and lets someone else see the changes I’ve made side-by-side with the existing code so they can see if I did anything dumb. Pull requests can facilitate a conversation about the code changes in an online-forum like style. Some teams I’ve worked on also liked using tools like Trello or Google Groups to have on-going conversations about a topic or task that was being worked on. Chat & Instant Messaging  - Chat and instant messaging are the real workhorses for communication on the remote teams I’ve been a part of. I know some teams that are co-located that also use it pretty extensively for quick messages that don’t warrant walking across the office to talk with someone but reqire more immediacy than an e-mail. For the purposes of this post I think it’s important to note that the terms “chat” and “instant messaging” might insinuate that the conversation is happening in real time, but that’s not always true. Modern chat and IM applications maintain a searchable history so people can easily see what might have been discussed while they were away from their computers. Voice, Video and Screen sharing – Everyone’s got a camera and microphone on their computers now, and there are an abundance of services that will let you use them to talk to other people who have cameras and microphones on their computers. I’m including screen sharing here as well because, in my experience, these discussions typically involve one or more people showing the other participants something that’s happening on their screen. Obviously, this mode of communication is much higher-fidelity than any of the ones listed above. Scheduled meetings are typically conducted using this mode of communication. In Person – No matter how great communication tools become, there’s no substitute for meeting with someone face-to-face. However, opportunities for this kind of communcation are few and far between when you work on a remote team. When a conversation gets escalated that usually means it moves up one or more positions on this list. A lot of people advocate jumping to #4 sooner than later. Like them, I used to believe that, if it was possible, organizing a call with voice and video was automatically better than any kind of text-based communication could be. Lately, however, I’m becoming less convinced that escalating is always the right move. Working Asynchronously Last year I attended a talk at our local code camp given by Drew Miller. Drew works at GitHub and was talking about how they use GitHub internally. Many of the folks at GitHub work remotely, so communication was one of the main themes in Drew’s talk. During the talk Drew used the phrase, “asynchronous communication” to describe their use of chat and pull request comments. That phrase stuck in my head because I hadn’t heard it before but I think it perfectly describes the way in which remote teams often need to communicate. You don’t always know when your co-workers are at their computers or what hours (if any) they are working that day. In order to work this way you need to assume that the person you’re talking to might not respond right away. You can’t always afford to wait until everyone required is online and available to join a voice call, so you need to use text-based, persistent forms of communication so that people can receive and respond to messages when they are available. Going back to my list from the beginning of this post for a second, I characterize items #1-3 as being “asynchronous” modes of communication while we could call items #4 and #5 “synchronous”. When communication gets escalated it’s almost always moving from an asynchronous mode of communication to a synchronous one. Now, to the point of this post: I’ve become increasingly reluctant to escalate from asynchronous to synchronous communication for two primary reasons: 1 – You can often find a higher fidelity way to convey your message without holding a synchronous conversation 2 - Asynchronous modes of communication are (usually) persistent and searchable. You Don’t Have to Broadcast Live Let’s start with the first reason I’ve listed. A lot of times you feel like you need to escalate to synchronous communication because you’re having difficulty describing something that you’re seeing in words. You want to provide the people you’re conversing with some audio-visual aids to help them understand the point that you’re trying to make and you think that getting on Skype and sharing your screen with them is the best way to do that. Firing up a screen sharing session does work well, but you can usually accomplish the same thing in an asynchronous manner. For example, you could take a screenshot and annotate it with some text and drawings to illustrate what it is you’re seeing. If a screenshot won’t work, taking a short screen recording while your narrate over it and posting the video to your forum or