I wrote this article because many people benefitted from my previous article about this issue regarding what I learned when encoding video for Byteful Video. This article is a followup to that article. However, if you don’t create video, you can safely skip this article; and in the next article we will return to our regularly-scheduled travel programming.

First of all, while researching this article I was shocked at what I discovered versus what I’d heard. It seems there’s a lot of confusion around video, and that’s not surprising considering how absurdly complex it can be. Today, I’d like to clear away the confusion and openly show how I solved this problem one and for all.

When I set out to write this article originally, I thought that the popular video encoding program Handbrake was the solution to the dreaded H.264 gamma brightness bug that has been plaguing video creators for years. And if you export video to H.264, you’ve probably heard of this problem.

Basically, when you export a video from Quicktime Pro as H.264, the resulting video is brighter than the original, and usually it looks horrible.

Yet I’d heard this problem was easily solved using Handbrake because it used a different encoder than Quicktime, namely the award-winning x264 encoder. Yet after conducting various tests, I was able to repeatedly demonstrate that using Handbrake does not solve the brightness bug at all. It doesn’t desaturate the colors as some methods do, but it isn’t the solution. Here’s a simple animation that alternates between a frame from my original uncompressed video and the same frame from Handbrake’s version of the video:

The main problem with this gamma shift (sometimes referred to as a color shift) is that your video’s black levels become unrealistic, and you loose the ability to have rich shadows. And in case you’re curious, this was done using a slight variant on the iPod encoding preset included in Handbrake, and these results mean that Handbrake decides to treat gamma in the same inaccurate way that Quicktime Pro does. Therefore, it would never be able to solve my problem.

So now that Handbrake had failed, what could I do?

Then it occurred to me, what if I bypassed Handbrake altogether? What if I used the x264 encoder directly with Quicktime Pro?

I decided to give it a try.

I remembered that x264 was also available as a standalone Quicktime plugin, so I did some research. At first, all I found was a stand-alone plugin from 2006, so I grabbed it off of MacUpdate. After a quick install process, I ran a few tests and exported a few different times, trying different settings each time. And, while the gamma problem was completely gone, I could not get any resulting movie files to play on any mobile devices.

Basically, I tried every variation of advanced settings, and nothing would work. This plugin simply doesn’t have the specific settings needed to create a video that will play on an iPhone or iPod.

So I had to resume my research, and I soon realized that Japan is still producing truly awesome people.

I’ll explain.

What finally saved me was a newer plugin by a Japanese guy named Takashi Mochizuki. This plugin is still based on the award-winning x264 project, but it has over ten times as many fine controls on its settings page than the other x264 plugin. This incredible beast is called x264Encoder, and it’s available on Takashi’s site, completely free.

After reading some of the documentation and conducting various tests, I finally refined a way to create flawless H.264 video that works on a variety of devices, all without any gamma bug. But before you can delve into the powerful controls of this new plugin, you have to install it and relaunch your video editor.

x264Encoder Quick Install

1. Download the plugin on Takashi’s site.
2. Copy the x264Encoder.component to Mac HD/Library/QuickTime/
   • Make sure you’re opening the Library folder at the root level of your hard drive. Don’t put it in the library folder in your Home, because that won’t work.
   • If you have trouble with installation, please read the directions that come with the plugin. Seriously.
3. Quit any video editing programs you have open because they’ll need to be relaunched to see the new Quicktime encoder you’ve just installed.
4. Open your video editing program and do one of the following:
   • In Final Cut Pro, choose:
     File menu > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion
   • In iMovie, choose:
     File menu > Export > Quicktime Tab
     Choose, Compress movie for: Expert Settings
     Click “Share”
5. Then enter the detailed settings below.

Detailed Instructions for Flawless H.264 Output

Select: “Format: Quicktime Movie”
Click “Options” button
Make sure “Video”, “Sound”, and “Prepare for Internet Streaming” are all checked.
Then, under “Prepare for Internet Streaming”, choose “Fast Start” “Settings” button.

Under Sound, click “Settings” button
Change the settings to this:
Format: AAC
Rate: Recommended
Render Settings: Quality: Normal
MPEG 4 AAC LC Encoder Settings: Target Bit Rate: 160kbps
Click “OK”

Under Video, click “Size” button
Just look at this to make sure that it’s the size you want. (I mention this because when testing, I noticed that this would default to “Compressor Native” which was too small.)
Click “OK”

Under Video, click “Settings” button (this is the really important part)
Change the settings to this:
Compression Type: x264 Encoder
Frame rate: Current
Key Frames: Automatic
UNCHECK Frame Reordering
Encoding: Best Quality (Multi-pass)
Data Rate: Restrict to 1500 kbps (if you want iPods to be able to play it)

Alternatively, you could just make your settings look like this:

Then click “Options” button at the bottom left of the window.

This is where it starts to look a little crazy, but it’s easier than it looks.
So hang in there! This is totally worth it.

Now, you will see this vast array of options:

But you don’t have to worry about setting all of this up because presets are included!

Click the “Load Preset” button at the bottom left, and a sheet will slide down.

Presets make it easy to make iPhone-ready video

If you’d like people on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (as well as the PSP and Zune) to be able to play your video, choose the “iPod Tuned” preset. (According to the x264 docs, this takes a bit longer to encode than “iPod Default”, but the results look better. It’s worth it.)

Click “OK”

And while we’re here, click on the “Values” tab to look at all the settings you don’t have to worry about because Mochizuki-san provided some excellent presets! Domo arigatou, Mochizuki-san!

The Key is Setting the Gamma

To finish up, let’s activate the color spacing tag that fixes the problem that spawned this entire situation.

Click on the “Tagging” tab and check the checkbox “Add gamma 2.2 (SD/HD content)”. Adding this gamma tag simply and elegantly solves the problem without any unnatural color filtering or adjusting. That’s why this method is superior to all other methods. No “BlackWhite” restore, brightness filter, or strange alpha channel methods are needed. This is an important point. Shifting the brightness or contrast during exporting in order to fix the gamma problem is a bad idea. Not only does the export take longer, but worse, you always lose more quality than if you hadn’t adjusted. That’s why I’m so thankful that Mochizuki-san has put so much work into this plugin.

Now that you’ve set the gamma, you’re settings are complete!

Click “OK”
Click “OK” again
Click “OK” once more

Then click “Save”, and wait. (It may take hours depending on the speed of your machine and the length of your video. I recommend that, before you spend hours encoding your entire video, that you experiment on a clip only a few seconds long to confirm that it looks the way you want it.)

The result? Beautifulness.

The resulting video will not only have the same brightness as the original, but it will also play back on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Also, I’ve heard that every time you use Takashi’s x264Encoder, an angel gets its wings; and although I happen not to have concrete evidence for that at the moment, you will believe me. Yes, yes you will. I thank Takashi very much, because at the end of the day, using this plugin lets me say two words I love to say.

Problem solved.

Related Articles

1. How to Fix Washed-Out H.264 Video
2. How to Encode Video for a Podcast
3. How to Make a Widescreen Movie without an HD Camera

And how would you find out?

More and more over the last few years, I’ve come across stories and first-hand accounts of how powerful intentions are, and how the intentions I hold in my mind affect more than just my own actions. I kept coming across stories about something called the Intention-Manifestation model of reality that suggested that my thoughts and intentions actually ripple out into the Universe and eventually reflect back to me, often in powerful ways. It stated that these intentions reflect back to me from the Universe itself, because the Universe is reflecting back to me the reality that’s most aligned with my thoughts and beliefs. On the surface, it seemed strange and maybe even a little crazy the first time I heard about it, but as I’ve experimented with this worldview more and more, I’ve been startled at how my life has been transformed.

