Tretakoff Musings

As a cyclist in the city and suburbs, I took particular note of this story in today's SFGate of a cyclist who recorded being hit by a car, who seemingly veered into the two bikes, and then proceeded on, as if nothing had happened. Take a look below; the actual crash happens around 2:35: Now this is horrific, to say the least. But it brings up a series of observations and questions for me: As the comments in YouTube all point out, earlier in the video you can see the cyclists casually blowing through stop signs, without stopping. Am I guilty of this? Yes, at rare times, when there is no one around, and not in a busy area; still doesn't make it right. Do they deserve to be karmically punished for this by the actions of the car later? Of course not. But cyclists have to remember that we are vehicles, and, as this video shows, defenseless ones. We need to obey the rules of the road, period. What an amazing use of digital video! I never thought of this; brilliant. Now, if I...

A great piece on a massive sculpture, here in the Bay Area, and how the artist turns it into an ever changing lit piece with the help of an app:

Penn Jillette is one of my personal gurus. What he says so often makes so much sense to me, I am often frustrated that he is not running the world. He frequently does short vlog entries on Sony's Crackle site; today's is about In-N-Out Burger. If you are not familiar with this practically legendary West Coast chain, they make a hell of a burger and fries, cheap, and fresh. Penn's issue is that they subtly print Bible references in their materials, such as on the bottom of the cups or the fries. Now, I'm one of the first people to decry the blind faith in the Bible; in fact, I highly recommend David Plotz's Good Book for a refreshing perspective on the Bible from a layperson's perspective. Penn, being a devout atheist, obviously has major issues with In-N-Out's evangelism, as he often does with most attempts for folks to blend religion in with secular activities. However, Penn is also a massive proponent of the free market. Combining these two, you get a r...

If you didn't catch last week's episode of the seemingly unstoppable CSI , you missed the best show on TV. Thanks to TV.com. CBS' answer to Hulu (and my old co-worker's pet project), you can still take advantage. The episode is a perfect send-up of the original Star Trek , mixed with the fanaticism of the true believers. The recreation of the psuedo episodes is dead-on, and the actors are, without question, fabulous. It also manages to hilariously and powerfully mix in the folks from the new version of Battlestar Galactica , as well as the key players from it playing parts in the episode. Don't miss the cameo of Ron Moore, Galactica 2.0's creative force, standing up and screaming "You suck!" At the unveiling of the new imagining of the series in this episode. And Ellen Tigh as a guest star? Wow...well done, CSI folk.

Slate V sums up the very reasons I still miss Clinton as President, and am hopeful for Obama. Is it so much to want to have the leader of the Free World be an inspiring speaker? If not, at least avoid these dunderheaded statements? Tuesday can't come soon enough...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present for you the former candidate for Vice President of the United States, sipping Starbucks and giggling, as she remains unaware of the darker side of the turkey grist mill behind her. Yep, she's that clueless.

Gizmodo points out that, in all of the other high profile CA state issues that went down to defeat, one victory was lost in the shuffle: Proposition 1A, which lays the groundwork for a bullet train between Southern and Northern California. I am a huge fan of any rail transit, but this one simply makes sense. Kudos to the supporters for making this excellent video which dramatically demonstrates the allure, the benefits, and the real expectations for what could be a monumental day of change for rail travel in this country.

Very savvy move by NFL.com: today, they promote a feature that lets football fans create their own highlight packages , complete with video, classic sound, and graphics. This type of loosening of the tightly controlled ties is what makes fans excited, and gets viral. The only miss? An easy, visible way to share your videos as embeds on your site. Sure, it's free, so they want to drive traffic to NFL.com to view, but we already have YouTibe; do we not realize there is a market level of expectation? That aside, I'm damn impressed. And kudos for the classic NFL Films soundtracks to boot!

Slate V , the video version of Slate Magazine , has a remarkable profile of Spot Runner , a site that allows you to make personalized television ads for $500. Using a mixture of stock video clips and professional voiceovers, you can easily produce ads designed to evoke just what you are looking to convey, complete with professional messaging. Want to get elected? Choose one of the political ads: from attack ads to messages of hope and change. The disturbing part of this is just how generic the ad space has become for these specific issues, and how this "cut and paste" approach can now be so effective in today's market. Think of the great Apple ads (Think Different, 1984), or the classic political ads ( Daisy , A Man From Hope): these are all replaced with these slick, professional and utterly effective ads that any candidate can run. No ad agencies, no creative: choose your theme, add some details, and enter your credit card. It's either a brave new world, or a sure ...

I'm usually one of the first people to simply roll my eyes at the efforts of traditional broadcast media companies to adapt to the new paradigms of online penetration. Witness the debacle of various networks as they hemmed and hawed about putting their shows on iTunes, only to pull them off over perceived pricing disputes. Or watching movie studios and television networks turn on their ardent consumers who would gladly pay to watch their content on alternate devices (iPods, laptops, etc.) by suing them. I have been patently disgusted with the 19th century approaches most have taken in the past, so months ago when I read that NBC and Fox were planning to respond to the constant "piracy" of having their shows show up on YouTube by building an online site dedicated to video streaming, I snorted in derision, and passed it off as another lame attempt to convince less knowledgeable viewers that they truly were "cutting edge." Ok, I can admit it: I was dead wrong. Hulu...

