Monthly Archive for January, 2006

Just like biking…

A week ago I was obliged to go ice skating on a social event. Don’t get me wrong, those events use to be enjoyable and interesting. They’re one of the few opportunities during the year to meet with almost every colleague in a friendly atmosphere and have normal (non-work related) conversations. Even though you always start talking about work, but that’s another story.

My first thought when I heard about this year’s ice skating action was: oh my god! The last time I went ice skating with my class mates in elementary school and that’s quite a time ago. I didn’t feel any better when a colleague told me that they were ice skating on this event a few years ago too and one of them fell so badly that he spent more than a month in hospital. However, I was not the only one who was concerned about the sportive part of the event. There were a few others who weren’t practicing ice skating frequently. But someone told us that ice skating is just like biking: one time you know it you won’t forget it for your entire life. So we tried. Not only that everything went fine, nobody was hurt, no, we had lots of fun!

After this event my ice skating enthusiasm was high enough to buy my own brand new pair of skates. It so happened that just that week the Wiener Eistraum was opened, the ice skating area for this winter in front of our city hall here in Vienna. Like most places in Vienna’s city center this place is surrounded by a spectacular scenery (Rathaus and Burgtheater). Impressive what they built a hundred years ago – sustainable urban planning from a touristic and cultural point of view. As you can imagine this place is usually pretty crowded but yesterday afternoon when we went there it was ok, not too many people. See the proof of my ice skating progress:

So, now here comes the geeky part: the video clip & compression

I don’t own a portable video device such as PSP, iPod Video, 3G phone or any other mobile video player, nor do I possess a video camera. As you might have noticed this short video clip was done with my photo camera. At home I just had the idea to put this clip online, knowing that a 55MB MPEG – the movie format of my camera – would consume too much webspace and bandwith. Thus I needed to compress the file. Without being an video editing expert or having any particular reason I decided to use the MPEG4 H.264 standard. I just heard that HDTV, Blue-ray, HD-DVD and iPod Video are using it and it’s supposed to be the Holy Grail of video compression, that’s all. Especially thinking about iPod Video I got curious about how difficult it would be to bring home videos on your iPod Video.

OK, so I got this MPEG file out of my photo camera. I fired up Quicktime and hit “Export / Movie -> iPod”. Sounds easy but unfortunately the result wasn’t satisfying at all: the exported movie had no sound, only video.
Google told me that Quicktime can’t export muxed movies to MPEG4. I opened up my original file in ffmpegX and demuxed it. Btw, ffmpegX offers an iPod-setting to create iPod-compatible videos, I tried it, but I wasn’t lucky and couldn’t play the created file. Something went wrong. I went back to Quicktime and tried to copy the audio and video track of my demuxed movie together into one movie. No luck, apparently Quicktime can’t copy MP2 audio tracks. So I had to convert the demuxed MP2 audio track to AIFF with the help of iTunes. Meanwhile I downloaded and tried Podner. This software works like a charm! But the demo only let’s you convert the first 2.5 minutes of each video. Even though the shareware fee is pretty low ($9.95) I didn’t purchase it since I’m not planning to convert more movies and my ambitions to do it with Quicktime was already pretty high. Back to Quicktime: having the AIFF audio track I was able to create a new Quicktime movie with separate video and audio track. This time the export to iPod using Quicktime worked well (as you can see), even though it took quite a while.

To sum things up, if you’re trying to convert your (muxed) MPEG movie for your iPod and Quicktime only gives you a video with no sound try the following steps:

  • demux the movie (using ffmpegX for instance)
  • create a new Quicktime movie by joining (copy&paste) the demuxed audio and video track
  • export to iPod with the help of Quicktime
  • spend $9.95 on Podner to make the whole process easier and faster

Da Vinci Code stills

Dark Horizons posted some new stills of the upcoming movie The Da Vinci Code. Except Tom Hanks the pictures match almost perfectly the images I had in my mind reading the novel. (via Cinematical)

Open source GIS software

EVOKNOW provides a comprehensive list of (rated) open source GIS software.

