from james's desk: January 2007

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Vader of the Opera

Now this guy had too much time on in hands...slik though enjoy!!

Monday, January 22, 2007

youtube video links

I thought I try something new on my blog, here are the first video clips of events I shot. This clip looks good.

1440x1080i>QT conversion>2 pass>320x176>datarate 720kb/s> h264 .mp4
been having trouble uploading new clips with same settings...footage pixelates!!

Might just upload mpeg 4 clips without the H264 codec.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

transfer raw to archos 604 DVR

You can transfer data via this dock. There is a usb cable that connects to your camera or card reader or computer. Simply attach the card reader to this!

I think you can attach a CF card reader directly to the USB A or USB B port on the side of the unit, without the need of the dock. I will try my friends unit and see if it works with his USB card reader. According to specs, It can support JPEG, BMP or PNG photo files, RAW support not available (yet)

Docking Adapter for Archos 404, 504 & 604 series

* Quickly recharge your ARCHOS
* Transfer photos directly from a DSC (USB Host)
* Transfer files to and from a PC
* Delivered with AD/DC + USB A / USB mini B cable

My New dvd burner...

It's been a long time since I updated my Pioneer 105 dvd burner to dual layer!!
The Pioneer works fine but I need a new solution...a Lacie Multi drive that burns Blu-Ray disc, DL and all cd and dvd formats except HD-DVD!-(LG has a solution) This burner is awesome for anyone in the video biz!! alas....I didn't get this drive yet as it has been only just released at 1300 buck canadian!! so I opted for the next best thing, the external DL burner with lightscribe. Called the Lacie D2 burner, I am very happy with the prompt and rock solid burns this unit performs. The lightscribe feature is lengthy at 20 minutes to print image to label side on lightscribe media but the results are awesome!!

LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive
USB 2.0 & FireWire

LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive

User Benefits:

* The professional choice for Blu-ray recording
* Easily save 50GB of digital data on 1 disc
* BD (Blu-ray)/DVD/CD writer in one drive
* Durable metal d2 design; quiet operation

$1,149.00

Now accepting pre-orders. This product will ship in late January 2007.

d2 Design by Neil Poulton

Burn up to 4 hours of HD video on a Blu-ray disc without quality loss and then share it with your customers or send your high-quality master for replication. New Blu-ray technology allows you to archive large amounts of data, audio asset libraries, raw video shoots, image files or complete multimedia projects on long lasting BD media - at a low cost per GB. Easily back up as much as 10 DVDs worth of important files at a fast throughput of 9MB/s. Backward compatible with CD/DVD media, it also offers a compelling interactive multimedia experience when playing back your BD-ROMs. Bundled with full-featured, easy-to-use software, including packet writing and backup applications, it’s the LaCie Blu-ray burning solution for intensive professional use.

LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive
Item Number : 301115U
Capacity : up to 50GB
Interface : Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and FireWire
Writing Speeds : BD-R* (single or dual layer) 2x
BD-RE** (single or dual layer) 2x
DVD±R 8x; DVD+RW 8x; DVD-RW 6x; DVD±R DL 4x
CD-R 24x; CD-RW 16x
Reading Speeds : BD-ROM*** 2x; BD-R 2x; BD-RE 2x
DVD±R 8x; DVD±RW 8x; DVD±R DL 8x; DVD-ROM 8x
CD-R 32x; CD-RW 24x; CD-ROM 32x
Cache Size : 8MB
Dimensions (WxHxD) : 6.3 x 1.7 x 10.6 in. / 173 x 44 x 268 mm
Weight : 3.31 lbs. / 1500 g
System Requirements : Mastering/Burning: FireWire (IEEE 1394) or USB 2.0-equipped computer; Windows XP with the latest service pack / Mac OS 10.3.9 or higher; Pentium 4 Dual Core 3GHz processor or higher / Power PC G4 or Mac Intel processor or higher; minimum 512MB RAM
HD Video Playback****: Nvidia 7600GT, ATI X1600 series GPU; minimum 1280x1024 monitor resolution
Bundled Software : Easy Media Creator 8.2; Cineplayer 3.4 (HD playback); Toast 7.1.1 Titanium; compatible with Sonic Scenarist® authoring software
Comments : *Blu-ray disc Recordable - write-once
**Blu-ray disc Rewritable
***Blu-ray disc Read Only Memory
****Non-protected. Requirements for protected HD video are not yet finalized.
See www.apple.com for the BD player release date
Box Content : LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive; USB 2.0 cable; FireWire cable; external power supply; LaCie DVD-ROM (Windows)/CD-ROM (Mac) with User Manual and software; Quick Install Guide
Warranty : 1 Year Limited Warranty
Speciﬁcations and appearance are given as guidelines and may change without notice.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Archos 604 wifi multimedia player

Now for all us Mac fans that probably won't see the i-phone for another year, here is a really cool device!!!

