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Givit for iPhone edits video shot with Google Glass
Google Glass is still a long way from being the ubiquitous sci-fi headset many tech fans hope it will become, but that hasn't stopped entrepreneurs from looking to the future. Video app Givit thinks Google Glass is the future of easy-to-shoot video and they've already built an app to help iOS users get the most out of their Glass videos. Givit's new Google Glass app allows users to send videos shot on their Google Glass directly to Givit's iOS app, allowing for quick editing of the footage. CEO Greg Kostello explained the app to The Verge: Most mobile editing apps usually just offer a filter, trying to be a video Instagram or something, and then there's iMovie or Final Cut on the desktop, which is too intimidating for most people. We want to offer editing that removes that intimidation factor, then allows people to share what they've made where they want. The app is capable of sending video to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or DailyMotion. As of right now Givit's app is only compatible with iOS, meaning the barriers to entry are incredibly high. You have to have both an iPhone or iPad and the actual Google Glass, which isn't available to the general public. Of course if you are one of the lucky few to have access to Google Glass you can probably afford an iPhone. You can find Givit's iOS app in the App Store right now. Head over to The Verge for more of the interview with Kostello.
Givit makes video editing, sharing easier
Every year at Macworld/iWorld I see another great video application for iOS. Last year one of the Best of Show winners was Game Your Video, a nifty app for adding effects to video. While I enjoyed the app, it wasn't very straightforward, and editing wasn't a great experience. Givit, on the other hand, almost nails the simplicity of finding and adding those moments you capture to a cohesive timeline and gives you some worthwhile sharing options (in other words: Not just Facebook). In fact, the full name is Givit Video Highlighter. That's pretty much what it is, but there are some power tools lurking under the surface. First, you can take whatever video you want using your iDevice. Next, you bring in your clips and find the moments you want, and select what are called "highlights" -- which then pop into a small timeline (although the metaphor is not emphasized, as it is more familiar to video editors). I was impressed at how easy it was to find clips and add them to the timeline. There are a few video effects possible, like speeding up and slowing down video, and tricks like "instant replay" will loop a certain number of times while also adding slow-motion. I'm told there may be more effects later, but if you shoot family or sports videos, Givit is already a powerful option. Unlike Vine, there isn't really a specific time limit. A person at the booth said "they could be 30 minutes" but I didn't get a hard limit on the time. For now, Givit is a bit limited to streamlining editing, adding some effects if you wish, and putting some music into the video. I'm told they are adding titles and the ability to import images soon. The sharing and collaboration features are outstanding, however. While I didn't get a chance to try them out here at Macworld, the team behind Givit has some experience working on the Flip cameras which had sharing tools built in (after they were purchased and subsumed by Cisco). Of course you have your standard Facebook, YouTube and Twitter sharing. Givit supports cards on Twitter, which makes for a more pleasant experience. But Givit also provides a private sharing option. Just upload your video to Givit and you'll get an email which you can send to others. Anyone wanting to view the video will need to set up a free account, but it's not a bad option for sharing family videos. Even better, via the web interface you can connect Givit to your Dropbox or SkyDrive account. You can then drop video clips there, open them up in the app and edit the videos. This collaborative video editing on iOS is a wonderful idea, and I'm not aware of another app which does it this well. If you're shooting video at one location and need to quickly get it to your editor at another location, this may the easiest thing to use to get the job done. If you happen to upload more than 5 GB, Givit has a premium storage offering at just under US$30 a year. Like Flickr, if you are a power user this will be a great and relatively cheap option. Givit isn't perfect, as I found the UI could use just a bit more polish and style. But Givit has two great things going for it: It is one of the easiest video editing apps I've ever seen, and collaborative editing is a powerful tool for content creators. As a free app to try and use, I suggest giving it a spin.
Flip cam software reborn as iPhone app Givit
Ah, I remember the little Flip Mino, a pocket HD recorder that took the world by storm and then sank beneath the waves of competition from smartphones that could perform a similar task. The developers behind the Flip software now have a new social iPhone app to take on Viddy and SocialCam and make video editing and sharing easy. The app, called Givit, is free at the App Store. New users get 5 GB of free online storage for their creations. You begin shooting video(s), then edit by combining multiple clips, adding motion effects, music and transitions. What's cool is that you can highlight a scene as you shoot it and quickly get back to it with a tap. %Gallery-167306% When you are done, you can share via Facebook, YouTube or email. I like the email option the best, as it's less public and more personal. Advanced paid plans will let you increase your storage, but most users should be able to get by with what is offered for free. I created a few videos and the process was pleasantly straightforward. Built-in help pops up when you first try the app, and it can be easily recalled. I had a few crashes on my iPhone 4S when I first started using the app, but a reboot ended that. Givit wants to be Instagram for video, and it has a chance to succeed. The app is intuitive, easier to use than similar apps, and it has popular social functions built in. The app is not universal, but can run on the iPad and also the iPod touch. It requires iOS 5 and is iPhone 5-ready.
