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Blatantly "borrowed" via Bogley.com:

This will discuss:

  • Importing your GoPro MP4 footage into Windows Live Movie Maker
  • Editing your GoPro footage using Windows Live Movie Maker
  • Settings and profiles to get the best HD quality
  • How to grab single frames from your footage and save as images


I really like filming in mode 3 on the GoPro; 720 and 60 frames per second. Some like mode 4 at the taller 960, or mode 5 at 1080 but these are only at 30 frames per second so you really lose a lot of that "HD pop" if you know what I mean. It all comes down to what you are filming and where you choose to share, I guess. But I changed to mode 3 about 2 years ago and I never looked back.

SD Card... a big size is nice, but it's the "Class" that is most important. The higher the class, the better the buffer is on the card. The current trophy SD card is a 32GB Class 10. I would try to avoid going with a Micro SD card and adapter, just to avoid any contact issues.

So you've got footage that is going to change the world, go viral, and win 9 internets. You just need to cut out the scene where somebody is picking their nose before you share it.

If you are on Windows 7 or Vista, download Windows Live Movie Maker here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...er-get-started - Skip the other optional junk like Live Writer and all that...

Copy your footage from your SD card to your computer. DO NOT edit this footage ON the card, edit it only once you've put it on the computer. Import your footage into Windows Live Movie Maker. The footage will need to process before you can begin editing. This may take a while depending on size. Sometimes after my rides I've got maybe 6GB and I'll let it process for an hour or so before it's ready to edit. You'll see the progress bar at the bottom.

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You can even begin editing each clip that has been processed, or just come back after a while after it's complete.

To avoid the black bars, set your project dimensions to Widescreen, since YouTube's player is in widescreen and you've filmed in widescreen, unless you went with mode 4.

Examples:

Widescreen
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Standard
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If you use the Chesty mount for the GoPro, or even the seatpost mount, you may have flipped your camera upside down to get the best angle. You could either flip it in the settings on the GoPro before filming, or you can rotate it like I do in WLMM, up in the top bar

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Now it's time to begin editing. In the Edit tab you have the Split (or hit the M key) to chop up a clip and trash unwanted segments. You can speed up or slow down a clip, edit the volume, have the volume fade in or out...

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Put some transitions between the clips to show your mad skillz. I don't bother with the fancy stuff, I just use the cross fade. My purpose is not to show off variety in transitions, but the footage itself. Try to avoid getting lost in making sure you have covered every transition type. Keep in mind that when you add transitions, it overlaps each clip into the other so your timeline will be reduced by default of 1.5 seconds on each split. So if you're trying to perfectly time this to music, this may be a point of interest.

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Once you've got it all chopped up, maybe a soundtrack is in order. Set it to begin anywhere on the timeline, adjust the volume for the music separately from the video track, have it fade in or out to avoid any abruptness...

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And the MOST IMPORTANT setting of all in my opinion, is your production profile. If I took great care in filming something in 60 frames per second, I want all 60 frames to remain after production! So instead of saving the movie in the "recommended" settings, create a custom profile that provides 60 frames per second instead of the default 30.

At the dropdown under Save Movie, select Create Custom Settings:

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Then create a profile to your dimensions and frame rate

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Save, and Save again, and close.

Now your 60 frames per second profile is available to save in.

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Produce your video, and upload to YouTube


For more: http://www.youtube.com/bogleydotcom

I also get asked how I grab the still frames from my videos, saving them as images. For that I use VLC Media Player:
www.videolan.org

While playing your footage through VLC, pause at the desired spot (maybe even slow down the playback to get the exact spot). Go up to Video, and then Snapshot, depending on what update you have of VLC.

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This will save that image to your Pictures folder by default, producing some cool freeze frame moments like:

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Let's say you'd like to just watch some of your raw footage that was filmed upside down and you don't want to go through the hassle of flipping it in WLMM, or rotating your monitor with the keyboard shortcut. You can rotate the footage in VLC by going up to Tools, Effects, and in the popup box click the Video Effects tab, check the Transform box, and you can select Rotate by 180 degrees.

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Buzz about iPad3 (or iPad HD)

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For weeks, the Internet has been abuzz about the forthcoming iPad3. Apple has remained tight lipped and security has been tight. A manufacturer in China claimed to have possession of the front & rear lids and posted the specifics here:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/03/04/more_alleged_third_gen_ipad_parts_suggest_just_minor_changes_to_design.html


-------------
Today is the day for the launch. How accurate will the rumors be?

