== Bernie's brain backup for January 2008 == === Sun, 13th === === Bernie the rockstar ==== If you were considering hiring me, or entrusting me to do anything serious, you'd better watch this first: * [[BernieIronMaiden.ogg]] - [1.8MB] if you have the free OggTheora codec * [[BernieIronMaiden.mov]] - [3.6MB] if you're stuck with proprietary QuickTime codecs * //nothing// - [0MB] if you're stuck with the proprietary MediaPlayer or RealPlayer codecs **Q:** why doesn't my browser play the link right away rather than asking me to download it? \\ **A:** because my wiki doesn't support mime-magic yet **Q:** why don't you just let apache serve media files? \\ **A:** because a CGI has no way to "handoff" a file to the web server once they've been invoked ==== Food and Power ==== Here's a stupid movie by SamuelKlein, ArjunSarwal and myself: * [[FoodAndPower/FoodAndPowerHigh.ogg]] - [26MB] OggTheora stream, quality 7 * [[FoodAndPower/FoodAndPowerMed.ogg]] - [62MB] OggTheora stream, quality 10 * [[FoodAndPower/FoodAndPowerLow.ogg]] - [16MB] OggTheora stream, quality 5 If your computer cannot play the above links, you should really consider installing a free media player, or just switching to Linux which comes with all the free media players and codecs out of the box. Meanwhile, here's a workaround: * [[FoodAndPower/FoodAndPower.avi]] - [103MB] original AVI stream from our shitty camera These also prove the quality of the OggTheora codec. After seeing this, I think I'd recommend using it for its technical advantages in addition to its legal advantages. In producing these movies, I found out that: * mencoder has bad support for ogg-theora * transcode kinda sucks * ffmpeg seems the best command-line encoder of the three I tried * The easiest solution if all you need is encoding anything to Theora is ffmpeg2theora. All you have to do is: {{{ ffmpeg2theora FoodAndPower.avi }}} === Sat, 12th === ==== Cow power! ==== My good friend ArjunSarwal recently made the [[http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/26/0541205 | Slashdot front page]] with his story about [[http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Cow_Power| Cow Power]]! === Fri, 11th === ==== Crank, Crank! ==== Today we got this pleasant surprise. See the movie: [[OlpcCrank/StephenReillyCranking.mov]]. The guy cranking is DanielDrake, Gentoo kernel maintainer and wireless guru. [[OlpcCrank/ArjunCrankingSmall.jpg | ArjunSarwal cranking]] [[OlpcCrank/ArjunCranking2Small.jpg | ArjunSarwal cranking]] [[OlpcCrank/StephenCrankingSmall.jpg | StephenReilly cranking]] [[OlpcCrank/StephenCranking2Small.jpg | StephenReilly cranking]] Larger versions of these pics are available at OlpcCrank. === Sat 5th === ==== The little computer that just won't die! ==== OneLaptopPerChild is not enough. There should definitely be [[OneAmigaPerChild/OneAmigaPerChild | OneAmigaPerChild]]! [[OneAmigaPerChild/OneAmigaPerChildSmaller.jpg]] Look [[OneAmigaPerChild/OneAmigaPerChild | here]] for additional details. A big thankyou to MicheleConsoleBattilana for providing a free copy of AmigaForever, a fine tribute to the coolest platform ever! === Thu 3rd === ==== The XaoS strikes back! ==== I enjoyed bundling this OldSkool activity for the XO: http://wiki.laptop.org/images/8/8c/XaoS-screenshot4.png See: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XaoS It certainly needs some more sugarization work for which I have no time. === Wed 2st === ==== Haiku Laptop ==== Today we shipped our machine affected by dlo#5575 (touchpad mostly unfunctional) to Japan for further inspection by ALPS. Just before closing up the plastic case, I've left inside a little fortune cookie for them: HaikuXoSmall.jpg If you're wondering what it means, it's a piece of japanese poetry called a HaikuPoem. Google for it. === Tue 1st === ==== Trip to Walden Pond ==== This really happened on Monday 31st Dec, but who'd go read last year's blog entry now? So, Adam, Arjun and myself went to this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Pond|Walden Pond]] place, where the famous American poet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau|Thoreau]] lived in complete isolation for 2 years in a cabin made of wood. [[WaldenPond1Small.jpg|Arjun (left) and Me (guess who?)]] On this very nice lake, I stupdily tried to run on the ice and fell badly, hitting my jaw and cheek on the hard ice. Little cut, big bump... no permanent consequences. Maybe I should consider a health insurance? [[WaldenPond2Small.jpg|Me (the really crazy one) and Adam (the really worried one)]] [[ThoreauCabinSmall.jpg|The there of us in the site of Thoreau's cabin]]