Into Tech

A PC for editing AVC

I’ve bought a new HD video camera which records in AVCHD. When I looked at the Pinnacle editing software supplied with it, I read that the minimum requirements include an Intel quad core processor running at 2.66GHz. I have consulted PC World, Dell and HP, and none has a home computer running at this speed. What can I do?
Richard Cooke

JS: AVCHD is one of the high-definition movie standards used by Blu-ray and HD DVD and allows for pictures that are 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It is a highly compressed format, to save space, but as a consequence it requires a great deal of processing power to reconstruct the original image. What the camera salesmen don’t tell you is that just displaying 25 of these large images a second is beyond many PCs, unless they have accelerated graphics. Editing them can be a nightmare, and a common approach (taken by Apple’s Final Cut Pro, among others) is to transcode them into something that is easier to handle. The Wikipedia page on AVCHS lists some of these converters.

Editing native AVCHD is not, of course, beyond reach. However, such powerful PCs are generally not off-the-shelf items, but assembled to order. First, pick your Intel Core 2 Quad processor from Intel’s spec sheet: the Q6700 is the cheap 2.66GHz chip, but there’s a newer, better 2.83GHz version, the Q9550. Next, look for a PC with that Q number, 4GB or 8GB of memory, and 64-bit Windows Vista. An example is the Mesh Xtreme X9550GTX with a Q9550, 8GB of memory, a terabyte of hard drive space, Blu-ray player and 24 inch widescreen monitor displaying 1,920 x 1,200 for £1,199 inc VAT.

On its own, Pinnacle Studio 12 will run OK on a 1.6 GHz Dual Core processor with 1GB of memory, so the problem is down to the videos you want to edit. You could reduce the PC hardware requirements by reducing the size of your videos. Instead of shooting 1,080p, for example, you could use 1,440 x 1,080 or go down to 720p (1,280 x 720 pixels), like broadcast HDTV. However, my experience is that editing MPeg-2 movies is a pig on a fast Pentium, and I’d expect editing MPeg-4 Part 10 (ie AVC) to be much piggier even on a quad core PC. I’d want more power, not less.

Newsletter mailing

I run a small business from home, and send a regular newsletter. I have a TalkTalk phone and broadband package. I now find that I am unable to send more than about 20 newsletters in a block.
Annie Hall

JS: I can’t find any mention of this on the TalkTalk website, but internet service providers usually limit the number of emails you can send at once, to discourage spamming. However, I’d have thought 100 was a more reasonable number than 20. You could try contacting TalkTalk for help, but ISP email services are not a selling point but an overhead that I suspect most would rather be rid of. Larger companies, including the Guardian, often use outside services such as cheetahmail.com and jangomail.com to send out promotional emails. You could try a local supplier such as Subscribed: there must be lots. These companies tend to be hostile towards anything “spammy” as it could affect their business.

Maximising battery life

What are your top tips for maximising the life of rechargeable batteries?
Richard Brown

JS: Different kinds of battery require different approaches, so it’s a bigger topic than it sounds. However, BatteryUniversity.com provides comprehensive coverage and a handy summary in table form. With the increasingly common Lithium-ion (Li-ion) types, the main advice is not to discharge them more than once a month: try to recharge them when they are on 20% or so. Alas, they are only good for a limited number of cycles and age even if not used. They may need replacing after 18-24 months or 350-500 cycles, but can last longer. It’s always worth checking the device’s manual for information and advice.

Blogs by location

Is there a way to search blogs by location?
J Bourtoni

JS: Not really. There are blogs from all over the world sitting on the same servers run by American companies such as Google (Blogger) and Microsoft (Spaces), and there is no easy way to tell them apart. However, there are sites you can try, such as Blogdigger Local, PlaceBlogger.com, feedmap.net and Globe of Blogs. Bloggers who want to be found geographically can make it easier by submitting their sites. In the longer term, there’s a 10-year plan involving 74 nations called Geoss, for Global Earth Observation System of Systems, which should encourage more location awareness. So should Yahoo’s new Fire Eagle.

Backchat

· Alec Williams was transferring data from an old PC. John Davies says: “I bought Transfer MyPC from Dell to move all my old data across. It did the job very well.” Windows Vista has a built-in program, Windows Easy Transfer, and you can download Windows Easy Transfer Companion to move programs.