 Tune in to the live blog here: March 7 : Apple Event Live Blog The big expectation, of course, is that Wednesday will bring the next iPad, possibly dubbed the iPad HD. Right around this time last year the company unveiled the iPad 2, which was thinner, lighter, and speedier than the first-generation model, and added two built-in cameras. Among the features expected in the next model is a brand-new screen that doubles the resolution in each direction while keeping the panel the same size.

Apple is also rumored to be adding 4G LTE networking and a speedier processor, as well as improvements to the built-in cameras to make use of all those extra pixels on the screen. One other product expected to get a makeover is Apple's set-top box for televisions, the Apple TV. The product has been in scarce supply for the past few weeks and went with nary a mention at Apple's last big product release for the iPhone 4S, though it's been talked up considerably by Apple CEO Tim Cook in recent chats with investors.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57390897-37/apple-ipad-live-blog-wednesday-march-7/#ixzz1oRKnjH79

Netflix Apology?

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I have been a customer for the past 10 years. In fact, I was one of the early customers when we were living in the Monterrey Bay, California area. Even though we were 45 minutes (by car) from the San Jose Netflix processing center, it still took 2 days to get a CD/DVD delivered.

Needless to say, we were irritated by the poor communication and 60+% price increase that was announced in July of this year. In the end, we decided to go the pure streaming route (Qwikster). We are still considering if RedBox and/or PPV via Dish might be better alternatives.

YouTube is still too expensive ($2.99 to rent a movie, then stream) and other options don't have the inventory YET.

The email I received this morning:

----

Dear James,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something - like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores - do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn't have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It's hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to "Qwikster". We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name "Netflix" for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we're done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.


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http://news.cnet.com/usb-3.0-and-thunderbolt-another-standards-battle-in-the-making/8301-17938_105-20063660-1.html?tag=topStories3

In an interview with PC World posted this morning, HP's Consumer Desktops Product Manager Xavier Lauwaert was quoted as follows in regard to the absence of Thunderbolt ports in HP's newly announced desktops: "On the PC side, everybody seems to be content with the expansion of USB 3.0. Do we need to go into more fancy solutions? Not convinced yet."

The official Thunderbolt logo.

The official Thunderbolt logo.

Thunderbolt, if you're unaware, is a new peripheral device input standard. In development at Intel since 2009 (when it was code-named Light Peak), Thunderbolt debuted this year in Apple's most recent MacBook Pro laptops and iMac all-in-one desktops.

Boasting 10Gbps full-duplex data transfer speeds (meaning it allows 10Gb of data per second both into and out of each port, simultaneously) Thunderbolt also integrates support for the DisplayPort and PCI Express 2.0 standards. That means along with fast data transfers, Thunderbolt can act as a monitor port, and also work with external video-processing devices at bandwidths approaching those of an internal graphics card.

Although Thunderbolt ports have been available by way of the new MacBook Pro since February 24, no Windows-based systems offer Thunderbolt. When we asked why, we were told by Intel's Dave Salvator that we "should expect to see Thunderbolt in a lot more places in 2012." It's worth noting that Intel is currently the sole vendor of the necessary Thunderbolt controller chip.

No Thunderbolt-based peripheral devices have come to market yet, but Apple representatives told us to expect them "this summer," in a meeting earlier this month. A number of vendors previewed Thunderbolt devices at the NAB Show this past April, among them external solid-state drive arrays and video port hubs.

USB 3.0 is sometimes called Superspeed USB.


USB 3.0, alternatively, has appeared in Windows laptops and desktops since 2010. It is a common feature in Windows-based PCs that use Intel's second-generation Core processors. Although Intel doesn't yet support USB 3.0 natively on its motherboard chipsets, a number of vendors sell the necessary USB 3.0 controller silicon. USB 3.0 features 5Gbps maximum data transfer speeds--half that of Thunderbolt--but it is also backwards compatible with the vast universe of existing USB 2.0 devices. Unlike Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 does not feature native support for any video bus or display standards.

