I have my Bachelor's Degree now.

Well, I should say I will have my Bachelor's Degree in 12 weeks when my college mails them out. I attended the graduation commencement on May 27th. Already had my Associate's for a while, and soon I'll have my Bachelor's (when it even arrives).

I find it completely idiotic that you can graduate before all the final grades are counted. In 12 weeks, there is a possibility that some of the people that "graduated" may get a letter saying they need to take another class.

That is just one of the many reasons why I think CUNY is horrible. I didn't have half as many problems when I was attending a SUNY school (which is where I received my Associate's).

HTML 5 video - H.264 vs. Theora (ogg)

Just like in the early 1990's when there was the "console wars" between Nintendo and Sega, now we have the "video codec wars" between Theora (ogg) and H.264 with regard to HTML 5.

I've tested both Theora and H.264 with a series of web browsers, using the new <video> element in HTML 5. These are the following operating systems and browsers I used:

Mac OS X - Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and Flock.
Windows 7 - Internet Explorer 8, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and Flock.
Kubuntu 10.04 - Konqueror, Firefox, and Flock.
Ubuntu 10.04 - Firefox, and Flock.
I tested on an iPhone and iPod Touch as well.

My findings are as follows:

Firefox and Opera work well using ogg video, can't play H.264.

Safari works well with H.264, can't play ogg. (If you use Safari on Windows, you must have QuickTime installed or else Safari won't reconize the <video> element.)

Chrome plays video well with both formats, however the audio is a different story. Audio works well with H.264, but it is out-of-sync with ogg. So for Chrome, H.264 is recommended.

iPhone & iPod Touch works well with H.264, but can't play ogg.

Internet Explorer 8 doesn't support the new video element in HTML 5. However, Microsoft promises they will support it in the future with Internet Explorer 9 and says it will support H.264 only.

Flock does NOT currently support HTML 5 videos, which is surprising considering that Flock is "Powered by Mozilla" and uses the same Gecko rendering engine that Firefox uses. No word yet on if Flock will ever support these videos.

I used Miro Video Converter to convert videos to the Theora (ogg) format. Video is outputted as .ogv and this MUST be renamed .ogg otherwise the video won't work with Firefox. However, .ogv works just fine in Opera.

My suggestion for anyone who wants to put videos on their website using <video> would be to use both formats to ensure the video will play in all the supported browsers. The following code example should help:

<video controls width='640' height='480' poster='poster.jpg'>
<source src='video.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
<source src='video.ogg' type='video/ogg'>
</video>

That will first check to see if the browser accepts H.264, and if not it will use the Theora version.

UPDATE: As of January 2011, Google announced that Chrome would be dropping support for H.264 in favor of WebM. They will keep support for Theora. UPDATE: As of March 2012, Mozilla announced that Firefox will support H.264. Read more here

Chase is bad for the environment!

For several months now, I have received dozens of letters from Chase asking me to accept one of their credit cards. I have always declined, but that didn't stop the letters. Last month, I called chase at their 1-800 number and demanded they take me off their mailing list; stating to the receptionist that their constant paper letters were destroying millions of trees, and as an environmentalist myself I can't stomach the fact that they keep sending me unwanted junk mail.

She said Chase would take me off the mailing list and I would stop receiving letters from them. Since that time, I have received three (3) more letters from them asking to accept their credit card.

If any environmentalists out there are reading this, and have a Chase credit card, I urge you to cancel it as a protest of what they're doing to the planet. We can not allow companies to continue to abuse mother nature like this. These companies are a parasite to the planet and we must put an end to it.

UPDATE:
June 8, 2010

Since I first posted this, they have sent me more. Now I have a total of 6 letters that arrived after I called them asking for them to stop.

Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V

Recently I purchased the Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V and these are my findings.

Pros:

• High quality video


• High quality still photos


• Internal hard disk drive, means no switching tapes


• Can use MemoryStick Pro Duo or SD memory cards


• Manual focus knob


• Small size

Cons:

• LCD touch screen still could use improvement


• I don't like that it turns on the moment you open the LCD panel


• No Firewire port, USB is much slower than Firewire for data transfer


• The GPS geotagging is limited to working only with the Sony software, which does NOT work with Macintosh. Geotagged photos are NOT recognized by iPhoto's "places" feature. Sony should have used real geotagging technology, instead of their proprietary geotagging which requires their proprietary software!


• The stupid thing is Sony took the time to include a Mac version of the Product Registration but NOT the software on the disk included with this camera.


• Doesn't include an HTMI cable, these things are cheap enough to supply one of Sony wanted to. I can buy an HTMI cable online for around $2-$3.