Using SunSpider, a webpage that puts the latest browsers through their paces, I came out with the following results on a current MacBook Pro.

The time represents how long it takes each browser to complete a complex set of tasks.

• Firefox 2.0 (current release version)- 16.26 secs
• Safari 3.0 (current release version) - 14.47 secs

Safari slightly edges out Firefox, but not by much. Moving to the very latest, bleeding edge versions of these browsers, you can see just how much we have to look forward to in terms of speed increases in the weeks/months ahead. The differences are startling.

• Firefox 3.04 (latest nightly build Feb 29th 2008) - 4.14 secs
• Safari 3.0 (latest nightly build Feb 29th 2008) - 3.50 secs

These improvements come from dramatic increases in the speed for executing javascript code, which forms the basis for many Web 2.0 sites.

These releases are pretty stable, and if you want to try them out, you can find downloads for the latest nightly builds of Firefox here, and Safari here. You can install both without overwriting or affecting your existing version.

(Thanks to @fredericl on Twitter for providing the inspiration for this article)

Posted by Alx Klive at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online video editing is now possible in a similar way to how sites like Picknik offer online photo editing. You don't need any software, all the work can be done through your web browser.

Today's announcement about MySpaceTV and it's editing features courtesy of Flektor raise the question of whether online video editors actually make sense.

For the more technically inclined, online video editing seems at first like a bad idea. Editing video is one of the most processor intensive applications you can do on a computer, and trying to replicate that experience through a web browser seems like it would be an exercise in futility.

Nonetheless, several online video editor websites already exist, MySpaceTV notwithstanding, and with YouTube recently rolling out the YouTube remixer, this article takes a closer look at what's out there in this space, and whether you should give these online video editor sites a closer look.

Continue reading "Online Video Editing - Does it make sense?" »

Posted by Alx Klive at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Intensity HDMI card has arrived from BlackMagic, its makers, and I am just starting to put it through its paces. Early signs are promising and I have successfully captured 1080i footage from a Sony HDR-SR1 into Final Cut Pro 5.1.2 without any problems.

For UNCOMPRESSED storage, you will need a RAID disk array capable of around 150MB/sec sustained write for high definition video, but the Intensity provides a couple of built in hardware compression routines that let you capture, compress modestly, and store to a single SATA or IDE hard disk.

Using the Blackmagic Disk Speed Tool which came supplied with the card, I discovered that my Intel based MacPro tower with standard fit SATA drive could sustain 48.3MB/sec, thus in theory only requiring 3 x compression to work.

The card ships with some fun looking high definition live video mixing software called Blackmagic On-Air, but you will need two cards if you want to mix sources like this. It does not look like you would be able to mix an HDMI source with a standard definition source or a source from somewhere else.

I will extend this post over time but wanted to share these early findings.

Continue reading "HDMI Video capture with Intensity - first impressions" »

Posted by Alx Klive at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

On a trip this week to the Emerald Isle, I was obliged to visit the PC World in Limerick, to help a friend buy a wireless access point. I generally avoid the big box retailer unless absolutely necessary, the prices are simply too out of whack with reality. Sometimes though you are far from home, you need a quick solution, and you have no other choice but to delve into the local (& painfully overpriced) computer store.

But even I wasn't prepared for the sight that was to await me in the Apple section. There among the copies of Mac OS X Tiger, The Sims, and Garage Band, was arugably the world's stingiest discount for a piece of Apple software.

The shop, clearly wishing to shift some older stock having recently introduced iLife 2006 to the shelves, came up with the astounding discount of..... 2 cents!

Original image

P.S. Don't ask me why they are using a pounds sterling sticker.

Posted by Alx Klive at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you need a simple, free, onscreen video application for the PC, that will allow you to display full screen video, or video in a resizable window, from any video input source on your computer, look no further than Sadhu System's Video Thumb.

I came across this program while trying to find a simple freeware video application, that would allow me to watch TV in a window on my computer, while I worked on other things. I also wanted to be able to watch video full screen if necessary, so I could play video games patched through from my Sony Playstation, or have my computer monitor double as a second TV, by connecting it to my set-top box.

You will need a video input card if you want to use it to watch TV, I use a Canopus ADVC-55 (an excellent analog-to-digital video encoder), to provide the needed video input to the computer. You could also use it with a video tuner card, or USB web cam for example. The program uses DirectX 9, which comes included with recent versions of Windows, and the program allows you to switch between different video sources, simply by right-clicking on the video itself.

The company behind the program seems to have gone out of business, so I am hosting the file here if the original site doesn't work.

The program runs as a lightweight single file application, and you can choose among popular sizes to display your video such as 320x240, 640x480, full screen, etc. A 'desktop' feature allows you to have any video source appear as your computer's desktop, appearing underneath all your desktop icons. (N.B. I had a small problem with the desktop mode, in that I was unable to find out how to easily turn it off. I had to CTRL-ALT-DELETE and shut down the program's process that way.)

Other than that small glitch, it's a great free little program that does what it says on the tin, and which I use all the time.

(Multi-Monitor Note - The program will run with multiple monitor setups, but you can only have video run on your primary monitor).

Posted by Alx Klive at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)