From a purely technical standpoint, Thunderbolt is superior to USB 3.0 in that it's faster, and offers greater potential in its video and graphics device compatibility. USB 3.0, though, has more immediate utility. You can already find USB 3.0 hard drives and other devices available for sale alongside legacy USB 2.0 devices. The only thing you can connect to a Thunderbolt port right now is an external monitor via a Mini-DisplayPort cable.

What to make, then, of these apparent battle lines? First, understand that the two standards do not necessarily exist in opposition to each other. Intel has said it will feature native support for both standards in chipsets supporting its next-generation Ivy Bridge CPU architecture, due out at the end of the year. That will allow PC manufacturers the ability to easily adopt both standards in the same system, similar to the co-existence of USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and eSATA ports on many existing motherboards.

Second, while Apple worked with Intel to bring Thunderbolt to market earlier this year, it does not appear to be an option available to Windows vendors or motherboard manufacturers at the moment. Intel was not willing to speak more specifically as to the reasons why, although Salvator said no when we asked whether Apple paid for short-term Thunderbolt exclusivity.

As for Mr. Lauwaert's comments, although HP will have low-risk access to both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 a year from now, it still has PCs it hopes to sell today. HP's TouchSmart all-in-ones, with their touch screens, Blu-ray drives, and HDMI inputs and outputs, for example, are aimed squarely at consumers who might not see the benefit of a standard like Thunderbolt that has no compatible devices available for purchase. USB 3.0 and its support for a large number of existing devices makes a far more logical choice for HP's desktop target market, which is one reason you'll find USB 3.0 ports on HP's recent TouchSmart 610 all-in-one.

Alternatively, the new iMacs and MacBook Pros lack some of the more consumer-oriented features you'll find on Windows PCs in the same price range. The new iMacs and MacBooks have plenty of merits, but by adding Thunderbolt, Apple has made a typically forward-looking decision that will attract digital media professionals and other serious-minded customers. A video editor who has to move a multigigabyte file between multiple workstations will always appreciate faster data transfer speeds. Thunderbolt and its superior throughput allow Apple to make a better pitch to that customer than it could with USB 3.0, which provides only an incremental speed benefit over Apple's existing FireWire 800 ports.

By bypassing USB 3.0 in favor of Thunderbolt, Apple has made its preferences clear. HP and other mainstream Windows PC vendors may need to see a broader consumer benefit before they embrace Thunderbolt. Once Intel adds native chipset support for Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 next year, we expect more PCs than not will support them both.




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Today, we went on a shopping spree. We purchased another new Blu-Ray player by Vizio. This Blu-Ray player comes with integrated wireless and CAT5 wired ethernet. Upon connection to your receiver or TV, you can login to those sites and stream music, movies, Facebook and more via high definition to your television.

What an awesome addition to our home and 5th wheel Toy Hauler!

Vudu
NetFlix
Pandora

Vizio Blu-Ray DVD with Internet Apps



Note: I don't see this as a bad move. Who to counter attacks than a vetted and verified hacker?
---

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Moss' background as a computer hacker (aka "Dark Tangent") and role as a luminary among young hackers who flock to Defcon in Las Vegas every summer might seem to make him an odd choice to swear allegiance to the government. (Although before running his computer conferences, Moss also worked in the information system security division at Ernst & Young.)

I'd like to hear some of the banter as he rubs elbows with the likes of former CIA (Bill Webster) and FBI directors (Louis Freeh), Los Angeles County sheriff, Miami mayor, New York police commissioner, governors of Maryland and Georgia, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, and the president of the Navajo Nation.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

"I know there is a newfound emphasis on cybersecurity and they're looking to diversify the members and to have alternative viewpoints," he said. "I think they needed a skeptical outsider's view because that has been missing."

Asked if there was anything in particular he would advocate, Moss said: "There will be more cyber announcements in coming weeks and once that happens my role will become more clear. This meeting was focused on Southwest border protection... With things like Fastpass and Safe Flight, everything they are doing has some kind of technology component."

Moss, who is genuinely humble, said he was "fantastically honored and excited to contribute" to the HSAC and not concerned with losing any street cred among what some would call his fan base. He did concede that his new position would give him an unfair advantage in Defcon's "Spot The Fed" contest in which people win prizes for successfully outing undercover government agents.