So today, I’d like to share with you the story of something really inexplicable and outright weird that happened to me which wonderfully illustrates the powerful ways Intention-Manifestation can occur while travelling. And perhaps along the way, you’ll gain a new sense of curiosity and wonder for this strange universe we live in.

Many Names, One Principle

This worldview goes by a few different names, and you may have come across this theory before since discussion of it among philosophers and well-known thinkers has been growing over the past few years. The phenomenon is referred to as the Law of Attraction or the Intention-Manifestation model of reality.

Recently, this has been showing up in popular media, too. You’ve probably heard of a movie called “The Secret”, and if you haven’t, you probably will. This movie is the most popular explanation of the Law of Attraction that has emerged in the last few decades. (And for the sake of saving ink, paper, time, and my sanity, I’ll abbreviate Law of Attraction as LOA for the rest of this article.)

Beyond simply being an enjoyable movie, “The Secret” contains some pretty powerful ideas, and it’s one of the more profound movies that I’ve seen in the last few years. However, to be honest, I was pretty disappointed in the movie, because it gave a disproportionately large amount of time to how to use the LOA to become wealthy and earn more money. Perhaps the book that the movie is based off of is better, but the movie put the wrong emphasis on what the LOA truly is.

Many People throw out The Baby

Now, there’s nothing wrong with becoming wealthy; but, because of the way the movie discussed money and wealth, there’s a real danger that people will make a false association that the LOA is always about wealth and becoming rich, which it is definitely not. There are various problems that arise when you become preoccupied with the wealth-creation aspect of the LOA.

Probably the biggest problem is that, for complex reasons (which would require another article to adequately explain), people new to the LOA invariably fail to manifest the money of their dreams. So guess what they do? They throw out the entire LOA model and decide that, since they couldn’t generate wealth in x-number of days, it’s completely bogus.

Forget “throwing the baby out with the bath water” — that’s like throwing out the entire bathtub.

Over a cliff.
Onto sharks.
With lasers on their heads.

It’s not pretty.

See, the LOA basically states that every thought is an intention. That means any and every thought is an intention, including any worries, hopes, and recurrent thoughts you may have throughout the day. According to the LOA, your sum total reality is a reflection of the sum total of your thoughts/intentions; and therefore, you’re directly responsible for everything in your life.

It follows then, that to change your life, you have to change your thoughts, right?

Yep!

Easy?

No.

It’s pretty darn difficult, because to change your thoughts, you have to reevaluate, and sometimes completely rebuild, your belief frameworks (or core belief systems).

I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Challenging your belief frameworks, and growing from that, is one of the hardest tasks you can ever take on. But there’s no rush, and over the longterm fewer things are more rewarding than challenging your belief frameworks and growing from the experience.

An Interesting side note

Recently it’s come to my attention that this principle may even be hinted at in the Gospel of Mark in reference to prayer. I’ll quote the relevant part of chapter 11, and you can come to your own conclusions:

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

~ Yehoshua of Nazareth
As chronicled in the Gospel of Mark 11:20-24 (NKJV)

Story Preface: Expectations Restrict You

So now that you’ve just had a beginner’s crash course in what the LOA is, I can preface my story.

I feel really lucky that this particularly inexplicable thing happened to me, because it clearly demonstrated to me, first hand, that the real key when using the LOA is to not hold specific expectations about the outcome of what you want to happen. I’ve found that, once I’m clear about what I want, any attachment to a particular outcome limits the LOA from working as it should.

Basically, expectations I hold about how something will manifest actually minimize the chance of anything manifesting in a profound way.

Instead, I found that if I have faith that what I need will come to me in its own perfect time, and I remain very flexible about how and when it will arrive (i.e., not placing specific expectations on outcomes), intentions manifest into realities a heck of a lot faster, and in more compelling ways.

Recently, I saw this summarized beautifully on twitter:

Attachment is the enemy of manifestation.
~ Steve Pavlina

And frankly, I never would have believed that my thoughts actually have a such a profound, and inexplicably-fluid, effect on my reality… until I began to experience it for myself. But I never could have experienced the LOA at work in my own life until I started relaxing my own beliefs about reality a bit. For instance, I started asking myself questions like, “What if this really is how reality works? What if I don’t understand the link between my mind and my reality as well as I thought?”

Once I opened myself up to the possibility, some weird things started happening to me. Some wonderful, weird things. The story below is one such example.

How I Manifested a Solution in 60 Seconds Flat

So how did I solve my travel dilemma in 60 seconds flat using the LOA? Well, the following story happened to me just last month, and it’s an excellent example of the LOA at work.

I had just set out on a long bicycle trip out of Madison. I’d carefully packed my travel inventory into my pack and attached the pack to my bike’s rack using some handy bungee cords. After biking for a few minutes, I suddenly remembered that I’d forgotten something crucially important.

My front tire’s air pressure had been low for a few days, and I’d meant to stop somewhere and fill it up the day before. I’d forgotten, which resulted in a very interesting dilemma:

1. I could go back and fall way behind schedule.
2. Or I could press on but risk ruining my wheel’s rim if the tire lost any more pressure.

Don’t you just love dilemmas?

Just 60 Seconds later

After stopping (in my mind) and screaming “KAHN!!!” to the sky (again, in my mind), I thought to myself, “Where the heck am I going to find an air pump station around here?”

I didn’t know the far-western side of Madison that well, and the thought occurred to me that it would be really great if I ran into an opportunity to refill my front tire without spending a bunch of extra time looking for a gas station with an air pump.

Guess what happened 60 seconds later.

After arriving at the next intersection, I saw a fellow biker head towards me. For various reasons, I got the feeling that he really knew what he was doing (though not because he was wearing a spandex biking outfit, because he wasn’t, thank goodness). So as I was about to pass him, a small voice inside of me said, in a not-so-small tone, “ASK HIM ABOUT FILLING UP YOUR LOW TIRE!”

It continued, “SERIOUSLY. RIGHT NOW.”

Sigh.

I’d heard this small, still voice before, and I had the feeling that I’d regret it if I didn’t listen to its advice.

So I did.

It turned out that he actually had an air pump with him (and if you’ve done some biking, you’ll know this isn’t exactly common anymore), and he was really glad to help. He even pumped the air for me, and 30 seconds later my tire was at the correct air pressure again. I thanked him profusely. He smiled. And after saying farewell, I was on my way once again.

So what just happened there?

Let’s recap: I went from thinking about needing to fill up the air in my tire, to someone connecting an air pump to my tire in about… 60 seconds flat.

Think the Law of Attraction is crazy?

To be completely clear, I don’t expect to convince anyone anything with just one story, or even many stories for that matter. Convincing you is not my goal. My goal is to get you curious. My goal is to get you really suspicious, suspicious of your current beliefs about the way reality works. After all, if you consider yourself a true skeptic, you must be at least slightly skeptical of your own opinions and beliefs. Otherwise, how pure is your skepticism, really?

Now, challenging your belief frameworks isn’t easy. It took me time to internalize and understand this particular framework and open myself up to these kinds of possibilities. It’s easy to write off these kinds of stories if they’re perceived as isolated cases. It’s a lot harder to brush them all off as coincidences if they’re happening to you personally and things start to manifest more quickly and more often.

And that’s exactly what happens the more you open yourself up to the possibility that this is how reality actually works.

Challenging at first, but The Blanket does exist!

The concept of the LOA may sound weird, and that’s because it is. But in my experience, it works. (And I’m not alone. Many thousands, perhaps millions of people around the world also use the LOA every day. One good place to meet people who use the LOA are on discussion boards like this one.)

