MPEG2 encoding if interlaced vs progressive - this is a great thread on uk.tech.broadcast (link in RH bar) concerning qualatative differences between encoding 25i and 25p material - it seems that DCT based compression deals better with non-interlaced material (not really a suprise - there is no motion within each frame!) - I still can't get away from the fact that I love the look of proper interlaced video!

Orange SPV M2000 'phone is my new work mobile. It is a great device as it is more like a PDA (in fact it is a regular PocketPC 2003 gadget with a 'phone built in!). The killer app for me is being able to look at Excel files on the move as all my cable schedules for jobs are in that format. Here are a few notes based on the fact that I've had to re-install a couple of times now.

• Don't use PocketMusic! On the C500 it was my favorite MP3 playing app. Now Media Player seems usable as you can now pause in the middle of a file and drag the play-point to whatever part of the recording you like (hasn't every other audio app had that for a decade?!). I found that on the two occasions the M2000 crashed so that it needed a re-build PocketMusic was the culprit.
  
• Make sure you use xBackup! It does a memory backup to SD card and so if it does crash badly you can wait for five minutes while it re-builds from memory rather than having to re-install all your apps & re-configure.
  
• If it looks as if it has crashed don't tug the battery because that will take it back to factory config. The recessed reset button (on the bottom) does what it says non-destructively!
  
• Origional SPV & E200 chargers work with it
  
• The WiFi is great! BUT if you have very poor signal Windows file transfers don't work (even though you may have some web-availability).
  
• Skype! Brilliant - why pay for cell calls when you only to have walk another ten yards to find an unsecured WiFi spot and leech some bandwidth to make a Skype call! Remember Skype-Skype is free and the quality is better than a landline (and by extension better than a cell call).

More thoughts as they occour!

Norm Leete's Mellotron Page - I saw one of these once - a Mark V as I recall - just think of the flute sound at the start of "Strawberry Fields" and you'll know what one sounds like - it's an analogue sampling keyboard - all done with lots of reels of tape and a rack of replay heads.

Wires - A girl, a toolkit, Iraq - I was just thinking about writing some stuff about the various wiremen I have worked with over the last decade-and-a-half when Ben (whose desk is three away from mine!) sent me this link to Fiona Katie's blog - she is currently installing studios in Iraq - hardcore! Now I'm just working on an install in Saudi Arabia and so I'm off to read Fiona's writings with some interest.

"...to paraphrase from the treatment of alcoholics, "Don't be their "crutch" in the absence of their own responsibility." Their excuses for not learning are not acceptable." - I spotted this quote on Lockergnome (link in right-hand content bar) from a PC repair shop. I think the same is true providing tech support to the film & TV industry. So many folks are too proud to "sully" themselves with details!

Very funny clip courtesy of our friend Frances - I've transcoded it for the SPV 'phone (MPEG1 for PocketTV).

Microsoft R&B creator wizzard - this is really how it's done!

Gates bemoans US visa restrictions | The Register - this article caught my attention becaouse of a sentance near the bottom - "...in India, 40 per cent of students take engineering degrees, against just four per cent in the US." - I suspect the comparison with the UK would be similair - you gotta watch the sub-continent because as it's population becomes more educated they will be disproportionately more advantaged in the 21st century.