derekville.net

A user uploaded a Quicktime video to my website the other day and the server ran into a problem transcoding it to FLV. I hit up #ffmpeg and it was suggested that I upgrade my install of FFMPEG and libfaad. Alrighty, no big deal, done it before. So first thing this morning was going to be update the sources and recompile.

Before I get on with that, first I’ll describe the environment. We’re running on RHEL4 and have an install of FFMPEG that works fine (aside from that 1 user uploaded video). The last upgrade of FFMPEG to get h264 support wasn’t done by me, but rather our sysadmin, when we actually had a sysadmin. I believe he used rpms for the libraries and compiled FFMPEG from the SVN repo.

So I did a quick search just to remind myself what libraries I needed and I came across this post about compiling on RHEL4, our distro. Perfect. I followed directions to a T (aside from upgrading SVN) and it compiled fine. Now, time to run a test transcode…

[root@140859-www1 ~]# /home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg -y -i /media/v2-prod/atlas/8102/20206 -ab 64k -ar 22050 -b 700K -r 15 -y -s 640×480 -ac 1 -padtop -padbottom -s vga /home/derek/blah.flv
FFmpeg version SVN-r13977, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: –enable-libmp3lame –enable-libvorbis –enable-libfaac –enable-libfaad –enable-gpl –enable-libtheora –enable-libx264 –enable-shared
libavutil version: 49.7.0
libavcodec version: 51.57.2
libavformat version: 52.16.0
libavdevice version: 52.0.0
built on Jun 25 2008 14:49:55, gcc: 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-9)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from ‘/media/v2-prod/atlas/8102/20206′:
Duration: 00:10:55.2, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 406 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Audio: mpeg4aac, 44100 Hz, stereo
Stream #0.1(und): Video: h264, yuv420p, 320×240 [PAR 0:1 DAR 0:1], 30.00 tb(r)
Output #0, flv, to ‘/home/derek/blah.flv’:
Stream #0.0(und): Video: flv, yuv420p, 640×480 [PAR 0:1 DAR 0:1], q=2-31, 700 kb/s, 15.00 tb(c)
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: libmp3lame, 22050 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
Stream #0.0 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
/home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: symbol lookup error: /home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: undefined symbol: av_fifo_generic_write
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root

Well shit. Ok, so I hit up #ffmpeg again, but don’t get any help, so I try recompiling without any config options and it works fine. So I slowly start added on config options and it works until I add “–enable-share”, and which point it compiles a version of FFMPEG that throws the “undefined symbol” error. So that gives me a pretty good idea it has something to do with that. I go through the symlinks in the guide (linked above) and notice that /usr/lib/libavformat.so.50 is symlinked to a file that doesn’t exist. And that’s where I’m at now, kinda stumped. Am I missing libraries? how can I ensure any old libraries installed before are cleaned out and not conflicting with new ones? I’m a developer, not a linux admin. I know my way around the OS, but when it comes to this type of stuff, I’m stumped.

Any ideas? post a comment or email/gtalk me at drgath at gmail.com.

written by Derek \\ tags: ffmpeg, linux, rhel4

Day #1 of Reddit going open source, and they are already fighting with their developers. C’mon guys, you clearly don’t understand what is being requested, so ask for clarification instead of being so stubborn. We understand you are busy getting this project off the ground, but you need to understand that you can’t fight with your own developers, especially this early in the game. If you can’t manage that, they why did you open source it in the first place?

written by Derek \\ tags: reddit

So today I stumbled across a letter from Microsoft’s Andy Lees talk about how amazing, innovative, and progressive the Windows Mobile platform is, and it angers me. Why? Because I’m an owner of a Windows Mobile device (Treo 700wx on Sprint), and someone who is that blind to the faults of the Windows Mobile Platform is clearly out of touch with reality.

With the new iPhone on the horizon and phones based on Google’s Android stack coming out later this year, we are clearly at a crossroads in mobile OS innovation. One on path you have the old school operating systems like Windows Mobile who refuses to innovate features unless forced to. On the other, you have Google & Apple leading the charge of true mobile internet devices that give consumers features they’ve been demanding for years.

In his letter to Windows Mobile partners, Andy mentioned a few highlights of the platform, and let me take this moment to retort to some of those claims…

* This year we will sell nearly 20 million [Windows Mobile] licenses. We sold more in the previous four quarters than RIM, and growth was greater than Apple’s iPhone.

