http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyOzzd53ssY

Portal Kombat. I chose this because I enjoy both Portal and Mortal Kombat. The video has a really hilarious pun, and the editing and premise for the video is really well done for an amateur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNj0WMBkrs

The Epic Battle: Jesus Versus Cyborg Satan. I chose this video because it’s hilarious. The editing is really amateur as smosh was only just starting in this video. But the cuts are there, and it’s crap quality, but still good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqjJzuaNSE

Pancake Mines. This video is really well done. The claymation is flawless and smooth, and the camera quality is great. The special effects of the explosions look good for a non-professional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h59NI4nLVpo

The lightsaber effect in this video is really well done and looks really realistic. The sound effects are good and the little blood spatter at the end makes it great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIL07aesZEA

This video is very amateur, but they do an okay job of making the head come off and fly into the sky. It’s something I’d be able to pull off. It’s alright.

What I learned about filming stuff.

I learned, that to film a video properly and professionally, one needs to plan ahead and create an outline of each specific shot with full details to ensure perfection. Perfectionist attitudes are the key to making quality videos. I learned different techniques, such as B-Roll and L and J-Cuts. I learned how to work as a team with my groupmates in order to make an efficient effort to creating the video. I learned of different shot angles such as over the shoulder and ahead and behind and stuff, which add the dazzle and flare to each shot. Special effects programs such as After Effects and editing programs such as Premiere were utilized to make the video a success

The problems we ran into were group indifference, people not caring or not agreeing with one another. It was hard to get an idea down on paper and to get started because we kept running into arguements and disagreements. Laziness was the biggest issue, since we often sat around not being able to think.

I learned how to cut the video and audio in premiere in order to make a sharp, clean video. I also learned chromakey if I were to use a green screen, and many other neat-o tricks such as transitions and blur effects. I learned how to set keypoints when cutting the video, which proved very useful in editing. I also learned how to add title and credit cards, which was pretty sexy. LOL.

ICT Video Ideas.

Parody of… something?

Let’s take something and do a really stupid rendition of it.

Watson.

Watson is a super-computer designed to beat humans at Jeopardy! He was designed by IBM in an attempt to take the ability for a computers’ thinking to the next level. Watson is able to process information very quickly and is programmed to study situations/questions and determine different possibilities of solutions/answers with probabilities. He’s programmed to understand and analyze the human language to a far greater extent than any computer before him. However, although Watson can understand and decipher situations and come up with responses, he still isn’t able to understand the emotion in words, such as sarcasm, or figure out riddles that take different context in language. A problem the creators had to overcome was to bring Watson to a full understanding of the language so that he could answer questions with precision, and this still hasn’t been perfected. In the future, Watson could be used for many analytic and critical thinking situations, as Watson can come up with multiple possibilities for the same situation. An example for a Watson application would be as a Yahoo! Answers-type of program, where he could answer questions for people.

Video Codecs!

MPEG-4 part 10/H.264/AVC

MPEG-4 part 10 is a standard technically aligned with the ITU-T.s H.264 and often also referred to as AVC. This new standard is the current state of the art of ITU-T and MPEG standardized compression technology, and it is rapidly gaining adoption into a wide variety of applications. It uses different profiles and levels to identify different configurations and uses. It contains a number of significant advances in compression capability, and it has recently been adopted into a number of company products, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, iPod, the Nero Digital product suite, and Mac OS X 10.4, as well as high-definition Blu-ray Disc. Though it has impressive quality at bit rates lower than older codecs like MPEG-2, it is very processor-intensive to edit, encode, and play back, and older computers or low-powered portable devices may have difficulty playing it back or may drain their batteries faster than normal when using it.

VP6

This is a proprietary video codec developed by On2 Technologies and used in Adobe Flash Player 8 and newer.

VC-1

This is an SMPTE standardized video compression standard (SMPTE 421M) based on Microsoft.s WMV 9 video codec. It is also one of the three mandatory video codecs in Blu-ray high-definition optical disc standards (MPEG-2 and H.264 are the others). It is commonly found on the Web, in portable devices, and on computers that support the WMV format. Like MPEG-4 part 10, VC-1 uses the concept of profiles to differentiate different uses and data settings it will support though its configurations are more straightforward than MPEG-4 part 10/AVC/H.264.

