Lately, I've been hearing a lot of fanfare about an application called DoubleTwist that is at its core a free music jukebox that offers content syncing to a variety of portable devices, including the BlackBerry, the PSP, and the iPod, as well as pretty much anything that can mount in Universal Mass Storage mode. One of the main draws of the program is that it can take your iTunes library and sync it to a variety of non-iPod players, an important feature for anyone who has ditched the ubiquitous device in favor of a music phone or other MP3 player. And soon, the Windows version of the jukebox will offer built-in support for Amazon MP3 store purchases as well (note: the Mac version already supports Amazon MP3 purchases), a move in line with the company's goal to offer consumers choice when it comes to digital music management.
The DoubleTwist video view.
Certainly, DoubleTwist is a useful solution for a lot of people, especially since it incorporates automatic video transcoding for a lot of the supported devices, which is the feature that drew me to the software. However, the program is not without its pitfalls, and some of them are sure to cause no small amount of frustration. For example, the video transcoding--done during the syncing process--takes forever. Conversion speed was roughly two times normal speed, so a 90-minute movie took 50 minutes or so to encode and transfer. Still, considering DoubleTwist offers this feature for free and integrates it so simply, I'm willing to forgive the sluggishness.
Much more annoying is how slow the video library loads in thumbnail mode, and while it is loading, you can't actually browse the selections. ... Read more
NFB Films streams over 1,000 shorts and feature-length films to your iPhone.
Like indie films? Documentaries? Animation? Ho, boy, have I got an app for you: NFB Films lets you watch over a thousand movies on your iPhone. For free.
The "NFB" stands for National Film Board, a kind of Canadian PBS. The app taps the NFB's mammoth library of documentaries, animated films, trailers (for upcoming NFB releases), and more.
All the movies are streamed to your iPhone, but there's also an ingenious "watch later" option that downloads a selected movie for later viewing. However, these downloads expire after 24 hours, not unlike App Store movie rentals, but that hardly seems unfair.
NFB Films includes a Channels section where you can browse various categories, including Documentaries, Kids Cartoons, History & War, and Environment. There's a search option, natch, and you can add movies to a favorites (sorry, "favourites") list for easier access.
If you come across a film you want to share with friends, the app lets you send an e-mail that includes a link to the Web version.
A while back I went to see 10 Oscar-nominated short films--five animated, five live-action. They were all tremendously entertaining. Since then I've been a lot more open-minded to non-mainstream movie fare like this. So for me, NFB Films is pure iPhone gold. I reckon you'll love it, too.
If you're a blogger, you know that finding images, videos, and audio for your blog without worry of copyright issues can be difficult. Either the content is copyrighted, or you need to pay for it. In either case, it's not as tempting as freely available, copyright-free media.
Luckily, there are resources across the Web that allow you to use multimedia content for free with some simple attribution. It's a great way to add interesting flavor to your blog without worry of copyright issues.
Let's take a look:
Go public
Creative Commons A search for public-domain multimedia content usually starts with Creative Commons. The site is one of the best places to go, if you're looking for content to add to your blog.
When you get to Creative Commons, you'll find a search box where you can input a query. From there, a handy tabbed-browsing interface is shown, allowing you to send your query to Google search, Google Images, Flickr, and more.
Creative Commons' site is quick to point out that all the searches bring you to third-party sites, and there's no guarantee that the content is free to use, but you'll notice under the search box that the page automatically searches for content that's "free to use, share, or modify, even commercially."
I've used the search engine on numerous occasions and had some success using it. Try out Creative Commons, if you want to search several sites for some photos.
Creative Commons' tabbed search feature.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)EveryStockPhoto EveryStockPhoto is a search engine for those who want free, public-domain photos to use on their site.
Overall, I was really impressed by EveryStockPhoto. When you get to the site, you have the option of viewing photos in popular categories or using the page's prominent search box to find photos. When you search the site, it finds images from several resources, including many of those mentioned in this roundup. Flickr is one of its most used sources.
When you click on an image in EveryStockPhoto, you can see who owns it, the licensing rights associated with it, and more. I really liked EveryStockPhoto. Check it out.
