360 panos on the web

Used to be pretty easy to build 360 panos on the web using some software and exporting to quicktime 360 VR file. But, looks like Apple is possibly phasing out QTVR, judging from the lack of hotspot support in safari and 10.7, and ios (at least with the pano-creating software that I've used in the past). So, onwards to newer, better solutions.

I had a need to create and view panos that a) play well with modern browsers, can be seen on an ios device (i.e. no flash player), and b) have the ability to create linkable hotspots. As I tend to stitch the panos in photshop, I wasn't looking for photo-stitching software, but only software that would be able to take the stitched photo and create a web presentation that met the above requirements. I researched jquery solutions, but I found nothing that supported all the requirements, or had enough documentation or development to suggest that the solutions found would work now into the next few years.Two contenders stand out at this time: krpano.com and pano2vr.

krpano seems to be more customizable, though with a steeper learning curve.  Both create flash panos for web browsers, or, if the browser supports html5, will present it in that manner.

you tube video converters

A few free firefox plugins that I know of:

http://www.bestvideodownloader.com/
This one can save youtube videos as flvs, or convert to m4s.

http://www.downloadhelper.net/
Can save or convert to a variety of different formats. Doesn't seem to work with a few videos I've thrown at it, however.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-converter/
Ditto.

Free online converters
http://benderconverter.com/
Only allows one video conversion a day, but can convert to a variety of different formats.

http://www.clipconverter.cc
Ditto.

http://www.flv2mp3.com/
Only a few different formats available to convert to.

video conversion program: Adapter

Another freebie software program for both mac and pc platforms is Adapter (http://www.macroplant.com/adapter/).  Can convert flv files, along with the other flavors you might expect (avi, dv, gif, mov, mp4, m4a, 3gp, 3g2, mpeg, wav, rm). Looks pretty promising. Still in beta, we'll see if there will be a small charge after the 1.0 release.

video converter hardware box

This is a nifty box that convert RCA or S-video video signal inputs (think from a VCR or videocamera) to be converted into a feed that a mac will recognize as a camera source. Great for when you have an HD camcorder with rca outs that you want to capture directly into your computer via firewire. No software or drivers to install, whew!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Canopus+ADVC+110&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=269215179114444092&ei=M-ELTenFMpTAsAPMyIzYCg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDsQ8wIwAg#

Apple x-serves dead

What sort of web services are being used by your current x-serve? Web admin, streaming services, podcast producer? Perhaps those services should begin transitioning over the next two years to new non-apple servers, before the current servers go belly up?

new typefaces for the web

There's been some developments to have a bit more of a choice of fonts available for web display, giving designers a bit more choice. Most recently, Adobe and Typekit have collaborated to offer 16 families of typefaces. Google has offered fonts for website usage for awhile now.

html5 and firefox

Been trying to find a nice way to implement html5 for content, but without needing to export the media into two different formats, or rely on a fallback flash player to play the media. So far not so much luck, drats.

UPDATE: Looks like there's a new video codec called VP8 in town thanks to google. Read more on the WebM Project's page.