MPEG-2 part 2

Used on DVD, on SVCD, and in most digital video broadcasting and cable distribution systems, MPEG-2.s sweet spot in the market is the quality of video it provides for standard-definition video. When used on a standard DVD, it offers good picture quality and supports wide-screen. In terms of technical design, the most significant enhancement in MPEG-2 over its predecessor, MPEG-1 (see the next section), was the addition of support for interlaced video. MPEG-2 is now considered an aged codec, but it has tremendous market acceptance and a very large installed base, and even the relatively new high-definition video acquisition format, HDV, is based on MPEG-2. Its use will decline as a delivery format as more efficient codecs such as AVC and VC-1 are adopted for HD video.

H.261

Used primarily in older videoconferencing and video telephony products, H.261, developed by the ITU-T, was the first practical digital video compression standard. Essentially all subsequent standard video codec designs are based on it. It included such well-established concepts as YCbCr color representation, the 4:2:0 sampling format, 8-bit sample precision, 16 by 16 macroblocks, block-wise motion compensation, 8 by 8 block-wise discrete cosine transformation, zigzag coefficient scanning, scalar quantization, run+value symbol mapping, and variable length coding. H.261 supported only progressive scan video.

DV

The DV codec, in terms of file-based content (as opposed to tape), has two main versions: DV-NTSC, the 720 by 480-pixel default DV codec comes installed with QuickTime for use in accordance with the North American broadcast standard and 720 by 576 DV-PAL is also available for European playback standards.

LOSSY VS. LOSSLESS

Lossless compression recreates a compressed file as an identical match to its original form. All lossless compression uses techniques to break up a file into segments for storage or transmission that gets reassembled later. Lossless compression is used for files, such as applications, that need to be reproduced exactly like the original file. Lossy compression, on the other hand, eliminates repeated or “unnecessary” pieces of data. When a file is decompressed, you get the compression software’s reinterpretation of the original file. Lossy compression can’t be used to compress anything that needs to be reproduced exactly.

iPhone 4G.

Gray Powell: The drunkard, and player who in a drunken stupor lost the iPhone 4G, super confidential crap right there! Dumbass.

(Source: http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone)

This is definitely the iPhone rumor season. We’re probably going to have more of those in the following months. The phone in the picture is a concept iPhone 4G phone. Here’s what this iPhone 4G will feature:

• Titanium and Glass.
• OLED screen
• 3G
• GPS
• Front camera for iChat
• Removable battery
• 3.2 Megapixel camera
• Video
• 32 GB

Let’s just hope that Apple is watching!

3 Things I Didn’t Know About Adanac.

1. A bright idea. The electric light bulb was first patented in 1875 by Adanacian Henry Woodward of Toronto and fellow inventor Matthew Evans. The two entrepreneurs could not raise the financing to commercialize their invention, and they sold the patent to Thomas Edison.

2. A fishy idea. Who else but an Adanacian  would have invented fish sticks? In 1929 marine scientist Archibald Huntsman invented “Ice Fillets,” the first frozen food.

1. Now who has pie on their face? While performing his traveling medicine show through Newfoundland in 1889, Thomas “Doc” Kelley invented the “pie-in-the-face” gag. Kelley happened to catch sight of an irate cook chasing a stable boy with a piece of pie. When the pie wound up hitting the boy’s shirt, it made the onlookers laugh. Kelley quickly concluded that a pie in the face would be even funnier.

Adanac is the most amazing, awesomest, super-special-cool country in the world. And honestly, after these olympics I’m even more proud than I ever was to say that “I am Adanacian!” We’ve achieved so much and have been broadened towards the rest of the world in these benchmark, most watched, winter olympic games in history. This is an amazing country with amazing people, we’ve got so many great things around us here. I’m pretty damn proud to be Adanacian.