A very useful document for someone new to GIS who just wants to try some tools out. As well for existing GIS users who are planning to extent their GIS environment and consider the use of open source tools or are interested in which tasks can be done by open source software.

People at VerySpatial are working on a list containing commercial and open source desktop-GIS. (via Declan Butler)

When it comes to GIS software I’m strongly bounded to ESRI products and PostGIS is the only open source GIS software I had seriously in use so far. Thus it’s good to get an overview about what else has the GIS software market to offer.

Comment spam

Thanks to Akismet I don’t have to worry about comment spam anymore. However, reading what Akismet has caught I’m wondering who is willing to pay for those apparently random (certainly they are not) word-link-compostions? The algorithm or method those compositions are based on would be interesting to know. Let’s see how Google’s AdSense reacts on those words:

when TV is Pair it will Lose Pair: http://www.thehulk.com/ , Plane can Create Corner when Girl Anticipate Girl Create , Pair will Slot unconditionally Chips will Corner unconditionally Forecast Gnome is very good Boy: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/ , right Girl will Play Soldier without any questions White Tournament Increase or not , Opponents will Opponents unconditionally Greedy Player is always Profound Table when Slot Con Pair Loose: http://www.drudgereport.com/ , Green Mistery becomes Collective Corner in final Circle can Loose Mistery , to Roll Player you should be very International Profound is feature of Central Mistery Central is feature of Faithful Chair: http://www.nick.com/all_nick/movies/spongebob/ , when Cosmos Steal Circle Create when Slot is Game it will Kill Plane , Bad, Black, Beautiful nothing comparative to White Greedy Grass becomes Standard Round in final to Con TV you should be very Profound: http://www.osnews.com/ , right Pair will Con Game without any questions International Chips Rape or not , Hedge Round is very good Player Black Cards is always Coolblooded Plane right Round will Anticipate Grass without any questions: http://www.techweb.com/ , right Grass will Lose Chair without any questions Soldier will Corner unconditionally , when Chair is Table it will Percieve Boy Do Con Kill – that is all that Cards is capable of Small, Astonishing, White nothing comparative to Small: http://news.independent.co.uk/ , Tremendous is feature of Standard Player Con Give Make – that is all that Slot is capable of , Standard is feature of Profound Corner International, Lazy, Collective nothing comparative to Full White, Greedy, Black nothing comparative to Memorizing: http://allafrica.com/ , Give Fetch Give – that is all that Player is capable of right Chips will Make Plane without any questions , Slot can Double Girl Full Round becomes Central Grass in final Round will Plane unconditionally: http://www.newsgator.com/ , Green Corner is always International Corner Double Kill Win – that is all that Cards is capable of , Bad, Faithful, Greedy nothing comparative to Tremendous Bet Chips is very good Soldier when TV is Chair it will Win Plane: http://www.eschoolnews.com/ , Beautiful, Bad, Profound nothing comparative to Green International, Faithful, White nothing comparative to Coolblooded , International Grass Lose or not Faithful Circle is always Universal Tournament I hope you’re going to update your site soon. when Chair Percieve Tournament Give: http://www.abeautifulmind.com/ , Tremendous Slot Fetch or not when Opponents Bet Player Double , Bad Corner becomes International Gnome in final Steal Play Win – that is all that Opponents is capable of Play Chair is very good Opponents: http://www.batmanbegins.com/ , Compute Cards is very good Gnome Small is feature of Lazy Table , Green, Astonishing, Memorizing nothing comparative to International right Girl will Anticipate Stake without any questions I enjoyed visiting here very much. Thanks! Do Tournament is very good Slot: http://www.adn.com/ , Collective, Good, Greedy nothing comparative to Small Destroy Love Do – that is all that Cosmos is capable of , Superb Gnome becomes Astonishing Circle in final Tournament can Bet Opponents I had a great time reading your comments. Make Expect Compute – that is all that Player is capable of: http://www.americanmovie.com/ , to Increase Chips you should be very Big Plane can Hedge Game , Slot will Plane unconditionally to Kill Soldier you should be very Beautiful Memorizing Mistery Roll or not: http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/ , to Loose Table you should be very Profound right Tournament will Make Mistery without any questions , Tremendous Mistery Play or not Chips will Cards unconditionally Red, Central, Bad nothing comparative to Universal: http://www.skypub.com/ , Beautiful, Standard, Industrious nothing comparative to Industrious when Pair is Boy it will Destroy Soldier , Universal Mistery becomes Small Slot in final Memorizing, Collective, International nothing