If you’re like me, and own a RadioShark and have been unable to get it working under Windows Vista, check out Snaptune One. It’s software that does exactly what the RadioShark software does AND it works on Vista! Thank you Snaptune One!
-
Vista and Hibernation
Just a note for future reference, to disable hibernation in Windows Vista run the following at an elevated command prompt
powercfg -h off
-
Flash
My new flash, Canon Speedlite 580EX II, was delivered yesterday so I’m able to get a decent shot of Dozer.
-
Video Processing
My video camera was delivered Friday, so this weekend I have spent some time learning out how to use it and, more importantly, how to process/edit its video. Learning how to use it was pretty easy, aside from a little disc snafu that kept me from making use of a pack of DVD+RWs I bought. Everyone – it’s important to make note of the “+” or “-” in the DVD-RW or DVD+RW. I used to know this, but have taken for granted that nowadays it usually doesn’t matter since devices typically handle both formats. It matters on the Canon DC50 – must used DVD-RW.
Getting that out of the way, using the camera is very straightforward. 20 minutes of high quality (widescreen) video will fit onto a miniDVD. While that doesn’t sound like a whole lot at first, when you’re taking short clips most of the time 20 minutes does go far.
After my first disc of video it came time to edit it and burn a DVD. Since I’m a big fan of Adobe’s Lightroom for photo editing I decided to turn to Adobe Premiere Elements for handling the video. It has come highly recommended so I didn’t even give it much thought.
It sucked. For some reason it didn’t interpret the widescreen video correctly; that took a couple (few?) hours to figure out. Then it continually locked up and/or crashed on Windows Vista – even though it’s supposed to work just fine. There were many times when I would go 10-15 mouse clicks in a row, with each one causing Premiere to “not respond” for 30+ seconds apiece. I did my best to ignore these issues, figuring that as long as I’d get a dvd at the end I would be happy. Well, I got a DVD alright – one with the audio and video out of sync by about 1-2 seconds. I eventually tracked that down to an import problem caused by who knows what. As soon as I’d import the video it would be out of sync. I’d rather not have my home videos look like they were dubbed in a Japan.
After fighting Premiere for a long time I decided it was time to try something else. So I turned to ULead DVD MovieFactory. The responsiveness was much better than Premiere Elements, the audio and video were in sync, and it’s cheaper. I just about ready to buy it when I actually tried burning a DVD I created and continued to get nothing but “Unspecified Error”. Over and over.
ULead sells another video editing product called VideoStudio, so I gave it a shot too. The UI was very similar to MovieFactory and was just as responsive. I was able to import video, edit it, and create the final DVD without a single crash. I think that’s what I’ll be buying.
Next I need to figure out how to handle all of this new video data. I’ve got stuff setup for my photos, but these are a different beast. And just like my photos, I want to have them 30+ years from now. More on that later.
-
Dey-tuh
I just read David‘s post on the usage of the word code in the context of software and have to add that, to someone in the field, hearing that usage is akin to fingernails on a chalkboard.
This got me thinking about one of my biggest pet peaves in the computer world. I know that I’m not right on this and they aren’t wrong, but it still annoys the hell out of me. What is it, you ask? Nothing other than the pronunciation of the word Data. In my mind (zip it..) it’s pronounced [Dey-tuh]. Not [Dat-uh]. It’s [Dey-tuh base], not [Dat-uh base].
Seriously, I’ll be having a conversation with someone and they’ll mention their Dat-uhbase and it takes all I can muster to not make a face like I just ate a lemon. I can understand if these people were British and said it with a cool accent. But no, they’re just plain-ol’ Americans like myself. Dey-tuh people. Not Dat-uh. Please.
I recall when Ana came home from her new, at the time, job at a local mortgage company. She was describing her day, and the let the Dat-uh word slip. It stopped me in my tracks, caused me to interrupt her quite rudely, and show now makes sure to call it Dey-tuh whenever I’m within earshot. She uses Dey-tuh from a Dey-tuh base.
-
Canon DC-50
Earlier this week I purchased the Canon DC50 DVD camcorder and it’s scheduled to be delivered Friday. I’ve never owned one before, so I want to make sure I’ve gotten used to it by the time the baby arrives. I looked long and hard at HD camcorders but I’m just not ready to commit to bluray or hd-dvd, let alone the headaches that amount of data will introduce. So this is one of the best non-HD ones out there and should hold us over for a few years until I’m ready for HD.
This is the second to last piece of electronics on my list to purchase before the baby arrives – the final being the Canon Speedlite 580Ex II flash. It has been in my Amazon cart for a few weeks now… 😉
-
Requirements by Eavesdropping
I’m coining it. Defined as a process by which software requirements are gathered not by formal meetings and documents, but rather by hearsay.
They sure don’t teach you that at school. Nor should they.
I can use it in a sentence, but I’d rather not.
-
Mmmm, mmmmm, good.
+ 
= GOOD. -
Chef 1.2 Available for Download
Version 1.2 is now available; get the upgrade if you’re already a user, or give it a try for the first time!
This release contains a few bug fixes and enhancements as requested by users. The best new feature is Recipe Scaling, check it out.
Also along with this release is a modified installation procedure. Rather than having an enormous download upfront, which tends to scare people away, I wait to download the database engine until installation time. I know that’ll annoy some people, so I also have the full package built and ready for download too.
I spent a little bit of time making minor changes to the website. I’m not a good web designer so I realize it could look much better, but oh well 🙂
-
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween everyone!
Ana decorated the house quite nicely and in a manner fitting her Black Widow costume. Teresa and Robert brought Emily by before she went out for some candy, she looked great in her Elmo costume.
Katherine came over (also in costume) and helped feed the hungry trick-or-treaters. Ana wouldn’t have been able to keep up with all of the traffic without Katherine’s help.
We were then visited by the infamous Nottingham Family (no blog to link to… ahem… ahem…), complete with an Astronaut (Cameron), Witch (Emma), Rock Star (Cici), and Thomas the Train (Max). It’s always loads of fun when they stop by; I sense some eggrolls on the horizon..
Finally, not to be left out, Ana’s parents, who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, also stopped in for a visit. In costume!
Thanks everyone who came by this evening, t’was fun.
The Johnson Blog 