Security consultant Kevin Mitnick, who spent five years in prison on computer-related charges and was once the FBI's most-wanted cybercriminal, praised Moss' diplomacy, but said: "I'm surprised to see Jeff on the list. I would have expected (crypto/security guru and author) Bruce Schneier to be on the council."

Moss "is a great crowd pleaser" and "he's just bad enough for them to say 'we're crossing the ranks,'" said journalist and threat analyst Adrian Lamo, who served two years of probation for breaking into computer networks. "But the reality is he's as corporate as hiring someone out of Microsoft."


Note: As I understand it, these are not yet commercially available. I'm certain I'll be adding one to my office's budget once they can be sourced.






NETGuard Program

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FEMA - NETGuard

As a member of InfraGard for the past several years, I've been invited to become involved in a joint FEMA/DHS effort called NETGuard. The initial discovery meeting is tonight at 7pm.

Those interested in becoming involved need to either already be cleared by the FBI or pass a stringent FBI background check.

Additional information as follows:

"We will be hosting the first NetGuard Team meeting on April 1st, 2009 at 7PM.  The meeting will take place at the City offices located at 1265 E Ft Union Blvd, Suite 250.  For those not familiar with the location, we are on the north side of Ft Union Blvd opposite the Maverick.  The meeting will be an overview of the project as well as an opportunity for us to gather information about each of you.
 
For those not thoroughly familiar with the project and the NetGuard concept, please visit
FEMA Site for a description of the federal program.  Each participating city can develop the NetGuard in their own way.  For Cottonwood Heights, we have opted for a multi-function team.  I will attach our description below.
 
One important aspect of the NetGuard Team will be credentials for participants.  As part of the credentialing process, all participants will be required to submit to a FBI background check.  More details of that will be provided at the April 1st meeting.
 
I'm looking forward to meeting each of you on April 1st.  Please feel free to e-mail me should you have any questions.
 
///Chris\\\
Chris Gebhardt
Cottonwood Heights IT
 
Cottonwood Heights NetGuard Project Description
NetGuard consists of a Mobile Response Team consisting of five disciplines: 1) Radio, 2) Server, 3) Network, 4) Work Station, and 5) Application.  These represent the major areas of IT and the baskets that individual's skills normally fall into.
 
The Radio Team would handle the establishment of radio communications and a redundant communications system much like that used Sunday.
 
The Server Team would be responsible for rebuilding and supporting file server operations.  Servers represent one of the most important aspects to IT.  Without servers, there is little a workstation or user could do.  Personnel assigned to the Server Team would be well versed in all Microsoft and Linux/Unix variants of server operations.  They would also need to understand backup operations and software for recreating post-incident environments.
 
The Network Team would consist mainly of personnel with a thorough understanding of LANs, WANs, and WiFi.  Every entity uses all three of these technologies today and the Network Team would need to support each.   They would be fluent with the hardware devices (switches, routers, WAPs) as well as the wiring (Cat 5, RJ45).  The Network Team would carry enough equipment to re-establish a full network whether it be hard wires or WiFi for the affected entity.
 
Next is the Workstation Team.  Their main goal is the support of desktop and laptop computers.  They are more of a hardware team being able to tear apart a machine and rebuild it with available parts.  During a disaster event, many machines will probably suffer damage. The Workstation Team will be the mechanics of the Guard physically working on both workstations and servers.
 
Finally is the Applications Team.  Their mission is to support end user applications and server databases.  Once the other Teams have re-established the infra-structure, the Applications Team will assist users in getting back "online" with their software.  They may repair databases and applications or transition into creating new databases for use during the event.  Team members must bring a handyman knowledge set to the Team rather than an application specific education."


At the Game Developers Conference on Friday in San Francisco, Georgia Tech professor and author Ian Bogost talked about the lessons that can be learned by game designers from the iconic Atari 2600.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)

SAN FRANCISCO--If you draw a straight line representing the evolution of video games from the Atari 2600 to the Nintendo Wii, one thing is clear: if you don't know your past, you can't know your future.

That was the central lesson of Georgia Tech professor Ian Bogost's Friday talk at the Game Developers Conference here, "Learning from the Atari 2600." Essentially, Bogost argued, it's not always necessary to reinvent the wheel; sometimes, instead of being discarded as so much arcane, the discoveries of the past are best adapted for the future.




 Where is James King?


 

Language Translation




 

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