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Video calling on computers, mobile phones and tablets is no longer the novelty it was even a few years ago. But such calls remain a rarity on your television. Never mind that some newer, connected smart TVs provide video-calling options. Or that in recent years companies such as Cisco and Logitech have introduced set-top options for turning your living room TV into a gigantic video phone. Video calls on the TV have barely registered with consumers. Too expensive. Not good enough. Some combination of the two.
Even so, I've always appreciated the idea behind using the TV for video calls. The screen on your TV is likely the largest and best display in your house. And consider how appealing it might be for the entire family to congregate in front of a camera to show off the newborn to out-of-town relatives, rather than having everyone try to crowd in front of a PC's webcam.
Enter Silicon Valley newcomer Tely Labs. With its compact TelyHD Skype-compatible set-top box that recently went on sale, the company believes it can succeed where others have failed. Inside the nearly a foot-long black box is a wide-angle high-definition camera, four noise-canceling microphones, a pretty powerful dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and Android software. In other words, it has the guts of a computer, which suggests some interesting possibilities down the road.
For now, though, this is mostly about video calling via Skype. In my tests, TelyHD delivered generally acceptable but uneven video quality, even after I swapped one test unit for another. The box is capable of delivering high-definition video up to the 720p standard, though I certainly never mistook the pictures I saw for a supercrisp HD series on network television. You need a robust Internet connection of at least 1 Mbps (upstream and downstream) to achieve... newsfactor.com »
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Gnzo reminds me a lot of Twitter, as it's a platform that makes for sharing not micro-messages but micro-videos. By installing the Gnzo application on your iPhone, you'll be able to shoot and share quick videos that will show your friends what you're up to. Your friends, and every other user of the app if you decide to have your media shared on Gnzo's "Public" channel.
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You wouldn't think that an ex marine corps from the UK with not much knowledge about computers, and who fought on the Iraq war, would be the creator of at least two internet startups. But Simon Weatherall fits this description. Apparently his present job as personal trainer was not enough and his mind kept working as much as he helped other people to work out their bodies.
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Sharing your videos online is a natural consequence after so much photograph exchange going around through the internet. If showing your pictures to friends was fun, still more fun will be to share your videos. killerstartups.com »
| Did you get a phone, tablet or laptop for the holidays? Bring out the oohs and ahhs with just the right accessory to make your new favorite toy even better.
The iPhone 4 Freak
The Kogeto Dot ($79; kogeto.com) definitely fits the description of "something cool and unusual that he or she wouldn't think of." It's a plastic lens that snaps over the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S and lets the phone capture video in 360 degrees, video that can be easily shared on Facebook, Twitter or by email.
If you receive a video that someone shot while walking through Times Square, you can spin the point of view around (via click-drag on a computer or by swiping the video on your phone). Watch the LED billboards on the left, then pivot your view to see the person behind the camera, then pivot again to see other tourists and traffic on the right. To get a sense of what I'm yammering about, check out kogeto.com/dotspots.
It's great for someone who loves to shoot videos on the go (though it's awful in low-light situations) and you'll get a kick out of seeing their videos in a whole new way.
The Tablet Toter
The WingStand ($14.95; wingstand.com) is a humble idea that packs a lot of wow. Two curved pieces of sturdy plastic sit on a tabletop or other flat, horizontal surface and hold that new tablet at a comfortable reading angle. The WingStand is designed to be used with a portable keyboard that makes your tablet or phone feel more like a laptop, but it looks and works great by itself.
The viewing angle doesn't adjust, but the WingStand is stable and securely holds a tablet or phone even while the device is being swiped. The two parts snap together so they aren't easily misplaced. This is one... newsfactor.com » |
If you need to promote a service, product, or any kind of business in which you are in, just uploading a good website won't be enough. killerstartups.com »
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An iPad application that's been created by Thomas Pun with funding from SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher, Shervin Pishevar and Jeff Clavier, Nowbox makes watching videos on your tablet a real pleasure. This app lets you subscribe to as many YouTube channels as you want, and also to have a good look at all the most popular content being shared on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The way this app works, you are allowed to view videos right as you discover them, and also save to them for later.
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WeVideo is an online tool for the collective edition of videos. This service lets you and all your friends create online stories with any raw footage that you have. You can apply effects to it, create transitions, add background music.
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| Microsoft [has] strengthened the case for its Xbox 360 video game system to be a star of the digital living room, an all-in-one entertainment set-top box.
The console was the first game system to incorporate a Netflix streaming app. Now it's bringing in live TV from Verizon FiOS and the Epix movie channel to complement current offerings of ESPN and Hulu Plus. And all that content can be accessed with your voice using the Kinect motion controller.
The move by Microsoft, along with similar ones by rivals, comes as many shoppers this holiday season are looking to take their home entertainment center over the top.
They've grown accustomed to watching video wherever and whenever they want on whatever device they choose. Yet they still cherish the kick-back-and-relax viewing experience provided by the old reliable home TV.
So, increasingly, viewers are incorporating Netflix and other Internet-based streaming and on-demand content providers, such as Amazon and Hulu, with current broadcast, cable and satellite services to tailor a home TV experience all their own.