So the LOA may strike you as weird, but do you want to hear something that’s even weirder? If you decide that the LOA is completely impossible, that’s an intention, too. By denying the possibility of the Law of Attraction, you actually send out the intention to have the Universe reflect situations back to you that are designed to raise more doubt in you over whether the LOA is real or not. So in essence, by “deciding” that the LOA is impossible, you use the LOA against itself in your own life.

It’s like believing that, once you put a blanket over your head, you can decide it doesn’t exist because you can’t see anything!

This Wonderful Universe loves Congruency

But don’t worry. If you want to try this out yourself, you can. You just need to keep in mind that any conflicting thoughts you generate will result in conflicting realities. And conflicting realities usually cancel eachother out which results in nothing ending up manifesting. So the less conflicting your thoughts are, the better. (This is called being Congruent.)

So if you remember only 1 idea from this article, remember this:

The more time and the more you can lock onto the feeling of what it will feel like when you’re living with the results of what you want to manifest, the quicker it can manifest.

The feeling part is really important since the emotional energy behind any thought regulates how powerful the thought is. So be responsible, be congruent, and really tune into the feeling of what it will feel like once you’re living with the results of having/being/achieving what you want… and let me know how it goes!

And as far as the story goes, anything like that ever happen to you?
I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.

Funny and wonderful universe we live in, isn’t it?

Related Articles

1. How to Get Paid to Travel 1,000 miles: Craigslist
2. Travel Writers Need Time to Reflect, too.

I know. Shocking, isn’t it?

A while back, I decided to ship a package from the USA to Europe. At the time, there wasn’t a comprehensive introduction on what options you have to avoid unnecessary duty and tax charges, or how you may be able ship to Europe without requiring the recipient to pay duty charges at all. (If you don’t know what “duty” is yet, I’ll explain it in a second. For now, imagine that if you sent a gift to your poor grandmother in… France, let’s say, she couldn’t even receive the package until she paid a percentage of the gift’s value. This happens, often right when it arrives at the front door.)

So today, I’m going to write the article I wish had existed when I was doing my initial research back then.

I had a good start, though. It was logical: I made a preliminary trip to my local post office to see what would be required to send my small parcel to Europe (what would essentially be one-third of the way around the planet).

There, I learned 2 key facts:

1. All packages sent to outside the US require you to fill out a short customs form that’s affixed to the package.
2. The person receiving the package may have to pay duty.

Duty?

As I soon realized, “duty” is the name for the tax applied to goods coming into a country, which means that the recipient of the package will have to pay the postal service some money before they can receive their package. Keep in mind, this is after you have already paid to ship the item to them. If you’ve never shipped a package internationally before, I can understand if you’re confused. Here’s a snippet of the conversation I had with the attendant at the Post Office:

“Well, how much is duty? What if this is a gift? Would they charge for that?”, I asked.

“Sometimes a country charges even if the package is a gift. I don’t know how much duty tax would be because I don’t work for US Customs. Perhaps you should do an internet search,” she replied.

So, I did some digging.

What it takes to be Duty-Free

I spent hours scouring the net, learning as much as I could, and I found many conflicting stories about how much European duty tax (if any) my recipient would have to pay.

I finally found some solid answers when I discovered the Exemptions for Sending Gifts page on Export.gov which states that zero duty and taxes is applied to a package if it’s a gift and the value of the gift is less than 45 Euros. (At the time of this writing, that converts to $60.88 USD.)

That meant that if the value of the contents of my package were under about $60, my recipient wouldn’t have to pay to receive their package!

I felt relieved.

(For up-to-date currency conversions, I recommend XE.com. Also, be aware that Export.gov has been known to change its site’s address-structure before, which means that this link may break. If it does, please let me know. And then go to the Logistics page and search around for “import fee” or “gift”.)

Some Other Things to Keep in Mind

Through my research, I also collected some additional info that you should keep in mind when shipping to Europe. I’ve summarized them below:

1. It’s easier and faster to get a package to a large city than a small village.
2. Keep the time difference in mind (for instance, Chicago’s time is currently 7 hours earlier than Paris).
3. Most European countries do not deliver on Saturdays.
4. Expect the unexpected. Europeans have many holidays and many offices close around Christmas and New Years.
5. Europeans usually have at least 4 weeks of vacation time so check that your recipient isn’t on vacation.
6. Certain items such as alcohol and perfume have more duty restrictions.
7. If you’re sending something less specific, you can avoid duty altogether by using a gift company based in the EU.

Controversy, Contradictions, & Debates around Duty Tax

I also came across some firsthand accounts of people’s experiences with shipping to Europe, especially when sending gifts. As with most research, I came across contradicting stories. And some, such as Jean-Francois Dufour on this photography forum, claim that the stated value of the package doesn’t matter as much as the stated contents of the package.

But what if your package isn’t a gift, or it’s valued over 45 Euros?

Some information about how much you can expect to pay if your package is valued over 45 Euros can be found on this thread. Although the original poster is in Germany, the thread applies to all of the European Union since Germany is a member of the EU.

Beyond the Seas

I was lucky. What I was sending had a value less than $60, so I knew my recipient wouldn’t need to pay just to receive their package. And as I was filling out the customs form and addressing the package, I imagined the journey this little package would take, over land and through the air, utilizing many modern-miracles as it made its way to a land… beyond the seas.

No posts relate.

I’ve found this to be true again and again, especially last year when I traversed over 6,000 miles (nearly 10,000 km) as I explored all around the western half of the United States. And through discussions with people I met along the way, I realized people’s prejudices and perceptions tend to highly limit to what they think they can do. I realized that people usually perceive travel as being a luxury commodity, something prohibitively expensive and best experienced in short one or two-week bursts.

Dingo’s Kidneys!

That kind of thinking arises out of an uncreative mindset that has closed its eyes to an array of viable options. There are lots of ways to travel to the destination of your dreams without spending nearly as much money as you think. As Rolf Potts says in his pioneering work “Vagabonding”, going off and motorcycling across China for 6 months is actually a heck of a lot cheaper than you think, and it may even be cheaper than staying where you are!

So today I’m going to explain my method for dramatically reducing the cost of travelling from Point A to Point B, as well as how you might even make some money from doing it, like I did. Today, let’s talk about Craigslist rideshare.

6,000 Miles of Success

Last year, I utilized Craigslist with great success. In fact, about 90% of those 6,000 miles mentioned above were traversed through Craigslist rides. If you’re not familiar with Craigslist, it’s a website that allows you to post classified advertisements to easily get a lot of eyeballs on what you have to say, usually a request or an offer of some sort. With the exception of a few select categories like real estate for the most populous cities, Craigslist ads are completely free to post.

You may already be familiar with areas on Craigslist that help you find housing or sell your car, but increasingly, people are using it to find carpool and rideshare partners. By using the Craigslist rideshare page, I was able to travel thousands of miles around the western half of the USA without having to worry about bringing a car along (and all the maintenance, parking, and security concerns that arise from that). And I plan on doing this again in the future.

Does the thought of using Craigslist to share rides seem strange to you?

Why should it? Many many people around the world do this exact thing every day and benefit greatly from it. I’ve used it for about two years and have never had a negative experience using it. I originally found out about this section of Craigslist via word of mouth, and judging from how it’s grown over the past year, people are recommending this service to their friends more and more. Perhaps that’s because the people I’ve met through Craigslist are very kind and more open than the average person you’d meet. They have families and friends just like you, and they’re just trying to save some gas money as they go from Point A to Point B. That’s why the system works. So now that you know why, let’s talk about how.