Givit video sharing service offers easy export of FlipShare clips
Clinging desperately to the last vestiges of your beloved Flip? Well, as the December 31st, 2013 deadline to rescue your vids approaches, you're running out of time to pick a successor to your FlipShare affections. Sharing service Givit hopes to be the platform that takes the reins to your video-sharing heart. In order to lure in new users, it's integrating (however briefly) with FlipShare to offer you one click exporting of your clips from the doomed Cisco property. Users who log into FlipShare will see a link offering them 25GB 2GB of free storage if they move their movies to Givit as well. All in all, not a bad deal. If you want to give it a test run before handing over the keys to your memories, hit up the source link.Update: Givit reached out to correct an error in the original release they sent us. New members will only get 2GB free, but those signing up from FlipShare will received double the normal amount of storage on premium accounts.
Givit makes private video sharing from iOS quick and easy
There are plenty of video sharing services online these days -- from the enormously popular YouTube to Apple's own video integration with Twitter, it's quite easy for almost anyone to upload and share video with the public. But Givit's CEO Greg Kostello, who previously worked for both Apple and NeXT, has a different goal in mind: He wants to take on video sharing in the private arena. Givit, as we saw at CES this week, isn't about uploading a video from your iPhone or iPad for the world to see. Rather, it's about uploading a video, and then sending it out to a limited list of your friends, family, acquaintances or co-workers, for only them to see and respond to. On first glance, the app is almost just a messaging service, and in fact, Kostello showed me an example video where he asked his team a question, and each of them were able to respond to the video from their own place and time. The biggest benefit of Givit appears to be that it's easy to share and interact with a video once it's uploaded, and Kostello points out that the company is really trying to have a universal experience -- whether you're on any iOS device, a PC or a Mac, or any Android device or other tablet (the company is introducing an Android app here at CES this week), you can hit the Givit site or download an app and use the service easily. The iOS version even integrates with your address book (though there's no iCloud integration -- yet, says Kostello), so once you've got a video in the system, sharing it with your friends and family in a secure way is as easy as just choosing their names from a list and hitting go. Even if they don't use Givit, they'll get an email saying there's a video waiting for them, and they'll just need to hit a link to open up a browser and see it. Unfortunately, there is one big hitch: Users who see your shared videos will need to register with Givit. Kostello says this is more of a security concern than anything else -- you can't truly share private videos unless you know who's watching, so if you send a nice birthday video off to your aunt, she'll have to sign up for the Givit service before she can actually see it. It's not like YouTube, where there's just a URL that's obscured from the public. Here you're more aware of who has seen your video, and they must go through a quick registration to ensure only they can see it. But once users are registered, they can see any videos that have been shared with them, and even respond to those videos with text comments or even video replies. Kostello says that while his company can't see what the videos are that are uploaded (they are private, after all), they're noting that about half of them are recorded with a mobile and/or iOS device, and about half come from PC video files, which means they were either taken with a webcam directly, or edited and then uploaded. Anecdotally, Kostello says just simple video blogs are a big part of the service, as videos of users kids' playing sports, then shared with family and friends. He's seen businesses (including his own) use the service as well, and he even tells one story of a military family with a brother serving in Qatar, who used the service to send video both to and from the soldier away from home. Skype, says Kostello, often means you need to be in both places in the world at the same time, but a service like Givit means families can see and respond to shared videos on their own time. Currently, Givit is free to use, but in the next month or so, Kostello says they'll announce plans for monetizing it. He says ads probably aren't a part of the equation, since all of the shared videos are still users viewing their own content, but instead Givit will likely charge for premium services, like more room to save videos, and possibly other features. There will always be a free service there, says Kostello, similar to Dropbox, but heavy users will be asked to pay. Givit seems like an interesting solution to the issue of sharing videos privately with a smaller group. There are services out there that will do this already, but many of those make it hard to specify exactly who can see the video, and ensure that's what happens. Once it's set up, Givit's a quick and easy way to post a video, and make sure that only the people you want to see it can do so.