"What we see is people adding streaming video and maybe cutting down on the premium service, or finding some way to save some money on the pay-TV side," says Norm Bogen, analyst at market research firm In-Stat.
Just a few years ago, connecting a PC to your TV used to be the chief way to get that over-the-top experience. Now, nearly as many people use a game console as a PC to make their TVs "smart," an In-Stat survey found. "Driving it is the consumer (appetite) for a wide variety of content on demand and the availability of devices that allow them to get that content on their big-screen TV."
This holiday season could be the perfect time to bring these new services to your living room, because there are bargains to be had on Blu-ray... newsfactor.com » |  Mashable - Videos are standard viral fare of the web -- they're passed around so much that often people have no idea where they came from. A startup called Viewbix seeks to rectify that issue, with a service that lets anyone make a video interactive.
Viewbix is basically a nicer version of YouTube annotations: Visit the site (which is free), add a video from YouTube or Facebook and start customizing. Add a title, a link to your website, details about the video, photos and a variety of apps (Google Maps, an RSS feed, Twitter feeds, Skype, a QR Code) and share your video. It will now be wrapped in all of your info so that when it's passed along, users will know who you are and where to find you. Check out my test below. Yahoo! News: Internet News » | If you have a cellphone with a monthly limit on how much data you can use, here are some tips on what types of phone use will gobble up your precious megabytes:
- Streaming video and videoconferencing. The biggest offender. One minute of YouTube-quality video eats up 2 megabytes. If you're on a plan that gives you 200 megabytes per month, you can't even watch Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video once per day. If you're on a 2 gigabyte plan you can, but don't make your iPhone a replacement for a TV. In either case, it's fine to indulge in YouTube and Netflix if you're on Wi-Fi.
- Streaming audio. The second biggest offender, and potentially more serious. While video is something we need to see to enjoy, Internet radio is more of an accompaniment to other activities, such as jogging or doing dishes. That means some people like to keep it on for hours. Audio consumes about a quarter of the data that video does, but 10 minutes a day will break the bank if you're on a 200 megabyte plan. One hour a day of Pandora consumes nearly a gigabyte, which you can afford if you're on a 2-gigabyte plan and don't use other data-hogging apps.
- Photos. If you're a real shutterbug, photos can consume significant amounts of data. Sending and viewing photos both count toward your monthly limit. Posting 10 photos per day eats up most of a 200 megabyte plan. If you're on a 2-gigabyte plan, you probably don't have to worry about photos.
- Maps. Navigation apps consume lots of data when they retrieve map images, up to a megabyte a minute. You're also likely to use them for long periods of time when you're away from Wi-Fi, such as when you're driving. Watch out for these.
- Web surfing.... newsfactor.com » |
Instagram for videos. That definition captures the essence of this new iPhone app like nothing else. Viddy will let you take any video that you have shot using your iPhone, edit it using a simple user interface right there and then, and post it online for all to see, comment and share further on.
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An application that both users of iPhones and iPads can get for free at the AppStore, Videolicious stands as flexible way for making videos come to life. This iOS application can take both separate stills and raw footage and have it all combined into a visually-appealing video.
This is all done in a mere couple of esteps, namely picking the media to be used (and concatenating it), and recording oneself when narrating what happens in the video (or choosing a song to go along with the full sequence).
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| Reuters - Kevin Antoine Dodson, star of a viral Internet song warning neighbors to watch out for a sexual predator, was arrested and charged with marijuana possession after being stopped for speeding, police said on Saturday. Yahoo! News: Internet News » | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kevin Antoine Dodson, star of a viral Internet song warning neighbors to watch out for a sexual predator, was arrested and charged with marijuana possession after being stopped for speeding, police said on Saturday.
Reuters: Internet News » | Vacations can lead to lots of idle downtime for browsing photo galleries and videos. But what about editing and producing some short movie gems on the fly?
Luckily, Apple's iPad 2 was packed for this two-week New Zealand trip. It was included to use e-mail and Skype, plan travels, play endless hours of Angry Birds -- and shoot and edit high-definition video on the go.
The iPad's nearly 10-inch sexy screen was a natural for reviewing homemade videos right on the spot. Spectators were amazed when showed newly captured footage of erupting geysers or Kiwi bungee jumpers.
And courtesy of Apple's $4.99 iMovie app and rival video programs ReelDirector and Splice, you can turn these little productions into mini video postcards. It's then a breeze to get them right onto Facebook, direct from your motel room. You don't have to wait until you get home. Nor do you have to worry that your creation will forever rot in your camera.
The New Zealand trip yielded four finished iPad-produced pieces. There would have been more had it been possible to include the video clips shot and imported from other cameras into the iPad. But they don't work in iMovie without going through a serious workaround. More on that in a moment.
First, let's talk about the iPad 2 as a video-capture device. The pros are big: a huge screen, instant gratification, exceptional video quality in good light. But the cons are many: no flash, no zoom and it's bulky. It does not fit well into a pocket or tote. There's no tripod mount for it either, so your finished video could get quite shaky. And the unsteadiness is much more noticeable on the larger screen.
That issue can be fixed by using instant crutches -- like positioning the iPad on a fence, a desk, the ground, anything... newsfactor.com » |
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