Flash 10.1 beta 2, Mac and Linux now available

Adobe has released an update to their beta Flash (GPU accelerated Flash).  They're up to Flash 10.1 beta 2.  Binaries are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

With the latest nvidia drivers (on Windows 7) I saw quite a performance improvement with Flash 10.1 beta 1.  http://orsontyrell.blogspot.com/2009/11/flash-101-gpu-acceleration-non.html
Now that binaries are available for the Mac (Flash 10.1 beta 2) I'm able to do some similar tests.  I ran these tests on a MBPro that has an integrated GeForce 8600M GT.

Flash 10.0.42.34

Flash 10.1 beta 2, 10.1.51.66

 
Unfortunately I'm not seeing any gains in performance.  Playback of the 2012 HD trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz86TsGx3fc) runs the CPU to around 45% with both Flash 10 and Flash 10.1 beta 2.

So what's the problem?  I suspect it's the nvidia drivers that are released by Apple.  I can't remember the last time I've seen a graphics driver update for OSX.  On the Windows side it seems there's an update every other month.  In my previous test of Windows Flash 10.1 beta, the drivers are what made the difference.  Upgrading from Flash 10 to Flash 10.1 didn't show any improvements, but after I upgraded the graphics drivers to the latest WHQL, I saw a huge improvement.  I'm hoping for an update to the OSX graphic drivers, but I'm not holding my breath.  In the meantime, this just gives us another reason to use bootcamp. 

Microsoft Surface + Dungeons and Dragons

This is probably years away, and something we'd only see at a convention or a game shop, but wow.... geek worlds are about to collide.


SurfaceScapes Gameplay Session from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

The demo shows some really cool mechanics:

• fog of war
• combat calculations
• character selection
• spell lists
• inventory
• movement calculations

More info here:
part 1:
http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/12/08/bringing-d-d-to-microsoft-surface.aspx
part 2:
http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/12/16/new-gameplay-video-with-d-d-on-surface.aspx

TWiT video is available on the web, h264 HQ and LQ

On Demand TWiT has been around for a while with ODTV.me, but it's a low quality flash capture from fans.  Today we can get HQ and LQ video from several shows, produced from the TWiT crew.  Once an RSS feed is available I'm sure BoxeeHQ's TWiT plugin will get an update.  It looks like the video is h264 854x480 and 640x368.  I'm seeing video on Windows Weekly, TWiT, and Mac Break Weekly.

Windows Weekly:
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/ww/ww0134/ww0134_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

TWiT
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/twit/twit0224/twit0224_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

Mac Break Weekly
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/mbw/mbw0170/mbw0170_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

Google's search results show twitter feeds

Perhaps I'm late to the game but I just noticed this....
If you do a Google search for a twitter user and the word "twitter" you'll see a new display section of the user's recent tweets.  As time goes by the section will be populated with new posts and you'll get a scroll bar to move up and down the posts.  If you click the "Latest results" link you'll see a list of the last dozen or posts.  As new posts comes in the list is updated in real time.  After the twitter section you'll see the normal Google results.

Boxee Beta details, now with DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration)

A recent blog post from Boxee gives details about the new public beta release due Jan 7th (they're still in alpha).  The most important detail in the announcement... support for DXVA.  What's so cool about that?  If your processor has problems displaying High Def video (720p, 1080p) then you may see some performance improvements with the CPU offloading video decoding to the GPU (your graphics card).  For example, if you have a blu-ray rip that's encoded 1080p your CPU alone may not be able to handle decoding, especially since Boxee's decoder doesn't take advanage of dual/quad CPUs, neither does VideoLan's VLC media player.  Instead of using Boxee/VLC you'd need to use something like ffmpeg's multi-core codec with Media Player Classic.  And for those of you with an ION based computer (netbook, HTPC, etc) you should see some benefits as well.  

Video from their announcement is here:
http://livestream.com/boxee

Sign up for the beta here:
http://bit.ly/boxeebetaea
 

DNS benchmark showdown: Google DNS, Open DNS, Comcast, and more. Using Google's new DNS tool

Google is providing a new DNS benchmarking tool for free.  Available in .dmg, .exe, .tgz.
http://code.google.com/p/namebench/

I ran the test a few times against my default ISP settings for DNS (Comcast).  Some example results are below.  I was hoping for better performance from Google's DNS, but perhaps I'll try again at a later time.  In my tests so far, my ISP's DNS usually comes in first or second (second to UU Cache-4).  At times Sprint and OnRamp will make it to the top.

Then again speed is not be everything.  OpenDNS has tons of cool features.  And as a side note, I'm using dd-wrt on a linksys router (default DNS settings) running the tests from a MBpro.

