As of late I have totally gotten into Video blogging, both consuming and creating them. I have a nice camcorder, a copy of Final Cut HD Express, and lots to say. However, despite my general know how in regards to computers video encoding is something of a black art to me. I usually just export my videos using the 'iPod' setting that QuickTime provides, but I know that isn't the best way to do it.

Ryanne Hodson, video blogger extraordinaire, has created a screencast at Freevlog that explains how to squeeze the best video for your iPod out of QuickTime. There is no way that I could have figured this out, so if you are into video but don't know your codecs from your filters check out this screencast for some pointers.

The Democracy Player is a cross-platform internet television viewer (or IPTV, for buzzword-compliance) that boasts over 500 built-in channels for your endless entertainment pleasure. It takes a bit of a different approach to internet television with support for a wide variety of aggregation services, including BitTorrent, and a full-blown channel guide.

The player was recently updated to version 0.8.5 for all platforms, and there is now an Intel version of the app available - not to be confused with Universal. Their Mac OS X download page offers two separate downloads for PPC and Intel versions, stating that a Universal version is pending.

Democracy Player is donationware and available from getdemocracy.com.

We mentioned this cartoon podcast ages ago, but it went away. Frederator Studios (makers of fine cartoons like "Fairly Oddparents") has a relaunched blog, and a podcast. But the fun part are the free cartoons they're providing. And this time there's more than one available! These are out-of-copyright toons with Betty Boop, Porky Pig, and Mighty Mouse, not to mention a few fairy tale characters... I have a few friends who have been too busy to rip content for their new iPods, and they are too cheap to buy anything (ahem), so maybe this will finally drop some much-needed video content on their new doorstops. Don't forget, you can also grab free videos from the Internet Archive.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to commute to Apple's campus at Cupertino? Neither have I. However, that hasn't stopped Andrew Lin from vlogging his morning commute to the Mothership.

The videos are all in QuickTime (what else?) and they are sped up by 30, so you need not experience the commute in realtime.

[via Valley Wag]

I have recently discovered the joy that is vlogging. I used to be of the mind that if I couldn't read why should it be on a blog, but the last few months have been eye opening, thanks to the likes of Tiki Bar TV (not for the kids, but certainly not all that racy), Rocketboom, and Josh Leo.

I've been using iTunes to manage my vlog subscriptions and it has done an okay job, but FireAnt looks like it could do a great job. The recently updated application contains a number of bug fixes, acces to the FireAnt vlog directory, and an option for multiple viewing sizes. I like what I've read about this app, and you can look forward to a review in the near future.

Apple today unveiled iLife 06, a major update to their award-winning suite of multimedia applications. The largest updates came to iPhoto, which can now handle 250,000 photos and features better, full-screen editing options. A major new feature is called Photocasting, which will allow an iPhoto user to publish their photos to the web using RSS technology, allowing anyone to subscribe to a feed of their images and the ability to be notified of updates. You can also subscribe through your own copy of iPhoto 06, which will allow you to actually download the images and use them as if they were your own, enabling editing as well as ordering prints, cards and now calendars.

GarageBand 3 now features a "Podcast Recording Studio," along with professional podcast sounds, a Podcast Radio Engineer, iChat Interview Recording and iMovie Scoring.

iMovie HD 6 adds Apple-designed iMovie themes, real-time effects, cinematic real-time titling, enhanced audio tools and effects, multiple open projects and video podcast/blogging abilities.

iDVD 6 brings Magic DVD, widescreen DVD abilities, an enhanced map view and the much-requested compatibility with 3rd-party DVD burners to the table.

A new addition to the iLife family is iWeb, a much rumored new app that does what everyone had assumed: it will allow .Mac members to easily publish content from other iLife apps such as podcasts, imovies, photos, blogs and more to their .Mac space. It features Apple-designed templates, easy flexible site creation, and iLife media browser and one-click .Mac publishing. I guess there was a reason behind that 1 TB bandwidth upgrade back in Dec.

Even with all these great new features, iLife 06 still sells a single license for only $79, with a 5-license pack for $99, and is available today at the online store. I'm sure local stores will have it in soon, as well.

Attention movie loving Motion mavens! Our sister blog, Cinematical, is looking for a 30 second (or less) intro for their Sundance vodcast and they want you to make it. You know the sort of thing they are looking for, much like what our fantastic reader C. Robin Osborn did for us.

Here's the deal, you use your finely honed skills and exquisite taste to design the ultimate Cinematical intro and you will win the one prize that no one can take from you: fleeting fame. Additionally, your work will get exposure to thousands of film fanatics and if you are in the film industry this could be the break you're looking for.

Head on over to Cinematical for all the details.

Pod Guide.TV has a post listing ten essential vodcasts for your brand spankin' new iPod (with video). Sure, you were excited when you opened your iPod and there wasn't a slab of meat waiting for you in the box, but now what are you going to watch on it?

The ten essentials that Pod Guide.TV lists are great but there is one vlog that should be on their list but it is notably absent. Tiki Bar TV is by far the funniest vodcast out there. Check it out, and tell Dr. Tiki that Scott from TUAW sent ya.