AndrewsBlog » Uncategorized http://andrewsblog.org Stories of an ex-erasmus student Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:02:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 A review HTTP Live Streaming http://andrewsblog.org/2010/01/25/a-review-http-live-streaming/ http://andrewsblog.org/2010/01/25/a-review-http-live-streaming/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:28:57 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/?p=65 I wrote a paper about Apple’s new HTTP Live Streaming specification/protocol. You can browse it on issuu.com or read the pdf.

Those of you who want a shorter introduction: the presentation is available on issuu.com, as a pdf or as a quicktime video with transitions. :-)

In the paper I describe what HTTP Live Streaming is, fairly technically, and why it is a great step forward. I compare the new technology with the industry incumbent RTP/RTSP protocol and Adobe’s proprietary Flash Media Streaming, popularized by YouTube.com.

As a teaser: here’s a graph of the client CPU Load on a MacBook when viewing the same video clip:
Average Client CPU Load: HTTP Live Streaming vs RTP/RTSP vs Flash Media

But I have to warn you, the paper is quite technical.

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2010/01/25/a-review-http-live-streaming/feed/ 6 An Erlang implementation of lists:seq for floats http://andrewsblog.org/2009/11/24/an-erlang-implementation-of-listsseq-for-floats/ http://andrewsblog.org/2009/11/24/an-erlang-implementation-of-listsseq-for-floats/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:10:36 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/?p=60 If you want to use lists:seq/3 with floats you will notice that the standard implementation only works with integers. So I wrote a quick & dirty way to do it with floats.

You can use it just like you would use lists:seq/3

If anybody has a better implementation I would love to see it.

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2009/11/24/an-erlang-implementation-of-listsseq-for-floats/feed/ 3 Autonomy, mastery and purpose http://andrewsblog.org/2009/08/29/autonomy-mastery-and-purpose/ http://andrewsblog.org/2009/08/29/autonomy-mastery-and-purpose/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:34:48 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/?p=53 Take a look at what Dan Pink has to say about traditional management and why in most cases today the “reward and punishment” model for motivating people is outdated. Carrots and sticks don’t help creative thinking, giving people autonomy does. When people are intrinsically motivated they will flourish at doing creative, non linear work.

The final case he makes proves it all.

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2009/08/29/autonomy-mastery-and-purpose/feed/ 0 Student Syndrome http://andrewsblog.org/2009/01/16/student-syndrome/ http://andrewsblog.org/2009/01/16/student-syndrome/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:07:25 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/?p=50 Why projects fail to meet the deadline:

Why activities run late.

The Wikipedia entry explains why this “Student Syndrome” is a good thing :-) :

The student syndrome is defended by a layman’s understanding of the functioning of the human memory, most notably the concept that a person’s short-term memory fades over time, and thus studying at the last possible moment leads to better results than studying early because more of the material will be remembered during the exam.
Wikipedia

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2009/01/16/student-syndrome/feed/ 1 Six word stories http://andrewsblog.org/2008/05/31/six-word-stories/ http://andrewsblog.org/2008/05/31/six-word-stories/#comments Sat, 31 May 2008 01:43:13 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/2008/05/31/six-word-stories/ Wired magazine asked 33 writers and 5 designers to write 6-word science fiction stories.

I laughed so hard with this one:

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
- David Brin

Read the others here.

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2008/05/31/six-word-stories/feed/ 0 Use bigint for Flickr photo id’s http://andrewsblog.org/2007/12/30/use-bigint-for-flickr-photo-ids/ http://andrewsblog.org/2007/12/30/use-bigint-for-flickr-photo-ids/#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:34:51 +0000 andrew http://andrewsblog.org/2007/12/30/flickr-photo-ids-got-bigint/ If you are using FlickrAPI and you are storing the photo id’s in a MySQL database, make sure the column is a bigint :-) Flickr reached the integer limit (2147483647) today with this photo.

We’ve been bitten by this. We are using the Flickr API on the What’s Cookin’ website and we were using signed MySQL integers, which overflowed today.

]]> http://andrewsblog.org/2007/12/30/use-bigint-for-flickr-photo-ids/feed/ 1