We’ll see how many you sell in 2009, 2010, and 2011 (if you are still around).

* We give customers nearly 150 different phone choices — phones with full keyboards, touch screens, rich email, picture, music experiences, GPS, 3+ megapixel cameras, and voice activation. Features other operating systems have been slow to deliver.

Rich email? *cough cough* excuse me? The messaging app in windows mobile is a heap of crap. I’ve never gotten it to work correctly and gave up trying long ago. I love the feature of when you load in a thousand contacts the application crashes. Very useful.

Music experiences? The mobile media player is again, a heap of crap. It’s the opposite of intuitive and Microsoft made no effort in realizing that they are developing an application for a mobile device. I don’t want to dig through menus to find basic options. I don’t want to have to scan my SD card every day because the application is too stupid to remember my music collection. I want big buttons and basic menus accessible on my touch screen without worrying about running off the highway while driving.

Internet experiences? Ok, now you are clearly joking, Internet Explor… Wait… you didn’t mention that did you? My bad. Cause if you hyped up the mobile version of Internet Explorer I would have laughed, hysterically.

* Windows Mobile customers have over 18,000 applications.

You left out “scattered across the internet, overpriced, 5 years old, and horribly buggy.”

* Competitors are announcing upgrades we delivered to customers years ago.

And competitors are also announcing upgrades you won’t implement yourselves for years to come.

If I appear a bit agitated, well there’s a good reason. I purchased my first Windows Mobile device 4 years ago (Dell Axim x30) and loved the platform back then. It was fast, feature rich, & flexible. Two years ago I said Microsoft was in the position to kill the iPod. Did they? Not even close. Why? Because they didn’t develop any noticeable features on the platform even thought the technologies were there. The had crippled their main competitor (Palm) and sat back, relaxed, and put development on hold. They did the exact same thing with Internet Explorer after they killed Netscape which in my opinion stunted the growth of the internet. Microsoft released 6 versions of IE between ‘95 and ‘01, established a monopoly, killed off netscape, and didn’t release another version of IE until 5 years after IE6 because Firefox was kicking its ass. Coincidence? Nope. Microsoft doesn’t develop unless they are forced to, and their dominant position with inferior technology means they hold back the entire industry when they choose to sit idle.

In closing, I think the reason why Andy’s comments irritate me so much is that, yes, it is PR speak, but if hyping a platform as bad as Windows Mobile is all Microsoft can do days before the new iPhone is released, then I’m just throwing my hands in the air and giving up hope that they’ll use their market share to actually develop the promising product they should have been developing years ago.

So Microsoft, shut up, get back to coding, and let me know when there is something good to look at.

written by Derek

Sorry for the Sprint emphasis early on, they are a local company that is always a center of  attention around here.

Sprint, as a brand, is pretty much dead. I can’t believe how badly Gary Forsee crippled that company. They purchased Nextel for $35 billion just three years ago, destroyed its network and fractured its customer base, and are now trying to sell it for a measly $5 billion while the FCC says it must relocate to a different spectrum, likely costing billions. Meanwhile, their landline services have since been spun-off as Embarq, and this latest move to offload its future 4G operation to Clearwire is an indication that the end is near.

So now they’ll turn around and sell Nextel, crippling that poor brand even more and leaving it as a shell of what it once was. At that point, all “Sprint” will have left is a backbone ISP operation, a dying wireless brand that will likely be sold to T-Mobile, investments in all of the spin-offs, and an arena that still doesn’t have an NBA team. (Humor for the KC readers)

Goodbye “Sprint”, I’m not sure what you’ll be in 5 years. 100+ year old companies don’t just dissapear into thin air, but I don’t think you’ll be very recognizable. Again, I’m talking about “Sprint” the brand.  Sprint the stock ticker is a great investment right now as I’ve been preaching the last couple months.  If you do still have your wireless voice services, I’m sure it will be under a commodity / white label brand until the current technology dies and eventually you’ll sell your shares in all your spin-offs to pay off the debt you racked up.

But, having said that, I think the move makes perfect sense and is a well played strategy. Sprint & Clearwire’s WiMAX project has great potential, but they have no money to fund it since Clearwire is only 4 years old and Sprint is $20 billion in debt, so they absolutely needed to join forces. Along with the new merger, they will also get an influx of much needed cash from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner, & Google, who are throwing in a $3.2 Billion investment.