EveryStockPhoto helps you find public-domain images across the Web.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday, October 9, that the H1N1 virus was widespread in 37 states. Fortunately, vaccines are on their way, and seasonal flu shots are currently available (the map on the Flu.gov site helps you find a vaccination center near you).
The best way to avoid bringing the flu bug home with you from the office is to stay out of the office. If you have the flu, do yourself and your coworkers a favor: stay home and rest! Not sure if you have the flu? Check the CDC site for a list and description of the symptoms of both H1N1 and seasonal flu. You'll also find information on the CDC site for taking care of people with the flu, prevention for people at high risk, and travel updates.
One of the best ways to track the flu's spread is via Google Flu Trends, an interactive map that indicates the frequency of flu-related search terms in various countries.
The Google Flu Trends map tracks flu-related searches by country.
(Credit: Google)Additional information on flu trends is available for the U.S. and several other countries. For the U.S., you can compare yearly flu trends and view data for each state.
For several countries, Google provides more annual and regional flu data.
(Credit: Google)
Link to your office PC for free
In many work situations, there's no substitute for being face to face. But every year it gets easier to get your office work done from outside the office. One way to do so is via Windows' Remote Desktop Connection component, which lets you link to a PC that's on an office network, but only if the machine's running XP Professional or Vista/Windows 7 Professional, Business, or Ultimate.
... Read more
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Vringo)
Like most mobile platforms, Android phones can assign ringtones to incoming calls. What the platform can't do on its own is let callers choose their own favorite ringtones to play when calling a friend. Vringo for Android is a beta application that can do that. What's more, it makes this self-chosen ringtone a video ringtone, which is immensely cooler.
Vringo got its start on Java feature phones, and now works on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian, too. Here's the premise--you sign up for an account and choose one or more video ringtones, or "vringos," to use. You download it, and can set your vringo, changing it as often as you like. That vringo becomes the ringtone that other Vringo buddies see when you call them. You also see it when your own phone rings with an incoming call--unless the caller is a fellow Vringo user, in which case you see the Vringo they've selected, not the vringo you've chosen. Got all that?
After logging in on the Android phone, new users will see a dashboard with three preloaded video ringtones to get started. You can get more from Vringo's library by browsing categories. We're disappointed that there seems to be no search feature. After a 5-second default preview (you can click to see a full clip at launch, except for the Marvel category), you can decide to download the vringo to your gallery.
Most vringos are free, with Marvel-themed Vringos costing $2. Unfortunately, Vringo beta for Android also doesn't seem to let you filter by price, something that will need to happen as more premium vringos are offered. You can add your own vringos by uploading a video from the Android phone, or by recording a new video to turn into a vringo. You can also create new vringos from the computer in the online Vringo Studio beta by importing a video from a Web URL.
At this point, Vringo for Android beta isn't in the Android Market. You'll need to download the APK file from the mobile browser, then install it using an app like AppInstaller, which you can get from the Market (hint: search "installer" to see a list of choices). Open the installer app you chose and select Vringo. You'll need to make sure that you've configured the phone to accept applications downloaded outside of the Market environment. If you have not, the installer should prompt you. Here's another hint, if the application icon doesn't appear in the program list, try rebooting the phone.
Vringo hasn't told us much about the new beta yet, so we'll fill in more information as we get it. In the meantime, you can try it out for free. You get the first premium vringo free as well, so choose wisely.
Line up the freeware photo manager/editor combos and you'll quickly realize that Google's Picasa stands out in its class. The latest version, Picasa 3.5 (Windows | Mac), is no exception, offering one huge new feature and a few little ones, to offer you more choices for organizing and sharing photos from your desktop.
Facial recognition is the big news here, and Google's team has handily translated the face-tagging feature that it had implemented in the online version, Picasa Web Albums, to the desktop app. You can even download tags you used online into Picasa 3.5.
