When shooting a video...

Here are five simple tips to remember when shooting video.

1. Clean the lens (use a moleskin not sandpaper).

2. Whether inside or outside always 3 point light your subject (Key Fill Back).

3. Mic your subject or use a sound recorder or run the a/v line into the camera
and record on tape.

4. Auto focus is great, but manual focus allow for more range and rack focus tricks.

5. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!!!

Did you say AOL....Opps!!!!

August 2006, IDG News Service — Report: AOL 9.0 behaves like badware. AOL's free Internet client software has earned the company a slap on the wrist from StopBadware.org, a consortium set up to combat malicious software. In a report released Monday, August 28, the group advises users to steer clear of the software because of its "badware behavior." The report blasts the free version of AOL 9.0 because it "interferes with computer use," and because of the way it meddles with components such as the Internet Explorer browser and the Windows taskbar.

The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall. The main problem is that AOL simply doesn't properly inform users of what its software will do to their PCs, said John Palfrey, StopBadware.org's co−director.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126928−c,aol/article.html#

HD or Not

Techno-File
HDV vs. HD Formats

Comparing HD and HDV video results is no job for the techno-phobic. But before you shell out thousands for a new camera, here’s the technical lowdown comparing the two formats.

Compression: Borrow and Steal
If you have a television that receives digital cable in HD, you are watching what is in essence the HDV format. Video saved in HDV uses a compression method originally developed for broadcasting television. This method creates images 1440 pixels wide. HDV video is captured and edited on your computer in an MPEG-2 format. (The same format you typically use when burning a DVD.) Audio is compressed into an MPEG-1 format. In order to save space, HDV cameras look at multiple frames in your video and compress them into what’s called a group of pictures (GOP).

The first frame, as recorded, contains a complete picture (I-frame). The subsequent frames of video, as recorded, only contain information about the changes from the preceding frame. That’s why an HDV signal fits on a Mini-DV tape. But only the first frame has complete picture information. A typical HDV camera can record a 720p signal at 24, 25, 30, 50, or 60 frames per second; or a 1080i signal at 50 or 60 frames per second.

Compression: Frame by Frame
Cameras shooting in HD formats compress each individual frame separately. That’s one reason you may see differences between video from HD and HDV cameras, despite the fact that both say they are capturing 720p or 1080i.

Resolution: Fudge Factor
The pixel resolution of both HD and HDV video may not match the specifications. HD video recorded at 720p in DVCPro HD, for example, is 960 pixels across by 720 lines. In the same format, the HDV version actually has more horizontal resolution. It records 1280 pixels by 720 lines. The other major HDV format—1080i—as recorded both in HDV and HDCAM is 1440 pixels wide (it’s actually wider, but truncated to fit most TVs.).

Color: Critical Differences?
The HDV format uses a 4:2:0 sampling to acquire color information. Those three numbers refer to the “colorspace” in which images are sampled. That format is effectively identical to the 4:1:1 scheme used for a prosumer Mini-DV format. As you might guess, HD cameras retain a lot more color and luminosity information than HDV. HDCAM, for example uses a 3:1:1 sampling; and DVCPROHD is 4:2:2. Thanks MM Issue61

Tech Update

August 2006, Government Computer News — Sharing data is crucial to cyberdefense.
Each agency within the Department of Defense (DoD) has frontline responsibility for securing its own IT systems. However, without the ability to share information and coordinate responses, the services’ capacity to respond to incidents is severely hampered. Some DoD resources, such as the Global Information Grid (GIG), stretch across all Defense agencies, requiring a departmentwide response mechanism. The Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations is the specific directorate within the Strategic Command that protects the GIG.

But the directorate and the individual services also receive assistance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other federal agencies. “We have a very rich relationship with the [DHS] Computer Emergency Response Team (US−CERT),” said Rear Adm. Elizabeth Hight, principal director for operations at the Defense Information Services Agency and deputy director of JTF−GNO.

“We participate and communicate and collaborate with them every day. I find that their willingness to work with us on [what] they’re seeing beyond the DoD’s borders has been a wonderful interagency exchange. We have made a habit of sharing information.” Hight said that US−CERT shares information on topics such as new viruses, other malicious software and techniques being used by botnet masters.

Source: http://www.gcn.com/print/25_25/41696−1.html


August 2006, BBC — Mass e−mail attacker pleads guilty.

David Lennon, 19, who bombarded the UK's Domestic & General Group with 5 million e−mails, causing its server to collapse, was sentenced on Wednesday, August 23, to a two−month curfew after pleading guilty. Lennon was a part−time employee of the company before he was fired in 2003.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5278772.stm

Apple Certified Pro

This directory lists members of the Apple Certification Alliance. These professionals have demonstrated to Apple their in-depth knowledge of Apple technology by passing exams on Apple hardware, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, or Apple Pro applications. By listing Apple Certification Alliance members, Apple is pleased to highlight their accomplishments.

to begin with

Information Technology and Telecommunications:

August 11, IDG News Service — Researchers: OpenOffice.org security insufficient. With
Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite now being targeted by hackers, researchers at the French
Ministry of Defense say users of the OpenOffice.org software may be at even greater risk from
computer viruses. "The general security of OpenOffice is insufficient," the researchers wrote in
a paper entitled, "In−depth analysis of the viral threats with OpenOffice.org documents." The
paper describes four proof−of−concept viruses that illustrate how maliciously encoded macros
and templates could be created to compromise systems running the open−source software. "The
viral hazard attached to OpenOffice.org is at least as high as that for the Microsoft Office suite,
and even higher when considering some...aspects," they wrote. The report was written by
researchers at the French Ministry of Defense's Signal Corps and was published in the Journal
in Computer Virology, a Paris−based academic journal for computer scientists.
Full−text report: http://www.springerlink.com/content/2834v27846247480/fulltex t.pdf
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/11/HNopenofficesecuri ty_1.html