Federico Pistono

Yesterday I was ready to leave for the COP15, hoping to get some good footage, meet interesting people for my posts and documentary, and eventually have my voice heard, particularly regarding the issue of water.

Coming here in Copenhagen was, at first, a bit disappointing. With the Danish text leaked, negotiations looking dark, Bella Centre closed, protests and police all over the city... I felt like my coming here (and subsequent Co₂ emissions) was less and less valuable than I originally expected.

Then, like a thunder in the sky, my video "COP15 Priority number one" was featured on the Home Page of YouTube. It got 45,636 views in less than two days and became #99 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Non-profits & Activism - Italy.

Now, while this may sound like a pleasant and promising news, it also comes at a price. Right now it has about 200 comments, which is what's left of the hundreds of insults, brainless and mistyped shouts that I received. Somehow, the intelligence of the YouTube comments never ceases to amaze me, which reminds me a great strip from XKCD:

If it was extremely improbable that any of the world leaders saw this video, now it's becoming a bit more likely. A little bit. And if hundres of hate comments are the price to pay, it's alright. I can take it.

p.s. This article was crossposted TH!NK ABOUT IT - Climate Change blogging competition..

A few weeks ago I made a short video for the YouTube/CNN debate, asking to include water in the list of priorities at the COP15.

I was surprised to see an excerpt of my video in the official reel, which has been viewed more then 170 thousand times.

The two winners will be selected by public voting on YouTube from Nov 6-30, and may be aired in front of world-leaders and decision makers in this global TV debate on climate change. If you want to vote for my video follow these instructions:

• Go to http://www.youtube.com/cop15
• Click "vote"
• search for a specific video and write "Priority number one"
• Vote with the thumb up (green button)

:D

p.s. This article was crossposted on the TH!NK ABOUT IT - Climate Change blogging competition.

I finally finished and presented my thesis. I'm releasing the work under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution – Noncommercial – Share Alike Works 3.0 license.

Abstract

This dissertation will cover the basics of video encoding and distribution over TCP/IP, focusing on Open Source technologies and the future prospects of podcasting and video fruition in general. Particular attention will be given to the state of the art technology (MPEG-4 Part 10 specifications) and the new possibilities of HTML5 and the integration of the patent-free video codec Ogg Theora.

Downloads

• Download the PDF from the internet archive
• View it on Issuu

DL YouTube HD

Drag this link to your bookmarks bar, use it to download the 720p version of a YouTube video. Name it .mp4, it's H.264, 1280 x 720 with AAC, Stereo (L R), 44,100 kHz, ready for iTunes, Apple TV, MPlayer et cetera.

Enjoy! ^_^