comparative to Big when Grass Compute Chair Roll: http://www.defenselink.mil/ , when Corner Expect Plane Bet Good Chair is always Universal Stake , Good Corner becomes Faithful Circle in final Small is feature of Collective Table Love Kill Create – that is all that Pair is capable of: http://www.screenit.com/ , Bad Chair is always Greedy Soldier right Round will Win Opponents without any questions , Red Plane Create or not Red Circle is always Coolblooded Slot to Loose Round you should be very Astonishing: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/default.asp?siteid=mktw , Good Slot Percieve or not when Game Con Cards Love , to Percieve Slot you should be very Superb Boy will Plane unconditionally Anticipate Expect Play – that is all that Stake is capable of: http://www.cnd.org/ , Memorizing Player becomes Beautiful Cosmos in final TV will Cosmos unconditionally , Win Table is very good Corner Standard TV becomes Industrious Cosmos in final Coolblooded Grass becomes Green Gnome in final: http://movies.aol.com/ , Make Table is very good Table Profound, Black, Memorizing nothing comparative to Green , right Grass will Steal Plane without any questions Coolblooded is feature of International Table I’m sure gonna come back here. Astonishing Pair is always Faithful Tournament: http://www.sciencenews.org/ , Small is feature of White Player Double Con Hope – that is all that Grass is capable of , when Round Hope Game Con when Player Forecast Table Anticipate Circle will Girl unconditionally: http://www.themoviespoiler.com/ , when Opponents is Table it will Bet Chair when Cosmos is Chips it will Rape Plane , Love Give Make – that is all that Tournament is capable of when Soldier is Corner it will Love Round when Table Play Opponents Lose: http://www.cbs.com/ , Full is feature of Faithful Soldier Profound, Full, Coolblooded nothing comparative to Memorizing , Industrious Table becomes International Round in final Table can Lose Cards Double Girl is very good Soldier: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx , Grass will Chair unconditionally Roll Destroy Fetch – that is all that Pair is capable of , to Love TV you should be very International Curious Table is always Big Slot International Table is always Big Soldier: http://www.cnn.com/ , Slot will Pair unconditionally Pair will Soldier unconditionally , when Chair Do Boy Roll Central, Full, Standard nothing comparative to Full when Cards is TV it will Steal Mistery: http://movies.go.com/ , right Tournament will Roll TV without any questions Play Player is very good Opponents , to Hope Chips you should be very Full Slot can Hedge Player beautiful is feature of black table: http://www.filmratings.com/ , Greedy Boy is always White Opponents create cosmos is very good grass , Game can Win Corner to loose girl you should be very white Boy will Table unconditionally: http://www.nick.com/all_nick/movies/spongebob/ , Standard, Green, Big nothing comparative to Greedy Stake will Mistery unconditionally , when Chips is TV it will Give Plane Anticipate Opponents is very good Chair Love Soldier is very good Chair: http://www.macnn.com/ , when Slot Compute Cards Hope Compute Opponents is very good Girl , Hedge Corner is very good Corner Greedy Cosmos is always Curious Cards when Pair is Boy it will Con Stake: http://www.un.org/News/ , Expect Tournament is very good Chips Lose Double Do – that is all that Cosmos is capable of , Superb Circle is always Faithful Circle Give Anticipate Steal – that is all that Round is capable of Tremendous is feature of Tremendous Corner: http://www.space.com/ , Circle can Destroy Mistery Expect Love Loose – that is all that Chair is capable of , Win Plane is very good Chair to Increase Mistery you should be very Tremendous Central is feature of Green Circle: http://news.google.com/ , to Double Plane you should be very Small when Chair is Grass it will Create Cards , Red is feature of Superb Chips Play Girl is very good Chips Tournament will Round unconditionally: http://www.usatoday.com/news/front.htm , right Stake will Loose Table without any questions Hedge Create Bet – that is all that Player is capable of , when Grass Forecast Table Compute Astonishing Girl Love or not Red Cards becomes Red Cosmos in final: http://www.scripting.com/ , Green is feature of Industrious TV Table will Game unconditionally , Cosmos can Play Pair International Cards Rape or not  to Love Gnome you should be very Astonishing: http://www.mrqe.com/ , Anticipate Grass is very good Round Astonishing Player becomes Superb Game in final , Good Boy is always Red Tournament Red Boy is always Memorizing Cosmos Corner can Percieve Plane: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/562436 , Astonishing TV Anticipate or not right Chips will Percieve Game without any questions , Circle can Win Boy to Hedge Stake you should be very Red when Opponents Lose Circle Hope: http://www.moviegallery.com/ , when Soldier is Pair it will Win Plane Tremendous TV becomes Coolblooded Circle in final , Collective Grass Con or not Red Grass Bet or not

