Tag Archive for 'Apple'

Macworld 2009: BoinxTV – elegant live video production for Mac

Published on 1/11/2009 in Apple, Gadgets, Productivity, Videos and Web 2.0. 10 Comments Tags: , , .

I’ve beta-tested it, loved it and even bought myself a sponsored edition for just $97 at Macworld Expo 2009. It’s normally $199 from their web site, with the full version being $499.

Why do I like BoinxTV so much?
Bastian, the video guru at Boinx Software, explains some of the key features of BoinxTV for live video production on the Mac.

BoinxTV’s slick interface, hardware flexibility (see how he uses a midi mixer for channel control), and extensibility (create show templates) won it over for me.

Being real-time means you get to stream shows live (e.g. Ustream.tv via GrabberRaster) with multi-camera support, overlays, chroma keys (for green screen) and more. It also means we get to produce video podcasts on the fly, with literally no need for post-editing over than video encoding for targeted media players.

They’ve just released BoinxTV 1.1 and here’s hoping for a strong user community and support.





Macworld 2009: Microvision’s “Laser-Powered” Pico Projector

Published on 1/11/2009 in Apple, Gadgets, Videos and wearable. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

3M and Texas Instruments have all made handheld pico projectors, but Microvision might have just upped the ante with their “laser projection” technology.

Jacques Lincoln, Microvision’s Global Product Manager, explains that by using laser instead of LEDs to project light, image projections never needs focusing (as you’ll see in the video), and maintains better contrast and accuracy.

Microvision’s codenamed “Pico Projector” is expected to arrive mid-2009 at an estimated price of around US$500.

UPDATE: Being highly mobile opens up new possibilities for displaying imagery in the open world. As seen in this Pico Underground blog, animal projections in everyday spaces create for a surreal synthesis of the real and virtual.





Macworld 2009: Techsmith’s Jing Pro

Published on 1/11/2009 in Apple, Productivity, Videos and Web 2.0. 1 Comment Tags: , .

While I got to see a preview of Camtasia for Mac, it’s not ready for public viewing. What I can show you though, is the “Pro edition” of Jing released earlier this month.

Katie Lewis of Techsmith demos some of the new features Jing “Pro” offers, which includes:

  • YouTube export and uploading
  • MPEG-4 export, great for editing and podcasting
  • Jing branding removal

At $14.95 per year, Jing Pro comes at a decent price for the convenience of screencasting on the fly. Do note that the free version of Jing is still available complete with complimentary hosting on Screencast.com





Macworld 2009: IPEVO Kaleido R7 Wifi Display (photos + widgets)

Published on 1/9/2009 in Apple and Gadgets. 1 Comment Tags: , .

IPEVO’s marketing executive Caroline introduces me to an LCD picture frame that does more than just show great photos, the IPEVO’s Kaleido R7

The Kaleido R7 comes as a 7-inch, 800 x 480 LCD display, with 512MB internal memory as well as an SD card slot. This glossy looking networked picture frame comes in both wired ($169?) and wifi ($199) versions, auto-senses landscape/portrait modes, and grabs online content through RSS feeds, including photos from Flickr and Picasa. Best of all, it runs a bunch of Internet widgets which elegantly displays all kinds of information, from weather to blogs. There’s even an Eyestage iPhone app for syncing and controlling the picture frame.

For the hardcore geeks out there, you could use the Kaleido R7 as an “ambient display”, to keep track of things that matter to you without clogging up your regular computer display.

Interestingly, the hardware design seems to strike a resemblance to Sony’s OLED Digital TV, the XEL-1. What do you think?

For details on the IPEVO’s Kaleido R7, see http://us.ipevo.com/ces2009/





Macworld 2009: Brenthaven’s Switch Messenger Bags

Published on 1/9/2009 in Apple, Gadgets and Videos. 3 Comments Tags: , .

Freshly announced at Macworld 2009, Brenthaven CEO Scott Armstrong gives me the lowdown on their new line of changeable laptop bags called the Switch Messenger Bags.

Brenthaven bags are well-known for being tough at protecting your laptop, but are also known to have a professional standard look to them. With the newly patented custom flip covers for these bags, users can now show off both their casual and professional personalities.

If you’re interested in these Switch Messenger Bags, you can create your own flaps over here. Retails $129.95.





Macworld ’09: Origins of Ocarina for iPhone

Published on 1/8/2009 in Academia, Apple, Art, Music, Videos and Web 2.0. 0 Comments Tags: , .

