StevenSande
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Woxom's SlingShot stabilizes your iPhone videos; lets klutzes shoot landscape
If there's something I hear a lot of when I post videos it's "Why don't you shoot the farking thing landscape?" That, and "Your voice is sooooo annoying." The reason? My hands are small, weak and wobbly. So when Steve showed the Woxom SlingShot on TUAW TV Live a week or two ago, I volunteered to give it a hands-on. A bit on the pricey side, at US$19.95 retail, the SlingShot lets you slide your phone in sideways and hold it with one hand, using the same muscle groups you'd use for gripping it in portrait position. That's not a big deal for many iPhone owners, but it is for me because: 1. I shoot a lot of how-to video, where I have to manipulate equipment with one hand and shoot it with the phone in the other hand; and 2. The aforementioned wobbliness. When I try to hold the phone in landscape while doing all this, I can't capture a stable enough image. Even typical, unimpaired users will benefit from the stability, but quite frankly you probably don't want to be carrying this thing around if you don't have to. Plus, most people can hold their phone landscape using one or two hands with successful results. It worked beautifully in my testing, exactly as advertised, producing a much steadier landscape video than I could capture without the device. What's more, the gadget had a bunch of unexpected bonus features. First, the handle is very adjustable. You can shoot with either hand, and the device accommodates your needs. That's important because you need to put your phone in with the camera towards the top, and placed so the holders don't interfere with its visual field. Second, there's a built-in tripod that pops out of and into the handle. If you don't mind your camera being about 3-inches above the ground, the SlingShot will stabilize it for you without any need to hold it. Finally, if you unscrew the handle there's a final treat. The holder uses tripod threading, so you can connect it to any standard tripod. I found the holder itself to be steady, gripping my phone even when shaken -- I did not, obviously, whip the thing around. (I'm under a two-year contract with AT&T and would rather not have to buy another iPhone full price.) The material is quite light and I do worry about the possibility of it cracking under normal use. Had the unit cost about $6.95 or so, I'd say it would be a no-brainer. Just buy it. At nearly $20, this is more a buy recommendation for anyone who needs extra stabilization. I cannot recommend it, off-label, as an assistive device for anyone with shaking and palsy. The holder covers too much of the screen and home button for that kind of use. If you can benefit from the image stabilization for landscape photography, the SlingShot will help do the job for you. It's a neat little device that offers more than it first appears to and I enjoyed playing with it a lot.
What can you say to Siri in iOS 6?
Last year, Steve Sande and I put together a "What can you say to Siri" post that proved to be hugely popular. We'd been working on "Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple's Intelligent Assistant", which we initially self-pubbed as an e-book, and then later moved to QUE publishing. We're now working on the second edition of "Talking to Siri" and thought we'd update our original post for iOS 6. A lot of people are now using Siri and Siri-related features. Siri is available on the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5, the new third generation iPad, and the fifth generation iPod touch. Dictation-only support also appears in OS X Mountain Lion. There's a lot of Siri going around. As we work on our update, we thought we'd share the following Apple-supplied examples for using Siri. It's only a partial list, but it gives a great flavor of what Siri can do. Standout new features include the sports, movies and restaurant categories recently announced by Apple. But there's a lot more too. Siri now supports arbitrary relationships. You can say "Megan Lavey-Heaton is my favorite comics author" and Siri will add that relationship. You can launch applications by saying "Launch Angry Birds" and post to Twitter and Facebook by voice. Siri also now lets you dismiss her (or him) by voice. Say "Goodbye Siri" and Siri will close the interaction window. The examples that follow below only scratch the surface of what you can do with Siri. We're having a ton of fun discovering all Siri's new improved capabilities. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months as Steve and I share new favorite tricks and tips as we work on our update. Have you found some great new Siri features? Share them in the comments! ASKING ABOUT CONTACTS What's Emily's address? What is Susan Park's phone number? When is my wife's birthday? Show Lindsey's home email address What's my brother's work address? FINDING CONTACTS Show Brian Conway Find people named Park Who is Jimmy Patrick? ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS My mom is Susan Park Jimmy Patrick is my brother Call my brother at work APP LAUNCHING Open Photos Play Infinity Blade II ADDING EVENTS Set up a meeting at 9 Set up a meeting with Jimmy at 9 Meet with Emily at noon Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3 Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom CHANGING EVENTS Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30 Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Patrick to next Monday at 9am Add Emily to my meeting with Brian Cancel the budget review meeting ASKING ABOUT EVENTS What does the rest of my day look like? What's on my calendar for Friday? When is my next appointment? When am I meeting with Jimmy? Where is my next meeting? USING ALARMS Wake me up tomorrow at 7am Set an alarm for 6:30am Wake me up in 8 hours Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45 Turn off my 6:30 alarm Delete my 7:30 alarm CLOCK What time is it in Berlin? What is today's date? What's the date this Saturday? TIMER Set the timer for ten minutes Show the timer Pause the timer Resume Reset the timer Stop it SENDING EMAIL Email Emily about the trip Email Lindsey about the change in plans New email to Susan Park Mail Dad about the rent check Email Dr. Patrick and say I got the forms, thanks Mail Emily and Brian about the party and say I had a great time CHECKING EMAIL Check email Any new email from Jimmy today? Show new