Filed under: Video

Today on TUAW TV Live we're going to try to beat the heat with some cool app demos, so grab a nice icy cold glass of lemonade or some other favorite beverage, prop up the iPad or MacBook under the umbrella, and join your host Steve Sande for some fun.

As mentioned earlier, we'll be talking about the new Mac announcements, Safari extensions, some fun apps for iOS devices, and more. You can either just watch the show, or choose to participate through the chat tool.

To join in from your Mac or PC, just go to the next page by clicking the link at the bottom of this post, and you'll find a live stream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to join in on the fun by asking questions or making comments.

If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application.

We haven't forgotten about iPad users, as you can tune in to TUAW TV Live on your iPad! That link will send you to a non-Flash page, although you won't have access to our chat tool.

It's a hot one today in most of the U.S., so hopefully you're hanging around the air conditioner trying to stay cool. This afternoon at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT), your host Steve Sande will present another episode of TUAW TV Live.

For those of you who haven't watched the show before, think of it as participatory TV. We have a live video stream with news, reviews, and commentary about all things Apple, and you can add your comments and ask questions through a live chat. It's fun, it's free, and it's another excuse to stay inside and keep cool.

On today's show, Steve will be talking about and demoing the new Safari 5.0.1 and extensions, showing off some exercise tracker apps for iPhone, demoing some new app layout tools for iOS development, and showing an iPad app that will make you want to sell your laptop.

To join in on the fun, come back to TUAW just before 5 PM EDT and we'll have the livestream viewer and chat tool all warmed up and ready to go.

In keeping with my earlier theme about today's TUAW TV Live being like an old TV variety show, I submit this awesome shot of people spinning plates on sticks. Yes, that was the sum total of TV entertainment when I was growing up. Today on TUAW TV Live, I won't be spinning plates on sticks except in the metaphorical sense, as we've got a lot of fascinating Apple news to cover this week.

To join in from your Mac or PC, just go to the next page by clicking the link at the bottom of this post, and you'll find a live stream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to join in on the fun by asking questions or making comments.

If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application.

We haven't forgotten about iPad users, as you can tune in to TUAW TV Live on your iPad! That link will send you to a non-Flash page, although you won't have access to our chat tool.

This cinematic masterpiece is well beyond any comment or explanation we can provide, but I'll try. 3D animated re-enactments of the news are popular in Taiwan, and several top stories from the past few months have broken out as viral videos. In this case, the animators decided to give visual life to Steve Jobs' legendary Reality Distortion Field as the power of the dark side of the Force, complete with Darth Vader's trademark helmet (earned in single combat with another tech legend).

From eager buyers in a line for 'iCrap,' to Darth Steve force-choking a certain blogger, to a rather permanent lightsaber-based solution to the iPhone 4's antenna issues -- this one's got it all. Enjoy.

[via Daring Fireball]

Now that Apple's command performance for journalists in Cupertino this morning to deliver the full story on the iPhone 4's image problem is concluded, the company has posted the video of the event [link fixed] for your viewing pleasure. See the fetching Keynote presentation and the demonstrations of other smartphones' reception issues with your very own eyes! Enjoy.

Along with the video, there's a new section on apple.com that shows the anechoic chambers, the design process, videos of other smartphones and more than you ever wanted to know about antenna engineering for modern cellphones. Apple clearly wants us to understand that the iPhone 4 wasn't just thrown together by some cavemen in a cubicle.

[For those who were getting the WWDC video off that link, the CDN redirect was flaky -- the canonical link for it is http://www.apple.com/apple-events/july-2010/]

Mac fans who work with high definition camcorder clips have been aware of Elgato's Turbo.264 HD for a while -- it's a USB dongle that provides hardware acceleration for editing HD clips without converting them first. Today the company has released a software edition of the hardware device.

The Mac application, known as Turbo.264 HD SE (for Software Edition), is essentially a converter for encoding HD video for consumption on the Web or on other devices. The Software Edition uses sophisticated algorithms to convert standard and high-def files quickly, and can also work in tandem with the Elgato Turbo.264 HD hardware to boost video conversion speeds up to four times. Turbo.264 HD SE is now included with the hardware.

A free trial version of the software, which will only encode the first 3 minutes of your video, is available for download from Elgato. Turbo.264 HD SE is available at the Elgato Online Store for US$49.95, while the Turbo.264 HD is still available for $99.95.