· Cathy Matheson wanted a laptop for her son, who is going to study architecture. On the Ask Jack blog, Webweasel said: “As a recently qualified architect, I would wait and see what the facilities are like at the university in question. I would not advise buying any hardware or software until your son is a student, as generous discounts are available.”

· Get your queries answered by Jack Schofield, our computer editor at jack.schofield@guardian.co.uk

The price of a dedicated Blu-ray player has remained high - too high - even after winning the HD war against HD DVD but, Tesco has teamed up with German PB big-shot Medion to sell a performance PC with Blu-ray drive for just £600.

The PC in question is the shiny, black Medion Akoya P36888 and, despite the attractive pricing, it’s no slouch. The P36888 is powered by the Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600, runs Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, has a 1TB 7200rpm hard disk drive, 3GB of RAM, a hybrid TV tuner and the all-important Blu-Ray Reader/DVD-ReWriter.

Here’s the full line up:

J.K. Rowling has been an aggressive user of intellectual property laws against anyone who she feels has done her wrong, and the latest target, as sent in by a bunch of readers, is an Indian film by the name of Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors, about a young Indian boy who gets left home alone. If anything, you almost have to wonder if the makers of the film purposely picked a bunch of recognizable themes. There is the name, which potentially plays on both Harry Potter and Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (which, of course, is public domain). Then there’s the story line, which seems similar to the Home Alone movies. So this film isn’t copying Rowling’s work, but the name certainly sounds like it could be.

The movie makers insist their Hari Puttar has nothing to do with Harry Potter. The storylines are entirely different. Hari is a popular Indian name and Puttar means “son” in Punjabi. Plus, when pronounced correctly, it doesn’t even sound like Harry Potter. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t done on purpose, of course. So, yes, I can understand where Rowling is coming from, but that still doesn’t necessarily make this a smart move. Leaving the movie as is doesn’t take any money away from Rowling. If anything, all this effort is doing is providing a lot more free publicity for the Hari Puttar movie — which may be exactly what the movie makers wanted.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

One of the issues that comes up when we discuss the economics of infinite goods is people too often falsely define the product that’s being sold as the market, rather than the benefit. As we mentioned the other day, that’s why the builders of horse carriages reacted the wrong way to the automobile. If they had realized they were in the transportation business, the automobile would have been as an opportunity to provide a better transportation experience. One of the side effects of properly recognizing the benefit is that it often shifts around the business model of the market you’re in. The money may end up coming from somewhere entirely differently than before. The music industry is discovering this today (painfully). The money isn’t in the product itself (music) but in the scarcities made valuable by the product (concerts, access to the artists, creating new works, etc.).

So, for folks struggling with these issues, one of the most important things to do after figuring out what your real market is, is to then figure out where all the scarcities are that are made more valuable by freeing up the infinite goods. The trick is to then position yourself to capture money in that market. But where this gets really tricky is those products may be surprising or appear to be in a totally different space (e.g., concerts rather than selling plastic discs) and that can be scary for those who are used to the old model.

I’ve had a few folks submit the GameIndustry.biz interview with Todd Hollenshead, the CEO of id Games, where he talks about the “hidden benefit” of piracy… but for computer makers, not video game producers. He’s correct, other than the fact that it’s not that hidden. There’s a very real and admitted benefit to computer manufacturers — but that doesn’t mean that there also isn’t a benefit for the video game makers themselves. Basically, when you look at the video game market, one of the big scarcities that benefits from free games is the computer makers.

But rather than somehow blaming them for not fighting piracy hard enough, why not take advantage of that? Get PC makers to finance new games, pointing out that if they give out the games for free it will help drive more people to buy the next generation of high powered PCs that are needed to run the games. In that way, everyone can benefit. The PC makers (or maybe even Intel or someone) can pay for the game, and then use that to turn in more sales of high powered computers. The video game developers get paid, the computer makers get a great tool to sell more new PCs and users get a free game with their PC. Everyone comes out better off and there’s no “problem” of piracy.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Wireless juice wasn’t the only thing Intel had to talk about at the recent IDF event, as chief technology officer Justin Rattner had some rather disturbing news about the future of artificial intelligence.

We’ve been following the gradual takeover of the machines here on Gizmodo recently so thought it fitting to showcase Rattner’s take on the future of our robot friends (read overlords as of 2050).

Anyone that has travelled with a bagful of chargers - most of us - will be interested to hear that Intel has just demonstrated wireless power at its IDF event.

It may look like one of those planetary educational tools but it’s actually two metal arrays connected to a power amplifier. The arrays resonate at a particular frequency to create an energy link which transmits power between them.

