Hinting movies was a key reason for owning a Pro license for Quicktime Player 7 (QT7). The Quicktime X that ships with Snow Leopard adds new features and a simplified interface in the new standard Quicktime Player application. But in the process of simplification, one of the most useful Pro features, the ability to "hint" a movie for Quicktime Streaming is lost or too well hidden.
QT 7 Pro - Converting and Hinting a Flash Video
In Leopard, there are two versions of Quicktime Player 7 (QT7), standard and Pro. Pro is a $29 upgrade option. There is only one version of Quicktime X (QT-X) in Snow Leopard.
Heeding warnings of QT-X possibly being a downgrade from QT7 Pro, I had moved QT7 to my user Applications folder before upgrading to Snow Leopard, and kind of forgot about it. Then came the day to "hint" an existing movie for the Quicktime Streaming Server (QTSS) that ships with Snow Leopard Server.
Since hinting is applied by default in Quicktime Broadcaster, my first thought was that maybe hinting was automatic with QT-X. So I tried just exporting the .flv (Flash Video) file in question to .mov format. Loading the file in QTSS threw an "Unsupported media" error.
Patted myself on the back for saving QT7 Pro, fired it up, noticed the Pro features were grayed out. Hunted down registration details, clicked the "Registration" menu, nothing happens. Formerly a dialog box for entering the registration number would appear. Now, absolutely nothing. Tried re-installing QT7 from the Snow Leopard DVD optional installs mpkg. Same results, still no way to enter a registration code.
I was starting to believe the worst, that Apple had arbitrarily removed the ability to "hint" files to nudge users to the new Podcast Producer platform. Then I tried installing QT7 on the QTSS server machine. The installation worked, the registration dialog popped right up. When the details were entered, hinted movie functionality worked. Then I opened a .mov file on the server, and QT-X launched. So QT7 Pro and QT-X are up and running side by side on the server.
What is going on?
For whatever reason, likely something to do with the registration code functionality, QT7 Pro only displays the registration dialog when run from the /Applications/Utilities folder.
During the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, I had manually moved the QT7 app into a location where I was certain it would not be overwritten. That location is not compatible with QT7 Pro. Re-installing QT7 on the machine, put QT7 in /Applications/Utilities. Yet the QT7 that was launching using the command-spacebar option was the app I had moved, not the app the installer installed. Confused yet?
Short version is that Apple themselves had already considered the possibility of overwriting key QT7 functionality. QT-X installs by default in the root of the /Applications folder, to prevent application collision and overwrite. Had I just blindly left everything alone, the only trick would have been knowing where to find the old QT7 Pro app.
The Parts..
- Quicktime 7
- Quicktime 7 Pro
- Quicktime X
- Quicktime Broadcaster -- Hinting is applied by default to streams recorded to disk using Quicktime Broadcaster app
- Quicktime Streaming Server -- Available with Snow Leopard Server
Apple Knowledge Base regarding QT7 on Snow Leopard.. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3678
All the fancy GUI for servers and client machines sometimes hides the obvious.
The Mini Server provides Open Directory Services, Kerberos and LDAP. Configuring client machines is a simple affair, System Preferences->Accounts->Authenticate as admin, click the Join.. button, and configured services "just work" for every machine on the network -- except mine. Setting up Mail, Address Book, Calendar Server is a simple affair. Except when it doesn't just work. Then it really doesn't work.
Click the Join Button, easy.
On mine, it would look like everything was going to work, the ball would flash green, then turn red, and throw a not very helpful error. Where to go from here?
Connection Failed
Macosxhints.com had the best discussion I could find that was close to the problem.
-- http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-98806.html
If it is only on one client, it is something on that client are the words of wisdom missing in that discussion.
It remained a curious anomaly for me. Until the day I had to have this working for a demonstration. After the panic subsided, I figured the easiest way to fix it would be to simply change the computer hostname as per the forum hint.
System Preferences->Sharing->Computer Name and enter a new computer name. That is when I noticed that the computer name I would set was being overriden somewhere. That somewhere was in the /etc/hosts file. It was an old /etc/hosts file with a manually set host name that had migrated through a machine upgrade. Arghh!
Removing that one line from the file was all that was required.
Old hosts file was the problem
File this as the Open Directory problem that wasn't an open directory problem. When it gets too mysterious, start looking for the obvious.