The Apple iPad

The Apple iPad has a lot of new capabilities, able to provide you with the features and affordability of a Notebook, but being a higher quality product, and with more features. It’s small, thin, and light, and very versatile. It’s perfect for mail, web surfing, photos, providing the best experiences for these everyday things you would use a Notebook for usually, on a high quality screen. It can play music and games, and you can view Facebook and Twitter, just like you would usually, but it’s much better than a laptop. The iTunes store, movies/music/TV shows/Podcasts, built right into the iPad. With the really high quality screen, it’s perfect for movies and TV viewing. So much more capable than a laptop, and bigger and better than the iPhone, providing you with better Notebook experiences. A simple to use touch screen just like its predecessors, with a slide lock, and with the icons of all the applications flying into the screen immediately. Easy access to all the websites you love to browse, with zooming capabilites. You can buy and shop online, and do everything, in the palm of your hands. You can check your e-mail, browse messages. The screen can be flipped from side to side, up and down, depending on what you’re comfortable with. You have instant access to maps as you’re on the go. And along with the ability to read e-mail, you can also send it too, with a really convenient keyboard. You can save, and easily view your photos, organized very simply. Being able to view the photos as large high quality landscapes is also possible. You can view events, faces, and places from the iPhoto. There is also a flick feature, or slider bar to quickly view photos. The iPad has facial recognition built in to categorize. Built in slide shows, and slide show music embedding. A nicely organized, similar to iTunes music library. There is also a calendar application on the iPad, for viewing events easily. And also a contacts list to keep everything nicely organized as the iPad is. You can also use the map application to find different locations, such as sushi restaurants, or the Eiffel Tower, and a zoom feature. They also have the video application, to watch Youtube videos and such. And also able to go full screen and high definition. You can save a list of movies, shows, and videos on your iPad in a neat list. The iPad also has iBooks, so you can read on your iPad. It’s a half inch thin, and weighs 1.5 pounds, very light. A gorgeous IPS display, high quality. Built in a high-quality, super precise, super responsive multi-touch feature. 1 GHz Apple A4 Chip. The iPad has 16Gb-64Gb solid state flash memory. It has a speaker, microphone, compass, the necessities, and high battery life. It has 10 hours of battery life. It’s arsenic free, mercury free, it’s aluminum and glass enclosure is highly recyclable, very eco-friendly.

2010’s just around the corner.

So, with the dawn of the new year up and coming, comes packaged along with it a new set of super-upgraded tools courtesy of Microsoft to help brighten our lives. Microsoft Office 2010 is almost here! And with many new, as well as an inordinate amount of upgrades and new features added to the programs we’ve grown to love. So let’s have at it with a quickie preview of what the new decade has in store.

Word:

 Word is back in 2010, still giving us one of the most common used aspects of office; being able to process documents, as well as some added new benefits. As well as being able to organize and create documents with extreme efficiency, we’ve got some new things in store with Word 10. The navigation panel is well improved, being able to search for things within word much easier and much more quicker, being able to browse, sort, and find with better results. Word also has an improved co-authoring feature, which allows working with other to become much easier, being able to work on the document together at the same time! Documents can now be posted online and then edited from virtually any computer in any location, even your phone! You can also now add new visual effects to intensify the appearance of your text, adding your own flavour to it, as well as creating nifty colourful diagrams out of the text. You can also now use photo editing tools within your document, this and much more, and an overall enhanced user experience.

Power Point:

 Power Point is also making it’s big return, still allowing you to create and share dynamic and lustrous looking presentations to bring out the wow in everybody. Brand new audio and video features allow for a more crisp, clean, professional feel to your presentation, along with the upgrades comes some new benefits of this maxed out piece of work. An important part to any presentation; the visuals. You can now add crisper looking images, with more tools and perks allowing to maximize the visual capabilities in your presentation. The video compatibility with the new Power Point is much more efficient, giving you more options, such as embedding or bookmarking certain points in your presentation for video to play, with a much higher quality feel to it. The waving transitions and animations used in the older versions of PP have now been upgraded, improved, made to look more stunning for visually captivation presentation. More options to modify your presentation have been added. Just get this, you know you want it. 

