Some of the most important technology programs that keep Washington accountable are in danger of being eliminated. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and other federal data transparency and government accountability programs are facing a massive budget cut, despite only being a tiny fraction of the national budget.
Help save the data and make sure that Congress doesn’t leave the American people in the dark.
This is big news for those of us providing captions or subtitles for the videos published on YouTube. I noticed today that the oEmbed video player for YouTube videos, the one used for all WordPress blogs, has been updated to include the CC button. It didn’t have it the last time I checked, which was yesterday. My site subscribers would always ask me where the CC button was, and how to see the subtitles, and I had to tell them to go see the video directly on YouTube if they wanted subtitles, which was a bit of a chore, and it certainly didn’t make things obvious and easy for folks who were using that feature for the first time.
Well, I’m glad to announce that from now on, you’ll be able to turn video subtitles on or off right here, on my website, and for those videos of mine where I’m providing two separate subtitles tracks, you’ll be able to switch between them as well.
I can’t tell you enough how pleased I am about this. For someone like me, who produces video shows for international audiences, YouTube’s CC feature is key, and the ability to control subtitles from within the oEmbed player used on my websites is key as well. So I’d like to thank both WordPress and YouTube for updating the video player and for making my life easier!
The third episode of my show, Romania Through Their Eyes, has just gone live. This interview features Laurie Webb, who is from Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. He moved to Romania about a year ago, and he is currently renovating an old Saxon home in the village of Roandola, Southern Transilvania, in order to turn it into a bed and breakfast called Casa Cristina Roandola.
As with the first episode, both English and Romanian subtitles will be available. In order to access them, you’ll need to see the video directly on YouTube, so either click on the video above, or click on the link below. Once on YouTube, use the CC button to select the language for the subtitles.
Episode RTTE-003-EN-HD
Released 4/4/11
A couple of things:
Enjoy!
In episode 14 of Ligia’s Kitchen, Ligia makes a nutritious spring sprout salad — just the thing to get us nourished after a cold winter.
English subtitles are available on YouTube (toggle them on/off with the CC button).
Episode LK-014-RO-HD
Released 4/4/11
Not sure how many of you have been aware of this, but Java upgrades over the past several years have been problematic for Windows users. When a new version of Java came out, the installer would prompt you to upgrade, but would never prompt you to remove the old version, or do it for you. In my work, I’d see computers with as many as 10-12 different versions of Java on them. The user, unaware of the messiness built into the Java upgrade, would leave the old versions on their machine, and they’d keep piling up. You could see them in the Add/Remove Control Panel, but how many people know how to look there, and how many know that it’s okay to remove old versions of Java?
So I was heartened to see that Java is finally acknowledging the problem with old Java versions sitting on Windows machines, and is now prompting users to remove them after installing the new version. See the screenshot below.
Ideally, their upgrade engine ought to remove them for the user, but at least this is a step in the right direction. And to think that Java is being used everywhere these days (even where you don’t want it), and it took all this time for them to straighten out the upgrade issues. It’s a bit shameful if you ask me.
Raoul Pop 