chat system along with a text-based description of what’s in the recording that can be searched for later can be a great way to effectively communicate with your team asynchronously. I Said What?!? Now for the second reason I listed: most asynchronous modes of communication provide a transcript of what was said and what decisions might have been made during the conversation. There have been many occasions where I’ve used the search feature of my team’s chat application to find a conversation that happened several weeks or months ago to remember what was decided. Unfortunately, I think the benefits associated with the persistence of communicating asynchronously often get overlooked when people decide to escalate to a in-person meeting or voice/video call. I’m becoming much more reluctant to suggest a voice or video call if I suspect that it might lead to codifying some kind of design decision because everyone involved is going to hang up the call and immediately forget what was decided. I recognize that you can record and archive these types of interactions, but without being able to search them the recordings aren’t terribly useful. When and How To Escalate I don’t mean to imply that communicating via voice/video or in person is never a good idea. I probably jump on a Skype call with a co-worker at least once a day to quickly hash something out or show them a bit of code that I’m working on. Also, meeting in person periodically is really important for remote teams. There’s no way around the fact that sometimes it’s easier to jump on a call and show someone my screen so they can see what I’m seeing. So when is it right to escalate? I think the simplest way to answer that is when the communication starts to feel painful. Everyone’s tolerance for that pain is different, but I think you need to let it hurt a little bit before jumping to synchronous communication. When you do escalate from asynchronous to synchronous communication, there are a couple of things you can do to maximize the effectiveness of the communication: Takes notes – This is huge and yet I’ve found that a lot of teams don’t do this. If you’re holding a meeting with  > 2 people you should have someone taking notes. Taking notes while participating in a meeting can be difficult but there are a few strategies to deal with this challenge that probably deserve a short post of their own. After the meeting, make sure the notes are posted to a place where all concerned parties (including those that might not have attended the meeting) can review and search them. Persist decisions made ASAP – If any decisions were made during the meeting, persist those decisions to a searchable medium as soon as possible following the conversation. All the teams I’ve worked on used a web-based system for tracking the on-going work and a backlog of work to be done in the future. I always try to make sure that all of the cards/stories/tasks/whatever in these systems always reflect the latest decisions that were made as the work was being planned and executed. If held a quick call with your team lead and decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to build real-time validation into that new UI you were working on, go and codify that decision in the story associated with that work immediately after you hang up. Even better, write it up in the story while you are both still on the phone. That way when the folks from your QA team pick up the story to test a few days later they’ll know why the real-time validation isn’t there without having to invoke yet another conversation about the work. Communicating Well is Hard At this point you might be thinking that communicating asynchronously is more difficult than having a live conversation. You’re right: it is more difficult. In order to communicate effectively this way you need to very carefully think about the message that you’re trying to convey and craft it in a way that’s easy for your audience to understand. This is almost always harder than just talking through a problem in real time with someone; this is why escalating communication is such a popular idea. Why wouldn’t we want to do the thing that’s easier? Easier isn’t always better. If you and your team can get in the habit of communicating effectively in an asynchronous manner you’ll find that, over time, all of your communications get less painful because you don’t need to re-iterate previously made points over and over again. If you communicate right the first time, you often don’t need to rehash old conversations because you can go back and find the decisions that were made laid out in plain language. You’ll also find that you get better at doing things like writing useful comments in your code, creating written documentation about how the feature that you just built works, or persuading your team to do things in a certain way.

