I’ve been working on a new project recently.  Tweenky is a micro blogging client I am developing that is mostly used with Twitter, but also supports Identi.ca, and hopefully more micro-blogging services soon.  The concept behind it was the lack of any good web clients out there for Twitter, and especially ones that brought back the “track” feature that Twitter took away from us a few weeks back.  It’s still very much a work in progress and I just have to find the time to work on some of the new features and further improve stability.  I’m having a blast with pushing the boundaries of JavaScript and what it should/shouldn’t be used for.  So, if you are a Twitter user, go check it out, and if it is still requiring an invite code, use “derekville”.

So I just returned from a convention out in Santa Clara called Zendcon.  As a web developer, my primary language of choice is PHP, and Zend is the company puts most of the work into the PHP project, so this was kind of their little yearly shindig.  It was 4 days of 1-2 hour training sessions on all topics related to PHP and web development.  I saw some presentations from engineers and developers from companies such as IBM, Google, Mozilla, Digg, Yahoo, and tons more.  I met a ton of really interesting people too and had a great time at Yahoo HQ for Hackday ‘08.  (note to self: Don’t wear “Hackday ‘08″ shirt to airport, it leads to hacker questioning from TSA agents)

Vacation #1 was on the front & back end of the Zendcon trip as I had a few days before & after the conference to play around in San Francisco.  It’s such a cool city and I had a blast driving around in the Pontiac G6 convertible I rented for the week.  I’ve never had so much fun driving a car!

Vacation #2 is coming up next month with Katye & I flying up to Seattle where we’ll also head up to Vancouver & Victoria.  I haven’t been to Seattle in about 10 years, so I’m really excited as I love that city.  Everyone I’ve talked to raves about Vancouver too, so I’m pretty excited about my first trip north of the border.

If you are a web developer in the Kansas City area, you need to check out two emerging groups.  The first being DotNext, a group in the KC area that gets together every month or so to give sessions on anything web development related.  Last month was a series of presentations of Amazon Web Services.  This month is going to be on various database related technologies. The second group is Cowtown Computer Congress who is setting up a hacker space in North Kansas City.  For those not too familiar with what a “hacker space” is (myself included), it is a place for technologists to get together to work on  various hardware & software projects, share costs on equipment, and actually socialize (something most geeks never do much of).  So should be an awesome place to convene when it officially opens in the next couple months.

And finally, a new podcast from some rather influential people in the web development world has launched that I’d like to mention.  Open Web Podcast was created by Google engineer Dion Almaer (of the Ajaxian podcast as well), Alex Russell of Dojo, and John Resig of Mozilla/jQuery.  So if you are into web standards and JavaScript, definitely check it out.

Finally, I recently discovered the FX show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.  Hilarious!  Check out all the episodes on Hulu.

Before I get on with that, first I’ll describe the environment. We’re running on RHEL4 and have an install of FFMPEG that works fine (aside from that 1 user uploaded video). The last upgrade of FFMPEG to get h264 support wasn’t done by me, but rather our sysadmin, when we actually had a sysadmin. I believe he used rpms for the libraries and compiled FFMPEG from the SVN repo.

So I did a quick search just to remind myself what libraries I needed and I came across this post about compiling on RHEL4, our distro. Perfect. I followed directions to a T (aside from upgrading SVN) and it compiled fine. Now, time to run a test transcode…

[root@140859-www1 ~]# /home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg -y -i /media/v2-prod/atlas/8102/20206 -ab 64k -ar 22050 -b 700K -r 15 -y -s 640×480 -ac 1 -padtop -padbottom -s vga /home/derek/blah.flv
FFmpeg version SVN-r13977, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: –enable-libmp3lame –enable-libvorbis –enable-libfaac –enable-libfaad –enable-gpl –enable-libtheora –enable-libx264 –enable-shared
libavutil version: 49.7.0
libavcodec version: 51.57.2
libavformat version: 52.16.0
libavdevice version: 52.0.0
built on Jun 25 2008 14:49:55, gcc: 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-9)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from ‘/media/v2-prod/atlas/8102/20206′:
Duration: 00:10:55.2, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 406 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Audio: mpeg4aac, 44100 Hz, stereo
Stream #0.1(und): Video: h264, yuv420p, 320×240 [PAR 0:1 DAR 0:1], 30.00 tb(r)
Output #0, flv, to ‘/home/derek/blah.flv’:
Stream #0.0(und): Video: flv, yuv420p, 640×480 [PAR 0:1 DAR 0:1], q=2-31, 700 kb/s, 15.00 tb(c)
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: libmp3lame, 22050 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
Stream #0.0 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
/home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: symbol lookup error: /home/derek/ffmpeg_sources/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: undefined symbol: av_fifo_generic_write
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root