mail about the lease Show the email from Emily yesterday RESPONDING TO EMAIL Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment Call him at work FACETIME FaceTime Brian Make a FaceTime call to Susan Park FACEBOOK Post to Facebook headed to the new Pixar movie Write on my wall just landed in San Jose! FIND MY FRIENDS Where's Brian? Where is my sister? Is my wife at home? Where are all my friends? Who is here? Who is near me? Let me know when Jimmy leaves home Let Susan know when I leave work LOCKSCREEN READING Read my notifications Do I have any new messages? MAPS Show me the Golden Gate Bridge Show me a map of 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California LOCAL BUSINESSES Find coffee near me Where's the nearest coffee shop? Find a gas station near work NAVIGATION How do I get home? Directions to my dad's work Get me directions from San Francisco to Santa Barbara What's my next turn? Are we there yet? What's my ETA? Find a florist along my current route MAPS Show me the Golden Gate Bridge Show me a map of 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California LOCAL BUSINESSES Find coffee near me Where's the nearest coffee shop? Find a gas station near work NAVIGATION How do I get home? Directions to my dad's work Get me directions from San Francisco to Santa Barbara SENDING MESSAGES Tell Susan I'll be right there Send a message to Brian Conway Send a message to Emily saying how about tomorrow Tell Lindsey the show was great Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I'll be late Send a message to 408 555 1212 Text Brian and Emily where are you? READING MESSAGE ALERTS Read my new messages Read it again RESPONDING TO MESSAGES Reply that's great news Tell him I'll be there in 10 minutes Call her SEARCHING FOR MOVIE INFORMATION Find Disney movies What comedies are playing? Who starred in Tron Legacy? Who directed Finding Nemo? What is Toy Story 3 rated? FINDING MOVIE SHOWTIMES I want to see the new Pixar movie What's playing at the movies tomorrow? What's playing at Main Street Cinema FINDING MOVIE THEATERS Find some movie theaters near my office READING MOVIE REVIEWS Show me the reviews for Toy Story 3 MAJOR MOVIE AWARDS Which movie won Best Picture in 1983? MUSIC Play Walk by Foo Fighters Play Little Broken Hearts shuffled Play Norah Jones Play some blues Play my party mix Shuffle my roadtrip playlist Play Pause Skip NOTES Note that I spent $12 on lunch Note to self: check out that new Norah Jones album Find my meeting notes Show me my notes from June 25 PHONE Call Brian Call Emily's mobile Call Susan on her work phone Call 408 555 1212 Call home FaceTime Emily REMINDERS Add artichokes to my grocery list Add skydiving to my bucket list Remind me to call mom Remind me to call my mom when I get home Remember to take an umbrella Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here Remind me when I leave to call Brian Remind me to finish the report by 6 Victor Agreda is my hairdresser Kelly Guimont is my colleague SEARCHING FOR RESTAURANTS Find some burger joints in Baltimore Good Mexican restaurants around here RESERVATIONS Table for four in Palo Alto tonight Make a reservation at a romantic Italian restaurant tonight at 7pm RESTAURANT REVIEWS Show me the reviews for Seven Hills in San Francisco SCORES Did the Giants win? How did Kansas City do? What was the score the last time the Tigers played the Red Sox? Show me the football scores from last night GAME SCHEDULES When do the Giants play next? When is the Boston Red Sox's first game of the season? Show me the schedule for baseball PLAYER INFORMATION Who has the highest slugging percentage? Who has the most home runs on the Giants? Who has the most goals in soccer? Which quarterback has the most passing yards TEAM INFORMATION Show me the roster for the Dodgers Who is pitching for the Miami Marlins this season? Is anyone on the Red Sox injured? STOCKS What's Apple's stock price? What is Apple's PE ratio? What did Yahoo close at today? How is the Nikkei doing? How are the markets doing? What is the Dow at? TWITTER Post to Twitter another beautiful day in Cupertino Tweet with my location great concert Tweet meeting up with Brian Conway for lunch today Tweet the new iPad looks insanely great! hashtag Apple Keynote WEATHER What's the weather for today? What's the weather for tomorrow? Will it rain in Cupertino this week? Check next week's forecast for Burlington What's the forecast for this evening? How's the weather in Tampa right now? How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend? What's the high for Anchorage on Thursday? What's the temperature outside? How windy is it out there? When is sunrise in Paris? WEB SEARCH Search the web for polar bears Search for vegetarian pasta recipes Search the web for best cable plans Search Wikipedia for Abraham Lincoln Bing Foo Fighters (We know, we know. Sorry.) WOLFRAM ALPHA What does repartee mean? How many calories in a bagel? What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people? Who's buried in Grant's tomb? How long do dogs live? What is the Gossamer Condor? What's the square root of 128? How many dollars is €45? How many days until Christmas? How far away is the Sun? When is the next solar eclipse? Show me the Orion constellation What's the population of Jamaica? How high is Mt. Everest? How deep is the Atlantic ocean? What's the price of gasoline in Chicago?
Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I post a website on Dropbox?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I read Uncle Steve's write-up about posting an iWeb site to a Dropbox folder. It's a great blog post and neat trick! But it's using the Public folder... Is there a way to use a non-public folder to do the same? Your loving nephew, Seb Dear Seb, Auntie is fond of Kissr.co, not just because of its name, of course, but because it makes setting up a website on Dropbox super easy. Just register for a name, and use Uncle Steve's save-from-iWeb secret techniques, and boom, you'll have a full website running from your Dropbox in no-time. If you want a custom domain, Kissr offers those for a small charge. If you're more interested in wikis than blogs, take a look at WikiPack. It's a markdown-powered Wiki service that also serves from Dropbox. (And Uncle Brett consulted on the project!) Auntie has tried both services (albeit, just poking around, no serious testing) and both seem to offer practical, portable, usable solutions. Hugs, Auntie T.