Podcast Producer is an efficient way to transfer rich media throughout a community or enterprise.
It automates and standardizes video information transfer, and it includes a dual source, screen capture-webcam workflow straight out of the box. The final product is served out via RSS, to anywhere with an RSS reader, (and some bandwidth). The time savings versus someone figuring all this out on their own is worth the price of a Mini Server.
Flip the pages of a PDF file without touching a thing!
The Montage workflow, combined with PDF files, introduces a sweet and stunning accessibility tweak.
- Load a PDF file into the Podcast capture screen.
- Choose the Montage workflow option.
- Add the episode and description and send it off the the podcast producer.
See it in action -- http://ipliance.com/index.php/eng/Blog/Podcast-Producer-Easy-Page-Flipper
The duration between page flips is adjustable in the workflow using Podcast Composer.
Montage ships with 3 second flips by default. I set the duration up to 30 seconds and saved it as montagee.
Although 10 times the duration, the slower flipping file is only about twice the size on disk. Podcast Producer has some decent optimizations built right in for this kind of stuff.
The bookshelf on the iPad starts off looking rather empty, just a "Winnie the Pooh" unless other books were previously downloaded in iTunes.
Stocking the Shelves
Project Gutenberg has about 30,000 titles, most of them free as in price and free as in freedom to use as you see fit. Google Books, at where else but books.google.com is another trove of epub titles.
Download a favorite in ePub format, drop the file on the iTunes icon on the dock. If not there already, a "Books" category will appear in the iTunes library, the book is available on the iPad after the next sync.
Huck Finn from gutenberg.org
Convert PDF to ePub
UPDATE - PDF files are now embraced in their original format within iTunes. No need to convert. Drag and drop any pdf file onto the iTunes icon on the dock. Boom it is in iTunes books folder. From there, rename, create subfolders, do what makes sense for your situation. These PDF docs can sync with mobile iDevices for access to text info on the go. END OF UPDATE
If, like me, you have information in pdf format scattered all over the place, this is a prime opportunity to make them more useful, and stock the shelves of your iPad at the same time. Simply convert the pdf files to epub format using calibre.
Converting pdf to epub is not strictly necessary to use them, just a nice way to flesh out the iBook shelf. Goodreader* will read pdf files and a whole lot more just fine without the need to convert anything to epub.* http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html
Print to PDF is standard in OS X, so it is easy to stock iBookshelves with information while saving the trees.
Calibre by Kovid Goyal
Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. Download it here.. http://calibre-ebook.com/download_osx
Install it and start it.
1. Drag a pdf file from finder and drop it on the calibre icon in the dock. This inserts the file into the calibre library.
-------2. Click the "Convert eBooks" icon at the top, be certain epub is listed as an output format, then clickOK to do the deed.
-------3. Next, select Save to Disk from the toolbar at the top.
The pdf file is saved with the author name serving as the top level folder structure.
Beneath that folder structure is the book name and an .epub file for the book.
Drag the .epub file to a running iTunes instance in the dock. The book appears immediately, with a nice cover page, in the Books library in iTunes. If a Books LIbrary is not already displayed, it is created by the drag and drop of an .epub file.
Just that simple.
iBooks Library - Shelf View
iBooks Library - List View
After much trial and error, finally have a sweet Podcast Producer setup running on the Mini Server.
Distributing Podcasts
Locally in iTunes
Before shot..
During Podcast producer setup, several RSS feeds are presented for entry into the Mail app of the client machine. RSS may be grabbed by user, by workflow, by keyword, custom or history parameters as defaults. By user, or workflow, makes the most sense for local.
To distribute locally, copy the url listing for the feed, something like.. feed://mini3.brethower.net:8171/podcastproducer/atom_feeds/6061889F-0AD4-44A1-A901-EC4E2636CE23
Then in iTunes, main menu, choose "Advanced->Subscribe to podcast.." and enter the copied feed url into the box provided.
------The feed then appears, get the one desired with a double-click..
-----The podcast loads into iTunes on the local machine, double-click the podcast to start it.
youtube
When the files appear in the local feed, control click the attachment files and save the desired resolution to local disk. If you don't know what desired resolution means, just use 360p and you will figure it out as you go with minimum bandwidth usage.
Then login to youtube and upload. Youtube handles the .m4v files created by podcast producer without a wimper.