Well shit. Ok, so I hit up #ffmpeg again, but don’t get any help, so I try recompiling without any config options and it works fine. So I slowly start added on config options and it works until I add “–enable-share”, and which point it compiles a version of FFMPEG that throws the “undefined symbol” error. So that gives me a pretty good idea it has something to do with that. I go through the symlinks in the guide (linked above) and notice that /usr/lib/libavformat.so.50 is symlinked to a file that doesn’t exist. And that’s where I’m at now, kinda stumped. Am I missing libraries? how can I ensure any old libraries installed before are cleaned out and not conflicting with new ones? I’m a developer, not a linux admin. I know my way around the OS, but when it comes to this type of stuff, I’m stumped.

Any ideas? post a comment or email/gtalk me at drgath at gmail.com.

Link to article on The Wall Street Journal: Sprint Mulls Separating Nextel Unit

Considering how many customers they’ve lost due to outages since the merger, it’s clear that move was the worst idea in Sprint’s history.

So, their stock is up ~75% from where it was since I told you to buy it a few weeks back. Hopefully you listened to me. If not, it’s still not too late, Deutsche Telekom is looking to buy them which would give it quite a boost.

Best scenario would be for Sprint to dump Nextel somehow, in turn making themselves more attractive for a Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile purchase, then merge the two and become the #1 US cell carrier. Whose network the customers go to doesn’t matter, T-Mobile’s more compatible GSM would be preferable though. Sure, you won’t have any offerings to compete with AT&T and Verizon’s wired internet and cable TV offerings (FiOS & uVerse), but who cares, you’ll have a great headstart over them in the wireless broadband market, which is obviously where the future is. Finally, embed Sprint Xohm chips in everything from laptops to VoIP phones to toasters, and print money uncontested. But most importantly, differentiate the labels, market the voice service as T-Mobile and the data as Sprint/Xohm because both are used for very different purposes.

Glass half empty says Sprint is fucked. Glass half full says the worst is over, your current model sucks, so time to move on to something new & innovative.

Part 1: Candy Mountain

Part 2: The Banana King

I was really hoping some giant banana would trot out at the end and say "I AMA BA-NANA!" Rejected.wmv, anyone? Anyone? K, nevermind.

P.S. I’m trying out the (free) Qumana blog editor for OSX.  Looks good so far.

Gas $10/gallon? At least one analyst sees that in the next two years.

My Response?

Then that analyst is worthless & needs to be fired. Fear-mongering networks throw anyone on as “analysts” nowdays. It is just like anyone in the IT world is a “consultant” now days (raises hand). Seriously, a 70% increase in gas prices every year till 2010 (when it has been at an insanely high 20% over the last 5 years) is absurd.

So, before anyone freaks out, the economics of gas prices rising 70% / year doesn’t quite work out with inflation still at an average of 4%. If that actually did happen, being unable to drive my car would be towards the bottom of my list of worries, topping the list would be getting access to food and not being killed in the riots that would inevitably follow.

The price of fuel has to come close to mirroring inflation for the oil companies to maximize their profits. Entire business models & industries are based upon this assumption. The oil companies can’t increase their profit margins if the price goes beyond what people, and especially companies, can afford. It is quickly approaching that mark and we’ll see a pretty sizeable drop soon. For comparison, there was a 20% drop a little over a year ago, and within the next couple months, my guess is we’ll be back to under or near $3.

Longterm (the next couple years), the mortgage crisis will balance out, the economy will stabilize, we’ll be out of the middle east, fuel-efficient cars will be more prominent, and thus… gas prices will stabilize again. In two years, I’ll 100% guarantee the average gas price will be under $7, and I would expect to see it under $6.  Yes, oil will eventually run out, but that trend is something that will be felt over decades, not months.

This energy “crisis” is even more reason to tell McCain and his “no gas tax” to take a hike and quit trying to buy votes. Let this market fix itself. The more you muck with it, the longer it will take it to stabilize.

