Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 26th Feb 2010 13:12 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
The debate about HTML5 video is for the most part pretty straightforward: we all want HTML5 video, and we all recognise it's a better approach than Flash for online video. However, there's one thing we just can't seem to agree on: the codec. A number of benchmarks have been conducted recently, and they highlight the complexity of video encoding: they go either way.
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Member since:2005-11-10
The img tag supports multiple codecs, shouldn’t the video tag too?
If the img tag only supported the one format that was prevalent and patent-free at the time then we’d all still be viewing XBMs.
OGG is not the be all and end all of free formats, and that’s what most annoys me about the HTML5 spec. This insistence that a war _must_ be waged so that only one may win.
Member since:2005-06-29
OGG is not the be all and end all of free formats, and that’s what most annoys me about the HTML5 spec. This insistence that a war _must_ be waged so that only one may win.
The difference is that every operating system can read jpeg, bmp, png, and so on, while not every operating system and/or browser can read the same video files.
Member since:2007-09-22
Member since:2009-12-02
"The most important feature of Theora is freedom from patent claims, maning that *all* browsers could implement it freely if the authors wanted to."
But they won't, Apple said, the will not add it to Safari. Although it's share isn't really big.
But they won't, Apple said, the will not add it to Safari. Although it's share isn't really big.
Yes they will. They just need Theora to become popular and supported in the major browsers, then they have no choice by to support it.
Member since:2008-12-29
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2006-03-23
The comparison is looking at the wrong criteria. *Everyone* knows that H264 is better than Theora, nobody disputes that.
The *only* problem with H264 is the patent licensing. Because of it, it's *impossible* for all browsers to implement H264; the problem is greatest in freely-licensed browsers where derivatives would not be covered by the patents even if the authors paid for a license (Firefox, Seamonkey, Chromium, Midori, etc).
If you consider this, that single problem disqualifies H264 *completely* as a codec to be used with HTML5 video. Currently, if you use it, only a minority of HTML5 video-supporting browser users will be able to view it, and you will *never* be able to support all your users.
This means that if there ever will be a codec that will work on all HTML5 video-supporting browsers, it will *not* be H264. The question is, what could it be instead? Currently the best candidate is Theora. The quality is worse than H264, but so long as it's good enough, it's acceptable. The most important feature of Theora is freedom from patent claims, maning that *all* browsers could implement it freely if the authors wanted to.
This does not mean that you should never host H264 content. You can always provide it as a first choice, and fall back to something that is universally supported.
The issue is, it would be nice if there were one codec that worked *everywhere*, making it easy for content publishers. As you can see, this *cannot* be H264. With what's currently available it *should* be Theora, until someone comes up with something better.
(edit: chromium, not chrome)
Edited 2010-02-26 15:56 UTC