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Ladies and gentlemen, start your downloads. XBMC 8.10 Atlantis—the release that's bringing the popular media center to all platforms and integrating XBMC with Mac apps like iTunes and iPhoto—is officially available. For a closer look at what you can expect, check out our screenshot tour of XBMC Atlantis.

Adam Pash

Ladies and gentlemen, start your downloads. XBMC 8.10 Atlantis—the release that's bringing the popular media center to all platforms and integrating XBMC with Mac apps like iTunes and iPhoto—is officially available. For a closer look at what you can expect, check out our screenshot tour of XBMC Atlantis.

Adam Pash

Fujifilm today announced the US introduction of the Instax 200 and ISO 800 instant film. While the...(author unknown)

You may have noticed that the video of Burn-E I embedded looked a bit better than a normal YouTube video. YouTube has been quietly offering high-quality versions of some of their videos for quite some time via a "watch in high quality" link just underneath the player. It's not HD, but it's definitely an upgrade of YouTube's legendarily crappy video quality. By default all videos on YouTube and embedded on other sites load at normal quality, but there's a way to set your default viewing quality to high, link to high quality video, embed HQ video, and even save HQ videos for later viewing.

Set your default viewing quality to high:
When you're logged in, go to Account / Playback Setup / Video Playback Quality and set the option to "I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it's available."

Linking to YouTube videos in high quality:
If you need to link to a high quality video on your blog, append &fmt=18 onto the end of the YouTube URL, like so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuqiGrWBRqE&fmt=18

Upon arriving at the YouTube page, you'll see the highest quality video that YouTube pushes out. The full technical details are available here...basically it's a mp4 encoded using H.264 with stereo AAC sound at 480x360.

Embedding high quality YouTube videos:
The &fmt=18 trick doesn't work here, but a similar trick does. For each of the URLs in the embeddable code that you get from YouTube, add &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 onto the end, like so:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MuqiGrWBRqE&hl=en&fs=1 &ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MuqiGrWBRqE&hl=en&fs=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Saving high quality YouTube videos:
When you're viewing a high quality video on YouTube, you can use the KeepVid bookmarklet to download the mp4 file for later viewing on your computer, iPod, or iPhone. I tested this with the Burn-E video and the resulting mp4 was in letterbox format (480x198, or roughly the standard 2.40:1 aspect ratio).

BTW, here's a comparison of the low and high quality for the same video.

Low quality:

High quality:

Sources: Yahoo! Tech, jimmyr.com, My Digital Life.

Update: I switched the example videos and code because YouTube took the Burn-E video down.

Update: I got an email from a YouTube engineer who tells me that format 18 isn't even the highest quality you can get. Check out Dancing Matt in format 22, aka 720p. Furthermore, some videos don't have a format 18 version (if the uploaded movie doesn't have sufficient quality, for instance). (thx, phil)

jason@kottke.org

The United States' 44th President will be a Mac user, as President-Elect Barack Obama and his children have been revealed as having two MacBooks for personal use. Newsweek notes that Michelle Obama, the soon-to-be First Lady, recently purchased the two MacBooks so Barack and his two daughters can video-chat while he is on the road, something likely to be frequent in his new position....(author unknown)

Faced with an onslaught of criticism, SEPTA officials stepped up efforts yesterday to explain the agency's performance Friday, when the transit system was overwhelmed by riders attending the Phillies victory parade.(author unknown)

Apple on Tuesday released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility 2.3, which it says extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto í08 for the following cameras: Canon EOS 50D, Nikon D90, Sony DSLR-A900, and Nikon Coolpix P6000. Apple also noted that the update also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability. The 4MB update is available via the Web as well via the Softw...(author unknown)

Filed under: Aftermarket, SEMA, Time Warp

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Foose Terracuda

Only Chip Foose could make brown look so good. The story goes that one of his customers brought in a Breitling watch and asked Chip to make his car the same color. This was the result, a 1970 Plymouth Barrauda painted in Terracuda Brown with California Gold stripes, both of which are part of Foose's new line of paints developed with BASF. The Terracuda is much more than just the paint, however, and is up to the high standard that is common among all Foose vehicles. The unibody of the original car was removed and replaced with a custom frame designed by Chip and built by Art Carr, and every panel of the car has been changed in some way. The front axle has been moved forward three inches to create less of an overhang, and the rear bumper has been cut down and tucked in. Under the hood is Mopar's 392ci crate engine that is mated to a Tremec 5-speed transmission and a Ford 9-inch rear end. The interior is completely custom as well, with Ferrari leather covering carbon fiber seats. Last of all, a set of Foose-designed wheels were added and painted to match the rest of the car.

Gallery: SEMA 2008: Foose Terracuda

SEMA 2008: Chip Foose unveils his latest creation, the Terracuda originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drew Phillips

The throngs were so overwhelming that fans climbed trees and lightposts to catch a glimpse of their favorite players passing by. The anticipation was so intense that the crowds let loose a giant roar as a Philadelphia Parking Authority tow truck went down the parade route before the procession began. And the screaming was so relentless that one clever street vendor sold cough drops.(author unknown)

After 25 years of drought and two days of too much rain, Philadelphia has its championship. It felt like a dream, but it wasn't. You are wide awake and the Phillies really are World Series champions. They beat the weather and the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, to earn just the second title in franchise history.(author unknown)