Adding video feed to Boxee, such as YouTube video

Be on the lookout for a new release of Boxee.  It should be any day now. 
In the current version, they make it easy for us to add content.  The steps are amazingly simple:

• Start Boxee
• Click 'App Box'
• Navigate to the 'My Feeds' tab
• Click 'Add New Feed'
• Type in the video feed's url.  For example if you'd like to add the YouTube video feed for The Computer Action Show, you'd use 'http://feeds.feedburner.com/computeractionshowvideo' without the quotes
  
• Check the Feed Type box for video
• Click OK

After that you can navigate to Applications -> Video and you should see the show's icon.  Adding audio is almost exactly the same, just select the appropriate Feed Type.

Requirements for a HTPC

My replacement powersupply, a Shuttle PC55 450W, sounds like a helicopter taking off.  It's a least 20db higher than the stock 350W.

It's getting long in the tooth so now I'm thinking about a new HTPC.  My must-have features:

• quiet, I don't mind a small amount of noise.
• 1080p playback of h264.
• small, shuttle size would be acceptable.
  
• good video graphics, either with ION or a PCI Express slot.  I'd like to use the GPU for flash acceleration.
  

I'm considering something extremely small, something like ASUS's EEE Box 1501, http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=8027

[UPDATE] The pc55 isn't as noisy as I thought.  I had a cable rubbing against the fan, ugh.

When UPS 2-day air isn't 2 days... more like slow-ass day air

I'm home a little early on Wednesday afternoon, ready for a 4 day turkey weekend.  I fire up the 'ol HTPC for some boxee\hulu\mkv... and nothing.  After a some troubleshooting, it's the powersupply.  Unfortunately this is a small form factor PC so it requires a non-standard sized powersupply.  I hop on the interwebs, find a replacement, schedule it for 2 day air, and then I sit back and wait, and wait. 

I placed my order on the 25th, and deliver is scheduled for the 30th, a monday.  Great!  I'll get my HTPC up and running right when the full week starts.  What the hell!?!?  So instead of watching quality shows on the internet (TWiT, fringe, the cleveland show) I stare at the UPS package tracking page all weekend:

and whats up with that stop in Dallas?!?!?   it arrived on the 28th at 6am, and it sits there for over a day.  Come on people, I need to watch some hak5 and tekzilla.  WTF! 

Flash 10.1 GPU acceleration (non-scientific) tested. WHQL drivers make a difference.

MBpro, dual core 2.4 Ghz, Nvidia 8600M GT, bootcamp Win 7

2012 trailer in HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz86TsGx3fc

[Default bootcamp/Win 7 drivers]

Using Flash 10.0.32.18, bootcamp/Win drivers, CPU usage averaged around 55%:

Using Flash 10.1.51.25 beta, bootcamp/Win drivers, CPU usage averaged around 65%:

[Updated default bootcamp/Win 7 drivers to Nvidia's latest 186.81 WHQL drivers]

Using Flash 10.0.32.18, 186.81 WHQL drivers, CPU usage averaged around 50%:

Using Flash 10.1.51.25 beta, 186.81 WHQL drivers, CPU usage averaged around 35%:

Summary:
Using the default drivers I didn't notice a big difference when upgrading to the Flash beta (55% to 50%) .  When I switched drivers to 186.81 I saw a decrease in CPU usage from ~65% to ~35%. wow

[UPDATE]  It looks like AnandTech came up with similar numbers, from 450% to 190%.  CPU usage dropped by more than half.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678&p=5

GPU accelerated Flash... not so fast Mac, you too Linux.

The beta is available for Mac, but no hardware acceleration.  Windows only for now:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

From the Hardware requirements section:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10.1_hardware_acceleration.html

Linux and Mac OS X hardware-accelerated decoding is not supported in this version.

Blogging browser, Part 2: Flock

Firefox + ScribeFire was nice, but I've found something even better, Flock Browser.
Flock Browser - The Social Web Browser

It has support for twitter, blogging, email, instant messaging.  An interesting feature is broadcast.  It reposts your stuff to more than one site.  And since based off Firefox, it's cross plateform!  Mac, Linux, Windows.   