We may, as a society, disagree with many things, but there has been one truth we all seem to instinctively agree on: drinking lots of water is good for your health. However, as with all good maxims, it's occasionally important to test them for reality. And, according to the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, this wives' tale is all wet. Turns out, drinking more water not only does not improve skin tone or reduce appetite, but actually can even be harmful, possibly causing kidney damage. The irony of this to me is not that yet another accepted truism has fallen by the wayside, but more that this was forecast by the most unlikely of prognosticators, Lewis Black . He of the waggling finger, and apoplectic screaming fits, the man predicted this very thing years ago in his HBO Broadway special, Black on Broadway , as well as a hilarious and wry look at the history of this admonition, as well as it's possible origin. Take 10 minutes, sit back and prepare to laugh.

A great article from Internet Retailer on the effect of a single YouTube video on the fortunes of a niche DVD seller. The "12 Days Of Christmas" video, sung by the amazing a capella group, Indiana University's Straight No Chaser, has been such a YouTube hit that the sole distributor of the DVD went from selling 100 copies a year of a single title, to an amazing 5,300. Best of all, the popularity has convinced the 1998 graduates featured in the video to reunite for a follow up performance! Here's to the power of the Internet! The original performance, in all it's glory:

One of the minor pain points of switching to the iPhone was the loss of the ability to watch Divx movies on my portable media solution. Not familiar with Divx? Can't say I blame you: it's a video codec that allows you to encode a video is a very compressed format without too much evidence of such on playback. Why does that matter? Well, your average DVD is about 6-8 gigabytes. Your average blank DVD is 4.7 GB. Your average CD ROM? A measly 650 MB. See the need to compress? You get the picture: if you want to build a library of your own videos and keep the space under control, being able to compress the video is a big plus. As a result, I have a significant amount of Divx movies that I can watch on my Divx-capable DVD players, but not on my iPhone. What to do? Courtesy of RegNow, a division of Digital River, who frequently sell software that can be immediately downloaded and used, I was introduced to the Movavi Video Converter . Yep, it does just what it says: it takes any video...

I don't know how much longer John Kanzius has left to live; he's clearly been the object of more than a few contracts on his life from Big Oil, as he has unveiled the tunning discovery that he's found a way to make seawater burn as a fuel. I know, seems impossible, but he actually has stumbled onto a way that releases and ignites the hydrogen from the most plentiful substance on earth. Not just a weak flame, this sucker burns at a test tube melting 3000 degrees. John, happy to start the PayPal fund for your Kevlar vest...or maybe you can just invent a force field, while you're at it? :-) Watch this amazing discovery in action:

Viral email. Viral websites. All examples of good viruses. Want another? Gmail solicited and got a viral video , showing how a Gmail really gets from the sent folder to the recipient's inbox. Savor and enjoy.

With the unbelievable noise that is the iPhone, an important news item slipped out unnoticed, except by the good folks at Ars Technica: Tivo is FINALLY coming to the Comcast DVR's, over a year after it was first announced. The best part of this is this quote: "Comcast DVRs based on the TiVo software should be ready in select areas as early as August." Comcast, I'm hereby DEMANDING I be in one of those select areas. I want my Tivo Comcast DVR before Heroes and Lost start again! Our long national cable nightmare for cheap(er) DVR's may finally be on the verge of ending.

I'm no huge fan of Pulp Fiction , but it's undeniable that this was the vehicle that made us understand Sam Jackson as the riveting screen influence he is. His speech and role in PF is constantly quoted as the meme, and this enterprising animated short shows how text, fonts, and animation can be combined to reflect the same power. Enjoy...but make sure you do not watch with the speakers turned up (language may...hell, will ...offend).

While this year's Superbowl is not a major attraction for me (Colts vs. Bears? Yawn.), I am looking forward to the commercials. The buzz is that Apple has a special commercial planned this year, possibly Beatles-related, so that's will be the Easter egg I'm hunting for. These commercials have become amazing, in their technical detail, their story, and their originality. For instance, I give you Michael Jordan, king of the commercial/sports pitchmen. Already a legend in basketball, sports, clothes, and commercials ("Gotta be the shoes" "Nothing but net"), Gatorade produced this stunning Superbowl commercial for his last major appearance, entitled simply 23 vs. 29: Some commercials have used famous directors, of course, but never made it to the screen, even for the Superbowl. Take this absolutely brilliant Spike Jonze-directed Gap masterpiece: However, this year's hype king is also the master of the Superbowl commercial. Let's not forget: it was A...

Kodak, the venerable institution of Americana, clearly is in a state of transition. With both savvy acquisitions and organic growth in the digital space, they have carefully moved into a position where they are on the cusp of being the fastest growing digital imaging company in the world...again. But, despite that, that's not what I am posting about tonight. As a company, as a culture, they have definitely understood the world is changing, and want all of their employees to understand they GET IT. This video, originally produced for internal use, is absolutely the best example of how a large company, steeped in tradition, can inspire the energy, the passion, and the fun of the changing world they live in: Now, tell me THAT is not a company you would love to work for! A company that can poke fun at itself while paying homage to their legacy, and showing a whole new side...MAN. Remember, this was for internal use: they used this to show the vast, longtime employees of Kodak that not ...

Ok, maybe not quite Christmas, as it happened on the 10th, but pretty impressive nonetheless. Remember the promise of the jetpack? You know, the one from the Bond movies, and the vision of the future, where we were all promised that we'd be tooling around in our own flying harness? Hasn't quite worked out that way, yet. Enter, from an unlikely quarter, Yves Rossy. This Swiss daredevil figured out how to not only ride a jetpack, but to strap on some foldable wings to make it a viable, controllable form of transportation. The image here is from the video of his maiden flight; it's amazing to watch him leading a plane with nothing but his body, his jetpack, and his wings. Heck, even beats the Flying Car for dreams come true.