misener.org » video

How not to do geoblocking

Dan Misener — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:48:45 +0000

I’ll admit that up until yesterday, I was unaware of the CBC Television program The Big Decision.

(Aside: I predict that within five years, every single CBC Television program will be based around Dragons’ Den personalities.)

Anyway, I didn’t know about The Big Decision, but after following some tweet or another, I found myself on the show’s website, and decided to check it out. Here’s what happened when I hit the play button:

In case you missed it, the video thumbnail was replaced by a completely blank rectangle, while a robotic voice soaked in reverb said, “This content is currently unavailable.”

I suspect this is because I’m in France, and the content has been geoblocked. My suspicions were confirmed after I used Sidestep to connect to a Canadian proxy server and was able to view the video without any problems.

Now, my issue isn’t with the geoblocking itself. I completely understand the business reasons why certain types of online content are restricted in this way.

My problem is how The Big Decision‘s geoblocking is implemented.

If I’m being geoblocked, at least have the decency to tell me I’m being geoblocked. Do this:

I’m no UI genius, but it’s not hard to recognize that a completely blank screen and reverb-y robot voice that says, “This content is currently unavailable,” is less than ideal feedback. There’s just not enough information to be useful.

Why, dear robot voice, is the content unavailable? Do I not have the right plug-in installed? Are there gremlins in the CBC’s online video system? Or am I outside of the geofence?

If I’m being geoblocked, tell me. At least then I’ll know when to fire up Sidestep.

#2thingsby1thing

Dan Misener — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:44:36 +0000

First, there were two bananas on the dashboard.

Then along came Dom, with two clementines on the counter. With some help from my in-laws, I countered with two pine cones by the fireplace. Not to be outdone, Dom found two shopping carts against the wall. Then, near Leamington, Jenna and I drove by two Volkswagen Beetles in a snowdrift.

Back inside, Dom placed two powerplugs on some plywood. And most recently, Andrew managed to capture two circles on the table.

You can play, too. Here’s how:

Find two like things
Make a short cameraphone video of them, singing
Tweet the link with #2thingsby1thing

Exactly why is this video so cute?

Dan Misener — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:31:24 +0000

Jenna and I both love to watch this video of a slow loris:

So, why do we like this thing so much? Check out this chart:

According to “A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse” by Stephen Jay Gould [PDF]:

Humans feed affection for animals with juvenile features: large eyes, bulging craniums, retreating chins (left column). Small-eyed, long-snouted animals (right column) do not elicit the same response.

So let’s examine the slow loris. Large eyes? Check. Bulging cranium? Check. Retreating chin? Check. Cutest animal ever.

Ampeg Micro-VR in action

Dan Misener — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:33:04 +0000

As a guy who loves the sound of small Ampeg amplifiers (I play through a B-100R), I’ve been curious to hear how the “cute” new Ampeg Micro-VR actually sounds. Now, thanks to The Swell Season and the Onion AV Club, I know:

The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel

That’s Joe Doyle (from The Frames) on bass.

(via Merlin)

Pickering Enthusiast

Dan Misener — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:58:38 +0000

Compliments of Mr. Tristan Homer, a new episode of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast. This time, Jim is enthusiastic about the city of Pickering, Ontario:

Video: me at the Corktown Ukulele Jam

Dan Misener — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:47:47 +0000

So basically, every Wednesday for a bunch of weeks now, I’ve been going to the Corktown Ukulele Jam. It’s just down the street from my house at the Dominion on Queen, and it’s awesome.

A few weeks ago, the videotaped the whole night and put it on YouTube. Here’s me, doing a ukulele cover of “She’s Dead” by Jim’s Big Ego:

There’s a contest for these YouTube videos — the most viewed after a month wins a dinner at the Dominion, if I recall correctly. So feel free to watch this multiple times.

Adam Davidson explains the explainer

Dan Misener — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:49:18 +0000

Via Robert Paterson’s weblog, a great video of NPR’s Adam Davidson, explaining how they approached the incredibly complicated subject of the housing crisis for This American Life’s The Giant Pool of Money and the Planet Money podcast:

As you’ll see in the video, Davidson thinks that journalists are too reluctant to acknowledge their own ignorance when approaching complex stories. “The Giant Pool of Money,” on the other hand, felt like a learning process for Davidson and Blumberg as much as their listeners.

Well worth watching.

More Jim Dupree: Enthusiast

Dan Misener — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:02:45 +0000

Jim Dupree is back in full force for season five. Three new episodes since I last mentioned the show. As always, you can subscribe via RSS or subscribe in iTunes or subscribe in Miro. Here are the latest episodes:

Episode 42 – Jim Dupree: Balloon Enthusiast

Episode 43 – Jim Dupree: Tree Enthusiast

Episode 44 – Jim Dupree: Polka Enthusiast

Two new episodes of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast

Dan Misener — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:54:38 +0000

It’s been a long while, and our original Fibonacci-based release schedule has been abandoned. But this week, almost an entire year after the first episode, Tristan posted the thrilling finale to season four of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast, Jim Dupree: Nickname Enthusiast:

So now it’s on to season five (which will be posted according to no regular schedule). To kick things off, Cat Enthusiast:

With the purchase of a brand-new (to us) HD camcorder, you may be able to look forward to higher-fidelity videos from Collective Productions in the future.

Al Thompkins inadvertendly explains how to buy a Flip Video camera in Canada

Dan Misener — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:26:33 +0000

From Al’s Morning Meeting (a daily read of mine) comes this video called How Al Tompkins Produces His Video Blogs.

The secret? A Flip Video camera.

The crew at Spark has been wanting one of these little cameras for a while now, but we haven’t got our hands on one yet. You see, as far as I can tell, they don’t ship to Canada. However, Al had a good idea: buy one on eBay. A quick search yields several sellers willing to ship to Canada.

Wait, scratch that. I just checked, and it seems TigerDirect.ca has them in stock.