Archives for April 2013

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Twiddling the Bits for AAC Audio

April 20, 2013 by Eric Richardson

I've been doing some work on StreamMachine for KPCC lately, and on a call the other day they mentioned that more of the industry seemed to be standardizing on AAC for audio and moving away from MP3. It's a move that makes sense: the format's newer, a little smarter, and can sound a little better at lower bit rates.

I set to work reading up on it yesterday, just trying to scope out what it would take to add support to StreamMachine. Turns out, not much, but I got to have some fun playing with binary in the process.

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Big Steps / Little Steps

April 3, 2013 by Eric Richardson

In February I installed Moves, a free app that uses your location and movement to create a daily storyline. It's sort of a pedometer-plus, counting steps but also mapping locations and tracks throughout the day.

I'm blessed to be able to walk to work most days, so most of the steps that Moves ends up tracking are on the 0.6 mile trek between our house and Emcien. That walk is pretty short, but includes a steep climb. Because of that, my walking speed is noticeably faster coming home from work than it is heading in: approximately 0.3 - 0.5mph different, according to Moves.

Even more noticeable is the difference in steps. Each day I take approximately 1300 steps on the way into the office, and 1100 steps on the way back. I'm covering about 15% more ground with each step coming down the hill.

I guess it makes sense, then, that I keep having to tell Moves that I wasn't running. Given the difference, it's a fairly understandable mistake.