DigitalDuckling

I know this doesn’t have a lot to do with the theme of my blog but I want to write it anyway. For some time ago I got really pissed because of my razorblades getting dull after only one time use. I Googled around a bit and discovered that I was not alone! A lot of people felt like they were throwing money out the window for a brief moment of smooth skin.
I read a lot of methods everything from putting their blades in mineral oil while not using them to applying Vaseline on them. But the key point here was that the metal in the blade gets dull because of oxidation. I thought it seemed a little far-fetched at some time, but eventually I tried tapping my razor against a piece of toilet paper until it seemed dry. And then I just wrapped the paper around the blade so that anything that was left got sucked in. I also put it inside of a closet; I used to have it in the shower before.

3 days later I picked up the razor only to find the paper stuck to the aloe strip at the bottom of the blade surface. So I gently ripped of the paper and showered the blade in hot water and to my surprise both the blades and the aloe strip look as good as new!
Now 3 weeks have passed and I’m still on the first blade. No April-fools. That’s pretty cool, right?
Putting the blade in mineral oil will probably make the blades last a bit longer, but you will lose the aloe strip or whatever on the blade. The blades don’t get dull from shaving with them right away, but they get small amounts of rust on them and that matters for your skin.

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I wouldn’t exactly call this a tutorial, but it can help you with a little file size struggling when you are going to upload your videos either it is to YouTube or other places.

Ok, the first thing you need to have is your finally edited movie. (My example here is already compressed, but I think you get a lot better quality with less compression!)
Got it? Great!

Next, if you haven’t yet, get QuickTime Pro! Yes, the Pro version, it costs about $29.99 or NOK 249, and that really isn’t too much for a video compressor. Sorenson Squeeze 5 costs $ 499.00 and lets be frank; how many ways of compression do you really need?

So now that you have gone pro, lets move on! Open your video in Quick time and just hit [File -> Export]
Now you can choose to either export to Qucktime-Video or MPEG-4
I have experimented a little bit with the formats and genially like the Quicktime (mov) format best and as illustrated in the preview under you might get a little better quality from choosing it:

Illustration of Settings and Difference

Okay so the clue here is to use the H.264 Compression Codec,

(this is the same codec they use for the trailers at  apple.com) You should be able to just copy the settings  I have set for the different formats and that should do it. (You might adjust the Data rate if you are having a higher resolution on your film.)

Another good tool in Quicktime Player is the Movie Inspector [Ctrl+I] this one gives you all the technical info on the movie you are watching. Want to compress your video in HD 480p, 720p or 1080p? As long as your original resolution is bigger you can do so by just copying the preferences from a trailer with the definition of your choice. Good luck!

In my example my video was already compressed in another codec, and still I made it 8,5 times smaller. Its just amazing!
I got the inspiration to make this comparison over at 11 Second Club and if your clip at least has sound (unlike mine) you should check it out!

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