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Filed under: Multimedia

YouTube with all of the sizzle but none of the Flash

[Our regular Sunday night Talkcast is cancelled due to a sick host. Sorry, and we'll see you next week. –Ed.]

Let's face it: Flash on the Mac is a dog. Actually, that's an insult to dogs, which are known for running fast. Flash for Mac is such a an unoptimized beast that you can expect it will suck up as much CPU as possible, even for the simplest of videos.

My first line of defense is ClickToFlash (which I've mentioned before), but the folks over at NeoSmart have another solution, at least for YouTube: HTML5.

By using the newest version of HTML, they have devised a system to send YouTube videos directly to any MP4 decoder on your computer. Simply go to their custom web page and paste the YouTube URL into the field. In a moment you will be presented with a clean window showing you the video, as well as a download link for the MP4 version.

They also have a Greasemonkey/UserScript available which will add a link to all YouTube pages. That's nice, but what I was really looking for was a bookmarklet I could keep in my Bookmarks Bar and just click on when I was on a YouTube page. I didn't find one, so I made one. Drag (don't click!) this link to your Bookmarks Bar: FlashFree YouTube and you can easily access the NeoSmart/HTML5 version.

How does it work? Superbly well. I tested it using Safari, and watching a YouTube video through NeoSmart had no noticeable impact on my CPU at all.

I've nearly given up hope for a version of Flash for Mac that doesn't stink. Until then, ClickToFlash and NeoSmart's HTML5 YouTube are a great combination to make your web surfing more enjoyable.

(Update: NeoSmart is being blocked by Google/YouTube. It turns out that if you load YouTube videos on YouTube.com while having ClickToFlash installed, they play through QuckTime, not Flash. So download ClickToFlash.)

Filed under: Humor, Video, Odds and ends, Apple, Found Footage, Music

Found Footage: "I fell in love at the Apple Store"


Here's an earworm for you; hip-hop group FattySpins recorded a love song to ladies and to all things Apple, and filmed the video (above) at the landmark Apple Store Fifth Avenue.

The song manages to not only encompass a lot of Apple products in its lyrics, but also manages to poke some good fun at Microsoft. I mean, you've gotta love lyrics like:
"I know how to treat you – this ain't a reboot
I'll never find the need to Control ALT Delete you
I see no reason to mess with these slobs
Cause they're like Bill Gates... and I'm Steve Jobs
"
The Apple Store Love Song was written and produced by Ray William Johnson, the likable nebbish with the glasses in the video. There's no word on whether or not Apple is going to hire him to produce catchy viral raps for future ads.

[via CrunchGear]

Filed under: Video, iTunes, Mac 101

Mac 101: Using Home Sharing in iTunes 9



Home Sharing is one of the fantastic new features in iTunes 9, and one that slipped between the cracks in our coverage in the days after the software was released. Sang Tang showed us how to use FireWire to speed up transfers over your network, but this is a basic overview of how Home Sharing works and how you can use it to easily share media files to different computers in your household.

This video was made using the new screen recording option in QuickTime X, which proved to be extremely easy and useful.

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage, App Review

Quicker tweets with qTweeter

There's no shortage of Twitter apps in the App Store. Even more surprising is the number of GOOD apps that connect to the popular microblogging platform. I like each for a different reason: Tweetie has a clean user interface, TweetDeck offers multiple columns that sync with its desktop counterpart, and TwitterFon has ReadItLater integration. There are countless others that have unique features, and many of us end up with at least a couple on our iDevices.

But I have a new favorite, qTweeter, developed by the folks at Efiko Software. You won't find it in the App Store, though, because this app requires a jailbroken device. Multitasking isn't officially allowed (yet?) on the iPhone OS, yet qTweeter relies on this capability to perform its best trick.

Say you're checking the weather and want to tell everyone of the approaching hurricane. Normally, you would close your weather application, swipe through pages of apps, tap on and wait for your favorite Twitter client to open and load all of the tweets that you really don't care about right now, and finally type your warning to get the heck out of town. By the time you do all of that, the highway is going to be grid-locked with fleeing residents and you'll be stuck boarding up windows and sweeping up the debris!