Questionable cast

Still, it’s hard to imagine Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in Ron Howard‘s Da Vinci Code. I would prefer an actor like Harrison Ford instead of him. (via Cinematical)

ArcGIS 9.2 includes GML and KML support

James Fee reports that ArcGIS 9.2 ArcView will support OGC GML Simple Features and KML by default. This means an important step for interoperability!

Interoperable Google Earth

The hype about Google Earth even gets more interesting as they joined OGC as principal member. Can we expect an OGC interoperable Google Earth in near future? (via All Points Blog)

Google logs for US Department of Justice

I just don’t get the advantage of analysing terrabytes of log-files instead of releasing (and obligate the use for certain sites to) .xxx to filter porn. (via BBC)

PHP development on Mac OS X

A new version of MAMP, containing the latest updates of its components, is available for download.

MAMP (Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP) is an excelent environment if you’re planning to do some PHP development on your Mac. As they state on the MAMP website, it should therefore not be used as Live Webserver for the Internet.

Included software & libraries

  • Apache Version: 2.0.55
  • MySQL Version: 4.1.12
  • PHP Version: 4.4.2 & 5.1.2
  • eAccelerator: 0.9.4-rc1
  • Zend Optimizer: 2.6.0
  • phpMyAdmin 2.7.0-pl2
  • SQLite Version: 2.8.16
  • SQLiteManager Version: 1.1.3
  • Freetype Version: 2.1.9
  • t1lib Version: 5.1.0
  • curl Version: 7.14.0
  • jpeg Version: 6b
  • libpng Version: 1.2.5
  • gd Version: 2.0.28

I use MAMP primarily to test or modify WordPress upgrades, themes or plugins on my local machine before installing them on my webserver. The installation, administration and removal of MAMP is pretty straightforward – a highly recommended package!

WordPress Squible Akismet issue

Since I installed the Akismet WordPress plugin something is wrong with my WordPress installation or Squibble theme: the toppanel-div won’t be displayed any longer. Due to the fact that deactivating and removing Akismet didn’t solve the problem I doubt that it’s the fault of Akismet.
Honestly, I don’t have a clue what happened – wether Akismet was the reason or I’ve done something else by accident (honestly, I can’t imagine how I would have changed some file or database entry by accident on the server).
However, when I add a new post to my asides category the toppanel won’t be displayed. If I remove the asides category the post will show up without any problem in the toppanel-div on the main page. What makes me wonder is that it only occurs with new posts, older asides-posts just work fine.
I already checked some sources of Squibble but I can’t track the problem down. Maybe there is something wrong in the database? Which entries does Akismet add to the database and does it modify any other WordPress file? Any hints?

Update:
Nevermind, the problem disappeared right after I wrote this post, followed by another one in the asides category. Everything now works as it did before. This is spooky!

Update #2:
I think I could at least track down the cause of that behaviour: it’s definitely not an Akismet but a Squibble issue. Every time when I count 5 posts in my asides category after I posted something not categorized as aside the top post on my index-page disappears (the post previous to the 5 asides). In my options-file I defined to display 5 asides on the index-page, but I’m not sure (yet) if there is a connection between this parameter and the problem.