If you're starting out fresh, you'll notice that Picasa now displays an extra tab, one organized around the people in your albums, and not just the pictures. After naming your contacts (made slightly less laborious with a little help from your Google contacts list), you'll have a photo album dedicated to each friend. With it, you'll be able to find other photos, create a face collage, and plot photos on a Google map. How? We won't hold you in suspense any longer. To see Picasa's new features in action, check out the first Look video above.
Time again for Adobe's annual update of its consumer photo- and video-editing applications, Photoshop Elements (Windows | Mac) and Premiere Elements (Windows only). We're up to version 8 now, and while there's no killer must-have new capability--unless you consider automatic sync across multiple computers--the two products still provide solid mass appeal for their respective markets.
As in the past, you can buy the pair together for $149.99, which is a far more attractive buy for video-editing shoppers than Photoshoppers, and in fact the combination makes quite a nice bundle for home videographers. Independently, they're $99.99 each. Tack "Plus" to the name of the product for another $40 and you get an extra 20GB on the otherwise free Photoshop.com membership (along with ongoing new template and tutorial content), which will then cost you $50 annually to renew.
The latter becomes key if you plan to take advantage of one of the nicer new features, the ability to sync your videos, photos, music, projects, and PDF files across multiple systems using Photoshop.com as the hub. (In case you missed it, Photoshop.com rolled out video support last month in preparation for this release of Pre.) While Adobe doesn't make a Plus membership a requirement for doing so, you'll very quickly max out your free 2GB without it.
After allowing the product to languish for a while, with 8 Adobe brings the Mac version of Photoshop Elements up to parity with the Windows version and with the buzzy new features in iPhoto, including face recognition and geotagging/mapping. Unlike iPhoto, however, there's no direct upload to Facebook, though it supports a broader number of services, including Kodak EasyShare Gallery and Smugmug. Annoyingly, those choices are buried as More Options on the Share pane (likely because the interface decision was based on the technology used--implemented via an API rather than core program code--rather than where the user will look for them).
Like most current facial recognition implementations, Adobe's is only moderately accurate. For instance, in many photos it correctly identifies one person, but didn't detect others and thought inanimate objects were faces. The batch detection and labeling where you confirm different faces in groups of selected images is better, but still a little clunky.
... Read moreOn Sale Now: $64.98 - $99.99
View the latest prices for Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Windows)
On Sale Now: $64.99 - $99.99
View the latest prices for Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Mac)
(Credit:
CNET)
A recent review of Corel Digital Studio 2010 got me close and personal with the consumer-oriented multimedia suite. Corel's studio excelled at providing a consistent, unified look, navigation, and toolset across its applications for editing photos and videos, making movies, burning content, and playing videos. It also copies photos, videos, and music to your mobile device, and can create photo projects like photo books and cards.
All good stuff, but it doesn't come cheap. Multimedia suites like this will put you out about $100. They're worth the price if you frequently use the tools, or if you vastly prefer the convenience and accessibility of a consumer-friendly setup. However, if you don't mind being scrappy, you can cobble together a spread of multimedia tools--your own "suite"--for next to nothing.
Edit and create
FastStone Image Viewer has quick-access editing tools.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Photo editing, video editing, and making movies are the three largest focal points of multimedia suites like Corel Digital Studio 2010 and Roxio Creator 2010 (unfortunately, no download trial is available for the latter). Google's Picasa is one of my favorite freeware tools for casual users, and one of the closest direct matches to what's offered in a multimedia suite. Its uses are multifarious: organizing your photos and videos into albums, editing images and videos, sharing online, creating projects like collages and movies, and ordering prints.
The image-editing tools are serviceable, with red-eye removal, one-click lighting fixes, cropping and straightening, and finer tools for addressing blemishes and lighting. There are also 12 effects, like sepia tones and soft focus. This contrasts with Picasa's low-grade video editor, which can at least rotate videos and trim them. The movie maker has many more controls, but is basic; it doesn't build in the polished templates of a premium program. Picasa does, however, offer to sell you prints from a choice of providers (choice is good), and can help create a collage.
For standalone photo editing, the freeware applications FastStone Image Viewer, IrfanView, Paint.NET, and GIMP range in features from the accessible to the powerful. Read more about them in this resource guide.
