And here’s the trailer for the next product review to be released in September.

Slowly but surely, it’s moving forward!

A partnership is in the works, finding the first cable company to carry the channel is ongoing, development of the Automated Broadcast System is continuing, new Canadian programming is being found and put on the air…

But the best news is that the latest Linux distribution upgrade to our broadcast servers appears to have resolved the frequent synchronization issues we were having with the live Internet broadcast. Under the old system, the Internet streams would frequently go out of sync by as much as a second. But since the latest updates were applied, we’ve yet to find a single show go out of sync.

The only issue we’ve encountered is with the MPEG4/H.264 encoded test stream, which crashed while attempting to stream a movie that had caused us problems in the past (it worked perfectly on all the other test streams). So we’ve decided to drop the MPEG4/H.264 format altogether. The test stream would have never gone into production anyway since it’s encumbered with too many software patents whose excessively high licensing fees could have reached the tens of thousands of dollars per year.

And with Google announcing the development of a new competing open source streaming audio/video format called WebM or VP8, very soon there won’t be any reason to consider patent encumbered audio/video formats at all.

Because of all of these improvements, this corporation will soon begin offering consultation services for organizations wishing to implement their own Internet and cable based television channel infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of traditional television channels.

Yes, it’s a new era for broadcast television, one that is no longer encumbered by legacy equipment or software licensing fees, allowing all of us to concentrate on what’s most important: the content.

Here’s the video of last year’s Salon.

Here’s a brief sample clip of what this year’s Salon should sound like in the final video with the help of a new stereo microphone. Hopefully, this will solve the issues I’ve had while trying to record multichannel sound rooms during the last two shows.

In the meantime, enjoy this raw video of an Edison cylinder gramophone demonstration. My apologies for missing the beginning.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the show!

Just be advised there might be a serious design flaw with the microUSB connector. More info here.

Next up, an iPad maybe? Hello Apple?

Haiti is the poorest nation of the Americas that, once you study its history in detail, doesn’t appear to have ever gotten a decent break. Once a former French slave colony, the Haitian population managed to fight their way to freedom and independence, only to be ruled by successive and brutal dictators for many, many years. Even after successfully expelling their last dictator some twenty years ago, massive government corruption and ever increasing criminal activity has successfully kept the population poor and destitute, resulting in a rebellion and the technical loss of a ruling government, with a UN Peacekeeping Force now attempting to bring stability and security to the small nation.

Along with Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 and Hurricane Gustav in 2008, the population now has to survive the aftermath of one of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded. With dead bodies strewn all over, no electricity, sporadic communications, little water, little food, no sanitary services, and severely crippled health services, the number of death resulting from the aftermath of the quake could increase dramatically over the next few weeks if action isn’t taken immediately to bring as much relief as possible to the population as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, low-lives wanting to cash in on the disaster have already set up dummy Web sites and are spreading fraudulent email spam asking for “donations,” money that will line the pockets of these individuals instead of helping out the destitute Haitian population. Do not become a victim of these fraudsters! Watch out for the warning signs and take action!

So if you want to donate money to legitimate organisations such as the Canadian Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, use the organisation’s name in a reputable search engine if you don’t know their exact Web address (not all addresses end with .com). Very often, the organisation’s Web site will be listed amongst the first few links.

Don’t fall for scam jobs! Make sure your donation is heading to the people of Haiti, and not in the pockets of a heartless criminal!

The only drawback with this concept is that anyone leaving their television set operating overnight may be in for a rude awakening when the service signs on in the morning and the O Canada happens to be performed by a Heavy Metal band.

All submissions will be considered and properly credited if accepted.