ZDNet to stream Mashup University sessions on demand

ZDNet (a CNET Networks Property) is one of the sponsors of Mashup University and has sent a crew (pictured left) down to the Computer History Museum to record all of the mashup classes for on-demand rebroadcast through ZDNet's webcasting operation (we're also contemplated making them downloadable). What this means is that if you missed Mashup University, you'll be able to catch the rebroadcast of it here on ZDNet.  If all goes well however, this won't be just a video tape of what was happening on stage (it'd be impossible to catch all the code being displayed by the projection system).

So, with no time to figure out how it works or to test it, ZDNet acquired one of Epiphan's $4,000 VGA Recorders -- a black box device (clearly a Linux-driven appliance based on what I've seen so far) that intercepts the output of any VGA port and turns it into an AVI-based movie that gets stored on its hard drive (16 bit is the highest color depth supported). So far, it looks like it's working but we won't know until we get it back to the office. It came with fairly sparse documentation and you cannot use its USB or Firewire ports to connect it to your PC as a storage device (to offload the videos). Instead, the device has to be connected to hard-wired network and the then you have to connect your PC to it over that network. I've digressed. 

Once we get the video off the device, we'll edit it together with the video we captured with the camera (for example, when nothing  is happening on the screen, we'll switch it to the view of the speaker).  The process will probably take a  couple of weeks for all the classes but the result will hopefully be some decent "distance" learning material for those of you looking to bone up on some your mashup learning.