Based on principles proposed by MIT physicists, Intel’s Wireless Resonant Energy Link (WREL) technology was shown powering a 60W bulb without wires or plugs.

Student laptop

My son is about to go to university to study architecture. What sort of laptop would you recommend, for up to £600?
Cathy Matheson

JS: The final choice depends on the use, and there are at least three possibilities, so you will need to talk to your son and perhaps to his university. The first idea would be to get a lightweight portable to carry everywhere for note-taking, email and web browsing. A good cheap example would be the Acer Aspire One running Windows XP on a 10-inch screen. The keyboard beats the Asus Eee PC version. A spare battery would be useful.

The second option would be a desktop replacement laptop that he could use in his room. This would provide computer functions plus home entertainment, doubling as a DVD player, sound system, and games machine. There are plenty of portables with 15.4in widescreens from Dell, HP/Compaq, Toshiba and other suppliers, but aim for a Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB or more memory for Windows Vista. Look for a Kensington lock to tie it down.

The third option would be a portable workstation, intended to run specific software that is used on the course. Unfortunately, the software used for serious architectural work - such as Autodesk’s AutoCAD and Bentley MicroStation - needs lots of memory and a separate graphics card, rather than the Intel integrated graphics chips built into cheap laptops. To handle complex models with AutoCAD 2008, I’d be looking for something like a Dell Latitude D830 with 4GB of memory, 64bit Windows Vista Ultimate, nVidia Quadro or similar graphics, and probably a screen upgrade: Autodesk recommends 1,280 x 1,024 pixels. You might not get much change out of £1,000, and it’s not worth cutting corners: having 2GB instead of 4GB saves £40, and having 32bit XP Pro or Vista Business only saves £34. Before spending this sort of money, your son should talk to his university department and preferably to more advanced students to find out exactly what is required. A simpler and cheaper laptop may well do.

If a course involves the use of specialist software such as AutoCAD, the university will usually provide access to shared computers that have it installed. Students who want to run it themselves can usually obtain an educational version at a reduced price. The cheap LT version of AutoCAD 2008 costs around £1,500, whereas the student version costs about £100 for a 14-month licence.

Books for Kindles

I am considering an Amazon Kindle. However, I’d like to use it for ebooks freely available in text format, and others in Microsoft’s Reader format.
John Borgoy

JS: The Kindle can handle books in plain text (.txt) plus the Amazon (.azw) and Mobipocket (.mobi; .prc) formats. It can also handle Microsoft Word documents and web pages, but you have to email these to your kindle.com address. Amazon will convert them and send them wirelessly to your Kindle for a small fee. You can convert Microsoft Reader (.lit) files by using a free converter such as ABC Amber LIT.

Movie rescue

My DigiFusion Freeview recorder died when its power unit fried after a power cut. Is there any way I can transfer the movies and recorded programmes to my PC from the hard drive?
John Rogers

JS: If you remove the hard drive from the recorder, you should be able to mount it in an external drive enclosure and connect it to your PC via a USB port. I’d guess it’s a 3.5in drive. If you are lucky, it will be in the FAT32 file format used in Microsoft MS DOS and recognised by most operating systems. If you have a proper desktop PC, a cheaper alternative is to fit the drive internally, but this can be a little trickier.

Searching for data

My computer died suddenly and I had to get another. I can read the hard disk of the old machine via USB, but how do I get at emails and the address book?
Alec Williams

JS: You should be able to copy the old data from your backup CDs or external hard drive! Since the hard drive still works, however, you can copy the data to your new PC in the usual way and then import it. You can find the data by running a disk-wide search for the types of storage file your software uses. If you used the Windows address book, search for *.wab (with an asterisk) files. If your email program was Outlook Express, search for the Inbox.dbx and Folders.dbx files and copy that whole folder across. For help, click here and here to read the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

Backchat

As mentioned in Technophile (August 7), I struggled with the Linpus version of Linux on an Acer Aspire One subnotebook. Alan Cocks comments: “Information forums are appearing. This one might have helped some of your frustrations”.

On copying cassette tapes etc using Audacity software, Tim Gossling points out that it does have track splitting: go to Analyze and select Silence finder to automate the process “with probably varying degrees of success, particularly for classical music,” he says. “Manual splitting is done via Project and Add label at selection: click in the label field and type in a title. File|Export multiple will then generate multiple files, each named with the track label.”