Vista and Windows 7 users can try out Microsft's new Windows Live Movie Maker (review), freeware that can slap photos and video clips into a new movie in seconds. Deeper controls let you tweak transitions, captions, and effects after the automation. Editing tools include splitting, trimming, and applying fade points. As a point of comparison, video editors in these consumer-focused multimedia suites are better-equipped, perhaps with audio-tuning tools and features to adjust video lighting.
Windows Live Movie Maker works on Vista and Windows 7 computers.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Creating calendars and photo books are a DIY project within your reach if you have an excellent photo printer and a home bookbinding kit. Otherwise, you can spend your energy on the editing and captioning and get a project printed somewhere else. Retail shops, like FedEx Office in the U.S., will print projects. Online photo albums and services like Shutterfly, Snapfish, and Zazzle will also gladly accept your business. The 12-month calendars run from $15 to $20; large photo books are often in the mid-$30 range (online services often charge for shipping). Corel Digital Studio is similarly priced.
... Read moreMicrosoft recently released Windows Live Movie Maker for Vista. Those acquainted with Windows Movie Maker for XP or Vista may be scratching their heads right now--is this an update? Actually, Microsoft intended for it to be a distinct new product for Vista and Windows 7, though you may not guess it based on the almost-identical naming convention.
At any rate, a few points set Windows Live Movie Maker apart from its cousins. Its audience, for a start. While the free application was always intended for the average Windows user (as opposed to a prosumer or professional), this edition strives even more toward simplicity. With the AutoMovie button on board, you're able to create a movie from start to finish--using your photos and video clips--within a minute or two. The software automatically adds transitions, zoom and pan effects, and a title page. It also prompts you to add music. True, your final product may not be particularly creative or personal, but it's certainly a starting point, and making adjustments and embellishments after the fact is fairly easy.
Second, the Windows Live Movie Maker team wants to get movies off the computer and to their final destination--YouTube, Facebook, your Xbox, cell phone, a DVD, friend's e-mail in-box, or your TV. The sharing features are fairly expanded, and accessible with a click.
What the application achieves in accessibility, it loses in advanced features. There are some light audio and video-editing tools like fading and splitting, but not much beyond. Its basics will polarize those intermediate users who are ready to go into slightly more complex editing territory. It is worth noting that there are a few more movie formats supported on Windows 7. You should also be aware that the app installs as part of the Microsoft Essentials pack, but you can opt out of all else to install Windows Live Movie Maker alone.
To review all this information and more, check out the full Windows Live Movie Maker review. To watch us make a movie (not this one), watch the First Look video above.
Qik from Qik Inc. is a video application previously only available on jailbroken iPhones. On Thursday, however, Apple made the application available for free in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone 3GS only.
What's different between Qik and Apple's Camera app? Qik lets you capture moments in video to share with family, friends, or the whole world. Unlike the Apple Camera app, which shares via e-mail, MMS, MobileMe, and YouTube, Qik shares video using e-mail, SMS, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, as well as Web sites and your favorite blogging platforms, including Blogger, Tumblr, and Wordpress. Feel like being social? You can post your videos to MySpace and Digg.
(Credit:
Qik, Inc.)
There is one big gotcha, however. Qik can't stream live video (which it was originally designed to do), and it only uploads video over a Wi-Fi connection--interesting, since the free Ustream 3GS recording app can upload videos on either a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. (The lack of video streaming in both apps is a limitation imposed on the them by Apple.)
If you record video and don't have immediate access to Wi-Fi, Qik will automatically upload your video once you are connected to Wi-Fi again. If you are connected when you shoot, your video will immediately upload after you stop recording.
(Credit:
David Martin)
Qik also allows you to shoot video in portrait or landscape modes, just like Apple's Camera app. Recorded videos can also take advantage of the iPhone GPS by automatically including location information in your recorded videos.
Update, August 22, 2009 at 9:29 a.m. Pacific: The latest version of Qik that we found in our updates in iTunes today removes the Wi-Fi only restriction for video upload. You may now use 3G and Wi-Fi for video uploading.
