Embed Quicktime Movies into a WordPress Blog

This is really cool, but it’s only for WordPress blogs hosted yourself, and not the ones like this one hosted at WordPress.com. But maybe (surely?) it will come to WordPress.com soon. In the meanwhile, the video player that they have as an upgrade at WordPress.com is not bad. It’s wide aspect ratio. I think its still some kind of flash, but it seems clearer.

But I digress. For those who have WordPress blogs hosted on other servers, I found this site that developed a Plug-In that allows you to embed Quicktime movies into your WordPress posts. Channel-Ai’s plugin has a couple different cool features that allow you to display the movie and controls in a couple of different ways. Examples and a download of the program are all right there on their site.

*One side note to save you a little trouble. When you size your movie, make sure you size it in the post at least as large as you sized it when you the rendered the movie. This may sound like a no brainer, but I used the default sizes that Ai has demonstrated, and I wondered why my movie was missing its controls. My movie itself was rendered in something like 285 height, while I had plugged in their 240 number, so I had no controls! Duh! Just something to keep in mind

Is Your Mac “Beachballing” A Lot?

More than likely there’s a small bit of disk damage.

Re-boot in Single User Mode: Restart and while it’s restarting hold down the the Command + S buttons. It’ll pull up a Unix command prompt type screen. At the prompt type : fsck -fy
Remember to put that space after the k.
This will do a disk check like windows does a lot automatically.
If it does find something it will automatically fix it, but if it does find something, re-do the whole process over again because sometimes when it finds something, that will allow it to find something else. So, if it finds and fixes something, keep running the process until it says everything is fine

(Credit MacBreak Weekly Episode 81, Merlin Mann & Andy Ihnatko)

Don’t Get Bitten:

The cool thing about Haute Secure is that it operates in the browser and protects you against hidden threats imbedded in content that you trust. And if you think about it, that’s the most dangerous type of mal ware, because you trust the content and link to begin with.

From their website:

Protect Your Computer

“Haute Secure is the only software that offers complete protection from web based malware designed to steal personal information.

• Site reputation ratings and warnings of potential threats in your search results before exposure
• First-victim protection from malware lurking in content such as videos, widgets, blogs, and banner ads
• Collective intelligence that updates your PC when a threat is detected on another computer

The more people who use Haute Secure, the safer your computer is from data theft. Do your part to help fight malware by joining the community today. “

Protect Your Website:

“Haute Secure content monitoring protects your user base from malware contained in user generated content or embedded by hackers that is designed to steal personal information and data.

• Free domain entry service: list your site in our database and get emailed if it ever appears on any Haute Secure community block list
• Daily content scanning: automated testing for malware on every URL in your website from as little as $20 a month

If your site contains Ads, links to other sites or pictures, you could be infecting your user base. Do your part to help strengthen the global fight against malware.”

(Credit: Paul Thurrott; Windows Weekly; Twit.tv)

Try this number: 800-224-2242

*Update 3/11/08. I tried this last night. I asked “Who was the 30th President of the United States?” A few seconds later came a text saying it was working on it, with a re-statement of my question, and then a few minutes later came in a text: “
Herbert Hoover was the 30th President from 1929-1933. He died on October 20th, 1964 in New York, New York.” Wow! Pretty cool, huh? Even more information than I asked for, and I’m impressed with the voice recognition that Dvorak is always saying is going nowhere.
This came courtesy of Bret Swanson on the Gilder Technology Forum (GTF)

Think up any question that you’d type into a search engine. Or one you wouldn’t. Dial 800-224-2242 on your mobile phone and ask your question. You’ll get a text reply restating your question. Then a few minutes later you’ll get a text answer. Seems like a winner to me.

Bret

The Ulitimate in Web 2.0 Apps: Drop.io

Dropio is an ultimate web 2.0 app. It’s free, it’s weird and cool at the same time, and you don’t even have to sign up! It has that anthropmorphic quality like Twitter in which it seems like it will be different things to different people. It’s billed as a “Simple Private Exchange”

Drop.io enables you to create simple private exchange points called “drops.”

So it was born out of the same idea as a Youtube. A simple way to share files between friends and groups. Like Twitter you can text in, but better than twitter you can even call in and leave a voice mail that will show up at the “drop.” It even gives you a special email address for your “drop” in which you can email in text, files, and photos. Also, better than Twitter, and like Pownce it has more payload. You can send in voice, pictures, Mp3s by phone, email, or directly from the internet. What’s really cool is that you can make your drop as private or public as you want it be. That way you could make one drop for a Twitter like blog for others to see, or semi-private where just a select few individuals could view, send, and exchange data, or totally private where one might keep sort of like a private diary.