One of the SMULE engineers, Spencer, reveals the backstory of how the inventive Zelda flute application, Ocarina, was created for the iPhone.

Apparently SMULE produce all kinds of musical apps as they’re using a unique audio coding language for creative yet rapid development. A key member of SMULE is Ge Wang, a PhD student at Princeton, who was profiled by Apple for his Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk).

Ge Wang had developed ChucK as a programming language tailored for generating and making sense of sound. It’s designed to have a shallow learning curve as Wang claims that it is possible for someone who’s never programmed before to start making music within the first 30 minutes.

To see how popular Ocarina is, just search on Youtube for fans showing off their Ocarina playing skills.

See http://ocarina.smule.com for details, or better yet, join their “This Contest Blows!” contest!





Photos: What Kevin did at Macworld 2009…

Published on 1/8/2009 in Apple, Personal and Web 2.0. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Apple's banks of iLife
Macworld 2009 mosiac
Pick to see entire photo set or full-screen slideshow.

These photographs chronicle my adventures in and out of Macworld 2009, in my quest to make the best of my time in beautiful San Francisco.

Besides seeing new products, you’ll notice some of my trips to Qik and CitizenSpace. I’m on a mission to interview a few people I admire.

I’ve still got more video interviews to go, so for now, just take your time and explore these photos. To make it worth your while, I’ve captioned every picture with a backstory.





Panorama: Top Floor of NSC @ UB [processed using Hugin]

Published on 11/15/2008 in Apple, Art, Gadgets and HowTo. 0 Comments Tags: , .
Panorama: Top floor of Natural Science Complex

Panorama: Top floor of Natural Science Complex

Click images to enlarge…

In my earlier post, I showed you how you could capture and process panoramas automatically on your iPhone.

Elia Diodati reminds me that for the rest of us without iPhones or wish for higher quality panoramas, try using the open-source panorama stitcher, Hugin. Works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Above is a panorama I created from the fifth floor of the Natural Science Complex in UB North Campus, back in early October. Shots were taken using my iPhone, then automatically stitched together using Hugin on my Mac.

As you can see, unlike the horizontal “Panorama” for iPhone, Hugin allows for more complex shots, where it merged photos taken both vertically and horizontally.





theorycast.48 :: Rise of the Netbooks

Published on 10/19/2008 in Apple, Design, Gadgets, HowTo, theorycast, Trends and Videos. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

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Netbooks have amazingly dominated Amazon’s laptop sales charts for the past month.

Small, lightweight and relatively cheap… just what are netbooks truly about, why are they so popular and what does it mean for the future of computers?

In theorycast episode #48, we dive right into the world of netbooks, with fellow netbook hackers Preetam Rai (on his Acer Aspire One) and Ben Koe (on his ASUS Eee 901). I’ll be introducing my “mac-ified” MSI Wind.

After watching, tell us what your ideal netbook would be.

Update 1: Ben Koe shares his experience switching from Windows XP to Ubuntu on this Asus Eee.

Update 2: Tricia Wang got herself the Levono S10 and is exploring the cultural adaptation of netbooks as a lifestyle accessory. Perhaps she’s following the footsteps of Nokia’s user anthropologist Jan Chipchase.

Update 3: Two years ago, I showed how I got Mac OSX running on an 10.6″ Sony Vaio TR3A. Why weren’t 10″ or smaller notebooks back then as popular? I guess the high price point back then was a deal-breaker, compared to the cost of netbooks today.





RjDj: Like illicit drug, but technologically legal…

Published on 10/18/2008 in Apple, Art, Gadgets, Music, Videos and wearable. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

RjDj

Got a sweet mp3 player, but tired of listening to someone else’s music?

The tools for music creation has become more accessible thanks to affordable applications such as Garageband, but they still tend to be relatively complex to learn. In comes another mode of music production… the one that pre-packages auditory possibilities, and lets you unleash it in your own haphazard, serendipitous way. Throw in the portability, multi-sensory and processing power of the iPhone, and the gates of creativity becomes unleashed.

Earlier this month, Brian Eno released a generative music album for the iPhone known as Bloom. Just this week, Gunter Geiger, a technologist and advocate of free software, released the equally spectacular, RjDj.

So what the heck is RjDj?
Continue reading ‘RjDj: Like illicit drug, but technologically legal…’