On the back of the recent WGA fiasco, further research has revealed yet another citation of what I already knew to be true: Windows updates itself without explicit permission, even if you turn off automatic updates.

NEW! ... Further proof, confirmation, and details of this has been provided by Scott Dunn of Windows Secrets, and Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet.

Save this script somewhere, e.g. /usr/local/bin/podit, then chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/podit

Usage: podit /path/to/file

Update: Apparently ffmpeg's parameters have changed yet again [sigh]. Depending on what version of ffmpeg you are using, you may need to make the following changes:

Update 1:
-vcodec h264 is now "-vcodec libx264"
-acodec aac is now "-acodec libfaac"

Update 2:
-me is now "-me_method"
-loop is now "-flags +loop"
-slice is now "-flags +slice"
(To set both the above, use "-flags +loop+slice"
-part[xxx] is now "-partitions +parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8"
-brdo has gone. This is automatically set if "-subq" is 7 or higher
-chroma is now "-cmp +chroma"

Also ... nobody noticed that "aspect_ratio=xxx" was missing from the variables section (as it stood, this script would not have worked, but just produce an error "invalid aspect ratio")? Oh well, it's fixed now :)

Thanks to FakeOutdoorsman for update 1, and various sources for update 2.

#!/bin/bash
# Name:    podit
# Summary: iPod H264 640x480 video transcoder script 
# Version: 1.1.4
# Date:    2009.10.12
# License: GPLv3+
# URL:     http://slated.org/howto_transcode_h264_for_ipod_with_ffmpeg
# © Homer, 2007 - 2009
#
# Requires: ffmpeg
# Requires: gpac
# Requires: perl-DateManip

For my Birthday, I received a new generation iPod, or the so-called 5.5 generation.

I have to say, as much as I am ardently opposed to DRM (and Apple's and Microsoft's support of it), this little gadget is (as Steve Jobs would say) simply amazing!

This is the first portable player I've owned that could play video, and that fact; combined with the superb build quality, incredibly intuitive interface, limited (but still very nice) PDA capabilities, cute little games (not on a par with the PSP, but still ...), and gorgeous sound quality; really makes this a device worth cherishing.

Quick tip: If you've customised Emacs in any way (fonts, colours, etc.), and subsequently found that it takes ages to start up, then exit Emacs and try this:

]# echo "(modify-frame-parameters nil '((wait-for-wm . nil)))" > ~/.emacs.tmp
]# touch ~/.emacs
]# cat ~/.emacs >>~/.emacs.tmp
]# mv -f ~/.emacs.tmp ~/.emacs

Thanks harfooz.