How Craigslist Rideshare Works:

1. Go to www.Craigslist.org
2. Watch the site automatically redirect you to the Craigslist page for the city nearest you. Or you can choose a specific city from the: Craigslist Sites List
3. Click “rideshare” under “community”, which is on the top left. (Alternatively you can just add “/rid/” to the end of the URL.)
4. Browse the listings and find a ride going where you want. (You may also want to use your browser’s “Find” function to search for all instances that your city’s name appears on the page.)
5. Click the email link above the entry and email the driver that you’re interested in sharing a ride with.
6. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 a few times to increase your chances for a quick response.
7. Wait.

Sometimes people who post rideshare ads won’t get back to you for a few days, so if they provide any other contact info besides the anonymous email address that Craigslist provides, try contacting them via that method first. I’ve had more success this way.

Alternatively, you can also post an ad of your own, free of charge, on Craigslist to request or offer a ride. Just be sure to post in the Craigslist site for the city you’re departing from. And if you’re really in a hurry, I recommend you do both: post an ad requesting a ride as well as email anyone offering a ride to your destination. Doing both will dramatically raise your chances of leaving sooner.

Once you’ve contacted someone via email or exchanged phone numbers, plan a time to meet up before your carpool. This isn’t always possible, but it’s recommended for journeys longer than a couple hours. Usually fuel expense is split evenly between all people who will be riding, but occasionally a generous driver will offer a ride free of charge. (Some people just want conversation during a long ride.)

So how could you actually make money from this?

The way I made money using this amazing service was initially accidental. I had been checking Craigslist for a few days, trying to find a ride out of Denver to the Chicago area. Sometimes, around holidays especially, finding a ride to a distant city can take a week and occasionally longer. That’s why it’s important to have a backup plan (or be more flexible), however I’ve found that timing tends to work out for the best in the end.

This case was no exception. I found a posting on Craigslist by a woman who was moving from Denver to Chicago, but she didn’t enjoy driving on the freeways. “What a great circumstance,” I thought. “I’m completely happy to drive on freeways, and I’m headed exactly that way.” After exchanging a few emails, I called her up and planned a time to meet up with her.

I had been using Craigslist for years before this, and this was the first time I had the opportunity to be the driver. This situation is quite rare, and about 99% of all ride offers do not require you to drive, or even have a drivers license.

Run Craigslist riders past your Intuition

Just as with any new person in your life, it’s important to run prospective passengers and drivers past your intuition (what some people think of as their “gut feeling”). Although some people tend to judge on appearance, I’ve found that even more important than appearance is the feeling a new person gives you. How do you feel after you’re done talking with them? Tired? Neutral? Confused? Energized?

A phone call is a great way to start, so when I called her up, I paid close attention to how her presence made me feel. What does my intuition say about this person? Do I feel he/she is trustworthy? Is this the kind of person I’d feel comfortable sharing a car ride with for the duration of my trip?

After running it past my intuition, I got a green light. I felt good and scheduled a time to meet up. By meeting up in person, my intuition would have a lot more data to go on, and I’d be able to examine the car I’d be driving. When I met her in person, my intuition gave me another green light, her little car started up right away, and I had a good feeling all around. After asking her some questions about the vehicle’s condition, I concluded that it was ready for the 1,000 mile journey ahead of us. (It’s worth noting that, if you’re the driver, it’s a good idea to make sure your vehicle is up to the task BEFORE you embark.)

How I Got Paid to Travel from using Craigslist Rideshare

Here was the deal: In exchange for driving us all the way to Chicago, she would pay for all of the fuel and also offered to pay me some money for my time. I was surprised. I’d never been a paid chauffeur before, and because I didn’t see the work as being that challenging, I didn’t see it as something that provided that much value. This mental association with non-challenging work not providing much value was false, of course. I realized that since she didn’t feel at all comfortable or capable of driving on high-speed highways, I was providing a good deal of value, but I told her she could pay me whatever she felt was fair. To be honest, at that point I was still so pleasantly surprised at how things were working out — still rather amazed at that the universe brought me an opportunity to go 1,000 miles for free — that anything beyond that was metaphorical icing on my metaphorical travel-cake.

And So I Drove All 1,000 Miles… in One Day

We were both lucky to have found each other, and without Craigslist this never would have happened. If she hadn’t found me, she said she would have had to pay for another driver’s plane ticket back to Denver. Lucky for her, I was heading back home; and lucky for me, she was heading my way.

We set out as early as possible, and I drove the entire 1,000 miles in about 17 hours. It would have been faster, but she had a dog… and dogs have needs. (Note to self: Intend that no future rides involve pets that have to stop for “bathroom” breaks…)

But all things considered, it worked out incredibly well.

Expand your Comfort Zone

Doing something like using Craiglist rideshare to find a carpool partner may be beyond your comfort zone right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. You have a lot more freedom that you realize; and in my experience, the worldview you’re used to seeing on TV is not an accurate representation of what America (or the rest of the world for that matter) is actually like.

Just turn off your TV and see the world is nicer than you thought.
~ Elijah Wald

As I said at the beginning of this article, many many people do this around the world every day, and every Craigslist experience I’ve ever had was positive. These are people with families and friends, just like you. These are people who are trying to get from Point A to Point B, just like you. That being said, if you’re going on an especially long trip like I did, it would be wise to meet up with the person beforehand to make sure you’d be comfortable being in the car with them for most of the day. But remember, that they would use Craigslist to find a ride says something about them as a person. It says something about their beliefs about the common goodwill between people and the confidence they have in themselves. The amount of people using this service who are really fearful is about nil, and that’s something I like about it.

And although I can’t comment (yet) on how effective Craigslist is outside of the USA, I’ve heard that it’s useful in Europe, as well. As I said before, the people I’ve met through Craigslist are usually very kind and more open than the average person you’d meet. In fact, every Craigslist ride I’ve ever had has felt safer than being on a city bus, and do you realize how many people ride the bus every day without even thinking about it? I guess that explains why people who have used Craigslist rideshare once tend to use it again and again because they have good experiences.

Who knows, perhaps someday we’ll live in a world where no one has to utter the word “Greyhound” ever again. What a world that would be…

Step Into the Freedom that was Always There

Why not open yourself up to travelling via Craigslist instead of driving next time you have to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco or from Chicago to Minneapolis? Or even for a shorter trip like Seattle to Portland? You’ll be saving a lot of fuel (which is environmentally responsible) and you’ll be stretching yourself a bit. Who knows, a new friendship might even arise from it!

Have you ever noticed that crossing beyond your comfort zone gives you a rush, sometimes lasting a few days afterward? You get this feeling because a part of you knows expanding your comfort zone is for your higher good (and one of the best uses of your time).

You have a lot more freedom than you exercise. Start stepping into that untapped freedom today, while you still have the chance.

The whole world calls out to you.

Related Articles

1. How I Solved my Travel Dilemma in 60 Seconds using the Law of Attraction
2. Top 7 Reasons Why You Should NOT Travel, Ever.

If you haven’t, you’re really missing out on a great opportunity. Some of the most unique photos I’ve ever taken were through spontaneous, wacky, and unconventional uses of my camera. Today I’m going to share a very different way to take a photo, a technique that I stumbled upon when my mind was in a state of play. Today, I’m going show you how to literally paint with light on your camera’s sensor (or film if you’re still into that) to produce some truly unique images.

Being Crazy & Shameless

For this shoot, I’d returned to the dock where I’d photographed the Rainbow Rocks over a year before, but this time I wanted to do something really different. With modern auto-focus and light metering, any cross-eyed orangutan can take a decent photo of a tree, and even a child can frame a photo pretty well these days. But it takes a slightly odd human being, such as myself, to do something a little crazy without being ashamed about it; and to be honest, I felt bored with the idea of taking photos in the conventional way.

