New Website Published

Examples of free art from Pixabay.com used on my site

Finally found the time to put the finishing touches on the code for To Katch A Kitty.com. It's a website about trap, neuter, release for feral cats. My goal with the site was to make it as informative, easy to read, and engaging as I could. Most of my research came from the many well established feral cat and animal welfare organizations out there such as Alley Cat Allies, Neighborhood Cats, and the Humane Society of the United States. Other bits of information came courtesy of my local animal shelter, the Placer SPCA.

Other resources for elements such as graphics and pictures were used thanks to the various Creative Commons licensed material available on Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, and Pixabay. Although most of the site's content was produced by myself, I could not have rounded up all of the the elements needed without these free-licensed materials.

Mouseover the tabby to see what message he has for you.

The website employs some of the latest CSS3 :hover techniques that I have learned recently. I used the CSS transform and transition properties on several photos to not only engage the user but to provide attribution to photos used that were not my own.

For the overall design, I wanted the main article to appear as a sheet of transparent glass hovering over the background and I think I achieved that. The images in the background are sized in percents so they change size depending on the device screen width. I used the CSS background-attachment property to fix the images to the background so that they do not move. Also, I created two additional stylesheets for screen widths smaller than 900px and 700px. I found that at smaller screen widths, the cat face graphics get in the way of the background so I removed them at smaller widths. There is also a stylesheet for the printed page that removes certain elements that are not necessary to print.

There is a bit of JavaScript on the page. I used JavaScript to help iOS devices with the CSS :hover. I also used JavaScript to include a site search bar in the footer and add some sound effects.

Overall, I am glad the website is up. It has been about a two-three month project. The site could have been up sooner but I have had some personal issues arise that has made it difficult to find time to work on my projects.

Using Puppy Linux Quickpet to Support Dual-Head Displays

Lucid Puppy dual head display

These days, I use the lightweight and reliable Puppy Linux (Lucid and Precise) just about everywhere I go. Be it booting from USB or from re-writable DVD or CD-ROM. With the end of support for Windows XP, April 8th, 2014, Puppy Linux has become even more important to my day-to-day computing.

One problem I have encountered in the past was dual-head displays (dual monitor desktops) and Puppy’s seemingly lack of support. Well, after much frustration, I discovered that it is an easy fix. Providing you download the right driver for your video card.

My frustration began when trying to figure out the exact model of my card. Rather than open up the desktop case and locate the information on the card, it is easier to first try to enter a command in the terminal. You can find out more information about your hardware by running the Linux command:

lspci

So open your terminal and type:

lspci

Sample lspci return in ROXterm terminal, Lucid Puppy

This will display information about the pci buses on your system and the devices connected to them. lspci might return a lot of information. Look for something that looks like your video card such as ATI or Nvidia.

To expand your results, you can try:

lspci -v

The -v option stands for verbose. This command will return more details about your devices.

Quickpet comes with the base Lucid Puppy

I find searching for information about the GPU this way to be helpful but it lacks details. I am not sure how lspci treats ATI cards, but lspci will only show the general class series for Nvidia cards. According to my results from lspci, I needed to look for GeForce 6800 XT drivers for Linux. Thanks to Google, I found that there are numerous models of GPUs that fall under the 6800 XT, known as the 6-series. According to Nvidia, I needed driver version 185.18.36.

As is the norm for Nvidia, their website is not much help with finding the drivers for your Linux machine. I did not even find Nvidia-185 drivers anywhere.

Luckily for Lucid Puppy, there is a nifty utility called Quickpet. Inside Quickpet there is the option to lookup different drivers. Quickpet can even test your GPU to discover what model card you are using and suggest a recommended driver to download.

I suggest letting Quickpet test your card and following what it recommends. You can download the driver right from Quickpet. You may need to restart the x-server after the download and install is complete.

Screenshot of dual head display.

Once installed, if you have an Nvidia GPU, open the Nvidia X Server Settings Wizard, found under the Setup Menu in Lucid Puppy. Select X Server Display Configuration. Select your second monitor and hit Configure. You should set the configuration to TwinView. I set the monitor position to Absolute. Hit Apply and Quit.

Puppy Linux with dual head monitors.

