executable content vs plain data (was Re: [LINK] Pascal's Wager applied to GLobal CLimate Change)

[Stilgherrian]

On 19/1/08 8:20 AM, "Craig Sanders" <cas at taz.net.au> wrote:
> another reason this is relevant to Link is the disturbing fact that the
> video is only available as a flash movie hosted on youtube. i.e. it's a
> program that you have to run rather than just video data in a file which
> can be played by any video player program (any player that has the right
> video codecs, of course).
> 
> which means that you have to be willing to run unknown, untrustworthy,
> and untrustable executable programs in order to view it.
> 
> or download it (which can be a difficult exercise in itself - youtube
> wants you to stream the video, not download it and view it at your
> leisure) and attempt to extract the video data from the executable.

Miro, an Internet TV application, makes this possible in a fairly easy way.
Streams the YouTube video and automatically converts it to a file on your
hard drive.

Miro is open source, an iTunes-like front end, uses VLC to play the video
(so it can play pretty much anything), reads RSS feeds and BitTorrent to
gather the video you want to watch.

    http://www.getmiro.com

Have not explored much yet, but seems to be getting a good rap.

Enjoy!

Stil


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