I had taken thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of rather conventional photos before. (A good example of a rather conventional photo is this intimate macro shot of warm autumn leaves and pine needles nestled inside of a hollowed-out log. Great photo, but not any territory that hasn’t been covered before.)

In the past, I’d taken advantage of everything I could think of, always aiming for an image that gives people a new perspective, or at least an image that they find pleasing. But this time I wanted to do Something Different™, and yes, something a little crazy. In the process, I inadvertently started painting with light, creating abstract and perspective-altering images by smearing the light as it hit the sensor.

So how did I do this?
And subsequently, what do I highly recommend you try?

How to Camera Dash

First, I increased my camera’s shutter length to 1/20th of a second and sometimes as long as 1/13th of a second depending on the light around me. How long your shutter length should be depends on your lighting situation, but if you’re not getting results, try increasing your shutter length. Secondly, holding tightly to my camera’s gripping area, I literally flung my arm around, and took a photo as the camera was moving quickly through the air. Timing is key. I tried a lot of different things, sometimes rotating the camera and sometimes diving the camera near the grass to get a warping effect. The photo to the right is a good example of a dive.

It’s important to point out that this technique is different from letting go of your camera and actually tossing it into the air. I do not recommend camera tossing at all! Camera tossing puts your camera at great risk of falling and breaking into a thousand shiny pieces. I’m not a fan of shattering expensive cameras, and I suspect you aren’t either.

Camera Dashing is Much Safer

My technique, which could be called Camera Dashing, is much safer. The difference between this and camera tossing is that you maintain a strong grip on your camera as you make arcs, rotations, and dives through the air while pressing the shutter. (Keeping the camera wrist strap on is definitely recommended.) And although it takes some practice to get the timing right, you should also try quickly rotating your camera as you take the photo which can produce some interesting results. A good example of a rotation is the photo of the forest on the right.

It’s the Safest Form of Kinetic Photography

I later found out that this is actually an example of Kinetic photography, which is photography composed wherein a specific effect is caused by motion. However, because you never let go of your camera when doing this technique, Camera Dashing is the safest form of Kinetic photography that I know of. As long as you know your own strength, the risk is minimal!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments. This doesn’t take long to get the hang of, and it produces some very interesting results.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and paint with light!

Be Crazy.

Be Shameless.

And most of all, have fun!

— — —
Photos from this trip are in the Camera Dashing in the Abstract Forest album. All photos in the Byteful Gallery can be used as desktop wallpapers because they are high resolution (1920×1440) just like the fullscreen & widescreen wallpapers.

Related Articles

1. How to Make a Widescreen Movie without an HD Camera
2. Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Doesn’t Like Your Camera. We can change this.

Where was I?
Ah yes, Creativity.

In the last article, we discussed how beneficial it is to reflect the attitude that the Master Creators hold by being aligned with passion when we create; and how creative output, when produced this way, tends to be much more impactful and relevant. A few days ago, a visual summary of that message, a high-resolution image that can be printed out or used as a desktop wallpaper, was uploaded to the Byteful Gallery. Behold, Walt Disney’s famous words:

“We don’t make movies to make money,
we make money to make more movies.”
~ Walt Disney

So beautiful in its simplicity. So rewarding to contemplate.

I won’t lie to you, it takes a lot of effort to get to that place in your own life, but it’s one of the most worthwhile accomplishments you can ever make.

As I said in the last InspirationEverywhere entry, it’s important that you be patient with yourself and remember that everyone is a work in progress. Along that journey of self-improvement, Disney’s words serve as a useful guide of what it really feels like to be aligned with your passion. You see, what Disney is really describing here is his company’s alignment with three things: what they enjoy doing, what work they feel is important, and what other people enjoy.

Let’s deconstruct that for a minute. If Disney didn’t enjoy what he was doing, he wouldn’t really care about making movies that exemplified timeless lessons. If he didn’t feel that the messages could benefit people, he wouldn’t create movies at all. And if other people didn’t enjoy the movies, he simply wouldn’t have the resources to make more.

A Positive Spiral

Another way to describe being truly aligned with passion is the idea of a positive spiral. If you were doing the work you really loved (work that also fed/clothed you), you’d allow yourself really dive into that work, wouldn’t you? And what would happen to your skill level? You would improve in that work, wouldn’t you? Which means your level of contribution would increase, which would in turn increase the amount of people who benefitted from your work. And this would increase your income, thereby freeing you up more and more to increase the quality of your creative output. This is the positive creative spiral: a place of alignment and congruency with who you truly are.

Today, make it your aim to create a positive spiral in your own life. To help facilitate this process, you can print this poster out and put it somewhere you’ll see it so you can be reminded of his message everyday: Disney Quote – “We don’t make movies to make money…”

— — —
The poster of this quote is in the Byteful Gallery > InspirationEverywhere Motivational Quotes album. Selected Quotes from the gallery are now available on T-shirts and mugs at the Byteful Store. (Specific quotes added upon request.)

Related Articles

1. Create with Passion or DIE
2. It Takes A Long Time to Become Fully You
3. Your Chances of Success
4. Personal Development for Smart People & Travel
5. Find Inspiration Everywhere with Quotes

A lesser-known alternative to these sites is to purchase a standby ticket, which can be profoundly less expensive. AirTech.com is probably the most well known standby ticket hub. They sell transatlantic flights from Europe to the USA and vice versa (and even flights to Hawaii). Taking a standby flight can be MUCH cheaper than any other option. You may not be familiar with how a standby ticket works, and you should understand the concept before you buy one.

How a Standby Ticket Works

1. You purchase a standby ticket from AirTech.com or directly from the airline.
2. You get a range of dates that your flight will leave. Usually this is a 4-day window. (So flexibility is required.)
3. Call the airline the night before the day of your intended departure to confirm your ticket.
4. Arrive at the airport at least 1 hour early, 2 hours early for international flights. (Keep in mind there is a very real chance you’ll be bumped to another flight, such is the nature of standby, so be open to finding accommodations for the day after, just in case.)
5. Don’t check in any luggage unless absolutely necessary. There’s a chance your bags will leave on a different plane than you do (though to the same destination). You’ll be reunited with them eventually, but it’s better to take a carry on. Plus, travelling light lends itself to a more relaxed trip overall.
6. Stay at your airline’s gate and listen carefully for your name to be called.
7. Board the plane feeling awesome that you saved a lot of money.

You Gotta Want It

Airplane Travel Kits for Men

Basically, flying standby means your ticket is fulfilled when an extra seat is available on a plane to your destination. That means being ready to jump on a flight at almost any time during the day and sometimes having to wait until the next day. So a standby ticket requires you to be flexible. To guarantee you’ll get a flight, AirTech gives you a 4-day window, though it’s extremely rare to have to wait 4 days.

When you do finally settle on a date and departure city, be mindful of the comments listed under Airtech’s “seat availability” page. Sometimes (and this is rare) tax is not included in the ticket price displayed, and is an extra charge. The comments will contain all this information. The departure cities are also limited to the cities listed on the site, but if you save a few hundred dollars (or if you’re already living in a departure city) this can still be the smartest option. Be aware of the pros and cons, and you can save a lot of money.

Research Pays Off

Depending on your situation, standby tickets can be the cheapest option, especially if you’re staying with a friend in the area or live near the airport. A prime example of savings is the difference between a ticket from Minneapolis, MN to Amsterdam. During an off-season like September the best price you could get from a ticket aggregator (like Kayak.com) is $618. The trip on the same day costs $359 on AirTech.com.

While standby tickets aren’t the answer to every situation, they’re an option you shouldn’t overlook. With some research, you could very well save hundreds of dollars.

