Show #81

[Download Show #81 as MP3]

News

• Apple Stores (Online and Off) Out of iPhones
• For the past week and a half the Apple Stores have been out of iPhones.
• Does this mean that the much rumored 3G 2nd Generation iPhone is on its way or is it just manufacturing issues?
• So what does a 3G iPhone mean?
• Faster internet on what is probably the world's best mobile browser
• Better call quality
• Ability to surf the net while on a phone call (well you can do this on AT&T's 3G network, will the iPhone interface allow it?)
  

• HBO Shows come to iTunes Store (aka Death of Fixed Pricing)
• This past week, HBO and Apple reached a deal to bring HBO shows to the iTunes Store.
• This also marks the end of Apple's "fixed" pricing strategy on TV shows. Previously all TV shows were $1.99. Now with the HBO shows, some are $2.99 ("Deadwood" and "Sorpanos")
• Available shows include: "Sex and the City", "Sorpranos", "Rome", "Deadwood", "Flight of the Conchords", and "The Wire"
• This could soon usher in the return of NBC shows such as "Heroes" and "The Office" as the fixed pricing was one of the major reasons for NBC not renewing their iTunes Store contract.
  

Web Picks

• YouTube Format Hacking
  
• "Watch this video in higher quality." links all over Youtube
  
• Low and High Qualities now (HQ = 480 x 360 + 44 Khz audio ~ 900 Kbps)
• &fmt=6 = HQ : flash sorenson codec.
  
• Format 18 generates an mp4 (&fmt=18) - Compatible with IPOD. True Stereo. h.264 codec
• Embed High Quality videos, replace (VIDEO EMBED URL) with video ID:
  
• Video Keepers still work (keepvid)
• LifeHacker is a firefox Extension
  
• AC3 Codec - Play surround sound movies and audio files for FREE
  

Hardware

• AMOD GPS Logger

• Review 1
  
• Review 2
  
• Takes three AAA batteries
• Mac, PC, and Linux
  
• Bundled with JetPhoto (not Pro)
• Tools:
• Convert from NMEA format to GPX format using:
• GPS Photo Linker
• HoudahGeo (Mac)
• Pair down big files with GPSBabel
• Flickr, Mappr, Google Earth,
  
• Most GPS loggers just get position, altitude and speed, this one gets position, altitude, speed, heading, acquired satellites, hdop and vdop
• HDOP and VDOP = Horizontal/Vertical Dilution of Precision
• JDome - Interview with John Nilsson

Software

• DExpose2 - Expose for Windows
• Finally, someone brought Derek's favorite Mac OSX feature to Windows, and did it right
• Expose is a feature on Mac OSX that allows you to shrink all the windows open so that they are all displayed on your desktop. This allows you to find the window your looking for real quick with out having to Alt-Tab a ton of times or go through each window. On the Mac, it looks really nice
• This little utility which is free (our favorite price) installs and does exactly as advertised
• World Wide Telescope
• Think Google Maps but for the skies (and done by Microsoft)
• This little application made professional blogger/social media expert Robert Scoble cry
• Currently Windows only
• This thing is pretty cool. You can point to a point and space and it will zoom in
• There are tons of pre-defined coordinates to take you to several galaxies, stars, black holes, and even a couple of nebula.
• The up side here is if you have an ASCOM compatible telescope, you can connect it to your computer and use WWT to help you navigate the night skies