Oct 23
2011

I recently discovered an app which takes input video in various formats and encodes all of the necessary formats for cross-browser, cross-platform HTML5 video embedding. It even outputs the tags for you. It’s called, appropriately, Easy HTML5 Video.

While I will probably continue to use my homebrew script for this, I wanted to mention it for anyone not really digging the command…

Sep 10
2011

As some of you may know, my wife Aditi and I moved into a new house last week. It’s been a crazy week of settling in, but it’s already starting to feel like home. As it turns out, I’m less opposed to weekend projects than I had thought I would be. I’m not exactly handy, but I’m learning as I go.

May 01
2011

A little while ago I approached the subject of scripting automated encoding for HTML5 video formats. I started using the process regularly as I built the Blogsmith Bundle video site. Pretty soon I got some help from friend and TUAW editor Mike Rose, and working together we refined the script and improved the speed tremendously. It was built for use on Mac OS X, but with just a few…

Apr 24
2011

I was playing with the new TextMate Markdown bundle for MultiMarkdown 3 when I remembered an old nit I had with the list commands: no single-keystroke way to move list items up and down. Unless I’m completely forgetting about a shortcut, moving list items around involves selecting the entire line and using Control-Command-Up/Down to move it. Obviously, not a big deal, but 5 minutes…

Mar 27
2011

I spent an inordinate amount of time not doing useful things today. During this non-productivity bender, I got a little obsessed with making the HTML5 video encoding process easier. I’ve been working on a tutorial site for the Blogsmith Bundle, so this whole deal needed to be sped up. I came out with a script which, when combined with the right command line utilities, takes 90% of…

Sep 15
2010

I’ve been doing some screencasts lately, and have wanted to post them as HTML5 videos in many cases. I also wanted to serve them from my Cloudfront CDN. This is not a how-to post, just some things I learned that I couldn’t find existing answers to. For an excellent primer, see Video On the Web from Dive Into HTML5.

May 25
2010

I did some massive Spring cleaning over the weekend, and found a lot of “treasures” that, after having been momentarily cherished, are on their way to the dump. A pile of Dead Kennedy’s and TCHC cassettes from High School that had been severely devastated by an extended stay in the garage, original vinyl pressings from some of my old bands, Phreak boxes, and more defunct…