Distraction free writing with Google Docs, Firefox, and Stylish

If you're looking for an online, minimalistic, word processor, here's what you'll need:
Google Docs
Firefox
Stylish Add-on :  Stylish :: Add-ons for Firefox

Once installed, you can select a style to use when you're editing a Google doc.  Several dark-room type scripts are available for the minimalistic writer.  Once you've chosen your style, hit F11 for full screen.  I prefer the full black screen with green text:

Here's what i use:

@namespace url(http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml);

@-moz-document domain("docs.google.com") {

tr#navigation{
    display: none !important;
}

.editor {
    margin: 30px auto !important;
    width: 100% !important;
    max-width: 800px !important;
    background-color: #000 !important;
    color: #00DD00 !important;
    font-size: 100% !important;
    line-height: 100% !important;
}
}

The code is simple enough for most people to understand.  Some people prefer a tighter column, different color text, etc. 

iPhone is the new Windows: Worms, Viruses, and Trojans

New article on tuaw.com:Worm rickrolls unsecured jailbroken iPhones via SSH

If you have a jail broken iphone, and you didn't change the default SSH password, you're vulnerable.  But let's say you did change your password, are you safe?  How long before someone adds a dictionary attack to the worm, and starts searching for weak passwords?  That's one of the methods that the Conficker work spread.  I'm amazed at how many people have a password of '12345'.  Is this Apple's fault?  or Microsoft's fault?  Who will get the blame for this particular worm: the jail breakers? ikee? Cydia?

And if it's not SSH then it's SMS; Apple patching nasty iPhone SMS vulnerability
And if it's not SMS then it's Safari;  iPhone Flaw Lets Hackers Take Over
And if it's not Safari...

So is it as bad as Windows?  Not until the iPhone/OSX reaches the mass market... oh wait, has that happened?

On the Windows side if you find an exploit, say RPC vulnerability, how many machines can you hit?  The tools are easy to come by, the data you can steal is valuable, and the targets are everywhere.

Compiz Fusion and Virtual Box 3.10 playing together

Unlike VMware Workstation 7, Virtual Box can enable Compiz Fusion right out the box.  I'm impressed.  Shouldn't this have been on VMware's list?  I think they focused too hard on Windows 7 and Direct X support.  I think they're missing the boat on this one... not to mention Virtual Box is free!  VirtualBox

After a little more testing, I notice slight delays when working with windows that are semi-transparent or fade in/out of some level of transparency.  As with most things in Linux, there's probably a setting to enable/disable window transparencies.

[UPDATE]  I've tried increasing the resources, memory and cpu, but I'm still noticing a slight delays in window painting, menu refreshes, etc.  With Compiz Fusion turned off, performance is great.  Adding additional CPUs to the VM was a bit tricky.  When I attempted to start a VM with more that one CPU, I'd get an error, "vt-x is not available".  After some googling I found four setting in the BIOS that needed to be configured:
    * Security > Execute Disable (set to On)
    * Performance > Virtualization (set to On)
    * Performance > VT for Direct I/O Access (set to On)
    * Performance > Trusted Execution (set to Off)

I found the information here:  http://www.shnake.com/blog/?p=419

[UPDATE Jan 11, 2010] Fixed performance problems, see my latest post here:
http://orsontyrell.blogspot.com/2010/01/better-performance-with-compiz-fusion.html

Compiz Fusion and VMware Workstation 7 not playing nice

On a default install of Ubuntu 9.10, with 3D acceleration enabled on VMware, Compiz Fusion is not working.  :( 
"Desktop effects could not be enabled"
So it's either troubleshoot this or look at Virtual Box....

[UPDATE] I finally broke down and read the help file...  I stumbled upon this gem:
Under the section Support for Direct3D Graphics: 

Prepare a Virtual Machine for Accelerated 3-D

Before you begin, make sure the guest operating system is Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Isn't that swell.

[UPDATE Jan 11, 2010] Fixed performance problems, see my latest post here:
http://orsontyrell.blogspot.com/2010/01/better-performance-with-compiz-fusion.html

Mozilla Weave .8 released

Mozilla Weave .8 is out!  Sync your bookmarks, history, passwords, etc.  Mozilla Weave
The latest release looks more like optimizations than anything else.  You'll need Firefox 3.5 or higher.
After Google killed off their addon that did similar synchronizations (my favorite part was the history sync), Weave was one of the best options. 

ScribeFire + Firefox = blogging browser

ScribeFire has some nice features.  I especially like the support for copy/paste, makes posting URLs easier.  Here's some of their flavor text:

About ScribeFire

ScribeFire is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox Web Browser that integrates with your browser to let you easily post to your blog: you can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.

Time server synchronization in Windows Server 2008

There's been a change in the way you configure your time server synchronization in 2008. Previously you'd use the net time command. So in 2003 you'd do something like:

net time /setsntp:timeserver1.domain.com,timeserver2.domain.com

net time /set

In Windows 2008 you use the w32tm command:

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:MANUAL /manualpeerlist:timeserver1.domain.com,timeserver2.domain.com

w32tm /config /update

You can query your current settings with the following relative commands:

net time /querysntp

w32tm /query /source

For non-domain PCs the workstation defaults to time.microsoft.com. There's an "Internet Time" tab (Windows 7) in the date/time properties dialog box.