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  • Blogging is Hard

    - by Aaron Lazenby
    Not really. But wi-fi access is limited to common areas in the COLLABORATE 10 conference center here in Las Vegas. So my grand roving iPad blog update plan has been delayed a day while I measured signal strength and searched for a place to sit. Tuesday morning, I accomplished both. Yesterday I shot a nice, quick video of Bahseer Khan about embedded decision support--a part of his Oracle Fusion Applications presentation that I think could do with some additional discussion as we ramp up for Oracle's next-generation applications. I'll post that video here by the end of the day. Later today I'll also be interviewing OAUG president David Ferguson about the prevailing trends at COLLABORATE 10, the addition of Sun (and Sun's user groups) to the Oracle portfolio, and what the next 12 month holds in store for the Oracle user community. Look for that video later today too. If you can't wait for me to dash down to the lobby to make a blog update, don't forget that you can follow Profit at COLLABORATE 10 on Twitter (@OracleProfit). That way, you'll get updates about Billy Cripe's kilt in real time. More to come as this day develops. Next up: virtualization. Also, notes and coverage from yesterday's keynote presentation.

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  • Ask The Readers: What Are Your Best Malware Fighting Tricks?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Malware has become increasingly sophisticated and widespread; it’s more important than ever to have a robust toolkit for dealing with it. This week we want to hear about your favorite tips and tricks for dealing with malware infestations. Photo background by clix. Dealing with malware infestations usually takes more than simply running an anti-virus scanner. This week we want to hear your best tips, tricks, and unique tools for dealing with malware on your computer or, more likely, the computers of unwitting friends and relatives. Here’s a few tips we’ve shared in the past to highlight what we’re talking about when we ask for tips (as opposed to simple recommendations for a certain AV application): Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware How To Remove Internet Security 2010 and other Rogue/Fake Antivirus Malware How To Remove Antivirus Live and Other Rogue/Fake Antivirus Malware How To Remove Security Tool and other Rogue/Fake Antivirus Malware Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions Add a “Textmate Style” Lightweight Text Editor with Dropbox Syncing to Chrome and Iron Is the Forcefield Really On or Not? [Star Wars Parody Video] Google Updates Picasa Web Albums; Emphasis on Sharing and Showcasing Uwall.tv Turns YouTube into a Video Jukebox Early Morning Sunrise at the Beach Wallpaper Data Networks Visualized via Light Paintings [Video]

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  • How to Setup an Active Directory Domain-Week 26

    - by OWScott
    Today's lesson covers how to create an Active Directory domain and join a member server to it. This week's topic takes a slightly different turn from the normally IIS related topics, but this is key video to help setup either a test or production environment that requires Active Directory. Part of being a web administrator is understanding the servers and how they interact with each other. This week’s lesson takes a different path than usual and covers how to create an Active Directory domain and how to join a member computer to that domain. In less than 13 minutes we complete the entire process, end to end. An understanding of Active Directory is useful, whether it’s simply to setup a test lab, or to learn more so that you can manage a production domain environment. This week starts a mini-series on web farms. Today’s lesson is on setting up a domain which is a necessary prerequisite for next week which will be on Distributed File System Replication (DFS-R), a useful technology for web farms. Upcoming lessons will cover shared configuration, Application Request Routing (ARR), and more. Additionally, this video introduces us to Vaasnet (www.vaasnet.com), a service that allows the web pro to gain immediate access to an entire lab environment for situations such as these. This is week 26 (the middle week!) of a 52 week series for the Web Pro. Past and future videos can be found here: http://dotnetslackers.com/projects/LearnIIS7/ You can find this week’s video here.

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  • Extending UPK with Enablement Packs

    - by bill.x.miller
    We've mentioned in earlier posts that UPK Development keeps the tool up to date through the use of Enable Service Packs (ESP'S). Regular releases ensure that the UPK Developer supports updates to targeted applications as well as new Java updates. Installing an ESP is quick and easy. • Download the latest ESP from My Oracle Support (requires a My Oracle Support account). • Run the setup for each client machine that uses the UPK Developer • Run the Library Updates from one of the clients (multi-user only) Enablement Pack 1 for UPK 3.6.1 contains new features such as a new Tabbed Gateway, FireFox 3.6 support for the Player and SmartHelp, and several new target application versions. But a very exciting feature that is part of this ESP is now available to all Oracle E-Business Suite customers. Until now, a requirement for EBS customers who wish to record UPK content is to install delivered library files (CUSTOM.pll and ODPN.pll) on to the Oracle Application Server. These files were required to present context information to the UPK Developer so that content can be launched in a context sensitive manner. This requirement involved the Oracle system administrator to transfer, install and compile these libraries into the system. Usually a simple process, however, we understood the need to streamline the procedure. With ESP 1 for UPK 3.6.1, these pll files are no longer required. Now, a simple procedure from within the EBS application can make context available to the UPK recorder. From the System Profile, search for UPK: Change the Site field to Enable UPK Recording. Save the Form. Context information will now be made available to the UPK Recorder without involving the System Administrator or DBA. The setting you see here makes context available to all client machines recording content with UPK and does not affect the performance of your EBS application.