So, the landscape is now set for The Great Wireless Broadband War of 2008-2014 (can I trademark that?)

Side A
A) Sprint - Owns a large chunk of the back-end of the internet
B) Google - Owns a large chunk of the front-end of the internet
C) Comcast & Time Warner - Owns cable television & residential internet in the US
D) Intel - Owns the processors that will power everything
E) Skype - Assuming Google buys it

Side B
A) AT&T vs Verizon - Dominant telcos in US who are launching their own 4G network sometime next decade.
B) British Telecom - Dominant telco in UK
C) NTT - Dominant telco in Japan
D) Deutsch Telecom - Dominant telco in Germany
E) Unnamed Skype Killer they are rumored to be working on to run on their closed networks.

So who will win? That’s a tough one, but here are some suggested investments; CLWR, S, GOOG, & INTC. Openness wins in the digital world.

written by Derek

Link to article on The Wall Street Journal: Sprint Mulls Separating Nextel Unit

Considering how many customers they’ve lost due to outages since the merger, it’s clear that move was the worst idea in Sprint’s history.

So, their stock is up ~75% from where it was since I told you to buy it a few weeks back. Hopefully you listened to me. If not, it’s still not too late, Deutsche Telekom is looking to buy them which would give it quite a boost.

Best scenario would be for Sprint to dump Nextel somehow, in turn making themselves more attractive for a Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile purchase, then merge the two and become the #1 US cell carrier. Whose network the customers go to doesn’t matter, T-Mobile’s more compatible GSM would be preferable though. Sure, you won’t have any offerings to compete with AT&T and Verizon’s wired internet and cable TV offerings (FiOS & uVerse), but who cares, you’ll have a great headstart over them in the wireless broadband market, which is obviously where the future is. Finally, embed Sprint Xohm chips in everything from laptops to VoIP phones to toasters, and print money uncontested. But most importantly, differentiate the labels, market the voice service as T-Mobile and the data as Sprint/Xohm because both are used for very different purposes.

Glass half empty says Sprint is fucked. Glass half full says the worst is over, your current model sucks, so time to move on to something new & innovative.

written by Derek

Thanks to this blog post on Mickipedia, I just discovered the joy that is Charlie the Unicorn. The first one is good, but the second one is hilarious. Anyone else notice that Charlie is pretty much Carl from Aqua Teen?

Part 1: Candy Mountain

Part 2: The Banana King

I was really hoping some giant banana would trot out at the end and say "I AMA BA-NANA!" Rejected.wmv, anyone? Anyone? K, nevermind.

P.S. I’m trying out the (free) Qumana blog editor for OSX.  Looks good so far.

written by Derek

So a friend emailed today and says:

Gas $10/gallon? At least one analyst sees that in the next two years.

My Response?

Then that analyst is worthless & needs to be fired. Fear-mongering networks throw anyone on as “analysts” nowdays. It is just like anyone in the IT world is a “consultant” now days (raises hand). I see a 70% increase in gas prices every year till 2010, when it has been at an insanely high (historically speaking) 20% over the last 5 years, as absurd.

So, before anyone freaks out, I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but the economics of gas prices rising 70% / year doesn’t quite work out with inflation still at an average of 4%. If that actually did happen, being unable to drive my car would be towards the bottom of my list of worries, topping the list would be getting access to food and not being killed in the riots that would inevitably follow.

The price of fuel has to come close to mirroring inflation for the oil companies to maximize their profits. Entire business models & industries are based upon this assumption. The oil companies can’t increase their profit margins if the price goes beyond what people, and especially companies, can afford. It is quickly approaching that mark and we’ll see a pretty sizeable drop soon. For comparison, there was a 20% drop a little over a year ago, and within the next couple months, my guess is we’ll be back under $3.

Longterm (the next couple years), the mortgage crisis will balance out, the economy will stabilize, we’ll be out of the middle east, fuel-efficient cars will be more prominent, and thus… gas prices will stabilize again. In two years, this “analyst” gaurantees the average gas prices will be under $7, and I would expect to see it under $6. Yes, oil will eventually run out, but that trend is something that will be felt over decades, not months.

