Friday, October 29, 2010

GoogleTV UX Fail

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v21qlAfAiIo]

AREAWARE bottle opener

I really dig the ultra-simple design and rustic look of this bottle opener.

Original Darth Vader costume up for sale

Media_httpmsnbcmedia2_ddhda

Unquestionably one of, if not the most, iconic costume in film history.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

YouTube HTML5 Trial Opt-in

If the YouTube HTML5 player isn't working for you, you might need to opt-in to their HTML5 trial, here: http://www.youtube.com/html5

YouTube HTML5 Video Player

This is an opt-in trial of HTML5 video on YouTube. If you are using a supported browser, you can choose to use the HTML5 player instead of the Flash player for most videos. Your comments will help us improve and perfect the mixtures we're working on. So jump in, play around, and send your feedback directly to the brains behind the scenes.

Supported Browsers

We support browsers that support both the video tag in HTML5 and either the h.264 video codec or the WebM format (with VP8 codec). These include:

Notes

  • Fullscreen support is partially implemented. Pressing the fullscreen button will expand the player to fill your browser. If your browser supports a fullscreen option, you can then use that to truly fill the screen
  • The HTML5 player has a badge in the control bar. If you don't see the "HTML5" icon in the control bar, you've been directed to the Flash player (due to restrictions listed below)
  • The HTML5 player also has a badge to indicate the video is using the WebM format. If you don't see the "WebM" icon, the video is encoded using h.264
  • If you want to find videos with WebM formats available, you can use the Advanced Search options to look for them (or just add &webm=1 to any search URL)

Additional Restrictions (we are working on these!)

  • Videos with ads are not supported (they will play in the Flash player)
  • On Firefox and Opera, only videos with WebM transcodes will play in HTML5
  • If you've opted in to other testtube experiments, you may not get the HTML5 player (Feather is supported, though)

You are currently in the HTML5 trial.

 

Disable "Additional plugins..." alert in Firefox

My NoFlash experiment is going okay, except for the fact that Firefox (yes, I still use it) likes to remind me that I should install the Flash plugin. I disabled the nag-ware by:
  1. Typing 'about:config' in the address bar
  2. Accepted the warning message
  3. Filtered for 'plugin.default_plugin_disabled'
  4. Set the value to 'false'

Done! No more annoying prompts.

eBoy's FixPix (for iOS)

> Check out eBoy's FixPix here

Photo

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

What???s the #1 most crazy idea Steve Ballmer has ever heard?

The only thing that could possibly make this video better is if Ballmer was in New Jersey while he was prognosticating.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcUicfqelC8]

YouTube HTML5 Embed Code

I'm trying to have a Flash-less web experience, so I'm putting my tumblog where my mouth is, and I'm not going to post Flash-based media to http://byteengine.net starting from this post forward. It's an experiment; we'll see how it goes. 

I embed a lot of YouTube videos, and in order to adhere to my rule, I need use their HTML5 player. So, I'm sharing. Here's the HTML5 embed code for YouTube:


Hope this helps someone.

Thirty Conversations with Designers

Media_httpthinkvitami_fxtbz

 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Central Park South

Media_httpwwwlikecool_wbnbg
Like a lot of folks, I commute to New York City every day. Thing is, because of that, I rarely actually see or experience the city; I commute in, I work, I commute out. Lather, rinse, repeat. Which is really a shame because NYC truly is an amazing place that must be experienced (at least once) to be appreciated. Pictures by themselves don't capture its scale, grandeur, or the sheer diversity and complexity of the place. That said, pictures have the power to remind me why I consider this place HOME.

 

TiltShift Van Gogh

Media_http4bpblogspot_awnrj

Awesome.