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  • Google+ Platform Office Hours for March 21, 2012: JavaScript and the REST APIs

    Google+ Platform Office Hours for March 21, 2012: JavaScript and the REST APIs It's a blast from the past. Here's the video from our office hours held on the 20th of March. In this session Jonathan and Wolff guided you through using the REST APIs with JavaScript. Get the source code: goo.gl Discuss this video on Google+: goo.gl 1:05 - How to use JSONP to access the REST APIs in JavaScript 2:30 - Setting up a new project in the API console 7:06 - The client libraries, what are they? 8:39 - Using the JavaScript client library to reimplement our example 13:27 - About OAuth and private resources 14:26 - Creating an OAuth client using the API console - The JavaScript client library discussion group - goo.gl 24:14 - Using the JavaScript client library and REST APIs from within a hangout - hangoutbots.blogspot.com Q&A 19 - Are you planning to change the +1 button back? 20:14 - Will this video be posted to YouTube? (Spoiler: the answer is yes) 20:43 - Do you read your issues list? - The Google+ platform issue tracker: goo.gl From: GoogleDevelopers Views: 2808 33 ratings Time: 27:03 More in Science & Technology

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  • Can mediatomb VLC profile transcode audio as MP3 rather than mpga ?

    - by djangofan
    In the /etc/mediatomb/config.xml, can mediatomb VLC profile transcode audo as MP3 rather than mpga ? My Sony GoogleTV wont render streamed .avi files files with a mpga audio in them. The original files are Divx encoded with 128kbs MP3 audio but mediatomb is transcoding them. How can I change this? Any ideas? Can I turn off the audio and video transcoding somehow? I need some ideas to try. <profile name="vlcprof" enabled="yes" type="external"> <mimetype>video/mpeg</mimetype> <agent command="vlc" arguments="-I dummy %in --sout #transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp2v,vb=4096,fps=25,aenc=ffmpeg,acodec=mpga,ab=192,samplerate=44100,channels=2}:standard{access=file,mux=ps,dst=%out} vlc:quit"/> <buffer size="10485760" chunk-size="131072" fill-size="2621440"/> <accept-url>yes</accept-url> <first-resource>yes</first-resource> </profile> I know that that MP3 encoding support is external to FFmpeg and must be configured appropriately, but I have no idea how to handle that. I would guess I can work around that by somehow telling ffmpeg to not transcode the audio stream? Also, should I create a separate vlcprof entry for video/avi ? Can you create more than one profile for VLC in the config.xml for mediatomb?

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  • Public EC Meeting scheduled for 20 November

    - by Heather VanCura
    The minutes and materials from the October 2012 JCP EC Teleconference are now available.  The next JCP EC Meeting, and the first EC Meeting under JCP 2.9, with the Merged EC, is scheduled for 20 November.  The second hour of this meeting will be open to the public at 3:00 PM PST. The agenda includes  JSR 355,  EC merge implementation report, JSR 358 (JCP.next.3) status report, JCP 2.8 status update and community audit program.  Details are below. We hope you will join us, but if you cannot attend, not to worry--the recording and materials will also be public on the JCP.org multimedia page. Meeting details Date & Time Tuesday November 20, 2012, 3:00 - 4:00 pm PST Location Teleconference Dial-in +1 (866) 682-4770 (US) Conference code: 627-9803 Security code: 52732 ("JCPEC" on your phone handset) For global access numbers see http://www.intercall.com/oracle/access_numbers.htm Or +1 (408) 774-4073 WebEx Browse for the meeting from https://jcp.webex.com No registration required (enter your name and email address) Password: JCPEC Agenda JSR 355 (the EC merge) implementation report JSR 358 (JCP.next.3) status report 2.8 status update and community audit program Discussion/Q&A Note The call will be recorded and the recording published on jcp.org, so those who are unable to join in real-time will still be able to participate.

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