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Protected: Documenting Software in LectureMaker’s Media Lab

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:06:04 +0000

Technorati Tags: LectureMaker, LectureMaker Multimedia Lab, Media Lab, Software, Video Studio

Introduction to Math Blogging

admin — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:47:50 +0000

Ron Fredericks writes: “Introduction to Math Blogging ” is a short overview of the WordPress Math Publisher plugin. Get an overview of the plugin from this video. Some topics include:

What is it
How to install it
How to use it, and
Support and the software development release cycle

To create short flexible videos like this one, go to LectureMaker’s design and purchase page

Get a copy of the plugin from the WordPress.org Plugin site: wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wpmathpub/

I include some comments on the WordPress developer ecosystem as a model to learn from and perhaps emulate:

Automation of the submission process for new plugins
Automation of the community metrics and satisfaction the use of individual plugins
Online engineering tools to help developers track milestones during the plugin’s lifecycle (ALM)
Use of forums for community support between developers and users of plugins

I encourage the viewer to consider that increased use of math is necessary in today’s competitive global economy. Using a blog with math publishing features is one way to support this effort.

Usage

As an example, when I embedded the wpmathpub [pmath size=xx] tag into my blog post — like this:

Code (mathtext)
[pmath size=16](a^2+b^2)=a^2+2*a*b+b^2[/pmath] 
 
Where: 
[pmath size=12]~a[/pmath] is defined as a 
[pmath size=12]~b[/pmath] is defined as b

I get the following mathematical equation displayed in my blog post:

where:
is defined as a
is defined as b

The video was designed, acted in, and edited by Ron Fredericks; while the video was produced and directed by Alex Gershowitz; in LectureMaker’s Sunnyvale Video Studio

I invite the viewer to pick up a copy of “Numerical Recipes” if they are using math equations in their blog posts:

Technorati Tags: blog, Green Screen, Greenscreen, math, mathematics, plugin, Ron Fredericks, screencast, Screencasting, wpmathpub

Introduction to Google Android Software Platform

ronf — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:11:58 +0000

Ron Fredericks writes: LectureMaker was on scene filming Marko Gargenta deliver his Introduction to Google’s Android Software Platform during the September 3′rd regular meeting of the Software Development Forum (SDForum) Mobile Internet Special Interest Group meeting. Peter Lam was the host representing the Software Development Forum for this meeting, while Peter’s co-host Joe Jasin was traveling. The site for the event was located at the Orrick Law Office in Menlo Park with very friendly facilitators and signage to help a new visitor like me easily locate the meeting within the three building complex.

Marko is an industry expert in Android, a technical and business trainer for Android and other open-source technologies, co-author of PHP and MySQL by Example published by Prentice Hall, leader of the San Francisco Android User Group, founder of a leading technical training company called Marakana, and more…

The presentation covers both a business and developer perspective with several practical examples and live demonstrations. See the list of quesitons and main topics represented as red navigation dots embedded in the video, as well as a time line near the end of this post.

Marko Gargenta Presents Android Introduction – the video

If you prefer not to upgrade to flash 10, you may try playing the flash movie from this link: lmpremovie.swf

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Two Software Books by Marko Gargenta

Here is a brief summary of what you can learn from watching the video:

Handset manufacturers and mobile operators:

Learn about the Open Handset Alliance
Learn how to build a rich developer ecosystem with open-source components on their handsets based on Android software platforms
Learn more about the choice between creating your own software application store vs. using the Android Market store managed by Google
Take advantage of the software created for a wide variety of other handsets using the democratic nature of all Android software apps created equal

New opportunities for other device (non-handset) manufacturers:

Learn about some early adopter opportunities in using the Android platform instead of more traditional real-time operating systems or even other embedded Linux code bases such as Photocopy machines and Netbooks

Developers:

