Brett Hinton's Page

Inevitably I seem to run into situations where I have a video in one format and need to get it into another. Windows Media Video file (WMV) into Flash or Quicktime, back the other way, or to simply squeeze the size down a bit.

This has happened twice to me in the last day - once with a video clip (1.2 gb) from my mythtv box and another with a Windows Movie Maker generated WMV file. In the first case Mpeg Streamclip helped me take that 1.2 gb tv recording and shrink it to around a 20mb Quicktime file that could be viewed via the web. In the second case, I used MediaCoder to take a 5mb WMV file of a family "commercial" we created (you can see that one at http://family.hintonweb.com) into a 3.5 mb FLV file to embed in our family blog.

These two programs are like my video (and audio) converter swiss army knifes and are well worth their install. I have tried the whole range of video converters (both paid and free) and I haven't seen any that do things quite as well as these two. They just seem to come in handy!

P.S. I also use Handbrake occasionally when I might need to grab a clip from a DVD.

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"This above all: to thine own self be true". - (Hamlet Act I, Scene III)

I attended a session that I was really disappointed in yesterday and I think there is an important lesson to learn here from the experience. Sometimes sessions don't connect with us, that's a reality and okay. The problem I ran into yesterday was I attended a session that said it was going to cover a particular topic and covered something completely different.

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Yesterday went pretty well, but I'm thinking today will be even better. Here's what I'm planning for today:

• 7:00 - 8:00am Learning.com Breakfast with Robert Zucker (Marriott Rivercenter Salon A/B)
• 8:30 - 9:45am Tuesday Keynote (HGCC Ballroom C)
• 10:00 - 11:00am ISTE Observation Tool (Grand Hyatt Bowie B)
• 11:00 - 12:00am Seven Habits of Effective Tech Directors (Grand Hyatt Crockett C/D)
• 12:30 - 1:30pm Understanding Digital Learners (Grand Hyatt Texas Ballroom D)
• 2:00 - 3:00pm Learning.com Presentation (Marriott Rivercenter Conference Rm 15)
• 3:30 - 4:30pm Math A-Z (HGCC 102 A)
• 5:00 - 7:00pm AzTEA Affiliate Reception (Rio-Rio Cantina)

• Another full day, lots of good stuff. I'm especially excited to see Ian Juke's Understanding Digital Learners session, as well as the Seven Habits of Effective Tech Directors. I've got some notes and thoughts about a couple of sessions from yesterday that I'll be posting shortly.

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So it is crazy early here in San Antonio and I should be in bed by now. Of course, instead I'm tweaking my schedule and wondering how to fit in all the neat sessions and events. It is looking to be a terrific conference and it is an annual event I look forward to for months.

As I reflected on Jen Wagner's post "Take the Conference Challenge", I've decided that for NECC this year I've officially declared myself FREE.

Free to not be to everything or everywhere. Free to miss a session I really want to attend for another that is equally as good and to not feel guilty about it. Free to enjoy sitting down with some friends and reconnecting with them and to understand what they are finding of value here. And finally, FREE to have fun and realize that NECC is only the beginning, and thanks to NECC's Ning network and to Classroom 2.0 I can always catch up later. Thanks Network!

I'm not free apparently to get to sleep early though - always room for improvement I suppose. Here's tomorrow's schedule - always subject to change, but looking pretty good thus far :)

• 7am - Get Registered
• 7:30 - 8:30am SETDA Breakfast at Marriott Rivercenter
• 8:30 - 10:30am CoSN Council Leadership Forum (emphasis - Digital Content)
• 10:30 - 11:30am Federal Program Meeting (EETT - SETDA)
• 11 - 12pm Virtual Classroom: Hybrid Learning in Action (HGCC 214 C/D)
• 12:30 - 1:30pm Literacy Isn't Enough: Digital Fluency in the Age of InfoWhelm (Grand Hyatt Texas Ballroom D)
• 2 -3pm Moving the Texas Vision 2020 to Reality Takes Planning! (HGCC 001 B)
• 3:30 - 4:30pm Scholastic Administrator's Hottest Trends in Edtech (Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom E)
• 4:45 - 5:45pm A Meeting of Moodlers (Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom B)
• 7:00pm - 9:00pm SEDTA-iTunesU K12 initiative kickoff event (Grand Hyatt San Antonio, Texas Ballroom E/F)

When I'm not in a session I'm aiming to hit the Blogger's Cafe and see some of NECC Unplugged (impromptu presentations by NECC attendees - see the schedule for more details - you may have to scroll the page a bit to get to the actual schedule), as well as the poster sessions. Hope to see people around!

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The abundance of information today is truly a blessing to all. At the same time, for many of us, the neverending supply of it makes it difficult to keep up. (When was the last time you thought or said - i just can't keep up with the ... insert RSS feeds, websites, email, etc). Web 2.0 has only increased this burden with the onslaught of content production that is occurring by anybody that has a web browser. Don't misunderstand me, I love Web 2.0 and the concept of user-created content - it just makes for more potentially great ideas and information out there.

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