The perfect room: a bed, TV, and an Xbox 360

Clearly the designers of this media room don’t care if you sit too close to the TV.The whole house is featured over on Design Sponge, but this media setup caught my attention. I’m jealous.

Kid’s Loft – The French movie poster from “Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down” I got from my brother who worked with Pedro Almodovar for over 10 years. The TV swings out so they can watch TV from their desks. Boi Sconces are from Pucci International, king size futon upholstered in espadrille fabric from Donghia. We set up a king upholstered mattress to lounge, play X-box and have kids sleep over.

I was constantly getting yelled at for sitting too close to my 27-inch TV growing up. You’ll get a headache! It’s bad for your eyes! Blah, blah, blah. Well, I can tell you I never got a headache from it and my eyes are bad because of genetics, not from watching Captain Planet two feet away from the TV.

Actually that media room is kind of my dream bedroom: a king size mattress stretching from wall to wall and a TV with an Xbox 360. That’s all you need, really.

Sorenson’s Squeeze 6: A connected media encoding and distribution platform

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine came to me with a problem. The British distribution company handling his music video was shockingly backwards in its formatting, and was asking for a Real Media encode of the video. They didn’t specify bitrate, resolution, where it would be shown, or anything like that.

Quicktime was being a bother, and we needed to use my PC to do a few encodes at this or that specification. We ended up running it through in Vegas, and going to grab a coffee while it churned out the frames.

Now, the point is not that you need a PC to encode heinous old formats, but rather that digital distribution is a weird, complex process that could use a bit of simplification. Sorenson’s Squeeze 6 appears to go to some lengths to make this happen. It’s far from the only encoding platform out there, but I think they’re moving the right direction with this version, which not only integrates tightly with your Mac, but also with SMS, Twitter, and other popular services. After all, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to be working in the same office, or even the same country, as people who need to be informed every step of the way.

 

Imagine this: You set Squeeze up to watch a folder where master edited files are placed after they’ve been rendered out by FCP. Squeeze grabs the 1.5GB file, re-encodes it for YouTube, DVD, iPhone, and HQ H.264. When it’s done, it places them in a DropBox folder, emails the parties involved, and sends a text to your phone, telling you it’s finished. I may be against connectivity where I feel it’s not useful to me, but damn, if I was a video professional I’d be all over this thing.

The inputs and outputs look pretty comprehensive (though, it is true, Real is not on the list so it would have been useless the other day) — Sorenson is no newcomer to the encoding game, of course — but it’s the fundamentally collaborative nature of the program that makes it interesting to me. I’m not a media pro so I don’t know what tools are already in place for this kind of thing, but I know that the post-production and distribution phase can be a trying time, and this looks like it could streamline and improve the process greatly. Besides, I can see the crop, aspect ratio, and other frequently-adjusted controls right there in the interface, which says to me “user-friendly.”

If you’re in a collaborative video environment (like, I don’t know, College Humor or something), this might be a revelation. Then again, you’re probably also working in an office next to the person who’d be getting your “encode complete” text. At any rate, I think that service integration like this is a great step for a media company to make. It’s for Mac and Windows, but it looks like Macs have the superior version. Since it’s a pro app, however, it comes with the pro price: $500. My budget restricts me to freeware, but maybe yours doesn’t.

New study proves that ECC memory may well be worth the extra cost

Conventional wisdom regarding computer memory has for some time been that all RAM is created equal. Stated another way, it’s not really worth it to buy expensive ECC RAM because errors just don’t occur frequently enough to worry about. Even in server-grade products,

designed to be running 24/7 in mission-critical environments, ECC RAM is often optional. Mainboards and RAM sold for consumer home use almost never even have the option of supporting ECC memory. A new study from Google indicates that this may be a problem.

A two-and-a-half year study of DRAM on 10s of thousands Google servers found DIMM error rates are hundreds to thousands of times higher than thought — a mean of 3,751 correctable errors per DIMM per year.