Instead, you could have just "pulled" qTweeter down from the status bar, typed your tweet, and went back to the app still running in the background.

In fact, per the recent trend, you could have also posted that same message to your Facebook status with just a tap of a checkbox. It's a much quicker way to get your message out of your head and onto the Net, a fact that you'll appreciate as you get older and those thoughts become more fleeting.

Continue readingQuicker tweets with qTweeter

Filed under: Rumors, Video, Beta Beat, Developer, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch

Wondering what's in iPhone OS 3.1? There's a YouTube video for that


So here's something interesting, if you're curious to know what features might be in iPhone OS 3.1. It seems YouTube is chock full of videos shot in what seems to be defiance of Apple's NDA for 3.1 features. A couple of gems hint at expanded copy/paste functions, and there's one video which we could swear might hint at a real-time zoom... perhaps not just for photos but for framing video?

Anyway, it's a bit of a mining expedition, as searching for specific [REDACTED] methods or properties yields best results, so don't get all hot and bothered thinking you'll peep an iPad by searching for "setAppleTabletSize" or something. In fact, all of these could be fake, although the sheer number of videos seems to suggest something other than a grand deception.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review

Zensify, another not-so-hot social aggregator for the iPhone

It's an increasingly crowded category on the App Store: Social Networking. Like several other apps in this category, Zensify (iTunes link) doesn't just tap into one social networking service. The app is an aggregator, taking multiple sites and rolling them up into one app that will, in theory, make your social networking somehow easier. That's the promise of all these aggregator apps. So how does Zensify do?

First, Zensify supports Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, Delicious, YouTube, 12seconds and Photobucket. Unfortunately, I had only moderate success with signing in to some of these. Flickr takes you to the requisite Flickr-based verification pages, but after going through the process I received a warning dialog that an error had occurred, with only OK as my option to continue -- right before the app froze up completely. Then I tried Digg, but there was only a username field, not a password field. I was able to get Delicious to work, and YouTube (after quitting the app, as there was a bug preventing me from typing in the text area). I didn't try Photobucket or 12seconds, as I'm not big on those.

I should note that I wound up deleting Zensify, then re-installing it, and something interesting happened -- once I had re-logged into Facebook Connect, my previous logins "stuck." I only needed to type in my username on digg and it said everything was logged in. That was a pretty neat trick, and a re-install appears to take care of some of the initial bugs. I'm assured by the folks at Zensify that several other bugs are being crushed for the next release.

While Zensify is pretty in parts, there are functionality issues. These are because, in an effort to do everything, the app winds up a confusing mess at times. Many apps suffer from this, especially social networking apps. Keep reading for my full review.

Continue readingZensify, another not-so-hot social aggregator for the iPhone

Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Reviews, iPhone, iPod touch

Hands on with TuneWiki for iPhone

Yesterday I downloaded a copy of TuneWiki, the new free iPhone application that lets you listen to streaming radio and your personal media collection while displaying lyrics. I tried out Lyrics+ last week and was looking forward to seeing what TuneWiki would bring to the table. What I found was a mix of promising capabilities mixed with a few preliminary growing pains.

What's great about TuneWiki (iTunes link) is its ready access to so many media sources. When I started it already listening to music, it immediately loaded the proper album, cued up the lyrics to the proper point, and started showing me a live feed of the synced words. That's pretty awesome.

It should be noted that TuneWiki has a direct licensing deal with Universal EMI, Sony, and about 16,000 publishers in 1800 groups including Warner (via the Harry Fox Agency) as well as deals in Greece, Israel, Spain, Germany, Turkey, and so forth. Every attempt has been made to license this lyric use world wide. Amnon Sarig, TuneWiki founder, told TUAW that he's worked hard on securing these world wide licensing agreements to ensure that TuneWiki has rights to display lyrics wherever it is used. "No one else has worldwide exploitation rights," he told us. "I've been in the licensing business for 11 years and as far as I know, the only other application on App store that exploits lyrics legally has their licenses limited to the United States."