That’s what I was thinking of it as because I’ve always thought that I need some “catch all” repository for ideas that I get on the fly. I’ve tried notebooks, but I end up having tons of notebooks all over the place and end up forgetting the information or not being able to find it when I want it.

The only thing it doesn’t have on Twitter is that it doesn’t send out information to cell phones, but you can receive an RSS feed. Still, one doesn’t get the sense that it is meant to compete with Twitter. I don’t know why I feel that, but I just do. Twitter still has this ineffable quality. Maybe because it just does one thing, I don’t know, or maybe because it is so simple to use and understand even compared to Dropio.

Others will use Dropio publicly like a blog, and like I said earlier, one of the coolest features is the voice call in. You get a telephone number and an extension with each drop. So you can have sort of instantaneous little podcasts on the fly, or just voice mail to everyone in your group as your ideas come to you on the fly. And, get this, you can even fax to and from the drop! Get rid of that fax machine that you use once a month!

I still haven’t figured out what the most creative way someone is going to use this feature and this site, but that’s part of the fun and I think it’s inevitable success. I think it will be the next “Twitter” coming out of SXSW.

Copy Files (And Everything Else) Off of An iPod

I got all of this from the end of MacBreak Weekly episode 79, at the end of the program when they give out their web picks, a Twit.tv program.

Apparently there are tons of programs out there that will take the files off of your ipod if your hard drive crashes, and you haven’t backed up your itunes collection, but according to the Mac Break guys this is the best one.

“This is a great little program. You know there are a lot of programs for copying files and music off of your iPod, and of course Apple continually changes the iPod and iTunes to make that hard…(but) Podworks is fantastic, it works with the iPhone even, will bring over play lists, will bring in Meta data, in fact you can even just get the Meta Data, so if you have the files but you just want the ratings you can copy them over…” -Leo Laporte

He goes on to say it will copy over such things as the last played date, that it’s an “amazing program, the Ultimate iPod copy tool.” Merlin Mann questioned why the product was only 8 bucks, and went on to say that he had personally saved two friends whose hard drives had crashed when they couldn’t get their files from their iPod. Another guest said that the other utilities like it seemed like they were designed to use only once but that this program “was designed like a slick, really professional looking piece of software, not like something just to be used once…” He went on to say that this program was useful to him when his hard drive crashed not because he hadn’t backed up but because you can’t back up play lists in iTunes, but that this program grabbed them from the iPod and copied them back in.

http://www.scifihifi.com/podworks/

You can try before you buy, but it is only $8. “The easiest 8 bucks you’ll ever spend,” according to one guest.

How To Do What You Want with Your Life: The Bleeding Edge

The way to do it, and make a living doing it, is to make a decision. Paris had to make a decision, and you do too. Talent has nothing to do with it. The idea of “talent” is a gateway guardian designed by the outward and inward complexes to scare you away from the life that is waiting for you. Another gateway guardian is Ego, which thinks that you can do everything. You can do anything, but you can’t do everything, at least and be good enough to be a professional, an expert, someone who will get paid.
You have to crucify your ego, but that’s a separate post. For now, if you are not sure, give yourself sometime to play around in the different fields you enjoy. Things that are now hobbies or interests. Give yourself say 9-12 weeks to devote some significant time to each of these activities, and tell yourself you are going to make a firm decision at the end of that time to make your living doing one of them.
You know what the reason is that you can’t do more than one thing? It’s not time. It’s your subconscious mind. If you don’t make a psychological commitment, your subconscious mind, which is the source of your creativity, won’t go to work for you. Not having a psychological commitment has another name: Schizophrenia. You’ll be all over the place but going nowhere and have no “center” to your life.
The key to this whole thing is the “bleeding edge.” Being on the bleeding edge will guarantee you success because A) it’s where the action is B) you’ll be an expert, authority, professional, and C) No one else is there.
I’m getting my inspiration for this piece from Scoble and Leo Laporte. I don’t want to be a tech journalist, but they do, and they are totally into it, and now they are doing what they want to do and making a living at it. They are perfect examples of Joseph Campbell’s saying “Follow Your Bliss.”

1. Set a Goal to make a decision
2. Make that decision and psychological commitment
3. The life that is waiting for you will carry you to where you want to be.

Pownce or Twitter?

