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Let’s talk a little more about aspect ratio. Always a lively topic everywhere I go, and regularly misunderstood by industry leading CCTV equipment manufacturers, engineers, and other video professionals. Should we correct, when do we correct, how do we correct, and of course the why. I’ve done a few short posts on the topic in the past (here's one), but this will be in a little more detail. Still writing on the fly, just going to break it down into a few posts over time.

Your solid-state drive sits there in silence. It’s sleek. Elegant. More than a little mysterious. The hard drive it replaced was easy to understand: A soft hum assured you that its platters were spinning. A quiet mechanical click informed you of its read/write operations. You’d groom it with the occasional defrag. Times were good.

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Color management has historically been a weak area for the Linux desktop, but the situation is rapidly improving. Support for desktop-wide color management is being facilitated by projects like KDE's Oyranos and the GNOME Color Manager.

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As some of you may know, we've been upgrading the Media-Geek community over the last few weeks; thank you for your patience during this process.  Most of the heavy lifting is done, and what we're left with is a faster, more secure, and more accessible community resource.  It's even easier to view and contribute to our community, and now you can access it all securely via your favorite mobile browser!

Log-in today and check it out, then invite your colleagues to do the same.  Thanks for participating!

Encryption is all the rage, again. Politicians and government officials apparently have no problem with using fear mongering to conjure up support for backdoors to encrypted devices and data. Privacy advocates keep doing the same, basically, warning that providing big brother with backdoor access to encrypted data is like leaving the cookie jar in your wide-open kitchen window, on Sesame Street.

(The original post included a link to my complete post on this topic on LinkedIn, but those articles no longer exist.)

December 29, 2010
For Immediate Release Press Release:

Atlantic Light Works and Reindeer Graphics announce the release of FreeHDR™ a free Photoshop add-on that performs High Dynamic Range (HDR) alignment and blending on digital photographs. Compatible with both Windows and Mac platforms in 32- and 64-bit processing, it operates in Photoshop CS4 and CS5 (Photoshop Extended required for 32-bits/channel images). FreeHDR™ works with both B&W and Color images in 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit modes. 

Solid State drives (SSD) introduced dramatic changes to the principles of computer forensics. Forensic acquisition of computers equipped with SSD storage is very different of how we used to acquire PCs using traditional magnetic media. Instead of predictable and highly possible recovery of information the suspect attempted to destroy, we are entering the muddy waters of stochastic forensics where nothing can be assumed as a given.

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Prospective students can now submit applications entirely online for all LEVA training events!  LEVA's all new Training Home Page lists all LEVA events currently open for registration along with the starting date of the course, a link to complete course details, and link to register for the event by submitting your application online.  Click here to check out the all new LEVA Training Home Page!

I've been wanting to write about this for weeks but just haven't had time, so here's the gist - if you're looking for something to buy me (and come on, who isn't) I'd like the Plastic Logic eReader.  I know it won't be released until sometime in 2009, so if you just can't go another day without buying me something then get me an Amazon Kindle.

I've been trying to find time to post a note about last week's LEVA conference since I got back, but have just been overwhelmed with the ever expanding to-do list.  It was really great seeing a lot of long time friends and colleagues and getting a chance to learn and network with them again.  The entire event seemed to go flawlessly, as always, in large part due to the tireless efforts of the LEVA volunteers (e.g. board & officers). 

In planning video production sessions for the November LEVA conference, LEVA would like to know what system you use to produce videos. For example, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, Avid, Adobe Premiere, etc. It will help us tailor subject areas that helps ensure the best possible training is provided.

Please direct your responses and any other suggested production topics to Mr. Jan Garvin, LEVA Training VP at training@leva.org.

Medical experts, accident reconstruction experts, and other types of experts are frequently asked to interpret data from images that were obtained from video evidence. When these experts have no training or background in processing multimedia evidence, and/or make no effort to consult someone who does, bad things generally happen. Really bad things, like having all of their evidence thrown out of court, for one.