Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 14th Jan 2011 22:33 UTC
I didn't plan on this, but there's really nothing I can do. Unless you want me to write about the upcoming ten billionth download from the iOS App Store, you'll have to settle for this. On the Chromium blog, Google has clarified its decision to drop H.264 support from the Chrome web browser, and in it, Google basically repeats the things that those concerned about the future of video on the web have been saying for a long time now: H.264 on the web kills innovation.
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RE[9]: Reasonable overview
by lemur2 on Mon 17th Jan 2011 22:28
in reply to "RE[8]: Reasonable overview"
Member since:2007-02-17
Whether one is using an Android device or an iPhone, I would assert that the best available video experience is due to the availability of hardware-accelerated H.264. Unless anyone can make a compelling argument for WebM as a replacement now.....not in some imaginary future...well....Hmmm..
Have you actually tried each one, or are you just guessing?
iPhones and Android phones have smallish screen resolutions. While WebM is very slow to encode, it is faster at decoding than H.264 is. Although a device such as an iPhone really needs hardware acceleration to decode H.264 even at iPhone screen resolutions, the same is not necessarily true of WebM.
WebM decoding first became available in Android around December last year with the release of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Even then, Google warned that Gingerbread doesn't include the Aylesbury improvements.
http://gigaom.com/video/gingerbread-android-webm-vp8/
The first version of Android will ship with libvpx 0.9.2, which is a slightly outdated version of WebM. Support for the newest WebM release 0.9.5, code-named Aylesbury, will be pushed out with a maintenance release, according to Google’s WebM product manager John Luther. Users will be able to access every WebM video stream or file with the WebM release included in Gingerbread, but the coming update should help with the format’s playback performance and memory footprint, amongst other things.
Aylesbury was released in October last year:
http://blog.webmproject.org/2010/10/vp8-codec-sdk-aylesbury-release...
Aylesbury offers a 20-40% (average 28%) improvement in decoder speed.
So, in order to compare what is available right now, you would have to compare an iPhone side by side with an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) phone with the WebM maintenance update installed which includes Aylesbury code.
Let me guess ... you didn't do that.
So you are just guessing.
RE[10]: Reasonable overview
by brichpmr on Tue 18th Jan 2011 00:33
in reply to "RE[9]: Reasonable overview"
Member since:2006-04-22
"Whether one is using an Android device or an iPhone, I would assert that the best available video experience is due to the availability of hardware-accelerated H.264. Unless anyone can make a compelling argument for WebM as a replacement now.....not in some imaginary future...well....Hmmm..
Have you actually tried each one, or are you just guessing?
iPhones and Android phones have smallish screen resolutions. While WebM is very slow to encode, it is faster at decoding than H.264 is. Although a device such as an iPhone really needs hardware acceleration to decode H.264 even at iPhone screen resolutions, the same is not necessarily true of WebM.
WebM decoding first became available in Android around December last year with the release of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Even then, Google warned that Gingerbread doesn't include the Aylesbury improvements.
http://gigaom.com/video/gingerbread-android-webm-vp8/
The first version of Android will ship with libvpx 0.9.2, which is a slightly outdated version of WebM. Support for the newest WebM release 0.9.5, code-named Aylesbury, will be pushed out with a maintenance release, according to Google’s WebM product manager John Luther. Users will be able to access every WebM video stream or file with the WebM release included in Gingerbread, but the coming update should help with the format’s playback performance and memory footprint, amongst other things.
Aylesbury was released in October last year:
http://blog.webmproject.org/2010/10/vp8-codec-sdk-aylesbury-release...
Aylesbury offers a 20-40% (average 28%) improvement in decoder speed.
So, in order to compare what is available right now, you would have to compare an iPhone side by side with an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) phone with the WebM maintenance update installed which includes Aylesbury code.
Let me guess ... you didn't do that.
So you are just guessing. "
I'm not 'guessing' that native H.264 video has been all-but-perfect on my iphones for years. I've spent time this week comparing WebM video in Firefox 4 with H.264......the former will need more than a 'maintenance update' to cut it for me....ymmv.
RE[10]: Reasonable overview
by dtahiti on Wed 19th Jan 2011 10:16
in reply to "RE[9]: Reasonable overview"
Member since:2011-01-13
So, in order to compare what is available right now, you would have to compare an iPhone side by side with an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) phone with the WebM maintenance update installed which includes Aylesbury code.
Let me guess ... you didn't do that.
So you are just guessing.
I am not sure you'll find somebody in this forum to try what you suggest as so many people have Android 2.3 today (sarcasm.. ) : 0.4 % of Android users as of today. (http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions....)
That maintenance update will likely happen one day for the Nexus S but I don't think this day has come yet. And either they're hiding because they won't say a single bad thing about WebM, either they don't care that much about WebM to have tried that.
I don't own an Nexus S, but Anandtech reviewed it and tried to play some WebM content. It was not good. Let me quote it :
Android 2.3 also supposedly adds WebM and VP8 support, though I’ve had no success playing back any test videos and am working on encoding some smaller ones to try on the Nexus S. One video played back using the android video player had audio but had no video, other videos played back in the browser showed controls but never started playback.
Link : http://www.anandtech.com/show/4059/nexus-s-and-android-23-review-gi...
Edited 2011-01-19 10:17 UTC
News
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 11:39 UTC
"The key takeaway we've reached (after two less than 24 hours playing with the iOS 7 Beta release) is this - every App must consider even basic updates to its UI to survive in a post-iOS 6 world." Great. Telling developers to update their entire application - user interface and behaviour alike - to target a look and behaviour that isn't final yet. Seems like potential for a lot of wasted work here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 11:32 UTC
"Overall the app is really basic, and designed for on the go editing. Microsoft says it's not planning to create an iPad version, noting that tablet users can utilize the Office Web Apps instead. We'd like to see some additional options for editing, including more clear options for text formatting and the ability to insert and change images, but it's a solid attempt for something you're only really going to use for editing in emergencies." A resounding meh can be heard from all over the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 19:39 UTC
"Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest web technologies. Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream. Given these factors we've decided to retire Chrome Frame, and will cease support and updates for the product in January 2014." Eh.More News »
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Member since:
2006-04-22
And I thought you were actually trying to engage in a debate over the issue... If you are content with sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming LA-LA-LA-LA then I am fine with ignoring you.
Let me know if you change your mind. "
Whether one is using an Android device or an iPhone, I would assert that the best available video experience is due to the availability of hardware-accelerated H.264. Unless anyone can make a compelling argument for WebM as a replacement now.....not in some imaginary future...well....Hmmm..