So starts a summary over at ZDNet. The study (PDF) is available for the reading. A large-scale analysis like this hasn’t been performed (at least publicly) yet, so the findings are pretty shocking. A hearty “thank you” goes to Google for taking the time to analyze this situation, and for publicizing the results.

Basically, the majority of DRAM chips on the market are far more error-prone than previously considered. And the consumer-grade mainboards are just as culpable — if not more so — for hard memory errors than the DRAM chips!

So what might a memory error look like? Darn near anything. Remember that inside your computer, everything is ones and zeros. If one of those ones becomes a zero, who knows what might happen? Maybe nothing, maybe a little stutter in your game, maybe a corrupted file saved to your hard disk, or maybe a complete system lockup.

It’s not all gloom-and-doom, though:
Temperature plays little role in errors – just as Google found with disk drives – so heroic cooling isn’t necessary.
The problem isn’t getting worse. The latest, most dense generations of DRAM perform as well, error wise, as previous generations.

Heavily used systems have more errors – meaning casual users have less to worry about.

No significant differences between vendors or DIMM types (DDR1, DDR2 or FB-DIMM). You can buy on price – at least for the ECC-type DIMMS they investigated.

Only 8% of DIMMs had errors per year on average. Fewer DIMMs = fewer error problems – good news for users of smaller systems.

ECC memory usually commands a hefty premium, so it’s no surprise that many people choosing to save money cut that cost first. But maybe it’s time to think long-term about the value of your next purchase.

Ties made from old cassette tapes sort of feature audible playback

These $90 neckties are made from 50% cotton and 50% old audio tapes. There’s more, there’s more. If you have the time, interest, and/or wherewithal to take apart an old tape player, you can actually run the tape head back and forth over the tie to kinda, sorta reproduce the sounds originally found on the cassette.

It ends up sounding like a bunch of gobbledygook but, hey, do your regular ties make weird sounds when you run a tape head over them? If so, your house is clearly haunted. Run!

The “Sonic Fabric Neckties” are available in black, dark brown, or light gray for $90 each. If you’re hell bent on getting your hands on a tape head, here is How-To video.

Asus’ U3S6: First USB 3.0 + SATA 6.0 PCI-E card

Not that USB 3.0 will be useful anytime soon—how long did it take manufacturers to finally get behind USB 2.0?—but Asus’ U3S6 should be, provided it’s not cancelled, the world’s first USB 3.0 + SATA 6.0 PCI-E card. Better news: it’s only $30.

The card comes with two USB 3.0 ports and two SATA 6.0 ports. And if I’m doing my maths right, so long as you have a free PCI-E slot you’re good to go.

Like I said in the beginning, the card will mean little in the immediate future, given the lack of USB 3.0 products. That’s not to say I wouldn’t mind being able to sync my Zune HD using the zippy awesomeness of USB 3.0, but it’s going to be a little while before we see that. Never mind that that scenario would never happen, considering the Zune HD’s insides don’t know a darn thing about USB 3.0, but you know what I mean: a future media player that works with USB 3.0 would certainly be handy, especially as we move toward moving higher and higher resolution video to and from our various components.

It should be out “soon.” Nice and vague, yes.

DIY: Multi-stage water rocket

  

I know, I know. Water rocket. Whatever, right? Been there, done that, it’s cool and all, but it’s kinda like the diet coke & mentos thing. It’s been done to death. Well, this ain’t your daddy’s water rocket, let’s put it that way.

No sir, this is a multistage water rocket with a nose cone, and parachute recovery system. This is the work of a water rocket scientist, or possibly a student with too much time on his hands. This thing is a beast, and the inventor was kind enough to write up instructions on how you can build one yourself.

Seriously, fins. Nosecone. A launching system. Two stage rocket. Check it out, it’s quite impressive.

