Total Conversion

Just sat down 2 hours ago to implement something that's been gnawing at me conscience for a while now. Its became more personal tonight when I looked at some videos I had recorded with my phone in portrait mode.  When played on my TV, they would play sideways.  Only video recorded with the phone rotate on its side would play fullscreen. A bit of consulting with my fellow WinFF devs reveals that ffmpeg can rotate it easily enough, so I set down to implement this functionality in WinFF. It took about 20 minutes to code and an hour to test during which time I ended up trimming some other little things on the way.  The following is the result. I realise that this screen is the very definition of unsexy, but its literally version 0.1 and it works.

Just gotta say this somewhere. How powerful is a good ad compaign really? Apple just released the iPad Mini to the usual acclaim from the fanboys.  Where is the innovation?  What's so cool about it?  I just don't get it.  Same with the iPhone 5 and previous devices.  When will people wake up? Funnily enough, the thing that really annoyed me was seeing another review for a crap XBox Kinect title.  Without a doubt, this thing is a turd.  Its far more useful as a hack toy than a gaming device.  Every game that comes out has all kinds of control issues.  For some reason, the only genre that works with this thing is the dance game.  Don't take my opinion for it, just look at Metacritic, Gametrailers, etc. For some reason, Microsoft sells tons of the things and people still want more. I just don't get it.

Resumed work in cleaning up WinFF 1.5 Some nice new functionality in store for loyal users on the way.  I think users are going to like the new version.  Some of the new use cases that are possible with the new version. Scenario: You have some recorded show like an Awards Show, Live Concert or just a bunch of Music Videos.  You can now, add the file multiple times and then for each conversion, specify a start time & number of seconds to convert / extract to audio / video, etc.  This will allow you to extract that special ColdPlay Live moment that you want to watch over and over again... Scenario: You've ripped all your music to .flacs, but now you want to move them to your phone, which is space limited.  Well?  Why not convert a folder structure to .mp3's in place and then afterwards you can move the smaller .mp3's to your phone? Scenario: Don't like proprietary music?  As long as they are unencrypted, why not batch convert them to.ogg? ...

playing borderlands2.  meant to spend an hour with it.  i think its been 3.  this thing will suck away all your free time if you give it a chance.

Just bought Borderlands 2 for $36.  It was 25% off + a 20% voucher.  Sweet deal.   http://www.greenmangaming.com Don't worry, Steam fans, you get the Steam code which will unlock it on Steam.  Buying it on Steam will set you back $60, so its a $24 saving on an excellent game.  See you on Pandora! http://www.greenmangaming.com

Just bought the Humble Indie Bundle 6.  Pay what you want, but don't be cheap!   www.humblebundle.com Humble Bundle  http://www.humblebundle.com

Amen brother.  Tell it like it is... http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2012/Aug-29.html http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2012/Aug-29.html

Just posted my review of Prefab Sprouts album Jordan the Comeback on my blog.  Only 22 years late ;)  Seriously though, it's one of my favourite albums of all time.  If you remember them fondly, the review is at  istoff.blogspot.com

So here's my next review.  Its Jordan the Comeback by Prefab Sprout.  I bought this album in 1990 due to me liking their previous hits Cars and Girls, Hey Manhattan and a few others.  This album was initially a turn off as it was quite eclectic and didn't grab me as being immediately accessible enough to listen to.  I guess my immaturity at that time, 21 or 22, meant that I couldn't initially appreciate it.  However, it slowly crept into a comfortable place in my soul and has made itself comfortable and it now shares a symbiotic relationship with me that I'll carry with me, always accessible in my head, without need for cd or mp3 player. A couple of songs off the bat initially received a lot more attention, Looking for Atlantis, Carnival 2000, were more accessible and possibly radio friendly.  I can't remember what the singles were or how popular, but I suspect that they didn't make the big impression of previous hits.  Some songs initially just turn...

Heads up to any gamers out there.  Arma2 is on sale on Steam  right now.  If you head over to  http://dayzmod.com/ and like what you see, Arma2 is 40% off on Sunday (US).  DayZ is a mod which requires Arma2: Combined Ops.  Normal price is $30, but its $19 now. http://dayzmod.com/

So. 33 years later. I finally watched Alien. Took me that long to get over my childhood fear of gore. With my wife, a cup of coffee and an electric blanket as my support, it was a great evening...

If you find the Windows 8 desktop split personality as distracting, irritating and non-productive as me, give Classic Shell a look.  Windows 8 Metro UI is the new Unity... http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Just finished the Google puzzle on the search page today. Neat way to pass 10 minutes.  Yes, I'm stupid...

So I'm starting a new contract tomorrow. It's almost the end of Father's weekend.  What?  Some of you only get the Sunday?  What a rip-off. I decided to upgrade my laptop for work to inject a bit of life into the old girl.  She's only 2 years old, mind you, but the cost of a new laptop is just ker-razy.  After much research I put the cash into 2 items which I believe will make the machine feel brand new. 1) OCS Agility 3 240GB SSD 2) Upgrade RAM to 8GB I installed Windows 8 Preview Release to test.  I can't say I like the interface, but I love the speed in which it boots up.  From BIOS screen to Login in about 6 seconds.  After entering password, the desktop comes up in about 3 seconds.  Granted its fresh install and as windows always does, it will slow down, but I was still impressed.  Not so much with Win8 though.  I just don't see the need for that interface on a desktop pc.  Full screen apps just don't make...