And it turns out there are some excellent books on saving money when flying, so below I’ve made a little Amazon box filled with those books. The book “Discount Airfares: The Insiders’ Guide” looks particularly interesting, and it currently has 4.5 stars on Amazon.

If you use a link below, a small percentage of your purchase goes to Byteful Travel which allows me to continue providing all of Byteful Travel’s content available free of charge. And if you do purchase something through a link below, you have my deepest thanks.

Now go, and embrace your freedom!

No posts relate.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going to the Great Pyramids or only to a local museum, your travel inventory always has the potential to make or break your mood during a given trip. For instance, if you plan a hiking trip and neglect to bring any rain gear, you’re not going to be a happy camper when a thunderstorm comes looming over your head. But you also wouldn’t want to be hauling around 60 lb (or if you’re cool, 30 kilos) worth of stuff all day if you knew you probably weren’t going to use half of it. The solution becomes obvious: Balance. Just as you are balancing between too challenging and not challenging when you work in the flow or balancing between a huge file size and low video quality when encoding video for a podcast, balance is also key when creating your travel inventory.

Your Optimal Travel Inventory

Striking a balance between too much and too little is what I call your Optimal Travel Inventory. You may have heard of “travelling light”, but that implies that you’re leaving behind some things you may actually want to bring. If you travel light, you may also be leaving behind things that are more expensive if you need to buy them at your destination. Optimal Travel Inventory is finding the happy medium between bringing too much and too little.

Over the course of the past few trips I’ve made, firsthand experience has helped me refine my own Optimal Travel Inventory. To come to the list I have today, I first did some research on the what other travellers have brought on their journeys. Research is a part of my learning process again and again because I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. I am reminded of what Douglas Adams mentioned in his book, Last Chance to See:

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
~ Douglas Adams

As funny as this quotation may be, it’s really only funny because of how true it is, but I didn’t want it to be true of me.

Wheel’s Already Invented

Research is how I avoid reinventing the wheel, and through my research I found it very helpful to contrast other’s inventories. A good place to get inventory lists, as well as a cornucopia of other info, is DigiHitch.com, an extremely helpful resource for travellers, and specifically hitchhikers. Using ToboBear’s packing list as a starting point and incorporating some other lists I came across, plus my own common sense, I came up with my current travel inventory.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the following inventory was written for summer. Travel inventories are very seasonal and your needs will change depending on the season. I’ve put a strikethrough line through items in this list that I didn’t bring, but you may want to think about bringing those items depending on the size of your pack. And by buying smart you can save money as you assemble your travel inventory. For instance, under the Hygene category below, I’ve listed Dr. Bronner’s Soap, which is functions as a general soap, dishwashing soap, and shampoo — and amazingly it does all these jobs well. Believe me, I’ve tried all three.

Here’s my Inventory List from my last trip:

Carry That Weight

1. Pack that is Waterproof or has a cover.
   (I recommend an Osprey pack.)
2. Outside strap of a place to carry sleeping bag For the short time I had a sleeping bag, I was able to fit it inside my Osprey pack.
3. Sleeping bag suitable to your climate
   • in the summer this isn’t much of an issue and I actually used a silk travel sheet
   • in the winter months, do your own research to see how cold it will get. use common sense.

Wear
Wide-brimmed Hat
4 t-shirts
2 shorts
1 pair pants

Sustenance
Water bottle
Spoon/ fork/ cup/ bowl/ plate
Spork-type thing
Dry food such as:
• Nuts
• Granola Bars
• Apples
• Raisins

Tech
Camera
Notebook
Lip balm
Laptop
Map
First Aid Kit
Flashlight on AA batteries
plastic bags
Marker
Duct tape
Road Journal & pencil
Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman
lighter
watch (Used iPod.)

Entertain
playing cards (Takes up space. Only needed if you’re going to a boring place, right?)

Protection
Wide-brimmed Hat
Towel (Every traveller should know where their towel is.)
Sunglasses
3 pairs socks
3 pairs underwear
Shoes, Boots
Pajama pants & Fleece for night time
1 pair Pants
Shorts
Identification
Mace
Tent
Tarp
Some pocket money in a Chump Change Wallet
A real stash for your real cash

Hygiene
Multipurpose Soap (Dr. Bronner’s Soap is excellent)
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Soap
Dental Floss
Deodorant
Clothes line (some twine works)
Universal sink plug
Sunscreen
Chap Stick
Ear plugs
Bandages
Antiseptic
Scissors
Nail clippers
Cough drops
Breath mints or gum
Diarrhea tablets
Needle & thread
Eye drops
Hand sanitizer

I recommend an Osprey Pack

As I said above, if you’re in the market for a pack, and you want to get one that will really last, I highly recommend an Osprey pack. I’ve had mine for about two years and traveled over 6,000 miles with it (probably closer to 10,000 now) and it still doesn’t show any wear. This thing will last for years.

To give you an idea of the kinds of packs (and range of sizes) that Osprey provides, I’ve put an Amazon widget below. (And if you use a link below, a small percentage of your purchase goes to Byteful Travel which allows me to continue providing all of Byteful Travel’s content available free of charge.)

It’s All Up To You

For me, the inventory outlined in the list was a good place to start, and it was within my 48 liter pack’s optimal weight range. Every pack has an optimal range of weight, so within that range the pack will work best. If you go above that range, wearing the pack will probably be dangerous to your health, and if you go below that range, the pack will probably not fit as well.

However, this list is only meant to be considered a starting point for you. Your own Optimal Travel Inventory will be different from mine. In any case, the longer you travel and the more trips you take, the more refined your Optimal Travel Inventory will be.

At the end of the day, use common sense, and don’t bring something if you won’t use it. Be really honest with yourself. Above all, get out there and travel!

Life’s too short not to.

Related Articles

1. How I Solved my Travel Dilemma in 60 Seconds using the Law of Attraction

During my adventure to Chicago, I began consider this question:

If you’re a traveller, should you blog your adventure as the adventure is happening or should you wait and write about your adventure when things settle down or you return home?

If you decide not to blog and wait until you return home, will this allow you to become more immersed and engaged in the midst of your adventure? Or is it better to take extra time during an adventure to try and blog about your experiences as the adventure is in full swing, perhaps a couple times a week? Does having to write about your adventure, as it occurs, take you out of the element?

Option 1: Wait to Gain Perspective

Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, I chose to wait last month and probably have enough material to last me until the end of this year. Currently, I find it beneficial to wait until after an adventure to write about it. Giving my unconscious mind time to process the adventure and allowing some time to rest helps me get a better perspective on the journey as a whole. However, this clarity does come at a price: no one gets to experience the trip with me as it’s happening.

Option 2: Blog from the Road

The alternative is to take some time every day, or every few days, to reflect on the journey so far. However, creating the typical travel blog entry takes more time and more steps than you may realize. Blog entries need to be roughed out, written, refined, and corrected; and photography needs to be imported, post-processed, and uploaded. All of this takes time, and time is a funny thing. Whenever someone says “Yes” to something they must say “No” to hundreds of other alternatives.

The advantage of this method would be a higher degree of freshness to this blog. In order to pull this off, I would need to be especially careful to remain balanced. Perhaps setting aside one day a week is a good balance. During my next trip, I plan on experimenting to see what travel blogging rhythm works best for me.

Option 3: Balance Blogging and Travelling

Of course, there is always the third option, and this third option is used by many longterm travellers who blog: Do Both!

Releasing multiple updates a week, perhaps just photos, maintains interest for the reader and keeps them coming back for more. These “updates” wouldn’t be full entries, just something to keep the interest alive. Then, perhaps weekly, a travelling blogger can write a spotlight entry on a certain location they’ve been to that week, complete with pictures or a video, the whole shebang.

