AVRecorder
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Microsoft patents recording device to curb shortened attention spans
Time was, secretaries executive assistants were tasked with the chore of summing up a meeting's minutes so the less focused suits could play catch-up afterwards. Not so with this vision of the automated boardroom as put forth by a newly awarded Microsoft patent. Filed back in February of 2006, the doc outlines a computer-based method for recording live audio and video (including presentation slides), a system of monitoring a user's computer activity and tracking moments of attention loss. Sounds like Redmond's crafting an enterprise version of "gotcha!," but it's not so sinister. The proposed recorder would actually make recommendations based on the moments your focus drifted off, replete with full A/V playback and even the ability to hone in and amplify an individual speaker's voice. It's easy to see how this theoretic tech could wind up worming its way out of concrete towers and integrating into classrooms of the future (and even homes). For now, content yourself with the full-on legalese available at the source link below.
iPhone Voice Recorder Utility
My iPhone broke. The screen just died a slow death, getting brighter and brighter and then very hot and then...nothing...over the course of a morning. With no phone to play with this morning, I did a lot of thinking and hunting through iPhone foundation files instead. And I seemed to find quite a lot of interesting calls in the Celestial framework, specifically the AVRecorder class. I was pretty sure the capability was in there to begin with--after all, didn't the Steve promise us one back in the January Keynote? So that certainty made the class hunt go a little quicker. When I returned home from the Apple Store Genius Bar with my new loaner, I put all that thought into code and this is what turned up: my newly written iPhone Voice Recorder utility. Yes, it is little more than a proof-of-concept but (a) it works, and (b) is the first step towards iPhone VOIP. The recorder saves in Adaptive Multi-rate format (.amr files) that you can play back in QuickTime. I put them into the /tmp folder and tell you the name of the file when you finish your recording. As always, I'd love to hear feedback and questions.Update: Improved version with app wrapper is here