Twhirl is a relatively new Twitter client that packs just about everything you need for twittering into one Adobe Air based application.  While Twhirl of course handles all the basic things you need out of a Twitter client, I feel it really shines when you start using the additional features and usability enhancements.

Some of these features include:

• Runs on Windows (200/XP/Vista) and Mac OSX
• Ability to connect to multiple Twitter accounts
• Ability to simultaneously post to Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Extremely easy to install and configure
• Embedded services include Tweetscan, is.dg, Snurl, TwitPic, and Terraminds
• Timeline filtering
• Automatically checks for new version
• New tweet notification windows
• Localized to English, German, Italian, and Spanish

Installation

To install Twhirl, visit Twhirl’s website and on the right side you’ll see links to download Adobe AIR and Twhirl.  If you don’t yet have Adobe’s integrated runtime environment (AIR) installed, follow the instructions you see to install it.  Once AIR is installed, click the download/”install now” link and you should see the AIR application installer begin to download and install the Twhirl application.  Follow the on screen instructions to complete.

Configuration

When you load the application for the first time, you’ll need to set up your Twitter account(s).  Enter your screen name, and another box will prompt you for your password.  You will also see a few additional tabs.  The first being “Colors” which allows you to modify Twhirl’s visual theme.  The second is “Language” where you can select between English, German, Italian, and Spanish.  And the final tab being “Update” where you can check if a newer version exists.

Sending Tweets

99% of your time using Twhirl will be spent looking at the main Twhirl screen after you successfully connect.  From this screen you will see the “river” of new tweets rolling down as they arrive.  You can also post tweets by typing your message in the input box.  Please make not of the TwitPic and “Shorten URL” icons on the right of the input box for a couple very useful tools.

Additionally, you have 9 view types that you can choose from in the drop-down.  These views range from the standard “Timeline” view with is the tweets from those you are following, viewing the archive of your own tweets, viewing your followers’ bios, searching tweetscan.com, and a few more very useful views.

Gripes & Suggestions

I’ve already covered many of the upsides to using Twhirl, but I do have a few gripes and suggestions that I hope the developer can address in future releases:

• When you lookup profiles inside Twhirl, you should be able to at a minimum, click a link that takes you to the user’s Twitter account.  Optimally, I’d like to have the information on how many followers the user has, and how many people they are following.
• When starting up the application, only notify me of direct/reply tweets I haven’t yet read, not all of them.
• Add TweetBurner.com to the list of short URLs.
• Add a Quotably link to each tweet.

Conclusion

Twhirl is my 5th Twitter client over the past 4-5 months, and really, the majority of that time has been spent on Twhirl because it has been my favorite, by far.  I have stuck with it because it offers all the essential functionality I need out of a twitter client, and then some.  It also happens to be the first Adobe AIR application I have actually had a good experience with and it gives me hope for the future for this platform.

Also, check out these reviews for other Twitter clients

• Twitterfox: A Twitterfox Review
• Twitterific: A Review of Twitterific
• TwitterBerry: TwitterBerry, combining BlackBerry and Twitter
• Twitterfeed: A review of Twitterfeed
• Twitbin: Twitter and TwitBin - Microblogging Made Easy
• The Guide to Being a Drunken, Debaucherous Twit
• Netvibes: Using Netvibes for SMO

For those looking for a good place to get an idea of what Mahalo is good at, here are some pages to get you started that I stumbled across or others suggested.  Please add some more links to pages in the comments to help people, like myself, who were completely clueless at what Mahalo was good at or useful for.Good Mahalo links

• Social Media
• How to Write a Resume
• Auschwitz
• Phantom of the Opera
• Maya Angelou

In conclusion. I think Mahalo, in it’s current form, has a purpose and an audience, and that happens to not be the tech-savvy crowd who is serviced very well by Google right now. In time, I think Mahalo will have the content tech-savvy users will want, but, will they provide an intelligent mechanism to get to it? Hopefully. Google & Wikipedia need some competition.

• About 70 new Twitter followers.  With each of his two tweets directed at me, I instantly gained about 15 new followers, and then the rest scattered in throughout the rest of the day.
• 910 new visits to my blog with 1.36 pages/visit
• The viddler video now has 650+ views from my blog, and another 600+ views on the viddler site.

Any other statistics people were wondering?