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Found Footage: iPhone Video Test

Today, I wrote a program to access the iPhone camera and shoot pictures as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it's still a slow process. I'm only getting about a frame every second and the iPhone balks when I try to go faster.

If you'd like to try things out yourself, download a copy of snap2vid. Create a utility folder named /foodir and run it from there. (^C to stop taking pictures.) After you finish your image capture, ftp all the images to your Mac and use QuickTime Pro to load the sequence and save it to a movie.



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Today, I wrote a program to access the iPhone camera and shoot pictures as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it's still a slow process. I'm...
 

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steve M

That's really a smart and quick solution for video conferencing, without much efforts and time.
http://www.sony-conferencing.com/

August 31 2007 at 5:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
chrissammoore

Hi,

I see you pasted as pastie link to your source implementation but where is the sampleapp.h header file?

I've looked at the source for the "video conferencing" and yours looks a lot cleaner and simpler to get access to the camera so I'd quite like to be able to work on something this weekend!

Cheers,

August 24 2007 at 6:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Wissam Ellameh

i googled like crazy to figure this out and nothing what is a utility folder and which directory do i create it in?

August 22 2007 at 7:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
blisteringherb

So does this mean that Apple could give the iphone a video cam with a "simple" firmware upgrade?

August 19 2007 at 10:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

That is very impressive—Nice work!

August 18 2007 at 2:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yuko

MyMall? Are you seriously talking about an Apple product? Or have you used too many carrier junk phones with exactly those non-functions...

August 18 2007 at 12:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mo

It's a nice idea, but it'll fail for the same reasons that (a) Sherlock did, and (b) mobile network tie-ins do

The whole point of MobileSafari is that you can access normal websites… and that's exactly what killed Sherlock.

August 18 2007 at 11:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ishcabittle

first post? You don't say...

I seriously doubt Apple will produce any branded widgets such as your decribing, considering these companies have perfectly functioning web pages that do the same thing. You have to be online to order their products, so why create an offline, phone native application?

August 18 2007 at 11:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stephane

This is my first post, so please bear with me here.

I, like many others, love the iPhone and think there is great potential for the device. However, I am also troubled by the lack of native third party applications due to Apple’s locked system. I have seen numerous posts from iPhone users begging to have their favorite Mac widgets ported over to the iPhone. While I think that would be great, I don’t see Apple rushing to do this until they can somehow monetize these widgets. Well yesterday, as I checked out Amazon’s new iPhone-specific web portal, it dawned on me that Apple can create a huge revenue stream by getting into the ad business, while also giving us all the other widgets we love so much.

Imagine the following:
You plug your iPhone into your computer one day and discover a new tab called myMall. Under this tab is a listing of popular retailers, whose online stores you’d like to have synced to your iPhone. Think ‘bookmarked,’ but much better because when you next turn on your iPhone you find a button on the home page called myMall. Clicking it leads to a page similar to the home page, but each new button is a native widget for the retailers you’ve chosen to sync with iTunes. Now, the appeal here is the absolute ease and pleasure in maneuvering these widgets to carry out purchases.

Imagine now that you have chosen to sync the Barnes & Noble widget with your iPhone. Then, one day, you’re sitting on the bus and see someone reading a book you have been meaning to read yourself, but kept on forgetting. Well, instead of making yet another mental note, what if you could do the following:

1. Click on your B&N widget.

2. Type in your search into a VERY simple and elegant page.

3. Have all of your results come up in the Cover Flow format, with only product pictures showing. (let’s face it, Cover Flow is great, but wasted on the iPod).

4. Scroll back and forth through the result and click on a cover to make it flip and reveal product details (synopsis, ratings, review, other formats, etc.)

5. Quickly add items to your shopping cart.

6. Pay for your items using one of the credit cards saved on your iTunes (this is already done with songs so it can’t be that difficult to build on), or enter new credit card information.

7. Have your item(s) shipped to an address that is saved in your iTunes account, or enter a new shipping address.

8. Enter a pin number of sorts to confirm my order and finalize the transaction.

I realize the process listed above ‘appears’ long, but anyone can see that the actual use of this ‘widget’ would be as fluid and simple as the google maps interface that is currently present on the iPhone. Further, with something like this generating revenue for Apple they should have a greater incentive to provide the non-retail-oriented widgets (like AIM, To Do Lists, lyrics search) that we all been clamoring for.

That is the idea, and I would love some feedback from any and all on its feasibility and:

1. How it can be refined.

2. The ideal pricing structure between Apple and the participating retailers.

3. Security issues regarding the storage of private financial data on iTunes, and any holes I'm not thinking of right now.

4. How Apple’s relationship with Google can be utilized here.

5. The potential reaction from ad giants such as Google.

6. Possible legal ramifications.

7. A list of stores that would work well as iPhone widgets. Personally, I would love to have the following store widgets on my iPhone: Barnes & Nobel, eBay, JetBlue, 1800Flowers, Nike, Best Buy, Cirtcuit City, Walmart, Apple Store, Game Stop, Puma, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Amazon, Ticketmaster, Yankees (team specific widgets?), Fandango, Moviefone, Gap (simple retailers, but no giants like Macy’s?), Expedia, Hotels.com, Sephora.

8. Oh yeah, good idea or bad idea?

August 18 2007 at 9:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
willian nogueira

Hi Erica!
Do you know how i do to multiple screenshots?

I waiting for your answer

contato@williannogueira.com.br

August 17 2007 at 11:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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