I have to eat my words -- despite my belief before launch that an iPhone 4 wouldn't be hard to find without a preorder, I'm still waiting to get the chance to buy one. But I got to play with another one last night (that screen!), and just like every other time I've had a chance to use it, I've been very impressed by the back camera. Both stills and HD video look really amazing when taken with that thing. Here's another example: the Ducati motorcycle team filmed the entire commercial above on eight different iPhone 4s over a period of four days -- watching it in HD shows off just what this camera is capable of.

They did use the Owle Bubo, which explains some of the better shots a little bit. And you can also see that slight shudder so common to low-end HD cameras, especially when the camera pans quickly or tries to capture fast motion. But especially without color correction, the images still look terrific for a camera on your phone. The audio is great as well, but I'm not convinced they did that with only a phone. The final video was edited together in Adobe Premiere, just because "there were enough unknowns" without trying to use iMovie on iPhone for the first time.

Update: Looks like it's part of a contest -- if you've ever wanted to try and make a film and you've got an iPhone 4, get to it!

Thanks to Zenas and Jeff for sending this one in.

The iPhone 3GS was the first model to let users shoot video, and the iPhone 4 will even shoot in HD (720p). It's so convenient and easy that most people whip them out to shoot a few seconds of the ball game, a fun day at the park or what have you. In the thrill of an artistic moment, you might not always consider how the iPhone is held, and you realize later you shot the whole thing in portrait orientation, at odds with most of the video-playing world. Oops.

You can pop your clip into iMovie and it can widen to fill the screen's aspect, making your subject look like Shrek. Fortunately the fix is easy, and there are two methods.

The first involves iMovie '09. Once your movie is assembled, it's time to export. From the Export menu, select Export Movie. A new sheet appears. Select HD (1280x720). Yes, you'll get the black 'pillarbox' bands on either side of your movie, but it's better than than the disfigured heads.

The second method requires QuickTime Pro (QTP), though it's basically the same process. Open your video with QTP and again, export as HD.

Shooting in landscape orientation generally requires less steps to get a no-fuss video, but you're not in deep trouble if you shoot in portrait either.

If you've got video you're looking to put on the web and monetize, but you want to make sure said video is a) compatible with the iPad and iPhone and b) is nice and secure and c) is easy to deploy and can run ads based on a variety of criteria, then mDialog has a way.

In fact, the company's Ad Developer's Toolkit is a complete solution for running ads and streaming video -- and running ads in the video. mDialog will put ads in streaming live video or prerecorded segments on your site, and give you stats and measurements on those videos. Plus, those videos can be seen on the iPad and iPhone. mDialog provides some snazzy tools to help you view metrics and control distribution of your videos and ads.

I spoke to Greg Philpott, CEO of mDialog, about the analytics side of the equation, and you can see the video of that conversation above. Later Greg showed me how you can easily toggle ads on your video to be pre-roll, post-roll or in the body of the video itself. Greg also demoed the ability to limit your ads to a specific geographic area. You simply enable the control and click on where you'd like to target the ad. It's quite simple and cool to be able to control your ads so easily.

mDialog is "Video as a Service" and is fully compatible with HTML5. They've baked-in security to protect your content (using AES-128), and you can control how your video is distributed and how ads run within it. Some of the security options: you could limit the dates available for a video, have ads run a certain number of times for a viewer (capping the number of views per person) or in certain locations only. All of this stuff is easily tracked with pie charts and maps. I have to say it's an elegant product and a compelling service for anyone wanting to get into the video biz -- especially on Apple's mobile devices.

If you're not familiar with New York City's gritty, 209-year-old tabloid the Post, it has a reputation for sensationalist coverage, a top-down conservative slant (courtesy of owner Rupert Murdoch), and a credibility problem; in 2004, a Pace University survey found that city residents considered it the least trustworthy of the NYC dailies. When it comes to coverage of the Big Apple's media industry, however, it usually finds the mark.

That's why this week's Post story about NBC Universal and Time Warner pushing back on adapting streaming video libraries for iPad is worth a second look.

The piece suggests that neither of the media giants is interested in putting in the effort to step away from Flash and create HTML5-savvy streaming websites, saying that Flash remains dominant, and the effort to convert their libraries isn't worth it. Contrast this with CBS and ABC's eager leap onto the iPad, and the continuing signs that NBC-owned Hulu is planning an iPad app.