Learn about the technical features and the new business markets created by Google’s Android software platform
Learn how to get and use the Eclipse desktop tools (on host) and Android handset platform (on target) for free
Learn how to port existing applications and software components to Android
Learn about the potential time-to-market advantages using the Android platform, and the open marketplace it creates
Learn how to evaluate some key differences between iPhone, Android platform handsets, fragmented J2ME handsets, and Windows mobile devices
Learn about the value in using Google extensions to the Android software platform and the limitations they may create: more features vs. a smaller marketplace
Learn how to optimize your coding workflow while internationalizing your applications from one language to multiple languages using regional settings

Handset users:

Learn more about the growing Android software marketplace and what platform features to look for on your next smartphone
Learn about the three types of Android license that may ship with a phone
Learn what a “long click” is and how to use it to customize widgets on your phone
Learn about longer battery life and other valuable new features Android’s background services bring to the software application marketplace

Specific topics:

Dalvik Java Virtual Machine
Memory management: stack vs. registry
One of the few platforms that can run services in the background (multi-tasking apps)
Battery performance
Security
Internet
Networking
Web browsers based on WebKit
How developers emulate the on-phone camera and other on-board sensors
Developing an application with content, resources, and code
Easier access to GPS (global positioning services)
SQL database
Hidden costs
Software availability differences between various software platforms – why iPhone and Android both have a significant advantage in the United States over other handset software platforms
What new innovations does Android platform bring to the handset

Deep-Pixel Event Photograph

Ron Fredericks is not only a videographer but he also brings his 21 megapixel digital camera with a combination of wide-angle and telephoto florite lenses. The snapshot presented here shows Ron operating his portable broadcast video studio while filming the event from several angles and audio sources.

Marko Gargenta Presents – the snapshot

Here is a time line for the video presentation

Have you noticed all those red naviagtion dots embedded into LectureMaker’s video player? These dots allow a viewer to quickly get a sense of what content is included in the video. “I hate to be asked to watch a video – especially a long video – with no idea of whether I should take the time to watch it or note” – Ron Fredericks, designer of LectureMaker’s video player. With these navigation dots, the nature of “Watch my video” has really changed!

Here is a list of navigation dots embedded into this video. This may help you quickly find content you may be interested in watching from this video.

Elapsed Time	Percent Played	Description
0	0%	Introduction by Peter Lam: 1) SDForum, 2) Marko Gargenta of Marakana, and 3) Ron Fredericks of LectureMaker
3:44	4.75%	Estimates about the size and value of the Android developer community
5:09	6.55%	Marko Gargenta describes his history with Android
07:29	9.52%	Overview of tonight’s presentation
08:25	10.71%	The “big picture” aka the Android Software Stack
09:42	12.34%	How the Linux Kernel lead to the creation of the Open Handset Alliance
13:36	17.30%	Q: What is the Linux/Android SD Card file system?
15:24	19.59%	Overview of the Android market
16:30	20.99%	The ADB Shell
18:01	22.92%	Native Libraries
19:43	25.08%	Q: How can I port existing code to Android (i.e. Java Native Interface JNA, and the the Android Native Developers Kit NDK)?
21:52	27.81%	Q: Is development on Android restricted in some ways?
23:34	29.98%	Q: Can applications designed for one phone run on another phone?
24:41	31.40%	Q: What about malicious code?
25:58	33.03%	Q: Why are mobile operators moving toward Android?
29:20	37.31%	Android run-time platform
31:33	40.13%	Application framework
33:44	42.91%	Applications
34:13	43.52%	Demo 1 – starting up an emulator
37:55	48.23%	The technical background behind the Android marketplace advantage: “All apps are created equal”
39:18	49.99%	Q: What is the roadmap for Android?
40:14	51.18%	Q: What is a widget (Google search widget example)?
40:49	51.92%	Q: How is Android licensed?
43:56	55.88%	Demo 2 – create a new emulator and application using Eclipse
49:46	63.30%	Q: How do you write apps for multiple devices?
51:01	64.89%	Application components
53:19	67.82%	Q: Can an app be both a content provider and a content consumer?
56:35	71.91%	Q: What happens if two or more SMS messaging apps run at the same time?
58:29	74.39%	Services, and questions related to services
59:11	75.28%	Structure of Android projects
1:04:08	81.58%	Q: How does Android support multi-language apps?
1:08:09	86.69%	Memory management
1:09:51	88.85%	Inflating user interfaces from XML to Java
1:11:10	n/a	Security
1:11:19	90.71%	Summary
1:11:59	91.56%	Q: What are some of your favorite porting techniques?
1:12:43	92.50%	Q: Can you elaborate on Android power management?
1:13:38	93.66%	Q: Can an app subscribe to services?
1:13:52	n/a	Q: What is the difference between consumer and SDK widgets?
1:14:38	94.93%	Q: What are some caveats to look for in distributing an app?
1:15:52	96.50%	Q: Can you elaborate on Android’s file system?
1:16:42	97.56%	Q: When will Android support Adobe Flash apps?
1:16:59	n/a	Q: Can you elaborate on Android’s SD card?
1:17:29	98.56%	Q: How do you use the Eclipse DDMS tool?
1:18:17	99.63%	Credits

