One thing I'm sure a lot of iPhone fans were upset about this week was the lack of an announcement of video broadcasting capability in the 3G iPhone. I mean, OMG, how else are we supposed to make obsessive fan videos of Britney Spears?!
Don't worry, the brilliant folks at Flixwagon are demonstrating live vidcasts from a jailbroken iPhone and are apparently working towards a true iPhone app that will work "as long as your battery lasts."
TV networks? Who needs 'em! We'll make our own entertainment.
Thanks to Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee.com for the tip!
An anonymous tipster sent us a short video showing new capabilities of the iPhone 2.0 software. It's a little hard to see around his building's attractive fluorescent lighting, but hopefully you get the gist.
It appears that videos will be easily playable in portrait or landscape orientations, using data from the iPhone's accelerometer. (Though it's been possible to play embedded QuickTime videos through Safari in the vertical orientation since firmware version 1.1.1.)
Also, mercifully, it looks like video playlists are in our future.
Update: The video has been updated with a far less glarey version. Thanks, anonymous tipster friend!
Posted May 28th 2008 4:45PM by Erica Sadun Filed under: iTS
Over at MacGeneration, Christophe Laporte and his friends have discovered a nearly-live French iTunes Video Store. If you'd like to check it out yourself, search the store for "desperate" and click on Les Saisons TV.
France will join the UK and Germany with transatlantic video stores. Episode pricing falls between €1,99 and €2,49, which is pretty steep given the strength of the Euro. More details and pictures are here.
The folks who brought you the TubeStick USB digital TV tuners have released The Tube 2.7. Equinux is providing this free upgrade to The Tube, the software component of the TubeStick products. The new version enhances the timeshifting and electronic program guide features of The Tube 2.6, and adds even more functionality. What's new?
Placeshifting -- Share a digital TV show via iChat. If you're running Leopard, just drag The Tube icon to an active chat. Your chat buddies can view or record the show, and you can talk about the show while watching it.
Enhanced EPG -- The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is updated twice daily, and an open plug-in structure opens the door to other program guides.
Leopard Features -- Add a stack of video recordings to the Dock, use QuickLook to preview your recordings, and set up Time Machine to avoid backing up your videos.
Create A Podcast Of Your Recordings -- Any recordings added to a TubeToGo web gallery can be subscribed to via RSS, so recordings can be browsed and viewed on Apple TV.
Closed Captioning
Do you already own a TubeStick? Go get the update. If you don't, the new features in The Tube 2.7 may be just the thing to push your purchase decision!
Note: A bug fix, v 2.7.1, is now the downloadable version of The Tube. Check the version history for details.
As we recently showcased here at TUAW, filmmaker Dennis Liu's Mac-inspired video for the group The Bird And The Bee combines his love of music, filmmaking and the Mac to create a very entertaining and innovative piece of work. In fact, we liked it so much here at TUAW, that we decided we wanted to know a bit more about Dennis and his creative process.
I spent some time talking with the filmmaker recently and got some info on how he made the video, why he made it, what he hopes to gain from it and what's next for this very talented guy.
CHRIS ULLRICH: Tell me a bit about how you came up with the idea for the video? What inspired you to do it?
DENNIS LIU: I'm a 23 year old college grad trying to become a full-time director/creative. Right now, I'm a producer at an ad agency, but I've always had some ideas for Apple commercials and always wanted to shoot one. Apple has some of the world's finest advertising, and I wanted to play at their level.
The film industry is so competitive these days, that you really need to do something innovative and different to stand out, and I wanted to really make something that would get some attention from my peers. So the result was this viral video for my reel, Apple, and one of my favorite musicians - The Bird & the Bee.
For Apple, I figured it was a cool idea that shows the beauty, style, and most importantly - the function of Apple computers. People think they're really cool looking, and I totally agree, but they are also wickedly powerful machines.
Screencasting -- the not-so-ancient art of recording the computer screen for the entertainment and enrichment of others -- has evolved into quite a Hydra of options. How do the myriad gladiators in this arena stack up? I've tried everything I could find that could record a little movement on the screen, and selected 8 contenders for the matchup. We'll start this boxing match off with the free apps, and then see if the "money" apps stack enough features on to make them worth the cash.
Thinking about starting a video blog? Good luck. But if you're sure about this, the cool folks over at Google Mac have created an extremely useful tool to help you get your very own DIY reality show started.
Vidnik (0.13.0 beta) is an Apache-licensed app that allows you to record video from your iSight and upload it directly to YouTube. You can title, tag, categorize and add a description to the videos right from within the app itself. Above you can see why I don't vidblog. Nobody wants to look at that.
Developer David Phillip Oster says that there's a small bug currently that makes the sound lag a fraction of a second behind the video when uploaded to YouTube, but he knows what the problem is and he's solving it quickly.