The.best.Iron.Man.costume.ever

Reader Anthony Le sent in his entry for the costume contest and I just had to share it with you guys. It’s an amazing replica of the Iron Man XD suit made of plastic and rivets. Anthony even goes to his local Children’s Hospital in it to cheer up the kids. Anthony is a truly geek who inspires awe.

I based the build from this picture from comic-con. The Costume is 100% home made, the build took approximately 2 weeks and 5 days. I’m a very busy person as well! Over 700+ rivets and rivet washer used. All items on the costume are 100% made from scratch. I’ve lso taken this costume to the children’s hospital to give them a sense of joy to know that a hero has come to wishes them a happy Halloween.

build materials

-High impact urethane plastic

-700+ rivets and washer used

-heat gun

-hot glue gun

-boat load of hot glue sticks

-Open flip helmet “like Ironman movie”

-lighted chest R-T and replusor gloves “like the movie”

-flexible abdominal area, and join covers.

-voice changer in helmet “when spoken into, makes me sound like a robot”

Video: How wood chips or tires are converted into Ethanol fuel

Ethanol fuel was always a mystery to me. Really, I never took the time to learn about it until I watched this 3:31 video that shows how a Pennsylvania company, Coskata, converts anything that contains carbon into fuel. Yeah, it’s an infomercial for GM, but it always quickly explains the whole waste to fuel conversion process and so it might be worth your time.

Interesting: chart of broadband speed, penetration, and price

Just an interesting visualization of the broadband situation out there. Statistics get a bad rap, probably because they’re always in spreadsheet form when they should be in an infographic. Click away for the full-size version.

 

Uhhhh, Japan for the win.

Panic: UK file-sharers may well be disconnected from ISPs starting in 2011

The ban hammer is about to smash UK file-sharers. Legislation there is set to take effect in April that would, as a last resort, kick illegal file-sharers off the Internet. Very exciting~!

The deal is that the Government, ISPs, and intellectual property owners will work together to kindly remind you that not all forms of file-sharing are on the up and up. If they find you sharing something that you shouldn’t be, you’ll be sent a letter saying, essentially, “please stop.”

You’ll recall this was a hot-button issue during that Digital Britain debate.

That’s phase one. Authorities will check back one year later to see if the letters were effective in stopping illegal file-sharing. If it’s determined that the letters haven’t cut the piracy rate by 70 percent (man, set a high bar much?) then out comes the ban hammer.

You’ll then receive up to two “please stop” letters before you’re disconnected from your ISP.

All well and good, but wait till Brussels hears about this. Appeal, appeal, delay, appeal.

FCC considering taking some TV spectrum, auctioning it off for wireless broadband

More FCC news for you, this Wednesday morning (and before Droid news consumes us all). The agency is considering taking some of the bandwidth that is currently allocated to digital television, and auctioning it off so that broadband companies can bid on it. The point, of course, is to increase the availability of wireless broadband.

There’s a few sides here, each with some valid points. You’ve got the current TV station owners who, as you might expect, don’t want to lose any spectrum, even if you compensate them with giant bags of money. Then there’s the broadband companies who are all, “Please oh please let us have the spectrum, so we can create some new broadband service, and sit back and watch the money roll in.” You’ve got people who are against the move because it might put in jeopardy the spectrum that the federal government spent billions of dollars convincing people to switch to (the switch to digital TV). And then you’ve got people who just hate the FCC, and think that regulating the Internet isn’t even part of its charge.

It’s important to keep in mind that, by definition, the spectrum belongs to all of us, as citizens. It should be used in such a way that is beneficial to the most citizens and not just a handful of TV station owners, for example.

Now, will this even happen, auctioning off some spectrum so that broadband companies will bid? It might happen, but no rules will be put in place till February at the next big FCC meeting.

A strong argument in favor of this: broadband access is simply more useful than traditional TV. You can only watch TV, which is fine. With broadband, you can watch, sure, but you can also participate (in debates relevant to you: PS3 vs. Xbox, the public option vs. something else, etc.), which is vital to having a fully informed citizenry.