"a device that is being rapidly embraced by three generations of knowledge workers, and that companies are very pleased to adopt." Ted Davies, President, Unisys Federal Systems
Apple released a profile for Unisys today. Yes, that unisys, from the 1950's.
Unisys does security for the Dept of Homeland Security among others. They really like the iPhone for a number of reasons.
The iPhones and Touches are embraced by the younger generations, but my fingers are just too old and fat to embrace those smaller screens. Luckily the same ideas and apps translate fine to the iPad.
Full story:
"I've used it to take notes at events, record interviews (one area in which it simply excels), write my articles and columns, and break the ice with nervous interviewees."
--Austin Leeds, Lowendmac.com
Don't know who Austin Leeds is, or where he goes to school, but nice of him to share his real world experiences. He is replacing a 10 year old powerbook with an iPod, so some "fan boy" would be expected. But he sticks to the facts and throws in some interesting analogy.
"..If computers were writing surfaces, desktops would be writing desks, laptops would be folding tables, the iPad would be a clipboard, and the iPod touch would be a reporter's notebook." -- emphasis mine
His article is the best real world practical, on the ground, rundown of iPad features and faults that I have seen to date. Hopefully the 3G models have started shipping so I can find out for myself soon. I had never thought about the speakers which he says are great, was pretty sure printing would be no problem and glad to see that confirmed. A nice informative rundown from a practical point of view.
Full Story..
http://lowendmac.com/reviews/10rev/ipad-here-to-stay.html
UPDATED
Make that TWO content producers..
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/05/ipad-dj-rana-sobhany/
Updated again
Soon to be too numerous to count, the iPad is a game changer.
Jason Seiler -- http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot.com/2010/05/ilove-ipad.html
SketchBook Pro, yes that sketchbook pro -- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook-pro/id364253478?mt=8
Steve Jobs job, making the impossible - possible, by enhancing user interfaces in ways users have never dreamed they could be enhanced.
"His (Steve Jobs) evidence: three Apple-created sample interactive ads that are a rarity on any screen: advertisements on which you might actually want to click."
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/09/steve-jobs-missed-his-calling/
Tailoring Interaction and Emotion to Best Serve iAds
Every ad is an opportunity for a superbowl like ad experience, tailored to an individuals interest.
Watch the last 15 minutes or so of this event. If you are a "dude" and into basketball, the Nike ad is so full of emotion it will make your hair stand on end. For me it is the same degree of revelation as when I first read Web 2.0 as presented by Tim O'Reilly. Tailoring the Interaction-Emotion continuum to best serve the message will become Web advertising mantra.
Multi-tasking on soon to be 100 million mobile devices, now makes sense, because it can give one level of nesting for an ad, then right back to the App.
Help web developers make money in the process. Wonder if that will attract any developer talent?
The only problem, and it is a big problem to the FOSS movement, is that it is all locked down within the Apple ecosystem in this incarnation. In Apple's defense, it is much easier to control the experience when you don't allow middleware any possibility to compromise the experience.
"We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform." http://www.taoeffect.com/blog/2010/04/steve-jobs-response-on-section-3-3-1/
It also makes sense to try to keep it as simple as possible for now, then open things up as the future unfolds. Otherwise there is a risk of alienating key developers who may have built business models around functionalities that later become problematic.
What can be done with HTML5? A lot. If anyone thought Shockwave Flash interfaces were going to make it in mobile devices..
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1004fk8d5gt/event/
Next
Next step, making all Web advertising not suck. Present it with content and contexts that people actually want. There is plenty of room for improvement outside the Apple ecosystem.
The underlying paradigm will spread. There will always be top level developers working hard to prove that anything with tech, can be accomplished free from lockdown mentality.
And I am guessing it won't take Apple too long to start opening up, because they know the value of top developer talent as well as anyone. There won't be enough of it to go around any time soon, now that Jobs has ratcheted user expectations up to an entirely new level. Better to have them working with you.
Walt Mossberg review for the Wall Street Journal gives a low hype, good detailed view of what to expect from the iPad.
Using an iPad to accomplish as much of his tech as possible, he finds:
- the landscape keypad is useful enough, works great for email
- battery life while watching movies 11 hours plus
- HD video format is not compatible with screen resolution, black space or cropping are choices
- No tabbed browsing in Safari
- Speedy
- Can be used as digital picture frame
- Weather, clock, and stocks, popular iPhone apps are missing
- "by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen"
Writing long documents, and viewing flash videos were the two things that would make him pick up one of his notebooks, a lenovo or a mac.