Comcast-TWC Just Can't Take On Over-The-Top Alone

The world keeps getting smaller in the media industry. Thanks to an ongoing trend in the business characterized by acquisition, mergers, layoffs, and the all-around eating up of companies by some larger group in the supposed response to online competition. Yup the content on Netflix, Hulu (known as over-the-top or OTT programmers) is so compelling that it’s luring away precious viewers from the middle class realities and faux-real soap opera staples on the basic cable networks.

Hulu and Netflix don't F around, poor Comcast-TWC :'(

Today’s media industry merger business talk is dominated by the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. At the moment, the two multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) are preparing to face-off in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on the proposed $45 billion dollar deal. 

Geez Netflix, you savvy OTT'ers, give the cable operators a break! The MVPDs have to make some vague promises about the open Internet and keeping broadcasting afloat to the politicians and judges who are going to green-light the deal after seeing the Comcast-TWC CEOs sweat.

But enough of all that. We’ll save the gory details for the next blogpost about the layoffs that are sure to come. Or maybe the DISH Network-DIRECT-TV deal? Hmm... The world keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Broadcast Engineering Finds New Home At TV Technology

This post has to do with a little known publication known as Broadcast Engineering. A free, ad-supported publication aimed a the broadcast television engineer and technicians, like myself. The magazine came monthly to my desk in the Master Control room. I once wrote for the magazine... well four articles, then I realized the demand and time crunch was too high to add to my full-time job. Feel free to read an article.

Maybe the last issue of Broadcast Engineering

It was not until today that I discovered that the magazine had been acquired by New Bay Media, the publisher of a competing publication, TV Technology. After digging through TV Technology’s archive, I found an article dated January 7th, 2014 that provides a brief note about the acquisition. This left me wondering as to the fate of my articles published on the Broadcast Engineering website. I searched and found that they are still alive, under the TV Technology branding.

It is sad and yet expected to note that the magazine was consumed without much notice. In a tweet dated October 25th, 2013, @BE_magazine announced that Broadcast Engineering will no longer be published. After 54 years of publication, the magazine ceased and it was announced in a tweet! 

It's with heavy hearts today that we announce Broadcast Engineering will no longer be published. Thanks for 54 great years!...
— BroadcastEngineering (@BE_magazine) October 25, 2013

Not a sign of the things to come in the media industry but more of a death nail. All those signs have been waving wildly since 2007 and those of us in the broadcast television industry who have stuck around despite such warnings are now witnessing the fatalities and counting the bodies. Probably not long until mine is piled up on the heap also.

In the face of such odds, we’ll keep marching on as always, making sure the signals reach the viewers, or at least until some other road opens up somewhere.

Sourceforge Bundles Malware with Legit Downloads

Last Sunday night I uploaded my professional/personal website, gabrielohhmedia.com to A Small Orange, my webhost. Go check it out. Of course uploading the site did not come without some hiccups. I wasn’t expecting that one of them would be finding a quality FTP client.

My friend Tecate Valentino is looking for a copy of Photoshop for his Mac. Being the advocate for free and open source software that I am, I suggested downloading and installing The GIMP. Well, today I decided to read up on the latest GIMP news and after nonchalantly browsing through the GIMP’s homepage news section, I  found a bit of news that disturbed me enough to type up a fresh blog post.

The GIMP reports in a blog post, GIMP Windows Installers Move From Sourceforge to FTP.GIMP.org, dated 11-05-13, details the latest horrors. Sourceforge was once a popular place to find and safely download FLOSS. I was really disappointed to find out that SourceForge now uses a special installer that bundles spyware, malware, and crimeware with your download. Shame shame shame.

Download here, download there.

Looking for an FTP client on my Windows 7 system, I immediately searched for FileZilla, a 5-star free and open-source FTP client. In a rush to install FileZilla and upload my site, I came across the bundles of crapware SourceForge was trying to push with my download. Thankfully I caught it and hopefully the unwanted wares did not install. I will have to double-check when I get home.

Thinking back on my most recent downloads from Sourceforge,  I downloaded and installed Miro Video Converter to encode some .webm and .mp4 video for HTML5 video on my website. The download link in Miro’s website took me to Sourceforge where I was able to find the Miro installer after bobbing and weaving the ads with green arrows indicating, “download here!” This time, the Sourceforge installer did not prompt me to install the third party malware such as PC Optimizer and Live Help. When the download finished, I noticed I had at least 4 unwanted applications on my desktop which I immediately and hopefully permanently uninstalled.