Features

The Archos 604 is an update of the company's impressive AV 500, which handily won PC Magazine's Editors' Choice award when it came out. The new version has a slightly bigger screen and different button layout, but it retains many of the features that made me love its predecessor. One big difference, though, is that you get a lot less in the box this time around, since many of the accessories are now optional extras—including the all-important docking station, which is required for recording video from analog sources. Even the USB Host feature, for connecting cameras and other USB devices, now requires an optional adapter. Archos 604 Wi-Fi, which adds a touch-screen and 802.11g wireless capabilities for Web browsing, e-mail, and content downloading. The 604 is available only in a 30GB hard drive configuration.

Features:

# Ultra slim with optimal screen size for watching video with 3 times the surface as that of 2.5in screens
# Reads all standard video formats in full DVD resolution
# DVD-quality video playback on TV with optional DVR Station
# Built in WIFI
# Records directly from TV in high-quality MPEG-4 with optional DVR station
# Bright 4.3in TFT LCD with 16 million colours
# Extremely fast photo viewer with zoom, music and transition effects
# Advanced music player able to display track, artist, album, and album cover
# Fully compatible with DVD-quality VOD and music online stores

Technical Information:

# Product Type: Portable Video Player
# Weight: 255 g
# Dimensions: 130 x 78 x 17 mm
# Interface Type: USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB Host 2.0, Wi-Fi
# Storage type: Hard drive
# Capacity: 30 GB
# Supported audio formats: MP3, WMA, WAV
# Rated battery life (audio): 14 hours
# Rated battery life (video): 4 hours
# Other features: Touch screen
# Picture formats: JPEG, BMP, PNG
# Supported video formats: MPEG-4, WMV

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

iphone TRIPLE THREATand www.myweblog.com

yes!!!
The phone I always wanted!!!! Click Here for the Steve Jobs Keynote from Macworld San Francisco, January 9-2007. This wicked phone will be available in June 2007 for 500 dollars cad$

Technical Specifications
Screen size 3.5 inches
Screen resolution 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method Multi-touch
Operating system OS X
Storage 4GB or 8GB
GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera 2.0 megapixels
Battery

* Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
* Up to 16 hours Audio playback

Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. It also lets you sync your content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac. And then you can access it all with just the touch of a finger.

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. It also automatically syncs all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet service. And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email.

iPhone features a rich HTML email client and Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device — which automatically syncs bookmarks from your PC or Mac. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE.

Multi-touch

iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It’s an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page — all by simply using iPhone’s multi-touch display.
Intelligent Keyboard

iPhone’s full QWERTY soft keyboard lets you easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. And the keyboard is predictive, so it prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones.

Built-in Advanced Sensors

iPhone’s accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.

An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

I discovered another blog community called www.myweblog.com. It's a neat place to blog from and keeptrack of web blog traffic stats. Click here to go there!!

CES Las Vegas

Yes the consumer electronics show is on in Los Vegas!!! Amazing new tech toys for us!!

Also, in San Francisco, Macworld is on as well!!

mmmmmmmm. tasty!!

click here for CES coverage

Monday, January 08, 2007

The Magic Flute Review (jan 6 2007 performance)

Was an amazing event. The Rose theatre was a full house.

more to follow.

dream jobs!

Jeff Bezos (amazon.com) has ventured into the space business. Incredibly cool ??

If you have these stats...apply!!

Development Flight, and We are Hiring

Blue Origin wants you! Actually, Blue Origin needs you and wants to hire you … assuming you’re a hard working, technically gifted, team-oriented, experienced aerospace engineer or engineering leader. If you might be interested in joining us, please keep reading.

We’re working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we’re working on it methodically. We believe in incremental improvement and in keeping investments at a pace that's sustainable. Slow and steady is the way to achieve results, and we do not kid ourselves into thinking this will get easier as we go along. Smaller, more frequent steps drive a faster rate of learning, help us maintain focus, and give each of us an opportunity to see our latest work fly sooner.

Our first objective is developing New Shepard, a vertical take-off, vertical-landing vehicle designed to take a small number of astronauts on a sub-orbital journey into space.

On the morning of November 13, 2006, we launched and landed Goddard – a first development vehicle in the New Shepard program. The launch was both useful and fun. Many friends and family came to watch the launch and support the team.

Here’s the vehicle coming out of the “barn” in the wee hours of the morning:

Careers

Blue Origin is hiring highly qualified and dedicated individuals. Our hiring bar is unabashedly extreme, and we insist on keeping our team size small. This means the person occupying each and every spot must be among the most technically gifted in his or her field. Other hiring criteria include:

1. You must have a genuine passion for space. Without passion, you will find what we're trying to do too difficult. There are much easier jobs.
2. You must want to work in a small company.
3. We are building real hardware. This must excite you. You must be a builder.

Blue Origin's engineering and manufacturing teams work in a newly rennovated 280,000 sq. ft. facility on 26 acres in Kent, Washington. We are just 20 minutes south of Seattle and 15 minutes from Sea-Tac airport. We also own and operate a launch complex in western Texas.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

avatars...

I love these things!!!!
Here are some I stole off of ppl's posts!! hehehehehehe

deviant art

I have a deviant art account that I have not used in ages, been updated.

some really interesting ppl there!!!

such as superkev.!

from james's desk