But don’t freak out: the FCC can say, come February, “Yeah, we can’t do that broadband spectrum auction thing. Sorry. Next question.”

Sears Black Friday ad

We have another early entry into the wonderful world of leaked Black Friday ads with Sears opening at 4:00 AM on Friday morning and offering a pretty enticing list of door busters (available until noon) and other sale items to satisfy the rabid consumer in everyone.


Products include the following (door busters are marked with an asterisk):

Digital Cameras

Canon 980IS 12.1MP Digital Camera – $279.99


Canon Powershot SD780 IS 12.1MP Digital Camera – $179.99


Canon Rebelx XS Digital SLR Camera & Canon EF 75-300MM Telephoto Zoom Lens – $669.98


Disney Pix Micro Digital Cameras Designed For Just For Kids – $9.99 *


Fuji J29 10MP 3X Zoom 2.7″ LCD Digital Camera Bundle – $89.99 *


GE A1250 Digital Camera #0387779 – $69.99 *


Hi Pro Camera Kits #0354381/80 – 50% Off *


Jazz T20 4X Digtal Zoom 1.5″ LCD Camcorder #0339539/39540 – $19.99 *


Jazz T55 Camcorder #0339538 – $49.99 *


Kodak CD80 10.2MP, #x Zoom Digital Camera 2.4″ LCD 2GB Card And Case – $79.99 *


Kodak M1063 10.3MP Digital Camera – $89.99


Nikon Coolpix 12MP Digital Camera – $149.99


Nikon COOLPIX L20 Digital Camera – $99.99 *


Olmpus FE-4000 12MP Digital Camera – $99.99


Samsung C10 SD 1200 Digital Zoom 10X Optical Zoom 2.7″ LCD Camcorder – $149.99 *


Samsung Compact Full HD Camcorder – $399.99


Samsung SL40 12.2MP Digital Camera – $79.99


Sony 4GB Camcorder – $249.99


Sony 60GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder – $299.99


Sony Cyber-Shot 10.1MP Digital Camera – $99.99


Sony Cyper-Shot 10.1MP Digital Camera – $249.99

Digital Media Cards

Sandisk 2GB SD Card – $5.99


SanDisk 4GB Memory Cards Or Flash Drive – $8.99 *


Sandisk 8GB SDHC Card – $14.99


Sony 2GB Memory Stick PRO Due – $12.99

DVD Players

Curtis DVD Player AR – $17.99 *


GPX 8″ Portabe DVD Player PD808BU – $79.99


GPX DVD/CD Boom Box 7″ LCD Display #5710084/BD707B – $99.99 *


Magnavox DVD Player With VCR #5757168/DV225MG9 AR – $49.99 *


Samsung Blu-ray Disc Player BD-P1600-A – $149.99


Sony Blu-ray Disc Player BDPS360 – $149.99


Sony DVD Player DVP-SR200P – $34.99


Sylvania 7″ Portable DVD Player #5757149/SDVD7015-BLUE AR – $49.99 *

Electronics

AT&T DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone System w/4 Handsets – $59.99


Coby 7″ Digital Photo Frame – $29.99 *


Coby 8″ Digital Frame – $49.99


iHome Portable iPod/MP3 Speaker System – $9.99


Karaoke CP398 – $29.99


Kodak 7″ Digital Frame – $49.99


Pandigital 10″ Digital Photo Frame – $69.99 *


Sony E10 Ear Buds Headphones – $4.99


Sony Wireless Headphones – $29.99

GPS Systems

Garmin Nuvi 205 GPS – $89.99 *


Magellan RoadMate 1220 GPS – $89.99


Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS – $119.99 *


TomTom One 130 GPS – $79.99


TomTom XL325S – $99.99

Home Theater

Panasonic Blu-Ray Home Theater System #5798529/SC-BT200 – $399.99 *


RCA 5.1 Channel 250 Watt Home Theater System RTD317 – $99.99


Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt Single Disc DVD Home Theater System #5798659/HT-Z320 – $197.99 *