Continue readingHands on with TuneWiki for iPhone

Filed under: Multimedia, Odds and ends, Flickr Find, iPhone, MobileMe

iPhones pass the fireworks test: best of the reader-submitted 4th photos

Shooting photographs of fireworks can be a real challenge. The good shots happen quickly, cameras don't always get the focus right, and there is a lot of movement that can make for blurry pictures. The iPhone is not the best camera in the world for demanding photo jobs -- that's true for all cell phone cams, with the possible exception of digital cameras that happen to include phones as a bonus feature.

Nevertheless, we asked our readers around the U.S. to send us their fireworks images, and that they did. Actually, the iPhone acquitted itself pretty well, both with still images and in movies done with the new 3G (plus one movie done with a jailbroken 2G and Cycorder).

Look below for a gallery of some of my favorite stills. Many were sent anonymously, so we can't always credit the photographer. Some were uploaded directly from their phones to MobileMe and YouTube.

Thanks to all who participated and made our 4th of July sparking and colorful. Visit this link to see the full collection of entries, check out comments in our request for pictures article yesterday for more YouTube links, and view the gallery below for our selection of some great images from around the country.

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Video, Found Footage, iPhone

Found Footage: Inexpensive do-it-yourself tripod mount for iPhone


iPhone Savior featured this short video clip this morning by Scott Patrick showing how to use an inexpensive Contour iPhone case and some common hardware to make an iPhone tripod mount.

There are two impressive points about this mount; first, by using the Contour case, you know that the iPhone is going to be held securely (my wife used one for over a year and never had it inadvertently open up), and second, Scott made it so it will work with any standard tripod camera mount head.

With the tripod Scott is using, it would be simple to flip the camera 90° to put it into a landscape configuration. This should work well for both still photography with any iPhone or video work with the iPhone 3GS.

[Thanks to TUAW reader Michael for pointing us to this video]

Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone

Don't try this at home

Or at the pool, or at the beach. It seems a French fellow was proud of his new iPhone 3GS and was taking pictures around the pool when the sort of inevitable happened. Yup, in the drink. Amazingly, the iPhone survived the underwater ordeal, and even recorded [YouTube link] the trip. Allegedly.

I wouldn't recommend this as summer entertainment. The iPhone in question had a tight rubber case, and my guess is while the video did record OK, the moisture in the phone will eventually take a toll.

There are a few water-tight cases for the iPhone, and we road tested an Otterbox Defender case back in April. Perhaps this fellow will invest in such a case should he go iPhone diving in the future.

Now of course the video might be a fake (I would have expected to see water on the lens for example), but at least it's an entertaining weekend diversion. Click through to the second half of the post to see the video.

Via Cult of Mac.

Continue readingDon't try this at home

Filed under: iPhone

YouTube mobile uploads increased dramatically since iPhone 3GS

When the video recording capabilities of the iPhone 3GS were announced, I really looked forward to using the direct YouTube uploads to share things that no one else cared about, like my dog or my nephew. It seems like many other 3GS owners had similar ideas.

The YouTube blog is reporting that since the 3GS was released last friday, uploads have increased from mobile devices by 400% per day. They even list some of the many videos that have been uploaded since the 3GS release that range from boring to annoying.

I know that these mobile uploads of videos have a pretty limited audience, and most people watching them will wonder why they were ever uploaded in the first place. However, it does make sharing special (or mundane) moments with family and friends much easier, and I for one am happy to have the option.

[via MacRumors]

Filed under: Freeware, iPhone, App Store, App Review

First Look: Pixelpipe 1.4.1

So you got a shiny new 3GS (no more space!) and are looking for new ways to play with the new videos you've recorded? If the iPhone's built in YouTube uploading functionality isn't quite enough for you, Pixelpipe has stepped in to fill the void and allow you to send that video (or photo) to over 40 services quickly and easily.