Excel:

  Microsoft excel is back, better than ever. The ultimate tool in anazlyzing, managing, and sharing information with supreme organization capability. Keeping track has never been easier or more efficient with Excel 10. You can now create data charts in a single cell, called Sparklines, making it quicker to create data and easier to manage it. A new filtering tool in Excel allows you to key in on certain points of a document much more quickly and with efficiency. You can spend less time sifting through large amounts of an excel file, and quickly get to what you need. Conditional formatting has been expanded in Excel 10, allowing for more variety in your conditions, with different styles, icons, and improved data bars. Also, you can quickly gather more insights with the ability to display different data views directly in a PivotChart, independent of PivotTable views, to analyze and capture the most compelling picture of your numbers.

Publisher:

 Publisher, the ultimate marketing and publications tool has come back. With an even wider variety of options and different publications to choose from in 2010. You can easily communicate your message in a wide range of publications, saving time and money. Brochures, newsletters, postcards, the works. 2010 allows you to get started quickly and to keep productive with new templates and different applied font and colour schemes. You can include a ton of new graphics and text and re-apply your work as well as new insertable and customizable content for your publication. New photo-editing tools in Publisher allow you to visually spark your publication to make your brochure or any else look amazing. Publisher 2010 delivers new tools that help you transform ordinary text into fine typography. Use the stylistic sets, stylistic alternates, true small caps, ligatures, number styles, and more that are available in many OpenType fonts that come with Publisher. It is overall much more variety, and much more efficient, being able to get things done better, and faster.

So in conclusion, with all the wonderful tools that come with Microsoft Office 2010, (and there are more than these), I recommend this as money well spent. Although it can be quite a bit. Don’t hesitate though, this is going to knock out the competition, and prove to be a life-changing tool for computers everywhere.

Androids and the iPhone.

So, the first phone we have is the HTC Dream, an Android phone that has been recently become available to Rogers in Canada. The wait was long, but this piece of work is what competes the iPhone, carrying many similar functionalities, and simply put is an opposition to the iPhone. First of all, in terms of phone plans, these things come pretty equal in the packages given out, as well as the pricing, so there isn’t much to say there. People say that the HTC Dream is the way to go though. With capabilities such as having multiple applications open at the same time as opposed to the iPhone. E-Mailing, Tweeting, Facebooking, Music, Myspace can be done all at once without a problem. A multi-taskers dream. As well as being able to use all these applications at once, you can also receive messages from these applications simultaneously. So, that’s 1-0 for the HTC Dream. The HTC Dream has a plentiful amount of apps. and catching up in the competition with the iPhone for the amount of apps. as well as their usefulness. Since the Dream is developed by Google; G-mail, Google, Google Contacts, etc. is integrated perfectly into the phone. Sending messages and what not is also far faster; seconds, not minutes. Also, 2/3 of the applications on the Dream are free, as well as more availability, and less limitations from what kinds of applications you can install (unlike the iPhone, which only allows apps. from the Apple store). Overall, the HTC Dream is far better, and with over 3000 new apps. a month will be catching up to the iPhone really quick. Not to mention that’s a pretty attractive piece of plastic.

Now here we have the HTC 6800, developed by Windows Mobile. Following in the ideas and revolutionary concepts of the iPhone and Android phones, and hopping right into the competition. Now comparing this to the iPhone shouldn’t be hard, as they both have key differences that easily show the pros an cons of buying either phone. So, the pros for the 6800 as they are: This phone runs on Windows Mobile 6, which is the improved version of Windows Mobile 5, yet it can still run in WM5. But either way you have it, this is a very useful operation for business purposes, so I’d say this gets the vote of all the suits out there. And yes, it uses a keyboard, which could be more comfortable for those who wish it as opposed to the touch screen keys. And it carries EVDO-A, which means that the 6800 has better data capabilities. Now a very important pro for the iPhone. Drum roll, here it goes. Yes, it does work in far more countries than the 6800 which instantly boosts the amount of customers they’ll be serving. And for those who care about appearance and comfort in your pocket, the iPhone is half the size of the 6800. It has higher screen resolution, equaling up to about twice the size of the 6800. And it also has far more storage than the 6800. More pros, iPhone does have a better BT stack and potentially does transfer data to and from storage far faster thanthe 6800. It won’t bug up and dark screen o’ death on you like the 6800, and the iPhone music player is far superior than the Windows Mobile piece of crap I can safely say. And there you have it. Androids, and the iPhone.