And there are other ways to provide fresh content, as well. By implementing Twitter into the conversation, a traveller can provide up-to-the-minute news about how their adventure is going and even teasers about what will be coming out next. I plan on using the bytefulcom twitter account in this way next time I travel, and I anticipate this little life experiment will be easy to implement since twittering from my iPod Touch is pretty effortless.

By using both techniques, the traveller can provide both refined content and more spontaneous content, therefore keeping the site fresh, but not allowing it to digress into a blog without compelling, well thought out content.

Up to You to decide

What about you? Would you wait until after a trip to write about it, try to make time while on a trip, or try to balance spontaneous with refined content?

Related Articles

1. Blogging from the iPod Touch
2. How Important Is Blogging Rhythm?
3. Ode to the Travelling Soul poem
4. Travel Writers Need Time to Reflect, too.
5. How to Shield Yourself from your Host’s Bad (or Good) Habits while Travelling

In the previous article, I mentioned that I encountered a serious problem when exporting the “Wheels, Jets, & Rails” travel video for internet distribution. If you export your video with Quicktime, you may have run into this brightness bug without realizing it. Simply put, exporting video as H.264 in Quicktime artificially brightens (or lightens, depending on who you ask) your video which makes it look very washed out and unprofessional. Though some scenes aren’t affected by this bug as much as others, it reduces the overall quality of your video. For instance, the washed out effect isn’t as visible in a snowy scene, but it’s very pronounced on a summer scene. During this article, I will assume that you already have Quicktime Pro since exporting video is a Quicktime Pro feature.

(Post-Publishing Note: New techniques to do this have been added to the bottom of this article.)

That Darn Gamma

No matter what I did, the resulting H.264 video was too bright, which is what happens when the gamma correction is set too high. (If you’re curious how gamma works, Wikipedia has an excellent description of Gamma Correction.) I wondered if using the MP4 filetype was causing the problem, but it wasn’t. Whether exported in an .mp4 or a .mov file, the resulting file was artificially brightened. To demonstrate this, I’ve used source video for an upcoming video to recreate the problem in the thumbnail on the right.

I did some research and discovered the H.264 Gamma thread on Apple Discussions where I learned that Quicktime’s H.264 encoder has had this gamma bug for about 3 years, and Apple has yet to fix this problem. Apparently, it’s caused by Quicktime forcing H.264 video to a 1.8 gamma level. There is a way, which is outlined on the thread, to correct this problem without rendering video again by using alpha transparency, but that only works on MOV files and doesn’t preserve hinting (i.e. the ability for you to start watching a video before its finished downloading).

I also heard that VisualHub does not have this problem, so I downloaded the trial version and began a series of experiments to find out what setting was best. An article from DearCali.com was very helpful, but after trying many combinations in VisualHub, the gamma problem remained in every H.264 video I exported. (Yes, even after forcing ffmpeg, you geeks.) So I did what I should have done in the beginning, I manually applied a brightness filter in Quicktime.

As far as I know, this is the most straightforward, universal, and foolproof solution to this problem.

How To Counteract the Gamma Bug

To counteract this problem, you only need to add one step your normal process. (See “How to Encode a Video for a Podcast” for specific instructions on how byteful video is exported.) Once you have your final video, open it up in Quicktime and export the movie as “Quicktime Movie” again. It’s easy to make a mistake that would result in the loss of quality here, so follow these steps closely:

1. Click “Settings” and set your Compression Type to “Apple Intermediate Codec”, and make sure your Frame Rate is set to “Current” FPS. Click “OK”.

2. Now click “Filter”. As you can see, there are many filters that you can apply to a video. Choose “Brightness” and pull the brightness to the left until it says “-7″. You may want to experiment with how much darker you want it be, but in my experience “-7″ seems to be just the right balance. Click “OK”.
3. Make sure “Sound” is checked, otherwise you won’t have any sound! Then under “Sound” click on “Settings”. The “Linear PCM” format works, but “Apple Lossless” is a smaller file so I use that. Click “OK”, and click “Save”!

The Final Export

Exporting video in Apple Intermediate Codec is much faster than most video codecs, and this is by design. This codec was designed to be an intermediate codec to work with between computers and video cameras, without having a huge file size like most DV codecs.

Once the export is done, try exporting to H.264 again. The settings outlined in “How to Encode a Video for a Podcast” result in the most compatible and highest quality video I’ve been able to achieve with the H.264 codec. As you can see, the resulting file is nearly indistinguishable from the original.

Do you have a suggestion on how to improve this article? Or have you found a better solution to this problem? I’m open to suggestions in the comments.

2008.09.21 Addendum: It’s been brought to my attention that using Compressor 3 produces similar results as the above procedure, however I have not verified this. As always, test different methods to see what works best for you.

2009.01.30 Addendum: Another technique has been brought to my attention at Ken Stone’s page. Please let me know how this works for you.

Related Articles

1. How to Encode Video for a Podcast
2. How to Fix the H.264 Gamma Brightness Bug in Quicktime FOREVER
3. How to Make a Widescreen Movie without an HD Camera
4. Minneapolis Train Ride Video
5. Wheels, Jets, & Rails Travel Video

When traveling, surroundings change constantly and can provide a constant combination of stress and inspiration. Since this magnifies any organizational problems you might have, it’s especially helpful to keep your life organized while on the move.

Optimizing the surroundings in your home and workspace is even more powerful because these environments can be refined and improved upon over time. Through smart arrangement of your surroundings you can:

1. Feel as if your living space is bigger (with the same amount of stuff)
2. Be more productive and at ease while working
3. Be more efficient in using and cleaning your equipment

Spring Cleaning

Around this time of year many people in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth practice the ageold tradition of spring cleaning. This practice probably dates back to the Persian new year which falls on the first day of Spring, but I didn’t want to wait so long. Around early January, I decided to completely reevaluate my workspace, and I’m so grateful that I did.

Let’s begin to cover how you too can learn to transmogrify your workspace.

Commanding Position

Having read Steve Pavlina’s singular work “Creating a Productive Workspace”, I understood the importance of creating a commanding position for myself. If you’re not familiar, the concept is from feng shui and it basically states that being supported from behind and open in the front creates a feeling of security. In the back of your mind, if you think someone could approach you from behind at any time, you’re less at ease and therefore less productive — even if you have a locking door. (It’s a psychological and reptilian brain type-thing.) The primary strength of having a commanding position is knowing that no one can approach you from behind — you always know where to direct your attention: forward. Many executives arrange their offices in commanding position because of this.

At first thought, it may seem awkward to face the door, but don’t knock it till you try it. Like many powerful life hacks, having commanding position is something that should be experienced to be truly appreciated and evaluated. Simply reading about it isn’t nearly enough. If you actually try a commanding position, you won’t ever want to go back to the way it used to be.

How to Inspire your Workspace in 7 Steps

Before the beginning of this year, my workspace felt as if it was literally sucking energy from me. I had been feeling it for a while, like a stuffiness that wouldn’t dissipate. The layout was cramped and not efficient at all, but I didn’t realize how inefficient it really was until later. So, I decided to reorganize my environment to create a more peaceful, relaxing, and productive workspace. As I typically like to start from a clean slate, I decided to approach the room from a completely new perspective by starting from scratch. Here are the steps I took as I literally ripped apart my home office piece by piece:

1. Imagine the Ideal Outcome. (including commanding position)
   • It can be helpful to quickly sketch out a plan for the room
2. Prepare and Disassemble room.
   • Unplug all electrical cables
   • Clear any desks
   • Move any chairs to another room
   • The more you move out of the room, the easier it is to visualize a new arrangement
3. Clear an area and Place your first object
4. Observe room and Visualize intuitive placing for your next object.
5. Place your next object in the most natural place.
   • Don’t just pay attention to what it looks like.
   • Pay attention to what it feels like.
   • Most of feng shui boils down to this.
6. Repeat steps 4-5, until the remainder of your furniture is replaced.
   • Always give yourself the option to decide to throw something out
7. Reassemble and Reconstitute Room.
   • Bring any chairs back in
   • Test to see how functional they are in the new setup
   • Rewire room (which results in cleaner cable arrangement in the process)
   • Hope to God your network cables still reach. (Mine did. Yay!)

