Stephen Eisenhauer's Blog

Fixing "crackly" audio in Mac OS X

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:47:51 -0600

To anyone else experiencing crackly/distorted/clipping audio in OS X, I finally found the solution.

Note: My audio chipset is Intel HDA, and my OS X version is 10.6.7 (Snow Leopard).

Launch the “Audio MIDI Setup” app using Spotlight.
On the left side of the application, click on the entry representing your speaker or headphone jack (mine was already selected by default).
On the right side of the application, find the “Format” drop-down box and change it to “44100.0 Hz”.
The distortion should now be gone. (The change takes effect immediately.)

Here’s hoping this post helps somebody else solve this faster than I did.

hey. asl?

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:46:00 -0600

Like many folks around the blagoblag, I was amused and intrigued by the concept of Omegle when it first made its debut. For the uninitiated, Omegle is a web site that lets you start a text-based (or, now, video-based) conversation with a complete stranger. When you’re done, somebody hangs up and you get another stranger. That’s it.

Such a simple application of existing technology, yet the idea is exciting and empowering.

In the time since Omegle went live, however, it has become obvious that society just isn’t ready for such power. If you set out to have a meaningful conversation with a truly random stranger on the site, odds are you’ll have a pretty low percentage of good conversational partners come along. As it turns out, a lot people come to a random person generator with very specific desires.

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
Stranger: asl?
You: 21/m/USA
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Enter ASLville. Instead of giving you someone completely random, I’ve introduced a few filters to help make sure both people are getting just what they want. No more 10-second conversations.

ASLville was built entirely in JavaScript, with the help of Socket.IO and Node.JS. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!

Boxee, meet Reddit. Reddit, Boxee.

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:58:46 -0600

After months of tantalizing wait, I finally became the proud owner of the new Boxee Box by D-Link. I’m a big fan of XBMC, Boxee, and what they’ve done with the software, but one of the first things I noticed when browsing its application catalog was a pretty glaring omission.

No Reddit apps? What‽

I decided this wouldn’t stand, so I ran off to GitHub and got started on what I’ve dubbed “Reddit HD”. With some excellent heavy lifting done by mellort’s awesome reddit_api module, I was able to grab a few posts from Reddit’s videos category with no trouble.

Of course, that’s not enough. I plan to support authentication, voting/saving, and the ability to filter by subreddit. If you’re interested in contributing, you can start by visiting the GitHub project. There’s also an information page on my site with details on how to install it for yourself.

The first post is always the most boring...

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:37:18 -0500

Well, I’ve finally jumped on the Tumblr wagon. I will try to use this space to occasionally shed some insight on my current work and thoughts, but, for now, you’re looking a test post!