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New BPG Image Format Provides Better Compression Results Over JPEG
Better Portable Graphics (BPG), which is based on video encoding standard HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) or H.265, provides a modern lossy image format that is better than JPEG. It has a better visual quality at the same file size as JPEG, and has comparable results to JPEG at half the file size.
Following a study by Mozilla determining the results of various lossy compression algorithms, BPG was developed when it was found that HEVC was shown to be far superior to other algorithms.
For lossless compression, the PNG format has replaced the GIF format for most uses. For lossy compression, will BPG replace the JPEG as well?
Check out this LINK here for image comparisons.
What Do You Think Goes On In The Minds Of The 4.3 Billion “Offline” People?
There’s an article published on TechCrunch that provides us insights on what goes on in the minds of the 4.3 billion “offline” people through different usability tests they performed with the unconnected/newly connected. It is understandable that they would have difficulty and have quite a learning curve in adapting to new technology. It is also interesting that for a lot of the people in the modern world, most, if not all of the things that they are asked to do, would just come naturally for us.
Here’s the link to that article: Peering Into The Minds Of The 4.3 Billion Unconnected
Image Credit: TechCrunch
shomi Now Available in Beta Trial for Rogers and Shaw Customers #readysetshomi
shomi, the new video streaming service in Canada, was launched last Tuesday, November 4, 2014. It is available in beta trial first to Rogers and Shaw Internet or TV customers. Eligible Rogers customers can sign-up for a 30-day trial, after which will be $8.99 per month. If you only want to test it out, make sure to cancel at anytime before the 30 days are up.
Past seasons of current hit TV shows which are not available on any other streaming service (like Netflix) are available on shomi such as 2 Broke Girls, Revenge, New Girl (a few of the shows I watch). Other shows include American Horror Story, The Blacklist, Modern Family, The Originals, Rookie Blue, Sleepy Hollow, Shameless, Sons of Anarchy, and Vikings. 30% of the content will be Canadian content (both TV shows and movies). If you’re not sure what to watch, shomi has trailers, Rotten Tomatoes ratings, and factoids to help you in deciding what to watch.
So some may ask, what’s the difference between shomi and content on Rogers On Demand (ROD) or Rogers Anyplace TV (RAPTV)? ROD and RAPTV have access to multiple seasons of shows, as well as the currently-aired season, and newly-released movies the same day they are released on DVD. To access these however, customers must be subscribed to those channels airing those shows within their cable TV package, or pay on a per movie basis (for movie rentals). On the other hand, subscribers to shomi will have access to all video content available within shomi. shomi is complementary to the digital TV, ROD, and RAPTV services, not a complete replacement.
If you want to watch/subscribe to shomi on your Rogers set-top-box, it is available on channel 300 everywhere it’s offered, as well as on NextBox channel 100 in Ontario.
For more information on shomi, check out shomi.rogers.com or shaw.ca/shomi.
Related Articles:
Popcorn and Magic, Art and Science…its Showtime! [Rogers Redboard]
“shomi” the new way to watch TV for Canadians
Disclosure: I work for Rogers, however, all the opinions on this site are my own and do not in any way reflect my employer’s.
Bloomberg Game Changers
One weekend a couple of months ago or so, my S.O. and I were looking for something to watch on Netflix and he found this documentary series called Bloomberg Game Changers. The series produced by Bloomberg TV features different business leaders and successful entrepreneurs who “climbed to the top and changed our world” in one way or another. There were a few there that really piqued my interest, namely:
- Apple Founder and former CEO Steve Jobs
- Google Co-Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
- Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg
- Amazon.com Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
- American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour
- Twitter Co-Founders Evan Williams, Noah Glass, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone
The list above is hyperlinked to the series videos found on the Bloomberg TV website which I highly recommend to watch. The last one on my list above was actually not available at that time on Netflix and I had just watched it while writing this blog post.
It’s pretty cool learning about these people’s lives as told by their peers and colleagues leading up to the success in whatever they had created. Without these people, the world would definitely be significantly different than what it is today. All of them have contributed to making the world and its people more connected in some way. I think that’s something to be thankful for. (Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!)
Let’s go do edX!
It’s back-to-school time for most kids in North America today. School equals education. Education is something that should not stop once you graduate from high school or college/university. I’m not saying that everyone should do their Masters and PhD, because that doesn’t work for everyone financially-wise and/or career-wise. Constant education or learning can be obtained through various media such as workshops, trainings, conferences, or simply the web. For the web, this can include videos, podcasts, articles, and more.
While looking at some courses online recently, I found this online initiative called edX, which offers free online courses and classes from the world’s best universities that include MIT, Harvard, and Berkeley among others. Topics range from biology to business to computer science to finance to engineering to law to philosophy and more.
There are two ways to take the courses for free — 1. Simply audit the course, that is you will have access to all course content but do not need to submit any assignments or take any tests, or 2. Try to earn an honour code certificate, that is once you complete all the requirements satisfactorily while abiding by the edX honour code, you will receive a certificate showcasing your achievement. You will also have the option to get a verified certificate that includes signatures of the course instructor, etc. which you will have to pay for a nominal fee. Some courses may also give you the option to earn a credit, but of course you will have to shed a few thousand dollars for this. Some courses may not have all the options stated above, but generally those are your options.
There were a few courses I found that may be of interest as well to those who are into technology:
CS50x – Introduction to Computer Science (HarvardX)
LFS101x – Introduction to Linux (LinuxFoundationX)
CS184.1x – Foundations of Computer Graphics (UC BerkeleyX)
6.00.1x – Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python (MITx)
CS169.1x – Engineering Software as a Service (UC BerkeleyX)
CS169.2x – Engineering Software as a Service, Part 2 (UC BerkeleyX)
CS188.1x – Artificial Intelligence (UC BerkeleyX)
These are just a few of the courses that are currently available. I’m actually looking into doing the 6.00.1x course which just started last week on August 27th. Let’s see how it goes.
If you’re planning on taking any of these courses as well, good for you – keep on! Happy learning!
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Tech-Life in Pink 