I recently stumbled across vixy.net, a site which automatically converts youtube videos to various useful formats. What I didn't realise at the time was that it uses compressed domain transcoding -- it takes advantage of similarities between the Flash Video codec and MPEG4 to convert from one to the other without having to decompress each frame to a bitmap and recompress it with the new codec.
People have been doing this with conversions from MPEG2 (as used by the DVD standard) to MPEG4 for a while, but this is the first I've seen for doing it from Flash Video. And the source is available :-)
!!! !!! !!!
More details:
- Right at the start of the test, pulled out in front of a bus when I should have given way and let it pass.
- I managed to hit the kerb while driving around a corner
- Made a complete hash of turning into a roundabout
- Narrowly missed a nice bit of concrete while demonstrating my reversing skills
Apparently I "scraped through". You will be no doubt relieved to learn that my driving when not in a test tends to be slightly better.
I'm back.
I did find the 7-11, in a somewhat dodgy looking area, and purchased my bananas. There were (out of order) slot machines in the 7-11. Then I had dinner at the incredibly crappy Sahara buffet. I'm sure the bread rolls were stale; they certainly weren't pliable.
The next day (Wednesday) I went on the Bryce/Zion tour (operated by Bundu Bashers). It was really great -- small (14 people), food was provided, and the areas we visited were fairly quiet, and extremely spectacular. Photos will be forthcoming. We ended up getting back to the strip rather late (10ish?), but the 15 hours on the road were worth it. I got back, and slept.
The next day was the Grand Canyon tour (run by Scenic Airlines / Papillion, the "Grand Canyon Deluxe Tour", booked through Bundu Bashers). Despite being more expensive, this was a disappointment after the excellent Bryce tour. We were bussed to a location near the strip for check-in and then bussed to the Boulder City airport to actually fly out. Our plane appeared to be running late; we had to sit for quite some time in the terminal before we could take our scenic flight to Grand Canyon airport.
When we got there, we had to wait for the tour bus, which then took us to our buffet lunch (which was okay). Then it took us to our first stop, Mather Point, where we had an hour or so to peer over the edge of the canyon. The view from the rim was much more interesting than the view from the air. After our hour, we were bussed to Bright Angel Lodge, where we had half an hour or so to look over the edge at a nice little valley and some Condors. Then it was back to the airport.
It was at this point that things turned to custard. Previously, we'd been carefully instructed as to what to do when we arrived somewhere. When we were dropped off at the airport, no one told us what to do so many people just hung around the departure gate. The airline people (this airport was so small it felt like something out of Twin Peaks) apparently called out people's names, inaudible from the gate (8m away, around a corner). Due to the large number of people who didn't respond, they assumed our bus hadn't turned up.
So we waited for our flight, and they waited for our bus, and their dispatcher in Vegas managed such miracles as placing the same pilot on several planes. People got agitated and demanded to be switched to the first flight. A couple of hours later, we finally got to go. I was on the second flight; the first got stuck on the tarmac for over half an hour and departed only a few minutes before the rest of us in the end.
Unfortunately, this meant I missed out on most of my wandering-along-the strip time. I got back to the hotel just as it was getting dark, and took the monorail as far as it would go (the MGM Grand), and then tried to go as far south as possible by taking some sort of internal train from the Excalibur to Mandalay Bay, the southernmost casino on the strip.
Then all I needed to do was find my way out of the casino to the strip. This sounds simple, but it's not. There were no signs inside telling you how to go out -- I had to ask people. Eventually I managed to get to the strip, and took some photos looking back at the Luxor.
After this I decided I badly needed sleep, and took the train and monorail back to the Sahara where I booked a CFL shuttle and then slept until 5am.
I got up the next morning, showered, packed in a panic, and got down to the shuttle bay just as a shuttle was departing. My shuttle didn't show up. After 10 minutes I rang the shuttle company (CFL) who said I wasn't booked -- "Maybe the guy on last night forgot to hit save". Note to google: CFL shuttles in vegas suck.
So I shared a cab to the airport with another guy whose shuttle didn't arrive. Things got better at this point. My baggage got checked through to Auckland, so I didn't need to find somewhere to store it at LAX. And McCarran International Airport has free WiFi! This made planning my day in LA somewhat easier.
I ended up at LAX at 9am, and took the bus and train to Hollywood Blvd. Found some lunch, looked at the stars names on the sidewalk, and the footprints in the concrete in front of the bizzare looking Chinese Theatre.
After this I took the train back to Pershing Square and spent a couple of hours at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), who had an exhibition of Richard Tuttle's work on. I don't claim to know anything about art, but his stuff was kind of neat -- often small or simple, but interesting.
Then I went back to LAX, purchasing a copy of The Economist on the way. The TSA queues were ghastly, but I was early, so still had several hours to hang around the gate lounge. The flight to Auckland got delayed by an hour while passengers from a connecting flight from Heathrow got stuck in US Customs whose computers had gone down. Aaaargh. On the plus side, this did give me time to read an entire issue of the Economist :-)
Then all I needed to do was fly back (watched Black Sheep and Extras on the way, both were excellent), rebook to a connecting flight I could actually catch, and turn up in Wellington at 9am.
It was so nice to deal with New Zealand customs and security people after going through the US. At last I could get on a plane without removing my shoes.
So now I'm here, in gloomy Karori, trying to adjust to the lack of sun. But it's good to be back.
Went to the zoo in San Diego yesterday. It was big, and quite possibly the best zoo I've visited. The only problem I had was not thinking far ahead enough to realise that walking around for four hours in the hot sun with jeans on might not be as much fun as I'd like.
Monday, went to Santa Monica. Cycled along the beach, as far south as Venice and as far north as Will Rogers State Beach (by the pacific coast highway). There's a bike track all along there. Also visited the pier at Santa Monica; it had lots of stuff on it.
Tuesday (today) took the Greyhound to Vegas. This was interesting: I got off at the stop in downtown LA that the hostel people told me I should, then discovered I still had to walk several blocks (25 minutes, with heavy luggage) to actually get to the Greyhound station. Through a somewhat disreputable area. This route did, however, bypass what looked like an even more disreputable area.
It's hot in vegas. Really hot. And it's not dark yet so the bright lights aren't at their most photogenic. I may go and find a 7/11 and the place where I get picked up for my Bryce/Zion tour tomorrow.
Well, that was interesting. Tiring. But interesting.
Qualcomm threw an enormous party on the Midway (Aircraft carrier now used as a museum), with the Goo Goo Dolls. It was a blast.
I'm beginning to recover from the conference -- still tired, and not eating much, but feeling better. I took the tram down to the border with Mexico and took a few photos. I didn't cross, not knowing if I needed a visa; the only reason I went to the border was because I got sick of waiting for a bus to the beach :-)
Now I'm staying in the HI San Diego hostel in the middle of the old "Gas Lamp" area. It seems fairly good, and their free wifi is much faster than the hotel pay internet. Tomorrow I'll go to the Zoo.
Innaworks have now launched our exciting new product, alcheMo, a tool which automatically ports J2ME applications to BREW. There's a press release and everything!
I seem to have arrived in the US in one piece. They even let me into the country despite my slightly muddled filling out of the blue form. All is well, etc. Now sitting in LAX waiting for the plane to San Diego.
TSA wants to assure the traveling public that we are working aggressively to protect the traveling public against threats we expect and those we don't expect. Again we thank the public for their continued cooperation and vigilance.
— A prize to anyone who can find the reason for shoe screening on this page
(oh, yeah, I'm visiting the land of the TSA on Monday)