I don't doubt that both TW and NBC would like to see Apple become a little less dominant in the media landscape, but what's weird about this story is that it implies that the "extensive video libraries" that both companies hold aren't already entirely iPad-friendly. Sure, the player interface may be Flash on their websites, but the content itself is very much iPad and iPhone compatible as H.264 video files. Of course, both companies are happy to sell their programs through the iTunes store, although that hasn't always been the case for NBC.

With this not-quite-sensical disrespect for the iPad's video prospects, where does that leave us? Is the Hulu app now programa non grata? Will we be shut out of TNT for the new Apple TV? Don't know, can't say... yet.

[via MacRumors & Engadget]

Dear Aunt TUAW,

Comcast has been telling me that I need to start buying or renting new equipment in order to keep watching my normal expanded basic channels like SyFy, USA, and TNT. I mostly watch TV on my Mac using an EyeTV tuner from Elgato.

How is the Comcast change going to affect my EyeTV? And exactly how shafted am I?

Love and kissies,

Your nephew Bruce

It's Wednesday, which can only mean one thing -- TUAW TV Live!

Your host Steve Sande won't have any guests today, but will be queuing up a lot of videos and demos of various apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There's a lot of news in the Appleverse this week, including the announcement of WWDC 2010, 3G iPads finally shipping, celebrity iPad sightings, and more.

Remember, not only do we provide live streaming video for your entertainment, but you can also participate in TUAW TV Live through the built-in chat tool that is available. We always love to hear your comments and questions, so be sure to wath the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT) right here at TUAW.com.

As we mentioned last week, Savant is currently running a road tour to show off its iPad interface for home automation; Mike Schramm was able to catch up with the festivities in California and got a good taste of the possibilities for replacing 'expensive glass' in proprietary controllers with the readily available Apple touch devices.

Unfortunately for Mike, the Savant crew can't truck a full suite of home controls and AV devices around with them in their carry-ons, so he couldn't get the full-force feel of the system in operation. Lucky for me, I did: along with TUAW TV's Chad Mumm, I got a chance to visit the extraordinarily well-equipped Savant Experience Center, located in New York's SoHo district within sight of the Apple Store. All the touch displays in the installation are driven by Mac minis on the back end.

Savant has tricked out this model apartment with scores of high-performance displays, a digital kitchen, a Steinway player piano driven by an iPod (!) and even a seven-seat screening room. Obviously, the budget for this sort of setup would be sky-high, but it's a demonstration of what's possible. We visited prior to the iPad introduction, so while you'll see the iPhone in use as a controller, the iPad itself remains a phantom in the video.

Click the Read More link below to watch the episode. It's in the Brightcove player, so unfortunately it does require Flash until we can get the HTML5 player in gear. It's not nearly as seamless as expected... yet. For the Flash-impaired, here's the YouTube link.

Welcome back to another episode of TUAW TV Live with your host, the be-hatted Steve Sande. The show will begin at 5 PM EDT and lasts about an hour,

This week will, by necessity, be chock-a-block with iPad news. Why? Because it's new and different, and we want you to go out and buy an iPad as soon as possible. Only through repeated exposure to the word "iPad" on TUAW will we be able to break down your defenses and make you succumb to the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.

We've got a lot of fun video today, live demos, and even a hint on how you can use your iPad to make money. To join in from your Mac or PC, just go to the next page by clicking the Read More link, and you'll find a live stream viewer and a chat tool.

If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road. However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application.

iPad users haven't been forgotten. You can tune in the show on your iPad now by clicking this link, which will open in a non-Flash environment. Huzzah!

You only think it's Wednesday.

It's actually iDay, the day when your host Steve Sande takes you on an adventure into everything Apple on TUAW TV Live. As usual, we start at 5 PM EDT today. Steve has some surprises in store for you, including a real live iPad, a camera for the iPad, a small business idea for iPad owners, rumors and innuendo about the Apple announcement tomorrow, and more!

We now have a special iPad-only page that you can visit from your iPad to watch and participate in TUAW TV Live. That's right -- no Flash to get in your way. Of course, if you're an iPhone / iPod touch user, you can also download the Ustream Viewing Application (free) to join in on the fun from wherever you are.

Visit TUAW just before 5 PM EDT today to get ready for the show.