· Get your queries answered by Jack Schofield, our computer editor at jack.schofield@guardian.co.uk

There was a time when slouching in front of your parents earned a quick clip around the ear followed by ‘Sit up straight boy!’ or something like that.

Technology has now been developed to replace that parent, just without the slapping and character building put-downs.

The annoyingly named iPosture looks like a coin and houses the Wearable Intelligent Nano-Sensor, a microchip that monitors your Quasimodo impressions and can tell when your posture deviates by as little as 3 degrees in the wrong direction.

Of course, we all know that in the long history of Disney, the company has made much of its money by taking the content of others and repurposing it in cute animated stories. Yet, when it comes to anyone else doing things with Disney’s stories or characters, its lawyers are rather vicious in response. In fact, it’s Disney’s heavy handed lobbying that has helped extend copyright to ever longer terms, just to avoid Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain. Thus, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, that Disney continues with this double standard in other parts of its business. Reader Comboman sent in the news that a leaked memo from Disney subsidiary ABC suggests that producers look for TV ideas from foreign shows, where the idea can be used without having to pay a license:

“As I’m sure you’re all aware, foreign formats have increased in popularity as the basis for US television development and production. What is often overlooked, or not fully appreciated, are the complexities associated with negotiating format deals, coupled with the fact that often-times what is appealing in the format may be nothing more than a general underlying premise, which, in and of itself, may be no reason to license the underlying property.”

In other words, let’s see what we can copy. And, yet, if anyone were to do that with a Disney/ABC property, you can bet that the lawyers would be all over it before you could get very far. But, of course, don’t be surprised. It’s simply the way Disney/ABC does business: abusing intellectual property laws is perfectly fine when done for its own purposes — but is the destroyer of everything good when done to Disney/ABC.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Every time you think that the Olympics’ bizarre obsession with extra-ordinary protections on intellectual property took a step beyond ridiculous, you were probably just underestimating the International Olympic Committee, who will just keep going further and further. You may recall the efforts put forth by the IOC to get special trademarks on certain words, like 2010 and Vancouver and 2012 and London, since that’s where the next two Olympics will take place. While it seems ridiculous to be able to get trademarks on such things (and goes against the very purpose of trademark law), politicians seem to bow down to the Olympics. But that was just the start.

The Olympics has threatened any non-sponsor advertiser from even mentioning the Olympics, banned people in the stands from wearing clothing that has the logos of competitors to sponsors and even insisted that its security technology choices would be limited to sponsors, even if others had better technology.

The latest, however, may be the most ridiculous. All over Beijing, the brands of non-sponsors are being covered up by Olympic officials so that no one thinks that faucet maker American Standard got a “free ride.” Seriously. They’re putting tape over the brand name on faucets. And on light switches. And the headphones used by reporters and many other places where perfectly normal brands might occur. They’ve even covered up the name of a major hotel in Beijing, because it’s not an Olympic sponsor.

In media centers, dormitories and arena bathrooms, pieces of tape cover logos of fire extinguishers, light switches, thermostats, bedroom night tables, soap dispensers and urinals. The Taiden Industrial translation headsets in a large conference room have had their logos covered, as have the American Standard faucets in the bathrooms nearby, and the ThyssenKrupp escalators down the hall. Even the sign atop the InterContinental Beijing Beichen hotel, attached to the Main Press Center, has been obscured by an Olympic cloth wrap. InterContinental Hotels Group isn’t an Olympic sponsor.

Why? Well, the IOC claims that it’s necessary:

The International Olympic Committee says that such “brand protection” is essential for the Games to raise the corporate money that keeps them going and growing. The Games get 40% of their revenue from sponsors, with the rest coming from broadcast rights, ticketing and licensing.

A few quick responses to that whopper of a statement:

• The purpose of trademark law is not to protect the ability of the Olympics to make a profit. It’s to avoid people being confused into thinking one product is made by someone else.
• Even if it’s important for the Olympics to make money off of sponsors, it’s difficult to see why that would necessitate blocking everyone else’s brands. No other event does this, and those events make out just fine.
• Couldn’t some of the covered up brands make the exact same response back? American Standard sold its faucets at a certain price, knowing that it would get some brand recognition from having its brand on the faucets. By blocking that, aren’t the Olympics denying American Standard’s “essential brand protection” that it needs to keep making money?

Once again, the true spirit of the Olympic games seems to be in absolutely trashing the meaning and purpose of intellectual property laws.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story