HBO regrets using George W. Bush's severed head on "Game of Thrones" http://news360.com/article/56973932 priceless http://news360.com/article/56973932

Well done Germany. Nervous moments at the end. Commentator said it best. Oranges ran out of juice.

It's incredible how little known or appreciated Linus is.

You can drive a bus through the dutch defense right now

just changed my password then deleted account at last.fm

Just deleted my LinkedIn Account.  Now off to change passwords again...ugh.

finally upgraded my aging HTC Desire phone.  Samsung Galaxy S3 is in the house...

Went to see the Avengers movie. Loved the Hulk.  For somebody who doesn't have much to say, he rocked. Better than X-Men, much better than Fantastic 4. Highly recommended. 9/10!

So lately, one of my distractions has been The Impossible Game.  I have it on multiple systems and both myself and my daughter have been playing it. It's a game I dismissed at first for being unnecessarily difficult with very little reward.  Graphics are plain, music is catchy, but ultimately, I discarded it within 5 minutes of first picking it up. I just can't leave it alone though.  I keep picking it up, trying to beat level 1! It takes about 90 seconds to beat the first level if you play it perfectly.  That's the point though.  You HAVE to play it perfectly.  One mistake and you start again from the beginning.  It doesn't matter how far your have come, you always start at the beginning again.  Its frustrating, cruel and mocks you all the way with a lovely counter which increments with each failed attempt.  Chiding you, motivating you, but ultimately punishing you far more than the reward could ever be worth. And yet.  I still ...

Playing "The Impossible Game" on PS3 & Vita. Its punishingly difficult. Playing it reminds me of bashing my head against a wall repeatedly in the hope that I'll hit the pleasure part of my brain eventually...If you feel the need for sadistic gameplay that flips you the finger to a lovely synthy soundtrack, give it a go. The Impossible Game Trailer - It takes about 90 seconds to beat level 1. I have not done it yet after a week of trying. There is only 1 key to press - Jump! All you need to do is jump at the right time and just as importantly DON'T JUMP at the right time. Come on, give it a try. Its on XBox 360 as well. I have seen some clones for Android and Flash on the Browser too. Go for it. Also found this playable demo of the first 15 seconds or so http://www.theimpossiblegame.org/ for the browser. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQPEbHQZm68

To anyone using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7inch WIFI model P1010. Highly recommend Gingerbread update. Fixes all issues I had with compatibility and hotkeys that stopped working on Samsung Firmware.

Just before Christmas 2011, a local store opened up offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" for what seemed like a ridiculous price.  Being a bit of an android fanboy, I picked it up for my daughter who was getting very attached to my Asus Transformer tablet. There was a lot going for it.  Good brand, good price and (I thought), good hardware & hacker support.  I love having custom roms and having the choice of functionality / mods I like. Turns out a little more research was in order.  This device has different hardware to the amazingly similar 3g version and seemed to be an outcast in the eyes of Samsung and the modding community.  To make matters worse, the "OFFICIAL" firmware is buggy and a pain to live.  Biggest fault was that its an older release (2.2) of android and that after a few hours use, two of the 4 soft buttons stop working.  It makes navigating the machine a pain when the home button no longer works, I can tell you.  Another par...

If you're a Depeche Mode fan and Dominatrix, Reaps & Kernfusion remixes are not in your playlist, PLEASE go out and listen to them. I was introduced to them about 6 months ago and can't stop listening to songs I thought I had heard to death. Currently listening to a Reaps remix of Lie to Me which is just crying to be played on repeat at maximum volume. I pity the people living with me...

Some of the Pro SOPA comments following the blackout got me to blog for the first time in 2 months. This line still rattling around my head 10 minutes after I wrote it. "We are not prepared to subsidise an industry intent on criminalising its customer base." http://istoff.blogspot.com

Due to the surprisingly impactful anti SOPA blackout on 18 Jan 2012, I was interested to read a proponent of this legislation talking about the impact of content producers & owners having a blackout being more of an impact than removing Wikipedia, Facebook or Google. This got me to thinking.  What would happen if there was no access to popular music, tv & film to the average person.  It got me to thinking about living in the dark when there is a power failure. In our family we got together and had some fantastic family time.  Played  games, bonded and amused ourselves to such a point that when the power came on, we didn't bother switching on the tv.  If I was forced to listen to independent bands or go and watch acts perform in a pub, I'd be fine with it. Media owners need to watch out as they become more and more irrelevant.  The only way they can compete in this age is to make their media available cheaply and legally.  No region lockin...

Well another year has come and gone and I see that I totally skipped blogging in December.  My bad.  I will try and share my thoughts and tips more frequently.  I know I keep saying that. We've put out a new version of WinFF.  Version 1.4 is out and getting some feedback.  I suspect version 1.41 and 1.42 will follow shortly, each one addressing user issues and making the program better and more useful.  Gratifying to see it still in use.

Having finished all 3 Extended Edition BluRays of Lord of the Rings, the family is settling down to the last movie in our marathon watching of all 8 Harry Potter BluRays.

I guess now Arsenal are going to bring back Tony Adams & Dennis Bergkamp now...