This energy “crisis” is even more reason to tell McCain and his “no gas tax” to fuck off and quit trying to buy votes. Let things fix themselves. The more you muck with it, the longer it will take it to stabilize.

written by Derek \\ tags: , economy, gas, Politics

This is a test from Textmate’s Blogging bundle. This is really cool.

written by Derek \\ tags: Blogging, textmate

Twhirl is a relatively new Twitter client that packs just about everything you need for twittering into one Adobe Air based application.  While Twhirl of course handles all the basic things you need out of a Twitter client, I feel it really shines when you start using the additional features and usability enhancements.

Some of these features include:

• Runs on Windows (200/XP/Vista) and Mac OSX
• Ability to connect to multiple Twitter accounts
• Ability to simultaneously post to Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Extremely easy to install and configure
• Embedded services include Tweetscan, is.dg, Snurl, TwitPic, and Terraminds
• Timeline filtering
• Automatically checks for new version
• New tweet notification windows
• Localized to English, German, Italian, and Spanish

Installation

To install Twhirl, visit Twhirl’s website and on the right side you’ll see links to download Adobe AIR and Twhirl.  If you don’t yet have Adobe’s integrated runtime environment (AIR) installed, follow the instructions you see to install it.  Once AIR is installed, click the download/”install now” link and you should see the AIR application installer begin to download and install the Twhirl application.  Follow the on screen instructions to complete.

Configuration

When you load the application for the first time, you’ll need to set up your Twitter account(s).  Enter your screen name, and another box will prompt you for your password.  You will also see a few additional tabs.  The first being “Colors” which allows you to modify Twhirl’s visual theme.  The second is “Language” where you can select between English, German, Italian, and Spanish.  And the final tab being “Update” where you can check if a newer version exists.

Sending Tweets

99% of your time using Twhirl will be spent looking at the main Twhirl screen after you successfully connect.  From this screen you will see the “river” of new tweets rolling down as they arrive.  You can also post tweets by typing your message in the input box.  Please make not of the TwitPic and “Shorten URL” icons on the right of the input box for a couple very useful tools.

Additionally, you have 9 view types that you can choose from in the drop-down.  These views range from the standard “Timeline” view with is the tweets from those you are following, viewing the archive of your own tweets, viewing your followers’ bios, searching tweetscan.com, and a few more very useful views.

Gripes & Suggestions

I’ve already covered many of the upsides to using Twhirl, but I do have a few gripes and suggestions that I hope the developer can address in future releases:

• When you lookup profiles inside Twhirl, you should be able to at a minimum, click a link that takes you to the user’s Twitter account.  Optimally, I’d like to have the information on how many followers the user has, and how many people they are following.
• When starting up the application, only notify me of direct/reply tweets I haven’t yet read, not all of them.
• Add TweetBurner.com to the list of short URLs.
• Add a Quotably link to each tweet.

Conclusion

Twhirl is my 5th Twitter client over the past 4-5 months, and really, the majority of that time has been spent on Twhirl because it has been my favorite, by far.  I have stuck with it because it offers all the essential functionality I need out of a twitter client, and then some.  It also happens to be the first Adobe AIR application I have actually had a good experience with and it gives me hope for the future for this platform.

Also, check out these reviews for other Twitter clients

• Twitterfox: A Twitterfox Review
• Twitterific: A Review of Twitterific
• TwitterBerry: TwitterBerry, combining BlackBerry and Twitter
• Twitterfeed: A review of Twitterfeed
• Twitbin: Twitter and TwitBin - Microblogging Made Easy
• The Guide to Being a Drunken, Debaucherous Twit
• Netvibes: Using Netvibes for SMO

written by Derek \\ tags: adobe air, twhirl, twitter

So I had my ‘Mahalo moment’ yesterday, but, is it what Jason & Mahalo expect?

For those looking for a good place to get an idea of what Mahalo is good at, here are some pages to get you started that I stumbled across or others suggested.  Please add some more links to pages in the comments to help people, like myself, who were completely clueless at what Mahalo was good at or useful for.Good Mahalo links

• Social Media
• How to Write a Resume
• Auschwitz
• Phantom of the Opera
• Maya Angelou

In conclusion. I think Mahalo, in it’s current form, has a purpose and an audience, and that happens to not be the tech-savvy crowd who is serviced very well by Google right now. In time, I think Mahalo will have the content tech-savvy users will want, but, will they provide an intelligent mechanism to get to it? Hopefully. Google & Wikipedia need some competition.

written by Derek \\ tags: mahalo