Technorati Tags: Android, Dalvik, Google, Handset, Java, JNI, LectureMaker, marakana, Marko Gargenta, NDK, Open Handset Alliance, Peter Lam, Ron Fredericks, SDK, Smartphone, Software Development Forum, Virtual Machine

Bay Area R User Group 2009 Kickoff Video

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:39:28 +0000

Ron Fredericks writes: In February I attended the Bay Area R User Group meeting recently held at Predictive Analytics World 2009. Michael E. Driscoll, one of the two kickoff meeting co-chairs, was gracious enough to let LectureMaker capture the video for the event as a technical marketing “lighthouse” project.

Editor’s Note: New Bay Area useR Group Video can be found here:
RHIPE: An Interface Between Hadoop and R for Large and Complex Data Analysis

Today I am happy to present this video to my readers.

If you manage the marketing, feature roll-out, or web site design, for a social network or professional ecosystem, then you need the techniques presented in this video.

Watch this video to learn about:

The open-source analytics programming language called R
How Google and Facebook approach analytics to predict their web user community’s behavior
Where to download R and get enterprise level support
How the meeting co-chairs use R

The R and Science of Predictive Analytics: Four Case Studies in R – the Video

If you prefer not to upgrade to flash 10, you may try playing the flash movie from this link: lmpremovie.swf

Email this video

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LectureMaker Video Player product and support page

Panel of four recognized R users from industry:

Bo Cowgill, Google
Itamar Rosenn, Facebook
David Smith, Revolution Computing
Jim Porzak, The Generations Network

Moderator and co-chair of Bay Area R User Group:

Michael E. Driscoll, Dataspora LLC

A live R demo
The co-chairs, Michael and Jim, presented a great overview of the R language. Here at LectureMaker, source code highlighting is supported with automatic links back to language documentation for 132 languages plus my own R highlighter.

For example, here is a short R program:

Code (r)
x <- rnorm(100)            # 100 random numbers from a normal(0,1) distribution
y <- exp(x) + rnorm(100)   # an exponential function with error
result <- lm(y ~ x)        # regress x on y and store the results
summary(result)            # print the regression results
plot(x,y)                  # pretty obvious what this does
abline(result)             # add the regression line to the plot
lines(lowess(x,y), col=2)  # add a nonparametric regression line (a smoother)
hist(result$residuals)     # histogram of the residuals from the regression
# source code reference: http://bayes.math.montana.edu/Rweb/Rweb.general.html

You can click on the highlighted methods, or copy the code above and paste it into a web version of R called RWeb

How I developed the video
The LectureMaker video capture, editing, publishing, and technical marketing service starts with the on location video capture of a live event. Druing the process I become emersed in the presenter(s) and the audience participation. My empathy acquired during the project combined with my own professional background allows me to turn video into technical marketing.