I set up the application to send to Twitter and Picasa, and the uploads went exactly as advertised. It should be noted that when sending video to services that don't support direct uploads (such as Twitter), the video is sent to Pixelpipe's servers and linked from your account. On the Pixelpipe site, the video is displayed in its native .mov format, so PC owners may have a hard time viewing the video if they don't have QuickTime installed.

Pixelpipe
(iTunes link) is a free download and supports uploading video to 40 services. Sorry, iPod touch users, this one is an iPhone-only application.

Filed under: Retail, Odds and ends, Found Footage, iPhone

iPhone 3G S Launch Day: Video from the Aspen Grove Apple Store




I was at the Aspen Grove Apple Store in Littleton, CO today for the annual iPhone event, and shot some video while I was there.

In contrast to 2007 and 2008, the lines were much shorter. It appeared that everyone was walking away from the store happy and with an iPhone 3G S in their hands.

I will return later today (or early tomorrow; it depends on how long it takes to activate the new phone) with another tradition -- the unboxing video. Be sure to check back for some unboxing fun!

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Beta Beat

Evom beta takes up iSquint's mantle, effortlessly converts video formats

While still in beta, Evom (from The Little App Factory, makers of iPodRip) looks ready to pick up where iSquint left off. It easily and quickly converts videos to formats compatible with iTunes, YouTube, your iPod, and Apple TV.

It couldn't be a simpler drag-and-drop operation: drop the video on the Evom window, and select a destination. After that, Evom does the heavy lifting and (optionally) adds the finished video to iTunes. The output quality is good -- it uses the same technical foundation as ffmpegX. You get the same high quality without all the fiddly controls of ffmpegX.

Evom also includes a bookmarklet that lets you save off YouTube videos to your computer with a single click. The quality of the output there mostly depends on how good the source video is, but it couldn't be easier.

iSquint, my favorite "as if by magic" video conversion tool, was discontinued after Techspansion (also the makers of iSquint's bigger brother VisualHub) shut their doors last October. The VisualHub codebase is still being developed, however, in a new project called Video Monkey that Aron covered in March, which is also well worth a look.

Evom is in beta, but unlike iSquint, it appears like it may cost something when the final version is released. It also appears limited to converting 60 items until it's registered, and trying to register the app leads to a non-existent shopping cart area. Even so, the simple interface and easy installation will be worth a few bucks to me.

[Via Daring Fireball.]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Peripherals, Software, iTunes, Developer

DVD Jon's Doubletwist sends and shares your media

Why, you might wonder, would we want another media program -- isn't iTunes enough? But a new app called Doubletwist (by DVD Jon, creator of the old DeCSS DRM-stripping software) looks to answer that question by taking an iTunes-style interface, and expanding it to pretty much anything you'd want to do with media -- send it to your own phones and portable devices, upload it to sites like Facebook or YouTube, or even send it off to your friends, even those who don't have the app. We first heard about Doubletwist about a year ago, but there wasn't a Mac version to speak of (so who cares, right?).

But the Mac version is now out in public beta, and it's pretty impressive -- you can basically ignore file types, formats, or anything else that would keep you from sending a video, audio, or photo file from your computer out into the great blue yonder. There are a few other screencasts floating around as well, including this demo of the way the app works with pretty much any device you want, from iPod Blackberry to Android, the Sony PSP, and soon, the Nintendo DSi. [Note that the current build only supports the iPhone and iPod on the Windows side, but they say that Mac support for our favorite devices is forthcoming.]

It seems very enticing (though I'm doubtful that all of the video converting and sharing really goes as fast as it looks in the video). But if you want to find out for yourself, have at it -- DoubleTwist is currently a free beta download for Intel 10.5 and up users.

Thanks Sebastiaan!

Continue readingDVD Jon's Doubletwist sends and shares your media

Tip of the Day

To get an instant map to any address, just go to your Address Book and right click on the address field of any one of your contacts and select "Map Of." The address will then be revealed in Google Maps on Safari. You can do the same if a data detector determines there is an address in an e-mail in Mail.


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