Category: Video

Daily Flip 4-Training

Matt and I are competing in the St. George Triathlon this Saturday, May 9th, so today’s daily flip was a nice easy training ride we took yesterday.  I’m not as prepared for this tri as I was for my last one (physically), but I think mentally I’m even more prepared.  No matter, it should be fun.

I’m flying Matt and I up to the event on Friday and flying home on Sunday in the Skylane.  We were lucky enough to be able to rent a home very close to the Tri venue and not too far from the small GA airport that we will be flying into in Hurricane, UT.  Should be pretty convenient.

Enjoy today’s daily flip of Matt and I goofing around on the bikes, enjoying the outdoors, and generally having a fun ride with very little pain.  That’s a first for a while.  Some of it is jumpy when I was doing a point of view charging down a hill in the wind…but that’s what it feels like on the bike sometimes…so I left it in.

Daily Flip 3-Not a Belly-Itcher

Today’s daily flip comes from the weekend warrior files.  For the second weekend in a row, my wonderful wife, Crystal, has organized a softball game for a big group of our friends.  Today, for some reason, both Crystal, and later myself, both had our quads start to seize up on us.  Is it a sign of age?  Crystal and I are both fairly active.  She plays racquetball and works out at the gym all the time.  I’ve been training for a triathlon.  Still, though, lately playing softball and spending an hour at the batting cages recently seems to be taking a toll on us.  As it turns out, we’re not alone.  Many of our compadres were feeling a little stiff tonight during and after the game.  Maybe we are just getting old…who knows?  One thing I do know, though, is that once your at the field, pain or not, there’s no NOT playing…so there we all were, having a blast.

We got some Gyro’s from George’s before the game, and Todd and Rachel broke out donuts afterwards for Todd’s birthday.  Also, a lot of fun softball under the lights in between.  I hope you enjoy today’s flip video.

The Daily Flip 001

Inspired by a comment from one of my Facebook friends, Jennifer, I’ve decided to start Billwil’s Daily Flip, so called because of the little camera I use to capture it (Flip Ultra).  I’m sure it won’t really be daily, but the Daily Flip has a nice ring to it.  We’ll see how it goes; I won’t worry about quality or production value…I’ll just use Flips rudimentary tools to get them out quickly.

Tonight’s Daily Flip is about my oldest son.  He has a project to do tonight at school, almost a performance art meets history project.  Each student had to impersonate a wax sculpture of an assigned historical figure, and then recite a memorized spiel on that person when their “button” was pushed.  Interesting.  Meanwhile, Crystal, my slightly agoraphobic wife, was about to go crazy because of the packed hallways at the school.  You, on the other hand, get to enjoy it from the comfort of wherever you are.

Friend not Fish Video Update

To all those who are waiting for the official Friend not Fish 2008 Video to be released, I have hit a milestone.  An essential piece of my editing studio was broken for a couple of months…it has now been repaired by Sony, and is back in my hands.  My first order of business was to capture all of the footage into my editing suite so I can continue to get this done.  I’m making it my highest priority now…well, after all the other higher priority items. :)  It’s my highest priority video project, now, though.

Stay tuned…I’ll keep posting updates as I progress.  It should be a good one this year.  Thanks for your patience.  In the meantime, here is a little pic from Hawaii this past January…a couple of whale tails to tide you over for the FNF08 video.

whale tail

The Blue Angels, Brian Terwilliger style

Wow.  Brian Terwilliger, the director and producer of the great aviation documentary film One Six Right, has done it again.  This time in a very high quality web vignette about his history and his media ride with the Navy jet demonstration team, the Blue Angels.  I can’t say any more that you won’t get from seeing, so just watch “Flying Full Circle”.

Feel free to watch it here if you’re pressed for time, but if not, do yourself a favor and watch (or download) a higher quality version at Brian’s site.  Enjoy.

Xbox 360 Gets a Facelift

xboxLogo

As E3 continues, we got some updates yesterday from Microsoft on the future of the Xbox 360.  It turns out the with the Fall release, a lot of changes are coming.  First, for the first time in history (according to the release), a major consumer device will get a complete makeover for free through the power of software.  Essentially, every Xbox 360 that’s out in the wild right now will get a free upgrade this fall that will essentially change the experience without having to buy a new console.  This is the beauty of software. 

Over the last several years, Microsoft has released new versions of the console, integrating new hardware such as larger disk drives and HDMI connectivity, all the while, the underlying platform has stayed the same.  This fall, Microsoft will release a free software update that is in some ways akin to releasing a new console…but nobody will have to purchase anything new.  The update is not just glitz and frosting, either, as far as I can tell right now.  One of the things that will change is the culmination of an exclusive partnership just announced at E3 between Xbox and Netflix, wherein if you are an Xbox Live subscriber (who isn’t…I’ll get to that in a second) and a Netflix subscriber, you will have an online queue in Netflix that you can add movies and TV shows to.  Then, from a TV connected to an Xbox 360, you can choose to watch these movies, and they will begin to stream…starting in as little as 30 seconds.  This isn’t a new idea…I know.  Heck, even Microsoft has been enabling this scenario through Media Center for years, but this partnership and integrated experience, along with a lot of new content available through the Live Marketplace, is a giant step toward true Living Room Integration (LRI) and Home Theater Integration (HTI).  Alright…I just made those terms up…but it works, right?

So…first a quick note about Xbox Live.  Also announced at E3 was that Xbox Live Membership has doubled both of the last two years.  Last year from 3 Million to 6 Million, and this year again to 12 Million.  It’s becoming sort of the de facto TV/gaming-based community…and even now encompasses PC gamers (released last year).  I think with the momentum behind Live, great things are to come.  Now, back to this upgrade.

Also, as part of the upgrade, the whole 360 interface will change from the innovative, but aging crisscross interface to something more carousel-like.  This type of interface is something that Microsoft has been working on for years an years…I remember seeing prototypes of carousel interfaces aimed at Windows (way before Vista) over 5 or 6 years ago.  It looks like an incarnation of that has made it to the Xbox in what looks to be a pretty effective and cool looking UI.

Microsoft is calling this the “New Xbox Experience”, and you can read about what has been announced so far here.  But the highlights are:

  • Tons of new games, including some sequels to established or up-and coming franchises, including
    • Rock Band 2
    • Guitar Hero World Tour
    • Gears of War 2
    • Fable II
    • Resident Evil 5
    • A new Scene It
    • etc.
  • A new “interactive game show” system through Xbox Live produced by the makers of “Deal or No Deal”
  • Live Parties
  • Create customized avatars (a la the Nintendo Wii, but better looking)
  • Tons of new media content (TV shows and Movies) through both Netflix and the Live Marketplace
  • Of course, the new User Interface

Here is a video showing a trailer for the update…

Video: Xbox 360 New Experience Trailer XboxFront

My new flight video

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m producing an aviation podcast at www.studentpilotcast.com.  I’ve just released a video for the video podcast feed.  It’s basically my first video episode, and is kinda cool, so I thought I would post it here as well. 

I realize there is a problem with the video when the prop is in the shot (I cover this in the video itself).  They’re getting better, though.  Stay tuned.


SPC Video #002-On My Own from Bill Williams on Vimeo.