john-norris.net

A podcast in your back pocket?

Here it is.

But really… this is demonstrating the ability for paper to carry a digital file.  The free PaperBack application (sorry, Windows only) allows one to translate digital data into an image and visa-versa.

“Straight from the Hip” is an 35 kg audio file (about 10 words) that has been compressed, turned into an image, and placed into one of my hipster templates.  Since it is a voice recording, I used the Speex codec to make the voice file as small as possible.

How to Listen:

1. Print out the hPDA page.  I printed it at 600 dpi.  Be sure not to have the printer do anything extra to the image- for example, no “sharpening”.
2. Use PaperBack to scan and retrieve the audio file.  Within PaperBack, I set the scan to 600 dpi.
3. Use a speex enabled audio program to listen to the podcast.  I used the free application SpeexDrop to translate the .spx file into .wav.

Make your own hPDA Podcast:

1. Record audio.  I used Audacity.  Save as a .wav.
2. Encode into Speex.  I used SpeexDrop.
3. Create image with PaperBack.  Within PaperBack, I set it to 200 dpi.
4. Add image to hipster.  Be careful to preserve the dpi.
5. Print the Hipster page.  I printed it at 600 dpi.  Be sure not to have the printer do anything extra to the image- for example, no sharpening.

While this seems to be stretching the Hipster idea, that’s what I’m here for, it may prove to more than just entertaining.  One could store other types of files, such as medical records, to-do lists, calendars, etc… things that would be easier to import into a computer from the a digital format.

Stay Tuned!