Last night was one of the best Twits I’ve heard in a long time. Advice to the young at heart: Listen to Twit Episode 134, at least the 2nd half of it. I’m glad, since the week before put me to sleep. There were three heavyweights: Dvorak, Dave Winer, and Steve Gillmor, and actually the young Wil Harris shows a lot of promise and never backed down from the stalwarts. I thought it was one of the best episodes I’ve ever heard. Dvorak can bee annoying as hell, but when he cuts to the bone of an issue, he usually nails it. And Leo Laporte is so perfect as a Moderator and a Tech journalist in general because he has his legs in both worlds. He understands the language of the Uber, Uber Geeks, and yet can translate it to the rest of us. In other words he’s normal, charming, and a lot of personality, combined with a zeroed in interest and understanding of his field.
The conversation last night really got good when the discussion came to Pownce Vs Twitter. The consensus seems to be Twitter, is and will be the winner even though it has tons of structural problems, can’t handle the payload of its success in other words, but as Gilmor said, “That’s where everybody is.” It’s that simple. Remember when Myspace came out? Or hell, even the myspace of now, how horrible it is, and yet for now, “that’s where everybody is.” So it’s Twitter then.
But Dave Winer sung the praises of the “elegance” and functionality of the Pownce system. It’s just plain better, according to him, and everyone agrees, but still as Leo says, even though he is mostly a Jaiku user, “there’s just something so ’sticky’ about Twitter. I can’t put my finger on what it is.” And everyone seemed to agree, even Dave. Is it the name, the simplicity, the fact that it was first? Another common theme that I heard was that Twitter has such an “otherworldly” appeal because of is quality of giving each user a different experience. Or, in other words, each person sees the service in a different way. From such platforms does creativity come bubbling up, which could explain it too. I love it too. It seems to have a Google like stickiness that I can’t explain either.
But still, something’s missing. It does need to be more elegant and functional, without sacrificing simplicity. Somehow all these things need to come together. “Come Together, Right Now, Over Me!” Like Dave Winer said, “Why can’t more payload go out over it, like photos, videos, mp3s?”
Or does it? Am I sounding Bi-Polar enough? Why can’t we just let it be and see what it evolves into. If the thing has a life of its own, who are we to try to mold it into our own vision, when its special property is that it is unique to each user? It’s great that there are the Dave Winers of the World who are agonists and there are the Dvoraks and Gilmors who are the antagonists, and the Leos who simply “are” for like Hinduism says, “All things are Brahma things.” And all things are Buddha things too.

Picnik Update: I Use It Every Day!!!!

Picnik, an online photo editor

I use it to crop, resize, adjust exposure and sharpness everyday for images on this website and my own personal use. It’s so easy, dare I say it, it’s almost fun! Ok, now you know I’m officially a true Geek. I’ve just achieved my official Geek status. Also, the “advanced” features, which I’m not sure what they are, which they were charging $24.95 per year for, are now free because they now have advertising. So now it’s even doubly cooler.

*Also,  you should check this out: I just saw on Leo’s Jaiku feed a link to an article about 7 Great Online Imaging Apps

How To Embed A Quicktime Video

You’ve bought an Apple. You took the plunge. You just made your first Imovie and put a real sound track behind it with one of your favorite songs. You sized it into a cool looking 16:9 ratio, and best of all it looks, unlike Youtube and other flash rendering machines, CLEAR! YaHoo! (Oh, is that how they came up with that name?)
But how do you put it in your webpage? No, I don’t mean just have a link to the file, but really embed it into your page, so that it looks like your somebody, that you mean business. I ran across a real cool page today that takes your quicktime movie and automatically renders the HTML code you need to embed it into your page! Stick your movie in their (or rather the link where you uploaded it) and Presto! Out the other side comes the HTML! I’ve wanted for so long to have an embedded player that had a wide screen ratio and looked half way clear like my original video footage. Quicktime , or rather the CIT at UCSF, is the answer.

http://cit.ucsf.edu/embedmedia/step1.php

*NOTE: Here’s the bummer part: the code doesn’t work on Myspace or Orkut. I’m really surprised it doesn’t work on Myspace because I thought they rendered any HTML you wanted. And in the Orkut Scrap boxes you can put HTML. So I don’t know why it doesn’t work there either, when it works perfectly fine written in my text editor and rendered by a browser. Maybe there are some Geeks out there, who are geekier than I, that can enlighten me. Maybe it has something to do with there being no player inside those systems. But I don’t understand that. If Quicktime is on the machine wouldn’t the browser render it, play it when it reads the HTML inside those systems also? Obviously there’s some reason.
Can you imagine how much you’d rock if you could post Quicktime movies in your Myspace and Orkut? Oh, how I dream…