Ripping a video from YouTube used to be easy-peasy. Just start Firefox and install FlashGot. View the YouTube video in Firefox and go to Extra / FlashGot / FlashGot Media to download the video source file. When the download is complete add the extension ‘.flv’. Open the file in Quicktime and re-save as mpeg, mov or whatever format you choose. Done. Youtube’s new video format codec VP8 can be ripped as well, but there’s a slight difference. Read more

Met dank aan BNO, CMBO en het KVGO kan ik met jullie de nieuwste (geheel herziende) Richtlijn Aanleveren delen. In hun eigen woorden: “De nieuwe richtlijn moet de communicatie tussen ontwerpers en drukkers verbeteren. Tegelijk verschijnt er een tweede variant die zich richt op het proces tussen ontwerpers en opdrachtgevers. In de communicatie tussen ontwerpers en drukkers kan veel fout gaan maar ook tussen ontwerpers en hun opdrachtgevers ontstaat vaak ruis op de lijn. Het gevolg is dat vaak het product, het traject, de opbrengst of de prijs bij een van deze partijen niet aan de verwachtingen voldoet. Read more

I really enjoy reading these comics from ‘Business Guys on Business Trips’ and I think you will as well. (Unless you are a Creative Director).

Most of you know newspapers are experiencing extremely tough times regarding both advertising and readers. A few of you might even work for a newspaper (I have) and almost all of you supply newspapers with ads from your agency. As such we have all witnessed the decline in advertising. We’ve heard just about everybody talk about a ‘dead industry’. Here’s the deal: I think it’s not dead, it’s morphing. We can’t really see what it will become because the newspaper is still in the process of transforming. New ideas are taking shape and it will take some time (and guts) to implement them. I have just read ten excellent ideas a newspaper can implement immediately. Read more

Printers are hurting all right. It’s a tough market and everyone is cutting costs. This solution called FLOW+ can help you calculate the costs. Imagine being able to calculate exactly what each print-job will cost you. You no longer have to take an ‘educated guess’. Once you set up FLOW+ the costs of every step of the printing process will be completely transparent: From fluctuating paper-prices, the ink-usage at different ICC-profiles, setting up the printing-press, the time it will take to package and even delivering the final job. It’s easy to change a few variables and see how your profit (or loss!) grows. FLOW+ can even take into account the time and paper it takes to get your press set correctly for each job or calculate in advance at what circulation a specific job will become profitable. FLOW+ is browser-based and runs on both Mac and Windows. It’s a product of Caldera and their RIP Software like VisualRIP+ is excellent as well. VisualRIP+ supports HotFolders, Drag ‘n Drop, Nest-O-Matic, Step and Repeat, Spotcolors, ICC and ‘Tiling (automatically cutting up big format jobs) and white ink printers.

I just received word from Pantone: They’ve got an exiting new feature on Pantone.com. What could this be? Well, a forum! Ah, very ‘exciting’ indeed… for Pantone that is! In Europe Pantone used to be a company that wasn’t exactly known for it’s openness towards it’s costumers. I suppose this is more of the X-Rite spirit as they bought Pantone almost two years ago. I totally agree with X-Rite new direction as the old Pantone was no friend of the designer. Read more

Dutch designer agency Schwandt Infographics won the 2nd (or Silver) prize with their interactive project ‘Ecoson’ at the infographicscongres Malofiej in Spain. Quite impressive! The first prize went to the New York Times with their interactive animation about ‘The Ebb and Flow of Movies’. Read more

OpenX is the world’s most popular free open source ad server. (I use to display and track the ads on this site). If you’re interested in displaying ads on your website and want to know a little bit more about OpenX, here’s your change to meet Scott Switzer; OpenX’s founder and Erik Geurts a OpenX consulatant for companies who need help with OpenX. (Eric also set up the OpenX for Digital-Engineer.net). The 26th of March you can meet both these guys in Amsterdam and ask questions, share stories, talk about the OpenX roadmap, give feedback or just meet other OpenX users. The free ‘informal’ will start at 3 PM. More details here. To find out more about OpenX check out this video.

And we’re live! After more than six years of running a specialized Desk Top Publishing website and writing about prepress, graphic design and PDF I’ve decided to start publishing in English. This website originated from the Dutch site called MacMojo. I’ve tried publishing in both languages but that just takes up too much of my time. I’ve got a daytime job as well, you know! So English it will be. I’ve had a absolutely awesome time working at the MacMojo website and getting to know all those skilled people that were kind enough to explain exactly what they did and how they did it. I think working on this international version called Digital-Engineers.net will be even better. But fist, let me tell you what I feel a true Digital Engineer is. Read more