I watched the video presented here myself several times: Starting with the content through the lens of my Canon XL-H1S 3CCD HDV High Definition Professional Camcorder with 20x HD Video Zoom Lens III
prosumer digital video camera during the event, followed by several editing iterations on my eVGA e-GeForce GTX280 1GB DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card-Lifetime Warranty with Free Special Edition EVGA Precision Overclocking Utility
graphics powered PC, ending with comprehensive testing from several Linux web servers connected to Mac, Linux, and Windows client PCs.

To create the video I took the following steps to edit and publish the video, primarily with Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection
software:

Edit the video with Adobe After Effects and Premier Pro CS4. I incorporated the features of the Neat Video Pro noise reduction plug-in to correct for low light high gain raw camera issues
Edit and optimize the sound track separately using Adobe Soundbooth CS4 along with brightening of the speech itself as only Toastmasters International experience can provide
Design and develop a state of the art Video Player with custom hot spot navigation dots, intelligent preloader, and client-server progressive content management using Adobe Flash Professional CS4 ActionScript 3.0
Customize the LectureMaker Video Player with external preloader graphic image, personalized playback faceplate, selection of a playback control skin, and custom buttons using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS4 Extended
Compress the 75 minute 200 GB high definition 1440 x 1080 mpeg video down to a 85 MB 800 x 600 flash video using both Adobe Media Encoder CS4 and Sorenson Squeeze 5 Pro
Lastly, I hosted the video inside this WordPress.org blog package currently at version 2.71 along with KFE SWFObject flash movie publisher plug-in

Some thoughts for next time: I did not have ideal placement for the video camera so I struggled with noise, light, who is talking when, and tripod stability. I made a few mistakes with sound and white balance during live experiments with the 100 or so buttons on this new camera too. I have since solved these issues with more experience, an after-market Sony XEL-1 11-Inch OLED Digital TV
and wired remote control. I apologize to you the viewer, the R presenters, and attendees who participated with their questions. Hopefully these errors will seem small thanks to the excellent delivery of great material during the R User Group event itself. This was one of the best panel discussions I have attended in either engineering or science.

Contact LectureMaker to develop a video enhanced technical marketing program
This blog post’s content and its longtail of moderated comments over time demonstrates LectureMaker’s live video capture, video editing, social networking outreach, and technical marketing service. It might be based on a single live event, or a series of events integrated into a year-long community outreach program. What’s more, most of the cost for the LectureMaker service is already built into your current editorial events calender! Yet adding LectureMaker service to your existing events program could make all the difference in meeting your goals around ecosystem or sales development. You can get a brief overview here:
http://www.lecturemaker.com/products_services/

LectureMaker targets this service to exceptional people, brands, and products. Turn your high value live but localized events into reusable global marketing and education programs

How the panelists use R for predictive analytics
Each panelist came prepared to discuss R’s strengths and weaknesses as a tool, along with example case studies. Mike has a great blog post summarizing this meeting. So I invite those who would like to learn more about the techniques presented in this video to jump over to read it now:

How Google and Facebook are using R
by Michael E. Driscoll | February 19, 2009
http://dataspora.com/blog/predictive-analytics-using-r/

At the end of this process I learned a great deal about the material presented: including R packages, where to download it, who to contract as project mentors, who to lead group training, and some additional open-source packages such as Octave and R’s interface with Python. I Developed a passion for the techniques discussed in this video, and every video product I put together. But in this case I also plan to get started with R along with some of the integrated tools that were discussed in the near future.

Want to learn R? Here is a link to the book recommended by the R User Group:
Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R (Statistics and Computing)

Technorati Tags: Bo Cowgill, CRAN, Data Evolution, Dataspora LLC, David Smith, Facebook, Google, Itamar Rosenn, Jim Porzak, LectureMaker, math, Michael E. Driscoll, Octave, Power Law Distribution, Predictive Analytics, Python, R User Group, Revolution Computing, Ron Fredericks, RPy, Sampling, Statistics, The Generations Network, Virtual World