Making matters worse, the developers of FileZilla and Miro Video Converter are aware of Sourceforge’s installer changes because they are reported to be on the take. It is a shame when good software such as FileZilla is being used to push junk on the unsuspecting user. If you want my advice, be wary when downloading software, even once trusting locations such as Sourceforge. When forced to go to Sourceforge and the likes, watch the download options to prevent the dreaded Ask toolbar or PC Optimizer spyware.

New Career Moves and Trying Not to Go All-In

Viewfinder

For the past six months, I have been working hard on making some new moves. I had to put the whole graphic design and web development work to the side for the past two weeks because I have been preparing for an oral panel interview exam with a department under the State of California. Nearly three months after I was notified that my application had been accepted, I finally received the notice that my interview has been scheduled. It's set for next week.

My first edit station

The interview is an attempt to gauge my level of skills related to the particulate class for which I am applying for. Although the work I do directly relates to this class, I have been studying hard to cover every aspect of my career, which I have worked in for the past 7+ years. My goal is to have an answer for every question or scenario they pose. Which makes me wonder, why do I need to study so hard for a position related to a career which I have been working in for so many years?

Betacam SP

The fact is my current position does not offer the kinds of creative opportunities and chances to apply different creative skills that would allow for developing greater experience. Despite the lack of opportunities in this company, I still sought out skill developing jobs both with this company and elsewhere. I worked on various productions locally and even created local spots, PSAs, and paid programming for clients that aired on stations within the network I currently work for. As soon as my website is published, I will have some examples of my work available to watch.

Waveform monitor

Another problem is the fact that my current employer has been surviving quarter-to-quarter ever since I got on-board. The company was bankrupt just two years after I started my current position. Really, the first real job I get after college and the company goes bankrupt! The bankruptcy was not so surprising given the current state of the media economy. What was surprising was that the judge in the bankruptcy case allowed the company to dismiss over 1 billion in debt.

Setting the backfocus

It’s real discouraging to know that companies can squander billions and pay nothing in return. After emerging from bankruptcy, the CEO began to describe the company with terms such as, “a brand new company.” In reality, the company was the same-old just with less debt. If the judge in the bankruptcy case were smart, this person would have dismissed the debt with the stipulation that the current heads of the company step down. They already ran the ship aground the first time, why give them a chance to do it again?

Currently, I am looking at being laid-off in a few weeks or months or so, no one really knows for sure. Ever since hearing the news about the layoffs this past September, I have found a significant amount of irony in the whole thing… So much so that it is too much to mention here in the blog but maybe later I can put together some examples.

A new venture

This leads me to why I am studying so hard. If I can ace my interview and I am offered a position, does that mean I go all-in and drop the graphic design and web development work? Not a chance. I still think that my best opportunity for expanding my career and creating a livelihood is doing it myself, or in a team of like-minding folks. So, I am hoping to get on-board with the state, if only to buy some more time to continue fusing together my new skills.

Watch For Your Cable Bill to Increase, The Simpsons Come to FXX

Driving Home the Money on FXX

So The Simpsons are coming to FXX this Fall. According to Deadline, FXX acquired the broadcast rights to The Simpsons from parent company, 21^st Century Fox. The off-network acquisition must have been like the young teenage son asking the dad if he could drive the Mustang, or rather, the family sedan on Friday night. With the exception that this deal is expected to reap up to 1 billion for 21^st Century Fox, driving the family car never paid off so well.

The Simpsons and Always Sunny on FXX

The deal marks the first time the show will be featured on a cable network. Since the show’s inception and throughout its 20+ years on-air, the show has always been on broadcast. FXX has also acquired VOD rights to the show, so this will also become the first time viewers at home can watch The Simpsons online, VOD, and/or a mobile device. In addition, Deadline reports that FX Networks plans to launch FXNOW, an app where the network plans to feature on-demand episodes of The Simpsons. The broadcast and VOD rights makes The Simpsons a multi-pronged earner for FXX.

The deal brings relevance to FXX which currently airs movies and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Which up until now, may have been the only reason to tune-in. Increasingly, it seems that Fox Networks, like all the networks, is simply trying to build out its cache of cable nets in an effort to simply hike up the re-transmission fees from the cable and satellite companies.

In the end, this hurts the consumer because Comcast and the likes have no choice but to pass the buck. Seriously, they could not fit Always Sunny and The Simpsons on FX alone? They had to create an additional cable channel network? At least we have Ali G coming back or is that on FX?