You're one of those crazy people who enjoys working out ... and reads tech blogs. It could happen. You've got the Nike+ sport kit and lots of great Nike Sport Music [iTunes link]. What else could you need?
Once you've downloaded* the videos, either double-click the files or just drop them into iTunes. Now you're ready to get pumped!
*A free registration is required or, as LH mentions, just click your browser's stop button before the page loads completely and you'll see all the download links. You're welcome.
Aaron Besson of MyTriniPhone posted this morning about a new iPhone video recorder. Unlike previous entries into this realm, this updated version from DreamCatcher records both sound and video.
I download a copy and gave it a try. The interface is a little on the prototype side but it recorded without a hitch. I was able to copy the resulting mp4 video onto my Mac and play it back. It was grainy (as expected, given the low quality of the iPhone camera) but the audio was clear. Playback on the iPhone itself simply did not work for me.
Apparently this code is based on ffmpeg and there's a lively little discussion about this over at the Hackint0sh forums, if you care to check that out. You must pay to register if you'd like to record more than 30 seconds at a time or if you simply like the program and want to support the developer. Deets are in the program. Just tap Settings > About > Buynow.
There are so many ways to get your hands on a MacBook Air (and apparently several ways to lose your grip on one, as well). You could visit the Apple Store, or Best Buy, or shop online. You could take up a collection with friends and family, or prevail upon your spouse to get one for you.
Here's another idea: make a video about how VMware Fusionhas helped you switch to the Mac is now your virtualization tool of choice, and you could win an Air. Submit your video by May 15 (every entry gets a Fusion t-shirt, so there are no losers) for your chance to walk, or trip, away with the laptop.
Despite a couple of high-profile callouts on the Fusion 'switched' minisite, I'm afraid that Mat and Chris aren't entering the contest. Too bad, guys!
Update:The VMware team has clarified that the video contest is about users who have switched to VMware Fusion from another way of running Windows on the Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels, Virtual PC, the power of the mind). Adjust your artistic vision appropriately.
When Apple introduced the new Mac Pros, they came with new graphics cards... that weren't compatible with previous Mac Pros. This has caused some consternation amongstowners of the neglected machines, who have been wondering for a while when their problem-ridden video cards might get some Apple love. Fret no more, it's here.
If you're looking for the extra power of the GeForce 8800 GT for your pre-2008 Mac Pro, head to the product page. And, as noted by my friend (and perturbed pre-2008 Mac Pro owner) Peter Boysen, there's actually a somewhat surprising price drop of about $70 from the previously available kits.
Users of any of Adobe's products (at least the current ones) will want to check out Adobe TV. With a smorgasbord of tutorials and informational videos on a broad range of topics, it has something for everyone.
The content ranges from Photoshop tutorials from Layers Magazine to tips on dynamic media creation in Visual Communicator. Beginners and long-time users – be they web developers, graphic designers, video professionals, photographers, you name it – should be able to find something right up their alley... from down-to-earth Lightroom tutorials to the ridiculous (but informative) antics of Dr. Brown. The site is well organized and easy to navigate, and thankfully provides Youtube-style embed code for deep linking within the Flash site.
It sounds like the content will be updated regularly, keeping the collection current with Adobe's ever-growing lineup. Even if I often choose alternatives to Adobe's products in my workflow (don't worry, InDesign, you're safe for now...), I'm already gleaming useful information from Adobe TV. I find it a testament to Adobe's growth (and the power of acquisition) that the entire site is built with Adobe products, from video capture to final delivery. So, here's a toast to all-encompassing media production empires, so entrenched in the industry that they can afford to miss 64-bit boats and shirk interface conformity. Cheers!
Couldn't stop refreshing the various liveblogs covering the Apple SDK event? Neither could we. Fortunately, in case you missed any key details, Apple has now posted a streaming video of the entire presentation. Just the thing to watch while you wait, and wait, and wait for your copy of the SDK to download. (Seriously, developer.apple.com is getting hammered like a steel drum at Carnival in Rio.)
If you spot anything in the video that you think we missed, let us know below.
We've actually posted about Smart Scroll before, but the video is a pretty good demonstration of what's happening here. I'm not quite sure this is something Apple will want to implement in the OS, however -- it feels right enough on the iPhone, but I kind of like that my scroll wheel stops when I tell it to. If you'd rather have the iPhone experience on your usual Mac, however, the app is available as a free trial, or a complete license for $19.
Among the delightful tidbits taking up precious space on the MacBook Air's slender hard drive or SSD, you'll find this very handy video guide to stretching, zooming, scrolling and rotating using the power of human touch. It's tucked away in System Preferences under the Keyboard Trackpad tab.
It seems a little silly to animate a guide like this, but I'll admit that I found myself more likely to try the finger moves after watching the demo. No doubt the upcoming multitouch-equipped MacBook Pro machines will feature a similar guide for the perplexed.
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