5 Tips for Computer Ergonomics

If you have a computer in your workspace (and I know you do), you should also know it’s very important for your long term health to have an ergonomic computer setup. Below I’ve compiled a short list of things to keep in mind to use your computer in healthy way:

1. Position your screen slightly below eye level.
2. Adjust your chair height so that your forearms and wrists are about desktop height when your elbows are at 90 degrees.
3. Use a footrest if your feet dangle.
4. Make sure your body, monitor, and keyboard form a straight line. (so you don’t have to turn your head to read your screen)
5. For the least stress on the eyes, place your monitor 45 to 60 cm (18 to 24 inches) away from your eyes, or farther if there’s room. (If necessary, enlarge your screen text size to compensate.)

(More information is available at Macworld Magazine.)

4 Tips for Workspace Lighting

Onto lighting. Lighting your workspace properly is also critical; and unfortunately, many articles on workspace optimization do not mention this at all. Here are some tips to keep in mind while lighting a room:

1. Shield your screen from direct sunlight!
   • Direct sunlight damages all kinds of equipment, including a screen
2. Avoid overhead light & light behind your screen
   • These are an eye strains and thus hurt productivity
   • Use lamps to either side of you instead
3. Avoid brightness extremes!
   • Working with a bright screen in a dark room strains the eyes. If you’re working in darkness, try dimming the brightness of your screen, which will be comfortable for a short while.
4. Try some task lights which generate quality light and reduce glare.

The Result: A Completely New Experience

Through this process I ended up throwing out some things I once thought I needed, and I was also able to assemble my desk into its complete L shape for first time. I expected the outcome of this product to change how my workspace felt to me, but the full magnitude of the change was surprising. I had no idea I could get more walking room and more desk space at same time. Being in a commanding position also contributes greatly to my peace of mind and seems to give me more energy. By reevaluating the arrangement of my workspace, taking into account a commanding position, ergonomics, and lighting, my workspace feels inestimably more empowering to work in now. And it only took me one afternoon.

You can do it!

I encourage you consider the possibility that you’re only using perhaps 10% of that space’s productive potential. Unless you experience it yourself, it’s hard to describe the feeling of relief one gets when being in a supportive, productive, and inspired workspace. It’s inspiring and definitely improves the ease in which I am able to create quality content. Don’t deprive yourself of this feeling of relief and empowerment.

Why not at least draw up some plans on a napkin right now?

Post-publishing note: Thanks to Balanced Living Carnival, The Carnival for Creative Growth, Carnival of Self-Mastery, and the Living by Design Blog Carnival for including this article in their carnivals.

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The Platform: Blip.TV

In the early 21st century as I write this, there are a vast array of places available for content creators to upload their video. The most obvious choice would be YouTube because of its popularity. There is a Byteful Video account on YouTube, but while YouTube is strong in its community, its video quality and flexibility are inferior to many other services.

Byteful Video’s primary video distribution site is Blip.TV because it provides a wonderful and free way to publish and syndicate your own video podcast, what I refer to as a netshow. Blip.TV refers to itself as “blip”, so henceforth I will refer to it as such.

Blip’s strength lies in its flexibility. When a new video is uploaded, Blip automatically creates a Flash video version of the content which is the same format YouTube uses. Flash video is preferred because Flash video works on a wide range of computers. Blip also allows for a customizable show player, which is featured on the Byteful Video page, and even provides a sidebar widget. However, the most important feature is blip’s easy to use RSS syndication. As mentioned in The Importance of RSS, the video feed provides an easy way to be notified of new videos from Byteful Video, and if you add the RSS address to a podcast aggregator such as iTunes or Miro player, new videos will be automatically downloaded as they are released — the basis for the podcasting revolution.

Some of the internet’s best netshows use blip, including Wallstrip, and Mahalo Daily. Even one of my very favorite netshows Beachwalks.tv, who recently featured this site in an episode, uses blip to host its shows. And once again, I’d like to thank Beachwalks for their support. If you want to experience a bit of the Aloha Spirit, I suggest you check them out.

The Key Ingredient for Quality

To ensure quality in online video, the key is understanding how to properly compress the video. With the sheer complexity of most video codecs, there are plenty of technical settings to consider. Many people sidestep this complexity by using iMovie 6’s “Share” menu presets because the resulting video is actually quite good. However, to get the best quality per bit, there is an “expert” option as well. The main issue at hand, and the reason codecs were invented, is to balance a small file size with quality. Finding the sweet spot between a small file size and great quality takes time. Here is how a byteful video is exported: In Quicktime player or iMovie (both use the same encoder), export the movie as “Movie to MPEG-4″. This container is preferred because compatible over a wide range of devices. Then click the “options” button and set these settings:

Byteful Video Settings

- In the “Video” tab -

Video Format: h.264 (most efficient video codec for the web)
Data Rate: 1500 Kbps, Optimized for Download
Image size: 640×360 for widescreen, 640×480 for fullscreen
Frame rate: Current
Key frame: automatic (best to choose auto with h.264, it’s very smart)

• Click the Video options button and choose:

Encoding Mode: Best Quality (multi-pass) (which looks much better)
Restrict profiles to: Baseline (which makes it compatible with all iPods, as long as you’re using 1500kbps data rate and not much higher)

• Click “OK”

- In the “Audio” tab -

Audio Format: AAC-LC (music)
Data Rate: 128kbps (can be set it lower if there is no music)
Channels: Stereo
Output Sample Rate: 44.100khz
Encoding quality: Best

- In the “Streaming” tab -

• Check “Enable Streaming” and leave the numbers as they are (this allows your movie to download as it’s playing. this is also known as “hinting.” go figure.)

Encoding Takes Time

Click “Okay”, click “Save”, and go make a banana smoothie or something as this will probably take a while. On a 1.5ghz Powerbook, it takes about 4-5 hours to compress a 22 minute movie with these settings, so you’ll definitely want to experiment with a short clip of perhaps 10 seconds. However, make sure that clip contains a lot of variety so you can see how the settings affect different situations. If you want to have chapter markers in your video, you must use Apple’s Compressor program to preserve the chapter markers in the final file. Thanks to Steve and the other guys at Revision3 for their help in figuring this out.

Experiment for Yourself

I’ve reached these settings after much experimentation, and so far these are the best upload settings I’ve found. They work best for Byteful Video because they’re completely compatible with all video iPods, Apple TVs, devices that play MPEG-4 video, as well as all computers with Quicktime 7 installed; and more importantly, the settings are a great balance between a small file size and sharp high quality video. However, depending on how you want to use your video, these settings may not be the best choice for you. As I said before, finding the sweet spot between a small file size and great quality takes time. When you export, just make sure you experiment with only a short piece of your work. You can choose only a small portion of video in iMovie by checking “export selected clip only” when you go to “export” in the “share” menu.

Edit: If you decide to export H.264 video with Quicktime, you may find that your video becomes washed out. Read “How to Fix Washed-Out H.264 Video” for instructions on how to counteract this.

As always, experiment and learn.

Did this tutorial help you? How could I have improved it?
Leave a comment below and let me know.

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