Samsung Blu-ray Home Theater System HT-BD1250 – $397.99


Sony Bravia 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt Integrated Home Theater System DAV-HDX589 – $329.99

MP3 Players

GPX 4GB MP3/4 Player – $32.99


iH4 iHome Alarm Clock For iPod #5792408/18 – $29.99 *


Mach Speed MP3 Player #5782229 – $24.99 *


RCA 1GB Sport MP3 Player #5731060 – $13.99 *

Televisions

AOC 32″ Full HD LDC TV – $379.99


Audiovox Under Cabinet Kitchen 7″ LCD DVD Clock Radio – $179.99


Eviant 7″ Hand Held TV – $89.99


LG 55″ LCD HDTV 55LH40 – $1499.99


Panasonic 42″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775529/TC-P42S1 – $649.99 *


Panasonic 54″ Plasma HDTV TC-P54G10 – $1499.99


Proscan 40″ Class LCD HDTV #5771379/40LC45Q – $539.99 *


Samsung 22″ Class LCD HDTV #5772015/LN22B350 – $249.99 *


Samsung 40″ Class 1080p LCD HDTV #5771409/LN40B500 – $599.99 *


Samsung 40″ LED HDTV UN40B6000 – $1399.99


Samsung 42″ Plasma HDTV PN42B400 – $549.99


Samsung 46″ 1080P Class LCD HDTV #5771419/LN46B500 – $899.99 *


Samsung 46″ Class LCD HDTV #5771079/LN46B650 – $1309.99 *


Samsung 46″ LED HDTV UN46B6000 – $1599.99


Samsung 50″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775129/PN50B430 – $699.99 *


Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV PN50B530 – $899.99


Samsung 55″ LED HDTV UN55B6000 – $2469.99


Sharp 19″ Class LCD HDTV #5772149/LC19SB27UT – $179.99 *


Sony 32″ Class LCD HDTV #5771459/KDL-32L504 – $379.99 *


Sony 40″ Class LCD HDTV #5771439/KDL40S504 – $664.99 *


Sony 46″ Class LCD HDTV #5771449/KDL-46S504 – $854.99 *


Sony 46″ LCD HDTV KDL46V5100 – $1239.99


Sony 52″ LCD HDTV KDL52V5100 – $1599.99


Toshiba 40″ 1080P Class LCD HDTV #5771438/40RV525U/R – $589.99 *


VIZIO 32″ ECO HDTV VO320E – $349.99


Zenith 42″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775849/Z42PO2 – $499.99 *  


Video Games

2-Pack Wii or DS Games – $14.99 *


2-Pack Xbox-360 Games or PS3 Games – $24.99 *


3-Pack PS2 Games – $9.99 *


Biggest Loser (Wii) – $29.99


Facebreak (Xbox 360) – $14.99


Guitar Hero World Tour For PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 – $49.99 *


Halo ODST (Xbox 360) – $39.99


Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) – $39.99


Nerf Racing Wheel Wii – $9.99


Nintendo DS Games – $19.99 *


Nintendo DS Games – $29.99 *


Nintendo Wii w/Nerf Racing Wheel – $199.99


Playstation 3 120GB – $299.99


PS3 Blu-Ray Remote – $24.99


TNA Impact (PS3) – $14.99


Various Video Games – $14.99 or Under


Xbox 360 Elite Bundle – $299.99


Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Card – $49.99

 

This is what it sounds like when Net Neutrality dies

The Net Neutrality argument is fairly nebulous for the average user but this image from a Reddit reader shows the effects of the law in a way everyone can understand. If you’re tired of paying tiered pricing for stuff like cable and Internet access, how would you like to pay tiered pricing for the websites you visit. Want to watch Hulu? Add $10. Need eBay, even for a month? $5, please.