Full article..
"Specialization is for insects"
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"Where our customer needs us and wants us, that’s where we want to be — with our products, with our magazines, with our books, with our television content."
Martha Stewart
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff_tablet_essays/ hmm, no Web content?
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"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear."
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"While users want to be able to access information in real-time, they will have little tolerance for information and communications that have no relevance to them. Instead, they will want to be able to view the status of their selected circle of contacts, receive information that reflects their actual interests and stay informed about events that will impact their own lives. Real-time communications will therefore need to be coupled with content that is highly tailored, or ‘personalised’."
--Marek Foss
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Believe nothing, consider everything.
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"spend money to save time, rather than those who spend time to save money"
--Marten Mickos MySQL AB
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In battle, TIME IS THE DOMINANT PARAMETER. Responses in the shortest time frame eventually prevail. The opponent gets caught responding to situations that have already changed.
--John Boyd paraphrase from Wikipedia
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist)
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"Small. Fast. Reliable. Choose any three."
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"We argue that an understanding of these inherent “human factors” vulnerabilities, and the necessity to take them into account during design rather than naïvely shifting the blame onto the “gullible users”, is a fundamental paradigm shift for the security engineer which, if adopted, will lead to stronger and more resilient systems security."
--Frank Stajano and Paul Wilson University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
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"competition will appear faster and marketing will rise to even more prominence as the key skill in a company."
--Dan Woods, Forbes.com "$10million is the new $100million", speaking of tech infrastructure commoditization
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"We Open Doors, Not Windows"
--Perry
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"In business, success isn't simply a matter of being quickest to market, of spending the most, or of selling the highest-quality products. You can win by using any of those methods but only if you do one thing more: Outmaneuver the other guy. You have to decode the environment before he does, act decisively, and then capitalize on his initial confusion by confusing him some more. Agility is the essence of strategy in war and in business."
--Keith Hammonds http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/pilot.html
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When IT is toaster simple, people will be impressed.
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"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity."
--John F. Kennedy
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"Scenarios always come in sets of three:
best case, worst case, and just in case."
--Arnt Karlsen on gasification listserv, January 2010
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"Macs and Unix boxes get broken into because they are misconfigured, poorly maintained or, in most cases, because the users have incredibly stupid passwords. Windows boxes get broken into because they are misconfigured, poorly maintained, the users have incredibly stupid passwords *and* because Windows doesn't separate users from the system."
--Paul Schmehl - Senior Information Security Analyst University of Texas at Dallas.
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"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance."
--Robert Quillen from aardvark forums.
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"The sheer quantity of information that is descending upon our organizations is rapidly creating a set of circumstances in which we will not(sic) longer be able to just "wing it." The strategic imperative to manage information effectively will soon become irreversible."
--John Mancini AIIM president AIIM 8 Reasons for IM strategy p. 11
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"Until now we’ve only known that the attackers got in through a vulnerability in Internet Explorer"
- The Google Breach of January 2010
--http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/apt-hacks
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"They get it like a dog that has just been shown a card trick."
--the late Bill Hicks - UK comedian
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(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
--Numbers 12:3
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"Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of words required to explain anything"
--William of Ockham (1285-1349) From w3schools.com
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"I recently installed Ubuntu on the Dell XPS 200. It is snappier than Windows, and I don't have to deal with product registration numbers, legal restrictions, and installation headaches."
--http://lowendmac.com/ed/hatchett/09jh/difference.html
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"Most manufacturers want to advertise a single feature which adds to the already existing paradigm...
...Of course it is almost impossible for Bean counters, engineers, and starched shirts TO THINK OF THE END USERS. They are more involved in playing it safe. Why would they care? As long as they can maintain the status guo and collect hefty bonuses by introducing just an "add-on" every year then why revolutionize? As a recent article headline stated; "They just don't get Apple".
--Levant on http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/16/morgan-stanley-drinks-apple-kool-aid/ emphasis on end users mine
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The iPad isn’t about saving newspapers. It’s about inventing new ways of telling stories, using a whole new language — one that we can’t even imagine right now.
--Fake Steve Jobs on Wired Magazine