Theora vs H.264

The debate between whether the open source Ogg Theora is better than the propriatary H.264 format has been around for ages. In this post I will give my view on which one of the two I believe is better.

Firstly the Ogg Theora format. Ogg Theora has been around since 2002 and has come a long way. Beta versions of Opera, Firefox and Chrome all support it natively when embedded with the video tag. It is by far the best format for low bitrate videos and is open source, meanign that you can modify it and make it better if you want.

Next, H.264. H.264 is one of the most widely used formats for video with site like Youtube and Revver using it. It is very good for high bitrate videos and crap for low bitrate videos. With such wide use of this format, you would think that it would be very good but from my personal experience...it isn't.


My personal opinion of this format war of sorts is that I prefer Theora over H.264 mainly because of it's clear picture and good sound. However, if I wanted to look at a higher bitrate video I would still go with H.264. To show my support for the Ogg Theora format I will be posting all videos on this blog in the Ogg Theora format...more work for me but oh well.

IE Unbundled!

This week saw a huge milestone for toppling the monopoly that Microsoft has held in eth browsers wars with all copies of Windows 7 sold in the European Union having Internet Explorer unbundled. How the user will end up getting a browser is anyone's guess as Microsoft has not said anything about this. Most sources are expecting an internet browser chooser that will install the internet browser of the uers choice and that OEMs will go instinctivly with IE8.

I really don't see how this will solve any problems as if OEMs will go with IE8 and considering the typical end user can't install an operating system...we will all just end up where we started, with a Microsoft monopoly.

11m Safari Download in 3 Days...how many want to use it?

Apple today sent a press release out saying that in the three days since Safari 4 launched 11 Million people have downloaded it including 6 Million on Windows. These figures really tell us nothing...people using Macs have Safari pre-installed and set as their default browser so a simple update by these people is all that is required for Apple to claim that they have 'downloaded it'. Also regarding the 6 million Windows users...how many of them downloaded this by choice? As far as I can see Apple still has the checkbox checked for downloadign Safari when users update iTunes or Quicktime so many of these people may have been tricked into downloadign it, increasing the download count significantly. This is utter stupidity and madness on Apple's part as they are cheatign the system by tricking users into downloading software they don't want. Maybe if apple left out these people who are downloading through the Apple Updater and through updates to Safari on Mac we might see a more accurate number of downloads.

Usernames on facebook...finally

Tomorrow Facebook finally will allow users to have usernames instead of the id system that they currently use. Under the old system the profile URLs were facebook.com/user.php?id=12345678. Now users will have the option of changing it too facebook.com/.

It has taken Facebook 3 years to implement this and I say that it is about time. Other social networking sites have had this option for a while and it has worked. Why Facebook took so long to get this feature no one knows but it is an excellent addition and will make the best social networking service even better.

New iPhone...as we expected

As everyone thought Apple has released a new iPhone, the iPhone 3G S at WWDC 2009. This new iPhone sports video recording, voice control, a faster processor (hence the S in the name which stands for speed) and even a magnetic compass. Most of this was leaked several times all over the internet and we have had knowledge of this for at least a month.

The new iPhone does look like a very good device but the novelty is really starting to wear off. Every year a new iPhone is released with some new, rarely used feature that people will think is useful but then they will end up not using it.

Apple should slow down their release schedule for the iPhone and release one every 1.5 - 2 years. Maybe if they went back to MacWorld they could release it there instead of at WWDC. That would allow people not to feel saturated by new iPhones every year.

I am, however waiting for the iPhone that has an inbuilt cup-holder and can control your household appliances...maybe next year when the next iPhone is released.

Office 2010 Web...maybe not.

Today I emailed Microsoft regarding Office 2010 Web, I was emailing regarding whether it would have any integration with Google Docs or OpenOffice. Instead of a yes/no reply I recieved this:

"I am afraid that we have yet to receive any updates regarding Microsoft Office 2010 Web. At the present moment, we are unable to confirm the future of Microsoft Office 2010 Web."

If I am reading this right, Office 2010 Web might not actually happen...shame because it would have been an alright competitor to Google Docs.

E3 2009 - Recap - Nintendo

Nintendo has been renowned for being very stingy with their E3 Press Conferences with not much being announced since the  Wii in 2006. This year, however they did showcase a lopt of good new titles, clearly aimed for a more hardcore audience.

They showed off a new Metroid Game, Metroid: Other M, which looks really, really great. It looks like a prequel but Nintendo is very tight-lipped about anythign to do with the games plot. Oh and id I mention that it is being created byu Team Ninja? Yes...Team Ninja, the people responsible for teh Ninja Gaiden deries on teh Playstation. They also showed New Super MArio Brothers Wii, a 4 player game which is basically like the other Supoer Mario Brothers Games...only Co-Op. Finally, they showed Super Mario Galaxy 2...a bigger, better Super Mario designed for Core Players.

Overall, it was a less dissapointing press conference from Nintendo and below is the 2-part video.