While this is obviously a worst case scenario, this sort of bundling is a favorite pastime of most stream providers. For years voicemail was a privilege, not a right, and there are still grannies out there renting phones from the phone company. While month-to-month the costs might not seem like much, this sort of thing adds up to delicious profit.

First agricultural robot that can autonomously work on fields

Robots now enter the agriculture industry, too. First the award-winning rice-transplanting robot, now this: Major Japanese conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries has developed an agricultural robot that can tend fields autonomously.

The company says the robot is the first of its kind. It runs on gas and is 2m long, 60cm wide and 1m high. It emits and receives laser signals to orient itself, gauging the distance to special reflective plates (which are placed at regular intervals of about 10 meters).

Fuji Heavy says the robot can grow fruit and vegetables independently, and it can even be used inside greenhouses. The company plans to start selling the machine next fiscal year for around $100,000. My apologies for the small picture, but that’s all that’s available now.

I’m going to be a 20-foot-long ANIMATRONIC GOMORA for Halloween

Well, you can stop trying now. You’re not going to win that costume party. I’m going to come to it in a monstrous Gomora costume as big as a tree, shooting smoke and lighting up my monster eyes. Unless you come dressed as Ultraman and vanquish me (unlikely) I’ll be taking home first prize.

The costume is being tested and sold as part of a promotion for an upcoming movie called, I kid you not, “Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend.” If that’s not the greatest movie of all time, then they will need to be indicted on charges of false advertising.

Honoring fallen comrades. GeoCities goes down.

Today marks the death of an internet giant. One of the first, one of the best. Oh GeoCities. What would we have done without you? Where would we have put our brightly colored, constantly flashing backgrounds? Who else had rotating .gifs for links and neon green page hit counters? There is no substitute for your plethora of font colors and sizes, for your broken HTML codes and page badges, for your MIDI synth-horns. We will sorely miss your animated “Under Construction” signs we came to know and love.

GeoCities users, never fear. You still can upgrade to Yahoo web hosting without losing any of your page information. But you probably already knew that, seeing as it was your website that was going down. The number of free website hosts are dwindling, but the cheapest start close to a dollar a month. So there’s no excuse for not making sites no one will read.

Star Trek onesies for young nerdlings

While scores of parents the world over may worry endlessly about the distinct possibility of their children growing up nerdly, I say get ‘em started early with stuff like these Star Trek onesies.

Nerdy kids are smart, they develop loyal friendships, and they laugh hysterically at various factoids and inside jokes that most of the rest of society will never understand. Plus if you happen to be around during your freshman year of college for the first time a nerd gets drunk, don’t walk away. Picture child-like wonderment mixed with double-jointed limb flailing and uproarious laughter, and you’ve got the makings of a good night.

As for these onesies, they’re available in several styles and sizes for $16.

Video: Google Voice does translation too – in a way

Oh, it is a strange world we live in. Our phones are computers, our computers are supercomputers, and our bikes are rocket bikes. So why should it seem strange when our email provider translates incoming voicemails?

This one in particular shows how far technology has come. If only the caller had something more interesting to say.

Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Cybernetic human robot HRP-4C demo (2 videos)

 Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has showcased its most spectacular robot at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo today, the “cybernetic human” HRP-4C. The humanoid can’t move her legs, but the way she moves her arms, head and facial muscles is unbelievably human-like. Or you could say unbelievably creepy.

She usually works as a model, bridezilla and a singer by the way.

Here are two videos I took at the event today, showing the 158cm tall HRP-4C in action. In the videos, she’s “acting” in case you wonder what she’s saying.

Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Futuristic Media Vehicle

I stumbled upon this strange thing today at the at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo, a virtual reality capsule chair developed by the Iwata-Yano Laboratory at the University of Tsukuba. The so-called “Media Vehicle” mounts a spherical display and is supposed to let passengers move around both in the real world (it has 5 wheels) and a virtual reality environment.

 

The vehicle looks like it’s coming straight out of cult anime Akira, but I am too heavy to be able to use it and so couldn’t try it out myself.